The Q&A Fabcast 1

listen in on us try something new. the phone-in question!

some selected mgg readers get to ask questions for fabcasters' discussion. we thought this was going to be one light & humorous fabcast. humorous, yes. but light? find out for yourself.

Part 1

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cc unwired

no cellphone contact for four days. korea has a different mobile system, it turns out. globe could have lent out a phone and number for roamers but i didnt know that.

then, as always in most major hotels, wifi costs an arm and a leg. worse is that most wifi in establishments are also for sale. it seems that free wifi here is not an added come-on for patrons.

i thought to myself: four days shouldn't be so bad. a chance to actually be unwired. to forego virtual and be real. just like in the old days.

it wasn't going to be so bad. i was still able to filch at a nearby mcdo outlet. so ill do that evenings. so friends and family need not worry.

no cellphone contact was actually quite... relaxing. getting connected was something i could choose at my pleasure. so i was still updated, in the evenings. i was all in the 'here and now' - so zen. but wanting to chat with pc was more challenging. our schedules couldn't connect. and those DM tweets were arriving late somehow.

upon arriving in manila midnight, when the flight attendant signalled that it was ok to open cellphones, i opened mine. good grief. it had no battery. even when it was off during the entire time, somehow the battery drained. how do i contact my driver?

my colleague who travelled with me offered his phone. i texted the driver to fetch me. then my colleague left.

10 minutes of waiting. i looked for a phone booth. and luckily had some change left. i called the house. dad answered but couldn't hear me. grrr. then a nice janitor offered his cellphone, for a fee, of course. finally connected with my driver.

i woke him up! he was still at home, thinking that i was arriving tomorrow! getting really pissed! stupid driver!

took the airport cab home. finally at my gate. i was ringing the doorbell. for 10 minutes. Goodness! the help wouldn't respond! they couldn't f**king hear the stupid doorbell??? i couldn't call them on the landline to wake them up! Thank God one of them woke up and opened the gate.

i was fuming mad i couldnt sleep right off.

being unwired sounds great and even romantic. but reality-check for me. i just can't unilaterally decide to go unconnected. not since im still working and i havent become a hermit. not when i wasnt able to prime others about it.

the wires have chained me to this new life. for better or for worse.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

lost seoul

im waiting for my flight back to manila. i did something stupid early this morning. i was battling with my self whether or not to run. i still had enough time. the hotel even has a map of a prescribed jogging trail. after 20 minutes of indecision, i decided to run anyway.

i headed off to the direction of samseong park, near the hotel supposedly. i was off on a whim that i didnt bring the map, any money. all i had was my trusted ipod Touch.

i felt great, easily getting a good stride early on. the morning breeze felt great. it was still quite cold since summer was just starting. school children and office workers casted me weird looks. i didnt see other runners around.

after about 20 minutes, i thought i was heading back. i was supposed to be just tracing a square around a few blocks in the area. then wham! suddenly, the road, the buildings didnt look familiar. it seemed like i was running too long. i should have started to see the hotel by then.

panic time. i was lost in seoul. i still tried to pursue the path i was taking before finally giving in and asking for directions. the first was a student. he looked surprised when i told him i was looking for coex samseoung station. i was really far off! good grief! i tried to follow his directions but stil couldnt find my way back.

i was already praying while running. then there was an oldder man, a construction worker. next was the old lady tending her newspaper stand. they were all nice enough to try to teach me. but language was a problem. i couldnt figure out how many "blocks" they were referring to.

my fourth attempt to get directions finally showed me the way. david, an engineer for GE walked with me to the street leading to my hotel. he was so nice to do so. we chatted while walking. and he has been to the philippines, cebu and manila. he visited a friend based in cebu five years ago.

i made it back. i was getting really worried that i might roam seoul aimlessly. lol. ill never do anything that stupid anymore. the nice thing about this trip is my new respect for koreans. i admit that i found the koreans who visited and/or studied here in manila rowdy and uncouth and rude. the ones i met in seoul, especially those who have visited manila i found really nice and friendly. and they only have the kindest words for Filipinos.

i may have been a lost soul in cold seoul for a short while there. but i finally saw their soul and found warmth.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Location:Samseong-dong,Seoul,South Korea

curious case

straight, goodlooking guys mid-30's looking for bromance?

first it was iggy. lately, it has been lloyd. he is a client i had a chance to chat with at length. and somehow established some kind of friendship. he joined me during one of my runs. and we had dinner after.

the discussion was largely work-related. but i did establish that he is married with kids. though the family is based abroad. just like iggy, lloyd is extremely attactive. and seems so eager to "keep in touch". the invite for coffee or to join me in my exercise regimen.

do i detect anything fishy? (may lansa ba?) honestly, nothing. wishful thinking would want me to detect something. the conversations are neutral. mostly business and work. of course they are aware im still single. and i just tell them im staying that way, married to my career. im sure they know that is just some smokescreen.

so what drives them to want to establish new friendships with someone who is possibly gay?

for those interested in the iggy series:
iggy 01, iggy 02, iggy 03, iggy 04

- Posted using BlogPress from my ipad

Location:De Jesus Ave,Quezon City,Philippines

Failed Recital

My voice teacher told me to grab every opportunity to perform. That is the only way i could gain confidence, practice my craft and most importantly, get feedback.

My coloratura tita and tenor tito just had lunch at the house. And they asked me to perform.

Fail. I sang four songs. I was nervous throughout. All the lessons on voice supports, head tone, etc went out the window. My voice was weak. And on the last song, my voice cracked. I was sweating profusely. It was embarrassing.

My tito and tita, my cousins, my parents were polite to give me an ovation. But I knew I did badly.

Back to the drawing board. Sigh.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

sheer driving pleasure

i do enjoy driving. i like the feeling of moving fast in a machine. growing up in our middle middle class family, we only had one family car. and the few times my dad tried to teach me how to drive in high school and college almost gave him a heart attack.

i wanted to drive so badly but couldnt afford a car. so that became my ultimate career motivation. after college, i enrolled at a driving school even if i had no car to drive yet. eventually, i chose an industry that gave managers company vehicles. and when i was about to be assigned a car, a lady colleague was nice enough to practice with me. and give me a blowjob in the process. but that's another story. :-)

anyway, i remember not liking my driving instructor in that driving school. i thought he was too bossy. and he demanded too much from me. LOL. and those days, even the steering wasn't power-assisted yet (pawis-steering). so it was actually quite difficult to drive then. but i finished anyway.

i was assigned a 2nd hand silver isuzu gemini. 2nd hand so i could 'practice' with it without feeling too bad about bumps and bruises. hehe. and there were quite a few. but heck, as embarrassed as i was figuring in an accident then, it wasnt going to deter me from driving.

my next car was a 2nd hand yellow mitsubishi lancer, box-type. (retro references) and i was already quite adept at driving by then. and beginning to enjoy the driving experience.

after that came my first brand new car - a 93 red toyota corolla, the model so new at that time. and since then, all the cars have been brand new. then i finally bought my own vehicle, an 95 midnight blue isuzu pick-up. back to the company vehicle, i've had a 99 white honda civic. that was followed by 2003 yellow ford escape. I purchased another vehicle, a 2005 innova (mainly for my dad), after selling the pick-up. Then I drove a 2008 black honda crv. I changed that to a 2010 white toyota prius. and finally, i purchased the 2010 red mazda mx5.

with the mx5, codenamed simply red, i have come full circle (from my red corolla!). and this car is an ultimate driving pleasure.

coming from subic, i took the sctex at around 5pm, perfect weather as the sun was setting. i had the pleasure of driving top down for that entire stretch of 90kms. and to prevent me from overspeeding, i finally learned how to use the 'cruise control' function.

wind everywhere as i was driving at 100kph (maximum driving limit), adele's rumor has it playing so loud. the bucolic scenery unfolding in front of me. i reached nirvana somewhere after dinalupihan going towards floridablanca!