Joni Ang » Rants

New Year, New Hope

Joni — Thu, 01 Jan 2009 19:53:58 +0000

Well, it’s 2009. Three more days and the two-week holiday vacation will be officially over. I’m already dreading all the tasks that await me at the office. [insert sad face here]

Pardon me for sounding like a pessimist, but lately I think I’ve become one. The past three weeks for me have been kinda hard. You know how I always say that I’m a sleepyhead? Well, I still am. Once asleep, I could stay still for hours. The only difference nowadays is when it’s time for bed, I can’t get myself to fall asleep. The reason is simple really, I am worrying about a lot of things that it’s keeping me up.

Most of the time, though, my mind is free of these things that worry me. But when those moments suddenly come, my mind runs uncontrollably and my heart beats so fast that I feel like it’s going to burst inside my chest. Like I literally want to shake my head to get these thoughts off my mind.

They say that it’s trials, problems (or whatever you want to call them) like this that makes one person feel more “alive”. Because if everything’s fine and dandy, it’s like you’re living your life caught in your very own fairy tale world where nothing could go wrong. It’s like a plot with no inciting point, climax, resolutions, nor lessons to be learned. I believe there’s a truth behind this logic. But if feeling alive only makes me realize how weak, scared and immature I really am despite how others perceive me, and that there are no quick steps to emotional recovery, then it seems that the fairy tale thing is in fact the option that makes more sense between the two. Yet one does not really have the power to choose, does he?

I was glad to say goodbye to 2008 last night. 2008 for me began nicely, but ended not quite right. The new year, on the other hand, symbolizes hope — at least there’s that to look forward to.

It’s 3:30am right now and I only had 4 hours of sleep yesterday, yet I still can’t coerce my body to drift off to la-la land, to a place where my mind is free of these thoughts. Oh how I hate my state right now.

Anyway, Happy New Year to one and all! May your 2009 be better than mine, and may this blog post not let you down. Hee. :)

Seattle’s Best Coffee’s Wi-Fi = FAIL

Joni — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 13:35:35 +0000

It’s a Wednesday night and I’m sitting here inside Seattle’s Best Coffee in Bonifacio High Street hoping I could do some work tonight (and maybe write a blog entry which, thankfully, I am doing now) because the intermittent Internet connection at home is being a pain again. I’m not gonna explain why I haven’t blogged in 4 weeks because I find it pathetic every time I do that (I don’t think anyone cares about those reasons really). Instead, I’m going to blog about the crappy service I just got here in SBC.

Normally, when I’m here in Bonifacio High Street with my laptop, I go straight to Bo’s Coffee, which, in my opinion, is the epitome of an ideal coffee shop/hotspot. I’ve been going there for close to a year, but tonight, it just so happened that I parked my car at the parking area near Serendra, which is at the opposite side from where Bo’s Coffee is located. So on the way to Bo’s, I passed by Seattle’s Best Coffee and thought to myself, “Why don’t I try this place for a change?”

So I went inside, walked to the counter, and before I gave my order to the lady, I asked her if their wifi is working okay. She answered me with a hesitant, “Uhm.. Y-yes.” I took her word for it, ordered a drink with dessert, and went to sit in a couch. I opened my laptop, searched for a signal and voila! I got nothing.

I called the attention of one of their crew and asked about their wifi connection. He walked away to talk to (who I assume was) the store manager and he was told that it’s been down for a while.

After he gave me the bad news, I swear I felt my ears slightly turn hot. I just spent 200 bucks on nothing! I told the guy that before I made my order, I specifically asked the lady at the counter if their wifi connection was good and she said yes. I also said that I only chose this place for the free wifi, not the coffee or food. For P200 I could be enjoying a Toffee Nut Latte (plus a sticker!) in Starbucks! If they’re thinking of telling me off by saying I’m just here to use their free wifi then I’d proudly admit that yes, I am just here for the free wifi. I don’t have anything good to say about the service they’re offering and the goods they’re selling.

The guy told me to wait 15 minutes before reconnecting. I will after I finish this entry. If it’s a total FAIL again, I’m gonna give that girl a piece of my mind. Ha.

Btw, my laptop is connected to my 3g phone right now which is why I’m able to compose and publish this entry.

Don’t worry, I’m not about to throw a fit in this place. All I’m trying to say is, I wish I should have gone straight to Bo’s Coffee tonight when I had the chance. That place hasn’t failed me since the first day I went there.

Well.. nasa huli nga ang pagsisisi! Haha.

Weekend Snapshots #7: My Family

Joni — Sat, 11 Oct 2008 14:24:30 +0000

half-press first, thus the blur." width="300" height="199" />

I forgot to tell the waiter, who took this shot, to half-press first, thus the blur. ^_^

I spent the whole day today with my family. In the photo above are my parents, my brothers Jec and Jem, Sharon, Che-che, Deej, and me. This kind of gathering doesn’t happen everyday so I thought of preserving it using my camera and posting the photos here (plus, I really really want to update this blog because it’s a Saturday night and I got nothing else to do). We had lunch today at Pier One, Global City.

If you’re wondering where you can find those big stone dinosaurs, they’re standing right outside Pier One in Global City, Taguig. They remind me of The Land Before Time!

© Joni for Joni Ang, 2008. | Permalink | 9 comments | Leave a comment
Word count: 155 | Filed under: Books, Personal, Rants, Work-related

On Manila Cab Drivers

Joni — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 03:44:33 +0000

I know that the most-hated people in the Philippines right now are our corrupt government officials, but to an ordinary citizen like me, nothing pushes my buttons harder than the annoying cab drivers here in Metro Manila! Here are the reasons why I HATE hailing a cab:

The cab drivers raise the fare just after I’ve stepped inside: “Dagdagan nyo na lang ng trenta ang metro ha.” Whatda?!
They refuse to let me in because my destination wasn’t their preferred destination. Waitaminute, who’s the passenger and who’s the driver again?
Upon hearing the place where I wanted to be driven to, they change their minds and tell me they have to take their lunch first. Then why did you stop when I hailed for a ride in the first place?!
They only want to take passengers whose destinations are not beyond Makati City. Dapat nag jeepney drayber na lang kayo!
When they suspect that traffic is heavy ahead, they ask me to get off so they won’t get stuck in traffic. And it doesn’t matter to them if I’d get wet from standing in the rain. Their comfort comes first. Ayos!
They pretend they don’t notice me waiting for the change for the P100 bill I gave.
When I remind them about it, they insist they don’t have any change.
When I show them how pissed I am at them, they snap right back at me and call me names! Whatever happened to the saying, “The customer is always right”?
When I tell them I’m going to report them to the LTFRB or LTO, they just laugh at my face and tell me to go ahead, that doesn’t scare them.
Lastly, they ruined my anniversary night with Deej. :(

It’s a long story, but the short version is, Deej was on his way to Libis to meet a client last night. Along the way, the cab driver distracted him and took his cellphone that fell out of his pocket. He didn’t even notice it was gone until he had gotten off the cab. What a scheming, deceitful scumbag of a driver.

That old Nokia 6600 phone, although it’s not worth anything much these days, contained all his important business contacts. It also contained the text messages I sent him since Day One, the photos we have together taken in 2006, and the list of all the movies we’ve watched together since the first time we went out. The movie list is stored in the Notepad of his phone which we religiously update every time we go see a movie. The list was around… ah, I’ve lost count! I know it doesn’t mean anything to you, dear reader, but that phone was very special to both of us. Sigh.

As you’ve probably figured out, our anniversary dinner last night was ruined because we kept thinking about the lost phone and how EVIL that cab driver is. Evil, just as Neri described our president. HAH! I’ve been calling and texting his old number but we all know that something like this is already a lost cause. And that’s coming from someone who has lost not just one, but two cellphones in the past. Given that I’m a total klutz, that is not a shocking news.

Right at this minute, Deej is sending this message to his friends, “Hey there, a cab driver is now the proud owner of my old phone. I’m using this Smart number now: +63 929 *** ****. Kindly send me yours. Thanks.” Haha.

Despite what happened, we tried our best to reclaim the night, our night. We ate our dinner at Nipa Hut, and boy did I enjoy the awesome view overlooking the rest of Pasig City! The night ended with me finding the star that my dad doodled over the “February 28″ date in our calendar. I asked him this morning what that was about, and he told me, “What else? It’s your anniversary!”. Lol.

So where was I? Oh yeah, I was about to say that I abhor the majority of the taxi drivers here in Metro Manila. ‘Nuff said.

What’s your recent cab experience?

[EDIT] Aurus brought up a good point about referring to Manila cab drivers alone and not Filipino cab drivers in general, so I changed the title of this post. I know for a fact that taxi drivers in Baguio and Bacolod City are way nicer and more accommodating than those in Metro Manila. [/EDIT]

Interesting read: Episode with a Chinese Taxi Driver

© Joni for Joni Ang, 2008. | Permalink | 26 comments | Leave a comment
Word count: 751 | Filed under: News, Events, Occasions, Rants

A Chaotic One Hour

Joni — Tue, 26 Feb 2008 06:02:58 +0000

From the time I wake up in the morning at 7:00 am until I leave the house at 8:00 am, I always have this intense reflective moment in between wherein I think about how different things would be if I’m just working at home. Think of the money I’ll be saving on gas, food, laundry and the things I buy or do on the side on my way home in the afternoons (e.g.: stop by the mall). Think of the additional time I can spend bonding with my parents and my hamsters (hah), and the time I can use to work on my freelance projects. Think of the full control I’m gonna have over my schedule. Best of all, think of the quality of sleep I’m gonna get everyday!

I’ve only been working for roughly four years but I’m already sort of feeling burned out from exerting too much effort in waking up every morning. If you’re a sleepyhead like me, you’d understand how I look at early mornings as a challenge. How I admire those employees who have been working in the same company and doing just about the same job for 20 years or more! I highly doubt I’m gonna last that long.

I guess the difference between me and those people is, I can stay at home and just fish out my monthly income from the Internet. So why won’t I just go ahead and do it? If I were in a different situation, if I didn’t have the rent and the bills, and if my parents weren’t totally dependent on me, I would have grabbed this opportunity in a heartbeat. It’s easier to go for it if I didn’t have to be a sigurista over everything. Or if the company I work for didn’t offer much room for growth. Or if the online stints I do actually provide financial stability just as much as my full-time job.

There’s also the matter of choosing between doing something that I actually have the enthusiasm to do or doing something that I just happened to have been trained to do but don’t really enjoy. And the comparison between working inside my comfortable bedroom (or some coffee place if I feel like going out) or spending 8 hours in a small office where there’s scarcity of social interactions anyway that I might as well be working alone at home. Ok, that last one’s actually my fault. Sigh. I miss the ePac gurls and how fun office work used to be..

After all this ranting, in the end, it all boils down to the choice that’s obviously the wiser one. I do think I’m making the right move, simply because I don’t want to reach the point where I would be at my wit’s end worrying about the rent or the unpaid bills. I’ll settle for this, for now. But it’s always good to have a backup plan. :)

That’s too much contemplating in a span of just one hour, don’t you think? Heh.

If you were me, what would you do?

An Airport Mishap

Joni — Thu, 29 Nov 2007 16:18:54 +0000

You wanna hear something terrible AND funny? Brace yourself because you’re gonna find me very stoopid in this story.

My flight was supposed to be this afternoon at 4:35. At 3:00PM, Deej and I rode a cab to the airport, hoping that I could make it to the check-in time. But because fate made the commotion at Manila Peninsula happen on this same day that I’m leaving for Bacolod City, we were stuck in a traffic jam on EDSA from Ayala to Baclaran. And so what I thought was an arrival of 30-minutes early became 30-minutes late. Bummer. The flights I had in the past were always delayed, and the only time that I didn’t beat the clock my flight was surprisingly on schedule! Sigh. Life’s unfair like that.

Fine. The fault is mine. IT’S MINE! I should have left home at 2 o’clock. $#!%&*$(%#!!!

Anywho, I was told that I have to rebook my flight ASAP. When I got to the ticketing office, the place was swarming with people who were there either to book, reschedule, or cancel a flight. Turns out I wasn’t the only passenger who got held up in traffic. We stayed there for hours waiting for my number to be called, and when it was finally my turn, I was fortunate to have been given a slot in the 8:00AM flight tomorrow by the very nice woman at the counter. I had to pay an extra fee (which is really a drag) but I was glad that I could still make it to my friend’s wedding tomorrow at 5:00PM. Deej was kind enough to join me kill the time (We ate our frustrations away!), but he had to go home an hour ago because of the stupid curfew the government declared. So, guess where I am now? I’m at the airport and my flight’s not for another 9 hours!

I could have gone home to sleep and just leave early tomorrow morning, but I don’t trust myself anymore. And there’s the possibility of not finding a cab ride to the airport at 5:30AM, so I’m staying put. Besides, I need to face the consequences of the wrong decision I made. Good thing I got my phone and laptop configured at the Smart Wireless Center last week so right now I’m enjoying a mobile 3G Internet at a not-so-bad rate of P10.00 per 30 minutes usage. Let’s just hope that my phone credits don’t run out until later nor will the airport staff find out that I have my laptop’s charger discreetly plugged into the socket behind me. Heehee.

The airport lobby one hour ago.

The airport lobby five minutes ago. Yay. I’m not alone anymore!

I should be at my best friend’s house in Bacolod right now enjoying a talk we haven’t had for more than a year. Instead, I’m wasting away precious time in a place I didn’t expect I would be for more than two hours. THIS IS DEFINITELY NOT MY DAY. I blame Senator Trillanes and the rest of the Magdalo members! Lol.

From the corridor of Cebu Pacific’s terminal, GREETINGS EVERYONE! Now I work, bloghop, or bug someone in Yahoo! Messenger. Anyone up for a late-night chat? Is it obvious that I’m bored? Maybe I should join everyone else here who’s clustered around the television watching the news. Haha.

So how have you been doing? I’m bored and desperate, I’m all ears! :D

Surprise, Surprise.

Joni — Fri, 26 Oct 2007 20:21:11 +0000

I’ve been indifferent to politics for as long as I can remember. I don’t know why exactly, but there’s something about it that don’t interest me much. Add to that the fact that I find it hard to understand how all those political stuff go about (and that I myself refuse to understand them thoroughly), although I found my Political Science subject in college fascinating. But that was it! Maybe it’s because I was brought up by apathetic parents or because I’ve been hanging out with apathetic friends. Maybe there’s something about how a government is run that makes me want to shy away from it or the fact that my impression of a typical government lackey — from what I’ve been hearing from other people since I was a kid — is that he’s corrupt, manipulative, and just plain evil. Lol. My classmates in high school even had a hard time persuading me to run for student body officer when I was in my senior year. I caved eventually — only because I was bored and in dire need of something to do to improve my standing in the honor roll race and to prove myself to this teacher of mine who hated me for that one time I interrupted her in class (She caught me working on a tat-like doodle on my seatmate’s arm, half-listening to her while she was helping us review for NSAT, haha). I was elected, btw, but I can’t say that it made much of a difference. Anyway..

When I read about our former president’s pardon a few days ago, I also felt what other Filipinos felt about it — I felt betrayed and ashamed. To echo what everybody else has been saying, allow me to ask these same questions: Where’s justice in that? What significance does Edsa Dos bring now? What was all the hullabaloo about our former president’s impeachment six years ago and the recent hearing and verdict (where he was sentenced to a penalty of reclusion perpetua) if we’re just gonna throw all of those away just because our current president woke up one morning and decided she wants ~~to pretend~~ to be a nice and forgiving person? I can almost imagine our two favorite presidents meeting over a cup of coffee somewhere, discussing matters, laughing, and exchanging remarks like, “I can’t believe they fell for that!” or “It took you long enough, but thanks mate!” Grrr.

Like I said, I don’t know much about our government (and maybe I’ve just been rambling on about stuff that are actually out of context here, hehe) but the news about the pardon irks me a little. And for someone who knows squat about politics, it doesn’t really take much for me to understand that we have one very twisted government system. Surprise, surprise.

But I guess Karen is right — justice will be served. Not today, but someday it will be. And really, who am I to play judge? Maybe this is a good example of how it is to extend grace to those who don’t deserve it?

Good reads: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6

Does PageRank matter?

On the techie side of the globe, prolific bloggers and SEO folks are talking about the drastic changes of their blog’s PageRanks (blogs such as problogger.net, johnchow.com, copyblogger.com, weblogtoolscollection.com, andybeard.nu, searchengineland.com, etc) which I’m sure most of you have already heard about. What is my reaction to this? I’m not really sure yet. I could care less, I guess. But hey, at least mine stayed at PR 5, that must count for something, right? No? Whatever. Heh.

Everybody should have realized by now that the Great and Powerful Google is like one big jigsaw puzzle, which means that it’s just so hard to figure out. This SEO Chick brought up a really good point about it. But among the blog posts I’ve read about this topic, I find these two posts unique just ‘coz they have a different tone from the rest: “The Other Side of the Paid Links Coin” by Pat of SEOish.com and “Why You SHOULD Still Care About PageRank” by Kumiko of CashQuests.com.

I’ve got theories (guesses, really) about why this phenomenon happened, but like everybody else, I can’t support them with anything. The only thing I know is that this is a constantly evolving industry which is why this isn’t a surprising phenomenon at all. And, oh, that Google is search engine god so why don’t we all just quit whining. Lol.

Anyway, let’s just move past these things. I’m sure we all have better things to think about. I have a new *Multiply site, so maybe you can start there by adding me to your contact list? Hehehe.

*I seriously doubt that I’d be able to update that site regularly, though.

[EDIT] It’s Mae Paulino‘s birthday today. Happy birthday, gurl! :) [/EDIT]

Have a nice long weekend everyone! :)

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Word count: 825 | Filed under: News, Events, Occasions, Rants, SEO / SEM

“There must be more to life than this.”

Joni — Fri, 17 Aug 2007 05:46:26 +0000

If you’re someone close to me, you probably hear me say this particular sentence several times a year. I don’t know why but whenever I realize the happenings in my life are, once again, becoming ONE BIG DULL ROUTINE, I just find myself suddenly letting out a long forlorn sigh and muttering the words, “There must be more to life than this.“

Two nights ago, I was chatting with a former colleague who’s now working in Dubai. She told me she’s surprised that I’m still where I am and that I haven’t packed my bags and moved somewhere far because she knows that I’m not the type who can just sit still for a long period of time and do the same stuff over and over again. She’s right, I get bored really quickly. Not just over the things I do, but also of the place and other circumstances. The thing is, though — I may sometimes feel tired of life’s monotony, but I do know that it’s not that easy to turn my back from my responsibilities just because I’m bored out of my wits. And, there’s also the fact that I can sometimes be a coward. Heh.

So when you hear me say those words, don’t mind me. I’m just having one of those days when I feel down and could really use a good vacation. Good thing there’s, at least, the long weekend ahead to look forward to, huh?

*Sigh* There must be more to life than this…

Life’s Too Short For The Wrong Job

Joni — Mon, 30 Jul 2007 06:44:38 +0000

What a worse way to start the week! I have a running nose, a throbbing head, and a fuzzy eyesight. I used to think that I’m not the kind that gets sick after I get myself wet from walking in the rain, but last Saturday night proved me wrong. While I was on my way to a couple of friends’ birthday, it started to pour hard. And since I forgot to bring an umbrella (that night of all nights!), I didn’t have a choice but to run in the rain. I wanted to wait but the dark sky that night looked like it didn’t have plans of going away anytime soon. So when I got to her place I was soaking wet… The air conditioner was on… I stayed there for more or less 12 hours… You get the picture.

But I did have a fun weekend! Friday night, I was with Riz. And Saturday night, with these guys. Thanks, friends! Ang kukulit nyo! I had the best time. :)

So, it’s Monday again (the day of the week that I dread the most) and I’m sick. Way to kick me when I’m down!!

Good thing my job is not anything like these guys…

… LOL.

Via an e-mail forwarded by Mels.

© Joni for Joni Ang, 2007. | Permalink | 18 comments | Leave a comment
Word count: 212 | Filed under: Just For Laughs, Rants

How Can Something So Small

Joni — Tue, 19 Jun 2007 14:53:48 +0000

…be the cause of my lack of productivity tonight?

Earlier today I downloaded a bunch of stuff, saved them on my flash drive and planned to use them on some projects when I get home. Now I’m home, I’ve rummaged through my bag three times, but found no flash drive. I had to leave the office right away this afternoon which is probably why I forgot to remove it from the USB port and put it inside my bag.

So now, I’m staring at the screen of my laptop.. thinking, “I could download all of the files again, but that would just take up so much of my time tonight.. and I have to find the website I got the files from because I also forgot the URL, I don’t know if I’m willing to do that right now.. Plus my back is aching so bad from sitting the whole day and I really just want to lie down and rest for a while..” So… I decided to log on to my blog and just rant about it. Hahaha

Don’t you hate it when something like this happens? You’re all excited to do something (fyi, that rarely happens to me nowadays) and when you get to it, you find out you’re not able to. Boo.

Funny how something so small is able to dictate what I should or shouldn’t do. How did technology gain this much power?!

Fine, then. I’ll work on them tomorrow night.

Madali lang ako kausap. lol

© Joni for Joni Ang, 2007. | Permalink | 21 comments | Leave a comment
Word count: 250 | Filed under: Computer/Gadgets, Rants