Thursday, November 29, 2007

how will you know?

#1
How will you know if the suicide rate of a country is high?

When they start putting signs like this in the railways...


Train station's "not-so-subtle-do-not-commit-suicide-here-damn-it!" sign


#2

How will you know when journalists here have nothing to write about...
When they waste paper and ink for things like this...


This is news??? One hour power outage??? again, this is news???

#3
How will you know if the accident rate is low?
If you have a small sign that reads "Fatal Accident [Date/Time of Accident] [number you need to call if you have information]"
If this was done in the Philippines, we need a seriously big board... "Fatal Accidents..."



#4
How will you know if you are using a CR in an IT company?
The picture of the toilet bowl contains a CD, mouse, and keyboard...


Yeah, apparently we crap-out computer peripherals

#5
How will you know when you're crazy?
When you go to a grocery store and see a bunch of decorated pumpkins, then at the top of your lungs shout "si mabel!!!"

Sunday, November 11, 2007

kelangan sulitin...

yet another PG-moment... :)

57RM (855pesos) ang bayad sa broadband internet dito sa hotel. And that's just for 24hours! OA di ba?!!

kaya ito... lahat ng pwede kong basahing blog/email/website, dinaanan ko na... saya eh!


sa mga di nakaka-alam:
*PG = Patay Gutom

100th day...

This is supposed to be my 100th day in Singapore... but ironically, i'm not in SG right now.
I've just flown-in to KL this afternoon and will be staying here until tuesday night.

I'm staying in a different hotel this time. It's little far from the office, but I guess it's still walkable... hhmmnn... the map seems to say so... but we'll see... :)

What's so nice about this hotel is it's near several malls. And you know what happens when you leave a woman alone in a mall...

after 2 hours:
a pair of rubber shoes at 60RM (900Pesos)... and a pair of brown leather boots at 185RM(2,775Pesos)... believe me, that was a good bargain price!

aaaah... nothing beats loneliness better that shopping, especially for shoes... :)
i'm so happy... :)

whoever said you can't buy hapiness?.... obviously not a woman! :)
Yes, in case you haven't noticed... I'm shallow... :)
A shallow person with really nice shoes... :) bwaaahahahaaa...

again, cut me some slack, i'm alone...

Tuesday, November 06, 2007

Malaysia Adventure # 1 Pics

My Hotel Room


Hotel version of Nasi Padang

Some random mango drink




My Train ride to Bukit Bintang




Suria KLCC Mall



The Petronas Twin Towers

Monday, November 05, 2007

OMG?!!

my only reaction to the news: a jaw-drop

this news from back home gives proof to the popular theory "shit happens..."
... yes it does, and sometimes to the best of us...

sigh...

hopefully this will be something we'll all be laughing at someday...
but for now, I'll go pick up my jaw...

Friday, November 02, 2007

Malaysia, Truly Manila... ay este Asia pla...

As promised, my Malaysia trip # 1 adventure...

I was sent to KL Malaysia on a mission to get whatever "knowledge" I can get from the SI of our Malaysia branch. This is part of the company's plans to make the SG office the support hub of the Asian region. I also needed to officially meet the telco client, so they'd know the face of the person they're gonna kick in the balls if something goes wrong with their system.


Off-Topic: When your boss tells you nobody else in SG knows about the project you're
about to take over and they want you to absorb everything you can out of the turnover activities... that's when you know you're under freakin' pressure...

[flashback to the time my boss was talking to me about the project] I was just playing it cool, nodding my head, mildly smiling at times, with occasional "ah"'s... but there was this loud and manic voice inside my head telling me "OMG! OMG! You're screwed! Run towards the door! Run while you can! Saaaaaaave yourself...." Then images of the teletubbies flashed in my head... then bam! I fainted... (ok, kidding about the "I fainted" part...:), but the teletubbies part... true and freakin' creepy man!!!... why do I have such an evil mind???)


Anyway... going back to the KL trip...

What makes this BT so different from the ones I've had in my past company is that I am in this ALONE... :(

Meaning no one to copy travel itineraries / immigration papers from, no one to ask what part of the airport I am supposed to go to, no group food explorations (e.i., pagpapaka-PG pag buffet)... it was just me, and my cunning and survival skills (which is of course non-existent).

The hotel was a 10-minute walk from the KL branch, which kinda reminded me of our Cebu-BT days... ah... memories... tears are starting to well-up (well, not really... hehehe)... but oh, those were really good times! I miss the walks (or jeepney/taxi rides) I got to have with my BT-mates... sniff...sniff... Waaaaaaaa.... I miss you all!!!! waaaaaaa.....

[breathe...breathe... must regain composure...]

Now, before I go any further, I have to rant about my incoming flight to Malaysia... i took a the-space-is-so-cramped-the-least-you-can-do-is-stop-this-annoying-inflight-
music-but-this-is-probably-not-as-annoying-as-the-dude-sitting-beside-me-who-decided-that-he's-the-only-one-who-needs-the-armrest-we're-supposed-to-be-sharing,-now-where-the-hell-is-the-food-?-what?-no-food-?!!-airlines flight. What a big mistake! Yes, I'm referring to you Malaysian Airlines...

I am soooo taking SQ next time...

Just when I thought PAL flights aren't at par with other international airlines, Malaysian Airlines proved me dead-wrong...

oh PAL, i miss our fun "fiesta" flights together... [sigh...]

After a painful 50-minute flight, we landed oh-so-roughly at KLIA. Since the airport is a freakin' 60KM away from the KL City Center, passengers have to take an Express train to KLIA Sentral. Atleast this train ride was smooth. The train ride was 29 minutes long, but the seats were comfy (and more importantly, does not come with an annoying seatmate) so I didn't mind that part at all.

So what about Malaysia?

I almost shouted at the taxi driver: "Manong, Manila ba to???". KL City Center looks somewhat like Makati, but the outskirts have a tinge of Manila written all over it.

Even most of the people look like someone you'd meet in the streets of Manila. It feels like being trapped in the twilight version of the Philippines... everything and everyone seems to look familiar, but you can't understand a damn thing they're saying...

But on the bright side, I look so Malay, I don't feel like a freak when i'm walking along their streets...At home na at home ako...

Sobrang at home, kinakausap nila ako in Malay! Damn, if I had a Ringgit for every time someone talked to me in Malay, I'd have... well, a lot of Ringgits... hehehe...

There was even a point that I got tired of saying "Sorry, but I'm not from around here", that when a perfume saleslady was talking to me, I just kept on nodding my head and smiled away, then after a good 5 or more minutes of her speech, she looked like she was asking me something, to which I had no choice but say, "no thanks, bye"...

I know, that wasn't a very nice thing to do (I did smile, though... hehehe). But she seemed so passionate about her lengthy speech that I didn't have the heart to interrupt her (ok, maybe I did get a good kick out of it... [insert evil laugh]...but hey, gimme a break, I was alone for 3 days!?!... the world owes me!...ok, maybe not...[insert evil laugh])

Going back...

Any trip to KL won't be complete without a good look at Petronas... well, they weren't kidding when they said it is tall! I was forced to use the "stitch-assist" function of my camera just to make the damn thing fit in one picture (side note: I hate using that function) I'll try to post the pics next time... (hopefully)

I also went to Bukit Bintang, which according to my trainer is the "Greenhills" of KL. (yes, my trainer is pinoy... astig noh? hehehe...)
The prices of the items are pretty cheap, compared to that in SG, but the one's in the Philippines are definitely much much cheaper... damn I miss pinas!!!

My trip was only 3days long... so not much time to explore the place, hopefully next trip I'd have more free time.

But generally, I think it was a good trip. One hell of a learning experience... being really alone in a foreign land can knock some sense out of you sometimes. makes you think of a lot of things you left behind, and at the same time pumps you with anticipation of what's gonna happen next... oh shit, im growing-up! [not!] :)

hopefully my trip next time will be better... [crosses fingers and books an SQ flight]

Guess who's back...

I've been missing-in-action in my blog lately... sorry my avid readers, yes, all 6 of you... nyaaahahaha...

I've been coming home quite late these past few days, so by the time I step in the house, I'm too tired to open the PC. (yeah...yeah...excuses...)

We have been eating dinner at different places lately, and since our home is pretty "provincial" (read: far from the city), we end up dragging our tired (and often bloated) bodies toward our beds by the time we open the front door.

But now I'm back and ready to spread happiness (and havoc) to the universe...

So what's new?... have you ever wondered what you missed about my little-island life? well, even if you haven't, I'm telling you anyway... :)


1. The Annex (parang title ng horror movie)
2 new engineers from my former company (cebu branch), came in to my present company... our number has reached double figures...we are now officially "the annex" branch, or more accurately, the "Abu Sayaf break-away group" version of NSP...


2. Malaysia truly Manila... ay este Asia...
I went to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia last oct21 and stayed there til the evening of oct24. I was sent there for the "Knowledge Transfer" (a.k.a. turnover activity) and to formally meet our telco client.

I need to go back 2 more times within the next few weeks to complete my training.

details like the annoying plane ride, the lonely walks, the strange conversations, and other twilight-zone moments on a later post...


3. I'm gaining weight!!!
waaaaaaaaaaaaaaa... and I've only been here for more than 80days?!!! must stop these dinner adventures soon... curse you "fusion" restos!!! I raise my fist in your general direction with utter disgust (and gluttony)!


4. Am I in the wrong country?, I thought this was SG?!
I just learned that almost all of the people in the office whom I thought were Singaporeans aren't. Some were from Malaysia, Vietnam, China,Indonesia, etc.

Apparently, I know only ONE Singaporean... one!?!!! (some girl from another team whose cubicle was next to ours). weird e??? Where have all the locals gone??? Have the foreigners totally taken over the island? Does the government know that their economy is powered by people from other countries?.... And why am I even asking these questions as if I care about other people's welfare? Ok, I better stop now...


5. some pictures are worth more than a thousand words...
I've compiled more weird/funny/creepy pictures... again, on a later post... dami ko ng utang na post!

laters... :)