Powerful With The Way We Respond

People say we always have a choice. Whatever it is that we are facing, it’s always our choice to handle it. We can choose to handle it optimistically, seeing the glass half full. We can also handle it pessimistically, seeing the glass half empty. But I guess, even if we always have the choice, we won’t be able to choose what situation we are in.

It’s like I decide to handle this problem maturely but it was not my decision to be in such situation. It’s so easy to blame the people and situations that put us to such things and to some degree it’s understandable. We don’t have a choice regarding the situations we would be facing; the choice comes from the situation and not the situation from the choice. But I believe that life in general is that way. The mere fact that anytime after I write this entry, something good or bad can happen to me or to anyone I do and do not know reminds us that we are not completely in control of our lives. We faced and will be facing situations that are consequences of the things we did and did not do. No matter how we would love to blame other people and/or other events that lead us to circumstances that we don’t like, it’s not really much of our say.

Our say comes after the situation happened. Fine, something bad happened, an accident for example that is least likely to happen but it still did. Chances are, it was not our choice to be in that situation. I would have never wished for the bad things that happened to me. I would have never decided to undergo such bad experiences but now as I write, I’m still so powerless with the line of events that I’ll be facing. I have no idea what will happen tomorrow or next week, next month or next year. But the wonderful part is that we could always DECIDE the way to react, the way to handle, and the way to push through. Even if we are powerless to the circumstances surrounding our life all pegged in a vast time line, we are powerful with the way we respond.

I was able to think about this when I was walking along the road on my way home. I was recalling some bad experiences that happened to me. I know I handle things pretty well but I thought to myself that even though it was my choice to be mature and to be optimistic with my situation, it was not my choice to be in that situation.

But then again, power is given to what is important. And as long as we remain powerful with the way we respond to the challenges we will be facing, I would like to believe that we’ll be able to make the best out of life.

Blogging For Fame and Fortune

Hello! I was reading some magazines before I went to a meeting yesterday. I found this:

(Picture from Entrepreneur Magazine)

It caught my attention because I really see blogging as a way to market things and knowing that a blog can get more than nine million page views per day just confirms this. It’s even more than marketing now, it can be a business itself. With that amount of people per day, companies would love to have their websites, banners, links, flash presentations and anything else to do with them advertised somewhere in your blog.

I checked out Perez Hilton (click the link if you love celebrity gossip hehe) and I saw ads from Google, McAfee, and other companies. These people pay to have their stuff advertised in the blog. Nice nice nice

But I guess you can’t just blog and expect nine million viewers per day after some years of blogging. As stated in the page I saw from the magazine (although it’s quite unclear from the picture), there are things you need to do if you want to attract millions to your blog. For me, it’s about creating a great web identity… an interesting one… an addicting one… a sexy one… a controversial one… and more and more and more.

The good thing about this is… it’s possible and if we want to take blogging to the next level, then why not?

Most Common Names On Facebook (I’m Not Common!) :)

With over 200 million users (info from TechCrunch), Facebook is undeniably a humongous slice from the Web pie.  If you think about it, it’s a great source of information about people around the globe. You can see pictures, notes, and videos of different people just by visiting their Facebook pages and of course, in the most basic sense, you can know their names.

But have you ever wondered what are the most common names in Facebook? We all know about common names like John, Mark, and Paul but how many Johns, Marks, and Pauls are out there in Facebook anyway?

An article by TechCrunch answers our question. If your first name is John, David, or Michael, you’re part of the top 3 first names in the Facebook world. Here’s the rest of the top ten first names:

First Name Count
1. John 1,037,972
2. David 966,439
3. Michael 798,212
4. Chris 647,966
5. Mike 535,065
6. Mark 526,198
7. Paul 511,504
8. Daniel 504,203
9. James 494,945
10. Maria 484,693

More than a million Johns? I wonder why. Hmmm should I name my future kid John? haha

TechCrunch also came out with the top ten last names. According to their article, the top last names give an idea about Facebook’s global reach and in 1st place is an American household name: Smith. Makes sense?

Last Name Count
1. Smith 1,049,158
2. Jones 520,943
3. Johnson 440,978
4. Lee 392,709
5. Brown 375,444
6. Williams 372,486
7. Rodriguez 328,984
8. Garcia 311,477
9. Gonzalez 277,987
10. Lopez 269,896

I know a lot of people with last names: Rodriguez, Garcia, Gonzales, and Lopez. Most of them are living in the Philippines. These names make up the top 7, 8, 9, and 10.  Hmmmm interesting…

Oh yeah, TechCrunch also came out with these:

Top 100 Most Common First Names On Facebook
Top 100 Most Common Last Names On Facebook
Top 100 Most Common Full Names On Facebook

I feel happy because my name is not included in the top ten lists. That means I’m not ‘common’! woohoo!

Wiki-PEE-dia

(picture from RunPee.com)

I think I have a problem with my bladder. I often go out of my routine to take a leak every 30 minutes or so, and sometimes I’m not drinking or eating anything. In movie houses, there are times when I get the urge to pee during the most important, exciting, and significant part of the movie. It’s irritating actually, but what can I do? When my bladder talks, I’m forced to listen.  Is that normal? Do I need to seek medical help? I don’t know but that’s not the point of this entry hehe.

I just discovered the perfect solution to my pee problems, specifically the ones while watching a movie: RunPee.com. What is it? It’s a web-based service and soon-to-be mobile app that helps you enjoy your movie experience and makes sure your bladder gets the attention it needs… at the same time!

In every movie, there are scenes that you can afford to miss. These are the parts that are not very critical to the plot; thus, missing it won’t affect your understanding and appreciation of the movie very much.

RunPee.com pinpoints these scenes by giving you clues like lines and descriptions before the less significant scenes start. You will also see a ‘Pee Time Time line’ so you would know the approximate time to get out of your seat and pee. Actually, you can do anything you like with the stated time. Go buy popcorn, make a phone call, or wash your face… It’s all up to you. But of course, the bladder is boss. Right? Right? Haha

Anyone can contribute in knowing the Pee Times for the movies thus making RunPee a Wiki-PEE-dia haha! I checked out their site. They have famous movies there with Pee Times available already.

Now we see another great innovation. A simple need developed into a great business concept… this is amazing. It may sound simple at first and you may not even think there’s a business opportunity connected to such need but if you go deeper and think in a more wild and crazy manner, why not right? Why not give moviegoers the time when the less significant scenes are flashed? I always wanted to know but I never imagined that it could be answered the RunPee way.

We must therefore remember that in business, no idea is crazy and wild enough. Keep an open mind… keep a wild, crazy, and curious mind!

When The Truth Gets Clouded By Lies

I believe that if there’s a single source of truth in every story we’re involved in, it is ourselves. No matter what other people say, you’re the only person who would know what really happened and what is currently happening to yourself.

There are times when we don’t say the most accurate things when we are asked about how we feel or what we think about something. It can always be filtered according to our intentions. Not really to deceive or to hurt people but more so to protect ourselves from consequences we perceive possible if we tell the complete truth. (But of course, there are people who are very significant to us, deserving the same truth as the one we know regardless of any situation.)

If we know the truth deep within ourselves but we keep on lying and coming up with different versions of stories for different groups of people, I believe that there is a possibility that the truth will be clouded with all your lies, leaving you all confused on what is true anymore.

Even if we are the single source of truth for ourselves, surrounding yourself with different groups of people with different versions of the truth is like surrounding yourself with landmines in a wide field. You’re setting a trap for yourself, a trap so bad that you won’t be able to move ahead anymore. You’ll be more focused in making sure that you don’t step on any landmine rather than concentrating on the right direction to go and moving ahead.

And the most ironic part, the single source of truth, which is you, won’t be a source of truth anymore.

*This may all be hypothetical. I just though about it*

Love Story (Taylor Swift) meets Viva La Vida (Coldplay)

I was in Starbucks around 2 weeks ago when a friend of a friend showed me a video in her Ipod. It was called “Love Story (Taylor Swift) meets Viva La Vida (Coldplay)”. The title made me curious so I checked it out. As soon as it started, time stopped as I was captured by the beautiful orchestration of a piano and cello playing the two songs. Beautiful. Enlightening. Inspiring. Awesome. I’m listening to it right now. You should check it out.

At the end of the video, the piano player explained why they thought of making such a thing. It was for her daughter

Political Cartoons

Hello! I love cartoons but when I was surfing around, I found these political cartoons from Time. What’s good about them is that they’re not just funny, they also make a whole lot of sense. And if you go deep down, you’ll realize a lot of stuff through these cartoons especially with regard to our current situation right now. I only selected the ones that hit me good but you could check out TIME.com for so much more. Enjoy!

If you just read articles about how Twitter is changing the way people communicate especially in other countries, you would agree. Well, at least I do.

I love peanut better hehe

Journalists, what do you think?

how true…

I love Elmo hehe

Does the saying ‘A business with no sign is a sign of no business’ still apply? :p

What Is Your Battery?

What keeps you going? What inspires you to wake up everyday? What makes you do the things that you do? What brings you to that state of satisfaction that you’re living your life? What is your battery that gives you energy to get going?

Hmmmmm… I often ask these questions to myself every time I wake up each morning. I always believe that there’s a reason why I’m still breathing and why did my eyes open after a long sleep. I always tell myself that it’ll be a nice day even though I know that it may not be. So now I wonder what keeps me going, why do I even go through life’s hassles? There must be something. Something great.

Maybe it’s the need to be successful. Yeah, I’ve always had the mindset of an achiever and I just can’t get enough. I need to do MORE and I need to achieve MORE. There’s really no line of satisfaction. It’s like after reaching the stars, you want to reach something higher, then higher, then higher.

Maybe it’s the feeling that someone needs me. It’s a great feeling and having this as my battery reminds me that my life is greater than myself. You live not just for yourself but for others as well. It’s always nice to hear these words and more so, it’s always nice to actually feel the depth of its meaning.

Maybe it’s because I need someone. Does it make sense? I think so. I live my day because I need someone… because I need to talk to that someone, because I need to walk with that someone, because I need to be with that someone.

Maybe it’s the need for adventure. Yeah I’m the adventurous type of person and I always like experiencing new things. There are so many great things within my grasp, all for the taking. As I have learned, life is an all-you-can-eat buffet. There’s enough adventure, happiness, satisfaction, and inspiration for everyone and you can get as many as you want.

Maybe it’s because I simply need to get going, to move forward, and to keep walking. No matter how much we feel that we don’t need to, I believe that there will always be a time when we’ll feel too tired and too bored to stay put, to stay deep below, to live a life we don’t desire. We’ll always have that ‘push’ that will get us back on the road. It may not come at an instant, but I believe that whatever happens it’ll always come.

We have different batteries that give us the energy to live our lives. It’s because we all have different personalities, different experiences, and different ways of coping up. But we should always acknowledge our batteries because they are very important in knowing why a day is worth living the best way possible.

What is your battery?

I Have An Acute Rhinopharyngitis (what again?)

(my medical certificate)

I just got back from the hospital and I was diagnosed with an Acute Rhinopharyngitis. I really don’t know what that means. Maybe I’ll  google it later. I have a lot of meds to take. I hope I get well soon. 3 days is too long for me haha.

Personalized Virtual Gifts Sent Via Facebook

(picture from Greetbeatz)

There’s a new great way to send a personalized virtual gift and it is fully integrated in Facebook. Instead of sending an e card or any of those forwarded supposed to be funny/inspirational emails, why don’t you go to Greetbeatz and have a song commissioned for your friend, loved one, enemy, or anyone you want to share a smile with. The good thing about Greetbeatz is that you can commission a basic birthday song (good for 2min) for free. Rates starts to come in when you want to commission a song for any other occasion, $9.95 for a 1:00-:30 min song, and $49.95 for a song with any length. The catch is that for the free birthday song; you can only customize a few words like the celebrator’s name and your name. As for the ones where you pay, you can customize the whole song. They have forms where you fill in the details. It’s so specific, they even ask for the pronounciation of the names you want to include in the song. They have dedicated artists who would produce your song and it takes up to 5 days max. After this, the end result appears on the recipient’s Facebook wall to be enjoyed by everyone.

Cool huh? They actually have nice songs. The birthday song I was able to hear is so cool, a lot of rap going on. It’s also a great way to make fun of someone if you think about it hehe. But of course, use it for the good. But for some laughs, yeah why not.

Oh yeah, they are also looking for artists so if you’re one, just contact them. Details can be found in their website.