First comes snow...

then comes... rain

We were strolling inside Marina Mall in Abu Dhabi when suddenly I heard a very familiar sound: something that I didn't expect to hear...


Thunder.


Then my friend said: "Oh, it's going to rain".


Where??


There, right in front of us is a small plaza with a fountain in the middle. And it was really raining! Water was coming out from several tinyholes in the ceiling.


Wow...


One thing that's incredible about this country is that they always get what they want. They wanted snow, they built Ski Dubai inside the Emirates Mall. They wanted a green city, they imported soil and mud from Pakistan and India and who knows where they imported the trees from. They wanted more than a five-star hotel, they built the 7-start Burj Al Arab. They wanted the world, the built "The World": a group of man-made islands that looks like a world map.

I wonder what they will think of next? Maybe soon you can go sky diving inside a mall. I wouldn't be surprised.


Oh, did I tell you that they will build the first space port in Dubai?

Love hurts... Fire stings...

.. and when it does, we use this:

PAalam, PBase...

Yup, I'm closing my pbase account. I haven't really used it that much for the past year and I think it would be a waste to renew my subscription. There's a lot of sites out there where I can keep my pictures for free like multiply, so I'll probably transfer them there for a while.



Maybe someday I'll open it up again.

Update!

Finally, I have some time to update my blog :D. It's been almost 3 months since my last post, and I've very busy since then. Aside from the Singapore trip and the 2 weddings, I'm just busy really with work. We are going live this end of Oct and Nov so the pressure is really building up.

So what have I done for the past 3 months? Here's what I can recall:

1. The whole allergy experience where I was misdiagnosed by a Derma here in Abu Dhabi (note to self: never go to a doctor unless I am dying).

2. Stopped going to ski dubai. I will probably not snowboard again. Probably...

3. Watched good and horrible movies. Good: Talladega Nights (shake and bake!), Bad: My super ex-girlfriend (I would rather watch Lake House again.. or Nacho Libre).

4. Shaved my head. Naah... I left a few centimeters of hair on it.

5. Went home again for flyback, and almost had the chance to stay in Manila for 4 weeks.

6. Went to Bataan and Subic during the monsoon season.

7. Saw the one who they said looks like me =)) (That's why I shaved my head).


Well, that's all I can remember for now. I will try to update this once a day. I'm sure I can fit this somewhere in my schedule.

ciao! (I'm practicing already haha! :p)

Let's give a warm welcome to...

... me! I'm back in the UAE: The country where the days are hot and the nights are just as hot, except that the sun is not out.

I'll post the details of my 3-week vacation later. Here's a summary of what i did:

- went to Singapore for 5 days
- attended 2 weddings
- stayed at home

Well, it's not much, but at least I got to spend 3 weeks for that flyback!

Hard headed

Ski Dubai weekend!






I must have a helmet this time...

i love geometry

it's so easy... :p

Fighting temptation

Nope, not the song. Athough I'm sure it's playing in your head right now. Hehe.

Ever since I got here I've been tempted to do something. Something I know I will enjoy, yet I know it may get me into trouble here. Will they deport me for doing it? Hmm.. probably, if they understand what I will do. Everytime I'm at the mall, around the city, or even when I'm in a restaurant or cafe and there are these group of local women covered in black veils and long black dresses, I just have this really great urge to do it! Will they slap me when I do it? Hmm.. I dunno, they don't shake hands with a guy so I don't think they can slap us also haha!

Arrgh!! I just can't help it!!

Sometimes I find myself lifting my hands already.. preparing for it.. watching them come closer and closer to me... I just really want to shout out loud:












"Expecto Patronum!!!"



Someday.... when I've mustered enough courage.... someday....

Hot in herre!

The temperature here started to rise about 2-3 weeks ago. The highest temp so far is 41c! And it's not even summer yet! Last week the temperature suddenly went up that my face got burned! Seriously, it hurts! Everytime I tried to move my face or touch it lightly it preakin' hurts!! And I use sunblock all the time!

Rina was right. It feels like standing in front of an open oven. It actually feels like you're inside the oven. It's like having your suit dry cleaned while your wearing them. J said while we we're waiting for a cab to go to the mall for lunch, "My shoes are melting!".

It's getting hot in herre! Hot weather + hot cars + hot... girls? Should I really complain? :p

P.S.
I promise I'll try to always bring my cam with me whenever I go out. I've missed a lot of "photo-ops" already haha! )

Snow is not soft...

We went for snowboarding lessons again last weekend. That was my second beginners lesson, 3rd session overall. This time, after 30mins to an hour of practice (and falling) at the beginners slope, our instructor took us to the mid section of the main slope! Cool! We've been waiting to go up there since our first lesson!

It felt really, really good being up there, gliding down (and still falling down), and going up again thru the ski lift. I couldn't do half of the exercises he gave us but at least I was able to still go down the slope. I think I improved my falling leaf routine already. Haha! And I've attempted the turns and have succeeded a few times! Well, that's the fun part..

I think I fell down a hundred times during that 2-hour session. I fell several times on my knees, flat down, on my butt, flat on my back, and on my wrist (trying to prevent a fall). Once I almost twisted my back... imagine falling down almost sideways with the momentum naturally bringing you to a face-up position with your feet on the board facing down the snow. I also fell down backwards and my head hit the hard, compact snow. That happened after I went down too fast and I needed to stop because I'm near the bottom of the slope. So I tried to turn left to stop, which I realized is a big mistake for a beginner because I'm goofy, and I pressed too hard that I suddenly stopped! Of course, you know what happens next when you're traveling too fast and you suddenly stop.

So, here I am now.. sore legs, sore thighs, sore knees, sore wrists, sore arms, sore shoulders, sore back, and sore head. I've had a couple of painkillers already and most of the pain is gone, except for a few aches from my head, back and shoulders.

I guess I'm going to pass snowboarding this weekend. Maybe I should consider stopping as well. Hey, I still have other plans :p (sandboarding, skydiving, renting a Ferrari..) Great... just when our instructor gave us a go signal to go up the slope without an instructor!

Froop

I was walking down Hamdan Street a few weeks ago when I overheard this conversation between two ladies walking towards me. One of them was talking about work and that she needed "froop" of income or something. I couldn't take the grin off my face after that! That has to be the funniest word I heard from someone with an F and P defect!

I actually forgot about this until last Wednesday. We were having lunch with my officemates' flight attendant friend when the conversation shifted to my inability to understand how these South Africans talk! Hey, don't blame me. Not only is their accent like a combination of British and German, one of them admitted to unconsciously talk to me in Afrikaans =))!

Anyway, so we then talked about how the Japanese have no L's and the Chinese have no R's. Then, the flight attendant friend suddenly said "and Filipino's always interchange F's and P's".

Whoa! We're now known por that? Do they have froop of this? I mean, I know a pew feofle with that depect but I didn't think that there are a lot of them and that other feofle have noticed this as a depect common to us Pilifinos. Imagine yourselp joking around with your Jafanese or Chinese priend, imfersonating the way they talk in English (You wanna watch Free Wirry?), and suddenly they do an imfersonation of you talking in English, switching F's with P's. p*ck!

So, starting today, flease mind your P's and F's.

Gold Souk

Gold Souk, Dubai

(Un)holy week

I haven't been to church since I got here in Abu Dhabi. I didn't know there was one until I saw some Filipinos with ashes on their forehead last Ash Wednesday. Ok, I didn't bother to ask around before :p (I keep forgetting too since Sunday is a work day here). I just thought they were as strict as Saudi Arabia when it comes to religion.

Anyway, enough of the excuses. After that I said to myself that I will go to church on Easter Sunday. Good thing I was allowed to "work from home" that Sunday. So Mark, a Filipino working at the apartment I'm staying in, and I went to St. Joseph. It was a small church inside a school. In front was a new and bigger church, still under construction, and a mosque on the left. The mass was held in the school grounds since it was the only Catholic church in Abu Dhabi and there were hundreds of people attending that mass. A lot of Filipinos, Indians, and some Europeans and Americans as well.

Everything was going well, until communion time. Three lines formed in our area and I took the leftmost one. About 2 meters away from the priest, the line started to merge. The ones in front of me easily squeezed in the line in the middle. You know how you squeeze in, right? You walk forward and sideways at the same time until you're part of the other line. When it was my turn to merge, this girl(girl1) wouldn't let me in even though I was only a few inches away from her (and a bit ahead of her).


"Okay... let her go ahead."


I was making my move to merge when the girl(girl2) behind the girl1 suddenly pressed her body way too close to the girl2. Obviously I can't merge again.


"Okay... she's a girl, let her through."


Now, I'm about one meter away from the priest so I really have to get in line. This guy behind girl2 wouldn't let me in, too! We were elbow to elbow, me ahead by an inch or 2, and he would not let me go ahead! Here I am having my first mass since Feb and all I can think of is


"What the...?!?!"


What were they thinking? Do they think I was cheating and was trying to get ahead of them? Does he think God reward him for taking communion before I do?? Or maybe he thinks there's not enough host for everyone and he really, really needs to take one. I don't know what was going through his head, but I was out of words... well almost. "What the...?!?!"

Ok, I have 2 choices: Either I let him through or just continue to squeeze myself in. If I do the first one, what if the person behind him wouldn't let me through as well? Plus there were other people behind me waiting to merge as well.


"Lord, forgive them for they do not know what they're doing.. and forgive me from what I'm about to do as well"


So I continued to merge...

... and he continued to move forward as well.

We were elbow to elbow until we got to the front. I remember saying "excuse me" just before I reached the front. Now there's two and a half lines in front: the rightmost one, my line, and him a few inches behind in the middle.

I can't believe that just happened. The 2 girls and the guy looked Filipino to me, which made me feel worse. I already have a few not-so-good observations and experience with other Filipinos here (that's a different story), but this one tops it all for now.

After communion, Mark asked me if we can leave. The place is a bit far from normal traffic so getting a taxi will be a nightmare if we get out along with everyone else. Good idea. If these guys won't let me through the communion line, I don't think they will let us get a cab that easily.

really...

And the answer is...

I should stay!

I was reading a magazine while having coffee last night and I came across my horoscope for the week. I guess this is the answer to my previous post:


CANCER JUN 21 -JUL 23: The relationships to concentrate on now are those that are likely to be lasting, or already are. People will come and go and romance may have to wait. Concentrating now on projects for the future is well worthwhile. you will still be keeping an eye on finances. Any progress here this week is likely to be because of lack of spending rather than cash flowing in. Delay a trip if it means the risk of losing out on a good deal.

Your Luck: Work before pleasure.


Yes, my current project sucks.. but I'm sure it will look good on my resume ;).

People will come and go and romance may have to wait. Hmm... maybe it should be "romance may have to wait some more" haha! :p

Any progress this week? Wait, lemme look at my wallet... Well, I don't have a new gadget yet... snowboarding classes are always full so I haven't had a lesson for 2 weeks now... my ref is empty except for apples and oranges and bottles of water... and my expenses have not been paid yet. Yahoo! Progress!

Delay a trip? I wonder which one... Manila in May? Singapore in June? London in July? Italy next year?? Desert safari and camping next week??? Snowboarding this weekend???? Nooooooooo!!!!

So let's see... what's a good deal..

Delay a trip to get more work!

nah..


Delay a trip to buy new suits at 70% off!

tempting...


Delay a trip to get your passport and visa on time.

Hey, getting your passport is alredy a good deal. Getting it on time is a steal! Especially "in this part of the world".


So, I'll be here until around October or December but definitely not until next year!!! x-(

What's currently going through my head...

Should I stay or should I go now?
Should I stay or should I go now?
If I go there will be trouble
An’ if I stay it will be double
So come on and let me know

- the clash

:)

I take you to the candy shop...

I'll let you lick the lollipop...

I knew it...

Conrad -- [noun]: An alien 'How will you be defined in the dictionary?' at QuizGalaxy.com

I wonder if that UFO we saw last year was actually mine.. :))

Overheard in Abu Dhabi

Conversations that I overhear. Inspired by Overheard in New York.


1. T went up to R to discuss something

        R:I don't understand you.
        T:Yeah, i do.

2. From someone in a meeting inside the office/conference room next to my area.

        A: This is just a front office view of the back office.

Site blocked

This is what you'll get when you try to open websites with "prohibited" contents here in the UAE.

I hope they won't block my blog for posting this haha!

Close encounter of the Filipino kind

Since this is my first post for this topic, I'll put in 3 encounters.


1. Shy Filipino
Waitress: Pinoy ka?
Me: Oo.
Waitress: Pinoy ka pala bakit di ka nagsasalita? Ang tahimik mo naman di mo ko kinakausap.
(Do I really need to tell every Filipino that I see that I'm Filipino?)

- Cold Rock Ice cream store, Abu Dhabi Mall


2. Birds of the same brown feather should flock together

Waitress: Kabayan? (Asking me if I'm Filipino)
Me: Oo.
Waitress: Ahh.. Pilipino ka pala. Akala ko foreigner ka kasi puro foreigner kasama mo eh.
(There were 2 French, 2 South African, 1 American, 1 Filipino, and 1 Indian at our table that night)

- Dinner with colleagues at a Chinese restaurant in Sands Hotel, Abu Dhabi


3. Again, again, again. Sinabi nang birds of the same brown feather should flock together eh...

The sales ladies at the G2000 store in Abu Dhabi Mall already know me since I went there (alone) last weekend to buy 2 suits. This time I was with Jeremy, a South African of Chinese descent. While he was at the counter and I was at the back going to the dressing room:

Sales Lady: Bakit puti yung kasama mo?
Me: (smile... kasalanan ko ba kung pinanganak syang maputi?)

- go white boy!

They serve what?

Can I have toes instead of fingers with my children meal?

Deadlines

I hate deadlines. It either forces you to cram or take it really easy.. and then cram later. When you have too much time before your deadline you tend to relax too much, do other stuff and not concentrate on what you have to do. But when it comes nearer and nearer you start to panic, cram, and most probaby make hasty decisions or not make one at all. Of course, quality is affected too.

I hate deadlines. But sometimes you have to set one. Otherwise you'll be waiting in limbo... not knowing if you need to finish what you started... not knowing what to do next... not knowing when to stop.

I hate deadlines... but I need to have one... and it's getting nearer.

Tick Tock

The case of the plane and conveyor belt

I saw this problem at one of the blogs I frequently visit.

Here's the original problem essentially as it was posed to us: "A plane is standing on a runway that can move (some sort of band conveyer). The plane moves in one direction, while the conveyer moves in the opposite direction. This conveyer has a control system that tracks the plane speed and tunes the speed of the conveyer to be exactly the same (but in the opposite direction). Can the plane take off?"

What do you think?

[G]adgets

Someone once told me that I have a lot of gadgets. Well, I dunno. The things that I own are not high-end, fancy gadgets like phones with 3.1mp cameras or wireless headphones (although, I am a fan of wireless gadgets :D ), or even a 6mp SLR's [huhu :(( ]. Well, here's a list of what I have:


Mobile / Organizer

1. Sony Ericsson Z520i




It's about time I replace my old SE T68. It has already shown signs of "old age" (freezing screen, slow response, buttons not responding when pressed). I'm not a big fan of Nokia, although I did consider the new Nokia 6101. Good thing SE came up with the SE Z520i. It's the same price as the N6101 with more features (bluetooth, etc). I don't need those 3g phones or ones with 3mp cameras (Read: I can't afford them :p). Well, I'd rather buy an iPod video and a digicam than buy a phone that can play music, videos, and take pictures.


2. Jabra BT800 bluetooth headset



Hey, the SE Z520i has bluetooth so why waste it? :p. But I have more reasons for getting a bluetooth headset. Read below.


3. Billionton bluetooth adaptor for my laptop



I've been using Yahoo's Phone In/Out service for about a month now. It allows me to call a US phone for as low as 0.01 US cent per minute! That's more than 20 to 40 times cheaper than using my globe cellphone or a phone card. PLUS, I can receive calls from the US for FREE!!! So, I use this adaptor so I can use my Jabra headset with my Yahoo voice. Plus, I can now connect my phone to my laptop! I hate wires! If I can have a wireless version of everything that currently have wires, I'd be the first one to buy them! I can't wait to have that Belkin Freescale cablefree USB hub!


4. Garmin iQue 3600



PDA + GPS = Perfect! I should've bought this the first time I went to the US. Imagine.. no more mapquest printouts, no more open laptops while driving, no more asking for directions, no more guessing how far the next service station is, or where the next In and Out restaurant is! =)). Before I got this, I was already driving almost everywhere. Imagine where I can go now =)). Now if only I have a UAE map installed...


Music

5. iPod mini 6gb



6gb is enough for me. Plus, I like the built of this iPod. It's looks sturdier than the other iPods. Plus, with the Agent18 casing, everyone can still see its color! Green! Yup, green. Not white (boring), not black (ho-hum). Green :D.


6. PlaneQuiet NC6 Noise Cancelling Headphones



Hey, what good is an iPod inside a plane when all you can hear with regular headsets are the plane's engine? I believe this is one of the best noise cancelling headphones out there at a very affordable price.


Photo

7. Canon EOS 500 Film SLR



My first cam! I learned to shoot using this cam when I went to Paris 3 years ago (Special thanks to my shooting buddies Socs and Francis). It's just a basic SLR but I love it! I've taken a lot of photos with this cam and I hope to have more soon!


8. Canon PowerShot A610



My new and first P&S Digicam! 5mp, 4x zoom, video mode, AV, TV and manual mode. Well, of course the manual controls are not as good as an SLR, but for a P&S it's great! Just ask pusang palaboy hehe.


9. Action Sampler Lomo Cam



Toy Lomo Cam. It takes 4 sequential shots and arrange them in 4 equal rectangles (see how the lens are arranged). I'll load some sample pics later.


10. Manfrotto 728B Tripod



I used to have a lightweight and simple tripod until a strong wind blew it down along with my camera! The tripod and cam didn't break, but after that I knew I needed a more stable and sturdy (and not to mention, attractive) tripod. Another motivation is when I tried shooting the fireworks display last July 4, 2004 in D.C. My old tripod was too short that I couldn't shoot past the 5ft fence!


11. PrimeFilm 1800 Film Scanner



Used to scan old negatives. Quality is not that good, but it will do for old negs.


12. Tamrac Velocity 5 camera bag



I love my cams so they deserve a good camera bag :D.


Storage

13. iomega 160gb external hard drive



A place to store all those photos, mp3's, and videos.


14. SanDisk Cruzer Titanium USB Flash Drive 512mb

Used to transfer photo's, mp3's and videos from one pc to another :D.


Etc

15. Nikai cordless flat iron



I told you I love wireless devices haha! If I could just have everything wireless...


16. Oral-B Professional Care 7850 Electric toothbrush



When you have braces, you really need a good toothbrush. You can buy this for about $100 a pair. So guess who has the other one. Yihee!


That's it! Oh, I also have a Yamaha portable keyboard, which I left with Pads in San Jose hahaha!

smile! phbbt! sad! wacky!

That's me, Topher, Pads, Leah and Chona crammed inside a vintage Polaroid ID machine in Musee Mechanique, SF.

How to make a tuna sandwich

Step 1: buy one of these...




Posted outside a magnet store in Pier 39, San Francisco

i knew there was a good explanation...

Why our Heads cannot be Removed
(A Sagada Story as told by Maria Likigan)

A long time ago, when the world was young, people's heads could be removed. People could remove their heads to wash them. They did not have to bother anybody to look for their lice, because they could remove their own heads and see for themselves. People had lots of fun sometimes exchanging their heads.

But one day there was a girl who washed her head and when she finished washing her head, she examined it carefully and then hung it on the fence in front of her house to dry. Then she went in to cook. When she was inside, a dog came along. The dog thought that the head hanging there was a bone or a piece of meat so he got it and ran away. The neighbors did not pay attentiopn because they also thought that it was the hairy bone of some animal.

But alas! When the girl came out, she found that her head was gone. She knew right away that it was a dog that had run away with it. She cried bitterly and for the whole day she cursed and said she wished that the heads of people would not be removed. The god, Lumawig, heard her and pitied her so much that he granted her wish.

That is why our heads cannot be removed nowadays.


So what's the moral of the story? Be careful what you wish for.

a letter to elise...

Oh Elise it doesn't matter what you say
I just can't stay here every yesterday
Like keep on acting out the same
The way we act out
Every way to smile
Forget
And make-believe we never needed
Any more than this
Any more than this

Oh Elise it doesn't matter what you do
I know I'll never really get inside of you
To make your eyes catch fire
The way they should
The way the blue could pull me in
If they only would
If they only would
At least I'd lose this sense of sensing something else
That hides away
From me and you
There're worlds to part
With aching looks and breaking hearts
And all the prayers your hands can make
Oh I just take as much as you can throw
And then throw it all away
Oh I throw it all away
Like throwing faces at the sky
Like throwing arms round
Yesterday
I stood and stared
Wide-eyed in front of you
And the face I saw looked back
The way I wanted to
But I just can't hold my tears away
The way you do

Elise believe I never wanted this
I thought this time I'd keep all of my promises
I thought you were the girl I always dreamed about
But I let the dream go
And the promises broke
And the make-believe ran out...

So Elise
It doesn't matter what you say
I just can't stay here every yesterday
Like keep on acting out the same
The way we act out
Every way to smile
Forget
And make-believe we never needed
Any more than this
Any more than this

And every time I try to pick it up
Like falling sand
As fast as I pick it up
It runs away through my clutching hands
But there's nothing else I can really do
There's nothing else I can really do
There's nothing else
I can really do
At all...

First Pic

I bought a Canon Powershot A610 last November and here's the first pic I took with it:



That's Pads and Paul inside our Chevy Pimpalla, on our way to the Oakland airport to catch my evening flight to the East coast (I went to Philly for the looong 2005 Thanksgiving weekend :D).

Happy Birthday!

Happy birthday to you
Happy birthday to you
Happy birthday, happy birthday
Happy birthday to you :)

Happy New Year!!! Happy New Blog!!!

:D