* confessions of a dork.

celebrate good times, c’mon!

i have been itching to blog about this for the past month, but decided against it because i did not want to jinx anything.  but now that things are officially “out in the open”, please allow me to gloat on one of the greatest things that happened to me recently…  please brace yourself for a long post…

after graduation, i took the opportunity to work here in LA.  my work permit, however, strictly authorized me to work in the US only for a year — during which period, i had to look for an employer who would sponsor me (read: petition for my H-1B visa) so i could extend my stay here for more than a year.  i was definitely intent on staying beyond my one-year work period.  let’s just say, finding gainful employment here which could potentially allow me to eventually settle here in the US was in my gameplan.

in july 2008, philippe and i found a job with the same employer.  for several months, we got into discussions with our boss to convince him to sponsor us…but the ailing US economy made it difficult for him to decide on it.  march 2009 came and it was crunch time since april 1st was “d-day” when applications for H-1B visas had to be submitted (note: these types of visas could only be applied for once a year).  on top of that, we were nearing the end of our work permits too.  if we didn’t apply for the visa, we would’ve lost our only chance to legally extend our stay here…we would’ve had to go back to our countries by end-june.  as if by a twist of fate, our boss and his business partners finally gave the go signal to proceed with the sponsorship application.  that was a HUGE sigh of relief…

so we worked with our immigration lawyers in preparing our applications, and submitted them to the government on april 1.  from then on, we simply had to wait until the government either approved or denied our individual cases.  the normal processing time was 2 months — so you could just imagine, each day was a nail-biting experience as we waited on to get a verdict.

on friday, april 24, both philippe and i got news from our lawyers: we both got our H-1Bs approved! woohoo! *celebrate good times, c’mon!* at that point, we both heaved HUGER sighs of relief…  that meant we could continue working with our bosses and extend our stay here for the next three years. to say that we were so happy, or overly excited, is an understatement.  we couldn’t stop ourselves from congratulating each other every 5 minutes, patting each other’s backs and reminding the other of our latest achievement.  to this day, i am still in cloud nine.  i am just so grateful! :)

now, to celebrate this momentous event, philippe got me a lil something…

who said toys are only for kids!?!  meet my newest baby, my Nintendo DSi.  it’s the newest model that was just released in north america in april of this year.  some of its new features are its wi-fi protected access (WPA) and two cameras.  right now, i am addicted to playing professor layton and the curious village: it’s a game about professor layton and his “apprentice” luke who travel to the village of st. mystere in search of a missing treasure.  as the two characters go about their business, they need to solve riddles, puzzles and all sorts of logic games in order to get the next clue to the mystery.  oooh, just talking about it just makes me want to wrap this blog up and get to the game…  hmmm…ho-hum, i might as well since i don’t have much to say anymore.

ta-ta!!! :)

my “j-o-b”.

i have put this off for so long now — three long months, to be exact — that it is no longer news to a lot of people i talk to or read my blog.  i have been working (sort of) since end-july for an independent consultant in beverly hills.  *i know, the real 9-0-2-1-0! :)*  well, i say “sort of” because it’s a part-time job only, and dare i say it, i don’t get paid!  yeah, yeah, i know you can start mumbling now, but please hold your violent reactions for later…

ever since i earned my MBA degree, i was actively looking for a full-time job for three months — trying to prove to everyone that an MBA is the answer to moving up the corporate ladder and getting the much-coveted high-paying job that all those business journals promise aspiring MBA students.  i know i sound bitter, but what i am going through is truly a humbling experience.  call it bad timing too, but could i have graduated at a more apt time than during a US recession!?!

so when philippe and i were offered to “help” our boss work on two projects, we gladly accepted it.  admittedly, when we were briefed about the projects, they sounded very challenging.  plus, it obviously was a better way to spend our time than spending two hours every other day, jumping from one job board to another, hopelessly applying for jobs!  aside from not getting paid, work is not bad at all.  in fact, i am enjoying every bit of it…and i say that without flinching!  aside from business lunches now and then, we also get perks out of it — the best of which would be getting to work from home!  yey!  so every week, philippe and i log in at least 20 hours — we do a lot of market research, write business plans and proposals, and do a lot of number-crunching.  it’s also very cool that we have a very nice boss who also happens to be a genius — he is unbelievably smart, and has an outstanding list of credentials tucked under his belt.  i feel lucky just being “schooled”  by him. :)

there is a lot of consolation in doing my job: i honestly think i am putting to good use what i learned from my MBA.  who ever thought i would ever get to apply financial modeling into a project.  we even created all their financial projections from scratch.  if anything, i am still thankful that i have this opportunity to continue learning…learn not just from the job, but also learn from the experiences that i have been going through here in the US post-graduation.  only god knows when everything will pay off.  for now, i am content and a happy-camper. :)

summer flashback.

as we usher in the fall season here, i felt it appropriate to take a quick (or maybe, not-so-quick) walk down memory lane and see how summer 2008 went for me. i know, it probably is a good excuse for me too since i never really got to blog about it. so sit back, relax, and join me in reliving the wonderful summer i had…

» I BROKE OUT THE POMP & CIRCUMSTANCE

in april, after 20 months in the full-time program, i finally earned my MBA degree from pepperdine with a concentration in finance. it was definitely a momentous event, and was even sweeter to have pa & ma celebrate it with me.

(1) grad dinner at the hilton hotel, hosted by the pepperdine gsbm administration for the graduates

(2) graduation day with preet, susmitha, philippe & jessmy (note: my grad dress was a gift from pinky & keith — fave sister & fave bro-in-law)

(3) gowns are on

(4) pimmy & i rockin’ our grad caps

(5) at the ceremony

(6) thanksgiving luncheon with family and friends at mi piace in calabasas

» TEXAS…YEEEEE-HAW!

pa, ma, tito kit and i flew to austin to visit my cousin and his family. had a grand time seeing the sights of austin and san antonio…thanks to our very gracious hosts, dondi, weng and abby.

(1) token shot at casa suarez

(2) playing sweet-n-low abracadabra with my adorable niece, abby

(3) pa, ma and tito kit patiently waiting for some finger lickin’ texan ribs

(4) with our wonderful hosts: dondi, abby & weng

(5) at the historic alamo in san antonio, texas

(6) kodak moment in our trusty rent-a-van

in early july, it was familia suarez’ turn to visit me here in LA. unfortunately, i didn’t have photos of their trip here (but weng had a lot of it). the first day i met with them, i drove all the way to baldwin park…by myself! i’ve never driven that far by myself before, so you all know, that was a kodak moment. :) that day, i took them to universal studios for some splishy-splasy, rollercoaster-ific fun.  philippe and i also showed them around pepperdine and hollywood another day.

» THE FRENCH MAN WAS BACK

early in august, philippe’s good friend, guillaume, visited us again for 10 days. he enjoyed it so much when he visited last year that he couldn’t pass up the chance to come back to la-la-land. if last year, we showed him around LA, this time, we took several road trips: north to santa barbara, south to san diego, and even went out of state to vegas. as they would say, “c’est ouf”!

(1) philippe surprised guillaume by renting this brand new c-class for his entire visit

(2) “cheers!” (does this look TOO familiar?)

(3) pimmy also joined us at anjin for some kobe beef goodness

(1) fat-style pit stop on the way to vegas

(2) paris in vegas

(3) dinner at social house in t.i. before the cirque du soleil show

(4) chilled mojito

(5) at the mirage hotel’s bare pool lounge

(6) philippe & guillaume chillaxin’

(1) fiesta at san diego

(2) at stearns wharf

(3) paying his respects at the memorial by the beach

(4) tram ride at the wild animal park

(5) woohoo!

(6) soak up some san diego sun

(1) on our way to dinner

(2) at gonpachi in beverly hills

(3) clubbin’ at area

as soon as guillaume left, my summer officially wrapped up too. it was back to the grind for me. oh yeah, i have a J-O-B — but then again, that can wait for another post. ta-ta!

livin la vida loca!

that’s exactly why i’ve been out of touch for the past couple of months. the fall term of my second year at pepperdine has been nothing but one hell of a crazy loop for me. oh yeah, add to that the fact that i had to evacuate twice due to the wild brushfires we experienced in malibu… i think all second years share the same sentiment when i say that it has been the toughest time for us in business school…thus far! *fingers-crossed*


 » I’M A SLAVE FOR BUSINESS LAW…

it is worth devoting one whole section here for this topic since it pretty much was my life since school started.

just to recall, the way our terms are setup in pepperdine is that we have seven-week sessions each term. after the first seven weeks of school are over, we take a new set of classes again for the next seven weeks. each class is four hours long! so you could just imagine, it would be impossible even to miss a day of class or you would’ve missed out on a lot already. it definitely is hard to catch up if you don’t keep up with all the work. there are a few exceptions however to the seven-week courses. unfortunately for us, there are some classes that go on for the entire 14 weeks of the term…and they’re required too, so there’s no escaping them! this fall, i had business law, and it pretty much spelled the end of my social life!

every monday morning, at 8am, we have a 30-item 30-minute quiz covering the lecture and readings from the previous class. these quizzes usually span, on average, 3-4 chapters that cover about 60+ pages of law cases and legal jargon. after the quiz, we will cover a new set of material which you need to have prepared for (that is, read another 60+ pages) if you don’t want to be sent out by the professor when she randomly calls on you. in my case, that would mean starting to study for law by as early as wednesday…if i’m lucky, i can start as late as friday. so on fridays and weekends, we become slaves to our books — no going out, no time for fun, no nothing! so you could just imagine how liberating it was for all of us when we finally took our last business law quiz. at that point, we already wanted to burn our books (if only they weren’t that expensive)! haha!

i was just really glad that all the hard work i put into this class paid off in the end: i got an A for the class. *can i get a whoop-whoop!!!* i did equally as well in my other finance classes and earned my highest GPA in MBA so far. i got 3.814 for the fall term, and my cumulative GPA is now up to 3.7 (4.0 is the highest). yes, i’m sorry, people, but i can’t be modest about this because blood, sweat and tears went with that! after having a usual bedtime of 2am and developing those ugly dark circles under my eyes (which i now call “eye-luggages”), i couldn’t be any happier with my grades!


 » NOW FOR THE FUN STUFF…

it’s been a week since i’ve been home here in manila. i am enjoying every bit of it — every minute slept-in, every second spent just sitting in front of the tv and switching channels like there’s no tomorrow, every bite of those home-cooked meals…basically, stuff i didn’t have the luxury to enjoy. of course, what’s even more gratifying is that i get to relax and spend these times with my family here whom i haven’t seen for a year. papa and mama’s goal while i’m here is for me to gain back the weight i lost. i had not realized that i have been working so much that i lost 10 pounds. they said i looked “pobrecita” when they picked me up at the airport. haha, now i truly feel sorry for myself! i have another two weeks left here in manila before i fly back to cali…and i am definitely looking forward to livin’ it up here!