coMOOOO esta from Puerto Rico

Hello! yes I miss all of you and finally I have some time to catch my breath. The Puerto Rico trip was interesting indeed and right now I'm too lazy to put things into a cohesive paragraph so shall storytell in random snippets:

(1) at the airport I bought an apple and made the mistake of asking the saleslady if it was washed. she plucked the fruit with her unwashed hands, brought it to their janitorial closet and washed it in a dirty basin next to the mop. "There you go." Gee, thanks

(2) We approached this life size statue atop a pinacle and I asked, "Cristobal Colon? Who's that?" All the Latinos turned to me to reveal a where-have-you-been look of twighlight-zone amazement. "He's only the guy who discovered America." Ohhhhh, Chris! It's been a while, pare...

(3) I thought "no problemo" was a Spanish phrase. The taxi driver was much amused

(4) First of all instead of saying "How much [do you want]" I uttered "How much are you"; and second I used the wrong verb form so that in an effort to say this to the taxi driver I ended up addressing my Argentinian project manager instead. hay problemo

All in all though, Puerto Rico was a great experience of a beautiful country that couldnt help but remind me of Manila: The locals were laid back (to the dismay of certain American customers), the streets were very much intact but somewhat worn, the foliage was a darker green, and the weather was nearly tropical.

This place called Old San Juan was like a marriage between Intramuros and Greenbelt with its very quaint brand of sophistication. Everything there seemed to be awash in a kind of aged-newness.

Come to think of it, there was actually only one thing, ouside the use of Spanish, that, for me, distinctly set Puerto Rico apart from Manila: the presence of tisoy street vendors. Well I never...

just nonsense

hello cowies!! i've missed you all.. sniff sniff.. especially the poox.
poox, btw, ive seen your PR pictures. beautiful, divine! hahaha.
well, i obviously do not have anything in particular in mind to write except that i wanted to say "hi" to y'all!
hey, does anybody know what is up with the weather!? gosh, it's warm. and for a creature like me that needs to sleep in the afternoon, it is like trying to sleep in hell. geez! seems like i burn more calories sleeping than when im working out in the gym since i tend to wake up in a pool of my own sweat.
oh and i just need to share that the worst thing to happen to radio is the invention of what i like to call "the commercial song". you know, those songs specifically written to advertise a particular product. i mean, come on people! they invented the jingle for a reason! and that's so people dont get bored having to endure a whole song on 1 product. grrrr..
well, that's enough nonsense from me for the moment. bye all!

Oh my dearest stoned cows (and bovine nemesis), where art thou? Have we come to this? Grazing in different fields with no time to look up and digest with our multiple stomachs?

crack is whack

Let's just call her whitney.

Ulk, there's this fat middle aged woman who's been going around bad mouthing me in the office because she's been overtaken for a position twice and fears I could be capable of doing the same. So she tries to backstab me via our new team lead, asking in malicious jest if I'd crowned myself the new team lead instead. The team lead doesn't understand where this is coming from and Whitney is shooed off our backs with a fly swatter. So whitney flies all the way up to program manager - who in turn reports her to her boss for unteamly behavior. *smack*. Whitney then goes dramatic on the team meeting asking whether she is still on the team because she doesnt see her name attached to any task. We are all caught unawares and our team lead is speechless. I spoke up to try smoothing over the tension by suggesting, in all business-like sweetness, that she take my tasks. The team lead complied and reassigned my work load without a moment's hesitation. There you go, charity on the job. I can't imagine that she was too happy about that but hell, she did ask for it.

So at the end of the day maybe I have her to thank for being an exercise in people and gossip management, or for challenging me to be the more mature person, or, moreso, for serving as indisputable evidence to the fact that negativity does not burn calories.

love thine enemy...

The Stoned Cows would like to give a big MOOOO to our number one detractor who is celebrating her birthday today! MOOOO! There is no escape from the kalabaws! :)

Hong Kong Hi!

Mabuhay friends! (Who invented the term Mabuhay? What's up with that? Long Live? Who says that?)

I am back from my Hong Kong holiday enriched by experiences but impoverished in dollars. I would like to officially announce that I am in mega-tipid mode now and I will not be seeing you all till 2009. Hahaha. Unlike my first HK trip which basically consisted of a lot of eating and a trip to the Space museum, this trip consisted of walking, walking and more walking! I swear, i can officially apply to be a Hong Kong tour guide. I've ridden almost every train and gone to every stop and probably walked even more than that.

Some interesting Stoned Cows-worthy anecdotes from my trip are:

1. I love the fact that everything works in Hong Kong. The trains are so easy to use, the streets are safe and walkable and the scenery is so cosmopolitan-Asian. It's like one big upscale Binondo without the spit and trash. Although it was quite strange for us to see a big mound of what looked like poop on the elevated walkway in Mongkok. There are no stray animals in HK (in fact, the owners walk really nice dogs like Siberian Huskies) so i was assuming it could only be human waste or a really funky looking piece of Mashed root crops like Taro.

2. The people in HK walk extremely fast and everything there is quick! In fact, the escalators in the MTRs are so fast that they have a constant reminder: "When using the escalator, please watch your step, hold the rail tightly and don't fall." Quite helpful really. My officemate almost fell. Good thing she grabbed hold of a hapless Hong Kongese that wasn't rude and didnt slap her silly.

Which leads me to my next point...

3. I think people there are just innately rude. They don't mean to be but they are. I think each one of us was screamed at or experienced being eye-rolled/irap at one point or the other. That's why its actually hilarious to go to Disney and see how the staff are EXTREMELY NICE no matter what you do. And my officemates really tested their patience. Like there's this fancy bus that takes visitors around the park. My officemate actually leaped into the car to have his pic taken. As in he was dangling like he was riding a jeepney! Instead of getting mad, the driver stopped, smiled and offered to take his picture. I honestly believe that if we weren't protected by the spirit of Walt Disney, my officemate would have been "dealt with" by the Chinese mafia.

4. Disneyland is like a realm of drugged people where everyone is just extremely happy. No matter how skeptical or jaded you are, you can't help but be affected by the constant happy music and the fact that you'll see policemen who play with kids, or you'll walk by Goofy and Pluto waving at you. It's just surreal when you see cinderella or Ariel speaking in Chinese. Really strange.

That's it friends! I hope i was able to impart some Hong Kong know-how to y'all. I really wish you were there. I'm sure i would have been laughing all the time. Maybe we can do it sometime soon. That would just be grrrreat!

Blogger's Block

I am, at this moment, awash with the very strong urge to write something. And yet as I stare blankly at my superduperkaduper bright 20" LCD, with my hands resting on my silicone protected white keyboard, I come to the frightening conclusion that I am suffering from...

teh BLOGGER'S BLOCK... (echo, echo, echo)...

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!