Entrepreneurs Can Change the World

With a long business night ahead of me, this was probably one of the best things to have seen before stepping out of the office.




Too good not to share.

TED Talk: Seth Godin on the Tribes We Lead

I just realized (sadly) that my last post (so far back last year) was about TED.



This video is by Seth Godin, him talking about the tribes we lead. "Inspiring" and "leadership' are the first words to come to mind.

To quote him, "You don't need permission from people to lead them. But in case you do, here it is. They're waiting, we're waiting for you to show us where to go next."

A good way to start the month, I must say.

Too good not to share.

Thinking Big

I suppose that each one of us has had, at one point or another, the seeds of what potentially could have been a life-changing idea. I also suppose that what differentiates the ones that fly from the ones that forever remain on the drawing board is how long we hold on to these ideas, how far we run with them, for it is just as easy to dismiss all these table napkin sketches we come up with.

I believe that it’s in the spirit of nurturing these seeds that avenues like TED Talks or Why Not Forum were born from. TED, which stands for “Technology, Entertainment, Design” started out as a conference bringing together people of different backgrounds to share diverse ideas ranging from A-Z. Their website, TED.com allows users to free access to this knowledge. The organization even offers a $100,000 grant for selected projects with the potential of being “One Wish to Change the World”.

Why Not Forum (http://www.whynotforum.com/) , on the other hand is a TED-inspired Filipino version, with just as much desire to nurture our own ingenuity.

I don’t think we all will have the chance to participate in TED or Why Not as speakers or contributors. But the very act of attending a talk or plugging in the website, the act of listening in itself can do wonders for our own creative engines. Immersing one’s self in such an environment can increase one’s confidence & belief that his own seemingly trivial idea can be grown and is worth sharing. One may not necessarily have to buy into everything he hears, but one’s horizon still expands through the tension of evaluating an opposing thesis statement.

Think big. Think different. Why not, right?

Words I Wish I Wrote

Before giving the book, Words I Wish I Wrote by Robert Fulghum, to a friend, I had read parts of it and realized that I had loved it. The book is actually a collection of works of fellow writers, from Camus to Kafka, which have inspired him.

In the spirit of Fulghum's book, here's a list of some blogs I try to regularly catch up on -- words that I almost always wish that I wrote:

http://milemarkers.runnersworld.com/ -- Blog of Kristin Armstrong, ex-wife of Lance Armstrong. Runner. Writer. Mother. More than the actual running (esp since I'm more of a non-runner), I love this blog for her insights on the discipline & freedom that running brings, on writing, on womanhood and on relationships.

http://www.warriorofthelight.com/engl/index.html -- Blog of Paulo Coehlo, famous author of The Alchemist, among others. This blog, I read slowly, so that I savor the richness of his analogies and their profound meaning.

http://loislowry.typepad.com/lowry_updates/ -- Blog of Lois Lowry, author of books like The Giver, Gathering Blue, and Messenger, to name a few. I like her blog because aside from giving you a peek at a writer's thinking, it's so "everyday" (i.e real and honest).

http://www.robertfulghum.com/ - Blog of Robert Fulghum. If you follow his works, I'm sure you'd love this blog. And if you haven't started, reading this will make you want to get any of his available books (normally out of stock!) in the next bookstore you see. Enough said.

Voyage of the Balangay

Call it my love of being near the water & anything related to it, or that desire to be part of our nation's history, but I just had to see the Balangay last June, before it sailed off on its grand journey.

The Balangay is known to be the oldest Pre-Hispanic watercraft in the Philippines. With the tapestry of early Filipino culture being intricately woven with living near and by the water, the Balangay was essential in our ancestors' livelihood, travel and community-building.

It was with this high regard for the Balangay, that Kaya ng Pinoy Inc, the group behind the Filipino Mt. Everest expedition, decided to recreate its voyage.

According to Mssrs. Art Valdez and Fred Jamili, to maintain the Balangay's authenticity, they invited Badjao boat-builders, who worked with native carpentry tools, like the patok and katam. With DENR's permission, they harvested wood from as far as Tawi-Tawi for the boat's shell.


The expedition has 3 major legs from 2009 to 2011. This year, the team will sail through around the Philippines, reaching parts of Southeast Asia in 2010. By 2011, the expedition will have reached Madagascar.

This voyage is quite historic for several reasons. It is the first of its kind in the Philippines. It also has a lofty vision of bringing back a deeper appreciation of the nation's traditions and of maritime consciousness.

Aside from these, the trip also intends to be a means of reaching out to the Filipino seaside communities, as the Kaya ng Pinoy team seeks to address the different social and economic issues they'd encounter along the way. And the best part is, they won't be doing it alone. They're giving other Filipinos a chance both to see the rest of the country and to volunteer, by joining the different legs of the trip.

If you'd like to follow the voyage, check out www.balangay-voyage.com.

Lullaby for a Stormy Night

Lullaby For A Stormy Night from http://yupkigirl.vox.com/

The nice thing about a new job is that it sometimes affords you some breathing room, just enough time to say "hi" to old friends. It's with that breathing room that I got the chance to talk to my friend, Marie. And in the course of our conversation, she passed on the link to this song to me. (love you for that Marie!)

The song's by Vienna Teng, a Taiwanese American singer and pianist. This is my first time to hear of her, or her works, but I am definitely looking her up already.

I've spent the last few hours at the office listening to the song on repeat.

Lullaby for a Stormy Night

little child, be not afraid
though rain pounds harshly against the glass
like an unwanted stranger, there is no danger
I am here tonight

little child, be not afraid
though thunder explodes and lightning flash
illuminates your tear-stained face
I am here tonight

and someday you'll know
that nature is so
the same rain that draws you near me
falls on rivers and land
on forests and sand
makes the beautiful world that you'll see
in the morning

little child, be not afraid
though storm clouds mask your beloved moon
and its candlelight beams, still keep pleasant dreams
I am here tonight

little child, be not afraid
though wind makes creatures of our trees
and their branches to hands, they're not real, understand
and I am here tonight

for you know, once even I was a
little child, and I was afraid
but a gentle someone always came
to dry all my tears, trade sweet sleep for fears
and to give a kiss goodnight

well now I am grown
and these years have shown
that rain's a part of how life goes
but it's dark and it's late
so I'll hold you and wait
'til your frightened eyes do close

and I hope that you'll know...

everything's fine in the morning
the rain'll be gone in the morning
but I'll still be here in the morning

Somehow, the melody and the lyrics give that warm, comforting feeling of being under a blankie, or of being held tight. (Better yet, of both.)

and I am here tonight

I sing it for the little ones, and the little-big ones, with a prayer that I take care of them well. And with a little kindess, I sing it to myself.

everything's fine in the morning
the rain'll be gone in the morning
but I'll still be here in the morning

Mini Me!

I haven't been around Glorietta for the longest time, so this stall caught my attention as something new.

Mini-Me comes up with interesting hand-made caricature dolls, using clay and resin. You only have to provide pictures of your subject, and they can have it ready for you in 10 days!

Price ranges from Php 2,000 - Php 3,000 depending on the size of the doll and how much customization you prefer. It's a little pricey, but the doll makes for a pretty unique gift, I think.

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Mini-Me
Glorietta 3, near Activity Center
minime_isthatu@yahoo.com
www.minimeisthatyou.com

Camera Club of the Philippines

I was killing time at Waltermart that Monday, waiting for a friend before dinner, when I chanced upon a poster on a Travel Photography class sponsored by the Camera Club of the Philippines. That poster led me to the CCP Center, at the 5th floor.

Founded in 1928, the Camera Club of the Philippines is one of the oldest photography clubs in Asia. And the fairly new Center, serves as their showcase gallery, seminar venue, and studio-for-rent.

At the time of my visit, Emil Davocol and Rudy de Leon's Black and White Rainbows exhibit was being featured. (I still haven't found the best words to blog about the exhibit itself. All I remember was how much I stared in awe and smiled while I walked around. I would love to take pictures like that - photographs which in themselves say much.)

I didn't get around to inquiring about the membership, but I did ask about the classes. The seminars are pretty affordable, starting at around 1,000 - 1,500 for the basic sessions, running for about 3 or 4 hours. [ I'm actually eyeing one of the Composition classes. :) ] There's about 1 class at least running each week.


Camera Club of the Philippines
5th level Walter Mart Mall, Don Chino Roces Ave., cor. Arnaiz Ave., Makati City 894-2987 / 09279065990 ccpcenter.multiply.com / www.cameraclub.ph

Pepsi Max Interview Commercial

This is a really fun commercial by Pepsi Max.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HbJHkwHZCCM

Laughter's just too good not to share. :)

I think we'd all be very lucky to have friends like that. Guys who just have our backs covered, anytime.

Drive on..

a reflection i had made a couple of months back.. i just kept on forgetting to post..

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some random musings i had while driving earlier...

have you ever found yourself driving in the rain and a few minutes later reaching a completely dry area, where it wasn't raining? this happened to me again this morning. the feeling you get is something like crossing a border, or reaching an invisible finish line of sorts.

i figured, it's probably a lot like how life is. you get into a rough patch, and you may not know when it's going to end. but if you just keep going, if you just drive on, before you know it, things ease up. you've finally reached the sunny side. :)

was just thinking...

Shower the People...

I heard this old James Taylor song over the radio, on my way to work this morning.

Shower the People

You can play the game and you can act out the part
Though you know it wasn't written for you
But tell me, how can you stand there with your broken heart
Ashamed of playing the fool
One thing can lead to another; it doesn't take any sacrifice
Oh, father and mother,and sister and brother
if it feels nice, don't think twice (yes)

Shower the people you love with love
Show them the way that you feel
Things are gonna be just fine if you only will(do as i say, yeah)
Shower the people you love with love
Show them the way that you feel
Things are gonna be much better if you only will

You can run but you cannot hide
This is widely known
And what you plan to do with your foolish pride
When you're all by yourself alone
Once you tell somebody the way that you feel
You can feel it beginning to ease
I think it's true what they say about the squeaky wheel
Always getting the grease.

Better to shower the people you love with love
(Yes and) show them the way that you feel
(I know) Things are gonna be just fine if you only will
(what i'd like to do to you)
Shower the people you love with love
Show them the way you feel
Things are gonna be much better if you only will

Shower the people you love with love
Show them the way that you feel

They say in every life
They say the rain must fall
Just like the pouring rain
Make it rain
Make it rain
Love, love, love is sunshine oh
Make it rain
Love, love, love is sunshine yeah

I've always liked this song, but I found myself thinking that if more people paid attention to the lines, a lot more would love it.

There's a Kris Kringle category we're having this year which goes, "Ano sa tingin mo ang soundtrack ng buhay ng baby mo?"

I figure, I would have lived a really good life, if at my funeral, somebody would say that I had this for my life's soundtrack.

Shower the people you love with love...

What's In Your Dash?

I first heard this poem by Linda Ellis quoted on a CD..

The Dash Poem
by Linda Ellis

I read of a man who stood to speak
At the funeral of a friend
He referred to the dates on her tombstone
From the beginning to the end

He noted that first came the date of her birth
And spoke the following date with tears,
But he said what mattered most of all
Was the dash between those years

For that dash represents all the time
That she spent alive on earth.
And now only those who loved her
Know what that little line is worth.

For it matters not how much we own;
The cars, the house, the cash,
What matters is how we live and love
And how we spend our dash.

So think about this long and hard.
Are there things you’d like to change?
For you never know how much time is left,
That can still be rearranged.

If we could just slow down enough
To consider what’s true and real
And always try to understand
The way other people feel.

And be less quick to anger,
And show appreciation more
And love the people in our lives
Like we’ve never loved before.

If we treat each other with respect,
And more often wear a smile
Remembering that this special dash
Might only last a little while.

So, when your eulogy is being read
With your life’s actions to rehash
Would you be proud of the things they say
About how you spent your dash?

©1996 Linda Ellis

http://www.thedashmovie.com/

This is a good read, albeit "scary". Scares me to think that my dash, with all that I still have left undone & unspoken, could be a short one. But borrowed time is all we really ever have, isn't it? No negotiations, no bargaining for more.

Used in conversation, the word "between" has this connotation of "limbo" or "transit". In between jobs. In between relationships. In between here and there. Funny how we pay most attention to "start" and "end", to "here" and "there", when in fact, just as the poem says, what's most important is what's between birth and death.

Life is what happens in between.

So, what's in your dash?

:)

Of Whales & Fairies...

I saw this video in a business convention a couple of weeks back, and until now, the images are still stuck in my head.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CeXuZexUIc4

For some weird reason, I ended up crying after seeing it.

Growing up, kids are always taught to color within the lines, literally and figuratively. We even carry this with us as we get older. Sadly, needing to be right or to do things right stifles our creativity and even our sense of self. Staying within the lines sometimes ends up to mean staying inside the box.

This video from the Japanese Ad Council was a pretty good reminder that it's ok to let kids' (and even our) imagination run wild.

And it's in that line of thinking that I ended up loving this picture of my inaanak, Gabbie.

I had promised her butterfly wings for Halloween, and although it took a while, I eventually got her something close to what she first wanted.

It was so funny though that she wanted to wear it upside-down, saying that the pointed part should be stick up. So funny how she came up with the idea of using her frilly socks for gloves. Perfect little Dyosa.

Mom wanted to correct the orientation of the wings, saying she'd quickly ruin her new costume with how she was wearing it. Kept her from doing so. After all, the costume fit exactly what Gabbie had in mind, right Gab? :)

One Day as a Lion

I first saw this John Gotti quote as Pitt's YM status message. (Salamat ulit Pitt!)

"It's better to live one day as a lion than a hundred years as a lamb."

True, true.

Turns out that the quote, or a picture of it least, inspired the name of the band, "One Day as A Lion".

I haven't listened to how their music sounds, but I've picked up some good lines from the lyrics:

"If you fear dying then you're already dead" -- from If You Fear Dying
"One day I say today we live as a lion" -- from One Day as a Lion

Something to keep in mind. Better yet, something to live out. :)

Getting Good

Just some random thoughts...

Have you ever had that feeling of getting good at doing something that you just wanted to keep on doing it for as long as you could?
Some people get really good at doing their work. Some people do it with a sport, or a hobby.
And then, there are those who get good at loving people in their lives. They get so good, they never quit.
Probably one of the best things you could ever get good at, I think.

Thought for the Day...

august 19 AM, at the office

My thought for the day has been sponsored by my Splenda packet for my kapeng barako ;)




"Surrender to the sweetness."

(Haha. Sorry, couldn't resist taping the note to my mug. Hangover from the John Lloyd-Sarah Geronimo movie ;P )

Go try a random act of sweetness for today.

Courage

In the spirit of the Olympics.... hehe. :)

This is such a cool Nike ad. (thanks siops!)

http://www.nike.com/nikecourage/ct/

Everything you need is already inside.

too good not to share...

I Love the World

I haven't been watching a lot of TV lately, so last night was the first time for me to watch this Discovery Channel vid, when a friend of mine sent me the link. (thanks again siops!)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V5BxymuiAxQ

I love the mountains,
I love the clear blue skies
I love big bridges
I love when great whites fly
I love the whole world
And all its sights and sounds
Boom-de-yadda, boom-de-yadda
I love the oceans
I love real dirty things
I love to go fast
I love Egyptian kings
I love the whole world
And all its craziness
Boom-de-yadda, boom-de-yadda
I love arachnids
I love hot magma
I love the giant squids
I love the whole world
It's such a brilliant place
Boom-de-yadda, boom-de-yadda

Yeah, I would have to agree, the world is just awesome. And it's got me singing, boom-de-yadda, boom-de-yadda. ;o)

It's Not the Arrow; It's the Indian

"It's not the arrow; it's the Indian.."
If there's one thing I'd remember from Dennis Balangue's photography class, that would be it.

Sometime last July, I finally gave in to starting something in my I've-always-wanted-to-do list, do good (at the very least, decent) photography. I figured that Filipinas Heritage Library's Digital Photography for Point-and-Shoot Camera Users was a pretty good way to kick things off. (Rivka, thank you, thank you, for the invite.)

It's a one-day affair which starts off with the basics of the camera & photography, and takes you through different techniques of taking pictures. There were about 20 or so in our class, from different ages and backgrounds, and the only thing we had in common was that we were all starting from scratch. Some of us, myself included, have never even touched our camera manuals. ;o) We also had varying reasons for taking the seminar, from doing travel photography, to documenting events, to just maximizing the money shelled out for the newly-purchased "toys".

More than the lecture, I think the best parts of the learning came during the hands-on exercises, the actual picture-taking. After each "seatwork", we'd regroup and review the work each one had done. By the end of the day, Dennis had us taking pretty good, professional-looking shots which you'd think would have come from a DSLR. (so you see, it's really the Indian.)

But more than the photography, I had actually gotten a lot more head fakes from it. About how getting good in photography had so much to do with control, to enable you to communicate. About how, much like everything else in life, you had to see the pictures first in your mind. About how, after learning all the rules, it's actually ok to break them.

The seminar comes with the materials and your meals for the day. FHL even threw in GCs for a couple of free 4R prints. Considering that, and everything else I had learned, I'd say I got more than my money's worth. Probably a small price to pay for something which could actually end up being a passion.

If photography's something you've always wanted to try, this is worth checking out. :)

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Check out http://www.filipinaslibrary.org.ph/ for the schedule of the other photography classes. Filipinas Heritage Library also offers other classes such as writing. They have a wide collection of Filipiniana material, both for browsing and for sale. The Library's also a good venue to rent for various occasions. (Trust me, nerdy as it may sound, it's really a nice place to hang out in.)

Dennis Balangue is a semi-professional photographer who among other things, has done a lot of work with local celebrities. You can check out his works at http://bubuy12.multiply.com/.

Of Ice Cream and Childhood Memories

I have a distinct childhood memory of going on a nursery fieldtrip to the Ice Cream house along Aurora Blvd. I remember being with my dad then. I remember how neat it was to watch the ice cream being made, and to eat scoops of it after.

Cut to 27 years later. The new job this year has lead me to different routes home, going through Aurora. It takes me quite a while to have my second visit, but hey, you never grow too old to have ice cream, right?

Although it was in the same familiar place, the Nestlé Creamery had a "new" look with the remodeling done in the recent years. You can still order ice cream by the scoop, and they kept most of the old favorites - the banana splits, the cobblers, the sundaes and so many other oh-it's-going-to-be-a-happy-day desserts. They also have new & interesting treats, like the marble slab concoctions. (We had the Eskimo Choco Decadence - it's a must-try. I've also heard that the Blueberry Crumble is good.) Oh, and you still can get ice cream cakes too.

* Jerome whipping up a Blueberry Crumble.

They've expanded the menu to include meals like pasta, sandwiches, pizza and salads, making the Creamery a really good spot for the family's lunch or dinner (and dessert of course).

* It's going to take more than just a few visits to go through this list. =P

And if you haven't had your fill by the time you need to go, there's a little area at the side selling ice cream gallons and other good pasalubong stuff.

Something for the kids and the kid-in-you to try. Go have fun. :)

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Open everyday, the Nestlé Creamery is located inside the Nestle Ice Cream compound along Aurora Blvd. You can give them a call at (632) 415-7872.