Monday, December 17, 2012

A visit in The Mind Museum

I've been wanting to see this place for a long time but due to my erratic schedules (feeling artista) it was only yesterday when we finally able to visit this place. Like many people, I was excited to see the Mind Museum. Security guards and staffs are very friendly and accommodating. All five sections have plenty to see and do, friendly to younger children and consistently fun for all. 
Pardon the quality. I didn't have my Nikon camera with me, only an old point and shoot camera. 

enormous T-rex skeleton
Astronaut suit


BIO-RHYTM, an exhibition exploring the relationship between Music and the Body.
Chains of Emotion
Reactables and Body Snatcher are my top favorites

Saturday, December 1, 2012

An outward shift

Here is a transition of my blog from exams,  carefree and typical day college posts to team work, OT's and corporate culture. I know I've been working for months now but the change is still overwhelming. Because student life has a charm like no other. Professional life, on the other hand, is a different story altogether. The moment I stepped out of university and into the corporate world, my life took an irreversible new turn. One day, I'll get used to it. Just  right attitude and frame of mind. Grow thyself! 

monthly townhall- United Nations theme
one hella fun night

  Unfortunately, most employers are not that generous with time off. Haha!!


First stop: Mahogany market known for it's special Bulalo

enjoyed the cool breeze
I didn’t get to try the zip line and the cable car.  Nobody wants to accompany me. Haha! Fine! I'll just wait for the zipline adventure in Subic.


The trip wouldn't be complete without group pictures
ordered Inihaw platter at Alamat Restaurant inside the Picnic Grove

on HR

I had a chance to talk to some of my office mates with regard to their work. And personally what is most relevant for me to write about is the realization from one of the articles I read during one of my random reading times (usually during lunch break) which I can somehow relate to their thoughts and status at work. It says something like the system in which we are compensated for our work is based on the presumption of how linear our work production would be. It is all included in a contract, which really is an illusory mechanism of the realm of economics.

This was emphasized in my Industrial Relations (Industrial Sociology) class when I was in college. The contract puts a value into how 'much' your work would be, disregarding how much hours you would put into working for a certain work. For example, you signed up for a P15,000 per month work. This '15,000 per month' doesn't really take into consideration the hours you spend working on the task. If it takes you the whole month (including weekends) to do it, the P15,000 supposedly encapsulates it all. Of course there are mechanisms of 'overtime pay' and ‘double pay’, but on a worker's point of view, it is highly questionable how much the OT and DP could really compensate for the time lost.

This is not a question of compensation.

This implies that time is not accounted for in the assumption of the contract. Many of us spend more than just eight hours for work. We sacrifice our personal lives, we sacrifice our other lives. But the contract does not give a damn about it. For we are paid based on a work deliverable, and as long as the deliverable is not yet there, it means we do not deserve to acquire what the contract stipulates. We all can't go famished, that's why we comply. Instances of going the extra mile in anticipation for more opportunities in work also enter the scene.

My point is, the payment for a job does not cover the losses acquired in the process. There are components of 'production' that cannot be quantified into a payment scheme. Our sleeping time missed, our family time set aside. This presents a very existentialist side - "I am not my job" kind of argument. But when all is said and done, I really am not my job, at least to me.

There are people who equate themselves with what they do. This is more observable in foreign countries, based on studies, that a loss of job often implies a loss of the sense of the self. I have to acknowledge the fact that there are really kinds of people who find their lives' sense of fulfillment in the achievements collected in one's line of work. The success in the workplace means a personal success. I will not contend with this argument; it is not mutually exclusive with what I am trying to say. My point is, the success one acquires in the workplace should not take away the success of a person in other aspects of his being.

There.

I have a feeling that this is something worthy of becoming a Thesis; maybe under Organizational Development or Labor Relations. So for the next office days, I shall read. Read. More.