Musings of a Wide-eyed Wondergirl

Day 77-79: To Random Guys, Keeping Friendships and Attaining Goals

2013-05-24T19:14:00.001-07:00

It's my rest day again and I couldn't be any happier! I know I owe you a three day worth of post that's why I'm gonna make it up to you by making this post so long the Great Wall of China will be so ashamed it's gonna crumble by itself.haha! I kid, I kid!

Anyway, let's start with what happened last Wednesday. I was still sulking over the fact that I am one of the lowest performers at work. I do try my best every time but it's just not reflecting into my scores and it's very frustrating. After work, I was supposed to go out with my friends just to ease the stress away but unfortunately everyone cannot seem to make it so they moved it on the next day. I ended up not having anything to eat at home so I decided to order a take out at the resto just across the street. And the weirdest thing happened. The cashier person, who happens to be a guy, recognized me as a constant customer so he introduced himself and asked me the weirdest questions. But he was quite nice and cute too! He actually made me smile throughout the rest of the night. You know, it's not everyday that a cute guy does that to me!haha

Thursday was pretty exciting for me. After work, finally I was able to go out with my friends and to say that I had heaps of fun is an understatement. I met new people who happened to be very fun to be with and my night was just filled with laughter remembering about the past. One of my friends happen to be in town and we haven't seen each other since last year so we did a lot of catching up over great food. The only thing was, my diet got ruined. But I don't mind. As long as I'm with great company, I'm willing to cheat on my dieat once in a while.

I slept really late that night because of an airline's international seat tgat I really wanted to avail of. My bestfriend and I have been planning to go to Vietnam for a while now and the travel dates, although scheduled early next year, would be the perfect time for us to travel however all of our credit cards were already maxed out so we didn't have a choice but ti let go of it. I'm pretty sure there will be other seat sales nezt time. And because I slept late, I woke up late too.

Thank God Friday was good to me. My scores were really good the other day that it really pulled my stats up. I just hope I'll be able to sustain it until the end of Nesting or much better would be until I'm already endorsed in the operations. I really wanted to do good so that I have a leverage in case they open up new higher positions. I hope I'll get promoted before the year ends so that at least there would be growth and I'm excited to take on new challenges and responsibilities.

I told you it was gonna be long, didn't I?haha. Anyway, I'm gonna go ahead enjoy my rest day now. Cheers to the weekend!

Day 75 and 76: Eating the stress away

2013-05-21T04:30:00.002-07:00

Today is a very stressful day for me. It's so stressful I had to cheat on my diet for the second time in a row this week by eating pasta. When I got out from work, I hurriedly went to my favorite place to eat Carbo-freaking-nara and I devoured it like I haven't eaten anything luke it before just to eat my stress away. I know it's not healthy but nothing ever really feels good after a hard day's work.

For the past two days now, I have been leaving work an hour late because of a lot of things to be done. I haven't been able to go to the gym and worst, my stats are inconsistent as ever. I cannot wait for July to come and the more I think about it, the day goes by every slowly. It's the only thing that's motivating me to go to work everyday. I just hope I'll be able to cope up with this stress in a more modest and healthy way than eating it away.

Anyway, that's all I gotta share. Let's pray everything will be better by the morrow. :)

Day 73 and 74: Weekends

2013-05-20T05:51:00.003-07:00

I know, I know, I haven't posted anything for the past two days. I have no excuse. Well, actually I do, I specifically put all the blame on the lame internet connection here at the house. My phone is not even able to open Facebook even if it's already connected to the Wifi. Talk about crappy!

So anyway, I had a very good two-day rest last weekend. On Saturday, I woke up really early to do my morning jog which is my very first ever since I set foot in Cebu last year. After an hour, 45 minutes of it mostly spent just walking, brisk walking if you may, I went back home and did my laundry. I took a bath and the ate a very heavy brunch. At 9 in the morning, I felt ever so productive compared o my usual mornings where I just lay down and get lazy. In the afternoon, I had ny siesta and when I woke up, I had the strongest urgency to watch a movie so I though 'why the hell not?' So I pulled myself together, had an early dinner with my roommate and went to the movies alone. I watched The Great Gatsby which was a little boring and sad but it is literature in the strictest sense of the word. But I enjoyed the movie a lot, no questions.

After I went home, I drowned myself with watching movies again which I ended up sleeping at 3 in the morning which gave me an excuse to wake up late. And I did. At around nine in the morning, that's when the internet started acting up and would not allow me to watch any more films. And it went on like that for the whooole day. I had no choice but to entertain myself with Candy Crush. And late at night, I bawled my eyes out crying because I missed my family, especially my parents. The feeling was a combo of longingness and being guilty for a lot of things mainly for not pursuing my profession. Everything came all at once that I couldn't stop myself from crying until I fell asleep. And ended up going to work with fake eyeglasses on because my eyes were too sore from all the crying.

Anyway, for today's happenings, I'll write all about it tomorrow. I'm too tired to wrack my brains out for anything better to write. Bon Nuit!

Day 72: Friday fever

2013-05-17T19:44:00.000-07:00

I was late than usual in going to work today because of the pouring rain. The weather here in Cebu is nothing short of bipolar to the point that it's extremely hot and sunny during the day and rain pours heavily at night until the wee hours of the morning. I was already thinking of skipping my daily morning walk and commute instead when the rain suddenly stopped as I was going out of the house. Thank God! Anyway, it's Friday once again and almost everyone in the office are prematurely feeling the rest day mood, including me. I can't wait to chill and read my abandoned books for the weekend. I know how that sounds to some of you, BOOOORING. But hey, we all have our own dose of pick-me-uppers so leave me and my books alone!haha And because of the Friday fever, I didn't mind too much that I have very low metrics at work. I could whine all day about that but that'll just ruin my mood so I chose to put it aside and I'll face it on Monday. The team has been consistently doing good for the past two days and I feel like I'm bringing them down. I guess I'll have to double my efforts by next week then. Ugh, work! I'm already dreading Monday!

Day 71: One step at a time

2013-05-16T05:25:00.000-07:00

Today is not a very good day for me. It's one of those days where I woke up at the wrong side of the bed that the rest of the day was just pure bad luck. I kept dropping my things while I was preparing for work and when I arrived at the office, most of my calls were disputes, some of them I never bothered routing to the survey because of how awful the call was. I wasn't able to go to the gym because I had to finish all my interactions for the day. I just hope that I won't have any detractors tomorrow especially now that I'm already able to pick up my scores a little bit. And just a random realization, time really does fly so fast. It seems like it was only yesterday when I took my licensure exam and now two years later, I'm in a totally different career trying my luck out. Of course it gets harder everyday but then again it's all about the attitude and how you deL with everyday endeavours. I'm just taking it one step at a time. How's your Thursday so far?

Day 69 and 70: Back to work

2013-05-15T04:17:00.000-07:00

Finally back in Cebu and back to the real world. Workload is heavier this week since most of our time is spent on the phone. We are on our second week so there's lesser induction time. I'm not complaining though 'coz I'm really learning a lot and my score is slowly going up, still low for the target but it's improving. I've also had a couple of inspirations along the way and it really helps. I just hope that I do better everyday so that I could reach my goal in a few week's time. For my workout regimen, it's another story. I haven't been able to go to the gym for almost a week now and my interest is slowly wavering so I have to get back on track by the morrow. I'm still following my diet though so I think that's still good. I just need to drag my ass after work to pick up where I left off. Anyway, that's about it for now. TTYL. :)

Day 64-68: Five day hiatus

2013-05-14T05:33:00.001-07:00

With my five day hiatus, I almost don't know where to start. So much has happened in the past couple of days that I haven't been able to keep up with the writing. I'll try to remember every bit of it as much as I can to share with you. Let's start with Thursday, shall we?

Day 64: Thursday -As per usual, the day started out fine, still walked myself on my way to work. We took calls in the morning and by lunch, the score from yesterday's calls were already posted. Aaand, I still had a very low score. I wanted to cry from embarrassment but I know better than that. Yes, I'm very disappointed but I can't let that go through me or else I'll be quitting my job in no time. After work, we had to skip gyn since we had a team dinner at Mr. A, a restaurant way uphill giving you a view of the whole city. Location was good and the food was average but not cost-wise for big groups like us because their serving is not that big. After dinner, we all went home and I went straight to bed for the next day's duty.

Day 65: Friday -By now, I'm already too excited to go home to CDO. Elections are coming up on Sunday and some of us were allowed a day for us to be able to exercise our rigt to suffrage which means a very long weekend for me! I'm planning to travel by sea a few hours after work so that I'll arrive early Saturday morning. However, most of the trips were already fully booked so my sister had to purchase airline tickets at the last minute which will be leaving early Saturday morning. After work, I had my tickets printed out and bought my sister's favorite cake as pasalubong.

Day 66: Saturday -I woke up extremely early today for my 5 am flight. It's been raining really hard and I was a bit worried that my flight will be cancelled but just after I left the house on the way to the airport, the rain stopped for good. I arrived around 6 in the morning and itwas probavly one of the best trips I've had so far. I was able to witness the sun rise and since it was also raining a bit in Cdo, I saw the tiniest hint of rainbow which was really nice. We arrived ahead of time so I had to wait for my sister to pick me up. We were planning to go to Camiguin Island but due to financial constraints, we went for other options instead.

Day 67: Sunday -Today is Mother's day and I was the earliest to wake up to greet my mom. We left for Dahilayan Adventure Park shortly after. When we arrived, the rain poured like there was no tomorrow. We decided to have lunch while waiting but even after we finished, the rain was still pouring heavily so we agreed to just leave and visit some other time. A couple of kilometers after, the rain stopped and we had to go back to the park again. We tried on the luge which was really thrilling and fun. After the ride, the rain poured hard again and we really wanted to play golf so we did so even with the heavy downpour. And mind you, it was ten times more fun having done that, even if we had to go home soaking wet. And since it was Mother's fay, I treated my mom and all the others for dinner at oir go-to restaurant. It was a bit crowded but still, nothing beats their food and customer service.

Day 68: Monday -After a couple of weeks wanting to go to the beach, I was finally able to do so today. We had to leave after lunch because of some prior engagements but we still had a lot of fun. Nothing beats the feel of sand on my feet undercthe scorching heat of the sun. We stayed their for a couple of hours and had to leave before sundown because my nephew accidentally scraped his feet pretty bad and also my flight back to Cebu leaves by 8 in the evening. When we got to the city, the rain was so heavy I got worried my flight would get cancelled. Thankfully it didn't however it was delayed by a couple of minutes and I arrived in Cebu really late already. And I had to sleep early for the next day's shift.

Day 63: Make mistakes and learn from it

2013-05-08T04:28:00.002-07:00

As much as I would like to be positive and all, I can't help but really feel bummed about what happened today. It started out fairly well however, towards the middle of the shift, the scorecards were released bearing results from yesterday's performance. Aaaaaand...I sucked. I was literally at the bottom of the list amongst the 21 of us. How awesome is that? (insert sarcasm here)

Being the competitive person that I am, I'm always hard on myself whenever I don't perform amd I could go on and on about every fucking feeling that I have right now but I'll spare you that. It's gonna be hard but I'm giving myself a chance. It's still too early to tell and I'm just starting out with the account and as what I said, there's still a lot of things that I need to learn in order for me to be better. I believe this is the best time for me to make mistakes and if I have to learn it the hard way then so be it.

Being at the bottom is both challenging and embarrassing not only to my teammates but also to my trainor and team leader. But also being at the bottom, as what I've learned before is not the end of it. If not, it gives you the opportunity to prove and improve yourself. And when you're down there, there's no other way but up. And yes, this is my way of comforting and reassuring myself that it's fine to be at the bottom, for now.

Anyway, enough of these hulabaloos. Let's go back to the topic of healthy living. After work, I went straight to the gym with my teammates. We did cardio for the first half and then we worked on the abdominal exercises for the next half hour. Since we did cardio yesterday, it was not that hard anymore however, the abdominal exercises was really killing me. I think I'm gonna be having a hard time pulling myself out of bed tomorrow morning.haha

So, was Wednesday kinder to you than it was with me?

Day 62: Walk with me?

2013-05-07T05:55:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone! How's Tuesday treating you so far? For me, this is one of the most tiring day I ever had since I came back here in Cebu. Tiring and fulfilling at the same time. And I could say, I couldn't be any prouder of myself.haha

I woke up pretty early today and got prepared for work ahead of time. The reason being? I decided to save my daily fare allowance in exchange of walking my way to work. I get to save money and get an exercise at the same time, hitting two birds with one stone, eh? I'm also keeping up with my my diet for the second week in a row now. Well, I wouldn't really call it a diet but it's more like eating healthy and eliminating the unnecessary.

When it comes to work, I would say it's a little bit stressful since we are on our first day of Nesting which means more phone time. There were a lot of things I still had struggles with but I'm taking it one step at a time. The destination may be too far but it's already visible. I just have to work my ass off for it. After work, I went straight to the gym with some of my teammates. It's my first day there so we only did some cardio for an hour. It's one of the benefits provided by the company so might as well take advantage of it.

After workout, I decided to walk my way from work to the house again. It's not that far so I think I can keep up with this everyday. Let's just hope it pays off. As what I read in Instagram a while ago, "Go for 'Oh shit, you got hot!' :)

Day 61: The world is filled with Mondays

2013-05-06T05:16:00.001-07:00

'The world is filled with Mondays' -Charlie Brown

Why is it that weekends seem to go a mile a minute while weekdays always run out of gasoline? Oh Monday, when will you ever be appealing to me? Nevertheless, I'm still grateful for another day given to me. This week is gonna be challenging and I'm not quite sure if I'm even ready for it yet but then again, I'll never know unless I try, right? And technically, tomorrow is my Monday since we didn't have much to do today. We just practiced for our presentation the whole morning and had a few navigational assessment for the tools we'll be using for tomorrow.

Speaking about our presentation, we had to present something at the last hour in the operations to all the tenured agents. Personally, I think we started out really lame even with a lot of practice but in the end, it turned out to be fun. We had some of the people dance to 'Gentleman' and everyone welcomed us with cheers and applause. But tomorrow's gonna be a different story. Tomorrow will be the start of war.

Anyway, after losing compliance on my diet for the past two days, I finally got back on track. I will also start going to the gym tomorrow togethet with some of my teammates. I'm pretty excited and I can't wait to see the results afterwards. I'll update you on that every now and then. 'Til tomorrow! :)

Day 59 and 60: Movie Marathon

2013-05-05T03:27:00.002-07:00

My weekend was spent ever so privately.

As what I always prefer, I stayed at home and watched movies all day Saturday. Being a bookworm, I've developed a new kind of fascination for films that I decided to gorge myself with endless movie streaming online. I watched The Silver Linings Playbook and now I know why people have a sheer appreciation for Jennifer Lawrence's talent and what she does with it. Opposite her, Bradley Cooper was not a disappointment either, totally taking a different direction from his role in The Hangover. Together, they waltzed in craziness only they could portray.

I also watched The life of Pi which took me to new heights in understanding trust, faith and religion. I actually bought the book a few years ago but never really had the interest of reading it. It's a shame, I know. And now I can't find my copy anywhere. I know I could just download an ebook online but this is one of those books I'd rather have a hard copy of. An ebook would just not give justice to the brilliance that is Yann Martel.

Pitch Perfect was next in line with it's unparalleled musicality and humor. I never thought Ana Kendrick could sing like that. Such talent was wasted in Twilight. The movie was an epic adaptation of Glee giving it's viewers the performance they were expecting and even more. I also started watching Zero Dark Thirty, a clear steer from the drama and feel good entertainment by the previous three films. Although I have yet to finish it, I have a feeling it will be amazing. Let's just hope it won't disappoint.

So, there goes my weekend! My back has been killing me from watching all of these films, I'm planning to get a massage tonight to cap off the week and get ready for Monday. Talk to you tomorrow!

Day 58: See through me

2013-05-04T01:51:00.006-07:00

Thank God it's Friday! It's the last day of work for the week and I can finally take a rest. Plus, it's payday today! It doesn't get better than that.

So, let's go over what I did today. Or more specifically, what I wore today. Having most of my clothes for laundry, the only decent clothing left was a marroon shirt with scattered hearts all over it, which turned out not that decent at all. Of course I know the shirt was see-through but I didn't realize it was that revealing. Good thing I was wearing a black bra under it. I got really conscious when my teammates started noticing and teasing me about it but I just decided to go with it and tried my hardest to ignore all the stares.

There was not much left to discuss at work today since we finished the module earlier than expected. We just listened to some of our calls in the morning which stressed me a little coz I hate listening to my calls, much more with other people. Fortunately, my name didn't get called so that was a breather. After the first break, our trainor had us practice for our presentation on Monday's graduation. The group decided to have a variety of performances so it took us a while to piece all of it together. Anyway, it's just gonna be for fun so I hope everyone will have as much fun as we do.

For lunch, we decided to eat out as a team. There were a lot of debate on where to eat but in the end, we decided to go for Casa Verde. The place is famous for their baby back ribs so most of teammates decided to try it out. And since I was determined to stick with my diet, I went for their Watermelon Salad which was really delicious. It was paired with a Clubhouse Sandwhich which I ended up taking out because I was too full by the time I finished the salad.

After lunch, we just continued practicing and we also had side by side call listening with the tenured agents on the floor. Some of my teammates wanted to have a drink after work and they wanted me to come with them but I politely declined since I'm not really up for it. And to my defense, the place was really far away from where I live so I had to pass and went straight home. I remembered I made a promise to my roommate that I'll treat her once I get my first pay so I decided to treat her for dinner at my favorite place just across the street. I just had soup while I had her try their Seafood Marinara whilst sharing stories about our individual lives. It's always nice knowing something new about people you thought you already knew.

Day 57: Healthy Living

2013-05-02T04:44:00.001-07:00

I was so early at work today that I didn't have to rush eating my breakfast. Only thing was, I had the worst breakfast food ever. I don't want to get into details, let's just leave it at that.

So anyway, we had our last embedding today so it was a little stressful. The calls that I got were a little bit overwhelming and most of the queries were new to me so I didn't really have the proper resolution. I even had one customer hang up on me because I took too long putting him on hold just for a very simple inquiry. But if there's one thing that I learned before, it is to never be hard on myself. I'm still starting out so it's just natural that I don't know everything yet. It's hard especially when I'm used to knowing what to do at the onset of the call but now I'm relearning everything over again. I'm pretty sure I'll get used to it in a couple of months.

On another note, I've been altering my diet for the past couple of days now. I've decided to eat proper breakfast, no rice for lunch and dinner will just be light. Surprisingly, I'm able to follow it religiously for three straight days now. I'm also gonna be trying out going to the gym soon. We have it for free in the office so might as well take advantage of it while I still can. I'm gearing up for a healthy living so I hope I'm able to keep up with it. Also, I'm planning to go back home again this month since my cousins are around but I still have to check my schedule though. I just hope all plans will push through this month. Can't wait for July!

P.S. I'm having a little crush with one of my teammates. But let's just sshhh about it for now. Haha. :)

Day 56: Count your blessings

2013-05-01T04:23:00.000-07:00

It's always important to recognize the blessings given to us every single day and to appreciate the positive more than the negative aspects that happen in our everyday lives. So this post will be about gratitude for even if life is shitty sometimes, there's always something positive that comes along with it. We just need to remind ourselves more often.

The fact that I was able to wake up today is already something to celebrate about. I came to work early and was able to continue my streak of non-tardiness. Although I had to eat really fast for breakfast, I'm lucky enough to be on the better side of the world where I have access to food anytime. When we talk about work, I'm definitely still a newbie and there's a lot more I need to learn but I'm fortunate enough to land a job and earn more than the average daily wage. Also, one of the most shocking things happened while I was at work today. We played a game and out of twenty-three, I was one of the two winners. Take note, I NEVER win at anything. Plus, because it's a holiday, our trainor released us an hour early from work.

When it comes to my social life, I can't deny that I really miss my friends from before and sometimes I wish I was with them but I was given a new set of friends who sometimes makes me forget the void that I'm feeling. I know I have yet to get to know them but I'm just thankful for an opportunity to meet other people. I have also not been a vey good daughter to my parents but my family have always been there for me no matter what. I have the best parents one could ever have and my relationship with my sister has never been better.

My romantic life has been on a roll the past few months and sometimes, I get tired of waiting for the right person to come into my life. A lot of my friends are getting married and starting their own family and I'm still on the lookout, never knowing when I'll get there. And to be honest, this is one of the aspects in my life where negativity is almost looming over and I can barely see the light at the end of the tunnel. Every now and then I just have to remind myself to be patient and to have faith. I may not be there yet but I'm definitely closer than I was before.

Day 55: Victory

2013-04-30T04:39:00.001-07:00

After a really good weekend spent, now I'm back to business, although work is a little bit light these past two days. We only had few discussions in class and the rest were just knowledge check activities. We had games earlier too (product-related, of course) and it's safe to say, which means I'm bragging a little, that we buried our opponents alive, TWICE! We were the underdog at first but we still won in the end. And for me, that is the sweetest kind of victory.

After work, I was supposed to go with my friends and eat out somewhere but they changed their mind the last minute and so I ended up getting a take-out dinner which I ate at home. Speaking of dinner, I haven't been practising good eating habits the past few days so I decided to revert back to the usual eating pattern that's considered healthy. From now on, I'll try to eat breakfast everyday and cut down carbs from my diet (one rice per day only). I'm not too sure how long I could go on with this but it's worth a try.

In a few days, we'll be taking calls again so I'm just relishing the light workload for the moment. Let's just hope I do good on the floor to prevent any forms of discouragement and negative vibes. Crossing fingers x

Day 53 & 54: Weekend at home

2013-04-29T05:58:00.000-07:00

I'm now back to the real world! Although my week was ordinarily spent, it always becomes extraordinary when I'm with my favorite people.

I just arrived here in Cebu earlier this morning and still, it wad so hard to snap out of rest day mood. From the airport, I went home to deposit my things and then went straight to the office. I was technically 2 hours late from work which my trainor displayed annoyance by not responding to my morning greeting. I just bribed him with a pastel delicacy I brought from CDO afterward which he and my teammates enjoyed a lot.

After work, I had to take care of some bills for my mom and I had to wait for almost two hours for their customer service to cater me. Thank God an elderly woman gave me a much better priority number so I gave mine to someone else in return. It never hurts to pay it forward as they say. After endless waiting, I was able to settle the bill and then went home to retire. Since my roommate was still not home, I ordered pizza and gobbled it all on my own for dinner. So much for stupid diet!

Also, I would like to apologize for skipping a post yesterday. I was so tired and I had to sleep early because of my early flight in the morning as well. Actually I got a boat ticket for last night's 7pm trip however I decided not to avail of it since I needed more time with my family. I just spent Sunday with my sister going to the grocery and stopping by a jewelry maker who was referred by a family friend since my sister needed a replacement for her lost wedding ring. I think I'm gonna go to her too once I decide to alter the ring my mom gave me.

Aside from that, we also visited my sister's house since I haven't been there before. The house is just perfect for families who are just starting out. I was able to sneak a peek of their model house as well and I was really impressed with the interior design to the point that I wanted to buy a house for my own. I've been looking for houses online that would be able to cater to my budget and taste. I know it sounds ridiculous but I really want to buy a house for my own. Why are houses so darn expensive?!

Day 52: My Superhero

2013-04-27T06:58:00.001-07:00

“But there's a story behind everything. How a picture got on a wall. How a scar got on your face. Sometimes the stories are simple, and sometimes they are hard and heartbreaking. But behind all your stories is always your mother's story, because hers is where yours begin.” -Mitch Albom

This post will be dedicated to my mom who's celebrating her birthday today. To the strongest and most hardworking person I have ever known that even today, was still the very first person who got out of bed to go to work. It's always business as usual for her and it's sad how most of the time, she's never able to take care of herself in lieu of taking care of us. To the person who sacrificed a lot just for her kids to experience a good life even if it meant staying awake until the wee hours of the morning. And to the one person I owe the stories of my life to.

I'm not the best daughter there is, to that I admit. I've probably done a lot of things to my parents that I will never be proud of. But my mom has always been fair and forgiving to me. She never made me feel that my mistakes made me less of a person and that I should always learn to forgive myself first. Even if I'm away most of the time, I can never imagine a life without my mom. She's always been my superhero.

Day 51: Overwhelming is an understement

2013-04-26T09:22:00.000-07:00

Blogging to you straight from CDO! Woot! I just arrived earlier this afternoon and I never get tired of saying this: It's good to be back! Although only for a few days but still, nothing beats home.

Going back earlier today when I was still in Cebu, I attended my training for the first half where we took calls for the third time. It was supposed to be my partner's turn in the morning and I was scheduled in the afternoon but I begged him for me to take calls first. In the end, we both took calls at the same time. I could say that it was definitely not my best performance because I was too excited for my trip home that I never really took some of the calls seriously. My mind was too preoccupied and it was running a mile a minute I don't even know where to start.

After taking calls, I asked permission from my trainor that I will miss half of the day because of my flight. Fortunately, he said yes (but even if he said no, nothing can stop me from going home. haha). I was out by 11am and my flight wasn't until 1:30pm so I still had spare time. I went home to get the printer I bought for my sister. I had to wait for my roommate to bring the printer over and she arrived an hour after and my golly was the printer huge! And not to mention, super heavy!

I hailed a cab to take me to the airport and when I got there, I asked if I could just hand-carry the printer but the lady at the check-in counter told me I can't so I will have to check it in. Now here's the fun part: I didn't have the sufficient amount of money to pay for checking it in. It was already an hour before my flight and they were having the last call for checking in of baggages. I immediately called my sister to have money deposited on my ATM so that I could just withdrew it.

Thirty minutes before my scheduled flight, my sister called and told me the money was there already. I had to go back out and withdrew the money but when I came back in, they already closed the check-in for baggages, I almost wanted to cry and I seriously considered leaving the printer behind. I asked the security if I could just leave it at the airport and I'll just have my roommate fetch it but then she directed me back to my airline. 15 minutes until the plane leaves when I went to a crew from my airline and asked if I could just leave the printer to them and then she said she could still have it checked in. God knows how many thank you's I could have uttered when I heard that. I immediately paid for it and got me and my printer checked in just in the nick of time!

I was literally breathing heavily until I reached my designated seat at the plane. I swear to God I've never felt such adrenaline in my whole life. An hour later, I was already waiting to fetch my printer at the check-out area of Lumbia Airport in CDO. My sister picked me up and bought me lunch to relieve my stress. Aaand, my sister has a new car already! Double woot!

When I arrived, my favorite nephew was already waiting outside for me. God, I missed him! He's one of the reasons why I'm always excited whenever I come home. He was so astonished looking at me and his mom trying to color our hair earlier tonight. Yes, my sister bought a hair color solution at Etude House and we decided to try it out. Mine's not that evident yet but since my sister already has color in hers, it was so much more evident on her. I'm thinking of cutting my hair too but I'm not too sure what look would work for me. I need to do some research first.

P.S. I'm sorry this is too long. It was just a very overwhelming day for me. And tomorrow is Mom's birthday! I'm too excited!

Day 50: Are you competitive?

2013-04-25T04:18:00.003-07:00

There are two things I learned today that I'd like to share with you. One, I'm weirdly competitive. Two, some people talk about abortion like it's as normal as taking a shower. These things have been consciously on my subconscious but I never really gave a thought about it. And since nothing spectacular really happened today, let me babble about the two things that I learned.

I never really saw, let alone labeled myself as competitive before. True, I never wanted to fail at what I do but everyone does, right? Also, way back in college, I always compared my test results with my friends and smiling victoriously in my head when I get the highest score. But all my friends are doing it as well so it was never a big deal. In my workplace before, I would always be too hard on myself whenever I don't meet the standards and that's just because I hate failing as much as I hate being a failure.

Today, I finally realized my boss was right, I am downright competitive. While we were doing an activity earlier at work, I was palpitating and sweating unconsciously while I tried to finish the activity on a limited time. I loved the thrill of knowing that I can be good at what I do and that I can be the best amongst my peers. People would tell me that I take things seriously and now I understand why. I know somwtimes it's not a good thing but I also know that I can use this to my advantage, don't you think so?

Also, earlier today, a friend was browsing through Facebook while I watched along. And then someone messaged her worried because she didn't have her period yet. The first thing that came to my mind was that she might be pregnant, until my friend told me that she got her baby aborted just a month ago and she haven't had her period yet since then. And the reason for the abortion was the fear of being terminated from work. I mean, how lame is that reason? So, she'd rather kill her own child than risk losing her job? I know I don't have the right to judge but still, what she did not justify the means at all.

So anyway, that's about enough ranting. I'm going to sleep in a while so I'll write to you straight from CDO tomorrow then! Woot!

Day 48 and 49: Some days

2013-04-24T02:48:00.000-07:00

One particular thing that happened today that really got into my nerves is the insensitivity of some people. At work, since I'm still a newbie, we are not allowed to go on duties during holidays so we have to make up for it on a Saturday. May 1 is considered a holiday here in the Philippines so we were given the option to choose between two Saturdays (April 27 and May 4) for the make up class. Since I had to go home by the 27th and some other people also had prior commitments due to short notice, we wanted to have the class on the 4th. However, some inconsiderate people were forcing others to go for the 27th just because they want to without having any valid reason at all. And to think, they were the ones I considered really close with ever since the start of training. In the end, our trainor decided to have a class on the said holiday with a permission from his boss. I was relieved but still I got pissed with what happened. So anyway, I finally got my ticket printed and I'm all set for Friday. I'll be bringing home a printer I bought for my sister. Although I'm a little bit short for my expenses, my friends have been kind enough to help out. Yesterday I wasn't able to post anything because I came home late and I got too tired. After the class ended, my friends called me since they were in the area. I met up with them and one even volunteered to treat us pizza. Another friend also dropped by so it was like a mini reunion. It's always a good time when I spend it with my favorite people even if they're also the reason why my diet got ruined and I wasn't able to go jogging. Ah, the things you do for your friends! Earlier that morning though, we had our second embedding and I was supposed to go first while my partner will listen and help me out. But, my partner was such an arse that he wanted to take calls too, leaving me all by myself. But I was not mad at him, I know that somehow I'll be on my own when taking calls, I just got so scared. But fortunately, it all turned out well and I could say it was better than my first embedding. I even got to meet a cute guy who was assigned to help us out. Okay fine, I have a tiny teeny crush on him. Let's hope he's still single. teehee :)

Day 47: Change in routine

2013-04-22T05:05:00.001-07:00

I can't believe my two days off is already over! Ugh, Monday. I seriously wish there was a day between Sunday and Monday. That would be epic awesome, don't you think?

So anyway, work was the same for me today, although time was a bit in a hurry. It was slightly draining and of course, almost everyone were still on RD mode. There were a lot of discussions that it was hard to find a place in our brains to fit all the information given. The only good thing was the free food I took advantage of today. Our trainor gave us food during our first break and also one of my friends brought food for everybody as a celebration for her passing the teacher's board examination, which was what we ate on lunch. Thank God for generous people!

After work, I immediately went home because I was not in the mood to go with my friends. A couple of hours later, my roommate arrived and I suddenly had the urge to go jogging. She was surprised with my suggestion but still agreed. Well technically, we only walked. But hey, it's a good start right? I mean we gotta start small first. And it's a change from my usual routine of laziness so it's a good change. After walking, we had dinner and went home.

We'll be taking calls again tomorrow for billing which I'm not really confident about. I'm still gonna be with my partner but since he was the one who went first last time, I had to be the first one tomorrow. I'm a little scared and worried but my excitement is winning over. I'm going home on Friday for my mom's birthday and I can't wait to see my family! And also, I'm more excited for my trip to Hongkong on July. I know it's still months away but whatever, I'm still excited anyway.

Day 46: Books or Movies?

2013-04-21T05:56:00.000-07:00

I'm the kind of person who, by a mile, prefers books over movies. And a lot of people judge me for that. Once I give out that certain information to someone I just met, I could already see their precious little mouths forming the word boooring. I don't really care. As long as they mind their own business, I'll stick with my books.

So anyway, that introduction was just me talking gibberish. Well, today is one of those days where movies appealed to me more than my books. Now don't get too excited. I'm still going back to them, I just needed a little detour this time. And since my roommate downloaded a lot of movies, I had a hard time choosing so I ended up watching not one, not two, but three movies today. There was Tangled which reminded me of my childhood days where I thought I was secretly a princess. After finding out Santa Claus was faux, my princess dreams also went down the drain easily. As with all once-upon-a-time stories, it was pretty predictable. But the journey to that happy ending was worth watching.

I also watched Wreck It Ralph. Now this one has a good moral to it and it borders between a normal feel-good animated movie and a conscience-inducing one. The third one was The Lucky One which was an adaptation of Nicholas Spark's book, which I haven't read yet. It stars Zac Efron who looked like an epitome of perfection (half of the movie was spent marvelling at him) and some other girl who looks like Katy Perry but not quite. Sex and intimate scenes were reaaallly good. I mean Efron and sex is probably a match made in heaven.

Okay, I'm sorry for getting a little wanton there. I guess that's the thing about movies. Everything is so predictable and everything is being spoonfed to the viewers, whereas in the magic of literature, you are given your own freedom of imagination. And you become alive with each and every character, and you feel, and eventually, you become them. Now don't go on arguing you movie fanatics out there. That's merely an observation. A biases one that is.haha

Day 45: New Discoveries

2013-04-20T06:14:00.000-07:00

Thank God for weekends! The week has been such a roller coaster that I badly needed this two-day off.

Since I was short on cash, I decided to just stay at home. I spent most of my morning with Ellen (I swear her videos are addicting!) and other social networking sites. After I got bored, I got rid of a whole week's worth of clutter and paperworks. I also arranged my clothes and shoes which were all over the place due to my constant outfit changes. Basically, I did my weekly cleaning plus my favorite chore of doing the laundry (insert sarcasm here*).

I finished everything by noon and my stomach was already clamoring for food when my roommate woke up. We bought a whole piece of grilled chicken to share with each other. Even if the chicken was too big for the both of us, the rest was saved for dinner. I've never been really close to this particular roommate of mine but ever since everyone left for the summer vacation, we started bonding like sisters.

I also learned a whole lot about technology today. My friend who left for Vietnam buzzed me in Facebook telling me to download Viber. This application has been on the mainstream for a while already but I never really bothered checking it out since I never saw the need of it. After I downloaded the application, I was able to text and call for free even if me and my friend were miles away. Also, another friend introduced me to a radio application which plays really good music. I tried it out and I couldn't be happier! Looks like these applications are bound to be abused in the next couple of weeks.

P.S. I had to rewrite my original post because my internet was acting up and the first one I made was not saved at all. Not that it's anything relevant, I'm just sayin'!haha

Day 43 and 44: Long days ahead

2013-04-19T05:59:00.002-07:00

I'm sorry I'm doing this two-day update again, I got too tired yesterday I slept like a baby. Plus, the internet was really acting up so I slept early.

Yesterday was really challenging for me. We did a lot of practice navigating the tools so we could be ready for today's embedding session. We were given an activity for fifteen minutes to check how fast we could do the navigating. Unfortunately, the computer I was using was even slower than a turtle that I was only able to finish one task. I had to transfer stations just for me to be able to catch up. We also did a group mock call wherein I totally embarrassed myself by giving out an incorrect answer to my trainor. Two hours before our shift ended, we listened to some calls again and when I tried logging in, it just wouldn't work. My bad luck was on a roll yesterday that I felt really drained when I went home.

Today was fairly tolerable though. And when I use that description, it simply means, it's not good but also not as bad. For our embedding session, we were paired up because of the lack of computer stations. My buddy was the one who took in calls first which I think was a good thing because I was able to get some hints on how to go about taking calls. On the downside, it was actually prolonging my agony. When it was my turn, I did not have a problem with the navigation of the tools but I struggled with communicating to my customers. I don't think I did that well on my calls compared before. I just hope I get to learn more to push me to become better.

After a long day, I went out with some of my wavemates and I would say it was really awkward. There were times when I couldn't relate to them and one of them even commented that I was too silent. I dunno, I felt like the friendship is still too immature that I can't be open to them just yet. When I'm with my friends, I'm usually the loudest and I never run out of things to say but when I've only known people for less than a month, I don't get comfortable easily. But don't get me wrong, they're a lot of fun to be with, it's just that I need to get a feel of their personality first before I go ahead and introduce mine. Does that even make sense?

On another note, I received a text from my sister yesterday and it's official, I'm going to Hongkong on the first week of July. I'm really excited since it's the first time I'm going out of the country and I know it's weird but I just can't stop thinking about it. I just hope everything will go according to plan. It has to! I know I will have a lot of long and difficult days ahead so this trip is definitely a good motivation for me. Can't wait!

Day 42: Newbie Again

2013-04-17T04:23:00.001-07:00

I'm already getting the hang of getting up early and going to work everyday. Although it still takes a while before I'm separated from my bed, at least now I don't curse as much as before.haha. kidding!

I take back what I said yesterday that it was one of the most productive day I've had in training. Truth be told, today was one helluva day! First, our seating arrangement was changed so I was forced to sit beside someone I was not really comfortable with. And then when we started practicing the navigation of tools, my PC would not cooperate and it just keeps on loading so I got way behind others. And then I felt really guilty because the new seat mates that I had were the one who helped me all throughout. Reminder to self: Be friendly and be more open to changes.

After the first half, we were sent to lunch and surprisingly, I saw one of my teammates before. She sat next to me and we updated each other on what happened when she left. I also met her new boyfriend and we kept laughing about the previous relationships that she had(sans the boyfie of course). I even had to stay for a while just to chat with her. After lunch, we did more practice and then we barged again to listen to some of the calls by tenured agents.

While I was listening to some of the calls, I remembered when I was the tenured agent before and trainees would barge in on my call just like what I'm doing now. I felt so good then having to teach newbies and guiding them on their calls. I just hope I get to learn faster this time and I hope I do well with my metrics. I've already set up a goal for myself by the end of the year and I pray I get to meet those goals.