Friday, June 29, 2007

Refreshing Escape

Me and my mahal had a very nice road trip yesterday courtesy of ka Ben. After participating in a livelihood seminar in Pansol, Laguna, we went straight to his bought piece of land in Tiaong, Quezon. Sisilipin lang daw niya yung "bahay kubo" niya dun.

ka Ben owns Salem Bed company (remember the tv ad showing a dumbo on a bed? nevermind if you're not an 80's child...). He bought the 2.4 hectare-land for his "Bunotan" plant or gawaan ng kutson out of coconut's outer "nutshell" (darn I'm sooo bad in describing things!). Mahal has found a new job there, and I guess she's happy with it. :-)


We stayed in his "bahay kubo" the rest of the day while eating nicely cooked foods. We ate ginataang suso and pato in the evening. Hanggang dalawang suso lang ako, kahit anong sarap ng pagsipsip nila (my friend had almost filled his plate with emptied shells), hindi ako natakam. Lasang lupa talaga eh. Pero hindi matatawaran yung sabaw niya. =)


Yung "bahay kubo" nga pala ni ka Ben eh may 3 A/C rooms, a hot and cold shower, and an entertainment system.

But the most special thing yesterday was ka Ben's words of fatherly advice about getting married and raising a family, based on his personal experiences that were indeed very inspiring. I fully realized how blessed this gentleman is not only on the material aspect.

Tuesday, June 26, 2007

Enough!

From now on, I'll stop illusioning
From now on, I'll stop hoping
From now on, I'll stop dreaming
From now on, I'll stop pretending
From now on, I'll draw the line very clearly
From now on, I'll take it as it is: nothing more, nothing less
From now on, I'll stop fooling myself

Magnet therapy products

Yesterday I checked out some products that suppose to cure lots of diseases as well as give the body additional strength and extraordinary self-healing ability. I tried the magnetic wrist band, and it seems effective. I was able to lift 5-gallons of water using only my middle finger, which I could not do before wearing the product. Ewan ko pero it could just be a placebo effect. I'm not yet fully convinced.

The other "healing" product is called alkaline water. I'll try to bring home a bottle.

Friday, June 22, 2007

Blessed and thankful

I do not have my laptop for 2 days now. Pinahiram ko muna kay Allan, our IT head, kawawa naman eh, hindi makapag-DOTA, hehe. Peace sir!

This week I was called up pala by a senior officer from Globe, and she told me that I am one of her potential candidates to fill up a good position in her department. Obviously, it's quite flattering. That might be the break that I need, instead of trying my luck in Canada. Aside from this, inaawitan din ako ng former officemate ko to join their company, and he is promising a very competitive offer. I'm yet to get the details of the position from both. I feel thankful because some people see me as a potential asset to their company.

It's Friday again, salamat kay Eden for letting me use her PC. Nothing much to do so i'm just continue to self train on Dreamweaver CS3.

Tuesday, June 19, 2007

New hard disk coming!

My laptop crashed yesterday and did not allow me to say goodbye to my post-backup files in the data drive. Our IT guy recommended buying a new (and bigger-capacity) HDD. And guess what, while I was thinking of buying an external disk drive to supplement my 40G ibm disk space, it was suddenly granted - company paid. =) He called our officemate who's in Singapore right now (since it is much cheaper daw getting one over there), so I expect having the hardware by next week.

For now, I reformatted my old disk which I did for the second time in only 2 months. So far, nothing wierd has happened, and all I need to install are Windowa, Outlook, Anti-virus and a Web browser in order to survive until the weekend.

Monday, June 18, 2007

But you're not trying!

This is what my Tita Mel has told me last week about my effort in trying my luck in Canada. Sinabi ko na lang sa kanya na I'm afraid na maging pabigat lang ako sa kanila if I did not get a job there immediately. But that is just an excuse. I really want to go there and look for greener pastures for my family and my future's sake. Maybe a nice opportunity is waiting for me just around the corner.

I visited migration expert website and took their visa eligibility assessment exams. I did not pass their skilled worker visa test but I was congratulated for passing the temporary work permit visa (yipee!). I didn't go through the rest of the screening process because kasi may bayad na, hekhek.

But I have decided that after I get married in February next year, I'll gonna start preparing the needed documents that will make me arrive in Vancouver. And if things get very well, might as well apply for permanent residency together with mahal. =)

Gloomy Monday

Nothing much to write about Saturday. Maghapon kina mahal natulog. =)
Yesterday pumunta kami sa Responsible Parenthood Seminar sa Caloocan High School, alma mater ng mahal ko. But the seminar was sponsored by Buklod (samahan ng hindi na mga "singgol").

Nakakabwiset yung laro ng Ginebra, buti nga natalo sila! 16 points nabawi agad sa kanila in just 4 minutes! Nealy did not deserve to lose, but the rest of the SMB players did not deserve either considering the heart, guts and passion that they had shown last night. Pero manalo-matalo, Ginebra pa rin.

Para maibsan ang inis ko, hanap ako ng feel good movie and I ended up watching "The Holiday." Well, marami akong naalalang mga taong makaka-relate sa situation ni Amanda and Iris, but I don't think they could have the same happy ending like these two characters. Sad.

Thursday, June 14, 2007

5 Days Later

Hirap talaga kapag walang internet sa bahay, hindi ako makapag update ng blog ko. Now I need to recall the important and not so important things that affected my very existence since last Sunday.

Sunday - Went to Church, watched boxing on TV (bugbog sarado si Bobby Pacquiao)
Monday - First time to go to Trinoma. It's like a hypertrophied Glorietta in QC. On the afternoon, my left big toe got crushed after a stupid PUJ stopped abruptly while I was at its rear, in a motorbike.
Tuesday - Paid the total equity of my future brand new townhouse unit in full. Spend the rest of the day with my mahal.
Wednesday - Went to my old highschool pal's despedida. Punta siyang Dubai.
TODAY - Sobrang boring and I'm planning to leave the office early.

Saturday, June 9, 2007

Long weekend ahead

It was quite a busy day today: went to quiapo in the morning for a Church activity, then to NEU hospital to visit my future Ninong. He's to undergo minor surgery.

Again I had a dream of this girl. The fourth time in at least a month. This time masyadong intimate na, and what made it wierd was that my boss was beside me when I was making love with this girl.

Friday, June 8, 2007

Time flies so fast


Friday na naman, parang kailan lang kami nagkausap-usap na magsuot ng itim sa office, hindi ako makapaniwalang isang linggo na pala yun.



Today's good stuffs:
1. Had my 3K run
2. Get to meet my mahal this morning and played around with his puppy "Bogart"
3. Anticipating a 3-day break, wohoo!
4. Ivy YMed me after yesterday's grumpiness. Very unpredictable talaga itong friend kong 'to.

The not-so good stuffs:
1. Mahal told me of what had happened yesterday while protecting her sister from from baaaad people (mahabang story). She got some small but pretty deep scratches in her left arm.
2. Spurs took Game 1!
3. Super traffic pauwi, as usual.

Thank God lamang ang good stuffs. =) Happy weekend!

Thursday, June 7, 2007

All about being bad

Last Tuesday (June 5), I committed a crime - hindi ko nabati ang mahal ko ng monthsary namin. First time in 81 months that this happened. I'm sooo bad having missed it. Worse, she had waited for me to greet her until a few minutes before the next day. Di siya nakatiis so siya na lang ang bumati sa akin. Sobrang bad ko talaga. I'm sorry my mahal! Hindi na po mauulit.

Speaking of bad moments, mukhang na-bad trip si ivy sa akin. Bahala siya, nangangamusta lang naman eh... ke aga aga ang grumpy grumpy niya. Or baka naman in a bad mood na itong maganda kong kaibigan before I chatted with her (is there such a word?) =) Anyway, alam naman niya na anytime she needs a guy to absorb her rantings and/or share her problems with, she can count on me.

Wednesday, June 6, 2007

Imeem - create your music, photo and video playlist





Just trying Imeem's blog interfacing functionality. It's a nice site where I use to listen to and download mp3s. Hope this works (I think it does!).

Why narudani?

It was near summer of 1999 when I had my first Yahoo mail account. Medyo excited ako sa pag-type ko ng username ko so instead of nerudani, which was supposed to be a portmanteau of "neruda" (of my fave poet pablo neruda) and "danny" or "dani," i mistyped it to narudani. Why didn't I edit it? Ewan ko.

8 years old na yung e-mail account ko so I'm not surprised na sobrang dami na ng mga spam e-mails sa inbox ko. I realized too that going back to my old mails is like traveling back in time. I get to recall past events, remember old friends, and read revelations that were so BIG DEAL during that time.

Tuesday, June 5, 2007

Wedding, marriage and near breakup stories

Last night my churchmate Beng gave our district caucus group her wedding invite. It was elegantly done and obviously expensive. It's like a small flat box which you would thought to contain a photo album, but what's actually inside is a nicely printed 3-page invitation. The wedding is on June 25 at "half an hour past four" (as written in the invitation). One of their Godparents is Gen. Hermogenes Esperon (Beng is a friend of the general's son). Reception will be held in the posh Oasis in San Juan. What's buuging me now is where to borrow a black tie dress.

Here's a nice story. I'll try to search for name of the author.

MARRIAGE

When I got home that night as my wife served dinner, I held her hand and said, I've got something to tell you. She sat down and ate quietly. Again I observed the hurt in her eyes. Suddenly I didn't know how to open my mouth. But I had to let her know what I was thinking. I want a divorce. I raised the topic calmly.

She didn't seem to be annoyed by my words, instead she asked me softly, why? I avoided her question. This made her angry. She threw away the chopsticks and shouted at me, you are not a man! That night, we didn't talk to each other. She was weeping. I knew she wanted to find out what had happened to our marriage. But I could hardly give her a satisfactory answer; she had lost my heart to Dew. I didn't love her
anymore. I just pitied her!

With a deep sense of guilt, I drafted a divorce agreement which stated that she could own our house, our car, and 30% stake of my company. She glanced at it and then tore it into pieces. The woman who had spent ten years of her life with me had become a stranger. I felt sorry for her wasted time, resources and energy but I could not take back what I had said for I loved Dew so dearly. Finally she cried loudly in front of me, which was what I had expected to see. To me her cry was
actually a kind of release. The idea of divorce which had obsessed me
for several weeks seemed to be firmer and clearer now.

The next day, I came back home very late and found her writing something at the table. I didn't have supper but went straight to sleep and fell asleep very fast because I was tired after an eventful day with Dew. When I woke up, she was still there at the table writing. I just did not care so I turned over and was asleep again. In the morning she presented her divorce conditions: she didn't want anything from me, but needed a month's notice before the divorce. She requested that in that one month we both struggle to live as normal a life as possible. Her reasons were simple: our son had his exams in a month's time and she didn't want to disrupt him with our broken marriage. This was agreeable to me. But she had something more, she asked me to recall how I had carried her into out bridal room on our wedding day.
She requested that everyday for the month's duration I carry her out of our bedroom to the front door ever morning. I thought she was going crazy. Just to make our last days together bearable I accepted her odd request.

I told Dew about my wife's divorce conditions. She laughed loudly and thought it was absurd. No matter what tricks she applies, she has to face the divorce, she said scornfully.

My wife and I hadn't had any body contact since my divorce intention was explicitly expressed. So when I carried her out on the first day, we both appeared clumsy. Our son clapped behind us, daddy is holding mummy in his arms. His words brought me a sense of pain. From the bedroom to the sitting room, then to the door, I walked over ten meters with her in my arms. She closed her eyes and said softly; don't tell our son about the divorce. I nodded, feeling somewhat upset. I put her down outside the door. She went to wait for the bus to work. I drove alone to the office.

On the second day, both of us acted much more easily. She leaned on my chest. I could smell the fragrance of her blouse. I realized that I hadn't looked at this woman carefully for a long time. I realized she was not young any more. There were fine wrinkles on her face, her hair was graying! Our marriage had taken its toll on her. For a minute I wondered what I had done to her.

On the fourth day, when I lifted her up, I felt a sense of intimacy returning. This was the woman who had given ten years of her life to me.

On the fifth and sixth day, I realized that our sense of intimacy was growing again. I didn't tell Dew about this. It became easier to carry her as the month slipped by. Perhaps the everyday workout made me stronger.

She was choosing what to wear one morning. She tried on quite a few dresses but could not find a suitable one. Then she sighed, all my dresses have grown bigger. I suddenly realized that she had grown so thin, that was the reason why I could carry her more easily. Suddenly it hit me... she had buried so much pain and bitterness
in her heart. Subconsciously I reached out and touched her head. Our son came in at the moment and said, Dad, it's time to carry mum out. To him, seeing his father carrying his mother out had become an essential part of his life. My wife gestured to our son to come closer and hugged him tightly. I turned my face away because I was afraid I might change my mind at this last minute. I then held her in my arms,
walking from the bedroom, through the sitting room, to the hallway. Her hand surrounded my neck softly and naturally. I held her body tightly; it was just like our wedding day.

But her much lighter weight made me sad. On the last day, when I held her in my arms I could hardly move a step. Our son had gone to school. I held her tightly and said, I hadn't noticed that our life lacked intimacy.

I drove to office... jumped out of the car swiftly without locking the door. I was afraid any delay would make me change my mind... I walked upstairs. Dew opened the door and I said to her, Sorry, Dew, I do not want the divorce anymore.

She looked at me, astonished, and then touched my forehead. Do you have a fever? She said. I moved her hand off my head. Sorry, Dew, I said, I won't divorce. My marriage life was boring probably because she and I didn't value the details of our lives, not because we didn't love each other any more. Now I realize that since I carried her into my home on our wedding day I am supposed to hold her until death do us apart. Dew seemed to suddenly wake up. She gave me a loud slap and then slammed the door and burst into tears. I walked downstairs and drove away.

At the floral shop on the way, I ordered a bouquet of flowers for my wife. The salesgirl asked me what to write on the card. I smiled and wrote, I'll carry you out every morning until death do us apart. The small details of your lives are what really matter in a relationship. It is not the mansion, the car, property, the money in the bank, blah..blah..blah. These create an environment conducive for happiness but cannot give happiness in themselves. So find time to be your spouse's friend and do those little things for each other that build intimacy. Do have a real happy marriage!

Monday, June 4, 2007

Inconvenient situation

Hindi ko alam kung matutuwa ako o maiinis sa work ko. Almost 1 month nang maluwag ang workload ko because there's really nothing much to do. Wala rin masyadong ginagawa yung mga ka-opisina ko. So from here the confusion begins. Should I feel happy because I'm getting paid by surfing the Net while my workmates spend 4-6 hours of playing DOTA, or get frustrated instead because I didn't like playing such kind of game? Should I feel happy because I can leave our office almost at will, or get frustrated because less work may result to lower year end bonus?

Actually I was looking for some "online sideline," kaso wala pa akong makitang matino.

Looking forward to owning a house.

This is it, my first step of exodus from singlehood (sabi kasi ng wife to be ko eh, bahay muna raw bago kasal). Though not yet approved, I'm quite optimistic that this is going to be my first ever, self-owned house. Last week I attended a required seminar in Makati for my housing loan. So far, so good in terms of pre-approval fees and documents. I just need to wait 4 more days for my MSVS, which lets my developer know if my loan application is ready to go. After that, 2-4 months of processing and agonizing excitement. Totohanan na ito!

Here's our site visit. Baka trip n'yo bumili, inform nyo lang ako, hehe.

My First

Kanina lang ako nakapag-isip na gumawa ng personal blog. About 3 years ago I created a blog for my "business" which I thought it would be a very effective portal to promote it. Kaso hindi nag-click. Not that blogging had failed me, but it was the business itself that was a big flop. Buti na lang kahit papaano nabawi ko yung puhunan ko, except for the time and effort I've spent. Hay buhay...


Moving forward, I intend to update my blog entries daily (sort of an online diary or journal... whatever).


Hindi ko lang sure if I will make this blog available for everybody (who cares! hehe). Ino-note ko na lang siguro sa last will and testament ko itong url nito, bahala na silang magbasa once I rest in peace... NOT! =)