rAnDoM tHoUgHts + mUsIc

an excerpt of my inter-office chat with an officemate, which almost made my blood boil...pinigilan ko lang. haaay.

Arnold ...	hey mam morning	8:48:10 AM
?	AISC book delivery	8:48:22 AM
Me	ehlooo!	8:48:37 AM
?	wer u?	8:48:40 AM
?	si mark?	8:48:45 AM
Arnold...	728a	8:48:46 AM
?	si mark bukas daw dadaan	8:48:51 AM
Me	ung racket, dala nyo?	8:48:51 AM
Arnold...	mam pero on your way here	8:48:59 AM
Me	andito ako 713c noh	8:49:00 AM
Arnold...	please bring PhP490	8:49:06 AM
Me	baket	8:49:11 AM
Arnold...	mali	8:49:15 AM
?	928A pala ako	8:49:21 AM
?	nagexcess mam	8:49:25 AM
?	ang AISC book ang salarin	8:49:36 AM
?	tsktsk	8:49:36 AM
Me	ilan ba dala mo?	8:49:43 AM
Arnold...	20sakto	8:49:48 AM
Me	how many kilos	8:49:51 AM
Arnold...	1kilo lang	8:49:54 AM
Me	oh, kami nga ni armie, 24kgs each, pinalusot kami	8:50:06 AM
?	si hector, 27kg ok lang	8:50:11 AM
Arnold...	ayaw mam e	8:50:12 AM
?	ipinilit ko tlga	8:50:19 AM
Me	i dont believe u	8:50:21 AM
?	hehehe	8:50:23 AM
Arnold...	i have a receipt	8:50:27 AM
Me	nyeh!	8:50:41 AM
?	sana dinala ko n lang	8:50:45 AM
Arnold...	yups	8:51:08 AM
?	exactly	8:51:10 AM
Me	nagtataka lang ako at di ka pinayagan for 1 kilo????	8:51:28 AM
Arnold...	yun nga	8:51:48 AM
Me	e di sana binuksan mo na lang maleta mo at hinand carry mo n lang	8:51:50 AM
Arnold...	yup, kaso lalagpas ang handcarry ko	8:52:03 AM
?	ganun ka exact ang baggage ko	8:52:11 AM
?	sinabi ko kay mark	8:52:15 AM
?	kaso dalhin ko daw	8:52:19 AM
Me	e si mark?	8:52:19 AM
Arnold...	ayw nya dalhin e	8:52:25 AM
?	sabi nyo daw ako magdadala ng book	8:52:33 AM
?	di pala kami sabay na flight	8:52:38 AM
?	im sorry mam if nacharge.. =(	8:56:03 AM
Me	dapat next time, maghintay ka ng ibang pasahero, pakiusapan mo na i-shoulder ung excess baggage mo	8:56:45 AM
?	ganun lang ang style.. kasi di naman lahat ng pasahero e umaabot sa limit.. at kung shy ka, pede mo naman pakiusapan ung crew e	8:57:31 AM
Arnold...	yup mam, i did that.. e minalas ako, di sila accepting that time..	8:58:49 AM
?	alam ko tlgang lumagpas kayo lahat	8:58:58 AM
?	so i argued that	8:59:02 AM
?	pero to no avail	8:59:06 AM
Me	ok malas ka cguro talaga, kc ako, everytime umuuwi e sobra ng 20kg (up to 24kgs pa nga) ang dala ko pero never pa ako nagbayad ng excess baggage.	8:59:38 AM
Arnold...	ayun nga	8:59:47 AM
Me	bat di pa kau nagkasabay ni mark?	9:00:08 AM
Arnold...	e itinigil ko na makipagtalo kasi di tlga sila payag e	9:00:13 AM
?	ay	9:00:17 AM
?	si mark ay madaling araw ng sabado umalis (Cebu pac)	9:00:31 AM
?	para maximize ang time	9:00:39 AM
Me	ah.. excited na hehehe	9:00:43 AM
Arnold...	yups	9:01:04 AM
?	mam lagi pala kayo excess everytime	9:01:16 AM
?	eto na siguro ang redemption ng airlines sa inyo	9:01:27 AM
Me	oo nga.. pero ung tipong within limit pa din	9:01:30 AM
Arnold...	1kilo	9:01:40 AM
Me	e kc nga.. sabihin mo lang na ung ibang passengers naman e less than 20 kg... or.. naghintay ka na lang ng ibang pasahero na konti ang dala	9:02:04 AM
?	then kausapin mo..	9:02:14 AM
Arnold...	ahh pwede pala yun	9:02:33 AM
?	hehe	9:02:33 AM
Me	kc c rolly, kasabay namin, dami nya excess, mga 17kgs.. then naghintay sya ng ibang pasahero na ma-shoulder ung excess nya	9:02:49 AM
Arnold...	hehe sanay na.. ako first time traveller	9:03:09 AM
?	sorry mam =(	9:03:14 AM
Me	ok cge.. haay .. next time ha!	9:03:27 AM
Arnold...	opo mam	9:03:55 AM
?		9:03:57 AM
?	xiexie	9:04:08 AM
?	gusto nyo balik p dun?	9:04:15 AM
Me	nyeh.. kung iba proj.. baka.. hehehe	9:04:49 AM
Arnold...	hehe	9:05:10 AM
?	isinumpa nyo rin dc?	9:05:17 AM
Me	di naman.. mabait naman ung mga kasama dun... kaiba lang talaga ung proj	9:05:41 AM
Arnold...	yups tama kayo	9:05:53 AM
?	di lang tama na execute	9:06:06 AM
?	kaya ayun stressful	9:06:14 AM
Me	meron daw IPS2	9:06:25 AM
?	pero di pa naman nag start	9:06:35 AM
Arnold...	ayus	9:07:03 AM
?	sa shanghai kyo mam?	9:07:08 AM
Me	hindi.. andito pa ako sa K2 proj.. pero on-hold ito e.. kaya tengga kami lahat dito	9:07:40 AM
Arnold...	hehe	9:08:53 AM
Me	teka mag-skillsoft muna ako.. sa thurs ko na bigay ung bayad ko	9:09:23 AM
Arnold...	sure mam	9:13:32 AM
?	dala ko na book	9:13:34 AM
Me	cge, jan muna... di ko pa naman kelangan	9:13:51 AM
Arnold...	oks mam	9:14:04 AM

it's getting into sports, to be exact.  my tennis days are slowly getting over, i haven't played tennis for ages!  for one thing, there's not much available courts near my place, and there's no one to play with.  we usually play at nights, and my officemate joeff who has been my constant tennis-mate, got assigned overseas since early this year.  the other guys are always out at nights (i give it to them, they're still single).  we actually have a tennis court near our house, with guys regularly playing on weekends, from morning 'til noon...but i now hate the sun!  yeah, sun-spots on my face do not look good anymore, now that i'm uhm, aging.

so what's left to do?  well one alternative is badminton.  lots of people play this game, it's easy to learn, and there are so many courts around.  plus this is played indoors! hooray!  when i was in china, this was the only activity i had on sundays, aside from eating and sleeping of course.  by the way, is sleeping an 'activity'?

and this is what i usually do during badminton sessions... pose for the camera!  (check out my "nike/adidas?" rubber shoes - it has nike logo on top but the sides look like an adidas.  yeah only in china.)

finally i'm just a few hours away from going home.  i woke up very early today, 5:30 to be exact coz i wanted to catch this particular episode of 'travelogue' in cctv 9.  see, this is just one of the 4 channels here on tv in english.  i watch this everyday, except sunday, at 5:30 while having my breakfast.  'travelogue' is a program where they show you places around china and it's the next best thing to actually being there.  they don't only show the usual tourist-y stuff, but at the same time you'll be introduced to the culture and history of these far-flung places.  and i woke up today rather early because the host for today was marc edwards, my favorite of the hosts (they have different hosts every 2 episodes and yesterday i got lucky coz i got a final glimpse of him for 2 episodes before i leave hahaha).  marc edwards is half chinese, he doesn't look like the typical one (i think he's cute, really)... and he's got british accent.  see marc edwards here.

so enough of marc edwards as i was so busy on my last day at the site.  early in the morning i made a round of the site just to say goodbye and get a final glimpse of the structures and hoping i could go back to see everything all set up and ready for turnover.  then i had to rush back coz i had to submit some calculations and sketches -- ok, this is work thingy.  while doing this people came and went to bid goodbye and invited me for dinner.  i got really flattered and at the same time, was feeling kind of sad because i wasn't sure when we'll gonna see each other again.  well, engineering world is just a small world so perhaps in another project we'll get to meet again.  i hope.

so at night i had this dinner with friends, filipino, chinese, and including the project director, who is the top boss in this project.  actually, mark, ferdie and i always had friday dinners with the project director, so in a way, we feel that we're now 'close' to him.. if you get my drift. ha-ha-ha.  but really, paul (proj dir) is such a nice guy.

i went back to the hotel around 9pm and started packing.  ended up having 1 large luggage (hoping it's within the limit of 20 kilos) and 3 carry-on bags.  this is going to be a tough trip.

ok now, my driver will pick me up at 10, it's only 6:35am... i still have plenty of things to do.  will post next when i'm in manila. woo-hoo!

"i'll be alright
i'll be with you tonight
i'm coming back home..."

this time of the week has always been the most exciting part for me whenever i'm out of the country -- the week when i'm about to go home!

but there was a time when i had mixed feelings of going home -- time when i would be leaving friends.. and particularly a good, good friend.

anyway, this song reminds me of those times.  well, this is just one of those songs, coz i really have lots during those times. 

reminiscing of old times.  now this is keeping me awake.

i had mixed feelings on my travel back to manila on saturday.  i'm happy with it because that meant seeing my family again after 2 months (long!), but at the same time, it kinda saddened me for i was supposed to come back to china after only a weeks vacation. 

but then, things turned out for the better.

yesterday afternoon i got an email from a project lead in manila and got me on board for their project!  that means i am not forced to come back to china (Mark will take my place here, poor him), or if they ask me to extend my stay here, i now have an excuse to decline and just go home.  woo-hoo!

i got so excited that i started packing my bags last night, 4 days before my flight. ha-ha-ha!

six more days to go and i'm out of here!

i've been here for 2 months straight (well, 2 months in july 31) and this has been my longest assignment here in china.

and that makes today as my last sunday for this assignment.  so after pingpong in the morning and then lunch afterwards, i did nothing but SHOP.. 'til my wallet dropped.  i bought several bags, blouses and dresses for my daughters and me, of course.  i still can't have enough of them that i'm still planning to go back on tuesday or wednesday night.

then it dawned on me... i'm only allowed 20kgs for checked in luggage.  with all my purchases and the stuff i brought here, i might go beyond the limit!  oh-em-gee. 

i had a trip before, also here in china, where i had about 4 kgs in excess baggage.  i didn't have RMB cash anymore so i tried to pay thru credit card.  and what do you know, the airport in that part of china (nanchang) doesn't or rather, cannot accept credit cards! (say what???)  then i asked where can i change my dollars to pay them in rmb.  turned out they don't have money changer either!  what the...  i was already panicking because it was almost closing time at the gate.  would i unpack my stuff and leave some of my things just to make the 20kg baggage limit?  i almost did that.  in the end, after several phone calls which i couldn't really understand, the airline crew was kind enough to just let me in, despite the excess baggage.  whew! 

they say it would not happen again in a hundred years or so.  a friend in manila even told me i was even in luck that i am now in china because the "total eclipse" would be seen only in china, in shanghai to be particular.  and i'm actually just 2 hours away from shanghai.  so i really looked forward to 9:30 am, july 22nd.

it turned out we had a 'safety training' from 8:30 to 10:30.  the trainor seemed oblivious to the eclipse thing and just went on and on with his presentation ang blabbing.  around 9:30 we got restless and kept on looking outside to check whether it was becoming dark already.  the trainor must have noticed this and he was not unaware of this phenomenon after all.  so he let us go out to check out the eclipse.

it was cloudy.  it was drizzling.  it was becoming dark.  the lights from the facilities were switched on.  we looked up to the sky and we didn't know where to look!  where the hell is the sun?  yeah i know, it should be hidden but where was it in the first place?  darn.  we actually missed seeing the eclipse.  but being in the dark at 9:30 am and then getting bright surroundings again after about 6 minutes is already awesome for me.  but it would have been a cooler experience if i had seen the eclipse myself. 

so in the evening i just tuned in to cnn to watch the eclipse.  but hey, i was in china when it happened.  could be the next best thing.

i recently discovered this online shopping website based here in china.  and boy oh boy, this site sells everything you can think of!  and with very reasonable prices too.  so far i've bought a pair of UGG boots and roxy slippers for my daughters.  i have ordered 3 sets of lego toys for my 2 young kids as well.  i went crazy coz their prices are almost half of those in the philippines.  now i'm still thinking of buying dr. martens boots and some kikay bags.  oooh, this site makes me drool.  i wanna buy, buy, buy.

check this out:  http://www.taobao.com .  don't be scared of all the chinese characters you'll encounter.  just type in the search box an item you like.  oh, and the downside is:  you have to ask a local (or someone who speaks and types chinese) for orders.  all transactions are COD so nothing to worry about giving your credit card numbers and getting hacked. 

so this means i can only enjoy this shopping galore only while i'm in china.  on the other hand, maybe that's a good thing anyway, or else, i might end up penniless (but with all those goodies!).

isang hapon ng weekend, bumili ako ng mga sitsirya sa isang convenience store sa china.  nang palabas na ako ay nakasalubong ko ang isa kong kasamahan sa opisina, at kasama pa niya ang kanyang nanay.  natural, kami ay nag 'small talk' sandali.  pagkaalis ko, sinabi ng nanay niya sa ka-opisina ko... "ang galing niya magtagalog!"

yeah, i can pass here as a local.  with my chinky eyes i can really blend with the crowd here.  the last thing i want is for them to stare at me, from head to toe.  that's what happened with an american friend here.  he's white, very tall and with beard.  according to him, now he knows how it feels to be a celebrity.  no paparazzi please!

taken on my first weekend... notice how fresh and happy i still was at that time...

ooh, how i love my sony vaio SR... mwah!