The Unsub

College thesis taught me that attitude is a person’s way of thinking over a short period of time. It could change from day to day, weekly and in a month. Behavior, on the other hand, takes longer to acquire. It’s all the factors of a person’s past and present. You take into consideration a person’s educational, socio-economical and family background to come up with the reason why he behaves in a certain way.

In everything a person does, there’s always a WHY. That’s the first thing you should always ask yourself to get into the mind of someone. Why does he arrange his clothes in a certain way? Why does he love kids? Why is she a man-hater? Why does a full-grown adult refuse to eat vegetables? Every move has a reason behind it.

A person acts a certain way because of a stressor. A stressor could be a lot of things – abuse, traumatic childhood, broken relationships, bullying – the list could go on. Then, as that person grows older, he finds ways to act on these frustrations. A kid who didn’t have a father or a mother growing up could tend to look for an older partner, in the same way that an eldest child in the family might look for a partner who would take care of her because all her life she’s been taking care of her siblings. Nothing’s wrong with this, it’s human nature. We all have needs and we find satisfaction in other people.

There are however, instances when acting on life’s frustrations can become dangerous. One frustration could lead to another when the former is not met. Some often resort to extreme ways that could later on damage relationships and reputations. It’s typical to be scared, to desperately cover tracks and to try to save whatever’s left.

I’m saying this because after 27 (and counting) episodes of what could be the best crash course in human psychology, I can easily read through your actions now. Am I mad? Hell yes. I’m Jason Gideon-level pissed. In all my online life, I’ve come to hate posers. I’ve been reporting accounts of people who I know are not who they claim to be and yet one is circling right under my radar undetected.

I pretty much let my Mom be when it comes to her Facebook account. She belongs to the small statistic of uber-active Facebook users in her age range. When I come home she’s always got something to share about who she met, who she’s been talking to. Being the cyber-bitch that I was years ago, I make sure to constantly remind her to be careful of what she shares and more importantly, who she shares it with.

I’ve seen her sleep at 5am over some asshole who posed as a certain person who resides in London. Oh, since when was London where Enchanted Kingdom is?

But just like all things in life, it can get worse.

Worse, because my family treated you as one of us. Worse, because I know you’re important to my Mom because I’m pretty sure you kept her company when she needed one. I didn’t mind installing Skype and her staying up late because I know she was happy she could talk to someone. Worse, because you took posing to an entirely new level.

We all have problems – emotionally, physically, financially, spiritually. I’m dealing with all of that right now, believe me. But the last thing on my mind is taking advantage of a person’s trust and using it to my benefit.

So going back to what I established in the beginning, why are you doing this? Why take on an identity you know is not yours and take advantage of a person’s trust in you? Was letting my Mom add CK your way of admitting to her about what you’re doing wrong? Because you could’ve easily refused to let her add CK. But you did, then you did some damage control over something my Mom was totally clueless about. Come to think of it, there wouldn’t be this issue if you didn’t pressure her to delete either CK or B. That in itself has guilt written all over it.

But you can turn this around. Sure you’re guilty and you’re scared but right now anything is better than continuing what you’re doing. The best damage control is to ‘fess up, not spinning new stories. And you know it.

One of the things I learned in those 27 episodes is to show compassion to unsubs who acted on a stressor that stems to when they were still young. It’s psychological. It’s their way of coping. So at some corner in this brain of mine, there’s a little bit of understanding. But the rest is just fed-up with bullshit.

I don’t need any more explanations and stories. You know who you’re anwerable to. And by all means consider this a threat when I say I have connections to the real person involved.

Take care of my mom? Damn straight, I will. And I’m beginning by keeping her from people like you.

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Marathon

I can’t not have enough Criminal Minds. I (subconsciously) make sure that I make it home before 9pm, because that’s when it goes on on Fox. I’m not really a TV person. I have not been hooked this much to a TV series except for One Tree Hill and Glee. I watched some Entourage but I didn’t really follow the episodes.

I have a former officemate to blame for this. We have the same cable provider and he’s more of a TV person than me. He said to check out NCIS and Criminal Minds. Something with the former didn’t interest me so I gave CM a try and BAM! hindi na ako maawat. I’ve just recently figured out the schedule on Fox that’s why I have a 9pm ‘curfew’ for myself.

Basically they’re FBI agents but more wicked, because they’re the BAU or Behavior Analysis Unit. So, they solve cases and figure out who the ‘unsub’ (God! It feels cool to say that!), or what we mortals refer to as suspect, is by his style of killing, the methods he used and other psychological stuff that would make you go OH. THAT. They have a killer database of EVERYTHING about ANYTHING that’s available with just some clicks on the computer.

God. I just talked like this is the real life.

They’re a team made of seven agents and two of them are my favorite: Reid and Garcia.

Reid’s the ULTIMATE geek. Like, sexy geek. He can speed-read, analyze handwriting and just know so much stuff! My favorite scene was when he geeked-out while explaining the hidden messages in the unsub’s handwriting and Prentiss (one of the agents) pokes him on the arm and goes “He’s so life-like.” He’s too smart to be real.

Gube at work on the CM episode he directed (taken from his MySpace account)

Then there’s Garcia, the girl who pulls up all the info from their massive database. She’s just plain bad-ass and her job kicks major ass too.

Ok so WHY am I writing about this on a Friday afternoon AT WORK? Nothing. Haha. Just thought I might share to whoever comes across this blog a really cool show exists. Haha! And yes, I followed Matthew Gray Gubler (he’s the one who plays Reid) on Twitter and Tumblr; followed a bunch of CM-related Tumblrs and is currently backreading Gube’s MySpace blog.

Next week’s two days off for the Holy Week means a CM marathon! :D I’m thinking if I should just stream it since we have a pretty decent Internet connection at home or just buy DVDs later at St. Francis. Hmmm.

It’s payday today which means… time to pay the friggin’ bills. I’m meeting up with Chi and Mama at Megamall later. I was really planning on buying new stuff for the iPod but genius me, I left it at home. I need a new protective screen and case. And headsets, too.

That’s just about it. Not a lot of new stuff. Work’s being fun! Been eating a lot AGAIN and it looks like I might take up Chi’s challenge to start running. Chi, by the way, is already leveling up in her races! She’s running her first 21k soon! I wish I can go to one of her races but they’re too early and too far! (O ‘di ba, just with that statement you can say I don’t have a future in running!) Some of my college friends are planning to check out Mercato Centrale in time for one of Chi’s races. Yay!

I said that’s it already, right? Yeah. Happy weekend, kids! :)

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JSYK,

I’m not connected with my friends 24/7. There are some whom I haven’t seen for ages but I chance upon Facebook or Twitter. I don’t use my phone that much because my previous phone bill is killing me and I don’t want to abuse my company phone. Yes, I miss a lot of them but I’d just like to assume that they have busier schedules than mine so hollering at me in Facebook or Twitter isn’t really the first thing they do online.

You have no idea how much time, in a day, do I spend getting used to keeping track of things at work. Though I’m used to turning up outputs in a short time, numbers need to be hardcore accurate. One wrong digit in a string of three can spell disaster. So what am I trying to say here? A spreadsheet is what I mostly stare at. Sure I’m on Facebook on Chrome and I have a Twitter widget running but half of those feeds I really don’t read. (And OK, throw in a season marathon of HIMYM on some days). I’ve even received comments saying I’m not “active” in Facebook anymore.

It’s not that I don’t have time. God, I wish I can extend the day so that when I look at my watch I don’t see 8 p.m. when it just felt like 6 p.m. five minutes ago. I wish I can stop over some place else after work, hang out or have dinner with friends.

My silence doesn’t mean I’ve forgotten, because that’s actually one thing I suck greatly at. We might not be seeing each other, not talking or texting each other but I take great comfort and assurance in the fact that we’re friends. I hope friendship sees past material things.

Despite my silence, you can still call me up when you saw your crush. You can pop in my instant messenger with a random question. You can rant and send me a five-page text message. But please do understand when I say I’m busy (here’s a hint: mornings; late afternoons; and first and last weeks of the month). Please don’t take my getting used to work against me. I suck at numbers; need I show to you my college transcript?

And it’s not just work. There are other matters that are clouding up my mind right now that leaves me confused and spaced-out sometimes.

I don’t blame you entirely for feeling that way, though. It’s just that I don’t have a comedic comeback (as of the moment) when you tell me I don’t have time for my friends anymore. Because I do, albeit little. I’d hate to have a falling out just because people are under the impression that I’m neglecting my friends.

I’m sorry if that’s how you feel. Really, I am. But if you choose to act coldly towards me, it’s fine. Friendship is a choice. I don’t want to force it on you.

There are some things I don’t like to share to the world. I’ve long stopped sharing personal matters in my blog because blogs have become too public and I see no need for the rest of the world to know what’s bothering me. I just needed to get this out tonight.

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Food trip, good trip

There’s one more entry in my Drafts folder but I just lost all interest in finishing it. It’s supposed to be about the whole Willie Revillame issue, but the whole thing has now escalated to the point of suspension so I guess it’s safe to say that he (and his show) was (again!) wrong. At least advertisers knocked some sense into their heads by pulling out their ads (to date, Jollibee, Mang Inasal and P&G have pulled out). Good riddance. As one of my officemates pointed out, what’s really wrong here is Willie himself. It’s not the network, not the co-hosts. IT’S HIM.

Anyway. Food. I don’t like a lot, but I’d take on whatever’s good, affordable, or expensive but freakin’ worth it (or if I’m REALLY craving for it). Case in point: Chili’s Burger Day which was held last Tuesday. In a spur-of-the-moment decision we all decided to eat out and the destination: Chili’s. Haven’t eaten there before, but I went along anyway. When we got to the branch in Greenhills, we were 24th on the waiting list. Word spreads fast apparently. It was just past 12 noon but already more people were coming in after us. After like, 20 minutes of waiting, FINALLY! the Big Mouth Bacon Burger!

AWESOME. Though one commented it’s not as juicy as burgers served on a regular day, it was more than satisfying for me. (Hello, cholesterol you can LITERALLY taste on your mouth. And lick from your fingers.) As usual I only finished like, three-fourths of the burger. Damn I was full! Big Mouth Burgers on that day were sold at P120 only. Not bad!

But what’s not bad at all is Aysee’s. A good friend of mine already brought that up to me after I said my office is just across DepEd. He said their specialty was Sisig, but I should also try their Crispy Pork. When we got there on Tuesday for lunch, the small place was packed, as it’s a popular dining spot in the area. Don’t let the exterior fool you – on a weekday the crowd is filled with yuppies (with cars parked along the sidewalk), and I’m told it’s an after-gimik hot spot too. The verdict? DOUBLE AWESOME. The papaitan IS  a must-try! I really don’t eat papaitan, even if Papa orders one for lunch from the nearby eatery. But something about Aysee’s made me want to try the dish, and I think I won’t look at papaitan the same way. Nabitin kami lahat, we went for round two kanina! As always, SOLB!

Those are just some of the food trips I get to have at work. That excludes McDo delivery or any delivery for that matter, the ever-reliable pancit canton and ice cream! I’m seriously gaining weight again, but hey I’m not complaining! :)

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Is this thing on?

That was one long BREAK! Ever since I got back I’ve been busy getting used to my new work: re-learning percentage, decimals and Excel, to name a few. But I’m getting the hang of it (finally!) after a month. A quote on Tumblr has become my new mantra whenever I have to do something I haven’t done before: “Things don’t get easier. You just get better.” I think it’s another way of saying the old cliche “practice makes perfect” but it’s true.

[EDIT: This post sat in my Drafts folder for two days!]

I think summer’s officially here – everyone’s heading to the beach! Jarvik, Jovy, Anj and I WILL and MUST come up with a beach trip, too! This heat is simply not meant to be enjoyed in the city!

I wasn’t really the type of kid that took summer classes. I think the last one I took was a dance class sponsored by Papa’s former company. Trying to “extend” the Boracay experience [so go shoot me for still having withdrawals after a month LOL] and due to my forever fascination with lights, I decided to finally learn zipping, or poi. No, I’m not spinning fire yet. As a beginner I get to play with poi socks – knee-high socks with tennis balls inside for weight. I went to my first trial class last week in UP. I was the only beginner in the class, the rest were set to become burners already! Whenever Roki (our instructor) would leave me to practice the basic moves, I’d stop and watch the others and just admire how graceful their arms move and spin around. Beside them, I look like a kid throwing her dad’s socks around! Haha! One of them brought out her flow lights when the sun set. WOW. I swear I will play with flow lights some day! Karir ito.

Which brings me back to what I first said, things don’t get easier, I just get better. Spinning poi will always be hard. Timing always has to be perfect. Judging from how many times the tennis ball hit my head and arms, I still have a long way to go. I just have to get better.

*PLANET ZIPS-PHILIPPINES holds classes in different areas. Check them out for more info on their classes and rates.

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Island Girl pt.2

As if the first post wasn’t long enough, here are some videos of the firedancers at Bamboo Bar (Station 3). Do check them out when you go there because they definitely put on a show. And say hi to that hot one for me! HAHA!

Tribal Dance – Why hello, hot stuff! HAHA!

 

My Heart Will Go On – This was cool! One of my favorite performances!

 

Waka Waka – I had to cut getting the video, I couldn’t help myself from dancing!

 

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Island Girl

It’s been a week, but I still can’t help but put Waka Waka on repeat on my iPod. Hit play, close your eyes and you’ve got sand in your feet and you actually appreciate the sun beating down on you.

Boracay is an entirely different world.

My friends and I stayed there for four days (Feb 18-21) at the Boracay Garden Resort, Station 2. Left Manila around 11am via Seair.

Caticlan Jetty Port

Welcome to Boracay!

Since it’s my first time at everything (airport, Boracay, ports and terminals), can I just say that the fees (terminal and environmental) were kind of a hassle to pay. I wish they’d just collect all of it before you leave Manila or something. Anyway.

We were too early for the 2pm check-in so we left our luggages (I checked-in 6 kilos!!) at the hotel and went around. We literally didn’t know where to go so after going farther and farther from our hotel we decided to eat lunch at Deco’s. They serve La Paz Batchoy and other Filipino dishes like Longsilog.

Lunch at Deco

Back to the hotel to settle in. GREAT hotel! My personal favorite parts were the pool and the dining area.

The beachfront of Boracay Garden Resort

We had buffet breakfast for the two days we spent there and did I stuff myself full before heading out to explore. Too bad there wasn’t WiFi access but I guess that will come around when the rest of the hotel is done.

Wasn’t able to find Real Coffee to sample their famous calamansi muffins, but we were able to find Jonah’s, which everyone who goes to Boracay says is a must-try. Cool packaging, they serve the shakes in mineral water bottles. Do they recycle these?

We walked around a LOT. Our hotel was in Station 2 and Jonah’s and the grotto were all in Station 1. It’s a long walk if you try doing it here in Manila but for some reason doing it there is fine because the sand is just heaven. You can ride the tricycle (P10/person) but you’re in Boracay. Come on.

Then there’s the obligatory Boracay sunset photo shoot. We missed the first sunset of our stay because we were stuck in Jonah’s waiting for the pizza (my bad, there was a branch pala at the beachfront where we can watch the sunset!)

The paraws dotting the sea with their sails against the sunlight was pretty. We also went to the grotto which was on top of a rock formation.

When the sun sets, you know what goes up – the nightlife! What’s fun is you can just park yourself outside any of the bars and just dance. No one cares if you break into a dance because that’s how they roll in Boracay. Haha!

If there’s one thing I will not let pass during my stay in Boracay, it’s the firedancers. My eyes just light up at the sight of them performing. I remember one time in Cubao X, Anj and I literally left our table in Mogwai and ran to the street when we saw firedancers. You know how small the street is in Cubao X. So yeah basically we inhaled the gas but it was fun.

We asked around where the firedancers are and they pointed us to different hotels and bars (Boracay Regency, Epic and Bamboo Bar). Boracay Regency was just beside our hotel but there was a private function. Epic (Eeepic, to anyone who understands what that means, LOL) was too far, so we just kept walking towards Station 3 where Bamboo Bar was.

HOLYFIREDANCINGBATMAN they were the best!

My phone’s photos don’t do justice to their awesomeness. Performance level! One of them did an interpretative of “She”, then they did Madonna’s “Vogue” and “Frozen”. They also went around the tables and you can have your picture taken while they spin the poi above your head. Astig!

Day 2, we went island-hopping. I’ve never gone far from the shoreline on a boat, so this trip was the ultimate test if I was seasick or not. I survived the pump boat from Caticlan, but this was different because the current was stronger. But guess what? I didn’t feel weird at all! The strongest waves we rode were probably the ones going to Crystal Cave. We were supposed to go there but the bankero said the waves were too strong and we wouldn’t enjoy the cave. So we did a U-turn around the island and that’s when the waves started to hit. Really hit. I wish I could take out my phone to take a photo of how it looked like. A-ma-zing! (I think I said this a million times there) Haha!

View from the boat

The next stop was snorkeling. You know me, I don’t swim and float, so I was kind of iffy to go down the boat and join them. But there was a small ladder which I held onto for dear life and I got a glimpse of corals and a starfish! I was happy with that! So that’s how you use a snorkel, eh? Lesson learned :)

Then we headed to another island for lunch. Along the way we passed by Manny Pacquiao’s resort which was still under construction.

Manny Pacquiao

Those disc-like structures at the front were rock/coral formations – they just smoothened it with cement to transform it to a view deck-slash-bar. The other half of the island is what it originally looked like:

Lunch was seafood! We tried the shrimp with honey garlic, stuffed squid and sinigang na baboy.

Then we headed back to the hotel to swim. Had dinner at D’ Talipapa and went back to Bamboo Bar for more firedancing. Out of nowhere, it rains. Hard! We had no choice but to go back to the hotel. Station 3 to Station 2? Takbo! My body felt like it was ready to crash after being out all day so I decided to just stay in the hotel while the three of them went out again to meet Taludz’ friend. Bummer I wasn’t able to watch the firedancers again. Haha!

Sunday was our last day at the hotel. We had to look for another place to crash for one more night. Koala had to go back to Manila for Sunday’s work, so that left the three of us to hunt for a room. We ended up at Alice in Wonderland (no kidding!) at Station 3 (omg! nearer to Bamboo!) which was around 2,000/night. We were determined to make the most (whatever that means) of our last whole day in Boracay. D’Talipapa to shop for pasalubongs was our first stop. After lunch at Mang Inasal, we just stayed in our room all afternoon and slept. We caught our last Boracay sunset, did craaaaaazzzy things on the beach (which will remain private unless I decide to show you!) and got ready for our last night. By now you should know what our final night destination would be. You guessed it, Bamboo Bar! We finally had the guts to approach that hot firedancer HAHA so we can all sleep well at night when we go back to Manila.

Monday morning was the “I-miss-Manila-but-can-we-stay-longer-pretty-pretty-please” mode. Morning on the beach is SO peaceful. The sun was just right, the sand and water were cool on the feet. I wanted to take it and turn it to a keychain so I can have it anytime when Manila stresses me out.

I

We made another trip to the grotto (which was more beautiful in the morning, methinks). And in preparation for our next (still unplanned) trip, we hunted for our next place to stay in. Hello, Boracay Breeze! I made up this theory that I’d rather spend more on things to do on the island than on accommodations because based on experience, we only slept and showered in the hotel. We were out most of our stay so sayang lang.

Landed in Manila around 3pm, again via Seair. I went back to work the following day and the MRT decided to have a grand welcome back party for me. At 8am, standing on the platform waiting for the next train, my mind couldn’t help but wander back to yesterday morning. My goodness! “Nagbubukas pa lang ang Deco’s ng ganitong oras!”

For a first time in Boracay, it was a great experience. The foreigners definitely outnumbered the Filipinos, especially in our hotel. The foreigners who went island-hopping would wave at us and smile. If they wave at you, they’re foreigners. If they don’t, they’re Pinoys. What’s up ba??

There’s more to see and do (places, NOT persons LOL) and plenty of reasons to go back. I’d snorkel again. I’d do crazy things during sunset again. Boracay, all-freaking-over-again.

September, anyone?

Thank you to the Bosses who sent Bernie and Taludz to Boracay. And gazillion thanks to both of you for taking me and Koala with you :)

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