Freelance Writing And Thoughts About Having So Much Time

I dedicated this week to doing freelance writing full time. I knew it wouldn't be easy, which is why I really took advantage of the waiting time I have for some of my materials for the thesis. I wanted to 'get the groove', you know. Hehe.

So far, I've been able to write 12 articles varying between 500 and 650 words each, and 1 E-book. Yes an e-book! Huwaw! Is legit! Hahah.  I didn't realize it could be soooo hard.

When you're in the industry, the company, your bosses, define your targets. In our case, there were so many external stimulants that keep pushing you to work and drag yourself forward, and you get to push yourself to heights that you never thought was possible. That's how you re-discover yourself. And that's because, well, you HAVE to. You can try to slack off but someone is bound to push you once again.

It's a different story altogether when you have time in your hands. Don't get me wrong, I am given a golden, GOLDEN opportunity to finally learn everything I've ever dreamed of. And to tell the truth? I am having the most interesting time of my life!

Click here to read more >>

Inspiration on the First Day of Freedom

Yesterday was my first freedom day. Yes, after 3 weeks, I finally got some real fresh air and well, real traffic. Heheh. You wouldn't believe how ecstatic I was! Seriously 3 weeks of house arrest can make you feel really down. So I went to UP for the 1st time for 2014. Sickness is a b*tch though, specially if it dwelt in your bloodstream. :( I could still feel some weakness in my knees, and I still wasn't very much up to UP long walks.

But it was fun! It was a very productive day. Finally got my cellulose fiber, got into talks with DOST-Enterprise and it's quite a promising venture. I'm thinking of really pushing it through if things go well enough. It ended with a chika-date with Moia and also a quick date with my Phelthe-love. :-)

Standing at the MRT, watching all these people rushing and all these mad cars racing each other, suddenly it all came rushing to me. House arrest tends to freeze you and your brain, but being back in the city reminded me of the MANY things that I need to be doing. It is a race against time and I must never forget. I admit I kind of started late, but it's never really too late to push for the things you really want. There's sooo much work to be done! The theme of my year will definitely be Time Management and FOCUS. And my motto is: Shoot lang ng shoot! Hahah!

Click here to read more >>

SPIK 2013 Annual Forum - Nurturing That Much Needed Link

I have always thought that when it comes to research, the Philippines is already bursting with so many ideas. In fact I think the university is  almost saturated with it. We have already proved countless of times that Filipino talent is definitely at par with our counterparts from developing countries. 

While a new idea is always a good thing, I think a larger problem is that these ideas remain just that - a pool of ideas. Majority of thesis studies  are left to dust in their departments, either because it has not found a suitable application/funding, or the momentum to follow it through has simply burned out. 

So I found it very timely that key people from the university, the industry, and the government are now making concrete responses to this need, by initiating a partnership between ERDT, Engineering Research and Development for Technology, and SPIK, Samahan sa Pilipinas ng Industriyang Kimika. Well yes, it is composed mostly of chemical engineers, and related industries, mainly because manufacturing in the Philippines, is 60% composed of companies that are related to the chemicals industry. Being an ERDT scholar, we were required to attend the forum. As chemical plants normally employ a mix of various disciplines, below fields  can also benefit from the forum:

Civil Engineering

Chemical Engineering

Industrial Engineering

Materials Engineering

Mechanical Engineering and

Environmental Engineering

The main goal is to create a government-industry-academe linkage, with the following roles:

Government - provision of scholarships, funding, necessary legislation, and support on the national level of the programs

Academe - provision of capable manpower and environment for research, laboratory facilities, intellectual know-how

Industry partner - commercialization, funding, mass production/ implementation of results

Click here to read more >>

Trying to be Cool - Phoenix feat. R.Kelly.

I'm simply amazed. R.Kelly with PHOENIX.
I've been playing Phoenix's album Bankrupt over and over again for the past days just to get a better "feel" of it. Two tracks have already been released, "Entertainment", and "Trying to be Cool". But I like the latter better. I stumbled upon this version at Soundcloud (one of the best ways to flirt with your music, I say). And it's just way too cool!

Click here to read more >>

Science via Art, and Vice Versa

Our professor invited Joey Tanedo from the College of Fine Arts to talk about the upcoming video presentation of our review paper. I thought we'll just deal with the technicalities of video making like the framing, the camera works, the gestures and the like. But what we talked about was something deeper. It was the marriage of Art and Science.

I first heard about this while reading Steve Job's biography (I blogged about it here). The reason why Apple remains to be the icon that it is, is because they were able to merge technological genius with a fine taste for art. You can see it in the way they planned their operating system, from the all the nitty gritty connections, to the design of their phones - everything is well thought of.

Now if they CAN do it, why can't we?

Click here to read more >>

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.

Click here to read more >>

Silence is Detoxfying

I'm here at the Engineering library to work on a term paper. Students may stick their tongue at me but there's something so refreshing about working in the library for one whole day. I think it's the SILENCE.

For someone working at a manufacturing plant, working means alternating between staying in an office area of 300+ people all buzzing around like bees, and standing in the midst of 500+ machines all wire-bonding nonstop round the clock. You get used to noise. You get used to the fact that you need to think while someone is shouting, and you consider machines as mere white noise. You master the art of willing these sounds to fade into the background. You don't really have personal space aside from the 30 square inches of your office cube. Some don't even have that luxury.

In contrast -  a library. Ahhh. It's Saturday now and there are very few students. I'm hearing nothing but the low hum of the airconditioner. In front of me is a view of trees behind the building. I'm alone in a desk surrounded by books, books, and more books. My mind feels like flying into a vast space of thought and imagination. And hence, this blog.

The library feels very detoxifying.

I need to catch my head though before I get too far, I got a paper to write. And I'm still trying to find the coefficient of thermal expansion of abaca fiber. Bleh.

It's my last requirement for the last lecture subject of my masters degree. Dang it feels surreal.

I still have my thesis to work on, but yuhoo, thank God for helping me get this far. Konti nalang. :)

Have a good day!

Line Play - Social Networking in 3D :)

Not too long ago, we blogged about Line, a mobile app that doesn't just do free calls and messaging, but also adds more fun to the experience by throwing in fun stickers, a timeline, games, camera, and more. Me and my roomies have been getting a kick out of playing with Line Camera, the filtering and sharingoptions are quite like Instagram but this allows you to play more with your photos by adding fun icons, effects, characters, blings and all that jazz :P At first i thought it was "baduy" but when I started playing with it I couldn't stop cutie-fying my photos anymore :P :P Heehee!

Just recently they added another cool feature to their services: Line Play. Hmmm it a nutshell, it's like interacting with your only friends in a 3D space instead of just via text/ photo feeds from Facebook/ Twitter. :D It allows you to create your avatar, furnish your own space, then visit the place of your friends and you could do things together like drink tea, have some snacks, water plants, or just chat away. It's really super cute.

Click here to read more >>

SuperCeleb to a SuperSem with SuperFriends! :D

The beauty of friendships is the fact that no distance or time constraint can really keep you apart. You may stop seeing each other for how many months, years, or so, but when you see each other the separation feels never really too long.

"Pag ayaw may dahilan pag gusto may paraan" :)

The past few months have been really toxic for me, juggling work and school has been eating up way too much of my time and my only saving grace have been short weekend breaks with my family and dinner dates with my boyfriend :) That guy just kept me SANE throughout this semester and I can't thank him enough. His patience and support is just amazing.

Anyhow, needless to say, I've been terribly missing my friends. My life-friends :D Alam mo yung mga taong pag nakita mo alam mong naka-kunek na sa puso mo?

AAAAAND I'm super happy to have met up again with two of them, Narkee and Oc-Oc, just this afternoon. Yey! We had lunch and coffee at  the Fort and just chatted the whole afternoon away. It's just really sad that Joanie wasn't around.

It was a very refreshing experience. These are people who have known you for a longtime in as much as you have known them. It feels good that you know that no matter where you find yourself, you know that they're just there and they still love you and you're always going to be there for each other.

dropped by at gelatissimo :)

After the lunch and coffee date we went to Robinsons Manila to accompany Oc-Oc to her friend and dropped by the St. Thaddeus Church near the Malacanang to light some candles and pray. I was really thankful that I had the chance to visit the Church today because my heart was just overflowing with gratefulness for all the blessings that I have been receiving, the most recent of which was passing the hardest lecture that I've had so far in my graduate class.

Happy! Will now have to maximize the next couple of weeks before I hit the next semester.

Thought to keep myself going: "Success is not gained by pressuring yourself to win every time, instead it is achieved by NEVER.GIVING.UP." \m/

You Do it Anyway

Sometimes i dont even know why im still studying. But i do it anyway.
Because i know at one point in my life i knew that i have to have to have to do this. That i wanted to do this.

"Dont think, just feel" - Pupil

In other words im freaked for tomorrow's exam. But ill take it anyway. Game on!