Alezandro Mark by Alezandro Mark

I passed by Fully Booked at Gateway… they have these gorgeous notebooks and planners laid on a table… I so wanted to get myself one, but I don’t think I could afford it… utterly frustrating, I work hard, I work even when I am sick, and I can’t buy myself a notebook… sure, it is an eight hundred pesos notebook… but the point is, I work hard and that should allow me to buy whatever I want!

But I guess that’s life… I was on my way to South Triangle, in Quezon City… I don’t exactly know where it was… but I had an idea… I consulted google maps… and called the bank and asked for directions… I went as I need my atm card replaced… my card was so dilapidated, I think it was why, the last time I tried to get money, 4 machines cancelled my transaction, and the fifth said I have the wrong pin… only the Philippine National Bank’s (Santolan Branch) atm honored my card and allowed me to withdraw...

I asked my supervisor if I could have our HR department to take care of it, but she advised me otherwise as it will take 2 weeks the soonest… where as if I go directly to the bank, the issuing branch, I could get a blank card—my name not printed on it—to use instead… Funny, I posted the direction to my Facebook, and when I got home, there were a lot of comments, guessing where it leads to, enumerating call centers in the area of Quezon Avenue…

Yes, I have been dismayed by how awfully low my salary have been… but I am staying put, at least until April, only then will I consider, note, just consider, transferring to other call centers… reason being that I am to apply for a housing loan through Pagibig and give the new owners of the company I work for to redeem themselves… besides, I don’t want to take calls all my life, and I have a better chance to get myself to an off-phone post with a 2 years tenure here, than a new hire on another company…

Off course, this may mean not able to buy myself a new bag to cheer me up when I get lonely—specially if I see my online pay slip, double whammy actually, I get depressed how low it gets and realize I can’t afford that bag at Girbaud… or those Havianas bag… but hey, not the end of the world, little sacrifice, I am gearing for a big one—a house! That reminds me, I need a real estate agent…

After I was done with the bank, I thought I should see Tweety, of course she wasn’t home, which is at Delta, but I remember her saying cab fare to work, which is St. Luke’s, to be only 40-50 pesos, so I figured, I was near… it is, she explained later, if you take a cab and know your way… but since, I don’t know my way, I won’t dare trust a Manila cab driver… and Alge, said I should take a jeep to Quiapo, get off Mabuhay Rotonda, then take another jeep to Cubao…

He texted me… having hot fudge at McDonalds, waiting for Tweety’s reply… I tried calling her to let her know I am coming and get some direction, but she was not answering, I thought maybe she was attending to a patient, and just texted her… but I didn’t get a reply from her, instead it was Alge who messaged me, asking if our salary was in already… it was, the lady at the bank told me so, offering me the chance to get some money first before surrendering my old card, as the new card won’t work until the day after…

Then, he started teasing me again about the gorillapod I gave to TJ… I had one, it cost over a thousand… but I was not using it… and so when TJ won himself a digital camera at work, I thought I should give it to him… that was mid last year, and Alge was there when I told him so and didn’t say anything… I was not able to give him the gorillapod only after New Year… mainly because I don’t know where it was… and when I found it when I did a little new year cleaning, I gave it to him… Alge found out, now he is giving me a hard time about it, saying I just gave TJ a 1 thousand peso gift… you see I didn’t realize that, whereas I didn’t give him anything for Christmas, which coincidentally, also his birthday… adding injury, I who-you him… well, his name didn’t show up, because my old phone conk on me again, and so I transferred my globe sim on my Iphone, and most of my contacts was left on the old phone… and this is why he didn’t give me the Neyo concert tickets… and probably will never give me anymore concert tickets… he did, though, give me direction to St Luke’s…

I could just easily resolve this by getting him something nice too… perhaps not as nice at the gorillapod (read: expensive) but nice… the problem is, I no longer earn as much… besides, neither did he get me something last Christmas, I was not even invited to his party…! Okay, he did to, but I didn’t know I would be available for it…

So, I was at St Luke’s, I went straight to the main building… never been there before, I was told to try to two other buildings… I went to the other, then to the other… but apparently, thought a licensed dentist, Tweety was just a dental assistant… the directory on list the main doctor… good thing I have my Iphone and I have a picture of her wearing a plunging neckline, sporting a little cleavage… I showed her picture to the people at the information, and one of the maintenance guy recognized her and directed me to the right floor… and there she was…

Nothing much, she said she can’t even have her hour lunch break… they are expecting someone, someone important… bummer…

I had to go home, first day of work… I was already in the office when my stomach started acting up… I had to go home, losing 6 hours of work… and that I have to make up for it, I imposed unto myself… so the following day I was doing 1-2 hours over time… so much to my supervisor’s pleasure, she needs to have all of us to render at least 3 hours overtime each, every week, or she would have to render 5 hours overtime on the phone, not admin work…

I didn’t know, I just found out through facebook, one of our common friend greeted her happy birthday… so the next day, I went to her, apologizing for not knowing… and I thought I should get her something for such a bad friend… I was to get her something, but not as soon as I thought…

I was out on my 1 hour lunch… I was alone as usual, which I like as it makes me move fast, I’m done with lunch in half an hour… I was to go up already when I pass by the guy from Fused, and told me he have new stocks, just arrived, there are actually all still packed in a huge plastic bag, asking me if I want to see… I succumbed despite pay day was not until 3 days… and that I ended up buying 2 shirts and a blouse for my birthday girl friend…

One of the two shirt is that, I was made aware of, fuchsia shirt I have on the picture… taken before I got home from the office, my supervisor, seeing me when I got in, pointed out, “wow, in pink…” Yes, my chucks was pink… but my shirt, I thought was red… she insisted, comparing the color of my shirt to a team mate's red jacket… stupid me, I don’t know what I was thinking… it was indeed not red… worst it was fuchsia… I was redundantly pink…

Just set the ipod to maximum volume, tack it on the garter of either boxers or briefs… then dance, dance like there is no tomorrow, dance as if your life depended on it, dance like you can dance… my daily workout regimen commence, I dance, getting my heart pumping… I’d be sweating like a pig… about to drop on the floor… I get up my stepper… step away for about 15 to 20 minutes… then I picked up the dumbbells… they were not mine, it was my uncle, they are 2 8lbs dumbbells, covered in green velvety fabric or whatnot—easy on the hands… then I finish it up doing abdominal crunches in my bed, a count to a hundred… then I lay flat… until I fall asleep… sweaty and all… a good night sleep…

I got home eight in the evening last night… I only planned to do an hour over time, in the name of dressing down in the office… but my call lasted for another 3 hours...


Lunch, I ordered a dish named “Oh Tokyo”, rice topped with beef, mushroom and some sweet soy sauce… I have not decided whether I like it or not, I was hungry… I was eating alone, I usually do… I never feel the urge to ask anyone among my team mates or anyone I know for that matter in the office to have lunch with me… I took my phone with me to lunch, I usually don’t, it stays in my locker until I take my bag to go home when I get out of work… I have a textmate… yah…

I’m bored… stressed… he serves as a diversion… I don’t plan in meeting him in person… I don’t know how long can I dodge his invitation to meet… how long would my “I’m busy” alibi would work… but as long as he is there texting, I guess, I thought it is a cheap way to get my mind off everything… take it as an imaginary… virtual boyfriend… except that he is real, in a nether world…? Communicating to me only through an expensive gadget—it’s an Iphone… I actually pretend he is Angel…

Angel would still be an Angel… he is an angel, an entity, I, a mere mortal, would be too ashamed to be even behold his presence… and an angel would only deserve an angel…

Hmmmm…?

I need to sleep now…

My mom always say: “rather than thinking on how to spend money, think on how to earn money…” And, with what I earn today, that is what I should do… after all mothers knows best…

As you know, bags are my thing… if Carrie Bradshaw is to shoes, I am all about bags… I thought they are the perfect accessory, mainly because of their functionality… people don’t quite understand this, even those ladies who love shoes and trying to outdo Imelda Marcos with their collection, but one can never have too much bags… and that, if I am feeling a bit down or bored, I go to the mall and look for a bag… it is the one thing that could brighten up my day…

“So, you bought a bag?” Tweety said while having dinner at the usual Dencio’s in Araneta Center, she was buying, I told her I don’t have any money, I only got 4 thousand pesos salary, mainly because of the suspension I got during the holidays… I know, why did I even consider buying a new bag, “you already have a lot of bags…! How many shoulders do you have?”

I was depressed…

I got off SM Marikina, took the stairs to second floor, go in Bench… and there it was, the bag I saw when we went there to see “Mano Po 6”, that was 2 weeks ago—so you see, I did practice restraint… got the bag, and paid for it, almost 900, I thought that’s cheap… you think otherwise, but it’s a big bag, vintage leather accents and the hell, I like it! A bag that I like costing 900, that is cheap! And considering me not able to help smiling on my way to Cubao to meet Tweety… don’t you think that’s priceless…? I was so happy…

Dinner was on Tweety… our first weekend dinner for 2010… we ordered Pochero rather than our usual Pork Sinigang… “I have been eating oatmeal for the last 5 days…” since she got back from the province, I thought she deserve it… as I deserve to skip working out after working out since January 1… I resolved to do 30-45 minutes workout everyday… we deserve this… “We should do other restaurant, or other places next time…” she said… New Year’s resolution…

“Yah, we should do Eastwood next time…” a plan… but, instead of planning on spending money, we should plan to earn more money… to which she argued, we need to plan something to spend on, so we know what we are planning for earning more money… it will be sort of our goal… make sense…? “We should be talking to Espinele about this,” Tweety thought, she was in Galleria, doing business as usual…

Manila Gay Chronicle
is basically a gay e-zine that will feature gay articles, lifestyle, fashion, stories and men. It aims to showcase to the world what is being gay in manila and how we, the gay community, are in this part of the globe. It also aims to, despite aspiration to e fabulous be down to earth and is welcoming of all degrees of homosexuality. Manila Gay Chronicle will replace my former blog: XanFactor, who had put the Philippines in the gay map since 2006.

Manila Chronicle will open on January 4, 2010 (Monday, tomorrow) and will be update every other day. And for its initial offering:

I would love to hear from you, so please leave a comment or email me at alezandromark@gmail.com. Also, if you have stories you want to share (reminiscent of Kwentong Kalibugan) or would want to be featured here—may it be a special talent or product or joint, don’t hesitate to send them in on the same email.

I hope you would like it, that will be http://manilagaychronicle.blogspot.com,

thank you…

It was 31st, last day of the year, last day of my work week… Diana exclaimed when she saw I have about 8 Alaxan Fr in my bag… I told her I have been sick and without it… I would have not able to get up everyday and go to work… I have a cold, and the weather does not help at all… specially in the early morning when I wake up, having to go to work… my throat is sore… my nose is runny… my back hurt like hell… and my temperature shoots up in the evening… I have considered not going to work, but then my supervisor can’t understand how could I be sick when I just got back from more than a week vacation… and I was also thinking it will just be a few days more, for 2 consecutive quarters, my attendance will be 100%... So, it was the hell with it, I am going to work! Drug me up!

I should have been working on reopening Xanfactor... with new stories starting January 1… and doing progress report here… but as I said I was sick...

And so then, it is New Years Eve… what do we have here…

I thought it was a pretty good year for me… sure, there were 2 deaths in the family—my uncle and kuya—there were trials that threaten my call center career… and then there was that typhoon that led me down on four at a muddy floor… but then, I am here, am I not…? Stronger… and hopefully better… Why linger on the negative, specially that I have triumphed over them...?

So what’s up 2010…? You may call it resolutions and puke… I call it, planning and yearly projection… Besides, I think, resolution is promising to quit smoking while you smoke as you tell that to yourself over and over again… I am not quitting smoking… unless maybe, just maybe, I’ll give it a shot, if the right person asked for it… like if that person is a cutie wearing a white robe and buys me dinner, regardless if he is as old as my mom…

Don’t ask…

This is planning… setting up goals… and try to make a clear projection of the coming year… every successful company does this… and usually, the plan is to get more money coming in… which is actually my goal this year… I have always been with money, rather, I have always have something on my pocket to buy myself a meal when I am hungry… and something nice... I have no reason to complain in that aspect… I really have not struggled strolling down a mall and seeing something I like and cannot buy… which I thought is the point of why I go to work everyday, five days a week… so, if I see something I like, I can go in inside the shop and buy it without question, without dilemma… a good philosophy… for really, wouldn’t it be oh so frustrating if despite working your ass off, still cannot buy what you want… making you ask, what is the point?

Note: it is good philosophy only if you are paying in cash and not with a card… I have always maintained that if I am not able to pay for something in cold cash, it meant, I can’t afford it… to which I will ask myself why? You should ask yourself the same question…

I am thinking on making 2010 a financial awareness year… for though, as mentioned above, that I have been lucky with having some money, I don’t know, how much money do I have and if I should have more money… and where is it going… I have always been about getting myself through the next pay out and getting that new shirt or gadget… this year, I plan to see how else can I get some more money… and to see if by not buying that shirt I just kind of like I could afford something more expensive acquisition…

I am to try to see what I can do to bring more money in and at the same time getting my money’s worth… I still don’t know how to do that, but I think I would be force to for I plan to apply for a housing loan through Pagibig fund this year—end of first quarter, beginning of second quarter… that will impact my pay check…

Anyhow, Happy New Year…