The WISIWYG Blog

This is the speech I delivered at last Monday's morning meeting, with the exception of realization number 5, which was omitted to prevent any commotion inside the office. :p

In less than one year, I have been involved in three performances.  The first was on the AWS Christmas Party last December; the second was on the Company Outing last May; and the last was on the cheer dancing competition of the recently concluded AWS Sports Fest.  We won on two; we’ve lost in one.  And from those wins and loses, I have realized five things that I would want to share with you.

1. “Many” works better than “few”

A group of people swaying altogether rhythmically, no matter how simple the dance steps, looks far better than two or three people performing the best they can on stage.  On our two wins, the number of people who planned out the act equaled the number of people who performed the act.  And the result was far better than what we had on our only loss, where a lot of minds planned the act but only a few were willing to do the act itself.  There is magic in “many” that can never be achieved by a few.

2. Don’t complicate things too much

Stick with the simple and everybody understands.  Stick with the intricate and everybody gets bored, if not confused.  On both of our winning performances, we did nothing but the basic stuff.  Simple dance steps that everyone can perform, a plot that everybody can understand, and a shower of comic moves that everybody can laugh at.  It’s the simple things that matter. It’s the simple things that people appreciate.

3. The audiences’ satisfaction is your goal, not the prize

To win the grand prize—that was our goal during the planning stage of the company outing presentation.  And we never did get any closer to that goal.  On the contrary, we never planned to win on the cheer dance and Christmas party performances.  What was our goal during those two instances?  Our goal was that sometime during our performance, we would hear a few laughs, a few cheers, and a few claps.  On both cases, we achieved our goal.  The grand prize was just the bonus.

4. Prioritize enjoying over winning

We were too stressed out during our performance in Dos Palmas.  We were targeting the first place, and that in itself is enough to pressure us.  The pressure got even higher when after a minute of our performance, we could hear nothing but the deafening silence of the crowd.  No laughs, no claps, no nothing.  All of this is the exact opposite of the two other performances we did.  During both the Christmas party presentation and the cheer dance competition, all of us were enjoying.  All of us were pleased with what we were doing.

5. Basta Dev1, iba!

And as for this last realization, you can’t pretty much do anything about it if you’re not one of us. :p

A day after the PhilNITS SW exam, here I am writing. And just like the first time (FE), I again failed. One thing different though is that this time, I was never really expecting to pass. Not before the exam, and not after it. I knew that I'll fail. And the exam is never really the reason why this post has such a title.

Well, maybe the exam is a part of it. A part so small. Probably analogous to a period in the end of a paragraph.

The title speaks about the first quarter of my year. Last January, I wrote my goals for the year in this blog, in the hope that if they're written for people to read, I'll be encouraged to do them. More than three months later, though, the goals I've written became what I didn't expect them to be... constant reminders that I am a failure. Well, at least for the first three months of the year.

In that post, I said I would be 10 pounds lighter by the end of March... I guess I'm 10 pounds (or more) heavier than I was in January. I also said that I'll save at least P3000 a month. I did, just to have it all gone by March-end.

Then, there were the goals regarding my job. 2 blog post per month for Dinozilla: I haven't written any. Zero lates for the whole year: I was doing fine until that 1 minute late at the end of March. Lastly, the customer rating thing of 6.5 up: my project is delayed BIG time, so I'm not in a position to expect anything higher than 5 (or maybe 4).

Then, there were the things that cannot be measured. Patience: I still hate long lines, jeepney drivers who wait for passengers who are still taking a bath, etc, etc. And as with my social life, I no longer spend all of my weekends at the apartment alone. Sometimes, I go to the office for overtime work! Great improvement, huh?!?

And to complete everything, there's the PhilNITS exam. With all the previous failures, the exam looked like an insignificant part. A small point, perhaps, to end a long paragraph.

Failures... somebody said they are inevitable. They are a part of life, so to speak. And in a statement that can allow you to let all the anger and frustration out, you can just shout "S**t happens!", then move on.

But that's the good thing about it. You can move on. I can move on. Or to restate it properly, I SHOULD move on. The PhilNITS exam may have ended the paragraph, but that was just the first. There are three quarters more left for my goals to find their end. Three more paragraphs to change the ambience set by the first. 9 more months to prove that the setbacks of the first three won't hinder the realization of my goals.

What's done has been done. There's nothing more that I can do about it. But there's a future ahead of me, and whether it would be bright or dull all depends on me. I know what I must do. I just hope that I have enough will and discipline to do it.

In the absence of anything new to post, and while waiting for all the materials I need for the February edition of my End of the Month Report (naghahanap pa po ng pics), I will be posting this Hurt Survey. Kung sa anime, this part would be a filler. Naisip ko lang i-post.

Anyway, I found this survey on maida's blog, which she copied from sally's blog, which she got from her bulletin... and the list goes on :p And since wala na akong maisip na pampahaba pa dito sa introduction ko, eto na yung result ng survey na sinagutan ko:

 The Hurt Survey

1. Would you kiss the last person you kissed, again?
-sadly, no person as such exists at the moment

2. Have you told anyone you'd marry them?
-no

3. Have you ever liked someone so much that it hurts?
-yes

4. Have you ever made a bf/gf cry?
-d ko talaga alam kung bakit ko kinopya ang survey na ito... never had a gf

5. Are you happier single or in a relationship?
-I've been single for 25 years, so I think I'll be happy to try the other thing

6. Have you ever told someone you loved them and didn't mean it?
-i don't think so

7. Have you ever had your heart broken?
-yup... surprising answer for a guy who has been single for all his life?

8. Have you ever broken someone else's heart?
-nope

9. Do you still talk to your exes?
-hindi pa nga ako nagkaka-gf

10. Last time you kissed someone?
-makulit ka rin, ano?

11. If you could go back in time and change things, would you?
-probably

12. Do you think you are a good bf/gf?
-i could be :D

13. Do you believe everyone deserves a second chance?
-yes (kung pwede pa nga humirit ng third chance :D)

14. Have u ever liked anyone else's bf/gf?
-hmmmm... tabun... can't remember (teka, naalala ko na... oo pala :D)

15. Like anyone right now?
-yup

17. Does that person like you back?
-in my dreams... wahehe

18. What are you going to do tonight?
-sleep... that's how boring my life is

19. How do you feel right now?
-sad... discontented

21. Have you ever been kissed upside down?
-kung sino ka man na gumawa ng survey na ito, namumuro ka na talaga... :p

22. What would you like to say to one person on your mind?
-would you be my special someone? (p***k naman, bakit kasi hindi na lang sabihin ng harapan! sorry po, pinapagalitan ko lang ang sarili ko)

Do I really know myself? I think I do. I mean, I've been in this body for more than 24 years now. I had this mind all the way back when I was born (although I have not always been this crazy). And if experiences make what a person is, then I should know myself that much because I've been part of those experiences.

But thinking deeper (hehe, marunong din ako nun), do I really know who I am? I know myself based on how I see myself. But how about the way other people see me? Won't their opinions of who I am not count as a description of myself? I think they would, and they should.

So, part of knowing who I really am is hearing what others think of me. Last week, I have been very lucky to be part of an office activity that allowed me to simply do that. As part of our monthly all-hands meeting, our development team had a team building activity where each of us has to write something positive and negative about our co-employees. Wonder what I got? Well, here is the list:

POSITIVE

* Tahimik na makulit
* Smiley face
* Helpful
* Magaling humirit
* Technically sound
* OK hirit
* Mabait
* Mahusay makisama at magaling humirit ng jokes
* Mabait
* Mabait
* Joker (galing humirit)
* Comedian
* Lakas humirit

NEGATIVE

* Para lang mahirap maka-close (tingin ko lang yun)
* Maingay
* Tahimik
* Tahimik?! Hindi Ah! hehe. Medio unpredictable minsan
* Tahimik minsan sa work!
* Ayaw pa umamin. hehehe
* Usually tahimik

Now, it's time to merge my opinion about myself and my officemates opinions. The positive may be sumarized into three characteristics: joker, technically sound (kailangan kasama to), and mabait. Being a joker is something that I have to agree with, and being technically sound is something that I have always doubted myself to be. And about being mabait (kind-hearted)... well, it's something that not everybody would agree with.

As to the negative side of things, what caught my attention were the three successive descriptions starting with maingay. It really got me confused　(hehe). But I'll have to agree with the third one... I am, indeed, unpredictable.

Mahirap maka-close? I'll say I'm guilty. Some would even call me snobbish. I'm just not the kind of person who would feel comfortable at once with people that I have just met or people who are not close to me. And that attitude is something that I want changed.

Ayaw pa umamin? A description as such would almost often be a question on one's manhood... on one's masculinity. Well, guess what, I get this comment every now and then, even way back when I was still in highschool. But I've known myself long enough to be confused of my gender. I know my likes and dislikes, and I can say straightly that I'm a man.

Having the positive and negative sides all dealt with, it is time to close this post. Overall, the activity was great. It gave us much input of what others think we really are. Most helpful are the negative comments, because they gave us a glimpse of what others hate about us and what things must change in our lives.

So, after the activity, did I end up knowing myself better? Quite. But I would know myself better if you'll care to add some of your positive and negative comments about me in this post. Would you help me?

"Sometimes, people choose to leave not because of selfish reasons but because they just know that things will get worse if they will stay. Leaving can be a tough act and it’s harder when people can’t understand you for doing so."
 
-  Sagot ni Inday nung tinanong sya ng amo nya kng bakit umalis si Angel Locsin sa Channel 7.
 
Hahaha.. Walang kupas si Inday!
 
 
(I received this message from Olops. Wala lang, just thought it was funny and thus, worth posting :p).