Friday, April 28, 2006

Closure

I just got home. Early afternoon I left for an initial interview for Thai Airways, an opening for the position of Junior Reservations Officer which I was informed about through my friend Lyka. The place and the building was new to me, lucky I arrived there after following Lyka's directions. Nothing much.

That was early afternoon, and to kill time so that I'd be at PeopleSupport by 10pm, I went to Greenbelt and watched a movie all by myself. I chose The Wild. I think I laughed harder than the kids. Hahaha.

I did the whole exit clearance thing in just one day. Cool. Well actually it did something for me, psychologically. It gave me a closure on this first job. I actually thought about which companies I'd be searching on the net so that I'd be able to submit my resume online. Hehehe. Now I'm really looking for a job!

Wednesday, April 26, 2006

Who's gonna complete my world?

Monday I went to this call center over at ELJ building, ABS CBN compound (long story why I'm applying for yet another call center job) and went through the whole process of taking tests and series of interviews, blah blah blah. So am I now employed? Nope. I did not sign the contract after the we discussed base salary. Gawsh, it's lower than what I get for my part time stint! Geez.

Maybe I'm meant to do the Conference Hostess stint for Marcus Evans this May. Mom actually was the culprit why I'm into this hostess--ugh, I hate how it sounds--thing. She was over at Marcus Evans office last Friday to submit and discuss the price quotation for some office statio and other printed materials when the receptionist mentions they're looking for the hostess thingie. My mom called me up (I was at home, sound asleep!) and told me to go there...Makati! Like immediately. I was interviewed by a Czech lady named Tereza who was actually complaining on how difficult it was to get the right person since the head hunters that were doing the service for them was sending her receptionists very much inexperienced with events management... So there. I'm still subject for a final interview with an American (I think she's American, or British?) woman early May.

On another topic, I'm smiling like crazy right now coz my boyfriend just informed me that he's got MSN messenger already. Finally, after ten thousand years. :) He too was amazed with the thing, said he should've created one a long time ago. Hahaha. For the Beirut part, he's still going there, though sched was delayed for a good nine days. Hmm.

On yet another topic, yesterday was my paternal grandparents' golden wedding anniversary, therefore, celebration! I wore my what I call mukhang basahan style (kasi para shang tagpi tagpi na pieces of cloth) but nevertheless elegant black dress which I bought from an ukay ukay store for twenty pesos. Yipee. The photo of me sporting my ultra messy hairstyle was from yesterday's event.

Saturday, April 22, 2006

Sniff to Snip

I've been quite depressed lately over a few things and had even cried my heart out--literally--a few nights back. So I woke up today with a mission: Hair cut. I usually just have my hair trimmed for as long as I can remember (except for this one time when I was so asar with my hair that I had it cut real short) and today I decided I won't have a trim. I'll have a real haircut.

When I got home, my mom was like, "What did you do to your hair?!" I shrugged and said, "It's called styling. As in s-t-y-l-e. Maiba naman." So there.

Thursday, April 20, 2006

And the beat goes on...

Okay so where was I? To continue, well (I'm blank on what happened next) of course we went on and reached Baguio in time and stayed at the house we're supposed to stay at. We were tired from the long byahe so we just lounged around and had early dinner at [that] home coz we're in for the Salubong to be held during Easter dawn. (photo: the house)



Sunday, April 16

And so, we did, at 5am. Held at the skating rink of Burnham park, Easter Sunday mass followed shortly at, ulp, in the middle of the boating lake! For real! Here's a blurry photo, we were of course, at the "shore" while the mass celebrants are onstage.


Too sleepy after waking up at about 4am, we went back home and had breakfast and then slept again. Watched Ice Age 2 (finally!) at SM Baguio in the afternoon with kuya and the rest of the gang. Omg, it was so much fun! Come to think of it, it's so cold and you're watching ice age. Had dinner at a Mongolian restaurant afterwards.


Monday, April 17

My dad woke me up really hard coz it's ukay-ukay day. Heehee. We three ladies--mom, me and my sister--spent around three hours and ended up with such great buys. (Like twenty pesos for a dress! Heaven!) Lunched at the slaughter house compound and then my brothers are off to go bowling somewhere while the ladies plus dad went driving around and bought ube from Good Shepherd--way too expensive nowadays, P220 for a jar--and a few more stuff at Mines View. Then we went to Camp John Hay for dessert.

I thought I'd have the time of my life when I saw vinta-like ads around John Hay with teasing photos of sumptuous desserts of 19th Tee! (For those who don't know, 19th Tee was once the best place for buffet breakfast and a lot of good desserts in John Hay before the camp was renovated, way even before the addition of The Manor Hotel which led to the vanishing of the said cafe.) The cafe was supposed to be open April 12 onwards like what the ad was displaying, but we went to the place, it was closed! Appears that it opened just to make profit out of the tons of people who flocked Baguio during the Holy Week. Darn.

Anyway, we ended up at Everything Nice and had a few slices of cake. I was supposed to meet my friend today but was unable to squeeze in the schedule and because it rained hard. So, we were stuck at home and settled for home cooked dinner instead.


Tuesday, April 18

It's technically our last whole day at Baguio so we jampacked our schedule. Breakfast at Cafe by the Ruins, had my fave Chocolate at Suman... (photo: the grandparents and Yana at Ruins)



Then the Grotto (and the first-timers--the yaya and my cousin--went up the unending flight of stairs), and Pink Sisters convent. Since we had heavy breakfast, we lunched at Starbucks CJH instead of heavy meals. We visited the Historical Core, a new one at John Hay, which included a historical trail, the Bell house (it's like the Malacanang of the camp) and the ampitheater. Then boating at Burnham (trip lang!) and dinner at Forest House, desserts at the Manor hotel cafe. (photos: ampitheater; my dad at the porch of Bell house; my kuya the bangkero; and me at Forest House)

I have alot more photos I wanted to share but this'd look like a photo album so enough of the photos now. Hehe. I'm back in Manila and it's so warm here huh? All photos courtesy of my chic but not-so-high-end phone.

Sunday, April 16, 2006

SOUL searching

After officially being a bum for a few days, holy week came in and it's the same old things again. The Maundy Thursday's bisita iglesia, Good Friday's procession and Black Saturday's--oh, now there's something new... We left for Baguio early Saturday (and arrived after 7 hours due to lots of, uh, meals) and so now I'm here once again, back to where I was when I was also a bum after my OJT months ago.

And again, a rundown of events (sorry I don't seem to be very enthusiastic recently about going online like everyday):


Yesterday, 15 April

Left at about 5am and my stomach was really empty that I'm like picketing--if possible--inside the van and kept telling my Tatay that I wanna have breakfast. Well we did, of course, after 3hours into the travel. We stopped by Plaza Luisita and had our [big] breakfasts at Pancake House. Soon, after about two and a half hours we stop to have lunch! We eat to have fun, huh? We eat at this resto called SOUL Cafe (stands for Spice Of Urban Life) somewhere La Union, just before you enter zigzag. We'd been meaning to eat at this resto since last year but it seems that everytime we go to (and fro) Baguio, it's a Sunday and they're closed on Sundays. The second floor's got low tables that I practically sat on the floor. Cool.

...uh I feel like going home already, sorry. Will continue this, uhm, soon. :) Take care everyone, and happy easter!

Wednesday, April 12, 2006

7270

Yey I've a new phone! Chic!

Monday, April 10, 2006

Officially a Bum

Been a while, huh? A rundown of events:


Thursday, 06 April

Graduation at PICC. I had to wake up at 3am, call time is 6am, start is 7am and it ended at half past 11am. It was fun and cool. Somehow like highschool grad although you know less people and half a thousand are called onstage. By the way, only my parents went to my graduation (two tickets were unused, sayang) coz my sister can't bring her baby and my kuya won't go without somebody. Haha. It's my younger bro's grad in the afternoon as well. Anyway we had lunch at Manila Hotel and rushed all the way home to freshen up and be on time for my bro's grad at 4pm. It took forever to finish the graduation of a hundred highschool students; it ended at 8pm! Then, off to the restaurant for family gathering plus relatives on both sides. I was actually way too sleepy by the time we got there.


Friday, 07 April

By 9am I was already at school to return the toga that we rented. Then me and my friends went to the well-promoted TourismJobsFair at the Forum, PICC. I went there without a copy of my resume because they have been promoting that the online registration will enable you to edit your resume online and all you have to do is give them your reference account number so that they'd access your account. Well, thanks to the promotion, companies were asking me for a hard copy of my resume! Sheesh. Anyway, there weren't really much of big companies and I just applied to two hotels and then left

It was just 3pm, way too early for my shift, so I decided to get off at PeopleSupport Center and slept for about a couple of hours at the sleeping room and then afterwards went to the Robinson's Summit and had dinner before shift. I was so wasted that I went undertime and headed home.


Saturday, 08 April

Inasmuch as I still wanted to sleep, I had to get up and proceed to PS by 2pm regarding our contracts. It's the end of our contract and we were met by the HR officer and talked about our options. My contract wasn't extended due to the overflow of agents in our account and the only choice I have would be to go full-time--which I strongly don't want to do--so I declined the offer.

Loitered around the office while waiting for my batchmates to finish their 4pm-8pm shift, then off we go to Libis for our batch night out. Heehee, we went to this small bar where one of our batchmates, Melay, and her band are playing.


Sunday, 09 April

Sleep. Mass. Dinner at my grandma's house. Then watched The Gospel of Judas on NatGeo.


Will post pics when I have 'em. :) Byebye, we're off to go phone-hunting. Heehee. Excited.

By the way, although this sounded like a very happy post, I'm not so happy coz my plans of visiting my boyfriend were scrapped. He's being sent by the training center to Beirut for three months! Oh well.

Wednesday, April 05, 2006

Happy Daughter

April 3rd I went to school to pay for my graduation fees and get the tickets, I also went to Robinson's Place Manila and bought the plane tickets for my parents--finally! I waited so long to be able to talk to a reservations agent; I was customer number thirty seven and when I got in they were serving customer number one pa lang! Kamusta naman yun! Anyway I need it so I waited. Good thing I dropped off the soft copies of the photo that I wanted to have printed at Photoline before I went to Cebu Pacific.

Today--oh that's yesterday now--my dad asked me if he'd have to start looking for a nice car to buy [for me]. I said I'm not ready to have one yet since I don't have the money for its maintenance, and petrol price just kept increasing so it might just be on standby at home since most likely I'd take public utility vehicles; we have a few vehicles at home anyway so if I'd need one I'd probably just coordinate with them [he and kuya] and borrow one. So dad says he'd give a minor gift for the meantime, which I'm kinda clueless on what to ask for since I want so many things! Ha-ha. I mean, I want a digicam or a high end mobile phone (phone and cam in one!) or Mandarin lessons or just the book. Anyway towards the end of the day I'm more inclined on asking for a new phone since I got a call a while ago and, due to my very much damaged Nokia 3310, I didn't hear anything from the other end. So I thought if companies will be trying to contact me through my mobile number, I better have a decent phone.

Anyway, so much for that, I was discussing about that over lunch when I told them I actually have a graduation gift for them. My dad was like, "Ikaw pa may gift sa amin," with a big smile on his face. I handed him the envelope and he pulled out two e-tickets (one-way plane tickets, MNL-CEB sometime May2006) which are just two sheets of paper, bond paper size. He's like, "Wooooowwww!" So my mom got all curious and stood behind my seated dad and peeked over his shoulder to see what it was, but she's not wearing her eyeglasses so she actually can't read anything. My dad kept wow-ing so mom had this over-eager look on her face and the suspense is killing her! Haha.. When dad finally told her what it was she said wow and immediately remembered she must call the company and apply for her mileage points. :)

Boy, am I so happy that they loved the gift! Hee-hee, can't help but smile when I remember their faces...

Sunday, April 02, 2006

Crushed

Nobody showed up and sent a Ni hao email last night so I left for work at half past eight, so I definitely arrived way too early for my midnight shift. With so much time to waste I grabbed something to drink at Country Style on the seventh floor of the building; it was the only that's open on Sundays pala. The people there were watching Pinoy Big Brother finals, and inasmuch as I wanted to wait for the Big Winner, I know I'd never be able to login on time if I did. As expected, it was Keanna. Hands down.

Except for trainees barging (or plain listening) to my call--which was a bit awkward--there wasn't anything new. I was supposed to go with Mara and her friends at, uh, anywhere, but I backed out when I learned that I won't be going with anybody (the big group had gone ahead). So we went home--tas nilibre pa nila ko, thanks!--and guess where I got off? No, I did not miss our street. No, I did not have breakfast at Jollibee either. I went to mass! Lucky to be able to attend the half of the 5:15 mass. Too good to be true? Sometimes I'm not all devils, you know. *wink*

When I finally reached home, I craved for goto [for the nth time]. My dad went out and bought breakfast and came back and throwed at me the Sunday issue of Manila Bulletin! Translation: Start job hunting. I remembered my application form for Starbucks as a barista. Yep, I picked one as I was waiting for my hot beverage to be served. Anyway, I didn't find much on the classifieds except for Abacus classes, a Bexair job opening for flight attendants (for which I'm ineligible coz I'm too young...haha! Requirement was 22y/o), Mandarin Oriental Manila's hiring for a receptionist and the rest are call centers.

I got curious when my dad announced he's watching TV tonight. (That's how we 'reserve' for the TV.) He said he's watching American Splendor on HBO tonight. Hmm. Reminds me, I haven't seen Ice Age 2 yet. Aww.

It's Pope John Paul II's death anniversary today, I believe. I even watched a special on CNN, I think. Let's pray for his soul.

As for the title, go figure.

Saturday, April 01, 2006

News

Good news. I did not miss a train station. Bad news. I missed an unloading area. In Makati. Argh! The next stop was two blocks away (and two blocks isn't really walking distance in Makati..).

+ + +

A shout out goes to Niko for his very much awaited feature as the YOU Blog Addict of the Week. All the best! I wonder who's next. Tin? Hehe.

+ + +

After shift at 4am, my second cousin Mara (who works in the same company) 'waited' for me so that we'd go home together. When I got to the 'waiting place', it was a 24-hour place that serves beer and everything else. In short, booze session. She was there with some of her batchmates at work so I stayed on (I do not drink alcoholic bevs--anymore) and mingled with them, which is not so hard to do since they're all friendly and all laughs. So, we waited for the sun to come out and then we went home.

Funny that you see people frequenting these places when the sun starts peeking. :) The call center business. Life changing.