I Hate Being the Middle Man

I've always applied this in my life that when I want to get my message across somebody else, I'll talk to them myself. I've pretty much avoided using middlemen in all my personal dealings even in relationships. But the exception to this is when I'm at work. Oftentimes, I will talk to the person concerned whether they are high-raking officials or not. I doesn't bother me as long as I get my message across. Pretty much, I know how to play their game, you must be the humble one when trying to deal with them to make them appear that they are gracious for something that you ask for, even if it's not theirs. Ironically, we refer to it as respecting our elders even if there is nothing respectable about them.

And sometimes, I'm scolded by my superior because I don't delegate such things. For me it's not really about delegating something that I can do much better myself. And oftentimes, the message gets distorted when it passes through many channels. I want to hear the reply myself so that I can process and act on it quickly with minimal or no supervision at all.

This past few weeks, I became a middleman for my office and a certain organization. At first my supervisor approves what they are asking for but as the days goes by he has grown to dislike them because of their demands. And now, I'm in the middle of it all, they request something and my supervisor angrily declines it but it is I who has to talk to them. We tried to delegate this job to somebody else but they are still contacting me for all their requests. My job is to politely tell them what my supervisor is angrily ranting about. It's difficult to to this because I also have to try to have them believe that we are an accommodating and helpful office. But in reality, my supervisor is only accommodating to the ones he finds useful in the future.

I hate being the middleman because it is my job that a rift don't come across both organizations to maintain a semblance of camaraderie between the two. It doesn't help when one is so demanding and the other is disgruntled.

Pity me, because I still have to keep us this charade for a few more days.

A Week of Comedy

This week, I again indulge myself in watching videos of several stand-up comedy routines. They were videos of the following comedians:

• Ricky Gervais - Live : Politics
• Bill Connolly - Live in New York
• Lewis Black - Red, White & Screwed and Back in Broadway
• Rex Navarette - Hella Pinoy
  
• Bob Saget - Comedy Central Roast
• 

I liked the performance of Ricky Gervais in his routine. It was funny and i could understand most of his subjects even with his British accent. I had difficultly before understanding British shows before because of their twang. I am used to hearing the American accent. This is the first time I watched his stand-up performance and I liked it a lot. I also liked his performance in the movie Ghost Town, one of my fave movies.


As for Bill Connolly, I had trouble understanding his routine because of his Scottish accent. I can only undertand a few segments when he speaks slowly but when he's on a roll, I get lost.


Lewis Black is one of the comedians I can identify with. His routines are usually delivered as rants and I liked them. I can see myself in his routine because I usually rant my observations at home or in the office. I tend to express views that are not usually said in public. By the way, they are not crude or obscene, they're just observations about people and society in general.


Rex Navarette is a Filipino comedian who's routines usually talk about Filipino customs and Filipinos living abroad. I can get most of his jokes but in "Hella Pinoy", his routine is not so refined. Maybe, he's better seen live.


I first heard of Bob Saget as a comedian in the documentary "Aristocrats". He was described as a comedian's comedian who's routine is usually composed of foul ideas. But of this video that I got, he was being roasted by his peers and he only got to speak for a few minutes. I'm still searching for a copy of his videos.

Tomorrow Should Have Been My Rest Day

As with most employees, I look forward to a relaxing weekend were there is no paperwork do do in the office but, alas, I was informed today that I will be working tomorrow with my boss to do some unfinished work that was supposedly due this week.

I'm quite disappointed because during Saturday, I wake up late to recover some of my lost sleep during the past week. This is the time for me to sit back and relax and maybe watch a movie or two. But this is the life on an employee, you have to work when you're asked to during weekends.
Just suck it up and do my job even if I don't feel like it.

What's Up With The Weather?

It been rather hot the whole morning that you dread going out of the office and then right when you're about to go home, the rain pours heavily. Flu has been rampant nowadays with this unpredictable weather pattern.

As a child, my parents would advise me to go out and have some sunshine. But now, even adults wouldn't like to stay out long under the sun. The sun's heat pierces the skin and it burns. In the morning right after I have taken my bath, I am already sweating. I used to feel refreshed after showering but now it's different with this weather.

There's been a lot of talk about climate change and I believe that it's already happening right now. Some of the "experts" argue that it's just part of nature's cycle and not made by the pollution contributed by man and their machines.

I have a question though, could we still repair the damage done or are we just minimizing it's effects? I was wondering how we could repair the hole in our ozone layer that's been damaged. What are the end result of the environmentally-friendly activities being developed?

Sleep Mode at Work

It is Monday and for almost the whole day, it was raining. However, in the afternoon, there was heavy downpour and immediately the lights went out. For almost 4 hours, there was no electricity in the office.

What was I to do ion such a situation?

Well, most body started its sleep mode. The cool breeze was enough to entice me to sleep and the absence of electricity makes me want to go home and lie down in bed. The problem was that it was still one in the afternoon but may body was already in sleep mode. It was quite embarrassing to take naps in the middle of briefing and meetings when you superior is in front on you. It happened for most of the afternoon. I thought that maybe the loss of electricity would lessen the workload but my superior was still in his usual busy self going to other offices that were partially illuminated compared to our office. It was almost pitch black in our office because we have no windows.

Often work, I immediately went home and slept. Awoken only in time for dinner.

This weather is usually bad but if this happens on weekends, I would have loved to slept through it.

New Cellphone

I have just received my new cellphone. As with all postpaid accounts, every two years one gets a new cellphone. Although I'm in tune with the latest technology and gadgets, I am not a techie. People who just by the latest models of anything revolving around technology & gadgets. I see some who just have them for bragging rights. For them to say that they have the latest even though some of them don't know that much about the thing that they have. There are some who keeps looking for new applications and features in their cellphones even though they wouldn't use it that much. Although some people are excited about watching TV shows or videos in their cellphones, I am not one of them. It only stains my eyes and let's be frank about it, would you really want to watch something in those tiny screen in your cellphones. Come on, we are buying or dreaming of buying the latest plasma or wide screen television sets and yet some are ecstatic that their cellphones have TV capabilities. If ever these phone manufacturers invent a cellphone that projects video or images towards any surface, much like the projectors, then I would be one of the many people who buy them.

I'm pleased with my new cellphone because it has some features that I was looking for. One of the obstacles that I'll be facing now is to teach my fingers again on the operations of the new cellphone. My fingers almost had a cramp when I used it earlier to type in again my contacts. I have gotten so attuned with my old cellphone that I can even text without watching the screen. Old models have little fuzz regarding its use but the newer models and modeled upon personal computers which means that we get features that we wouldn't even use during the cellphone's life span.

I just think that technology should help make our lives easier and not complicate it further with details that we shouldn't be thinking about in the first place.

Working on Weekends

I really don't like working on weekends or on holidays. When I work on those days, my mind is not on the job. I'm not as effective as I can be. This also goes with bringing work at home, I can't really focus on what I'm doing. For me, the office is place where I work and my home is the place where I relax.

Just this morning, I had to go to work to complete some task and just as I was about to go home, my boss informed me that I also have to work on Monday, which as recently declared as a holiday. It's not that I don't like working, it's just that I can't focus well during those times. My mind and body wants to relax but it has to work. That's why when I arrived home this afternoon after work, I slept for most of the after and woke up just in time for dinner.

Well, I can't get out of working on weekends or holidays because it is one of the constraints of being an employee, you have to do what you are tasked to do.

My Computer is Back

I've just had my computer repaired by a friend of mine. It was infected by the jollibee virus and it slowly destroyed my operating system. It was only repaired by re-formatting. Who the heck created that virus? Maybe it's from Surigao as displayed in the start-up page.

We must all be careful with these viruses nowadays because most of them cannot be detected by the common anti-virus softwares available in the market. And most of them readily attach to the flash drives when inserted into an infected computer. That's how my computer was affected because my mother used her flash drive that was infected in her office computer.

Is there a way to prevent viruses or malicious scripts from entering our flash drives? I still haven't seen such a software for that purpose.

Rough Day

It was one of those days where everything started fine and then... boom. One mistake after another and I'm right in the middle of it. I have nothing to do with it but I was involved due to the fact that I was the middle-man. All I could do is get mad because I can't do anything about it. I was not in-charge and I was made to help fix some of the problems under time pressure. Although the whole thing went out fine but when it was ill-prepared then every mistake is noticeable and under the watchful eye of everybody. I hate seeing things like that especially when a family member is involved. Some may call me arrogant of something to the that I don't mix work with family. You treat me as an employee to an organization when I am at work and not as a relative. But most people don't tend to see it that way, they both think that since you're family and then you should get involved in their work.

What I really don't like to do is being tasked to help one's family in the function of their job. It makes them look like they don't know what they're doing especially when I am tasked to coordinate with them. I know that they're doing the best that they can given the limited resources that they have but still other people tend to see it otherwise. They just see it as inefficiency of work if they don't do it like they say it should be done.

We live in a place where people doesn't differentiate work-related and family-related businesses. I think this is why there is so much corruption prevalent in our country because they break rules just to accommodate family members.

I live in a place where you will be blamed for not helping your family even when they are wrong. Where the truth is not important, where proper procedure is not followed just to accommodate their family.

When a family member is wrong, I will say that they are wrong. I won't defend them but I will stay by their side as family. But when they are wrongly accused of something then I have to tell them how to fight back.

I hate to be in that position because I would rather do what was required myself and be blamed for whatever that might happen rather that see a family member ridiculed for allegedly not doing their job. When push came to shove, I know where I will stand, family comes first. And I don't want it to come to that point because I am not afraid of any of my superiors even even if it costs me my job.

Too Much Praise for Nothing

Have you ever been praised for something you're not? I have and I don't like it because deep inside I know that I'm not what they're praising me for. Even more degrading is the fact that the people who praised you are well-known rumor-mongers.

I have a problem with praises because oftentimes they are exaggerated. This is especially true when you're gossiping about someone and then the next is that they are comparing your abilities to theirs. I feel uncomfortable with this because when you dislike another, you would divulge something that would be detrimental to the character of that person you despised. And when you're praised in that round of gossiping is very awkward because you know that they're exaggerating things around you and the person you're talking about.

I am no stranger to gossiping because most of the time I try to know the truth about someone being gossiped. I first verify the information that I heard inconspicuously. I don't use these knowledge about the person. I just treat is as an information to be considered the next time I will be dealing with that person. As what we've been told often, "Knowledge is Power" and "Information is Key in Decision-Making", it is wise to have foreknowledge of something that you're about to deal with or do about.

Although praises are good for the ears, be wary with praises because they could affect your judgment if you hear them often especially when they're false.

Don't try to boost your ego at the expense of other people's lives.

I Am Not My Work

Working for a someone who isn't particularly liked by many is sometimes a burden to carry. People would often assume that you agree with everything that you're superior is doing. Even more so when you are good at the jobs assigned o to you. They would greet you mockingly on how you're superior is doing and wondering why you get along with them despite the different public opinion. Worse of all, they tend to see you as your superior which is for me a disrespectful thing to do.

I am just an employee who does what is required of me that is not illegal or immoral. I do what is assigned and do it well. It is not my problem if people see my supervisor at a different light. For me to be an asset to my superior and my efficiency in doing my job doesn't coincide with my personal opinions on him as a person. Personal opinions that need not be brought out in public because they are insignificant in the performance of my job.

Reacting to this sort of disparaging remarks is not acceptable in public because they could turn it against you even if you know that what they say is a mockery of what you are. Rants like this is not common in the workplace where people often have to put masks to hide their true opinions for fear of negative repercussions.

It is in the place like this that individuality is lost because you have to bend down to the will of the people who thought that they "fed you". That think that you always have to agree to them.

Please note that "I am not defined by the person I work for" because "I will not be defined by the limitations set upon me".

I choose to be me.

Postponed yet again

We were supposed to go to a campsite in another and enjoy their facilities such as rappelling and zip-lines, however, it was indefinitely postponed due to the heavy rains and strong winds that our town is experiencing in the past three days. The weather is erratic. It would rain heavily for a couple of hours in the morning and after that a very humid weather.

I was kinda looking for that trip because it's that time again that I crave for some sort of adventure. Many people think that I am such a boring person because I live a quiet life but they don't realize that I am up for some adventure. I jump from high places to a pool or directly into the sea even if I'm afraid of heights or jump in the middle of the ocean and try to swim even if I'm not an adept swimmer. I like to try out adrenalin-pumping activities. I just hate the drinking of alcohol part that they do after or before that.

I don't need some chemical to motivate me to do something or to enjoy my life. I like a good conversation and a good meal, not some sort or filthy conversations that people do to make themselves noticed by their companions or mock other people. I do critique others, sometimes, even on a personal level but I don't exaggerate things just to malign them. I base my opinions on facts and experiences.

Well, I just hope that it goes through next month or made my friends and I can plan for some sort of vacation this summer.

Do You Take Me Seriously?

How would you know if a woman is considering you for a place in her heart? I've been bothered by this thought from day one. Do you take me seriously when I voice out my concerns for you or me wanting a moment of your time to express my feelings? A lot of questions that are yet to be answered. All I wanted was to know if I'm one of your choices. The end result that I want is not even considered yet.

I just don't want to be the person you think as a nuisance but can't express it to me for fear of losing someone. I'm just hoping for a hint of an answer to that question. I have to know. It was never an intention of mine to be thought of a bother to a person's life.

I would never force anyone to like me.

I want to be chosen, not just settled for.

If anyone of you know of any way for me to know this, your comments are welcome.

What's Up with The Internet Connection

The internet at home is out again for the past five days. What's up with that? I'm paying my monthly bills regularly but there is no internet connection. The bad thing about it is that I will still be charged with the same fixed monthly payment even if there is no connection for a couple of days. Some say that it is due to change of PhilCom management which is now bought by PLDT. With the change of personnel, simple repairs are not readily remedied because there are no personnel available in our city. They must contact their main branch to get people to repair minor problems. I hope that their service will improve because it is hassling their many consumers.