26 posts tagged “work”
better late than never, here's some snapshots from our office-sponsored summer outing. we had fun...
thank god for red horse, it was fun.
sometime in early may, earlier than the sm cebu parking lot shoot, carlo bid cebu farewell and decided to return to manila for the meantime. kimee wanted a last lunch followed by a karaoke for the remaining pioneers. carlo was part of the 20 guys who volunteered to transfer here in cebu with me and win. we'll miss you carlo... well, not really. hehehehe.
l-r: win - the original pinay poptart, me feeling new york
l-r: can you spell diva?, and me turning the camera, um, manual to asfer
our version of the GRO scene wherein win was spot-on being a naive probinsyana who has ventured the city life in hopes of self-supporting career. we were just happy to be in the picture.
what's left of the pioneers: from 22 down to 10
it was see yah later more than goodbye carlo for me.
we needed a perfect excuse to put a little insanity at work, so we decided to do theme days last march. theme days is basically when everyone at work is supposed to dress up according to the theme for the week. normally, it would last for 4 weeks and people put a lot of work to it. so for the first time here in cebu, we had them experience our own version of theme days. here were some of my snapshots taken from each theme day:
team spirit - everyone was to wear sporty/athletic costumes and no, i haven't played soccer since highschool
forever 80's - we totally looked like an album cover for a mix tape
labor day - me and win we're supposed to be the "men in uniform" but as always,
she becomes the damsel in distress
parade of nations - bringing back the gay in geisha
*reijiro and charlie, these were in your honor. hahahahahaha!
makati vs. cebu.
it's like east coast vs. west coast.
i've been living in cebu for almost a month now, and the life down south is sloooowly sinking in. everything in cebu is so...relaxed. it's like i've timewarped to a perpetual sunday slowjam. and if you're used to working your ass and running around the big cosmopolitan buildings of makati, it may take awhile before your daily routine gets adjusted.
i can't help but compare cebu with makati. there's a big difference with cost of living. everything in cebu seems to be cheap and at times too good to be true. the food is sooo good here. my current faves are the mexican themed mooon cafe in guadalupe and the dessert factory (alchocolypse now is synonymous to cardiac arrest). we're all crossing our fingers that we just gain half the weight than what the locals are predicting. be it a quick meal at a karinderia, grilled seafoods and beer with your boss, or a team lunch at an avant garde mexican restaurant; it's all good. i really should start going back to my situps.
i've learned to carry a coin purse to any part of cebu. you will collect absurd amount of coins before you reach home. why? the taxi drivers here are mostly polite and notably returns the exact change. no rounding off of fares. shame on the makati and manila cabbies. i demand a full refund. here, if your fare amounts to 47.50 pesos and you hand out a fifty-peso bill, then most likely you'll receive your 2.50 change. i've learned to either prepare the exact amount or any bill lower than 100. they hate it when you give out 200 or 500. and yes, jeepney fare is 6.00 to almost anywhere. funny thing about the jeepney or "multicabs" (local term) is that they don't go by routes. instead the go by an alphanumeric combination, like 4C or 16D or 62B. much like airline seat assignments. very travel-esque.
movie tickets are also inexpensive. win and i watched the latest harry potter at on-stage of the ayala cinemas for only 130 bucks each. the height of cinema experience. the downside is that they have only 2 reputable and recommendable malls. it's either the ayala mall or the we've-got-it-all-for-you sm. they have gaisano and the likes but you only go to these "malls" if you have nowhere to buy grocery. and, for crying out loud, not a single 7-11 can be found.
houses are cheap. so are the abundant wholistic and massage spas. nightlife is not that big. nothing compares to makati and malate. we haven't been to the beaches and to other tourist spots. we're taking it slow cebuano steps at a time.
here's more snapshots taken last week:
The rest of 22 at the domestic airport with Reijiro
Dinner by me and Win with Sandy
it still feels weird to be in Cebu...
i am back. i have been very busy the past few weeks and now i am writing this from cebu city. yes, finally we have arrived. the first 3 days have been the most tiring days of recent years. we have been scouting for houses and apartments and condos for the entire 22-man team that has relocated to cebu. my feet ached for like 15 hours a day. we did complain alot but we also took a lot of pictures. here's our first week in cebu:
The Advance Party
L-R: At the very old and bus terminal like - Cebu Pacific Domestic terminal, Win and Nina upon landing, the girls at Sophia's lobby, and the boys watching SpongeBob SquarePants.
The House Hunting
L-R: Win at Starbucks trying to call a house for rent, Win at Mocha Blends getting refreshed before going to the next apartment, Asfer waiting for the cab, and the girls try to come up with a more constructed plan.
The Sophia Suites
L-R: Win trying to get dressed, Win trying to get some sleep, and me trying to get some morning sunshine.
Win's Big Waves a la Guess models
The Tests and the Remaing 16
The July 13 and 14 test of the emergency broadcast system.
And we are live from the Skyrise Building in Cebu...
we've had some major movements at work. charlie has finally said goodbye and pursues a better career in singapore. win and i are somewhat saying goodbye for the meantime as we head for cebu. reijiro will be the sole heir to the day to day madness brought by the manila team. i've said this before and i really admit it: i suck at goodbyes. well, people used to make mixed tapes whenever they breakup. cheesier than the "leaving on the jet plane" song, i decided to create a little project that involves mixed pictures i've taken at work and the people i will surely miss. sob.
people come and go; the memories they shared don't.
our semi-permanent move cebu to has been moved to july 09. this is officially the week wherein my countdown begins. and cheesy as it may seems, this is the most appropriate song that has been on my mind as begin packing my things.
this one goes to charlie, reijiro and the rest of the manila team. we will be back.
my work entails a lot of courage, frustration, stamina and drama. it's a job not suited for the weak-hearted or bottom feeders. i've lasted for more than 3 years not only because i developed multiple personalities but mostly because of the people i worked with. people i consider not only the best co-workers i could ever ask for. people named win, reijiro and charlie. i consider them the highlights of my career. we've shared a number of hundreds of moments worth blogging and remembering. i want to write down as many as i could remember so i can always look back at some of best time of our lives. cheesy....
as far as i know it all started with the theme days. it's when everyone at work comes it dressed on whatever the theme for that day was. then we instantly hit it off and found out that we had a lot of things in common. we are by far sandy's most favorite angels. his show-stopper and over the top supervisors. he counts on us for hyper energy like we four parts of gigantic electric ion. we are all loud and we all looove karaoke nights. charlie's the balladeer. he likes hog the mic and belt out love songs. reijiro's the crooner as he prefers old school and little bit of rock 'n roll. win is the total diva. as in regine, mariah and whitney. i like anything that's loud and that involves challenging my vocal chords to it's human limits.
at work, everyone seems to fear and love us at the same time. not a day or a person passes by that escapes our criticism. it is inate all four of us. kung nakakamatay lang ang panlalait, most of the people at work could have dropped dead or have been paralyzed. and yet, they all love us. well most if not all. we always make it fun and we always make it a happy working place. charlie's resonating laugh and frequent use of bullfrog and miss gay taglines. win's charisma with hetero-male population and her smooth transition to sweet damsel to evil step sister. reijiro's perpetual naive side and hyper personality. all these and more makes the long and hard working hours worth it.
not to mention the back to back meet and greet presentations. i will always remember reijiro's "success rate", charlie's record as the fastest agent promoted, and my take on shift bid as a very important factor to motivate agents to get excellent attendance record. win's toss the hair dance. and speaking about dance, the bananarama number we did is one for the history. classic and will never be matched. the hours spent inside pier one's comfort room that we turned into a private make-up and dressing room was unforgettable. too bad we don't have it on tape.
it's the jutotsra and jutotsra01 password. it's the galera and enchanted kingdom madness. it's conquering the sportsfest. it's the constant indecisiveness on whether to have breakfast in tropical hut, shelby's or jollibee. it's the raid of the ukays. the group yosi breaks and endless posing after one snapshot to the other. it's whether we tell everyone to wear black or corporate the next day. it's feasting at kkk or noontime beer at carafe. it's the skinny jeans convention. the night outs in malate. it's the hush hush secrets about our favorite managers. it's the kyeeeebs attitude and prettytop account in guys4men. it's rocking the graveyard shift. and getting our hairs colored in piandre. it's the love for madonna's confession tour and the badettes version of dreamgirls. the constant clamor about lazy straight male supervisors. and the transparent hot and glow in dark pink clipboards. it all these and a whole lot more that i could not remember as i write this. and oh yeah, the back and forth trips to dampa.
in the next 2 weeks, win and i will be heading for cebu. charlie has again retracted his resignation for the nth time. reijiro has not confirmed his plans of leaving. one of the main reasons why i chose to take the cebu assignment is because i suck with goodbyes. i know for a fact that over the year that we are required to stay in cebu, both charlie and reijiro may have left work for good. and honestly, i don't want to be there when it happens. it's sad but i learned that nothing is constant in life and that friends come and go, but with a certain few we must hold on to. i know that i may not be able to convince charlie and reijiro from staying. and i also know that someday, we will see each other and that we will just dance the bananarama song all over again.
as usual, there are a lot of things going at work. all of which seems to pass us by as normal. i've always turned some of my inner frustrations to taking pictures using my phone. it's always fun to randomly take pictures at the spur of the moment.
here, reijiro and the other supervisors are just plain tired and showed no interest at all during a snap meeting. they didn't even bother to use their pseudo-concerned look. they just all wanna go home. tsk.tsk.tsk....
L-R: noel and me doing our version of pimp my hetero officemate, owen in post spring mode across the office building, and ancee taking an escalated call (zoom in for more intensity)
L-R: me blowing the candles on someone else's birthday cake, b-celebrity day with manilyn reynes or is it love anouver?, and another karaoke night with my old team
me and win try to pose on one of the four boards that we finished for the recent client visit. we were aiming for the bills razzling as confetti effect but every shot that xenia took had the bills covering up our faces. this was just never meant to be...
me and our usual power breakfast combo: coke and yosi
