It's been a while since I've blogged. I guess things are pretty hectic in the New Blue. After a month of enjoying super flex day shift, I had to shift gears and go into nocturnal mode the following month. And what a tough 1st week it was. There's a scientific reason why sleep was meant for night time and not day time (apparently, the body's restoration functions works better in darkness), and then you have the practical reasons. Who can sleep when the light is glaring through your windows? Or when the cars passing by honk their horns? I have total new respect for anyone who ever has to go on night shift. No amount of night differential can ever compensate the abnormal shift in body functions.

For the 1st couple of days, I practically passed out the moment I arrived at home. Only to wake up a couple of hours later. By the third day, I mastered the art of sleeping without interruptions. And by the 4th, I managed to be "sober" and functional a few more hours after shift. But so far, since I'm on training, I've only managed to squeeze in very few hours for work. Good thing things are still manageable during day time. But I will have to adjust and start working since things are starting to pile up.

Then there's the matter of gym time. I had to find a good time to go, and finally decided to do it before work. Whoever says exercising at the start of the day will keep you energized must have been literal about it. Because if your actual day starts at night, then no energizing actually happens. Or maybe it's just me.

And just right at the end of my work week, when I thought I successfully passed my 1st week of nocturnal madness (in fact, I had my first ever weekend gimik starting @ 6AM at the ever reliable Dencio's in Paseo!), I woke up with a mean viral infection. I practically slept through my whole weekend, and only stayed awake enough to watch The Silver Surfer (and it rocked) with the family.

So right now, I'm still nursing the darned viral infection, trying to stay strong enough to get through my day (or night), and so far, so good, I guess. I'm alive. Weak, but alive.

And why do I need to put myself through this? All for the love of the new blue. Haha. So that by the time I take calls for my certification (and no, I won't be doing this for a living), I will know more than just the opening spiel.

Thank you for choosing the New Blue Customer Care. My name is XY. How may I assist you today? :)

Labels: career

Plan A was start processing application to Oz. Right now, no progress on Plan A. Still wanna pursue that, but I'm hesitant due to some personal reasons that I will not discuss.

Plan B was to leave ex-company and go anywhere but there. Plan B is in motion. While I intended Plan B as a transitionary phase, it seems right now that I'm liking it here and chances are, Plan B becomes Plan A, and Plan A, well, I don't know just yet.

So far, things are looking pretty good here. And I'm not just talking about the view :) The good thing about start-ups is that you have a chance to start from scratch, and that usually means you get to choose the cream of the crop. And I strongly believe that's what we have right now. I'm motivated to work everyday because I actually like the people I work with. It's only been three weeks, and already we have bonded strongly. And I will do my part in order to keep it that way.

My friends are asking whether I have plans of moving inside the "mini city" so I can be closer to work. Hmmm.. Quite possibly, although I'd have to wait it out a few months so that I can be sure of any moves that are permanent and life-changing :) But it's a nice thought. I've always wanted to buy a place here, but back then it was impractical because of its location. To commute more than 50kms (one-way) was just suicide. Now, a mere 5min walk to work is every yuppie's dream :) I will then have to sell my unit, but judging from the occupancy rate right now, I think that won't be a problem.

I'm also considering getting a new car since maintaining Sark has been very financially draining. But I still love Sark and he and I have lots of good memories together. It's just that lately I've had some troubles (2 super flat tires in 3 days, and *&%@!#$ scratching my newly painted Sark, waaah!!)... Bad aura, right there. I'll have to sit on this more. After all, there's still the Plan A ver 0 I need to consider :)

And like Jay and Ali, I also have a wish list :) And in order of priority/sked, here they are :)

1. Japanese bed (super long overdue) - June 07
2. laptop (the office-issued one has soooo many restrictions!!) - June or July (or August, if I can still wait, so I can ask R to buy this for me)
3. dSLR (thinking of D40 or D80) - TBD
4. higher HP AC (I wanna put the other one to the other room) - TBD
5. brand-new car (well, I'm planning this for eoy where promos are usually plenty) - Q4'07
- if I decide not to buy a new car, I'll probably just upgrade Sark (new mags, new sound system, the works, and maybe another paint job with a color of my choosing :))
6. trip to Singapore with the 'rents (Mom's special request.. I'm planning this for sometime eoy or early next year when I get my VLs)

Putting in place goals is always the 1st step in achieving our dreams (or wants, for that matter). So there ;)

Labels: career, desires, plans

Whew. It's been a while. And a lot has happened, I don't even know where to start. All I know is, there's no looking back, and neither do I want to. The best thing is, there's no reason to. What more can I ask? :)

So, here's what happened the last couple of weeks....

... I flew to Cebu for a 1 week vacation. And it's always fun to go back. Went to the beach in this lovely yet surprisingly affordable resort (pictures to follow as soon as I get digitally organized once again :)). Spent lots of quality time with the fam. Boy, my niece is growing up so fast and she's becoming quite a handful. I bought her a walker because she loves to "run" around. We celebrated the grand opening and blessing of the 2nd branch of the family's school business. So, if you have kids, do check out Bright Minds in Action Learning Village (Liloan Branch). Enrolment now ongoing for pre-school to grade 4. Leave a note if you want to know the contact details :) I discovered new restos - Oh Georg! and Big Mao. Yum!! Of course, I could not pass by Cebu without eating AA's bbq and baked scallops (the best, I tell ya) and Sunburst Fried Chicken. Waah, I'm getting quite hungry now. Needless to say, I gained a lot of weight while I was out of work for about 2 weeks. Thankfully, I lost around 5 lbs already since I started work again last Monday.

... Which is a good segue to the 2nd highlight, which is, I started work in my new company. So far, so good. Actually, I'm super loving it already. I love the way the cubicles are designed -- enough to give everyone privacy, but the walls are low enough so people can just talk directly to everyone else. I have an almost-window seat (hehe), and I love having a view. And speaking of views - most of the big conference rooms have nice views as well. It's so conducive to meet in a bright room, while you can see life happening below you... My teammates are great. We've been bonding really well during the last week. They welcome the new faces because they started with a team of 4 locals and 2 expats only. And now we've grown into this diverse team (multicultural, multigender, multibackgrounds). I've found a couple of yosi buddies, though all 3 of us are trying to quit :) I also found a boxing buddy. And speaking of boxing, the gym is a mere 10min walk away, instead of 45min drive away. I've been introduced to some players and I guess because it's a start-up, wala pang nag aangas. The environment is still very light. I still have to get used to speaking in English all the time. "Hello, who just joined?". Hahaha! Speaking of environment, I spotted a couple of cuties. Unfortunately, the 1st one is a negative - ring on ring finger alert (and baby pic wallpaper). Hahaha! I still don't know anything about the 2nd cutie, but I bumped into him twice (the 1st one, quite literally, ;)). As my seatmate pointed out, this is a male-dominated workplace, so, the more chances of getting cute boy alerts. hahah! On my 2nd day at work, I still didn't get my badge, so I had no access to everywhere. So this gentlemen had to run to the other door to badge in, and all his other cards fell pa in the process. Kakatuwa lang :) I also like the 10peso ice cream in belgian cone at Mini-stop across the street. The team indulged last Friday - TGIF and all :) We had an eventful week (start-ups and ramp down, and me having to catch up in this whole new world) and a tiring week, I was asleep mostly by 9PM everyday. It's not a perfect world, of course. There's the paid parking (pero covered naman), the traffic (mornings are an easy 20min drive but the evenings are really bad) and the food is expensive (we have the same caterer as the old company, deja vu! hahaha)... But right now, none of those matter. I just know that this is where I wanna be right now (so I have to do well!)...

I miss some of the friends from the old blue.. Specially my lunchmate, my old housemates/neighbors... But, for everything we decide to do, there's always a price to pay.

Labels: Boxing, career, Cebu, vacation

A little over a year ago, I said that this was my birthday wish: "I wish for a true love's first kiss". And by some sort of magic, I got my wish. I got my kiss but back then, I thought what I had was something just close to true love. I had just reconnected with R. Now, almost a year later, I'm very certain my wish came true :)

So it is with the same amount of faith, and belief in wonderful and magical things (that somehow happens on a birthday, or Christmas), that I will declare my wish for this year.

And I will do it via my horoscope for yesterday, the day they told me they wanted me.

" If you've been watching and waiting to see what happens regarding a certain romantic situation, well, look out! It's go time, with all sorts of possibilities on the horizon. What -- or who -- will you choose? "

Only it's not a romantic situation. It's something else. And I wish for things to fall into place. And I wish that it really is go time!!

Labels: birthday, career, R