Hours of sleep: 3 (not including the times I slept at work and while in traffic)

Music du jour: "Hung Up" by Madonna

What I’ve been up to for the past days…

Friday (October 28)

- Had great dinner at Yahoo Metrowalk. The food is amazing (not for the faint-hearted literally) but the con, major con, is… booze is prohibited. Now that is major suckage!

- Halloween gimmick with Mochi, Kikai and Kansai at Mugen. This time, it got a little more interesting since Kikai got offered by a nosy man to model for a car magazine. Now, if ever Kikai wanted in the gig, I just wonder how she’s gonna hide her unattractive stretch marks!

- Rendezvous with Paul, my baby. Met at around 2:30am after the Mugen gimmick. Of course I got laid. What other reason should there be in meeting with somebody at an ungodly hour aside from sex? :P

Saturday (29^th)

- Got A LOT of invitation from friends to attend the queer Halloween party in Malate. Decided not to go. I needed to take some time off the crowd. Stayed home and watched movies until my brain can’t take no more.

- Paul texted me again. Damn, he’s a fucking hornball!

Sunday (30^th)

- I guess I enjoyed mellowing down last Saturday that I decided to just bum around and relax my mind.

- Spent time playing Resident Evil 4 and Soul Calibur 3 with my young nephews. I guess the inner geek in me was itching to get out!

Monday (31^st)

- Met Julie for the first time. She’s this sweet American lady who’s gonna work for us for a week to monitor the progress of our new operations tool. Her presence in our work area made it a lot easier for us to work with our new tool. She’s also cute. I told her she looked a lot like Renee Zellweger in Bridget Jones’ Diary.

- Busy day but I didn’t seem to mind. This day turned out to be a miracle day for me.

Tuesday (November 1)

- All Saint’s Day. It’s holiday here and I got work. That sucked big time. All the establishments were closed and there was only one fast food joint open. The only good thing about it was – there was no traffic jam. That’s all!

- Weeks ago, I wanted to visit my father’s grave. I could not file for vacation this day so I’d have to wait until the next day to be able to visit the cemetery.

- Mochi and Ponjaps invited me for a hotel dinner. I figured this is not the best day for such a thing. I decided to just go home early and hope that there’s time for me to catch up with my family in the cemetery.

- Turned out, everybody in my family had already gotten back home from the cemetery when I arrived.

Wednesday (2^nd)

- Ahh! Finally! My scheduled leave! I’ve been longing for this!

- I visited my father’s grave with my mother, sister, godmother and my 2 nephews. It’s been a year since I last visited that place and every year that I go there, the more I realize that there’s very little changes that happened to it for the past decade or so. I just thought that local officials should do something to make our local cemetery better. November is a rather rainy month and with the bad drainage system around the graves, flood gets real bad even with a little amount of rain.

- Paid the bills after the visit. Damn, it’s so hard to manage finances nowadays! I could not help but feel like going out of the country to work or start my business and hopefully earn more money than what I’m having now.

- Oh yeah, I feel bad the Gaghans lost in the Amazing Race. I know that those mighty kids can kick grown-up butt!

Thursday (today, the 3^rd)

- Started my day real bad. I usually start my day positively. Today, I just could not stop myself from feeling bad. Good thing there wasn’t that much work to do.

- Finally applied for DSL. I’m expecting to go broadband in the next week or two. Yowza!

- My colleagues and I are going to have a farewell party for Julie, who’s scheduled to go back to Florida this Saturday. Now this got me real excited. I’m gonna get drunk tomorrow!

- As this blog entry is entitled, THANK GOD IT’S FRIDAY TOMORROW!

Hours of sleep: 5 (or was that 4?)

Music du jour: “Hi No Ataru Basho” by Misia

Gotta Step Up

Yesterday, we received an e-mail saying that our team will have a “meeting” at 6:30pm. Turns out, two of us are actually going to be promoted and there’s some sorta little ceremony shit. I am definitely not expecting for anything but surprise, surprise – for me that is.

Earlier, the HR people are already setting up the atmosphere in our turf. They set up balloons and all. At 6:30, we’re all gathered. There were the HR people, including our beloved HR head and our CEO.  My friends N and Foxy got promoted. I think N is really deserving of a promotion. I’m happy for her. I’m not too sure about Foxy but oh well, I’m just happy that after a whole year of working in the team, something is coming to fruition.

Tomorrow, HR will announce the guidelines, the “how to be promoted” guidelines. I had a talk with my manager before that. She told me that me and my wavemates are all “eligible” for promotion – except that we have memos that mars our chances of getting promoted. The ultimatum is, we have to be “clean” for at least 6months to be “fully eligible.” I have to be clean until December to be able to move up one notch. I’m trying hard to be good. I just think that it’d get postal if everybody else gets promoted and I’m still here. Getting promoted is indeed an accomplishment but I got plans of moving up – out of the office, that is.

What about my surprise? Well, since the ceremony started at 6:30 and I’m the only one scheduled to stay until 7pm, I’m still onboard actually. During the ceremony, I was doing the same old thingee I do everytime there’s something going on with our team – being the photographer and the chronicler. At 6:47, I had a friggin’ business call! While I was on the call, I can hear everybody cheering and clapping. I just felt like a loser. What’s worse is, when the ceremony ended at 6:55, they were all preparing to go to the pantry and eat the dinner prepared by HR. I still have 5 minutes to go and I could not leave my station until 7pm. My colleague, Kikai, told the others to stay but they were just so ready to go to the pantry. Kikai stayed with me until I was able to join the rest. That was a wake up call for me. To think that I was criticizing Kikai for living the flirty single life (she’s married with 2 kids BTW). I knew then that Kikai is really a good friend. I just don’t know if I’m still ready to hear her stories of flirtation with the other guys. I’m trying hard to give her a dose of reality check. She’s my friend, you know.

The Good Stuff

I got an SMS from my sister this afternoon, telling me about her plans to start a business. Coincidentally, I also have plans of starting a business myself. I asked my sis where she’s gonna get the money. She told me that she will give a shot with her hubby. Her hubby is in Japan right now and he respects the fact that my sister is singlehandedly taking care of their 2 kids. My sister is a strong independent woman and I love her for being that. I told her about my plans of starting a business for myself and I gave her more option (other than asking money from her husband). I told her that I got plans myself and I could also apply for cash loan for both her needs and mine. I am willing to help her. I got a number of reasons but what’s the least apparent to her is this…

For months now, I have been planning to go independently. The main reason why I’m still living with my family is that I’m obligated to pay the utility bills here. I’m just praying that my sister’s business becomes really successful. Probably, that’d become my cue for going independent. I honestly think that I need to live my own life the way I want to. I am a person of big dreams and aspirations. It must be weak of me to think of this sometimes but circumstances are getting the better of me for a while now. Gotta step up a bit. Now I’m excited to do some work!

Hours of sleep: 3

Music du jour: “Truth Is” by Fantasia

Mentally exhausted

Just when I thought that things are gonna get easier for me and my work colleagues, everything was just pure stress. Started working with this shit of a system that’s supposed to make our work processes much better for us. Oh damn! I’m trying to be positive and just think that it will become breezy soon.

On my way home, I met somebody I haven’t met for a long time. Joseph. He was a classmate from high school. I didn’t like my school but I like the people that became my friends. Joseph is just one of ‘em nice guys at school. Me? I was already sexified then. And even though I am considered to be one of the brainier students, I have always been some kind of a rebel. Anyways, this isn’t about my life in high school. My conversation with Joseph made me think a lot of things.

Is it my age already?

At age 27, my high school friends are either busy being single, busy being hitched or busy just being. I am busy just being. Every year, during family reunions, my relatives just couldn’t think of a better question than “Why aren’t you married already?” Hello? Don’t they realize I’m gay? And even if I were straight, don’t it ever occur to them that I’m too cosmopolitan to be married? I don’t think I’d want to get hitched for life. I remember my ex asking me if I want to have him as a life partner. Well, it didn’t work because he friggin’ cheated on me but come to think of it, it was all too ideal for me. Now, after coming back to being the walking reality check that I am, I don’t think it will ever work for me.

Daddy’s Little Squirt.

Joseph’s got a 2-month old baby. Like most dads, he sounded very proud as he told me stuff about his kid. I remember I have a friend back in college that wanted a kid but don’t wanna get married. Three years later, that friend of mine got pregnant and she never showed herself to her kid’s father. I got 2 nephews. When they were just babies, I wanted to assume the role of like, secondary parent to them. I think I did a pretty good job taking care of them. Now that they’re 11 and 12 (and bratty), I just wanna be the bitchy uncle to them.

Independent Gay Man Part I

I’ve been giving it much thought for weeks now. The main reason I’m staying with my family is because I am obligated to pay for the bills here. Lately, things are not going too cool for me. Most of what I earn are spent just paying the muthaf**in’ bills! Worse, everybody in the house is making me feel like the only thing going for me is the fact that I can work my ass and pay the bills. Now I reckon that this aspect of my life hasn’t changed much for years.

Independent Gay Man Part II

I’m tired of being tied to something. I wanna live independently. I know I can be independent. I hate being dramatic and all but I still am not certain whether this is gonna be ultimately good for me or what. As of now, I got plans for myself.

The Financial Time?

I do not worship money nor do I ignore its power. Under normal circumstances, my job actually pays well. I’ve only had two thangs going on my mind when it comes to money: one, I pay the bills with it and two, I wanna reward myself with the money that I earn. Now that’s a lot of compromise.

What about your old friends?

It’s apparent to me that Joseph is now living a different life, our conversation eventually landed with the topic of high school friends. Under normal circumstances, talking about high school friends is a fun thing for me – but that was like, years ago. Now, I barely have any communication with most of them. It’s a little disappointing that most of them just don’t have any time for catching up with lost time. It does suck a lot since I value the friendships that I have and I try to make time off my busy schedule to be able to be with them. Their usual alibi is, they have already committed their, say, weekends with their “current” friends. I think that’s just sheer bullshit. It’s difficult to maintain friendships as it is. It’s even harder to tolerate dumb excuses from people who are apparently not willing to spend their time with me.

After all these, I just thought of five things:

1)      By far, I am happy to be single. And even if it was legal to get married here, I don’t think I’m cut for it.

2)      I don’t want to think that my career (and my ability to pay the bills) is the only good thing going for me. I got dreams. I know that I just need that big break to finally live something that I could dream of doing.

3)      I got plans to step up a bit with my finances but this requires a lot of work. I don’t wanna keep struggling with what I got. I want to earn more. I think it’s high time for me to step on the accel.

4)      For me, the true friendship is something comparable to wine – it gets better with time.

5)       For most people, a heightened sense of responsibility is the next stage of life. Sadly, this is defined as: stable career, getting married, having kids – marginalized to these three. There’s gotta be more to life. I’m determined to find out what life has in store for me.

Hours of sleep: 9 (yayy!!!)

Music du jour: “Be My Last” by Utada Hikaru

I love Japanese pop music (or j-pop). My sister introduced me to it when I was still in a pup. J-pop actually was one of the major reasons why I learned Nihongo. Back in college, I was a part of a club that has a great interest in Japanese culture and while many of us joined because they love anime, I joined because I got great interest in the music and the language.

My job requires me to use the Japanese language a lot. Thanks to my interest in j-pop I got this work. J-pop is not just that for me. A lot of them became great to me. Here are some of the most unforgettable j-pop artists that proved to be influential, one way or another. Click on their images to go to their official websites.

Amuro Namie. Strong, independent and talented. Just how I like my girls to be. She is on top of this list. I liked her when she was still a part of a group, I love her now that she’s transformed into an empowered woman. She is one of the musical artists whose music has grown with me.

My top three Amuro songs:

1)      I Have Never Seen (Some of her fans don’t get this song. I’ve seen the beauty of this song through its lyrics.)

2)      Girl Talk (Song about er, girl talk. Feelgood music with lyrics that girls can easily relate to.)

3)      No More Tears (I love this song. “Nuff said.)

MAX. This group used to have Amuro as a member when they were still called “Super Monkey’s”. They were once Amuro’s backup dancers and just when people thought it was over for them, they became successful on their own right. Not bad for a group that were once dismissed as a “project that should not have taken off”. They might not be as popular as before now but I still like them a lot. I still remember many of their dance moves. Heck, I even performed twice (with 3 of my friends) in a cultural event with their music!

My top three MAX songs:

1)      Give Me A Shake (for all those times when I felt like love is just a game)

2)      Moonlight (I just love this song)

3)      Issho Ni… (Literally means “together”. My friend and I sang this to a college friend days before she lost her battle against cancer)

Miyuki Nakajima. She’s got number one records for nearly four decades now but she’s still hot. I’ve never encountered any musical artist who encompassed human drama the way she does. I’ve been listening to her music since the mid-80s and I still listen to her music now.

My top three Miyuki Nakajima songs:

1)      Jidai (or “Generations” in English. This song made me realize that no one is too old for hope or miracles.)

2)      Akujo (Title means “Bad Woman”. This is the first ever Japanese song that I played with my guitar.

3)      Ashita (or “Tomorrow”. This is probably the only “martyrdom” song that I’ve gotten to like.)

Utada Hikaru. For me, she is very different from one of the “pop idol” thing in Japan. She writes her own music, she is not “manufactured”, and most of all, she’s brave enough to experiment with her own music. She may have recently recorded English songs but I still love her.

My top three Utada songs:

1)      Traveling (This song makes me wanna move. I also love the video.)

2)      Tokyo Nights (I love Tokyo. I miss it a lot. This song reminds me of my “behind the scenes” when I was there.)

3)      Letters (I never knew that this song would become part of my life soundtrack a few years ago)

Dreams Come True. Also called in Japan as “Dorikamu”. For me, their music is one of the finest. Their musical style varies, their lyrics are heartfelt and vocalist Miwa Yoshida’s voice is a miracle.

My top three Dorikamu songs:

1)      Ahaha (Laughter is the best medicine, as what people say and as what this song implies.)

2)      Asa Ga Mata Kuru (or “Morning will come again”. One of my all-time favorites.)

3)      Love Letter (This song made me homesick the first time I heard it. My lovelife then somehow made me relate to this song a lot.)

Kudo Shizuka. I didn’t like her when I first saw her in the ‘80s. She was one of them typical cutesy pop idol singers that make me cringe. But man, she converted me to her fan when I saw her sing.

My top three Kudo songs:

1)      Blue Velvet (This song was used as a Dragon Ball GT ending theme. Spunky song.)

2)      Kuchibiru Kara Biyaku (or “Aphrodisiac from the lips”. This is one of her more popular songs back in the ‘80s. I love singing it in the karaoke.)

3)      Koihitoyo (or “One Night Love Affair”. One of her earliest songs. This is the song that made me a fan of her.)

Pizzicato Five. Their music is the perfect marriage between the retro and the technological. Very stylish. Very funky. A musical treasure.

My top three Pizzicato Five songs:

1)      Happy Sad (Hot runway song.)

2)      Ai No Tema (or “Love’s Theme”. 50% retro. 50% techno. P5 does it like no other musical acts do.

3)      Good (ultra-funkadelic song that samples Japanese, English and French basic expressions such as “How Are You?” and “I’m pleased to meet you.” This song shows that humor in music doesn’t need to sound like novelty.)

Misia. Not to be confused with the European singer. Her vocals is amazing and her music’s got lots of soul flavor in it. I especially love it when she does old-school funky  songs.

My top three Misia songs:

1)      Hi No Ataru Basho (or “place where the sun shines”. Ahh, the sound of old school soul.)

2)      Sweetness (This tender mid-tempo song proves that Misia is capable of not oversinging.)

3)      Nemurenai Yoru Wa Kimi No Sei (“I blame you for my sleepless nights” in English. I didn’t like this song until I listened to its lyrics. There’s nothing particularly special about it but this song came at the right timing in my life.)

Hours of sleep: 3 (or less, I think)

Music du jour: “I’m On a High” by Duncan Sheik

Last week was all about drama. This week – oh damn, it was all so tiring!

Monday. Had to stay home the whole day because back is aching like shit. I tried to sleep the whole day but I managed to sleep in “hourly installments”. Spent the rest of the day just bumming ‘round, watch TV and read a book. Boring day. I should see my doctor more often.

Tuesday. Since I was absent last Monday, two of my colleagues were giving me the guilt jag because they had lots of work to do while I was bumming like a pig. As some sort of “revenge”, they made me do plenty of tasks to keep up. I got a little burned but good thing I get to spend my evening with my effing friend with a few drinks. Four bottles of vodka cruisers ain’t bad for somebody who’s had a tough day.

Wednesday. Work load a little light. Thank the heavens! Tried  to catch up with the lack of sleep for the past days. However, I noticed that my body has a weird way of coping with stress and exhaustion. The more I get tired, the more my mind doesn’t want me to sleep.

Thursday. Excited because it’s only one day away from my favorite day! Bummed because we got announcement from our Team Lead that we’re supposed to stay in the office for 3 more hours to conduct tests on our new system. Damn! I got me an invite for a night out with my friend!

Friday. Today, er, I mean earlier. Everyone in our team is a little pissed that we’re gonna spend more time after work to do stupid testings. Entertaining myself is one of my ways of coping with stress. I got a little crazy during the tests that I ended up entertaining my colleagues instead of me entertaining myself.

Tonight’s overtime’s Pros and cons:

Pros: 1) Dinner with my teammates. We get to spend a little time whining about work and enjoying the food at the same time. 2) Okay, I was hoping to think of more but the dinner was the only good stuff I can think of.

Cons: 1) Waste our time trying to test a damn system that doesn’t work well. 2) The fact that we’re going to begin using a barely-workable system next week just makes me (and everybody else in our team) postal! 3) Friday nights spent on work is just plain BAD. I should be drunk by now. Instead, I got so tired I simply don’t have enough energy to party.

Hah! Saturday finally! Time to catch up on lost party time and alcohol intake!

Hours of sleep: a total of 9 hours for 2 days

Music du jour: “Wake Me Up When September Ends” by Green Day

Friday…

I couldn’t believe that just last week, I was with Mochi on a gallivanting spree around Greenbelt. Little do we know that the day after, her birth mother will pass away.

4:20 am – woke up. Was feeling a little excited (it’s weekend finally!) and a little sad. Have plans of going to Mochi’s mom’s wake after work.

6:30am – Opened our operations. I’m the earliest bird of the flock. Knew that it’s gonna be a loooong day so I regretted not having enough sleep.

10:30am – Mochi came to the office. We haven’t spoken more than 5 words to each other. She just dropped to the office to get her stuff. She’s got Six Sigma training in another building. I, on the other hand, am engaged in “work combat”.

12:00pm – Lunch with my close friend / officemate, Ame. She’s on a diet program and she was looking for beef – no rice, of course. Eventually, she was not able to find beef. She had veggie soup. She’s constantly reminding me that I should go on a diet too. Maybe next week. :P

3:30pm – Hah! My work day ends. Me and most of my officemates planned a few days ago to go to Mochi’s mom’s wake. Operations will end at 7pm so I stayed in the office for 3 and a half hours so that I could go to the wake with the others.

6:40 pm – Two of our friends, Ponjaps and Kansai, arrived at our office. They are both mutual friends of mine and Mochi’s.

7:20pm – The start of the 2-hour plus journey to the wake. Two taxis, eight people. In our taxi, there’s me, Ponjaps, Kansai and Kikay. Kikay won an overnight stay GC in a hotel and she invited some people, including the 3 of us, to stay with her. You know, to enjoy the hotel pool and create a makeshift spa in her room. Kai has planned this for more than two weeks so it’s tomorrow or the GC is forfeited.

9:30pm-ish – Finally after what seemed like forever, we arrived at the funeral parlor where the wake is. We met Mochi and some of her relatives. It was the first time I heard Mochi spoke her native dialect. I didn’t want to take a look at Mochi’s mum inside the coffin but I eventually did , after everyone else. I talked to Kansai about when my father died (that’s when I was just 6 or 7). I only have a vague recollection of my dad’s face when during the funeral. What I could not forget was the smell during that time. It was not stench nor was it a pleasant scent. There was something about the smell that I could easily associate to wakes. That time, the smell was a little similar.

10:40pm – Some of my officemates planned to just stay at the wake until 9:30pm. It’s already 20 minutes before 11 and everyone of us is still there. I was having a couple of cigs with Ponjaps outside the funeral parlor when Kansai and Kikay went out to join us. Kikay announced that the hotel called her and our reservation for tomorrow is postponed. The hotel is fully booked! I personally thought it was okay. I want Mochi to be there as well. So, we all decided to attend the cremation of Mochi’s mum the next day.

11:00pm – We said goodbye to Mochi. Kikay told Mochi that four of us will be there with her for the cremation. I’m famished.

11:25pm – So there were four of us – Kikay, Kansai, Ponjaps and me – dinner at Metrowalk. There was an Oktoberfest thingee going on but I wasn’t in a festive mood (yeah, so much for the excitement about Oktoberfest) so I decided to stay overnight at Ponjaps’s apartment. I was perplexed when Ponjaps told me that we have to go to his office building to “get something”.

11:50pm – Ponjaps announced that he has a new car – and it is parked in his office building. I was like, whoa! Mochi and I were planning to give him a book entitled “The Money Book For the Young, Fabulous and Broke”. The would-be recipient has a new car! Much of my excitement for him flew off when he told me he had a car loan. Ah, okay, so that’s why! I knew that it’s still gonna be good for him if Mochi and I were to buy the book for him as a Christmas present. But honestly, I’m happy for Ponjaps. He’s been meaning to get a car eversince – whether it’s loaned or not, I’m still happy for him.

Saturday…

12:20am – Arrived at Ponjaps’s apartment. He shares his small apartment with two other people. The two being Leyla, our (Ponjaps and mine) friend from Ponjaps’s hometown and Bal, the ex-closet queen, now a full-fledged fag who calls himself “a bisexual”.

12:35am – Started having some beer with Leyla, Ponjaps and Bal. Bal blabbered “scientific analyses” regarding homosexuality. Bal is 23 years old. He just started living the full-fledged queer life for a couple of years now. I’m saying a couple of years now since it was only 2 years ago when he decided to stay out of his hometown. No one in his family knows he’s gay (or bisexual, as he screams so).

In between 12:35 and 3:00am – Getting more and more tired of hearing Bal talk about his “analyses” about homosexuality. He told us (as if he’s trying to convince us that he’s intelligent) that the reason all gay guys become gays is due to lack of attachment with fathers. He said that the reason why we gay men go with other guys is because we are “looking for a father figure”. Okay, it’s true that Ponjaps, Bal and I could only have wished for a better relationship (for me, I only wished for a rather “extended” one) with our dads but I just thought it was just bullcrap. I was exhausted enough to react violently so I just told him politely that whatever he was blabbering was just a truckload of shit. I could not possibly associate my gayness with my relationship with my father. I never thought of my dad as “meat”.

3:00am – It was just way, way, waayyyy too much effort for me to listen to Bal some more. I finally decided that everyone should sleep already when he started telling stuff about his “bisexuality”. All that bull for 2 hours – and that coming from somebody who hasn’t had anything to do with girls.

10:20am – Woke up. We (me and Ponjaps) had to move fast ‘cause we’re meeting Kikay and Kansai in Galleria at 11:30

11:30am – Met with Kansai and Kikay. Haven’t had anything for breakfast so we ate inside the taxi on our way to the cremation of Mochi’s mum.

12:30pm – arrived at the funeral parlor. Mochi’s mum was supposed to be cremated at 12:30 but started earlier. We had to wait for around 3 hours to complete the cremation.

1:00pm – Mochi and her relatives went out to eat. The four of us decided to stay in the parlor and talk about stuff. Talked about everything from gospel music to Sex And The City. It was only that time that we DO actually resemble the characters there. Kansai being the analytical Carrie, Ponjaps resembles the cynical and hardworking Miranda. Kikay is the romantic and kinda-sentimental Charlotte. And me, being Samantha. Don’t ask me why. For them, it was all too obvious.

3:15pm – After the cremation, we all said goodbye to Mochi and her relatives. It was nice of Mochi to get an urn that doesn’t look like the usual, scary-looking urns. Mochi told us about how weird this experience was for her. I, too, thought that it was weird.

3:50pm – Went back to Galleria. Got a text from Oliver (the 31 year old guy I’ve been dating for some time now) and he’s invited me for dinner. Kikay, Ponjaps and Kansai decided to watch Deuce Bigalow at the cinema.

4:10pm – Dined at D’Angelo’s. Had to do something in between this time and the screening time of the movie.

5:25pm – Said goodbye to the three. Went to the arcade to try out new games. I didn’t realize there were actually lots of good-looking young guys who play there. Yum!

6:25pm – Met Oliver at Sbarro. Was having a craving for more pizza. Oliver was his usual cute, funny self.

8:00pm – Watched Deuce Bigalow (surprise!) with Oliver. We weren’t paying attention to the movie. It was apparent he was happy to see me. I didn’t wanna end the night with sex so I decided to go home at around 10pm.

10:25pm – Arrived at home. Got some “episodes” with my mom. I just hate it when she nags at me for little stuff. I wish I could tell the people here at home that it would not hurt to ask me if I was okay or something. Now I’m seriously thinking of living alone come my 28^th birthday.

Sunday…

12:30pm – The blog. I knew this is gonna be a long one. I’m surprised I have the energy to type this much. Prolly it was the laptop keyboard. Prolly it’s the vodka cruiser I’m drinking in between typing.

Now (1:15am) – Oh damn, it’s Sunday already! I just hope today won’t get to be as dramatic as the past few days. If I don’t do anything spectacular later today, at least I can invite Kansai to go out and do something fun.

Hours of sleep: 3 (damn! Less than 10 hours for 3 days!)

Music du jour: “Alarm” by Namie Amuro

Stuff #1: Been losing sleep for some reason. I’m actually thinking of taking pills. Seriously.

Stuff #2: Mochi invited me and her friends to her mom’s wake. I so don’t like going to wakes (and who does anyways?). Me and my colleagues are going as a group come Friday.

Stuff#3: Is there something about October that makes some of the people I know very emotional? Yesterday, Mochi and I was in for a crying jag. Earlier, my “little sister” Ame, just stressed out big time and broke down. Well, Ame, welcome to the cruel realm that is the corporate world he he!

Stuff#4: I seriously think that my “very recent” ex wants me bck. I just sent him a thoughtful SMS (he was sick yesterday) and a minute after, I found myself having a 10-minute plus mobile phone conversation with him.

Stuff#5: Thank the heavens my new colleague smokes. I was able to spend my first 15-minute break smoking with him.

Stuff#6: I’m happy to get a copy of Camile Velasco’s new single “Hangin’ On”. I love her! She’s hot!

Stuff#7: Our new work laptops have finally arrived. It sucks that we are not able to install anything non-work related shit in there. It looks fabulous to work with laptops AND desktop pc’s at the same time but as we all know, more equipment means MORE WORK!

Stuff#8: I can’t wait until the bonus comes this November! I’m gonna buy me an iPod Nano that’s fo’ damn sure!

Stuff#9: I just had an invitation for a sure “cash loan” earlier. I’ve been meaning to get one to finally pursue my small business. I’m afraid I have to say no to this for now. I’m just not ready. I have to straighten out my schedule first before anything else.

Stuff#10: I hope to get a vacation soon. My mind needs relaxing.

Hours of sleep: I’m certain it wasn’t enough

Music du jour: “Touch” by Amerie

Got up early and went to Makati to take my annual health exam. Can’t believe I’ve been in the company for a year now and all the pioneers in our team have to take the medical check. Actually, we were given anytime between Sept. 5 and Sept. 30 to take the exam. However, I was “busy” so I asked our HR to reschedule.

Anyways, I met up with my manager / close friend, Mochi earlier. Apparently, she too, was not able to take the med exam. It was probably the shortest medical exam I’ve ever been to. Everything was easy. Heck they didn’t even ask me to hand my poop sample! Ha ha! A little funny though, I didn’t expect Mochi to give her sample but heck, the trooper that she was – I received an SMS from her telling me that she went to the loo to collect shpoo! He he he! That time, I was having my consultation with this gay doctor. He told me it was optional for me to have my rectum and genitals checked. Heck, I didn’t even let him finish his next sentence. I asked him “So where do I strip?” Next thing, I watched the doctor signed my medical checklist – “Fit to work”. He he he!

After the medical check, Mochi and I had a couple of cigarettes – I’ve been trying to cut a bit of the smokes a week before today. Now that the check’s over, I’m back to the old habit! Bwahaha!

I planned this Saturday to be spent by not getting drunk. The “drunk as shit day” is scheduled on the next Saturday. A day that was supposed to be just spent for sleeping turned into a gallivanting spree with Mochi. We did a lot of stuff. Here goes the enumerating part of today’s blog entry:

Mochi and I…

1. Went to Manila Hotel to buy a gift certificate (an overnight stay for two) for N for winning a promo in the office. Checked out the retro-style hotel pool and we decided that we’re going to check in one weekend within the month.
2. Went to an oh-so Chinese restaurant to grab some lunch. I didn’t expect the food to be all-seafood – and I’m allergic to some seafood – so we decided to just go back to Makati and dine there.
3. Had dimsum lunch in another Chinese restaurant, this time in Greenbelt. The food was great and the manager (or was he the COO – Child Of the Owner?) is young and cute – tho’ he never smiled one lip muscle! Talk about appetizers huh?
4. Gallivanted around the rest of Greenbelt. Went to Music One to check out CD’s. It’s fun to go to record stores and check stuff but ultimately, Mochi and I thought that in this time of economic crisis, downloading mp3’s is a means to satiate our hunger for music.
5. Went to Powerbooks and looked for this book by Suzy Orman – The Money Book For The Young, Fabulous And Broke. We decided we’re gonna buy this and give this as Christmas present to this mutual friend of ours. He SO fits the Y.F.B. description!
6. Got a little tired from all the walking. Went to this café and we were thrilled that they were selling puto bumbong! How cool was that? I always thought those are only being sold during Christmas but hey, we ate some! Mochi had coffee and I had a bottle of beer – at four in the afternoon! I am not ashamed to tell the world that I drink at daytime!
7. Went to this posh cosmetics store in Glorietta. Eventhough I’m gay, I’m not totally into makeup (I am not afraid to wear it sometimes though), hence, I was not totally thrilled to be there. Mochi was looking for the perfect lip balm (since her boyfriend does not like kissing her with the taste of her current lip balm). I, on the other hand, was trying to entertain myself.
8. Failed to find the perfect lip balm, ended up shopping for clothes. Mochi, being the fashionista she is, looked for J.Lo’s. Anyways, the fabric used on the clothes are soft and nice, but the price is just a little… well…
9. Got text messages (she, from her hubby and I, from my ex). It’s gonna be an extended Saturday for us. We left Makati at around 6 in the evening. She went to Rockwell. I went to meet my ex.

I was still not ready for my day to end up early. Mochi told me earlier that she’s gonna meet up with her hubby. Good thing my ex, Chris, invited me for dinner. What’s interesting is that it wasn’t just me and him. He tagged his ex along. This is just one of them moments that I get to think that Gwen Stefani’s “Cool” is really a song about me – except that Chris’s ex has the slightest idea that Chris and I were once together. But we’re all friends now – no attachments whatsoever (okay, Chris and I have occasional sex but this isn’t about the relationship thing anymore!). It was fun.

I’ve realized this before but honestly, normalcy has not been my thing (and I don’t think it will). Everything, including my love life has to be… for lack of better term, deviated. The dinner was just one of the things that made me notice that more.

So much for my plans of not spending my Saturday getting drunk! I had 9 bottles of beer (not including the one I had in the afternoon). Today was more interesting than expected. Today’s blog entry was longer than I guess it should have.

Hours of sleep: 4 and a half (and 7 mins at work, I am so bad!)

Music du jour: “Sere Nere” by Tiziano Ferro (I love him!)

Goodbye… Hello Part Un

It is goodbye to a certain work colleague of mine. I received word from another colleague that he’s gonna get the boot for messing up with our operations. My friend, N, and I have been getting stressed with our own work and what’s bad is that we’re also doing HIS own work. I dunno whether I should be pleased with the news or not but he’s actually a friend of mine and I like spending weekend nights with him (especially since he’s one of those few people who can keep up with my drinking prowess). Anyways, He’s a good friend but I can’t work with somebody who always go on sick leave and messes up our work processes – AND eventually passing all his work to us!

Subsequently, we got news also that another guy is replacing him. He’s a former model (yum) and he’s gonna start early next week. This should be exciting! Is it finally the end of my frustration in the office?

Goodbye… Hello Part Deux

Is it finally goodbye to my baby and hello to dating other people? I am quite thankful Iget too busy at work that I tend to forget everything else. I don’t think about him too often now. And whenever he calls, I don’t feel tormented no more. Time sure makes me forget things – even the things that I’ve been majorly ranting about a week ago. Praise the heavens I’m gradually getting back to being me.

Goodbye… Hello Part Trois

I have said goodbye to my old PC and said hello to my new laptop. I love my old PC. I have been taking care of it and upgrading it for 2 years. I am just happy to give it to my nephews. They’re technophiles in training and I know they love the equipment. My new laptop is a new IBM Thinkpad. The design may not be too chic or anything. I’m in it for the functionality and all.

Speaking of IBM Thinkpad – our company is issuing laptops for our team. I’m not too excited about it though. I can’t install anything non-work-related program in it but it looks cool though since we’re the only team in our department that’s gonna use laptops!

Sugu shuumatsu ni nacchau zo! Kinyoubi no yoru tte machikirenainda!