We gotta move these refrigerators
We gotta move these colour tvs

I know two posts with lyrics on them. It’s an after effect of the Cure concert last night.

The headline on the news today is that UK employees are working for free!

Basically everyone’s putting in more time to show their bosses that they shouldn’t be made redundant if the company is cost-cutting.

Gawd.

UK’s already got the longest working hours and the least Bank Holiday in Europe. I don’t really know whether today’s news makes any difference in that respect.

Most of the staff in our company are working like dogs. We’re not forced (in my opinion), we’re all just driving for the same goal: hit the Live date with flying colours. It’s been the case (the professionalism and staff dedication) since I joined the company, and to be honest I’ve never enjoyed work this much since my first employment.

We could be an exception. And probably in other industries they are working like their lives depended on it.

There are ugly things happening all over the country because of the recession.

The racists are having a field day, pointing out the jobs held by non-British (i.e. non-white) people. News of strikes are almost daily/weekly recently and people (I’ve not seen non-whites in clips or pictures) have banners and flags fostering British Jobs for the British. The BNP’s probably reaping members like Death himself.

These are like scenes out of the film “Child of Men” depicting a futuristic UK, where immigrants are treated like vermins. The “fear” is here.

Now Brown’s infamous words are haunting him. New Labour doesn’t want to be seen as racists or snobs, do they? That’s the Conservative Party’s role.

I hope the resentment stops here. With desperation, things can get ugly.

Wild boys never lose it
Wild boys never chose this way
Wild boys never close your eyes
Wild boys always shine

Three weeks ago pogiBoy very kindly said to me “put my hair up and make it spiky, please?”
He pulled some of his hair and started patting them to form a line in the middle of his head.

He wanted a mohawk.

I’m not exactly sure where he got this idea. Could be from the MTVs, or the punks and goths walking around London. Or maybe from a photo of him when he was 1-year and I played with his inspired by Maddox’ hairstyle.

I promised we’ll do it on the weekend but we both forgot.

But yesterday hubby said when pogiBoy saw his new haircut, he told his Dad to remind me about his spiky hair.

Well, I want to but we both have very fine hair so I consulted the net how to get this done.

I googled “how to do mohawk” thinking it will return something related to those terms, but actually the top 10 results have pages and videos for exactly what I searched for!

This one is the best. In one of the steps it advises you to “Visualize your Mohawk“. Wow.

I hope my attempt will be to pogiBoy’s taste.

I wrote before that unlike in Pinas, the telly ads here aren’t very imaginative. In Pinas, there’s a whole story/backdrop and some are even shown in series format.

Well, this year two adverts stood out in the UK airtime. They’re so interesting, Pogi-boy would tell me not to switch channels.

See for yourself:

And this, which Pogi-boy says means “if you smell good and comb your hair, people like you”:

I  came across these articles while taking a “break”.

A newborn was found inside a carrier by schoolchildren. If you have Faith, then you’d say this child has a Super Being looking after her. It’s so cold today, it could have within a few hours of exposure. If you don’t have Faith, then she’s very lucky indeed.

Now they’re looking for the mum as she might be bleeding etc. The report says the child might be of Black or Asian descent. And now that sort of gives me a little comfort that it’s not Pinoy. They mean either african or middle eastern.

Still point is you wouldn’t think cases like these happen in “developed” countries.

On a lighter note, have you read that article written by a Brit in Pinas where he dissects our eating habit and penchant for “weird names” like Lingling, Lovely, Randy etc?

Anyway, I don’t have the time to trawl thru my emails archive but there was such an article being passed around some years ago.

And today Yahoo wrote about the UK (and US) “weird names” and I tell you these are definitely curse-worthy. Come on, Bill Board? Annette Curtain? And the best Doug Hole?

To think I already pitied this baby christened Alejo Alejo.

You cannot avoid talking about the past during reunions. According to my ditse, she couldn’t believe I remember so many details. I get this reaction all the time. Some probably think I am making them up, but I don’t.

Some of my memories go back to when I was as young as three I think.

That early memory is of my Tatay chasing me around our dinner table, an office table from NIA and our only piece of “furniture”. I thought it was a game, but I apparently made him furious, he was after me to give me a good spanking. I remember jumping to Nanay’s lap and trying to hide under skirts.

I love my memories. These are my only companions when I feel alone and isolated from the rest of the world. I tell and retell them to myself, trying to describe everything as it was when they happened. The scene, the atmosphere, my feelings, my reactions and if I could, how others reacted.

I re-live each moment and sometimes I can still feel the emotion I felt at the time.

The captive audience would often comment I tell the stories very well. That I lived a very interesting life. A close friend in Uni once said she wished her life was as colourful as mine.

But I don’t see my life experiences as special or unique. They are certainly special to me, however I do not tell them to impress or boast or look for pity.

I tell them because it makes me feel alive.

It’s always been in my nature since I can remember, to always “review” my life. Perhaps that comes with being emotional (read: nuts).

Last year, I’ve resolved to start writing these down. Because I do fear losing them. Like the way I lost my passion for poetry.

So that’s a warning, you’ll re-live these with me.

When I was 14 I saw a clean-cut guy in full-gala CAT uniform. He was s a Cdt Major then and he was practising saluting with his sword. I moved to get a closer look and saw his perfect white teeth and dimples when he smiled. I estimated he was a good 2-inches taller than me.

It was a Richard-Gere-moment, you know, falling for a guy in uniform.

Weeks passed before I told my barkada that I was salivating after this guy had a crush on this unknown guy. I had to because when he happened to pass by me one time, I turned red for the first time in my life. I have never liked anyone that much.

It was a good thing having a support group at that age. In a school of at least 4 thousand kids, it was a great help to have more than one pair of eyes to scope out your target.

One time it was raining so hard and the corridors were jampacked with students all the way down the wet stairs. We were pushing and elbowing our way and I was leading the charge. Then I felt a push and the next thing I knew my scream was fit for a horror film sound FX.

I landed on a sweet smelling embrace. He asked me if I was okay and if I saw who pushed me. Oh I could have died right there and I couldn’t have been happier. It’s like time stood still and obviously that scene’s forever etched in my memory. I bought my friends mami as thank-you.

So ngayon iniisip nyo ang lalandi namin que bata-bata pa. I will not argue, masaya naman!

When we learnt his name, my friends made it a game to call him and then hide leaving me red-faced. By the time we were formally introduced, obvious ba’ng alam na nyang patay na patay ako sa kanya?

My heart was beating so fast, I was sure everyone heard it. He said a lot of things and probably asked me something but all I could do was look in his eyes. Para kong tanga.

He started hanging out with us and things were looking rosy. Isip ko magkaka-first kiss na ko! Woohoo!

Then student election arrived and there was this nutter from section X in 4th Year who thought they were being discriminated against by not having an official party made up by the lower sections. He recruited the most personable people from those classes and unfortunately, my Major joined. I was so disappointed, I was running with one of the other “official” parties.

It was my fault, I let my immaturity stand in the way.

I’d overhear him defending me and my “section 1” friends from people when we’re doing classroom rounds campaigning. But I’d pretend I didn’t see him. He’d smile but I would turn away.

Eventually, he stopped coming over and then I never saw him again.

The last time I saw him, my kada told me to look up the school balcony and he was there waving at me.

I looked down again and regretted it since.

Aba talaga namang pag-uwi na sa Pilipinas ang inaatupag naming mag-asawa. Ngayong sobrang pagod na ko sa trabaho, yung thought na lang nang bakasyon namin ang nagpapagaan nang araw ko. Para syang “light at the end of a tunnel”.

May mental list na ko nang itinerary namin, pero may written list ako nang bibilhin at nang kakainin ko.

Wala namang order of priority pero pag naiisip ko pa lang itong mga ito e naglalaway na ko.

Nanay ko, gusto ko nang umuwi.

talangkang pehe
ar-arosep
saluyot
burong kanin + nilagang gulay
hito/dalag - pesa/ihaw
sinigang na bangus sa bayabas
maliit na isda sa kamias
sinampalukan manok (may laman loob) sa ubod nang sampalok
tuyo/tinapa/daing/maliit na isda
kalderata kambing
papaetang kambing

mangga
rambutan
kamatsile
duhat
makopa
mabolo
laguna - ?
piña

puto puti
puto kanin
bibingka
suman cassava

kropek
taho
dried pusit
balot, penoy
day old
street food
kapukan

NE brownies
Edna’s ensaymada/cheesecake/ETC
cakeworks muffins
Puno ice cream
palabok - Joey’s
lumpiang sariwa - Blas Edward’s

Siempre pa naiisip  ko na kung gaano ko kalaki pagbalik namin dito after 3 weeks. So dapat kako e payat ako umuwi para may “space” :-D

Bring on the buffet!

As been my practise, I switched on our home PC on Friday while having dinner. It’s my prep for use later on. When I logged in after 9pm, it was so slow. I kicked off my “trio” of protection: AVG 8, AdAware and SpyBot. It’s midnight , they were still chugging along.

Saturday morning BSD greeted me with scorn. My Windows firewall was disabled and the options to enable them are greyed out. regedit wasn’t working, I am locked out of my registry keys!!!

I pulled up my sleeves knowing I’m in for a slog, I’m infected and for the first time in sooo mmaaannyy years I have to deal with it myself. I switched off my router for fear I might catch more virus HIV.

Close to dinner time, I was near tears and I needed a shower, my hair wants a comb and I prepared DVD backups of the family pictures. I know the worse thing has happened, my beloved PC will have to be flushed.

I was thanking my lucky stars I backed up my files early this year, or was it December? I forget now, I just know I have stacks of DVD I need to find.

At the same time I was mentally kicking myself for not setting up my new external hard drive when I received it. I’ve been so tired at work, I’ve been putting off personal “work” since our Dubai holiday. I just copied my sisters’ Dubai shots from the flash drive two weekends ago!

I was copying files til midnight, burning DVDs. At the same time I was using my crackberry to find more information on Win32 Heur. The bloody thing hijacked everything and it kept on replicating itself. I scan, clean, restart and it’s there again. By 3am Sunday, I gave up the idea I was going to do this and not pay someone to reinstall my OS.

I have all the CDs but at 4am I’ve lost the will to live and I wasn’t happy anymore. I could barely see and my brain was so fuzzy I think it’s covered with molds.

The repair guy didn’t arrive until 1630hrs GMT. I have my emails imported by 7pm, AVG and spybot are back online. But that’s the most I could do. Gaadd the software I need to reinstall, the CDs I got to download! They’ll have to wait.

Then I log in here and this greeted me:

“In-depth view. Like it very much. I will follow these tips provided herein to examine its specific outcome after putting into use in real cases. Thanks from me.”

A comment left on my post regarding racial discrimination.

I’ve got web-rage.

Prince Harry once attended a costume party with a Nazi insignia on his sleeves and the media went wild. Now he apparently said to a black comedian that the “didn’t sound black”, and he is being sent to a racial awareness training.

I don’t know who’s paying for it. The taxpayers?

Maybe it would be better to just issue the Royals a list of things they are not allowed to say or do in public. Less hassle and cost-effective. But then no one will know the level of their ignorance or snobbishness.

It’s like all these rules the PC-machine keeps churning out to Councils and government officials. MPs, the Met, and now priests cannot join the racist party BNP. Personally I’d like them to join and have a list sent around the neighbourhood. Better to see your enemies in daylight than have them serving you poison on the sly.

Britain’s stance on racism and equality is okay with me. I mean, I’m a “minority” afterall and anything that upholds my rights can only be a good thing. Right?

But I guess being Pinoy, I’m not so bothered. Sanay na ko. In my own country I get discriminated against by my own people.

It’s common for people to remark how fat I am or dark my skin is. It’s acceptable marketing ploy to have dumbass celebrities flaunt their mestiza skin to promote whitening creams or other products meant to attract men. You get haughty SM salesgirls who will not want to assist you if you don’t look “right”.

It’s a common practise to use contacts to get jobs or projects that you’re not equipped for.

I didn’t realise how ingrained all these are in my psyche. In my first job, my manager’s fiancee called me to say my bossing is in hospital. Later on when she was all better she told me that her fiancee couldn’t believe how fluent I was in English. Apparently “the only Chinese people he spoke to were from takeaways”. I could and should have been offended on so many levels here. But I am ashamed to admit, the rest just went over my head and all I heard was I spoke good English.

When Pining told me of the BBC documentary on Sunday, I made sure I booked it in my calendar. I sat and shivered as the hosts showed the good, the bad and the really ugly in the Philippines.

I agree with some of the sentiments that the show was not entirely flattering. Imagine being shown the North Cemetery and the thriving communities with teenage boys removing 5-year old bones. Or the trash thrown about by the Badjao in the very area where they live, garbage floating around their homes.

But what entered my head was for people who love the “exotic” and adventure, the show managed to present our islands as something of an undiscovered treasure. Typical of Third World Countries, corruption and poverty are ripe, but there are beauties and wonders to discover.

That’s just me though. So maybe my attitude like this because I have the slave mentality and I’m so thankful for little morsels of grace. Or I’m just dense.

I have a “newish” guy on the team and he’s always late. Granted he works late, as in 8pm late. But working better at night is not an excuse not to be here during our core hours. I talked to him last year and talked to him this January.

His timekeeping has improved but lapses are frequent.

The SOP is you notify your department when someone is late or sick, etc. So as you can imagine I have sent a number of emails saying this guy “will be in late”.

Yesterday, a Monday, was no different. EXCEPT one developer replied “unsubscribe”.

Ouch.

I took offence and replied to him that he can direct the emails to his trash.

D’oh!

I’m so dense. The “attack” was for the guy not me.

I told you we’re all very toxic.

The guy replied with a lengthy retort but I hope that teaches him a lesson. I mean the HR already emailed the entire company basically saying “be here by 9am”. Which reminds me, it’s 915am and he’s not here!

And before you ask what the heck am I wasting office hours blogging? I’ve been here since 7am and I’ve already released a change on a website, printed out the regression metrics and looked at some of the results!