This article from the online Time magazine caught my sensibilities today:
Want Happiness? Don't Buy More Stuff --- Go on Vacation
As an adult in my early 30s, I have always wondered what to do with what I "have". I know of people my age who have started investing in many ways: real estate, stocks, blue chips, whatever. I am currently renting and although I have an idea how stock works, I do not really care much for them. Alright, I am not going to delve into the state of my personal finance, but the article got me thinking, "What is money for, really?"
I do think we define money based on our life choices. When people learn of some of the things I do --- travel, dine out, do the occasional shopping and spa afternoons --- I tell them, well, I only have myself to take care of. But then again, I don't "own" a lot of stuff. During the time I was freelancing I traveled a lot. If people saved up for iPods, I saved up for the next great adventure. These days my travels have been so far due to work. My experiences have been tied up to my professional direction.
Frankly, I feel that I need to do more. I can't believe that once the clock strikes six I just want to go home. It's not because of the traffic really, but I guess I do not really want to spend my post working hours inside the shopping mall. I think this is a huge challenge, living in Manila. Recreation has been unfortunately tied to consumption, and if you want to go somewhere, the mall is the most convenient place to go to. It does suck that one of the major activities one inescapably has to do in Manila is to shop... because the activity is dangling right before our eyes.
I think to be able to have more meaning in this existence is to redefine the experiences you want and not the the things. So I throw this question to this small galaxy that is Manila... what else is there?
Wednesday, July 27, 2011
Thursday, June 23, 2011
On Rains and Cars and the Manila Traffic
I live in Manila, and believe me, this city remains to amaze me.
I am not going to rant here how bad traffic can get. I mean, heck, I've seen and driven through the LA freeway in similar state, so I'd like to say that all these problems with traffic pretty much have to do with... how to deal with it. Patience is a virtue, but you gotta be prepared.
Everyday --- well, except during my number-coding day ---- I drive to work. It's not really a long drive if you think about it. From Mandaluyong to the western edge of the Makati CBD, on lighter days I can make it in fifteen minutes. On "normal days", 30-45 minutes will do. Some days, though, it takes me more than an hour. Crazy, huh.
I love to drive and I am known for what I call "secret passages". These secret passages are NOT shortcuts, but rather alternative routes that can save you time but they sometimes require extra miles. For instance, every time I drive north from my apartment in Mandaluyong, I take the San Juan route. I take this specific street off Bluementritt which can lead me straight to N. Domingo or Aurora Boulevard. From there, I take New Manila, the Scout area, and then Edsa via the Kamuning or Quezon Avenue u-turn. Of course this does not save me from specific traffic blockages, i.e. corner of Broadway and N. Domingo which can be a pain because of the traffic light at the corner of Broadway and Araneta. So what I do, if the left from N. Domingo to Broadway becomes a pain, I go straight, head to the Horseshoe area, and take a left instead at the old Magnolia that will lead me to Hemady. And then I end up on E. Rodriguez where I get to choose between Thomas Morato or this small street leading to Kamuning.
Come rainy season, the trick with knowing all these shortcuts is you have to be aware of the flashflood areas. Mandaluyong, despite being a good alternate route between Makati and the north, is flood-prone. Stay away from the Maysilo Circle as much as you can. You can try the Barangka route, but this road tends to get really crowded because of the market. And yes, it intersects Boni Avenue, hence the traffic can become a nightmare even on regular days.
San Juan is also a tricky area. I think San Juan has lesser flooding because the area is generally hilly, but of course, as hills go up and down, there are certain sections that can get flooded with the snap of your fingers. An example is this area at the end of Manalo heading to Ver which offers salvation via the ends of Kalentong and then the higher ground at Bluementritt.
Anyways, I am now thinking maybe I should share some Manila traffic tips. Because seriously... I know a lot of them.
I am not going to rant here how bad traffic can get. I mean, heck, I've seen and driven through the LA freeway in similar state, so I'd like to say that all these problems with traffic pretty much have to do with... how to deal with it. Patience is a virtue, but you gotta be prepared.
Everyday --- well, except during my number-coding day ---- I drive to work. It's not really a long drive if you think about it. From Mandaluyong to the western edge of the Makati CBD, on lighter days I can make it in fifteen minutes. On "normal days", 30-45 minutes will do. Some days, though, it takes me more than an hour. Crazy, huh.
I love to drive and I am known for what I call "secret passages". These secret passages are NOT shortcuts, but rather alternative routes that can save you time but they sometimes require extra miles. For instance, every time I drive north from my apartment in Mandaluyong, I take the San Juan route. I take this specific street off Bluementritt which can lead me straight to N. Domingo or Aurora Boulevard. From there, I take New Manila, the Scout area, and then Edsa via the Kamuning or Quezon Avenue u-turn. Of course this does not save me from specific traffic blockages, i.e. corner of Broadway and N. Domingo which can be a pain because of the traffic light at the corner of Broadway and Araneta. So what I do, if the left from N. Domingo to Broadway becomes a pain, I go straight, head to the Horseshoe area, and take a left instead at the old Magnolia that will lead me to Hemady. And then I end up on E. Rodriguez where I get to choose between Thomas Morato or this small street leading to Kamuning.
Come rainy season, the trick with knowing all these shortcuts is you have to be aware of the flashflood areas. Mandaluyong, despite being a good alternate route between Makati and the north, is flood-prone. Stay away from the Maysilo Circle as much as you can. You can try the Barangka route, but this road tends to get really crowded because of the market. And yes, it intersects Boni Avenue, hence the traffic can become a nightmare even on regular days.
San Juan is also a tricky area. I think San Juan has lesser flooding because the area is generally hilly, but of course, as hills go up and down, there are certain sections that can get flooded with the snap of your fingers. An example is this area at the end of Manalo heading to Ver which offers salvation via the ends of Kalentong and then the higher ground at Bluementritt.
Anyways, I am now thinking maybe I should share some Manila traffic tips. Because seriously... I know a lot of them.
Wednesday, June 22, 2011
Cross-post: How to Marry Jason Segel: Imagining Meeting Jason Segel
How to Marry Jason Segel: Imagining Meeting Jason Segel: "I am quite amazed with the fact that even though I haven't written here in a while, a few souls somehow manage to wander to this blog by mea..."
----
I have decided to venture into the funny, on a dark and rainy Thursday morning.
Professional Blogging
I am thinking of blogging professionally.
I have been blogging for years but I have gone MIA recently. Let's say in the past 3-4 years I have been inactive compared to the time I was really blogging. And what I mean by really blogging --- it's all about writing thoughts and fears and annoyances. It's a true journal, the kind that starts off with "Dear Diary" and ends with "Revenge! Revenge!"
Yesterday I visited my old blog in Livejournal. I actually made friends online, via that blog. A stranger would drop by, read my blog, and this person would add me as a "friend". And then there were comments. And then I would add back, and the next thing you knew, you were making comments about each other's sex life and sharing seduction plans.
Right now, blogging has become less personal.
I think people are not that interested to learn about people as they used to. Why the hell not --- we are bombarded with reality TV anyway. The guys at Jershey Shore, albeit the fact that all they do is get drunk and kiss each other and generally piss about everyday... now that's the current demand. Frankly, despite the fact that I go to work everyday, I clock in and out, and I go out once or twice a week, my life is far more colorful. Because my thoughts actually have substance.
These thoughts --- are they something worth blogging about? Why do people blog these days? Do people still share pieces of themselves on the Internet aside from their reviews on the latest gadgets, the movies, the social scene, and what they are wearing?
I am currently using Twitter more mainly because I want to get the hand of these "stream of things". I do not want to be left behind and grow old without having a clue how FourSquare works. But hey... I haven't even got an iPod, my phone is in its rustic stage at 2 years old despite it being 3G and touchscreen and wi-fi enabled (it's very vintage considering the turnover of technology these days).
So if I am going to be a professional blogger, what am I going to write about?
I have been blogging for years but I have gone MIA recently. Let's say in the past 3-4 years I have been inactive compared to the time I was really blogging. And what I mean by really blogging --- it's all about writing thoughts and fears and annoyances. It's a true journal, the kind that starts off with "Dear Diary" and ends with "Revenge! Revenge!"
Yesterday I visited my old blog in Livejournal. I actually made friends online, via that blog. A stranger would drop by, read my blog, and this person would add me as a "friend". And then there were comments. And then I would add back, and the next thing you knew, you were making comments about each other's sex life and sharing seduction plans.
Right now, blogging has become less personal.
I think people are not that interested to learn about people as they used to. Why the hell not --- we are bombarded with reality TV anyway. The guys at Jershey Shore, albeit the fact that all they do is get drunk and kiss each other and generally piss about everyday... now that's the current demand. Frankly, despite the fact that I go to work everyday, I clock in and out, and I go out once or twice a week, my life is far more colorful. Because my thoughts actually have substance.
These thoughts --- are they something worth blogging about? Why do people blog these days? Do people still share pieces of themselves on the Internet aside from their reviews on the latest gadgets, the movies, the social scene, and what they are wearing?
I am currently using Twitter more mainly because I want to get the hand of these "stream of things". I do not want to be left behind and grow old without having a clue how FourSquare works. But hey... I haven't even got an iPod, my phone is in its rustic stage at 2 years old despite it being 3G and touchscreen and wi-fi enabled (it's very vintage considering the turnover of technology these days).
So if I am going to be a professional blogger, what am I going to write about?
Monday, June 6, 2011
Picking Up
The last time I wrote here was November 2010. That was about seven months ago. Looking back, it was a pretty tumultuous period. I had a project I couldn't get off the ground. I was not taking as many projects as I used to which is why I got pretty broke around that time (and then I managed to get a cool project-based arrangement which expanded my writing). I lost few friendships. I was trying to get my dating life in order while nursing a broken heart --- in which case, this said "dating life" remains to be in the height of suspense in the manner of, "Who is the next guy? Is this going to be a mistake again? Is she temporarily going to give up on this tiring quest of finding love, hence is she going to "use" another guy (again) in way of pantawid-gutom (eow!)?"
Seriously --- every time there is the attempt to get things right this time around, there are always the glitches. It kinda makes life exciting. Kabbalists will probably point out that finding the light is the main purpose after all. It is all about not going to the dark place. As this Reese Witherspoon character read from a self-affirmation post-it in this movie which I can't remember the title of (because it was pretty ho-hum even though it starred Reese, Paul Rudd and Owen Wilson), "Courage is not the lack of fear but the mastery of fear" --- or something. Anyway, it is all about the mastery. Balance is another word. But hey, let's give ourselves the permission to be human, alright?
Come late December I accepted this full time job. I am not going to disclose my job details in this blog, but a lot of the exciting happenings in my life is because of this job. It's pretty cool. I have travelled to three countries starting last March, and yes, thanks to this job, I have finally set foot in the United States of America and spend some time in France. Actually, at the moment I am picking up this blog while on a lay-over in Incheon, Korea from Los Angeles to Manila, and I am dang glad that this airport is modern, well-designed, and lay-over-friendly. And it has free Internet too.
So yes. Career-wise it is a bit of a weird turnout, but still very much in the film industry which I refuse to get out of. I somehow call this stint motivated by a "personal noble cause", which, funnily, this Hollywood guy I met at an LA party could not help but laugh as --- yes --- "personal" and "noble" do not really go together. But you know. We have such quirks. Besides, anything noble has to come from a personal cause. Something along the opposite ends of psychic numbing, which means you are being proactive about it instead of complaining, complaining, complaining. Or being apathetic and indifferent.
I think in the next year I am going to make some drastic career moves. I can't help but say that somehow I learned something from my LA trip. It was short but personally and professionally necessary. Hey, I might not have met Jason Segel on this trip, but I have managed to find myself discovering this working balance among inspiration, idealism, and being a plain hard-ass. I am no longer in my 20s. I have managed to set my foot in the process of awakening this time around.
Seriously --- every time there is the attempt to get things right this time around, there are always the glitches. It kinda makes life exciting. Kabbalists will probably point out that finding the light is the main purpose after all. It is all about not going to the dark place. As this Reese Witherspoon character read from a self-affirmation post-it in this movie which I can't remember the title of (because it was pretty ho-hum even though it starred Reese, Paul Rudd and Owen Wilson), "Courage is not the lack of fear but the mastery of fear" --- or something. Anyway, it is all about the mastery. Balance is another word. But hey, let's give ourselves the permission to be human, alright?
Come late December I accepted this full time job. I am not going to disclose my job details in this blog, but a lot of the exciting happenings in my life is because of this job. It's pretty cool. I have travelled to three countries starting last March, and yes, thanks to this job, I have finally set foot in the United States of America and spend some time in France. Actually, at the moment I am picking up this blog while on a lay-over in Incheon, Korea from Los Angeles to Manila, and I am dang glad that this airport is modern, well-designed, and lay-over-friendly. And it has free Internet too.
So yes. Career-wise it is a bit of a weird turnout, but still very much in the film industry which I refuse to get out of. I somehow call this stint motivated by a "personal noble cause", which, funnily, this Hollywood guy I met at an LA party could not help but laugh as --- yes --- "personal" and "noble" do not really go together. But you know. We have such quirks. Besides, anything noble has to come from a personal cause. Something along the opposite ends of psychic numbing, which means you are being proactive about it instead of complaining, complaining, complaining. Or being apathetic and indifferent.
I think in the next year I am going to make some drastic career moves. I can't help but say that somehow I learned something from my LA trip. It was short but personally and professionally necessary. Hey, I might not have met Jason Segel on this trip, but I have managed to find myself discovering this working balance among inspiration, idealism, and being a plain hard-ass. I am no longer in my 20s. I have managed to set my foot in the process of awakening this time around.
Sunday, November 7, 2010
When something ends
As I spend my Sunday working on scripts, I have decided to give my iTunes a break and tuned in to NU 107. I still can't believe that the station is closing down. I haven't listened to NU in a long time, except for the occasional weekend visits to listen to Remote Control Weekend and Pirate Satellite on Saturday nights. But this pales in comparison to the time I was an avid listener. I woke up and slept to NU. I was educated by their shows, their chitchat woke me up and lolled me to sleep. It was typical teenage years which made up a third of my life. So basically, NU has been in me in substantial units; maybe it's not current, but it's in there, deep down. And now I am digging deep.
When I heard the news I just thought that the station had to concede for practical reasons. I guess they are no longer getting advertisers. Does that mean that the NU audience has been thinning all these years? Most likely. I grew up in a generation where half of the school's population were rock fans. Today, the most "angsty" genre comes from the emo kids, and even that it doesn't hold a candle to the kind of, say, anger Generation X were (by choice) carrying on their shoulders. Currently I listen to Jam 88.3 which will probably be the nearest thing to NU today, but Jam is not as rock as NU. Jam is current among those who love "indie" music. They play a bit of pop, but even that pop is not mainstream. But they don't play Korn, Stone Temple Pilots, Nirvana, those guys. If I want to listen to those guys, I'd go to NU.
Now, it is just dawning on me that I am going to have to resort to YouTube just to listen to them. This is more of the time of searching and no longer of accidental discovery. I started listening to NU the first time I heard The Breeders' "Cannonball" during that daily 9PM countdown; unfortunately, I no longer recall the name of the program. But anyway, it was "Cannonball", and I noticed they played better rock songs as compared to WLS, which was for a few years was playing Nirvana until Boyz II Men started to get into their playlist. And there was the Smashing Pumpkins, Soundgarden, STP, Pearl Jam... oh man.
I do think that NU's closing down signifies another thing. Maybe it is similar to the time when the feeling of 60s revolution and rebellion started to get lost in the glam of the 70s. I remember that scene from Almost Famous where the manager said something like music was dying because of disco. But you can't hate what's replacing that music no? I am listening to the current version of what is alternative, which might as well be the beginning of the new rock.
But is it, really? Are these bands that I love now --- Stars, Metric, BSS, Siguro Ros, etc. --- are they the new rock?
It feels like we are all facing the great unknown. I mentioned to a friend last night --- and even this I told my sister and another friend --- there is something with the times today. People are experiencing significant changes. People leaving their jobs, people just leaving, people getting married, people having babies. For some reason there is a more distinctive mark between those who are ending things in order to begin, and those who are just making new beginnings to continue something.
In any case, whatever the differences there are always the beginnings. It makes you hopeful, but I guess in order to move on you just have to let go.
When I heard the news I just thought that the station had to concede for practical reasons. I guess they are no longer getting advertisers. Does that mean that the NU audience has been thinning all these years? Most likely. I grew up in a generation where half of the school's population were rock fans. Today, the most "angsty" genre comes from the emo kids, and even that it doesn't hold a candle to the kind of, say, anger Generation X were (by choice) carrying on their shoulders. Currently I listen to Jam 88.3 which will probably be the nearest thing to NU today, but Jam is not as rock as NU. Jam is current among those who love "indie" music. They play a bit of pop, but even that pop is not mainstream. But they don't play Korn, Stone Temple Pilots, Nirvana, those guys. If I want to listen to those guys, I'd go to NU.
Now, it is just dawning on me that I am going to have to resort to YouTube just to listen to them. This is more of the time of searching and no longer of accidental discovery. I started listening to NU the first time I heard The Breeders' "Cannonball" during that daily 9PM countdown; unfortunately, I no longer recall the name of the program. But anyway, it was "Cannonball", and I noticed they played better rock songs as compared to WLS, which was for a few years was playing Nirvana until Boyz II Men started to get into their playlist. And there was the Smashing Pumpkins, Soundgarden, STP, Pearl Jam... oh man.
I do think that NU's closing down signifies another thing. Maybe it is similar to the time when the feeling of 60s revolution and rebellion started to get lost in the glam of the 70s. I remember that scene from Almost Famous where the manager said something like music was dying because of disco. But you can't hate what's replacing that music no? I am listening to the current version of what is alternative, which might as well be the beginning of the new rock.
But is it, really? Are these bands that I love now --- Stars, Metric, BSS, Siguro Ros, etc. --- are they the new rock?
It feels like we are all facing the great unknown. I mentioned to a friend last night --- and even this I told my sister and another friend --- there is something with the times today. People are experiencing significant changes. People leaving their jobs, people just leaving, people getting married, people having babies. For some reason there is a more distinctive mark between those who are ending things in order to begin, and those who are just making new beginnings to continue something.
In any case, whatever the differences there are always the beginnings. It makes you hopeful, but I guess in order to move on you just have to let go.
Thursday, November 4, 2010
My 5 Best Tips to Smart Single Living
Aside from making sure you've saved enough for rent, here are the following best tips to smart single living.
1) Learn how to cook - it helps you save, you get to learn a skill, and it can be fun.
2) Be storage smart - so you can just dump things into their respective boxes, baskets, etc.
3) Unplug when you're out - it will prevent any possible fires and electrical problems that can ruin your appliances. And it DEFINITELY cuts down on the electricity bill.
4) Security, security, security - lock up, only give a spare key the person you trust most.
5) Just add hot water - stock up on canned food, noodles, and other food packets. Useful when you're not in the mood to eat, and when you're running low on funds.
1) Learn how to cook - it helps you save, you get to learn a skill, and it can be fun.
2) Be storage smart - so you can just dump things into their respective boxes, baskets, etc.
3) Unplug when you're out - it will prevent any possible fires and electrical problems that can ruin your appliances. And it DEFINITELY cuts down on the electricity bill.
4) Security, security, security - lock up, only give a spare key the person you trust most.
5) Just add hot water - stock up on canned food, noodles, and other food packets. Useful when you're not in the mood to eat, and when you're running low on funds.
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