Saturday, July 27, 2013

Remote Online Journal Access for UP Students >> Thumbs up :)

I went to the College of Engineering Library of UP Diliman today to do research for the 70 journals/ references that we need to read for our thesis. I try to say "70" as casually as I possibly can because seriously, this has been driving me nuts for two weeks now. WHEW. There's three days from the deadline and I am only halfway through the required number so help me Lord.

I've been on Kiji-mode (killjoy) for a week now, I try my best to minimize working overtime and I keep my eyes glued to journals as much as I can. I could go on and on with my rants but the bottomline is being a working student is definitely, definitely not easy. No matter how cool it sounds. BUT daunting tasks like these are worth it when you are interested with your topic. :) And I could use a little more discipline here.

BUT what I'd like to blog about is that I was pleasantly surprised today upon learning that:

1) It's now easier to access academic journals online because the university has their own subscription to online journals, allowing students to download the needed literature for their study, and

2) We can even access them from home! Nice! I think this has been on for a couple of years already, sayang I learned about it only now. I used to think that all academic journals can only be accessed via the University wifi.


Thursday, July 11, 2013

Arctic Monkeys - Do I Wanna Know? (plus some Jack White goodness)

Oh man oh man oh man, the Arctic Monkeys just got sexy!! :D :D

I've always liked this band, and just last month they released a brand spanking new album: AM. It took them quite long to release a new album, they probably got exhausted with all the work and forgot to think of a better title? Heheh.

*edited: After hours of trying to recall, I now remember that my favorite "get-better-song" is A Certain Romance by the Arctic Monkeys. This got me through alot of emo-moments during the past years. :) For some reason, I get relaxed by the intense drumbeat and guitars of the intro... "Over there there's broken bones, there's only music so that there's new ringtones and it would take no Sherlock Holmes, to see it's a little diff'rent around here.".

Their new single, "Do I Wanna Know" has been playing at JAM 88.3 for quite some time now and it was love at first listen for me. The video is also fascinating, you have to watch 'til the end for some bizarre and psychedelic treat. :D




And while I'm at it, I'm sharing here a video of The White Stripes - The Hardest Button to Button. Because it reminds me of college and Jack White is awesome. :)



Sunday, July 7, 2013

On Passion and Puppets

Me: "Wow haggard!"

Colleague: "Syempre, passionate eh. San ka ba nakakita ng passionate na maaliwalas ang mukha?"

I was stunned. It sounded so wrong in different ways.

I'm thinking maybe it was because of a work culture that never fails to overwhelm even after decades: deadlines, output, avalanche of quality issues, 'people' issues, doing more for less, making less grow more - and the fact that work can just swallow down your whole life


While I do admire intensity and drive, I think it's sad when "passion" is equated to haggard faces, toxic lifestyle, and anxiety overload. The best lesson I learned from Steve Job's biography is that passion is the tune of your heart singing. It comes from doing something you love. And when there is love you 'glow'. You motivate yourself not just out of necessity but because of your inner drive to get something done. You do not live like a puppet getting carried away by a whirlwind.