Beijing Olympics ended up with a bang alright but not really as I expected it to be…

Seeing it on the wide screen plasma at the company pantry with other agents on break from their tedious task of saving the world by helping old hacks get their internet connection and email working after messing up some settings.

Fireworks. Yes there were lots of it and the video angles are more dramatic than what they had before as well. The ceremony is a bang but it hasn’t made the global impact I thought it would. China’s going “out” party may have been received by the world with all acceptance Ellen got when she outed on her show but I think the big guys have just been civil.

Considering the investment they poured in, I think it would take them 5 years for ROI. It’s not that bad for a country, 5 years is just as fast as a blink of an eye. Well, good luck, China!

A typical call center agent shifts from from one company to another just in a matter of 6 months and being one of that population now makes me consider of doing the same as well. It’s not just about the paycheck, it’s about knowledge. At least for me.Tech support, is my forte and I’m driven by having a lot of knowledge about everything related to technology and changing companies and accounts is the best way to do it. Better than going to school, I reckon.

The people above are my first wavemates. We’re supporting cable internet and out of the 20 original members of TWC 7.2, four have decided to pursue another career. The job could really take a toll on you.

Memorable moments such as this can now be stored in a more lively manner with Roxio online free slideshow creator and hosting. Share your moments with the world.

I haven’t got a lot of comments lately except for those geniuses in the spamming department of the bloggosphere who never thought bloggers would be silly enough to have their blogs unprotected. Recently, some stranger has found my post about the Eraserhead Reunion Concert and managed to leave one.

Son of All (BMM) made a tirade on how the event organizers are making a fuzz about their age. Apparently the Department of Health and FCAP made a fuzz about Philip Morris, the leading tobacco manufacturer who produced Marlboro and Philip Morris, sponsoring the concert. The government health board was so “concerned” about the perils of alcohol and smoking among children, 18 years old an bellow, that they made the concert organizers implement a strict rule–No Minors Allowed.

Apparently, the logic (or assumed logic, if there is such a thing) of this is that the event will be filled with grownups who would be wallowing in alcohol, smoke and even some weed and exposing kids to these is, to use simpler words, a bad thing. Yeh, as if there is a certain age when it’s already okey to be exposed to this shit.

Why not implement the ban on tobacco and alcohol in public places and public gatherings, a law which has been enacted several years ago when Erap was still the Champion of the Masses? Perhaps it’s because it’s harder to implement and these fat-bellied folks in DOH has been silenced with money by, who else but, Big Tobacco. It would be easier to ban minors who can’t afford to buy the stuff as much as the big boys.

Reminds me of Catcher in the Rye.

Classic flirting lines have been catapulted in movies from Gone With the Wind to Breakfast at Tifanny’s and until about three years ago, no movie have ever matched with the oldies classics. Hitch, a movie about a “love doctor” trying to hook-up a typical looser to a famous actress. the best story on the movie though happens between Hitch and Sarah, the reporter who aims to blow his cover. I bet you remember these lines…

“Sara: So, you kinda like me, huh?
Hitch: No. I love you.”

I’m not really sure if this particular line would work in real life but I’m planning to test it on the Extreme Style by VO5’s Ultimate Flirting Championship. It’s a game where real people meet real people and gets to, well, flirt–a bit. I’ll tell you later on if I win or not.

60% out of the 2506 aspiring doctors passed the recent Physicial Licensure Examination held in the cities of Manila, Cebu and Davao.

Here’s a list a list of the top ten passers.

1.MARLON DIAZ GARCIA
FAR EASTERN UNIVERSITY-NICANOR REYES MEDICAL FOUNDATION-88.75
2.DAVE ANTHONY PASETES DIOMAMPO
SAINT LOUIS UNIVERSITY-88.17
3.GENTRY GEORGE TENG KING
UNIVERSITY OF SANTO TOMAS-87.42 and JANICE JILL KENG LAO
UNIVERSITY OF THE PHILIPPINES-MANILA-87.42
4.NEMENCIO JR REYES RONQUILLO
UNIVERSITY OF THE PHILIPPINES-MANILA-87.17 and PAOLO POTATO VILLANUEVA
UNIVERSITY OF SANTO TOMAS-87.17
5.ALLAN LOUIE ESPINO CRUZ
UNIVERSITY OF SANTO TOMAS-86.92
6.PHILIP BLANCO ANTIPORTA
UNIVERSITY OF SANTO TOMAS-86.58
7.MA CRISTINA DELA CRUZ BRIONES
UNIVERSITY OF SANTO TOMAS-86.42
8.LEMUEL BENEDICT ROBLEZA NON
UNIVERSITY OF THE PHILIPPINES- MANILA-86.17 and SHEILA JANE TAN ZANORIA
CEBU INSTITUTE OF MEDICINE-86.17
9.ANGELA SACAYAN APOSTOL
UNIVERSITY OF THE EAST RAMON MAGSAYSAY MEM. MEDICAL CTR.-86.08 and KAREL ANN ALIPASA ESPEJO
UNIVERSITY OF THE PHILIPPINES- MANILA-86.08
10.GRACE ANN MARIANO NICOLAS
UNIVERSITY OF SANTO TOMAS-86.00

Wazzup Docs?

having been almost around all corners of the globe for some time now makes me see things at a different light. It tends to make me feel for other people who I now consider as my neighbors amidst the miles of separation. Not until recently, my travels have been more like a routine and a hobby and I decided to do something about it by heading off to, where else, Vegas!

Las Vegas tours is something the average American, or, in my case, Asian American, considers a part of the total package of the proverbial American Dream. I took a tore alone, just like the usual, but was with a company of jolly people whose every gestures really cracks me up till my tummy aches.

Haven’t got much to spend their though so I opted to get Trusted Tours and Attractions’ travel services to have everything arranged for us so all I have to worrry is how no play poker. trusted Tours an Attractions also have a lot of choices of places to go to and the corresponding budgets for such and everyone has something waiting for him their.

You may get an updated list of places to go within the United States by subscribing to the
Trusted Tours and Attrations newsletter which could also win you a $150 Magellan’s Gift Certificates so you could enjoy travelling to places you wanna go, wherever in the world that would be. An online travel guide is prepared for those with internet access and wats to check the services out.

Top of the Rock is something I should try to go next. See you there once you get your own pass.

Jammie, Galiza and, got a chance to meet at Ayala last Monday to swap books. The three of us were former classmates back in high school before some silly old spinster who though anal sex is taboo, banished me to what our school, Saint Joseph College, call “the lower sections” (I can’t find the logic as to why they tag it as lower so don’t dare attempt to find one, genius.) I brought my first Baldacci, Absolute Power, (it’s a bargain buy) and RJ Ledesma’s Lies My Yaya Should Have Told Me; Jammie brought The Little Prince; and Glaiza brought her Mitch Albom, Tuesdays with Morrie.

Glaiza’s book, covered with a red semi-transparent plastic film which reminded me of my first condom, ended up with Jammie (I had a copy of that book before Ganda stick it up in one of her orifices ). I ended up with with the translated French classic from Jammie (recently devirginized, I might add). My RJ Ledesma, a compilation of news paper columns of some softdrink endorser in the early eighties who’s trying hard to sound like Jessica Zafra (just like someone I know…). It’s more of a trash than a book. I think I was drunk when I brought that book to the counter as i would never shell out 5 dollars for a piece of literary crap. I could have just read a Dean Koonts, who’s literary prowess is equal to that of a pothead. (Now someone would loathe RJ Ledesma with me.)

The three of us share a passion for books back when we were still officially residing in Maasin City. Meeting them to exchange books after more than five years reassured me that I made the right decision of moving here in Cebu to build a career and to enjoy the company of people who speak the same language as I do, Geek.

We met at National Book Store, a bibliophile’s version of Hooters. Could you just imagine how we lose ourselves?

Jammie bought a Mukirami, despite my insistent protest, and a Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Memoirs of My Melancholy Whores. We promised each other to swap our latest finds after we’re done with what we’re currently reading. I wonder who’s gonna enjoy my Ian McEwan’s Atonement.

Lyn, a fellow call center agent who has been helping learn the ropes on our first month of being on the production floor is leaving the company for a greener pasteur. Her new job earns her about a quarter more than what she’s receiving today and she gets to go to the US for training. It’s just a couple of days but having been to a first world country, in this side of the globe is considered an achievement that’s like winning the lottery.

I happen to know about her change in career path just today, her last day of helping people who should not be owning computers, much more the Internet, fix it. It’s an OK job but it kinda takes it’s toll on you after several months.  She’s gonna work for a business process outsourcing firm but she will be taking less calls now and it’s just gonna be about printers. Printer’s are easier to fix than Internet connectivity and I think not a lot of callers there are irate or bordering on nuts.

Lyn finished a degree and got a CISCO certificate as well and now reviewing to get Microsoft certified which makes me envious. (Sigh!) It makes me consider going out more and explore Cebu and the number of opportunities for learning it offers to people who are willing to step up and stand out.I wonder what to do to kick my ass off into starting to get the thinks I want. I think it has to start with reading all those books on my reading queue. Arg!

People, specially those whose opinions get easily swayed by the media, call me a Gloria fan and although I don’t consider myself a fan, I think there is nothing bad with being tagged as one. Besides, Gloria is a hardworking president. Her policies may be unpopular but all of them are well calculated and calibrated from time to time to make sure that it is what the country needs at this time.

Apart from the opposition personalities who made it a point to oppose everything the administration is proposing, people who haven’t been in the business of governance or those whose youthful idealism has not been polished yet by reality could easily throw a stone on the present administration for the economic hailstorms the country has been faced. I’m tired of calling these people stupid so I’ll call them morons for now. Ugh! Flaming again. Why the hell can some brilliant scientist invent a panacea for stupidity? I just hope they were jubilant when they heard Gloria saying that SMS will cost 50 centavos from now on.

I think the president did well in defending the dreaded 12% Value Added Tax which killed the political career of sacrificial lamb, Ralf Recto. Although I suffer the pain of shelling out extra to give to the government, I still think VAT is in for the greater good. Imagine the amount of money that will be collected out of those Starbucks junkie who are mostly well oiled. Such money could be used to invest in social services to the masses. Never mind corruption, it’s a given. Just being realistic here.

I don’t want to pick on the people of the church again but they keep pushing me to do so. I bet you heard them campaign for the abolition of VAT cause, according to them, it’s a burden to the Filipino people. Talk about hypocrisy! They can easily say that and yet people from their ranks are making it harder for legislation for the sex education and population management to be passed. They even called it the pro abortion bill! The nerve! Charlatans!

Mrs. Arroyo may be the most unpopular president according to recent pulse but I don’t really care. Besides, most of the people polled are just those who wants to keep on getting dole-outs from the government. Why should some stupid survey conducted by some stupid survey firm with a lot of stupid respondents matter to anybody?

I’m a Gloria fan and I couldn’t be more proud to be one!