Bohol Vacation: Part I

Finally I got all the pictures and the itinerary of my recent Bohol trip and I can now write a long overdue entry about it. So here goes:

The night before the flight was a bit of a mess for me. I was already feeling sick for a couple of days so I decided to hitch a ride with an officemate, but he was out watching a movie. To make the long story short, we left for home later than I preferred and got home at around 1am. Time was of the essence since I had to be at Ven’s place to hitch a ride to the airport, but I still haven’t packed my stuff and I desperately needed rest. Miraculously, I packed my bag in record time and I think I got a couple of hours of sleep before taking a cab to Ven’s.

We had a quick breakfast and headed off to the airport. Despite being relatively early, there was a long queue to get in. We trudged along until we were finally in the waiting lounge. I think I kinda looked like an idiot wearing jeans, 2 shirts, a jacket and a cap knowing that we were going on a vacation that spells “sun and surf”. But I had to retain my body heat and “force” my body back to health, I was taking no chances. I took in as much time as I could to rest, overdosing on Vitamin C and drinking a whole lot of fluids. Luckily(?), the plane was delayed due to a couple of passengers being late. I didn’t really care, it gave me 30 more minutes of sleep.

The bad news was that because of the delayed flight, we were not able to get on the boat to Bohol from Cebu as our initial plan. So we had to wait at the pier for the next scheduled trip. We passed the time playing scrabble and watching a couple of movies, but I was itching to get the traveling over with and get some “real” rest.

Fortunately, we had no more delays and got to Tagbilaran, Bohol by 3pm. When we got to Nobs’ place, we had merienda, some chit-chat with Nobs’s parents and stashed our bags.

first night in Bohol


The following day was supposed to be the first day of sight seeing, as we planned to pass by some tourist places on our way to the Lagunay farm where we would be spending the night. We stopped by the Blood Compact site, said to be the site of the first pact between the locals and the Spanish explorers when they arrive a long long time ago, then off to Baclayon Church, the oldest stone church in the Philippines.

fooling around


Baclayon Church bell tower


Then we had lunch on the Loboc River cruise where we also saw the very unique tarsier. Man, those animals rock! They’re the cutest little things you will ever see, and we were up close and personal with the animals. To bad we weren’t allowed to touch them.

Loboc river


tarsier!


watcha lookin' at bitch?


This is getting too long. Another entry is in order...

double tap

Being without war for around 3 months has made me a bit looney. The troops and I met up last Sunday to play a few hours of SWAT4. Although it was nice to get into warring mode (even if it was just via a computer game), my trigger finger was still itchy since the point of the game is to subdue the suspects without killing them. So either you use non-lethal weapons or storm the place screaming "Police! Put your weapon down!" or something to that effect. Of course we did shoot some bad guys when needed, but it wasn't enough for me. Read JM's entry, it pretty much sums up how you feel throughout the "experience".

Recently, I have been imagining myself walking towards a suspect, pull out my gun... BLAM! BLAM! two shots in the chest... BLAM! BLAM! another two in the head for good measure. The bad guy goes down, still I keep pointing my weapon. I circle about making sure he really is down... hostage secured, mission complete. I safe and holster my weapon.

I need real warring soon as I need to get this out of my system (to some extent hehehe). Plus, I am looking forward to a live fire exercise whenever the occasion may arise.

On a side note: the entry on the Bohol R&R trip will be up soon. I will be getting more pics and the itenerary today, so the actual entry won't be far off. Apologies for the delay.

prologue

I am in Bohol right now. This place is great! I've got tons of photos and blog worthy experiences. Will post a complete entry as soon as I get back to civilization, which is around 5 days from now hehehe

of aches and pains

My body is in the shit. I think this is the worse condition my body is in. As I previously mentioned, my right knee is busted. Although I have been able to live with it for around a year now (maybe even more) it seems to be getting worse.

I’ve recently been having lower back pains, particularly on my right hand side. My right shoulder is also feeling a bit stiff and numb, but I think (hope) this isn’t related to the aches and pains in my lower body. My butt, especially the right cheek, feels as if it is always flexing (yes, the butt is a muscle… remember gluteus maximus?) and I have to consciously relax it at times. Then there’s my knee, which feels funny as if it can snap anytime. My ankle also seems to be taking a beating, since it is taking some of the load off my knee.

So basically it’s the right side of my body that’s in the shit-hole. Everything feels stiff and overworked. This is why I feel tired most of the time, even after 8 hours of sleep. My mobility is hindered a bit. My stability, especially felt when doing precise motor movements (like taking a picture, holding something steady for long periods of time) is also being affected. And anything that would place most of my joints with more than my body weight needs extra effort and energy, which I am already lacking.

I sometimes think that I go into a trance when walking long distances or standing for some time without rest (ie, sitting or lying down). I really need to see a doctor soon, and that time will be probably mid-next week.

For now I am a casualty of war (I recently found out that a casualty of war means anybody sidelined and not be able to go to the front lines, either via death or injuries).

it was not my time

My friends and I had another round of poker last night at my house. We had an initial buy-in of 250 pesos (some were not too keen on losing too much money hehehe). It has been quite some time since I have played poker so I was a bit rusty and the guys I was playing with had more playing time. I knew I was the under dog so I decided to play hard ball as soon as I got a relatively decent hand. I went all in... but came up empty. Darnit!

It was still too early in the game (and the night) so I decided to buy myself in again. I was now down by 500 pesos. This round was going better, I was able to get the money back. But alas, lady luck left my side and I ended up losing it all. Jonas on the other hand seemed to be on a roll, starting from nearly down and out to getting most of the winnings!

We decided to have another round, a new buy-in. 750 pesos.

It was a great round with the chip lead passing all around the table. Novis beat me in a great round of betting. Jonas, the lucky bastard, again had a roller coaster ride in terms of chips. He ended up being the sole winner of the night... 1,500 bucks! With Novis coming in second with a break even night. Sheryl, David and Dale each lost 250 pesos. And as for me, the "house" lost big time.

But only in monetary terms. We had a great night of poker and catching up with friends. We are already looking forward to having more dinners, poker nights and getting pissed-out drunk drinking session.

It was nice to be back. A bonus was that Jonas brought along a weapons-mounted night vision scope! Hehehe

NVG sample

veteran

My grandfather died last night.

He was the only grandfather I ever knew (both my dad’s parents died before I was born I never got to meet them), yet I don’t really know much about him as a person. We have shared a few words whenever I visit them in the province or they drop by Manila for a few days. I know he was a veteran of the Second World War and he knows that I am fascinated with the military and guns so we do have something in common to talk about.

He has taken me to some live firing exercises, shot a few rounds together and talked about gun safety, responsible gun ownership and shared a few shooting advices. My brother even showed him a few of the airsoft guns we use.

I haven’t asked him much about the war and his involvement in it. I believe it is a bit inappropriate to ask if he has any confirmed kills even if, or maybe especially because he was a soldier (or freedom fighter?). Although in some of his stories you could read between the lines, but I didn’t want to push it out of respect.

That’s it though… may he rest in peace.

back!

Finally, I am back home indefinitely after all the drama with regards to my visa in Singapore. Someone will be replacing me in the project after a week so I won’t be leaving the country anytime soon (I think).

Anyway, funny thing is that I was almost left behind by the plane. I was already in the airport with my baggage checked in well before my flight departure time (something like 3 hours). So I decided to roam around the airport and grab a couple of Corona’s at the bar, I also made a few phone calls since I hade a little less than 50 SGD worth of calls on my prepaid card. Then I decided to buy a few items in the duty free shops since I had some local currency left, by this time I had 45 mins left before my flight thinking I still had time on my hands.

After a few minutes of roaming around, I looked at one of the flight information screens I saw that my flight indicated a status of “Gate Closing”! I nearly panicked! I had 30 mins left till flight time and they were closing the gates! I was quite a long way from my gate so I ran pushing my baggage cart hoping, wishing I wouldn’t get left behind. Mind you I already had a couple of beers and was starting to feel its effects as I ran down the corridors. Needles to say I made it to my flight.

David was supposed to pick me up, but we had a bit of a misunderstanding about the time so I was left waiting for him for around an hour. It was alright though, I was just glad to be back and see good old friends again. We went off to meet up with Dale and Yeng in Eastwood and we had a round of drinks on me. We swapped some stories, had a good laugh and called in a night. Got home half an hour after midnight.

All in all, it was a very good day.

shell shock

I am going crazy right now.

There a lot of things going on in my mind. From small, mundane things that can be left behind, to things's I put on hold for a bit of time now. Plus the everyday things that pop-up randomly.

Maybe I'm just feeling apprehesive of all the things I can, will and should do starting next week. I need to do something to calm me down... and unfortunately thinking about what that should be adds to the stuff that makes me crazy. Ironic eh?

champion's drive

Kimi Raikkonen won yesterday’s Japanese Grand Prix, and he did this from the back of the grid.

After losing the driver’s championship to rival Fernando Alonso after last week’s Brazilian Grand Prix, he didn’t look set to even step on the podium much less win yesterday’s race. During a practice session, he blows an engine getting him a 10 grid-slot penalty. This means that even if he gets pole position, he will be demoted to 11th spot, and this is the best he can hope for. Mother nature however, had other plans. During the second half of qualifying the rain fell on the circuit ruining everyone’s times, Kimi fell to 17th on the grid.

Throughout the race he was quietly making his way up the grid, most of the attention was on Alonso who was also having a great run up the grid (he started 16th). Somehow, when it was needed most, he put in a string of fast laps to overtake Alonso in the pits. He did it again on his second pit stop to leapfrog a couple of front-runners! By this time he was looking good for a podium finish. Then he got to it, third, then second, he was now just 5 seconds off Fisichella on first place with 10 laps left in the race. 5 seconds is a lap time in Formula 1, but after a lap he cut it down by a little over a second! Mathematically he could reach Fisichella to battle for first by the last couple of laps. Fisichella got bundled on one of the backmarkers giving Kimi a few extra seconds and there it was, the battle for victory with 2 laps to go. Kimi tried on the first corner, but Fisichella held on to the lead. Kimi towed behind for the rest of the lap, then tried again on the first corner. This time he got it! Taking the lead on the last lap and holding on to it to win the Japanese GP!

Too bad Montoya (his teammate) crashed out on the first lap, thus McLaren loses their lead in the constructor’s championship. But it was a great race nontheless. He hails this to be his best race/win ever as he worked real hard for it, the makings of a true champion. Despite losing the driver's championship twice in 3 years, many hail him to be a multiple champion someday. With performances like these, I'm pretty sure he will be.

Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to watch all this! I had to make due with the live timing at Formula1.com

escape & evasion

I am now back in Singapore.

The 5-hour bus ride to Kuala Lumpur was uneventful save for the awful traffic once we got near the city proper. It was a sight to see the Petronas Towers at night, it was an almost surreal view from the bus window. I arrived at the hotel at around 8 pm, did some housekeeping stuff, checked some emails and updated friends who were online as to the current situation. I decided to grab a couple of beers and act tourist-like for my duration in KL. Surprisingly the band performing at the hotel’s bar were Filipinos and I had a bit of a chat with them.

first glimpse


I was still apprehensive going back to Singapore so soon, and a few people in Manila suggested trying to stay at least one more day. I was having thoughts of being detained in immigration prison and heavily interrogated before being hauled by armed guards to the airport for immediate deportation or being denied entry to Singapore leaving me in limbo, stuck nowhere.

So I made some arrangements for another day’s stay, grabbed something to eat and went out to do some tourist stuff. Just went to the Petronas Towers and took a few pictures, I decided to put off going up the bridge so that I would have something to do later in the evening or the following day. Turned out to be a big mistake.

Petronas Towers


As soon as I came back to the hotel, I received a call to stick with the original plan and head back to Singapore in the afternoon. I just missed out on going up the Petronas Towers and getting to see a bit more of KL. So I packed my bag, rested as much as I could, given the circumstances, and proceeded to board the bus at 3:30pm.

heading back to Singapore


5 hours later at the end of the Malaysian immigration stop, I was really feeling nervous as we only needed to cross a bridge for the Singapore immigration stop, which holds the key to my very immediate future.

Goodbye Malaysia


Surprisingly (and luckily) I had no trouble with the immigration officer. I was promptly stamped with a 14-day pass. He was actually a bit concerned for me as I would need to go through the hassle of going to their main office if I wanted to extend my stay longer. He seemed to have the impression of me being a tourist (which was the supposed plan), which could’ve been brought about by the fact that the address I will be staying at was a residential address and not a hotel.

The next plan of action is to leave Singapore at the end of next week, which is a bit disappointing. This whole event was a bit of a hassle, yet also a welcome experience at the same time.

deportation procedures

My social visit pass expires today. My employment pass has not yet been approved. So now, I need to do a visa run to Malaysia to “extend” my stay here in Singapore for 2 more weeks.

I still have no idea how to get to Malaysia, how long I’m going to stay there and where. I was told by a friend of mine to stay there at least 24 hrs so as not to rouse suspicion from the Singapore immigration.

Some people would think that I get to have a free paid vacation to Malaysia under company expense. Maybe so, but with all the unknowns it’s a bit nerve-wracking. Well maybe we can term it as an adventure, but with some of the bad luck I am having with international travel I might have a bit too much of an adventure.

Wish me luck, I will be behind enemy lines in less than 12 hours.

STOMPed

The team went out to see the production of STOMP yesterday. It was great! I loved it! Out of the 8 people in the team, 3 of us where late so we kind of missed the first performance (we were able to watch it on the TV outside the theatre though). I also felt sorry for all the people we had to disturb to get to our seats as the show didn’t really have a bonafide intermission.

In any case, we got to our seats and began to enjoy the show. But the guy in front of me was pissing me off a bit. He would always lean forward in the most inappropriate time blocking my view of the show! I mean what difference does a couple of feet make when you are still a couple of hundred feet away from the stage?! At first I would just lean forward too or look at the side, but then it was really bothering me after a time. So I told him off to sit tight and enjoy the freaking show! (Just kidding, I was diplomatic on how I said it). All throughout the show, he would lean forward a bit then settle back to his chair. What was wrong with this guy? Does he have a finger up his ass? It was really annoying, but at least he was mindful of me and I got to see the show better.

Now on with the show! Well, it is definitely a must see, especially with friends who are into music (specially percussions) and/or theater arts. The actually had a “cast” with certain members acting out a particular persona.

They started out with simple beats and “soft” sounds, something light for the audience to digest. They used a whole range of different “instruments” including their body parts. My favorite would probably be the use of Zippo lighters. It was awesome! They turned out all the lights and they started lighting and clicking the lids of the lighters. All you see are the flashes of sparks and tiny flames accompanied by a variety of sounds. Simple yet awe-inspiring.

The music reminded me of Joe Satriani or Liquid Tension Experiment and those instrumentals only groups. They had some good, fast beats that make you wanna jump or do something other than sit on that chair. They even had the audience do some claps, stomps, and finger snapping to participate in the show. The crowd was really worked upped about it too. Too bad it had to end, but at least they ended in style. They picked a great exit song with Nirvana’s Smells Like Teen Spirit, which had a great drum intro. Although some might argue about choosing another song with good drum beats, it went pretty well with the ambience of the place/set.

Unfortunately, I was not able to take photos during the performance as I was enthralled by the sights and sounds. I also noticed that no one was actually taking pictures, I figured it was prohibited. As they say, "When in Rome...". These are the only photos I took, sorry.

the ticket


end of the show


Needless to say, being a frustrated drummer (and musician as a whole) I truly enjoyed the performance. I somewhat envy these guys being pretty damn good percussionists.

I want to go to war!

I miss gearing up. I miss the donning my BDU, blousing my pants and the feel of zipping up my boots. I miss wearing my boonie hat. I miss the feel of my head in a balaclava.

I miss brimming magazines full with ammo. I miss loading up my vest and hydration pack.

I miss slipping on that 3-point sling. I miss my M4 and my USPc. I miss the feel of the retractable on my cheeks. I miss the feel of the clicks on the selector switch. I miss the feel of full auto.

I miss crouching, kneeling and leaning against walls. I miss tactical maneuvers and squad movements. I miss cover fire. I miss saying "Go! Go! Go!".

I miss the words "Mask down, bitch!"

I miss war!

freshly baked

I just love the smell of freshly baked bread in the morning. You can just imagine that pan de sal still smoking hot, with the outside shell slightly crispy and the inside warm and moist.

You almost want to not bite on it too fast to savor the moment of your first bit, but that you know that perfect pan de sal won't last forever. So you take bite after bite, munching it down mumbling sounds of satisfaction.

I am not a bread person (I actually don't eat a bonafide breakfast), but the smell makes me think of what I have been missing every morning.

Military Organization

I have not been to war in the longest time, and JM suggested that buy some war books to keep me from going crazy. He also suggested learning military “strategy and shit” so that we can apply it when I go back home.

I am all for reading and learning more about military tactics and troop movements to improve my game, but I am a bit reluctant to taking on a leadership role with the troops. Mind you, I am not shying away from leading troops into battle and I highly value the leadership skills and traits that I may acquire during these exercises. It is just that I do not feel ready for the task as yet.

I’ve taken on the squad leader role when playing games like Close Combat series and Full Spectrum Warrior and I’ve gotten a lot of good soldiers killed or injured unnecessarily.

It was agreed upon by my squad mates that we would be rotating the commanding role in the field. This is a good way for exercising the necessary skills we all need as a leader and improve ourselves as an operator. But despite that arrangement, we have identified key positions that we would be “assigned” to, based on our personal disposition and interests.

Bernard will be our designated sniper.
JM will be the support/heavy gunner.
Verchie will be the assault rifleman.
That leaves me to be the squad leader (plus whatever firepower I can bring: rifleman or designated marskman).

Bernard is the loner type, JM just wants to “git some” and Verchie just assaults everything he sees, which leaves me as the "level-headed" guy coordinating all this firepower. Oh boy, I guess it’s time to read all the military doctrine I’ve stashed on my laptop.

Singapore Safari

We took an early day off last Friday to go to Singapore's Night Safari and put the stress levels down a bit from work. We hung out at one of the bars near the office and some of us had a few beers before heading out. There's nothing like a couple of free Corona's to start your early weekend.

Our group consisted of 5 people so we split into 2 groups, with me ending up with the project director. We had a good chat with regards to our history in the company goes, some of the current events happening and where the company will be going in the following years (and where we see ourselves in it as well).

We arrived a bit early for the night safari, bought our tickets and had a quick dinner (all
a part of company expenses mind you). Then off we went! There were a few "rules" set for the safari and these were:

1. No laser pointers or flashlights
2. No flash photography
3. Keep all extremities within the tram
4. Don't touch or feed the animals

I knew I was screwed when I heard the no flash photography rule. True enough, I had no good photographs of the animals we saw, which was a whole lot! Funny thing is you could see the animals quite well with the lights setup but I guess the lights were carefully chosen for human eyes while not interfering with the natural behavior of the animals. Imagine a full moon type effect. Therefore no picture evidence for me.

We saw elephants, tigers, lions, all kinds of birds, hippos, deer, all the things you see in Discovery Channel and more. Some of them where as close as a couple of meters away, while the big ones where around 20 or so meters, as close as you could get I suppose. There where also trails where the animals where just above you or a few feet in front of your face! Of course, you were highly discouraged from touching or feeding them.

Then we went to the "Creatures of the Night" show. It was great! We were all seated in an amphitheater and the showcased some wonderful animals. A barn owl flying overhead us barely made a sound! Some kind of a cat that was able to jump 10 feet into the air, and a whole bunch of furry little animals.

There was a whole bunch of walking during the night, and it made me wish that I brought along (and wore) my MARPAT pants! Hehehe. The place was huge! It was a real jungle, with streams, rolling terrain, trails, roads, and of course "wild" animals. I was already imagining myself patrolling the trails, watching out for enemy troops....

post script

Based on the comments on my previous 2 posts and various YM conversations, I believe I need to clarify certain points.

The first post was not intended to "fish" for compliments amongst my limited, yet avid readers. I simply wanted to share the fact that someone (who shall remain nameless to protect the integrity of the post and person involved) appreciates the words I have chosen to be written on my blog.

Although I admit that nowhere in the post do I acknowledge the praise bestowed upon me and my blog, it does not necessarily mean that it was not whole-heartedly felt and appreciated on my behalf. As a post note (but not an after thought), I would like to say "Thank you" to the aforementioned person. You know who you are and I do hope you know how I feel about your comment.

Now with regards to the second post... I am not gay. Nor do I have any inclinations to being gay. And I have nothing against our homosexual brothers (or sisters... whatever floats their boat hehehe). You may say that I am a bit more in touch with my feminine side that most guys, or that I appreciate what the opposite sex thinks or feels on some things. I just hope this "sometimes sensitive guy" approach gets me some hot chicks!!! hehehe

BDUs

Today, my officemates and I went to the mall beside our office for lunch. As we were walking towards the foodcourt we passed by some women's clothing shops. One of the model mannequins caught my eye and I distinctly had the following thoughts:

"That top looks nice, but I don't like the skirt at all.... jeans maybe". Coupled with imagining the combination mentioned.

No!!!! What the hell was that? I have no idea where that came from...

insights

I envy those who where able to write down what they wished to convey in such a short and eloquent manner. It seems to me that their words just flow naturally from their heads to the keyboard, I on the other hand take up a significant amount of space for my blog entry. I never considered myself as a good writer or a speaker, although I have shown some moments of genius hehehe.

I was chatting with an old friend of mine (whom I haven't seen in 7 years) and she mentioned she liked (or rather "enjoyed") reading the long entries in my blog. She was pleased to have the opportunity to read about the things happening in my life and in getting an insight to another side of me (the wardude side). And she was particularly impressed with how Icomposed
my entries, saying that it was how writers would put it.

That comment was a real heart-warmer, although I must admit that takes me a certain amount of time to compose my words hehehe. I still don't consider myself a good writer and I still envy those who make short, concise blog entries... but at least I know now that my blog entries are appreciated.

leave no man behind

When I came back from Pakistan, I kinda felt left behind on what was happening back home. It was probably because I didn't have time to get settled in with all the preparations for my next trip.

In any case, I am out of the country yet again and I fear I will fall behind even more. Mind you I was only away for a total of 2 months last time, and I won't be coming back until just before Christmas this time around.

"hello... is it me you're looking for?"

I've been using Hello to post my pictures in this here blog of mine. And apparently there are a group of people trying to promote the use of it. They even have their own website, and to my surprise someone posted a link to my blog! Check it out below.

http://www.spreadhello.com/2005/08/hello-snapshots.php

I feel honored :P

eye candy

I arrived here in Singapore yesterday for another assignment. Unfortunately it was raining a bit hard on the way to the apartment so I only got a glimpse of the beauty of this place (according to those who have been here previously). And spent the day settling down and having dinner.

Earlier, I had lunch with my officemates in the mall next to the office. I can say that I am looking forward to the next 3+ months I will be here. I was never attracted to the Chinese-looking women folk back home, but Singapore may change me in that regard. There are a whole lot of cute/hot/sexy women here! (I don't want to use the term "girls" as I might be mistaken for a pedophile)

From no chickababes in Pakistan to the entire chicken coop here in Singapore, you might say I am a bit wide eyed right now. I may need to come up with a new strategy in the next few days hehehe.

not leaving on a jet plane

I should be sleeping soundly at around 30,000 feet right now. Or playing around with the in-flight entertainment system or eating breakfast... I don't know, all I know is that I am still in Pakistan.

I will be taking care of this in a few minutes and hopefully get the next plane out of here.

SPL Forces

A little over a week ago, a received a surprising instant message from my boss. She asked if I would be ok to fly to Singapore by September 5. I did some quick computations and found out that I would be flying off to Singapore not one week upon my arrival from Pakistan!

After getting some quick information regarding the new assignment and giving it some thought, I said yes. Then it hit me... it's just like being in the Special Forces! (SF teams) I just realized some similaries between our company and the Special Forces. Naturally that put a big smile on my face.

Here's why:

1. Sheer Numbers
SF soldiers are highly specialized soldiers with the necessary skills and experience to be able to conduct various missions "downrange" (military term for being in the field). Recently our company has experienced a boom of sorts of projects from all over the globe, and are trying to allocate the proper personnel with the skills and experienced to be assigned to projects that require people on-site.

2. Maintain relationships
An SF soldier's job "downrange" is not just to provide support in terms of firepower, but also to aid in fostering the relationships with the locals and gain their support. And in the business world, this also holds true. Build a reputation of excellent customer service and your business will thrive on existing and numerous potential customers.

3. Mission variety
SF team missions vary from training governments to conducting military operations in enemy territory to peace time operations. As a software development company, our work also has a similar variety from product training to development to support.

4. Theaters
This one takes the cake in my opinion. During military operations (a war or conflict has arisen or even just during training exercises) the area of operations is termed as a "theater", with commanders controlling (or trying to) whatever happens in that area. Recently our company (well, at least in our office) has used the term to divide the areas of the globe in which we have clients. So we have the Americas theater, EMEA theater, and the APAC theater.

5. Location, location, location
SF soldiers have basically operated on all the continents of globe (except Antarctica) and to the most exotic places in the world. Over the past few years, our company has also sent people to a few locations around the world from various states in the US, Mexico, UK, Ireland, Holland, South Africa, Cyprus, Israel, Pakistan, Hong Kong, Singapore and Australia.

So, I will be back in home base in a couple of days, do some briefings and administrative things to sort out for a couple of days. Then gear up for the redeployment soon after.

chemical warfare

Whenever I get sick or feel that I am going to be, I take some paracetamol in the hopes of getting better but I still end up sick and aching for at least a couple of days before my body's defenses kick into overdrive and get me back to health.

A while ago I felt some pain on my tooth and was becoming more that a distraction, whenever I bite down or massage the area I would feel some pain. Luckily I had some Ponstan (mefanamic acid) with me, but I wasn't really hoping that the pain would subside given my usual experience. I took one as a force of habit or social inclination, I guess. So I forgot about it and went back to work.

Then just realized that the pain was gone even if I bit hard! It really worked!

live fire

I miss live fire exercises. I badly need one to relieve the stress I am accumulating these past few days.

Some pictures of previous live fire exercises I have attended (really long time ago):

me shooting the military issue 1911


VN M16


me and the girls


a few good men

last 100 meters

I am leaving Karachi in a few days time and I am being swamped with work.

In a perfect, normal world the developers here would create their programs and send it to me for review/approval. Of course during this process I would have to answer tons of questions and provide some level of support. However, all I ever did was answer questions and provide tips to developers. I only received a couple of programs to review as of yesterday.

And today they start flooding me with requests to review their work AND answer questions at the same time. Not that I don't wan't to help out but some of their questions are either absolutely ridiculous and makes you wonder how they became programmers, or have been answered previously... multiple times over, and asked the first time I was here.

Mind you I am leaving in a few days, and we have always been saying that my time here will only be a total of 2 months. Allan will be here for 30 days. Allan will be here until next week. Allan will be here until Sunday.

Now they start piling the work on me, talk about a bad case of cramming mentality.

to the fallen...

In any war or conflict, there will always be losses. Although painful and sad, it is a way of life and no amount of tears shall set it back. I know this may come a bit late, but it's nice to remember our friend once in a while.

To all the friends, family and loved ones of Abs I hope you find this poem as comforting as I did.

Ascension

And if I go,
while you're still here...
Know that I live on,
vibrating to a different measure
--behind a thin veil you cannot see through.
You will not see me,
so you must have faith.
I wait for the time when we can soar together again,
--both aware of each other.
Until then, live your life to its fullest.
And when you need me,
Just whisper my name in your heart,
...I will be there.

Used with author's permission

© 1987 Colleen Corah Hitchcock, P. O. Box 390082, Edina, MN 55439

E-mail: missnovel@aol.com Website: www.colleenhitchcock.com

war stories

I just read Verchie's entry regarding the construction of his house and coincidentally I planned to share a war story I heard a couple of nights ago.

As having a client which both a public utility company and is owned by the government, some security measures are to be expected. Now it follows that the security chief would have had military experience to be appointed/chosen for the job, and I believe the main security guy is a retired brigadier general of the Pakistan Army. Naturally guys like this have tons of war stories, one of which was shared to an officemate of mine and subsequently related to me so some of the details of this story may be off by a bit.

In any case, a soldier (don't know his rank) went to his commander (I'm not sure if it was the brigadier or his subordinate) for a few days leave for some reason or other. However, this particular soldier's leave entitlement has been used up completely and the commander couldn't just give him time off. The soldier pleaded, but the commander was adamant in his decision. Seeing to end the conversation, the commander said to the soldier "OK, if you get me an Indian tank... I will give you your leave", knowing fully well that the soldier would be hard pressed to get an enemy tank.

After a few weeks, before the requested date of leave this particular soldier came driving down the road on an Indian tank! Shocked, his commander could do nothing but approve his leave.

Still in disbelief, the commander asked how in the world did the soldier get the Indian tank. The answer... he traded for it!

reload

I had a quick thought of renaming my blog to "The Friction Circle". If you do a google search you might understand what a "friction circle" is.

I first came upon this concept while I was into racing (well, I am still into it), especially karting. And during the times I wanted to start a blog, I wanted to use this title. It is a good concept on its own, can be applied psychologically and sounds cool hehehe.

Anyway, I decided against it as I am not a "racerdude" (as much as I wanted to be) but a "wardude"... through and through.

into the eyes of the beholder

We had a senior manager of my company visiting for a couple of days here on site and invited us to dinner with the IT and project manager of our client. Before proceeding to dinner he wanted to do some shopping for his kids and wife, and as all westerners do when they go to a third world country (I suppose) is to buy some pirated CDs (I think it should be paraphrased as low-cost alternative CDs to be politically correct). Needless to say is that he got a whole bunch of music CDs, DVDs and some software CDs (I couldn't resist getting a couple hehehe).

The area we went to was pretty nice. Nice in the sense that it was "local", not the commercialized malls we city-folk are used to, but more of a bazaar type of thing. A whole lot of traffic buzzing around: people, cars, bikes, buses, and I don't remember seeing a donkey though. The streets were loittered with people selling all kinds of stuff: food, clothes, bags, rugs, scarves, the whole nine yards. Kinda reminds me of the old Divisoria back home.

With all these people going about their business I noticed one girl as we walked towards the CD shop area. It's weird since she was wearing one of those traditional black Arab dresses where you can only see their eyes and I have seen a whole lot of women wearing this. But I was really caught by her eyes, although I only looked into them for at most a couple of seconds. It was beautiful!

I don't know why, maybe because she had on some eyeliner that accented her eyes wonderfully or that by looking just at that area of her face you tend to notice the elegance of flow from the eyes to the bridge of the nose and the cheekbone barely showing from the edge of the cover of her face.

I was two feet away, and could have extended my hand and say "Hi, I'm Allan. Why deprive everyone the sight of your face yet tease them with your eyes?".

That is, assuming she really is beaufiful... hahaha!

this or that

Choices:

1. Upgrade the hell out of my M4
2. Buy a new M4
3. Buy an M14
4. Buy both the TM and G&G M14
5. Buy new war gear
6. Buy tools
7. Buy my dad's car
8. Buy a new car
9. Buy an old car
10. Buy a big bike!
11. Buy a house/condo
12. Get my room "refurbished"
13. Maintain status quo

sisig rice

Last night I had the sudden craving for sisig rice. Especially City Jam's sisig rice.

Unfortunately the owners of City Jam closed it's doors (indefinitely) to pursue greener pastures. The good news is that the owner is a good friend of mine and that they will still be preparing the same food, although for a different market.

Maybe I can get an order from him one of these days... after 14 days that is.

man down!

I initially planned to do the running program of JM during my one month assignment. However, I decided a few nights ago not to push myself to do it and postpone. It's not that I'm too lazy to get up and do a few laps, I just don't want to injure myself.

I've had a bad knee since graduating college, and I just don't want it to get worse. I had it looked at around a year ago and did a couple of weeks of rehab (not that kind of rehab!) but it's still bothering me until now. I have been pretty bad to my knee in terms of taking care of it: climbing mountains, playing basketball, going to war, etc.

I'm not using this as an excuse though, I'm highly motivated to get into tip-top shape. I have to get some professional help with this bum knee though. It will just have to wait until I get back or figure out a way for me not to turn into a lazy blob until then.

happy blog

JM mentioned in his blog that I have "a completely happy blog". That made me think, do I really have a happy blog? And does that reflect on my current state of being or my life during the blogging period?

It looks like I have a happy blog. Even when I post some of the shitty things that happens, it doesn't seem to look like a rant (I think hehehe). And that it doesn't affect me too much and I just try to deal with it. I guess I'm just that kind of person.

So is this a happy blog? I would say more of a "psychologically positive inclined" blog.

forever!!!!

Some idiot spammer posted a couple of comments in one of my previous entries so I decided to delete them. I was a bit pissed off, as they didn't seem to have the proper respect for people's blog. The fact that a "bot" could have posted the comments was more displeasing.

Anyway, www.blogspot.com has a pretty neat deletion process. A confirmation screen comes up and there is an option to "Delete comment forever". Hehehehe.... sounds to me like "Yeah bitch! In your face... delete forever!!!" hehehe

Sorry about that... just venting :P

I got it bad

I was just browsing through some of my friends' blogs and I had to double-take on what I think I read.

Instead of seeing "View my complete profile"... I read is as "View my combat profile"!!!

Damn!

unintentional

If you check my photo gallery as posted previously, you will notice that I currently have 2 albums set up. As I was checking it I noticed that the identifying photos show pictures of booze! Hahaha, I swear I didn't make it like that. I just put a whole bunch of pictures and it just turned out the way it is!

I dunno if it means anything.. hehehe

booze!

upload galore

As I was browsing the net and reading through some of the forums I frequent, I discovered a great website. Check out www.putfile.com or www.putphoto.com.

I've been looking for a free photo web hosting site that could hold a whole bunch of my pictures, which are more often than not more than 500kb in size. Yahoo photos worked for a while but the quality of the pictures are somewhat compromised. And you only have 30MB of space, so what happens is that you "rotate" the pictures/albums you may be able to post.

I wanted something more like an internet hard drive. I know the web real estate is expensive and I am not willing to spend however a small amount just to post my pictures. My photos are not of studio or print quality, their just for friends and personal use.

The website is pretty nifty. No limit on the size or number of photos, no limit on the bandwidth, its free, and you can upload photos in a number of ways. Via the website or via Windows XP's web publishing wizard. Pretty cool!

Check out my albums -> www.putphoto.com/vistan

a time for peace

I almost forgot to post this, but better late than never.

The last weekend before I left for Karachi (again), the troops and I went to war in Kapitolyo (as per my and JM's previous post). Everyone was there, except for one guy. Verchie.

We were wondering why he wasn't warring with us. This guy previously had the objective of going to war at least 3 days a week! War freak? Hell yeah! Even back in college, "the war" in him would surface from time to time. Sometimes it scared us a bit, but we got used to it after a fashion. Man, you should see this guy shooting the real deal! Scary little mother.

His reason, he was in peace mode. What the shit? Peace Mode? This coming from the war freakiest guy I know? A guy who is ready to go to battle without his primary weapon... even his secondary weapon! Hell no! Something's wrong...

And I think its a girl. Although he mentioned something to the effect of "War before chicks" or that the girl he's going to be with has to accept that war is a part of him and in no way is it going to be compromised. JM had the same problem too (sorry man, this will be the last thing written about that subject). And knowing Verchie, he just might as well succumb to defection. Peace mode my ass...

Psych warfare is a scary thing.

keep moving!

JM and Verchie are currently involved in a “running” program, and according to their blogs, seem to be benefiting from it. I’ve been planning to get back into shape once my stint here in Karachi is over, and my one-month stay here is a perfect fit for the running regiment I got from JM.

I figured this month could be a staging period for when I get back home and do some real fitness workouts. Besides, it beats doing nothing and literally being a couch potato. So I gave it a shot last Friday.

I accompanied the cook to the gate, who was leaving for home after serving me a great dinner, deciding to run in the compound’s cricket field. En route, we were followed by one of the guards so I wondered what his reaction would be when I started running off. In any case, I set my timer to 15 minutes and began my run.

It turned out that my guard was a wuss… hehehe, just kidding.

I started out pretty well. 15 minutes? No problem! After a while I started sweating and feeling the burn, then I saw my timer and I was just 5 minutes into my run! I started thinking that I may not last the distance, but I set the though aside and kept running. My pace started to slow down a bit, partly a tactical decision and due to fatigue. Halfway through, I kept a monotonous thought of just doing it. Just keep on running.

5 minutes left and I was getting really tired. I even starting thinking if I would make it back home. Now, I don’t know if it was the fatigue or the sandy surface I was running on or the fact that I was in Pakistan (which is near Iran AND Afghanistan for those who don’t know) when the soldier in me kicked in.

I imagined that I had to keep going, as a part of life or death. Stop and the enemies get you… mission over. Failure was not an option at this point. So I didn’t and I finished my 15 minute run without stopping or walking. 4 more weeks….

an ode to war

Sorry.

As much as I wanted to post something more than war, I am posting war related stuff today. I had some things in my mind the last few days worth blogging but I didn't have free time until today.

I just met up with Dale at his office and got the book he bought for me. It was Tom Clancy's Guide to the Special Forces. Coolness! With the Warrific Day last Sunday. It seems that my warring mode is going to be in full swing for the next few days (weeks? months? hehehe).

Anyhoo, I also got word from JM that my gun is misfeeding. Darnits! Again! That bitch is giving me a whole lot of headache for no kills yet (I think)! It was misfeeding on me once last Sunday but was remedied by a couple of sprays of silicone oil. I hope more silicone spray will settle her. Maybe she'll telling me to upgrade her and get more "fips". I'm already counting the costs....

no war weekend

Due to the recent SONA by President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo I unsurprisingly had a very long weekend. And I mean a long one... 5 days of doing nothing. Well not actually, here's a recap of what I did for the last 5 days.

Thursday - Had a meeting with the SBC boys in Megamall. After, Benny had some "diego" things to attend to while Verchie went to another meeting. Then JM and I proceeded to ACE hardware to buy some silicone spray for gun maintenance purposes. They had none though, but at least I ended up buying a pair of long nose pliers.

Then we went on to Airsoft Warehouse to check some items out. I bought the under grip rail, vertical foregrip and fan for my constantly fogging goggles.

JM and I proceeded to go to Shopwise in Libis to see if they had anymore silicone spray left (JM bought his there). Unfortunately it seems that they were out of stock. So JM decided to just lend his can to me for the day, so we went off to this place to get it and grab some grub. Verchie dropped by with more war stuff. To say the least there where 3 war guys with war stuff in the war house... you do the math.

We ended the day with a couple of hours of Battlefield 2 in Blueskies.

Friday - Checked my office email at home to get a whole bunch of SPAM mail from my officemates. Proceeded to Katipunan to meet the war boys for another round of Battlefield 2. Wanted to go out to a party but had to pack for the trip to the beach the next day.

Got home at around 10, packed my bag and went to bed.

Saturday - Woke up at 5:30 am to head off to Fort Bonifacio to meet up with the troops heading to Batangas. We were supposed to meet up at Starbucks at the Fort, however it was closed 'til 7:30 am. So I waited for them to arrive at the nearby gasoline station. I should have stayed in bed a bit longer as they where all late, considering either they had a car or lived nearby.

Anyway, off we went to the beach. We stopped by Petron SLEX to grab breakfast at McDo and buy the necessary essentials. Unfortunately they don't sell alcoholic beverages since it was along the highway (safety and all that shit), so we just bought some foodstuff for pulutan. Luckily we chanced upon a sari-sari store somewhere in Batangas and got hold of some Tanduay rhum and some softdrinks for our mixed drinks.

We arrived at the beach resort with no hassle and proceeded to our hut, and our first though was to get the booze out and get things flowing. Then we found out 2 things we forgot, actually 3.
1. We did not have ice.
2. We did not have platic cups.
3. We did not bring playing cards.

Funny thing is, all the time we were planning this outing we were only concerned with what to drink and our pulutan. Nobody bothered with the "little" things. The joke was "basta may alak masaya na".

the booze


In any case, we were pretty much "happy" at around 5pm. We were so wasted we had a hard time keeping the score on our poker game. The solution was to use Nagaraya nuts as "chips" and to keep on "checking" when someone goes "all-in".

poker "chips"... more like nuts


Sunday - I basically slept through the morning, had breakfast and massage. Then the trip back to Manila. Did some shopping for items in a hardware shop (of course, related to gunsmithing).

Monday - Went out for a movie with my officemates. Also had sisig at Aysee's, which was a long time since the first and last time I ate there. One of the best sisig ever!

something new

Recently I have been tempted to write other that war related stuff on my blog. Although the title and theme of my blog is of the warfighting culture I do have other things on my mind.

I've seen and read some blogs with pretty wonderful insights on life and I envy those guys for having the time and ability to write such entries. Sometimes warstuff can get a bit monotonous, but this does not mean I will be shying away from it. On the contrary, a bit of a break will do me some good.

Anyway, this isn't one of those insightful blog entries. Maybe just a prelude? When I get the time to ponder and write something meaningful I will get it posted ASAP.

AAR - Semper Fi game

I went to get "Michelle" from the gunsmith and we were able to put her back together. We finished at around 8:40pm and I was a bit embarrassed as her wife was in the shop waiting for us to finish.

I went home and packed my gear, getting psyched up for the trip to Pampanga. After packing, I tried to do a "McGyver" on my red dot. This was somewhat a complete waste of time and effort, with me ending up with tying the loose connection with a strip of leather. I need to take my time with this one and wrack my brain for some creative ways to get this fixed.

As I took a quick check of my M4, I noticed that the butt stock was not aligned. Again, some "McGyver" work and it was all ok.

The gamesite was great! All jungle terrain! I was really looking forward to getting into the thick of things here.

a walkthrough of the gamesite 


All I can say is that "war is hell". My goggles really fogged up during most of the day and I couldn't see shit. At one point the enemy camp was around 20 meters away, and I thought it was around 40! And one of the dual thermal lenses of the goggles was peeling what I would think to be the anti-fog sheet.

I also noticed that my gun was misfeeding somehow. It seems my work on the stock wasn't too effective, although I think I fixed it last night.

Overall, I am still not battle ready. I'm hoping to get my stint in Pakistan over soon so I can concentrate on getting things set here.

out of commission

The entire team went to one of the shops in Ortigas to attend some gunsmithing lessons to learn how to maintain our guns and do some basic repairs/upgrades. Everything went well as we were able to open up Verchie's MP5 and reassembled without a hitch.

After a couple of hours break (the master gunsmith had a meeting) we went ahead and dissasembled "Michelle". Even before turning the first screw I already had a bad feeling of what I might discover. I was only worried about the semi auto not firing and maybe the motor height not being set properly.

True enough, the motor's pinion gear was almost stripped and the cut-off lever (for semi auto firing) needs replacement. But then we noticed that the switch assembly was broken and the wires were showing signs of being chaffed. So that would need replacement too.

While inspecting the gearbox, Uncle Jimmy (the gunsmith) noticed that there where some scratches on the gearbox made by the motor. Further inspection showed that this was due to the pistol grip/motor assembly not being seated properly on the gearbox. He needs to dremel and file down the gearbox some to get a good fit.

To sum it up, here are the things that need immediate attention:
1. New switch assembly
2. New cut-off lever
3. Modifications to the gearbox

Now, I don't know if all this work will be done in time for the great Pampanga game this Saturday with Semper Fi. Luckily Sir Art (of Apocalypse) was willing to lend me a gun for the game if "Michelle" won't make it in time.

Add the fact that "Irene" is starting to show signs of having a cracked slide and the red dot scope not battle ready it was starting to be a shitty time for waging war. And oh, did I mention that funds are particularly running low at this point in time?

The bright side of this however gives me a bit of hope in the near future. These are as follows:
1. I now have the basic skills for maintenance and better working knowledge of AEG parts interactions.

2. The gun was consistently shooting 340 FPS before we opened it. So despite have the small nuances above, I might be able to upgrade it to shoot in the 450s. Great potential for the gun.

3. The shop offered to send the original gearbox to G&G to get replaced with the new one. Even though I didn't buy the gun from them.

Hopefully soon everything will be at peak performance.

funds allocation

I just came from the ATM, and I just found out that I am a bit low on funds. I though I had a substantial amount stowed, however I forgot that I made some bill payments a few days ago.

I already broke into my per diem stash to help pay for my life insurance policy. I planned to pay it through the counter at the bank but I got lost in whatever information that needs to be included. So I called my agent and asked her if someone can just come to the office and pick it up. Convenient don't you think? hehehe

So now I have cash on hand, but I can't touch it as it's reserved for the life insurance payment. I'm left with a check from Dale to be deposited maybe tomorrow? To be withdrawn the next day to get new war stuff hahaha!

Plus in the next few days, I will be going out for some social activities and definitely will need cash for the "unexpected" expenses that will arise.

Oh man, my per diem money is slowly being drained!

supply acquisitions

I am at a crossroads.

I have finally found a shop selling 2 items on my wishlist. The Maxpedition Thermite Versipack and the Surefire G2 Nitrolon (Black), both are selling at a lower price (apparently the shop itself is having an inventory sale).

Now, normally the notions of having an "inventory sale" means dropping the prices down and customers will flock to your shop. Despite the "sale" the prices of these products are still above what I expected, 3.4K for the Versipack and 2.4K for the G2 Nitrolon . That's 5.8K for 2 items! A bit more expensive than my newly acquired pistol!

I have just done some research and the price of the G2 Nitrolon locally was 2.5K - 2.7K back in April (the G2 Nitrolon retails for $34 abroad). So I guess the price quoted was pretty ok, given the price increases of late.

Now, I wasn't able to find out how much the Versipack goes locally but it retails at around $45 abroad. That translates to around 2.5K in the local currency, 900 pesos more that its MSRP. You may be able to justify that for the importation and inventory costs of the seller plus his cut and convince me to buy it. But further research shows that there is a locally made Versipack imitation that sells for 2K only. And that is made of Cordura, which makes it highly durable for rugged use.

For 1.5K difference, would you buy it? I am still unsure of the quality of the local version as the pictures kinda suck and from the uninspiring pictures, it doesn't seem to be a good copy. To my specifications that is.

The main argument here is that "you get what you pay for". I have been a victim of this and I definitely don't want to get screwed again. The Surefire is 90% sold. These things are rock solid and definitely worth the money (as compared to those cheapo flashlights everywhere). The Versipack vs the copy is the tough one.

Oh well, I guess I'll just have to drop by the store to take a good look at it.

I definitely have to break the bank now and dip in to my cash reserves... hehehe.

"all units... Irene... I say again, Irene"

meet "Irene" 


with the extra mag 


holding "Irene" 

the gods for war smile upon me

If you notice, I have now striked out 3 items in my war wishlist.

It hasn't been 2 weeks since I came back and it seems that war has been the overall theme during this period.

My last wargame's result was a probable kill and some great moves attacking and outflanking the enemy. I almost lost my brand new 190 round mag, but I was luckily able to find it after the game despite the thick foliage.

I will take pictures of the items I received soon. Wargames and new war stuff... what more can a guy ask for?

leaving and staying

I just called the Pakistan embassy today, and they have just put my visa under a pending status. Apparently they require 2 more documents related to the NBI clearance. I only submitted a copy of the DFA authentication, and they need the Malacañang authentication and the copy of the NBI clearance.

From my recollection I failed to copy both. Hopefully I can find the personal copy of my NBI clearance and the Malacañang authentication, although I am unsure if I still have this or submitted it the last time around.

I will have to go back tomorrow and present whatever documents I have or ask if they could bring up my previous application documents. If this fails I may have to get a new NBI clearance and get that validated. This will set my trip back to Pakistan by 2 weeks (I would imagine).

I'm not sure as to how this will reflect personally on me though. As much as I would like to stay here, I would like to get back to Pakistan and get this assignment over with.

addicted to war

Due to my international assignment last month, I missed out on 4 weeks without war. Ironic I know, me in Pakistan for 4 weeks without getting a taste of war. It's not just not being able to play, but also being far apart from my war gear.

You might think of it as weird, but it's true. Day in, day out... all I think of is war and worrying about "Michelle" (my M4A1), thinking about the accessories and gear that I want/need. Notice the new addition of the Wishlist section in my blog? All war stuff hehehe.

I was counting the days I get back home so that I can play wargames. I wasn't in Manila for 24 hours I was with my war buddies holding my gun in my arms and talking about airsoft stuff. We even had a few hours of playing network games (Battlefield 2 rocks!). I was truly home.

A few days later, I took time off work to go to an airsoft shop (see my previous post). Plus a few more hours of network gaming the night before the big game at Masada.

On the way to Masada last Sunday, I was held up by an accident along the way. I was pissed! I was already late and it seemed that it would take me forever to get to the gamesite. I almost came to the point of swearing and shouting at the guys for their stupidity and holding the flow of traffic up.

Finally I got to the gamesite and my first taste of war in what seemed like forever...

The way guys shop...

My Sunday afternoons are usually reserved for wargames and this weekend was no exception. But it ended up to be a pretty jampacked day.

The night before, my dad asked me to drive him to the mall so that he could buy himself an iPod. Apparantly there was a promo for a free iTrip for every purchase of a 20Gb iPod. So there we were looking for a shop that still had the iPod and the iTrip in stock. After buying the iPod, he was a bit set on buying an iPod dock. We saw a JBL dock in the same store, but were not able to listen to it, as they had some issues putting music on our iPod.

While having lunch, he was still itching about getting a dock for his iPod and we ended up talking about the Bose SoundDock. We decided to take a look at it after lunch. So off we went, and luckily there was a sample SoundDock playing in the store and we were able to listen to it as soon as we entered. The sound quality was great but we were still unsure about getting it right then and there, so the salesman (perhaps as part of his sales routine) invited us to listen to the home theater set-up. This we did while still thinking about that SoundDock. Well, to cut things short we were trully impressed by the sound quality of the HTS and the technology we will be buying that my dad just said "I'm convinced, I'll get that SoundDock".

Simple and pretty straight forward. He had the money. He basically new what he wanted, did some research from the available sources he had, went to the store and bought the damned thing.

My mom on the other hand (who also bought a new phone) went to the store I think 3 times during the time we were looking for the iPod. My dad and I even had to wait for 10 minutes in a restaurant before she bought her phone. Hehehe

I am a happy man

Yup. Well, sort of.

I took a few hours from work and went to Ortigas with a friend to buy a couple of things... one each. I have now update my wishlist and scratched another one off the list. Life is good.

Before I left for Pakistan, it was out of commission given that my original hi-cap mag got busted and needed replacement or some McGyver skills. I asked Bernard, who was taking care of my gun, to get me either a 190 round mag, cantilever mount, top and bottom rails, or a vertical foregrip.

He bought a brand new hi-cap mag (450 rounds) and a cantilever mount for my red dot. Plus I have just recently fixed my original hi-cap, giving me a total of 3 mags. Enough firepower for me.

I've always wanted that 190 rounder mag for my M4 and I can't wait to try it out. But alas, my gun is still with Bernard (or Verchie) and still needs some work with the battery. It also had to have a tappet plate replace but overall it's all good. I just hope my new mag works well with my gun.

musical tag

Ok another tag, must've been karma... oh well here goes

Total volume of music files on my computer
Organized: 8.42 Gb, Unorganized: 2.53 Gb

The last CD I bought
Now this is tough... I think "What's the Story (Morning Glory)" by Oasis. I think hehehe

Song playing right now
Bob Marley - Redemption Song

Five songs I listen to a lot, or that mean a lot to me
Uhhh... no song in particular? Seriously, a good song is a good song. Not one has a "place in my heart". My player is set on random so I don't really have a favorite.

I will tag 5 people next time. I have to go to work now

comment out

Ever since I started blogging, I've noticed that there have been few comments on any of my posts. And I mean REALLY few. It feels as if nobody is reading it or that the entries are just unworthy for commenting.

Well, Vianney just placed a comment on my previous entry and as I read it I noticed a note that said that my blog will only allow blogspot members to add comments. So I immediately modified the settings to allow my non-blogspot friends to add a comment.

As I was going through some of my friend's blog, I saw JM's entry about this issue. Dude, sorry for all the hassle you had to put up with for a simple comment.

Everything's set now, so comment away!

bomb scare

It was a regular Wednesday and I had just started eating my lunch when the fire alarm went off. There was no panic with the few people in our area so I figured it to be a false alarm or something.

Then some of the security personnel stared ushering us downstairs. Given the languange difference, I didn't know what was happening so I casually went down the 6 flights to the lobby. Everyone in the compound where then moved outside the gates and into the streets. Normally my officemates would have around 6-7 armed guards and 2 security officers with us wherever we went, but they weren't around this time. We were even joking that this was our chance to go around Karachi by ourselves.

confused people


After some confused moments, we started hearing that someone had tipped the office administration that there was a bomb inside. Cool... my first personal encounter with such issues. Surprisingly, no one panicked. And I mean there wasn't a hint of panic or concern in the air. People were just standing around, trying to get out of the hot Pakistani sun.

cops arrive


Ambulances, the police and a fire truck arrived on the scene within 10 mins of the evacuation of the building to get things in order. At this point I was thinking, where the hell are our security? I would imagine this type of event to be a reason why we have such arrangements, but they where nowhere to be found. I was somewhat dissapointed at that, but I though maybe they were deploying the Quick Reaction Force to guard us VIPs. They would've been there in a few minutes.

But, alas the QRF didn't arrive either. So I might just have to fend for myself then... even better. This could've been my chance to practice my tactical and survival skills.

damage control


No chance for that though, we spent 2 and a half hours standing off the road under the sun. Officials where clearing the building floor by floor and when they cleared to about the 4th floor (out of 10) they took a calculated risk of sending the women into the lobby. The rationale was that it was too hot outside and they where standing out on the street. Go figure...

When our floor was cleared (5th) we were given permission to go up the stairs despite the building not being 100% clear. I decided to go in for two reasons: 1) it was going to be exciting if they found a bomb (or if it exploded) and we were now inside and 2) it was hot outside and I was tired of standing around for 2 hours doing nothing.

It ended up to be a false alarm though... SNAFU

"tagged"

So I just learned a new concept in the world of blogs... being tagged. Similar to slumbook entries and such. And since I don't have anything much to do... might as well try it out.

By the way this comes from Iam's entry

Things you enjoy, even when no one around you wants to go out and play. What lowers your stress/blood pressure/anxiety level? Make a list, post it on your journal... and then tag 5 friends and ask them to post it to theirs.

1. Go to the gym - although I need to go more often, take the stress of my mind and transferring it to my body seems to do me well

2. Watch TV - watch anything... it's not referred to the "boob-tube" for nothing

3. Bring out my war stuff - organizing my war gear and simply holding my AEG does wonders for me... until I start dreaming of all the other stuff that I need/want to buy hehehe

4. War! - ever felt like shooting someone? Then by all means! Using airsoft of course. Play the Sunday afternoon away (and/or Saturday if you're up to it). Great way to release the tension and stress

5. Surf the net - only applies when I am in the office (I rarely touch my PC at home) and stressed from work. http://f1.racing-live.com/en; http://www.f1clubphilippines.com; http://www.filairsoft.com; http://www.sparrowunit.com and http://www.teamapocalypse.tk are some of the more frequent sites I go to

6. Listen to music - Winamp is always on when I'm working...

7. Sit on a sofa - or anything comfortable, preferrably with my feet up. Chill out, that's it... plain and simple

8. Sleep - chill out to the extreme hehehe

9. Coffee or tea - on the other side of chill out extreme, coffee or tea with friends frees your mind from the drudgery of work or what-not

10. Walk - roam around the office, go down to the lobby anything... just to leave the worries behind for a while and start afresh

11. Go for a drive - I love to drive, anything to do with cars and/or speed. Cruise or race around to wherever is ok for me

Time to tag....

yeng, dale, david, ate socs, jeng

untitled

I had nothing to do in the past few minutes... so I decided to surf the net and check out some of the profiles of my friends in Friendster.

Somehow, passing one particular profile, I had a weird feeling. Weird, funny, sad (?) feeling... that made me want a smoke. Not that I am a smoker, it just felt that way... maybe to dwell on what I felt. Or rub it off just like you would rub your face when feeling stressed.

The successive sentimental/slow songs may have something to do with what I felt. I dunno.

Well, unfortunately I don't have a lighter (I have some cigarettes, don't ask why) and I'm not sure if there is a smoking area in the area. So I decided to write this blog entry...

non sequitur

A couple of days ago, the IT general manager of our client (Sui Southern Gas Company) invited us for dinner at his place. Great! At least I will be able to go out of our house for a few hours.

I had a great idea of wearing the Pakistani traditional suit called the shalwar suit. It kinda looks like an oversized formal pajama hehehe. I figured I was going to a Pakistani dinner in a Pakistani house, so naturally I would dress as a Pakistani. And my officemate (a woman mind you) would also be wearing a Pakistani 'dress'.

So off we went to the IT GM's place. Man, how the scenery changed.

The usual picture when thinking about Pakistan would be square-ish, 4-floor, earth colored buildings in a hot and dry enviromnent. Think Somalia in the movie Black Hawk Down. Think of the Afghanistan cities on CNN. You're not far off the truth. But the IT GM's house was located in a posh area of Karachi. Kinda reminds me of the private subdivisions in Alabang or Better Living. The architecture is different mind you… houses are still square-ish, couple of floors high, and still earth colored but they have the ‘rich’ look to them.

As we entered his house, you could definitely feel that a Pakistani outfit stood out like a cactus in the middle of the desert. Posh leather seats, air conditioning, carpets, fine wooden tables the works. The lady of the house even though I was a Pakistani… okay…

I still wasn’t sure if we were the only visitors as we sat in the receiving area of their house practically staring at our hands. There were some awkward moments as the IT GM wasn’t really making an effort to entertain his guests. Well at least his wife was a bit more accommodating.

4 more guests from the SSGC office arrived. All of them wearing smart casual clothes… and I mean European styled clothes. I felt like I was the driver or the house help with the way I was dressed. What a good way to make an impression.

A foreigner in Pakistani clothes, attending a Pakistani dinner with Pakistanis in ‘foreign’ clothes. Go figure.

Well at least the food was good.

I am here