NICK AT KIKO PART 1

Nicholas Patrick Figueroa.

Pangalan pa lang pogi na. Ganun din kaya siya sa personal? Tanong ng mga Team Lead sa isa't isa. Ngayon ang unang araw na makikita nila ang mga bagong salta sa call center na pinapasukan nila. Para kay Kiko, si Nicholas Patrick Figueroa ang gusto niyang unang makilala.

Para sa isang bading, kahit di pa nakikita alam niya kung ang isang tao ay pogi o hindi sa pangalan pa lang. Ipinagmamalaking talento ni Kiko ito.

"I got dibs dun sa Nicholas Figueroa." bungad niya sa Team.

"Bakla, makadibs ka naman. Tunog mayaman lang yung pangalan. Does not always equal mukhang mayaman." ang sagot ni TL Michelle, best friend ni Kiko.

"Bes, I have a feeling. Alam mo naman ako at ang mga vibes ko. They never fail me."

Alas nuwebe y medya nang isa-isang dumating ang mga bagong salta. Tambay muna sila sa pantry dahil wala pa silang workstation. Malayo sa inaasahan ng mga nauna nang empleyado, kakaunti lang ang baguhan na cute. Puros babae pa ang may hitsura.

"Ano bes, told you so." Bulong ni Michelle kay Kiko. 

Irap lang ang sagot nito.

Alas dyes. Simula na ng shift ng business. Si Kiko ang naatasan na magwelcome sa mga bagong salta. At gaya ng tradisyon, sa unang oras ay ang pagpapakilala.

"Hi Guys, I'm Kiko Ponce, I'm going to be your trainer for the day. Well not really trainer... More like welcoming committee. You'll be meeting your real trainers in the next few days so you could expect the first hour of the next few days you'll be doing this. Kaya magprepare kayo ng mga tatlong things about you na di niyo pa nasasabi sa lahat."

Nagtawanan ang mga trainees niya. Magandang simula.

"Kiko is not short for anything. That is my real name. Pinaglihi daw ako kay Kiko Matsing." Konti lang ang natawa. Ang mga halata ang edad. Mga pinanganak sa panahon niya. "I have been with the company for the last year and a half. I was a pioneer of the account and was one and am still one of the best sellers for the program. I'm also going to be one of your Team Leads. Outside of work, I am movie addict. On a good week, I am able to watch at least 3 films. I am also into writing and music. I can play the piano, guitar and saxophone. And I'm also super gay. But not really that gay." Tawanan ulit ang grupo.

Sa pagkakataon na yun, tinuro ni Kiko ang babae sa likod. Miss, let's start with you and then we'll go clockwise.

Hi I'm Cristina Henson... (sosyal)

Good evening guys, I'm Bryan Tejada... (resident family man)

My name is Luisa Taguinod and you can call me Mommy Lui... (resident nanay)

Hi, I am Ebenezer Diaz... Ben for short... (medyo cute pero chubby)

Hi all, my name is Carla Cuaresma, 21 fresh grad from Iloilo... (ang magandang probinsyana)

Aaron Lontoc mula sa Bulacan... (resident bad boy)

Hello guuuys, I'm Greg Lindon, and you can call me Greggie for short hihihi... (resident becky)

Judy Prado and I'm a lesbian... (resident lesbian)

At dito natapos ang pagpapakilala. Wala si Nicholas Patrick Figueroa, malungkot na naisip ni Kiko. Siguro di niya gustong magtrabaho sa call center. O baka naman may mas malaking offer siyang nakuha sa ibang kumpanya.

Oh well.

"Okay, thank you everyone it's nice to meet you all. I guess it's now time to start introducing you to the company."

Tok tok tok. 

Napalingon ang lahat sa pintuan sa likod. 

Mukha ni Michelle ang lumantad sa grupo. Dali itong pumasok at niyaya ang isang pares. Mga na-late dumating.

"This is the training room, you can just choose any seat from there." Biglang tumingin si Michelle kay Nick. "Tama ang vibes," sabay kindat.

"Hi I'm Kiko. We were just about to start but since we have new people here you have to introduce yourselves to the class. Usual intro, name, background, hobbies, likes, dislikes, relationship status and expectations sa company or sa class."

Naunang nagsalita ang babae Princess daw ata ang pangalan. Walang ibang narinig si Kiko dahil ang buong atensyon nito ay nakatuon sa lalaking bagong dating. Matipuno. Gwapo. Mestiso. Matangkad. Mukhang mabango. Mukhang mayaman. Lahat siguro ng hanap nito sa isang lalaki ay nasa binatang hinihintay niya simula nang mabasa ang pangalan sa roster ng new hires.

"Thank you Peaches."

"Uhm... Princess." Pagtatama ng dalaga.

"Sorry, thank you Princess for that five minute introduction. Sir, it's your turn."

"Sorry I'm late. My name is Nicholas Patrick Figueroa, but you can call me Nick. I'm 27. Believe it or not this is my first real job. The last six years I spent with my mom in Japan. She's been battling cancer for the last eight years, but we lost the fight a few months ago. I know it's a downer, and I apologize for that. But I'm generally a happy person. I like to watch movies. Play video games. Typical geek I guess. What else? Uhm... I was a model in Japan. Oh yeah, relationship status. I'm proud to be in a ten year relationship with my girlfriend."

Damn! Naisip ni Kiko.

(To be continued...) 

GRAND THEFT AUTO V REVIEW

I have played Grand Theft Auto 5 roughly about 20 hours and in that time I have rappelled over a building to kidnap an FIB witness, flew an airplane and a helicopter, stole a washed up rocker's gold tooth for an elderly British couple, introduced my drug laboratory to a Chinese businessman's drugged son, and worked with a paparazzi chasing after a Lindsay Lohan-type actress trying to outrun the cops... and then stole her pink sports car after she got arrested. Just because I can.

And that's the greatest thing about this game. You can literally do anything. One of the jobs I'm about to do next is to blow up a cargo ship and steal whatever's being guarded inside it using a submarine!!! 

I guess this is the dawn of this generation's games. After 2013 it's all about the PS4 and XBox One. But the business is still strong for the PS3 and 360 as evidenced by this game's release. Just goes to show that it's going out with a bang.

So going back to GTA, this is Rockstar Games' best outing for the series. It is a culmination of all the leaps that they've done over the last few years, combining all of the strengths of all of their previous releases and adding a few more and then giving us a truly remarkable story to make this a genuine masterpiece.

Unlike any other game, GTA5 stars not just one, but three protagonists, almost all trying to make their lives better but keeps getting entangled with the criminal underbelly of San Andreas. Michael is a retired thief, Franklin is an up and coming gangbanger and Trevor... uhmmm the human equivalent of the Tazmanian Devil. 

Technically, this game is truly outstanding. There are no load times, the graphics is crisp, gameplay is pretty easy to get used to (except flying fucking planes), the voice acting is superb, and the script is sublime. It's funny, full of very interesting characters, and a boatload of things to do. In the 30 hours that I played this game I never had nothing to do. Simply driving around, you encounter random things that eventually may become integral to the overall story. I towed cars, I saved a construction worker whose truck got stuck under pipes that fell, raced an ex-lover and then met a lot of strangers and freaks.

Of course, this won't be a GTA game if you don't do the usual activities like assassinate, steal cars and intentionally or unintentionally murder a fuckload of San Andreas citizens. One welcome addition to the game are heists. These are elaborate crimes that needed multiple activities to pull off. I have only done one, a jewelry store heist, wherein I needed sleeping gas, hackers, an insecticide company van and a few reliable motorcyclists to do the job perfectly. It was an exhilirating scene seeing the plan work out. Now I'm about to start my second heist the one with the submarine and all that shit.

My initial worry for this game was that it would be difficult to play what with all three characters, I thought it will be confusing and difficult, but it actually isn't. The transition from one character to another is seamless and everything from the previous game improved. Shooting is better, even doing drive by's are easier now. Driving is still a bit wonky, but I think it's because of me. The only thing I was having trouble with is flying a goddamn airplane. But I finished that, so hopefully it'll be a bit easier.

This early, I'm already thinking of what game to crown as 2013's game of the year. I think it's going to be a really really REALLY hard decision which one is going to win with the quality of the games that came out. 

But I'm only 30 hours in... and I'm already leaning towards this game to win.

RATING: 10 out of 10 stars

ALAM KONG POGI AKO KASI

Simula nung nagboxing ako, medyo lumiit ang katawan ko...

Di na masyadong siopao ang mukha ko.

Kahit papaano medyo yummy na ako. (isang malaking echos)

Pero minsan talaga napapaniwala ako sa linya sa itaas.

Gaya kanina, papunta sa gym, humabol akong sumakay sa elevator.

At ako'y may nakasabay.

Isang tatay.

Ay hindi.

Isang lolo.

Na ang tingin sa akin ay pagkalagkit.

Nang-aakit.

Kaya biglang gusto kong manakit.

Mata niya sa akin ay hindi nawaglit.

Kahit habang ako'y nag-eehersisyo, si lolo'y nakaabang sa akin sa labas ng pinto.

Dun sa labas ng opisina nila, sa may waiting area dun lang siya nakaupo.

Hanggang matapos ako, andun si lolo ang paa'y nakapako.

Kaya pagbaba ko agad agad si lolo ay sumabay.

Agad agad ang wallet ay nilabas.

Kumuha ng 300 at sa akin ay nagyaya.

"Pogi, tara dun tayo sa CR... Sa'yo na to."

Ito na ang pinakamatagal na elevator ride sa buong buhay ko.

Apat na palapag lang... halos magunaw ang mundo ko.

Kaya paglabas ko ng pinto, biglang kumaripas ako ng takbo.

Hay lolo, nakakaloka ka!!!

Sa'yo na lang yang pensyon mo.

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Okay lang naman na may nagkakacrush sakin...

Pero sana lang yung mga taong yun ay crushable...

Hindi yung masarap i-crush sa ilalim ng pison.