Weekdays & Weekends

Trying to go out as much as I could, to see the world!

Yum Yummy Weekend

I had a very eventful weekend full of eating, and it's to go on until tomorrow! We have a bloggers' invite for a buffet and I'm preparing my tummy!

I will post most of my food pictures soon. I realized that food is one of the most photogenic things ever.

Meanwhile, check my latest blog post on Manila Foodistas about The Iscreamist. Click away! :-)

Har har.

Danne

I Wish We Had A Lot Of Museums

In the Philippines, we have lots of malls. Malls are sprouting like seedlings everywhere. It's not like it's bad. It shows that people are spending money, which could actually be good for the economy (if you look at it that way).

We have very few parks and museums though. Those are two places where it's good to be after a tough day, on a date or just to clear our head out.

Museums are places where we could be inspired, brought back to the past, be reminded of beauty in a chaotic, wicked world.

The star in most museums all around the world are paintings. There are breathtaking works, and then there are abstract works which make you think hmm I could have done that-- splattered random paint all over the canvas, that is.

My most favorite painter is Vincent Van Gogh, for the most part, because of his story. The anxiety is there. You can feel it emanating from his works.

The first one I've ever seen was his work entitled Roses. This picture I took of it (from the National Museum of Modern Art in Tokyo) doesn't give the painting justice, but I'll post anyway just because I was so happy I couldn't contain it when I took this photo!

It's like being a Beatles fan and seeing Paul perform live onstage. O_O

Here's a Van Gogh lithograph I'd like to see in real life. It's called At Eternity's Gate which was eventually painted two months before Van Gogh shot himself.

(Photo not mine)

Sigh sigh! I wish we had more accessible museums here in the Philippines where we could just randomly go at the end of one stressful day.

I hope they'd build more parks too.

Danne

Ergo, nomics

One of the most interesting things I have read about is ergonomics!

No it's not about demand and supply. Instead it's about how machines around us are designed to make us perform optimally and promote our well-being.

I'm the kind of person who wants everything to be 'sulit' (getting the most worth out of everything around), and I think that is the reason why ergonomics appeals to me. Getting the most out of little effort or actually having efficient systems around make life a little less hassle and a little more sulit!

Before you think ergonomics is too complicated to try to comprehend, I'd give you some helpful tips I have read throughout the Internet which you may find helpful and informative.

1. When typing, your wrists shouldn't be arching upwards.

When I read about this, I caught myself doing exactly what the picture above shows! And then I tried to straighten my wrists out and realized that woah! There was so much strain happening while my wrists were arched. Imagine that multiplied into 10 hours of computer time everyday! Whew, I should revise my typing habits! Or else, I might have carpal tunnel syndrome by the time I'm 60!

2. Laptops aren't ergonomic.

I just realized how using laptops, especially the smaller ones tend to be harmful in terms of posture. The rule of ergonomists (is there such a word?) is to have the screen at eye-level and at the same time, wrists not strained. Since the screen is attached to the keyboard, laptops only allow for one of those mentioned. So it's either you strain your eyes and neck or you strain your wrists. :/ Not good news!

3. Door knobs versus door levers

I appreciated door levers (right) because I had them for my door in my room in Japan. Whenever I carried dishes and laundry baskets from my room to the kitchen or laundry, I could easily open the door because they were easier to maneuver. Japan is probably one of the most ergonomic countries there is. They believe in ease of use, among many things, which allows living there to be more convenient in so much more aspects.

Anyway, back to door levers. Those could be opened by disabled people who have no hands by using their elbows, and so could we if in case we are carrying a lot of things. That's probably the reason why, besides its sleek design, that door levers are actually used more and more these days. I read in one site however, that levers can easily be opened by children or pets, so it's a handy thought if safety should be considered.

These are things we barely stop and think about and yet they make so much impact on our everyday lives. Do you agree?

I hope when people design homes or workplaces, they imagine the people who will actually be using them, and consider their convenience. That will definitely be a more wonderful world to live in!

Ergonomics is probably one of the most practical studies there is around!

Danne

Foodie

I like to blog about nice things, dreams, sleep, beautiful photos, poetry, stories, books, pop culture, art BUT never have I thought I'd blog about food.

But then there's room for a lot of new things in this new phase of my life so I decided to accept the invitation of one of my friends to join a food blog. I've known the founders of this blog from college so I decided to hop on and join Manila Foodistas. I love taking pictures, and now I have food to include in my subjects.

Kindly pay a visit to Manila Foodistas: Food, Lifestyle, Travel (<--click this)! There are several nice things to read about over there!

And for my photoblog for today:

I realized that lately I've been posting more snaps than actually writing. Is it because I could express myself better in photos? O_O

I am reading more so I could get back from my writing hiatus. I have no idea if reading and writing are actually correlated but I'd give it a shot anyway.

Danne

Poetry

Sometimes I like to read poems just because they are so beautifully written. The main difference between prose and poetry, probably is the idea that less words are used for poems, so every word has got to count and contribute something to the whole idea of the poem. Premises, reasons, spurs of emotions have to be given in lines, and they have to be properly segmented so that they deliver the real emotion. With that alone, a poem really, is a well thought-out art form, isn't it?

1Q84

Earlier today I dropped by a bookstore by chance. I tried to check out some Agatha Christie books and other nice reads...and I found this.

It's Murakami's '1Q84' (read as ichi-kyu-hachi-yon). It's available in the country already. I want a copy! I'll wait for the paperback version. Haruki Murakami is one of the authors I've learned to love.

Can you recommend other nice reads?

Miss

I miss walking along sights like this! And going to school, believe it or not.

Unibersidad ng Pilipinas

Allow me to write an ode to my most favorite university! It's not that I've attended many universities, so don't take my word as fact. I've only studied in two (one here & another in a foreign country) and I could say that ours could really compete with those abroad.

I can still remember being a freshman, basking in the glory of the Oblation and the AS Steps.

On my first day in college I could not be more excited to see life, in its depth and breadth, unfold right before me. I initially thought college was like a huge bowl where many ingredients mix, and that you'd come out of it as a yummy muffin or a pretty blueberry cheesecake.

I was not wrong! (Sorry for the double negative.) To add to the baking analogy, I think studying in UP allowed my baking bowl to be filled with more 'exotic' ingredients. By exotic, I don't mean frogs or cats (which we both dissected), but that instead of having 'chocolate chips', we have 'decadent chocolate chips with drippings'. That just means in my own point of view, studying here allowed me to have very enriching experiences. And I am glad to have maximized college like that.

I met so many awesome people: some were eccentric, others were geeks, many had quirks, but most are brilliant. People excelled in their own fields; or some, in multiple fields.

Teachers in this university have so much passion in their craft, and I think this is what fuels most students to study harder than they normally would. I would consider them heroes since they chose to stick around and serve despite and in spite of the lack of swell compensation. And you could say that they are not sticking around just because this is the only job they could get. Huge companies would hire them, yet they stuck around with us, students who often rant (with heart) about deadlines and requirements. Besides our parents, I think we also owe it to them to give a good future to this country.

I admit that I am not the most nationalistic or patriotic of sorts. I have strong feelings about certain issues, but I am not really the radical type to outwardly express them. However, being educated in a national state university instilled in me a sense of responsibility to Filipinos, 90 million of whom I barely know. I do not want to disappoint the taxpayers who spent so much so that I could get an excellent education. Pessimists could try and discourage us but I believe that UP students are not the kind to be shaken. Idealism that belongs to an Iskolar ng Bayan will go a long way because he can back it up.

Besides all these, I will miss the breath of fresh air the campus offers. In a toxic metropolis like Manila, it is a breather to go to school everyday with trees and sunlight greeting you. You could always get your own tree and sit beside it and just hug it or whatever, so that makes studying in this school a notch more awesome.

The World Without Deadlines

First of all, there would be no procrastinators because really, there would be no deadlines to be met. There would be no crammers even, since there's no to target to run after. Oh what joy, that's the kind of world a student would love to live in!

I just realized how it's truly difficult to work without a certain timetable in mind. The element that's missing is not the deadline but the sense of urgency! I cannot explain exactly how sense of urgency propels me to work. It's just like lighting a time bomb-- every action is suddenly motivated twice or thrice the intensity.

I think that the sense of urgency is one of the most powerful unseen forces ever. It gets things done! It moves muscles to work!

Urgency is actually made of uncertainty, nervousness and belief that hard work pays off.

To Love

“To love at all is to be vulnerable. Love anything and your heart will be wrung and possibly broken. If you want to make sure of keeping it intact you must give it to no one, not even an animal. Wrap it carefully round with hobbies and little luxuries; avoid all entanglements. Lock it up safe in the casket or coffin of your selfishness. But in that casket, safe, dark, motionless, airless, it will change. It will not be broken; it will become unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable. To love is to be vulnerable.”
― C.S. Lewis, The Four Loves

Wow, now I wanna read that book. I really believe C.S. Lewis is one of the best writers of all time.