Thursday, July 26, 2007

Never Let Go

What will you do when you wake up one day and is informed that you got a disease which maybe untreatable? It happened to me one time when I visited my endocrinologist and was informed that I have to undergo a series of tests to determine the extent of toxin contamination in my blood. I underwent scintigraphy too to measure my thyroid lobes. I spent a day of terrible and horrible moment thinking what would be the result of those tests. And I spent almost a week of sleepless nights being embittered and despair that I tried to hide from my friends and relatives. I hate that helpless feeling when you can’t do anything to ease the pain. And when I came back to the hospital I was so scared of knowing the laboratory tests and it came to a point where I am in denial. When the technician handed to me the envelope containing the results it took me a while to open this because I am afraid of what might be the abstract results. But when I went to my endocrinologist I was informed that the results showed that I should not worry because there are no focal defects in my two thyroid lobes. I nearly broke down when my endocrinologist handed the analysis to me and I almost jump from my seat for I was relieved of my agony for the whole week.

As I went out of the hospital I saw a tiny tree just outside the lobby. It stood there with scrubby branches, so small and fragile. Looking at that tree, I could tell it had put up with a heavy conquer of mistletoes. As I came nearer, the tree looked full of sap more than ever. And suddenly I found out the reason. Since it was too weak to cope with the mistletoes, the sapling laid its life on such an adventure. Living in my small world and often magnify every tiny trouble I meet, seeing the tree trying to survive the harsh environment pollution made me feel so ashamed of myself. And I wish, more than ever, if that tree survived, so would I. Where there’s a will, there’s always a way…. As long as we don’t let go….





It's Been A Long Time

Well not much to blog about. Maybe you took notice that I’ve been slacking in blogging lately. I hadn’t had much luxury to write the past months. But anyway I am here again… Maybe all of you are aware that I’ve went through a lot of stress the past months. Well not much has changed, except that time has gone so fast that before I noticed I will be turning four (4) months to my new company. I am happy with my life right now … and money wise I am a little better off. The only problem that is going on … is my health problem … it’s nothing serious (well I’m hoping it’s not). I went to my doctor last Saturday and have some tests done. Results of my laboratory tests showed some improvement from 8.75% contamination to 2.14% this month. But I am still advised to continue with my oral medication. I was given a new medicine as replacement to my previous one. The new costs double the price of my previous prescription. Nevertheless I just hope this will work fine. I will be going back to my endocrinologist after six weeks and would undergo another laboratory tests to monitor my adjustment to the new medicine. Well good thing I adjusted well to my new medication and at the same time the dosage was adjusted from 3 tablets for 3 times a day to 2 tablets twice a day. But as I said this costs me double the price of my previous medicines. I am not complaining in anyway, even if my medication would cost me 75% of my salary I will still try to find ways to buy all those. I just hope and pray that my endocrinologist will give me a clean bill of health after a year. With God’s grace and help I know I will be able to survive with this ailment.

Have a nice weekend to everyone!!!!





Tuesday, July 24, 2007

An Evening With My Old Friends

My weekend was spent with my old friends’ way back in my MBA days. Trining, Elvie, her husband Rene, Ate Glo and I decided to have dinner at Tongyang in Megamall last Friday. This was a treat from Ting since he was appointed again as the City Administrator in Mandaluyong despite the change in the local officials (Mayor) as a result of the recent election. It’s not that Mayor Gonzales lost to our current Mayor it’s just that he decided to run for a higher post (Congressman) of the lone district in Mandaluyong. We meet at around 7:00 PM and waited for Ting’s arrival at around 8:00 PM. We had a sumptuous dinner of buttered shrimp, squid, scallop, shells, mollusk, blue marlin and other seafoods. Since I am not allowed to eat seafoods as I am still under medication I opted to feast on pork barbeque and tocino. At least I still have something to munch on while they are feasting on those seafoods. Ting’s godson Kurt and Jeff tag along with him so we were stuck with them the whole night. We had so much fun reminiscing our MBA days where we talked about our case study session and group reporting. We had to recall our professor’s dismay whenever we would get the wrong analysis on the case given to us, the so many eating sessions we had instead of group study sessions we would usually end up going from one restaurant to another in search for anything we could eat during the night. There was a time where we end up going to Luneta Park and end up cruising Manila Bay in the wee hours of the night. We had so much fun that night that before we realized it Tongyang was about to close the store. We agreed to meet again next time. We hadn’t agreed on a definite date since all of us are working except for Ate Glo who has a more flexible time considering her teaching schedule. Before we parted ways Ting had actually invited us to visit his new office and told us that he want to show us what he had done to his office. He remodeled his new office with his own furnishings and changes everything to suit this to his own style. When we went outside the restaurant we exchange mobile numbers again to get in touch with each other sooner or later.

After we parted ways I can’t imagine how much we touched each other lives in so many different ways. I can’t even explain how much I miss my friends. I wanted to laugh with them, cry with them…. Like the way it used to be. But we have our own lives to attend, own career and problems to deal with. Anyway so much about being sentimental this time… I really enjoy the night with my old friends plus the sumptuous the dinner that we shared that night…

Hope you had a nice weekend too!!!



Monday, July 09, 2007

Working Beyond

I have been having a bit of trying time lately, in various areas of life. I don’t mean to complain about this; in fact, I have launched a personal campaign against negativity, in whatever forms it might take around or within me. I don’t want to bring myself down, and I don’t want to give the blues to others; instead, I am trying to be a beacon. That’s a bit another story, however. Anyway … I had my one-on-one with my Team Leader Bryan Santiago yesterday. We started with our discussion @ around 4:00pm and finished after an hour of discussion concerning issues on the projects that I have. I asked him about my role in the project and the hierarchical issues that I have to deal with. I am not complaining about anything actually I can say that I can handle the project well, it’s just that I want a clear distribution of responsibility to avoid conflict with my other team mates. I also open-up on my observation about the trainings we got from the training session that we were required to attend. I also asked him if I can attend basic ABAP training though I don’t have plans of taking the certification exams. I just felt I would be more productive if I have basic ABAP knowledge so I can trouble shoot basic technical issues without the need to wait for the availability of our technical team. Maybe I will start with my technical reading frenzy next week after completion of our SIT issues still sitting in Mercury. Issues not within our row but we were affected because of our interface with the different functional module. Friday is supposed to be our free day everyone will usually go home early in anticipation of the weekend syndrome. While my mindset was on going home early on Friday evening, I was left to work until 3am the following day. I was the only person left in the office to finish the jobs which my team mate forgot to complete and did not even leave a note to me to finish instead. It only came to my knowledge when my office mate’s Popoy who belongs to the same bundle asked me if we were able to submit the jobs sent by the Row Leader for us to submit COB of Friday. It’s ironic that we both don’t have access yet to the transaction which is the most important authorization for me to be able to view the executable programs to finish the tasked. I went from one person to another in search for anyone with access to the said transaction code to be able to submit the jobs within the deadline. I was advised by one of my officemate to just send an email to our SNS Bundle Leader informing him that I will not be able to work on with the jobs due to the access issue which I decline to follow. Access to the system is not the issue here; it’s our credibility which is at stake for the jobs were given to us since Monday (July 2). Access and transaction authorization should not be used as an excuse for inefficiency. Since I am not used to excuses I chose to finish the jobs and fill the gap left by my team mate. I don’ t have plans of saving the whole world nor being awarded of any rewards for spending the whole night in the office, I just don’t want to lose my credibility and risk my integrity for not finishing the tasked I was not aware of from the start. For sure you will agree with me that I can not use this as an excuse and tell our SNS bundle that I am not aware of the assignment just to save my ass. I don’t want to be boastful but since I started working I’ve been protective of my credibility, I always observe what I promise and I never discounted my company for non observance of deadline. If I can’t make it within the deadline set by the management early on I will tell them to give me sometime and extend the deadline for another 2 or three days but not on the day the deadline was agreed with. I can proudly say that I always deliver what I promise. My former superior can attest to that. Anyway I am not after the rewards and the recognition for finishing the jobs I just want to protect my credibility and I don’t want to be accused of inefficiency by making excuses.

Anyway …. Have a good day to everyone!!!!