Look at all the Generals!!!!

August 12, 2008

So ya, my mom works with the Armed Forces of the Philippines, right... Police, Army, Navy, and (mostly) Air Force. That means generals. Guns. Military hot shots. People with power (well, relatively powerful... I mean come on, its the armed forces of the philippines not America). Anyways, so I've met a couple and my mom's been taking my picture with them... Here they are in order of rank (1-4 stars)

General Oscar Rabena - Wing Strike Commander of the Sangley Air Force and Naval Base (1 Star General). He was recently promoted. I had the chance to speak to the General and his wife for a bit, and he is really a great man. Both he and his wife, Tita Josie, are such genuine, good people. I was honestly impacted by their yearning to help others and their inegmatic personalities. It was definitely a honor.

General Rene Badilla - Vice Commander of the Philippine Air Force (2 Star General)

General Jovito Gammad- Chief of Air Staff of the Philippine Air Force (2 Star General)







And Lastly,

General Alex Yano - Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (4 Star General). General Yano is the only active (or is it living) 4 star general in all of the Philippines. He is also the 3rd most powerful man in the Philippine Armed Forces, superceded only by the President, and the Secretary of National Defense. So if a bomb's gonna be dropped or if the military's going to kick some MILF ass, its prolly coz General Yano said so... Pretty serious stuff here. You know what else is pretty serious - the General's handshake. I swear, he was going to rip my fingers out of their sockets. Definitely the strongest handshake I have ever encountered in my life. Ever! Damn.


If I get pulled over by a cop, Imma flash this photo (neatly stored in my phone), and call the general my Tito Alex! Boo ya!

Wassup

I haven't updated in a while. Hmm... So this is more of a photo blog entry...
Anyways, been spending a lot of time with my mom. Kinda neglected her the last couple months so this is good. Am actually in a coffee shop right now while she's doing her physical therapy for her disjointed spinal disk (Ya... I don't know... something like that...)

So I got back from Baguio a few days ago, its this mountain city 6-7 hours north of manila. all in all, it was a really good trip. It was raining pretty hard, but it was still fun. We were walking down session road, when I found this restaurant!

HODORI!!!! Korean and Japanese Restaurant. It prolly has nothing to do with the on on Vermont and Olympic, but it made me happy nonetheless. And you know what, there are soooooooo many Koreans in the Philippines. Its an invasion. Seriously! But it's not a bad thing... Go Jumee and her people!

While in Baguio we went to the Philippine Military Academy. My Uncle used to go there and my Mom and him now do a lot of work with the Armed Forces of the Philippines. When we were there, we saw the cadets march to Mess Hall it was pretty cool. Lots of bustling young testostorone-driven military men in uniform. Yummy Got me a little flustered, I have to say... so I took a few snaps.

Yummy!

On the way home, we stopped on the road in Bulacan to buy vinegar and fish sauce. When we're my mom was paying for all that stuff, I found this dog.

It was such a sad looking dog. She was severely malnourished; you could her ribs pressed against her skin. Her right leg was broken and flies circled over her like vultures. I don't even like animals, but I felt really bad for this one...

So that's that for now. Job hunt's going... its going. keep you posted. Much Love from the islands!

Bigger and Better

July 26, 2008
12:46pm

Its been a little over a week. And I still don’t know what to make of all this. This move. This distressing, drastic, dramatic change in lifestyle. But I guess it’s high time I start dealing, ya?

Well, here’s some good news for ya… Interviews are going well. Just finished a series of Interviews with AC Nielsen Manila and Research International Singapore (Two very good market research companies). Both companies have expressed moving forward and offering me a package. I should be hearing back about details next week. I’m still in the process of interviewing with Ipsos and Milward Brown (Two other really good market research companies). I actually have an in-person interview with Ipsos Monday morning, so wish me luck.

I guess the positive progress of my interviews make this all a little easier. I don’t feel like such a big loser. Still feel like a loser, but not a gigantic crack-whore’s loose asshole of a loser… Big sigh. Spending literally hundreds of thousands of dollars in the US, then getting kicked out. Making a life, a great fulfilling life, for myself, then having it all taken away by some faceless institution! Fuck. Whatevs man.

If I was a korean campus cruiser, this is where I would quote some parable about windows and doors and technicolored coats. But I’m no cruiser, so this is what I have to say:

Fuck you America. Fuck you and your Mini-malls, your filthy ignorance, and your 200lbs. Supersized McFatBurger-filled 10 year olds. You’re gonna regret breaking up with me. When you see me next I’m going to be so hot, so fierce, so effing feroc(ious)! I’m gonna be so out of your league, it ain’t even gonna be funny. And you're gonna ask me back, bring me flowers and chocolates and shit. But I’m gonna make you work for it. I’m gonna make you crawl on your knees in your matching juicy couture top and sweats begging for me to come back. And you know what, I might just let you eat it and fall flat on your botox injected face. Boo Ya! I am giving you the finger right now. For real.

Peace out Biatch! Bigger and better, I say… Good to Great, that’s right.

Off the ground

Korean Air 747
Wednesday July 16 - 2:01am



They just turned off the fasten seatbelt sign. We’re flying somewhere over Santa Barbara or something… It Cuh-razy!!!! You don’t even know.

Six fucking years.

It took forever for us to take off. But I guess that happens on all flights. When the plane finally started to pick up speed on that runway, I had the weirdest butterflies in my stomach. I don’t think I’ve ever had this species of butterfly before. And I don’t think I’m going to try to self analyze right now and try to figure out what these little peptic creepy crawlies really mean…

The plane sped up. The friction of the wheels on the pavement cause the plane to shake. All I saw were the orange airport lights framed in my window, quickly jetting passed. Then you feel yourself unconsciously lean back - the front wheels have just left the ground. And before you know it, that jittery shaking is gone. The plane is in the air and I have officially left Los Angeles.

Six year. How do you leave that? How do you say goodbye to that?
Fuck. Oh god.

I have so much to say… and so many people to say it to. The feelings are over-flowing. I don’t know where to start. I don’t even know if I can start or what will happen when I finally deal with all this crap. Right now, all the feelings are packed in a big black box, duct taped shut, placed on the top shelf in the deep darkest part of my crazy head. I’ll deal with what this all means tomorrow. Or the next day. I’ll deal with it eventually…

My Room's a fucking mess...

Its a fucking ugly mess of memories and life... pictures on the floor, papers everywhere, six years running rampant in a closet-sized room. Even with the mess, my sister and I found some progress. I'm managed to pack most of my crap into 2 fairly sized boxes (each one about the size of my boss' office refridgerator). I've thrown away a lot of crap. Still need to throw away a lot of crap. But makes me feel a little sad that the last 6 years of my life fit neatly into 2 balikbayan boxes...

My last day in my century city room is the 30th of June. The end of the month. Monday. Then I move to my sis' house in Valencia before the trip back to Manila. Its becoming more and more real. I guess this is it. And you know what, packing sucks; sucks like a bird shit on your car after a car wash. It sucks more than that - like bird shit on your head after a shower. Packing sucks so much. I keep uncovering bits and pieces of my life. knick knacks that tell part of a story. Reciepts from a restaurants, tickets from a show, a paper plate lion from stepho. Then I have to decide, whether its truly worth it to keep that seemingly insignificant momento. Is it important enough to keep and ship 3000 miles? Who's to say... I don't even fucking know. I found a drawing my ex-boyfriend drew of me for me 3 years ago. I looked at it, smiled, then threw it away. I don't know if I'm going to regret that a year from now.

I've been going through the motions, you know. Packing. Trashing. Cleaning. But I try not to internalize too much. I think I'd go insane. What a fucking melodramatic bitch I am! Can't help it; it kinda comes with the territory.

Side note:
I like semi-colons. I think I use them properly. My English 101 professor Tiller taught me how to use them... No one uses them though. I think most people don't know how to so they just don't use 'em. I like semi-colons a lot. I'm going to use them more!

6 years; it goes by in a blink.

List Update

OK. alright... So its wednesday night. I figure, I should update this thing, now that I have it. I should really tell people I have it too. Will do that later, ya.

So I wanted to tell you about how I've been doing on my employment Haitus list. Here's what I've checked off so far...

13. Do something naked

14. Swim in AOS fountains

18. Eat at a C rated restaurant


Yes, Yes, I swam naked in the Ave. of the Stars fountain. No. 13 and No. 14 - Check. Pretty ridic'ulous, I know. Thanks to Jumee for coming and taking the pictures at the AOS and for Lewey for being naked with me!





As for No. 18. Eating at a C rated restaurant was super easy. I totally forgot that Daikokuya in Little Tokyo was rated a C.... Kinda gross but I love that place. The ramen is soooooooo good. But its rated a C and I'll probably get the runs for a day or two. But it was worth it. It was worth it to check something off the list!

Jacques-o-beam's Employment Haitus list of things to do

So they wouldn't let me call it the RIP Jacobeam list... but here it is:


1. Learn to ride a bike

2. Learn to surf

3. Expand blog

4. Start a website (spiderfight.com)

5. Hike to Hollywood sign and watch the sunset

6. Write a book of poems

7. Take road trips

8. Be an extra on a movie

9. Attend a live taping of a reality dance competition show

10. Find the “grander canyon”

11. Learn how not to be a such a melodramatic bitch

12. Help some one (buy a sandwich and a forty for a bum?)

13. Do something naked

14. Swim in AOS fountains

15. Eat at Panda 2-3 times a week

16. Visit Katie’s parents – go to lunch with Chuck

17. Eat a RAW meal

18. Eat at a C rated restaurant

19. Learn a magic trick…a good one.

20. Attend dance classes

21. Go to Yoga

22. Go see Kevin spin

More to come

Start of the end...?

So here I am. At the brink of saying goodbye... Maybe.


Tomorrow is quite possibly my last day at Lieberman. Potentially the start of the end of my life in here in Los Angeles. Yup, I was told this yesterday and it's definitely sunk in. Some say I'm handling it pretty well. I'm just trying really hard not to be a melodramatic bitch (No. 11).

So I just came back from watching a pretty awesome performance of Pippin. The musical was adapted to include Hip hop dance, a live spinning DJ, on stage orgies, Rap and Rock vocals, and was set old japan but Harajuki girl-ified (neon wigs and knee high boots). I have to say it was pretty amazing. My favorite lyric from that musical is:

"Rivers belong where they can ramble, Eagles belong where they can fly. I have to be where my spirit can run free. Gotta find my corner of the sky..."

Just felt poignantly appropriate. Made me feel better... It still tough though.

I think the hardest part is telling people. "Hey btw, I'm not going to be at my desk on monday... coz I'm not allowed to work in America anymore..." I hate saying a goodbyes. And even though its not really goodbye yet. It still sucks. I'm going to miss it. I'm going to miss it all. a lot. so much. The free food. the work. and the people. specially the people... I love em! And I love who I have become because of being here.

Goddammit. Goddam American bureaucratic bull! Hurry the eff up already. Let me in aMerikA!!!