Life as AFAC

Today is my 30th day in Shanghai. I arrived in October 30 and started Nov 1 in BBH. So it’s safe to say I’ve survived my 1st month in BBH. Barely, with clothes tattered and crawling to safety, but I did! Kidding, I love it here. The environment forces me to be better, like a pencil that has to go through a blade to become sharp. I was never a big fan of complacency.

Incidentally, I only figured out how to use my room heater today. Doh! It’s in Chinese and I’ve been dabbling with it for a while now but for some reason, even if I push the temp to 30 degrees, it’s still emitting cool air. It was just this morning that I finally pushed the right button. And I only have two days to go. Great.

I am trying to maximize my hotel room now. For instance last night I tried sleeping horizontally on my king size bed. Imagine I can sleep in any direction and my whole body can fit it without having to curl my legs. Amazing!I can also sleep in the middle and spread my arms and legs and make "snow" angels and still fit perfectly. My bed in the apartment is just a double bed. Actually I’m not sure. It’s 1.5mx2m but the saleslady at Aussimo said that’s a queen. It doesn’t look queen sized. Anyway, the beddings sizes are all messed up here that’s why Chiewy brought me to Aussimo coz Ikea’s sizes are not quite right for China beds. Plus three friends already warned me their comforters and pillows are not good. I just got queensized everything. Better bigger than bitin.

     I am also using the bathrobe even if I’m not much of a bathrobe wearer back home. It’s too hot to wear anything to sleep. Here it’s cozy wearing a robe because if you’re in your birthday suit you’ll freeze to death. I have two kinds, the thick terry cloth for bathing and the thin cloth one for the bedroom. Since I’m in my last-minute sulit mode, I try to use them both. (Not at the same time okay, I’d look like an albino penguin.) My cable tv is not so sulit so last night I watched HBO til 1:30am. That’s pretty behaved na coz on weekends I’d stare at it til 3++am! (I have a hard time sleeping at nights.) Of course my internet is sulit. I’m also going to have a bubble bath every night this week. One thing that’s not sulit is my breakfast stubs. When I wake up late I don’t get to use them Good thing the hotel allows me to have a "take away" or I’d never use a single one. Still, I have about a week’s worth of unused stubs because on weekends I wake up at 10:30-12:30nn. This morning I didn’t get to use it again. Tsk.

     I’ll try to wake up early tom to use it up so I’ll go to bed now. This time I’ll try sleeping diagonally. Nightinight!

I have the bestest best sister in the whole wide world. Not that she has much competition, she’s the only one I’ve got. I was YMing her that it’s so cold here and I don’t know where to find (at that time) good thermal underwear. So she mailed me some! Fresh from Canada!

     I got them today. I haven’t tried them on yet but looks like they’d fit. What I like about them is they’re so thin yet seem hot. So far the thermal undies I see here are thick and quilted, the thin ones seem useless. Wheeee! She also sent me a few knickers, bra, and a couple of thongs.

     For the life of me I can’t get why I’d need thongs in winter <;-D With so much layers you’d never come close to VPL (visible panty line) so wearing it is like All Pain No Gain.  Hahaha. Maybe twas on sale. Another ironic thing, some were made in …tadah…China! hahahahaha.

     Hey, don’t get me wrong, ‘Chi. I love them, I’m just trying to be funny. Thanks so much. I love you Achoy Batchoy.

PS. Have you cooked the curries I sent? Has Kiara used the hair borloloy?

I’ve met him. A hottie with buff arms, great abs, who can cook well and sing well and is sensitive and funny and worships me…. NOT! No soulmate yet.

I meant my future work partner, I’ve met him today. He dropped by our office fresh from NY. Actually he’s Shanghainese currently working in DDB New York. But not for loooong >;-) I’m not telling his name yet, baka mausog. Knock on wood. Remember Kit?

I pray we get along and work well together. Partnerships are make or break thingies. Both can be really good individually but clash like crazy when teamed up. (Randy Tiempo once threw a typewriter at Edsel Tolentino, the old, heavy one ha not the portable kind.) Both can be okay but when paired up produce fab work. I’d like to believe Carl Urgino and I were like that. Papa Darth aka David Guerrero said he was my best partner in BBDO. We should be, we’ve worked four times together, twice in Saatchi and twice in BBDO, from the time he was single, got his girl pregrant, got married, got two kids (and soon to be four!) He even got me as his son’s godmother. One time we counted how many hours we work with each other and realized we spend more time together than him with his wife and kids and me with my parents and friends. Combined. Wahhhh!

That’s the sad truth in advertising. Or life in general. You spend more time working than living our lives. So it’s essential partners work well together. Even just for sanity’s sake. My future partner’s cool, he’s funny too. (And he has worked briefly with David Droga, would you believe?!!!! And resigned shortly after that, would you believe even more!!!!!) Back then, Droga was an ad god in Europe and Asia but nobody knew him in the States. So my art director left Publicis. What???! Oh well, at least now I’m just two degrees from working with Droga.

I hope we’ll kick ass. Not just each other’s.

I am not doing anything. As in right at this moment. It’s one o’clock and we’re usually working our asses off but I’m not writing any scripts or freaking out. And this is freaking me out a bit. I asked the Head of Copy if there’s anything I can do (I need a headstart you know) and he said none. So I labelled our party photos for Adobo magazine. An hour later I asked our Head of Art, “Is there any job order I missed?” Di ako pasikat, di uso JO dito and I’m getting paranoid that I forgot a job and will panic later. She said no, we’re just waiting for the pitch briefing later.

This is soooo unusual. I’m trying to look busy…..

Ikea is going to be my new best friend. I can see it coming. I got my room key’s yesterday and bought comforters, pillows, towels, sheets, etc today. I’m sooooo excited.

     I don’t want my place to look like an Ikea catalog though. But I have a feeling it will, coz I need to buy lotsa essential stuff asap and dont know where else to buy. I shoulda shipped my pretty plates, mugs and good knives. The agent said it’s part of the fully furnished apartment (and I didn’t want to bring so much) but apparently it depents on the landlord >;-( Branded stuff here are so expensive. But for knives and stuff like that, you’d want the best there is. And they’re a lot more expensive than in the Phils

     I’m moving in next Saturday. So excited. Can’t wait. I’d have it blessed once I’ve settled. I don’t want mumus around. The place is quite bit big for me and (with my overactive imagination) I think ghosts will reside in my guest room if I don’t use it often. I’m turning it to an art studio (as if I have time and energy to do art.)

     So come visit and use my room. You’ll be my agimat.

Just came back from dinner and drinks with Rocky and Kit of BBDO Shanghai. We ate so much Hunan food (famous for their spicy food and for Mao Zedong’s birthplace) my tongue was burning. Then doused it with red wine. aaah life!

     I met them together with Johnny Tan (my CD) at BBDO’s Asia Pacific Creative Conference last year in Ho Chi Minh. We kinda hit it off for some reason. We’re not in touch with the rest of the gang (we’ll I do get in touch sometimes with Farrouk and Alex of Singapore, and Suthi and Rong of Bangkok but that’s about it), they’re not even in touch with Bryan Siy who was with us at that conference.

     Kit was supposed to be my partner at BBH but he backed out at the last minute to accept a promotion to CDship at BBDO. Too bad because we seem to get along well. Maybe because his fiancee is also named Carol. My tukaya! But it’s okay, I’m getting a new partner early next year. A Shanghainese based in New York. Saw his TV reel. Darn, it’s so good.

     Anyway, the two of them are planning some out of town trip, and promised to invite me to tag along if they have parties. Which is a welcome relief so I don’t have to blog so much so often.

Everyone asks if I’m Xingkapuo ren. Cab drivers, salesladies, guests and clients at our launch party. I don’t know why, I don’t look even vaguely like any Singaporean I know. When I went to Taiwan everyone thought I was Japanese. When I visited Japan in 2001 I understood why. I do look kinda like the wide-eyed Japs who try to look like anime. I even had the "tiger’s tooth" (a canine a bit protruding over the incisor) which is considered lucky some have their teeth fixed to make it sungki. Crazy japs.

     Maybe people here assume since I can barely speak in Mandarin but the few words I mouth can be understood, I must be from Singapore… (major generalization coming up) where people can speak in Chinese but not really, can speak in English but not really. haahaha. no offense to my Sing friends. They are impressively well-versed in both Mandarin and English. I occasionally just can’t get the accent. My Sing officemate who I love to bits said we should’ve gone to Ridley Scott last night and apply to be a "caliver" in his next film. A what? Caliver. What? Caliver. Then she acted dead.

OHHH. Cadaver.

Everybody got it before I did. Even the Shanghainese. It’s me who have a problem.

I’m moving to my new apartment in two weeks and haven’t bought anything to keep me warm! I did go to assimo last week to check out their comforters. Didn’t realise there are so many kinds of fillings! There’s down, premium down, wool, silk, 7 hole and 9 hole (no idea what), regular fiberfill and microfiber that’s made of polyester but feels like down. Then there’s summer quilts, winter quilts, and all seasons quilt with is basically two quilts you can separate or stick together on colder days.

     Robbie Dinglasan who’s survived last winter in Shanghai suggests I buy a portable radiator because the aircon/heater is not enough. My ever-helpful new found friend John Lim says an electric blanket is a must-have because everything turns icy-cold, even your mattress. If that’s not enough he said I should get a huggable, stuffed ball heater to keep me warm at night.

     Hmmm, I prefer a hot male model.

I think I’ve convinced all my female officemates to visit the Philippines. They love my tops, dresses, coats, bags and accessories and when they ask where I got that I always say, from the Philippines. They’d have a disappointed look on their face because they thought they can buy it here. But after two weeks of complimenting my wardrobe and getting the same response, one by one they are now saying they want to go to the Phils to buy all these stuff.

     Durano should sponsor my outfits.

     Or maybe Alexander Lacson’s "Next 12 little things every Filipino can do" should include Dress Better.