Happy Thoughts

Wendy: Once upon a time there was a boy named Peter Pan, who decided not to grow up. So he flew away to Neverland where the pirates are.
Hook: What fun he must have had.
Wendy: Yes but he was rather lonely.
Hook : Peter Pan thought you how to fly. How?
Wendy: You just think HAPPY THOUGHTS. They lift you into the air.
Hook: Alas, I have no happy thoughts.
Wendy: That brings you down!

I have felt a variety of emotions for the past weeks.

I was sad, down, disappointed, homesick, happy, excited, inspired, positive and invigorated.

It was a roller-coaster ride for me. One thing I realized was, If I choose to be happy, I could.

I am too blessed to be depressed by petty things. At the end of the day, the only choice I have is living while I’m alive, and enjoying every moments of it.

Now I really believe that having a good life is indeed the sweetest form of revenge.

Happy thoughts also helped me in the process.

1. Thank you to ABSCBN News for recognizing the nominees of the 2009 Philippine Expats Blog Awards. It is really a humbling experience for us Overseas Filipino Workers to be mentioned in your news.

2. I received two compliments in one day from my clients. Well, these things serve as a reassurance that I am doing something good for other people and believe me,I’m gloating right now.

3. I was able to book two return tickets for next year (September 2010 and October 2010) thru the AirAsia promo. Paying RM70.00 (RM35.00 each return flight) is not bad at all. (Note: RM1 = PHP13.50 so technically, I only paid PHP472.50 for each return ticket from Malaysia to the Philippines.)

4. I will be going home on December 29 for my Christmas vacation -insert hooray and applause here- I’m so excited and there’s no hiding it. I am planning to meet some of my long-lost friends, old-time friends and blogger-friends as well. It will surely be a blast.

Christmas in KL 2008

Christmas in KL 2008

5. I’m getting married next year. I am so inlove. If I am dreaming, please don’t wake me up. It’s really good to love and to be loved in return. I would not trade this for anything in the world. Okay, I just made this up. Number 5 is yet to happen.

Happy Thoughts. There.

Job Opening in Kuala Lumpur,Malaysia

This company in KL badly neeeds a Proofreader…

Let’s take a closer look…

Huwwaaaaattttt? Don’t they even know how to spell Philippines correctly?

I mean, grammatical mistakes could be forgiven. But putting the name of our country on your brochures and misspell it…dang!

_____________________________

Off-topic: I watched ‘The People’s Farewell’ to THE Corazon Aquino yesterday and it was really sad. I was particularly touched with the eulogies of Mel Mamaril (Cory’s bodyguard) and Kris Aquino. However, a part of me wished that Mamaril just read a Tagalog eulogy. Nonetheless, it was really heartfelt. On the other hand, I loved how Kris said, ‘I’m sorry mom, I lied to you. Nagsinungaling ako when I told you na we would be okay. I did this because we wanted you to be free from all your pain at para hindi ka na mag-alala tungkol sa amin. Pero, mom, it would take a lifetime for us to be okay because we will forever miss you.’ And yes, Rye is not ashamed to admit that he cried again. hehe

To THE Cory Aquino, have a safe trip Madam. Thank you for showing us that you could be a leader and a good person at the same time.

 

Friends You Don’t Meet Everyday

February 4, 2009 – RevSiopao had a contest in his blog challenging his readers to guess which of the ten things about him were real and which one was a hoax. I’ve seen this post from the different bloggers and I even did it myself. But RevSiopao’s entry had  a twist.  He said and I quote  ‘Hulaan lang ang tamang sagot mula sa mga sumusunod at i-post ang napili as a COMMENT:

a. Kuwentong Barbero lahat

b. Totoo lahat

c. Kalahati totoo, kalahati kuwentong barbero

d. ___ ang totoo, ___ ang kuwentong barbero (paki-lagay na lang ang  sagot sa comment at paki-indicate kung aling item/s ang totoo at aling item/s ang japeyks.’

And the best thing was…he promised to give a prize to whoever guessed it correctly. 

PRIZES:

Assorted souvenir items mula sa Roma na ime-mail sa inyong bahay ni Siopaoness. 

Being a sucker for freebies that I am, I wrote my answer ‘ang dali naman nito rev.. syempre B.. totoo lahat.. pag mali ako, hindi ako makakapaniwalang nagsisinungaling ka na ngayon. haha. basta B.. (walang kagatul-gatol) nasan prays ko? hehe.’

It was really a no-brainer. C’mon I knew that RevSiopao would not lie.

February 16, 2009 – The winners were announced and luckily, I was one of them (applause).

February 17, 2009 – I received an email from RevSiopao.

Hi Mark!
Did you get my e-mail today?
It’s entitled “It’s your luck day today! — revsiopao”.

Please check your SPAM folder.
My e-mail regarding my “pa-contest” in my blog has a lot of links.
Usually if that’s the case, napupunta sa spam folder e.
Ciao. God bless!

–revsiopao–

March 16, 2009 – A follow-up email was sent by RevSiopao to me.

 Ciao Mark! I hope you’re keeping well.

I just want to inform you that, finally, your little token from Rome was posted via registered mail today, 16 March (Monday). I hope you’ll receive it after 10-14 working days.

Pardon me for the delay. My schedule in the last few weeks has been so tight.  It’s only now that I had the chance to go to Vatican City as it is my mid-term break until Friday.

I hope you’ll like my humble gift.

Rest assured of my constant prayers for you and your loved ones.

God bless!

(Rev.) Jhoen
a.k.a. revsiopao

P.S. I have not been able to blog hop lately. I’ll try my best catch up in the next few days. Cheers!

March 25, 2009 – I received a letter from the post office.

 

I can't explain how surprised and happy I was after receiving this.

March 27, 2009 – I went to the post office and claimed the gift from Rome.

True to his words, I received the souvenir items from RevSiopao. -grins-

Many thanks Revsiopao!!!!!

March 27, 2009 – a good friend from the blogosphere who works in Genting, Malaysia visited me. I have proven that Pareng Jorge is really a palaboy. Imagine, travelling for around two hours just to have a drinking session.Crazy.haha

 

wait til he's drunk...

under the influence of alcohol

Rye from Pasig,Jorge from Nueva Ecija and my housemate Krist from Thailand

in the wee hours of the morning

It is indeed true that there are no strangers in this world,only friends you haven’t met yet. I’ve never expected that I will be a lucky, if not the luckiest blogger because I met new friends for keeps.

Tehyi Hsieh once said ‘Life is partly what we make it, and partly what is made by the friends whom we choose.’

RevSiopao and Jorge, a million thanks!

Not…Again!

I’ve never been a fan of this TAG thingy but it’s inevitable to do it especially when the two people who TAGGED me were Elyong and Ms. Winkie.

I’ll just make this short and sweet because I could not brag about my handwriting.

The rules:

1. Write down who tagged you.
2. Answer these:
     – your name / username / pseudo
     – right-handed or left-handed?
     – your favorite letters to write?
     – your least favorite letters to write?
     – Write “The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.”
3. Tag five persons.

And since I’ve seen a lot of creativity going on with the TAGS that my blogosphere friends are making, I gave it a shot..

 

The first thing I did when I woke up...

 

Happy being TAGGED.

 

NR - No Reaction

 

A TAGGED Rye is an Angry Rye.

 

Of course, this will not be me if I don’t find this as an opportunity for photo shoots.haha

By the way, I just realized that the sentence ‘The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog’ is a sentence which has all the letters of the alphabet present. You don’t believe me, do you?

I have no choice but to continue the TAG..

Pao Pielago      Umleo      Reesie      Epfi      Gudang

Well, no pressure guys. Just do it whenever you have time.

The Name Game

Ok this is long overdue. I was tagged again. This time, courtesy of Monmon and Khzr4u .

The Rule:  List the names that you are called by and name the people who call you by these names.

Toto – for some weird reasons, my mom calls me ‘Toto’  ot ‘To’ sometimes. I dunno why.

Pengken – short form of  ‘pamangkin.’ When mom and dad went to work abroad when i was young, lolo,lola and tita took care of me. Tita Baby is the only person who calls me this until now.

Tanda – I gave permission to only one person to call me this because it’s a slap-on-the-face reminder that I’m not getting any younger.haha. And that person is ‘bata.’

Mark – my past and present colleagues usually call me by this very common name. Since my dad’s name is Marcos, I was named after him. All of my brothers (except Don Vincent who was named after my two gramps — ‘Donato’ and ‘Vicente’) were also named after my dad— Marcos Jr, Marco Paulo and Marcus Joshua. I really believe that Mark is the male version of Maria. Both names could not stand alone. There’s often a second name  when your name is Mark or Maria.

Ryan – since the name Mark requires a second name proceeding it, my second name is Ryan. My mom gave it to me from her own name, Rosario. People who are really close to me call me by this name. My friends call me Mark. My bestfriends call me Ryan.

Mark Ryan – during my college days, I really got addicted listening to Monster radio RX 93.1. I used my full first names everytime I call the station and go on air. I was really the most active listener back then. I joined the contests, I called the deejays to vote for my favorite songs and I participated on their everyday gimmicks. One RX deejay, Sir Louie D.,  even told me that I was the ‘inevitable Mark Ryan’ because everybody knew and greeted me during their ‘Greetings Portion.’ I love using my full name because it makes me distinct from a sea of guys having ‘Mark’ as their first name. On the first day of my freshman year, my College classmate approached me and asked me, ‘Are you the Mark Ryan from RX 93.1?’ See…

Rye – I started using this when I was in College. Because I could not do anything with my very common first names, I used the shortened form of Ryan. This particularly started during our class presentation. My classmate and I hosted the event. Her nickname is ‘Durigh (read as Rai – long ‘i’ ).’ So we called ourselves ‘Righ and Rye.’

Pogi – my Tita Donna (mom’s sister) calls me by this name. When I ride the jeepney in Manila sometimes, the drivers tell me, ‘Pogi, sukli mo.’ But as I come to think of it, ‘pogi’ is a common, if the most common name  that these drivers call their guy passengers. And yeah, Geisha also calls me by this name.

Comel  (read as ‘chomel’) – this is a Malaysian term for, ehem, ‘cute.’ My colleague Hafiza calls me by this name and it really makes me smile everytime. Who wouldn’t be? haha. The only thing is that I am always referred to as ‘the cute one,’ not ‘the handsome one.’  I’ve read once that in some  places, cute means ‘not really ugly’ so I dunno if I will be happy to go to those places and be called ‘cute’ or ‘chomel.’

Flamindevil – I honestly dunno why I chose this name. I just thought it’s pretty kewl to have a devilish name and of course, being a devil means being hawt as flames. My blogosphere friends know that this is my alias. Some variations of this are ‘flamin’ (which technically makes my first name Flamin and my last name Devil) or ‘FD’ courtesy of Anak ng Pating and Pareng Dencios. 

It’s not really the names that people call you which make you distinct. It’s in the attitude. The trick is, try your best to leave a good mark and make a good impression for people to remember and cherish you forever.

What My Flip-flops Taught Me…

In my six months stay in my present company, I’m proud to say that I’ve never been late nor absent. I want to give a good impression and set an example (naks!) to my colleagues. As what I’ve said before, night shift starts at 07:30 pm. Since our office is just a stonethrow away from our place, it only takes around 10 to 15 minutes walk.

March 2, 2009 – This is was different. Most probably, I will never forget this date because of what happened. I was halfway to the office when I realized that I didn’t have my access card with me, which meant the system would not recognize if I went to work or not. And worse, I would not be paid with the night shift allowance.

It was a no-brainer. I hurriedly went back to the place we’re renting, got my access card and left. I was wondering why almost all the people I came across with gave me a second look. I had no choice but to give them the whaddahell-are-you-trying-to-say face, until one of my officemates approached me and asked me innocently.

Monica: Mark, I’ve been looking at your flip-flops and I was wondering if that’s a new style. Did you do it on purpose?

Flamindevil : (Clueless, then suddenly looked down at his feet) WTF!

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It All Ends With Me

Although life can be the biggest bitch sometimes, it also makes me wonder and realize that everything in this world is interrelated, be it showbiz, religion, sports or politics. You don’t believe me, do you? Well, here it goes…

Ninoy Aquino who is the husband of Cory Aquino who was a popular figure in the Edsa Revolution together with the late Jaime Cardinal Sin and June Keithley who is the wife of Angelo Castro who is the father of Diego Castro who was the lover of Raven Villanueva who was a contemporary of Onemig Bondoc who was the boyfriend of Bianca Lapus who was the girlfriend of Vhong Navarro who is a friend of John Pratts who was the love team of Heart Evangelista who is a relative of Happy Ongpauco who had a drift with Aiko Melendez who was the girlfriend of Aga Muhlach who is the father of Janice de Belen’s son Igi Boy who is the nephew of Gelli de Belen who is the bestfriend of Carmina Villaroel who was the wife of Bebe Gandanghari who is the brother/sister of Robin Padilla who was linked to Kris Aquino who is the cohost of Boy Abunda who was aggravated by Vicki Belo who was the girlfriend of Hayden Kho who had an affair with Katrina Halili who was the FHM sexiest woman like Marian Rivera who is under the same manager with Dennis Trillo who starred in Pamahiin like Paolo Contis who was a former childstar like Aiza Seguerra who is close to Vic Sotto who is the brother of Tito Sotto who is the husband of Helen Gamboa who is the aunt of Sharon Cuneta who is the wife of Kiko Pangilinan who is a senator like Jinggoy Estrada who is the bestfriend of the late Rudy Fernandez who is the husband of Lorna Tolentino who is the stepmom of Mark Anthony Fernadez who was a Gwaping member like Eric Fructuoso who was the boyfriend of Priscilla Almeda who was a former sexy star like Rosanna Roces who is the enemy of Lolit Solis who is the manager of Mark Herras who was the boyfriend of Jennylyn Mercado who was the girlfriend of Patrick Garcia who is the brother of Chesca Carcia who is the wife of cager Doug Kramer who plays in PBA like James Yap who is the stepfather of Josh who is the son of Philip Salvador who is a friend of Bong Revilla who is the husband of Lani Mercado who hosted Moms with Manilyn Reynes who was the girlfriend of Janno Gibbs who is the husband of Bing Loyzaga who hosted Brunch with Michelle Van Eimeren who was the wife of Ogie Alcasid who is the boyfriend of Regine Velasquez who starred in a movie with Piolo Pascual who was the loveteam of Judy Ann Santos who was the loveteam of Wowie de Guzman who was a dancer like Dingdong Dantes who was the boyfriend of Karylle who is the daughter of Zsa Zsa Padilla who is the wife of Dolphy who is the father of Vandolph who is the brother of Eric Quizon who directed Darna which starred Angel Locsin who was the girlfriend of Oyo Boy Sotto who is the son of Dina Bonnevie who was a contemporary of Maricel Soriano who is the bestfriend of Roderick Paulate who is the bestfriend of Vilma Santos who is the mother of Luis Manzano who starred opposite Anne Curtis who was the girlfriend of Sam Milby who was a PBB housemate like Uma Khouny who is a special friend of Paolo Ballesteros who is an Eat Bulaga host like Julia Clarete who was the loveteam of Jericho Rosales who was the loveteam of Kristine Hermosa who was the wife of Diether Ocampo who was a member of The Hunks like Bernard Palanca who is the brother of Miko Palanca who was the boyfriend of Bea Alonzo whom I have worked with when I had a practicum in College.

It all ends with me.

Enjoy the Night Shift

We have two shifts in our Travel Assistance Center (or call center or contact center, however you call it).

Dayshift         07:30 am to 08:30 pm

Nightshift      07:30 pm to 08:30 am

 

Between the two shifts, I prefer working during the night time. The allowance that they give us is obviously better, and you can almost do everything you want. Almost.

 

So I made a countdown of the TOP 10 things to do in the night shift.

 

10.  Watch Online Movies.

One of the BEST horror movies.

This is what I usually do when I’m bored.  Though I try to watch movies from the different genres as much as possible, Horror/Suspense/Slasher movies still come on top of my list (try Juan Antonio Bayona’s  Spanish film ‘The Orphanage,’  it scared the hell outta me).  I also realized that I miss watching the usual mushy Filipino flicks. Being in Malaysia for six months, I have this urge to watch Tagalog shows and movies, which I do not usually do when I was still in Manila. Maybe because they speak the language I’m most familiar with, maybe because I’m tired of conversing in English to everybody here, maybe because I really miss the Philippines. I’ve realized that ‘Inang Yaya’ is really a tearjerker and that Marian Rivera is still the hottest star.  

9. Ghost Hunting

Horror fascinates me.  As I mentioned earlier, I love horror films. I am also a fan of horror and suspense novels. But I haven’t experienced or seen anything supernatural. Given the chance, I would like to try Ghost Hunting eventhough I’m not the bravest person you’ll ever meet. Our guard told us last week that he heard a lady crying/laughing in the lady’s toilet (now I’m already used in calling it toilet, not C.R.) around 03:00 am but we have yet to prove it one of these days. 

Making use of the TWO monitors wisely.

8. Multitasking

Majority of my working years have been spent in a contact center. It’s actually a good training ground for a person to know how important multitasking is. I talk to a client over the phone while conversing with my seatmate (that’s what the mute button is for) and verifying their records. And because we are provided with two monitors in our office, I’ve discovered a new type of multitasking in the nightshift and so far, it’s the best.

7. Pig-out

You have to stay full to stay awake in the night shift. That’s why I really find it hard to lose weight these days. Dang. As much as possible, I eat healthy foods and try to stay away from foods and drinks rich in caffeine due to heartburn.

Let's Pig-out

6. Update your Blogs and Friendster.

Luckily, unlike my previous call centers in Manila, internet browsing here is not a crime at all (as long as you don’t surf adult and other prohibited sites). I don’t even have to use a proxy server to check my friendster and update my blog regularly. For some weird reasons though, yahoomail and chatting is a no-no.

5. Find people who love you.

It’s good to find people who could have a good laugh with you about anything. For night shifts not to be boring, you should have a once-in-a-while conversation with your peers (we despise work related discussions..haha) especially when you’re really sleepy. Believe me, coffee does not always work. Sometimes, when you’re already immune to it, you will still feel sleepy after drinking a pitcher of coffee. By the way, choose friends who are willing to do stupid things for you once in while, in the name of good clean fun.

My fans

4. Sleep.

When our manager on duty is nice and we’ve really been good boys and girls, lights are turned off and we can call it a night. First rule: Just don’t go with the light. Second: Wear the headset so that when a call comes in (which hardly happens), you will be alive, alert and enthusiastic again.

First Rule: Don't go with the light.

3. Read Books.

I buy good books once in a while. The last books I bought were Stephanie Meyer’s. I’ve watched the movie first and I just wanted to compare it with the novel.  Since we read about a thousand times more than we write, I really believe that the road to knowledge begins with the turn of the page. Stephan Mallarme once said ‘Everything in the world exists in order to end up as a book.’

Twilight and New Moon.

2. Photoshoot.

Life is a photoshoot. You should always be ready because you will never know when the judges will decide. You should always try to bring out the best in you. There are no excuses. Whether you’re prepared or not, the camera will continue to roll and take pictures of you. As always, be ready. And true to these words, I’m always ready with my digicam for our photoshoot during the nightshift.

 

1. Enjoy

I may not have the best sleep whenever I come home in the morning due to the previous night shift but I don’t dwell on that negative thing. I’ve always believed that ‘happiness is just a state of mind.’ I know better than to complain. Whatever life gives me, I try my best to see it as a blessing.

 

 Life is short so break the rules, forgive like you have amnesia, believe like a kid, love like crazy, laugh til you drop, never regret anything that made you happy and of course, enjoy the night shift.

That Thing We Do

I was actually blog-hopping when I came across this site where the owner posted five questionnaires about blogging. I suddenly remembered the times when my group mates and I stayed until the wee hours of the morning to tabulate the answers that our respondents gave for our thesis. But more importantly, I asked myself, why do I make blogs?

 

Being a frustrated writer tops the reasons which came to my mind. In writing blog entries, there are no particular rules to follow. I can write anything I want, whether people like it or not. I’m pretty weird. Ideas sometimes come to my mind anytime of the day and I just feel like I have no choice but to write so that I won’t be bothered by these. Before, I could only write when I’m on the extremes—either I’m very happy or very sad. But now, writing is an inevitable part of me and I can’t deny it anymore.

 

Unlike my high school days when my English teacher gave us a certain topic and asked us to write a ‘formal theme’ for that, blogging is entirely different. I write not because I have to, but because I want to. I don’t have to please anybody but myself. At the end of the day, only I could decide if I wrote a good entry or not. People who give comment on what I’ve written or drop by my site to read and make violent reactions, serve as ego boosters for me. At least, if they are happy and/or satisfied, it’s a reaffirmation that I’ve done a good job.

 

Blogging gives me the chance to write about anything under the sun. I can write poems, short stories and simple reflections in life; I can dedicate an anonymous entry to anyone and will not be judged for it; I can have an outlet to voice out my angst, pains or fears; I write and write, and write until the day I decide to stop. The ‘thing’ with this hobby is that it’s not just a ‘thing.’ It’s for children of all ages, races, religions and beliefs. You don’t have to have the brightest mind, be a rocket scientist or even stand out among the pack…you just have to be yourself, without any pretensions.

 

And since I don’t wanna pretend and hide my happiness today because it’s already a Friday weekend (although I’d still be working tomorrow), here are some things that students do. Although Math problems and equations don’t usually make me smile, in these instances, they did.

 

 

 

 

 

Wishes and Journey

Wishes may vary from one person to another. If you are a Ms. Universe contestant, definitely you only have one ultimate wish which would make the crowd cheer, ‘World Peace.’ If you are a kid, simple wishes like having PSP or going to the mall make u jump for joy and promise that you’ll start being a good boy.

Beckham and his idol.

As we grow older, we start to realize that some wishes are really impossible. But just for the heck of it, here’s the list of my impossible wishes:

 

–          We get our salary every 28^th of the month. I wish every day is the 28^th so that I will have lots of money and I could buy whoever anything I want.

–          My parents and my baby brother are coming to Kuala Lumpur on April 11, 2009 to visit me. I wish it’s already April 11 today so that I could see them now.

–          It’s fun to sign autographs for a living and be recognized. I wish I am the most popular celebrity in the world so that I could buy whoever whatever I want.

–          Thanks to Edward Cullen. He made being a vampire look like it’s the best thing that could ever happen in your life. Because of that, I wish I could be young forever. But I still wish that I could sleep unlike him, because I want people to see my youthful glow. Dang.

–          Going back and forth from KL to Manila could really cost you a fortune. I wish I have the power of teleportation (not just plain astral projection) so that I could go home to see my family and friends in an instant.

–          Who doesn’t wish to be David Beckham? If I were him, I could go to the office shirtless, wear skirts or have many tattoos and I will still look kewl.

–          I wish I were Miriam Defensor Santiago. I could tell the whole world I will jump on a plane without a parachute, say ‘I lied!’ after, and I could still get away with it.

 

Then again, we should always be careful on what we wish for. We could not have everything in an instant. It takes time but it’s okay. And most of the times, it’s not the impossible wishes that give us the sense of fulfillment. The people we meet, the decisions we make and the road we travel are the factors which make our journey more interesting.

 

And in relation to this, I know life is a very long journey. I have yet to see who will stay with me until the end of my story.