tj cafuir | the Life and Times

So there was the Inane Rambler and me at 1:30 in the afternoon preparing our Amazing Race station. See the brown thing I’m holding? That’s a ridiculously priced tanning lotion (so fag, I know).

See, I really hate my pale white skin. Why? Because girls think I’m gay just by looking at this whitey so-called conyo skin! So I went on a mission to totally darken it. Now after soaking as much sun as I could, it was an epic fail. All I got was sunburn. Now my back skin throbs like hell and instead of getting a tan, all I got is red. ****’in burnt red.

Ouch. Even my arms are so burnt.

My skin is a curse. And it’s not even tisoy white. It’s white-yellowish Korean skin. Ewww. And hey, you should see my legs. Double ewww. Why can’t I have surfer tan? Dammit. Blah, I go now. Till the next tanning moment, girls please. Don’t judge a man by his skin. Judge him by his…

Curls. Ay fabolous! Wahaha! Thanks Nan and Kupy for the pics.

It’s really frustrating that I now have a domain of my own and a quasi-realized Movie Blog and yet find no time to update them both. FlickSide, I mean come on. It’s been a year long dream to have this blog made! Shiz.

Work really is becoming the center of life. There is pressure I tell ya. Especially now that certain responsibilities are being passed to us from the upper management, stepping up to the plate is not an initiative. It’s mandatory. But you know me, I’m off to bat the challenges. Keep ‘em balls coming. But again, the movie blog has to suffer. At least for the time being. If only there’s more than just 24 hours a day and if only I have the capacity to go on by the extended hours. By then, there’ll be no Twitter rants of I’m so swamped with work and I’m tired blah blah. All there’ll be are great movie reviews.

Anyways, I consider my work as a blessing. It’s honestly all that I have. And even if these times are most demanding, all that matters is that there is always something good to come out of it.

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I’m in love with someone. Is she the girl I got caught holding hands with? No, we’re just friends and things are going to stay that that way. There is something more valuable that just being together with someone. I’m so thankful to know her. She’s like cool waters and I’m scorched sand. It’s so good that we’ve met.

So who’s the one I’m in love with? Nah, I haven’t met her yet. Wehe.

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Tomorrow the Marketing Department heads off to the beach! The timing couldn’t be more perfect. Everyone longs for a vacation especially those who’s been clogged with work recently. It’ll be fun seeing them having a good time. And me too! I’ll be having a great time as well. Maghuhukay ako ng mga booby traps tapos mang hihiram ako ng Video Cam. Then kunwari interview, sasabihin ko oi “Urong ka pa dito banda” then kapow! Hulog sa butas huling huli ng camera upload agad sa YouTube.

Wahaha. Good times. Ay salamat.

April 3 marked my first year at US Auto Parts. Time went so fast. It’s as if it was just yesterday when then clean-cut Tj arrived at the company doorsteps.

Back then the office looked like a security agency. The walls of the 6th floor were wobbly enough that if punched, the cracked wood would reveal a striving termite metropolis. Down at the first floor where my department is, things were like the twilight zone. Sometimes the air from the a/c would freeze you to death, sometimes it burns your scalp. Fume from the comfort room can be so toxic that the last visitor would not be able to make it back to his/her seat. There were only a few employees to accord to. Some of them have already gone, some remained.

A lot of things has changed since then.

The 6th floor pantry now houses our NBA 2K8 Xbox wars which are waged in front of Samsung Plasma Screen. I’m pretty sure there are no more termites around, ultra-modern furniture is quite a tough chew. The wind doesn’t blow four seasons anymore, only but a comfortable atmosphere weathers us. US Auto Parts is now a well respected in-house BPO company. And perhaps the biggest change that happened, our department expanded. New faces were welcomed, new bonds were formed.

I am a witness to year that has passed. If I look at my co-worker’s faces right now, I can see the changes that has happened to them. It’s all great, but you know what? Some of them haven’t changed a bit! These people are exactly the same the way they were twelve months ago. For better or for worse, I don’t care. Sometimes what matters is that they’re here, and that we can turn to them for being exactly who you accepted them to be, at work and in person.

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Back then you were reading Half the World Away, now it’s Life and Times. Have I changed? If someone has an answer, please don’t bother to tell. May or may not, all that matters is that we’re here. For better or for worse, all that matters is that there’s always another year. There is growth for sure, always, as time goes by.