TEAM BUILDING BOOM

A young member of my office's staff recently submitted her resignation -- nothing contentious, just wanted more time with her family. I casually asked her, "so when is your resignation effective?".  She matter-of-factly replied, "ah next month pa, sir, sasama pa ako sa Team Building."

I'll never get millennials.

But, no, actually I can't blame anyone for anticipating and setting their schedule around Team Building. It had been almost two years since our last one -- that's already an eternity of cubicle man-hours and Dilbert meetings. This year's activity came and went too quickly, but not before instilling into every one of us core tenets of office teamwork

Leading by Example

 you can't teach this

Shared Sacrifice

Me: Ow! My foot!

Teammates: Yuck! Your foot smell!

Wellness and Diet 

 starting tomorrow

Inspiration / Learning from Superiors

 "aah, ganto pala mag-pose for 'Town & Country'"

Role Diversity

they weren't ready for that jelly

And above all...No Mercy!

FINISH HER

At the end of everything, we reported three non-renewal of contracts, one resignation, one foreign assignment deferral, one foreign assignment recall, a threatened physical injuries case, and maybe some international money laundering.

best. team. building. ever.

GREAT MOMENTS IN TREATY SIGNING REPLICA PHOTOGRAPHS

The Department recently put up on display in its lobby a gorgeous looking painting... 

As explained by the plaque:

I remember this same image was prominently featured during the last ASEAN meetings Closing Ceremonies, fading into the giant screens as inspiring orchestra music swelled all around. It's just a flat-out cool depiction of a momentous event in international history and diplomacy.

Also recently...

 um...explain?

Ok, cool.

STAYCATION'S ALL I EVER WANTED

Multiple long weekends meant multiple opportunities for the fam to go off to faraway, exotic destinations. And, boy, did we ever! Let's see, there was a trip to, um, Laguna. Yeah. Then to Cavite. Whoa nellie. And then to Cavite again...

Look, I've been through this before: we got a kid in school now, bills to pay, fantasy leagues to manage...there's not enough time/resources to jet around just to look like a wannabe instagram influencer. On the other hand, the LLDD-Hyphen-L's social media skills and savvy did manage to hook us up with some gorgeous yet easy to get to places. So, yeah, we're happy. And our facebook albums are full.

Lotus Pod  

A beautiful Balinese inspired resort, with intimate pools and lush landscaping. A good base, too, for exploring the waterfalls, parks and historic towns around Laguna.  (I'm not sure, but I think it was also the setting for an Andrea Torres photoshoot. Um, so I've heard)

Riviera

More accurately, a resthouse compound near the golf club and the clubhouse pool. Great for reunions, extended family gatherings, and side-trips to gardens and farms along the Cavite highways. Also great for forcing a certain spouse and child to get over their wussy fear of water slides (the go-to move: go down as a family, but have the flabby husband take the lead -- the sheer drag caused by his large skin surface area will slow the steepest slide down to a near crawl)

Abagatan Ti Manila

More of a workcation, actually, but I'm still counting it because I want to claim something so gorgeous looking and beautifully designed as the place where the LLDD-Baby's photobombs finally seized the crown from the LLDD-Hyphen-L's posing-posing 

pag may time, mama. pag may time