One More Shot
Posted at 07:50 AM on November 11, 2008

My second evaluation was scheduled last Sunday. I was told before that if I would not be recommended for regular employment, I  would be asked to find another job prior to the sixth month of my employment that would conclude the probationary period. And so, when the editor handed me the evaluation sheet, I immediately looked for the part that says:

 

Please check one:

_recommended for regular employment

_proceed to next evaluation

_terminate employment

I am not sure if those are the exact words but the thought is more or less the same. To my surprise, the editor left that section blank. He asked me if I still wanted to proceed and give my work another shot. He said that the beat  I am assigned to is challenging compared to others where stories are readily available. For my beat, I will have to dig deeper and exert extra effort to be able to find something to write about. He told me that he knows I am trying but that much more can still done to improve my outputs. He added that I must work on time management. This did not  come as a a surprise. I seldom meet the 5 pm deadline.

To his question, I replied:"Ok,". But I am not sure if I made the right decision. I am still up for the challenge but I am not sure if I am forcing something that is not going to work out anyway. I am scared of what  would happen next if my outputs do not show improvements asked of me. I would definitely get the boot when that happens. And while I always say that getting sacked is not exactly the end of the world as everything has a bright side, it would still mean that I fell short on the tasks I have to fulfill.  Will it  be easy to find another job?

I know that apart from God, nobody else can help me but myself. The reliable absolute boyfriend* that saves the day is fictional. I have one more shot. Let's just see what will happen.

 

*absolute boyfriend - Tenjo Night, a robot dedicated to love from the Japanese series Absolute Boyfriend

an ADB study

Unidentified
Posted at 12:32 AM on October 2, 2008

Parts of my report were used for the banner story in today's issue of the paper but I was not credited. I am not really type who wants to get the spotlight but at least I would have wanted my name to appear on the paper since I exerted a lot of effort in that report.

I guess I am just worried that my work is still not at par with the others... that it is not good enough and that I am not making any progress.

I am worried. But I don't want to be hard on myself. I guess I'll just try to do what I can do. If at the end of the day, things don't go so well, what the hell? Tomorrow is another day.

They Kiss Again

My Great Escape
Posted at 07:09 PM on September 10, 2008

My sisters and I went to the Boys Like Girls show at Glorietta last Saturday. I have been looking forward to that because I needed to escape from the stress I get from work. Work is stressful especially when you're required to submit two stories  per day about released reports and approved projects of development agencies and multilateral institutions and such are not available on a daily basis. Anyway, to our disappointment, my sisters and I lost our reserved seats in the so-called VIP section and we only found out when we arrived at the mall which was at 3 pm. The show was scheduled to start at 5.

So what exactly happened? My sister's friend said that some important people(i.e. kids of those with greater connections with the organizers) brought so many friends and our seats were given to them. The VIP seats come with photo op stubs and we missed that. So much for my great escape. I wish we were informed earlier so we could have gone to the mall earlier to have the receipt of shoes I bought the previous day for seats. My receipt would have given us 6 seats which was more than enough since there were only 3 of us.

Despite losing our seats, we still decided to stay and watch the show. That was the last show of the band's tour in the Philippines and nobody really knows if the band would be back.

I had fun even if the person behind me used my head as a substitute for a tripod of her camera. Not exactly a tripod but she was leaning on it. The band played 9 songs which included my favorite which is Learning to Fall. I was not expecting them to play that since only a few people consider it their favorite according to the poll in the band's website. Martin even sang a few lines of Leona Lewis' Bleeding Love which was cute. I had no story idea for the following day but I totally forgot about that during the show. I had to enjoy the BLG moment. I especially liked the part when Martin introduced the last song. 

"I don't care if you've never heard of the band Boys Like Girls. I don't care if your best friend just grabbed you here. I don't care if you were just doing your shopping. What I want you to do is go crazy as we sing The Great Escape,"

Martin said that they plan to come back here. Bands say that all the time. Anyway, I hope it happens for real because we did not get to meet them. Who knows, maybe the next time they're here, I would be able to meet them not just as a fan but as an interviewer whom they have to be nice to. Haha.

Until next time. My great escape and groupie adventure ends here (for now).

Urbandub's

Waiting for BoysLikeGirls
Posted at 12:12 AM on August 20, 2008

My sister told me two days ago that BoysLikeGirls is coming to Manila. YES! I have been waiting for them for the longest time. I need to make my great escape from all the stress from work.

Last week, Panic at the Disco had an autograph-signing session at Podium. I am not their biggest fan but I still went there anyway since I like their songs. They started signing CDs at 6 pm. I arrived at 6:50 because I still had to wait for the editor to declare that the stories I submitted were clear. As it turned out, I got the figures for the first article wrong while the other article lack sources because none of the people I wanted to interview were around. Great isn't it? To highlight how well that day went, I missed Panic at the Disco. When I arrived at Astroplus, the organizers were already putting away the chairs and other equipment. The autograph-signing ended at 6:30 pm.

So, I guess it just wasn't my lucky day. Maybe things will turn out well  with BoysLikeGirls. I sure hope so. And I hope for the same thing for my work.

 

First Published Article
Posted at 12:59 AM on July 27, 2008

My first article on a certain corporation's stock recommendation was published on our newspaper last Monday.I can't believe it.

I shouldn't be surprised that it was published since I am a reporter. I guess, it is only now that is sinking in that I am no longer just writing for myself. My works have other readers now, apart from my friends.(I am assuming that my friends actually read my entries here.) Everything I write for the paper can affect other people's lives in one way or another. Wow. How many people are given that chance? Not many. This just means I have to be careful with what I write.

We were told that we will be assigned to our respective beats next week. I will have to work extra hard. I don't want to see our editors turning into monsters.

 

 

 

"Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close" by Jonathan Safran Foer "Shake It" ---- Metro Station