MMMiii!

I knew there was a typhoon because I saw someone mention it on Plurk. And I knew its name was Frank because I chanced to watch on TV that there was a typhoon building up and that if it did, it was going to be named Frank.

Yesterday, we were supposed to be stranded at PBCom Tower. In the middle of the shift, the power was fluctuating and at one point, one of the elevators even started free-falling for a couple of floors (We’re at the 50th floor). We were also advised not to leave the office because of the strong winds and rain. The company even hired a transport service … a shuttle bus, maybe, to pick up the agents and drop them off on drop-off points on EDSA.

It was a nice thought that the company was thinking of our welfare. However, the bus would be picking us up around 2pm. What time do they think we’ll be able to go home if we waited for the free ride?

Knowing me, I was tempted to wait for it. Free ride. I love the word free. However, I also love the word sleep and rest. So I decided to go home. The winds were strong, but not strong enough to faze me. I went home anyway and I arrived home safely.

On the way home today, I noticed that the big billboards had their tarps rolled down (or to the side) anyway which was what actually scared me yesterday. I even had visions of a billboard flying and cutting the bus in half (top half, mind you).

Then I also started thinking about my insurance. Now that my basic salary is bigger, my insurance would also be bigger if anything happened to me on the way home from work. My mother could probably set up her own business with that money.

On the way home as well, I saw that BPI had a new product. The Direct Save-Up with automatic something. It looks pretty neat. The interest rate is higher as well. maybe I’ll finally be able to save up. I’m not interested in the life insurance though especially since I do have insurance with my job already. I might check out their life insurance quotes though.

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I wonder what kind of accidents will qualify for the life insurance thingie with my company? Because upon signing up with the job offer, we also have life insurance.

Our new schedule is 2:30am to 11:30am for this month of June. And because of the time we have to be at work, we have an additional P2000 hazard pay which they call “Night Shift Allowance” or something like that. This is helpful to me because I will be taking a cab from Buendia to my workplace for the whole month unless I could figure out a cheaper way. I’ll probably have to ask my crush at work since we practically come from the same direction.

Now, does my life insurance cover super-speeding buses on the highway? Or just accidents like someone happened to come along and stab me?

I like speeding buses at night (or rather, early morning) because of the nice cold wind on my face on my way to work. But I’m also kind of afraid because it’s like a roller coaster ride.

We didn’t really have an option what kind of life insurance we could have. I don’t remember having to read any fine print. It’s not like in auto insurance comparisons that you have to read each and every line carefully to make sure you’re getting the best of what you need or something. There was nothing to compare with. Just a line to write our names on it and sign.

I guess there was no real need for a choice anyway. They were going to give it to us. It’s not like we had a choice.

Meh. My head is messed up. I haven’t had a day-off since Monday last week. I’m going to be working until tomorrow. That’s like 8 days of work. Oh well. Happy Happy Life.

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Who ever said that being on Night Shift is healthy?
Who ever said that being on a different shift every month or every two weeks is healthy?
I don’t think anyone would.

Being on a shifting schedule is unhealthy, yes, but what kind of unhealthiness? Especially if you’re on Night Shift, and your schedule only changes with an 8-hour difference, but still basically at night?

While waiting for UnionBank to open this morning at Starbucks, I was so bored that I read the papers (Yes, OMG! I can read!). I just found out that the country is having a food shortage and that the Ifugao Rice Terraces was selected as a UN treasure or something and that they’re kind of renegotiating our country boundaries for the Kalayaan Group/Spratly Islands, and some other stuff. Well, the only one I really read on was the Ifugao Rice Terraces.

What caught my eye was an article about how being on Night Shift can cause sleep deprivation (no, really?) and the health problems that come with it. What really piqued my interest in the article was how people had a higher risk of obesity when they’re on Night Shift. Because you get more hungry often when you’re on Night Shift and something to do about your metabolism and body clock and what not. I do notice that always, after my shift, I’m so hungry. Like I’m starving. So I grab something to eat sometimes on the way home, and when I arrive home, I’m going to eat again because Mama cooked breakfast to me (I know I could say ‘no,’ but who the hell can say ‘no’ to Filipino breakfast?).

Double breakfast.

I also think feel that I’m getting a tad heavier. *sigh* *starts blaming getting fatter on Night Shift*

But anyways, there were tips on coping with Shift Work.

Coping with shift work

Sleep experts suggest various ways to cope with unusual work and sleep schedules.

• Regular hours: Keep the same sleep schedule on days off from work.
  • No really? It’s past five pm, going on sick six and I’m still awake. Although… I really should be waking up at this time on normal work days. I time myself. I try to sleep by 10am, not later than 11am. I wake up at 4pm, not later than 5pm. That’s on normal days, but today is my day off…
• Strategic napping: Studies show naps of 20 minutes to two hours — either just before a shift or during a shift — can improve alertness and performance at work.
  • Strategy? Like whenever I’m Sleeping at Work? I’m really trying to avoid that now. What I do is if I get done early with bath and dinner, I sleep until 5:30pm or 5:45pm.
• Bright light: Exposure to bright lights during the first half of a shift may help fight fatigue later in the shift.
  • I’m not really sure about this. It’s always usually bright there, so I don’t really know the difference if I started in a dark place or bright one.
• Light restriction: Avoiding bright lights in the morning (such as by wearing sunglasses on the way home and sleeping in a very dark room) can help night-shift workers sleep better during the day.
  • I think my mother noticed that I’m still really having a hard time sleeping in the day even after she put curtains on my windows to kind of reduce the sunlight so I could sleep, so she put on thicker
    curtains. I really love my mother. Now it’s dark … ish…. here, but it’s really a LOT of improvement. I just got hooked up on J-Drama what’s why I’m still awake, not because of the light.
  • I have these neat cheapo shades that I use a lot these days. I bought 2 expensive ones but they weren’t dark enough. One was P200 and the other one was P250. This uber neat shades was just P55. One can usually find the best buy in cheapo places like Dakki or Daisan or whatever you call it, or Uncle Ben’s Store… Ugh, I can’t remember. But it’s UBL sunglasses and I got it in a Japan Home+Dakki+Daisan(?) Store.
    
• Melatonin: Supplements can promote daytime sleep when taken an hour or two before bedtime.
  • Haven’t tried. Probably will not try.
• Modafinil: This medication, brand name Provigil, was approved in 2004 for the treatment of shift-related sleep disorder. Taken just before a shift, it can enhance alertness at night, studies have shown.
  • Haven’t tried. Probably will not try.
• Caffeine: Caffeine has been shown to counteract drops in performance levels at night.
  • I love coffee. Except that coffee hates me. I have hyper-acidity and coffee gives me diarrhea as well. But sometimes, I do feel the need, and sometimes it doesn’t really wake me up, but it’s good anyway.

Sources: Dr. Diane Boivin; American Academy of Sleep Medicine.
c/o Shari Roan, Los Angeles Times

Stolen from … Darn I forgot. I’m not even sure if it’s Manila Times. -_-;; But thank you, one of the local news papers. I do remember the page. It’s on E4.

The ones in italics are just my side comments. Don’t pay too much attention to them.

Anyway, my first thought of this was, “This should be shown to all Call Center Agents. This should be circulated so that we can all stay healthy.” A lot of my teammates have fallen ill and may resign because of health issues. It’s really sad.

So… to all you call center agents out there who are on shifting schedules or always on night shift, make sure that you get enough sleep.

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So… how many months have I been working? At work, I have to wear business casual most of the time (except for weekends), and sure I’ve got some slacks. I’ve got one really nice one, one so so, and another one… well… another one which will have to do most of the time.

I wear the three of them in constant rotation. Sometimes just one of them for the whole week when I need to (My shift is Saturday to Wednesday, so I only wear slacks thrice a week… for this month, that is. and last month).

And well… I guess it doesn’t really matter much since it’s just black, but sometimes I wish I had more than one good slacks. I brought this up with my mother and sure enough, she offered me some classy maternity jeans. I know I’m really big and all… *sigh*

BUT ANYWAY… I’m not really into clothes or fashion or what not. I hardly care about how I look. Heck, sometimes a whole week or two passes before I even comb my nice, long, straight black hair which doesn’t tangle much (I mean, comb with a comb. My fingers do the job most of the time, but that’s not really combing, is it?)

I think I’ll go out and get a new pair of slacks tomorrow. *sigh* I hope I Could find a cheap one. Really. It really depresses me sometimes when I go and buy clothes, and they just don’t fit. I know I should diet or something… so that buying clothes won’t depress me anymore. But…

There are good things in life that are just hard to give up. Like noodles.

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The past few weeks, me and my friend from work have been food tripping. We eat in some places and try out different food just for fun. It’s not much of a weight on my pocket since we only do this about once a week. My biggest problem is my weight. T_T I feel it steadily increasing. Maybe I should bring out the weighing scale again.

It’d be so nice to have home gym equipment, especially now that Iks and Eelai have moved out, there would be space for workout machines and other stuff. But I’m so broke now.

I just got my fridge. I gave mama a lot of money for being bitten by BokBok so she could get her shots, which she skipped anyway =_=, and just yesterday, I bought Taba his anti-flea spray thing because he was heavily infested by these creatures again. I almost cried while giving him a bath because the tips of his ears were already black with all the creatures clinging on him T_T. So I went and bought him the spray I bought last time which was really not cheap at all. So now, I’m broke. Good thing Mama and Papa asked me to load their phone, and they paid me, so now I still have some money again.

It was really a good idea to load P1000 to my phone. Since Mama and Papa just have their phones loaded through AutoLoad, I thought that it’s better if I did that myself. I get 250 free text to last me two months or more, and they pay me instead of some other person. since 250 free text is really enough for me. The catch is, I don’t see any place where P1000 card is being sold, so I load it through ATM or online banking. No discount, but at least I’ve got a lot of free text which is all I need anyways.

*sigh*

Nonetheless. I’m broke.

I wonder if there’s MRT again tonight T_T stupid holidays.

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I found this cute case for my macbook just in case I want to take it out. It’s a Zero Halliburton Degerati 5″ and it’s $445. Way out of my range. Probably not available in the country either. Ughh…

Just going to spend that money for Mama’s medicine. Mama got bitten by BokBok last night, trying to protect my precious Taba. She got 5 bites. Backside, Stomach, Left Leg, Side, and Arm. Her arm was the worse, the flesh got almost ripped off. BokBok didn’t want to let go and he was trying to mangle mama’s arm… =/ This was because she was saving Taba. Papa said later on that mama should’ve just let BokBok mangle Taba. T___T

Mama’s hospitalization was covered by her two health insurances from my brother and father, but I’m really not sure if my health insurance card could cover hers as well. I’ll need to check with the HR of my company.

Papa said we could still buy our fridge since the rest of mama’s expensive medicine doesn’t need to be all in one go, so we’re going to get the fridge tonight so we could have it by tomorrow or Sunday. At least mama could have cold water all the time as well.

I’m feeling dehydrated as well. I’m used to having easy access to water all the time, and with the current setup I don’t have cold water in my room, I don’t bother drinking at all. And sometimes, the water in the fridge outside isn’t really cold, so I don’t bother drinking either. I like my water cold. :<

*Sigh* Tonight, we’re also going to buy a muzzle for BokBok. Right now he’s tied up. And he’s been crying the whole night. Poor dog.

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Lately, I’ve been having massive head and toothaches and I’ve been visiting the clinic a lot. Although I know we shouldn’t treat the clinic like a drug store and keep getting medicine from them because it’s free, I still kind of do. I go in, ask for mefenamic acid, then the person inside gives it to me. I’m not even sure if that person is the doctor or the nurse since they don’t have any medical id tags that would make me distinguish them. OTL …. pain.

Even with all these aches, I’m still happy. I got my first commendation today. My customer wanted to speak with my supervisor after I resolved her issue and she was just so happy that she wanted to talk with my boss. Bleh… it hurts my stats, but it feels good nonetheless.

I also kind of broke my customer’s computer… but not really. I just happened to be there and guide her into breaking it. Ah… well. It wasn’t really my fault, but I still feel bad. And that was my last call as well. =/

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Yesterday, when I went to Makati to tell them I was going to reject their offer, I didn’t want to wear my rubber shoes, just in case they do something like tell me the signing bonus will still be available and I should still go to work.

However, I only have 3 decent pairs of shoes. My rubber shoes, my sandals with 2-inch heels, and my leather shoes with 3-inch heels. So.. cross out the rubber shoes, I’m left with the sandals and the closed leather shoes. The place is cold so I don’t really want to wear open-toed shoes. That leaves me with the 3-inch heels.

A few weeks ago I sprained my ankle and because I never really gave it proper rest, it hasn’t really healed.

Walking around… walking… walking… after a while, about 1 in every 10 steps, I get this sharp pain in my ankle. Add to that my being really heavy, my toes sinking and digging into the leather… ooooohhhhh the pain.

I need to start a diet… but… I don’t have the motivation. I love noodles too much. Maybe I should get some diet pills again, like hoodia or those pills to “get rid of your toxins” *sigh*

hopefully, I’ll get thin coz of work.
blah.

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I’m going to go for a medical checkup tomorrow. I don’t really want to, but I have to. Pop told me that with my job, I could go for even twice a year. Not that I’m excited about it (the med checkup).

One of the tests are for drugs. Oh noes! What if they find out that I’m a druggie! And my drugs are noodles?! Would I have to go to a drug rehab center? lol.

And so I wouldn’t experience withdrawal, my noodles would be going from thrice a day to twice, to once, to every other day, to every two days, to once or twice a week, to once a month, to once every two months…then I’d …

probably be dead by then. XD

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For the first time, I went to the hospital uber willingly — Yes, I did, despite my phobia. Sure, I went there with teary eyes and a limp, but I wanted to try getting stronger painkillers — which I didn’t get. No, it’s not that I wasn’t in pain so much, but my university’s infirmary’s pharmacy didn’t have it. Stupid doctor, prescribing me medication which did not exist!

Anyway, the conversations I am about to post that took place at the hospital were in Filipino but I shall translate them anyway for the sake of my readers.

Upon arriving in the UP Diliman Infirmatay [read: inFER-mah-TAI (Infirmary + Patay [dead]… because people accidentally die there) ER…

Receptionist: What do you need?
Mi: I sprained my ankle.
Receptionist: Okay, fill this out.

And so I fill it out… and she makes me wait… standing…

Read more »

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