long break

last weekend was one helluva long break. work ended last wednesday afternoon and resumed only today. hayuf! haba ng bakasyon. happy chinese new year!!! kiong hee!!!

last wednesday, a number of my colleagues dropped by the house for a swimming/inuman party. saya din. people got drunk, we learned a new card game, ryan jumped into the pool without extra clothes to change into, alner was present.

friday...nette arrived from manila and we had a barbeque party in our condo.

saturday...slept and ate all day. damn. kaya talaga ako lumalaki. hehe!

sunday...finished up the house chores and prepared for work.

over the weekend, i was surfing about the LCA (again) and realized that the lomo craze has indeed hit manila. it seems that everyone nowadays is into lomo that the novelty has become freakishly boring. hahaha! ewan ko ba. basta lahat into it, nawawalan na ako ng gana...so there goes one of my hobbies again. kapag naging uso na...nakakatamad na.

talked to barry earlier this morning and discussed the topic of being deviant. siguro nga deviant ako and in a way, im happy that i have become like this now. i have realized who are the people i can trust and depend on. hirap din kung lahat tropa pero di mo talaga alam kung sino maasahan mo.

kung pinoy si noah...

i got this from a colleague of mine at work...i normally do not read these types of email as i think it's a waste of time but for some reason or another i found myself actually going through this one...

...it just cracked me up. enjoy!

Kung Pinoy si Noah....

Ganito ang mangyayari sa arko. Read along...

Taong 2005 at isang ordinaryong middle class pinoy si Noah. Nagpakita
sa kanya ang Diyos at sinabing "Pagkatapos ng isang taon ay bubuhos ang
ulan at babahain ang buong kapuluan ng Pilipinas. Gusto kong gumawa ka
ng isang malaking arko at isakay mo rito ang pares-pares
na mga hayop at mga mag-asawang pilipino sa iba't ibang
kapuluan." Ibinigay kay Noah ang specs ng Arko at taos puso nitong
tinanggap ang responsibilidad na sagipin ang sambayanang Pilipino sa
napipintong pagbaha.
Lumipas ang taon, muling nagpakita ang Diyos kay Noah. Walang arkong
nagawa si Noah at galit na galit siyang tinanong ng Diyos, "Nasaan ang
arko na ipinagawa ko sa iyo?" Tumugon si Noah, "Patawarin po ninyo ako
kung di po natupad ang utos ninyo! Nagkaroon po ng malaking problema sa
plano po ninyo."

At inilahad ni Noah ang mga sagabal na nakaharap niya sa pag-gawa ng arko.
Humingi siya ng Mayor's permit
pero papayag lang daw si Mayor kung ang gagawa ng arko ay ang
construction firm ng kanyang pamangkin. Tumungo siya sa Congressman
pero papayag lang daw si Congressman kung may matatanggap siyang
30% commission. Nagtayo ng unyon ang mga kinuha niyang manggagawa at
nag-strike.

Natunugan ng mga left-leaning groups ang kanyang balak at ang mga ito
ay nag-rally dahil daw sa hindi makatarungang pagpili ng mga taong
sasakay sa arko (mga taong naniniwala lang sa Diyos ang pwedeng
sumakay). Nakisali sa rally ang mga bakla at tomboy dahil bias daw na
normal na mag-asawa lang ang pwedeng sumakay.

Ang civil society group ay nakisali na rin sa gulo dahil napag-alaman
daw nila na ang pondong gagamitin sa paggawa ng arko ay galing sa
donasyon ng mga gambling lords at katas ng weteng.

Sa kaguluhang ito ay napilitang magpatawag ng hearing ang senado
"in aid of legislation". Sinubukan ni Noah na gamitin ang EO 464 para
makaiwas sa hearing pero dahil hindi sya executive official, napilitan
siyang tumistigo.


Nang malaman ng senado na utos ng Diyos ang pagpapagawa ng arko,
dineklara nila itong unconstitutional dahil hindi raw nito iginalang
ang separation ng church at state .


Nakialam na rin ang NBI at PNP at sinabi nilang meron silang
impormasyon na ang barko raw na ito ay gagamitin ni Erap sa kanyang pagtakas.
Sinabi naman ng ISAFP at DOJ na it o raw ay gagamitin ng grupong
Magdalo sa binabalak nilang coup laban kay Arroyo. Nilapitan ni Noah si
Mike Defensor para makipag-usap kay GMA. Payag daw si GMA na ituloy ang
arko kung ipapaskil daw sa arko ang malaking mukha ni Arroyo na may
slogan "Towards a Strong Republic". "Hindi po ako pumayag kaya hanggang ngayon
po ay may TRO ang pag-gawa ng arko.

Sa palagay ko po kailangan ko pa ng 10 taon para matapos ang inyong
proyekto." Ang huling wika ni Noah. Napa-iling ang Diyos at sinabing,
"Di ko na kailangang wasakin pa ang bansang ito. Hayaan ko na lang
kayong sumira nito."

happy new year

i know it may seem a bit too late but i will still try to start the year right. happy new year to everyone. it has been a while since i last wrote. was kinda busy with all the corporate bullshit that im now into. i dont even have the time to be emo...thus the reason why i havent really sat down and wrote something here... hehe! emo is gay anyway.

the past year, a lot has happened. while for some, it may seem as if it's just another year...for me, it seems like a lot has happened. being away from my family, friends, the things i love doing, and love spending time with.

first off, i badly miss playing. when i went home last december, i had a chance to play again. i played bass with my other band called holding hands. yes, it somehow has eased the itch but as you well know...there's no substitute for the real thing. i miss playing the guitar and with my band (yes, i hate to admit it). i know what we had was something...uhmm..let's say magical. i do not know whether i can replicate whatever it is i did with that group of people. i know we had our personal differences (in the direction and pacing of the group among things) but i really appreciate whatever it is we had. it's just a shame that we werent able to finish our EP. that would have really been something and maybe...just maybe...leave me fulfilled enough to not scratch that itch anymore. as it is right now, im just contented listening to unmixed recordings and videos (one of which is here). well..that's that and i have to learn to let it go. i have to learn to focus on other things which leads me to...

photography (or lomography if you will). i have started my lomo experience when i was still in manila. i had a few couple of rolls developed but have not scanned any of them yet (i prefer to keep them in their original square hard copies :) ). i am restarting that passion again here in Singapore and have shot my 2nd roll here (which is posted here). i also bought a dslr just for kicks and i have enjoyed every bit of it. it was well worth the money.

another thing that is really stirring me up right now is cooking. i started cooking back in grade school where i would normally experiment with fried rice. after school, i would go straight to the kitchen because i would be very hungry and started making my own dishes. simple stuff like fried chopped hotdogs with bread and egg and egg and garlic fried rice were all i started with and i would be proud to say that i know and i can really cook. as usual, i dont have the technical know how (as with all other stuff i've been or currently is into)...but i believe i still know how to cook. :)

going back...basically i've realized that some things have come and go and were replaced with new things. i just need to learn how to appreciate the things around me and not take them for granted. bawas init ng ulo, bawas inis, bawas frustrations, bawas ill feelings towards other people. oh yeah, i know..."parang di ako"...hehe!

welcome to the new me. happy new year!

updates

whoa. this is my first post since i dont remember when. work and a lot more other stuff has been keeping me pre-occupied that's why i wasnt able to blog more frequently than i would've liked to.
well, with nothing but work and house chores to keep me pre-occupied, i have nothing to blog as well. hahaha!

earlier today, my boss talked to me about my confirmation. for the past 2 weeks, i've been actually nervous regarding this because i havent recieved anything from my boss (except for a pay raise! yipee!). i was thinking that maybe it's possible to give a pay raise to someone who you wouldnt regularize. anyway, i was pretty happy with my boss' feedback over my performance. the thing about it is, she's decided to give me more work. hahaha!

the other thing that has been keeping me busy is my financial status. im trying to find ways to make my money work for me. so i'm kinda doing research and stuff on this as well.

as for my foray into serious photography...my first 2 "photoshoots" was a complete failure. for my first few pictures, i thought that i would easily get what the technicalities with regards to the camera and the settings and all that shit but apparently, im mistaken. hehe! for most of the pictures, the background was clear but the subject was blurred. anyway...i'll still fine tune this and once i start taking kick ass photos, i'll post it online so i can have my own gallery. :D

on nov 13, linkin park will be holding a show here in singapore. baduy. pero manunuod ako. nyahaha! wala, no choice eh..para at least may mapanuod naman ako. the tickets are relatively cheap as well...compared to gwen stefani's outrageous prices.

happy happy day!

congratulations to lesler for her new found love! im so happy for you dude. naks...parang kasal na eh noh? pero seriously, congratulations. you deserve to be happy.

there. for a change, i've posted about something happy. maybe tomorrow i'll have something to rant about again... hahaha!

R.I.P. Eddie

ex-pro baller eddie griffin just died. what a waste of good talent. the man's a perfect example of wasting his god-given talent. i just hope he's happy wherever he is right now.

frustrated incorporated

i just had a little conversation with kurt (former drummer of soapdish, current drummer of moyg and rubberpool) on how the music scene is like back home. based on what kurt has told me, the scene has changed a lot already since I left. i miss the good old days...the days (or should i say nights) wherein we play in saguijo...there are only around 6-7 bands...all good friends at that. the crowd size not so big so we pretty much knew everyone. this type of scenario created a more intimate setting for the musicians to impart their music to the crowd. and who could forget the jamming portion. musicians jam with each other during the band's set. i dunno. maybe it's just me but i really miss those days. i miss playing. i miss making music.

the more i think about it, the more i realized that what we (yes, my old band) had was something special. although we didnt get along much very well (specially the end part) i knew that it was different when we were making music. everything just flowed out freely. there was no structure...no guidelines set. just plain old simple music making and everyone had a say in everything (well, except the lyrics since we leave that part to lara. hehe!). yes, even if it took us around 2 months to write the epic "hanggang takipsilim" it was well worth it. for me, it was and still is one of the best SC songs there is (uhmm there are only around 6 or 7 songs anyway -- hehehe!). it's around 7 minutes long and everyone always has a blast playing it.

i would like to venture into photography but i dont have the money to buy the gear. there's a pc or it show this end of the month. let's see what i can get there but most likely, won't be able to purchase my coveted camera. hehe!

i also like to cook and be a chef or something like that. although i lack the formal training, i can proudly say that i know how to cook and i am able to feed people with real food, not just instant food or canned goods. i think i am too old to go and study cooking. so the next best thing is to open up a restaurant or eatery of my own. the thing is, again...this costs a lot of money.

the frustrations in life...the things you would love to do but cannot. yes, i know. make do with what you have and be happy...but how can you be when you're not doing the things you like to do? yes. i think i just be contented with what i am and what i have right now. no choice.

currently listening to: sugarfree - mundong malungkot

settling down...

it's been around 2 1/2 months since i arrived here in Singapore. Until now, I really can't say that we've settled down already. Things to buy, things to do, this is all too tiring. I miss my family. I miss going to gigs, watching my friends play and even playing myself.

we rented a room in this condo. it's quite expensive but then again, we could not afford to rent our own flat. even if it is expensive, it's quite ok since i share the rent with nette. the thing is, you can't do things the way you want them to be since there are other tenants in the house. I want to buy my own furniture and decorate the living room but i cant. i want to change how the kitchen looks like and is organized but i cant. well, until we have enough money we'll just have to make do with what we have.

right now, even if i miss home i can't imagine myself working back home. the difference between the two countries are just huge. too huge to ignore. now i'm not surprised why everyone is coming here. im quite surprised though at how i am able to manage my own finances. during my first payday. nette and i went out to eat at a place we do not normally eat. i treated my old boss to dinner when he was here. i brought a PSP, i was able to pay off my debt in the philippines. i was able to buy some furniture stuff for the house, do weekly grocery and even save around 43% of my salary for the first month alone. i couldnt believe that i was able to do that. there is just no way that anyone be able to do that in manila unless you're earning more than a hundred thousand.

...now tell me...who says living in singapore is expensive?

things get pretty expensive when...
1. you smoke and you can't stop puffing away. cigarettes here cost around 11sgd. which is around P330 (roughly).
2. you party all day all night. i heard the entrance to a bar like MOS (ministry of sound - something like embassy in manila) is around 20sgd (roughly P600) and the drinks don't come in cheap either. plus...after being robbed by the bar...you need to pay the cab fare which is 1.5 times more than your usual fare (after 12am). Yes, cab rates depend on the time of the day.
3. you drink alcohol even at home. yes, beer, hard drinks are also quite expensive.
4. you do not eat cheap hawker food and go to more elegant places to eat. hawker centers offer a wide variety of dishes with the prices ranging anywhere between 2sgd to 6sgd depending on the type of food you are eating. even McDonald's is more expensive. -- I have never tried McDonald's here and I have no plan to try it out in the near future. Hehe!
5. you turn on your aircon like there's no tomorrow. yes, singapore is hot but is it hotter than manila? it's supposed to be but it isnt. i think it really has something to do with the cleanliness of the place and the abundance of trees around.

in other words...mahal lang magkaroon ng bisyo dito. hehe!

currently listening to: silent sanctuary - ingat ka