tamponriot

2008-11-22T07:45:00.001+08:00

Welcome to my blog... Check back soon for new entries!
Please also visit my main website www.tamponriot.com!

2008-11-19T07:42:00.000+08:00

Poker Texas Hold 'Em

Two months after Luther gave me his 1K poker chip for my presentation, I learned how to play Texas Hold 'Em. And just recently found myself adopted by a bunch of poker fans online. Now I'm playing with Greece, Minnesota, Virginia, UK and Truckie--who drives 27 hours from east to west coast (and back) so I can't sire him his own state. Crazy fellas! I finally got to put Windows Messenger to good use. I taught my managers how to play poker too and just saw what interesting personalities I got in my team. Jennie "lucky beginner", Nesh "endless questions", Sharee "over-cautious folder", Jerry "reckless low-hand", and Jim "psycho high-roller". Arnel brought the chips while Nax and Queen provided the entertainment. We are on our way to putting together our own poker club. No actual pot at stake... yet!

2008-11-09T05:05:00.000+08:00

So listen here. I have had a faaantastic six months. I went through two, count them two break ups, moving back into my parents house and using a stockroom for a bedroom coz my old room’s been taken over, sharing a bathroom with the help, dealing with a philandering father and his money-digging whore, seeing my mother cry and bawl her heart out to me, running a program for a demanding client, launching a site and closing it, preparing for another business review where I have to answer for the jobs of 400 people… You do not, do NOT ask me when you can get extra seats!

2008-10-20T05:56:00.009+08:00

Cab Rides

I hate manila cab drivers... with a passion. The moment I get a cab at NAIA--it doesn't matter which, 1, 2 or the new terminal 3--and give directions to any makati hotel, I could hear that loud "Ka-ching! Ka-ching!" resonate from their thought bubbles. The first ten minutes from the time my ass hits that back seat, there'd be the customary squabbling over the use of the meter, or the expected "tax" on top of rates to get there, or traffic in that route or direction, or worse--all of the above. And there's the "which-route-do-we-take" spiel. Don't you just love this M.O.? It's a test, you see. A cab driver's way to check if you're some naive, out of town nitwit, who wouldn't have a clue about how to get from point A to point B. If you fail, chances are you'll get the scenic route. Yes, the route that adds an extra 50 or 100 bucks to your flag. Good luck!

Early last year, I had a memorable supposedly 5-minute ride from Legazpi Village to Salcedo Village, which turned into a nightmare. It was a simple cross through Ayala Avenue with Legazpi in the north and Salcedo in the south. I was so frustrated with the driver, who allegedly didn't know the way, that I got off the cab only to find myself in some dark unlit alley northwest of Makati at 1 in the morning, and the driver coming at me with a tire wrench. FUN. A car slows down to see what was going on but I couldn't get myself to cry for help. In my head, I hysterically tried to remember what was tagalog for help! Saklolo? Shit. That doesn't sound right. My gender saved me, he couldn't bring himself to whack me in the head when he realized I was after all female. Thank you, mammary glans! But fear led me back into the psycho-driver's cab. He insisted i do. He drove me to Salcedo (finally) and just when he slowed down I jumped out and asked for help from building security in the area. With PHP65++ unpaid on the meter, the driver sped off. What was strange was, the guards asked what I did to the driver. They noticed he had a shiner. Whaddayaknow? Did I just mentally beat the guy up? The force was with me, Yoda would be proud.

Over the past couple of years, I've picked up a few survival skills needed for that dreaded Manila cab ride.

Polish the Tagalog accent

Let's face it, Cebuanos speak the worse Tagalog. My accent is just horrific and on some instances embarrassing. Blame it on the Cebuano pride for not learning the official Filipino tongue, just because it isn't Bisaya. Locals from the rest of Visayas and Mindanao don't seem to share the same fate. I had later learned that the right word for help was "Tulong!". And that the word "Saklolo" had no longer been in general use since who knows when. Now how was I supposed to know that?

Really know the way

Every cab ride is a learning experience. Whether I got the scenic or the shortest route, I've learned to sit back and look outside the window. I got to know landmarks, road signs, buildings and more importantly street names. I've frequented Makati enough to give directions like I actually live there. I can say which street to take, which ones are one-way or closed on certain times of the week. Learning the traffic situation to and from the city helped too. It wouldn't hurt to ask someone you know to give you the directions BEFORE getting in the cab. You wouldn't want the driver to watch you display your ignorance. When I have the chance, I check MakatiMaps online to know exactly where I was going: http://www.yellowasp.com/makatimap/.

Be polite

I've learned to understand that drivers are just surviving too. And need, not greed, is why they roll the way they do. If I'm short on cash, I'd make sure exact change was ready. Remembering the 10 bucks required by law on top of the flagged price since gas prices soared. On most days, I give a generous tip and say "thank you". I survived another cab ride!The good news is, once in a while you will meet an honest driver. And experience has shown me that drivers outside of Makati, are kinder and more conscientious.

--END--I am Cebuano-Filipino... And this is how we roll!

2008-10-14T17:19:00.016+08:00

Running into Cos-what??

A day at the mall and witnessed my very first cos-play! These mallrats dressed up like their favorite Japanese cartoon heroes. I just randomly asked these punks to pose for me and they were more than happy to oblige. I even got "thank you's" after I took the shots ;-)

2008-10-06T20:39:00.009+08:00

Segue to Baluarte

Thanks to Ady, who has finally decided to wean from local TV months after he got cable connection, we took a side trip to Baluarte-a spot he learned about on a travel channel. This 90-some-hectare park is inhabited by a variety of animal species, some, I didn't expect even existed on Philippine soil and were obviously shipped there by the politician-landlord. All of the animals in the park are set free to roam except for the reptiles, the tigers and close-to-extinct creatures. Right. Here's a photo of Ady, myself and Jungkay (angayan ko mag red-head norn?)

Here's the alpha tiger... I call "Mingming". Here's the alpha goat, Ady called "Jeh-Em". Jeh-Em walks the area like the lord of the land and knew exactly where he was going.

Ady poses beside his mini-me horse (horse thought bubble: atay nalang kung musakay ni...), while the iguanas checked out Jungkay's tongue ring (iguana thought bubble: two words... mouth wash). And some guy below plays with the camel (camel thought bubble: read the sign - I spit).

2008-10-05T09:35:00.003+08:00

From Pagudpud to Bangui, we were southbound yet again! The bus was loaded with sacks of rice and hog feed, so we had to do some acrobatics to find seats all the way to the back. We practically drove the bus conductor crazy when we couldn't make up our minds where or next pitstop was going to be. Vigan, Laoag, Vigan - Vigan it is! A couple hours later we were at the town's bus terminal. An elderly tricycle driver spoke to us in Ilocano and broken Tagalog. Boy, did I wish we had Roland right now.... After he figured out what we meant by "cobblestone streets", we found ourselves in the middle of the most romantic town I've ever seen. Vigan is absolutely beautiful. Pre-colonial architecture from houses, church, shops, and streets well preserved. Quaint antique shops and modern stores lined the cobblestone streets that only horse-drawn carriages have access to. The moment we entered the preserved town, we couldn’t help but think about...

Food. We had to grab a bite.

Max’s Fried chicken was right by the town square. We walked through the narrow street and into the opening. The gates of heaven came into view. Behold the tourists! There they were, all of God’s children—Filipino elite and European backpackers. And here we were... Starving like the offspring of Somalia and smelling like a Vietnamese sweat shop. Or maybe that was just me. Doh! With a silly fear of potential rejection at the restaurant, and a great need to be accommodated and fed immediately, I pulled out my wild card. In my most nonchalant call-center English I ask the waitress, “Do you accept credit cards?”

The waitress says yes and seats us by the window. Not that we couldn’t pay. Jungkay had gladly offered to pay in cash. Ady, however jumped at the opportunity to get a free meal care of yours truly. We ate, I swiped, and we were off. Everything about the town was just awesome. Jungkay and Ady window-shopped while I took photos. Vigan calms its guests. People just tend to walk slower, talk slower, and I felt like breaking into a song—a kundiman. Even Ady had a spiritual boost and walked into the church with Jungkay.

Segue to Baluarte
(Stay tuned…)

2008-10-04T21:30:00.000+08:00

Northridge, Pagudpud

We arrived at 3:00PM Saturday in Pagudpud proper where we met Roland, whom we immediately sired our designated tricycle driver and gracious concierge to the town. We asked for the cheapest rooms available and he gladly drove us to his aunt's place. For a while there I thought he deemed us too broke that the least he could do was offer free lodging with his family. But no. His aunt owned Northridge, a 3-bedroom inn which is a couple minutes walk from the beach front. Ady worked his way through a discount and we settled for the day. We walked to Jun & Carol Cafateria for lunch. No typos there, that's really how they spelled cafeteria--Cafateria. The crew were friendly and the food was good!

The rest of the late afternoon was spent drinking Caballo Rojo (Red Horse) by the beach. Jungkay conquered the waves, I took photos, and Ady exfoliated himself (pwerteng panlugod, day!) while he prepared for his beach shoot. I had to indulge the guy. He was feeling very sexah! :-) We spent the evening drinking the rest of the beer and talking about work and love and plans. Jungkay and Ady were already buzzed after their live concert at the next-door videoke place where they spent 200 bucks on song tokens. I had to catch up by drinking the next set of tagay by myself.

Early the next morning, Jungkay had a nasty hang-over and passed on breakfast. She had already thrown up sometime at dawn. Ady and I met two college grads from Denver, Colorado over at Jun & Carol's, who had already been in Pagudpud for 5 days. One of them said "Pagudpud" perfectly - without the slur or twang. I found that absolutely adorable. They were checking out of the resort to head back to Baguio and finish their Philippine trip before they fly to Thailand. Their tricyle arrived on time and bid us goodbye. Ady was having a perfect morning and was excited to go back to the Red Lion in Baguio.

2008-10-04T20:42:00.000+08:00

I did a poor job planning my Q4 vacation and missed my dream vacation. For the last time: Yes, work got in the way. But I am not about to spend the rest of 08 beating myself senseless for that. In fact, I took a couple days and the weekend off to see the big north--Luzon. A mini-vacation before I take the big annual when business reviews are done for the year. It didn't take much convincing from Ady and Jungkay. I practically volunteered to tag the instant Vigan was mentioned. What better timing than right after I bought my first SLR. I'm in it for the chance to do practice shots... Rookie photographer out to play!

The Ride
After an hour flight from Cebu to Manila and 4 hours by overnight bus to Baguio, the Yovi's and I geared up to head further north. Unfortunately, not as ready as we imagined. The 5:00AM Partas bus had a flat tire so we were already 40 minutes behind. A couple of hours later, we realized that what we thought was only going to take 4 hours was in fact going to take 7 (count them, seven) hours to Laoag! We finally got there around 1 in the afternoon. Note that at this point, unlike the other two, I had already spent more than half a day with my butt on a plane/bus seat. We took a tricycle ride to another terminal to take a "shuttle" ride to Pagudpud, our first stop. The "shuttle" was a cross between a huge jeepney and a small scale bus. It has obviously seen better days--probably during WW2--and Jungkay anticipated that this was going to run at dial-up speeds. To my surprise and amusement, it was the best ride I had the past 14 hours. The shuttle covered 95km in 1.5 hours, despite several passenger pick ups and drop offs. It was non air-conditioned, so we had the luxury of feeling the fresh cool Ilocos breeze.

The sights were awesome. Nax was right about everything... especially the windmills. I've only seen these in the movies. Kangkang Windmills - the first commercial wind farm in Southeast Asia. They stand like white colossal "electric fans"-as the tryke driver called them-against the perfect blue sky backdrop.

The Laoag-Pagudpud Shuttle

Bangui Bay Wind Powermills.

Pagudpud - Ilocos, Norte

2008-10-03T15:26:00.002+08:00

The best thing I've heard in Filipino house music in a long time. You have to check these guys out! Nyko Maca + Playground.

Check out one of their videos http://www.youtube.com/v/Tej1cEU2yi0

2008-03-24T19:08:00.004+08:00

I slept for a total of 12 hours, attended Koi's birthday party, spent hours on the net and on my PS3, learned about my friends' lives and had a total of seven beers. Yes, dictionary.com accepts the plural form "beers" denoting individual servings, in the form of bottles, glasses, or my personal favorite - TAGAY. The rest of my short weekend was spent reviewing "Ken Lee" and "Bb Pilipinas-World", and reading the hundreds of comments people all over the world left about them. Few weekends ago, these youtube specials had barely a hand full of responses. Janina's video as I recall had a total of 12 comments and barely 2,000 views when Ady showed us the vid at Jungkay's place. There are now over 17K comments and 1,813,520 views. What's yet another comment?

I believe that these are the stuff that makes real life worth watching.

2008-03-24T16:59:00.004+08:00

My favorite "real" person on the net. Check out her site at www.happyslip.com/ or visit her at www.youtube.com/user/HappySlip

2006-10-23T09:47:00.002+08:00

October 18, 2006
Landed: 6:30PM Wednesday evening in LAX.

It took the plane more than half and hour to taxi and get to the gate. Just when I thought the plane was coming to a complete stop, the captain pointed out that we had to wait for another plane to leave the gangway. And so, we waited to be towed. I was on my Helio trying to get Danni to wait a while longer. She waited for about an hour for me total. Fortunately, James was there to wait with her

Customs was a breeze. I did not have any problems whatsoever getting

Danni gained a few pounds.

I met up with Danni and her new boyfriend. I was glad someone gave me a heads-up that she was dating an African-American. Was it Jim or Jerry? I don’t remember, bless his/their hearts. So I wasn’t surprised to see baguiard in the arms of a black and older man. But he is awesome.

2006-09-22T09:16:00.000+08:00

Miserable

2006-09-18T14:25:00.002+08:00

I haven't written anything on this blog site that is not about my Sunday (...or Monday). Even this picture was taken on a Sunday. Technically, it's Monday (MLA Time), but my reality says its not till 10:00PM. Yep. Graveyard shift. I have to be up in three hours if I want to get work at all. Ha! 'Be up' and 'want to work'? Two lies in one sentence. Let me just say, however, that this has got to be the best burger I've ever devoured. Truth.

So what's new other than food and Sundays? The human need to leave a mark. People clicked with blogsites the same way dogs clicked with fire hydrants. And with what better way to declare to others of our kind "I was here!". Sleepy as I am, I can't bring myself to hit the sack without updating probably the most unvisited blogspace. I gotta write something. Today.

So here I am. What's the statement? Oy... Monday. Show us a mean face, Toni. Grrr...

2006-06-05T06:45:00.000+08:00

I've been going through Friendster multiple times in a day now. It's no suprise how the process of checking in on people leads me to finding "old friends". The theory of Six Degrees of Separation and how we are exactly that - separated. Sad to say, the whole deal as it is, is my own doing. I have this strange habit of losing friends the way I lose my car keys. Close as I was with most of my golden acquaintances at one point, I no longer speak, or see any of them. Is the rest of the world the same? Is this part of the cycle of life? Profound questions. Everyone looks the same way they did 10 years ago. By that I mean people appear the same way they've always had, despite the few upgrades and downgrades they've had over the years (you know what I mean). I'm pretty sure I can't say the same about how they are within. Pounds gained and lost, facial hair and clothes, mask whomever they've become today.

I tried to add some of them as "friendsters" without any expectation of an outcome. I recall parting with some friends so ungracefully I've pushed myself down a notch as a mere acquaintance. I should get in touch with them again.

2006-05-28T18:26:00.000+08:00

Sunday 6:28AM EST. The Firm is on Cinemax.

2006-05-27T10:22:00.000+08:00

I guess I'll wait for Sunday

2005-09-13T13:55:00.001+08:00

Rainy Days and Rest Days

I am home, waiting for the rain to pour... waiting for a girl...

2005-01-01T19:43:00.000+08:00

I seem to be running out of things to say, and yet I'm always preoccupied. Sometimes my brain feels so saturated that I lose all sense of emotion and just lose myself in constant thought. After the Days, i don't know if I've lost passion for life or have been consumed for lust of it. There never seems to be enough. I am grateful for all I have, and yet I have an unsatiable hunger for more. Human+

2003-04-21T19:38:00.000+08:00

Blog... blog... blog.... I got board exams this June, a class in two hours and my car's busted. I think life can be pretty cruel at times. My hands are freezing from the air-conditioning system.