One City at a Time

I consider myself lucky that I've been able to travel the country on the company's dime. Although I haven't been able to enjoy my stay in a particular place to the fullest, I'm not complaining - I get to sightsee after the job is done. Since starting my job, I've been sent to Cabanatuan City (twice), Davao City, Legazpi City, Zamboanga City (twice), San Fernando City (Pampanga and La Union), Dagupan City (twice), Cebu City, and Bacolod City (twice). During my travels, I've realized two things. One, I don't like travelling with my laptop. I have that tendency to just stay in, especially if the hotel has free WiFi. Two, I like travelling with companions just fine, but sometimes I prefer travelling alone - more freedom to choose where to go to, and how long to stay there.

----------

I've been playing this augmented-reality MMO game for months, and I estimate that I'm a few weeks before maxing out my levels. Which is perfect, actually - with the nature of my job, I get to travel AND establish my presence on the game, one city at a time. #ingress

----------

I am way behind on my bucket list. Since the first thing one should accomplish on one's bucket list is to actually sit down and add entries on one's list (which I've never had the inclination to do so before), therefore I am behind. But if I were to add items to my bucket list right now, then my first entry would be to travel the world, one city at a time.

Ranting for the nth Time

Here I am, supposedly on my 3-day vacation, yet I find myself working on the email updates that my teammates are sending me. Understandable for 2 of them since I left what they're running as incomplete, but as for the other one, I did 5 day's worth of input and all she had to do was update everything. WL P DXPTT ABSN XL DILLYENNW NSNZJXAPYQ? QLND XL DALG GABX HPYW LE GLZHNZ DAN PD. RLUITBPY EPZDX, GLZH TBXNZ.

UVDX KN ZNBT ABYWJ XL ABSN XAN KLDD BD JLVZ KNDX EZPNYW...

Exiting Gracefully

Here comes that feeling once again. I'm no longer satisfied with what I'm doing once again. No, scratch that - I find that I am resenting the fact that my workload is encroaching my personal life once again. It's not just the occasional sacrifices (it's a Philippine holiday, but it's business as usual in the other side of the world, and since my work is kept in sync with the other side of the world, then I have no choice but to report for work). There are a lot more reasons, but suffice to say that I no longer feel security in my line of work.

Time to break out that letter once again...

Back to Work

As it states above, I'm gainfully employed once more. No more bum days. No more late-night-DVD marathons (at least, not on work nights). No more slacking. Limited time for blogging - but then again, I haven't been blogging for quite a while. At the very least, I'll be paid for rendering overtime (finally! A job with OT benefits - no more OT-Y). And hopefully, I'll be able to focus better on my five-year plan this way.

WTF?!

I have quite a messy work environment. All I see is paper, paper, and more paper. Add a few boxes of - what else? - paper. Plus, when all the printers are being used, one would have to shout just to be heard above the cacophony of the old dot matrix printers. Nevertheless, I find it easier to work in that environment. I've read an article somewhere that a messy work environment acts as a natural reminder. Somehow I see the logic of that. For example, if you file every bit of paper neatly, more often than not it would go the way of the file-and-forget stuff. But if you just pile every scrap of paper somewhere on your desk (or on the floor surrounding your desk for that matter), while searching, you might come across something that you meant to take action on but for reasons unknown, you completely forgot about it. Plus, if you constantly keep your workplace neat and tidy, it means you spend too much time cleaning up than working. Of course, that doesn't mean that you have to be a slob, though.

My computer area at home is messy. Yup, I know. It doesn't fit in with the overall neatness of home. Still, I prefer to have my area that way. I don't want anybody cleaning up there, 'cause what happens is that, 99% of the time when somebody else cleans up, a lot of stuff goes missing. Program CDs, important scraps of paper, data cables - that sort of thing goes missing. Which is why I almost always get worked up trying to find them, especially when I need to use them, or need to get information out of them. I'd publish a photo of my computer area, but it's too messy for human eyes. Hehe.

I don't get to celebrate the long Holy Week vacation. I have to work until Good Friday morning. Sigh. I might not be able to purchase other stuff I need, since most of my sal- er, allowance - would be allocated for transportation. Another sigh.

Summer na!

Escape

It's been a while since I last posted. I haven't even had time to do my birthday post, but enough about my birthday. I never advertised my birthday to my new co-workers, so there. :P

Anyway, I've been thinking of doing lots of stuff I've never done before. The only hindrances that I could foresee would be funding and availability. Although right now funding is not a problem, since I'm getting paid quite a bit for my work. It's not as much compared to other people, but considering what I used to make from my last work, the sum is quite sizeable. So therefore my real problem would be availability.

So many hobbies to pursue, so little time. Damn. Such is the way of life. When will I escape this rat race?

It's Almost Official...

...My bum days are almost over once more. I've got about a week left before I start work. This will be the third company that I will be working for (if you include my OJT stint in college). Why almost? I haven't signed anything yet, so I still don't have anything concrete so far. If all goes well, maybe I could even get a chance to be assigned overseas. I'll just have to do my very best for this to happen.

In the meantime, if I do get in, some of my very-very-short-term-goals are:
* Buy belated Christmas presents for people to whom I've promised presents
* Treat my family to dinner (or lunch, whichever applies)
* Buy a new phone for myself - I've been eyeing the Nokia N93 phone, but I saw it would be too expensive for me, so I'm thinking of choosing either a Nokia N80, a MotoRazr, or a Dopod International P800W (if I could find one here in the country)
* Get a PS2 (still a questionable goal, as I don't think I would have time to play games often)
* Treat myself to a full service spa - aromatherapy, shiatsu, complimentary free iced tea, the works

"If your phone is too basic, too old, and too, well, crap (like mine), it's time to upgrade!" - Oli Pettigrew on Animax Asia's TechnoMax

Long Weekend

With the Thanksgiving season just these past few days, we had a long weekend to, err, relax. How? We went to Batangas for an overnight teambuilding (translated: magdamagang inuman sessions). It's really funny how it all came to be. Right after our shift ended on Thursday morning, our TL called a post-shift meeting to decide on how we were going to spend the long weekend (and the prize money that both our teams collected last Tuesday). It was then decided to have a beach outing, as Sir Matti's team were going to spend their weekend in Galera (of course, they've been preparing for this for weeks now). So, the venue was decided, and the final destination: Matabungkay in Batangas.

I don't think I'll relate the finer points of our stay in Batangas. Suffice to say that some had a good time, others more so than the rest. Moral lessons learned during our overnight stay:

(1) Never drink more alcohol than you can handle.
(2) Be careful with your stuff.
(3) When going swimming near coral reefs or the like, make sure you have aqua socks or slippers at the very least.
(4) Never fart in a vehicle, especially after a long night with Granma (translated as Gran Matador Brandy).
(5) Above all, after all has been said and done, mas masarap pa rin jumebs sa sariling palikuran sa sariling bahay.

Epiphany

I just had an epiphany.

I was just sitting in our office pantry just a few hours back, thinking about my work options, when suddenly it hit me. Ang trabaho, parang relasyon 'yan. Kapag masaya ka sa relationship, magtatagal kayo. Ganyan din sa trabaho. Kung masaya ka sa ginagawa mo, kahit ano pa ang trabaho mo, matatagalan mo yan.

Now what made me realize this? I guess, hindi na ako ganoon kasaya sa trabaho.

Insomnia Zombie

Staying awake for more than 24 hours has quite an interesting effect on me. How should I know? I've been awake from Monday morning at 7am til Tuesday at around 11am or 12nn. I know, it's my fault, that I should have slept before going to work, but what the hell. It made for an interesting day.

What happened? I woke up on onday at 7am, and it was a pretty normal Monday morning for me. Staying at home, Internet, etc. I was supposed to be sleeping from 3pm til 11pm for before going to work. But fate conspired not to let me sleep. First of all, it was the 10th of October, and I promised to meet with my college friends for dinner in Makati (it's a tradition that they started in college) at 8pm. So, sleeping til 11 was no longer an option. Second, I had a hard time sleeping. I was still wide awake at 5pm. I set my alarm for 6:30 so that I'd have enough time to prepare, but no go. I was still trying to sleep when the alarm went off. So there.

I met with my classmates (some of whom I haven't seen since March) at 8pm in Friday's Glorietta. Dinner til 10:30, and then a lot of goofing off and picture taking (no, I don't have the pictures, and I'll post in greater detail when I get copies of the pictures). No chance to ride the MRT, as it was already closed when we got out of the mall, so we opted for a northbound bus instead. On the way, it started raining, so I had to ride a tricycle from EDSA to Sct. Borromeo, as I had accompanied Jonathan to his apartment (and I had limited options as my money had just about run out). So, from Borromeo, I walked in the rain to Timog Ave. Not only was I sleepy, I got wet on the way to work.

When I got to the office, it was downtime. "Yes, I can finally get some sleep," I thought to myself. But no go. Our team leader insisted on doing a lot of stuff during the downtime. End result? I ended up trying to annoy everybody, but in a funny and naughty way. My besugo (translated as best friend) Happy even said that she'd never seen me so naughty. I was slapping her butt, mentioning a lot of sexual innuendoes, and generally just being naughty. And all this continued up until our shift ended. Imagine, me being as naughty as I was, and all because of lack of sleep. Maybe I should try this again (hehehe) but not anytime soon. :P

~~~~~~~



Here's my picture taken on October 1 for Da Crew's planned support activity for RockEd. Just felt like sharing. :P

Questioning

Is my current job the right one for me? Lately I've been having a hard time going to sleep in the afternoon and waking up in the evening. What usually happens is me trying to sleep at noontime, but eventually drifting off to sleep four or five hours later. And the hardest part is trying to sleep from 7-10pm, while telenovelas blare from the TV in our room while my mom and sis watch.

Yesterday there's been a flurry of movement in the center, because of the current reassignment of positions (and not to mention the downtime we had during the first few hours). I asked my supervisor about the possibility of a reassignment, but no go. I'll just have to try to stay alive in operations.

Can't wait for March next year... Maybe then I'll be able to find my true career calling.

Updates

Blogger's Note: At last I've been able to update my blog (that should be all right with you, Gaget)...

It's 3:45 am right now, and we're not doing anything as of the moment. We're supposed to make calls (in short, work), but systems are currently down as of the moment. So as I sit here doing nothing, I can hear my officemates either snoring away or crowding around our team leader's desk as they try to guess every word in Text Twist. Just goes to show what people would do out of boredom. And speaking of boredom, I'm bored... Sigh.

I'll be planning to update this blog weekly, or (if I can manage it) a few times a week. Or whatever, whenever I can manage it.

Humdrum

Monday morning: wake up, have breakfast, watch a little TV
a little later: grab lunch, then watch more TV, then sleep for 8 hours
Monday evening: wake up, eat dinner, take a shower, get dressed
Monday midnight - Tuesday morning: "I need to speak to the person that's in charge..." ad infinitum
*Repeat until Saturday morning
Saturday noon: grab a bite to eat, then sleep for 8 hours
Saturday evening: wake up, eat dinner, shower, get dressed, go to (insert gimmick place here)
Sunday, 2 or 3am: go home and sleep for 5 or 6 hours
Sunday morning: wake up, eat breakfast, shower, get dressed, leave for mass
Sunday noon: go to (insert restaurant name here), eat lunch
Sunday afternoon: wander around
Sunday early evening: watch a little TV, sleep for 8 hours
**start all over again

I guess this is why most of my friends have been telling me (when I was still a student) that nothing beats going to school. I used to be disbelieving, until I experienced it firsthand.

I guess this is what it means to grow older. Even if you try to deny it, a sense of routine will always overcome you. But it doesn't mean that you have to live with routine all your life.

Thought of the day: Be spontaneous.

Yatta yatta yatta.

Heard During Office Hours...

Person 1: "Asan na yung kape ko?"
Person 2: "Kinuha ni _____..."
Person 1: "Mga magnanakaw..."
~~~~~
Person 3: "Nakailang benta ka kanina habang kasabay ka namin sa inbound?"
Person 4: "Naka-apat akong benta..."
Person 3: "Lahat galing sa amin?"
Person 4: "Yup..."
Person 3: "Magnanakaw ka... Layas!!!"
~~~~~

It's quite funny, once you hear these things being shouted almost at the top of their voices, especially the term magnanakaw. I dunno, but maybe it's just another form of camaraderie. It's kinda hard to describe only using the written words, since you can't even begin to describe the flavor of these exchanges, but it's funny, especially if you get to hear them in person. =)

Yatta Yatta Yatta

I got my first paycheck last Saturday. Technically, it wasn't a real salary as of the moment, since it was, as they said, a "training" allowance, but still, it feels good to finally be earning money on your own. I've been in training for two weeks, and I've only gotten my allowance for the first week, but they said that we'd be able to get the allowance for the second week sometime this week.

I'm getting kinda used to the work schedule by now, but my only problem is surviving the weekends. I could make do by going on nightouts on Saturdays, but then again, Sundays would be another problem. Just like what happened last night and this morning. I went out with my workmates on Saturday night, just to celebrate payday. We ended up drinking up to around 2:30 am, and then went cruising for still-open billiard halls. End of story: I went home around 3:30 am, fell asleep at 4:00 am, woke up at 6:00 am, went to church with the family at 10:00 am, had lunch at 11:30 am, went shopping from 1:00 pm to 3:30 pm. Tiring.