Current NaNoWriMo Word Count: 25,354 words - I'm finally past the halfway point! It certainly took me long enough and despite the fact that I have less than half the month to go, I'm still feeling pretty confident that I'll be able to push forward for the goal. Go, go, NaNoWriMo! =D

Work last night was pretty tiring. Of course given it was a Monday, a larger reason for that was me still adjusting to my work week sleep pattern despite having been awake prior to work since around 3 in the afternoon. However beyond that, it was a particularly busy work night, and that would drain anyone regardless of how much sleep they had the day before.

The first thing that strained my system was the fact that we're running the Annual Physical Examinations (APE) this week as part of our HMO requirements. Given my coverage level as a manager, I'm also required to go through 6-8 hours of fasting since they'll be taking a sample of my blood for testing. That means no food or water until the time of the exam. I know it doesn't seem like a long amount of time, but when you're also trying to remain productive at work without water or coffee, you can imagine me getting rather irritable. Then when the time for the APE came along, the nurse or whatever he was who first tried to draw my blood totally failed. I mean seriously, I may not be a medical professional, but even I knew his first insertion of the syringe was at the wrong angle and WAY too shallow! Plus it hurt! Thankfully another representative of the clinic contracted to run the APE for us realized what was going on and took over. She got it on her first try, but this still meant that I puncture holes on both arms near the part where your arm bends. It made doing the rest of the tests a bit awkward.

The doctor totally rushed through my medical history (which can get long, quite frankly) and was rather...impersonal in conducting his physical examination. Otherwise, the rest of par for the course for these things and I managed to get through the whole experience, especially with the testing set up in the cafeteria area. Yeah, total LOL, ROFL and LMAO moment.

There was an on-going concern from last week that was still making things "interesting" until today, a photo shoot for employees who had been with the company for more than 5 years, the usual employee concerns to deal with, a dearth of trainer applicants to screen, reports to finish and a new manager to help orient and get on board to boot! So yeah, it was a pretty full day.

So I guess it shouldn't have been so surprising that when I got home, I fell asleep in the process of trying to wake up Tobie. This was despite our usual Tuesday schedule of hitting the bank to get our financial concerns out of the way and to get the grocery shopping done. Ah well, I suppose we can survive on what limited stocks we have left for one more day.

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God's bi-polar? That would explain so much about life! ROFL

No NaNoWriMo progress since my last LJ entry. Damn. I totally hibernated all day. But then I guess that was inevitable.

Work last night was pretty bad, but not necessarily because I was at the office. It was more driven by the fact that I had slept wrong and so I ended up getting really sleepy fairly early into my shift. I made it to the end without totally collapsing on my keyboard or something, but it definitely could have gone better.

But the lack of sleep was generally worth it, mind you. I had a great weekend where I got to see a lot of movies with Tobie (both in the theater and at the Sietch), got loads of new Transformers and got started on my NaNoWriMo novel attempt! Plus the Halloween celebrations, spending time with my family and lots of other good stuff. So yeah, the lack of sleep was more than worth it, in hindsight, even if it meant me feeling like a zombie at the office.

The actual work itself wasn't too bad considering I was coming back from two days out of the office given my leave last week and the holiday last Monday. There's still loads to do especially with my new team and I can definitely see majority of my workload shifting to that side of my plate as opposed to the training end. There's just so much going on with a fairly small team working on it, and so I pretty much have to figure out ways to work with what I have for now without burning out the girls. Oh yeah - I never mentioned that my entire Audit & Compliance team is composed of members of the female species. Odd coincidence, but it's not an issue or anything. I just found it interesting.

This morning was relatively light. I picked up some ensaymadas on the way home so Tobie and I could immediately have breakfast before dashing off to Shopwise for the weekly grocery run. Together with some coffee, we watched this week's Big Bang Theory together (Raj and Howard are so cute together! LOL), then it was Shopwise time. Thankfully, there weren't too many people despite this being the first Wednesday of the month and we made our rounds pretty quickly. Their stocks of Transformers changed again and I ended up picking up the Animated versions of Soundwave and Slag before they disappeared on me again. Given the on-going sale of Transformers Animated figures, I just might end up picking up most of the more decent figures before year's end.

After grocery I barely had enough strength to put the perishables in the fridge before Tobie forced me to rest a bit. Given my state of physical exhaustion, that little rest break quickly led to me just falling asleep before Tobie left for work today, which kinda sucked. I had been hoping to get some writing in before hitting the hay, but clearly my body had other plans for me.

So with luck, I'll find time to make up for the lost writing session and still keep focused on my NaNoWriMo goal! Yeah, and of course get some work done as well.

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Everyone should be true to themselves, whether or not you're a pig. =D

A very Happy Birthday goes out today to a good friend, Karen! Hope you had a stellar birthday despite the interesting timing of your birth and the classic religious holiday, All Saint's Day! =D

I'm waiting for photos to upload as I compose this entry. Hurry up you fiends! I have so many other things to do!

Last night was simply awesome, and I'm glad I didn't give in to the temptation to stay home last night! Tobie and I along with Dek joined the rest of the group at O Bar to celebrate Halloween. We didn't have the most amazingly accurate "Bollywood" costumes given the amount of time left to us, but we did manage decently enough. There were only two wigs left at the department store but somehow we justified that pirate braids made one almost look like "The Guru" and a mohawk definitely counted for Sandjaya, so that was Indian enough for the night, LOL. We also had some interesting metallic masks to which we added sequin-ish gems to the forehead like the traditional bindi. Naturally the presence of props amongst so many queers became an instant hit as everyone wanted to take turns trying on the wigs and posing in various ways.

Next year, we are definitely working harder on actual costumes, haha!

Despite it being a major holiday weekend, which normally translates to way too many people at Malate and not enough room in the bars, we were pretty comfortable in the recently-launched VIP area of O Bar, located at the second floor where the Top and Bottom shop used to be. Thus despite the hordes of queers lining the streets trying to get some alcohol and probably some action for the night, we were sitting in relative comfort in the nicely air conditioned VIP area. Kudos to O Bar for making such an area and effectively managing the people such that there weren't too many gatecrashers sneaking into the area.

From there it was just lots of drinking, good music that wasn't too loud for actual conversations to happen and various costumes, drag queens and other antics. It was such a stellar night! I'm really, really, really glad that I went out. The Halloween photos compose the bulk of the photos that I'm trying to upload right now, if only Facebook and Multiply would stop behaving like total idiots.

Today after getting some much-needed sleep, Tobie and I hit up Gateway to watch Astro Boy and The Hurt Locker. Astro Boy was as disappointed as expected (haha!) but I guess it wasn't a total loss. The humor was pretty good but the whole thing didn't really feel like an actual Astro Boy movie. The Hurt Locker was a lot better and very, very intense / stressful. Still, it definitely made up for our first movie and it certainly drove the message home how harsh the situation in Iraq can be.

Oh, and I also managed to fully unbox and transform all my new Transformers! Let's welcome to the family the Transformers Universe Beachcomber and Brawn along with the Transformers Animated Blurr, Shockwave and Ultra Magnus! Yes, those photos are in queue after the Halloween photos, hehe.

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Remind me never to go trick-or-treating in the Sinfest neighborhood, LOL

I haven't slept since I got up before shift yesterday, but I don't mind at all. Today has just been totally going GREAT and I have no complaints for the most part. Yes, this is one happy Eggy Buzzy Bee!

The work week ended up. I certainly had a few bumps here and there with my new team, but then it's only been a week and I know we all have a long way to go together. I'm glad I managed to squeeze in our first weekly meeting last night - the sessions was pretty fruitful in more ways than one. I just hope that it's a strong enough start to things to help set up the team for success. Sure, I recognize these things take time and a single meeting won't necessarily change things drastically just yet. However I'm a big believer in not just starting things right but doing so in a very strong manner, and I'm fairly certain I made sure of that this week.

But that was work. Now it's the weekend. Ain't life grand?

After a quick Julie's Bakeshop ensaymada breakfast, Tobie and I hit Gateway to catch Julie & Julia today given we were both very curious about Meryl Streep's performance in the movie. We ended up swinging by the main branch of National Bookstore in the area and ended up picking up a ridiculous number of books, many of which were as cheap as P20-P30! I also picked up a few newer titles including a replacement copy of Norwegian Wood for myself. Yay.

Sure, I know I'll have to deal with these credit card bills eventually, but in the meantime I'm a pretty happy camper (who is also rather campy to boot!)

The highlight of the day, really, was catching Julie & Julia. Of course, I entered the theater just expecting yet another stunning character performance by Meryl Streep but ended up with a whole lot more. The movie was, well, just "nice" if I try to look at thing from a more objective perspective. It's a story without major conflict or tension - the ladies just keep on cooking and we end up following along. It's quaint and poignant but not necessarily a powerful movie in itself. As always, kudos to Meryl and here's to yet another potential Oscar performance - or at the very least commendation for a very, very good impersonation of Julia Child.

What really got me was just how many things seemed to be sort of in common between me and various characters in the story. I'm a blogger who happens to be learning to cook while Julie was a person learning to cook French cuisine while blogging about it. Julie had frustrated dreams about writing and so do I. She had an amazingly supportive (and horny) husband and I have my similarly natured Archer. Julia Child had her great big book project of her life and I have the novel I may never finish. I cook for Archer, the man I love and so did both Julie and Julia. The parallels don't even end there, but I think I'm getting a bit too cheesy as it stands right now, hehe. Squee!

The movie totally made me remember to thank Archer for being amazingly supportive of me and all my little quirks, idiosyncrasies and stupid OCD-like behaviors. Here's a man who tries to make sure I have enough time to write my daily LJ entries, provides content for my Geeky Guide reviews, enjoys my cooking regardless of how good or bad it turned out and a man does his best night and day to make me feel like the most important (and perhaps even attractive) guy on the planet! I had gotten so used to being the strong supportive partner that it's a little weird for me still getting used to the highly active role Archer has taken in my life.

And it's not all about him working on this at all - we both are, as equals. Yes, that makes all the difference. Archer makes me feel special. Archer makes me feel blessed. Archer makes me feel loved. He does all this every single day in so many ways. It could be through the roses he randomly purchases and leaves for me to find when I get home or even in the effort he goes into to find us a even-numbered ray of supermarket dimsum so I won't freak out internally that the scallops won't be evenly distributed. Here's a man who watches my geek shows with me, shares even more shows for me to enjoy while also providing all these comic books to read to enhance my geek level. He surprises me with little gifts at random or prepares massive ice cream towers for dessert. He stays up late just to keep talking to me and he always makes sure everything is equal and fair.

This is my Archer and more and there can be no doubt on this Earth that I love him. I really, really do. And I am so thankful to have a man like him in my life, one to completes me and complements me at the same time. One who holds me tight and allows me to be truly free to be the geek that I am. There are just so many reasons, words will always fail me in trying to capture it.

I love you Archer!

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Terrific!

I just finished watching this week's Glee together with Tobie over, um, whatever meal you call it - it's really sort of dinner. It was a pretty fun episode but not quite as over the top funny as the last one. The whole boys versus girls concept is one that will never get old and they managed to execute things fairly well, as always. You just gotta love the Glee kids, hehe.

Work is very...workish. At times feels like things have started to move pretty fast, but given that all motion is relative, I guess the perception of speed is really because of me more than anything else. I'm just so...excited and scared and stressed and exhilarated. Words fail me. There's so much to do and the potential is just so heady it could kill people less prepared for it...or something like that. Seriously, I barely know how to put all my thoughts in order right now and frame them in proper sentences and such. Whee! Squee! Other exclamations that aren't really words! Here we go people! Everything really begins next week but in the meantime I am so going to ride this wave and dog gone it, I'm going to enjoy it! So there! With sugar on top! And a pink tutu!

**breathes**

I'm on a bit of a development high at work. I know, I know, more direct coaching would probably be a LOT more meaningful and I'm working on that too, but today I found some great productivity tools to share with the team. This is already after I found a great diagnostic tool about people skills that I had them take as well. Of course to administer the test, I first adapted it as a Google Docs web form and then created a second sheet to auto-calculate the results and chart it. Sweet! It's the little things that can make my day, seriously.

One more work shift and then it's the weekend! That means more gaming, more geekdom and lots of quality time with Archer! Squee! Oh wait, I said that already...so BUZZ BUZZ BUZZ! ROFL!

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I was never really a huge Peanuts fan. Except maybe for Snoopy...more like Woodstock.

Today's the birthday of Fabian, who is essentially a family friend / co-debater / fellow Atenean / whatever given the long-running connection between the Mangahas brothers and the Sunico siblings. Happy Birthday, Fabian! Have a good one!

Work has proved interesting one more for a variety of reasons. We had some old potential clients visit us today and I got to meet a new client for an old campaign as well. I had a trainer finally come back to work after dealing with the effects of Typhoon Ondoy and I have another trainer who might need to change roles to some degree due a potential change in strategy. I have a client transferring to another client we also handle (which is a tad weird) and I have new responsibilities I need to start address / handle / manage technically next week. Change is a constant in the working world and at least these shifts still have me feeling comfortable and okay for the most part. I'm still pretty hopeful and optimistic, seriously.

Today's the first Wednesday of the month and this was the first time Tobie and I finally got to take advantage of the double rewards points offered for all Shopwise customers. The store was pretty busy despite it being the middle of the week and a lot of folks were pretty keen on buying things wholesale. Seriously, the lady behind is at the cashier had boxes of Mug Root beer, Nestea Iced Tea, Fit and Right and a bunch of other drinks while another guy was going nuts over instant coffee. What does one do with a shopping cart full of instant coffee?

After trying out the various promo days, I'm pretty much settled of targeting to shop on Tuesdays given the discounts on all produce. It seems to be the best deal given the volume of greens and fruits Tobie and I consume throughout the week as compared to the discounts offered on meats for Thursdays given we don't buy meat in significant enough quantities to really feel the savings. Plus there seem to be pretty good deals for meats every day of the week anyway so the best overall value is truly to be gained on Tuesdays, I think. At least that works for our shopping habits, hehe.

It's nice that we grocery a lot and really try to eat at home more. I know my cooking isn't quite up to par with the major restaurants yet and Tobie's salads and desserts aren't at all typical of most establishments but we're happy with it and still seem to be gaining weight so to some extent one could say we're doing things right. Or not. We really don't eat out as much as we used to when we first started hanging out but then we're definitely a lot more satisfied with the meals that we share. We do eat out from time to time and that just makes things all the more special when such occasions arise. I'd like to think we're able to save a decent amount of money given the lifestyle choices.

Ultimately, it helps that we're not necessarily major going out people and we're perfectly happy hanging out at the Sietch, watching DVDs and downloads or getting into random games of interest. Such is the simple geeky life, that is proudly my life now.

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Aww, kitty strips! *Sighs*

Today's the birthday of a longtime school-ish friend, Cholle! Happy Birthday, Cho! Keep on racing! ;)

Yesterday's gaming night was pretty wild. There were revelations all around and the story is really coming together, hence the natural excitement. Plus more specifically, I got to resolve a major point in my particular plot thread and so I ended my day with the smug sense of self-satisfaction that one can only get when you outwit a gentry in the form of Tinkerbell the fairy despite the fact that she turns out to be my Keeper. I know, that probably doesn't make as much sense as it could, but that's really what happened. I found my long-lost brother who turned out to be trapped in the role of Peter Pan. Because of the disappearance of Captain Hook (who forgot who he was and became a janitor), he had gone a little mad and the only way he could have happy thoughts was by massacring random residents of the Land of Never. Did that help? Probably not. It's a fun complicated story but one that has become quite engaging over the past few months.

Oh man, and we ate a lot. So first there was Mahar who made sure we had soda and of course Adrian and Nabs came with a more than generous amount of food. They had made sure to pick up some Baliwag's chicken on the way and Nina was along too since they also had mooncakes. I hope we didn't overwhelm Nono, who was a temporary refugee for the day given the flood waters haven't gone down in his area of Pasig. The gaming group can get pretty wild sometimes since we all tend to slip into character at one point or another once we really get into things. And plus we eat a lot, so I'm not sure what kind of an image that sense to someone new to the group, hahaha!

Today I made my second attempt at spaghetti as our brunch, and it turned out pretty well. While I think I put a bit too much pepper, I did get the other ingredients fairly right and now I understand how Mom makes her meat sauce. My first attempt certainly had something missing but today it tasted a lot better. The mystery ingredient that I had forgotten turned out to be soy sauce. Who wouldn't have thought?

We also sat down to watch the pilot episode of FlashForward and it turned out to be a lot better than expected. Sure, it has a lot of blatantly Lost-like elements in terms of the shocking opening sequence or the need to fall into "flashbacks" of their future memories, but still it was done rather well and the situations they've established. The premise alone was enough to get us past the door after all - the whole world just passes out for 2 minutes and 17 seconds for some unknown reason. During that time, they get a glimpse of their lives 6 months in the future and then they're brought back, left to ponder what they had seen and whether or not they still have a chance to change things around. It brings up a lot of the classic time-travel questions along with predetermination and just how set in stone our futures are. It's a lot to think about and we can only hope for now that they'll handle the show well enough.

Oh, and I'm still dealing with an unusual swelling of my right upper eyelid. I'm not sure what it is - perhaps a bite or something - but at least the swelling is going down a wee bit. Because of it, I look like I'm permanently in a pirate squint plus naturally my eye is producing extra fluids to clean things out. It's creating a LOT of "morning glories" for me and that can get really old really fast. Seriously, it feels all gooey and gummy at times. Eww.

Work later! Bugger.

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Yeah, the strangest of things still shock us these days. Bastards.

I just finished watching the first season of Fringe today with Tobie. Wow. I'll say that again for good measure. Wow. I can see now why so many people got into the show and why J.J. Abrams is really known of these kinds of mystery-building TV shows - he's certainly pretty good at it. Plus I have to admit that given the creative team was the same one behind the recent Star Trek movie, they're quite a cheeky bunch. Don't worry - I like that about them.

I'm pretty sure we're all developing weather paranoia by now and the slightest chance of rain has us all fearing the worst. They can't blame us for that kind of a reaction this soon after Ondoy. We're all still trying to recover from that typhoon with parts of the city still somewhat inaccessible and now we have two more potential storms heading this way. Reports are mixed as to how bad the potential impact of the next one is going to be but at least it's not going to be too direct a hit in terms of Metro Manila. That doesn't mean it's not going to rain and right now we REALLY don't need the additional water falling from the sky.

I have now slipped into the familiar role of the coordinator / organizer in many ways given the typhoon. To some degree it started with work and me trying to figure out how bad the department was affected by Ondoy and now that's spun off to other groups that I care for, namely my high school class and my high school batch (for which I'm the alternate alumni representative in the absence of the primary one). I'm kicking myself now for not having started a Facebook group for our batch sooner given I had created the Google Group some time back but better late than never I suppose.

It's hard to reach out to folks in times like this and right now we're just trying to confirm if everyone is okay. It's a natural consequence of life after high school and how we've all drifted apart into our separate lives. It's not a bad thing or anything like that - just a natural thing that happens over time. The trick now is working on at least maintaining loose ties of contact in order to keep tabs on everyone. It's almost been 10 years since high school and that's no mean feat, even in a technology age like this. Ah well, the things that come to mind in times of duress.

I have to start getting ready for work again in a bit. The wheels of commerce must continue on.

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We really need to stop looking for hidden meanings / messages and just focus on the more important things in life.