Going going, gone

Today, I just learned that another colleague is resigning. I’m a bit sad but I cannot also prevent him from going. It was his plan a year ago. He was open about it. He told me about it. It was just so sudden for me. I did not realize that it’s already close to one year when he was first hired. For me, he will be a loss since he has potential. He quickly grasps things and he’s a good listener, willing to learn new things both from colleagues and on his own. Sayang lang talaga. Anyway, he’s already decided about it. He has two offers, one from the former office of a friend and former colleague, and another from a telecom company. I’ll just wish him good luck and God bless.

Another friend and colleague already tendered her resignation. Waaah! She really surprised us, her friends with that. She just told me the day she was planning to submit her resignation letter huhu. She said it’s already time for her to move on since she’s with the company for more than 5 years now. The management gave her a counter offer but she declined because the offer in the other company is more favorable to her considering that she already has a family. Oh well, there’s nothing we can do about it except to pray and wish for her success in her new work.

How to have your quiet time

Last night, the radio of the cab I rode was in a station where a pastor was answering listeners’ questions. One of the listeners asked this particular question: how can I have my quiet time?

Here’s the pastor’s interesting answer.

Quiet time is the time we spend communicating with God. It is our personal time with Him. To have it, effort is needed. Below are the suggested steps.

1. Wake up at least 30 minutes before your usual wake up time. For instance, if your usual day starts at 5:30 AM, wake up at 5 AM. With this, you are allotting a specific time of the day as your quiet time.
2. Choose your own Gethsemane. Gethsemane is the garden outside of Jerusalem where Jesus was arrested, or a place of spiritual or mental suffering. What the pastor is trying to say is that you should look for a place where you will do your quiet time. Get out of your bed so that you won’t be tempted to go back to sleep. You should have a conducive place for your quiet time.
3. Get ready with your materials. Have a devotional notebook. Start with books with simple scripture readings and explanations like Our Daily Bread.

There you go.

Another interesting thing that the pastor shared was that if we read 3 chapters of the bible daily on weekdays and 5 chapters on weekends, then we can finish reading it in 1 year. Whoa! I’m not just sure if this is for the whole bible or just for the New Testament.

Wish a wish a wish

I wish I get to spend some time to do nothing but watch videos in YouTube. I have so many things that I want to watch. And I wish that during this time, WeRoam would behave so that I have a speedy connection. Hayz!

The Magic Link hihi

I was waiting for Youtube to load a segment of Korean series’ Something About 1% when I decided to Google a name of someone :p. To my pleasant surprise, there’s a thread about him that was started way way back. Sa dati pa nyang job yun, di pa kami magkakilala non. And wala pa ako sa company where we met. Haha. La lang. Nakakatwa lang yung mga comments tungkol sa kanya. Medyo marami rin naman akong nalaman bwahaha. Enough!

How much of the Philippines have I visited daw

I came across this site while I was browsing the net earlier today. Corny. Konti pa lang napupuntahan ko hehe..

My Lakbayan grade is D!

How much of the Philippines have you visited? Find out at Lakbayan!

Created by Eugene Villar.

Updates muna

Maiba naman. Kwento lang kung ano na nangyayari.

Sa work, TAMS pa rin. Walang katapusan. Matagal pa bago matatapos. Malaki ang scope, maraming requirements, marami ring until now di pa malinaw kung paano gagawin dahil sa dependencies. Gumawa kami ng list of activities and schedule pero 100% na mababago ang mga priorities right after ng meeting ng IS and HR sa Corp. Hintay pa kami ng meeting with PMO to know the next steps. As of now, tuloy lang kami sa ginagawa namin. By next week, kailangan namin magpresent sa Corp architect. By that time, use case and activity diagrams pa lang nagagawa namin. Di kaya ang class diagram. Matagal gawin yun and dapat pulido. Anyway, at least nasabi namin sa PMO na di pa kami aabot sa ganong output by next week. They have to make do with what we have. Si Corp architect na lang kaya kasi pagawin namin ng class diagram? Hehe! Malay lang natin pumayag!

Sa work pa rin pero sa mga tao naman. Ok naman yung iba. Meron lang talagang ibang sablay pa rin. Actually wala naman akong problema sa kung anuman pag-uugali nila basta magaling sila sa work. Kaso ewan ko ba sa isang to. Di ko maintindihan. Most of the time, magkaibang lupalop ng mundo kami. Di nagtutugma sa mga tinutukoy. Same document lang naman yung binabasa namin. A basta hindi ako yun ah hihi. Tapos the tone! Puleeezzz! Wag naman sana ganon. Minsan unprofessional kasi ang dating. Buti na lang libre ang kumontra. Minsan sa frustration ko, natataasan ko na rin sya ng boses hehe. Kasi naman no! Arrgg!

At isa pang work related na kwento! May mga tao na nga akong kailangang ihandle. Right now, 3 pa lang pero magiging 5 pag complete na yung headcount for the TAMS project. Gusto ko na sila imeet to set expectations and to get to know them better naks! Pero seryoso yan no. Tingin ko kasi dapat naman talaga. Pero kailangan mag-usap muna with the other SSE para sa plans for the team. Di ko pa nagagawa yung list ko about what to plan for. Pero syempre meron nang ilang ideas.

O sya, yan na muna sa work. Ayaw ko na ikwento yung iba. Walang kwenta, nakakabadtrip lang and not worth the space in my cyberspace! :p

Non-work naman. Dati sinusubaybayan ko ang PBB 2. Kaso dumating yung point na boycott ako kasi naman parang scripted na and di talaga maganda yung mga pinapakita. Nakaka-high blood and wala talagang kwenta. Pero since patapos na rin naman, pagtyatyagaan ko na lang. Bet ko si Mickey. Smart sya and sya pinaka-levelheadede among the boys. The rest walang kwenta, parang di mga lalakki. Enough said, not worth it hehe. Gusto ko rin si Gee-Ann. Smart din, may class and taga-AC rin kasi :). Malapit sa puso ko ang mga taga-Assumption, kahit pa saang campus yan. Higit sa lahat, she has a good heart! Next would be Bea. Quiet lang pero pag nagsalita, may laman ang mga sinasabi and talagang pinag-iisipan. Silang 3 lang gusto ko. Pero gusto ko nang matapos tong season na to! Hayzzz!

At iba pa! Corny ang WeRoam. Connected at 3.6 Mbps daw pero di naman ako nakakabrowse ng matagal! Gggrrr! Bad trip talaga. Frustrating itu! Kailangan pa magdisconnect-connect. Anong drama naman to! Hmp!

It’s the time of the year

Time of the year na nga uli talaga. May sakit na naman ako. Sabay-sabay na ubo’t sipon at malamang magkaka-fever pa ako. Mukhang nakuha ko ang virus sa office. Dami na rin kasi nagkakasakit sa office. Pero ako, expected ko na to haha. Kumbaga, scheduled sickness na to. For the past 3 years kasi, tuwing mid-year, natotodo talaga sakit ko. Ung tipong kailangan ko na mag-SL kasi di na talaga kaya or kahit kaya, mahirap naman magconcentrate sa work. Sana lang gumaling ako agad. Pumunta na ako sa clinic kanina. Binigyan na rin ako ng gamot. Tapos after 5 days daw, balik ako para sa reseta ng antibiotic. Ano na nga ba ito? Hehe! Sa tagal na di ako umiinom ng gamot, di ko na alam. Di naman kasi ako palainom pag di major na sakit. O sya, hintayin ko na lang na mawala to at til next year na lang uli hehe!

Sykes Paradiso

Sykes started invading Boardwalk, Subic last June 16, 2007 for its yearly Summer outing. Since we are already a big group (with almost 10, 000 employees in the Philippines), we had to go in 2 batches: First batch – SG&A (where our team is included) and Manila One; Second Batch – Manila Gold.

And so after so much anticipation and waiting, it was our turn last weekend. Our bus was scheduled to leave Manila at 9 AM and our meeting place is at KPT. The night before, I started preparing the things I’ll be bringing but not actually packing them. I had that set for the morning. But oh my! When I woke up, it was already 7:40! I had to rush packing my things, and getting ready to leave. Good thing, I was able to reach the office just in time. May mas late pa sa akin hehehe. Though I can easily arrange for a bus ride together with my friends, I opted to ride with my teammates. That will be bonding moments with them. So I was with my teammates until lunch. After that, I already joined my friends in our designated room. Too lazy to go out and explore the place, we just stayed in our room, watched TV and slept until dinnertime. How corny can that be? :p At around 7:30, we went to the Boardwalk for dinner and to catch up with the evening activities. Dinner was just ok. After dinner, it’s Parokya Ni Edgar’s time of performance. As always, they are very entertaining. I enjoyed every minute of their performance. Maka-masa talaga sila. And for the few times that they are performing in Sykes events, they are always promoting support for other local bands too! That’s so sweet of them!

After PNE, we were joined by hot and sexy Asia Agcaoili and handsome DJ Mo Twister. They served as the emcees for the night. There was a fashion show and some games, and of course dancing. We just watched a little of the fashion show and some games. By 10:30 PM, we went back to the hotel to watch PBB. :p Balik pa dapat kami after ng show pero nagkatamaran na so nood na lang uli then tulog na.

The following day, we woke up at around 9 AM so we had to get ready at the fastest possible time to catch up with breakfast. At 11 aM, we boarded the bus that left for Manila at 11:30 AM. Sa kamalasang palad, nag-overheat along NLEX ggrrr. So we had to get down for the bus to be fixed. Good thing though that another bus stopped by and some of us were able to transfer to the other bus. Unahan nga lang hehe. Takbo kami ni Anne, with Vine close by, diretso na sa loob, wala nang pakialam sa mga nag-uusap na bus drivers hehe. Bad thing that Emie and Dennis were not able to join us kasi ayaw na raw magpapasok ng conductor. Ano naman yun! May mga available seats pa naman ah! Hmp! We arrived in Manila at around 2:30 PM, just in time for Ocean’s 13 at Trinoma. Yun yun eh! Kaya atat makabalik hehe.

Anyway, this year’s outing arrangement is better than last year’s.

Yesterday and today, my teammates have been sending links to the outing’s pix and they had a lot of pictures and videos! At obvious na naglibot talaga sila! Nainggit ako haha! So next time na lalabas, gagala na talaga ako, of course with lots of Sony moments! :)

First Time

They say there’s always a first time for everything. And this one’s a first time for me. It was my first time to actually voice out that I hate my job. I was in a meeting the whole day for one project but there were also ISSUES that need to be addressed right away. I was pressured and wasn’t able to handle it well I guess. I didn’t know what to tackle first. I can’t just leave the meeting because it’s equally important. I was on the verge of losing my patience. Good thing I was able to control it still. And now I am having one of the severe headaches I’ve ever had. Hay!

Missed Opportunities

I think I’ve had some lately. But I guess it’s mainly because of my own doing. I did not grab the chance, or if I did, I was so slow and before I knew it, it’s all gone. Maybe it was not just meant to be. Or maybe the other opportunity is still better. But then again, there are the “what ifs”.

Oh well, I guess I just have to learn how to listen better to my inner self and to God. I know He has GRAND plans for me, to be given to me just in His perfect TIME.

Canonization of Mother Marie Euginie of Jesus

The other day, I watched from Bandila (nightly news program of Channel 2) that Mother Marie Euginie has already been canonized, together with 3 others. As per the news, the canonization was reinforced by the miraculous healing of Risa Bondoc of a serious ailment. The canonization took place at St. Peter’s Square in Rome last June 3, 2007.

More of Risa Bondoc’s story below.

Filipino girl’s cure supports cause for sainthood
By Josephine Darang
Inquirer
Last updated 00:13am (Mla time) 03/11/2007

MANILA, Philippines - The miraculous healing of Risa Bondoc of a serious ailment elevated the cause to sainthood of Blessed Marie Eugenie, founder of the Religious of the Assumption.

Blessed Marie will be canonized on June 3 at St. Peter’s Square in Rome.

Risa Bondoc, now 12 and a Grade IV student of Assumption College, will attend accompanied by her parents, Ditos and Menchu Bondoc, and her sisters, Ma. Regina Iguitan and Ma. Victoria Tabora.

When Risa, baptized Ma. Carmela Therese Eugenie, was 2 months old, she was brought to Dr. Manuel Hechanova, an eye doctor, because her mother noticed that she could not seem to focus. Risa was diagnosed with “nys stagmus,” a condition that affected muscles of the eyes. Dr. Manuel Delfin confirmed the finding.

At 6 months old, Risa was brought to Dr. Froilan Innocencio, a pediatric ophthalmologist. Tests showed weakness of the muscles of the eyes. This meant Risa would never be able to read fine print without very thick lenses. But Innocencio also said the problem might be coming from the brain.

Risa was brought to Dr. Myrna Fojas, a pediatric neurologist, who suggested magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of the brain. Dr. Benjamin Adapon of the Makati Medical Center read the results. His wife, Dr. Ofelia Adapon, told Menchu to pray for a miracle.
Tests found abnormalities in the brain’s structure. When Menchu heard the news, she and her family started to pray the novena for the canonization of Mother Marie Eugenie. She made Risa wear the medal and relic of MME.

After two days, Menchu went to Fojas who told her to pray because only a miracle could make Risa normal. The doctor warned of seizures and convulsions. But none of these things happened.
The baby was brought later to Houston Children’s Hospital in Boston upon the suggestion of Dr. Evangeline Poblete, pediatrician of Menchu’s eldest daughter.

Risa was a year and 3 months old when she was first brought to Houston. Three doctors examined her but it was Dr. Carlos Rivera, a neurologist, who first diagnosed her ailment as “septo optic dysphasia.”

From Houston, Menchu brought her daughter to the Mother House of the Religious of the Assumption in Paris. In the presence of the Mother General, Mother Cristina Marie, and nuns, Menchu laid Risa on top of the tomb of Blessed Marie Eugenie and commended the girl’s cure to her.

Menchu said a vigil light was always lit at the tomb for Risa’s cure. Mother Cristina also placed Risa’s photo at the altar of their founder. In the provincial house in Manila, Sister Vicenta put Risa’s picture below Blessed Marie Eugenie’s.

Today, Risa is a normal, active and cheerful 12-year-old, to her doctors’ amazement. They call it a miracle. Those who wish to go to Rome for the canonization can text Menchu at 0918-9100956.
(Source: http://showbizandstyle.inquirer.net/lifestyle/lifestyle/view_article.php?article_id=54054)

Mother Marie Euginie (Anne Euginie) is the foundress of the Religious of the Assumption, the group of nuns running my elementary alma mater. During our elementary days, we always celebrate her death anniversary every 10th of March. We usually have presentations about her life stories. Here’s a glimpse of her story: http://www.assumptionreligious.org/index.php?page=our-foundress