The Dubai Chronicles: Rebirth

about dxb chronicles

The saga of Jeff living in the City of Gold. Presently living in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, unravel his journey throughout the city with memoirs and everyday life stories.

the mouse will play when the cat is away

yesterday, ms. iran called and told that she's in the airport and going to vienna, austria for five-day business trip. of course we're happy about it.

unfortunately, she forgot to give our salary... and it's going to be five days she's out of the country!

nice one.

discoursed by jeff @ 10:04 AM | 2 comment(s) | permalink

ahh coffee

nothing beats the smell of coffee... especially a lot of it!

hehe.. this is the usual intake in the morning before i work.

discoursed by jeff @ 9:46 AM | 2 comment(s) | permalink

Sunday, November 28, 2004

read the manual first

after a two-day weekend doin' nothing but thinkering with the digital camera, i've been practicing a lot. it seems to be i'm weak on dealing with exposures and handling the camera. my pictures were victims of camera shake. my hands are shaky these days... maybe too old for this. tripod maybe used to reduce camera shake but you can't bring them always since its quite a burden when travelling or goin' on malls, etc.

when i got back to the office i downloaded immediately the instruction manual of the camera. i've been using for a long time and trying to figure it out the knobs and switches thru trial and error. usually, people don't read manuals and attempting to use use it without reading first. i'm one of them.

when i finally figured out which is which, do's and don'ts. i tried my shots immediately in my seat...

it ain't manipulated by photoshop but still i need practice...

discoursed by jeff @ 11:02 AM | 1 comment(s) | permalink

Thursday, November 25, 2004

do you believe in magic?

i was reading the morning newspaper when i stumbled one article that says "Man gets death for killing magician." the man, an indian, has been sentenced to death on beating the 'magician' to death with a wooden stick.

the suspect visited the victim for consultation. the 'magician' has been talking about spells that will increase person's wealth according to the suspect. after hearing the magician's incantation, he was unable to eat or drink for few days. so he went back and killed him.

the reason? he was sure that he's a black magician (sort of mangkukulam) and so he must stop him from harm to himself or anyone.

i don't know about this. but hell, it makes me laugh. poor guy...

discoursed by jeff @ 10:07 AM | 0 comment(s) | permalink

the blog post chain

A) First, recommend to me:
1. a movie
2. a book
3. a musical artist, song, or album

(B) I want everyone who reads this to ask me three questions, no more, no less. Ask me anything you want.

(C) Then I want you to go to your journal, copy and paste this allowing your friends to ask you anything; say that you stole it from me.

i stole this from tin-tin

discoursed by jeff @ 8:48 AM | 0 comment(s) | permalink

Wednesday, November 24, 2004

about : blank

yes, we all suffer design burn-out. this happens when you can't think of anything creative when you need 'em or just ran out of ideas. how do designers cope up with this kind of dilemma?

i asked my fellow designers on how do they deal with this problem. some of us said that we should unwind for a while like walk out of the office and breathe fresh air (depends on which place you work), eat something they crave or drink coffee or whatever liquid just to jumpstart the mind. others tend to plug in their headphones or pump up the volume and listen to music they love or play instruments. some people i know tend to revitalize their brain by exercising or just recharging it by sleeping or nap.

in my case, i tend to do the following:

- shutdown my workstation wait for few minutes then open it again... just like restarting my brain...

- look everywhere and observe. even a dripping water or ongoing traffic gives an inspiration.

- surf surf surf. have you seen the "I'm feeling lucky" button?

- believe it or not, i tend to watch erotic materials just to be "inspired".

- if there's really an opportunity, i prefer taking naps or sleeping.

what's yours?

discoursed by jeff @ 11:31 AM | 3 comment(s) | permalink

Tuesday, November 23, 2004

as promised

yep, the gallery and links section are now up and running. some of the pages are still under construction. so please bear with me. :)

in other news, the weather this morning was a heavy fog. i thought it was 3am when my alarm clock buzzed. it was nearly 6:20am and place outside my window was still dark. visibility was reduced to less than fifty meters.

discoursed by jeff @ 11:48 AM | 3 comment(s) | permalink

Monday, November 22, 2004

300+ pictures

my fingers are already aching with this control + c, control + v (copy and paste) thingie through coding. i've been trying my best to finish my galleries within the day but unfortunately my time was consumed through troubleshooting with lara's blog template i gave her. if only i have a server that hosts with php and mysql database, my time spent in coding will be cut into half (nikkish, sorry for complaining..hehehe).

at least i finished one of my side projects. tomorrow the galleries will be posted...

and it's a promise.

In other news, newly-appointed cabinet ministers took the oath before President His Highness Sheikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan at the presidential palace today. Hope this country goes for the best. :)

discoursed by jeff @ 4:56 PM | 2 comment(s) | permalink

Sunday, November 21, 2004

early riser

5:30am. i have to wake up at this time every working day. the schedule has been moved from 8am till 6pm. i managed to get out of my bed with an aid of the alarm clock. i have to readjust my body clock to this sched.

but this morning i need to dress up early because i'm going to immigration at seven to renew my visa. i was there on time... and the people are jampacked along the queue. things were different now compared to last time i came here. before, renewing visa is just 5-10 minutes only. this morning, it took me two hours. during my waiting ordeal inside the immigration office. sheikh m, the ruler of dubai, visited the place. i was surprised to see the second highest person in uae visiting a very populated area with no bodyguards of whatsoever. well, i think they don't need guards to protect them because of his good influence to people or the way things he govern this place. maybe.

after the immigration thing i got a hitch with the 9am bus from avis to media city and went back to the program... to work...

... and edit the photos i have taken last friday and yesterday.

... converting lara's template to html/css.

... finish my gallery page.

discoursed by jeff @ 5:13 PM | 0 comment(s) | permalink

Saturday, November 20, 2004

pink template

it's much easier if my computer did not f**ked up on me last few weeks ago. i finished lara's template for her blog in an internet cafe. it was only a design...no coding yet but customizable... and pink.

there are more things to do. i have a lot of pending side projects to finish...

...i feel naked without a computer in my grasp.

in other news, i got six passport size photographs for my upcoming residence visa. i wish this will be the real thing.

discoursed by jeff @ 4:29 PM | 0 comment(s) | permalink

Friday, November 19, 2004

lone adventure

it's been months i haven't visited the church... not until today. i asked mark to accompany me and hear mass at st. mary church in karama. i found inner peace by the time i stepped in. i maybe hypocrite to what other people think but i did my part as a christian... say thanks, asked forgiveness and try to do good.

after the mass we went to look for the mini-dv cam charger that Ms. Iran wanted. unfortunately the shop was closed. instead, i took some cam shots around the area including the City Centre and Clock Tower in Deira. we headed back home to rest and enjoy the day-off.

and i did by myself. i rested for few hours while recharging the batteries of the camera. i went alone and surveyed along jumeirah road. i did a few shots of the uae flag on half mast and main objective, Burj Al Arab, the tallest hotel in the world.

pictures will be published soon.

discoursed by jeff @ 11:55 PM | 0 comment(s) | permalink

Thursday, November 18, 2004

call of nature

i didn't knew that bob knows how to cook. he proved himself last night...preparing menudo. we went to the grocery store and bought one kilo of pork belly. it was a surprise really. anyway, after dinner at eleven, i started to drink alcohol just to accompany him in his session. at twelve, i went to bed and slept.

then it became automatic. i woke up in the middle of the night and went to the toilet... emptying my bowels out. i felt spasms in my tummy. after finishing it off i headed back to sleep.

not again. i woke up again at dawn and this time it was liquid. something i ate bad... and i don't know who was the culprit. everytime my stomach hurts really bad, i fear of appendicitis. hell, no way the surgeons gonna cut my belly...

...asleep or drunk. i just wish its only hyperacidity.

discoursed by jeff @ 9:14 AM | 2 comment(s) | permalink

Wednesday, November 17, 2004

what's for lunch?

i usually don't bring my own lunch when i go to work because i'm lazy to cook food in the morning and there's no time. if there's leftovers from the night before, well i'd be grateful. it was cheaper on my end.

unfortunately, food ordered from restos are expensive. the cheapest one was ten dirhams... its ok because it was complete with rice, soda, two strips and a body part. the sad part is... it's chicken.

hmm same order

i'm sick and tired of eating those fowls. i miss dinuguan, lechon, crispy pata, sisig, kwek-kwek, squidballs, isaw, adidas, proben, and the like.

discoursed by jeff @ 3:54 PM | 1 comment(s) | permalink

Tuesday, November 16, 2004

o hail, o hail to thee!

last night's sightings of lightning with the uproaring sound of thunder meant one thing... rain. it was a rare occassion here in dubai to experience rainshower. mark and i got home on time before it happened. i knew its gonna rain but last night was different. it drew forth hailstones almost the size of pebbles!

here in dubai?

but it happened anyway. together with strong winds and rain, it flooded the streets of dubai in a matter of minutes because the streets was not designed for rain/storm conditions. temperature also dropped to almost 13.5 degrees celsius according to newspapers.

no wonder i heard noises on the window pane of our flat...i was busy cooking fried chicken by the time it happened.

and i'm hungry...why bother the rain?

discoursed by jeff @ 2:38 PM | 3 comment(s) | permalink

Monday, November 15, 2004

goodbye blogspot

yes, i did it. after days of working this template, its time to move on. check the new layout. some links are not yet working. i'm just fine tuning the main page. be patient and thanks.

to blogger, thank you so much for the services you offered to me. more power to you guys.

so, whatcha think of the new design?

discoursed by jeff @ 3:27 PM | 3 comment(s) | permalink

Sunday, November 14, 2004

eid al fitr

actually its the second day of eid, the end of ramadan season. it's like christmas to muslims. private and government offices were closed for two to three days and one week or so for the latter. it's been a boring day for me, really. it's a good thing that i borrowd the office laptop and start working on my latest blog design.

tomorrow i'll be going back to work and try to get myself busy. i don't want to be bored.

discoursed by jeff @ 2:54 PM | 1 comment(s) | permalink

Friday, November 12, 2004

retaliate

the food we ate helped me sleep better. there was no hangover...mcgregor is the name of the booze. i kept a mental note of this for future reference. it was a lazy afternoon. i continued reading one of tom clancy's novels without remorse. i did the usual roll call on my friends here and back home. then tet called me while doin' my laundry. he asked for LAN gaming gig and this time it's not vectorized. i finished my laundry halfway and called the other troops. it's a three on three match... this time it's a fair game. we spent three hours and like before went to burger king for double whopper jr munch. after munching we spent more time chit-chatting then head back home.

discoursed by jeff @ 11:31 PM | 1 comment(s) | permalink

drunk men walking

early morning, we're still half drunk from last night's kabooze. jmerts, bob and i went out to the streets to find something to fill our empty stomachs. we landed to our usual place in diyafa which was jollibee but ordered a different meal... pizza. jollibee here in dubai are owned and managed by round table pizza... half chickenjoy, half arthur's pizza. we're goofing and tripping inside... unable to decide what to order... fooling around with the waitress... laughing on something which is not really funny... among others which i cannot remember.

alcohol pollutes the mind and body.

we spent few more hours outside to observe and criticise almost anything... lousy drivers... motorbikes being showed off... pretty ladies passing by with her male companions... the half-raised flag...

then alcohol subsides. we decided to go home... at 4 am.

discoursed by jeff @ 4:28 AM | 0 comment(s) | permalink

Thursday, November 11, 2004

graphic design terminology

me and my colleagues who were into graphic design and animation usually talk... computer and geek terms. we sometime talk our conversations from software programs shortcuts and commands in jargon with real life. some of the terms:

blur / gaussian blur - adobe photoshop term meaning... to blur or obscure an image or object.

example: "pare, gaussian blur ka naman kausap (dude, you're such a gaussian blur.)"

vector - The representation of separate shapes such as lines, polygons and text, and groups of such objects, as opposed to bitmaps. in other words, drawing.

example: "tuloy ba tayo mamaya? baka vector na naman yan... (are we going later? i guess it's vector again...)"

fps - abbreviation of frames per second. usually used for animation and movies.

example: "madali mong makuha ah. ano fps mo? (you got it quickly eh... what's your fps rate?)"

tween / tweening - similar to morphing except that morphing is
usually performed by interpolating between corresponding points marked by the user on two images, rather than between two configurations of a model. in other words, change.

example: "nagtween na naman ang desisyon nya (he/she tweened his/her decision)"

discoursed by jeff @ 2:42 PM | 2 comment(s) | permalink

Wednesday, November 10, 2004

1000 mark

the dubai chronicles has reached the 1000 unique visitor via statcounter. thanks for the people who visited the site. more infos will be added soon.

in other news, mark and i spent more time in the office due to a rush job Ms. Iran requested. it's a good news on our part because it's gonna be extra. we hired a professional photographer next office to take shots of our client's products, again. it came out good (his camera and tools are much better than ours) and started working on the images. we suggested before that we take our shot ourselves. instead, she hired the professional guy next office to make some shots. its gonna be expensive on Ms Iran's part... but she insisted on it.

...oh well, she's the boss. we're not.

discoursed by jeff @ 11:04 PM | 0 comment(s) | permalink

Tuesday, November 09, 2004

the good old cartoon days...

my roommates and i were reminiscing the old times watching our favorite cartoons. while preparing our dinner, bob, pate and i were telling tales and naming our favorite heroes of the past. from the old school cartoons like voltes v, daimos, gobots to latest dragonball series, zoids and even care bears.

here are the cartoons and children's shows we've seen and talked about:

- transformers (took us time naming characters of autobots and decepticons)
- g.i. joe (war between g.i. joe forces and cobra where no one dies)
- care bears (tattoos in their butts..care bear... stare!!!)
- voltes v (a typical story which very popular to philippine soap operas)
- daimos (eerrrrrrrrrrrricaaaaa)
- thundercats (fantasizing cheetara on the way)
- dragonball z (koolah, where have you been?)
- gobots (leader one and the who-knows-who archnemesis who turns into a motorbike)
- bravestar (a cowboy and his horse who turns into a tikbalang)
- voltron (5 or 15 they all look the same to me)
- visionaries and inhumaniods (those creepy things from underground)
- superfriends (and the unfamiliar legion of doom)
- sesame street (rumors that ernie and bert are gay)

discoursed by jeff @ 11:58 PM | 0 comment(s) | permalink

Monday, November 08, 2004

one year and back

yep.. it's my first year living here in dubai. here were the highlights of the past:

November
arrived in dubai. my first time being alone abroad. i felt the culture shock but i was able to adapt the place easily. first time to experience ramadan. job hunting season. discovered a filipino-based internet shop in satwa...with bob (a.k.a. subject-a) as the supervisor.

December
overwhelmed by job interviews and got my first job as a graphic designer in a small company. my stepping stone...and so i thought. it lasted only for a week. i smell fishy about the company and so i ditched 'em. lonely christmas... 1st time ever be separated from family and relatives. visited buds in abu dhabi.

January
i got my second job as a web and graphic designer. met new good friends and bad ones too. developed two full sites to this company.

February
visa renewal. i went to iran for a visa change. experienced the hardships of staying in kish island though a good learning experience.

March
developed a cd presentation for a security company. then i felt something's wrong with the company's policy. it is also the first time visiting Sharjah, one of the emirates in UAE. also, we moved to a new villa. we had to because the our old place was going to be demolished... a better and more spacious place.

April
i was transferred to a new company in dubai media city. a "partner" or sister company of my boss. i knew already that there's somethin's wrong. first time handling and experiencing macintosh platform.

May
learned new things from a co-worker and friend, saad (a.k.a. donkey). getting used to macintosh platform and developed better ideas. it is also the dawn of the dark ages of my life here in dubai.

June
met aris for the first time after years of friendship. spent my birthday for three days. work's killing me... delayed salary... expired visa... tormenting work hours... arseholic co-workers. the genesis of my blog.

July
exited to kish for the second time with donkey. a sucky experience. salary wasn't delayed...i didn't received any. looked for a greener pasture.

August
i was able to get away with my former job and found another. same job different company. felt comfy with new colleagues... fellow pinoys and boss' iranian... and a chick to. acquired the computer from a relative and bought an external hard disk drive.

September
a visit to kish for the third time. met new friends there. also, my first time visit to fujairah. i separated myself from relatives and moved to bob's flat in satwa. developed a cd presentation to our company.

October
experimenting new ideas and hooked up into photography. second time visit to fujairah.

discoursed by jeff @ 9:01 AM | 1 comment(s) | permalink

Sunday, November 07, 2004

wishlist

i'm asking my relatives to buy some good pair of sneakers in manila. imitation or not, these shoes are more durable and cheaper there. i prefer this kind of design...not the color ok?

courtesy of diesel footwear.

what ya think?

discoursed by jeff @ 5:38 PM | 0 comment(s) | permalink

Friday, November 05, 2004

same-o same-o

it's still the same-ol-things today except that bob finally open the internet shop. i stayed there till after lunch doing chatting, surfing and checking mails. later, jmerts called and invited me over to play basketball along with tet. i wasn't able to play because i don't have sports shoes. i'm still planning to buy one but unfortunately the shops were closed. i've just watched and waited till the game was finished.

my life today was pretty much boring. i prefer working instead of this holiday with nothing to do. i prefer to earn and do something productive. it was also a bad timing for my computer to quit on me. i wander about in the evening and looking for

anything that might interest me...

...and i found a huge coffee mug. i bought it for just six dirhams. i like large coffee mugs.

discoursed by jeff @ 10:28 PM | 2 comment(s) | permalink

Thursday, November 04, 2004

nothing to do

its been two days of holiday. the place is still the same since yesterday. shops closed, work suspended. it's going to be a five day holiday for us... and the time to celebrate bob's birthday.

i went to jaffliya first to send my package to my family thru alski. he's leaving early morning to the philippines. good for him. i fixed their printer and went back to my flat.

then the we prepare for the celebration. we fixed our tiny studio flat into a party zone. outside, people are mourning... we're not. we have reasons to celebrate.

discoursed by jeff @ 11:20 PM | 0 comment(s) | permalink

Wednesday, November 03, 2004

my condolences

His Highness Sheikh Zayed Bin Sultan Al Nahyan, the president and the architect of modern UAE passed away. my fond respects to the family.

also to my computer, who gave up on me last night while watching world war II documentaries. i'm still looking the cause of my computer's demise.

right now there's nothing to do... shops closed. work suspended. the whole place in grief.

discoursed by jeff @ 9:32 AM | 0 comment(s) | permalink

Tuesday, November 02, 2004

paranoia arises

mark and i saw the small cameras and wires in Ms. Iran's office a week ago. today they're installing it...in the office. i think this is what she called "revolution".

later in the evening, pete, mark and i went to this place where they sell ukay-ukay (used) clothing. i got three very good condition pants and three shirts. it cost me only 30 dirhams. what a saving!

discoursed by jeff @ 10:53 PM | 0 comment(s) | permalink

Monday, November 01, 2004

all saints day

it's all saints day. usually, we go on the 31st of october in loyola cemetery, marikina, and stay overnight there. it's like woodstock or some sort of fiesta event. tents and makeshift houses were erected near to the graves of their love ones. chit-chatting, singing, loud music and laughing can be heard near and far. peddlers were everywhere selling ciggies, candies and can sodas. food stalls, popular or not, stationed at the entrances and exits of cemeteries and take the opportunity of this kind of event. parking space is impossible to find one inside the cemetery compound... you have to park it one or two kilometers away to find a space and walk yourself inside the premises. toilets were dirty... and hard to find too. these were the things i have experienced during my visit to the cemetery on all saints day.

it's like a mini reunion to us. a tradition we usually go and visit our love ones who left this world. unfortunately for me i wasnt able to visit my dad and other relatives who passed away...

...but wherever i may be, i still offer my prayers and lit the candle for the souls of our love ones. may they rest in peace.

discoursed by jeff @ 11:38 PM | 0 comment(s) | permalink

The Dubai Chronicles