12 Days of Christmas: Day 2 - The Elves

December 23 began like all days. Work occupied most of our morning, as we were bent on finishing some of our edits before the holiday vacation. Len brought Becky's walnut brownies for breakfast... and for inspiration, hoping we'd speed up our editing with some sweet fix. http://www.culinarysherpas.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/06/brownies-close-up.jpg

By 10:30, Lynnie and others decided to have lunch in our usual celebratory haunt, Green Tomato, in Philamlife. I tagged along. There wasn't the usual crowd, as most Makati employees were probably on leave already, and there weren't the usual "us" as some officemates have decided to eat in the pantry on take-out food. It was Marco's and Monch's last lunch with us before they go on vacation as Monch was leaving for Bicol that night and Marco for Nueva Ecija early the next day. We usually go to Philamlife for lunch for birthdays and send-offs, but this was just a break.

On our way back, I met Joy (Cabrillos). Haha, my IT colleagues are coming back from the dead. I told her about meeting Lils and Richard the day before. She told me about the Cyberpress party and asked me why we didn't attend. I told her we weren't invited. She said Red probably didn't know all of the contact numbers. (Yeah right! I thought journalists are good in getting information...) Anyway, it was a pleasant surprise to see Joy. She's still plump, and I still feel she should start slimming down, but she looked good and happy. So, being "healthy" probably fits her. Hehe. Sean, her adopted son, is now 9 years old and even if she's not married, I think Sean is giving her the happiness she deserves. Good for her.

With Lynnie in the helm, the Elves had a coffee assembly at the new Starbucks in Paseo. We call ourselves the Elves since we started this group of office-based friendship back in 2004. This merits yet another blog, but let me just say that the Elves' thrust is to save Christmas from the malls. Which means, we are not encouraging material gifts -- although we are not stopping anybody from giving material gifts if they can afford -- but priceless gifts that warm the soul are welcome: a touch, an advice, a refreshing break from work. Many of us have moved on to other companies or workplaces or have been relocated to other offices of Global Sources but once a year, during Christmas, we try to get together and we call that the Elf Convention.

This night, we decided that coffee, some leftover brownies from Len, and update stories will be enough to warm us. Melanie and Rose -- now working in other companies -- were able to spend some time with us. Emper was in Baguio with her family. Jambi arrived from HK on the 20th but he left for Negros, his hometown on Monday, so he couldn't be with us. Most of the stories that night were about funny experiences and the Christmas parties of the different offices we now work for. But later, the exchange turned to the characters of Noli Me Tangere, El Filibusterismo and Florante and Laura. And we all went home with the assignment to read Florante and Laura again till the next "Elf Convention". I hope I'll find a Florante and Laura book soon because I think the next convention will be in January, that soon.

Rech, Melanie and I parted ways in the underpass at the corner of McDonald's. If there's one thing I appreciate about working for Global Sources, it's meeting the Elves and having them as friends.

12 Days of Christmas: Day 1 - Breaking the ice

When January 2008 kicked in, one of the first e-mails I got from a colleague at work was the list of Christmas holidays in December. Thanks Marianne! You're way ahead. After seeing that e-mail, I immediately filled up three leave forms for the three remaining days of the month that was not declared a non-working holiday, and stashed it in my office drawer. I was set.

But who would think that President GMA would finally declare those three days a holiday at the last minute! (I wasted precious paper. She should make up her mind at the start of the year, you know.) Anyway, since she decided to give her 12-days-of-Christmas gift to us workers, I might as well make the most out of it. No work! No morning rush! No beating the guard's attendance log! No waking up early!

After the office Christmas party (which merits another blog), the real excitement of a long vacation began. Much as I wanted to accomplish at least half my deadlines before the vacation, I couldn't work. The week after the party, there were always surprise breakfasts and snacks brought by some generous officemates. My 12 days of Christmas meant speeding to the finish line and it began on the 22nd, Monday.

Lils and I finally managed to meet for lunch at Ebun in Greenbelt, after a very, very long time (years!) of texting and e-mailing. Lils is my colleague from the IT beat and a founding member of Cyberpress too. She used to write for Psicom and has moved to the supplier side shortly after -- IBM, Oracle, Siemens. Like me, she left IT a few years back, but continued to keep in touch with some of our batch mates in the industry. After a few minutes of hearing her stories about our friends, I realized I've been missing a lot on IT gossip. Haha. But I don't really miss the people; at least, not all.

Betty, Lils tells me, is doing great after her operation against lupus last January. I'm glad that she's back in the center of things despite her continuous battle with her sickness and her separation with her husband Carlo. (Carlo, you know what, you're a jerk. And I hope you get to read this.) He's not worth it, so I'm glad Betty is surviving gracefully.

Mel brought Marthe and Mama to my office before proceeding to work. It was their office Christmas party so he needed to be early to push some work out of the way before the party. Mama, meanwhile, was planning to do some shopping in SM so I had to do the babysitting for the day. My nanny had chickenpox and was staying in her cousin's house. I rushed out of Ebun with Lils to look for a cab but I guess the cab drivers were starting their vacation already. Even the good ol' reliable GB1 taxi stand had a long line of people and zero taxicabs.

On the way there, however, we met Richard Burgos, another colleague from IT, formerly connected with HP and IBM. He's now with Enchanted Kingdom and was inviting us to go there the next day in Christmas character costumes for a free whole day ride. Errr...haha! But Richard has not changed. Still the amiable, very accommodating person that he is. Unfortunately, we didn't have much time to talk. I really had to rush.

Abondoning all hopes of seeing an empty cab, Lils and I walked all the way back and separated in the corner of Ayala and Paseo de Roxas -- she proceeded to LKG Tower and I to Citibank Centre. I met Nina, a former officemate, near McDonalds and she told me Marthe was waiting for me in the lobby, and already consumed a whole pad paper of drawings. =)

Mama left for SM as soon as I arrived. My officemates were complaining they couldn't break the ice with Marthe when I wasn't around. (I should do something about this.) But she did talk to them after I moved her to my desk.

Marthe and I gave one plastic bag of toys to Jollibee Valero before going home, and bought a meal toy. Mama was still in SM when we finally got home. And all she bought was a shiny table linen for the TV stand. Hehehe.

The whole evening, Mel had been texting me about how their party was dragging on. He mentioned that Charlie Greene of Britain's Got Talent fame was a guest singer. He complained about Karyll singing, about Ricky Lo interviewing her onstage a la The Buzz, and about her declaration that she will be a columnist in The Star in 2009. "Star already has lots of lifestyle columnists!" he complained. I said, "Don't you sound bored with your party?" "I am!" he replied. "I'm just here for the raffle!" Who isn't? Haha. Finally, shortly before midnight, he texted, "I lost. I'm coming home now." Hahaha!