Tomorrow and the day after that is gonna be very tiring. I will have to go Pangasinan then back to Manila again in the afternoon. Come Tuesday, it’ll be the same scenario – all because of the company’s 5th site launch. I wanted to cuss the whole day when I saw my schedule. But oh well, whatever.

Anyway, I took a picture of the moon last week in Baguio. It was huge!

 

Balentimes

Saw this movie last Friday with a friend (the only good part of the experience). I am in awe on how the director was able to convince all these actors to be in this movie, because it was to say the least, not worthy of all the “star power” . It was easily one of the worst movies, if not the worst, that I saw this year. I mean, just WTF was that? 20 mins on my seat and I started to get dizzy of the ten plots bombarded in my face. 1 more hour and the movie was threatening to end by resolving all the conflicts within one day. During the last 5 minutes, I couldn’t believe they actually did resolve the all conflicts within one day. Contrived, predictable, and a total waste of time.

I got nothing out of it aside from having the urge to vomit.

CWC!

At last, we were able to go to the Camsur Watersports Complex in Pili Camrines Sur. Though I’m originally from Naga and CWC is just 20mins away from where we live,  this was the first  time ever that I went. And I’m glad I did.

My sister Diane chillin’ by the pool.

Wish I could do that. I was so scared I’d hurt myself that I just went for knee-boarding. It was fun, too!

Diane goin’ for it.

Ugh, that’s me.

The End of the Hiatus

My oh my. I suddenly remembered that I have a blog. Thanks to Twitter, I almost forgot I have one. Seriously. Most of the time one-liner shout-outs is all I need to vent out whatever I need to say. Hence, a 3-month blog hiatus. But don’t worry, though you’re probably my sole follower/reader, I promise that the blog is about to be resurrected. Yes, yes. You shall, again be treated to useless pieces of information about my daily life and to my pointless ramblings.

Let me give you a peak of what I’ve been doing these past months. I am now part of a bpo/call center company and basically I screen applicants who want to be agents. That means checking if they have decent communications skills (ya know – grammar, pronunciation, rate of speech, etc.). (Now WHAT THE EFF gave me the right to screen applicants? I ponder that very same question, my dear. Everyday.) The hardest part about this job is trying to keep a straight face when applicants give you answers like, “I like to cook my son,” when asked about their hobbies. Sometimes I would repeat their weird/grammatically and politically incorrect answers to see how they’d react when they hear it. But then they would just nod or give you this what’s-wrong-with-that look, and in my brain I’d be screaming something like “WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH YOU?!!”. Keep a straight face. Master that and you’re fine.

Go Flip this time

Stayed at Robinsons Galleria the whole day and had a mini movie marathon with 2 of my friends. People have been saying that Kimmy Dora was quite funny so we gave it a try. The verdict? It was a riot! There were still little loop holes here and there but we were laughing like crazy. The plot wasn’t that bad, too. I was pleasantly surprised by how this movie turned out. A well deserved break for Eugene Domingo.

Next up was Year One which stars Jack Black and Michael Cera. I really didn’t expect anything great from it, so I wasn’t really disappointed. LOL. The plot, if there was one, wasn’t going anywhere and some scenes were boring.

Kimmy Dora wins.

Lost

I lost my phone. Again.

This is the second time that a phone of mine went missing and was never found. The first time was when I left it in a taxi because I was too sleepy to even check if I was giving the exact fare. The minute I stepped out, the driver drove off, never to ever look back. The second time just happened yesterday at the office. I misplaced it somewhere at my station and I had to run off to Ortigas to attend some meeting. When I got back, it was nowhere to be seen.

I never get bitter about it. Believe it or not, I’m over it after 2 mins of realizing that it’s gone. What is the point of crying over something you can’t do anything about anymore? I just wish the phones didn’t cost a lot.

To those people who got my phones, take care of them coz they were fucking expensive.

I’m back here!

Oh well, I got lazy of updating the WordPress engine (is that what it’s called?) every now and then, so I went back to having the “wordpress” extension so that it would update itself from now on. lol. I was trying to back up my content from the last domain but I failed miserably. Say goodbye to a year’s worth of blog content.

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I was able to watch the Lady Gaga concert and it was CRAZY to say the least. “Poker Face” was, of course, saved for last. The intro was so long I thought she’d never get to the main part. She sang 10 songs and the concert was just about an hour and 20 mins long.

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I went food tripping during the last two weeks. Tried Little Tokyo in Makati and the ambience felt authentic. The food was pretty good, too. Another must-try are the salads of Cyma! Had dinner there with Eddy and Wyn last week. And the Mango milkshake was fantastic, too.

For us, the race is (not) on

I remember reading an article a while ago on Newsweek and according to it, the race is on between universities around the globe in getting the most number of foreign students – around the globe. That means now it’s not just between US institutions like Harvard, Yale, Cambridge and Oxford. According to London’s Times Higher Education Supplement (THES), although the Western universities are still the clear winner with the US taking all the top 8 slots, the rankings are more diverse. No less than 30 countries are represented in the top 200. Unless US colleges keep reinventing themselves, they will lose their lead in the global game. Beijing University, the National University of Singapore and the University of Tokyo are all in the top 20.

A friend of mine from high school, is now studying in Japan. I think she is a scholar there. She’s very lucky to get a higher education in one of the most competitive countries in the world. You see, it’s not hard to envy her. Sometimes I wonder how it’s like to study in a global university, where facilities are the most modern, faculty is top notch, and the environment is most conducive to learning. Sadly, we don’t and I doubt if we will have – even in the next 100 years – universities like Harvard or Yale. Even in Asia alone, we are lagging behind our counterparts. And unless the government wakes up and makes education its number one priority, we’ll keep lagging behind. Today, other Asian countries are pouring resources to homegrown schools in a bid to prevent brain drain. China is planning to spend a portion of its annual GDP (that is higher than Europe’s or US’) on higher education. Earlier last year, Malaysia announced that by 2010, they will become an international education hub with 100,000 foreign students. India plans to create Vedanta University which they claim will raise standards throughout Asia with 100,000 students and 40,000 faculty.

If you remember, last year’s THES rankings showed that 4 institutions from the Philippines (University of the Philippines, La Salle, Ateneo and UST) made it to the top 300. Yes, it’s something to be proud of but it’s not something to be complacent with. While other Asian countries strive to have a cutting-edge global educational system, the Philippines is still yet to make education a top concern.

MRT, here I come

I am so back from Naga and the world of the employed is beckoning. I had an interview with a printing company this morning and I guess I will be starting on October 11 (yes, it’s a Saturday, yawn). I said “guess” coz right after that interview another company texted me saying that I’m scheduled for an interview this coming October 4 (what’s up with these companies and Saturdays?). And I know that when I left for Naga I also left TRS, where a friend of mine referred me to. I think to a certain extent they were willing to wait for my return and I was seriously considering going back. But then the other companies started calling, too. No one would disagree that it’s better to have several options. Coz I am not even in a hurry.

I am going to Asiatype tomorrow to get my Philhealth card, which took a year to process. Can you believe that? One freakin year. This country is unbelievable.

Bicol express

This is the real deal.