Bisdak Babbles

Since I came here, I have had bad experiences with taxi drivers that I don’t want to take a cab even if I am running late. It’s not one of those scary experiences though. It’s just that most of the drivers I had encounters with were so rude. Some get mad because you hailed his cab yet your destination is so close. Another one got mad because I gave wrong directions. Last night, a taxi driver, probably in his late 60’s made me forget about those unpleasant encounters. What did he do? Even if it was raining, he got out of the car to help us put our stuff at the compartment. He also got out to help us get our stuff out of the compartment. He even held the door for me. A real gentleman, indeed. How I wish I’d met my grandfathers.

Being in software development has its ups and downs. It is really stressful when you have to complete a task in an unreasonably short time. It gets boring when you’re not allowed to access the internet and yet you’re still waiting for the next task. It’s very frustrating when you can’t figure out why a certain error, exception, or worse system crash occurs. But all these will be forgotten when you get the system working.

Why the “programmer drama”? A friend asked me to book a flight online and here’s what appeared after I filled up all the necessary details:

“UnhandledException, IndexOutOfRangeException”. These have haunted me from epson receipt printer application to web server-side application development. The developers of the Cebu Pacific website must be really busy and stressed right now.

One corny and nerdy thought came to mind. We now have medical drama in TV. Some are good (eg., House). I find some boring. But I wonder how one makes an IT-related drama? Will I enjoy the show?

I grew up in Mindanao. My hometown is not as crowded as Manila, far from it actually, but it has never been crime-free. There was a time when an “akyat-bahay gang” got away with various thefts in the neighborhood, and our sari-sari store was no exception. A teenager broke into our store and took away cash, a cassette player, etc. Good thing the police was able to trace him up but only right after he used up all the cash and sold the things he got. There was also a time when a group of peeping Toms emerged. Some even stole undies and I don’t want to mention what they did with them. Just recently, the batteries of our jeepneys got stolen by out-of-school youths. I wish I could afford to get one of those home security systems. For the time being, maybe I’ll raise dogs? But some dogs are even poisoned by the thieves!

In my iGoogle screen, I still keep the weather forecasts of places that concerns me, including Osaka. I was very surprised to see Osaka getting up to -11C. At this time of the year? When I was there, even at the peak of winter, the temperature in Osaka didn’t drop below -3C. I scrolled down and had a hard time to keep myself from laughing (everyone’s asleep already)…

It would be nice though, to really get cool temperature in this side of the globe. The topmost forecast is for Osaka. I refreshed my iGoogle and got the same reading for all these places. This time, the temperature ranged from 23C-32C.

I take the bus daily to and from work. I like taking the bus because I have a higher chance of grabbing a seat than in the trains. But I seem to perform a balancing act each time I get on one. The driver only waits for a passenger to settle down if he/she is old, pregnant, or is accompanying a child. Otherwise, you have to be alert to hold on to something because the driver gets the bus moving as soon as you’ve tapped your EZ-Link card or paid the fare.

More than six months of bus ride experiences made me more alert and better at balancing. But going to work, wearing heels, and carrying a 3-kilogram laptop is a completely different scenario. This morning, I was the only passenger who got on from my stop so the driver took off right after I tapped my card. I spotted a vacant seat at the back, tried to balance as hard as I could but the driver suddenly stopped because of the “red light”. I was almost at the vacant seat but the laptop bag slipped off my shoulder and hit the floor! Another passenger helped me but I was very anxious and afraid of the tendency that I might have to pay $3,000 for my clumsiness. When I arrived at the office, the first thing I did was check on my laptop. I was relieved that it still worked perfectly fine.

Lessons learned:
Take a cab when I am carrying something very valuable.
Or, wear flat shoes even if it doesn’t match what I’m wearing.

I often buy my toiletries at Watson’s because almost everything is cheaper there compared to the supermarket. Also, there are stuff I need that I can only find at Watson’s.

Yesterday, as I was trying to decide which conditioner I should try this time, a saleslady, probably in her late 40’s, approached me.

They call older women here Auntie. I still haven’t gotten the hang of it…

Auntie: You looking for shampoo?
Me: yeah…
Auntie: I hope you don’t mind. But your scalp is so oily. Probably that is why you’ve got hair loss and you are still young…
Me: (ouch…) Yeah. I’m worried about that…
Auntie: We have a very good shampoo for that…

I felt really embarrassed that I wanted to get out of the store a.s.a.p. that I bought the shampoo she recommended.

That was the second awkward encounter I had with that auntie. Last time, I had a bad acne breakout and I ran out of the acne cream I used when I was still in Japan. As I was trying to decide which acne cream and facial wash to buy…
Auntie: Your face is so oily.
Me: (ouch!) yeah…
Auntie: That is why you have acne..
Me: (This is my face so I’ve been aware of that for more than a decade already) mmm… any recommendation?
All the things she told me about the recommended cream didn’t register much because I was still trying to erase from my mind the things she said. That time, I also bought the acne cream she recommended.

What can I say? The truth really hurts.  And in these cases, the most convincing sales talk!

This mug was a gift to me and I’ve been using this one in the office for quite some time. This morning, while I was drinking coffee, a colleague stopped by my desk…

Colleague: I like your mug. It is so cute. I thought it was sort of a 3D or something. And it is round, like you!

Me: …

[Speecheless for a few seconds as I felt my face and ears redden with embarrassment.]

How would you react if you were in my shoes?

There have been a lot of changes in the Friendster layout lately. But what came up in my page a while ago had me L.O.L…