Category: Movie/Book Reviews

My Pick: Thrive by Arianna Huffington

I have started reading Thrive by Arianna Huffington and I am truly pleased with the book.

I got it right when I needed it. I was super stressed and have been feeling burnt out from work and life in general.

It helped a lot that I was given a 6-week course guide for the book. The guide gave me chapters to week for each week and some activities to help me remember the important topics of each lesson. I absolutely recommend this book!

I will be updating this post as I finish each weekly lesson.

Lesson 1: Sleep and Meditation

  • Key takeaways:

    • Take time to meditate to clear up your mind and improve your focus – keep your performance at optimal levels

    • Make an appointment with yourself to get enough sleep – mine is at least 7.5 hours
    • Dreams can help you connect to your innerself
  • Action Items:
    • Meditate for at least 15 minutes everyday – I still find this hard to incorporate in my daily routine but I find it really relaxing and energizing when I do
    • Sleep for at least 7.5 hours a day

Lesson 2: Disconnect and Walk

  • Key takeaways:

    • Take time to relax! Unwind and disconnect from electronics (phone, tablet, laptop) to connect to the people around you and more importantly, to connect with yourself

    • Walking helps
      • Make you more creative

      • De-stress

      • Make you healthy mentally and physically
      • You deal with depression
    • Don’t think while walking, notice everything around you
  • Action Items:
    • Walking as an alternate to my daily exercise
    • Make sure to disconnect and relax at least 30 minutes before going to bed
    • Turn off notifications from apps

Practicing the Law of attraction

I’ve read about this a lot and I’m really amazed about how other people have made this work in their lives.

Law of attraction. It’s not just a theory that someone made up. It’s actually a law! Like the law of gravity? Lol. For me it’s also biblical. The Lord said, Ask and you shall receive. They say that when you pray, you have to believe in your heart that it has already been granted. That is what we call expectant faith. 😉

I was reminded of this law when I read The Secret. I’ve read numerous books and blogs that make a reference to this awesome book but it’s only now that I’ve read the actual book. And though I feel like I already know the things that it talks about, I’m still enlightened.

If you haven’t read it, l recommend that you do. It’ll help you shape up your days and even your life. From this day forward, I will be practicing the law of attraction! How?

1. Create my day in advance, practice the art of visualization. I will envision how great my day will be. From the moment I wake up, I will be thankful for the great things and great people that will fill my day.
“I am going to have an awesome day today! I will live my best life today! I will enjoy this day!”

2. Reprogram the events of my day that did not go well and replace it with visions of how it should go. According to The Secret, when you do this, you are cleaning up your frequency from the day and you are emitting a new signal and frequency for tomorrow. You have intentionally created new pictures for tomorrow.

3. Be grateful for the things I feel good about. Practice the attitude of gratitude
“Gratitude is the way to bring more into your life” – Marci Shimoff
“Whatever we think about and thank about, we bring about.” – Dr John Demartini

Reviews: Sending Money to the Philippines Through Remitly

Buhay POFW… POFW for Parang OFW. Hehe..

Technically I am not an OFW (Overseas Filipino Worker) – at least that’s what our company HR said. But since I’m a Filipino who’s temporarily working outside of the Philippines, then I am somewhat an OFW. I also checked the web for a definition of OFW:

Overseas Filipino Workers or OFWs are Filipinos working abroad that are expected to return permanently either upon the expiration of a work contract or upon retirement. – Wikipedia

As an OFW, I am expected to send money to the Philippines. I send money to my family (parents, brothers and sister) and also to my personal account to pay my bills/investments in the Philippines (Avida, Sunlife, Prulife, Citiseconline).

At first I was literally clueless. When I was in the Philippines, I usually sent money to my family in the province through BDO (thank God for their Cash Card program!), MLhuillier and Cebuana Lhuillier. It was always a hassle. You know, withdrawing money, going to the  other bank to deposit. Or worse, find a near *Lhuillier and line up to send money. The BDO option is more convenient. Although I have to withdraw money from BPI and deposit it to BDO. So in short, the process of sending money to my family was very time-consuming and inconvenient.

But now, here in the US, they’ve made (almost) everything very convenient for everyone. Almost everything is interconnected! With just a few clicks, I could send money from my bank here in the US to my bank in the Philippines! Cool!!!

remitlyHow? Through Remitly.com. They are the middle men who work with both banks. I have done my own research about all the existing remittance services and so far most (if not all) of my Filipino friends are using Remitly. My friends said that they offer the highest conversion rate. Check them out for yourself now… 🙂

My Top 10 Favorite Android Apps

I’ve been using my Android Phone (Kata i1) for almost 3 weeks now. By the way, I got it for 9,500 because I used my credit card to purchase it (my first time to use the card for purchases). It should only be 8,400 if I paid it in cash. As I’ve mentioned in my earlier post, the phone has nice specs and so far I’m pleased with its performance.

I’ve downloaded and installed free apps from Google Play and here are my favorites:

1. Expense Manager – It’s a great app for managing your daily expenses. Now I no longer have to keep a small notebook for my expenses.

2. Evernote – I use this for writing my journals and I’m currently exploring this to draft my blog posts.

3. My Calendar – I use this to track my menstrual period – It’s a girl thing! :p

4. Calendar – helps me keep track of my appointments

5. DX Toolbox – manages the apps running on my phone and cleans up memory

6. Shopping list – I use this to list the items that I need to shop for. It allows me to categorize the item and helps me keep track of my budget by setting the number of items to be bought and the price per item

7. Any.DO – One of my top fave app. It’s an excellent and easy to use to-do list app.

8. WordPress – Of course, it should be on my list! I’ve been using this to write and publish my blog posts. However since I am using the phone keypad, I often have lots of typos on my posts. 😛

9. Dropbox – syncs my files – esp. photos from my phone with my online storage. 🙂

10. Adobe Reader  – I am happy that I am able to read my e-books conveniently on my phone and the app also allows me to highlight key words in the book. I still prefer this over Aldiko. 🙂 I wanted to include the Bible app in this list but lately I’m disappointed with the fact that I had to buy the pro version for me to listen to the audios. Maybe I just had to tinker with the settings and download the audios when I have the time.

How about you? What are your favorite Android apps?

Finally, a smartphone!

i’ve been thinking about getting a smartphone since July. And I’ve been eyeing note2 and blackberry. i didn’t  want iPhone because it’s too restrictive. i like the freedom that android phones give me. I have been an advocate of free and open source software so i love these cool stuff.

but note 2 was just too expensive for my taste.  i wanted a phone that is

image
testing the cam on my hausmate jo

dual sim, has a front camera, has a fast processor,  and can render ebooks beautifully.. and of course,  it should fit nicely within my budget. And luckily i found Kata! I was already thinking of getting a Lenovo when the saleslady offered me kata.

Hmm…so far i am happy with my smartphone!  It has an 8 MP cam,a dual core processor,  and 4Gb internal memory.  🙂

My gosh, i am blogging using my smartphone! Yey! Cool!

In Need of Romance

I super love this Korean drama entitled “In Need of Romance”!!!

Ever since I started working on mid shift, I could only watch TV from about 12noon to 4pm. I was shuffling from channel to channel until this Korean drama caught my attention. The story line and the characters are all captivating! This is, by far, my most favorite Korean drama of all time! 🙂

Maybe because I can relate to it. Haha.

This is about 3 women in their early thirties (By the way, I’m not yet 30. But I can relate to their everyday dillemas). The story revolves around the careers, love lives, and friendship of 3 women. It’s almost like Sex and the City but hmm.. for me, it’s more romantic and fun.

The main character broke up with his 10-year boyfriend (and live-in partner) when she discovered that he was cheating.

And then she got romantically involved with the gorgeous owner of the company she’s working in (pogi!!).

This cute guy, her ex, wants to win her heart again. But…well.. he already cheated.. 😦 A relationship is so hard to mend when there are already trust issues. Sad.

Another character is looking for the man that she would one day marry.

And the other one is a career-oriented woman who “sleeps around” and never gets too attached with the men she dates for fear of being hurt.

I really, really love this Korean series and I hope I can get a DVD soooon!!! Can someone tell me where I can get a copy of this? I watch it at TVN – channel 75 along with SuperStar K! Love love love this series!!!

Condo design ideas

Today I had the chance to just  laze up in my bedroom and spend some quality me-time with my lappy. So I used this time to search for design ideas for the condo unit that I reserved at Avida Centera a week ago. I decided to buy a condo unit instead of a house and lot because after living in a condo for more than a year already, I realized that I love urban living and right now (and maybe 10 years from now), this will really suit my lifestyle. I really hate commuting and traffic that’s why a house and lot in the province isn’t so enticing for me. After all, all throughout my life, I never experienced travelling for almost an hour to and from my school or office. So I’d willingly trade a few pesoses for my convenience and comfort.

I have been wondering how I would design my 23 sq m studio unit in Avida so that I could easily lure guests to stay for a night at my “condotel”. I’m planning to turn this unit into a condotel as an investment so that people from Mangagoy or Gensan or Davao or Cebu… who’ll want to stay in Manila for a couple of days will be able to have the comfort and the accessibility to the areas they need to go to. Centera is located along EDSA and is just a few steps away from Boni MRT station, and a ride away from SM Megamall, Galleria, Trinoma, hmm..practically anywhere! It’s located at the heart of Metro Manila so it’s really accessible… The turnover will still be in 2015 – 3 years from now! But I’m already soooo excited to dress up my very own condo unit. 🙂

So I googled and read lots and lots of blogs and articles on maximizing small condo unit space and having function meet “fashion” in interior designing. And the ideas I got from IKEA and mydesignfolder.com were really A-M-A-Z-I-N-G! Here are some pics that I borrowed from their sites:

IKEA’s living room with loft bed – suitable for a young family.
From IKEA: The loft bed…this one is the view on top of the previous pic.  Nice idea, don’t you think? With a curtain for more privacy. 😉
From http://mydesignfolder.com: A queen-sized bed and shelves near the ceiling. More storage for my books! Yay!
From http://mydesignfolder.com: A sofa during the day…
From http://mydesignfolder.com: A bed at night… with cabinets for storage at the top to maximize space..
From http://mydesignfolder.com A slim dining table can save lots of space. But I’d prefer a glass top to create an illusion of a bigger space

I learned that for interior designing of condo units, you have to keep in mind the following:

1. Choose furniture wisely. Measure their dimensions and choose those that are multi-purpose like a sofa bed – a sofa during the day and a bed at night, or a lounge with a storage area beneath it and storage bins that can serve as chairs.

2. Make use of your vertical space. You can install cabinets/shelves up to the ceiling to maximize space. But don’t overdo it so that your condo won’t look like a big storage room.

3. Paint the room with monochromatic or earthly shades because they can bring more depth and create an illusion of a bigger room. Make use of lights and mirrors too.

4. Use furniture or tables with wheels so that you can easily move them from one are to another, as needed. Also, choose those with glass tops so that the room will look bigger.

5. Choose a theme and plan ahead! 😉

Aaaall is well! :)

Last night, I stayed up so late because I mistakenly started to watch the movie 3 Idiots at 10pm. At first I thought I just wanted to relax after spending my Saturday at the office, take a peek into the movie,  and see if it’s really worth watching (it was highly recommended by one of my teammates and almost all the DVD vendors at the bangketa where I bought it). And yeah, obviously, I could no longer stop watching it until the end.

I loved the movie because it was so beautifully told and the lessons about life and learning are really great and so easy to relate to. Maybe it has touched me more because I have been both a student and an educator myself.

“Life is a race”
At an early age, so much has been expected from me as a student. Especially when I entered a high school full of “supposedly nerds” – I mean, really gifted kids – the “creme of the crop”, as they say. At first I was really scared because I thought I had to “compete” with all the other students to prove that I was good enough to belong. Luckily, a wise person told me that you really don’t have to compete with anyone, you only have to keep on striving to become a better you, to continuously improve, to outdo yourself, and seek your maximum potential. And while you’re at it, just have FUN, break some rules, and don’t be afraid to make mistakes. “Life is NOT a race.”

“Suicide”
I really had goosebumps when I saw one of the students, “Joy Lobo” hanging inside his dorm room. I remembered an incident when I was still on my second year of teaching, I was busy computing grades because it was time to submit the final grades of the students when I felt there was some commotion in the neighborhood. My brother went out to investigate and came back with a very disturbing news. An engineering student who was supposed to graduate in a few weeks hanged himself in his room. Apparently, he didn’t pass his project defense and he can’t tell his parents that he can’t graduate because his family are already so excited for his graduation and are coming over in a few days. Instead of seeing him get his diploma on stage, they saw him lifeless, hanging inside his room.

“Be what you want to be, follow your heart”
Don’t try to be what other people (not even your parents/family) want you to be. Do what you want to do with your life. As what one of the characters said, “you may earn less, live in a simpler house, drive a smaller car…, but you will be happy.” Maybe I am fortunate enough to have been given the chance to live my dream, to follow my heart and do what I love to do. Once upon a time, fear kept me from doing what I wanted to do with my life. Good thing, before it was too late, I had the courage to step out of my comfort zone and try to follow my heart, to be in the industry and be a software engineer. I may not be good enough or an expert in this field yet but I am happily learning… and right now, this is all that matters. 🙂

Eternal Sunshine of a Spotless Mind & No Other Woman

Eternal Sunshine of a Spotless Mind

This movie caught my attention when I turned on the  TV. I forgot about my dance exercise and cooking lessons altogether. Jim Carrey and Kate Winslet were a strange couple. The movie was very intriguing and it would keep you thinking and guessing. Clementine (Kate Winslet)  brought color and excitement to Joel (Jim CarreyUntil)’s dark and boring life. Until one day, Clementine didn’t seem to recognize Joel anymore – which left Joel broken and hurt.

Apparently,  Clementine has erased Joel from her memory through a medical procedure. She requested that the procedure be done to her because she was no longer happy with her relationship with Joel and she wanted to move on. I instantly remembered the time when I so wanted for someone to invent a “memory pill” so that I could forget everything about my past, delete them all from my memory and just stop hurting. It’s like that when we experience so much pain, we could make permanent decisions based on temporary feelings.

Back to the movie.. Joel decided to have the same operation so he could also forget all about Clementine and just move on with his life. Meanwhile, an interesting twist happened in the story. The doctor’s wife caught him and his secretary making out. The younger girl asked for forgiveness and admitted that it was her mistake for having a silly crush on the doctor and told the wife that there was really nothing going on with the two of them. Surprisingly, the wife pitied the young girl and told the doctor to tell the truth to her.

The doctor’s secretary (Kirsten Dunst) discovered that the doctor performed the procedure on her because they had an affair and they both agreed that it would be best if she’d forget about the two of them because the doctor was married and had kids. Later, the secretary discovered that she was happier before the operation and now she was miserable. She wanted all the other patients who had the procedure performed on them to remember their past and she sent all the recorded tapes to them – including Clementine and Joel – who were, at the meantime, getting to know each other again (without knowing that they had a past).

Both Clementine and Joel (who were starting to get romantically involved with each other again) were shocked to receive their respective recordings with the doctor – detailing why they wanted the procedure to be done on them. They realized that they were already a couple before and they wanted to erase each other from their lives.

Did they end up together – again? Hmmm..maybe. Sometimes in our lives, we could come to a point when we just want to delete people from our lives. Deleting them from our contact list on our phones or friends list on Friendster/Facebook can be really therapeutic and can help us in our process of healing. But that doesn’t mean that we are able to completely delete them from our lives – and the reality is, we really CAN’T.

We all have our own ways of healing and moving forward. And later, when the pain is gone, we will be able to see how and why that person became a part of our lives. 🙂

No Other Woman

Why did I relate this movie with the previous one? Because the former also had an interesting story of how a married man wanted to correct his mistakes by erasing himself from the memory of his mistress.

With No Other Woman, if you are a wife, you’d feel triumphant and proud. And if you are a mistress, it makes you realize that you are fighting a losing battle – except if the married man is really in love with you and is willing to leave his family for you. Tough luck.

It’s really a nice movie – really worth my time and money. Aside from being a huge fan of Anne Curtis and Derek Ramsay is like, my super crush, the movie was well written. Thumbs up to Philippine Cinema.

Now women have an idea on how to be a cool, “palaban”, and smart wife – you have to fight for your right, for your love, and for your man! And keep them away from hot, seductive, temptations a.k.a. mistresses. Haha.