The Hunt Continues

The past three weeks have been a blur. So much has happened I lost track of the time while untangling each events. There are the three shitstorms that have ravaged this country. But the “main acts” have centered on what’s been keeping me busy – or unbusy – for the past weeks: my job – or lack thereof.

I effectively tendered my resignation last October 15. Before that, I consumed all my remaining vacation leaves so I was really holed up in our house for days, like a good fat piggy bum, doing nothing but waste electricity and food.

Disconnect

I know we’re fortunate enough not to have experienced the wrath of Ondoy yesterday. Our area was not flooded, my family, including my stranded siblings are OK. So I am thankful for that,

But somehow, I feel a tinge of guilt and alienation from the affected ones. I can’t be with them and be one of them. Somehow, my fortune has been others’ misery. I can only symphatize but I think that’s not enough .__.

I hope I can help to the best I can.

Helplessness in Need to Help

I still don’t know how to give help to the Ondoy victims. I will do more research so I’ll know how to lend my hand.

I still have mixed emotions regarding the typhoon aftermath :/

Notes on Ondoy

* Car insurance companies are drowning (pun intended) on anticipated hundreds of insurance claims.

* Christine Reyes, a local celebrity, is in tears as she relates on national TV her ordeal – she’s trapped atop their roof in Marikina. She gives some touch of showbiz to the raging disaster, but a disaster nonetheless. Ondoy spares no one. :/

* GMA 7 is using stock videos from afternoon’s ordeal. No new videos. Maybe their reporters are also wading in floodwater.

* The rain has stopped. The howling winds have subsided. Emo heavens has stopped crying, now if he will just dry his flood of tears…

* TV footage of stranded people and trapped families are a pain to see >_<

* I am totally helpless when it comes to giving tangible help (donation, volunteer to help). I can only offer my hopes .__. This helplessness won’t happen again in the future. >_<

* Having said that, I am becoming more and more inclined to join cause-oriented/ civil society groups.

* Why did I suddenly want to try applying for a Jollibee mascot/ clown job? @__@

* MMDA and DPWH and DILG and DENR = WTF! Some people are not doing their jobs!

* I suddenly remember my experience wading in floodwater. I was in highschool then when a typhoon poured an ocean onto the streets of BBB (before its roads were “fixed”). I waded in chest-high flood, and I had alipunga and galis as mementos!

* I hope material goods like food, water and blanket can be sent via twitter, email or FB posts :/

* Scenes from the movie The Day After Tomorrow and vids from Hurricane Katrina are flashing before my eyes @_@

* I feel guilty because our area was not engulfed in water.

* I hope someone has an ARK that is in stand-by mode for disasters like this :/

* Flood = this is what we get for not taking care of the environment. And for electing those inept and corrupt officials to the government. This is where our taxes go!

WTF, Ondoy!

I am thankful that our area and our house were spared from the raging floodwater that are devouring the whole of the NCR and Central Luzon right now. At the same time, I feel for those who are trapped on their roofs, in the top floors of their houses, atop their cars, on trees (holyfuck!) and in the evacuation centers. I really want to help but I have nothing to give and  I can’t get to the ravaged areas. I can only offer my hopes that everyone is OK.

The berserking sky is pacified right now. The rain has stopped and the flood is slowly subsiding (according to news reports). But people still need help. So here are helpful info in case someone might need it.

NDCC hotlines:

911-5061

911-1406

912-5688

Red Cross 143

MMDA 136

Coast Guard 5276136

For donations and help, people can go to the following areas:

1. Fort Bonifacio Gym

2. GHQ Gym in Camp Aguinaldo

3. Balai in Expo Center in Cubao

4. Your local Red Cross centers.

5. NDCC centers

Of Free Spirit, Bohemianism, Fun, Love

I always tell myself that if I have to spend the rest of my life with someone, I want it to be with a woman who embodies a “free spirit”. So the best, if not the ideal, type of person that fits this personality is a bohemian artist. She can be a writer, a painter, a street artist, or anyone that has an artistic blood in her.

I don’t know… I have always been fascinated, and not to mention constantly loving and being in love, with someone I see who is as free as a bird, doing things she wants and makes her happy. And yes, still be happy after doing it. She not only makes herself happy, but others as well.

For me, freedom is bliss. To do everything in life, especially in pursuit of arts, is the ultimate happiness. To meet someone (and hopefully to love and be loved) who thinks like me will surely be heaven. While I am far from being a true-blue bohemian myself, I know I can slowly unshackle myself from this world and finally fly to wherever I want to. And meet her, the bohemian lady of my dreams.

This afternoon, I spent the day here in the office surfing the net for anything that catches my fancy (as always). The idea of looking for free-spirited ladies suddenly poked my brain. And to my surprise, I found two (websites) persons who are modern-day bohemian/free spirits, who loves life, living, and living happy and free.

More descriptions about them, next time. But here are the links.

http://colormekatie.blogspot.com/

http://minasdecorandfashion.blogspot.com/

Too bad, they’re already taken. But you can still love them ♥ (like I do )

Small World

I’m still amazed how small this world is.

I went back to the Taguig gig (refer to previous post) to finish my written exam. Lo and behold, I saw a familiar name on the building’s guard’s log book. When I stepped inside the room, there she was!

Turned out that she also applied for the writer position. She had gone there ahead of me and it looked like she already snagged the job. She was saying something about contract signing. Anyway, I was happy because it won’t be that difficult to adjust to my new job should I get in and decide to work there because I already have one friend.

Regarding the tests, I took some IQ tests, yanno, the typical verbal reasoning test. Argh, the only part where I messed up was the (surprise, surprise) arithmetic! I had to solve complex arithmetic under 5 minutes! Toward the end of the time limit I was already guessing the answer but I still left 10 questions hanging when the time limit popped on my face. Before the online exam, I got interviewed by The essay part was somehow hard, because of the time limit, not the topic.  But I know I did well, so there… I hope I become a The Fort resident soon.

Tomorrow, I plan to file my 2-day absence as sick leaves. I hope the HR would buy my “I was under the weather” alibi. Haha.

Basted!

Yes, I am. Very heartbreaking. And it’s not even by a girl!

This morning, I finally got the news that I have been waiting for – and a very saddening one. I finally got in touch with the HR of BBDO-Guerrero after more than a month of waiting for the results of my copywriting exam (no email came). It turned out that the lady that I was wooing, the copywriter position that is, has already been hitched by someone else. And it was around the time that I was waiting, sometime in August according to the HR, that the job went to some lucky guy’s lap.

Okies for Jabbawockeez

I finally saw the famous Jabbawockeez in person!

Well, kahit papaano.

I wish I was ten-foot tall when I tried to squeeze my body into the throng of people (mostly teenagers) to get a glimpse of the acclaimed dance crew. For a while I was afraid I might fuse my molecules with theirs so I used my bag as a kind of shield. But I still could not make it to the area with a clear view. All I could see were the sweaty heads of those taller brats. So I contented myself looking at the monitors of the video cams that they brought. Good enough, I guess.

Craning my neck to get a good view of the cams, I squinted to see the JBWKZ do their cool moves. I tried hard to discern the songs being played amidst the wild fangirl and fanboy screams (I am a non-screaming fan, I swear). So there was PYT, Icebox, a Ne-yo song I dunno, and some familiar songs. Though I have seen them dance in videos, I wanted to see them do that in person. But no, I didn’t. Sad.

Thousands of Pinoy Wockeez all tried to occupy the same space to get a good look of their dance idols. The four levels of the TriNoMa mall were all filled; the area overlooking the plaza, that is. I ended up at the fourth floor (near the carousel) after fruitless attempts at shoving the crowd at the lower levels. I thought of a zombie invasion (think of 28 Days Later) inside the mall. I wished I had a gatling gun or a chainsaw so I could bore my way through those zombies.

Some lucky bastards managed to get front-row seats inside the stage area, what the fuck! Apparently, as I learned later on, they had free passes after buying 1,000+ worth of purchase. Unfair! But I didn’t have any money so it would still be useless even if I learned it earlier. Oh well.

Jabbawockeez were the best, as expected, engaging the crowd with their stylishly distinct cool moves, and their stage presence and performance. I am a frustrated dancer myself so I live my stomping the dancefloor through them. I especially like their mime moves – those snappy, puppet-controlled-at-the-joints, jerky-head dancesteps. And the locking and popping, of course.

Argh, they are on a 3-day tour so I will watch them again on Sunday at Glorietta. I need to see them, I must!

#

Of Going Away and Giving Way

I still can’t believe that my former boss, Deyey, is already gone.

I just got back to office this morning after burning five days worth of vacation. I got the sad news last Thursday, on my very first taste of work leave, a day after my anniversary at work. But it’s only this morning that the idea of him not being around anymore started to sink in.

I kept looking at his work station to ask something, forgetting that there’s no one there to answer it (and God forbid if someone did answer). I also started to miss his hirits. I wanted to go down the building and buy something from 7-11 (our usual afternoon break) and I almost invited him out.

Oh well.. Soon I will forget about it, this nagging thought that people can come and go without notice. Death is really something that continues to mystify me. It’s an idea not unlike a jelly that squeezes out of my fingers whenever my mind tries to grasp it.

I am not sure with his jokes, but I wish his soul find eternal repose.

*****

So it finally happened.

Although expected by many, it still come as a mixture of surprise, admiration, cynicism, awe and caution when Mar Roxas dropped his bid for the Presidency next year AND gave the torch to Noynoy Aquino, only  son of martyred Ninoy and recently deceased Cory Aquino.