Thanks Tinx!

When it rains...it pours! INDEED. This month has brought a roller coaster ride of emotions. At one point, I am surrounded with negativity... frustrations and a lot of  bulls***t... I swear I want to vomit! But then again, God always provides balance. It also brought opportunities for me to reconnect and hang out with old and reliable friends. In my recent post, I shared about spending time with my TeleTech friends. This weekend, I went to Laguna with my APC family and got the opportunity to invite Tinkerbell. 

Tinkerbell or Tinx as I call him was my former manager. Whenever I get really depressed with work or caught up with my personal drama... he is always there to be my happy thought. It's almost a year since he left and I really missed his company. Our weekend get together was the perfect venue to just have a good time. I rarely drink alcohol but I guess I was just so happy to celebrate the friendship that I had a little too much to drink last Saturday. We sang our hearts out with songs about love, heartbreak, friendship...anything that we can find on the videoke song book provided by the resort. [i know I usually sing off key but duh? who cares?] We laughed till our eyes were filled with tears. It was so much fun I can't wait for the next time we can hang out. I wish he didn't have to leave last year... If I can only turn back time. *sigh..sobs*

Thank you for the friendship Tinx! 

me and my boss 

one fine day

I received a message from a high school classmate the other day and it said, "good friends must not always be together. It is the feeling of oneness when distant that proves a lasting friendship". TRUE. 

I am very lucky to have kept great friends despite different religious affiliations...contradicting political views and geographical locations. These differences made the friendship stronger. I say trust and mutual respect is the key. 

In my previous posts, I wrote about leaving TeleTech with a heavy heart. One of the many reasons that I miss my old company are the friends [family] I left behind. Thanks to Facebook and texting, we were able to keep in touch. It's not the same though. I miss hanging out with them... sharing crazy stories or just goofing around. Most of them have left TeleTech and it got harder to make our schedules meet. 

A little over a month ago, my Accenture friends and I planned a get together. Just to catch up on things and see how each of us have been in the past year. Marcky [now working for Startek], Mommy Rubs [24/7], Shaoi [24/7], Faye [Thompson], Tofer [Verizon] and Barbie [24/7] agreed to set the date on April 13th. I really felt excited to see them again. 

Today is April 13th. I just got home from our get together. Unfortunately, only Marcky and Mommy Rubs showed up. For some reason, the rest of the crew had more important things to attend to. Although it would be a lot more fun if they came, we decided to make the most out of the day. 

After my shift, I went straight to Makati to meet my friends @ Starbucks Greenbelt 3. I had my usual choco frappe and Mommy Rubs ordered Caramel Macchiato. We waited for Marck because he overslept! duh! After almost 45 minutes of wait time, he showed up. I was really happy to see both of them today. Miss them much. 

It was almost eleven thirty-ish, we decided to look for a place to eat. Our feet led us to Bubba Gump. We checked out the menu and felt that we are not up to too much shrimp. Sentro was also a good choice but we had our lunch there the last time we met. Marcky suggested we eat at Recipes by Cafe Metro. We devoured on the delicious food served. 


See pics below: 

Recipes by Cafe Metro at Greenbelt 3

crispy tilapia, gising gising & general's chicken

lechon kawali with kangkong

prawn tempura

seafood rice

I was so full. Good food + good company + great conversations = BURP! We did not even finish everything we ordered, the rest we had to take out. whew! We did not realize that the crew were waiting up on us since they are about to close. We got our check and headed to Starbucks [Glorietta 4]. We continued our great conversation over chocolate frappe mocha frappe and mango passion fruit frappe! 

It was a blast. It felt like we just saw each other yesterday. I was happy to know that Marcky is able to apply some of the things I shared with him on how I handle my team. Of course there were funny anecdotes of when we were still with TeleTech. How time flies...I am just glad I was able to keep the friendship and lucky to have such great friends!

Stars + Steak + TBC + Starbucks = me likey!

I am not very experimental with the music I listen to... I kinda stick to the easy listening type. Mostly old favorites. When I was a lot younger I enjoyed the music[?] of GnR...Bon Jovi... Nirvana and the like. As I mature, I switched to different genres and now find it hard to listen to the music of artists I once appreciated. 

My playlist = BORING. I kinda liked it that way but a few additions will not hurt, would it? Anyway, my friends and I were on vacation leave last March 31st purposely to spend time away from work and just chill. Marya suggested that we check out one of her favorite band performing at the G Strip in Greenhills for the Sun Victory Party. Thinking that I have not been to Greenhills in years [yes..years!] She got my vote. 

We started our night with a scrumptious meal at Tender Bob's. We ordered the following: 

[1] Seafood Platter 
[2] Steak Platter 
[3] Beef Salpicao 
[4] garlic rice 


For our drinks.. 
ripe mango shake [mine!]
green mango shake [marya]
bottomless iced tea [korholyo]
bottomless lemonade [kulot]

... and of course they had beer. ☺

After dinner, we went to the strip to check out the victory party. The "party" was kinda off.. the crowd was close to nil. Some college bands gave their best shot keep the very few people to stay and watch their performances. The audience was awkwardly silent. While waiting for Marya's fave band, we decided to check out one of the restos in area and ordered beer. Soon it was Taken By Cars' turn.

At the onset of their performance, I thought their music was different. Their sound is distinct, plus Sarah's voice is hypnotic! It took just a little time to convince myself that I was literally Taken by Cars! It turned the rather boring party around and I ended up enjoying the set. I asked kulot to share a copy of their songs so I can include it in my playlist. 

The set was over and as always, we decided to cap the night with good conversation over our favorite frappes at Starbucks Metrowalk. It was a laid back.. yet uber fun night spent with friends. I can't wait for the next group date!

FYI. I have been listening to Taken By Cars songs the whole week and counting... 

Tinkerbell

I hate goodbyes. Bidding someone goodbye brings about anxiety... of being physically separated or emotionally detached to someone of great importance to our life. Separation is one of life's bitter aspects. I have lived through and survived a lot of physical and emotional separation in my life.

Today, I am saying goodbye to my manager. A person who not only inspired me to be the best supervisor there is but also to be the best daughter I can be to my parents. He is not merely a manager to me and to the rest of the CCC PLP Team.. he is a friend.

He fought my battles with me up to the very end. I will be forever grateful for the unconditional support he has given me. We share a common denominator being bread winners and he would often say "we are on the same boat"... we understand each other without having to provide lengthy explanations.

I have worked with quite a few managers in my entire career and Dex would definitely be my #1 if I were to rank all of them.

Cheers to you Tinkerbell!

more manga

Just for fun, here are the result of my friends' manga..

Bernard

Linet

Jac

If you see them in person, you would agree with me that these images are not far fetch from how they really look like.

Interested on creating your own? Click HERE

Till we meet again, Jaz!

Over the past months the CCC Philippines Team has hosted numerous exchangees from West Kingston, RI. Jasmine joined us in January of this year to launch the Sales Order Administration pilot team. On her first week, I was curious how she would handle the cultural differences and other "issues" that will come her way during her stay. Although Filipinos are known to be good hosts, some people do not easily adapt to new environment or new set of personalities to say the least.

Surprisingly, she adapted really well to the Philippines and everything that came with the territory. I did get a chance to hang out with her a few times and thought she is really a cool person. We also had our small talks during cancer breaks. Although these are just small talks, I enjoyed it. I am glad to know that she had fun during her stay here, especially the trips to Puerto Galera... the 2 bottles' session (after shift @ the Diners)... the trips to the "foundation". She did enjoy McDonalds' apple pie and just had a blast spending time with the reps.

It's sad that her work is done here and would be returning to Rhode Island come Saturday. With this being said, I want to wish her the best of luck.

JAZ... no goodbyes. Just tata for now.

Till we meet again...

P.S.

I promise to send a pic of my 1st pumpkin pie!

Constellation of Shining Stars!

The stars used to be just a company of 6 friends.. now we have doubled (yes,x2!) our number. We now have a constellation of shining stars! From the original members...

Maria aka Dream
Bernard aka Porn
Me aka Love
Jac aka Happy
Judy aka Meek
Jc aka 3rd

There comes the 2nd generation of stars..

Tyr aka Wild
Archie aka Broken
MarkJavi aka Tummy
James aka Death
Vic aka Bold
Egay aka Morning

Welcome to the constellation guys!

pic still unavailable.. :(

People Always Leave

I have worked on graveyard shifts for almost 4 years and sometimes I find that urge to take time off and live a "normal life" even for just a few days. I got the opportunity to take time off last week. I have a total of 5days! While on leave, I found time to clean my room...catch up on my reading (currently reading Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn)...sleep at night and pretty much do anything that I felt like doing. One of the things I love to do is go on DVD marathons. I'd like to believe I am a very patient person but when it comes to TV series I become really impatient on having to wait up for another week for the next episodes. Needless to say, I have my own favorites. One Tree Hill and Prison Break to be specific. The most convenient way to enjoy the series season after season? Purchase a DVD copy of the entire series!

During my vacation, I came across One Tree Hill Season 1. Knowing how each of the characters' lives changed throughout the different seasons.. I kinda felt nostalgic and wanted to watch season 1 all over again! So I did.

I prepared a pitcher of my favorite drink...a good number of potato chip packs beside me and I was all set. It felt good to see the characters again in their youth..when all they cared about was cheer leading and basketball. And then there's Peyton Elizabeth Sawyer... struggling to cope with the death of her mom. Peyton is an artist and I loved how she illustrates her feelings.. her emotions... through her sketches. "People Always Leave" this is the sketch she made to illustrate pain and struggle for the loss of a loved one.

It made me think of people whom I've met and lost.. We don't lose someone solely because of death. There are a lot of ways to lose someone. We lose old friends to new friends... an old flame to a new passion... the list can go on forever but for any loss..there is always an equivalent level of pain. A void that people who are left behind struggle to fill in just to make it through each day. In romance, we lost our significant others to new loves and in my case, to marriage. Even in someone's professional life, we lose colleagues. We lose them to better pay checks and new opportunities.

When I think of losing someone again...it always gives me a dreary feeling. I hope I won't have to deal with this feeling several times in my life.. But then again, reality bites.

As soon as I was back to work, my manager announced his resignation.

It felt so awful.

Peyton was right.. people always leave. :(

Shining Stars

Each of us represents a star in the sky... sometimes we shine together, sometimes we twinkle alone. In our life, we meet a lot of people... some brings out the best in us, some unleashes the beast buried deep inside of us.

In a lot of ways, we mirror ourselves with the people we hang out with. We set aside the individual differences..hang on to the common denominators and form friendships.


I am proud to have been blessed with wonderful friends.. the Shining Stars!

Standing (L-R): Meek, Love & 3rd
Seated (L-R) : Porn, Dream & Happy

Nightmares of Bolinao

My manager gave the CCC Team Leaders a summer treat for what he described as our "phenomenal dedication, hard work, and passion towards excellence". The date was set on May 2-4 and our destination... Bolinao, Pangasinan.

We left Cavite after the shift, Saturday @ 9am (May 2nd) and arrived at the Treasures of Bolinao Beach Resort and Hotel a little past 3pm where Dex (our super cool boss!) booked for a suite accommodation for 3days & 2nights. Needless to say, everyone is tired and starving from the long drive... Not to mention that we have not slept the previous night, ugh! After checking out our room and deciding on our bed assignments, we were off to the cafeteria to eat. To our dismay, nobody from the staff bothered to approach us and take our orders...nobody even bothered to greet us... to say the least. Gggrr!

I can hear my stomach growling... an indication that I was really starving, I could eat a whole cow! *laughs* Realizig that we are wasting precious minutes, we took it upon ourselves to find a "decent" table to settle in and John, one of the Business Systems Team Lead decided to approach the crew (odd right? the guests literally needed to look for someone to assist us!) to ask for the menu and eventually take our order. As we were waiting for someone to spare us some attention, I checked out the videoke machine to see if we could pass the time over a few songs... but again to my disappointment... the machine is busted! What I saw was a relic of the song book.. with the pages torn and falling off!

the song book relic

We are a pool of young professionals with one forte' "customer service"... and you need to believe me when I say we can definitely spot the lack of it! So then after almost an hour of waiting, an attendant was on our way with the menu. We hurriedly ordered and was appeased with the thought that we are a few minutes away from "Lunch". It's a consolation that we got our drinks served a few minutes after we ordered. (check out the "Iced Tea" that TL Ryan ordered..see below). Then again, the wait time is despicable! It turned out that all if not most of the staff are students that were on-the-job training. *sigh* I really couldn't blame them, they are students. What I don't get is why the hell was the F&B Manager allowing such a lousy service.

"Iced Tea"

To cut the story short, we finally got to eat. To be honest, it was the most expensive meal I ever paid for. Considering that the food is pretty bland..the service sucked and most of all the place was a mess! I can see flies everywhere...the adjacent tables were left uncleaned... *sigh*

In an effort to make the most of our vacation, we went for a swim. The pool was packed so we opted to check out the waves and take a plunge in the Pangasinan waters. When we got back to the resort, the pool was deserted... our turn to enjoy a more tranquil swim.

It was a fun time to get up close and personal with the other team leads. John wanted to finish off the night over a few bottles of San Mig Light but guess what? THEY RAN OUT OF BEER!!!!

Early on we were already thinking of checking out and leaving, but because we were all tired (especially our driver, Kuya Dan) we decided to stay for the night. I guess running out of beer was the last nail on the coffin. We are out of this place first hour tomorrow morning! I was so frustrated that I decided to call it a night and sleep through my disappointment.

Morning came, It was a fine day. We decided to have coffee to jump start our day. We are expecting a couple of hours drive since we have not decided on where to go yet. We fixed our things and headed to the cafeteria. Well, just when I thought that the series of unfortunate events has come to a halt... I was wrong. No coffee. Sucks right?

I am ending this post just about now before I go berserk! (again WTF!)

Treasures?... nah, more like Nightmares of Bolinao!

2 bottles and wounded soldiers...

It was 8:03am..everyone started to set their Nortel phones to "make busy" twice. Another day at work has ended. It's a cue for everyone to leave and go home...or proceed to the Diner's where reps, team leaders and exchangees hang out for after shift beer.

For most of the people working for call centers, drinking sessions after shift has become a habit. It's our way to relax and talk about our not so good experiences with our customers. Our exchangees from Rhode Island seemed to have developed the same habit. They would even stay up until 2pm with the gang. Brian, one of the exchangees would ask "dalawang bote?" in a very americanized way. I am not a beer drinker but I enjoy hanging out with the guys. Today, we had a full house at the Diners. Those who are in attendance were Brian, Ryan and Paul (exchangees), John and myself (Team Leaders), Mark, JC, Joe, Gem, CJ, James, Egay, Vic, Bryan,Jac, Bernard (reps) and Linet (QA). It was a happy to sight to see. Despite cultural and individual differences we were having fun.

Soon after..reps started to leave and all that was left were wounded soldiers.. the empty bottles of SanMig Light that witnessed the bond that friends have over two bottles.

NOTE:
We call it 2 bottles even if we consume more than that because we stop counting after two!

Thoughts to ponder..

This is an email sent by my friend Dexter, who incidentally is also my manager:

There are two ways to live your life:
One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle.

There is no mistake so painful that love cannot forgive… no past so bitter that love cannot accept.

And no love so little that we cannot start all over with.