JOURNALS OF A FILIPINO SEAMAN

Earlier it was thought that actual departure for the airport will be sometime next week - but Cf Sharp company informed that it will be by Monday , two days earlier. I guess i have to go to all the way on this one because of unfortunately events, and being paid 30 percent less from my previous employer for the whole 10 months is no smiling factor for me. Anyway I had already said it a thousand times by now that the only reason why i joined Cf Sharp was the fact CPO principal made me join on the promise that my pay rate would be relatively unchanged from NSB , little that did I knew that it was all a ruse to pin me down and strap me on their ugliest paying principal yet.   Anyway it's all past   now and that I'm more concerned now in finishing my 9 month long (plus and minus one month)lame contract. - after this , I'd get the fuck out of here as far away as possible. Migration to another company won't be a problem after I get out of here, since my US Visa is still v...

So much for the doctor on Manila Doctors Hospital which basically just ripped off 600 PHP on my wallet for a simple paper clearance. Now I just recently learned from the Oiler that Cf Sharp didn’t even get to bother contacting me when some of the crew had already signed up with their contracts which happened just Monday. If it weren't for the info I learned on the Oiler , I wouldn’t have went to the Cf Sharp Office at all and fixed some of the pending issues I have on my paper.   Anyway I got there as soon as I can after fixing up the pending issue about the pulmonary clearance in Manila Doctors Hospital and getting the Cholera vaccine from FMT. It’s a good thing I went there and sorted out some info that was placed on my 201 file data in Cf Sharp and catch up on the paper works. Personally I'm not enthusiastic at all on the details of my contract that was offered, as a matter of fact from my understanding the contract offered to me was just basically a revamped version of...

The only thing good about this repeat of pre-employment medical is the fact that I had to get some answers fully about this so called northstar crew management. For now this is the info I got from talking to some folks on the same situation.   North star principal here in CF Sharp is unheard of, In fact nobody exactly knows about it - not even the security guards. From what I heard the staff who actually handles this is "Roxanne" from NCL (Norwegian cruise line principal). North Star Principal here is only composed of two ships, the second ship is the one I'm supposedly be joining this May. Crew deployment will be sometime this May , from what I heard on the oiler - there about 12 crew members who will join this ship , including myself Name of the ship is "Eagle Boston" Roughly the ship is rumored to be around 30k to 50k GRT Contracts is as far as 9 months Contract and salary offers...

  Finally after a few months of changing and finding a decent barber, somebody got the hairstyle I really wanted, well probably most barbers around the neighborhood don’t have any idea on what shit I'm talking about when it comes to hairstyle and resulted to me being stuck for several months in a retard look. Good thing for me I finally found one who can fix me up and make me look hot again.   Aside from getting an appropriate hairdo, I might be also changing my style of writing from now on and will be adding humour and sarcasm (plus language related issues) on my blog , just like what I did during my call center years - probably I figured that life in the maritime community is all too serious - and that I should learn to smile and insult a little. besides If I took it more seriously id have more wrinkles in face than in my testicles before I reach 40. Probably writing is an acquired talent I got during my early years in college, plus combined with my proficiency in English la...

  If I had known sooner that I'd be In this predicament , I wouldn't have applied at all in CF Sharp in the first place, knowing that this company sucks. Now not only am I stuck and cannot pull out my papers and look for a job on another company , now as of the moment they are putting   me on hold with no guarantees of employment at all, they told me to wait for the whole month of May this time. Now where's the sense of justice on that eh ??!   Waiting for a whole month ? What the fuck !!! I'm not in the mood to wait for that long, given that they haven't even given me any assurance of employment in the first place - I haven't signed any contracts with them , nor even given me the details of the new bank for the payroll, so basically the only thing I have or their giving me is they're word (which is highly doubtful given on what they put me thru).   It excruciating for me in this situation to be "boxed" and powerless on what ugl...

    Wasn't exactly in the mood to do anything after the disheartening news. I'm not even on the mood to get an NBI certificate, - but I need to get one today as I already put in on the online appointment ahead. The biggest and most hassle of all was online payment system which you have to pay on some collection company and show them first the printout of the appointment. Have no idea why government agencies opt to this kind of system but this was the most hassle part in getting an NBI clearance. Incidentally on that day the NBI server was down and I had to wait until noon for me to make the payment.   Once the payment has been made , everything was straightforward and took me only at least 35 minutes for the long line - after that I got my NBI clearance.   A few days later …..   Recently there has been a new site to get COP documents in Marina, before it was just only the main building in T.M. Kalaw. The new site as what I saw in the MARINA official website...

  "The rich rule over the poor, the borrower is slave to the lender (proverbs 22:7)"     While I was busy recently on obtaining the rPSCRB certificate in PMMA training center , I immediately received an SMS message coming from CF Sharp telling me to report A.S.A.P. , the nature of the message didn’t gave a clear reason why and they only said it was urgent. I didn’t report immediately after the said training due to the lateness of the message during that time.   On April 18, in the morning I received a call from CF Sharp again and said that I should report immediately in the afternoon , as expected the call did not mention any details why I should report. When I get there in the afternoon , the details were divulge that I was being transferred to another principal called "northstar crew management co. ltd" (which I suspect is a lower paying job) and that all perks that they gave me as being a member to CPO will be rescinded , including the "cash advance...