all grown up, lots of places to go...

So weird, working at the software lab, feels like 1980's CLS, lol.

• same revolving doors,
  
• same caf, even the same servers from five years ago - and they still remember me!
  and yes best part is, still subsidized!
• still lotus notes, but version 7, this time.
• same 411 and 911 protocols, same security extension - freaky!
  
• same pay structure - Bands! so strange.
• same cubes, same pop-themed colors. same carpeting!
• oh and it's still hurley corporation!
• and yah there's showers, need to check but i bet you they name locations the same way too....
• last one - the computers feel strangely familiar, except that these are P4s.
  

• no smt lines hehehe
• better amenities - different coffees and teas, and a subsidized tim horton's
  
• no lockers
• velly velly nice pods
• ooooh and kewl cisco phones instead of siemens ones
• oh oh and there's a GLBT community group!!! verry verry verry cool - called Queer Blue.
  
• and themed rooms all over  - like IKEA vignettes lol
• oh and sacha chua's profile plastered all over the CAS site - so proud of this girl - so young, so smart, so pinay!

re-read this, and it seems like i ran out of adjectives aside from kewl, cool and uber-cool. talk about gushing!!!

• completed long, drawn out project!!!!!!!
• went to church (+100 points)
• got SU & TRP, also P&G & PFE
• thinking of MO, but maybe only quarterly. yearly, even. this can be next yr yet.
  
• also thinking of FTS, KO, and JNJ by end of October, for sure
• meeting five potential clients tonight....
• first day at the IBM software lab tomorrow.weirdow scared? dunno yet. we'll see what SGML & DITA are all about.
  

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if i leave vox, all my mini-cards will be wasted =(
yah i should do a URL re-direct, i know.
but not yet.

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if somebody tells you they're really happy with their life right now, do you take them at face value, or that they're out to prove something? can't tell the diff sometimes. i try not to make such claims. just come see what my life is like =)

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St. Mike's is 159 yrs old this year.

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Sept marks the passing of a once great friendship. Slowly trying to weed out the user-friendly people in my life. =)

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Excited about the freakin housing market in the US. drop, baby, drop.

Was planning to go down to Sephora this afternoon and plonk down my platinum cc's (which i pay off in full every month, btw) on their pretty counters and splurge on the cheapest smudge-proof eyeliner money can buy ($14- 30 lang is the budget, which is a freakin lot, bcz drugstore brands only cost $2-5) when i got this great tip from yahoo answers: use the drugstore brand anden set it with black eyshadow using a fine angled brush and it will stay on for the whole day....wonders of wonders, it worked!

....although i was using a stupid fat applicator instead of the fine brush so i looked raccoon-like but wow gravittee! it stayed on!!!!!

and bcz it was early Sunday morning, I decided to crawl back into bed and finish Alvin Toffler's Revolutionary Wealth, something i was half-way through and needed to finish bcz i was up to at least $7 in library fines....when right in the middle of the damn boook, i was sobbing and crying big fat tears because the damn book was indeed, mf-fekkking mind-blowing! i've never cried reading a non-fiction book before, but mannnnnnnnnn...this was one crazy mind-blowing read. (oh and yes, the eyeliner held up!)

I first heard of Alvin Toffler when I was seven – I’d go visit my friend Apay’s (Maria Paz) house and I’d always be checking out their bookshelves. I was a ravenous reader, and was really proud of the fact that I could read the Daily Express (remember this pro-Marcos paper from a long time ago?) from cover to cover even though I couldn’t understand half the words. One of the books Apay’s Tito Zaldy owned was Toffler’s Future Shock, which really intrigued me, because it was such a hard book to read, what with all the small print (to me then) and it used words I never heard of. I gave up on it, preferring to read Apay’s Reading book from school (she was in Grade 3 so she was reading Our Neighbours by then, I was only in Grade 1, and I already finished reading mine, the boring Our Family – remember Tagpi the dog? “Run, Tagpi, run!!!!”).

Now that I think back, I remember another title, The Trial of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg. Man, Tito Zaldy was one closet subversive….

 Back to Alvin. So I was at Loblaws Superstore (closest thing we have to a Target over here) browsing the book aisle, when I notice Revolutionary Wealth. I pretty much stayed over an hour glued to the spot, unable to stop reading.

So this guy Toffler turns out to be a futurist and between him and his wife Heidi, they are able to look at worldwide trends and seemingly random phenomena, aggregate all of that, and predict what’s going to happen in the next 20, 30, 40 years.

 So what made me bawl out like a baby for at least 10 minutes three-quarters into the book? This is corningware, but here goes: I was just stunned by the fact that one person can make a difference, and the fact that technology is going to wipe out disease and mass poverty. And I know it sounds effing corny, but UP just guilts it into you – I can never escape from the question of “What am I doing to make this world a better place?”

I was crying from relief mostly, now that I don’t have to solve all the Big Problems like world peace, AIDS, poverty, genocide by myself. Living in the kanaduh does that, I guess. I somehow feel responsible, and I always feel like I’m not doing enough. I used to be so inured to all these things – life is hard, I’d say, and shit happens. I’d given up on the Philippines, especially after that eye-opening trip in April. Talking to Vince, I came to the conclusion that there is money back home - it’s not as if there is no capital available to improve the country’s infrastructure and legacy systems- the problem is, it’s concentrated in the hands of a few who refuse to innovate and improve on the existing status quo because the way it works now benefits them and theirs.

Yes, I am talking about the Chinoys who choose to invest their profits outside of the country (Charlie Sy, if you’re reading this, I’m talking about you! Lasalista kase, eh. j/k). Although I know where they’re coming from. I’d want to invest somewhere stable too, if I had their limpak-limpak na salapi.

So the Tofflers  say, watch and learn. Kay technology, specifically bio-tech, will change the world. Yes, he means genetically-modified food. And yes, there’s all that bad press about it. But watch. It’ll be mainstream kuno in just a matter of years, and we’ll be looking back at now and be laffing and calling ourselves bio-tech Luddites. I’m slowly changing my views on Monsanto, stem cell research, nanotechnology. Not all the way there yet, but I’m keeping my mind open.

The other big idea that just astounded me was the fact that hey, one person can really make a difference now. Yeah, we’ve all heard this one before, but it sounded so platitudinal, didn’t it? And the people that did it all before were extraordinary examples of the species (think Gandhi, Mother Teresa), not somebody average and ordinary like me. But look at Linux, or blogging. Or even volunteering. That myth that I subconsciously held is pretty much shattered, about how there was a privileged few that controlled everything and you had to know someone, grease the wheels, sipsip a little bit, and lick their boots to move ahead and get things done. It’s not as if the statement “It’s who you know” doesn’t hold true anymore, it’s just that there’s ways and means to get things done. And that’s effing liberating.

Ay ambot. Apparently Alvin won’t let me sleep til I finish this long-ass post.

It’s 4:30 am, three days later, and I still can’t stop thinking of Alvin and Heidi and how they’re convinced that developing countries can break that seemingly everlasting cycle of poverty that they’re trapped in. And they’re quite confident about the whole thing bcz China and India have pole-vaulted into becoming forces to be reckoned with, when just a couple of decades back, they were nothing more that giant land masses full of poor and technologically-backward people.

What’s made China (and India) progress so fast, apparently, is that not only is it transforming itself into an industrialized nation as fast as it can (think factories and huge volumes of production), its government is pro-actively working towards creating a knowledge economy. So not only did the Chinese purchase IBM’s desktop PC division and rebranded it as Lenovo (while still keeping the IBM name, such a korek marketing move), it made sure an IBM software lab was established in China. And it’s not only IBM. Everyone who’s a technology mover and shaker has intellectual capital invested in the damn place (except all the Web 2.0 startups, I guess. Not that China’s lacking in those, they just don’t get featured in TechCrunch or Om Malik).

Teh, what’s that mean for us? It means we need to do the same thing. Move the money and the intellectual capital  pabalik. And it has our generation that has to do it, because I can’t see Old Money in the Philippines get all excited about investing in something they don’t understand. And their offspring won’t do it either – the reigning Chinese families back home (good example ang owners ng Green Cross, kung si Vince pa) are struggling because the next generation want nothing to do with the business – they’d rather party and mimic the MTV lifestyle that they see online and on TV. If I’m 21 and young and loaded, I wouldn’t be too excited going to work overseeing the production of rubbing alcohol everyday either, hehehe.

At the same time, we have to make conscious choices about what we do when we do bring capital back. Kay even though Gloria has been so pro-active in sending out hoards of OFWs, all that foreign capital influx has not been used in anything significant. Instead, it all goes into spending for basic necessities. (Which is all well and good, but not enough of us are entrepreneurial enough to set some money aside to start something of our own. We’ve been taught well to become the mindless consumers the big multinationals need us to be if they are to meet their ever-increasing profit targets quarter after quarter).If it’s not that, OFW money gets spent sending kids to school, which just is another way for the poverty cycle to propagate itself. “Sige, anak magaral ka para maka-punta kang abroad pag-laki mo.” The educational system, Alvin and Heidi argue, is moving at a pace that does not match the changes in technologies that are happening concurrently at break-neck speed. I’m not advocating not sending our kids to school, (although there is a great argument for it – I am so home-schooling my kids! Well, maybe part-time.) I just want us to explore the possibilities outside of the existing educational systems. (Remember effing US History? And did I really need to memorize all the members of the existing Philippine Cabinet for Grade IV Social Studies kay hambal ni Ma’am magwa sa test? Lenteh).

Balik to the bring-back-the-capital idea. It’s happening as I type - I get all excited everyday when I check my Linkedin account and I see Jugene Illenberger add a couple more freelance design and tech people into his contact list every couple of days. PinoyTech Blog constantly writes about Web 2.0 startups, and PinoyMoneyBlog writes about which Philippine mutual funds are good to invest in. I read Bo Sanchez and his latest book, 8 Secrets of the Truly Rich and he does a great job explaining basic financial concepts for the Filipino audience. (Sasha Chua – good luck on your thesis pala, pero go finish school and make a Filipino version of Prosper, we need it badly!!!!) I see it in Rudie and Ramil, who travel to the small towns everybody else has forgotten about and work towards righting the wrongs. I see it in Vince, who plans to go to the States, make his money, and invest it right back towards building the next distribution powerhouse in the Philippines (keep making those important konek-da-dots, slowly but shurly pre). I see it in Richie Cadete, of all people, who last I heard patingdogged a PT clinic in Iloilo, and Rona and her hubby, who took that very scary leap to move back and start a business.

What about the rest of us? What else can we do? For those of us abroad, buy a damn bond fund from BPI, if nothing else. Just ask Reda and Joy if you’re not too sure about investing in the Philippines. I’m sure they can give you the long-term outlook on the capital markets sa Pinas, complete with historical data for the last 10 years, easy. Ang mga lilinti-an nila ga kwayyet-on-the-set lang, pro believe me when I tell you, they know tings we don’t know we don’t know.

For those of us that have been out of the country for quite some time, we need to make conscious decisions about how all that foreign money we send home is spent. Saja magbalik and magbakasyon, but all have to find a way to bring the systems and best practices back that make the west function better than we do. And that means starting businesses, failing, learning our lessons, and starting back up again.

Reading that, that I’m sure you’ve mentally recoiled instantly and a long list of objections must have run through your head. It’d be too hard, too complicated, too much money, there’s nobody I’d trust enough to work with. That’s OK, I had to fight those demons too. Fifteen years in the educational (mental slavery) system does that to you. We’ve all been taught to become good employees, sipsip ones that stay overtime and do all the work. But if we do not do it, we will be effectively damning our country into becoming a bottomless pool of menial workers, domestic helpers, and call centre operators that the rest of the world exploits. Sure, Jessica Zafra talks about the Filipino nanny mafia taking over the world, but that’s only good for a laugh or two.

And if you work in tech, (Neil, this means you and all the developers out there) it means thinking long and hard about opportunities in the Philippine market. If you are tamad to think, just cut and paste the damn code, lol. Take what works and reinterpret it for us. Because that’s the wonderful thing about knowledge, kung si Alvin pa. It is infinite, and reusable. And if you’re an econ major, doesn’t that just blow your mind? We have all been taught about managing scarce resources (land, capital, labor), remember Babur? Hahaha. But how do you deal with something intangible that grows in value the more it’s used and improved? Galilingin ang ulo ko panundum and ang heart ko daw mabuka. I’m sure Neil will agree when I say there is enough open-source code out there to create whatever it is that our minds can imagine. And it’s free, for God’s sake. So what’s stopping us?

I’ve asked myself that question so many times and the easy answer is because we’re lazy. Now that we’ve gotten used to this easy, First World life, we get pre-occupied about stupid things like American Idol, watering the lawn, saving up to buy that shiny new car, buying a bigger house to impress our stupid friends.

Teh, do not get sucked in into complacency. Just because we are living a cushier lifestyle compared to people back home does not mean we’ve got it made. If you’re working for somebody and you take home a paycheque at the end of the day, you’re nothing but somebody’s else’s glorified bitch. It’s harsh but true. We have no choice but to step up and do this because nobody else will do it unless we do.

….

It’s been five days since I started writing. I guess I needed to write this to give myself the courage to do this, and continue on this path. We’ve taken baby steps, and following through is hard. When we were in high school, Rudie and Pai and I often wondered what our lives would be like if we chose to become a manicurista wid a pwesto at the tienda sa Jaro. Of course we’d have a tricycle driver for a boyfriend, and we would all read Wakasan religiously. Teh, as I write this at my corner opis wth a velly nice view, it all seems so far away. And I realize nga that’s what gets me everytime, whenever I become complacent and tamad agen. It’s the damn cushy lifestyle that’s so easy to get used to. I hope it gets to you the way it does to me. Living this way should make you think of those who aren’t as fortunate. And hopefully, you’ll get too comfy until all that comfort and good living gets to you and you’ll somehow do something about it in spite of and despite of all sorts of odds, just because you have to.

Ay salamat natapos gid man. Whew.

....just got back from ATL
....a deal happening in Hamilton....the suspense is killing me...
....gonna help Schumann pick out a ring this wknd....
....having dinner w/ Mary tomorrow night...
....finally getting XETrade set up
....adding MO, PG, PFE. maybe REI.UN.
....added RY, almost forgot. yes, i am very heavily overweighted in financials.
....need to get a haircut. and must buy good eyeliner.
....i don't listen to popular music anymore. i feel old. should get ipod, but too lazy to D/L mp3s.
....oooh and bennies! i see a new pair of designer sunjees in my future! =)

What are three things you want to learn, and three things you can teach others to do? 
Submitted by bookishbiker.

need to learn:
coding elegantly
basic carpentry
how not to care so much about what others think

willing to teach:
financial advice basics
how to write a killer resume that gets you interviews
speed cooking - thai & indian cuisine

any takers? =)

What do you absolutely refuse to eat?

human flesh. and  blood. =)
pretty much anything else is game.

What time is your alarm clock set for?  Do you use the snooze button?

8:00. i end up waking up by 8:20.and i am such a ms. speedy gonzales that i'm at work by 9:00. it's great having a four-kilometer commute every day.....

When i was little, we were too poor to pay for braces so my dad made me open my mouth everyday soon as i woke up and he would push my crooked front teeth into submission., little by little, every day. i now have a drop-dead gorgeous smile because of him. take that, stupid makeover shows! thanks, Tatay. I love you gid. =)

Hawaii Day1 003

woooooooooooooooooooo beachhhhhhhhhhhhhhh! it's been so longgggggggggg....
so goood =)

my twitter!