I have neglected my blog yet again. So to make up for lost time *LOL* I’ll blog about some random stuff that’s happening or has happened to me for the past few weeks that I was MIA.
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I have completed my Level 1.1 German language course last Saturday. So I’m expected to know how to introduce myself in German and ask simple questions like “Can I help you?”. Oh the German translation for that is “Kann ich Ihnen helfen?” in case you’re wondering. The difficult part of the whole course was learning the genders and the plural forms. You see in German almost all the words have gender. So the article to precede the word must be the correct gender. The definite articles are: Der, Die, Das (masculine, feminine, neutral). The indefinite articles are: Ein, Eine (masculine/neutral, feminine). Its difficult because there is no specific rule as to how to distinguish the gender of the word. You just have to memorize it. Some examples:

Garden: der Garten
Door: die Tür
Room: das Zimmer

Learning the plural form was hard as well. Its not as simple as adding “s” to the end of the word. And again there is no specific rule, you just have to memorize it. Some examples:

Babies: Babys
Years: Jahre
Beds: Betten

I might enroll for the next level which is Level 1.2. I might inquire about the schedule on Tuesday since we’ll have no work because of Taguig Day. So I have time to visit Makati on Tuesday. Hopefully, I get to buy some Christmas gifts as well at Glorietta or Landmark. I’m so excited for Tuesday!!

That’s all for now. Tomorrow I’ll be announcing the winners of my Christmas contest. Tschüss!

I never thought I’d say this but… I miss being busy. I miss not realizing that it’s lunch time or that the day is already over because of how busy I am. You try to finish all your tasks for the day but still think a day is not enough to finish all of them. You get so irritated when another task comes along which needs to be prioritized like submitting your timesheet or else you’d get bombarded with email and IM reminders. Then before the day ends you still need to submit a status report which would mean you need to alot time to document the status of what you are doing. Oh, how hectic one can be. But now? All of that has changed. I sit here waiting… 11:30AM and I start to get “Lunchtime!” IMs, then the clock strikes 4:45PM, I start fixing my things, go to the CR and prepare for an hour or so journey way back home. 5:00PM comes and I’m out of here! That’s my typical day at the office. I feel so useless, I’m seriously thinking of searching for other options come December. If I can’t find any opportunities here, then I think I have given enough time already. I’ve stayed long enough and I’ve been patient enough. It’s time to move on. Unless something concrete comes along the way, then I’m staying. I’m actually shortlisted for a project, but the project is still on its bidding stage. So as of the moment, I’m still waiting whether our company won the bid or not. I really hope we get to know whether we won or not soon, like before December starts. But until I feel safe and useful here, I’m keeping my doors open for other opportunities.

I’ve been tagged by Sami.

The rules:

1. Open your first photo folder.
2. Scroll down to the 10th photo.
3. Post that photo and story on your blog.
4. Tag five {or more} friends to do the same

Here’s the picture (click to enlarge):

The story:
It was my first weekend at Singapore and I had nothing else to do because I was so scared to explore SG alone on my first weekend. I just walked to the nearest supermarket and discovered this Apple flavored Yakult. So I bought one pack and tried it when I got back to the hotel. It tastes ok, but I still prefer the regular (no flavor) Yakult.

I’m tagging the following: Aichee, Beth, Fena, Gel & Sandra.
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In an effort to increase my page rank, I’m thinking of holding a contest. I still need to brainstorm on how its going to happen and the price I’ll be giving away. Just check back once in awhile for updates

The Philippines was hit again by a storm. This time it hit Metro Manila during the wee hours of the morning. I woke up at around 2:30AM this morning because of the sound of the tree branches that keeps on slamming on the neighbour’s roof. I couldn’t sleep since then as I was terrified because of the strong winds. I opened the TV and tried to find out how strong this typhoon was. Minutes later the TV went off, brownout! So I then tried to go back to sleep but still can’t sleep well. When 4:30AM came our aunt who was sleeping downstairs called me up and told me to move my car because she feels its not safe since my car was below our avocado tree. Some branches were already falling to the ground. So I went down and saw the damage so far… The wind was really strong. I finally was able to doze off minutes after I went back to my room, but woke up by 6AM. Read more »

Thank God for the Internet, you can now research almost about anything in an instant. That is what I did when I received a text message from someone I didn’t know. This person is asking for my help to come here in Manila because apparently she/he has a job offer in San Miguel. I didn’t reply to him/her because I’m sure she/he won’t stop texting back and pleading for help. I knew right away that it was a scam. So I typed marie 21yo bacolod on Google’s search bar and found a lot of forums/blog posts about this text scam.

I’d like to share his/her text message:

Pued po b akong humingi ng 2long sa inyo? I’m marie, 21yo freshgrad po from Bacolod City. Ggawin ko po ang lahat ng kpalit na gusto nio, ma2lungan nyo lng po akong mkpunta sa mynila. My job hiring na po kc sna ako jan sa san mig-ortigas, syang po kc kung madissolve lng… im willing to take the risks ng kpalit na hhngin nio. Un nlng tlga pgasa ko na mkluwas kgd pra mhbol deadline ko po… my pic & supporting docs po ako sa http://www.mariebacolod.tk
-marie (+639276135127)

I visited her/his site and saw the “diploma” she/he posted. She/He graduated cum laude from University of St. La Salle. Wow! I don’t think a cum laude will be this desperate? Another thing, the blog/forum posts I found dated back to last year but this person who texted me today is still 21 years old and a fresh grad! *LOL*

How can people do things like this? Why don’t they do something useful from their time and not trying to scam other people. Why don’t she/he just look for an actual job instead of using her/his time in scamming others? I just hope no one falls for these kind of scams anymore, like what they always say “Walang manloloko kung walang magpapaloko.”

That’s how long I stayed in my car as Ondoy hits Metro Manila yesterday. Why was I out in the first place? Well, I have classes on Saturdays that’s why. It was raining in the morning on my way to Makati but I never thought that something so bad will happen. Since my classes started last September 5, it always rained during Saturday mornings so it was usual for me. But I was wrong, I got a text message from my boyfriend who lives at Antipolo and he told me he won’t be able to meet me today because of the rain and it started to flood in their area. That’s when I realized that the situation outside was bad.

Our class ended by 12NN, and as I got inside my car, I received a text message from my sister and dad. They told me to be careful because of the floods. On my way out Makati, it was already traffic. Cars we’re piling up going south toward Ayala tunnel, so I decided to just go via Forbes/McKinley Road. As I reached McKinley Road, it was flooded in front of Essensa. I stopped at the side for awhile and observed as cars passed by. I was getting hungry at that time, so by 1:15pm, I drove past the flood and went to McKinley Hill to have some lunch at McDonald’s. I spent 1.5 hours in McDonald’s eating my lunch and reading/studying my notes. By 3pm I was inside my car again, tried to watch some videos since I brought with me my Creative Zen. By 5pm, I was getting tired so I decided to sleep at the back of my car. 6 o’clock came and I was getting impatient, I assumed that the floods have subsided and that I could get home so I started to leave McKinley Hill, I went towards the direction to C5 instead of taking the Heritage route. I was so wrong in taking that route because I had to pass by 2 flooded areas. One was almost after the McKinley Hill exit and one was in front of Petron. After that there we’re no traffic anymore, even as I reach SLEX. So I was so happy, I thought I could finally go home. But I was wrong, once I reached the part near Toyota Bicutan the cars we’re not moving. Then after the Bicutan interchange, that’s when I saw the flood at SLEX. There we’re cars parked on the side, so I decided to park as well. It was already 11pm that time, imagine I left McKinley Hill at 6 but reached that part of SLEX at 11 already. I was getting tired and sleepy so I decided to just go back and spend the night in my car at McKinley Hill. That’s the only place where I feel I’m safe. I slept until 4:30AM. By that time, the rain has stopped so I left at around 4:45AM and saw the aftermath on my way home.

There we’re cars and trucks parked along SLEX. I’m not sure if those cars won’t start anymore that’s why the owners left them there or if the owners just left them and decided to walk home. There we’re also a lot of trash and mud at C5, SLEX, Sucat and BF Homes. Good thing the flood at SLEX was completely gone so I got home by 5:15AM.

Let this be a lesson to all of us. This is a good example of cause and effect. I hope we all take the effects of Global Warming seriously and try to avoid contributing in the worsening of these effects.

I pray for those families whose homes are still submerged in waters. I hope the floods subside soon. I hope the country recovers soon from this calamity.