Project 14, 15, 16 and 17 (part 2)

On Family and Friends

Enchanted Kingdom
Thanks to Marga, my fellow graduate, for treating us to Enchanted Kingdom. Though there were only four of us, we were able to enjoy at the same time, face our fears, especially for our baby Louise. Thank God the queues were not long. In the span of 5 hours, we got to ride flying fiesta, rio grande and anchor's away twice and thrice for log jam. Bonding with these girls is love.

Marga, Chinny, Zombie, Louise and Me

Antipolo Overnight
Does living with 2 girls and 1 gay friend appeal to you? I had the chance to experience it with my closest friends in college. Just a little background, our "eccentric group" was formed way back in first year, thanks to our English-Lit class for two semesters. Why eccentric? Well if you try to assess us individually, you'd realize that all four of us have totally different personalities. Even I can't explain the dynamics of our relationship. Nevertheless, Rica loves them so much.

Overnight at St. Gabriel, Avidaland, nightswimming at Loreland and breakfast at Katipunan.
Canyonwoods

I love that place, feels like I'm in a different country. Even if the use of their facilities was very expensive, I still want to go back there. Thanks to the beautiful houses there, I now have a clear picture of my dreamhouse.

Hello boys! ang kukulit niyo talaga.

Project 14, 15, 16, and 17 (part 1)

Hello little-library! I'm really sorry for not updating you for the past few weeks. I've been busy looking for work and at the same time enjoying the company of my family and friends.

ON WORK

Like what I mentioned in my previous post, I was just pressured to look for a job because almost all of my friends are either employed or are looking for work. Not to mention, my family's also pushing me to do the same. And so for the past 6 weeks, I always had at least 2 interview/test. Going to different building was tiring especially because of the heat. I had to bring an extra pair of shoes because of the inconvenience of walking around in heels.

*In one of these companies, I failed their analyst exam. Para akong nag-ACET ulit. hahaha! I didn't want to pursue the other because of the 3-year bond contract. And for the other one, I just tried but have no plans of working there.

Third week of April, I was disheartened already because I still didn't have any callbacks from the companies after finishing the whole application process. What makes it more frustrating is that that the position I'm applying for or being offered is only open to one (except for two companies). I feel so pressured given the fact that you're not the only applicant and you have to outdo at least 15 applicants for that position.
Most of my batchmates have work already and even envy those who really got their dream job. I'm aware of my weakness during interviews and so I tried to be more confident with myself. It really makes sense hat if you do not believe in what you can do, there's no reason for others to believe in you as well. Also trust the Lord that he will bless you, and truly you will be blessed. Everything I have and am, I owe it to the Lord who never fails me. And just last Tuesday I received my first job offer then yesterday my second. Optimistically, waiting for the third offer.*crossed finger*
The dilemma I'm now facing is which will I choose. I've been considering the two offers and tried enumerating the benefits and and disadvantages of both companies. Much as I want to take the second offer, my parents keep on insisting to get the first one. My main concern would have to be the nature of work. I'm really excited with what the second company can offer me but my parents are afraid of taking so much risk because the company is only in it's 3rd year.
It ins't really about me being indecisive when it comes to things but I just don't want to disregard the feelings of those around me.

BIG QUESTION: Will you follow your heart or sacrifice your own happiness* for the happiness of your loved ones?
*still unsure whether it will bring you real happiness.

Will-surely-be-employed-soon ~Rica Gran

Project 13

Desperate

Monday right after our graduation, Drew and I braved the busy streets of Makati in the hope of getting a decent job by knocking at the doors of different companies. I became Drew's navigator since he wanted to apply in different five-star hotels and companies. We started our desperate journey in Intercon Hotel at 9am. Confident we were, we entered the building via main entrance. But after talking to the receptionist, we found ourselves walking towards the back entrance since the HR dept was located there. After an hour, we were able to give out resumes in 4 five-star hotels. At this rate, we thought that we'll be able to visit and give out resumes to a lot of companies. But at 11am, we gave up already. :P

Drew and I at Tower One

Among all the buildings that we visited along Ayala Ave., LKG Tower would have to be the most memorable one. Since we were determined to apply in different companies, we pressed random floors in the elevator. Drew and I would check on every stop whether we like the company on that floor or not. I'm not sure how many stops there were, but it sure was fun poking our heads out of the elevator then after some seconds go inside again.

It did feel a bit nostalgic because I was doing the same routine I had when I was still an intern in one of the largest telecommunications in the country last summer. Even when we applied in Rustan's at Oppen Bldg., memories of BLD youth in my younger years lingered.

Holy Week
Our family had our visita iglesia in different towns of Batangas. The traffic wasn't as bad as I thought it to be, since last year it took us almost 4 hours on the road from Laguna back to Manila. My favorite Church would have to be the one in Taal. And I think I fell in love with Taal already. Such a small and peaceful town, I wanted to stay there for a week or two just to relax and discover the rural life.

unemployed ~Rica Gran

Project 10 and 11

It just dawned on me that I'm ending another chapter of my life soon. So for the past two weeks, all I did was to entertain all emotions and stress in my life. And as I got tired, I am trying to reject and remove from my system those which are not necessary and are of no use in the near future. Though the whole process is no joke, family and friends were always there to support and remind me that I am not alone. Lord, help me. Amen.

A recap of what happened to me for the past two weeks...

Week 10

Two of the dearest persons in my life celebrated their birthdays that week.

Second Year Second Sem. After-Class-Matteo-Up routine
March 8 - Happy Birthday, babe!

Thank you for everything. I hope you liked my gift. hihihi! Gamitin mo yan pag nasa office ka na. Don't worry, things will go well. Hope for the best and I'm always praying for you. I love you and God bless.

PS. Straight na ulit hair mo!

March 10 - Happy Birthday, sister!

You're the best sister ever. Kasi nga naman, nag-iisa ka lang. I'm very proud of you. Finally, may work ka na. Do well and kayang-kaya mo yan. Thank you for always being there for me and for constantly praying for me. I'm praying for you as well. Na pressure na ako magkaroon ng work kasi meron ka na. :P I love you and God bless.

Pasta Party
Thank you Thirdy, Andrei, Angelo, Lloyd, TJ, Franz, Quin, Brian and Janelle for coming. I hope you liked the food I prepared. Solid lang talaga ng charades and pictionary. Next time ulit?

First Time to make Cannelloni.

Sobrang kulit ng boys.

Week 11

Looking for work
Because all of my friends were looking for work that time, I was somehow pressured to do the same. And so I opened accounts in Jobstreet and JobsDB. While browsing through the sites, I realized that there are a lot of job openings in the market. However, the positions being offered do not necessarily suit me. It's either I do not like the job or my educational background does not match the job. Talk about mismatch of job offers and job seekers (structural unemployment).

Anyhow, I'm still considering of taking Accounting for my second course. Yet a lot of people kept on telling me to take MBA instead. To work or to study?

Graduation preparation
Mama gave me a very nice pair of shoes. I needed to buy black shoes for my graduation. Since my last pair of black pump shoes was back in High school (We were required to wear heels for the last 3 months of our Senior year.), I asked Mama if I can get another one.

Aren't they pretty?

Graduation, here I come ~ Rica Gran

Project 6,7,8

Since I've been uber busy for the past 3 weeks because of finals, thesis and the like, i'll let the pictures do the talking except for Week 6. Week 6 was full of drama for me. hahaha! :D

Week 7

Post-Valentine's Gift. You make me smile! Thank you.

I love both of them. hihihihi!

Nanay's 90th birthday! Complete family picture.

Week 8

Happy Birthday Lolo Nes. Family Bonding again!

at Sonya's Garden

Yogurt Yogurt!

TOSH with Drew and Rissa

Project 05

Week 05 was special. Nothing grandiose but just a few new and exciting things happened to me. I have no intentions of sharing anything to you but for one.

A.R.A.
ARA stands for Angel, Rica and Anya. I know, this sounds so high school! And I'm a bit disturbed because I like it. Hahaha! I enjoyed my afternoon date with these girls. Thank you for making our little get-together possible. I love you both.

Pictures were taken last Oct 2008 inside my room.

PS. We miss you, Dane.

2 weeks left ~ Rica Gran

Project 04

I would have to say that this week was a week overflowing with love. :)

Kythe Week

I promoted this here in my blog before. And i have to say that this project was a success. The event was held at the Colayco Pavillion. It had 4 booths. The photo competition booth gave free Hansels to those who voted. They also had a free photobooth. I love the placards and Kapitan Kimo. Written on the placards were "I cancervive.", "I dream of a world where Cancer is just a zodiac sign." and "Cancel Cancer." The third booth, where I spent most of my spare time, was called the Toy Workshop. Here, we made drums, maracas and toy cars to be given out to the Kythe kids. And the last booth was the blood drive booth. I'm so happy that I got Mico to donate blood (it was his first time.) and participate in the activities. He's lucky because the Kythe Week team were giving away a set of coloredpens to those who were able to go through all the booths. I wonder if he gave it to Berna. :D

Mico's "kumakandidato" pose. Good job Mr. Lifesaver.

Kythe Picnic
I can honestly say that I enjoyed our picnic. Everyone was willing to participate in the games. Angelo's chinese garter exhibition would have to be one of the highlights of that event. I also enjoyed the jamming sessions. I'm in love with Janelle's sweet voice. hihihi. One of the songs sung during the event was a song that has a special place in my heart, it was sung during the invocation.



Kythe Flying

I wasn't able to help during the set up since I had recollection that morning. But by 1:00pm, everything was already fixed and we were just waiting for the kids to come. We commenced the event with a Eucharistic celebration. Everyone was filled with the yummy Binalot (except for me and Adrianna). There were also free ice cream and cotton candy. The kids enjoyed the skit prepared by Kythe members. The parents were also able to relax and enjoy, thanks to the free massage by the blind people.

UBE Firetruck was there to give everyone a ride around the Belfield.

Not to mention, Marc Nelson came! Everyone wants to be close to him.

with Adrianna, and cute boy John Cena.

Congrats Mia and Angelo!

I salute your core team as well! You guys were amazing. :D

Immersion Recollection
I kept all of these in my heart.

• "We all have a share of poverty in our lives. We're just scared to admit it." - Recollection Master on poverty

• "The call for us is not only to step out of our comfort zone but to expand the territories of our comfort zone." - Ma'am Rina on our immersion experience

• "There are two types of love. The first kind of love is you love because you derive happiness in that person. The second kind of love is benevolence. You give love because you want to and you give it without asking for anything in return."; "Ask the Lord to give you the grace to forgive them." - Father on love and forgiveness

Send-off Dinner
Baby Eli will be leaving us sooner than we thought. But before their whole family leaves for the states, we gave a send-off dinner at Zhu, Fort Bonifacio. We also went to Venetian Mall at Mckinley Hill. Sayang, we weren't complete. Nevertheless, every moment spent with them is priceless.

First Draft
We were able to pass it on time! Good job to us Annie.

St. Scholastica LSS#16
I read the second reading for that day. Overrated but still one of my favorite readings.

1 Corinthians 13

loved ~ Rica Gran

Project 03

A super late update.

Week 3 was an uneventful week for me. Nothing extraordinary happened aside from the fact that I lost my phone for the -nth time. I'm so dismayed that day because I can't leave the house in time for my class since my brother wasn't home yet from work. I blame him why I lost my phone that day. He wasn't answering my calls and messages. So I opted to bring the keys to my grandparents house. While walking along our street, I remembered texting him where to get the keys. A few minutes after riding a cab, I realized that my phone was missing. I'm so disappointed with myself. Good thing I still have my Globe phone with me. So if you need anything, you may contact me through my Globe number. Will get a new phone by Wednesday for my Sun sim. I'll be using the same number so don't delete it in your phonebooks.

JOB FAIR

That week was also the university's Job Fair week. Even though I plan to study again after graduation, I still submitted my resume to some of the companies. The Placement Office also provided a soft copy of our graduation pictures so that we can use it in our resumes. One word to describe my grad pic, Fail! Annie and I weren't really satisfied with our pictures. Oh well! But aside from being busy with the job fair, Annie and I applied for our SSS numbers. Talk about express lane! Thank you Placement Office. I remember Kuya inviting me last sembreak to apply for my SSS number with him. I said yes but I totally forgot about it. I'm not even sure if he got his ID already.

COMPLIMENT?
I got innumerable yet the same comment that week from my family, friends and acquaintances. Ang payat mo! (You look thin!) I admit that I had problems with my eating habits. Well it started way back during Christmas break, but it got worse when classes resumed. My regular weight is 100lbs. End of Christmas break, I was 95 lbs. And just this week, my weight's 92lbs. I didn't expect my weight lost to manifest this soon. But not to worry, I started eating again this week. Hence, no more flat tummy for me.

THE BIG DAY!
I've been mentioning about this in my previous entries. It was my Lolo and Lola's BIG DAY! They celebrated their 75th Birthday (not anniversary) together. It was held at Makati Park last January 23. A total of 250 guests! All the ladies were pretty in their cocktail dresses while the gentlemen looked dashing in their barongs. I'll soon upload the pictures and videos or our presentations that day. One is my duet with Marga; the other is my family's dance number.

Baby Eli sporting a barong. He was extra adorable that night.

~*~

Jan 23 shout out!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY KIRAE! I love you, girlfriend.

~*~

Starts-eating-again ~ Rica Gran

Project 02

Week 2 wasn't as crazy as my first week. I had a handful but manageable things-to-do under my checklist for this week. Thank God. Though I wasn't spared from all the drama, at least I got a healthy dose of it. I smiled more that I cried. Yey!!!

Thesis and my Thesis Partner
We have less that two weeks to finish our first draft and our Chapter 3-5 is still non-existent. Miracles do happen, right? Will get through this, I just know.

Photobooth with Annie

This is Annie, one of my best girl pals and my thesis partner. It's actually good to have a partner (who's different from you) to balance out everything that is unstable about you.
I talk a lot, she talks a lot more (kidding). She's very pretty... wait, I'm pretty as well. :P I'm unorganized and a certified crammer, she's little miss OC who also crams like me! With all these differences we have, one thing's definite, I super duper love her.
My aunt posted this on her FB account, "A good antidote to denial is to go to a safe and truthful friend who knows your situation."
Thank you for being my reality-checker and for just always being there for me. Thank you also for going to NSO the other day to collect data for our thesis. I love you supergirl!

Family
It's been a while since I last ate dinner together with my parents. I always eat alone. It was never an issue on my part since I know that we all have things to do on our own. However, I do look forward to eating dinner with the whole family. And just last Thursday night, after shopping for the January 23 party, Mama asked Papa to treat us to dinner. I can't recall the stories why we were all laughing hard. What I do know is that I'm really happy I got to spend quality time with them. I love you Mama and Papa! Let's do this more often, please. :)

Thank you Mama Gel for praying for me. I know that you never stopped caring especially when you heard about the news. I really appreciate it. Stay pretty and I love you!

Mama Gel, me and Mama Risa

Unisan
- FGDs are draining.
- My foster family is really nice.
- Walking along the beach is fun when low tide.
- I now know how to throw stones on water.
- I'm learning to appreciate long bus trips - escapism.
- I shall go back to Unisan, alone! If you want to come, just tell me. :D

Friends
I started accepting all the love I can get from my friends who sincerely love me. Sorry for pushing you away and thank you for just being there for me. :)

To you (whoever you are), I rarely fight back when people do me wrong. But it's different when you start attacking my friends. I used to care about you, but not anymore. Get a life!


Waiting for a miracle ~ Rica Gran

PROJECT 52 on 2010

For 2010, I plan to work on a project which I shall call Project 52! So what’s with 52? Well, there are 52 weeks in a year. Through this project, I intend to share to you the highlight(s) of my 52 weeks for this year. I just pray that I may be committed to finish this project.

In case I fail? Uhmm… I don’t want to think about it.

~*~

PROJECT 01

Under my checklist for this week are the following: Oral exam, Praxis Group work, Philo Long Test, Thesis Data Gathering, AEA YES report preparation, Kythe Week bags and Jan23 preparation. What made this week unbelievably tiring and difficult for me is that I have to be always attentive and alert so that I could finish everything on time. Now that was the challenge! How could I be attentive if my mind is filled with so many questions and things?!?

Ending results: (1) My body clock is suddenly distorted. I sleep at 3 and automatically wake up at 7am (even if class starts at 12). (2) My stomach rejects to eat more than half of my regular intake. Or else... (3) Puffy eyes. Boo!

But what the heck,I'm still alive and almost done with my checklist. Yey!!!

To my family who’s always on call whenever I’m alone at home and need them, thank you for all the small talks about big matters that we had. I learned a lot from you.

To my two best girl pals, thank you for keeping me sane. You're simply the best. I don’t want to lose you. (PS. Oo na, you like each other. Kayo na ang friends.)

To you(many people), thank you for being there for me.You guys bring tears to my eyes.

To you(single person), do I really deserve to be your friend? Sana nga. Thank you for just wanting to take care of me. You make me smile.

To You, thank You for making me feel loved through these people. Please continue making miracles in their lives. You truly never fail me.

~*~
PHOTO OF THE WEEK

I shall miss you Massoud. Visit us again on July!

PS. Stop putting things inside your mouth and don't forget to give Z a bath.

~*~

We will rock January 23, 2010.

I’m blessed to have my family. Yes, my family’s imperfect (as seen in our unsynchronized dance steps) but still is the best for me.

Dancing shoes on~Rica Gran