Empire State of Mind

Friday, November 5, 2010

my usual day started with me waking up late. had a quick breakfast. got dressed. hailed a taxi cab. and off to work. as a routine, i began to check my office emails to see the tasks that i will be doing for the day. an email from an HR Manager was sent at 10:57 AM with a subject "Urgent Meeting (Assignment by [CEO Name])", it was a meeting appointment set at 11 AM. it was already 11:31 AM and i was obviously more than 30 minutes late!

i quickly replied and asked if we could re-schedule it to 2 PM. however, my project manager approached me and said that i had to go talk to the HR Manager ASAP as it was really really urgent.

to be honest, i thought that i was gonna be fired. with all the screw ups that i did the past couple of months plus me being picky on my project assignments, i couldn't help but think that i've pissed off higher management. ahaha.

so i went up to the HR manager's office and she asked me to sit and make myself comfortable. at this point, i was so ready to hear the worst news an employee could possibly receive --- termination. but then she went:

"JC, you're going to New York. the CEO needs someone to attend a training for 4-5 weeks. and you have to leave as soon as possible."

and then she blabbed some more but my mind could only hear, "New York", "New York", "New York". ahahahaha! she asked me to submit the requirements right away. if i had an existing US Visa, they would have probably got me the first flight to New York today, the training was that urgent.

it was late in the afternoon when it finally sank in, all the things that i have planned for the holiday season are totally scrapped. i am scheduled to leave before November ends and that'd mean I'd be spending Christmas and New Year in the US. Alone. Huhuhu.

i will miss our company's Christmas party, gimik with MB and a friend coming home from Vietnam, my first ever Christmas party with the Engkantos, my highschool alumni homecoming, Christmas with my family, and Christmas with HIM.

for now, i try to divert my attention to happy thoughts such as snow and the thanksgiving sale! wahahaha!

but, nothing's final until i land my foot on the streets of the big apple. who knows, baka ma-deny pa Visa ko. ahahaha! *knock-on-wood*