coming down with the flu
i got an invite from edgar last friday to go out and drink which i promptly accepted. we spent the evening at pier 1 in tomas morato downing several bottles of san mig strong ice. a few other PSI folks were there, but my current status in the club was not on the agenda, since that was rather sufficiently taken cared of when i took them out for a few drinks at chili’s the previous week. and for some odd reason, i volunteered to treat them out for coffee, so we headed off to wi-fi-less baang.
i got home early saturday a little stoned, and although i planned to drop by the gym, i managed to do very little. that same day, i packed a few of my things into my trekking backpack. i was included in a very short list of invitees to a small, intimate dinner at joseph’s house. i picked up xenon in UP, and we were there pretty early -- 6.15pm. we helped in preparing dinner, including skewering bell peppers and cubed tanguige, and cutting carrots and crab sticks. it wasn’t quite the usual fare: joseph placed two electric grills in the middle of two separate tables, and we grilled our skewered fish and cubed rib eye beef to our liking. it was really really good. unfortunately for me, however, there was quite a lot of wine and beer that night, and i couldn’t quite put my intake in check. i also stayed up too late, considering i was up for some serious physical exercises at 6am the following sunday. i was a little confident though since i had the physicals coordinator and the training director with me, my tardiness would have been sufficiently justified. but i got to makati parks and garden with a lot of time to spare.
the lack of sleep and the alcohol in the bloodstream may have been the chief causes of my lackluster performance that day. i suffered really debilitating side stitch, and i felt like throwing up several times. i also did poorly in nearly everything else, including the exam. yeesh! i lent my tent and stove for the lectures and guided my batchmates in pitching it. it felt hot the entire day, and by the end of the lectures, despite having had 3 changes, i was just about to bang my head on the wall. when i got home, i slept and woke up only for very late dinner. then i slept again.
the following monday, i woke up feeling really enervated, and the pain i felt was not unlike when you’ve just been pounded to a pulp by a gang of hoodlums. i also felt like i was coming down with a flu. but i still managed to show up for work and even lifted a bit at the gym. i don’t know. i hope i get better soon. i don’t think i’ve felt this sick since i started mountaineering last year.
* * *
it’s july. that means half of the year is over. strangely though, my office only started requiring employees to wear uniforms today. so when i showed up at work earlier today, i was almost surprised to see the ladies wearing what seems to be a pale kind of orange top and black pants. but closer inspection would reveal that the office has not implemented a uniform regulation, but an anyform rule. some brilliant bureaucrat implemented a choose-your-own-tailor scheme. so even though there’s a basic cut, with diagrams on how the blouse is supposed to be sewed, the more “artistic” ones opt to add or remove pockets, change buttons, add this and that, remove this and that, and basically veer as far away from the uniform without however looking like a non-employee. this is precious comedy.
one good thing though is that guys have less of a problem. barongs are the same anywhere, and a color is prescribed for a particular day. and i’m doubly in luck since my item exempts me not only from the bundy, but from the not-so-stringent uniform requirement. anytime now, one of those guards might just stop me on my tracks, asking where i’m headed. with my usual tandem of white islands souvenir shirt, rubber shoes and denim pants, who’d mistake me for a lawyer anyway?
i got home early saturday a little stoned, and although i planned to drop by the gym, i managed to do very little. that same day, i packed a few of my things into my trekking backpack. i was included in a very short list of invitees to a small, intimate dinner at joseph’s house. i picked up xenon in UP, and we were there pretty early -- 6.15pm. we helped in preparing dinner, including skewering bell peppers and cubed tanguige, and cutting carrots and crab sticks. it wasn’t quite the usual fare: joseph placed two electric grills in the middle of two separate tables, and we grilled our skewered fish and cubed rib eye beef to our liking. it was really really good. unfortunately for me, however, there was quite a lot of wine and beer that night, and i couldn’t quite put my intake in check. i also stayed up too late, considering i was up for some serious physical exercises at 6am the following sunday. i was a little confident though since i had the physicals coordinator and the training director with me, my tardiness would have been sufficiently justified. but i got to makati parks and garden with a lot of time to spare.
the lack of sleep and the alcohol in the bloodstream may have been the chief causes of my lackluster performance that day. i suffered really debilitating side stitch, and i felt like throwing up several times. i also did poorly in nearly everything else, including the exam. yeesh! i lent my tent and stove for the lectures and guided my batchmates in pitching it. it felt hot the entire day, and by the end of the lectures, despite having had 3 changes, i was just about to bang my head on the wall. when i got home, i slept and woke up only for very late dinner. then i slept again.
the following monday, i woke up feeling really enervated, and the pain i felt was not unlike when you’ve just been pounded to a pulp by a gang of hoodlums. i also felt like i was coming down with a flu. but i still managed to show up for work and even lifted a bit at the gym. i don’t know. i hope i get better soon. i don’t think i’ve felt this sick since i started mountaineering last year.
* * *
it’s july. that means half of the year is over. strangely though, my office only started requiring employees to wear uniforms today. so when i showed up at work earlier today, i was almost surprised to see the ladies wearing what seems to be a pale kind of orange top and black pants. but closer inspection would reveal that the office has not implemented a uniform regulation, but an anyform rule. some brilliant bureaucrat implemented a choose-your-own-tailor scheme. so even though there’s a basic cut, with diagrams on how the blouse is supposed to be sewed, the more “artistic” ones opt to add or remove pockets, change buttons, add this and that, remove this and that, and basically veer as far away from the uniform without however looking like a non-employee. this is precious comedy.
one good thing though is that guys have less of a problem. barongs are the same anywhere, and a color is prescribed for a particular day. and i’m doubly in luck since my item exempts me not only from the bundy, but from the not-so-stringent uniform requirement. anytime now, one of those guards might just stop me on my tracks, asking where i’m headed. with my usual tandem of white islands souvenir shirt, rubber shoes and denim pants, who’d mistake me for a lawyer anyway?