Digital Fortress

It’s been months since my last post. And nakalimutan ko na nga na may blog pa pala ako. I’ve been very busy living my life as a programmer at day and a videographer (at day too) and an internet surfer at night. 12 hours at the office is VERY normal for most of us. And when I arrived home at about 8pm, I’ll be accused of being “early”.

For year 2009, I want to revive this blog by posting more often. I’ll be focusing on movies, soundtracks and my frustration as a filmmaker more than anything else. I don’t want to talk much about work. I’ve had enough. Hahaha…

So, in this last post of 2008, I’ll enumerate the things (even the smallest ones) that made each of the days below memorable. In case you’re wondering where I got those dates, I’ve been keeping a “digital diary” on a small Excel sheet on my office computer. They are not actually in narrative form…they’re just little phrases that reminds me of something quite ‘memorable’ on a partilcular day (these are free of work-related stuffs). This allow me to remember simple things that I usually forgot due to my usual office work

On the first few months of 2008, the success of my short film, “My Girl” still echoed. Our visiting clients and on shore counterparts have seen it and I was glad that they at least understood it even without English subtitles. Similarly, in town hall meetings, videos that I’ve done in 2007 were still shown while waiting for the atendees. I’m actually sick of seeing it (and I think for all those who’ve seen it a dozen times). Hehhe… So I was thinking, I should create another one, if given the opportunity.

On early March, a senior exec in our project (whose name is also Alvin) approached me and asked me to do a series of 3-minute videos to be shown at Accenture Leaders’ Congress at Renaissance Hotel that will promote “LeAP Philippines!” programs. Because of my officemate’s unparalleled support, I was able to cast them as actors. The best part of this ‘job’ is that I was paid well. Php7K in fact. With that, I was able to treat my colleagues to dinner!

Mar 13: Inspiring Others In Workplace video shoot (LeAP)
Mar 15: video shoot Leader’s Haven, Intramuros (LeAP)
Mar 24: deliver 3 videos at Renaissance Hotel for the Accenture Leader’s Congress.It was said that Manny Pacquiao was on the hotel too the morning I gave the CDs to the event organizers.April 13: uploaded My Girl bloopers on YouTube…to make use of the unused footages as wellFrom May-September, I became very busy. My office duties on my left hand and handycam on the right as I join the Colgate music video contest, Cream-O video contest, an internal Accenture video contest, Vision to Action (V2A), re-submitting my old videos for the Accenture Global Employee Video contest as well as producing short film interviews for the projet All-Hands Meeting. See my last post, dated May 25 for more info on the Colgate Fresh Confidence entry.

May 8: Uploaded Colgate Entry
May 22: Video became #1
May 27: Our manger gave me a heads up on new video contest
May 28: Received 7,000Php worth of GCs from LeAP Philippines!
Jun 10: Alfoncy’s Colgate panel interview
Jul 7: Alfoncy told me that he won the contest
Jul 8: It was finally announced on the Colgate Fresh Confidence website that Alfoncy is the grand winner
Jul 9: Shot V2A running scenes in the office
Jul 16: Alfoncy’s contract signing
Jul 18: All-Hands Meeting
Jul 20: Watched Allfoncy’s rehearsal at Unitel studios, finished editing V2A video
Jul 21: Recvd GC for My Girl, decided to join Cream-O
Aug 10: Report from Kuya that the Alfoncy’s Colgate commercial was finally aired WHILE we were filming our first video entry for Cream-O.
Aug 17: overexcited over the 100K winning from Colgate, I bought an LG Home Theater system from my credit card.
Aug 19: Uploaded 1st Cream-O video on the Creamoholics website. (Original video page here.)
Aug 25: Shot another Cream-O video, this time with my sisters. (Original video page here)
Aug 27: 2nd Cream-O video uploaded
Sep 1: My father’s 37-inch Sony Bravia arrived.
Sep 4: Email from V2A commitee inviting us to join the Global Video Contest
Sep 6: Re-edited Just Another Day video and Inspiring Others in the Workplace vid (first shown in Leaders’ Congress)
Sep 12: Upload videos to the Global contest, Alfoncy received the Php100K cheque
Sep 14: Cream-O email notification to get the consolation prize
Sep 15: Uploaded V2A video to Global site
Sep 16: Global video contest official begins
Sep 20: ACN hired me to cover the International Coastal Cleanup Day at Manila Bay.
Sep 22: “Kwentuhan Tayo” video shoot, for next All-Hands meeting
Sep 25: All Hands Meeting: my videos were projected to a movie theater screen at Robinson’s Pioneer
Sep **: Email from an Indian “fan”.
Oct 6: Todd’s email (An onshore client, citing appreciation of the V2A video)
Oct 21: Todd visited Manila (Todd: “You’re going to Hollywood…”)
Oct 29: Email from Amy Stuart (a senior manager from Chicago), asking tips on making videos Although, I didn’t win the Cream-O contest because of the lack of votes and not lucky enough to win the Global Employee video contest (lack of user votes too), I was happy enough because of what I learn on those little ‘films’. And also, I was overwhelmed over the response of other people (on shore employees) from my work thru the comments posted on the videos.

Months later, I was contacted by the Accenture Faces (an event to raise money for our custodians)commitee after seeing my work on the Global Video contest. Although I wasn’t paid at all for the work, let’s say it’s my way of gving back :).

Nov 15: Accenture Faces video shoot…
Nov 18,19,21,26,27: Avanade Idol recording studio video shoot
Nov 20: Faces video uploaded
Nov 26: Release of Avanade Idol video
Dec 4: Another Faces shoot (for the wildcard candidate)
Dec 6: Another filming for Accenture Faces
Dec 8: Accenture Christmas Party, my videos were shown heheheAs much as I wanted to enter as many contests as possible, I just didn’t have enough time.
Missed opportunities: HBO’s Flight of the Conchords contest, Buhay Coke contestMOVIES:
Despite of my busy year, I still find time to watch the following movies…
They’re few…compared to most film geeks out there…
Jan 14: I Am Legend
Jan 19: Pan’s Labyrinth
Jan 21: Sweeney Todd [First time I saw The Dark Knight trailer on the big screen…I remember getting goosebumps on The Joker’s laugh to the point that I can still hear him laughing as I put myself to sleep on the night. On the following day, I woke up with the news the Heath Ledger is dead ]
Jan 30: Cloverfield (watched twice)
Feb 16: Little Miss Sunshine (Star Movies) –> a fun movie even though I haven’t seen the first 20 minutes
Feb 26: Juno –> watched it out of curiosity…didn’t like it much…overhyped i guess…the dialogue feels forced to make the movie “funny”.
Mar 21: Terabithia (again)
Mar 23: Enchanted
Apr 7: Beowulf (DVD)
Apr 12: Simpson’s Movie [Spiderpig!], Little Manhattan [that kid from Terabithia again], No Country for Old Men [thrilling but…not my type of movie]
April 25: GdT to direct Hobbit
May 11: IronMan [I missed the company sponsored movie night weeks earlier to give way for the Albay trip, Colgate filming!)
Jun 1: The Descent
Jun 6: Narnia: Prince Caspian (ACN movie night and with sisters)
Jun 7: Zodiac
Jun 8: The Orphanage (one of the best horror films, along the ranks of Blair Witch and Sixth Sense)
Jun 14: Kung Fu Panda
Jun 25: The Incredible Hulk
Jun 30: Wanted
Jul 22(?): Wall-E
Jul 26: The Dark Knight (one in IMAX, one in standard theater werks later)
Aug 18: Frequency and United 93
Aug 25: Knocked Up
Sep 11: Hellboy II
Oct 2: Spiderwick Chronicles
Oct 5: King Kong Ext Ed weekend, devoured all the extras found on DVD
Oct 18: Atonement (I cried so hard over the film’s denounement…good thing I saw it alone…hehe)
Oct 22: Sunshine (again on DVD)
Oct 25: High School Musical 3 [Ailen and I have free tickets, I was bored] , Trophic Thunder [I didn’t enjoy it much since I was still ‘traumatized’ from the HSM3 experience]
Nov 2: The Mist [boo! on the ending]
Nov 8: Charlotte’s Web, Disturbia, National Treasure 2
Dec 6: 2001: A Space Odyssey [finally…i can say that I’ve seen it…]
Dec 13: The Prestige [worth a second viewing…]
Dec 21: The Waterhorse [WETA Digital’s great looking creature]
Dec 27: Slither [zombie-comedy along the ranks of PJ’s early works and Shaun of the Dead]TRIPS:
Jan 15: Global Fun Carnival
Feb : Outreach Program
Mar 2-4: Palawan
Apr 20: Puerto Galera
May 3-4: Albay trip
May 10-11: Subic (Project summer outing)
Jun 20: June bday celebrants
Jun 28: Fun Run at UP
Jul 19: Tagaytay
Sep 13: Enchanted Kingdom
Oct 11-12: La Union
Nov 28-Dec 1: Baguio, Kuya’s wedding at Baguio Cathedral

OTHER EVENTS:
Jan 26: bought original LOTR DVD at Ebay (exact 6th anniversary of my first viewing of Fellowship of the Rings) [finally….someone at ebay sold them…]
Feb 9: Wisdom tooth extracted! Ouch!
Jul 3: My Zen player arrived [80% original soundtracks, 20% on ‘conventional music’..at least no one even dared to borrow my player bwahahha]
Aug 23: Confirmation rites… [22 na ako! Ngayun lang ako nakumpilan LOL!]
Aug 26: Lost my Motorola L7 celfone on the bus.
Sep 1: Bought new phone (Motorola L72 or L9)

Overall, it’s a great year. I’m looking forward to more surprises next year!

Dati, simpleng pa-cute effect lang sa text at chats ang “hehe”. Minsan, ginagamit ko yan para humaba yung sentence pag feeling ko bitin. At ngayun, ang “hehe” can also mean “no comment”. Madalas ko mapansin yan sa mga chat lalo na pag naka YM mo bigla yung mga classmate mo nung elementary. Pag medyo awkward na ang usapan, mag-he-”hehe” ka na lang. Pag hindi ka makarelate sa sinasabi nya or wala ka lang talagang comment sa last statement nya…isang sagot lang…”hehe..”

Pero sa mga nakaka-chat ko, parang understood na yun e. Pag nag-”hehe” ka na, usually, end na yun ng conversation unless nag open-up ka (or sya) ng bagong topic. Kaya minsan, nasasawa na ako mag-”hehe”…”haha” naman para kunyari natatawa ka kahit hindi.

Wala lang. May times kasi na naiirita na ako sa ”hehe” pero I still can’t live without that magic word. Hehe…(’ta mo!)

At least nga ginagamit lang sa text or chat yun e. Imaginin mo na lang kung sa actual conversation yung ginagamit. Parang weird…

Whew. Matagal-tagal din akong nawala sa internet world. Panu ba naman kasi, yung PLDT phone installation namin, inabot ng 3 months bagi kami makabitan. As a result, 3 months ding nakatunganga itong Opera browser ko at ang outdated kong antivirus. Kaya ngayung may dial-up connection uli ako, libreng-libre uli ako mag-internet ng walang Websense on the way (hindi katulad sa workplace).

So right now, masaya ako dahil permanent na ako dahil naka-six months na ako sa company. So anong ibig sabihin nun? Pwede na ako maging pasaway! Nyeheheh. Nagkaroon na rin ako mag-update ng Wordpress theme and this time, iniba ko lang yung color scheme. Binase ko sa colour scheme ng company namin at nagkataon pang colour scheme din ng upcoming Harry Potter book. Sa loob ng six months, madami dami na rin ako naipundar sa bahay lalong lalo na sa aking pinakamamahal na PC. Hard drive upgrade na lang ang kulang before ako makuntento. In fact, nire-ready ko na yung PC bago kami magpakabit ng broadband.

At dahil unti-unti ko na nang na fi-feel ang ownership ng PC ko, parang ang damot ko na. Parang ayaw ko na pagamitin yung mga kapatid ko. Ni hindi man lang kasi marunong mag-cover ng keyboard pag hindi ginagamit. Nakakaasar. Ganun pala talaga ang feeling pag ikaw na ang bumubili ng gamit. Tulad ng isa kong friend, hindi ko pa rin feel na employed na ako. Hindi ko pa rin fully absorbed na “eto na, may trabaho na ako, employed na ako”. Feeling ko pumapasok lang ako sa school at kailangang pumasok ng maaga at mag-abang ng 15th or 30th of the month to withdraw money on the ATM machine. Maybe it’s a good thing kasi hindi mo feel na pressured ka or maybe it’s a bad thing dahil hindi ka seryoso sa trabaho mo. I don’t know, basta sumusweldo ako, yun ang importante..Wahaha.

This is not an Easter-related post but rather a sort of an emo post and this also explains kung bakit hindi na ako nakakapag-post masyado… 

Hanggang ngayon, hindi ko pa rin lubos maisip na hindi na ako magigising sa bahay namin sa Muntinlupa. Sobrang bilis kasi ng mga pangyayari. Masyadong sudden yung decision na umalis kami sa Munti at mag-rent ng apartment sa Makati. Ni wala kami lahat kamalay-malay nung New Year na lilipat kami ng bahay. Magka-college na kasi yung bunso namin. At halos lahat kami sa Makati pumapasok. Nanay, ate, kuya, younger sister…lahat sa Makati pumapasok. Ako sa Boni pero baka ma-deploy ako sa Ayala. Natupad na rin sa wakas yung pangarap ng nanay ko na maglakad lang hanggang sa office nila. Ako naman natupad na ang pangarap kong maglakad ng nakapambahay na damit along Buendia Avenue. Heheh…

Last Good Friday, binigay na namin yung susi namin dun sa bagong uupa ng bahay namin. Hinakot na namin yung mga gamit namin at niligpit yung mga extra sa isang spare room. Syempre nakakalungkot. Dun na ako lumaki e. “Home person” pa naman ako. Nung nag-aaral pa ako, kadadating ko lang sa school, gusto ko na kaagad umuwi kasi masarap uwian yung bahay namin e. Nakakatanggal ng stress lalo na pag nakita mo yung pusa naming napaka-cute at napaka-peaceful ng itsura pag tulog.

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Dito sa village namin, lapitin ng mga nangangaroling ang mga may Christmas lights sa labas ng bahay kaya minsan naiinis na ako at hindi ko na lang binubuksan. Yung iba naman, sige pa rin sa pangangaroling kahit sinigawan ko na ng “PATAWAD!”. Mas malakas pa kasi tahol ng aso namin kesa sa mga boses nila e. 4 years ago, nung ayus pa ang mini-radio namin, ni-record ko ang sarili ko na sumisigaw ng “Patawad!”. Tapos, inilabas ko yung radio sa may gate. Naka-’play’ na agad sya para pag ni-plug ko sya sa outlet via extension, magpe-play agad ng ‘Patawad!’ So everytime na may dadating, sinasaksak ko na lang sa outlet para hindi na ako sisigaw.

Eto yung top 7 styles ng pangangaroling sa’min:

7. Kumakanta with matching instrumento. (The usual)
6. Imbento ng sariling Christmas song: Boom Tarat Tarat ng Wowowee.
5. Tumutugtog lang ng instrumento at walang kanta (o sobrang hina ng kanta?)
4. Kanta lang. Acapella. Walang instrumento.
3. Magbibigay lang ng sobre na may “Merry Christmas”. Tapos aalis na. Babalik daw at a specified date and time.
2. Magbibigay ng sobre. Isa daw sila sa napakaraming organizations at kakanta on that very moment.
1. Sumisigaw na lang ng “Namamasko po!” na wala man lang effort na gumawa ng instrumento at kumanta.

Ewan ko ba kung bakit napaka-bitter ko na sa mga nangangaroling. Yung iba kasi ginagamit lang ang season para mag-solicit ng pera. Tapos yung mga bata naman, babalik balikan ka once na nagbigay ka. May mga bata naman na mararandaman mong sincere ang pangangaroling. Pero yung iba, feeling ko ipang-raragnarok lang nila yung nakolekta nila.

Tapos meron ding type na namamasko na dala pa yung mga anak nya. Parang namamalimos pero ‘namamasko’ daw sila.

Sabi sa isang text message na natanggap ko, there are 3 stages in life daw.

I’m not sure about the second stage. Baka time lang ang wala but you still have the energy. Depende naman yun sa tao di ba?

Right now, I’m on the brink of stage 1. Nilalasap ko na ang bawat moment. January 8 next year, start na ako sa isang outsourcing IT company. Kaya ngayon, nagpapakasaya na ako. Kahit walang pera. Ngayon, nagwawalis na ako ng kalat sa labas. Naglalaba na ako ng mga damit namin. Masayang-masaya na ako ngayon na naghuhugas ng pinggan tuwing gabi kahit sawang-sawa na ako. Kasi pag nagtrabaho na ako, hindi ko na magagawa yun e. Hindi na rin ako makakanood ng mga movies sa cable/vcds/dvds. Once na nagstart na ako, ang gagawin ko na lang, gising, ligo, kain, byahe, trabaho, kain, byahe, kain, tulog. Tapos na ang maliligayang araw ko. Parang gusto ko uli maging student. Kasi pag studyante ka, papasok ka lang talaga sa school, may baon ka na…at parang may future ka pa. Pero pag nagwork na ako, feeling ko hindi pa sure ang future ko e. Bahala na.
Marami pa sana akong balak ngayon isang buwan na lang ang bakasyon ko. Gusto ko pang mag self study sa Flash, CSS, PHP, Photoshop, Java (uli) atbp para naman hindi ako mukhang aanga-anga pag pasok ko sa trabaho. Kaso, iniisip ko, parang ang killjoy naman kasi may 6 months training naman ako before mag start talaga. Kaya iba na lang priority ko…maglinis ng kalat sa PC, mag back-up ng files, magbigay ng testimonials sa Friendster, ayusin ang wikisite ng high school batch namin, makipag-bonding sa tatay ko na babalik sa Saudi sa January 2 atbp. Kung makakapag-bakasyon lang ako, mas maganda sana. Pera nga lang ang wala. Well, totoong-totoo yung natanggap kong text.