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for July 2008.
One of the things that I committed to do this year at work is to participate in surveys sent by the organization. To be honest, answering surveys is one of the most boring things I could agree to do. No offense, but really. Surveys that have definite answers (i.e. Yes/No, Agree/Disagree, etc), but those which required me to give a comment — like what I think of Outer Banks – gives me a headache. :| I remember back in college, I always hated it when some people interrupt our class to ask us to fill out a survey about our prof’s performance, and I hated it more when I feel no special kinship with the prof. :|But I do recognize how important surveys are to groups especially to a big organization that I belong to. If taken and filled out seriously, these surveys could really provide valuable information that the survey givers are looking for. :)
And now I segue to the point of this post…A List Apart just launched their 2008 Survey for People Who Make Websites. And I quote:
Calling all designers, developers, information architects, project managers, writers, editors, marketers, and everyone else who makes websites. It is time once again to pool our information so as to begin sketching a true picture of the way our profession is practiced worldwide.
Possibly the most important invention of the past century, the web is undeniably one of the most robust engines of knowledge transfer, political and social change, artistic endeavor, and economic growth the world has seen.
Remove the web, and billions in trade disappear. Websites enable people who can’t walk to run to the store. They bring knowledge and freedom of thought to places where such things are scarce; make every person with a connection a citizen of the world; and allow every citizen to be heard.
[source]
So if you’re a designer, a developer or you just play around with the web, take the survey now! I just finished answering it a few minutes ago, and it’s really quick and easy to answer, and would not take more than 10 minutes of your time. :D
After taking the survey, tell all your friends (and strangers :p) about it, just like what I did now. ;)
So, it was the first time in more than a year that I watched a concert where I wasn’t part of the organizing team. It was kind of a strange feeling, but it felt a bit relaxing too, as I wasn’t in any stress and all I had to do was to sit back and watch the show.
But I do miss the perks. Meeting the artists from the moment they step in the country. Making sure the place was okay. Getting really good places to stand (because we can’t sit down) during the show and then congratulating the artists personally after their performance. But…like I said, it’s kind of a welcome break.
Oh, and one more thing: it sucks that I have no camera. :| Sure, Captain Tal did okay (see blurry pictures below), but my micro sd card is still 64MB because I totally forgot to buy a bigger one (okay, maybe I was a bit too lazy to do so)…plus I could’ve taken more photos and clearer videos if I had a camera with me. Next mission: buy that pink Canon Ixus 80 IS, ASAP!
Anyway, so last night, Tue, Happy and I trooped to Araneta Coliseum (exactly two months since Hillsong United, oy!) to watch Lifehouse. I’ve been excited for this since Happy told me she bought our tickets (Upper B is all we can afford) and for the past week I’ve been listening to their songs just so I’d be ready on concert night. And because I’m on constant Lifehouse mode for the week, I’ve made a playlist of songs I wish they’d sing on concert night:
- Whatever It Takes
- First Time
- Blind
- Breathing
- Simon
- Everything
- Hanging By a Moment
- Somewhere in Between
- Undone
- You and Me
Our view from where we sat (Upper B).
So the show starts, and even if we’re in Upper B, we had a pretty good view. Lots of people screaming (including us, of course!), and because we were well prepared, we sang along with the songs that we know. :D For a moment I wish we were at Patron or LowerBox…but after some time, I realized how relaxed we were at Upper B. I even sat down at some part of the concert. :P And who knew Araneta could be so cold?
The guys were amazing, and I swear, I love Jason Wade. I love his rocker voice on mp3s and CDs, but hearing his voice live is just…to die for. Love, love, love! He has an amazing stage presence too, and I love that he makes sure to look up at us people who were at the higher part of the coliseum. :D
This is the closest I could see of him…on projected screens, which conked out by “You and Me”. :|
The show wasn’t as fluid as the ones I’ve watched before (i.e. Switchfoot), because sometime in between the songs, the stage would darken and there would only be low guitar/bass riffs and not too many friendly chit-chat with the audience, not at least until the middle? There was even a time when Jason went offstage for some reason and then ran back up. But performance wise, they were really amazing, and I am even a more fan now than I ever was before. :)
The concert ended a bit too early too, and I can’t help but feel like it’s bitin. But then again, they sang more songs than the Switchfoot show, so maybe it’s only because I’m used to being backstage before the concert proper, which makes it feel longer. Haha. Or maybe it was only because not all songs from my wishlist were played. But, regardless of all those thoughts I just typed, I had fun, they were amazing, and the show was worth it. :D
Since I didn’t have access to the actual setlist after the show, I made sure to note all the songs they sang in my phone (titles in boldface are the songs I love):
- Make Me Over
- Spin
- Am I Ever Gonna Find Out
- Simon — YES! Looove that they sang this! ♥
- Hanging By a Moment — Reminded me so much of my prayer before I resigned.
- Blind — ♥
- Take Me Away — Tried calling my friend when they played this since this was one of her favorite songs but she didn’t answer. Oh well. :(
- Somebody Else’s Song
- From Where You Are — This is the part where we sat down, because we didn’t know the song. Who has a copy of this? :D
- Bridges — Bryce sang this one, and it sounded a lot different from Jason’s version. I love the part where they shared one mic though.
- Better Luck Next Time
- Whatever It Takes - We screamed when they started playing the intro of the song :)
- You and Me
- First Time
- (ENCORE) Disarray - After last night, I now love this song.
- (ENCORE) Broken - I love the meaning of this song.
I still wish they sang Everything…but 6 out of 10 wished for songs isn’t bad. ;) I hope they’d go back (and can our team please handle them now? :D), and I will definitely be there again. :D Here’s to another bigger Lifehouse fan. *cheers*
Like being in love with you for the first time. ♥
Today I didn’t get to do what I wanted to do: go home as early as I want to, go boxing, spend nothing for dinner, and rest without going online because I am sore with boxing. You know why? All because of the rain. :| Boo. And my rubber shoes suddenly breaking down. Double boo.
Oh well. Boxing on Saturday then.
Today was a quiet day. I was mostly working on the backlog of requests that we had for the past few days because of our system migration (haha I missed saying this), and it’s really a big test of patience to work on them because of some bugs that are still in the system. Interestingly, I got to make a bit more work, but it’s far from over. We still have a ton of backlog to work through, and hopefully the system shaping up so we can get used to using it and we can get all these work out of the way.
Anyway, other than the normal work, I realized today that I’m not as mature as I thought I was. I think I may have posted something related to this before, but anyway. It just hit me again that…well, I’m a work in progress. And I know there’s nothing wrong with that, but truth be told, my ego stings a little. I guess, deep inside, I really liked my being “old” for my age. It gives me a certain…I don’t know, edge, or maturity over other people who act their age. Of course, it’s also tiring to be like that, but I’ve been so used to it that wherever I am, whoever I meet, I’ve always automatically assumed the role of being “the mature one.” The older sister. The leader, if we may use the term.
Today I learned a few things that kind of stung a bit. It definitely hit my ego, which is why I feel a teensy bit crummy right now. But I’ve got to remind myself that these things are good for me. The things I learned are the things I need to know for me to improve. It wasn’t given to me to make me feel bad but to make myself better. I’ve got to remember that, because if not, the crummy side will take over and I’ll take all of this personally when really, I shouldn’t.
A friend once told me that as we grow up, we’ve got to get thicker skin, the kind that can take “beatings” without batting an eyelash (wait did I use the right words?). The one where you don’t get affected by the smallest things. I realized today that I’m far from that. I may seem like I’m not but that’s only because of the defense mechanism I have.
Grow up, Tina. Be a better person. Be stronger. Face this, accept this with open arms and learn from this.
Hay, growing up can be so hard, yes? It’s not just budgeting and planning, but a whole lot more. Sigh. Give me the grace I need, Lord.
Last night, I went to my high school friend’s younger sister’s funeral. Yes, funeral. She died at 20 because of cancer, a few months after graduating from college. I heard about it last week, but I was a bit busy, and to be honest, I sort of didn’t want to go. It’s not that I am afraid of funerals or of dead people (I can safely say that I’m one of the people who’s not afraid to look into the coffin), but because of the fact that I’m afraid to see someone so young yet dead. :(
But anyway, I ended up going yesterday with some high school friends. My mind was running a mile a minute because of all the things happening in my life, and I was also talking so much, trying to keep certain emotions at bay and not wanting to think of how I would react when I finally see our friend who lost his sister. A little while later, we entered the place to pay our respects, and the moment I saw her coffin, lined with her photos and flowers and finally, when I peeked to see her, I couldn’t help but cry. I hardly knew her, and I was only close to her brother during freshmen year…but seeing her — so young, so accomplished, someone who had a very bright future ahead of her — inside a wooden box, dead because of a very unforgiving disease…it’s just surreal.
It was like I was staring at my own mortality. Back then, I only hear of cancer from people who are aging, from people on TV. It wasn’t a possibility for me or any of my friends before — we’re too young and the world’s so big and there’s so many things to do for us to suffer from a disease like that. But seeing someone even younger than me pass away, not even getting to experience how it is to be outside of school…to imagine someone like her going through chemotherapy treatments…it doesn’t feel right. It’s so unfair.
Cliche as this may sound, but being at the funeral last night made me realize yet again how fragile life really is. I’ve always believed that when it’s your time to go, it is your time to go, but it never hit me smack in the face as it did last night. It made me think of how I — or anyone of my loved ones — could just go anytime. How one person could be there at one moment and gone the next. How God can just take anyone of me away when He says its my time to go.
That made me wonder — what am I doing? Is everything I am doing even important? At the end of it all, would what I am doing right now even count? When it’s my time, will what I am doing right now be even worth it? All these things that are bothering me, are they even supposed to matter? What am I living for? Am I living for the world, for now, or am I living in the light of eternity?
So many questions and so many thoughts that, interestingly, gave me a fresh perspective of everything that’s bothering me in my life right now. I keep on complaining on what I am going through right now when what I’m complaining about is just a small thing — even smaller than the usual furniture catalog! Why am I even wasting my time and energy on things that are so petty, when I could use that time to be a better and more loving person? Why am I worrying over something so small, when there are so many more people worrying about things even I can’t grasp?
I guess if there’s something that could really silence people, it would be death, just like what it did to me last night. I can’t say I’m not afraid of death, but being in its presence last night made me remember that life is short compared to eternity, and I must remember where I am, where I am from, where my real home is. Most importantly, I must remember whose I am and what I am living for. Because really, at the end of it all, it’s going to be between me and God.
Rating: 
Workaholic attorney Samantha Sweeting has just done the unthinkable. She’s made a mistake so huge, it’ll wreck any chance of a partnership.
Going into utter meltdown, she walks out of her London office, gets on a train and ends up in the middle of nowhere. Asking for directions at a big, beautiful house, she’s mistaken for an interviewee and finds herself being offered a job as a housekeeper.
Her employers have no idea that they’ve hired a lawyer — and Samantha has no idea how to work the oven. She can’t sew on a button, bake a potato or get the #@%# ironing board to open. How she takes a deep breath and begins to cope — and finds love — is a sory as delicious as the bread she learns to bake.
But will her old life ever catch up with her? And if it does…will she wnat it back?
I’ve been a reader of Sophie Kinsella ever since I got ahold of my first Shopaholic book when I was in college. It was because of her books that I started liking chicklit, and Becky Bloomwood/Brandon will always be the benchmark of typical a typical chicklit protagonist. The thing is, I couldn’t really relate to Becky since I’m not that much of a shopaholic. :P However, Samantha Sweeting is someone I could definitely relate to. :P
It was scary how I can relate to Samantha in the first part of the novel: workaholic, long hours in the office, always on the run. Geez, was I like that for the past months? :| I know I didn’t work on weekends, but I pulled long hours…and was gladly doing so. I knew I wasn’t that close to being like Samantha, but it was surprising and scary how much similar I was with her when it comes to how I work.
Anyway, I like this book because although the story can seem a bit typical — kind of like a reverse Cinderella-like — it was very relatable. Samantha’s lack of knowledge in domestic work may seem a bit exaggerated, but I like how Kinsella made her change very realistic, and the lessons that she made Samantha learn are also very important: how to slow down and live life, that work is not everything. I like how money wasn’t much an object here, seeing as Samantha may be really rich because of her job (seems like she could definitely afford a jet charter for herself), and her employers are definitely rich, so it’s refreshing coming from the Shopaholic books which was all about money. :P Anyway, I loved how the characters interacted with one another, especially the Geigers and Iris and Nathaniel. I’m not too fond of the love story, but it was a necessary plot point in the story else it wouldn’t have the very dramatic movie-like ending. ;)
It’s not a terribly serious book, but it’s a good read if you want something with enough substance but light enough not to bring the reader down. :)
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