// Originally recorded for Reii's birthday.

October 23rd officially marked my second year of working. So much has changed in this year, it's ridiculous. We got a new CEO and over the past several months, he's been going department-by-department restructuring the company. I've seen my role changed considerably over the past few month too. Instead of doing bitch work, I'm being put in a position where I can really utilize my knowledge and experience.

I said last year that I love my job, and one year later I'm happy to say that still holds true. A big reason why is because of stupid shit like this:

Everyone subconsciously whistling Wesley's ringtone, the Super Mario theme, Rick Roll, Tetris theme and the A-Team theme.

Interviewee with a really bad lazy eye:

Harv: he did an excellent job of maintaining eye-contact...with the both of us...at the same time...

Cool idea for adding to the chat feature:

Wolfey: I should just throw in "WOLFEY RULEZ" into every other message

Meaning to say "drag and drop"?

Harv: Drug and Drop!

Wolfey picking on the mini-mart asian lady:

Wolfey: I think Asian lady has this OCD thing where she has to straighten out every dollar bill
Wolfey: I'm gonna fold every corner of every bill that I give her from now on to test her

Diego's optimistic Facebook status after getting fired:

Diego: I'M FREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!

Diego's Facebook status on his new engagement:

Diego: I'M ENGAAAAAAAAGED!!!

Diego's optimistic Facebook status on the called off engagement:

Diego: I'M FREEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!

Adam on how to deal with a shitty applicant:

Harv: i'm gonna shred his resume
Adam: nah, don't even shred it.
Adam: don't waste the power.

Andrew on quality control:

Andrew: how do I hide all these freakin' errors??
Adam: WTF
Adam: you're supposed to fix the fucking errors, not hide them!!

Nerds fighting over stuff:

Adam: I wanna go to the MySQL Conference
Thomas: I wanna go to the MySQL Conference!
Harv: like a spoiled kid
Harv: but I wanna go to the MySQL Conference!!

Adam asking Shezaan what he missed out on after someone's birthday:

Adam: oh, there was a birthday?
Adam: what did I miss?
Shezaan: not much
Shezaan: just the usual
Shezaan: cutting the cake and Mel eating it all.

Majid asking Adam to explain something during a demo:

Majid: Adam, how would you explain "API" in two words or less.

A client noticing an inappropriate test forum:

Client: teabagging forum???

Ray on explaining my new promotion:

Ray: Mel is somewhere in between a programmer and designer
Ray: he's somewhat of a hybrid
Ray: I like to think of him as a "morphidite"
Adam: Mel is a hermaphridite!!

Wolfey suggesting a new company chatroom for AIM:

Adam: please keep this chat reserved only for work related issues.
Adam: I've been receiving complaints from individuals that our side talk is spamming them and distracting them from work.
Ryan: gaaay
Wolfey: can we have [Office_Fun]
Wolfey: and rename this to [Office_Not_Fun]
Adam: asshole.

// I'm way behind on this post so I'm gonna have to keep make this the extremely abridged version...

For the past couple weeks I've kicked it with a ton of friends from BlogTV. As far as I know, BlogTV started to pick up a little over a month ago. And since then, we've all grown pretty close.

It's a little interesting meeting people from the internet. For each person you meet, you gotta remember three things: a face, a screenname and a real name. But since you've already been talking, you kinda already know the person.

So yeah, a couple Fridays ago I went to a local It's A Grind for the weekly open mic night and bumped into some familiar faces/screennames. We chilled then migrated to In-N-Out for an amazing jam session.

That Saturday was Oktoberfest, which was a festival hosted by my church. The church is predominately filipino so the festival always brings in popular filipino musicians and performers. This year was Gabe, Leejay and Passion (You gotta check out this video of 'em rehearsing).

I've been surrounded by some good musicians all my life...but never quite like this. We had:

• Jeremy "Passion" Manongdo -- reminds me of a younger Usher
• Gabe Bondoc -- John Mayer-ish.. David Ryan Harris-y.. Corrine Bailey Rae-esque type deal
• Bryan Keith -- musical genius who can make any good song sound even better.
• Deland -- awesome R&B vocalist.
• Harry -- the human guitar jukebox who can play anything on guitar.
• Glenn Clancy -- awesome vocalist.
• Randolph -- the guy that can sing the high part, hahahaa.
• Nessarica -- hands down the most beautiful voice I've ever heard live.
• Nina Tran -- beautiful voice.
• Nicole Yvette -- beautiful voice.
• Cathy Nguyen -- didn't sing with us that weeekend but she's great when she does.

My favorite songs from that weekend:

• Wait Another Minute by Hi-Five
• How Deep is Your Love by The Bee Gees
• My Kinda Girl by Brian McKnight, Justin Timberlake
• Do You Remember by Boyz II Men
• This Christmas by Joe
• The Growing Pains (Theme)

Oh, one thing that is really awkward is when people are totally not what you expect in real life... I got a taste of that before the weekend when Katzy discovered that I was a dude, not a chick.

And it didn't end there...

melmyfinger: btw, after meeting up with a bunch of blogtv people last night...i wanna make it clear that i am a DUDE, not a chick
heyitsloris: LOL i tripped out when i met up with people too
krismark: LOL mel
melmyfinger: apparently everyone thinks i'm a girl
thatsajudy: oh really mel? i thought you were a girl
melmyfinger: HAHAHAHAHAAH
krismark: HAHAHHAAH
melmyfinger: damnit!!!
heyitsloris: HAHA
krismark: LOL
JuJuBeanz: lol
hollisterloser: same thing for me... ):
melmyfinger: judy, you're like the 15th person!
JuJuBeanz: MELODY
krismark: melissa my finger
JuJuBeanz: melony
darrelld23: or melissa
krismark: LOL
melmyfinger: DAMNIT
heyitsloris: AHHAHAH wtf kris!

The ongoing tally of who thinks "melmyfinger" is a guy or not:

• Mel is a Guy -- BK, Chrstine, Melissa, Raelynne, Randolph.
• Mel is a Girl -- Adoboy, Adriee, Alerissa, Cathy, Doowop, Jackielyn, Janice, JecJec, Jeremy, JR, Judy, Hazel, Katzy, Nessa, Rich, and many many more...

In closing, I'll leave you with my buddy, Jeremy, singing "Melissa" outside of Albertacos.

Peace, Love and BlogTV.

View Photos: Oktoberfest '08 (197 Photos)

Well Done by Jeremy "Passion" Manongdo:

Four years ago from today. We miss you, Uncle.

June 11, 1951 - October 22, 2004

My most recent addiction.

All of the local filipino musicians get on this thing and broadcast throughout the day. Their "shows" can be anything: live performances, open practices, random jam sessions, or just screwing around & chatting with the viewers. It's such an awesome way to get personal with indie artists and discover new music.

One of my favorite things about this is when they freestyle with whatever words the viewers type in the chatroom. Check out the video below, where Jeremy "Passion" Mondongo does a freestyle about food and finishes with a roll call. (You'll see my screenname in the chat)

Original: Passion - Randomness Addict

Another cool thing is you can have two people co-host during a broadcast. Check this one out with Passion & Nessa Ramos (and pay attention to 2:07, haha):

Original: Chillen with Nessa

This co-hosting thing makes blogtv a LOT of fun. All of these local filipino artists are good friends with each other and take turns co-hosting each other's shows. Someone will start broadcasting in the afternoon, do it for a couple hours and then they'll hit up the next artist. For the past few nights they've been taking turns broadcasting til 4 in the morning. Sooooo chill!

Check it out: http://www.blogtv.com

Deep thought of the moment:

What if everyone could read everyone else's mind? How would people evolve?

No more secrets. No more lies. No more hidden agendas. Just everybody knowing everything about everybody.

Would the world become a better place? Would we evolve into a better society? Would we become better people?

...I finished a mile non-stop!

(Graph is a little fucked up)

The best part is I wasn't even tired afterwards!

coold:

// Due to my crappy internet, I'm gonna have to keep this blog post very, very short...

Thanks for your patience, everyone. It took me a few days longer than expected but 300 photos are up on my Flickr! (There's actually a total of 853 photos and videos which I'll make available for download soon)

What can I say? It was a very chill reunion, filled with a lot of nostalgia and laughter; it was a nice change of pace for once, compared to our past wild reunions. Once again we find ourselves as a group of people in the middle of no where, doing what we do best -- chilling, drinking and finding ways to amuse ourselves.

The highlights of the reunion are all in the photos.

Randoms:

Loren: you'd think it was only us kids that were drinking and partying but really it's just the adults were a lot better at dodging us than we were at them.

Mel: petting the dogs
Alan: hey Loren, do you have any peanut butter? (Reference to the movie Road Trip)

Mel: quick, deep, hollow fart
Samir: what?
Loren: dude, was that your ass??
Samir: oh shit! I thought he said "yo"

Re-Created Picture of the Moment:

In Closing...

In the movie Garden State, a wise Zach Braff one said:

Home is so much more than just a house to put your shit in.

The more I think about that quote, the more I realize how true it is. Home isn't just a house. It's not just a town. It's a time. A moment. It's the people around you in a certain phase of your life. It's the world in the eyes of someone before all that real world stuff.

Home is an experience when you're there, and a state of mind when you're not.

Let's face it, none of us will ever truly be able to "go back." Even if we decide to go to that Ar@mco sponsored reunion in Saudi next year, it wouldn't be the same. It's not that same time and it's not the same place.

But the people -- us -- we'll always have. And that will never change.

Maybe that's what 'family' really is: a group of people that miss the same imaginary place.

View Photos (289) | Downloads & Videos coming soon!

Tonight, I finished my 1.2 miles in a record time of 10'03", baby! Eight weeks ago, I did my first run in a dismal time of 15'54".

That's an improvement of 5'51", baby!!

Big thanks to everyone that supported me and joined in on my little Nike+ running buddies. After the Oregon Reunion, I'll be jumping right back on the saddle to complete my next goal -- one mile, non-stop.

In the meantime, all I have to say is...