I have yet to meet an Aries I didn't like. I stay away from Aquarius. Gemini boys must be avoided. I believe my soulmate is a Cancer.
No, that is not the number of boys I have dated. No, that is not the number of boys I have kissed. No, that is not the number of boys I have been in a relationship with. That is just the number of people who (1) I have been "more-than-the-average" attracted to, (2) I actually remember the birthdays/sign of.

Let me first qualify, I had a certain degree of crush on them that I actually even committed their birthdays to memory; These are the people I liked for more than a month without hating their guts while I am at it; People who I have had major crushes on.

Despite the fact that I have liked more than twelve people (this number is particularly important as there are twelve signs on the zodiac), I seem to naturally gravitate to only some of them.

I have this tendency to stereotype people based on their signs (shallow, I know) and form an assumption of their personalities based on the traits of those who came before them.

I have yet to meet an Aries I did not like.

My first boyfriend is an Aries. We were together officially for two weeks. That is because he had a girlfriend when we became "official;" Long story. Most Arieses I met are hard-headed and have a tendency to be a little narcissistic and spoiled. I like that trait about them. They have a certain rudeness and brusque in them which are sharp and attractive.

I do not seem to meet a lot of Virgos, though.

Virgos are familiar. I like how they can be so grounded and gentle with their words. They feel safe and comfortable to have around. They, however, can not seem to keep my attention for long.

Aquarius and Gemini are my least favorite experience.

Gemini boys are crazy and unpredictable--in a bad way. They can choose to ignore you one moment and then show you that you are the center of their universe. My least favorite ex is a Gemini. He is to never be included in a discussion of my life. I ran away from both of the Geminis in my life. I just chose to magically disappear and erased all traces of existence where they could find me. Unless of course they feeli like googling my name.

Aquarius boys are a different story on why I hate them. In fact, it deserved a whole other entry. My attraction for Aquarius begins in a very favorable manner, only to leave a sour taste in the mouth. (Forgive the bad metaphor) It is like eating candy with a rotten middle, you will never know how bad the insides are until you eat through the sweet coating.

I have a special affinity for Scorpios--boys or girls.

I like their air of mystery. I like that I can not seem to get them completely. I like how they can be so guarded. I like how they can be occasionally rude and jealous and sweet at the same time. Considering, though, that I am a Scorpio, a relationship with another Scorpio is said to be bad for my health.

Cancers seem to be my favorite.

I have only liked two cancers in my life. I have liked both of them for more than three years. My soulmate is a Cancer.

Too little to form an opinion: Libra and Pisces.

The only Libra that I like is this boy who reads good literature, with bad hair and bad teeth. The only Pisces I liked had a girlfriend who turns to be my college roommate.

I have never had a crush on a Taurus, a Leo, a Sagittarius or a Capricorn. Perhaps, they are just not my type. I have yet to be convinced about this though.

Oh, hey, my birthday is coming up next week. Make me happy, this is my wishlist.

I could easily be the poster girl for bad relationship choices. Let's see now:

1. I once dated a boy who is jobless, shouts at me in the middle of the street, and waits for me to pick him up at his place.
2. I once dated a boy who was about to get married, in a few months.
3. I once dated a boy who had a girlfriend. Technically not "in a relationship" when I dated him, but you get the deal.
4. I almost had a relationship with this boy who can not differentiate "FUN" from "FAN". Who refuses to use spell check in the dictionary, and who use other people as emotional crutches for happiness. (I am quoting my sister for that last one).

SEE: bad relationship and dating choices. Bad, bad. Every year, I resolve to make wiser decisions. I am 23. I swear, I hope I make it right before I turn 27. Although I think I can safely say I can tell boys what it is which turn off girls. Well, yeah, because I am one. So let me help some boys in this department.

A Girl's Guide to Dont's: How NOT to turn off a girl you like

• DO NOT use a language you are not completely comfortable with. This is the easiest trick in the book. I do not know about some girls, but I hate it when a boy I am starting to like can not differentiate FUN from FAN, or when to use THEIR, THEY'RE and THERE. Turn off.  I am a big sucker for boys who can use the appropriate words in a sentence. I get giddy over words used properly. Chroma, concedingly, reset. However, improper use does the complete opposite. Come on, TURN OFF! be careful, because I am notorious for taking screen shots of bad status messages. Which means, yes I take it out against the boy. The simplest solution is that: Magtagalog ka na lang, leche.
• DO NOT ignore her Facebook Updates. If she says she hates Twilight, make a mental note never to imitate the Edward Cullen look and Edward Cullen ways. It is not that I am encouraging you to stalk her, but making a quick mental note on what she hates and what she likes is not a big deal. In fact, considering that you have the means then you might as well employ it.
• DO NOT tell her that you read ALL her blogs, and assume that you know everything about her already. I mean, fine, read her blogs, man. In fact, I encourage it. But do not ever assume that the entirety of her personality can be equated to whatever is rendered in the written word. I remember the same guy who uses FUN instead of FAN once declared a similar statement to this. Needless to say well, we do not talk anymore. I mean only people with low intelligence would assume that. Sure, my blog is public domain, but then again my personality is detached from the writtern word.
• DO NOT call and text her every waking second and expect her to text you back everytime. If she likes you, she will reply to your messages. But then if she does not it does not it might mean that she is busy. Do not scare her off by leaving 7 messages in her inbox, do not go emotionally crossed when she does not reply. Her personality is detached from yours. Understand that even husband and wife need personal space. She is just begining to like you. Come on, unless you want to look like an emotional retard who depend on love and affection like it is water and air.
• DO NOT tell her she looks like your ex, that one who broke your heart and cheated on you with that fugly looking foreigner. I mean come on! COME ON! Do not tell her your mom told you so, or that your sister told you so. Never ever mention it.
• DO NOT be over-eager in declaring your undying love and affection to her. Haven't you watched CLOSER before? It's just a kiss, what are you twelve? Nothing scares people more than having to hear you go hopeless romantic, emphasis on the hopeless, on them. If you have just met her, you do not love her! Why are there some boys who are over-eager to claim someone's heart? It is not a kingdom waiting to be annexed the moment you set foot on the territory.

Perhaps you might have a few things in common, but it does not mean that she will willingly forgive your faults in a heartbeat. Think about it, she is just starting to like you, unless you want to be the poster boy for DATING DON'Ts.

Yesterday, we have been told that our team will downsize.

The BPO industry is one of the most volatile industries in the job market today. Considering that the entire industry is massively dependent on the United States and other foreign countries, most of which are considerably challenged by the economic bail-out in the US--or what could easily be the most threatening problem in world economics now.

It is no secret: people are losing jobs. And with it, friendships and relationships are sacrificed. There is really nothing sweet to buttress the fall when it comes to these things.

Yesterday, on my ride home, it made me think of several things. The people I will miss the most, the friends I want to keep, and a lot of other things like this one.

Here it is, a girl's guide to donts in the BPO industry. Before everything else, let me just point out that this is not any thing which will tell you how to do your job well. In fact, it can be quite the opposite or something completely irrelevant from your job. So hurry along now, you will never learn the secrets on how to become the employee of the month in this blog.

Here we go, a girl's guide to donts:

DO NOT FALL IN LOVE. with a co-worker. This is the first cardinal rule in a BPO industry, never FALL in LOVE with a co-worker. Unless the following applies: 

(1) Both of you are secured of your job, meaning you can not be booted out of it randomly, that you can be assured that the company would  not just let you go just like that,
(2) You live 2 jeepney rides, maximum, away from each other. OR you live 30 minutes away. Unless the both of you do not live within that radius, think twice, think hard, think overnight.
(3) Both of you strongly and faithfully believe in the gifts of romance and compromise.
(4) You have sun cellular.
(5) You know each other a good 6 months before the retrenchment.

You must comply with at least 3 of the 5 mentioned requirements. Not until you do can you fall in love. The reason for this strict rule is because relationships take a lot of time, and work. A budding office romance would  be on the rocks if the couple is on the getting to know each other phase and then, bam! One or both of them gets retrenched from their jobs. Separation can be very cruel and unforgiving when it comes to love. DO NOT FALL IN LOVE.

DO NOT STORE A LOT OF FILES IN YOUR OFFICE PC. This includes, but is not limited to: music, photos, important non-job related document files. This I have to learn the hard way. I have more than 16gb of files in my office computer. Which includes all of the aforementioned. Which will have to mean that, assuming I get the boot, I will have to find a way to get and transport.

DO NOT PUT OFF UNTIL TOMORROW THE LITTLE THINGS YOU WANTED TO DO TODAY. No, this is not job related. Me and my friends had always wanted to take a photo of ourselves sitting on the supervisor's desk--pretending we are supervisors. Now, there is a looming possibility that we may not be able to do it anymore. Grab every opportunity you can, talk to people, get their numbers, for all you know this will be the last chance you get to talk with them.

DO NOT WORK HARD. I mean it. Do not do extreme martyrdom if only to impress your boss. If you are ever going to do it, do it for yourself--or for your friends. You only open the narrative to exploitation more, by setting the bar higher. They will only expect more and more from you. It is a vicious cycle of exploitation, which might make you feel disillusioned in the end.

It is simple, our job is to not get fired on a daily basis.

I am single. While I do not relish the idea entirely, I appreciate how things are going in my love life. I go out on "dates" with people. They are not really serious dates, but more or less, they can be considered a date in the entire sense of the word.

There are dates which I will go out on: breakfast dates, lunch dates, and any date which falls before 6pm. But there are exceptions to the rule. The one date, while it is completely harmless, which I will not go out on, is the ICE CREAM DATE.

True enough, eating Ice Cream is a completely harmless idea. You and a friend, go out for ice cream, walk and talk over the random banalities of everyday. But eating ice cream is a traitor. While being masked harmless, it is one of those dates which will mess up your systems.

I have previously mentioned in an earlier post that:

12. Don't eat ice cream with her. What did I tell you about vulnerability? When do girls usually eat ice cream? When she is down and vulnerable! And when you are there, you are the gallant white knight to her Cinderella fantasies. So don't do this one, too

The ICE CREAM DATE is a harmless date. You would not want to do this to your friend because you do not want her to fall in love with you. Bad, bad idea. While subtle, the ICE CREAM DATE is a stealthy way to get the girl of your dreams.

Last Friday, a friend of mine asked me out for ice cream. It was relatively harmless. I knew that he does not mean any malice on his part. He just wanted me to feel better because of something that happened in the afternoon. But I can not bring myself to accept his offer. I know we are good friends, but I can not bring myself to eat ice cream with him because of the aforementioned enumeration in a previous post.

If there is any boy who is reading this, never take your friend out for ice cream. Especially if you do not want her to harbor some secret feelings for you. More so if she has already been harboring some secret crush on you. Never take her out for ice cream. Even if you go DUTCH.

(A general discussion on whether she really likes you or is just being nice)

This entry is for the boys, (edit) dinelete ko na yung kasunod na line.

UPDATE: I am not really up to writing about anything these past few days mostly because my life is not peachy and I am struggling. So to quench the thirst of lack of words, here is a discussion on how to tell whether the girl you like likes you back, or is just being nice.

So here is the scenario: You like a certain girl. She's cute, for the lack of a better discussion on why you like her. You have been constantly talking/texting/exchanging Y!M messages. For you, you might have probably gone out on a date with her.Two dates probably: coffee and conversation and an early morning breakfast just before she goes to work. You like her. You are attracted to her that you intend to take the relationship "to the next level." So how can you tell whether a girl likes you or she's just being nice? Here are a few tips on determining whether she is attracted.

Conversation
One of the dead give-aways of attraction is the conversation you share. Of course, every girl's ideal date involves a heavy amount of conversation. Where, hopefully, at the end of the date she will feel that you can talk about anything you want. So how can you tell?

1. She initiates a conversation with you. No, telling you good morning is not part of it. It has to be a genuine conversation about something she must have heard you liked or a common interest. After the initiation of the conversation the conversation must continue about anything. Anything at all.  Ideally, if you can talk to her about anything, there might be a chance that she likes you. Of course, there is a possibility that she is just being nice. She is just being nice if she talks to you and then after a few banters, she tells you that she must do something. Or just lets you ask the questions, because she is not really that interested in you. 
2. She talks to you about her pets. or her toothbrushes.or whatever banal thing you can think of. Because there is a certain level of comfortability to be able to talk about something as banal as pets.
3. She talks about songs. If she talks to you about music, or the type of music she likes, there might be some attraction there. If she sends you a song to listen to, well, there you go, congratulations, chap: she likes you.

Nicknames
We all know that the reason we give things and people names is to endear them to us. This is the reason why the pig, the pig farmer keeps, never has names: because giving the pig a name is instant endearment, which will complicate the sale for meat, when that day comes. Pets are given nicknames because the master wants these pets to be considered a part of the family, also, to make the master seem to be in control.

The idea is simple really: the girl you like gives you a nickname because she wants you and her to have some sort of inside joke only the both of you share. It does not have to be something grand, like a different name. It might even be some adjective she calls you by, or a name that got stuck after she called you SHREK for the nth time. If a girl likes you to a certain degree, she will call you by a nickname. This also feels as if she is calling you her baby/darling/babe/beh/mahal/sweetheart/honey/angel only less exclusive and comfortably.

Smile

This might be the hardest thing to determine. The smile she gives to you everytime you and her go out on a "date." Because, believe me, some girls have perfected the art of faking the smile,either to look very interested after you tell her for the nth time about something she has not even heard of.

The smile must be genuine. It must be coupled with certain spark in the eyes which is quite hard to determine, if you ask me. So to be able to determine the attraction you must catch her smiling by herself. When she thinks you are not looking. This is the only way to know if she is faking the smile she gives you. If she still smiles even without you looking, then there must be some attraction there.

I admit that I am guilty of taking pictures of myself. I have ONE multiply album littered with just my face all over the page. I get tired of seeing myself after four photographs. tops.

So, believe me it is a pet peeve if I see a page littered with someone's face, taken in different times, taken from the same angle. Oh you know those girls who have done camwhoring so many times they have memorized every crevice, crack and crease on their faces that they know how to smile, which angle to turn, the amount and number of teeth they have to show and how much grams of air they have to inhale in order to achieve some decent photos.

I believe everyone is pretty in their own right, and that there is bound to be someone out there who will find you stunningly breathtaking. Yes, Quasimodo and dead birds and all. But there are some who believe this fervently that I do not know how much drugs they had for breakfast.

I believe camwhoring must be limited to friendster photos, and private multiply albums. It must not spam open multiply albums, photobucket accounts, deviantart, and believe me, no, not in flickr. So believe me, to my horror, I chanced upon this photostream:

( LJ CUT for your protection )