Also, I have gotten to know a few who share some of my ideals and visions on different (and relevant) things. Or at least have the same level of passion or vision I have. Which made me feel really excited and inspired, as I love people with "substance" - in the midst of so much materialism and shallowness in Dubai, they are like gems.
Tuesday, January 03, 2012
New Year Happy
Also, I have gotten to know a few who share some of my ideals and visions on different (and relevant) things. Or at least have the same level of passion or vision I have. Which made me feel really excited and inspired, as I love people with "substance" - in the midst of so much materialism and shallowness in Dubai, they are like gems.
Saturday, December 03, 2011
Two Years After
On my last entry, I was only about to go into my new place and now I am here for nearly a couple of years and actually contemplating on moving again to a new place maybe mid next year.
The past two years has been quite busy, mostly with work. My old company closed eventually, six months after I wrote the 'Last Man Standing' post. This led me to freelance for around four months, doing exhibitions design and a few fit-out design work. If visa was not a big issue, I would have wanted to continue that set-up, getting enough money, managing my own time and giving me more freedom to do other things outside my work. But I needed to be employed to get a visa and after some job interviews and negotiations with different companies (I got job offers from interior design firms, exhibitions and event agencies and an architectural firm), I landed on a job as a Creative Head in a media and events company.
I became really busy with my new job and I can consider it many times stressful with dealing with office politics and a few people who I am not in sync with in terms of how work is done. But on the other hand, my visa concern was addressed and I got to see another career path I could explore. I am one year and two months today of ups and down in this new company. Level of satisfaction is average, but I guess at this time of recession, no one can afford to be choosy.
I also got active in the Filipino architects community in Dubai. I tried to push an advocacy towards creating more leaders and managers in our community, which fortunately got well received by my peers. It is a vision very difficult to actualize, but it has to start somewhere and I am just happy to work with some great people to push it.
What is in my mind now? I am in an age that I really should put the different aspects of my life in a proper balance. Health, family and social life, work and professional improvement all needs to have their piece in my daily agenda. Seems getting tougher to manage actually; many times when I work on one, the others get a bit neglected. But this is the life challenge that I should face and overcome.
Wednesday, December 02, 2009
Overhaul
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.
Sunday, November 01, 2009
Last Man Standing
Friday, August 14, 2009
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...
Tuesday, July 14, 2009
Getting Rid of the Useless Stuff
Wednesday, July 08, 2009
Lenses and brushes.
Thursday, June 18, 2009
What happened between my two last posts...
Ang Mga Paborito Kong Ulam
Saturday, January 24, 2009
Trying to ReStart
Sunday, December 14, 2008
Singing 'Manila, Manila'
Wednesday, December 10, 2008
Tuesday, December 09, 2008
Vignettes of 2008
1/7
I supposed to have ended my addiction to computer gaming last 2006 (with my last game of Guild Wars). I sent all my PS2 and pc games to Manila and started a normal peaceful life. That year, I have also withstood the temptation of buying an X-box or even a PSP. I don't have my network gaming buddies here in the Middle East, and that help in my "rehabilitation of sorts".
But the gods of the gaming did not want me to walk this path... some time this year I got zapped back to a regular gaming routine (I can't recall how it happened)...
and now we have some kind of PSP mini-tournament in the office, so what can I do?
6
Going to Hanover was one of my 2008 highlights. I loved the cool weather, the fine architecture and the vibrant picturesque town.
5/8
This year is probably the busiest year of all my four years in my company and in Dubai. A got to do a number of good challenging projects and I enjoyed working on them. (I am actually enjoying working - weird, hehehe.)
I also started working out in a gym...again. Not very often, but I always try to squeeze it in into my schedule whenever I can.
3
The year when a threw away the most useless stuff.
9/4
I changed my platform at home from PC to Mac. Not much adjustments since I've been using the later in our office since I came here in Dubai.
There is not a lot of games for Mac available in the shops I went to. The only game which is installed now in my computer is Spore (www.spore.com). Equals more time for PlayStation.
2
Early this year, I tried photography as an hobby. Not really easy, but quite gratifying. I love doing portraits.