A New Office Mate

A new office mate. Yeah it is one of those days where you welcome another stranger in town. But since he is in my team I am going to look for quality. I hope he works as good as what we expect him to do. There are really not that much choices out there so if you think about it I had to choose between undergraduates, people who had previous call center experience but have no idea what a forum is and what a moderator does. I also had interviewed people who answer the canny response "I don't know what to do but I am willing to learn" script. We exhausted efforts to get one for the post we have but it seems some of the applicants do not even appear for the interview. I tried to even call some of them but they either 1.) begged off or 2.) put up an attitude or 3.) didn't bother to answer. It looks like one of the things why some Filipinos are jobless nowadays. They are simply unwilling to work and also lack qualification for the position.

I don't know what to think anymore. It's either these people are poor and cannot get proper education or maybe the standard of education in the country is getting poorer. I hope the government steps up the educational system and do not pass anyone who could not understand and write English. It's too lame to have an excuse when it is literally already our second language. I probably should even laugh at the fact when one of the applicants was an English professor and her grammar was even worse as the kids I taught for free in the streets. What is happening to the quality of our workforce!

Shocking News

I just received a text message from my friend a few minutes ago. It was really shocking news. I finished my shift last Friday and I was dead tired. Stress kind of got the best of my and so I was a little off that day. I hurriedly ask one of my closest friends from college to accompany me to a local bar for a couple of rounds of beer. He brought along some of his friends too and I did not really mind at all even if I pay for them. I think I just got caught with the notion of knowing more friends outside of my circle and it was okay since I wanted a lot of people to talk to. It makes me want to know more friends because I have sometimes grown to get tired if I talk to the same old people from work. There was one guy whose name is AYA who was briefly introduced to me before we started to drink. He was one of those guys who rode on the backs of elephants and bragged about everything in this world even if he had nothing. I had nothing against that but all I needed last is someone to argue with when I am stressed. It is not conducive to the environment I want to have at that time. So I did not really talk to him that much until everyone else was drunk. I had a hunch he was not good but then he opened up a conversation that I got hooked to. It was about his family problems and I am a little off target when it comes to that. I am one of those guys who pretend to know it all. I give very sound, good advices but I do not usually follow them myself. I had a habit of doing that so I said my piece on his story. It was something very private and he was often going out of their home because of that. He went to different houses and stayed with strangers just to make ends meet because he did not want to see his abusive family either. The beer dried up and the people went home one by one. I already was there a couple of hours and saw the need for me to go home too but he asked me to stay so he could tell me more sob stories. I did not want to hear them anymore because it is making me more stressed too. Anyway we parted ways and I went home. I slept the whole day after wards. The text message I received this morning was shocking; because my friend just told me he died just a couple of hours ago. He told me that AYA stayed in one man's house in Manila. This is another stranger. He unfortunately got raped and killed. I was so appalled at what happened. They said that the man he stayed with had previous records of violence and jail time. I really pity AYA and of what happened to him. Nobody knew he was going through those things even his own family. I am planning to go with my friend on his funeral on Saturday. I wish there was a way the government would have made a state sex offender list so people would be safe from predators like that guy. This is really a serious and the last thing I want to know is someone close to me goes through the same agony that he did. Poor guy! I want to send my condolences to their family. I hope in some way they realize that they should never make their kids grow up in a very abusive environment. My thanks go to AYA and I hope he does rest in peace.

Who Are the OSCAR Winners?!

Congratulations Mo'nique!

Yes I watched the red carpet a few days ago because my sister woke up too early for it. I was about to sleep because I just arrived from the office. She hurriedly just sprung from bed and opened the television loudly just to see the glimpse of the stars from Hollywood.

Here are the winners as announced my OSCARS.COM
Best Picture
The Hurt Locker
Kathryn Bigelow, Mark Boal, Nicolas Chartier and Greg Shapiro

Actor in a Leading Role
Jeff Bridges
Crazy Heart


Actor in a Supporting Role
Christoph Waltz
Inglourious Basterds

Actress in a Leading Role
Sandra Bullock
The Blind Side

Actress in a Supporting Role
Mo'Nique
Precious: Based on the Novel 'Push' by Sapphire

Animated Feature Film

Up
Pete Docter


Art Direction
Avatar
Rick Carter and Robert Stromberg (Art Direction); Kim Sinclair (Set Decoration)


Cinematography
Avatar
Mauro Fiore


Costume Design
The Young Victoria
Sandy Powell


Directing

The Hurt Locker
Kathryn Bigelow


Documentary Feature
The Cove
Louie Psihoyos and Fisher Stevens

Documentary Short
Music by Prudence
Roger Ross Williams and Elinor Burkett

Film Editing
The Hurt Locker
Bob Murawski and Chris Innis


Foreign Language Film
The Secret in Their Eyes (El Secreto de Sus Ojos)
Argentina
Directed by Juan José Campanella


Makeup

Star Trek
Barney Burman, Mindy Hall and Joel Harlow


Music (Original Score)
Up
Michael Giacchino


Music (Original Song)
Crazy Heart
"The Weary Kind (Theme from Crazy Heart)"
Music and Lyric by Ryan Bingham and T Bone Burnett


Short Film (Animated)
Logorama
Nicolas Schmerkin


Short Film (Live Action)
The New Tenants
Joachim Back and Tivi Magnusson

Sound Editing
The Hurt Locker
Paul N.J. Ottosson


Sound Mixing
The Hurt Locker
Paul N.J. Ottosson and Ray Beckett


Visual Effects
Avatar
Joe Letteri, Stephen Rosenbaum, Richard Baneham and Andrew R. Jones


Writing (Adapted Screenplay)
Precious: Based on the Novel 'Push' by Sapphire
Screenplay by Geoffrey Fletcher


Writing (Original Screenplay)
The Hurt Locker
Written by Mark Boal


I wanted Precious or Avatar to win the best picture award but it looks like the HURT LOCKER went on as the leader and UP won the category for animation. I may not agree with the best picture but I have yet to watch that so I am holding my grievances still. If I watch that film and it would not look even half as beautiful as with Avatar then you will probably hear from me. I will contest the results ha-ha!

Oh and I like MO'NIQUE's performance on precious. I also like the other African American girl who played the abused kid. She did a terrific performance. As for Mariah Carey, thank you because this is a far cry from GLITTER! =)

Writing Advice

There are some folks over at the Red Tribe Forums that were asking me for advice about writing. I said heck I don't know! I just write how I feel and it just comes naturally. If I like something, I write about it. If I get inspired, I write about it. If I get irked about something, I write about it. That's the reason why this site already is discussing anything under the sun! Because personally I have not concentrated on one thing, I just do what I feel and if it comes to a point that it is going to be about writing, I set myself free and just type what I have in my brain at that time. Nothing unusual about that... but most of them don't know how to start. Maybe they just need to get inspired. This is really not a disciplined format of writing... I guess I follow one rule though... just common sense. The others are for losers so if I am going to teach them how to write then I will just have to tell them to write about what they want.

Writing about what you are passionate about is the key. Whatever the subject maybe make sure that your interest resides on it. Describe it for the reader. Make sure you point out what you like and dislike about it. What makes it special for you... and make sure your reader gets the point. I had a long time of writing stuff before that was not that much appealing because of jargons I used. I changed that and made it simple... voila! I had readers afterwards.

Making this blog a success would need that same niche I had before so will have to continue what I am doing and get as many readers as possible. We are afterall making life more interesting for other people by telling our own stories. Now isn't that fun! =)