tolitz.com

Hmmm, so it’s my birthday today … I stayed up so I can greet the 31st while still awake (Wouldn’t want to die in my sleep on the eve of my birthday,would I? Haha…)

I have already told my bosses at work that I was gonna take a day off today, being my birthday and all, and because I have finished all the important things that needed to be done at the office. Which leaves me with a full day of either dicking around, shopping, or maybe just sleeping.

So, Happy Birthday to Me … 29 years old. Man, this is depressing… I feel 30 ….

Technorati: 29, birthday

And so it came to pass that Tolitz fell into a dark hole and languished there for almost two weeks before the sheer will to survive prompted him to extricate himself from his bottomless prison and break loose from the dark hole triumphantly…

OR it can also be that Tolitz the slacker has finally gotten too busy for his own good – too busy to even write in his own online journal, and too busy to even tell the two or three people who visit this site what has become of his return to America’s employed…

Well, it’s been pretty good – earning considerably more than my last job, and I have begun doing what I haven’t been able to do for a long long time – save money. Hopefully, this new job will be able to sustain me for some time – at least until Christmas. Then again, seeing how they like my work very much, I might stay on longer… perhaps get a raise… maybe even buy a Corvette and do a tour of Paris, while I’m on the daydreaming mood…

The changes that have taken place a month ago are slowly becoming evident… I haven’t smoked a single stick of cigs for five weeks, and my workout has been constant – I already lost around 10 pounds approximately. Things are beginning to settle down, and most of my worries have disappeared…

Most of em…

Technorati: slacking

Got my paycheck today – my first in almost nine months … it felt good … $600 for a week’s work is not bad at all, and this is gonna be happening every week until the end of this year – and maybe beyond… wow, I had almost forgotten what it was like to earn money from a regular job. I’m basically earning higher than my previous job at the wine store…

I’m planning on putting up a couple of small sections in this site – the Tagalog Word of the Day and the Salawikain of the Week. The word salawikain is Tagalog for “proverbs” or “wise sayings” … Of course, since I’m the only one visiting my site regularly, I can probably put any fuckin Tagalog word I want … maybe I can put up the really good cuss words and disgusting, obnoxious Tagalog phrases and edumacate anyone who passes by? Hmmm … Kinalkal ni Kiko ang kiki ni Kikay! … hahaha, maybe I’ll try that…

I just hope my mom doesn’t visit my site…

Technorati: employment, paycheck

I skipped gym today coz I still had some pain in my right leg from last Tuesday’s cramp attack. I’ll resume on Sunday, when I have gotten enough rest and ready to get into the gruelling workout once again.

Anyway, I got a bit of good news today. I just learned today that what I thought was a temporary contractual job until the end of the month has become a long-term employment venture. Yep, I seemed to have joined the American workforce once again. It may have come under some dubious and unexpected circumstances, but money is money, and a job is a job. I am being paid good so far, and with this extended little venture, there is a possibility of being paid better. Things seem to be looking up – I’ll treat this as an early birthday present, if nothing else…

Technorati: aftermath, cramps, workout

Well, today really sucked at the gym.

I had a really painful leg cramp, the first one I had since I started working out again. This one hit me in the middle of the treadmill like a sledgehammer. One moment I was jogging with gusto, the next this excruciating, stinging pain was hitting my leg from all sides. I nearly fell off the damn machine… I had cold sweats after I got off, not only because of the pain, but also because of a little embarrasment at my brief moment of vulnerability.

I dunno what brought it on … perhaps it was caused by me wearing my leather shoes to work and walking a couple of blocks with it. I felt a very slight, throbbing pain early in the day, but I shrugged it off, coz I often get those sensations after I’ve walked a bit on bad shoes. Well, now I learned my lesson – I’m gonna wear my rubbers to work – rubber shoes that is…

Technorati: cramps, gym, la fitness

Gah, I hate Macs … the missing right-click really drove me crazy yesterday. I mean, my God, how anyone can survive without a two or three button mouse is mind-boggling…

Anyway, it wasn’t a bad first day … I just spent almost the entire day trying to accustom myself to the Mac environment. Good thing they were using Adobe Photoshop 6 – familiar territory to me. But Quark Xpress is another matter, altogether. I was used to Adobe Pagemaker in the past (it was still called Aldus Pagemaker, back then), not to mention the extended amount of time that I lst used an industrial-strength layout and publishing tool. Quark Xpress had a familiar interface, but the controls were another matter… and it was troublesome to use it without the manual (which, according to my new co-workers, wasn’t available, since my predecessor apparently installed a warez copy of it…) so I had to click and execute everything I see just to check out what it does…

My workstation consisted of two Macs – a G4 and an iMac – both running Mac OS 9.1. So as you can imagine, it was a PC guy’s worst nightmare. And the fact that the G4 crashed every now and then while I was using Photoshop didn’t help matters, either. And the way it crashed was no better than Windows – sometimes it’ll just freeze, and I had to reboot. It was an awful interface (or maybe I’m just not used to it). But I began to appreciate Windows more and more as I labored through the Mac’s uncomfortable environment. But the mouse … jesus … the mouse…

So anyway, I’m going back to work on Monday. his was only a contractual job, so it’s not yet a regular thing (and I was debating on whether to be delighted or anxious). Besides, it’s not liek I had anything better to do. The only hassle was that I had to reschedule my workout a bit, coz there was no LA Fitness branch near that part of the city.

Speaking of workout, my friend Ion just sent me a training routine so that I can achieve the Incredible Hulk form (without the green paint and the funky hairdo). Well, I doubt I’ll be Lou Ferrigno ANYTIME in my lifetime, but it’s a start. I hope to be big and buff by Christmas – something I have never done ANYTIME in my lifetime…

Technorati: apple, macintosh

This morning after I wake up, I’ll be going to a place where I can earn some money. $15 an hour for 12 hours work. Not bad, if not for the fact that I’ll be using a Mac. The last time I used anything made by Apple was the Apple II, that cute little screen with the blue-green text. And that was in grade school. I mean, I haven’t even touched an iMac, for chrissakes.

The job requires that I create a catalogue of products using Macintosh authoring software. The deal is someone is is gonna be training me on how to use it. Now, if there was a PC around, I could probably whip up a nice catalogue in 4 hours flat. But since it’s gonna be done on a Mac, I dunno. I’m still guessing on which software I’m gonna be using. Adobe Pagemaker? Quark Xpress? No clue.

Anyway, it’s still $15 an hour. Beggars can’t be choosers, and at least I’ll have some pocket money to use on my birthday, which (if you don’t know) is at the end of this month.

Oh well, need to go to sleep and dream of electric thoughts…

Technorati: employment, job, new

Some things to add to my chicken breast obsession – Sunflower brand crackers and Lucky Me Instant Mami (La Paz Bachoy flavor).

I remember the Lucky Me Instant Mami very fondly when I was in college. It used to be my staple meal every night at the dormitory, especially during Thursday and Friday, when my allowance has slowed down to a trickle … it was cheap, it was tasty, and it was filling. What a hungry college student needs

Technorati: crackers, lucky me, noodles, sunflower

I’m using Netzero dial-up as I type this journal entry, as AT&T Broadband has decided to take a crapper since this afternoon. Am I glad I bought this external dial-up modem – it’s bad enough I have to stop smoking, it’s a whole other thing to stop surfing… *shudder*

Anyway, as you can imagine, the “speed” of dial-up is excruciating. I can’t believe I survived with dial-up a few years ago. I had to surf with the graphics disabled so I can stop myself from tearning my hair out and screaming. Once you’re spoiled with broadband, you never go back. That is, you don’t “voluntarily” go back. Regardless, I’m still lucky I got this dial-up modem when I did. It’s hard to be de-wired, I can tell you that…

Now, excuse me while I continue to surf in a turtle-like pace…

Technorati: broadband, downtime, internet

I have a new fascination this week – chicken breast sandwiches.

I bought one from Subway after my workout today, and man, it was the next best thing to a burger that I can eat, without having to worry about the fat. Hence, I will make it a point to go to Albertson’s tomorrow and buy a few pounds of chicken breast. Then I’ll chuck them into the George Foreman Lean Mean Grilling Machine (yeah, I have one of those), and make myself a mean chicken breast sandwich. This’ll make my diet a little more bearable.

Technorati: breast, chicken, sandwich, subway