Author Archives: Alps

Where I Am

Posted on by
36

Almost half-a-year has passed after I published my last blog entry. The story of the little boy finding a job reached a climax but no one knows what happened next. I found a gold and screamed for excitement–but the curtains fell down and the audience applauded. The applause died down and the conversations buffet is served. The show stopped, but it must go on–even after 6 months. Hello world, prepare the confetti, the body-sticking glitters and other forms masquerade debris because I am about to enthusiastically go to the stage and heat myself again in the limelight. Ladies and gentlemen, this ain’t a stand-up comedy. This is an exhibition of drama in a comical package. Even if you laugh hard enough, I assure you I won’t defy the standards of my signature scintillation. The black suit, the business apprentice mind and the gentleman stance will never be enough until I speak. Hi, I’m Alfred Miguel Aguado and I’m back.

Continue reading →

5 Job Hunting Learnings

Posted on by
14

I had double cheese burger for dinner. That means a double-the-fun yet double-the-cholesterol meal. Weirdly, every time I eat one, the urge to write comes as a divine force. Divinity, for me, is all about accepting something you don’t really expect at all. It is something that you know you don’t deserve but accepts it anyway because you feel it gives a burden on your name. I pull my inspiration to write from this elysian force so that all my brains would work. Amen to you, dear cheeseburger. Anyway, I already have a job–but I won’t talk about it here because I believe that this matter deserves a separate entry. What I want to write about is a crystallization of all the learnings I imbibed during the painfully long process of job hunting.

Continue reading →

Canned Weakness

Posted on by
23

I have attended several job interviews already and I realized that the most recurring question is: “What’s your weakness?”. Before I go to my interview appointment, I rehearse my answers to the most common interview questions–and I do it in our house’s comfort room. There’s something in the CR that makes me more eloquent and that conditions my mind to deliver kick-ass answers. If there’s a company that holds their interviews in such sacred room, I’ll come out as a highly revered saint.

Continue reading →

Waiting For The Third

Posted on by
11

For the record, I am still jobless. With all of the good news I have been hearing from my fellow colleagues (i.e. batch mates; professional vocabulary FTW!), I think it’s just right to feel at least a speck of naughty pressure. With all of the adjectives I can use to modify “pressure”, I chose “naughty” for the following reasons: First, it is not the kind of heavy pressure that will make you fall on your knees and blazon out that it is the end of your world. Rather, it is the kind of light pressure that keeps on tingling your mind about joblessness. It wanes out for some time but returns to do its annoying comedy. Second, it is the kind of pressure that you do not want to welcome because you think it’s not an issue. But after some time, you could easily place yourself in a netherworld of fervor. Ironically, you pretend you do not feeling anything.

Continue reading →

iBooks

Posted on by
11

I’m no Apple Fanboy but I think I am about to flirt with the standards of being one. Just recently, Apple released iOS 4, an operating system which is supposed to advance the third release of their OS for iPod Touch and iPhone–and I think they succeeded. Part of the new system is the ability to download the iBooks app where you can store and shop for ebooks. In the initial release, many ebooks are for free, thanks to Project Gutenberg. Of course, most of these ebooks are the classics (which is Great). Finally, I have a way to fulfill one of my Year 2010 Resolutions.

Continue reading →

Handy Dandy Notebook

Posted on by
11

My damn-it-I-have-to-look-for-a-job adventures are a mad Giga Coaster ride. Sometimes, it is hard to believe that you are about to enter a different phase of life and you, unconsciously, enters this phase as if it is mandatory–but you actually say to yourself that it is indeed something not required for life (or, at least, not yet): “Nah, I’ll gonna rest first after several years of academic stress” . Then, after bragging and believing that work can wait for you, your eye flesh suddenly sticks on the different job openings on JobStreet. So, you really don’t want to work yet, huh?

Continue reading →

Driving School

Posted on by
14

I just finished 15 hours of driving school goodness. I was enrolled in Gear1′s manual driving course. Well, if I were to buy a car, I’ll get an automatic variant just because I hate the clutch. Experienced drivers tell me to learn manual driving before riding either a manual or automatic variant. Well, opinions differ–but getting around successfully with a manual car can easily equate to getting around successfully with any car. Driving a matic won’t be a hitch if you know how manual cars glitch. Glitch = clutch. I hate the clutch, very much.

Continue reading →

Ambush Updates

Posted on by
11

It’s raining as if it never rained before. Earth must be so thirsty. Anyway, I’m currently living up to the promise I made before 2010–blog more often. At this rate, I know I have to compose more entries to cope with that intrapersonal demand. Fundamentalist English teachers will always remind us about the immutable Introduction-Body-Conclusion format of writing. And I won’t follow it now because: First, this is internet writing–structure liberation is existent. Second, I feel I’m an activist of some sort. Third, I am just lazy. Here are 5 random updates about my life.

Continue reading →

The problem with political parties

Posted on by
9

I can still vividly remember Professor Roland Simbulan’s lesson about the nature of political parties in the Philippines. Actually, he discussed it every meeting for one whole semester. I can also still remember how he quoted Senator Juan Ponce Enrile regarding the matter. According to Enrile, the only genuine political party in the Philippines is the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP). The CPP  is a political party based on ideology which recruits members and formulates and carries out programs based on their core political philosophy. I can also remember how my professor described political parties abroad. He told us about a legitimate and productive communist party in Japan and the ideology-driven Conservative and Labour Parties in the United Kingdom. Unfortunately, these things are not true in Philippine politics.

Continue reading →

Academics Meets Recycle Bin

Posted on by
11

Finally, a new blog post after some long, almost-irritating inactivity. There are a lot of things my mind needs to process right now but I think I need to update this blog I hid six feet under. Hello, world. I am officially a bachelor’s degree holder–and I got it from the country’s premiere state university. And yes, this brag sounds better when you have successfully endured four years of academic torture. College graduation is okay. When I describe something with “okay”, it just means I can’t get a (better) term to describe it. Seriously, it was fun, solemn. The solemnity peaked when my college peers and I sung UP Naming Mahal with our left arms doing that famous revolutionary choreography. Most of us sung it without enough conviction (first time much?) but I believe most of us sung it as if we’re carrying the nation’s burdens (read: plural). That felt good–realizing that you have the ability to help the country feels good.

Continue reading →