Office Phone Number

I received an email from my future (next Monday) colleague and said that if I need to fill up some forms, my office phone number is 03 - xxxx - yyyy. I never had a personal office phone number before. Said colleague's phone number is different from mine but only at the last digit. I think I'm really going big time...

It's a 4LDK

I was in Kanto region last weekend looking for an affordable place with less than 2 hours of travel distance from Tokyo station. I went there not knowing if I could find the right place in a matter of 2 days. The reason being that the real-estate agent I have been corresponding with was either dumb or dumber. Whenever I or my wife calls him, he was always in such a hurry to cut the conversation.

I started my journey to Tokyo at 05:30 AM.
(1) took the Shinkansen at 06:35 AM and reached Shinagawa station at 08:43 AM.
(2) went to a friend's place within the area.
(3) me and friend goes to Tokyu Relocation at around 10:00 AM.
(4) talked to the real-estate agent and left Akihabara at 13:15 PM.
(5) reached the first apartment for ocular inspection around 14:45 PM.
(6) decided that this 4LDK is the place we want.
(7) went to see 2 other apartments.
(8) ...stayed overnight at friend's place...
(9) left Shinagawa at 17:20 PM.
(10) reached home at 21:15 PM.

We're just waiting for the housing contract to be signed between the apartment owner and my new company. After that, we'll be able to move to the new apartment on the 14th of May.

Breathe in the Fresh Air of Freedom

It's over. Finally. For the sake of privacy, let's call my present manager H-san. I never thought he was that cool. We had a "heart-to-heart" chat this morning and this afternoon regarding my intent of leaving the company by the 11th of next month.

All he said was "I have no intention of tying you but I sure hope you know what you are doing. I may not be with the same company we are in now but if anything goes wrong, contact me as soon as possible." Just to make sure I have a fall-back option, I asked him if he will keep his word. Guess what he said? "I always keep my word." Who could ask for anything more? Wow, just wow! 2007 April 18 will surely go into the annals of my biography. I'm just glad I belong to his group.

The only constraint we have now are finding a place to move and be able to pack everything with the few days of holidays during the golden week.

Like I said, I have always been a believer and I would just like to say: "Thank you Lord for hearing my prayer."

When Shutting Your Mouth is the Answer

Remember the new opportunity I was talking about in my previous post? That new opportunity has knocked me off my feet. It goes with an AWESOME package. Problem is, I have to quit my present job. I have already accepted the offer and I have also sent email to my managers that I am firm in leaving the company.

Guess what? My line manager arranged a surprise meeting. I'd just say that it ended with a sour taste. I'll still have another meeting with him and his manager sometime next week and only then will I be able to convince them that they should let me go.

Why? Because another complication has come. My present client has offered me a job and the only term that's missing is my salary. They said it is negotiable. I like working with them and they like me because "I CAN DELIVER"! I wanted something better but it doesn't come served on a silver platter. And worse, it's got a twin! To be honest, I am lost. This is the moment when shutting my mouth is the answer.

I'm trying my best to be emotionally stable with respect to the situation I am in. I am a believer and all I can do is pray: "God give me the strength to hang on and grant me the wisdom in order to make the right decision."

A New Opportunity?

How do I feel? I don't know. The bridge is there and anytime soon, either I will be crossing it or it will collapse. If I will be crossing it, there are issues I have to take care of. If it will collapse, I am going to cry.

Updates, updates and more updates. I can't go through another round of interview. I am physically tired, exhausted, mentally fatigued.

This new opportunity has been very elusive...Let's just wait and see.

Boredom Day 3

"Because the sensible people," he continued with bitter irony, "would take you for a madman also. The people consider madmen those who do not think as they do, so they hold me as such, which I appreciate, because the day in which they think me returned to sanity, they will deprive me of the little liberty that I've purchased at the expense of the reputation of being a sane individual. And who knows but they are right? I do not live according to their rules, my principles and ideals are different. The gobernadorcillo enjoys among them the reputation of being a wise man because he learned nothing more than to serve chocolate and to put up with Padre Damaso's bad humor, so now he is wealthy, he disturbs the petty destinies of his fellow-townsmen, and at times he even talks of justice. 'That's a man of talent,' think the vulgar, 'look how from nothing he has made himself great!' But I, I inherited fortune and position, I have studied, and now I am poor, I am not trusted with the most ridiculous office, and all say, 'He's a fool! He doesn't know how to live!' The curate calls me 'philosopher' as a nickname and gives to understand that I am a charlatan who is making a show of what I learned in the higher schools, when that is exactly what benefits me the least. Perhaps I really am the fool and they the wise ones--who can say?"

-- Noli Me Tangere
-- Chapter 25
-- Paragraph 31

What Boredom Does

When I was taking up my undergraduate studies, I had a Social Science class focused on the life of Dr. Jose Rizal. I was young then -- very young -- and I had no interest whatsoever on the subject. I was taking up Mathematics so why in the world would I need to take this subject seriously? Like I said, I was young and so were my thoughts and emotions.

Lately, after taking my Ph. D. in Mathematics in another country (Japan) and got employed, I found myself surfing the internet more and more (due to boredom). Guess what? I looked for an online version of Noli Me Tangere and have been reading it since yesterday. This book was written (originally in archaic Spanish) by no other than Rizal himself. I'd rather say I got touched with these lines and I nearly wept:

Do not forget that if knowledge is the heritage of mankind, it is only the courageous who inherit it. I have tried to pass on to you what I got from my teachers, the sum of which I have endeavored to increase and transmit to the coming generation as far
as in me lay. You will now do the same for those who come after you, and you can treble it, since you are going to rich countries. They come here seeking wealth, go you to their country to seek also that other wealth which we lack! But remember that all that glitters is not gold.

I'm going to finish reading this novel...