This article made my Atenean side quite happy.

Got this for myself when I was walking around Luzern. I know it’s not something native to Luzern but I’ve been meaning to buy me one of these but it costs quite expensive in the Philippines so I figured it’s better if I just bought it here. Now my hair smells like coconut.  

Last work day here in Switzerland. Tomorrow, I’ll be going to Lucerne with a colleague of mine and do some sight-seeing before we fly. I sure hope I get to nab a good amount of souvenirs there. I’m also looking forward to that lion monument that commemorates the courage of the Swiss guard during Louis XVI’s time.

I’m not sure what the picture above is. I don’t know if it’s a library or a rathaus. All I know is you don’t see that stuff at home.

Next stop: Wessling, Germany.

Another title for this post was supposed to be, I See Gondor…

Nope, I won’t be staying here for long and no I’m not moving to Europe. I’m just here for three months to do some training for a new project I’m involved in.

Ok, first things I noticed in Switzerland:

1. the weather’s really nice but I think that’s mainly because we’re here during the summer although I’d like to assume that the weather’s generally nice in this country
2. the railway and bus stations are soooooooooooooo organized that they follow exact times every day all year long
3. people generally can’t speak English, their main languages here are Swiss-German, French and Italian
4. it’s not humid
5. the sun disappears at around 9 to 9:30pm and at 7pm, the sun’s still up like it was mid-afternoon in the Philippines
6. everything is so expensive

Been to a couple of places since me and my colleague got here. We went up the Rigi the first day we got to Switzerland with all the jetlag and vertigo. The view is magnificent. The picture above shows what it looks like from the top of the Rigi. Makes you want to sing “Sound of Music” eh? We went to Zug for a nice dinner along the lakeside and also a nice walk around the small city. I had penne with chicken curry. Around Baar, I also went to eat at a small pasta place that served me a very large plate of Matriciana which was basically half pasta, half bacon. It was REALLY good and I stuffed myself full with it. We also went to Zurich and walked around the city, looking for watches and other stuff before we settled down at a Swiss version of the Spaghetti Factory. I had Alla Bolognese and a glass of beer. It was a splendid dinner.

Today, we’re basically meeting some people at the office to get to know more about the workflow processes in the office which would help us in getting to know more about our project. It’s a rather slow day today. A lot slower than the past three days which were mostly day-long meetings.

I haven’t been able to write much about Gundams and other model kits and whatnot since I’ve been quite busy with all these business meetings and before that were the preparations for this trip which wasn’t exactly a walk in the park. So yeah, I do hope eventually, I’d be able to start writing about this again.

As of now, I’m missing Chil a lot. I’m missing my home a lot. This is quite an experience but I envy the other people involved in this project who are finally home or are on their way home.

I simply miss you, bee…

I had a lot of fun during this weekend forest getaway. Got several scratches and wounds, sore limbs and a slightly aching head because of the booze but all in all, it was an excellent teambuilding experience. Kudos to Richard Creencia and his crew for really duking it out with the schedule and the budget so that we could have such a wonderful experience at Forest Club. Click the image above for the photo set.

I’ve been wanting to own one ever since I saw someone wearing it outside. And yes, I wanted this color. So whenever I’m passing by a Crocs store either in TriNoma, Promenade or in Rustan’s in Shangri-La Mall, I’d always keep an eye out for size 8-9 (L) turquoise Crocs…and then the turquoise crocs started disappearing… >:E

I ended up craning my neck at every store every time, wishing that there’d be a pair of turquoise crocs hanging there for my taking but the only turquoise crocs I could see were those for the kids. I don’t need crocs for my toes! I need them for my footsies~! Of course, Chil would always say, aw don’t worry baby, we’ll get you a pair soon. And I’d just nod and walk away from the store, head bent down and my heart in pieces.

So you can just imagine my glee when I got to the office this morning:

Yeap, my beloved fiancee got me a pair. She hopes I like it. I love it! Although I love her more. ^_^

Now, see those teensie little flags on the side? They’re called Jibbitz. They’re these little button-sized rubber badges that you place on the holes of your Crocs (for those who wear Endeavor Crocs, eat yer heart out). I’d love to get one of each of those Jibbitz to put on my Crocs because those are the countries that I’ve visited or will be visiting soon. Of course, the Filipino flag has to be there.

Thanks, bee! We’ll get your Primas soon~!

Not a lot of people are familiar with this particular character from the Hundred Acre Wood. I’m not surprised though since Lumpy is just a recent addition to Pooh Bear’s group of friends. Lumpy is a Heffalump and in the Heffalump movie, this particular heffalump has a British accent. Chil and I got a plush toy of Lumpy, made him a girl and renamed her Heffy. And here, you can see Heffy toying around with a Gundam (poor ZZ Gundam) and showing off her custom-made suit. For other people, it may seem childish but I’ve always found it interesting and at the same time extremely cute to be able to share an imaginary friend with your special someone (like in the webcomic Count Your Sheep). What’s a bit creepy was that Chil and I were Lumpy fans even before we got to watch the movie and how we portrayed Heffy in our imagination was quite close to how Lumpy was in the movie. What’s also nice about this particular plush toy is that its eyes and body look so animated. One time, you’d catch it looking up at you with googly eyes and with its head tilted to the side, asking for a cookie and you’d end up going awwww and wish you could feed it one.

Have you ever shared an imaginary friend with your lifelong partner? Sibling? Parent? Best friend?

It’s darnedly frustrating for me right now that my home PC’s CD drive isn’t working so I’m unable to install the EOS Utility from the CD that came with my camera. Therefore I’m unable to download the pictures I’ve taken with my DSLR… Blargh. I’ve been searching here and there for an online download of the said utility but all I see are updaters… Argleblarghlsmarghabwaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa~! 

…with you. I love you, bee. Come home soon.

[digg=http://www.digg.com/offbeat_news/Pretending_to_be_Atenean]

I can understand the yabang that comes along with anyone who has ever studied in the Ateneo. Ateneans have that kind of bearing and carry that kind of air around them. I should know. I’ve been an Atenean since Grade School. But I cannot understand nor can I forgive is someone pretending to be an Atenean, going by a very ungodly name and speaking very bad english. Seriously.

This is the person I’m talking about: Kantutero Blues

Now this guy goes on to describe himself in his sidebar:

kung hindi mo trip yung mga sinusulat ko dito sa blog ko, umalis ka na lang, pwede? that only means you’re way too fucking bobo for my super intelligent atenista ideas. punta ka na lang sa blog ng studyante galing sa ibang school. im sure magkakaintindihan kayo kasi pare-pareho kayong mga bobong hukluban compared sa aming mga atenista. kaya go, alis! chupi, mga aso! tinatawag na kayo ng inyong mga amo! shoo!

—–
my blog is work its best if you are a broadband internet connection. pasensya na kung medyo demanding yung blog ko. pang-mayaman kasi eh. well, ganyan talaga pag atenista. sosyal.

This is the reason why inbreeding is strictly prohibited. They produce abnormal offspring, which the author of the abovementioned blog apparently is a clear and obvious product of.

Apparently, he can’t get enough of himself and write more about his being an Atenista in another section of his sidebar:

ATENISTA ako! hello sa inyong lahat, mga super bobong tao na hindi naman atenistang katulad ko. ako is kan. kung masyado ka talagang tanga at hindi mo alam kung bakit tinaguriang kantuterong atenista ang blog ko, pwes, pakamatay ka na! haven’t you ever hear of “mariang makiling,” “huseng sisiw,” or “juang tamad?!!” kan tutero ang full name ko, so syempre, kantuterong atenista! bobo! well anyway, my course in ateneo nga pala is management engineering. yun lang naman ang PINAKAMAHIRAP na course sa ateneo, and it is also honors program, which means that you must to be included in top 15% of ACET examinees to qualify about that course. minani ko lang yung acet eh! i’m sure kayong mga nasa ibang school dyan hindi kayang gawin yun. beside, in our high school batch of 87 people, ako lang naman ang nakapasa sa ACET! and management engineering is my first choice course. just shows how smart i am!! so keep on reading my blog, lalung-lalo na dun sa mga luhaang bobo na hindi nakapasa ng acet pero kating-kati pa rin ang singit na makaranas ng buhay atenista. im sure, you’re gonna enjoy reading my super brilliant atenista ideas!

Haven’t you ever hear?! WTF?! Prep students in Ateneo Grade School can speak better English than this guy. Actually, Ateneans in general can fart better English that this guy can spit shit from his mouth. He lacks grammatical skills, has the vocabulary of a monkey and thinks past tense is edible.

The hilarity ensues as I read on about this retard’s rants and raves with his really bad english:

• you are cannot make use my blog entries for anything that are unauthorized purpose. beside, im the only smart one person to handle these kind of thing, mga bobong bobers!
• i am not authorize of anybody to post my blog adress in anywhere part of the word wide web, especialy to the impoverish non-ateneans.
• don’t force you’re opinion for me and for everybody at my blog. beside, my opinion are defenitely so much smarter than yours.
• please don’t a say of bad words. i know most of you we’re nothing but non-atenista losers, but please, we ateneans are not parts of culture of bad words. just remember that you are a visit to an educated person’s blog.

Jeebus cripes~! This guy must have been dropped when he was a baby…and then accidentally stepped on by his stoner of a mom. You are cannot make use my blog entries for anything that are unauthorized purpose. Remember All Your Base Are Belong To Us? They must be cousins. Impoverish non-ateneans?! I don’t remember anyone who’s rich and lives in high-end subdivisions speaking this kind of english and having this kind of stupid banter in a publicly accessible space.

This is just downright crazy. And to think this is just his sidebar. He probably even has more crap written in his blog entries. If he’s trying to lambaste the Atenean image, he failed in his first sentence. Smart people know that. He’s been writing for three months now and he hasn’t even realized that yet.

I don’t get where the bitterness of this guy is coming from. He’s obviously not an Atenean at this point so he’s probably attacking the very image of Atenean and failing royally at it.

At this point, all I can say is I’m proud to be an Atenean, to have been taught and formed by an institution built and led by honorable and virtuous individuals. I’m proud to have worked with amazing individuals there who are now working their way up to be leaders in their respective fields.

This bloke however is not an Atenean. As my former Math teacher in high school, Trudl Meniado, would say: He’s a lower lifeform.

Cheers! Animo Ateneo!