My Favorite Pic

Just wanna share with you guys my fave pic. Jay-ar and I don't even look good in this picture. But this picture never fails to give me a smile whenever I look at it. I miss my little rascal sooo much... Hopefully I will be able to see him again on August. Hopefully.

Ps. It was supposed to be only me & Jay-ar in the picture. My little rascal loves posing for pictures don't you think? =) We did not even know he's there! Hehehe! (^^,)

Life After Sunlife

Woah! I have been neglecting my blog for more than a month now! Unbelievable. A lot really happened after I left Sunlife but I'm kinda sad that I wasn't able to create a blog entry regarding the things that have happened before I left Sunlife. This is basically regarding despedida lunches. :)

If i can remember it right, before I left sunlife I had 3 sets of despedida treats. One was the spa treat from VILLMA, another one was the lunch treat of Ms. A with the two others who were also going to leave her team (Jon & Lorraine) and the last one was the lunch treat of Ces with the whole IPAC & CIF team. (See photos below)


Farewell Lunch w/ IPAC & CIF Team


Spa Treat from VILLMA


* * *

Am not really sure why I was not able to update my blog these past few weeks. It's not that I have no time, I think I was not just in a writing mode. Anyway, contrary to what it seems, I was not really busy at work. I started at FCS (my new company) last May 7 and basically, it has been a month that I have been working with that company. To tell you the truth, I cannot even imagine that I would be able to survive a month so this is like a milestone for me. Hehehe!


Let me give you a glimpse on how it is like when I left sunlife and moved here to Malaysia to work. This is basically the routine that I have with Jay-ar so far:


Weekdays:

*

wake up at 6:30 am
*

leave the house at 7:45 am
*

arrive at the office around 8:45 am (office hours starts at 9 am)
*

leave the office at around 6 pm - 6:15 pm
*

arrive at the house around 7 pm - 7:15 pm
*

rest for 15-30 minutes
*

cook dinner until 8-8:15 pm
*

eat dinner until 9 pm
*

wash dishes & fix dining table until around 9:30 pm
*

watch tv/dvd until 10:30 pm
*

sleep
*

and the cycle continues


Saturdays:

*

wake up at around 9-10 am
*

just lay down while watching tv/dvd until 11 am
*

cook lunch till 12 pm
*

eat lunch
*

go to mall/watch movie/grocery/shop after lunch
*

go back at home around 6-7 pm
*

do the laundry / iron clothes
*

play around for the remaining time


Sundays:

*

wake up at 9 am
*

take a bath/eat bfast until 10-10:15 am
*

leave the house at 10:15
*

attend the mass at 10:30-11:30
*

eat lunch
*

after lunch is a free time (we have options such as: go back at home, go to mall, whatever follows)


We sometimes go to wet market to buy meat for cooking, go swimming at the condo's swimming pool, go jogging, etc... (whatever comes to mind).


People At work...


I cannot really say that I have adjusted that much. I think if I left sunlife to join another company in the Philippines, then I would be adjusted by now (I guess). But working abroad is really different. I am not pertaining about the culture. No culture boundaries at all aside from the fact they really like spicy food (religion is totally a different story). For me, the difficulty is more on the language barrier. Its not that they don't know how to speak in English or I cannot speak or understand English. It's just that sometimes they prefer to speak on their own language, not malay language but chinese! By the way, I think I haven't mentioned that 90% of the population in our office are chinese folks. I cannot even recognize if they are speaking in madarin, cantonese, fukien or whatever dialect they are using. Don't get me wrong. People in FCS are really kind & friendly. I am not having a hard time dealing with them at all. In fact, I have made some friends already. They are really nice to me. It's just that, they are still different from the friends I left from the Philippines such as VILLMA. I guess I should not compare coz VILLMA will always be VILLMA and nothing can replace them. I miss them already and eveything that we used to do.


The Work Itself...


Hmmm.. What can I say about work? Work in FCS is lighter compare to the work I left in sunlife (so far)... And for the record, I am not in any way complaining. In fact, I would like it to stay that way. Work without pressure is just an icing on top of the cake. But without pressure doesn't mean I am not learning. I am enjoying my work coz I am able to do java programming, which let me enhace my programming skills without the pressure. I get to go back home @ 6 pm on the dot, which is actually good and again, I would like to stay it that way. Although, the system that I am supporting in FCS is much more complicated than the system I was handling in sunlife. Complicated not in terms of scope (bcoz IPAC is still a bigger system than IPNC) but in terms of the structure & configuration used. IPNC is a combination of many programming languages. It has perl, php, c, shell scripting and its core is java. It also makes use of firewall and its running on linux. So you see, being merely a java person is not enough to support this kind of system. You should know all those that I mentioned to be able to maintain the system. Good thing my team lead is that person so I don't have to worry as long as he's there. =)



Other Comparisons...


In terms of location, building, facilities and employee benefits... FCS cannot beat Sunlife. In terms of salary, well, that's a different story. And I admit that I already miss everything in Sunlife. My cubicle, the people, the CR, the enterprise, the food park, mini stop, watsons... everything. Sunlife office is much more organized than my new office. Maybe because it's a software house that's why there's a lot of PCs and cables scattered in the desks. FCS does not also enforce proper workflow and change management system. KM System is also still not in place, which kinda surprised me because FCS is not a small company. In fact, it is also a multinational company, which also have offices world wide. I'm wondering how they were able to survive without proper documentation of things... Oh well, maybe I am not just aware that these things exist in the office.. Hehehe! This makes me miss Merant, CPR and RFS. =)

* * *

Jay-ar is leaving me and will go back to the Philippines tomorrow for the second time. Huhuhu! Pity me. I'll be alone for a week or so. He has to process his documents in POEA and Malaysia Embassy coz he changed his employer so he had no choice but to leave me here... Well, I am not literally alone coz we have also some pinoy housemates here. It's just that, I don't have my jay-ar with me so I am so sad. Hope he can finish the processing fast so he can come back here soon.

And for the record, I am officially missing my family, friends, teriyaki boy, redbox, pancake house, tapa king, glorietta, landmark, SM and the Philippines in general. I cannot imagine that I will miss riding a jeepney and well, I also miss being in a crowd and I understand what the people are saying.

So that's basically it. Hope I can update my blog more often... Ciao!

Happy Birthday Mama!

Being a mother (from an email)

We are sitting at lunch when my daughter casually mentions that she and her husband are thinking of "starting a family." "We're taking a survey," she says, half-joking.

"Do you think I should have a baby?"

"It will change your life," I say, carefully keeping my tone neutral.

"I know," she says, "no more sleeping in on weekends, no more spontaneous vacations...."

But that is not what I meant at all. I look at my daughter, trying to decide what to tell her. I want her to know what she will never learn in childbirth classes.

I want to tell her that the physical wounds of child bearing will heal, but that becoming a mother will leave her with an emotional wound so raw that she will forever be vulnerable.

I consider warning her that she will never again read a newspaper without asking "What if that had been MY child?" That every plane crash, every house fire will haunt her. That when she sees pictures of starving children, she will wonder if anything could be worse than watching your child die.


I look at her carefully manicured nails and stylish suit and think that no matter how sophisticated she is, becoming a mother will reduce her to primitive level of a bear protecting her cub.

That an urgent call of "Mom!" will cause her to drop a soufflé or her best crystal without a moment's hesitation.

I feel I should warn her that no matter how many years she has invested in her career, she will be professionally derailed by motherhood.

She might arrange for child care but one day she will be going into an important business meeting and she will think of her baby's sweet smell. She will have to use every ounce of her discipline to keep her from running home, just to make sure her baby is all right.

I want my daughter to know that everyday decisions will no longer be routine. That a five year old boy's desire to go to the men's room rather than the women's at McDonald's will become a major dilemma. That right there, in the midst of clattering trays and screaming children, issues of independence and gender identity will be weighed against the prospect that a child molester may be lurking in that restroom.

However she may be at the office, she will second-guess herself constantly as a mother.

Looking at my attractive daughter, I want to assure her that eventually she will shed the pounds of pregnancy, but she will never feel the same about herself.

That her life, now so important, will be of less value to her once she has a child. That she would give it up in a moment to save her offspring, but will also begin to hope for more years - not to accomplish her own dreams, but to watch her child accomplish his.

I want her to know that a Cesarean scar or shiny stretch marks will become badges of honor.

My daughter's relationship with her husband will change, but not in the way she thinks...

I wish she could understand how much more you can love a man who is careful to powder the baby or who never hesitates to play with his child.

I think she should know that she will fall in love with him again for reasons she would now find very unromantic.

I wish my daughter could sense the bond she will feel with women throughout history who have tried to stop war, prejudice and drunk driving. I hope she will understand why I can think rationally about most issues, but become temporarily insane when I discuss the threat of nuclear war to my children's future.

I want to describe to my daughter the exhilaration of seeing your child learn to ride a bike.

I want to capture for her the belly laugh of a baby who is touching the soft fur of a dog or a cat for the first time. I want her to taste the joy that is so real, it actually hurts.

My daughter's quizzical look makes me realize that tears have formed in my eyes.

"You'll never regret it," I finally say.

Then I reach across the table, squeeze my daughter's hand and offer a silent prayer for her, and for me, and for all of the mere mortal women who stumble their way into this most wonderful of callings.

This blessed gift from God - Being a Mother.

My Shobe

This is my little shobe. Im doing this post thru my mobile phone. One of d cool features of SEz610i. :-)

Finally!

In tagalog, "sa wakas!"... hehehe! weeeeh! I was able to buy the phone that I want. Buti na lang meron pang stock ang Sony Ericsson store sa Mall of Asia. And now, my life is complete... Hehehe! Joke! :) Happy lang ako... Syempre bago phone eh... Anyway, wento na... I was able to bought this last Saturday. As I said from my previous post, Black Saturday bukas ang malls so I dragged my little sis Danni sa Mall of Asia. Lucky me, meron pang stock ng PINK z610i sa mismong store ng Sony Ericsson. Sweet Domination!!! Hehehe! To return the favor, I treated my shobe for a movie. We watched "the reaping" ... my shobe likes scary/horror/suspense movies so kahit na 2 lang kami & mega scared to death tlaga ako, pumayag na ko na yun watch namin. And it turned out that the movie was not that scary at all! Nde sya katulad ng the grudge and the ring na 3 nights talaga akong nde pinatulog. But even though the movie is not that scary, it was a pretty good movie, my sis and I liked it. I recommend that you guys also watch it. Maganda yung twist ng story! :)

And today, I went to Mall of Asia again! Grabe na ito, 3x na kong nasa mall na yun for this week. Hehe! This time I was with my mom, shobe and shoti to watch TMNT. The movie was grool* and we all enjoyed watching it. The movie is actually for kids but hey, I am still a kid too ya know... so I enjoyed it and I liked it and I am also recommending the movie to my friends dude! Hehehe! :)

*grool = according to the movie Mean Girls, grool is a combination of Great and Cool. Hehe!

The Butterfly and The Flower

Once there was a man who asked God for a flower and a butterfly.
But instead God gave him a cactus and a caterpillar.

The man was sad, he didn’t understand why his request was mistaken. Then he thought: Oh well, God has too many people to care for...
And decided not to question.

After some time, the man went to check up on his request that he had left forgotten.
To his surprise, from the thorny and ugly cactus a beautiful flower had grown. And the unsightly carterpillar had been transformed into the most beautiful butterfly.

GOD always does things right!

His way is ALWAYS the best way, even if to us it seems all wrong.
If you asked God for one thing and received another, TRUST.
You can be sure that He will always give you what you need at the appropriate time.
What you want... is not always what you need!

God never fails to grant our petitions, so keep on going for Him without doubting or murmuring.

Today’s THORN...
Is tomorrow’s FLOWER!
GOD GIVES THE VERY BEST TO THOSE WHO LEAVE THE CHOICES UP TO HIM!
GOD BLESS YOU!

The pink Sony Ericsson z610i

I've been dying to have Sony Ericsson z610i ever since I laid my eyes on it. It's so cute and kikay and I couldn't wait to have the PINK one. Last Monday, Irene accompanied me to Glorietta to buy this phone. We’ve been to every cellphone store in the mall but only colors black and blue were available. We also went to park square to check out the stores there but color PINK was out of stock! It was the most sought-after color, I suppose. I was really frustrated and went home feeling bad that day. Since I have work last Tuesday and Wednesday, the only days I can check out other malls are from Thursday to Monday coz those days are holidays. Yeng told me last night that she saw on TV that Mall of Asia will be open even on Holy Thursday and Good Friday. Hearing this, I felt excited and ask my younger sister Danni to come with me to this mall on Thursday. And so today, even if it is Holy Thursday and most of the malls are closed during holy week, I still went to Mall of Asia with my 2 sisters - Yeng and Danni to buy this phone. Unfortunately, when we reached Mall of Asia, IT WAS CLOSED! Again, I felt so frustrated. I dunno if the mall folks had a last-minute decision to close or Yeng just misinterpreted what she heard from TV. Anyway, bottom line is it was closed and I have to wait again to have this phone. Because we haven’t eaten anything this morning and felt so hungry, we decided to look around to see where we can eat. Few restos in the mall were opened namely Gerry’s Grill, which was so crowded, Fish n Co. and Itallianis. We first thought of eating @ Gerry’s Grill but since it was so full and it seemed that it would take like forever before they could serve us our order, we went straight to Itallianis. While we were eating, we decided to check out other malls as well. The next mall nearest to our place is Robinson’s Place Ermita. And so after eating, we took a cab and went to Robinson’s only to find out that it was also CLOSED. Oh well, maybe it was not meant that I’ll have that phone TODAY! We saw from the announcement that MOA will resume operation on Black Saturday so I’ll just try again my luck on that day. :) *keeping the faith*

* * * * *

This week is Irene’s last week @ Sunlife and we had our despedida for her last Tuesday. We treated her for a relaxing spa @ BlueWater, of course, with all of us, her friends :) Van, Apple, Leslie and yours truly. :) Van, Leslie, Irene and I availed the full body Swedish massage and regular foot spa package while Apple only had the luxurious foot spa coz body massage tickles her. Anyway, it was so relaxing and the masseuses in that spa were really good. I will definitely come back for another spa session.

* * * * *

Last Wednesday, I treated my friends, Van, Leslie, Irene, and Apple for lunch (Louie was still on HK that day). We ate @ Recipes at GreenBelt3. The lunch treat was because of 3 main reasons:

• I’ll be leaving Sunlife (not as a celebration but the other way around)
  
• I was accepted in FCS Malaysia
  
• It serves as my advance birthday treat for them coz I’m already in Malaysia on my birthday :(

That’s it for this post and oh, Happy Easter everyone! Please take time to pray and thank God for everything. God Bless us all! :)