Another Happy Holidays Post

Yeah, it's that time of the year again; when that strange and warm feeling overcomes us (whether we like it or not). It's the feeling that there is indeed greatness beyond what we currently see. It's the feeling of hope, love, and joy all wrapped up in a sparkling package. I just love the holidays. I'm just happy.

As usual, this Christmas season, I was busy. Too busy that I only did some gift shopping on the 23rd. Too busy to really feel the real essence of the season. That's the reason why I decided to be a little more laid back.

I have my weekends back. I spend that time wisely. I now again enjoy the company of loved ones and friends. I now am able to do things I once did. Maybe that's another reason I'm happy.

I'm a happier person.

With this season already at its peak, I just wish that the happiness I now have will be good enough for the rest of the days to come. I see a lot of work coming; a lot of changes just beyond the bend. There'll be more pressures and expectations from everybody. I don't care. Bring it on, as they say. For now, I'm just plain happy.

It's early Christmas morning. Again, I'm happy. I just want anyone who'll drop by this post to be rubbed off by this frenzy I'm feeling. Smile. You'll like it.

Happy Holidays everyone!

Picture taken by my SE z610i. That's our Christmas Tree!

z610i Test Publish

"This is me and Ron in Aristocrat, Malate"

I gotta new phone! Whoopee! At last, after almost 2 months of waiting, the Sony Ericsson z610i finally arrived in the Philippines. I'm just so loving this phone.

I'm just testing the "Blog This" function. And yes, I chose this photo because hindi na galit si Ron. Yey!

Huwag Ka Nang Magalit, Please.

Hay naku. Nainis lang ako. Actually, kahapon pa to e. Pero kebs.

Siguro nga meron kang karapatang magalit. Or maiinis. Or kung ano pa. Pero ang sakin lang, wag ka naman sanang bastos. Hindi ko namang ginustong hindi ka makasama. Malay ko ba na meron kayong usapan ni Gerard. Ako, nagising lang ako nung umaga at tinext si Gerard. Sinabihan akong aalis kaya sumama ako.

Huwag ka nang magalit dahil hindi naman naming ginustong maiwan ka. Merong konting pagkakaiba ang ginusto at nakalimutan. Oo. Puno't dulo nun ay hindi ka nakasama pero hindi namin ginusto yun. Isang spontaneous na pangyayari yun para sa akin. Hindi ginusto pero nangyari.

This is a "just in case" post. Since you do not want to talk to me, this is my reaction. I want to explain my side, our side, of what happened. As a friend who I really treasure, I want to reach out. My initial reaction was to shut you out as well, just like what you did last night. But I changed my mind. You deserve something better. So here it is. Whenever you're ready to talk, I'm just here. You know where to reach me. Ron, don't shut us out. Magpakalma ka muna tapos kausapin mo na kami.

Pasensya talaga.

Taking It Easy

Physical and mental strain on one's self is inevitable. Yes. It happened to me. Again. A few weeks back, I was really feeling the strain of my 11 x 4 (11 hours by 4 days per week) schedule. I feel like I was crawling through my shift. Every after one, I felt so tired. All I wanted to do was go home and sleep. Thank god, that was usually the case except for some unplanned instances. But the bottomline is, I needed some rest.

So, I asked my soooper generous and gorgeous friend, Gwen, to swap shifts with me even for a month. Happy me, she agreed. So here I am now, enjoying my new normal shift (This is only applicable for people who work the graveyard shift) of 8PM to 5AM. Yey for me! This is a less toxic shift since there are less people who need help. All I gotta do is work on my daily tasks and that's about it. (Thank again, Gwennie!!!)

As the days go by (2 weeks to be exact), I can really feel some of the wellness coming back. Little by little, the energy that I once shown for work started to be there again. My attitude of do-it-now-and-definitely-not-tomorrow is indeed here again. I can feel it. The only problem is my productivity is being compromised. Why? It's because there are fewer service tickets to be processed and by the time more come in, I'm outta the office. But it's cool. I think my teammates and I will be able to work something out for these coming 2 weeks.

After our month-long swap, I'm headed to the beach for some R & R. It's gonna be a 3 day retreat that seems to be very promising. When I get back, I'll have my old 11 x 4 schedule. That's fine. I think I'm ready for that again. I wish I could have the time adjusted an hour earlier though. I'll have that addressed as soon as the proper authority comes in tomorrow. (*ehem* A)

Aahhh. I just thought about what I did. I felt the exhaustion and I properly handled it. I think I'm getting better at this taking-care-of-myself thing. Kudos to me.

Mine Again!

After almost 5 months, it's mine again. Anything I please, I can have. No. It's not another person. It's my time. Thank god.

Last Saturday was the culmination of our annual sportsfest. I was pretty damn surprised that we beat our opponent. We're the champions. To top it all off, our account was crowned overall champions for the festivities. We bagged 4 golds, 2 silvers, and a bronze. Whooopppeeee!

It was a truly grand night. We were sharing the victory with everybody. Every face present that night shared everybody's joy. All of the accounts joined in the fun. Emotions were running high from realizing that their efforts were all worth it. Each sprained ankle, each broken bone, and each nasty scratch all paid off and recognized with this single night. This is it. Awards night.

As a usual PS ritual, extreme emotion is always best served with a bottle (excuse me, bottles. Many bottles) of ice-cold beer. After freshening up, we regrouped at Carafe. Laughs, inside stories, and back stabbing comments were shared. Then, it was time to call it a night.

In my 2-year stay with PS, I've always looked forward to the sportsfest. It gives me the chance to meet and get to know more people. I just love it. Although, I do need to sacrifice my time since I'm committed. Thinking now, I want my time back. It's a good thing it's finally over. I'm gonna miss it, that's for sure. But I'm still glad it's finally over.

I still have memories, stories, videos, and pictures to remember it by. Till next year, if I'm still in PS. So, a last cheer for the champions... Hoorah!

Alone In The Metro (Reprise)

Reading back through the post, I realized that I just couldn’t expect that much from most of the people I know. It’s not that I’m blaming them for not keeping me company. It’s just that I thought, deep down inside, they’ll be there when I need them. Of course, no one is at fault. They have their own lives and I have my own. Bottom line is, I need to relearn how to be independent.

I was able to get in a cab around an hour after I wrote the post. I was dead tired. A good thing was Mr. Cab Driver was kind enough to sense that I was dead tired and he got all the necessary information to navigate our way to our village’s gate. I almost slept through the whole cab ride.

I woke up with the sound of rain crashing against the cab’s windows. We were almost at my village’s gates. I got some money from my wallet. I gave Mr. Cab Driver a generous tip. I then felt the world was against me when I saw that I had to wait in line in the pouring rain in the tricycle terminal. This was the first time I had to do that in my 17 months of stay in our village. I was groggy. I still don’t know what made me stand for another 10 minutes in the cold rain. But I did. I triumphed.

The next thing I knew, I was late for our last practice. I immediately stood up from bed and grabbed a much needed cup of coffee.

Alone In The Metro

I feel so alone right now. No one is replying to any of my messages. I feel abandoned and neglected.

I just finished buying stuff for Saturday's event, the cheer dance competition. I just came from my shift, then to the 2nd to the last practice. I'm now sitting alone in my favorite coffee shop (CBTL) listening to my preferred music just to take my mind off the throbbing pain in my legs.

I feel like shit.

I can't decide how to go home. Usually, I'd jump in the next available cab and I'm on my way. This time though, I didn't want to go through the hassle of explaining to the cab driver where we're going and that it won't be that far off to my place. I also didn't want to risk being stuck in traffic and paying a big-bunch-a-cash for my cab ride. I decided to wait for an hour or so.

So I'm now sitting alone in CBTL in GB3 waiting for a more convenient time to go home even if I'm dead tired. (By the way, I'm writing all of this using my mobile phone. I also haven't ordered yet.)

At this point, I just want to go home and lie down. I just couldn't help but feel forsaken. I'm pathetic. I can't help it. I want some company.

Oh well, thank you my dear iPod. You've proved yourself to be a friend who I can trust. I'll just hope for the best for me. Hopefully, I'll be able to crawl into bed later with my sanity intact.

Time Management and Me

Spending time with your special someone is a privilege that is given to a worthy person. Nowadays, time is of the essence. It's a thing more valuable than money and money won't compensate for time lost, I think. It's something that takes effort from both parties. It's something I'm desperately trying to make more of.

Looking back at the past couple of months, it seems like everything was a blur. Day after day, I went on with my daily routines like going to work, attending to social obligations, and more importantly for me, taking my only known form of escape, sleep. From this short list, I would say that it is pretty easy to manage them. Unfortunately, there's more than meets the eye.

I've said it before that I'm on a compressed work week. That eats up almost 65% of my entire 24-hour day (including my traveling time and the time I use to prepare for work). Usually, 5% - 10% of it is allotted to some miscellaneous activity that was not previously planned. If you ask me, I'd never accept any more responsibilities outside of the initial 65% of my day but there's usually some unplanned activity that needs to be addressed immediately, so that's the 5% - 10% for. With those 2 parts of my day, it only leaves me 6 to 8 hours of sleep per day. I think that it might be more or less the status quo for an average Filipino male's daily sleep but my body needs 8 to 9 hours a day to function properly. That's just me. That's something I was accustomed to. I tried to change that but I failed.

Moving on, I have 3 days off from work. Here's how I try to juggle these remaining 72 hours of my week. For the past couple of months, I've been using some of that time for volleyball practice and the volleyball games. There's also the cheer dance practices that just came up a couple of weeks ago (I only play a minor part in this event, though). I also allot some of it for my family. This is where some quality time is given to them. I owe them so much and the best gift I can think of to give them is my time and yet it's proving to be quite challenging. Within these 3 days, I also spend sometime with my best friends. It's usually a couple of hours for dinner, a cup of coffee, and a bucketful of talk. Other than the aforementioned, most of the non-work related time goes to "T" (No names?? :D).

It seems to me that I'm trying to justify how I manage my time, successfully or unsuccessfully for that matter. I've decided that I'm going to rate my time management performance as "average". Unfortunately, that is not enough for me. An "outstanding" is what I want to achieve. Personal assessment is harder than a panel of directors, I think.

So what am I trying to point out? I want more time. I want to spend more time with "T". I want to spend more time with my family. I want to spend more time with my entire circle of friends. I want to spend more time for myself. Everyone I mentioned holds so close to my heart. They made me who I am at the moment.

Hhmmm... It's back to the drawing board for me.

Time. So Much and So Little.

I have nothing to do. I'm bored out of my brains. Yet, it's still 2 hours before my shift ends. This is one of the downsides of being in a compressed workweek. I'm actually done for the day. I finished everything I needed to do 3 hours after I started my shift. I need to be more productive.

Boredom is something that I will be adjusting to soon. I need to find a way to maximize the time I have. Hmm... What to do? I'll be able to write here more. I'll be able to read more of the novels I so love. I'll be able to exploit the resources here in the office more. (LoL).

Since I'm now in a compressed workweek (which means that I didn't get the promotion I was hoping for but I don't care since the person who got promoted deserved it), I have been able to get an additional day of rest (I just use it for sleep). This is the time I try to clean up my house, try to put the washed clothes in my closet, try to find the courage to finish my blog template, and try to get re-acquainted with everything else.

So anyway, I've been quite busy during weekends for the past couple of weeks. It's the season of the company's annual Sports fest. I'm in our account's volleyball team. So far, our team's standing is 3-0. Haha. Championships, here we come. Kidding aside, playing volleyball again has been refreshing. My stamina has deteriorated drastically compared to when I was still in High School. I must say, the skills have retained but I need to work on being tired after a set and a half. Sadly, smoking has already taken its toll.

We have not been attending our zips class. At first, it was just because of the weather. Eventually, everyone was just pre-occupied with something. Don't get me wrong, we're still very interested in completing the 6 modules (were at module 4 now); it's just that the weekends have been really busy. We'll find time, soon.

This is the irony. I’m bored when I’m at work. When I don’t have work, I can’t seem to get enough time to accomplisheverything. Maybe it will be better soon. I will learn to adapt. Tell you about it later.

Mr. Manager and Customer Service

Working for almost 2 years in a customer service oriented industry has made me change how I personally expect receiving customer service. It dramatically increased my expectations as a consumer. I always make it sure that people I help out at work gets 110% customer satisfaction right after our transaction. The extra mile is always present when I help out. I couldn’t help it but to expect the same in return when it’s my turn to become the consumer.

Yesterday, right after my shift, I decided to treat myself to some retail therapy. It’s the time of the month again where I immerse myself in the countless possibilities of being at the mall. After my haircut, I started at it. Store after store I went searching for the best buys someone like me can have. To tell you the truth, as much as I would’ve liked to say I bought the coolest pair of loafers someone could buy, I was only able to get myself a pair of cheap earphones (Though it sounded like it was worth $200. It’s the Philips SHE255). I wasn’t able to find something I really liked. I went from Glorietta, Greenbelt, to Galeria but nothing tickled my interest. So I just got the earphones because Cash was raving about it for weeks now. (You wouldn’t believe how discerning she is when it comes to stuff so I know that it is a good pair).

Getting back in tune of my intro, right after the shopping spree, or lack of it, I decided to hitch a ride from my mom to our house. That was around 4PM. She agreed but she had plans for an early dinner before going home. So we agreed to meet at her office’s lobby then straight to the restaurant. Wan Chai is a Chinese restaurant near her office. It is the restaurant she unfortunately chose. It is the restaurant where the manager apparently doesn’t value customer satisfaction. She ordered some fish, shrimp, beef with broccoli, and half a dozen varieties of dimsum and dumplings. The food is your normal Chinese delicacy; nothing too special about it. At least it didn’t reek with MSG like some of the other Chinese places. It was time for the shrimp dumplings.

It stinks!!! It tasted so old that the shrimp was itchy on the palate and the wrap felt like wood. I immediately asked for our waitress after I had the ghastly how-dare-they-serve-and-call-that-food thing completely out of my mouth and some water to wash out the wretchedness. I politely pointed out the lack of freshness of the dumpling and asked all the other ones served be taken back. I also asked them, with the approval of my mom, to just cancel that particular order. The orders were taken back to the kitchen and after a few seconds, Mr. Manager comes asking what the deal was about. I again politely pointed out that the shrimp dumpling was bad. He started being defensive that when the orders came, it is always fresh. It’s always straight to the freezers. My mom butted in with her points of not knowing that it is indeed fresh and what if those were week-old dumplings. Mr. Manager didn’t just agree with us and walked away and let us enjoy the rest of the decent dishes. He had to just prove his point that the shrimp dumplings were the finest and we had to pay for just one order since it was already consumed (or mutilated).

That was the moment I thought he went too far. He expected us to pay for something that was inedible. He expected us to barter with good money and bad goods. Money was not the issue. The issue was about us not being happy campers because of a product of theirs. Mr. Manager didn’t even apologize, much less empathize, that we had to endure such a horrid experience from their establishment. He just pointed out that we had to pay for the order. He simply just went too far; and my mom felt the same way. Mr. Manager got his share of tongue-lashing.

If that had been my restaurant, the order was immediately cancelled after the customer pointed out that it was bad, no questions asked (or rebuttals for that matter). Then the customer would have a choice of replacing the order with another one with out extra charge. They would even get an extra dish on the house. In that way, I would make sure that my restaurant will not have a bad reputation (more revenue for us). That particular customer will still come back (more revenue for us again). My restaurant will have a free marketing campaign by word of mouth (more revenue for us again). Everybody will be satisfied. The stupid dumplings will just be marked as bad in inventory.

That didn’t happen. I don’t think my mom (and everybody from their company) will dine in that restaurant again. Rumors will start to build about that restaurant. Eventually, no one will eat there and they will be forced to close down the franchise. Such a pity.

If only Mr. Manger was aware of customer satisfaction, he’d be a better manager. Hopefully his boss will not hear about this ordeal because it will mean his job.

So what happened with the shrimp dumpling ordeal? We paid for the stupid single order that was “consumed”. Mr. Manager didn’t personally assist with serving the bill. And, hopefully Mr. Manager will have the urge to switch careers (With any luck not in a customer oriented industry unless he learns the value of customer satisfaction) to avoid that from happening again with other consumers.

June: Where did it go? July: Huh?

So, yeah, June and July have been pretty busy for me. It does show here, right? No posts or updates of any sort? Well, yeah, pretty busy.

July was the month that I have been privileged to achieve my pseudo-promotion. Well, it is a promotion but has the same monetary compensation. This is the Tier 2 to Tier 3 kind of promotion. You get a new set of responsibilities, mind you; these are the tasks that, as the client refer to it, "the end of the line", for escalations for our account, and yet pay's the same. Another thing is NO more SAVEs incentives. So I say goodbye to impulsive buying, for now. What the heck, I'M NOT STRESSED. That's something I don't think money can buy.

I've been joining the PlanetZips crew every Sunday afternoon in Valle 1 for, you've guessed it right, zips (or poi). I've been at it for a month and a half already (on and off). I haven't been attending regularly though but I must say, our batch is quite good. We're promising. Paulino said so. LoL. I'll take it from the pro with this one. This zips thing has done wonders for me. I can remember the first day I attended. I didn't want to go. I was dead tired even if I didn't do anything strenuous before that. It was the time of the year when I was just putting my best effort but nothing was going right. I was indeed down. A couple of hours after that, lo and behold, I felt I was reborn. (Yeah, here’s a testimonial for the PlanetZips crew). I felt the adrenalin back in my veins. I felt that I could do anything I wanted. I was just pumped up. Thank God, this euphoria still lingers until this very moment.

I've also been getting my feet in management. No, I didn't take classes. I have been trying to get a few internal interviews for a true blue promotion. I've been thinking of becoming a supervisor for the company. I, helping people reach the pinnacle of their career maturity, that's what I'm planning on doing. It started with the ramp up of other accounts in the company. Friends and acquaintances applied and deservingly got the position. It did cross my mind that I too will be able to be efficient with the position. So I had to take the first step, completing the internal job application form which basically is a list of achievements within the company and a brief explanation why you are interested and qualified for the job. With that, I needed to answer a 5 question sheet focusing on being a supervisor. It was like high school term paper week all over again. It was going to be fun but I didn't know where to start. Luckily, I had an angel start it up for me. Ideas, gist, terminologies were all served on a silver platter for me to consume. They are all for my disposal. After a week of cramming, editing, and a dozen proof-reading, I had with me my official IJAF and needed requirements. I was on my way.

The plan was for me to try out for supervisory positions with other accounts in the company since there were a lot, as in everybody was growing. Then I heard that our own little account was also in need of “guides” for our agents. So I just submitted my application for that position, right before the deadline ended. I had some mock interviews with people who were willing to share their time for my benefit (and I did get a lot of tips from you, thanks again). So it was time to wait for the interview itself.

As far as I can remember, my interview was initially scheduled for a Thursday morning at 5:00 AM. Next thing I knew, it became a Friday morning, same time. Unfortunately (to my stress level's bursting limit), it got rescheduled again for Tuesday morning, same time. (That weekend in between those days were hell for me. All I could think about was that interview. How it will go, how I'll do, will I flunk, stammer, grasp for words, and worst of all, mind go blank). Moving on, the interview came. It was no big deal. I think I intelligently answered all necessary questions. The thing is, it could've been better. People say that it's usually the case with interviews but this one, I know that I've could’ve done much better. Oh well, I went with all of this for the experience anyway and that chance to be considered as well. At this point, there has been no announcement yet. It’s still a waiting game. I'm not expecting anything though. Hoping that it will be me, yes, but expecting, no.

While I'm waiting (goes true for all the other 7 applicants), I'm just thinking about other aspects of my life: family, friends, myself, etc. It's like I'm sticky noting things I can think of and just posting it on a random wall of my thoughts. There's no organization at all. At least, everything's being taken care of in one go. How sloppy, I know. It's efficient nevertheless, for me.

So, that's how most of my June and July went. No details. It sucks. Better do a better job of blogging my thoughts more often.

Coffee Shops and Friends

Good friends are hard to find. I have a handful. I am blessed.

I just got home from Starbucks, Tomas Morato. I went out with some of my good and long time friends. Gerard, Ron, Czar, and I haven't seen each other for a couple of weeks now. It was a long overdue meet up. The last time I saw them was when we were in Boracay. In Ron's case, 2 weeks before the Boracay trip. Earlier, Jason and Chris were with us at Figaro, Brick Road. They had to be on their way since they had other things to do. It was nice seeing them anyway, even if it was quite brief.

Being with them assured me of our eternal bond. I just couldn't help but smile when snippets of our past were brought up. We were talking about being all grown-up; how that particular Starbucks brought back many fond memories; how it built each ones character. I still felt the familiar calmness that always gave me strength. They will still be there to watch my back for me.

---

A particular conversation earlier stuck with me till now. Gerard was telling me about his latest adventure. He met this guy that he said was so into him. Unfortunately, it was not mutual. So the text messages were not returned; that was for a week's time. One of the last messages that was sent to him said, “The things you do to people around you now is the reason why you are still single.” I just thought, the truth of that statement should have left a mark in Gerard. It was one of the things that he longs for, I guess. Sharing his life with another person is what he lacks. It is what he misses. He then admitted that all of the people that touched his life, in that way, were remembered. A couple of them did a real number to him. I just wish his dry spell ceases sooner than later.

Czar also brought up something near that department. It was like a plot from some TV soap. His date had a best friend of an ex that had an acquaintance with his ex and then he met the ex that had a grudge on him before then they became friends. The story was somewhere on that line. It was quite amusing to know that stories like that are indeed real and not just stirred up from one's imagination. It made me think how wide his friend network was. Czar and his acquaintances, I guess it was from all the dating he has been keeping himself busy with. Good for him.

---

I'm now looking forward to meeting with them again. It was one of our weekly rituals before. Unfortunately, it seemed to stop. Work and other social obligations are just piling up for each one of us. Even if that is the case, I know that the next time, they will still be my good and long time friends. Kudos to us.

My Typical Weekend

Today is a Sunday. We just finished having dinner. The feeling was quite similar. It was nothing out of the ordinary. I mean that with good intentions. It was just my mom, my sister, my brother, our help, and me, all sitting around the table, eating in intermittent silence. It was our thing, I guess. We don't talk too often while eating, unless we have a guest around. Times like these, we just enjoy the food that was served. Once in a while, someone starts a conversation. Usually it is about a movie that one saw, a controversial move by the government, or sometimes, it’s just as silly as a caterpillar crawling my sister's shirt. I treasure these moments. I always feel our contentment in being together, even if it is just at weekends.

This is one of the hassles of working at odd hours. You miss your family more often than you like.

Yesterday's events are turning to be routine. After my shift, I grab a few bottles of beer with officemates. After that, I meet him and we go to their house. There, we just hang around with his roommates. I get to know him a little more every time I'm there. It always surprises me. Thanks to the help of his trust-worthy best friend, I get to peek what he was like before which makes me understand him better. It may have been becoming a routine but I am learning to love every minute of it. In fact, I think that's how I’d like it to be.

In a couple of minutes, I will be meeting some friends for coffee. It's one of the things we do best, just hang around. I assume we'll be talking about the movie they just watched. We'll also be touching the subject of some friends we know, how they've been, what happened when we last saw them. I think it will be fun, as usual.

Tomorrow will be a brand new day. I'll be meeting him for dinner. It is a special occasion for us. It's the fourth month.

I caught up with my reading earlier. I'm now half way The Guardian. It's starting to get creepy. This is the exciting part. I must say, from what I have already read, it's not half bad. It made me feel a handful of emotions. And I was indeed caught up with what was happening.

So, today's a Sunday. My weekend is almost up. It is just more than 24 hours before work starts again. Have I done anything worth talking about? This is a typical weekend anyway.

A Lazy Saturday Morning

It's a Saturday morning. Here I am creating a new post in an Internet café with free access. I'm about to go to their house right now. We're just waiting for his shift to finish. I just came from a drinking session in Valero Café with my teammates. It was the usual, small talk here and there, the overly familiar silence when a topic finished. We then started talking about something forbidden. It was a forbidden affection of a teammate to a teammate. It was hilarious with sweaty palms, brief-to-the-point-of-being-vague answers and such.

(I stopped typing for around 5 minutes)

I just added a few friends in Friendster. I really don't have anything to do. I'm getting bored.

(I surfed the net for around 3minutes this time)

He lent me a copy of The Guardian by Nicholas Sparks. When he gave the book to me, it came along with a warning. “You should not read this when you're alone. It might creep the hell out of you.” So until now, I'm still at chapter 3. He said that it was quite a good book. Anyway, I'm meaning to finish that by next week that is if time permits.

So, Da Vinci Code The Movie, how was it? I guess it was okay. I didn't like how Tom Hanks portrayed Robert Langdon since he seemed like he knew the answers right away. I imagined Robert Langdon as trying to grab answers trying to solve the mystery. Here, it just seemed like he already knew it right then and there. Or maybe it was just me? Anyway, one this is for sure. It didn’t bore me. It was a good 2 and a half hour spent well.

What’s next? I’ll be logging out soon. Though there’s also a promise of a better tomorrow.

______________________________
P.S. I just wanted to do something during this time. This is the result. :)

A Magical Week

I just had dinner and decided to get some coffee. It’s quite early to get ready for work. I still have like an hour and a half to do anything I like. A cup of coffee in hand, I went to my room and started up my computer. The first thing I always do is open my iTunes. I decided to listen to Give It Away by Deepest Blue. My mind raced back a couple of days ago when I was lounging around at Cocomangas in Boracay. The stars were just awesome.

The last time I was in Boracay was 6 years ago. I went there with my family. It was when we felt like touring the Philippines. Boracay was one of our destinations. It didn’t fail our expectations. I decided to be back. That dream came true just a couple of days ago.

We had a whole week to be there. I was with the people I really hold dear in my heart. It was magical to say the least. Being there felt like home. We ate, we drank, we gazed, we got burned, we lounged around, we ate again, we slept, we swam, and we ate some more. It was paradise at its best. Everything was perfect.

To tell you honestly, while I was there, it didn't seem like that. It was all normal; nothing registered out of the ordinary. It's just now that I really appreciate the intense beauty of the place. It's just now when I'm about to be struck by reality again in a couple of hours that I envy “the me” just sitting on a bean bag by the sand. I can still hear the rustle of the coconut leaves and the whispering waves hitting the sand.

I will be back again, that's for sure. Until then, I'll just have this song to remind me of that magical week.

Connections Are In

A funny thing happened to me today. It made me put things in perspective. I’m glad that it happened. Anyway, here it goes.

I just wanted to go to the mall today. So, I did. It was a perfect day to go to the mall. The sun was high so A/C is well appreciated. I wanted to buy some more things for Boracay, just some toiletries and similar things. I made prior arrangements with Chris for this. We met up at the mall.

We met up in Robinson's Metro East since he went to the gym. I was able to go to several shops trying to find things to bring for Boracay. I didn't find anything I liked. After a floor and a half of looking around, Chris sent me a message saying he's finished and we could already meet up. I met him at F&H while I was trying on a cute pair of sunglasses. We were both in shorts and flip-flops. Chris was just wearing his usual cap and I just had my belt bag on since my board shorts didn't have any pockets on it. I couldn't help noticing that since my mind is so immersed with summer that moment. A couple of shops after, we decided to try out the new movie theater in Sta. Lucia. We agreed to bring the car there so we wouldn't walk back to Metro East after the movie.

In Sta. Lucia, we got ourselves movie tickets first before shopping again. We were going to see “Tristan and Isolde”. After confirming the screening time, we went to all the “summer-y” shops trying to find a good buy. Unfortunately, we were not able to see anything we liked. So, we just went to buy toiletries. After buying a whole lot of “necessities”, we decided to get some coffee over at Figaro. On our way there, I remembered I wanted to get myself a pair of sunglasses. I saw some cute ones in F&H yesterday in Glorietta that I tried on earlier, so, I lugged Chris to F&H to get the pair. Happy with my new sunglasses, we went straight to Figaro for our well-deserved refreshments.

It was nice talking to Chris again. I mean just him and me. We were just chatting the time away with what we can do in the next couple of years, like taking a trip to Singapore this October, him recalling the night before with Czar and friends, and him pursuing a business of his own. There was this serenity in our conversation. I didn’t feel rushed, solemn even.

Before we even knew it, time has passed and it was time for our “oh-so-ever-romantic” movie. There we were, sitting in the newly setup cinema, watching the previews of the must-seen movies this May, when it suddenly hit me, my newly-purchased, über-cute sunglasses have been left somewhere. The worst part of it is I didn’t know where I left it. I told Chris that it must have been in the wash room. That was the most logical place I've left the damn glasses. I was sad for like 5 seconds then I decided to let the thought go since they were not that expensive. At the back of my mind, I kept on thinking how I could’ve spent those couple of hundred pesos.

The movie was great. It was quite similar to LOTR but shorter and smaller in scope. We were walking to the car when I noticed Chris’ hair flying around. It him me that he was wearing his cap earlier. I immediately checked his hands to see if he was carrying them. No cap in his hands. “Asan ang sumbrero mo?” (Where's your cap?), I said. He started feeling his head and realized that he took it off in the movie theater. He unusually placed it on the left seat when he always puts it on his right side. Fact of the matter is, his one-of-the-most-beloved caps is gone and we don't know if we can still get it back. I suggested calling the cinemas to give them a heads up of the situation. He really wanted to get it back because of sentiments. After around 5 minutes of thinking hard and laughing ourselves off about what the day had been (I lost my new pair of sunglasses and he lost his cap, and thinking that lady luck was so against us), we decided to just let it go and kiss his cap goodbye.

He saw a security guard and decided to give it one last try. He asked the security person if he could give the cinema authorities a heads up about his cap and if he could just pick it up tomorrow if ever they do find it. He was instructed to go to their small booth since there was a radio there to get instant results. He went down the car and went straight to their booth. I was left sitting in the car. After a couple of minutes, Chris told he me that he was instructed to go back to the cinema. He did and I was left in the car again. I just called up Ron to tell him how unlucky that day was going for us and how things should not turn worse. Anyway, there I was, sitting alone in the car, when I saw Chris going out the door with a big grin. I saw his hands clutching his valued cap. It was a happy moment when he was telling me how it all happened. He was so happy that he wanted to treat me to a light snack. He remembered how he liked this pasta in Figaro and he decided he wanted that for a snack before we headed home.

We drove to Brick Road and sat down at the other side of Figaro. We ordered and talked about how fortunate he was to find the cap. I told him that it seemed that our luck was changing and how funny things were going. Of course, we talked about my lost sunglasses and how he will try to look for it tomorrow when he goes back to the mall. I really appreciated Chris offering to still look for it even if it wasn't necessary. So, our food and beverage was served. Just out of curiosity, we asked the waiter about the sunglasses. I had to describe it in detail to prove that it was indeed mine if ever it was there. I believe we were wishful thinking then. So he left and said he’ll check.

We went back to talking about the history of his cap, how his brother gave it to him and how it made Chris remember his brother. I think Chris was currently taking a bite of his pesto when his eyes grew wide. He started staring at something behind me. I turned around and there was the waiter holding a tray, carrying my lost sunglasses. We started laughing uncontrollably at our fate. I didn’t think about the worth of the sunglasses. I just thought about how everything seemed to be a prank by someone. I was not ready to believe it.

I immediately thought about how everything was intertwined. All the events that had happened that day were for a purpose. From the shopping, to getting exhausted from shopping, to having refreshments at Figaro, to the movie, to Chris’ cap, it was all connected. Come to think of it, it’s not that funny anymore. It’s awesome and comforting. The way the day unfolded was like a chapter from a book. Everything was planned, some questions were answered, and yet the ending hasn’t been told yet.

It was indeed funny at that time. Now it just makes me realize that all the events that I experience also affects others who I know or don’t know. A sense of belonging still surrounds me till this moment. I’m glad that I’m not alone.

Starting Fresh

Summer's here. Birthday is nearer than ever. The beach is just a few days away. The well deserved vacation is inches away. This will be the fresh start I am looking for.

Welcome back to blogging. =)