how weird is the result!

You Are 30% Weird

Not enough to scare other people... But sometimes you scare yourself.

How Weird Are You?

it's weird the test found me weird!!!

A trip to Labangon

What i had been through last night was not that memorable but I had to write it anyway, blog ko ‘to!

It was past 8 in the evening when Sona Mae, who could no longer contain her hunger after our planned bbq dinner was aborted (thanks to our ever busy editorial assistant, Jeff), insisted we go home immediately. I was hoping to stay longer as the Half-Blood Prince captivated the whole of me, including my empty stomach and exhausted brain, but I did not want to go home alone that rainy night. By the way, I could not bring the copy of that book as it was stored in my computer, an e-copy yeah, so I had to look forward to every minute I could squeeze into my hectic schedule just to read it.

So we braved the rains with only our copies of The Freeman as payong (umbrella).

Several minutes later we were still standing near UV Colon and no Pardo-bound PUJ was trying to save us. We even walked farther but only got more drenched and frustrated.

Then a Labangon PUJ “rescued” us, or so we thought. But that was actually a relief than having to wait forever for a Pardo jeep that would never arrive.

We were somewhere in Labangon, when Sona saw this eatery that served siomai. Food! So we alighted from our temporary refuge (from the cold rain) just to fill our gurgling stomachs.

This eatery, a table with an extension with large umbrellas, was situated just at the side of the busy street. I would have paid my day’s earning just to get a seat or two in a cozy place eating a decent meal but all I had that night was a hundred pesos so that left me (us) no choice. I was broke like I always am (I think I’m cursed).

Then we ate, and occasionally touched our backs to make sure the water pouring from the umbrella went straight to the ground. But it did not, the back of my jacket was already soaking wet, and sipped through my T-shirt. And I saw Sona had her share too.

For that meal- 4 siomais, 3 pork adobos or something porky, 5 pusos, a Coke (for me) and a bottled water (for Sona)- we paid almost a hundred, that’s divided by two. Not bad for a very hearty meal, but I already felt the cold in my back.

And then Sona said we had to ride a Labangod jeep. Again! I was thinking we were already near the place where multicabs going to the south were. We were still in Tisa, she said, quite far from where we should take our (her) last ride, so walking was out of the question. Well, another P6 to spend.

With only P50 in my pocket, taking a taxi cab was a preposterous idea, although I was thinking of stopping over Tabunok to withdraw but I was also thinking the next payday was four days away, that’s hundreds of pesos from my dwindling funds. Plus taking a cab these days is no longer practical that even riding a PUJ is almost becoming a luxury considering the unabated increase of fare.

Back to the story, so we stopped, as usual, at a bakeshop to wait for a multicab. Again, the wait was like that in Colon.

And finally, it arrived in all its glory, the red multicab to take me to Tabunok and Sona to Lawaan.

And from Tabunok I took a tricycle to get met to Dumlog and from a corner where I was dropped I took a trisikad as my place was still 500 meters or so away from the highway. And from where the trisikad stopped (I would not allow the driver to bring me to my doorstep as it would mean hearing him cursed for having to pull his trisikad that would likely get stuck to the muddy path we had there) I had to walk the remaining 100 meters or less. I was exactly doing that with only the partly dry newspaper as my payong.

And when I changed to a fresh T-shirt and pajamas (not fresh) I realized how great it was to be home. Well, that was not the first time.

you make me smile

One afternoon while I was riding a PUJ I saw a minicab (a multicab with a roofless back, you know what i mean) with a sign on its rear that read: “When I grow up I want to be a Nissan Patrol!”

I told a friend about this the next day. And this friend said she also saw a minicab (definitely a different one) with a sign: “When I grow up I want to be a dump truck!”

And in a PUJ: “My take home pay won’t take me home.” Cute.

It’s a relief to read these signs you see in the streets while the PUJ you're riding is stuck in middle of the unmoving traffic or when you see in front of you a poster that bears the title CERTIFICATION, which means you have to pay at least 6 pesos.

And recently, I created a group blog. I was about to update it but I could not. I forgot the password.

But nothing beats the East West Bank story.

Kids' stuff

last sunday night i went out with friends at a nearby resto which serves the most delicious halo-halo in the entire barangay (city actually).

seven of us were all seated and enjoying the treats and laughing at someone's corny jokes when suddenly a toddler, a two-year old i think, came to our table and was also laughing. Everyone stopped laughing to see what was this little being doing in our table. His big buddies, just across us, were just watching him. We thought he was attracted by our noise.

Then this cute creature slowly climbed to a vacant chair and confidently seated himself, and his looks was like “hi pips! care to chat?”

And we all laughed.

Goodness! Kids are really smart. This one thought he belonged to our group as there was one empty chair left while there was none for him in the table where his big buddies were. Well, his mom had to carry him with the chair as he did not want to go with her without it.

I remember a lecturer who once said children are born smart they become dumb when they go to school, where teachers are morons. (well, not all. but most)

i'm a blog girl so what!

several months back i was asked what was a friend to me. someone who replies to my text message even if he/she has no load, was my answer. that was not too much to ask for, piso ra gud na. but i understand if that friend is living in a cave or a bukid where she is the only one who owns a cellphone.

then last month, i asked, thru text, a friend/workmate an update of a national news as during this particular day i had no access to the internet and newspapers. she did not reply so i was thinking she had no load. that night i was at friend's house then this friend received a forwarded message from my friend/workmate who was the former's common friend. then i murmured, "maayo, naay load para's way ayo!"
using my friend's phone i asked her nganong wala siya mo-reply nako importante man unta to and i was really expecting a response from her. guess what she told me, "my load is exclusive for smart subscribers." Mao ba, was all i said, while thinking of retaliating.

the next day was it. i received a text message from a new number, a TM, of which i immediately knew was hers (the friend/workmate) even if she did not bother to introduce herself. she sent several messages inviting me to a product demo where she was into at that time. so what could she expect from me for what she'd done the day before. for the first time since we became friends i did not reply to any of her messages.

so the next day when we met at the office, she was like "hey that was my new number exclusive for my Globe and TM friends" and "why wala man ka ni-reply?" and i told her, "so you know the feeling na?" and smiled.

but that was forgotten as it was just a minor, a very minor "lapse of judgment." i admit i'm a jealous friend like God is a jealous God :)

then a few weeks back, we, this friend/workmate and i, again clashed and blame it on texting! she asked me to check her stories if they were carried for the next day's issue and to tell the editor she would email her stories in 20 mins. the meek me did as was told even if it was against my will, not that i did not want to check if her stories were really carried and her emailing them (that's just a feet away from my workstation). my point was we all came to the office to write our stories while she was somewhere, probably at the comfort of her home, waiting for the sun to set so she could submit her stories. i understood she came from the south to "get" her stories and she must have been too tired to go to the office which is an hour away from her house. granted it was true: her being tired and all, could't she just go to the office as what was required to each one of us.

but even with my hesitation to become an accessory, again, to her "laziness" i still informed the editor on her emailed stories. the editor said "nasad!" but what could he do? they've already reprimanded her for doing it but she never learnt.

to make the long story short i told her what the editor said and she was so angry that she sent her message supposedly for that editor to me. then the boot-boot me replied by saying i had nothing against the editor's comment, walang personalan, i added. and then she felt like i was rallying against her and replied i should have saved my comment. i did not as i had enough of her being what she was with her work. we have been asked to take an extra mile pero she's like 'kiver!'

and because of that she was ranting and calling me names (thru text) i never thought she had the nerve to. she even tagged me a "blog girl" so what? that was just the 'softer' part, actually.

so now, we no longer talk, what for? but i feel guilty for it as practically everyone at the office is not in talking terms with her. i did not tell my other workmates [save for those close(?) to me] our falling out as i wanted it "private" as much as possible but they're reporters, they kinda hinted it. well, she's doing her job, too, by telling her fellow reporters from other networks about us, duh!

the sad thing about this is her being alone. a few days back she came to the office late and was greeted by a memo for her not in her beat that morning. i heard so many negative feedbacks about her and i do not want to add anymore to that.

lesson learnt: not all close to you are real friends. sad but true.

Just for the heck of it!

(updated) i slept very late last night and woke up almost 1pm today so i had no choice but to call it a day's off. it's actually my day off and im very glad.

last night i went out with fellow reporters and we partied till 2am. i came not actually to stay that late as i was planning to work the next day.

fellow reporters/friends were playing acoustic music at the capitol for its founding anniv so i came. their number came first and with only 5 or 6 songs they were done in less than 30 mins. but we stayed because everyone was in a party mood.

i was handed a beer which i took even with my stomach's protestation as it was still empty. but i was able to grab a bite of everything in the table in between gulps.

my friend who drank 3 or so bottles of beer plus sips of white wine had to drive those going to the south including myself so we kept on asking if she was still okay. well, she was no neophyte when it comes to drinking.

she wanted to do that again tonight, i begged off as i wanted to rest.

im glad the hyperacidity is a past.

+++

former senator Raul Roco died this morning. this is such a sad news. i like(d) the man and i consider(ed) him as one of the best legislators here. i voted for him last elections even if i knew the chances of his winning were slim. i believed he'd make a good president. well, he's gone now so idole d'adieu!

Bite Me please

This afternoon, i received a call inviting me to a presscon which would start in 10 minutes. i did not immediately go to the place as i still had to check the office of the ombudsman for additional stories (the office is a forever walk from the palace of justice, where i was when i got the call).

glad i was with a friend/fellow reporter, so the walk despite the drizzle was not that depressing, even if it came out i got no story (this friend got hers from the DA’s office located nearby).

So, gakuyog naman lang mi, I invited her to go with me at my expense sa plete (well, not really). Thinking that I heard my caller right about the place we proceeded to East West Bank near Ayala Center. Why the presson had to take place at a bank? I questioned myself (and my friend also asked herself, we did not ask each other promise). That bank was robbed early this year and I was thinking since I would be meeting with a lawyer so the presscon would be all about the robbery of which suspect was arraigned that morning [his case was different although it was still a robbery (of a bank) case]. It fit!

So there, we arrived at the bank and asked the guard if this certain person who called me (I need not mention his name) was already around. Of course, he was not the guard told us.

When I texted this caller asking him where he was he told me he was already in East West. He then asked me if I was coming, I told her I already was inside the place. You should have seen my expression: I was looking at the people inside if anyone was holding a phone, there was none.

I asked again the guard if they had an office where visitors could wait, he said no special rooms for waiting visitors. Then I asked him if they had another branch inside the mall, he said none and was about to kick us out of the place for being so insistent.

But before he could do so, we walked ourselves out and thought if the caller could be joking but he could possibly not as he was a respectable and credible man.

My friend and I deliberated possibilities such as if there was an East West ATM, the guard already told us they had no other branch inside the mall, so that could not be possible plus no presscon takes place in front of an ATM! Another, was there a West Bank nearby? Or inside the mall? Gosh, I heard him right, EAST WEST and INSIDE THE MALL!

Then my IQ returned to where it should have been for the last couple of hours, I remembered a diner/resto/bar/whatever named EastWest. S___!

We ran our way there laughing at our stupidity, well, thanks to me.

The presscon was almost finished but you could always ask the panelist/s for a repeat which I did.

I’ll never forget this day (it's almost 12 na and i'm still stuck here). I love this office, really. bite me please.