Back to business

I've finished doing the performance appraisal report yesterday, so now I have lots of time to spare. But of course, as a door closes behind, there'd be new horizons to pursue. So for the mean time, I'm making more detailed plans for the year.

For now until the succeeding months, much of my attention will be diverted to preparations for summer outings. Of course I'll still put more time to writing and updating this blog, but I'll prioritize some stuff that will come in handy come summer time. What those preparations are? Secret. Hehe. I'll divulge them when the right time comes. :P

Cause and consequence

There are those who would say that they did something because somebody is bound to do it. A good example would be the bot, or programs designed to play some game for a gamer who doesn't want to play 24/7.

There's this popular bot program for the game I'm addicted to, Openkore. It is an open-source software that is quite resilient to the various measures that the game providers put up, and is still widely-used these days. As there are no tangible results from the numerous security measures that Gravity placed to counter this program, many are half-thinking that perhaps the company itself is not serious as regards disabling the bots, also called gundams and motmots in-game.

A few months ago, Master Diwa interviewed one of those who created the program. Under the name, Kaliwanagan (enlightenment), the programmer answered most of the questions that pRO players wanted to ask. A special question struck me as very much peculiar, "Why did you create OpenKore?" (or something to that sense). Kaliwanagan's reply was, "Because someone is bound to do it."

This is something that had me thinking ever since. Of course, there are other instances wherein the instigator did it because, "someone else is bound to do it."

But if my opinion is to be sought, I'd say that I'm not one to believe in such. Sure there are those who are bound to do it, but if I wouldn't want to do it, I won't, especially if the consequences are pestilential to others.

Not because I can do something, I will do it. There are some things that can have devastating consequences, and it takes a great sense of responsibility and moral fiber to always consider the results of one's actions before carrying them out. If ever presented with the chance, I definitely will not do anything that might wreak havoc and widespread devastation. (Well, I can always dream that I'll be made to make world-changing decisions, right?) :P

I guess there are just those who are content with unleashing their powers for the whole world to see. I won't say that I won't admire their intellectual capacities if they are really to be admired for their wit. But I will admire them more, honor them even, if when they find out that their "skillful endeavors" resulted to catastrophes, they would do ways to rectify their errors. Then, they'll truly deserve greatness.

Notes of time

I'm actually making the performance appraisal report right now, but as you may see, I'm updating my blog as well. Haha, multitasking? Not. :P

Anyway, I wasn't going to add another entry for today if I haven't noticed this notebook I'm using. A few days ago, I checked our activity log book and my overtime request records to list down all the things I did for the past year. All those activities I did, I transcribed into this said notebook of mine.

I've had this notebook for a long time now. Actually, I have forgotten when I bought it. I also haven't been using it for the past year, the reason being that I don't find much stuff to write down on paper. But since the PA report is something special (and it has to be as comprehensive as possible), I decided to put the notebook to use.

So here I was, trying to come up with a report that will hopefully give me some substantial salary increase. I flip the notebook open, and I chance upon the first page (which I don't really bother to look at). Written at the lower right portion are these exact words:

Jerri Michael Ambion
JE, Smart ACeS
Jan. 22, 2007 12:04AM

And then as if someone whispered to my ears to do just that, I checked my wristwatch to check the date.

It's January 20, 2008 right now, two days before the notebook is a year old. Time does fly by so fast. :P

LATA: Time for Reassessment

I've mentioned in a previous post that we are having our annual perfomance appraisal (PA) as of the moment. Just for those who do not have even the most vague idea about what this could probably mean, let me just say that it (the PA) is one way for the company to gauge what every employee had been doing the past year. It is a tool by which they determine how much the employee had grown, both professionally and emotionally, to determine how much salary increase (if ever) they'd dole out. :P

Yeah, yeah, it's a matter of pay hike and all that stuff. But don't get me wrong, the annual PA is also how they see if the employee is fit for promotion. Anyway, I'm more concerned with the wage increase, seeing that promotions are hard to come by in this particular part (in other words, the operations and maintenance group) of the company.

Of course I'm aiming for a promotion, but as I've already said in my New Year plans post, my promotion goals will be for next year. This is largely due to the fact that I know (deep inside) that I'm not yet ready to go to the next level. But I plan to be ready for such by the next PA, at the most.

So, good luck to me, I guess. ^^,

Reasons and destinations

As I look back on the various events that have led me to where I am today, I can't help but believe that things do happen for a reason. Every little thing, any small annoyance, all the great moments of happiness - they all serve a greater purpose. Of course, I'm still not so sure what the grand plan behind the scheme of things are. But I guess there'll come a time when the things I do not know yet will be revealed to me.

In time, I got to know to what purpose some things serve. Small stuff like my inability back during fourth year high to choose which course I'd take led me to the path of electronics engineering. My writing skills, for which I was turned down during my initial attempt to apply in the company I'm working now, had been put to great use when I landed my first job as a magazine writer/researcher. And then, the internal management problems in that magazine made me decide to try a technical job again at that crucial moment when my current company was in dire need of manpower.

So, yeah, the series of ups and downs in my professional career has led me to Smart ACeS. I need not enumerate the difficulties I have had before I adjusted to this work, nor do I have to list down all the hardships I've gone through during the cadetship that seem to amount to nothing at all. As of the moment, I'm quite sure that all those events have led to my being employed at ACeS, but I'm not yet certain that my stay in this company will last longer than 5 years at most.

"If the destination isn’t worth your journey, it is never really your destination at all."If life is truly a journey, I guess I won't be mistaken when I say that the destination is still a far way to go. There'll still be hardships, difficult turns, several stopovers and moments of even more confusion, gladness, discontent, and fulfilment before I come up to some destination. But of course, as I've written down in my short novel, Jorg: Metaphysical Alchemy, "If the destination isn’t worth your journey, it is never really your destination at all."

Traveler's Notice

Due to the forthcoming annual performance appraisal at work, I won't be updating as frequently as I want to. Well, I did decide to put my job as top priority this year so I must set things right.

I've always known that preparing the PA report is not easy, but I didn't think it would be this complicated. Hehe :P Wish me luck! I really need a raise in my salary! ^_^

Roaming in Valhalla

While I'm at home, my Y!messenger status will likely be "Valhalla." Of course I didn't give it much thought that there'd be some who'd misinterpret it. LOLz.

Actually, I was hoping that the misinterpretation would be something like I'm walking in the legendary hall of the fallen heroes of Norse mythology. But to my surprise, a friend of mine commented one time, "Panget yang Valhalla, subukan mo na lang 'tong game na to..." (That Valhalla game sucks, try this one instead...) :P

Owkay, to set things straight, my messenger status meant that I was roaming, er, actually playing in Philippine Ragnarok Online's second (stress on the word second, not last) free-to-play (F2P) server, Valhalla. This server used to be Thor, but since the population there dropped to very low levels, Level Up! Games Philippines made it an F2P server and drastically changed the way they do business.

Anyway, I'm quite active there now for two important reasons, 1. It's F2P and I can log in anytime I want without thinking about running out of paid game time (as opposed to the other pay-to-play, P2P, servers); 2. I've found a new family in the form of my guildmates in the Fanfare Secret Cafe guild.

Oh yeah, I guess I haven't gotten around to write about the guild, even if it's almost a month already into existence. To keep it short, let's just say that Anna and I decided to leave Valkyrie a few weeks ago coz of the crappiness of that server, and settle in Valhalla. Part of the decision was that several other tambays (regulars) of the fanfic section of ragnaboards have their characters in that server long before they quit playing, and that everyone seemed to be thinking of putting up a guild.

Seeking another home server was quite difficult, especially since we've invested (financially, that is) much on Valkyrie. WTH, I've even placed my Note Head Phone in that server (said headgear is very much rare, unless one wants to buy another Memory of Ragnarok OST). But choices have to be made, and with the constant disconnections, omnipresent lag, and ever-present difficulties in logging into Valkyrie as opposed the fairly stable Valhalla, we made the tough decision.

So, off to Valhalla Anna and I went. Within a few hours of playing, her now new boyfriend, Jet, joined us (back then I knew there was something going on in Jet's mind). :P And with the help of RB's Indulgence, we created the first Fanfare guild with Anna as the guildmistress. That first guild was quite short-lived, however, since Anna didn't want to head the guild. We therefore created a new one, which Mai now leads.

And with the new members who subsequently joined us, we've managed to reach guild level 2, and our guild roster is full. Now, we're making nifty plans for the year ahead.

I say, full speed ahead mates!

2008 Plans of Action

I feel quite compelled to jot down the things I plan to accomplish this year. Don't ask me why, I just feel so. Anyway, with the new year I thought that I've got to change some things and put the following into action:

1. Get more focused on/be more serious with my job. It may be quite early for it, but i intend to prove to myself that I'd be worthy of promotion by the end of the year. And yeah, becoming more mature is somewhat a bit overdue already. Well, I did decide to allot the previous year to things that I missed in my younger days so that I could move on to becoming a more competent, young professional (take note: I still don't want to think of myself as old) :P
   
   
2. WORK OUT SOME MORE. This should actually be on top priority as I'm setting a target of having a leaner body in time for the summer season. But since I'm still hoping that the company I work for will shoulder the expenses for my supposed trip to Boracay, I've decided to set this target to a lower position so as to make myself more worthy of company funds. Hehe!
   
   
3. Learn more, know more. I've been in team ACeS for a year already and I still have not an in-depth mastery of all the various subsystems and equipment. Of course the company doesn't really expect more than a working experience, but I guess I'll set it as my own goal to have that thorough knowledge.
   
   
4. Finish paying all my loans and not add up more unnecessary expenses. Need I elaborate? Haha. Anyway, my company cellphone loans will be paid in full by the middle of the year. My credit card loans, on the other hand, will be fully paid within the first half of the year provided I follow my payment schedules. So there, I'm hoping to be debt-free within the year.
   
   
5. No more complaining about mundane stuff, especially with HR. Particularly with HR. I've decided to move on and let by-gones be by-gones, coz if I continue thinking about the things I hate most about the HR department, I won't be going anywhere.
   
   
6. Open up to more business opportunities. :D Last year, I tried my hands on a few. Sadly, nothing prospered. But I guess I'll try again this year, but I'll choose the best investments before setting forth.

There they are. And of course, the common word for all my plans is "more." These courses of action are but extension of my activities last year, I just got to exert more effort into them this year.

Happy New Year!

It's already 2008 where I'm at. Happy New Year, everyone!

For 2008, I have several plans and goals in mind. I hope I get to accomplish them :3

Anyway, onward to a better future!