high school high

As you can see in the pictures posted below (ha! finally found a use for my cameraphone..), Assumptionistas in Masas were abounding. Let's forget that one of them was a TOTAL b-yeatch last night (she's not in any of the pictures), the night was so much fun!

It's amazing how we're all pretty much the way we were back in high school. Only older. Some with kids. Some married. Some based out of the country. Still, nothing much has changed. Iris was still mataray. I still drove Iris crazy. Keri was gorgeous as usual. As we reminisced over past boyfriends (or mistakes?), cheesy taste in music and other embarrassing issues, the more it became clear that despite distance, old friends will always have that sense of familiarity with one another. Nothing really changes. We may have matured a little, grown a little wiser, or maybe acquired a vice or two, but deep down we were still the same kids who enjoyed one another's company.

I sometimes find myself missing the innocence of high school. Still, it's comforting to know that that kind of thing never fully goes away.

ah.. MUCH better picture. :) the Chorale girls: Diz, Michie and me. kulang nalang si Ria.. 

the group picture where everyone looks good except me.. 

Iya and Rowie 

Rowie, Iris (who I love driving insane!) and Kerbear 

Rowie and Keri (interrupted by yours truly mid-conversation) 

and, of course, the infamous "tonight" duet that was, in all honesty, ABYSMAL. at least cynthia and arnold liked it.. and at least the perfect year sounded MUCH better. :) i'm just glad to have been part of it. it was the MOST BEAUTIFUL wedding i've been to so far. 

singing "the perfect year" at cyn and arnold's wedding 2 years ago today. :) i LOVE those two! my favorite couple, i swear. (boy, my arms are huge in this pic..) 

snow queen or ice maiden?

I don't really think of myself as a bitch but I do admit that I can get pretty scary at times. :) Last Friday, for instance, I was annoyed for most of the day.. Lunch to be exact.. And the feeling really didn't go away. Not even at dinner. It only got worse.

Let me just say this.. I'm pretty sick and tired of being made fun of all the time. Especially by a certain someone. Put it this way, I will NEVER IN A MILLION YEARS presume you know better than that. I love you, but you can be PRETTY DARN INSENSITIVE at times. Last Friday was one of them.

Not only have you constantly made fun of me in the past (embarrassing me more than a few times at that!), you ALSO labeled me a P250-hooker AND didn't let it die. You THEN sent me a picture of 2 gay dogs doing the nasty ON PURPOSE when I asked for something else. AND YOU THINK IT'S NOTHING?!

It may not mean anything to you, to our friends around the table, or the people in the office who found it hilarious.. BUT IT SURE DID MEAN SOMETHING TO ME. You know the straw that broke the camel's back? Yeah, well that pretty much did it.

Adding insult to injury, INSTEAD OF APOLOGIZING you chose to ignore me and went on to make me feel like I'M THE BITCH. I'm the culprit, the little miss who can't take a joke. Let me tell you that you've made A TON of jokes on my behalf so I think I'm ALLOWED to get mad this time.

I wonder if you will ever apologize or even acknowlegde that you may have done something wrong to merit my anger. Admittedly, I don't get (really) mad very often and when I do an apology (no matter how lame and cheesy) is enough. Instead, I get the cold shoulder. Oh, well. C'est la vie.

I refuse to dignify this argument any further. If you want to stay friends, you can apologize. If not, well, I can live with that.

bwahahaha. i actually got junie to pose with me. poor boy couldn't escape. oh, well. :P 

with ALL the doctors. wow.. never knew they'd be so many. and, of course, me, babs and junie joining the picture for good measure. 

the belo christmas dinner at circles.. with the marketing group. don't we all look so happy? must be because a certain someone got transeferred out of our department. woohoo! 

Iris & Keri at Kai. Some things never change. 

Reminsicing high school with Iris and Keri 

PAPARAZZI'D: Why can't I seem to have any decent pictures taken?! 

DESIRE: Chris looks lustfully at Nico while I fume with jealousy ;) 

Joey enjoying his pasta 

exercising penguins.. wish i'd look this cute when i work out. :P 

sweating it out..

I've never really been much of a gym-addict (have you seen me lately?) but I DO go on occasion. The past 2 weeks, however, I've been religious in trying to firm up them muscles. Bwahahaha. I just hate feeling flabby, you know?

Anyway, I was reading through CNN's website and I came across the cutest article "Pudgy Penguins Get Workout To Shed Pounds." I'll post the picture separately but it basically mentioned these penguins from a Japanese zoo that kept putting on weight. Since the zookeepers were concerned, they now have to exercise. Just like the rest of us humans. It's a little comforting to know that we're not the only ones who have to watch our weight. ;)

fighting a fool's crusade

i love my job and i love what i do.. admittedly, i don't love many of the people who work for the company but doesn't that apply to everybody anyway? you don't have to love EVERYONE you work with, after all.. you just have to work well with them.

but what if, after a while, when you go home tired and disillusioned, you begin to think of leaving? it's no secret that i've thought about this before. i'm tired. i didn't work my butt off in college to learn to write memos kindergardeners can understand. i'm tired of having to explain time and again the guidelines of a project because some of them can't be bothered to read that darn memo. i'm tired of their selfishness and their lack of passion.

recently, we had a corporate planning session. my partner and i worked our butts off creating a kick-ass marketing plan. i hate how after a while we regress back to where we started. when do we learn? when do we realize the importance of hiring good people and getting rid of the ones who are just too damn lazy?

i work for a service-oriented company. what kind of employees do we have when none of them can be bothered to learn what we offer? how can we serve people to the best of our capabilities when our own frontliners refuse to take in the importance of knowing your products and services? i sometimes feel like i'm lying to the public.. not about how good we are at what we do (we really ARE the best here) but when we talk about service excellence. are we really that excellent when employees refuse to care? nothing moves them except money. i may be a little too idealistic but don't you at least have to LIKE something about your job that isn't related to money?

i'm tired of trying to get these people to feel something for their jobs.. no sense of ownership, no accountability, NOTHING. they don't care. they just don't care. and i'm tired.

i wonder how long i can keep this up.. nothing to worry about, luv. you have an excellent resume.

the lady and the elevator

It always surprises me that no matter how "routine" your day starts, something really strange seems to happen. Like my morning trudge to work. I have a car but I absolutely DETEST having to drive in Manila - especially Makati. I'd rather walk, or on extremely LAZY days, take a cab. Then again, taking a cab is an ordeal in itself. Ever wonder how these cab drivers (many rude though there are some really nice ones few and far between) treat you like crap on a busy (or worse rainy!) day then honk at you as if it were a sin if you don't ride them when you don't need them?

Hmmm. I think I shall save that topic for another day.

Going back, I was taking my usual route to work. Everything's so.. normal. Whew. I'm home free. And then I get to my building. The building with the SLOWEST elevator in the world, I kid you not. The building with the MOST INCONSIDERATE passengers in the world. The building where elevator etiquette ceases to exist.

I usually can tell how my day starts just by getting into my work building's elevator. People hold open the door for you.. a good day. Running into someone you know in the elevator.. an even better day. Getting off the elevator a gazillion times because the jerk next to you refuses to move to let other passengers out then nonchalantly lets the elevator doors close on you as you get in.. I'm on a warpath. Today, I think, is more of a silly day.

SOME LADY ACTUALLY FELT LIKE SHE HAD TO GIVE A COMMENTARY ON OUR RIDE UP. Yeeesh. As it was going up, she started counting.. LOUDLY. One, two, three.. "Ay may lalabas dito sa eighth floor..Ten pa tayo, nine, ten. I HONESTLY wanted to clap when she got out. Wow, lady. Thank you for that invaluable insight into the comings and goings of elevator folk. I'm sure it will benefit all of us to know what floor we're passing - nevermind that there is actually an LCD screen showing what floor we're at. She was so kind, saying it out loud just in case we couldn't read.

No, I think today will be a sarcastic day. Poor officemates. How will they cope? ;)

 

the listing begins..

10 Get-Happy Songs

1) Philosophy - Ben Folds Five
2) Hold On Hope - Guided by Voices
3) I Do - Lisa Loeb
4) Stand In The Place Where You Live - R.E.M.
5) I Wanna Be Sedated - Shonen Knife
6) Sparky's Dream - Teenage Fanclub
7) The Rainbow - The Apples In Stereo
8) My Slow Descent Into Alchoholism - New Pornographers
9) Troubled Times - Fountains of Wayne
10) Is It Wicked Not To Care - Belle and Sebastian

Lists, lists, lists.

From David Letterman to iPods, there's practically a list for everyone. I think it speaks to the inner critic in all of us. Or maybe it's sheer boredom. Whatever the case, being list-happy is fun! I suppose I'm just bored, and that this list will inevitably change. Still, I LOVE these songs. Right now, they go in my Happy Music folder. No particular reason.

Next up, guilty pleasures. ;)

I'm such a marshmallow for puppies. Isn't he adorable? Just puts a smile on your face, doesn't it? :) 

the inventor in me, having a "moment"

I haven't taken an "accurate" personality test since my college days (unless you count Tickle as accurate, what with tests like What's Your Flavor and the like..) so taking the Myers-Briggs was a little daunting. In the span of 5 minutes, thoughts such as "What if I don't like my results?" or "What if I can't stand what I've become?" plagued my already hazy head. Credit last night Kamikaze and wine binging for that one.

There was nothing to worry about. I spent about 5 minutes answering the test and another 30 minutes laughing at how "accurate" my results were. I mean.. REALLY. Being an eNTp personality, I am apparently a rarity. Of course, the first words to greet me as I clicked on my results page were: scientist, computer genius and.. NERD. Nerd?! Personally, I prefer GEEK. Some highlights from my analysis:


Goals in life: independence
(ha! that explains the new apartment.. and no boyfriend)

What others may not like about Rationals (which eNTp's fall under):
Seem arrogant to others at times -- Sometimes deliberately choose to ignore rules or others' wishes or concerns. Focus instead on their own, more strictly logical picture of what is going on and what should be achieved in the future.
(blame the "i don't care!" office mantra on this. then again, i can't help it if some of them are stiffs)

"eNTps are confident in the value of their interests and display a charming capacity to ignore the standard, the traditional, and the authoritative. As a result of this innovative attitude, they often bring fresh, new approaches to their work and their lives."
(bwahaha. no wonder i don't like being controlled)

The good news for most is that there are only about 2% of us on the planet. I guess the thing is, I see things differently from everyone else and I have the statistics to prove it. ;) Which is why I am more often than not misunderstood.


--------------------------------------

I know I said I was having a moment but this darned thing has lasted over a week. Eep. I can pinpoint the exact moment this moment happened (confused much?) and it's getting more irritating by the minute.

I LOVE being single. Nevermind that my parents are constantly on my case to get a boyfriend (I've had 2 for cryin' out loud! You'd think they'd had enough.), or that everyone I know has either gotten married, had kids or in the dating process. What on earth is SO WRONG about wanting to be single? For now, at least. I attended a party last night and I felt like I was in that scene in Bridget Jones' Diary.. You know, the one where everyone was SO SORRY for her, poor single Bridget. If I were in the movie I'd say BUG OFF!! Hasn't ANYONE seen SINGLES? I quote "Being alone, there's a certain dignity to it." Hell yeah. I can do whatever I want, when I want.. WITHOUT HAVING TO ANSWER TO ANYONE.

Okay, okay. Let's not be too negative here. I'm not saying being single is the greatest thing in the world. I do want to get married and I really really do want to have children. Thing is, I'm only 25. I'm not exactly going through menopause yet so PLEASE give me a break. I'm a good girl.. I don't do drugs or join orgies or even swear. I'm taking the time to enjoy my singledom - walking around by myself (helps me think), dating myself (it's great when you can have coffee alone with a book!) and I just hate all the slack I'm getting just because I'm not attached. I believe that when God thinks I'm ready, that guy will finally come right around the corner but for now, PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE let me enjoy my singledom without being surrounded by patronizing attached women. "Aw, that's okay. You're still young." "You'll meet him soon." Blah blah blah. Growl.

Sorry if I sound like I'm about burst out with a chorus of "I am woman, hear me roar" but as you can probably already tell, I'm getting tired of explaining that I DO like to be alone. Blame it on those girly magazines whose focal point is MEN. How to please men. How to give him what he wants. Eep. I believe wives should serve their husbands but I think just the same that we shouldn't come across as depraved sex slaves either.

Haay. You'd think I had some sort of disease or psych problem. Is the happily single woman really that much of a myth? I really hope not.