It was 60's night at the Celebrity Sports Club for my company and my team and I did a lot of contemplating if we are officially gonna dress up or just go plain Joe's for the occasion. This is an annual event that the company splurges out on giving gifts and raffle prizes to employees while celebrating the fruitful year that was. We did not have a plan that day so we ended up mixed; where some of us were still in office clothes and the others including me suiting up for that evening.
There were gals clad in clogs, high heel shoes and knee high dresses in primary colors. Guys were in suits, hippie shirts and headbands that is to be the envy of the crowd. It was nice to dress up once a year, so these parties were all heavily attended!
I was excited because I had a lot of things to look forward to, specially the last part where popular local band BAMBOO will be performing. The event would be also a great addition to my EVENTS portfolio since I am getting a whole lot serious about my photography. This year has been a whirlwind; as for me and the rest of the team, we are optimistic to maintain the quality of work we have and probably do more this year since we have internal projects that are already running. I just hope we get a lot of information with people in operations through that. Anyway enough about work, let's go back to the party. So there we were and sat down near the buffet (maybe to make sure we get in line first LOL) and listened to the annual address of our VP Vincent Fan. The message he wants us to concentrate on and understand is LEADERSHIP. A very basic word but it holds a lot of responsibilities... it makes us think about what is a good leader and what makes him one. The aspect of having certain leadership characteristics like compassion, the capability to listen and how to instill integrity in your work is still one of the best things he shared to us. This is good management advise. Chris Palmer cracked me up, but he gave sound practical advise for the people who work in Manila. David Simmons who came in a white suit, said a few words too and sent heartfelt thanks from people in the US. That was a nice gesture... I hope they all feel welcome in their stay here. Gautam Walia was also there to grace the event, it was my first time to see him even if he had frequently traveled to the Manila site.
I was a little tired since I had a photo shoot the day before and the event was about to end. They were announcing winners of the raffle and it included trips to local provinces, Macau and Malaysia. There were even Spa packages and thousands worth of appliances, gadgets for the lucky employees. Then people from HR showed around 50 outstanding employees on screen. None of them were from our team, nor some who were from the other department in the same building. The Most Outstanding Employees for the year was called and this lady from corporate accounts was called, and guess who was next on the list... I was dumbfounded because they were mentioning familiar things on my curriculum vitae. I said "wait a minute, of course not, that could not be me" then the kind director from CDO mentioned my name... OMG... my jaw dropped... I was announced most outstanding employee IMAGINE THAT! O_O
I did not know what to say... I just stood there in shock... I said thanks to the VP and President of the company who shook my hand on stage. That was one awesome evening, especially for me =)
When the lights died out, it was time for BAMBOO. I immediately got my camera and set it up for firing. When he got out I got trigger happy and almost filled my 4GIG memory card. BAMBOO (the lead singer) is just an awesome performer, you can't get a shot of him without motion blur because he moves a lot with the crowd while performing. That was another nostalgic moment to see. It is a close second to my gods the Eraserheads... it was worth the wait!
Here are some of the shots I got of that BAMBOO performance:
To all my office mates and team mates who regularly visit my site, Merry Christmas and thanks for everything!
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