Getting to Know Leomer

Here's a partial list of some things you may want to know about me: 


FOOD:
1. I love to eat; except that I don't eat native chicken and goat
2. I was trained to eat whatever that comes up in the table; except those mentioned in #1
3. I love sardines and hotdog; I call them comfort food
4. 2 cups of rice for me please
5. Green-leafy vegetables are just awesome
6. I love condiments especially patis (fish sauce)
7. I most of the time crave for okra/talong dipped in bagoong (alamang/isda)
8. I prefer fish over pork, but it seldom happens
9. When it comes to desserts, I love vanilla ice cream or yogurt
10. I'm a coffee drinker
11. I eat pork isaw. Like 10 sticks in one session
12. I seldom drink beer, I prefer tequila, brandy, Tanduay Ice or red wine
13. I'm currently craving for tokwa't baboy
14. I love Karate Kid, Chef d' Angelo, Napoli's and Jolibee
15. I can't forget Planta Hotel's Asian Pork 
16. I've tasted dog meat
17. Weirdest thing I ate was adobong frog
18. Popcorn
19. Seafood pesto makes me happy
20. Meiji black chocolate lifts me up


LOVE and ROMANCE
1. I'm currently on a strong and long-term relationship
2. I consider to having serious relationships since 2005 only
3. Before 2005, I've been to numerous relationships
4. I had my first boyfriend in 2001. We lasted for a year and 6 months
5. I'm a sucker for romance
6. I had 3 serious relationship from 2005-2006; on these three, I'm the one in charge, and I'm the one who called it off. 
7. I only had one boyfriend older than me, refer to #4
8. I prefer younger guys back then
9. Nimmy and I lived together for 1 year and 8 months
10. I still have crushes, but I get to be turned-off easily
11. I still think of Mark Herras
12. Moreno is a plus
13. Bad-breath is hell
14. I don't like overly intellectual conversation, it gives me nosebleed and earbleed
15. I hope to get married soon with Nimmy


EDUCATION
1. I used to dream of becoming a lawyer. I took up Political Science major in Public Administration in PUP Sta. Mesa. 
2. I was a President's Lister for 2 years. 
3. My GPA for the entire course is 1.63
4. I was a badminton varsity player of PUP for 4 semesters
5. I'm the 2nd Grandmaster of our college debate frat. I've joined two national debate contests
6. I joined rallies and the most memorable one was EDSA 2. 
7. I graduated Salutatorian in High School
8. I'm not a natural smart person; I'm just studious
9. I can't study on loud music
10. I think I'm better in speaking than writing
11. I'm a grade conscious person
12. I love libraries and the smell of old books
13. I hate math subjects
14. I almost failed the subject, Logic because of the movie Titanic. You know, cutting classes.
15. I've never figured out the significance of 4 semesters in ROTC.


ATTITUDE
1. I'm an optimist most of the time
2. If you don't like me, I don't like you too
3. I'm a forgiving person
4. I'm honest and transparent person
5. I get easily frustrated if I don't get to achieve small goals
6. I seldom shout on heated arguments
7. I walk out to clear my mind
8. I have small tolerance to arrogance
9. I'm an impulsive buyer
10. Leadership by example
11. I don't choose friends
12. I seldom lend money
13. Perky to some people
14. I can sense if someone is upset
15. I'm a combined type A&B person a.k.a. bipolar


OFFICE
1. I always have my game face on in the office; pretending to be busy
2. Stupid bosses deserves a flying kick
3. I seldom do overtime
4. I prefer an American boss than a Filipino
5. I genuinely love developing subordinates; I love seeing them promoted
6. For a time, I prefer salary over loyalty in the company
7. My best mentors were Barbie, Leah and Lavi
8. I have few closest friends in the office - Joanne, Joey, Debbie, Rose
9. My best supervisor was Jong
10. I miss my Bacolod QA team
11. My last two bosses were unforgettable
12. I enjoy deploying a project and transitions
13. I love excel, powerpoint and visio
14. On team buildings, no one sits beside me. They always want me to be alone, I think
15. I enjoy doodling while on a meeting

Those Facebook Statuses Part 2 (last)

 

Honestly, I had a hard time looking for another set of shit funny Facebook statuses from my friends.  It's like looking for a needle in haystack.This made me realize that I still have good friends. Thank God.  

Then I started sorting my friends out and tried to remember who among these fits my criteria. Surprisingly, the list boiled down to high school and elementary friends, who are girls, who are the quiet types and who are all known to be challenged and stressed in this so called studying. One entry was a previous subordinate in my call center career. 

Well, here are my final choices: 

This is my friend again who works in a ship cruise. She's leaving tomorrow morning and she misses someone. Her comment to a friend's comment is just so funny for me. The reason being is that in all her statuses, she mentions she's leaving on Wednesday. Why can't she just leave... for good. (?)

***

I read it thrice. For a status to be read multiple times means one, you need to discern who your friends are and two, you want to learn something, like deciphering a code in an English sentence. 

***

Please tell me, why did I go the same school with you? You made me very sad. 

***

She's pretty. That's all. 

***

He's a classic poser. He claims to have traveled Europe, brags he's a rich brat and he works just to get to do something. He knows how to speak German and French. Ask him to translate a sentence in those languages and he'll oblige. After a day. 

***

Well that's it, I'm done. 

Those Facebook Statuses Part 1

This is just for fun. I don't wish to put my friend's in bad light but I'd just like to point out their ridiculous, funny, thought-provoking and spine-tingling status. Oh yes, spine-tingling because it gives you goosebumps, in an embarrassing kind of way. Confused? Let's go figure in a few. 

I'd been observing how and what my friends in Facebook post in their walls. At some point, I have to hide them on my News Feed for the following reasons:

• Rants. I think they eat rants for breakfast. You get what I mean? 
• Grammatically challenged statuses. I'm not perfect in English, but I know basic. If you can't express in English, you can always use the vernacular, or ask professional help. 
• Paragraph statuses. 'Nuff said.
• Brags. I'm ok with once in a while brags. I'm guilty of bragging sometimes. But putting your accomplishments every week is just painful. 
• Emoticons. :(
• Face pictures. Oh c'mon, 5 sets? Everyday? On your wall? 
• Past co-workers I don't want to get affiliated with. I just have a few of them, so it's no biggie actually. 
• ALL CAPS.

Fighting Temptations

"Every conquering temptation represents a new fund of moral energy. Every trial endured and weathered in the right spirit makes a soul nobler and stronger than it was before." 

- William Butler Yeats

The Scrapbook

On our second month together - 5 years ago, Nimmy gave me this very personalized card. To my surprise, it was some sort of a mixed-media journal, a scrapbook. 

Front Page

Reunion of Strength and Faith

I'd like you all to meet my friend, Bob. 

We met October of 2007 in one of the largest and newest call centers that time in Quezon City. It was when original teams get to be dispersed to new groups in lieu of schedule bids of agents. I was handling a team of technical support reps, and our team was called VOL 41. Bob became my new senior agent. 

My impression of him was that he's funny, smart and active. I know him to participate in almost all company-wide activities, i.e., sports fest, outreach, tree-planting and so on. 

I have vivid memories of Bob during team meetings. He would normally crack jokes, comment on new processes, ask questions and share best practices. He has this charisma to his new colleagues which makes him a perfect candidate for a mentor role. 

In few months time, Bob and I have to part ways. Him, moving to a new team and me handling a new group of agents. 

Fast forward, I moved to support group, got promoted and finally left Operations. 

With those changes in my career life, Bob also carved his own road to success. He became part of the Marketing and Communications department and was very instrumental in the important events of the company. 

Few years later, I have to leave the company for greener pasture and just like everybody else, Bob also moved out from the same company. 

Bob and I were never really close during our career life in the same company. We never hang-out but whenever we see each other in the office, we get to say our hi's and hello's. He still calls me TL (which I realized everyone does), albeit I relinquished the post several years ago. Bob was really a very polite person. Bob and I have a lot of things in common. We're both PLUs and we have long-standing relationships. Unlike me however, Bob got separated recently with his four years relationship with the same office mate as ours. 

Through fate, Bob and I have recently become Twitter buddies. We renewed ties through our humorous tweets.  We laughed, we talked and we inspired each other. 

Inspiration is something we derive from friends. We never get to see each other often, but we knew deep inside that we're just there, a text or a tweet away. During low-times, Bob cheers me up through text and through funny tweets. 

Until I found out something. 

All the while, I never thought Bob is stricken by a disease. Happy & healthy person, that's Bob for me. 

A confession made me realize that Bob needs me not only for those exchanges of funny tweets, but also for his emotional and morale boost.

Bob was diagnosed Positive with HIV. 

Bob, I'm not sure if you remember this notebook with a red ribbon and bell on. 

This was your gift to me for Christmas of 2007. 

I've kept this gift all along, not that I don't know what to do with it, but I really cherish gifts that has something to do with writing. I really do appreciate it.

I know that you also love the song Unwritten by Natasha Bedingfield, having seen this several times in your status updates in Facebook. 

I'd like to remind you that a huge part of our lives are still unwritten, and we all have a very long way to go.

You've inspired me in so many ways especially on how you handle things at this moment. Your happy disposition really helps you a lot to cope up with the disease. 

Bob, I'd like to thank you for the friendship. But above all, I thank you for your prayers. Trust that you are always in my prayers too. Thanks for reminding me of my faith and how it renews my strength to move on and face challenges like you do. 

You're a blessing Bob, always remember that. 

On Humility

Humility does not mean thinking less of yourself than of other people, nor does it mean having a low opinion of your own gifts.  It means freedom from thinking about yourself at all.  ~William Temple

I've been wanting to write about humility for sometime. I tried to get stories from old children bed time books, recall experiences of friends and other people, or recall my own humble stories. 

But then I remembered, if there's one persona who have exemplified in multitude the value of humility, there can only be one - Our Lord Jesus Christ. He was born in a manger and died on the cross for us. That's one epitome of sacrifice, born out of humility, but more so of love. 

In this world of social networking media, one constant debate has been perpetuating my mind. I've asked myself a few times. 

Is that plain conceit? 

Don't you think that's feeding your ego? 

Is that a downright bragging? 

Documenting your moments, or flaunting your moments? 

Depression or Expression? 

Learning or yearning? 

Through these questions I've started to weave what's really important for myself. That despite conspicuous way of choosing oneself before others, depicted in most social networking sites (in general), I'd like to chose hope and inspiration from it. 

Hope that the person will find inner joy from his chosen way of communication. Hope that this person find the essence of happiness. Hope that above all the happiness seen, know where this happiness and glory originated. From that we could derive inspiration, to move forward and love God above all things. Putting others before oneself. I think that's the essence. 

Humility. 

One simple word for us, yet hard to learn to value at times.