Someone once told me that if things don't go according to plan, then your plan was wrong. From the depths of my heart, once again, thank you, Lord, for showing me that I was wrong.

I don't know what I did right to deserve a second chance, but thank you, Lord, for giving me the wake-up calls of wake-up calls.

Thank you, Lord, for showing me the difference of passion and obligation.

Thank you, Lord, for showing me that instead of trying to outmatch the pace of other clueless zombies like me, I only actually had myself to compete with.

Thank you, Lord, for making me realize that accomplishing greats feats in all other things pale in comparison to the satisfaction I get whenever I finally get over a baby step for something I sincerely love to do. It's the difference between contentment and pure, utter bliss.

Thank you, Lord, for showing me which things were actually worth losing sleep over. I still have a bit of trouble detaching from my old 'programmed' ways, but I'm getting there and frankly, I'm surprising myself every step of the way.

For all these, thank you, Lord -- thank you, thank you, thank you for saving my life.

(For the record, I've got a lot of unposted entries swimming in my head, but this one DEFINITELY deserves to be jotted down, remembered, and immortalized.)

It was a reunion concert, that was for sure, but not just for the Eraserheads. It was for all the 90s kiddos out there, for all the fans and vanguards loyal to OPM, and for all the friends who found a compelling reason to meet up again after a long lull.

Thanks to the fabulously-early Ethel, who was already there as early as 2 pm, we got a great spot at the front of the Patron area, conveniently near the McDo stall of the VIP area. By 8, we were complete and as giddy as eager groupies (maybe even more). Dana pointed out that this was our first time to see the EHeads perform live. Excitement as well as anxiety took over, as I was wondering what the catch would be for this much-anticipated event. Would they only be singing 3 songs? Where the heck were the instruments? Would we be only getting live video feed? I swear, if that happens, I'll find a way to the SVIP section, just to give the organizer a good whack in the head.

Eight-thirty rolled along, and the 10-minute countdown began. Fellow EHeads groupies chanted down every last 10 seconds of each minute, and were cheering like hell for the last one minute. The 'SA WAKAS!' line that flashed on the screen practically summed it all up. Our eyes were glued to the montage of the group's pics on the screen, as we were all wondering what would come next. Then, the familiar intro rifts hit the air, and everybody immediately knew it was Alapaap. Suddenly, something was rising out of the platform -- the stage, instruments, killer sound system, and oh yeah, the EHeads appeared! I don't think there was anyone who wasn't shouting and jumping up and down at that moment. I swear, it was like it was U2 who came out of that stage. I myself was shrieking incessantly, and I could feel tears streaking down my face. It was really happening! Fireworks shooted from the top, the side and the bottom of the stage, sending an already-fired-up audience to a frenzy.

And it was like that for the next 12(?13?14) songs -- everybody jumping up and down, everyone singing at the top of their lungs (never mind hitting the right tone), everyone just so glad to see that yes, miracles do happen. Even Buddy himself was all smiles (I swear, I was such a groupie --- up to the 3rd song, I was shrieking, 'Si Buddy!' everytime the camera focused on him). I love them for singing With a Smile, Shake Yer Head and Toyang. I love them for making me miss lyrics that are at par with Ligaya, Kailan and Huwag Mo Nang Itanong. I love that they featured snapshots of UP while singing Sembreak. God, I love them so much that I even found myself singing to Fruitcake. Ethel was right in saying that there was so much love in there that evening, that friends were reunited and were just there to sincerely enjoy good music and all it stood for. The crowd never really needed any encouragement. It was like playing the National Anthem --- everyone stood at attention and knew what to do by instinct (i.e. wave their hands, hoot loudly, sing 'Do-doo-doo-dooooo!' perfectly during With a Smile).

Of course, as everyone probably knows by now, the event was cut short, as Buddy, Marcus & Raymund, together with Ely's sister, announced that Ely had to be rushed to the hospital and that they themselves were at a state of shock. Despite the obvious disappointment at going from such a great kickoff to a sudden halt, I don't think I heard a jeer or a boo. Heck, Ely belted out a 15-song set, people; one would think that he just gave as much as his strength would permit, before plopping down and calling it quits. The crowd took the news in, understood, and gave the band the heartfelt applause that was due them. A minute of silence was given for prayers, before the crowd parted. Although, I think everyone still kept their tickets, just in case, and prayed for an equally-surreal Part Two. Heck, I would still pay for tickets if there was a Part Two. Frankly, I actually think we still owe them. More than sulit, I tell you. We went on for hours later on, for the most part wondering what songs they were actually planning to do next (Magasin? Para sa Masa? Pare Ko?).

The best part of it all was I got to spend this never-to-forget moment with my high school buddies, Team Bugsy (oo, high school kami nun kaya may pangalan). These were the songs we grew up with, the songs that would trigger memories at once for everyone (i.e. kanta ni Mace, Huwag Kang Matakot's special message, etc.), the songs that were somehow made a part of us and who we were. Just think, how many groups out there were also going through the same thing? Love, miracles and magic went on this August 30th, I tell you. Here's to long friendships, invincible bands, and the power of timeless music.

My Outlook's on steroids. Seriously.

If you're like any other IT yuppie, then my guess is that the bulk of your time is spent writing emails, responding to emails, classifying your emails and yet later, still checking your email client if there's anything you missed. If your work revolves around your Outlook, then this freeware will do you wonders. Or entertain you, at least.

What's exactly so wonderful about Xobni, you ask? It's not that it indexes your inbox and enables email searching at Google-pace. It's not being able to draw stats about your email and email buddies, such as who are your top 10 correspondents, the top 10 people who respond to you the fastest, even your peak email hour/day/week/month [according to Xobni, 11 pm Tuesdays = hell for me]. It's not the profile sidebar that enables you to see each contact, along with your common friends, his email time-habits, your threads and all the attached files in your emails. It's actually the fact that no matter how shamelessly nerdy you get, it just hooks you in, making you visualize your stats over and over, and you just can't wait to tell all your email-slaved friends about it.

One downside though -- it's only for Outlook. Well, never were friends with Notes anyway.

If this post wasn't still as nerdy as hell for you, go check it out or view Xobni's demo vid below:

i find that life comes in phases. one time, you'll find life so uneventful and boring that you begin to nitpick and question everything. next, you'll find that life hurls everything but the kitchen sink at you that you just want to zone out. bored. nitpick. battered. zone out. chill. think of what's next.

i'm somewhere in that zoning out part right now. recently, to say that things have been chaotic is to put it nicely. i've never thought of myself as that resistant to change, but when it haunts you at home, at work, when you're with your friends, it can be a tad overwhelming. gawd, for crying out loud, i've got this 3 gigantic zits in my face (oo, mayabang na, but when i get zits, that's a very bad sign.) i've already got them named -- BEA, youtube and mike (oo mike, i'm holding you responsible for this. you owe me pond's. =p) but i say, boo-hoo, have a cry over it, be a bratinella if you need to, but then move on. zone out and chill. speak in abbreviated sentences.

as with any muni-muni moment, i usually take a trip down nostalgia lane to calm myself down. i got reoriented with friendster and multiply, and retroed while reading all my past posts and testimonials. it was kind of funny, actually, when i got to reading the oldest testimonials -- these were posts by my high school friends. if you were only getting to know me for the first time, you'll get the impression that i was this patient, uber-nice and perky person who would never complain about anything. i could already hear my officemates' eyebrows hitting the roof. "Si Ish?! Patient?? On what alternate universe?!"

i know i've changed my stance in a lot of ways, but it never really sinked in this much. i guess in challenging times, you get to know who you are, who you want to be, or at least who you were all along. for the record, i've never really believed that soul-searching for who you are would solve anything -- what mattered was that you're happy with whoever you are at a given time.

so that brings us to the question -- am i happy with who i am now? the reborn brat who needs to put on the brakes and grow up? (fyi, i'm still debating with myself if that's a need.) i found that i may be weaker and more vulnerable now than the disciplined thinker i was then. but there's something with being a feeler that's just draws you in; i guess any brand-new feeling is impossible to resist. well, one thing's for sure -- i'm happy that FINALLY i'm able to detach myself from my work (o SWAT, paki-baba uli ng kilay.) now i understand that work is just work. i finally got it through my thick head that work does not define me. big feat, trust me.

so there goes zone out; this is probably the chill phase. so, what's next?

the problem about dancing is not having to deal with sore muscles and bruises every time. it's that afterwards, you begin to question why you bother doing anything else.




teacher: back, flip, back, stand, back. got it?
kami: (...) sureeee.

i'm so in love with animoto right now. =p

It was bittersweet - I was taking my time rolling in the covers that morning, as I knew it would be the last day that I'll be hugging these ultra-soft linens. Even harder to swallow was that we were about to take our last breakfast buffet in the hotel (pun intended). How would breakfast be without the most perfect muffins I've ever tasted? As if by fate, a man approached me and asked how my meal was. He turned out to be the hotel chef and like a starstruck teen, I gushed about how divine every meal was. He promised to whip up something extra special if ever we came back for another visit. Of course, I couldn't let him go without a picture. =)

Lorena had to go back to the office for a meeting with the HP India folks; I actually had the whole day for myself. The day had 'gung-ho adventure' written all over it. I grabbed my bag and set out, only to be met by a throng of people walking ala 'Alay Lakad' towards the city center. It turned out that today was a big day for Bangalore, as they were going to install new members of the Parliamentary. I stuck out like a sore thumb amidst the sea of men on a mission. Good thing that I wore rubber shoes, as I've already walked a good few kilometers before I was able to hail an autorickshaw (i.e. India's 3-wheeled motorcycle that took you anywhere in the city, and I mean anywhere, even on the main highway). That's when I met Babu, my 'tour guide' for the day. At first, I only intended to get a ride to the Lalbargh garden, famous for its huge global collection of horticulture. Babu took me directly to the garden and didn't attempt to impose a sidetrip to a souvenir shop in search of a commision, which was the foremost warning by online tourist reviews and tips. As it was easy to tell that I was an eager tourist, Babu offered to wait for me and take me to my next destination. As Babu seemed to be genuinely nice & quick-witted, I took him up on his offer. True enough, Babu took me directly where I wanted to go; he shattered the image I had of Bangalore's auto-rickshaw drivers.

The garden was a big park in the middle of the city -- and by big, I mean absurdly gigantic. It had a big lake in its heart, where you could go see Lalbagh's gigantic birds in flight. I've never seen so many unrestrained birds up this close. In fact in the middle of bird-watching, one came too close and the coward in me panicked and looked for another good spot in the park. The park was actually a garden started by an emperor and was continued by his son afterwards, who imported plants from all over the world to showcase. Trees were labeled with their location of origin. Aside from the plants, there were interesting monuments & buildings, with which this happy tourist went trigger-happy.

After a looong stroll around the park, I went back to Babu and asked to be taken to the famous Premiere Bookstore over at Church Street. It was a quaint establishment that you could easily pass by the line of stores and not notice it. The bookstore had a 'Book Sale' feel; the walls were filled with shelves of books and in the middle of the room, novels were stacked one over the other in endless piles. I almost fell over when I got to see the titles and authors that easily jumped out. Grishams. Prachetts. Ayn Rands. Classics. Modern best sellers. And all for a good price! I took home 'Eat Pray Love', a Murakami, the Erich Segal book I was looking forward to read for the longest time, and a book written by a recommended Indian author. Of course, I couldn't leave without taking a picture of the shop owner. He asked me where I came from, and when I replied 'the Philippines', he instantly said, "Ah. The Marcoses." Dang it, that was the second time I got that reaction; I refuse to believe that the Marcoses are representative of how we deserve to be seen in the world.

Anyhow, I still walked back to the autorickshaw with my new books and a stupid smile on my face. My next stop was Garupa Mall, which was recommended by Ali. Frankly, I think The Forum had a better selection of shops, but in their department store, I did set my eyes upon a lamp that I definitely MUST have. Never mind that it was about more than a feet tall and would not probaby pass as a hand-carry; I just had to have it! I lugged around my lamp and went back to Babu.

Our next stop was Commercial street, a magnet for bargain hunters. It resembled our Binondo -- the main road was dotted with stalls of textiles, crafts and other what-nots and the by-streets were still brimming with more shops. The prices were remarkably lower than what I've seen in the malls & MG Road. You had to take your time searching for the goods that called out to you; at the end of the day, I came away with a very nice kurta + trousers + stole set for my mom, cute bracelets for my niece, and some trinkets for my officemates. If you find yourself here one day, check out a handicrafts store named 'Bombay Traders'; they had the best selection from what I've seen in Commercial street, and they offer them at a fair price. If you go ga-ga and haul away lots of souvenirs, they give you a sizeable discount. Sweet!

As evening was fast approaching, it was time to call the adventure over. I met up with Lorena and had to bid goodbye to Babu. Babu was waiting with a farewell gift for me -- an orange rose. How's that for total customer experience? Yep, I was lucky enough to meet Bangalore's nicest autorickshaw driver. =)

Dugyot -- that was an apt word to describe us when we got back to our hotel. Since check-out time was 12 noon, we already checked out in the morning and our bags were currently at the luggage counter. However, things were still starting to get better -- the hotel offered us a room where we could freshen up, use the facilities and do some last-minute packing. Just when I thought they couldn't possibly do anything better, I (pleasantly) was proven wrong.

I don't know how I managed to fit in everything I had into my bags, but a couple of hours later, we finally got packed and ready to leave. We bid goodbye to our friend Ali at the shop; I made a mental note to draft up goodbye-and-thank-you emails to the friends we made in India. Taking in India is certainly a experience (and for some people, India is THE experience). I thought I was already an apt traveler, but I could not put into words how much the past 5 days have taught me not only about the world, but also about myself. All in all, India has made me feel bigger yet smaller at the same time. Fate has definitely been sweet to make my first step out of my comfort zone happen in India.

(p.s. In case you're wondering, I did manage to pass off my lamp as hand-carry all the way to Manila. Whee!)

You could tell our instructor was in a hurry -- we finished our class by noon. Of course, Lorena & I didn't let him go without bombarding him with questions --- and taking some pics, of course. We also took pictures of the whole class. Afterwards, we swung by the HP Main Office and we got to see Ajith's workstation at the River block. The HP main office was divided into several blocks -- Earth, River, Ocean, Time, Space. As I saw Ajith joke around with his teammates, I reminded of how light it was to be in an HP office. I mean, the work pinned you to your seat, but the crowd made it all worth it.

During the afternoon, we had a quick peek over at MG Road & Brigade Road. Shops lined the street, neons lit the place and pedestrians were everywhere, making the place resemble an Indian Hong Kong. We ended up only buying groceries & dinner instead, since the lines were so long everywhere. We retired to the hotel soon after.

Since it was our last night in the hotel, Lorena & I decided to make the most of our stay. As any tourist, we hoarded the shampoo bottles and what-nots, and asked the housekeeping guy for more of the sewing kits. He came back with six; he even brought along more stuff and insisted we keep everything! I asked him if they had a first aid kit. Some minutes later, another guy comes knocking at the door with a huge toolbox in hand. He said he came as soon as possible and asked if we were fine. They thought we had an emergency! The cut Lorena got the other day when she bumped her foot at the table turned out to be a lifesaver; our official excuse was we just needed band-aids. =p

A few moments later, Lorena & I went out to explore the facilities. I got decked in my shirt & shorts, looking forward to finally check out the gym. The first place we checked out was the hotel shop. Surprise, surprise -- we always seem to gravitate towards saris, carpets, shawls! We instantly forged a friendship with the shop-owner Ali from Kashmir, who also exports textiles to Singapore and Delhi. I got to learn so much about quality & history of pashminas and carpets. Ali was such a character -- just looking at person, he knew what that person fancied. He almost converted a non-shawl person like me! Ali also showed us another 'magic carpet', similar to the one we saw the other day. However, this one by was far STUNNING, and it was handwoven silk on silk. Silk on Silk = way expensive, but as something that qualifies as a work of art, I think it's worth the price. By the end of the night, Lorena hauled away a treasure for her soon-to-own condo, plus 2 new gorgeous pashminas.

We checked out the business center next for a bit of emailing and Googling. It was getting late, so Lorena went ahead and got back to our room. I was in my shorts anyway, so I swung by the fitness center for a quick run. I finally retired to the room soon after, took a shower and after a lame attempt to get some packing done, called it a night.

This day in one-word: trigger-happy. On the way to the office, Lorena and I already had our cameras at hand, hungry to finally get some snapshots of India. The Parliament! Click. Rickshaws! Click. Temples! Click. Cows! Click. Click. Click.

Lorena actually had to go to a meeting in the HP Main Office, so I was by myself at the training for the morning. Anirudha was still the best seatmate -- he troubleshooted my configurations when the labs don't work and he lent me the LAN port so that I could catch up with the SWAT news. Whee! It took me the whole afternoon to realize that nothing was seeping through my mind; I was too excited thinking about visiting this mall we always pass by on our way back to the hotel. Our view of India was still too microscopic (i.e. Airport + Hotel + Office), so we asked Dinesh to drive and wait for us at the mall, where we could at least peek at the normal Indian way of urban life. And surprise, surprise, left and right were saris and scarves, that we just had to have our fill. We also got to see India's version of McDonald's (I wish they'd serve McVeggie and wraps in Manila!). The big burgers were just for 60 bucks each! Sheesh. Lorena bought herself some shoes, while I finally bought my dad the belt he was asking for. As the hunger pangs kicked in, Lorena & I grabbed some dinner. As if tempting fate, I just HAD to grab a Zinger meal from India's KFC. Haha, death wish.

And of course, Dinesh never failed us. He took us to this fancy-looking crafts place named Asian Arts Emporium over at Cunningham Road, saying that we should check out the sandlewood crafts there. As if we knew what sandalwood was, we got down and got greeted by more than just wood carvings. Delicate figurines, carpets, pashminas and vases lined the store's walls from floor to ceiling. Carvings of elephants, camels and turtles looked up from the shelves. Famous Indian jewelry were showcased in a separate room. The store owners were also very eager to fill us in on the history and background about the crafts, and were very helpful to help you spot which stuff suits you. We even got treated to a 'magic' show, with the 'magic box' and of course, the 'magic carpet' (long amusing story). For all those going to Bangalore, you MUST check this shop out. :)

After yet another unplanned spree, we finally retired to our hotel. After dinner, Lorena & I decided to try on the saris we bought earlier. After one pathetic attempt after another, we must have come up with 100 ways of how to NOT wear your sari. We still had lots of fun trying to wear/wrap/pleat/tuck the gorgeous cloths. When we finally came up with something decent enough to pass off as wearable, of course, we had our mini-pictorial. Click. Click. Click.

To cap the day off, I had another pleasant surprise: I got to talk with the GWeb guys over the phone. God, I wish everyone could come over here -- I've been sober for a week now! Haha. GWeb, enjoy the offsite!

Time for breakfast heaven again! After all the spicy stuff, I almost fell to my knees when I spotted some Chinese dumpling in the buffet table. God, I swear, it was the best chicken dumpling EVER. After a few minutes, we braced the traffic again to the Surya Park office. Erwin So would have fit right in with the drivers in India; the buses were the ones being bullied in the road.

At the training room, my connection was still crappy and I couldn't get emails or access anything online. I never thought I would be one for homesickness; I must admit I miss my teammates, my sister, my niece, our dance classes, the office pantry, everything. I even stopped to watch our SWAT video just to crack a smile. :p

The pace of our lecture was actually too fast, I found myself grasping with concepts flying over my head. From what I got from my seatmate Anirudha, I realized I was in the midst of experienced developers. After our class, we chatted with one of our classmates and found out that she was a solution architect. An actual solution architect (i.e. a myth in the Manila office)! She has 11 years of industry experience -- I have a lot of catching up to do.

Definitely the highlight of our day was when Dinesh, our cab driver, took us to a shop named Silk Udyog tucked away in one of the streets of S.R. Nagar (or as we fondly refer to it, the 'sari-sari' store). Shelves decked with colorful saris bidded us in. Woven saris. Painted saris. Saris with elaborate embroidery. Saris with shiny stones. The store-owners made us sit in front of a platform and even offered us coffeee & tea, as they laid out silks one by one in front of us. To say that they have a wide range of selection is an understatement; you just have to tell your price range, and they'll show you the best value for your money. We saw saris from 300-5000 and there's really one to suit each fashionista out there. To cap it all off, they were selling the saris, clothes and scarves in factory prices. I was in clothes shopping heaven!

After spending a full hour in the shop, we got back to the hotel with our loot. The shopping nirvana set us into such a high, that we didn't mind that we had to spend the whole night catching up in the lab work for the training. After the Nth lab exercise was completed, I finally realized that my mind was just a huge lumped mess and it was time to call it a day.