34

YUP.

photo credit

"sometimes, the smallest things take the most room in your heart."

i dreamt of winnie the pooh & piglet the other night.

i don't know why i dreamt about them.

in my dream, piglet was lost and pooh and i were so worried looking for him everywhere.

the dream was so vivid, even the feeling.

i could feel pooh's worry and pain. it was so weird that i felt what he felt.

when i woke up, i was almost in tears.

i wanted to go back to the dream and look for piglet in hopes that we will find him soon,
that he just wandered off to somewhere, followed a cute butterfly.
or something like that.

and then i thought... i've never dreamt of pooh bear before.

and i haven't felt that kind of sadness of losing, of looking for someone so dear to me.

not in a while, though.

i hope i'm not losing something or someone soon.

one for the bucket list

When I can finally survive the cold, this will be on my bucket list.

this is how we do it.

Create.PH slide presentation at Graphika Manila 2012

33 Things in 33 Years

1. Trust your gut. Really.

If you think he likes you, you're probably right. If you think he's cheating, you're probably right. If you think she's going to be your new BFF, (this time with feeling!) you're probably right.

2. Sunscreen. Always.
SPF 15 indoors, SPF 30 outdoors. I've been wearing sunscreen everyday since I was 19 and I still get carded. I think this actually has more to do with the bouncers hitting on me, but I'd like to share the credit with my good friend Oil of Olay daily moisturizing lotion with SPF.

3. If you're lying in bed worrying about it, get up and write it down
If I don't do this, my night will quickly devolve into cyclical thoughts of doom and anxiety. Just get out of bed, write down the thing that you're worried about, write down a few ideas to deal with it and then go the eff back to sleep.

4. Processed carbohydrates and sugars are yucky.
It's not hard to switch to wholewheat bread and noodles or substitute honey/maple syrup/raw sugar for the white stuff. It's yummy and you'll feel heaps better!

5. Maintaining friendships (and making new friends) is an active process.
Stop waiting for them to call you! Think of something fun to do, call your friends and go do it. Also, stop sitting in your apartment, devotedly wishing that you knew more cool people. Surprisingly, this will not get you any closer to making new friends. Go places where like-minded people hang out, talk to new people at parties, initiate.

6. Uncomfortable underwear can ruin your day.
At least they can ruin mine. So don't wear your sexy-times underwear on the day you have to walk ten blocks to work.

7. It really doesn't matter what you major in
What does matter? The internships you get, your work ethic, your interpersonal skills, who you know. So go ahead and get a BA in Studio Art! As long as you complement that with work experience at a graphic design studio, a museum and an ad agency.

8. Create an active lifestyle
I don't go to the gym every day. Or, um, ever in the summer. But I walk to work and to the market and just about everywhere within a 3 mile radius. If you make daily activity a habit, you won't have nearly as many moments of "how did I inadvertently gain 30 pounds?!" or "why can't I walk up a flight of stairs?!"

9. Learn to enjoy your own company
There will be times in your life when you really want to see that movie, check out that new boutique, go to Thailand and no one wants to go with you. Bummer! But that doesn't mean that you can't go by yourself and have a good time. Take baby steps and work up to doing the big stuff on your own.

10. Don't allow outside sources to determine your self-esteem
I'm still working on this one. But I think it's important to realize that just about everything in life is relative - depending on your surroundings, you could be the hottest/smartest/highest paid girl in the room. But if you walk next door? Maybe it's different story. It's important to have faith in your abilities and strong suits - regardless of how they compare to others.

11. Find out what colors and styles work (and don't work) on you. Style accordingly.
I look good in gold and browns and corals. I look good with long, wavy hair. I look good in boat-neck, three quarter length tops. It took many, many unflattering photos to figure this out.

12. When in doubt, make the effort
You will never regret wearing that nice outfit, buying the thoughtful gift for the friend you haven't heard from in a while, over-tipping. If it doesn't work out, at least you'll know you did your best.

13. Cook at home.
Seriously. You will save one million dollars. You will maintain a healthy weight. You will impress your friends.

14. There are 300 million people in America. And 6,000,000,000 in the world.
I promise you, you'll love someone else. You'll meet new friends. You'll find co-workers and neighbors that are awesome. If it's too hard (or if someone is making you feel bad) walk away. There are a million other people out there who won't make you feel bad!

15. It's easier to make money than memories
Are you throwing up in your mouth right now? I am, a little bit. But it's true. Don't take the extra shift at work and miss your friend's awesome end-of-the summer barbecue. If all your friends are springing for a weekend at a cabin near the Canadian border, save up for a few weeks and make it happen. You won't remember the two weeks of eating in and watching library dvds, but you'll remember 3 days of fun with your buddies.

16. You can find common ground with just about anyone, any where
Regardless of a person's gender, age, race or religion there are common denominators to the human experience - falling in love, being homesick, laughing at baby animals. You don't even need to speak the same language to share an appreciation for these things. You'd be amazed how far you can get with most people just by smiling and asking them questions.

17. Don't buy the cheapest version. Buy the second cheapest.
This trick has saved me a lot of money. And many hang overs. Usually the cheapest version of something (vodka, eye shadow, shoes) is noticeably dicey. But the second-cheapest? Not so bad!

18. Make an extra copy
Of your keys, your lease, your birth certificate, your social security card. Then give said copy to someone trust worthy.

19. Floss.
For realz. It's pretty gratifying in a slightly disgusting way.

20. Consider second hand, for just about everything
98% of everything I own is second hand. My blow dryer, my picture frames, my sheets (not as gross as you're imagining). They cost a fraction of what I'd pay for them new, and no one's the wiser. At least until I tell the internet that I sleep on used sheets.

21. Excuses are embarrassing
With the exception of excuses like "my grandma died" most excuses are embarrassing for everyone involved - the person giving them and the person listening to them. 'I just don't know where to start,' 'I'm tired,' 'it's too expensive' really just translate to 'I'm not making it a priority'. See? Embarrassing, right?

22. Don't ask a question if you're not prepared to hear the answer
If you ask your friend "Do I look fat in this?" you best be prepared to hear that it's not a super flattering look on you. If you ask that guy you've been seeing for five months "Where do you see this going?" you need to know he might respond in stutters, back-pedaling and comments about "keeping it light." Don't ask if you don't really, really want to know.

23. Engage in calculated risk taking
Dancing on the table, taking a spontaneous road trip by yourself to a neighboring state, trying a new type of ethnic food - it is unlikely that any of these things will kill you. But they will probably make you more interesting.

24. Learn how to live well within your meansMake a budget and stick to it. Pay off your credit cards every month. Learn to cook for yourself. Get a bike and use it (then you won't need a gym membership or all that gas for you car!) Cancel the cable. Split internet with a neighbor. Consider second hand. You'd be amazed how painless saving money can be!

25. Learn some basic photo editing skills

Because that photo from your vacation would make a great Facebook profile photo if you didn't have that giant zit, right? Photoscape, Picnik and Gimp are all great options!

26. If you don't know what you say, silence is always an option
I learned this from my friend Ellie, who used this approach to deal with unruly patients during her years as a nurse in NYC. If someone says something you don't like (and don't know how to respond to) just stare at them and don't say anything. Totally. terrifying. And totally effective!

27. If you don't know, ask

Because that thing that people say about assuming (it makes an ass out of you and me)? That's true.

28. Do something different with your weekends
After a week in the cubicle farm, I know it's tempting to spend your weekend watching DVDs, running errands, going to house parties and nursing hangovers. But doing the same thing every weekend gets old. And you won't return to work reinvigorated or inspired. You don't have to do anything earth shattering - have a sleep over with old friends, go camping in a State Park, rent bikes and ride through your city, try a new ethnic restaurant, look up the top tourist sights in your city and check them out. Milk those two days off for all they're worth!

29. Stay in touch

In the age of skype/facebook/texting there's absolutely no reason that you can't maintain regular contact with your childhood bestie or that cool girl from your freshman comp class. Maintaining and fostering friendships is super important. Also, you'll have more couches to crash on when you go traveling!

30. Find a creative outlet

Most of us aren't 100% creatively fulfilled by our day jobs. Even those of us who work in creative fields! Engaging different parts of your brain (and different parts of your personality) is hugely, hugely gratifying. Seriously, you cannot overestimate how having a good hobby can change your life. I'm not exaggerating when I tell you that after I started blogging, I needed less sleep and was a much happier person. Truth.

31. Act like you know what you're doing

You can pretty much conquer the world with a confident walk, a well-thought-out outfit and confident demeanor. We teach people how to treat us and when you show people that you're a force to be reckoned with, they'll believe you.

32.  When you ask friends or family to do things for free, you end up paying in stress and time
Of course, we can't all afford to hire movers/painters/accountants/etc.  But when you ask your cousin to photograph your wedding or your college roommate to design your website or your little sister to help you move - what you don't spend in money you just might spend in missed deadlines and ruined carpet.  Our friends and family love us and want to help.  But it's not the same.  And you know it.  If you can, pay a stranger to do things for you.  Then you won't feel bad complaining.

33.  Most things in life will cost twice as much and/or take twice as long as you thought

Particularly travel or home improvements or building up a client base.  There are always unexpected fees and raised prices.  Have a backup plan!  Or budget way, way more time and money than you think you'll need and you'll be presently surprised when things come in ahead of schedule and under budget.

What about you?  What have you learned so far?  What do you wish someone would have told you?

- yes and yes: 33 Things I've Learned In 33 Years

Your Life Is Like A Giant Jigsaw Puzzle

"Your past is like a giant jigsaw puzzle—and God is putting the pieces together to make a beautiful picture of your future.

But your special jigsaw puzzle has BILLIONS of pieces. And each event in your past is like one piece of the puzzle.

Each piece makes no sense. On its own, it means nothing. It only means something if you put them together. Once you put them together, you say, “Aha!”

There are some pieces that are so dark, you’d wonder, “What use is this particular dark piece?” But each dark piece has a purpose. Without those dark pieces, the puzzle won’t be complete.

In the same way, your past also has dark pieces that you wish weren’t there. Tragedies. Sickness. Failure. Abandonment. Separation. Divorce. Abuse. But they’re there for a reason. They’re there to complete YOU."

BoSanchez.ph » Your Life Is Like A Giant Jigsaw Puzzle

'via Blog this'

From the Office of Frank Chimero

When asked what advice would he give to a graphic design student:

Design does not equal client work.

It’s hard to make purple work in a design. The things your teachers tell you in class are not gospel. You will get conflicting information. It means that both are wrong. Or both are true. This never stops. Most decisions are gray, and everything lives on a spectrum of correctness and suitability.

Look people in the eyes when you are talking or listening to them. The best teachers are the ones who treat their classrooms like a workplace, and the worst ones are the ones who treat their classroom like a classroom as we’ve come to expect it. Eat breakfast. Realize that you are learning a trade, so craft matters more than most say. Realize that design is also a liberal art. Quiet is always an option, even if everyone is yelling. Libraries are a good place. The books are free there, and it smells great.

If you can’t draw as well as someone, or use the software as well, or if you do not have as much money to buy supplies, or if you do not have access to the tools they have, beat them by being more thoughtful. Thoughtfulness is free and burns on time and empathy.

The best communicators are gift-givers.

Don’t become dependent on having other people pull it out of you while you’re in school. If you do, you’re hosed once you graduate. Keep two books on your nightstand at all times: one fiction, one non-fiction.

Buy lightly used. Patina is a pretty word, and a beautiful concept.

Develop a point of view. Think about what experiences you have that many others do not. Then, think of what experiences you have that almost everyone else has. Then, mix those two things and try to make someone cry or laugh or feel understood.

Design doesn’t have to sell. Although, that’s usually its job.

Think of every project as an opportunity to learn, but also an opportunity to teach. Univers is a great typeface and white usually works and grids are nice and usually necessary, but they’re not a style. Helvetica is nice too, but it won’t turn water to wine.

Take things away until you cry. Accept most things, and reject most of your initial ideas. Print it out, chop it up, put it back together. When you’re aimlessly pushing things around on a computer screen, print it out and push it around in real space. Change contexts when you’re stuck. Draw wrong-handed and upside down and backwards. Find a good seat outside.

Design is just a language, it’s not a message. If you say “retro” too much you will get hives and maybe die. Learn your design history. Know that design changes when technology changes, and its been that way since the 1400s. Adobe software never stops being frustrating. Learn to write, and not school-style writing. A text editor is a perfectly viable design tool. Graphic design has just as much to do with words as it does with pictures, and a lot of my favorite designers come to design from the world of words instead of the world of pictures.

If you meet a person who cares about the same obscure things you do, hold on to them for dear life. Sympathy is medicine.

Scissors are good, music is better, and mixed drinks with friends are best. Start brave and brash: you can always make things more conservative, but it’s hard to make things more radical. Edit yourself, but let someone else censor you. When you ride the bus, imagine that you are looking at everything from the point of view of someone else on the ride. If you walk, look up on the way there and down on the way back. Aesthetics are fleeting, the only things with longevity are ideas. Read Bringhurst and one of those novels they made you read in high school cover to cover every few years. (Of Mice and Men, To Kill a Mockingbird, The Great Gatsby.)

Stop trying to be cool: it is stifling.

Most important things happen at a table. Food, friends, discussion, ideas, work, peace talks, and war plans. It is okay to romanticize things a little bit every now and then: it gives you hope.

Everything is interesting to someone. That thing that you think is bad is probably just not for you. Be wary of minimalism as an aesthetic decision without cause. Simple is almost a dirty word now. Almost. Tools don’t matter very much, all you need is a sharp knife, but everyone has their own mise en place. If you need an analogy, use an animal. If you see a ladder in a piece of design or illustration, it means the deadline was short. Red, white, black, and gray always go together. Negative space. Size contrast. Directional contrast. Compositional foundations.

Success is generating an emotion. Failure is a million different things. Second-person writing is usually heavy-handed, like all of this.

Seeking advice is addicting and can become a proxy for action. Giving it can also be addicting in a potentially pretentious, soul-rotting sort of way, and can replace experimenting because you think you know how things work. Be suspicious of lists, advice, and lists of advice.

Everyone is just making it up as they go along.

This about sums up everything I know.

Manila Floods, Urban Planning & then some: a discourse between Architects & Manileños

A friend of mine, a Filipina architect now based in Shanghai, came home for a short vacation just about the same time ‘Habagat’ started to manifest itself. Heavy rains & floods started to dwindle our chances of having a little ‘sun & beach’ to ourselves on our pre-planned getaway to the south. Scrapped plans, nothing but gloom for days, frustration over Manila’s urban planning system became the topic du jour with some talk of cracks, fishing, jogging, drinking, concerts & death of friends on the side. And no, nothing about God’s punishment re: the RH Bill.

Here’s what my friend posted on her fb account (posted here with permission). Attached is a screen cap of the discourse between concerned citizens that transpired in relation to her post:

I’ve read so many status saying ‘please pray for the victims of this typhoon’ but somehow, I’m pretty pissed off enough to rant about it—- it hurts. It hurts me as a Catholic and a Filipino seeing so many of my countrymen devastated YEARLY by floods that we know come with every typhoon season. By all means, pray, let’s flock to the churches and pray on our own but GOD please, as a country, do something about it. 

It hurts to see evac centers pop up like muscle memory for 30+ years when we all know the root of the problem is the third grade drainage systems and infrastructure that is never fixed. Its all well and good to have an emergency system when we need it, but as someone who has worked the commercial circuit of architecture for years here, why is it that our public government can’t even come up with a basic infrastructure that allows for little or no flood at all? Its not like no one can’t do it the right way, the malls and offices I’ve handled often have just floods that affect parking and nothing else to impede their sources of income. 

Our apathy is appalling, really. We’re one of the most literate countries on earth yet we allow our government, the one WE CHOOSE to treat us so shabbily and then just complain in the background, or whine to God. If the strength of a country comes from a strong middle class, that said middle class has to DO SOMETHING. We are, after all, paying for it. I’m often asked why I never exercised my right to vote, and its because none of the people who run are any I would choose to govern me, and they are names I see bandied about FOR YEARS AND YEARS. Why choose someone who would waffle on the important bits, like a basic quality of life?! Come on, and cut the crap.

Wake up and smell the shit from the esteros. 

You want to avoid this kind of situation every year?! Don’t throw trash in the canals, choose the right people to govern where it impacts us the most, get rid of corrupt politicians who take money for civil projects then run away with it. We can’t control the weather, but we CAN and SHOULD control the environment that it falls on!

Prayer is beautiful. But we are also taught that God gives us all the tools to live—- we have them at our disposal, and I’m willing to bet my soul that God would be proud of us for utilizing it.

I’m Catholic and a Filipino, and I’m not giving up any of those descriptions soon even if I did relocate to another country, but please, please, please, give me and yourselves something to be proud about; to have a quality of life that didn’t involve sacrificing hundreds of lives every year to a weather pattern that we know comes yearly. I’m not asking for the green dream, or a luxurious kind of life for all of us collectively, just a life that enables you to function, like a human being without much disparity. 

Is this reaching for too much????

Letter from a Mother to a Daughter

"My dear girl, the day you see I’m getting old, I ask you to please be patient, but most of all, try to understand what I’m going through.

If when we talk, I repeat the same thing a thousand times, don’t interrupt to say: “You said the same thing a minute ago”… Just listen, please. Try to remember the times when you were little and I would read the same story night after night until you would fall asleep. When I don’t want to take a bath, don’t be mad and don’t embarrass me. Remember when I had to run after you making excuses and trying to get you to take a shower when you were just a girl? When you see how ignorant I am when it comes to new technology, give me the time to learn and don’t look at me that way… remember, honey, I patiently taught you how to do many things like eating appropriately, getting dressed, combing your hair and dealing with life’s issues every day… the day you see I’m getting old, I ask you to please be patient, but most of all, try to understand what I’m going through. If I occasionally lose track of what we’re talking about, give me the time to remember, and if I can’t, don’t be nervous, impatient or arrogant.

Just know in your heart that the most important thing for me is to be with you. And when my old, tired legs don’t let me move as quickly as before, give me your hand the same way that I offered mine to you when you first walked. When those days come, don’t feel sad… just be with me, and understand me while I get to the end of my life with love. I’ll cherish and thank you for the gift of time and joy we shared. With a big smile and the huge love I’ve always had for you, I just want to say, I love you… my darling daughter."

'via Blog this'

50 Lessons to Be the Miracle by Regina Brett

If you want to be the miracle, where do you start?

Here are 50 tips, all from my new book, Be the Miracle:

1. Start where you are.

2. Get busy on the possible.

3. You can make a big difference, no matter how little you make.

4. Magnify the good.

5. Do your best and forget the rest. It could simply be too soon to tell.

6. We all do the same things. It's how we do them that makes the difference.

7. Interruptions are divine assignments.

8. Adjust your own oxygen mask before helping others, or you'll be of no use to anyone-- including you.

9. Instead of treating people the way you want to be treated, treat people the way they want to be treated.

10. If you want to see a miracle, be the miracle.

11. Everyone matters to somebody.

12. Speak up for others, especially when they aren't present to speak up for themselves.

13. Give birth to yourself every day.

14. Sometimes it's enough to make one person happy.

15. The secret of life is no secret. It's sprinkled all over your life.

16. If you can't be the rock, be the ripple.

17. Give as if the world is your family, because it is.

18. Everyone is either your student or your teacher. Most people are both.

19. Pray like you mean it.

20. Arrive early.

21. Dream big.

22. Consult your own soul. Deep inside you already know the answers you need.

23. Get in the game.

24. God doesn't always call the strong. Sometimes you have to be weak enough to serve.

25. When you have nothing but faith, you have enough.

26. Be a good monk. Make your life a prayer.

27. Believe in abundance.

28. Shine your light, no matter how dark the world around you appears.

29. Comfort the sick. When everyone else flees, be the one who stays.

30. You have an endless supply of abundance from a wealthy Father who loves you, and so does everyone else.

31. Carry as you climb.

32. Be an original. Forge your own path.

33. Harness the power of hope.

34. Watch well your words. Practice restraint of tongue and pen.

35. No matter what happens, don't take it personally. Take it spiritually.

36. The world needs your Yes!

37. Empower your power by joining forces.

38. You are a child's most important teacher.

39. What you think about, you bring about.

40. Aim higher.

41. Make someone else's dream come true.

42. Triage.

43. A saint is someone who knows how much God loves them.

44. Don't quit before the miracle happens.

45. Make amends as soon as you can, while you still can.

46. Silence the noise. In times of doubt or indecision, pause and make room for God.

47. To be a channel of peace, you have to stay open.

48. God will not have His work made manifest by cowards.

49. Leave a legacy time can't erase.

50. If you woke up today, God isn't through with you yet.

i miss hugging.

i miss hugging someone.