Big medical spender and other drama

I spent Php 8,500 on medicines today at GNC that I had to get a Gold Card to avail of the 20% discount! Haha. It’s reimbursable anyway for my company’s Php 12,000 annual medical benefit that I haven’t used– and have to consume by the end of the year. Guess what I bought?

I sure hope this works!!! A bottle with 150 capsules cost Php 5,500! Crazy! Buti nalang it’s technically the company buying it for me. They say it really works though so let’s see! I go to the gym naman regularly and I try to keep a reduced healthy diet so hopefully I see some results soon… if not then at least I tried it :)

I also bought three bottles of Glutathione– one each for me, my mom, and my dad. It’s really an antioxidant dietary supplement but the side effect is skin whitening so it’s like hitting two birds with one stone!

I didn’t get exactly this one– the one I bought was actually stronger since it contained 250mg of glutathione. I have Php 3,500 to spend more, maybe I’ll get a new pair of glasses and another pair of contact lenses this time. When I transfer to Colgate I have Php 16,000 a year to spend so that would mean more Hydroxycut?! Haha. Joking!

In fairness I feel like I’ve lost some weight and I can already see it on my pictures, though I dunno if it’s just the angle? :P

 

Before– this was last July in Davao, and after– just last Friday, and that was already after I had a heavy lunch at Azul in MOA with Ian and Peter (yummy binagoongang paella, white cheese sticks, and ginataang pakbet!), Razon’s halo-halo, (Peter’s libre), and Krispy Kreme (John’s birthday treat) for dessert! Do you see the difference or is it just me? :P

In other news it feels so good to be back, I’m totally loving it! I love just being at home on weekends with my family around, with my friends conveniently near, and just being in Manila once again. Ask me again to come back to Davao and I’ll decline outright– this place is my home and nothing else will ever come close, despite the grueling traffic and the fact that I have to commute on weekdays! The office is right in front of Mall of Asia, and Fitness First is just downstairs that I don’t have to take a bath and dress up here at home since I shower there in the morning after gymming. The only thing I don’t like about MOA is that it’s difficult to commute especially late at night and I spend about Php 250-300 for a cab, crazy! It’s not stopping me from going out though, just last Friday I did videoke after work with Ian, Kristine and Acey. And last Friday was my last MISE get-together– well because I’ll be in Colgate by January, plus Mariel and Kaye will still be away in Denmark by the time my resignation is effective.

That’s all of us (Jade, Mariel, Ian, Me, and Kaye) with Martin, our HR Manager, at Via Mare last Friday. We had another round of stuffy, carby merienda before heading back to the office for some Friday beers at the pantry. Oh yeah, technically I’m no longer a MISE since I already graduated (gasp!) from the program but we won’t be this complete again, at least until my last day at work…

I love it that it’s a four day weekend for me– we’ve got no work on Tuesday since it’s Pasay Day, but I’ll be spending it to get an NBI clearance as a pre-employment requirement for Colgate. I’ll also be fixing the mess that is my room, I’ve still got the 2GO boxes scattered around plus my sister’s usual mess. Grrr! Anyway I had a good week and a good weekend too. Last night naman I was out with JC and Sunny– we had late, fatty chicharon and rice dinner at Baliwag then coffee at Kopiroti. I miss my best friends!!! Even if I’m not in Boracay (ehem, ehemmm!!!) this weekend, (and even without HB in my life right now) I’m loving it– I don’t even have the spare time to download all the top songs on iTunes as I did back in Davao!

Anyhoo I’m excited for Christmas :) Our office Christmas party is on December 12 and I’m glad I’ll be celebrating it here with all the young people at the office, haha. We’ve got these company presentations to look forward to and the theme this year is a chorale, so we have to do a chorale-style presentation of one 80’s song and one Christmas carol. My department is doing Head Over Heels by The Go-Go’s and Carol of the Bells, but we’re absolutely unprepared as of now while the other departments are really taking it seriously with all the organs and vocalizing pa talaga after work. And so Ian volunteered us to emcee the Christmas party to try to get out of the presentation since we don’t wanna be embarrassed to be part of a lousy presentation (of course we’re still not sure about that at this point)– but I don’t think it’s gonna work! We now have another duty to fulfill and that’s to emcee, grrr!!! But no worries though, I would have liked to emcee again after a successful one (also at the office Christmas party) back in 2006. At least it will be a fun last Christmas party for me…

And in other other news I have a new crush at the office! Hahaha! He’s cute and hot. Siyempre I can’t post the pic here but he’s really nice and we’re chummy chummy na. LOL. Things aren’t going so well with HB– actually there’s nothing going on since I haven’t heard from him in days but I’m actually thinking of him less so that’s good. Leche siya, che! Haha.

By now I realized this post was totally random! I just had too much to say :P Till the next one.

Twilight

Of course I wouldn’t let the hype die down without knowing what the fuss was all about– and now just having come home from watching the movie I’ve now got something to say about it ;) My only advice: watch the movie first before reading the book, since if you don’t then you’d be expecting that the movie will do the book some justice. Unfortunately it doesn’t (but that’s since I didn’t listen to my friends and I read the book first), but the movie is fairly okay in itself. It runs a bit dry and monotonous for the most part, but Edward Cullen and his romantic lines make up for it… maybe that’s what the fuss was all about?! Haha. No but really, there is just something about those romantic male characters that make you fall in love with them/ their character, just like Shane West as Landon Carter in A Walk To Remember, right? But anyway there really isn’t any climax to the story and it runs flat so you’d just be rooting for the love story then. I feel like I watched a longer episode of One Tree Hill/ The O.C., especially during the prom part…

As to the acting, it was dry as can be with a lot of talking, but like I said, Robert Pattinson as the hot, romantic, protective vampire Edward Cullen made up for it. Kristen Stewart as Bella Swan was okay, also the rest of the actors except for the one who played Rosalie Cullen. The character’s supposed to be the prettiest female on the planet but she didn’t do the character any justice at all. Oh, and the ending credits where they just had to introduce each actor really didn’t fit into the entire movie. It let out mixed signals– you wouldn’t know if it was romance, drama, suspense or thriller, with the mix of the music, humor, and treatment of the beginning and ending credits. It just wasn’t as dark as I expected, or maybe because I was expecting it to be Harry Potter-like. Nevertheless it’s a good movie (being the hopeless romantic that I am)– I loved hearing the lines and can only wish upon such love story for myself :P– worth 170 bucks. Hehe. I think I wanna watch it again for Edward Cullen’s character!

I downloaded the soundtrack weeks before I saw the movie and I must say the songs are quite nice and fitting. I especially like “Flightless Bird, American Mouth” by Iron and Wine, which was played during the prom scene. I suddenly got to appreciate “Leave Out All The Rest” by Linkin Park as well. Anyway good movie, good soundtrack. And a hot Edward Cullen. Haha. I think I’ll watch it again :) In the meantime I’ll be starting on New Moon and reading the other books soon!

Feeling the moment

I’m sad to be leaving the company I’ve been part of for more than 2 years, but at the same time I can’t wait to start my new job by January. I still don’t feel that I’m part of the new company though, even if there’s no turning back!

It was really difficult to explain my reasons for resigning to everyone, especially when they all thought I was going out for expat. Especially now that I’ve officially graduated from the program, they expect me to “pay the company back” for all the training I’ve received. However for reasons such as pursuing another industry where you feel you’ll be more happy, then I guess there’s not much to resist about that. Anyway I’m glad though that I had a pretty good resignation; I was able to break the news to the people at the office following a hierarchy: top management, the fellow Filipino MISEs, then the other country functional managers I’ve worked with before. At least if ever I need something in the future I bid a proper goodbye.

It still hasn’t sunken in though. I’ve got a month to finish this major transition I was tapped for– I feel sad that I won’t be able to see through its implementation, and that I will miss out on some office events for 2009, but at the same time I don’t feel heavy that I don’t wanna know what I’ll be missing out on. I feel that eventually we always have to move on, and now is my turn to– no looking back, no ifs, buts, what-ifs, and regrets. That’s what being young is all about right?

In other news, I purchased a long-term flexible life insurance plan at Sunlife the other day. I wasn’t really planning to get one, but for only 3,500 every quarter it’s like forced savings for me. At least I know that I can get something in case something happens to me… and besides once I transfer to my new job I will get more serious about saving up. One month to go! :)

The announcement

 

I handed in my resignation yesterday. The letter was actually ready last Monday but I was just waiting for my medical exam results before I can formalize my resignation. Yesterday morning, HR informed me that my medical results are all ok and that I may now resign.

 

I decided not to prolong the agony and just do it in the afternoon– and so I did. I resigned first to our HR Manager, then to the Country Manager, then to my immediate boss. I was anticipating it was gonna be extremely difficult, but they were extremely understanding and supportive of me and what I wanted– I’m happy that this is gonna be a good parting. My letter’s pretty much self-explanatory anyway :) [I've just dropped the names in making this post]

 

As I will discuss with you personally, this is to officially tender my resignation effective Wednesday, December 24, 2008.

 

I have decided to pursue a line of work in the fast moving consumer goods industry, where I would like to build my career in Sales or Marketing. I believe that this new endeavor will put me on the right track to achieving my career goals and aspirations.

 

It has been very fruitful and enriching to have graduated from the program, and the past 2 years have given me so much experience and wisdom in more ways than one. However, I have realized and validated that my career interests, aspirations and goals are not in line with what the company can offer me currently and in the future—despite the breadth of both global and local opportunities that are available to a graduate.

 

I am very grateful for all the support and understanding you have given me, especially to keep me in the program. I find it difficult in writing to express my regret for not having gone through expatriation and repatriation, in return for the 2 years of training that I have received from the company. I am leaving only with gratitude for everything I have learned and experienced, and it is with optimism that I hope you understand my reasons for leaving.

 

 

New year, new job, new life! I find it heavy to be parting– this is my first job, and I’ve learned so so much over the past 2 years. All my closest office friends are gone but I’m gonna miss the young crowd here. Sayang din with all the training I went through– I could really make it big. However, we just have to move on in pursuit of what we want, especially while we’re young with all the room for idealism. I’m optimistic about 2009 and my new life to come :)

A new chapter

A new chapter in my life is coming!!! I’ll be an “HG” soon. :)

The first week back

I’M BACK!!! :) Got here last Saturday afternoon, still sleepy from Friday’s despedida for me at Marugen Dream in The Venue compound, where almost all of the Davao staff attended:

The place was small enough to fit all of us to hog the karaoke machine, so it was just good times, doing the thing I loved to do the most in Davao on my last night– videoke! Bong gave me a caricature that didn’t quite look like me but it was very sweet :) We finished at 2am, then Rex, Lani, Jane and me headed to Urban Club to cap the night off. It was an even better way of ending my Davao nightlife by coming to the club I spent so much weekends in, especially during my first few months. I didn’t realize how much I missed it and I had such a good time! I felt sentimental in that this is the place Rex and me started and this is where we’ll end as I leave the place I called home for 9 months. 

On Saturday night I went out with Sunny and Mia and guess what we did– videoke at Havana in BF. Hahaha. 2 nights of drinking and videoke for me. I missed those folks, too bad JC wasn’t there to join us! BF has changed a lot, I didn’t realize we already had Timezone and Platinum KTV branches here! I love this village. Anyway after Havana we just went to Starbucks to hang out a bit.

On Sunday after mass I watched Quantum of Solace with my family at ATC and since I was so sleepy from the late nights before, I slept through half of the movie! Haha. Daniel Craig is hot as James Bond though, can I just say! HB was also in Manila for a vacation but we weren’t able to meet coz he spent the time with his family– more of that later.

Monday was the first day back at work and I probably spent half the day catching up with people from the office. I love the location of the new office! It’s right in front of Mall of Asia so it’s very convenient to buy anything, anytime! Plus there’s a Fitness First downstairs so it’s so easy to go to the gym. My department’s area is away from all the action but at least we have our own secluded room to be noisy all we want.

On Tuesday I signed up at Fitness First and had dinner with Angeli after. I was so relieved I was still able to avail of our corporate rate! The initial cash out I was supposed to pay was 9,650 but they were able to reduce it to something like 3,350 which included the first month’s membership fee and the admin fee, with all other charges waived. Little did I know that I was gonna be tied down to the membership for a year!!! It’s not so bad and at least I will really be motivated to maximize my membership, plus it’s transferable too just in case I have no use for it in the future, who knows…

On Wednesday I didn’t report for work to attend the last interview with an Option B. It was rather short, and me and my co-applicants were quite disappointed with it. More about that later– but after that I had lunch with Michael (my co-applicant), did some toiletries shopping then went straight home.

Yesterday was normal but I went to the gym for the first time. There was this personal trainer who tried to talk me into availing of the 1:1 training service but it was damn expensive, something like 1,500 per session! Hullo!!! By the way the people at my new department in the office are cool. Been having lunch with Kristine, who was my high school batch mate, Archie, and Acey, if I’m not having lunch with old friends. 

Today was normal too but before going to the gym I attended this wine-tasting seminar at the office, administered by this wine supplier for our Christmas party. It was free and educational so I attended it anyway– I now know how to be distinct about taste, smell, and color for white and red wine, heehee! 

As for my job– it’s a good one since I’m in Process Excellence and therefore not involved in the day to day tasks, which I believe I’m so over already. I’m sitting in Customer Service now to prepare the department for a big business move in January, and I have to make sure things are ironed out. It’s a good temporary job. As for expat, it hasn’t been working well but HR has presented me with “something that might be of particular interest to you” in the local organization, and who knows… but about that…

I WILL SOON BE A “HG” TOO! If you’ve been reading my blog and the entries about HB and why I call him that, you’ll know :) Ok it’s nothing final yet and there’s still something I have to surpass but I’M THERE!!! Boom!!! I hope nothing gets in the way of it from really happening!!!

But as for HB the person, hmmm. Nothing to tell. I’d rather not talk about it but there are sure more things that keep me happy and busy lately. Besides I’ve got a busy weekend, gonna go to my lola’s tomorrow, have dinner with Ann and Kris, going to Tiff’s birthday party, and on Sunday:

!!! Watching the concert with my siblings. I’m surprising them by taking them straight to the concert instead. Something to look forward to! :)

A day of firsts and lasts

If it were not for some bad news I received this afternoon I’d say my day was pretty good. I woke up, chapped lips (from eating 2 bags of junk food last night while watching Grey’s Anatomy 3), hungry for some warm, home-cooked food, and I flicked the TV on the Lifestyle Channel. Man, the food made my feeling worse! And so I resolved that today I will have either a) some good Italian food at La Toscana, or b) a food trip with authentic Japanese food. Problem is, since I don’t have “weekend friends” here I’d have to eat alone– which I NEVER do. Until today.

I had a problem with eating alone since I hate it when people always look at me while I’m doing my thing, what more if I’m eating, and worse, alone! I’ve never tried it too in Manila, either in the office or back in college (I’d always text someone to eat with me, or else I’d rather not eat at all or I’d eat in the car), since someone I know who’s with company might see me and say I’m a loner or something. Hehe. Anyway I decided to try it today, for lunch. It’s my last weekend in Davao anyway, I haven’t eaten anything decent in 2 days, and I think I deserve a nice “last weekend in Davao” meal. I didn’t eat Italian or authentic Japanese food; instead I had lunch at Buffet Palace where they served all sorts of food on a buffet (duh). 

What I learned? Eating alone in public is not so bad after all. Or maybe because I ate at a nice place and everyone’s just too busy to mind others’ business. But to be safe I brought a book with me, a nice memo pad, and drafted notes I was gonna write on cards for Cy (his birthday’s next week) and my boss (my goodbye letter for her). Well, I had a good time eating by myself. The waiters were looking at me here and there but it’s easy to just say “walang pakialamanan!”

And so these are what I ate. I had to get a portion of everything since I’m pigging out anyway. Man, I ate so much I felt like puking after! But the food was good, sulit yung 270 pesos ko!!! :P

Japanese food as the “pre-appetizer”

Sisig, chicharon, kinilaw, and potato & macaroni salads as the appetizers

Sweet & sour pork, adobong squid, steamed fish, beef kaldereta, yang chow rice, and crispy pancit. Saraaaap.

Almond jelly, ube flan, mango float and halo-halo for dessert

I never thought I could eat so much, especially with my habit of not eating too much recently. Bali wala yung gym ko! Haha! Anyway. After eating I went to the salon to have my bangs cut (since they were already too long and wavy), had my eyebrows threaded, and had a pedicure. My last pampering here in Davao! I have to admit for the past months I’ve been spending a lot of money buying beauty stuff and pampering myself. Haha. It’s also my last time to go shopping alone on a weekend, but good thing I had the resolve today to NOT buy anything for myself. I just spent money buying pasalubong food for the people back home.

Anyway I also received some bad news today, that one of our Operations staff in Gen San died of a stroke this afternoon. The guy’s not even 50! We have the same birthday, and he was really nice to me and he always gave me food when here was here in Davao. I just spoke to him last Friday, and he’d always tease me about HB. Hay. I didn’t realize that last Friday was the last time I’d talk to him. Life is short. 

A pic from last July when we had our 80th celebration. Godie’s the one on the right.

I’m giving my Dad a call tonight to tell him to always take care. I’m thankful I’m getting into the habit of exercising at this age, and I plan to keep it that way. Weight loss will follow if it will :P Anyhoo, I have 6 more nights to go here in Davao before I fly back to Manila on Saturday!!! I can’t wait, but I also couldn’t help but feel sad that I’m leaving. I’ll be writing more about that later.