Define: costumes

I had a boss once who told us, "inefficient people cannot pretend forever." This was in relation to someone supervising our team then, and didn't do a very motivating job of it. He would make us go on overtimes without clearly identifying what we needed to do. He would ask us to go to work over the weekends, and we find ourselves sitting with no workload. He would yell at people in the room to the point that some ended up crying on the spot with the shame and humiliation. He would accuse some co-workers of conspiracy and confront them as to "what they're up to". In a nutshell, he was terrible.

After a while, the horrible superior did leave. And so, I held on to that statement the higher boss made, to the point of it being a sort of mantra for me. Whenever I encounter difficult situations brought on by difficult people, I say, "inefficient people cannot pretend forever."

At some point though, you meet different people, and you see a wider view of the world, and you realize, aren't we all in reality, inefficient? A friend of mine likes to use the Peter Principle - you are only promoted to your highest level of incompetency. So, really, all of us are inefficient at some point. All of us reach a stage when we can't pretend anymore.

At which point, we start to actually do the job we should have been doing. We stop pretending to be the "face" of the job we thought we should project. Once we reach the point when we can't pretend anymore, we start thinking, "well, I've done all the things the self-help books, and management modules and MBAs taught me to do, and they don't seem to work." So we bring in ourselves, costumes and perceptions shed off, the self who got hired to do the job in the first place.

So, while that statement is still true to me - inefficient people cannot pretend forever - I don't render it applicable now to just the "difficult" people whom I think make life frustrating. It's a statement that applies to me now. With any given new task, project or job, I have to make sure that my "pretend" phase is short, because that's the phase I'm most inefficient. I'm too busy looking the part, I have little time to actually act the part.

Define: cheerleader

Just a year back, I shudder at the idea of people management. I know myself and I know that it's not my strength. No, I haven't actually tried it full time before, but with all the projects I've handled, taking care of the people involved, motivating them, disciplining them and all that, is just the hardest aspect.

Sooner or later though, everyone needs to go through a "growing up" period. I can't be an individual contributor forever. As I age and take on bigger, decision-making roles in the workplace, I need to work with people and guide them to reach their potential. Sometimes, it includes listening to all their blow-by-blow accounts of how their day went. Sometimes, it means prodding and prying until they open up and help me understand the real challenges they face.

A boss said a few weeks back that a people manager's job is about cheering team members on. I have pictures in my head of myself walking through the office aisles with pom-poms and streamers, yelling "you go!" While it looks fun, in real life, it's exhausting, and I think the reason why that is, is because to be able to cheer someone on, you build up these happy, positive thoughts in you, and transfer them on to someone. With each employee you cheer on, you are a few ounces of positivism less within your own supply. Unfortunately, there's no Gatorade or energy drink you can drink to replenish your own happy, positive thoughts immediately. The only way to replenish them is either by getting them from someone else (i.e. be cheered on yourself), or rest for a while and recover. All these combined - exhausting.

Yesterday, I walked into a room of hopeful individuals in our company who were taking an exam needed for them to be promoted. When I opened the door, all 5 fresh, young faces looked up in a mixture of panic and effort to appear composed.

Here are the people I work for. Here are the reasons why I do what I do. I am no longer young, no longer a part of the twenty-something bunch boasting of high potential. In people management, I am now part of the bigger world whose responsibility is find and develop those twenty-something bunch so they reach their potential. In essence, I need to ensure that these 5 people, and all others like them stay focused on that exam, stay focused on their goals, and more importantly, find those goals early in their career life. For that brief 10 seconds, looking at all those faces, I felt replenished with a whole month's, maybe year's worth, of positivism.

With that, I go back, pick up my pom-poms and do a somersault. Figuratively. I never learned how to perform one.

Define: free gift

I got a very belated Christmas gift of a laptop bag a week back. Since we paid by credit card, we got a scratch card from Citibank that revealed a fabulous prize - a pen set!

Anything free is great, so we hopped off to the redemption booth to claim our prize. Two ladies were already waiting at the booth for their pen sets as well. Unfortunately, the booth was out of pen sets, they only had a delivery of the school supplies set - a goodie bag of crayons, pencils and art materials.

The ladies started complaining on how inconvenient the whole process is - you go to the redemption booth, which is a floor above the scratch card booth. Then, upon getting there, you don't get the prize you were promised. What if the pen set is more expensive than the school supplies set? When will the pen set be available? This is an outrageous program you have! Buti pang di na kayo nagpa-promo!

After apologizing profusely to the two customers who left greatly dissatisfied with their new Crayolas, the redemption booth lady finally turned to assist me and immediately launched into pleading explanations because she can only provide me the school supplies set.

It's a fast-paced life we live in. Our generation is used to having everything we want quickly. With the freedom of the internet and quick-changing technology, we can easily search for alternatives if companies don't give us what we want. That means companies always have to be on their toes and be ready with stuff to lure us in. Hence, the free gift.

And I am all for the free gift.

Eventually though, we get into the habit of thinking we deserve so many things in life, up to the point when we refuse to reciprocate opportunities with hard work and diligence. When we start thinking that others owe us something, simply because we exist. We get into the attitude of ingratitude.

There are so many things in life that are much worse than being given a school supplies set instead of a pen set. We have to choose our battles, and reserve our energies to fight for the things that will matter in the greater scheme of life. Sometimes the inconvenience of a situation gets the better of us, and we start to complain for the sake of complaining. But really, what is wrong with a school supplies set?

Especially if you've just been out shopping for school supplies with your kid, who looks to be at the age when crayolas are the best thing on the planet.

Define: effortless

I didn't plan on going online this afternoon, and wanted to get enough sleep before work, but a friend texted about a tsunami alert. He doesn't have a TV at home, nor internet, so I went online and turned on the TV to check the news, and pass on what I see.

The news wasn't pretty at all.

And everywhere else in social networking-dom, news of the Japan earthquake and resulting tsunami are posted.

In between checking for new updates and texting people to be safe, I go over random people's profiles, old and new: old friends, new friends, past relationships, current relationships, close family, not-so-close family, and everyone else in between. The chaos outside is a reflection of the chaos within. In between status updates of the breaking news are updates of heartbreak, triumph, lost love, found love, lost hope, new hope, bad news and good news, and everything else in between.

While pictures don't represent real life, they capture moments. Even if in real life we're not smiling all the time, the pictures tell that for those moments captured by the lens, we are smiling and happy because of whatever little thing that that moment was about.

When you find people you're comfortable working with, you grab the opportunity to work with them more.

When you meet friends who are good to you and help you be better, you stay friends with them beyond geography, age or marital status.

When you are given a family to take care of, and who takes care of you, you protect them and look after them.

When you meet people who can make you smile and laugh, you talk to them often until you can't remember what you look like frowning.

When you cross paths with someone who loves you even when you're not at your spectacular best, you stay with that person and give each other strength.

Relationships are supposed to be simple and effortless. If what you're in now is not, leave. Your time is best spent with someone else. If what you're in now is, stay. Savor the moments that make this short and unpredictable life worthwhile.

Define: disappointment

You and your boyfriend are reaching that all-important first month anniversary. You both plan for a nice candlelit dinner, a walk in the park, and a movie after. You bought the movie tickets for the best seats and checked the park opening hours. All your boyfriend needs to do is to reserve a table for two.

The long-awaited night comes, but alas – the restaurant tells you that you do not have a table. You could wait an hour though, says the maître d’, which would mean you’ll miss the entire set of coming-soon-movie trailers they always show at the start of the film. You are livid with anger! You turn to your boyfriend and ask, “how could this happen? We called!” Your boyfriend then looks at you and starts with, “ah honey…”

Your instinct is to spend the next few hours pulling your hair and muttering could-have-beens under your breath, withering away in anger at your monthsary being sabotaged. But how angry should you be? Let’s find out. It all depends on how the boyfriend delivers his first reaction to this faux –pas:

• Reaction #1: “I’m so sorry, hon. This is all my fault. I was going to call them yesterday but got pulled into so many other things at work. How about getting a quick snack now, and then maybe they’ll have a table for us after the movie?” Would you be so angry at this explanation? I’m guessing not very much. He admitted it’s his fault, gave a reason as to why he didn’t call, and offered a possible solution. A quick snack at Mcdonalds does sound fine, right?
• Reaction #2: “Hmmm. I wasn’t able to call them. But let me talk to the maitre d’. Surely she can do something for us.” And then boyfriend walks off to talk to Madame maitre d’. You’d probably still be angry, he obviously forgot… and he didn’t even say that all important word – SORRY. But he’s going to do something. So until he can’t get you that table, simmer down for the meantime.
• Reaction #3: "Hmmm. I wasn’t able to call them. I wanted to though, I wrote a to-do in my planner.” And then boyfriend joins you and you both sulk on the side walk. Oh I’m sure you are angry by now. Not only was there no call AND no sorry, he didn’t even try calling in the first place! But he did want to. He said so himself. Maybe he just got pulled to save the world just when he was about to pick up the phone in the phonebooth. Always happens to Clark Kent.
• Reaction #4: “Hmmm. I wasn’t able to call them. I didn’t think I should have. They usually have so many tables available anyway.” And then boyfriend joins you on the side walk and gives you a paper heart he fashioned out of a gum wrapper. Now he tells you that! Right when the damage is already done??? Not only was there no call, no sorry, no effort, he never really intended to call the restaurant. BUT, he’s considering now the error of his ways and has given you this gem that deserves a place in that scrapbook you started the first time you went out.
• Reaction #5: "That was tonight? Oh well, McDonalds is just over there.” And boyfriend takes out his iPhone and starts the next level of Tap-Tap Revenge. I’m not even going to enumerate what was lacking in this reaction, there are sooo many. But let’s zero in on the number one thing that this reaction lacked - care. He simply didn’t seem like he cared. Not even a false, pretend-care, which the boyfriend who gave you the gum-wrapper-heart-origami at least showed. Clearly, he doesn’t see how much this evening meant to you. And even now, when you’re angry, he still can’t see it because Tap-Tap Revenge just used Katy Perry’s Firework in the next game.

It could be your boyfriend. Or girlfriend. It could be your mom, your son, your boss, your colleague. Lots of people have disappointed us, and lots of them are about to. It’s just how the world works. Sometimes, our disappointment reaches that stage of blind anger – you’re just angry at everyone and anyone, you just can’t remember anymore why. And most of the time, a huge chunk of our anger is not about the person not being able to deliver what you expect him or her to do. It’s because they didn’t seem to care. Their initial reaction to your disappointment is all wrong, and not at all what you wanted to hear.

So next time someone does not deliver according to expectations, and further disappoints you with his/her reaction, ask yourself:

• Did the person admit the mistake? If yes, get over it, move on.
•  If not, did the person try to do his/her part? If yes, get over it, move on.
• If not, did the person intend to do what you expected? If yes, get over it, move on.
• If not, did the person consider your feelings/the consequences/that possibly you’re right? If yes, get over it, move on.
• If not, did the person at least pretended to care? If yes, get over it, move on.

If not, then, by all means, be angry. Then get over it, move on.

While it’s normal to feel disappointment and anger, wallowing in it and thinking about it all day is usually counter-productive. I’d rather paint my toenails than think about the multitude of ways I can do things better if I were placed in the disappointing person’s shoes. Disappointment is a part of life. So as soon as you feel it, try to break the disappointment down right away until you find out what about the incident disappoints you the most. And then after that, wallow in anger accordingly, but never long enough to miss the next episode of your favorite TV show.

Disclaimer: Of course, I’m oversimplifying. If you’re going through something more traumatic like a real loss, a breakup, sickness, and all those life-altering experiences, getting over it is usually not as simple as this. But, you can still try J .

Special thanks to Meg, James and Ivan for formulating this 5-level disappointment test with me. Meg needs a Jaguar, by the way.

Define: love

(Warning: long post ahead. I love "love" after all lolol)

I know, I know. First happiness, now love. What's next? Crush? Most embarrassing moment?

Vigan, Ilocos Sur is a quaint city that boasts of culture, history and nostalgia. About some 2 years ago, I visited the town of Melaka in Malaysia, a place known for its history, old houses and heritage museums. Being in Vigan a few weeks ago brought (or as Finn of Glee says, brung) back memories of walking trips, invading other people's old houses and marvelling at the antiques they've amassed and kept intact through the years.

Before you do anything in Vigan, I suggest heading first to the Village Heritage Admin Office in Calle Crisologo. They give out free, unused maps of the city, and tips on kalesa and tricycle fares (P150/hr and P30-50/trip, respectively). They can also shuttle you free of charge using the city's e-jeepney, if you're heading to the River Cruise dock (P100/person). The office may only be open during office hours, though, I think. So, if you arrive wee in the morning, or super late night, depending on your bus schedule (check Partas Bus Transit), of course it's best to secure accommodations first. Try Grandpa's Inn. They have both types of accommodations: suites and air conditioned brick-walled rooms for the I-need-a-place-to-relax-in type of tourist, and simple fan rooms with common toilets and bath for the I-need-a-place-to-crash-in types. Our trip being uber-impromptu, and not very long, we opted for the latter. It was comfy, clean and just right for a simple, restful sleep.

Mode of transportation, aside from tricycles and private motorbikes

I liked Vigan for 2 things: the calmness, and the food. We spent 2 days walking around the city, some hours walking back and forth Calle Crisologo, the famous street of old houses and cobblestone steps, watched a local beauty pageant, and visited the public market. In all these times, no one was rushing. I purposefully had to slow down my walking pace. People seemed relax. Store and restaurant staff provided attentive service, without being overly zealous and customer-service-y. No one was running, except for a game of patintero on the street. The only speeding we saw were from bikes participating in a bike race on Sunday afternoon, to which we gamely cheered on, along with residents who waited outside their houses to watch the bikers go by.

Calle Crisologo

The food was something altogether. It's simply not a place for people on a diet. Vigan has lots of local dishes to choose from, six meals in two days were just not enough to sample them all. So, naturally, we resorted to eating two orders of whatever we liked (Irene's Empanada), and ordering main dishes for dessert (bagnet as main in Cafe Leona, then their Napolitan pizza for dessert), finally culminating in hoarding Vigan longanisa in the public market. Of course, there was the last-minute sampling of sinanglaoan soup right before we boarded our bus going back to Manila.

Vigan longanisa, bagnet and sukang Iloko

Irene's Empanada, best eaten when hot and crispy, not for take-out

In every trip, there is a moment that defines the best memory of the city. For me, it was our visit to the Syquia Mansion, the famous mansion-turned museum of the Syquia-Quirino family, and house of former President Elpidio Quirino. Ferdinand, the city-appointed tourist guide, closed the museum doors at the time of our visit, so he can give us a private tour of the place. Later on, we found out that it's common practice among tourist spots here to provide each tourist group with their own private tour guide, whether it's one of the old houses, or up the Bantayan Bell Tower.

Ferdinand knew his history, knew the house, and knew his city. His last bit of information for us: do you not wonder how the city's architecture survived war and destruction that left other cities in ruins? He's right. That is something to wonder about, given that Vigan does not have the usual fort that can be seen surrounding old cities (think Intramuros and Cebu's Fort San Pedro).

These houses are aging gracefully.

Near the end of the Japanese invasion, the Japanese were ordered to burn and destroy all the places they occupied before leaving. Captain Fujiro Takahashi, the Military Commander in Vigan then, asked the help of a priest to take care of his Filipino wife, Adela, and their children. Fr. Kleikamp agreed with the condition that Takahashi and his men leave quietly. The following morning, the Japanese were gone, and Vigan was spared.

Legendary love is everywhere. Helen of Troy, Mark and Cleopatra, Romeo and Juliet, Jack and Rose. To die for the person you love, or to die together, has always been the popular storyline that became a popular definition of what love is. Perhaps this is why Vigan's love story is not that well-known. While our love stories end in destruction, tragedy and tears (it ain't good drama without tears), Adela's and Takahashi's saves a whole city. That's the real stuff legends are made of.

Happy Valentines Day! :D

Kuya Ferdinand did not have time to tell us the complete story, so if you'd like to know more, this article might help.

Define: biology, part 1 - the Scientific Method

While I work in training, my educational background is in Biology. Yes, once upon a time, I was a dedicated scientist who knew how to dissect organisms, identify parasites under the microscope, name corals while walking at the beach, and lure wasps into a test tube while feeding it with honey-water.

Biology is one huge never-ending practice of the Scientific Method. We're constantly in the lab doing whatever kind of experiment of the moment. While it may have the reputation for being a method you can only use in science-related experimentation (I can't be sure, but it may be because of the words "method" and "science" used in the same breath), it's actually grounded on simple tasks of problem-solving, that can be adapted in any and most situations.

For instance, it can act as a guide or workflow when you need to create a new training material.

• Identify the problem. Why is there a need for training? What gaps can be addressed by training?
• Formulate the hypothesis/es. Find out what causes the gaps to understand how to address them.
• Formulate the test predictions. Write the learning outcomes you predict will happen after learners complete the training.
• Review the related literature. What existing materials, references and resources are out there? Sift through these to see what else needs to be developed.
• Design the methodology. Outline the lessons, activities and materials that need to be developed in order for the learning outcomes to be met. Then start crackin' at development.
• Test. As with any system that is born out of design, a course needs to be tested for errors in functionality and accuracy of content. It undergoes rigorous feedback and back and forth testing to make sure it's sound for use.
• Analyse the results. Once the training goes live, and even before it does, constant evaluation is important to make sure it addresses the learning outcomes.
• Make your conclusion. Of course, after everything, you need to conclude something. The difference in scientific experimentation is that after testing, you get to conclude if your hypothesis and predictions are correct or not. In training, the conclusion should be the positive, that the training was able to address the problem. Because if it didn't, maybe you identified the wrong problem in the first place, or maybe it was something that training is not needed for.

So, what does Biology have to do with training? or with office work, for that matter? I get asked that question often, and my answer is always the same: a lot. There's so much that Biology taught me that is beyond memorization of terms, computation of energy and cutting up organisms.

Learning is never really wasted. The secret is recognizing the underlying principles and adapting them to daily life.

This site gives good info on how we used to decide on things without experimentation.

Define: readiness

For school, we answered a survey on online teaching readiness. It's something an institution can administer to teachers before they start teaching distance education or online course programs.

The questions comprise of the usual things: questions on computer usage, technological and multimedia proficiency, willingness to explore. What made this questionnaire different from others I've seen is the addition of a few simple questions that ask about the person's views on online teaching versus other traditional teaching methods, such as lecturing.

The questions are somewhat leading, "do you think that lecture is the best way to teach a person?". It almost tells you, "if you answer NO to this question, please consider another career. Online teaching is not for you."

Though obviously leading and biased, these questions, I think, are probably the most crucial parts of the survey. It's essentially asking the person - do you believe in what we are doing, or at least open to its possibility?

I like looking at school lessons as an analogy or parallel to life lessons. This simple readiness survey taught me one life lesson: in order to be considered ready, it's not enough that you know what you're doing, nor that you have the tools to do it. Being ready is opening your eyes to the possibility of an alternative to what you know, the possibility that something can be done in a different way.

Define: happiness

Yes, what a cliche - define happiness, lolol.

From a school reading assignment: In one online learning case, a teacher had difficulty to give grades because online learning involves a lot of assessing how a student is becoming better compared to him/herself before. In face to face classrooms, it's easy to get away with giving grades based on observing if a student is behind, ahead or just coping with how the rest of the students are performing. In online learning, much of the student's interaction is based on non-stop written correspondences. A teacher gets to see how the student is becoming better as he/she gets more and more feedback.

I was originally going to call this post define: free time. It is my belief that once afforded with free time, the mind wanders off to places that are not healthy - doubt, suspicion, idleness, and so on, as the common saying goes. We live in an age when it's common to be riddled with questions of self-worth, self-actualization, self-respect and all other questions that boil down to "why am I here?" and "who am I?". We live in a time when heartbreak is paraded for all to see, break-ups are common tabloid offerings, and even non-celebrities make their love affair, and the demise of it, known to anyone through social networking media. We post and re post quotes about love, heartbreak, finding the right person, losing the right person, seducing the right person, and everything else that can be done to the right person.

It's so easy to use love, or lack of a love life, as an excuse for raunchy behavior and depressed moments. That's what Sex and the City taught us, right? And all the other TV shows and movies before it. And even all the other classic love stories before it. So, I wonder, this quest of finding and defining happiness through love life, is it  something we believe, or is it because it's what we're trained to do? (question posed a-la Carrie Bradshaw).

Despite the Facebook and Twitter barrage of quotes about finding and not finding love, look around, and you will find, that we don't measure happiness so much based on whether or not a person is with someone. It's defined by how we see our life at the moment. Some people are happy because they have someone. Some people are happy because they are single and free to mingle. Some people are happy because they have kids, some happy because they have careers. Some are happy because they just bought their dream house, some because they are working abroad. Life, after all, is not a case of classroom vs. online learning. We don't have to fall into the trap of using other people's "performance" to measure if we are behind the rest of the pack.

So, I conclude, that the world is actually happy. We just often forget that we are because drama is so addicting and very Hollywood.

Define: project management

Every 3rd week of January, several towns in the Philippines celebrate the feast day of Sto. Niño, Jesus depicted as a child. Among these places, two stand out for me: Cebu City, the original place where the Sto. Niño was brought by Magellan's fleet, and Tondo, one of the oldest cities in the Philippines, and where I grew up.

The Tondo version of the fiesta has notoriety for riot. Wait, that is, Tondo has always had notoriety for riot. People have a notion that it's a place of violence, crude manners and neighbors yelling back and forth. There is some truth in that. I'm not about to debunk those notions.

Consider this, though: The Tondo fiesta has always been a successful town event, despite the place’s reputation for lack of organization and hard-to-manage townspeople. When it comes to planning, we can learn a thing or two from this town event:

1. Project leaders. Barangay captains act as fiesta leaders. The parish priest heads the different committees that plan all the festivities. Once elected or assigned to these posts, these people know no hesitation and no saying no.

2. Timelines. In my toot-something years of observing the town fiesta, the predictability of events is certain: the banderitas always go up the week after New Year's. Concerts and contests are held in the town plaza. A Friday night grand concert takes place. A costume parade happens in the morning of Saturday, followed by a 2-hour long procession in the afternoon. People follow these timelines strictly, without succumbing to common excuse-able barriers like rain or traffic.

The banderitas always go up, no matter what. And they're always pretty!

3. Forecasted resources. Committees are set up in advance to make sure that every mass that happens hourly is manned with readers and ushers, processions are manned with security, and every other event is staffed well.

4. Contingency plans. With these events dependent on a few people who serve as leaders, one would think that the changing mayoral, barangay captain and parish priest posts can cause disruption with how the town fiesta is celebrated each year. But, still, every year, regardless of who's leading it, the fiesta happens according to timeline and tradition.

Of course, I am oversimplifying. For one, the magnitude of tasks involved in hosting a fiesta may not be as big as a setting up a new call center, or starting a new development project. Second, religion plays a big part as to why town fiestas become easy to manage. Fiestas are largely a profession of devotion to a patron saint. Everyone cooperates when they're asked to demonstrate their faith.

There are things within every project that stay the same though, regardless of magnitude and scope. Apart from those listed above, ownership is one basic element. Someone has to be responsible and accountable, for a project to be successful. Someone has to own it and tell the world "I'd like to see this happen." Likewise, people should be able to go to this someone and tell him/her "I have a road block", and be confident that they will get a sound advice on how to tackle it, without adversely affecting the project.

I had wanted to demonstrate this ownership in our household, and help out in the cooking. But my parents have too much ownership, and had the kare-kare and palabok ready even before Saturday was starting. There was nothing else to do but eat. Maybe next year? :)

Define: reciprocation

Jeepney rides, my downtown Manila equivalent of long walks, are good times to think and reflect. There's something about the time spent alone confined in my own "upong siete pesos" space that allows me to brainstorm about things I need to do ("upong siete pesos" is an expression roughly saying that one should only occupy the space paid for in public transports, which in jeepneys is 7PHP, currently.) Naturally, I was thinking about what to write about in my blog, an exercise that I only do at the back of my head when inside the office premises. By the end of the jeepney ride I had several ideas jotted down in the other part of the back of my head, meant for notes.

I had a thank you message from a guest house I stayed at in Cebu last December. I wrote a review about them in Trip Advisor relating our experience with them. The message said that the honest review helped put them back in the competition. Another traveler also liked a review about a restaurant we ate at in the same city. He didn't think the dishes in my photos were appetizing, but he appreciated how the review was written, with information and descriptions.

Yesterday I met with two good friends (make that three, including their son), the brains behind Prodigal Concepts , and shared laughs about the blogosphere clique that we move in at the moment, about the shameless posts and reposts, tweets and retweets, links and promotions we do for each other.

I guess being an active participant online is not just about knowing how to maximize your search engine and find the best deals/travel locations/reviews/movie schedules through the internet. It's also largely about giving back. In order to get content to search from, we need to throw back content out there. Through the back and forth sending of comments, tweets, links and posts, writers and authors can get feedback on their work and improve the material they produce online.

So, while I have a thousand other things I wanted to write about from my jeepney ride, I thought it's best to talk about the importance of giving back first. We post and repost partly because we want to help other active participants remain active, and partly to promote their cause, which in some cases may be difficult to attain, such as buying Meg a Jaguar, but hey dreams can come true, who am I to judge and all that blah blah.

Define: habits

So, the first weekend of my master's program is nearing its end. Here are a few things I learned, aside from the things I really should be learning:

1. Re-establish study habits. The work won't be done in one sitting (sigh), so it's best to allot a few hours each day instead of cramming it up all in one go.

2. Take breaks in between (yey!). As Doc Mine pointed out, neurotransmitters in the brain can only last 2 hours of intensive thinking.

3. Hide the edges of your Rockmelt toolbar. I.e., turn off your virtual personal life during the time you're studying. It's bad enough that you're distracted as it is, it's even worse if you're the one distracting yourself.

4. Find creative ways to take notes. I struggled with this one. I'm used to either keeping notes in a physical notebook in a face to face class, which means I have to type everything after taking notes (redundant effort). If I'm reading off a screen, I take notes using Notepad or OneNote, which means I have to save it in a physical drive. I needed to find a means to carry my notes with me virtually. For this, I found Zoho Notebook. (Ken, an esteemed colleague and chronic blog critic, says this is actually old news.)

In terms of what I'm supposed to be learning, it looks like I am in the right program (thankfully!). No wonder my attempts at taking Psychology never panned out. When taking a course, it's best to choose one that is directly relevant and specific to your interests and current activities. I imagine it would be hard to answer questions when you don't have any experience to draw material from.

(How I answered questions on the relevance of Nitrogen to Leafhopper viral attacks back in college is now a mystery to me lolol.)

The weekend may be ending, but my course work isn't. So, it's time to hit the (e)books once again!...that is after I take a power nap and go to Greenhills (ooops!) :D

Define: engagement

Aha! Did you come to read my blog with the hopes of finding out "kung kailan kayo makakahigop ng mainit na sabaw?" (quick explanation: this passage roughly translates to "when will you be able to sip hot soup". When spoken in Filipino, it serves as an idiom that relates to the expectation of wedding bells.)

Ever since my fascination with blogging started, I have numerous define: topics running in my head daily. Even when I tell myself that I'm not going to post because I need to rest, I still end up typing thoughts on a notepad. Creativity is very hard to call on demand, I've learned that whenever and wherever it hits you, you have to give in. You just don't know when it's going to hit again.

I'm now officially enrolled to my first term in my Master's program. The course is heavy on asynchronous discussions. Forums, you say? Good for you if you know what an asynchronous discussion really is just by looking at the context clues. I didn't have a clue way back when I first heard it. It had more than one syllable and sounded really fancy that I thought it was a new form of technology.

There's a couple of reading materials, a very detailed course guide that acts like a road map for the next 3 months of this term, and clear descriptions on how performance is going to be measured. As someone who works on learning materials myself, I'm excited to sift through what's available in the system and read through them (possible next post: define: nerd). Even if I've only had a cummulative 8 hours of sleep for the past 3 days, the gears in my brain won't stop running.

It's a great feeling to know that your brain is still capable of being engaged so much that it churns out ideas by the minute. Some brilliant, some not so, all worth considering.

Define: collective effort

The St. Jude Church in Malacañang is one the most famous novena destinations in Metro Manila. People come here to pray for various petitions: heal a sick relative, pay a debt, find a husband, or pass licensure board exams. In a friend's case, she actually petitioned to TOP the licensure board exams. 


These devotees are individuals that exert cummulative effort towards reaching his or her goal. A student attends classes in a review center by day, reviews his sample questionnaires at night, and then repeats the same routine for several weeks, until it's exam time. He does the work day in and day out, having faith in the centuries-old value of exerted effort. Then, each Thursday, the student and the rest of the devotees come together in St. Jude to join in reciting prayers designed to give words to what the mouth is too overwhelmed to articulate on its own. The prayer is a plea for wishes to come true, a final effort that seems to say "I did everything I could."


Because I've been going to St. Jude for weeks now, I have been asked a couple of times if I'm hopeless. It's easy to have the notion that doing the Thursday novena means desperation. St. Jude is, after all, the patron saint of desperate cases. However, St. Jude in actuality is a place filled with Positive Peters, Hopeful Harriets, and Bright-eyed Barneys. Nothing spells H-O-P-E better than the collective effort formed by individuals, who supposedly have no hope, but comes together to seek it. 


Going to St. Jude is a humanizing experience. It's a reminder that, despite everything that is going on my own TV show of a life, I am just a tiny part of a universe filled with people with needs, wants and aspirations. It gives me a fresh perspective, and reminds me constantly that the universe does not revolve around me.

Define: practice

I had a business meeting this morning in Ortigas, a place where the only buildings I know, apart from the malls, are Robinson's Equitable and ADB. It's not exactly an area I frequent, due to the lack of sheltered walkways. I shy away from such places because you'll never know when it will rain, and you can be sure that the sun will always be scorching hot.

Aside from being in an unfamiliar place, I've had little sleep, little preparation, little relevant conversation, and zero practice in a long time on rapport-building, especially with new people. I wasn't expecting much out of it, and was even expecting to flub the whole thing.

The cab driver I got was a nice, jolly fellow, who guessed right away what the objective of my trip was and wished me luck. That certainly was something to smile about. He spoke with well-enunciated words, emphatic tone of voice, expressing himself in a business-friendly manner that is, while common, not expected. Here's Manong who's probably been out since dawn, driving commuters around the city, with no obligation of saying anything to anyone other than "saan tayo?", and yet, he takes the time to converse naturally with me as if we take this route together every day.

I arrived at the meeting feeling well-prepared for a riveting conversation (riveting is to Candy, as legendary is to Barney), motivated by a simple lesson from Manong: practice is something you choose to do, regardless of opportunity, location or circumstance.

Define: seriousness

(The personal essay I submitted to the UPOU MDE Program, dated October 2010. I sound so serious. Thankfully, I really was. Instructional Design is something I really enjoy doing; I take any endeavor to make me better at it with seriousness.)

An instructional designer's primary job is to organize information into a logical sequence of events that enables a learner to assimilate the knowledge effectively. The learning events are packaged into training materials that can be delivered either through instructor-led classroom training, e-learning modules or printed job aids. I believe that with its focus on pedagogy, technology applications and education management, the Master in Distance Education or MDE program will provide me with the theoretical foundation and practical knowledge needed to succeed in the field of instructional design.

I have been working as an instructional designer since 2003 and have learned through experience and mentoring from other training professionals. With the training programs I create, I strive to engage target learners through activities, relevant reading materials and whenever possible, the use of technology. I find ways to advance my own development in the field by reading industry blogs, joining discussions and attending live and online conferences featuring new technologies. I hope that by enhancing my own skills, the resulting training programs I develop come out sound, credible and recent, formed through methods supported by industry best practices.

In my present job, I support the training and development needs of work-from-home employees. I have since been fascinated with online learning and how it takes advantage of a learner’s autonomy. While face-to-face classroom trainings leverage on interpersonal communication, online learning leverages on a person’s ability to motivate and teach oneself. In an age where personal computers and smartphones are regular everyday necessities, online learning is a means to reach a wider audience, with increased results. Even in live webinars, I observe that learners participate more when they have the option to use chat to partake in the discussion, as opposed to the often daunting task of sharing ideas verbally through a microphone or in front of a class. Online learning also paves the way for more in-depth assessments, incorporating questions that encourage learners to solve scenarios through their own research and collaboration with peers.

With these in mind, I find that online learning is a good specialization within instructional design. The MDE curriculum presented a good mix of courses on learning theories, technology and management used in distance education, which I believe can provide structure and organization to my experience. I also hope that it introduces me to the works and writings of industry experts, allowing me to learn from their discoveries and best practices. Moreover, there are courses within the program that sounds insightful, such as Distance Learning in Language Education and m-learning. These are only some of the elective courses I am keen to enroll in, if given the chance.

As I complete the MDE program, I would like to be involved in projects that use distance education in universities, such as what the UP Open University is doing. I have observed many cases of education taking a back seat due to the demands of everyday life. More distance education programs, especially those geared towards certificate and diploma courses that build toward bachelor degrees, will enable more people to work and learn at the same time, at their own pace. Personal accountability for one’s education increases, and so is the value of education itself. 

Define: cramming

After spending almost my entire shift at work thinking about what to write for today, I write about something completely the opposite.

(Disclaimer: Let it be known that I was still working on my projects and tasks in the office. It was just the "back of my head" that was thinking about what to write for today, not all of it.)


Today's post would've been titled define: free time, a post about books I read, movies I've seen and some other activities that filled my idle time last year. It was a year of firsts after all, and I wanted to write about that. As you can see, I'm writing about the total opposite of having free time: cramming.

Saturday is going to be my first class ever for my Master's program in UPOU (University of the Philippines - Open University; as an Instructional Designer, I've developed a tick to define all acronyms when it appears the first time). I have a vague memory of being told that I should get my learning materials nearer the date of the first class, which in my mind, means I'm free not to think about my schooling ALL December. So there I was, reading Pride and Prejudice, watching Tron, Christmas gift shopping, snoozing and napping and visiting bazaars where I end up not buying anything but the entrance ticket.

Today, I called up the office to follow up on my "materials" and received instructions for a lot of different things instead. I neglected to check my other email account, where a welcome email was sent, detailing the many tasks I should've done during December - requesting for an account being the primary one. Without this account, I can't join the January 8 class and I can't download any of my course guides or modules.

Some things I learned from this latest cramming experience:
1. If you maintain several email addresses, check each one of them daily, or set up a filter for forwarding to a master email address.
2. Research what you need instead of waiting to be told. It's the age of forums, tweets, and constant gut-spilling by people. Surely, the information is out there.
3. Perform your tasks with open eyes, not half asleep. I'm pretty sure I was half asleep during enrollment, and so didn't bother with the details.

Jessie, a friend of very sensible and logical mind, sort of prepared me for something like this. He told me UPOU programs are self-study-intensive. You have to be willing to do the work and always be active online. I believed him this morning, and I believe him now even more.

Good bye free time, school time is here. I will try to write about you some day in between trips to the bathroom or while eating a 5-minute lunch.

Define: 2010

While doing my annual documents purge, I came across a page in my 2010 planner listing things I would like to do in 2010. Amazingly, some of them did happen!

(2011 things to do item: Do not get gigantic, hard-bound planners anymore, no matter how pretty they look. You do not use them anyway.)

1. March to the beat of my own drum - subjective item, therefore DONE!

2. Take up a course in teaching English as a second language - FAIL (I got accepted to another program on distance education, so on further studies - DONE!)

3. Go back to studying French - FAIL (I learned Spanish, so for foreign languages - DONE!)

4. Visit Boracay - DONE! (Thanks to doc Mine, boss Toni and Ivan albazaar)

5. Visit Siem Reap - FAIL

6. Finish "first decor ever", a crosstitched piece I've been working on since January 2009 (gasp!) - FAIL

7. Encode past writings into digital format - FAIL

8. Speak one language at a time (i.e. no Taglish nor Singlish) - removed due to technical difficulties. Is there another way of saying things like "Sige, text mo na lang ako" without using Taglish?

9. Complete my sentences when speaking - Partially DONE, and will carry on in the new year.

10. Reduce my "ummms" (speech nervous habit) - FAIL. In fact, I'm now worse. My training trainers will be disappointed.

11. Eat fruits everyday - DONE. Fruitas counts.

12. Bring baon everyday - FAIL

Define: traveling

An acquaintance recently went on a trip and is now marvelling at the things you can learn if you travel cheap, by foot, and through the off-beat path. I couldn't agree with him more. I myself am a fan of going around new cities on foot, and while I like to visit tourist spots, I also like every opportunity to see how locals live. And I certainly do not have anything against traveling cheap. If I can save a few pesos by slashing some creature comforts off the plan (read: a cheaper room that uses a shared bathroom over a room with a private one) I will do it.

These things certainly support exploring, which I think is the very essence of why people travel. Someone staying in a hostel does not intend to sit in his or her room fiddling with a computer; you stay in a cheaper room because you plan to be out most of the day, and use that room for a bit of sleep and rest only. Traveling on foot lets you see sights which otherwise would just zoom past you if you were in a van or a cab. Walking through an off-beat path is a great way to see how locals live, instead of just seeing the picture that was created for tourists.

Whichever way of traveling a person chooses, some things remain the same. If exploring is the essence of traveling, open-mindedness should be the end result of each trip: seeing a place in a different light. How each traveler achieves that end result is solely to his/her discretion. Some people prefer a no-worries trip, with every transportation, meal and tour arranged for them, while some people prefer a no-frills trip, with just a map and a place to crash at night. Whichever method each traveler prefers, the end goals are the same - to see something new, be somewhere different, and come out with his/her own opinion of that place.

Ringo's Foyer in Malacca, Malaysia - definitely a no-frills travel option

Being well-travelled is having the ability to see things with open eyes and an open mind, to know that people have different cultures and beliefs, and to be able to respect how each individual prefers to approach life's experiences, including the choices they make between renting an air-conditioned van versus going on foot.

Define: Define:

Why define? It just is a cool word I use a lot in phrases like "define: boredom", "define: life", "define: cool". I'm not the first one to use it that way, certainly not the best user of it, but I find that it embodies what this blog means to me - a definition of the world around me, from my perspective, all subjective, of course. Merriam-Webster Online or Dictionary.com would have more of the objective definitions.

Enjoy reading!