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.

have some laugh...

Pinoy wit is really extra-ordinary... whew! iba talaga ang Pinoy...
please read if you want to have some good laugh...


Excuse Letters - Filipino

These are excuse notes from parents (including
original spelling) collected by schools from all over
the country.

My son is under a doctors care and should not take
P.E. today. Please execute him.
-hala! Sige. Silya elektrika at bitay. Sabay pa! O
kaya niyo yun?

Please excuse Lisa for being absent. She was sick and
I had her shot. -pag nag-absent pala papatayin ka
..... siyet! Baka may rabies...

Dear School: Please ekscuse John being absent on Jan.
28, 29, 30, 31, 32, and also 33.
- A grabe to. Nasa kalindaryo pa ang birthday ko
kung ganon. Hahaha!

Please excuse Gloria from Jim today. She is
administrating. - ano daw????

Please excuse Roland from P.E. for a few days.
Yesterday he fell out of a tree and misplaced his hip.
-- hanapin natin!

John has been absent because he had two teeth taken
out of his face.
-bwehehehe... la ako masabi... Bwahahaha! Ganito
kasi yan. Kinagat siya ni Lola sa noo sa gigil. Tapos
nabali yung ngipin ng pustiso niya. Hahaha!!!

Megan could not come to school today because she has
been bothered by very close veins. - Buti pa veins
niya. Close sila. Hahahaha!!!

Chris will not be in school cus he has an acre in his
side.

Please excuse Ray Friday from school. He has very
loose vowels. -ah.....eh....i.....ow....u....

Please excuse Pedro from being absent yesterday. He
had
(diahre)(dyrea)(direathe) the shits. [words in ()s
were crossed out. -Sinabi na kasi LBM na lang e.
Pasosyal pa kasi.

Irving was absent yesterday because he missed his
bust.
- So transsexual pala si Irving?

I kept Billie home because she had to go Christmas
shopping because I dont know what size she wear.

Sally wont be in school a week from Friday. We have to
attend her funeral. - Ala e! Mabuhay ang Patay!!
Mayroong Himala!!!

Please excuse Jason for being absent yesterday. He had
a cold and could not breed well. - stud service ba
yung school nya? baka gremlins siya.

Gloria was absent yesterday as she was having a
gangover. - Ay grabe! Iba na talaga ang mga kabataan
ngayon. Hahaha!

Maryann was absent December 11-16, because she had a
fever, sore throat, headache and upset stomach. Her
sister was also sick, fever and sore throat, her
brother had a low grade fever and ached all over. I
wasnt the best either, sore throat and fever. There
must be something going around, her father even got
hot last night. - hahaha, telenovela... bow.
Makuwento siya ha... Kulang lang sa pansin...

Please excuse Jennifer for missing school yesterday.
We forgot to get The Sunday paper off the porch, and
when we found it Monday, we thought it was Sunday.
- winner to!!!!!!!!!! Anggaling!!!! Puwede rin kaya
sa office ito?

copied from www.wennagirl.blogspot.com

SONA

Everyone here in the newsroom was glued to the television waiting for the President to arrive at the Batasang Pambansa to deliver her SONA.

After almost an hour, the President in sparkling blue gown (Filipiniana ba ‘to, basta!). Then immediately she proceeded with her state of the nation address, well, after a long applause from the audience (char ba lang!).

It her fifth and by far the shortest SONA. We were actually surprised when she said “Maraming Salamat sa inyong lahat.” That’s all?!! Well, this was probably the line of those viewers/listeners, including myself, who were expecting her to say something like “Yeah I cheated, so what?” But her speech was “perfectly” composed.

And, she delivered it with simplicity, even when she said we should opt for a charter change. I guess it’s about time we do it, our consti is kinda obsolete na for this age.

There was also the federalism system of government as an option. And almost everyone in that hall clapped (United States of the Philippines yo!). I say ‘almost’ as Sen Pres Drilon remained silent the whole time, poker face eh. When asked why he did not make any reaction he simply said he was listening to the speech “intently” but I say he was praying “intently.” Tsk tsk tsk.

And of course, what way to end a speech than to say thank you and may God bless us. “Let us call on the Lord…ask Him for the grace to make us worthy of His healing our land.”

“Is the world sick?” asked a 4-year-old genuis boy to his father after hearing from someone that the world needed to be healed. The father explained about the war, the sickness, the corruption, etc…The this boy said: “I guess we should find another planet!”

Well, I guess we should “abandon ship!” And where would we go?

The Freeman’s 86th Anniversary

Sunday: The 10K Fun Run (or a Walk With Mary for the four of us ) attended by professional runners and TF employees

Yeah, I was one of the runners, in the employee category (3K), that is. Not actually a runner but a walker. We joined not to run but to have fun. Still it was exhausting even with only walking the 3-kilometer stretch in Cebu Business Park. But in fairness to the four of us (the last pack of runners) we were also forced to run: everytime we did not see the people ahead of us or when there were cars coming.

After over 40 minutes, we finally made it to the finish line. No awards of course, just pure exhaustion, sweat-drenched t-shirts and why-did-I-ever-join looks.

Monday: July 18, the anniversary itself.

We heard mass at the Cebu Cathedral then proceeded to the Waterfront Hotel for the lunch and the “speech” program (except for some dances and songs from UV Chorale everything else were speeches from columnists, owners, etc).

The best part was, of course,the lunch. But I was really disappointed with the food and the service the 5-star hotel offered. The main dish included tanguege (fish!), the taste was bland. Glad, chop seuy saved the day. There were appetizers and other side dishes which were satisfactorily yummy. But I’d rather sit in KFC and devour its hot and crispy breast chicken than be in that place waiting in vain for stuff they call food. It was past 12 and you wouldn’t be picky at this hour.

The coke. Each was given one glass of either coke or sprite. Of course, I asked for my all-time favorite Coke. The meal had four courses with only 1 round of Coke. Mine was gone during the second course and when I asked for a second round I was given water. I was thinking of Red Ribbon where you get to have a pitcher of softdrinks all to yourself.

Five-star hotels are supposed to impress their guests. But this one, the cup in which my soup was placed had dark smudge in its brim, the table napkin of my seatmate had yellow stains on it, my friend’s fork looked unwashed, most of the chairs’ covers were really dirty, an insect in the pepper, etc. etc. Our opinion editor who sat with us actually published the following day a blind item about all of it.

I can't wait to dine there again. Will the waiter spit on my coke? Or put roach on my salad?

Blogging and blog-hopping.

Recently, I came across with blogs of journalists I only see on TV and read on papers or in the internet (thanks to PCIJ.org/blog). This has really made blog-hopping more fun and informative as these people’s blogs are accounts of the real events behind the stories they report, and their lives (more or less) after work. While reading their blogs I felt like I wanted to delete mine, with all the non-sense I have here, geez.

I’m a visitor who always leaves a comment to someone’s blog hoping to gain friendship, at least in the blogosphere. Who knows I become a friend of Kara David, for example. Well, I haven't come across with her blog though (don't know if she's a blogger too). Or Howie Severino, he's a blogger!

Bloggers rule.