being grateful
im in the quaint mary grace shop in serendra working on a report, with sansrival and the yummiest hot chocolate ive tasted in a long time accompanying me. 'se' from the cinema paradiso soundtrack in the background. the neighboring table is filled with theater bigwigs gossiping over coffee on the latest dibs on showbiz and theater personalities. histrionic people blabbing their tonsils out in the tiniest, homiest place on earth. im at home. i couldn't be happier.
actually i could, because this plate of sansrival tastes like crap. i swear goldilocks serves better ones. but im not complaining. i have a lot to be thankful for:)
i haven't blogged or posted anything very long in a while because as my last post explained, i'm back to being busier than i've ever been. and i've sort of refrained from going on-line all the time so that i could get stuff done. i also refrained from always going online at home so that i could sleep earlier. sleep's such a luxury for me now, especially with the curing of the recording (adding to) taking a lot of my sleep time.
*mmm.. that last sip i just had was absolutely divine:)*
a short update of what had happened since my last post:
-i checked one item off my wish list. i couldnt wait for another person to give it to me so i bought it myself. heehee. i have another item ive been putting off getting for the last couple of months that i wanna get again. maybe in the next few months.
-my team was the top group for the month of May (yay!)
- my agent was top Property Executive for the month (yay!)
- I was able to recommend him (and successfully had it approved!) to be promoted to Senior Property Executive! (yee-haw!)
- I was top Sales Manager for the month (yay!)
but it wasn't easy. i toiled for days to be able to achieve these. something i should have done years months ago. and i dont intend to slack off anytime soon. my time with ACS has been greatly affected, but im grateful that now, every opportunity i get to sing becomes even more special :)
my new director invited me to the Coffee Bean across our office this afternoon to kind of get to know me more and discuss some things that have transpired the last month that i was in her team. she basically was glad about my openness in dealing with the transition (which i rarely have problems with really, even in the past). i was commended for the whole package i brought in with myself and my team, but her only concern was how, erm, 'composed' i am all the time. she doesnt know what she was talking...about!! lol! i may have to be a little more enthusiastic about work, she said. i was suppressing my laughter at this point. haha! i assured her that i was very enthusiastic about what i do and though it seems that i am 'composed' all the time (i wanted to LOL at this point, i swear!), i told her i just knew how to behave in different situations. AND that im just really shy at first, that's why i seem reserved. but anyhow, our chitchat jumped from one topic to another and i was really happy that we had a lot of things in common. she has done international marketing as well so we really had similar experiences that people who haven't traveled for business would not understand. and when i mentioned that i was trained by my old boss PD, she was surprised because PD actually called hear over a year ago to have her come for an interview with him. she went, but declined his offer for manager because she was eyeing a sales director position. then our conversation led to ideals and management strategies. i think she liked my style enough that she wanted me to give a 20-minute talk on our regular Monday sales meeting on any sales topic of my choice. wow, it's been so long since i last gave a presentation to a big group, and now i have two days to come up with something, complete with powerpoint presentation! and the added pressure is that i'm the newbie in the group, and i don't believe she's let other managers present to the group before. yiiiish! i'll start to pull things together maybe starting tomorrow. i still have so much to do tonight.
AAAAAND i got the mother of all surprises!!! (drumroll please...) my old boss PD called me at 9pm tonight!! he called to personally ask if i could come to his big 50th bday celeb AND if i wouldn't mind hosting the event with 2 other people from different generations of his management (meaning early and late 90's batch). of course i said yes:) he also wanted me to do a repeat of one of the performances i coached for one of our awardings before, but now he wants ME to be singing. i would be honored, i said. and then came the hinting of him wanting to get me back on his team. i just laughed:) apparently, word has spread about how im doing in my present company and he's been very happy to hear about it. i dont know how the eff it reached him, but i'm flattered and not complaining:)
i love that man, i swear. he could be an a**hole for sure, but i guess we need that sometimes to challenge us. i've traveled with him for business and i've learned a lot from him. i'm one of the lucky few who's had the opportunity to know him on a more personal level, i even got to know his wife better, which i think would be impossible for other bosses. i was so surprised and very much glad that i saw his name flashing on my cellphone screen. i remember when i was still doing Offshore Sales that when i'd see him calling, id be terrified. haha! now, it was different. that old familiar feeling is still there but it was definitely exciting for me to answer his call.
im so glad that my past and present work network are slowly intertwining. that the things i did and the people i've worked with in the past are still relevant to where i am and what i do today is just perfect.
i just ordered a second cup of that magnificent mary grace hot chocolate. the film of bittersweet chocolate that forms on the surface between my sips is just killing me right now. life is good. thank You Lord.