The company sent me to our remote site for one work week to debut the design I made for the chat queue- this is too cool, people. Not only did I get to design something from scratch ("We're in uncharted territory here", my immediate supervisor confessed), but I also got to be the one to teach everyone how to use it. It's not quite the top to bottom sealed up design of Apple, but it's as close as it gets in corporate Philippines- I got to control almost aspect of the design and execution. I created a product no one has ever seen or used before and is now being requested by some of our biggest clients and is being pitched by our project managers to pull in new business for the company.
Let that just sink in for a moment, I'll be here, having an iced coffee.
Since I've come here to Manila, I've been able to do my dream job of working with clients and trainers to design training materials from the top down and from the bottom up, so to speak- I also have the freedom to complete gut and redesign the "Foundations" or "Induction" program that we have at my company where new comers learn basic communications and language/ customer service skills.
Reading the Steve Jobs biography (the 10 pounder white one) sort of crystallized my way of thinking and designing, helping me understand not only my own father (my roots) but myself- why I get so intensely emotional about design, why I pushed August so hard to make things a certain way, why I am able to sell my vision to others so fearlessly (It's called "The Reality Distortion Field", or "If you sell it they'll build it, or allow you build it"), why my ideas are so clear and so new, so weird to others, why I have so little patience, why Excel makes intuitive sense to me (I may be the only person in my American peer group who understands how to make Excel formulas and build charts from them, without attacks of nerves), how I think and feel about some things, and why I have such a divisive persona--- some people seem to really, really dislike me upon first contact and others seem to sort of mentally fall down and fall in love that never goes away, all without me "doing anything".
Come to think of it, my siblings are like this too, I don't know where we got this, but if I had to guess it would be the cosmic blending of two extraordinary personalities- the intense visionary side and cold brilliance of my father combined with the zany, pinwheel sparky, scatty warmth of my mom- all three of us have this, with my brother being the warmest and the most down to earth, my sister being the most intense, and myself being the coldest and most remote, and all of us absolutely convinced we're doing the right thing and pulling up the whole room with us.
Anyway, back to the story!!
I checked into the hotel and trundled up to the pool, which was going to be closed (ARG!) for the rest of my trip, so I had to get my quality pool time early. After getting settled in and putting on sun lotion, I sauntered up to the pool bar, where the largest land dog I've ever seen was chained up, just out of site. This thing was like a combination of a St. Bernard and a dinosaur. It was just coolin', gettin' some sun and pantin' in the shade. I jumped out of my skin and the dog was like "Hey man, don't hate. Just cause I'm big don't mean I'm a monster!"
After a few hours with one eye on Mount Apo over there in the corner, I toddled off with the sun setting behind my back, off to bed.
The next day I woke up early (work started at 7 AM over here), and off to the work site. The town literature says that Davao is the second largest city in the Philippines, but to me it was a sleepy little hamlet, barely populated. After the insane congestion of Manila, this place was like the world after a zombie apocalypse---eerily quiet. It was a nice change of pace. I went to the same place for lunch every day, taught my classes and got to know the staff out there, used my borrowed desk and took a few pictures, and every day at 3 when work got out I either went to the mall to browse around or off to the Marco Polo lounge poolside at the Marco Polo hotel- the nicest place in town.
I'll have to fill you in on all of the details later, because for some reason I just can't break out of the expansive philosophical mood I'm in long enough to focus on the details of the trip, but suffice to say it was really relaxing, like an unexpected vacation. And! I saw the movie Mystic Pizza, which if you haven't watched yet, watch *immediately*. If you loved Moonstruck or L.A.Story (and if you don't, I DON'T KNOW YOU!), and you like the slightly daffy sweetness of 1980's love stories, the hazy innocence that shines through the oddball lightness that suffuses the film, dipping the whole movie in milk and honey, this movie is for you. And if you've ever wondered if Vincent D'Onofrio was ever handsome (answer: yes, in an Italian beefcake, hunk of love way). Do yourself a favor. Netflix this sh*t today.
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