I was invited by my friend Lia to do a photoshoot with her class at the La Salle College International in Salcedo Village. Coming from a hectic month of travelling to Japan and China, and to Cagayan de Oro the week after, I decided to cap the year with a shoot. So I said yes, and we agreed on the timing. One of the concepts that I really liked is Adam & Even, because of the simplicity and sensuality that came with it.
Please click on the photo to view more
I am proud to say that, after 4 elections since I became eligible to exercise my right to suffrage, I have not voted for a single president or senator in this country, nor did I even think of registering to vote. I don’t mean to put down all those who actually voted and still had faith that their votes will actually make a difference. Really, it is noble and it is good that there are people like you. But like I always say, I am different.
Even as a kid, I never had faith in our government. More so, on the people who actually run it. I don’t know about you but my eyes have been opened to the unscrupulous practices and the universal grandstanding of our political figures early in my high school life that I have totally stopped believing. My exposure to journalism, in and out of the campus, showed me more than enough corruption that my young mind could afford at that time, that I have stopped trusting our government altogether.
Where I come from, is a place where everybody knows everybody. And it’s really difficult to keep a secret in a small town like that. Bombo Radyo usually reports expose of anomalies in our local government day in and day out. I had to live with this for the whole 16 years that I was growing up, exposed to small-town corruption, intrigues and…again, corruption.
When I entered the university, I became part of the Pi Sigma Delta, a sorority based in the University of the Philippines Manila. It was thru Pi that I have somehow switched on my idealistic and nationalistic heart, with a passion to render service to the masses, while keeping my sense of dignity and self-respect. For two years, I proudly shouted MAKIBAKA! and I fought, with a fury and conviction, for a cause that I truly believed in. But I never voted. Not because I do not trust that it mattered. But because even if it did matter, I personally thought it was a futile attempt to support someone to extort more funds from the people’s money!:-) Call it distorted, but I hate to be an accomplice if these people steal away from our taxes!
I know I am exagerrating a bit but my reasons are deep-rooted. When I was a kid, I have seen people going in and out of our house, having lunch/dinner, staying at our guest room. Innocent that I was, I tried to be hospitable at all times. In fact, I even let our so-called guests use the remote control so they can watch TV in the living room, even if there’s a show that I so want to watch.
Now that I’ve grown up, it became clear to me. I realized that these engineers, masquerading as guests, were actually staying at our place so they can go to the bar/club at the expense of our business. Apparently, they do that to juice out the contractors before the billing docs get signed. These are the small time ones that I’ve seen. But there are bigger ones I’m sure, where percentages get deducted from the actual billed amount. But that I have no proof of. I wish I had though, but then that won’t make much of a difference now, does it?
Early in my life, I have witnessed corruption unfold before my eyes. It’s real. It bit me hard. I guess that’s why I’ve stopped believing that this country will rise above the challenge. I wish these new set of senators could prove me wrong though. I just wish. 
As my previous post suggests, I have just moved to a new place. And yes, I failed my 90-day challenge miserably and I’m making up for it by blogging. I need about 12 sensible blog topics so if there’s anything that you wish to read about, holler! I will try to post something about yur topic and hopefully, you will come back and click my adsense! hahaha!
So anyway, here’s a checklist I’d like to share with people who are moving.
MOVING OUT
1. Review your current contract and see if:
- you will get all your deposit and when
- how soon you should give them notice
2. Always put everything in writing.
- have your notice received with timestamp
- have them sign an exit form upon turnover of unit/key to signify that you left the unit in good condition
3. Start looking for your new place before you send your notice.
4. Settle all your bills before moving.
5. Arrange for transfer/disconnection of your:
- Phone and DSL - at least 3 weeks before moving. Make sure to say it is “simultaneous transfer”
- Electricity (if you need to have it disconnected) – at least 1 week before moving.
- Cable - at least 1 week before moving.
6. Start packing 2-4 weeks before moving, depending on how much stuff you got.
- Sort your stuff and make sure to remember which box you put them!
7. Contact a mover at least 3 days before your move. Remember to haggle and canvass! The going rate as of this post is around 1200-1500.00 with helper. That will save you the headache of actually carrying all your stuff.
MOVING IN PREWORK:
1. Make sure to call your phone, DSL and cable provider before moving to see if you can transfer your existing lines. If you intend to apply for a new connection, please ignore this step.
2. Check the location for:
- Electricity problems (might also be good to check if you’re within the residential rates or you’ll end up paying so much for electricity)
- Flooding issues
- Water problems
- Phone line availability and DSL availability
*** Make sure to do your homework on this one, or you’ll end up regretting your move!!!
3. Visit the new place at night, and middle of the night to see if it’s well lit and safe.
4. Contract. Again, review the contract terms and conditions before moving in, if it suits you.
5. Ask your landlord/landlady to have the unit cleaned at least a week before your move in date and visit it before moving in to make sure that you’re satisfied.
6. Align your schedules. Leave at least 2 full days to move and arrange stuff in the new house.
7. Secure your new place. Have new locks installed.
MOVING IN:
1. Make sure to count how many boxes you’re moving and account for each box/item after the movers have unloaded them in your new place.
2. Feed the movers. That is the least you could do. I prefer to give people food than money.
3. Position the big appliances/furniture first.
4. Unload the rest and fill the cabinets.
5. Start decorating and clean up after the mess.
6. Follow up on your phone/dsl/cable if they’re not yet ready. It usually takes a while.
7. Make friends with your neighbors (smile to them so they’ll keep an eye on your place while you’re away!)
8. Keep it clean!
Hello world!!! finally I’m back from internetless and phoneless nights. Yay, I’m back from the pit. and yeah, I am making up for lost time. I know I haven’t been posting on my blog religiously and I’ve been skipping my regular visit to the gym. Not that anyone really cares, but I guess I miss blogging too. But hey, I have loads of experiences to share during my move that people who are moving out might find useful. and I guess for me, to keep in mind so that the next time i consider moving somewhere, i know what to look out for. So watch out for that post.
For now, I just wanted to shout out to the world… I’m finally back on my feet again and ready to make noise…but not sin :p
Today and the past couple of days, I have been busy backing up a lot of things. I only have 1gb left on my 160 GB hdd and I need to empty nest very soon. In a few days, I will have to turn over “Sexy” to her new owner, who happens to be my brother. While the thought of finally owning a Mac excites me, my attachment to sexy is quite strong, that letting her go is such bittersweet sorrow. Yeah, sexy and I…we’ve bonded together for the last 3 months and it’s not really easy letting go of her. But hey, I’m getting a new one…so Yay! I should condition my mind to look forward to switching to the white plate!
I am in the middle of moving to a new place again. I’ve seen myself in this same dilemma several times already and I noticed that my stuff at home have doubled up each year. Well, last year was easy, since I only moved 2 floors down. People ask me why I keep moving apartments. Although I can’t really give you a straight answer, I might as well blog about the thought process I undergo to make that decision.
1. Cost
- How much will I save if I move?
- How much will I have to add to my current budget if I move?
- My calculation includes:
1. Electricity
2. Water
3. Rent
4. Phone
5. Transportation
6. Phone/DSL
7. Gas
8. Other household expenses
2. Privacy and Security
- Is the new place secure from theft?
- Will I be able to work peacefully in the office?
- Do I have privacy?
- Is it safe to go home, even on late nights?
- Is it safe to go out, even on late evenings?
3. Wired!
- I think this is the most important. Is there DSL connection in the area?
4. Accessibility
- Is it easily accessible for commute to and from work?
- Banks?
- Churches?
- Malls? / Supermarkets?
- Food Establishments?
5. Time
- How much time would it take me to work to/from the office?
- How much time should I give myself before waking up in the morning?
6. Tradeoffs
- What do I give up to be there?
- Am I willing to do that for the price?
After going over all these, it should be fairly easy to make a decision.
I have been reading up on Wicca for so many years now, but have not met quite a lot of practicing Wiccans. Back in the IRC days, I met quite a handful, but one by one, they have retreated to their own realms. I learned about the whole concept of the Laws of Karma during the spike of my interest in Wicca. I know Karma is mentioned in Buddhism and other religions, but it is in my experience with Wiccan chats that have opened my eyes to the whole concept of Karma, which made me a strong believer (of Karma) eversince.
I don’t really practice witchcraft, so I’d like to think of Karma as a universally accepted law of nature.
I truly believe that wherever we are, whatever we are experiencing right now is a consequence of our actions in the past. So if you screwed somebody up big time, wait ’til it comes back to you threefold. Not really hinting on anything with that smile, and I know I’ve had my share of bad karma in the past, which I am still making up for. But hey, life is short. So make it a point to spread good Karma everyday. Trust me, it does wonders for your soul.
I got me a new toy tonight. It’s a 160 GB SATA 2.5 HDD. Why? Because I want to.
Well, not really because I want to. If I buy stuff, it’s usually because I need it, more than I want it. I’m not the type who would buy stuff out of the blue based on the premise that “I want it.” It’s almost always “I need it” then I buy it. Not saying that I won’t totally buy things simply because I want it, because that would make me a hypocrite. I do have my own set of “luho” like anyone else. But when I do entertain the thought of feeding my wants, the though process is usually long and hard. I need a lot of convincing and to some degree, persistence and growing want! Otherwise, I would just drop the whole thought and move on.
Anyway, back to my new toy. It’s quite sleek. What surprised me though was that it works with 2 USBs… this is the first time I’ve seen one like that but I guess it’s because I never owned any USB-powered external HDD in my whole life. I am still waiting for the slow format to complete, to check if there are any bad sectors in the disk… that’s why I’m blogging (well, actually i need to because I need to put oen in for my 90-day challenge!)
Today is not how I would ideally want to cap off my week, but I can’t complain. I guess I’m starting to be masochistic about this whole thing called L3. But really, it does have its trade off. I get to manage my own time (except of course if there are meetings with key people!) but generally, I like doing what I’m doing now.
Sadly though, it means having to say goodbye to some of the things I used to do. Take my Friday night for instance. While the rest of the world is drinking the night away in some posh bar, or friends spending some good hard-earned peso to a bucket of San Mig Light, I am slaving away on my laptop trying to figure out how the hell one of our systems was configured back in 2000 because after an incident occured, their routing was never the same. Nobody has any idea how this was setup in the first place, but shouldn’t there be documentation for special setups like these?
Don’t get me wrong. I’m not complaining… and this doesn’t happen all the time (this is just not my night!). I’m just hoping that things could have been better had there been a document about this. Sigh, why am I suddenly feeling like this? I guess it’s because it’s already midnight and there is someone just within my reach that I can’t even hold right now because I am so trapped in my own geek world trying to get this thing sorted before I feel someone breathing through my neck!
Now i let it out. Ok back to work! I hope tomorrow’s much quieter.
All the walking to and fro Landmark and PLDT and my office and home totally broke my body down. It was exhausting, especially walking under the scorching heat of the sun, staying in an airconditioned space for a while and going out again to walk back to the office. But it’s all good… this is all part of the challenge. At least, I did get the exercise I needed. Plus, I didn’t break my 1-rice per day mantra. Oh, and I put on moisturizer with sunblock too… which is part of the whole deal anyway…
But the most exciting part of my day started when everyone else’s was about to end… and I have to say I certainly had a good laugh. I got a call from one of my friends telling me what they did to another good friend. It was hilarious!!! I will not share what happened in the blog because missing the expressions and the vocal patterns would make it a bland joke… but hell, it was really funny!!! I could hardly stop myself from laughing like a mad girl at the office!
Sorry kuya, I know I was laughing at you on the phone when I called you up tonight but personally hearing your reaction apart from what Te told me… i thought it was so cute, I couldn’t help it!!! hahahahaha!!! I couldn’t believe you actually fell for it… Kay Terence pa! LOL!!!
The guy is nuts, I know! But I can’t imagine life without these 3 people in my life who showed me photography through their eyes. Three different pairs of eyes. Although at times I am so entrapped in my own little geek world, they bring me back to life. Oo na, kaibigan ko si Mang Tomas!