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The Boy Who was Born on the Day of Confidence

People in the office have discovered a mystical book out of nowhere.  Entitled “The Secret Language of Birthdays” and explains through an astrological point of view, the qualities of people born on a specific day of the year.

While no one was looking, I flipped through the pages to find the 5th of December, that fateful day also known as my birthday.

 The first statement of the entry reads: People born on the fifth of December are extremely confident of their abilities to get things done.  The whole  entry for the day emphasizes the most obvious strenghts and weaknesses of the those who were born on my birthday. Confident and daring  as the positive qualities; overconfident and unrealistic as the key negative qualities.

The Blog is Reborn

Something at the back of my mind or inside the depths of my soul is urging me to blog again in English. When I stopped updating this blog last January, I set up Si Palagong Pepot, where I write in Filipino. The natural tongue has that indispensable appeal to me, that I had to try if I could effectively express myself using the language. It worked somehow in that I was gradually rediscovering the love for Filipino language, and it was always cool to try out something different.

However, blogging in English I realized now, was something I couldn’t exchange for anything in the world. It’s the defining characteristic in my blogging personality. It came to mind that I will most likely come back to writing in this language, as I personally share the journey of my life with ease and with heart.

So this blog is reborn, and I would like to welcome myself back to making that smallest difference in the world matter as much.

Christmas 2009

Couple of days before Christmas, instinct or intuition or common sense whatever, told me that this year’s Christmas celebration would be totally different. And so it was, in many ways dissimilar from the past Christmases that I was so used to having.

Everything began with the parties we had for IPVG and e-Games. We tried to be as much lively and christmassy as we could be, putting all the work load aside and enjoying the nights with a mix of childish and grown-up delight.

First off was the IPVG company party we had in Bubba Gump, a resto which prides itself with its delicious shrimp delicacies that I was having a hard time to distinguish from common table fish. Haha. It was said that the place couldnt hold the sum of all the subsidiaries of IPVG, but I was sure that there many attendees from IP-Converge, IPCCO, Megamobile and FVSC too. Of course, e-Games dominated the party and I estimate that eighty percent of the raffle winners were from us. (Heck, I was wishing silently that I would get to win one of the Ipod shuffles which were up for the raffle, notwithstanding the belief that I have been inflicted with the curse that would not make me win raffles as long as I live).

Miss Jane, the one with the wig (from the first photo, left side) was the one who took photos of us during the affair. She toyed with her cam, experimenting with all sorts of wacky and stolen shots which she soon uploaded to Facebook. She was also the lucky grand prize winner of the 32- inch LCD television which none us knew what its brand was and what it look like. (Later on, I boldly commented on one of her photos in FB that if all it takes to win the grand prize in the raffle is to sport a fashionable wig, then I would, without second thoughts , wear the coolest, most trendy wig that I could find in the department store ).

Christmas in my Eardrums

The finest things in life often come during the Christmas season, where almost everyone I know and see is filled with the spirit of the season. The nights are getting colder, but the thought of spending the times together with my dear loved ones embrace my heart with such warmth that I am starting to feel more excited about Christmas than I have been when I was a little younger. 

One of the fantastic things that I love about Christmas is the wonderful collection of songs that go with all the celebration. I remember singing ‘carols’ when I was young, together with childhood buddies with our own improvised instruments in our hands, creating a kind of unorganized yet beautiful music that earns us a couple of pesos. In recent times, the culture has dwindled, and I see less children roaming the streets singing Christmas carols, but the songs of the season are still the same, rich in both meaning and melody. 

Let me share to you some of my most favorite songs this festive yuletide season: 

 

Notes to Self

No lavish parties on my birthday this year, which is the usual setting that I grew up to expect and implement for myself. Nonetheless, I was fascinated with the unexpected outbursts of greetings that I got from all those people who remembered and cared to send me a greeting during the day that I was born into the earth. They came in many forms, mostly electronic:  in ym (where it is basically easiest to send); in my profile wall over at Facebook (whose comments I earnestly replied with sweet thank you msgs); in friendster (which I really rarely visit); in the e-games forums (by gamer friends) and some few greetings which came via sms. Being greeted on my very birthday made me feel a little more important to the world (or at least to some people).

Several points of self- transformative reminders to myself on my red-letter day:

Celebrate each day like its your very last day on Earth. Begin each day with a smile, and be hopeful that a colorful experience will greet you in your way.

Live more productively. Set goals and try to achieve it with all your abilities and strengths.

Never burden yourself when you make mistakes and fail at the things you do. Instead, capitalize on them.

Cut down on too much spending. Live within your means. Learn to value money as it is something that you work hard for. Learn how to save.

Spread love all over the world. Begin it in your family. And then in your office. Show your friends that you truly care for them. Make them feel that you exist in the world to help them in their difficulties or share the best things in life with them.

Value your work more and think of ways on how you can improve on it. Take note of all the experiences that you get from it and remember the people that you meet as you go along in your usual day of work.

Seek for deeper and newer adventures. Never lose interest in finding new ways of living life. Discover new cultures, go to places you’ve never been before, try out new games, read other kinds of books, watch more movies.

Take care of yourself, especially your health. It’s the kind of wealth no professional robber can take away from you. Do not tire yourself too much. Sleep adequately.

Watch pornographic downloads less.

Be kinder to all types of people. Listen and understand as much as you can.

Blog more frequently. Make your blog posts more interesting. You’re wasting other people’s time anyway, so do your very best at it.

Eat moderately. Make conscious effort to make your stomach as flat as it could be.

Maintain your laugh-loving personality. Joke around, but think before you jest.

And make people love you more.

Happy Birthday to Me!

Maskoman

“Maskoman, kayo lang ang pag-asa…

Iligtas kami sa marahas na kadiliman,

Kami’y inyong ipaglaban…”

There are secrets hidden inside this van that I can distinctly remember. It bore witness to a couple of sweet times together with the e-Games event Team. Took us to places near and far, in its not-too-spacious-inner-entirety but comfortable seats and over-all feel.

Short and Sluggish

Nothing particularly marvelous about last week but the photoshoot we had last Friday at the office. Was     direly short in finances and felt the world is dull and running too slow. Money has always been a personal  weakness that’s been dragging me down for years. I don’t have so much to spend, earn so little but expend impulsively and indulge in certain luxuries I cannot really afford.

There’s an episode in Gokusen III that I can distinctly remember up to this day. It’s the normal story of a boy stealing hard-earned money from his father’s pockets and squandering it all into booze and personal wants. The money he stole turned out to be an important fund  necessary to continue the operation of their family business. When the boy realized this so, it was too late and he had to resort to some kind of loan agency, which proved to be illegal, and he was scammed. Off he went working part-time, hoping he could raise the amount of money he pilfered. Confronting her student and making him realize his fault, Yankumi coined:

“If you can’t value money, then you’ll never realize what hard work truly means.”

It Breaks Tonight

Any thing that is said to be temporary shall soon lose its life.

Tonight a companion’s life ends. He who has been with me through thick and thin, through the adventures and misadventures of the last six months.

Phase Shift

Life is back to normal again this November in the morning shift. It feels great to wake up early in the morning when the air is fresh and you feel all the energy gushing into every parts of your body, prompting you to work efficiently and live your life happily. The last time I remember living this way was last year July, when I was still in another Department in EG.

I’ve realized today that the kind of life I have been leading ever since I graduated from college was dictated by work. And the most obvious factor is work schedule. When I moved to community August last year, I started working in the Graveyard Shift (11PM-8AM) for about three months and moved to Midshift (3PM-12MD) for the better part of my GM life. There were some sudden changes in the schedule, like moving back and forth from the vampire shift to Midshift again, add to that, the occasional overtime work that I have to render for events in the provinces and far places. It’s a fantastic kind of work, it absorbs you, eats most of your time, provides for more than your normal stress intake, but it’s the kind of job that makes you feel satisfied at the end of the day— even amidst a complex schedule.