We had our monthly potluck at the office yesterday.  I think it’s been about 6 months since we started doing this.  This time it was for merienda.

Of course the O.C. that I am, I had to check the spelling, and saw this meaning on wikipedia:

A potluck is a gathering of people where each person or group of people contributes a dish of food to be shared among the group. Synonyms include: potluck dinner, spread, Jacob’s join, Jacob’s supper, faith supper, covered dish supper, pitch-in, carry-in, bring-a-plate, smorgasbord.

The word pot-luck appears in 16th century England, in the work of Thomas Nashe, and was there used to mean “food provided for an unexpected or uninvited guest, the luck of the pot”.

This is Steph trying out Camilla’s herring dish.  This is delish btw.

We tried to stay around the theme of native food.

I actually missed having this when I was in Denmark at my former office’s lunch spread.  Camilla let me take home the jar hehe

This is what we call a fun afternoon coffee break, definitely!

The disappointing thing about this weekend is that it actually has to end.  You then find yourself on a very manic workday, especially when you start hating it - the job.

I had a conversation last Friday with my former manager - basically our annual one-on-one.   I came out of that meeting quite nostalgic and satisfied about my stint with the team and the company.  My last three and a half years in the firm has been an adventure.  I have gone through a lot of downers, but in those times I have also found people, in high places, that believed in me.  That’s why I felt nostalgic and grateful.  I thanked him, and essentially the other manager that believed in me.

There is a lot of closure going around, as far as my meetings and these annual talks are concerned.  When I think of my past times with the firm, I am happy.  That’s in a lot of contrast to my present predicament, night and day contrast, because presently I am not happy there.

I just pray that the change will happen soon.  Very soon, I plead…

Just push on, whatever happens!!!

My engines are running on this mantra these days.  There may be a lot of disappointments and mishaps that can discourage me, that is given when you are creating a new path for yourself.  I have decided to push on with blinders and all, with guns blazing… etc etc

Whatever debacle I encounter, this time I will choose to move forward with unrelenting hope.

This will be a great week

This was a couple of weeks ago.  Sorry for the late post.  I totally forgot about these pics

The team feasting at Dad’s… yum yum

I was reading up on this (idle at the office at the moment) yesterday

How to turn a Windows PC Into a Mac

By the end of the day my PC’s desktop looked like this

Neat, isn’t it?  I didn’t even have to resort to hackintoshing my PC hehe

I skipped the Windows Blinds part though.  Being a PC user all my life, I never got used to the minimize-maximize-close buttons…  So I had to be a little creative and just looked for some Mozilla Add-ons to get the look for my browser.  I also deployed some Yahoo widgets as you can see

Anyway, just some nice stuff

The way you get meaning into your life is to devote yourself to loving others, devote yourself to your community around you, and devote yourself to creating something that gives you purpose and meaning. - Mitch Albom

Sometimes you find yourself at an impasse.  You are left with questions like What do I do next? or What is the meaning of my life? and there are no concrete answers.  I find myself in such a predicament.

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This I impart to my friends who are stressed out today, a lot of them are for some reason

Finish each day and be done with it. You have done what you could. Some blunders and absurdities no doubt crept in; forget them as soon as you can. Tomorrow is a new day; begin it well and serenely and with too high a spirit to be cumbered with your old nonsense. - Ralph Waldo Emerson

As for me, I am daunted by the task in front of me.  So, I deem this quote applicable

It is our attitude at the beginning of a difficult task which, more than anything else, will affect It’s successful outcome. - William James

Oh God, help us…

Do not dwell in the past, do not dream of the future, concentrate the mind on the present moment. - Buddha 

I found that the times when I feel true contentment and peace is when I just stop and sit still, and try to exist in the moment.  Those have always been my moments of clarity.

You see, the past always brings with it regrets, and the future, uncertainty.  I’m not saying that we should not plan for the future or learn from the past.  No.  What is essential for us not to do is dwell on it, or be crazy paranoid about it.  I am always guilty of feeling this way, but I have learned to press that “STOP!!!” button in me and not be entangled in my own temporal distortion.  People can’t exist in the past or the future, much less try to exist in all three tenses.  But sometimes (metaphorically) we try to.  We get  stressed and confused, and ultimately end up moving in circles.

Speaking of time, I had a realization this morning.  This career took me away from my parents and family - the people that matter.  Now some of them are gone, and those years (early 2000 to 2005)  are time that I can’t get back.  This leads me to wonder - At best I will be waiting for another year for my career to go somewhere.  If so, then is this going to be another year wasted?  If that’s the case, then am I doing a disservice to the people that mattered in my life who are not with me anymore?

For one split second, she almost turned around
But that would be like pouring rain drops back into a cloud
So she took another step and said
“I see the way out and I’m gonna’ take it”

I don’t wanna spend my life jaded, waiting
To wake up one day and find
That I’ve let all these years go by wasted

Excerpt from the song Wasted by Carrie Underwood

Time is precious, but it definitely holds more meaning to people who have experienced loss.  Unfathomably more precious.

Work is love made visible. - Kahlil Gibran

This isn’t a preachy blog entry.  I’m the last person to do that right now hehe.  But it’s interesting and true, or at least relatable to me.  You should choose a job that expresses your heart.

Never continue in a job you don’t enjoy. If you’re happy in what you’re doing, you’ll like yourself, you’ll have inner peace. And if you have that, along with physical health, you will have had more success than you could possibly have imagined. - Johnny Carson

We spend almost two-thirds of our waking time doing our jobs anyway.  So we at least have to love it, right?

Not to sound too defensive, I still think I’m doing what I’m supposed to do.  I am still working in the right industry

This was a fun-afternoon-that-spilled-into-evening party at Toyz Bar at the Fort Strip

The theme was blue, so everyone were encouraged to wear blue… Well, I wore one that would make me pop-out, don’t you think? hehe

Hindsight is always wiser than foresight - Bo Sanchez

I saw this on Bo Sanchez’s blog entry about taking risks.  It is very timely because I am trying my hand at taking one.  It further said that

Persons who stay in the Comfort Zone stop growing and lose their edge, their passion, and their joy for living

and it really hit me Continue Reading »

Got this message on the mail today

If you do the possible, you don’t need miracles. Move beyond the borders of the possible.  Get into the realm of the impossible.  Here you will find God in a more obvious way.

This message comes to me in a most timely manner. 

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Whenever you do what God wired you to love to do, you get good at it.

I’ve often read discussions about finding one’s core gift, and I must say I am intrigued.  I’m intrigued because in my self-reflection, I’ve often wondered if what I’m doing is indeed my calling.

That perhaps is the life-changing question of anyone:  What is your core gift?

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One of the retweets led me to The Dew View’s article - 50 Things successful People Have in Common

• They look for and find opportunities where others see nothing.
• They find a lesson while others only see a problem.
• They are solution focused.
• They consciously and methodically create their own success, while others hope success will find them.
• They are fearful like everyone else, but they are not controlled or limited by fear.
• They ask the right questions – the ones which put them in a productive, creative, positive mindset and emotional state.
• They rarely complain (waste of energy). All complaining does is put the complainer in a negative and unproductive state.
• They don’t blame (what’s the point?). They take complete responsibility for their actions and outcomes (or lack thereof).
• While they are not necessarily more talented than the majority, they always find a way to maximize their potential. They get more out of themselves. They use what they have more effectively.
• They are busy, productive and proactive. While most are laying on the couch, planning, over-thinking, sitting on their hands and generally going around in circles, they are out there getting the job done.

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To focus, that’s the message for me this week

The clearer your boundaries, the more successful you become. Define the one thing that you do and define the one audience you will serve. Eliminate the rest.

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