Category: work

life · work

When Friday brings no joy

KarlLeave a comment

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Cursed day. Needless to say, no comic book was read today.

No fun: Work was difficult, and commuting home was hellish. Spent an hour and a half in a long line — that’s an hour and a half wasted from my life! Time I should’ve spent resting, reading, mentally prepping myself for my weekend shift. Killed boredom by watching Russian Doll on my tablet. Thank heavens for Netflix and technology.

But still: today was a day worth forgetting.

Couldn’t even enjoy the fact that I earned over P5,000 dividend from my membership at the office cooperative.

marvel · work

So I had a bad day…

KarlLeave a comment

venom_the_hunted_vol_1_1Read Venom: The Hunted today, which is part of the Venom: Along Came a Spider TPB, a 398-page tome I started reading way back last year but can’t seem to finish for some reason. Maybe because I find the stories, though entertaining, kind of dated. Or they lack darkness. What can I say? I dig dark stuff. Especially when we’re talking about Eddie Brock.

Terrible day today. Was neck-deep in work on account of sick office-mates. Then I was asked by the bosses to clock in about three hours of work on Saturday for a special assignment connected to the May elections. I doubt I’ll be at the office for up to three hours only, considering how rotten my luck is these days. I feel one of the Saturday peeps will call in sick that day and I’ll be forced to clock in a whole shift. I’m mentally preparing myself for that eventuality.

Aside from work-related shit, there was also that long line of passengers I had to deal with today coming home. Took me more than an hour standing in that goddamn line, sanity preserved only my the Metallica biography I’m reading. By the time I got home I was a stressed out ball of hate. Went to bed early.

work

Hell Week 2 in full swing

KarlLeave a comment

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Sorry, kids. No comics today. The little time I had for reading was spent with James, Lars, Dave, and Ron — Metallica before they became the Metallica. Considering how preoccupied I am with Mick Wall’s biography of the band, I doubt I can spend much time with my comics backlog in the next few days.

And I’m also busy with work. Sick workmates mean double workload. Perhaps even OT, or weekend duty. Fuck that shit.

Can’t even summon the energy to yak about today. Except that I dropped by Powerbooks in Trinoma (since I was also on an errand there) and scored three Image Comics — Shutter Vols. 1 and 2, Manifest Destiny Vol. 1 and Copperhead Vol. 1.

marvel · work

Start of Hell Week is… hellish

KarlLeave a comment

new_avengers_vol_2_1Got started on Brian Michael Bendis’ run of New Avengers today. Luke Cage, Spider-Man, Iron Fist, Ms. Marvel, Wolverine — what’s not to like? I hope the story arc is as good as the cast. Bendis is kind of a hit-or-miss guy for me.

Day One of Hell Week — busy as fuck in the morning, what with senatorial radio interviews and Pepe Smith croaking, not to mention all the presscons and statements about yesterday’s twin bombings in a Jolo cathedral. It almost made me want to quit, troop to a nearby fancy bar, order a tequila, and drunk-flirt with Krey Trajano on Instagram.

But the afternoon was a different beast. Desk reinforcements came and I withdrew to the backseat where I stayed until it was time to punch out and call it a day.

Dropped by my mother’s place before going home. She was in a bright mood and not complaining about anything except the cold weather. At least there was that.

Tomorrow I face Day Two.

DC Comics · work

Weekend report 0004

KarlLeave a comment

81dgbmpvp-lFinally, I got to read Kingdom Come. I agree with the hype: it’s not just one of the best Justice League stories ever written, but actually one of the best superhero stories ever. And as icing on the cake, there’s that glorious Alex Ross art to please the eye. Amazing story, kick-ass art — if this is not perfection, then nothing is.

Anyway, about the weekend: bad news and good.

Saturday started okay. The morning was cold, the air pleasant and tasted clean and innocent. I was up before 5 a.m. and watched a Punisher episode in the dark before coffee, and was looking forward to the day. Then mid-morning while I was doing a little laundry I got a text message informing me that a workmate is down with the flu, and that I will carry her workload for the week. Suddenly I was looking at a long workweek ahead, which actually made me dread Monday even more. Shit.

Worse, the news also made me feel shitty while attending the Star Wars-themed family day at my daughter’s school in the afternoon.

But then Sunday the pendulum swung: our visas for our Planned Big Trip in April have been approved. So, unless something really bad happens between today and the day of our departure, we’ll be seeing Cherry Blossoms in two months’ time. All I need to do now is save cash, stay healthy, and survive these predictably rotten workweeks ahead of me.

DC Comics · work

Thank God it’s Friday

KarlLeave a comment

hellblazer_vol_1_35Hellblazer #35 is a peek into John Constantine’s childhood… and what a grim childhood he had! The title alone, “Dead Boy’s Heart,” doesn’t give much about optimism. I read it with caution. It’s Friday, after all. No room for bad vibes. Thoughts should be on parties, the weekend plan, friends, escapism… certainly not on strange men, bullies, and dead kids found in desolate quarries with their hearts still intact.

Indeed, Dangerous Habits — Volume 5 of the Hellblazer series — is, I think, a tough book to read in one sitting. And I’m not talking about its bulk.

And so much for dark themes.

Surprisingly light workload at the office today (exact opposite of yesterday). Light, but not entirely wholesome. It’s the usual stories on idiots getting busted for drugs, politicians talking bullshit, a pretty coed who supposedly overdosed on drugs during the Sinulog Festival in Cebu last week, not to mention the sad little murders and rapes and abuses. All these made me feel I just traded one darkness to another. At least the other one was fiction, and the protagonist is a cool bastard.

At home, I celebrated the death of another workweek with The Punisher season 2 episodes.

image · life · work

Some days I feel like breaking rocks

KarlLeave a comment

black-magick-1_2a4eb6beb0Picked a random #1 from my to-read pile today. I’ve a lot of those. What I do is: I read these #1’s then see from there if I should check out the rest of the series, either in TPB/HC form or, if I can’t find a physical copy, on the internet. Greg Rucka’s Black Magick, as expected, deserves more of my attention.

Last day of work for me today as tomorrow, Friday, I’m on VL. I need the break, plus I also have to start working on the visa requirements for the Planned Big Family Trip this summer. Today, however, did not let go of me easily. Work was unbecomingly hectic for a Thursday, and very little help was coming my way. Worse, I had this nagging feeling that some people secretly abhor me. Perhaps this was all just in my head — in fact, I’m pretty convinced it was — but, hell, it nagged at me the whole freaking day, and it made my nine-hour grind cold and brutal and lonely. And so much for that.

Learned today that Eyehategod will be in town in March. If everything drops according to early plans I’ll be watching them with a hot date. We’ll see…

Heavy traffic on my way home. Watched the first half of First Man on my Samsung tablet. Dropped by my mother’s place for a fried chicken dinner — first time I felt good today.

marvel · work

Of God & food

KarlLeave a comment

005f441a9cc1899a77591ccf67fd8cf7_lFinished reading Thunderbolts: Violent Rejection today then quickly moved on to The Pulse featuring Jessica Jones. Finished the first story arc in bed before sleeping. Seems like I’m in one of my moods where all I want to do to de-stress and make sense of things is to read and read and read. Read until my eyeballs pop out of their sockets.

No invitations to morning drinks today. Instead the day was rich with all things Black Nazarene and heavy with Catholic dogma. Couldn’t look at footage of that seething mass of barefoot devotees in Quiapo without getting reminded of that creepy-ass Clive Barker story “In the Hills, In the Cities.” That day-long procession made every Pulp Summer Slam concert I attended look like book club meetings by comparison.

“Feeding program” at the office today courtesy of the January birthday celebrants, a bunch that includes moi. There was carbonara and lumpiang shanghai and chicken lollipops, among others. All were tasty. I punched out feeling grossly bloated.

Listened to Nirvana’s Nevermind on my way home. That album started it all, for me.

books · marvel · tv series · work

An invitation

KarlLeave a comment

Thunderbolts_Vol_1_152Read me some Thunderbolts today, starting with issue #152, the issue that kicked off the Violent Rejection TPB. I ended the day with two issues short of finishing the collected edition. What can I say? Life interfered.

A friend just off her graveyard shift invited me through Facebook to an early morning drink today. She may only be half serious — indeed, one can’t, or shouldn’t, take anything they read on social media lock, stock and barrel — but I had this feeling we could’ve made it happen. Anyway, I didn’t press for it, and she went home to catch some zzzz’s. Still, I nursed the beautiful thought until it died a natural death, and then got busy with work, and that was that. Morning drinks can wait for another day.

Down to the last 100 pages of Bill Bryson’s brilliant Neither Here nor There: Travels in Europe now. Hopefully I can finish this before the week ends so that I can move on to the year’s Book No. 2, which I haven’t quite figure out yet (Neil Strauss’ Emergency: This Book Will Save Your Life is a strong candidate). Indeed, between the Thunderbolts TPB and Bill Bryson’s travelogue, I’m on a roll!

Also watched first episodes of Gotham S05 and Deadly Class S01.

marvel · work

First day

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X-Force_Vol_1_48Read only one comic book today — an old X-Force issue from 1995 scored on sale from Comic Quest last year. It’s Boomer getting chided by her teammates for her closeness with Sabretooth. Interesting. Glad to have finished it before sleep overpowered me.

It’s been a weird and dismal first day of the year. My first memory of it was standing on the deserted ML Quezon Avenue at 5 a.m. waiting for an available tricycle. It was dark and drizzly, and passing tricycles were few and far between, and already occupied by passengers. I smoked, I grumbled, I cursed having to work early on a holiday.

But just as when I was about to lose hope a tricycle with no passenger magically appeared in front of me. I nearly hugged the driver. I was then off to my first working day of the year. Listened to Dire Straits’ Brothers in Arms on Spotify and allowed my brain to go blank inside the dark belly of a Cubao-bound UV Express.

At the office, things were hectic to the point of migraine.