Mission Accomplished

After 24 Cups of Starbucks Coffee... I got my Starbucks 2008 planner this morning during breakfast with Jing... Maybe it'll keep me organize next year... hehe... =>

A Grand Nommu Welcome

It's Nommu's Opening week and last night was our chance to feel and witness the Nommu experience... It's really a nice place with a cozy ambiance. great Japanese food at a very reasonable price... and located conveniently at Tomas Morato...

Aside from the usual time out with Ateneo friends (Mascy, Diane, Grace, Blue, MJ, Gryf, Rocky Cig and Eunice), we were also treated to a good meal and drinks, nice music and a very cozy atmosphere. The opening attracted quite a large following and I'm sure, It's gonna be a great place to be for quite a long time... Congrats Mascy and Diane!!!

A real long and fun night with friends... and even if it was a weekday and we'd all be working the next day, we still stayed up late to be part of the opening... We (Grace, Blue, MJ and Me) left before midnight to call it a day... As for Nommu... it's still up until 3 am... but as for me... It's back to sleeping time as I reached home... =>

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excess inkblogs: an afterthought... you can bundle an activity this way... a massage treatment at skinline (Grace)... then dinner at Nommu (Mascy and Diane) and then drinks at Cig's (Cig)... hehe... so after drinking... it's good to have coffee... (Hmm... nice business...) Grace and I brainstormed this idea since we're such coffeeholics... This morning suddenly thought of a nice name Le Francois but that's as far as this idea has to go as of now... =>

Traces of Evil Franc

I was caught in a dilemma this morning on whether to go to work or not... I haven't really been at the best of health lately and I'm starting to feel frustrated that they haven't even come up with the idea of hiring someone to handle or even assist in the finance part of the additional responsibility given to me... Simple formula: indecisiveness leads to more work for me and my team...

How are things gonna be when the audit season kicks in??? I don't even want to think about it... All I know is that I agreed to work with one man down and not two when all the changes started to come... I felt if I took some time off then that could give me some time to cool off and rest... then reality sets in... the board meeting is just a week away and we're still ages apart in complying with all the presentations... I still have to schedule several bank meetings and who'd sign all the needed bank documents... So much for the little devil in me telling me not to work for the day...

There's still several ways at addressing this concern... but apart from a new structure at work... I think I probably need more time with friends to de-stress faster than I absorb stress... hehe... At least, I'll have opening of Nommu to look forward to later... =>

excess inkblogs: I feel a lot better now after this blog... I still want to believe that there's no such thing as a perfect job... There'll always be things that won't go your way... so the challenge lies on learning how to deal with it...

RnR 2 - Back to AGSB

Got a chance to go back to Ateneo Graduate School of Business yesterday via the 2nd offering of RnR (Remind nwind Remind) for AGSB students and alumni. Since it was held at the middle of the week, the attendance was not as high as last year. Of course, last year was also special being AGSB's 40th year.

Went to Rockwell Tent at past 8 pm to meet up with some friends (Grace, Poch, Mascy, Gryf, Cig, Blue and MJ) who'll also be attending RnR 2. The show presented was a bit dragging and long though Gary Lising was funny and it was cool seeing some of the professors perform.

After the event, we had a few snacks and drinks at Grams Diner and a chat about future events to follow... Nommu opening, Cig's Birthday, Tagaytay Christmas Party and Boracay in January... and by the way, I did get to buy a new umbrella as a souvenir... at least, I'm equipped now for the occasional rains as of late... =>

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Christmas

Yesterday, Jing and I had to play catch up on items and analysis we needed to finish at work. As I'm stuck doing finance and treasury work at weekdays, I just get the chance to do my regular accounting stuff during extra hours (how pathetic..=<) ... Anyway, I decided to play the Christmas albums of Christian Bautista and Jed Madela back to back and somehow behind their cool voices... I suddenly realized that it'll be Christmas real soon...

Finally, something to look forward to... I do not want to editorialize my thoughts and go on with the usual reason for the season, time of giving stuff... All I know is taht it's a time to step back, relax and celebrate with friends and family... Of course, at this time and age, I've been used to receiving no gifts at home... Thanks in part to a tradition they made when we were still kids... Once you start working, no more gifts... and its your turn to give gifts...

Then there's the economic part of it... It'll be another spending spree but I guess it should be worth its while once people get to smile at the gift giving frenzy... too bad that as of late, I have been low on cash (hope to save soon)... At least, when I give out gifts, it'll be more sincere since its hard earned cash...

The sudden thought of Christmas reminded me of one important thing... there's always something good to look forward to.. no matter how tough things are... Hey, I'm still residing in a country that parties all out and still know the value of a good laugh even at tumultuous times... Though there's still a lot of rough roads along the way but at least I can have one positive thought to go by along the way... that Christmas is just around the corner... =>

A Welcome Break...

In an Impulse, I saw myself joining SGV friend Jo-C and her officemates to have an ocular of FAA's resort Little Bridges Resort yesterday after office hours. Of course, the longer side of the story is that I was unhappy with a recent change in plans which would give me increased responsibilities at the office... and I felt I wanted a breather.

I was suppose to go to FAA's resort in a few weeks with other FAA babies but since I have Saturday free, it was a good chance to scout the place as well as learn the directions going there. We left before 10 pm in Makati and after a few hours we've reached the resort and 2 Cabanas were reserved for us by FAA, which was really spacious having a beach front and 2 pools. It has a hotel, cabanas and apartment type units for accomodations. It has activity and pavillion area and there'l be more improvements once it's completed by next month or early January. I had requested for comfortable duyans since it would be so ideal to have duyans in such a serene and relaxing atmosphere. I even joked FAA to name the hotel rooms from his former audit assistants, Franc Room, Sharon Room, She Room, Dodoy Room... hehe... =>

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Anyway, since it was more of an ocular, we did not stay long to try out the swimming area though we did have a comfortable sleep in the cabanas. Since Jo-C was scouting for a place for her Titas birthday, we also had to check out other alternative. We then drove to Blue Coral in San Juan, Batangas. Along the way, something came up in work, they needed something in Subic but fortunately, I was able to resolve this immediately. It was a good thing, I had a full bar of battery for my celphone. => After a few more hours, we then reach Blue Coral.

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So after a while in Blue Coral, we then had lunch at Lipa Grill... Yum Yum... and then we were back on our way home. We were able to reach home before 6 pm and it was then time to rest. It was a short visit and does not really qualify to be an outing but I guess, after being sick this week due to stress and knowing that things would remain tough at work, I just needed to do something relaxing (de-stress activity... hehe...) and this was a nice short break... Sometimes, a different environment is a welcome relief...

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Anyway, I'll be back soon in Little Bridge resort with other FAA babies but that is something I still have to sort out and organize.... =>

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Sick... Sick... Sick...

I woke up this morning not feeling well but I just went on with my day though I felt something was wrong. I even extended beyond normal hours because we've got so much backlog already.

On my way home, I suddenly remembered what the symptoms are... It's hyperacidity... Apparently, I've been under too much stress since assuming additional responsibility recently... It's been a long time since I've been sick due to stress so that doesn't sound well on how I've adopted to changes lately... So as much as I'd want to be Super in some ways, I guess there'll be times that things will takes its toll...

Anyway, I'm not blogging to complain about anything cause I know I'll be able to manage everything in time... If there's something I'm good at, it is adjusting different situations... but for the mean time, I'll try to be good at taking a rest... and I'll be fine soon... Nyt!!!

Blogger's Wall

I just don't know if I hit a blogger's wall or I was just plain busy the whole week... It just seemed that I ran out of ideas or was just too occupied to come out with one... It has really been a long week - adjusting to changes... plant tour last Wednesday... meetings... signing documents... finalizing reports... hey wait... all of those things pertain to work... good thing, I still am free after 6 pm...

Luckily, I'm fresh from a four-day long weekend vacation... and tomorrow, it's gonna be another weekend... rest finally... though I'm working just 8 to 9 hours a day, I still have to go on with so much solution crunching each minute... not to mention, signing all those bank documents... At least, I've already trained myself working under different roles and condition and in terms of exposure... I've been involved in audit, accounting, financial analysis, financial and management reporting, controllership, compliance, problem solving and I'll be handling additional finance functions ... Tough... but I'm sure this skills will come in handy in my career in the long run...

Okay, I'm speaking about career stuff but rest assured that I'm more of person than an employee or a even a superior... I spend more of my time doing so much things aside from work - family, friends, travel, gimmicks, blogging... and aiming for a balance life... I wouldn't want to look back several years from now and regret on things I haven't done... If there's one thing I learned from seeing people at the sunset of their career still unhappy even if they have so much... it's appreciating what you have now... Sometimes, thinking too much leaves you always wanting for more...

I'm glad I'm writing on more positive terms right now since for the past few weeks there's so much uncertainties I have to deal with... but I guess everything takes time to be in its proper perspective... and it's something I have on my side... I have a whole life ahead of me... and for the mean time... I'm glad I was able to cross the blogger's wall and have something posted here now... =>

Overwhelmed

Was suppose to write about the two rounds of bowling yesterday at Rockwell... to cut the story short I had one really lousy game and one decent game... bowling in Rockwell is real expensive @ P140/game... highlight of the day was that I was able to use for the first time my new bowling shoes... =>

Today is now back to work day after a long four days of vacation... and weird as it is... somehow, along those four days, I manage to adjust my body clock to a different timezone... sleep late, wake up late... so it was really a struggle meeting my coding cutoff today... =<
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My mind probably is still on vacation mode as of today but since it's now the start of transition period - working with one less manager and in a few more days temporarily assuming another major responsibility... I'm overwhelmed with what to do today and definitely in the next few days, it'll be worse... I really have to play my cards right this time... I want to be positive about it and that in time, it'll be fine... It always will be...
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Overwhelmed or not, I still have to balance things out so I'd have to bid adieu in a while as I'll have to go to the Gym for a light workout... and a light meal as I'm really hungry for missing merienda for the day... => hehe...

Jan's Solo Outing

It's not something planned but just as I was home in Baguio for the long weekend it turned out Jan's family would be taking a few days in Baguio for the weekend as well... so all of a sudden there's a sudden blip on my activity radar aside from sleep of course... hehe...

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Had lunch at Dencio's in Camp John Hay with Jan and Cig... then came the long walk to the Lost Cemetary, Bell House and Ampitheater area in Camp John Hay... Nice to have my handy Canon S3 IS with me... John Hay is such a nice place for pictorials... Towards the end, we were having fun with picture effects with Jan holding me and Cig in the palm of her hands...

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It was a short get together but I'm always glad to see friends in Baguio and seeing Jan in a different timezone... Most of AGSB gatherings happen at night... hehe... Jan and Cig had to return to their scheduled SPA and me I had to return to my favorite past time... sleeping...

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By the way, about the title... It was more of a joke since Cig and I had been taking pictures of Jan solo and that it would appear as if it was Jan's solo outing... hehe... I'm never photogenic in Baguio as my sleepy eyes is always sleepier in the cold Baguio climate... Franckee McSleepy...=>

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Back in Baguio

It took me a day later but I'm finally home... All Souls Day weekend... At least got to visit my dead relatives before they got to visit me... hehe...

The upside of it is that I was able to travel using the deluxe bus... so the trip was short and comfortable... So was able to go to cemetery this morning and spent the rest of the day on the net for hoops and downloading series to watch... and of course, my fave activity here, sleeping...

Might go around here tomorrow before going back to Manila for a midnight trip also via deluxe bus... then I'll be spending my last day of my long weekend down south but my sister and I have yet to agree on where to go... hehe...

I haven't been home for quite some time but it's a welcome relief being here... not really to think but just to rest and relax a bit... I don't want to think much anymore these days cause I know that everything will fall into place in due time... I'm just glad that there are days I can still waste home... and it really isn't wasted time but rather I time well spent in a more subdued and homey atmosphere... There's no place like home... and Baguio will always be my home...