Tuesday, March 06, 2007

Last Day

It’s my last day here at P&A.

I’ve been staring at my computer for thirty or so minutes and I still do not know what to say. Perhaps the best way is to just start at the beginning; hopefully, I’ll eventually be able to find my way to the end…

My P&A experience had been inextricably tied to Sangkay from the very beginning; thus, I think it would be apt to say a little something about that connection in this piece. We started going out just when I was starting work. I would always tell my officemates stories about her and us (the prime reason why Manju told Sangkay that she was the most talked-about topic at the office when they finally met). I fondly remember how happy the guys were for us when Sangkay finally told me “yes”, how Tops and Grace even prepared banners celebrating that very special day, how envious Sangkay was of my “sweet” officemates. They were also there for me when my relationship with Sangkay ended, although I mostly kept mum on the matter and kept my feelings to myself. But when I could not contain it any longer, Chiara was always there to lend me an open ear.

I’ll definitely miss the people I worked with: Tony, Weng, Raul, Fied, Jhoanna, Janice, Tops, JR, Manju, Grace, Maan, and Chiara; even Andrew and Mark So-chan.
I’ll miss all the beautiful ladies at the P&A Tax Division.
I’ll miss my favorite Makati watering holes: the Dela Rosa parking lot, Giligan’s Island, and Bistro 110.

I’ll miss Gold’s Gym Glorietta (save for Tim Yap, may he rest in peace).

I’ll miss Ineng’s.

I’ll miss the Jollijeep at the back of BPI Family bank.

I’ll miss a lot of things, I know, but there are a lot of other things I’m eager to be leaving behind (good riddance you bastard).

I’m no soothsayer: I do not have the power to predict what will happen in the days ahead. But sad as I am to turn the page over and end this chapter of my life, I am inexplicably optimistic about how the rest of the story will go.

There are endless possibilities and opportunities ahead of me. One basic tenet of finance is that there’s no such thing as a “free lunch”: there are always tradeoffs involved in decision-making, risk begets reward, you can’t have your cake and eat it too. It’s a pity that I won’t be able to play the part of an arbitrageur in this scenario, that I’ll have to give P&A up if I want to take advantage of available opportunities and grow at a pace that will satisfy me.

With that, I say farewell to all the people I’ve met in my short but fruitful P&A journey.

Long days and pleasant nights.