I quit you

I find myself here again -- jobless. I planned this all along though. Finally I'm getting in the groove of doing 'nothing' after less than 2 weeks of quitting my job.

I worked in a highly stressful environment (hello call center!) where it involves the workings of my two hands. OKay, don't want to beat around the bush, it's non-voiced, a chat account. You may think that's easy and fun work, but if you include Sales, that's a different ballgame altogether. In sales, we have financials to hit, week after week, month after month, quarter after quarter, and the next. It would have been almost two years. I had a month to make it exactly a two-year stay, but I had to let it go.

The leave was a sign for me whether or not to continue. If they grant my much-deserved vacation, I'd stay, if not, I'd resign. They did grant it somehow, but I had to go back to work for a day after the three-day leave before my two-day off. You see, if they just maximized and made it a win-win situation, I could have stayed a bit longer, by a few months. God knew how I needed a break.   

After not getting my full vacation leave I requested, things were never the same again. It was a bit terrible for me (and the team captain I was under). Good thing I was chummy with our new TC (team captain), but I never cared if I was late by a few minutes and get points deducted. For the uninitiated, we have a point-system for our attendance. The point-system is our lifeblood as they say. If you get late for a minute or even seconds, you get a point deducted. You get 21 points to start off, and you have to make sure you keep that positive, or else. The points get refreshed every after six months, so if you get a point deducted during your the last six month, you will earn a point back. Before I left, I still got a point, a negative point at that (a -15?  and it wasn't refreshed yet), hahaha. And I didn't care any less.  No point of being on time if the company doesn't give much importance to work-play values, right? That was how indignant I turned.

Alas, there's no second-year anniversary for me. If there's anything that came good out of my stint, it's the friends I kept in the office. I told myself that if I ever work in a call center industry, I will never get too attached, uwi na kagad (go home right after), and do my own thing. That proved otherwise. I would have never survived and stayed this longer if it weren't for the company I kept. Mind you, in our account, you will need friends to keep you sane. It's usually talking to friends over beer, a colleague's birthday party, food trips, and most recently, over gym at our office and badminton. 

Numbers, our financials, is the name of the game. And yes, we will just be a number to our client, a number attached to our name. Sad but true.

The romantic in me could have celebrated my almost two year-stay. But if I were to remind myself that this had been the longest job I've been in and based on the quality of friendships I kept, it's still a personal victory for me, in more ways than one.

One Big Hassle of Being Single (June 23)

I didn't know there was one bit of a hassle of being single until I experienced this. Two Sundays ago was my regular monthly get-together with my friends. After another riotous fun and carb-rich food together and before goodbyes were made, W brought up the "Avenue Q" group-date for the next weekend (last weekend). I had no time to ask what was that about. They didn't wait no for an answer, so I assumed all the negotiations, e.g. what time to meet, where, etc. were already set-up.




Our office only has Wikipedia access and so I wikipedia'ed "Avenue Q." I found out that the musical has had a huge following when it first opened in 2003 as an off-broadway. It is largely inspired by the iconic television show, Sesame Street. What really drew me to watch was it had a unique way of live characters and puppet characters singing and talking. Second, the setting is in the magnificent New York. As a brief traveller of this lovely place, this would have been an emotional experience. Also, I have never seen any Atlantis production. It behooved me to widen my theater-viewing experience, not just the usual Dulaang U.P. and CCP viewing fare I'm comfortable with, and unless they are complimentary; I would not care. I was already smelling a great weekend (that wasn't).




So here's the thing, I contacted a friend in my group, H, last Thursday. He had two tickets and he couldn't commit if he's going to come. I had expected the ticket had been arranged for me. I texted him again on the day itself, but H had already sold his two tickets to two of our friends in the group -- they are partners. H had an extended work on Saturday. It was practical for him to sell it to two, instead of one, or else, how could he recoup his expenses right? I didn't need any explanation; I got it outright. I had much to sulk now after missing "Avenue Q", but H had to push it further by texting back: "Maghanap ka na kase ng partner mo." And then I realized, this was the HASSLE PART of being single.




I had to postpone a teambuilding activity at work in Zambales of our batch (fyi, I was transferred to another account, so no reason to join them, but I was invited) just to watch this musical. So what was the single me wont to do on a Saturday these past months -- cocoon myself in the room. But I had notched it by decluttering my room. Now, I can breathe cleaner and move a bit around now (go figure!).




Among the 12 or 13 of us who come to the monthly get-together: 5 are still single, 2 of whom are in foreign lands while 3 of us (me, H, and G) stay here. It's always a great feeling to be in love and share all the intense feelings that come with being in a relationship and what-not. My horoscope last Sunday reminded me the things I need to do (and have been doing): "All it takes is one sound decision to usher more love and money into your life. It's not a hard one to make, but it does require humble learning and the tenacity to see this cycle through to the final stages." If I ever find my life partner, I'll make sure I will never deny myself a ticket to any activity, a film, or a play. Make that 2 tickets.

(Reprinted from Multiply, June 23)

Igme Files, The Third

Update: I had to currently update this site. From the first and last post, this has got to be updated, from design and color overhaul, and a new post. -- July 6, 2008

This blog site is my third blog I've created. The first two, friendster and multiply, they offer blogs, so I might as well try this. What's the difference in posting here? Well, I was inspired by a friend who has an account here. Like him, this is my n0-holds-barred, tell-all site of mine. Kse sa friendster, andami kong friends dun (563 friends at the latest), 'yung iba dun ininvite ko for personal reason (read: flirty), 'yung iba, classmates from grade school to college. Invite lang ako nang invite dun, kahit hindi ko naging close. Yung iba, ininvite din ako kahit hindi di'ko kilala. Siguro may pagnanasa din sila sa akin, o pampa-dagdag lang. Sino ba ang tatanggi dun. hehe Tsaka andun ang sister-hood at brother-hood ko at mga pinsan, so behave.

Sige, mamaya ko muna 'to ipagpapatuloy. I got to see two free Iranian films at UP. Alam n'yo na siguro na indie filmmaker ako. Tagal ko nang hindi nakakapanood ng film since I started teaching English part-time and other rakets na hindi related sa film...(more on these).
Hindi ko alam, bakit nahilig ako ngayon sa Iranian Cinema. Well, sabi nga sa amin ni Nick de Ocampo, dapat nood lang nang nood ng mga films, kahit kachakahan. Huwag mamili. Because in bad films, we'd also learn from them. I'm not saying Iranian cinema is bad. On the contrary, they are recognized in international cinema.

Iniisip ko nga siya kanina bakit, Iranian Cinema is an enigma to me. I got introduced to them only last year, after watching "Taste of Cherry" by Abbas Kiarostami, "Baran" by Majid Majidi and lastly, yung short film na napanood ko two weeks ago. Beyond the rocky plateaus and harsh weather conditions, beyond the veiled garments, they have intrinsic and amazing stories to tell the world. And the men, yum-yum!