Tag: work

Friday the 13th

On my way to work, I was in a  chirpy mood while recalling some funny and scary stories about Friday the 13th. I’ve always wondered why people think that bizarre things happen during this day. For me, it’s a lucky day.

I arrived in the office 45 minutes early and I quickly run through my to do list for the day. Guess what? It’s indeed my “lucky” day! I can’t connect to the Internet via wireless! Ha!

Since wireless connection is interrelated with most of the things that I do, I was beginning to feel the anxiety attack. Good thing,  my colleague, Andreas, helped me find a temporary solution while waiting for our “tech” guys.   The funny thing is, the software that I was using decided to join the “fun” and crash! Ha!

I was slightly upset but I don’t want to dwell on it. To keep myself busy and productive, I cleared some of the not so urgent workload that don’t require the the software and the Internet connection.

To cut it short, my (urgent) to do list for the day was completely screwed. On a happy note, I did catch up a little bit after lunch. Thanks to the perogies and cabbage roll lunch that Tiffany ordered. It certainly perked me up! :p

Cabbage Roll & Perogies

In conclusion, I can say that I still consider Friday the 13th as a lucky day (in the true sense of the word)!   The turn of events didn’t dampen my spirit to stay positive!

How’s your Friday the 13th?

scary? lol

planning

One thing that doesn’t apply to me is planning my life. Whenever I intend to aim for something, it will automatically become elusive. After doing several attempts, I finally accepted the fact that planning doesn’t work for me.

Proof? Here you go:

Lovelife. I wanted to get married by year 2000 but it did not happen. I thought, it maybe too early so I extended it to 2005. It “almost” happened. However, some obscure phenomenon hindered it. Thus, this stage is still UNDER CONSTRUCTION. :p

Habitat.   Initially, I intended to work in Qatar but I wound up working in Singapore. I planned to settle in Europe for good but I ended up migrating in North America. I’m still in limbo with this turn of events. Maybe fate brought me here? Whatever it is. I’m here to stay.

Work. My goal is to follow my late mother’s wish which is to keep away from the teaching force and my ultimate dream after graduation is to become a Programmer (aka Software Developer or Software Engineer). Yet, I ended up teaching for almost 8 years and did several other jobs but never as a Software Developer.

The above-mentioned are some of the instances which made me stopped outlining my goals and just go with the flow. It`s kinda weird because when I stopped planning my life,  things started to fall into place.

Let’s wait and see. Aja!

thecuriousme

mission

I was “channel hopping” when I chance upon  “Jillian Namamasko Po“, a television show from the Kapuso network in the Philippines last December 2010. Jillian is a doll who wishes to become a full-fledged human being. In order to attain this, she needs to fulfill “assigned” missions. The twists:

  • she needs to figure out what that mission is
  • she will only be directed to another mission once the current mission is already accomplished

It struck me that Jillian symbolizes every one of us. Aspirations can be achieved either:

  • smoothly or
  • we need to pass through the eye of a needle before attaining it or
  • no matter how we exert all our effort, it will be futile.
copyrights credit goes to GMA 7 – Kapuso Network

I remember in my first job, I was at the school director’s office every year to submit my resignation letter. Teaching is a noble profession but I wanted to re-align my career path be a software developer… but I can’t seem to “break free”. It’s only on the 3rd year that I was able to get out from it and magically landed on another job… which is teaching. Long story…

Relationship wise, I met someone whom I treasured dearly and was looking forward to spend the rest of my life with… then again, no matter how we did our best to keep the fire burning and  work things out, we kept going back to square one. It’s a vicious cycle that drained the hell out of me (and him).

Relationship, work related issues, and friendship may come and go no matter you hold on. Acceptance and pain might be tough but in due time, a new  relationship will blossom, a new job can be found, and a new friendship will be formed. However, health condition and family matters cannot be replaced and it should be treasured like a delicate figurine.

Every stages and experiences are all necessary in order for us to become diamonds in our own right. We may not understand the reasons now, but the dots will be connected when the right time comes. Let’s fulfill our designated missions with open heart and open mind as well as forget the “what if”  and “should have been” part.

As they say… is it mission impossible or mission possible?  Aja!

pretty

TheSoulfulVixen and I were talking a few days ago about one of her favorite television show called Outsourced. I gamely viewed the links she gave me thinking that it’s just a common comedy flick that we normally see on the tube… You know… the usual boring ones… :p Surprisingly, the show proved to be totally hilarious!

That brought me down towards the memory lane and made me remember two similar scenarios in my previous work.

Setting: I was seated next to Jay, one of my colleagues, when I heard him raise his voice while talking on the phone.

Below were the two scenarios that transpired:

Scenario 1:
Jay called the office in Hyderabad, India to discuss some business related issues.
He caught my attention when he slightly raised his voice and he suddenly used Indian accent while conversing with the Indian fellow on the other line. I was doing my best to suppress a loud laugh while staring at him. He did it in a very suave manner that he sounded like an Indian. Whoa! Jay’s absolutely amazing!

After the call, I asked what prompted him to do that and Jay said he was somewhat offended when the guy from India told him that he cannot understand him because his (Jay’s) accent was so thick. Thus, Jay mimicked him instead of getting mad at the Indian guy and certainly, the conversation went smoothly.

Smart move Jay!

Just a thought… if the Indian guy thinks that Jay’s accent was so thick, how does he describe his own accent then? Oppsie! No pun intended!  

Scenario 2:
Jay transferred a call to Hyderabad, India. Of course, whether in a personal or a business call, It’s the protocol to know the name of the person that you are speaking with.

The conversation went like this:

Pretty:  Thank you for calling, my name is Pretty. How may I help you today?
Jay:         Hi, I’m Jay from _______. Sorry, your name again?
Pretty:  Hi Jay, my name is Pretty.
Jay:         Sorry, can you spell it for me?
Pretty:  P for Panama
R for Rome
E for England
T for Thailand
T for Thailand
Y for Yuguslavia

Jay:        Oh! Are you Pretty?
Pretty:  Yes Jay, I’m Pretty.
——————————–

hiding my laughter…:p

I was laughing so hard while listening to their conversation.
I still burst into soft giggle whenever I remember the above scenarios. Ha!

Way to go Jay! Aja!

o.f.w. journey (part 1 of 2)

I was planning to work in Qatar but it looks like it’s not part of God’s itinerary for me. I felt that he was whispering to me, “My child, stay in Singapore for the moment”.  And so I did.

And the story begins…

I chance upon my fellow GI (genuine ilokano) and “dabarkads” (a.k.a. friend), James Lee, when I went to do my clearance in my previous work. He mentioned that his sister is working somewhere in Singapore and pointed out that maybe I can try my luck there. He was kind enough to refer me to stay and share the rent in his sister’s place while looking for a job.

I quickly grabbed the opportunity without weighing the pros and cons. All I wanted at that time was to  bounce back from the terrible and chaotic event that transpired. Moreover, I did not ask for money from my family because I knew that they also have their own financial obligations to settle. My little savings back then was not enough but I was not even worried.

As I think about it now, God sent an angel to help me with regards to money matters. No wonder I was not worried!  God is indeed very good!  Hence, I booked my flight and went to that part of Singapore with just few clothes in my luggage and no laptop at all.  It’s like going to a battlefield without firearms. Ha!

Furthermore, I haven’t seen Joan (James Lee’s sister) in person and in photo. So I had no clue at all on how she looked like. After a three and a half hour flight, I took a taxi from the airport to Joan’s place. I was a bit apprehensive because I felt like we were traveling in the forest with the trees looming at me. I had goosebumps but I tried to maintain a relax facade.

I relaxed a bit when the taxi finally dropped me off at the entrance of a building. A couple were sitting at the entrance. The girl looked like James Lee’s female version so I presumed that she’s Joan… and I was right.   

After sharing the sumptuous meal that they have prepared, I unpacked my stuff and then Joan and Jessie (Joan’s boyfriend) showed me around and taught me how to get to one place to the other. It was a long weekend when I got there, thus, most shops were closed including the money changers.

FYI: Joyce lent me her laptop (isn’t she an angel?  ) and told me to send my resume to at least 1000 employers. According to her the trend there is to apply online and only shortlisted applicants will be called for an interview.

Within two months, I must find a job and as well as get my work pass approved within that span of time. A real big challenge ey?

To be continued in a jiffy…  :p