a day in Pila

It was Oct 12, a day before I am to fly to South Africa when I went in Pila farm to spend an entire day with my family. There really is a different atmosphere in remote areas like the farm. Once everybody stops talking, there are no other sounds that you can hear. You'll really feel that you are in a remote place. The fun part of it though is that you really get to explore other things/places that are not readily available in the city so there I am on my way to explore (hehe) and with me is my cousin Joel who is my companion in this exploration =D



It was really fun since i got to meet "Chivas" the terror of farm dogs and ruler of all farm animals!



"Wan wan" who is the queen of all farm bitches (sorry for the word but she really is a female dog)



"Beauty" the cow who responds only when you call her "Beauty" =D



and "Kabayan" the most friendly pig in the neighborhood



but what was most fun of all was the food that my aunt prepared. it was like fiesta with the tons of food she preared from Crispy Pata to Nilagang Kalabaw, fresh fruits, and some native Pila sweets. Unfortunately, I was too engrossed with the food to bother with taking pictures haha! But we really do look satisfied after eating don't we?

Journeys

Sunday, 6:35 am Phils time,2:35 am Dubai time. I am sitting here rigt now in Emirates Business Class Lounge in Dubai Airport as an "in-transit" passenger going to Johannesburg. A year ago, I wouldn't have thought that I'd be sitting here right now let alone be doing this twice in my 5 months stay in P&G.


I am really thankful for the experience and opportunity to travel. I can say I'm living my dream right now and I am savoring every moment =)

However, this day has been bittersweet for me. My father is an OFW and it used to be me who always brings him to the airport and say goodbye. But today, it was his turn to bid me goodbye as I go on this business trip. What saddened me more was the fact that upon my return, we won't be seeing each other for almost another year as his flight is scheduled this Monday before my return to the country.

Although this is my second business trip and definitely not my first experience to be away from home and my parents, this was the first trip i cried buckets of tears. I am missing my papa already because we barely have enough time as it is...now, i don't even get to spend time with him on his last day of stay here. Mama was on the verge of crying too seeing that i came back three times to hug my Papa and say my goodbyes!

(now I'm getting teary-eyed just typing this)

I've always treated journeys as adventures, something to enjoy and look forward to, and most importantly, something that could help me grow. But I also realized one thing, they can take us away from the people we love. Just like for 20 years now my Papa is away from us more often than he is with us. Just like here I am now, away from my loved ones at a time when I want to be with them the most.

But I guess this is what we go through life particulary when growing up. You have to learn to let go of what is dear and familiar to accommodate new and different experiences. I really am very thankful that God is giving me everything I need, all that I've ever dreamed. And I will continue to cherish all the blessings and treat each journey as a lesson in this fulfilling life.

Thank you papa God! =)

savoring the prize

as i've posted recently our group, the GBS All Stars, won the championship for P&G's Pension Plan Dancing Competition and with that comes a prize we willingly want to spend. finally, we did that last Friday! yey!

we went first to dinner at a place in greenbelt. it was really fun since we're sharing stories all through out dinner. it was difficult to talk though since there were so many of us sitting in one long table. thus, stories have to be shared by "passing the message" from one end to the other (^_^)






afterwards we went to red box to work out our vocal cords and we sang to the wee hours of morning. we had lots of drama on the side too especially with character actors/actresses in the house. we did our own live music videos while the songs were playing. high school musical, soap opera scenes, dance routine re-enactments to doing yoga...name it, we've got it! i think you can call it a natural high since we haven't drank anything but beer and iced tea :D




special mention to Chelli, Paula, JM, and Mico who were my companions and breakfast buddies at McDo till sunrise. thanks for the tip, i wasn't scolded that much haha! :D

i guess...it really is a good relationship we've developed due to the long hours of practices, shared hardwork and success. i hope there will be a next time :)

making it in one piece

< that's me after weathering the "TPR" storm. i made it in one piece! slightly disheveled, a little disoriented, somewhat dazed, but still in one piece. although...i admit i really look like teacher in this get up haha! :D


nweiz, just like other presentations i think the best way to prepare is to really know what you put in your slides. panelists tend to dig deeper and you can't get caught not knowing what you meant by what you wrote :) so basically, that's how i prepared.

evaluated and survived

i got my feedback finally.

it was good! :D

hope i'll be able to stay...

whew!

done! yes it is over!

i am finished hehe.


now the question is, will i go or will i stay in P&G?



they are now deliberating on the results of my presentation :)



*breathe*

tense

whohoo! i am minutes away from defending myself for regularization. i'll be presenting in front of different panelists (all from higher levels) so wish me luck...


i'll need it...


and waiting really sucks more than the happening...

missing and wishing

i don't know if i should write about it here. it is some feeling within me...some vague feeling of sadness that may be too personal to share. but i want to let it out, to shout it out even if only in the blogosphere...

i wish i have more time to spend in a day so i can be with the people i miss the most.

i wish to know if they want to be with me too. i may be missing them but the question is, are they missing me? i have been absent from their lives for a while...and i want to be back in their lives because i love them.

i wish there is more of me so i can go around and make them all feel special to me.

i also wish i can be honest and bold enough to show that one special person how i feel.

i feel that i am being detached from what i know, from what i believe. new revelations...new feelings...new emotions. i wish i can cope, i wish and i wish some more...

P&G Pension Plan Event

so as i was saying...am trying to update my blog here thus the consecutive posts. now, regarding my non-work activity that kept me well past midnight in the office: i am one of the participants for a dancing competition that pits P&G business units in the Phils againts each other. this is called "P&G Pension Plan Celebration" primarily because this is to pay tribute to P&G retirees "pensioned" off by the company.

there are only three P&G units in Phils: Cabuyao Plant, GBS, and MDO. the P&G Cabuyao plant has a history of winning and they have been champions for the past three years where as P&G GBS (our group) came close but never won any title. so here i am, a new hire practicing with my fellow new hires for 2 weeks almost every night. i have been sleepless, i have muscles aches from neck to feet, and i have black and blue spots on different body parts due to "career" practices =D

finally, the day of the competition came. we're still polishing our moves while watching competitors practice. we were trying to measure how we will fare but really...you would think the moves are top secrets because nobody is willing to show anything before the competition (that's how competitive we are :D) then came the performance:











(pardon the pictures, it contains mostly me since i own the blog haha! thanks to oligarki.multiply.com)

so we pulled off our dance routines with very minor glitches and from our winning looks, costumes, and stances i guess you can surmise that we won! yehey! for the first time after many years and after many sleepless nights..we won!

let me congratulate my fellow new hires and the committee who helped in achieving this success.

this really marks a significant milestone in my stay with P&G. thank you for letting me contribute :)

updating my blog...recording my life

so many things have happened since i joined P&G. this past two weeks alone i experienced talking for hours in a day with foreign clients, beating deadlines, doing extra-curricular (or should I say extra-non-work activities) till the wee hours of the morning, reaching home at 2:00 am, readying again for work at 6:30 am and so and and so forth.


nevertheless, the harder things become, the more rewarded i feel when i deliver. my job of the past 5 mos is really satisfying.


so here i am finding the time to blog even though i am very busy. i know that i am not that good a writer and notoriously lazy at that. nevertheless, i am aiming to capture snippets of my life and share it with you who may care to read =D

so here are my team mates in P&G. This picture is from our team building activity in Canyon Woods Tagaytay.



(from left to right nancy, rhea, me, ruth, micoo)

there used to be a guy in the team and a model at that! but he's off to another function now and being replaced by another lady =D now we're an all-girls team. so there...you get to meet my team mates :)

raindy days and PMS

"hangin' around...
nothing to do but frown...
raindy days ang PMS always get me down..."

i love rain, don't get me wrong. besides, it's good for our farm lands. It's just when it coincides with my PMS ("pre" that is) plus the gloomy atmosphere caused by rain clouds, i feel a little down. of course, considering the number of my friends who just left...i guess that added as well.

what's best about rainy days though is curling up on my bed with a good book. i'll wrap myself in blankets and fluffy pillows, lock myself up, and read all day.

what's happening?

i feel like crying...

the people dearest to me suddenly up and leave and i barely have enough time to say goodbye...

another friend just left...

down days

i feel sad and depressed

i lost a chance...

i lost a friend...

i lost something i wasn't aware i had and now thoroughly miss...

vote before it's too late

ehem! as one of the minor citizens in the blogosphere, i am exercising my right to vote those who i think have great influences to bring the blogosphere into the next level.

thank you to Janette Toral for cooking up the idea in her blog Reflective Thinking - Taking the 8th Habit Challenge: The Top 10 Emerging Influential Blogs in 2007

And my votes go to:

1. The AnitoKid Chronikos - A financial analyst and information scientist's take on billiards and Philippine Sports

2. The Broken Bow - Never put your bow on a sofa, you may sit on it, as I did

3. 3X+Y - Making life simpler...but better



i wish i could exercise the same right of suffrage in Philippine government elections. i was too late though...

4-Nation Manila Invitational Tournament

My sister and I went to Araneta Coliseum last Sunday to watch the finals of the 4-Nation Manila Invitational Tournament. We figured that if we can't make it to Tokushima, might as well watch the RP team and other foreign teams play live in Manila. It was fun and worth every penny for the unplanned travel and eating expenses (we did a lot of eating hehe).

Congrats Team Pilipinas! This tournament showed us that we can hold our own against foreign teams and the same was proven in Jone's Cup. I just hope that we'll carry this knowledge and have confidence in the coming games at FIBA Asia.

am feeling giddy today hehe.



it's always a nice feeling to win. regardless if others might say that Chinese Taipei is not really a threat to RP Team's bid for success in FIBA Asia or the Asian games, nor is the William Jones Cup a measure of what will happen in the more important tournaments. Yet, it still feels good to see the team win despite odds and recent losses. what's more heartening is when you see the Filipino OFW's actually dipping into their precious savings to give support to the national team and they were not disappointed. a crowd of 3,000 plus OFW's in the upper boxes versus the thousands more of Taiwanese supporters in the lower boxes did not have one iota of effect on the national team's performance. those 3,000 Filipino's in the upper boxes are cheering like crazy and one would think that it's Philippine's home court. as a result, RP team massacred Chinese Taipei to the delight of the Filipinos and to the disappointment of the Taiwanese home crowd.



being a Ginebra fan as well...i'm so proud of Mark Caguioa! at the expense of being thoroughly scouted (and i suspect being a deliberate bait for other team's scouters), he really gave them someting to scout about as he matched 3 pt shot per 3 pt shot made by Chinese Taipei's star player and SBL MVP Lin. This is one of his best games since joining the National Team and he is definitely one of the best players witnessed in Jones Cup this year. yesterday, in the game againt the Qataris, he had a fever yet he still managed to get 14 pts in the first half alone. handsdown to you mark!

and congrats RP TEAM!

RP team's practice session in California photos credit to ron jacobs of PEX (can't get good pics of 2007 Jone's Cup huhu...)

what kind of thinker are you?

got this from anitokid :D what kind of a thinker are you?

You are a charismatic leader who loves to achieve at the highest level.

High Achiever
You are a popular, high-achieving person who relishes being Number 1. Your finishing Number 1 usually rewards you with the leadership that gives you control over other people. You love being the leader. You're also chosen as a leader because you know what you want and where you want yourself and others to go. And those times that the path is not rationally or formally clear, your intuition leads you and others successfully.
You are a visionary who is a logical, pragmatic thinker and planner. You always need three questions answered:
1. "What's the objective or task?" 2. "Why is something happening?" 3. "Who can I develop enough of a relationship with to get something I want accomplished?"

Thinking Systematically
Whatever you are thinking about has to meet the goal-oriented and rational criteria of analytic, precise and systematic thinking with a historical and factual basis. If it does not meet all of these, you first become skeptical and then very intuitively creative in exploring another way to understand the problem and its solution.
You are a pragmatic realist who can get people to do what you want, sometimes without their even knowing it. It's during these moments that you can interact verbally with individuals or groups of associates to motivate them and to let them know what needs to be accomplished, how to proceed and how to team together positively. Then, and only then, are they prepared to receive your directives.

Accomplishing Your Goals
To make your directives clear so that everyone meets or exceeds the total goal successfully and together, you will have to have a detailed plan laid out with user-friendly approaches set up for each person to accomplish each necessary task. Then, you'll have all these directives aligned with the mission, strategies and objectives. And, lastly, you will have to measure how the strategies are being fulfilled and what is making the final outcome successful.

Communicating with Others
On a personal and professional level, people love relating to you, whether it's in person, in a group or over the telephone. They feel safe and secure that you're listening to their needs. You're taking care of business by putting a thorough action plan into place, you're intelligent and creative enough to solve any problems with optional actions, and you're capable of motivating and leading them towards successful outcomes.

haaaaaay....another week starts and i still didn't get enough sleep last weekend huhu :( wat with my sister's birthday and my take home work and my cousin's visit. so much to do so little time!

so here's my sched for the whole week

Monday: nothing much so i guess i'll utilize my time to work on projects and prepare some more for upcoming trainings

Tuesday: another conference meeting with South Africa peeps for DEM & Sub-Sahara markets (hope they show up though, nobody's confirmed yet for the invitation)

Wednesday: my first training as a trainer EVER!!!! i'm getting nervous just thinking about it! am a new hire myself ya know huhu...but i can do it! AJA!

Thursday: whole day training but I can relax since am just a trainee hehe

Friday: another whole day training but just as a trainee again (whew! so much trainings...)

now that leaves me with only a few hours after training to work again on projects. i have deadlines for this july that i have to meet so go go go! (i need energizer hehe).

wish me luck!

friend and teacher

It is very intresting to meet different people and I am very fortunate to meet this one. Jerome here ^_^ is my teacher in a very interesting course. However, as the training progressed we also became friends. I learned a lot from him not only on the subject he was teaching (am not sure if I can reveal it here though haha!) but he also taught me a lot of their very unique ways in India. We also did some taste tests on their food and that was fun.

Thanks for everything Jerome and I sure hope we'll meet again.

matakaw

di napaghahalatang matakaw hehe...

Ocean Basket seafoods platter for 1 (good for two sa Pinas) yum!

in News Cafe' where everybody is ordering coffee and other drinks, kmi lng ata umorder ng bandehado haha!

A friend once asked me how could I leave something I love, which is investments, and change careers just like that? Well, I had a ready comeback which I am blogging about now.

I am not leaving investments. I am merely taking a break to attend to another love interest that is traveling.

My new job is offering me that opportunity. It's actually a dream come true because I always dreamt of traveling especially if I could do it on my own money, ability or merit. I did not dream of doing it by borrowing other people's money or going as a free loader on my parents' trip. However, my other option of traveling using my own money will be hard to bear because transportation alone will take a chunk out of my savings. So the only option left is for someone to send me in return for the use of my abilities. And...I did it. So off to Africa for my first assignment.

However, like other kinds of "love"...some may fade, some won't last. Of course, this kind of "love" is not really love at all but mere infatuation or fascination. Now, is mine love or just infatuation?

I won't sit and wait to find out because I'm trying my very best to LOVE the hell out of my job. AJA!

i took a test on who among the Grey's Anatomy cast matches my personality (vv). favorite show ko to eh hehe, kht di ako Med student. here's my result...

, you're now logged in!

Below you'll find your test result. After, continue on to your homescreen to discover what we're about.

continue to OkCupid homescreen >

Meredith Grey 69% confidence, 77% compassion, 82% dedication

Meredith Grey is perhaps the most balanced of all the interns. She’s hard working and takes caring for her patients very seriously. However, she can become a little too distracted with her personal affairs, particularly ones involving “McDreamy”.

My test tracked 3 variables How you compared to other people your age and gender: You scored higher than 99% on confidence You scored higher than 99% on compassion You scored higher than 99% on dedication

Link: The Which Grey's Anatomy Intern RU Test written by mysticist on OkCupid, home of the The Dating Persona Test

i like! :D

Your results:
You are Supergirl

Supergirl 75% Green Lantern 75% Wonder Woman 70% Superman 60% Spider-Man 50% Catwoman 40% The Flash 30% Iron Man 30% Robin 27% Hulk 25% Batman 10%

Lean, muscular and feminine. Honest and a defender of the innocent.

Click here to take the Superhero Personality Quiz

Your results:
You are Dr. Doom

Dr. Doom 59% Apocalypse 48% Juggernaut 44% Mr. Freeze 44% Riddler 43% The Joker 42% Dark Phoenix 42% Lex Luthor 41% Poison Ivy 40% Venom 36% Magneto 36% Mystique 36% Catwoman 31% Two-Face 28% Kingpin 28% Green Goblin 16%

Blessed with smarts and power but burdened by vanity.

Click here to take the Super Villain Personality Test

You are The Lovers

Motive, power, and action, arising from Inspiration and Impulse.

The Lovers represents intuition and inspiration. Very often a choice needs to be made.

Originally, this card was called just LOVE. And that's actually more apt than "Lovers." Love follows in this sequence of growth and maturity. And, coming after the Emperor, who is about control, it is a radical change in perspective. LOVE is a force that makes you choose and decide for reasons you often can't understand; it makes you surrender control to a higher power. And that is what this card is all about. Finding something or someone who is so much a part of yourself, so perfectly attuned to you and you to them, that you cannot, dare not resist. This card indicates that the you have or will come across a person, career, challenge or thing that you will fall in love with. You will know instinctively that you must have this, even if it means diverging from your chosen path. No matter the difficulties, without it you will never be complete.

What Tarot Card are You?
Take the Test to Find Out.

first stop for summer trip...Cavite!

ha! pretty excited for my first outing this summer! actually it's a teambuilding activity for the company but still...it's an outing for me, masaya! :D

here are some pics of our trip credits to criz (i didn't bring my own camera hehe)


on our way to the resort (are those bunny ears? or devil's horns?) watcha think kim? ;-)


upon our arrival, group picture agad! (tagal ng timer ng camera ni criz ha!)

a view of the resort...d name is Mt. Sea Grand Resort.

teambuilding activities ng masabi nyo namang may ginawa kami hehe...


dakilang secretary !


nararamdaman n'yo ba?

ramdam na ramdam ko! :D

sabi ko na...may galit sa akin si sam hehe (joke lng sam!)


group pic ulit

tsk...tsk...pati buwaya walang nagawa!

cno nga ba yun?

project na kung project!


konting pics lng...tamad me mag upload at edit :D sobrang nakakapagod pero enjoy. on d way home, kanya-kanyang hilot ng mga napulikat na binti. kanya-kanya ding tulog. der r pics sumwhere ng mga taong nakunan ng pix habang natutulog...i guess research nyo n lng kng kninong blog ma-u-upload yun hehe.

next weekend...Nueva Ecija!