Nomad Manager Progress Report #5: When Procrastinating is Productive
Okay, so I’ve got a backlog of planned posts for Muni PH, as per usual, which only seems to increase with every post successfully publish (more ideas come than I can write them!). I’m also working to build the upcoming Muni Pop-Up Shop Online. And finally, I got myself involved with 2 rackets - 1 on design and 1 on writing (and both require a lot of work).
But upon the recommendation of Dindin Reyes, I opted to watch a nearly 40-minute video of Guy Kawasaki’s The Art of The Start. And prior to that, I spent a good amount of my day talking to Chesa Zimmer-Santos of co.lab PH and Denise Celdran of Edgy Veggy about design thinking for climate change, veg food, and plans for Muni PH.
Today has been a good day. And I need to write some of my thoughts because it’s an important day to chronicle in the life of this Nomad Manager.
Muni PH: The StartUp
Before today, I couldn’t quite figure out how I was going to approach making Muni PH a legal entity. And that’s something I’m certain I want to do. Never before in my life have I found work that I was “meant to do”, or work that made me feel so good - and it was work that I looked for, and not so much found. It took me a while to get to this point, and now that I have, I am certain that I’ve found that which I wish to do for the rest of my life, no matter how long or short it may be.
CRAFT COFFEE WORKSHOP (with The Manila Review)
A Homey, Creativity-inspiring Hangout for Coffee Connoisseurs, Nomad Managers & Friends :)
I first visited Craft Coffee Workshop last December 15, for the launch of The Manila Review, an independent publication that aims to promote critical thinking on today’s culture and issues, catapulted by Leloy Claudio and Mara Coson. Check it out here. Yes, December 15. Backlog, I know.
As a sucker for aesthetic (and gender neutral) rustic design and great ambiance, I instantly fell in love with the place without having sampled the coffee yet.
A Moment of Introspection at 5am + More Love for my Samsung Galaxy Note 2, Phabrizio
It’s been a while since I got up at 4am to be somewhere, and now, I’m on a bus to Laguna with my friend Kitty and some of her students, and have time to safely blog on my phone.
I recently posted about Phabrizio and how he would change how, and how often I blog, and I just realized I haven’t been blogging as much as I thought I would. So here we are.
I’ve had Phabrizio for a little over 2 weeks now, and aside from Instagram, which I’ve long been wanting to have, it’s made my life easier in so many ways. With its different apps and readers (Kindle and Pocket), Dropbox, to S Note and Calendar, its beautiful camera (which allows me to leave my camera behind on some days), smart gestures, and dual window functionality, it’d be impossible not to love.
I’m not a techie, and I don’t feel the need to purchase the latest gadget. But upgrading from my roughly 5-year old Blackberry was something I deemed necessary, especially since I’m busier going around and blogging more. And so far, it’s one of the happiest things I’ve allocated my money for (and I can be extremely stingy with material things).
And I just want to say that personally, I think tablets are one of the most redundant devices created. It’s just a bigger smart phone that isn’t a phone, and a smaller laptop that lacks in computing functions. It replaces nothing and just does something other devices do anyway. This makes me love Phabrizio more, because he’s a fabulous phablet, and a single device that can really do so many things. He simplifies my setup, and eliminates the need (or desire) for other things. Not saying you should ditch your iPhone 4S and iPad 3 for this, because that would just be wasteful. But maybe next time, consider devices that have more functions.
Love lots,
Jen
Significant Life Episodes from 2012 & A 2013 Preview
2012. You have been a squeal-inducing season-ender, a cliffhanger, a climactic denouement.
Everything in my life thus far has led me to this point, and this year has been a big culmination of all the lessons and experiences in my life thus far. It’s been filled with turning points, and memorable / fulfilling / challenging experiences. In 2012, I’ve managed to:
- Become pesco-vegetarian in January (started eating fish again in September, but will probably get off it again)
- Throw together another Anteroom Sessions
- Explore yoga
- Travel alone (Cambodia, Thailand, Laos, Sri Lanka, Philippines - Dumaguete)
- Travel for an extended periods of time (two and a half months around Asia; Nearly two weeks in Baguio, and again in Dumaguete & Bacolod; and again in India)
- Stay at the Hariharalaya Center in Siem Reap for 2 weeks and reaffirm things I had already been thinking of
- Resign from my own company (it is the bomb I referred to in the last paragraph here)
- Journey 31 hours from Battambang, Cambodia to Chiang Mai, Thailand
- Chat with monk Tiko in Chiang Mai
- “Train” an elephant
- Learn about textiles in Ock Pop Tok, Luang Prabang
- Stop whining thanks to COPE in Vientiane
- Learn about eco-tourism practices from Jetwing Sigiriya and Rainforest Eco Lodge, Deniyaya.
- Kick a guy in the balls (I’ve been wanting to do this since high school / college)
Setting A Whole New Standard For Pen Freaks
Yes, I am one of those people who loves to just hang around National Bookstore and other such stores filled with supplies, ogling at all the different paper products, and of course, the different writing apparatus. I can while away the time just trying out different pens, without any real intention to buy, then sometimes, many times, somehow walking away with one.
8 Groups Filipino Entrepreneurs Should Know About in 2013
So yeah, click the above link to see what I’ve been up to lately.
I feel like a party girl with all these “events”, except that the people I meet are real game-changers, and conversations engaged in are more socially relevant and less vapid.
Hooray! And now, I quote myself (lol):
It’s time we all band together to share ideas and strategies to create and support better products that raise the standards of Filipino businesses, to look beyond only profits as entrepreneurs, or the cheapest bargain as consumers, and see in the long run, the choices we make everyday do matter.
With 2012 coming to a close, many anticipate the end of the world, but I only see it as the end of the old world – the old ways we’ve been doing things. 2013 will definitely be explosive — with new ideas, turned into action, and everyone connecting with each other to create this shift in consciousness that I’m convinced will happen in the coming year.
Nomad Manager Progress Report #4
Hello, it’s been a while since my last “progress report”…almost a year now, actually.
I haven’t posted new travel posts or whatever for quite some time now since I’ve been busy with Muni PH, where it looks like I’ll be dedicating most of my green / yoga & meditation / local or social entrep / local or ecological travel posts from now on, lest they be of a more personal nature.
So given the headings on this blog, and said posting of said topics on Muni PH, what’s left to blog about here? The REAL reasons for this blog to begin with - my quest for location independence! (and other topics that don’t make the cut to Muni :P)
When We Work Not For The Money
I’ve been somewhat amiss in my travel posts lately, and one might think that after a trip to exotic India, a traveling blogger who blogs about her travels (but does not necessarily call herself a “travel blogger”) might blog about it - ASAP. Alas, it has been almost a month now since I’ve come back, and I’ve yet to get around to writing about my whirlwind trip through Southern India (and side trip to Kuala Lumpur).
[Merdeka Square in KL, Malaysia]
However, ironically, November also happened to be the month wherein I became officially unemployed, and yet I feel that I’ve never been busier! I’ve been caught up with a lot of interesting new experiences, meeting new people and trying out new things like:
