tala @ so-phobic

Office mate 1: Tara kain na tayo! Ililibre ko kayo!
Office mates 2, 3, 4, 5: Talaga? Tara!
Office mate 1: Oo! May 100 pesos ako. Isipin nyo na kung saan tayo kakain na kasya ang 100 pesos!

Hahahaha!

I’m sorry, it’s corny, but benta sa akin e!

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The last book. Wow.

I’ve been a Harry Potter fan since 1999. I remember blowing my allowance at merchandise and collectibles. Let’s see, there were the pens, notebooks, stickers, stationery (including one set that had the scar-shaped stamp), and journals from National Bookstore. I even have the journal with the little night light for scribbling adventures in the dark. Then there were the tee-shirts and socks and bedsheets from that old toy store at Robinson’s Galleria. Fantasia, I think it was called. It was on the topmost floor, where that new arcade is now.

I also bought the board games! I have the first Trivia board game. I remember going to the National Bookstore at Katipunan every Saturday for the elimination round of the Trivia contest they had going on that time. I got into the finals. The finals were held at the old Powerbooks branch along Pasay Road/Arnaiz Avenue. They had like 3 floors of books and an in-house coffee shop. I remember that that was also the first time I got to see Rustan’s U, and that it was my birthday that day. I wore my grey Roxy shirt, dark green Levi’s cords, and bowling shoes. Hahaha, I still remember what I wore! I didn’t get the second Trivia game because I was broke (it cost Php1,700.00), but I did get the Mystery at Hogwarts board game because I am both a Harry Potter and Clue fan.

I also spent a ton of money on the Harry Potter Trading Card Game (TCG). I gave up Magic: the Gathering for it! Shit, I would go to the old Pojo.com site almost everyday to look up deck construction and trading card values (Harry Potter foils!). I even made my very first website (ugly as hell!) because of the TCG. My favorite card has always been 4 Privet Drive:

I used to go to Glorietta 2 every Saturday to play. There’s a store there beside the Neoprint booth called Pocket Collector (sold cards and toys) that hosted both Pokemon and Harry Potter TCG games. They had tables and chairs in the area in front of their store. We used to arrive at around 4PM and we would shoo the Pokemon players away and commandeer the tables and chairs. Hahaha! We were meanies. I used to win a whole lot with my Hermione deck. I was never a Creature deck player (except in MtG), so I used the Quidditch and Charms cards a lot.

I also still have the key chains and the House bracelets. And the CD case and the 2 Fossil watches! I’ve started wearing the watches again.

Shit, now I’m nostalgic. See you all on the 21st at Fully Booked - High Street. I’ll be there before 7AM, just like the last time. XD

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I’ve been so busy reorganizing my life and career that I haven’t even posted about my trip to Jakarta! I was sent to conduct a training class for Rational Testing Tools from June 3-9. It was too bad that there was no Authorized or Certified Instructor in my class to observe and rate me, and eventually grant me an Authorized status and recommend me for Certification. But then I’m leaving Software Lab Services anyway, so it didn’t matter.

I flew in Sunday afternoon. I had a 3-hour wait at the Changi airport - too short a time for me to take a quick visit to the Great Singapore Sale. On second thought, are you even allowed to go out of the airport if you’re just there for a connecting flight? I got to the Soekarno-Hatta International Airport at around 11PM Indonesia time, and finally, to my hotel at close to 12MN. I didn’t really read up on Jakarta before my trip - except for food to try - so I was perplexed at their currency. I changed USD 50 to IDR and got a shitwad of bills in 100,000 denominations. OMG. Hahaha. And to further confuse, their 100k bill is the same shade of pink as their 10k bill.

I took an airport taxi to Shangri-la Jakarta. I didn’t know then to trust only the Blue Bird Group of cabs, so I took some random one parked at the airport exit. I got charged a total of IDR 95,000, excluding a toll fee of IDR 10k. So I gave the cab driver IDR 100k, expecting IDR 5k in change. He didn’t give it to me. But I was so tired and sleepy that I let it go. Plus, he suddenly seemed to stop understanding English. I found out later on, when I asked IBMers Yoyok and Rikrik about the right tipping amount, that IDR 5k and below were considered decent tip amounts. I wasn’t ripped off after all.

The IBM office in Jakarta is 15 minutes away from Shangri-la Hotel. I was advised to take a cab even in the mornings as the path to the IBM building includes a dark tunnel where people got mugged. Especially laptop-carrying ones. At least the hotel uses the Silver Bird taxis of the Blue Bird Group.

The IBM Indonesia office occupies 3 floors of Tower 1 of the Landmark Building. The 2nd Tower is empty. Apparently, the area became flooded during one particularly strong typhoon. The parking spaces were flooded and people were stranded. The tenants left the Tower soon after.

Me at the IBM Indonesia Office:

I was initially informed that the participants would be Rational business partners in need of skilling. They turned out to be cross-brand IBMers, mostly from Software Lab Services. I had to change some of the materials to suit their needs. They were fun, smart people. I particularly enjoyed the company of Budi, Yoyok, Rahmadi, and Rikrik.

I made a list of Indonesian cuisine that I just had to try out. The IBM office didn’t have a cafeteria. They did have their version of the Jolly Jeep, only they call it Riverside Cafe (think Jolly Jeep parked by the Pasig River). However, Budi, my official tour guide, was advised by his boss, Okky, not to feed me there. Lol. So we got Yoyok to bring us to a different mall/resto everyday for lunch.

The first day, we went to a place that served Padang cuisine, Restoran Sederhana - Masakan Padang. When we sat down, I wondered why no one was being given menus. I thought maybe it was a Pay As You Order, Self Service thing. Then these waiters approached with several dishes stacked up along their arms. And I mean dishes with food on them. The placed 15 or so different viands in front of us. You only pay for what viands you eat, plus rice of course. And I also got myself the popular avocado juice - the one mixed with chocolate omg soooo good. I forgot to take a picture, so I snagged this Padang pic from Jenz Corner:

I got the spicy prawns, the crispy vegetables with chili - so good! - and beef rendang, and the chicken fried in water. Tuesday, I had bebek goreng, or fried duck with rice and chili sauce at the Ambassador Mall. Wednesday, we went to another mall, Sarinah, and I had a Baso Malang Super Komplit (2 types of noodles, soup, chicken balls, wanton, tofu, and crackers) and Es Teler (avocado, chickweed, kaong, coconut in milk and ice). The es teler is a great refreshment during humid days. Thursday was gado-gado day. Gado-gado is mixed vegetables and tofu with this sweet peanut sauce. While eating, I told them about kare-kare, which they were eager to try. “Very interesting” was the comment. Friday, Yoyok and I went to the posh Plaza Indonesia and I had Soto Ayam, which is chicken and vegetables in hot soup with a hint of coconut milk.

Budi took me to Pasaraya Grande Wednesday afternoon for souvenirs. They didn’t have any of those cheap ass, buy-4-for-SGD10 tourist shirts like they do in Singapore, so I just got a pretty batik tablecloth with table napkins for my grandmother, and some batik place settings with coasters and table napkins. I went back to Plaza Indonesia Friday afternoon and talked myself out of buying a Neverfull MM - they had in stock for IDR 6.5M, approximately Php34k. Instead, I got Mik’s mom a hand carved box for her collection, and several batik bags, key chains, and coin purses for the folks at home. As for me, I got the first item in my Starbucks City Mug (soon-to-be) collection. Yes, I’m starting to collect them (*birthday hint hint*). I currently have Jakarta and Taipei (thanks to Mik’s mom). I didn’t have time to get a Singapore one when I was at Changi (stoopid!), so I’m asking Eric, Mae, or JP to get me one. Jane, please get me an LA or NY one, kthxbai. XD

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The last couple of weeks have been chaotic, to say the least. But I stand by the decision I’ve made. It’s time to move on, move back towards the right path in terms of my career. I have 2 more options to hear out this week, but even if those 2 don’t pan out, I am quite satisfied with my first choice. I’m excited to start working as a QA Analyst at last.

I’m also pretty excited about my Dell XPS. Yes, I’m finally getting it. I managed to catch the Dell SG free video card upgrade promo. I’m happy with the size, the specs, and the price. Now to count the days till August 8 for Eric to bring it here. Or hope that JP and Mae can bring it by the 3rd week of July.

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So it’s Day 2 at Accenture, and I’m dealing with blocked sites. _Everything_ is blocked. And I mean everything. Even the FTP to so-phobic is blocked. Heck, even the download link for SmartFTP is blocked. I can’t upgrade to Wordpress 2.0.5 and customize my theme. This pastel theme is getting sickening. Don’t you think so?

Compare it to this, my old wordpress.com account. Isn’t it cute? The header image was created by my uber talented guildmate, Pau, also known around Midgard as Suffrie. I wanted to use the same theme and the same header, of course, for this site, but I couldn’t get any decent FTP client. And then I realized that I could just shut this down altogether and use WP.com so that I don’t have to worry about version upgrades, server maintenance, etc. I can still play with Wordpress when I have the time and not have to worry about maintenance. I don’t think I’ll be moving out of LJ anytime soon. I just miss my WP.

So I used wordpress.com’s Domain Mapping feature to get boonehfiedgeek.com. Paid thru PayPal. Niftyness. Up next: upgrade this to 2.0.5 so that I can export all my entries here and then import them over to WP.com. Thank the gods IBM doesn’t use a proxy or block about 80% of the Internet. Still, I’m grateful this one isn’t blocked. I’m dying of boredom.

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