Archive for the 'Periscope' Category

I’ve been working since 2006, and surprisingly, I am still with the same company I am working with (or for?) four years ago. Ever since I started working for this company, the office is already here at the Bonifacio Global City in Taguig which I look as one of the places I am comfortable going to, next to of course, our house (or is it?). The place is wonderful, because there are still a few buildings here and you can appreciate the green grass and clean surroundings. You’ll see less electric posts, because most electrical wires are underneath the roads. Despite the fact that the air I breathe doesn’t smell that good especially if I happen to step over the sewage vents, I still love this place.

One way of getting to Bonifacio Global City is by riding a Fort Bus near MRT Ayala Station. It used to be the only way of getting here, but now I think they already have routes in Ayala Avenue, so going to BGC isn’t that difficult already. I’ve been riding the Fort Bus ever since I started working here, so I thought of sharing some useful information about these giant transportation mechanisms.

1. As of this posting, the fare is still Php11.00. It’s okay to give 20-peso bill or 50 or 100, as long as you give them a peso. Prepare that one-peso coin, before you fall in line. That would ease their work by giving you tens instead of one-peso coins. And consideration-aside, if they didn’t have available one-peso coins to change, you will be delayed. There comes a point where the first passenger in the line was the last one to ride the Fort Bus because there are no available one-peso coins, that the said passenger had to turned her bag upside down just to look for that one-peso coin.
2. Unlike other transport buses, Fort Bus doesn’t have a conductor or inspector roaming inside the bus while it’s in motion. Most of the time the fare is collected before entering the bus so make sure that you prepare the fare ahead of time. Also, even if there are no inspectors, keep the ticket on the duration of your trip, and dispose of the ticket properly.
3. Once the door is closed, it IS closed. There’s no way that door will open unless it’s in another bus stop. If you just arrive at the terminal with your fare ready and the driver already closed the door, he won’t open it again just to let you in, because he knows that if he does, there will be another passenger rushing to the door as well, and another, and another, causing delay to his joyride. Do not attempt to chase the bus and knock the door, they’ll just ignore you.
4. Related to number 3, you’re not the one to choose/decide where you’ll be dropped off. There’s this one case where two gays are flirting with each other and they suddenly shouted “PARA!!!!” when they were already at their destination. But since that’s not the bus stop, the driver just looked at them in the rear view mirror and continued living his life to the fullest. When the two approached the door and told the driver that they will alight the bus, the driver just looked at them as if they were joking. The two doesn’t have the clue of what’s going on so they asked the driver why didn’t he opened the door, and the driver finally answered “wala pong babaan dito”. The two returned to their seats after hearing this.
5. There are currently four routes that Fort Bus services: West Route, East Route, BGC Central and the new Ayala Route. If you don’t know which among these routes should you take to get to your destination, DO NOT HESITATE TO ASK. Asking is not a crime. Pretending that you know everything in a completely uncharted place is.
6. Respect the people in the line waiting for the next bus. There’s this habit where the ones in the tail of the line rushes to the bus because the ones in the front chooses to wait for a new bus (maybe because the current bus is already full), but when the bus already closed its doors, those who didn’t make it would go on the head of the line, pretending that they were already there before anyone else. Don’t do that. Don’t follow suit if you see others doing it.
7. The ones who manages Fort Buses subcontract other bus lines since that’s cheaper than buying new bus units. These contract bus lines, regardless of what route they are, are not allowed to enter BGC through McKinley Road for some reason. They enter BGC through Kalayaan Avenue. Don’t panic if you saw the bus you’re in going to a different direction.

These are just some of the tips that I think would help you survive. These Fort Buses are the only affordable means of getting in and out of BGC. As soon as you get to familiarize yourselves with these buses, you’ll probably enjoy BGC more.

Do you have additional tips in mind that aren’t mentioned above? Let us know!

I just read this from Matt Mullenweg’s blog, and I just thought that it would be nice to share it here. I am not really sure how I could share it without imitating the post title, so I just hope he won’t mind it.

Most people approach their work in one of three ways: as a job, a career, or a calling.

• If you see your work as a job, you do it only for the money, you look at the clock frequently while dreaming about the weekend ahead, and you probably pursue hobbies, which satisfy your effectance needs more thoroughly than does your work.
• If you see your work as a career, you have larger goals of advancement, promotion, and prestige.
• If you see your work as a calling, however, you find your work intrinsically fulfilling you are not doing it to achieve something else. You see your work as contributing to the greater good or as playing a role in some larger enterprise the worth of which seems obvious to you. You have frequent experiences of flow during the work day, and you neither look forward to “quitting time” nor feel the desire to shout, “Thank God it’s Friday!” You would continue to work, perhaps even without pay, if you suddenly became very wealthy.

What would you do if you found your wife lip locking with the devil? And here’s the thing: the reason why she’s doing that is because you broke your vows. Hmm..

I just finished playing Dante’s Inferno in PSP. I once saw a poster of this game in Datablitz, but I thought that it wouldn’t be available in PSP. I already lost hope on this gaming console, because the games available on this platform aren’t all that great, well at least for me. I was glad to find out that Dante’s Inferno is available in PSP.

I can’t call myself a big fan of The Divine Comedy (La Divina Commedia) by Dante Alighieri, since I really haven’t read the piece yet. I just learned this back in high school when we were studying world literature. This is just one of the literary pieces that made a mark in my head even after graduation. But again, I can’t call myself a fan – all I know is the Inferno part. Maybe the reason why I loved this game is because it adapted a part where I am most familiar with. I am not sure what would be my reaction if the game adapted the Purgatorio or the Paradiso part.

The video game Dante’s Inferno was based on the first part of Dante Alighieri’s The Divine Comedy which is the Inferno. The player would assume the role of Dante, a Templar knight who journeys to the nine circles of Hell to save the soul of her beloved Beatrice from Lucifer. Never fear though, because Virgil the Poet would accompany you on your journey (actually he will just describe you the circle you are currently in).

The gameplay was somehow similar to that of God of War, so the learning curve wasn’t that steep. Along the game you would encounter some souls punished by the sins they committed. You can either punish or absolve them, by which you would get points to upgrade your skills. I nearly absolved every soul I encountered, because I am the plain goody-goody player. I just tried punishing one soul (I think that was Pontius Pilate) just to see what would happen.

The game in its entirety was good, but I’ve got this weird feeling while playing it. Seeing how the sins were punished in Hell isn’t something that I could enjoy. Every sin encountered in the game made me think if I committed it once in my life, and then I thought I almost committed every sin discussed on a regular basis. If this is what Hell would really look like, I can’t imagine going through all of those damnation.

Please don’t get me wrong, I am not saying that the Hell as Dante described is true or accurate. No one can tell what the world looks like after life. But there’s one thing though that is accurate, and that is committing a sin. The manner of punishing the sins may not be true, but the sins are. Whenever Virgil describes the atrocities that humans can commit, all I felt was guilt. When a sin was described, I was like, “hah, I’ve done that at least once in my life”, but that isn’t something I am proud of.

Overall the game was impressive, and the ending implied that there would be a sequel to this game (which will obviously depict Purgatorio). I can’t say that I will be playing the game again anytime soon. Nangingilabot pa ako sa mga nakita ko.