Office Blogmates #atozchallenge2014

Honestly, it took me this long to post something because for my idea, I couldn’t find two audio files that I was supposedly going to share. Well, seeing that I’m way past schedule, I thought I’d post something to do about OFFICE instead.

It was really my original theme, but I couldn’t decide what to write about it exactly. I now realize that since we’re all about blogging anyway, I think I should introduce to you past and present officemates who also actively blog and whom I follow. I also realize this is a way better idea. Why didn’t I think about that before?

So folks, here are my office blogmates, from my first “offices” to my current one. Let’s start with…

JONAS DIEGO

Technically, Jonas Diego and I were officemates, having worked together for a college radio station, which was technically not an office, but anyhoo. He maintains JonasDiego.com, naturally, and its spawns, TheBlurb, which is a webcomic, and I Want Work, which is an online classified ads blog over at Blogspot.

“Jonas, …also continues to participate in events and activities which push his advocacy of a thriving, vibrant, and sustainable Philippines Comic Book Industry.” I used to say he was one of those responsible for the birth of the Philippine comics convention dubbed Komikon, but was just recently corrected. I do think that he also had a lot to do with promoting the local comics industry these past years, so I still say, good job, Raven! (He probably hates it now when he’s called this, but I’m just so used to it!)

JonasDiego.com

The Blurb Webcomics

I Want Work!

THE PROFESSIONAL HECKLER

As far as I can remember, Loi Landicho a.k.a. The Professional Heckler really had been quite the funnyman and a heckler even before the fame. He was a classmate and I got to work with him in the school paper (that’s technically an office, too, since it did have one). So you know, he’s no stranger to writing and politics. He’s a trivia-freak, too, and I guess that comes with the territory.

Witty Loi, or his more famous monicker, Professional Heckler, is now a multi-awarded political humorist-blogger. He quotes Henry Cate VII: “The problem with political jokes is they get elected.” True, that.

The Professional Heckler

TONYO CRUZ

TonyoCruz.com

Another one from the school paper. I also knew Tonyo Cruz as witty and a good writer-journalist. I remember Editorial meetings and he would be one of those very animatedly discussing topics and fervently debating. I’ve only recently discovered his blog because I’ve also only reconnected with him.

That aside, I have known and heard from the grapevine that Tonyo has stayed quite active as a political — uh — activist (it’s not redundant, is it?). Looks like he hasn’t shown any signs of stopping. Right now, he writes for a column in one of the big national dailies. His blog, TonyoCruz.com also has its share of awards.

FRANCES BELDIA

Cure4Mondays

Technically, we were not officemates. In a sense, we had a non-working relationship. You see, I was already out of the magazine I worked for when she joined the publication. I got to know her because they still needed information from me and I got to visit them. To make the long story short, here we are, blogmates.

Frances Beldia calls her blog Cure4Mondays, “a mom blog on homeschooling, kids and family activities, events, reviews on books, movies, products, life in Manila and the rewards and stresses that come with it.” She hasn’t been that much active lately, but I find her blog to be a nice read.

ANDOYMAN KOMIKERO

The office was really where I met this guy. We were not exactly talking much until the topic of comic books (his forte) and, later on, of forensic science (my interest) came up. That was when Andy Edoria really began his career in the comics industry as Andoyman Komikero. He has since also begun to carve his own niche in the industry and it seems things are going the positive route.

Andoyman Komikero

Andy already has several comics to his name, the series titled Ang Sumpa, in particular. He has also drawn for others, most notably for the elusive Bob Ong, whom he has communicated with only online and unfortunately hasn’t even met in person.

MEIKAH DELID

Until last month, she was an officemate, our Operations Manager, in fact. Our OM had been the most active blogger, if not the only one, save from myself. Every time she logged into YM to which we were all connected, she imparted words of wisdom by posting relevant quotes as her status messages.

Miss Meikah, more endearingly known as Miss Meiks, imparts more wisdom through her blog Mama is Working. “This blog chronicles my daily parenting challenges and triumphs. I will be talking mostly about the lessons I am learning about parenting, motherhood, womanhood, keeping a home and pursuing a career,” she says.

Mama is Working

[IMPORTANT NOTE: I have un-linked from Mama is Working. Miss Meiks can now be found and followed at Mom in Midlife.]

JANE C.

This is my youngest blogmate. Fresh out of college, Jane C. is not exactly a neophyte when it comes to blogging, having maintained several blogs before deciding to keep her WordPress one called Etcetera. Basically, she says it’s for random stuff, but if I am to summarize it, it’s a blog for travels with friends, retro music, fun runs and baking experiments (that me and our officemates often get to taste-test). She’s done some fiction in WattPad, too.

Etcetera

 

The Meeka and Lexy Project

Jane also isn’t that new in writing, having written for a magazine (not the one I worked for) during and post-internship. Plus, while not currently updated, she has maintained with a friend another blog that has “Three missions: grab every grub in town, sweat ’em out, and type ’em all down” — The Meeka and Lexy Project.

(Oh and she’s part of the A-to-Z Challenge so you might want to check her blog out as well)

MADMA

I only got to work with Marvin Salazar for a short period of time. I was new at work and he was about to go. He was really quiet, poised and contemplative. The most times we really spoke was whenever I shared Fita biscuits with him as his station was next to mine. So imagine my surprise and confusion to find that this person who soon somehow made a name in the blogworld as Madma and Marvin the Quiet were one and the same!

Yours Truly, Madma

He owns the blog Yours Truly, Madma where he dishes out socio-political commentaries, gives sensible if not somewhat naughty advice particularly on sexuality, and shares other fun, funny and more naughty stuff. The language may not be to your liking but that’s how he is. Madma’s blog gained quite a following when, well I don’t know how it all started exactly, but he ended up holding an online fashion modeling contest where anyone could join and others could comment and vote for which photos they deemed best and most appropriate for the week’s theme. That was a blast!

 

And that, my friends, are my office blogmates. I hope you give their blogs a visit to see for yourselves why I follow them. 🙂

 

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Did you like checking out their blogs? Then feel free to LIKE this page and theirs 😀 There is another person I was thinking of including in the list but I am not sure if it’s okay with her. Will update once I get her go signal.

This post is for the…

Resolutions for That Necessary Lifestyle Change V.2

I must say, this one, big-planning thing has worked out for me…Here I am again, getting back in the Resolutions game. Why not? Like I always say, what is wrong with trying to be a better person? Isn’t that what resolutions are about? I don’t want to think of myself as a quitter; resolutions are not for quitters. You try and try until you solve a problem or issue. You resolve. You don’t resolve what’s already solved, just like you don’t fix what is not broken.

Quoting from last year’s post, I still believe in resolutions, despite my unexpected downward progress after (although how that can be called as progress, I don’t know). As a whole, to be honest, I am disappointed at the way I lived and handled my 2013 especially at the latter part. Then again, New Year is always the perfect time to turn over a new leaf once more, isn’t it?

So without further ado, here’s my updated New Year’s Resolutions list, what I call “Resolutions for That Necessary Lifestyle Change”:

1. Less bad temper, more understanding (read: don’t be too sensitive!), less bossy attitude. My bad temper really lessened a lot, so I hope I can still lessen it more, if not completely rid of it. There were still some little outbursts here and there. I really should work on understanding people more, too. I am a bit confused on whether I achieved that last year or not because on the one hand, I know I was more understanding, ergo, the temper improvement. On the other hand, I became sensitive at the latter part of the year, so much so that it negatively affected my overall view of things and of myself. That tells me I still lacked a lot in that department. I was the one who suffered most anyway, so if I can fix that great character flaw, it would be like hitting two birds–others and myself–with one stone. 

Less bossy attitude: I achieved that last year. Time now to polish.

2. Less unhealthy foods. This was last year: “Translates to (a) less fat so less red meat and eating at least white meat as alternative, (b) more fruits, veggies and fibers, (c) minimal sugar, and (d) avoidance of carcinogens as much as possible.” A, check, but work on it more. B, check, but work on it more. C,…with sweet treats at work, this is becoming difficult. But okay, it is admittedly manageable. So carry on, soldier! D, check…I think. Won’t hurt to carry on, too, right?

I am trying to be a vegetarian, to be truthful, but this is super-difficult! Will take it one year at a time.

3. More stretching and exercise! EPIC. FAIL. I tried once in a blue moon. The effort was obviously half-baked–no–QUARTER-baked! I think I even got worse. So I’m gonna try again while I’m still alive. Besides, I’m really gonna need to work on the body. According to Feng Shui, this year isn’t going to be a good one for me health-wise. Now, while I am not really a fan of Feng Shui, I think it’s always great advice to tell people to live healthier. It’s all common sense, really. If something rings right, it’s never wrong to try.

Sometime in the first parts of 2013, the office peeps were doing regular exercise breaks at 3pm. More than a year before, we even had weekly badminton sessions after work. I’ll try to push for these again. Why not, right? It’s always more fun when everyone’s in on the fun. Uh, you get what I mean.

4. More sports. Back to Muay Thai? I wanted to go all the way back. but there were certain factors that prevented me from sticking to it. I’ll try when those factors have become manageable. Besides, I can still somehow do this with the exercises I learned.

Arnis/kali? Much as I want to learn it, I cannot afford exclusive sessions right now. On Sundays, they do free lessons at Rizal Park, which is in Manila. Unfortunately, Sundays are always home-time in the province, often spent for doing laundry, doing some clean up, writing, net-surfing, reading, and even alone-time with my special someone (sometimes with his two kids as well…Imagine I’ve got three rowdy boys with me. Of course, I’m going to be busy). Meanwhile, the Ninjutsu class my friends and I were hoping for did not push through, as far as we know. Too bad. Oh well, maybe I wouldn’t be able to afford that, too. Ugh.

There are other sports to try, anyway. For instance, running. Some people in the office have taken to after-work jogging/running (even some of my housemates) and there are those who have actually joined fun runs. Not sure if I can join any fun run immediately, but I can try the regular jogging/running. Well, at least every Wednesday and/or Thursday. I am often too tired on Mondays. I attend a regular thing on Tuesdays. Fridays, I go home.

Hopefully, I can make it a habit. *crosses fingers*

5. More writing. I’d like to give myself a pat on the back. I think, compared to recent years, 2013 brought back the old writer-me. Okay, there were still lapses, but again, some things, I could not totally control. I am just happy I am writing again. With this blog, I move forward. I will try to write as much as possible. I probably won’t get ‘Freshly Pressed’ here anytime soon, maybe never, but anyhoo.

6. More reading. Done! Now all I gotta do is to keep at it. Maybe I should instead say “Finish up more books and quit procrastinating.” While I have read more this year, there were lots of books I didn’t finish. So this year, I plan on finishing them.

7. Proper budgeting. “…So here’s to scrimping coupled with lots of prayers.” Now here’s to MORE scrimping coupled with lots of prayers. Won’t hurt to try to save up again, no matter how lost the cause was last year, which posed a lot of challenges that caused me to fail this goal. It was practically beyond my control, needless to say.

Now apparently, there were/are people who grudgingly believe(d) I had more than I claimed i did, but I can’t do anything about that anymore. I WISH they were right ’cause at least, there’s going to be moolah. I think this will just boil down to Goal #1, to my being more understanding of others because sometimes, it’s not up to me to fix what’s broken especially if it’s not mine to fix to begin with. Never mistake understanding to being a pushover, however. I have my own life to live.

8. More humility. “I will always remember what I wrote in my previous post.” Ditto this year.

9. More kindness. I think I lacked self-kindness last year. So this year, I’m going to work on that.

10. Regain my ‘original nature’. It’s really a personal thing and cannot be simply explained. One thing I was made to realize last year was that everyone has his/her own inevitable karma and it’s up to that individual to break any bad karma by self-reflection, -realization and -repentance. No one can do it for him/her but the self.

So there you go! My list for this year. And last year, too, only updated. I know there are people who would rather not do resolutions because the promises would be broken anyway. Forgive me, but I think it’s a defeatist way of seeing things. Instead of saying “I can’t,” why not at least say “I’ll try”? Strive for a Better You!

“He who conquers others is strong; he who conquers himself is mighty” (Lao Tzu, Tao Te Ching). 

Meanwhile, to our Chinese friends, Advance…

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So may I ask the perennial question we ask every time the year starts? DO YOU BELIEVE IN NEW YEAR’S RESOLUTIONS? Kindly take the poll, it won’t take much of your time. Do you have any comments? You are so welcome. Write away! Do you have your own list already? Why not share to us and link to it?…HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!