The Road not Taken

By Robert Frost

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim
Because it was grassy and wanted wear,
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I marked the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way
I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I,
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

I can still remember the poem back in our Literature class in high school, which was by the way one of my favorite subjects back then. The road not taken - -talks about crossroads in life. Couple of weeks ago, while I was impatiently waiting for the shuttle to be full, this particular poem popped out my mind. The shuttle where I was in was, parked just in front of Accenture building in Mckinley. I was looking around, waiting for familiar-faces-maybe that might pass by. Then a though came, “what if I accepted the offer…what if I am one of them?” and more questions followed.

Crossroads moments in life are inevitable. I encountered mine after College wherein I have to choose the company where I can establish my career and future. When stuck at a crossroad in life, it seems really hard to make a stand and decide. Just like what Robert Frost states in his poem, we could not travel both, and once we choose the path to take we can never come back. Funny how I can very much relate with the last stanza, true enough I traveled the one less traveled by because of the fact that almost everyone who graduated from my school are now working in Accenture. But honestly Accenture is one of my biggest "what ifs" in life. What if I was there, what would my life be like? What if I signed the contract…who will I meet, who will my friends be, uhm a lovelife perhaps? Ay joke pala yung last. :))

*Random Fact* Two of my biggest "what ifs" in life are Accenture and St. Scho but that's another story to tell, maybe in my next blog post. Or maybe not. *just because I'm lazzzyyy* :))

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