FIN.

As of this writing, I will have submitted my resignation from the company I am currently working for. I've been here for close to four years (by May 4) and it's actually the first job where I've stayed the longest. The past jobs were all attempts at taking control of my life and my future. Testing the waters, 'ika nga. BC called my resignation "a courageous act." Indeed. The office is just near my place in Las Piñas and it's already a comfort zone for me. The work schedule is in three shifts so it allows me to do some work on my business. Truth be told, it's difficult to leave it because it's so easy to stay (save for the issue on salary making J call it "a dead-end job").

By March 1, I will be assuming a far bigger role. I will be directly handling at least 15 staff (who currently are divided into two cliques - what? Problems already?) in running a 2.5-hectare events venue east of Manila. It pays so much more, too, and the owners have allowed me to continue doing my business. Only this time, it will become an in-house service. I will have to beg off from doing projects outside this venue for a year or so.

FOUR things: It saddens me to be so far from friends and loved ones. Sabi ko nga kay J, what are trains for? However, moving to Cainta, Rizal also allows me to move on from what have been a disastrous 2007. As you all know by now, I lost my Mom and my Yaya last year. What was once a happy home felt so empty all of a sudden that I end up crying all the time. That has come to an end. I have informed my landlord that I am staying only until the end of February, which is the 29th. My friends from work have offered help to pack. D.M. has offered to get the truck (Php 2,500 rent from LP to Cainta is not bad). I am going to look for a new apartment this Saturday. I hope to be able to get a two-floor, two-bedroom affair so my chef cousin can visit me more often.

Also, taking on this new job effectively signals my abandonment of my medical career (or whatever's left of it; not that it's been ever started). I now belong to the statistics of people who have "frustrated dreams" and will just pass these on to their kids or nephews. I have already inquired online to see if I can still pursue my M.S. in Environmental Health, but the UP Open University isn't offering it yet. Tsk. My only days off are Mondays and Tuesdays. No way I can attend class in Taft with my new work schedule.

4 years in this company. Our unit number is 14. February 29 only happens every four years. Four. It sounds like death in the Chinese vocabulary (Si). Weird coincidence, but I am not very superstitious. I only look forward to a new life this 2008.