10 Updates

Three straight days working from 1am-10am. This system-migration stuff is really killing my body in terms of getting the right amount of sleep. Although the abundant food-delivery of Dominos and McD is steady, I'm glad today's the last day of this project.

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Food intake is back to normal. Bochog normal, that is. I still try to exercise at least twice a week but I guess having to remember that I'm on a diet is rather difficult. This leads to BTP phenomena when trying on an Ambercrombie shirt at the mall (BTP = Big Tummy Protruding). The missus seems to agree as she gives a disappointed look after she tried out a ladies shirt.

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The car has not been cleaned for almost 3 weeks now. It looks as if I've taken it for a drive from the desert, the rainforest and back. I have this spooky feeling that the gods are always conniving to make it rain after I've washed the car EVERYTIME. Note that this has been happening even when I was still in Pinas. Weird isn't it? I guess the rain-gods are daring me to wash the car so that they can prank me again but I'm not budging (it's been raining here everyday this week). You should hear me when I'm passing by the carwash-bay of our apartment, as if cursing the heavens: "Ha! Di ko pa din lilinisin ang kotse! Belat."

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Boss is asking me (again) how's my job-hunt coming along ---with a "belittling" accent. I smiled and said, "Don't worry about me." Hmmm, I should've told him I had an ephipany two days ago. It told me to go back to Pinas and venture into franchising instead of looking for work. Well that's the plan at the moment. Subject to change, of course, depending on what other offer comes into play.

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I've heard a lot of people migrating to Canada, Australia, and the US. The missus, in particular, has 3 close friends who've migrated to Canada and one just got approved to live in Australia. Hell, even April Boy Regino is migrating with his family to the US. Huwaw!

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Got introduced to a new local snack: Roti Bakar. Toast two white bread. Thenafter, layer one side with kaya and butter. Goes best with coffee. Mmmmm....yummy.

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There this unknowing geek neighbor at our apartment who has a wifi subscription that he lets open. There's no security at all that I could log-in and surf the 'net for FREE! I would use my laptop to find the strongest signal in the house, much like what we'd do with tv-antennas during the pre-cable-TV era. That was a couple of weeks back. I guess the geek noticed his 'net connection was slowing down (I was trying to download a large video-file once) and thus discovered my presence in his network. Since then I've not been able to connect to his wifi network. I assume that he has enabled the anti-barat-surfer feature in his wifi-router. *Sigh*

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I've been loving the eletric-mosquito-racket at home. Yes, there IS such a thing. There've been frequent bwisitors in the sala and bedroom that the local mosquito-repellant is not really effective. The mosquito-racket has lessened the pest population effectively, with my Agassi-like forehand and backhand strokes electrocuting the damn bastards to death.

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After 3 years I still haven't picked up the local language. The security guards at the office always assume that I'm local so they talk to me casually in Malay. All I could do is reply, "Aaahhh" and smile. It seems to be the only effective response with every "conversation."

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Semi-excited about the Vietnam trip this weekend. "Semi" coz the Yahoo-weather forecast does not look good (partly cloudy with scattered t-storms in Ho Chih Minh). Even the travel agent has advised us to bring raincoats. Damn, I hope Yahoo-weather is not that accurate. Oh yeah, we'll stay away from eating chicken there as much as possible.