The young (?) and impressionable me

This post is about my ever changing career aspirations as influenced by what TV series I am currently watching.

Sometimes I think I’m a bit crazy, okay a lot of times I think I’m crazy. A lot of times I don’t know what I’m doing with my life (queue drama music) like what position I’m working towards, as the gist that appears below my blog’s name appears I seem to be floating. A lot of times I discard thoughts about career orientation and long term goals because I simply don’t know how to deal with these questions. And so the meandering mind I have has always floated and took fancy on different career options over time. This would be perfectly normal for a young person, not someone experiencing a bout with quarter life crisis. I have been working for financial institutions for all my professional life, after graduation I took a job with a big financial conglomerate that lead me to what I’m doing now. Even now I still consider switching career paths; I’ve recently started watching Newsroom the one with Jeff Daniels and Emily Mortimer and now want to become a serious journalist. In fairness to me, I really have considered a career in journalism in my past life. I was part of my School paper in high school and competed in inter school writing contests achieving moderate success haha! When I filled in my application to UP I chose Journalism as my first choice, Biology as my second (I wanted to become a doctor!).

In my freshman year in UP, our block took a career assessment test administered by the guidance counselor, I later found out that nobody really took that test. The test said that I’m an introvert and preferred working alone in a quiet and peaceful environment, most fit career was a LIBRARIAN (pak na pak) followed by being a LAWYER (vindicated!). I love reading and loved spending time in the library which was quiet and ventilation was really good.

Below is the sequence of my ever fleeting career aspirations as far as my memory can recall:

In this order

Ally McBeal - (Neurotic) Lawyer

Buffy the Vampire Slayer - Vampire Slayer (for realz!)

Grey's Anatomy - Doctor, the kind that doesn't include blood

The Big Bang Theory - Physicist, really considered shifting majors to Applied Physics during my undergrad

Suits - good looking Lawyer

Newsroom - Journalist, although Sloane Sabbith makes a strong point for me to work on a Masters in Econ

An exception to this is when I was reading the book Emperor of all Maladies written by Siddharta Mukherjee which influenced me to be a cancer researcher, oooh more than that I also wanted to be Mathematician when I read another book by Marcus duSautoy I’ll do another post about this later.

Come to think of it I thank God I didn’t think of becoming a drug dealer when I got hooked on Weeds!!!

Isabel Marant x H&M, the men's collection

Months ago, H&M announced that their next designer collaboration was with Isabel Marant, the purveyor of all things french girl chic. H&M regularly does designer collaborations that every year draws massive crowds to their gates hoping to get designer clothes at a fast fashion retail price. Their last collaboration was with Margiela, some years ago I went agog trying to contact friends abroad in order to get my hands on the Lanvin x H&M items. My friend Tina in Luxembourg scored me the tiger shirt which I treasure up to now.

My brain cells exploded upon reading the news that Isabel Marant would design a diffusion for H&M which meant that she would also be designing men's items which was always the case with these collaborations. After months of waiting, we are finally able to google the exact items that will be on sale come November 14 at H&M stores worldwide. These are the items that I'm considering, all pictures are from the GQ website.

30 USD

35 USD

60 USD

60 USD

30 USD

Yeah I know what you're thinking, my selection are boring. With the exception of that red sweater not all have that Isabel Marant trademark design but I dare say no, au contraire she's always been about easy dressing. Her looks are always somewhat disheveled like everything was randomly selected but it all looks good. I'm always for a good shirt that you can throw on anytime, relaxed and easy to pair with any pants shoes combo.

See all Isabel Marant x H&M Menswear pieces including prices here . 

Now if only somebody would just bring H&M here that would be so great!

Flashback Friday : LFO

Once upon a time I considered myself as a budding rapper, yes a rapper how gangsta right? Well it's not exactly rap but I've been drawn to fastly sung songs hehe. Mga Jumpin' Jumpin' ng Desitny's Child at The Remedy ni Mraz and of course TLC songs hahaha soo high school.

Anyway, this was one of the songs I used to "rap" to hehe LFO - Summer Girls.

This song was followed by Girl on TV where Jennifer Love Hewitt appeared sikat na sikat sya non. A few years ago I heard a sad story that Rich Cronin from this band died very young at just 36.

You're Welcome

I'm stuck in high school, what can I say I love high school life? That was the epitome of being immature and carefree for me. I've always associated certain parts of my life to specific songs or TV series I watched during those time, high school for me was all about Dawson's Creek, Ally McBeal, Popular and of course BtVS (that's Buffy the Vampire Slayer to you dummy!). With the exception of Ally McBeal all are high school themed and up to now I couldn't pass up a good high school themed TV series.

I came to watching Awkward from several posts by Cecile van Straten (http://chuvaness.com/), awkward is about the high school life of Jenna Hamilton who wanted to be popular but then gained popularity for notorious reasons, of course the show being in high school hindi mawawala ang love triangle angle. During the first 2 (or was it 3?) seasons she was torn between Matty and Jake .

Hindi din mawawala ang best friends a.k.a. the sidekicks. Tamara is like the lame friend you want to dump but she's a real friend so you shouldn't... I mean couldn't! Ming for me is the cool asian girl who gets to dethrone the asian mafia leader and becomes the ring leader later on.

Awkward Cast (from nowhitenoise.com)

The gem in this show is really Sadie Saxton with her ubiquitous bitchy but not bitchy tagline "you're welcome". Below are some of the best Sadie "you're welcomes". 

Anyhoo I'm excited for the new season! Jenna has a new love interest and more drama ensues!

You're welcome!

Beachy Feeling

I recently downloaded White Noise Lite in my Android device, this app plays white noise which they claim has an effect on sleep. I zoned in on this app after I heard an ad on the radio that tells about a website that specifically only plays white noise which is said to have a soothing effect on babies making their sleep longer and also relaxing for adults. Well you know me, anything that has a good effect on the body and I'm all for it.

White Noise Lite (image from Android Market)

The app contain sounds such as Airplane Travel, Beach Waves Crashing, Chimes Chiming, Crickets Chirping, Extreme Rain Pouring, Grandfather Clock, Oscillating Fan, Thunder Storm, Train Ride, White Noise or a combination of your choice my personal choice being Beach Waves + Chimes. I listen to this while I'm at work in front of my computer and crunching numbers. I have to say that it's effective, the sounds have a soothing effect on me. Sometimes I suffer from panic attacks when I'm on cramped public transportation , I suddenly hyperventilate and have this urge to get out whatever vehicle I'm on sana it works on that too.

The app is free on the android market, you can download additional sounds for a fee. I think it's also available for IOs. 

Additional white noise free download here:

http://whitenoisemarket.com/blog/

Listening to beach waves got me all beachy ang longing for the beach, meanwhile aside from listening to the waves on my phone I also get the same beachy feeling from this music video, Someday by Sugar Ray. Sigh...

Fibr Power Pinays

Volleyball is really gaining momentum here in our country, for as long as I could remember Basketball has always been the biggest sporting event that Filipinos follow it all changed recently when crowds started to draw in and watch live games of the v-league. For someone who has been playing the sport it's a big boost of confidence, gone are the days when the sport wasn't considered as important as basketball.

Naks gumigitna! Photo from Sandy Bediones

There was a brief moment when the country caught volleyball mania, this was during the 90's when the World Grand Prix was held here. We were able to watch world class volleyball as top teams like Brazil, China, Cuba, Japan and Russia came over several times for a leg or 2 of the WGP. Sadly, the Pinoy's interest in the sport wavered and this culminated in the absence of our country getting represented in international competitions.

Power Pinays, photo from Jheck Dionela's IG

Now that the sport is alive, people have taken action and reformed the national team with the aim of sending the teams to international competitions. This started months ago and a selection from the top teams in the V-league were chosen to represent the country in Vietnam for the Asian Zonals qualification. Now, another team has been formed that played in Thailand for the Asian Volleyball Championships. The videos below are from their match against China. 

Sadly, we lost that game but it wasn't as if it was unexpected. China being the taller and more experienced of the two easily won. China's spikers had a field day with what little to no blocking from our girls, the effort was certainly there but they were just too damn tall, too damn high leapers and all around too damn good. I'm just happy that they got the chance to play against a team like China, a team that sits among the top teams of the FIVB rankings. 

Gata the libero is back to her original form, Royce Tubino was a revelation as an open hitter and Maizo was dependable as always. Ang sarap ng feeling pag nakakakuha sila ng point against China, nakaka-proud!

We all have very high hopes for this team, I just hope they find enough and consistent funding to continue their training and hopefully train abroad. There was also an issue among local clubs not allowing their players to play for the national team, sana mawala na yun we badly need their services playing for the flag.

Now if we could only reform the Men's National Team.

Knock knock

Viktor Poletaev is knocking on Maxim Mikhaylov's door.

Heir apparent to Maxim Mikhaylov, this guy can JUMP! I wonder when they'd sign him up for the Russian Men's Seniors team.

Sana ganito din ako kataas tumalon, haha!

Daydreaming of my next Holiday

For people who work for banks and financial institutions here in the Philippines, it’s a well-known fact that the BSP (Central Bank of the Philippines) requires employees of banks and financial institutions to go on a two week leave every year. They say it’s a form of audit to have someone temporarily take over your job while you go on leave others say it’s because working for banks are very stressful so everyone’s mandated to go on leave.

Whatever the real reason behind this I wouldn’t bother researching, or maybe I’ll reserve it for some time when I’ve reached that level of boredom but now I’ll contend myself with knowing that I’m allowed 10 days off from work. I haven’t taken my mandatory leave yet, I scheduled to do it on the 2nd and 3rd week of November and so I’m racking my brains out trying to figure out how to spend my holidays.

I wasn’t always like this you know, there was a time when I considered going on leave quite bothersome because of all the prep work I had to do transferring my work load to another person in the team. But I grew up and grew weary of working, this would be the third straight year I would go on a mandatory leave.

Last year I went on a solo and spontaneous backpacking trip of Central Visayas. I did the Cebu-Bohol-Negros Oriental-Siquijor route which I did for 10 days. The result was a once in a lifetime experience worthy of a separate blog post. Here are some pictures.

Exploring Bantayan Island on a Motorbike

Bantayan Island, endless stretch of white sand

Supercat going to Bohol from Cebu

Man made forest in Bohol

This year, I haven’t made up my mind yet. Early this year I had in mind this Northern Mindanao route which would take me to Surigao, Siargao and Dinagat Islands and making a beeline to Bucas Grande then after some googling session I fixated on a Indochina Route going from Cambodia to Thailand then crossing the border to Laos. Then, I found out that air tickets going to Osaka was quite within reach, I’ve always wanted to go to Kyoto which is quite near Osaka.

Option 1: Bucas Grande (photo from bucasgrande.com)

Option 2: Cambodia-Thailand-Northern Laos Route (phot from tucantravel.com)

Option 3: Osaka-Kyoto (photo from 123rf.com)

I’m planning on going by myself again this year, a solo trip for me is easier as you do not have to constantly consider what the other person wants to do, where to eat, where to go next or where to shop. Now if I could only make up my mind and also find money to spend on my holiday haha! Maybe I’ll just surprise myself, spontaneously buying plane tickets and booking rooms right before my leave starts.

Team Carine

Carine with Mr Tisci

What can I say, I'm a sucker for all things Givenchy and the woman knows how to rock a Givenchy outfit. Of course being a friend of Riccardo Tisci always helps! The woman started out as a model then turned her sights on the publishing world climbing her way up to the top most position in French Vogue. A few years ago she left French Vogue to pursue other things (she was replaced by Emmanuel Alt), the product of this departure being CR Fashion Book.

I'm Sure you've all heard of or maybe even saw the September Issue, the documentary about Anna Wintour of American Vogue. This new documentary, Mademoiselle C, is about Ms Carine Roitfeld. 


 

It's insane how chic the Roitfeld brood can be, her son Vladimir has built a name for himself in the art world as an art dealer her daughter Julia on the other hand is an art director and model. There's even a blog that chronicles their lives - I want to be a Roitfeld . She rubs elbows with Marina Abramovic! Marina Abramovic! Can't wait to see this one, will have to brush up on my French oui oui.

Current TV Obsession: Suits

Let me just talk about the most fashionable TV series there is now, Suits. Suits is about a group of lawyers working at this law firm. Initially the conflict in the series was about how Harvey Specter, the best closer in NYC, played by the very effective Gabriel Macht (of “The Spirit” and “Whiteout” fame) decided to hire Mike Ross (Patrick J. Adams from Pretty Little Liars) as an associate problem is he’s not even a lawyer.  Mike has what they call an eidetic memory (super photographic memory in other words), has the knack for remembering everything he reads. Harvey becomes kind of like a big brother figure to Mike, I love it when they trade quotes from movies and finish each other’s sentences. The partnership is seamless; it’s like the perfect marriage of bitter tea with something sweet like an oreo cheesecake (hehe!). The series is on its 3rd season now and the plot has expanded from this conflict. 

My Birthday : The 4 Pics 1 Word Edition

Birthday birthday la-di-da, here's my birthday in four pictures:

Quiapo Nazarene - As any Pinoy Catholic would do on his or her birthday, I went to church to hear mass. I started going to churches where I haven't heard mass before last year during my birthday when I went to Sto. Domingo Church, a mere accident of sorts as it was quite near the LTO office I went to renew my driver's license. I thought of continuing it this year and the years to come. Manila is so big and I'm sure there wouldn't be a shortage of churches for me to visit, hopefully on the many birthdays that are to come. This experience alone merits it's own blog post, more on that later.

Acuvue - Had to run to the mall to buy my new stash of contact lenses, I had my eye checked if I needed to upgrade to a higher grade but it turns out it's perfectly fine. So weird because I have been attributing my headaches and the eye spasm to my strained eye maybe because I needed to upgrade but it was only my imagination.

Medical City - After having my eyes checked I still wasn't convinced I went to line up to see an Ophthalmologist at Trinoma Medical City Clinics. Ran out of time though, I had to rush home to meet up with my folks.

NAIA - went to NAIA to bring my Dad to the airport, he went off to work in Trinidad.

After that I did a quick grocery trip to get some supplies for the apartment, yogurt, bread, milk and cereals...the usual boring stuff. I've become quite the domesticated animal these years.

And that was it, the rest of the day I spent lounging around the apartment. I wonder what I'll do next year.

Goin' Rogue

I hate Google! It's counterproductive, you end up googling jumping from one topic to another. What's more annoying is the sheer info your brain is exposed to, most of it I deem junk but others you can't just toss to the rubbish bin. That is how one fine day I came to know of the dangers of Aluminum and parabens, both of which are present in my antiperspirant.

I have been a loyal user of Old Spice antiperspirant, I've been in awe of how effective it was at preventing my underarms from sweating, almost as if my sweat glands have been blocked. However effective it was I always had that nagging feeling that suppressing my sweat from coming out was somehow against the laws of nature. I used to play volleyball every Tuesday nights, even after those record high temp nights my underarms managed to stay as dry as Sub Saharan Africa.

And so after that fateful googling session I came to my now anti carcinogen lifestyle, a hippie of sorts I eschewed my usual antiperspirant in exchange for naturally sourced deo sticks from Healthy Options.

The first deo I tried was Alba Botanica, reasonably priced at 250 php. It's the one I picked since it was the only one of the lot (and I mean a LOT!) that had an antiperspirant claim. For someone who hasn't felt his sweaty underarms for more than a decade, this was my foremost concern. They can claim all they want but it came nowhere near my definition of an anti antiperspirant  The smell was nice, it's a real draw. As for the deodorant claim it was true to its promise . 

Alba Botanica Clear Enzyme Deo Stick (smells real nice!)

One of my office mates retails Human Nature products, she orders them online and the stuff gets delivered to our office. Their newest offering is a deo roll on targeted for men, this one's dirt cheap at just 60-80 pesos. I can't remember the actual price but it's somewhere within that range. It smells masculine with notes of bergamot. It's quite lightweight though as you might need to reapply middle of the day which might be a bother. 

Human Nature Pure Strength Roll-on

There are a lot of naturally sourced deodorants on the shelves of Healthy Options, more popular of them being Tom's of Maine which I haven't tried yet but read not so good reviews online. I'm such a settler with these things, i remain loyal to my products as they say if it ain't broke don't fix it.

For more info on the products click click on these links:

http://www.albabotanica.com/

http://www.humanheartnature.com/

My loot

National Bookstore is on sale! S-A-L-E is my favorite four letter word, I practically buy everything on sale. A rule I follow when buying is if it isn't at least 50% off I wouldn't buy it. Why buy it at full price when I can buy it at a discounted price, right?

Anyway, here is my loot. Everything was 70% off! 

1\ Incendiary by Chris Cleave
    Last year I read "Gold" by the same author and I was highly amused, I have high hopes for this book.

2\ Remarkable Creatures by Tracy Chevalier
    This on'es been on my "to buy" list since it came out but never saw it on sale.

3\ Toxicology by Jessica Hagedorn
    Right now I'm reading "Manila Noir", it's a collection of noirish short story edited by Jessica Hagedorn. She probably is the most famous Filipino voice in literature but this would by my first foray into her work, haven't read "Dogeaters" just yet.

Now all I have to do is find time to read all this. I seldom buy actual books now since I transitioned to ebooks, my Kindle has been keeping me busy and it still has a lot of books I have yet to read but it's nice to feel and smell actual paper once in a while.