| My good friend Marissa told me a few weeks ago: "take care of yourself, because the company won't." This was during a time that I was skipping out on my scheduled exercise nights because of work. I appreciated the advice Marissa gave me (she isn't the only one to tell me this, even my old boss Quing and of course, my parents), and I knew I had to do just that.
I know how important health is, now that I'm older and trying to fit in more activities in my days. At the time the advice was given, I had not gone to the gym in around 5 days, and I was beginning to get lazy. In fact, I'm still only getting my gym momentum back.
But it seems I'm not doing a good job of taking care of myself. This week has been pretty hectic, I've gone home late (11 pm+) twice, tonight included. I pretty much skipped dinner tonight, eating only my stash of these wholemeal sugar-free crackers and my trusty oats & honey granola bars while at work. Eventually when I got home at 12:30 am, I had a few pieces of grapes for dinner part 2.
And yet here I am, looking at Facebook, Plurk and blogging about my bad health habits. I've noticed recently how important health is to work. I really lose focus easily when I'm puyat, and it takes more to cheer me up and keep me going.
As I type this, my eyes are closing, but I'm still thinking of reading my other books, writing my book reviews, writing my other blog entries, and fixing my super secret project.
I hope I'll get to do those things during the long weekend. Aside from going to the gym and meeting my friends on the court. For now, I have to brace myself for another long day tomorrow. But, work is work. :-)
However, Friday night is mine! No one's taking it away from me. And you can suck it. Hahaha.
| comments: your own product of mental exercise?   |
| I'm no shopper. I hardly buy clothes. I buy shoes once every few years, unless I need certain types of shoes.
But I think I know whats so addictive about shopping. It's the feeling of buying what you want at a price that's lower than what you were willing to pay for. BARGAINS.
I was willing to buy a new book this weekend, Blue Ocean Strategy. Both in Fully Booked and National Bookstore, they cost Php 1,615.00. I asked Fully Booked to reserve me a copy. However, instead of buying it there, my instincts told me to go to National to just check it out. When I found the copy, I learned it was on sale! 20% off! Without thinking twice, I got it. I bought it too fast I forgot to give my Laking National card.
This weekend National Bookstore never failed to surprise me. I've been wanting to buy this other book, Tribes - Seth Godin, for months now. At first it was supposed to be a birthday gift (Hi Mel! Hahaha!) at Php 785.00, until its price in Fully Booked went up to around Php 989.00. I didn't think National Bookstore carried this title, so I never asked. However, when I checked out the disorganized shelves in National this afternoon, Tribes caught the corner of my eye, just as I was about to leave the store. I checked the price tag, it said Php 785.00. Obviously much cheaper than Fully Booked's. On impulse, I bought it (not forgetting my Laking National card this time). I was wondering why the price I saw on the machine was Php 471.00. SALE! 40% off!
Now because of these two bargains, I was still within book budget for this month. I was able to get 2 more books. I saw this interesting book by Entrepreneur Mag on Smart Business Ideas. Fully Booked also texted me about my other reservation, Love Is A Killler App.
Sulit! New books to read!
| | comments: your own product of mental exercise? |
| I feel lucky. If there is a God, then he's blessing me right now. Or perhaps the Tao is making me flow in the right path. Or perhaps the vast ocean of life is pushing me towards the sky. Or, pragmatically, maybe hard work pays off.
After 1 year and 9 months here in this company, perhaps people are noticing what I can do and how I work (but I think I'm still highly inefficient and easily distracted). It took awhile, but it feels great that now it's all coming together.
I got 3 job offers from 3 departments in the past 3 weeks. Of course, I expressed interest first. Nothing happens without any action. Anyway, Business Development and Project Management are offering me positions I said I liked. And my new boss at Product Development saw that I was capable of doing more than testing, and offered me a higher and new post in his reorganization of the department.
Just 10 minutes ago, I got another offer. From Marketing. A fourth, in a month. From a Brand Manager that seems to care that I move up the ranks, too. What's up with that? Although I have my mind set on a certain department and that certain post, it's really awesome that I have other options.
Just as my devout Christian friend had his blessings (financial, career) this year, it seems I have my fair share of luck. I feel bad for those who are having difficulties finding new jobs, or those who cannot even risk leaving their jobs. But this is why I think everyone should be pro-active in searching for their opportunities.
To not take anything away from effort, I talked with my boss(es) maybe two, three times. I talked with the COO three times. I talked with different department heads and expressed interest. Of course, I made sure I had something good to bank upon. And I think it's my drive to learn, the passion to succeed and the attitude of never being contented with what I have.
I feel lucky. And I had more to do with it than I think.
| | comments: your own product of mental exercise? |
| After a loooooooooooooong day at work, where I felt I wasn't too productive, I was finally able to make it home before 9.
I got invited to play badminton on Tuesday nights by Carlo. Last week, I wasn't able to make it because of MRT people traffic. Tonight, I decided to take a cab to get home in 25 minutes (record-breaking).
Finally, I was able to make it to play. We were able to play around 4 games in 1 1/2 hours. We finished at 11:30 pm. Pretty quick. For the first time, it felt good to be on the winning team. Haha. My Sunday Basketball games aren't usually as kind to me.
It was really fun, and it was pretty surprising that I was able to hit the shuttlecock back often. Haha. Anyway, so we decided to make it a Tuesday night thing. We're now the Tuesday group.
And I did this only having a granola bar for dinner.
Then again, I had a pretty heavy stress-eat, late (3 pm) Lunch + Meryenda. Sisig, 1 whole cup of WHITE rice, and 2 sticks of Banana-cue. Lol. I just felt like eating a bit when I got home, to not screw up my tummy. Half a cup of brown rice?
That's still a lot of food for my half day. Anyway, tomorrow's another day. And I'll work it out tomorrow. Now I'm hoping I get to make it in time for gym tomorrow.
Seriously, this 9/10 am - 6/7 pm is hard to work with. My evenings are much shorter and I feel that I still have less time to work. I'll try my best to come in at 9 am though.
On another note, I need to get new shoes again. I don't think using my basketball shoes 4-5x a week is good for the pair, considering there's so much pressure on it on Sundays. Man, I was hoping to get to save on money to not buy cross-trainers, but I guess I gotta invest. Sponsorship, anyone? Lol. | | comments: your own product of mental exercise? |
| I have earned the right to slack off tonight. :)
Met up with Mel. It was a long-delayed hang-out date. After the coffee (thanks Mel!), it was time to punish myself for skipping out on the gym for 2 nights.
Here are my gym raves for today:
1) It's not healthy to have a heavy work-out. According to the trainer, 2 hours tops. Working out for more than that makes your body consume protein and muscles, instead of the common notion that the body burns more carbohydrates and fat.
It turns out that punishing oneself won't work. Hahaha. That's sort of great news. However, I was kinda disappointed because what if I had a whole day with nothing to do and I wanted to work extra hard, that'd mean I should only do an hour of weights and an hour of cardio. Somehow that feels like I wouldn't be maximizing my gym day. At least I learned about it before I started to do it. :-)
2) The best part about going to gym? I have to eat meat! I learned that the body uses up protein when working out, so we have to replenish the protein lost. Mmm. We had Barbequed Chicken for dinner.
3) I learned that my weighing scale at home is not accurate. Okay, fine, I'll give out my weight. Before gym, I was at 198.4 lbs (90 kgs). After a few weeks of dieting only, I dropped to 194 lbs (88 kgs). Since then, after 3 weeks of gym, I thought I weighed 189.6 lbs (86 kgs). I was surprised when I weight at the gym this afternoon, to find that I was only 184.8 lbs (83.8 kgs)! That's definitely welcome news! That's 9.2 lbs in 3 weeks!
Now, time to slack off. :) Unless someone invites me out or something.
| | comments: your own product of mental exercise? |
| A gig. A gig of Migi's. A gig of Migi's in an art gallery. A gig of Migi's in an art gallery in Makati.
That was my plan this Friday night. I invited Popoy and Anjo to come along, but only Anjo was available. It was set at 7 pm. The next plan was to go home and maybe go to the gym.
Mel invited me to meet, but couldn't wait too long. Dea called me up to say she'd be in Makati and free by around 9, so we could meet up if I was free. That became my secondary plan for the night, instead.
The gig was moved to 8:30 pm. For dinner, we discovered this cool sandwich place at PacStar's food court. We then walked from PacStar to the BiG art gallery--a good 20 minute walk from Makati Ave cor Buendia to Reposo street, in between Jupiter and Kalayaan, at the LRI Design Plaza. The building is a designer's/artist's dream. All sorts of stores with designs and stuff.
We went up and entered the gallery. There were lots of people, mostly young, some old, a crowd of english-speakers and looking like artsy people, but dressed more normally. It was a free event, surprisingly, and we just had to sign up, get our band-aid raffle tickets, and then we'd have free food and drinks and bands and artworks for the night.
The event was Makeshift, an Art Exhibit about Re-Creating our trash, by Pobre Zebra. It featured upcycled (yes, the term rocks) artworks of Nikki Abelardo, Angelo Adrao, Carmen Del Prado and Julian Rodriguez. Of course, I didn't notice the names at first.
Anjo and I enjoyed the different artwork, but unfortunately that this event was an art exhibit slipped my mind so I was not able to bring my camera. My camera phone had to do. They literally used whatever, old papers, playing cards, cartons, whatever.
I kept pointing out pieces of art that I really found to fit my taste. And the artist was Julian Rodriguez. Hmmm. The name rang a bell. I recall an old grade school classmate in LSGH named Julian Rodriguez.
As I went around, I appreciated the other artworks, such as the zombie (apologies to the artist, I was not able to get the tag into the photo), the pixelated viking. Then I saw this guy, a bit taller than me, with curly hair and a familiar look. Julian Rodriguez, he had been a classmate of mine in DLSU, too. Whoa! Incredible. Such a small world, really.
So, the program started. Migi's new live band opened. With a great drummer and a great bassist to back him up, man, he blew the house down. He found instant fans in the crowd. I most especially liked the new version of July Rain with the insane bass lines and great drum rolls.
When it was over, it was raffle time. Everyone had band-aid raffle tickets. Here's mine. Brilliant, no?
The first prize up for grabs was an art magazine, called Juxtapoz. We stayed on for this part, for the heck of it. The band-aid raffle stubs were cool enough, but winning would make it cooler. And as they picked the first winner, the lady said, "Seventy-eight". "Zero zero zero, seven, eight." I was in front already, so I went up and won! Wow. From a gig to meeting an old classmate to winning a raffle. It gets better.
After we had loads fun, we said our goodbyes to the organizers and the artists. We stayed to chat a while with Migi and his cousin, Marco, then I decided to take a cab from Reposo to Greenbelt, where I'd meet Dea. I told Anjo to just hitch a ride with me. Lo and behold, while waiting for a cab, a jeep came, with the placard "SM Landmark". Hahaha. Oh yes, this night was getting better indeed.
After that straight jeep ride to Greenbelt, Anjo and I parted ways (we're watching G.I. Joe tomorrow, err, later with Popoy and Bugs, anyway). Turns out Dea was with Raissa and they were in John and Yoko in GB5. We were all full from our dinners, but they decided to order some food (yeah, masarap sila kumain). After my story telling of my art gallery experience, we suddenly shifted to interesting investment talks. I learned quite a bit from the ladies. But, like a regular guy, I didn't take down notes, and I'm sure I'll ask them more questions about those again. Hahaha, diba Raissa? :-p
So, eventually we had to go home. We brought Dea to her ride home, Raissa got a cab, and I decided that instead of getting a cab, I'd buff up my "How much you've saved because you took the MRT instead" fund. It took about fifteen minutes to get to the MRT station, and as I entered the Ayala station, a wonderful ad greeted me. Possibly one of the funniest ads now. Kudos, Yellow Cab.
Tonight was filled with awesomeness. But there's more!
It took another 30 minutes to get on a train; trains at 11:30 pm-12 mn are scarce. After getting off Annapolis station and getting to the other side, I saw, at around 12 mn, two familiar faces along Edsa, seemingly waiting for the right bus to arrive. Two acquaintances of mine, whom I met while I was still playing Ragnarok Online. Hooray for acquaintances! I never expected them to be there at the time because they live in Cavite. After a few words with them, I began my walk home. Now I just managed to buff up my fund even more. Woohoo.
Tonight was filled with so many unexpected things, it just made sense that I made the right decisions tonight. Watching the gig, leaving the place at that exact moment, meeting Raissa and Dea, taking the MRT. Serendipity, you can never have too much of it.
I definitely think that could be a new thing to do in Manila. Modern art exhibits. Interesting crowd and interesting art. Too bad I lost the Makeshift carton keychains though. Those rocked.
Anyway, I think I was extraverted today. It was fun talking with others and getting to know new people tonight. I think tonight happened to reward me for my work today. Cool.
| | comments: your own product of mental exercise? |
| It's tough, living on a schedule. I wake up and try to get to work without being late. But that's not enough. I have to be early at work to be able to leave at at the latest, 6 pm. If I don't I miss the chance to ride home with Carlo (saves myself the hassle of commuting at rush hour). Most importantly, it allows me to get home at 7, and to the gym at 8:00-8:30.
Too bad it doesn't always happen that way. More than once, I've had to stay behind to finish something, or whatever, that I could not go to the session I set with the trainer. Today's the 3rd time in three weeks I haven't been able to go to the gym cause of work. I'll still try to fulfill the 4-5x a week routine though.
Now that I go to the gym, I'm now living on a (tighter) budget. Seriously tighter. Lol. Now when I don't get to join Carlo to work or home, I usually take a cab. I don't see why I should tire myself in the morning to get to work, and tire myself again on the way home from work, when I'm already tired. But just this evening, I was able to create motivation for me to skip out on cab rides. It's called the "How much you've saved because you took the MRT instead" fund.
Whenever I take the MRT instead of taking a cab home (alone), I told myself I'd place the cab money in my bank thingy, to show myself how much I can save a month. Now this wouldn't make me any more liquid than I am, but it'll make me more stable in the long run. I'm expecting additional savings of around 10-15% of my net pay because of this. If I don't reach the quota, that means I haven't been thinking of cabs often, which is also good. It just means I won't have more savings. Lol.
Financially (and work-wise), I'm living on a course that I can't directly make money out of. I sure as hell am not interested in HR (most especially recruitment), I can't make money out of teaching, and right now the only use I can see for Psych is being able to read people and see how they act and why they act as such. A pretty important skill for a manager/team leader, if I was one.
Really, right now I'm regretting that I didn't continue my Business Management (BMG) part of my LIA-COM (Liberal Arts - Commerce) degree. I failed at qualifying for Accounting Majors, but I could have taken Management of Financial Institutions (MFI) or even Economics (ECO). If it was possible to take AB-PSY, BS-BMG, BS-ECO, I would've loved to. However, looking at the bright side, if I continued my PSM-BMG course, I would've only graduated last year. Knowing myself, I would've taken the Applied Corporate Management (ACM) path of the BMG course, which would add a significant year to the time it'd take for me to graduate.
I guess part of me is happy that I've started to work--work experiences are so different from academic experiences. Despite the terribly low pay, I'm happy that I've been working for 1 1/2 years. What I've learned while working, I don't think I'll ever get from any schooling. Theory would have helped the practice faster, but theory will never give the full experience of practice.
However, the work experience argument still doesn't discount the fact that I would have understood equity markets, effects of interest rate regulations, forex, etc better than I do now if I had studied longer. I could be like my friend, applying for work at some int'l bank, dealing with acquisitions & mergers. Or working in the PSE, or at some investment firm or what.
It's tough to live on dreams when you don't have the means to back yourself up (yet). I'm living on a dream, a dream to be able to take my MBA sometime before I hit 27. Finding a better job or getting a scholarship would be the only feasible way.
Right now, I'm living on a mindset of a single person. I have my own goals and am focused on myself. I spend for myself and on myself. Personally I don't think it's selfish. I like making plans for myself. Just like above. I just feel like I have so much to achieve before I start worrying about others. And at my terribly slow snail pace of growth and self-improvement, it may be some time before I worry about others.
We've got to hold on. To what we've got. It doesn't make a difference if we make it or not. We've got each other and that's a lot for love. Let's give it a shot. Ooooh, we're halfway there!
| | comments: your own product of mental exercise? |
| I have a budget. I'm living on a few thousand bucks this month because I'm taking a lot of my money and putting it elsewhere. Somewhere safe and for the future. Naks.
I had originally planned to limit going out and buying stuff. Take note of 'originally planned'. This entry is about how my gift shopping led me to buy 4 new books for myself. Weee!
I was going to get a gift in National Bookstore tonight. Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell (I'm going to spread this book around to friends, it's a really great book). I was looking for the bigger size (like the one Anjo gave me) but I couldn't find it because they didn't have it. Out of frustration and impulse, I bought The Tipping Point and Blink, by the same author. National has it the cheapest among Fully Booked, National and Power Books, so I got it there (I made a list of books I want to buy, both books above are on it, made a spreadsheet of their prices, and made columns on which bookstore had it the cheapest, and the total price if I buy it all in one bookstore and the total price if I got it from the cheapest bookstores, OCPD for the win).
I then thought of going to Fully Booked to check out if they had the bigger size. Sucks, because they had the bigger size for The Tipping Point and Blink, but not for Outliers. I checked out other shelves to see if maybe there was one copy.
I then stumbled upon a shelf labeled "Staff Recommends". I took a look, found Tribes by Seth Godin, another book on my list (which surprisingly marked up in price from about 890 to 998 php, grr). I then found another book by Seth Godin which really interested me, entitled, The Dip - a book on when to quit or stick it out. I also found a book which I've always liked since college, and I was surprised to see it there on the shelf, haunting me--The Missing Piece by Shel Silverstein. Coincidence, because Carlo just mentioned to me about how he felt that I was contented with my life but that I was missing something. Well, you know what happened next.
Yes, I found myself buying The Dip and The Missing Piece three seconds later. Hooray for impulse buying!
Finally, to finish off my shopping night, I decided that I might as well go back to National and get the Outliers copy they had so I'd have a gift already. And I did.
| | comments: your own product of mental exercise? |
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Jul 12, '09 10:41 PM
for everyone |
I just came from Talisayin, Zambales this weekend with some officemates and a friend and his officemates.
We were supposed to also go to 3 other places--Anawangin, Capones, Nagsasa--but the waves wouldn't let us. This trip wasn't a let-down, though.
Wait for my uber OC journal-blog on this. :) Time to get some rest. Sunburnt skin with alcohol rashes doesn't feel too good. Lol. | | comments: your own product of mental exercise? |
| Today, I was a victim.
I was a victim of a good deed. When I was getting off the jeep to get on the MRT, some guy tapped my shoulder and said, "Boss, eto."
He was holding my cellphone, giving it back to me. Apparently, it slipped out of my slacks' pockets, unto the jeep's bench. I was shocked that I was careless enough to let it happen to me. In shock, all I could say was, "Salamat, maraming salamat." Even the guy next to him said, "Swerte, buti mabait yun." In shock, I told Allen what happened.
While still pretty much shocked at how easily I could have lost my phone this noontime, I was thinking if I should have repaid the very honest guy. But I didn't know how. Then I saw him going up to Buendia MRT. Same place I was headed with Allen. We were headed to the seminar in Edsa Shang hotel.
As I went up to the station, I was determined to show appreciation to the guy, in a way other than verbal thanks. It was my cellphone that he returned. My freaking phone. Then I saw him in line, buying a ticket. This was my cue. I tapped his shoulder and said, "Eto, may extra akong card, sayo na lang. Maraming salamat ulit."
He said thanks and caught up with me in the line. We ended up talking a bit throughout our train ride-- because I found out he was also headed to Shangri-la Mall to his work; he just brought his wife to work in Makati, then was on his way to the Shang for his time in.
And just as I was really grateful for his returning my phone, he seemed to be very thankful about the card, too. He probably wasn't expecting anything in return? Anyway, after parting ways, he sent a text and said thanks for the card.
It doesn't hurt to widen your networks--not just corporate networks, but people networks. It pays to be nice. I'm sure karma will reward that guy well soon, if it didn't already.
Today, I was a victim--of kindness, and I'm very thankful that I was. | | comments: your own product of mental exercise? |
| May 10, 2009, 11:09 pm.
On May 10, 2009, Mother's Day, Gluttony was born.
It all began when I was terribly starving at 3 am. After eating something finally falling asleep, I found myself quite hungry once more, at 9:30 am. I cooked some bacon and ate about 5 strips. But I thought that wasn't enough. After deciding that I wanted McDonald's for breakfast, I called and ordered. A lot.
Big Breakfast - mom
Sausage McMuffin w/ Egg and Extra Hash Brown - brother
Sausage McMuffin w/ Egg and Extra Hash Brown - me
Hotcakes and Sausage - me
Extra Hash Brown - anyone
I ate 3/4 of the Hotcakes and Sausage, finished the Hash Brown and took a bite from my sandwich. And I drank the Hot Chocolate and Orange Juice that came with my meals.
Two hours later, I found myself ordering at Annabel Lee in Promenade. I ordered:
Mozzarella and Mushroom Pita Pizza - sharing
Gourmet Quesadilla - sharing
French Onion Soup - me
Because my mom wanted to eat in Conti's (for the first time--we haven't eaten there yet), we decided to go there for dinner. I was semi-full at this time; I ate half my Sausage McMuffin with egg an hour before going for dinner. Thank goodness it took around 5 minutes for us to get a table, and 15 minutes before our order arrived. We got:
Russian Potato Salad
Symphony Salad (solo serving)
Baked NZ Mussels
American Burger - mom
Baked Salmon - dad
Beef Teppanyaki - brother
Tofu Steak - me
We shared the yummy meal and frequently exchanged food. Conti's isn't overrated.
Despite the heavy dinner, we wanted cakes! CAKES! We got:
Sugar free Apple Pie - dad
Banana-something pie - mom
Walnut Cake a la mode - brother
Strawberry Cheesecake.
All food and no pictures? Well, that's why I'm Gluttony. I wouldn't be much of a glutton if I even had it in my mind to stop and take a vew pics. :P
I have a few pics. To follow na lang. | | comments: your own product of mental exercise? |
| Looks like Multiply's Cross-posting is screwed.
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May 7, 2009, 2:02 am.
Just to reiterate why trying is truly a waste of time and effort.
Yesterday, there was a request to test something at work. Ideally the deadline was the same day. My officemate in charge of it wasn't around, so I decided to just try my hand and do it myself. I created the test scenarios and even tapped my two other teammates to help me out. It took me until around 11 pm last night to finish my share. I still had to compile my two other officemates' test results and then analyze the data. After one work day, the job wasn't done.
Well, it took me the whole day today, till 10:00 pm, to compile, format and analyze the data. I thought I was almost done, but I saw many issues with the file and the data. I couldn't think of why the data just seemed to deviate at some points. After much fiddling with excel formulas, teammates' test plans, and endless percentages, I was able think of how it was possible that we had erroneous data. After two work days, the job still wasn't done.
So, after two days of trying, I'm still not done. I'm looking to finish it tomorrow, before we go on our outing. We run the danger of having to repeat all the tests we did because of my assumed flaw in the testing (yet to be confirmed). Sucks to be me! Lol.
I took the job because I wanted it done ASAP, and I didn't know when my officemate who was in charge of it would show up to do it. Unfortunately, trying really is a waste of effort. I tried to do it, and it's already two days late but still incomplete and inconclusive. It'll probably be the same thing if my officemate showed up tomorrow to do it himself. The Brand Manager who needed it still is waiting on us. Lol. All that effort, no result.
I could've allotted two days to other work which I could have accomplished within the same day.
How do you deal with employees who bite off more than they can chew? | | comments: your own product of mental exercise? |
| There are just some people in the world that you know are a good match for you. They're the people that will make you feel comfortable even if you're just being your goofy self.
And they're the type that will know how to push your buttons the right way, indicating when it's time for you to change for the better. The ones who can be frank with you and elicit the least amount of resistance despite the abrasive statements. They're the ones who can really help catalyze change and support you while you're changing for the better.
I'm not sure if it's them, or if it's you, or if it's just the combination, but you'll really know if the person you're hanging out with is that type of person.
I'm glad I know quite a handful of people like that.
However, these people are only icing on the cake. They make you feel good if you actually feel good. Lemme rephrase. They make you feel better, by reflecting and radiating that positivism that you emit.
It's a lot of fun when you hang out with people like those. And I did tonight. Glad I was able to see Jamie even if for a while. Strangely enough, that short hour seemed to be like a whole night. | | comments: your own product of mental exercise? |
| 
My Friday Night
After that serendipitous Friday night, I couldn't get myself to fall asleep. I got off the PC at 4:30 am and decided I should do my bathroom rituals. At around 5:00 am, I did some chores around the house. When I finally finished at 5:30, I decided I should go up to the penthouse and see the sky fully for a change.
Well, I took some photos of the semi-dawn sky on my phone (that explains the quality). I didn't really get to see a nice color, maybe my timing was wrong, and the sky was just too cloudy that Saturday morning.
Either way, it was nice to look at something different before going to bed.
IT was nice to see the city still asleep. Barely any cars moving, people making noise. And I enjoyed the cool morning breeze.
Eventually, I had to turn in. So, after 30 minutes, I went back to the house to lay down on my bed, trying to sleep as the sun rose up. | | comments: 2 succesful products of mental exercise or your own product of mental exercise? |
| (Manually posting because cross-posting failed.)
I pretty much had my Friday night planned. I was going to go home from work, and be home to rest and play. But I didn't. It pays to be free, to have some slight moments of irresponsibility.
Popoy asked me to join him to dinner with his officemate, to 1) be his support crew or 2) to save him in case she flaked out on him (again). I initially declined, of course, because I wouldn't want to be out of place. But when he gave me the savior argument my good friend instincts kicked in. I'd be guilty if I left him alone there, even if it meant that I had no actual, solid plans for the night and even if it meant that there was a chance I'd be going home alone at a moment's notice. Despite that, I decided to go to Glorietta/Greenbelt anyway.
Luckily, my officemate, Mel, was also going to Greenbelt to meet up with her friends. Since one of her friends was my blockmate, I said we could go to Greenbelt together. We hitched a ride with Aiza (Thanks Aiza!) who was also meeting up with some friends in Amici (and was running late). So when I finally got to meet up with Joyce again, that's when Popoy texted me to say that she didn't flake out on him and it'd be fine if I didn't go.
Despite the courteous invitations from Joyce and Mel, I politely declined and just decided to go home. As I was walking through Landmark, I saw two people I was thinking and hoping I'd meet serendipitously--Jamie and Dave! They're not just two people. They're Jamie! And Dave! I haven't seen them for.. over a year! After a short talk, we said our goodbyes and did our own thing.
I couldn't help but smile the whole time I was walking from Landmark to Glorietta to the MRT. Things turned out great; not just for me, but for my friends. Popoy's officemate didn't flake out, Joyce and Mel were with their friends, Aiza got to meet up with her friends and Jamie's in the Philippines, and more importantly, back with Dave! ;-)
There seemed to be so many things happening around me at the time, and I was happy at how they seemed to resolve themselves. This was when the reality of the vastness of the world hit me again. It was a very uplifting moment.
Have you tried thinking about what each of your friends and acquaintances are doing? How they're probably in that same mall or walking along that same road, or riding in that same train, talking with their own friends or doing their own thing, and you don't even know they're there? It's so amazing to think of how many other living beings (not just humans) are living every minute.
If you think about it, the world is such a synchronized place. With each footstep, an ant dies, a tree breathes, a pen releases ink, a cloud forms. With each breath, a door closes, a wind blows, a cigarette butt hits the ground. Can you imagine the music that would come out of all those synchronized actions? If only we could hear them all happening.
I don't know, this seriously got my spirits up tonight. I didn't want to go home at first, I planned to take a walk in Shang, Galle and Greenhills, in the hopes of meeting more friends serendipitously. But I was hungry and I wanted to save money, so I went home to have free food. Yay.
I wonder, as I type this, how many bottles of beer are being consumed?
P.S.
I also learned two things yesterday:
1) From me: Life is great, and there is much to laugh about. Nothing beats laughter. Anything can be laughed about--happy stuff, ironic stuff, irritating stuff, and it'll only make you feel better.
2) From Quing: Smile till you feel it. He said this to another boss in the office who was working hard as we were going down the elevator. Pretty neat!
Now I ask you what I asked people on my Plurk: I love my life. Do you love yours? | | comments: 2 succesful products of mental exercise or your own product of mental exercise? |
| I followed Carlo's advice and talked to my boss, Quing, today. Basically he said, "Most employees forget that their bosses aren't psychic."
Well, I simply let my boss know that after a year in Level Up!, I'm thinking of how my career will improve, because I said I couldn't do this job forever. We went on to talk about what other opportunities are there, as I discussed what I was interested in.
I mentioned my goals: 1) that I wanted to manage people, 2) that I was interested in Operations Management, as well (as pointed out by another friend who said I was probably competent enough for that stuff), dealing with processes and looking for ways in being more efficient. I mentioned these despite knowing that I still have much to learn. Gotta be confident, and show interest to be able to open yourself up to learning anyway, right?
I mentioned that I wasn't looking to go deeper into gaming, as I really wanted to gain skills that would be applicable everywhere. I'm not sure I should've mentioned this right away, but I'm glad to have gotten this off my chest.
He mentioned that right now, there is no position for what I really wanted, unless the uppers would decide to create one. For now, he said that I could pass for an Assistant Brand Manager, or maybe eventually be a Product Manager among others. I appreciate the vote of confidence from him. :) But honestly, I'm not sure if those are really what I want.
Well, eventually our talk came to an end and he thanked me for letting him know about my issues, just as I thanked him for acknowledging my concerns and for giving me suggestions.
Later on in the day, I went with Jed, my direct boss, to GH. We had a pretty long bonding session, from 6 pm to 10:30 pm? I'd have to say that he's quite a close friend now, aside from a boss. Our conversations ranged from friends to religious beliefs to workmates to gaming to relationships to family and to work. I was pretty surprised to know that his current view on gaming and our job is actually almost similar to mine. I told him that maybe with reduced gaming, he could really focus more into his seemingly bigger passion--art. Not only does he mention it a lot, I really feel the passion he has for it. He's good, and with more dedication to it, he can probably land jobs that actually make use of his talent. Well, as a friend I hope he doesn't forget my comments.
Later on during our long and filling meal (Pasto still wins!), I told him what happened during the talk with our boss, Quing. I'm glad we also got to talk about it, albeit informally. Because he's a closer friend to me, I was also able to bring up that the lack of compensation is really a big issue for me, and that I wasn't able to bring it up with Quing. Thankfully he said he'd help me out there.
Because he's also learning to be a good manager himself, we sometimes exchange ideas and we end up learning from each other. Additionally, I learned that Quing has been wanting him to take Management Seminars. I mentioned to him that I'd like to attend them too, if the other Senior GPS don't want to attend (which is almost 100% sure, even he acknowledged the fact). I mentioned these words: "I'm not afraid to step-up, because no one else is. Sayang eh." He said I should mention it to our boss, and I most definitely will, next week. I hope Quing allows me to join Jed in those seminars; I'm really excited to attend. I really want to acquire new skillsets that I think I could use for my career-building. Those would really help me build up my career, my confidence and of course, my resume.
I guess for now I should work for a promotion while acquiring skillsets that will allow me to achieve my goal.
Despite all the career issues, the bonding night was a really welcome way to start the long weekend. Long and sensible conversations like those are always welcome. More so when it's with a friend/workmate/boss.
| | comments: your own product of mental exercise? |
| Reality bites. Hard.
I know I recently blogged about my career path and choices and what I plan to do, but today really hit me. Can one mature overnight? Suddenly I'm thinking about so many stuff related to this. Seeing how much my payslip contained really hit me hard. And it isn't helping that I feel like I'm outgrowing the job, the industry and the products.
The gaming industry is really toxic. One game developer once said something like:
"In the gaming industry, you are underpaid compared to your colleagues in other industries, you have longer hours, you are underappreciated, and others think your job is a joke. But it's fun."
It's 100% true, I cannot agree more. But in my case, the "fun" part is disappearing. The passion for games that is the core requirement of being in the gaming industry is burning out in me. I don't even want to play OUR games anymore. Heck, I can't even get myself to play most games out there anymore. Yes, I can still appreciate games and say that they're nice, but I don't really want to play them. How will I fulfill my job as a Gameplay Specialist if the passion is burning out?
I'm thankful that I have a job, but unfortunately, I'm not thankful that I don't have a career path. I remember mentioning to someone that at our age, we should be building our career, so that later on, we can bank on that career and work for the money. The reality of the situation is I have no career to build in my current job.
How does one deal with reality? I've thought of different ways to answer this, and here's what I think. Some would probably say, master it, take it by the reins and make it go your way. Others would go, deal with it. Accept it and live with it. I prefer to look at it another way. Reality is like water. Navigate it, go with the flow, at the same time, know when to steer it to go your way.
Allow me to illustrate. Let's say in this example, I earn Php 8,000 net a month and I'm terribly unhappy with it.
Mastering reality would entail having a talk with my boss about opportunities, passing out resumes to other companies, analyzing the offers and taking the higher paying job with good growth potential. That way I'd be able to support a more affluent lifestyle. I see this as an aggressive approach. Instead of adjusting, I'd create a new situation for myself.
Dealing with reality would mean walking, bringing baon, going out sparingly, and gritting it out until an opportunity shows itself. Matutuong mamaluktot sa maikling kumot, kumbaga. But how long can one keep doing this, adjusting to reality? It's a very passive approach and in my honest opinion will not yield any good results anytime soon. This is, sadly, the trap that keeps people in their underpaid, overworked jobs. While this trait, being matiyaga, is held with high regard in our society, it is just impractical these days. I'm only 22, but I don't have all the time in the world to succeed.
Navigating it would mean carefully combining the two. Gritting my teeth, bringing baon, and creating an opportunity for myself. This I can do by being pro-active and talking to my boss, showing interest that I can handle new things and take on a new role at work. It's not as easy as it sounds. I've been doing the first two things mentioned for about a year and a quarter now. And doing the latter does not necessarily mean I'll get results right away.
This is probably my best option though, with the recession and all. I just can't help but wonder how long I'll last. Blatantly put, my needs are slowly changing, and the compensation just isn't cutting it. At all. Not that I just want to spend more, I just want to be able to be more flexible, do other things and save up more for my future.
I'm still continuously analyzing my strengths and weaknesses, my skill sets, to see what I can advertise about myself, in case I do decide to move on. Life is definitely not simple; school is simpler than it looks. Because when reality bites, it bites hard.
| | comments: your own product of mental exercise? |
| I found him! Tal Navarro LIVES!
After all I've done to find him, though, nothing worked. He was right under my nose. Apparently, a friend of mine, Popoy, had his YM ID all along. He just hasn't been online for the longest time.
This afternoon, Popoy told me that Tal was online, so I immediately messaged him. And 2 hours later, he responded! These were his words:
Tal: WTF, buhay ka pa pala! Hahah!
To which I said:
Dodge: Tangina pare, alam mo 10 years na kita hinahanap!
Niiice. Finally, I found him!
| | comments: your own product of mental exercise? |
| I had this close friend when I was in Grade School. He was one of the close friends I had in class that time. I thought he was gonna be with us to be accelerated into HS, but then I learned that his dad went to Singapore and they were gonna move with him. He left LSGH before Grade 6 and we never saw him again. He did, however, write letters for an English class assignment. I was able to write back a few times, but after that we lost contact.
I heard he went back home to the Philippines when I was in 1st year High School, and I've been wanting to find him since then. Last I heard was he went to HS in ADMU. Some of my Grade School classmates who moved to either Phil Sci or ADMU HS would say that they'd see him. I never got back in touch with him though.
His name's Tal Navarro. And yes, tonight, I finally re-began my search for him. I asked my other Grade School classmates, but they only remembered him until Grade School. I posted a message on Plurk, Facebook and on my YM status, hoping that someone would reply. Haha. Now I'm blogging on Multiply.
Luckily another friend of mine, Mickey Jamias found this Friendster Profile that seems to belong to Tal's HS Class. And it wasn't set to private! I just messaged the profile kanina. I hope I hear from whoever owns that profile.
I'm sure things have changed, but it'd be cool to at least get to see him and talk with him again. I know my other friends would wanna see him too. :D
If any of you know him, tell me okay?
EDIT: I just googled his name again with the tag ADMU and it seems he might've taken Electronics, Computer and Communications Engineering in ADMU.
| | comments: your own product of mental exercise? |
| I'm used to walking around the streets of Metro Manila. I walk a lot.
I walk along Annapolis for 20 minutes everyday. I walk along Buendia for 15 minutes everyday. I've walked all over Pasig and Marikina, literally. I've walked around Makati, both in the CBD (where I still get disoriented) and in the outskirts.
There's just one thing I can't stand in the Manila Streets. It's not the pollution. Or the people.
It's the MMDA pedestrian overpasses around the main streets of Metro Manila! Especially if they're uncemented and you hear the metal wobbling under your footsteps as you struggle to get across. Jesus Christ. Those never fail to make me breathe faster.
The worst was when I was going around in Sales, I got down at Katipunan and I crossed a really really loooong overpass that was crossing a highway leading to Marikina. It was probably 50 meters long, and it was wobbling. I was the only one crossing, carrying 5 lbs of stuff for my route, but I was grabbing at the railing like hell.
The next worst was the one that goes over Ortigas. I crossed there a few weeks ago when I was walking home from Galle. Wobbly. Another one is the one that goes over EDSA/North Avenue. Sooo looong and sooo wobbly. Ugh.
I just grip the railing and breathe deeply whenever I cross over those poor metal substitutes of something that would be much safer if it were cemented.
I just remembered this cause I crossed another one this afternoon, one that crossed Quezon Ave from Banawe. However, this one was had cement on the metal. No wobbling. Thank goodness.
The overpass that's in front of Unimart has no roof but is made of cement. Why cant they all be like that? :( I passed that on my way to the pet shop at the end of Wilson (along P. Tuazon), and on my way back to the house. Yes, I walked that far. Manila streets aren't too bad. :)
| | comments: your own product of mental exercise? |
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