Showing posts with label happy thoughts. Show all posts

Counting Trains

Posted in happy thoughts, mundaneity, subservience

I'm posting this now, before all my braincells stop working. I just feel too tired to write right now. Say it again, "write right". Boohoo.

Yesterday, a friend of mine celebrated her birthday. It was fun, for the most part, and it became sort of a mini-reunion for me and one my fallen colleagues. The place was near a train station, and all the revelry was held just a few feet from the tracks. No kidding, anybody who's seen Final Destination would have thought twice about sitting with us that afternoon. Every now and then, a commuter train would zip past us with horns blaring and we wouldn't have a care in the world. It was a peculiar sight, now that I think about it, to see a table full of party-goers at such an odd and potentially dangerous location. Maybe I really do love living on the edge.

Not the actual location, but close enough.

Train after train passed by, and the heavy shower that drenched us hardly dampened our festive spirits. I watched as passengers and onlookers stared quizzically at us while we were throwing back glass after glass of ice-cold beer. I seriously would've stayed longer if not for the fact that I had to go to work later that night.

Yes folks, you heard right. I - the beer-guzzling gorilla from China - walked away from a party because I had to go to work. Can you believe it?

Can you spell "self discipline"?

The Binchee, The Captain, and The Love.

0 comments »

How a Couch Potato Celebrates Life

Posted in happy thoughts, mundaneity, subservience

For as long as I can remember, this small piece of Internet space has so often been my place of refuge, my fortress of solitude so to speak. This is where I dump all my pent-up emotions, mixed in with the mushy, the mundane, and the malevolent hodge-podge of feelings that this humble author experiences every now and then. And I'll say it again - often.

This time however, I am here to simply make my declaration of how awesome life is. I rarely get that feeling where I just want to climb Everest and thank God personally for giving me such a good life. I realized today that there are so many things that I should be grateful for. I have friends and family close by, and even though there are times when we don't always seem to get along, I appreciate the fact that they have stood by me through thick and thin. Right now I'm leaning towards "thick", because I just finished a bag of chips and some soda all by myself while watching Megan Fox bounce around in the desert in a dirty spaghetti strap tube top. Hello calories.

Things seem to be finally looking
up for you now Binchee!

Another happy bullet in my gratitude checklist is the fact that I have a job. Not only do i have a job, I am also proud to say that I seem to be in an excellent position to prove my worth and go places in this gig. For once, I can truthfully say that I love what I do for a living. I can almost hear Lady Opportunity moaning softly at my bedside.

There are so many other things that I want to thank my Creator for, but I just don't want to be splitting hairs here. I'll just sum them all up with this: I am happy to be alive. All the life experiences I've had in the past - good or bad - have brought me to where I am now, and I am just starting to appreciate that fact. If not for all the trials and dead ends that I've run into before, I wouldn't have learned how to get here in the first place. So thank you oh Omnipotent One for the gift of life, good health and free will, and for Your continuous guidance.

Whatever life had me take, I'm loving the rush right now. I gotta say, this high is so much better than what any god-forsaken drug can give, and I ain't planning on getting off this happy train just yet.

No sir, no.

3 comments »

Life and Death

Posted in happy thoughts, mundaneity, sad thoughts

Today I celebrate 31 years of what I can only describe as a frantic hodge-podge of anarchy, bliss, innocence, inner turmoil and unmitigated orgasms. Yes folks, it is this humble author's birthday.

In commemoration of this non-momentous occasion, I decided to read up on articles that talked about a sinister chapter of Philippine history. This dark day in 1942 was the day that one of our country's worst war crimes was committed, and forever etched into the annals of Philippine history. Today is anniversary of the Bataan Death March.

On April 9, 1942 - waaaaay before I was born - more than 60,000 Filipino prisoners-of-war were forcibly transferred from the Bataan peninsula to prison camps, traversing a distance of close to 100 kilometers, while enduring tremendous physical abuse, disease and starvation. The Death March also included close to a thousand Filipino-Chinese civilians and nearly twelve thousand Americans. Many of those who were forced to endure the cruelty of this event died of hunger, disease, and the sheer utter brutality of the Japanese.

While I owe all this information to Wikipedia, simply reading about this very important piece of our history sort of put me in perspective. I can only imagine the scenes of despair that took place during that long walk to uncertainty. To think that the high death toll was never accurately accounted for was for me a testament of how hard it was to live in those days. I certainly gained a different kind of respect for my heritage, and I am ashamed to admit that it took me 31 years to think about learning more about the tragic event that coincided with the day I was born.

In May of 2009, in behalf of the Japanese government, ambassadors met with Bataan Death March survivors in San Antonio Texas during their last annual reunion to extend their government's apology. Talk about long overdue.

The Bataan Death March made me think about Japan in a whole new light. From now on Japan will no longer simply be about anime or short skirt Japanese school uniforms, or even Maria Ozawa. The thought of all the suffering that those people went through simply makes a shiver run down my spine. Respect.

Being born on a day that commemorated the deaths of thousands definitely makes a person think about his own existence. It doesn't just mess up your psyche, it also makes you happy to be alive today. It's time I move on with my march.

2 comments »

Road Trips and Occlumency

Posted in happy thoughts, road trips

Yeah that's right. Occlumency. I was supposed to write about our team's recent adventure in San Juan, Batangas days ago but I got so caught up reading an illegally acquired e-book of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince that I couldn't find time to sit in front of my ancient but trusty PC. That and the fact that I spent three out of four wonderful work-free nights pondering the meaning of life; no, i was really just out drinking. Most times I'd be too stupefied to construct sentences. See that? I said stupefied. Stupefy! Hah. If you weren't thrown back by an invisible force then we have just proven that spells don't work over the Internet.

I could sure use a swig of that Felix Felicis potion. Lady Luck hasn't been smiling at me lately.

Going back to the purpose of this post, I just wanted to share my recollection of that trip that we had to San Juan, Batangas. We did an ocular visit of the area, in order to find a suitable venue for our planned outing this May. So we all met at 7AM at the office, and nobody was late. Well, you don't need a master legilimens to figure out that that was a lie. People were late and we only got to leave at 9AM, in typical Pinoy fashion.

So then we were on our merry way - Rap and his girlfriend Giselle, Mark, Flip, Jules, Essie, Emi, Liza, and me. The weather then wasn't exactly perfect but we were doing great time. That was until the car's engine overheated and we had to pull over. Of all the places along the vast stretch of highway, the car decided to sputter at that particular spot, where we were told by the rescuing highway patrol officers that two people had died of a an accident the night before. We even saw pieces of bloody clothing amongst the wreckage. Naturally, everyone was talking about ghosts when we finally got the car moving again. I've never been one to believe in the supernatural, but it sure made a great conversation starter. And we had fun scaring the buhjeezus out of the girls. And out of Jules too.

We visited around 6 or 7 different beach resorts, until we decided on taking Aling Lerma's little cottage that was conveniently tucked away just a few feet from the beach. It wasn't glamorous, but it wasn't pitiful either. Most importantly, it was within budget.

I'm saving myself the trouble of having to describe how much fun it was, so here are more pictures.

On our way back to Manila, we decided we just had to try the famous lomi from Batangas so we did. We picked out this little eatery we spotted when we were just on our way to San Juan, but when we got there, there was this group of boys having a drinking session. Seeing as we had girls on board, we felt it wasn't a good idea to stay there and possibly invite trouble. So we looked for another place and luckily, we found one.

It was kinda' late, and the owner told us he only had enough lomi to make four orders. There were nine of us. Since it was late, and we were pretty sure we wouldn't find another chance to try out that much talked about lomi, we decided we'd share four orders amongst ourselves, just to find out how good it was. And boy were we surprised. Not only was the lomi really good, but we were quite taken aback by the serving size. As Rap had so eloquently put it, "Tang ina angal pa tayo kanina, di pala natin to mauubos!".

I got to hand it to Rap's white Mazda (have to ask him about the exact model). It took so much abuse that day, but it still got us there and back home safe and sound. Although it wasn't as white as it initially was when we got back.

I can't wait to go back there and kick some sand. And while I'm at it, I may just kick some sand in Malfoy's and Snape's faces too. All for Dumbledore. Petrificus Totalis! Are you still moving?

4 comments »

Storbo

Posted in familia, happy thoughts, humor mongering

Ang sarap ng tulog ko sa bus dahil trapik. May sumiksik sa tabi ko. Umusog naman ako. Umusog din ang walang-hiya. Hanggang sa ramdam kong nakaupo na siya sa tiyan ko. Sasapakin ko na sana nang makita kong si Bob pala to. Eto dalawa tuloy kaming stuck sa trapik. Sira na tulog ko muntik pa ko manapak. At nagkasya kami ni Bob sa 2-seater aisle ng PVP liner. Astig ng mobile blogging noh Bob?

0 comments »

Blind Item!

Posted in happy thoughts, mundaneity, patheticism

Aha! At kanino nanaman nakikipagpalitan ng mukha ang gagong to!? Nyahaha. Talaga nga naman oh. Ayoko na nga uminom!

0 comments »

Killing Cupid

Posted in happy thoughts, patheticism

I think this picture best exemplifies how much I hate Valentine's day.

Try as I might I can't deny the fact that this day always reminds me of how alone and miserable I've been these past few years. I mean, I go out on this day and all I see are mushy couples holding hands, or any other part of their anatomy for that matter. Why can't everybody just stay the hell away from me and make out somewhere else? For chris'sake get a gawd-damn room, I say to the lovestruck.

But this time though it wasn't so bad. I got to spend this year's hearts' day with her. We didn't go out on a date, we just ate out. I went out to buy memory for my PC and she just went to the mall with me. She knows about how I feel for her and I know how she constantly tries not to break my heart too badly. It's like everything I've ever wanted, but couldn't have. Oh well.

So we ate, and while we were there I couldn't help but stare at her. I tried not to by just stabbing at the salad so as not to creep her out. I felt so happy inside that I was lost for words. So lost that I think she got bored. But we did talk about a few things, like family and stuff. It was great. After eating I thought about asking her to go see a movie with me, but I figured it was Valentine's Day, and we weren't on a date.

Then there was this half-second again where our eyes met, and it felt like time stood still. Or I wish it did. I wish I could capture that moment when she looked at me and never let it go.

But now it's time to go back to living reality. And I still hate Valentine's day.

0 comments »

My Favorite Stranger

Posted in happy thoughts, video

I'm taking time out to write about the friendliest stranger I have ever seen. He works as a security guard at McDonald's El Pueblo here in Ortigas. Try grabbing a bite at that branch and you'll see what I'm talking about. I mean this guy literally invites passers-by to eat there, serves you ketchup when you need it, and occasionally gives away freebies, among other things. But what really caught my attention was how sincerely he goes about his chores. He greets a few of the regular customers by name, and always seems to have a cheerful smile for everybody. If there was a guy whose happy disposition could rub off on you and somehow make your day a little brighter, this guy is it. Check out the video that I found on Youtube. See? I'm not the only one who noticed.

0 comments »

Note to Self: Drink Less, Forget Less.

Posted in happy thoughts, subservience

I really have to stop partying too hard. Dammit I was falling-down-drunk again last night. Well yeah it was iZone’s first ever Christmas party and we really had plenty of reasons to celebrate, but I didn’t mean to celebrate like that! It was fun really, the parts that I remember. I’m afraid I won’t be able to tell you folks the rest of the story because I think I passed out some time after we started slamming into one another. It must have been so embarrassing. I never got any of the raffle prizes. Oh well, maybe next year. And oh by the way, we won the grand prize for our Christmas presentation. We rock! Here are just some of the photos I took last night, while I was still conscious.

Rock on people, rock on!

Me, Boss Ed, DJ Chloe, and DJ Nina

Mother warned me about you.

Despite my memory loss, the whole event was a blast!

0 comments »

Hey...

Posted in happy thoughts, patheticism

Thanks for taking the time to read this. I am happy that we are back to our old ways again, although I would have to admit that I still wish sometimes that you had given me the chance to prove my worth. But its OK, I know you have your reasons. I just wish you all the best, and hey - we’re still friends so you can come to me anytime. Take care.

0 comments »

Dragon's Balls?

Posted in happy thoughts, patheticism, sad thoughts, subservience

Its been a while now since my last blog entry.

So here I am again, blabbering for the sake of those who care enough to read my sh*t. For the many who don’t.. well you wouldn’t really get the message even if you did. Now where do I start? OK, I got (laterally) promoted to "Researcher" and I am now part of our Training Team (Dragons Rock!).

I could not say enough about how happy I am to land this position, and I sorta’ pride myself in being the first outside of Wave 1 (according to one of our QA’s) to get "promoted". Although, as I parenthetically stated that it was just a lateral promotion (meaning no "Oh my God, Mom! Look at my payslip now!"), I am still very grateful for this opportunity. I have always wanted to be part of any training team, and I am proud to say that this team that I am now a part of truly ROCKS! What else could you ask for when 2 of your colleagues are really hot (but cool) radio DJ’s? I mean, how cool is that? Mind you, they’re really smart too. I look up to them (figuratively) with so much respect.

And my co-promotee, (wow I made a new word!) he’s great at all the technical stuff that we do and I enjoy working with him. I do feel a little pressure because not only am I the first outside of Wave 1 (blah, blah, blah..), but the position that I currently hold is really quite new. Before now we didn’t really have a researcher. But so far I’ve been holding up and hopefully once we get the ball rolling I’d feel more comfortable in my new role. Its really a new experience for me to go to the office and NOT wear a headset (not that I’m complaining though). Kinda’ awkward really. I

know some people feel that for some reason the researcher position’s a joke, but we’re out to prove ‘em wrong. I’ve never been this excited about work in ages, and I’m raring to go! Go Dragons! - unofficial team battle cry.

On to a different subject.

Recently, I fell into a really awkward situation with someone. For the longest time I’ve been "sweet-talking" my way into her pants unsuccessfully, until the day came when we almost ended up, you know, celebrating Christmas early this year. Well, yes the operative word in that sentence kids is "almost", which means "pffffftt".

I mean we did go see a movie together, which we both have already seen before, and really didn’t focus much on the big screen (I’ll be a git and let your dirty little brain conjure images of what we did instead), but somehow in the middle of things she uh.. I dunno, changed her mind? She said she was into it, and for a second there I really thought that we were on the verge of (BLEEP!)-ing our brains out.

But you see folks, we’re in a real predicament. For reasons that I am not at liberty to discuss (plus the fact that I really don’t want to tell you why), we simply just can’t be together. So now days after the pickle, talking to her’s been kinda weird. I really feel that somehow something’s changed, even though she says otherwise.

I still show her that I’m notoriously persistent, the pesky hormonally-imbalanced jerk that I am, but its just not the same as before. Perhaps its because she really means "NO" this time. Serves me right for being such an unbearable prat.

Sadly, 2 of my friends at work got fired yesterday. So sad..

Now since I can’t think of any other happy thought to conclude another miserable attempt to achieve literary greatness, I’ll just wrap things up with this message from our sponsors: "

You are the 999,999th visitor. Congratulations! You won!"

0 comments »

New Friends!

Posted in happy thoughts, patheticism

We were out last night for Dru’s birthday celebration and we met some new friends in Chai and Irene. Guess I was too drunk to notice but man were they awesome! I didn’t realize how pretty she was until I got sober. WTF!

0 comments »