Being an SSE…one year and counting

It’s been a year now since I assumed the SSE role. Thank God I reached this far. J For the first 5 months, it was only just a title simply because during those months, I was doing BSA tasks instead of assuming the role and getting to know my added responsibilities full time. It was only 4 months ago when I started to feel that I’m really that…an SSE. When I was done with my BSA task, I was a bit lost on how to go about my role. It was somewhat hard on my part because too many people have joined the team but I was not there when each one of them came on board. I only got to know them at times when our meetings were held at KPT (meetings were usually held at OSMA) or when they add me as contact in MSN. I really felt I was the newcomer because I saw they have already bonded and all. But then, eventually, I was able to fit in.Getting a promotion means salary increase (if your salary is still not in the bracket of your JG), but it also means added responsibilities. In my experience, to be an SSE means:

• Attending several officer’s meetings usually on a weekly basis and usually lasts for more than an hour per meeting
• Doing WBS (technical analysis, estimates and timelines)
• Lead in projects and/or CRFs
• Having to do on the spot decisions regarding projects
• Joining in con calls with clients
• Haggle with BSAs about deadlines, technical designs, delieverables and resource allocation
• All issues in all projects are your problems, unlike when you are simply a developer, your only concern is the task assigned to you
• Coaching your teammates (like really having to sit down with them to solve some unimaginable bugs in the system)
• Doing admin stuff
• Taking care of deliverables when the TM is not around
• Etc., etc., etc. (the list goes on)

It was a very challenging journey. It has its ups and downs. Sometimes it gets stressful and so I don’t get to enjoy it. But other than that, it was also a worthwhile experience and an opportunity for growth.

There may be days that I slacked off but I know I did my best most of the time. At times, I may not have pleased my direct reports but still, I know I did my best and in most of my decisions, they were my priority more than the client. I may not be that great a leader but I am working on it.

Now, I’m looking forward to another fruitful year filled with lessons and opportunities that will make it more enjoyable.

Parties Galore

Finally, all of the office parties are completed. :) Much as I have enjoyed it, I’m glad that those are over haha. I’m fine with parties but not so much with the tasks that come with it like dressing up and buying gifts. Shopping is not so fun if you are looking for something that’s out of this world just to conform to the costume requirements hehe. As for gift ideas, it’s hard to select something that’s not gender specific and that anyone can use. Besides, every year, the gift ideas that the malls display are just the same hehe. Only a few items are added every year.

So in order, below are the parties we had for 3 consecutive days.

December 14, 2007: Team Party

It was team dinner and exchange of major gifts. We had a monito-monita wherein we had to give a small gift 3 times to our drawn name. For the final gift though, the receiver will give a gift to the giver so we had to guess who our givers were. We also gave out certificates for the following awards:

• Rookie of the Year
• Best Engineer of the Year
• Mentor of the Year
• Spirit of Service

This time, I and a teammate did most of the work. But it was fun nonetheless because it’s shopping hihi. Plus seeing the team having a great time was worth it. Tiring nga lang haha.

December 15: Year End Party

It was held at SM MOA SMX. The place was ok but I guess it was not enough for our company’s population. Our team was responsible for the registration and ticket validation, but the task was delegated to some of my teammates so I’m free hihi (It was my turn last year). The raffle prizes were good but unfortunately, no one from our team won huhu. Nagpakahirap pa naman kami sa Raffle System. Olats. Anyway, it was not so tiring this time. After the party, we went straight to Blue Wave for coffee.

December 16: IS & IT Christmas Party

I won in the raffle! Haha. Yep, I won a Canon digital camera. But I decided to sell it and just buy a portable DVD hihihi.

We had it at DADS so buffet style. Kaso medyo late na kaming dumating so di naming natikman lahat lalo na yung dessert! Huhu. Wala nang leche flan at cheesecake.

It was nice to meet the people from IT and put faces to some of the names we usually exchange emails with.

So that’s it. Three days straight of food, fun and partying! Life is great. :)

Christmas Wish List

I have written some not-so-unattainable-in-the-near-future wish lists last October but here’s another one, simpler this time hehe.

• Another mug for water in the office. But I already got one from HR-Payroll. Thanks HR. :)
• Evans rubber shoes pang-uwi sa Baguio
• Office shoes, black
• Any book on finance and investment
• Ipod Nano 3rd gen black. Already bought one for myself. Budget curtesy of my 13th month pay hihi.
• Portable DVD. Para di boring pag long trips.
• Victoria’s Secret Honeysuckle belle, sweet temptation, secret crush (body wash, lotion and body spray)
• Learn to speak in Spanish CD
• A clone of ... hihihi!

Yan lang. Mas gusto ko talaga may matupad sa 1st batch ng wish list ko hehe.
Happy holidays everyone!

Villa Escudero tour

I just got back from Villa Escudero. I was invited to attend another team’s team building which was a day tour of Villa Escudero. Shortly before 7 AM this morning, we were already traveling south bound. We had dinner in one of the gasoline stations on the way. By 10 AM, we reached the villa. We were greeted by the employees and were served a refreshing iced tea. After registration, we started the tour right away. First stop was at the museum. There were a lot to see, from the preserved animals, jewelries, old coins, porcelains, old household tools and furnitures to the saya and barong tagalong of past presidents. I’m still wondering how they got those. Most of the items in the museum are I guess a part of the collection of the Escudero family.

After some picture taking (with the ever famous jumps hehe), we had the carabao tour. Our carabao’s name is Ligaya. There’s one named Pogi and he’s white, different from the conventional black carabao. The tour stopped at the lunch area so we had lunch at the man-made falls and river where your feet are submerged in the water! Cool!

After lunch, we rushed to go bamboo rafting. We did just 1 round because it was quite hard to maneuver the bamboo raft and we got tired easily.

At 2PM, there was a cultural presentation. I was a critique for the part where they presented the Igorot dances and traditions hehe because there were some that were not done the right way. But overall, it was a great entertainment and a refresher course for me haha.
3:30 PM to around 5 PM was swimming time for others. I opted not to swim though. Aside from the fact that I’m not so much a fan of the pool (or waters in general), I don’t know how to swim. Hihi. I used the time to exchange stories with an ex-officemate who met us there because they were also there to visit a relative. I learned something from him about someone. Hmp! Haha. Langya. Affected pa rin akech? Echos!

We left the place at 6 PM, had dinner somewhere along the way and were back in Manila at around 9:30 PM.

It was a great and fun day. Thanks to the team for the invitation. Sa uulitin. :)

Cebu Pacific’s Piso fare promo

The Piso fare promo of Cebu Pacific is back and so, Davao, here we come! :) Our trip will be on Feb. 15-18, 2008. I’m excited! It will be my first time on a plane.

Check out Cebu Pacific’s website for their promo. Biyahe na!

MRT episode: the crying girl

During my MRT ride this afternoon, the girl (around 10-12 years old) in front of me was crying non-stop. I was a little pissed with the mom because she can’t let her girl stop. I thought the girl was just having tantrums. But one mommy started asking the mom. I can’t hear at first but later on, I learned that the girl is suffering from an infection in the head. The girl is wearing a hooded jacket so it can’t be seen but I think the affected area is quite big. The mom is bringing her child to QCGH because she learned that they can accept patients even without downpayments.

What’s so touching was that the first mommy who learned of the situation immediately handed a small amount to the girl’s mom, and some others followed. One father also laid his hand on the girl’s head and maybe offered a prayer.

It’s so amazing to see how God works with your own two eyes. It’s so inspiring to be like Him. I am grateful to have witnessed this miracle. My only prayer is for the girl to have the best medical treatment she deserves.

Here are some of my realizations.

• I am still very lucky than other people. My problems and sufferings are just very micro as compared to theirs.
• If we really want to help, there are many ways. It is very possible. It’s not even a complicated process. There are opportunities everywhere.
• I won’t excel in the medical field because I will be very attached with my patients. Dang, seeing the girl suffering and witnessing the mom’s plight to bring her girl to any hospital that can admit them (no matter how far it is from their place) brought so much pain in my heart and I had to control my emotions so that my tears won’t spill while I was on the train. Wahuhu.

The next time you see people who are in need, hope you find it in your heart to be God’s ambassador to them, without any conditions. That’s simply the best way.

Seven Things

I was tagged, and to my understanding, when you are tagged, you are supposed to repost the topic with your own answers and tag others after.

So here it goes…my seven things. (Ang haba! Bakit nga kaya 7 to?)

Seven Things That You Dislike the Most

• Mga daga at ipis! Panira sa mga gamit!
• Pag sobrang init. Mas kaya ko ang sobrang lamig kasi mas madali remedy.
• Mga naggagago na mali ang timing. Ginawa sa akin ‘to minsan, syempre pinagsabihan ko sya kahit sino pa sya. Wala akong pakialam.
• Mga inggitero’t inggitera, isama na ang mga intrigero’t intrigera. But I have learned to live with such kind of people. Deadma na lang. Wala akong paki sa kanila.
• Yosi. Kadiri talaga.
• Sobrang daming work and yung wala naman kahit isa. Dapat balanced lang hehe kasi kung hindi, naprepressure ako pag nasobrahan kahit alin sa dalawa.
• Mga flirt at sobrang inarteng mga babae sus. (kahit babae pa ako) Hay naku talaga. May isang grupo ng mga babae talagang binansagan namin ng LFL (League of Flirt Ladies) dahil sa sobrang landi nila.

Seven Things You Like the Most

• Books! Books! Books!
• Movies. Stress reliever ko ‘to. Kaya kong manood ng 2 movies in one day. Nanonood ako kahit jologs pa.
• Koreanovelas. Naging addict din ako nito.
• PC ko. (Wish ko laptop na ‘to hehe) Pag nasa Baguio ako, parang mababaliw ako pag di ako makagamit ng pc hehe. Iniisip ko na lang na opportunity ung PC-less days ko to do other things.
• Music. Very soothing.
• Sayote. Bahagi yan ng buhay ko.
• Maglakad. Ipinanganak ako para maglakad hehe.

Seven Important Things In Your Room

• Books. Need I say more? Hehe
• PC ko
• Radio
• Electric fan. Di ko pa rin kaya ang init dito.
• Lamp shade
• Cellphone. Alarm ko rin kasi yan.
• Actually, lahat ng laman ng room ko, mahalaga. I don’t usually keep things na di ko kailangan kasi magiging clutter lang yun.

Seven Random Facts About You

• Di ko kayang matulog na patay ang ilaw pag walang katabi kaya laging on ilaw ko. Good luck sa bill hehe.
• Nung bata ako until high school, kayang bilangin sa daliri ko yung iilang beses na pag-inom ko ng soft drinks. Hindi basic need sa family naming ang soft drinks (at kung anu-ano pang pagkain na hindi nakukuha sa garden hehe)
• Takot ako sa mumu. Marami nito sa amin. Mula bata ako, marami na akong naririnig na kwento. Naexperience na rin ng ilan sa family members namin.
• Di ako marunong magprogram pag-graduate ko ng college kahit ilang programming subjects pa meron kami dati. Sa work na lang ako natuto.
• Seryoso akong tao hehe. Kahit simpleng bagay sineseryoso ko. Kahit pa opportunity na yan na magpacute sa crush ko dati, seryoso pa rin. Tuloy, mukha akong uninteresting eeww. Nung College, ilang beses akong sinabihan to loosen up a bit.
• I’m more of a listener than a talker.
• I prefer being a member than a leader but more often than not, it’s the other way around (even during school days)

Seven Things You Plan to Do Before You Die

• Read the whole bible
• Build my dream house
• Travel
• Drive my own car
• Sponsor a child (non-relative) to school
• Learn a foreign language
• Have a diversified financial portfolio. Naks!

Seven Things You Can Do

• Mountain climb. No hands pa! :p
• Sing
• Magprogram! Natutununan ko na nung nagtatrabaho na ako hehe
• Kumain syempre
• Gardening. Ito ang buhay ko bago ako napadpad sa corporate world
• Magbasa (wish ko lang speed reader ako para mas makarami hehe)
• Itago ang galit or pagkainis, not unless super provoked na ako.

Seven Things You Can't Do

• Magbike! Tinanong nga ako ng friend ko kung naging bata raw ba ako wahahaha.
• Swim. Ever.
• Magluto ng pagkaing tao hehe. Laging complain yan sa akin ng kuya ko.
• Dance. Kahit pa may lessons nung College. Kahit ata cultural dances, di na ako marunong. *sniff.
• Tumugtog ng musical instruments. Hay hopeless musician ako.
• Magjustify ng point ko kapag naiinis ako. Working on it though. Di pwedeng ganito.
• Magsabi ng nararamdaman. I attempted once pero di ko nagawa.

Seven Things You Find Attractive in the Opposite Sex

• Smart (weakness ko ‘to. Proven na many times hihi)
• Good conversationalist with a sense of humor
• Walang bisyo lalo na ang yosi. Yosi kadiri :p
• Marunong magdrive ahahaha. Ewan ko ba.
• Isama na dyan ang marunong magluto. (kasi hindi ako marunong)
• Maka-Dyos, makatao, family-oriented. Syempre.
• Responsible

Seven Things You Say the Most

• Echos
• Eklat
• Bwisit
• Gago
• Hay naku
• Bad trip
• Yes?

* Halos lahat bad words no? Hehe.

Seven Celebrity Crushes

• Orlando Bloom
• Papa Piolo (bingi ako sa mga naririnig ko tungkol sa pagkatao nya hehe)
• Tom Cruise
• Yung bida/mga bida sa Which Star are You From? Hay.
• Isama pa dyan si Brad Pitt (dahil sa Troy hihihi)
• Christian Bautista
• Vic Zhou

Finally, I’m done. I have no one to tag. Those who happen to read this and want to do it, feel free. :)

Microsoft exams scheduled for 2008 retirement

When I saw that in the November 2007 MCP Flash, I started to panic a bit hehe.

Microsoft will be retiring 22 exams in March 2008. But upon checking the whole article, exams for the MCSD path are not yet due for retirememt. Most of the exams to be retired are those for Windows Server 2000, Windows NT 4.0, Exchange Server 2000, and a few other exams. It’s maybe because Microsoft already wants to encourage users to migrate to Windows Server 2003. Besides, they recently launched Windows Server 2008.

Check here for the complete list of exams that are due for retirement.

Blog anniversary

This day marks my second year in blogging. There’s still not much in my blog but I’ll try to put more sensible contents this time hehe. Let’s see.

Happy anniversary to my ~*~BrAiN wAvEs ~*~ and happy blogging everyone! :)

Busy Q4

For some teams, Q4 is the least busy time of the year, but not for my team. Every year, there are 4 different projects that are to be executed from November to mid-January. I was hoping (and actually expecting, based on what was communicated to me months before) that we are spared with one project this year because it has been outsourced, but the project scope was not what I expected it to be, and so we still need to do that, in addition to the reports that we’ll also be handling.

Good thing it’s long break last week so I had time to be a bum before all these projects start requiring my undivided attention again.

Way to go! Get all those projects done and out of the way for the holidays! :D

Time for Upgrade

September 2005 marked the start of my review for the MCSD path (which requires a total of 5 exams). I took my 1st exam on October 13, 2005 and became an MCP. I was so elated because as per my research that time, there were less than a million MCPs so I was one in a million. :D Isn’t that cool? :) But then I slacked off haha so I did not take the next exam until March 30, 2006 and the next on April 5, 2006 for MCAD. Whew. That was a long battle! I was so tired of all the studying so I decided to delay my 4th and 5th exams. Besides, there were no ongoing promos at the time so I waited for the next promo which came in June, thus forcing me to take my 4th exam on June 28, 2006. I was reviewing for this exam during the 2006 Sykes picnic haha. I did not want to prolong the agony any longer and so on July 24, 2006, I became an MCSD. Whew. Finally! My scores were: 70-315 (810/1000), 70-320 (968/1000), 70-316 (920/1000), 70-229 (816/1000), 70-300 (868/1000).

In November 2005, Micrsoft launched Visual Studio 2005 and a year later, there were already new certification paths. For MCSDs, we can just take an exam for upgrade. So now, it’s time to hit the ebooks and reviewers again huhu. Good luck to me! Sniff.

Literary Piece: Filipinism and Globalization…A Challenge to Filipino Youth

We are now in the era wherein worldwide communication is established. We are free to interact with other countries, exchange products with them and adopt their system of living. The main idea behind globalization as they say is actually for the economic growth and development of any country who is part of it.

But going deeper, this can also be a threat to our own identity since we are free to do and act the way we want to. Definitely, if this happens, we are already presenting a new image of the Filipino, the Filipino who is a breed of different identities due to open communications.

As youths and future leaders of our country, we are given the choice either to let this go on further until Filipinos at heart and mind become extinct or to salvage and bring back the old Filipino we, as well as other countries have come to know. We are challenged therefore to act now and do something about this issue. Of course, as always, the change should come first within us before we force others to change too. We can always become the eye-opener for other Filipinos who want to change their identity and totally forget the race where they really belong. The time challenges us to bring home the Filipino…

Written on: February 1, 1997
For: English 1B
Score: 10/10 :)

Literary pieces

While I was going through my stuff in Baguio, I saw some of my compositions (usually essays) that were part of the requirements in some of the subjects in school. Reading through them was like travelling back through time. Once again, I was the high school/college student, with my principles and beliefs evident in those compositions.

All through elementary and high school, I attended schools, whose one of its mission is to mold students to become God-fearing, humane, nationalist, and environmentalist. To practice these things, we were encouraged to always write about relevant topics like current events, hsitory, current issues in the community and the like. It was different in college though because we had the freedom to write about anything under the sun, no matter how irrelevant or shallow our topic was. But having been used to the high school way, I still took writing in college very seriously. I’m glad I did because that gave me good grades and sometimes praises from instructors hihi.

I’ll then be sharing some of those compostitions in this blog. The first one (in random order) comes right after this post.

Warning: These are not a professional writer’s works so expect many flaws. :)

How do you deal with death?

I just received news from my friend that her dad already passed away. It was all so sudden huhu. I cannot imagine the pain that they’re going through right now. I mean that must really really be painful, especially that it was all so unexpected. Imagine having someone present all your life then all of a sudden, he’s gone forever. I don’t even know how to comfort her. All I can offer her are my prayers.

Every time I hear of these kinds of news, I cannot help but think about my parents as well. I know they are not getting any younger and I know in time, it will be their time too. I wouldn’t know how to react by then. All I know is that I need to be strong when the time comes.

On the lighter side, this also makes me appreciate my parents more. I’m very lucky because my dad, who’s already 69 and my mom at 59, is still with us. My friends’ parents are gone now to think that they are way younger than my parents.

This is life, and this is one of life’s ironies maybe. You nurture a close relationship with someone, and then all of a sudden, that person leaves you forever. You, on the other hand, need to move on.

But how is the best way to deal with death? I know people will have varieties of answers to this question and people who have gone through losing someone in the form of death have different ways of coping up. But to me (as of this writing), I guess it’s by simply going through all the pain, even though it hurts a lot. It helps in a way because I believe there will be an end to this. Next to it would be acceptance. Acceptance of the fact that that person is gone and anything unmended between you and that person should not be a source of guilt on your part. But if you really feel guilty, then you need to release it in some other ways. Then there’s healing, by standing strong and learning to smile again and keeping the memories of that person in your heart to serve as an inspiration for you to continue. Avoding the pain will just lead you to other negative feelings like anger, resentment, and sometimes guilt. So now instead of dealing with just pain, you are likely to deal with more emotions. But then again, this is so much easier said than done. Sniff.

To my friend, just be strong and know that I will be here.

To Mama and Daddy, I love you!

Wish list

"People making list buying special gifts

Taking time to be kind to one and all..."

When I opened the radio this morning, the station was playing a Christmas song. Immediately, it dawned on me that there are only less than a hundred days before Christmas! This is a time of making wish lists because this is the season where people are so generous for gift-giving :). Since it’s free to wish for anything we want, I am also free to list down big wishes hihi. And so, here goes my list.

• 4-bedroom house on top of a hill, with a front and backyard, with a bathtub, a walk-in closet and a reading corner in the master’s bedroom, a library where I can fill it up with books to my heart’s content, a prayer room for those quiet moments, and a big enough living room fit for big gatherings. Oh yeah, I want my own house! Haha.
• A light blue or tangerine Isuzu Crosswind, or bluish silver Honda Civic 2007 or a pink Honda jazz hekhekhek.
• A personal laptop with a developer specification. No idea on what brand yet.
• Climb Mt. Pulag. Shame on me. That’s in my province but I haven’t even thought of visiting it when I was still in Baguio. When I came to Manila, I met people who really want and who really have plans of climbing the mountain.
• Travel, travel, travel and more travel. I’m already old and have been working for a while but until now, I haven’t even ridden an airplane. That’s so pathetic. :( But still, I wanna go around the world.
• Learn a new language. Spanish it is! Hehe. Hola! For starters, I want those CDs they sell which you can listen to and learn!
• Books, books and more books! I want my own library remember?
• Finish my cross stitch projects and unread books.
• Start a business at home to be managed not by me but the income must go to me hihihi.
• Learn to ride the bike hehe. Yeah, when I was a kid, I did not have any bike. Budget was tight so our parents can’t afford to spend for wants.
• Be the best in my field and in my role as SSE. Hay, this is quite hard. But no pain, no gain hehe.
• Bond with old friends, meet new friends.
• And…WORLD PEACE. No kidding.

Well, that’s about it. But that’s just the first part hehe. It’s a pretty long list whew! Some are hard to have because it involves lots n lots of moolah but what the heck, it’s just but a wish list wehehe. (A list that maybe the start of a reality :))

Spanglish

We had a concall with our colleagues in Costa Rica and El Salvador last night because we are presenting to them the Careers website we’ve created for the Philippine office. At 5 minutes to 11 PM, my teammate already dialed to join the conference. Apparently, one of the attendees in Costa Rica/El Salvador was having a hard time setting up his PC to connect to the network so our contact asked us to give them a few minutes to settle that. While they were doing their stuff, they did not press the phone’s mute button so we had the freedom to listen to their conversations in Spanish! I did not understand most of it except for the few English words they said hehe. It was very entertaining to hear them speak in their language without really caring who else were listening.

Because of this, I suddenly remembered that one of my goals was to study one foreign language, either French or Spanish. Weh! Whatever happened to that goal? Huhu. I should do some serious thinking about it again! I guess it would be cool to learn how to speak and write at least one other language! :D

Deadma queen

Tinawag nya akong deadma queen! Akalain mo yun! Wahahaha. So naramdaman nya bwahaha. E kasi matagal ko na syang di kinikibo sa chat hehe. Malay ko bang gusto pa akong makausap hehe. The last time kasing nagmeet kami, parang nagbago na eh. Di na gaya ng dati. Sa iba ko na nga lang nalaman na pauwi pala sya eh. So ayun, di ko muna sya kinibo. At kaninang chinat ako, tinawag akong deadma queen! Tinawag ko nga rin syang deadma king! Totoo naman eh so quits na kami hihi. Hay…hay lang ^_____^ (Kris pahiram hehe).

Igorot

Out of curiosity as to how my ethnic group is described in the web, I Googled the word Igorot and here’s what I got in Wikipedia:

Igorot (pronounced [iga'rot]) is the general name for the people of the Cordillera region, in the Philippines island of Luzon. The Igorot form two subgroups: the larger group lives in the south, central and western areas, and is very adept at rice-terrace farming; the smaller group lives in the east and north. Igorot groups formerly practiced headhunting.

Cordillerano, or Cordilleran, is an unofficial and relatively recent term for the people of the hill tribes of Luzon, Philippines, who are residing in the Cordillera and Caraballo mountains. This term is an attempt at political correctness, since a current term, Igorot, has caused controversy due to its perceived negative stigma, which is incorrectly connected to backwardness and inferiority. Among the people in the Cordilleras, not all Kalinga and Ifugao accept the designation of Igorot.

I was pleasantly surprised to see that they got it correctly. When I was younger, I heard all sorts of stories of misconceptions about us, Igorots hehe. But despite that, I grew up to be proud of being one. Though we were described in the History books as one of the minority groups in the Philippines, we have a rich culture that even other people in all parts of the world became interested and took time to really learn it.

When I was in elementary, almost all of the students in our school were Igorots. We learned and practiced our different traditions and cultures. I had fun learning and performing our different dances and rituals. Each ethnic group has its own dance and rituals, different from the other groups. When we have visitors, we would usually perform for them. And it warms the heart that they really appreciate it and they were really amazed by it.

Hay, there’s so much to write about being an Igorot. One of my goals is to document the traditions and practices that my parents know. I did this before in High School but unfortunately, I cannot find my report. Sigh. I’ll just do it again.

Lutang...

...kasi double shift ako kahapon, so ffice ako from 10 AM kahapon to past 4 AM kaninang umaga. Di pwedeng mag-offset kaagad ngayon or bukas kasi may meetings and deployment. Ang issue lang naman ay yung dati ring issue 2 paylink generations ago. Mahirap talagang mawalan ng DBA at nakakatakot pag on the spot kailangan mong maging DBA. Good thing di kami inabot ng more than 2 shifts ngayon. Tinandaan na lang naming yung ginawa nung DBA last time at buong tapan na inexecute wahahaha. Kakatakot kaya talaga. Live data yun eh huhu. Buti na lang ok ang outcome at natapos din…pero pagkatapos ng mahabang oras. Hay!

At dahil lutang na lutang ako ngayon, hirap magtrabaho. Kung pwede lang hilain ang oras para matapos na ang shift ko, ginawa ko na kanina pa. So ang mga nagawa ko lang ay magmeeting (at magdemand sa isang meeting na simulan na hehe), magreply sa mga email, magbigay ng overview ng QA sa ibang kateam, tulungan ng konti ang isa pang kateam na magdebug, at ito hihi. Ang main task ko ay ipinagpaliban ko muna para bukas para at least nakapagpahinga na ng konti at mas mabilis na magprocess ang utak ko.

Sykes Gives Back

Those who attended the Sykes Cares activity last May were invited for a Sykes Gives Back event last Friday, September 14, 2007 held at Fully Booked, Bonifacio Hjgh Street, Global City. The event was an opportunity to meet our beneficiaries and our partners in the Sykes Cares activities. It was attended by the children of Tondo, big bosses of Sykes, representatives of the foundation, the UK ambassador and his wife, some of Sykes Cares volunteers and was hosted by the beautiful Mickey Ferriols. There were messages from Mike H and our partner foundation and we were serenaded by the Ateneo glee club. There were story telling, face painting, and gift giving for the kids. There was also a video presentation about the activities of Sykes Cares. There were those of the Sykes volunteers at work, the library, the computer lab, and the kids in their classes.

The video made me a little emotional for a while because I can relate with them. My schooling has always been a struggle especially in terms of financial resources. There has always been a problem of budget for tuition fees. While other children have new things at the start of the school year, my siblings and I had to make do with recycled school supplies and we just buy those that are missing. I still remember that from Grade Two to Grade Six, I only used 1 ruler. It was a wooden ruler so it doesn't easily break unless you do it by force. Through the years, that ruler acquired stains, ink marks and water marks whenever it gets wet during the rainy seasons.

But seeing that video and the children last Friday, I realized for the nth time that I was still more privileged during my schooling than other kids. My siblings had sponsors in their elementary years, which was a big help. I was able to acquire a scholarship in high school, which handled half of my tuition. In college, I passed the DOST scholarship program and that took care of my tuition and part of my allowance.

Now, having volunteered for the Sykes Cares last May gave me the opportunity to also give back those blessings I received during my years in school. Attending the event last Friday made me thankful for all those people who really share their life in order to help others. Seeing the children with joy, hope and intelligence in their faces, I offered a little prayer and wish that these little children, being the future leaders of the world, may treasure their blessings and use it to make something out of their lives so that someday, they may also give it back to others.

This was written while passing through the towns of Tarlac and Pampanga on the way back to Manila.

Sayote Cultivation: From Planting to Harvesting

Yan po ang aking topic nung Presentation Skills Workshop namin last August. At gusto ko lang ishare dito. Kaya naman yan ang napili ko, ayaw ko kasing magresearch pa para lang sa workshop so pinili ko na lang yung kabisado ko na at kaya kong ikwento kahit nakapikit ako wahahaha. Di nyo po naitatanong pero bago kasi ako humarap sa computers, sayote na ang pinagkakaabalahan ng pamilya ko sa Baguio. Ito ang bumubuhay sa amin. Biruin mo naman, mula pagkabata, yan na ang trabahong nakagisnan ko. So para mas mapadali ang buhay ko nung workshop, yan na lang di ba? Less work sa akin. Pagkuha ng mga larawan at pag-ayos na lang ang presentation ang kailangan. Yung contents, kinulit ko mga kapatid ko para tulungan ako hehe. Nakakatawa pala nung ginagawa namin yung contents, lahat kami di alam kung anong translation ng mga sayote related terms sa English. Buti na lang, nandon ang hilaw na forester kong kapatid at sya ang nagbigay ng tamang terms. At may mga natutunan akong bago ha, sa tinagal-tagal ng exposure ko sa sayote.

Anyway, ito na yung presentation ko:

During presentation, sa akin may pinakamaraming tanong. Naks! Naging interesado ata sila magtanim ng sayote. (Naku dadami na kakompetensya namin sa market :p) At dahil sa presentation ko, nagcrave ng tinola ang buntis naming trainer! O di ba astig? Hehe. Tapos nabalitaan ko rin sa mga friends from other teams na nabanggit daw ung presentation ko nung PWS naman nila. Wahaha. O di ba mas sumikat pa ang sayote. Pero ang nagustuhan daw nya don ay ang frst lines ko na ganito: “For the next few minutes, let’s leave the corporate world, leave all your favorite gadgets behind and travel with me to a remote place up north and let's go plant sayote.” O di ba astig? Hehehe. Travalogue daw ang tawag sa ganyang presentation. Ayos! Wala pang lectures, may na-apply na ako! Wuhooo! Hehe.

Fiesta Fun Games

That’s one of Sykes’ activities for this year. The organizers asked the employees to come up with groups with 10 members. Because we are fun and challenge loving people, we joined hehe. (actually, there were two groups from our team) Though a group name was not required, we named our group “Team Pumpers” anyway wahaha. To prepare for the event, we bought shirts the shade of our group color – Royal blue. We were all excited because the prices are cool. First price alone was 20K – that was motivating enough. Or so I thought, because at yesterday’s games, we lost wahahaha. We were actually the first group to be eliminated huhu. The first game was sack race but it turned out that it was a non-elimaination game because there were some groups who were not able to attend. The “Pass the Orange” game was hard. That’s what cost our chances of winning.

But it’s ok. At least we were able to try two games hahaha. And of course we still had fun. Funny thing though was that, one of my teammates wasn’t even able to wear his shirt at all because when he arrived at the venue, we already lost wahahaha.

Anyway, since we have nothing more to do, we decided to play badminton. So after the hotdog party that was sponsored by our big boss, Team Pumpers headed to Valencia court and played to our hearts’ content from 12:30 PM to 4:30 PM. It was a challenge to play with the guys but it was all worth it. It was still fun.

When everyone was already tired, we decided to call it a day. Some of us dropped by Gateway for dinner then headed home right after.

As soon as my head hit the pillows, I was off to dreamland right away.

And, this morning when I woke up, my whole body was aching. Ok, so that’s what I get for having fun hehe. Ironic isn’t it?

Note: Special mention and thanks to Julz for joining the team at such short notice hehe. Our other teammate was sick last Friday and so we need to find a replacement right away. I called Julz right away and she said yes after so many convincing hehehe.

Happy Birthday Velmarie!

Today is the 4th birthday of my niece Velmarie, my younger sister’s daughter and the youngest at the moment among my nephews and nieces. I hope she grows up to be a good girl with moral values and confidence to live her life to the fullest.

When she was younger, she frequently has fever, cough and colds. At one point, she even had to stay at the hospital for one night. It was scary. My mom can’t stand it so she asked me to accompany my sister. I was scared as well but there’s no room for that, otherwise, my already worried sister might also break down. Good thing my niece (sa pinsan) works in the hospital and she was able to guide us with what to do, where to pay and all that stuff.

Looking at her now, I guess there’s nothing to be worried about because she seems to be growing up just fine. She knows how to listen and bear in mind and heart what we teach her. She may have tantrums at times but still, she’s more behaved than other kids I have seen. One time, she accidentally stepped on my feet and my immediate reaction was to say “aray”. After a while, I heard her say “churi”. I could not get it at first but her mommy said that’s sorry. I was very touched and speechless so I just hugged her. At another time, my sister and I were fooling around. At one point I said to my sister “buwisit ka!” and my niece, in her soft voice said to me, “bad dayta” (that’s bad). I was pleasantly surprised to hear her say that, and of course, I affirmed that what I said was really bad and she shouldn’t follow it. So I have to be careful with my words next time hehehe. Though she’s still a kid, she can still say right to my face if I’m saying bad things hehehe. I’m not offended. In fact, I’m glad to see her that way! :)

When I’m at home, she’s the one who wakes me up or calls me during meal times (when I’m in the bedroom bumming hehe). I’d hear footsteps in the stairs while shouting “Tita Mal-lynnnnn”. Sometimes, instead of calling me, she would lie down beside me and ask endless questions or pretend to also read. When I’m not sleeping, either we are watching TV or going to the store to stuff ourselves with junk food hehe. Bad me!

When she learned to talk, her phrases were constructed opposite of the normal structure. She would say “siyak kayat” (ako gusto) instead of “kayat ko” (gusto ko) or “siyak mangan” (ako kain) instead of “manganak” (kain ako). We would always laugh about it but sometimes, I have to follow her way of speaking for her to understand me hehe.

Sometimes, I forget that she’s already not in diapers so I still call her baby. But she would patiently tell me that she’s not a baby anymore. She says she’s already a child (ubing) so I should stop calling her a baby. When she tells me that, I would sometimes tease her that if she’s not anymore a baby, then she’s already baket (old woman) but she would say no. She’s just ubing but not baket. Hehe, arte nya!

Velmarie, happy happy birthday! Grow up to be a good girl and always remember that we love you. God bless you.

Buhay na buhay ang aking social life!

Oh yes! Hehe. Punung-puno ng social activities ang aking life for this week. Marami kasing dumating na friends from abroad, so kita-kits ang tropa. Ang saya-saya. Kahit di na gaanong nagkikita at sa email at chat na lang nagkukulitan, nananatili pa rin ang pagkakaibigan ng lahat.

Kahapon, natuloy na rin sa wakas ang aming girls’ fish hehe. Akala pa ng isang teammate namin, nagbibiro ako nung sinabi kong may fish kami. So after a hectic Friday in the office (sa dami ng demands ng client at sa last-minute shopping ng shirt for tomorrow’s fiesta games), off we went to World Music Room in Promenade. We had a sumptuous dinner (take note rice at mga ulam to) as we were all starving hehe, and sang to our heart’s content until the wee hours of the morning. When we were supposed to be going home, it was raining hard so we stayed for a while and used the time to learn more about each other.

It was a night full of fun and laughter and of course Canon moments :). But She, we’ve missed you!

For these and more, I am forever grateful to Him.

Trivia:
The Fish philosophy (or simply Fish) is a way of creating an atmosphere full of inspiration and motivation. This was created by Jonh Christensen and it was literally based on how the employees of Seattle’s Pike Place Fish Market perform in their work. It has 4 key concepts.

• Play
• Make their day
• Be there (for workers)
• Choose your attitude

The Fish philosophy was first introduced to use about 3 years ago. After that, we were encouraged to have Fish within our team at least once a month.

Due to the popularity of this topic, you may just Google it for more information.

Hindi po ito reunion, may nagyaya lang po :)

Yesterday, I was meeting some ex-/officemates-turned-friends in Makati. All I know was that someone’s treating us to dinner. :) I thought it was just going to be the usual group but to my pleasant surprise, V and F were there as well! Yippee! I haven’t seen V for more than a year now. When he resigned, he was assigned in the US after a few months. He came back in June but we haven’t heard from him so I assumed he doesn’t want to see us. :p Hehe, just kidding! F is already in Singapore. He went home for a vacation last January and we went out to dinner. I just heard from another friend (who also works in the same company where F is) that he’s also coming home for a vacation again. But then, I did not expect to see him this time because he did not say anything about coming home. Oh well, I’m just so glad to see them all. :) So happy happy!

Dinner was at Dencio’s Paseo Center. We didn’t have many pictures because no one brought a camera so we just had to make do with Eden’s phone camera. Hay, lesson learned. I’ll just bring my camera for any gatherings just to be sure it’s properly documented hehe. Adik!

Happy 98th Charter Day, Baguio City!

Today, Baguio celebrates its 98th Charter Day. It’s on this day in 1909 when Baguio was officially declared as a city. It’s a special holiday so it means no school and work yippee! I remember that there were always programs to celebrate it. It starts with a parade of the different schools and barangays. The route would be from Session Road, off to Magsaysay then to Harisson Road and ends up at Melvin Jones where other activities like cultural presentations take place. I guess there was also Search for Miss Baguio at some point.

We would always watch the parades. I guess Baguio folks love to watch it because all the main roads are always packed with people during this day, so we really need to be up early to be able to stay in a nice spot where we can watch the parade easily. I don’t remember though, that I was part of the parading team during this celebration hehe.

Ever sisnce I worked in Manila, I wasn’t able to witness any more celebrations of Baguio Day. I guess this year, they did it a little differently, as described in this article.

Happy Charter Day my beloved Baguio. I am more than blessed to be in your embrace and enjoy all of nature’s beauty that you unselfishly offer. Though I’m now trying to live in other places, I’m sure I’ll always find myself going back because home means Baguio.

To rant or not to rant?

Nag-promise kasi ako sa sarili ko na bawal ang rants sa blog wahahaha. Pero rant pa rin ako hmp!

Kainis na BDO yan. Kung kalian sweldo, saka naman nagdown. Grrrr! Hello! Paano na ang social life namin??? Nyahahaha. Yan tuloy, postponed ang Girls’ Fish sana naming ladies sa team. Pinagmulan pa naman yun ng kadramahan kuno ng mga lalaki naming teammates wahahaha. May dala pa naman din akong camera para sana makapag-Kodakan kami to sawa. Pero ok lang. Kasi naman yung isa di rin pwede. So at least kung next week yun, sana naman sumama sya!

BDO pa rin. Aba’y fund transfer lang sa third party account, kailangan pang i-enroll at iprint ang enrolment form at isubmit sa BDO branch. Anong kalokohan to??? Kaya nga third party kasi hindi sa iyo eh. Aanhin ko naman sa listahan ng accounts ko ang hindi naman akin? Kailangan ko lang naman magtransfer ng pera sa THIRD PARTY ACCOUNT na yun eh huhu. Hmp! Sabi ko na nga ba mamimiss ko ang Fastnet eh.

Isa lang pala ang nakita kong maganda. Isa pa lang :p. Pwede na akong magbayad ng Standard Chartered cc ko online. Ayos ‘to. Wala nang hassle. Di na rin ako made-delay sa bayad dahil sa katamaran kong pumunta sa payment centers ahihi. (O ayan, di na rant to ha :))

Rant na uli. Nasabi ko kanina sa isang teammate na Bug finder ata ako. Akalain mo ba naman kasing maglogin lang sa isa naming tool eh ayaw ng ibang profiles pero yung iba nakakalogin. So no choice ang beauty ko kundi mag-code trace. And unfortunately, may bug nga. Hayz. Kahapon din, buong shift ko ata, puro lang paghahanap ng sagot sa himalang nangyayari sa database naming. Ayun, di ko pa rin nahanap ang sagot. Huhuhu. Pero wag ka, at least may mga preventive measures akong sinuggest. :p Langyang yan! O di ba pwede na nga talaga akong Certified Bug finder? Wahahaha.

On other things: (kasi di na to related sa title eh :p)

September na bukas! Ang bilis ng panahon! (Lagi naman eh). So last post ko na to for August. Pinakamarami ata ‘tong month na ‘to. Sinipag ako haha. I should meet September with a BLAST! Naks! Paano naman kaya yun? Sikreto! Malalaman ko pa rin lang bukas wehehehe.

O sya, nagyaya ang aking isang friend. Kakape daw kami sa aming paboritong tambayan. Kape lang. Pangkape na lang laman ng wallet ko eh. Huhu uli.

Weekend mall hopping

Ok, break muna! :p

Sunday was spent with office friends. We watched Rush Hour 3 at around 7 PM and then had coffee until 1 AM. That was all in Greenbelt 3.

Yesterday, I met with Jen. Gateway naman this time. She was looking for a costume to use during their Buwan ng Wika celebration and knowing na wala namang ganon sa Gateway, punta kami SM North. Bago pa kami nakarating don, gala muna kami sa Trinoma hehe. It’s her first time, and my second. We had picture taking at the fountain, lunch at Red Ribbon and after that, ogled at the cars displayed in the activity area :D. After that, tuloy na kami sa SM North and SM The Block to look for Jen’s costume. After a tiring visit to the shops, we had snack at Pizza Hut. Kwentuhan tungkol sa kung anu-ano until 9 PM.



On other things:

I woke up yesterday with colds and a somewhat painful throat. Arrrggghh!!! Ayaw ko na magkasakit ahihi. Anyway, may reason to be on SL pero on second thoughts, sayang SL conversion and Health bonus. Pa-end pa naman na ang August. So, konting tiis na lang.

I was able to start on the Angelic Bliss cross stitch. Yey! Hopefully, I’ll finish it by September. It’s a small pattern.

Our landlord informed me a few minutes ago that he received a package for me. There goes my first set of Sweet Dreams from Ebay ahihi. So happy happy! I wish that I could get home right this minute so that I can start reading those wahihi. Ok, 51 minutes to go and I’m off.

On my major project, gusto ko nang simulan haha. Nacoconvince ko na sarili kong mag-loan. Problem is, wala akong kilalang engineer to do the plan wahuhu. Ang kuya ko, walang kwenta. Di man lang nagpaparamdam pa! Hmp!

Bonding with officemates

After going to the wake of Eden’s dad last August 21, Ronald, She, Emie, Karen and I decided to have dinner at Teriyaki Boy. They are a happy bunch hehe. Sa tuwa ko sa kanila, nalibre ko pa sila wahahaha. We feasted on tofu steak, chicken teriyaki, beef, seafood (I forgot what it’s called in the menu :p), yakimeshi rice and bottomless iced tea.

Because we were so full and can’t stand up right after the meal, we stayed for a while and exchanged stories. I’m glad that we have times like these. It allows us to make friends with new people.

Oh by the way, the other ladies are also fond of taking pictures haha. With matching poses pa yan ha.

Now, I’m looking forward to our girls’ night out yihee!

Trivia: Teriyaki Boy is a Japanese restaurant founded by Gerwin Espino, who was a former service crew. More info here.

Sweet Dreams!

I have come to love these books when I was in high school. Hay! The stories are all romantic hihihi. Racing Hearts was the first book I read. We had this mini-library in class where those who have books can bring it to class so that others may borrow it. Luckily, we had this one classmate who has a complete set of Sweet Dreams (together with the Sweet Valley series from Twins to High to University) and that’s where I was able to read some books. Heck, I was really hooked that I read even in moving vehicles hehe (yeah right, bad for the eyes :p). Until now, I still check out the bookstores for copies of these books.

Fast forward to today. I was browsing Ebay for some books when I came across some titles. It brought back memories until I decided to try to complete my collection ahihi. Thus I started bidding some books in Ebay already wahahaha. Ok lang na second hand basta readable pa rin ang texts. But I’m wishing that I could get brand new copies huhu. Merong iba from abroad pero pamatay naman ang shipping huhu. Mas mahal pa kaysa sa bayad sa books :(. I already have some copies at home. Wish ko lang natago pa ng kapatid ko yung ibang nabili ko dati huhuhu. Anyway, sana macomplete ko!

Goodbye Fastnet

Because of the merging of BDO and EPCI, Fastnet, EPCI’s internet banking is also replaced by BDO’s internet baking. It has almost the same functionalities except that Fastnet has an option where you can see the list of your accounts and the total money in those accounts. You can even convert your total money into some other currencies. I think Fastnet is also more user-friendly in terms of the interface. I’m missing it but then maybe, I’m just not used to BDO yet. In time, I’ll also learn to appreciate BDO :).

Angelic Bliss (Girl)

This is the cross stitch project that I’ll be starting in a while. The materials were a gift from Janet last December 2006. Until now, I haven’t done it yet. Wahaha. See how delayed I am with my projects? Hehehe. I won’t justify anymore hihi. I hope to finish this right away so that I can display it in my room :).

Sherrilyn Kenyon Unleashed

I’m done with Unleash the Night, the first book I read written by her. And I want more hihihi. Tomorrow is book shopping day! Wahahaha! Well, what can I do? I’m hooked hahaha. Besides, there’s still a discount at NBS until September 16, so I better grab the opportunity yiffee!

Flood phobia

Well, the phrase above is obviously “fear of floods” but I wanna call it floodophobia hehehe. I guess I have been experiencing this since Saturday morning, when I had first hand experience in walking in the floods for the first time! Ewwww! I was not expecting that. It was the first time where I lived. I was so shocked when the taxi driver asked me for another route because part of Evangelista was already flooded. Since every possible street seems flooded, I decided to get down and just take the jeep. It was a relief when I learned that the whole street was not flooded after all. When I got down to the street going to the apartment, I was surprised and dismayed that it was flooded huhuhu. I was torn between looking for a street with no floods and just going through that damn flooded street of ours. But looking down further, I saw that other possible streets near our place were also flooded and it’s already 2 AM so I guess it was not safe for me to look further. And so I just went on with my first option. Before passing through, I took off my shoes. Why did I ever do that in the first place? Every time I think of it, I feel stupid for saving my shoes rather than protecting my feet from whatever unseen sharp objects in the street. As I was walking my way to home sweet home, I saw floating garbage and a big rat! Wahahaha. I don’t want to imagine further.

Whew! As I said, that was my first time. Funny thing was, on Friday night, my mom texted me to ask how I was. I said I was fine. There’s flood everywhere but not in our place hahaha. Maybe this is what I get for staying out until the wee hours of the morning wahuhu. But it was Friday night! And I too have a social life ahihi. It’s not bad to have fun with friends, right? Hehehe. The weather was not just cooperative enough wahahaha!

Because of such phobia, I was so lazy to go out gallivanting in the malls this weekend. Ever time I think of the flood, I feel that if go out, I would have to pass through floods again when I get home ahaha. Too bad I have several things lined up that I need to get done this weekend. Good thing there’s until tomorrow to do those because tomorrow’s a holiday! Yippee!!!

Miscarriages

It’s really heartbreaking when I hear expectant mothers to suddenly have miscarriages, especially if these are people I know. Early this year, a friend and colleague have gone through a 3rd miscarriage. She was so saddened and depressed by it because she really, really wanted to have a baby. That should have been her 3rd. When she got back from leave, she was able to share the emotional turmoil they have gone through. It breaks my heart because I can feel her pain. And I so wanted them to have babies because I also believe they will be good parents. At this point, I would say, she has recovered and she is now preparing for the tests and necessary medications before getting pregnant again.

A few minutes ago, another friend messaged me. I excitedly asked how she is now that she’s pregnant only to learn from her that she also lost the baby just a few days ago huhu. This should have been their first. She just got out of the hospital. She said she will be monitored until she has her monthly period again. As for the baby, they have not yet received the results of the biopsy so they still don’t know what caused the death.

I feel their pain but I don’t know how to comfort them. The only thing I can do is listen intently to them and silently offer a prayer for their unborn babies (now angels) and for their fast overall recovery.

They are two strong women. I know they can pass this trial.

Undue Stress!

We have been having a lot of it lately with one of our projects. We were like having long conversations and planning and identifying options for the deployment of an affected tool, only to find out that we don’t need to deploy that tool after all. In today’s deployment, we were practically done at around 8 this morning but the expected results were not reflecting. We were looking for the cause the whole day, only to find out 1.5 hours ago that there are still many servers to check and that’s what the application was updating since this morning! What a waste of our time huhu. Our shift ended at 3 but we were just able to close the deployment at around 6:30 PM.

Anyway, we haven’t received any major issues yet so that’s something to be happy about. We are crossing our fingers that there won’t be any major issues to come.

Good job team! Thanks for all the hard work on this project. (Kahit di nyo nababasa ‘to, magpapasalamat pa rin ako hehe)

Early bird

It’s been a long time since the last time I reported to work at 6 AM. We have an implementation today which we opted to do early in the morning to avoid too much impact on users. I hope this goes without any problems. Please let it be that way.

It feels good to be starting the day early. It’s just so much of a challenge to wake up early too :p.

On the other side of things, today is Assumption Day, a religious festival that celebrates Mother Mary’s ascent to heaven. When we were in elementary, our school (St. Martin School Assumption Baguio) usually celebrates this occasion. We do it through mass (with choreography) and a short program. The program usually includes skits, games (with prizes for winners :) ) and lunch as a community. Our families are always invited and we usually have pot luck. It was always fun and it was an opportunity for families to bond during those times. Nowadays, I don’t know how they do it in school. I haven’t visited them for a long time now hihi.

Note: Di ako petiks ha :p. Sinulat ko 'to while waiting for our SA to arrive. Nakasalalay sa kanya deployment namin eh.

Patience please!

Lord, grant me more patience please! Huhuhu! I might lose whatever little patience I have anytime now and may do something that I will regret later. I don’t want that to happen.

Inhale…exhale…inhale…exhale…inhale…exhale…hay!

Pamper my face day

Today is pamper my face day. I went to LFI for a pimple treatment type of facial. It was painful huhu. But I just kept on telling myself that the attendant is trying to remove all the dirt that’s stuck on my pores. After the procedure, the attendant showed me the dirt she removed from my face. Iww. She also placed a masked that helped relieve my face from all that poking. Anyway, I was happy with the results. My blackheads are gone. There’s even a free follow up check up after four days. I guess I should be doing this at least once in two months. The last time I had a facial prior today was almost 4 years ago ahay.

Next stop – saloon! Todo na itu! :)

In relation to yesterday’s post:

True enough, watching alone is addicting. Earlier today, I was contemplating on watching another movie after my facial haha. I just didn’t find any movie that was worth watching alone so I did not push through hehe.

New Author: Sherrilyn Kenyon

I am trying to read a book by an author introduced to me by my friend. The author is Sherrylyn Kenyon. Her stories are usually on paranormal romance because it involves wolves, vampires and humans. Well, according to my friend, there are no gory parts in the book. Thus I decided to try it. I bought 1 of her books entitled Unleash the Night. I read until page 8 and so far, I like it. I had to finish this right away though so that if it fits my taste, I can buy her other books that are on sale at National Bookstore hehehe.

First Time: Watched a movie alone

Yep. That was a first time for me haha. Due to a much needed break from work (heck, I have been working until this afternoon huhu), and out of frustration since I cannot already find clothes that will fit me (gggrrr!), I decided to watch a movie even though I was alone. And so off to the ticket booth to purchase one ticket for License to Wed. To divert my negative feelings about watching alone, I just said to myself that this will be the first time and it will be fun and others are doing it anyway. And true enough, I enjoyed it! I did not feel awkward going out of the movie house alone. It seems that this will become a habit haha.

And so it is…

Plan A. The sign said so. Before it gets worse, it’s time to move. Now.

This is the day...

To wait for the sign and be firm with plan A if the sign says so. Plan B will of course be the opposite of plan A. It’s already time. Others have already done it. So now it’s my turn. When the sign comes, then so be it. Lord help!

Misbehaving Paylink

Ano ba naman tong nangyayari kay Paylink at ayaw gumana huhu! 8 minutes lang ang normal generation nito eh. Ngayon, anong oras na??? Di pa rin tapos! Naka-ilang ulit na kami ayaw pa rin. Bakit??? Ayaw kaming pauwiin! Antok na antok na ako! Di ko nagawa yung mga dapat kong gawin this shift. Kung di ito gumana, di sasahod lahat! So san ka pa sa impact di ba?! Hay sana gumana na to at nang makauwi na ako.

Rainbow Portal not so bright

Rainbow has been giving me a headache since yesterday. I can’t build the solution. I don’t know where to start building it. It’s just so big that you may be lost when tracing the application. Yes, it’s a challenge but it’s not a fun challenge. Besides, based on Google searches, there is already a newer version which I think is far more improved than what we are currently using. There are just so many bugs and it’s so hard to configure. So, good luck again for today. I hope I can make it work this time just the same.

Missing the books and other hobbies

For months now, I haven’t finished reading any books yet. Waaahh. And I still have plenty of unread books. I don’t have any valid excuse for not reading. I hope to be back on the game soon. Napapalagpas ko na yung magagandang books na dapat basahin hehe.

Di na rin ako nakakapag-cross-stitch. Kasi naman laging pagod sa work. Tuloy, pag-uwi sa bahay pahinga na lang or tulog na. Wish ko lang matapos ko na yung nasimulan ko years ago pa hahaha. Yung gift ni tita di ko pa natatahi. Mag-iisang taon na yun, di ko pa rin nagagawa e maliit lang naman yun. Sus. Kay tamad ko talaga. Tsk tsk tsk…bad ‘to! So, do something about it, ok?!

Stuck in traffic

Yep, I’m so stuck in traffic at EDSA right now. I don't know what's causing it. All I see are trucks in front. How I wish there's another route the driver can take. But then how can that be when we are still at some flyover argh! Generally, I don't mind the traffic because I just let it pass by playing something in my PDA. But at times like tonight where I really need to be home coz I still need to do things for tomorrow, it's just so frustrating. This sucks!

Holidays are moved

I saw in the news last week that the law to move all holidays falling on non-Monday weekdays, with the exemption of immovable holidays, to Monday has been approved. This is to allow everyone to have a longer weekend, especially for those who have plans of traveling. Several reactions were received. Some are in favor because it would mean lesser cost for them. What’s important is the essence of what we do to celebrate the holoidays. Others however don't agree because to them, the essence of the holiday is already lost when celebrated on another day.

My stand? I can't say yet. At a glance, it's good because you get to have longer weekends. but based on my personal experience, I’m not yet used to going to work on a day that I know is a holiday (even if I know for a fact that it has just been moved to another day). Maybe because for years now, holidays have been celebrated on the holiday dates and not on another day and I am not used to the movements.

It has its pros and cons. Maybe we should just give it a try.

Introducing Sayote in the corporate world

We are to attend a presentation skills workshop later this week and one requirement is to prepare a ten minute presentation of any topic. The first topic that came to mind was about planting and harvesting sayote. The next topic was about Igorot culture. But since the later is a broad topic, aside from it being more complicated and lack of experience on my part, I just decided to go with sayote. So to add spice to my presentation, I took some actual pictures at home hehe. (di ko naman to kinakarir) I guess it's a good choice since it's easier and it's what my family is doing until now so it's easier for me to discuss. Will my co-trainees appreciate it? We'll see. But whether they will be bored or not, that will be my final topic hehe.

Short break

I am on my way back o Manila right now. I took a two day leave from work and went home last Saturday. I had no set agenda and since I’ll be arriving in town at noon, I just asked my sister to meet me in town. We had a quick trip to the ukay shops and a little grocery then headed straight home. The rest of the days, I was a bum hehe. And until now, I’m not yet conditioned to go back to work huhu. This is bad.

Jo & Gil, Sana masaya kayo sa naging desisyon nyo :)

Yesterday was Jo and Gil's last day in Sykes huhu. So as a tribute to them, we prepared something for their despidida. We created a video presentation and a scrapbook which contains our messages and some printed pictures. We also treated them to a sumptuous dinner last night. We ordered food from Kowloon. We chose a package with the following: soup, pork mandarin, lumpiang shanghai, chiken, pancit canton, and yang chow rice. We also ordered siomai from Goldilocks, bought some ice cream from The Ice Cream House, and cake from Red Ribbon. Since we didn't like the conventional messages when someone leaves, our cake message read "Jo & Gil, Sana masaya kayo sa naging desisyon nyo. Luv u! IS APAC" hehe.

After office hours, ICOF girls minus Fides went to Promenade Starbucks for coffee. I'm glad that Jonathan allowed Jo to go home late. It was just a short time to catch up with each other' lives and jut spend time with one another. When it was time for Jo to go home, we all decided to accompany her home so we can still continue our bonding in the car. With Jo having a family now, any rare bonding moments with her is precious and we have to make the most of it.