Since last week, i was already based in 6750 in Ayala. This is because my project in Petron is temporarily shelved. Because of that, i also changed my commuting route since instead of going to Buendia, i now go to Ayala. The smartest route of course is through the MRT since im coming from Quezon City.

Every morning, i go down the Ayala station of the MRT, walk beside SM Makati and then go to Glorietta. Since G4 is still closed early in the morning, i pass by the G4 entrance and pass by Rustan's. In one of its posters is Zanjoe, wearing a sando, half body shot, arms up front and modeling a wrist watch. What a way to greet me every morning.

Every time i pass by that Rustan's window i just breathe heavily and say: Hello Zanjoe!

Just a snippet. Last Sunday, due to lack of a good movie to watch, i tuned in to myx. It was around 1130pm so the program then was backtraxx. The first few videos shown were unfamiliar, 80s music. After those was Lisa Loeb's Stay, still not my generation though im quite familiar with the song maybe because it was a hit and was still being played oftenly during my younger years. To my surprise, Natalie Imbruglia's Torn was played. Waaaah. I can still remember watching that video in MTV Fresh a few years ago (or was it really few?!?!?!). Now it's on Backtraxx! Hwaatt! It was one of the rare times i become conscious im getting old. So if you are becoming more and more familiar with what's being played in MYX BACKTRAXX or MTV CLASSIC, then it is a good sign of aging. Waaah! :(

By the way, just spent a great weekend in Galera. I will just write about it sometime this week. Got no time for now. Got loads to do in the office. But it was sure a hell of harshness and fun! :)

May 20, Saturday

After my whole-day thesis experiment in STRC, i met Gela, Prince and Kevin in McDo Lasalle. There we waited for the very late Maco Dimayuga. We went to Malate (not knowing how many more times I shall go there for this week). We had dinner in Synder and of course nagvideoke the entire night. A few minutes after Mark came from office, we transferred to Starbucks and chilled out there. Maco gave us a treat by paying for all our ordered frappes. hehehe. Thank you Maco. Masaya palang ma-late si Maco. Hehehe. Mark and I went home early while the rest of the gang went to Bed to dance and ... ... enjoy the night! ;)

May 21, Sunday

I had my advance birthday lunch with family at Don Henrico's Mabini also in Malate. Sarap ng buffalo wings! And of course, the pizza we ordered is topped only with meat - no veggies!

Today is also Sanam's birthday. Happy Birthday Sanam!

Today i also got the news that one of my best friends finally got a job. Congrats JC! I hope u enjoy your first job and that you have a great start.

May 22, Monday

It's my 23rd birthday. Unfortunately I have to go to office because i am attending a meeting which was supposed to be held last Friday. Grrrr. I got no choice but to report to work since it was resched today. Oh well, that's life. Aalis naman ako ng Friday so i guess ok na rin. Kahiya naman na nagbirthday leave na ako today then wala na naman ako ng Friday for our Galera trip.

Morning was pretty much the same. I checked my emails, replied to some and logged on to all my instant messengers. I also had a meeting with a resource person for one of my projects. Lunch was way better. I had lunch with Mico and Mela. Even though Mela brought cooked food (or was it pizza?) with her and join the 'baon' pips at the pantry, she joined us for lunch instead. After a long walk along hot Makati Ave, we ended up in Flavours of China. Aside from eating, we had a great time talking practically about everthing. We had laughs over city names (MAMAQ! hahahaha), reminisce our SC days, talk about P&Gish stuff and other funny stories. Too bad Sanam was not able to join us.

After that extended lunch, i came back to office thinking of what to do next. This time I ordered yellow cab pizza. Of course, it's Manhattan Meatlovers! hehehehe. It is I who surprised my officemates. hehehe. Nagulat sila na birthday ko pala. It was amusing to see their blank faces when they heard that it's my birthday. Yet at the same time, kalungkot din that nobody from them remembered or at least knew it was my birthday. Oh well, ok lng yan. We all shared the 18" pizza. This time it was my immediate manager who was not present in my late merienda treat :(

I spent the final hours of my birthday with my beloved barkada. There were only a few of us though it was really fun. I treated them in Synder, Malate (Yes, Malate again!??!) for dinner. It was a night of videoke, laughter and catching up: Mark with his new job as Bldg Admin of SM Mall of Asia, JC with his first job ever, Boom's board exam, Mikee's trip to US, my OJT and Jiggs' beaucon experience. We ended at around midnight and went home right away coz most of us still have something to do or go to work in the morning.

Today is also the birthday of Javi, Ivan, Jemuel and Toya. Happy Birthday to us all!


May 23, Tuesday

I spent the entire day in the office. Because of the late celebration we had last night, i was very sleepy that day. Sobrang inantok ako most of the time. I was only awake when eating and when i need to go to the washroom. As in nahihiya ako kasi i felt like my officemates caught me falling to sleep. huhuhuhu. In the afternoon, i got a very great news. Boom and Nelson passed their CPA board exams. I was very happy for them! Finally, they are now over with Accounting and are now Ceritified Public Accountants. hehehe. Hail to the new Lasallian CPAs. Congrats also to Chloe Go, also a 101 and a co-Star. She ranked 3rd! Congrats!

So that night, instantly a dinner celebration was again set up. We went to Malate (walang kasawaan obviously) specifically in Gilligans. Aside from the board passers (Boom, Nelson and their friend Ria), I, Jiggs and JC were also there. Unfortunately after dinner, i had to go home already for i cannot afford having only few hours of sleep for surely i can't do much at work the following day. I left them in the resto but im guessing after a few minutes they will again go to Synder to have another videoke session.

Aside from that great news, today is also Benjo's (an SBCHS batchmate) and Hannah's (friend from Santugon) birthday. Happy Birthday to both of you! Once again, Kudos to Nelson & Boom! Galing ninyo! Im proud of you guys!

Oh well, i guess Malate has already been a tradition for me, my friends and my barkada. Malate has witnessed hundreds of special moments in our lives and it will continue to to be such.

Monday was a comedy day for me. Nakakabobo yet nakakatawa. I was in 6750 (P&G's General Office) the whole morning for i had an audio conference with one of my resource persons for my project. It was a usual monday morning for me - no special event nor any significant happening. I took my late lunch and finally prepared to go to Petron Megaplaza (another P&G office) to finish a few things and to leave my laptop there since im reporting to Petron the following day and I am not planning to do anything for that night that is work related. Fortunately for me, there is a shuttle service for P&G employees to transfer from one office to another. The next scheduled service is to leave at around 3:15. I thought i could catch that trip but my manager suddenly came and asked for udpates about my meeting a while ago. My one-on-one with my manager finished at 3pm so i just have a few minutes left to pack up. And knowing myself, it took me quite some time to arrange all my stuff kaya ayun, naiwan ako ng shuttle. Huhuhuhu. :(

Mela messaged me that we are supposed to have merienda back in Petron. And this time she advised me not to miss the shuttle at 415 para makapagmerienda pa kami. Besides, i really cant miss this trip coz this is the last trip going to Petron or else i got no choice but to commute going there. That's why as early as 3:30 i already packed my things, went down the office at 4:05 and was already in the building entrance at around 4:12.

In front of the building was a a van waiting. It was the same van i rode last time when i went to 6750 from Petron. Just to be sure, I asked the security guard if it was the shuttle going to Petron. He said yes. So without hesitation i jumped into the service. I was even more confident to see that the driver of the van wore the same uniform as the driver of the same P&G shuttle i just mentioned. What was even more reassuring was the fact that it took off exactly at 4:15. I was very definite that i rode the correct shuttle. Or was i?

The shuttle went to landmark and proceeded to the intersection of makati avenue. I know that it was supposed to turn right going to Petron but instead it turned left and went to Pasay road. Oh well i said to myself. Baka may alam si Manong na shortcut kasi nga naman rush hour yun and Makati ave is really jammed during those hours. Then I saw Paseo de Roxas. I thought that maybe this is where Manong will turn right. But no. He simply went straight ahead. Still i did not worry. Finally we encountered final intersection of Pasay road. Ah dito na nga kakanan si Manong coz straight ahead is already the entrance to skyway.

To my shock dumerecho yung van! It went up entering the skyway! Oh my God! As in Oh my! Deep inside i was panicking but i dont want to show it to the 3 other people inside the service. I calmly asked the lady in front of me. 'Excuse me ma'am, is this the shuttle going to Petron?' She answered: 'This is Chevron not Petron! This is going to Alabang.'

Nanlumo ako sa narinig ko. In the middle of the skyway i was texting Mela telling her of my blooper. Instead of getting angry at myself, natawa na lng ako sa nagawa ko. Hehehe. Wala na rin naman akong magagawa. Alanganin namang bumaba ako sa gitna ng skyway and walk back to Makati! So i just asked the people inside on where I can go down conveniently and where i can have my ride back. The people there told me that they thought i was a Chevron new-hire kaya di nila ako sinita for riding their shuttle to Alabang. On the other hand, I explained that Manong guard confirmed that it was the shuttle to Petron.

Ooops. There you go! Petron and Chevron! Nabingi si manong! (or i could also have not clearly said Petron.)

Grrrr. I was dropped in Metropolis Mall. Grabe. Hanap kaagad ako ng sasakyan pabalik ng Makati. But when i saw a jeep going to Pasay Rotonda, i immediately rode one coz i was beginning to get scared with the people because of my unfamiliarity with the place. Sa aking inis at kapaguran, Tinamad na akong bumalik ng Makati so i decided to just go home.

On my way home, i kept figuring out whose fault is it?

1. Si Manong Guard for confirming the wrong shuttle
2. Si Manong Driver (ng P&G) for not going there as scheduled
3. Or Myself

Well, i already laid the details. You heard the story. You decide. As for me, my pick are the first two. Harharhar!

Yup. Last Friday, amidst the strong rain and gusty winds in the metro, i was tasked to attend to an immediate business need. While answering my emails in the morning, one of my two immediate managers asked me if i have anything to do in the afternoon. I said i only have one meeting and that was even with my other manager. I was asked to cancel the said meeting (the two managers arranged the cancellation between them) and to help in one of our teammates in an inventory problem in a distributor's warehouse. Despite the bad weather, to be honest, i got excited with the news. It was going to be my first field work (cabuyao internship not included! hahahaha!).

Right after lunch, Eric (another of my co-interns in the team) and I went to Libis to help out. Well, when we saw the place, we were very much overdressed for the work. We were in semi-formal attire and all the rest were in jeans and rubber shoes, including our team member tasked to lead the work. Grrrr! I know im excited to do field work, but next time could they at least inform me a day before so i can dress appropriately?!?!?.

As a result, Eric and I looked like overdressed warehouse stock clerks. Hahaha. But don't get me wrong. Im not complaining about the work. Its just that I got pissed with being improperly dressed that time. Oh well, it was emergency so i guess i cant blame anyone for that.

In the end, we did the work the best we could. We ended around 6 in the evening and went to Starbucks to consolidate data. Wow. For the first time, i went to Starbucks not to study, to meet for an organization or to chat but i was actually there for a business meeting. An authentic business-related purpose. Hehehe. Of course, the bill was shouldered by the company since it was a field work.

I got home around 10 in the evening.

After an expensive lunchout with all the other P&G interns last Monday at TGIF, yesterday I had lunch with Mela, Mico and Jillian. Sanam couldn't make it coz she's got loads to do in school. We ate in Teriyaki Boy. As usual i ordered for plain rice and chicken teriyaki. (So what's new?!?!) In addition to our individual meals, Jill also ordered tofu steak. Of course i had no initial plans of eating it coz i never liked tofu. I tried it for the first time in a hawker center in Singapore. I did not like it. Well i guess its my fault for choosing a hawker center as a starting point. I should have at least chosen a resto for trying out food. Back here, i once tried it in a Chinese restaurant. Again, i didnt like it. Its taste kept reminding me of taho. Yeah i know that it really is its taste but i just can't imagine myself scooping taho without the sugar syrup.

Yesterday was different. I tried it out again without any of them knowing that i dont eat tofu (or at least decided to stop trying it). In all fairness, i enjoyed it. Hindi sya naglasang taho at sobrang sarap nya. Hehehe. Next time i'm in Teriyaki Boy i will surely order tofu. I always wanted to start getting used to eating those i dont usually eat like tofu. Im glad to have found a place where i can learn to enjoy them.

For other recommendations and suggestions on where and how i can enjoy other things i dont eat like veggies and seafood, please do tell me! :)

I started the day not minding how big a reminder of singapore this day is. I got here (office) about 20 minutes ago. My usual ritual is to open my laptop, check my emails and browse through my calendar for my tasks today. It is then that i suddenly realized how singapore-ish this day is.

1. Today is the birthday of Brian Tee, one of my co-exchange student in NUS during my first semester there. He is the guy in red in the picture above. Happy Birthday Brian! Oh how i miss hanging out with those guys in singapore. I miss our magic sing sessions, zouk nights, city trips and our singapore idol fanaticism. Our blink-and-plue gang hasnt met yet this year so talagang nakakamiss na. :<

2. Today is also the birthday of Sunny Cheng, a friend i also met in singapore. He usually tours me around the city especially those i've never been to when i was with the NUS people or my host family. Happy Birthday Sunny! Hope u have a wonderful day! Thanks for everything! :)

3. Incidentally, today is exactly a year after we (Drews & I) finally left singapore. Grabe. Time really flies so fast. huhuhu. :(


With all those three events converging into one memorable day, i miss singapore even more!

It has been a year since i wrote an actual entry. And writing this come-back entry seemed like doing my first ever LJ story. Despite the numerous things that happened for the past year, i dont find the drive to write them all here. Well, i just leave it to memory to remember all those that transpired for the school year that just closed.

I'm beginning this new chapter of my LJ with the ending of my last academic school year (except of course if i decide to pursue post-graduate studies).

3rd Term Course Card Day
April 17, 2006

This day is the real day when i actually got back on track. Third term is a very crucial term for me since the previous term pulled me out of the summa cum laude range because of a very low CGPA that term. It consumed the academic buffer which i worked for the previous years of my undergraduate life in DLSU. In order to bounce back to a summa standing, i need to only have two 3.5s (or only 1 subject for a 3.0) and the rest must be all 4.0s. Im enrolled in 7 subjects, 5 of which are 3-unit courses and the last 2 are 1-unit subjects.

The first course card i got early in the morning:

RELSFOR = 3.0

Oh no! Delikado ako agad non. That would mean all had to be 4.0s already. Eh di pa naman ako confident with one major subject. I asked my professor if that is negotiable. Buti na lang mabait ang prof ko na to and he told me that i lacked one requirement. I did not pass a reflection paper on the COSCA community service. I told him that i honestly did not know that we had to give him a copy of the same paper we submitted to COSCA. Lucky for me he agreed to accept it if i can produce the paper right before his distribution schedule ends. Aba, eh di punta ako agad sa COSCA para hanapin ang aming relfection paper, photocopy then submit. Umabot! My grade went up and become:

RELSFOR = 3.5

Whew! That was close. Unfortunately, even if i got the highest grade in the class, Sir won't give me a 4.0 coz i lacked points from attendance. As a matter of fact, i exceeded the allowable number of absences for his class because of the General Elections. Of course he cannot fail me because of absences since im a Dean's Lister but since attendace is part of his grading system, then there's is really nothing i can do. Realizing this, i surrendered my case, whole-heartedly accepted my fate and simply hoped that the day would end triumphantly for me.

Next up: Auresenia subjects. I have three 3-unit subjects under Dr. Joseph Auresenia. And i've got to admit that i hoped high for these subjects coz aside from having a good record under this professor, i am definite of my good academic standing in all of these subjects. True enough,

SPECHEN = 4.0
CHELEC3 = 4.0
INTECHE = 4.0

The next course card is for thesis. Sad to say, we got deferred so our grade is a non-bearing temporary 9.9 which will still be changed after we defend on the following regular term.

Then something unexpected happened. I didn't expect that my grade in my lone laboratory subject would be:

UNITOLA = 3.5

Haaay. Second to the Auresenia subjects, i was confident with this laboratory subject under Dr. Olano. This is because all my previous 2 laboratory subjects under him were all 4.0s. And i told myself that by doing the same thing with this subject and exert even more effort in the lab reports, i can surely get a 4.0 mark. Aside from that, i actually agreed to be his research assistant for a project which is related to the subject. I really expected to get this one. Oh well, tough luck i guess.

So now, i have one remaining subject left. It's under Dr. Josephine Borja and the course in PROCDES. It was a make-or-break grade. I already had two 3.5s and can no longer afford a non-4.0 grade for surely i can no longer be a summa cum laude. To add, this is the subject i was talking about in the previous paragraphs. Of all the subjects, i knew that this had the biggest probability of not getting a 4.0 since i honestly and sincerely see the lack of dedication i have put for the requirements of this subject. Sobrang lousy yung major project namin and that i finished my final exam in this subject very unconfident of my answers. To my surprise,

PROCDES = 4.0

Yipee! Summa standing again! I in fact garnered buffer coz the other 3.5 i received was just a laboratory course which means a 1.0-subject instead of having two 3.5 3.0-unit subjects.

But wait, the story's not yet over. I mentioned a while ago that my RESLFOR professor is mabait . Well, let me correct that. I looked in the mylasalle to verify my subjects coz i experienced Dr. Olano changing my laboratory grade from 3.5 to 4.0 during the first term. Instead, to my amazement,

RELSFOR = 4.0

Sobrang bait ni Sir Arnold Donozo (i think he is so worth mentioning! hehehehe)! Hahanapin ko talaga sya pagpasok ng 1st term and express my thanks. Grabe! With that, my buffer became larger which of course implied a bigger probability of finally getting my summa cum laude honors come October.


P&G Internship Part 2
April 20, 2006

The only subjects left for me are my Thesis and OJT. Im proud and excited to say that my OJT is with P&G. This is the second time im having my internship in the company coz the first was before i left for Singapore. This time though (to my relief) i will be based in Petron Megaplaza, Buendia, Makati and some days in 6750, Makati.



During my internship in Cabuyao, i have already been hearing of P&G's office in Petron but i have never been to it since those days. Of course, 6750 is a must-see office since all administrative processes are arranged here and that most events are held here.

So my first day at work is also my first day to see Petron Megaplaza. In fairness it's very beautiful. From outside, it looks as if it is a pure glass tower. It houses a Gloria Jeans Cafe in its lobby. If im not mistaken, it has a granite foundation and wonderful elevators.

My workspace is on the 23rd floor. The office also looked great and very conducive for work. Ang lamig ng floor. As a matter of fact, of all the P&G floors, people have told me that the coldest among them is out floor. Kaya naman megajacket ako sa araw araw. hehehe. But im getting used to it as days passed by.

Anyways, back to my first day story. I got my P&G laptop. Thank god it's a laptop unlike when i worked in Cabuyao that i was given a desktop. At least i can bring it home in case i need to finish some work especially during crunch time. hahaha. I also received my hi-tech prox ID. Prox is the P&G term for scanning your ID on the door lock readers. All P&G offices and floors are equipped with doors that only open when proxed in. Now here's the catch. These doors are equipped with an Anti-Passback system which means that one cannot go out unless you actually proxed in. Same thing goes for going out. This is of course for security purposes. It can lock tailgaters inside P&G premises.

I also got a clearer idea of what my projectS will be. Yup! It's plural which means i have more than 1 project. Inasmuch as i want to share my projects, i cant. The company's Worldwide Business Conduct Manual (naks!) does not allow us to do so. Besides, i personally respect the confidentiality and cruciality (is there such a term? hehehehe) of my projects.

Anyways, im excited to work on these projects. Just like before, these projects are not that Chemical Engineering intensive. They are more of practical than theoretical and that they are more inclined to information technology combined with optimization. Obviously, the only link to ChE is the word optimization. hahahahaha.

After one day i got my desk cabinet and later my own cordless office phone.

My first day (even the second day, which is a Friday) was a very light day. I virtually did nothing that was work related. hehehe. Sa sobrang wala akong nagawa, i was able to create and fill up a multiply account. Harharhar.

http://herberthallig.multiply.com

Now, things are starting to pile up. Just 2 days ago, the details of my other projects were deployed aside from the first which i am already starting on. This coming Monday, I have a document to submit. Goodluck na lng talaga dahil sa sobrang busy ko this summer. I am simultaneousy doing thesis and OJT these coming months. My plan is to do OJT on weekdays and Thesis during weekends. Obviously, it is not working. We barely accomplished anything since coursecard day. I guess we have to change plan and schedule to do more runs.

Speaking of run, I have to go back to the laboratory to attend to our thesis experiment. And after that i am going home na.


I am so happy to be back writing about things happening in my life.

This is a new chapter of my LJ account, a collection of stories, a mixture of experiences:

POTPOURRI:
life in a jar

encapsulating life in a journal


Finally I'm back.
Hopefully it's for good.