My Life
One of my eccentricites has to do with buying books. Unless it is a gift, I never remove the price tag on any of the books that I buy. This is to serve as a reminder that books are to be taken care of because every time you look down and see the price of the book you just bought, you’re reminded of how much you paid for it.
It’s usually something that people take for granted – removing the price, that is. Again, no big deal.
A friend of mine did an excellent post a few weeks ago about the HYPHENATE life (i.e. doing many things at the same time such as writer slash photographer slash sideline business slash something something).
A lot of people, especially those who are very talented in the arts vie to become a hyphenate – not just because they are multitalented, but also because it is the nature of the artistic to not be held down by a corporate desk and chair.
Here are some practical things to take into consideration for those who want to enter this kind of attractive endeavor.
Build your credit line. One of the reasons why I keep a regular day job is to show certain authorities that I am a financially responsible individual capable of paying bills, taxes and the rest of the stuff I owe to the government and the private sector. Due to the conservative nature of this country’s credit system, it would have been a lot harder for me to land a credit card (I’ve had one for about 2 and a half years) if I had told them that I was a freelance [insert seemingly unstable job here] at an early age.
Case in point, read this recent post by Abe, who is a successful self-employed professional blogger like me. He had a hard time once applying for a credit card and took some measures to prove to the bank that he could pay – by being employed for six months.
So grab the credit card and get the hell out.
Learn to grow. One of the reasons why I choose to remain in my regular day job in publishing is really for the purpose of growth. I’m not going to lie to you that blogging on the side – if optimized can make me at least twice, thrice or even four times more money than my regular 9-5 job in due time. But while I’m young, I don’t see myself glued in front of the computer updating five websites at a time daily. Not yet, at least.
Working a 9-5 shift teaches me a different type of discipline which most of us call the “business acumen.” Some of us have it as early as college, which is why these people end up becoming good entrepreneurs. I suck at those things so I invest my time in work that will necessarily force me to learn, and still have fun.
Ask yourself if there is opportunity to grow. If you can’t see it just yet, find a mentor who can teach you everything you needed to know about the industry and help you reinvent your craft (maybe one day you could afford a George Lindemann Jr. homes).
Show off your talent and market yourself. Isn’t this what most artists do? If you have the opportunity to show off your work, which I call professional bragging, then do so in the most humble of ways. If your craft makes money, show it off. Ciara of Ciara Creates does this pretty well and markets herself like anything. Dominique James does this too.
I’m going to attempt to make this blog entry in the style of how Pam Pastor does it. Kudos you to you Pam, because you sure know how to merge blogging with storytelling.
Who would have thought that a single text message found me trekking my way to UP Diliman’s Chocolate Kiss and making my way to Subic with people I’ve never met before.
So when Gang Badoy (teacher, UN MDG consultant, aspiring rockstar) invited me and a few others to help out with some of Rock Ed‘s activities, I said yes to joining the Subic / Olongapo leg with about ten other volunteers. The purpose was to help launch the Olongapo chapter of Rock Ed — with a free street concert a stone throw away from the Free Port.
And this is Gang between the two clowns (short for ‘Pangga’ in Ilonggo which means ‘love’). What a one-of-a-kind woman. If you’ve read The Tipping Point – she’s been regarded as all three types of influencer personae – maven, saleswoman and connector. In the same way that anybody can trace his or her roots to Kevin Bacon, a lot of people I know can trace their roots back to Gang Badoy in six degrees.
I knew Gang because she writes feature articles for SWING, which is now Golf Digest Philippines, one of our publications for HIP. So at about the same time I was doing this last year, I discovered Rock Ed and was fascinated with the spirit of volunteerism and projects on alternative means of education because I used to volunteer for work camps in different parts of the country when when I was in high school. We built a makeshift rip-rap in Cebu, refurbished an elementary school in the nickel mines in Palawan and a latrine thingee in Mindoro.
Instructions: Name ten of life’s simple pleasures that you like the most, then pick ten people to do the same. Try to be original and creative and not to use things that someone else has already used.
[from Adel]
1. The taste of Bulalo on a cold, rainy day
2. Chicharon Bulaklak with Royal Tru-Grape accompanied by the dizziness you feel afterwards
3. Being awaken by a slobbery kiss from my dog
4. New guitar strings
5. Family fun Sunday
6. Being able to say “wow I have nothing to do”
7. Water with ice
8. Being able to fix the computer without any help
9. Paying for bills and still having extra money to spend afterwards
10. Being hugged
I’ll bend the rules a bit – forget about the ten people. This is neat. Answer away!
Formerly known as the Revolution, the Nintendo GO! looks like my next huge console purchase (after the huge price drop of course a few months after retail). This is coming from the guy who has never owned a console since his teens.
Here’s why. After the days of 8-bit console gaming, I went straight to the PC gaming scene, attracted by the Lucasarts and Sierra series of Zak McKracken, Quest for Glory, Police Quest, Leisure Suite Larry (!), Maniac Mansion and Monkey Island. These games were more interactive – more point and click. I remember being able to type stuff in the command line like “commit suicide” and the computer will respond with “you’re too dumb to do that.” That was really kick-ass back then.
This may be just me, but I found this more attractive than the consoles. On the console, you couldn’t do this – you couldn’t click on a dark tunnel and ask for Indiana Jones (another great game by Lucasarts) to describe what he saw. It didn’t feel as “freeing.” Of course, there were times when I’d borrow my friend’s N64 and finish Zelda: The Ocarina of Time because Zelda as well as the early days of Final Fantasy were always the exception to the rule
N.B. Times are different now and with the way gaming has become more competitive, people have upped the level of interactivity (or is it interactiveness?) to make gaming more immersive.. But the Nintendo Go has remained one step ahead by turning the controller into more than just a joystick.
Watch this marketing video. You might get what I mean.