2011 the start of a new decade

Well, 2010 is but a memory. 2011 is now. I can’t believe it’s been a decade since Y2K. A lot has happened in 10 years. Although amazingly we only have 2 presidents during this decade, 3 if you count ERAP. I had 3 job changes during this decade. I met a lot of people thru the DC message boards this decade. Facebook, plurk, twitter and all them social media appeared like mushrooms during the last 10 years.

The kids have grown so much during the last 10 years. My eldest is about to graduate high school. It makes me feel old. Comics have grown during the last decade. The Philippines seem to have fallen backwards during the last 9 years before P-Noy took the presidency.

Japanese, Chinese and Korean culture has swept the country by storm in this last 10 years making the Filipino culture almost unknown to most of the Filipino people. Churches have flourished and have divided also. It was about 10 years ago that my family transferred to the vineyard and about 6 years later gone to do house churches. I also appeared on TV during this decade. My feature in 700 club Asia seem to be replaying over and over the last 6 years I think. My dad has shifted religion from Christianity to the more legalistic Jewish traditions. My mom aged horribly during this last decade. I was diagnosed with diabetes 3 years ago, now I’m in medication ever since.

My kids were elementary and now high school during this decade. My kids won’t win any loyalty awards since they had different schools during their high school life.

Well, a new year means new hope. I’m no believer in new year resolutions because often than not it isn’t really followed. It’s like broken promises.

I think this year will be a good year for us, unlike the last 2 years where we really struggled in every aspect of our lives. This year shows promise.

Welcome 2011.

Dec.21 and 22 musings at the office

Dec.21

We had a fire drill this morning. If it was a real fire, a lot would still be left within the building. Joyce have a 2 day seminar since yesterday in Sta. Cruz, Laguna. I miss her. I think I should stop texting. I’m getting too tired of it.

It’s Christmas in about 4 days. I still don’t know my schedule for this week and next week. I hope they give me overtime pay. Sigh.

I think I’ll check tomorrow on my ATM card. It’s a week already since I applied for my account at UPCB.

I hope we have money before Christmas. I don’t know when we’ll be going to Marikina. I hope we go there before the 31st. It’ll be great to spend time with the clan. We seldom see each other now so it’s a good feeling to just come at our annual reunion. I hope to see my aunt and uncle.

I wonder whatever became of our application to Canada. I hope in due time we’ll also get there like my cousin.

I suddenly have something to do here. Sigh. It’s almost lunch time here. People at the plant eat around 11am up to whenever.

Joyce will be home later. I hope she has some good news. I’m thinking of going to mom’s house tonight before I go home. I hope I can create again. I want to create something nice this time.

I wish I could met the guys before the year ends. I miss their company. Those guys have been part of my life since 2002? It’s been that long. I miss the comic book scene immensely.

Finished my nap.

Started my afternoon tasks such as it is. I’ve been doing Milo intakes since I arrived here at work. Yesterday I didn’t drink anything so I felt a bit tired and I feel I lack sleep last night. Which I think is my fault entirely.

Still sleepy. I hope my wife arrives home okay today. I miss her.

The engineers have another meeting. I’m still a bit sleepy. JM called me on some stuffs. There are problems that need solutions that much I know. If they won’t tell me stuffs then how can I do it? I’m not middle management here. I’m just a grunt. They’re the front liners. I hope the afternoon moves a bit faster. I want to see my wife and kids. Christmas is fast approaching and I thank God that I have a job. It feels a bit different than last year. During my time in ETDVWAMS, it felt like too much burden has been put in my shoulder. Too big responsibility yet my pay was so low and the guy makes us look like idiots and corrupt at that. Dealing with the BIR was the lowest point really. They’re so corrupt.

I hope Joyce’s bonus or salary would be released today or tomorrow. We’re still adjusting financially. Sigh.

My brother and his family will go to Cagayan De Oro tomorrow. They’ll spend Christmas there at my aunt’s house. I hope next time we can go down there. The kids would love to go there. If we’ll be going down there, we’ll bring papa and mama with us.

I hope I can get my ATM tomorrow. I’m drinking an average of 4 or 5 cups of Milo since I started working here. That’s per day. I hope I can give the kids their Milo.

I think we’ll just commute going to Marikina this year. Papa and mama don’t know if Dodo has other plans.

It’s almost time to go home. I will drop by mom’s house tonight.

Dec. 22

Well, it looks like a good day. I uploaded my pictures from my sim card to my flash drive so I guess I can upload it at FB anytime now. The kids would be thrilled to hear about this. I hope I can use some computer time tonight with a faster internet connection. I’ve to tell Joyce that we have to be online a bit earlier just to avoid the rush of people.

We’re getting ready for Christmas dinner. We have 2 houses to celebrate. We’ll be at mom’s house for 7pm dinner but we need to go home for the 12am dinner come Christmas morning.

I didn’t think the house would look good this season. Joyce and her mom are ironing out their differences so as not to be sore this Christmas. I hope we have a nice Christmas this year.

I’m a bit worried over the figures that I’m seeing here. Sigh.

Confronted by the Truth

By: Ruel Guerrero

In 2003, I was asked to speak at a nearby Vineyard church. I asked the
Lord what he wanted me to say? He said, “talk about the theme, love
one another.” I didn’t know the people in the church where I was to
speak, so I said, “OK if that’s what you want, but what passage should I
use?”
I heard him say “John 15.” As I recalled, that chapter was on abiding in
Christ or on bearing fruit. I checked again. Sure enough it was on both.

I reread the entire passage. Yes, it was on abiding in Christ, and yes, by
doing so we would bear fruit. But, I began to realize that the entire pas-
sage was founded on loving one another. It was time to read the chap-
ter with a fresh perspective. I read through the first few verses until I
came to verse 8: “This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit,
showing yourselves to be my disciples.” That caught my attention. For
quite some years now, there has been much focus on worship. The de-
sire to glorify the Father and to become truly intimate with the Lord was
the reason for the focus. Verse 8 drew my attention because for me do-
ing ministry had to glorify God or it was worthless. Worship and ministry
both are all about glorifying God. So here I found Jesus’ words about
how to glorify His father.

This put me on a quest. Jesus said that in order to glorify the Father, I
must bear much fruit. But what really is bearing fruit? The standard an-
swer I always got was that it had to do with evangelism. Verse 5: “I am
the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he
will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.” I’ve heard this
verse interpreted to mean that in order to bring in the harvest one must
spend sufficient time in prayer and worship and be able to hear God’s
voice in the course of evangelism. This verse does say that to bear
much fruit, a man must remain in Christ. How does one remain in
Christ?

Verse 10 speaks to that: “If you obey my commands, you will remain in
my love, just as I have obeyed my Father’s commands and remain in
his love.” To remain in Christ, I must obey Christ’s commands. It doesn’t
specifically say devotion, nor does it talk about hearing God’s voice.
What are Christ’s commands? If this verse is referring to all biblical
commands, goodnight! We would never be able to remain in Christ’s
love. Thank God the Old Testament commands are over. But we have
Christ’s commands in the New Testament.

Then I came upon verses 12-13: “My command is this: Love each other
as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down
his life for his friends.” Jesus was actually focusing in on one major
command—loving one another. This is the new command he gave. If
the first and greatest commandment is to love God with all your heart,
soul, mind and strength, and the greatest love of all is to lay down your
life for your friends, then Jesus loved and worshipped God by doing the
greatest love of all—to lay down his life for all of us. His was the great-
est and most supreme act of worship!
©2003 All rights reserved. Permission granted to copy and distribute freely for free.

Back then and now

You know back then all the anime features were dubbed in English nowadays it's all in Filipino which is not bad. Back then when listening to FM radio we could have good music, now we get novelties and jokers. Gone are the good progressive radio stations and popping up like mushrooms are the corny ones which clearly states the reality of Philippine music. Back then kids would study because they needed to learn much, now kids study because they want more money. Back then our TV was a national B&W with closing screen doors, now we have big flat screen LCDs. Back then we learn from our mothers at home and by watching Sesame Street, now kids go to computer shops to play and play. Back then we write our reports or we type them, now we copy paste and print them on the computer. Back then we show our parents respect, now kids don't know how to do that.
Back then we dream of our comic book heroes to have live movies, now we get saturated with reboots and remakes of all rehash plot lines using our favorite characters both in the big screen and on the tube. Back then, the military looks respectable and the police are good, now the military is pit of liars and the cops are fat pigs.
Back then I was small now I'm big, then I was young, now I'm old....
I'm freaking ranting....sigh

Hawkman Sketch

a rather blurred sketch of Hawkman's face. sigh

Code Geass: Lolouch of the Rebellion

Before TV5 tagalized the series, I was already watching it but only 1 episode at a time. Until about Monday, I just watched season 1. Well no more. Once I got to finished watching season 1 (I think I still need to watch 3 episodes) I watched season 2. Well I got glued and finished it in about 2 days. Let's have the rounddown.

Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion (コードギアス 反逆のルルーシュ, Kōdo Giasu: Hangyaku no Rurūshu?), often referred to as simply Code Geass, is a Japanese anime series created by Sunrise, directed by Gorō Taniguchi, and written by Ichirō Ōkouchi, with original character designs by Clamp.

Code Geass first ran in Japan on MBS from October 5, 2006,[1] to July 28, 2007.[2] Its sequel series, Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion R2 (コードギアス 反逆のルルーシュR2, Kōdo Giasu Hangyaku no Rurūshu Āru Tsū?), ran on MBS and TBS from April 6, 2008 to September 28, 2008.[3][4] Both seasons have won several awards at the Tokyo International Anime Fair,[5] Animage Anime Grand Prix, and Animation Kobe event.

Plotline: The series is set after Japan's conquest by the Holy Britannian Empire on August 10, 2010 a.t.b., with their powerful new robot weapons, the Knightmare Frames, stripping Japan and its citizens of all rights and freedoms and renaming the country Area 11. The titular Lelouch vi Britannia is an intellectual Britannian prince who was sent as hostage, along with his sister Nunnally, by his father, Emperor Charles zi Britannia, after his mother was murdered, and has vowed to destroy Britannia. He gains an ability through the mysterious power of the Geass, becoming the leader of the resistance movement to fulfill his two wishes: to seek revenge for his mother and to construct a world in which his beloved sister Nunnally can live happily.
Code Geass is set in an alternate universe where three superpowers, the Holy Britannian Empire, the Chinese Federation, and the Euro Universe have divided the world between them (with the exception of an independent Australia) and maintain a tentative balance for the first part of the series. The balance shifts in the second season as the E.U. has much of its territory conquered by Britannia while Lelouch engineers a revolution in the Chinese Federation and creates a new alliance of countries, the United Federation of Nations, reducing the number of superpowers to two.

Let's say I was hooked on the premise of the tale, Clamp animation really did a good design for the series.

Effective Interpersonal Communication Skills Workshop

Posted on October 9, 2010 by jobstweet| Leave a comment

Effective Interpersonal Communication Skills Workshop
Speaking Effectively Workshop for Managers
November 24, 2010 * 9:00am – 5:00pm
Joy 3, 5th Floor Qakwood Premier,
Ortigas Center, Pasig City

Deliver your message across with ease and confidence!

Communication is an important key to success and progress. Speaking effectively is bringing your message across individuals or groups, moving them to reflect and act upon what you have said. Many desire to communicate to others this way, but even the most educated sometimes fail to communicate well.

Organizations with effective communicators will benefit and most likely experience quicker progress. In this seminar-workshop, participants will learn interpersonal communication skills imperative to having excellent relationships at work (and even at home), how to deliver message across clearly and concisely to individuals or to groups more confidently, how to properly decode the messages sent to them, and how to comfortably ask opinions of others without necessarily compromising your own opinion.

Program Outline:

1. Clearing your mind and emotions
Mastery of self begins here. Thoughts not relevant to the upcoming conversations must be removed otherwise, it will cause distraction or it may lead to a path that is not relevant. Even if you have made up your mind, try to be open-minded about new ideas or approaches. Emotions can be deceiving, try to be at the center, the most tranquil state in order to avoid being deceived by your own emotions.

2. Showing interest while you listen
Showing no interest intentionally or unintentionally is a sign of disrespect and immaturity. This can harm ones reputation as an employee no matter what rank he is. Managers and higher ranks should be the best examples in showing interest in others. Self-centered people are incapable of this. But that can be cured.

3. Listening and observing
Never overestimate your ability to understand people and what they are trying to say. It is not as easy as one might think. But with conscious effort, miscommunication will be minimized. One must listen to the words being spoken but one must also go beyond that and observe the tone and the body language.

4. Clarifying the perceived message
After receiving the message, clarify, clarify and clarify. Misunderstanding has haunted many organizations. What was thought to be a harmless miscommunication has led to bigger problems. The goal is to clarify the message you received before responding.

5. Showing appreciation
Yes this is also a skill, mainly because it must be learned well. People who seldom thanked others for their efforts or time are perceived to be arrogant or manipulative. On the other hand, people who regularly thank other people for their efforts and time are perceived to be respectful, gracious, and sometimes even reasonable. More gratitude in the workplace means a more positive atmosphere, which is beneficial for everyone.

6. Packaging your message
Speak your message clearly and concisely. Back it up with explanation if you must but make sure that it is brief enough so the main message is not cluttered. Use the appropriate tone and show the appropriate emotion. Disagree if you must but begin all messages with a positive note.

7. Other best practices
There are actions and practices that one must avoid in order to be effective in interpersonal communication. It may range from prejudices to insecurities to dominating a conversation, to not valuing the time invested with colleagues, to wasting precious time being too defensive and more. Avoiding these pitfalls will be a lot of help in ones professional relationship.

Who should attend?

* Sales People
* Supervisors and Managers with internal and external customers
* Team leaders
* Those who interface with various people types on a day-to-day basis

Featured Speaker

Eduardo R. Pilapil, Jr. is a speaker, entrepreneur and author. He has been speaking in conferences and seminars for the past 15 years for different non-profit organizations, small companies, and large corporations. Ed is the former CEO of WBP (makers of MET Tathione). He is the chairman of Review Masters League, Inc. and Power Memory Franchising, Inc. The former offers enrichment and review courses. The latter offers memory-based study coaching.

Ed is the author of Strengthen Your Faith and Maximize Your Potential: How to Go Beyond Your Limits.

He holds a Bachelors Degree in Communication Arts from the University of the Philippines and a Masters degree in Christian Leadership from the Asian Seminary of Christian Ministries. He is currently completing his Executive Masters degree in Business Administration at the Asian Institute of Management.
His other experiences include direct selling, business management, business coaching, school directorship, life coaching, Christian ministries and organizational leadership.

Rave Reviews on Ed Pilapil Jr. here and abroad!

“Ed Pilapil can influence the audience very well.”
- Maria Consejo C. Acoba, St. Luke’s Medical Center

“He is very good a arbitrator and [good in] persuading…”
- Ysvetlanie Poblete, Mead Johnson Nutrition (Phils.), Inc.

“I really enjoyed your sessions, I really learned a lot while feeling affirmed during your motivation talk. Your sessions really touched my heart.”
- Tan Fui Chen, Kota Kinabalu, Sabah

“I enjoyed your sessions very much…very humorous and knowledgeable.”
- Sapiah Osman, HRM & Admin Planning Section
Malaysia LNG Sdn Bhd

“I admired the way you delivered your speech during your session. You were so confident and enthusiastic! How I wish I could be like you someday. Who knows one day I could be one of the successful motivator, perhaps. I believe I can do it!”
- Azura binti Zainuddin, AGM’s Office – Procurement Division, Putrajaya Holdings Sdn Bhd

“Really love your passion during seeing your presentation. I was so fascinated listening to you…”
- Norhafizah Bt. Mohd Nor, Team Assistant Treasury Division, Al Rajhi Banking & Investment Corporation (Malaysia) Berhad

Training Investment

Effective Interpersonal Communication Skills Workshop
Speaking Effectively Workshop for Managers

November 24, 2010 I 9:00AM – 5:00PM
Joy 3, 5th Floor Oakwood Premier, Ortigas Center Pasig City

Best Buy Rate: 4, 977 + VAT until October 18
Early Bird Rate: 5,577 + VATuntil October 29
Regular Rate: P 6,577 + VAT
Walk-in Rate: P 6,977 + VAT

Includes: AM & PM Snack, Lunch, IDs, Handouts and Certificates (by request).