There’s nothing like drinking eggnog – or ice-cold beer, whichever you prefer – and eating food that will probably add more lbs and elevate your cholesterol level and blood pressure as you stare at your well-lit tree on a chilly Christmas night.
Cheers for the holidays, ladies and gents!
Posted by wasabi kid
On June 4, I made a life-changing decision in a matter of seconds. If you think quitting a job then hopping on a plane bound for Doha with no plans at all is crazy, then that’s what I am. So what’s the reason for all of this? Well, here’s the closest answer I can come up with – just because. Plans on how to survive and eventually thrive? Well, I’m winging it. Some might see it as a witless choice but one cannot deny the fact that it’s one adventure.
For a Filipino in a foreign setting, it can be quite unsettling. The fear comes from everything and anything that is not familiar especially when your life is deeply rooted to traditions. It’s difficult to say goodbye to comfort zones. But welcoming new surprises? Those are the moments that we definitely live for. more…
How do I justify to myself that I have to start working again when I know working in another corpo environment sucks big time and is isn’t very interesting at all? (And pays poorly, if I may add.)
Answer: I make realistic-sounding, fool-proof reasons that I shall coin “short-term goals”. Catchy, right?
I’m starting “real work” again on Monday, and will be in another cage without scenery until I get that “dream job” I’ve been aiming for – hopefully, I won’t have to wait for years to realize that one single absurd and utterly pointless “dream” that will put me in a different kind of enclosure. But moving on to the positive side of things, specifically, the “short-term goals”… I’ve just made up some. more…
FICTION posted by Rem
“In the face of true love, you don’t just give up even if the object of your affection is begging you to…”
I forgot where I heard this quip…it could be from Chuck Bass or from Lucas Scott, heck maybe even from Dawson Leery. Perhaps this naive and somewhat valiant way of looking at true love occupied my mind as I traversed the long and pothole-ridden roads of the north that led me to the disaster that is you, my dear Alex.
I’ve heard rumors and talks about how you felt about me, about the possibility of an “us”. At the same time, I also heard discouragement from very concerned friends who said that I’m basically committing emotional suicide; that by going to where you are I’m actually entering the deepest, innermost circle of hell. Though I heard them all, I chose to listen to the rumors and talks – the rest I treated as white noise – you hear it, but it is nothing but minute and insignificant. more…
Posted by Rio S.
A few months back, I realized that if I didn’t get an office job soon, I was going to starve (that and run out of money to buy cigarettes and pay for my internet – my priorities, go figure). Off I went to find somebody willing to pay me a steady income and maybe, just maybe, I’ll be able to freelance during hours when I’m supposed to sleep. So anyway, during my search of employment I was invited to a PR agency to take their writers’ exam.
I like taking exams, what I hate is filling out application forms as they keep asking during what years I was in high school (high school has been properly repressed, dammit). On the same day Rica had her interview and subsequent run in with the HR person, I had to drag my ass off bed to Makati. Mercifully, I was scheduled for a 2pm appointment as it usually takes two hours and two mugs of coffee to wake my brain up.
I get to their office; after a little wait, I was presented with the questionnaire and an answer sheet. The HR person explains the test to me and to the other girl taking the exam, then he leaves the room. I’m sure he wasn’t worried we’d copy off each other, because the test was – tadaaaah! – a creative marathon. more…
Posted by Rio S.
Face it, you’re screwed. Your presentation (for the company’s biggest client, no less) was torn to smithereens; your report-slash-plan (that was supposed to be your company’s panacea to survive the recession) was a Hindenburg. Everything was peachy for a while and a split second later, everything’s ablaze and everybody’s running for the exits. You’ve kissed your raise – which was due three months ago – goodbye. Or if you’re a freelance writer like myself, your article was flamed to hell and back. Get my drift?
After failure of epic proportions, what’s the next step?
Take it with grace. Do not go into the light – at least, not just yet. You still have a job, unless of course the plodding creature that is your boss fired your ass on the spot. And no, keep that pointer finger down, looking for a scapegoat is not only cowardly; it’s also a vile, vile practice done by people with no backbones (i.e. single celled organisms like amoeba and your ex-boyfriend). more…
The interview
Posted by Rica
I have always been vexed by job interviews. I love going to interviews so much that I’d rather the cosmos make up some weird event where I’ll end up with a really bad back strain so I won’t have to go. But the cosmos, she’s not that generous. So I go. Go with the flow, drown, and then die. I so love job interviews.
This one particular interview with one of the biggest wireless telecom companies (just guess, you have a 50-50 chance of getting it wrong) I went to had me wishing Friday wouldn’t come. My interview was on a Friday, at 10 in the morning. If Ms. Cosmos couldn’t give me a back strain that day (or a concussion), at least she allowed me to become someone else on Friday. more…
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