April. Can you believe it’s already April? When was the last time we saw each other? Whether it was last week, last year, our Ateneo graduation, in Singapore or Jakarta, or even a decade ago, time really flies by! I can’t seem to keep up and keep track of everything that has happened. In spite of everything, I can say that Life has been incredibly good to me. As I start the second quarter of 2003, I wish the rest of the year will be just as good, if not better. I wonder what the rest of the year has in store for all of us?
Boracay. Crystal clear waters, white sugary sand, fresh fruit shakes, water sports, island hopping… definitely the place to go this summer, unquestionably the favorite island paradise of the Philippines… and I’m going next month on a 4-day, all-expenses paid vacation! Yahoo! This is what we at DDI get for exceeding our mid-year target. One of our consultants, Pia, had visualization exercises for us at the start of our fiscal year: she would send us e-mails and pictures of Boracay to keep us focused on meeting our numbers… and it really worked! My colleagues and I are so excited! This will be my first time to Boracay… and my first real beach vacation after our trip to Bintan, Indonesia in 1996! When we meet our year-end target in August, we’re going to Bangkok! (This year was our “B” year; next fiscal year should be our “P” year—Palawan and Paris!)
Coffee. Considering I’ve been a “Nescafé baby” all these years, it’s not a surprise that my body needs its daily dose of caffeine. I’m so happy that there’s freeflow (and extremely strong and yummy) coffee in the office! Cafés have been my favorite hang-out since the good ole Starbucks days with Trixy and Julia in Singapore. Nowadays, Seattle’s Best Coffee is a regular weekend meeting place with friends. My favorite coffee drink? Move aside Rumba Frapuccinos, it’s hands-down for mocha (both warm and iced) with raspberry syrup!
DDI. It has only been 19 months since I joined this organization yet I feel like I am truly speaking, walking, talking, breathing, and living DDI! Development Dimensions International is a global human resource consulting company with 70 offices around the world. Here in Manila, DDI partnered with SGV, the largest multidisciplinary professional services firm; thus, we’re known here as SGV-DDI. Our areas of expertise are Training, Development, Selection, and Assessment; our goal is to create high-empowered workforces for our client organizations. In short, we’re in the business of sharing knowledge to make sure people are happy, productive, and effective in the workplace. But don’t be mistaken: it’s not all about happy-feel-good seminars or teambuilding workshops; unlike other consulting groups, DDI is well-established (we’re celebrating our 25th anniversary in the Philippines!), research-based, and used by the world’s top companies. As the Human Resources Associate, I have two major roles: I take care of the internal HR functions, particularly recruitment and employee relations and I provide support for our consulting group and trainers as needed for their different projects. In the last year and a half, I have interviewed a lot of people, organized parties and outings, coordinated all the fun projects in the office like decorating for Christmas, buying birthday presents for celebrants, giving out Valentines in February and tikoy for Chinese New Year, and bowling games. I have also had many opportunities to work with several clients for a variety of projects: competency profiling, customer service programs, performance management systems, a training manual, and many others. Before we hired our Marketing Associate last January, I took on the role of organizing public workshops and major events, including our anniversary events last January which were attended by our CEO and Chairman and DDI co-founder Dr. Bill Byham. What I love best about work: no two days are ever alike, the SGV-DDI team is excellent, and I’m learning so much so quickly. DDI is an amazing place to work: I’m so glad I decided to work here and I honestly can’t imagine being anywhere else. You can check out www.ddiworld.com to find out more.
Exercise. After years of living an awfully sedentary lifestyle, February 2003 was the start of my healthier lifestyle. Thanks to the prodding of my friend, neighbor, and old carpoolmate Julia, I started going to the gym regularly. Julia and I also play badminton over the weekends. I also got interested in wallclimbing late last year but I don’t get to climb as regularly as I would want to. I climb in CSA with my officemates. I’m not exceptionally good but I’m not bad for a beginner climber! Next on my list of sports: swimming and basketball! I’ve already lost ten pounds since February and I’m working on the next ten!
Family. The Dy-Liacco family is as kenkoy, fun, and happy as ever. We’re back in our home in Alabang after seven years of being away in Jakarta and Singapore. My parents celebrated their 31st wedding anniversary last January. My dad is still with Nestlé, now as the Director of Corporate Communications, and he celebrated his 25th year with the company last December. Over the years, my mom has built a library of over 1,000 cookbooks! She continues to look after the home and us; and thanks to her, our house has gone through some beautiful renovations: I now have my own bathroom so no need to share with Ate Kim! Ate Kim, a.k.a. Mrs. Jeremiejczyk, is based in Singapore. She moved back to Singapore to work in her alma mater, LASALLE-SIA College of the Arts, in late 1997 and has been based there since. She comes home frequently and we have also visited her on two occasions. My brother Alec, who just turned 19, is now finishing his second year at the La Salle University where he is taking up computer studies.
Glenn. We decided to go our separate ways after five years together. It has been seven months since the break-up and fortunately, we’re on good terms. I think time has healed whatever pains we went through. I’m enjoying my singlehood and he has found happiness in someone new. Our relationship was wonderful and life-changing, but moving on was the best thing for both of us. I regret nothing and am thankful for all the love and experiences. At this point in my life, the words of the Christian mystic Julia Norwich serve as my mantra: “And everything changes, but nothing is ever truly lost.”
Habitat for Humanity. Last year, the DDI team volunteered for Habitat for Humanity. We helped build not a house, but a complete septic tank! The day was spent mixing cement, lifting hollow blocks, piling blocks, pouring gravel-and-cement into the blocks, smoothing out the cement, and taking water breaks every 15 minutes! It was an extremely tiring day… but productive and enlightening. Construction workers and builders are modern-day heroes.
Insurance… and taxes, bank accounts, credit cards, bills, and other grown-up things. Welcome to the world of adulthood! I can’t say I have fully transitioned into this so-called real world. I know I’m not getting any younger (I turn 25 next month!) but sometimes I wish life could be as simple as my good ole kindergarten days. The first time I discussed my life with an insurance agent, I knew that life is not as carefree as it used to be! As difficult as it is, I still strive to live life with childlike wonder and simplicity, as inspired by Le Petit Prince. Beneath the corporate blazer, the pearls, and the seemingly yuppie aura, I know I am a happy child at heart… who needs to pay her overdue bills!
Jesuit. I met someone who said that he has never met an Atenean who wasn’t proud of the Ateneo. I agree with him. I’m proud of my Jesuit upbringing and I don’t regret the years of Jesuit theology and philosophy in college. Unlike charismatic Christian communities, the spirituality of Ignatius is down-to-earth and straightforward. God in all things—this was the battlecry; in its simplicity was its beauty and reality. God was not limited to the heavens, God was in the simple and seemingly mundane things of every day: in rainfall, the sky, the wildflowers, smiling faces, shooting stars, tears, and hellos. My world changed with Awareness and The Way to Love (two of the many books of Fr. Anthony de Mello, S.J.), with five days of silence during a retreat in 2000, and with the many lessons from my Jesuit professors. Ad majorem dei gloriam!
Kim and Aaron. Their wedding was, in my books, the wedding of 2002. After nine years, the college sweethearts (finally) wed in Singapore last July 6. Aaron Jeremiejczyk (pronounced “jere-my-check”) and Ate Kim met in their freshmen year at LASALLE-SIA. They always believed destiny was on their side: Aaron and his family, originally from Melbourne, had lived in the Philippines for over a decade, in the same villages as we lived in, yet they met in Singapore of all places! My sister was a beautiful bride! I was happy to be her Maid-of-Honor together with Laurence, her best friend from Jakarta who flew all the way from Switzerland for the wedding. It was a simple, elegant, and happy event. All the bridesmaids wore pretty silver gowns and our flowers were bright happy yellow. Yellow flowers and bright yellow lemons (!) hung from the church entrance. Family and friends from the Philippines and Australia flew to Singapore to join the happy couple. Everyone enjoyed the lunch buffet at the reception. And I think everyone also enjoyed the joint speech Aaron’s brother and Best Man, Joel, and I prepared. They are still living in Singapore—and both are healthy and SARS-free, thank God—although they have no plans of raising a family there. We just might visit them sometime this year.
Love. February is over but love is still in the air… which is how it should be! 2003 is the wedding year for Julia and John (June 28), Angie and Ian (July 26)—I wish both couples all the love and happiness in the world. It was the 60th wedding anniversary of Mia’s grandparents last month; Camille and I got teary with their public displays of affection, complete with gigil hugs and an ultra-sweet wedding waltz. “Love has no wrinkles,” a Baci love quote once told me; don’t we all wish we could live to see our 60th wedding anniversary? Yet there are so many single people in this world (to the concern of our parents, I think) who choose to focus on their careers and who choose to wait for the best person… include me in this list! I declared 2003 as My Official Year for Self-Love. My gameplan? Love and pamper myself. There is some virtue in selfishness, right?
Movies. My all-time favorite movie list includes The Shawshank Redemption, The Lord of the Rings (FYI, I’m an Aragorn girl, not a Legolas girl…!), Moulin Rouge, and Billy Elliot. I still quote from movies (“Many things don’t fly…” and “It’s okay, it’s just the garage…” and of course, “Why? Why do I put my head in the oven?!”)—which confuses yet amuses my officemates, especially Cricket! The nearby cinemas and my dad’s growing DVD collection keeps me busy on lazy weekends.
Nikki in 2003 is much like Nikki from CSA, from La Salle Zobel, Jakarta, Singapore, and Ateneo… or so I’d like to think! I’m still short (!), smart, fun, funny, and kenkoy! Even if it has been weeks, months, years, or even decades since we last saw each other, don’t you fear… there have been no drastic changes! I’m just like how you remember me!
Officemates. My SGV-DDI family is really like family. Everyone on the team—all 25 of us—work so well together: the team is happy, enthusiastic, empowered, professional, and productive. There are more women than men and our average age is about 30, so I’m on the young side of the age spectrum. Each person has his or her own eccentric quirks, and we can all say that we’re more than just colleagues, we’re really friends. We enjoy spending time together even after work or during the weekends. To top it all off, we have a great boss. I consider myself extremely lucky to be working with this exceptional group. Many of our clients (and competitors as well) can’t help but ask what’s up with us: Why are we so happy? What’s with all the energy? (Could it be something in our coffee?) We practice what we preach, we tell them… at least they can see that our programs really work!
Philippines. After seven years of being away, I can still say that the Philippines is still home sweet home for me. Moving back to Manila after living in Jakarta and Singapore was not completely easy, especially having to get used to the horrendous traffic jams and the pollution! Yes, there is crime and corruption; yes, Pinoy drivers are horrible; and yes, it’s still hard to understand the white-is-beautiful syndrome. I hate our noontime variety shows and get annoyed at all this showbiz talk… but there are so many wonderful things about being Filipino and about this country. As clichéd as it sounds, being Filipino means having a wonderfully close and stable family life. Filipino food will always be a reason for most of us to keep coming back—where else in the world can you get mangoes, pla-plas, sinigang, bagoong, and suman? The Filipino psyche is complex yet very likeable. It’s unfortunate that I’ve been to very few places in the Philippines. In this lifetime, I’d like to be able to go to Palawan, Sagada, Bohol, and Vigan.
Quota. No, it’s not a sales target I need to meet… Doyet (one of my friends at work) and I decided to give ourselves a dating quota: at least one date a month! Although considered “conservative” by one of our American consultants, experience says it’s not that easy! Is it the Filipino male? Or have we not exhaused all of our contacts? Or are we seriously in the wrong industry (considering that most of our HR contacts are female or gay)?!? Since the break-up, I’ve had the luxury (?) of having three blind dates: one was a fun dinner-and-bowling date with Doyet and her friend, another was a double-dinner-and-coffee-date with friend VJ and his old colleagues, and the third was what I consider my first “real” date with a 35-year old doctor, courtesy of one of our clients! It was the whole “real” deal: he called me up a week before, made plans, picked me up, took me to dinner and dessert, opened the doors for me, sent e-mails and text messages afterwards… the catch? He’s now a resident rheumatologist in a hospital in Hawaii. I can’t exactly say that there were real sparks in any of the three… although they were all nice guys and very pleasant evenings; special mention goes to Date#3 for having the courtesy of a follow-up! Luckily, none were “horror” dates! I’m currently working towards meeting my April quota! Wish me luck! (By the way, if you know of any eligible men…???)
Reunions. It’s always good to meet up with old friends and catch up with each others’ lives. I was so happy when Taja came to visit me all the way from Slovenia last November 2000. She braved the typhoons and loved pla-plas and green mangoes. Cyber-reunions are always good: I enjoy chatting with Chris Davison, Gaby Mondria, Dawn Lynn, and Bridget Bogan when I chance upon them on MSN or AOL. E-mails are great for catching up. Getting snailmail Christmas cards are even better; special mention must go out to Ursula Sherwood and Carly Ferris! I really enjoyed my recent get-togethers with old Ateneo carpoolmates, Aegis, and Student Trainers. My dad found it funny that I’ve had several alumni reunions and it has only been two years since my graduation! Unfortunately, I’ve missed three fjupy reunions with Trixy and Julia (although we had some sort of a reunion via telephone!); they insist I make my way to California so I don’t miss any more (and so I don’t get too shocked with my phone bill)! Chris suggests an OFS reunion in Singapore in 2007 for our tenth year anniversary; what do you all ex-OFSers think? I missed the grand 50th anniversary of JIS last year; to my dear JIS friends, did any of you go? I think I’ve shared this with a number of you: my ultimate reunion would be to have friends from all over the world, from all my different schools and urban tribes, in one big party! It would be interesting to see who would click with who, and which friend or group would mingle well with another. I don’t know when that can happen though… if not for my 25th birthday, perhaps for my 50th? Hmmmmm. The bottom line: let’s keep in touch!
Stress. I used to get all stressed out about work but thanks to my colleagues, I’ve improved in managing my work-related stress. I used to have nightmares and sleepless nights, even on the weekends, due to an upcoming project or event. Luckily, DDI does not encourage long working hours, or even a stressful approach to work. Quality of Life for Associates is a corporate value! “It’s just work,” Janet always tells me, frowning when she sees me frazzled. “I’ve noticed you’ve been staying late,” my boss told me once, “I don’t want you to make it a habit.” It was the first time he ever reprimanded me, and I appreciated it. “I mean,” he continued, “get a life.” Hmmm. Considering it came from my 51-year old boss, I was a little shocked, but happy nonetheless. That very same day, I was out of the office by exactly 6 p.m. Work still gets stressful at times but it helps that my colleagues and boss aren’t sources of stress; we’ve also learned that bowling and wallclimbing are great de-stressers on a weekday!
Travel. Places I’d like to visit in my lifetime, in no particular order: Egypt. Greece. Vienna. Barcelona. Maldives. Cebu. Palawan. Vigan. Bohol. Sagada. The Grand Canyon. The Great Wall. Sweden. Slovenia. Melbourne. New Zealand. Hawaii. New York.
University… do I miss the good ole Ateneo days now that I’m working? I know I don’t miss the late nights studying for a test. I know I don’t miss the 5:15 a.m. carpool trips. I know I don’t miss the horrible professors (and I was unfortunate to have a number of them). But I do miss group assignments with Paul and Carlo. I miss hanging out at our Bench on EDSA Walk. I actually miss writing papers for English and Philosophy. I miss the feeling of closure when sembreak comes. I miss brainstorming for projects. I miss walking alone in the Quad on late afternoons with the dried leaves crunching under my feet. Working has its perks (getting out of work mode and shutting down by 6 p.m.) but so does studying (having a 2-month vacation!)… I think it’s only a matter of time until I find myself back in school. I know I’d like to study again one day, but at this point, I’m still not sure what I’d like to take up. I’m giving myself another year or so to figure things out. MBA or a Master’s in Industrial Psychology?
Vivi Abbott Walker from The Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood was such a true-to-life character I enjoyed reading and meeting. It was an enjoyable and moving read; I enjoyed the book better than the movie! The most memorable line: “How tender can we bear to be [with our loved ones]?” (Of course this is the line I was waiting for… but Sandra Bullock never said it! Hmph!) Other books I would recommend: Veronika Decides to Die by Paulo Coelho, The Rest of Life by Mary Gordon, A Natural History of Love by Diane Ackerman, and Einstein’s Dreams by Oh-No-I-Forget-His-Name! I regret not reading as much as I used to. It has been quite some time since I finished a book; I’m still in the first few chapters of Don Quixote and The Unicorn’s Sonata, both books recommended by my good friend Carlo Eustaquio.
Women. March, the official Women’s Month may be over, but I want to give kudos to all the important women in my life who have made a difference in one way or many ways: Mama, Ate Kim, Kreitzi (my best friend from prep), Pat, Ella, Joy (from CSA), Camille (from fifth grade), Ursula, Dawn, Gaby, Stephie, Bridget (from middle school), Gina, Trix and Julia B, Taja, Carly, Mrs. Richardson (from high school), Mia, Alia (from the bench), Kris (from philo class), Julia G, Jhoanna, and the other carpool studettes, all the DDI ladies (Doyet, Cricket, Ting, Pia, Rusela, JR, Aida, Angie, Raquel)… to all you wonderful women, thank you for being with me: for good conversation, great advice, and perfect moments; for all the café-hopping, shopping dates, movie marathons, and sleepovers. Life would be less kind, less colorful, less kikay, and less fun without all of our girlie (but not girlie-girl) experiences together!
X-Rays, CT scans, blood tests, diabetes, asthma… and other signs and symptoms that my parents are getting older, albeit gracefully and with good medical management. Since January, my dad has been admitted to the nearby hospital twice: one for a severe asthma attack, the second for acute diverticulitis. He’s okay now but it’s such a strange feeling to be taking care of one’s parents. It’s a life-has-almost-come-full-circle reality check. It’s kind of scary; heavy on the anxiety, and heavy on the responsibility. Life’s clock ticks one second at a time, day by day, and the best thing to do is to just really make the most of each moment.
Yellow by Coldplay is one of my favorite songs of all time. Chris Martin sings so beautifully: “Look at the stars / look how they shine for you / and all the things you do / and they were all yellow…” As odd as it might sound, I think it would be a great song for my funeral. But as my all time favorite-band, Coldplay still comes a distant second to U2!
Zzzzzz. Goodnight! It’s nearly 1 o’clock in the morning. I hope you enjoyed reading my ABCs as much as I enjoyed writing them. I’ll try to write updates more often. Let’s keep in touch!
# posted by CloudWoman @ 16:27
