| who knows what bob ong looks like? | ||||
| Monday, 23 November 2009; 03:48 PM | ||||
years back, i pulled a prank where i audibly hinted that one of my friends was the commercial model for a telco advertising campaign. my friend only looked slightly similar to the model but it worked since the model was relatively popular without being too exposed outside the ads for people to distiguish the differences in appearance. two women who sat in the next table in the bar even asked for autographs. i can't pull off the jay contreras thing anymore (and i am reluctant to pretend to be a celebrity anyways), but i thought maybe i could try it with a willing accomplice. we could try a locally known celebrity whom people would readily know but can't really recognize. i thought we could try bob ong. pretending to be bob ong should be easy: just get a suitably chinoy-looking guy in his early to mid 30s who is familiar with the author's works, walk into a bookstore, stage a conversation where the non-celebrity friend would audibly (but not too obviously) inquire about bob ong's books. if you're lucky, someone will overhear the conversation. if you're really lucky, someone will be curious enough and approach you to ask if the other person is indeed bob ong. and since very few people know what bob ong looks like, both of you might just get away with it while giving people the satisfaction of meeting a celebrity. wouldn't that put you in santa's gift list? |
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| meditate on this |
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devious| pick a card, any card. | |||
| Wednesday, 28 October 2009; 04:15 AM | |||
 a friend whom i read tarot cards for during the weekend sent a message saying what i told him seems to be coming true."what was it about?" i asked him. he replied it was about the job promotion; i vaguely remember the questions he asked about his job, much less the answers i gave. i almost always forget whatever i tell people when i do card readings for them. many of the questions asked during a reading are personal, after all, and it feels like i am prying too much into their lives if i hold on to personal details like that. on the other hand, since i don't keep track of what i say to people i read cards for, i never really get any kind of feedback from them. when i was reading professionally, it gets awkward when a new client asked for my "batting average" -- i have no way of measuring "accuracy" (if one could really objectively measure card reading accuracy). to make a slight change of subject, last week my phone woke me up and i was a researcher from a local channel who called me. we spoke before, when he was asking about tarot cards for a local newsmagazine. this time he was asking if i had experience talking to the dead. "no," i replied after the question had sunk in, "i don't." i told him i don't know anyone who was into necromancy either. he thanked me politely and disconnected the call. i'm so glad i don't have his job. |
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| "Experience Call Center Agents with EXCEPTIONAL Pronunciation Skills!!" | |||
| Wednesday, 21 October 2009; 03:51 AM | |||
got this from the mail: the blurb says "Experience Call Center Agents with EXCEPTIONAL Pronunciation Skills!!" which sounds like a come on from a sex ad. and i guess they're not too keen on proper grammar either, just exceptional pronunciation. but really, i'd be a bit worried of people who pronounces words too exceptionally. |
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| too long for twitter, too short to be a proper blog post. | |||
| Tuesday, 20 October 2009; 06:26 AM | |||
my boss left this note pasted on an orange covered pail she placed on my station:Jade,i'm not really sure what those stuff are that will go there. maybe we ought to give away multi-colored (and flavored) packets of rubber. |
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| here i am again being grumpy on a monday. | |||
| Tuesday, 20 October 2009; 12:39 AM | |||
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i think i've been turning off people at work again because of my grumpy mood. my back hurts and the train service earlier this evening was horrible. these things would definitely cheer up anyone's mood, i'm sure. anywho, i've been itching to tell this to people for some time now. actually, i've been telling something similar to people for some time now, only i'm not sure if people are really listening. what i wanted to say is this: a very important skill for a tech support agent is knowing where the scope of support ends. while it's admirable to go beyond what is asked for by the job, it could also be dangerous to provide advice on matters one does not have any real expertise on or is not truly responsible for. i think this applies to other jobs where one banks on perceived expertise on a specialized field. on the other hand, i am getting sick of the teeth-whitening ads i see in our client's web-based email. since my email client is all screwy when connecting to the smtp port, i have to rely on web-based emails for office correspondence and that means seeing inane web advertising.  it's awe-striking how concerned people are fighting the good fight against the evil conspiracy of dentists withholding the secrets of whiter teeth. i would like to cheer them on and say thank you thank you, good sirs! |
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| Magnetic spice rack. | |||
| Thursday, 15 October 2009; 02:59 PM | |||
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I never got around to acquiring an herb and spice rack for my kitchen.The mother has one, which looks like this, but she hardly ever uses it. Filipino cooking do not really call for a lot of herbs and spice. Maybe one day I'll sweet talk her into giving it to me. Or not, if ever I could me this:  Which is pure awesomeness if only because I could hang some canisters upside-down. Of course that means I have to be extra anal about keeping the canisters' lid closed after I'm done with the spices. It won't be the first item I will purchase for my dream kitchen (a twin-surface induction stove -- or better yet, a "zoneless" induction cooker -- would be my first purchase), but it will make a nifty addition to it. |
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| Indigenous Knowledge Trade Fair and Exhibit | |||
| Monday, 05 October 2009; 09:38 PM | |||
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Invitation: Indigenous Knowledge Trade Fair and Exhibit October 16-18, 2009 Quezon Memorial Circle, Quezon City Our Indigenous Peoples have so much to teach us about caring for our environment and living sustainably, but they need us to advocate with them so that more people can know about it. See and experience the life of IPs... explore partnerships with them... patronize their products... protect the environment with them. Wine making and tasting, cultural presentations, night market of organic goods and IP products, film showing, solidarity concert. (taken from iya's multiply) |
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| Pinoy Story Writing Contest | |||
| Saturday, 03 October 2009; 01:07 AM | |||
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ATTENTION: The deadline for submission of entries has been extended to OCTOBER 17, 2009 at 5:00p.m. Pinoy Story Writing Contest The National Book Development Board is inviting interested participants to join the Pinoy Story Writing Contest, a competition that aims to enrich and expand the array of Filipino-authored works in the country, based on pre-selected themes or categories. This contest is part of the NBDB's celebration of the 13th Philippine Book Development Month with the theme, Galing Pinoy, Basahin! Winner will be announced in November 2009. To view the complete set of rules and guidelines, please visit or download here. To download an entry form, click here. For inquiries, you may email pinoystorywritingcontest@nbdb.gov.ph or call 926-8238 (Dianne). |
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| hauling the laundry after the flood. (guest starring an 80s bikini briefs commercial jingle) | |||
| Thursday, 01 October 2009; 05:39 AM | |||
 when i look into my closet and see very few underwear left, i know it's really time to have the laundry done. many times, i wonder how come it seems i use up so many clothes when in fact i don't change clothes more often than the average non-slobby guy. on most days, even go around shirtless at home, so i don't have to use two shirts in a day. and yet used clothes seem to pile on me like fallen hair on the shower floor when i take a bath.so earlier i sorted through my near-overflowing hamper (it's made to look like a cute, green frog) and packed the clothes i will bring to the laundromat. i dressed up for work and called a cab so i could drop off the clothes before i head for the office. from the cab, i could see that the laundry shop i go to when i want to have my clothes washed quickly is packed. large bags of clothes are put in front of the counter. when i went inside, the woman by the counter told me (in a harassed, i-cannot-believe-i-am-having-this-day kind of way) that i can't have the clothes done until tuesday (today's a wednesday). "we couldn't ask other branches to help us," the bewildered woman explained, "because they're also filled with orders." with the mountains of clothes all around us, i didn't think of disbelieving her. i just said thank you, left the shop and went back to the waiting cab. i asked the cab driver to drive me to another laundry shop instead. we found a laundry shop further into boni avenue: a small shop that was not packed with clothes. the lady doing the laundry said i could pick my clothes by friday afternoon. that was a relief. for a minute there i thought i had to buy new underwear because i will be running out of clean boxers. incidentally, i was wandering around the men's underwear section of the department store the other day, looking for plain-colored shirts. one sales lady called my attention and started sales talking about YC briefs. i had to look away quickly because the YC bikini briefs commercial jingle started playing in my head. |
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| Living like a real island person. | |||
| Sunday, 27 September 2009; 09:16 AM | |||
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I was stranded in my apartment since last night. While the compound wasn't flooded, the street outside and the area from the Mandaluyong city hall up to the Pasig river flooded, with waters reaching 4 feet in front of the city hall. I had to wade through chest-deep waters yesterday afternoon. The rains stopped during the night and I hoped the water would also recede once the rain stopped. But when I looked at the street, it seems that the water is still leg-deep. That means that it's likely thigh-deep near the city hall. I've always found it funny that the city hall is the area of Mandaluyong that is most prone to flooding; you'd think the city government would have done something about it a long time ago. But after yesterday, it's not so funny anymore. Worse thing is, I need to cross the city hall or the banks of Pasig river to reach Edsa or Makati. Even simple tasks like buying food is difficult since I have to go out of the apartment compound. I still am lucky. My leaking ceiling was recently fixed and I was able to sleep on a dry mattress. Power was cut off in our area but there was running water in the apartment for me to wash off the flood waters. I still have some food stocked in the party that'll let me survive for a week. A lot of people in Metro Manila weren't so lucky, I don't even need to watch the news to know about ruined properties, displaced people or shortage of food and clean water. These floods happen in Metro Manila almost every typhoon season, people have considered it part of Metro Manila life. It's become normal, most people think it's a Test of Faith from God they have to endure. And anyways, the rainy season will end by October. |
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