operation recharge

A friend of mine once told the pushing, overthinking me, “Don’t think too much. When you run out of the creativity juice, leave it for a while and do something else.” (Oh well that’s not really the exact words he used because it was in Filipino, haha) I thought about it and realized he has a point. There are times - and I’m not saying always - that when you push too hard, nothing comes out and you end up feeling stressed and frustrated.

And then there are these times when I’m filled with so many ideas popping out of my neurons every now and then. I take note of them so that the forgetful person that I am would have a back-up, but then when I try developing the idea, for some reason I get dissatisfied with how I’m developing it, you know that feeling that “it’s not the right word”, “oh that tune’s so forgettable”, so you think of something else.

I’ve been doing some writing now, my previous entries would indicate. But the way it’s going made me realize I need some creativity recharge. The best therapy that I know is reading, and maybe some music on the side. So that’s what I’ll do. Even artists and musicians and writers go through this. Most of them I know go on vacations, explore changes in scenery, and then something strikes the chord of their creativity. But the bad, unpredictable weather won’t permit that for me now, so my resourceful self goes to the rescue: a “change in scenery” can be a fresh perspective from an article, or a book, or a song from a different genre, or a feel-good movie, or a good conversation with a friend. Anything, I believe, can be a source of inspiration.

Perhaps there will be “critics” to this idea of “doing something else”, but I say it’s not about not having focus, coz that’s a different story, a different debate. It’s about understanding yourself, what you need, what you lack, what you can give, what you can do.

When I am needing creativity, others are needing optimism. My friend Marice shared this site via Plurk, and it’s called “GivesMeHope” or GMH. It’s a site like “FuckMyLife” (FML) but it’s for our dose of optimism and happy thoughts. It felt good reading the posts, really inspiring. I realized that there are people who don’t have “a lot” or who went through such most difficult of adversities but then they chose to hold on and believe and now they’ve survived and they’re stronger. With all of the things happening all over the world - power struggle, consumerism, economic crisis - it’s an uplifting treat.

A thinker of happy thoughts myself, I hope I could shower some of my own pixie dust over there one time. Woohoo, another addition to those “anonymous sites” I want to contribute to.

eventful May

I’ve always looked forward to Summer. Vacation is freedom! While in the previous summers I had it was always about the “beach, sunsets, seashells and sand”, this summer was different. I got to do a variety of things and I am just amazed how they all happened in a three-letter single month.

Get-togethers with High School friends. May was the month I had the most number of get-togethers with my high school friends. I missed them all so much and it was really fun to hang out with them like we used to.

I said No once again. More often than not, it’s easier to say yes than no. I’ve learned to trust my mind and my heart in my decision to pursue a quite different career path coz I have another, more important thing in my mind that would serve as my inspiration and direction.

Trip to Antipolo. Mother’s Day, my parents and I went to our annual trip to Antipolo to hear mass at the Our Lady of Peace and Good Voyage Parish. Every year I also make sure that I make a wish, and thank the Our Lady for the blessing and fulfillment of my wishes in the past year. Of course we didn’t go home without dropping by the “pasalubong station” near the Church to buy Kasoy, Kalamay, Suman and other goodies. Yum!

Fangirling. Didn’t I write 2 blog entries all for the love of my new inspiration, David Archuleta? Oh man, I think I have to change one of the photos of him coz it looked Photoshop-ped. Shame on me I didn’t recognize sooner.

The Archuleta & Cook (ArchuCook) concert. One of the best things that happened last month. That kind of concert doesn’t come by very often, and I’m just so happy to be a part of it. I hope next year Archie would be back and do more shows! I won’t ever waver my support for him! He is such a gem in the industry.

Baked Muffins. Something I did with my HS pals just last week. We baked chocolate muffins and it was really good! I really hope we’ll get to do more cooking/baking bonding sessions! The activity reawakened my desire to learn how to cook and bake! It’s not really obvious with my shape, but I really love to eat. And being this person who loves to eat, and who loves good food, I want to learn how to make them too!

High School Grad Party. Last day of the month, went to our classmate Buda’s place for a get-together. It was cool to see my high school classmates and batchmates and how not much has changed. We’re still like our young selves although we’ve been through a lot already during the four years in college. [Photo Credit: Herlyn ]

Finished two books… e-books, I mean. Haha. It’s “Love Story” by Erich Segal and “Breakfast at Tiffany’s” by Truman Capote. Both are light reads and I enjoyed both of them. It’s a bit of a pain though to read through e-books, and more so, if it’s from your cellphone, coz unlike with real books, it’s difficult to go back to pages, coz my app doesn’t have page numbers, I don’t know if in others there is, it’s also eye-straining, and of course, the dangers of radiation. Waha!

Dental check-up. Now my teeth is in better shape, it’s like it had a spa treatment!

Took a shot. Went through the ring. Shoot. I hope he’s happy. I just wanted to know for myself.

As for anything more job-related, I did submit to an agency, and I’m planning to submit to some more once I get my Civil Service Eligibility. If not this month I hope come July I’m working. Anyway I’ve alotted for myself 2-3 months of vacation. Woohoo!

Thank you God for May. A lot of things realized, a lot of things confronted, a lot of things enjoyed, a lot of things experienced.