Destination Unknown

Is the
office now a ground for the desperate?

What
makes me say that? I’m certain that many have heard stories of ‘peculiar
things’ happening on "overtimes". I always thought that these stories are
just object of vivid imagination. Then, after my intern, I saw
that maybe those stories contain truths - don’t worry, I’ve not come close
to witnessing any. Moreso than
a high school sophomore, office workers moan about being single and not getting
any. They have become invariably desperate as they age.

Don’t
think of this entry as my opportunity to brag. In terms of being single, I’m
the same as most colleagues. Not getting any? That depends on how you
define it. But where I am different is that I know how un-cute, disgusting and hateful a desperate person is. That’s why I tend to stay away from my
officemates at times.

Few
instances prove my claim.

1. In the
last entry I mentioned about a bunch of contractual workers who have an overly
biased treatment between "chicks" and "average joes". They become pseudo-gentlemanly around girls, while they waste the time of the rest.

2. This employee from the same cubicle is slightly attractive and
has an especially alluring voice. I never have the chance to get to know her
that much due to the fact that we don’t belong to the same department, and that
we often leave our workspace. Yet, never does a day pass without
men flocking to visit her.

3. One
day when I attended a meeting, two women, one of whom I just met, were teasing
each other of men that are getting teased as their love teams. They made one comment that almost got me falling from mychair. One of them said: why
do I never become an item to whoever I was teased to? The other sighed and
nodded in agreement. I rolled my eyes.

4.
I entered a lab and was introduced to a bunch of female
technicians. These group of female technicians, seeing that I am
"young" and "fresh", said that I should become friends with
one of them to *gasp* break her virginity.  Do you think this is a
completely appropriate way to introduce someone?
Neither do I.

5. Even interns become desperate! One intern got a crush on this girl.
Apparently, he keeps boasting that he got to know this girl
THROUGH MSN Messenger (which is lame, by the way, as he
could have just approached the girl.)  One day the intern
found out that this girl is, at 7 PM, still in office. He
offered to take this girl home, but she refused since she’s already
with someone. He, nevertheless, drove all the way to office (since he’s
already out). THen he kept on calling the girl even as the girl is
already inside a shuttle bus. Annoyed, this girl
ignored the obstinate intern.

I really have few questions for the
intern: about why he’s hellbent on fetching the girl of his
[liquid] dreams. Is he attempting to get her have a
"friendly chat" with him on a parking lot *wink wink*?

6. A friend
of mine grow attracted to the same girl. He started talking to her. In less than
one day of getting to know each other, she gave her e-mail add,
cellular phone number, local number and landline number! What the hell, SLOW DOWN!

6. While I was doing an audit with
another person, we caught a girl violating some rules. The guy I accompanied warned the girl
about this, and guess what she did? She gave the guy her phone
number! I should take note that next time when an auditor (preferrably a woman) caught me breaking rules, it should be viewed as an opportunity to give my phone number. Wait, maybe I should just spray some AXE while not wearing my protection equipment properly. THAT WOULD WORK! *grins*
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Really! I’m perplexed! Not
all of these people are unattractive. They probably would’ve easily
gotten a relationship without even trying. However, their actions imply that they’ll do all it takes  to start having romance/getting
physical as quickly as can be. Being addicted to quick fixes they think desperation will result to long-term gratification.

As for me, I’m rolling my eyes…

A while ago, I had to enter an assembly line within the company where I intern. Since I don’t have access, I have to request for temporary badge so that I can go inside and do what I was asked. It seems that I’m not the only one requesting, as there were many people on queue. So, of course, by instinct, and by my propensity to act ethically, I stood at the last person in line.

It was this moment when an irritating situation occurred. There were women who also had to get badges. Then, these men who were in line allowed the women sneak between lines, while asking me to queue at the back. Not only that, but these men were laughing queerly, as if they had perverted intentions.

First off, I was ticked since I was in a great hurry, and due to their behaviour, I have to force myself to wait 15 more minutes to gain access. Secondly, what’s up with their behaviour around women? It’s as if they’re desperate, and stripping the ladies naked with their eyes. Laughing pervertedly even furthers my point: that they have the audacity to behave like a sophomoric high-schooler when they come near girls whom they considered hot. Is this the ethics they want to promote for the factory? That’s just so retarded, and not to mention, perverted!

Yesterday, on my ride to Quezon City, I kept looking at the moon.

The moon is admired by many. And why not? It is beautiful. Poets scribed about it; NASA send people to plant flags on it; sailors are guided by it; and werewolves come whenever it appears. Surely, something as shiny and standoffish would receive so many attention.

But it doesn’t. The moon is a lot like all those beautiful girls that become campus crushes. They are popular, and admirations come to them like diarrheas.

But does the moon never feel lonely, especially during nights when it is not accompanied by all the stars? And for moon being so beautiful, when was the last time it has entered our conversation? How come people often ignore it and take it for granted? Was it because we are too used to its beauty, that we fail to admire it as often as we can?

I ask the same question to all those popular pretty faces: do they never feel lonely as well? And if we actually get to be around the pretty faces everyday, would we have noticed their beauty every passing time, or would we have ignored it, like how we ignore earth’s biggest worshipper?

Yesterday, on my way home, I made two chance encounters. The latter one (which is not what this entry is about) is Don Pierre Riosa, a long time best friend of mine; and the earlier one is Jacky Lynn Ong, a girl I’ve befriended in my last trip to Cebu, somewhere in March 2005.

Don Pierre Riosa

Jacky Lynn Ong

Jacky’s family actually resides in Bacolod. For educational pursuit, Jacky, like her sister Princess (who also is a long time friend of mine), decided to study in Manila, right at College of St. Benilde. Incidentally, I know of Jacky before we have actually officially met each other. I know she sings damn well

I had quite a conversation - although a relatively short one - with both.

I asked one question to Jacky, and that’s what I remember the most. It goes: "Are you getting used to staying here?"

Her answer goes like this: "Somehow, not quite. I’m getting pretty homesick."

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Homesickness. That’s one word I’m overly familiar with. During my high school days I had to spend three years in Bacolod, while the rest of my family lives in Manila.

My freshmen year in college (as well as few years of being a sophomore) was momentously enjoyable, and one big contributor is due to the presence of my siblings, and my mom. Since then, my sister have left to U.S. to pursue her career in music; my brother left for Taiwan to improve his Chinese; and my mom moved to Bacolod to revive a declining Vegetarian Health Food Center. For three years, the house was almost empty- with me and my dad being the only family members that stayed there. More often, times become trifles. The event that I celebrate the most is when any of these family members come back. So far, it had never occurred, since the last three years, that all 5 of us were back in the same home. It’s always just 1, or 2 of them, coming back for a few weeks vacation.

Yeah, I’m overly familiar with homesickness. In fact, it feels sort of parasitic.

Somehow, I feel sympathy for people who feel homesick, and are not used to it. Look at me: even though I’ve been technically at my ‘real home’ 4 years since my leave to Bacolod, I don’t feel any less homesick, due to the fact that almost everyone is away (and for the record, right now I’m all alone since my parents have gone to U.S. to visit my sister.)

All I want is to purge homesickness away from my life.

Dan Brown has established himself to become one of the favorite authors among the casual readers. It’s not uncommon to find a person who owns at least one of his novels- me being an example. Owning all four isn’t rare either, but sometimes I wonder whether or not anybody have noticed that Dan Brown’s novel all have few things in common.

Because just from the two I’ve read (and the remaining I previewed), I draw these observations:

(Disclaimer: To those who don’t want to be spoiled by "twists" so glaringly obvious, you can turn away now)

1. Dan knows about technical/scientific stuffs, and he’s not afraid to exploit it. Every of his novels have at least 1 high tech gadget. He could have majored in Engineering subject. This I like.

2. The hero, most of the time, is a professor. Robert Langdon, a Harvard Symbologist professor, starred twice, so that have to count. Then there’s the hero in Digital Fortress, who also happened to be an English Professor.

3. The heroine is always attractive to the point of absurdity. I don’t think it’s easy to find an IQ 170+ female digerati who don’t look gaunt and messed-up.

4. I’m assuming, and I’m sure this is accurate, that somewhere along the way the hero and the heroine falls in love.

5. This annoys me: every prologue chapter involves a person’s death - and it always is a result of assasin’s snarfings.

6. The assasin is often, if not always, some kind of cripple/outcast. In Da VInci Code we have an albino. In Digital Fortress, the assasin is deaf.

7. Dan always rely on scene-transition method of telling stories. Chapter by chapter we see events on different character’s perspective. I can say it is effective once, but use it in all four novels, and it gets pretty old.

8. The antagonist’s identity is always unknown at first, but think a little and you’ll know who’s scheming.  By the time the identity of the antagonist is revealed, I’m never surprised. I predicted who the Teacher of Da VInci Code is well before Robert Langdon found it out himself.

9. Dan’s method of storytelling is fast-paced; so fast, you’ll sometimes risk yourself to not absorbing the story well enough. I’ve completed Digital Fortress quite fast, yet right now I couldn’t even remember the name of some of its major characters. At least, I have to admire Dan’s method of keeping the readers hooked until the conclusion.

10. Chapter 2/3 is always a scene of the assasin telling the antagonist how the plan went. I’ve read to this part of Angels and Demons and Deception Point to confirm this, and they are the only two remaining Dan Brown novels I haven’t completed.

Overall, Dan Brown’s novel are quite entertaining. But beyond the controversies presented in Da Vinci Code and Angels and Demons lie formulas presented over and over again. So my suggestion? Read these one of these two novels (i’ve been told that Angels and Demons outdo Da Vinci Code storywise). THen just move on to other authors.

And regarding the controversies presented in Da Vinci Code? He’s not the first one to have done it. He’s just presented it in a more palatable manner. Umberito Eco, for instance, have written about Knight’s Templar in his novel Foucault’s Pendulum nearly 20 years before Dan Brown’s prime.

Three weeks ago, Patrick Ty lent me his Digital Fortress - the debut novel by Dan Brown. I have done reading it almost 5 days after, but not before noticing its few merits, as well as its many flaws.

The novel’s premise is quite easy to get into. The National Security Authority has made an all-powerful decryption software called TRANSLTR. It never failed decoding encrypted messages before, until it found a password-protected program the name of which i don’t remember. This sets the fast-paced adventure of a woman looking for ways to contact the link to the dead programmer of the password-protected programs, nad her boyfriend’s quest to find the password. Meanwhile, Kris Jou is running out of words. The merit of this novel is in its being fast- paced and its [near]-accurate description of encryption techniques.

What i didn’t like are the characters, and the paper-thin plot. I understand this is Dan Brown’s first, so errors can be forgiven. However, he’s been following the same formula ever since. With regards to the characters of the novel, Dan have mentioned that most of the people involved in NSA have high IQ’s, yet nowhere in the novel did I witness their infinite intelligence (spoiler: especially their inability to know what the password is). People like Hale shouldn’t even be come within ten-mile radius of NSA. Many scenes were really embarassing (most of them involving Midge), similar to playing Rumble Roses in front of your parents. The "surprise climax (a word which was also used in bedrooms illustrated by this novel)" or "confession" gave an awkard synergy of having the characters of the novel gasping while the audience/reader yawns.

But overall, Digital Fortress is good, albeit stupid, entertainment.

Lastly, what kind of a stupid name is TRANSLTR? does it stand for translator, compressed to follow the eight-character limit for programs? Somehow, whenever i read the word TRANSLTR, i’m reminded of Transformer - with its complimentary more than meets the eye theme song and its Ki-ka-ko-ko-kow and ku-ko-ka-ki-kik transforming sound effects.

I hate riding the shuttle bus. On weekdays, I take the shuttle bus since it is the easiest - but not the most convenient - way for me to reach office. Due to many occurences, I felt hard to contain the urge of swearing inside the bus. That’s no small feat, since most of my close friends know I rarely, if ever, swear.

It had gotten worse these days. Whereas I used to be annoyed some people - their loud chattering/snoring, their katol-scented perfume, and their stealing my space therefore squeezing me by the window - right now it’s the driver and the bus that grates on my nerves. On many occasions, the bus I took up doesn’t have seatbelts- so much for the nagging-nanny attitude about safety, eh? Then the seats are broken in ways that you cannot either recline or return to normal position. The seats don’t have ample room for the feet, such that many times the seat in my front touches - very uncomfortably - at my knees.

Then there’s the radio. Let’s face it - people taking the shuttle are sleepy or exhausted. In the morning, most of us would prefer to sleep than go crazy over their favorite Hale music. In the afternoon, most of us would also rather sleep than dance in the tune of Chocolate (which is a really, really awful novelty song). Yet the bus driver still plays that radio station with the awful "memorize-oriented" jingle, and with the DJ so unfunny s/he had to laugh at his/her own "jokes". If the bus driver wants to stay awake, why won’t he just use the walkman instead? Walkman can be bought at Recto/Divisoria for less than P50. At other times the driver decides, for the lack of better judgment, to play DVD’s which made me witness the Corelli Mandolin movie, which i didn’t like. I mean, seriously, who takes the bus to watch movie? I have never met a person saying "I want to take a bus instead of jeepney because I can watch movies in the bus!" or "I should catch up on this bus to watch the James Bond theyre playing!" I don’t think the driver needs the movies either - he certainly can’t watch while he’s driving, can he? At other times the driver uses the TV broadcast. The problem here is that the signal isn’t very good, and that it flickers uncontrollably. As if motion doesn’t make a person dizzy enough. As though there’s not a possibility that someone inside the bus has epileptic seizures.

I stated this because it’s way different in the airplane, which, incidentally, a manufacturer calls the Airbus. Sure, they have the TV screen, but the sound is off that, by using the headsets, only the person who’s interested will know what’s going on. It also applies for people wanting to hear music. And whenever there are noisy people, you can always request the stewardess to tell them to shut the hell up. We should put into consideration that at times, only during public transportation can a person rest. Comfort and relaxation is an important aspect for public transportation - it may lose costumers due to lack of these two: notice how many middle-classed people prefer to take the FX than the jeep. More importantly, this is a company shuttle we’re talking about: where all people inside it should be mature enough to respect other’s privacy as well as personal space; that when a person wants to entertain himself he should not do it at the expense of others - an example being playing the radio too loudly that people can’t sleep. If only the driver can think like this: that people would prefer silence at times, we would all be sleeping more soundly while riding the shuttle. Wait, now I’m panicking: that would mean that people would be snoring!

As an aside, this is just my first real post, yet I have already broken the two-paragraph rule. Oh well…

I owe everyone an introduction, and why you should enter my psyche.

I am Kris Jou, better known in the intarweb as Ching Shun. (You can read about me in my friendster page). Now, if you like me then there’s no reason why you should not enter my psyche (i.e. read my blogs). But if you don’t like me, you probably wouldn’t think any better of me by visiting this blog, or you probably would. I’m not here to write rhetorics to please everyone. I’m here to write, to address to people who might understand, or are just interested, about me (aside from exercising my writing muscles). So to all those who have read this and are still interested, welcome aboard. Stay tuned for more of what’s been happening with me.

This is my new blog. I deleted my previous blog for many reasons. 1.) I grow tired of its name: Constipa-shun - that’s just a pun for my Chinese name, and I’m not too fond of embarassing myself these days; 2.) The blog had been very neglected that I had grown embarassed of it; And 3.) I didn’t format some posts very well, making them look cluttered. I don’t think I know of anyone who enjoys reading long and cluttered document - doubly so if on a monitor.

Still, I’m a little lazy about writing long recounts of what’s been happening. That’s why from tomorrow, if I still maintained indefatigable, I will start posting, but this time with only 2 paragraphs per entries.

Or I may just break the rules. Hopefully not.