Chorva
Sa dati kong opisina, hindi na rare para sa mga taong gumamit ng salitang
chorva bilang placeholder word para sa mga bagay-bagay. Dulot ito ng lax na environment sa trabaho, pati na rin ng sangkatutak na bading na naglipana sa opisinang nabubuhay sa creative flow ng mga tao.
May isang meeting ako noon, dalawang taon na halos ang nakaraan, kung saan kailangan naming i-present sa presidente ng kumpanya ang marketing plan para sa isang bagong project. Maganda ang naging daloy ng presentation, meron pang astig na video, at sobrang galing ng presentor namin, ang production manager ng creative team. Steady na yung presentation nang biglang sumabit yung production manager namin sa huling bahagi:
Production manager: "And the website would feature a comprehensive portal for the users, and will include videos, photos, blogs, and other social networking..."
At this point, nasa dulo na ng lahat ng dila namin ang kasunod na salita: "
Chorva!" Alam din namin na yun ang gustong sabihin ng production manager namin. Pero siyempre, dahil para sa company president yung presentation, hindi niya masabi.
Production manager: "...and other social networking..."
Buti na lang, nag-step-in yung presidente namin at kinumpleto yung sentence para sa aming lahat.
Company president: "
Chorva?"
Siyempre, hindi lahat ng kausap ko, sanay na sa pag-gamit ng salitang yun. Naalala ko yung incident sa presentation na yun nung isang araw. Tinanong kasi ako ng boss ko kung busy ba ako at kung pwede siyang makisingit ng isang ipapa-interview. Meron akong isa pang appointment sa ilang minuto, ang Manila Cost Efficiencies Initiative briefing.
Ang gusto ko sanang sabihin:
"Sir, hindi ako pwede, meron akong Manila Cost Efficiencies Initiative briefing in a few minutes eh."
Pero ang muntik ko nang masabi:
"Sir, hindi ako pwede, meron akong
chorva in a few minutes eh."
So ang sinabi ko na lang:
"Sige sir, sino ba yang i-interview-hin natin?"
Labels: hehehe
Kotse, ulit
Nung isang gabi, kausap ko sa telepono yung nanay ko (kailangan eh, hindi kasi siya nagbabasa ng blog). Tinanong niya ako tungkol sa bago kong trabaho, na nauwi sa ganitong usapan:
Ako: "...usually
nag-sha-shuttle ako, pero minsan nag-ji-jeep ako papuntang Guadalupe..."
Nanay ko: "Pucha, manager ka na, nag-ji-jeep ka pa rin? Ang kunat mo talaga."
Ganun na ba kasama yun?
Actually, makunat talaga ako. Na-realize ko 'to kagabi dahil dalawang taon na akong merong sariling bahay, hindi pa rin ako bumibili ng kama. Buti sana kung maganda yung kutson ko, pero yung gamit ko, yung pinaka-chipipay na kutson na manipis na nabili ko lang sa Shopwise. Dalawang taon na akong natutulog sa kutson na yun.
Labels: hehehe
Kotse
Dahil ang opisina ko ay nasa isang liblib na business park sa sulok ng isang malawak na (underdeveloped) commercial district, may shuttle service mula sa baba ng building pamula at pabalik sa sibilisasyon, para sa mga empleyadong walang kotse. Nung isang gabi, nakasakay ko ang ibang ka-trabaho galing sa HR department, at parang nagulat yung isa sa kanila nang makita ako sa loob ng van. "Sir," ang tanong niya, "wala ka atang dalang
car ngayon?"
"Ah, kasi," ang sagot ko naman, "wala akong
car."
"Oh, akala ko coding ka lang or something."
Naisip ko tuloy, pucha, dapat ba sinabi ko na lang na coding ako? Oo coding ako-- araw-araw.
Actually, parang hindi sila sanay na yung nasa posisyon ko, walang kotse. Yung boss ko, lagi akong kinukulit na bumili ng kotse, para daw hindi na ako palaging nale-late. May isang beses kasi, nung unang linggo ko sa trabaho, nag-bus ako at nakatulog ako sa bus. Pag-gising ko, nasa Mall of Asia na ako at na-miss ko yung conference call ko nung umagang yun. Nung lumipat kami ng opisina, tinanong niya ako kung paano ako nakakarating sa trabaho (nag-bu-bus ako, at madalas, bumababa at nag-ta-taxi galing sa Guadalupe). Tapos sasabihan niya ako, "Magkano ba yung ginagastos mo sa pag-biyahe sa umaga? Bumili ka na nga kasi ng kotse!"
Pero para sagutin yung tanong ng boss ko, actually, mas mahal pa rin ang pagbili ng kotse. Isipin mo na lang:
Downpayment. Ang 20% downpayment sa isang bagong kotse ay pumapatatak ng ~Php140k. Alam mo ba kung ilang yema na yung mabibili nun?* At alam ko na may mga promo ngayon, tulad ng Mazda, na Php70k lang ang downpayment, pero kung maliit lang ang downpayment, tatagain ka naman sa...
Amortization. Sabi ni Suze Orman,** kung hindi mo kayang bayaran ang kotse sa loob ng tatlong taon, "You can't afford it! You have been denied, denied, DENIED!!!"
Gas. Kahit medyo nag-mura na yung gas ngayon, mahal pa rin siya. Sa layo ng bina-biyahe ko araw-araw (~12kms.), gagastos ako ng Php80 sa gas lang. Konti lang ang diperensya sa taxi.
Parking. Mahal ang parking-- sa trabaho, sa mall, kahit minsan sa mga restaurants. Pero ang pinakamatindi, yung parking sa bahay. Sa tinitirhan ko ngayon, lalaki ng 50% ang babayaran ko buwan-buwan kung kumuha ako ng parking space.
Maintenance. Tune-up, change oil, car wash, at iba-iba pang gastos. Ang daming kailangang alalahanin, para ka na ring nagkaroon ng...
Girlfriend. Siyempre, pag may kotse, hindi na malayo ang girlfriend.*** Kapag may girlfriend, nandiyan ang gastos sa hatid-sundo, nood ng sine, kain sa labas, at sundo't hatid. Tapos anong mapapala mo? Love? Ang tanda-tanda mo na, naniniwala ka pa rin dun?
The world is too big for love to be real. ****
At kung nagkataon, ang uwi niyo...
Kasal. Siyempre, kailangan bongga yung kasal, siyempre, hindi naman pwedeng hinde. So kukunin mong kumuha ng picture si
Mimi + Karl. Kukunin mo sa
video yung Threelogy, sa pagkanta si
Johnoy, pati yung details, dapat kasing lupit ng
ganito. Eh ang mahal-mahal nun. Pero ok lang sana kung one-time big-time lang, eh hinde, lalo na 'pag nagkaroon ka na ng...
Anak. Alam mo ba kung magkano ang gatas ngayon? Diapers? Eh tuition sa exclusive school? Tapos gagastos ka pa sa baon. Buti sana kung makapasa yung anak mo sa Pisay o sa UP. Eh malamang yan, magre-rebelde pa yung anak mo, malululong pa sa drugs. Ang mahal na ng shabu ngayon.
Kaya yun. Bad idea talagang bumili ng kotse.
* - Pisay 98 inside joke
** - Nanonood ka ba ng Suze Orman Show? Bakit hindi? Palabas siya sa CNBC ng alas-kwatro tuwing Sabado.
*** - Totoo yun. Basahin mo
ang post na 'to.
**** -
But I still do miss her.
Labels: hehehe
The Prince
Mico Halili and rookie announcer Vince Hizon were doing the Purefoods double-OT loss to Coke last night, and I caught the BTV replay in the wee hours of the morning. During a lull in the third quarter, Mico casually mentioned that the full name of litte-used Coke forward Ricky Calimag was Recarido. It led to the following exchange:
Vince: "Are you serious? Do you really know all the first names and all the full names of all the players?"
Mico: (thinking) "Well, I know your middle name."
Vince: (sounding genuinely surprised) "Really?"
Mico: "Yeah.
The Prince."
Mico is bar-none the best announcer on Philippine TV. It's actually the second time I caught him doing a game with Vince. A couple of weekends ago, on Vince's first broadcast, Mico kept joking that he was working with royalty. Then when they showed a shot of Chris Tiu in the stands, Mico kept ribbing Vince about how before Ateneo fangirls screamed for Chris Tiu, they used to scream for Vince the Prince, so much so that you could
hear Vince blushing. Unlike Chris Tiu though, Vince never won championships for Ateneo, as he carried those crappy early '90s teams; back then, the school didn't pay their players hundreds of thousands of pesos to play for the team.
Labels: basketball
BoracayGirlofMyDreams.com
First, the wedding: it was beautiful, of course, as lovely as M+K's prettiest pictures. My favorite part was when Mimi walked down the aisle as
Johnoy sang, "
But all the promises we make, from the cradle to the grave, when all I want is you." There was crying after the ceremony, mostly by Karl (what a girl). But what a happy occasion. As I said in the video message to them, "Mimi and Karl" is my favorite love team. Well, after Wacks and Peachy.
(
UPDATE: Karl
posted photos. Eto
umiiyak na siya. And Threelogy already posted
the on-site video.)
Anyway, about
the girl: I did run into her. Twice, in fact. Saturday afternoon while I was getting a milkshake from Jonah's, and then later that evening on the way to meet everyone for dinner. We even exchanged glances, and she smiled at me to acknowledge that she recognized me to my flight, and I nodded back. But I was running late for dinner, and she was with a bunch of
titos and
titas, so that was that. I briefly flirted with the
idea of registering that domain name, but then I figured the statute of limitations for that had passed (plus, I can't draw if my life depended on it). Also, unfortunately,
it never did end well for those guys. Sad.
Labels: boracay
Touchdown Boracay
I'm in Boracay right now
for this. It's pretty cool that it's my second visit this year.
Of course, the first thing I did was hole up in my room to enjoy the free wi-fi (with the TV on showing basketball). It started drizzling when I checked in a few minutes ago, but I hope it's nothing like the pouring Manila weather. The flight was a little turbulent. I didn't mind it though; I sat in the foremost row of the plane, where passengers sat facing each other, and I sat across a really cute girl, who was wearing a pair of Chucks (on the way to Boracay, I know!). I hope I run into her again this weekend.
Labels: boracay
I haven't been blogging much lately...
...because I've been busy with my new job. I had been planning to write about it for the longest time, but I just never got around to it. I've been back at work for about a month now.
I guess I didn't write because I didn't have much energy for it. Work hasn't really been that busy, but after a whole day in front of the computer, I just don't want to be in front of the screen when I got home. But most of it was because I didn't really know where to start.
For example, I still have a hard time articulating why I took the job. The whole thing came together pretty quickly. The company's recruiting manager called me up and scheduled an interview between me and a senior manager for the next Wednesday. A day after the intervew, the recruiting manager called me up the next morning, asking me how soon I could start if an offer were tendered to me. I ended up signing that very afternoon, and I started work at the company two Mondays later.
I didn't take the job because of the money (although it does pay well), or because I thought it was a particularly good, can't-miss opportunity (although, for any sane person, it could be).
I guess I was just running out of excuses. My "showbiz answers" for leaving my last job (I wanted to take a break, I wanted to finish my final project report for grad school, I wanted to look into other opportunities) weren't holding up anymore (I had been out of work for 4 months already, I finished a draft of my final project report back in July and it only took me about a day to revise for a final version, I wasn't really looking for other opportunities and if I did agree to come for an interview for a recruiter I showed up looking
like this). Anyway, taking the job really was an impulse decision.
(Warning: Cryptic paragraphs, insider-y paragraph that's not really meant to be understood to follow)
I did it with the realization that, despite being away, things weren't really getting better with me. I was still in the exact same place I was six months ago, which was the exact same place I was in a year ago, which was the exact same place I was in 18 months ago. I had a vision of the next six months, the next year unfolding and me remaining in the exact same place. With the new job, it's doubtful that it'd be any different, but I could at least pretend that I'm "moving things along".
(End insider-y paragraph)
Anyway, the job. It's
okay. I have a high regard for the people I work with, and in many respects, it is an incredible place. To look the part, I got myself a yuppie haircut and a clean shave, and I make sure to come to work in accordance with the company's dress code. I'm trying to get into a routine, battling traffic and commuting to the other side of the metro really early every morning, going home, cooking dinner, and packing lunch for the next day.
The schedule is killing me, because as early as I have to get up each morning, I still couldn't sleep easily at night, so usually end up going to work with three or four hours of sleep. The company I work for has a night shift, which I prefer, and I actually tried going in to work at night for about a week. Too bad the schedule didn't work for my bosses, who worked mornings so I had to go back to the regular shift so I could get to meetings with them.
The job is about as different from my last job as you could get while staying in the IT industry. To be perfectly candid, I don't see myself lasting this long here, but then again, I used to say
that too about GMA, and I ended up staying almost four years. It's not necessarily a bad thing. It's a more professional approach; I come in, I do my job (and I've been doing a good job too), and I go home. But I don't pour my heart and soul into my job, not like I used to, anymore.
Labels: personal, work
