Surprising December

What can I say? December is full of surprises, at least the first two weeks. My grandma's 77th birthday was celebrated together with her sisters, Apong Rosing, who just came from the US and Apong Inyang (been living in the US since then and is here for the meantime). Pix below (I dont have Apong Inyang with them though). Time passes quickly for my lolas and its so nice seeing them all together again.

And then, come Dec. 7, I received a call from German Red Cross advising me that my application was accepted. It was totally unexpected! The National Headquarters is located at Port Area, Manila so I was so fortunate to figure out that our apartment was very near the Hulo Ferry Station! So I dont need to go through the hassles of commuting via LRT and MRT just to get there! Pix below while I'm waiting for the boat to come:

And pix below with my GRC teammates, Marion Guillermo - my buddy, Anna Mariquina, Floyd, Disaster Management Team, Rhia Bartolo, Ate Karen, Kuya Borg, and Ate Resti!

I hope to post pics of my Boss, Ma'am Katja and Sir Dither soon! Its all fun! Fun! And then Willy came from Brazil Dec. 13 losing five pounds (he wasnt able to enjoy the food there, that's why). I missed him a lot.

Aurora Shots

Shots in Aurora while on vacation. These are pictures taken from the beach, Baler Museum, and Pantabangan Dam. The painting of the Baler Church is what I love best.

Cat Reposted

Reposted due to tech issues: My unnamed cat is dead.

She was brought to the house by my brother Arjay as a gift on my birthday, October 22 ’09, and then she died yesterday November 16 ’09. My father said it was Dagul’s (dog) fault, he kept on teasing her, biting her until she can’t take it anymore, she died of exhaustion! Waaaahhh.. What a stupid death. I can’t believe I lost her like that, they should have taken her to my Inay’s house to be well taken cared of. Below are our pictures, that lazy cat, I miss her so much. Dagul's pictures with Willy are also included.

One Hundred Years of Solitude

Rating:	★★★
Category:	Books
Genre:	Literature & Fiction
Author:	Gabriel Garcia Marquez

Quoting Jonathan Bate of Sunday Telegraph

THE New York Times described Gabriel García Márquez's One Hundred Years of Solitude (1967) as "the first piece of literature since the Book of Genesis that should be required reading for the entire human race." This is the most ludicrous gesture of literary hype I have ever encountered. Required reading? The book is so in love with its own cleverness that it is profoundly unreadable. It is generally credited with inaugurating the genre of "magic realism" novels which combine the matter-of-fact narrative style of conventional realistic fiction with fantastic nonsense such as levitation and alchemy. García Márquez is at his most characteristic when a woman ascends to heaven whilst hanging her washing out on the line. Other ingredients of magic realism include gypsies, tarts with hearts, dwarves, tricksters and a cast so large and confusing that you need a family tree to keep track of the plot. Márquez and his followers are sophisticated urban intellectuals who feign reverence for the simple wisdom of peasants. Myth, fairytale and folklore are wonderful things in themselves, but it is preposterous to imagine that mingling them with domestic mundanity will somehow puncture the bourgeois complacency of our time.

Let us hope that One Hundred Years of Solitude will not generate one hundred years of overwritten, overlong, overrated novels. Enough that it has already inspired such excrescences as Angela Carter's Nights at the Circus and Salman Rushdie's Midnight's Children.

1999 © Telegraph Group Limited

+++ I havent finished the book yet, two more chapters to go. The review above says exactly what I feel about the book. Although, I did enjoy his narrative style in the beginning, it's like my grandmother telling a tale with no end nor purpose, until I fall asleep. I do believe that there is a political side to this novel, the portrayal of murder of the workers, and capitalism's form of repression, but I havent read any victory of the lower class yet, or the Buendia Family, or maybe, they are bound to be losers anyways.

'Love in the Time of Cholera' is a different story though, i'll give it a 5. Happy!

Final Week of November 2009

I spent almost the whole week doing errands for the new NGO that I just recently joined – Unang Hakbang Foundation. For four days of working with Ate Merli, Mark, Mylene, and Ma’am Olie, I have observed the great differences between my past job (Call Center) and this new challenge. In this kind of job, work and life is the same, whereas in most jobs, work is separated from ‘life/ social life’.

I haven’t done much this week for the NGO though. I only updated the books of accounts, explored the two learning centers here in Mandaluyong, chatted with my colleagues, tried to adapt to this new type of work environment. I also watched them bake cookies for the fair, and being a lover of anything sweet, i can say that it’s really worth it buying those chewy cookies! They sell it for Php15/ cookie, in case you have some orders, they can definitely do it for you. In the future, I might be able to help bake the cookies, for now, I’m just an onlooker. The beneficiaries of UHF are also doing calendars for 2010 for sale on next month’s Bazaar. Below are pix of the cookies:

Then come weekend, a long weekend, Willy invited us for an impromptu visit to Baguio.

Meeting Mayeth Once Again

Yesterday, after more than a year or two I guess na hindi kame nagkita ni Mayeth, at last we were able to organize this meeting. Coming from Makati, I rushed to see her at Trinoma, we had coffee at McDo kase mura, and then continued the chika at Gilligan's with my hubby Willy and brother Arjay. Dahil ang daming updates about each other's life, work, etc, halos mamalat ako before we parted. See our pictures below:

This is my brother - Arjay.

Willy and Arjay.

Sila ulet.

Long haired Mayeth and me!

Senglot na?

That's it, we are actually planning for a CNS Reunion. Maybe December or sa anniv ng CNS sa January? Let's see how it goes. Cheers!

An Old Poem

While I’m packing my things as I will leave Mandaluyong for maybe three weeks to go back home for a while, I came across a piece of paper with an old poem I wrote years ago, way back in college. The date is 13/October/2005. Here it is:

MOCK ME NOW

Once,
When idealism
Have evaded my thought
I have struggled
To free myself
To soar high into
Utopian thinking
Brushing away the
Naked truth
Of absurd ugliness
Of the material.

Then,
Here they come: comrades
Prophesying truths
Unmasking demi-god’s reign
The larger prison
That have enveloped us
So long.

They come abducting
Enlightening,
Taking.

Until,
Juveniles weak in strength
Come and go
Swayed and stayed.

Still, history moves
Forward with them
Objectively
Subjectively.

I once
Told you this:
“I’m afraid that
I will once again
Recreate a world
Of my own,
Estranged
Divorced
From the
Red connection. +++

Ridiculous, isn’t it?

A Social Ritual

Last Saturday, we were invited to watch a concert organized by Ate Joan Basirgo – a long time friend since college, composer and musician, mentor when it comes to music and is like a sister to me. We went there after a day of sleeping and just bumming inside the house, after hours of indecision on what we should do that night. I know we were ‘destined’ to be there that night and my eagerness to see Ate Joan of course after months that I have no news of her made it happen. I am so glad to see her, cant help but muse over the old days, Katipunan/ Proj 4 moments, with the Chinese nuns (Catholic), the singing and lunching together and the solitary garden at the back of that old house.

The host of the concert is Hillcrest Family Life Organization – a Baptist church headed by Rev. Reuel Tica, and for more than an hour, we were entertained by the ‘Gracenotes’ – teenage group/ choir of six members – including Hans – Ate Joan’s hubby :-D (to avoid confusion, Ate Joan is not a cradle snatcher, so Hans is older than the teenage songers.

I don’t have any inhibitions about Ate Joan inviting me over to hear some music, it’s also one of my passions, she is a witness to that, but the complexity comes when we talk about religion. Although, the Reverend is very much welcoming, very friendly and doesn’t sound like preaching dogmatically, I still cannot take off my head that I am surrounded by believers! And I hate to be rude by telling them that I do not believe, actually they are not even asking about it. I am also uncertain if the reverend whom we had a great conversation and who walked us around the house telling stories about the ministry already assumed that we, indeed are believers, well, Willy do believe, and he understand the unspoken war within me at that time. I fear that I have totally lost my faith. Am I chronically detached from that Supreme Being you call God?

Anyways, I sincerely appreciate what happened that night, those young singers with dreamy eyes, the community (almost ideal) that the reverend is starting to build, the friendship among the members of the community, and one thing that is worth mentioning here, the old man that the church adopted – everything about them seemed morally idyllic, if that’s the kind of community those ‘believers’ want to achieve, why not believe in God?

This Wednesday (Oct 14), we might watch the ‘Gracenotes’ again, and we’ll wish them luck on their tour to Hong Kong.

By the way, yesterday, I learned from Jane that Kuya Ronald David (a friend from college) is dead due to Meningitis – such a short life, he’s just two years older than me, once a very gentle creature, very kind, what else can I say? Sigh..

P.S. Exam Day. I went to Ninoy Aquino Parks and Wildlife RC alone (‘-,’)

Three Years in Call Center Industry

Its been less than three years that I have worked in the call center industry, it started November 2006 with Incoho Philippines Inc, and ended on October 2009 at 24/7 Customer Phils. Three years of precious experiences with friends, colleagues, acquaintances and bosses, bits and pieces that I have learned from all of them, from every situation I dealt with, and now I’m writing this at least to summarize what have happened.

It took me three years to realize what it is that I really want in my life, and working in this Industry have helped me land on that insight. Well, honestly, I cannot say this applies to everybody, but when you are earning money and you don’t have any vision of your future, its either you waste money on some luxuries and vices and just live for the present. This kind of attitude went on for nearly two years, together with friends who basically have the same mindset as me way back then, I love them all, to mention Robe and Jamela and Irisk of course, and Brenda. And I know that all of us will take different journeys, diverse struggles and escapades, and we will all survive. And we will always be friends. Until now, I feel a bit homesick remembering what we’ve shared during Incoho Days.

I decided to leave Incoho because I want a dayshift job, with almost the same pay. And I landed on an Australian Acct – Optus CS, an agent, I was part of the team I was with since training, including my Team Leader – Rez Santos. It was fun, but I admit, it’s a bit stressful, comparing this with the job that I handled in Incoho (well, thanks to the caring supervision of Sir Dino at Incoho). I had some challenges in 24/7, but sooner I was able to resolve it with the help of my TL, and I finally esteemed all my teammates. This company can give real party if an occasion is to be celebrated, Halloween, Xmas Party and Anniversary, name them, I enjoyed them all. After a year, I was promoted to be a SME (Subject Matter Expert).

And yesterday, October 06, 2009, it all ended. It felt like I’m stepping into another era of hopeful visions for my future and I just can’t help but wonder, what lies ahead might be bleak, but for sure it’ll lead me to a path of guided certainty.

Baguio Mode

Avilon Zoo Montalban

24/7 Customer

Suicide Mode

I am not on suicide mode, I just passed through this quote while reading a book: Interesting..

"The fear a man walking along a cliff experiences is not that he might lose his balance and fall, but he might jump – that he sees how in one moment he could choose such an action." -Sartre

Batanga's Laiya Beach Mar 21-22

Supposedly Subic ang larga with Jamela but then, mas magaganda daw beach sa Batangas.