Thank Goodness for my Ipod

... for it gave me a valid excuse to act like I don't see or hear one of my bachelor colleagues on a date (?) at the gym yesterday. Bwahahahahaha!

Right, Jackie? Apir!

The Visit

Truly enjoyed your company last weekend, even if it was just for a short time. It was a welcome break in my crazy schedule. =) Despite how it looked, I enjoyed the company of your barkada. Nevermind if they sing crazy songs and laugh to their heart's contents --- fun is fun and it's contagious, even to the perfect stranger in the crowd which is me.

It's nice to see you, have coffee with you, talk with you and laugh with you in person again. Too bad we didn't get to see our other friends, watch a movie or two, or even dance in the rain.

Next time, it'll be my turn to visit. And I'm hoping it'll rain.

See you soon!

Catching Up

CONCERT CONCERT

Fishyfishy might disband by next year, so we had a small 'concert' at REDBOX two Fridays ago:




Meron ding videos of MJ's public performance. If you wish to view it, send me an email and I'll give you the link.

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

TREEPLANTING

Two Saturdays ago, to culminate the company's Safety week, I participated in a treeplanting activity. Nyahahaha... the shovels were too soft and the ground was too hard. But, I got to plant a 3-year old narra sapling and put my name on it.

Here's me on a banana+gatorade break while helping out Geland plant his tree. Photo by Gelpogi. Shades by Oakleys and boonie hat from my airsoft gear collection.

Well-Placed Words

Well-placed words have a manner of being very effective despite its simplicity in form. Looking back into my 3-or-so weeks of stress from work (and thus creating havoc in my personal and social life), I am fortunate enough to have received a few well-placed words to keep me going and feel appreciated.

I leave it to you to figure out who told me which and when.

1. "Anger gets the best of us. I've known you long enough to know that it'll consume you. Take a swim tonight, then let's talk about it after. I'll drive over." (Well-placed words: "I'll drive over". He's two hours away from where I am, and it's 10 in the evening).

2. "HONDA.............. HONDA wing's of love, up and above the clouds the only way to fla-haaaay!! Smile!" (This was an SMS actually. And I replied "Are you trying to make me laugh? You only got to make me smirk though." And she said, "Ang sungeeeet! Magiging soltero ka nyan!". Hahaha!)

3. "Thanks for your excellent handling of this activity."

4. "We put in a word mate to Steve that you did a very good and very professional job for this exercise. Let us know if you'll consider a career with Foster Wheeler mate!"

5. "Good morning! Smile ka ha? Baka nakalimutan mo na kasi kung pa'no. Ahihihi..."

Okay, back to regular programming.

Mainit ang Ulo Ko

Tingininingining kumpanya at project 'to.

Nakngtokwa naman o... kahit anong plano talaga gawin ko para sa bakasyon ko di talaga masunod!

Background: Meron akong 3000 euros worth of travel credits. Napalanunan ko sa isang project na pinaghirapan ko (note: iniyakan ko 'tong project na 'to dahil angtaas ng expectations ng management eh wala naman silang binibigay na training sa 'kin. para bang pinaghuhukay ka ng balon pero kutsarita lang ibibigay sa 'yo. 'kala nila siguro superwhizkid ako. leche.)

Original plan: Bakasyon sa Australia ng end-April for two weeks.

What happened: Had to postpone it to 1st week of May dahil sa lecheng project na binigay sa 'kin. But more and more items emerged, so ni-postpone ko siya uli to 4th week of May. Di pa rin pwede, dahil may mga business trips. Finally settled on last week of June and 1st week of July. Medyo nahihiya nga ako sa parents ko dahil isasama ko sila. Proud sila that their son will be able to bring them to Australia, and they were very excited about it.

What happened 30 minutes earlier: Sabi ni boss, i-cut-short ko daw yung bakasyon. May kelangan asikasuhin yung project on the 1st week of July. Hindi daw pwede i-delegate sa iba.

Pota... so much for rewards and recognitions kung di mo naman magamit kung kelan mo gusto.

I am entitled to take leaves when I want it.

Di pa ko nagbabakasyon simula nung shutdown duty namin.

Di ko man lang naramdamang mag-enjoy sa beach ngayong nakaraang summer.

Ilang linggo na kong di umuuwi namin sa Manila (8 weeks and counting?). Parents ko na nga ang lumuluwas sa kin dito para makita lang ako. I skipped mother's day and will be skipping father's day too.

Halos mabaliw na nga ako sa puyat nung 2 linggong nakaraan. Buti na lang nung nakaraang Sabado e lumuwag schedule ko. 20 hours straight akong tulog nun, bumawi yung katawan ko sa puyat.

Curse this project.
Curse the management.
And akala ko hindi ko 'to masasabi, pero right now i think it's very appropriate: Curse the company!

Punyeta.

Having Kids

"N-nong stiffie!!"

That was the greeting made by my almost-3-year old godson Maqui.

Quito sent me an SMS early last Sunday morning to remind me of spending half a day with his two kids. My schedule really hasn't been that friendly to my family and social life, and even worse for touching base with my inaanaks (I missed out on their last birthday parties and Christmas). He had it planned out as a very busy Father's Day but I had to point out that Father's Day is every 3rd Sunday of June, not the second. Hahaha...

Anyway, I drove to Manila and met up with Quito, Marge, Maqui, Justin and yaya Sol for lunch at Blue Wave. After lunch, we trooped off to nearby SM Mall of Asia.

Marge had to buy some stuff at the grocery and the department stores so she left Maqui (age almost-3) and Justin (age 1) to Quito and me. She took yaya Sol with her. She'd like to see how the Quito and myself would manage (she had that mischievous look when she handed me Maqui's baby bag) for 3 hours without female assistance.

Quito took Justin while I got Maqui. I think I got a raw deal there. Not five minutes has passed by, Maqui was tugging at my hand and babbling "Twuck... twuck...".

He wanted one of those truck-type baby strollers that you rent at the malls. No problem. Ninong Stiffy can afford that.

But that proved to be a hasty statement on my part. After going through three stalls where they rent out those strollers, none were available. "Sorry po sir, ubos na po." And Maqui was making tantrums already by the time we got to the second stall.

I gave Quito a look saying "Uh, a little help here?". He just grinned, as if saying "You're on your own, man."

So being desperate, I offered Maqui a ride on my shoulders. "Sit up on my shoulders, Maqui? Go like Superman?"

"Soo-per-man...soo-per-man... teeheehee...". Jackpot. I found out how to manage him. So I boosted him up over my head and onto my shoulders.

Thank goodness for my gym sessions. Maqui weighs about 40 pounds!

Sitting on top of my shoulders, Maqui would point out somewhere and say "Dat?". I'll say it's a tree, but he'll say it's a "G-raff". Another "Dat?". My reply was "chair" and he say's it's a "ru-mo". The kid's playing mind games with me. Are there any toddler dictionaries for adults being sold somewhere? I'd like a copy of that, thank you.

While walking in the mall we came across Timezone. Maqui, still seated on my shoulders, began bouncing up-and-down. "Timezone, timezone, ball...basket...ball". "Kits, Timezone okay with you?" "Sure man, no problem. We've brought Maqui to Timezone once." "Okay Maqui, basketball?" More bouncey-bouncey on my shoulders.

I got a Timezone card loaded with 300 pesos. Maqui and I played hoops. On the first game, I got Maqui shooting the balls while I handed it to him. On the next game, it was the other way around. On the third game, he climbed up again on my shoulders and went at it together.

Next stop was Daytona racing. With Maqui on my lap, I had him doing the gear-shifting. We were fortunate that another dad-and-kid joined us in the race, so we weren't pressured to race like professional drivers. After the race (which we won), Maqui and I made high-fives and did a friendly wave to Dad-and-Kid next to us.

"Superman..." Okay, back to my shoulders.

There are plenty more stuff that we did until Marge got back to us (riding the escalator back-and-forth, ice skating for 20 minutes, taught Maqui how to catch popcorn with his mouth, etc.) but the funniest one is the bathroom incident.

"poo-poo...". Major bathroom break for Maqui coming up. With the nappy bag slung on my neck, we trooped off to the nearest men's room.

First problem: Maqui has been taught not to touch any part of the toilet bowl with his hands. So, I had to support him by holding him under his armpits while he dumps, and pretty much took his time doing it.

Second problem: Washing the baby's butt.

(to be continued...)

My Kingdom for a Horse

... i'd just about give anything now for a massage at the back of my neck, my temples and 6 hours of decent sleep.

YAY! Somebody Misses Me. =)

This phone conversation absolutely made my day today.

* rrrriinnng....
Me: Hello!!
Her: Stippydippydoo... so how are you? Worried na ko sa 'yo.
Me: (jokingly) Why, you missed me?
Her: Of course! baka napa'no ka na dyan sa work mo. You're so busy!
Me: Hahaha... tell me about it. You've seen my out-of-office reply?
Her: Yup!
Me: I'm really sorry if I couldn't reply to your text messages. Dami ko talagang inaasikaso. Puro work kaya, and by the time I get to my BQ eh direcho tulog na ko.
Her: Kawawa ka naman...
...
..
.
------------
Anyway, we discussed other things like my dentist and her impacted tooth, what are each other's plans for the long weekend, the suppossedly surprise cake for one of our acquaintances that didn't materialize because I could find a decent cake here in Batangas and the latest incidents with our common friends.

I'm just really glad that there are still some people out there who know of my existence. Curse my schedule! It's wrecking my social life to rubbles.

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

Finally, I finished all the requirements for my Australian visa application. The courier picked it up today. Let's just hope that my application (and my parents) don't get snagged.

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

It's now 11:11 pm. Have to go back to work. I'll probably clock in another two hours.

Spice Huns Sing

MJ brought four of her office friends (Blossom, Kat, Lu and Val) down over to Tabangao and spent the weekend here. They had the option of staying either at my pad or at the guest house. As soon as they saw my pad, they declared it as their own --- think along the way of female Huns conquering lands and territories. I then had to relinquish my sleeping rights in my own pad.

Highlights:

1. MJ's preferences for divers
2. Revelation of MJ's secret life in Tabangao (e.g. back-to-back title holder of Miss Talaba and Miss TALIM titles)
3. How to shower using hot water only (Kaye's water connection burst, so we had to isolate the cold water supply)
4. Dinner of sinigang, inihaw na liempo and crispy tadyang
5. V I D E O K E Marathon. The girls' theme song (with rehearsed dance and vocal choreography): All 4 Love
6. The "MJ phenomenon": she now sings on-key at first note. (dati kasi, it'll take her around 5 songs before she finally gets to be on-key...)
7. Jourds vs Marijo (winner: Jourds)
8. Jourds vs Kat (winner: Kat)
9. Jourds vs Blossom (winner: Bubbles, este... Blossom pala)
10. Emerson being known as The "Kuya Emer"

It seems that the girls enjoyed their stay and even left me a "surprise":



Last note: Babalik daw sila. Hahaha, sure girls. Looking forward to it. =) Your company is always welcome in my book.

Insanity

all work and no play makes stip a dull boy.
all work and no sleep makes stip an insane boy.

Just to amuse myself and put a twang on my very hectic schedule (getting 4 hours of sleep per day in the last two weeks was really stressful), I posted this 'out-of-office-autoreply' on my office email on the night before I left my Batangas office for a meeting in Kuala Lumpur.

"I am very busy for the next two weeks and am almost to the point of insanity. Following are my priorities:

May 30 - June 1: OB at KL for TAAL Project Kick-off Meeting
June 2: OB at Shell House (Makati) for TAAL Due Diligence discussions / challenge
June 1 - 8: Scoping work for Basis of Design on TAAL Project (Oil Movements) at Tabangao"

And guess what: out of the 211 messages that accummulated in my email the last 3 days, 44 of them replied to me to "console" my insanity.

1 out of 5 people has a good sense of humor. :D For that I'm thankful.

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

Proof of my insanity: (1) Hahaha CARMELA, nice post on the "surprise" incident at Dencio's. I'm not really sure if I'll blog it because I'm not sure how you and ROMS will take it. :D (2) Hey UBE and JACKIE, sorry but I couldn't find any of those linen pants you wanted. Actually, I had nil time to shop. On my next business trip, I'll keep it in my list. (3) Happy 1st birthday to LORENZO JUSTIN SAN AGUSTIN. Sorry I couldn't make it to your Barney-themed party. Uncle Stip was out of town, but I got you a set of Barney feeding bottles. (4) EMER, why-o-why there's no wan-or-tu tonight? I was looking forward to the alcohol hehe. (5) Hey WENG, why is your first-born named SQUIGGY?! But he's cute and adorable. (6) JOHN, where the hell are you? You're supposed to be back last month pa! Nabili mo na ba yung game na pinapabili ko sa US? :D (7) All of you: if you've spent more than 10 minutes on my blog so far, thanks! NOW GO BACK TO WORK! (8) Hi to my mom and dad! =)