AIDS

My arms are beginning to feel the pain of AIDS.

As If Doing Something...

This is the affliction that I find myself facing the past few days.

Since my status in the office isn't totally official yet, I'm not doing as much as i'm accustomed to. So day in and day out, I come to the office and surf the net, write on my blog, see who's on-line and try to catch up with them. Then I check my mail, and answer each one of them. And after that, I go back and surf the net... you get the drill.

If this doesn't stop, i feel like I'm going to be suffering from carpal tunnel syndrome in a few weeks. Imagine just tapping on the keyboard day in and day out.

This wouldn't be a problem back in Manila. If there was nothing to do, I'd just walk all the way from the office to Glorietta, window shop, buy a couple of stuff, meet up with other agency friends and have coffee. There, free time was actually fun and cool.

But here, it's a totally different story.

First, our office building isn't near any nice mall, heck, there aren't any nice malls here. For a place called a "shopping mecca", Hong Kong doesn't have a Robinsons Galleria, SM Megamall or Ayala Center to speak of. The malls here are boring, and not as vast. And the stuff are either ho-hum or overpriced.

Second, there are no friends to call up and have coffee with. I've yet to connect with the Filipino community here, although Tanya said that they're trying to organize a UP Alumni Association in Hong Kong. Hope that happens soon. I desperately need someone to talk to.

Third, the weather here sucks big time! It's been raining the past few days, so much as i'd like to go around, I can't.

Makes me look forward to coming home on Sunday. But then again, that's just for a few days, then i'll be back here and suffer from the dreaded disease again.

Oh well, there's always this blog to look forward to.

Plaza Sesamo

Having been to different parts of the world, I realized that there are some characters the transcend the borders of culture and continents. Anywhere in the world, Barbie is Barbie and McDonald's is McDonald's.

Being a child of Sesame Street, i've always believed that our friendly Sesame Street muppets were global citizens. That no matter what part of the globe we visit, people know and recognize who Ernie is. And that oversized canary would always be Big Bird.

Then I went to Mexico...



In Monterrey, one of the most popular theme parks is Plaza Sesamo. It's their version of Disneyland, but patterned after Sesame Street. Excitedly, we went outside the park (it was closed when we visited, so that was as far as we could go). While peering outside the gate, I noticed familiar faces, but unfamiliar names.

Enrique?

Conde Contar?

Yes, Virginia, the Sesame Street characters had Mexican names. I'm not sure what the logic behind the idea is. Maybe its designed to bring the characters closer to the hearts and minds of the Mexicans. Or maybe it's to make them sound familiar. Or maybe they don't want to be recognized. Or maybe these are just doppelgangers who chose to cross the border and migrate in E.U.M.

In any case, it was amusing to discover what our favorite characters are called in Spanish:

Ernie = Enrique
Bert = Beto
Count = Conde Contar
Cookie Monster = Lucas (!!!)
Prarie Dawn = Aurora
Big Bird = Abelardo (although this wasn't exactly him. It's Big Bird, but blue)
Grover = Archibaldo (!!!!!!)




The only character who kept his name was Elmo. Both in Mexico and the USA, Elmo is Elmo.

This got me a-thinkin'. I wonder what their names would be if they were Filipino. Since we have a penchant for long, complicated names, my guess is that their names would be something like these:

Elmo - Anselmo D. Saberon
Ernie - Ernesto Jose C. Macapinlac
Bert - Roberto Antonio S. dela Cruz
Cookie Monster - Constantino Kieran O. Misericordia
Count - Vladimir N. Conde
Big Bird - Bardagol C. Famorcan
Guy Smiley - Dindo Pablo A. Guyoche
Prarie Dawn - Maria Liwayway M. Calleja
Oscar the Grouch - Oscar Mario J. Angas

This sounds fun. Maybe we should open a Sesame Street theme park in the Philippines, too. With all due respect to Pong Pagong, Kiko Matsing, and all the cool folks over at Batibot, of course.

Awful Weather we're having today...

It's my first time to experience a full blown storm in Hong Kong.

If I tune out and suspend all reality, the feeling is the same as watching storms from the 32nd floor of Wynsum Building in Ortigas. The same dark clouds, the same sound of water splashing against the glass panes, the same visibility (or lack of) in the background.

Back in Manila, what we'd usually do during times like these was to head on to Robinsons Galleria, catch a movie, then just stroll around the mall. It's a bit disappointing that our office is 2 train stations away from the nearest mall. Thing is, malls here aren't as exciting as Ayala Center, Galleria or Megamall.

I suddenly miss Manila. If I click my heels 3 times and say "There's no place like home," then maybe I'll be transported back to the Philippines.

*click*

*click*

*click*

There's no place like home...

*wait*

*wait*

*wait*

Nope, didn't work.

*sigh*

First taste of office Lunch.

Friday. June 17, 2005. 1:30pm.

This will go down in my journal as the first lunch out with my new officemates. Was it with people from the creative team? No-sireee! It was with the accounts team, someone from finance and IT, and thankfully, one Creative Director.

I was unmindfully typing away on my vintage (read: really old) iBook (a temporary issue until my new one arrives) when Shiggy asks me: "Where are you having lunch?" When I answered: "I don't have plans..." he suddenly disappears, and in a nanosecond, Peter asks me to join them. Being the kaladkarin one, I immediately left behind what I was typing and joined them.

Lunch was at this Indonesian restaurant at Causeway bay. You can tell a lot about a restaurant by the kind of glasses and plates they use. And this place used acrylic goblets! You heard it right, ACRYLIC GOBLETS! They also had melamine plates and very flimsy paper napkins.

But what they lacked in class, they made up for in culinary magic! The food was excellent! The prawns were huge, swimming in this sweet spicy sauce with gritty little bits of garlic. The chicken was smothered in this peanut-tasting gravy that blended so well with the slightly crunchy skin. The vegetables were in this tangy coconut sauce was like our gata, only more liquefied. Finally, there was the fish, the really fat and meaty fish with what I think was tandoori sauce.

The food was spiced up with a lot of conversation about work, upcoming movies, who should play James Bond, and how an American had no right to even come near 007 territory. Of course, there was the compulsory bitching that's present in most advertising lunches.

Best part was, it was their treat. They told me it was some sort of a welcome lunch to formally induct me into the team. I thought that was totally, totally nice.

Lunch wrapped up at around 2:30pm, with the group trying to dodge the rain since no one even bothered to carry an umbrella despite the fact it's been raining since early morning.

After this first lunch out, the first thing that popped in my mind was: "I think i'll get a hang of this new place..."

Unpack You!

Last night, I did something that I don't often do during my travels abroad. I unpacked.

A few minutes after settling in my hotel room, the first thing I did was to open my suitcase, segregate my clothes (tees, collared shirts, underwear, socks, etc...) and arranged them neatly in the closet just in front of the bathroom. After about 15 minutes, the hotel closet looked and felt like the one at home.

I've travelled a number of times, and I've stayed in some countries for more than a month. One peculiarity I noticed during those trips is that I never unpacked. All throughout the duration of my trip, my clothes would just stay in my big suitcase. It would still be arranged and organized, yes, but it stays in the bag.

It's not because there weren't any closets available. Heck, there were really nice and spacious closets in some of the places I stayed in. But somehow, I never got the urge to move my clothes out of the bag.

The first time and only other I remember doing that was during my trip to Georgia in 2003. It was in my brother's house in Alpharetta, in my parent's closet which was already jammed with their own clothes. Good thing my folks were in Manila then, that gave me the leeway to move their clothes to give way to mine.

Now, more than 2 years after, I'm doing it again. Even if my stay is no longer than 2 weeks, the urge to unpack and fix my closet was there. Then I began to wonder why.

There's just one theory in my mind right now: I only unpack in places that feel like home.

Location. Location. Location.

In Hong Kong, it's all about location. And I think i've got that part really down pat.

My hotel is located just in front of our office building. So even if work is at 9am, I can actually get up at 8:30 and still have time for a leisurely shower, a quick breakfast and some spare time to surf the internet.

My room (number 1909) is located right in front of the elevator. The moment I step out of the lift, I see the door to my room, and all I need to do is take a few steps and I'm there. At least, even if I get drunk because of all the "let's have some wine while we work moments" at the office, I'm sure to get in my room.

My cube has a great view of the Hong Kong harbor. You can see the boats as they put-putter by, painting a very relaxing scenery. At least, if I get a bit harassed at work, all I need to do is look out and i feel better already.

This looks like a good start.

Here comes the rain again.

Once upon a time, I worked in an office that was 32 floors off the ground. Having a cubicle by the window offered me a fantastic view of Ortigas all the way down to Eastwood. While many vistas caught my fancy, nothing compared to the high I got whenever i'd see storms pass by. At that height, the sight of nature's fury is breathtaking!

Rainclouds so thick, it blankets the city to a point that you almost see nothing.
Winds so strong, you can feel the glass panels vibrate.
Trees slowly being uprooted, and sometimes hitting helpless cars.
Plastic signages being snapped into pieces. Tarpaulin streamers being ripped into shreds.
Roof materials flying around like magic carpets.

My officemates and I would usually watch in amazement as nature unleashes its fury. Meanwhile, our secretary would be pacing around and screaming "delubyo na! delubyo na!"

I'm now working in a new office with a better view, 34 floors up. Judging by the frequency of what Amado Pineda calls: "Panaka-nakang pag-ulan at bagyo," I'd say the rainy season has arrived.

I can't wait to watch the storms again from my office window. But I'll surely miss our secretary as she shouts: "Delubyo na!"

A little bit of Ally

Here's something peculiar about the office I work in.

You go in the bathroom and do your thing, and suddenly the cleaning lady (yes, a cleaning LADY) nonchalantly walks in and cleans the area. She's pretty oblivious at the fact that there are 3 guys facing the urinal trying to take a leak.

Initially, I was bothered by this set-up. But after seeing how normal this is with my other officemates (they act like she isn't even there), I deduced that my office has this "Ally McBeal complex". Yes, males and female co-exist in the restroom.

I'll still feel a bit odd while taking a leak, but hey, if Ally and her officemates can do it, why can't we?