Your way to Neverland

"Time is chasing after all of us" said by Mrs. Snow in the film "Finding Neverland". This is the line that really lingers on me after watching the film two days ago. I was so surprised that even "Peter Pan" got an interested story to tell. It may sound so babyish at first but the film requires a deeper understanding that even normal adults sometimes may not be able to conceive its point...But before I go on with this, I just want to point out that this is not a movie review, but rather an emphasis of how movie somehow affects our lives or how we see things in a positive way. Anyway, the film is about the story of James Barrie (starred by Johnny Depp) and the people that inspired him to create Peter Pan (the flying boy with a fairy friend Tinker Bell). It started as a play in London before it became an animated film that now every kid loves. The people that inspired him were not just the ones who believed in him, but also the people who hated him.

The movie requires you to at least know a little story about Peter Pan, otherwise you'll get yourself asking what is the film about up to the end of it (but I guess everyone knows the story of Peter Pan). Every character in the story even the crocodile that always carries the clock has a very significant part in the play. Something that tells us that everything surrounds us plays a very important role in our very own story. In reality we also have our own crocodile with its own clock telling us "hey! time won't wait for you, keep your ass moving". Yeah for sure sometimes you need to take things slow, how slow it can be, that's really up to you. It's an advantage if you know how fast this crocodile can catch up. And you always know what happens if it catches you, so you better move as fast as you can while avoiding to fall.

There are more to tell about the film and I'm leaving it with you to discover them. It's very touching and full of lessons that maybe helpful in dealing your own issues in life, perhaps in finding your own Neverland. 'Till next movie experience, Happy Monday to everyone!

Aftershock

Just done watching a Chinese film called "Aftershock". I came to know about the film when it was featured in one of the pages in my Facebook account. The movie was praised with positive feedback though I didn't read the whole review I already thought the film is a nice film to watch. I immediately looked for the movie online and found a copy of it and downloaded it and indeed, it's a good film. Your heart will cry to it from first to last.

The movie was based from a true story about the earthquake tragedy in China in 1970s. The story of a simple but happy family who got separated by the disastrous event. The aftershock made them suffer for almost their lifetime 'til one day, after 32 years, the same tragedy happened that brought these people together and were able to patch things up, healed the long overdue wounds and longing. "Aftershock" may not be the best tragedy-drama movie that you would ever see, but it's worth watching as it would inspire you to deal with you own aftershocks in life.

So far, this year there are two good foreign films that I have seen, the first one was an inspiring Indian film "My Name Is Khan" and this one. Too bad movies like these don't get a chance to be shown here in our place. I'm looking forward for more heart-warming and inspiring movies like these and I would always share it here. 'Til next time.

A Simple CARE

Last Saturday was my worst day here Metro Manila, it rained so hard that even the whole production floor (in our office) was field with water. It is because we are occupying the ground floor of the building, thank God it happened almost 1 pm, the time when everyone was already logging out. But we were not able to go home yet not until almost 4pm when the rain started to drizzle. Management asked us to stay and gave us free meal. I thought they wanted us to go on over time for I don’t know what purpose, because our office is closed by 1pm to 8pm. Then I just realized that they just wanted us to stay because we couldn’t go home because trips for buses and jeeps were cancelled due to heavy rain and flood. Then this afternoon, I received a call from our HR to check if how I was able to go home safe, I was really surprised with the call, and I feel so important, especially when the woman from HR said “Mahal po kasi kayo ng SITEL, kaya kinukumusta namin ang lagay nyo”..It was very touching (can’t think of any word), and can’t wait to report on Tuesday. In a very simple way, SITEL showed that they care for their employees and I really appreciate it. I don’t remember the HR Dep’t of my previous company did something like this, or even close to it. The call didn’t last for more than 3 minutes, but it’s something that I won’t really forget for lifetime. If every company does this to all their employees, they won’t be having problems keeping them.

It's SITEL...

Finally it's monday tomorrow, I've been waiting for this day since the day before yesterday. All my life I've never been this excited. What made me so excited? Well, it's because tomorrow would be a start of my new job. After a week of job-seeking here in Metro Manila, I finnally got hired as Technical Support Representative in Business Process-Outsourcing world in short Call Center Company. SITEL Philippines opened an opportunity last Friday to me, and I'm so happy that they just gave me the chance.

Honestly, I thought it was really easy to apply in a call center company, I was wrong, it's actually easier (joke!hehe) No! it was really really difficult. First, there are a lot of applicants and most of them are former agents already, the competition is really tough. And second they are very much strict with the accent, inunciation and pronunciation, which I am not good at. I could still remember when one company asked me if I know how to read 'phonetic', "what the hell is phonetic " I said to my self, to cover the embarassment, I simply said "Computer Engineering students don't actually learn them, so I don't have any idea at all " so after that final interview I didn't anymore expect to be considered by that company, so I attractted it and it happened.

The next day, I applied in a company located on a 34th Floor of a building, in an elevator I waited like overnight to reach the floor, it was like a long trip. I handed my resume to the guard, he noticed me trembling and I felt like wanted to vanish that building, I started to feel dizzy and almost fainted. "Relax, wait lang po, nahilo ata ako sa elevator nyo" I told the guard when he was about to ask me to log-in. I sat down on a chair reserved for applicants and after a few minutes I went to the guard again and logged my name in a visitor's sheet, when I was about to pull the knob of the door, the guard called me again "Sandali lang po sir, alcohol po muna". "Sosyal naman ang company na 'to, d pwedeng mag-open ng door nang walang alcohol" I told my self while laughing about it. I noticed that they did it to every person who came from outside of the building. After waiting for almost an hour for the interview, I still couldn't contain my head, I wanted to vomit, I held on to it and my name was called for initial interview, I couldn't almost understand the questions and I answered the interviewer like a fastball "slow down, some of your words are hard to understand" she told me. With that, again I did'nt expect anymore, so I went out of the office. "Eto na naman, elevator ulit!" I almost fell asleep in the elevator, and finally, I reached the ground floor, and headed outside hurriedly.

It was really a funny experience, atleast I tried and I took my chances, I stayed home in taguig after that 34th floor experience, and went on applying again after three days. As intructed by a friend, my feet led me to Ortigas, at the back of SM Megamall and I found the Recruitment Center of SITEL Philippines at around 4pm. After 25 minutes I was interviewed and given a topic to talk about. My topic was Space Exploration, "OMG, what is this? a punishment?". I didn't know about the topic, so I just talked about Niel Armstrong, the Mars as the next potential earth and etc. I passed the initial interview and took several examinations, I finished around 11pm and requested to go to other sites of SITEL also in Ortigas the next day by 8 am for the Final Interview. After a long process, it ended by a hand-shake with the boss, Mr. Apple "Congratulations, you are hired!". Finally, after two months of being jobless, I'm back to work again.

Goodluck to me!

So Cool Summer!

My summer has never been this cool. After 10 years, I had once again visited the place of our parents, where Tausug tribe came from, the Jolo, Sulu. I still remember before, where cell sites or even TV stations were not available in the place, with not so good roads, no department stores or even food chains. I even tasted salty water for drinking. I started to recall of these things when I left the city to see the place once again. As my sister and I stepped down the vessel together with my three nieces, I started to look around and tried to remember familiar views, I didn’t recognize any of the things I saw,I don’t even know where to take a ride, a tricycle or anything to reach out sister’s place. But my older sister just guided us and we rode on a ‘motor’ (we used to call it a ‘tricycle’ in zambo, the term ‘tricycle’ to Tausug refers to the ‘pedicab’), after couple of minutes, we started walking along the shore, It was really a long walk, with all the baggage from the trip, it took me several stops before finally reaching the place. For the first time I have seen where my sister and her family live. Her husband works as a policeman and my sister has a small sari-sari store. Together with their four children, they live in a very simple home between the sea and the woods. The place now has electricity, with TV station, cell signals and they even have water supply for free.

We had a small picnic with my sisters, nephews and nieces just outside their house and it felt like we were in a place somewhere else. We also attended a wedding, it was my first time to witness a very traditional Muslim wedding, although I attended some Muslim weddings in the city, it was really different, from the preparation, down to their clothing, the rituals and other stuff. The celebration lasted for three days.

In spite of the trouble caused by the ‘Abu Sayyaf Group’ in the province, people there managed to live their lives normally, somehow it’s just a matter of getting used to. Spending you summer doesn’t always have to be in Bora-like beaches or going on an expensive trip, a simple family get-together will do, as long as everyone is there and enjoying the simple things you do as one big happy family, that’s what matters most.

These are some of the photos our Summer Vacation in one of the Beaches in Jolo Sulu

Stuck in a Frozen River...

"I would spend my every second making them feel that I would still be here for them while I still can"

Last night, as I was having problem with my sleeping habit, I looked for something to entertain my self with (gross!), something that would really lay me to bed. I opened my PC and checked the drives where I saved all the movies that I downloaded. I realized that I still had 10 movies to watch and most of it are Drama. Since I was forcing my self to sleep, i double-clicked the FROZEN RIVER film and started watching it, thinking that it would help me walk through my bed. As the movie started, i got more and more interested with the story. It was about a mother who sacrificed a lot for her 15 and 5 yrs old sons. It made me miss my mom so much, like a flash back, I recalled how much our mother sacrificed for us. That after the death of our father, she faced everything just to raise us all (four of us).Did so many jobs just to feed us, and send us to school. I envy TJ (the 15-yr old son in the film) so much, because he had the chance to make her mother feel that he will always be with her, that he loved her so much without even saying the words. I wished i had all the time to spend it with my mom and my sisters more. How I wished I could turn back time and would make up to her.Wished that I could make her feel the joy and happiness without going through so much pain. But I guess that's how life is, everything is borrowed and not permanent, what He (God) creates shall go back to Him indeed. But I'm still blessed coz I still got my sisters, and soon my own family. I would spend my every second making them feel that I would still be here for them while I still can.