And Time Marches On

I was chatting with my bestfriend Weng and she tells me that she's staying in the States for good. It wasn't such a huge shocker since she WAS planning to marry her BF in LA next year. But her trip to America a few weeks back was supposed to be for a month long holiday, afterwhich she's gonna come back home and wait for her fiancee visa. As it seems, her fiance didn't want to let her go and had proposed that they already tie the knot while she was there. I'm real happy for her but at the same time I feel pretty bummed. I will definitely miss our weekends at the mall. Her obessession with Korean skin products spending hours choosing the right hue of nail polish, which for the life of me, I just don't understand. Or her allegience to a low fat/low carb diet and and then grab tiramisu at Starbucks. My friend of many contradictions...will surely be missed. Sadly, it might take a longer time for me to see her in California.

I would have loved to help her with her new apartment. Help her decorate and just chill in her pad feeling proud of our accomplishment. There are lots of things I wish I could be part of as she adjusts to her new life in a strange and foreign country. But as it stands, I would have to wait for my husband to get his job in California before I could move there with him. I am constantly reminded of my nearing interview at the US embassy. I'm quite nervous especially since I DO want it so bad now. First of all, my good friend Irish has been working there for quite a while now and I haven't seen her in ages. And now Weng has moved there for good. If my visa gets denied, it would effectively scrap my chances of getting there by next year. I would probably have to wait for my Husband's greencard to be approved and that may well take as long as three years. Definitely not a palatable option for me.

The only thing that keeps me going is chatting with my friends online. Thank god for technology. Especially Irish and Weng. It eases the loneliness a bit. Still, the urgency to leave this hell hole doesn't wane a bit. Just yesterday, Weng and I were exchanging pasta recipes since she was preparing a meal for pappi's birthday. And then it just hit me, how much we've been through and how much we've grown together. She was even with me when I met Chris who later on became my husband. I jokingly teased her that we used to call each other and ask what the other was wearing for a night out clubbing (so deathly afraid of being underdressed or going over the top) and now we are swapping cooking techniques... next thing you know we are gonna be advising each other over diaper brands. Sigh.. How times have changed. I'm just really thankful I have a great friend to share experiences with, good or bad, mundane or life altering. I'm positive that I will get my pretty ass in the US soon. It aint a picnic but I'm sure I'll get by... I'm anxious but excited...over the horizon, the possibilities seem endless

David Yurman

I don't exactly consider myself as an accesories-type-of-person, for one thing, I have a habit of losing tiny items right after I've worn them. Albeit a number of jewelry boxes given to me a few birthdays or Christmases ago, I still can't seem to flip the lid open to stow my gems in the safety of a velvety container. I usually lay them on the nearest flat surface and the next thing I know I lost a pair of earrings.

Just recently, I'm increasingly fascinated by jewelry adorned by topaz (but throwing in a few diamonds here ad there wouldn't hurt either). The hue is very elegant yet sort of imbibes a playful and innocent nature. I'm particularly fond of the the David Yurman collection. Although it may take years of sheer hard work for me to actually afford one, just looking at the pictures give me much pleasure. Here are some of my favorites courtesy of www.davidyurman.com.

David Yurman
Blue Topaz Quatrefoil Earrings $1,400.00
Sterling silver and pavé diamond quatrefoil earrings with blue topaz briolette drops.
0.24 total diamond carat weight.

David Yurman
Diamond & Topaz Confetti Ring $750.00
From the Confetti Ice™ Collection, a sterling silver Cable ring with faceted diamonds,
iolite, blue topaz, and London blue topaz. 0.05 total carat weight.

David Yurman
Linked Renaissance Blue Topaz Bracelet $2,450.00
From the Linked Renaissance Collection, sterling silver bracelet with faceted blue topaz, pavé diamonds, and Cable detail. 7 1/4"L.

David Yurman
Linked Renaissance Blue Topaz Earrings $995.00
From the Linked Renaissance Collection, sterling silver earrings with faceted blue topaz, pavé diamonds, and Cable detail.
David Yurman
Briolette Drop Earrings $850.00
Sterling silver briolette drop earrings with faceted London blue topaz,
diamonds, pearls, and logos. 7 1/2"L.
David Yurman
Blue Topaz & Diamond Oval Ring $1,250.00
From the DY Signature Oval Collection™. Faceted blue topaz ring with pavé diamond bevel. Sterling silver shank with engraved logo on side. 14mm x 10mm.

David Yurman (born October 12, 1942) is the founder of the David Yurman jewelry company. His signature jewelery line is comprised of "cable" jewelry, made from twisted, sterling silver ropes.

Established in 1979, the company is internationally recognized as one of America's leading fine jewelers. Yurman, along with his wife Sybil, have sought, in the company's words, "to fuse art, fashion and fine jewelry." The company is also notable for its use of supermodels. As of 2006, Naomi Watts is the face of the brand.

Career Path

I stumbled upon this site www.livecareer.com. It gives out a career test to determine the right field for an individual. The test was a bit tedious for it consists of a 100 items. But I guess that many questions allows it to generate a more specific assessment. My results are as follows:

		Percentile Profile
Scale	Percentile
Writing	99
Personal Service	98
Teaching / Social Service	96
Art	93
Persuasive	81
Sales	71
Food Service	64
Administration	48

Your highest score was on Writing, which means that you enjoy creative or technical writing. You are also likely to be interested in a broad range subjects, so finding occupations that allow you to exercise these interests would lead to higher work satisfaction for you. You also scored highly on Personal Service, indicating that you like interacting with others and providing the public with services involving personal contact. Your high score on the Teaching / Social Service scale means that you enjoy instructing people in learning new things, helping people solve problems, and assisting others.

Scale	Percentile
Systematic	2
Science	4
Clerical	5
Assertive	15
Outdoors	17
Health Service	18
Industrial Art	27

Your lowest score was on Systematic. You dislike routine assignments in which order and persistent, steady effort are required. Job security is not so important to you. Plus, you can tolerate frequent schedule changes and situations in which you must make quick decisions. You also showed low interest in Science, so you wouldn’t be fulfilled working with scientific equipment and mathematical logic and reasoning to solve practical or abstract scientific problems Finally, your low score on Clerical means that you wouldn’t enjoy doing routine office work that involves filing, record-keeping, word processing, operating office machines, attending to details, and other repetitive office tasks.

Holland’s Theory

John Holland* developed a widely-accepted theory that has been used in career counseling since the 1970’s. According to his RIASEC theory, there are six different approaches to the world of work. Since Holland conducted his work, our economy has transitioned from a manufacturing-based economy that existed in the 70s to a service-based economy that exists now. LiveCareer has added a seventh approach to the world of work to reflect aspects of the service-based economy. It describes individuals who enjoy people, like variety, and work in the fields of hospitality, travel, and personal care. We have labeled this new approach “Attentive (Servers)”. The full seven approaches are listed below:

Realistic (Doers)

Investigative (Thinkers)

Artistic (Creators)

Social (Helpers)

Enterprising (Persuaders)

Conventional (Organizers)

T – Attentive – (Servers)

How happy you feel at work largely depends on how well your approach to work fits with your work environment. Research has shown that people with similar work preferences are attracted to each other and create work environments that are most compatible with their own personality types. For example, Artistic people tend to “flock together” and develop work environments that encourage free expression and creativity.

Your Workplace Fit Graph

Your workplace fit results can be viewed as a graph. Just as each of us is unique, every graph is a one-of-a-kind snapshot of your individual set of preferences. Keep in mind that everyone scores high in some areas and low in others. High or low scores aren’t good or bad, they simply illustrate your compatibility with different work environments. No one scores equally high on all 7 scales (nor would you want to).

Definitions

	Realistic (Doers) -
Realistic types like physical activity, working with their hands, and are mechanically-inclined. They enjoy working outdoors and do not mind dealing with physical risks on the job.
	Investigative (Thinkers) -
Investigative types enjoy the challenge of problem solving in mathematics, technology, and sciences, and the abstract and practical ideas related to these areas. Applied science, such as engineering, technology or computer science may also be of interest to them. They can be technically creative.
	Artistic (Creators) -
Artistic types are often thought of as original and creative by others. Such people enjoy expressing themselves in artistic ways such as acting, dancing, creating music or visual art, or by expressing their ideas either through discussion or debate.
	Social (Helpers) -
Social types are interested in helping to keep others emotionally or physically healthy, or in teaching others. They enjoy giving advice and working directly with people, either in groups or individually.
	Enterprising (Persuaders) -
Enterprising types are people-oriented. They like to talk to, influence and persuade others. They are confident, adventurous, assertive and show leadership.
	Conventional (Organisers) -
Conventional types enjoy supervising others in jobs where rules and tasks are well defined. They show careful attention to detail, are organized, follow instructions well and prefer jobs where their daily duties are regular and fixed.
	Attentive (Servers) -
Attentive types enjoy helping others, serving others' personal needs and looking after the comfort and well-being of others. They are happy in jobs requiring sociability, politeness, patience and a happy disposition.