all the signs point to one thing!

Kimi to McLaren. It's not confirmed yet but I really feel it. It is what it is - the second coming.

From a PR standpoint, I understand why they won't confirm it yet. As they are still fighting for third place with Ferrari, Kimi Raikkonen is technically still a competitor and a team like McLaren would serve their fans and sponsors well by assuring them that both their drivers, Hamilton and Kovalainen, have their full backing as they engage in one final battle in Abu Dhabi.  The non-confirmation of Raikkonen at this point is out of respect to outgoing McLaren driver Heikki Kovalainen.

Also from a PR standpoint, I can see that since a few races ago, they've already started laying down the groundwork for Kimi Raikkonen's return without anyone really confirming anything.  Even before it was confirmed that Raikkonen is leaving Ferrari, McLaren boss Martin Whitmarsh has been giving interviews and commenting about Raikkonen's good performance despite having a bad car. It's unusual for competitors to give praises to each other's drivers.  When Raikkonen won for the first time this year in Belgium, McLaren was the only team whose official quotes ALL contained congratulatory messages for Raikkonen.  In Singapore, a few days after Ferrari confirmed Alonso, Whitmarsh was asked if they wanted to take Raikkonen back and he just smiled.  In Japan, a few days later, McLaren's race preview quotes that were released to the media contained a lot of reference to Raikkonen's win in Japan in 2005 and how it brought back memories of the Suzuka circuit.

And now in Abu Dhabi, when asked about his options for 2010, Kimi explicitly said that if he were to stay in F1, McLaren is the only option even if Toyota also made an offer.  The other options aside from F1 are to go rallying or a year-long sabbatical.  He also kind of alluded to an agreement at the FIA press conference when he stated that his F1 contract allows rallying on the side. Well, he's been doing press activities for years and we all know that he isn't the type of guy who would be caught with his foot in his mouth.  In fact, I imagine it's a challenge to actually be his PR counsel because he'll refuse to say anything even if you want him to...  So for him to be able to state that casually could only mean that he knows an agreement has been reached and the deal is in the bag.

Then again, I could be over-reading things. I could be wrong but I hope I'm right!

qwertyuiop

Last Monday, you let us down but I was the one who took the cudgels for all of us.  I was really disappointed but instead of confronting you about it, I said I was gonna sleep it off and I did. I felt better on Tuesday despite the fact that you made no effort to own up to your shortcomings. Today came and you were at it again - disregarding directives and ignoring reminders. And tonight I decided to drink it off. Everything has a limit, you know. I wonder what you have for me tomorrow. BRING IT ON. You're so important... You see? You have your own blog entry.

asdladjfal;jf adsljfadsf

Ayoko na.

PUTANGINA!

status updates

If I compiled my 'would've been' status updates today, it would look like this.  Beginning at 8:55 A.M.:

1. Joy is back in the office. Back on earth. Back in the real world.
2. Joy is about to have a quick lunch before going to a meeting that she actually knows nothing about.
3. Joy talked her way through the meeting she knew nothing about and came out tops. How often she can wing things like this, she isn't sure.
4. Joy is utterly disappointed and frustrated that things aren't turning out the way they're supposed to.
5. Joy lost her cool again this afternoon and regrets that she did... but on second thought, that outburst was actually quite 'contained' already. Clap, clap, clap.
6. Joy thinks she needs a course on people management 101. Mission mentorship = fail.
7. Joy should've just watched U2's Live concert stream on YouTube all afternoon instead of stressing out over something which didn't materialize anyway. Stress is the enemy. Mind over matter.
8. Joy wants Max's fried chicken for dinner - a notch higher than Jollibee's Chickenjoy in the comfort food list, but a few levels lower than beer in the overall comfort shit list. But not drinking tonight. No.
9. Joy needs a pick-upper and is driving through Skyway with Boom Boom Pow and Right Round on loop. Singing along but not necessarily feeling upbeat.
10. Joy 's dad actually made sure they had Max's for dinner to help brighten up her mood. How sweet!
11. Joy finds writing therapeutic and so here she is...
12. Joy is listening to Goo Goo Doll's "Name" and feels like crying for no apparent reason.
13. Joy is amused that the next song on her iPod is Hootie and the Blowfish's "Let Her Cry".  She really feels like crying for no apparent reason.
14. Joy is amused yet again that the song after Hootie's is Oasis' Stop Crying Your Heart Out. WTH?!!!
15. Joy wants to put her heart on a shredder now...  No, wait... Perhaps she wants to put somebody else's head on a shredder? It's empty anyway (referring to somebody else's head).
16. Joy now craves for Fritos Scoops + Fritos Mild Cheddar dip. No crying.
17. Joy dreads the weekend because it means the 2009 F1 Season is ending with the last race in Abu Dhabi and she'd have nothing to follow every other week for the next 3 months. Also Kimi Raikkonen's last race for Ferrari, and possibly his last in F1 (please, no!).
18. Joy feels like dancing everytime she hears Supermassive Blackhole. Wooohooo, booty shake! Yes, switched playlists already.
19. Joy will give away chocolates in the office tomorrow. Trick or treat! :)
20. Joy is shutting down in a while to go drive a few tracks on Ferrari Challenge on Wii. Must master breaking zones in Mugello! That's therapeutic activity #2 today. (11:55 P.M.)

So if I updated my Facebook status like this in a day (as much as some people do), do you think you know me any better than you do now? Yeah, of course not.

I wonder what's with all the "what are you doing" / "what are you thinking" status updates on SNS (social networking sites - picked that up from Singapore) that appeal to people a lot. I'm really just curious because I'm one of those people, too. I abuse Twitter, especially, because I know less people there than I do on Facebook so my tweeps couldn't really give a damn about what I 'share' there. It's a good way to communicate indirectly, and to a certain extent, a form of release but nothing more if you're not famous like Ashton Kutcher. Nobody really cares but we still do it.  Wonder what they'll come up with next (that I'll eventually succumb to)?

Airport Terminal Conversations

DEPARTURE
Episode Title: Katakawan

I recently went to Singapore along with some media for a product launch.  Four of us travelled together on the same flight departing for Singapore.  I arrived in the airport first so I parked myself in Tinderbox and waited for the others.  For the record, all I got for myself was a bottle of mango juice. I anticipated that the rest wanted breakfast before boarding so I hung out in Tinderbox. One by one, they came. Every time, I'd order a panini and orange juice at the counter.

Joy to waiter: I'll get one turkey sandwich and orange juice.
Waiter: Okay, ma'am, serve nalang nung kasama ko.
(I go back to the table, the order is delivered.  Moments later, another one of them arrives and I offer a sandwich. I go to the counter again because it's pay as you order.)
Joy to waiter: Isa pang panini, Tuna naman. And then orange juice din.
Waiter: Okay, ma'am. Dalin nalang namin don.
(I go back to the table and the order is delivered.  Minutes later the last one arrives. Again, I go to the counter to get him a sandwich but this time, he goes with me).
Joy to waiter: Isa pa ulit na panini. Tuna din. And bottled water.
Waiter (feeling close na siya): Aba! Mukhang nasarapan ka na talaga ha! Dalawang panini pa naman per order! Bilis mo!
Joy (bewildered): PUCHA! Akala mo ba ako kumakain lahat non?!
Media: Grabe ka pare, kahit malusog yan di pa siya kumakain ng kahit anong panini sa araw na to!

Guuuuuuuuuuuuuuh!!! What more can I say about this... nothing!


ARRIVAL
Episode Title: Katotoyan

After all was done and we're back in Manila, I stayed a little bit more at the airport's arrival area and had a much needed 'break' with one of them:

W: Uhm, Joy, by the way, may I ask how old you are?
Me: Sure. I'm 26.
W: Oh, okay...
Me: Is that consistent with how old you thought I was?
W: See, that's my problem. I'm having a hard time in that area. You look 24/25 but you act like 34... as if ang ang tagal mo nang ginagawa yang ginagawa mo. As if alam mo talaga yang ginagawa mo!

Well, is five years long enough? He's actually right about that because those five years actually felt like 10! But let me get this straight: he's saying I look young but I act like I know what I'm doing, right? but by adding that last phrase, he's kind of saying that as if  lang but not really? Haha! Funny ha.

In this instance, what does one really need to do to appear credible? Can't I just be like the female version of Peter Pan? As in Petra Pan? and live in Neverneverland and nevernever-have-to-do-anything-but-play? No? Okay. I'll just have to deal with it then. It's just weird now but I know I'll love it when I'm 40 and I'll still look 30! And when I'm 60 they won't accept my senior citizen's card because I look 50!

BUTT! I just have to say that in another airport, I didn't seem dubiously young to be suspected of carrying out an affair. THAT I wasn't prepared for. I actually wrote it already so I won't forget the experience, I just haven't published it yet (or if I'll ever get to finish the whole trip narrative. At least I'm done with the first part!). That one's quite the experience - I came so close to losing it at the immigration counter!

There's no such thing as love. It's a fantasy.

I love it when love stories don't end the way we expect them to. Love, love, love. A girl who doesn't believe in love, a guy who believes the opposite - love, fate, destiny. The guy pursues the girl, the girl responds to the guy... montage scenes of the guy and girl having fun together, then the girl breaks up with the guy out of the blue, the guy is devastated, the girl eventually gets engaged to a new guy, the old guy is even more devastated, the girl looks for old guy and talks to him one last time, old guy gets over it. Old guy meets new girl. Back to day 1.

The best thing about it is that it's a quirky rom-com that doesn't paint a rosy picture of what love is, rather, it gives a realistic take on relationships and why they don't work out the way they should. It's very creatively made with a nice parallelism of one's expectations and actual reality.  I just found it funny, too, that they included a dance sequence that is characteristic of lousy Pinoy movies, but the one here was entertaining to say the least.


Deconstruction 101
-----------------------------------

Tom: You never wanted to be anybody’s girlfriend and now you’re somebody’s wife.
Summer: That surprised me too.
Tom: I don’t think I’ll ever understand that… I mean it doesn’t make sense.
Summer: It just happened.
Tom: Right… but that, that’s what i don’t understand. what just happened?
Summer: I just, I just woke up one day and I knew.
Tom: Knew what?
Summer: What I was never sure of with you.
Tom: You know what sucks? That everything you believe in is complete and utter bullshit. It sucks. You know, destiny, soul mates, true love and all that childhood fairytale, none sense. You were right. I should have listened to you.
Summer: I guess it's coz I was sitting in a deli and reading Dorian Grey and a guy comes up to me and asks me about it. And now he is my husband. So what if I've gone to the movies? What if I had gone somewhere else for lunch? What if I'd gotten there ten minutes later?  It was meant to be and I just kept thinking. Tom was right.

Because we all need alone time.

Button needed "alone time" to celebrate

Despite his description by some as the "playboy world champion", Jenson Button did not celebrate wildly after securing the 2009 title in Brazil on Sunday.

The Briton had been scheduled to return to Europe on Sunday evening for a PR commitment, but his Brawn teammate Rubens Barrichello offered the use of his private jet so that he could stay another night in Sao Paulo.

But it emerges that 29-year-old Button stayed less than an hour at the team's party before returning to his hotel.

"I wanted a bit of alone time," he told British reporters, drinking a glass of white wine and wearing a t-shirt that read 'What goes around, comes around'.

"We all celebrate it in different ways, and for me to just chill on my own was the best thing for me. I was on the phone to my girlfriend, my family as well, my mum, so I was up until about 4am just lying in bed with a big grin on my face," said Button. 

Playing it by ear is the best itinerary you can have for a vacation

As much as I like being surrounded with people, I also like being alone. I insisted on getting my 'alone time' on my first day in NYC and that's what I remember most: walking alone in a totally new place with no absolute destination, without anyone to take me around, getting lost in spite of having a map and figuring my way out of the busy place. Was I excited? You bet! I just didn't look like it (heck, I was alone. That would've been funny)... but deep inside I'm like "Wooooooow, it's so beautiful, I wanna lie on the pavement!" kinda giddy. haha. TOURIST!  It must've been obvious that I was lost - three random strangers offered help with directions that day... Or maybe I was walking around, looking at the buildings with a smile on my face. yuuuuuuck!!! haha

Yon naman eh, smiling while alone eh di naman ako nanalo ng world championship!

mindbite for the day

Brazilian Drama

Interlagos never fails to produce one of the most dramatic races every year.  In 2007, Kimi Raikkonen won the world title in an amazing comeback which saw him triumph from a 16-point deficit to upset title favorites Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton.  He nipped the title with just a 1-pt advantage over the other two.  In 2008, on the last lap, Lewis Hamilton was in 6th place and looked as if he's losing the title to Felipe Massa as Hamilton needed to secure at least 5th.  Eventually, Felipe Massa won the race and was deemed champion for 30 seconds until Glock (in 5th place) lost grip and slowed down dramatically.  Hamilton overtook and crossed the line in 5th. And today... Button delivered.

Winning in style

Jenson Button, 2009 F1 World Champion! A lot of people doubted Button's capability, myself included.  I wasn't rooting for him -- I felt that he just wasn't up there yet with Alonso, Hamilton and Kimi and it just so happened he had a superior car.  Mid-season, it just looked like he'd blow it. But the point is, he delivered - and fiercely, he drove to the title.  It wasn't a case of everything falling into place. He worked really hard, particularly in this race where he had to make his way up from 14th place to 8th, enough to clinch the title. He did a lot of overtaking moves which have been pretty scarce in F1 lately - and this silenced doubters (oo na, myself included!).  After 9 years and some 190 races, he ain't just a pretty boy in the paddock anymore. He now has WDC to his name. Brawn is a success story in itself, and Button's is a very deserved win. Kudos!

From zero to hero.


No fire can make the Iceman melt




Star Sports Commentator (during race highlights): Kimi Raikkonen, the Iceman... Remained as cool as ice even when his face was on fire! He just didn't care and went on!

After the incident, Raikkonen reported that he got petrol in his eyes and they were burning but he saw the fire went out and he kept going in the hopes of scoring more points for the Scuderia. Ferrari, after all, needed to keep third place in the constructor's championship otherwise they'll lose £10 million to McLaren. He started in 5th, charged to 3rd after Turn 1 and got involved in separate incidents with Red Bull and Force India which required him to return to the pits to change tyres and get a new front wing at the end of Lap 1.  He came back in P14, fought on to recover and finished 6th. Talk about determination and dedication even when it's already known that he's leaving Ferrari next season.  He is part of the team until officially out.

My eyes are still burning, but I'm alright.

I love this.

From Coco. :) I actually said something like this before...

3 years ago, Gweilos:

Me (after taking a long swig of beer, poker faced): 

"I don't need to put up with this crap to earn a living."

(PAUSE)

(HAHA! Ang drama!)

I was complaining about a certain person who used to make life more difficult for us than it already was, when in an ideal situation, cooperation should be a given in the backyard.

Things have changed, since. For the better.

AND the post ends here.

I thank you. Bow.

Is this addiction already? No? Good!

I was tweeting earlier about how I needed (or wanted... whatever) a drink but I also needed to finish some work. When all the people left the office, it became eerily quiet and lonely so I decided to relocate but didn't want to go home yet as I'm already in the zone.  To make the long story short, I had a choice between working in Starbucks or somewhere else. Or simply, it was coffee or beer.

Guess what? I didn't go to Starbucks. Haha. It's the first time I tried this -- went to a Greenbelt restaurant, requested for a table outdoor near a power outlet, ordered beer and food, and worked there.  I guess because I was so busy and into what I was doing, it didn't matter that I was alone.

Five beers later, I was done. Productive!

"Good teams can lose, but they recover and bounce back."

Perhaps, in our day-to-day battles, we can pick up a thing or two in the success story that is the Ateneo Blue Eagles 2009 basketball campaign.  Reposting a part of Fr. Niebres' homily at the mass before the bonfire - a great read.

Now that we have won the championship, we can look back to the embarrassing and painful loss to UE in Game 2 and see that it was a grace in that it taught our team and, I hope all of us, many lessons.

I hope Coach Norman won’t mind my telling what I recall of the story of lessons learned. He can correct my memory where it is inaccurate.

In the dugout Sunday after the loss, Coach Norman began by confronting the players

With what they did not do. “We are a defense team. Did we play defense?” “Our offense is premised on an inside game, inside first, from inside to outside. Did we do that?”

With what they did – “Look, you took this outside shot, look at the shot clock, still 15 seconds. No need to do that. I do not mean that you should not take the shot if you are free. But that is not our first option.”

He said, we all made mistakes, your coaches acknowledge their mistakes. You have to acknowledge your mistakes too. Not to blame others, but to face yourself.

Lesson 1, my favorite leadership guru, Heifetz, says that moving forward begins with: “Acknowledge your share of the mess .”.

Then Coach Norman shifted. He asked: “How many games did we win? 15. It is not easy to win 15 games.” Meaning, this defeat is not abnormal, it happens to good teams. Good teams can lose, but they recover and bounce back.

Then: Look around you, this circle is what counts and what should count for you. When you leave this room, you will hear a lot of negative comments. Ignore them, listen only to your circle here.

Finally: Tomorrow we prepare for Thursday’s game.

Lesson 2: Reframe the problem. A good leader moves on to reframe the problem – moving towards positive steps to a solution.

When I joined them Monday late afternoon, I was much impressed that Coach Norman had been spending a lot of time talking one on one with the players.

Then in the group session, he started: “How many games do we still have to play? One. Just one. If we win, we will silence all negative comments. If we lose, you can throw out your 15 game wins, you can throw out your winning statistics against UE. Only one thing counts, Thursday’s game.”

Lesson 3: Focus on the one key thing to be done – WIN GAME 3.

Then with the coaches he went through the tapes and play by play showed what went wrong and what had to be done. They translated the overall exhortation and focus into detailed deliverables. “See – UE ran this pick and role play 17 times, you tried to steal the ball and fell behind your man and he swept by you for the layup. Stay in front of your man. Stay in front of your man.

Lesson 4: Translate the exhortations and motivation into behavior, into detailed deliverables.

From then on, practice was on execution, execution, execution.

Last Thursday you saw the results – suffocating defense, dominant inside game, decisive victory. It was not an accident, not suwerte. Hindi sa sinuwerte ang UE noong linggo at sinuwerte tayo noong huwebes. It was the fruit of hard work, coming from lessons learned, leadership and unity coming from a defeat.

Underlying it all is a deep trust between coach and players and among the players themselves. “Listen to your coach. We your coaches work very hard to study the games and to design how you can win.”

Full text here.

aaaaaaaaaaw.

(Click on image to enlarge)

Every now and then, children need to be assured that they're making their parents proud.  That, perhaps, is one of the best votes of confidence one can ever have. Just like when we were younger - it really makes us feel better when our moms would kiss our wounds to make the pain go away.

Same shit, different day.

Why am I always at fault? Not fair.

Aaaaaargh. I just wanna be on the beach.

Today (well, I mean yesterday. It's about 2 am) is such a crappy crappy day and I just have to write about it.  

It's a combination of so many different little things that complicated my day and it's not even about work, really. Work is just about 10% of it and it's actually not the work itself, only part of it, and there comes a point when you don't care anymore and just forget about whatever it is that stressed you out. If you get what I mean.

About the other things, - I'm not going to air my dirty laundry here.  All I wanna say is that things would've been clearer and less complicated if my brother were still here to listen to me rant and then make me see things in a better light.  Rather than what I'm doing now, if he were here, we're probably out in our little garden having a long conversation about my issues over microwaved popcorn and Coke. Haaaay.  You never really get to appreciate these little moments until you realize that you can never ever experience them again.

Although... I have to stress that I don't really run out of people to talk to, but there are times when I just miss talking to my brother. The conversation is just not the same with anyone else. I miss, miss, miss.

I'm a proud Atenean.

woooooooooooohooooooo! (pero pabulong lang!) -- inside joke :)


Too bad I didn't get to see the game live. I was in HK. Then again had I not been in HK, I would've also only seen this on TV as it happened on a Thursday... followed by a pizza party at the office just like winning the championship last year! It's actually nice to have an Atenean as a boss because wala mashadong bashers pag nanonood kami ng game in the conference room and it seems okay with him kahit lantarang wala kang ginagawang productive for 2 hours. May libreng pizza pag panalo, tahimik lang lahat pag talo. Hahaha. Although baduy minsan dahil walang kumokontra!

Things to do in Hong Kong

1. BUY TAIKOO BROWN SUGAR CUBES FOR MY BOSS   2. BUY PLASTIC BOOTS FOR MY COLLEAGUE  3. AND OH YES... ATTEND AND PRESENT AT A REGIONAL PR MEETING. ...BLOGGING FROM THE AIRPORT AND I HAVE NO IDEA WHY SMALL CAPS DOESN'T WORK ON BLOGGER NOW & EVEN THE ENTER KEY! IT'S JUST NOT POSSIBLE TO MAKE PARAGRAPHS HERE! HOW ANNOYING!

Let's not blow it like we did 2 years ago!

Ohhhhkay... someone's probably still hungover from the trip. What the hell am I doing up at 3am with nothing to do? I can still even hear the song in my head... California, Californiaaaaaah

This afternoon was a typical cloudy day in the Philippines (the one when it's like it's going to rain but not quite), but I was sweating loads! I would've probably sweat a lot more than the basketball players in Araneta had we not found a spot directly under an aircon in the coliseum. Guess you probably appreciate the good weather elsewhere when you're reminded of how it's so much better than hot and humid.

Add the fact that Ateneo actually LOST the game by a margin of probably more than 15 points. Not good. So not good! AM I REALLY HOME? I must be dreaming! How could we lose like that? We could've been champions today but we're not and we now find ourselves in a position where we could easily lose the championship to a team who wants it more than we do.  UE has not won a championship for something like 24 years and that will definitely work up their psyche. It's ours to lose. The Blue Eagles better not choke because it sure is gonna be embarrassing to do so effing well the whole season except in the games that matter. It's like crashing in the final lap after leading the race since the start. Oh, c'mon!

It's do or die in Thursday and I won't be here to see it.  Well, goodluck, boys. I'll be elsewhere in Asia Pacific holding out on my own while you battle for pride and glory.  I just hope to get some good news on Thursday.

Meanwhile...

We've been on the run, driving in the sun, looking out for number one... Ayan na naman! I'll try to sleep again.  The whole trip deserves it's own blog entry anyway, one that's not written through the tiny QWERTY keypads of this mobile phone.

I'm back at work in a few hours, fully recharged. Bring it on, bitches! Harhar! :)

It's imminent...

Kimi will return to McLaren!

Hello from San Francisco! :)