Punch Drunk Love

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So for the first time in my entire life, my car now has a "pimped out" sound system. Well... sort of pimped out anyway.  My brother donated his old sub woofer to me so all I really needed to do was buy some cables and he took care of the rest. My car can now play music at a near ear splitting noise (for me) without blowing up my speakers.  That's a real big step for me. See, I used to be one of those people who hated it when the music was a little louder than a whisper. I just couldn't understand why people had to listen to music so loud. Has the youth gone deaf? I guess I was just set in my ways.

That whole experience yesterday of getting a new sub reminded me of the movie "Punch Drunk Love". I used to be like Barry Egan (Adam Sandler) where I just had this one routine that I did day in and day out. I think that working in the US really does that to you. Everyday, I would wake up at 5 in the morning, prepare breakfast, go to work, go home, cook dinner, watch some TV, then go back to sleep. I did that for pretty much an entire year. One day though, much like Barry's piano, something, or in my case, someone, broke my routine. In comes the lovely dame a.k.a my wife, Michelle. That break in the routine provided a jolt to the system. Because of her, instead of going home to cook a meal, I'd go out with her to a nice restaurant. Instead of sitting down in front of the TV, we'd go on a tour somewhere. These experiences really opened up a new window of reality for me.  I've slowly come to realize that there was more to life than what I did day in and day out.

Much like the movie though, the changes haven't come in an instant. Barry didn't just change once he met Lena Leonard (Emily Watson). It was a progression on his part. From standing up to the sisters to the scene where he went out of his way just to punch the hell out of Lance (Luis Guzman). I do realize one major thing though. Much like how Barry should give credit to Lena, I must give credit to Michelle for the change.  Realizing that there's tons of things outside my comfort zone has been a real adventure. It's been real fun and I'm looking forward to the next one. Thanks Michelle :)

Ouch-sourced

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The Philippines now supposedly has the biggest BPO industry in the world. I read an article in Yahoo Philippines about a month ago how the Philippines has overtaken India as the biggest supplier of business process outsourcing in the world. If that's true, that would be amazing! I was once part of that group of people who worked in a call center. Actually, I've worked in two call centers in the past 5-ish years. That's why I was looking forward to watching the series "Outsourced". When I read in an internet article somewhere that they were going to come out with a comedy series about the call center industry, I really had high hopes. I've seen how they could make this series so funny because in my short stint in the industry, I already had so many stories to tell.

Finally, last night, I was able to watch the pilot episode of "Outsourced". From the starting scene though, I kinda felt uneasy. I realized a major flaw in the premise of the series; the main target audience of the show is Americans. As soon as the protagonist walked in the door of an empty office, I knew that there was something wrong. I just don't see how Americans could laugh at being laid off and their jobs sent abroad. Then it got worse, they started showing these Indians who knew nothing about American culture. The lack of knowledge (and the use of racial stereotypes) is where the writers decided to get their laughs from.

I'm not going to go into a rant where I point out that call center agents are trained by their counterparts, be it American, Australian, Japanese or whoever, way before they pick up phones. My only point is that they could have gotten a whole lot of laughs elsewhere. For them to focus on the perceived inferiority of the call center to their American counterparts just completely misses the mark. That would only make the viewers pissed off. I mean who would want to laugh at being laid off and being replaced by someone perceived as less qualified? I think that they should have just focused on the hysterical calls that people get. Trust me, every single call center agent has a story to tell about a weird or funny call. Another case in point: I once received a call about a hysterical client. She was crying because her PC wouldn't turn on. She said she kept pushing the power button but nothing was happening. I asked her to check the power cord. Lo and behold, her PC was unplugged.

Too bad, I just think the series could have been really funny. Maybe if I watch the next few episodes my opinion would change. Maybe they just had a sucky pilot. I'm not sure. I guess I'll tune in again next week to give it one more chance. If things stay the same though, I think I'll just have to look for another show to watch.Oh well...

My Life in Movies

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It's funny how I see certain parts of movies and realize how similar my life is to what I'm watching. Case in point: I was in the car with Michelle this morning and while driving, I tried doing my version of an Irish guy. She just started cracking up. She said, "do a Mexican one!" I tried my best and then she started cracking up again. Apparently, my Irish and Mexican accent sound the same... They both sound Indian. So much for me becoming an impersonator. We then started laughing when we realized that what was happening eerily resembled this scene from "I Love You, Man" where Paul Rudd tried imitating a Jamaican accent and still ended up sounding like "a leprechaun". 

What's the point? I really have no clue. I just realized that I'm a total movie/TV/music geek. Although Michelle's been telling me this ever since, I had no inkling how bad it was until recently. I could simply relate anything that happens in my life to either a song, a movie, or a TV show.

Maybe that's why I love characters such as as Leonard from "The Big Bang Theory", Phil Dunphy from "Modern Family" Peter Klaven from "I Love You, Man". I see a part of me in some of the characters in the show.  A sad fact though is that the common thread between all these characters is that they're all awkward bumbling nerds. On the plus side though, like me, they all ended up with the cute and lovable girl in the end.

I guess being a geek like me is not such a bad thing after all. At the end of the day, despite all my weirdness, I still end up sleeping next to my adorable wife. Thanks Paul Rudd, Ty Burrell, and Jonathan Galecki for proving to me that it can be done.

Gardening

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Michelle is not much of a garden person. Actually, if there's one person who's exactly the opposite of a garden person, that's Michelle. It's not that she hates plants. She just hates all the dirt and insects that go along with it. As she said, our house is the antithesis of her dream place.

We live in a bungalow that occupies probably about 1/2 of the 1000 square meter lot our parents own. That means we have about 500 square meters of garden space to deal with. It's sort of been my goal to make sure that the garden gets a face lift while Michelle is fixing up our new-ish house.

The main problem I am encountering is that as much as I want to update our garden, I have no clue how to go about it. I know that there's a much easier way to go about it such as hiring a landscape architect. I just don't want to do it (and I have no money to pay him/her anyway hehe). I want to create this gardening masterpiece that I can say I did by myself.

I decided to start by trying to clean up the garden. First task was to cut down stray branches from the Atis tree. I was surprised how easy it was to cut the branches off the Atis. The wood was soft so after a couple of hacks, the tree got its makeover. I had so much fun hacking at that tree that I started looking for more tree victims. I took one look at the Mango tree and I knew it was next. Feeling confident since I took out that Atis tree like it was nothing, I started to work on that Mango. One hack and I realized I was out of my league. The vibrations from that blade went from my hand, up my arm, and straight to my brain. After that one hack, I knew that I had to move on to other things. Next on my list was to buy some plants to surround the empty bathtub that I placed in the corner of the garden. I wanted the tub to serve as a centerpiece in the garden but alas, I was overruled by Michelle. She said it looked like Sadako would climb out of it. Next option was to place it in the corner of the garden then have some plants cover the sides of it.

I was off to Regalado to buy the plants when it started to rain. So that pretty much ended my gardening for the day. I want to continue working on it though until I complete my masterpiece. We'll see when that happens...

Hello Blogger World

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My name's Yuri and I recently got married to my wonderful wife, Michelle, last September 4, 2010. Life has really changed ever since that fateful day. First, my private room privileges have been revoked. Gone are the days of the Man Room. Walking in underwear has become a privilege, and no longer a right. Manly red and white paint (plus dirt and grime) have been replaced with bright green, accent walls and (gasp) throw pillows.

Not that I'm complaining about all these changes. I think that they're exciting and educational. I'm learning that bathrooms need to have matching bath mats. Eating with a serving spoon is a must. That peeing with the toilet seat down is a capital offense. I'm evolving. Apparently I'm becoming more civilized. Lets see how far I can go! Hope you enjoy reading about my journey!

--Yuri