A day of travel always freaks me out a little. (But in a good way.)
You wake up at home (wherever home may be), and have lunch or dinner in Paris, or Tokyo, or New York. All in one day. You get up somewhere where you have your routine and three day old leftovers in the fridge, then in a few hours you are transported to this new place.
Somewhere unfamiliar. Somewhere new.
Somewere where you didnt get up.
I'm not sure I'm properly capturing the thoughts I have right now. About how the world as you know it can change in a day. How the people and places around you are so inherently transient. (You don't think that unless you travel a lot.) How much one's existence is defined by the place where he or she is.
How there's such a big world out there, and all you have to do is take it. And on those days you travel, you feel like you are taking it -- if only just a little.
Monday, March 12, 2007
Sunday, March 11, 2007
Today’s ultra corny joke
Overheard while the Campers were watching Ellen last night:
A man walks into a bar and orders a beer. Piano music hangs in the background.
The bartend serves him the beer, ice cold in a frosted glass.
As the man is about to reach for the beer, a monkey comes out of nowhere and grabs the glass, takes a swig, and swings away on the ceiling beams, beer in hand.
The man is furious. He yells at the bartend, “WHO OWNS THAT MONKEY?!”
The bartend replies, “The pianist.”
The man angrily approaches the pianist and explodes, “DO YOU KNOW YOUR MONKEY STOLE MY BEER?!”
The pianist replies, “No, but if you hum it I’ll play it.”
Pa dump pump.
A man walks into a bar and orders a beer. Piano music hangs in the background.
The bartend serves him the beer, ice cold in a frosted glass.
As the man is about to reach for the beer, a monkey comes out of nowhere and grabs the glass, takes a swig, and swings away on the ceiling beams, beer in hand.
The man is furious. He yells at the bartend, “WHO OWNS THAT MONKEY?!”
The bartend replies, “The pianist.”
The man angrily approaches the pianist and explodes, “DO YOU KNOW YOUR MONKEY STOLE MY BEER?!”
The pianist replies, “No, but if you hum it I’ll play it.”
Pa dump pump.
Saturday, March 10, 2007
Life...
...is what happens when you're not blogging.
Three of the Campers are here for the weekend. We are having a blast. Just talking to people you've known since you were a child is both calming and exciting at once.
You finish each other's sentences. You share secrets. You drink a lot of liquor and you're not afraid to say something stupid. You make references to things that happened twenty years ago.
Yes, R., we've known each other 20 years. Creepy, eh?
Next one of these things will be in Toronto.
Three of the Campers are here for the weekend. We are having a blast. Just talking to people you've known since you were a child is both calming and exciting at once.
You finish each other's sentences. You share secrets. You drink a lot of liquor and you're not afraid to say something stupid. You make references to things that happened twenty years ago.
Yes, R., we've known each other 20 years. Creepy, eh?
Next one of these things will be in Toronto.
Thursday, March 08, 2007
Six Months Later
I've been in HK six months today. Sometimes it feels much longer. Other times, much shorter. I can't quite put a finger on it.
I am happy to report that in six months I have learned two Cantonese words (it's actually just one word with two different meanings) and made two friends (two distinct individuals). I can audibly distinguish Cantonese from Mandarin. I've eaten a lot of good Chinese food. (I can use plastic chopsticks like a local.) I've started cooking really fancy dishes. I've watched countless movies and episodes of Grey's Anatomy. Shamefully, I have to admit that I've only read four books.
I have not been to Disneyland or Ocean Park. I have not been to Mongkok. I was at Victoria Peak for the first time last week.
Hong Kong has been enjoyable. I wouldn't say I've taken to it like a fish to water (that's how Chum described her stay here), but slowly I'm "getting" things. Inflections of speech are discernible, even if the words are still meaningless. Once strange irrational practices are starting to make sense. (If anything is handed to you with two hands, face the giver and accept the object with two hands.) Social constructs are slowly taking shape.
And finally, I'm starting to warm up to this whole "keep left" concept.
I am happy to report that in six months I have learned two Cantonese words (it's actually just one word with two different meanings) and made two friends (two distinct individuals). I can audibly distinguish Cantonese from Mandarin. I've eaten a lot of good Chinese food. (I can use plastic chopsticks like a local.) I've started cooking really fancy dishes. I've watched countless movies and episodes of Grey's Anatomy. Shamefully, I have to admit that I've only read four books.
I have not been to Disneyland or Ocean Park. I have not been to Mongkok. I was at Victoria Peak for the first time last week.
Hong Kong has been enjoyable. I wouldn't say I've taken to it like a fish to water (that's how Chum described her stay here), but slowly I'm "getting" things. Inflections of speech are discernible, even if the words are still meaningless. Once strange irrational practices are starting to make sense. (If anything is handed to you with two hands, face the giver and accept the object with two hands.) Social constructs are slowly taking shape.
And finally, I'm starting to warm up to this whole "keep left" concept.
Tuesday, March 06, 2007
MCLE
When it was first introduced in 2002, I thought Mandatory Continuing Legal Education was the stupidest invention of all time. I had just passed the bar two years earlier and now they were asking me to take law classes again?
What the?!?!
I got an exemption for the first compliance period. I was studying abroad so I escaped from the requirement of having to sit through 36 hours of boredom incarnate. Three years later a new compliance period is about to expire...
...and I think MCLE is the greatest thing the Philippine bar could have ever thought of.
A week away from work.
In Manila.
At the Shang.
All expenses paid.
Why didn't we think of this earlier?!
What the?!?!
I got an exemption for the first compliance period. I was studying abroad so I escaped from the requirement of having to sit through 36 hours of boredom incarnate. Three years later a new compliance period is about to expire...
...and I think MCLE is the greatest thing the Philippine bar could have ever thought of.
A week away from work.
In Manila.
At the Shang.
All expenses paid.
Why didn't we think of this earlier?!
Monday, March 05, 2007
Vista is a dumb blonde
I bought a laptop today. It came with Window's Vista.
I bought the laptop based entirely on looks and weight, much like how a man would choose a wife. Good looking and slim. The hardware rocks (you can't blame men who fall for pretty girls.)
But like most beautiful women, the inside is... well... lacking.
Vista is sexy. Windows collapse into a 3D model. It makes cooing noises. Everything is sleek, with rounded edges.
It's about as slow and inefficient as a child reading a TV manual. "To set the clock, turn to page 24. 24.... wait.... page 24 is in Chinese... MOM!!!"
Vista takes forever to turn on, another eternity to turn off. It thinks I like Yahoo! messenger so much it keeps it on top of all my applications even after I log off. Vista is about as smart as a box of hair.
But it coos.
And it's so pretty.
And edges are rounded.
I'm in love with it.
I bought the laptop based entirely on looks and weight, much like how a man would choose a wife. Good looking and slim. The hardware rocks (you can't blame men who fall for pretty girls.)
But like most beautiful women, the inside is... well... lacking.
Vista is sexy. Windows collapse into a 3D model. It makes cooing noises. Everything is sleek, with rounded edges.
It's about as slow and inefficient as a child reading a TV manual. "To set the clock, turn to page 24. 24.... wait.... page 24 is in Chinese... MOM!!!"
Vista takes forever to turn on, another eternity to turn off. It thinks I like Yahoo! messenger so much it keeps it on top of all my applications even after I log off. Vista is about as smart as a box of hair.
But it coos.
And it's so pretty.
And edges are rounded.
I'm in love with it.
Sunday, March 04, 2007
After the fall
You’re disoriented. You can’t tell which way is up. You’ve lost your footing, that’s why you fell in the first place. You came upon something unexpected. Unforeseen. Like uneven pavement. Or like a child on a bike coming at you. Something foreseeable but unavoidable.
Whack.
It hits you.
You fall.
You get up, but nothing is the same. You regain your balance, but it’s as if you’re on an uneven keel. You walk around like your shoes have marbles. Like you’ve lost your marbles.
Once you’ve fallen, you can never fully recover.
Whack.
It hits you.
You fall.
You get up, but nothing is the same. You regain your balance, but it’s as if you’re on an uneven keel. You walk around like your shoes have marbles. Like you’ve lost your marbles.
Once you’ve fallen, you can never fully recover.
Saturday, March 03, 2007
Happy Birthday JG, MP of Bite
Today is JG's birthday. I used to work for JG while he was a partner at the Perm. Today, JG is Managing Partner of his own firm. A firm he and his partners call "Bite" (like what a dog does).
I know. Bizarre name. But that's what they want to be called. So Bite it is. This really isn't a birthday shout out for JG, it's more of a post on Bite and the effects the breakaway caused at the Perm.
I was lucky enough to be in Manila the day JG and 5 other lawyers from the Perm (all except JG are litigators) simultaneously handed in their resignation letters and packed their bags. I was at our favorite watering hole at 5 in the afternoon drinking San Miguel lights with The Six. If I wasn't in a wool suit that was making me sweat profusely, I could have easily been one of them.
On that fateful day 2/22 (admittedly, this does not have the same audible catchiness as 9/11) I was reminded of a few things:
1. There's no easy way to break somebody's heart. (Let's all thank James Ingram for coining this truism.) Breakaways, like breakups, are always painful. At least for one party. And if you're talking about six lawyers leaving a 120 man firm, that's a lot of potentially broken hearts.
2. It's not what you do, it's how you do it. I gotta admit even I was suprised by the way The Six chose to leave i.e. all at once, and with a letter addressed to clients and collegues, not to the Perm. I guess they had their reasons for choosing to inform people that way.
3. Back up your hard drive. Within minutes of the "Notice" going out, The Six were locked out of their rooms.
4. Giving someone a "drive-by finger" is so gay. I suggest getting out of the car, shoving your middle finger at the relevant person's face, and challenging that someone to a fist fight.
5. Leaving take guts. The Six collectively put in about 50 man years into the Perm. After you stay that long anywhere, packing up to start something from scratch takes moxie.
I know. Bizarre name. But that's what they want to be called. So Bite it is. This really isn't a birthday shout out for JG, it's more of a post on Bite and the effects the breakaway caused at the Perm.
I was lucky enough to be in Manila the day JG and 5 other lawyers from the Perm (all except JG are litigators) simultaneously handed in their resignation letters and packed their bags. I was at our favorite watering hole at 5 in the afternoon drinking San Miguel lights with The Six. If I wasn't in a wool suit that was making me sweat profusely, I could have easily been one of them.
On that fateful day 2/22 (admittedly, this does not have the same audible catchiness as 9/11) I was reminded of a few things:
1. There's no easy way to break somebody's heart. (Let's all thank James Ingram for coining this truism.) Breakaways, like breakups, are always painful. At least for one party. And if you're talking about six lawyers leaving a 120 man firm, that's a lot of potentially broken hearts.
2. It's not what you do, it's how you do it. I gotta admit even I was suprised by the way The Six chose to leave i.e. all at once, and with a letter addressed to clients and collegues, not to the Perm. I guess they had their reasons for choosing to inform people that way.
3. Back up your hard drive. Within minutes of the "Notice" going out, The Six were locked out of their rooms.
4. Giving someone a "drive-by finger" is so gay. I suggest getting out of the car, shoving your middle finger at the relevant person's face, and challenging that someone to a fist fight.
5. Leaving take guts. The Six collectively put in about 50 man years into the Perm. After you stay that long anywhere, packing up to start something from scratch takes moxie.
Friday, March 02, 2007
I'm having a Sprite
It's almost 11pm. I'll feel bloated before I sleep. I won't finish it.
It'll make me go to the bathroom 4 times tonight.
It's useless calories.
I'm not even eating anything. I just opened it on a whim.
And it's during moments like this I truly enjoy living alone.
It'll make me go to the bathroom 4 times tonight.
It's useless calories.
I'm not even eating anything. I just opened it on a whim.
And it's during moments like this I truly enjoy living alone.
Thursday, March 01, 2007
It's March na
God, that was fast.
Before you could say, "Oh my God, it's March na", it's March na.
It's been two months since New Year's. I know, that sounds like I'm stating the obvious, but bear with me. I'm sure it hasn't "felt" like two months.
It's March na. We're looking towards "graduation specials" and "summer fun" promos all over Manila.
Shoemart will be selling all kinds of ugly Hawaiian shirts and flip-flops that break while you're at the beach. Since it's Lent the wannabe Catholics (ie everyone in Manila) will stay away from meat on Fridays while bribing traffic cops and cheating on their taxes the rest of the week.
(Aside: I love how the guys who abstain on Fridays TELL EVERYONE THEY KNOW that they're abstaining. Like it's something really hard to do. A "real" sacrifice. Sobra, grabe, I'm so impressed.)
The weather will be really hot and really dry. Sunlight will come down like flames from a blow torch. The air will be still.
It's March na.
Before you could say, "Oh my God, it's March na", it's March na.
It's been two months since New Year's. I know, that sounds like I'm stating the obvious, but bear with me. I'm sure it hasn't "felt" like two months.
It's March na. We're looking towards "graduation specials" and "summer fun" promos all over Manila.
Shoemart will be selling all kinds of ugly Hawaiian shirts and flip-flops that break while you're at the beach. Since it's Lent the wannabe Catholics (ie everyone in Manila) will stay away from meat on Fridays while bribing traffic cops and cheating on their taxes the rest of the week.
(Aside: I love how the guys who abstain on Fridays TELL EVERYONE THEY KNOW that they're abstaining. Like it's something really hard to do. A "real" sacrifice. Sobra, grabe, I'm so impressed.)
The weather will be really hot and really dry. Sunlight will come down like flames from a blow torch. The air will be still.
It's March na.
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