noel alanguilan

january 2008 is ending and i think its been a good month. granted that there has been glitches here and there and i’m late on some of my workload (with good reason) but no one under my care has been hacked and work-related stuff are moving forward although at a slower pace than i want them to.

still, its been a good month because i went riding more often, i got to meet new faces and made new friends. and mostly because i found a dear, dear friend that i lost many years ago.

its a good month.

i get a lot of forwarded mails from friends containing jokes, quotes, stories and whatever. when i open the mail i see this longish list of people which forwarded the mail to their friends who forwarded to their friends, etc. until the list of recipients is nine times longer than the actual message at which point it eventually arrives in my box.

this list of people usually includes names of the recipients and, of course, their e-mail addresses. this is a valuable resource for spammers. imagine that. someone else has gathered all the information they need for their spam bots and it just arrives in their mailbox. at no cost and all with very little work. they send their thanks, by the way.

please don’t just forward that joke. take a little time to “clean it” of the e-mail addresses of others. after all, it came from a friend and you’re sending it out to your friends. give them that little courtesy along with your joke, quotes, stories and whatever.

i suggest that you place your own e-mail address in the to: field and then put all rest of the e-mail addresses of the people you’re sending that joke to in the bcc — blind copy furnish. this way, no other eyes will see the addresses of your friends.

lito and i rode in up diliman. he said there was a group ride that goes on from 2pm to 4pm. all in all there were six people riding around. lito forgets sometimes. i forgot my water bottle.

but it was a beautiful afternoon. cloudy and the acacias sheltered us from the sun. the ride was short but fun. i always enjoy my rides now.

i got a smile and a nod from a couple of riders. one was wearing last year’s tour of fireflies jersey — same as what i was wearing. its amazes me what an organized ride can do to strangers.

a friend of mine once asked me, “you’re not comfortable with silence, are you?”

i was babbling on and on about something inconsequential i think. the question was more of a statement than a real question and it gave me pause.

“no. i’m not.”, came my reply. she just nodded.

that one question got me started on how to appreciate silence. it was only later on that i realized that sharing the quietness of a moment is a sign that you’re comfortable enough with one another that no one has to say anything and its okay.

i miss the quiet of san pablo. things feel more… “settled” there. its like everything knows its place. that’s where i usually have my quiet time. my silent zone.

i never got the chance to thank her for asking that question so,

thank you.

i recently found out that a “lost” friend of mine has migrated to canada. she left last year.

half of my old friends have either left, will be leaving or are planning to leave for some other country.

i’m not angry. or mad. it just makes me sad. somehow i understand the reasons behind them packing up and going but it still makes me sad. its like you’re knocking on an empty house or calling a disconnected number. nobody’s there anymore.

there’s something wrong with this country.