Week ONE training

Last week of training was done. Needless to say, it's been quite an experience. I didn't expect that this training is going to be kinda fun. We're lucky to have an instructor who keeps the class interesting and not boring. God knows that learning about consumer banking stuff can and will send you to sleep.

So tomorrow is a branch observation day. I am supposed to attend and observe the branch that I'll be assign to as a CSSR. This should be pretty interesting.

Good lord..I was just thinking about last week and last Friday. I sure hope that it won't happen again. First thing I need to do is call the branch that I'm training at in the morning to check if my wallet was found. I am sure it's there. I was in such a hurry to get out of there that I ended up leaving my wallet before I could remember to put it back in my purse.

I've got to admit, running out of gas in some town that you're unfamiliar of can be pretty scary. My first point of contact as soon as I realized that I left my wallet and I needed gas was Erik. He had Vance with him and he offered to come get me but needed to pick up Sara Anna (his GF) first. I figured instead of having him, Vance and Sara Anna drive an hour and half away to meet me at some random place, I'd call a single person who can just get in the car and drive--which I did. A friend who always comes to my rescue for anything came to get me. I waited longer than expected due to miscommunication of my location. I gave him the wrong exit number etc...

There I was waiting for over an hour at the gas station. I was tempted to perhaps ask some stranger for some money. I could not do it—simply didn't have the nerve to do so. I sat in my car for over an hour and I even fell asleep while waiting. Woke up and texted my friend again and asked where he was. Sure enough..I gave him the wrong exit thus, making the estimated arrival time a lot longer than expected. Yikes!!

It was getting dark. I decided to get out of my car and lay on top of the hood and gazed at the horizon's full of stars. I thought to myself.."It's ironic how sometimes a joke/prank is handed to me this way". Just when you thought things are going smoothly, then something random and out of the ordinary has to happen.

My friend finally got there and found me all sweaty, messy, and extremely exhausted laying on top of the hood of my car. I didn't want to get up either.

He gave me a great big hug and filled up the tank, drove home and helped me with my stuff.

Got home and found Erik, Vance and Sara Anna waiting for me at the house. ( He has a key for my apartment) I arrived as if I had just gotten back from climbing Mount Everest. (Okay..this might be a bit if exaggeration but I felt like it was on ordeal and it kicked my butt)

I've learned a lot from that experience. ONE: as much as I am a sales person and I wouldn't consider myself shy, with stopping a random stranger and having to explain my situation and ask them for SOMETHING---is an arsenal and an attributes that I don't think I have and completely lacked of. TWO: Regardless how busy you are, always fill up on gas before hitting the interstate. Three: Be generous to those who will ask you for gas money in the future. Some situations are legitimate.

I'm glad to have a lot of people that care enough to offer to get me...And I'm grateful for those who even called the entire time to make sure I was fine and I made it home.

So that was my last week experience. My weekend was great. Vance and I had a lot of fun!! It's kinda of different being home with him on weekend. I'll miss my boo again but this week will fly just like last week.

I'll be staying at a different hotel this time. I'm training with 11 people but somehow we are all spread around town—staying at different locations and different hotels. Oh well...it's an amazing team and we have fun during class so it's probably a good idea that they have separated all of us. LOL.

Oh yea...I am going to sound like a complete dweeb but I took Vance's teddy bear with me. It's reminds me of him and it also helps me sleep better.

I noticed that the maid at Marriott were amused by the fact that a grown woman has this teddy bear in the room. SO each day, eveyrtime I come back to the hotel after training, they put my teddy bear in all sort of funny position. Here's the pic...

Tomorrow I'll drive to Huntsville again after my regular work hours at the branch. Can't wait!!!

CURVE BALL

This one is called the curve ball. Last week was definitely an interesting week for me. Woke up Monday morning feeling somewhat refresh and ready to take on another day at work. Stepped outside and saw that it was a beautiful day. (Oh how nice it was to see the beautiful sun).
Got in my car and turned on the engine. Hmmmm....the car won't start. Tried cranking it a couple of times--nothing happened. The car started but it won't crank all the way for the engine to start. Saw my neighbor who's about to leave so I walked towards him and asked for help. After examining the car briefly, we both realized that it wasn't the battery that was the problem.

Suffice to say, at that moment, I realized that I was having a car issue but I must get to work. My neighbor's diagnosis was the fuel injector's malfunction. Whatever the case, I must get to work that morning. So there I was, standing in front of my house thinking of a way to get to work. Luckily, the assistant store manager lives close to me and she was able to pick me up.

Granted that my problem was solve as far as getting to work that morning, the car issue lingered in my head all day while I was at work. I thought to myself..."oh my...here we go again, just when I thought things are going smoothly, something has to happen to derailed my routine and throw me off balance"....

Well of course, some spiritual philosopher's may justify and preach that obstacles like this keeps us humble...It helps us realize that no human-kind is superior enough to dodge most daily life issues such as this..We can all be inconvenience at anytime or anywhere.

Be that as it may...dealing with the car issues is not something that keeps me humble. True that it does put some sense of appreciation back into your mind and attitude about vehicle in general, I don't see where it can help me cultivate humbleness. You have to explain this to me conspicuously before I'll agree to such theory bla, bla, bla...LOL

I am a self proclaimed independent person on most things but when it comes to unfamiliar/abstruse issues (particularly automotive problems), I am not enitrely equiped to tackle it all by myself...so I am going to bow out. I don't have the skills nor the talent for a mechanical troubleshooting.

It was time to get some help. After all, there's only so much that I can do. My friend's husband is a mechanic... So I thought it would be an easy solutions. I'll just ask him to look at the fuel injector and things should be working in no time.

Much to my dismay, after a tremendous amount of effort from his side figuring out what's going on and looking at the fuel injector, he couldn't figure out the problem either. So there I was utterly mystified, extremely disappointed and thinking about my next plan....

Decided to give it a rest so that I can presume on dealing with it the following day. Nothing is going to get accomplish that night--NOT my car. But I can at least work on restoring my peace of mine back that can be bestowed by not thinking about car failure..Yes..peace of mind is what I needed to deal with my white Honda Civic the following day.

Ironically, timing was very much in sync with me. My PTO from work was the following day...My only option now is to take it to the dealer/shop to have it look at.

Woke up the following morning and a tow truck was scheduled to pick up my car at 8. A friend came over that morning to give Vance and I a ride to the daycare---thanks god for that. Otherwise, I probably would have had the tow truck stop at the daycare and drop Vance off.

Finally, the tow truck arrived. The driver asked for the key and attempted to figure out what's wrong with my car. The minute he started it, he figured out what's wrong. He told me that the car wasn't recognizing the key. Again, that baffled me to no end. How could it not "recognized" the key. He asked me what happen to the plastic coating on my key? The plastic coating that covers the head of the key was dismantled and obviously been removed. Long story short, my friend removed it (the loop that the key ring is supposed to hooked on was busted, so removing it entirely would allow me to put it back on my key chain.

And to vaguely explain this, that plastic coating has a sensor that the car is not picking up and not recognizing since it's been detached...So voila! We figured it out. Should have not removed that plasic covering....Too late now--it's gone!

We made some progress after we've solved what's wrong with my car. It wasn't an internal mechanic issues after all--thank's god. But the car still needs to get taken to the dealership so that they can make me a new key and reprogram it. So off I went with the tow truck.

Needless to say, it was quite an interesting day for me. An ordeal that I had to deal on my own. As I was inside that tow truck on our way to the dealership, I looked back at my car while it was getting towed. It made me realized how dependent we are on our private transportation. In major cities such as N.Y, DC, Chicago, it's not as hard to get around using a public transportation but for the most part in this country, we rely too much on our private vehicle. We should have a better system to combat any transportation or vehicle issues that some of us are guaranteed to encounter at some point.

America is one of the biggest oil consumer in the world and part of it is because we don't have the public transportation that some countries have been using for many decades now to eliminate the needs of a car AT ALL TIMES--which is something I personally find unnecessary. It makes me question why we haven't yet invented a bullet train like they have in Japan and in Europe. I am a strong advocate of a public transportation because not only that it can reduce our constant--high-volume needs to rely on domestic and foreign oil, it can also help save the environment if we reduce the amount of driver on the road that's contributing to the air pollution.

Our ability to create this is not in question whatsoever. But rather brings the question if this is going to occur anytime soon. When are we going to decide and put emphasis on the importance of integrating the public transportation in our daily needs. So far, we have got the health care on the spotlight. Trying to reform it for the better (hence, for the better--meaning I am ALL FOR IT). A new legislation should be considered and reform as well to fund and implement a better public transportation in our country.

I do not remember (for better lack of word) the feeling of being "crippled" when my car is having issues when I lived in Asia. Here is a completely different case. When I realized that my car wasn't working, a sense of "crippleness" and the feeling like my freedom was amputated suddenly hit me from every angle. It was a terrible feeling. I literally can't go anywhere without costing me an arm and a leg if I don't have a vehicle.

Anyway, the dealership was able to make me a new key and re-programmed my car. It took pretty much all day. It was indeed a stressful and an eventful day but to some degree, I am somewhat thankful that I had to go through that. It may sound insignificant but handling random obstacles like this can help you appreciate a lot of things..It makes you realize as a person how strong you are, praise your ability to put a nonchalant face in the middle of some of the most stressful and frustrating situation like I had. For me it did--thus, I found some positive outcome from this entire ordeal.

In conclusion---watch out for curve balls that life throws at you. Just when you think you're doing great, a curve ball can be thrown your way and you have to be prepare for that. Personally, I'd take any curve ball. Just not any car issues. I love my Honda Civic and I hope this won't happen again. ***Below is the image that I took from inside the tow truck. I managed to find some humor in my ordeal and found several moments to be comical; such moments when I was taking this picture and talking to the tow truck driver about my key.

More randomness

Here's a bunch of random thoughts for tonight. Certain situations that I've ran into lately has given me a better understanding of my own personality and my own perception of the world...Experiences on the daily basis--some are funny, crazy, happy, disappointing, hopeful and some are even shocking. I'm amaze how much I'm learning different things everyday along with learning a different side of me.

When I'm being put to the test, situation and challenges, whether it's benign or critical, I sometimes get shock with my own ability to response appropriately...

Bubbly, (and this is going to sound so cliche) but I love to laugh and make people laugh. I find such joy in making someone smile and laugh. It's a talent of mine to turn a stressful/tense situation into something funny and repose.

Talking about funny. Here's another Jamie moment that most people would undoubtedly expect from me. Especially those who knows me well--knows that I am never dull to be around. There's always something to laugh about and talk about whenever you're around me.

So another moment of mine lately involved realizing that my dear customer at the bank had accidentally taken the copy of the document that I was supposed to keep for my own record--a very important record that I get whenever I process this kind of transaction. After handing him everything, it dawn on me that there's something missing--the copy that I was supposed to keep for my record. The minute I realized this, I immediately locked my work station, sprinted to the door to see if I could catch him but he was no longer in the building. I looked across the street and there he was, he made it all the way to the other side of the street. Trying not to lose sight of him, I had to run across the street while yelling "Mr. Smith!!!" (last name had been change for privacy purposes)....I haven't ran that fast in a long time with my heels on!!! Again, I was amazed how talented I was at doing this. I got the traffic to comply by doing the stop hand gesture. (Whew!!)
I finally made it across the street and this time, someone saw that I was chasing Mr. Smith all the way from across the street and they helped me got his attention. Mr. Smith finally stopped and I was able to catch up to him. Out of breath and exhausted, I told him he needed to give me the other copy of the document that I gave him. He was so sweet and asked if I was okay. He made a joke that he never had such gorgeous woman chasing after him before. Literally chasing him down the street. Fortunately, he works at the hospital across the street and he walked to get to the bank.

I got the copy that I needed, shoke his hands, thanked him and finally walked back to the bank.

This entire time, my best friend (who's also my co-worker)was watching me in the camera from the break room. She was on her lunch break and she saw me sprinted out of the door and ran across the street. Extremely eager to tell her the ordeal that I had just gone through, she just laugh and told me she watched me the entire time in the camera....

Such an insane day that was. I know that someday wherever my path takes me, and what my destiny will be, I will always treasure this memory. This part of my life right now is definitely VERY INTERESTING in all sorts of way...The adjustment that I had to quickly adapt and get used to. Moving here from California almost three years ago, now living in the south and working in downtown Birmingham was something I never projected. The future has a lot of unforeseeable situation and this is one of those..What to do?? Roll with the punches.....

The point of the matter is, everyday is a surprise to me. I am finding more irony in every situation that I encounter--mundane routine turns into something more interesting. Why shouldn't it be? Life is too serious as is it..so whenever you find yourself in situations that is not necessarily life threatening, I'd say laugh it out. Mix some humor into it, handle the serious part and the rest should be fairly simple.

More randomness as of today, as I was driving 280 today, (the worst traffic in Birmingham), I thought I'd fill my curiosity by asking one of the workers what they're doing/planning exactly. I was hoping for something productive that can reduce traffic, which could potentially lead to less aggravated drivers, equals healthy sanity gain by everyone who's on the road, minus road rage from a filipina chicks (that would be me). I decided to ask the guy (while traffic was stop) what's the deal with the ongoing road work on 280...Much to my dismay, I didn't get the answer that I was hoping to hear. Apparently, there's such a thing now as classified road works. They can't disclose to the public if they're building new infrastructure. I wonder how much does that really matter. Given the fact that it's public project, I think the public has every right to know if a zoning and demolishing is about to happen?. Isn't this part of a city ordinance to disclose???...

All I got from him was.."Sorry I'm not allowed to tell you". It's not such a taboo my man, it's apparent that you guys are working on the road. Perhaps a simple answer such as "working on making the traffic tolerable for everyone" would've suffice. Whatever the case, I drove away with a straight face...

Why everything has to be a secret nowdays. Too many secrets in this world already. Perhaps, I'm too much of an open book that my personality cannot bare and tolerate secrets. Everything must be revealed!!!! It brings me comfort to know the unknown... Unknown scares me...I must know everything and everyone, and everyone and everything must know me...Ok...Time to step away from Mr. Dell (my laptop) and do something more productive such as putting dishes and toys away.

One last thing...I am stoke that tomorrow is Thursday. This week went fast.!!! Oh yea..lately, I've been so obsess at listening to this song. It's a beautiful song and when I heard it on the radio, it captivated me.
Alright..here is is:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eB7T3lJ3dZ4

A quest that's always been on my TO DO list. Believe it or not...

So I have decided to petition my aunt to migrate to the US as a non-immigrant. I am trying to get her here on a tourist visa. Much to my dismay, it involves all kinds of bureaucratic process just to file the darn B1 visa(tourist visa) First, I had to call USCIS to get some information on eligibility, then they referred me to CBP for visa information, then CBP told me to call the NVC ( National Visa Center) AND the U.S embassy in the Philppines. So here I am, have started a quest, an exhausting quest may I say..

So start with a bunch of reading. What to do as a first step, collaborate with my aunt as far as what she needs to give me. Every alien that comes to the US (non immigrant)shall be presumed to be an immigrant--meaning that the person is intending on staying permanently. Therefore, every applicants that they received are under extreme scrutiny.

In order for me to petition my aunt to come here, she needs to build a case and a compelling reason for her to return to the Philippines. Meaning, a strong ties to her financial assets, family, property etc.. In other words, a good case to convince the US consulate that she will return and that she will not over extend her visa.

So I've gotten myself this little mission lately and that is to petition her. As most of you might think and ask why on earth is it so darn intricate to come here? Well, I think you have to have some major exposure to foreign countries and U.S immigration, international policy and knowledge to really comprehend this. Which in my case, I have quite a bit since this is what I have to go through in order for me to come here and eventually become a citizen. After 11 years, I have finally become a U.S citizen. But that's beside the point right now.

Back to the topic about me petitioning my aunt: I called her today and told her to start gathering those important documents. Documents such as her deeds for her properties (land, house etc). Proof of her employment that shes been for 20 years, retirement funds statement that she will be drawing as a Filipino citizen, birth certificate of her two children, and basically ANYTHING that will prove that she intends on returning and have ALL THESE reasons to return!

See, I came from a huge family. I've always been around people growing up. My surrounding was always vibrant, busy, fun, messy, loud, interesting and chaotic!! Being a solitary was never me. I've always like being around people. This is not only culturally but it's also part of me that grew up with 9 siblings that hates being hermitical. I have a profoundly extrovert personality....I'm not a loner. That's obvious by now...As I was explaining this to my roommate tonight, there's a reason why the depression rate, alcoholism problems are low in the Philippines. If you're constantly surrounded by a lot of your family and friends, even your worst stress can diminish just by having those people to laugh with, come home to, and complain at. (Getting side track again here)...My point is....I realized that I cannot possibly bring everyone here. But right now, it would be nice to have my dear aunt here. She's a wonderful woman and she taught me a lot of things...I want her to visit me since school is out right now and she's a teacher. Hoping to get her a tourist visa and what not.

This should be interesting dealing with the U.S embassy in Manila while I'm here. Granted that it is the US embassy, the people that answers the phone when I call are filipinos and man, it is sometimes hard to understand them. I attempted talking to them in Tagalog but as a policy, they are require to communicate in English. So you see where I am going with this...haha. Okay...I'm bad.

I'm hoping this will be an uneventful process for everyone. I wish there's such a thing as buying her the plane ticket, tell her to go to the airport and hop on the plane. NOPE!!! This is only possible if you want to go to some unknown, non progressive third world country...Not if you want to set foot in the U.S! Which I totally understand fully.... This IS the best, most elite country in the world after all! The government and the constitution has it right by having this kind of immigration law and policy. After all, it is NOT a right to come here but it is rather a priviledge.

I'm glad and grateful that I've became a U.S citizen. Just wish that my family back in the Philippines are too! How wonderful would that be if they're all here!!!

Alright..that's my random thoughts..Not too mundane this time (I hope)...haha.

Gosh..I love blogging. I can say whatever I want...LOL.

From California to Alabama. I can be home.

It's been a week since I have been back from California. It was two years ago the last time I visited the city by the bay. Haven't really had a chance to think about my trip since I got back, but tonight, as I was driving on my way home from work, I was talking to a friend who's thinking about moving back to Calfornia. He was enumerating some cities that he's thinking of moving to. I've been to several of them...They're all nice, desireable places to live. Cities that are close to San Francisco.
Needless to say, my initial reaction was to feel a bit envy. I wanted it to be me. To have the flexibility of being able to just pick up and move to wherever I want to.
I started to think about all the good things that I had done while I was there for a short period amount of time--the city lights, the night life, people from all over the place/world, mix cultures, ethnic restaurants, diverse crowd and unique venues and places that I went to. Wish I could sit down at Starbucks in downtown Palo Alto again, have that coffee with my friend while people watching and admiring the city. Just being in a predominently liberal population (don't stone me for this)city feels natural to me. I didn't want to leave...As I stopped paying attention to what my friend was saying...my mind drifted off to thinking about California for a brief moment.
As I was gathering my thoughts, a sudden realization smacked me right on the face..I thought to myself as I was looking around--there are things to appreciate and beauties around here, too. The southern charm for instance. But I haven't really given it a chance before because I was soo busy day dreaming and allegorizing where I live (Alabama) to California--a place that might not even be very suitable for me and my current situations.....( A mom who heartedly believe in family value).
People need to let go of their pre concieved notions because there's plenty of amazing things to appreciate here in Alabama...It doesn't have to be the hip coffee shop on the University strip in downtown Palo Alto, the over price housing market, the overprice consumer service and goods, the fast paced lifetyle etc..
It might not be the most fancy, "crunk" city in the world, however, it has a lot of good values, family simple life that most places do not have. You can find it here if you open your heart to the little things. Southern hospitality--it is nice. I've never felt that kind of warmthness anywhere else.
So there I was- -having an epiphany. This place is beautiful. This place had been very good to me. Granted that this is where most of my major life changes occured, so many good things has happened here for me too. So many memories to treasure here. And for now, it might not be CA but this is where I am. It's my home. There's no need to fight where I'm destined to be. Whether that be temporary or permanent..I should live in the moment and stop longing to be somewhere else.
Come to think about it, perhaps it's the superficial lifestyle and culture that I'm really missing. I won;t even elaborate this one. It'll take me all night.

I've gotten several blessings while I'm here and they continue to come. It is now time to give back, to appreciate, to stop looking back and to fully submerge myself to accepting that I am HERE. Make the best of it. The concept is not about which state you should live to define happiness and find success. These things can be achieve anywhere ..whether I live in the city by the bay or in my sweet-home-Alabama, it is in me to find those little things and carve my own destiny, satisfaction and a place to call HOME.
That's my thoughts for tonight. Too much random babble but it feels good to write.

Anyway, here's pictures from my CA trip...Oh yea..I also cut my hair shorter while I was in CA. Ekkk!!!

And it has come to a full circle.

I haven't really written anything that is worth writing lately. It's been months since Erik and I decided to go our seperate ways. Needless to say, life's been VERY busy for me. To condense everything and vaguely describe the recent situation, I am still living in Birmingham, and have Vance during the week. Erik is still in Tuscaloosa finishing up his third year of law school and will move to Atlanta shortly after graduation. This is going to be a new ordeal for me to deal with once he moves. But that will be a bridge that I will cross once I get there. The important thing is, Vance will still get to spend an equal amount of time with us. This is only for a year so it shouldn't be too bad.
This past months, I have to say that I have learned so much about life, myself, people and from this entire experience. I'm thankful for the revelation that I was given through prayers, and it has helped me substantially decide which road to take--and that road is where I am at right now.
The older we get, the more we get to know ourselves. We become more aware of why and what we're really here for.... I only have one life to live and I've realized that I need to start making the best of it. One way to deter fear is to realize you only live once, do not be afraid to take risk.
As the world evolve, things come and go just like everyone and everything else. Relationship is unfortunately the same. Half of marriages ends in divorce in America. A very sad fact. I can't help but to feel very cynical about the matter sometimes. Is our modern society making it too dificult for our generation to have a successful, lasting relationship?... Do we face too much stress on the daily basis? Perhaps stress that's not normal for a modern human being to handle. I question myself this.
As part of this process, I have also learned that in order for us to survive emotionally, you need to alter your expectations when it comes to dealing with relationship (it's not all about your "humanly need")
It was an emotional experience getting married. And now that I'm exiting this commitment, I need to submit my resignation (a.k.a divorce paper) and once that's been decided, there's no point in looking back. Generally speaking, you somehow need to desensitize yourself in order to minimize emotional damage.. Sounds extreme? I think not..
Needless to say, changes can be a stressful process...But regardless, everything needs to be process carefully and logically.
Moving forward with every strength that you have left is important. My son needs me to preserve my strength to take care of him. I have no other choice here but to move forward, learn from this experience, and do whatever is best for me and my son.

I am having to write the above statements to give people a better understanding of where I currently stand. And this plays a huge part of me being able to deal with every situation that I am being given in front of me. For instance, Vance had a birthday party last weekend. Erik and his significant other came. Attended the party, had fun, showed Vance how much he was loved and everyone conducted themselves like a proper adult--which I am thankful for. No need to bicker and be hostile to each other. Some people cannot comprehend my ability to be such a good team player. But the way I look at it, things are progressing to where it should progress. I simply cannot fight or stop it. So what can I do..absolutely nothing BUT be civil and nice.
That being said, I am thankful to god that Erik has found happiness and found a girl that seem to care and love him. This maybe hard to believe but I happen to think she's nice and real. And so far, I see her interact nicely to my son--which is VERY important to me. Because god knows what kind of wickedness I am capable of if I find out that someone has ill intention for my son...
My son is my life, my world and I care so much about this boy. I'll do what's best for him.
So here's some pictures from Vance's birthday party last weekend. I am thankful to those who attended...Have tons of other things to say right now but I really need to go to bed!! I have been wanting to start a blog and tonight, I'm glad I found some time to do so!! Anyway, pictures are at the bottom!