Saturday, September 27, 2008

When Grownups Stop Growing

The Piattos Incident

It's been 2 weeks since the "Piattos Incident" and my dad still has never spoken even a single word to my mom or my aunt.

I don't really know what exactly happened, but I'm pretty sure that "Piattos" was involved. Yes, it's that junk food. As stupid as it may sound, they love to fight over petty things here.

According to my cousin, who was with them most of the time, my dad was shouting at my mom, over "Piattos" perhaps, then my aunt berated him about his rude behavior. Then some heated argument probably broke, to which my dad, most likely have ended it with something like "wala kang pakialam!" or "huwag mo akong pakialaman!".

My dad has always been this way, he has this tendency to resort to brute intimidation (by shouting and cursing) when dealing with issues and situations, however small they would be. Actually, my aunt is just the same, but on a different (lower) level.

My mom, on the other hand, was influenced by these two, by being with them most of the time. She too sometimes exhibits the same behavior when dealing with situations.

The Unusual Birthday

After that incident, my dad, aside from not talking to my mom and my aunt, also stopped helping out in the store. Spends most of his time doing pretty much nothing. There's a noticeable "silence" and "peacefulness" in the house. We no longer hear his daily complains about the food (as mentioned in one of my previous posts).

The following Monday (September 15) was my dad's birthday, but because of the incident, my mom didn't even bother to prepare or cook any special meal. It was like a regular day. The Saturday before, my sister (with her BF Gene) brought some food to celebrate, but he wasn't around and never even touched the food when he arrived. My eldest sister (with husband Perrin) also came on Sunday, but I don't recall him joining us for dinner.

Come to think of it, we never really celebrated birthdays in any other "better" ways.

Negative Thoughts Attract Negative Situations

Just a few days after the incident, we learned that my dad's car broke, soon after he plugged his portable TV with a wrong polarity. By the way, the portable TV is now a paper weight. The 32-year old car being broken is old news, only this time, he had to replace the whole engine, and it took him a week to find a compatible engine and fix it.

He could repair almost anything, as long as they don't have ears. Using his car as an example, my dad, obviously has problems with letting go of a lot of things, including junks and most importantly his pride.

Meanwhile, one of our helpers, have finally, decided to quit. Although her reasons for leaving are quite unreasonable, I think what actually made her leave is the constant scolding she gets from my mom (mostly), my dad and my aunt.

She used to help my mom in the kitchen, my mom teaches her and instructs her to cooking tasks, but she always tends to forget things, or do things differently, which makes my mom angry from time to time and thus getting scolded by her.

But from a personal stand point, the scolding after the "Piattos Incident" was on different level. I guess that was the last straw for her. She disappeared for half a day, returned, then after 2 days, left again and decided not to comeback, as I predicted.

The Unexpected Response

Last week, my dad "miraculously" started cleaning and organizing stuffs. He has also disposed a bunch of trash which has been there for more than 20 years, something I never thought was possible to happen. This photo was taken in March of last year (2007). Note that the table is barely recognizable.

He started buying some plastic containers and sorted some of his things, which are mostly composed of electronic parts, screws, wires, and tools. He doesn't like storing things inside containers because according to him, it's very difficult to search for something hidden, so he prefers everything lying around in plain sight. Yeah right!

We'll just wait and see what will happen in a few days or weeks. This wasn't the first time he cleaned his area, the last time was probably 5 years ago, and 2 days after that, it started returning to its "normal" and "cluttered" state.

"Ang gulo-gulo nga eh", this is arguably the best phrase I've heard from him in the last 25 years of my life, referring to his desk area. Finally, acceptance.

Getting Nowhere

Being a person of great "pride", in other words, "stubborn", he tried to help out in some of the household chores last week. His attempt on the rice failed, it wasn't thoroughly cooked. He ended blaming my mom (not directly) for messing with it. I guess some bevahiors are really difficult to let go.

His attempt to make some ice tubes also seemed to have failed, when my mom got angry after seeing the imperfect water bags. My mom stopped bickering after realizing that is was my dad who made them.

The Mouse Trap Incident

The last event happened yesterday, when my mouse trap successfully caught a mouse. The mouse has been wandering around the house for a long time and the traps set by my dad failed to catch it. 2 days ago, I placed the mouse traps and my dad commented that it won't be able to catch mouse (everything not his just got to be wrong).

He woke me up telling me about it (while carrying the mouse trap), I told him I already knew about it and that my cousin wanted to use it in his laboratory test. He folded it and placed the trap vertically. A few moments later, the mouse started struggling, gravity might have played a role as well. And it could almost get away.

As an immediate response, I said that he shouldn't have touched it in the first place. The same way he always tells us whenever we try to sort or rearrange his things. Then he got mad after that, telling his rants to my cousin, something like "ako na nga nagmamalasakit tapos napagsasabihan pa, kaya ako na-bwiset", with stress on "bwiset".

I didn't realize that it has anything to do with the mouse trap incident. For me, it wasn't really a big deal. I have no idea where the sudden "sensitivity" came from. I said nothing after that. Within my thoughts I was hoping that he realizes what he have just said. Ha ha ha. :)

Monday, September 22, 2008

Close Encounters with the Reptiles

I recently purchased some items from an online store (I just took advantage of their free express shipping promo). O:)

The package did arrive in less than a week (the non-express shipping took almost 2 months), but unfortunately, what I received was a notice that package is subject for customs examination.

This is quite different from the previous notice cards. Before, the packages were actually delivered to the postal office nearest to the shipping address. This time, I had to go to the postal office along Domestic Road (Pasay) to claim the parcel.

When I arrived at the postal office, there were a bunch of people outside the warehouse, waiting for their parcels to be release. I gave the notice card to the EMS personnel and I was told to wait outside until my name is called.

After an hour or so, they called me and as part of the operating procedures, they would open the parcel and inspect its contents. Attached in the box is a document declaring the actual amount of the item. Normally, the online store would lower the declared value to avoid detection. In my case, they put $20 in the declared value (from actual value of $40).

However, the little curly crocodile, Celia Bantig, told me that she would not accept it. Of course, because she is GREEDY. After that she went to their office, then she returned with a piece of scratch paper with lots of computations. o_O

She wanted to price my item for an outrageous price of $150, which meant that I had to pay more than Php 3000 for the release of my item. Talk about hostage situations. o_O

I did not agree to that so she asked me how much did I pay for it, I replied $40, but she wasn't convinced (or she just wanted to extort me). I asked her if they have a computer with an Internet connection so I could show her the price. She rep(lied) to me that they don't have Internet connection, and they don't even have computers in their office.

She's probably expecting me to give in, but I told her that I'll just return the next day and bring with me a copy of the receipt.

==========

The following day, I returned with a printed receipt. I was told to go inside their crocodile den (office), and search for Pemma, the mother crocodile. I told her my situation and showed her the receipt.

She offered to make a new computation. She wrote some numbers, punched some keys on her calculator and ended up with $50. I was relieved to learn that I only had to pay a little over Php 1000.

But before I could celebrate, the mother crocodile, suddenly changed her mind, acted as if she had forgotten something, then punched some keys on her calculator again, and this time, came up with $90 (WTF?!?). She probably realized that $50 just wasn't worth their time and effort.

Anyway, I decided not to argue with her, because I knew nothing about customs laws and procedures. Although she did mentioned that they had to include "insurance" and "postage". Then again, I don't really believe that it would double the price?!?!

So, she wrote in her report that the price of the item is $90.51. With the following computation:

$90.51 * 47.077 (Exchange Rate) =
Php 4260.94 (Price in Peso)

Php 4260.94 * 15% (Rate of Duty) =
Php 639.14 (Import Duty)

For the VAT, her computation was:
Php 4260.94 (Adjusted Price) +
Php 639.14 (Import Duty) +
Php 265 (CDS) +
Php 250 (IPF) =
Php 5145.08 (Big F*cking Amount) * 12% (VAT) =
Php 649.81 (VAT)

For the final amount:

Php 639.14 (Import Duty) +
Php 649.81 (VAT) +
Php 264 (CDS) +
Php 250 (IPF) =
Php 1804 (Ransom Money, almost same amount as the item!!!)

The Import Duty, I supposed, would go to the pocket of some greedy bastard in Department of Finance, while the VAT money, would be added to one of the many bank accounts of the Evil First Gentleman Mike Arroyo (Husband of the Evil Bitch). He he. :))

The CDS, which probably stands for Customs Documentary Stamp, which according to the fine print in the receipt should only amount to TWO PESOS (Php 2.00), and the IPF (only God knows what it stands for), will probably be distributed among the crocodiles and lizards crawling within the post office compound. Ha ha. :))

Oh, I almost forgot, the little curly crocodile lied to me about the computers. There were 3 computers in their den, and there's another one outside. And she seemed to be avoiding me, but I still managed to get her name from her ID.

==========

Unfortunately for normal citizens like me, it's impossible for us not to be taken advantage of by greedy people like them. :(

At least now, you know where you're money is going... :P

Saturday, September 20, 2008

Wedding and Reunion - Part 1

On September 7, I attended a wedding of two high school classmates, Nerissa and Simson.

The only time I get to see my high school classmates is during occasions like this. Last time I saw most them was way back June of last year (2007), during Kate's wedding. :P

The wedding ceremony was held at San Sebastian Church, Quiapo Manila. I was supposed to meet Magan and Ellyson in Tutuban but I had to leave them behind because I didn't want to keep my uncle waiting too long. I tried contacting them but I never got through, because of the 6-hour service downtime of Globe. :(

We arrived at the church at around 3:45. My uncle offered to wait for me and take me to the reception at Greenhills but I declined. I told them most of my friends have cars so I'll just tag along with somebody. >:)

I joined the guys (Sze Tin, Lawrence, Jeremy, Jason, Aldrich, Edwin) who were waiting in the parking area. We chatted for a while, mostly about our current jobs and salaries. Although for my case, Sze Tin have already announced my salary to almost everyone, which is quite annoying. o_O

A few moments later, another group of guys came. It was Jason's Gang, the other Jason, we have two Jason's in our batch. His gang includes Ryan, Genedale, Michael Manlavi, and another guy from the lower batch. If the first group was the job/salary-oriented guys, these guys are the vice-oriented people, credited to their habits of drinking and smoking. :P

Magan and Ellyson eventually arrived. Glenn also got there before the ceremony started. We chatted for a while before we went inside the church. Most of us stayed in the last row. The girls of the batch were seated a few rows in front of us. Kim (w/ BF), Kate (w/ Husband), Abi (Single), and Jacq (Unknown) was there. Aisha (w/ BF) also followed.

Gilbert and Jerry were also there although I couldn't remember when they arrived.

After the mass ended, we spent a few more minutes chatting and taking group pictures inside the church. Then waited outside for the newly wedded couple to come out.

Instead of going to Gloria Maris right away, we (Magan, Ellyson, and Glenn) decided to hang out in Starbucks Binondo first.

To be continued...

Big Ass Table

Thursday, September 18, 2008

The Batman

A mysterious man hopped inside the jeepney which I was riding this morning. He was wearing a t-shirt and a pair of worn out denim shorts. His zipper was open, by the way. :))

What's interesting with this old man, who's probably in his late 50's, is that he started introducing himself and his job (to everyone) the moment he got settled in the jeep.

The man identified himself as Juanito "Batman" Yap (Yeah, Batman is for real). According to him, he's a "mestisong intsik" (I hate that word), who lives in Tondo (behind Puregold) and performs healing for a living. He claims the he can cure all kinds of illness, as long as your are not allergic to his medicine (LOL).

His "magical" medicine, which we shall call the "Bat-Ointment", is a yellowish cream like substance in a small glass container. The "Bat-Ointment" seemed like a familiar Chinese ointment that is used to heal burn injuries. He claims that the "Bat-Ointment" is very effective.

He's also selling some homemade solutions made from a mixture of water, "tawas" (alum), and a special medicine. The said solution can help people with body odor problems. He also carries a folder board with prices on it, similar to the ones we often see with printer ink buyers. Amazingly, he tested the solution on animals like cats, dogs, and chicken. :D

People call him "Batman" because he loves helping others, that's what he claimed. Before we reached Rizal Avenue, he told us that he can also cure diabetes (w/ money back guarantee), and that there is no need for amputation. :)

I wanted to continue listening to his stories but the jeep has already reached Rizal Avenue. I jumped out of the jeep with some hanging questions on my mind:

Why is "Batman's" zipper open? Did Robin forget to close it?

Ramen and Chocolates

Rajah and I went to PC Reform (Makati) yesterday to purchase some desktop modding accessories. While on our way back to Buendia, we discovered a Japanese convenient store located at the corner of Sacred Heart street and Metropolitan Avenue.

The store is operated by New Hatchin Trading Corporation. They sell various imported Japanese grocery items; chocolates, candies, cookies, Pocky's, instant ramen, curry mixes, canned and bottle beverages (those found in vending machines), sake (Japanese rice wine), chopsticks, ice creams, various Japanese frozen cooking ingredients, and many, many, many more. Oh, they also sell cakes, only 3 variants though.

I went around the stalls a couple of times because I couldn't decide what to buy. I settled, eventually, with a small bottle of yasai (veggie) juice (P93), an instant pork curry ramen (P88), and a small box of Galbo chocolates (P78). :))

I guess the only thing lacking in this store is a gashapon machine.

Sunday, September 14, 2008

Identity Mix Up

Precious from World Vision contacted me a few days ago telling me that Danny Dy, which they thought was my father, told them to contact me about his sponsor child.

I was surprised to hear that. Knowing that helping a charity organization would be the last thing my dad would ever do. I talked to her some more, and she asked a few questions on her end too. Later, we realized that we're talking about two different persons.

The other Danny Dy, works in Petron Megaplaza, and has been a sponsor since 2001. They probably assumed that we're related when they called here before and my dad gave his name. My dad's real name is Danilo Chua, but for some unknown reason, he uses Danny Dy most of the time.

So, when they updated their records (presumably), they called Danny Dy (my dad) again asking about his supposed sponsorship. In which my dad, responded immediately by telling them to ask me instead, without really clarifying it. Which finally ended up as the reason for this blog entry.

Precious apologized for the confusion and also thanked me for my continued support to their organization. :)

Thursday, September 04, 2008

99%

Almost there... :)




Missed the 2nd to the last note of the last section... :(

He he he... :)