Thanks, but no thanks

"Are you FILIPINO?" Bingo!

Remember I said that the first person to ask me that would get a prize? Well, here's our winner. Funny, but I wanted nothing more than to punch this guy square in the face. Imagine scenario. On my way home from work, rush hour, packed bus. I was standing near the driver in front of the bus. He was standing beside the front door. Pretty close, right? But for some reason, he felt the need to broadcast our dialogue for the entire bus to hear. He was near shouting while talking to me. Dude, I'm just here. We can do this quietly.

If it was just another normal, friendly conversation, I wouldn't have minded. But, listen to this.

"Are you Filipino?"

Cool! Finally somebody got it right the first time. Smiles, "Yeah! I'm Filipina."

Gives me this head-to-toe lookover. "I figured. Man! I should visit that place some time. You look precious!" Precious??! Really. Come. on.

Some of the passengers actually had to glance over to give me a good look.

Ugh, seriously now. I just smiled then started paying intense concentration to the back of the driver's head.

"So are you a student here?!!"

"No, I'm actually looking for work. I just graduated from college."
Still burning a hole on the back of driver's head.

"Where did you go to college?!!"

"In the Philippines."

"Oh you should've just studied here!! You get a bigger chance at work that way!!"

"Uhh.. yeah, I guess."

"But that's okay. You got the look!! That's like a foot in the door already!! If I was the one interviewing you, I'd be like, 'Sold!!' the moment you step into my office!!"

How about my foot in your mouth?!!

That's it. I'm getting off this bus at the next stop. I would rather walk the rest of the way home than simmer on this hot seat for another five blocks. Sheesh!!

Stretch and Snap

1 month, 1 week and 6 days. 43 days to be exact. I finally quit.

Tomorrow, I will officially bid farewell to my first job. Good times, but it's time to move on. I felt so bad for quitting, I couldn't even look at my leader during our one-on-one. I pulled her aside after our bells session, pulled out my 'script' and read it to her. Haha. It's funny now, but I felt incredibly stupid while doing it. I had to freaking write what I needed to say. The plan was to sort out my thoughts, scribble them down, and then, go talk to her. But, I blanked out 'cause I was so nervous and anxious, so I whipped it out of my pocket in panic the last minute. I was like, "Hey, I need to talk to you in private." "Okay, what's up?" "Uhh.. uhh.. wait." *grabs notebook and recites* Damn nerves. To top it all off, my voice was cracking while I was reading. Darnnnittt. What the hell was that?!

Anyway, she was really surprised after my little monologue. I get that. I never once complained nor showed any sign of dislike for this job. (Even though it's such a struggle for me to wake up every single day for this.) She said that she understands that today was definitely a difficult day and that I shouldn't just let one bad day pull me down. One day?! Make that 43 days!!! I finally had to confess to her that this was not what I had in mind when I signed up for the job. I gave it my all for 43 days. It's just not working for me. I never really had time for anything else. I work close to 12 hours every single day. I wake up early and go home exhausted. I am officially stressed and burnt out. Man, I feel like I've aged ten years in the past month.

It felt damn good after I let all that out. Wooooo!!

Makes me think a lot about my character though. Am I such a quitter? Should I have given it more time? Maybe I was still adjusting to everything. Hmmm... but I did give it 43 days. Besides, I was never a fan of delayed gratification. I simply didn't want to waste my precious time stuck in an unpleasant situation when I can freely move on and find better opportunities. Logical, right? So what I'm gonna do is pat myself on the back for a job well done, say I fought a good fight, kick off my heels and spend some of my hard-earned money on a fabulous weekend of much sought freedom.

On Cupcakes, Bandwagons and 911

I wasn't expected at work 'til after lunch today so I decided to spend my morning in Beverly Drive. It's not a shopping trip, mind you. My paycheck won't allow any of that just yet. Besides, Ate and I are aiming to buy a car by November. So a huge chunk of our income goes straight to our car fund account. We're willingly starving for this. What can I say, we're very goal-oriented people. Haha. Of course, I'm exaggerating.

Anyhoo, I digress. Back to Beverly Drive. The main reason I wanted to go there was to sample a Sprinkles cupcake. I've been wanting to try it since I got here but I never really got the chance. Okay, so we got to the store and saw this looooong line outside. Oh my. It was probably close to a hundred degrees out (in fahrenheit) and all these people are waiting under the sun. This should be worth it. Snaps for quick service, I got in after just a few minutes of waiting.

As usual, it took a while before I was able to pick out which one I wanted to try first. I seriously hate having a lot of choices like this. I get so indecisive and I panic. But finally, I decided on a Chai Latte cupcake. I paid $3.25. (Wow, did I just really pay Php150 for one tiny cupcake??!) But hey, it's really good! Better than Sonja's, in my opinion. Their logos are exactly the same, by the way. Girly pink and mint green scripted font, brown background. Exacto. I wonder who copied who. Haha.

Speaking of hypes and bandwagons, the scramble for the new iphone here is crazy! Apple's newest baby had come out last week but the lines outside the stores persist to be at least a couple of blocks long. I was never an iPhone/iPod fan. Not that I don't like the product or anything. I guess I just never really felt the need for one. It's amazing what others are willing to pay and go through for a gadget that'll probably be considered old school in a couple of months.

Another thing causing long lines around LA these days is the upcoming movie premiere of The Dark Knight. Now that's a hype I'd love to be a part of. Heath Ledger!! I can't wait to watch you (for the last time..).

..*.*.*..

I witnessed an accident today. It was really scary. One minute I was enjoying a quiet brunch of apple juice and a ham-cheese-egg muffin, the next a loud screech followed by a crashing sound rips through the air causing everyone in the cafe to jump in their seats. Everyone ran to the scene of the accident. Apparently, this car went out of control, hit a parking meter, hit a pedestrian walking on the sidewalk, hit another parking meter on the opposite side of the street, and caused two other cars to crash into each other. The most frightening picture here is the bleeding pedestrian lying on the crosswalk. Everyone started calling 911. It was pretty impressive how fast they all acted on it. In less than ten minutes, there were at least three firetrucks on the scene to secure the site. The police and the paramedics followed right after. The girl was off to the hospital in no time. I hope she's fine now.


** Totally random and unrelated but guess what. I got casted as part of the floor audience in this new CBS gameshow. I forgot what it's called, but I'll get paid for just sitting there and clapping occasionally so, yeah! Haha! This should be fun. :)

Hooooy, Pinoy Ako!!

"Excuse me, I just had to ask.. What are you?"

Uhh... That was the weirdest phrasing of all. I usually get the normal ones like "Where are you from?", "Are you (insert every other Asian ethnicity aside from Filipino here)?" at least three times a day. But this one was the best. He was so genuinely curious and confused. His face was all scrunched up as he investigates my facial features.

"I'm Filipino. Why?"

"Oh.. I just really had to ask. I couldn't figure it out on my own."

Haha funny. I've been asked if I was Chinese, Korean, Cambodian, Malaysian, but NEVER Filipino. There was even this one time while on the bus, I recognized this lady as a Pinay so I smiled at her and she said, "It's so hot outside." I thought, why the hell is she speaking to me in English? I replied, "Oo nga po e." She did the funniest double take and said, "Pinay ka pala!"

Also this one time, I was looking for a certain cafe around Koreatown. So I approached the security guard to ask him for directions. Before I left, he asked me if I was Chinese. I told him, "No, I'm from the Philippines. I'm Filipino." He nodded his head and said, "Yes, yes! I'm Korean too!" then started blabbering away in Korean. Huh??! Am I so un-Filipino looking that even after saying where I'm from, you can't even process it? Haha but he was really nice so I just laughed.

I swear, the first person to ask me, "Are you FILIPINO?" gets a prize.

Poetry in Motion

It takes me about an hour and fifteen minutes to get to my workplace in the morning. I take two buses from Downtown to West. The trip back home takes another two hours. Traffic is terrible here in LA. Whoever said that "Walang ganyan [traffic] sa States!" is a big fat freaking liar. Anyway, it helps that the Metro Rapid Bus lines, the one in which I'm on for at least an hour, have television sets installed in them. I get my daily serving of current events and celebrity gossip from there cause I barely have time to watch tv at home. Another really cool feature the buses here have is the Poetry in Motion section on the walls. Here's a couple I copied off the 720.


If there is something to desire,
there will be something to regret.
If there is something to regret,
there will be something to recall.
If there is something to recall,
there was nothing to regret.
If there was nothing to regret,
there was nothing to desire.

- Vera Pavlova, If There is Something to Desire


Say to them.
Say to the down keepers. The sun slappers.
The self soilers. The harmony hushers.
Even if you are not ready for day,
it cannot always be night.
You will be right. For that is the hard home run.
Live not for battles won. Live not for the end of the song.
Live in the along.

- Gwendolyn Brooks, Speech to the Young


I think they feature a new author every other week or so. My commute time serves as my thinking time as well so these on-the-go literature tidbits are just perfect. Their messages usually hit home run too, for some weird eerie reason. This is the universe conspiring to help me out. o.O

Happy Monthsary LA!

Tonight, Carms and Ever, a.k.a. mommy and daddy, will pick me up from the apartment after work and bring me to The Grove's The Cheesecake Factory to celebrate my one month here in LA. I cannot believe it's been a month already! Time sure flies when you're relentlessly, thoughtlessly diving your consciousness into every curious thing which crosses your path. And since I'm in a new city, in an entirely new phase of my life, everything falls under the category of curious. I jumped up and down when I first tasted Cold Stone and Pinkberry. I was skipping like a five-year old when I first visited The Grove and The Americana. I took a picture with my ginormous serving of soda and popcorn before watching my first movie. I still have my day pass from my first train ride and kept it like a trophy. I'm a big bouncing sappy sponge absorbing every single detail of every single encounter.

I love the little bursts of creativity around this city. African-Americans with their black and blue dreadlocks... amazingly choreographed random street shows by the local dance crews along 3rd Street and Promenade... pooches in designer labels trotting alongside their owners sporting a cute similar wardrobe.. walking art pieces in the form of heavily tatooed strangers.. poetry in motion..

I like that fact that people here are so comfortable in their own skin. The city is a melting pot of cultures. Each person proudly represents his own race, belief, political party, whathaveyou. Of course, collisions happen. The movie Crash comes to mind. People here wouldn't settle for less than what they deserve. I guess that attitude is one of the main reasons why this country is way ahead of everyone else.

Anyway, I immediately started working two weeks after my arrival. I'm starting to think I took on a job too fast. Or maybe it's just the nature of what I do. I dunno. I'm definitely learning a lot but it just seems to be too much work for a first job, you know what I mean? I'm not being lazy, jusy choosy. Or maybe I'm choosy cause I'm lazy. Hmm I prefer the first one. I imagined my first job to be more fun.. and less serious. Haha.. darnit. I'm an account representative for an outsourced marketing company. It sounded fun. I was definitely deceived. Well, I'm officially done with my training period as of yesterday. Let's just see where this goes..

**Haha. What a choppy random post.