Mahna Mahna

Here's what I got from hanging out with Sweetie and Juned last night at the Mall of Asia:

The Initial Approach

My muse woke me up today. Unbelievably early for a Saturday! I was dreaming that I was in a bridal funhouse with my high school girl friends. Weird huh.

So my muse woke me up. It's been bugging me the past few days to write and I know I should've been writing down the stuff it's been whispering to me, but I've just been so dead tired running around the country!

On the plane yesterday I couldn't help but think that I'm currently at the initial approach to settling down. Life is just like a plane ride. There are times you are up in the air, down on the tarmac, bumping along air pockets, but you essentially just have to buckle up, be ready and alert and enjoy the ride.

My life hasn't been a smooth ride, but I always believed that things would settle down when the time is right. Here's a couple of things I can say about getting married:

1. It's exciting! Years ago I dreaded the thought of marrying, I guess I just wasn't ready then.

2. Wild! The time between the engagement and the wedding day is definitely wild and will force you to sharpen your decision making skills.

3. It will make you palpitate! My former boss told me, "Ah so you're moving into the dark side." I've been getting a lot of advise from friends, business contacts and colleagues about being married, but despite that I feel like I'm about to zip down an endless line.

4. Crazy! I've been told time and again that getting married is something you really have to think about. But I say that if you think too much about it you'll probably end up unmarried.

5. Happy! Of course! Who wouldn't be?

Time

There are some things that money cannot buy and one of those things is TIME. I learned though from a mentor that you can actually expand your time. If there's something that is not your competency, you can most likely just hire someone with that skill and have them do it for you. It saves you time from having to learn something from scratch and it frees up your time to do other things. This thing reminds me of my not-so-favorite subject, Quatech (quantitative techniques) and my white-haired professor who spoke gibberish all term. I eventually passed the subject by doing self-study (a skill I used to pass Procter&Gamble's management exam).

Anyway, I digress. Lately I've been so pressed for time and I realized that it's something that I should learn to manage better. And here are some things I've been doing to maximize my time:

1. Do a daily task list.

2. Prioritize, if there's something in the task list that's not so important, do it the next day.

3. Get others to help you (thank God for my girl friends, they are more worried about the wedding than me!).

4. Do what you are supposed to do. Do not procrastinate (talking to myself).

5. Make sure things don't fall through cracks.

Family first though.

Earthquake!

I rarely experience earthquakes because when it hits in Manila I'm either in transit or in my basement. I don't really remember the last time I actually felt the earth move.

I was busy reviewing my slides for an event tomorrow when I suddenly felt the bed shake. I looked around and didn't notice anything moving. The bed kept rocking and I said to myself, "Oh boy I really need some rest!" I don't know how long it lasted but another thought crossed my mind, "Mumu!" I prayed that it was an earthquake and (1) not me dismantling; and (2) that it wasn't an invisible guest welcoming me here at the hotel.

Oh well, be safe everyone.

The City of Golden Friendship, Cagayan de Oro

A few weeks ago I had the pleasure of visiting Cagayan de Oro, my second this year (and I'll be there again next week!). My dear friend, Honey, who I believe is the reyna of CDO showed us around and here's a short video blog of the places we managed to visit.

Detailed posts will be placed at Lakwatsera Ako in the coming weeks.

Panagatan

Candy

Divine Mercy Shrine

Del Monte Pineapple Plantation (Bukidnon)

The Del Monte Steak

Ostrich and Crocodile Farm

The Philippines Business Stimulus Package

Front (L-R) Derek Callow (Google), Commissioner Mon Ibrahim (CICT), Mr. Monico Jacob (STI)

Back (L-R) Benette Alinduza (GoNegosyo), Mylene Abiva (PMA), Thelma Dumpit-Murillo (CITEM)

Google together with the Commission on Information and Communications Technology, GoNegosyo, Philippine Marketing Association, Center for International Trade Expositions and Missions and STI launched the Philippines Business Stimulus Package.

The packages offers the following for SMEs:

1. Free advertising on Google - get PhP2,000 worth of Google Adwords credits.

2. Website development from STI. The first 200 qualified businesses get it for free. For those who don't meet the cut-off you can have it made for only PhP3,000. (Details are here.)

Here's a video of Derek Callow, regional marketing head of Google Southeast Asia, talking about the project:

I've been in the online advertising industry for 8 years now and I think this is an awesome project that would surely help SMEs understand better how they can utilize the internet for their business.

Click this link to sign-up.

(Thank you so much to partners supporting this project).

This is It!

Managed to find some time to watch "This is It" with Sweetie and Miguel yesterday. Typhoon Santi almost ruined our plans, good thing though the storm cleared up by mid-morning. I was really looking forward to watching the movie (and cramming some wedding stuff).

Awesome.

Amazing.

Fantastic.

Genius.

And in CDO-speak, "Tsada!" (which means wonderful).

And I was left panting after watching the show because I felt like I was dancing along with Michael Jackson (my toes were) when he was doing all those amazing moves and he was looking really good even at 50. It would have been THE concert to watch and I would have definitely watched if he went here.

"This is It" is a MUST watch show and I'm not just saying that because I am a fan of MJ.

And here is one wish I have for tonight. I will keep praying that it will happen. (To my Mama Lola, Papa Lolo, and Tito Tony in heaven hope you also intercede. I miss you all!).