c'mon, make me feel special just this once

yes, i am almost begging. pathetic? hey, this is what single people do. we do the reminding ourselves since we have no "significant-other" tasked to do the reminding. and oh, my best friends are currently, mostly "occupied" with someone else more special. anyway, here's the reminder, which i almost forgot and just remembered last Thursday... my birthday is coming up. (if you dont know when it is exactly, then you are not invited!) anyway, i still have very vague plans. i don't know when i am celebrating, who to celebrate it with, or if i am going to celebrate at all. 26 is such a weird number. and everyone is really so busy nowadays, including me. besides, i have no mother-hen to do the planning. I AM ALWAYS the mother-hen when it's about someone else's special thing. but these things are for sure, if i celebrate, it would still be in groups (so there's the pisay friends, college friends, content dev, labmates, officemates, etc.). and i love gifts (you can give me a comic book, a dvd of Friends, flowers, chocolates, hugs, swedish massages, etc.). and showing up is considered a gift (even if i call you "cheapo!" afterwards. hehe!). so if you think you can make it whenever, drop me a message. i don't mind the planning, but i want to have some "basis" for the planning. i dont want to spend time planning a party if i'll just end up celebrating with 3 people (i mean, i could have done something better given that!)

single peeps, unite!

What: Dinner and Drinks Partee! When: Feb 14 (St. Valentine's Day, in case you don't know), 7pm Where: Mandaluyong or Makati or Manila area Who: Single people and loving it! interested? message me. :)

ContentDev memories

it's been a year since i left ePLDT and the ContentDev people went on their separate ways. most of the group ended up in same companies with at least 2 other people. luckily, that includes me. it made "moving on" much easier. still, my ContentDev experience would always be on the top of my list. and with all the stress now coming in and "one-year anniversaries" such as this, i can't help but miss a lot of these things. i miss Ms. Therese Borra. Ther and I came in on the same day (july 16, 2003); we filed our resignations on the same day (january 18, 2006). we saw the first, second and third waves of resignations. we were there when the branding changed to Spoon Interactive Arts, and again to Cube Interactive. i miss how she used to not usually know what her lunch baon is called, or how to tell if it is already spoiled. i miss her crazy dancing which makes Lio cringe. i miss how we could play Sentinels in DoTA together so well. i even miss how she often loses her glasses and how casually she talks of, um..., shit. (hehe!) i miss the Incubation Room. this is the place where we eat, rant, laugh, cry, sleep, drink, smoke and play. and it is the only place where the bosses are "afraid" to go. it is where we convene privately, away from prying ears. it is where we let go of frustrations by any of the ways mentioned above. it is where we hide. "sacrifices" were made, to keep the Incubation Room ours and ours alone. seniors who used to be in the room have to move out to the cubicles outside since they are usually called or approached by the bosses, and they can't enter the Incubation Room. the Incubation Room is what kept us sane, help us destress. it is probably why i managed to stay for 2.5 years in ePLDT. i miss the crazy black bean bag. it's where we relaxed and slept. it is where we all lied at one time. what more can i say??? i miss Lumiere, the cafe/restaurant on the second floor of our building. it is where we get our coffee fix when Sandy (the pantry guy) refuses to give us brewed coffee ("Pang mga executive lang yan e!") or forces us to take instant decaf coffee instead. i miss the travels abroad, for trainings or conventions. i never thought i'd miss standing all day in a booth, trying to impress people with how our game works and how it'll be beneficial for them to partner with us; not to mention while wearing a business attire complete with heeled-black shoes. i miss the meetings and forming personal relationships with different kinds of people i meet while i travel. i miss the Forum Nokia people who i consider my friends, and who i have to meet when i'm in Singapore or when they're here in Manila. i miss "promoting" the work we've done and the company of people who made it happen. i miss the honor and importance of being the representative of the team. and of course, i miss seeing new places. i miss Chester, who seats 2 cubicles away, singing Endless Love or some kind of old mushy song in his very deep voice, looking at me and raising his hand which means to say that it is my cue to join the duet. i miss Pol and Ting, who used to live near me; and how Ting would force us to walk home even if there were jeepneys available. i miss the "we are encourage to play games" excuse, which allows us to play Dota, CounterStrike, Call of Duty, Battlefield and Unreal Tournament after 5pm. i miss the lunchouts in Big Buddha or Crocodile Grill whenever it is someone's birthday. i miss the panel interviews we make, making sure that we would all get along with each applicant we accept since it is THAT important for us. i miss the out-of-town trips we make, sponsored by our own money, just because we all want to go away together. i even miss the going to the market thing, cooking for the rest of the team and most especially the drinking in good company. i miss ContentDev, Spoon and (maybe even) Cube. well, it was good to have that much fun as my first job. because i'm sure, now that i'm getting older, i wouldn't be able to afford life by just having fun. but i thank everyone for giving and sharing the ride with me. it was fun while it lasted. and i really really miss you guys.

long due post on Christmas (?) reunions

yey! blog blog blog! i missed blogging so much! i've been really busy lately and though there were lots of things i wanted to blog about, i just have NO time. so how long has it been? let's just say that www.blogger.com was not in my browser history anymore, so is "Sakura Mind Speaks". anyway, enough of the "emo"-mode... here comes the multi-blog again. :) A lot of my friends came home this past Christmas season that many mini-reunions cannot be helped. Seems that lately, people only have the time or the excuse to get together when it's because of "something/someone special". (heheh! drama!). anyway, fun fun fun for me! i love get-togethers! but sad sad sad for my wallet, despite the many libre of the balikbayans. let's just say that i cannot use my credit card anymore after that (and i mean CAN NOT). happy new year, yeah! ------------------------------ ContentDev Dec 22, 2006 first off was the reunion/dinner with my former officemates. we had dinner at Banana Leaf in Glorietta 4. it didn't last long since people are already getting OLD and CORNY! they were all gone before 10pm (can you believe that?!?!?)!!!! hehehe! but anyway, it was still nice to catch up with my good old officemates. pictures here c/o Kuya Bry. ------------------------------ Pisay '98 Dec 29, 2006 then just before new year, i met with my great friends from high school. we've all been friends for almost 13 years now, what more can i say? :)

before:

tagaytay retreat, January 1998. where did i get the frisbee???

now:

hindi kami kumpleto, pero magaganda pa rin. hehehe!

we sure are getting older. now we usually meet for special events like someone's wedding or someone's child's baptism. and we're all growing, horizontally that is. except for Luz who still managed to stay under 100Lbs. hehe! :) ------------------------------ UP EEE SAL Jan 11, 2007 next get-together was with my college labmates. these guys helped me through the last years of my college life. seriously, CoE got much easier after i joined the lab, seriously! oh, and it was these guys' fault that i became a JAVA programmer (i was a C-fan before then. now i don't remember C at all.) the "guest of honor" for this gathering was Richie, who was about to return to California then. i don't have much pictures since Kuya Bry was there as well. hehe! so just check out his multiply site. ------------------------------ UP EEE '98 Jan 18, 2007 And then, just when i thought the spending was about to stop, Nox emailed me that he would be here in the Philippines for about 2 weeks. I haven't since him since after graduation (that's about 3.5 years ago) so it would really be so wrong not to meet him. but all is good, i missed the guy. we met up with a LOT of our old classmates. apparently, Nox is THAT important (hehe! joke lang nox). anyway, i'm really glad that a lot of my friends were here during the season. it made my Christmas much more special. and though i'm now drowning in debt, i'll take it anytime if it means spending more time with them. :D