if i can choose a color that'd represent the way things are going now, it would be blue and black..... yeah, like a battered person, because that is how i am most of the time lately. anyway, another bad luck happened today when i had to ask for my friend to book us a flight and realized, because of bureacracy and office laws, i cannot extend my stay. i blame this on someone else (but i am trying to let it go now because all the blaming in the world will never do anyone any good). my request was taken for granted and so, i just have to move in and out of this place we're going to, without even seeing any of the things this place has to offer. oh well... that is life. you can never have all the things you want.
lesson for today: be grateful for what you have today. you can never have all the things you want.
Wednesday, May 23, 2007
Sunday, May 13, 2007
worry for nothing
see, my mom worried for nothing. i got paid yesterday (or was it friday?) the money i lent to a friend a couple of weeks ago. *sigh* now i can breathe deeply and prove to my mom that my friend is very responsible and honorable!
Wednesday, May 9, 2007
account of a travel worn gung-ho part 3
and i really thought i was done! that's kind of a joke!
when i arrived at the office this afternoon and announced that my papers are already running, i was told to check on the itinerary for the three of us (there were three of us going, by the way). after checking them, i asked my boss if the itinerary's ok with him so we could have it booked as early as now. and he said,
"that's expensive! but why is your's cheaper?"
that's because i'm not taking the plane to sydney. i'm going by train.
"what, and spend three days on the train?! what would you do?"
i'd like to see the countryside.
"what?! but everything's just a desert! why would you want to see that? i don't advise it. it's TOTALLY DESERT! DESERT! but then again, it's up to you. but i don't advise it. it's desert! but it's up to you."
ok. (enough said. i got the message. it's just the desert.)
to my superior:
"the boss said i shouldn't take the train. all i will see is desert."
yes.
(oh well, at least he didn't try to discourage me. he tried to let me find out for myself)
after that, i was so disappointed and depressed.
at least i had dinner with some friends and that made it a good way to end the day =P
=============================================================
but now, the best of the best way to end the day is a little chat time with my special friend LOL
ciao!
when i arrived at the office this afternoon and announced that my papers are already running, i was told to check on the itinerary for the three of us (there were three of us going, by the way). after checking them, i asked my boss if the itinerary's ok with him so we could have it booked as early as now. and he said,
"that's expensive! but why is your's cheaper?"
that's because i'm not taking the plane to sydney. i'm going by train.
"what, and spend three days on the train?! what would you do?"
i'd like to see the countryside.
"what?! but everything's just a desert! why would you want to see that? i don't advise it. it's TOTALLY DESERT! DESERT! but then again, it's up to you. but i don't advise it. it's desert! but it's up to you."
ok. (enough said. i got the message. it's just the desert.)
to my superior:
"the boss said i shouldn't take the train. all i will see is desert."
yes.
(oh well, at least he didn't try to discourage me. he tried to let me find out for myself)
after that, i was so disappointed and depressed.
at least i had dinner with some friends and that made it a good way to end the day =P
=============================================================
but now, the best of the best way to end the day is a little chat time with my special friend LOL
ciao!
account of a travel worn gung-ho part 2
so you think the passport thing was done? think again! and read!
once i got my passport tuesday afternoon, my superiors told me to go ahead and apply for a visa tomorrow because i'm leaving on the 15th (what?!)... and tomorrow came... that is today...
"hi, this is me. can you please assist me on my visa application? i'm leaving on the 15th. sorry, i know it's really short notice but can you help me?"
sorry, but it usually takes 7 days if you go through us. why not try the embassy agency? maybe they can help you. they are located in makati.
"ok, thanks! at least that's only 15 mins from the office!"
=================================================================
at the embassy agency:
"miss, you need to have the following: bank certificate, bank statement, managers check for php2900, employment certificate, 2 passport size photos, passport and php600 handling fee."
WHAT???!!! why haven't anybody told me this before???
and so, i left the agency and ran around the city. first, to my bank for the certificates, statements and check. next is to my house for the employment certificate, only to find out that my original is at the office! and oh! when i left the bank, it was raining! am i lucky, or what?! once i got my employment certificate at the office and had my documents photocopied, i was at the agency again!
there, i poured my heart out so that they would help expedite my application...
"well, what you can do is write to the visa officer to have your application expedited... short notices happen to some of our clients sometimes and they had to write this kind of letter... usually, if it's for business, they try to do their best to expedite the application...."
thank God for that! and so i left the agency with a spring to my steps (never mind that the elevator to the tenth floor down broke down again and i had to go three floors down to get to the next available elevator LOL)... at last i'm done!
once i got my passport tuesday afternoon, my superiors told me to go ahead and apply for a visa tomorrow because i'm leaving on the 15th (what?!)... and tomorrow came... that is today...
"hi, this is me. can you please assist me on my visa application? i'm leaving on the 15th. sorry, i know it's really short notice but can you help me?"
sorry, but it usually takes 7 days if you go through us. why not try the embassy agency? maybe they can help you. they are located in makati.
"ok, thanks! at least that's only 15 mins from the office!"
=================================================================
at the embassy agency:
"miss, you need to have the following: bank certificate, bank statement, managers check for php2900, employment certificate, 2 passport size photos, passport and php600 handling fee."
WHAT???!!! why haven't anybody told me this before???
and so, i left the agency and ran around the city. first, to my bank for the certificates, statements and check. next is to my house for the employment certificate, only to find out that my original is at the office! and oh! when i left the bank, it was raining! am i lucky, or what?! once i got my employment certificate at the office and had my documents photocopied, i was at the agency again!
there, i poured my heart out so that they would help expedite my application...
"well, what you can do is write to the visa officer to have your application expedited... short notices happen to some of our clients sometimes and they had to write this kind of letter... usually, if it's for business, they try to do their best to expedite the application...."
thank God for that! and so i left the agency with a spring to my steps (never mind that the elevator to the tenth floor down broke down again and i had to go three floors down to get to the next available elevator LOL)... at last i'm done!
account of a travel worn gung-ho
the title might not fit in today's blog but i kind of like the sound of it...
the past couple of days had been a very tiresome experience, all because i want and needed to go to australia. it was a few weeks (or even a months!) ago when my superior at work had decided that i should go with them on a meeting to present the results of my work. however, the company sort of doesn't want to spend much on my travel and so decided that the partner company should be the one to shoulder my travel expenses. after all, they were the ones who are requesting my presence in the meeting. for the next couple of weeks, this had been mentioned but no final decision had been made.
until last thursday afternoon....
our contact in the other company asked if my passport was updated and i just realized that it wasn't valid anymore (well, it is still valid but not valid for travel because of the 6 months validity of passports countries require a person to have once they enter their country). so i was told to renew my passport the next day...
the next day, friday (it wasn't friday the 13th but it felt like it)...
at the department of foreign affairs, i headed straight for the courtesy lane, the one used by government employees to expedite their passport applications. i was excited because i kept thinking that i'd be finish before lunch. the last time i applied for my passport, it took me the whole day to finish the submission of documents because of the long queue (probably around 600 to a thousand people apply for passports everyday in manila). but this was not what happened to me that day. as my name was called for the submission of my documents, i was told by the dfa officer that they wouldn't process my papers because i needed to have my government scholarship cleared first! but i argued that that scholarship was terminated before i graduated college and so, the government has no hold on me and had cleared my name from the dfa "hot list." they said, yes, it is so because they were given a note dated 2001 that that was the case. so i argued why i have to go to the scholarship office (which is located in another city) when they in fact, already know that i was cleared.
"you have to meet with the director first."
what, you mean the scholarship director? in bicutan?
"yes," said the officer, writing down "Director's Office" on my application form.
you sure it's the scholarship director, in bicutan?
"yes, you better hurry if you want to submit your papers today."
ok... so that was it... i had to go to the other office. once there, this was what they said:
"you had been cleared since 2001. your papers are all in order. why did they ask you to come here?"
the officer said i had to talk to the scholarship director.
"she's not here. but it doesn't matter, you are already cleared. just give them your clearance form and it will all be ok. if they would still question you, ask them to call us here and we'll clear it for you."
but where the heck was my clearance letter??? that was dated 2001! so i had to go home (which was an hour away from the scholarship office) and ransack our room just so i can find the letter. luckily, it was there were i remembered i placed it!
and so, i went back to the dfa, arriving around 130p. and there, i saw on the window a notice, i haven't noticed before: "acceptance of documents for processing is only until 2p." oh well, it doesn't matter. i still have time... until...
"please go to the passport director's office now for interview; and present this clearance, by the way."
what?!!? but i already have my clearance. why do i need to go there? can't you accept this as it is?!
"no, and even if you plead here all you want, we still won't process your application as long as there's no signature of the director on this box."
ok! and so i ran in the direction of the passport director's office only to stop short and see that the queue was so long. i had to get a number: 2. wow, two! but the number they were calling was already 37! i was already in the second rotation! and there were 50 numbers in that set! talk about being lucky, huh?!
i was already so desperate because i only have 20 minutes left until 2p. if i don't get that signature today, i still have to go back tomorrow. if that happens, my boss might get pissed off at me. even if it the situation is already out my hand.
"ms. b! where are you?"
here, i said.
"all done."
what?! no interview?!
"none."
and so, i ran back again to the processing window, just as the window was closing down. luckily, the officer recognized me and stopped to get my papers!!!
"go to the cashier now and pay the processing fee. come back here once you've made the paymet so you could get your claim stub."
all right!
and so last tuesday, i finally got my new passport! the one where it has been posted:
not valid for travel to iraq!
LOL =p
the past couple of days had been a very tiresome experience, all because i want and needed to go to australia. it was a few weeks (or even a months!) ago when my superior at work had decided that i should go with them on a meeting to present the results of my work. however, the company sort of doesn't want to spend much on my travel and so decided that the partner company should be the one to shoulder my travel expenses. after all, they were the ones who are requesting my presence in the meeting. for the next couple of weeks, this had been mentioned but no final decision had been made.
until last thursday afternoon....
our contact in the other company asked if my passport was updated and i just realized that it wasn't valid anymore (well, it is still valid but not valid for travel because of the 6 months validity of passports countries require a person to have once they enter their country). so i was told to renew my passport the next day...
the next day, friday (it wasn't friday the 13th but it felt like it)...
at the department of foreign affairs, i headed straight for the courtesy lane, the one used by government employees to expedite their passport applications. i was excited because i kept thinking that i'd be finish before lunch. the last time i applied for my passport, it took me the whole day to finish the submission of documents because of the long queue (probably around 600 to a thousand people apply for passports everyday in manila). but this was not what happened to me that day. as my name was called for the submission of my documents, i was told by the dfa officer that they wouldn't process my papers because i needed to have my government scholarship cleared first! but i argued that that scholarship was terminated before i graduated college and so, the government has no hold on me and had cleared my name from the dfa "hot list." they said, yes, it is so because they were given a note dated 2001 that that was the case. so i argued why i have to go to the scholarship office (which is located in another city) when they in fact, already know that i was cleared.
"you have to meet with the director first."
what, you mean the scholarship director? in bicutan?
"yes," said the officer, writing down "Director's Office" on my application form.
you sure it's the scholarship director, in bicutan?
"yes, you better hurry if you want to submit your papers today."
ok... so that was it... i had to go to the other office. once there, this was what they said:
"you had been cleared since 2001. your papers are all in order. why did they ask you to come here?"
the officer said i had to talk to the scholarship director.
"she's not here. but it doesn't matter, you are already cleared. just give them your clearance form and it will all be ok. if they would still question you, ask them to call us here and we'll clear it for you."
but where the heck was my clearance letter??? that was dated 2001! so i had to go home (which was an hour away from the scholarship office) and ransack our room just so i can find the letter. luckily, it was there were i remembered i placed it!
and so, i went back to the dfa, arriving around 130p. and there, i saw on the window a notice, i haven't noticed before: "acceptance of documents for processing is only until 2p." oh well, it doesn't matter. i still have time... until...
"please go to the passport director's office now for interview; and present this clearance, by the way."
what?!!? but i already have my clearance. why do i need to go there? can't you accept this as it is?!
"no, and even if you plead here all you want, we still won't process your application as long as there's no signature of the director on this box."
ok! and so i ran in the direction of the passport director's office only to stop short and see that the queue was so long. i had to get a number: 2. wow, two! but the number they were calling was already 37! i was already in the second rotation! and there were 50 numbers in that set! talk about being lucky, huh?!
i was already so desperate because i only have 20 minutes left until 2p. if i don't get that signature today, i still have to go back tomorrow. if that happens, my boss might get pissed off at me. even if it the situation is already out my hand.
"ms. b! where are you?"
here, i said.
"all done."
what?! no interview?!
"none."
and so, i ran back again to the processing window, just as the window was closing down. luckily, the officer recognized me and stopped to get my papers!!!
"go to the cashier now and pay the processing fee. come back here once you've made the paymet so you could get your claim stub."
all right!
and so last tuesday, i finally got my new passport! the one where it has been posted:
not valid for travel to iraq!
LOL =p
Monday, May 7, 2007
parents and what they say
"ayan, sige, sige! gawin mo pa yan. kung mabubulag ka, makikita mo talaga!"
huh?! contrary parents talaga, oo!
huh?! contrary parents talaga, oo!
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