Life experiments, good madness, poetry of movement, and the great perhaps
Bern, Switzerland, October 3, 2016 – Euro Trip Day 2
There are way too many beautiful places to go in Switzerland that choosing which ones to visit throughout my stay was a tough job. I read about the city of Bern. The historic old town became a UNESCO world heritage site in 1983. The internet loves it, and I was ecstatic of my choice. Continue reading “Bern, Switzerland: Road Trip to the Gorgeous Old Town”
Vevey, Switzerland, October 2, 2016 – Euro Trip Day 1
It was the beginning of a 3-week trip around Europe, and I flew in alone to Geneva on the first leg. Vevey was about an hour away from the international airport, and I opted to take the train.
It was plain dark outside the window the whole way, so there wasn’t really much to see. So when I woke up the next day, I was pleasantly surprised with the view outside my room’s window. Lovely houses I only see in movies, the fog and the mountains beyond. Continue reading “Vevey, Switzerland: First Day in Europe”
I haven’t written anything well thought of for a very long time. And though I didn’t have all the time in the world to do this, I did put some effort into writing my last letter to my friends in the previous company I worked in. I sent this on my supposed last day (“supposed” because I got cut off my e-mail on the morning of my last day – that’s another story). And so here it goes:
Hello my friends!
I ran the numbers.
On a regular day, we spend about 1 hour preparing for work, 2 hours on the road to and from work, 9 hours at work, and another 2 hours thinking or talking about work (y’know, group chat). If I slept for 7 hours a day, that’s easily 82% of my whole waking weekday.
If I lived to be a hundred years old, I would have spent 6% of my entire life with you. (Chances are I would only live to 70, in which case that would have been 9% of my life!)
So. O.M.G. I should have really, really made the most out of my stay here at Smart. What a shame, otherwise. The good news is, because of all of you people, I’d like to believe I did. Continue reading “A Farewell Letter”
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. Continue reading “For you, this 2016: People You Want to be Like”