BD's Birthday

BD is my boss’ son; he turned five today. I do have fond moments with this lad so even though at his age all he can do with the computer is watch kiddy videos and play games, I’m dedicating this post for him.

Here are among my best memories with BD:

• For quite some time, he would often stop by my area upon arrival (as if a courtesy visit) before proceeding to his mom’s to show me one or two toy cars from his collection that he brought that day or those very good star stamps he earned at school. Now, he knows he ought to say hi to his mom first.
• Once, he was at our office early morning and I was on the phone when he climbed on my chair, found the chocolate drink I bought for breakfast and sipped until the box is empty. That happened in a minute.
• He used to always borrow the Transformer toys I got free with some meal from a fastfood store until he broke it but during when he still loved playing with it, he would open my drawers to search for Optimus Prime and Barricade when he didn’t see them where he expected to. He does that even if he comes in late and I’m already out of the office. Next day, my boss would tell me that she had to arrange the mess of my desk because of BD’s scavenging.
• The little décor tree on my desk that he borrows to provide shade for his toy cars’ parking, he once placed in the pot of a real plant by our door. I only noticed when I poured old water from my drinking bottle. On a separate instance by the way, he borrowed my staple remover and pretended that it’s an herbivorous monster that gnawed the real plant.

He would always rush to see the photo even before the camera captures us. For this reason, I wasn’t able to focus my phone well to fit us both and I wasn’t able to retake either because he’s just too excited. Anyway, he’s the star today.

Oh well BD boy, happy birthday still.

A Mug For A Mug

A day before my birthday, I (slightly) vandalized someone's coffee mug. A day after, I received a gift. Guess what?


A coffee mug! Hah! The game of fate... Does this intend to remind me of the golden rule?

Anyway, I must thank its cheerful giver, Gracie. A sweet person she is, she has her way of making people feel special. An intellectual conversationalist, an eager listener, and a humble person. Her effort to personally deliver the gift is a gift itself. (pun intended) Her phone broke several days ago so we have no contact. She took advantage of her weekend break from her review classes for the Customs Broker Licensure Exams in Manila to meet me. She went to my school (also hers before graduating last March) holding on to the fact that all my classes are during the evenings but without assurance that I'll be in the campus that night; "aiming for the moon" they say. I really don't have classes and so I extended my stay in our office until I received a message in my phone saying that she wants to meet me. I've learned that she had to borrow the phone of my instructor and friend to be able to contact me. We promptly set to meet in minutes and the rest of the night was full of laughs and interesting and informative chats.


As for the mug, I think I'll use it as a pen holder so in case anybody would think of fooling around and make it a flower vase, at least I'm not using it for drinking. Now I'm being haunted by my own ghost. *grinning*

A Special Day

Today is my birthday. I consider it among if not my best but I’m not giving myself the gift of adequate sleep by forcing myself to stay awake to have this posted within 24 hours despite several prior drafts still await publication.

The Ad

A colleague makes monthly Birthday Celebrants posters. Previously were Photoshopped cartoons of the celebrants. Trademark traits of every celebrant are listed next to their names. This month, the concept was a magazine cover. I’m the first on the list and the catchphrase reads, “IT professional and working for the government? Bring out your inner FASHIONISTA. You can be fab too”.

Birthday celebrants posted on our corkboard

Yin Yang Prelude

Yesterday, something good and bad happened. The bad one was losing my SIM card which I’d used for 5 years after I ignored my hesitation that it might get lost by placing it in my mobile phone’s jacket instead of zipping it in my wallet.

The good one was the fun we had before going home. Ok, it wasn’t all good because it’s a little evil but nonetheless fun. My computer had a trouble in the morning and the technician who serviced it was drinking coffee while waiting progress in his troubleshooting. Eventually, he left his tall mug on the shelf behind my partition until office hours ended. I picked it up and showed it to an officemate and remarked, “See? Raymund left his coffee mug in my place. Good enough they (the technical support staffs) don’t bring their mugs when they render field service to other offices or else they’ll be leaving it in other buildings”. Then it entered my clever mind so casually just like how air enters my nostrils. “What if I make this a flower vase, how would he react if he finds out?” Then the ever-supportive Jing grinned which triggered the enthusiasm and further brainstorming. She even remarked, “What if you also put soil?” but no sooner she retracted this joke. Ok, the soil might be a joke but that didn’t mean spoiling the plan that’s just conceived. “Why not?” I thought. “The past 22 birthdays were quite monotonous and typical. My wish for this year is to have some adventure”. The plot was formulated and carried-out in cooperation of my office pal and our immediate supervisor. That is to turn someone’s coffee mug into a vase and make it appear that it was given by somebody who was completely clueless about to whom the mug belongs. The two accomplices descended the building armed with a pair of scissors and gathered nearby wild flowers which made a nice bouquet; a lot more than I expected. Now, to still retain a pinch of surprise for me, I let Jing make the tags and didn’t read it until she had attached it to the vase. Since the mug’s design has the traits of a Libran (Raymund’s sign is Libra), she also searched online for the Cancer counterpart and taped it on top of the dedication tag. BTW, the tag reads “From Nag and Jing” because the climax of the plot is to see how the owner will react to find out that Nag (our supervisor) was one the masterminds. The centerpiece was set on the same spot where I found it to increase the probability that its owner will search in the place where he recalls to have left it.

Unfortunately, Raymund wasn’t visible the whole day which makes us wonder if he didn’t have coffee today or he already found out but decided not to spoil the “surprise” for me. We’re not losing hope in the next days though.

The evidence

Happy Birthday!

Mom woke me up by rubbing her fingertips on my cheeks and whispered her greeting. Her fingers were close in a rosebud-like form; I guess this is her way of kissing me now that I'm a grown man. Since she works somewhere far and her official time is an hour earlier than mine, she usually leaves while I’m still asleep and we only get to talk to each other in the evenings and on Sundays. Dad greeted me when I came down from the bedroom.

In the office, I'm glad to find my pals looking good as if dressed for the occasion. Jing is so thoughtful to get me a pint of ice cream on her way to work.

My supervisor's daughter scribbled her greetings for me

I have 2 boxes of pizza delivered in the office

Messageboard

Earliest - July 1: (Friendster Comment from Ann, Faculty)

Sweetest: My mom's

Most Persistent: Doth's (Our NetAd)

She forwarded through our WinMessenger, multiple copy-pasted 'happy bday' greeting 3 times thoughout the day plus her personal greetings

Most Unexpected: Sol's (a legal secretary who called and up to follow-up on something and greeted me afterward. Until now it puzzles me how she knew)

Unexpected:

Dan, former faculty in our school and director of theater arts (mailed through Friendster)

Dette, Manager in a nearby restaurant where we regularly eat. (Sent thru SMS)

Unknown Greetings: Those who might have texted me in the SIM card I'd lost yesterday thus whose numbers I also lost. This includes a greeting from the Insurance System in behalf of the President of the Philippines; last year I received one. This is computer-generated though

Double Two!

Just recently, I celebrated my birthday and turned 22. Oh well, a celebration there was none so it’s more appropriate to say that I had my birthday.

Greetings came through different media – SMS, e-mail, & verbal – and from different places from Makati City to two foreign countries. Plus, would you believe that I received a greeting from the President of the Republic of the Philippines? Honest! *wink*

I decided to challenge my mind and think of anything that has something to do with me and is associated with the repeated digit of my age – two.

Begin!

1. I have two given/first names
   
2. My initials are just a combination of two letters used twice.
   
3. This semester, I am enrolled to 5 subjects; I only have to attend to two of which.
   
4. We’re only two students enrolled for a major subject
   
5. Two birthday greetings came from overseas.
   
6. I know two people whose birthdates are a day before and after mine.
   
7. On my most recent birthday, the power went out twice due to heavy rains
   
8. I noticed two most common occurrences that happen on my birthday: it either rains or exams fall on the date (pity!)
   
9. I usually wake up two hours before our official working schedule
   
10. Since I was employed, I was issued two ATM cards. I lost the first one last month.
    
11. The two things I really wish to own now are a PC and a digital camera. (Philanthropists please!)
    
12. I am fond of playing The Sims 2.
    
13. My two favorite authors are Mitch Albom and Bob Ong.
    
14. My blog title has two nouns each having two syllables.
    
15. Other than my own, I usually read the horoscopes for two other zodiac signs.
    
16. The two careers I aspire most are Tourism and Academic.
    
17. I have two pillows on my bed.
    
18. I use two brands of facial moisturizer alternatingly.
    
19. I have yet collected two Transformers^TM toys which go free with a fastfood kiddie meal.
    
20. When I first posted a thank you message in Friendster bulletin for those who greeted me on my birthday, I forgot two persons (Sorry)
    
21. After that post, two more people greeted me in Friendster until this writing.
    
22. 2+2 adds to my lucky number: 4!
    

Cheers everyone!