Splut

that is the sound of a cat getting unceremoniously killed. by curiosity, of course.

subtitlers make minimum wage, or about php 8,600 a month. the work is, obviously, appending subtitles to various video content (usually for foreign release), in this case using a computer program called a global titling system (gts). they work under a quota system, where the length of the video they subtitle is measured on a daily, and then monthly, basis. the running average is about 43 minutes per day.

i got to try it out myself for an hour during a hands-on test. the content i had to subtitle was QUITE interesting. it was a six-minute video segment about the production design of 'the aviator.' it took me a little less than an hour to transcribe the segment, the main stumbling block being that the production designer, dante ferretti, is old-school italian with a super heavy accent. but he was quite charming in a stoic way (kind of like fr. nick from the comm dept), and definitely very, very good at his passion and life's work.

subtitling looks kind of cool, but doing it day in, day out for minimum wage would obviously drive me batty.

and that is that.

--

i had the most interesting cab ride home today. the cabbie was this youngish albularyo/manghihilot from valenzuela, whom in the drive from makati to mandaluyong told me how to hilot my way to thinness; that a married, 30+ year old man is attracted to me; to be wary of walking on sidewalks (bangketa) by myself; that i would leave the country four times if i married a filipino; that i had 11 (was it 11?) foreigners in my future. i sure hope he didn't mean intimate relationships with said number. juskopo! pila balde na ito.

he told me a ton of things about my physical health, such as that my shoulders aren't aligned (the right one is lower), my lungs are healthy and that one kidney is weak (ergo to cut down on sodium). the others i can't remember, because they weren't as fun as a peek into my future.

as our cab was stuck in the irrepressible makati avenue traffic, he read my palm and pulse and told me that on a sort of 'luck scale' of eight stars, i had five stars. that meant i would be successful and rich ('hindi ka maghihirap' -- whew), although he failed to elaborate by what means. damn! i could have used that particular piece of information.

he also said that a man would fritter away all his money just to marry me ('uubusin niya ang pera niya, mapangasawa ka lang. take note hindi syota ha, mapangasawa ka talaga.') marlon, my broke boyfriend, is that you? haha. according to the cabbie, i was such a prize because i had some inflationary effect on his luck and good fortune.

from experience i know marlon and i have an inflationary effect on each other, period. :P