year-off

I might use a little time out after graduation. I've been thinking to take a transitional year.. like a year off before going directly to interviews for serious career positions. I want to figure out what I really want to do. Maybe make a difference or give back to the society.

Perhaps take a year off to gain additional experience, maybe to build a good resume and to have concrete career goals. I just feel like having unique experiences before settling down to this profession. Maybe travel to another city or country and have a different lifestyle.. to have fun with real valuable experiences.

I'm sure there would be employers who will question why I didn’t have a job right away after graduating. And I'm sure some will not admire personal development as an option. I know many students feel that, like after spending the past four or five years studying hard, they deserve a break. Right kids?

I know it is very easy for a year-off to become a year-wasted. I know my mom would interpret this time off as slacking off. I can hear her saying: “After all the money we spend on your education, you need to take a real job!” "Get your butt off and face the real world!”

True. I'm done resting my ass off for 3 or 4 months now. This little time off isn't going to be just a vacation. I got friends from highschool who took the unconventional postgraduate career, traveled throughout Asia and volunteered with foreign programs. Many of them stressed how much their unconventional experiences have benefited their careers.

I mean postgraduation hiatus isn't necessarily a vacation like most of us would think. Unconventional shouldn’t mean unproductive. I could still invest in that time out, like volunteering and learning about myself along the way. It does makes productive sense right?

random

This made me laugh. Some people are just awesome. Just when I think I am all alone in the world with my love for weird crappiness, these guys came up with the strangest way to entertain themselves. I dig it when i find other people funny. Nice, nice.

craptacular

Hey I am a worthless douche. I just looked at my calendar and it's almost August already. Instead of being a productive citizen for the past 4 months, I have done nothing but drink, drink, play tennis, crash on my friend's couch and eat crappy food. Don’t get me wrong nothing's more fun than being a lazy dooosh and I seem to excel at it. But somehow, it does make me wonder what happened to the drive I once had.

I keep telling myself and everyone else that this is just a phase.. but isn’t a phase supposed to end at some point and not get worse? I know I know, I’m just acting like a bitchy little girl. Believe me, I know some people have it worse off and my phase is fun, it’s just not that satisfying. So as I sit here watching Big Bang Theory on a beautiful lazy afternoon, I’m not blaming anyone but myself.

Anywoo, I was taking a leak a moment ago and I just realized I play this weird game of flushing the toilet at the exact moment that when it finishes flushing I am done taking a pee. It’s a game of accuracy and timing. I don’t know when or why I started doing this, but now I can’t seem to stop. I started to think of it as a sport and I suddenly thought of bathroom Olympics. Longest pee, synchronized pissing, biggest poop, longest poop.. my list is endless and quite frankly not going anywhere. Sounds exciting right?

Oh well. Poopty frinkin doo!! Maybe I should get a job.

Speaking of toilets, I’m not sure if this is ingenious or sickening. There's a chain restaurant sprawling in Asia that provides a bit of creative dining. Diners sit upon glitzy pimped toilets while enjoying their meals on glass-topped sinks and bathtubs. Patrons who have the privilege of dining will get to eat out from their very own craptacular tiny toilet bowls. I just hope eating here won't feel like a shit.

You’ve to admit that a full toilet-themed restaurant is pretty gnarly.. something you’ll only find in crazy Asian countries. And I’m pretty sure this would be a flush hit in Manila. If people here found joy on gross-out shit like 2 girls 1 cup, I guess this is nothing unusual for you.

(In case you did not know, 2 girls 1 cup is a nasty vid around the web. I do not recommend watching it, as these images of girls eating poo will be stuck in your head forever.)

mad-onna hatter

I admire Tim Burton's impressive concepts in movies. This gothic supremo is pretty much responsible for my interest in dark and gloomy themes. So the reason why I bring up Tim Burton is because he has a very interesting project on deck. There's the full length remake of Alice In Wonderland, another Burton and Depp combo, where Johnny Depp will play Madonna, Mia Wasikowska as Alice, Helena Bonham Carter as the Red Queen and Anne Hathaway as The White Queen. I heard the movie will honor Lewis Carroll’s 19th-century classic injecting a Burton-esque trademark weirdness. I can't wait to see what comes out of Tim Burton's whacked-out imagination.

Johnn Depp as Madonna in the new Alice in Wonderland makes me pee out of excitement. Sources say he has dropped some serious weight for the movie role. New pictures from Depp and Burton's film have surfaced and this is one of the first promo shots for the Burton-ized Alice In Wonderland. Johnny Depp was even seen sporting a pink leotard two days ago in preparation for his new role. I guess only Tim Burton could get Depp into these things.

Sorry wait.. this just in.. Johnny Depp is set to play the Mad Hatter.. not Madonna. My apologies. Anyone else have a sudden brain fart and think this is just Madonna?

leg spasm

I always keep my cell phone on vibrate. I do this because I hate the stupid ring tones and fartsy cuteness that goes with it. I think ring tones are just to show off and make other people judge you by how cool, obscure or hip your ring tone is. So I stick with vibrate. It makes my life easy. If I'm a girl without the manly package down there, then it might give me extra pleasure.

Lately I have been leaving my phone at home, not charging it or forgetting it places. And the weird part is I always think my phone is vibrating in my pocket even when its not there. I think I have trained my thigh to vibrate when I’m thinking of calling someone or it just starts vibrating for no apparent reason at all. I’m always grabbing my thigh and nothing is there. And I guess you can picture how freakishly embarrassing to see someone randomly grab and feel his thigh.

No phone or whatever, nothing to vibrate but my leg. I am beginning to worry that I am getting this involuntary muscle twitching or something. Maybe this is an early sign of Alzheimer’s or Parkinson's. Fuck, I don’t want any of those things. I’m not sure if it’s that technology sucks or if getting one of those does.

It’s scary to think we have trained our thighs to vibrate for no reason. I wonder if I am the only one with this problem. Maybe it’s the next pandemic that will cross the nation, yet no one still wants to talk about it. It's good to have this blog to influence people to speak up before it's too late. Wait, is that my phone vibrating? Nope, just a leg spasm.

weapon of choice

Check out Djokovic's signature racquet from Head. I held one his unstrung rackets yesterday and it was near perfect. This is the lightest racquet I've tried. The specs and the paint job are just amazing. Recreational or not, I wouldn't mind spending big for it. I have the Babolat AeroPro Drive right now and I am starting to hate it. All my shots were slightly off-centered, it vibrates on every hit and I'm really playing aweful with it. I think it's time to let it go.

So should I spend that much for recreational hitting? I'm a recreational player, I’m someone who likes to hit on weekends. Like hitting for hours on end, getting into a rhythm with my strokes and experimenting with different techniques. That's how I play. I prefer to get out there with a hitting partner for some unstructured hitting.

I'm in for long rallies, some short one’s and for some weird ones (when I try and show off some trick shots). In social matches I'm free to experiment, enjoy my strokes and just be out there hitting. I’m not saying that it isn’t a good idea to practice and improve your game, but for me it’s about having the most fun, so I’ll take the random rallying instead. Now by that, do you think I should shell out 12k for such racquet genius?

wait and see

Are the good times really over? I’ve been uninspired the past couple of days. I cannot seem to make fun of anything. I’m really not sure why. I guess I need to shake something up, like run naked in our street or do something to spice things up a bit around here. I’ve been drinking and going out with friends more often now but all we ever talk about is work.

So going back to thinking about what I`m going to do next. Maybe I'll start up talking to people about possible opportunities, organize my portfolio, write about stuff that I had been thinking about for a long time and probably blog a bit more.. and yeah look for a job. Now may be a good time to get a job.

I'm pretty open about what and where I can be right now: full time or project-based, employee or independent, Manila or elsewhere. I guess time will tell.

But as part of the latest round of global lay-offs now my chance of getting the job that I want abroad is almost like striking a lottery. There's a break in construction and certainly, permits for new construction will virtually come to a halt. I'm so sure hiring interns would be their least priority. Global recessions don't usually end in a matter of months.. perhaps a year to a year and a half or more. If only my degree starts at a later time, the chances will be higher.

So for now I guess staying in Manila makes more sense. I've sent out resumes to several local firms and got like three possible oppurtunities right now. We got some good firms for interns here while everyone abroad is taking a real wait-and-see approach.

wimbledon 2009

You probably know I love Tennis. It’s not for everyone, but I enjoy it. It is the greatest sport in the world in my humble opinion and nothing comes close the sophisticated kick assness that is tennis. One of my favorite players of all time is Roger Federer. For those of you that do know Roger Federer already, then you know how much he rules the tennis court. For those of you who do not know who he is, you are in for a treat. Well Federer is just one of the greatest tennis players of all time.

Last night's was one of the best and longest Wimbledon Finals I've seen. Roddick was expected to direct the game through his serves, occasionally firing huge ones to Federer. But over the course of the match Federer was more accurate, hitting aces and spreading his serves around the corners of the service boxes to keep Roddick guessing where to go.

In the end Roger Federer defeated Andy Roddick after four hours to win another Wimbledon title and his 15th major title overall, more than any other man in the history of tennis.

On the other hand, lazy Sunday is over. I guess one of the best days that you have in your lifetime are not the days that are jampacked. Some of the best days in your life are those days that the PJ’s stay on all day and watch non-educational tv. That was yesterday. It has been a great weekend and here I am, being 100% lazy again with all the vigor in the world. Cheers to crazy mondays everyone!

freedumb?

Back in 2007, the movie Into the Wild earned strong positive reviews from critics. So I did what any guy would do.. I downloaded it. It was a bit grainy, the video was poor, but I got to see the movie. It was a good film and I enjoyed it. Script was good and I believe Sean Penn's direction was impressive.

I have the original DVD now sitting on my shelf so please don’t judge me, I know you’re not as torrentz clean as you think you are. Anyway yesterday I watched Into the Wild again with a different set of eyes. The first time, I was just watching the commendable acting and Sean Penn's writing. When I watched it the second time, the third time, the fourth, I really walked away with a different thought.. one that hit a lot closer.

The character makes some decisions, for better or worse. He destroyed all his credit cards and identification documents, donates nearly his entire savings and sets out to travel alone to Alaska and experience its nature firsthand. Why? It’s what he feels he should do. In the wild - it’s the only place he feels his purpose, his existence.

As the movie rolls on towards the end, I was left thinking about my own life. Ever since I graduated college, I’ve pretty much been saying to myself, I’ll figure out what I want to do with the rest of my life. And it hasn’t been that easy.

I feel like Emile Hirsch's character. I want to escape, away from everyone and everything, meet new people, learn new culture.. like having a new life. Like leave what I have now in pursuit of absolute freedom from obligations and all.

I’ve spent the last 5 years studying architecture. I have the creativity that God has given me in this field. I love design. I love sitting behind a monitor doing 3d models, firing up SketchUp and making magic with Photoshop. But will my ability in architecture and design can keep me happy? Is it where I should be?

I spend so much time obsessing over what I should be doing, that sometimes I do nothing. There’s things I know. There’s things I can do. There’s things I do well. And I’ve had my share of events that have shaped me and shaped what and why I do things. So now what?