Monday, June 30, 2008

TOMORROW'S A BRAND NEW DAY -- OH SHIT


tomorrow will be the beginning of the "deep spring cleaning" of my life. the beginning of my three-month leave from work to finish my academic obligations and the beginning of my career assesment.

during my break, i would be able to gauge whether i can wean myself away from the job that i've come to love but would be the death of me -- well not literally. i will try to weed out the unessential stuff in my life and keep those that i think will help me in my next career move.

i'll see whether i am prepared to already move up...whatever that means.

--

a colleague told me about the backstabbers in the midst and she told me that she, too, recently became a victim of those people who have this penchant for dragging others down.

even those thundercats in my old old office pale in comparison...

she really felt bad. and she thought she was "friendy-friends" with them.

i knew how she felt. but the difference is that i knew from the start that they have been stabbing me all along whenever my back is turned -- up until to this day. a week before my wedding last year i've been tricked, lied to, and been "electrocuted" that's why i felt so horrible at that time. but i kept my cool and pretended that nothing happened is happening and that i was am still in the dark. i know i will have the last laugh. that's why i began reading the "48 rules of power" at Other Half's prodding so i would be able to maneuver in this tricky world i belong to.

but the best tip i got, was again, from an old cartoon. bugs bunny said, "i speak softly but i carry a big stick!"


Posted by luthien at 22:13:37 | Permanent Link | Comments (0) |

Sunday, June 29, 2008

KONTI NA LANG...


one day.

one more day.

i only have to wait for monday to end before i can be temporarily free of stresssssssss. oh dear lord i'm sooo looking forward to this.

but before that, i've been working my ass off again. until tomorrow.

Posted by luthien at 22:09:34 | Permanent Link | Comments (0) |

Sunday, June 22, 2008

RAVAGING EVERYTHING IN ITS PATH



you could just imagine the size and intesity of typhon "Frank". 700 people are still missing from the capsized sulpicio lines ferry. some are hopeful that some passengers were able to swim/reach a nearby island. but a survivor fears that majority of the passengers were trapped.

thankfully, metro manila was not really battered by Frank compared with what Milenyo did in 2006. because of my horrible experience with milenyo two years ago, i now always keep my laptop battery fully charged in case of emergency. i blogged about my milenyo experience but my old entries were wiped out by blog-city. sayang, for posterity's sake ba. it was a horrific story of how we media practitioners battle natural calamities just to be able to submit/write our stories.

what happened to me today was rather tame. i was only able to write two blah stories using my laptop and 3G phone in the comforts of our home. no battling with falling trees and billboards and ripped roofs of malls. it was just that nagloloko yung connection ng cable ng nokia ko. already changed the cables so it seems like my phone has the problem. power was already out during the night. i woke up because of the howling wind and banging windows. i was afraid it would be another milenyo. buti na lang hindi.

because Other Half was already bored -- he couldn't live without TV and internet -- we went to the robinsons galleria at almost 7 pm. he went to compass to surf the net while i looked around the computer stores...the only form of window shopping i indulge in. true enough, browsing through interesting stuff is fatal to my wallet.


i found a store selling asus eee pc accessories.

not that i am really crazy about accessories but it's just that i found the silicon keyboard protector really useful since my eee pc is pearl white and my hands are sweaty. an hour's worth of typing make my laptop really dirty. as in brown dirty. everyday i had to wipe everything clean and really scrub the keys to remove the brown stains. now i know why macbook users buy those expensive protectors. it really bugs the owners to see the pristine white keys turn brown. buti na lang silicon cover ko is P200 lang versus the P2,000 silicon covers of macbooks.

while i was at it, i was able to buy a 7" screen protector -- a perfect fit for asus eee pc 701.


you can't see much difference in this photo. but the screen protector made the "low-grade" screen (compared with the LCD screens of new laptops) look like it's TFT and it's easier to wipe.

the popularity of eee pc spawned copycats that on paper looked better than the original asus UMPC. but as yugatech said, the asus eee pc was still better than redfox wizbook because eee pc had a better processor.

(from left) neo (i forgot the name), 10" redfox and the 8" redfox UMPCs

redfox wizbook 8" up close

despite the bigger screens and higher storage capacities of other UMPCs (HP, blue, redfox, neo, etc), i'm still happy with my eee pc since it has served me very well for the last 7 months without any problems. maybe except for the 2G kingston SD card with slow writing time and the very hot bottom when in use. i already dropped my eee pc and it's till working perfectly.

hmm...would ask our tech editor what is the best UMPC around nowadays. magvolunteer kaya ako sa kanya taga-test drive ng mga gadgets for review? hehehe.


Posted by luthien at 22:53:46 | Permanent Link | Comments (0) |

Friday, June 20, 2008

SLOW AKO


apparently all of the stuff i've blogged previously were already in the papers. this shows that i don't read newspapers. haha. how ironic. and what's funny is i rely on kwentuhan with colleagues than what i read in newspapers. really ironic. hehe.

--

the countdown to my 3-month leave is on. wonder if i'll be able to finish my blasted thesis.

so i'm not the only one in my small circle in the industry who's putting a premium on higher ed. a colleague from another media outfit has resigned and will be leaving the job on the 27th. got accepted at the London School of Economics. yes, you read it right. if i were in my colleague's place, i'll also grab the opportunity and leave this thankless job.

besides the acceptance letter, another reason for my colleague's resignation is the abominable bear of a sub-ed/asst. ed who turned out to be verrrrrrrrry tamad. my colleague was already so fed up with the officemate that she/he bid the bosses adieu.

--

i'm supposed to be in tagaytay tonight then to the beach the next day. but no can do. my boss had me cancel the trip the last minute (well, last night) so that i can attend the cluster meeting. good thing that he made me do that because it turned out i'm supposed to submit a special report to the EIC today -- and i haven't written a single friggin' word about the topic assigned to me.

talk about being so fucked up.

i totally forgotten about it since i'm already neck-deep (what's new?) in work.

di bale i wasn't really enthusiastic about the trip anyway plus there's a typhoon somewhere in the south that is approaching luzon. wouldn't want to spend the day on the beach with 170-kph typhoon knocking coconut trees down.

--

still ipod-less

--

still surviving work. i just trained myself to be numb and the fact that people are not to be trusted, especially in our industry, should be ingrained in my brain already. as one officemate told me over YM, our job descriptions do not include befriending others in the workplace.

--

i don't have anything interesting to say.

Posted by luthien at 23:36:04 | Permanent Link | Comments (0) |

Thursday, June 19, 2008

WHEN REPORTERS BECOME THE STORY


i really feel bad for ces drilon and her crew. i guess it's more traumatic for her since there is always the threat of being gang raped and god knows what.

from what i've heard from the industry grapevine, nakuryente si ces or in layman's (non-journalist) terms, she was fed the wrong info or a trap was laid out for her.

the chismis was abs-cbn or ces herself got wind of the info that the abu sayyaf or an al queda member (or both) was/were willing to be interviewed. jumping at a chance to redeem herself from her booboos on the faeldon story and another one i can't remember her grandstanding during the manila pen siege, ces grabbed the opportunity to get a scoop and gathered her crew and flew down to mindanao.

heard that the trip didn't have the blessing of the management due to the dangerous cirmustances. yun nga lang, chismis lang yun. kasi naman how can you fly there and use the company's crew, equipment and money for plane fares and other expenses without the management knowing that? di ba? i don't know pero i guess it's stricter in the broadcast industry than in print.

a collegue said that the abus were really targeting daw journalists to show their mettle kasi parang nakakalimutan na uli sila i.e. wala na sila sa spotlight.

another reason why abs-cbn keeps on saying that there was no ransom paid kasi baka masanay ang mga abu na pag mga journalists, lalo na sikat na personality, makakakuha agad sila ng ransom.

oo nga naman.

magiging habit na nila ang mangidnap ng mga reporter. ang sama naman nun.

at first, parang iisipin ng ibang tao ang tanga-tanga ni ces for doing that and that she deserved to be kidnapped since she deliberately walked into the lion's den so on and so forth.

pero i can understand where she's coming from...the part where she wanted that scoop, to have that good "exclusive" story to her name to rectify the booboos. kasi kahit ako napapraning ako and i get desperate trying to get good "exclusive" stories when colleagues/competitors "kinuryente" ako or simply naisahan ako. or just plain i did something stupid or i neglected to do something that resulted to an embarassingly glowing mistake or misjudgment.

but then desperation can got you in deeper shit.

buti na lang ces and her crew are alive. sabi din ng colleague ko kanina," buti na lang _______ reporters tayo."

*disclaimer: lahat ng sinabi ko puro kwento lang and are not verified yet and will never be verified

Posted by luthien at 00:26:47 | Permanent Link | Comments (0) |

Tuesday, June 17, 2008

DEATH OF AN IPOD AND OTHER SOB STORIES


my ipod nano 3rd gen is dead. i brought it to the apple center in megamall to be buried, cremated, whatever. good thing its warranty is still ok. it's going to be replaced.

after 3 weeks.

i would be ipod-less for 3 weeks. such a long time.

it's critical for me now to have music blaring into my ears since i'm always upset at work. music calms me down and allows me to be on an "i-have-my-own-world-fuck-you" mode for a whole day.

don't buy an ipod. go for the creative zen. it has more features and is sturdier. just chuck the stock earphones and buy yourself something better and you'll be fine. i have a creative muvo which is still terrific save for the fact i accidentally rendered the battery cover useless. in other words nasira ko siya sa kakulitan ko. i'm using it now as a recorder and all my interviews are saved there since my asus eee pc has only 4 gig of storage.

ipod? all looks and no brains. my ipod, which i won in some christmas raffle, is just 6 months old but it's already dead. prior to its demise, it keeps on freezing and freezing and one day it just wouldn't turn off anymore.

thus the trip to the apple cemetery.

ESTUDYANTE BLUES

i was also late for class this evening. my first class in two years. i never thought i'd be back in a classroom this soon. the reason for the tadiness? i have a freaking coverage along manila bay. imagine me trying to fight my way from manila to diliman, quezon city at rush hour. while raining.

ang saya, di ba?

then ayun na nagdiscuss na ng syllabus, readings and requirements. ANDAMING PAPERS! agggh! buti na lang di ako magtatrabaho ng 3 months, kung hinde, maloloka na talaga ako sa dami ng aasikasuhin, iisipin etc. etc.

why am i doing this to myself?

Posted by luthien at 22:45:58 | Permanent Link | Comments (4) |

Thursday, June 12, 2008

SUDDEN ENLIGHTENMENT COURTESY OF THE DISNEY CHANNEL


something's really wrong with me these days. i take so much inspiration from cartoons!


Other Half and i were channel surfing tonight when we stumbled upon Cars. then i was again transfixed.

what lightning mcqueen and the rest of the characters in Cars were telling me is this: what is your bliss? what do you really want? step out of the fast lane and breathe. think about what you really want in life.

as the sally character said to lightning mcqueen while he was being whisked away by the big truck, "i hope you found what you're looking for."

now what do i want?

a super whatever for just more than two years in the business? or do i just want to get back at them? what?

--

yesterday was horrible. naisahan ako.

pero help comes in different places and sometimes unexpected. nautakan ko sila.

but this utakan game is tiring. can't do this everyday. today was no better. i just want to switch off this weekend.

to make matters worse, my 6-month old ipod nano keeps on freezing up. no matter how many times i reformat and restore this thing, it keeps on freezing. hay nako.

Posted by luthien at 23:10:02 | Permanent Link | Comments (0) |

Tuesday, June 10, 2008

I NEED KUNG FU PANDA'S DRAGON SCROLL



...because i'm losing belief in myself.

self-doubt is eating me alive again. i'm here in my roller coaster ride again...questioning myself whether i'm good enough for this job or whether this job is good enough for me.

i don't know.

i'm sort of in a limbo right now so i would just be plodding along for the next few days. i don't know if this feeling was due to the stuff i'm going through with the people surrounding me or because i feel so lost now since i'm suspended between heaven and hell with my goals.

i don't know what i want right now. i just want to float. i just want to hie off to elbi and hide there for three months. no toxic people to stab me at the back, no deadlines, no need to shell out money. it will just be me, the mountain, the fresh air and my anime. and books.

i don't know where this feeling came from...this feeling that i want to throw myself at the deep end...this feeling that i want to be alone and contemplate.

i must be losing my mind. i think this is burn out.

Posted by luthien at 22:27:18 | Permanent Link | Comments (0) |

Sunday, June 08, 2008

IF I WOULD LEARN MARTIAL ARTS...


...it would be kendo or arnis.

kendo because of my obsession with rurouni kenshin before and kali/arnis for its deadliness. i had arnis for my PE in grade 6 and while sparring with my teacher using basic sinawali, my hand got hit by my teacher's yantok. it was darn painful.

but not as painful like what these guys had undergone.

watch it until the 6th part in youtube. you'll be proud to be pinoy.

alt : http://www.youtube.com/v/GCueDJ3Ru4k&hl=en

years ago i was having a chat with this guy from summit publishing (after my interview) about martial arts (i was interviewed for a writing job for a new magazine they were going to launch, which it turned out men's health). he told me to go for arnis instead of kendo because arnis is more practical than the japanese martial art of my choice.

i just don't know if i have enough discipline for this kind of stuff.

Posted by luthien at 17:24:58 | Permanent Link | Comments (0) |

Saturday, June 07, 2008

TO ALL THOSE BASTARDS OUT THERE


Illigitimum non carborundum

Don't let the bastards wear you down.

As Other Half said, "don't get mad. get even."

As my boss told me in a text message "don't get mad or get even. get ahead."

and to you bitches, one day you'll eat my crap.

Posted by luthien at 23:01:43 | Permanent Link | Comments (0) |
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