Learning How to Write again
I feel like a cripple who’s learning how to walk again after her cast has been removed. And seriously, I know how it feels like.I have broken my foot in the past and I have gone through the process of learning how to walk again. Its knowing how to do something which was supposedly second nature to you (and something you love) but you just can’t at that moment because the very thing that allows you to do that action is the very thing that’s preventing you from doing it. I know very well how to walk (step, step, step) but it was very difficult because my leg was atrophied. I needed time to build the muscle so I could do something I loved once more – walking.
Its the same with writing. Its been a while since I’ve written something which is for others to read (aside from my last blog posts. Those were warm ups). I don’t know how good I am but I’ve always loved writing. I keep a notebook with me where ever I go to write down or draw the most random things. But for that’s as far as it has been ever since I graduated from college. Its as if my mind has atrophied from years of not being able to churn out compositions, papers, forced creative writing (which I did enjoy despite it being forced and graded).
I’ve been craving to create something and this is the easiest and best way I know. (Next would be dancing but that’s another story for a another time.. and that another muscle I’ll need to rebuild)
So here I am -
Overcoming that fear of “what if no one reads me”.
Reactivating an atrophied mind and building muscle.
Learning to write again.
…I remember when I finally got to walk again. I was really happy. I never took my foot, nor walking, for granted again.
Birthday Week (Day 2) : Death by Stress and Birthday Greetings
That’s exactly what day two was about – death by birthday greeting and work stress. In a matter of hours, the semi-festive mood I was in on my birthday disspated when faced with the reality that one:
Birthday Week (Day 1) : The Office Birthday Surprise
So after lunch, I began getting busy working on my desk when Mikey calls me over to the pantry,”Judd wants to talk to you”. I’m like, “What does he need? Weird” So I walk over and then Judd jumps out of the pantry to keep me from going in. Apparently, Mikey called me in a bit prematurely. Whoops too late, i saw what they were doing inside. They prepared a little birthday surprise for me. lol. The mastermind? Carlos.
I go inside anyway and they were lighting the cake. (Surprise fail!) They brought out 25 “no die” candles, stuck ‘em in the cake, and tried to light them. It took them a while to get them all lit and by the time they were done lighting the candles, some of them were half burnt. Then they turn to me told me to BLOW THE CANDLES. Apparently, it WAS for me after all. 
So there i was trying to blow 25 candles that just wouldn’t die (ever heard of them magic candles). The more I blew, the thicker the smoke become. It got quite…. bad actually. Any thicker and the sprinklers would’ve gone off. Now THAT would’ve been hilarious.
Check the video:
Birthday cake blow fail!
WordCamp 2009 and My Lovely Bowl of Pho
(Pictures from Carlos a.k.a Existential Walker and Judd) Thanks guys. I will use my own pictures once I get my own camera. ‘Til then, I’ll have to contend with my crappy P&S cam, and leeching.
WordCamp 2009
Last Saturday, I attended my first WordCamp seminar.WordCamp is a conference/seminar focused on WordPress. It was co-presented by Mozilla and hosted by the Mindanao Bloggers Group at AIM, Makati. It was ….. interesting. First thing’s first. Sorry blogger but it seems that I may want to migrate to wordpress (oh no, bots crawling my system now. Don’t suspend my account!). That’s as much as I can say since the rest of the info was basically technical. No matter how much I tried to focus and understand, it all seemed like a blur to me. *bleary eyed* I’ll probably just ask Judd and Carlos to help me out. lol. I know, I know. I should at least have a surface understanding of it all since I work in the internet industry for crying out loud.
That’s me smiling in a supposedly candid picture. Beside me are Judd and Marcelle who’s happily plurking on my netbook since his laptop won’t pick up the wifi signal
My favorite parts were the segments on vlogging and bloggers’ roles in the coming National Philippine Elections 2010. That’ll be a whole separate post but I really liked the points of the speaker. For those who think bloggers are just a bunch of lazy bums with nothing to do with their lives, you are starkly wrong. There is much the blogsphere can do. It gives a voice to regular people like you and me. It can be a really powerful tool.
As for vlogging (video blogs), its still at its infancy stage. Think Happy Slip and Moymoy Palaboy . Right now, most of the vlogs I’ve encountered are just about random crazy stuff that people come up with. “Productive Boredom” is what I’d call it. I’m just real curious as to how its going to evolve. Definitely, someone will come up with a socio-political vlog. That I’m very excited to see. I’d make one if I could but I just don’t have the time and resources.
What would I vlog about if I had time to vlog?
1) I’d vlog about different positive things that are happening around the metro – like GK, or concerts for a cause, organic Philippine-made products (or Philippine made products in general),some cool youth initiatives like
Ako Mismo. I think the Ako Mismo people and the Juan Tama people should come up with vlogs.I think the best part of it all was meeting new people (I always like meeting people) – the Mozilla people, the Mindanao Bloggers,
Jehz Lau, and the other bloggers (you know who you are). There are so many cool ideas out there. Hope to see ‘em all emerge into reality.
The speakers
My Lovely Pho
I’ve been craving for Pho since Friday night. After WordCamp, the Nuffies were nice enough to agree and eat at Pho Hoa.
Pho is my ultimate comfort and happy food. I like it with LOTS of chopped chilli and the red hot sauce you see in the picture. Extra Spicy is the way to go baby
This morning’s insights
What I’ll write here are just little thought tidbits that flowed in this morning. Nothing profound or philosophical. Just little thoughts that I would want to more or less immortalize (or as long as the blogspot servers stay intact, hehe).
Its a Tuesday morning. And since it was a long weekend, its the first day of the week.
Me and my over active mind…
Grandpa, sales and Yoga.
When my grand parents’ driver, Benjo, is available, I ask him to drive me to work. Today is one of those days that I’m lucky he’s available. The sky is dark grey and its been raining the past few days. It would’ve been a real bitch to take public transportation… and trust me, from my place, taking public transport on a rainy is quite difficult.
Well, when the car arrived, I jumped in so I may be off to work. When I got in, my grandpa was inside as he was going to the bank. The trip was basically simple chit chat about work and what’s been going on with me. Being the sweet person that my grandpa is, he started giving advice on things he feels would help me. He’s always like that… always trying to help. Most of the time, its unsolicited and occasionally condescending (after all, I’m more street smart than he thinks I am) but I’m touched the fact that he’s always made it a point to try to impart some knowledge that he feels will help me.
Simple pleasures – vanity and nerdiness
I’ll cut myself some slack and admit, ok I have my vain moments (haha don’t we all?). And because I don’t really take the time to pamper myself, it a big deal for me to actually go to the salon and have someone fuss over me. And that’s what I did today – I got a hair trim, a manicure, pedicure. Its been a while. I forgot how good it feels to just sit there while someone cleans your nails and snips your hair.
For the girls, don’t you love how your hair is perfect when you step out of the salon? Just the right amoung of volume, body, and shine. Thats thanks to the blow-drying along with the hair sirum. Because I love how my hair looks at the moment, I’m posting it. I took a picture because I know once the blow dried effect fades, its waves, curls, and frizz galore again (unless I go get myself some Kerastase. But its just so expensive). I’m not going to shampoo tonight . Hopefully its still pretty tomorrow.
As for my little petite feet (feel free to scrutinize and criticize), I told myuself, oh what the heck. I’ll get a manicure. Its a desrved treat for my abused feet. They deserve some TLC and sass. After all, I walk around, I work hard and I’ll be kicking ass. Might as well do it with some class.
Nerdy pleasures
Its all because of Nuffnang. Everyday, we are heavily exposed to the internet along with the latest of updates in technology and software. I used to not have any patience for dealing with software applications. Simple “how-to’s” stressed me out and exploring the potential of a practicular online or software tool wasn’t exactly a hobby of mine. Now, I get giddy, yes, giddy, over things like the Flock browser, Google reader.. and my latest love – Google calendar which I synchronize with Mozilla Sunbird! (Is this me?!)
I used to be pro paper planners. Now my pretty red trusty Moleskin planner is about to become obsolete. I found something awesome – Google Calendar. I love how the lay out makes it easy to plan out events and tasks. Google has really poured brains in this one. It has so many cool features : world clock, weather report, calendar sharing, calendar alarm, etc. Organized properly, its like having a part time-assistant . Now if only I can sync my tasks with my Mozilla Sunbird, my life will be complete. Oh, and I get to save trees.
As for flock, call me a floc-aholic. If you have not yet heard about Flock, its the web browser designed to make your online life easier. Its ALMOST your one-stop-shop for all your social network needs.
Here’s a little vid on Flock for you: Flock!
Not everyone is crazy about it. Then again, different strokes for different folks. If you are like me: follows blogs, subscribes to RSS feeds for news here and there, facebooks a lot, uploads pictures a lot, needs to be constantly updated on the status of your email inbox, etc…. give it a try. It may not be as fast as Chrome but it definitely owns when it comes to organizing your online life.
I’m quite surprised at how I’m awed by all this. Its amazing how people come up with these ideas and how they execute such. They are on a different level. On my end, I’ll just stick on online marketing and advertising. haha!
I have not come to that point where I can be considered a techno freak. In the techno-nerd scale of 1-10, 10 being the highest, I’m probably level 2 or 3? I have a long way to go. I’m not yet there but I may well be on my way.