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Sunday, January 18, 2009

A few quick words...

Well... so far so good... I'm actually enjoying my new job quite a bit. Don't have much time for anything else though.

I hope I'll be able to make a normal post soon.

Thursday, January 8, 2009

A New Beginning...

I’m transferring to a different department tomorrow… and I’m feeling somewhat uneasy about it. I never saw it coming until my boss told me about it a few weeks ago.

It’s been years—nearly eight years as a matter of fact—when I turned my back on a field for which I spent six long years in college studying and slaving over plates and research for many, many sleepless nights.

I remember, during my fourth year in college, sort of regretting pursuing the study of Architecture for reasons I have now forgotten. At the time, I lost much interest in what I was doing and it cost me dearly… an additional year in college.

Then, I recollected… I realized that I’ve got no other better choice than to straighten up, get through with it, and let the ensuing chain of events take its course. I thought, at least, after I’ve earned my degree I’ll have a key to one of the locks of the seemingly impenetrable doors of a wonderful and fruitful future.

I found myself on the stage of the PICC two years later to receive my diploma together with my brother.

A few weeks after graduating, I was referred by my then girlfriend (wife now) to her friend Ping who was working at an animation studio. Ping had informed her earlier that another studio, one that’s owned by a friend of her boss, was looking for trainees.

Eagerly wanting to start earning my own money, I hurriedly turned in my application. I got accepted soon after and, modesty aside, became the first trainee (out of 11) to be given real and paid production work after training for about three months.

I stayed with the studio for, I think, about nine months (including the three-month training period) when, due to the comically depressing amount of money I was getting for my work, I decided to leave… me and all of my batch mates, as a matter of fact.

Soon after, a former classmate got in touch with me and informed me of a job opening at a small construction company in which I eventually got accepted.

My first two months there went fairly well, but it gradually turned into hell.

In that company I was a draftsman, a site supervisor, a site inspector, a secretary, an errand boy, a messenger, a collector, and a few others. I’ve got no one to help me since I was the only office/regular employee. I received only the minimum wage (which was, I think, P250 at the time) for doing and being all of those… no extras, no benefits. And, as if that’s not bad enough, on the start of my fourth month, my boss started blaming me for mistakes I did not commit.

I got fed up and left the company at the end of my fourth month. And with that, I developed a tendency to shy away from anything related to that field.

It would take a long torturously depressing month before an opportunity would come again. That opportunity turned into a long (and quite fruitful) career in graphics design, lasting for seven years five months and seven days (last count today). And it ended at 7:00pm tonight.

Just to make things clear, I’ll still be in the same company tomorrow, only in a different department.

It’s a very busy department… that’s for sure, and I’m surely going to be up to my neck with work… work related to the field I’ve turned my back on many, many years ago. It feels a lot like my past has come back to haunt me in the guise of a new start, a new opportunity.

I shall go to bed later tonight wishing that I am indeed going to wake up to a new day, to a new career… I hope, this time, it’ll be different.

How I wish I have something to fall back on to should things go awry.

What will tomorrow bring indeed.

Monday, January 5, 2009

OUR Holiday Rush...

When work ended last December 23, I hurriedly packed my things and rushed home to get ready for a long trip.

My wife and I only had less than an hour and a half to prepare for our trip… actually less than an hour considering the amount of time we needed to get to the bus station which I estimated would consume about 30 minutes of our time.

After jamming all the contents of the fridge in several bags (they were the only things left to be packed), we hailed a taxi and headed off to the bus station (took us around 15 to 20 minutes before we were able to get a cab, by the way).

The ride to the bus station started out pretty well, until we got to A. H. Lacson Avenue where vehicular traffic was almost at a stand-still. And, thinking that our seats might be given to chance passengers, I was starting to panic…

Upon reaching the corner of Lacson and España (UST), we only had five minutes left before our bus leaves. And so, we decided to alight from the cab and run to the Florida (bus) station which was then only a few meters away.

Well, we were able to make it… but not without some inconveniences.

Upon climbing on the bus, we saw that one of our seats was already occupied. We told the konduktor that we have already paid for our tickets and he, in turn, told the person occupying the seat about the situation.

Maybe it was luck… or maybe it’s the Christmas spirit, the person vacated the seat willingly and, a couple of minutes later, we were on our merry way.

14 hours… that’s how long the trip took… 14 blissful hours to…

Sanchez Mira, Cagayan…

the birthplace of my wife.

In the days following our arrival, my in laws and I embarked on a tour of the wonderful provinces of Sanchez Mira, Cagayan and Ilocos Norte that made the Yuletide Season of 2008 the most memorable in my life.

So many sights… so many wonderful sights…

A beach in Claveria, Cagayan…


Patapat Bridge…


The windmills of Bangui, Ilocos Norte…


Nipa Beach Int’l Resort in Ilocos Norte…


Paoai Church, Ilocos Norte…


The Malacañang Palace of the North, Paoai, Ilocos Norte…


Paoai Lake, Ilocos Norte…


Ferdinand Marcos’ Mausoleum in Batac, Ilocos Norte…


The rice fields of Pasuquin, Ilocos Norte during sun set…


The Mascoop Training Center and Resort in Masisit, Sanchez Mira, Cagayan…


A man gathering shells at the Naguguran beach in Sanchez Mira, Cagayan…


A beach in Dammang, Sanchez Mira, Cagayan…


And many others.

It’s very sad that the wonderful vacation had to come to an end… sigh.

Will be posting a lot of things related to this on my other blog over the next several weeks if you’re interested… gonna start with the wonderful Sanchez Mira. :)

Saturday, January 3, 2009

A Yuletide Season To Remember...

Quite sadly, I'm back from a wonderful vacation... back to reality... back to normalcy...

Looking back...

Left Manila on the evening of December 23 (8:00pm)...

Arrived at Sanchez Mira, Cagayan on December 24 (10:00am)...


Sand and sea on Christmas day...


Sun, sand, sea, windmills, and a long bridge on December 26...


An old church, a palace, and a mausoleum on December 27...



A tour of Sanchez Mira on December 28...


Beaches again on December 29...

Drinking spree on December 30...


A more in-depth tour of Sanchez Mira on December 31...

Shooting practice and backing-up pictures on New Year's day...

Left for Manila yesterday at around 4:00pm...

Arrived in Manila this morning at around 6:00am (yep... 14 hours of butt-numbing bus ride, and I LOVE IT!)

It was indeed a Yultide Season/vacation to remember!

Will write more about this later...

Once again, Happy New Year everyone!

Thursday, January 1, 2009

It's 2009!

The Old Year has gone. Let the dead past bury its own dead. The New Year has taken possession of the clock of time. All hail the duties and possibilities of the coming twelve months!

~Edward Payson Powell


Not that last year was bad for me personally, but I hope this year will be better... and that goes for all of us. :)

HAPPY NEW YEAR!
 

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