Trick or Treat!

And Happy Halloween!And Happy Birthday to my Grandma!

Just an update

This whole "job thing" is now totally official. Discussed things both in the office and over beer, toured the head office in Makati, signed the contract, have a pending employee and medical exam, and I start in less than 96 hours. Holy macaroni. If anything is happening, if you want me to feature something, please please don't hesitate and email me at: erika.m.tapalla@gmail.com.
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My garage sale yesterday was quite merry.
We had so much junk (some nice and some trashy lol) to get rid off, but the day was mostly composed of eating, blending mangoes, and catching up with a good friend, which is always, always fortifying, especially if there is so much going on. Another good friend also stopped by, despite a hectic schedule, which I totally appreciate! Seriously, selling, is just the most tiring and frustrating thing ever. If there's one new thing I learned about myself, it's the fact that I really cannot be a salesperson for 2 reasons: 1. I don't like people who mess things up and then just leave! and 2. When they ask for a discount, I totally give it to them.

I made approximately a grand, lol.
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I hung out with my cousins today after a loooong time. I met my newborn cousin too!Plus, the weather was all windy and chilly, making it a perfect day to just bum and be surrounded by little children.

Hired!

I'm the new multimedia reporter for Inquirer.net starting on the day of the dead, Nov. 1. How ironic, now that I think about it. But anyway, my boss says, I'm actually the first multimedia reporter in the Philippines.

Pretty tight huh. I'm so overwhelmed and it hasn't really hit me yet. I actually have a serious job, with serious requirements, an intimidating boss with high expectations, and I'll be getting a monthly salary.

To be honest, I wasn't really sure of what position I was applying for until the day of the (most intimidating) interview. I thought I was going to be an online journalist: someone who writes stories, on call 24/7 armed with her own blackberry emailing stories whenever wherever. But turns out, I'm the first multimedia reporter: basically online video-reporting both on-cam and off-cam and hosting video/audio podcast shows.

Yesterday, I sat-in a podcast taping session and it was really fun: everything was extemporaneous, completely un-scripted, and raw.

I'm so so excited. If there's anything new, any suggestions for stories, anything going on in your part of town, please let me know so I can cover it.

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Plus, a friend and I are having a garage sale this Saturday! Cutting ties with extra baggage and remnants of the past is so liberating.

Great

It's going to be an active, active morning and I feel that "great" feeling. That feeling you get when you know you're right and your sister just keeps insisting she's right and you end up right all along; and instead of yelling IN YOUR FACE , you actually become the better person and just smile. It's a blend of that feeling and the moment you've conquered a huge fear:
I can't believe my mom actually talked me into skyjumping. It's effing insane! But it makes you feel mighty fine and super fly without having to ingest any thing; and the high is much longer. Great stuff.

Imagini

Came across this cool site today and decided to take a personality test. Personality tests can be fun and this time around, instead of answering via shading, rating, or hashing out a bunch of choices; the test makes you define questions through selecting images.

This is "me".

I thought it was fairly accurate.

You're having dinner and just as you know it, life ends

It was just yesterday that I told 2 people that same line, from a book I had just finished reading entitled: The Year of Magical Thinking.

You're having dinner and just as you know it, life ends.

I was in Eastwood, interviewing a designer when I received a very chilling phone call from my Mom whose voice was shaking when she uttered the words, "a bomb exploded in Glorietta". Her voice was faint, drowned by the loud sirens. "Where are you??" I asked. "At Rustans. Come home now." and she hung up.

I was frazzled. Rustans was right next to Glorietta. She was with my grandmother.

You're having dinner and just as you know it, life ends.

"I'm sorry, I'm afraid I have to leave." I told my interviewee. I was pretty much done with the interview, at least that's what I thought anyway...but in retrospect, I think the only thing I could think of was the easiest route home.

Unfortunately, my driver's cell could not be reached and along with the security guards in Eastwood, we could not find my vehicle. My father phoned in Camp Crame and I was to be picked up by my Uncle instead. My mom called in again, this time helplessly hysterical from the sight of wounded individuals, from the thought of me all alone scouting for my driver and car for approximately 3 hours already. At least they were okay. As for my driver and vehicle, I don't know.

I was running late for an interview with Inquirer.Net. I hoped they would understand, and I'm sure they were probably hella busy and I was the least of their concern. I was worried about my driver. He never does this and has been with us for over 21 years. Did he fall asleep in the parking lot? What if he was asleep and the crook took the car and killed him and dumped his body in some bush? What if he had a heart attack?

You're having dinner and just as you know it, life ends.

But everyone turned out to be ok.

R.I.P. to the victims of the Glorietta blast and a speedy recovery to the injured many.

The way I think this is going is up

It's my last break where I am legitimately allowed to mooch off of my parents so I was planning to completely milk them dry and live la vida loca. I was imagining drunken nights with bloodshot eyes from sniffing too much shebang; coming home with a cigarette burn, or a cigarette hole right through my skin tight leggings blotched with remnants of last night's dinner; smelling like a day old ashtray with nicotine, alcohol and dope coming out of my pores.

But I'm a good girl.

A good girl attracted to the excellent self-destructives and their hallucigenic realities where the clouds in the sky become the very ground they walk on.

Mmmmm. The sweet smell of bad. How I wish it didn't smell too good.

But I am a good girl.

So I read, worked, and went to lunch with my mother and her motormouthed friends like I promised. And like I had already anticipated, the lunch was way weird. Since I was forced to sit there, I think I have prematurely learned three different parenting styles, and officially accepted that parents really "have been there and done that". Double whammy. So to all tweeners out there thinking you're too smart to get caught, think again, buddy.

Then again, life is too short to live safely. So carpe diem man. I salute you all brave souls lurking in this murky world of fake rules and false truths.

So a lot happened today which required me to do some pre-carpe diem-ing for my future days. Not cool and totally not fun especially when you have people breathing down your neck on where you should be and what you should do with your life. Hello, last time I checked it was my brain that made me eye blink.

It's exhausting -- having to constantly re-assert yourself. It sucks even more if you're a wuss and place great importance on what your parents think of you. It's sucks ten times more when you're at that point, that feeling of standing at the edge of the cliff, and you look back and realize you've shaped your path exactly as how they would have wanted you to shape that path; and you've done such a good job at it that now, you have no idea on what shape you would've wanted that path in the first place.

I think these are the little moments when the stench of bad makes my mouth water.

I really am a stone cold fox

So when will my passionate Prince plucker up with his micro torch and melt my heart.

Anyway, I spent the morning lounging. Felt good until that head rush-- you know, when you get up suddenly and your surroundings get all fuzzy and nearly lose sight. Then I thought it was high-time I stop the lounging and do some cleaning.

As you might know from my "About Me" section on the left, I like clutter. And I like clutter because it makes me feel hopeful that somewhere in that tall pile of junk, I'll one day find a treasured memory of something I'd forgotten. It makes me feel secure, cause then I know "that something" is "there", "somewhere", but "there".

I'm sure you know of that feeling.

I tried to get past that whole trying-to-save-every-memory feeling by throwing stuff away. Old notebooks from the fifth grade, readings, lectures, handouts, pens that don't work, pens that skip, pens that do work but look ugly, and other random stuff in drawers I haven't opened. It was hard, but it really makes you feel better, I can attest to that. You almost feel reborn...I mean with all the new space around you, isn't it exciting to fill it up again? Seriously though, it feels good to get rid of things you don't need; it almost feels like you accomplished something.

Then, I caught up with a few close friends the easy way: electronically. It was refreshing...as refreshing as eating nonstop for the next 3 hours. Ugh. I have become very fond of eating. Very fond, that in fact I spend the nothing days of my life doing it and the stressful days of my life overdoing it.

Must.stop.chewing.and.swallowing.and.dreaming.of.sizable.amounts.of.food.

It's over, now what?

Thought I'd update this old thing since I actually have immense time to revive my online limbs and do some selfish deep-seated catharsis.

So, I added pictures of individuals I admire, some inspiring quotes on the side, and a few links to my list. Not a lot, but it's a start. I actually wanna be one of those techjuvies who get a high off of html lingo and get withdrawal symptoms after a minute of no internet connection. I think it's brilliant and practical. It eats me up that I still have to rely on others for simple video editing and uploading on this day and age.

I have much time on my hands and I want to use it wisely and keep prolific. I was thinking of starting another YouTube account and film myself doing whatever. In fact I even thought of a title: The Everyday Encounters of E. I don't know; I kinda don't want to receive video responses of people throwing tomatoes at me, or have no viewers at all --- cause that sorta defeats the purpose.

I'll think of something :)