Jeremiah

I couldn't summarize the series of unfortunate events into a blog post but I found one image to make me forget about them. Thank you, Papa G.

Account Executives

The moment I saw this artwork online – I couldn’t help but laugh. Allow me to dissect each photo and explain my take on it.

First shot – people think it’s all glamorous. It’s not. I can enumerate a lot of times where I would run in heels from the sound booth to the backstage and then back to the client. Packing items in the middle of the event, setting up and printing press releases 20 mins before media arrives. But hey, after we pulled through an event or any implementation – we like getting that pat on the back. We feel like a star.

Second Photo. The reason why I voluntarily took a Communication Course in college because I wanted to deal with less numbers as much as possible. I was thinking the whole time – I won’t need to deal with them in the future anyway. WRONG. When I started out in this company, I never really bothered changing the costing before sending to client. Now, I’ve come to realize if you put in value to what you do and especially the man-hours of your co-workers – I can call the shots on the cost – with the help of my supervisors and directors of course.

Shot number three: Like a boss. WHUT? No. Not exactly a boss, more of the gatekeepers. We are not simply order takers. I still have to give inputs in whatever deck we present and we still gather all info from the support teams – filter or add stuff. We’re supposedly the leaders for our respective projects.

If client thinks we go overtime like crazy. Go ahead. It’s true. We go overtime because we want to give them their money’s worth and shower them awesome presentations/ideas. Enough said.

As for the last shot - It’s true we’re always doing PowerPoint presentations for a client – for our industry since we’re in PR, another 50% of our time we’re in front of Microsoft excel. It got me thinking – is that how people around us really see us? I think it’s only because it’s the program always open in our laptops anyway.
I asked one of the directors – how did you last doing client servicing? There must be a secret to it. And his reply? You just need to have the passion of meeting people.

On March 7, it will be my 5th year in this industry. I think we all know why already.

Good days, bad days… in the end – it’s all worth it. I love my job. :)

Linsanity

You know it’s Linsanity, when people who never even cared about the NBA would stay up till the wee hours of the morning watching youtube videos and reading articles about Jeremy Lin.

I’m sure a lot of people already wrote a gazillion articles about him – his winning streak, graduating from an Ivy League school and his enormous faith on God. I am a fan because I just love the whole idea that this ordinary dude came out of nowhere and the opportunity just presented itself and he grabbed it. No – he didn’t just grab it - he made the most out of it. (And he still is!)

I’m sure a lot of people were shocked and disappointed about the loss of Knicks over the Hornets last Saturday but hey – that’s the way life goes. You win some, you lose some. While watching Lin during the press conference, he took the blame and pointed out his shortcomings. Not a lot of people have this characteristic – to admit their own fault, to be humble when defeat strikes you.

I thought to myself after watching that press conference – babawi yan.
I woke up this morning and the first thing I looked up was the Dallas-Knicks game. Vindicated.

Of course – I’m gonna try to squeeze in myself to the picture. Haha! It has been a rough couple of weeks at work, my presentation got shut down and it sucks big time especially when you’ve been getting praises for the past couple of weeks from your previous decks.

I’ve always been a big fan of ‘second chances’. I guess this is a way to get my feet back on the ground and head on the clouds. I thought to myself – I know I’m going to kick-ass on my next presentation. I just have to focus and go through the ropes again.

I mean if the Knicks/Jeremy Lin won the game last Saturday then I think the victory today would have lost its essence or there would be no added market value. Let’s face it. We all look for the drama. There has got to be a conflict or else no lesson will be learned. That’s why there are challenges because they will push us to become better. (Well we all saw that his TOs lessened in today’s game, right?)

I don’t want to sound like a poser proclaiming to everyone that I’m a huge basketball fan because obviously I’m not. I’m just really happy that there’s someone out there who is actually a good example in a very competitive sport. There are still God-fearing and talented men in the globe.

Before I end this entry, I’d like to share a quote I read in one of his interviews. If everyone had this mindset, I believe that anyone can excel in whatever field they’re in.

“There is so much temptation to hold on to my career even more now,” Lin said. “To try to micromanage and dictate every little aspect. But that’s not how I want to do things anymore. I’m thinking about how can I trust God more. How can I surrender more? How can I bring him more glory? It’s a fight. But it’s one I’m going to keep fighting.”

I may be part of the whole Lin-sanity bandwagon but it’s only because he’s definitely a
Lin-spiration.

The Reset Button

“So what’s your New Year’s Resolution?” a friend asked me a month ago. I laughed and replied, “I don’t know, I actually have no idea”.

I stopped making resolutions for more than a decade ago – thinking of course I’m never going to fulfil them anyway. So what’s the point? All I wanted to do is to (I know this is going to sound cliché’) live life to the fullest. Have no regrets. Keep on doing whatever makes me happy at that moment. I’d want to elaborate on my definition of that but right now I’m not so proud with the things I’ve done for the past couple of months.

With all the series of events that’s been going on, I think I’ve reached my limit. I fell off track. I couldn’t stand anymore so I decided to kneel and say a prayer.
I met up with my cousin last night and we decided to update each other on what’s been going on with our lives. I’m not depressed or anything, it’s not like something terrible really happened or someone died – but I knew deep inside I wasn’t happy anymore.

“Char, you just have to press the reset button,” says my cousin.

In order to press this reset button, and if I want all the programs to work faster in this computer (a metaphor for my life). I knew I had to come up with resolutions. I don’t want it to be a lot so I’ve narrowed them into three only.

1. Read more & blog more. I get too caught up with my social calendar and my work schedules that every time I go home, I just grab that opportunity to sleep. If I want to widen my vocabulary and come up with better press releases and client presentations, I have to do this. So expect more blog entries this year– will come up with more hilarious anecdotes and write-ups. I know because of this I’ll be able to be save more money rather than spending it 140 peso local beer in crazy clubs or bars.

2. More time for myself. Giving a lot of your time to other people can be tiring. It’s not that I’ve decided to be selfish but I feel like I owe this to myself. I’ve never even tried travelling alone yet because I enjoy too much the company of my friends. I am grateful though that I’ve finally learned the art of eating alone and it is fun. I like it because I get to think more and sort out my priorities.

3. Complain less. Easier said than done, right? Okay let’s change my strategy - count more of my blessings. A couple of years ago in my Starbucks planner, I would always write down the three nice things that happened to me on that day or the three things I was grateful for during that day. I want to start that habit again. This will remind me (and maybe you) that at the end of the day – good always trumps the bad. It’s so obvious because we see it in movies, books and newspapers but obviously we tend to forget them. No more rants on twitter and on facebook. I’ve got to try to harder.

I wanted to come up with a longer list but let’s start with three. If I’ll be able to fulfil all of them in the next three months then maybe I can share with you the other things too.

I was going through Pinterest the other day and I bound into a post which I love! All I could say was – “This is so me.” I felt like this post was done for me. (Selfish!). Aside from the fact that the skirt is color green (my favourite!) – everything written there are the things I dream of doing. Who knows maybe if I stick to the resolutions I said above – I’ll be able to achieve this.




Even if it will be March in a couple of weeks – I guess it’s never too late come up with resolutions or to press the reset button. I believe that it’s never too late to become a better person.

Game Face On

Last week while having lunch with the girls from my work, we talked about our dream wedding – not that any of us are getting married anytime soon. Most of us are well…yes, single. :P

In the middle of our very ‘serious’ discussion, we arrived at the topic of the bouquet toss. We all know the drill right? This is the part where all the single ladies in the room are called in front and the bride will throw her bouquet and whoever catches it will be the next one to get married.

In the Philipipnes, most single ladies get shy to go up in front. Sometimes the parents hinder their daughters who are in their 20s to join (I guess their family is that conservative, eh?). I like the bouquet toss during weddings, I think it’s an exciting and funny part of the program, I love it even more that it’s evolving and there are already different ways of executing it.

I am not shy to admit that I am highly competitive when it comes to this portion of the program. My friends didn’t want to believe me, so I showed them photos of the wedding I attended last year.


“Make sure I’ll be on that spot where the bouquet toss will be! “


This is me warming up. Doing several facial expressions para I know how to react when I get the bouquet.


This is me explaining to my neighbor that I really want to win.


The bride throws her bouquet.


GAME FACE ON!!!


Obviously I didn’t get it…but hey! No hard feelings diba.?

Paulo Coelho once said – if you want something to bad, the universe will conspire to make it happen. Just like any other girl – I obviously want to get married. So if the day comes I will be able to catch a bouquet – I will definitely spread the joy about it.

Thailand Hangover

Drinking and watching shows in Patpong is an adventure.
Shopping at Chatuchak is an adventure.
Sunbathing with half naked foreigners at Phuket is an adventure.
Eating their spicy food and street food is of course another adventure.

Well it seems that these guys will “redefine” adventure in Thailand this May 26, 2011.





I actually got super excited when I saw the full trailer this afternoon. Click on the link below.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aKacS3nYXdE

It made me reminisce on my first trip to Thailand with my friends. We were only there for a couple of days but I would love to go back. I remember we were buying Johnnie Walker Soda Mix in 7-11 so that we would all pass out in our 12 hour bus ride from Bangkok to Phuket. Don’t worry – it’s not like when we did anything crazy on our there like the movie.

I’d love to go back and stay longer though. I totally understand why Thailand gets around 11 million tourists a year. (I think Philippines can have the same but this deserves a separate blog entry).


When I got back, I made a collage on the highlights of our trip because I still had a hangover.




Net take away? Let’s just watch the film when it’s out, visit Thailand at least once in your life and Bradley Cooper, I hope I marry you someday.

Reviving Charanoid’s Android

Since late last year, a good friend of mine would always encourage me to start a blog. I honestly don’t know what I would write about and what url to use – then I remembered that I had a blogspot account since 2008 (if I’m not mistaken).

I realized I already had more than a 120 entries – most of them are quite personal, quotes from favorite books and movies, photos, etc. My apologies in advanced since I’m still in the process of weeding out the highly emotional stuff.

So what’s Charanoid’s Android all about?

Random Shalahs! A Hodge podge of sorts – anything I want to share, useless info I want you to read, insights I want you to ponder on.

Can be about fashion, travel, photography, movies, music, my line of work, concerts, people, celebrities, sports – name it and let me surprise you if I’ll write about it.

Just allow this Jill of all trades to entertain you. :) Let me introduce myself to you once again. I am Char the Star who works for PR. This is Charanoid’s Android simply because I tend to bring paranoia to a different level. Nice to meet ya!

Let’s see if this will work, eh? Wish me luck!