Looking for the Gold

As a young Scots boy, Andrew Carnegie came to America and started doing odd jobs. He ended up as one of the largest steel manufacturers in the United States.
At one time he had 43 millionaires working for him. Several decades ago, a million dollars used to be a lot of money; even today it is a lot of money.

Someone asked Mr. Carnegie how he dealt with people? Andrew Carnegie replied, "Dealing with people is like digging gold: When you go digging for an ounce of gold, you have to move tons of dirt to get an ounce of gold. But when you go digging, you don't go looking for the dirt, you go looking for the gold."

The Man in the Dungeon

Charles Dickens wrote about a prisoner who stayed for many years in a dungeon. After serving his sentence, he got his freedom. He was brought out from his cell into the bright daylight of the open world.

This man looked all around and after a few moments was so uncomfortable with his newly acquired freedom that he asked to be brought back to his cell into confinement.

To him, the dungeon, the chains and the darkness were more secure and comfortable than accepting the change of freedom and the open world.

David and Goliath

We all know the story of David and Goliath. There was a giant who was bullying and harassing the children in the village. One day, a 17-year-old shepherd boy came to visit his brothers and asked, "Why don't you stand up and fight the giant?" The brothers were terrified and they replied, "Don't you see he is too big to hit?" But David said, "No, he is not too big to hit, he is too big to miss." The rest is history. We all know what happened. David killed the giant with a sling. Same giant, different perception.

Our attitude determines how we look at a setback. To a positive thinker, it can be a stepping stone to success. To a negative thinker, it can be a stumbling block.
Great organizations are not measured by wages and working conditions, they are measured by feelings, attitudes and relationships.

When employees say, "I can't do it," there are two possible meanings. Are they saying they don't know how to or they don't want to? If they don't know how to, that is a training issue. If they are saying they don't want to, it may be an attitude issue (they don't care) or a values issue (they believe they should not do it).

Acres of Diamonds

There was a farmer in Africa who was happy and content. He was happy because he was content. He was content because he was happy. One day a wise man came to him and told him about the glory of diamonds and the power that goes along with them. The wise man said, "If you had a diamond the size of your thumb, you could have your own city. If you had a diamond the size of your fist, you could probably own your own country." And then he went away. That night the farmer couldn't sleep. He was unhappy and he was discontent. He was unhappy because he was discontent and discontent because he was unhappy.

The next morning he made arrangements to sell off his farm, took care of his family and went in search of diamonds. He looked all over Africa and couldn't find any. He looked all through Europe and couldn't find any. When he got to Spain, he was emotionally, physically and financially broke. He got so disheartened that he threw himself into the Barcelona River and committed suicide.

Back home, the person who had bought his farm was watering the camels at a stream that ran through the farm. Across the stream, the rays of the morning sun hit a stone and made it sparkle like a rainbow. He thought it would look good on the mantle piece. He picked up the stone and put it in the living room. That afternoon the wise man came and saw the stone sparkling.

He asked, "Is Hafiz back?" The new owner said,

"No, why do you ask?" The wise man said,

"Because that is a diamond. I recognize one when I see one."

The man said, no, that's just a stone I picked up from the stream. Come, I'll show you. There are many more."

They went and picked some samples and sent them for analysis. Sure enough, the stones were diamonds. They found that the farm was indeed covered with acres and acres of diamonds.*

My Indecision is Final

This is fuck*** weird; today is a busy-toxic Monday… I must be dreaming; this whole day seems to be just a recurrent dream. I’ve done this before. I’ve been here before. I perfectly remember… must be a damn déjà vu. It was like I was dying. There was so much in this damn job I have to do still. I’m turning 29 this October. I can’t disappoint my family and myself. Sometimes I just don’t know where I’m going in this life.

I used to believe that life was a journey that grows the self. Have I fucking grown? I don’t know. Sometimes, I’m having this hollow feeling that I don’t even know who I am anymore. All I know, all I believe is that there’s something I have to do.

Nevertheless, I know there were lots of good things that came out of this journey: funny friends, loving family, education, job. Yet, previous chapters of this chronicle was not totally the way I wanted it written – it is full of lost opportunities, regrets, regrets… hundreds of it and there’s always this urge to do something.

But what is it?

Should I change career? Should I go abroad? Should I finish my thesis? Should I resign?

Damn it’s pathetic holding on to a promise that were never made.

I looked at the same watch. It’s 8 in the evening. A few hours from now, I’ll be sleeping, feeling like this day never happened – or just a duplicate of all those previous crazy Mondays.

I suddenly realize, I must remember those best times I have felt in my life, think back of a time when I were my happiest; for me to find the answers…

…and make this day, the day of my final indecision.

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Image Credit : Pat Kumicich, "Indecision"

Narcissism Epidemic in the Blogosphere

I came across an interesting article in Manila Bulletin [entitled "It’s all about me me me!" August 12, 2009 issue E-1 section], which basically discusses the fact that we’re just all about ourselves these days.


The article quoted Jean Twenge, the author of “Generation Me” and “The Narcissism Epidemic” (with co-author W.Keith Campbell), who said that;

Today’s new generation think they are so special, where in fact, they are not. Although they have become more confident and assertive they have also turned themselves into a narcissistic and self-centered generation.

A modern narcissist is said to be someone who tends to lack empathy, react aggressively to criticism and favor self-promotion over helping others. Generation today are being portrayed as virtual self-centered zombies who care more about their iPods – highly tech savvies, doing texting, net surfing, blogging, IM, online games, calling on hi-tech mobile phones and watching TV, sometimes all at the same time.

They blame social sites such as Friendster, Facebook, Multiply and Twitter because it shorten attention spans, encourage instant gratification and make the users more self-centered – especially personal blogs.

I don’t know why I instantly had an inkling that this is really what’s going on in the blogosphere, mixed with a guilty feeling that oppressed me for hours, a persuasion that what I’m actually writing here in this blog might be narcissistic, all about me-myself-and-I.

Well, let’s accept that lots of personal blogs are plagued with narcissistic posts – about what they eat, where they go, daily rants, pets etc. Honestly, I’m amused in reading some of them, even if it is just plain personal nonsense rants.

I personally view this as more of self-expression rather being self-centered or narcissistic and I am proud of being in the “Me Generation” if they want to call it that way. I see it more of trying to define myself with this new opportunities, resources and technological avenues for self-expression and self-definition. Aside from personal experiences, reading blogs influences me.

Are you also proud of being on this generation? Any additional thoughts?

The Right Foundation

Someone once approached Blaise Pascal, the famous French philosopher and said, "If I had your brains, I would be a better person." Pascal replied, "Be a better person and you will have my brains."

Who is the hottest?

{This is not a true story. I just made it up after watching a porno clip on my mobile phone}

In our town fiesta’s beauty pageant, the bored all-male panel of judges decided to give an extra award aside from the usual Ms. Congeniality, best in swimsuit, etc. They called it the “Hottie Award.” The contestants must show what it takes to be hot & wild – in their own way.

Some contestants do dirty pole dancing, others do sexy catwalks. Some show their buttocks tattoo.

But there’s this one not-so-sexy contestant wearing a Filipiniana gown, just casually walk in front of the judges, smiled and exit the stage.

She won the hottie award.

Explanation on the comments section.

Alternate Comment Forms for Blogger

The default comment form of blogger can be replaced by alternative JavaScript based commenting systems to give a better and professional look.

The popular alternative commenting systems are:

1. Intense Debate –

I find my old commenting system dull, so I changed it using intense debate commenting system on this post.This is now owned by Automattic, the makers of Wordpress.

2.DISQUS - This is another Commenting system – It is the same thing that Mashable.com uses

3.JS-Kit – This is also another JavaScript based commenting system.

When you try to revert to any of these commenting systems,make sure that you backup your template and keep a copy,so that you can revert back if it didn’t work out well.

These are the three most popular commenting systems.They come with threaded commenting with Gravatar based profile images,which can make you commenting system look more professional.

So if you want to remove the default blogger commenting system and get a better commenting interface,then you can opt for any of these commenting systems.

Inspired by: Aneesh of bloggerplugins.org

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Image Source: BLOGGERPLUGINS , used with permission. Licenced Under the Creative Commons Licencing Read - [CC Licenses Attribution-SA 2.5].

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The victim of my own blind self

Today, before daybreak I had a dream...

I was standing alone, in a solitary waiting-shed. Its roof is rusty and full of holes supported by dilapidated concrete posts, the supporting steel bars are exposed, protruding like broken bones.

It was the only structure in that old one-way highway which seems to be leading nowhere – to eternity I supposed.

I looked at the horizon hoping to see where the highway ends, but it just converged into a tiny dot, unmoving against the dancing dusts on that gloomy day.

I am calmly waiting for the bus. I just stand there motionless, anxiously staring at the other end of the highway, hoping for the bus to come, occasionally looking at the setting sun - or was it rising?… I don’t know.

Then a boy with a backpack, wearing a school uniform suddenly appear as if he just get off a school bus, smiled at me and said, “Tatlong beses ng dumaan yung bus!” [The bus passed by three times already!]
I was shocked because I didn’t saw any.

Then I woke up, drenched with sweat and confused.

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Epilogue

I always admire the patience of the river snails and the tenacity of the cogon grass – qualities that, I believe was the result of a long period of time spent waiting. Hence, I programmed myself to wait.

I always wait; for things as mundane as waiting for the bus, the fastfood queue, for the water to boil, for the heavy rain to fall, for my hair to grow; OR for grand events like the Noche Buena, a perfect relationship, a son, and a final chance to hold those I love…

What if those very important things, I hold most dear and longingly waited for is already here or already passed by, repeatedly presenting itself to me. I just don’t recognize it, refused to recognize it or just plainly ignore it – because ambition, pride or whatever WTF blinded me.

Or maybe because I just don’t really know what I am waiting for. Letting life slip by without noticing the important but very simple details.

Now I know why I always felt I’ve waited long enough – because I am a victim of my own blind self.

Have you ever felt that way too? Or maybe I am just tired and bored.

Blog envy is my motivation

Forgive me dear bloggers for I have sinned.
This blog is evolving because of envy.

Bloghopping eats up most of my free time to catch up on my favorite topics, news and for mining fresh ideas. While browsing, I frequently came across blogs that can totally blow me away; blogs with great design, interesting contents, magnificent writing style and alive with intelligent comments - blogs I envy.

Envy is one of the deadly sins according to Catholicism crap. Conversely, I have always felt that envy is the first cousin of motivation. It lurks somewhere hidden in my thoughts. When I say I admire other blogs and its design, deep down, what I really feel is that I wish I have those design talent and writing genius. It may be a sin, but it gives me the motivation and clue to what I truly want in this blog – and to improve myself. You always inspire me fellow bloggers.

Accordingly, I devoted efforts on improving this blog. Whenever I came across blogs with great design or a cute widget, my first instinct is to look for its source code to test it on my blog. I also want to learn bits & pieces about XHTML & CSS.

Here are some cool improvements I made which I want to share:

• My Table of Contents page: It took me three hours before I make it work. I’m a real dumb when it comes to code syntax. Thanks to Aneesh for the tweaking.

• Template: My first template was a blogger harbor template, so boring. Thanks to Ourblogtemplates for this “Spain” template.

• Feed Your Mind Widgets: Courtesy of Thefreedictionary

• My customizable shout box from : myshoutbox

• Other tweaking tricks at : bloggerbuster and bloggerplugins

• My header graphics was originally a wallpaper which I find interesting because of some yin yang symbol on it. I did some photoshop editing and use it as header. It’s quite large but I like it.

• For SEO hacks and monetizing, maybe later when I’m really serious about posting well researched posts. I believe content really matters.

Well, I don’t know how long I can make this blog alive but surely it will continuously evolve into something better – hopefully not all because of envy.

I will really love reading your comments about my blog or if you have a cool code hack you want to share, I’ll definitely appreciate it.

Let’s inspire each other!

Filipino Lotus Feet Mentality – Sacrificing comfort over fashion

Most Filipinos are proud of sacrificing comfort in the name of style and social acceptance. They embrace the total nonsense view of “style” and being “in” to counter the modern embarrassment of being unfashionable or jologs, sacrificing their comfort in the name of conformity, sacrificing health and commonsense and accept the fullness of Dra. Vicky Belo’s definition of beauty.

Yes, most Filipinos are now living a material world, they say if you ignore that privilege, you missed the whole point of human existence.

…but I beg to disagree.

Like the Chinese girl called Lotus Feet, in the horror film Feng Sui, they will never escape the fire due to their walking handicap.

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Photo Source: thetoyzone.com

The Immortality of the Yellow Confetti

11:45 AM, 03 August 2009, EDSA, Mandaluyong City, Philippines. The cortege of former President Corazon C. Aquino as it passed by our office in Mandaluyong. I immediately joined the crowd and took a few shots. My hands is still cold while writing this post. It was chilling.

The rain miraculously stopped as she passed by, surrounded by gentle petals, honorably guarded - fitted for a true hero.

Million confetti, anxious in the sweaty palms of the bystanders are suddenly freed against the gentle breeze, soaring high, crying over the mother-of-democracy’s last parade.

Yellow ribbons tied everywhere, silently waving goodbye to a fighter who once freed them.

The crowds are gone, EDSA is silent and finally the confetti soar no more, kissing the street, forever resting - their collective spirits forever seen in the clouds’ silver lining, their love for freedom sealed on the avenues’ battered asphalt. The yellow confetti is truly immortal

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Photos taken by the author Yodz Insigne.
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