My only brother is getting married on December 8 of this year. Bet that it's not only a major family event for me, but also a great excuse to wear a lovely gown. To be the sister of the groom! Oh what dress a girl to choose!
Vera Wang Mauve Pleated Jersey Gown
Nicole Miller Teal Stretch Silk Halter Gown
Tadashi Black Beaded Neckline Chiffon Gown
Your aura is red.
A forum on the "Economic Outlook of the Philippines for 2007 and Beyond" is set on June 28, 2007 at the Café Laguna of Limketkai Center, Cagayan de Oro City.
For the past few months it has been reported that the economy has slowly been getting stronger on the basis of the peso-dollar exchange rate and the continuous influx of investors to the country. However, there are still other determinants as to why the economy is on the rise and the need to see the available opportunities alongside this growth. This forum was organized to attempt to look at the real picture.
The briefing would discuss the economic performance of the Philippines and the trends for the past two years, and also identify the different opportunities available for existing and future businessmen. Its main objective is to present the immediate and current situation of the business community and what lies ahead for the region and country.
Indeed, with the forecast of the local market strengthening and the continued advocacy for a more stable more certain political climate in the Philippines, there is a need for everyone to be ready with steps and strategies to take advantage of these prospective business interests.
This half-day activity is a Good Business Forum conducted by the Oro Chamber. Presented by the Asia United Bank, this June discussion is open to chamber members as well as heads of business companies, educational institutions and government offices.
In the same breath that I love Barbie dolls, I also love my Yahoo avatars. I have the complete 12 models allowed, each a testament to what I love, enjoy doing, and want to become. They're the non-cost yet cool on-line equivalent of the Disney princess paper dolls.
So it is a very wonderful surprise to discover that Yahoo avatars now include Filipiniana apparel and backgrounds! What a welcome treat! And though I look so different from her, here is my Filipina avatar: set in the cobbled streets of Vigan, and suited in lavender terno gown. But like her, the image of one with the regal posture of old and the winning spirit that will never fade.
A performance I'd choose any day. Perks me up!
* Composed 1976 by Orson and Blanche
YouTube Video: Shaneyboy71
The Manila lady guests were flown in and back. We met the target 200 pax. The wifi connection was superb. Honey was giddy. The 2nd Mindanao Tertiary Schools ICT Quiz Show was launched. We discussed the Mindanao ICT Network. The DEKA Awards became clear to me. I met dear old friends. Jaime Garchitorena stole the show. I learned that pen computers now exist. We went home pleased.
It has been a good day. And the 2nd ICT Biz Summit is done. With the coming of the night is also the sigh of relief.
But the following hardware technology jargon list is another story:
NEW
Different color from previous design
ALL NEW
Parts not interchangeable with previous design
EXCLUSIVE
Imported product
UNMATCHED
Almost as good as the competition
DESIGNED SIMPLICITY
Manufacturer's cost cut to the bone
FOOLPROOF OPERATION
No provision for adjustments
ADVANCED DESIGN
The advertising agency doesn't understand it
IT'S HERE AT LAST!
Rush job; Nobody knew it was coming
FIELD-TESTED
Manufacturer lacks test equipment
HIGH ACCURACY
Unit on which all parts fit
DIRECT SALES ONLY
Factory had big argument with distributor
YEARS OF DEVELOPMENT
We finally got one that works
REVOLUTIONARY
It's different from our competitors
BREAKTHROUGH
We finally figured out a way to sell it
FUTURISTIC
No other reason why it looks the way it does
DISTINCTIVE
A different shape and color than the others
MAINTENANCE-FREE
Impossible to fix
RE-DESIGNED
Previous faults corrected, we hope...
HAND-CRAFTED
Assembly machines operated without gloves
PERFORMANCE PROVEN
Will operate through the warranty period
MEETS ALL STANDARDS
Ours, not yours
ALL SOLID-STATE
Heavy as Hell!
BROADCAST QUALITY
Gives a picture and produces noise
HIGH RELIABILITY
We made it work long enough to ship it
NEW GENERATION
Old design failed, maybe this one will work
UNPRECEDENTED PERFORMANCE
Nothing we ever had before worked THIS way
BUILT TO PRECISION TOLERANCES
We finally got it to fit together
MICROPROCESSOR CONTROLLED
Does things we can't explain
AEROSPACE TECHNOLOGY
One of our techs was laid off by Boeing
After the past five frenetic days, I really deserve my sleep.
A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly. Specialization is for insects.
- Robert A. Heinlein
Sometimes you are hit with nights when it is so difficult to sleep. You are tired to the bone, and do not want to lift another finger, but slumber and those precious hours of peace are so elusive.
Victim to what I foresee as another night of groaning and tossing and turning in the sheets, I commit myself to come up instead with my own little joys:
1. Gazing out of the window and seeing the dark garden so still, because there is not even a breeze in this warm night
2. Watching Coal, our black Labrador now free for his nightly roams, sniff around for his favorite frogs
3. Listening to the drone of the bedroom airconditioning unit - it hums, coughs and sputters, then hums again
4. Going out of the bedroom without putting on the lights, confident that after eight years in this house, I have known the walls and the floor
5. Sneeking into the refrigerator and picking out the salad dressing bottle to check its expiry date
6. Planning to get lettuce and singkamas, the lacking ingredients for that colorful salad I concoct in my mind
7. Feeling peacock-proud to recognize I am not touching the chocolate bars as I need to lose 3 inches off my waistline
8. Running silently into the giant brown and white couch and its big soft pillows, getting them all to myself this time
9. Lighting up a candle by the living room welcome mirror, wondering if incantations really work when said at midnight
10. Trying to lift the pink princess and fairies school bags of the girls, heavy with books and notebooks
11. Massaging Gela's limbs with baby lotion, not that the sleeping girl needs it, but because I just love the task
12. Combing Nika's hair and seeing the luxurious strands fall back into her lovely face and then tucking them by her ear
13. Whispering to each girl "I love you" and watching them move and mumble. It works everytime!
14. Picking up Reader's Digest and reading it in bed with my legs lazily propped up in Mike's tummy hehehehe
15. Staring at the sleeping face, now with prickly stubble, of the man who must love me very very very much or else
16. Turning on the bathroom water heater, and drinking my glass of warm nonfat milk while waiting
17. Enjoying my handheld shower head, the distinct feature screaming the ultimate feminine inside the bathroom
18. Revisiting my oversized thick white bathrobe, bought in pair with its bigger male model, way back when Mike and I were not yet married
19. Smiling at great gifts like the Linksys Compact Wireless Broadband Router which help you during wandering unsettled humid nights like this
20. Writing down thoughts into Blogspot and knowing just exactly these simple but exquisite pleasures of mine
It was Helen Keller who said that we can do anything we want as long as we stick to it long enough.
With this in mind as we advocate for information and communications technology development, Cagayan de Oro Chamber of Commerce & Industry Foundation, Inc. (Oro Chamber) stages the 2nd Northern Mindanao Business Summit on ICT on 22 June 2007 08:00am to 05:00pm at the Grand City Hotel, Cagayan de Oro City.
Celebrating the National ICT Month of June, and fresh from the successful hosting by our region of the 5th Mindanao ICT Congress last September, we are calling this event in order to take further steps in our preparation of Northern Mindanao business players for the opportunities brought by information and communications technology.
During this 2nd NMBS-ICT, we shall meet new and emerging partners, listen to reports of ICT leaders in business and government, get updates on the action plans created in June 2006 from the local ICT groups within the region, and together continue and strengthen our course of actions to make ICT one of our strategies for Northern Mindanao’s economic growth.
In partnership with the Regional Information Technology & E-Commerce Committee (RITECC) of Northern Mindanao, we shall also use this event for ICT industry players to meet with enabling partners from government. The event aims to gather 200 participants from all over the region and identify new directions for possible policy interventions.
We recognize your role in the attainment of ICT development in the region – as partners, users and advocates alike. As together we stake our claim to the opportunities offered by the industry, we are therefore inviting you to join us in this event.
Be a part of our goal of “Strengthening and Expanding the Mindanao ICT Industry”.
Diva Gone Platinum Barbie Doll
Hollywood Divine Barbie Doll
Ferrari Barbie Doll
I Dream of Spring Barbie Doll
Victorian Holiday Barbie Doll
Perhaps, we could say that the Internet is the greatest invention of the century. I can bet that there is totally no way that someone here has not glimpsed or used the Internet.
In the past dozen years or so, the Internet has evolved from its beginnings of being a simple government-sponsored research network to what it is now - a commercial enterprise serving millions all over the world. For the past years, the number of Internet users and user networks, the total traffic volume, and data transfer speeds have all grown beyond expectations.
I think I can also call another bet – that 99% of the people gathered here owns a cellular phone unit. In an independent report, it was estimated that more than one in 10 international phone calls is already made from a mobile. What about the local communication needs? Last year alone, the SMS or the texting industry as we Filipinos call it, is estimated as a P180 million a day industry.
All of this is driven by the need to accumulate data and gather information. We are gobbling up numbers and names and addresses and dates and events and organizing them into a cohesive sum for our use or for us to sell to users.
Indeed, from the industrial revolution and the technical revolution, we enter the 21st century experiencing a different revolution: it is the age of the knowledge worker, of global data access and instantaneous transactions, the empowerment of the individual, the blurring of technical enterprise boundaries. It is the information revolution.
Information stopped being scarce for us. We listen to the news in our cars as we drive to work, we read our daily horoscopes and the latest showbiz gossips from our mobile, and we download music and videos from the World Wide Web. Indeed, we are all coasting now in the Knowledge Economy.
The Thirst for Information
As members of a community that surveys, tallies, writes, summarizes, reports, files and shares information, we all here know that he who has the information, wins. Do you know the story of Wikipedia? Wikipedia is a free, open content, community-built encyclopedia with thousands of articles on topics from A to Z. And it is even available in dozens of languages. Its usage and hits are staggering.
Its success is traceable to the great number of individuals out there who need the information – simple and no-nonsense presentation, updated and fast. Yet there is another and far more important reason to Wikipedia’s achievement – the providers of these information who come out from the open and take their time to share and edit the entries on this online facility and storehouse of information.
The Census and Buildup of Information
The unique feature of the information that we need in our economy and that we want in our daily lives is its availability. We want access to information and data.
Our Oro Chamber members want information on markets abroad that need products and services from our country. A potential investor visits the city and our local business leaders package an information kit containing the existing companies, the human resource base, and the costs of doing business. And I attend my MBA Program at the Xavier University and I scour books and references to access information on corporations and their reports of their operations.
But then again, we look at the other side of the equation - the gathering of the data in order to organize and put together a paper, a report or an economic outlook.
The Census of Philippine Business and Industry or CPBI is once again doing its rounds for the year 2006. It is the nationwide undertaking which aims to provide data on the structure and level of economic activity in the country. And before the data will be available for use, it first must be made available by the source establishments.
Looking at the scope and coverage of the CPBI, one can see the similarities of the list with that of the sector groupings in the Oro Chamber. The CPBI covers establishments engaged in the economic activities as defined in the Philippine Standard Industrial Classification: agriculture and forestry, fishing, mining and quarrying, manufacturing, electricity, gas and water, construction, wholesale and retail trade, repair of motor vehicles, motorcycles and personal and household goods. Covered also are hotels and restaurants, transport, storage and communication, financial intermediation, real estate, renting and business activities, private education, health and social work, and other community, social and personal services.
It is just regrettable for me, as another knowledge worker and user, that there are activities which are out of scope in the CPBI. And these are interesting activities that I believe, from which once data is gathered, will prove very useful to the local economies and governments. But for now, these economic activities are still not covered by the annual survey: selling in open stalls in public markets, operators of tricycles, jeepneys, calesas and pedicabs, government postal and telegraphic offices, letting and operating of real estate, public education, public medical, dental and health services, sari-sari stores with no regularly paid employees, and activities of membership organizations.
With this undertaking, the importance of accessible and correct data just cannot be stressed or highlighted well enough. Data gathered from the business establishments is seen to serve as reliable bases upon which the government and private sectors can formulate policies and evolve economic development plans.
Therefore, the availability and reliability of statistics from these participating establishments will completely define the commission, and shall impact not only the results, but also the studies and projects that will be created based on the results.
Samples and Data Gathering
I have had my first actual brush with surveys two year ago. I was totally involved with the information and communications technology sector of the region and so together with a partner, we proposed a survey on the use and spread of ICT among schools, regional government agencies and business establishments. We wanted to gauge the level of acceptance and the reach of ICT and from the supposed output, establish our strategies and next activities. So we started off with enthusiasm in full gear, but I believe we wanted so much from our data providers that we came up almost empty in return.
I ponder about it now and realize that there must be two things that we missed or taken for granted. First, is that we asked too many questions and the sample data providers were not ready to give us what we asked for. And second, that people, as a rule, do not readily divulge or are afraid to divulge and share information. Business organizations and entities are very protective of three things - their people, their processes and their systems.
Of course our survey was crude and had a very limited budget, but that experience made me appreciate the importance of this annual survey of the National Statistics Office, and the importance of the information that will be gathered from and provided by the business establishments.
I have studied a tabular report from a CPBI and I am aware of the value of each raw entry provided which form part on the following major items: employment, costs, compensation, fixed assets, hours worked, capital expenditures, revenue and inventories of the business establishments included in the annual study. Each individual response contribute to the aggregate that go into a statistical table, that in turn, will serve as a quantitative portrait of business sector structures and trends on national and regional levels.
The Question of Data Reliability and Anonymity
As the Oro Chamber encourages support and participation from sample establishments for the CPBI, we are also assured that the list of establishments is regularly updated for better response rate and accuracy of data gathered. Updating is done through a series of mail inquiries, a screened list from regulatory bodies, a list of members of business associations, and survey feedback from past establishment surveys.
A survey job is no joke. But the process and time for information gathering for the CPBI is simple and enough for the involved establishments. Information will be collected using a questionnaire which will be delivered personally to them by NSO field men, and thereafter shall be collected one month after the distribution.
The final results of the survey shall come out in individual volumes for 14 major economic sectors. All through this is the assurance to the public that the information given to the survey will not be used against them in lawsuits or for purposes of taxation, investigations or regulations, as guaranteed by Commonwealth Act# 591.
Oro Chamber Takes One More Step
Now let me quote a paragraph from an article in Wikipedia:
The current economic era is defined as the Intangible Economy. In the Intangible Economy, four factors of production - knowledge assets (what people know and put into use), collaboration assets (who people interact with to create value), engagement assets (the level of energy and commitment of people), and time quality (how quickly value is created) are the four key resources from which economic activity and competitive advantage are primarily derived and delivered today.
Today it is no longer sufficient to just provide and protect the data behind a given process. To keep a competitive advantage, organizations must keep people and information continuously connected. It is in this premise that the Oro Chamber creates its Business Knowledge Kiosk.
It shall be a facility open to chamber members and the rest of the business community to provide access to their business-critical information—utilizing a combination of technology and Internet infrastructure, business expertise and close collaboration between Oro Chamber and partner information-rich agencies like the regional office of the National Statistics Office. We have already started negotiating with other organizations and research bodies that can help us provide content and enhance the utility of the knowledge center.
The Oro Chamber, as a business organization that is in constant work with its member business companies, other associations and industry offices here and around the world, is a staunch supporter of an economy guided by knowledge, collaboration, commitment and value creation.
We highly endorse the 2006 Census of Philippine Business and Industry and thus, we enjoin the business community to actively participate in this undertaking and come up and provide quality and reliable data. Let us always remember that the quality and reliability of the information we take is as only as good as that of what we give.
May our ride together in the information highway be smooth and totally enriching. Good afternoon.
* My discussion notes during the CPBI Data Appreciation and Bookkeepers' Conference on June 14 at the Grand Caprice Restaurant
Jack Sparrow: He needs the Pearl. Captain Turner needs the Pearl; and you felt guilty; and you and your Brethren Court. Did no one come to save me just because they missed me?
Jack Sparrow: Now, Will, you tell me somethin'. Have you come because you need my help to save a certain distressin' damsel? Or... a damsel in distress? Or... whatever...
Will Turner: No.
Jack Sparrow: Then you wouldn't be here, would you? So you can't be here!
Will Turner: What is it you want most?
Davy Jones: Ah love, a dreaded bond, yet so easily severed.
Jack Sparrow: Where does your allegiance lie?
Tai Huang: With the highest bidder.
Jack Sparrow: I have a ship.
Tai Huang: That makes you the highest bidder.
Jack Sparrow: Good man. 'Weigh anchor all hands. Prepare to make sail.
Davy Jones: Do you fear death?
Jack Sparrow: You have no idea.
Will Turner: Barbossa, a heading.
Barbossa: Aye, we're good and lost now.
Elizabeth Swann: Lost?
Barbossa: For sure, you have to be lost to find a place that can't be found, elseways everyone would know where it was.
Ragetti: We're gaining speed.
Barbossa: Aye!
Will Turner: To starboard! Stations, all hands to stations.
Barbossa: Nay, belay that. Let her run good and straight.
Tia Dalma: I will be free. And when I am, I would give you my heart. And we would be together always... If only you had a heart to give.
Barbossa: There's not been a gatherin' like this in our lifetime.
Jack Sparrow: And I owe them all money.
Elizabeth Swann: This is madness.
Jack Sparrow: This is politics.
Will Turner: Elizabeth Swann, do you take me to be your husband?
Elizabeth Swann: I do.
Will Turner: Great!
Elizabeth Swann: Will Turner, do you take me to be your wife, in sickness and in health, with health being less likely?
Will Turner: I do.
Barbossa: You may kiss! You may kiss! Just kiss!
Jack Sparrow: Gentlemen, I wash my hands of this weirdness.
Two nights ago we vowed to stay away from the internet and the tv room in order to spend quality time having a talk before dinner. We started out fine, but five minutes into it, Mike looked up the Fearless DVD we ordered from Amazon seven years ago. So gathered in our bedroom, munching on crunchy apple-mango wedges dipped in sugar and soy sauce, we watched David Blaine.
Off from its impressive opening scene, we savored the street magic of Blaine, American illusionist and stunt artist. He let a girl pick a card and place it in the middle of the deck to ultimately find it in her backpocket. He twisted his hand around five times. He bit into a coin and spewed the other half to put the coin back together again.
He looked into a girl's eyes and told her what playing card she was thinking about. He borrowed a woman's diamond off her ring, swallowed it and returned it to the owner after he removed the gem from his eye. He spent seven days buried inside a glass coffin at the bottom of an open pit. He stood in a closet of ice for 62 hours. He brought a dead fly and dead bird to life. He levitated.
A few scenes allowed the audience a peek into the person and life of Blaine. Co-hosted by that guy from Titanic Leo DiCaprio, the intermissions provided enough break from the three magic shows put together in the disc. And though I watched those before, it was a whole new great experience wowing and screaming with my daughters.
Last night, with the urge to upgrade ourselves from those old feats, Mike and I referred to You Tube (which we think is the ultimate in videos) and found some new tricks from Blaine. In 2002 he stood on a pillar 105 feet high for 34 hours. In 2003 he endured a stunt being sealed for 44 days inside a transparent plexiglas case suspended for 30 feet. In 2006 Blaine submerged himself in a water-filled sphere for 7 days and 7 nights.
Street in-your-face magic, it's what they call it. But here comes Criss Angel. His bid to stardom includes floating or "flying" between two buildings, walking on water from one side of the pool to another, walking through glass, and slicing a woman into two. Though he sports a dirtier demeanor, he performed in the same style of Blaine - with a crude camera crew, in the streets, wearing a drab shirt and interacting with the handful of audience.
At first you shriek. It's mind-boggling. Whatever it is, it's exciting! Then you get all-grownuppy and say there has to be a reason.
Mike is sure. "Put together a man skilled with playing cards, a little research and good camera tricks, and you get a very good magic show."
8-year-old Gela is succinct. "It's bogus."
But 9-year-old Nika is full of wisdom. "You should never trust a man who knows magic."
Oh.
I often have lower back pains. A problem with my lumbar curve traceable to my scoliosis and fully amplified by my long hours in front of the desktop at the office or at home.
Ronnie set the mat exercises straight in a row during the night dance sessions this week. He knows I am not a fan of the mat, but he reminds me that it's good if I need to lose whatever I want to lose. Feeling the stretch from this night's duel on the floor between mat and me, I realize some of our regimen are indeed good for my spine and waist.
To give the body a vigorous toning up, stretch all muscles, particularly those of hips, legs and pelvis and make the spine more elastic, here are the forward bend moves:
Forward Bend #1. Sit with legs apart. Bend right leg so that foot rests close to inner left thigh. Inhale then raise arms, stretching upward.
Forward Bend #2. Exhale then bend forward with head touching left knee (or as far forward as you can reach). Breathe freely and grasp left foot with both hands. If possible, bend elbows for a greater stretch. Hold pose for 10 seconds. Then inhale and slowly sit up with arms overhead as before. Exhale and lower arms to the sides. Repeat with left leg.
Forward Bend #3. Sit with legs together. Inhale then raise arms, stretching upward. Exhale and bend forward with head touching the knees (or as far down as you can reach). Breathing freely, grasp the big toes, with elbows touching the floor - if possible. Hold the pose for 10 seconds to feel the stretch in the legs, arms and spine. Inhale then slowly sit up with arms overhead. Exhale and lower arms to the sides. Repeat twice.
To strengthen weak muscles of the lumbar region, increase suppleness of spine and strengthen arms and wrists, here is how to do the bridge:
Bridge #1. Lie flat on your back. Grasp waist with thumbs up, elbows bent and resting on the floor.
Bridge #2. Inhale while bending knees. With help of arms, arch spine as high as possible. Keep head on floor without straining the neck.
Bridge #3. Breathe freely as you slide the feet forward to create a wide bridge between head and feet. Hold the pose and your breathe for 5 seconds. Inhale as you lower the spine and legs. Exhale. Repeat three times.
And to bring about a strong cross pull of spinal column, increase elasticity of the spine, slim the waistline, release tension in back muscles and improve posture, here's an easy version of the spinal twist:
Spinal Twist #1. Sit with legs outstretched and together. Bend left knee and cross left leg over right. Left foot should touch right knee. Right elbow is bent and rests on outer side of left knee. Left hand is stretched back, palm flat on floor.
Spinal Twist #2. Now stretch right hand to grasp the left foot, with elbow touching left knee. If you are unable to do this, then encircle your right arm around the left knee, bringing it close to your chest. Now place left hand behind back with back of hand touching spine. Inhale. Look up over your left shoulder, eyes toward the ceiling. Hold your breath and the pose for 5 seconds.
Play Brian McKnight. Dim the lights. Happy stretching!
* Clip art and instructions from Yoga For All Ages.
It's always a pleasure to discover the old stuff you used to write. Simple experiences from the past can stand out just because they were captured on paper. So it was last night, when I was filing the new NSO-certified copies of the girls' birth certificates together with old bits and pieces, when I found this...
Children have a sweet way of making you a hero. All you have to do is be prepared for the day when they are ready to confer that title on you.
My daughter Nika received him during her baptism from my doctor and her godmother Dr. Marius. He was a toy baby lion. It was agreed that he be named Simba. Simba was a cuddly little thing, colored a peanut butter brown. By that time, Nika was still on to anything she can put her mouth on, so we postponed giving the baby lion to her.
She got him when she was about eight months old. It was love at first sight. Since that moment, baby girl and baby lion were inseparable. Nika slept with him, ate with him, crawled with him, and spent her waking hours holding him.
Then she learned to speak his name. "Imba." "Simba." By this time now, the soft toy has already received his numerous baths. We could not have him dry-cleaned since that would mean he shall be separated from his charge. So we gave him baths then hanged him inside the bathroom. Any hour Nika wanted to check on him, he was there.
As I have mentioned, Simba already took a number of baths. Added to that were the tossing, cuddling, falling into the garden and diving into the cereal plate. And the wet sloppy kisses of the toddler. Simba never lacked action.
And then he got sick. With the kind of life he was leading, the toy baby lion's back stitching unraveled. And today, his backside was now gaping with a hole. His foams tucked inside his body were showing. Nika was afraid to hold him, at the least look at him. She was afraid and I could imagine the fear to be real for a child.
"Mommy!" Simba was sick and Nika's world is shaken. She looked at the toy with surprise, pity and concern. To her, Simba was not supposed to get torn like that.
When she settled down for her morning nap, Nika was not embracing Simba. Simba was sick. So I took a needle and thread and tried to sew Simba's backside together again. Honestly, it was some task for me. What made me do it was my thoughts of how my own mother used to stitch on my torn dresses. Now I was doing the stitching for my own daughter.
When Nika woke up, I held Simba to her. She saw what I did. Then she paid me with the sweetest sunshiny smile a little daughter could give her mother. Why, I did what nobody else in the world could do. It was not just any easy feat. I cured her toy baby lion! Sans any proper training and lab gown, Mommy was indeed a doctor.
* Written October 28, 1999
Grand Entrance Barbie Doll
Diva All That Glitters Barbie Doll
Badgley Mischka Barbie Doll
Winter Concert Barbie Doll
Thursday afternoon, I met with Riza to plan for the joint project between Oro Chamber and Sticky Media - the IT Quiz Tournament which is set on July 14. After more than an hour's meeting with her whole team, Riza and I moved on to their office small receiving area and settled down on their couches. We covered a few more points on budget and document consolidation - then we got to more important stuff.
Like our career. And its path.
Soon after that I was back in my office and had a good talk with Eddielyn, who, if her resignation letter be followed, was serving her last day of work May 31. I asked her to reconsider, since I believe it will take me ages to train a replacement. With the various office projects, I badly need her! And we still need to write our office accounting manual. Bashfully she admitted that she was thinking along those lines for the past few days too.
But she's looking at her career. And its growth.
Now I consider those conversations. Indeed almost everyone wants his career to shoot high and fast. It seems like we want it to happen now. Expecting it around the next bend. Yet I know that opportunities may take weeks. Months or years. Sometimes, moves can even take twice the time you wish they would.
I also know that it's not only about the money. Of course there are instances when we jump on a job, no matter how we realize it's not contributing to our career, just because we need the money to pay for the lifestyle we imagine we should have. But most of the time, everyone would say that the pay is not the main consideration. There's also job satisfaction, and reaching goals. And being happy and having fun, as I've sometimes said to Shoogie.
I even scared myself last Wednesday when Richard asked me what I really wanted for my career. Like a backward "who do you want to be when you're grown up" question. I told him that I wanted to be just a trophy wife. It's trivial and funny at first glance. But I realized I meant it. I want to have the privilege of not slaving for money, but being able to do things that may not guarantee big bucks, yet I love - organizing musical shows, heading research studies, leading a writers' club, fashion designing, hosting events, dancing jazz, speaking to people, planning tours.
We look at successful people and placate ourselves that they got there by being in the right place at the right time. Yet it is more than that. Had they not been prepared and had not recognized the opportunity when presented, they could not have furthered their careers. The most successful people are still those who worked the longest and the hardest.
Career planning never ends. What you think is best today may not be significant tomorrow. A career evolves as you shape your goals, learn new things, get more confident, realize your values, identify your priorities, recognize your strengths and accept your limitations.
The obvious advice is - plan your career. Strategize the tasks that are needed to bring you closer to your goal. Solicit advice from someone who is willing to mentor you, preferably a person who can share his own experience and lessons.
Some people have a nose to identify opportunities. With a little faith and a lot of work, you can do it too. As I've bravely said to myself before, if I want something so much and I work for it, I can rearrange the way the wind blows and chances are I shall discover what I need to do and get what I want.
Gain the skills. Never stop growing and have fun while in the process of learning. Never just accept tasks, create your own projects. Turn ruts and career plateaus into thinking and restocking time. Slowly create the career you wanted. But be open and flexible - because you will never know the twists and surprises in store before you.
Yes, though the road to a fulfilling career may take many steps, the more important things are planning for it and ensuring that you are prepared when the right time will come. And on top of it all, enjoying the exciting trek along that path to one's dream.
