Chasing Dreams

Flashback. Right at this very moment, it’s already been 9 months and 14 days since I landed my dream company. Honestly the feeling is still surreal until now. I am lucky to be working with HP, yes I get that I lot from people. Many are dying to be in my shoes, of course its HP and who wouldn’t want to work in one of the multinational IT corporation. I’m enjoying the perks and benefits of being an HP employee. A lot! ;) So for that Thank you very much HP. Very much appreciated and I owe a lot from you.

Decisions. Along the way, you’ll come up with realizations and this is where you have to come up with a decision. Lately I’ve been thinking that yes I am working in my dream company but it is not aligned with my dream job. During college days I’ve always prayed that I land in my dream company but I realized that I forgot to pray that I may land in my dream job. I’ve come to realize that I don’t have to sacrifice my happiness for the sake of money. Yes the salary is good and there are a lot of benefits but I don’t want to end up miserable.

The first step. I am actually proud of myself because last night I did the first step in chasing my dream. I was feeling giddy  while I was updating my resume. Hihihi. Simple joys I know. I felt that my resume is good enough to be noticed by other company. I have high hopes that I will still find a company where the culture is ideal. It would be so nice to be working with people who share the same work ethics as yours. Eight hours is a very long time each day to be doing something that isn’t right, so as much as possible I want to avoid situations like that.

Time. Although chasing my dream won't happen in an instant. Maybe right now I have to stay first and wait for a year or more. I just have to make the most of my stay here and must look forward to the dream job waiting for me. Someday, I will have the courage to walk away. *Parang love lang* :))

I recall that earlier this year I posted a picture that says the first three words you see will come to you in 2013 and my words are Love, Beauty, Success. I got the first two *LOL kidding* and Success is coming my way. Yes, claim it and you’ll achieve it. :)

2012 Recap. Year-ender blog.

2012 is going to end soon which makes me realize that time really moves fast. Sometimes I wish that things would slow down because everything is so fast paced and I don’t wanna miss out on somethings. This year is one memorable roller-coaster ride for me. So much has changed; I had my share of ups and downs, trials and difficulties, triumphs and success.

Everyone can hardly wait for the dawn of the New Year, but before we turn the page and say our farewell to 2012 let me walk down through memory lane and reminisce the experiences that this year has taught me.

12 highlights of my 2012

January. Our faith and our relationship as a class were put to test when our classmates encountered an accident. It was not quite a good start for a year right. We were living on prayers just for the fast recovery of ChipiBoys

February. The love month but let’s not dwell on that yet since I wasn’t dating anyway. So focus on studies. Hahaha!:-) I received an award during our recognition day because I was included in the Dean’s List. It was such an honor and very fulfilling not only for me but for my family. Plus all my girlfriends also received an award. Yey to our team work! J

March. Marks the biggest milestone in my student life. We finally graduated from College. All the hard works and sleepless nights paid off. The sad part is that we go separate ways with the people we spent almost our entire college days.

April. There’s no place like home.  My stress free month. Visited a family in Cebu and then finally my hometown Leyte. I’m the happiest when I’m at home because it means that I get to spend time with my family and friends. It was also a needed break from my studies and also a preparation for another phase in my life as a working girl this time.

May. This is my Month! Birthday month and love month. I so love this month, no need to expound J

June. At exactly June 1, I was officially employed in my dream company HP. This was the greatest challenge for me since I’m new to this kind of experience. I couldn’t still believe that I’m already part of the working force. I was just so thankful for all the blessings that I received.

July. Inlababooo. Met new people who became a special part of my life. J <3

August. Time to catch up. Since my Gf’s and I went on separate ways and we barely get the chance to see each other, we planned something something just to be able to spend time even just for a lunch or a night out.

September. Mother’s birthday month. Bakasyon grande at Davao with family. It was my first time there in Davao and I immediately fell in love with the place and the people. Everyone was just so friendly and welcoming in Davao and I can’t wait to visit the place again soon.

October. Work-home-work. I’m starting to lose my social life and my life starts to be boring but never the less I’m still thankful for work and pay ofcourse :P

November. Our faith was once again put to test. My father was rushed to the hospital and we immediately filed an emergency leave to be with family at Cebu. It was really a hard time, and I can’t even manage to smile or laugh on little things because something big was holding me up. I can say that this is the most difficult problem that our family has faced. Physical stress, emotional stress and financial stress all in one. But then again God never fails us. He is so amazing that he never left our side. So I’m am very much Thankful! God is really awesome.

December. My favorite time of the month. I always get excited for the holiday. Good thing I was allowed to be on leave from work for 7 days so I was able to spend Christmas with family and with love’s family.

2012 is one of my favorite year so far. It brought me a lot of experiences that can help me in facing other years to come. Thank you so much 

On being a Fanatic

Fact: I’m the biggest fan of the very charming JLC *blushes* just the thought of him makes me kilig. Hahaha. And my friends can attest to that. I have a long list of JLC movies that I’ve watched, loved and memorized the lines and scenes. Hihih. From One More Chance, A Very Special Love, Miss You Like Crazy, My Amnesia Girl and the list goes on.

I was even present during their mall show at Trinoma for the movie The Mistress. Very fanatic right, good thing boyfrann was ever supportive with my craziness. Heheh. And ofcourse I don’t wanna be the last person to watch his latest movie so during my off boyfrann and I immediately watched The Mistress. As expected the movie was great. Star Cinema never fails me. JLC and Bea are really good in their craft.

Few days after, the movie was the talk of the town. Even in the office it was what most of our conversation was about.  My teammates wanted to watch  and they were convincing me to go with them. It took us the whole shift to finally decide if we will go with our plan. It was already about midnight when we arrived at Resorts World because we rendered OT before that and we got out of the office at around 11. We were already in the ticket booth all excited to watch when the saleslady informed us that the only available ticket is worth 500. Five hundred pesos for a movie ticket, WTF right. We were all dismayed. It took us minutes in deciding whether we will push through with it. That was a huge amount you know. But for the love of JLC I still watched the movie. We ended up at the movie house despite the very expensive tickets. Talk about being such huge fans. 

We Salute You, Sec Jesse

I did not know him personally but upon hearing the sad news I felt a hint of pain and a feeling of loss. Jesse is really a great loss, he had done a lot for our country and he could have done more but maybe it is already his time. For sure, God has better plans for him. He might be in a better place right now.

It’s weird though that I see my father in him. His simplicity and humbleness reminds me of my father. It amuses me seeing him just in a simple t-shirt, shorts and slippers in ordinary an day which is very much like my father.

To the Robredo family, our deepest condolences.

Reality Sucks

Life after college comes my realization of what reality is all about. Days have been rough on me after being in the work force. Things happened hastily that I wasn’t ready for any of them. This past months has brought me so many downs.

I’m having difficulty dealing with the people who have attitude problems and issues with work ethics. Although I was already able to adjust with the tasks and I am already able to grasp all the information regarding my job, the problem with my teammates enters the scene. I also don’t like the fact that the nature of our work is 24/7 and critical jobs must be monitored. Most of the time I feel stressed and pressured. Poor me :( It’s supposedly a long weekend in the Philippines but that doesn't apply to me which makes me more depressed plus the fact that today is Sunday supposedly a rest day but again, not for me. 

So this is reality? It is finally sinking in. I know that ups and downs are part of life’s reality but I must handle the situation the best that I could. I just have to cling to the thought that life is like a carousel sometimes you’re up, sometimes you’re down and sometimes you just go round and round. I may be down right now but who knows tomorrow might be a different turn of fate.

Pardon me if this post is so emotional, but the hormones and the situation is just too dragging.

July 21, 2012

w/ ze boyfrann

Out of my Comfort Zone

June 28 was my-not-so-favorite-day in office. I even cried, out of my frustration and sadness. It was really a rough day, I can feel the stress and pressure in work and an additional factor was that an office mate told me that I'll be attending a team building the next day. I didn't want to attend the said event because it was only me and our manager who will be there because my other teammates will be busy. So I thought that I'll be a loner since I'm still new in the company and I barely know the people there. Though my new found friends during the ITO onboarding will be there, I still didn't want to go because I know that they'll be with their teammates. I've been crying the whole night because it was really out of my will to be there but no matter how many tears I cry I can't do anything because they leave me with no choice. So there the next day I woke up at around 5 in the morning because I was scheduled on the 7am bus. And just like what I expected I was alone in the bus though I see familiar faces like our hiring manager and people from my former team which was web hosting. I was a loner until the second bus, where my friends were, arrived. So there I made the most out of the team building.

They welcomed us with a banner

The view. It was a resort but we had to go down over 250 steps to Camptipolo where the adventure happened.

My friends from web hosting team

Jico, Jerel, Sir Jaybee, Chelzee, Moi, Vero and Kat. Sir Jaybee is our hiring manager. We owe him a lot because if not because of him we will still be unemployed I guess. hehe.

The activities started in the afternoon. Upon arriving Camptipolo we were already tired and perspiring because of the 250 steps on the way down.

We were grouped into 6 teams and I belong to black team, thus my black UST shirt :) I was the only girl in the team which was awkward at first but it has also its pros. 

Our first adventure was low rope course. Just by looking at the ropes hanging I know that it is really difficult to do, plus the time pressure. The ropes were formed like a spider web, x-trail and cargo net. I just couldn't imagine myself completing the course but bruises and scars couldn't be avoided of course. I'm also thankful to the boys in our team because they helped and guide me to the finish line. The second adventure was the mud slide. It was also my first time to do it. I don't even to go slides in pool because I don't have the nerve to do it and I'm really a big coward. But after doing the mud slide which I enjoyed I even wanted to go for a second round. The next thing we did was balancing log. I was really proud that I was able to cross the other edge without falling into the lagoon. Tarzan jump followed but I didn't do it since I was the only girl and they decided not to put me in danger. Hahaha. Sweet right. Mud crawl followed which made us more dirty but it was fun as well. It was really a new experience for me since I'm really not the adventurous kind of person. In fact I'm the biggest coward I know, that even with kittens I am afraid. From that activity I discovered something new from myself. I realized that I'm capable of things that I can't imagine myself in it. I didn't have pictures with our team because no one brought camera with us. But thanks to Kat for this pictures. It was from the pink team, the winning team by the way.

Pink team being informed about the rules of Tarzan Jump

Jerel "Anderson" aka Coco Martin doing Tarzan Jump

Balancing log

Tight rope

Low rope course

At the end of the day, I realized that going to the team building was not a bad idea after all. It was there that I met new friends and knew my capabilities. My teammate was right when he said that it will be my break from work and yes it was really a break that I needed. Though the next day my whole body was in pain but it was all worth it. I just had a whole body massage after which was also oh so good. I'm looking forward to more team buildings! :-)