purely gibberish and excuses why there has been no post

With Up Dharma Down playing on the background, I write this long-overdue post to explain why The Coffee House Chronicles has been silent for over a month now.

Basically, the reason things have been quiet here in the Coffee House is primarily because of work.

For the past month or so, there just have been too much work to do and by the time I get home after logging in a daily average of 10 hours in the office, my mind is sapped, my body is spent and whatever energy left is to be spent to be the family man.

Weekends have been quiet busy as well, a blend of social obligations, family commitments, and personal projects -- all of which have contributed to my neglect of a simple "hi" or "hello" on the three blogs that I keep.

Yes, guilty as charged.

Believe me I would've wanted to write more often in my blogs as blog-writing is the only creative release I have at the moment. But I didn't just have the time.

In between thoughts on how to nudge designers to get going with their projects and managing projects demanded by demanding internal clients, I find bits and pieces of ideas to write about in my blogs. For instance, a good friend of mine just got married last weekend and it would've been something great to write about ... never got the time to work on it. I would've ranted about the unfair way my ISP is treating its customers ... never got around to working it. I could've announced to the world that I'm now in my 3rd year with the Company ... but Company work prevented me from having the spare time to do it.

Yes, excuses, excuses ...

IN OTHER THOUGHTS ...

I now have a new life goal, in the career level terms (one of my life goals is to be rich hah!) -- I want to become a CMO.

Quite lofty, but heck, that's the way to go.

When I first started my marketing career more or less a decade ago, my life goal then was to become a Manager ... a Marketing Manager or an Advertising Manager or something ... a Manager. I guess, that was the zenith of my professional achievement back then thanks largely to parents and their friends who climbed the corporate ladder for more than 20 years before becoming GERs.

In ten years, I've managed to do that and though it seems to be a rapid climb (I know a lot others who became GERs in lesser years than I did) it was turbulent, humbling, stressful, learning-filled, and a definite reason why my hair has thinned out. Marketing has got to be one of the most stress-filled job. Fun, yes. Stressful, yes.

So, after a year as a freelancer ('97-'98), as a specialized media practitioner ('98), traditional marketer ('99-'05), and online marketer ('05) ... I am now a GER.

Sometime in one of those sleepless sessions in bed, I just thought I've achieved the GER life goal, what's next? I recalled the letters C-M-O and it hit me that that was a new life goal for me.

However, CMOs are not yet a fad here in the RP. CMOs are a special breed and it takes more than 2 years of GER to become a CMO. It means continuous learning and while I may be equipped with the marketing skillset, I know I'm far from being dubbed a CMO quality marketer.

Hay, kaya nga life goal ... you need to work on it and persevere and continue to grow.

I do hope I can find the time to write more often even if it's just myself talking to myself. A friend back in college once sent me a letter starting off ... it's nice talking to paper again ... in this case, it's nice talking to the LCD screen again.

ONE SIGN that I've been working too much is when work invades my dreams.

Last night, I am aware I dreamed at least twice and in both instances, the setting or the people involved were from work. When that usually happens, I also tend to "work" in my dream and when I awake I feel more drained than refreshed.

I went to work this morning feeling like I've just been on a 24 hour shift thanks to those two work-influenced dreams.

Sheesh!