Still Here

Hey Blog... I'm still here. I didn't forget about you. In fact... I've thought about writing to you everyday... it's just that... I didn't have time. Sorry...?

Well... I've started working at a new client site this past Monday after going to a number of client interviews... let me tell ya... it's been crazy... In the past three weeks, I've studied more than I've studied since my Masters. I've picked up PHP, Perl, SQL, Domino R8, and even BA lingo.

After all this cramming for the interviews, I ended up working for Teach For America as a QA person. I've been doing a lot of spreadsheets and documentations for the past three days. I've written a 12 page use case document for just ONE link on TFA's new portal website.

This project is going to be a tough one since they have a tight timeline to meet and not much coding is done yet.

TFA is quite different from NYSE... they are more lay back, but just as hardworking. We are allowed to wear jeans and sneakers to work! How cool is that? :) Big plus for me...! Oh... you'll be jealous of this... we have several unisex bathrooms! LOL... And instead of name plates, the employees each get a little blackboard to write his/her name and title on. How cute. And free WiFi EVERYWHERE. Oh... free yummy flavored coffee too! :) They even have non-dairy coffee creamer for my lactose intolerant tummy.

In any case Blog... I just wanted to quickly drop by to tell you that I haven't forgotten about you. I do realize that I may have lost viewership... as every stale website eventually loses its viewers. I know. I know. The rule of thumb is to keep content fresh at least twice a week... oh well.

Well... my excuse is work. It's hard to blog when people are passing right behind you all the time. :( I even tried to use my pda to blog and then transfer content at home, but my pda's browser is too old to support you. Your stylesheet simply came up all screwed up.

Actually Blog... I have a lot to say to you... just not enough time. Don't worry... I've been sorting out thoughts in my head for the past weeks... so, not everything was swept under the carpet.

Like most days... a tough smile and a faithful heart keeps me going. Blog, I'll write again... I promise.

A Sonnet

It's already 2008. I've been away from my blog for quite sometime.

Well, I decided to write a sonnet as my first post for 2008. Sonnet, as in a "a poem, properly expressive of a single, complete thought, idea, or sentiment, of 14 lines, usually in iambic pentameter, with rhymes arranged according to one of certain definite schemes, being in the strict or Italian form divided into a major group of 8 lines (the octave) followed by a minor group of 6 lines (the sestet), and in a common English form into 3 quatrains followed by a couplet", and not Sonet as in "Synchronous Optical Network" in technical speak.

For my purposes, I chose the English form of 3 quatrains followed by a couplet for my sonnet. I've been wanting to write a sonnet for a few months now, but the words to one just never came to me or a topic to say the least. It still hasn't, but, if I'm going to pursue writing more seriously, I will simply have to overcome writer's block and let the pen hit the paper or the fingers hit the keys sought of to say. Did the last sentence even make any sense? In any case, let the thoughts flow. Let the fingers do the talking, not the gay way, but the writer's way... that makes me think... how many writers out there are actually gay? ...side tracked... that's okay... I'm preparing myself to write a sonnet... just like Shakespeare's.

But, before I start writing, I just wanted to give a little update. I'm currently still back at my Horrorscope Company's main office waiting for my next project to start. Apparently NYSE asked for me by name to fill a position that just opened up. I actually look forward to this new contract since it would be for a nice NYSE manager doing 75% BA work and 25% DEV work. However, the work actually rolls up to the same SVP who asked that my contract be terminated. Weird, uh? They terminated my contract just to start it again after two weeks or so, JUST so that my Horrorscope company can increase my contracting rate. Stupid. If NYSE was smart, they would have kept me and rolled me into the new department without incurring a new rate from my company. Oh well.. I'll still be looking for a new company; however, with a recession looming over our economy... things don't look too good or stable for that matter. I'm still looking for a sugar daddy or mommy for that matter. LOL...

[Update... I just heard from my Horrorscope resource manager that the SVP from NYSE wants to meet with me first, before she signs away on the rate increase. If she likes me then I would start at NYSE again, otherwise I've just been told that I may work as a QA person for Teach For America starting as early as Tuesday.]

sigh... why a sonnet? Well... it's a new challenge. Traditionally, techies are told that they can't express themselves in spoken or in written form effectively. I would like to take a stab in dispelling this myth. So, this is my "myth buster" attempt.

After hundreds of love letters, my writing skills are slowly improving and an honest and occasional melancholy style of writing is taking root, but, I still can't spell and I often have problems with the "big" words. I often ask friends what a particular word means or how it's pronounced. Am I embarrassed by this? Yes. Very much so, but if I were to become a good writer, these are small prices to pay... and besides... at least I know people that are intelligent. LOL...

Ah... a topic just came to me for my sonnet...


A World Asleep

The morning rises from the darkness of night
From the deep comforts of a world of fantasy
Only to piercing sounds of an alerting fright
Blissful dreams, slowly a distant memory

Warring nations embodied with hate, defined by love
Orphaned children struggling to eat -- to breathe
Peace, a symbol, with no meaning, a dying dove
We commit inaction, until it's our turn to grieve

Heroes are not appointed or elected to lead
Mouths cannot be full if we pollute our land
Heroes are born when belief in good is its seed
Diseases cannot be cured when we stand

Arise from your blurry dreams this day
Find your inner belief and alter the world's way

-- Sparkyx, 01-10-2008, 4:46pm


The above sonnet was inspired by Michael Jackson's song "Man in the Mirror". The song was emailed to me from far away... what seems to be a distant land, where the earth quivers into the sea. Thanks for sharing it with me.