In the interest of coming up with solutions, rather than dead-end whining, I’ve come up with a plan to try twelve new things that would better my life, one way or another. Yesterday, I posted about wanting to be remarkable. I think I’m going to counter that with attempts to make my life better. Not necessarily with the goal to be remarkable, but just a conscious effort to introduce positivity and improvement in my life.

WHY TWELVE? Honestly, I picked the number at random. It seems like a good number—not too many, not too few—to start with. Just like your donuts and your eggs, changes in one’s life might as well come in dozens!

HOW WILL IT WORK? I’m going to list some things I want to do that I feel will greatly improve my life. Each one of them will be accompanied by a rationale as to why they’re part of the list, and each should be feasible (because I don’t want to set myself up for a fall). They will not be too hard, but they will also not be too easy. I will try to tie this in with a project I’ve always wanted to do, but never pushed through with, Mission 101.

WHY ARE YOU SHARING THIS ON THE INTERNET? DON’T YOU THINK YOU’VE EMBARRASSED YOURSELF ENOUGH? I find that while this might border on oversharing, the Internet is a great avenue for a) accountability, and b) encouragement (for myself and for other people who might stumble across this little challenge). Plus, it’s automatic documentation for when I feel down and out and want to be reminded why I am doing this in the first place.

Also, this is my blog, I do what I like~

WHAT ARE THE THINGS ON YOUR LIST? I have not come up with the list yet, but here are some things I’ve been thinking about:

1. NEW ROOM (SORTA) — by which, I just mean: clean it
2. NEW MODE OF TRANSPORTATION — by which, I mean: learn how to drive
3. NEW LIFE SKILL — some ideas: how to change a flat tire, how to install a light bulb, etc.
4. NEW ADVENTURE — by which, I mean: go somewhere in the Philippines I’ve never been to before, and then write about it
5. NEW FRIEND — by which, I mean: diet and exercise. …yes, the friend in question is my body. Is that lame? I don’t know anymore.
6. NEW RESTRAINTS — by which, I mean: budget plan and savings. That I will actually follow.
7. NEW DIRECTIONS – by which, I mean: make more things (always, all ways).
8. NEW PACKAGING – by which, I mean: fixing up my portfolio
9. NEW LANGUAGE – by which, I mean: finally learn parseltongue French
10. NEW ROOTS – by which, I mean: look for opportunities in other places
11. NEW CREATIVE SKILL – by which, I mean: learn an instrument, or how to draw properly, or how to use a different sort of paint, or sew, or what-have-you
12. NEW BRAIN JUICE – by which, I mean: read more

Not a final list, and obviously some will be hard to keep track off because they are supposed to be habitual, but I think this is a pretty well-rounded list. What do you think? Do some sound stupid or unnecessary?

In any case, each time I embark on a goal, I will explain why it is there and how it will help me.

DO YOU HAVE A DEADLINE? Not a concrete one. I’d like to think of this as an ongoing process, really. Ideally, though, I finish these things as soon as possible, so I don’t feel as useless as I do. Fingers crossed for me?

I guess the main point of this challenge, really, is to just extend myself, because I don’t feel like I have been doing that enough. I am honest and upfront about what I feel like are my failings, but I think it’s about time I followed through.

And I suppose this is an attempt at doing just that.

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What areas in your life do you feel like you can improve on?

When news broke out that poachers destroyed a reef five times the size of Manila, I was devastated. It’s so sad to me that the Philippines is blessed with so much biodiversity, and we wreck and ruin, instead of nurturing and cultivating what we have. I am mad that people thought they could do such a thing, and a little frustrated because I can’t really do much to stop them.

When I was younger, I didn’t really consider myself a “sea person” up until the last few years, when spending time near the water really gave me peace of mind and quieted my soul. My best friend, Isa, wrote about how one cannot help but falling in love with the ocean. I love being in the water. After I get over the initial panic of being in a body of water with creatures can’t sea swimming beside me, I embrace the feeling of somehow being one with the earth.

I missed Blog Action Day, which calls people to band together and make noise on June 8th, on behalf of the Philippine seas. But, just because I am lazy and forgetful, it doesn’t mean that I don’t care. It’s a little bit sad for me, knowing that at the moment, this is the most that I can do: declare how much I love the sea. I plead to the people who have more power than me to move and do something about this.

Here are some photos from Bohol. I am not very good friends with the ocean yet, and Sarie is urging me to give diving a try. I’m hoping there are still places left for me to see. (Tubbataha and Coron, I’ve got my eye on you.)

Continue reading MARRIED TO THE SEA….

As promised, a film photo dump from the farm trip from Sunday. I still have a few shots on an as-of-yet unfinished LC-A+ roll, but I couldn’t wait to post these! The first semi-successful roll from my Sprocket Rocket (the first one yielded only 2 exposures), so I’m pretty glad. Used an expired film roll from Sarie—Kodak GC, 400 ASA. Colors are not too vibrant, but I’m just happy they turned out.

I also have some stragglers from an old LC-A+ roll, Kodak Gold, 200 ASA. They made the farm look extra spooky.

Click the cut for the rest. Can’t wait to try this out when I go traveling. Some of my favorite travel photos were the ones I took with my old Supersampler! I have to use nicer film, though. I think. I’ve been using Lomography and Kodak films… Any suggestions re: the best you’ve tried? :)

Continue reading LOMO DUMP: Herbana Farms….

Last Sunday was spent on some organic farmlands with Sarie and her (ex-)officemate, Jason, who’d taken up farming recently. She was shooting a film for it and I tagged along. I’d been interested in it ever since partially reading Jonathan Safran Foer’s “Eating Animals.” I learned about organic produce and community-based farming, and had been interested in it, but never really saw it in practice. Also, I was sort of in the mood for an adventure detached from the city.

The pretty photos are by Sarie. I took some with my iPhone, but I brought some film cameras, so I’m still waiting on them to be developed. Hopefully, they don’t take too long/that they actually show up. I don’t know if you know, but I’m kind of a bad estimator, so they will probably be crappy.

We ate carrots directly from the ground. Don’t be fooled by my face.
It was a lovely carrot. Might be the sweetest I’ve had.



Jason!



Sarie!



We met a guy who started an non-profit about farming called A Growing Culture. His name is Loren.
He’s been backpacking around the world for the last four months, taking pictures and exploring farms.
It’s super cool; they have essays on different farms and farming techniques from all over the world.

The farm’s pretty cool. When we got there, Gil Carandang, who owns and manages Herbana Farms, was giving a seminar to people who were interested in growing their own food. I’m not really well-versed in food technology, or you know, food in general. I just like to eat it. It’s nice to get to know the processes and the work that goes into making the food that you eventually ingest so that you can continue to exist.

It’s strange how controversial food has become (I have more to say about this, but perhaps another day, when I’ve finished reading “Eating Animals,” or when I have been more enlightened, as I’m now pretty much a n00b at it). I would love to learn how to grow my own food, though. I guess there’s something strangely thrilling and fulfilling about actually growing something that you eat.

During the interview that Sarie and Jason were filming, Gil was saying that when you give to the earth, it gives back. There’s something so noble and rousing in that statement. I think that because food is generally readily available to us (in the sense that we don’t have to grow it ourselves), we tend to forget where it comes from. That thought alone really makes me want to grow my own food, for some reason I can’t articulate.

Herbana Farms has a community garden where you can lease a 10-sq. meter long plot of land that you can plant food in. Since it’s pretty tedious to drive back and forth everyday, they take care of your plot while you’re away. You can just come by when you want to harvest your food. I’ve been toying with the idea of getting my own plot, since I have always intended to eat healthier and be more smart about buying food. It’s just so hard to do it in the Philippines.

Going to Herbana Farms, though, I saw that it could be done. It’s maybe a little more inconvenient than just going to the market to buy your produce. But I think it’s worth the extra mile to be conscious about the way we eat.

The rest of the pictures (my crappy ones) are under the cut. I’ll post the film photos in a separate entry, just because.

If anyone is interested, most information regarding Herbana Farms can be found on their website. If you want to get in touch with them, or some directions to the farm, click here.

P.S. The title of this blog post is from the shirt Gil was wearing. I’m sorry I am such a thief.

Continue reading Don’t Panic, It’s Organic….

The past two days, I have been somewhat successful in my attempts at being zen. These attempts have been crucial, because I have been a nervous ball of nerves (!) the past few weeks. My somewhat-zen-ness been accomplished by:

• Watching Sports Night and Arrested Development before and during work.
• Backreading blog subscriptions! I can’t tell you how happy I am that the unread count is 0, and it’s not because I “mark[ed] all as read.”
• Not taking things personally.
• Talking to good people whenever I feel like freaking out.
• Collaging!

Here are a few of the ones I’ve made for We Are Triangle, a pop-up shop running next week:

If I manage to finish the stuff I have planned and hand them over to Mick (hehe), then some of my stuff will be up for sale. So, if you’re free between February 3 and 5, please stop by Cubao X. A lot of people have a lot of great stuff for sale. The last run of We Are Triangle, I got awesome pinback buttons, poetry books, and the music compilation. I handed out a few copies of Steve Roggenbuck‘s chapbook, “i am like october when i am dead.”

(Speaking of whom, he has another project you guys might be interested in: please direct your attention over here.)

RSVP HERE. It’s going to be really awesome, I promise.

Months ago, I joined Art House Co-Op‘s The Sketchbook Project. They give you about three months to fill up a sketchbook according to a theme, then you send it back to them, and they tour it around a few cities so that people can look at it and borrow it (like a library).

I was very excited to do this (the theme I chose was Things That Changed Other Things), but true to form, I put off doing it at the last minute. The journals needed to be sent and postmarked by January 15 (which fell on a Saturday!) so my deadline was the 14th. By the 13th, I had three pages done. I was ready to give up and sleep, but I remembered my post and decided to get as far as I could with it. In a span of about ten straight hours of making collages and trying not to die, I managed to fill up a Moleskine!

Not too so adherent to the theme; at least, not in an obvious way. I’m excited to do this again, although I think I’m going to try out their other project, a new one called The Fiction Project, which seems a lot more up my alley anyway.

In the meantime, there’s this, and while it’s not the best I could have done (I was really operating on a sort of zombie, auto-pilot mode), especially considering the amount of time I had, I’m glad I didn’t give up on it. At least I won’t feel like a liar whenever I wear this shirt out:

More photos are under the cut, but you can view the entire thing over here. The ones I’ve posted up are a few of my favorites, though. My sketchbook’s on its way to New York now. I hope it finds its way to one of you. :)

Continue reading The Sketchbook Project, 2011….