Today is the last day of the year. Normally, this wouldn't be a big deal, but for some reason, it became a big deal when I started to ponder on life. The end of 2010 is here and it is time for me to reflect on what happened on 2010. Were the choices I made good enough for me? It is not about right or wrong choices, but more of were they good choices? Choices in which I learned new things.
Relatively, it was a great year. I got out of my shell and started exploring the life. So far I am still doing my plan and it was challenging at the same time fun. There were a lot of learnings for me this year. The end of 2010 means that we have another year to make things right. 2011 signifies a new start for us.
As 2011 is approaching, I wish nothing but simply a good life not just for me, but for everyone else. Life is not easy as we wanted it to be, so good and fun life for all of us. Hope we learned from our mistakes in 2010 and continue to learn new things in 2011. Hope we continue to live life as it should be lived. Laugh as if our problems are just too small and most importantly, spread love to everyone we know.
Happy New Year to everyone and cheers to a great new year ahead of us... Let us rock 2011
Just as Christmas passed by, I was wondering why each year is not as good as the last year's. Movies and Tv shows are showing a certain kind of season that I am looking for to. Ideas keep rushing into my head on why things are different now.
For the past few years, I am not spending it much with my family because my mom is in Hong Kong with my sister and my dad passed away last year. This Christmas season, I spent it with my older brother and grand mother. Nothing really special since my brother would prefer to play Ragnarok and on the eve of the 24th, just have something to eat and we just eat together. We never really cooked since I am the only one who enjoys cooking and when we changed our refrigerator/freezer to a smaller unit, I cannot stock meat anymore. Going back, another would be that I do not have any significant other for the 2nd year. It isn't a big deal but maybe I miss the companionship that relationships give. Lastly, I think I am also growing older where my priorities are slowly changing. Christmas season is now more of spending time with friends and resting. Along that line, I think the world is also growing older. Many people are just at home facing the net and just hang out when it is almost the eve of Christmas.
I do not know, but maybe I lost the sense of Christmas. Maybe by next year things will be a big different. Hopefully something better... but for now, Belated Merry Christmas to everyone and have a wonderful New Year.
Recently, I came across an old forum which I was a member since 2000. Funny that I only visit that site whenever I come across relationship problems. But since I am single, I though of visiting the forum and see what I can get with it. Fortunately, I saw a post about Fil-Chi's. I haven't been mingling with Chinese for quite sometime now and having a crowd of Fil-Chi's would be better since these Fil-Chi's will be more open to both culture.
Going back, I started posting using my old nick, but was quite hesitant since it was made to be unknown to others. Since I am single, I might join their EB's someday. I then created a new account and focus on blending with them.
For some good fortune, I was able to chat with a few. We set an informal date which did pushed through. The meet up came and it was a blast. I realized that the Fil-Chi community is indeed small. We would instantly be connected to someone and stories started pouring.
The night ended as one of us needed to head home. It was a fun and exciting night. I gained new friends and I am really looking forward on meeting others soon.
It was really refreshing to mingle with the same kind... :)
Baguio is known to be the summer capital of the Philippines and the last time I was there, I was still a baby. Just recently, my friends and I decided to go to Baguio and have some fun. It was fantastic!!! It was so cold that we needed jackets when we go out. The food is cheap and weather is unbelievable.
I enjoyed eating strawberry Taho. Tried their local restaurant. Partied at their local clubs.
We went around and explored most of what we can explore. What made this trip unforgettable were the people I'm with. This is a first for us and there will surely be more to come.
For the past few weeks, the lottery here in our country hit an awesome high of P 741M or $16M (assuming exchange rate is $1 = P45). A lot of Filipinos tried their luck to get the grand prize. Bettors range from unemployed to even lawyers. It is inevitable for them not to bet since this kind of money can change one's life.
For those who are not familiar with the Philippines, our standard of living is quite low and many foreigners would want to retire here in our country. We have nice tourist destinations that are accessible and relatively cheap.
Anyway, now that it is back to zero, people for sure will wait for it to balloon up again. I wonder what will the winner do with the money? Hope that it is for something good...
Having a partner in business is not easy. I think I was really a mistake being business partner with someone who doesn't have the foresight to see the bigger picture and a close mind who see everything only their way.
I must be blinded when I entered into business with someone like that. I like to create a system to increase efficiency and to lessen possible lost on the business, but when your partner is stubborn, then it is a sign.
I value my friends but when it comes to business, we deal with it as business. If my friend will buy something from my business, I make sure to ask and supply the necessary documents to protect not just my client's interest, but my own as well. Mixing friendship and business is a great sign that the business will fall soon.
My boiling point is that when my partner consider our business as a part time project only where my partner can get money once "a project" comes in. I do not share the same vision for I want to grow this into a bigger business.
My only option now is to get what is mine and leave my partner alone with the business. Claiming to be good in sales is just one part of the equation. The business know-how is equally important.
I am changing strategy and will start to go another way. Start another company with visionary people.
Last evening when I got home, I checked my Facebook and saw some messages from an unknown user. She shared some information regarding my past relationship. Funny is that all those information are useless since I got over my past months ago. However, looking at those data, there seems to be some accuracy with the data she gave me.
In any case, I am in a great state now and nothing can change the past. It may hurt a bit, but it was the past. Hope I got those information earlier. Also, I do not know if those information are true.
As a believer of personal development and as an educator, Sir Ken Robinson's TED speak is very inspiring. Most of the time, we are being dictated on what we should be. Most of the students these days are studying courses that are either in-demand or because their parents said so. True to what Steve Jobs said in his 2005 Stanford speech. We should find our passion and do not settle. Here is Ken Robinson's speech.
Sir Ken Robinson's Bring on the Learning Revolution
When we appreciate even the smallest things, life becomes much better. I used to have a high standard about everything that I missed out on the beauty of simplicity. It is good to set high standard when we are aiming to achieve something, however, when we live life, why set standards?
- A simple cup of coffee shared with your friends is way better than you finishing it alone.
- Getting mud to your clothes to help build houses is better than having blessed without any handicap and not using them to help others.
- Simply watching a movie without any expectations and just learn from the story rather than trying to be a director and criticize every details.
- Bringing down your Ego and understand people from where they are coming from rather than using your pride and make life more miserable.
- It is not bad to dream of being rich, but be happy with what is given to you and at least you are alive to enjoy every moment that you can.
- Appreciate people as they are and not expect them to be someone who they are not.
- Appreciate life as we live each day rather than focusing too much on events that may or may not come.
Life is beautiful so once in a while we need to slow down in our fast phased world and just appreciate what we have.
When people ask me what my religion is, I always give them a "none" answer simply because I find religion too controlling. Rather than saying that I am religious, I would rather say "spiritual". Religion ties you to certain beliefs that is an either or belief. There are things that religion teaches that I question and I find that there are a lot of good beliefs from different religions. So why focus on just one religion when you can get the best teaching from different fields and grow yourself into a better person.
Others may believe in Jesus, others may believe in Allah, Buddha, Shiva or whoever gods they worship. Bottom line, there are still similar teaching from these religions. Each has their own beliefs and I am getting bits from each that suits my ideology and form my own personal connection with the creator. I believe that it boils down to your belief and your action against other who just claims to be religious because they were brainwashed.
On one hand, I have a friend who would claim that she is very much religious but she treats other people so poorly. She would instantly judge people and look down to them even being so blunt on hurting them verbally. On the hand, I have a friend who views these things quite similar to my idea (she was a mentor to me once). She would treat people like her equal and to some extent, she is more blessed and favored by people around her whatever religion those people believed in.
When we try to seek answers, we should get out of our comfort zone and challenge ourselves to take a step farther away from our comfort and never be afraid to learn things that can help us in the end. For those religious people, it is not bad to challenge your creator for when you challenge, you are seeking answers and when you find the answers, your beliefs will be much stronger and there will be reasons why you follow certain beliefs.
My new friend asked me why do I blog? She used to blog but felt like the world doesn't give a damn to her posts.
I simply answered her that I blog simply because:
1. I want to improve my English. English is not my main language. Also, I prefer numbers over words and if I can communicate with numbers, maybe I will do it. Since I believed in Carl Jung's theory of equality, I started to learn skills that I am not good at and English is one of those.
2. To share my insights about the world on how I see it through my eyes. Even though I am not that old to hold a wealth of experience to share, me being a thinker have been through quite a lot in life and my views came from my interaction with people, books that I've read, and my experiences in life. They may not be much, but my journey in seeking life gave me some insights that I wanted to share. I made my blog unknown to most so that it could be unbiased and it would be a coincidence once they were able to find my blog themselves.
3. My little way of leaving my thoughts and ideas to somewhere that if something happened to me, I was able to past something on. This site being unknown, would have a more significance when someone ended up reading this randomly. I believe that when we are bothered or if we seek answers to our problems, the world acts strangely by unconsciously showing us the answers to our problems. Hope someone in need would end up reading my insights.
Just had a nice conversation with a new friend. We met by her sending me an email saying she needs help on a project. Apparently, we were member of a certain online community and she randomly thought of sending me that email. I was hesitant at first thinking that her "project" might be another Multilevel Marketing Scam, however, upon hearing her case, it sounded legit and I agreed to meet her. It was a few weeks ago and the meeting went well. For some reason, she was planning to form a certain kind of group which had a noble cause. Her initial plan was about spirituality but she later on decided that a more general theme could help more people. I agreed to this cause spirituality is a debatable subject. Her idea was not really new cause I had encountered people who also had this kind of idea but wasn't able to follow through with their plans. Sensing her kind soul, I was drawn to her vision. I kinda shared the same vision but was just looking for other like-minded people.
Recently, she and I met up to discuss some ideas and I was quite shocked when she wanted me to be her partner in this project. I was hoping for a sit in the core group but never imagined to be kinda at par with her level. Not that I am underestimating myself, but more of not what I thought of as my involvement. I currently run two businesses and one of those business is quite a challenge since we focus on innovation on a ideas that are relatively new in the market, hence my time is focused on the management of this business. Going back, I said yes simply because of her kind soul and we share the same vision of helping as much people as I can.
Just so you know, for more than a year now, I am focusing on developing myself into someone better. My outlook is very much new and I am more positive than before. I am currently learning more on my social skills and NLP. Along my learning, I can see a significant change in my attitude and belief that I wanted to share these insights to people to help them live a better life.
Hoping for the best in our plans and I am positive that we will be successful in our projects. Maybe I really subscribe to Gandhi's teaching of being the change I want the world to be. I am changing and I want to make a change in this world. Kudos to our new project.
Life is indeed full of surprises. Just when I am really enjoying being single, that is the time when certain people show up making things harder to decide. I am meeting new people, developing myself, focusing on my career, and even giving time to my friends then suddenly there are women who came to my life or came back to my life challenging my decision on being single.
The first one was someone who I considered to be a "what if?". We separated ways because of circumstances beyond our control. I tried wooing her back a few months back but she was in a different state of mind. Just recently, she texted me and was way sweeter than before and it was like heaven. The second was an old friend I met once years ago. She was a friend of my friend and for some reason, she commented to one of my years old blog entry. Our communication started from there and she was also as sweet as an angel. The last would be an ex office mate which I never had a chance to talk to during my stay with the company. A few months back, a common ex office mate helped us break the ice and since then, we were communicating a lot. She is a wonderful woman and we do have a lot of common interest.
These women are marvellous, however, I am in a state of evolution. Currently, I am learning things that will help me grow to be a better man. Things are not as smooth as I wanted them to be but I am on the right track according to my plans. As of the moment, sticking to my plan is what I am focusing on and I will just hope that by the time I am ready, someone who is destined to me will appear. Who knows, maybe it will be one of them.
Hard at first but things seem to be clearer now... I am getting used to this ubuntu thing.
Here are my observations:
1. Start up and shut down are way faster. 2. Things are neater than windows (files are placed automatically). 3. Software are easily available and there is an automatic search of the software which also automatically install them. 4. It is free so no problems with licenses. 5. The Terminal torrent client is way better than window based torrent client. 6. So far the standard applications from installation are doing good.
Downside: 1. You need to love technology to really like ubuntu. Good thing I embrace technology...
Yet I'm still learning the ropes... cheers to ubuntu.
My business partner has been using ubuntu for quite a while now... I seem to be enjoying it in his laptop so Just today, I reformatted my desktop and installed ubuntu.
However, I wasn't told that installation on ubuntu is so different from Windows and it is more on coding rather than simple clicking. Nonetheless, I think this is better than Windows.
Last week was one tough week... I have had days where I have limited sleep but last week may be one of the hardest.
I was fortunate enough to be informed that there was a seminar in UP on IT Project Management for Free. It is a big help both on my IT side and Management side so I opted to join the seminar. What pushed me to really do this was the fact that I will be getting templates that will be very useful for my business. The seminar started on Wednesday till Friday and being an insomniac, I wasn't able to sleep properly... here are my total hours of sleep from Tuesday night (maybe Wednesday morning) till Thursday night.
I was like a zombie during the seminar and wasn't able to really participate that much, good thing my business partner was also there and he stepped up and managed the group. We were able to finished out tasked and after the seminar, our day didn't end there. We met with a potential marketing partner and discussed about the business till around 11pm. We then went out to have some fun with other friends and partied till around 430 am. We were supposed to go to sleep but I was committed to join an NGO for an outreach. I started volunteering last July and I made a commitment to do an outreach once a month. So after we party, we went to our friend's house, took a bath
Friday - 0 hour sleep
It was quite a challenge to help build houses in QC, when we haven't slept yet. I was kinda hoping to see familiar faces, but there were a lot of new faces and it was nice to mingle with those people. The build ended earlier than expected but it was a relief because I suddenly had to do something for my business. Now this was the most dangerous part... I went to my supplier in Valenzuela to pick up some items to be delivered to our client somewhere in Mandaluyong. While I was going there, traffic was quite heavy on some part and it was boring to death... I started to get sleepy...
There were instances where I would sleep for a few minutes but I was trying to stay awake by splashing water to my face. Yes good thing I have my water bottle with me. Also, I made a few stops on different restaurants just to fill myself with sodas and hope that sugar will help me stay awake. The travel to the client was worst. I was driving along EDSA and cars there have their own mind... When I was near the client, I quickly stopped at 7-11 to buy an energy drink that would, hopefully, help me stay awake till I get home.
I did got home around 8pm and I should be sleeping by then, but I wasn't about sleep right away. There was facebook, some emails, and other sites that I regularly check. I was able to really sleep around 12am and I had a nice and long sleep...
Saturday 10 hours sleep
Total hours of sleep: 22 hours from Tuesday night till Sunday Morning. What a Week!
It's a year already and I think things are better than before. I am doing things I like and I am growing exponentially. I am happy and more liberated. From the looks now, that was maybe one of the best decision I made for I was able to see a the darkest that was hidden inside.
Now, I am forced to face the world alone. Do not worry, for this journey will only give me strength and wisdom. I have friends who will be there whenever I fall, but sure as hell I will stand up again to face whatever life has for me. For I am liberated, I am strong, I can face anything.
As of my knowledge, I am a year and a day old here in my site.
Quick realizations:
*it seems my anonymity really does work. For those few who have an idea that my blog does exist, they don't seem to be following it anymore. Maybe because of my weird choice of topics and my very sensitive mood which was cause by my daily stress.
*it is really therapeutic to blog. At least I can release my inner frustrations and my "WTF" day. And since I do not have any significant other to absorb my crazy stories, this made things much easier.
*it is not easy to maintain a blog site. I have a million and one ideas running in my head yet at times I cannot find the right words to write.
*it has been a year and my life is somehow the same. Nothing big had happened externally, but I think I grew wiser. I started to appreciate things as it is. Life seems more simple and a lot better.
*that there are people who do not change at all. There are people who would say things to impress you but are really in disguise. Worse is that they would blame you on their inefficiency.
*that when things are shitty, there are still people who would be there for you.
*make more friends, cause you will find someone that will become one of your truest friends.
*do not be afraid to have mud in your clothes. Helping others is way more enjoying that worrying about mud.
It sucks when you already let go of something just to find out other parts of you are still holding on. I recently learned something that was supposed to be light yet I am now being suck back to oblivion. I shouldn't feel this way because I was ahead already, but it seems that my shadow was still holding to a past that created a big void in my life.
Currently, I am at a state of uncertainty. I know it shouldn't hurt, but I am hurting. The worst part is that I feel numb but I am hurting. I know it sound so ironic but this is maybe the best description I can think of. To add insult to injury, there was kindness being shown and it was such a puzzle that I can say I am in a dilemma on which I shouldn't be.
Two poems in a matter of minutes. Now that was fucking awesome yet that was also a big ouch.
my life was tamed with its demise good as April I will never forget how the shot was aimed so high only to see what we should believe the reality that grows our soul that victory is with a capital V
fixated on the delusion of an enigma to find nothing special had grown still healing from the pain and hurt then quickly a new troubling dilemma almost killed by the powerful blitz slowly turning me into a diablo
take me away from this dream I had heard the whispers of serenity even my last stroke wasn't at all bad living my pain in eternity
a penny for your thought not a single reason in mind together we make a great team all is lost on what you brought zeroed in on what i will find only owning it in my dream
Being a college professor and a seeker or knowledge, I sometimes feels that the quality of education is going down the drain. It is so ironic that now, we have google and the internet within reach yet people are becoming less smart. I don't want to call them dumb yet, but the road is going there. I would maybe blame the television and other professors for this. Most teaching methods uses memorization which I believe is the lowest for of learning. We should strive to teach the next generation more on rational thinking. Many are even managers on their own industry yet they cannot seem to grasp simple metaphoric statements. To make things worse, this individual claims to be a reader. What more for those who don't read?
It is alarming on where our education is going. With the vast source of knowledge within our reach, we should maximize it and try to develop the highest form of thinking.
I always wonder how women can be so cool when they reject guys. Recently I met a girl and she was sweet however, we were both not interested in any relationship. Things were ok until she started calling me with a pet name. I think its cool to call me that but when she keeps calling me with that name in public like Facebook and when we were around friends, things are getting a bit messy. She told me that she is sweet and I like sweet ladies, but there is a fine line on being friends and being lovers. Don't get me wrong, I may be sweet with my girl friends, but I do have a limit on how sweet I can be. I erased a number of her post because I don't think its appropriate and our common friends starting to tease us. Yes I admit that I may fall and deep inside I know she is not the one. Another thing, I am currently in a state of self re-building and would like to face the world alone. I literally missed a lot and would like to take my time being single.
There is another case. In our small organization, I was part of the head committees and I feel that part of our role is to ensure that most of our members are safe when they get home from our gathering. There was this girl who attended a recent gathering, though she was an old member of the organization already. I paid extra attention to her since she lives in Cavite. During the gathering, we would gang up with some of our members for fun and my mentality is that if you can joke about adult stuff, make sure that you are open when others joke about adult stuff too. So when she was throwing green jokes, I threw back a few which she thought was me sending her signals. Then on our way home, since we all came from Cubao, we all took the same bus together. Since she lives in Cavite, meaning it will take her longer to go home. Since I feel that her safety is part of my responsibility, I asked for her number from a common friend then I texted her. We also talked for a while because I think that I need to know more about our members and she mistook this as a sign of motive from me. I know I shouldn't feel anything, but when she told me that she likes me, and when our friends would tease me to her, I feel so awkward. I know I never had any experience in this end of the rope oh maybe when I was a kid, but I do not have any ideas at all on what to do.
As of the moment, I act the same when we text (both ladies) but just recently, I confronted the sweet lady that if it is ok, she shouldn't call me by my pet name in public. As I expected, she reacted differently and I think she took it personally because we were supposed to do a project and suddenly she bailed out. Now, I feel so bad for doing it but I know that it should be done. So it really questions me on how ladies can say no to guys and don't feel a thing.
It was tiring but the day ended better than I thought it would. Our group was asked to be featured in GMA7 and so 4 of us went there for the shoot. We were practically walking around with local stars and it was really a pleasant view. There were a number of local actresses that I would love to get a picture of but unfortunately, I didn't have the chance. I was suddenly asked to perform something to a local actress and my bad for not knowing who she was. It ended nicely because she was amazed by what I did and I would like to believe that she was kinda interested in me. But to my surprise, my friend wasn't able to capture my performance with her and I only got a picture with her.
The day continued and we were met by our other friends and we changed location. Then the interview went on but I am not part of the interview anymore. GMA7 gave us some money as token and I told the others that we should eat and celebrate. We all went to MangInasal in Cubao to celebrate our day and after eating, some went to Cainta while the rest of us went to Trinoma.
My good friend was teaching me something so I was spending time with him asking him stuffs. While we were walking around, we saw Jay of Kamikaze. Good thing I had my camera with me that time and I wanted to take a picture with him not only because he is famous, but we have a friend who looks like him and it would be a blast to make fun of our friend. Jay wasn't that accommodating at first being the star that he is, but we broke the ice by telling him our plan of making fun of our friend. He smiled and gave us the go sign.
Today was a really tiring day, but I learned a lot. Spend time with my friends and had a number of souvenirs. In totality, today is a wonderful day... :)
One of the greatest song from one of the greatest band in the world.
Come see I swear by now I'm playing time against my own troubles oh I'm coming slow but speeding...well Do you wish for a dance and while I'm in the front My play on time is won Oh, but the difficulty is coming here... I will go in this way And I'll find my own way out I won't tell you what to be Oh no, but I'm coming to much more Me All at once the ghosts come back Reeling in you now oh Tell me what if they came down crushing Used to be When you and me play for all of the loneliness that nobody notices now I'm begging slow, I'm coming here... oh, I'm waiting I wanted to stay I wanted to play I wanted to love you I'm only this far And only tomorrow leads the way I'm coming waltzing back and moving into your head Please, I wouldn't pass this by Oh no, but I wouldn't take more, than I need What sort of man goes by? Well, I will bring you water Why won't you ever be glad? It melts into wonder I came in praying for you Why won't you run into rain and play? And let all the tears splash all over you The way the rain comes, The way the rain comes down on you, It does.
A friend once told me that bad things do strike in 3s. Normally, when we encounter difficulties or bad luck, two other disaster will follow. It is but normal for us to fall down at times, but currently I am in a state of frustration.
There are people who are just stupid and they still hang out with other stupid people thus making them more stupid.
Even though Murphy is not invited in an event, he will really make way to ruin something that was planned way before and to make this worse, only a few are helping.
Friends and business is really like oil and water... Promises should now be considered as a lie... Tomorrow is like a diamond cause it's forever...
Summing up my past relationships, I was more or less in a relationship for almost 7 years. The time that I was single were only a few months. Currently I am single again and this time I am loving it. I once worried about growing old and not getting married. I was afraid and I do not know why. Maybe the idea of being alone creeps me, however, I think my perspective now is changing. I seem to be planning my future more seriously. Honestly, I tried to fix whatever was left with my past relationships but things are not going into plan. Rather than finding a new someone special, I would like to focus my attention in building my future. Career wise I mean. I always have this idea that different parts of our lives can be perfect, its just that, they will never be perfect all at the same time. Whenever we are lucky in our love life, other parts might be a problem like maybe our family or career. Coming from this perspective, I would like to put my love life in the back seat and focus more on other parts like friends and career. When things are smooth and running, maybe I can then change my focus again.
Currently I am single and loving how I am growing to be a better person.
Fun fun fun... A very close girl friend celebrated her birthday and she would always celebrate it in a hotel. Food and booze, party with really good friends and meeting new friends. She is part of one of my circles and we seldom see each other but we keep each other posted on whats happening.
The night was great unfortunately, we didn't have enough players who are willing to chip out money for poker. We ended up eating, drinking (not me), singing, and bashing one of our friends.
This has been a tradition for us to meet up and have fun. It was sad to hear that this might be the last time for her to celebrate at the hotel because her mom will retire soon. Hope that this will still continue for the next X years.
It has been a while since "the gang" had fun. Saturday night, we went out because one of our friend treated us for dinner. Normally, after dinner, we either go play poker or simply go home. Since our friend who has the poker chip was not there, our only choice is to just go home. However, a few of us stayed and just hang out. We then decided to meet on Sunday afternoon for a swim. It has been our tradition to cook whenever we go swimming. Since I can't swim, I just stayed in the pool and tried swimming. In the middle of our swimming session, we decided to watch Ironman 2. We quickly packed our things and went to the mall to catch the scheduled filming. It was nice to hang out with the gang again. Hope we can do this more often.
Tomorrow, I mean later, I will be playing basketball again. It has been years since I played and I am actually quite excited to play because our first opponent is a good friend of mine. A small competition can be healthy.
Good luck to me, hope my inner Nowitzki will come up and make some killing.
It sucks when someone would say they will handle certain things yet when times get tough, they would demand you to help them when you did most of the dirty works. To top this, they still have the audacity to say they did most of the work when clearly they are just good in starting things.
Wicker park is probably one of the best romance movie that I strongly recommend. I am not a fan of any of the actors/actresses in the film, but I really like the plot.
So how did I knew this film exist? A few years back, while in the computer, I played an album of Coldplay and The Scientist came up and I was surprised when my sister sang the song. She then told me about the film and I quickly got hold of a copy and watched it. The rest is history and here is the The Scientist by Coldplay and when you hear this song in the movie, I am sure you be in awe.
I am a big fan of Heath Ledger and this is a nice comedy-romance film. This poem in the film is so heart warming.
My Dearest Jocelyn,
It is strange to think, I haven't seen you since a month. I have seen the new moon, but not you. I have seen sunsets and sunrises, but nothing of your beautiful face. The pieces of my broken heart are so small that they can be passed through the eye of a needle. I miss you like the sun misses the flower; like the sun misses the flower in the depths of winter. Instead of beauty to direct its light to, the heart hardens like the frozen world your absence has banished me to. I next compete in the city of Paris, I will find it empty and in the winter if you are not there. Hope guides me, it is what gets me through the day and especially the night. The hope that after you're gone from my sight, it will not be the last time that I look upon you.
This maybe the best teen movie of all time. I first saw Heath Ledger in this film and I quickly admire how he was as an actor. The plot may be simple but there are moments were you could really feel the movie. Here is a clip of the best part of the film.
I hate the way you talk to me And the way you cut your hair I hate the way you drive my car I hate it when you stare
I hate your big dumb combat boots And the way you read my mind I hate you so much that it makes me sick It even makes me rhyme
I hate the way you're always right I hate it when you lie I hate it when you make me laugh Even worse when you make me cry
I hate the way you're not around And the fact that you didn't call
But mostly I hate the way I don't hate you Not even close, not even a little bit, not even at all.
This movie is one of my favorite movies of all time. The theme of this romantic movie is great and I like how this film focused more on the conversations of two strangers. Here is a clip of one of the best part of the film. The poem is attached below.
Daydream delusion, limousine eyelash Oh baby with your pretty face Drop a tear in my wineglass Look at those big eyes See what you mean to me Sweet-cakes and milkshakes I'm a delusion angel I'm a fantasy parade I want you to know what I think Don't want you to guess anymore You have no idea where I came from We have no idea where we're going Lodged in life Like branches in a river Flowing downstream Caught in the current I carry you You'll carry me That's how it could be Don't you know me? Don't you know me by now?
The techie that I am, I enjoy technology films so much. My good friend recommended me to watch this film because this was based on Apple and Microsoft's history which I am interested with. Like what I mentioned in my previous blogs, I used to dislike Mac, because of my unfamiliar knowledge with their products. However, this may be the reason I changed my mind. I highly recommend this film to techies out there.
For the past few days, traffic in Manila was worse than during Christmas season. I was thinking that maybe there were accidents, but to my dismay, I saw roads being repaired and the worst part was that, these roads seem to be ok.
I can only blame stupid politicians for doing so. Most of the major roads are being repaired when there are other roads are so messed up. Also for some freaking reason, Manila Waters is also joining this unholy timing on fixing pipes almost adjacent to the road construction of these politicians. There are also times where they dig roads that were just fixed a few months back.
Networking is part of business and I think this is quite essential in any business. Networks can be to increase sales or to source cheaper suppliers. Either way, the impact of networking is vital. This is the traditional business sense. Others exploit the idea by turning the word of mouth business into a business model which is known as Multi Level Marketing or MLM. I see the idea of word of mouth marketing which is one of the best method to gain clients. However, many opportunist are using this great business model to scam people.
I, for one, did joined an MLM company years back, but I was not comfortable and is still not comfortable on how it works. Inviting people and all the works. Not that I am saying that it doesn't work, but I am more of a traditional business thinker than to rely heavily on MLM companies.
Just last Friday, I was supposed to meet a friend because I need her help in marketing. She was insisting that we meet in Madison near Greenhills around 930pm and since she was a good friend, I didn't hesitated. Upon arriving, I saw many people were staying on the parking lot which is a sign of a networking company nearby. I joined my friend as she was eating and started to catch up until she opened up about her involvement with a network marketing company. I quickly relayed my experience telling her that I am not open yet and I am busy with other matters as of the moment. She understood but her husband kept selling the business to me. No offense but as long as the business model is using Binary with whatever logic they use to defend it, I would never be interested in the business model. I did joined before and their system is better because they explained how it became like that. By the way, the MLM company that I joined way back is still strong while others closed down already.
Going back, I went there hoping to catch up on our lives and I was asking her professional help for somewhat business related but was very much disappointed on the setting. It would be very hard to be the negative molecule in a group hyped with a get rich quick mentality. I ended up asking her to meet again and this time away from their office.
I am trying to discipline myself to jog 3x a week and to make things more structured, I searched the net for a jogging program which end result could help me run a 5K marathon. Like what I posted days before, my first jog wasn't the best. It was not structured and I was quickly wasted. So far, when I tried the program, my first day wasn't as it should be because I prolong my walking. By the way, my program alternates my jog and walks for a minute or so. On my second jogging day, I was about 2 minutes off the program. I wasn't sure if this is because of my timer (I was using my iPod to estimate the time, not knowing that it does have a stop watch) or I was giving more time to my walking. However, last night, I made it a point to stick to the program and I was able to finish my whole 20 minutes. I used the stop watch and really pushed myself to jog. I know that I still have a long way to go, but I'm gonna do it little by little.
“We don’t underestimate people....Rather than making a far inferior product for a hundred dollars less, we gave the people the product that they want and that will serve them for years, even though it’s a little pricier. People are smart; they figure these things out.” - Steve Jobs
Unknown to most of my friends, I am a big fan of Steve Jobs. Yes Bill Gates is the richest man on Earth and he started the software industry by introducing D.O.S. and Windows. However, I find Steve Jobs more creative and diverse.
I used to know Steve Job as the founder of Apple, however, when I heard that he was fired from his own company I started to doubt his capabilities. Also, there was a time that Apple was losing the computer war and they would really need a miracle to turn everything around. For some unknown reason, I stumbled into a forwarded mail with Steve Jobs' great speech in Stanford. This made me realized a lot about him. I started to admire his vision and passion. His message was straight and inspiring. I would say that my mentality now is somehow inspired by Steve Jobs. Recently, I found a video in youtube. I will embed the video here and paste the transcript of his speech. Hope he can inspire you as he inspired me...
Stay hungry. Stay foolish.
I am honored to be with you today at your commencement from one of the finest universities in the world. I never graduated from college. Truth be told, this is the closest I've ever gotten to a college graduation. Today I want to tell you three stories from my life. That's it. No big deal. Just three stories.
The first story is about connecting the dots.
I dropped out of Reed College after the first 6 months, but then stayed around as a drop-in for another 18 months or so before I really quit. So why did I drop out?
It started before I was born. My biological mother was a young, unwed college graduate student, and she decided to put me up for adoption. She felt very strongly that I should be adopted by college graduates, so everything was all set for me to be adopted at birth by a lawyer and his wife. Except that when I popped out they decided at the last minute that they really wanted a girl. So my parents, who were on a waiting list, got a call in the middle of the night asking: "We have an unexpected baby boy; do you want him?" They said: "Of course." My biological mother later found out that my mother had never graduated from college and that my father had never graduated from high school. She refused to sign the final adoption papers. She only relented a few months later when my parents promised that I would someday go to college.
And 17 years later I did go to college. But I naively chose a college that was almost as expensive as Stanford, and all of my working-class parents' savings were being spent on my college tuition. After six months, I couldn't see the value in it. I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life and no idea how college was going to help me figure it out. And here I was spending all of the money my parents had saved their entire life. So I decided to drop out and trust that it would all work out OK. It was pretty scary at the time, but looking back it was one of the best decisions I ever made. The minute I dropped out I could stop taking the required classes that didn't interest me, and begin dropping in on the ones that looked interesting.
It wasn't all romantic. I didn't have a dorm room, so I slept on the floor in friends' rooms, I returned coke bottles for the 5¢ deposits to buy food with, and I would walk the 7 miles across town every Sunday night to get one good meal a week at the Hare Krishna temple. I loved it. And much of what I stumbled into by following my curiosity and intuition turned out to be priceless later on. Let me give you one example:
Reed College at that time offered perhaps the best calligraphy instruction in the country. Throughout the campus every poster, every label on every drawer, was beautifully hand calligraphed. Because I had dropped out and didn't have to take the normal classes, I decided to take a calligraphy class to learn how to do this. I learned about serif and san serif typefaces, about varying the amount of space between different letter combinations, about what makes great typography great. It was beautiful, historical, artistically subtle in a way that science can't capture, and I found it fascinating.
None of this had even a hope of any practical application in my life. But ten years later, when we were designing the first Macintosh computer, it all came back to me. And we designed it all into the Mac. It was the first computer with beautiful typography. If I had never dropped in on that single course in college, the Mac would have never had multiple typefaces or proportionally spaced fonts. And since Windows just copied the Mac, its likely that no personal computer would have them. If I had never dropped out, I would have never dropped in on this calligraphy class, and personal computers might not have the wonderful typography that they do. Of course it was impossible to connect the dots looking forward when I was in college. But it was very, very clear looking backwards ten years later.
Again, you can't connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something — your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life.
My second story is about love and loss.
I was lucky — I found what I loved to do early in life. Woz and I started Apple in my parents garage when I was 20. We worked hard, and in 10 years Apple had grown from just the two of us in a garage into a $2 billion company with over 4000 employees. We had just released our finest creation — the Macintosh — a year earlier, and I had just turned 30. And then I got fired. How can you get fired from a company you started? Well, as Apple grew we hired someone who I thought was very talented to run the company with me, and for the first year or so things went well. But then our visions of the future began to diverge and eventually we had a falling out. When we did, our Board of Directors sided with him. So at 30 I was out. And very publicly out. What had been the focus of my entire adult life was gone, and it was devastating.
I really didn't know what to do for a few months. I felt that I had let the previous generation of entrepreneurs down - that I had dropped the baton as it was being passed to me. I met with David Packard and Bob Noyce and tried to apologize for screwing up so badly. I was a very public failure, and I even thought about running away from the valley. But something slowly began to dawn on me — I still loved what I did. The turn of events at Apple had not changed that one bit. I had been rejected, but I was still in love. And so I decided to start over.
I didn't see it then, but it turned out that getting fired from Apple was the best thing that could have ever happened to me. The heaviness of being successful was replaced by the lightness of being a beginner again, less sure about everything. It freed me to enter one of the most creative periods of my life.
During the next five years, I started a company named NeXT, another company named Pixar, and fell in love with an amazing woman who would become my wife. Pixar went on to create the worlds first computer animated feature film, Toy Story, and is now the most successful animation studio in the world. In a remarkable turn of events, Apple bought NeXT, I returned to Apple, and the technology we developed at NeXT is at the heart of Apple's current renaissance. And Laurene and I have a wonderful family together.
I'm pretty sure none of this would have happened if I hadn't been fired from Apple. It was awful tasting medicine, but I guess the patient needed it. Sometimes life hits you in the head with a brick. Don't lose faith. I'm convinced that the only thing that kept me going was that I loved what I did. You've got to find what you love. And that is as true for your work as it is for your lovers. Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven't found it yet, keep looking. Don't settle. As with all matters of the heart, you'll know when you find it. And, like any great relationship, it just gets better and better as the years roll on. So keep looking until you find it. Don't settle.
My third story is about death.
When I was 17, I read a quote that went something like: "If you live each day as if it was your last, someday you'll most certainly be right." It made an impression on me, and since then, for the past 33 years, I have looked in the mirror every morning and asked myself: "If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?" And whenever the answer has been "No" for too many days in a row, I know I need to change something.
Remembering that I'll be dead soon is the most important tool I've ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything — all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure - these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart.
About a year ago I was diagnosed with cancer. I had a scan at 7:30 in the morning, and it clearly showed a tumor on my pancreas. I didn't even know what a pancreas was. The doctors told me this was almost certainly a type of cancer that is incurable, and that I should expect to live no longer than three to six months. My doctor advised me to go home and get my affairs in order, which is doctor's code for prepare to die. It means to try to tell your kids everything you thought you'd have the next 10 years to tell them in just a few months. It means to make sure everything is buttoned up so that it will be as easy as possible for your family. It means to say your goodbyes.
I lived with that diagnosis all day. Later that evening I had a biopsy, where they stuck an endoscope down my throat, through my stomach and into my intestines, put a needle into my pancreas and got a few cells from the tumor. I was sedated, but my wife, who was there, told me that when they viewed the cells under a microscope the doctors started crying because it turned out to be a very rare form of pancreatic cancer that is curable with surgery. I had the surgery and I'm fine now.
This was the closest I've been to facing death, and I hope its the closest I get for a few more decades. Having lived through it, I can now say this to you with a bit more certainty than when death was a useful but purely intellectual concept:
No one wants to die. Even people who want to go to heaven don't want to die to get there. And yet death is the destination we all share. No one has ever escaped it. And that is as it should be, because Death is very likely the single best invention of Life. It is Life's change agent. It clears out the old to make way for the new. Right now the new is you, but someday not too long from now, you will gradually become the old and be cleared away. Sorry to be so dramatic, but it is quite true.
Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of others' opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.
When I was young, there was an amazing publication called The Whole Earth Catalog, which was one of the bibles of my generation. It was created by a fellow named Stewart Brand not far from here in Menlo Park, and he brought it to life with his poetic touch. This was in the late 1960's, before personal computers and desktop publishing, so it was all made with typewriters, scissors, and polaroid cameras. It was sort of like Google in paperback form, 35 years before Google came along: it was idealistic, and overflowing with neat tools and great notions.
Stewart and his team put out several issues of The Whole Earth Catalog, and then when it had run its course, they put out a final issue. It was the mid-1970s, and I was your age. On the back cover of their final issue was a photograph of an early morning country road, the kind you might find yourself hitchhiking on if you were so adventurous. Beneath it were the words: "Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish." It was their farewell message as they signed off. Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish. And I have always wished that for myself. And now, as you graduate to begin anew, I wish that for you.
During college, I was a gym addict and jogging was my primary cardio next was basketball. I love jogging because it helped me build my endurance. Unfortunately, after college, I never found a nice spot to run and never found a nice inexpensive gym.
just recently I made my mind up that I will be joining a marathon within the year. I will start with 5K first and hopefully by next year I can do 21K. Just last week I tried jogging in a stadium and I was wasted. I jogged for a total of two rounds and walked for 4 rounds and those two rounds were separated by 1 round, 1/2 round and 1/2 round. Talk about losing my touch. Though I was wasted but I feel great. When I got home, I started searching for jogging programs that could help me attain my 5K marathon goal. I started my program earlier this evening. Hope I can sustain this and if I lost enough weight, I will then hit the gym. Good Luck to me.
Just last week, I was talking to a good friend about stuff when we came across our goal on our fitness this year. My friend is very active in the gym and is doing a pretty good job. While for me, I planned to start hitting the gym again late last year but I had certain concerns. First was my search for a nice place to do cardio. I am never a treadmill kind of guy and I need to lose weigh. Second was that I got sick around end November where I was supposed to enroll on a gym near my place. I was coughing like a dog up until last week when I got an antibiotic prescription from a doctor (Yes I never went for a check up until my cough was waking me up in the middle of the night) . Now going back, while we were talking I blurt out my intention to jog in a near by stadium (just recently got access) but I was saying a lot of things. My friend said a line that made me realize a lot of thing. The line was "Maybe you are just making excuses not to do it". True enough, I think I was just making excuses. So I quickly decided to start jogging and I did manage to jog. Aside from jogging, those words were like wake up call and now I am trying to do everything and not make excuses. Now that is a bigger challenge.
Yesterday afternoon, I received an SMS from my brother telling me about a great song titled "Castaway". This was performed by Franco and other members of this band consist of different musicians from Urban Dub, Parokyani Edgar and others.
Last night, when I got home, I remembered his text so I checked out the music. Knowing my brother, he has a weird taste in music because of his "trying-to-be-unique" taste. I was amazed so WTF! The song fits my genre because it sounded like bands that I would listened to. Also, the vocalist looks a lot like the vocalist of System of a Down. I was amazed that I now found a new song that I could add to my "mp3 obsession" list.
Just this morning, it dawned to me that my brother never really like listening to OPM. Give him a backstage ticket to Eraserheads or Rivermaya, he will just sell them or give it away. This was the first song he mentioned that he actually liked. So the bigger WTF would be my brother slowly recognizing OPM bands and slowly liking their sounds. WTF again!!!
Personally, I can see the progression of OPM that they slowly sounded more like foreign songs. Not that I think it should be the case, but the mere fact that you people mistakes them from a foreign band makes these bands great.
Will be posting a new entry on how I perceive the progression of OPM into a better sound. To end this, here is the youtube video of Castaway by Franco. Chill, relax and succumb to the beauty of the song.
I am once in love... not with anyone. I am once again in love with Psychology. For those who do not have a clue, I graduated with Psychology and Business Management. Brief history on why Psychology...
During high school when we were asked by our guidance councilor to choose a degree which we think we wanted to pursue in the future. During those times, I was becoming more open with people. I can easily connect with people and conversations were not a problem. Behind those encounters, I slowly became more curious in the human mind. I asked questions a lot and I was seeking answers on why people think differently. CSI and Crime nights were the last straw that pushed me to get Psychology as a degree. My parents must have wondered why but fortunate enough I got in a University that offers double degree programs. Thus, I also took up Business Management knowing that a Psych Degree is not enough here in the country.
I did enjoy my Psych classes more than my Management classes and I practice my management side now more than my Psych side. However, what made things more interesting was that, I found a hobby that is focused on my Psychology. I slowly succumb to it that I would consider it a part of me. I was opened to new doors of this wonderful science. There are much to learn by I need to focus on my career first. Then my learning in my hobby slowed down.
Just recently, I started watching TV series and I took an old DVD in my collection and started watching it. I became hooked, I became obsessed. The title is "Criminal Minds". How they tackle the issues, how they uplift and use Psychology is a work of art. There were a number of TV series that I do enjoy watching but I would say that this show made an impact to me. My view in the use of Psychology is wide and this TV show rekindled my passion for Psychology. To add, the format of the show usually starts and ends with a quote from a famous person which I consider as guiding wisdom.
I do hope I could have the time to learn more on this field which answers a lot of question in my mind.
To start, I will be posting quotes from different authors as a guiding light.
The least of things with a meaning is worth more in life than the greatest of things without it. - Carl Jung
