Where were you during the Glorietta 2 explosion?

There are happenings in life that leave a mark, whether we were directly affected or not. We tend to recall what we were doing or where we were exactly when these events occurred. One event would be last Friday's explosion in Glorietta 2.

What a tragedy it is. One could just imagine being in the mall, shopping and from out of nowhere, one can get caught unawares that a threat to one's life is in one's midst. We all hope that not one of the people we love or even ourselves be subjected to such a disaster.

Where were you when it happened? Me? I was at the office. How did I learn about it? My mother who is currently residing in Texas called me on my mobile phone to make sure that I was ok and that I was nowhere near Glorietta. Because I usually leave work at 1pm on a Friday, they were'nt sure if I may have ventured to shop or take a trip to Makati and to an extension, to Glorietta. On a normal Friday, I may have left at exactly at 1pm but not this particular Friday. We were finishing our Halloween decorations for the office and I still had to make sure all my work is accomplished. I was shocked to learn of what happened in Makati. What floored me even further was that my parents, who are halfway around the world, get to find out about it even before me. That's how fast new travel in this digital world.

It is quite fortunate that no one in my family or my friends were involved with what happened in Glorietta. I do hope that the families who are affected find some sort of consolation. My prayers go to them.

Still on Changes in My Life

There was a point in my life that I centered all my activities with the community I was serving with - Bukas Loob sa Diyos (BLD). I was introduced to their activities through my parents who had attended the Marriage Encounter (ME). My mom and dad would urge us to attend their meetings and later on to the Youth Encounter (YE). From the YE, I attended the Life in the Spirit Seminar (LSS) and cherished a closer relationship with the Lord. I served through the Singles Ministry where I met people like me who were imperfect yet struggling to live a life centered on God. Serving through BLD allowed me to get to know our Saviour better and to be His instrument in touching other lives as well. It is here that I felt my life had meaning, direction. It is in this community as well that He molded me to be less of an introverted individual. By 2005, He had called to me to take a different direction and it was through the work he allowed me to take on.

In the middle of 2005, I was hired by Sitel (I ventured on this topic 2 blogs back) and my scheduled hampered me to keep attending and serving through BLD. We were living in Cubao then and the meetings and activities of BLD were centered in Makati. My office, being located in Ortigas, made it out of my way to venture to Makati and be available for commitments.

Due to the proximity of my residence in Cubao with that of the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception, I was invited to join the Immaculate Conception Singers which were the choir that accompanied the 4:15pm Sunday mass. At the same time, I decided to attend the Christian Life Program (CLP) for the Singles for Christ (SFC). From there I attended regularly and upon completion of the program, was attending regular household meetings. It was convenient because we held these meetings in the vicinity of our neighborhood. What I was missing from attending BLD, I found with being active with the SFC of West B2-C. This however, would change when in December of last year, I had to move from Cubao to Pasig. With that move is the difficulty to attend activities of SFC in Cubao. Right now, am in limbo. I am being urged to return to BLD as well as SFC but both time and opportunity is against me. It has been almost a year and have I have not been able to at least drop by.

I do have deeper emotional ties with BLD as I had grown so much while being with that community. I have gained a lot of friends who remain near and dear to my heart. I miss them and hope I get a better rein with my time so that I can spend time with the Lord and with the friends he brought me to serve Him with.

This most likely would be the last of my "bringing you up-to-date." Blogging all of these allow me see clearly where I am at this point in my life and bring to the front how I fell about things.

I look forward to keeping you up to date with my life. Don't expect too much introspection but don't rule it out all together as well. I'll try to keep it light but that doesn't mean I won't get serious as well.

Unitl my next blog then.

Previously...

Still in the business of what has happened between 2005 and 2007...

Even before 2005 my parents and one of my sisters have already relocated to the United States. My parents have settled in Texas while my sister was situated in California, where our other relatives were. Only my youngest sister and I were left fending for ourselves here in Manila. That changed just this month. My sister decided to try her luck in Singapore.

During the time we were living under one roof, my sister and I were struggling with how to relate to each other. I was living a life of contradictions - serving God and struggling with my sexuality (We'll discuss this at a later time). My sister, I felt, was obviously against my lifestyle. She would continually report to my mother what she felt was happening or suspected was happening. Towards the end, which was around this time last year, she changed how she dealt with me and was not just civil but accepting. I felt, at that time, we were really brother and sister. By the time that we transferred from Cubao to Pasig, I was enjoying my time with her.

Now, she has moved to Singapore. Just a week ago. Now, all three of us siblings live in three separate countries. One in the United States, one in Singapore and me, in the Philippines. She a short vacation to Singapore earlier this year which solidified her decision to try her luck in that country. Prior to that trip, when our other sister was working there, we had visited Singapore as a family. That was back in 1999.

I had expected Singapore to be a little cooler but felt that it was slightly hotter compared to Manila. What I like most from the experience was the buses. They follow a specific schedule. What a great improvement from what Manila has to offer. The food they had to offer was varied as Indian and Chinese food were aplenty. Tourist spots were OK though a little limited since Singapore, to me, seemed to be just the size of the City of Manila. One could tour it probably in a day. But even so, it was more progressive than the Philippines altogether. City planning of this nation is the best as one can distinguish the business district from the residential area. There are quite a number of Filipinos who work there and they usually converge on weekends in the vicinity of Lucky Plaza. They say that this country has very strict laws but from what I observed during my brief stay there, the country had order and the people have disciplined. If only Filipinos were as disciplined in their native country as they are when living on another.

I got a little sidetracked. I strated describing my family situation and ended up talking about Singapore. Going back...

I miss my family. My parents. My sisters. It's different when you are living independently, meaning one has moved out from the family nest compared to living alone. With me here and they located all around the globe, I get sentimental when I think of any one of them. I miss them so much.

That's it for now...

Til next time.

Welcome back to myself

It has been a while. 3 years to be exact. What was to be my first blog became, up to this point, my last. Well, hopefully, this won't be my last blog for the next 3 years.

What has been significant in the past years that has kept me off blogging. I did blog in friendster but that was short-lived. (link to be added at a later date) Maybe what I can start with is what has changed in the last 3 years.

Work-wise, I have been with my current employer for the past 2 and a half years - Clientlogic, now going by the name Sitel (www.sitel.com) The account I am working in is Sony. From being an agent, I am currently a Quality Specialist - the person who is tasked to assist agents be consistent to the standards set by the client. All in all, it has been a good experience especially since this is my first call center job. What has kept me here has been the people I have been working with. Definitely, other call centers have better pay. Well, people from the original Sitel (as compared to us who were in the original Clientlogic before the merge) have better pay. Don't get me wrong. This is by no means a complaint, just an observation.

I joined the company in April 2005. I did not directly apply with the company but through JobsDB, who after screening me, sent me to 3 call centers - Teletech, Convergys and Clientlogic. I went straight to Wynsum, this time to be screened by Clientlogic. I was accepted the same day, however I opted to wait for the new batch for Sony so that I could be a Technical Support Representative (TSR) as compared to a Customer Support Representative (CSR). despite getting accepted, in the following days I also tried to apply with the other 2 companies JobsDB endorsed me to. What made me decide to take the job offer from Clientlogic, instead of the other 2? 1st, I was at ease with how the HR screened us. It made me feel welcome. 2nd, proximity to where I lived. That, my friends, is how I started with where I am currently working with.

That's it for now. But I promise to keep blogging in the following days - not just to document what has been and keep you abreast with what is happening, but maybe to find a niche here in the web.

Have a great day folks!