Saturday, April 30, 2005

GOODBYE, THREE-DAY WEEKEND

Since last night, I've been looking forward to spending the next few days doing nothing. Well, not really nothing but anything that I wanna do, which has absolutely nothing to do with work. But guess where I am right now? Yup, in front of my office computer. And we're staying overnight again. *sigh*

Anyway, I'll just share with you guys something I chanced upon.

How do you know if you, a loved one, or someone who reports to you is suffering from burnout?

1. Chronic fatigue - exhaustion, tiredness, a sense of being physically run down
2. Anger at those making demands
3. Self-criticism for putting up with the demands
4. Cynicism, negativity, and irritability
5. A sense of being besieged
6. Exploding easily at seemingly inconsequential things
7. Frequent headaches and gastrointestinal disturbances
8. Weight loss or gain
9. Sleeplessness and depression
10. Shortness of breath
11. Suspiciousness
12. Feelings of helplessness
13. Increased degree of risk taking

So, do you think I am? =T
ONE OF 'EM DAYS

How do you know when you’re having a quarter-life crisis? While I was having coffee with one of my best friends in the whole wide world, after endless stories about our lives and our...ummm, escapades, we both got each other thinking. Thanks to that venti Coffee Jelly and half a pack of Luckies (not that cigs keep you up), plus everything we talked about, I think I’m gonna have a difficult time sleeping tonight (if I get any sleep at all!).

I think I’ve been on a semi-roller coaster ride for the past six months or more. *sigh* The past year was a super emotional year for me. You could say it was “action-packed,” for lack of a better term. And as the month of April comes to a close, I don’t think this year’s going to be any different. I’m going to try to be optimistic here and hope that it’s going to be action-packed in a good way.

That’s what I hate sometimes when I’ve got too much time on my hands. Don’t get me wrong. I’m not complaining at all. I’ve been longing for that much-deserved break for a long time now. It’s just that my mind WANDERS and these thoughts just come rushing in. Sometimes I just want to escape the real world and go somewhere and not worry about anything at all and just have fun...good clean fun.

I remember last Friday, ummm, April 22, when my friends and I hooked up. Last time we had coffee together, we were all reminiscing about our high school lives. But it was sooo different last week. I guess it all hit us then that we were really growing up.

I sometimes wish that I could be a kid again. When I look at my baby sister, when I get to spend time with her, I envy her. I envy her innocence. I envy the way she views things. I envy how she spends her day. But, again, don’t get me wrong. I’m really enjoying my life right now. I’m 22 and I just started working June last year and I really love what I’m doing (even if it means having to sleep several nights in a row on the couch or while sitting on your office chair or, sometimes, not sleeping at all). It’s just that when you’re older, things can get really complicated...really messy. Or maybe I’m just comparing apples to oranges here.

What’s wrong with me? Is this post-menstrual depression or something? Or maybe it’s all the stress and lack of sleep...and too much coffee and cigs. I’m normally an optimist but after just typing whatever comes to mind, I can’t help but realize that this has got to be one of my most negative posts. I just had to let it out. I can literally feel it building up inside.

I think I just need a break. Soon. Really soon. I feel like I’m gonna burst. Like I’m gonna let all of this out on some poor person. I don’t want that to happen. I just want to unwind and do whatever I wanna do.

*sigh* Just a few more weeks at most.

Tuesday, April 26, 2005

CHILD ABUSE

*sigh* It's already 2 o'clock in the morning. Buti sana if I'm out with my friends or talking on the phone or chatting with someone online that's why I'm still up. But nooo, I'm at the office, still working on my magazine. *sigh* Actually, mas nakakapagod ang ginagawa ni Dar coz siya ang creative guru namin. But still, after seeing the pages like two million times, medyo parang, diba? Ang hirap mag-proofread. *sigh* My right wrist kinda hurts already from using the friggin' mouse. I swear, we need to replace our chairs and tables. Masama 'to. Magkaka-CTS ako nito eh. *sigh* I remember the last time na nag-super overnight kami ni Dar. Sooobrang sumakit lower back ko! I couldn't sit, stand, walk, nor lie down without going, "Owww... Owww... Owww..." =T

I'm kinda sleepy but we both wanna finish this already. We'll just go home early na lang tomorrow, I guess. Shiyeeet. From our building, we can see some call center people over at PBCom Tower. Pero diba, kami ang losers dahil sila, halos kaka-start lang ng day nila. Kami, kanina pang morning andito! *sigh* I just want to rant. Rant rant rant.

I need a break. Soon. Really soon. Or else I might just burst. Literally. Better if I could just go to any beach and have some peace and quiet. But then, haaay. I just need a break. Just a few days all to myself. Then I'll be ready for work again :) (I hope!)

Hmmm, how would you know if you're a workaholic or not? Wala lang, naisip ko lang bigla. Haaay...

I am not making sense at all. I think this is one of my most incoherent posts. But then again, most of my posts are just quizzes and ek-ek stuff.

Oh shoot, my back's hurting again. I need a full body massage.

I feel icky. I wanna take a bath soon.

*sigh* I think I shall end this post before I say something I'm not supposed to... a.k.a. oversharing.

Friday, April 22, 2005

FINAL FOUR



I just read from a friend's blog that Meredith and Gretchen made it to the final four! So being the Amazing Race fanatic that I am, I immediately checked the site. I was sooo glad when I found out that Lynn and Alex got eliminated! Woohoo! Don't get me wrong. I have nothing against homosexuals. It's just that Lynn and Alex are just sooo irritating...just like Debbie and Bianca, and Susan and Patrick. I guess it's coz those three teams hate Rob and Amber and will do anything to get them (the Survivor couple) eliminated. Ha! Sorry, guys, Rob's just too smart for you...not to mention luck's been on their side the past few legs. But rumor has it that Rob and Amber didn't win. We'll see :) I'm just glad they made it this far. I'll be really impressed if Meredith and Gretchen win this race. I mean, look at them. They're in their late 60's, they experienced being stripped of everything but the clothes on their backs and their passports, Gretchen got injured...but they're still in the race! I think I'm gonna cry if they win. Yes, I am one affected viewer.

Hmmm...

Who will be eliminated next? :)

Thursday, April 21, 2005

I DO?

I got this email from a friend and thought of posting it here. This piece is written by a former student of the Ateneo. One of the best I've read in my entire life.

PARTNERS AND MARRIAGE
By Eduardo Jose E. Calasanz

I have never met a man who didn't want to be loved. But I have seldom met a man who didn't fear marriage.Something about the closure seems constricting, not enabling. Marriage seems easier to understand for what it cuts out of our lives than for what it makes possible within our lives.

When I was younger this fear immobilized me. I did not want to make a mistake. I saw my friends get married for reasons of social acceptability, or sexual fever, or just because they thought it was the logical thing to do. Then I watched, as they and their partners became embittered and petty in their dealings with each other. I looked at older couples and saw, at best, mutual toleration of each other. I imagined a lifetime of loveless nights and bickering and could not imagine subjecting myself or someone else to such a fate.

And yet, on rare occasions, I would see old couples who somehow seemed to glow in each other's presence. They seemed really in love, not just dependent upon each other and tolerant of each other's foibles. It was an astounding sight, and it seemed impossible. How, I asked myself, can they have survived so many years of sameness, so much irritation at the others habits? That keeps love alive in them, when most of us seem unable to even stay together, much less love each other?

The central secret seems to be in choosing well. There is something to the claim of fundamental compatibility. Good people can create a bad relationship, even though they both dearly want the relationship to succeed. It is important to find someone with whom you can create a good relationship from the outset. Unfortunately, it is hard to see clearly in the early stages.

Sexual hunger draws you to each other and colors the way you see yourselves together. It blinds you to the thousands of little things by which relationships eventually survive or fail. You need to find a way to see beyond this initial overwhelming sexual fascination. Some people choose to involve themselves sexually and ride out the most heated period of sexual attraction in order to see what is on the other side.

This can work, but it can also leave a trail of wounded hearts. Others deny the sexual side altogether in an attempt to get to know each other apart from their sexuality. But they cannot see clearly, because the presence of unfulfilled sexual desire looms so large that it keeps them from having any normal perception of what life would be like together.

The truly lucky people are the ones who manage to become long-time friends before they realize they are attracted to each other. They get to know each other's laughs, passions, sadness, and fears. They see each other at their worst and at their best. They share time together before they get swept up into the entangling intimacy of their sexuality.

This is the ideal, but not often possible. If you fall under the spell of your sexual attraction immediately, you need to look beyond it for other keys to compatibility. One of these is laughter. Laughter tells you how much you will enjoy each others company over the long term.

If your laughter together is good and healthy, and not at the expense of others, then you have a healthy relationship to the world. Laughter is the child of surprise. If you can make each other laugh, you can always surprise each other. And if you can always surprise each other, you can always keep the world around you new.

Beware of a relationship in which there is no laughter. Even the most intimate relationships based only on seriousness have a tendency to turn sour. Over time, sharing a common serious viewpoint on the world tends to turn you against those who do not share the same viewpoint, and your relationship can become based on being critical together.

After laughter, look for a partner who deals with the world in a way you respect. When two people first get together, they tend to see their relationship as existing only in the space between the two of them. They find each other endlessly fascinating, and the overwhelming power of the emotions they are sharing obscures the outside world. As the relationship ages and grows, the outside world becomes important again. If your partner treats people or circumstances in a way you can't accept, you will inevitably come to grief. Look at the way she cares for others and deals with the daily affairs of life. If that makes you love her more, your love will grow. If it does not, be careful. If you do not respect the way you each deal with the world around you, eventually the two of you will not respect each other.

Look also at how your partner confronts the mysteries of life. We live on the cusp of poetry and practicality, and the real life of the heart resides in the poetic. If one of you is deeply affected by the mystery of the unseen in life and relationships, while the other is drawn only to the literal and the practical, you must take care that the distance does not become an unbridgeable gap that leaves you each feeling isolated and misunderstood.

There are many other keys, but you must find them by yourself. We all have unchangeable parts of our hearts that we will not betray and private commitments to a vision of life that we will not deny. If you fall in love with someone who cannot nourish those inviolable parts of you, or if you cannot nourish them in her, you will find yourselves growing further apart until you live in separate worlds where you share the business of life, but never touch each other where the heart lives and dreams. From there it is only a small leap to the cataloging of petty hurts and daily failures that leaves so many couples bitter and unsatisfied with their mates.

So choose carefully and well. If you do, you will have chosen a partner with whom you can grow, and then the real miracle of marriage can take place in your hearts. I pick my words carefully when I speak of a miracle. But I think it is not too strong a word.

There is a miracle in marriage. It is called transformation. Transformation is one of the most common events of nature. The seed becomes the flower. The cocoon becomes the butterfly. Winter becomes spring and love becomes a child. We never question these, because we see them around us every day. To us they are not miracles, though if we did not know them they would be impossible to believe.

Marriage is a transformation we choose to make. Our love is planted like a seed, and in time it begins to flower. We cannot know the flower that will blossom, but we can be sure that a bloom will come.

If you have chosen carefully and wisely, the bloom will be good. If you have chosen poorly or for the wrong reason, the bloom will be flawed. We are quite willing to accept the reality of negative transformation in a marriage. It was negative transformation that always had me terrified of the bitter marriages that I feared when I was younger. It never occurred to me to question the dark miracle that transformed love into harshness and bitterness. Yet I was unable to accept the possibility that the first heat of love could be transformed into something positive that was actually deeper and more meaningful than the heat of fresh passion. All I could believe in was the power of this passion and the fear that when it cooled I would be left with something lesser and bitter.

But there is positive transformation as well. Like negative transformation, it results from a slow accretion of little things. But instead of death by a thousand blows, it is growth by a thousand touches of love. Two histories intermingle. Two separate beings, two separate presence, two separate consciousness come together and share a view of life that passes before them. They remain separate, but they also become one.

There is an expansion of awareness, not a closure and a constriction, as I had once feared. This is not to say that there is not tension and there are not traps. Tension and traps are part of every choice of life, from celibate to monogamous to having multiple lovers. Each choice contains within it the lingering doubt that the road not taken somehow more fruitful and exciting, and each becomes dulled to the richness that it alone contains.

But only marriage allows life to deepen and expand and be leavened by the knowledge that two have chosen, against all odds, to become one. Those who live together without marriage can know the pleasure of shared company, but there is a specific gravity in the marriage commitment that deepens that experience into something richer and more complex.

So do not fear marriage, just as you should not rush into it for the wrong reasons. It is an act of faith and it contains within it the power of transformation. If you believe in your heart that you have found someone with whom you are able to grow, if you have sufficient faith that you can resist the endless attraction of the road not taken and the partner not chosen, if you have the strength of heart to embrace the cycles and seasons that your love will experience, then you may be ready to seek the miracle that marriage offers. If not, then wait. The easy grace of a marriage well made is worth your patience. When the time comes, a thousand flowers will bloom...endlessly.

Tuesday, April 19, 2005

SADNESS

What's wrong with me? I feel cold inside. I feel like crying but I don't know why. I need a nice, big, warm, tight hug.

*sigh*

I think I'll just smoke and stare at the people walking by...

Monday, April 18, 2005

SLOWNESS

*sigh* It's Monday once again. It kinda sucks having to wake up early to go to work when all of your sibs are still sleeping 'coz they've been up the whole night watching TV or playing. I miss having a summer break.

I need a long break after this magazine comes out. One whole week thinking about nothing. I just wanna enjoy myself :)

Friday, April 15, 2005

WE HIT IT BIG!

m|ph magazine, the country's best mobile lifestyle magazine, is now on TV! Catch m|ph TV premiere on ABC 5 this Saturday, April 16, at 1:00-1:30 PM. Get that ultimate tech high with m|ph!

Thursday, April 14, 2005

ESQUIRE'S THINGS MEN SHOULD KNOW ABOUT WOMEN
Forwarded through e-mail by a friend :)

(Better when scrolled down and read one at a time)

Should you hit it off with a woman, perhaps think you are soul mates, and fall into bed in an unclothed, heavy-breathing, romance-novel tangle, and, in the heat of it all, she moans, "Daddy...," do not even attempt to put your pants on until you are in the car.

The idea of love at first sight, though attractive to women in theory, terrifies them in practice.

While yes sometimes means no, no always means no, as does her ordering the garlicky pesto sauce, twirling her hair around her finger while gazing absently into space, and getting up from the table to go to the ladies' room and never returning.

Women, much like men, are human, and thus appreciate it when you ask them questions about themselves.

Most women do not like ice fishing, golf, bowling, or poker, which is why every man must take up at least one of these hobbies, because, while uninteresting, they allow for the woman-free consumption of liquor and the unfettered discussion of, you know, women.

Those few women who do like ice fishing, golf, bowling, or poker are the reason God invented the Elks club.

Never ask a woman why she's mad at you, as she will only get madder at your not knowing.

One follow-up to an unreturned phone call is acceptable; two is stalking.

If you're single, the tango will do the trick. If you're married, the tango will also do the trick.

Women do not desire to be "introduced" to a new brand of perfume.

Women do not wish to be trifled with should they, on occasion, order dessert.

Less than .05 percent of the male population is attractive enough to ignore chivalry, and most women over the age of twenty-five prefer to admire such men from a distance.

Don't kiss and tell, even if you're really proud of yourself.

Love does not mean never having to say you're sorry. It means having to say you're sorry over and over again, in new and different ways, every day, every week, every month, even when you don't want to, every year, until God grants you his mercy and you finally, blissfully die.

Showering a woman with gifts after the first date is the romantic equivalent of a comb-over.

Women who come from big families are more fun.

Women who have two or more brothers are less likely to be disgusted by you.

Women, despite all your years of trying to understand them, including your intimate familiarity with Freudian psychology, the occasional intelligence-gathering glance at Cosmo, and the memorization of these seventy-three things a man should know about them, will always remain a mystery.

Women can tell if a man is the kind of man who likes women.

Women like a man who likes women who like to eat.

An unsolicited kiss is to a woman as free playoff tickets are to a man.

Even better: flowers on days that aren't Valentine's Day, anniversaries, or birthdays.

Speaking of flowers, they are most effective when delivered to her workplace.

Getting back to kissing: more lip. Less tongue.

The small of the back, the nape of the neck, behind the knees.

While the occasional quick love bite is, in context, welcome, that incessant animal-in-a-leg-trap gnawing: no.

As a rule, even if she wears a thong the first time you see her unclothed, she prefers white cotton panties.

As a rule, women don't like heels.

Should she decide to wear heels anyway, have the confidence to support her decision, even if they make her taller than you.

If you ask about her previous boyfriend and she gets a small, wistful smile on her face, change the subject.

You have no previous girlfriend.

It also doesn't hurt to add that you like pets, enjoy children, volunteer often, and think, if only the church weren't against the use of condoms, you could have joined the priesthood.

Never let her arrive at an event alone.

Sometimes women want it when you don't, and for you not to give in on such occasions sets a terrible precedent.

Her job is just as important as yours.

When asked if she looks fat, even if it's the one thousandth time, you must be always at the ready with an immediate, confident "Suuurrrreee!"

That was a joke.

Not a joke, and a phrase you should commit to memory: "Of course, you don't look fat."

No, you were not looking at that other woman.

First-date don'ts: overdress, underdress, show up too early, show up too late, or talk too much about yourself.

Second-date don'ts: See first-date don'ts, plus don't presume that you're now entitled to sex.

Third-date don'ts: See first- and second-date don'ts, plus don't start talking about how you never want to have children or, for that matter, how you want to have children immediately.

Relationship helper. Please complete: anniversary date:___; birthday:___; dress size:___; shoe size:___; bra size:___.

Know that while Rhett Butler can get away with telling Scarlett O'Hara that she "should be kissed, and often, and by someone who knows how," you cannot.

Only acceptable pick-up line: "Hi, my name is [insert your name]. What's yours?"

On PMS: The fact that she knows hormones are causing her temporary crankiness doesn't make the feelings any less real, so cut her some slack.

At those times when she criticizes your mood, it's okay to remind her of how you always cut her some slack on PMS days.

Do not expect this gambit to work.

Don't insult her friends, even if she does.

More than anything else, women want you to make them laugh.

Women are less excited about receiving gifts of lingerie than you are about giving them.

Women are less excited about sleeping with another woman for your viewing pleasure than you are.

Avoid a woman who competes with her mother or her sister. Embrace a woman who is best friends with either.

Women dislike men who are liars.

Women like men who have close friends.

No matter how furtive or quick the glance, a woman always knows when you're looking at her breasts.

Going shopping with more than one woman at any given time will consume a minimum of seventeen hours that could have been spent napping.

Contrary to popular belief, an out-of-shape man is just as unappealing to a woman as an out-of-shape woman is to a man.

Women want you to pay for dinner.

It's pointless to argue with her if you're not going to win.

You're not going to win.

Women have to pay more for their haircuts, dry cleaning, and shoes, and this upsets them.

Women have to buy new outfits every season, and this makes them happy.

A good woman is as excited about a gift that costs nothing as she is about a gift that costs a lot.

The quirky perfect gift that shows you've been listening is worth twice the value of anything you can find at Tiffany's.

Of course, it doesn't hurt if the quirky perfect gift happens to be from Tiffany's.

Gifts that may be quirky but never perfect: a blender, a beater, a vacuum cleaner, or a waffle iron.

Monday, April 11, 2005

GERIATRIC KV

My back hurts. I think I need a new office chair. The one I have now doesn't really support my back well. Give it a few more months and I'm sure I'll have bad posture.

I need a massage :(

Thursday, April 07, 2005

TIRED BUT HAPPY

Dario took over last night. He was taking photos for hours! The fashion show ended at around 10pm. God, I was sooo tired 'coz I was standing up the whole time! I changed into my ever-loyal slippers 'coz my feet were killing me already. We didn't get to eat dinner 'til around 11pm. Shiyet. Talk about a hellish night.


Me with two of our interns, Karen and Ned :)
Photo by Dario Tibay

Wednesday, April 06, 2005

FRUSTRATED PHOTOGRAPHER?

We're leaving in an hour to go to NBC Tent...last day of Philippine Fashion Week. Sony will be launching their new digital camera, the Cyber-shot T7.

And shiyet, I'm going to be a photographer. Good luck.