Author Archives: rence

Daily Blog #1 – No Zero Days

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2020-01-01

This first blog entry for the year will be simple. This is just a list of the things that I plan to do daily for the rest of 2020. And yes, that includes blogging and taking photos.

  • Bullet Journal – write one activity daily. Start and end the day with your bullet journal.
  • Write a blog daily. One sentence will count as a “blog”.
  • Take 1 photo daily. Literally any photo—if it’s good, maybe post it on Instagram.
  • Screen time should be less than 2 hours a day.
    • This means deleting Youtube, Netflix, Twitter, Instagram and Reddit.
    • Did you know that 2 hours of screen time a day is equal to 2 months on your damned phone? Formula: no_of_months = (h * 365)/24
  • Exercise daily.
    • 10 repetitions of any exercise will count as an exercise.
  • Wim Hof breathing exercise. 1 cycle should be fine. This is the only difficult thing in this list.

The point of these tiny goals is to do the bare minimum movement daily. The problem with big goals is that they can be too discouraging for me (or anyone, really).

on the b side of things.

Posted in blog, Personal by

Everyone has a Vlog these days. Everyone has a podcast, a soundcloud, a twich stream. Hell, even the ultra popular actors are trying to get a slice of that sweet, sweet pie called…you-

-r attention.

Your attention and all the factors that makes you want to get out of whatever you’re supposed to be doing—they want it. Companies are paying a lot of money just to get your attention. Your time.

Youtube is so addicting. According to my iPhone’s screentime feature, I spend, on the average, 5-6 hours daily, browsing nonsense that someone on the other part of the globe has created. I’ve been trying different techniques on how to minimize my phone usage, but the dark side is constantly upping the ante in luring me [/us] into wasteful activities on our devices.

This is attempt number 24523453245. I am attempting to restart my blog in order for me to create something instead of mindlessly consuming other people’s output. I’ll be doing this for myself. Nobody reads blogs anymore, anyway.

panic! at the tarmac

Posted in blog, Personal by

Flying, for some people, is as routine as riding a bus. I have only flown four times in my entire life—all of them lasted less than an hour. Right before each of those flights, I spent the proceeding hours attempting to 1) meditate while standing up / sitting down, 2) try not to shit myself, 3) manage my fluid intake so as to not have to go to the toilet during the flight, 4) try not to recall the few episodes of Seconds from Disaster or Air Crash Investigation, 6) think of quotes about bravery, 7) or quotes about death, 8) remember that planes are statistically the safest form of travel, 9) or think of a blog/journal post about the whole pre-flight experience.

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y u no game?

Posted in Personal by

Just like everyone else, I am addicted to youtube. The slight difference is that I’m aware of this addiction. A day does not pass without me wondering how I can release myself from my attachment to content-consumption. I am very aware of the amount of time that this is consuming.

I am also very conscious of the AI that’s watching my video preferences to push ads in my stupid face. If i watch one CollegeHumor video, I actively monitor the types of videos that will be recommended to me afterwards.

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Norwegian Wood

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(This is not a review)

This is the third time that I’m re-reading this novel. The first time I did, I was still in college, found out about Murakami’s work through Jessica Zafra’s Twisted series. Back then I did not understand the story at all, since this was many years before I learned about my ADD, and most of the time that I was “reading”, my consciousness was floating in my own world.  Continue reading →

Routines

Posted in Goals, Personal by

I am developing a routine. A cycle. A set of hoops that I need to clear everyday to guarantee productivity everyday.

As I mentioned in my previous blog, I am reading (re-reading, actually) this book titled Deep Work, which discusses the work habits of the most successful individuals in history, how it works, and how it might work for us. Continue reading →

Quitting Social Media

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At the start of the year, I deleted my Facebook account. It turns out that it was a great move because months later, the news regarding Cambridge Analytica broke out. I could claim that I abandoned Facebook before it was cool*.

(Sure, I would not have been affected by that data leak anyway, and even if I was, I am not part of the target demographic of that campaign.)

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365 Project Returns?

Posted in Goals, Personal, Photography by

I want to start a project, but I’m not sure how I’m going to do it.

I want to improve my photography and my self-esteem. To do that, I have this idea of resuming my 365 [photo] project. Take 1 picture everyday for 365 days, but this time, each photo needs to be a portrait of people—preferably people I don’t know.

I’m aware that this is how Humans of New York (aka HONY) started, but being a copycat is not my goal. I want to improve my tolerance for rejection.

Brandon Stanton’s goal was to take 10000 pictures of people to improve his photography.

It’s not as easy as it sounds. I feel like Filipinos are way more conservative than americans when it comes to having their photos taken by a stranger. People are understandably paranoid. I need to think of a way to make my subject comfortable to have their photos taken.

I need to start something that will put me outside of my comfort zone. I’m setting a deadline for myself to start this project before June.

 

Well, that’s awkward.

Posted in Meta by

Where’s everything? I’ve hidden it. The stuff here are getting too personal and incriminating. I don’t know how many times I’ve restarted my blogs. But I’m still writing stuff. I’m just moving it to my other internet name—not that anyone cares.

Thanks for looking though. If you went here directly, I guess it means you care. You probably want to know how I’m doing.

I’m not okay. I’m sad.

I’m trying to figure things out on my own. I’m distancing myself, so when I do anything stupid, it won’t hit you.

Just pretend I’m in a cocoon. I’ll be back. Soon, hopefully.

Principles and other crap

Posted in Personal by

I always pride myself for being to recognise personal bias on some issues. But I feel like I once again compromised my own happiness on my last decision. A couple of days ago I interviewed an applicant to out company. She was the template of my ideal girl: average height (5’0″-5’8″), chinita, fair skin, and on top of it all: smart. But not smart enough in Java unfortunately. We’re currently looking for future wife employee who is skilled in java.

Damn, why are there so few women in my industry?!?!

Right after the interview, my teammate contemplated on passing her if the other applicant wasn’t good—and she almost passed, because the other applicant didn’t arrive at all. But correct judgement got the better of us, and we decided not to take her. I genuinely feel bad.