Cooking Rice

I'm listening to Original Pilipino Music (OPM) off a usb flashdrive on the car's audio system.  It's  a Sunday two in the afternoon and here I am sitting in my car testing a rice cooker I bought off Amazon. It's supposed to run off the cigarette plug off my car, a 4th generation Toyota Prius. For the season the weather is surprisingly pleasant at 52 degrees Fahrenheit, I get off wearing shorts, a T-shirt, flip-flops and a Jacket here in the suburbs of Chicago.

I'm reminiscing, looking at the photos of my adventures when I left almost three years ago. I was teetering on the brink of insanity when I left for a job in California in the bay area. I drove off to the west coast for three days through the northern corridor of South Dakota,  Nevada to the Golden State of California on a 2008 Honda civic with the belief in my heart that the entire Universe conspired to give me a chance at love and romance and the promise of the West Coast.

During this time three years ago I was working for Dell as an onsite warranty break fix engineer through Unisys in the City of Chicago. My day started with a tedious drive to the heart of the City  in La Salle Street at the Loop and having my steed valet parked by the Marriott Hotel. Using the app Spot Hero the service costs around twenty bucks.This daily luxury was something I could not afford had it not been a reimbursable expense. I had the option of driving half an hour to Park Forrest, leaving my car and taking the train to the city, but since it was more convenient for me to just drive all the way to the city, I  sat in traffic for an hour each morning. Handing my keys to the valet I took out my mini-Segway for a quick shower and swim at the LA fitness gym downtown before beginning my labor. Chicago in December during the winter is not something I would not recommend to my fellow Filipinos who are visiting unless they would like to experience the bone  chilling winds freeze you to the core. Without the right gear, the wind stings at your face, your nose runs uncontrollably and the wind chill freeze burns any exposed skin.

Almost a decade ago, my routine  was to  ride my Mountain bike through Ramon Magsaysay and

across Nagtahan bridge to Makati City. I was at the time taking support calls for ATT BellSouth as an off-shore outsourced employee for Convergys, in the Philippines.   I remember telling my callers; if I can, I would love to share a cup of coffee and fix your woes desk side, if I can. Today I do just that, take desk side support tickets remote technicians couldn't resolve and do what I can and get them back on their tasks. I currently work tickets as a "steady state" technician for a Mid-sized hospital in Elk Grove Village for Illinois' largest health care conglomerate.




Sick of the cold and love-struck to the eyeballs  I took a job for Burroughs ATM corporation and drove to the west coast. On my first night on my four day three night road trip I spent the night at a motel in Sioux Falls City in South Dakota. After trying to enjoy the free breakfast I spent the morning taking photos and videos of  the Sioux Falls for Posterity.

Though not as grand as the Horse shoe falls between Lake Eerie and Lake Ontario that borders the United States and Canada; Sioux falls has a charm and beauty all it's own. Spending  the night I had the urge to find a strip club in south Dakota's largest city and found to my surprise no nudity in the middle of the Mid-west's bible belt. Google Maps failed me and I was none the wiser. Growing up to the music of Miss Saigon and Leah Salongga's qoute of no kiss, no touch; most western people don't realize that the age of consent in the Philippines is thirteen. 

I tried a couple of drops of CBD oil last night and  fell asleep watching Youtube videos of a young couple roughing it out in the winter  somewhere in the mountains of Colorado. The fiberglass shell of the small 13 foot Scamp almost seemed idyllic and cozy were it not for the fact that their five gallon Jerry can filled with water was still frozen after sitting it beside their tiny wood stove. 

The gentle aroma of cooking rice wafted through my car cabin. The grains of  rice slowly absorbed the water and is slowly cooking in the pot. Half an hour has passed since I plugged it in for the first time. In my hands the cooker felt reassuringly warm. One part rice grains and two parts water with a pinch of salt and a teaspoon of vinegar is the secret to my perfectly cooked white rice.

... to be continued

Segway to Old Faithful

2018 05 14 Sears Road Nikkon 55 300 mm hand held

calavares road

Quack quack,

I am driven to madness,
Cause you fill with sadness,
This is not a love letter,
but rather a poem I wrote in anger

"Destiny"
a poem by
Jake Castillo
for the Racquel I knew

Your heart is like Chicago
In the middle of a bad winter
Bitterly cold, battered by the wind
Harsh and unforgiving littered
with shards of frozen tears

Your mood is like it's weather
Unpredictable, extreme, abrupt
and always spells danger
warm as a summer morning
cold as a winter evening

You always catch me unprepared
with that howling wind
with the cold seeping through me
relentless you freeze me

I'd rather not see you
I'd rather not be your friend
You don't act it anyway
So why should I care
when you never play fair

How much pain can it endure
this heart that's true and pure
I am still your beau
Forever your rainbow

I die slowly each night
hoping to one day see the light
so I struggle to keep this fight
regardless how much I hurt each night

I scream in silence
I cry without a tear
I sit in damnation
Hoping for salvation

All I hear is silence
All I see is darkness
All I feel is numbness
All I have is hopelessness

I feel so small
so weak
so ill

afraid of losing my sobriety
driven to the brink of insanity
afraid this will end in profanity
loving you is my only liberty
bound to you for eternity
forever your my baby

they all tell me your not worth it
after all, you did f*** a midget
what the fuck was you thinking
for days I was screaming
for months I was sobbing
for years I was crying
till I stopped hurting
and finally started forgetting

I was an ocean away
but there was no way
to take you away
to spend one more day
and win you back some way

Ten years I made my way
dreaming finally of one day
when we can both play
naughty thoughts every which way

Fate tore us apart
Fate will bring us back
There is no stopping
a heart that is aching
a soul that is longing
a man who will keep trying
even though he is dying

You love me there is no denying
All this time you are wasting
testing, mocking and teasing
when we could be hugging and kissing
petting, moaning and screaming
in the evening until the morning

Save me from all this madness
I beg you to show me some tenderness
Isn't that what you do as nearces
Smile and blow me soft gentle kisses

Hold me tight
even for a night
keep my heart warm
I mean you no harm

Let me taste your sweet persimmon
and I'll listen to your sermon
along with your daughter in person
with each and every passing season

Let me gaze into your eyes
For there my true love lies
Oh how time flies
I must bid my goodbyes

Stop worrying about tomorrow
I promise to share your joy and sorrow
I just wanna bite your ear
ever so softly and playfully my dear

You know I don't like to drink beer
that doesn't mean that I'm queer
I would like to taste your coffee
every day with your Sofi

It would be a delight
To have dinner by candle light
In my place with you one night
As I hold you in my arms so tight

I don't want to fight
I want to make things right
The future looks bright
As long as you're within sight

So cast all your worries
As I take off your panties
Oh how you make me horny
Only you can drive me this crazy

I want to make you happy
You're my lady, my only baby
So don't run away from me
Cause I'm tired of being lonely

This poem should be a felony
Cause your someone else's, honey
But your no sugar mommy
Which is why I find him eerie

Is he really four feet three,
Does he fit under the Christmas tree,
I hope he gets run over by a lorry,
that would be quite a story,
and I won't ever feel sorry,

Is it true he's a junkie,
If so I too would be leery,
Cause If he were to die early
That would fulfill your prophecy

I don't want to think of murder,
I'd rather take care of your bladder,
I've shipped you a diaper,
along with an air freshener
It wasn't cheap either.

I sure wish I met your father,
but glad I knew your mother,
How are your brother and your sister,
Ate Mowee If I remember

Is it too much to answer me back,
I thought it's part of being tact,
just like not calling someone fat,
even though it was a fact

Love me or hate me,
things will come to be,
for I believe it's destiny,
that one day you will marry m

I am the Intruder

Pinoy Newbie Gets on the RideSharing Economy.

Who remembers using WORDSTAR and LOTUS 123? Yes it has been FOREVER since I wrote anything. In the years past, I've left my beloved Philippine Islands and moved to the United States. Since then Odesk merged with E-lance and is now UPWORK.

I still remember the days when I still slaved the phones as a tech support representative for AT&T Bellsouth and ATT legacy for Convergys and Sykes. I still reminiscence of my cute English Trainer Shurl  when I did IP relay for stellar in Cubao right beside where T-Mobile outsourced the US customer support. For some time I remember working  for Humana for APAC in Araneta Center beside the now extinct help desk for Blackberry RIM. Even my credit card AMEX was being serviced by Hunduja now HTMT in Quezon City.

Working late nights on the phone I would often tell my callers that I would drop over and fix their PC or internet connection while having coffee with them if i could. It was a nice idea although most of my customers had no idea that I was working in the Philippines for something like $2.5 dollars an hour back then. I even shared tears over the phone when a lady got cut off from her Amex credit account.

Don't get me wrong, despite the pay it was good learning experience for me. Most of my fellow Chicagoans and Chicago suburbanites today have no idea how much work was outsourced  to the third world. Most Americans are at their wits end wondering where all the jobs have gone to.

Working for ATT legacy I remember having to go through the multiple body frisks implemented by Sykes security in Gilmore because the same facility at that time served Yahoo and Transunion. I love the memory that all I had to do to get to work was take a quick bike ride to the LRT station in Pureza and ride the train through three stations and that my Sykes Desk was three stations away.

Because of my considerable experience as an outsourced worker in the Philippines, I am rather wary of how much personal information is being worked back home. My former coworkers would have access to my personal information. I have T-Mobile as my phone carrier, I had Humana and BCBS as my health insurance provider, trans-union still grades my credit score, I have Comcast as my ISP. Almost every aspect of my life here in Chicago is somehow linked to the worker bees in the Philippines who work relentlessly to complete their tasks and their thankless jobs.

America has treated me well. Arriving here I helped out baby brother set up their Home health agency. MY passion has always been in I.T., writing, and Photography. Finally here I am in the US having coffee to help fix their computers!  Working as a break-fix contractor for Dell Laptops and workstations I got to call home multiple times to order parts through their agents based in Pampanga.

Should I be worried about security? Considering that my last employment was fixing ATMs (cash machines), I should. Working late nights in Chicago and burbs fixing Chicago Patrolman's Credit Union's machines alongside TCF atm's at Jewels takes a lot of nerves considering I didn't feel exercising my second amendment rights to carry a concealed firearm.

What I am more concerned though is the security of my private information. Should I fear the fact that my information is worked off shore? Or should I be even more alarmed at how the NSA has almost direct access to my info as revealed by Edward Snowden whom I consider a whistle blower and true Patriot.

I'm rambling and like any Pinoy I'd  would like to say sorry. It's just how Pinoys are. We blurt out sorry even if we don't mean it as if it was a reflex to the point where most Americans find the gesture insincere, moot and umapologetic.

I am currently getting on the RideSharing economy driving for Lyft and maybe UBER if they ever approve my application.

I can't blame UBER though. I filed an application almost four years ago but never had enough money to buy a car until recently.

I recently provided a Lyft line (car pool ride) to a google docs sales employee and another lady who's firm heavily relied on UPWORK. The brief social  interaction encouraged by Lyft's community centeredness has inspired me to write once more.

This post is a mere annoucement that I will be launching a new blog concerning my experiences meeting people I meet while driving for Lyft. Short Character studies on  folks I meet while I'm on my ride.


In the meantime I am giving away coupons for free rides and Power Ride Bonuses for drivers. Link below. I will also provide a link for my new blog: Tales of a Lyfter when get to publish it.

So here is $50 worth coupons for rides:  www.lyft.com/invite/Josue13527
Anyone wants to get on the Lyft Line as a driver use this for your bonus:
https://www.lyft.com/drivers/JOSUE13257