I'm 24 y/o already... and for more than 3 years of my life, I've been working at Maersk Manila GSC. We're on the documentation side of shipping cargoes. The department I belong with is concerned with export documentation - manifest and/or amendments of bills of lading... This could be pretty boring for most of you but I'd be blabbering about my work (at least for this particular blog only).
I started there January 17, 2005. After training, we've been seating in with some staffs from different manifest teams. If my memory serves me right, 7 of us in the batch (there are 20 of us) had no particular team yet coz we were supposed to be BCP staffs. Since we were not yet called to start with BCP, all 7 of us just loittered in the 17F, not doing anything and/or just chatting with some peeps on floor.
After some days (or was it weeks), we were asked to manifest for West Africa Trade. Basically, we're inputting details of bill/s of lading on the systems used at Maersk. After 3 weeks, me and Lhem were transferred to Amendment Team. There, we're tasked to update bills according to request/s from Shipper, Origin and/or Destination office.
While in the amendment team, we were called for BCP. So, after being in AMD for almost 4 months, Melissa and I were transferred to BCP. In that team, we're just doing tests to see if Manila GSC can take some of the volume of BOM, SJO, or GUA if ever there's a contingency. Quota was 2 bills per hour and everyday, the bills we've manifested were audited by BOM/SJO/GUA and then we'd receive feedbacks regarding our accuracy and SOP adherence.
After some months at BCP, the team was dissolved so we went back to AMD. Since then, I've never been moved to a different team again. Last year, I was even promoted to a Team Lead position.
I never thought that AMD team would also be dissolved. Imagine, since the start of that team, we've already heard some rumors that it would soon be dissolved. Heck, I've even prayed that it's just rumors. Though AMD team has a lot of differences and/or clash of ideas, we've lasted more than 3 years.
Right now, our team's officially dissolved. I understand that streamlining all processes would require this change. I've accepted changes quickly more than my other team mates did. What I cannot understand/accept is that we were dissolved at that time we were so united. We've been through a lot of issues in the past but we're able to surpass them.
This dissolution of our team is one big blow to all of us. We love our team. We have good relations with our team mates... Change is good, they say... But this type of change is not something that you'd like to happen in a matter of weeks.
As of this time, a lot of us in the team already felt the loss.. Today, some of us did things together, coz this is our last day as AMD team... Honestly, I felt all screwed up coz the setting that should take effect on Monday made me feel like I'm a nobody...
Who would ever want to feel that way, 'ayt?
Friday, April 25, 2008
Tuesday, April 22, 2008
The White Rock Experience
April 19-20, 2008.. that's the batch 2 schedule of our company outing at White Rock Beach Resort in Subic. 5am was the call time and departure would be at 5:30am.. but we left Ortigas a little later (coz we're still waiting for the others to come).
The trip started okay. The bus driver took liberty to drive fast and had taken a different route so we could avoid the traffic. Somewhere along Floridablanca, Pampanga, the aircon broke. At the stopover, the driver, along with one driver from the other bus tried fixing it. The deed was unsuccessful so our bus coordinator told us that we continue the trip without the aircon. It was just an hour or more trip so we might as well continue.
Off we went, with some of the guys removing their shirts and the ladies taking off their jackets, or manually fanning theirselves just to deal with the trapped heat. I almost collapsed, if not for the occassional borrowing of Tinay's fan. Then, we stopped at Victory liner's terminal where another bus' aircon was also ineffective. After staying there for what seemed to be hours, they have decided to change buses so we could arrive at our destination.
Before 12, we arrived at the venue. White Rock Beach Resort looks really good. 2pm was the check in time so for 2 hours, we stayed at one covered spot where the committee prepared some (boring!) games. Our first merienda was pancit with one slice of bread,, and a single glass of iced tea. Before 1pm, we had our lunch of 1 single piece of chicken, plus (boiled?) eggplant with alamang... Call me maarte but I didn't liked the food. I somewhat expected something better!
Our team watched the games and gave cheer to some games (I think it was just the first game that we cheered.. hehe). Finally, they gave us the keys to our room. Room 326 of the Beach Front hotel.
When we got to the room, housekeeping isn't finished yet. So we planned to just leave our things in the room and go out. After dropping our bags and belongings, one of the housekeeping staffs said at least one of us should stay in the room to look after our things. So, instead of going out, we decided to stay on the room's veranda... Overlooking the bowling center, the cafe, and the covered walk where we say our other team members.
After the housekeeping finished all the necessary cleaning, some of us decided to doze off while I decided to take a bath (the bus trip plus staying under that covered facility made me feel so dirty and smelly that taking a bath seemed like a luxury). Good thing, the bathroom has a bath tub, a shower, sink and all amenities you'd like to have in a room (minus the fact that the hotel allotted only 6 mini soaps and 6 halves of shampoo.. halves coz it's the clear sachet cut in halves.. hehe).
While brushing my teeth, everything went black. Electrical failure made me want to run outside the bathroom, if not for the fact that I was already naked and had prepared my bath. I asked my roommates to hand me my lighter (coz it has a flashlight) but it's light wasn't enough. So, Jas handed me her mobile phone with the flashlight. I finished brushing when the lights came back so I took a quick shower.
After my shower, Shirley and Tetet decided to go to the beach already. But the girls I'm with decided to rest first (take a quick nap) before soaking in the saltwater. We went down a little before 5pm, had our merienda (spaghetti with white sauce that has no taste, literally... and a pineapple juice that tasted so darn sweet). We didn't finished the food and decided to go to the beach already, after taking a couple of pictures beside the flags.
The water's warm and at that particular time, the sun isn't that hot already. What I didn't like about it was the feeling of the sand on my feet. It was really rough and buhaghag. After taking some swimming lessons courtesy of Rhodz, I just played frisbee with Chester and Andrew. Randy joined in after some time. Then my tooth ached again so I called it quits. I went to where Charles was and smoked a cigarette.
When the girls finished on the beach, they've decided to go to the pool. So we went there, had a little fun and then back to our room to take a bath before having dinner. It took us more than 2 hours to finish bathing that when we went down to have dinner, there's no more food on the table. Apparently, dinner's served until 9pm only and we went down a little after 9. I saw Chard, one of the committee and asked him about it. I swear, I got really pissed when all his reply was "may oras lang kasi ang pagkain", scratched his head and left us to greet some guys who already got their beers.
I was really in a bad mood and marched back in our room. The girls soon followed. Good thing, Anne and Charles brought some canned goods. The four of us, Rhodz, Jas, Mitch and of course, me, shared some bread and canned tuna. I was so pissed that when Shirley and Tetet asked me if I will go with them to the inuman, I was so resolved in having the guys pick me up, else I'd just sleep the night off.
After a few more minutes, the guys arrived in the room and told us, we'd be drinking at Lhem's room. There, we had 3 bottles of Tequila and 2 bottles of Gran Matador. On the left is the tanggero of Tequila, on the right is the tanggero of Matador... It was a night full of fun. Proof are the photos I've posted here. Charles and Anne decided to go down, on the hammocks and I joined them as three of our roommates already retired and went up to our room and slept.
Outside, on the hammock, I rocked myself and made it like a swing. That made me dizzy, not the drinks I've had so after a few more minutes, I already decided to sleep to. Changed my shirt, open the TV, then sleep. That's what I did, the early morning of Sunday.
We woke up at about 7am, went down to have breakfast. The food? Garlic rice, eggs and beef tapa (which was so hard that it looks like you're eating a bark of a tree...). Since I was not able to have dinner that night, I almost ate all of it, if not for the fact that my jaw ached coz of that tapa. After breakfast, the girls decided to swim again. I declined their invitation and had decided to go up in the room, take a bath and fix my stuff coz check-out time is 12pm.
I won't go into details of what happened from 9am til check out. After check out, we had our lunch of fish fillet and kangkong with bits of squid. Then picture-taking. And by 2pm, we were the first bus to leave the resort. I've slept on the way home but I woke up at one stop-over, I think it was duty free and we've been there for almost 2 hours already.
Again, I was so pissed coz I have to go somewhere else by 6pm that night. I got hungry again coz the food at the resort isn't that good. I asked Randy to accompany me and look for burger, not knowing that the bus is already leaving and were just waiting for us. After we resumed with the trip, 2 more stopovers happened. We arrived at Ortigas, 9pm... A 7-hour trip home.
The trip started okay. The bus driver took liberty to drive fast and had taken a different route so we could avoid the traffic. Somewhere along Floridablanca, Pampanga, the aircon broke. At the stopover, the driver, along with one driver from the other bus tried fixing it. The deed was unsuccessful so our bus coordinator told us that we continue the trip without the aircon. It was just an hour or more trip so we might as well continue.
Off we went, with some of the guys removing their shirts and the ladies taking off their jackets, or manually fanning theirselves just to deal with the trapped heat. I almost collapsed, if not for the occassional borrowing of Tinay's fan. Then, we stopped at Victory liner's terminal where another bus' aircon was also ineffective. After staying there for what seemed to be hours, they have decided to change buses so we could arrive at our destination.
Before 12, we arrived at the venue. White Rock Beach Resort looks really good. 2pm was the check in time so for 2 hours, we stayed at one covered spot where the committee prepared some (boring!) games. Our first merienda was pancit with one slice of bread,, and a single glass of iced tea. Before 1pm, we had our lunch of 1 single piece of chicken, plus (boiled?) eggplant with alamang... Call me maarte but I didn't liked the food. I somewhat expected something better!
Our team watched the games and gave cheer to some games (I think it was just the first game that we cheered.. hehe). Finally, they gave us the keys to our room. Room 326 of the Beach Front hotel.
When we got to the room, housekeeping isn't finished yet. So we planned to just leave our things in the room and go out. After dropping our bags and belongings, one of the housekeeping staffs said at least one of us should stay in the room to look after our things. So, instead of going out, we decided to stay on the room's veranda... Overlooking the bowling center, the cafe, and the covered walk where we say our other team members.
After the housekeeping finished all the necessary cleaning, some of us decided to doze off while I decided to take a bath (the bus trip plus staying under that covered facility made me feel so dirty and smelly that taking a bath seemed like a luxury). Good thing, the bathroom has a bath tub, a shower, sink and all amenities you'd like to have in a room (minus the fact that the hotel allotted only 6 mini soaps and 6 halves of shampoo.. halves coz it's the clear sachet cut in halves.. hehe).
While brushing my teeth, everything went black. Electrical failure made me want to run outside the bathroom, if not for the fact that I was already naked and had prepared my bath. I asked my roommates to hand me my lighter (coz it has a flashlight) but it's light wasn't enough. So, Jas handed me her mobile phone with the flashlight. I finished brushing when the lights came back so I took a quick shower.
After my shower, Shirley and Tetet decided to go to the beach already. But the girls I'm with decided to rest first (take a quick nap) before soaking in the saltwater. We went down a little before 5pm, had our merienda (spaghetti with white sauce that has no taste, literally... and a pineapple juice that tasted so darn sweet). We didn't finished the food and decided to go to the beach already, after taking a couple of pictures beside the flags.
The water's warm and at that particular time, the sun isn't that hot already. What I didn't like about it was the feeling of the sand on my feet. It was really rough and buhaghag. After taking some swimming lessons courtesy of Rhodz, I just played frisbee with Chester and Andrew. Randy joined in after some time. Then my tooth ached again so I called it quits. I went to where Charles was and smoked a cigarette.
When the girls finished on the beach, they've decided to go to the pool. So we went there, had a little fun and then back to our room to take a bath before having dinner. It took us more than 2 hours to finish bathing that when we went down to have dinner, there's no more food on the table. Apparently, dinner's served until 9pm only and we went down a little after 9. I saw Chard, one of the committee and asked him about it. I swear, I got really pissed when all his reply was "may oras lang kasi ang pagkain", scratched his head and left us to greet some guys who already got their beers.
I was really in a bad mood and marched back in our room. The girls soon followed. Good thing, Anne and Charles brought some canned goods. The four of us, Rhodz, Jas, Mitch and of course, me, shared some bread and canned tuna. I was so pissed that when Shirley and Tetet asked me if I will go with them to the inuman, I was so resolved in having the guys pick me up, else I'd just sleep the night off.
After a few more minutes, the guys arrived in the room and told us, we'd be drinking at Lhem's room. There, we had 3 bottles of Tequila and 2 bottles of Gran Matador. On the left is the tanggero of Tequila, on the right is the tanggero of Matador... It was a night full of fun. Proof are the photos I've posted here. Charles and Anne decided to go down, on the hammocks and I joined them as three of our roommates already retired and went up to our room and slept.
Outside, on the hammock, I rocked myself and made it like a swing. That made me dizzy, not the drinks I've had so after a few more minutes, I already decided to sleep to. Changed my shirt, open the TV, then sleep. That's what I did, the early morning of Sunday.
We woke up at about 7am, went down to have breakfast. The food? Garlic rice, eggs and beef tapa (which was so hard that it looks like you're eating a bark of a tree...). Since I was not able to have dinner that night, I almost ate all of it, if not for the fact that my jaw ached coz of that tapa. After breakfast, the girls decided to swim again. I declined their invitation and had decided to go up in the room, take a bath and fix my stuff coz check-out time is 12pm.
I won't go into details of what happened from 9am til check out. After check out, we had our lunch of fish fillet and kangkong with bits of squid. Then picture-taking. And by 2pm, we were the first bus to leave the resort. I've slept on the way home but I woke up at one stop-over, I think it was duty free and we've been there for almost 2 hours already.
Again, I was so pissed coz I have to go somewhere else by 6pm that night. I got hungry again coz the food at the resort isn't that good. I asked Randy to accompany me and look for burger, not knowing that the bus is already leaving and were just waiting for us. After we resumed with the trip, 2 more stopovers happened. We arrived at Ortigas, 9pm... A 7-hour trip home.
Sunday, April 6, 2008
free verse
My judgment fails whenever I'm with you.
My usual indifference shatters with wanting to see you.
Is it worth the risks, taking this crazy ride with you?
I can't help this surge of emotions whenever I'm beside you.
I just want to know the ending of this insanity.
The long ride with you has no turning back.
Will you stay with me?
Or you're just here to teach me?
If I put my feelings at stake, will I reap your love?
**originally written March 28, edited version...**
My usual indifference shatters with wanting to see you.
Is it worth the risks, taking this crazy ride with you?
I can't help this surge of emotions whenever I'm beside you.
I just want to know the ending of this insanity.
The long ride with you has no turning back.
Will you stay with me?
Or you're just here to teach me?
If I put my feelings at stake, will I reap your love?
**originally written March 28, edited version...**
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