I just wanna bang on this mug all day

I am sooooooooo freeeeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaaaking bored.

Thank you, spoiler alert.

As usual with nothing to do in the office (got things to do actually. Just don't want to go around doing them) i turn to the internet to keep myself busy. I Googled the following websites:

1. Crocs.com - these shoes are number one on my wishlist now. I find the butch-y designs very appealing to my fashion language. I need to have this on my KL trip

2. Cebupacificair.com - just booked tickets for Net, Jes, and myself for November 17th to the 25th. God help me.

3. Tv.com - searching for title-worthy quotes from The Office

4. Lovingyou.com - Guy Smiley and I are in a rough patch. Sad circumstances happen to the
best of us, and yet we don't know how to deal with them. Anyway whatever happens, we're friends. We always have been.

5. Harry Potter Book 7 Spoilers - i'm a spoiler addict. I don't care if you tell me how a book or a movie ends. It's not a big deal to me.

I went to this site where it had all 36 chapters of the 7th book listed down and when you click on the link, it opens to a full blown book chapter.

I curiously clicked one chapter entitled "The Locked Room." What crappy, crappy writing! JK Rowling's prose may be bad but it's not rubbish. I mean, come on, if those were the contents of the actual book, bookstores should have signs posted outside their shops warning Harry Potter fans/readers about the crapload they're gonna buy for P1,500.

I refuse to read about Harry's "growing monster north of his trousers at the sight of Ginny." I mean, have you ever seen the actress playing Ginny? The girl's a kid for crying out loud! It's like reading a trashy novel written by a drunk and horny Sydney Sheldon. Some people really suffer from Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. They want people to go nuts over something shitty and stupid. I believe people have surfed on the site many times as this was "international news." Um, hello?! You really had to see it to believe it.

If you want to see real spoilers/speculations, click here.

I'm not a big Harry Potter fan but i appreciate the cogs in Rowling's head. Writing 7 books in a span of 10 years with fans going ga-ga over characters in an overly-fictional world can do wonders for your self-esteem (and your bank account). The series is funny, exciting, endearing, and every time you finish one book, you'll be left asking "What the fuck was that about? How did that happen?" But with fan fiction about the raging hormones of these wholesome characters on the loose on the net is really insulting.

Anyway, i can't wait to go home. My sister texted me telling me about something she downloaded over the internet. It's pages 1-194 of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. I wish i could Apparate my ass from this bitch of a place already.

Thank you, spoiler alert (highlight if you want to see 'em)

1. Harry will go to Godric's Hollow.
2. Harry will find a letter from his mother, Lily. In the letter, Lily said many BAD things about Albus Dumbledore.
3. One of the twins will die. The one who lives will lose an ear.
4. Ronald Weasly will die. He will be killed by Bellatrix Lestrange.
5. Severus Snape will become Hogwarts Headmaster. He is an ally of Harry's.
6. At the end of the series (Epilogue), Neville Longbottom becomes a Herbology teacher, Hermione a healer.
7. Ron will destroy one of the horcruxes.
8. All three will be kidnapped and will be brought to Malfoy Manor.
9. Tonks and Lupin will be wed, will be dead by the end, and will have a son named Teddy.
10. Snape will die.
11. Voldemort will die.
12. Mad-eye Moody will die.
13. Dobby the house elf will die.
14. Harry's owl, Hedwig, will die.
15. Harry and the Dursleys will make amends.
16. The first chapter will be entitled "The Dark Lord Ascending." The last chapter will be "The Flaw in the Plan"

I'm public speaking. Stop public-interrupting me.

Thanks, Macky for sharing this.

Kudos to the people who kept looking and didn't settle!!!

*

This is the text of the Commencement address by Steve Jobs, CEO of Apple Computer and of Pixar Animation Studios, delivered on June 12, 2005.

I am honored to be with you today at your commencement from one of the finest universities in the world. I never graduated from college. Truth be told, this is the closest I've ever gotten to a college graduation. Today I want to tell you three stories from my life. That's it. No big deal. Just three stories.

The first story is about connecting the dots.

I dropped out of Reed College after the first 6 months, but then stayed around as a drop-in for another 18 months or so before I really quit. So why did I drop out?

It started before I was born. My biological mother was a young, unwed college graduate student, and she decided to put me up for adoption. She felt very strongly that I should be adopted by college graduates, so everything was all set for me to be adopted at birth by a lawyer and his wife. Except that when I popped out they decided at the last minute that they really wanted a girl. So my parents, who were on a waiting list, got a call in the middle of the night asking: "We have an unexpected baby boy; do you want him?" They said: "Of course." My biological mother later found out that my mother had never graduated from college and that my father had never graduated from high school. She refused to sign the final adoption papers. She only relented a few months later when my parents promised that I would someday go to college.

And 17 years later I did go to college. But I naively chose a college that was almost as expensive as Stanford, and all of my working-class parents' savings were being spent on my college tuition. After six months, I couldn't see the value in it. I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life and no idea how college was going to help me figure it out. And here I was spending all of the money my parents had saved their entire life. So I decided to drop out and trust that it would all work out OK. It was pretty scary at the time, but looking back it was one of the best decisions I ever made. The minute I dropped out I could stop taking the required classes that didn't interest me, and begin dropping in on the ones that looked interesting.

It wasn't all romantic. I didn't have a dorm room, so I slept on the floor in friends' rooms, I returned coke bottles for the 5¢ deposits to buy food with, and I would walk the 7 miles across town every Sunday night to get one good meal a week at the Hare Krishna temple. I loved it. And much of what I stumbled into by following my curiosity and intuition turned out to be priceless later on. Let me give you one example:

Reed College at that time offered perhaps the best calligraphy instruction in the country. Throughout the campus every poster, every label on every drawer, was beautifully hand calligraphed. Because I had dropped out and didn't have to take the normal classes, I decided to take a calligraphy class to learn how to do this. I learned about serif and san serif typefaces, about varying the amount of space between different letter combinations, about what makes great typography great. It was beautiful, historical, artistically subtle in a way that science can't capture, and I found it fascinating.

None of this had even a hope of any practical application in my life. But ten years later, when we were designing the first Macintosh computer, it all came back to me. And we designed it all into the Mac. It was the first computer with beautiful typography. If I had never dropped in on that single course in college, the Mac would have never had multiple typefaces or proportionally spaced fonts. And since Windows just copied the Mac, its likely that no personal computer would have them. If I had never dropped out, I would have never dropped in on this calligraphy class, and personal computers might not have the wonderful typography that they do. Of course it was impossible to connect the dots looking forward when I was in college. But it was very, very clear looking backwards ten years later.

Again, you can't connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something — your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life.

My second story is about love and loss.

I was lucky — I found what I loved to do early in life. Woz and I started Apple in my parents garage when I was 20. We worked hard, and in 10 years Apple had grown from just the two of us in a garage into a $2 billion company with over 4000 employees. We had just released our finest creation — the Macintosh — a year earlier, and I had just turned 30. And then I got fired. How can you get fired from a company you started? Well, as Apple grew we hired someone who I thought was very talented to run the company with me, and for the first year or so things went well. But then our visions of the future began to diverge and eventually we had a falling out. When we did, our Board of Directors sided with him. So at 30 I was out. And very publicly out. What had been the focus of my entire adult life was gone, and it was devastating.

I really didn't know what to do for a few months. I felt that I had let the previous generation of entrepreneurs down - that I had dropped the baton as it was being passed to me. I met with David Packard and Bob Noyce and tried to apologize for screwing up so badly. I was a very public failure, and I even thought about running away from the valley. But something slowly began to dawn on me — I still loved what I did. The turn of events at Apple had not changed that one bit. I had been rejected, but I was still in love. And so I decided to start over.

I didn't see it then, but it turned out that getting fired from Apple was the best thing that could have ever happened to me. The heaviness of being successful was replaced by the lightness of being a beginner again, less sure about everything. It freed me to enter one of the most creative periods of my life.

During the next five years, I started a company named NeXT, another company named Pixar, and fell in love with an amazing woman who would become my wife. Pixar went on to create the worlds first computer animated feature film, Toy Story, and is now the most successful animation studio in the world. In a remarkable turn of events, Apple bought NeXT, I returned to Apple, and the technology we developed at NeXT is at the heart of Apple's current renaissance. And Laurene and I have a wonderful family together.

I'm pretty sure none of this would have happened if I hadn't been fired from Apple. It was awful tasting medicine, but I guess the patient needed it. Sometimes life hits you in the head with a brick. Don't lose faith. I'm convinced that the only thing that kept me going was that I loved what I did. You've got to find what you love. And that is as true for your work as it is for your lovers. Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven't found it yet, keep looking. Don't settle. As with all matters of the heart, you'll know when you find it. And, like any great relationship, it just gets better and better as the years roll on. So keep looking until you find it. Don't settle.

My third story is about death.

When I was 17, I read a quote that went something like: "If you live each day as if it was your last, someday you'll most certainly be right." It made an impression on me, and since then, for the past 33 years, I have looked in the mirror every morning and asked myself: "If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?" And whenever the answer has been "No" for too many days in a row, I know I need to change something.

Remembering that I'll be dead soon is the most important tool I've ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything — all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure - these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart.

About a year ago I was diagnosed with cancer. I had a scan at 7:30 in the morning, and it clearly showed a tumor on my pancreas. I didn't even know what a pancreas was. The doctors told me this was almost certainly a type of cancer that is incurable, and that I should expect to live no longer than three to six months. My doctor advised me to go home and get my affairs in order, which is doctor's code for prepare to die. It means to try to tell your kids everything you thought you'd have the next 10 years to tell them in just a few months. It means to make sure everything is buttoned up so that it will be as easy as possible for your family. It means to say your goodbyes.

I lived with that diagnosis all day. Later that evening I had a biopsy, where they stuck an endoscope down my throat, through my stomach and into my intestines, put a needle into my pancreas and got a few cells from the tumor. I was sedated, but my wife, who was there, told me that when they viewed the cells under a microscope the doctors started crying because it turned out to be a very rare form of pancreatic cancer that is curable with surgery. I had the surgery and I'm fine now.

This was the closest I've been to facing death, and I hope its the closest I get for a few more decades. Having lived through it, I can now say this to you with a bit more certainty than when death was a useful but purely intellectual concept:

No one wants to die. Even people who want to go to heaven don't want to die to get there. And yet death is the destination we all share. No one has ever escaped it. And that is as it should be, because Death is very likely the single best invention of Life. It is Life's change agent. It clears out the old to make way for the new. Right now the new is you, but someday not too long from now, you will gradually become the old and be cleared away. Sorry to be so dramatic, but it is quite true.

Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of others' opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.

When I was young, there was an amazing publication called The Whole Earth Catalog, which was one of the bibles of my generation. It was created by a fellow named Stewart Brand not far from here in Menlo Park, and he brought it to life with his poetic touch. This was in the late 1960's, before personal computers and desktop publishing, so it was all made with typewriters, scissors, and polaroid cameras. It was sort of like Google in paperback form, 35 years before Google came along: it was idealistic, and overflowing with neat tools and great notions.

Stewart and his team put out several issues of The Whole Earth Catalog, and then when it had run its course, they put out a final issue. It was the mid-1970s, and I was your age. On the back cover of their final issue was a photograph of an early morning country road, the kind you might find yourself hitchhiking on if you were so adventurous. Beneath it were the words: "Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish." It was their farewell message as they signed off. Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish. And I have always wished that for myself. And now, as you graduate to begin anew, I wish that for you.

Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish.

Thank you all very much.

Lord, beer me strength.

My friend from the office has credit card debts that she refuses to pay. Why? Bastos daw kasi yung naniningil.

Yup. Totoo yan. My friend is a busy person who has meetings every hour. Sometimes, i answer the collector's calls; ergo de facto, i get all harassments and the threats. I don't have problems with such people, anyway it's not me who owes them anything.

The collector called again and this time he was soooo mad at ME and our trainee. He was accusing us of hiding my friend from him. He was screaming, calling me names, and threatens us that he'll be sending somebody to take care of my friend. Aba, di papuntahin niya sa opisina! Ang tagal naman!!!

Sabi ko sa kanya "Relax ka lang masyado kang hot ah!" Ang gago di parin tumitigil sa kakatalak. Hayop pinainit ulo ko. Pero ako kasi kung nagagalit, cool lang ako. I get satisfaction from controlling my emotions of displeasure. Chaka bawal magalit sabi ni Jesus. Pero pwede magmura.

My friend reported this person to the company already. But me, i haven't said my peace/piece yet so here goes. Brace yourselves.

Hoy, alam kong di mo totoong pangalan yang ginagamit mo pag tumatawag ka. I have friends from your company who told me who you really are. I won't give away your identity over the internet (kasi ethics yan. Kolektor ka na nga lang eh, and i won't rob you off that power you "contractually" have).

Tao ang mga tinatawagan mo sa mga lugar na sinisingilan niyo. Tao ka makipagusap.

Kung wala kang ginagawa kundi maningil, ibahin mo ang ibang tao. Puta ka, wag mo kong uutusan dahil di kita boss. Boss ko nga di ko sinasanto ikaw pa kayang putangina ka.

Kung ayaw magbayad ng tao, wala kayong magagawa. Bastos ka kasi kaya lalo kang ginigipit.

I guess you have commissions on every in-debt account you successfully settle. Sabagay, kung sa kumisyon ka nabubuhay, at kung nasa kontrata niyo mangharass ng kliyente, then it reflects on what your company (HSBC yan mga friends) visions to achieve everytime maniningil kayo.

Ang kulit niyo talaga. Wala kayong kupas. Sigurado ako may utang ka rin. Relax ka lang kasi masaya ang buhay!!!

And one more thing.

Putangina mo rin.

Comments. Suggestions.

*This was a post by my sister (http://wickedsprite.livejournal.com-you'll enjoy her entries, Macky) and would like to share with you my comments.

Two months in this job made me realize that I am the bastard Ryan Howard. The temp. The one who does the coffee when the receptionist is out. The one who hates his job and would even consider a job opening in a urinalysis lab. The one who wants to pursue graduate studies and will probably write a paper about the dwindling design business with the company as it's subject. The only difference between me and him is that the boss loves him. Hell, one of these days I might even start a fire.

Very well said, kapatid. Very well said. I feel ya.


The world of employment is full of egotistical, ass-kissing incompetents. Sometimes in order for us to survive, we have to just suck it up and absorb all the b.s.


But i agree with you one hundred percent that if you're unhappy with your job (or the people you work with), you should get out of there. It's like what the Bastard said. "I have to commit or get out." In our case, it's better to get out than be deranged with doing double-duty as a slave and a crap sponge. Mahirap makipag-resorb sa echas.


You are destined for greatness, kapatid. There are other jobs out there. They'll be sorry not to get you.

Eenie meenie minie moe is random.

This is pretty interesting...

Instructions: Each player starts with 7 random habits/facts about themselves. People who are tagged need to write on their own blog about their seven things, as well as these rules. At the end of your blog, you need to choose 7 people to get tagged and list their names. Don't forget to leave them a comment telling them that they have been tagged and to read your blog!

1. I smoke. On an ordinary day, i smoke 3 to 5 sticks. But if i'm with friends chillaxing, i can go through half a box of twenties. I want to quit but with the nature of my work, i need it. Psychological eh. Stress-reliever talaga. Blahdi blahdi blah blah psychobabble. I don't want to be a junkie pero i guess that's what i am. Sa yosi nga lang. Sa bagay i'll start trying when i'm ready. Wala namang nakukulong sa kakahithit ng sigarilyo.

2. I love math! I love numbers, equations, algebra, budget computations, and all that has got something to do with computing stuff! I was a member of the Math Society in school and one of our org missions is to tutor mathematically-challenged students. And also, i'm lying about all these.

3. I can smell a phony from a mile away. Siguro i have a built-in radar. I'm known for my no-nonsense attitude. Say what you want, quit beating around the bush, and don't pretend to like me if you don't coz believe me, you'd know if i don't fancy you much. In short, di ako plastik.

4. I'm a video game addict. I can go on for hours blowing my brains out solving puzzles in the adventure games i play. Pero gumagamit ako ng cheat chaka walkthrough.

5. I own many soundtracks of musical plays. I know all the lyrics to it. Also, DVDs. I know the dance steps to every song, the nuances of every character. I have this dream of making it big in musical theater. I think i have enough talent to win a Tony (puta ang bigat pare), but i can't dance and i don't sing well. Sabi nga ng Japanese teacher ko, "You don't know how to terr time and yet you want to do write for a Japanese web company? That's arright, aim high."

6. I'm a good person. Yes, laitera ako (coz i speak my mind and i can get away with it dahil ALAM KONG DI NAMAN AKO PERPEKTO), i smoke, i say bad words when i goddamn feel like it, i procrastinate. But i'm a good person. I know what is right and what is wrong, i'm a good daughter to my family, and i don't insult the people less fortunate than i am.

7. I don't answer my phone if i don't have the number saved in my phone directory. I don't answer the phone when i'm sleepy, when i'm eating, or if the caller's from work (if i don't feel like it). I mean, come on, ask somebody else.

And now, I tag: Anne Ilada, Macky Cruz, Daryl Tecson, Sai Segovia, Mea, Jenny Fidelson, and Paul Capundan.

Call cards are the wave of the future

Doesn't it get on your nerves when your messenger pops out a window (which stops you from doing anything on your computer) and informs you that you have an email from Adelaide Fuller offering you discounted prices on Viagra?

Who the hell is Adelaide Fuller?

ANONG GAGAWIN KO SA VIAGRA?

May email pa nga tungkol sa kung ano-anong lottery na nabunot daw ang email number ko tapos nanalo ako ng limpak-limpak na British Pounds. Tapos may susulat sayo para hingan ka ng sangkatutak na salapi. Aba, eh ikaw naman na taong mabait, mapapaisip ka dahil wala naman sa kultura mo na hindi tumulong sa nangangailangan. Pero kung mababasa mo kung sino ang sumulat, aba, eh prinsipe pala ang kumag. When the son of the deposed king of Nigeria e-mails you directly asking for help, you help. His father ran a freaking country!

Dami na talagang masasamang tao ngayon. Ikaw na nananahimik na nagiinternet aabalahin pa. Networking, call cards, virus emails, discounted offers--it all boils down to scamming.

Scammingina nila.

In other words, i'm quitting.

Putanginang shet.

LAYA NA 'KO!

After a year, i finally summoned up the courage to quit.

It wasn't an easy decision. I've made many friends here, people who are more than names and faces to me. I was continuously served with challenges that helped me develop as an employee.

Pero tama na. Sobra na. It's time to say goodbye, get up, and dance!

To my friends: mula kay Kuya Allan na naghahatid sakin sa Sta. Rosa at pabalik sa opisina hanggang kay Sir Ver na nakangiti parin kahit alam kong bwisit na siya, thank you. You all won't be forgotten.

To the Lobby Girls and Boys: thank you for the laughter and the support through the tough times. Without your presence here in the office, second week ko palang nilayasan ko na ang mga walang kwentang tao dito. Nandito kayong lahat sa puso ko. Kita-kits sa August sa birthday namin ni Sir Ed!

To the people of the F.O: words are not enough to to thank all of you. Salamat sa saya, sa weeknight gimmicks, sa words of encouragement, sa mga ngiting bumabati sakin tuwing papasok ako diyan sa office niyo. Sa mga guwardya, Kuya Joel, Kuya Alex, kay Kuya Luis at sa team niya, Ka Percy, Ka Lumeng, Mang Abe, Kuya Tano, Kuya Rey, Mitch, Marlon, Mommy Juliet, Mike, Sir Ver, Sir Marlou, Sir Arnold, Ms. Miles, Mary Anne, Tito Fidel, Sir Arden. Thank you thank you!!! If situations have their own ability of ironing things out i'll work with you faster than you can say "That's it!" Mahal ko kayong lahat!

To the people who have the same plight: Ito lang ang maaadvise ko: lahat tayo nakapag-aral whether we're bosses or subordinates. We are all professionals here at hindi tama na insultuhin ang pagkatao natin dahil staff lang tayo at hindi boss. Di na uso ang tutungo nalang at hahayaang maulanan tayo ng talak at laway. Goodluck and friends til the end!

Marami rin akong hiningan ng opinyon kung ano ang gagawin ko. This was a predicament. I really thought that this was the job and the company for me. Akala ko dito na ako tatanda at uugatan. Pero you really can't have everything.

Sabi nga ni Realus Tecson, ang buhay parang gulong ng sorbetes. May oras na nasa taas ka...masarap dahil malapit ka dun sa ice cream--malamig at presko! Minsan naman pagulong-gulong ka sa mainit na aspalto. Kung maswerte ka, magpapahinga pa ang Mamang Sorbetero at mga ilang minuto ka ring nakikipag-lips to lips sa tae ng aso.

Kahit naman yata sino hindi papayag na makipagyapusan sa tae diba? I've had enough of the B.S. Ilang beses ko nang inulit sa profile ko sa Friendster, Multiply, at kung saan saan pa na AYOKO SA PLASTIK. Di uso sakin ang motto na "If you can't beat them, join them." That's a load of bullcrap. And believe you me, i can smell that from a mile away.

Friends--i'm sure i'll see them again. Experiences? All jobs bombard us with work and life experiences. Benefits? I can get benefits in another company. Pero di mababayaran ng benepisyo ang katinuan at respeto para sa isang empleyado.

I really tried. God knows how hard i tried sucking it up and staying. Believe it or not, ang galing ko nga dahil natiis ko for a year. Yay, me!

Pero may hangganan ang bawa't isang tao. Level of tolerance kumbaga.

Hanggang dito nalang po. Marami pong salamat.

I am looking for the toy drive box.

We weren't deprived of anything when we were kids but we weren't spoiled of all the latest toys.

I had a Barbie doll na isang set lang ang damit. Kulay white, laced long-sleeved blouse na may tube underneath para di makita ang boobs niya. Tapos may black velvet belt at pink skirt. Maiksi pa ang buhok niya noon na hanggang balikat lang. Tapos naka-yapak siya. I had two neighbors who wouldn't let me play with them coz my Barbie doll only has one set of clothes. Theirs kasi had a lot, complete with make-up kits and houses pa. Pero nung pinasalubungan ako ni Auntie Mang ng mga damit para sa Barbie ko, aba nagkakandarapa sila na makipaglaro sakin.

Si Guy Smiley naman ginagawa daw nilang tau-tauhan yung mga lighter ng tito niya noon pag naglalaro sila ng mga pinsan niya. Pag mataba yung lighter, lalake daw yun. Tapos asawa nila yung mga Cricket na mapapayat. Tapos ang trabaho daw nung mga lalakeng lighter eh mga tigapag-deliver ng buko. Ang buko nila yung mga bunga ng pilapil.

Ikaw, ano ang paborito mong laruan noon?

I bumped my elbow against a wall and now my elbow has a protruberance

I never had to go physical therapy in my lifetime up until now.

Di ko inaakala na dahil sa pagko-computer eh magkakaron ako ng de Quervain's Tenosyvitis. It's Carpal Tunnel's cousin. A person will feel the same pain and will hinder one's movement on the wrists. Sa case ko, yung kanang braso ko ang nagkasakit. Kaka-mouse daw.

After two months of going to my orthopedic surgeon, taking pain and anti-inflammatory medication, and applying hot compress to my ailing wrist, i was advised to undergo a surgical procedure for de Quervain's called "Release."

Para pala kasing kinalyo yung litid ko sa may pulso dahil sa excessive movement. Kung walong oras mo nga namang ginagawa sa araw-araw ang pagmamouse, eh talagang kahit sino kakalyuhin nun. Ginupit nila yung kumapal na litid, hence the term "release" of the other tendons impeding my movement.

Ok na siya ngayon pero am still experiencing pain. I can't do things with my right hand like picking up heavy stuff. Chaka minsan nga kahit wala akong ginagawa, kusang nagla-lock yung kamay ko, yung tipong may kumakalso sa mga litid ko sa pulso.

Badtrip. I had to undergo physical therapy daw. Buti nalang bayad pa ng kumpanya ito hanggang sa last day ko. I have to complete 6 sessions in two weeks which is enough for my arm to get used to the loss of a tendon, and another 4 sessions to regain the arm's strength.

Shet. Bawal talaga magkasakit. I have never been in and out of the hospital. Iba ang feeling ng ganito. Ang hirap. Swerte pa nga ako dahil kamay lang itong inirereklamo ko. Pano pa kaya yung iba na talagang malalalang sakit ang idinudulog sa ospital?

Lots of cultures eat rice. That doesn't help me.

My friends and i have been all over the Philippines (though i'm sure marami pang lugar na pwedeng bisitahin, mga kwebang pwedeng pasukin, mga dagat na pwedeng languyin) pero libre naman mangarap kaya nga ba ang dami kong balak puntahang lugar.

1. Tokyo

They say the Japanese are gracious hosts. I can testify to this. My uncles and aunts are very hospitable people. Maraming pagkaain palagi sa bahay nila sa Pasig kaya tuwing may paokasyon palaging sa kanila.

I have a friend in the office who lived in Japan for 5 years. He said that if ever one wants to go to Japan, dapat daw di palampasin ang pagpunta sa Ginza, Tokyo, the most expensive street in Japan. Ginza has the largest Japanese department store chains like Mitsukoshi and Takashimaya, where figures in the price tags (exchanging its currency rate) are similar with Harrod's in the UK. Syempre sa ordinaryong Pilipinong nag-iisip, di naman dapat bumili dito. Baka ka-presyo na ng minimum wage ang presyo ng medyas doon.

Kung mahilig ka mag-basa, there's a bookstore in Ginza where you can definitely invest your money in. The Wise Owl Bookshop is complete with all titles from bestsellers to language courses.

2. New York City

NYC is the Quiapo of the USA pero less stink, less garbage. Petty traffic-related fights are a common thing in New York, too. Ang pagkakaiba lang, bihira ang nauuwi sa saksakan at napaguusapan ng media.

Kulang ang isang buwan for me to feel NYC. The Statue of Liberty, the Museum of Natural History (daming buto ng Jurassic Park dito!), Central Park--these are the usual tourist spots. For the theater-goer however, a month is just for Times Square alone.

Kung si Hiro nga ng Heroes eh naloka sa pagkakatapak niya sa gitna ng Times Square ako pa kayang walang superpower?! Siguro seeing The Great White Way's digital billboards, cabs, skyscrapers, theater marquees will enable my jaw to do death defying acts. Hahahaha ang labo. In short, mapapanganga ako sa amazement.

3. Paris

Di ako masyadong excited sa Eiffel Tower kasi puro kalawang na daw at maganda lang daw yun sa gabi.

If you saw The Da Vinci Code (or read it. It doesn't matter because both versions sucked), the triangular glass building where the main characters had to run amuck and die and solve puzzles and read messages with a black light and eventually escape from (though this is not the end of this pointless and boring chase) is the Louvre. I'm no museum nut, but seeing the most famous paintings in the world can be pretty exciting.

4. Bwindi

Uganda is known for their gorillas. You can free roam with the gorillas in Bwindi Gorilla Sanctuary and feel the thrill of looking at a real-life gorilla. Siguro yung mga mukhang gorilya wag na pumunta dito, sayang lang ang pera niyo dahil di na kayo mae-excite. Lalo na kung mahilig kayo tumingin sa salamin.

5. Zambezi River, border of Zambia and Zimbabwe

Mosi-oa-Tunya or Victoria Falls. I first saw this in The Amazing Race. It was the most beautiful thing i have ever seen on television. Ang laki ng waterfalls! Tapos may usok talagang kusang lumalabas mula sa current ng tubig.

The list goes on and on. Gusto ko nga mag-"bumbee" jumping (bungee jumping yan para dun sa mga taong di nakuha yung joke at mga di nakapanood ng episode na yun ng Extra Challenge). Pag punta ko sa Malaysia pangatlo yan sa itinerary ko (magsusulat muna ako ng farewell letter at magtitika sa mga kasalanan ko). I did mountain climbing years ago and would like to feel the thrill once more in Ladakh, India and Adam's Peak in Sri Lanka.

Pera at passport nalang ang kailangan ko.

Sheeeeet.