Skip to main content

So Many Things Going On...

I just came back from a very well deserved vacation -- days where I didn't have to think about work, and just went along with whatever was going on and relaxed. I needed that break badly, to let me go ahead and get away from the daily grind.

Although I actually do love what I'm doing at Friendster, it's been a while since I've been able to get away from work and live life to the fullest -- even just for a few days. Malaysia was a very refreshing place to be in because of the food, the people, and the vision of prosperity that I just hope the Philippines will be able to reach someday. Kuala Lumpur is beautiful in its simplicity in the midst of complexity, in unity amidst the diversity, and in progress amidst tradition.

What is very surprising are the roads: expansive, well maintained, and very well used. The only other time I was impressed by the roadwork was when I was in the US for the first time, on long drives on what seemed like endless roads, highways, bridges, exits. And there's a lot of construction going on in Malaysia -- and this is progress that's undeniable.

Come to think of it, in the Philippines, the only times where roadwork is done is when it's election period and the incumbent officials want to give people something to remember them by. Sorry, I had to put in the social commentary in anyhow.

At any rate, the fast pace of life in the Metro is taking its toll on me. Right now I'm down with the sniffles, and I'm confined in the condo unit where I stay while the house mates are out in their respective offices. I like it this way, so that I can get much needed rest, but then I still have to go on working on our project in Friendster.

READ: I'm not complaining, I'm merely stating reality and my perception of it.

But in the middle of it all, I'm still on the road on this journey that may never end -- to seek excellence in my craft, constant learning and improvement, and this constant pursuit of happiness. I'm not saying I'm not happy, but you can only be happy for so long: that you'd always want to be happier once you know what happy means, and find out what happy is if you've never been happy before.

Now so much for the rant... I may never see expansive highways and greener pastures here in the Philippines, but nonetheless I'll keep walking and stay on whatever road I'm on. Wherever this road leads me to, doesn't really matter: so long as I let the Lord drive my life and determine my destination, I'll stay happy -- and maybe become happier while the journey goes on.

CHill.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

From FOMO to JOMO

Until very recently I believed that I needed to be on top of the latest news and happenings not only in my field (computer science and software engineering) but also in as many things as I can be on top of. This meant subscribing to all sorts of magazines, newsletters, YouTube channels, Twitch streamers, watching TV and live sport events, etc. — I was on top of a lot of the latest happenings, trends, news, interesting developments. I was having fun and I felt busy. What I did not feel was particularly effective nor productive. I felt like I was consuming so much information with the thought that it might be useful someday. When I was younger this wouldn’t have been an issue but I realised that ever since I’ve started taking stock of what I’ve been spending my time on, that a lot of it I’ve been spending just staying on top of things that I really didn’t need to be on top of. This article is about some of the realisations I’ve made in the course of exploring this issue of “FOMO” or ...

Reconnecting with people

2021 started with a a good sense of connection for me, having spent time with friends and family in a simple celebration of the oncoming year. The transition from 2020 to 2021 and being able to look back at a good part of my recent history got me thinking about how life has been for me and the family for the past decade. There’ve been a lot of people that I’ve met and become friends with while there are those that I’ve left behind and lost touch with. There’s a saying about treating old friends different from new ones, which I do appreciate now that I’m a bit older. It also means that my relationships with people that I get to spend a good amount of time with take a different shape. This reflection has given me some time and space to think about what it means to reconnect with people. Friends are the family we choose ourselves. — Edna Buchman I have the privilege of having life-long friends that I don’t always stay in regular contact with. From my perspective, if I consider you a frien...

Keeping a work log

I have been keeping a journal for my personal life with some regularity for the good part of 4 years. The difference between my earlier attempts at journaling before four years ago is the regularity and the structure. I started with a very structured and regimented journal (doing it everyday with prompts and blanks to fill), to a ruled journal notebook, then a plain notebook (no rules nor grids in the pages), and then settling on a dot-grid notebook. This allows me to doodle and write free-form to help me commit thoughts and observations of my day but it was mostly for archival and looking back to "feel good" or reminisce (also to sum up a month, a year, etc.) The approach helps a lot with self-improvement in terms of my mental health and my reflection to see where I was a specific amount of time ago and whenever I was reading it again. In a previous post I wrote about keeping a work log, and I realised I only mentioned that in passing. In this post I detail the structure of ...