Random Thoughts on a Wednesday

Being alive for 23 years now would be the greatest blessing that I should be thanking God for. I’ve realized that despite my grievances and angst towards the world, I should be thanking the Lord that I am breathing, living each day with my family, friends, career, and all the other things that give me happiness everyday. I’ve realized that instead of focusing on having the things that I don’t have, why not focus on appreciating the things that I have, right?

Indeed, there is no sense in the term “perfect life” because there’s no such thing as perfect. I’m sure that no single person in this world is living perfectly – without problems or worries or frustrations. I am 100% sure that even the wealthiest person in this planet lacks a thing in his or her life that he or she wants so badly. Same is true in my case. I know, in spite of who I am and what I have right now, I know something is still missing. It’s that “something” that gives me the gloomy feeling sometimes. I still don’t know what it is but I am trying, as much as possible, to keep away from that thing. Unfortunately today, it went straight into my nerves that made me so laid back and lonely (that’s why I thought of releasing that lonely feeling through this entry. Haha!).

Counting my blessings and being positive at all times are two things that I’ve learned to develop as habits. Every morning, as soon as I opened my eyes, the first thing that I would do is to smile. The next thing would be to utter my daily mantra, “Today will be a good day!” It’s really weird but after doing these things every morning, I am able to go on with the day. At the end of the day, I would reflect.

I just don’t know what happened today that my habits were defeated by the gloominess that I feel. I am not me today. I feel lazy that I don’t want to think about my pending tasks. I want this day to be over.

I won’t surrender, though. I’ll keep uttering my mantra until I feel better. I can do this. I will do this. I will be okay. I will be happy.

Forever.

Lessons Learned [June, 2009]

Late entry again. Haha! Anyway.

June became our “Influenza A (H1N1) awareness month”. Well, I just branded it as such because it was during this month that the foundation and even the Group started taking major actions against the growing pandemic.

Personally, I am also bothered by the growing number of confirmed cases but thinking that more than half of the number recovered, it seems to me like it’s not so serious after all. The only alarming fact is that the virus is rapidly spreading. Once that happens, shortage on medicines would be our problem since the government has to prioritize those who will be given first.

Anyway, on the lighter side, big opportunities were also given to me this month – opportunities that really had to be given time and attention. I was tasked to issue A (H1N1) advisories to different companies, been asked to go out on meetings and other activities. Whew! Multitasking in its very sense. LOL. Fun, though. At least these things just prove that I’m worth my salary. Kidding! :-P

Okay. So I’ll start recapping the highlights of this month now.

Me: The Designer

Most people tell me especially my teachers before that I am creative. Well, I don’t know but maybe. Haha! I just love experimenting on things and I love seeing nice designs especially on ads. This month, that creativity in me was tested when I was asked to create a logo that will unify the entire foundation including all the member foundations and corporations. It wasn’t an easy thing. Tedious, actually. Good thing, my boss already had an idea of how he would like the logo to appear and voila! It was done.

Another task that required my creativity was the booth design for an expo this July. It was not that difficult but I had a hard time getting the exact size as well as saving the file because it was so huge. Thank heavens I was able to pull it off and hopefully it will be executed accordingly on our booth. By the way, the event will happen on July 9-10, 2009 at the SMX Convention Center in Mall of Asia. It’s the League of Corporate Foundation’s CSR Expo.

Random Gimmicks

A month of random gimmicks. It became so easy for me now to just go out with friends and not worry that my mother would not allow me. Reality check – I am already an adult. LOL. That’s why even unplanned gimmicks became part of my life now. The first one this month was when me and my office mates went to see Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen after a meeting then had dinner after at Italiani’s. That night didn’t end there because after that, I went straight ahead to a gimmick this time with my dorm mates. And since I was super late, they had me punished by letting me pay their Starbucks coffee and cake. But it was okay. I know it was my fault. LOL.

A second gimmick came one Sunday when my high school friends asked me out to buy some stuff. Although we didn’t buy much, it was like we did a lot. You know, being with friends and just talking without worrying about the time is really an effective stress reliever.

The Winning Attitude

It was also this month that I got to hold off a book that really touched my soul. This is the book written by John Maxwell called The Winning Attitude. With this book, I am understanding life better now. I am now seeing life positively and the feeling just reflects on my appearance and day-to-day dealings with people. I used to be so negative and always had that tendency to be depressed about just anything. Now, whenever I feel that “gloomy” feeling, I would recall the nice lessons I’ve read from the book and would utter them in my mind and I’d feel okay. I think this book has touched and is touching my life up to now. I haven’t finished reading yet due to time constraints, but this book has been very helpful.

By the way, this book was lent to me by an office mate. I really didn’t have plans of reading it but as soon as I started, that persistence to finish it came into me and I know I have to finish this.

A lesson Maxwell keeps on reiterating in several chapters was that People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.” True enough, our sense of being boils down to our attitude. It doesn’t matter how intelligent we are or how good-looking we are. The more important thing is our attitude and how we see the world or how we deal with people. And I’m trying to live by that lesson now.

Various Album Releases

It’s been ages since I last posted an album review on my Friendster account since I seldom open that these days. So I thought of sharing some of albums that's been rocking my ears every morning. Haha! But this is in no particular order.

1. Aqua (Greatest Hits)

2. Melanie Fiona (The Bridges)

3. The Script (The Script)

4. Gloriana (EP)

5. Cascada (Evacuate the Dancefloor)

6. Mandy Moore (Amanda Leigh)

7. Jessica Mauboy (Because-EP)

8. Eternity (Eternity)

9. Regina Spektor (Far)

10. Marie Digby (Breathing Underwater)

11. Ashley Tisdale (Guilty Pleasure)

12. Agnes (Dance Love Pop)

13. Black Eyed Peas (The E.N.D.)

And here are some singles I'm addicted to:

1. Battlefield - Jordin Sparks

2. Back to the 80's - Aqua

3. The Man Who Can't Be Moved - The Script

4. Because - Jessica Mauboy

5. Zero Gravity - David Archuleta (this one's the full version released on Itunes)

6. The Show - Lenka

7. American Cowboy - Jada

8. Good Girls Like Bad Boys - Jadyn Maria ft. Flo Rida

9. No Surprise - Daughtry

There. I guess this wraps up my June. Til next month.