2 Weddings, Baptisms and a Christening...

I was looking forward to catching up with my life upon resigning from work -- spending time with my daughter, relatives, girlfriend and meeting up with old friends that I haven't seen in a while. I never did imagine that life did catch up in more ways than I can imagine.

I have been fortunate enough to be part of life turning events on a personal and professional basis. I've nearly forgotten the reason why I took up photography in the first place, to capture and be part of events that are important to people. hisAfter what happened to my life this year, I need something to remind me that not all stories end in tragedies. I didn't want to be jaded, so here I am capturing family moments, my own little doze of prozac to keep the angst away. Mark said that if he was the single guy photographer, I'd be the family guy photographer.

I wish I could do this full time, I'll test the waters this January. If it doesn't work I'd still be doing this for free or part time. Cheers!

It was a hell of a ride! Thanks for making it worthwhile...

I remember my first call nearly 7 years ago, a southerner was asking for help with his computer. In the middle of the call I cried out, "Redneck" to the Sherwin who was sitting on my left. I wasn't on hold nor mute and when I got back on the phone, the person I was talking to sounded shaken and ended the call abruptly. I went home that morning thinking, "oh shit I'm going to lose my job". Who was to know that I would last 6 yrs, 11 mos and meet people who would change my life in more ways than I can imagine.

I've been an agent, L2, TQ trainer, dispatching SME's, Technical Officer and finally a Team Lead but I can say I have grown more personally. I've become less conscious and more outgoing, socializing with people from different circles. There's something about interacting with the eclectic mix of people in the office. I will not miss the scrubbing, the meetings, the schedule and timekeeping uploads but I will miss all the interesting, funny, intelligent, crazy and even boring people I've worked with. It made the stay worthwhile

I wish I was leaving under different circumstances--I would have preferred leaving on my own choosing with my dignity intact rather than being unceremoniously booted out of the company. I have no regrets on the series of circumstances leading to this point, I would still have spoken my mind, still have fought their whims and voiced my objections on how they have run the program.

It was a hell of a ride. Thanks for making it worthwhile. Goodbye folks! I'll see you around...

Attitude

Came accross this quote:

“The longer I live, the more I realize the impact of attitude on life. Attitude, to me, is more important than facts. It is more important than the past, the education, the money, than circumstances, than failure, than successes, than what other people think or say or do. It is more important than appearance, giftedness or skill. It will make or break a company... a church... a home. The remarkable thing is we have a choice everyday regarding the attitude we will embrace for that day. We cannot change our past... we cannot change the fact that people will act in a certain way. We cannot change the inevitable. The only thing we can do is play on the one string we have, and that is our attitude. I am convinced that life is 10% what happens to me and 90% of how I react to it. And so it is with you... we are in charge of our Attitudes.”

JFIA...

Things haven't been the same in the office lately. There have been a lot of post merger jitters after the announcement (it seems more like an acquisition really). The fears of most of us has finally come true.

Corporate unions in the form of take overs, mergers, buy outs, partnerships will always be trumpeted by big wigs as the start of something big. Future growth, increase market share, more revenue, better employment but the sad fact is people will have to be let go under the guise of rightsizing, cost reduction and better margins.

This not the same company I've worked for, the pride is gone. An organization focused on employee growth and satisfaction has shifted focus to margins, support ratio and all that crap. I was talking to another veteran earlier this morning, he told of a story how a dept head was unceremoniously fired by phone followed by the HR manager with termination papers. Where the hell is the dignity in that? No pep talk bout your contributions, no farewell party. I'm sorry but class has been replaced by crass.

Most of my friends share the same sentiments, even the ones management. Our inuman gig this coming saturday will mostly be rants followed by a recruiting session. This has never happened before, we've never really discussed work much in our get togethers.

Everybody in the know has been saying that we will all find out next week. I couldn't care less anymore. I've resolved to enjoy what's left of my year and nothings going to change that. Just Fuck It All!!! :)

Umagang Kay Ganda

Listening to Bamboo's version of Umagang kay ganda. Feel good lyrics...

"Basta't tayo'y magkasama

Laging mayroong umagang kay ganda
Pagsikat ng araw
May dalang liwanag
Sa ating pangarap, ooh
Haharapin natin"

Overworked weekend

Trying to keep a promise of posting something daily. Just got home, wasted. Nope not the wasted due to alcohol, bamboozling, breast in your face wasted.

Nearly 36 hrs awake, 9 hrs shift @ stream then a couple of hours covering a birth day party. While other people unwind and reconnect, I slave away on my single split off's. Dang, can't wait for next week's 3 days off. I will kill the scheduler if she changes it...

Finally a normal lazy saturday morning (well not quite)

Was able to catch up on normal sleep, night time sleep. It's hard for a member of the vampire call center nation to sleep normally, usuallly goes against the flow. Woke up to a lazy chilly saturday morning, went online checked the usual FB, Yahoo and Gmail. Tried to resist the pull of this black hole I call a bed, was a tug of war for a better part of an hour. Getting up and lazily curling up on the bed for minutes.

Finally got the will power to get up around 7:30, it was bright already. It's an over cast morning but bright enough to make sleep uncomfortable for me. Changed clothes, increased the volume of Bamboo tunes playing from the laptop, spread out the curtains, and opened the windows to clear out the stuffiness of the room.

My Aunt was going out of the room as well, said the usual good mornings. Lazily talked 'bout the last night's visitors. The house was cluttered, the kids were loud and the conversations abound, it's nice to have folks visit.

Need to something to wake me up, heated the water for coffee as my Baby was taking out the washing machine to the laundry area. Made my own coffe while Lee preferred to make her own, I still don't know how to make coffee she prefers her own concoctions. As I was sipping coffee I absent mindedly blurted out that I need more mornings like this, normal waking hours, lazy, nothing to take care of.

Had conversation again over coffee and suman. I haven't had a day like this for the past 2 months, normal lazy saturday mornings. I wish I could have more...

PS

Kenneth (Kyle's friend) dropped. Kyle grumpily woke up, complaining at Kenneth for waking him up too early. Over breakfast I overheard Kenneth asking why he hasn't been added to Kyle's FB list. Well not quite so normal...

So where were we?

So where were we? I have resolved to make good with whatever left is left of this year. So far things have been going well in the office, nothings been able to bring me down, uhm well figuratively. Was sick the other day, change of weather, it's been getting chilly in the evenning but the it sure is hot as hell during the day.

I've been noticing kids lately, toddlers mostly. I've been observing daddies with babies on their arms, moms with strollers, daughters with pigtails. I've imagined myself being absorbed in the day to day tasks of being a daddy again: feeding, changing diapers, putting her to sleep (her, i prefer daughters). Going through all that newborn ritual I missed when I used to be a workaholic dad. I hope i'm just missing my daughter (it has been a while since I last saw her)and not really pinning for another daughter.

I guess not just yet, I still have to sort this mess that I call a life. It certainly was quite a year. The responsible elderly side of me is saying you should have saved this xxx,xxx.xx amount, your current bank account is xx,xxx.xx and you have a deficit of xx,xxx.xx. The other side is saying, 7 yrs of shared responsibility and this was the only chance for me to let loose and enjoy my own money. It was quite an experience, was worth it? I don't know, in hindsight maybe not. But who cares, till the end of this year I'm living for the here and now. I've definitely enjoyed the quasibachelor lifestyle I've lived for the past year. No money saved but lots of enjoyable, crazy, unexpected moments. I'll straighten up at some point and be sober, next year maybe. Hahahaha. Keeping my fingers crossed.

So here I am, in my usual pit traps. Starting things and not having the discipline to see it through the end:

1. Gigs as in gigs of photo resources that I've barely read or seen.

2. Real books I've bought with hard earned cash that I haven't started to read, there's probably a couple of them.

3. DIY kits for my macro project

4. Monthly budgets and projected savings that I've set on the wayside.

5. Photography gear I was supposed to buy with my savings.

6. Shoes I need repaired.

7. Pants that I need to be hemmed.

Hmmmmmmmmm this is starting to sound like to do list already. Well I'm starting with this blog, I'm reorganizing everything. I hope I'm able to see it through. Touche!