Hi, I'm Bill Gates, I'm rich and I'm MICRO - SOFT. Wait, that didn't sound right!
In my opinion, charisma is based entirely on what people say. Spoken words have a lot of power towards people. Just by saying the right things, people fall in love, countries wage war, and actors become presidents. Yes, charisma is not based on looks, nor on money, but on spoken words. If people like you because of the way you look, you are probably bombarding them with sex appeal, not charisma. That is what I believe. So what does it take to have charisma? I don't know, it's probably saying the right things at the right time. Yep, that may be it, but the real question is, how do you know what to say when?
I know a certain someone who gets a lot of girls by simply talking with them on the phone. He'd talk with them almost every time he can and he never rans out of things to say. And his preys dig him. Frankly, he's fat and 'unsightly,' (ahem) but whenever he speaks, his prey would always visualize him as some 'Greek god.' Is it the fake 'low-baritone' voice that gets them, or is it the things he say? Of course it's the latter, but having a good voice (much like that of Teddy Locsin Jr.) also helps. But was he really exhibiting charisma, or was he just deceiving them? Do you even consider it charismatic if almost all of the girls he had spoken with doesn't want to have anything to do with him after meeting him?
That brings me back to the question 'What does it take to have charisma?' If it is not from money, good looks, and flashy words, then what defines charisma? Perhaps, charisma is attained from the positive aura that one emits. There are people that radiate good vibrations. Whenever you're with them, you just can't help yourself from smiling, you simply feel comfortable around them. And that is the mystery of it. Besides, people cannot learn charisma, people are born with it.

If Hitler lived in the Philippines, he'd be a local celebrity by now. I saw an interview of the Marcos' children at ANC a few minutes ago and it seemed that the Marcoses weren't even ashamed of what their parents did. For crying out loud, your father was a dictator and your mother is the reason behind that! Didn't it even cross your minds that the depreciation of the dollar was your clan's fault? Don't you even care that you were the reason behind the corruption of the government and it's people's minds? Yeah, you were also victims... victims of the seven capital sins perhaps. I know I'm not in a position to judge but that is the truth.
It is a fact that Filipinos forgive easily. We forgave Marcos, we forgave Erap, some sympathized with the first death row victim, we were proud of Versaci's killer and we will probably forgive the next dictator that will abuse his power. Do we really forgive easily or do we just get sucked up easily on hypes caused by media? What we see is, unfortunately, what we only get. I saw Ping Lacson's movie while on a bus to Batangas and he has been my hero ever since! That is why I believe he is innocent and those envious of his ill-gotten wealth should just shut their mouths. It says so in the movie, don't you get it? He's the protagonist, he is good! I was just kidding if you believed what I've just said.

"Beat an empty barrel with a handle of a broom, hard as they were able. Boom, boom, boom. With a big umbrella and a handle of a broom, hard as they were able. Boom, boom, boom."

That was a verse I remembered from one of the poems we read during high school. I don't remember the title but I can't forget this verse. Whenever I see stupid acts, this verse always play on my mind. I think that the poem is about monkeys (or is it drunkards?) that had umbrellas and brooms which they hit repeatedly on empty barrels. For me it symbolizes stupidity. And the reason why it is currently playing on my mind is totally beyond my comprehension. Wait! The verse in my mind suddenly changed! It is now playing:

"Beat an empty barrel with a handle of a broom, (STUPID!) hard as they were able. With a big umbrella and a handle of a broom, (STUPID!) hard as they were able."

This is getting freaky (and corny), I'd better stop now.

We've started our technical training today and as usual, the first exam was a charm. I managed to pass our recitation about how e-mail, Internet, FTP, and other network tools work. We were given 6 hours to prepare a documentation about SMTP, POP3, Web servers, ping, whois, nslookup, dig, telnet, etc. And after that, we had a question and answer portion about our research. For the first time in history, I was able to paraphrase all those information I got from the net which I usually cut and paste before. Believe me, I managed to survive college doing that. But here, that'll just won't do. In six hours I was able to explain thoroughly what happens to the email as soon as the user clicks on send. As in really detailed like - "the client send a EHLO command to signal the SMTP server that it is ready to send data" detailed.

Anyway, I've got myself a new objective. Even though I really don't want this job as a customer support engineer, I'll finish this training because of the certificate of completion that they give out. Having that certificate would be like another achievement on my resume. After I get that, I'll transfer somewhere else. I get to train without paying them to teach me. In fact they are the ones that give me money in exchange for my training. But of course, things would be different if they increase my salary really high after I pass this training. I'll probably stay with them - a little more English skills won't hurt. I even think that I'm really getting comfortable speaking in English. I barely stutter now nor do I eat my words anymore. This could be really helpful for me - but the downside of it is that I'm really tired. I really don't look forward to going to work everyday. Now I know why Corrine would probably get a memo for excessive absences.
What I really like about this training is that even if we fail, we'll still get our 10,000 pesos. We won't go on to the next phase of the training but we'll still get to linger at the office and do nothing while waiting for our payday. That'll give us enough time to look for other jobs.

One down, 4 to go. I'm currently under the second phase of our training as a customer support engineer (the 'engineer' in our title really bothers me.) So far so good! Most of the other trainees doesn't even make it through the first phase, so for us, this is already an achievement. And I mean a major achievement. We felt that we've been through hell and back during this week. We've trained for 5 days and I'm already tired to last for the year. Yes, it's that difficult. We've just received our grades this evening and this is what I got:

Exam 1 - 25.20%
Exam 2 - 12.75%
Panel Interview - 20.60%
Overall - 6.45%
Total - 65.00%
Passing is 60%

Which means - I barely made it.

I met a new friend early this evening. Her name is Monina and like us, she's new to the company. She's on her third week already but what really bothered me is that she doesn't look new at all. She's really good at this customer support thing. In fact, she even told me that she started taking actual calls during their third day. The THIRD DAY and she's already at ease taking with foreigners! I'm on my fifth day and my belly still circumvents whenever I hear those little telephone boxes ring. And to think that the calls for me were only test calls! During one of my test calls, Anifa, the girl with the American accent, pretended to be the customer. I greeted her with the usual "Thank you for calling customer support, this is Neil... how may I help you?" and she replied with "Yes, I have an account with y'all." She said it in a deep American voice - not like the ones we hear on movies. Of course, with the help of the slow 'telephone quality' bit-rate, and the interference on the line, what I could make out of what she said was: "AYAVANACAWNTWIDYOL." And I was like:

"Come again?"
"AYAVANACAWNTWIDYOL."
"What?"
"AYAVANACAWNTWIDYOL."
"I'm sorry, but the line seems noisy so I'll have to ask you to speak louder ma'am."
"AYAVANACAWNTWIDYOL."

I was really nervous and I really couldn't stop myself from laughing at my mistake. I made her repeat what she said three times and that was only the first sentence that came out her mouth. Imagine what more when they start babbling about their inquiries or complaints.

"I HAVE AN ACCOUNT." She finally said clearly.

Like Corrine said, it sounded like "I have an account with AOL" and that makes it completely different of course - they must've dialed the wrong number (AOL is our rival ISP.)

Anyway, I'm glad we're through with that. Starting tomorrow, we will be focusing on technical issues. Maybe I'll do better at that - besides, when doing tech support, you'll need to be direct and straight to the point. Unlike in the billing support, a conversation might turn out like this:

ME: "May I know your e-mail address so that I can run some tests on your account?"
THEM: "Sure, that's L for Lima, O for Oscar, oh my, that reminds me, my dog's name is Oscar and I haven't fed him yet. I wonder what's wrong with me, I keep on forgetting a lot of important stuff lately, is it because I'm getting old or is it... blah blah blah..."
ME: *yawn*
THEM: "T, for tango, I repeat that's L-O-U-T, lout at pkfamily.com. My father gave me this nickname and I have been stuck with it ever since.... yada yada yada...."

As an SOP, we should not just cut off our customer while they're talking as a form of respect. We have to try to divert the conversation back on track. We can't just say: "Okay, I only asked for your e-mail account - will you stop it with that stupid story-telling!" Instead we have to go something like this:

"Oh that's a really nice nickname, your father can really choose great names, and your dog seems nice too. Anyway, is there something wrong with your account?"

Meanwhile, at tech support, a conversation would probably sound like this:

ME: "Just right click on the Internet Explorer..."
THEM: "Right click what?"
ME: "Right click on the blue icon on your desktop that spells the letter 'e.'"
THEM: "oh that..."
ME: 'Then choose, properties and then click on the connections tab... blah blah..."

which is a lot easier than having to entertain the caller.

I'm really sleepy now. I have to go work again tomorrow. I really miss updating my site. I'm really sorry that I couldn't do it everyday.

The customer support team is divided into two divisions: the Billing Support and the Technical Support. The people at the Billing Support seems really nice, unlike those that are in the other. Although I haven't been formally introduced to the people at Tech, I think that I'm not going to get along with them well - and unfortunately for me, that's the position I'm training for. In our training for Technical Support, we first must pass the training for the Billing Support. Our first week of training is focused mainly only on the billing system so we had to report to the billing people. Corinne is one of them so it makes working a little less awkward. While on our stay at the Billing support, Katrina will be the one handling us. She's nice and approachable and she does not intend on making our lives miserable. Yesterday, since it was Katrina's day off, we were handled by Iah. I think Iah's position is far more superior than that of Katrina because she gets to sit at the desk. Anyway, Iah is also friendly. Aside from that, she's attractive but she's a little chubby. My fellow trainee Marcos seems to have a hidden desire for her - unlucky for him, she may already be taken by the robust night-shift guy Mark. The tall guy, whose name I didn't get, talks with us a lot to give us tips. He's also friendly and approachable. We even got to listen to him while he took some calls. Brian, another night-shift guy, also gave us a welcoming introduction about our job. We were told that Brian is a little mischievous because he always tease his supervisor, Leah (whom we think is very serious about her job.) Patricia also seems nice, and so does Anifa. Sherwin also seem nice although I think he's not from billing. He just introduced himself to me while he saw me sitting by the stairs as he was having his cigarette break. I think he's cool. He looks like 8 Toleran from Cheese without the dreads and the tattoos and I think he's also in a band. So far, he's the only guy there that sports the real 'rocker' look. Not like those trying-hard-to-be-trashy look, like me. But still, it falls under the same category because most of the other guys there are dressed-to-bar-hop. It's a good thing that we don't have any dress codes. I don't have to wear polos that are tacked-in which emphasizes my humongous beer belly. I get to wear my favorite dirty jeans and over-sized white shirts with holes along the collar.

I was surprised to hear that some people at the web dev are listening to Jars of Clay! Many people do listen to Jars of Clay and not just freaks like me as I've thought. I remember a scene in 'A Walk to Remember' where the black guy teased Shane West's character because he was listening to crap music - which was 'Flood' by Jars of Clay, and I thought - hey, just because they're singing praise the Lord doesn't mean it is crap. Even Mark (Tropang T) listens to gospel music! But of course, he listens to the inaudible ones like Chevell, Pax217, POD, and others I haven't even heard of.

DEMMET! I failed our second test today! Who was it that told me that customer support is easy? I'll have them take our exams and laugh at them as their brains run down their ears. I'm so depressed! How am I supposed to get a salary greater than P12K if I keep on failing our exams!

I started my job two days ago as a customer support engineer trainee. I wonder why we are called engineers? If you look in the dictionary, engineers are defined as people who design and create stuff for the benefit of man. I wonder what are the things that we could create as a customer support engineer. Maybe we're supposed to design the perfect customer.

I'm already tired because we were on mid-shift today so I'll go straight to the point. I'm nervous and at the same time excited for my job. Although I'm still only on my second day, I believe I really have to exert effort if I want to survive my training. Just because it's only customer support doesn't mean it's easy and non-educational. People just stereotyped that because they can't accept the fact that customer support employees are much highly paid than them. I was mislead too. I thought that I could be lazy while earning money as a CSE, but I proved myself wrong. I'm working for Global Technology Solutions that services the clients of Cylynx, a company in the US, that is responsible for handling customer support services of several Internet service providers. Not only should I know how these ISPs work, but I should also know the terms and conditions on having an ISP account. I have to know about the services that our clients, which are the ISPs and web hosts, provide. On our first day of training, we were asked to memorize information about 9 different ISPs. We were asked to memorize all the services that those companies offer and how much they are charging for it. For example, for one client, Shadrach.com, we must memorize that they offer their unlimited Internet access at 56k lines at $17.95 for monthly billing, $53.85 for quarterly, $101.70 for 6 months, etc. etc... Aside from the rates for the ISP, we should also memorize the rates for their web hosting services. We should also must have knowledge about that ISP, we must know how it got started, where it is located, and even who is it's manager. We must also know the rules that they implement, such as refunds, charge backs and all those billing information. And that is only a quarter of the information from a single company - and we were asked to memorize nine ISPs. And we barely even reached the technical part! This morning, my mind is full of crap. And to make things worse, we got to listen to actual calls taking place, and it was very intimidating. In case I haven't told you this, GTS only accepts calls from the US, so all of the callers would be English speaking Americans. To make matters even harder, we couldn't tell them that we're in Manila and that we're not Americans. We must pretend that our office is located at Crystal Rivers, Florida, or on Charlotte, North Carolina, or wherever, depending on the company. They said if they asked for the location of our office, we should just tell them that we just moved there and we forgot how to get there.

We got to listen to a call taken by Anifa (I don't know how her name is spelled) and she has a very good command of the English dialect. She even has an accent. She can do normal English, country English, and even Indian English - Halu! Top that Popoy. Even the men have beautiful accents. They sound very... American - and I envy them. But they said that we shouldn't get intimidated. We'll eventually grow into it. Besides, they said that once you get the hang of it, it becomes fun.




Call Center Spoofs

Everyone makes a mistake but they told us to avoid making mistakes like these:

CSE: "Can I hold you for a minute?" Putting the client on hold.
Client: "You can hold me forever!"
Hehe... you don't have to hold your clients just to make them stay on the line.

CSE: "How can I do you?"
Client: "I think we're done."
Hehe... nice try! Since our ISPs are Christian ISPs, you can probably do you client missionary style.


* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

I also ran my journals on Textpad's Spelling checker recently. I just found out that TextPad has such functions and now I can fire my typist. And I also found out that Elvin was right, my site contains thousands of typos. Hehe... most of the mistakes were only typographical, promise... you have to believe me - or perhaps I intentionally misspelled some words... hehe....


* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

I can't seem to establish a connection to the net! DEMMET! Do they have customer support lines for this?

Which 'Friend' are you? I once saw a survey about which character you are most sympathetic with from the TV show 'Friends.' Are you Chandler, Joey, Monica, Phoebe, Rachel or Ross? Well, if you want my answer, I'm neither of them! I'd drop dead if you ever saw me making faces like those Chandler do, I don't try to look stupid like Joey just to get people to laugh, and I'm not as clueless and pathetic as Ross. The girls also didn't do well on my plausibility test. If I were as organized as Monica, I'd be filthy rich by now. If I were as appealing and confident as Rachel, I'd currently be in a happy relationship. If I were as carefree as Phoebe, I'd be in Belize, or Ibiza, or somewhere I wouldn't even care to know the name of. I believe I'm very extraordinary. And I believe I'm watching too much TV. Anyway, since I'm in the topic of finding myself in fictitious characters, I'll tell you who I'm like. I'm Deputy Dewey in the Scream trilogy. I'm Michael (the fat guy) on the Blair Witch Project. I'm Kaplan (the computer whiz) on Resident Evil. I'm Biscuit on Ally McBeal. I'm Samwise Gungee on the Lord of the Rings. These are only a few of the characters that I'm sympathetic with. Their greatest common denominator... they're all clumsy scardy-cats (and the women they star with seems to always outlive them.) To put it in another perspective, they are the only plausible characters (depending of course on their position on the movie.) That is how I feel I'd react if I were in their place and I probably, like them, won't hide it even if others see it weird. Plus, they do not hog the spotlight. Sure they have their little share in the limelight but that's it. I need attention too but I try not to overdo it - but that is beyond the point. What I'm saying is that in every movie or TV show, I always sympathize with the unique and clumsy characters because that's what I really am.

At last, for almost three days, I finally had the time to surf the net and write my journal again. I've been very busy reporting to the office where I'll be working at so I wasn't even able to visit my site's guest book. I had to go to the office almost everyday to undergo their screening. I had three successive interviews, none of which were easy - to think that I wasn't really interested at the job in the first place. I only got myself involved with this when Popoy, Oliver and I decided to look for a sideline while waiting for the right job. In fact, I didn't even want to work yet. I have only been vacant for a month after school was out and I planned on having a very long rest. I wasn't even vacant in that said month that I was supposedly resting. I was helping around in our family business because my father suffered from a mild heart attack that rendered him incapable of performing his regular duties. I don't even know what job to consider in passing my resume. The only reason why I agreed to join our job hunt is probably my dire need of cash. I needed lots of money because I wasn't able to keep track of all the expenses I've made this summer. I was using my parent's credit card and money wasn't needed up front so I overspent a little. I bought stuff knowing that I can still pay for it. And when the time for the payment of the bills arrived, I couldn't remember what I was thinking when I bought all those useless stuff. My allowance during my resting period just vanished into thin air and left me buried with debts. I bought more than I could pay and I needed money fast. That is why I eventually landed on this job.
At first, I liked the idea of having a job, even if the salary is small. Then, I changed my mind because I needed to rest more and I still have a list of things to study. In fact, my last entry in this journal was about the withdrawal of my application for this certain job. Then I was persuaded onto changing my mind again. And again, and again. I know that I've been changing my mind a lot recently but this time, I'm going to stick to my decision. I'm going to accept the job offered to me. Besides, the salary is not that low. After a training of two months, our salaries will rocket sky high depending on the results of our evaluation. And even if you did not do good on your evaluation, you'll still have a five-figure salary.
Now that I've survived their screening, I've decided that I should go on with it. After making me extremely nervous and uncomfortable during my three interviews (one of which is in front of a panel), I'm not going to turn down their offer. I've also made some new friends while I was going through that process and I think I'll get along with them pretty well once we are all working. Besides, one of my primary reasons for applying for this job is the further enhancement of my English speaking skills, which I believe is a very important necessity for professional engineers.
Anyway, I'll be starting my training Wednesday next week. I hope that everything turns out well.

I'm so angry and miserable. As if I didn't suffer enough in college, I have to suffer even more while having my supposed last days of vacation. Literally, I'm the ONLY capable person in our house. If I died today, our family won't survive. Being the eldest son of an immobile vegetable, I'm the only one who can drive, I'm the only one who knows anything about computers, I'm the only one who can do electrical stuff, I'm the only one who can replace those GODDAMNED burnt-out light bulbs, I'm the only one who can reach high places, I'm the only one who can lift heavy things, I'm the only one who can fix broken appliances, I'm the only one who can operate that stupid universal remote control, I'm the only one who knows how soldering irons work, I'm the only one who has to get involved in our family business, I'm the only one who everybody can boss around to do simple errands, in short, I'm the most useful member of our family - and I'm really getting tired of it because I'm not getting any compensation for it. I'd rather be working at an office and earning my own money already than be a slave in our house. I'm glad that I accepted that job. Now I can be lazy while earning money at the same time. And if anytime now, somebody knocks on my door just to ask me to put the 'sampaguita' on the figurine of Jesus on our hallway, I'll definitely yell at them. Haven't they ever thought of using a chair or a stool to reach high places. "Yes, you can do that - so don't bother me anymore! I'm not superman you know."

Sorry for not updating the site these past few days. I've been incredibly busy applying for a job (which I've finally decided to withdraw my application from.) The company is a call center and despite the fact that Trade Undersecretary Gregory Domingo commented that Philippine call centers are world class, (Philippine Star, July 7, 2002) I've still decided that I'm not cut out as a customer support team member. I'm supposed to have my second interview today but I'm totally freaked out! My job requires me to speak fluently in English for most of the company's customers are foreigners. In order to get the job, I'll have to pass 3 interviews, one of which is a panel interview where several criticizing eyes would be piercing my body. I don't want to exhaust myself in something I'm really not interested in. I asked my interviewer yesterday if transferring departments is possible, (I'd like to get transferred to their webdev department) but she told me that for the mean time - no.

I met Kuya She at Mega Mall the other day. He's currently working at Don Bosco as a Systems Engineer. He told me that most of the Kuya group works at Lynksys. He told me that I should try it out sometime. They give an allowance of ten thousand pesos and once you get regularized, they'd raised your pay EXPONENTIALLY! Hehe... just kidding. They'll just raise your pay once you get regularized, just like the one I'm applying for right now. For a while, I was tempted by what She told me. At least the environment at Lynksys, I believe, is homely because of the familiar faces there, but then again, I'd rather exert effort on something I'm really interested in. If by the end of July, I still haven't found a job that meets my requirements and I've ran out of pocket money, I'll take anything that's available. That means, I'll have two weeks to find a good job opportunity.

I brought Assunta and Rica to my bed and they can't seem to stop playing with each other. I tried to stop them because they were distracting me a lot but they bit me in protest. "Hey! no bitting. Keep your teeth to yourselves." I yelled at them.
Ming (Na Wen), our cat, just gave birth to two kittens a week ago. And for some unknown reasons, they were named Assunta and Rica. I hope we could think of other names as soon as possible, I'd hate it if those names became official. Besides, I prefer calling them Heart and Barbie. Hehe...

I'm not really in the mood for writing essays, updating web content, or watch TV shows.

Which of the following underlined words makes the sentence wrong?

What number follows these set of numbers?
0 1 1 2 3 5 8 _

necklace....$46
earrings......$4
watch.........$10
chain..........$6
ring............$__

How much does the ring cost?

A man has $2.10 worth of dimes and nickels. He has 3 dimes more than the nickels. How many dimes and nickels does he have?

If you were able to answer these questions, good for you. These are just like the ones that I was able to remember after I took the application test yesterday. Most of the other questions went by my brain and just disappeared without a trace. Maybe in my sleep, I'd just utter unknown vocabulary words such as specious, uh.. trite, uh.., uh.. and those others.. hey, I didn't even know such words existed. Maybe if Herb visits my site, I'll ask him if they ever use words like uh... robust, or ominous, or mitigate in their common dialogue in the US.

"Hey, you look robust today. Mitigate your training a little, you're looking ominous."

Three strikes and you're out!

Four people went job hunting this morning at Makati. Their objective is simple - that is to give their resume to the HR department or Front Desk of several companies. Their time limit: 3 hours. The obstacle: it's raining really hard, as in really really HARD! And the catch: a very satisfying job.

As the MRT trailer screeches to a halt, the green light flashes, and the flags go up.

"Survivors... GO!"

And they're off! You can hear their newly polished shoes squeak as it hit the wet paved road. Neil, Popoy and Elvin are in the lead at the first lap having given 1 resume. It looks like Oliver is having technical difficulties. He seems to be missing staple wires, but he quickly regained his pace as he went for the pit stop. Since one of the stop-points is unavailable, they will have to take a detour.
What a great show of wit and agility! They were able to complete the round safe and sound. Now for the next round. They are off to the next stop and the rain gets heavier and heavier. Their clothes seems to be gaining weight as it accumulates rain water. Not to mention their shoes that are getting soggy and squishy with every step they make. It seems that the racers are hitting the toll because they are slowing down a little. The enthusiasm they had when they started the race was swept by the rain down the sewer. But against the odds, It seems that they all are going to make it to the next round. Popoy and Neil scored another point and so did Oliver tying him up with Elvin at one point.
Now the rain gets more furious! At the pit stop, the racers take their time as they try to come up with a very important decision. Should they continue the race and risk their lives running the slippery streets of Makati? Or should call the race off and compete on another day?
Ladies and Gentlemen, it seems that the racers have casted their votes. And it's.... No! They've decided to call it a day! I'm sorry folks, but that is the ways it is. Our racers have decided to rest at Glorietta and call it a tie.
But wait! It seems that the show isn't over yet! As they crossed a wet street, Neil decided to perform a 'Double Foot Twist, Hands up, Belly Flop' with a difficulty level of -2.5. And he does it! The crowd goes wild! What a show!
And now the fully recovered Neil brushes the dirt off from his pants and walks-on as if he didn't perform that outstanding exhibition. Strike One for Neil!
After that spectacular event, the racers now rests at the fabulous stairs sponsored by Glorietta. It's time for a break.

"This show is sponsored by Mandarin Express"
"Dalawang Ulam, P45 lang!"

Welcome back viewers, after that long rest, the racers are up again. This time, They are heading back to Shaw Boulevard. The racers are now facing the obstacles of the MRT. Popoy is head to head with a lot of people as he tries to get the precious MRT tickets. With his skills and superb patience, Popoy graced the line and gets the ticket from the sales clerk. Good Job Popoy! And now, as they entered the track... what's this!? Neil is being distracted by a loud beep coming from his celphone! And... NO! He forgets to take his MRT ticket from the swiping machine. Strike Two for Neil. This calls for a time-out.

"This time-out is brought to you by:"
"The MRT!"
"P70 per lost ticket!"

Oh no! Neil lost his ticket so he has got to go get another set of tickets. And he's off! With his excellent display of agility, he got new tickets in no time and went down the stairs to the MRT. But look at the MRT! It's starting to depart! The racers are now running towards the sliding doors and Elvin got in first, putting him at first place, Oliver comes in second and the doors are beginning to close. Hurry up racers, the guard is already blowing the whistle! With a quick sprint, Popoy barely escaped the clutches of the sliding doors, making him the last person to enter the MRT. It looks like Neil didn't make it... I'm sorry Neil but strike Three, you're out!

I'm sorry Neil but you'll have to bring me your torch. Fate has spoken... You are asked to leave the council at once.

Neil: "This game has changed me, it seems that I've lost my self-esteem, I couldn't go back like this, You barely even know me..."

"Bosing, kukuha ako ng isang kaha ng Coke litro."
"Kolk?"
"Oo, Coke."
"Kolk?"
"Coke."

I fell in line at the cashier of our local convenience store to pay for the case of Coca-Cola. We don't buy our soft drinks per bottle, we buy them in cases at a weekly interval. It's cheaper that way. In that certain convenience store, we would leave the empty bottles at the guard, pay the bill inside the store, and wait for the items to be brought out of their warehouse. I've been buying there for almost 3 months now and the guard always assists me and tells me what to do. The guard there already knows me by face and as soon as he sees me, we just follow our routine. I leave the empty bottles at the door, he hands me a bill, and I pay at the cashier. Even the cashiers there know my routine. But today was different. A new guard stationed at the door gave me the bill.
"Boy, patingin ulit nung papel." he took the bill from me while I was in the line. Then he scribbled something on the piece of paper and returned it to me. I looked at it and saw that he stroke out 'Pepsi' and wrote 'Coke' above it. Didn't I already told him that?
I handed the cashier the bill and my payment. Then the cashier asked me: "Malamig? Hindi naman malamig binibili mo dati a?" "Hindi nga." I answered her. Our convenience store is weird, they charge extra for refrigerated items. Cold Coke is more expensive than warm Coke. "Cold nakalagay dito a. Guard, baguhin mo to. Mag-aabono tayo nyan."

"E ma'am, sabi nya malamig daw!" The guard objected.
"Hindi a." I replied.
"Oo e." he rebutted.

I specifically did not remember saying 'malamig' so I had the bill changed and payed the ordinary fare. Then as I left the convenience store, I remembered our little conversation,

'Kolk?'
'Oo, Coke.'
'Kolk?'
'Coke.'

Aaaaa... so that was it! Want to have some kolk kolk?

I went to school this morning to get my transcript, diploma and etc. My mother scolded me because it took her 4 hours just to get me out of my bed. I left home around 11:15 am, feeling drowsy with my lack of sleep and my upcoming cold. Nothing unusual happened on my way to school and I arrived around 12:00. Lunch Break.
I walked around looking for a familiar face, then I saw Roel exit Amici. He asked me if I've decided to be a teacher in our school, and I retorted with a firm 'NO.' He told me that Bong was at the Didacta, the CoE's faculty room. He said that he's a serious teacher - "Black is black, White is white... Walang kaibi-kaibigan." That's good he said, even if he scolded him and Jack once for making excessive noise.
I went up to the Didacta to check if Bong was there. I found Mr. Llorente instead. I really like that teacher bacause he always calls me by my first name. I asked him if Bong was around and he said that Bong was out for lunch. I'm not really used to talking with my instructors so I felt uncomfortable while thinking of a topic for conversation. My brain is a little anti-social so I just asked him how the CoE department was. "Fine, just as always." he said. But with the advent of the IT course, computer literate students were further divided into two groups. IT has garnered almost three sections he said, leaving only two sections for the CoE. Al-righty then. I just made up an excuse so that I can walk the other direction.
Then I heard Randel calling out to me. I walked towards him and as I reached the Student Council Office, the irritating Ilor Lescano got my attention and called me 'Elvin.' How many times do I have to tell him that I'm Neil, not Elvin! But who cares, I just passed by him and went to Randel. Randel was supposed to be our batch-mate but he had to stop for a year due to some reasons. He's now a graduating student facing the same problems we faced last year. He had also nothing to do so we lingered for a while in front of the SAC office. As I've anticipated, our conversation was about Bong being a teacher. He said that Bong is now one of the Jolliboys. Our CoE faculty members always eat at Jollibee at MP during lunch time. I had a first hand experience with that because I once worked for them as an on-the-job trainee. Randel is fun to talk with. We barely get to see each other so every time we meet, we have a lot of things to talk about.
After a few minutes, there they were, the Jollibee boys, walking towards the stairs to Didacta. I called Bong's attention and for respect, I greeted Mr. Barcenas who was walking with him. He returned to me a 'this-is-only-for-formality' nod. Okay, I know that the term there is 'plastic,' we're both good at it.
The other teachers walked on and Bong remained to talk with us. He said that it gets a little lonely at school when you go to places where we used to hang out. We've gotten used to seeing familiar faces everywhere we looked but now, no one is there. Now I know how it feels like to be an irregular student.
Bong's next class is at 12:30 and the registrar's office, which was my destination, will not open until 1:00. So, he invited me to 'sit-in' on one of his classes. It was a new subject called 'Coetech' for the first year students. That day, they were going to install Red Hat Linux. Dammit! We did that only last semester! I had a hard time sitting-in because I didn't know how to act around the class. Of course, I had to treat Bong as a professional so that his students would respect him. I'm not used to that so I just went out to do whatever I went there for.
But first, I decided to eat at Amici. I bumped onto Boogie along the way and just like Randel, we barely see each other so we had a lot to talk about. I ate the not-so-cheap spaghetti and he ate the very expensive rice meals. We were classmates during high school so Bong wasn't our only topic for conversation. He also learned that Medel's father had just recently died. Medel is a former classmate and one of Blue Arden's friends. Boogie said that he also did not attend the wake because he was afraid of Medel's appearance. Medel is a cross-dresser now.
Carpio then arrived to sit with us. He's also one of my classmates in high school. I was really awkward because I forgot Carpio's first name, and to think that he used to be one of my closest friends in high school. Anyway, I told them that I've got to get my clearance signed so I have to get going.
The process of collecting signatures was a breeze. I could have done it faster if Mr. Silvano did not stall me. As I asked him to sign the form, he said that he doesn't feel like signing the form and he wants me to sing for him to sign it. Or five-hundred pesos would do, he added. Then he asked me why I did this process so late, he was curious and he asked if I have a job already. I told him the truth and he was really surprised. Why just now? Well, I told him that my father suffered a mild heart attack so I had to delay everything. That was partly true. My father really did have a mild heart attack but that wasn't the reason why I haven't got a job yet.
After acquiring all the signatures needed for my form, I returned it to one of the registrar's assistant and she told me that I have to go back after one week. Now all my plans are ruined. If I had my TOR today, I can go job hunting on Thursday as planned. Disappointed, I went back to Bong's class.
The Linux installation was almost finished. They were at the process of copying the files so they have nothing to do for a very long time. That is when I had a conversation with Bong. He told me that our class should get together sometime before we totally go our separate ways. He proposed to go to Libis. Of course, I objected because I haven't got a job yet and I haven't got money. I suggested that those who already have jobs should treat the less fortunate classmates. Then we agreed that Francis would be the one to pay first. I wonder how much money the school will give Bong. He said that he also doesn't know yet. He has not signed a contract with the school and he had just received his time card. What the school gave him for his services last month was a measly allowance for food and transportation, not 17 thousand as I've heard. Anyway, on the 15th, he'll get his first paycheck. I'm sure that it's not lower that 15 thousand pesos.
It was already 3:45 and his class should have ended at 3:30. He also told me that his next class was at 3:30. Bong already has a reputation of 'the teacher who would consume all the time available.'
To my suprise, Mede (Potpot), barged in on Bong's class. He and Bong are not that close so I was wondering what he was doing there. He said that he heard that I was there and he probably came to pester me. Mede is always fast in getting news. Almost everyone on my class know that. He'd get news faster than the actual people concerned. I think he's psychic. As always, upon meeting me, he would trash my poor cell phone and he'd insult me by making me realize that I'm wasting my life. He said that I should get a job already. Hey, it's only been a month since graduation! I don't want to commit to a job I don't like. Then, as usual, he'd make a scandal. He said out loud that no one in that classroom was able to finish the simple task that Bong asked them to do. A group of students became conscious and tried to finish their task, further extending their class to 4:00. Then, as we were about to leave, rain poured really hard. Mede said that he could have been at his house already if it wasn't for me. Worse still, he made Kim wait for him downstairs and now both of them can't go home. Okay, blame me.
Bong asked us to sit-in on his next class which was Circuits 1, but we decided not to. Kim called my name out loud as he saw me go down the stairs with Mede. He was with Boogie and Jucutan. Jucutan is an intelligent lower year student as told to me by Elvin and Popoy. I get to talk to Jucutan more often when I'm at Don Bosco because he's one of the few familiar faces left there. Also, Ryan Magsumbol and Rica saw me, and as if on instinct, they shouted out loud 'TIIIIM DUNCAAAN!' in an impression of an NBA announcer.
I sat at the table were Kim and Boogie sat. Then Kim asked me to teach him Java. Kim always asks help from me regarding programming languages. I used to teach him Turbo C and Assembly Language programming but unfortunately, this time, I can't offer my services because I only know a little about Java. I felt guilty because I know that he thinks that I was lying just to avoid teaching him. He knows that he's not the fastest learner and maybe he thinks that that irritates me. But that's not it. I really don't know Java and I'm really lazy to review what I know. Afterwards, another conversation about Bong surfaced. Don't worry Bong, nothing bad was said behind your back.
The rain was still pouring hard so we can't leave the campus yet. Kim and Mede decided to eat and they took me along with them. I didn't eat because I have no money left. All of my money went to the processing fees which I had to pay the registrar. I kept myself busy while they were eating by texting Aris about my video card. I had to get it ASAP. Unfortunately, he won't be home until 8:00 pm so I told him to don't mind it.
The rain subdued and we decided to get going before it rains again. Mede stayed at Amici and Kim and I disturbed Bong's class just to tell him that we were leaving. Mede remained at Amici, Bong was teaching Circuits 1, Jucutan was with the guy who wears formal clothes, Kim went to Pasig to report to his girlfriend, and I went home.
Behold, a tiring day in the life of a squid.

I had nothing to do so I decided to tie-dye one of my shirts. I took out the cream 'camisa de chino' I bought from Bong and I experimented on it. I cut of the sleeves halfway and I removed to buttons. Then I decided to dye it yellow. Unfortunately I only had two packets of yellow dye and now I know that it wasn't sufficient to make a bright yellow color. The result of my experiment is a worn-out yellow shirt. Tomorrow, I'll dye it orange. I wonder what will happen.
I mailed my resume with a cover letter to Trend Micro this morning. It is composed of only a single page containing my 'so-called' achievements. I'm really getting bored here. Elvin called me this afternoon and thanks to him I've set up my schedule. Tomorrow I'll get my transcript of records. Then the next day, I'll get my SSS and TIN numbers. And on Thursday, we'll go to Ortigas Center and scout the area for good job opportunities.
I think I'm really going to be sick. I promised myself to sleep early this evening. And just to make sure that my cold doesn't get worse, I drank two tablets of vitamin C, a multivitamin, and a paracetamol. Now my cold won't get worse, I'll just die of drug overdose instead.
Also, I scanned most of the CoEB pictures I have here. It took me the whole afternoon just to configure the correct setting of the scanner. As I looked at the pictures that I've scanned, I got lonely again. I'm not usually like this, I'm never sentimental, until today. Maybe it comes with age. Or maybe I just had the time think about it unlike before. Because of that, I wasn't in the mood to talk this afternoon. My conversations with Alben, Elvin and Corinne were very much straight to the point and I just focused on uploading the files I've scanned.
I get it! Maybe it's all because of the drugs. Yes, that's it. Thirteen miles on Thirty-one, I'm flying!

I think I'm coming up with a cold. My eyes are sore, I've got a runny nose and my head feels heavy. Maybe it is because of my bad sleeping habits. My body's resistance seems to be on it's lowest peak today.
Anyway, I'm happy because I got the chance to reminisce. I checked my e-mail earlier and I received sets of pictures from Bong. It was our class' pictures taken at several locations of our school. Some of it were even dated a very long time ago, you can see by the way some of my classmates looked.
I miss those days. My favorite time was the 2nd semester of our third year. That is when we first got to know everyone better. I remember going to the DBTC Hall were we tried to learn how to play table tennis (I tried, they learned). I also remember the times we went out to play billiards. Bong, Prince, and I usually play at Tropical and when we started playing with our other classmates, we discovered other places such as Manhattan at Shang-rila, Amor, the MP Bowling Lanes, Lester's at Kalentong, Hard 9 at Shaw, Sure Shot at Sta. Lucia, and others. Of course the professionals have seen more.
I'll surely miss the times we drank at MP's Food Court. There were lots of several unforgettable events that sprang from drinking liquor at MP. Art got to say profanity in front of the dean, we got to tease or history teacher, we got to meet gremlins and wrestlers, and most of all, some of us got to sang the night away at the videoke.
There were a lot of pleasant things that happened during my stay at Don Bosco. I just can't believe that it is all over now. I guess I'll just have to move on then.