Poster: My Fund Drive for Yolanda / Haiyan Victims

Decided to make a poster as apparently my emails are too boring and very much "too long, did not read material."

To find out about my progress tally, click here.

Mini Drive for Yolanda / Haiyan Victims: Photos and Transactions

First Batch of Order

Photo by: Bella Morcen

First Batch of Order

Photo by: Kevin King

First Money Transfer for Payment of Supplies (Screen Shot)

Current Tally for Yolanda / Haiyan Relief Mini-Drive

Here's my Tally so Far:

Christian - $40

Work Client: Paul S. - $50

Work Client: Jill M - $50

Work Client: Pamela V - $70

Work Client: Roma P. - $20

Work Client: Debbie B.  - $30

Work Client: Kelly K - $50
Magdalene - $38.57
Pauline - $50
Mandy - $200
Doug - $50
Bert & Margaux - $100
Ray S - 39
Becky - $10
Steph H. - $20
Amelia - $20
Medilife - $925

Kaori & Andy: $50
Michele G - $20
Lian C. - $200
Tanya H. - $50
Jacqueline B. - $20

TOTAL: 2102.57AUD =  84,102.80PHP*

*Php equivalent is an estimate based on 1AUD = 40PHP. It fluctuates by multiple cents daily.

First Batch Purchased on NOVEMBER 16, 2013

Mega Sardines 2 boxes x 100cans

Sky Flakes 3 cases x 15 bags x 24packs(each pack has 4 boards)

Hunt's Pork & Beans 7 boxes x 48cans

Vienna Sausage 6 boxes x 48cans

Total: 17679.45PHP 
ACTUAL TOTAL AUD:  442.09

First Batch is being deployed "guerilla-style" by my friends who are independently flying there to help relief. They are headed to Dalag, Leyte which has not yet been reached well by relief. 

My second batch of goods will be contributed to DLSU - COSCA who are targetting less reached areas too such as Cebu, Palawan, Capiz, et cetera.

DONATION OPTIONS:

• Bank Transfer 
• Cash
• Pledging - You don't trust me? You can pledge an amount which I will pay for first then show you a receipt later of the goods with the total tally. 
• Through Medilife - my bosses at work were generous enough to let me use their payment system.

•  Click Here for Direct Donations via VISA/MASTERCARD (with issued individual receipt)
• You can also call them at 1300 130 385 for donations over phone between 8:30am to 5pm

Photos of receipts and goods to follow.

Click here for more a background about my mini drive. 

Mini-drive for Yolanda / Haiyan Victim

UPDATE: Next batch of goods will be distributed through my former university, DLSU - COSCA, sending relief to less-reached areas.

This is my mini-drive for Yolanda and would like to have the tally here as well for any contributor to see and confirm. Growing up in the Philippines, I somewhat already lost faith in donating cash. If you grew up in the Philippines, you will too. I have been repeatedly told to always donate cash as it's more flexible but it has become a personal preference for me to always help in kind: my time, goods, my blood - literally. 

I am sure there are plenty out there who doubts whether the money will be properly used. If you are someone who are overseas and prefer to donate in-kind, I can help organize that for you myself or give you directions.

(Survivor walking through the ruins of a whole city / Copyright Postmedia)

 

Here's how my drive works:

1. COLLECT MONEY - friends, colleagues, family, enemies...mostly everyone I spoke wanted to help but didn't know how. Make it easy for them!  I also offered to purchase first if they prefer to see the receipt first before giving money.

  Donation Options: 

• Bank Transfer 
• Cash
• Pledging - You don't trust me? You can pledge an amount which I will pay for first then show you a receipt later of the goods with the total tally. 
• Through Medilife - my bosses at work were generous enough to let me use their payment system.

•  Click Here for Direct Donations via VISA/MASTERCARD (with issued individual receipt)
• You can also call them at 1300 130 385 for donations over phone 

2.ORDER GOODS IN BULK WITHIN PHILS  - my best friend currently works in a grocery bulk supplier / wholesaler(Suysing), giving the most ideal prices in the market.

3. DELIVER THE GOODS - I have made contact to a friend who is mobilising an independent team going directly to Dalag, Leyte by November 18 where they can DIRECTLY DELIVER THE GOODS TO THE VICTIMS.

---->This batch has been dispatched. 

(Man Making an SOS for Food in Tacloban Image by: Noel Celis/AFP/Getty Images)

UPDATE : Due to the generosity of people, more contributions came that poured towards a second order. I am communicating with my former university, DLSU, and goods will go to our COSCA(Center for Social Concern and Action). They will be heading towards less reached locations such as Capiz, Palawan, Cebu...

 

Anyway, if you think I am dodgy and feel the need to donate directly, I would recommend non-for-profit versus government agencies. My top picks are: Red Cross Ph, Habitat for Humanity and World Vision PH. Donating with them is also easy either via Paypal, Mastercard, Visa, et cetera...

Click here to view my current tally. This is so that contributors can verify if their donation is being accounted for.

Given the dollar power, what is little to us here in Australia is a great help to the victims. To give you an example, here are some things I was quoted me on: 

• 26.70AUD / 1085.35php  = 48 cans of pork and beans 230g
• 38.57AUD / 1567.70php = 40 bags of 44-piece pack soda crackers 
• 18.75AUD / 762.20php = 48 cans of corned beef 150g

 If you want to make a donation in the same way on a later date, let me know and I can organize your order for you.  Your order will  be dropped off at the Red Cross Ph or DLSU-COSCA. 

A big shoutout thank you to my workplace, who offered to let me use their payment system for issuing receipts and receiving contributions via visa / mastercard.

Why Staffing Agencies Should Consider Boot Camp Part of Their Training

As a starting point, I want to put it out there that I work part-time as a Food and Beverage Attendant a few nights per week for two staffing agencies. I was also a Girl Scout for nine years (an officer for the last three) and attended one year military training as part of our high school program. There came too many occasions at work to which I think some military discipline would help with efficiency. Here's why!

1. Cooount OFF!

There are events where clients grab 50-100 from an agency(football games, graduation formals) and during on location, would separate staff into teams for section allocations. I've seen it too many times when the manager has to recount everyone over and over again from the moment we all clock-in to when we've separated into teams. People just won't stay still and the manager keeps losing count. 

In military / scouting, members can "count off" by saying the number out loud.

2. Assembly

Just a whistle signal and in 10 seconds, everyone in the radius sitting, standing, drinking and doing-what-so-ever will be assembled in front of the commanding officer in neat appropriate lines - with equal spacing. No more snail-walking to the call point like zombies. 

3. Lines

This is one thing I don't understand. Did we not all learn to line up since kindergarten? And if you didn't learn it at school, you surely would've learned it in real life. (Hello, fast food chains and cinemas?) A line is a line. No random circles popping. You don't sit down while the line is moving. You don't cut the line because you saw your friend in the middle of it. You just don't. It's moving, don't push because it doesn't make it any faster. *sigh*

4. Uniform

I do not understand how people keep getting their uniforms wrong or with something missing. I remember how we made sure of our polished shoes and gravely panicked if someone forgot the standard black belt or a pin. A little disciplinary training goes a long way. We were never physically tormented as some cliche shows might present,  it was just a matter of installing a state of mentality.

5. Posture

Plenty of times, we'd be on our feet running around doing this and that and sometimes there's simply nothing left to do but stand and wait for orders. "Stand" as they might call it but it seems to look a bit too much like a sad bunch of prank-shop-slime where its structure basically goes where gravity takes it. Leaning here and there, crowding kitchen halls and slouching while sneakily going on mobile phones. Back in the days, we had "At Ease" or "Parade Rest" position(both are similar but has minimal differences and varies worldwide in details of what is allowed or not) where we crossed our hands at the back, sometimes front, feet apart for relaxed balance and head to the front. It's a comfortable position and looks so much nicer and way less awkward. 


I'm not saying our managers should come in with a thorny whip nor am I pro-closed minded work environments. For me, it's not much about being running a tight ship, but more about being in a ship and actually knowing nobody will accidentally put a huge hole through it because they were playing with the cannon ball launcher. 



For my few, if not inexistent, return readers: Sorry for the long gap in posting! I have lots of finished written posts but I do like to add personal images and wanted to wait until I have some to throw in before posting. =\ I shall try to schedule my posts now for more consistency!

The Controversial Four-Letter L-Word: How bad is it to be LATE?

I spent 12 years of my life growing up right next to my school. 

It took me exactly six minutes to walk from the moment I shut my door to setting my backpack onto my class seat - including four flights of stairs downwards and three upwards. Saying this, I was accustomed to leaving everything to the last minute and never worrying about time-on-commute. People didn't care if I was a few minutes off arriving in class since I was just next door. 

Sadly, once I graduated high school, my techniques didn't work anymore. 

It took me a long time to adapt, and even when I kicked off bad habits, I am just the queen of bad luck. 

I have gotten too often on the wrong side of the train, 

missed my bus which arrived 5 minutes too early, 

riden a bus moving inch-by-inch because there was an Eminem concert in town, 

gotten lost in Labyrinth streets with my GPS going mental and believe it or not, having my skirt rip right at the center to my bottom. 

Right in the middle of the city. 

While walking. 

Yes.

My main fix-it technique I now use is adding another 30 minutes to my calculated commute time for unforeseen events - which works so far - so good! Yay! 

But now let's roll back a bit. This is not about preventing lateness. You've done your best, and for some act of God, you're running late! How bad is it going to be? In saying the following, I assume you're not late all the time, did the right thing and called them before the actual meeting time and gave an accurate time of arrival. Specially for work-related, I call even when I'm running only 5 minutes late.

Personal Friends / Casual Meet-ups

They'll get pissed but most friends will forgive you and you have to suck it up if they decided to do their thing without you. Unless people are expecting you on the meet-ups, they'll pretty much not care and go on without you. 

Interview

After letting them know, given your estimated time of arrival - lateness factored in, they'll say whether you should still come in or not. They'll normally say not to come in anymore if they have something to do after your scheduled time and if they're really tight - you'll never hear from them again. Most of the time, they'll appreciate you calling in and will see you when you arrive - if they're still free, or just reschedule on the spot. This is, of course, assuming you didn't just say you're going to be late for 2 hours. 

Work - One of Many

If your job is something all 20 of you employees doing the same, it's not much of a loss from the company, you'll get a slap on the wrist and a mumbling curse from the person whose shift you're supposed to takeover.  Do it too often, forget that job.

Work - One of a Kind

If you're part of a team where each of you does something different, you're dead. No kidding. I was once participating in a location shoot for a magazine where we were told to meet in front of XXX Gas Station located at a highway. It was set up for 6am and I arrived 30 minutes early. I called and said I was there and waiting, only to find out there were two of the same gas stations on opposite ends of the highway - almost 2 hours apart. Horrible. They called another make-up artist located nearby. I was very relieved. I'd rather they not have waited for me and mentally cursed at me the entire time. It was an honest mistake which could happen to anyone and I did hear from them again. (Whew!) 

On the other hand, I once had a busy day lined up and because a model was over an hour late, I had to cancel two following very important meetings. Think of this: you ruined everyone's day and plans, incurred extra charges for the client in terms of staff and location hours. Technically, you should pay for losses.

Work - You and Your Job are Awesome

This is exceptional. My sister, programmer and consultant, is awesome, and aside from scheduled meetings, she can pretty much arrive two hours late as long as she finishes what she have to do. Which is ironic because she was the only one out of us five who was never late a minute for school and now she gets the late benefits. Life is rewarding if you work hard. 

So that's my two cents on L-A-T-E. 

Never forget to respect everyone's time, 

call if you're going to be late BEFORE THE ACTUAL TIME, 

don't wait until they're looking for you, 

and there's always the risk you'll never hear from them again. 

To be nice or not to be nice

"Every person who you meet once, you'll meet again." I have heard the phrase too many times before, rephrased in many ways and from professionals of various fields.

Weeks ago, I was in correspondence with a photographer for her project and exhibit and we've scheduled to work together for one of her shoots. I've noticed and mentioned to her I  found her name very familiar as thought we've talked before one way or another in a vague memory. 

When I went to her Facebook Page to view her portfolio, I realised I've already "Liked" it, confirming my suspicions. 
This drove me crazy. 
I wanted and needed to know where I've dealt with her. 
So, I dug up old messages. 
It turns out, almost two years ago when I was looking to restart a local portfolio, she was one of the photographers I contacted for TFP. She turned me down sweetly, saying she was buried in backlogs of photos needing to be processed on top of work and school. I found this nice and very professional. Plenty of working professionals will simply ignore enquiries to which they know they won't partake in nor benefit from. 

Thus said, the other day, I received a message from her asking if I was able to join her shoot for the same night and she was on a hunting mission for a make-up artist(MUA) as her MUA cancelled on her. Now, this day was already so long and tiring for me and if I were to jump on board, it was going to get longer. I could say no and there will be no harm on my part. On the other hand, I remember how nice and professional she was to me before and decided I would love to work with this person.

Sure, I'm no bigwig to be in a position to say "Hah! See, you HAVE to be nice to me!" but in the end, I was in a position to make her day or keep her hunting stressfully. Baby Food for Creatives writes on how you should be nice to EVERYONE, no matter of what career position they're in. Here's also a story and example from her.

For me, being nice should be just plain instinct and part of personality. Regardless of whether it's for your career or not, why not be nice?

I'm no Pope and I do have my complaints and secret-mental-cursing about people but doesn't mean I'll use it as a reason to be rude and obnoxious. Express these things to a loved one, a sibling, maybe your lover, maybe your teddy bear. Someone you trust and knows you're not saying these things out of spite and backstabbing but mostly to release your frustrations. 

Even when working with someone whose output makes you want to pull out your hair, there is what we call constructive criticism. There's no need to go mental and be on a psychotic killing spree. I believe there is nothing wrong with sitting down and telling someone what they're doing wrong, how they've offended you or pissed you off. 

Of course, if the person in question of being nice to is someone who randomly grabbed your bottom, then forget niceness and feel free to fully unleash the kraken. I'd do this because I know there is no way in my life I would have any desire to work with this kind of person nor actually want to purr my way into his favor even if he turns out to be the king of the world.