"Hey you guys!"

I went camping last weekend. 

The above sentence, though true to every word, failed to capture what really went down the 2.5 days out on the road, away from the city.  Nothing scandalous or dramatic happened.  On contrary, it was a weekend adventure Spielberg himself would be proud of.

Sure, the first night in a questionable motel somewhere in Hangzhou wasn't quite roughing it, but after a 3 hour bus ride and arriving past midnight on a cold, rainy Friday night/Saturday we were happy NOT to be in a tent.  Katie and I got rooms on the top floor (ballers, holler) and it was a room with a squatter toilet + 4 beds.  Anyway, it was suffice to say we passed out right away. 

8AM breakfast -- before I write about breakfast, the plaster on the ceiling fell on me in the wee hours.  Plus, we were idiots and forgot to turn on the heat.  So even though we were indoors, it felt like the great outdoors.  I noticed Katie had put on all her clothes/jackets as she emerged from her sleeping bag of a cocoon.  Back to breakfast.  The tour group said western style breakfast -- toast with PB &J does not constitute as a western breakfast, but whatever.  I 'heart' PB&J.

10:30am.  How many blondes does it take to set up a tent?  Apparently just 1 Italian guy. 

12pm.  We rappelled 50 metres (estimate) over a cliff into a cave.  Took a good 3 hours for everyone to make a go.  2 things to highlight during rappelling.  1)  Lady in white sweat pants defied all odds and kept her fuckin white ass sweat pants dirt free.  2)  Food truck lady and her not so reliable husband.  They both went down the cliff together, she was scared shitless and her husband just scurried past her to get to the bottom.  Big time douche.

3pm.  Underground caves.  Lady in white pants managed to keep herself dry and dirt free.  She either had 3 pairs of the same pants or she's a magician.

6pm.  BBQ + lanterns + campfire.

11pm.  3 little pigs in a tent.  No ghost stories, unless you count the "I killed a man" story from Kristen, which isn't worth repeating.

7am.  Cue "Circle of Life".  Yes, that's Kristen's alarm and it was quite fitting as the sun was shining and a million fuckin birds were chirping.

10am.  After breakfast, we went to a new location to explore more underground caves.  But this time, it was straight out of Goonies.  No safety harnesses or gear, it was just a pair of revolutionary made shoes (with holes), 1 flashlight and our wits.  It took 2 hours (maybe more) to trek down and circle back, but the last leg of the excursion was the most memorable. 

Imagine yourself 50 yards below the ground, in caves that not many people have had the luxury to explore.  Makeshift ladders made of bamboo/steel and a rope to guide you further down into the cave.  Imagine a body of water, a rickety bamboo raft and a waterfall at the other end.  Yes, we had to hop onto the raft (2 at a time), pull ourselves across the body of water, hop onto the ledge and climb up the mother fuckin water fall (it was like a 30 feet vertical climb).  All this in the dark, without a safety harness or anything.  Its a testament of what we can achieve when we're put to the test.  Spielberg would be proud -- heck, I'm proud of us and thankful no one had gotten hurt. 

Lady in white sweat pants was still lady in WHITE sweat pants.

4pm.  One last hike to get to the bus.  After hiking for an hour or so, we came upon a cliff and had to walk down.  This one wasn't too bad.  Down the cliff and another hour or so hike later, we finally made it to the bus.  It was a great end to a great weekend adventure.

10pm.  Back to the city.

Starbucks-ing

At the neighborhood Starbucks working on a very lovely business plan.  Go go Argentina wine brand!


This week back in the grind felt like a month - no joke.  It's mind bottling how quickly one can just go back into routine.  I had a pretty awesome Friday night in recent history.  Productive day in the office, followed by massages, then Korean BBQ and capped it off with an episode of Forever in bed.  If only I could live everyday like that.


A coworker messaged earlier today inviting me to hang with him and his wife later on.  I should back track to earlier in the week, he had asked me what I did for fun during the weekends.  With much hesitation (for some reason that question caught me off guard), I replied with tv and doing nothing.  Which for me, is pretty awesome.  So fast forward to today, a pleasant surprise invite to hang.  I have a feeling he felt bad for me, but I quite like my 'me' time.  Plus, I spend most weekends catching up / attempting to catch up on work. 


So as I'm wrapping my afternoon PPT session, I shall have dinner with him and his wife and finish up the PPT later tonight at home and hopesfully get a few km's around the creek.


Not too shabby for a slacker.

Back to the grind

Jeez, its been almost a year since I've last posted.  Stupid China, blocking crucial websites...

I installed a couple of VPN software, so hopefully I can keep my mind sane and blog about my wonderful and exciting time in China!

Since the last update, BS drama from 2 people that couldn't differentiate business and personal.  Saw some bits of China and the long history.  Chinese people are still nice and polite (for the most part), its unfair to generalize the entire 1.2 billion population based on the news clips.  If this were applied to everyone, it would be end of humanity.

Started a new adventure in the wine business.  So far, its a back and forth of ass kicking and being kicked in the vagina.  Can't say I love it nor hate it.  Sometimes, I just find it annoying -- if that makes any sense. 

I also find it funny I escape to Taipei every chance I get.  2nd trip in 4 months and I'm already planning my 3rd trip in May.  Whatever it takes to survive and to keep a peace of mind, yah?

I keep telling people my future plans, not to brag, but to act as a constant reminder and to keep my sights on the targeted goals for 2016 and 2017/18.  Maybe that's why it's wearing me down, thus mini breakdown of 2015.  Fun stuff.

Itty bitty bits of wisdom that has floated in my mind the past couple of years:

1.  when needed, ask for help -- sometimes easier said than done
2.  no one really cares/remembers when you make an ass of yourself -- unless it was epic and filmed
3.  giving others a break also means giving yourself a break
4.  taking the time to stop and pet the neighborhood dog is an awesome feeling
5.  saying 'ok, I'll handle it' only leaves the door open for more crap.  choose wisely when uttering these deadly words.

Talking Dog

How does a Taiwanese dog adjust to life in America?  I don't really know, but it looks like Monga is managing..


Conversations between her and my parents:


Convo 1:


Dad:  are you a good dog, monga?  yes, you are.  you are a good dog..


Me: -__-




Convo 2:


Mom: monga, do you like America more or Taiwan?


Me:  -__-




Convo 3: 


Dad:  you wanna go to casino?  to outlet?


Me:  -__-

Nancy Says Relax

Been feeling like a zombie the past 2 days -- more like emotionally drained.   People have gotts to be more optimistic around here. 


So here's what I gotta say:


Folks:  we all hate some aspect of our job,
shit happens, even to the mob,
no one's perfect, bob,
there's always gonna be that douchebag, so don't sob,
and finally, for the love of god, move, the fuck, on...


*drops mic, struts away*

All's Well that Ends Well

I talked to an old ad friend today and was quite surprised to hear him warn me of some folks I'm currently working with..

I don't know what to make of it.  Maybe he's changed or the people he mentioned have changed.  Or maybe we've all changed.

I'm looking around and I can see it happening.  You lose yourself in the environment, the office culture and politics and it is ugly.

I hope some of the younger folks keep their integrity -- cuz not all places, clients, bosses are like the one's here.

2 fingas like a playa~

Incorrigible

You know the stereotypical cliques we had in high school that kinda disappeared for a bit in college cuz everyone was equally awkward in their own right...and you get into the work place and its high school all over again?

Agency = high school and its the breakfast club all over again. 

I never liked the office games -- I just want to do great work.  And in the midst of this BS, a small gesture restored my faith in this crazy industry and I salute you for it.

*Grunt Grunt*

To the lady in the next bathroom stall:

The stalls aren't sound proof (notice the gap on top/bottom of the door?)..

Please leave the grunting at home.

thank you~

Everything is awesome~

Its been over a month since the Seahawks won the Superbowl.. why am I blogging about it now?  Delayed reaction, most likely.  But reflecting last year/season, watching the games every Mondays/Tuesdays/Fridays reignited the love for the game.  Whether it was watching Brady making unbelievable plays in the 4th or the KC Chiefs cinderella story or even being sympathetic to the other Manning brother (or both), it was a great season of football -- especially for the Seahawks. 

Sherman may have gotten mixed reviews for his supposedly poor sportsmanship (caught on tape) at the end of the SF game, but his article to the press put to rest what the public deemed 'the stereotypical jock'.  Another player, I so pleasantly read about on the commute to work today, Rashard Mendenhall of the Cardinals.  In the article, he defended his reason for retiring during his prime (26yo) to do the things he wanted to do -- to write, travel and live life!  Both players showcasing, so eloquently, their reasoning's without biased to the organization/team/players.  I'm glad the younger fans have these type of players to look up and follow in the footsteps of.

But back to ME.  As WTF as this sounds, football kinda saved me -- yes, I'm realizing the magnitude of the WTF as I'm typing this.  During that time, I was in between jobs and apts, football was a hot topic between friends back home and also to a few fanatics here, which made the transition less lonely -- if that even makes sense. 

Football is awesome. The Seahawks are awesome.  Life is awesome.

Homey's Taipei

At one of my favorite hang out spots in the city.  Homey's, not to be confused with 'homies' -- ah, early 90's slang never gets old (sike).

I have my stern face on, not b/c I'm deep in thought as I'm typing away, but b/c I have a piece of bacon stuck in my teeth and my tongue is working overtime to wiggle it free.  Yes, the bathroom is over yonder, but I feel not compelled to move.

Its a Monday afternoon and I'm surprised to see the number of patrons in the shop -- does no one work anymore?  To each their own.

In continuance with 90's nostalgia, good ol Norah Jones is once again my companion as I research articles on packaging and how it affects consumer purchase intention.  Fun stuff~

Come on Norah, work your magic.

Floris Apple

I don't know what it is about fruity beers, but me likey!

Can't Sleep, Clown'll Eat Me ... (again)

I don't know why I never learn my lesson.  NEVER EVER drink coffee past 8pm.  Ugh~

Sign here, here, here....

Took a leap of faith yesterday.  Can't believe this is actually happening.  But sometimes, you just gotta do it.  We'll see what happens in September.

2013.5.19

Holy crap, last post was dated September 18, 2012!

Having a bit of fun listening to oldies as I'm blogging. I just want to jump on the counter tops and start doing the mash potato or the twist. People next to me must be annoyed cuz I'm typing pretty loud and to the beat.

Nothing out of the norm happened in the last 7 months.  I moved out of "Jersey" and back in the city.

Spent new years in Boracay -- the supposed 2 hours of fireworks were totally overrated.  Sadly, the awesomest beach in SE Asia has been bombarded with Taiwanese, Chinese and Korean tourists.  What was once a chill stretch of beach has become a mecca of umbrella toting, high heel wearing, tourists. 

I still had fun.  One thing to note:  on the bus ride to the hotel, our nice tour guide subtly mentioned there was a murder on the loose and told us not to worry, but nevertheless, warned us about stranger danger.  Sure, sure~



Up next:  moving into the new place, trip to Alishan (?), trip to HK (?) trip back home in July/Aug.

Stupid is as stupid does..

4 weeks ago, I briefed our ad agency that our pantry wall needed another wave of iD visuals (using posterboards or whatever). The brief was to use images from our launch activations instead of a key visual to keep the launch momemtum up. Its not a huge wall. Took our agency 7 days to provide 3 layouts. My boss then replied with 'can we use a tv or ... to loop the images/videos instead of printing a handful of images?' Took our agency almost 2 weeks to provide 2 layouts that was pretty much the previous layout with a tv. The GROUP ACCOUNT DIRECTOR came in yesterday morning to talk about the wall with her team. The GAD mentioned multiple useless things (amongst them a truss?!) and the Account Manager called their production department for execution advice and replied with 'since this will affect the wall, we suggest contacting the interior design company and have them take a look..' PEOPLE, its a SIMPLE project of utilizing our wall to display what we've done thus far!!!! The account manager later called me and suggested we use Jo-Jing, this event house that we've been working with lately. I happily agreed. Jo-Jing came in this morning, I re-briefed them, they got it on the spot and told me I'll be receiving 5-6 different layouts by Friday (4 days!). I really want to tell EURO to suck it.

Hump Day

Blogging on a Wednesday morning! This can only mean things at work has slowed down considerably -- woot! Flying home next weekend and pretty happy/anxious about the trip. Will make a stop in Santa Cruz for Danny's wedding, SF/Oakland to meet up with Marlow and Amanda, possibly LA/NY to meet up with Jeff and the amigos, Erica, Heather and the big H. Lots of flying over the course of 2 1/2 weeks. Bring.it.on! For some reason, I'm on an aredenaline kick. I have my eyes set on kite surfing in Boracay, come new years -- but I'm also thinking about snowboarding in South Korea over xmas! I'll have around 5 vacation days left after the Seattle trip -- hmm..

Heading to Boracay over New Years. I hear its the go to place for kite surfing in SE Asia. Could be the olympics influence, but I'm so pumped for it. Training begins NOW! No fried food. No alcohol, er, less alcohol. Cardio + weight training. And most importantly: learn how to freakin swim! Bulalog Beach, I've got my eyes on you!

Hello Stranger

I see Jen maybe 3-4 times a year and Fanny at most once a year. What is wrong with this picture? I called up Fanny earlier today to see if she had time to grab some coffee, after a quick update, we made plans to meet in October. Lol~ entrepreneurs! Gotta catch them while u can. The work crew had a 'tennis/basketball' day last Sunday. I, being a playground bully, schooled this poor boy in a game of one on one. In my defense, he was the one that challenged me and as karma is a beeyotch, I'm getting acupuncture on my knee as sort of time out from the powers that be. Was I proud of scoring 6pts to his 0? No, not really. Did it make me feel younger? Oh, most def. Would I do it again? U bet your ass I would. And I would do it in less time.

April Showers Bring May Flowers

Thats me in Moalboal, Cebu. 5 days of nothingness was pure bliss. Now that I'm back in reality -- work life kinda blows~ If only I could frolic on the white sandy beaches all day, everyday... So now, on a Tuesday morning I'm blogging b/c everything is backed up. Sure, I have a couple events next month that aren't even close to finalization. Sure, the launch is still set for June, but yet Group Marketing is still making design changes. Sure, I spent close to US$750 at a KTV place last Friday to finally celebrate the launch of the last project I was on. Thank god I will be reimbursed for that amount later this month. And sure, the underdog got her promotion via resignation. Sly move fo'sure. But its all good. Events will still happen, product will launch, I'll get my money back and none of my biz how she got her promotion... Berto's in town. Andy's in town. Greg will be in town. Kristi's about to pop. May maddess! If only I didn't have to do taxes =P

15 Things You Should Give Up To Be Happy

Borrowing this from the purpose fairy:

1. Give up your need to always be right. There are so many of us who can’t stand the idea of being wrong – wanting to always be right – even at the risk of ending great relationships or causing a great deal of stress and pain, for us and for others. It’s just not worth it. Whenever you feel the ‘urgent’ need to jump into a fight over who is right and who is wrong, ask yourself this question: “Would I rather be right, or would I rather be kind?” Wayne Dyer. What difference will that make? Is your ego really that big?


2. Give up your need for control. Be willing to give up your need to always control everything that happens to you and around you – situations, events, people, etc. Whether they are loved ones, coworkers, or just strangers you meet on the street – just allow them to be. Allow everything and everyone to be just as they are and you will see how much better will that make you feel.

“By letting it go it all gets done. The world is won by those who let it go. But when you try and try. The world is beyond winning.” Lao Tzu

3. Give up on blame. Give up on your need to blame others for what you have or don’t have, for what you feel or don’t feel. Stop giving your powers away and start taking responsibility for your life.

4. Give up your self-defeating self-talk. Oh my. How many people are hurting themselves because of their negative, polluted and repetitive self-defeating mindset? Don’t believe everything that your mind is telling you – especially if it’s negative and self-defeating. You are better than that.

“The mind is a superb instrument if used rightly. Used wrongly, however, it becomes very destructive.” Eckhart Tolle

5. Give up your limiting beliefs about what you can or cannot do, about what is possible or impossible. From now on, you are no longer going to allow your limiting beliefs to keep you stuck in the wrong place. Spread your wings and fly!

“A belief is not an idea held by the mind, it is an idea that holds the mind” Elly Roselle

6. Give up complaining. Give up your constant need to complain about those many, many, maaany things – people, situations, events that make you unhappy, sad and depressed. Nobody can make you unhappy, no situation can make you sad or miserable unless you allow it to. It’s not the situation that triggers those feelings in you, but how you choose to look at it. Never underestimate the power of positive thinking.

7. Give up the luxury of criticism. Give up your need to criticize things, events or people that are different than you. We are all different, yet we are all the same. We all want to be happy, we all want to love and be loved and we all want to be understood. We all want something, and something is wished by us all.

8. Give up your need to impress others. Stop trying so hard to be something that you’re not just to make others like you. It doesn’t work this way. The moment you stop trying so hard to be something that you’re not, the moment you take of all your masks, the moment you accept and embrace the real you, you will find people will be drawn to you, effortlessly.

9. Give up your resistance to change. Change is good. Change will help you move from A to B. Change will help you make improvements in your life and also the lives of those around you. Follow your bliss, embrace change – don’t resist it.
“Follow your bliss and the universe will open doors for you where there were only walls” Joseph Campbell

10. Give up labels. Stop labeling those things, people or events that you don’t understand as being weird or different and try opening your mind, little by little. Minds only work when open. “The highest form of ignorance is when you reject something you don’t know anything about.” Wayne Dyer

11. Give up on your fears. Fear is just an illusion, it doesn’t exist – you created it. It’s all in your mind. Correct the inside and the outside will fall into place.
“The only thing we have to fear, is fear itself.” Franklin D. Roosevelt

12. Give up your excuses. Send them packing and tell them they’re fired. You no longer need them. A lot of times we limit ourselves because of the many excuses we use. Instead of growing and working on improving ourselves and our lives, we get stuck, lying to ourselves, using all kind of excuses – excuses that 99.9% of the time are not even real.

13. Give up the past. I know, I know. It’s hard. Especially when the past looks so much better than the present and the future looks so frightening, but you have to take into consideration the fact that the present moment is all you have and all you will ever have. The past you are now longing for – the past that you are now dreaming about – was ignored by you when it was present. Stop deluding yourself. Be present in everything you do and enjoy life. After all life is a journey not a destination. Have a clear vision for the future, prepare yourself, but always be present in the now.

14. Give up attachment. This is a concept that, for most of us is so hard to grasp and I have to tell you that it was for me too, (it still is) but it’s not something impossible. You get better and better at with time and practice. The moment you detach yourself from all things, (and that doesn’t mean you give up your love for them – because love and attachment have nothing to do with one another, attachment comes from a place of fear, while love… well, real love is pure, kind, and self less, where there is love there can’t be fear, and because of that, attachment and love cannot coexist) you become so peaceful, so tolerant, so kind, and so serene. You will get to a place where you will be able to understand all things without even trying. A state beyond words.

15. Give up living your life to other people’s expectations. Way too many people are living a life that is not theirs to live. They live their lives according to what others think is best for them, they live their lives according to what their parents think is best for them, to what their friends, their enemies and their teachers, their government and the media think is best for them. They ignore their inner voice, that inner calling. They are so busy with pleasing everybody, with living up to other people’s expectations, that they lose control over their lives. They forget what makes them happy, what they want, what they need….and eventually they forget about themselves. You have one life – this one right now – you must live it, own it, and especially don’t let other people’s opinions distract you from your path.

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