Jakarta-Beijing-Singapore-Jakarta

Have not posted for a while. My bad. Life has been too crazy and hectic to find time to blog. Can't complain though...better than being boring all week a.k.a. Manila Albert.

Just came from Beijing to watch the Olympics (more pics and stories later). More importantly, got to visit Lynette and Jan in Singapore and shop/ransack Ikea! Had such a fun, fun time with them even despite the short span of time. Enjoyed joking around and swapping OFW stories with real and wonderful people who can relate in their own way with what I'm going through (as they just recently relocated to Singapore). Miss them already!

I'm going through a really scary situation right now. Scary because it's seriously beautiful yet inevitably devastating. Quite certain it will end tragically. Everyone here has been trying to knock some sense into me. Yet I persist. Yes, it's stupid and illogical and nothing less than masochistic. But still, I go deeper and deeper until I can no longer remember where I began.

Gad, Jakarta has turned me melodramatic!

Jai guru deva om

I'm all set. Or rather, it has all been set for me. Funny thing about major life decisions...you shilly-shally for months but the moment you say "Yes!" the gods of indecisiveness just take the ball and run with it (probably to prevent you from changing your mind again). And there you stand, dazed and bewildered, not remembering what exactly you were agreeing to in the first place.

This whole thing started with a seemingly innocuous phone call over the Christmas holidays. I was in Tagaytay with my folks having lunch in Highlands' Winter Palace. While waiting for the dimsum to arrive, I gave Lynette a call to greet her on her birthday. As usual, we ended up chatting about work and our careers. She was very quickly moving up the company ladder despite not being sure where the ladder would end up. I, on the other hand, was getting a bit restless, and in desperate need of a major jolt. She told me to reconnect with GRC, especially since she was in Manila during that time. So when I was back at work last January, I dropped G's office to say hello. And that's when the ball started rolling and I'm still running after it up to now.

I will be leaving the Philippines for good in a month's time. I'm scared shitless. The longest I've ever been out of the country alone was 6 weeks in Taiwan when I was still in high school. And now, we're talking about 2 years. That's 98 more weeks than my personal record! It doesn't help that I don't know anyone there, that I will have to adjust to a completely different culture, and that I will be managing a business category that's completely alien to me.

BREATHE...

Choose the good, not the easy.

It's lonely at the top.

If you're stuck with lemons, go make a lemonade. (All from Lynette).

I have to admit though that it's also a very, very exciting time. I've never felt more alive! After all, how many chances in life do we get to wash ourselves clean, scour away all the grime and dirt accumulated through the years, and emerge fresh, pure, new?

Jai guru deva om
Nothing's gonna change my world
Nothing's gonna change my world
Nothing's gonna change my world
Nothing's gonna change my world

Mood: reflective, sedate
Music: The Best of U2, 1980-1990