My last post from Singapore for the year

•December 12, 2008 • 1 Comment

Finally, December 13th has come…this trip took 9 months in the making! Hahaha…Talk about booking a flight home during a seat sale…Yes, yes, I am a student.  I bought my ticket when Cebu Pacific had a ticket sale last March.  One way at SGD102! That’s PHP3000 give or take. ;)

My energy level is at its lowest now, having packed like crazy for the past three days.  I swear it must have been andrenalin rush that kept me up and about.  I am excited though, to enjoy the Ms. Marple movie I downloaded at home for the plane…and I have tucked a John Grisham book (A Time To Kill) for that added measure ;)

Wait…I think people are heading towards the gate now…boarding…or so they say.  I just wanted to write this post because I got pissed off by some lady who thought I was staring at her.  Well I was.  She spoke stupidly, trying so hard to be slang.  Spoke loudly,  as if her husband was not nearby.  And get this…ASKED FOR DISCOUNT in a bookshop at the airport…Hahahahaahaha….Now who would not stare at some bimbo right? Sad to say, she was a Filipina.  Thankfully not from my place though. Hahaha…What kind of cheapo would ask for a discount at such a shop???? Man oh man…and when the poor salesguy helped her to some other books, she proudly pointed out that she already saw the movie version of that book. Duh. Talk about unsolicited.  Hehe…I could go on and on…Thank goodness Ms. Manners intervened and I was able to divert my attention to some other matters of greater consequence.

So farewell, dear Singapore.  Or semi-farewell that is.  I will be back in February for some stuff I need to arrange and then on May to finish my program on the summer term.  After that, let’s see. ;)

Tomorrow, I blog from dear Philippines.

Movie Marathon!

•November 27, 2008 • Leave a Comment

I’ve been sloth-like the past few days…my semester just officially ended with the submission of a CRM report. Big wahooooo…or not…I guess atmosphere would have been more jubilant and abuzz if everyone had a job waiting for them…As it is, left and right we read of news about pay cuts, lay-offs and what not.

Sigh.  Sometimes I JUST have that feeling that the universe is conspiring to play tricks on me…Perhaps fate just rounded up all of us sinful people, made us take MBA and made us graduate during a freaking recession, just to get back at us. Hahaha…

So I got hold of graboidvideo…which is a really cool site…and have been through a movie marathon since Monday.  I am not really a movie freak, and I am surprised to find myself looking forward to just straining my eyes looking at the computer screen the whole day…I guess this is what boredom does to a person huh?  To top it off, my phone died on me…My loyal P910i which some people laugh at as it looks like a dinousaur already…Haha, thank goodness people do not depreciate like mobile phones…or do they?  (I mean…do we?) ;p  One day we’re hot, the next day we’re tired of life and life’s tired of us.

Now, I AM babbling…Must be the last movie I watched just now…WHITE CHICKS! Weeeeeee! Bimbo-ish! But definitely had me laughing hard!  All the movies I saw before White Chicks were heavy…though I liked them a lot…Here’s what I’ve been viewing the past days:

  1. Alexander the Great, starring Colin Farrel and Angelina Jolie who defintely had a funny accent in the movie.  I’ve always liked epic movies, war, and how the ‘heroes’ do what they do…Also, I’ve been youtubing Firehouse’s “I Live My Life for You” song…and I came across one which had Alexander the Great as the video, which kinda caught my attention…Apart from my interest in history and war, it intrigued me that Hephaesteon (dunno if I got the spelling right) has been portrayed as having sort of a relationship with Alexander…Ewwwwww…Overall the movie was ok though…Initially I was at this crappy site so I fell asleep waiting for the video to stream…kicked my laptop which was at my bedside and started watching 5AM the morning after…Didn’t get to finish it in one go, but tell you what…I was thinking of Alexander and his troops the whole while and spaced out a lot of times in the office! Embarassing! Went home excited to finish the movie only to see him get killed…Duh…I knew he would be killed but still… :p
  2. Romeo and Juliet! Ah, romantic! I watched it while folding some clothes into my bag for my December 13 trip. Hahaha…This version was the newer one, starring Leonardio di Caprio and Claire Danes.  While i loved the soundtrack (especiially “Kissing” by Des’ree), the props they used…especially the guns branded as ’swords’ didn’t sit too well with me…Talk about pushing it too hard. But ya, the movie left me feeling happy for all the Romeos and Juliets out there but at the same time, it was a stark reminder of how emotions can drive people to do things beyond an average joe’s understanding…Dang, if only Romeo got hold of the priest’s letter, then everything would have been different.  Can one learning here be NOT to trust priests with your love affairs? Hehehehe…Kidding padres…
  3. 300.  W.O.W.  Totally awesome…of all the movies I watched since Monday, this was the only one I did not see before…and honestly, I wouldn’t mind seeing it again.  As I said, epic movies have a way of leaving me inspired and thoughtful..(even for just a while)….Amazing how Spartans live their lives…If only everyone else was as disciplined as them…Xerxes was kinda gay though…well he looked gay at least…Eeky…and somehow the Persians as enemies just had me snickering for a while…as I understand we had a half-Persian in our midst a year back…Haha…
  4. Last Samurai…my 3rd epic movie…Ken Watanabe IS hotter than Tom Cruise…Hahahahaha…Yes, he beats Mr. Scientology…in my book at least :) Hurrah, hurrah!  I’m amused at how all the war movies I watched tied together…Persians and Greeks in Alexander the Great and 300 and then a mention of the 300 men at the battle of Thermopoly in Last Samurai…Amazing…though now that I think about it, the execution of the final battle in Last Samurai was too similar with some scenes in 300.  Owel…Still, I loved it…I ate burger and fries (with a healthy dose of salt and pepper) still thinking about Samurais and Greek Warriors…Amazing. I guess the world will have a hard time looking for people like them nowadays…I am truly in awe in how such men are able to command so much respect and loyalty among their followers…enough for these followers to be willing to die for these lords…Who wants to die for Gloria Arroyo, anyone? Hehe…Not me…No, not me…
  5. White Chicks! A wonderful way to wash the heavy thoughts out before tucking myself to bed…And as I will do so later, I know I will still be humming Vanessa Carlton’s “Thousand Miles”…Coolness!

I hope this movie marathon thingie will not turn into a nasty habit…Gotta work on some stuff for website soon…I hope I am not too rusty yet…MBA has a way of making you forget the artsy-fartsy stuff at times…Oh well…Another day tomorrow…What’s in a day’s name?  A Thursday which we will call by any other name will just be as crappy…(well less crappy now, without classes)…Hehehe…Cheers Shakespeare my old man! ;)

Ang akong classmate nga gubaon ug tiyan

•November 24, 2008 • 2 Comments

Naa koy ‘amigo’.  Taga ta-te kunuhay…Niadto ug Cebu…Nagsakit ang tiyan…Ambot unsay nakaon or unsay gikaon.  Mirisi. Kay di man magpatabang ug book kung asa…Hehehe…Pero seriously…kung magsakit imo tiyan tungod sa isa ka lugar, ok man lang mu complain ka…pero kung mu complain ka maski one week na ang nilapas sa imo pag-adto, di ba murag kulang ra ka kaayo sa pansin? Sus, kung pwede lang irukon…Hilas pa slang-slang…askal ra diay…Kano kuno…pero nge, puro ba, nga di man?  Wa siya’y angay kagarbohan…kay kung huna-huna-on…isa ra siya ka askal…askal…askal.

Tai chi and all that bull

•November 18, 2008 • 2 Comments

Last weekend has been hectic for me…on top of exams and work and a shitty experience with someone who feel’s as if she is still the boss (more on this soon…let’s just stay my internship ended and she still wants to exploit me by asking me to do corrections on stuff we ALREADY reviewed prior to her going off on vacation)…my family came and I of course had to spend time with them.

Don’t get me wrong.  It’s never a chore to be around them…In fact, lately I have been emotional and missing them…it’s just that all the pressure’s coming down on me now…I guess that goes the same for my other batchmates in school…

Anyway, over the weekend I had fun helping out with my little Nikki’s birthday at Hort Park.  It was a nice break from all the school work I guess…but then in the end I wake up to the reality that there are still papers left to write and presentations that need to be delivered within the next 2 weeks…

Anyway, so I went to this HR class tonight…where the prof showed some tai chi moves.  What does tai-chi have to do with HR?????  I am left scratching my head…and if I scratch it some more I will be dead soon…from brain hemorrhage…because I will never get the connection between managing human capital and tai chi…My friend Huyen calculated that we actually pay close to $200 per session/class, and for the latest one I just had I feel as if I should have been the one that should have been paid…to sit through a painful ordeal…Sigh :(   And the class ends off with his words of wisdom, something that he says was actually from his professor back in Wisconsin (damn whoever this guy is–apparently, he has one sorry disciple)…”I bluff my way through half of the time…and the problem is, I do not know which half.”

Oh God.  If I were really evil I would have wanted to wack someone as if he were a fly.  Perhaps he was trying to be funny, but it left me flustered and insulted…because I have sincerely and patiently attended such a class where 10% of the time is spent waiting that he finally gets to have the video (betamax, most of the time) running…a class where he outright says he does not like Japanese…a class where he says that babies of Filipino maids who are in Singpore are not wanted…how’s that for racial sensitivity, eh?  I am truly hoping that this is part of the 1/2 bullshit that he was saying…

Arghhhhhhhhhh! I am super super super agitated just thinking about it…It drains me of whatever energy I have left…Oh well…tomorrow is another day.  I am sorry dear Ruki, that I would have to put off writing for our CRM paper tonight.  Will now tuck myself in bed, and read some of the books the kiasu in me borrowed so I may be inspired for tomorrow and Thursday’s planned CRM paper writing session…

Good night world.  I certainly hope I will not dream of tai chi and all that bull.

Just when you think you had life all figured out…

•November 7, 2008 • 6 Comments

When you’ve played images of the future in your mind over and over again, you seem to believe that those images will actually happen…that it’s just a matter of time before such come to life.

I am a hodgepodge of emotions tonight.  I was just asked if I could run Green Earth after my MBA.  I feel honored, yet scared of what might be.  It is different having a job (or at least prospects of a job) and just helping out the business…but if the main responsibility is passed to you, that’s also another story.  I guess I was too focused on getting a career after school…The business environment nowadays has somehow blurred my adventurous, entrepreneurial spirit and turned me into such a prude.  Perhaps I was happy experimenting on the small things before, but never really dreamed big enough to actually take over something that people depend on to turn in money for different needs.

It will take time before all these will sink in.  Thankfully, my parents are coming over next week for Nikki’s birthday…so we can talk things through and stuff.

Sigh. A different way to cap the week off.  Will be interesting to see how things develop.

A Thursday that feels like Friday Goldrush

•November 6, 2008 • Leave a Comment

Listening to Y101 play Freshmen by The Verve almost made me feel like it’s Friday.  As I write, I sit in the area my good friend Kartika calls “the windy tables”… ;)   It’s been raining like crazy, and memories of sitting in the area just gossiping or catching up on readings just come flashing back…

Memories of high school and the stupid things I did come rushing back too…and I feel a smile slowly spreading across my face thinking how different things are now compared to what I would have imagined them to be 10 years back…Oh well…those were the heady days of being ‘in love’ (kuno) as teenagers…Hahaha…Thankfully, I woke up from the spell (though it took a while) and now am struggling to be Ms Independent…

Tra-la-la…

Shit…Now what did that have to do with Thursday and Friday Goldrush???!  Now some stupid ad on the radio is playing, with a girl saying (in an irritatingly ya-ya and lata T*****g fashion)..,’dyan ka magaleeeeeeeeeeeng…DUH.

…Hmmm…ok, before I get totally nostalgic, I better get back to studying for my exam in Channels & Pricing…more later…or whenever I can ;)

A note to a prof

•November 4, 2008 • 2 Comments

Dear Professor,

Please get a life.  Your class is boring and corny and the fees I am paying for this are not at all worth it.  We are not kindregarten kids. Stupidly participating in your class is just very painful.  People are bullshitting, just to get an A. And you seem to be thinking we are enjoying ourselves.  Waking up and getting ourselves out from the comforts of our bed just to listen to people sharing about their experiences of going to Morocco or losing their cameras are stuff losers do…Surely, we could have added more value to our lives by doing something else.  We are paying, spending (or is it wasting?) so much time and effort for your class and we are not learning anything at all. What a pity.  Go take a sabbatical.

Friendster’s downfall?

•October 16, 2008 • 3 Comments

Call me anti-social, but I was never really one to jump on bandwagon when it comes to creating accounts on just about any online communities there are. Haha…That was then.  But now it seems as if there’s just no stopping social media, and so here I am blogging on whatever comes to mind. 

Today the number of friends I have in Facebook has surpassed the number of friends I have in Friendster…Call it some bad omen or what…But I honestly see this as just one of the many signs that Friendster will eventually flop or be left out with users who are hmm…let’s just say of a different profile.  Upon visiting the homepage you really don’t feel like logging in anymore, because the feel is just bad and the look mighty cheap when compared to Facebook (the homepage of which at least looks a bit sleeker…somehow…probably it’s the different shades of blue…)…Also, the name Friendster just sounds so….soooo…juvenile I guess.  Perhaps that is one of the reasons why it has not really caught on that much with social sites like MySpace or Facebook.  While I am not cutting my account off yet, I guess I could say for sure that the action will now shift to other platforms. Friendster just doesn’t cut it for me anymore.  Could it ever be revived?  Could we see a more engaging Friendster in the future?

xxxx

By the way, I unsubscribed to this community called ‘Tagged’…it’s creepy man.  Users get to play a game called ‘Yes’ where you somehow get matched up with different kinds of people.  I seriously feel that this is for the bored and low-down cheapos.  Also, you get these annoying emails from them every time someone clicks a ‘Yes’ on you.  I only got into it because a friend of mine invited me to.   But ya, if you can’t take it, then you’ve just got to leave it. :)

Random thoughts—release, release! I want release!

•October 16, 2008 • 1 Comment

This week has been a busy and draining one, both emotionally and physically.  As usual, my posts have been sporadic at best.  Though I think about writing every night, whenever I take those ’solo’ walks to the bus stop, somehow something else seems to crop up…and I am consumed…by my work, my relationships…consumed to the point of not even being able to connect with myself again…how I miss staring off space and just zoning out…even for just a while…

(1) The week started with news that MaiMai, a distant relative who keeps watch of my kid cousins in Manila, died of aneurysm…MaiMai was probably in her early to mid-30’s…worked hard to help her family and probably like everyone else, aspired to some day make it big in life.  Her presence whenever I sleep over at Tita Mamel’s place in Pasig has always been reassuring…I will miss the way she goes “juice, ting” during breakfast and proceeds to chatter on…I will miss the way I see the kids interact with her, even if I am not there often to see it…I know everyone, and probably little Nikka is especially attached to her…I cried when I read a forwarded SMS detailing how Nikka had a bunch of paper hearts prepared for MaiMai’s birthday…how excited must she have been preparing them! Unfortunately, the hearts end up in a plastic bag, along with MaiMai’s other possessions which were shipped back to Bohol together with her remains.  Mai, thank you for everything.  Salamat gyud.  Wherever you are, I hope somehow, in some way, you were able to make peace with the world before taking your last breath.

(2) I wonder if MaiMai will ever meet Lola and Lolo…is there such a thing?  I always play scenes of reunion in my mind…but then the Bible tells us that everyone’s just brother and sister in heaven…we probably won’t even recognize one another…which to me is a bit sad…based on my flawed, human understanding, it would have been nice to meet the people I love again…Lola, most especially.  I wonder how she is now and if she sees all that is happening in my life and in her other children and grandchildren’s lives…I wonder if she peeps in the account books of the Bohol Chronicle, as she always wanted me to during the short stay I had before leaving for Singapore.  Lola, wherever you are…everyone here misses you.  Life is different without you lola.  In your own sweet way, despite being seemingly weaker than us, you were actually a strength to all those around you.  I know my own mommy draws her strength from you too…and I know your children feel safe knowing you are around. La, unsaon na man ni?  Gubot na kaayo, lami na i-surrender usahay…I feel spent, and yet I feel I have not really done much too…wa ko kahibaw if sakto ba ni ako gipangbuhat, if worth it ba…I wish you could just be back with us, even for a moment…I miss you so much lola.

(3) Green Earth Tours & Travel (www.greenearth.com.ph) has been buzzing with activity for more than a week already.  I’ve been shuttling back and forth Clementi and Bedok (more than an hour’s bus ride, one way!) to help out with some stuff and have even gone to several places to meet up with possible suppliers.  In a way it is very exciting…a welcome diversion you might say, from the usual daily grind of work-school-home-work…We are bidding to serve a group of Cebu students who want to go on an educational trip to Singapore.  We bid against people who proposed Manila…I feel we have a strong offer, and I hope the students will go beyond wow-wow-wee visits in Manila and lunch at Max’s (ha?) and realize the value in being able to go out of the country to see and experience other cultures…the budget may not be as high, but that makes it all the more exciting…I would think students actually find thrill in backpacking and roughing it up a bit…seriously.  I hope and pray we get it…and I will do everything I can to satisfy these students and make their visit a very memorable one.

(4) Then there’s work at GroupM…which deals more on Social Media and interaction.  I enjoyed last week the most, because I felt that we were given work that somehow makes an impact to the organization.  We were tasked to help come up with the company’s philosophy…and boy do I get a certain high looking for and looking at really cool and edgy photographs that give the presentation that added oomph.  I appreciate the boss trusting us on this, and sitting down with us to guide us through some stuff…I learned more than I have learned during my whole 2 months as an intern! ;)

(5) Then there are school projects, which if I detail them now, will probably just cause me to faint or hyperventilate (which one’s worse?) For consumer behavior I have to work with a group on Nivea…it’s interesting…but somehow it feels like a repeat from my promotions class last semester as well as a bit like our San Miguel project 2 semesters ago too…And really, to be ’stressed’ out trying to spew out some stuff for participation points is too much for me…Quite childish…and of course, it becomes an avenue for airheads to just go blabber on…waaaaaaaah!  Trust me, waking up and preparing for a 3 hour class only to hear of a classmate who lost her camera in Morocco or a pig-of-a-classmate who thinks the kind of wife one has is reflective of one’s status in society…what a chauvinist!  Then, there are other projects for subjects like Human Capital (where I am doing a paper on office romance), CRM (where I am doing something on Travelport with a good friend, Ruki) and laslty, Channels & Pricing (where I will work with a good group and do something on Dell’s strategy in China)…Ah, enough to make you lose your hair?

(6) Speaking of hair, I had mine cut short…reminiscent of my high school days…though I did not go as far has having it shaved again! Hahaha..Now that would have caused an uproar.  I guess I even find it unthinkable if I sport such do again.  (Not that the first one at Saint Theresa’s was intentional…)  Now I find joy looking for cutesy earings to go with the whole look…it’s fun…and it’s a cheap way to reward myself for all the brouhaha that has been going on in my life…

(7) It’s 1AM and I think I should stop.  Again, with the promise that tomorrow will be a new day where hopefully I could add another entry to this wonderful blog of mine…wonderful because it gives me solace…it ‘hears’ me out in some sort of way a human being could not do ;)   Perhaps I will post the photo essay I did for my consumer behavior class…now that was a fun project…(see, I am not mean and I do recognize good stuff when I feel they are indeed good) ;)

(8) So much to write, but I am not sure if my strength will hold me for now…the bed beckons…

What’s your take on Office Romance?

•October 2, 2008 • Leave a Comment

Do you see yourself entangled in office romance? Does it pose more harm than good to the organization? What about the parties involved? Should management stifle office romance by implementing strict non-fraternization policies in the office?

Take a stand!  Fill up this 9-question, purely multiple choice survey…

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=VIzrICfClzJr4dZVW7U_2fUQ_3d_3d