Que Sera Sera

I’m currently writing from my parents’ home in Marikina for some much deserved rest and relaxation. My back still hurts from the treatment I had to go through for the back pains I’ve been having for the past couple of days. But otherwise, I’m fine.

Actually, I’m more than fine. I got another e-mail from Martin this morning and there’s this one passage that made my heart skip a beat. There it was written in black and white – the words “in a relationship.” I was ‘kilig’ and in disbelief for a couple of minutes before reality hit me right smack in the middle. Okay, so there’s no more ‘you’ and ‘me’ but a ‘we?’

So what happens now? If there’s one thing that Martin and I completely agree on at this time, it would be that the odds are stacked high against “us” being viable. It’d take at least a year and a half before Martin finishes his studies plus we’re in two different continents. Within that particular timeframe, anything could happen.

Some might argue that with the advent of globalization, the world has become a smaller place. Technological advances have made the time and space barrier virtually obsolete making travel and communication easier. It’s true, I can’t argue with that.

Despite all this, one question still sticks - ‘would you still risk it?’ I mean, a relationship is hard enough even if both parties are geographically desirable. What more for people in long distance relationships?

One more thing that we’re both not sure of is if and when there’d be a vacancy at KAS’ Manila office by the time he’s done with his studies to allow him to go back to the country.

Aargh! So many what if’s and unknown variables!

Oh and I also brought up the topic of open relationships. I don’t know how he’ll react to it or what but I’ll just have to stay tuned to find out.

Jewel’s (the singer) song ‘Hands’ pops into my head for no apparent reason – “If I could tell the world just one thing/It would be that we're all o.k./And not to worry
cause worry is wasteful.”

Okay, I’d better listen to the song. It’s no use stressing myself over nothing.

The Wandering Eye

Yesterday morning when I got to the office, I had that little feeling of excitement in anticipation of receiving another e-mail from Martin. I was quite surprised to find none in my Inbox. I figured that he must’ve been angry or quite embarrassed about my response on his last e-mail.

What did I write? Well, my line of work involves teaching (well, sort of) English and I’m very keen when it comes to grammar and especially spelling. Let’s just say that half of the content of my e-mail had grammar lessons ;p

He was also asking me a question about him. If Cathy’s right about him being a politician through and through, then I made up my mind about playing the role of a diplomat. After all, that’s what I went to college for. I gave him a ‘Yes,’ ‘No,’ ‘Maybe’ and topped it off with one of the favorite answers of diplomats to a given question ‘I neither confirm nor deny.’

I shrugged the whole thing off and went about my business. Throughout the course of the day, I was again shamelessly flirting with a couple of people – a cute Chinese guy named Carl on Tickle, a Middle-Eastern lad (I call him lad because he’s younger than me by 2 years) on sms.ac and my dear old fuck buddy Jon on YM (Yahoo Messenger).

There was an info I needed from my office e-mail so I went to my Outlook. Lo and behold - a short note from Martin saying that today's THE DAY! It's the 25th anniversary of the engineer-chamber (Ingenieurkammer) that he's working for and that they're having a big party. He says that he's stressed but that he'll be sending pictures about the whole thing. Yeah sure, whatever.

I also gave him a quick reply - I'll be having fun myself by today as we're all heading off to Redbox in Greenbelt as soon as we get our paychecks by this afternoon. I'm not sure about which Martin I'm communicating with - the politician or the true self so I'll be playing this one like chess.

It was kinda funny ‘talking’ to Jon. He kept on apologizing for being out of reach for the past couple of months. He’s shit scared of his girlfriend finding out about me that he deleted my number in his cellphone. He spend a couple of minutes trying to impress me by attempting to recall my number from his memory. Alas, he failed! Miserably, I might add. He only got 3 numbers right and it’s not even in the correct sequence.

At first he was updating me on what’s happened to him – he’s flunked a couple of subjects on med school and that resulted into him taking those subjects again this semester. He adds that he only goes to school once a week because of this. Poor kid! Note, I have absolutely nothing to do with his flunking his subjects at med school!

He then turned the tables on me by bugging me about giving him new pictures that I have of myself. I just didn’t mind him as I was in panic mode at that particular time. My last post about finding one’s inner Smurf made my blog template go whack. I was trying to delete the damn posting when the browser went out of whack as well. Good thing I was able to delete it the whole thing before it caused further damage.

I never really got back to Jon because soon after I finished fixing whatever needs fixing, my co-worker Alan announced that he’d be going home. It’s about quarter to nine at that point and I needed to get my ass home as well so I sent him a ‘gtg’ message and immediately proceeded to turning off my computer.

Looks like I’m back to my old self!

Update: A new guy came along - Jom. My cellphone roused me from my slumber around 1 in the morning when he sent a message to my page asking me if I could add his as a friend. I looked him up this morning and he's quite cute ;p

Consultation

This whole Martin business has gotten me ‘kilig’ to the highest level and freaked out like hell at the same time. I’m currently thriving on the rush it gives me and my co-workers’ teasing bolsters it even further. The newness of it all is just so overwhelming that my mind feels like it’s been on vacation 100,000 miles away for the last couple of days.

Now, I really don’t want to expect anything because I just don’t want to be disappointed. The big but is that I’ve noticed that I’m usually kind of like Charlotte York when she meets someone special – she puts all her eggs in one basket until she drops the basket when she realizes that he just doesn’t fit or the other way around.

I am so unsure of everything that I’m starting to listen to my chicken little. I remember Martin’s comments about the typical German – you talk to him and he tells you something but you can’t tell what’s really on his mind. Is he like that? He’s said a couple of times that Thom’s very un-German in that way so by deductive reasoning makes him a diplomat – someone who tells a half-truth and a lie.

Thom and Cathy has suspected that Bianca (Thom and Martin’s co-worker) has a thing for Martin because she kept asking him out for breakfast, lunch or dinner meetings. Bianca, according to Cathy, is not hot in terms of physical appearance but that her being a trust fund baby certainly makes it up for all that she lacks. Her mother’s family is one of the richest people in the country, mom holds a very important position in the economic sector, daddy’s a well known media practitioner turned congressman.

I tell Cathy that I really don’t care about her since I got to Martin first. Well, in a way at least. She warns me to tread carefully because she has a, let’s just say, a small hint of suspicion on Martin’s character. That just fed my paranoia and I’m going bonkers thinking about it.

Luckily, I have my Tarot cards with me. I did three readings on myself about things that are starting to bug me. First question, the possibility of going somewhere with him. The answer’s a Yes with three upright cards – 5 of Wands, The High Priestess and 9 of Cups. The second question would be if I should consider Bianca as a threat – 66.67% Yes with 1 upside down card and 2 upright cards (King of Wands, 4 of Cups and 9 of Pentacles). Question number three – issues that I may have with Martin – Ace of Cups (Issue), The World and Knight of Swords (Inner and Outer Influences), 8 of Swords (Advise) and The Tower for Possible Outcome.

How do I interpret reading number three? When I am overwhelmed by emotions, I tend to be in this self-contained bubble (the woman inside the huge wreathe) and I often rush into things without really thinking things through (the dynamic pose of the character and a good portion of the knight’s blade being hidden). The advice the collective unconscious is giving me is to stand still and anchor myself with my intellect (as represented by the swords), put a blindfold so that I may not be blinded by what I see with my eyes since looks can be deceiving. The outcome? Be ready for anything because even though I’m going to be in Cloud 9 for quite some time I will surely crash back to earth. Another interpretation would be for me to just fall and let go of old fears, old hurts from previous relationships that didn’t end up with a ‘happily ever after.’

By now, I’m starting to hear in my head the story that Thom told Cathy about his 2-month trek to reach the Alps..... More Than Like

Newsflash

Martin's back in Germany and his flight was perfectly safe unlike the unfortunate Nigerian Airlines that crashed last Sunday (may the victims' souls rest in piece). I just got an e-mail from him and I'm just so thrilled. I can't really find the best word that I'm looking for but I guess it'll have to do for the meantime. I'm having a hard time trying to respond to his e-mail and I can't get this stupid smile out of my face.

I'm definitely infatuated with the guy ;p

Dual Purpose Party Becomes Three-Fold

Friday morning, I wake up at 6 am, as always, but didn’t get out of bed until 6:30. I take a shower and dressed myself in a really cute outfit – a green Kamiseta tank top with lace trimmings, a white Lilly Pulitzer mini-skirt with ribbon trimming at the sides in a green plaid design and paired it with my faux fuchsia and lime green Juicy Couture terry cloth bowler bag and the white, high-heeled Celine slides - in anticipation of tonight’s event.

When I got to the office, two co-workers – Angel and Cam – immediately commented “Are you going to the beach?”

“Funny but I’m going to a party tonight at Cathy’s and we just might take a dip in their pool,” I retorted.

The day went by fairly fast as I was kept busy by the documents I encoded. I got out of the office around 6:20 and proceeded to SM Makati to pick up a big bottle of tequila, a couple of pieces of lime and some iodized salt. I arrived in Thom and Cathy’s place shortly after 7 pm, just in time to help Cathy prepare the spaghetti sauce she was cooking.

Martin, Thom’s co-worker and the guy Cathy was trying to hook me up with, arrived around 8 pm with some of the things that Thom asked him to buy. It was at this point that we started with the booze. Namely, the Tanduay Rhum that Martin grabbed from Mini Stop’s shelf in haste. The party, by the way, was in celebration of Cathy’s birthday earlier that week and as a despedida for Martin because he was scheduled to go back to Deutschland the next day.

Several hours after I arrived, Cathy’s friends from UST and from Asian Journalism came and we had such a fun time talking about things – mainly German lessons from our “Professor” Martin. He was teaching us not-so-nice words, pronouncing phrases such as ‘standgebläße’ and ‘alder penne’ over and over again for the benefit of Cathy’s other guests (I took up German lessons before so I could easily pick up what he was saying).

There’s this girl named Bona that had us all laughing so hard. She was trying so hard to copy Martin’s pronunciation of the words he’s introduced to us but always gets it wrong. She delivers it in such an innocent, childlike manner with a high-pitched voice and the look of an airhead. If and when she nails the words or the phrases perfectly, you just wouldn’t be able to get mad at her because it seemed as if she doesn’t know what she’s saying. The phrase that she still has to master is “Wo ist die Toilete? (Where is the toilet?)”

Cathy’s boss and co-worker from Asian Journal were the last to arrive and were also the first ones to go leave because of work. Bona, Anna and Kathy left past twelve midnight because they still have classes later that morning. Plus, Anna’s dog is sick with a liver disease. Martin and I left Cathy about 45 minutes later after seeing how pooped out Thom was.

Since I’m going to pass by Martin’s hotel on my way home, we both agreed that we could share a cab. Martin was also complaining about how cab drivers jack up the price of his fare since he’s white and he’s traveling alone. When we got to Martin’s hotel, he invited me to go up to his room for a drink. I agreed since I’m not one to pass up booze.

As soon as I got out of the cab, I instantly became very conscious because I felt like people all around me were staring at me, wondering if I’m a prostitute he picked up somewhere. We dropped by the 7-11 near his hotel and grabbed two bottles of Mudshakers. I didn’t see a quizzical look on the 7-11 employee’s face as we were paying for the drinks but I had the feeling that THE question’s at the back of his mind. That worrying thought in my mind became even more apparent when street kids swarmed Martin like a pack of rats trying to sell him junk. That’s the downside of being with a white guy in a third world country.

What exactly did I do about it? I talked a little bit louder than usual so everyone around could hear my thick American accent – the California variety. I didn’t get the monicker ‘Valley Girl’ for nothing.

When Martin and I were waiting for the elevator, this very old Caucasian guy comes up with three young girls in tow. We decided to wait for another elevator as the topic of conversation is now focused on Philippine tourism and the sex tourists that seem to abound in our midst.

We reached Martin’s room a short time later and he found out that an envelope was slipped into his room through the gap at the bottom of his door. He guessed that it was one of those fliers for the massage services that the hotel was offering. When he opened the envelope, it turned out to be a copy of the bill for his 6-week stay. He put it aside on the desk and turned our attention on our drinks.

Martin turned on the tv and set the channel to Channel V. We sat on opposite sides of the bed, drinking the Mudshakers and started a really long conversation about random things – current affairs, politics (well we’re both Political Science majors), pop culture and some personal stuff.

He was scheduled to have breakfast with Bianca, a co-worker whom Cathy and Thom has suspected of having the hots for him, later that morning (it was around past 1 am already). I asked him if he’s tired so I could leave him alone and have a good night’s sleep since I know first hand how hard it is to catch a wink in a 16-hour flight. He said no and held my hand a couple of times as we carried on with our conversation.

He put his arm around me and I began cuddling up to him such that my back is pressed against his torso. Martin was kissing me ever so gently on my neck, his stubble tickling me in the process. I turned around to face him and he started kissing me on my lips. I wrap my arms around his neck while his just started to explore the entire terrain of my body. I bend my left leg, positions it in his crotch and move it up and down to stimulate his privates.

I climb on top him and he removes both my shirt and my bra. I bend over to kiss him as I grind my cunt against his package. He fumbled to unbuckle his belt, unbutton and unzip his pants and then let the whole thing slide off of his legs. Both of us roll over so that he’s now on top of me. He slips his hands under my skirt, takes out my undies and gives me a blow job. I reciprocate shortly afterwards and then went for the main event. Cathy, thanks for the biggie size rubber you found for me, they really came in handy! Oh and thanks as well for the entry on uncircumsized dicks Uncut!

Martin’s dick was just perfect and his libido’s very high. I guess that’s the effect of not getting some the entire time he was here. He swears he was never tempted to sample the prostitutes roaming the Makati area where his hotel is located. He even tells me this very traumatic episode that happened to him recently – he was walking somewhere in Makati when he encounters a trannie. The trannie thinking he’s up for some homo lovin’ tells him that they could go in a dark alley to do the deed there and that it’ll only cost Php500. Martin’s allergic to trannies and he immediately went the opposite direction. The urgency to find another route to where he was going was heightened when the tranny grabbed his crotch.

If there’d be a showdown between him and the Energizer bunny on who can outlast doing the deed, I’d always place my bet on Martin. His pacing varied from nice and slow to jackhammer style. We were changing positions every 2 – 5 minutes only stopping for quick breather breaks. We must’ve slept only 2 – 3 hours when Martin woke me up for another go at it.

During a breather break, Martin tells me that he should’ve known me earlier and that he’s extremely happy about his last night in Manila. I told him that the night Cathy was supposed to introduce me to him, I was in Lake Caliraya for a company-sponsored Team Building activity that I just couldn’t get out of. When we met a couple of weeks ago for Thom’s birthday party, I thought that I wasn’t his type. Apparently, he does like brown skin because he’s kind of not that happy with his almost pasty white complexion.

We decided to take a shower together when he just picked me up from the bed and carried me to the bathroom. Martin’s built is big like the wrestlers that you see in WWE and he’s about a foot and half taller than I am. If I stand in front of him, the top of my head is only up to his chest. He’s twice my weight and the manner in which he picked me up made me feel like I was the rucksack he carries when he was still in the German Army (in Germany, it’s mandatory for everybody to serve their time in the armed forces except for kids who has had two older brothers that has already served a term each).

He put me down in the bathroom counter for a quickie then carried me again into the bathtub this time. I have long been a self-confessed cynic with regards to love but I do have to admit that it was quite a romantic scene. He’s standing right behind me, lathering me up, holding me, kissing me, slipping his finger in and out of my vagina. When he felt like teasing me, all he had to do was stand in front of the shower head and he’d completely prevent any water from ever reaching me.

After we both got dressed, we made out a couple more times and attempted to exchange contact info’s (I always have calling cards in my bag, he doesn’t have one so I’m just going to get it from Cathy and Tom). He made me promise to hit him back in his e-mail address with pictures… especially if I’d be able to find the place I was looking for (it’s a little something that we share in private and no, it does not have anything to do with sex).

I left him in his hotel room because he still has to pack his suitcase. I don’t know if he ever went to the breakfast meeting with Bianca. In my mind, there’s a high probability that he didn’t go but there’s no way to know unless I ask him.

By now, he’s probably back in his native Frankfurt. He’s probably waiting for me to send him the silly pictures we took back in Thom and Cathy’s flat. Then again, maybe I’m just assuming things. I really don’t know if something’s going to come of the whole thing or if what we have is just that night. Que sera sera.

Right now, my body is still aching – especially my arms and my neck from the crazy, rough and tumble sex. Good thing nobody’s noticed the little hickey on my neck as a result of his biting me.

A Fuck Buddy-To-Be?

I seriously thought that yesterday would just be like any other day – boring, uneventful and forgettable. I didn’t really have any plans of going home early but I got a call from Odie. He’s the first person I met from my old office. Actually, he was the one who hired me for my very first job. He’s sweet, helpful and is really easy to get along with. No wonder that a lot of people turn to him if they’re having problems especially if it’s work related (myself included).

He tells me he’s still in OSMA and that he could pick me up then drop me off in my place since just he lives near the house where I currently reside. He also wanted to borrow what little I have of hentai materials. I told him I didn’t have them with me at this time but he still picked me up from the office though.

As soon as I got inside his car, we started to update each other about what’s been happening in each of our lives. He’s planning to move to Australia in the next couple of years. He seriously wants to quit his current job and move to Operations. He wants to go back to the gym if he only had the time.

He got me home around 9 pm but we hung out outside my gate, talking about stuff, leaning on the hood of his car. He was killing time because he had to pick up his girl from work around 10 and it was only 9:20. I don’t know what happened but there came silence for about 30 seconds. He asked me if I know of a private place in my area. I turned my head towards him and I said no.

Odie gave me a follow-up question – “Do you want to do it?” Can’t say that I didn’t expect it. I answered in the affirmative and he immediately called up his girl to check on what time she would really be finished. He got the response of 11:30, hurriedly hopped back into his car and headed for his place.

It’s not the first time that this has happened. It was around the same time last year when our relationship status got upgraded from friendship to friends with benefits. I remember that he was still engaged to psycho Mitch and he was telling me how freaked out he was about getting married. He’s not the biggest fan of scary movies but the film I brought along that night was scary because I deemed it as only ‘mildly scary.’

Much to his relief, we didn’t get to finish the movie because we proceeded to having sex. After the first 10 to 20 minutes of the movie, he busied himself by giving me an awesome back massage so as to avert his eyes from seeing anything on the screen of his computer. Soon thereafter, his hands were all over me and we promptly got down to business. That night was pretty memorable since he complimented me on how good I am at giving blow jobs.

Okay, back to the present time. When we were inside the car, he asked me for a favor – if I could teach him how to use a condom. I was taken aback. You’re how old again? And you don’t know what to do with a little piece of rubber?

In defense of Odie, he’s not the type who’s up for picking up girls in a club and doing one-night stands. He’s actually a pretty straight-laced guy, only having sex with his significant other and people that he knows pretty darn well.

Odie was telling me that he’s going to start using condoms because he’s scared as hell of getting somebody pregnant. He got traumatized what with the huge number of unplanned pregnancies in his department. He started consulting with friends on the best brand to use and told him that anything from Trust isn’t that good. Durex is kind of hard to find locally. I suggested Sensations since I remember using it a couple of times before. The bad news though is that you can find them in drugstores unlike the widely available Trust.

We were lucky to have spotted Mercury Drug on our way to his place. I helped him scout the entire floor for condoms and didn’t find any on the display shelf. I prodded him to approach the counter because that’s where they usually kept it. So very characteristic of the male of the species – does not want to ask for directions. Or in this case, ask for help. He threw in the towel after going through every aisle a second time unsuccessfully; bought two packs and went on our merry way.

We started with a whole lot of foreplay – kissing, fondling, groping and a blow job. When we got to the main event, it started out as a comedy of errors. Odie’s little man is beautifully average (although it still needs a little more length for my taste) but its girth is the killer – it was waaaaay in the well-endowed department. (Hey Cathy, I think I can take on Martin… hahaha!) That flimsy-looking piece of elastic could barely fit his little member.

It all turned out okay in the end but I really should start looking for condoms that are a tad bit bigger for Odie’s big little man for our next tête-à-tête. Any suggestions where I could get them? Does anybody know if textured, ultrasensitive and/or superthin condoms are also available locally? Odie’s complaining that he doesn’t feel much with rubber on.

The Dreaded "D" Word

The last time I went on a shopping with trip with Cathy, she has noticed what was obvious when we shared the same fitting room – I haven’t been exercising. I tried to resume my usual work-out but I failed to maintain it. Damn physio ball! Why the hell did it have to pop like a frigin’ balloon?

I could be very anal about things and exercise is one of them. Whenever I do my workout, it just doesn’t feel the same without my two-foot gym ball. That’s the reason why I kinda stopped exercising. Hhmm, sounds kind of wrong. I think I should’ve replaced kinda with altogether. Oh well!

The gym ball’s the best exercise/gym equipment I’ve ever bought (looking back though, I think it was my mom) because I can use it on every part of my body – midsection for ab crunches, hips, buns, thighs and my arms. I miss that thing! I’ve been looking for a replacement for the last couple of months but I still haven’t found anything good to replace it with.

This weekend is a major turning point for me. My sister’s boyfriend Alex saw me again after a couple of weeks and he quips that I got fat. My dad asked for a massage and noticed the same thing. My co-worker Angel got assigned to Bataan for about two weeks and the first thing she told me upon seeing me is how big I got in such a short span of time.

I went to Megamall with my sister Louis for their 3-Day-Sale. I fancied this über cute, white long-sleeved blouse from Plains and Prints. It came in only two sizes – XS and L – because there were only a couple of pieces left. The only thing that fits me snuggly from their store is XS. Lo and behold, XS is now a tad bit small!

For the meantime, it looks like I really would have to make do without any equipment and get used to it. Which reminds me, I do have a Pilates kit that I haven’t used for quite some time now. Oh goody, a new routine for me!

I know I haven’t been taking good care of my body. I used to watch what I eat but I got back to my old ways. The biggest culprit in my weight gain would be carbohydrates. I was able to successfully eliminate rice from my diet for the last couple of years but living in a country where rice is the staple food, it’s hard to find anything to eat during mealtimes without any rice. My current place of work is quite far from malls wherein you have a lot of options for rice-free places so I have to stick with either cafeteria food or the set meals delivered by Mang Nick.

I also have the biggest sweet tooth. The urge to consume a lot of sweets gets really strong during that time of the month when I have my monthly menstruation. Just last week, I was eating a quarter portion of a ½ gallon of Magnolia’s very sinful Double Dutch ice cream almost everyday.

Exercise is fine by me. No, make that I RELISH exercise. It’s the controlling-what-I-eat part that’s a bitch. Although in fairness, I was able to do it so I guess I’ll have to again muster the necessary will power to reach my target weight loss of 5 – 10 pounds. I’m wondering if I’d be able to make the 6-square-meals-a-day discipline work. Maybe I can since we do have a lot of coffee/snack breaks in the office.

I just got back from lunch break and I was able to implement the first step on my plan to again eliminate rice from my diet. I’ve cut down my rice to a smaller portion compared to the usual. Ultimately, what I would like to happen is for me to limit my carbohydrate intake for the day to the ‘karyoka’ that I always have for afternoon merienda.

I have yet to think of what I will replace carbohydrates with. I’m thinking maybe protein or go to the fruit-and-vegetable diet route. I’m really not sure at this point so I’ll have to do more research. One thing I’m sure of at this point is that I would have to stock up on popcorn. I’ve read on a magazine that plain popcorn is the ultimate diet food – fills you up without the humongous calories.

I definitely would have to jump start my day with exercise for maximum weight-loss effect. That’d mean waking up earlier than usual. That’s definitely doable so I’ll go with that.
I’m now thinking of a reward that I can give myself once I hit my goal. Maybe the Princess necklace from Mango. How about a cute outfit from Zara? Anyways, by the time I get to lose my unwanted weight, they’d probably be having an End of the Season Sale (I’m giving myself two to three months). Oh, the possibilities!

Big Goner

I seriously thought that I was a big goner. Friday last week as I was trying to access my blog and all the other blogs that I go to (Michael K’s D Listed, Cathy’s, Jewel’s and Joey Madison’s), my browser kept bouncing back to the default website – which is my company’s website. I had only one logical conclusion – that our IT head has added my beloved blog sites to the forbidden sites list.

My first reaction is that posting at home would be such a big bitch. First, my cousin’s computer sucks. She hogs use of the computer and she usually spends the entire time playing games thus accumulating tons of viruses passed around in the Web. In fact, her pc’s busted right now. It can’t open any web-based mail although the YM is still working. The technician went to our house just this Saturday night and the verdict is that he’d have to come back by Friday to have her computer reformatted.

Second, it’d be expensive because I’d have to secure for myself a flash drive. I compose my blog in my laptop in the office and it doesn’t have any drives for diskettes. I can’t completely rely on sending my entry to my Yahoo or Hotmail e-mail because of the problem mentioned in the earlier paragraph. I can, technically speaking, burn the file on an RW disc/microdisc but what if her computer can’t read the files?

Third, I’m too paranoid about her finding out my postings or my blog even if the probability of her stumbling upon it is quite remote. There are some things that should just be kept secret from your family members – especially if you’re not close to them.

Monday morning – I am so very relieved that I can finally access my beloved blog sites. I got an earful of lecture from Kuya Errol though. He’s one of our IT guys and he showed us the report that the server automatically generates for every time that we go into the Web to do something. I wasn’t really aware that they have such a report and that they have a complete history of the sites that I go to. He quips that I am consistently on the top 5 of the worst Internet surfing offenders. I’m crossing my fingers now that he don’t forward this to our boss or else I am dead meat. Aarrrgggghhhhh!!!!!!!

Okay, so what exactly do I do when I’m logged on to the Net? Aside from reading blogs, I habitually watch the free videos from MSN for news and whatever catches my attention. I blame that on not having a decent working tv at my grandmom’s place. I also place the blame on not having enough time and energy to watch tv – I’m just too pooped by the time I get home that the only thing on my mind is crash on my bed. There were a couple of instances where I lay down for a couple of minutes and found out the next morning that I fell asleep on the clothes I went to work in.

So, the moral lesson of the story is to not abuse my liberty of surfing the net. I’ll never know what scathing repercussions I would have to endure.

Creepy Guy on the Loose

There was once an irate customer who called on MCI’s Customer Service to complain about his bill. He was eventually routed to the Manila call center and got a very inexperienced newbie. After several minutes, he’s asked for her supervisor and she complied. Tom, the customer, talked to the supervisor named Yssay and they were able to reach an amicable agreement about his issue.

Somewhere in the middle of their conversation, Tom was able to get a hold of Yssay’s contact numbers. Soon after, he was calling her regularly trying to woo her but Yssay would not budge. She passed him around to her friends – Iza and Leslie (that’s me) – but both rejected him as well.

Tom persisted and eventually became Yssay’s boyfriend. They didn’t quite live happily ever after because Yssay is, admittedly, very childish and keeps on breaking up with Tom for the most mundane reasons. Despite all this, Tom is still by her side to this day.

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I don’t know what’s with Tom but I seriously doubt this guy. Sure, he was honest when we quizzed him on a couple of things (as MCI customer service rep, we had access to the customers’ account info. We once put him on the spot by asking him questions on where he lived and all that stuff. His answers matched what our records reflected) but there’s something about this guy that isn’t quite right. I just can’t put my finger on it.

Anyhoo, Yssay is the jealous girlfriend type. Since she and I are close, I send her all the correspondence that I get from Tom be it text (sms), e-mail or instant messages. Tom eventually stopped contacting me so as not to cause any more petty quarrels with Yssay. That is until last night…

A rundown of our conversation from last night until this afternoon…

T = Tom, M = Me

03/10/05 ?
T: Hello.
03/10/05 14:03:53
M: Hi.
03/10/05 14:14:59
T: Hope that you are doing well. I’ve heard you move jobs.
03/10/05 14:08:03
M: Yeah I’m doing much better now. Thanx. What’s up?
03/10/05 14:18:06
T: Nothing much really. Just thought about. Good your doing well. When will you come here in the US?
03/10/05 15:18:21
M: Sorry, was kinda busy. I still don’t knw when I’m going back. Maybe in a year or two. How bout yssay, when’s she going there?
03/10/05 20:51:49
T: I thought you come here more often than usual. Perhaps we can at least meet as freind (sic) which we never have a chance before. (Hey, how come you didn't answer the question about Yssay?)
03/10/05 21:07:31
M: Well, I can’t promise u anything coz usually my relatives already hv things planned. How r u & yssay?
03/10/05 22:23:24
T: Yssay and me are do fine naman. She will probably be mad with me if I text you. She said that you forward everything to her whatever I text you. Then she will break up with me again and agian (sic),How well do you know her? (Duh! She’s my friend and I don’t want her to think I’m flirting with you! Besides, it’s not like I want to have anything to do with you.)
04/10/05 08:25:31
M: I was lrdy asleep when I got ur txt. I knw her really well coz we were close when I was still in her team.
04/10/05 ?
T: (I think I’ve erased this message but he was asking about my work schedule)
04/10/05 10:43:46
M: Depends, I’m on flexi sched. I come in anytime I want to long as I complete 48 hrs a week
04/10/05 11:33:28
T: wow, Nice schedules then.Do you have a Bf now?
04/10/05 11:26:05
M: Nope, I’m dating.
04/10/05 11:36:00
T: I see,, Why not come here in the US to work instead there. Your not corrupt so you’ll never make it there. (How dare you say that to me – you’ve been in the States for what 20, 30, 40 years? You don’t know what’s really happening here so shut your mouth.)
04/10/05 11:29:26
M: The big question is who’l provide/secure a legit h1 visa for me?
04/10/05 11:41:22
T: Right, but you either have to take a chance in life. Marry in papers maybe?
04/10/05 11:35:54
M: I get the point but I don’t want to be heavily indebted for a visa (Idiot, you know right from the start that I’m not the marrying kind even if it’d mean not having a green card. I already my US visa, thank you for asking and I’m contented with that even if it’s just a tourist visa.)
04/10/05 11:51:35
T: indebted meaning? Rely on it? or unless you happy there in your career then there is no need for you to relocate.
04/10/05 11:52:07
T: Indebted is open for discussion though.
04/10/05 11:44:31
M: Usually you have to pay someone if you’re marrying for a visa.
04/10/05 11:54:37
T: Yes,, but not too many here that offer it. A lot of people now are being deported too and money from it is not that much.
04/10/05 12:01:24
M: Wht r u really trying to say?
04/10/05 11:58:59
T: Do you still use your yahoo.
04/10/05 12:11:28
T: Meaning it’s hard to have a pre-arranged jusy to get a visa,
04/10/05 12:12:34
T: Hey, come here and may I invite you then.
04/10/05 12:46:23
T: Hey, are you busy ?
04/10/05 12:49:06
M: Yes, it’s lunch time
04/10/05 13:55:33
T: What exactly do you do sa new work mo ba?
04/10/05 13:47:19
M: Sales & marketing
04/10/05 13:59:20
T: when do you go online at your instant messenger?
04/10/05 13:51:29
M: Sporadic
04/10/05 14:03:35
T: so always fitful, be online like tonight if your not tired. (Huh? Fitful? What, you Visayan that faithful became fitful?)

I met up with Cathy at Shangri-La for lunch. I was surprised to receive a text message from her around 10:30. I sense there was trouble but I just didn’t know what it is exactly. We decided to try Cravings and the food was just awesome although the service was crappy. Cathy and I were gaga over their Cream of Carrot Soup – it was really creamy and it tasted like Chicken Sopas. I loved their Strawberry Vinaigrette – it was tangy and wasn’t that sour.

I completely forgot about Tom texting until my phone was vibrating violently from his 3 consecutive text messages. I am just so creeped out about his invitation. I wouldn’t want to go near him because he’s like a pedophile, at least in my book. This guy is old enough to be my dad!!! To top it off, (he doesn’t know that I know this but) he has five ex-wives and his eldest child is just a year younger than me!

FYI: Tom is half-Filipino, half-German and doesn’t look Filipino. He’s lived in Germany for a couple of years, he’s stayed in the Philippines until he graduated from high school. After that, his family moved to the States. He’s in his early to mid-40’s.

What’s up with the marrying for a visa? What he’s not sure Yssay can secure a US visa that he’s cajoling me to be with him? Why is he so persistent for me to go work in the US? I don’t know him that well so I doubt it if he genuinely cares what happens to me. This just popped in my mind… this is like the classic case wherein a suspicious looking character is trying to get a little girl to go with him by using a lollipop or any type of candy as bait.

Why is he telling me all this? Why is he even contacting me? Most of all, what the fuck is up with this guy?

Mang Roger the Cab Driver

I am just so disgusted by the sheer audacity of some taxi drivers. Today, I had to take a cab to work because I picked up the luggage I’m going to use for my business trip to Bataan from my parents’ house. There was absolutely no other way for me to get to the office because my dad’s dear old van is busted and he had to take it to the shop for repairs. It’s times like these that I wish I have a car despite the chronic oil price hike every couple of weeks.

The first cab driver agreed to take me to Pioneer Street in Mandaluyong from the Masinag Public Market. We were cruising along Marcos Highway when he told me that he’s going to be charging me Php250.00 (about $5 with the conversion rate being Php57:$1) off the bat because he said it’s traffic and all and that he picked me up from the terminal where he still has to pay a barker. I told him in a very firm voice that my destination is not that far and that his price is beyond unreasonable.

I was just outraged and so I went to ‘bitch mode’ telling him to stop the car for me to get off. He slowly decreased the speed and proceeded to drop me off at a gasoline station. As I was disembarking my luggage, he just casually mentioned that he’s just going to grab some food as if to mask his embarrassment at how assertive I was.

I was standing on the side of that dusty road for just a couple of minutes when another cab passed by. I hailed it, told the driver where to take me and immediately hauled my little big-ass luggage behind the driver’s seat. Just as I was about to settle down, he told me that I should add Php50.00 to the tab.

That just sent my temper through the roof! As if by reflex action, I felt my hand pull the door handle and shoved the door wide open a couple of seconds later. In a loud voice, I told him to ‘fugetaboudit’ when what I really meant to say was to stick the handle of his gearshift up his sorry ass.

Third time’s a charm though. I saw this rickety-looking, white Kia Pride and thought what the hell. I seriously needed to get myself in the office a.s.a.p. so I really can’t be choosy at this point. Good decision!

I normally don’t talk to cab drivers but this old man just radiated a positive attitude. He was telling me this wonderful story about his last passenger. It was a rich, old lady that didn’t have any air about her. They had been traveling for quite a distance from Banawe, Quezon City to her house in Cogeo and it was already lunch time. He was as hungry as hell when this lady asked him to go to a Jollibee drive through to buy some food.

He communicated the old lady’s orders to the girl working behind the machine. He told me he had a gut feel that the old lady was going to give him some food because he ordered for four when he only had three passengers – the lady and her two assisstants. He wasn’t really sure so he ordered a hamburger for himself. His gut feel was absolutely right and had a free lunch – both the fried chicken meal and the hamburger.

His positivity was such a breath of fresh air that it just washed away my anger towards the other two drivers. I found out that his name is Mang Roger, he has three sons and six granddaughters. He’s extremely proud of his sons because all of them are achievers in school – eldest graduated with flying colors in UP and is now taking up an MBA aside from being a bank manager at Equitable PCI Bank; the middle graduated with flying colors at La Consolacion College and is now a mid-level manager at Philippine Airlines; his youngest is a mid-ranking police officer in Manila and is currently taking up a law degree. His wife still works at the Bureau of Customs, he’s already a retiree from the Public Works sector and becomes a cab driver every Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays just to pass the time because he’s bored. Oh and he chauffeurs the missus while he’s at it.

Mang Roger turned the tables on me and asked me how many boyfriends I have. I told him none and was genuinely surprised by my answer. He tells me that most of his young passengers have lots. He just reminded me of my own grandfather when he gave me a good-natured advice not to marry young. I retorted that I don’t plan on getting married ever and he was even more shocked. He proceeded to sharing little anecdotes about things that happened in his life to make me not view marriage in such a bad light.

Mang Roger is one of the most gregarious people that I’ve ever known so I didn’t really notice the travel time of about 30 minutes. Aside from that, he was extremely good at his main job – getting me from point A to Point B. He had great knowledge about which routes have light and heavy traffic. I mean, how could he not, he used to work for Public Works!

The total of my cab fare was Php160.00 but I gave him Php200.00 anyways because no amount of money could ever commensurate the value-added services he gives to his customers. If you ever find yourself riding a white Kia Pride with the license plate TMW 914 from the Camaro cab company, say hi to him for me and tell him I will never forget the lessons from my time with him. Know that you’ll always be safe and happy in Mang Roger’s hands.

May the gods and goddesses bless this man and his family!