Boy, working in two different industries created some kind of extremes on me.

Read on...

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WORK LIFE: MINORITY REPORT

My nightly outsourcing job is about a month old and it feels so tiresome. No, it's not that I don't like the job at all (I mean, why would I complain about a job that pays me a hefty sum?). It's just that, after 3 weeks, I have yet to make friends in the workplace.

My persona in the nightly workplace is a shy, timid writer who sits by the corner of the room typing endlessly on the computer.

But why am I afraid to make friends? Am I not supposed to be the cheerful, humorous, out-of-this-world fag hag? Answer is, the environment in the workplace is prtty much unfamiliar to me up to now. For one, most of the workers are men. Straight men. I am supposed to deal with straight men with a little coy and a little brushing the hair to show my ears, but hey, you are not supposed to flirt with your co-workers.

Especially if you are the only one of two gays in the workplace.

Result is that the Empress is so socially miserable at nighttime. He takes his meals alone, types on the computer with his headphones on while listening to dance music through YM (wishing that his Saturday nights are that upbeat), conferring to his supervisor on some work-related issues.

I know, I know I'm supposed to be the one to break the ice in times like this, but what am I supposed to talke to them? That I don't smoke (which would probably turn off most of the workmates)? That I religiously watch Philippine Idol (which I am not ashamed of, thank you very much)? That I like boys?

Sigh...I think it would probably take long before I have any form of social life on that company.

But the workplace has its quirks, since most of the employes are men. One time the place was totally quiet, then all of a sudden a group of guys protested, "Bryan farted! Bryan farted!"

Another officemate would play one song ("Binibining Sexy") over and over on his PC speakers until we all would laugh at first and eventually all of our ears would bleed.

So, yeah, it's pretty much fun. I just don't know how to be in that kind of fun.

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WORK LIFE: SURVIVOR FOR KIDS

The children's show that I work on has, again, undergone shuffling of its hosts. This would have been the fourth time our executive producer did so, more than Destiny's Child eliminated and added and eliminated its members.

Unlike the previous switcheroos that had got to do with overaged hosts and weak hosting, our EP decided to drop two of our show's five hosts because a potential sponsor says so.

And you know what's major? One of the eliminated hosts is a niece of her friend. Let's call the kid Bianca.

I can't blame our EP for such a move. The show needs to survive, and in the process our children's show become some sort of Survivor, wherein almost no one is immuned for elimination.

The elimination happened right smack at the show's second year anniversary. The team set up a party for the hosts and some of the viewers (and I didn't know that there ARE people watching our show). It was filled with great catered food and some sponsored food from Gardenia Bread and McDonald's.

Telling them about the bad news while celebrating is not a good thing, but what can I do? I'm not running the show alone.

Anyway, days later some of my TV colleagues discussed, among other things, the stolen McDonald's hamburgers during the party. A whole box of burgers went kaput...gone; that along with toy giveaways from McDo and other food items. We were so frustrated since the fast food is supposed to be for the production team who didn't each much since we are organizing the party and there was an extreme shortage of toys that were supposed to be given away to the kids present at the celebration.

One of my workmates said that it was Bianca's mother who was spotted hoarding the toys and foodstuff into their vehicle while we were partying.

Hearing that, I exclaimed: "Is eliminating Bianca from the show a karma for hoarding all the food?"

We all giggled.

I do admit that I was sad that Bianca had to go, really. I think she was the most improved among the hosts. But the one thing I didn't like about her is not exactly her per se.

Every shoot, she brings her whole family in. As in always. The first time I got into the show, and that was on a field location, Bianca brought her mother, father, little brother, even her aunt and her two crying children. At first I thought all they wanted was an all-expense paid vacation, and I can't complain since Bianca is supposed to be "untouchable", her being a niece of the EP's good friend.

Since then, it has become a norm for our shoot, despite our efforts to enforce a "one child, one parent" policy. Bianca's mother would always say that the little brother would cry and whine when his sister is away for the shoot, that's why they always have to bring him in (including the father).

Since Bianca's family clearly violated the rule, I couldn't blame other hosts whenever they bring their siblings and other relatives in the shoot.

Oh well, at least it's all over. The tribe has spoken.

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TV LIFE: THE BEST AND THE WORST

Watching the Top 12 Men's performance of Philippine Idol is a great experience, although how I wished King Daddy managed to get some passes for us to watch in live.

Anyway, the Top 4 Men in the voting poll would automatically get in the Top 12 Finalists. I am so glad that one of my male bets, Paul Andrae Ybanez, got in. I think he was the best performer that night.

But then again, I thought Philippine Idol had it version of Vote for the Worst, since the obviously-worst candidates got in the Finals. I was flaming mad when I heard about it. Grrr...I guess their respective social networks won.

Here's proof.

I understood why Reymond Sajor got in: sympathy votes.

Still, I prefer watching Philippine Idol rather than Pinoy Dream Academy (the local version of the defunct The One). My sister flipped the channel and all we saw is a concert about cats, dogs, chickens, and monkeys.

I'm not kidding. All of the contestants were dressed in animal costumes and sang songs about cats, dogs, chickens, and monkeys. How degrading.

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RANDOM HOT MEN: ALVIN ALFONSO

Everytime I see him on TV, model Alvin Alfonso always have that humorous aura around him. I ever I would give him my patented blowjob, he would probably be laughing (in a good way).

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BOW DOWN AND WORSHIP MY FOOTNOTES

1) Man! The power went off while I'm finishing my blog. Now I have to rush this and buy quickie dinner for my siblings to feast on. And eventually, I'd be late for my night shift. Grrr...

2) Congratulations to my dear friend JV Almazan for winning in this year's Carlos Palanca Awards, which is the Philippine version of the literary Pulitzer Prize. His one-act play in Filipino won second prize! Also, my Filipino professor back in college (Mr. Eros Atalia) won first prize in his entry for Filipino short story! Wow! Now I feel frustrated for not joining this year. I'd better be sure to join next time, and nail it!

3) Don't forget to visit Philippine Idol Updates, your source for everything Philippine Idol. Shameless plug...hihi!

4) My sincere condolences to my TV workmate Arniel (our head writer). His father passed away this morning. Let's pause a while and pray for his repose.