Year Ender 2009
Hello blogsphere…I am back. Or trying to get back.
Belated Happy Holiday greetings to all. It has been a while, admitedlly, and I will give you the lamest excuse in the book for my extended absence. Work. That’s as lame as it gets but also as truthful.
In May I returned to the Capital Master Plan of the UN after a brief stint with the Pension Fund. Since then I have been immersed in the logistic of relocating more than 5,000 staff members of the organization out of headquarters and into swing space offices. The objective of the relocation is to empty UNHQ and then to gut-renovate the tower and the conference building.
The past six months has been a blur. Meetings, planning, reports and floor plans and more meetings. I have become familiar with a whole gamut of architectural and engineering terms than I cared to. I have walked construction sites and stood my ground as an equal in the team albeit in high heels. My job description is brief: hold the client’s hand to make sure they ease into the move process and eventually the new space seamlessly. I liase between the client side and the construction side and like everything else that strays and stays in the middle of the road I have often suffered the consequences of being run over by incoming traffic. But I love my job. I love that at the end of the day there is a quantitative way of measuring my accomplishments. I love that it utilizes the creative side of my brain to tackle problems and that I am able to liase with different kinds of people. It is, I have said many times, a daily job interview. People see what I do and how well or badly I perform.
There are two more weekends to my crucial moves and it involves working on two holiday weekends: Christmas and New Year’s weekend. The reason as well that I am in New York for the holidays and now with family in Manila as I always am. After this task is done I will move on to other things. I am unsure if it will be as exciting as what I have done so far but this has really become a feather to my cap.
One thing I haven’t been amiss had been the properly space breaks to travel and have some r&r. In August I hied off to a surprise vacation to St. Thomas in the US Virgin Islands. The sun and sea was refreshing although through most of the three-day trip I stayed in touch with the office on the emails and on phone calls. But it was still a wonderful break and even had found time to go around St. Croix and St. John islands.
In September I went home to Manila and spent two weeks with family. It was a soaked vacation with the skies clearing only enough to allow us a three-day vacation in Bohol. Two mega-typhoons hit the country and caused many deaths. Through many reschedules and the stressful event management, we were also able to celebrate the birthdays of my niece Gabbie (7 years old) and nephew Liam (5 years old).
In November, I met up with Kristina to see her new home in Guatemala. It was a quick weekend but it was still a wonderful break. I get to know Max, her loveable Golden Retriever pup. We drove around Guatemala City and did girl things – decorate her apartment, do shopping and doll up with spa medicures and massages. We also took a day trip to La Antigua, an old town in the valley framed by ancient mythical mountains – an old town which provided me with many beautiful pictures coming back.
Autumn has passed and soon it is winter in New York. My Canon and I have become best friends – recording each changing of the season since thesummer. A friend from college, Tess Domingo and I were reunited by Facebook and she has come to visit me in the city twice. We did Halloween in NY together donning our costumes and ending up joining the East Village parade.
Christmas was spent with friends. I have rediscovered my partygirl self with new friends I have made at the UN through my relocation groups. The holiday parties were often continued to the bars and I’ve never been good with my alcohol so I would always end up the hungover person in the early meeting the next day. Christmas lunch was at my favorite restaurant in NYC – Spice Market. For New Year’s, we plan to be at the Gramercy Travern, my other favorite spot.
2009 had beena wonderful year to me. I have had met great people, made new friends and just had a fun time everyday. I have had some unique adventures that makes for some great memories. I have made some great reconnections through Facebook and Twitter. I have rediscovered my camera. I have become more at ease in my own skin. I have become more forgetful of others’ shortcomings which is way better than not being forgiving. I am in a good place.
2010. Are you also in anticipation of the New Year as I am?
I hope that work will take me into more adventures – to doing new things each day. I hope to keep some valuable friends close. My obsessive-compulsive self wants to keep those with much drama a tad distant. I hope my family stays healthy and that everyone stays happy. I hope to be able to return to Guatemala and plan a trip to Europe and later, to spend the holidays with my family in Manila because I miss being the one to cook the turkey. I would love to stay long enough to go to the beach and maybe yes, bring a friend from NY over.
I hope for a lot of things. But I hope that my journeys continue to bring me new things, new friends, new discoveries. I am not good with static. I’ve never been. I’ve always believed that life is too short and it is what we make it out to be. My life is and always will be bigger than life itself.
Happy holidays all and see you in 2010!
New York City, 7:20 PM