My conscience got the better of me, so I headed down to the local Land Transportation Office (LTO) to secure a driver’s license renewal form so that I could perhaps take care of my renewal tomorrow, while I was still in Dumaguete. Anyway, it wasn’t 5PM yet but the window in charge of issuing renewal forms was already closed. Typical! I opted to finish my medical/drug tests instead, the results of which would be available first thing tomorrow morning. I am going to the LTO office early tomorrow so that I’d be first in line and hopefully be able to finish my license renewal before the morning is over. I’ll be dragging Borski along so that she could renew her license as well.

—–

I got in touch with BPI customer support earlier this afternoon (on the prodding of a friend/badminton buddy of ours who works at the local BPI branch here) to follow up on the status of my credit card application. That friend of ours even advised me to sound angry on the phone so that they would prioritize the delivery since it was already due December of last year still. LoL. They had previously tried to deliver my card late last year but found that I didn’t leave an authorization note with Borski to receive my CC, so they did not leave it. I called up to inform them that I had left the authorization on the first unit of our apartment since more often than not the first unit always had someone to receive in case there were deliveries such as those. Anyway, I was informed that they tried to deliver the said card 3x already, the last one being last January 19, and that my card was already destroyed. I mean, cmon! Well, needless to say, I did manage to raise my voice a bit as I was pissed at the mix up. I did inform the customer service rep that  I explicitly gave instructions for them to deliver it to the first unit.

Anyway, they informed me that they would put up a request for reactivation of my account and schedule a delivery of my CC. It wouldn’t be due for 2 weeks so I will be waiting for that. I hope there will no longer be a mix up this time.

—–

I am also taking care of my requirements for my passport. Among all of us siblings, I am the only one who still does not have a passport. Blame it on restrictions put forth on me by the Republic of the Philippines. No, I do not have a pending case, and no I am not a terrorist (although at times i think that I do look like one…LoL). The restriction is part of my agreement when I signed a contract with the Department of Science and Technology as one of their JLAP scholars. Anyway, I did accomplish my end of the agreement, with 3 years accumulated employment duration with a local company, and I just recently secured clearance from DOST so that they would already remove my name from the blacklist. I just got my baptismal certificate this afternoon. Good thing the attendant was extra accommodating and just made me wait for a few minutes instead of making me come back for it the next day. I hope to be able to complete my requirements by this week.

—–

Whew! I was able to do quite a lot of things today. Now I am looking forward to an evening of badminton. Yahoo!

(This post is a bit belated since we are waaaay up there in the mountains. LoL. Still, I couldn’t help but post my thoughts on this subject matter.)

When both guys came out after the sounding of the bell for round 1, that was what initially came to mind. The disparity between height and build was so obvious that once couldn’t help but notice it. Add to that that the betting odds were 2 to 1 in favor of the big guy. Amid the excitement, I was still able to send my dad a text message, and it went a little something like this..

“It’s David versus Goliath..Pacquiao is dead..”

But then again, as the rounds went by 1 by one, I was like a child mystified and awestruck by what I saw. Instead of Oscar dela Hoya (ODLH) giving Pacman a boxing lesson, it went the other way, with Pacman tagging and rocking ODLH’s head numerous times. And he was as precise as clockwork.

At first, I was ecstatic, watching Pacman connect again and again, to the delight of the jampacked theater in downtown Legaspi. But as the bout went on, I no longer felt that way. I felt pity for Oscar. Here was a guy, a respected and accomplished boxer during his prime. I had high regard for him, having watched him fight quality opponents time and again. But here he was at the mercy of our modern day David. I pitied him, and wished that his cornerman would stop the fight. Everytime Pacman would fake a punch, I could see him visibly retreating and almost cringe in anticipation of the next barrage of power punches.

After the fight was over, and as I looked back in retrospect, I could only hope that Pacman would be spared the same beating he gave Oscar that day. I do hope he would have the sense to retire while he is still on top. I could only hope. For history has always told us of a different story. Many boxing greats exited the stage pretty much the same way. Even the great Muhammad Ali retired in the same fashion. It’s Oscar dela Hoya’s time now, and soon, it will be Manny’s.

After Oscar refused to come out for the 9th round, I got this txt message from my dad..

“Goliath retired after the 8th round”

I couldn’t help but smile.

Here’s to you Manny! Let’s drink to that!

But lately I am finding myself just getting my dose of the two. The weather here in Bicol is just a little too much for my liking. I still haven’t gotten through an entire day without experiencing a rain-free day. So I guess I haven’t brought enough jackets here to keep me warm. And add to that, I din’t bring along the two sweatshirts that I borrowed (read: arbor) from home, thinking that the heavy Red leatherette Ferrari jacket (which Borski bought me during my base off last week of November) was enough to keep me warm.

Alas! That jacket wasn’t made for heavy duty use so I guess in a way it will be serving its purpose, but only for 1 tour of duty.

Anyway, I will be able to go home on the 23rd (thanks boss!), and I’ve got my tickets already. There are no forecasted abnormal weather conditions so far (and I hope there won’t be any) so I am so looking forward to being home for Christmas..

I’ll be having dinner tonight while listening to the song which goes a little something like this…

…I’ll be home for Christmas…you can count on it…

tama ba ang lyrics?…hehehe..basta..I’ll be home for Christmas..that’s all that counts..weeee! Borski..better have the Noche Buena ready.

I wonder whatever made things the way they are now. I mean, wherever did they go wrong. These days, I find my parents are just that – frustrated. A lot of things are not adding up. Well, I am not trying to act all righteous here, cause I know I have had my share of things I have done that I am not proud of, but I do think I have learned from those, and I can honestly say I have grown as a person after those events.

With the case of my siblings, I do think that my siblings have grown up having the better things in life. As our parents would say lightheartedly, “Perhaps we have over-loved them..” But it was always not the case. While we were groing up, we always had our share of household chores on a daily basis. Small as it is, I am seeing the effect of letting children have their share of the chores in the house. Somewhere along the way, this was lost on us. Like right now, my brothers behave in such a way as if they are always expecting someone else to clean up after them every time. I mean, they are already grown up, but still…tsk tsk..

And whenever their attention is called up, I would always find them rolling their eyeballs (or reactions to that effect), as if they have done nothing wrong, and it was our parents’ fault and that they were being unreasonable for calling their attention, or that they were having another bout of “high blood pressure”.

And then I thought, perhaps if they were able to experience the harsh reality of having to live their lives on their own, out there in the real world, I bet they would come to realize how blessed they are for having the family that they have, and the relative comfort that they possess. Alas, this still was not the case. They have gone to work in Manila. I would have thought that they would somehow come to value simple matters. Simple matters like having someone to cook for them, having a car you can use to drive around, and having the relaxed atmosphere of the province. Still, when they returned home, the same complacent attitude.

I guess I couldn’t blame my dad for raising hell earlier today when he found them with the air conditioning on, with the electric fans on, and the french windows open.

I wonder…what would it take for them to grow up..to really grow up…

Can I ask you to accommodate this itty bitty request. Can you please also install the plugin for auto update of wordpress on this blog? Salamat kaayo pre!

I actually have tried doing it myself before, installing plugins I mean, but I somehow forgot how to do it already. LoL. I hope Tomtacks can find time as I am sure both he and ate Tere have their hands full with their bundle of joy.

You see, the wall socket in the apartment has not been completed and wires are sticking out from the wall. A few weeks back, I bought a wall socket so that I could take care of this fixture, only to find that there were 4 strands of wire sticking out. I’ve read up on the intricacies of wiring a telephone wire and I hope to be able to figure out the tip-and-ring configuration so that I could hopefully get the telephone line to work. LoL.

Wish me luck

Hehe. Anyway, it was sort of a wake up call on our part, especially on my part as a trainee, as I do have a tendency to slack off when the going gets easy. And it wasn’t much of what you’d call a tongue-lashing as in a way, it was, as I said, a wake up call, as if we were held in the shoulders and shook up from our stupor. It made me realize that I still had an uphill climb ahead as to the things that I would have to learn as a novice drilling engineer, and the wide range of topics that I still have to cover (*sigh*). There’s still bit hydraulics, well casing cementing, and not to mention completion testing. Sorry if I might sound like I am babbling here. LoL.

Anyway, I am glad that I was ‘soaped’. Sure it may be an ego buster. Cmon, whoever would want to have their boss giving them a mouthful of how dismal their performance is, right? However, It’s always the realizations afterwards that count. It’s not in the falling down but in the getting up part.

Time to turn up my gear into overdrive..

Anyway, I’d be leaving for Bacolod later today. I hope to be able to post as much, which I think would be quite challenging as I already had my Smartbro account there discontinued. Will just post updates if and when I can. Ciao.

If I were to describe my feelings right now, I could say that I am overly anxious, and a lot of things are running through my head at the moment, thoughts revolving mainly on the scenarios that could possibly crop up tomorrow, thoughts like the wedding and reception ceremonies being in total disarray. But come to think of it, I guess I am not at all that worked up. In a way, I have already conditioned myself not to get overly stressed thinking about it. After all, it would only be possible triggering causes for pimple breakout, and I sure could not use any of those right now. LOL. I guess the major reason why Borski and I are not so worked up and stressed (or at least just at manageable levels) is due to the efficiency of the wedding coordinator we hired.

I could genuinely say, and I mean it when I say, “Thank God for wedding coordinators!”

Let’s drink to that! Cheers!

Oh well, when we transferred to our new department, we always knew there was that possibility of us being rotated and being posted in our head office. The only thing that bothered us was the ‘until further notice’ part as this sounded so vague, and who knew, we could be posted here for 6 months for all I know.

I am crossing my fingers that it doesn’t at all happen like that and that we would have a definite term, say until the end of October. Also, our date with destiny is fast approaching…October 11 is barely a month away…

sigh…