December 2003 Entry

<%@LANGUAGE="JAVASCRIPT" CODEPAGE="1252"%> December 2003 Entry

December 2003 Journal Archives...

Wednesday - December 31, 2003

So here comes another installment of my journal.

"Dream big."

Today was quite interesting for me and me only. This is just here to remind me what happened today so you can skip it if you want. Well I've learned that programming sure makes the time go a lot faster than other things that I have done. Don't know why that is but Yen says the same thing. Anyways, I think I landed in a great first job. I don't know how to explain it but I'll try. See, it's not even about the money either because of the fact that I don't make that much in the first place. Trust me, there are people making a lot more than I am with their first job. Still, I am learning so much and it has only been a little over two weeks. Plus, it's stuff that I always wanted to learn so that just makes it really nice. A buddy of mine over there at work is even helping me figure out how to set up my web/mail/ftp server so I can start one up which will be quite helpful for a lot of people that I know. Of course I'm gonna limit who gets access to it, but still... You'll be able to have your own email address, ftp access to move files into your very own web directory, and some access to the web server itself. I know that probably means squat to most people but it means a lot to me. By learning all of this stuff for basically free, I could branch out and diversify myself if I felt the need to in the future. Plus, that's what it's all about anyways right? The more you know about different subjects that you are not familiar with, the better equipped you are to meet the challenges of the future. It also makes you feel a lot more comfortable and confident in your abilities.

Secondly, I got lucky and my supervisors are a lot more open and friendly than I had imagined before entering my first job. I dunno. I guess I was expecting the worse where my supervisor was an ass or something but what happened is the complete opposite of that. One of my supervisors is retired Navy out of North Island which is cool because I can relate to some of the stuff that he tells me. It's kinda like listening to my dad talk about his stories. However, it's a nice diversion to having to work 8 hours straight with no one to talk to. Plus, he's giving me tips on the real world working place and funny stories. Also, he has the same bank as me which is amazing since no one in college had even heard about my bank. Thus, today I learned about more of the services that my bank offers which was quite helpful.

Thirdly... how many people can honestly say that they have a coworker named Pony. =) Pretty cool guy and he makes some damn good enchiladas and other delicacies. One day he cooked for a whole bunch of us just out of the kindness of his heart as his Christmas gift. I thought that was really nice. Plus we have some of the funniest people working QA. If you are a very serious person, then you would hate where I work. Everyone jokes around with everyone else. Just today, they were laughing at me because I couldn't lie to my supervisor fast enough. =P I think they are trying to corrupt me or something. Haha. Oh well... it's cool.

Lastly, I give Kuya someone to chill with during the week in his house in Murrieta. I'm finding out more and more that this place isn't as bad as some people told me awhile back. It looks like it's gonna boom like Irvine eventually. Now that will be a sight to see. I think I've made it my mission to try all the Japanese places in Murrieta and Temecula before I go to Berkeley in April. =P Plus my brother's house has a lot of toys that I can use and plus it's pretty exciting to be able to have the opportunity to create our own backyard from scratch. Basically we have this patch of dirt and by the time we're done, I'm hoping it'll look dope. Plus we're going to put these cool blinds on the windows. Also we're thinking of a kick ass home theatre system since we usually have visitors every now and then. All these possiblities are quite exciting. =)

Oh yeah, if anyone of you are free this Saturday which is the 3rd of January, then we're having a little get together over here in Murrieta. It won't even be that big, but if you want to see the house and see where I live now, come on by. Give me a call on my cell and I'll direct you on how to get here. If you are a singer, you are definitely invited since we have kareoke here. Hehe.

Okay, I think that's it for now. Hopefully you've enjoyed reading this. If not, then too bad! J/K.... or maybe not. =) Take care and God bless. Remember, happiness is a choice you make everyday, so make the right choice. Hope you have chocolate covered gummi bear dreams! =)

Any thoughts... leave a comment!

Tuesday - December 30, 2003

So here comes another installment of my journal.

"Don't fear the unknown."

Well today we officially got cable internet set up here in Murrieta. My gosh, it's so much faster than at our apt. =) Kinda reminds me of the dorms. Hmm... heard Yuffie is getting cable TV in his apt in LA too. Maybe I'll go chill with him over here one day. Anyways it seems like I'm the only one working that I know of this week. It's okay because I have a lot of stuff to catch up on and I need to get moving on it anyways. It's all a learning experience for me and even though I've never seen the stuff I have to do, I'm just going to go head first and see what happens. I'm sure I'll be more comfortable with this stuff as time progresses.

Oh yeah. Got a call from Yen this past week. Somehow I don't believe the I left my phone story, but it's cool. Haha. I think it was more like I had to take a smoking break. =P Hopefully I'll get to chill with the best neighbor I've had in college this week. Last time I checked, she was super duper busy with work. Maybe for dinner one day? Also, I'm gonna chill with Paolo this Friday and see what's up with him. From what Kuya told me, I think he's still traumatized by what I did to him back in high school. At least I know the choir gets a kick out of those stories. =P

Ohh... if your not doing anything on the 3rd of January, come visit me up in Murrieta that day. It's a Saturday. Oh yeah, if you see JLo that day, then make sure to wish her happy birthday. Too bad I won't be able to go to her party, but eating at the Loft made up for it. It's kinda funny, but I was waiting for JLo to pay for me instead of the other way around. Hehe. Dunno why. I guess I was so used to her paying back when we were in college that I just let her pay for her share when we ate. Man, oh man... the food was good though. Yum... what a way to spend a Sunday. We even went shopping once again. Best Buy, Cosco, then the Loft.

Also went out with people last Friday. Nets vs. Pistons game, then shopping at Brea, then CPK. Got locked in the mall. Interesting... we don't have access. Then went home.

Oh yeah. Big event. Well actually only a big event for me. The rest of you probably wouldn't care much at all. Got to talk with Raechel today which is a big thing for me since I haven't talked to her since graduation. Great talk. Makes me wonder what took me so long to give her a call. Ah well, at least I have a new calling buddy now. =) I'll also be praying. Hopefully your wish does come true.

On that note, I guess this is a Mt. Carmel night since I've talked to three of them in the past hour or so. First Raechel, then Monica, and now Chris. Man, I don't even remember when all three of us were at the same place at the same time anymore. It's been that long. One day, I'll go to SD to chill with all of you once again.

Any thoughts... leave a comment!

Thursday - December 25, 2003

So here comes another installment of my journal.

"BAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!"

Okay, I'm guessing that makes no sense to 99% of you right now. =) It's actually quite funny if you heard it before. I dunno, but I guess I do it a lot these days and my buddy picked it up the last time we chilled. Anyone wanna name it? Hehe. Now on to better things. =P

So here's a quick rundown of my week from the last time I blogged.

Sunday - IKEA, Target, CPK, mall.... finally got a new bookshelf and a dresser for my room at Kuya's house. Also had a hot pink trash can in the cart while at IKEA. Don't worry.... it was something my buddy wanted and not me. =P Just wanted to say thank you to buddy for taking the time out of her schedule to help me pick up new furniture. =)

Monday - Enchiladas for lunch. It was free too since a coworker brought some home-made ones. There was even spanish rice and everything. Very delicious. Sounds like I work in a restuarant instead of a programming place huh? =P Then we got some work in for our project.

Tuesday - Work, lunch, work, went home, sleep. This cycle should sound familiar to all full time workers. Hehe.

Wednesday - Work, and learned some new tricks that I didn't know before. Supervisor and I had a talk before I leave work just for the heck of it. I have nice supervisors. =)

Today - Midnight mass. Watch basketball. Food. Yummy food. Happy Birthday Jesus! Not thrilled about work tomorrow, but at least I have a job. Thankful for a lot of things today. =)

Well that was my brief explanation of my week. I'm finding more and more that I'm getting lazy writing in this thing. Probably cause sometimes I'm just so tired. However, hopefully internet will be up this Tuesday at Kuya's house. Just remember though. The best way to reach me is always through the phone. Plus, I always tell more stuff when talking on the phone rather than through this. Guess I'm just old fashioned like that.

Oh yeah, Josie is back from Boston for winter break. Haha, I know that means nothing to about 99% of you, but yeah... that's nice to know. Hopefully I'll get to chill with her before she heads back to the east coast. Plus, I get to chill with Yuffie and maybe others tomorrow? Then hopefully on Sunday I can chill with some Long Beach people. Then off to more work.

Any thoughts... leave a comment!

Sunday - December 21, 2003

So here comes another installment of my journal.

"Life already causes enough stress, so don't go causing your own."

Hey sorry for everyone who has been waiting for an update. Just to give you guys a heads up, Kuya and I are waiting on our cable modem to be installed in the house so I'm guessing another week without internet. Thus, hopefully I'll be able to update more often once that gets taken care of.

I now know what people who are working full time mean when they talk about the "grind of work". However, I'm pretty thankful on where I landed my job for several reasons. First of all, I'm interested in what I am doing which makes it easier to motivate myself to learn all the new things they are throwing at me. Second, all four of my supervisors are really nice and easy to approach. This makes it a lot more friendlier in the working environment. Thirdly, people at work like to joke around which is good for me because it keeps the conversation lighthearted and not so serious. I was even accused of reading porn when I told the group I'm working with in a meeting that I was reading the manuals they gave me. Haha... those guys are so retarded but funny. =P

Thus work has been good to me. Really long hours and they work you hard. However, at least at this place I can ask questions when I have them which is good for me since I don't know crap right now. Haha. I remember a few months ago when people were telling me that I shouldn't be wasting my time doing people's labs in 142. However, I am so thankful that I did do that stuff because I needed that knowledge right now for my job. Man... you know how retarded I would look if I didn't even know that stuff?! OUCH! For you technical people out there, we're using FOX for our GUI and different file formats for scientific visualization. Thus, this will be my first time making my own GUI from scratch and not using MFC. Damn MFC! That thing is such crap! Bah! For you non-technical people, what I do at work is make programs that look like different window applications that the people need at the time. Hehe, I think that's the best way to put it for now. =)

On Wednesday, our work group went to go watch LOTR. It was sooo funny because we had a 2 hour meeting in the morning and then broke from lunch. Once we got back from lunch, we were told that we had a mandatory meeting that we had to go to again. So we walk over and it turns out that our meeting is at Edwards theatre to watch LOTR. Haha. Those government people.... so funny! Thus we got to watch it and get paid at the same time. =)

Thursday I actually had my first teleconference with all the other new people and transitioning people for CSC. Man, the retarded questions that some people ask. My gosh! Oh well. =/ At least that took some time from actual work. Hehe. Then tried to learn some stuff and then had some of the group come over and visit us. Thus we chatted more than we worked that day. =P

Friday we had our company luncheon for Christmas. Man that was good food. The Norco club is actually nice too with a good view of Lake Norco. After eating to our heart's content, we went back to work. However, we all had food coma so we just started to chat and goof off. Then we had some of our group visit again and we chilled and worked a little bit. At the end of the day we got free brownie cheesecake which was so awesome. Afterwards, went home to LB, went to a Christmas concert, drove back to Murrieta so we could get ready for kuya's Christmas party at the house.

Saturday we had the party which was quite fun. We have so many leftovers now. Hehe. Good thing though so now I don't have to buy food for lunch. =) Learned a new tagalog song sung by Lea Salonga. Here's a funny thing though. I'm starting to realize that most tagalog songs are about love, or losing someone, or asking "Why....(fill in your own question)?". It's cool though. Haven't really practiced my tagalog in so long so I sound so Americanized. Haha... I know some of you know what that means. =P Well the song I learned today was Bakit labis kitang mahal. Nice song.

Today, I'm probably going to head out to church in the morning and then chill with my buddy. I really hope I'm not bugging her by forcing her to chill with me and help me pick out stuff for my room. I think we're going to IKEA or some other place. Not exactly sure yet. Probably go eat somewhere too. Then it's off to more work for next week. =)

Funny little story before I end this. Well it probably won't be funny to most people but to me it is. Well for some odd reason my buddy always calls to tell me she's in the area after I leave that area or she leaves the area. Hmm... still can't figure out why it never happens that we are in the same area at the same time but I know one of these days it'll happen. Just this last Friday, she had called and said she was in Corona and had just finished a movie. Thus I ask which theatre she went to and it was one that I knew which meant that she wasn't even that far from my work. However, I had left early from work so I could catch kuya singing in the Christmas concert in LB. It was kinda sad cause I would have so chilled with her and showed her the area if I had known earlier that she would be around where I was working. Sigh... oh well. I guess maybe next time?

Hmm.... one last story. Hehe. Well good things happen in the wierdest ways. Well on Wednesday I was really tired from work because I had stayed for more than 8 hours and got home around 7 PM. Kuya and I went to go eat out for dinner and came home around 9ish. After that I was so tired that I went to sleep at 10:15 PM. For some reason, I completely forgot to put my phone on vibrate or something so it wouldn't disturb me when I went to sleep. However, this night I had left my phone on HIGH. Thus I get a call from my buddy at around 11:30 which totally wakes me up. Before answering I look at my phone to see who it is and when I saw it was my buddy, I answer it and just start talking like I wasn't even asleep for more than an hour. =P So we talk until like 1 AM and then we end it because she likes to order me around and tells me to sleep. Haha. =) The point of all this is that I notice that when I finish my call with my buddy that I had forgotten to do two things before going to sleep. First, I didn't set my alarm which is almost forbidden since I wake up really early to get to work. Second, I forgot to set my phone to wake me up. Thus if my buddy had not called, I might have not woke up on time. So thank you very much for calling me and waking me up. I appreciate it so much. Don't worry, just call whenever cause you know I'll answer it regardless if I have to sleep. =P

Any thoughts... leave a comment!

Sunday - December 14. 2003

So here comes another installment of my journal.

"It's your choice on the day you will have. So choose correctly."

Well it has been an up and down week. At least it has been going pretty well for the last two days which I guess is better than the other way around. I'm really tired right now so this will probably be short I think.

Mon. - Thurs. - Stressful part of week. Let's get to more of the nicer things that happened.

Friday - Went to HR for my orientation. Great surprise. There was a second new hire and he came from UCI too. Now I have someone to talk to who is my age. Yay! Long orientation. More paperwork to fill out. Scary questionaire. Big booklet to read because of the transition?! Lunch with other new hire. Fun stuff. Then off to where I work. Got a nice tour. Why is everyone following us?! =P Funny jokes. Gigantic theatre. OMG.... is that the computer your gonna let us use for work?! I'm happy! =) Where's the scenery? Pretty friendly people. Not scared to ask questions. Had formal talk about what we had to do. 1000+ page manual that we have to read? Might take awhile. Supervisors seem like cool people. Another formal talk with them this week. Left with good impression so far. Call from Yuffie after work. Pretty funny guy. Jokes about Yen once again. Hehe... that rhymes. =P Sleep pretty early.

Saturday - Relaxed. Help put up lights at home in Long Beach. Sleep. Went to Irvine to give Chelle her present which was a dinner at Sam Woo's. That girl can still eat. How does she still look like that when she eats like there's no tomorrow? =P Talk, conversation, and laughs. Happy birthday every 15 mins?! Itching after watermelons. The sizzling rice. It's cold.... BRRRRR! Can I just take your heater with me to my apt? Law and Order. Very interesting. More tsismis. Why do I always sit in a particular chair? Let's look at my miss calls. Who's calling? 251?! Talk with old grade school buddy. Very tired when coming home. Food coma? Now it's time to get to bed.

Well that was my week in a nutshell. For all my readers, sorry this hasn't been updated in awhile. It's called not having internet connection in Murrieta. =P I think one of my buddies said it best when she said.... "I don't like email. I'm old fashioned. I like to call and hang up." Thus, if you want to chill and just talk.... give me a call and we'll set something up. =)

Also, I was just thinking about this now because I read something that got me to think. "Is it hard to feel like your not a loser?" Well, here's the funny thing. I used to think like this all the time. I've just come to realize over the years that I'm the only one who can make myself feel like I'm a loser. No one else can do it but me. Thus, all I really had to do was be confident in myself and everything would eventually come into place. Maybe not right away, but it will eventually. Case in point was my job search. Try getting turned down for jobs by way too many companies to count and still convince yourself that you weren't a loser. However, there comes a time, where you have to get past that kind of thinking and just know what you are capable of. Just because it's not working out the way you thought it was going to work out doesn't mean it won't work out one day. I dunno. It's kinda like a dream. Confident people fulfill their dreams, but I'm sure if you talk with them, they will tell you it wasn't easy to get where they are at the present time. Thus regardless of all the bad breaks you are getting, just believe and when you least expect it, it'll happen. Well that's my little take on it. =/

Any thoughts... leave a comment!

Sunday - December 7, 2003

So here comes another installment of my journal.

"Surprises aren't always bad."

This week has had a bunch of surprises. I think it'll be one of those times where I tell what I did.

Monday - Hiring package finally comes in today. Find out that I work this coming week even though the guy told me I would probably start in January. Oh well. Frantically tried to fill out the paperwork. Got drug screening. Sent stuff off for work.

Tuesday - Finishing up with all that paperwork. Fax and mail the thing so it's finally taken care of. Get call from old roommmate. He now owes me dinner when I go up north. Makes total of free dinners go up to 7. 55 hours a week?! Way too much for that guy. More driving around to get stuff done before I start living with Kuya at his house.

Wednesday - Irvine visit. Saw a couple of people who I decided to visit for the day. Did more stuff related to getting ready for my job. See a recurring theme here? =P Thought about stuff.

Thursday - Why don't I remember what I did on this day? Called my buddy cause I wanted to go chill with her on Saturday. Helped her decide to ditch class. If ever in need of reassurance to ditch class, I'm the person to talk too. =) Went out but don't remember where for some reason.

Friday - Worked out. Did more errands. Another Irvine visit? Loren's bday. Buca. Wow, Loren's friend looks so different from what I remember.. =P Started drinking again with the same people I ended my drinking spree with back in June. Went to visit Rae at her apt after. Late arrival home.

Saturday - Did some stuff in the morning.Watched Army - Navy game. Went to go visit some people. Went shopping and got food with buddy from Walnut. Forgot to buy gifts for others... instead, bought stuff for ourselves. =P Saw old roommate afterwards. Gave present. Took 10 back since 60 entrance off Grand is closed.

Sunday - Saw the coolest person who ever graced UCI today at mass. I heard someone say her name while practicing before mass. Looked around frantically while playing a song and finally spot her. Just decide to stop playing and go and talk to her. Hehe. Need to find a way to be successful like she is. Found out what All No Joker means. When was the last time all three of you sang together in front of people... years ago? Deisha, me and her talked about Group 5 and their old group cause we're old timers. =) Kinda sad making Rae wait while I talked with my UCI mom. She is still going off about that jacket. Alleviated my stress about stuff relating to new job. Sigh, I was the happiest person ever seeing her today. Went with Rae to help her study. Met up with Daniel. Man... something smells. Tutoring. Pirates of the Carribean. Laker game. Writing this journal entry.

What a happy week it's been. Hopefully work will be interesting and fun. Sorry about this post. It's probably a lot of rambling. However, I wanted to keep it short since I'll be going to Murrieta tomorrow early in the morning. Plus, no one likes to read pages worth of stuff right? =P

Any thoughts... leave a comment!

Monday - December 1, 2003

So here comes another installment of my journal.

"Sometimes when you get a gift for Christmas you nod and smile in affirmation but you know that is not the gift you wanted."

Oh yeah.... this entry is a lot of questioning and venting so most of you would probably want to wait till I post something more happy. =)

Hmm... I think today Father Pat actually hit the jackpot in his sermon when he mentioned this in mass today. Well I dunno, but it just made so much sense to me. This is probably why I am not the person you want to shop for because I ALWAYS tell people that I don't need anything really. Then you get everyone going I know you want something but you just don't want to say. Well what people fail to realize is that I really do have the stuff that I need. Here's the thing. I don't really ask for many material things. Ask people who have tried to shop for me. They'll tell you that I'm not lying when I say this. I dunno. If I need something I get it right away, which means that by the time Christmas comes around or my birthday, I really don't need anything that can come from a store.

There is always ONE gift that I always look for and even ask every now and then. Funny thing is, people always either one don't believe me when I say it, or think that something material could take the place of it. It's cool though. The gift I always ask from people is to be a good friend to me. That's it. Now I know your asking shouldn't that be a given? Well you would be surprised sometimes when it isn't. Plus, don't you think that is the best gift that you can give someone. You don't' even have to be rich to give it. The only cost that will be incurred by you is your time and effort. I think people just tend to look at a gift as something concrete that is given to someone else, but what's so bad about reaffirming an old friendship with someone you haven't talked to in awhile. Does that really make you a cheap ass for not wanting to spend money on a really big and elaborate gift?

This is what I don't get about giving gifts for Christmas. It always ends up that there are certain people you get gifts for not because you wanted to, but because you felt OBLIGATED to get gifts for them. Now where is the common sense in that?! Shouldn't you get gifts for people you truly feel like giving a gift too? Just because someone gives you a gift doesn't mean that you should have to feel that you need to give a gift back. This isn't a freaking competition to see who can give the best gift. Gifts should be given from the heart to say thank you or to express yourself in ways that words might not be able to. Thus I feel that random gifts are a lot better because it shows that you made a conscious decision to do something nice for someone else... not for a favor later down the road, but because you actually do genuinely care about the other person. I dunno... I wonder if I'm the only one who feels this way about this. Hopefully not, but I wouldn't' be surprised if I'm in the minority.

Well enough about what I was thinking about today. I think this was the week of talking to all my roommates I ever had. I got to see Nic, Jon, Vince, Earl, Karl, Tin, Jimmers, Yuffie, JLo and Vince Rectra on Tuesday. Today, I actually got a call from the last roommate of the bunch.... Mr. Eugene Gambol. It was so freaking random and it was great talking to him again. Hehe... he needs me to get a transcript for him. =P It's cool though. Who would have thought that I would get to see or talk to all my roommates in a one week span. Wow! Such a good week, with no dumb conversations. That is always nice when that happens. I'm also really glad that I'm diversifying the people I call on my cell phone so it's not always the same people week in and week out. It's always more fun that way. =) I think the one person that I'm gonna hella bother today is Dolly since I'll be in the Irvine area getting Eugene's transcript. There are certain people you just get tired of talking to after awhile because of certain things but I guarantee that Dolly isn't one of them. She has this uncanny way of making me believe that she is always right even though I'm sure that's not the case 90% of the time. =P But yeah, must chill with her tomorrow.

I remember one thing that Jason Hills said to me while I was driving him back home on Tuesday. He was telling me how he doesn't really talk to anyone in our major anymore except for people in his area. That got me thinking right now because I've done the same thing. I just like chilling with people from Long Beach now. Unless you are really cool.... ahem... Yuffie and Jason, then I'm just too lazy to drive all the way to chill you know? I know I'm not the only one who is just too lazy either so don't be frontin. =P Here's the thing though. I think after you graduate you really see who you want to be friends with. Since you don't have to see them everyday in class you don't have to pretend anymore that you liked hanging around them you know? It's just like the transition from high school to college or from elementary to high school. You keep in contact with the people you like when you go do something new, and you leave behind the rest. No use carrying dead weight you know? I think I'm content with who I kept so that's good to know. Plus trying something new means that there is always the opportunity to add to your list of friends which is always a good thing. So I'm kinda looking forward to my new job since I'll be working and then I get to chill with Kuya at his house afterwards which should be fun.

Here's something I wonder about these days. Why is it that I don't like drinking anymore? I really have no clue why. At first it was because I had drank at 4 different parties in one night back in June, but I don't think that's it anymore. I look at alcohol and it just seems like it's my first time all over again where you look at the alcohol but you don't really know what to do with it. Even when everyone else is drinking I'm still not drinking which is just not like me. I dunno. Maybe this is a good thing? I doubt it. =P I guess we'll see. Anyone want to go chill and try to see if you can convince me to start drinking again? =) Maybe I need to go up north and chill with Eugene. Hmm... that doesn't sound like a bad idea. Haha.

One last thing before I end this. Christmas is such a great time for several reasons. First, the music just makes you happy right? Hehe. Secondly, building snowmen and having castles of snow as your HQ while you had snowball fights are the best. Well that doesn't happen in CA, but in Chicago, that was so much fun. Going outside in the cold is always nice. I like cold weather. =) There is always that family spirit and a sense of community going around. Neat lights and the candy cane street. Waiting for midnight mass. Decorations. Caroling. Finally my personal favorite. There is always renewed hope for everything.

Any thoughts... leave a comment!