Life experiments, good madness, poetry of movement, and the great perhaps
I usually write a somewhat elaborate new year’s wish on every first of January. (At least I’ve been doing so since 2012.) For many reasons worthy of another post, it has taken me three and a half months to finally release one for this year. And this may be the simplest by far:
Dear You,
This year, I hope you become your most amazing self yet, even if it means letting go of things that previously made you feel amazing.
That is all.
Have a great year.
My colleague Nim gifted me Sheryl Sandberg’s Lean In for my birthday last year. It couldn’t be more apt. I just turned 29, which meant I have just one more year on my so-called “twenties”. It is, indeed, a very good time to look back at the past decade of learnings, mistakes and whatnot, and move forward to a better, (hopefully)more mature me.
But after reading the book, what I immediately thought was, hell, had I read this years ago, I could’ve prevented some of the mistakes and negativity that creeped into me from time to time throughout my career. Books truly are mentors of a kind.
Which is why I then handed it over to my cousin, Raya. She’s not into books, but she just graduated from university and is out looking for a job. I thought it was worth the try to hand her the opportunity to learn the things I would’ve wanted to in my early twenties.
And for every body else (as well as for my future self), here are my notes and quotes from the Sheryl Sandberg’s Lean In, which is the first out of the 24 books I promised to read this year. Continue reading “BOOK NOTES: Sheryl Sandberg’s Lean In”
Mt. Pico De Loro – Cavite and Nasugbu, Batangas
Ever since I’ve discovered the art of video-making in October, I’ve been putting one up on my Vimeo every month. This is my new year’s entry. I plan to grow in the craft more throughout the year. Which means I need to go on more adventures (wink).
A couple of years back, I told Jim Ayson, my late boss, that one of my personal laws is to surround myself with people that I want to be like. I was pertaining to him.
Before I met Jim for the first time, I had googled him extensively. I found, among many others, that he was labeled one of “The Internet’s 10 Most Influential Filipinos” by The Web Philippines back in 1999.
This was his vision for the Internet at that time:
He hopes for the Internet to be available not only among the upper classes, but to the masses as well. However, “I’m not part of an ISP, so I can’t do anything about bringing down cost. But I’m interested in sharing my talents with NGOs and the government sector to see how we can develop web sites that can effect real change and development, and thus indirectly make the Internet beneficial and relevant to more people,” Ayson added.
“For 1999 I am excited about developing two business-to-consumer e-commerce projects under the aegis of PhilMusic and WebMarket. These include PhilMusic Direct, which is a CD retail operation aimed for the overseas market – selling OPM CDs abroad – and CD Manila, which is for the Philippine market, taking orders for specialty imports and used CDs.”
17 years ago, way before he worked for a telco, he was already thinking about Internet access for all and e-commerce. He was also the Founder of Philmusic, a musician, writer, photographer – an all-around artist.
So yeah, I decided that I wanted to work for this guy. After our meeting (he was cooler than I expected), I stalked him again, pulled his profile photo from a social network, and pinned it on my vision board. Yes, I did that.
Fast forward to today, I still imitate many of his ways, in the hopes that “the apple doesn’t fall too far from the tree”. Well he was a pretty grand tree. And I hope, that in my lifetime, I can be as grand.
I’m grateful to have chanced upon a such a great person – not everyone is as lucky. But the people we surround ourselves with is an ongoing choice. And so this is my wish for 2016:
Dear You,
This year, I hope you surround yourself with people you want to be like.
Maybe find a Jedi Master, or Harvey Specter, or Jim. It will do you good for the soul to have someone to look up to, who will listen when you disagree, or throw you into the wild to fight with the wolves when you’re ready.
In your everyday life, choose the friends, and family, and colleagues you spend time with. Be around people who are kind, who treat others with respect, and give you enough space to grow.
You are the average of the people you spend the most time with. So set that bar high.
Happy New Year. 🙂
Wishes from the past years:
Is it nice in Mt. Pinatubo?
A lot of people ask me this question. Well here’s my short answer: I’ve been there thrice. Mostly to accompany cousins from abroad. I hope that answers it.
I recommend it mainly because it’s beautiful, but also because it fits the adventure and nature categories without much of the pain (i.e. it’s not as hard as other hikes and climbs).
In this video, I trekked with some eight relatives and friends on a private tour. You can check our itinerary at Travels with Pau and Raya.
The series of stories from my visit last 2012 can also be found here:
My birthday ideas for this year revolved around Airbnb listings. Seriously – a boat in Hong Kong, an island in the Philippines… There are a hundred extraordinary places to experience if you look around there. But finally, I thought, I wanted to spend some time with the family. And so I settled for something simpler.
Anvaya Cove is located in Morong, Bataan, and is about a 4-hour drive from Manila. It is a member-only resort, possibly the nicest one around that area. It is not my first time there actually, but I had a couple of qualifications for this particular trip:
So this is what I found: A 2-BR unit at Anvaya Cove’s Sea Breeze condominium.
And how did that go? Check out the video above!
TIP: For this trip, I had a hefty P2,500 discount available to Smart subscribers as part of an ongoing partnership. This promo is still ongoing so you can still avail of it for your 2016 trips! Here are the details for Smart and Sun.
Posts from my 2012 trip to Anvaya Cove:
It has been a long, long while since I’ve written anything around here. At times I feel like adult life has been pulling me away from the part of my soul that likes creating things just for the heck of it. But no. Not today.
Two months ago, I “discovered” the GoPro. Of course I’ve known her a long time ago. She’s quite a pop kid in the sports and adventure scene. But this is the first time we’ve had an actual experience together, I would say. In Coron, Palawan. No less.
I traveled to Coron with Paula for her birthday last October. This is one of those places in the Philippines I’ve always wanted to go. It fits my personality quite well. We’ve been under the sun, the sea, the rocks, the huts, the shade of the boat. We’ve been mostly offline, all five days. Ah! The beauty of it.
In the past years, I’ve gone from words to photographs, sharing my explorations and experiences. Video is a new medium I am in the process of learning. I hope you enjoy.