Reminiscing Europe

Next week I will be celebrating my 5th month with my new company. The world of EHS as I came to know has now faded in the background. And I have somehow gotten used to seeing my former colleagues leave my old company. It’s a fact of life: people come and go.
One thing I truly miss about my previous job is the opportunity to travel. I thank GE because it has given me the chance to be in London 3 years back, my first European visit. Looking at the photo right now of the one taken in River Thames, I can’t help but feel nostalgic.
I miss the excitement of being in a new place. Of seeing a new environment for the first time. There is the wonderment of a child for a whole new experience.
It’s this very reason that I am gearing up for my European backpack adventure next year..

My Life According to Eraserheads

My facebook notes page has a farraginous assortment of wacky Q&As, moving essays and whatnot. Here's my favorite of the bunch. the limiting latitude challenges the responder to be more creative. Enjoy..

Time to let those creative juices flowing.

Using only song names from ONE ARTIST, answer these questions. Pass it on to 20 people including me. Try not to repeat a song title. Repost as ‘My Life According to (Artist)’ “

Are you male or female? Pare Ko

Describe yourself: Kaliwete

How do you feel: Futuristic

Describe where you currently live: Alapaap

If you could go anywhere, where would you go: Trip to Jerusalem

Your favorite form of transportation: Para Sa Masa

Your best friends are: Maalalahanin

Your favorite color is: Butterscotch

What's the weather like: Ha ha ha

If your life was a TV show, what would it be called: Overdrive

What is life to you: Ligaya

Your current relationship: Waiting for the Bus

Breaking up: Huwag Mo Nang Itanong

Looking for: Milk and Money

Wouldn’t mind: Sembreak

Your fear: Poorman's Grave

What is the best advice you have to give: Easy Ka Lang

If you could change your name, you would change it to: Yoko

Thought for the Day: Fill Her

How would you like to die: With A Smile

Bigger Picture

There are those scenes that simply enrapture you and make you long that you were part of it. And even for a moment, however flitting, you feel a sense of surrender, of connection, of relaxation. I unearthed this photo while browsing through my files in the hard drive. It was taken in January 2008 when I made a side trip to Yosemite Park, after our annual conference in my previous company.

Four months have passed since I transferred to my new job. Time as always just seemed to whizz by. The chasm that splits my present with the immediate past has now become unleapable. I miss the side trips and mini-adventures that my previous job had to offer but I guess they are all now a thing of the past.

The various aspects that I shudder upon during my first few days in the new company have now woven intricately into the fabric of my daily life. I guess all those life-changing decisions I’ve made in the past made me more resilient.

My current job can be taxing in a lot of ways and there is always that danger of getting too self-absorbed that one misses out the bigger picture.

This photo turned out to be an eye-opener of sorts. I realized I needed that occasional dose of getting unleashed from the daily trappings of life and being thrown out there.

And so I made a pact with myself, that before the year ends, I would definitely have a “step-back-and-look-at-the-great-picture” adventure.

Goodbye Ebun!

Just learned last Sunday that Ebun in Greenbelt has already closed. I feel as if something in me died. Ebun has been my hangout of sorts. The tuna kinilaw there was to die for. Sigh... another kinilaw go-to place gone...

Tribute Video

Random Lesson : Have an Anchor

My decision to transfer to my new company has been challenged by several factors lately. I always find myself staring at the Taguig skyline early in the morning from one of the lavishly designed meeting rooms, pondering upon my fate.

It was a good thing that several months back I revived my former habit of writing a journal ( an offshoot requirement for my state of life discernment activity with my prayer community). Tonight I was put back in perspective when I read the thought process behind my decision. That I was able to capture those thoughts and emotions in its raw form back then was truly amazing.

I miss my old job, because it afforded me to go places where I have never been. But then again, knowing that this transfer would help me achieve my financial freedom soon somehow alleviate those doubts.

I get to realize now the value of an ongoing journal. It serves as an anchor of the past. It puts things in perspective when things somehow become confusing. It gives you a chance to step back, reassess the situation and look at the entire picture.

Not sure why am posting this shot.. It was taken from a train station on our way to conquer Mt Fuji in 2009.

Three Months and Counting

It has been three months since I left my comfort zone. A lot of things have happened, at least outside my world, but for me everything seemed to pass by in just a blur. I must admit I have had doubts about my transfer to my new work but I always remind myself of the primary motivation why I made the move and somehow that made things in perspective.

I've had bouts of nostalgia of late and I somehow get depressed when I look back at the long term goals I have written down ten years back. Somewhere in the period between that boat ride from Mindanao to the arduous trek to Mt Fuji a big chunk of my idealism died.

Every morning at the office I would always spend some time sipping a hot cop of cafe mocha staring at the commanding view of the Laguna de Bay. I miss getting in touch with myself getting lost in that great beauty of the expanse out there.

I just know that I have to reconnect with my old self.. Soon.

Week 4

It's rather unnerving to think that it's already my week 4 in my new company. I miss the camaraderie of my old company. The chit chats in the pantry, the occasional hiritan in the email, the quick updates during a facility tour. But now I have slowly accepted the fact that I have to move on.

In my second week in DKS my decision to move has been challenged. The amount of workload was more than what I've expected. But then when I stepped back and went through again the salient points, the underlying items, why I had to move, I became firmer in my resolve. I had to do the leap to achieve financial freedom. I am glad to say that the debt I incurred when my dad had a stroke 2 years ago will finally be settled.

I am sad in a lot of ways... yet I am pleased that things are going according to my plan.

Changes 2

Today was my first day in the new company. Everything has just been pretty overwhelming. Last Friday I was still dong some turnovers in my old office. Then over the weekend I joined my new team for the team building activity and today I was already in my new company attending the day 1 orientation.

There is definitely a huge contrast between the old and new. The new one is definitely bigger (1800 FTEs !!!) and the lobby definitely intimidating.

I do miss the home-y feel of the old office. But it's comforting to know that am just on the other building.

In a lot of ways I am a closest resistor... I advocate on living and breathing change. After all in my new role I will be part of the team that would drive change.

But deep inside I am a wimp.. reluctant of change... And I guess everyone is inherently predisposed to hold on to the familiar..And I guess it's not a bad thing.. it's just make us human...

And perhaps reaching that level of maturity to finally embrace change is one of life's lessons.

Changes

Life for most part is a steady state, a status quo. And then a jolt occurs, a quantum leap happens, a wave of change overwhelms you...It is how you cope with that change that defines you as a person.

I sit here rambling away, seemingly unperturbed yet I know that come Monday it will be a whole new routine, a whole new environment. And I would have just to embrace that change.

Video of our Bantay Pawikan Activity 2008

Our valiant attempt to document our turtle release activity in an MTV format



We released the turtle hatchlings on the sandy beaches of Morong one cloudy Saturday morning. Two days fresh from being hatched, these marine turtles will start their journey in the rough waters, with no training, no briefing, no preparation, armed only with that instinct to survive and deal with whatever is out there in the wild.

Considered endangered, most of these turtles will not live to see maturity - the numbers are depressing, only 1% will make it.

Which is why the efforts of Bantay Pawikan to enhance the survival of the turtles are pretty much admirable.

One can help by adopting a Pawikan for a minimal fee of 200 – funds go to maintenance of the turtle hatchery. The fee gives the sponsor the hands-on experience of releasing his “baby”.

It is fascinating to note that should, by a matter of luck or skill, these turtles survive, they will be coming back to these very beaches to lay eggs and begin another cycle.

No matter where the waves of life would bring them, no matter how far the corners of the world they would wander, Mother Nature will beckon them to come back when the time comes. But that won’t happen until after 50 years.

In the meantime all I can do, I suppose, is wish that my babies would make it out there.

Turtles and humans, I guess, have a lot in common.

No matter how arduous or how far or how long the journey is, there will come a time when they all come home

2009 Tribute Video

Posted a video tribute to the wonderful and wacky adventures I've had in 2009.
It had definitely been a roller coaster ride.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-F0ZYI25Q9U

Looking forward to what 2010 has in store for me..