Mainframe Queen by Cindy Molina

something i wrote for Tracy, Nina and Kakai...hahaha

program flow diagrams
are stuck in her head
she thinks of paragraph names
before going to bed

black and green all of her screen
she's not a geek - she's the mainframe queen

you can talk to her
but she won't reply
don't you feel bad
she's just occupied

black and green all of her screen
please don't bother the mainframe queen

she takes a break
and complains about work
yet she checks her watch
worries she'd be logged off

black and green all of her screen
you know you are the mainframe queen

Sweetest Stranger

The nicest thing happened to me today. Is was raining hard, as I got off the bus, I hold my office bag on top of my head, a poor attempt to keep myself , or at least my head, dry. Out of nowhere a stranger (late-sixty-something, chinese, heavily built with a disarming smile) is suddenly standing beside me, he says 'My umbrella is big enough for two people, we can share', he seemed genuinely nice, I graciously accepted. Upon crossing the street, and approaching our condo's back gate, he says 'I will stay until you get the gate open, and I hope it is a short distance to the entrance, so that you wouldn't get too wet'. He did just that --stayed a bit, until I got through the gate.

It was very nice of him, it made my day. If I chance by him again, I will be sure to thank him profusely.

The Great(space)Coaster

Someone gave me the cutest glass coaster today. It made me laugh out loud because I honestly can't count how many times I said something similar to the caption, relating to my not being able to do magic.

Tao lang (mere mortal). Hahahaha.

The Holiday

It's Christmas, and it just so happens that I went out to see, The Holiday. There was one line that I especially liked. It reminded me of someone. It really sucked that she is not in Singapore right now, I'd love tell her about it face-to-face, preferable over coffee (for her) and almond milk (for me). Anyways, it goes....

Arthur Abbott: Iris, in the movies, we have leading ladies and we have the best friend. You, I can tell, are a leading lady, but for some reason, you're behaving like the best friend.

Little Big Things

Every year, during Christmas season I get overwelmed by the little things that I receive from friends, colleagues, relatives and acquaintances. I refer to these gifts as 'the little big things' because these LITTLE THINGS remind me that I had been well thought of--and that is BIG.

I would often be surprised by how unique, cool, or charming some gifts are. Being a very appreciative person, I just had to tell the whole world (or maybe just the few people who read my blog) that there were four things this year that brought about giant smiles on my face that lasted just a few seconds longer than usual. Boys and Girls, Men and Mice, here are the winners.

Fourth place goes to the cellphone leather hand strap with a charm. I'm totally excited about this piece because it matched one of my bracelets. The minute I opened the wrapper and saw it, I immediately took out my old hand strap and replaced it with this one.

Third place goes to the very colorful photo-holder. It is no ordinary photo-holder, composed on five blocks, that incidently, spell out my name (I could ever rearrange it to CARTY if I really want to!). Magnets are attached on the sides of each block, this means that the blocks, at specific levels of proximity attract each other. What fun! A clear 2R sized plastic slide is placed on top to hold the photo.

Second place is the most charming, it is the chic-est card I had ever gotten, and the Allain-esque quality is unmistakable. A baroque pearl bracelet in a barely-there pouch is enclosed in the envelope as well. And it does not end there. Perhaps, what I like most about this present is the message written on the card. (Allain, I am looking forward to more Smoked Salmon Sandwiches that go so well with rainy Saturday afternoons!)

Ahhh, yes. The grand prize goes to the cup cover. At first glance I was not too sure what it was; it looked like a couple of scrambled eggs. I had to read the label to figure it out, that is when it hit me, this is sooooo cool. You put it on top of your cup, press and it creates a vacuum that would keep it in place. You could flip your cup and nothing would spill! I tried it out! It worked! No spill! The icing on the cake is the protruding green something. It is... you'd never guess, a spoon holder! Now, why didn't I think of that ? ;)

(READ: I strongly suggest that you click the picture to see the cup cover's awfully cute supposed user guide)

A most definitely better 2007

The nicest girl in Citi sent me this a few weeks--maybe months back. I forget. These are lines from the bad boy Russell Crowe's movie, A Good Year. I haven't seen the movie, but based on the trailer I saw it was about an overworked thirty-something guy who inherits a vineyard. He comes to Provence to check the place out and have it accessed for its resale value, as clearly, it does not fit his lifestyle, so he is selling. He meets someone. I guess the next part is where he realizes what really matters and mulls over on whether he should stay or go back to his life.

I didn't comment then, I refuse to comment now. Read on and go figure.

she: do you know the reason why i spent the night with you? it's because once you have done what you came here to do, you will not return. for as there can be no future, there is safety in that.

he: well, there is absolutely no stopping us from sitting in cafe in Notting Hill. London definitely needs a decent bistro.

she: how typical ... to assume that i live in Provence because i have no choice.

he: this place doesn't suit my life.

she: no, it's your life that doesn't suit this place.

Enumeration

My desk in the office is chaotic. The mess might actually be enough to get me fired for not practicing 4S. I am surprised I am able to work at all. Below is a list of the things on my desk.

 100% Natural Granola – 5g Fiber per serving

 Japanese Wheat Crackers – I can’t read anything else from the box except that crackers expire on September 16, 2007.

 España shot glass from some business trip.

 Tea Leaves from Shanghai – again, I do not understand anything in the label and just trusted that my polite Xie Xie was enough for Crystal to retract the package, had it been anything but good.

 Pure natural Honey – I heard from somewhere that if you spill pure natural honey, ants wouldn’t come to party in it, not that I'd care to verify that.

 2006 desk calendar – I need to pay my Social Security Dues next week!

 A cupful of chopsticks

 Winnie the Pooh mug with matching cover from Lanie and Dave last Christmas

 Picture of me holding my niece, Arya. I think she was 5 months old when this was taken.

 Small water gun in the guise of a cute elephant, not sure why I keep it here. It is something from a fun date.

 Small stuffed monkey wearing a scarf, a gift I received yesterday. Pretty cute, it is just a bonus that I was born on the year of the monkey too. Yey!

 Picture of Viktor Krum wearing a not-tight-enough shirt. The caption reads ‘Viktor Krum is the Durmstrang Institute champion competing in the Triwizard Tournament taking place at Hogwards’, they should have written ‘Viktor Krum’s best moves are not in the Quidditch Field’ because it sure looks that way.

D.O.J.

I was busily eating the egg in my egg sandwich, when I realized that I was having goose bumps, as there is no high school crush within a 100-meter radius, it must be because I was feeling cold. I got a throw and was suddenly reminded of my default office jacket.

What is a default office jacket exactly?

A jacket intended to keep you warm when the office a/c is working at its best, keeping the temperature around Alaska levels. This is usually brought to work on Monday, left in the office and brought home on Friday for washing. The most common one is black and does not seem to match any of your work clothes (A jacket usually issued by the company for team building activities or given by a vendor). This jacket is taken off when you need to go to a meeting and thus, be seen. You don’t mind losing it, but could not afford not to have, replacement required as soon as possible.

Me, being me, took almost a year to find that one jacket, needless to say, I was cold most of 2006, my pashmina didn’t quite do the trick. Nowadays, I am happily working in my basic black, hip length, double breasted, belted wind breaker. Matching. Warm. Happy. Happy. Happy.

100th Day

I remember having a very long conversation with my good friend, RP about Cinema Paradiso.

One Saturday night we were hanging out at our favorite bar and he mentions that he was watching this movie the night before and he was very much touched by the story. I commented on how I was affected by Alfredo’s story about the soldier. (And how much I loved the part when Toto was watching spliced old film after Alfredo's funeral)

Excerpt from Cinema Paradiso Synopsis as narrated by Robert E. Yahnke.

Salvatore asks Alfredo for advice. The two walk the streets, and Alfredo carries on about why God created women. They sit on the stoop of a doorway, and Alfredo spins a tale: "A king gave a feast for the loveliest princesses of the realm. A soldier standing guard saw the king's daughter go by. She was the most beautiful of all, and he fell in love with her. But what is a simple soldier next to the daughter of a king? When he met her, he told her he could not live without her. The princess, taken with his depth of feeling, told him, 'If you wait for 100 days and 100 nights under my balcony, I shall be yours.' With that the soldier went and waited one day, ten days, twenty days. Each evening the princess looked out, and he never moved. In wind and rain and snow he was always there. At the end of 90 nights tears streamed from his eyes. He didn't have the strength to sleep. And all that while, the princess watched him. Finally, it was the 99th night. The soldier stood up, took his chair, and left." Salvatore is stunned. "What happened then?" "That is the end!" Salvatore exclaims. "And don't ask what it means. I don't know." He stands. "If you figure it out, you tell me."

RP and I agreed to disagree in the end.

He tells me he would rather not know. The thought that at one point, the princess could actually be his is enough to make him a happy man; he would willingly wonder forever about what-might-have-beens, because it would slaughter his soul and enforce a lifetime of grief if he realizes she'd never be. One more day will finalize his fate, the answer would be real. He would rather not know.

One line summarizes my answer to him, 'What if the princess wanted to be yours?'.

Rainy Days (and Sundays) and Mondays (and Tuesdays)

It has been raining non-stop since Sunday. I had no idea that it could rain this much in Singapore. Based on my recollection of rainfall during the last year and a half that I had been here, rain usually lasts no more than a meager two hours. I remember complaining that I miss rainy days in Manila.

I especially like driving after a downpour; the greens seem greener. I feel more solemn. I get the same feeling when I read Japanese novels, it is as though some Zen magic spell had been cast on the ink that whoever lays her eyes upon it would experience tranquility.

I look out my window, to watch the traffic, to watch the Christmas lights in Raffles Country Club fill the ballroom with an orange glow. As I finish the last of my cucumbers, it dawns on me; I am at peace.

Where's Waldo?

I remember when I was a freshman in college a facility allowed students to chat with anyone issued with a university ID. The day they announced this, more than half the class had quick lunches and headed straight to the either the library or the computer labs to check out the people in network (the rest played basketball without so much as changing from their leather shoes, of course later we discovered that not one had extra shirt on him, which was just really wonderful).

Maybe it was the promise of a short meaningless relationship (SMR) that led the rest to engage in some cyber socialization, but I was there just to make someone’s afternoon more interesting. Twenty minutes and five unknown IDs later, I realized that it would be a boring two hours. Everyone was popping Age Sex Location (ASL). I quit typing, and seriously thought of the consequences if I should be caught sleeping while pretending to read.

A window pops up.

Username: ScentlessApprentice

Now this got me interested.

(I totally forgot my Username, so for increased readability, I’ll use my name)

TracyGomez: the codename, I like.
ScentlessApprentice: What’s playing in your car?
TracyGomez: when I got off this morning, Tonight, tonight
ScentlessApprentice: finally! Someone with good taste. I really like the pumpkins
TracyGomez: I think this is my cue to say that I am no purist, I constantly find myself humming to Bone Thugs and Harmony. The bum bum, bum, bum, bum-bum part is really catchy.
ScentlessApprentice: wonderful.

And so we kept on chatting until I had to leave for class. We didn’t exchange information like our major or high school or name, which was really cool.

That was the first and last time I went to the library to chat.

A few months later, I was with Waldo, a friend from highschool, waiting at McDonald’s for the rest of our carpool. We started talking about chatting in the library and he blurts out ‘Do you chat? I did, a few times, my nic is ScentlessApprentice’.

TracyGomez: wonderful.