Curbing My Urges

Was at Glorietta 3 today after work. Got a haircut and purchased a Moshi iPhone 4S back plate. That was everything I budgeted to purchase. You see, I'll be purchasing a 60sqm condominium over the weekend, so I really have to curb my urge to purchase on a whim.

I was tempted by Fino, however. I didn't give in, though. I almsot purchased a leather iPad 2 folio, but I didn't! Somebody please congratulate me!


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad2

Keep Your Friends Close and Your Enemies Closer

borrowed from http://intrepid-llc.com/branding/new-book-cover-design/

I hope people aren't sick of what is turning out as a series for the bane of my existence at work. The picture is cute, isn't it? Apparently, there's a book entitled Shedding the Corporate Bitch. I personally have not seen a copy, but I will check Amazon later.

I had once been asked by an officemate of my boyfriend if I enjoyed working in the corporate world. You see, their world is different. In their office, the women dress up, wear stilettos, and get paid to shop. I told her I wasn't enjoying it because backstabbing is part of the culture, and bitchiness is the name of the game. Truly, it is in my current job where I was really able to apply the adage, "keep your friends close, and your enemies closer."

I attended a board meeting today (yes, it doesn't get any more corporate than that.. a board meeting!). One of the board of directors posted I question about an event that we held last December. She asked why we did not charge the extra guests an entrance fee. I knew the answer rather well, that the other faction of the organization that I work for, led by a sly old Chinese bitch, ordered the dumb bitch-that-I-hate-so-much co-manager of mine not to charge anymore. That Chinese bitch, and dumb bitch co-manager are really such a good team. So what did I do? Well, dumb bitch co-manager was on leave and wasn't in the board meeting, so I, after my uber-evil mind ad calculated the damage to her and to myself, told the truth. I told everyone that dumb bitch co-manager ordered that we don't charge the extra guests anymore. Everybody was shocked! Who is she to order that we don't charge the extra guests?

Of course within minutes, my boss who was in the same meeting, sent me a message to scold me. Get the facts straight, he said. Oh please, it doesn't get more straight than that! I knew he was going to scold me for telling the truth, because dumb-bitch co-manager is his pet. And of course dumb bitch co-manager who was but a text message away defended herself by saying that she only ordered that extra guests don't pay for the people directly under her jurisdiction. Oh please, like we don't belong to a complex linked to each other! If you order that people under your jurisdiction, the other two jursdictions shouldn't pay as well, otherwise, they would question why they're paying. Furthermore, the people in her jurisdiction were the ones who brought their entire baranggays to the event! Hello?!?

Get my facts straight. Well, yes, to get my facts straight, I did what was right. I was to be scolded in the process, but it was a smile price to pay for the chink that I caused dumb bitch co-manager's armor.

Keep your friends close and your enemies closer. Why did I bring that up? Because I had a little skit during the board meeting. I knew the scolding was going to come, by text, not as much expected. But as soon as I received the scolding, I acted dumb. Like, oops, I didn't know it wasn't that way (think Elle Woods in Legally Blonde clueless, but brilliant!). I still come out clean. A bit ditzy, but still clean. After all, I'm just the poor little rich boy who was hired to handle the socials, and other kasosyalan of the complex. All I know is to shop, right?

She really has to be careful of me. I'm evil. I learned from the best. My high school was really good training ground for these acts of deviousness. I survived an evil pack of fags in high school, and I still came out to be the clueless ditz who couldn't harm a fly. Well, they didn't see anything coming.

Watch out for more of my brand of corporate politics. If I'm successful, I will be shedding that dumb corporate bitch.

Counting the Hours

Pretty exhausted already at work, and yet only half the day has past. Can't wait for 5:00PM so I can already leave. Or maybe its the lack of potassium that's causing me to feel exhausted? Who knows? Feel pretty idiotic though. I actually have to consciously remind myself to drink water, otherwise I wouldn't be getting any water at all. So that's going to be part of the New Year's resolution. Funny, to ensure that I don't forget, I stuck a post-it note on my PC's monitor. How sad is that? Counting the days, as my boyfriend flew for UK just this morning. He'll be returning on Friday. So, for the time being, I will be all by my lonesome in the condo, catching up on TV series, and on my reading. - Posted using BlogPress from my iPad2

Atonement

borrowed from beeonfilm.blogspot.com

I am not one to turn this blog into a movie review site. I just wanted to share how my error in purchasing this DVD has been an opportune coincidence as I ended up liking its quite tragic turn out.

I purchased the DVD thinking it was a period piece ala Pride and Prejudice, or Sense and Sensibility. Try as hard as I may, I can never finish these novels of Jane Austen. I would often start reading the book, only to stop midway. Eventually, a couple of years or so later, I would try to start reading it again, only to lose interest.

I have seen the movies though, and I always seem to typecast Keira Knightley into period films, thus. It had been my mission for quite so long to be able to watch Atonement, then. Finally, I was able to purchase a copy, and I ended up watching it after a busy day of teaching. Much to my surprise, it was set in World War II.

It's a World War II Romeo and Juliet drama. I don't really want to dwell on the storyline as I know a quick search on Wikipedia would help those seeking the plot out. I wanted to tell everybody that even though I hate dramas, I actually like this one.

It must be the tragedy. Robbie and Cecilia, never being able to really get the much deserved time that they wanted, all because of a sister who cried wolf sending Robbie to jail.

It was a love story that never was. In the end, Briony, the wicked sister who had so much to atone for felt that in order to do justice to her sister and sister's lover, she would fictionalize the ending of her autobiographical account, Atonement. Cecilia and Robbie died months apart during 1940.

She romanticized it. Now, I don't want to sound as if I am a person of faith, but I believe no such fiction was needed. You see, Robbie died in the war, and Cecilia died because of the bombings of London during the war, months apart. I want to see the coincidence of dying months apart as romantic in itself already. Neither needed to live long without the other. They did end up spending time together, they had an eternity of not waiting for a lifetime to be together.

Valentine's Day is still over a month away, and I am not churning out the sick-puppy eyed lovestruck addict just yet, but the movie struck me. It would be more difficult living a lifetime without that one great love of yours. So why bother. Pray for a coincidence, because if you're lucky enough, you don't have to spend a lifetime of waiting for an eternity to be together.

Hah, random thoughts.

The Grinch Who Stole Christmas

borrowed from tvguide.com

Okay, I'm being too general here. I don't really hate HATE Christmas, I am just getting close, and closer to my breaking point this season. So many factors too consider, and talk about. Especially today, I've had my ups and downs. It was a rollercoaster of emotions.

My mother thinks I have anger management issues. Not really. I happen to keep my cool rather well under duress, and trust me, every day at work is a challenge.

So what issues have I been battling with today?

It was actually a revelation yesterday from one of my co-managers.

You see, it's our staff's Christmas party this Saturday, and naturally, I am the one in-charge of the budgeting and logistics of the event. Each manager who handles a department has a set budget for the staff's Christmas party, and normally, the budget is not enough. Thus, we end up asking for donations from clients and contractors, and use the extra funds for the party. Regardless, these are often still not enough, and we end up asking the staff to pay up a minimal amount to help out the party's funding. During the party, we also give the staff their grocery bags, filled with ham, and other food items. Last year, we spent about PhP 800.00/head for each grocery bag.

My co-manager called me yesterday, while I was in the middle of the meeting, sounding quite dumbstruck. I had sent an email asking the managers of the departments to inform me how much money has been donated to them. The first manager, the one who called me, had PhP 20,000.00 already. The female manager (aka object of my ire for the past few posts - yes, it's that bitch again) claimed they had only received PhP 2,000.00 in donation. The third manager, also received PhP 2,000.00.

The first manager received a tip from one of bitch manager's staff that she had actually received more than PhP 2,000.00. One check donation alone, according to the mole-staff, was PhP 20,000.00. Another client gave PhP 5,000.00. And there were several whom had given loose change of PhP 1,000.00, and so on. In other words, she had at least PhP 25,000.00 worth of donations with her. Why did she declare that she only had PhP 2,000.00?

At first, I thought this girl was going to pocket everything. I wished it was plain as that. She is planning on a different Christmas party for her department... at the expense of the central Christmas party. She is holding on to all of the donations, not giving any for the staff Christmas party we were organizing, because she is so selfish, and wants to spend the money she received on her staff only.

How ironic that this is coming from a woman who this week sent an email stating "Christmas is the time to cast away individual differences." Well, what did I expect? A day after she sent that email, she was screaming at my assistant over the phone, believing the lies that her assistant had told her, and not listening to a word my assistant was saying at all. Evil.

Which brings me again to my question: why is it that people with this horrible attitude are almost always all women?

I told our direct superior all about this issue. It was taking its toll on the other 2 managers already. They had already started on a "what's yours is yours, and what's mine is mine" tirade already. To the point that even raffles may have been done on a per department basis.

I don't want to wish ill of her, it is Christmas after all, but she is just impossible to forgive. She is the devil incarnate.

borrowed from prlog.org

On the one hand, I had my own pity party just a while ago. While I was picking up the cellphone I had bought for my boyfriend for Christmas, I ended up noticing the gaping scratch on my Blackberry's fascia. Right there and then, I wanted to buy a new phone. However, my budget for a new phone has been eaten up by the phone I bought my boyfriend, and the phone I gave to my mother, both for Christmas.

Why am I not enjoying the season then?

First, I will not be happy until I stop interacting with that bitch in the office. Second, I wish my Christmas shopping was all about me. I really want to buy a new phone, but it is out of budget already. Maybe I have to save money from my teaching gig, and purchase an iPhone by summer. Haaaay. That's the only way I can get through this funk, I suppose.

Tapping on My Window

borrowed from Dom08 of pinoyexchange.com

When I was a freshman in high school, our editor-in-chief asked us to submit poems as fillers for the magazine. I wasn't really much of a creative writer back then and didn't know what to write about. Meetings for the clubs were usually done during the last period on Wednesdays. After the meeting, I was picked up by the driver and headed for home.

borrowed from http://www.flickr.com/photos/menandrew/203689824/

It started to rain, and here in the Philippines, when that happens, expect heavy traffic. My van ended up in a jam under the Katipunan flyover, about to turn to Aurora Boulevard. Since I enjoy the relaxing sound of the rain on the roof of our cars, I was lost in my thoughts oblivious to the horrible traffic outside (one of the reasons why I would always rather let the driver do the driving up until now). I was roused from daydreaming, or rain-dreaming, by a soft tapping on the window of the van. I looked out and I saw a little girl begging for coins in the middle of the rain.

My parents always told me not to give to beggars as doing so would not really help uplift them from their situation and I always listened not thinking that there will come a point when I will start debating whether to do so or not. There was something about this particular little girl, standing barefoot in greasy clothes, wet from the rain, outside of the van. Perhaps it was the fact that I was seated comfortably in the captain-seat, dry and cozy, actually enjoying the reverie I was getting out of the rain only to realize that inches away from me, separated by a thin, lightly tinted glass, was a totally different world. Coming face to face with poverty like that stops you in your tracks.

I had lived in a world where we were shielded from this. My classmates in school perhaps never even bothered to look out of their driver-driven cars, vans, and SUVs. But now, one of us, was faced with what is supposed to be a reality.

When I got home, I wrote a poem about that situation, and what I felt. It was titled Tapping on My Window. Mindlessly, I forgot about the poem after it was submitted to my editor. When the first issue of the magazine came out, I was surprised that the poem was placed on the back cover with an image of a little boy reaching out his open palm asking for alms. I was a freshman, and it was a big deal to have my name plastered at the back of the high school magazine. That launched my career in Hilites. I eventually became editor-in-chief when I was a Senior.

Looking back now, I never really thanked that little girl who started this for me. I could have just been another random writer in a magazine. I would've gotten bored and eventually transferred to a different organization. But the discovery that I could write came about because I woke up, looked out, and saw her.

Ever since then, I would always have a soft spot for little girls begging on the streets. I would always pity them, which is horrible. I would always end up comparing them to my little sister, my only sister. She's our youngest, the little princess, and she gets whatever she wants. After all, girls are made of sugar and spice and everything nice. How come some are not given what they want then? How come some resort to begging, staying as late an ungodly hour as possible for coins?

I had a recent brash with them. My boyfriend and I were in the Ortigas area, on our way home to Makati. We were stuck in traffic under the Shaw flyover, turning right to EDSA. I usually am the one driving, but I was so exhausted he had to take the wheel. I looked out and saw a girl holding a baby, possible hers, begging for coins. I almost cried. I tried to keep it in, but my boyfriend saw me. I told him, I have to give them something. Hurriedly, he looked around for random coins inside the Montero and handed these over to me.

I opened the window, and placed the coins on the baby's palm. The girl said thank you.

This was the first time someone like her had said thank you. The gratitude that I was one of the few who opened my window.

What's my point? We all have to know how to look back. I always look back at the journey that I went through to get to where I am right now. I don't think I'm all that, or that I'm perfect, and there are several things that I have regretted along the way. What's important is not to lose sight of where you started.

The bitch I was ranting about last week, doesn't know how to look back. She thinks she's perfect. Only a dumb person will think that she is perfect. She will wake up one day and realize that she doesn't have anything or anyone, because of her ugali.

Shut The Hell Up B*TCH!

borrowed from roflposters.com

I really hate this certain woman at work! She’s one of the co-managers, but we don’t treat her like an employee.  She is treated like one of the clients who have to be given special attention! She is so dumb! She allegedly studied in an exclusive co-ed school located inside an exclusive and expensive village, but she mispronounces words! Like GYM, is pronounced as JIM, and CONTRACTORS as CON-TRUCK-TORS. That is just so jolog! I HATE HER. She is such a bitch. She lies a lot, she’s a backstabber! She recants her promises and statements. She doesn’t give people what is their just due. All my staff hate her. She’s the main reason of the huge chasm between her department and other departments in the office.

Honestly, is it just me, or is it difficult to work with women? Yes, yes, not all women are like that, but in instances when I encounter issues in the work place, chances are, it’s because of a bitch who thinks she’s all that. I’ve worked in 2 other companies, and the challenge would stem from someone just like her! Gender and attitude-wise. They all mispronounce words, they all think they’re pretty and perfect, when really, they’re not!

One girl I used to work with was in HR of a hotel located in Ortigas, and she was in training. But she was absolutely BOBO! How can you be in training and have subject-verb agreement issues!? Really? Believe it or not, that bitch now works in a hotel in Makati, under training pa rin! HUWAAAT! That woman was so ugly, her face looked like a siopao! And she was in her 30s, but she looked like she was in her late 40s! Plus, she’s disgrasyada pa! Nagkaroon ng anak, out of wedlock! Putang ina, yung panget na yun, nakantot at nabuntis?! Sinong nagkamali na gagalaw dun? Rape siguro!

And now this girl! She had her fortune told, and she was informed that if her attitude didn’t change, she would be raped. Ha! Serves her right in the event that it does happen!

My mother’s a feminist, and I know I shouldn’t be talking shit about their gender, but straight women like these two, make it SOOOO easy to think that women should be considered 2nd class citizens. Seriously! I don’t have issues like this with straight men in the work place. I don’t have issues like this with homosexual men in the work place. And you know what, I have no issues like this with homosexual women in the work place, but a straight woman! Oh man, forget it. They probably belong at home, tending to home and hearth, if that’s the case. Make your children’s lives miserable. Hell, make your husband miserable. But don’t bring your mother-fucking horrible attitude to the work place, where it doesn’t belong! Before companies hire straight women in the workplace, maybe they should undergo a psychiatric evaluation first, to see if they are bipolar. The world will be better if that were implemented. Maybe the economy of the Philippines would improve! Think about it, when did the economy go downhill? When Ferdinand Marcos let Imelda loose running the country. When the Filipinos elected a housewife to run the government. When a man who had so many housewives end up doing whatever it took for his housewives to live comfortably. And lastly, when an ambitious straight woman become president. 

If there are feminists, I want to start a movement. I want to be a homonist. I want to start homonism. Women try so hard to fight for their equality, and shit like that, well its time I start fighting for my equality, for the equality of the homosexuals! We shouldn’t let women be given preferential treatment, their reign is over. Homosexual men and women should be the ones given preferential treatment, because straight women don’t know how to handle power! Hello, give them a car, and they don’t know how to a handle a car! A machine that should work in the most logical means, and they don’t know how to handle it! What more if they were given actual power and influence?

I know I may offend people with what I am ranting about, and I don’t want to be branded a bigot, and I know I shouldn’t generalize women based on the two that I cited here. And maybe you’re right. My mother is a straight woman, and she is not at all like these two.

You know who I should blame? Their parents! They were not raised right. So whoever the parents are of these two women, you guys totally suck! You should have been neutered so as not to produce more offspring like these bitches!