expressions

chikadee

...and my mind is racing but the body does not cooperate.  i sit idle for hours, waste precious time, wake up the next day with a list from the previous day of things to do and end the day feeling like the world's most wanted dawdler.  

there is just too much to do. i spend time staring at my list. i contemplate on what and where to start first.  i have to update the websites: the official and the pseudo-official. heck, what am i talking about? of course everyone knows which one is official, so let us call the other the evil's brain child.  i have to "like" the official website not because there is so much sense in it but it is the website that justifies my existence in this part of madapo hills.  the pseudo website, let us leave it blank (evil acts beget evil acts in return).

i also have to go to the hrd office, however i always put off the intention. it is the one office i dont like stepping foot into since the department does not settle things for us employees and it always has its way of striking a blow to anyone who questions its methods. and besides, people there do not offer a smile.  the head even pouts all the time. 

my friends' blogs remind me of doing my thesis. yes, yes, i am going to work on it, on my own terms.  right now i talk with friends online: khessa babes, manang tina, barbz, and the others who never fail to make my day bright.  just let me be, for a while.  i will soon get tired of being a day older than the laziest bum on earth and be sensible again.

so much for whining.  there is just so much to do but then reality is so harsh that i would rather sit in front of the computer, update my blog, pm nicole, aia, and errol, and chat as i while time away.  i may not finish a lot of things, may not be able to delete a few of the items marked as things to do, but then beauty matters more than anything else. at this point in time, i am more concerned in making myself happy, inside and out, as i have seen what happens to people who feel like they are doomed to oblivion.

chikadee

i met mam ayson today... she was at the office of the director for students' affairs, silently reading the day's news while comfortably seated in one of the green chairs there that i particularly envy and wish for my home.  she was there, head bowed down, but i recognized her instantly.  it was with hesitation though when i called her name.

i was not sure if she could remember me, but then again i am quite compulsive.  upon seeing me there standing near the door, she said, "oh, hi, sa up ka dati di ba?".  it was welcoming.  i have never been to up again for quite some time.  well, i was there last december to visit my little sister in the dorm but i didn't quite feel the connection.  the dorm was too silent. and the family picture (the pioneers' picture frame) that used to be nailed proudly in the receiving area was no longer there.  up seemed to be a memory of a distant past to me back then.

my apprehension was proven to be unnecessary... mam ayson talked just like the old days. she asked how i am faring and i told her i am doing fine.  she asked how long i have been working here and i told her i have reached three years and that this is my longest stay in any company.  she said it is but normal for us from up to be job-hopping, that our intellectual capacity does not allow us to be patient and tolerant of anything that is mundane, that the experiences we have in up do not qualify us to have the values typical of the common employee, that we hate to have bosses who we think are mediocres, and that in fact we think of the world as full of mediocres.  big haha!!! we talked of gm laud and arlene au who are also working here, and she was happy to know that gm is our testing officer.  she quipped she was his instructor for testing and evaluation back then.

she easily recalled all my batchmates. she made mention of mm macalintal whom she saw in manila some time in 2005.  she remembered yuri beluan and mm dagani. she mentioned maricris, of amihan, and the rest of the socsci people.  she enumerated the bae's names, complete with description like flong's mole in the face, etc.

she talked of how noisy the first batch was.  according to her, we were the  "busiest" if each batch were to be compared.  she recalled how we would be talking while riding the bus, one was at the front talking to one at the backmost part of the vehicle.  and we were not shouting at that matter, because we normally had loud voices.  yes, we were boisterous.  the first batch could be seen dallying from the pca dorm to the classroom, the girls talking about nail polish while the boys where into something else.  both boy and girl groups though were loud.  but then again that was normal.  we were only 89, but it seemed like the entire village surrounding up was pestered by us.  what with our ability to convince kuya henry to bring the bus near the fruit trees of the nearby houses.  from the bus we would try to steal green mangoes and other fruits from trees that were inside somebody's backyard.  we would always excuse ourselves by saying that the branches of these trees have extended far and beyond the gates.  we would do this in broad daylight. 

not that anyone complained of our misdoings, in fact the owners were quietly amazed of how "stupid" we were.  we could have asked.  but we never did.  doing something a little evil is always fun.  we, the first batch, would always get away from being castigated by our conscience because kuya henry was always there to protect us from the torture.  every single day that he had to go to mintal and back to the dorm, he would let the children of the villagers take a ride.  then, the score was even.

time flew so fast.  i didn't notice mam ayson and i were already talking for minutesssss.  the directors from other schools came and i already had to exit.  as i made my way back to the office, i can't help but smile as i realized a few important things. 

hey, i miss up! i miss my batchmates! i miss my professors! i miss the bae people! the amat! the socsci! the bio! oh gees, i terribly miss oble and anything that has to do with him!!!

chikadee

i admit i love korean films.  i appreciate the korean's sense for fashion.  i have a few korean friends.  but all at once my good impression of them was shattered.

mondays are always full of events.  i guess it is when u feel most bored that a spell is cast to bring ur world upside-down, even if just for a moment.  it was a monday too when i had an argument with an officemate about god and religion.  and it was the monday of this week when i found myself stepping in a police station.

it comes to me as a humiliating experience, having to argue with sales clerks who do not even know the mandate of the dti on customer rights and welfare and everything that comes in relation to items sold with defects, and etc; to be refused for purchase; to be told to go out otherwise they would call the police when i was the one to be doing so; and for a lot of other reasons.

the item that was the root of the problem? a surplus computer casing amounting to 250.00!!!

i asked barbz and bobong to buy me a casing at the surplus shop as i was planning to assemble a unit for my sister's use in the dorm.  i thought, since her primary need is just a program for typing and making her projects, then she does not need a brand new computer.  so the stingy sister bought computer parts from old friends who upgraded, if not, discarded their old units.

now the only problem was the case and the power supply.  the remedy that came to mind was to buy both from the same surplus shop to get rid of problems should there be any.   however, it proved to be a major dilemma.

the case that was bought has no holes for screws.  of course whatever kind of power supply could not be attached to it due to that.  both friends went back to the store to complain only to be welcomed by the nagging sales clerks.  of course the bitch in me was not to be harassed by such hostility.  i called the number that was on the receipts.  i found out the number was used by another establishment.  in disbelief i looked at the receipt again.  and there staring at me shamelessly was the address: pampanga, lanang, davao city!

it was in san pedro where the case was bought! my mind was in a spin.  is this legal? or is this even allowed? i had to talk to the clerks to see if they knew about this but then they were really hostile.  they wont even give the proprietor's number.  i decided on purchasing another case.  what was 250.00 compared to the time we spent arguing? we (the three of us) even lost our appetite for the pizza that was waiting at home.  however, they refused to sell another unit and told us it was already 9pm, thus they had to close the shop.  but i was inside their shop even before 9!

that was the straw that broke the camel's back.  i just couldn't take the fact that sales clerks now are so rude, even collaborating to protect the identity of the store owner when in fact i had already explained their multiple violations.

geezuz, so many things happened in between 6pm- 11pm... there are some other details that i am no longer sure of. it was a whirlwind encounter.  all i know is that a police station looks ugly from the outside, and even uglier and filthy inside.