| Monday, January 24, 2005 |
| Don't you hate it |
… when you spend a lot for a monthly dermatologist checkup, buy expensive products for your face, spending time putting all of these even if you’re very tired at night and wanting to sleep… and then a woman with her unclipped hair sits beside you in the jeep and have her locks hit your face (with all the dirty microorganisms that causes pimples) that sometimes you wanted to just grab and pull it?
…when you’re in such a hurry that you take the train, a stupid person who doesn’t know how to use the train ticket is in front of you? Or when your trying to get inside the train, another person is keeping you from entering because he/she decided to take the next train, thus blocking the door?
…when you need cash so bad and walked very far to your bank’s ATM dispenser so that you don’t have to pay the service charge..only to found out that the ATM dispenser has no cash?
…when you splurge on haircut, hot oil, protein treatment and all these products that are supposed to make your locks healthy, and then you’ve got split ends?
…when after a very hectic and stressful day you call a friend to say hi, and your friend emphasizes you she’s busy as well, not appreciating your effort?
…when you’re pressured and swamped with work and a person interrupts you to ask a stupid question?
..when you work so hard to accomplish something and sacrifice the time that you’re supposed to spend with yourself or your family, and you did not get an appreciation for doing that?
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What doesn’t kill you makes you more cynical.
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posted by subhuman @ 3:56 PM  |
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| Status Report |
After a whole week of creating status report at work, I decided to make one for myself...
I wasn't able to complete my resume due to my hectic schedule.
My 2 closest friends from my onshore assignment are leaving for Singapore soon.
The project that I'm working on is slowly turning into a nightmare.
I can't facilitate a meeting on the phone. I can't take a training for that because I'm still a developer/programmer by title and this training is for team leads. I find it very odd because I am expected to perform that role in near future.
OLATS talaga...
By the way, my boss finally spoke to me about his plans for me in the next 6 months which made me think if I should pursue the Singapore plan anytime soon. |
| posted by subhuman @ 3:09 AM |
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| Wednesday, January 19, 2005 |
| Break! |
| I noticed that my past posts in this space are serious in nature. I admit that I'm really not good in writing in english and I'm really having a hard time writing. I've decided that my next few posts will be written in Filipino (with some english na rin..o hayan nagsisimula na ako) |
| posted by subhuman @ 10:45 AM |
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| Monday, January 17, 2005 |
| Dilemma |
I’ve been toxic with my work for the past week that I wasn’t able to update this space. The previous week made me think a lot about my career due to a series of events.
Last Tuesday, I had a dinner with my team leads from my team. It was a casual dinner and the one of the things that we chatted is about the direction of our respective careers in the next six months. One of my team leads had her roll off postponed to November because the upper management refused to grant it (even if our project lead thinks that our team can survive without her). I found out that she was the last to get promoted to senior team lead in her batch even if she was the first one to perform the team lead role among her batch mates. I found out that in order to secure a promotion in the project, one must have an influential ‘backer’ to convince all the managers that a promotion is needed.
How does it affect me? I’m one of the unlucky employees that was not included in the list of promotees last year. I was really frustrated because I believe that I deserve it. In fact, during my stay in Phoenix, I was able to support our application alone. Promoted or not, I am expected to perform the tasks in the project for the next level. And I don’t think its fair for me to receive the same level of compensation when I am expected to do a more difficult task. Given what happened to me last year, I’ve decided that I would leave the company once I reached my third year in the project. There are 2 things that would keep me from doing that: when I get promoted this year and when I become one of the application specialist.
Back to our dinner, I realized that even if I get what I want this year, I will still have to struggle with the promotion. What happened to me next year might occur again in the next few years. One more thing, if my team lead is not allowed to leave our team as an application specialist, there’s no way that we can step up.
On Thursday, my project lead about his plans for our team during our meeting. He mentioned that more team members will add up this year and he’s still thinking if he would get another senior programmer to become one of our team leads or he would get one among the remaining senior members.
On Friday, one of my batch mates (from my start group) got back in the office after six months of working onshore. I learned that he will become one of our team leads. I’m not surprised with this since he told me while he’s still on his onshore assignment, our manager had a loyalty check with him. It’s not a big deal to me if he becomes the team lead first even if I stayed in the team longer.
My friend who used to be in our team advised me that I need to perform well on my tasks and let the right people know that I’m no longer happy. In this case, they will start to notice me and give me what I want.
Last Friday night, a friend informed me that her employer will go in Manila to conduct a recruitment for IT professionals to work in Singapore and Kuala Lumpur. I’m starting to create my resume, keeping my options open. |
| posted by subhuman @ 2:24 PM |
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| Monday, January 10, 2005 |
| Outcast |
I miss being a student. Gone were the days when all I have to worry about are my grades and what it takes to pass my subjects to move to the next level. Once I pass, I can take the next subject and move on with my life. I also miss those days where I can make a fun of myself without worrying if I’m not a good model to the younger ones. Most of all, I miss the friendship with the people who has been my companion as I struggle my way to get my diploma.
Living in a corporate world has been a harsh thing for me. First of all, I have to struggle with meeting the deadlines, pleasing my superiors and exposing myself just to make it to the next list of promotees. I thought that my effort to do what my boss asked me to do and staying at the office late just to deliver the products on time are enough to guarantee me a promotion. I was wrong. It was not as simple as that.
I got exposed to different types of people with different values and opinions. When I first joined our company, I was really quiet. My start group are nice people, but its just that I’m not comfortable being around them. They thought that I’m a quiet type of person which is totally the opposite of who I am. When I got rolled-in to our project, my teammates are cliquish. It’s really hard for me to get along with them because its seems that there’s no room for me. My team mates thought that I’m a shy and meek person who doesn’t get angry but I’m an outcast who can’t express herself.
I got so depressed and frustrated with this reality that I pushed myself to work. I would always text my old friends, wishing that at least it could bring back the fun that I had when I was in school. But I’m now living in a whole new world and it’s not the same as before. I taught myself to move on and learned to do things alone. It may sound pathetic but I think it’s a good thing to become independent.
When I was sent abroad for an onshore assignment, I became close to the people I never thought I would have since I graduated. We were like a big family. And when I got back, I have maintained my relationship with some of them but not all of them. Anyway, this experience helped me to become expressive to my colleagues.
Now, I eat lunch with my team mates. I may not know what’s going on with their personal lives but at least I’m not the quiet person anymore. At least, I can chat with them and I’m not the shy and meek person that they used to know.
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| posted by subhuman @ 2:54 PM |
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| Weight Loss Challenge |
Last week, I got back to the gym and was horrified to found my current weight. That prompted me to ask Celia, a friend from high school who is also overweight, to start with a support-based weight loss program.
We met yesterday at Wendy's to discuss our goals and how we fee about our weight. We also talked about how our life would change if we lost most of our weight. We've put a pot to serve as a reward to any significant changes. Our first activity for the first 2 weeks is to list down all the food that we eat normally and the physical activities that we do. On our first week, there's no limitation on what w can eat and what we can do. On the second week, we will eliminate all the food that we think we can live without and add more physical activities.
I hope that this venture would become successful and hopefully, I could reach my goal of losing 50 pounds by the end of the year. God help me. |
| posted by subhuman @ 7:53 AM |
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| Sunday, January 09, 2005 |
| Nostalgia |
Marilyn and Mark, my office mates, are stuffing their bags as they are leaving to the US and stay there for the next six months. I was chatting with Marilyn a few days ago about some tips on the things that should she bring, how to book her flight, and with the lifestyle that a PST (Phoenix Support Team) must do.
It’s been almost a year ago when I left to US for an onshore assignment for six months. I am working in a multinational IT company for the past 2 years and I was sent to support the application that I’ve been involved with in Phoenix, AZ. Every six month, a group of people from Manila is sent there to support the application that we belong to.
My onshore experience has been a turning point in my life and my career. It was my first time to ride an airplane and to travel outside the Philippines. It was big thrill because I was alone and I had to endure a 16-hour flight. For someone who’s traveling experience includes a 12 hour bus ride to visit my relatives in the province, it was not bad.
Living in the US tested my endurance. In our home, I’m not really involved with the household chores (a big shame for someone who’s 22 and who once lived in a dormitory in college). I depend on our house maid all the time. She’s also the one who packed my clothes that I brought for the trip (now I’m totally embarrassed). Since I don’t have someone to do the domestic work, I learned how to do my own laundry - with a washing machine (not bad for someone who haven’t washed her clothes yet); studied cooking and being creative with the ingredients; learned driving and how to read a map; and organizing my clothes and things. At first, I was ironing my clothes every week. But since it was not a big deal for the Americans not to do that, I skipped that chore and got away with it.
In Manila, my colleagues and I believed that an onshore assignment is one long team building activity. I couldn’t agree any less. These are the activities that we would usually do on weekend:
1) Shopping. There are 2 outlet malls that we usually go to when shopping in AZ: the Arizona Mills in Tempe and the Anthem outlet in Anthem Way. We would shop for clothes (Old Navy and GAP are my favorites), shoes, gadgets, accessories and toiletries. If we’re not on the shopping mood, you could still find us at the mall near our place (Desert Ridge and Paradise Valley Mall) and look for nice bargains (Read: SALE) where we could spend are next allowance with. We really love to shop in the outlet stores because its cheaper compared to the Philippines. The good deals that I bought includes an HP desktop computer, which I got for US$326 (normally, an HP desktop costs around $700 in Manila); a GAP bag that costs less than $5 (sold in Manila for $26) and some Victoria Secret body spray for $4 each (has a retail price of $11 in Manila).
2) Hang out. After a day of shopping or mall hopping, we would buy some drinks and cook any dish. We then would either watch a movie or play some games (our favorite: TABOO). When we get drunk, a couple of us would do silly poses on the camera (blackmail materials)
3) Dining. The onshore people would usually dine on Friday nights, Sunday lunch after hearing the mass or if someone has a birthday or leaving. Our favorite dining places in Phoenix:
a) Dirty Drummer - best known for its grilled chicken wings and has 3 variances: teriyaki, BBQ and hot & spicy. It is usually served with carrots, celery sticks and ranch dip. The chicken wings are sooo good, that the guys would choose their wings over Hooters‘. This place is known as our “last supper” venue because every time one of us leaves (to go back to Manila), we would always eat here. I’d like to thank Kirk for introducing this food.
b) Cheesecake Factory - a fancy restaurant that does not only serve different kinds of cheesecake but also sells main dishes. Hazel (my room mate) and I usually dines here on a Friday evening.
c) PF Changs - a fancy Chinese restaurant. Our favorites include lettuce wrap and spicy chicken with an eggplant.
d) Fire & Ice - this restaurant serves a bowl of Mongolian food and unlimited salad and rice for $8.50 which is the best deal for quantity and price.
4) Out of town trips. Here are the places that we’ve visited during our stay:
a) Grand Canyon, Sedona and Flagstaff, AZ (winter)- Living in a tropical atmosphere got us very excited with snow. We planned to try skiing and creating a snow angel/snow man. Since we have no idea how cold it is to be on the snow, these plans did not happen. We ended up getting frostbites instead
b) San Francisco, CA - our first out-of-state trip. We were crazy enough to travel 12 hours via car. But I used to travel that long so it’s not a big deal. Since it’s a weekend trip, we only spent one day for sight seeing.
c) Orlando, FL - the happiest place on earth. Our theme park galore includes Walt Disney’s Magic Kindgom, EPCOT and Universal Studios’ Island of Adventure. On our last day, we went to the Daytona Beach and Downtown Disney.
d) Grand Canyon, Sedona and Flagstaff, AZ (summer) - we planned to watch the sunrise at Grand Canyon but Hazel and I showed up an hour late. Good thing we’re there to see the sunrise and its breathtaking. Thanks to the skilled drivers and the luck that we didn’t get a speeding ticket.
e) Las Vegas - we got a clean, wholesome entertainment while we’re there (isn’t it ironic?). We planned on having a separate guys night out and girls night out but we got very tired visiting the hotels and ended up sleeping.
f) San Diego - There are 12 of us who went there and we used 3 cars. We had a lot of bloopers along the way and every one got lost except for the team who got the car with the never-lost system.
The most important thing that happened to me during these experience is gaining a lot of friends who served as my family for the past 6 months. These people are Hazel O, Hazel A, Issa, Marge, Candy, Vench, Iks and Jansen.
Every time a new batch leaves to the US, I get excited for them. Although the onshore life seems too good to be true, at least we had a chance to know what its like to live in that kind of world… away from bills, financial obligations and the harsh reality of life here in Manila.
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| posted by subhuman @ 3:23 PM |
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| Sunday, January 02, 2005 |
| Thanks 2004 |
I was supposed to write this message yestersday but our phone has no dial tone so I'm a day delayed. Its not too late so I'm gonna write it anyway. Before I say goodbye to 2004, I would like to thank (sniff!) for having a good year.
First of all, I had an opportunity to travel and go to different places I never thought I would visit. I also had a chance to know what its like to be independent. I learned how to cook (cooking in my case is like shooting a ball in the ring), do some household chores and drive. I had a more mature outlook in my career and became more responsible. Most of all, I gained new friends that I never thought I would have since I graduated in college.
I learned in 2004 and what happened to me in the previous year definitely made me a more mature, optimistic and responsible individual. i learned to appreciate all the simple things. I'm looking forward to the year 2005 and I hope that as it will be as good as 2004.
HAPPY NEW YEAR!!! |
| posted by subhuman @ 10:12 AM |
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| About Me |
passionate about music; an aspiring teacher; a frustrated mathematician; an explorer |
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