I thought when I started this blog, I would write everyday no matter what happens. Fail. Without further ado, let me narrate my life of past couple of weeks.
1. Back to the office
After the whole sheik coming to town deal, now I am back at the office and it is boring as well. I have literally no work to do. Most of time, I surf on the web, talk to my friends online. It is very unproductive and fruitless. This is so because well, my boss has been hold off on the work I have been doing due to the budgetary issues. The project I have been working on costs around 30,000 dollars. However, since the prospect for next year's budget is dire, he would like to have it carried over to next year so that we can save some money. Therefore, I haven't really made any progress on the project.
Luckily, the boss persuaded the ceo into continuing the project. Ergo, as of yesterday, I've resumed my project. I am very much glad since I don't need to let on I am working while I wasn't.
2. Training
As soon as I made my come back from the field, I signed up for a training. I did so, because a) I wanted to dodge what we call "work trip" and b)stop being bored to death at my desk. Accordingly, I sifted through the yearly training schedule at this organization where my original workplace is located. It is close from home and I get to see my colleagues..
Then, I spotted a course called "How to enhance middle management competencies" tailored for those about to become a manager. Technically, this course would not be a good fit to me since I only have three year long experience. And yet, having seen and worked with different types of bosses and leaders, I thought I would register and learn something based on my own experience.
And I did.
The training itself, I'd say, very poorly organized. It was a three day long course, but everyday there was a different guest speaker. Thus, different teaching style, different content. There were about 20 people from the region with diverse background. I happened to pair up with these three guys in the manufacturing industry. They were all older than me and had more experience than I did, so I thought I would learn something from them.
The main content of the training was lecture, team-building and discussions. It was all right. The most important thing I've gleaned is how important it is to be a good listener. Frankly, when I first signed up, I thought I would learn some kills.. first hand experience. But I ended up learning something different.. something worthwhile; how to communicate with subordinates, how to coach, and how to solve problems. What lies under them is you need to be a good communicator; be sympathetic, listen well, kill the need to react instantaneously to the person you are talking to and so forth.
In order for me to apply my knowledge to the reality, I've talked to people around me and observed something. That is, they all die to speak someone about something. My trainer, my mother, my dad, my friends....everyone basically. Once I say "Hey, how are you doing? What's new?", they would say something back to me. Normally, this would be followed by an awkward pause. But, I learned that I need to give them "space" A leeway that allows them to feel comfortable and continue their speaking. And it worked. Through this, I managed to engage in a more meaningful conversation with them. Usually, I tend to lean away or just babble on about something, but I was patient and bide my time. This was a very interesting experience and I plan on doing this.
3. Reconnecting with my ex
Craigslist is the website I go to often to entertain myself. And that is where I met my ex about a year ago. And last week, I got reconnected with her, through Craigslist.
There was a very interesting thread on CL and upon reading it, I thought it was her. Well, of course, there were some clues in the writing that hinting towards the possibility. But I wasn't quite sure because, well, there were also discrepancies between the person who wrote it and the person I used to know before. Yes, I haven't spoken with her since the break up last year.
And I very cautiously contacted her under a random email in order not to reveal myself. Why? This is so because when breaking up, I told her not to contact me and that I would not so. And yet, I was somewhat reaching out to her. I broke my own principles.
And yet, she sorta figured it out due to my silliness. And we got reconnected.. or not quite yet. We swapped a couple of email so far and that was it. There was some new information about her though. Where is this going? Nowhere probably. Probably.
