Taxi ride

The driver of the taxi I rode this morning kept on saying that the government should plant more trees so that when everybody else runs out of moolah, all they need to do is make more of it using the trees. Okay... He also kept on going on and on how the US manages to land themselves a good president (he obviously has not heard of George W. Bush) while we get someone who wins because he's popular. I wasn't really listening to him ramble because I was distracted by the appalling seat cover of his cab. Whoever designed it probably could not decide what animal print to use so they just put everything together - zebra, leopard, cheetah... dalmatian.

Gasp

Class! She wore it with her matching lace sweater.

Random Sunday shnazz

My Mom and I used to keep an eye out for a certain family in church because the two sons reminded us of what my brother and I were like when we were kids. The older one was quiet while the other always had a toy and would walk around half the time. I don't remember if I always had a toy but I do recall leaving my pew every now and then to explore the church. We haven't been seeing them lately which is a bummer. I think the Holy Spirit told them about our weekly gazes so that must have scared the beejeepers out of them. Or maybe they moved to another part of the church, I dunno. Anyway, this family sat in front of us awhile ago. No, they didn't remind me of my childhood because my brother and I never wore the same outfit, unlike these three cute stooges who sported the same Espana shirts . Aside from them, there are other characters who made today's religious experience amusing. Like this girl who wore the brightest and reddest pair of shoes I've ever seen in my entire life. She paired it with a handbag that came in the same shade - Really, Really, Really Red. After mass, we had lunch in Mongkok. The kids behind us had Yellow Cab pizza. They should have been charged corkage or something. Then we did the grocery... ... where I spied South Supermarket's prized health bars, which were under lock and key. It's so delicate that you have to ask for assistance if you want to take a look at them. I'm being sarcastic. I have no clue why these health bars were locked up in the display cabinet when it's just P100 bucks each.

Hello, hello, ola!

Dear readers (yes, all five of you), I'm sorry I've been out of it. Nothing really exciting has been happening. It's just the usual shnazzload of work that never ends and the daily drive to the city. Waking up at 630 am to get ready isn't funny. I wonder how the lot of you do it. If it wasn't for Pho Lo who told me to update, I would'nt have remembered to look back, analyze the week that was, and blog about it. So here are the random things I learned the past week: - There are 22 dinosaur models in Cafe Puccini at the Fort. It should go well with some spinach canneloni. - The wall that was once red in Cuisine will never be again. It's now yellow. And will stay that way. - It's not good to berate or throw a rolled up napkin at someone who had just quit smoking. - If you chug a glass of screwdriver in 5 minutes, you will definitely be screwed. - That the Joey Samson "jacket" I got at Myth is really a shirt. Thanks to the latest ish of Garage for pointing it out. - The lighting in Members Only is nice. - Life is like scrabble. You sometimes have to find the right words to get a triple letter score. - Some U2 songs might not make any sense at first listen but they actually do after you listen to it several times on full volume.

Power sale

People are always complaining how useless sales are here compared to the US or Australia or Hong Kong. Well, Powerbooks in Alabang totally slashed the price of this product. Save 87%!! Imagine that!

Things I dont understand

1. How I could misplace my wallet inside my car which I had in my hand earlier. Nobody could have taken it because I was the only one there. 2. Why say that the invite is cute when an hour later, you'd want the image changed? And this is an invite to an intimate and private event that was only meant to be emailed to eight people. Why so finicky? 3. Why it takes so long to have a press release approved when its just a draft. It's all the more absurd when they know its meant for tomorrow's event. 4. Why cars insist on staying on the left lane while maintaining a very slow speed. 5. Why the toll person awhile ago gave change to a car in the Absolutely No Change lane.

Picture picture

When I'm traveling, my basis for taking photos is if it will look good as my Mac's wallpaper. But for other people, they take shots that not only look great - it tells a story, too. One of them is German photographer Peter Bialobrzeski who traveled through Southeast Asia where he combined his own photographic investigations with workshops for young talents in Jakarta, Hanoi, Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur, Manila, and Singapore. The result was a "multifaceted kaleidoscope" of these six metropoles in the exhibit, "Mapping Invisible Cities". The exhibit opens this Friday, October 17, 6pm at the 3rd floor, Shangri-La Plaza. It'll feature the work of immensely talented photographers, which includes the future NYC grantee Tammy David. (Yey Tammy!).

Photo by Tammy David

"The diverse themes and approaches in the 105 pieces, in addition to Peter Bialobrzeski’s work, are like fragments of the unseen and unnoticed ordinariness hidden in these 6 cities. When these fragments are joined in one single frame, like a map, they begin to show what was formerly invisible. In mapping them, these photographers have made their cities more obvious and bring to the surface what we do not (want to) see or notice. The works act as maps that show the organization of space, movement and people. Some also show how maps can be tied to the imagination and abstractions. Altogether, they serve as valuable insights to and experiences of Southeast Asia’s largest cities. They also give audiences the ability to see into the future of Southeast Asian photography."

“Mapping Invisible Cities” will be on display until November 7. For more information, please call 8170978 or visit www.goethe.de/manila.

Trip to the LTO

I've been procrastinating on getting my driver's license renewed because going all the way to LTO is like, such a waste of time. Fortunately, I didn't have to go all the way to near City Hall because there's an LTO renewal place at the SM Makati MRT Station. There weren't too many people when I got there at 9am. I misplaced that paper thing that comes with the license and when I told the guy at the counter about it, he didn't react and just gave me the same form he was distributing to everybody. I filled it out and went next door for the medical. No, they didn't extract blood but they asked me to fill up this really tiny bottle with urine. And you have to do it with the door open. So naturally, everyone seated behind you can see you attempt to hold the bottle and try to not wet yourself. After, I had my eyes checked and even if I'm sure I got some of the letters wrong, the guy still put 20/20 on the result. Your photo is taken next (they don't warn you, they just CLICK) then you pay for the fee, then wait for your card. All in all, it took about an hour and a half and only because their dot matrix printer was conking out and they had trouble giving change so the entire process could have taken a little less than that.

SMS

The universe has a funny way of testing my patience with (stupid) people. An office staff of this talent manager called me up yesterday to follow up on the payment for three of their talents we used in one of our PR campaigns. Me: "Your check is ready but I can't release it until you give me a copy of the signed contract and your billing, which I've been requesting for weeks." I was tempted to tell her she could send it via snail mail/email/fax/homing pigeon/morse code/singing telegram/mental telepathy/smoke signals just so it could be over and done with. Stupid lady: "Ok, sir. Kailan po pwede kunin yung check?" Me: "You can get it anytime just as long as you give me the contract and billing." Stupid lady: "Sa Friday po, pwede?" Me: "Yes, just as long as you have what I asked for." Stupid lady: "Okay, Tenk you po." This morning, Stupid lady texted me. Someone oughta teach this woman about the proper use of punctuation marks. Annoyed, this is what I replied to her:

My monday

• I came in late. Couldn't find the white collared shirt I wanted to sport today. Wore pink instead.

• Walking to work makes me feel like I'm in New York, only because everyone seems to be in a hurry to reach their destination. Even the butterfly I spied in the corner seemed to be in a rush to land on the nearby flower.

• Why don't people slow down when they see pedestrians crossing the lane? I walk at a turtle's pace just to annoy them.

• I hate it when people walk on the right side of the sidewalk or stay on the right side of the stairs or escalator. I learned that from an escalator in Hong Kong. And it's your fault if you bump them by accident.

• When I reach the office, newbie no 2 is already there and she starts the tasks which she was hired to do - take over my morning newspaper monitoring routine. Now I'm suddenly clueless on what to do. I whip out my bag of Snickers in Fun Size and chomp on two before I start getting jiggy with my work. Newbie no 1 is, as usual, nowhere in sight.

• I've got 4 minutes to save the world on repeat in my iTunes. Tick tock tick tock tick tock.

• My eyes begin to hurt. I'm guessing I need eye drops or specs and I'm hoping it's the latter because Pam gave me a pair of specs and I want to use it with real lenses, not as image enhancers. It's pathetic to use them without a grade. It's like wearing shades at night.

• My editor calls and tells me to attend a lunch tomorrow at Manila Hotel's Cowrie Grill. His boss aka The Owner of the Paper said to invite all his writers so we could all meet some hotshot from HP. The only reason I'm going is because my editor said it'll the best time to meet his boss. Plus I need to give him the prize he won at an event in Sydney last month.

• My client told me I'll be tagging along with her to Cebu for an event. Yey.

• I'm suddenly craving for a whole lot of things - Porkchop dunked in Japanese mayo, a tall glass of iced Milo, banana cream pie

• It's 6pm already. I think I'll pack up and finish my stuff at home. or at least attempt to.

Interesting things I Learned

If you think about it, you learn something new everyday. Just this morning, I learned that the longer I linger in bed when I wake up, the bigger the chance I have of activating my morning allergy. We had our company strategic planning in Tali last weekend. Over dinner and lunch, I learned a few things from our lively conversations that ranged from food, travel, politics, and science. 1) Although not new news, Manila along with all the cities situated near coastlines will be completely submerged in water in 8 years. Half of Florida will have more beach space and Manhattan will suddenly turn into a water adventure. Now, THAT's an inconvenient truth. 2) There's a huge chance Obama will win in the US election. I guess they'd rather have a black man in the white house instead, just for the fun and irony of it all. Besides, change is good. 3) The buck doesn’t stop when you get a room in the Wynn Hotel in Las Vegas. They also let you pay to visit the spa even without booking a treatment and the use of the gym even if you're a guest. A fancy sounding Jasmine "massage" in the spa is really just somebody applying heated oil on you minus the body kneading and costs $75. Plus, there aren’t any prices on the restaurant menu so anything that might sound cheap might really not be. 4) There are no exceptions when renewing your US visa. EVERYONE has to wait in line, no matter how much of Manila you "own". Thankfully, you don't wait under the heat of the sun. 5) Crushed ginger can be used to soothe rheumatism. 6) Alfredo Lim is really Chinese. His father was born in China will he was born in Spratley. And he got a house in Forbes for free, thanks to his gun. 7) Some guy has genetically grown a man and a pig. When he grows up, he can be a congressman. 8) Dove Moisturizing lotion is really, really good. It's very creamy and absorbs instantly! 9) You need 5 billion pesos to become President of the Philippines. 10) Riding a hot air balloon suddenly seems like a fun thing to do. 11) Residents in provinces in China have a local passport and need to apply for a pass so the government can control people from moving to bigger cities and overpopulating it. 12) Turtle tastes fishy. 13) Europeans eat with the fork on their left hand, the knife on their right, and slice as they eat, Americans slice everything, and then eat, while Filipinos do away with slicing and dicing and go straight to inhale their food. 14) An awful lot of Brits are frightingly decent. 15) The Jumbo restaurant in Hong Kong has a license to sell a maximum limit of 25 dishes a day of this endangered fish. 16) There is a bookstore in London that has been on the same location since the 17th century. 17) "Moses" baskets for babies are sold in London for a whopping 600 pounds. The supplier sells the same thing in the monthly American Women's Bazaar for only 14 grand. Buying it here and sending it to the UK wont cost you more than 600 pounds. What did you learn last weekend?

Lift me up

Makati is dotted with sophisticated, all-glass and steel structures that boast of bright and spacious lobbies, high ceilings, and colourful food galleries where decently dressed employees can go and buy their daily grub. Unfortunately, my office isn't in any of those buildings. Mine was probably built in the early 60s when metal orb-like lamps and mosaic walls were the in thing in corporate interior design. The only saving grace is that its conveniently situated along the main road, near places of yuppie necessities. To upgrade the facilities of this concrete block, they recently installed four new lifts - but since installation of the two lifts was delayed, everyone has to share the other working two. All 13 floors of us. Sometimes it can be such an endeavor riding it because they maximize the space and capacity of the lift - just like how Ayala Malls cramp each floor with stores leaving the shopper to share tiny walking space on the aisles. Other things I hate: 1. When people take the lift one floor up. It gets more annoying when they're young and on the heavy side. 2. I don't get it why people don't hang up when they're on the phone before they get on the lift. Naturally, at some point going up or down, the connection will be lost. Can't they just tell the person they're talking to that they'll ring them back? 3. Only the blind or anyone with obvious optical disabilities are excused if they ask if the lift is going up or down. Those with perfectly fine vision only need to look up at the arrows to see the lift's direction. No need to ask where it's headed. 4. The elevator won't leave you behind if you give way and step out of the lift so people can properly exit. It's annoying when you somehow get pushed to the back only to fight your way out then you have to push and shove everyone only for the doors to close on you when you finally get to the front. 5.Not holding the door when someone screams that you do. Do not do unto others and all that jazz.