Overhaul

I am moving to a new place after more than five years of stay in my rented place. That is actually some feat for an Asian bachelor expat in Dubai. Getting and staying in one place for a long time is not easy in this city as shared accomodations are not encouraged (or illegal?). But anyway, I am not delving at that, I am some way excited (with some anxiety still) on this sudden development and the changes it will make in my daily life.

Not to give a wrong idea, the place I stay now is absolutely fine. My landlady is very nice, the house is always clean, my room is spacious and the location of the building is a block away from the train station. It is a 8 of 10 I would say (a 10 would be my own studio at the thirty something floor overlooking Jumeirah beach). But the situation is my roommate needs to go to accompany his sister in another place, plus my finances are still unstable thus maintaining the room is not really reasonable.

Right now I am busy on sorting my stuff and disposing things that are not essential. Essential does not include things that I can do without eventhough they have some sentimental value, they are cool to have or I 'might' be able to use it in the future. That makes the task pretty tough but I feel good about doing it. It is mostly the same as what I feel when I was able to reduce my luggage to one hand-carry bag or a knapsack whenever I travel. Well, maybe something deeper than that.

Last Man Standing

I got promoted. Not because I did exceptionally well but because the person above me got sacked. So did seven others in our team of eleven. Now I am heading a very small design team to take on a workload that is normally done by six to nine people at least. Really tough. I guess I will be biting off more than I can chew. No choice.

We are still very much behind with salaries, but luckily, the two guys that were retained with me are very patient and are just nice people. Delegating and pushing people to work are not really my specialty, but I guess those actions will be needed to be done for our team to survive. Though the other side of the potential 'unleashing of the slave driver' in me, I need to push management to take care of my guys with catching up with the pay and supporting us in this transition period of sorts after a drastic downsizing. And I have to continue my work too as a senior designer. A big exercise in time management, being responsible for others and probably some office politics.

Today was the first day of my new role, which ended with a long task list for the next two weeks on my hand. The day went well, I think, and hopefully the next days would too. I hope my next blog entry will be something really positive, or fun, or not work related. But nonetheless, I reckon that I am still a very composed person; trying to keep a positive outlook always. I still believe that at the end of this long dark tunnel there is light. And probably a pool, a party and many things bright and bubbly.

Recession Blues

I tried dealing with recession with positive thinking, but now I am getting affected with what is happening to the people around me. I myself am experiencing paycuts, delayed salaries and forced unpaid leaves since the past few months, though I have managed to pay up my bills with my emergency fund (well, which is already almost gone). Personally, I am still optimistic that the economy will rebound in the next quarter, so I am not really feeling too worried until recently. It is just that in the last couple of weeks, I am seeing more people (whom I know) "surrendering to the battle of recession". One friend lost her job the second time and decided to go back to our home country. A few quit their job since the salaries aredelayed for months already. And a lot of people in our office are now in too much debt and so much behind on their rent that they are about to face eviction. Really tough times.

Three words come into my mind: gamble, survival and patience.

Gamble. Should I stay in a company which seems to be going and going down or should I find a new job but risk being one of the new staff that they will easily let go when they need to downsize?

Survival. If I stay put, how much longer can I can get through my personal financial crisis? The more debts I accumulate the more difficult for me to recover. Which translates too less and less options in many aspects of my life in the future.

Patience. A lot of things are put on hold and this seems to cause me some negative emotions: loosing drive on work, on personal improvements and on planning ahead.

Just thinking aloud...

Getting Rid of the Useless Stuff

The past few months for me is a lot about getting rid of the useless stuff. I have thrown away many things I have been keeping for a while and occupying much of my space. I've got so much stuff in my room, probably four times of the volume of what my roommates have combined.

For most of them, I just applied a rule: anything that I have been keeping but haven't used for at least a year, I dispose of. Magazine, old bank statements, manuals of some gadgets, some clothes, etc., all went falling down through the garbage chute. Little trinkets like souvenirs from countries I went to, from trade fairs and some odd stuff, like canisters of play-doh, my old PDA, etc. were also thrown away.

I feel a certain satisfaction on doing this and I guess it can be translated to real (personal) life in some way. Well, it wouldn't be like useless stuff to "useless people", which is pretty harsh. It would be more on habits or activities, choosing and not choosing which ones I allocate my time and money into. And it is working well for me.

Maybe, I'll drop 'blogging' too. But maybe not today.

Lenses and brushes.

I attended a photography workshop last weekend with the objective that I will be able to do my camera settings in an objective, technical approach rather than "by feel", which was mostly my primary way of doing things in all my creative-led activities (like designing at work, painting, etc.)

My objective was fulfilled, but suddenly I realized something. That I am not very excited with photography that much. And that I really missed painting. I compared, and knew how much more satisfaction I get doing paintings than taking pictures.

I used to have painting sessions with different people back in Manila, but here in Dubai I don't know anyone yet who does painting as a hobby. I am thinking of attending art classes just to have a venue to paint. But then when I look up workshops; I'll be attending like four to six beginner classes with fixed topics, which is quite restricting, and I thought that this is not the practical way to start my hobby again. With the money I'll be paying, I can go to ten to twelve sessions in JamJar (a painting studio "for everyone" in Dubai, you can Google it) or just buy more materials and paint at home.

What happened between my two last posts...

Recession hits Dubai, suddenly I am not too busy with work.

(well still busy, but not my usual super-workaholic self)

I developed a habit of drinking a can of soda after lunch (I have not been drinking soft drinks since college years, except for a very few occasions). And for some consecutive weeks I enjoyed having regular Thursday night Beer sessions. Result: My first beer belly experience.

I started using facebook applications and got hooked. Farm town!

Thrown away a significant volume of trash. But I still have a lot of stuff in my room.

Became best man to a close friend in college. Stag party was a success. And the wedding was beautiful.

Ang Mga Paborito Kong Ulam

Tinanong ako ni MF kung ano ang mga paborito kong ulam, eto ang sagot

1. Sinampalukang Manok na may totoong usbong ng sampalok at walang artificial flavoring (extra points kapag bagong katay ang manok, yung dugo ay isasama sa bigas at ilalagay sa sinigang)

2. Lumpiang Sariwa na kompleto ang rekado, as Bulakenos prepare it, may kamote, baguio beans, fried pork bits, shrimps, etc. (bonus points kung galing sa pinas ung pambalot, ung manipis na manipis)

3. Three-day old Paksiw na Lechon na may tamang balanse ng tamis at asim (bonus kapag sobrang lambot na ng meat, na-may naghihiwalay nang fibers)

4. Steamed Crab na dapat ay sariwa at matataba o may alige (bonus kapag may kamatis at bagoong) -eto yata ang pinakasimple

5. Tinolang Kabiya/Tulya (Clams), sariwa din dapat (nalalasahan ko na kapag hindi fresh ang seafood), yung maraming luya (bonus kapag malunggay o saluyot ang kasamang gulay)

Trying to ReStart

I had my plans on starting my 2009 right, but putting those in place has not been so easy it seems. My 'reStart' was supposed to be last 10th of January, coming to Dubai from my Manila holiday. But I was welcomed by tons of work from the office and so much other things that kept me from doing those things I planned doing. 

Then today is my first real weekend -  slept over at a friend's house, had beer, woke up late, watched TV all day and ate real home-cooked meals. Hope I go back to proper rhythm tomorrow...