I will sorely miss you, and I know you will miss me, too!

I will be leaving a corpororate job in pursuit of a long-time dream of realizing a career in research in the academe. Writing this entry, I feel the deep and rather unconventional desire to somewhat put into execution the famous literary technique of Virgina Woolf - writing in streams of consciousness. Inasmuch as I would like to structure this in a manner that would convey sadness and the feeling of happiness that goes with sadness, I felt that it is just too convoluted; exactly what a stream of consciousness write-up should appear to be like, but I must confess I am no good a writer to pull off an ambitious technique just yet. So here I go again resolving into enumeration, the proven effective manner of saying goodbye and salutation to good friends I will not be seeing in the next days, weeks, months or years.

I will start off with Adet because she's the one who dragged me into applying for GXS in the first place. I cannot reduce into a mere paragraph the good memories we have engineered in the process of exchanging sentiments, disappointments, merriments, and chizments. I can almost read the size of your cerebrum out of the incessant chatters in the office, jeepney and in SMS. I will sorely miss you, and I know you will miss me, too!

Marga may jokingly lash out expletives but I consider her one of the sweetest. A Contivo expert, she's on her way to becoming the next Ma'am Maybelle in GXS. Being Chinese, she claims to scrimp on things but ironically loves buying sandwich at Subway and that expensive, diarrhea inducing Horlics from Zentea. I will sorely miss you, and I know you will miss me, too!

Jobo is the teddy bear of the group. I wonder where all the hair went, but he comes to you in heavy strides without any fear of getting devoured; that's why he's not just a bear, he's a teddy bear! He's my lead for the GlaxoSmithKline Project, and I hope to hear less from him after GXS. Haha! I will sorely miss you, and I know you will miss me, too!

Man2 is teddy bear's cuddly and fashionable toooot! Everytime I pass by Rustan's or Shangri-la, Man-man's image never fails to come dashing before my Giordano eyeglasses! I need to namedrop the brand to be in context with Man-man's predilections!Haha! By the way, her nails are just as colorful as her personality. I will sorely miss you, and I know you will miss me, too!

Joanna Rina is the lady who has many names. She's under ArcelorMittal so she strikes me as a very strong woman; I'm talking about the phonetics in Mittal, dear reader. She loves burgers, french fries and her boyfriend--she talks a lot about him! I will sorely miss you, and I know you will miss me, too!

Jik is the Marsian who doesn't only speak alien but speaks really good english! I believe UFO's come in the night because she comes to the office when the rest of the junior analysts are already on their way home. She's also a sweet lady, that's why she's leading the Mars Project; I'm talking about Mars, the chocolate giant, dear non-GXS reader! I will sorely miss you, and I know you will miss me, too!

Marvin now leads ESPRINET, a fitting assignment since his hair seems to have gotten hold of too much esprinet (Spray Net)--I'm trying to pull a decent joke here, guys! ESPRINET should have been my pilot project but I had to fend it off so it went to him! Peace! I will sorely miss you, and I know you will miss me, too; considering Francesco and Marco of Esprinet will soon haunt you!

And special mention to Jayne whose stories of daily struggle with boredom in the office I got to endure listening to. I will sorely miss you, and I know you will miss me, too!

And to my Michael Foods mentor, Ate Rochelle! You have the kindest heart, and the brightest mind! That's why you are the brightest, shining star! Thank you for putting up with my stupid questions during the horrible Michael Foods days. I will sorely miss you, and I know you will miss me, too!

Charles Dickens had to write It is the best of times. It is the worst of times. Honestly, I had the best and worst of times in GXS; best would be the short time of being with good friends, and worst for saying goodbye, on top of the EMEA shift I had to endure for two weeks, just kidding!

I will sorely miss you, and I know you will miss me, too!

Signing off,

John David T. Dasmarinas

Technical Analyst

Professional Services Organization – SI Map Analysis Team

T: +632-859-5300 F: +632-859-5302

http://www.gxs.com/