HPspace

Sorry to disturb you guys at the moment, I know this isn't a good timing but then again, there's a deadline that's why I need a little helping hand...

I submitted an audition video for HPSpace -- a reality contest in Singapore...I won't elaborate it further...

For those who have email addresses, pls sign up on the website www.hpspace.com and search my audition video by typing my name --- Carla Charisse. Pls view and rate my video...and spread the word to your friends who have the time to use the internet...


I'm not good in video making because I just used my trusty cellphone to record a short clip. I just wanted to take the chances of joining. This is a very little favor, I hope you guys could help me -- especially, to my fellow Filipinos out there...

The deadline is on Oct 4, 2009 -- that's on Sunday...Getting to be picked as one of the finalists will be an absolutely big help for me already...At least for a try...

Thanks in advance guys and God bless =)

the aftermath...

It's sunny now here in my place...But some places are still in rehabilitation...

As of today, Sept 29, 2009, a lot of organizations are still accepting donations and packing relief goods for the rest of our fellow Filipinos who are still in evacuation centers and flooded. The flooded areas have already subsided...and what's left...

ruined houses, houses and hard-earned owned materials with mud...

Just gonna leave here a few short messages about this...Honestly, I may not be deeply affected but I am saddened cause this was not an expected fate for our country...

1. To those who wanna help, try to check websites like abs-cbn.com and gmanews.tv for the list of organizations you could participate in to send donations or volunteer. You could also check superbianca.blogspot.com [blog site of Ms. Bianca Gonzales -- tv host personality] and @Magic899 [twitter of Magic 89.9 -- radio station here in Manila] for other list of groups. Twitter is also a great avenue right now to raise your concerns regarding info on ways to help.

2. Speaking of Twitter, I've read a few who are spreading tweets on how to help and sharing their sentiment...Of course our fellow Pinoy celebrities and to the ff: Demi Moore, Shontelle and Demi Lovato (cause these were the few I've seen...I'm sure there are more international artists tweeting about it)...Thank you =)

3. To those who were hit badly by the aftermath, I know I may not be one of those who could alleviate the pain but I'll keep you guys in my prayers that the country will be able to survive and continue to live one day at a time...

4. To my officemates, friends and loved ones, I hope you are all doing well now...I'm sure this incident isn't a good one and it's painful to see that you're hard-earned stuff are just washed away, but keep in mind that everything happens for a reason and in losing, we realize the bare essentials in life.

We'll all be well soon...Keep the faith everyone...

xoxo,
Calai

song for the day: Heal the World - Michael Jackson

bittersweet and blessed...

Back from the ruins...

Yesterday, Sept 25, 2009 was another tragic event that made the country united in efforts and in prayers...Typhoon "Ondoy" hit Luzon, went away now and obviously, left sooo many traces -- flooded areas, destroyed houses, homeless and evacuated people and deaths.

After the storm, I'm thankful that me and my family are intact. We just ended up having no electricity for one day and a few hours. As I went to church this afternoon, it made me even more thankful and blessed that our family was ok. Despite that, the pain is sinking in to me at the moment because the rest of the country -- those who were hit hard by the storm -- are still in the process of being saved.

Our country may have been left with bad traces, but this made us see that Filipinos can always come together and unite for their fellowmen. A lot are volunteering to rescue and donating material needs for those who badly need at the moment.

I won't prolong this further...I still feel that even if I'm ok now, I don't deserve to splurge so much at the moment...If you would like to help in the least possible way you can, you can check on these two websites how:

abs-cbnews.com
gmanews.tv

"Lord, thank You...and I pray for those who still need help right now, please keep them under the mantle of Your protection and love..."

all the while i thought im the only one...

It's been a week already since I bummed out from work...Thankful that I get to have good night sleeps for the past few days and catch up on some of the things I missed [watching tv and reading books]...But of course, I can't be like this forever...I still have to do something relevant to keep up with the personal finances and my family's needs.

Anyway, I don't know but I think God is really making little miracles for me not to give up...I came across this website that I've always wanted to submit an article on and then, I saw this post...Guys, read this until the end for you to completely understand...The writer and I have a few similarities on this story, but that's not exactly the point...Here it is...

Youngblood

Out of here
By Anna Veniza R. Arcilla

Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 02:10:00 09/12/2009

Filed Under: Employment

Soon I will be leaving the company that has been my home for two years and nine months. The idea of leaving has been giving me nightmares, but I know this is what I really want.

When I first joined the company, I was an idealistic neophyte who believed that as long as I was doing my job, no problems would arise. I was happy with the company, and it became a second home for me. I gained friends and even won their respect and loyalty. I developed feelings for someone who turned out to be a womanizer (the feeling lasted for only one month), and now he is my ka tropa. I fell seriously for an IT guy with a wide forehead (who just got promoted recently), and now we are kind of “MU” (mutual understanding) after two years of waiting. And I was able to save enough money for some of my future plans.

Months passed. New people were hired, and trained. Some old co-workers got promoted and some left for reasons I could not comprehend at first.

Then it suddenly dawned on me that something was wrong with the situation. There were nice people who got promoted and began sprouting horns on their heads. There were others who were already bad even before they were hired and they were spreading discontent and havoc.I saw a couple of my fellow workers crying because a monster of a manager had screamed at them. Even as tears continued to flow from their swollen eyes, they were still checking documents and searching for errors, no matter how hard it was to focus on the computer screen.

I saw my pregnant friend crying because a satanic manager was cursing her online. Another friend was humiliated by a moody manager when she filed for a leave of absence.

I reacted violently when the company decided to increase our salaries based on our rating system. A nice manager had given a neophyte a grade of 4+ (even if he was still committing a lot of errors) while another manager gave an experienced worker a grade of 2 (even though she was one of the best employees). The neophyte received a P1,700 salary increase and the latter got a P300 increase. Was that fair?

I learned that when somebody got promoted, it meant he had stepped on someone else, like crabs in a basket. I also learned that an employee is only an employee, and no matter how long he has been in the company and how hard he has been working, he still remains just an employee—without a voice, without the right to talk or to question things, and with the duty to follow and act dumb.

I am not saying this because I feel bitter. Bitter over what? Because I have never been promoted even if I have put all my energies into my work? Because I sacrificed time for my family so I could render overtime work in compliance with orders of my superiors? When my mom died in a hospital, I didn’t know about it until my shift was over because we were not allowed to bring cell phones into the work area.

It is every worker’s dream to be promoted because it means receiving a salary higher as well as some perks and privileges. But in this company, I cannot even dream of being promoted because that won’t change anything. Instead it will give the people above you another excuse to bully you.

I know that I am sounding like a spoiled brat, sulking over things I cannot have. But sometimes you need to act like a brat so that you will get what you really want. And now all I want is a work place that will be a true second home for me.

So, I had this plan of leaving, and a plan to find a replacement. Then I told my boss that I was quitting.

Two of the best managers of our department talked to me and told me they were happy with my decision. They understood and they knew how I felt. They seemed actually to share my relief as I was telling them about my decision.

Friends are asking me what made me quit. I tell them there is life after work, and that I need my life back. I need to slow down and assess my life and feel free for a while. And my only regret is that I didn’t do it earlier. I’m not running from the things that make me apply excessive eye liner and eye shadow to express my anger, I just want to clear my mind and know who I really am.

Now I realize that working hard is not enough to make one happy on the job. Some things aren’t good as what we want to be. I know that by leaving, I can learn things other than what I know now. I am not dumb, and I don’t want to be forever following black witches’ orders.

I used to be a kind, soft-spoken girl with an understanding heart, but now I am completely the opposite. I came to the point of looking at life as if it’s a curse. I don’t want myself to continue hating life.

I want the old me but I want to bring with me the things I learned. This place has made me strong. It taught me to be thankful for living a simple life, simple yet happy. It also made me realize that I miss my family and friends.

My father told me that I should look for a new job where I can be happy and which will not take me far from them. He reminded me that they had taught me and my siblings to believe that simplicity spells happiness. Who am I to disagree?

When I go, I will be leaving behind the people who have been nice to me. But this is a small world and I know we will bump into each other again and again. And there is Facebook and Friendster to help us stay in touch. As for the IT guy, he will still be there, texting me every night.

(Anna Veniza R. Arcilla, 26, is a graduate of Jose Rizal University with a Bachelor of Commercial Science Major in Management degree.)

To my former officemates, I think you might have the idea about how is this article related to me...But to the rest of my readers, this is an eye-opener...On how you'll take this? Well, I just hope with an open mind and heart, as what I am doing at this present stage in my life.

source: inquirer.net

David Archie's performance in the ALMA awards

Alright, I'm not in the writing hype to post on a lot of stuff...But since there are already readers / viewers here on my blogsite *THANKS SO MUCH* =), I just want to share David Archuleta's performance in the recent ALMA Awards [award giving body honoring Latin American achievers]. The title of the song is "Contigo En La Distancia" [With You at Distance -- English translation]. It was actually performed by a fellow Latin American, Christina Aguilera, years ago. It's just that it became applauded and popular now because of David...

Back in college, I didn't have any subject of any other language besides English and Filipino. Well, it was more of Math subjects, no wonder. But in a way, the Spanish language had it's second home here in the Philippines because tracing back Philippine history, we were colonized by the Spaniards for 300+ years. Now I think I have to go back learning a few -- just a few...haha^_^

i've grown up...

No matter how many times we say we don't want to get emotional over a certain thing, we still end up being one...

5 years back, I was just a newbie with months of experience from a call center company. I was adjusting my hours of sleep from making the day my sleeptime to getting back to the "normal" body clock. Confident answering calls but no need to speak in English -- all it takes is some bargaining and saying things properly. And there I was, a purchasing engineer who had dreams and goals to fulfill and challenges to surpass in the everyday grind.

I made friends through time who came and left as well, believing there are better things awaiting outside the four walls of this building. Friendships that developed through years of cranky jokes and serious talks of life's ordeals. Smiling and being happy accomplishing one task under pressure. Close to tears that was supposed to be shed because of the disappointments and mistakes that could have been avoided sometimes.

I used to be the nobody that they call the "newbie". Now, seeing me they would either exchange "hellos" "smiles" or short conversations. And from those, it ends up to bonding moments, whether because of a party or of talking over personal problems. I used to just sing in my workstation over songs that I hear from my computer or my mp3 player. Now, they would ask me every year if I am going to perform or if I would be practicing for a company event. I used to be the center of joke times until I became the one who would start up a joke towards another "forgetful" officemate or anyone I could start a punchline for a joke. I used to cry or shed a tear because of a simple reprimand or disappointment but now I learned that after a disappointment, you have to get up and get going. Receiving challenges were something that annoy me easily but now it's like a vitamin that I'd rather work on something than waste time and thinking of something to do. Challenges will always be there in life, but as my dad said, I must not give up.

If I would post all the things I learned from my 5 years of stay at this company, it would be boring for some to read. One thing certain, I learned a lot...I shall take them to the next destination of my life --- whichever road that would be...

Some people have been asking, "where are you heading after this resignation?". I got options actually. It's just how will I make them fruitful and where will I really end up. It a mixture of my effort, determination and faith plus God's grace and guidance.

To all my officemates, from the past and current, thank you for making my 5-year stay in Megaworld a memorable one. To those who became my friends are now part of my circle, the friendships will always be there and as I always say, distance and time ain't barriers anymore.

To the company, thank you for the opportunities and the challenges. It made me a better person from the "newbie" that I was 5 years ago. It made me stable and settled for the past 5 years and it saved me during the time I was looking for a new job.

Consummatum est... off to a new beginning...where would that be??? All I can say is I hope it is for the best...Now, I've grown up....

first things first...

I am days away till I say "ciao" and head off to a new chapter of my career life...And as I head off to that new journey, I'd better have that list of what-to-do's and get rid of the limbo state...

1. Clean the house and de-clutter...DEFINITELY!!!...
-- sad to say, I'm the only one working on that errand at home...tsktsk...
2. Throw away old, unnecessary stuff...and re-organize my files and my room...WHEW!!!
-- this will take more than a day...
3. Work on stuff that can make me earn a few for the time being...
-- NO FURTHER ELABORATIONS FOR NOW...but IT WILL SURELY BE POSTED FOR POTENTIAL CLIENTS4. Catch up on reading books, new songs and watching DVD's...YES PLEASE!!!

5. Eat and sleep...in ample amounts...6. Submit applications...JUST IN CASE...
7. Learn something new, creative stuff...HMMM, LETS KEEP OUR FINGERS CROSSED ON THIS...HAHA
8. Lastly, say my little prayers of thanksgiving and strength to keep going and move forward to better things in my so-called life...
WHATEVER HAPPENS IN BETWEEN THESE...I PRAY IT'S FOR THE BEST...
Before, I used to do what's just normal and complacent...First things first, it's about time I do some things till I get to what I love, one step at a time...

song for the day: One Step at a Time - Jordin Sparks