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hello 2011!!!....and till then

it's new year once again.  ganon lang talaga, after christmas, new year naman.  alangan namang mabaligtad di ba. it was one hectic holiday for most of the christian world.  kaliwa't kanang party. shopping, kainan, gift-giving, bakasyon, good time.  and you might think i was busy with those things kaya hindi ako nakapag-post.  but the truth is...

wala ako masyadong ginawa lately.  ano ba namang magiging gimik dito sa saudi.  makakapag-celebrate ka ng konti but not like in the phils where kulang talaga ang mga holidays para gawin ang lahat. dito wala.  we did have one gathering last week to celebrate christmas but that's it.  today, new year must be creeping in my doorsteps habang busy ako pamamalantsa ng mga nilabhan ko kahapon. exciting di ba!  

anyways, let me greet you a happy 2011.  and wish you everything wonderful, more blessings, health, wealth, yadda yadda, blah-blah.....

at the same time, magpapa-alam muna ako mga DS friends.  i'm shifting to a semi-shutdown mode.  no more new posts.  parang naubusan kasi ako.  as in wala na akong masabi.  i thought i was a blabber mouth but in more than three years, lahat yata ng matino at minsan kahit hindi matinong subject naisulat ko na.  alam ko napapansin nyo rin na lately i'm resorting to embedding videos from youtube para lang masabing may bago.  and i don't wanna go down that way forever. blogging is more than videos and pics and nicey-nicey comments.

not that i found anything that could replace DS.  oo nga at nag-activate na naman ako ng aking fb account but still i don't get the hang of it.  i seem to miss the gatification blogging gave me for the longest time.  it's something i don't get from any other social networking medium.  never think i would. 

unless something happens to my ever boring and usually flat existence that is worth blogging, magpo-post pa rin siguro ako.  but not as regularly as before.  meantime, i'm taking away the couches and the coffee tables so you really can't do 'tambay' anymore.  so don't come runnin to me complaining about the missing chatbox and comments - they're all taken away by the repo guys! hahaha....

thanks a lot for the visits, chats and comments.  it's been 3 years of fun.  till then people.  tada!

leaving 'home' to go home

i just got home from a quiet dinner with a long time friend. it's christmas and there's nothing better than catching up with very good friends, people we consider 'family' in this place being far from the real family that we have.  what's more, this could be the last dinner i'll ever have with this friend dahil in a few days time, aalis na sya at uuwi na for good.

i worked with patrick in hadeed back in the early 90's.  and now, after 18 long years, he is saying bye-bye for good.  nong dumating sya sa office namin, he was a new father to a baby boy.  now that baby boy is a second-year college big guy.  ganon na katagal.  18 long years.

first thing you'll probably say is that ang laki na ng esb nya.  oo naman.  sabi ko nga pwede na syang bumili ng hasyenda sa ilo-ilo.  but he has to buy a horse too para maikot nya ang hasyendang yon.  lalo na at isa si patrick sa mga taong nakita kong walang bisyo.  maximized ang monthly net pay.  hindi tulad kong kung ano-ano ang pinagkaka-waldasan ng kinikita.  so financially, he'll be able to retire comfortably if he choose to at this point of his life.

but i can see retirement is still far from his mind.  bata pa naman sya.  in fact, he's already talking to prospective employers kahit hindi pa sya nakaka-uwi ng pinas.  a sign that he's still very much on the go, kayang-kaya pang bumuno ng ilang taong contract kahit sa middle-east o sa ibang lugar ng mundo.

i will definitely miss you pat.  wala na akong koneksyon at insider pagdating sa mga kung ano-anong kwento tungkol sa dati nating office at mga kasamahan.  wala na akong ipagmamalaking 'kaibigan' na talagang matagal nang kaibigan in the truest sense of the word.

saan ka man mapunta, saan ka man dalhin ng trabaho, i know jubail will hold a special place in your memory.  18 years kang resident ng lugar na ito.  almost half of your life, you've considered this place as your home.  now that you're heading to your real home, i'm happy for you.  and wish you better opportunities as you start a new chapter in your life.  embrace this opportunity to enjoy more quality time with your family.  and give yourself a very much deserved break. 

God bless you my dear friend. 

makabati lang

hindi po ako naglakwatsa sa manama, hindi rin gumimik kahit saan.  just stayed safe, silent and sober in my room.  tinatamad na naman ako kaya kahit posting dito di ko magawa.  we had a party the other night pero saka na lang ang kwento.  besides, wala pa sa akin ang mga pics. 

for now, let me greet you via this vid clip from you tube. masabi lang na nabati ko kayo this day.  then i'll head back to my warm, cozy bed. ahhhh... sarap matulog kasi malamig na!  

MERRY 2010 CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!

stirring up a pond

Julian Assange and his Wikileaks have been in the news for some time now. Aside from the fact na ako’y utang-uta na sa mga report tungkol sa kanya, wala akong ibang masabi kungdi ano naman ang paki ko. I’ve got nothing to do with whatever he’s leaking. Some say he’s doing the world a favor because he’s exposing tortures, human rights violations and other atrocities committed by governments, mostly by the US. Ok, fine. On that part, I’d give Wikileaks some credit. Pero di ba sa hundreds of thousands na documents na ni-leak nya, a good part of that are private, supposedly highly classified communication between individuals?

Which makes me think… Are we really that hungry for gossip that we no longer discern what’s harmless versus what’s sensitive and can bring a country down? Where’s our decency not to dip our fingers on things that we don’t even have the full picture of? Are we really voyeurs to feel orgasmic in being peeping toms to other people’s business? Big Brother is fun coz it’s just a television show. But Wikileaks is entirely something more serious.

Simple lang naman yan eh. Imagine yourself writing an email to your best friend. You were talking about your neighbor, your officemate, your boss and even your husband/wife. Rumatsada ka ng husto, you were all candid and honest in everything you said dahil ang alam mo, ang kaibigan mo lang ang babasa. And he will understand whatever you were saying. Tapos biglang ipa-publish ng kung sinong herodes sa internet yong mail mo. Wouldn’t you feel pissed?

Granted these are communications between government officials but still, it doesn’t give anyone the right to poke and peek on whatever they are talking about. I still believe in the meaning of words like ‘confidential’, ‘secret’ and ‘highly classified’. I still respect them no matter what. If we don’t , then we’re basically violating the right to private communication between individuals – government official or not.

Makaharap ko lang itong si Assange, gusto ko talaga syang tanungin kung anong pumasok sa kukote nya at ginawa nya ito. So what if somebody gave him unlimited access to volumes of classified documents. Why did he decide to go online? For fame? Maybe. Look at how popular he is now. Fortune? Maybe. Moneyed supporters are pouring in cash despite Mastercard, PayPal and other online payment services dissociating themselves from the site. For humanity’s sake? Maybe. But really, what good does it do to the human race?

Aside from the fact that this event has triggered alarms among governments, reminding them that their classified data is no longer invincibly protected by whatever is securing it, what else did Wikileak do? Did it actually start something to stop Climate Change? Will it ever stop world hunger? Will it even make Haiti find its long-lost way to recovery? Will it end the power struggle in Cote D’ Ivoire? Will it end the financial crisis in Europe? Will it stop tension in the Korean peninsula?

Don’t think so. With these revelations, what Wikileaks successfully did is simply permeate the diplomatic stratosphere with pungent and acrid air. With that, animosity, subdued as it maybe, will understandably be harbored by some. Bukod pa doon yong katotohanang nilalagay nya sa alanganin ang mga military operations sa iba’t-ibang hot spots. Kayanin sana ng kunsensya nya when time comes that innocent lives are lost due to ambush or botched operations because of what Wikileaks leaked.

In the end, sino ba ang nakikinabang sa Wikileaks? Sa akin walang iba kungdi media. The voracious appetite of sensational journalists who found a convenient, highly explosive gold mine in Wikileaks. That’s why they are supporting Julian and his ‘cause’, whatever that is. They have to protect him from being reached and wrangled by the tentacles of an already pissed US government who were, in one of the rarest moments, caught off-guard by the audacity of these leaks. And these sure made them look like sitting ducks. What’s infuriating them more is the fact that they can’t silence Wikileaks because they’ve got no law to back them up. They must feel frustrated right now for not seeing something like this coming!

That’s why whether the sexual harassment case in Sweden is true or not, I think it’s just a ploy to get Assange behind bars. Kahit saan. Basta nakakulong sya. Coz letting him out in the open means firing more leaks out into the net. And to lock him up is the only thing that can stop him. At least for a while. And honestly, I think it’s just a critical step on someone’s effort to get his claws on Julian. If he gets extradited, then it will be the real start of his nightmares.

Siguro naman him being a smart man, alam na nyang mangyayari ang ganito. Long before he started uploading the first leak into his site, he already knows things can get ugly. And that he will be going up against some Goliaths that certainly cannot be toppled by some pitiful slingshot.

I salute him for having the courage, if that’s what he wanted to call it. Nobody has ever stirred the tranquil pond of American politics as bad as he did. And in the process causing ripples on other political ponds all throughout the world. Ngayon alam na natin kung sino ang magse-shake hands on cam, ear to ear ang mga ngiti, pero sa kabila noon ay nagmumura at halos pigain ang kamay ng ka-hand shake sa inis.

But after all is said and done, let’s take a step back and look at the whole issue on a wider perspective. Bakit ba my leak? Saan ito nanggaling?. Come on, you don’t have to be a rocket scientist to know that when there’s a leak, there’s a source. And this is what the US government should be working on, if they haven’t yet. They’ve got to find out who has duped and betrayed them on such a massive, devastating scale. Who is behind the boyish, unassuming face of Assange. Who is the real culprit behind Wikileaks. Now that, my friends, is gonna be the really juicy part!

be dazzled

if you want a glittering, sparkling and truly dazzling christmas, head out to the emirates palace hotel in abu dhabi where they have a 13-m high christmas tree decorated with diamonds!  real diamonds worth 11 million US dollars! doubting what i've just said?  ok, then watch this...

(ps: it's not just diamonds. the 11million dollars total includes pearls and other precious stones like rubies and sapphires. it's loaned from a gallery who was the one responsible for decorating the tree with the hope of gaining an entry to the guiness book. emirates palace hotel had to get this straightened out after some sectors reacted to the overly lavish decoration.)

hubaaadddd!!!

I’ve been dodging it for some time. Dapat talaga August pa lang medical exams ko na pero kakaiwas umabot ng December. And this time, hindi na pwedeng mag-inarte, mag-dahilan or mag-drama. Otherwise, mare-report na ako na parang tax evader at masasama sa statistics na ipi-present sa mga amo na ang title eh ‘mga pasaway’!

Ewan ko ba pero ever since ito talaga ang pinaka-mahirap na parte pag mag-aapply ako ng trabaho o kung dito nga sa Saudi, part ng requirement sa iyong pinagta-trabahuhan. I hate a lot of things about medical exams. Samantalang ito lang yong paraan para makita natin kung kailangan na ba ng maintenance ng ating mga ‘tumatanda’ at ‘kinakalawang’ na katawang lupa!

First, perennial problem ko na dati pa ang high blood pressure. I always have to convince the nurse na hindi mataas ang bp ko. Normal sa akin yon. 150/90? Sa iba oo. E sa akin ganon talaga yon eh. 23 years old pa lang ako, first medical exam ko para pumunta ng Saudi, 130/90 na ang bp ko. So what’s the big deal? Eh sa masipag mag-pump ang puso ko ng dugo eh!

Tapos kung pre-employment yong medical, andyan na yong hubaran portion! Susmiyo! Kaya nga hindi ako nag-artista! Why in the world do I have to disrobe for someone na hindi ko naman ka-intimate. Sa kwarto lang at sa banyo ako comfortable na naka-birthday suit! Tapos pagbo-boldin mo ako sa harap mo eh ni hindi kita kilala!

One time nga noon, ka-chipan yata yong clinic na ka-tie-up nong recruitment agent, akalain mong parang hazing sa frat ang nangyari. We were lined up against the wall, sampu yata kami. Tapos sabi ng doctor (an old man) sige, hubad. Hubad naman kami. Sabay-sabay yong sampu huh! Sa isip ko lang ano to, audition para sa isang bold film? Titingnan kung sino ang may malaking ‘qualification?’

Meron namang isa, and old lady doctor. Old na talaga as in ang bagal na nyang magsalita at kumilos. At least this time, one on one naman ang labanan. So walang masyadong hiya factor. Pero comedy si doktora. She’s seated behind a desk almost 3 meters away from me. Pakikinggan mo mabuti ang instructions nya kasi mahina na rin ang boses. Sasabihin nya, Hubad. Tuwad. All the while, iilawan nya ang gusto nyang makita using her flashlight! Bwahahaha!

Lately dahil sa edad ko na qualified na sa ECG (o bakit, I’ve always been proud of my age ah!), kasama na rin yon sa mga requirement. Nakakairita din na kakabitan ka nong ilang suction ends na yon na pag natanggal eh daig mo pa ang sinipsip ng pitong bampira! Ang tagal mawala ng chikinini!

But the hardest parts is, and will always be, the ‘sample’ gathering. Yong specimen ng solid at liquid waste mo. Dito talaga sumusuko ako. Bumabaligtad ang sikmura ko, tumutulo ang luha at uhog ko sa parteng ito. Kaya nga sabi ko ni hindi ko inisip na mag-take ng any course related to medicine eh. I simply don’t have the guts to deal with my own, pano na kung sa iba pa!!!

Ay teka, bago mapunta sa kaduwal-duwal na bagay ang usapan, at least ginawa ko na whatever is required of me, for now. At kung dati-dati eh problema ko ang mga triglycerides at bad cholesterol ko, this year halos nasa normal level sya. And I hope I can maintain it. Yong iba, wala na talagang magagawa. At my age and lifestyle na hindi ko na kailangang i-esplika ang pagiging couch potato ko at ang exercise lang na inaabot ko eh ang pag-click ng mouse at pag-pindot ng keyboard, maswerte na ako dahil nasa tolerable level pa rin yong mga yon. Kaya next medical exam na lang ulit ako mamo-mroblema! Meantime, I miss a huge piece of SK’s yummy T-bone! Hahaha!