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.
Continue readingCategory Archives: Personal
y u no game?
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.
Continue readingNorwegian Wood
(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
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
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.)
365 Project Returns?
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.
Principles and other crap
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.
Tita Questions
As we get older, the topics that our elders ask us evolve as well:
From
“What do you want to be when you grow up?”
to
“Where do you work?”
to the dreaded
“Are you already married?” or “When will you get married?”
OR
“Do you have a girlfriend?” or “When will you get a girlfriend?” or “Don’t you have plans to have a girlfriend?”
All the small things – First 3 months with a Mac
First of all, yes, it costs an arm and a leg. It took me a week until I was able to recover emotionally from the heavy blow this purchase has done to my wallet—don’t even ask how long it is taking took to recover financially. Continue reading
Story Time 