Moving On (Final Week of Internship)

The final week of my internship has just passed! After punching in my time card for the final time, I felt relieved that I have accomplished something in my time at ASoG, albeit little in scale to what my office mates do everyday. For me, it was small consolation to actually gain a lot from my experiences.

It was fitting that it was my last day in the office. I had just finished the training proposal Mam had asked of me. Of course, I didn't do it all by myself because I must admit, if I were to have finished the work all by myself, I would get a beating so bad, they won't let me in ASoG again (just kidding). Ate Karen helped me a lot in formatting the document's contents and arranging all my ideas into coherent statements. Writing proposals in a professional environment is very different from what I have learned in my years of schooling. It is not that Ateneo has not taught me the technique and rigor to write in such a manner, I was just giddy and excited for myself, to be able to use the writing skills I learned at an earlier time. I thank all my teachers for teaching me to love and learn writing and at the same time, for teaching me to become someone who is willing to exonerate people for bad grammar.

To be able to work in such a high pressure environment was also helpful, albeit something I'm already used to in college and in the past. Pressure could easily be my middle name really, and work was something that seemed routine. Hours upon hours of logged time in the office gave me a sense (in a nutshell) of a life I could possibly see in my future: a desk job with a few office mates, the droning sound of the airconditioner, an annoying desktop with a screen that fizzles until your eyes blow out of their sockets, so much that I had to bring my own laptop; a boss who constantly looks over your shoulder to check on your work and finally, an eerily quiet atmosphere that suggests the occupants inside are ghosts. "Way to describe your experience!", you might say. Intrepid and intrigued as I am at the prospect of having this career path in the future, I still am hopeful for the future that this may not happen to me. The pressure I experienced at work was for me, necessary for my own good good. And don't people get satisfaction for overcoming pressure?

I sit here thinking what things I could have done better during my short time at ASoG. In spite of a short tenure, Mam Aurma gave me the opportunity to work with them in future, during the school year and beyond. She said that she was grateful for my performance and is willing to help me out as well. I don't know but deep down inside me, I feel that someway or another, I have to return the favor. Is this the last time I will see my time at the office? Time will tell. I am a guy who does seek opportunity, and well I did snag a great one at that this summer. This may well be only the beginning of a wonderful partnership with ASoG.

Just When I Got My Bearings (3rd Week of Internship)

Its already half time of my stay here in ASOG, and just when I thought I could settle down and be comfortable around the people here, its almost time to leave! I sit here thinking what I can do more to make these moments more memorable, but its all that and nothing more. For how can you make something special when it could be as mundane and banal as paper work?

But I digress. There have been moments when I was happy that I chose working with ASOG. The opportunity to work with so many knowledgeable, mature and calm individuals as well as experts made me feel that I belong here. Call me an adult already, but that's just the way I roll when its all about business. Business during the third week here at the office was all good; I pondered more on how to figure out the best way to teach top level executives in high functioning government bodies the values of team work, working together as a cohesive unit and general work-ethic-hard work. For me, it almost sounds juvenile. Imagine, teaching the leaders of our land simple things that you could learn from your grade school counselor! Call me arrogant, but isn't that how the world should work? Petty jealousy and laziness has never been so mortifying.

The best part of the week was probably getting to meet the Dean of ASOG. Dean "Tony" La Vina is a great mentor for everyone here and the things they talked about him were validated in my eyes after listening to one of his talks. From the point of view of someone who takes faith with a grain of salt, he explained almost seamlessly how our beliefs in God could benefit being stewards of the environment. Because of his background in Environmental law as well as his international experience tackling climate change, it may seem awkward at first to combine topics regarding how we should scientifically save the Earth with how we should view the world God gave us, into a stream of enlightening thought. It was a great attempt and I enjoyed the experience.

Work shouldn't be this bad at all. Its just that staring into my laptop for hours that kills the fun.

PS. I got a lot of free food today! Dean Tony fed us with pasta and HELL lots of flannel cake and oreos. We also had food from Mama Corra's birthday!

Rain on the Pavement (Second Week of Internship)

I'm stuck, like a brain drain.

I haven't been stuck in a very long time on something. Sometimes, I try to remember events in my life wherein I was perplexed on a problem that needed a solution, a question that needed a answer, a dumb predicament that needed a smart fix. The assignment Mam Aurma gave me for my 2nd week here fits along those lines.

I trust myself to know how to figure this out. Just give my brain some time... and sooner or later the answers will pop out like bubbles in my bath tub. Its a simple thought as I wallowed through the office hours, staring at helpful remedies that could help me find the words to write down. The training program I'm currently stuck on seems to mock me every time I try to be clever with it. No, I tell myself, this is only a span of time that I have to deal with in poise and precision. Instead, what I have are jitters of nervousness and the dread of not being able to finish this program on time!

So what do I do now that, after promising myself I would do some work over the weekend (which I didn't do. Happy Mother's Day), I am still stuck on the work I began since Wednesday? Maybe, I'll just wash, rinse and repeat. There's nothing really wrong with reworking the brain, to jolt it again into repeating a process that has little chance at success.

Yet, I'll leave this blog, knowing that I must keep trudging on, work, eat, work, drink. The life of an office worker can get any better than this right? Talk about a brain drain.

PS. On a side note, I had lunch with my associates and Mam over a meeting last Thursday. It was nice to get to know a bit more of them over lunch (KFC!). Chicken and conversation never tasted good in the same sentence.

Summer Blues (First Week of Internship)

The computers hummed along like no-nonsense bees, too perturbed with their work, just as so their users are pre-occupied with whatever documents they are working with. I was stuck there myself looking dazed and feeling rather sleepy. There I was in the office, for my first summer internship.

I actually started with my practicum at a later time as compared to my classmates. I was worried I wouldn't make the cut in the organization I was planning to join and get accepted in, let alone remember that I have a definite 200-hour requirement to finish. It was the only thing that boggled my mind, so much so I had to count backwards how many days, from the finals week (on May 23-25) up to the actual day I started counting on, on more than one occasion. I wouldn't say looking for a place to intern was a hassle in itself; it was more of an opportunity to experience "job hunting" and anticipating the fact that this could happen in my future, for a better situation or for worse. Experiencing everything I went through this month therefore was all a way to learn for me.

At the Executive Education Program at ASOG, Mam Aurma asked me for the things that I would expect or want out of the program she was handling. I replied that I didn't expect much really, I just wanted to gain experience like any other student. As if to keep me interested, she told me that she had a lot of projects lined up for the summer and that she was willing to give me the opportunity to relish in this endeavors. I said that I'll do my best, not knowing if I was sure of myself with that answer or if I was giving myself the benefit of the doubt.

Given my background as an Editor in an organization, Mam gave me my first assignment of editing a Research on a Training Assessment in 4 provinces for LED (Local Economic Development). The paper itself was interesting and really a down-to-Earth approach for LGUs to initiate their own plans of helping their constituents. The plan dictates that all available offices be "on the same page" in attaining the goal of developing their own offices in leadership and economics, as well as to make sure their offices function for true development. I can say that with all the time I used in editing the documents, including the Recommendations part and the Training Plan to be implemented after the study, that I lost time to orient myself in the office. I've been trying to work too hard, the eager-beaver mentality, if you will.

Its been a time that I am on edge, always ready to accept the next assignment. Last Thursday, after finally finishing the Training Plan portion of the document, I was waiting on Mam for my next assignment. Since Friday, I haven't received any word from her, and my office mates are also waiting on her too.

With the free time I have now, am hoping I can get something to do for this second week. But I might as well bond and feel "at home" here at ASOG. After all, it is the summer.

reposted, from http://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=10150171593398512

Got 'Em Phil

THE WOLF

Phil Jackson’s long-time team philosophy:

Now is the law of the jungle, as old and true as the sky;
And the wolf that shall keep it may prosper, but the wolf that shall break it must die.
As the creeper that girdles the tree trunk, the Law runneth forward and back,
For the strength of the pack is the wolf.
And the strength of the wolf is the pack.

-Rudyard Kipling

taken from Got 'Em Coach.com. (http://gotemcoach.com/). We'll miss ya Phil.