TIMES LIKE THESE

Bad trip talaga! State of emergency daw. May curfew. Di tuloy ako makagimik. Anong klaseng place to? Wala na ngang nangyayari sa libo-libong tax na binabayad with my tiny bit of salary, wala pa akong freedom lumabas anytime I want... well, pwede naman, kaya lang, baka mapagtripan lang naman ng mga bantay na police / afp all over. And there's no reason pa naman to declare such state. Usual EDSA Revolution gathering lang naman yun. The government is so paranoid... kasi guilty.

Times like these, I feel that there's no reason to stay in this filthy country. Everything is so wrong. No decent job that would somehow generate sufficient income,... and if you happen to own your own business or firm... don't expect that everyone will pay you for what they owe coz taghirap nga.

Times like these, I wanna get out of this country and settle eslewhere. They say that people who go abroad will always remain as employees. Right now, I think that's ok, as compared to living in luxury that no one knows if it still exists the next day, and much much better than living like the president who probably couldn't sleep sa dami ng kasalanan nya.

Times like these, I hear people saying kung may balat ba sa pwet yung president natin... sa dami ng calamities na dumating during her term... as in one after another. Or maybe makasalanan lang nga talaga sha.

Times like these, I just keep on hoping that when I wake up tomorrow, there will be a leader who's not necessarily perfect, but at least man lang, may konting honesty.

KAY SHAW

My Dad is kinda nice to me since Friday,... coz he wants me to show up in another kay-shaw thingy. According to him, he's a 29-year old guy, supposedly for Sally, but my Mom doesn't want someone a year older for Sally. I told my Dad that I don't wanna meet anyone right now coz I have no time to entertain phone calls. (Coz usually, the oldies would give the telephone number to the guy.) The genius is studying for the board exam. Unless the guy knows YM, maybe I would consider. But I doubt, he's an oldie.. 29.

I told Sally to be my proxy just in case I'm out of the house when the guy shows up. Anyway, we look alike.

FIELD TRIP

After 7 years, I went back as an alumnus scout to my high school to join the field trip to Avilon Zoo. Sulit nga naman... all 4 alumni only paid for the entrance fee and lunch. Transpo is free (or rather shouldered by the students...hahaha!). It had been such a long time since I last used my neckerchiefs. Yep, we were required to wear type D (white shirt, jeans, rubbershoes, neckerchief). Buti nalang di kami staff coz they are required to wear their type A. (My type A is the printed white top, entremely green skirt, and the cadet scout neckerchief.)

Somehow, we were like baby sitters. We were on the same team as the elementary scouts. The kids are relatively well behaved as compared to my little devil pamangkins. However, kids are kids. We have to stay behind them... baka merong pasaway and mawala. Pero actually, kaming mga alumni yung pasaway... To our amazement sa snake area, we lost the group. Hahaha! We have to survey the area everytime we have to move locations coz these kids have the tendency to leave some of their things behind. I was shocked when Drich saw a bag of a videocam na naiwan ng one of the kids... although I'm not sure if it really has a videocam inside. But still, how can that little guy leave a big bag behind? Also, one of the girls lost her wallet. She pointed me the pocket in her jogging pants where she put her wallet. Grabe, ang baba ng pocket, ang laki ng butas and overflowing na with stuff like handkerchief, etc. Pano ba naman di mawawala yung wallet nya? But of course, di ko sinabi yun.

The zoo is only an hour away from school. Clean up to international level. Although there's a natural tendency for Pinoys na magkalat, their maintenance crew are relatively fast workers. Animals are kinda well fed and groomed... ang tataba and some of them, mga bagong ligo pa, unlike those at Malabon Zoo.


cute cute ng lion... nakabulagta, laging tulog.

They have these extremely big fresh water fishes, the arapainas (or arapaimas?). Sobrang dami nila... and they're like giant sea serpents with a head that resembles a catfish without the whiskers. And by the way, you can buy chicken heads to feed those carnivorous creatures.


Look at this peacock. He's the only male in he cage with 3 females. Mukhang medjo mabigat yung burden nya, specially when he's trying to impress the females, pero walang pumapansin sa kanya. Wawa naman.



Basta maganda... and of course masaya! Specially now when I'm busy reviewing, I have lesser chances of meeting friends, lalo na friends from high school.

PANIC, BANGAG, 2LOG

The night before my brother's wedding, Sally and I are still rushing on last minute instructions and on what to do for the following day. Although we were able to finish before midnight, we still find it hard to sleep.

We have no choice but to wake up at 4am since the make-up artists are aleady waiting. Yep... they're sooo punctual.

While dressing up, Sally realized that the zipper in my gown would not go up. My dad tried to help Sally and so did my brother and my mother. They are all there behind me trying to fix that thing! I was already planning to go to the Claro, the dressmaker, after the family pictorials. I took Panny's orange gown that she used in my cousin's wedding, thinking that, at least, i have something to wear for the moment. Sally's also having a problem with her tube gown coz it keeps on coming down. When she saw that Panny's gown is too long for me, we switched. It turned out that her gown, no matter how many alterations it had beed through, is meant for me. We decided to abandon my original gown.

I was soooo sleepy the whole day. I really hate the usual monotonous wedding mass, conducted as if we still live in the Dark Ages. Can't they make it livelier?!

The venue for the wedding reception is much larger than I thought it should be. The projector screen is already the largest one I've ever seen, but only sufficient for about half of the place, consisting of about 50 tables for 12. At least, the newly weds loved what I did for them as they gathered other praises from friends. Thanks to the wonders of powerpoint... which is perhaps one of the most significant things I learned way back in college.

I can't eat that much coz I'm afraid of getting sleepier. So I went home sooo sleepy and hungry. We had a small chat at home with my siblings and new sis-in-law. By 8pm, I was asleep already.



left to right: Sally, Cherry (Carol's older sis), me, Ej (my niece), Charina (Carol's younger sis)



Charol and meeeh!



the little devils with the newly weds

OFFICIALLY UNEMPLOYED

I thought life would be easier after I resign and be a professional student. Last week, I realized that I have more things to do than before.

Reading NBC and Fire Code took me a lot more of my time than I expected. 3 days for the NBC and another 3 for the Fire Code. Unfortunately, I can't remember right now the stuff that I read just a week ago!

Most of the time, I feel the burden of having this need to study fot the board exams. Adding to that pressure is the fact that Janrey is one of the top notchers,... eh nangungulit lang sha during our review days at CDEP... as in ang kulit. I can't understand how other people do that. When I opened the Fire Code courtesy of Mumty, I was shocked. Grabe... may highlights na! So lalo akong nag panic. FYI Taz, according to your officemate Gino, they discovered that you were listening to your audio recorded voice reciting your review notes instead of music mp3s. Shucks... di ko kaya yun.

Last Tuesday, I went out with my ex-officemates for lunch. Nothing's changed. Toxic silang lahat, especially for Jasmine, who ended up doing her usual job in the design department + my former job. As in kawawa si Jas. I also heard that she was assigned to go to Butuan for site inspection last Thursday. Buti nalang, I was already out of the office. My boss already asked me about going out-of-town trips before. If ever kasi, I should be the one to go to site. I can't afford to be out on the weekend of my brother's wedding.

Last Wednesday is teh first day of review class. Super olats. We extended 30 miniutes... eh wala pa namang lecture. we just got the course outline and the rest is chika lang ng lecturer namin. Feeling ko, sayang sa time. I could have radu about half a book or something with that time, considering the travel time of almost 2 hours back and forth, plus the cost of gas and o.t rate pa ng driver na masmataas pa rate as compared to my last salary. I realized na sobrang hasel pala pumasok sa JPT kahit na 200bucks lang binayaran ko dun. No wonder, Betty prefers reading on her own as compared to attending review sessions at JPT.

Last week, I was also rushing with last minute preparations for my brother's wedding. I went to Tiendesitas to search for the ideal packaging for giveaways to ninangs. My sister and I wants to put some beads or bohemian-looking accessories in addition to the ribbons. Kaya lang... grabe... super mahal if we want to achieve the glamourous effect that we want. A brooch is about 300 bucks... and that's not enough. So I ended up buying nothing.

I only met up with his emcee last Thursday. I have to fit in the audiovisual presentations with the program, so I ended up revising the two presentations. It was fun though... much much better thing to do than studying.

Last Saturday, I went out with Charol... (2nd to the last time na lalabas kami before she leaves for Xiamen.) Last minute shopping for *supposedly* what she needs to bring. Masaya mag shopping... pag madaming mooolah! Unfortunately, wala ako nun... coz I haven't received my last payslip and no allowance yet from my dad.

Next blog nalang yung about the wedding.

MINSAN LANG 'TO

I'm not expecting this to happen in again until so and so years...

MY LAST DAY OF WORK

31 January 2006. It was my last day of work.

For the first time, I held such documents that I've never signed before - Clearance forms and quitclaim waivers. Yes, I was forced to sign the quitclaim waivers even though I haven't received my gas and parking reimbursements and my last paycheck. I have no choice. It's a prerequisite to the clearance form. I have to trust the company to fulfill their obligations. Although salaries have been dalayed before, they always come. So I guess I just have to wait.

Although I was only supposed to stay until the 27th of January, I went to work on the 28th since they need an extra hand for the big project. I also have to go back on that Tuesday to help Jasmine. Somehow, I was pissed off, since she was still doing design and cad work at that day. I found our cad manager teaching her to do xrefs and all cad stuff. My presence that day is pointless. I did my usual work instead of traning her.

About 5pm, I waived goodbye to my *beloved* officemates. While driving my car out of the parking, I saw Sir Ed opened the window and waving and shouting goodbye. I never realized that the casement window of the office can be opened!

I left the office early as per my sister's request, since we're supposed to have a surprise birthday party for my dad. But they ruined the surprise. Sally wore a red shirt instead of her usual white and my mom spilled it out to my dad. When my dad found me and Charol at home, he asked us if his grandchildren already arrived. And so i realized that he's expecting a family gathering.