HALL ABOUT THAT

There's this hall in the Home Office that's become my favorite place to pass through...

...not just because its lighting and layout allow me to pretend I'm a rebel in the corridor of Princess Leia's blockade runner getting ready to be boarded by Darth Vader...

...but also because the hall's lined the whole way with truly cool historical images...

...including definitive visual proof that my batchmate JOIN EVASION ‘COS NASA AJAR is a time-traveller/immortal/witch who hasn't aged a day since he was around to witness the signing of the U.N. Charter...

...or as another batchmate put it, "parang si Wonder Woman!"

MEANWHILE, OVER AT CONSULAR...

So, ah, hats off to this guy's resourcefulness...

SOME SHADOWY FIGURES WILL MAKE YOUR (ASEAN) DAY

My batchmate/worthy foe CRANIAL AGAIN, who has forever been assigned to man the ASEAN desk at the home office, thought to book Asia's Got Talent grand champion El Gamma Penumbra for this year's diplomatic reception. This proved to be an inspired move, as El Gamma's choreography looked truly razor sharp and wonderfully clever in person AND they were able to create an original number just in time for ASEAN Day. Behold (and ignore my pirated dvd-quality camerawork)

I like to think Cranial was himself in a black leotard backstage and furiously briefing the Penumbros on the provisions of the Treaty of Amity and Cooperation while arguing Regional Economic Integration should best be depicted through jazz hands.

OUR SENIOR DIPLOMATS ARE GEEKING OUT AROUND THE WORLD RIGHT NOW AT THE SAME TIME FOR SOME REASON

Must be the gravitational pull of all the nerds at this week's Comic-Con

(meanwhile, over at State...)

Heh.

SOME COUNTRIES MIGHT UNFRIEND US, YOU GUYS

Officially, of course, we all "welcome" the issuance of the award. But how might some diplos express any additional feels...through facebook?

Why, if you're a junior officer, you can come up with an atin-atin lang explainer

A senior-ish officer could go ironic with one of those passive-aggressive "I know no one reads my status updates" status update.

A more senior officer may simply change his profile pic...

...or just show off her swag

But if you're a really senior officer, you know that less is more

SIX THINGS YOU MISSED AT THE LAST DFA DAY

(because, you know, you were absent)

1) The presentation of Loyalty Certificates and Loyalty Pins (in sweet cosmic cube cases)

2) The batchmate facebook post of the Batch groufie with the Boss

3) The batchmate video-bomb of the Bigger Boss' speech

4) A friend's face in the papers...

5) ...and the unfortunate lay-out

6) And, uh, this

I'm told my office's entry was a video of Capt. DFA doing the Running Man.

It lost.

BEST. BIRTHDAY. CAKE. EVER.

I'MBOBAFETTRIDINGANATATONTHEMARSHMALLOWPLANETHOTH!!!!!!

I love you I know

HOW BAZAAR NAMAN YOU ARE

Some people don't like it when the Home Office holds a Pinoy-themed bazaar in the building lobby, but I personally enjoy them. They add a buzz to a usually staid setting, and often feature exotic items and crafts that I normally wouldn't find elsewhere or even know existed. At the last bazaar, for instance, the haul included...

.

...some funky Filipiniana fashion...

...fine Philippine foodstuffs...

 

...finger, um, fuffets...

...and, ah, fang-ligo 

Falakpakan!!

PICS OR IT DIDN'T CONFIRM

As any lame law student can tell you, appointments to certain government positions also require congressional confirmation. So when our batch got the call to be confirmed after our last promotion, we duly readied ourselves as best we could -- but also acknowledged we never went through anything like this in our careers before and didn't quite know what to expect. Some lessons learned:

1) Not everyone gets to go right away -- The confirmation documentary requirements are substantial, and the rules and timelines are tight. While all of us in the batch worked hard to comply, a few got held up in technicalities and unfortunately weren't included in the initial list of confirmees. This led one batchmate to poignantly post in real-time something along the lines of "I'm watching your confirmation on TV while I'm back here at the office working, I'm happy for you" 

#confirmationhugot

2) Yet there will still be a LOT of people at the hearing -- People up for confirmation can span the entire government system, and while the hearings are done en masse, everyone in attendance will still get their names called and be individually asked to stand up. If your hearing happens to include the military branch, prepare to wait behind hundreds of newly-promoted officers from the backbenches.

as in, waaaay back

3) It's hard to get a decent picture out of it -- Let's start with the fact that as newbies to the confirmation ceremony, my batch didn't realize that we would regularly get caught on-camera/in-frame gazing at the more senior officers called ahead of us, leading to some inadvertent dopey facial expression photobombs on our part...like "mmm, I wonder where sir got his barong?"...

or, "I'm hungry, what's for lunch?"...

or "zzzzzz."

I wasn't asleep of course, the photo just goofily caught me mid-blink. But even when it was my turn to be called up, I was so overwhelmed by the significance of the moment I couldn't come up with a better look.

Yes, there was still a chance for a group photo-op at the end, but those military-types move quick and don't let anything stand in their way.

So you just have to be patient, and soon enough there'll be a nice, clear, unobstructed shot of you.

or not

PASYAL PA MORE...PA MORE!

So it's been a year already since we got back home, but our bagong salta tour continues! So much fun for me the LLDD-Baby! We especially like places that are not only enjoyable but also teach valuable early life lessons to the young 'un, such as...

Mind Museum   

lesson learned: when you got to go, you got to go

Avilon

lesson learned: daddy's a wuss

Jump Yard

lesson learned: daddy's a wuss who's afraid he might hurt himself at a place like this yet resentful that there wasn't a place like this when he was young

Kidzania

lesson learned: while it is within a country's right to establish a points-based system of immigration as a means, among others, of managing local jobs and employment, the implementation thereof can be challenged in the courts insofar as it may unduly restrict movement of labor across borders particularly in the highly-skilled and creative sectors.