Nothing Much

Months became days and now the three months "vacation" will be over. In those three months, a drastic change to my daily routine happened.

Of course the first on the list is cost cutting. No more sumptuous dining. Breakfast hardly comes, not because I have no money to buy something but because I wake up so late that it's already lunch. Talking about lunch, it's a short 10 steps to my neighbor's carenderia and costs between 35-45 pesos if I also include a 500ml bottle of Iced Tea or one banana.

Afternoon snacks is not a problem since I sleep in the afternoons and wake up just before dinner.

Dinner is essentially free because I just eat anything that's served on the table. Either brought by my mother, or cooked by my sister (or her boyfriend).

Aside from food, next comes the gadgets. I just thank myself that I bought all these amazing gadgets while I still can afford them (the laptops, the shuffle, the 19-inch LCD monitor). It doesn't even bother me that my cellphone is "bare" minimum type. Even though I'll admit that I have some serious gadget envy on some devices, I can control myself and will wait patiently until the time I can again afford them.

Travels. No outside of the country this year, though I'm so happy that I pulled that Boracay get away last June. Aside from that, small trips between Cebu City and Cebu provinces is all that I can afford. Not that bad.

Clothes and shoes. I'm really not that into buying new clothes or shoes. But I had a quick check on my apparels and it needs new stuffs. Maybe a pair of jeans, or polo shirts.

Work starts on Wednesday and I hope I can keep it long enough for me to spend again. I miss cash.

The Day of July 15

That yellow (or cream colored) long sleeved shirt I wore at Dianne's wedding is my only choice to wear for the interviews. I have two job interviews today, the first one, at 10:00am is in IT Park and the other one at 3:00pm is in Cebu Business Park (Ayala).

It was a nice interview at Company N. First I was interviewed by their HR, and all I can say is that she's nice and I love her voice, it's like I'm listening to a prerecorded message. After some standard HR questions (tell me about yourself, salary, etc..) she quickly forwarded me to my technical interview with the team lead.

They're looking for C++ programmers, and I honestly didn't know how to code C++ for now. But they're lenient for long as I know OOP concepts. And bet I really do! The interview went on like a casual conversation and I felt at home answering questions about Inheritance, Polymorphism, Encapsulation. I know these stuffs, and I felt confident when I answered this particular question "In implementing a list, how do you clear the list (delete all contents)?". It's like a jackpot question for me, since I don't only know the answer I absolutely know how to answer it in a way that they will say "yes that's it!".

I was asked to return after lunch to have an interview with the manager. The way the manager interviewed me, it seems to me like an investigation, scrutinizing details that I put on my resume. For a moment I felt I was being interrogated by a crime (but it was just me). Turns out that somehow he knew an aunt of mine (he even knew that we live beside the road-but I didn't pry more on how he had such knowledge). He told me that I will know the results the following day. After I left the premises the HR called me to return again by 1:00pm the following day.

I was next off to Company L for a 3:00pm interview. When I arrived I was told to go to the 9th floor. After some HR forms I was escorted to the 19th floor where my interviewers were. Again I was relieved that my interviewers were cool enough and not intimidating.

The interview quickly turned into another fun conversation (it felt like I was talking to my long unseen friends) about my past experiences (as a programmer of course!) and about my hobbies, and interests. I had a great time relating to them about my past jobs and my decisions (they asks why I took the licensure examination for teachers). I was getting ready to answer technical questions but they said that it will be in an another interview (if there is another). The position became more interesting to me when they mentioned "our team gets to travel often..." - that's it I was sold. I was a bit disappointed though since I was ready, very ready to answer those technical questions. I was told to wait for further announcement (calls).

I guess that yellow (cream colored) long sleeve shirt I wore at Dianne's wedding is a lucky charm.

So It Has Came To This

That I will spend the next year here. June ends today and six(6) days from now marks my one month of being officially jobless (make it 2 months if we'll count the unofficial start).

I am still waiting for a sign that something will change and will make me rethink about my decision. But time is passing by, cash flow is literally non flowing and I'm getting bored and accustomed to the "tambay" lifestyle.

So I will try to finish the test, submit it and wait for evaluation.
Maybe wait for the week (maximum of one more week) to wait for some calls from other companies that I tried to apply to.

After that, depending on the results it's either I'm off to other lands or I will be here in this full-time job as technical staff for a technology incubator facility.

Just like getting back in school, it's time to improve and study for the next chapter ahead.