and life goes on and on

After having one disappointment after another... another heartbreak, I am getting used to it, LMAO!!! It is like, I cry buckets of tears already. My tears are getting more and more expensive these days, I don't want to waste them anymore over someone not worth a single drop...

After finding out something, crying my heart out for the entire night, getting a bad headache the following morning, I am still alive today!!!

And yeah, I managed to continue my daily routine and my overwhelming tasks in the office. Then, I have time to meet up with old friends in Makati, laughing and banging my head off a cute Korean's, yeah... I have a wonderful night! Oh, we just had bottomless Margarita and tacos at Chili's... Life is soooo goooddd... I just had a salary raise, yeah... after spending only 3 months in my current job, they gave me a salary raise... It is not that much but it still a raise LOL!!! And besides, I am not expecting any raise that early in my employment! And an additional bonus... I was so surprised when I found out this afternoon... I was too sleepy but when I found out that I got myself a raise and additional bonuses (an overwhelming amount I must say), I went suddenly awake! As in WIDE-AWAKE!!!

So. as I had mentioned to my JP friend, I will already give up on my love life since I really suck in it. I will focus on my career since it seems like I am so good at it... Well, as they say, play with your strengths right?

As I said to one of our junior test analysts when she got drunk last night over tequila and she had a very embarrassing moment >> BEEN there, DONE that; the key is "anything that happened there, just leave it there and just move on"

and life goes on....

Murphy's Law at Caramoan

"Anything that can go wrong will go wrong"

I just came back from our Caramoan, Camarines Sur trip. Well, the trip is all worth it except for some "kamalasan" that we encountered during our first day. First, my friend and I left Batangas soooo early in the morning. Btw, our flight is 6:45am via Air Phil. Of all the days, we were stuck in traffic jam at STO. THOMAS!!! Wow!!! Of all the days, really... That was very unusual at 4am in the morning. Talagang di ako natulog sa bus kasi gusto ko malaman ang cause ng traffic para mavalidate man lang ang pagkaka-late namin. Susme, wala! walang aksidente! Sobrang dami lang talaga ng malalaking truck going to Batangas. So, we missed our plane because we were late by 10minutes! Great!!!

We had 2 choices: (1) just cancel the trip and refund everything; (2) be chance passengers and spend extra money for rebooking, fare difference, land transfer (because it is a scheduled trip, we also missed our land transfer and boat in Naga), etc.. etc...

My friend made me decide. I said that we risk it and go ahead as planned. There is only one available seat on the 9am flight. So we re-booked for the 1pm flight. But luckily, we were informed that one passenger canceled his 9am flight so there are now 2 available seats on the 9am flight. Oh no! We need to re-book again for the 9am flight and pay the fare difference. We re-booked twice since the first one can no longer be voided because it has already been validated by the system, unless someone do it via their database..... Hmmmm.. So we paid twice for the airfare! It is a good thing that I have extra money with me. Hahaha! Here is the ironic part. The 9am flight got delayed by 15 minutes!!!

Okay, so we thought that everything will go smoothly from then on. Our tour coordinator arranged some special land transfer just for both of us for an extra cost of 1500... But its alright.. We were informed that we have to catch the last boat trip at 1pm in Sabang port and my friend no longer have any money, just 1000 pesos and I only had 3000+ left. We stopped in front of BDO. It is a good thing I had my BDO atm with me... We were not able to see BPI or HSBC around. And Metrobank is offline! We were such in a hurry and because of that, my friend dropped her expensive cellphone! The LCD has been damaged really badly. I just treat her lunch to make her feel better.

The adventure didn't stop there. At Sabang Port, the boat is about to leave so we have to run really fast just to catch it! Hahaha!!! Grabe na ito! Pinalakpakan talaga kami ng mga pasahero nung bangka! Kakahiya! We arrived at Quijalo hahaha! We have so many bloopers. Our tour coordinator, Kuya Jojo said that we look for "Islao Avik" who will transfer us to Paniman Bay and we have to stay with Ate Tess (another coordinator) for the night. We asked all the drivers there if they know someone named "Islao Avik". They said that there is no "Islao Avik" but there is "Islao Velarde". Hahaha! Syempre, ayaw pa namin maniwala at pinagpilitan namin na, "Hindi po Velarde, Avik po, Avik." It is a good thing also that I use Smart because Globe have a very weak signal there. We just took a tricycle for 250. But it is such a bumpy ride!!! Sobra ang lubak! Hindi pwede ang kotse, siguradong masisira. Binigyan namin ng 300 yung mamang driver kasi sobrang hirap pala talaga ng daan dun!

At tuwang-tuwa na kami nung makarating sa Paniman. Hehehe, yun lang naiwan na naman kami dun sa island hopping nina Ate Tess pero okay lang kasi pagod na pagod kami ni Jen. We stayed at Manong Islao's house. Yun pala, Avik pala ang name ng asawa nya sus! Islao Velarde pala talaga ang pangalan nung hinahanap namin... Dapat kasi "Islao/Avik" ang tinext nila at hindi "Islao Avik". E malay ba naman namin na pangalan pala yun ng asawa at hindi apelyedo? Hahaha!!!

Ayun, kumain na lang kami dun sa tindahan ni Aling Avik. Tapos gusto ko mag-CR, so sabi ko makiki-CR ako... Waaahhhh! eto pa!!! Since it was so dark on the way to the CR inside the house at medyo hindi tama ang taas nung steps (meron kasi talagang certain height ang steps or stairs na kapag mali, matatapilok talaga ang first time na dadaan dun sabi nung isa kong friend na civil engineer). Ayun, natapilok ako! At hindi lang sya minor tapilok, isa syang major tapilok kasi lagi naman ako natatapilok pero hindi tulad nung tapilok ko dun sa Caramoan. Grabe, ang sakit! Namaga agad yung paa ko after several minutes, parang galit na galit na yung mga ugat. Huhuhu... Buti mabait yung mga tao dun kina Mang Islao. Inihanap pa ako ng hilot, pinag-igib pa kami kasi wala silang gripo at yung tubig nila e medyo maalat since sobrang lapit na sa dalampasigan. Ang babait nila...

Okay na experience din naman... After nung tapilok ko e wala na naman nangyaring kakaiba. Okay naman yung pag-stay namin dun sa bahay. Pinagluto pa kami at binigyan ng maayos na kwarto. Grabe, kakahiya! Kami pa ata ang pinatulog dun sa kwarto na isa tapos yung supposedly tutulog dun e dun sa salas natulog. Sobrang thankful kami. Tapos ang daming kwento ng mga tao dun! Dami namin natutunan lalo na about sa Survivor Philippines.

The next day naman e ayos na.. Nakasama na kami sa trip ulit. Dinaanan kami nina Kuya Jojo from Tahub to Paniman tapos derederetso na yung trip namin. Konti lang naman na-miss namin on the first day kasi yung major e on the second day.

Pero sobra talagang experience yun hehehe! Dami namin natutunan... Saka it is worth it naman kasi sobrang ganda pala talaga sa Caramoan! Dami namin first time experiences... Lalo na yung caving! Now ko lang nalaman na may talent pala ako sa rock climbing weeeehhhh!!!

Mazda 2

I saw Mazda 2 awhile ago. I thought it looks so cool and clean (white!). Hmmmmm.... Now, I am thinking of buying a car :)

Ummm... Errrr... Hmmmm

My first two weeks as a senior test analyst after a year of being a total idle... My brain is like... ummmm... hmmmm... Hahaha! I almost forgot how to work, really work...

I have minimal testing tasks as of now since I don't have a project yet, but the challenging part is that I am working with juniors and mid-levels who need guidance in testing. The first test challenge I faced this week (I stayed until 9pm yesterday in the office just because I need to help out construct an email to be sent to the analysts and developers) is hmmmmm... how to test connectivity (xml transmission, read, response, db, etc) to a third party application without an API! Wow, the tools that I have learned how to use previously are useless. Yes, I do have connectivity test experience since I worked in Escience (2005) but always with an API to process my http requests, so, I got a really big headache when I read the specifications of that project and when they seek my help on how to test the system. There is no technical design too so we have to get all the information from dev at our own... Talk about writing an email as long as a novel! Hehehe... Need to get error codes from all failure points and we need to crack our brains out thinking how to test each failure point... Hmmmm.. challenging, really... Thanks to our bff Google, always saves the day :) I am learning new technologies and test techniques again :)

Most of them have no experience with backend testing since most of them are fresh graduates. And after working at ADB where crab mentality is a fad, it is so nice to be heard once again. I mean, they take my words like gold or something. I have a chance to work with Citrix again. I thought I forgot all those things already and I was amazed that all of them are still in my head :) I just hope I could get the access to these systems, which I don't have yet since I am not yet an official member of the project. But still, it is nice to be part of such an energetic team!

It feels good to guide them... I mean, I feel happy that I can impart my knowledge once again and teach them how testing should be done :)

Now, I am back home and resuming my FB tasks hahaha! Hopefully, I could get a broadband connection and a new laptop (I just bought a pink sony vaio!) next week! Hmmmm... I am excited. Nice to break the monotony :)

Icon Cafe

It has been a year since I got really really hurt, I thought I'd never be okay. But hey, here I am still alive and kicking...

I had a very busy week. This afternoon, I went to Robinson's Lipa to buy some stuff that I need to bring to my new place in Makati (yups I finally found a place in Makati that suits my needs). Then, I passed by "Icon Cafe" and memories keep rushing back. It has been a year since I last eat there.

The first time I ordered their infamous "Tuna Melt Meal with brewed Batangas coffee" I was feeling so happy for some personal reasons. Then every time I go to Robinson's, I always eat there with the same feeling.

Then during the time that I am feeling so confused, I still eat the same meal at that same cafe.

Then last year, when I was feeling so hurt and helpless, I keep ordering the same meal and I keep eating at the same spot (window seat with a mirror at the left side). I don't know why I always choose that spot every time I eat there. Maybe because, it is where I could see my face in the mirror and my expression too. I can openly see my eyes that mirror my emotions >> from happiness to confusion to total pain and then to numbness.

Then today, I returned to the place... Something has changed in me but the place is still the same. I still choose the same old spot and I still ordered the same old meal. But when I see myself in the mirror, I saw a big change. My eyes are no longer a reflection of broken glasses. I am not completely happy but I could say that I had moved on.

I felt like there is a connection between Icon Cafe and I, the cafe that sees the seasonal and staged emotions of mine. And I felt so relieved for reasons I couldn't quite explain. I feel so light nowadays.

Time heals everything. It is true that there is no such thing as forgetting but there is only acceptance... I'll keep moving on... Who knows, maybe next time I would be eating a different meal at Icon Cafe already :)

minute

Just want some more minutes to talk... but I cannot have it like I used to...

QuE SeRa SeRa

Peace of mind... What a nice feeling...

"Just because everything's changing
doesn't mean it's never been this way before."