2008-07-14

Jeepney Jaunts

I had another knee-shaking jeepney ride on my way home today. You know, that long-lasting moment where only a half of your butt is sitting on the long, canvassed seat of the jeep, and as the jeep screeches to a stop you slide 'out' further that you now have merely a fourth of your butt clinging on to dear life. This is one of those situations that I keep on swearing not to let myself experience again, but beyond any explanation I don't know why it still happens to me.

It all started at the jeepney terminal in front of Citibank (southbound) with the toothless barker who told me 'Sige mam, meron pa yan!'. Personal experience tells me that 99.9% of the time when they said that, it really means there's no room left. The reason why I still climbed inside the 7-seater (7 on both sides) jeep, again, is beyond any explanation... Hayy, ok let me digress a bit and attempt to explain: Maybe I've completely forgotten about all the past knee-shaking experiences? Nyek. Or maybe there are things I want to do/try again no matter how bad the experience seems. Crazy.

Enough digressing. So now as I walked hunchback looking for two persons to part like the Red Sea and let me sit between them, I found a small gap and thought that I could still sit comfortably since I'm just wafer thin. The moment my butt (not the whole butt) touched down, I knew instantly this is gonna be one hell of a ride. And I remembered instantly those other knee-shaking experiences! Hah! O-M-G. To add to my excruciating almost-squatting position, traffic's heavy all the way until the first U-turn slot along C-5. So I had to endure this a little longer if the jeep doesn't unload until before Rosario, which is usually the first place where passengers alight.

What's even more frustrating is the fact that all are men seated at that side of the jeep, 'cept of course me and another one. In detail, the seating position is (starting nearest the driver): a woman, her boyfriend, me, fatso 1, fatso 2, not-so-fatso 1, and not-so-fatso 2. I said before it's a 7-seater, right? Yes, there's 7 of us, but fatso 1 and fatso 2 unfortunately defied the seating capacity. Going back to the point of my frustration, fatso 1 and the gay boyfriend didn't even slightly move out a little so I could just squeeze myself inside. For those who don't ride a jeep, you might already find it hard to understand what I'm talking about, so kindly ask others to 'show' you how this should look like. Sorry, but the subtitle of my blog says I struggle writing in english, so there.

Unfortunately, gay bf and fatso 1 maybe are both too gay to pretend to be gentleman enough. I feel the same for fatso 2, not-so-fatso 1, and not-so-fatso 2. But! There's a little luck left in me and it's all spent wisely when not-so-fatso 2 alighted near the overpass (in front of HTMT - a call center slash BPO). Aaaahhhh. Sweaty me quietly slided to comfort, and silently glared at fatso 2 and gay bf. Ooohh my knees are all wobbly from squatting I can barely walk straight towards the tryke terminal.

As I contemplate on this, I remembered an officemate who once wrote in his user wiki page (in the office): Ano ang mas mahirap, ang umupo sa jeep na waluhan at pang-syam ka? O ang magpanggap na hindi natatawa sa usapan nila Nicole Ayala at Kris Tsuper?. Something like that. Hmph! E ano pa nga ba? :D

2008-07-09

SG Madness

Am I being lured to the 'Lion City'? Or is there just too many people nowadays who are seeking greener pastures there?
  • A childhood friend has been there for a long time now although I don't know what kind of job he does there (we're not that close). I just saw it in his Friendster profile (including pictures).

  • Another childhood friend (this one's one of my best friends) - actually it's her older brother who recently accepted a job offer complete with the plane tickets and hotel accommodation (during his interview) and lodging all paid for by the company.

  • A groupmate told me that her roommate will be starting masteral study there in August.

  • The same groupmate also told me that our groupmate's girlfriend will also work there.

  • A next door neighbor works there (I think he already holds a PR status).

  • My dad's officemate's cousin also works there (after working for sometime in the Middle East), but will be going back to work in the Mid East because he says he couldn't save money there (maybe he's just too much of a spendthrift).

  • A former highschool classmate went there last June (with her girlfriend) to work as an IT recruiter <-- Nice.

  • A college classmate started post-graduate studies at NUS right after our graduation, along with our 2 college professors. He recently e-mailed our batch's mailing list the current job openings in his company.

  • A former officemate (in the Quality Assurance division) is now working there, together with the other (there's lots of them) ex-ci-*bleep* QA and software engineers. If heaven/hell is the next destination of dead people, I think SG is the next destination of most ex-ci-*bleep* people. :D
  • Lastly, another two former officemates/batchmates quit their jobs in our company to alter the course of their destiny and become the first ex-ci-*bleep* hardware engineers to actually find relevant jobs there.

Sorry if I didn't name names even though I know no one actually reads this blog, hehe. Wishful thinking, I plurked about this and was very surprised when someone I don't even know responded to it.

2008-07-08

Things I want to do...

...but couldn't do - or at least 'start' to do - because I simply can't find enough time for it. I'm not even sure why.
  • Be proficient in HTML 4.0 and Style Sheets in general

  • Learn a new foreign language (Nihonggo at least. I've started teaching myself kana, but after a few weeks of non-exercise all I can ever remember was the hiragana for 'a' - pathetic.

  • Learn any EDA tool or HVL

  • Travel to a southeast asian country (SG or HK)

  • Buy and read 'the book'

  • Recover from the losses incurred in stocks since the start of weakening of the US economy

I don't know where to start. I'm thinking maybe 'the book' can show me how.

2008-07-05

Oil Food Price Hike

an Almon Marina sandwich
My usual order in Almon Marina is the Tuna Cheese & Pineapple Sandwich. Before it costs Php85, now it's Php105. Then in the nearby Roti Mum, the delicious coffee buns now cost Php50 from a previous Php40. tsk tsk.

2008-07-02

Book Badly Needed

Get It Together: A Guide To Surviving Quarter-Life Crisis
I've searched for it in Powerbooks and National Bookstore Megamall, walked all the way to Powerbooks Shang (because their database in Mega says that it has 1 copy left in Shang), had the staff there call up the other branches to confirm it's unavailability (MOA, Glorietta, & Greenbelt), asked my former PL if he could find it for me in The Fort, and even almost resorted to ordering online in Amazon and... There was none (out-of-freakin'-stock, and only second hand are available online).