2010 had me Singing hello goodbye (by the Beatles!!!)

I would like to believe that it is never too late to write my traditional end of year blog.  For four years now, I would like to make a recap of the year that was.


Work
Work has been good and cruel all in the same year.  Firstly, I got promoted to Associate Manager and had an increase.  Not much as I expected it but something to be thankful for.

I also got in the Facilities Management School Program of the company and was previleged enough that Frank was my boss and he has good persuasion skills.   Not that I need to have some strings pulled, as my credentials are as qualified as the other candidates, its just that the path I am also optioning is quite opposite to the FM School objective. But all I wanted is to learn and get my gear up in the game so there I was and up to now, strutting to become a future Facility Manager.

I am also handling my future position of Environmental Compliance while juggling work as Frank's Technical Assistant.  Was able to meet most of my targets and quite relieved that before the year end nothing was at pending.  I just hope to be good at it and learn all about the job as it could be a good freelance job someday if I would pursue a career as an Environmental Engineer specializing in Environmental Impact Assessment.

Many people has come and joined the company in 2010.  Sheena came in as Frank's Executive Secretary replacing Ma'am Edna.  Also Admin Assistants like Ria and Maedhey joined departments Environmental Planning and Sustainability Department and Safety Solutions Department Respectively.  More people came in as plant managers both at Water Supply and Wastewater likewise in other departments in Operations.  However, a good friend and colleague, Lea Siy left the company which is a brave act considering she is one of the best performers and in the best position in the company.  Hope I would have her guts as well.

Big changes overwhelmed me in 2010.  Frank's retirement was announced in the middle of the year.  And Sir Ding Carpio was announced to replace Frank.  I was devastated as I was losing a very good boss but later I realized that it is part of the changes that is constantly happening.  Frank may leave but he will forever be a good friend.  With Frank's retirement, I developed to be an events coordinator.  With 3 successful parties celebrating his contributions and bidding him farewell, I surely gained skill and knowledge in through the biggest and grandest parties.

Getaways
2010 had me see the world.  I was able to go to 4 international destinations namely Macau, Hongkong, Singapore and Malaysia.

It was good bonding with my sisses Jiji and Icile and good friend Kat when we hit Macau and Hongkong.  I was able to strut my cold weather clothes as well.  Macau and Hongkong also taught me to maximize time yet not be disappointed if you won't be able to finish the itinerary.  If you're tired, the body has got to rest.

Family bonding to its finest when Mom, my brother and I was able to visit our relatives at Singapore and had a tour of the city country.  It was Mom's and brother's first out of the country so it was also a memorable trip.  Unlike Macau and Hongkong where we followed an itinerary, this time, I relied on the thousand of brochures at the airport. It was a good thing as this trip was so relaxed although tiring too especially if there are a lot of walks.

Malaysia was a trip shared with my sis and Silab batchmate, Chris.  It was a disaster initially because Chris' camera got stolen from her bag at the airport.  But amidst that it was a good vacation as we have really enjoyed seeing places after places in Malaysia.  This time, we relied on the good ol' internet with only just selecting the good and popular sites and just hoping to be back again soon for those we have not visited.

2010 also was a great year going around the country.  Holy week was spent in a road trip with sisses Ellainne and Icile when we went to La Union, Vigan and Pangasinan.  It was a trip to remember as it was Icile's last Philippine vacation.  May, Kat and I was able to witness Pahiyas and had one of my wishlist done...Kat and I joined a tour going to Lucban, Quezon and had a grand time seeing houses decorated with kiping and fruits.  It was really great.  Also in the same month of May,  I was able to hit Nasugbu in a company outing with great colleagues at Manila Water.  We formed a group named "5 or less more than 1" of which are people from departments whose members are of the title.  Because these departments are so small we decided to pull our funds together and have a company outing of our own. It was great bonding too! In July, I was able to hit Baguio when I instantly joined my Taguig friends in a less than a day trip at Baguio.  It was short but fun!  I was back at the sand and water of Boracay in September with my officemate from Taguig.  Was able to also spend time with colleagues assigned at Boracay.  I was able to go and visit my relatives at Cagayan de Oro at the end of November when I went with Sheena when she was scheduled to go home to her province in Bukidnon.  I had a grand time doing white water rafting, hit Macumba for Margarita, slept at the van going to Bukidnon and had a grand tour of CDO-Bukidnon and El Salvador.  I'm really blessed with very generous relatives who gave me a grand vacation.

Also I was back at Bacolod four times this year and all for significant events.  The April 9 long weekend was a great homecoming as my brother scheduled their civil wedding on that same weekend because they know I am coming home.  My end of August weekend was a more fabulous homecoming because on that weekend, my nephew Saph was born and  I was sure glad to be home.  November, I was home for the All Souls Day holiday and was able to hold Saph for the first time.  It was also great to see Ron after the two of us being official.  And my latest vacation of course was this Christmas Season.  It was a significant one because I got to spend time with family, with friends and loved ones.  I also had a grand time at Guintubdan falls and seeing the southern part of Negros when Ron and I had our roadtrip. :)

Family
The family is getting bigger now.  Manong is married to Graze and has now a son, Saph Rafael Angelo.  Amidst the problems we remained strong and intact.  The business is really on the bloom, sometimes it is overwhelming.  Mel has returned home in the middle of the year and decided to continue school at the province.  He was also committed to help mom with the family business.  He was also able to make business on his own with dog breeding and growing and selling mushrooms.  Rex is helping out with mom's business as well.

With me alone in the metro, and more and more low fares from airlines,  mom and Rex frequently visit me here at our home in Manila.  So amidst being lone, I am not lonely.


School
I continuously excel at school as I fulfill a dream of finishing a Masters Degree.  Although it was hard to juggle work with school, I surprise myself semester after semester as I get good grades and finishing tough subjects with flying colors.  Now I'm at my last semester of course work and will be doing my thesis soon!

Financial
I was able to hit the ceiling of our WASSLAI this year.  It was truly a big sacrifice as I need to raise my savings every month to just hit my target for the year.  But it was rewarding especially when I was able to receive my dividends at the end of the year.

Love
I risked it in love this year.  Was able to forgive fully a person that has hurt me and that forgiveness I have nurtured into trust and love.  Ron and I are officially together.  And I am hoping for a healthy relationship that is stronger and full of love.  :)

2010 had me saying hello and goodbye.  I have seen more than the Philippines but continuously discovering our beloved country.  I have said goodbye to colleagues but has said hello to new ones.  Most especially, I have said hello to love.  It was a great year and I was truly blessed.

Now, I'm looking forward to rockin 2011 with more hellos, love and lesser goodbyes.  :)

Starbucks in Bacolod

It is my first time at Starbucks in the city. I have avoided Starbucks when I am home because I often drink it in Manila courtesy of my British bosses. I would frequent Bacolod's prides Cafe Bob's or Kuppa (to name a few) because I could not find them in Manila.

But tonight, it was only Starbucks that is open and available as everyone is closing its business to prepare for the New Year's Eve Celebration.  So off we go to Starbucks for my usual frapuccino. So to make it more memorable, I treated my brother to Starbucks and bought ourselves the Christmas featured drinks to complete my missing sticker and get my 2011 Starbucks Planner. Oh yebah!!! Weehh!!!! Now, I'm ready for 2011...hahaha!

I chose the red velvet-y planner and I so love it... but I hate my peppermint mocha frappe. yuck!

Post Birthday Celeb

Nang Bambi was not able to attend my birthday dinner. So she treated me (together with my brother) for another dinner at Pepe's. Food was great, as usual. Then we ordered drinks (Blue Frozen Margarita) and ooh lala, there goes our world, spinning wildly we can't control it. So we headed to good ol' Cafe Bob's for a hot chocolate to subside the tipsiness.

All throughout the night, we were talking nonstop... from the time the food came and drinks followed up to the hot choco we're sipping. Just an update of our crazy lives while we were living it separately to at least get reconnected. Nang Bambs is like and has been a sister to me so she is one of the very few people I have been sharing most of secrets, heartaches and heart thumping included....

Today, I'm 27

I'm 27 today.  Seems really old but it doesn't matter because I am at the point where I could say I have enough.  I have my family.  I have a lot of friends.  I have work and I go to school.  I am fulfilling my dreams.  But among other things, this year I risked it in love.

Birthday Roadtrip
Today, I met up with Ron to go to Guintubdan at his hometown in La Carlota. Yikes!  I know, it is my day and he should be doing the effort to visit me.  But I didn't really plan on anything for today.  All I wanted was to spend time with family and with Ron.  I have planned to go to Mambukal and just laze around but my family is busy with business that I could not drag them to the resort.  So it was Ron who persuaded me to go to La Carlota instead.

Loaded his motorbike, we drove about 30 minutes from his house to have a nature trip and have relaxing dip in the cold waters from the falls of Guintubdan which is located in the mountain area of the city of La Carlota.  Sad about the place though is that it was not maintained very well by the government.  Picnic tables are dilapidated and the rooms are not available for rent because it was not cleaned, no beds available and it is used as a storage area.  The falls in the middle of the mountains is the majestic scenery that would just capture you.  It would take about 10 minutes to hike down towards the falls but it was worth all the wait.  Cold waters enveloped my being when i took the dip.  When we were there, the place was empty.  All the more that I got excited because I could strut my bikini without  having the whole town scandalized and the people talking and staring at me. I just don't want to be stared at.  The place is not Boracay that people are used to people in Bikinis. It was awesome!  After about 20 minutes, we were joined by a group of teeners so Ron and I decided to leave... hahahaha!!!

We then took our lunch at a Chicken place where we had loads of food with a bill so small.  Waaaaahhh!!!  I love the life at the province.  Cheap but tasty food....the life!

Before going back to Bacolod, we went back to his place to just pay courtesy to his mom and sister.  Just spent time at their place, with a good massage from Ron.  :)  So that is my day with Ron and how we spent my birthday together.

Birthday Dinner
Spent the night with my family at a sumptuous dinner at one of my favorite restaurants in Bacolod, Apollo.  I miss all the good recipes like Ox Tongue, Sepo, and Fried Chicken with chicharon.  So following tradition, I urged the whole family to celebrate with me at Apollo.  We went to the branch at 888 when the main branch doesn't have my usual favorites.  We have requeste the main branch to call up 888 to check availability of our order and we were assured that they would be able to prepare all of them.  When we arrived at the 888 branch, the food was prepared and we have all the place to ourselves.  It was like the place was reserved for me!  The waiters are accomodating and they were willing to take our picture... it was a good night.

After that more pictures were taken at the big Christmas tree of 888.

So today, I am a year older.  I have aged but I know I am very much loved and blessed!

Christmas Eve

Everyone was busy. Everyone was tired.

Mom was asleep the whole day after meeting (and exceeding) her target. Manong and Grace went out to buy groceries even if I knew for a fact that there would less malls and grocery stores opened because it is Christmas Eve.

So nobody was up to cooking food for the traditional Christmas Eve Dinner. So my brothers, Mel and Rex, got all the cold cuts in the ref and out was the pan and oil for a fast fry. I got all the possible drinks and viola, we have our Christmas Dinner. :)

Fun Time at Bath

Saph enjoys taking his bath... i think he looks forward to it everyday. Evidence of that is the spills of water on the floor because he is kicking like crazy, excited about getting wet. As he sits in his throne in his bath tub, it is now a relief that he doesn't cry over taking his bath.  But one crazy thing about this little boy is that he stiffens when tap (cold) water enveloped his body.  He doesn't cry yet but you could see that he will become stiff like he is a frozen kid.





Next summer, I plan to give him a swimsuit so that he is geared up to swim in a big pool. Uhmm, I think he needs a jacuzzi as he would be stiffening too when he is in a pool! :P

Cowboy

Just before going home, I decided to check out SM North for a cute costume for Saph. Since it is halloween, it would be a good time to dress up the baby with something cute and funny.

It was an ordeal looking for a costume for a 2 month old. And a more difficult one for boys since there are less to choose from unlike for girls where ballerina tutus are just all over the place. From the toys section, they only have for 6 mo old babies and up.

Good thing I found these overalls with hoodie in a cow design. It was perfect!!!

So here is our Cow(boy) Saph, looking pretty good and ready for trick or treating.


-o0o-

This was his overalls when he went to Cadiz to visit Graze's part of the family.. he really was a star!

Home for the Halloween!

Home sweet home!

Arrived at Bacolod at 6AM. After 2 glasses of cider from Pino, I went home to change and prepared for a trip home. At the airport, I had one or two hours of sleep while waiting for the plane and another 30 min or so at the plane. So when I got home I was so high and felt like floating but my eyes are already in a state of upheaval.


How could I go to sleep if this little boy greets you?!?! And food (CRAAAABBSS!) that you so missed a lot have been served. The familiarity of the place you have grown and outgrown fills you like a drug that keeps you awake.

But around 8AM, I found myself crawling in bed and was sleeping like my nephew Saph...


-o-
Two months since I saw this cute angel, now I got to finally hold him... a bit bigger and a hell lot cute. :)

Saph at 1 Mo

How time really fly so fast... Saph has turned a month old... what a cute angel...

soon, he will be reminding us that we are old.

Saph Rafael Angelo Real-Tribaco

I'm a proud tita of this very cute baby named Saph Rafael Angelo Real-Tribaco.  Saph was born last August 29, 2010 just in time when Mel and I went home for the long weekend.  Born at the Riverside Medical Center, Saph was a champion amongst his peers, topping the weighing scale at 8 lbs, 1 oz.

So cutie but it was a labor for his mommy, Grace.  Grace had contractions in the evening of Aug 28.  So we decided to bring her to the hospital around 11PM.  But Saph only got out past 2PM of August 29.  Poor mom (really long labor!) and dad (who worried and had no sleep).  According to my cousin, Dr. Mary Rose Hernia-Lao, they have to induce Saph's coming out (using forceps, sorry I'm not medical so I really don't understand).

It was a great weekend... finally got to see my first nephew... Congratulation to proud parents, (Manong) Rolan and Grace.

Hopefully, when I come back in November, its his Christening!

Diana becomes a Mother

Last Sunday, 3 adorable puppies joined our kennel of shih tzu when their mother, the family pet Diana, gave birth.  Going through 6 hours of labor, with only 1 casualty, it was a success to see 3 beauts, snuggling near their mother to get warm.

Bad Weekend

The last weekend was the meanest. 

Saturday. After spending time in bed and wasted hours doing nothing, the day ended with a big fight with my brother.  Big to the point where he banged the keyboards till all the keys are out of its sockets.  I didn't say anything and had that "poker face" telling him I don't care at all and went to the bathroom.  After taking a bath, I found the monitor of his computer down and the electric fan as well.  I was not bothered.  And all through the night, we have left the appliance as is, as pride enveloped each on of us.

 

Sunday. We're still not in speaking terms.  While my brother is asleep and I was in front of the tube, we heard our most feared voice.  It was like a nightmare turned to reality. Good thing, I lowered the volume of the TV beforehand so it was not obvious from the outside. I instantly turned off the dvd and ran towards the door and locked it.  Then I ran towards my brother's part of the house and woke him up...And he just replied, "I hear him".  And we decided to pretend that the house was empty. 

My father was outside our house.  We heard him asked for us from the neighbors but we pretended that we were not in.  It was a terrible 4-5 hours of pure agony.  I don't want to see him for I dont' know what to react.  Mixed emotion of anger, contempt, pity, etc.  I don't know... And mostly, I don't want to regret anything I would do or say towards my father.

I don't want the last weekend to ever happen again.. it was, by far, the meanest.

We are more than him

Weeeh!!! I got to finally see Mama after such a long time. Last seen her Independence Day when I went home.

Mom is here for a seminar courtesy of her office. Good to see and know that she is hanging on despite Papa’s unfathomable actions. She is still wounded and I understand if it would take a long long time for her to heal. But at the very least, I am pleased that she is recuperating. We assure her that it would be ok and that there is more than him…we are more than him.

We love you mom!

Getting Sicker by the Day

According to my last doctor appointment at the province, I have a lot of gas in my stomach...I have hyper acidity she said. And so she told me to avoid coffee (omg!), tea, softdrinks, citrus, etc. So I was in a dilemma as what to drink (except of course water)... i could easily elude softdrinks but coffee?!?! and iced tea or even pineapple juice?!?! Argh!!!

So being a hardhead, I am not 100% caffeine free, I didn't say goodbye to my digestive aid and antioxidant, tea... nor have I said my last farewell to the fruit juices. I just lessen my intake of them... Pity me... now that I am offered of Starbucks coffee every lunchtime by Tom (who loves Philippines for cheap Starbucks! He's British, btw), and tea every morning. Hays! So for the whole week, I said no to the offers and agreed to it just yesterday, the last day of work... which Tom acted out like he was having a heart attack because finally I said yes to his treat! He was already thinking that I am much cheaper than the previous 2 TAs who have been in Ops because I have been declining free food from the two of them (him and Frank).

And just before I left for Manila, my family gathered in Apollo for a some-sort-of-tradition, a set-off dinner. After finishing with my food, I had a very bad stomach ache which I proceeded to the resto's CR... I was half relieved but Rolan was not convinced so he set me outside and convinced me to vomit the food out which I easily did because I was really in pain.

When I came home, I was already coming back and forth to the CR... I am having LBM. After about 6 sessions, my brother and I went out to buy gatorade or ORS... my mom on the otherhand was pleading me that we proceed to the hospital for a check-up which I said no to for I am afraid that I would get confined and I can't board the plane going back to Manila (which is the following day), and going back to work. And missing the plane would mean additional charges for rebooking and increase in fare rates.

So after 2 gatorades and more trips to the CR, a plane ride to Manila and commute to work, I still have a very rebellious stomach. I had another 2 sessions in the office before I went to our company doctor for a medical advice. He was actually in shock that I was still up in my toes for work as I should be very weak because of the lost electrolytes. He even advice me to go home, gave me antibiotics, and ORS, and recommends that I go to the hospital if I would still have LBM after 2 drinks of my meds.

The meds took effect bigtime... I didn't have any bowel encounters, even my regular ones, for two days! Now I'm fine tuned and have no problems with LMB... sadly I never had the chance to know why I had those bouts..

Future Mechanical Engineer

Congratulations to my bro!


(Future) Engr. Rolan Tribaco, M.E.