Patience is a *BER* too

September is the start of the Christmas season here in the Philippines. At work, September is the start of the fiscal year. A new beginning. And lots of stuff to look forward to like gift giving in December, bonuses to buy the gifts with, parties, food, and hopefully we also look forward to opportunities doing good not just for ourselves. Schitz, this is going to be preachy but hey I don't do it often so bear with me. I received this email dubbed "voted as best email of the year" in which pictures of people in need are placed side by side with situations we may be more familiar with, comfortable situations, OUR comfortable situations. And it goes on to sort of lecture us: that we should feel so much better about ourselves despite feeling unhappy with our current situations, thinking our salaries are low, thinking we don't have as many friends as we want, thinking the world is against us, thinking we can't replace our year-old running shoes yet, etc... Oftentimes we may think life is unfair to us. If you are reading this, we are so wrong. I agree - we have no right to complain. We become impatient when we don't get the good fortune we think we deserve. Why don't we try to put our energies into pushing for helping others who need more than we do? Quick, push to help others now instead! If you can, donate to legitimate organizations that help those in need. Little things still add up to make a big difference. If we all work together, we'll be able to reward the patience of those who have long suffered.
*pictures are from the email I got

In the company I work for, they annually raise funds for an educational endeavor in Barobaybay (Samar). This activity happens around April to June. I have an idea of putting up water containers that employees can drop their loose change in much like the canisters you see in a lot of establishments in the shopping and even dining places in the metro. If we start now, maybe by April next year, we could fill up several. (Hmm, I haven't thought of how much effort is needed to roll those coins up later on so that it'll be easier to submit to the fund though...) I've named the activity - Baryabaybay (barya is Tagalog for coins or loose change). The by-line is: Change for the children. :) This could still change though... Loose change for a solid future? Oh, and I've thought of another activity but I'll just give details in a future update. Clue: Sing song blue.

Pa-alam

Kahulugan ng Buhay 2008-001Kahulugan ng Buhay
What life means or brings

Pa-alam
To inform. When I rolled-off from my 5-year-plus project last September 2007, I was told to wait for a new project I would get to handle. This project was unfortunately delayed and was expected to materialize November of 2007. In the meantime, I could help out with other things and take a little rest as well. That project never materialized for me and instead, I was asked to help out another project that had a little problem meeting deadlines. I was sent to the Cebu office to work on this project I was going to help out "fire-fighting" full-time. I got there January 2008 and flew back to Manila early April to continue the work here. I got extended until July and then August and finally, last Friday, August 29, was my last day for this project for which I didn't get a very nice assessment. That was sad. And... (Ask me and I'll tell you how I feel) But I'm relieved. And I'm happy I was able to do some good for the project nonetheless. And of course I will miss the people I've worked alongside to get everything ready for delivery to the client. The picture above is the roster as of August 29. But to everyone who worked on this project (I may forget to mention some names - sorry!), thank you, and as the song For Good from Wicked says - "...and we are led to those who help us most grow, if we let them; and we help them in return..."

Seated (L-R): Lesley Espejon, Ria Nunag, Cristine Gamayon, jaybeecc
Standing (L-R): Lisa Taroma, Chichong Lopez, Sheldon Cruz, Marvin Estarez, Moonie Casem

And to: Krista Yamas, Nica Datuin, Laine Nunez, Lorque Echaorre, Ariel Cabungcal, Jayson Golez, Robert Diaz, the apprentices, Marlon, Ani, Toni, Lloyd, the managers, the onshore counterparts, and the rest...

umobile

I think this service launched in July. I read about it and was able to get an invite code then a week later got my umobile sim. That was fast! So I unearthed an old cel to put the sim into and tried to call my globe number. It connected but my Globe phone couldn't identify the number. Ooh, some people might take advantage of this to play pranks on their friends! Good thing, sim-holders only get P100 worth of load every month for the first six months. Good deal, huh? And you can earn more credits once the ads start coming in. Hopefully, it wouldn't be too annoying. Click the title to go to umobile's website. Once there, you'll find more information about this service.

"...an exclusive mobile community for 15-35 year olds..." Check.

"Nationwide coverage" via PLDT/Smart. They should just fix the interconnectivity with Globe and Sun soon.

"Earn rewards with every ad you see" This is forthcoming...

So if you have an extra cel, try to get an invite code so you can also a umobile sim. But last I heard they are no longer giving the free P100 load for six months to the new members.

Here's my sim package.
Opening it up...
And the sim.

Time for love

Aug. 16, 2005

right now, you're single. and happy - you tell yourself. you really are - you assure yourself. and then you see a couple walking by, holding hands and being sweet and a part of you betrays how much you long for a constant companion too - someone to share your life with, a person who would willingly share their life with you as well, and be your witness (taken from Susan Sarandon's line in the movie Shall We Dance?). and then the tougher part of you justifies that not having another person (apart from family) to exclusively love is fortunately not fatal. and the world being as it is - more people not all that serious or committed or sincere or loyal - finding that one special person to love with all your heart and with all your might is definitely difficult. are you being too choosy when there are already some choices? have you pushed yourself to remain single? yes. because there is a choice. to be with someone you really love and would grow to love even more. and since a relationship is between two people, both parties have to agree on the same thing: being in love with, loving, and continuing to love the other. and not just portions. life is quicker-paced today but a balance must be struck to get to know your (potential) partner better and to keep the strong feelings you have for that person. one: you should really be in love. your life makes adjustments to factor in your partner. and love does not diminish, it develops positively. two: you should be responsible with your commitment. you can't just call it quits. or were you really in love in the first place? do you love the person or do you just want to be with someone? love is shared. and it's not directed towards ourselves but outwards to everyone we can share it with- be it one single significant other, our family, friends, or other people. it would be nice to have a partner to spend the rest of your life with, with whom you can be weak and you'll hear 'it's ok, i'm here, things are going to be alright.' and you're hopeful for that. as you're hopeful that life can be lived as productively, lovingly, and happily with or without a witness. love goes on.

International sexbomb girls?

From China! This one's just amazing. Stuff you could do with a score of female limbs... From Russia! This one's not so amazing. And not as many female limbs. Similar concept?

Movie Madness

It's been a wonderful summer (end-of-summer here in the Philippines) for movies. First, we get the movie adaptation of the musicale who took a lot of the songs of ABBA and weaved a story with them. Applause, applause! Meryl Streep did a wonderful job, as usual. I really like her. The movie was fun. And that's all. 3.25 stars out of 5. Crazy fun! But then the Dark Knight came. With the Joker in tow (May Heath Ledger rest in peace). And tons of box-office records shattered at his wake (pun) - fastest to $100 million, $150M, $200M, $250M, $300M, $350M, $400M, top day grosses, top July grosses, top weekends grosses, etc...
It's been embraced by moviegoers and critics alike, amassing generous reviews especially for Ledger's performance. I would easily give it a 4.75 stars rating. And I would go on to say that the movie has a shot at the Oscars; Ledger too. The following poster puts into a graphic how I see the movie as- to me, it's more of a suspense/thriller than an action/adventure-run-of-the-superhero-genre. And that's why it's so fresh. After the movie Wanted, Angelina Jolie would do very well as the Batman nemesis Catwoman, don't you think? And just a month into its screening life, the tills and buzz about the next movie are as active as ever. Go see it one more time. Cray-zee gooooood!
And now a not-so-good adventure: the third installment to the Mummy franchise. It was ok. I could've missed it and everything would still be alright. So like Indiana Jones, protagonist and wife now has a son who has to share in the adventure. And since the timeline is in the 1940's, son could grow up and find another mummy somewhere to wake up who would try to take over or destroy the world as we know it and time it in the 1960's and Brendan Fraser could play the son-all-grown-up role again. Of course there'll have to be pictures of original dad Brendan Fraser lying around the house for the audience to see and use to make the connection with. I think one of the very few amusing scenes was when this skeleton warrior holding a shovel turned around and accidentally hacked another skeleton warrior's head behind him off; then he tried to pick it up and put it back on his bones-y colleague. And then the ending with the dust forming into the faces of the ancient Chinese lovers together was like the stake-through-the-heart that killed it for me. 2.5 stars I think is enough. Crazy.

Positive Illusions

Feb. 20, 2007

Reading Marc Buckingham's book on managing, leading, and succeeding, entitled "the one thing you need to know," I came upon a section that discussed the one thing you need to know about (a) happy marriage. It was just a parallelism to what he's going to tackle in the book but it had a very strong point in itself. It can also be applied to life, in general. And it supported some of the beliefs I subscribe to. To rephrase what Mr. Buckingham offered, the one thing you need to know about happy marriage, or I'd like to replace it with the term commitment, is that you have to give the best, most generous, and positive explanations for your partner's characteristics and behavior. It's a positive illusion. It may not totally be true but you have to believe in it. And if you think about it, yes, if you will maintain a positive outlook towards your partner and relationship, it will affect you just as positively. Notice how people and their relationships start to sour once they notice, keep noticing, and dwell on something not so likeable about their partner or the relationship they're in. Notice how quickly we get dismayed or depressed when something doesn't go as we planned it or when we hear something not too nice about ourselves. It's a natural reaction to feel bad and to not ignore when something isn't to your liking. But if play up the good things more and keep on believing in those things, life may seem better and easier too. It's pretty basic actually - just "think positive" or "look on the bright side" but it's not that easy to perform. Why else do you think when we were children we'd ask why it's so much easier for adults to see our mistakes rather than the good things we do. Well, if you're a parent yourself now, you'd notice you're doing that to your children too. But you still might not have the real answer as to why. No, it's not because we want our kids to be good and behave well and become better citizens when they grow older. Well, it's not exactly the reason why we notice the bad things first. So, I think, once we commit to someone, we'd have a better chance for that relationship to last if we keep on believing the positive things that we saw in our partner in the first place and that made us fall in love. Sounds a bit too idealistic? Sounds impractical, huh? What would you do if you find out your husband cheated on you? That could be a subject of another post but if we were to follow the positive illusions principle, I'd think what you'd do is ask yourself if you want to save the marriage and if the husband is repentant and if you think everything can still be saved. Ask yourself what is important to you and how much do you love your husband. Anyway, there are exceptions to every rule but this particular idea of positive illusions can be very helpful. To a child with no one to encourage him, he can still believe in himself to try to best in something he wants to do; to a spouse who catches her husband cheating on her, she can still believe that who she married is the man for her and that man commited a mistake he's sorry for and that man is still the one she sees herself spending the rest of her life with; to the ordinary man who works hard and yet just barely gets by each day, he can still believe that a brighter future waits for us all if not at least for the next generation, and that more and more people will help to ensure that future. These things may be positive illusions now but they can also guide us so that we can make them the reality very soon.

Pon and Zi

Jeff Thomas is an incredible young artist! I've just come across his site and art and I had to promote it here at my lowly site immediately! The words and the art are both touching. This one I'd like to dedicate to my doodiebear... Aww. If you like his art, you can save it to your computer- just follow the rules, ok. Head on to his main site (he also has MySpace and deviantART) at http://www.azuzephre.net or click the title of this entry. And to clarify, the yellow one is Pon, the blue one is Zi.

Joey vs. Juanita

Joey Pepperoni
Pioneer, Mandaluyong
Here's a shot of the menu. Food is good and affordable. The staff are friendly and accommodating . Some of their items though (rice meals) you'd have to wait a little longer for (well, that time that our project team went there - maybe there was a queue, it was, after all, lunch time).A left-over brown bag doubles as lamp cover...
And wall paintings look like they're watching you eat... (One, two, three, four, five foreheads!)
Carbonara, bread, and chicken fingers...
Meatballs...
And pesto pasta...
We went back on a date and ordered salad, pasta, and pizza, and had a nice time again. Since we were repeat customers and we had this flyer, we were given a free dessert - cherry on vanilla ice cream on a brownie. Yummy!

Cafe Juanita
Kapitolyo, Pasig
Their table setting.
Everywhere are decor upon decor that are also for sale.
Here's a nice spot on the second floor for lovebirds. :)
But our project team came for the food so... here's fried lapu-lapu...
And adobo... They thoroughly enjoyed the cassava cake!
I was content with the free food :) But I just might come back on August 2? :)

Anyway, both restaurants are very nice to take your special someone to. More affordable at Joey's. But if you're after a unique experience, go to Juanita's. Although, after you've been there once, I don't know... unless you got served something you think you'll never get tired of or will never find anywhere else, then treat yourself and your partner. But now that times are a bit rough, with food prices sky-rocketing alongside fuel prices, and with the push to hold back on rice consumption, it may be a good idea to try to save some.

My personal choice- I'd eat at Joey's more than at Juanita's.

Spot the 'Huwaat?!?!'

Ok, first up: there are some billboards of these that have the same mistake. Some of their posters in some malls have already been corrected...Was channel surfing one time and behold... it could also be a typo, but it's still amusing. Not saying my grammer and speeling are impeccable- everyone makes mistakes...
Even the top honcho of a top, multi-awarded IT-slash-BPO-slash-contact-services firm here in the Philippines makes mistakes... She's free to say it was her assistant who typed it wrong...
You too, feel free to send me more "sightings" so we can post them here.

Happy Anniversary!

Plus this is my 200th post on this blog. Woo! So I'd like to thank the biggest inspiration I've had the past year... by a song :) It was 2005 since I last wrote a song and I don't know when the last time was that I wrote a song that's not a bitter-sweet or really-bitter love song. All thanks to my inspiration... L-l-like the song, I hope you do... Yes, the song! For L-l-le-let's get on with it, shall we? Closer, come closer... L-l-lyrics first...

MORE THAN I LET YOU KNOW

Love has come my way before
Then it couldn't stay no more
When least expected, this new chance,
You swept in to the rescue

Still amazed at how the stars
Had aligned and then conspired
To gift you to this fool aspiring
Never tiring just for you

No doubt, I'm not
The perfect match for you but
No indecision,
Though times I've said it few,
How much I love you so-
Much more than I let you know

There were times that I'd be scared
Losing you, may I be spared
My happiness revolves around
Your happiness delivered

Still I can't
Be everything to you but
Not one condition
So that I'll be true to
How much I love you so
Much more than I let you know

(Instrumental)

No doubt, I'm not
The perfect match for you but
No indecision,
Though times I've said it few,
How much I love you so-
Much more than I let you know