It’s our last day in the company that’s 5-minute by bike from my apartment. The tribute continued – they still played all English music today. And I love most of those songs! I honestly think it was really thoughtful of them. 
Too sad I have no choice but to say good bye.
I’ve been working in the IT field for more than five years. Due to this challenging (I don’t want to use the word stressful) job, I don’t think I’d like to do programming until I retire! So, as early as now, I think it’s really crucial to think of future plans. To think and to investigate on what to do in case I quit programming. Don’t get me wrong. I enjoy what I am doing but I don’t think it would still be possible to be a programmer when you’re already in your late 50′s!
The other option for me: becoming a business woman. No one in my family is ever good at business administration. But I’d really like to give it a try. After all, those who have become reach are mostly businessmen, right? I’m thinking of investing on real estates, but that would require a huge capital! We have some neighbors who have a truck rental business and they are doing well. This require a smaller capital than real estates, but the maintenance cost is a lot higher. Anyway, all of the businesses have their pros and cons. So, it all comes down to good management.
One more day and I’ll be saying goodbye to the current company. One more day and I’ll be saying goodbye to casual clothes. Although majority of the Japanese don’t engage in chitchats during office hours or even lunch breaks, I still feel sad because I’ve become familiar with the faces in the office. I’ve become comfortable for a dozen of reasons.
Let’s just say that our office mates would also miss the two gaijins (gaikokujin/foreigners) who are sometimes noisy at the office. The two aliens who usually go home earlier than anybody else. Perhaps. After all, they’ve played 100% English music today! Maybe a farewell gift? Haha! But I honestly had fun listening to those songs even though they were popular years ago: Cranberries, Bryan Adams, Michael Bolton, Boyzone, Savage Garden, etc. And Celine Dion’s “My Heart Will Go On” was played, too. 
If only I had a choice, I’d rather stay in that company. But I look forward to spending a few more time blogging because internet access in the next company isn’t so strict. I’ll see more of you then, my fellow bloggers, soon!
When some colleagues and I went to Sydney for a business trip, we stayed at Meriton’s Apartment along Pitt Street. We stayed at the 45th floor and the view from there was so amazing. Here’s the view from my bedroom – the whole of Darling Harbor:
For more Sydney photos, please check out my still unfinished Sydney blog: Unforgettable Sydney.
Have a nice weekend, everyone!
In my country and I’m pretty sure it’s also the same with many other countries, it is very rare for poor to middle class people to get the compensation they should get in case of accidents. Watching so many movies, TV shows, and after I’ve read something like Chicago accident attorney, made me realize the importance of law awareness.
About a couple of decades ago, my younger brother and his friend were biking home one night when they were hit by a jeep. The driver tried to escape but fortunately, some neighbors chased and caught him. When we look at the situation, it was mainly the owner of the jeep’s fault because not a single headlight was working when the accident happened. The jeep was impounded so the owner had no choice but to pay the hospital bills. That was it. My parents didn’t even ask them to pay for the medicines after the hospitalization. We were just more than happy that nothing serious happened to my brother.
Biwa-ko or Lake Biwa is the largest lake in Japan, and Omimaiko is one of places surrounding the lake. Together with some friends, I had the chance of having an overnight stay there. But, we didn’t go there for sightseeing. Anyway, it took us about an hour from Osaka to the Omimaiko station by the JR Special Rapid Service. Some Japanese friends told me that the place is an “inaka” (countryside, rural) and they weren’t just exaggerating. This ticket collection machine proved it:
It was around the year 1997 when my father (Papa) brought home our family’s first computer. It was just an Intel 486 and the hard disk was just about 2GB. Installing an application would take about 30 minutes! But I was more than happy at that time because Papa also brought home a printer and I got to print my favorite cartoon characters. Then it was replaced with a Pentium II, an AMD, and finally, a Pentium III, the one that they’re still using at home.
When I went home last May, I had to bring my precious laptop, Sachi (my laptop’s name) because I know that I would just be impatient with the speed of the computer at home. I actually gave it a shot but it took forever to load just a single web page. Just like many people, I can’t get enough with my computer memory, its speed, etc. I wish for something faster for watching videos online, a larger hard disk capacity for downloads, a thinner and lighter laptop. Well, this rant could go on forever, Sachi is enough for now.
As far as I can remember, Cagayan de Oro’s airport terminal had always been a “under-developed”. For years, the terminal wasn’t air-conditioned and baggage inspection had to be manual so going early was really a must. The check-in counters of the three airlines were detached from the terminal itself.
When I went home last May, I could say that the airport underwent a lot of improvements. Though the building is pretty much the same, at least the check-in counters are now inside the terminal and the whole terminal is already air-conditioned! But even for a small terminal, it now houses digital signage. So while waiting for your flight, at least you now have something to fix your eyes on aside from observing the other passengers. 
When I was a little girl, I usually played with girl toys but there were times when boy toys were more fun to play with. I was not really into car toys but I loved playing with marbles and water guns. So, when I went home last May, I wasn’t really surprised to see my nephew playing with Shaynna’s dolls and I was but a little bit worried to see Shaynna playing with a toy car. She has a toy car, but I think she’s still more of a girl because her toy car is colored pink with flower prints on it! One time, I took her to a shopping mall and she saw one of those remote control helicopters and demanded to buy one. Nope, I didn’t buy one for her but I was able to replace it with something more girlie… a nurse toy kit!
It’s only been a month since I wrote about my current job. Now, I’m going to say goodbye again. Goodbye to comfort, goodbye to casual clothes.
Last week, we were taken to an interview again for a bigger and well-known company. The project is very interesting because it’s also a Java project, but what I don’t like about it is the train ride. A special rapid service ride plus a subway ride would take me about 1 hour and 20 minutes. Whereas in my current job, it’s only about 5 minutes by bike from my apartment. So, no more 8:30AM wake up time for me. And I’m wearing casual clothes to work only up to end of this month. Starting October 1st, I’m gonna say hello to my heels again. Ugh!
There are two more colleagues with me who will also join that company. We have no choice. An assignment is an assignment. We must take it. I’d just look at it in a positive light: another Java project! Yipee!
My little girl is turning four next month. At such a young age, she’s really taking care of her things and she seldom loses her toys. When she got a new bicycle, she just played with it inside our house. She has this doll that’s been with her for more than two years. But her oldest possessions are the blue and pink comforters. She won’t even allow her baby cousin to borrow it. Even if she sleeps with just the electric fan on, she has to have one of these comforters. Here’s a photo of how she enjoyed using that blue baby bedding. Now, even if it’s a little bit small for her, she just can’t be separated from it.
