3.29.2006

Lessons from a not-so-ideal graduate


I am the last person who should be talking about graduation. I didn’t even attend my own.

I saw graduation as a hurdle to get over, an obstacle I had to overcome so I could finally start working full-time for this paper. When that fateful day came, I wore a toga all right, but only to my dinner party. And it was the wrong shade of blue—the shop at Recto had run out of my college’s colors.

Despite my absence from the ceremonies, graduating from the university taught me a few things—some big, some small and some, well, forgettable.

You will miss school. Sure, you’re still in the middle of rejoicing over the fact that you no longer have to face your nasty professor and you’re probably thanking the high heavens because the days of surprise quizzes are over. But when you’re neck-deep in paperwork and are collecting overtime hours as if you can sell them on eBay for a fortune, you will definitely start missing those days when your biggest problem was today’s graded recitation. You know those annoying adults who tell you things like, “Oh I wish I could go back to school” or “I’d rather be a student forever”? Pretty soon, that will become you.

Take a break. You have your entire life to work. And once you start working, you’ll be doing it forever. Or at least until you’re 65. You’ve just spent at least sixteen years of your life in school. Now is the time to take a break. Whether your idea of a timeout is a weekend in Boracay, a month at your grandparents’ place in the province or a full week in your pajamas eating Cheetos and watching DVDs, do it. You deserve it.

Don’t let your course dictate your life. Your parents won the first battle—you hate math but they made you study accounting. You don’t know how you ended taking up dentistry when you can’t imagine staring into people’s mouths for the rest of your life. Here’s a little nugget of wisdom: Your course doesn’t dictate who or what you will become. A friend who took up geodetic engineering is now making a good living in publishing. I know a biology graduate who is now running her own business, a nurse who became a priest, a lawyer who decided to open a restaurant. You future is waiting—and you get to decide what it will be.

The school you graduated from does not determine the quality of your future. There are still small-minded companies that only accept applicants from the supposed top universities but don’t let that stop you. Just because you came from one of the more popular schools doesn’t mean you can rest easy. And it doesn’t matter either if you came from a school that no one else has heard about. It is you, and not your diploma, that will make your future.

Pursue your passion. Life is too short for you to be stuck doing things you really don’t want to be doing. Sure, blessed and few are the people who get to do what they love for a living but you might just turn out to be one of them. You would never know if you don’t try. Whether it’s art, music, sports, writing, food—pursue your passion. Your happiness and success may just depend on it.

Don’t let your college persona determine who you will become. (Unless you really loved who you were in college.) It doesn’t matter if you were the nerd, the dumb jock, the bully or the wallflower. College is over and your new life is beginning. Now is the time for reinvention if you deem it necessary. Think Madonna—but maybe not her cone bra phase. If you were the wallflower, break out of your shell. If you were the bully, try to be nicer. The world is waiting—try to be the best person you can be.

Make good decisions. Remember, the decisions you make after college have real-life consequences. Making a mistake no longer means just being sent to the dean’s office or failing a test. This is the real world we’re talking about.

Work hard but don’t forget to play. Love yourself by learning how to balance your time and your life. Working hard is good but not to the point of burning yourself out. Life may be a race but everyone needs pit stops once in a while. Don’t forget to have fun, adults are allowed that, too.
Handle your money well. Earning your own moolah is a big thrill. And spending it is an even bigger one, especially in a world with iPods and nice shoes and well-stocked malls. But saving a little cash every payday is something you have to do. It may not be fun but the security is worth it.

Create your own adventures. You don’t want to grow up too fast. Find pleasure in the small things, seek thrills from your everyday life, create adventures out of nothing. Organization is necessary in every grownup’s life, but the occasional spontaneity will do you good.

Make a difference. Find a cause, own it and do what you can for it. The world needs you.
Stay in touch with your friends. There is something important about not forgetting the people who knew you when you still had braces, when you were obsessing over that hot senior, when you were scared to death about getting your class cards. They will keep you young. They will keep you grounded.

Don’t stop learning. Say hello to the real world. Now your real education begins.


--
This story was taken from www.inq7.net

3.20.2006

lss number one

alice in chains - no excuses
[download]

it's alright
there comes a time
got no patience to search
for peace of mind
layin' low
want to take it slow
no more hiding or
disguising truths i've sold

everyday it's something
hits me all so cold
find me sittin' by myself
no excuses, then i know

it's okay
had a bad day
hands are bruised from
breaking rocks all day
drained and blue
i bleed for you
you think it's funny, well
you're drowning in it too

everyday it's something
hits me all so cold
find me sittin' by myself
no excuses, then i know

yeah, it's fine
we'll walk down the line
leave our rain, a cold
trade for warm sunshine
you my friend
i will defend
and if we change, well i
love you anyway

everyday it's something
hits me all so cold
find me sittin' by myself
no excuses, then i know

3.14.2006

go fsck yourself!

I don't like emo folk. In fact, I really hate everything that emo symbolises. Just absolutely hate it. I hate everything about it. Instead of moping about your own problems, why not do something about it or move on? wtf?. A significant other leaves you? Get over it. It happens. If your parents hate you, well then, deal with it. Chances are, they don't really hate you. Did your computer break? Fix it. Overstressed? Learn how to deal with your stress. Moping and being all depressed and cutting yourself and suicide are not a healthy, productive way to deal with things, just fyi. Get into arguments with your friends? Try and work it out, or get new friends. Sitting there and complaining about things is not going to fix anything, believe it or not. Talking about things with your friends, or brainstorming strategems with them is fine, but complaining about the same things for years gets nothing accomplished. And the emo music? Lito Camo-composed songs being the worst kind of music ever made, and emo being the second worst, why would mixing them together make it any better? Why do people listen to that shit? I want to punch ever emo band ever made. I'd feel so much better. Now you're entitled to like whatever music you want, just as I'm entitled to loathe whatever music I want! Bottom line, anything emo is teh suxxorz. And if you have a problem with it? Suck. My. Balls. I really don't care. Go whine to someone else. If you want to have a conversation with me, go ahead...but if you get emo or complainy on me, I will loathe you forever. Just like now.

Training

For the past few days, I'm creating how-tos on modifying some codes on a website. My problem is that, its one of the least enjoyable tasks that I have been doing and im getting impatient on it. Documentation is not my turf, my thesis groupmates would attest to that.. I'd rather code and design than doing that. Anyway, the task is, I've got to list the steps on how I went around my coding, complete with screenshots and all, since it will be another person who will be tinkering around with the development asp scripts.

Months before, when just started working with the company, I was enjoying a newbie-like life. The project manager, which is the Director of Technology, which is the No.2 guy in the company, which is literally my boss, when giving me a new task, would give me a file complete with instructions and how-tos in getting around the task done, yes, that's right, project documentation. (presumably, it was the project manager who was doing the instructions and putting it to ms word), now its my turn to do that, in case there will be someone who will be editing the real mccoy. so, after countless trips to the kitchen to get water, im back here at my desk and feeling enlightened. ive realized that maybe this task is:
  • somewhat a 'sign' that im gaining the trust of the project manager, since he's delegated some of his tasks to me.
  • another addition to my resume entry, i can add this to my resume, instead of the usual, "Developed and Designed blah blah website", id be typing, "Created procedure documentation and standard code writing with blah blah website."
  • a confirmation that POST, which i read somewhere, is very important. POST stands for Project according to Organizational STandards. Literally translated it means that you have to do 70% documentation and 30% coding – so, I really got a taste of the amount of documentation that i will be doing when in production.
I'm beginning to love creating documentations..

3.03.2006

bacolod on IT map!


a google query on the words, bacolod outsourcing turned up good results. currently, there's three call centers that will expand their business here, and another one to follow. thats good, and in addition to that, the SM is currently constructing a mall at the reclamation area... hopefully there'll be more jobs here to prevent the 'migration' of college graduates to either cebu, manila, or even dubai.

a friend, has been recently featured on inq7. its Von Caberte. and if any of you have played, bookworms from yahoo games, its creator, PopCap Games employs Von for the illustrations on the games, one of which is Bonnie's Bookstore.

heard from the grapevine:
An outsourcing company is planning to set up an office at VaST's former location. There's also another manila-based company looking for home-based IT pros -- preferably Bacolod-based... as you all knew, know, or didnt know before, i used to work at VaST for about a year.. here's my 2001 pic at vast, 3:00 AM...