The wild ‘09
If I could describe 2009 in one word, I’d say it was a WHIRLWIND. A whirlwind of emotions, happenings, learning curves in all aspects of my life from career to family, friends, and of course myself. When I said “new year, new job, new life” last year, I didn’t expect how much my life would change since my 2006-2008 days at Maersk. This is how it did:
New job, new company. From being an office-based 8 to 5 MISE Trainee at Maersk, I became a mobile, make-your-own-schedule Customer Development (Sales) Account Manager at Colgate-Palmolive. By mobile I meant having Central Luzon (Bataan, Olongapo, Pampanga, Tarlac, Nueva Ecija, Pangasinan, La Union) as my area of assignment– hotel-hopping throughout the week in Clark, Tarlac or Cabanatuan, and La Union (beach!!!), and not having an office at all. I have a laptop, WeRoam unit, printer, and everything I need to set up office anywhere, be it in coffee shops, hotel rooms, the beach, or heck even in my car! I started out with no experience in Sales at all, and on my first week I was already sent to the area, with a turnover from the previous Account Manager that lasted only 1 month. As opposed to dealing with colleagues from different departments and from all over, I dealt with people from all walks of life– from supermarket owners to purchasers to store managers, merchandisers, stockers, and even warehouse staff. I spend the days driving to different accounts and doing my rounds, negotiating with decision makers, and doing admin work which includes customer planning, firefighting, order encoding and reporting to the bosses. From thriving in an almost politics-free environment where everything was “made out” for you (as a management trainee), I started from scratch in a new industry, where I have to prove myself, but also to the right people in a very politics-ridden atmosphere.
New people, hangouts, interests, adventures. I met new people in Colgate and gained new friends this year– I liked it that my new teammates were more to my wavelength & age, and we shared common interests. I found myself being nocturnal, out until 4am on Friday-Saturday nights, unlike before where weekend evenings at home were a staple. Most weeknights in my area weren’t also put to waste as I gained new friends to hang out, drink, and have crazy funny wild adventures with. Of course having my own car played a major contribution, as I was fiercely independent to go anywhere that spelled F-U-N, and my parents didn’t control my schedule anymore. This 2009 I started smoking, drinking more, and going clubbing/ bar hopping more often– which is what I really wanted to do much of in the first place. With my new set of friends I tried different things, started walking on the wild side, and stepped up to the partying– things best done while we’re still young, able and capable haha! From a repressed girl who likes to party but can’t coz no one in Maersk would do it with her, I think I became a bona fide party girl with Colgate this year. I never spent so much money on the good times, gimmicks & drinking as with 2009! (Good thing the company pays for the gas :p)
New abundance. Of course with the better compensation and benefits package, I found myself more liquid this year– but that also meant more expenses! It’s the little things that add up, and living up to the gimmick-good times-partying culture can get seriously expensive. Just imagine if I was still with Maersk! Colgate covers my gasoline, area accommodation, meals, and all other Sales expenses, which supposedly allowed me to save a lot, but NO! Despite receiving pretty hefty sales incentives, I was able to save very little; but that’s because I spent too much going out, seriously! I also spent my potential savings on travel, shopping, eating out, an iPhone, a Sunlife flexible benefit plan, and zeroing the balance on one of my credit cards. One good thing about it though is I can say that at least I’d consider my lifestyle upgraded…
And the year went by with some major highlights I’d always remember–
Getting involved in 2 major vehicular accidents; one in January that went as far as filing a case against me (!!!)– when I collided with a tricycle in Nueva Ecija, which caused the passenger inside to fly out and hit her head and face on the road. I was so scared I attempted to run. After messy negotiations, threats to sue me and actually getting subpoenaed, the “victim” was able to walk away with 25k for the damages. Oh thank god for insurance, but I’d just like to think that how easy it took these poor people to get money is also how fast they’ll lose it. Cruel I know, but wait until it happens to you. The second major accident was just last month in Pangasinan when I was bumped from behind by a delivery truck because it was also hit from behind by a jeepney. My trunk and back bumper were totally damaged that the trunk door couldn’t close. Again, thank god for insurance, and good that these accidents happened on work hours…
Travel & trips. Not counting my long drives, I traveled rather less this year– Cebu in March for our sales convention, August in Singapore to visit my MISE friends Ashleigh and Sushil, and Boracay in September with my Colgate teammates. Ashleigh and Sushil also visited Manila in September! In between I made some trips to Baguio especially when I needed to be alone for some self-reflection. During my workweeks I hop between places people would normally make excursions for– Subic, Clark, La Union– so those aren’t counted! My work structure and schedule don’t favor long vacations so I haven’t been able to make much plans for out of the country trips, besides this year was the time to start paying off my credit cards!
Old “habits” die hard!!! (The one that contributed most to my whirlwind year)– I violated my “no more shorties in 2009!” resolution last year, and the old habit got worse. I made a lot of intensely stupid mistakes regarding this one, but glad that everything’s getting better now– by better I mean I’m totally rid of it. And hopefully this is final. The entire HB rollercoaster ride was definitely one for the books– but that which should be kept in the topmost shelf at the back of the old encyclopedias ;)
And this 2010? Most of my friends say it’s gonna be legendary, things are gonna change, blah blah. I say nay for myself, since a lot of the major changes already happened to me in ‘09, and ‘10 will just be a continuation– with changes of course, but not as much as last year. It’s up to me to just spice it up!
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Remember December in photos
… the month of parties and reunions!
December 3: Colgate-Palmolive 2009 Christmas Party @ Manila Peninsula. Our team won second place for both Best Office Decoration and Best Presentation– we now have 40k to spend on an out of town trip, woohoo!
December 5: Ex and current CP Christmas Party @ Ziggie’s house. I brought 99 Jell-O shots which intoxicated at least 3 people, haha! Oh was I the babysitter that night thanks to Avin’s freebies! Hahaha.
December 10: Armin Van Buuren!!! One f*cking big and wild one, I loved it! We still can’t get over it, Armin is a god.
December 11: Luzon Direct Trade Christmas Dinner @ The Old Vine Grill in Piazza, McKinley Hill
December 25: Christmas drinking night with the cousins @ Friday’s SuperClub. Everyone had at least 2 shots of Bacardi 151 each c/o yours truly the official tomadora. Guess who got drunk, puked in the car and slept 3 hours before driving home? :p
December 26: Ex-Maersk reunion @ Dencio’s PowerPlant. 2nd alcohol-filled night in a row. So good to see my old officemates!
December 27: Makeshift Christmas celebration with my high school friends in BF. Good times catching up, hearing Mitch’s new boy kwento, and laughing about Sunny’s big tummy! Caught up also after with other HS friends Jennie and Nikki after 7 years!
December 28: “Date” with Sherwin at MOA. Hodgepodge of stories since the last time we saw each other in February. This is how MOA looks at night from San Miguel by the Bay. Hay, fun remembering 2006-2007 when I was still that innocent fresh grad in Maersk!
… the last weeks of the year to the first days of 2010 are also gonna be great. This is the most wonderful time of the year :)
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Tags: Family, Friends, Manila
Catching up
I haven’t updated this blog with posts of substance in like, 2 months. I open it every day though, wanting to post something interesting but I always end up surfing someplace else on the web. What have I been up to lately? Not much actually, not much. Or not much I could probably blog about… (I have a feeling this post is gonna be a long one though)
I got a black iPhone 16GB 3GS about 3 weeks ago, finally! I’ve been wanting to have one since it came out but it’s been too pricey here in the Philippines, this thing sells for about 35k locked on Globe and even more expensive when unlocked! I got mine really cheap at 25k– brand new, unlocked from Aileen, the front desk receptionist at Microtel Tarlac (where I stay every week). I don’t know how the hell she was able to sell it to me cheap (it came from her brother in the US), or how it was already unlocked when I got it, but it’s brand new I even removed the plastic myself though it didn’t come in its box. Ah well! It’s a pretty good phone if not for its really fast battery draining and overheating. I also couldn’t text that quick as with my Nokia E63 but I just use the iPhone for Sun anyway. I also have a lot of apps on it which I update pretty much every week. Sometimes though I think 25k is too big a sum for a phone, and that I could have used the money to buy a lot of other stuff, pay off my credit cards, or get an iPod Touch instead which works all the same save for the phone functionality– but it’s already there and I just gotta enjoy the fruit of what I worked hard for last quarter in CP!
As for work things are going pretty steady– still handling Central Luzon (Bataan-Olongapo-Pampanga-Tarlac-Nueva Ecija-Pangasinan), and soon I’ll have a branch in La Union, gaaaaaah, so far! I still have the same mobile itinerary every week:
- Monday: From home, drive to Bataan-Olongapo, spend the night in Angeles
- Tuesday: Angeles, spend the night in Tarlac
- Wednesday: Nueva Ecija, Pangasinan, Tarlac, spend the night in Tarlac
- Thursday: Tarlac, then if I’m done with work go home to Manila
- Friday: admin work at home
The driving, I couldn’t stress harder, is really challenging as I spend most of the time traveling, with only about 20-30 minutes per store to pick up POs and discuss some stuff with the managers. And though at first it seems tiring, I’ve gotten used to it and now have my own workarounds :) What’s good about my area is that I’m really independent with my own schedule, and I get to decide how I want to spend my days or week. After work I can either just relax in the hotel alone or call up my co-Sales friends to meet up, get some drinks or just hang out.
On weekends– I’ve been pretty busy lately just tinkering with my iPhone (haha!), surfing the net, and downloading new music for the long drives. I have a lot of the new albums released lately (thank you Mininova, but boo you for shutting down this week!) and I’m always updated with Gossip Girl episodes! The weekend evenings I spend mostly hanging out with my friends– Saturday drinking is a must! Some of the good times (steady or not steady) gimmicks I’ve had in the past months–
Friday night with the (un)usual CP attendees at 180 in the Fort
Halloween weekend! Cream Halloween Ball with Ed & Jannah, Halloween Party with CP at Ponti
Ian’s despedida at Cafe Attivo– great catching up with the Maersk and MCC folks!
Friday night dinner and impromptu drinking with Angeli and Karlo– please don’t drive drunk or sleepy Angeli!
Steady Saturday night at Sidebar with CP (after I watched the Pyrolympics)
All in all save for a few emotional lapses here and there I’m doing great– have a steady, ok-paying job where I can’t complain about my perks (what the future holds for all of us in CP is still quite a blur though)– when else can you spend weekday breakfast by the beach in La Union! Haha! No seriously, I have good friends (but I still haven’t found my clubbing buddies yet!) I can have quality conversations with, and my family is never better as we hang out together more often on the weekends now.
And of course I should never miss to update, HB– HB is still… there. After the rollercoaster that I went through last September, things are fine for me now. Things will never be back to before, the way I want them to be, but it’s much easier being friends than carrying that big burden around, especially that we will always, always run into each other. We can always forgive, but we should never, ever forget. I’m still in the process of moving on and I’ve never had the stronger resolve to, but it’s a gradual process.
Now I can go on with updating this blog regularly! I feel like I’ve unloaded quite a lot haha. I will be posting some stuff on 2009, the year that’s about to end, soon!
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Tags: Friends, Manila, Work
Don’t hold back
Got this from my friend Ziggie… made it my desktop wallpaper :)
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The operative word being “WILD”
…But the stories I have for this month are absolutely TOO WILD to be even posted here so I’ll try to be wholesome…
Rum + Coke + Pineapple Juice = ONE STRONG TRAITOR DRINK. Took me down twice this month. Both times I was drunk– the one time I did something crazy, and one time I puked it all out. Gaaah! Learned it from some new friends I’ll probably be having more drinking times with in my area… Good times.
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CP invades Boracay! September 11-13. The rest of the publicly available photos here!
It was a super wild 3D2N trip! There were 21 of us total, just enough to be the party in Bora! We partied, partied some more, and partied even more :P Super fun while it lasted…
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Wild Wild Wes: The Despedida, September 18 at Muruve. CP Team Luzon Direct Trade’s send-off party for our dear boss who’s resigned and is moving to KC :(
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Ashleigh and Sushil in Manila!!! September 19-21. My dear friends from Singapore were here in town for the weekend for a taste of Manila– shopping, food trips, drinks! I was able to get them a free room at Sofitel c/o my Dad, and it was fancyyy! Lunch at Kabisera High Street, shopping at Greenhills, sushi dinner bonding with Ashleigh, Club Bureau, relaxing pool time, shopping at MOA, Spiral buffet dinner, Barcino, and lots of catching up time! From the whirlwind week before I was low batt, but it was worth exhausting more of the remaining energy for two of my closest MISE friends!
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Sessions in Cabanatuan, September 30. Me, Jannah and Ed in Cabanatuan on a Wednesday night. Drinks and good conversations. Even steadier times when Ziggie arrived late because of work… then the night turned creepy wild when I had a close call… Such a wild way to end the month!
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Hah. Most of this post is cryptic I know. But let’s just say that this month, I…
- Tried new things
- Got into intimate physical contact with members of the opposite sex, short of saying I kissed two boys (waha ha haaaa…)
- Impulsively spiraled out of control with my actions and emotions– don’t ever make a drunk call!
- Went through more drama in my life… drama I actually cooked up myself (it’s my fault I know)
- Realized how much of an asshole someone was… (this one’s for real)
- …So much that it made me finally WANT TO let go and actually do it
- Got into a close call with my new adventures. Scary.
And funny that this month got so wild my other friends aren’t used to it. They now ask me if I’m liking the person I’m becoming. Ummm, actually I do. I’d just like to say at a later stage in my life that I’ve been through all of that shit, this shit I’m going through now.
I feel like it’s an entire year’s worth of emotions, happenings and feelings all mashed up into one September. There are more things I should really regret doing, but my motto is: just live and learn, baby. Let go if you have to. Life is short and you only live once!
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Tags: Friends, Manila, Travel
September…
… was ABSOLUTELY WILD, as how August was absolutely steady. Will write about it more soon :)
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August
Some steady month it was! No significant happenings whatsoever– but I hit my sales goal, had lots of fun with my friends, and have the whole month of September to look forward to :) Here are some pics:
Drinks with Colgate at Hai Bar one Friday night after the August cycle meeting. Welcome to the new sales trainees Carrie, Joanna, and Joyce!
Semi-R2 and DP reunion at Jake’s birthday party. We took a lot of photobooth pics! I tried to catch up with the CP girls at Embassy after but they were too drunk and left early… so I hung around alone then just joined Jay and his friends in Merville that night!
Distillery with Jannah, Edric, Liel and Jay (not in photo) one Friday night. Steady drinks… I missed Heineken. Cool place– you can get the drinks at shelf price, get tables to drink them, and have food delivered too… with a mish mash of music in the background!
Singapore with JC to visit my friends Ashleigh and Sushil. Shopping and relaxing trip– read my blog entry here!
Videoke night at Platinum with Colgate during the last long weekend. The Visayas boys and Jay were in town… a party of 20+ in Platinum = a 10k bill = fun! I didn’t get to sing as much as I wanted though, but just spent time catching up. I was down with only 3 beers… and I slept on the way home, got back at 5:30AM!
Videoke night with the Joy Luck Club at Bea’s house. We haven’t got together since my birthday party last June. Lots of pasta, hotdog, squid balls, chips, jello shots (!), and gin apple. Catching up and games of “shit shit” and “ping pong pang”. Almost all of us were asleep before going home!
September– two long weekends, Boracay 11-13, Ash and Sushil in Manila on 19-21!!! I already have memorable stuff to tell to boot, which I will save for next time :)
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Tags: Friends, Manila, Travel
May ganon. Kilig factor :)
Aren’t Taylor Swift’s videos just too kilig? Loves it!!!
You Belong With Me
Love Story
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Tags: Videos
Sing, sing, Singapore!
Back after 3 years! This is the first time I traveled abroad in ‘09, and with my high school friend JC as well. I got super cheap roundtrip tickets via Cebu Pacific for Php 3,771… such a bargain! Last time I was in Singapore was during the MISE ‘06 induction and teambuilding, but I wasn’t really able to go around except do a little shopping here and there. This time I planned for my trip to be a bit more touristy, aside from just flying 3 hours long to visit my friends Ashleigh, an American MISE expat, and Sushil, my co-SEA MISE working in Singapore. We stayed at Ashleigh’s place in The Sail @ Marina Bay, right in the heart of the business district. Such a nice condo, super fancy!
When we arrived on Thursday night, we had chili crabs at Jumbo Seafood Resto in Boat Quay–Ash was crazy about them, and man were they hot! The dinner was a bit pricey at SGD 30 (well for travelers on a shoestring) but it was well worth it! Plus I was super happy to catch up and reminisce good old MISE times with two of my closest friends from the program, Ashleigh and Sushil :) We headed back to hang around and prepare for the more touristy days to come!
Friday was basically tourist day… we walked around a hell lot in Singapore! Left Ashleigh’s place at noon, had brunch at Lau Pa Sat, walked to Chinatown (man it was raining so hard we had to stop to buy an umbrella at 7-11), then to Clarke Quay to do some shopping. Charles & Keith was having a 3-day sale and man, was it crazy!!!! It’s also cheaper in Singapore than in Manila, and what’s great is that they have my size (40)!!! Giordano was cheap too so I bought some casual clothes I could wear to work. We headed back to the condo to meet Ashleigh, then walked to Esplanade to have Thai dinner and go see the Merlion. This pic is of me and Ash doing the Asian pose, haha!
For our Friday night-out we checked out Backstage Bar in Chinatown (a different kind of bar!)– on travel guides this place kinda said it but didn’t! Funny to see older tourists dancing with young Singaporean guys, something you won’t usually see in the more populated nightlife areas of Singapore! Ash and me headed to Zirca in Clarke Quay for a better clubbing scene (only for me coz she enjoyed the previous place so much), and I have to say I was fulfilled! We initially entered this hip hop bar called Rebel, but it was full of young Singaporeans, so we stayed at the interconnected club beside it called Zirca, which looked utterly familiar when I entered because it used to be the old Ministry of Sound (I have memories of that night in MOS 3 years ago)! Loved it totally! The DJ played a lot of the house/dance tracks I loved from MOS and Hed Kandi, and I was totally feeling it! Guess what he played “When Love Takes Over” and “Infinity”, among many of the other songs I would love to hear!!! :)
Saturday was shopping day! JC went out alone on his own doing the touristy stuff while me and Ashleigh went to Orchard Road to do some shopping, I went crazy over Charles & Keith again! Got 2 pairs of shoes and 2 bags. The highlight of the shopping day– mochi ice cream balls in Takashimaya, a Japanese department store in Singapore that sells uber cool novelty items and imported food! We then headed to Bugis to try the best murtavak in Singapore at Zam Zam Restaurant, then headed back home to prepare for the pirate party later that night.
ARRRRRRR! Aye aye captain! The MISE expats were having a send-off party for Jorge, a Panamanian MISE expat, who was going back home after his contract. Was glad to see Anders, Myllena, Roxana, Anne, Peter and Meghan… and we were all in pirate costumes! We had a pre-party to load up at Meg’s apartment, then headed to Cafe del Mar in Sentosa to hang out a bit before heading to Highlander Bar in Clarke Quay to party some more. It was hilarious, everyone was in the pirate character and we got a lot of people go up to us in both Sentosa and Clarke Quay asking to take photos! We were referred to that night as “the pirates from Highlander”. Haha! For sure we all looked crazy in pirate costumes and I would never really do that in Manila, but I loved it that we were a big group and we just didn’t care since we were having our own party, arrrrrrrrrr! Good fun and great times!
On Sunday we all stayed home since we were hammered from the night before– Ash got home drunk and JC was out until late as well! We just had brunch at Lau Pa Sat and I headed to Charles & Keith again to do the last minute no regrets shopping :P After which Sushil dropped by Ash’s place to see us off, and we said goodbye to Singapore :( I was gonna miss my friends, but I’m so excited now coz they’re coming to Manila in September– less than a month from now!!! I loved that the trip wasn’t too tiring for me in terms of visiting the touristy places, not much to see and do anyway, I wasn’t too keen on going to the zoo or to the night safari. I love that I was able to see my friends, go crazy at Charles & Keith (I arrived in Singapore at the right time!), go clubbing, see the rest of the MISEs, and just hang around without doing too much. I only spent about Php 15K total with all the shopping but excluding the airfare, which regardless is already very cheap… thank God for Ashleigh that we were able to get free accommodation at her place :)
And of course I won’t forget the food, good thing I always made the right menu choices–
Chili crabs at Jumbo Seafood, Boat Quay
Peppered beef, soup and bubble tea at Lau Pa Sat
Ice cream sandwich at Chinatown– good business idea for Manila I think!
Pad Thai dinner at Thai Express in Esplanade
Yummmmmyyyy!!! Mochi ice cream balls in Takashimaya
Chicken murtavak at Zam Zam Restaurant in Bugis
And of course… McDonald’s!!! In every country I visit, it’s a staple ;)
Loves it!!! It was a great long weekend. I might have gained some weight with all the food and drinks but I walked a hell lot too :) The rest of the pics are here!
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Tags: Food, Friends, Travel
Not again
Seriously… am I that forgiving??? Especially to the person that caused my emotions to go haywire, and me to get cynical about everything?
Seriously??? That fast? What an effing lucky HB. But in all fairness, maybe this is what needs to happen to break the ice… again. I just have to be super careful of what I’m capable of.
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