Nothing To Do, Yet All Is Well

As promised, I went out this afternoon to pay off some of the bills that came in over the past week.  Specifically, the combination phone and internet bill, and two credit card bills — one mine, the other also mine but as a secondary card holder under my sister’s name.  As a result though, I’m pretty much close to the red again, and I’m not really sure if what’s left in my savings will be able to tide me over to my next payday.  Ugh.

On other news, apparently the books that nanay sent will be arriving soon.  I just hope they arrive before enrollment, as I’ve pretty much decided to give the comprehensive exams my first try this term, so I’ll need those books.  I have to wonder though if there’ll be delivery dues to pay for them though… The last time a package came, my father had to pretty much shell out three thousand pesos for me (and I still haven’t paid him back for that), so I’m kind of leery now of any extra expense on top of the shipping costs already paid for.

Ah, can’t really worry about it when the packages hasn’t arrived yet.  I’ll just take it when it comes, as usual.

Aside from bills payment, the rest of my first day off passed more or less like I wanted, which is to say I was able to maximize the relaxation for myself.  Did some Ghibli marathoning for example (specifically Only Yesterday, Whispers from the Heart, and Up On Poppy Hill), and some reading, on top of the usual late-afternoon session at the gym.

I’ll find a few things before going to bed. Hmm, maybe upload that Saki pictures backlog that my cousin’s been too busy to do?  Perhaps.

 

 

 

A Good Enough Capper To The Week

Today didn’t start exactly as planned.  Although I was able to get to the MRT station in time, I wasn’t able to actually get into the station as quickly as I’d liked.  You see, the stairs heading into the station was filled to the brim with people, with one crowd trying to push upwards, and the others trying to make their way down to where the jeepneys heading to Manila picked up passengers.  

Apparently there was some sort of accident involved, and the LRT had to shut down its services for the time being.  The large number of people trying to go down were from the LRT station, and their sheer number made the trek up the stairs, ah, tight to say the least.  I think it took more than ten minutes for me to climb up the stairs, all told.  Add to this the five or so minute ride to the station where I usually got off of, as well as another five minutes riding a jeep to our office building, and you’d quickly understand that I was very very late.

You know, this was the first time I’d ever been late for a while.  Too bad it had to happen just at the tail end of the month.  Oh well, chalk it up to one of those things that are beyond my control.

The rest of the shift proceeded as routine as one could get.  As I surmised last night, with three people taking calls the queue was more than manageable again, and I don’t think there was a single spike in the amount of calls for the duration of the shift too.  This meant that the avail times were larger than usual, but unlike yesterday I wasn’t able to take advantage of this much.  You see, for some reason many of the sites I normally visited during those down times suddenly became blocked by our office’s filters.  That takes a whole lot of  the usual enjoyment I had for the shift, for sure.

Ugh. So no more reading manga for a while from the usual places, and no picture browsing either.

Went to the gym as usual this afternoon.  Obviously my kababata wasn’t there, but then again I wasn’t expecting her to join quickly, if she’s going to join at all.

Anyway, my upper body still hurts a little from my sudden return to dumbbell lifting at the start of the week, so I figure that it’s a good enough excuse to turn in early, so my body can recover quicker from sleep. 

Not-So Overcast Midweek

It was a little dark outside this morning, to the point where I thought it would be raining again.  And it did rain (in fact it’s raining outside right now, and it’s already well past nine in the evening), but not during the morning hours, which meant that I managed to get to the office without even getting a bit wet.

Today’s shift wasn’t as bad as I expected it to be, despite the fact that the last shift was again down to two people.  I guess there really wasn’t that many calls today, as by around eleven thirty the call queue virtually ground to a halt, with avail times averaging around ten or so minutes.  Plenty of time to do goofing off, which I did shamelessly.  And although I didn’t go to sleep in between calls (why should I, since I already spent my lunch break on that), my companion was actually snoring at one point, which really underscored how relaxed things were.

There was a slight drizzle when I got out of work, but even then it was barely enough to spatter my dress, much more soak me to the skin.  Indeed, there was a slight shower going on in our area, but I didn’t even noticed it when I got down in my neighborhood.  And despite my father’s misgivings, it also wasn’t enough to stop me from going to the gym this afternoon.

Speaking of gym, I ran into our neighbor, the older sister of my deceased friend that I’ve talked about before, and whose presence we were seeing less and less of these days.  She was on her way to one of the nearby (well, relatively anyway) malls to, in her words, “take advantage of the free wi-fi”, and asked where I was going.  I told her that I was headed off to the gym for a work-out.  She seemed genuinely surprised at this, and even more astonished that the gym I was going to was actually nearby.  So she tagged along to take a look at the place, since she was interested in doing some working out herself.  I don’t think she needs to lose any weight though (she’s already petite as it is), but hey I won’t stop her if that’s what she wants.

She quickly continued on after getting one of the gym’s brochures, while I did my usual routine.  I have to say, it wasn’t as enjoyable as usual, but that’s likely because my upper arms were still aching from the weightlifting I did at home on Monday and Tuesday.  In hindsight, it wasn’t too much of a good idea, given how I hadn’t exerted my upper body for at least three weeks, but I guess now I’m paying for it — I can barely straighten my right arm now for example. 

I wonder how long it would take for me to recover from this one.  Hopefully it doesn’t last until the end of the week, because that would really be awkward.

Anyway, it looks like we’re back to a full complement tomorrow, so the work shift should hopefully be more relaxed than today.

 

 

 

Just A Little Unfounded

Although only two of us were on call duty for the last shift of the day, it wasn’t as bad as I expected.  For a Tuesday I mean.  The calls were well-distributed enough, and there was only a single spike in the call queue for the day that I noticed.  That’s not to say that there weren’t a lot of calls, but I really was expecting something like what happened just this Sunday, where I pretty much wanted to throw something at someone by the end of the shift.

Nothing really much to say though about my day at the office aside from that.  It was pretty routine, though instead of eating lunch again I took the opportunity to take a forty-five minute (or rather, thirty-five, since I woke up ten minutes before I had to log in again) catnap.  Hmm, it’s kind of surprising how I’m able to sleep like that now, with my seat reclined back and my feet perched on another empty seat, despite the fact that my teammate was still taking in calls right beside me.  

It’s all in the breathing I suppose.

As usual, I took another nap as soon as I got home.  It was pretty hot this time though, and there wasn’t even a breeze to offset it.  Was really tempted to turn on the a/c that time, but I settled for turning on my room’s fan full blast instead.  Heh, it’s hard to believe that, once upon a time, it being hot actually got me to fall asleep faster.  I kind of miss those days.  Comes to show how old I’ve become.

Tomorrow’s another day.  I hope that it’s as relaxed, but knowing my luck (and the fact that it’s apparently down to me and another agent again) there’s a good chance that I’ll really look forward to that lunchtime nap, if only as a respite to a morning full of consecutive calls.

 

 

 

Welcomed Slow Day

Today pretty much fulfilled my expectations of the type of Monday shift I’d like, which is to say slow and more than a little casual.  With the queue already languid as it is (given how it’s still a Sunday evening in the US), it became positively relaxed with the full complement of four people for the final day shift.  To give one an idea, come eleven thirty or so, we were pretty much sleeping at our stations.  

Ironically, it was something I passed on (I was instead doubling on reading Love Allergen, and updating the page I made for it on TV Tropes during that time), but that’s a given since I spent the whole of my assigned lunch break (all forty-five minutes of it) on a quick catnap.  Felt much better for it too, though I wonder if the other agents were bothered by my loud snoring (which my family sometimes describes as akin to an ill-maintained carburetor)… They probably were, I guess.

As for the weather today, it was mostly sunny, though sometime mid-morning our area was hit by a strong downpour.  Didn’t really last that long though, as by the time my shift ended the sun was once again high up in the sky.  The wind was still relatively strong though (and in fact it almost blew my hat away a few times), but it was enough so that the walk to the MRT station was bearable.

And why did I walk to the station again this time?  I just felt like it.  Okay, the fact that it was a holiday meant that there were fewer jeepneys than usual contributed to my decision, and the jeeps that were waiting in front of our office building took forever to get anywhere since their drivers always waited to get a full complement of passengers before even going…  Yeah.

I didn’t go to the gym today, if anyone was wondering, but that’s become a habit of mine during Mondays for at least two months now. Instead, I opted for a continuation of the nap I had at the office.  Again, it was pretty nice, as despite the sun outside, there was still that brisk wind going on in our barangay for some reason.

Ah, it’s back to the usual tomorrow though.  I really hope that all of the usual people come in, else it might be another case of being stressed for the rest of the shift.

 

 

 

A Taste Of The Usual

Though I expected that today’s shift would be stressful (this being a Sunday after all), I wasn’t prepared for the deluge of calls I had to take in today.  Really, it hearkened back to those days when I was just flying more or less solo during Sundays… Which was almost exactly what happened today.  Instead of the usual complement of four, there were only two of us on duty, which meant that the queue was hilariously backed up.  Just like the bad old days, it was nearly back-to-back calls from the start of the shift, up to nearly eleven in the morning.  

This obviously led to a steady build-up of frustration on our part, as we could barely catch our breath.  It came to the point that we were cussing in between calls (while on mute of course) just to relieve some of that pressure.  

Thankfully, from eleven or so onward, the queue started to quiet down.  The avail times grew to the point that I was able to take my monthly proficiency exam for both Merchant and Customer Service in between calls.  I didn’t ace it this time though, but hey, two nines out of tens is pretty good I think.

With the exams over and done with, I can look forward to (hopefully) a slow Monday shift.  You bet you I’ll put that slow time to good use!

The Opposite Of Busy

 

Another weekend, another day spent doing nothing really.  Aside from playing some games on the desktop, I was still trying to go through Don Quixote, which was surprisingly hard.  Even with the translated version I’m reading (I’m using Starkie’s), it’s difficult to read the chapters in one go, given how it’s wall-to-wall blocks of text page after page.  Needless to say, I experienced eyestrain very quickly.

I did go out for a bit though in the afternoon, but it wasn’t for anything exciting.  I just dropped by the nearby grocery to buy two (2-liter) bottles of rootbear, and some cheap pizza (two boxes) in preparation for my sister dropping by for the weekend.  Which she did, though it was a little later than usual.  In fact, tatay was about to send her a text message when she finally arrived.  

Tomorrow’s back to work again, so I suppose it’s off to bed for me.  Hmm, and it’s earlier than usual too.  Oh well, going to need all that extra energy, given it’s a Sunday shift again.

 

 

 

 

Over And Done With

I was more than a little surprised when my father walked into my room this morning to wake me up.  Normally I’d rely on my phone’s alarm clock to wake me up, but given how it was my day off, it was obviously not set.  Which is why instead of waking up at the usual five-thirty, I had actually overslept, meaning by the time my father woke me it was well past six-thirty.

After being reminded that there was a medical check-up I needed to get to at the office, I hurriedly bathed and got dressed.  Surprisingly, the fact that I had literally eaten nothing since six in the evening the night before didn’t bother me one bit, but I suppose the two liters of water I had drunk on and off during the evening had something to do with it.

So once I got to the office, I headed off to the pantry where the bulk of the medical check-up was set up.  As expected, I wasn’t the only one there, but the line was moving relatively quickly anyway.  I filled out the required forms, then shuffled over to one table to have my height and weight measured.  As I had feared, I was counted overweight again, though it’s been at the spot where it’s occupied for more than two months now, so at least that’s a small comfort.  My eyesight seems to have gotten worse though (both measured 20/100).  Hmm.  I might have to have a new set of lenses measured.  

Next was the blood test.  It was strange, since I’d normally balk and even look away whenever a blood sample was taken from me, but this time around I stared with abject disinterest when the orderly jabbed a syringe into my right arm.  I didn’t even flinch.  After that, I was given a small plastic container to fill for the urine test…  Which because of all the water I’d been drinking for the evening and evening before I left home, I was ready to fill.  The usual check-up with a doctor followed that, before it was off to the parking lot for my chest X-Ray (since the mobile X-Ray van was set up there).

With that completed, I submitted the completed form, had it signed, and that was that.

I didn’t go home right away of course.  Given that I hadn’t eaten dinner or breakfast, I dropped by the closest Jollibee, ordered a 2-piece Chickenjoy with extra rice, and stuffed myself with fried chicken to my heart’s content.  Going to hate myself later on of course, but boy did that chicken taste good.  I don’t think it’s even close to the context it was used, but what the hey, let me crib a bit from Cervantes in saying that “the best sauce in the world is hunger”.

It was still early once I got home, which meant that I had to wait for an hour or so before I could withdraw my pay from the nearby bank (I had checked earlier at the ATM on the first floor when I went to the office, and it didn’t have money in it yet).  So I caught up on some of the shows I had downloaded over the week.  It was close to lunch when I decided to go out again, because I was sure that there’d be money in the payroll account by then… Which it did.  

The thing is, it wasn’t as much as I was expecting, but I guess it’s because of all those taxes and deductions that come at the end of the month.  Oh well.  After another detour to my savings bank, said pay was safely deposited into my account.  Though, I don’t think it’s going to get a chance to linger there long, as I already have three bills waiting for me.  Oi.

Tch, it’s really going to be tight again until the next payday.  And enrollment is coming too…

 

 

 

The Usual Kind Of Set-Up

Apparently it’s the time for the annual medical check-up sponsored by our company, of which the deadline is tomorrow afternoon.  This means that, despite it being my day off and all, I’ll have to swing by the office for it, and honestly the sooner I finish it the better.  Anyway, in preparation for it, I’m going on a bit of a fast so as not to mess up the x-ray examination that’s sure to be included (and NOT to tweak my weight a bit).  So until the tests are done, it’s pretty much just water for me, but that’s just as well, since it means I’d be ready when they need to get a urine sample.  Hmm…

Aside from that, nothing much to say about my day at the office, aside from the fact that it was sunny for a change, if still a bit windy (which made walking from the office to the MRT station actually viable).  And since there wasn’t any rain, I was able to go to the gym again, if a little later than usual since I had to wait for the transfer of the converted (and most importantly, subtitled!) Mikunopolis video to my phone.  Even when converted, it was pretty big at about 1.6 gigs, which meant it ate nearly all of the space on the memory card.  

Mmph, I figure it’s time for me to go out and buy a card with a bigger capacity, if I want to save pictures or even play music again.  Good thing payday is tomorrow…

 

 

 

Just A Whole Lot Of Work

Instead of a mildly relaxing midweek at the office, today was surprisingly stressful at the office. This was brought about by the fact that, well, there were only two of us for the duration of the shift.  This meant that there weren’t enough people on hand to keep up with the calls coming in again.  For a good chunk of the morning, the call queue was backed-up because of it, which didn’t make my life any easy, I assure you.

It was around eleven thirty or so before the queue finally quieted down.  I was so happy when it finally did, since my poor throat was already aching by that point.  Ugh.

It wasn’t that hot this afternoon, which meant there wasn’t anything stopping me from going to the gym.  It was surprisingly more crowded than usual, and I was only able to use the elliptical machine this time around.  I guess I’ll have to make up for the difference tomorrow

Oh, before I left for the gym, I left a lot of processes running on my desktop PC, most of them related to video conversion.  I was finally able to get off my arse and get the BR-rip-come-subtitled version of the Mikunopolis concert you see, and boy is it huge (more than 4 gigs in fact).  The quality is well worth it though, both in terms of the video and the audio, which is why I want to have it replace the video (the live stream from NicoNico video of the same concert) I’d been using during my gym sessions.  

There’s a bit of work involved though before I can even put the video into my phone though (indeed, part of it isn’t even finished by this point).  Also, there’s the fact that I’m going to need  a memory card with a larger capacity (even after compression is done).  The bigger-sized ones cost about a thousand or more pesos, which isn’t really that much normally, but since the bills have already started to arrive, well, it’s going to be tight for the rest of the month again.  

And this isn’t even taking into consideration next term’s enrollment.

Oh well, I’ll figure something out I suppose.

Aside from that, I don’t think that there’s much to share about the rest of my day.  Eh.