Countdown to work Part 2

After my first post, I did sleep for four straight hours. Seeing the gloomy sky made it hard for me to do something strenuous, so I read a few chapters of a novel then went down to the living room and skimmed through DVD titles that I could watch. I picked Mike Nichols' 80's film starring Harrison Ford and Melanie Griffith, The Working Girls, possibly a way to give me a head start. I've always loved this movie and I find the fairytale nature of it done in cutthroat corporate arena very enticing. Classic, but that arena (Wallstreet) is in slumps now. So I think being in Tess McGill's shoes at a time like this seems very daunting. That's all I can say or expound on. I'm not supposed to think about work today, not yet, which leads me to the observation that writing isn't really coming naturally today. I know I have a few opinions building up, but I think I'll just reserve everything for tomorrow. As my friend AJ mentioned awhile ago while we were helping Bags to relocate to her new home, today is a rest day, well definitely even for writing.

Countdown to Work Part 1

I woke up early...again. I appreciate that my body clock is preparing me for work, but I really appreciate it if it could just allow me to get through 6 hours of sleep. This might be my last days of undeterred sleep wherein I wouldn't wake up faced with deadlines, traffic and time constraints. But my body wouldn't cooperate.

In my favorite pajamas, I got my hassle-hoff, hideously mountainous requirements and started to do some paperwork. I arranged salient documents that cover my professional existence and I was immersed at getting these things done before lunch. I got my pictures, glue, giant paper clips and heaps of folder I'm required to read and sign. My fingers hurt for filling up so many different forms while my eyes and mind are pretty much bored and exhausted by reading technical and uninteresting contracts that my position has to UNDERSTAND and COMPLY with. Sometimes it's kind of annoying that contracts think of every possible glitch they could write up to make you accountable. It's worse if you have a bigger chunk of responsibility. Double up the contracts for you.

For now, I'm not going to talk about my looming, exciting, rewarding and challenging work. As much as I'm excited and honored by my new position, I can't explain it still. I still have to see my ergo-chair first before actually writing about the vibe. 5 more days are what I have to relax and that means to not think about anything work related (I'd have more time for that soon) and just sleep, eat, sleep. Live a BUM's life in 5 DAYS? Easy.

When Nitwits do Exist Vol 1.

I'm feeling like Xtin right now, a friend who is a master at repelling these nasty feelings against certain members of humanity by ranting about it (Her funny Blog here). It's a worse case if I rant because I'm typically the type of person who has a high tolerance for weird, eccentric and annoying behaviors. I get annoyed, irritated and devilish, most of the times, that's true. But I don't go as far as RANT about it the whole day and to be totally pissed to make a post about it. I just usually leave the scene of the crime. But this time, I'm going to rant.

It helps if you're familiar of the setting and a couple of salient information:

PLACE OF IRRITATION: Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf Greenbelt. Specifically the outdoor section, facing Gbelt 3, at the corner, nearest to the electric outlet.

TIME OF IRRITATION: 10ish - 11ish, quiet, gloomy morning.

CULPRITS OF IRRITATION: 2 Mid-20's or (probably late 20's) sosyalera girls.

REASON FOR IRRITATION: Didn't get to see the face...too irritated already with their VOICE. (To be expounded on later)


THE OFFICIAL RANT:

Usually when I'm having my alone time, I tend to look like I'm observing people. In fact I really do, but sometimes I am too consumed with my own world that for I moment I become deaf. I already have a lot of thoughts ringing in my head that I only tend to observe visually. I'm not used to eavesdropping nor hearing mindless chats because I form my own chats in my head (no matter how psycho that sounds). That's why I don't really get to eavesdrop unless you really..really want me to.

I was enjoying my "alone time" in this cozy corner as I saw most of the tables and chairs devoid of humans. Just how I like it, the feeling of isolation. I was jotting down a few ideas as I saw people come and go, not particularly digesting them in full detail. For all I know it, the person who occupied the nearest table from me (since I was the nearest to the socket and she was fumbling with her mac) already left. I noticed that fact when two obviously "sosyal" (Overly sophisticated) girls approached my area and chose to sit at the table beside me, which trapped my right side since I was seated at the corner. So just imagine if I had an LBM (Lose bowel Movement) attack, I would have to aggressively order them to move or eventually drag one of them down for me to get through (Depends on the case). I didn't mind them, still. At this time...they haven't spoken yet.

You see, I really don't mind if a group of people talks in highfaluting choice of words. I get annoyed, but fine I allow people to show off. I don't even mind if people TRY HARD for the wrong reasons. I even easily forgive locals who are too westernized in this eastern country. I have so many reasons to thank for anyways. This country is blessed with knowledgeable people who can or can try to speak English to the best of their abilities. That is our edge anyways, might as well capitalize on it. With the rise of call centers and westernized cultures and intonations, you have to get used to the English sound waves may be it good, passable, "barok" or "hideous slang." But what I don't like are MEGAMOUTH people who might think they're talking to deaf people who live an island apart, in a place of WANTED silence that can never be an obstacle to encourage private and discreet tone of conversation. Add the fact that they use bad case of sosyalerang TAGLISH. The worst kind of Taglish that's always accompanied by words like: "Parang, it's like, eh, whatever, oh my god, TEH-GAHLog" said in a way that would make Jose Rizal, if alive, hurl. They converse in megamouth volumes, with tones that's patterned like Kim Kardashians or Paris Hilton's, with a very bad TAGLISH sentence construction, with topics that revolve either in boys, fashion and parties. Combine those and you have a perfect bomb to piss me off.

Sample conversations:

Girl 1: "So when how long will he, like, be gone?
Girl 2: "Like mga 4 months."
Girl 1: "It's not like gonna be tagal naman pala"
Girl 2: "I know, right? I don't even know like why I'm acting this way. Most of my officemates kinda make me puna na I'm like weird and affected."
Girl 1: "Pero you're going to fly to LA rin diba?"
Girl 2: "Yeah."
Girl 1: "LA lang or like with a side trip to Vegas or Sanfo?"
Girl 2: "With San fo. I'm going to meet his family there e."
Girl 1: "Oh my god.."
Girl 2: "I'm okay, with like families, but parang I like it better when he has like...brothers nalang. I'm not really good with girls e. I'm so mapili when it comes to girls."
Girl 1: "Oh yeah, Like I know how you feel. I'm such kind of bitchy with girls rin."
Girl 2: "Well not really like bitchy, pero parang like, I can talk to you but don't expect me to like be closey with you. I mean I could be like civil, parang okay lang tayo, but like you know."
Girl 1: "You're so right. I'm also like that e. I am girly, but I like relating with boys more."
Girl 2: "Yeah, parang like one of the boys!"
Girl 1: "Yeah, one of the boys e!"
Girl 1: "One of the boys, but not like tomboys or something."


Imagine a series of that, spoken in megamouth volume, with Paris-like shrieks, talking about boys, their fashion and other people (probably who talk like that as well), LIKE it's their mantra. If you're going to talk so loud for most people to hear, try to use sentences that are less painful to decipher. Tell it in either Tagalog or straight English. Speak in TAGLISH if you may, but not the Paris-Hilton taglish because it's just so annoying to hear. It just elevates you to the SOSYALERANG-TRYING -HARD-TO-BE-MASA-NA-PRETTY-POPULAR-KOLEHIYALA- TYPE. Geez,look what you made me do? Is that even a valid type?

I wasn't able to resume my activities and realized that crumpling paper is therapeutic. I got out my camera and started to take pictures of my table, hoping to steal a picture of those two nitwits, but the other girl kept starting at me as if I'm a spawn that gone mad. "Oh I'm so sorry for bothering you when I perfectly know you're not good with girls..especially irritated ones." I sarcastically said this to myself as I returned the stare. Just in time, my brother called to fetch me up, before I sizzled with delight. I fixed my things, grabbed my laptop bag and looked at the girl who blocked my way. She immediately moved her seat and tried to clear the other chair on her side. Well, she might be a nitwit, but good thing she still has an ounce of consideration in her veins, considering that I'm a girl and considering she fell silent, a little too late.

And you wonder why you see THEM everywhere

And I thought my years as a student were glimpses of hell. I swallowed the aches and anxieties that academic and parental expectations made me go through thinking I'm extraordinary while I suffered the worst lot. My father's one of a kind rage, on my-less-than-desired performance in Advanced Algebra and Chemistry, made me consider if my accumulated Christmas savings would be able to sustain me when I run away to Cebu. Right now, I even try to bash my parents for pressuring or what they would re-term as "encouraging" my brother to maintain his top 3 spot in his whole batch of 14 sections (although my brother is perfectly fine on the ego trip).

Being in school is not a walk in the park. Within school, we get first tastes of stress, failures and pressures. But that's how we learn and be better at life, right? But I think we're one of the few countries in Asia, or in the world, to have more lenient educational system and culture. Throw in the fact that our predominant religion, Roman Catholic/Christian, is one of the most lenient religions in the world. But we never really relied or encouraged society to develop "pressure-cooked students." We tend to value growth in different aspects, which fails sometimes to strike a balance through progress. We may encourage great performance from students, but we do not try to overly compromise their happiness, leisure and health above anything else. We value education as much as we value interaction with other people, spiritual growth and street smarts. We may invest in tutors, but not in "military-like" educational institutions. Parents in other countries sacrifice to the bone and as much as pressure their kids to get accepted in a good college, a really VERY GOOD college, as their guaranteed ticket to financial success and a secure future. They are right to some extent, but we somehow take it in different intensity and light. Like my friend once said, "We Filipinos really do not see MONEY as our everything. We don't see it as an entire measure of success. That's just how we are brought up. But unfortunately we take it to extremes sometimes that's why we're poor at MONEY."

Now, probably I have an idea of one of the REASONS why we see so many Korean students flocking the Philippine lands. I see them almost everywhere, and no they didn't come here to tour, not most of them. The Koreans who flock here, aside from tourists and expats, are students. They may find education here very cheap, the scenery very exciting, but they have other special reasons as well.

Now I know WHY.

Pressed for time and there was 711

I forgot to bring my feces sample to the clinic this morning and I had to get a medical exam done today.

They won't administer the test unless I give them what they're looking for, which is something I magnificently forgot at home.

Crisis.

But...

If there is a will. There is a way.

All you need is a quick trip to 7 11 and a 50 pesos cash.

Give yourself a few minutes and ounce of will power.


*If you can't find any Castor Oil or laxatives, find a nearby Mini Stop or 711. Buy a piece of banana, tissues, fastener that come in pairs (so you wouldn't buy the whole pack of popsickle sticks/fork/bbque sticks) and cold water. If you do smoke, 1 stick would do just fine.


*Get the white part of the fastener. Coil it and form it into a hook. Adjust it to your fingers accordingly.

Voila.

The apparatus worked for me magically. Hope this could be helpful to others in the future. Or better yet, hope the time never comes wherein you have to do it in a very compromising and disadvantageous situation like I did.

Horrors of Medical Examination

WARNING: This post is about things you wouldn't normally discuss while eating...or normally discuss at all . If you get the picture. Proceed and skip at your own accord. If not, well, one word...poop.


Undergoing a medical examination is not really a pain in the ass especially if you allot some time to it. It's just a general procedure that a person gets to do once in a blue moon, unless that person is job hopping. You do the normal registration, vital statistics measurement, eye exam, xray exam, blood sampling, and if your company requires you to strip down and expose your ass to the hapless doctor, then all of it could be done in a few hours time and hopefully in one clean sweep. I've always been trained to welcome needles ever since I was a kid, so it wasn't something horrendous for me. I am perfectly fine with getting my vital stats although I prefer that they immediately write it down than broadcast it to the nurse at the end of the hall, who happens to write down the records. No one needs to see you stuffed, with exact numbers stamped in your forehead. I'm even a-okay with the whole xray examination procedure, even if a "straight, fairly good looking guy" asks about your menstrual cycle and eventually requests to take your bra off. Heck, I'm totally fine to strip down for an intimate check up with a female doctor, although I can't say if the doctor was to be male. It never happened to me ever, and hopefully they've got good female to male ratio in these clinics. Otherwise, I would probably freak out as well.

So, everything else (for me) falls in the pleasant category except for two things. The Stool and Urine Sample. Stool and Urine, no matter how biological or natural it is, go straight to the toilet. I don't think about it and I don't intend to manage it in any way. It's quite uncomfortable and particularly annoying when you're trying to store your own, excuse the term, "poop" into some container. Of course before you can actually store it, you'd have to scoop, nip (whatever term you'd want) it first. After the deed is done, I'd usually feel pity. I'd immediately feel sorry for the container and stool apparatus no matter how lifeless they are. It's just plain disgusting, unnaturally done but very necessary, which makes it such a drag.

But stool is not as bad as urine. In stool, there's an ounce of preparation and the movement is often controlled, unless of course one is suffering from LBM, but getting a urine sample takes art and spatial calculation. The worst thing about it is, they have so many requirements in getting the urine. You'd have to wait a couple of seconds after the first flow and they'd ask you to fill the whole plastic bottle/cup. It's especially harder for women because the "passageway/source" of urine is less helpful than male species'. Expect the worst here; and by worst it means requiring you to bring lots of tissues, an alcogel or if you're diligent, some disposable gloves.

I have to give it up to those medical techs who have to face these specimens every single day. They search for meaningful findings in undesired human wastes. It requires special skills, knowledge, tough stomach and high tolerance for well...wastes of others. The visuals, smells and the dirt in it.

Half Day Accomplishment

I love it when I finish everything that I'm tasked to do before lunch. Everytime I do, I feel my days are longer and everything's brighter (despite the literal gloom). I'm more energetic and accommodating to people; and it makes me want to celebrate by cooking something, which I will do this afternoon. The only bad part of the whole process is waking up really really early and going through the whole morning routine when you're supposed to be at home, waking up at brunch. But after that, everything will be breezy as long as you keep a positive perspective.

I asked my dad to drop me off at BIR to fix certain papers as part of my requirements to my new employer. I have a deadline by Friday and I really wanted to get a head start on things. While going there I was preparing myself to face a hectic space cramped with people. I even internalized to wait for a few hours just to get a few things done. But when I arrived there at 7:05 AM, the Atrium was still pretty quiet and spotless. But when I reached the 5th floor, there were already BIR officers transacting with a couple of people. I figured they just start early. Looking for instructions where to proceed, there was a man who immediately approached me and offered his assistance. Insulting his goodwill in my mind (I thought he was a fixer), it turned out he was some sort of officer in BIR. Silly me. I explained my purpose as he checked my file in his computer. He already told me what to do and directed me to this very efficient and cheerful woman (cheerful at 7 am, bless her), to process my papers. By 7:45 I was out of the building.

I went out and tried to look for a taxi. The building guard offered his help and in a few minutes, got me one. I started to think of my good fortune as I went to Makati City Hall. I thought about bad things that could happen for the day since everything's going as planned. Not all days are good to me. I stopped and just realized that I was such a natural pessimist.

Upon arriving at Makati City Hall I was astonished to find that the building was so developed, modernized and better than any other Makati offices in the area. It was my first time there and I was very impressed. Comparing this city hall to other city halls in provinces just make you want to gag and transfer locations. People were friendly and accommodating, offices are very well air-conditioned, spacious and well-lighted. Computers/equipments are modern and updated (flat screens). But my transaction was pretty expensive (double ouch) with the community tax certificate and notary services. It nearly cost me a thousand bucks.

Nevertheless I was done with my morning tasks by 9 and felt my stomach hurling. I grabbed a taxi, again assisted by city hall guard, and asked to be dropped at Greenbelt. I went to Seattle's best, got the regular breakfast combo and decided to try their honey iced tea, which I now love. I read newspapers, magazines and inevitably got my notebook (a literal one) and started to jot down activities and ideas. I was sitting there, completely oblivious to the world and realized that I've been sitting there for more than an hour already, probably looking catatonic to some. But the best part of it is, I felt refreshed and at peace. After a productive early morning, a perfect alone time is what I needed (with a good and smashing breakfast). At around 10, I got a call from Mitch as he was on his way to Davao. It somehow jolted me back to reality. I then started to think of a devilish plan for this afternoon. I realized that I wanted to cook and possibly invite a few friends over. So, I grabbed my bag, met my brother and continued to maximize the remaining day. Peace after productivity is priceless, wouldn't mind doing few sets in one day.


**I'm finding myself to Seattle's for breakfast recently. I just love how they do "my eggs" (kinda sounds off hehe), here too stuffed to finish a piece of toast with my "literal notebook."


**Gloomy isolation. Can't blame me for loving this setting.


*Honey Iced tea...I love