Come to think of it, a month may have passed since "Milenyo" devastated the nation's capital...even while bearing with the momentary deprivation of basic utilities, what kept my sanity intact was remembering newspaper and television accounts of the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans, LA.



Now I hear this.



High wind knocks out power for thousands



Certainly, the Man Upstairs does know how to distribute his blessings and misfortunes readily without favor.



Meanwhile, the rains have started falling again, there are reports of a new storm brewing....by this time we should have learned from our follies and stopped putting up those nasty billboards. Leave the scantily-clad commercial models to the pages of glossy magazines...not on roadsides blown up to King Kong dimensions meriting curious queries from kids as well as unwarranted stares from motorists who should keep their eyes on the road ahead of them.

This Monday evening, I'll be hitting the floor once more on the GY shift. It might yet be another outbound account, but I can guarantee you that this isn't some lame telemarketing stuff...with a known telco provider backing your operations. Last Friday (how ominous! It WAS the thirteenth!!!) I had a brief disagreement with one of my co-trainees, which got me to confront what has been holding me back in terms of getting along with them - a clear case of John Bender chip-on-my-shoulder syndrome.



*(The John Bender Syndrome-WTF?!?!)

Well...John Bender is the fictional character portrayed by Judd Nelson in The Breakfast Club, John Hughes' classic chamber drama about alienation in the face of authority and high school campus archetypes. As I remember, Bender was a sullen loner who tries to deal with his crappy home life by sussing the faculty and classmates of Shermer High School. I've started to get myself attached to the film thanks to repeat showings on HBO...identifying myself a lot with Bender (but without the domestic drama). Can it be because there were times I have walked in Bender's shoes...particularly during my high school years?*



I know that it's quite a pain to admit that...even with my previous experience in the customer service business as well as having a foreign-sounding handle to boot, it must have be easy for me to get girls.



Not so - it's the runty chinky-eyed bastard who only wears one jacket to class and appears to not have any wheels at his disposal - who get them.



Maybe my friend was right...don't show that you're carrying too much stuff with your person...it should make you look neater.



Nevertheless...is there anything wrong with having some feeling of superiority or entitlement with you? Even I, however, would admit that there are limitations as to how much you can tell yourself "I'm the best there is!!!" (oops, there I go again in crappy WWF-wrestler mode). I've even asked some of my friends to actively watch over me and make sure I don't get any more anti-social.

It all seems so surreal...tuning to CinemaOne at 8am and hearing Nora Aunor singing her heart out to her paralysed-from-the-waist-down leading man (can't figure out his name) in some film whose title I failed to catch. It's not so much Nora's youthful looks (that film's from the early '70s, as can be evidenced by the somewhat faded color) but the CREEPY MINIMALISM of the Hammond organ accompaniment....



So sparse yet so downright scary.



Anyway, I was really excited to find out that I succesfully passed the first stage of my job training dealing with outbound sales. At first I did not seem to be warming up to my co-trainees, but over the last couple of days I got to appreciate their company...it's not easy considering that it's quite a small group and I was the only one among them going home south. Yesterday's evaluation really turned out well...not only were the results of my final exam quite good, but even the orals were up to par - I had enough confidence about my product to focus on my goal to make the sale, even if I do admit slightly flubbing the script (more of a rebound thing, really...I managed to sneak in the skipped part before the omission became evident)



It was saddening, though, that one of us did not exactly make the cut...and to think on the very first day, he lost his mobile phone to another co-trainee who unfortunately pulled the mother of all disappering acts. Nevertheless, he will be given a second chance with the company, but his contract shall be amended as he will be training for a local account this time around (sad to say that would mean lesser pay, no small consolation for the rather pricey Sony Ericsson Walkman phone that was snatched from under his trusting nose by some fast-talking asshole); sad to say, said second chance failed to materialise as he failed the project interview. That aside, the first day of project training turned out well; anticipating possible falling asleep around 6-7am, I took the initiative of standing up (as some of my co-trains were already doing so, veterans in the business they were).



This weekend shall go off without a hitch...first in my mind is catching "The Departed" at the Alabang Town Center - originally it was supposed to be a double bill with "Greenstreet Hooligans" at Ayala Makati, but since the latter opens Oct. 11, I'd rather catch Scorzi's latest magnum opus while the buzz is still fresh. Added to my DVD wish list - Infernal Affairs (the HK original film that inspired "The Departed") along with Syriana (the original, of course - it's a birthday gift for my brother)