Backtrack To The BUSY Week That Was

May 25, Friday

Our MDP class this particular day was held at Sofitel. Apparently, there was left over budget that our functional group had to spend and this was where all the money went. It was fun and more interesting than our usual classroom set up. There is just one thing that irked me though. I was in my element, yes (posh resort with a very nice view of the Manila Bay and Sofitel’s spiral restaurant’s lunch buffet) but I was not wearing my usual get up. One of our facilitators candidly told me the day before that I should start dressing up like how a manager would (oh God!). The moment she said that, I immediately felt like I wanted to cry and so the rest of her speech was drowned in my misery. It turned out that she said that while we are in training, WE CAN WEAR what we want and be our usual selves because the training is our laboratory for learning, meaning, this is where we can make as many mistakes as we want. BUT once we graduate and go back to our respective work areas, then that’s the time we have to apply our knowledge and at the same time, be more cautious of our image. Too bad, I reacted so soon. And being the obedient little worker that I am, I wore boring clothes the next  day. I really wasn’t feeling very comfortable. It was an out-of-the-box experience for me! Tsk, tsk, tsk. On the contrary, I don’t know if I could really stop being me once I finish with this MDP (if I do get to finish it). Our organization, most often than  not, practices martial law and it is only every Friday that I am able to express a bit of myself thru the clothes I wear. Sigh.

On a more positive note though, this was also one of those days when I got to see my crush (*melt*). Need I say more?

 L-R: Amy, Karen, Alma, Me, Abby & Ireen

My friend Dodgie (left) was one of the training personnel  assisting us that day and my friend Lloyd (right) who is one of the brightest in our class. He’s already a PhD holder, mind you.

That evening, I spent time with one of my bestestfriend Mer at home. Mer is one hell of a dancer! She’s been dancing since she was a little kid and choreographs dance moves every now and then. She is one of the best I’ve seen in my life! I actually hired her services to teach me some moves and boy, it made me sweat buckets! The goal was for me to lose a bit of weight. Hopefully, we can do this regularly. Join us! Her rate is P400 maximum of 3 hrs, from jazz to hip hop!

The Human Walrus and Cheska Dance Duo 
 

After about an hour, I was so tired already that I opted for us to have videoke instead. Maybe, as I go along, my endurance will improve and I can maximize the 3-hour dancing lessons. Soon!

May 26, Saturday

 One stolen shot of us three inside the Trinoma Theater…
 

We woke up late the next day. Since Mer hasn’t been to Trinoma, we brought her there and watched Pirates of the Caribbean III (At World’s End). As usual, Johnny Depp and Orlando Bloom looked so yummy & gorgeous. Story-wise though, there were times when I couldn’t understand anymore what was happening with the story. There were just too many twists and turns that the plot was lost in the process. This is just my opinion though. Oh, also, it wasn’t as funny as the 2^nd one.

It just rained when we took these shots…
 

After the movie, we toured around a bit before going to Mer’s place that evening. Her room mate Taj cooked us a delectable Malay dish — Chicken Curry, with real Malay spices straight from Kota Kinabalu. Taj is one hell of a cook! And we will come back for more! Thanks again Taj!

May 28, Monday

Ecs and I were trying out our attire… 
 

I was surprised to know that the anniversary organizers chose me to  be one of the emcees for the next day’s employees’ night! Knowing me, I should get excited, right? I mean, I love the stage and acting in front of people. But I don’t know why, for some reason, every time it involves my place of work, it’s totally the opposite that I feel! I honestly got stressed about it. One, it was so sudden! Two, what will I wear???! Ecs, my co-emcee, and I were clueless as to what to do. We didn’t know how the flow of the program will go, what are the details of the script, etc. The organizers gave us a rough draft of the program that night. I asked Peter to help me with the script while I rummaged my closet for an “out-of-this-world-attire” as requested by my bosses. Unfortunately, I only have “JEN” attire. They didn’t even give us any budget for it! Hay!

 
May 29, Tuesday

Our tandem onstage… 
 

This day was supposed to be spent reviewing for our upcoming MDP final exams. But because of the recent development in our so-called lucky life, I spent the day practicing our hosting script. Then lo and behold, come 5pm, we were called in my boss’ office and almost everything that we’ve practiced that day went down the drain. The party started at 6:30 pm so in short, everything that happened in that event was impromptu. I thought I was going to have a heart attack! And the audience — our co-employees — they were the most difficult and boring audience I’ve encountered in my entire life! Can I just die?! Please?! I WILL NEVER EVER DO THAT AGAIN! GOD FORBID (& FORGIVE ME)! Again, looking at the brighter side of things, many people congratulated us for a job well done. Even the higher ups (the nicer ones) in the organization commended us. I appreciate that. I’m just not sure if all of them were sincere though. Oh well, I can’t blame them. Even I wasn’t happy with what happened. Everything is always last minute in our organization. Boo! Oh, by the way, the event ended at 11pm, got home past 12 midnight due to heavy traffic along Edsa caused by the heavy rain earlier that night. To think  that we had to come to work at 8am the following day.
 

With Peter & my friends (Dodgie, Ninette & Vanessa) backstage… 

May 30, Wednesday

I was told that I will be one of the usherettes for our organization’s big event at Sofitel for the next day. See what I mean? Everything is so last minute! So instead of focusing on MDP this day, a portion of it was spent in briefing us about the event and the evening was spent looking for a decent attire at Mall of Asia. I again went home very late in the evening, tired from everything.

May 31, Thursday

All dressed up, made up and COVERED UP for the event…
 

Due to lack of sleep, I went to work at around noon the next day. Come 3pm, I was already dressing up for that evening’s gala affair. At 4pm, together with the other usherettes, we were already at Sofitel. And I ushered in around 1,900 guests until 8:30pm. And I haven’t eaten a single thing that day because the schedule was THAT HECTIC. I thought I’d faint. I won’t be mentioning anymore all the booboos, misunderstandings and hurt feelings that happened not just this day, but the entire anniversary period. Let’s just say that I wish we never celebrated it anymore coz there’s no point to it anyway. Employees are demoralized and even our stakeholders are disappointed. Oh well… 

Do we look like waitresses? Darn…

Moving on, I spent the latter part of the evening with half of the MDP class and our facilitators as well. We had late dinner at Gerry’s Grill in Blue Wave and proceeded to Music 21 KTV near Heritage Hotel along Edsa Taft where we bonded and sang our hearts out til 2am! What a night! I think, in the entire duration of the MDP, this was the occasion where I truly felt happy, even for just a couple of hours. Then it’s back to the real world  again today. Overfatigued and super stressed, I went to training. Good thing that we had one of the most unique and talented guest facilitators I ever knew — Dittas Formoso, the Enterprise Marketing Director of Microsoft, who in her 40’s has won 3 gold medals in figure skating and now at 55, is learning piano classical music while at the same time also taking up her MBA at the Ateneo de Manila University. Wow!!! I can only hope to be like her someday…
 

Dittas teaching us Technology and Project Management

With her falir for fashion, who would’ve thought that she’s already 55? Idol!

But maybe, I am destined for other things…like perhaps living a simple life in Boracay like Jammy… Hmmm… I am seriously considering the thought.  But for now, I have to face my reality first — that of studying for our final exams next week. Hay life!
 

P.S. I wasn’t able to take pictures while ushering and while gimmicking at the KTV Bar since I left my camera in our office. Tsk, tsk.