flew over to the Sultanate for work... was able to fit in... 2 hours a day of non-work time... walking around the city and taking snaps...
Monday, 9 February 2009
Brunei Set 1
flew over to the Sultanate for work... was able to fit in... 2 hours a day of non-work time... walking around the city and taking snaps...
Thursday, 22 January 2009
Sunday, 28 December 2008
2008 yearender and 2009 bootstrap
Ah... My yearend blog entry... well... not exactly... still got a couple more days before 2008 officially kicks the bucket but I might as well account for it while I still have the time...
Yes... I'm back in SG for 2.5 days because leave allocations are hard to come by... buti nalang medyo may mga... uh... options ako to travel back to Manila for the new year.
Looking back... one thing I did notice about last year's blogging is the significantly reduced frequency of posts... and the increased cryptic nature of how/what I'm writing. Back when I started, I used to blog at least once a week- blabbering about a lot of non/sense... trying to play to the crowd while at the same time remaining relatively unconcealed about what it is I'm talking about. In a way... it was also my attempt to sort my thoughts and to listen to myself.
But last year... My posts winded down to just... what... 1 post a month? It can't just be my schedule... because I did have some stretches of time to think clearly and strategize... but I realize maybe at this stage of life... most of what I've been thinking about revolve around very important life-decisions and moves which I feel would be better served by holding the cards in my hands much closer to myself - maybe I've evolved to listen more to my thoughts - without the public scandal of vocalising too much on my blog. :P Maybe not.
Anyway... Christmas was fantastic. It's been one of the best since I was... a kid. Growing up does tend to suck the life out of the yuletide season... but this time around, things are (hopefully/God-willing) looking up for a whole lifetime of Christmases/New Years...
Taking a page from the nonsense I was typing last year... these were the goals I set for 2008 and beyond...
1. Do well in Grad school- finish the dissertation... YUP CHECK... ITS NOW SITTING NICELY IN THE LIBRARY GATHERING DUST
2. Graduate! UHUH... SEE ABOVE
3. Work with a developer or major multinational firm in Sing (wag sanang pangproduction lang)... HA... YES... WAS ABLE TO GET THIS DONE... BUT CIRCUMSTANCES REQUIRED ME TO DEFTLY MANEUVER AND SWITCH JOBS/COMPANIES...
4. Travel :) ... NOT MUCH TRAVEL HERE ASIDE FROM THE (soon to be more frequent) MNL-SG VV TRIP BUT... THINGS ARE LOOKING UP FOR THIS ONE NEXT YEAR... WITH POTENTIAL SHORT STINTS IN BRUNEI, SIKKIM, MALDIVES and VIETNAM... SEE HOW LOH?
5. Start earning and investing more ... YEP... FOR A HANDFUL OF MONTHS... WAS DOING WELL WITH THIS... WHEN THE JOBSHIFT SET ME BACK A COUPLE OF MONTHS... WILL DEFINITELY NEED TO DO THIS... GIVEN THE PLANS I HAVE FOR THE MIDTERM
6. Socialize :) ... UHUH... LEARNING NOT TO TAKE MYSELF TOO SERIOUSLY... PLAYING IT MORE BY EAR NOW...
7. Win new projects for our office - prepare for eventual return to practice in the Philippines... YES... THIS WAS ALWAYS PLAN A... AND IM NOT SETTLING FOR ANY PLAN Bs... AM PLANNING/WORKING TOWARDS THIS.
8. Become more business savvy - with or without the MBA... ETO NA NGA... DUMIDISKARTE NA NGA... PAUNTI-UNTI MUNA... PERO GUSTO KO PARIN MAGARAL... MASKIPAPANO...
9. Teach?... AM CONSIDERING IT NOW AS PART OF PLAN A.
10. Learn another language... HAHA... MAHIRAP TO... PWEDENG... IMPROVE ON THE ONES I CURRENTLY KNOW? AND RESIST THE TEMPTATION TO CODESWITCH TO SINGLISH! WA LAU EH!?!?! KENNA ANYHOW LIKE DAT LOH?!
11. Learn to cook better... WELL... I'VE BEEN EATING BETTER... SO I GUESS WE JUST HAVE TO BALANCE THE EQUATION...
12.Build a relationship <ehem ehem>... UHUH... IN PROGRESS/UNDER CONSTRUCTION... NAIHABOL PA NI LORD ITO. ;) \m/
I left out a few things on the list... but am looking to add to the above for 2009 and beyond:
13. Lose weight (began shifting to a much healthier lifestyle... no more 60 hour workweeks for me... will need to eat less, run more, etc)... will
need to get to fighting fit... Elephants can be nimble too ya know?
14. Pray more... will definitely need this to face a lot of upcoming adversity.
15. Read/Listen more... learning doesn't end with grad school ;) Blog more... about urbanism, architecture, etc.
16. Be more sensible, patient and supportive... got to be a stable rock... ;) \m/
17. Be a better, more wholistic person (eg. son, brother, boyfriend/partner, friend/flatmate, professional, etc.) Of course we can't be everything to everyone... but these are fundamentally basic.
18. Learn about how all of this works/fits together... Be plugged in. Get that intuition flowing.
Here's to 2008... from Singapore to Manila, the Bird's nest in China, to Horton, the whos and the hobbits, to the Normanton+Carribean hometeam, to Our Lady of the Star and Elizabeth Hotel in Cebu... to wars and IOM's constant stream of refugees, to biochemistry and psychology, to counterpoint and the palladium... from caleruega to midlands, from bukit batok to the hort park... to friends of friends, to the increasingly small world we live in, to country club girls who have street cred... to faux helipads and araneta centre duets... from P&T and the barangay to Surbana and Jepoy... to the resurgent 49ers and to the forever young Arsenal squad... to cryptic and really bad poetry... to allnighters in the office for projects that never materialise... to reimbursible $10 dinners... to the upstream salmon walk which I miss... but don't want to be part of anymore... to making choices and choosing to be happy... and choosing to work on it... to Skype, Yahoo, Cebu Pacific, PAL, and SQ... and everything else in between... 2008 was great... and I pray that it helped prepare all of us to kick-ass in 2009!
Yes... I'm back in SG for 2.5 days because leave allocations are hard to come by... buti nalang medyo may mga... uh... options ako to travel back to Manila for the new year.
Looking back... one thing I did notice about last year's blogging is the significantly reduced frequency of posts... and the increased cryptic nature of how/what I'm writing. Back when I started, I used to blog at least once a week- blabbering about a lot of non/sense... trying to play to the crowd while at the same time remaining relatively unconcealed about what it is I'm talking about. In a way... it was also my attempt to sort my thoughts and to listen to myself.
But last year... My posts winded down to just... what... 1 post a month? It can't just be my schedule... because I did have some stretches of time to think clearly and strategize... but I realize maybe at this stage of life... most of what I've been thinking about revolve around very important life-decisions and moves which I feel would be better served by holding the cards in my hands much closer to myself - maybe I've evolved to listen more to my thoughts - without the public scandal of vocalising too much on my blog. :P Maybe not.
Anyway... Christmas was fantastic. It's been one of the best since I was... a kid. Growing up does tend to suck the life out of the yuletide season... but this time around, things are (hopefully/God-willing) looking up for a whole lifetime of Christmases/New Years...
Taking a page from the nonsense I was typing last year... these were the goals I set for 2008 and beyond...
1. Do well in Grad school- finish the dissertation... YUP CHECK... ITS NOW SITTING NICELY IN THE LIBRARY GATHERING DUST
2. Graduate! UHUH... SEE ABOVE
3. Work with a developer or major multinational firm in Sing (wag sanang pangproduction lang)... HA... YES... WAS ABLE TO GET THIS DONE... BUT CIRCUMSTANCES REQUIRED ME TO DEFTLY MANEUVER AND SWITCH JOBS/COMPANIES...
4. Travel :) ... NOT MUCH TRAVEL HERE ASIDE FROM THE (soon to be more frequent) MNL-SG VV TRIP BUT... THINGS ARE LOOKING UP FOR THIS ONE NEXT YEAR... WITH POTENTIAL SHORT STINTS IN BRUNEI, SIKKIM, MALDIVES and VIETNAM... SEE HOW LOH?
5. Start earning and investing more ... YEP... FOR A HANDFUL OF MONTHS... WAS DOING WELL WITH THIS... WHEN THE JOBSHIFT SET ME BACK A COUPLE OF MONTHS... WILL DEFINITELY NEED TO DO THIS... GIVEN THE PLANS I HAVE FOR THE MIDTERM
6. Socialize :) ... UHUH... LEARNING NOT TO TAKE MYSELF TOO SERIOUSLY... PLAYING IT MORE BY EAR NOW...
7. Win new projects for our office - prepare for eventual return to practice in the Philippines... YES... THIS WAS ALWAYS PLAN A... AND IM NOT SETTLING FOR ANY PLAN Bs... AM PLANNING/WORKING TOWARDS THIS.
8. Become more business savvy - with or without the MBA... ETO NA NGA... DUMIDISKARTE NA NGA... PAUNTI-UNTI MUNA... PERO GUSTO KO PARIN MAGARAL... MASKIPAPANO...
9. Teach?... AM CONSIDERING IT NOW AS PART OF PLAN A.
10. Learn another language... HAHA... MAHIRAP TO... PWEDENG... IMPROVE ON THE ONES I CURRENTLY KNOW? AND RESIST THE TEMPTATION TO CODESWITCH TO SINGLISH! WA LAU EH!?!?! KENNA ANYHOW LIKE DAT LOH?!
11. Learn to cook better... WELL... I'VE BEEN EATING BETTER... SO I GUESS WE JUST HAVE TO BALANCE THE EQUATION...
12.Build a relationship <ehem ehem>... UHUH... IN PROGRESS/UNDER CONSTRUCTION... NAIHABOL PA NI LORD ITO. ;) \m/
I left out a few things on the list... but am looking to add to the above for 2009 and beyond:
13. Lose weight (began shifting to a much healthier lifestyle... no more 60 hour workweeks for me... will need to eat less, run more, etc)... will
need to get to fighting fit... Elephants can be nimble too ya know?
14. Pray more... will definitely need this to face a lot of upcoming adversity.
15. Read/Listen more... learning doesn't end with grad school ;) Blog more... about urbanism, architecture, etc.
16. Be more sensible, patient and supportive... got to be a stable rock... ;) \m/
17. Be a better, more wholistic person (eg. son, brother, boyfriend/partner, friend/flatmate, professional, etc.) Of course we can't be everything to everyone... but these are fundamentally basic.
18. Learn about how all of this works/fits together... Be plugged in. Get that intuition flowing.
Here's to 2008... from Singapore to Manila, the Bird's nest in China, to Horton, the whos and the hobbits, to the Normanton+Carribean hometeam, to Our Lady of the Star and Elizabeth Hotel in Cebu... to wars and IOM's constant stream of refugees, to biochemistry and psychology, to counterpoint and the palladium... from caleruega to midlands, from bukit batok to the hort park... to friends of friends, to the increasingly small world we live in, to country club girls who have street cred... to faux helipads and araneta centre duets... from P&T and the barangay to Surbana and Jepoy... to the resurgent 49ers and to the forever young Arsenal squad... to cryptic and really bad poetry... to allnighters in the office for projects that never materialise... to reimbursible $10 dinners... to the upstream salmon walk which I miss... but don't want to be part of anymore... to making choices and choosing to be happy... and choosing to work on it... to Skype, Yahoo, Cebu Pacific, PAL, and SQ... and everything else in between... 2008 was great... and I pray that it helped prepare all of us to kick-ass in 2009!
Monday, 15 December 2008
Mitch's Quit Day... Patring redux... Nell's bisita... random photo rips from all over...
credits randomly go out to the ff. Tricia, Nell and Aldo... isang taon na nga talaga tayo sa SG. :P
Friday, 5 December 2008
Grace
And just when you thought
you have it all figured out
Yes, that's about as good as it can get
He taps you on the shoulder
and tops what you had in your head.
You want Him to smile?
Make plans...for you child,
have no idea what grander things
he has in store...
I am blessed and humbled.
For He continues to smile
at us from the heavens.
In the midst of all this
I stand still...peaceful...
and happy in His grace...
Ready to do as He wills.
you have it all figured out
Yes, that's about as good as it can get
He taps you on the shoulder
and tops what you had in your head.
You want Him to smile?
Make plans...for you child,
have no idea what grander things
he has in store...
I am blessed and humbled.
For He continues to smile
at us from the heavens.
In the midst of all this
I stand still...peaceful...
and happy in His grace...
Ready to do as He wills.
Thursday, 6 November 2008
can? CAN!
Yesterday was my 2nd-to-the-last-day at work... and that would have been a fine excuse to do a lot of things that aren't exactly work-related or productive. But, anyway. It was our weekly meeting with the client - and I still feel a massive amount of responsibility and guilt for my boss and my project (a fast-tracked set of condos here in Singapore). This entry isn't necessarily about the job itself... but allow me to digress architecturally just for colour commentary.
So... the design team went over to the client's office (near ours) to discuss project progress and revisions on the unit plans. A lot of the work during the design development stage of the project involves placating / cleverly going around stringent authority requirements and refining unit-plans, blocking plans and common area provisions and finessing them into the tight, high-efficiency areas that the client requires (sometimes reaching 90.3% net efficiency - even padding all the way up to 116% net saleable efficiency.)
Everything was going well... my 2 directors were methodically going over the unit plans with the client's gm, project and marketng managers - who were bouncing the feedback to us on the spot; me and my colleague were working on recording these comments both in drawn form and in our minutes; when all of a sudden, the client's GM makes this snide remark at my directors.
He tells my bosses (in a sarcastic tone) to send out a memo to all the Filipino (emphasis on Pinoy) draughtsmen/women written in tagalog to make sure that they properly do (insert irrelevant CAD/draughting requirement), and to get the drawings done properly. Dalawang beses pa niya inulit yon... in front of me (who sometimes attends meetings in my office barongs - dahil minsan wala na akong masuot; and whom everyone in that room knows is a Filipino.)What's even more f*d up about this pr*ck is that he said exactly the same thing a week ago.
Now... so you have an idea... I have a lot of Filipino colleagues at work... in fact we help form the engine room of the office... and they happen to be the most capable and skilled set of architects, artists and technicians I've met- and why wouldn't they be?... when in fact they are all architecturally trained (majority are licensed back home). In other words... we all do our jobs well because to some degree... a lot of us are actually over-qualified for the job (anyway... that line of angst is for another blog post.) Now, don't get me wrong... we have a whole collection of other nationalities/ethnicities in the office as well... but... Pinoys make up a sizable chunk of the headcount.
So anyway... on both occasions (including last week's prelude) my colleagues/directors both nudged my legs and tapped me under the table to sort of convey irritation at the client's comment. (I'm sure my director was a bit worried that I might explode into a flurry of righteous indignation...)
When we got back from the meeting I told my good friend/colleague Mac (a true-blue chinoy) about what happened - and he burst out and told me I should have made a point - since I've resigned and I'm leaving anyway. Then he goes on and tells me that he too, goes to client-consultant meetings - but never heard these comments from the GM. (Maybe because... in outward appearances... he doesn't look like a pinoy... but dude I don't need to expound... Mac is as Pinoy as sisig and san miguel beer) But it just reinforces the fact... our only difference is the outward colour of our skin.
Maybe I should have stuck it to the man. Because I did feel a wave of pain go through me... and to some degree I now know what it feels to be discriminated... its as if the collective quiet pain and tongue-biting endured by millions of Pinoys abroad was channeled into my spine for a quick split-second. My toes curled as I tried to keep calm... and be the bigger man. I let it pass because it would be bad form to call him out at the expense of our firm's good standing with the client... besides... its not my fault he continues to be the ignorant bigot that he is - which makes him unworthy of a proper nationalist rebuttal.
The day before, Obama won... and has anchored this continuum of history for the struggle of African Americans against racial bigotry. His speech at Grant Park is a monument to the progress they have made... But please excuse me for zooming out of these incidents and looking at the big picture.
Today... millions of our fellow Filipinos work abroad and endure varying degrees of racism; used to quietly shrugging off the jabs and stereotypes to feed and raise their families out of poverty.
Slavery may have long been abolished. But one does not need to be in chains to be a slave.
The time will come... when our country and our people will not have to work for someone else - in someone else's land... til then and thereafter... we will continue to endure and be the bigger people.
So... the design team went over to the client's office (near ours) to discuss project progress and revisions on the unit plans. A lot of the work during the design development stage of the project involves placating / cleverly going around stringent authority requirements and refining unit-plans, blocking plans and common area provisions and finessing them into the tight, high-efficiency areas that the client requires (sometimes reaching 90.3% net efficiency - even padding all the way up to 116% net saleable efficiency.)
Everything was going well... my 2 directors were methodically going over the unit plans with the client's gm, project and marketng managers - who were bouncing the feedback to us on the spot; me and my colleague were working on recording these comments both in drawn form and in our minutes; when all of a sudden, the client's GM makes this snide remark at my directors.
He tells my bosses (in a sarcastic tone) to send out a memo to all the Filipino (emphasis on Pinoy) draughtsmen/women written in tagalog to make sure that they properly do (insert irrelevant CAD/draughting requirement), and to get the drawings done properly. Dalawang beses pa niya inulit yon... in front of me (who sometimes attends meetings in my office barongs - dahil minsan wala na akong masuot; and whom everyone in that room knows is a Filipino.)What's even more f*d up about this pr*ck is that he said exactly the same thing a week ago.
Now... so you have an idea... I have a lot of Filipino colleagues at work... in fact we help form the engine room of the office... and they happen to be the most capable and skilled set of architects, artists and technicians I've met- and why wouldn't they be?... when in fact they are all architecturally trained (majority are licensed back home). In other words... we all do our jobs well because to some degree... a lot of us are actually over-qualified for the job (anyway... that line of angst is for another blog post.) Now, don't get me wrong... we have a whole collection of other nationalities/ethnicities in the office as well... but... Pinoys make up a sizable chunk of the headcount.
So anyway... on both occasions (including last week's prelude) my colleagues/directors both nudged my legs and tapped me under the table to sort of convey irritation at the client's comment. (I'm sure my director was a bit worried that I might explode into a flurry of righteous indignation...)
When we got back from the meeting I told my good friend/colleague Mac (a true-blue chinoy) about what happened - and he burst out and told me I should have made a point - since I've resigned and I'm leaving anyway. Then he goes on and tells me that he too, goes to client-consultant meetings - but never heard these comments from the GM. (Maybe because... in outward appearances... he doesn't look like a pinoy... but dude I don't need to expound... Mac is as Pinoy as sisig and san miguel beer) But it just reinforces the fact... our only difference is the outward colour of our skin.
Maybe I should have stuck it to the man. Because I did feel a wave of pain go through me... and to some degree I now know what it feels to be discriminated... its as if the collective quiet pain and tongue-biting endured by millions of Pinoys abroad was channeled into my spine for a quick split-second. My toes curled as I tried to keep calm... and be the bigger man. I let it pass because it would be bad form to call him out at the expense of our firm's good standing with the client... besides... its not my fault he continues to be the ignorant bigot that he is - which makes him unworthy of a proper nationalist rebuttal.
The day before, Obama won... and has anchored this continuum of history for the struggle of African Americans against racial bigotry. His speech at Grant Park is a monument to the progress they have made... But please excuse me for zooming out of these incidents and looking at the big picture.
Today... millions of our fellow Filipinos work abroad and endure varying degrees of racism; used to quietly shrugging off the jabs and stereotypes to feed and raise their families out of poverty.
Slavery may have long been abolished. But one does not need to be in chains to be a slave.
The time will come... when our country and our people will not have to work for someone else - in someone else's land... til then and thereafter... we will continue to endure and be the bigger people.
Tuesday, 4 November 2008
Overwhelmed
Madaling araw na, at eto pa ako... gising at nagbabasa. I am overwhelmed by the sheer rush of eloquence, emotion, passion, depth, love, angst, pain, insecurity and mysterious 3rd-person descriptions of what are obviously self depictions and re-enactments of things I have totally no connection to.
Wala naman talaga akong dapat pakialam; dahil ako'y hindi naman talaga dapat nakikialam... but I have no idea why I am drawn into this storyline. Ako'y nalilito... sa dami nang iniisip at dinadamdam - mataimtim na kausap ang sarili at hindi makapaniwala, na bagaman ako'y bumitaw na sa posibilidad na makakilala ako ng tao na ganito; eto ako - staring at someone who is so full of zeal for discovering who she really is; (ayun... babae pala ang bumabagabag kay pox) expressing an unrivaled sense of self-mastery and self-introspection - while at the same time being so unselfish and giving of herself to others.
As an introvert myself, I have long grappled with my own internal struggles - trying to find out who I am and balance my existence; not because I am wounded (everyone is) but because I know I could not turn around and accomplish my outward goals, without solidifying who I am and balancing myself out. Indeed, to know thyself is the most empowering feeling; because it drives and enables you to go beyond who you are - it establishes the baselines which begin to define our lives - and allows us to realise our promise - as agents of change and as men for others.
I do not know what to make of all these thoughts. Depth is in short supply at 1 am in the morning. I just know I may have stumbled into an important realisation that is yet to coalesce and form into something concrete.
Then again... this could just be driven by hormonal, and less intellectual infatuation/attraction - destined to evaporate in due time.
I hope not. Sayang naman diba.
Wala naman talaga akong dapat pakialam; dahil ako'y hindi naman talaga dapat nakikialam... but I have no idea why I am drawn into this storyline. Ako'y nalilito... sa dami nang iniisip at dinadamdam - mataimtim na kausap ang sarili at hindi makapaniwala, na bagaman ako'y bumitaw na sa posibilidad na makakilala ako ng tao na ganito; eto ako - staring at someone who is so full of zeal for discovering who she really is; (ayun... babae pala ang bumabagabag kay pox) expressing an unrivaled sense of self-mastery and self-introspection - while at the same time being so unselfish and giving of herself to others.
As an introvert myself, I have long grappled with my own internal struggles - trying to find out who I am and balance my existence; not because I am wounded (everyone is) but because I know I could not turn around and accomplish my outward goals, without solidifying who I am and balancing myself out. Indeed, to know thyself is the most empowering feeling; because it drives and enables you to go beyond who you are - it establishes the baselines which begin to define our lives - and allows us to realise our promise - as agents of change and as men for others.
I do not know what to make of all these thoughts. Depth is in short supply at 1 am in the morning. I just know I may have stumbled into an important realisation that is yet to coalesce and form into something concrete.
Then again... this could just be driven by hormonal, and less intellectual infatuation/attraction - destined to evaporate in due time.
I hope not. Sayang naman diba.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)