Graduates, it's snag-a-job season. Ryan Holliday of New York Observer, a dropout, has a word or two.

This morning I was in Google Adwords, trying to hit the ground running on my hatchling-stage blogging. I was playing around with keywords (or phrase) "my first job out of college" when I came across "snag a job". At first I laughed at the coarseness of the term and mainly because I was not familiar with it at all and it honestly sounded a bit ghetto. It turned out to be the most-searched phrase when it comes to job hunting though.

So for some reason I hit the keywords "how I snagged a job out of college" (I don't remember how it came to me but it just did) in google. And then this came out in the first page: "Dear Graduates: Lessons from a college dropout". Ryan Holliday, a college dropout did have some inspiring words to give out to the people of the moment, the graduates. Then it hit me. After all the pomp and circumstance, each one of us have had that moment where we're confronted with the question, "Now what?", overwhelmed (or distraught maybe?) at the prospects (or the lack thereof) of staying straight in the path to fulfilling dreams.

PHOTO: Graduates tossing cap in the air. (Paul Bradbury/Getty Images)

Personally, as well as it is a series of challenges, I believe that life is also determined by decisions after another. We fail at them most of the time, but of course we learn in the process.

And then of course he has this one line that appealed to me the most:

"...don’t wait for your dream job. These things aren’t gifted, they ensue as a result of our choices. We will them into existence."

Read more...

LAST AFC Challenge Cup (2014)

Yes, you read that right! It's the last!

Philippine Azkals just lost the AFC Challenge Cup 2014 to Palestine by a free kick! (anger)

And people on twitter are trying to look smart (or probably just as the usual delusional Filipino character when loosing) by false-hopedly creating a trend:
2012 - 3rd place
2014 - 2nd place
2016 - Champions?

And Im like: umm yeah, cuz in some other alternate timelines there'll be a 2016 AFC Challenge Cup.

Well, bad news, this is the last! There'll be no more redeeming this year that could have been. It should have been a motivation enough for the Azkals. But no, they don't know how to dribble! I'm actually a bit surprised they can actually move the ball. hahaha. I'd like to give more credit of the survival of the team to Phil and Muller. Those two deserve so much more than just a second place.

Don't get me wrong though. I was so thrilled for this team. With the absence of North Korea (which has World Cup experience) from the tournament, the title was up for grabs by any team really. It got everyone pumped up. And then of course we owned serious contenders: 2012 1st runner-up Turkmenistan and 2014 host Maldives. In the 2012 tournament, we actually beat Palestine for third place. So the title was looking more like Philippines' for the taking. And then of course free kick happened. And Rota doesn't know how to dribble. It was embarrassing!

With the dissolution of the AFC Challenge Cup, the Philippines' (and actually everyone's in Asia) only chance at Asian Cup is through a Qualifying Tournament. This will be tougher for PHL. And we might be waiting a long time before PHL debuts in Asian Cup. For anyone concerned, winning AFC Challenge Cup was actually the easiest route for countries categorized in the 3rd tier (or as what AFC calls "emerging nations"). For example, Philippines wasn't even given a chance to enter the Qualifying tournament for the 2015 Asian Cup. Plus, Asian Cup happens every four years. So by the next time the PHL team even gets a chance at entering the tournament (2019), Phil Younghusband would be 31! (and I would be mf 30!!!) So yeah, let's cry more for this chance lost...  T__T

So, with the AFC overhauling the Asian tournaments in the future, the only tournament that could keep the Azkals busy for the mean time is the AFF Suzuki Cup (biennial), which they can actually win if they have the right motivation and talents. If the FIFA rankings truly represents the goodness of right now, Vietnam is actually the only country above us in the AFF region. Other than that, chances at major international showing for PHL Azkals is looking bleak, save for the mediocre, special, selective, team-sponsored pseudo-tournaments.

But who knows? Maybe the Philippine team can actually make this lost tournament a turning point. Maybe we'll get more and better talents (but please save Phil and Muller). Maybe we'll get more funding. Maybe football will level with basketball and boxing as popular sports in the country. Maybe we'll dominate AFF. Or AFC. Maybe we'll debut in the Asian Cup sooner than we expect. There are a lot of maybe's for now. But each is a promise. Hey, each one has to build from ground up. For the mean time, Asian Cup 2015 is happening without a team from the Southeast Asia.

Read more...

Digital Footprint: From ego search to deleting yourself from the internet.

Trying to get my name unsearchable online. How to? Will be the subject of my personal research the next few days.

http://www.smh.com.au/digital-life/digital-life-news/how-robb-lewis-is-helping-web-users-erase-their-digital-footprint-with-justdeleteme-website-20140308-34e1v.html

How Robb Lewis is helping web users erase their digital footprint with Justdelete.me website

Sydney Mordning Herald

justdelete.me

Read more...

TV personalities are not good role models

(will get into details later. For the meantime, I'll list the ones on top of my head ala Arya Stark. In Arya Stark POV, these personalities should be killed altogether so as to bottleneck their influence on Filipino mass culture.)

Filipino Drama/Teleserye.
Robin Padilla.
Kris Aquino.
Claudine Barretto. (all the Barrettos actually)
Marian Rivera.
Tito, Vic and Joey. (most esp. Tito)
Willie Revillame.
Vhong Navarro.
Most PBB contestants in their teens.
Most of Philippine TV actually.
Politicians.
Filipino drama again.

Read more...

I swear I lived

Wow. OneRepublic is scoring so high on my list of songs that inspire. I actually like how they're building a portfolio of feel-good tracks. Usually, when I'm having a banner day and needs turning around emotionally, I just put on tracks like "Good Life", "Feel Again", "Counting Stars" and "If I Lose Myself". I don't regret the choices. They always make me feel better about myself. For a moment, I don't regret the bad choices I've made in life because at the end of the day, they cannot be undone. Sadness cannot be helped, it's an emotion but what matters is recovery. And weirdly, OneRepublic helps me up in more times than I care to admit. I'm glad that another song is being added to that repertoire.

Anyway, I just heard the song for the first time on one of the admittedly most guilty-pleasure tv shows I watch, 90210 (Yeah, I know. Let's all laugh at the remaining person on earth who still watches 90210). Anyway, it was a series finale episode and this played. It was also timely that I'm getting so much shit in my life lately. I needed some sort of validation that no matter what comes off of what I do, I can ultimately say that I did it all... And I lived. This song made me, it made all the world of difference. Here it is. It's from their latest album, "Native". It's called, "I Lived".

Read more...

The Year Ahead

Just yesterday, I had a serious life conversation with a friend over chat. We talked about how at our age we haven't had any significant achievement yet. We felt really behind compared to a lot of other people from our generation. Just look at 23-year old Kevin Durant who already made a name for himself in the NBA. But in a far more realistic sense, a lot of our peers are already working their way to achieving great things. And I really, really feel ashamed for all those years that I know were wasted. I could have been helping my family earn income by now. Instead, I am still one of their dependents. So as I'm headed to my last semester of undergrad, I have set a few things for accomplishing. These are things I need to remind myself that a year or two from now, these are the things I wanted to have happened by then. I want to see if I lived up to my own expectations.

1. Defend Thesis and Graduate 1st Sem
Right now is May and I have well over 5 months of experimenting, modeling and writing. Have an outlet of practicing the writing, e.g. this blog, part-time writing jobs, etc. Also, read at least 2 papers a day and summarize important points in an index card. Make sure full attention is given to all subjects left.

2. SPP 2013
The deadline is around September 2013. Write what you can about a small section of the thesis topic. Probably write about possible extensions of the topic. Remember that in the Philippine setting, your technique is novel. Collaborate with other people from the lab for more authorships.

3. UPM Induction
By first semester, get back into fitness training. You will also need all your skills and UPM knowledge training back to push for October induction in UPM. Remember that this was one of the reasons you were a CS for a sem last year. You had UPM tasks ahead of you so you always had the urgency to finish academic stuff earlier. Nice trick, wasn't it?

4. Grad School
You might have the worst undergrad records but you have three superiors that are ultra supportive so just give it a try. Take time to decide whether to take Physics or MSE.

5. CSE Exam
About time you get civil service license. Please, topnotch! Read on public policies and concerns esp. current events, foreign policies, trade policies, etc. And practice forming a strong opinion on each topic.

6. Asian Universities application period: Oct 2013 - March 2014
this: http://www.scholars4dev.com/3693/korean-government-scholarships-for-international-students/
Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore or Korea are the favorable destinations. Get IELTS (1 for Asia + 1 for Europe)

7. European Universities application period: mid-Oct 2013 (calls) - Jan 2012
visit this: http://eacea.ec.europa.eu/erasmus_mundus/funding/scholarships_students_academics_en.php
and this: http://www.studyinsweden.se/Scholarships/SI-scholarships/The-Swedish-Institute-Study-Scholarships/#idx_3
and this: http://www.studyinsweden.se/Scholarships/Scholarship-Challenges/
and this: http://www.mamaself.eu/
or this: http://www.master-imacs.org/
or this: http://www.u-picardie.fr/mundus_MESC/index.php
or this: http://www.emmi-materials.eu/spip.php?article71
or this: http://mahara.eet.bme.hu/view/view.php?id=313&showmore=1

Schengen Area, Order of Preference:
   1. Scandinavia esp. Sweden
   2. France
   3. Spain/Portugal/Italy
   4. Germany/Netherlands/Switzerland

8. ...?

Read more...