Last day

Yesterday was my last day at the office. It was the last time I was gonna walk the aisles, ride the elevators, and tap into the doors at One e-Com Center as a Maersk employee, as a MISE graduate, as an employee with a 2.5 year tenure. The next time, I’ll be walking through the doors as a visitor.

Somehow though it didn’t feel like my last day. Maybe the feeling of having to leave my “2nd home” for the past 2.5 years was overtaken by my excitement for the Christmas holidays. Or maybe I didn’t feel like I was leaving at all– since what, or rather, who was there to leave anyway? Most of my closest friends from the company have resigned and moved on before I did. Maybe the feeling of being back in the Manila office hasn’t really sunken in, after my 9 month stay in Davao. Or on a positive note, I didn’t feel like bidding a tearful goodbye since I know I’ll just be in touch anyway, and my real friends will always be my friends regardless of where we all work. 

In all fairness I gained new friends in MCC when I came back. It’s a good thing they were the people who were my age, with the same wavelength, and who shared the same interests as I did. If at all I felt a slight tinge of sadness that I won’t be around next year for the MOA lunches, group chats, and random laughs around our tables. I don’t wanna think anymore about what I’ll be missing though! But with the flurry of goodbyes and “keep in touch” last words that I’ve witnessed and said this year, the feeling doesn’t have the same effect on me anymore. Taking it positively, I’m a person to always keep in touch if we’re really friends. On a negative note, have I become numb to it?

I hope not. Maybe I just need 2009 to sink in– once the new year, new job, and new life sinks in, then I’ll feel that this is goodbye. Well not really since we’re all in the Philippines anyway, and at least on the same island (Luzon)! And hey, it’s not like I’m leaving for something bad– the reason why I left is that there’s something better.

Last night a lot of us ex (yes I’m one of them now!) and current Maersk people got together since Vince (a former colleague who’s now working in Singapore) is in town. There were actually more ex-Maersk people now! I’m glad I dropped by since I got to see them again and catch up– especially now that I’m part of the “resigned” club! It wasn’t my goodbye dinner/ drinking/ videoke yet, which I hope to celebrate either after Christmas or next year. It was another good times moment, and just goes to show that there are no excuses for NOT keeping in touch, even if you’re no longer with the company!!!

And so I therefore conclude that goodbyes to me are pointless. I won’t need to say goodbye to you if I know we’ll be in touch anyway :)– And I just hate that I said too many of them (both cheerful and tearful) this year. Ah, well. This post has been too gloomy, it’s Christmas! I should be in the festive mood!!! MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

An MCC Christmas

If only I still liked my job and wanted to pursue my shipping career, I’d definitely stay. I just LOVE my office crowd now. Kung kelan naman ako paalis eh, saka pa that I met them and we all clicked! Someone told me before I got back to Manila that I wasn’t really gonna jibe with the MCC crowd. True enough I didn’t jibe with ALL of them but some of us actually did get along, enough to hang out as friends. :) We had our MCC Christmas Party last night–dinner at Oki-Oki in A Venue, drinks at Attica, and videoke at Platinum until 3am!!! After all the “let’s donate 30% of the winnings to charity” drama (which I oh so strongly opposed), not everyone was there but at least it’s the people that mattered ;)

TJ, Acey, Naresh, Marc, Me, Ian, Jeaf, Archie, Kristine, Carlo, Nasseir

The food at Oki Oki was great! I wasn’t able to appreciate it that much since I had colds, but I could taste it a bit nevertheless. I love their crazy (fried) maki. We had drinks at Attica after, and of course I taught everyone my staple drinking game (learned it from my friends in Shanghai!)– where you’d have to burn the tissue with a cigarette without dropping the coin inside the glass:

Nasseir dropped the 10 centavo coin during the first round, and I dropped the 5 peso coin during the second round– bottoms up lang naman! Haha. I love this game I play it everytime I go drinking! Anyway after drinks we finally got our room at Platinum KTV in Jupiter, after waiting for 2 hours! All the places were just jam-packed. We tried to go to Top Grill first but it was reserved and so we had to find other places and have dinner first while waiting. Buti nalang Top Grill was full because I loved our choice of places for the night. I wouldn’t have had it any other way!

Jeaf, Me, TJ, Acey, Ian, Alvin, Kristine, Archie

My voice is soooo husky now from the sing-off. I had sore throat, cough and colds to start with, and it even got worse after all the singing! We had a sing-off in pairs of 4 songs each, and the pair with the lowest average score has to do a bottom’s up. Pairings: Acey & Ian, Me & TJ, Kristine & Archie, Jeaf & Nasseir (in order of final standing). Second place kami ni TJ! Haha. Our winning pieces: Never Gonna Let You Go, Sometimes Love Just Ain’t Enough, Nothing’s Gonna Stop Us Now, and I forgot the other one– or maybe we only did 3?! Pero basta it was super fun, everyone’s scores were in the 90’s range!

I hope this won’t be the last time I’ll hang out with these people at the office– though most likely it will be the last! I’ll be having my despedida early next year before I start work at Colgate-Palmolive so hope it’s gonna be as fun– and I hope I’ll have the same fun with my new officemates! :) In the meantime I’ll be maximizing my time with my MCC crowd while we’re still all together since it’s gonna be less convenient once I’m gone :( Last 2 days at the office next week!!!

Ay lav it!

Office Christmas party last Friday. 80’s theme. BADUY mode! I didn’t come as anyone but I came in a polka dot headband. LOL! I was one of the emcees with Ian and Jorge. My second time to emcee. I think I did pretty good also this time!

The highlight of the night: the departmental performances. Ok, I thought my department’s (MCC) performance was gonna be a super fail! Practice sucked and we were so lax about it. We sang “Carol of the Bells” and “Head Over Heels” by The Go-Go’s. Guess what– we won first place!!! 15K!!! Never would have expected it! Despite some major screw-ups in other aspects for the rest of the party, this totally made up for everything! Here’s the winning team in our “Carol of the Bells” glory…

We didn’t even have costumes and props like the others did. Oh, just imagine if we actually took this seriously. Haha!

In other news… I’ve already said this before. I have a crush at the office. Hahaha! I’m smiling from ear to ear!!! Now I’m sad that I’ve got 6 more days to go!!! :( I’ll miss my new friends! But hey, I’ll be gaining more once I get to C-P anyway.

Good times.

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! :)