Currently listening to: Dream Theater's Pull Me Under

Dan's playing downstairs and Lyn's catching up on some rest. Here I am just browsing at a leisurely pace. Downtime, ya know. We've been getting a huge load of calls all week with no time to blog or browse - I do take a sneek peek at hi-fi from between calls though. All of our breaks have been cut short due to the high call volume. So when they give the green signal to take 10 minutes off, I go straight downstairs and then it's munchmunchmunch gobblegobblegobble gulpgulpgulpgulpgulpgulp. Can't complain though, the pay's good and I just hope they keep us (international agents) for at least a year. I can commit to doing this for year. That's not too bad, right? I have bills to pay off and once that's done we can save up a bit.

I was supposed to do the lesson plan for my Japanese class but I guess I can do that tomorrow. I think they all grew a grey watching me procrastinate, LOL (little Incubus reference there, sorry).

Dan took his first trip to the dentist last Saturday (10/29/05). We need to switch his toothpaste and brush his teeth more thorughly, lest he get early tooth decay the dentist warns. Too bad I didn't bring my camera along. He had some flouride treatment to prevent his teeth from getting caivities. The doctor seems like the mataray type. She was kinda stern when warning us about the dangers of taking a bottle to bed. Doctor says there's a small caivty starting in his one of his molars so we should brush it really well. Easier said than done. Sobrang likot ni Dan kaya (damn you cofibean, you're corrupting my grammar). I thought as long as the nipple isn't soaked in his mouth all night, it would be no big deal. Turns out he shouldn't have milk in his mouth at all during the night. Well, what can we do? He cries in the middle of the night when he's hungry. I could try giving him just water but he can tell the difference even if he's asleep.

Oh, and we went trick-or-treating with one of our students and his mom yesterday:


He sure likes Slim Shady


you just got served, fool

Lyn and Andro


Andro, our student

You know what? I'm not as pissed off as I may seem. It's just I don't write here until I am. It's just my release I guess. We all have different reasons why we post on our journals. But outside of my blog, I do experience a wider range of emotions beyond the steam I blow off here. I was upset yesterday because this PC of mine has been suddenly resetting by itself a few times in the past month or so. No error messages, when it comes back on though. Gino says it might be the power supply acting up, or maybe the processor overheating. Well, I did keep this box in a somewhat cramped space. So me and Lyn did a little bit of rearranging here to allow better ventilation for the computer.

What keeps my gut in worried little knots is that I haven't fully paid my mom back for this PC yet (just one-third by Monday). After that's out of the way, I have other overdue bills to pay, not to mention some car maintenance stuff as well. Oh well, it's only money right? Oh please dear computer of mine, don't flake out on me - give it a decade or so, ok? Pwede ba yun ha?

I know I should see the positive things in life, appreciate all the good stuff I have going for me. I should be happy that I work out of home. I should be grateful in spite of the fact that I'm always strapped for cash, I still have a warm bed and a hot meal to look forward to everyday. I should be happy that I'm surrounded by many people who care for me and go out of their way to make my life easier.

Many, many other people have it a lot worse than me...I know, I know. So why do I flip out when trouble comes along?

Several years ago (towards the end of my college days), I slowly resolved, little by little, to be an adult in the full sense of the word. Meaning that I should always find a way to meet any problems head-on, with drama and whining kept to a minimum. But you know what, you'd think after all this time I'd be like that by now. But no, I'm really not that type. Kahit ipilit ko pa sa sarili ko. I'm probably just better at hiding my flabbergast-ness now than I was before. I may have moments of crystal clear clarity from time to time, but on a general basis I throw a bitch fit (well, when no one's looking anyway). I guess I'm not as grown up as I thought I would be.

Maybe I need anger management classes or something. Going back to what I said, that's why I rant online. Everything seems peachier the morning after.

That is all.

You know what I like about Star Trek? The fact that they've done away with the whole concept of currency. By the twenty-somethingeth century, all mankind has decided that there is no need to use that extra-special sheet of paper we need to have piles and piles of to keep ourselves happy.

What makes a man? Is it the brute physique? The steel will? The iron resolve to weather any cirumstance and obstacle? IMHO, it's the diskarte. No, it's the diskaaaaaarrrte, because you know, you have to say it with a street-smart edge to emphasize the full weight and effect of the said concept. So that's what makes a man what he should be. That, and the ability to squeeze every amount of production from one's phyiscal being - not to mention the ability to exist on a few hours of sleep. I heard that Batman developed some sort of Far Eastern meditation technique that allows him to cram a good night's sleep into three hours. Teach me, he must.

OT, here I come.

Yeah, so what brought about these idle musings? I just did the math today, and the semi-fat paycheck I'm expecting tomorrow (or on Monday, God forbid) is barely gonna cover the pending expenses. Aaaand, one of our ex-students still hasn't paid up.

Since I'm on the subject, let me say something about their family. They're basically your trailer trash family that hit it big through their successful trucking business. Let me say this: money doesn't buy class.

Being loaded as they are, it's ironic that they're dodging my follow up calls for their over-fucking-due payments. Mayaman ka nga, jologs naman ugali mo, bobo pa sa ingles. In preparation for a science test, I asked his smelly, overgrown son what the benefit of exercise is. His frickin' reply:

"IT MAKES OUR FAT LOOSE"

Potah. Saan ka nakakita ng ganyang kabobong estudyante? Daig pa sya ng isa naming tinuturuan na nasa grade 1. Yeah, I'm judging them, but what can I say, the truth hurts. I'm pissed ok? Go away.

I shouldn't be doing this right now because the more windows I have open, the more memory it eats up, which might screw up my softphone. Normally having a lot of applications running while taking calls is ok, but my newly installed DSL connection at home is acting up. 230 kbps? Who are they kidding? It should be 512. My PC was working perfectly fine at Len's place, but now I get disconnected every now and then, in addition to the slow connection. Could it be that they installed the splitter for the landline (which is an extension) right next to my PC upstairs? I checked the diagram at the DSL website and it shows that the splitter should go through the modem cable AND the main phone, which is downstairs. If that's the case, then maybe I get booted off whenever someone uses the phone downstairs. Then they'll probably have to reinstall the splitter so it feeds through the main phone instead of the extension I have beside me now.

This spotty connection is pissing me off! I'm using this for work, dammit. I have to restart my softphone application every now and then just to make sure it's still running and ready to receive calls. Customer service says it might be due to the fact that it was just installed yesterday, hence the unstable connection. But that was more than 24 hours ago - they said it should clear up by then.

AND the PC just rebooted by itself all of a sudden. Good thing I was on break that time. I don't know what happened, could it have been a loose power cable? Or did the extension cord or AVR come loose? My steps were quite light, so I don't know. I just hope it doesn't happen again.

It reminds me of the other non-working PC they have here. The power light comes on, but nothing comes through the monitor. There are some cases where it would boot up fine and you could even open applications, but the screen would suddenly black out or the picture would turn garbage. Maybe it's the video card, or the memory's screwed up, I honestly don't know. Or maybe it's because the monitor for that broken PC feeds through the CPU for its power supply rather than having a separate power cord to go into an outlet. And that monitor is what I have hooked up to my own PC now. I have to pick up my own monitor from Len's place tomorrow. I have this sinking feeling that this monitor might be one of the culprits involved in the fall of its former PC.

So here I am, waiting for the DSL helpdesk to call me back for the ticket I logged FOUR hours ago. Maybe I'm reaping the seeds that I've sown during my own days as a customer service rep at my last job.

There are just so many factors left to chance right now. I'm glad I've come this far, but I need to be employed for at least six months at this job so I can pay off my mom, who charged this costly computer to her card for now.

I swear, I'm right about ready to chew my fingers off. My nails would've been gone by now if I was the type that bit them during these kinds of situations.

To quote Tom Cruise's character in Vanilla Sky:

"It's a nightmare!! Tech support!!!"