here's to endings and beginnings

endings

31st march always ends the company's fiscal year.for a job well done (we hit 94% of our management target), we had free lunch (yummy, yummy northpark food!) and the region declared half-day of operations.we started the day actually, with the usual fiscal year-ending review of what we have achieved and our future targets, goals & upcoming promos. i thought it was just one one of those usual reviews that we usually have as we end the fiscal year, i never thought it would be that emotional. just as our country manager, sir chito, was concluding his presentation, he said "my task is done"...believe me, question marks (and a lot at that!) flashed through my head. and so there, he bid goodbye to everyone and told us he's leaving the company for another job and he's leaving us with the company's strongest post so far. he wasn't leaving because the company is not doing good, the figures he presented earlier proved so.i almost cried with his announcement.aside from being the country manager, he actually took the post of an acting marketing manager when my previous boss decided to just concentrate on sales. i was directly reporting to him prior to the arrival of the new boss. though short, our working relationship actually created so much impact on me...he inspired me to be better because he's really, really bright and very knowledgable.i wish i can be like him in the future..that is someone who truly knows my work and the company's business.he's also CFC so if i tell him that i'll be attending build, household and all the other community service, he understands.i was really shocked of the news, i never had clues or whatsoever prior to his announcement. until now, i still haven't recovered. this is a first for me actually because for the last 4 jobs that i had, i was the one leaving my bosses and the companies i've worked for.now, i know how it feels...it's sad, really sad.i hate goodbyes.

to end and thank the big man above for all our blessings, we also celebrated mass in the office. the homily was really good, father ben talked about letting Jesus be seen in us. father stressed that Jesus is our co-worker, in every decision we make, in every step we take, He wants to be part of all these.he ended the homily with the the usual saying that we as SFCs are very familiar with...let go and let God.

beginnings

our national sales manager, sir glenn, was promoted to take the post of the new country manager.as he was giving a short message, he wasn't able to hold his tears.he told us he didn't really aspire for the title nor dreamt of actually reporting to the region's general manager, he's quite contented of what he has now but God gave him a new challenge or let's say a broader horizon of responsibilities and he willingly took it.btw, he's also CFC :) as for sir chito, he also asked for prayers so that the he'll be able to handle the new challenges that he'll be facing in the company he'll be working for.

new fiscal year will officially start tomorrow...i'm actually afraid and yet excited.

to sir chito, we'll truly miss you. until now, i can't imagine rs ph without you.

to sir glenn, be not afraid.rs ph team is here to always support you.

birthday & name

i chanced upon this site that a friend of mine forwarded. it's supposed to tell what your birthday says about you & what your name means....hmmm, i'm not really into these kind of things because in SFC we were taught not to believe in such but i'd like to share the results as well...based on how i know myself, there are some truths about the results. here's a glimpse...

BIRTHDAY : SEPTEMBER 16, 19_ _

Your date of conception was on or about 24 December 19_ _ which was a Saturday. (christmas eve ??? hmmm....interesting...hahaha!)

You were born on a Saturday under the astrological sign Virgo.Your Life path number is 5.
As of 3/30/2006 3:13:08 AM EST

You are _ _ years old.
You are 330 months old.
You are 1,437 weeks old.
You are 10,057 days old.
You are 241,371 hours old.
You are 14,482,273 minutes old.
You are 868,936,388 seconds old.
Your age is the equivalent of a dog that is 3.93620352250489 years old. (Life's just a big chewy bone for you!)

Your birthstone is Sapphire.

The Mystical properties of Sapphire though not meant to replace traditional medical treatment, Sapphire is used for clear thinking.

Your birth tree is Lime Tree, the Doubt
Accepts what life dishes out in a composed way (?), hates fighting, stress and labour (!), tends to laziness and idleness(!) , soft and relenting (?), makes sacrifices for friends (?), many talents but not tenacious enough to make them blossom(!), often wailing and complaining(?), very jealous(?), loyal(!).

The moon's phase on the day you were born was waxing gibbous.

FULL NAME: J_ _ _ _ _NN JUNIO

There are 13 letters in your name.Those 13 letters total to 60.There are 5 vowels and 8 consonants in your name.

Your number is: 6
The characteristics of #6 are: Responsibility, protection, nurturing, community, balance, sympathy.(!!!!!!)

The expression or destiny for #6:The number 6 Expression provides you a truly outstanding sense of responsibility, love, and balance. The 6 is helpful and ever conscientious, making you quite capable of rectifying and balancing any sort of inharmonious situation. You are a person very much inclined to give help and comfort to those in need. You have a natural penchant for working with the old, the young, the sick, or the underprivileged. Although you may have considerable creative and artistic talents, the chances are that you will devote yourself to an occupation that shows concern for the betterment of the community.

The positive side of the number 6 suggests that you are very loving, friendly, and appreciative of others. You have a depth of understanding that produces much sympathetic, kindness, and generosity. The qualities of the 6 make the finest and most concerned parent and one often deeply involved in domestic activities. Openness and honesty is apparent in your approach to all relationships.

If there is an excess of the number 6 in your makeup, you may exhibit some of the negative traits associated with this number. There may be a tendency for you to be too exacting and demanding of yourself. In this regard, you may at times sacrifice yourself (or your loved ones) for the welfare of others. In some cases, the over zealous 6 has difficulty distinguishing helping from interfering. You may have difficulty expressing your own individuality, because of involvement with responsibilities and causes. Like all with the Expression of the number 6, it's quite likely that you worry much too much.

Your Soul Urge number is: 1
A Soul Urge number of 1 means: Your Soul Urge is the number 1. With a Soul Urge number of 1, you want to lead and direct, to work independent of supervision, by yourself or with subordinates. You take pride in your abilities and want to be recognized for them. You may seek opportunities to display your strength and usefulness, wanting to create and originate. In your desire to manage the big picture and the main issues, you may often leave the details to others.

The positive 1 Soul Urge is Ambitious and determined, a leader seeking opportunities. There is a great deal of honesty and loyalty in this character. If you possess positive 1 Soul Urge qualities, you are very attainment oriented and driven to success. You are a loyal friend and strictly fair in your business dealings.

The negative side of the 1 Soul Urge must be avoided. A negative 1 is apt to dominate situations and people; the home, the spouse, the family and the business. Emotions aren't strong in this nature. If you possess an excess of 1 energy, you may, at times, be boastful and egotistic. You must avoid being too critical and impatient of trifles. The great need of the 1 Soul Urge is the development of friendliness, and a sincere interest in people.

Your Inner Dream number is: 5
An Inner Dream number of 5 means: You dream of being totally free and unrestrained by responsibility. You see yourself conversing and mingling with the natives in many nations, living for adventure and life experiences. You imagine what you might accomplished.

you can tell how above descriptions fit me (grabe, even the negative ones!). i know there's scientific explanation to this, all i know is that numerology is also a science...whatever! (math pa rin yun, i don't wanna dig deeper into it, nose bleed ito!). i'm quite contented that my knowledge in astrology ends with my fascination with the sight of beautiful heavenly bodies such as the stars & the moon.

for the fun of it,
check out the birthday calculator for all sorts of fun facts about you and your birthday, and find out what your name means and says about you.

refreshing

just arrived from eastwood.

right after hearing anticipated mass we(ate jhett,kokoy,anna e. & myself) fetched ria and had dinner at max's eastwood then we had coffee after, as usual.it was really like the old times...i kinda missed this group, we're almost the same age-group in sfc.ria's the youngest among us (pero hindi halata, hahaha!), anna is just 2 months older than me, kokoy & ate jhett are the same age. lately in sfc, i was always with the 30-ish group.although i don't really feel so young around them (since i can still in some ways relate to them)but sometimes, i also look forward to being with my contemporaries maybe because we speak the same language and we're both dealing with the same stage of life. over coffee, we talked about a lot of things ---my new malaysian so-called crush, ria's so-called break-up, anna's so-called fashion 101, etc...(noticed? everything's "so-called", all topics are quite non-sense actually). we're actually in situations in finding ourselves, anna & i being the realistic ones, we just deal with life in whatever way life wants to present life to us...in other words, we deal with whatever is in our faces unlike ria the so-called idealistic, she has always this "realizations", "analysis" and stuff...she deals with life "intellectually".there's really nothing wrong with that, different strokes for different folks.my sis on the other hand is just helping out...setting up ria for another date when she's ready, helping anna with her fashion dilemma, blahblahblah...we also made plans for summer ---next week's wave 89.1's anniversary,beach, belly dancing, pig-out (our priority!), shopping in divisoria, etc.... sana kahit isa may matuloy :) the gathering was quite refreshing...for quite some time, we weren't able to hang out together, we were too busy last year...ate jhett& kokoy were too busy preparing for their wedding, ria was dealing with a romantic relationship, anna was busy with work and hiding from us (hehehe!) & i was too busy working.at least, for the first time in months i wasn't able to talk about sometimes-stressful sfc service and very stressful corporate life... whoaaaaaa!

no boundaries

i've been posting most of my SFC activities lately, let me now share about work.

last march 8-11, rs south asia (philippines, singapore, malaysia & thailand) gathered together at phuket island, thailand for our fy07 business launch, no boundaries. this was quite a big event since this was the first time that all countries in the region gathered together in one event. there were some country level preparations that were done prior to the launch and being in the marketing department means bulk of the job was on us. i hated it, part of me was honestly wishing that this phuket event would not push through ( hey, i did not wish for another tsunami, okay ? )

1st night - gala dinner

few hours after our long trip (PH team had to take connecting flight from SG to phuket since we're quite a big group, no airline w/ direct flight to phuket could accommodate us), we bathed and prepared ourselves for the formal dinner. the girls were supposed to wear cocktail dress and the guys should wear coat & tie (hmmm, to be fair to all, no national costume should be worn...the filipino guys could have bragged about our very unique & elegant barong tagalog, tsk,tsk,tsk). i wore a blue green cocktail dress w/c i borrowed from my sister (thanks ate jhett!), my roommate cum fashion-guru, lyn braided my hair and provided me with accessories.again, thanks to my sponsors (hehehe!) .

1st night's highlights were the following:

a) RS PH grabbed the South Asia Sales Champion Award (congrats kaye!)

b) RS PH grabbed 1st place in the Karaoke Competition (as expected, hehehe!). we were asked to have a representative to sing one slow song & one fast song...no boundaries, we can be as creatively crazy as we can...our Distributors Sales Channel Manager, Mickey represented PH. he sang "the way you look tonight" & "crazy little thing called love"...RS girls served as back-up dancers.

c) lastly, our first taste of Thailand's gay community...i felt insulted...they were so pretty and sexy.

2nd day - seminar

this was the business launch proper. the annual briefing on catalogue changes & new highlights for the coming FY was given to us. the "best piggy bank" winners were also awarded, congrats Ronald for grabbing the award for ODS Category. i think and you can call me bias (i don't care!) that among all the countries, PH's piggy banks were creatively done. after lunch, we had break-up sessions for our country discussion which mostly revolved on sales.

after the seminar, we had dinner and shopping...i enjoyed dinner more (one un-girly trait of mine). since phuket is actually a tourist destination, most of the items are really expensive. some items being sold there can actually be bought in boracay,divisoria, greenhills, tiendesitas, st.francis square...basta tiangge for a cheaper price. the vendors there are not as friendly and as accommodating compared to filipino people. i don't know if it's just thai people's manner of speaking or in some ways, they were discriminating us because we're obviously asians unlike the majority of their visitors who are mostly europeans...hey, don't we both belong to third world countries? you should know how to empathize, huh?!

3rd day - sports & creative events

third day was mainly focused on recreation, a very competitive recreation at that.to select the over-all champion, 10% of the criteria will be coming from the day 1 videoke competition, 40% from sports competition (water polo, beach volleyball, soccer) & 50% on creative competition (print ad, tv ad, radio ad & fashion show). i think all countries equalled in sports events.

since i'm asthmatic, i wasn't able to join any of the sports events and i was stuck in modelling. can you imagine? with my height, i looked like someone modelling for pre-teen garments or someone joining little miss philippines, hehehe. we actually modelled clothings which we decorated with rs products (cables, wires, capacitors, resistors, etc...) i enjoyed decorating the clothes actually. it's one of the pre-launch activities i've done. others are also creative stuff like the print ad, radio ad, tv ad and of course dance practices for the videoke competition.we were actually applauded when we modelled (can you believe that?). we did professional cat walk which i've just learned few hours before the show. we weren't able to practice when we were in PH office.due to PH's limited resources (RS PH is the only country without a warehouse thus we have very limited products to showcase), malaysia was able to beat us.

well, my honest opinion is that, they did not actually do a fashion show, they were trying so hard to be funny...but i must admit they do have a good showcase of rs products..that made them win. in terms of the advertisements, ph's advertisements are the ones with professionally- conceptualized campaign but not done professionally i must admit, since all the shooting & editing were done in-house. in fairness, ours are the ones that you can consider commercials.. short yet concise, messages clearly sent through to the audience. i don't know if you can call a 3 minute- testimonial or music video a tv commercial? how about an almost 2 -minute radio contest? is that a radio commercial??? so there, since the so-called fashion show had so much impact, malaysia placed over-all champion, philippines as 1st runner- up & singapore as 2nd runner-up. i don't wanna sound bitter but for someone who majored in advertising, my fair judgement is that our team should have won... in our hearts, we know we didn't exert so much effort in terms of preparations unlike malaysia so it's really okay if they grabbed the prize, they've worked so hard for it, in that sense alone, they deserved the championship they've won.

afer the program, we had the chance to do whatever we want so lynn and i toured the place and took more pictures.we had dinner in the sidewalk and believe me the food is equally sumptuous as the ones you can eat in fancy restaurants.i was able to dip in the pool when we went back to the hotel...night swimming at its best.

4th day - farewell

last day was spent in travelling back to manila. phuket is such a nice place, i would love to go back if given another chance.