My sister was sent on a training slash U.S. field trip for a month and she and her friends were able to go on a weekend trip to Las Vegas a couple of weeks ago. I bet that she had tons of fun. She told me that she tried the slot machine once and didn’t win so she just enjoyed the scenery, although because they arrived there quite late, she said most people looting around were drunk by then.
Truth be told, I’m more envious of her trip to the Grand Canyon. Her pictures remind me of the movie Contact, my all-time favorite film. I’m also envious of her trip to Los Angeles because it was her that got to meet my childhood friend who has been living there for the past 10 years.
Anyway, she didn’t win anything on the slot machines and I’m pretty sure she didn’t try the other gambling whathavetheys because she really don’t know squat about gambling. Both of us haven’t even tried online gambling. Give me a pack of cards and I wouldn’t even know how to start playing solitaire. Well, maybe online slots would be easier to learn, but they don’t even come for free anyway. Unless any of you have tried free no download slots and can tell me if they really work, or at least if they are any fun.
That’s the thing about the Internet - You can do pretty much anything in a virtual world. That’s the thing about growing old - I can still remember the time when there is no Internet to speak of.
A friend who succesfully made a new life in another country have been convincing me to prepare my resume and make applications for jobs abroad. We’ve always talked about it and I’ve always been the one who is most apprehensive to leave my current job. I always have some reason to spare when asked why I’m not working for it. It is getting old. But what can you do? Well, I suppose a lot of things, but let’s focus on the lazy. With the world in recession, it’s not as if I can say I’m done here and sjust pack my bags and go some place else. Even if I stay in this country, it’s not easy to start anew. what, like should I study Forex Signals and enter something I have no idea about. I know people who really understand business and money; I am not one of them that even if I buy books on options trading strategies, I will still know squat about the business scene.
When I think about it, it’s really not the lack of initiative. You can deduce by now that the position I’m in is not the best in the world because if it is, why do I have to explain why I’m thinking about leaving? Anyway, enough with the useless ranting. I was just wondering why they always ask you “Where do you see yourself in five years?” during job interviews? I mean, obviously, it’s to see your “vision”, whatever that means. But why five? Why not four? Or six? Useless question, I know, but I remembered that when I was interviewed my answer was hilariously typical. I see myself as someone holding a position that is well above my entry level because I’m hardworking and dedicated and all that blah. Of course, those were not the exact words but it’s a wonder anybody took me in. I was such a spaz that I probably swallowed a lot more comprehensible words than I’ve managed to spill out.
Not five, but nine years later, I am nowhere where I thought myself would be. But then again through time, my own vision changed and the things that seem appealing to a neophyte corporate rat doesn’t appeal to me anymore. This is not a race I want to run. There’s no ladder here that I’m interested to climb. The current may lead me some place I do not expect (although it most probably won’t be emini trading) but as long as I haven’t figured out a plan, I’m OK with being stucked. I’m patient that way.
Just when I thought I’ve ran out of Facebook applications to tinker with, and just when I thought I wouldn’t spend nights worthy of buying an eye wrinkle cream over useless things again, I found this application that spews out House, MD, quotes. Well,they’re not exactly what you would call “advice”, as the application name would suggest, but randomly reading those cynical and not-exactly-inspiring House quotables are enough to make my Facebook visits a little more fun. Here’s the “advice” I got today:
You want to make things right? Too bad. Nothing’s ever right
Last Sunday, my friends and I participated in a sponsored badminton tournament - basically, it means that registration was free; most tournaments require a fee of more or less 700 pesos before you can join them. This one was the largest tournament I have joined by far, with about 30 pairs for each level (A to E) and for each division (men’s, women’s, and mixed doubles). It was also the first single-knockout tournament I’ve played in. Although my partner and I reached the second round (not because we’re that good, but because our first opponents didn’t arrive), which incidentally was the only round we should have won to reach the semifinals that will played next week at the Alabang Town Center activity center. Well, I didn’t regret the experience mainly because it was fun to watch good games and to be present in such a widely participated event. It was a good experience, even if it highlighted the fact that I still need more training and a lot more strength if I want to win such competitions. Two more things I learned from this: (1) badminton players are cranky; if they lose, they’ll most probably blame their partner (of course, this is not a rule; mainly an observation); (2) play serious badminton and you’ll never need the best diet pills ever again. I promise you that.
Healthy eating looks good on paper. Healthy foods look good on glossy magazines. Healthy bodies, too. But when you’re faced with the choice between the convenience of buying processed foods, or fast foods, and the tedious preparation and grocery shopping to make your own homemade “healthy” menus, it’s just so easy to give in to eating the “unhealthy” alternative. Now, I do not really go for diets that equate with starving yourself. As a matter of fact, I hate those very much. But having a balanced diet, preferably staying away from salty and fatty foods, that one I strive to achieve. You just have to read those colon cleansing reviews to be alarmed and start pondering on this, too.
What to make of Roger Federer’s 5-set loss to Juan Martin del Potro? First, I don’t know about The Man, but I’ve already gotten over it. As most of his fans. I think. Like the others have said, I’ll take the first French Open title any time over a 6th U.S. Open, if he couldn’t have one with the other.
The thing is, he could have gotten both. Even the Australian earlier in the year. It maybe is a stretch, but both were five setters where he was not playing his absolute best! Well, that’s just from what I read about the Australian Open. I still haven’t got the heart to look for a video of that match. But this year’s U.S. Open? I woke up at 5 a.m., barely 4 hours since I decided to call it a night, just to watch Federer play a bad game (by the Federer standard) from start to finish. He can’t get his first serves in, the one component of his game that allowed him to win titles despite his opponents’ best effort. He didn’t move quite as well as he had been doing lately. His forehand produced wide shots and he spewed a total of 11 double faults and produced less than 15 aces (he had 50 in his 5 set Wimbledon victory against Andy Roddick). By the time the fifth set rolled in, it was like I was seeing projector headlights going on and off, announcing insurmountable danger. As I feared, he didn’t recover. I was hugely disappointed, although not to take anything away from del Potro, he did what Andy Murray couldn’t do last year. To hang in there with the best of all time and not let the occasion and his nerves get the better of him. Didn’t make me happy, though. On to next year, then. There’s always the Australian Open.
I fell asleep last night watching the Crime & Investigation channel. When I woke up in the morning to that cable channel’s eerie theme, my first thought was that it was fortunate I didn’t have a nightmare because of the scary real-life stuff they usually feature. I must have been really tired to not turn off the TV before I succumbed to sleep. Watching those shows can make one really paranoid; one feature even made me want to run to the hardware store to look for home alarm systems . But they’re also compelling to watch, especially when they show how law enforcers crack cases or how technology helps in solving crimes and analyzing evidence. Sometimes, though, I prefer CSI. At least with that, despite their focus on flair and improbable situations, I have the luxury to think that everything that happens are fictional.
I twice made the mistake of buying athletic shoes online and I’ve learned my lesson well the last time. Well, at least I’m hoping I won’t get swayed on buying something because it looked good enough in pictures and it looked to fit on paper. I’ve been meaning to go back to the gym for several months but was hindered by the fact that I only have badminton shoes. In an attempt to find a better deal online, hopefully better than what I’ll get in stores, I searched for new discount shoes on this online auction site I frequent. I found something that looked cute enough, with a price that seemed more than reasonable; I debated with myself for a while, noticing almost at the last minute that the description says “walking shoes”, when what I’m searching for are “training shoes”. So the last few minutes of the auction I spent researching the differences between walking, running, and cross-training shoes. In the end, I decided that the walking shoes will do for my intended purpose. I waited until the last few seconds of the auction before bidding and won the item. When it was finally delivered, I realized immediately how wrong I was. Just judging by the contours and and the material of the shoes, I knew I can’t use them at the gym. My sister was looking at me questioningly when I explained that that pair is not fit for gym use; she probably thinks that anything that looks athletic enough should be OK. Not for lack of trying, I used them during my first visit and I was beating myself up while walking in the treadmill because I know I can’t go faster than brisk walking with those shoes on without tripping. It’s just too unflexible and heavy. I had no choice but to find another pair at the mall, an Adidas shoes, that thankfully was on sale for almost 30% off. Well, the moral of this story is, the type of shoes matter. Not because it’s called a rubber shoes means it can be used for any athletic endeavor.
A friend living in the United States once told me that it can get pretty boring there especially if you don’t get to get out a lot and all you see are the four corners of your house. I say it can get pretty boring like that anywhere. Well, she was bored and apparently these days, one of the things she’s always looking forward to is her usual family trip to the casinos. I was never one for places like that, not because I’m that uptight to think that going to a casino is “evil” but just because I’ve never really been to one and it from what I’ve seen on the TV and on movies,it’s not really some place I can get much fun out of. But people do enjoy playing casino games and that’s why there are now a number of virtual places that people can gamble on. For sure I cannot be certain how experiencing the real thing can be so much different from playin in a usa online casino but for those who do not have the luxury to travel or the time to spare, they have this alternative. They just have to review which site they are going to join to make sure that they are legitimate and not scam. It wouldn’t be that hard to fin a casino review online. Because it will involve money, your money, it wouldn’t hurt to see first what people are saying about a particular site before you do register and start playing. Well, that’s true for most other things. It’s always better to be sure than sorry.
Ok, that title may be a bit overromanticized. I was actually thinking of the Sandra Bullock-Keanu Reeves movie The Lake House when I thought of that title. One, not a very good movie. Two, the book Persuasion in the film was left at a train station and not on a bus. But what the heck.
One of the certified diamonds of classic literature, Persuasion is one of the most popular among the six novels of Jane Austen and halfway through it I am beginning to understand why. It didn’t take too much to persuade me to read this novel, although I must admit I carried with me another book, a science fiction, for the two-way 4-hour trip just in case I get the urge to read another type. I don’t know about everybody else, but reading classics for me requires a special kind of attention, temperament even. But it has its rewards, and with Jane Austen, I always seem to find something to relate to with her heroines so it’s all good. Put simply, Persuasion is about two people who used to love each other but became estranged. After several years of separation, their paths crossed again. Would they end up together? Of course they would. It’s their journey toward that end that makes the read worthwhile.
