In my second or third day in this city, some friends back home texted me asking how I was doing. I replied, "I love this place, and I think it's going to love me back." Six weeks later, I'm still feeling the same. Affection, though, is not really the right term for what I feel for Cebu. "Comfortable" is more like it. When I came here, I never felt apprehension or any negative feeling. It was like walking to the next corner of a familiar neighborhood, even though I'd never been here before.
I think age 23--last year--was the worst year of my life. This year is going to be the best--and it will happen here.
Monday, June 8, 2009
Holier than man
I've just finished Jiang Rong's Wolf Totem, and my nose is still clogged up. The book is supposed to be bloodcurling, rugged, and hence masculine, but tears would just well up in my eyes every thirty pages or so.This book is ultra special. This is the first book I bought here in Cebu, and I bought it with the check PDI sent me for "Worth a million." But Totem occupies my current most-favorite list not because of those awful high school-y reasons, but because of the author's sheer masterful storytelling. It's a novel that reads more like an action-packed socio-politico-cultural documentary. I can only agree with San Francisco Chronicle, which describes it as "an intellectual adventure story . . . Five hundred bloody and instructive pages later, you just want to stand up and howl!"
Wolves now are the holiest creatures for me, even holier than human beings. Like the nomadic Mongols in China (or, at least when modernity has not yet destroyed their practices), I want a sky-burial when I die. I'd like my corpse to be taken to the woods, where wolves will eat my flesh and bring my soul to the grassland god, Tengger.
Friday, June 5, 2009
Judiciously
After the "Syudi Rolly" episode (Yes, it is almost history. I'm no longer rendering so much overtime work. Got burnt out after one week--one week!), I'm stuck with another monicker: Judiciously.
No, it doesn't have anything to do with my second name (Jude). It has something to do with what I said during our monthly calibration (That's "meeting" for you.) As it happens, each new editor are compelled to ask at least one question. So I made one about introductory phrases. I told them I'm confused whether to put a comma (an issue so significant it could be the solution to the Arab-Israeli conflict) or not in some introductory phrases. "So what I do," I said, "is I do it judiciously--"
An uproar followed, with some jumping at the nearest PC and acting as though they're checking the word out in Merriam-Webster online. When the noise died down, some reviewers answered my question--and each wickedly used "judiciously" at least once. Now they seem to be taking every chance to tease me with the word.
That's it. Next time I've got to pick my words more, well, judiciously.
No, it doesn't have anything to do with my second name (Jude). It has something to do with what I said during our monthly calibration (That's "meeting" for you.) As it happens, each new editor are compelled to ask at least one question. So I made one about introductory phrases. I told them I'm confused whether to put a comma (an issue so significant it could be the solution to the Arab-Israeli conflict) or not in some introductory phrases. "So what I do," I said, "is I do it judiciously--"
An uproar followed, with some jumping at the nearest PC and acting as though they're checking the word out in Merriam-Webster online. When the noise died down, some reviewers answered my question--and each wickedly used "judiciously" at least once. Now they seem to be taking every chance to tease me with the word.
That's it. Next time I've got to pick my words more, well, judiciously.
Sunday, May 24, 2009
Syudi Roll-e
I'm becoming so addicted to my work that some of my officemates have given my name a new definition. Roll-e, in their dictionary, means "someone who works without eating." So when break comes and someone has not yet logged off from his workstation, the others would tell him, "Syudi (Don't be), Roll-e." (I've been assuming syudi is a Cebuano word, but as I am writing this, I realize it may be gay lingo.)
They invented the term, though, out of misconception. I eat, of course. It's just that in my first day of live work, I told my fellow newbies to go ahead for lunch. I decided later not to follow them outside the building and ate instead at the office pantry. When they came back inside, I was already back in my cubicle, hunched in front the PC. And when the afternoon break came, I didn't go out at all. I told them what really happened a day or two later, but the Roll-e definition had caught on.
With the way I've been holed up in my cubicle, however, I might as well not be eating. My office hours is from nine in the morning down to six in the afternoon, but I stay until nine or ten in the evening. Some older officemates have been warning me about being burned out, but I'm not really trying to kill myself or anything. I'm just indulging myself while I'm still fascinated with my job.
But if you think I'm being too workaholic, wait till you meet my officemate M. She does early OT, from eight to nine a.m., and she stays late in the evening. I always leave the office ahead of her. Once last week, she even stayed until one in the morning.
What we do is more because of passion for our work than for more OT pay. We only get paid for OT until nine in the evening, and last week, my plotted schedule was only up to eight p.m. The extra hours is charity work. I don't mind not being paid for those hours. I enjoy my work and I learn a lot. It's both challenging and fulfilling. I'm a fish in water. I'm a carabao in a muddy pond. I get nourished more by my work than by food.
They invented the term, though, out of misconception. I eat, of course. It's just that in my first day of live work, I told my fellow newbies to go ahead for lunch. I decided later not to follow them outside the building and ate instead at the office pantry. When they came back inside, I was already back in my cubicle, hunched in front the PC. And when the afternoon break came, I didn't go out at all. I told them what really happened a day or two later, but the Roll-e definition had caught on.
With the way I've been holed up in my cubicle, however, I might as well not be eating. My office hours is from nine in the morning down to six in the afternoon, but I stay until nine or ten in the evening. Some older officemates have been warning me about being burned out, but I'm not really trying to kill myself or anything. I'm just indulging myself while I'm still fascinated with my job.
But if you think I'm being too workaholic, wait till you meet my officemate M. She does early OT, from eight to nine a.m., and she stays late in the evening. I always leave the office ahead of her. Once last week, she even stayed until one in the morning.
What we do is more because of passion for our work than for more OT pay. We only get paid for OT until nine in the evening, and last week, my plotted schedule was only up to eight p.m. The extra hours is charity work. I don't mind not being paid for those hours. I enjoy my work and I learn a lot. It's both challenging and fulfilling. I'm a fish in water. I'm a carabao in a muddy pond. I get nourished more by my work than by food.
Friday, May 15, 2009
Wickedly funny
These blogs have been distracting me lately:
Good Times Manila
Do you know that Mel Tiangco can make her vagina do the news and Jessica Soho has been mistaken for a humpback whale while scuba diving? Check out the latest "news" from this site.
Tunay na Lalake
What do Undertaker, tarsiers, and Annabelle Rama have in common? They're "lalake" in the truest sense of the word. How about Jinggoy Estrada, Chito Miranda, and Arnold Schwarzenegger? They're not "lalake" enough. For enlightening explanations, visit this blog.
The Professional Heckler
Manny Villar: Ito ang C5 road. Ang hindi alam ng marami, ang aking lola, si Apo Matea ay pumasok na construction worker habang itinatayo ang C5. For more quotable quotes, come here.
Good Times Manila
Do you know that Mel Tiangco can make her vagina do the news and Jessica Soho has been mistaken for a humpback whale while scuba diving? Check out the latest "news" from this site.
Tunay na Lalake
What do Undertaker, tarsiers, and Annabelle Rama have in common? They're "lalake" in the truest sense of the word. How about Jinggoy Estrada, Chito Miranda, and Arnold Schwarzenegger? They're not "lalake" enough. For enlightening explanations, visit this blog.
The Professional Heckler
Manny Villar: Ito ang C5 road. Ang hindi alam ng marami, ang aking lola, si Apo Matea ay pumasok na construction worker habang itinatayo ang C5. For more quotable quotes, come here.
Thursday, May 14, 2009
My atheism
Last week, when I filled out my personal data sheet for my company's records, I wrote down a simple word for the "Religion" entry: "None."From hereon, I'm going to do the same in all my public or legal documents. I'm going to be more open with my atheism.
Yes, I don't believe in G--. I don't believe in heaven or hell. I don't believe that men have a soul. I believe that when we die, we're gone forever.
No, I'm not into occult. I don't worship the devil--I don't believe such a thing or entity or whatever exists. I don't believe in ghosts and zombies and paranormal stuff.
Yes, I believe in science and reason and logic. Anything that cannot be supported by that is a sham for me.
No, I don't hate religion. It doesn't work for me, but I respect other people if they get their strength from it.
I have good friends who are staunch Christians. And they will remain my friends so long as they don't force me to accept their faith and they don't tell me that I'll go to hell if I don't.
______
Image from Wikipedia: The Greek word αθεοι (atheoi), as it appears in the Epistle to the Ephesians (2:12) on an early 3rd-century papyrus. It is usually translated into English as "[those who are] without God".
Sunday, May 10, 2009
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
