Slice of Life
Dear Andy,
Hey. I think I'm recovering against this urban rage. I spent 30 minutes in unreasonable traffic yesterday, but I didn't lose my cool. Maybe it's just my laziness that's pissing me off. You know, because I'm too lazy to work or go out, I get pissed off at every little hassle just so I can justify staying at home. I'm trying to fight it off now before my mind and body atrophies. Balance is key!
I'd like to share something interesting with you, but nothing comes to mind. It's 7:49 pm, I'm in the office, alone in the creatives department, and I'm bored. I should be working but I don't feel like it. On top of monitor, I've posted some encouraging signs like "Be interested" and "Work you lazy fuck!". I'm currently ignoring them.
I played Starcraft with Dave for over an hour. That drained me. Now I don't want to work or play or anything. I was happily working before that. I should limit my gaming sessions.
Maybe I should take a break. I'll be here until 10pm. Well, theoretically. I might just go home early and to hell with it. Yeah. Anyway. I'm going to eat my packed "lunch", which is fried chicken again. I should get off my ass and plan my meals for the week.
I miss you!
Ant
Dear Miguel,
Yesterday was lousy. I locked my key in the room and the only one who had a duplicate of the key is in Bacolod. I had to go to a department where everyone is busy with puerile pursuits like Hangaroo and gossip when the supervisor is away. Ah! Bureaucracy at its most splendid form. And yes, I had to fill out some forms so they can break into my office. And did you know that in order to replace a door knob, I have to fill out more forms and wait for two weeks or a year?
On my way home, on a decrepit jeep, people were pretending not to hear me so they could avoid the trouble of extending their arms for a handful of dirty coins. So I screamed, "BAYAD!" I screamed the way you do when your mother's bigotry strikes a chord. They couldn't take their eyes off me after that.
In one year, I will be the shadow of my present self, thanks to public transportation and the puerile songs they play. I woke up at 3 am with Aiza Seguerra's ridiculous song in my head. There is more terror in that night of prostration than reading a Lovecraft tale in a forest in the middle of the night.
In the end, Janis Joplin helped me expel the vile tune with songs like
Take Another Little Piece of My Heart and
Ball and Chain. I fantasized Janis breaking a bottle of whiskey on Aiza's lesbian skull.
Today's better. On my way to work, the driver was deftly whistling along to obscure new wave music playing in the cab. I wanted to put him in a cage and bring him to work. When I looked out the window, I saw shivering trees. They were beautiful. Lovely stormy weather without you having to break up with me.
I put a spell on you.
Asa
Dear Miguel,
The airconditioner just coughed up some ice into the document I was working on. Malicious piece of equipment (*kick*). I took it as a sign to stop working and write to you, my little cockatoo.
I don't know what to write about, though. i've been staring at the screen for ten minutes. Isn't that sad?
Your gloomy plum,
A.
Trawling Teh Int4rw3b 01
Dear Andy,
Been looking into that Myer-Briggs-Jung personality types. They're eerily accurate. Like zodiac signs, except this is slightly more credible since it's derived from psychological research instead of the positioning of heavenly bodies millions of light years away.
You can take a test
here and then when you get your result, dig through your website
here. It's fun getting validated. I'm either an ENTP or an INTP, depending on my self-confidence at the time. You be the judge.
--
Here's
NationStates, the game we've been talking about. Well, it's not really much of a game. You create a nation and everyday, they ask you make a stand on an issue. And your nation's description changes depending on your decisions. Most of the interesting developments are roleplayed in the forums, like wars or political turmoil. So if you'd like to play pretend with your virtual nation, check out their forums.
Still looking for a copy of SimCity,
Ant
Mostly Nothing
Dear Andy,
What constitutes a good day then? I was supposed to tell you that I had a good day today, but I think I just felt that way not because something good happened to me, but because nothing bad happened to me. Am I so used to living with crap in this city that I feel great when everything works as it normally should? Not that it really does. I guess I just did things differently today. That might have helped me avoid some stress. And I got lucky, too.
For one, I took a cab to work. So I got to relax while the cab driver bore the brunt of morning traffic. I'm thinking of doing this every day, instead of taking my car. It'd actually be cheaper, versus the cost of gas and parking. I'll just have to pay for the ride to work (around sixty pesos) since I can ride with my mom on the way home.
Then a bit of luck on the elevators: as I was making my way towards them, I saw the car arrive on our floor. Just about everyone rushed inside. One girl ran to catch up before it closed. As for me, I walked. I arrived just as the door closed on the packed elevator. Then the other elevator opened: empty, and going up. I strode in smugly.
Work was easy, too. We've accomplished all the important stuff, and I was left only with the web redesign (which was my original job). Since there's virtually no deadline, I took my sweet time with the design, and even had time to play Gamecube with Dave (he brought his to the office last week). At the end of the day, I finished the home page design, and I was satisfied with how it turned out too.
Outside, it was raining. But the sun was still out and the rain was only a light drizzle. I walked to Podium and bought a book called "A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius", which was a Pulitzer Prize finalist, among many positive credentials. I hope I enjoy it.
Then I had an early evening dinner with my mom at Soup Kitchen, and then we both went home.
And here I am at the end of an uneventful day. And I actually feel good about it because of its uneventfulness. Is that a sorry state of thinking, caused by the daily stress of urban living, or have I achieved Zen?
Your mundane marauder,
Ant
Welcome to the City
Dear Andy,
Hey! Here it is. A forum for our letters. This'll help us with our writing, and at the same time, we'll be sharing thoughts, ideas, and anecdotes with each other. Sure, we could do this with email ... but that's so 90's. Blogging's all the rage these days. All the cool kids blog now. We need a digicam too so we can post badly composed pictures of ourselves.
And this'll also help me keep a journal, I guess. My livejournal account is read and commented on by a bunch of people I don't know. I feel pressured. I can't just write anything about my day there--I have to write something witty, insightful, relevant. Here I can write slobbishly. And that's okay, because you love me. And love is all about caring about someone even though he's a slob.
So, how are you? I got pissed off at the city this morning. I got pissed at the snarly traffic, at the government's failure to uphold the clean air act, at the undisciplined drivers, at the incompetent traffic aides, at the non-existent zoning rules, at the unnecessary and lengthy construction projects, at the whole system of going to the office at work and staying there for nine hours, at the expensive parking rates, at the people who insist on entering the elevator before those inside can get off, and at our tech support guy who hasn't installed extra RAM or replaced my mouse despite my requests. By the time I settled down at my desk, I was pretty much wrathful.
I don't know why I got really pissed this time. I encounter all that shit every day. Guess I've finally hit the nadir of madness at the madding crowds. This happens, what? Once every two months? Every month? Goddamned city living. I just can't help thinking that it could be so much better. But it's not.
But anyway, I'm hoping it's all uphill from here. In my wrath, I stormed restlessly for a few minutes around the office, changed my Windows colors into darker shades, and finally, produced
amateur angsty "artwork" on Photoshop. Then Dave asked me if I was okay, because I "seemed a little out of it". And that made me feel so much better. Being noticed that I was out of it, and asked if I was okay.
Dave has been a boon. I'm having so much more fun in the office now, thanks to him. And also to being relocated away from Ground Zero, where the bosses are. It helps me work more naturally, i.e. slow and sloth-like.
I was thinking of making new "artwork" again tomorrow. Maybe doing it every morning. Just a quick wallpaper to suit my mood. Then every evening, I can write to you. That'd be a nice habit to form. It'd be great to have something productive come out of this morning's angst.
I'm off then, my love. Write back.
Your peerless platypus,
Ant
P.S. Yeah, I signed that Ant. I'm quite tired of my old name. I figured I'll try this one for about a month; see if it suits me. Oh, and I want to learn how to pun well, among the many other things I want to learn. Idea for a movie: "Manual vs. Manila". Will expound some other time. Oh yeah, why do people still use postscripts on electronic letters when they can easily insert new sentences into the letter?
