Dinnertime was with teammates who were still around the office. We fled to the neighboring tower (the tallest in the country) where I met a college batch-mate. I didn’t bother eating and had a few bottles from the buckets served instead. Our manager was with us and the conversation ran deep as the night grew darker, with fireworks being shot into the sky. Afterward we transferred to Central where I lost my cool after phoning someone. In between soberness and displeasure, I made my way home (just a few steps away) to leave and charge my phone and withdraw money. After kissing the shot glass goodbye, I was dropped off at the office to fetch my plastic money and print the e-ticket. Boarding the plane was smooth, with only a packed hand luggage and knapsack left. I was knocked out the entire flight, only waking up to consume instant noodles and gulp water. Ears were on the verge of explosion when I got off. Similarly, I barely stayed conscious in the bus rides. It was 12:00 when I found myself in front of our dining table. The tropical storm Sendong made his mark in our town.

Looking back, I wonder how things would have gone if I arrived at the airport without the ticket and panicked under the influence. The experience was for the book, of course. And I should really be thankful that I got home in one piece, safe, and sober. Still, something was definitely not right that night.

The plane still managed to touch down Iloilo City despite my mobile phones not being turned off. Shame, isn’t it? That should already be around 8:00 and I was very delighted to see vans that are transporting passengers to the city proper for only 50 pesos. Another hour of travel via jeepney and I was already back in the town where I spent my college years and to the dormitory where I spent my last three years. Two dorm mates accompanied me for dinner—classic sisig and buttered chicken —at Omp’s Corner. We got back past 11:00—beyond the new curfew—and I was just astounded at how true what the dorm staff said was. The TV hardly interests the residents. They’re all busy looking at their laptops while the appliance just lies there, eating up electricity. The place was very nostalgic that I thought of staying at the lobby longer. But I just got drowsy in no time.

I got up early on Friday, eager to see a tennis class by my volleyball, <guess what>, and badminton teacher. Sadly, there wasn’t. While waiting for my classmate who was also to claim her diploma, I broke the fast at Heaven’s Bliss which is now in a new location. (I was glad that the folks there still recognize me.) Claiming the diploma was a breeze. They just needed an ID and voila! It’s all yours. Included in the photos we took on our way to our college was a mugshot with the document. The first room we visited was the department office. It was quite a funny scene. I peeked at the room only to see a different face on the department head’s seat. At the same time, he started to recognize me. Apparently the new head is no longer our prof, but the Mathematics prof who taught us Linear Algebra. Just across the room, was the Computer Science faculty room. Our thesis adviser had such a good smile on his face. After describing the nature of my job, he immediately concluded, “So it’s something like Business Intelligence.” I was so pleased for I knew that no further explanation was needed. Finally! Someone who understands what I do… We had lunch with them, surfed using computers in the laboratory, and explored the remaining laboratories. Damn, they’re already on widescreens and Ubuntu!

Before going back to the city, we dropped by Lola’s Inn for some pancit canton. The manang there, who I wanted to see, was out studying. Rain fell, and it was time we leave… HASA, an annual university event where guys cross-dress and take on roles depending on the concept (this year’s was cosplay), was held that night. Twitter kept me occupied throughout the contest, posting lines that really got me laughing and cheering. Smallville was the place to be thereafter. I and my classmates did karaoke at Pirates. It was a whole lot o’ fun. The girls were screaming the instant one of the boys started dancing. And thanks to a friend, we didn’t end the night there. We proceeded and smoothly entered this new bar called Aura. The girls easily got tired though.

Ramboy’s accommodated us for brunch on Saturday. The place was refreshing and I have no idea if it’s already been there all along. We toured the city’s IT Park and a classmate did the infamous planking on a rock along the way. Many considered it an epic failure though. Starbucks by the new Plazuela establishment was the next stop where another classmate joined us. KFC then had us snacking and Afrique’s for dinner. I’ve been hearing about the food of the latter all my college life but I never really got the chance to taste them, only now. I bought a bucket o’ red horses for everyone before we parted ways. Last stop for me was the McDonald’s my high school classmate is managing. Another classmate who’s taking up Medicine also met me there. Well, I was simply disappointed at how they failed to be hospitable. Neither was willing to let me sleep at their place…

Because simply staying at my college classmate’s place on a Sunday, waiting for the night to commence, was impossible, we invaded the nearest court and played five (or was it six?) Badminton matches. He used to be my greatest archenemy and apparently he still is. The games kept my alcoholic blood flowing. When darkness ate the light of day, we went to this one place I never thought ever existed. We were at Taphouse, where the buckets were cheap and you can have any combination of the bottles! MO2 Ice was the bar for the night. We were but lucky to have a table in the middle of the chaotic room emptied as we arrived. Yes, that only meant we partied hard into the night! The group’s only girl’s place accommodated three of us, where my classmate, yet again, planked. It was on the sofa this time and everyone still considered it an epic failure.

And so I was on my second to last day in the city. I moved out of my classmate’s and transferred to the city campus dormitory. The room was all mine; slept the whole afternoon and went back to Taphouse when night fell with the friend who got us into Aura. I had a great time chitchatting with him; a good friend who just knew a lot of dirty little secrets. He wanted to go to MO2 but the dorm curfew had me locked. My last day was spent in the mall. To my delight, I was able to purchase a sweatshirt and a statement shirt.

So… Did I say too much? Sorry, but just hours ago I decided that a long weekend should translate to a long post. If you read it all the way, thank you. Very much.

It’s been a year since I went up the stage for my postgraduate certification. Together with three classmates, I went to the 6th batch’s graduation last Monday. Our batch was outnumbered, especially the Network Systems track. The Nihongo and English speech were both delivered by one student — something that raised my brow. Listening to his Nihongo made me realize that the one who talked during our time was indeed already a monster. Dinner for free. Two bottles that followed, still for free.

A high school classmate who visited the metro for some training last month came again. At our classmate’s place, we feasted on some scrumptious ribs and lechon manok. I was hardly able to walk when we killed the night. Last night was his last, and it only meant one thing: finishing things with a blast especially that he received a recognition in their training! The place that hosted my birthday bash accommodated us. Exactly as what he said, “same shit, different place.” (Go figure.)

All my recent days may have been different. But in some way, I find them becoming routinary. Perhaps I should start seeking new things to do. And stop doing even those that I enjoy the most.

P.S. Avoid using “some.” It fails to quantify.

• 01: Obeertime with four postgrad classmates
• 02: Tomato Kick with two college mates (after which, I got my back pocket slashed in the bus and, well, yeah, realized the following day that I lost one of the plastic bags I was carrying)
• 03: Dinner with postgrad roommates at technoHUb’s Mister Kabab
• 04: Started the week right at Central with officemates (“Everyday is a weekend!”)
• 05: Welcomed a high school classmate and settled at Toyz
• 06: Explored BSA Suites, ate pancit canton for the second time, and participated in a card game where the loser gets a consequence. Almost got half-naked!
• 07: Met a guy who claimed to be a Jose Fernandez from Baguio (screw him)
• 08: Back at Central but this time with high school classmates
• 12: Two at Dish K with a postgrad classmate and two of his officemates
• 16: Enchanted Kingdom Getaway!

Today (technically, yesterday) was U.P. Diliman’s graduation. Our salutatorian finally made her way out of Accountancy. I attended her feast (yes!) together with another classmate. The idea of bringing a gift came in very late that we almost ended up giving her just a bottle of wine. How lame’s that? Thankfully, we managed to steal some time and pick up a shoulder bag on sale. When the food was served, I thought, “Will this suffice?” Turns out it was barely consumed. In the heat of the day, I had two.

We parted ways when the plan of watching a movie with the graduate’s family didn’t push through. Also, everybody was already feeling tired. Still, because it was still early, I and my crime partner roamed TriNoma and ended up watching Source Code (and seeing that cool car above!). Against Inception? I’d vote for it. The concept of time travel or anything similar to it is just, you know, enticing. When we went out of the cinema I realized that I should’ve really gone to the university graduation in the afternoon because aside from the 19 y/o summa cum laude, the president was also there. I heard he was welcomed with a rally. Nothing new, really.

Palm Sunday’s passed, and let some good abstinence commence!

• Open: cells contain pointers to linked lists; collisions and a handful of inputs can be efficiently handled

  	/* point each cell to its respective (empty) Stack */
  	for(i = 0; i < MAX_VALUE; i++) {
  	   Stack *s = malloc(sizeof(Stack));
  	   initStack(s);
  	   oh->cell[i] = s;
  	}
  	

• Closed: cells can contain two elements; makes use of a rehashing function to constantly search for an available cell when a collision occurs

  	for(i = 0; i < MAX_VALUE; i++) {
  	   for(j = 0; j < 2; j++) {
  	      ch->cell[i][j] = 0;
  	   }
  	}
  	

Input validation was kinda neglected (and I’m obviously not into adding them right now) so, children, refrain from inputting non-numeric keys, okay?

Hush.zip

Despite knowing that it’s only natural for an organization to undergo changes, it still came as a shock to me when the sub-teams that will compose the new team department were announced last week. I got transferred, and the job description has become this-is-really-not-what-I-imagined. I know I’m not really supposed to know it beforehand since I won’t be able to do anything about it anyway but… You get the point.

Today’s dinner brought misery upon me. Someone, from the floor which holds the jobs that I think are worth being envied, told me and my teammate how organized and fun their group is. Frustration, in the form of a rusted arrow, shot me in the head as I learned that they are the ones who implement the systems that govern the services the company provides to its subscribers.

Kami-sama, please grant me the strength to move on… By that time, I’ll get back to this post and proofread it. Life is hard, as always. Especially if you’re presenting a dance number tomorrow night.

With two on-the-go postgrad buddies, I found myself in Padi’s Point four stations away. The expensiveness of the food and the bitter taste of the towered beer saddened me. When the party hits hit the speakers, the stage was swarmed and we were so delighted with our inability to join the stampede because of our bags. Nonetheless, pretty wild ladies in a close table raised our brows, beaming. There were no wheels to lead the night but it surely didn’t stop us from proceeding to another venue: Teacher’s Village…

Despite becoming closer to being perfectly broke, I roamed and conquered the Timog area the following night. On that night, none of us knew we were to clear four stages.

Stage 1: Dinner at Gerardo’s with, like, a bucket of twelve and six lights. The Wi-Fi presence? Just awesome. The Music? Good as always that we even discussed Akon’s angel and Katy Perry’s firework. The place will always be memorable to me, as it was where I first went out with this set of friends.

Stage 2: Turned a few macho mugs in Quattro where we also met our classmate’s acquaintance from Canada and her friend. Mestiza and can also speak Ilonggo and Bicolano, she can be considered a perfect pack. Her face absolutely opened up our night. And oh, the fish fillet specialty of the place? Is a must-chomp! That makes me wonder now if it tastes even more perfect with rice. Haha.

Stage 3: It turns out that the ladies we have have access to a place called Bliss. Jam-packed, as expected from a fine Saturday night, we made our way to the bar and asked for bottles. It was during college when I last went to such place and, based from what all I did, I really did miss it. On my third fish, though, I lost my guts when a friend of hers gestured a “go away” hand. Dang.

Stage 4: A massage was the perfect way to end the very long night. I could’ve just slept in the place ’til morn but it ain’t allowed…

Bonus Stage: Lugaw (congee) time! Credits rolled past seven.

The second and third stages happened again last night, with the first stage getting replaced by Garahe. Even though it was not as wild, I felt like I was tipsier…

Stressing out every detail would be fantastic, but I guess that would beat the purpose of memories. Like what I sometimes usually (eh?) do, this will only serve as a guide when the time comes that I can hardly remember. By then, I’ll extract from the depths of my memories what truly happened on those nights.

As per my Molecules shirt, “Be crazy, be wild cause you are not young forever.”

You just can never really can tell… After nine days of shock, I’ve reverted all my files to two months ago. I will enact backing up of files more regularly from now on.

Edit: Moving on, because time is in a rush, it’s almost weekend again — rest, which is no more different than being a spendthrift. But after all the things I did last week, it’s best to chain myself up in the house this time.

• Thu: Met up with a high school classmate’s mom (free dinner and booze, of course)
• Fri: Dined at Kangaroo Jack with two college buds
• Sat: Chaotic dinner together with all “sociable” high school classmates in Greenbelt
• Sun: Thought-provoking conversation with classmate’s mom
• Mon: Shared a Starbucks coffee with two postgraduate mates and failed to reach 360 in time

Holding on to a job is challenging, if I may say. All I’ve been doing recently is account my wage such that I’d still end up with some savings for recreation and emergency purposes. I have already been seriously considering freelancing, so I won’t let loose of Photoshop and web design (aside from earning extra, mochiron).

Tomorrow’s Wash Day, and I’mma wearin’ my hoody again. (I think I should’ve bought the other size though. ) September’s ending already!?