On bumming at work…

4:24 AM
At one of my two squatter-corners in my Primer work

As the great Jason G. has imparted with me (that the next best thing to do when your bored at work is to blog), I decided to open this wordpress of mine and freely write whatever comes to mind in the next hour (since the today’s work ends at 5:30ish).

* * *

Before anything else, I’d share the back story first on how I ended up deciding to do this…

Well, I got in at around 8:30 — which is quite impressive, given that I slept at around half past three last night because of a sudden DOTA-binging (tsk. tsk. tsk.) in the dorm — super late to bed + my notorious sleeping and waking habits explains why being able to go to work early is such a good thing for me.

Since I am usually one of the early birds in our floor, I was kind of taken aback when the elevator door opened and saw almost everyone present and already doing stuff. Then I remembered that the company’s having their annual sales rally which caused their day to start at 4 AM (ooh! just when I was about to sleep). This in turn caused their end of the day to be moved up to 1 PM — which is exactly the main reason why I was left more than three hours ago without anything to do; which in turn caused me to start doing this “free writing” (I was not left with nothing to do, actually. Ms. Funny assigned me some tasks, which I, the diligent on-the-job-trainee that I am, finished in no time).

* * *

So, what’ve I been up to in the past three hours?

[Thinks].

Aside from finishing my task in about half an hour, I have been surfing the internet for two things, mainly. First is posts about DOTA. I was intrigued last night when I learned from the great Squeky that some of the guys in our dorm use hero guides. Being the feeder/farming sucker that I am in the game, I tried searching for copies of the said guides and, not surprisingly, found thousands of them in no time. I tried reading some and I admit that some are interesting and helpful. But then I realized…

(around 30-minute pause here; the pretty but boyish Operations manager next corner and I had a little chat)

…that it’s kinda pathetic to go by the walk throughs and it’s better to just play by your own, using your creativity and knowledge of the game — where’s the fun in doing the former, right? So, I decided to drop the DOTA-guide-search and proceed to my usual Yahoo! surfing.

This is how I found out about Iron Man went ahead of Speed Racer to this week’s box office finish line by a mile — so much for the Wachowski brothers. (By the way, I was able to watch both last weekend, and they’re both excellent movies, to my common-movie-goer-eyes, that is). Though, both are equally cool pictures, I believe that Tony Stark prevailed because of him being Iron Man, a super hero, that is — there is something in super hero movies that people from all ages go crazy over watching them (well, except the stupid Superhero Movie, of course). Moreover, I think the Speed Racer, though it is awesome with its effects and all, simply failed to reach high expectations of viewers on the Wachowski’s being the Wachowski’s.

Anyway, after those two, now I’m looking forward to Edward Norton’s Incredible Hulk on June. Aside from the fact that it’s Norton — one of my few favorite Hollywood actors — who’s playing it, the trailers are really promising.

* * *

Time’s up! Yey! It’s almost 6 PM now. I can go home, at last! Thanks to the internet I managed reach the end of the day without dying of boredom (OA!).

 

On not being late and on programming…

9:17 PM
Alone in C205

Except for skipping breakfast and just eating Waffle Time on the way just to ensure not being late and for two or three paper cuts in my right after being asked to roll some 130 Bratpack and Jansport posters, I had a great day overall.

For one, I kept my word to myself that I won’t be a second late in my third day at work. In fact, I arrived like 20 minutes earlier than call time – which is indeed a pleasant surprise after stressing the whole time I was commuting from Katips to Quirino, dreading a consecutive tardiness. Even the fine-looking receptionist in the HR department welcomed my “being early” with her neat smile.

Then, after spending the whole morning rolling posters and getting multiple itchy cuts in two of my fingers, I had a superb time tinkering and successfully fixing the product gallery of the Bratpack website – it is nothing much really, but to a programming-ignorant, as in zilch programming knowledge, like me, it is such an achievement. Armed with my eagerness, patience, the Wikipedia, and some luck, I was actually able to make the site look so much better. Even my supervisor was impressed. But there’s still so much to be done, and those things are what I will focus on tomorrow. Hello to the programmer in me. *Laughs*

Another thing, I’m starting to connect with the office people now. This is probably one of the many things I most miss in my internship stint in Accenture – having good working and friendly relationships with the regulars. (Pero, palagay ko, ang pinakanami-miss ko pa rin sa Accenture ay iyong pantry – unlimited kape, hot chocolate, water, at juice of the hour. Dito kasi sa Primer, tubig lang ang meron. Hahaha!). I sure hope I get to build more and strengthen these friendships.

With all these, this day is the best so far. (What a contest, just three days! *Laughs*). I wish that this will be the trend of this internship experience – better and  better as the days go by.

On eating an ampalaya dish…

12:20 PM
At the same eatery where I ate lunch yesterday, along Leon Guinto

Suddenly, I felt old.

Simply because of the fact that I’m currently eating an ampalaya dish – and am enjoying it.

The thing is, I never eat ampalaya other than my mother’s. It’s because I never really liked its bitter taste and only my Mom cooks it less sharp tasting for me. I remember one time years back that I even told my Mom that ampalaya is such a stupid vegetable – since it doesn’t, in any way, taste nice – and that having to eat it is kind of foolish as well. And back then, I thought that liking it is only possible to people who are up in years.

Look at me now! I’m eating the same thing I called foolish a long long time ago and actually enjoying it – preferring it better than the Beef Caldereta I also ordered for this lunch.

*Sigh* I feel old. So old.

*Laughs*

On not being able to sleep…

12:18 AM
At my (still messy) Cervini corner

In six or seven hours, I will have to get my sleepy ass up from the bed, do the necessary and usual morning ceremonies (like bathing and stuff), put on a smart casual attire, and travel by a trike and two trains to my internship work. Only a few hours to doing all those, and yet, I’m still up. I should have been snoozing like two hours ago, and yet, I’m still up.

There’s no particular reason to this, actually. I mean, not that there’s something bothering me or anything. It just seems that I just can’t sleep. (Well, this is why I decided to write. Pampaantok na lang, kumbaga).

I’ll probably be late again tomorrow because of this not-being-able-to-sleep problem of mine. I sure hope I don’t since two tardy records in my first three days would really look bad.

Anyway, I’ll go back trying to sleep now, since I’m starting to find it hard to think of what more to write. So, I’ll stop, (1) to avoid writing nonsense and (2) in the hope that this is my brain’s way of saying that it’s ready to doze off any time now.

Sweet dreams to me. Ta-ta!

P.S.
On “sweet dreams”: writing that made me think of her. Now part of me equates “sweet dreams” to dreaming about her, and part of me wants to think otherwise. (see earlier post if interested)

But I’ve gotta stop venturing this idea (her) for now. Or else, I’ll probably find it harder to sleep. Or I’ll start writing nonsense, hopeless rants again (and I don’t want that now). So, I’ll stop.

*Sigh!* Whatta pathetic life I’ve got.

On making first impressions…

I reported to my internship work late – 40 minutes late to be exact. And it’s just my second day. So much for making first impressions.

Anyway, in defense of myself, I was tardy not because I didn’t value punctuality. I was late because of two foolish mistakes I did. First is, my thinking automatically that since the company has a semi-flexi time – you could report starting from 8:30 AM to as late as 9:30 AM – policy, I could show up at the latest possible time, which is 9:30. Apparently, I don’t have the same privilege, since I’m just an intern – and that I have to report at 9 AM sharp. To make things worse, I didn’t even arrive at 9:30 – I got in like 10 minutes after – because of stupidity number two which is failing to synchronize my time on the company’s clock (mine was set in synch with the Ateneo class bell, which is about 10 minutes later than my internship company’s).

So, all in all, I was late by a whopping 40 minutes – on my second day! Good job, me. Just wonderful. Ulitin mo ulit, ha! Bukas ulit, ha! *Laughs at self*

But seriously, I don’t plan to be late again, EVER! Starting tomorrow! (Good luck! You wish, James. You sure wish!).

* * *

Still, just like yesterday, today was uneventful.

I have yet to do work that’s related to my original task since my supervisor – let’s call her the cute one from now on (obviously, kasi, cute siya. ) – has yet to assign me any task since she’s still waiting for something. So I would still have a productive time, she said, she’ll turn me over to another supervisor – which we call the funny one – for the mean time.

And there it was, I was passed to the funny supervisor whom asked me to help in their website – mainly uploading product pictures and fixing some stuff. Still, nothing connects to my course but what the heck, at least I’m doing something – something that’s not too easy nor too hard. (And the fact that it’s so much better than stamping a million coupons is enough a reason to just be grateful).

I did this the whole afternoon (and I have yet to finish. To be continued bukas!).

* * *

Then by past five, there was a sudden crash in our floor. Apparently, the almost half-inch-thick glass door got unhinged, fell to the floor and got smashed to tiny pieces. Freak incident that is. It’s a good thing I was asked by the funny supervisor to assist her on something at that time, or else, I would’ve been in the crash site since I was planning to go to the HR department floor.

Here’s the only picture of the scene I’ve managed to take, since I didn’t want the others to see me so interested in what happened.