Bringing it on in 2008

What a way to start the New Year!

First off, and the most important, I landed a freelance job with a news bureau based in Hong Kong. The Editor gave me my first assignment and told me to work with one of their online magazines' news briefs. The first brief would be about Xinjiang's tourism industry. Some might think it's not much of an assignment because it'll only be one hundred words long. But it excites the shit out of me since this is the first time my words will find their way on a daily online circulation.

What's so good about it is that the Editor also told me to think of topics about the Philippines or anywhere else in Asia that has something to do with emerging markets. If they find my query salable, they'll allot me a space in their other publications. Mind you, this is my first attempt at writing for an online mag and I'm praying this turns out right.

Second, there were plenty of organizations and people who have responded to emails I wrote during the last few days of December 2007. This is a breakthrough for me because I never trusted cyberspace before and I was a Puritan who valued face-to-face interaction over silly communications technologies. I mean, what can beat a good personal hearty conversation? The answer/s: Time, money, and distance.

I've relied on the Web to contact people I don't know and sought their advice how I can bag writing jobs. I wrote editors, professional writers, writer-friends, and bugged the hell out of them during the holidays. They've responded to my questions like I already belong to their extended family. They're a great bunch and they'd be more than willing to share their precious time, effort, and leads. Yep, you heard me right. They gave me story leads.

I never felt this welcome before. Not when you spent most of your entire life living in competitive environments. This family of writers are so helpful I just couldn't get enough of them.

Apart from writing to writers, I also wrote to companies. I was hoping they would give a washed-out dad and ex-teacher a job he knows nothing about to begin with. Well, unlike the cyberspace writers, most of these companies didn't respond. Perhaps they don't want to bet their purse on a pretender whom they can smell from a mile away. But that's alright. I'm glad they didn't answer at all because I'll be left to my writer friends.

I found a new family and they're not from the Philippines. They live all over the world. One of them is from India -- a wonderful, helpful gal. Another one from the US -- a sweet writer. The rest are from Latin America and South Africa. Their writing voices are so varied, so melodic, I thought I was listening to a grand choir. They're all full of passion with what they do and their styles are so elegant I don't know which one to imitate first. It's so overwhelming.

A New Year's Resolution

As 2007 draws to a close, many people are preparing their next year’s resolutions. I find it really interesting how and why they still come up with a long list of “to do’s” every new year when they haven't resolved last year's.

Resolution-making is good because it highlights a solely human attribute: the ability to set goals. Unlike dogs, cats, monkeys, and horses (allow me to stick with mammals), Homo Sapiens are equipped with prudence and good judgment. Perhaps the advantage of other animals over humans is their so-called, highly developed, sixth sense in which they can predict when disasters will happen that’s why they need no goal-setting features. I have to admit it’s something I envy about their genus. Imagine yourself having the power to see the future or forecast risks 100 percent of the time. Wouldn’t it be cool? Well, that would be too good to be true especially with so many loonies looming the planet with remote controls in hands itching to blow up a city with just a push of a button. Imagine that power.

Now, imagine the powerless. Those people who couldn’t find the strength to stand literally and figuratively because of lack of food or job. Those people who worry about where to get their daily meal, whether edible or spoiled, just to fill their empty stomachs. We see them everyday rummaging our garbage bins.

We also see them walking our business districts with brown envelopes and folders in hand carrying application forms and resumes hoping to find work even when they’re 50 years old -- too old to get employed. They too have resolutions. They want to pay their monthly bills on time, make sure the kids have school allowance, and that they eat three meals in a day. And just like our cherished yearly resolutions, they never materialize.

Every year we come up with plans of how to better ourselves. In fact, tons of newspaper and magazine articles have been devoted to people's new year's resolutions. In blogs alone,I've read 37 of them already. And I assume those resolutions are the same as last year's. Here in the Philippines, a polling station even devoted three days surveying Filipinos' expectations and their plans for next year. Maybe they did that to make the people forget about our government's political and economic blunders even for a short while. Knowing Filipinos, we're a hopeful and happy bunch.

What bothers me though is our inability to follow through with our goals. We set goals every year to improve our individual stations but fail to accomplish them in the following months. I think we're not really good when it comes to beefing up our individual selves because we're gregarious by nature.

We think about our resolutions when we're alone in our rooms. Some of you might have listened to your favorite music or watched your favorite movie for some inspiration before planning your future. My friend listens to Survivor's Eye of the Tiger because he's a Rocky Balboa fan. The song psyche's him up and helps when he thinks of his plans. But still, making resolutions this way is pretty much beyond our social nature.

For a change, why don't we come up with collective resolutions? I mean, our offices and company execs set quarterly and yearly corporate goals and we make sure we hit our targets. Why not group resolutions? Family resolutions? Community resolutions? Village resolutions? I think it would be more fruitful if resolutions are made this way.

Although I agree with Adam Smith that men should be left to each his own, but having someone to plan with you is positive reinforcement. You serve as one another's checks, remind each other's goals from time to time and we extend a hand when we think one of us finds it difficult to make things happen.

Earlier, I said something about the animal kingdom. They might be bad through-lines but I tell you they're not. I think the reason why humans are placed on top of the food chain is because we can congregate. We have power in our communes. Other animals herd but we assemble better because our brains are much larger. I just don't know why we don't often use them together.

I've spoken with my wife about this because she asked me a few hours ago what my 2008 plans are. I told her about me resigning from work. That I'm not happy at all. She said "how could you be so selfish? What about the kids?" It's difficult to land a job here in the Philippines because they don't come on a regular basis. Most of the available jobs are in BPOs and require a special skill to get employed. I told her WE can do something about it. That WE could pull it through and she understood. I told her about me writing full-time... she winced. After a few seconds of dry silence she said, "just make your priorities straight and make sure you bring home the bread. We'll be on this together". It's liberating and I feel like I can conquer the world! I always believe that people can make magic. In our case, I believe my wife and I can make wonders.

One final imagining. Think again of the powerless I just described. Think of them and include them in our collective resolutions. Include them in our little communes and rest assured they won't be powerless anymore.

the story begins

This is my story. It's also the story of people around me. Of people often swept aside by drastic changes and seen merely as a mass of statistics. Of people unknown from the popular pages of history. This is my story and theirs and how our worlds collide.

A friend suggested I should write about what I'm good at. It sounded so simple the way she put it. But it's more than what it seems. Instead of my usual musings, I'll instead write about what I see and feel; of how other people see and feel. I'm no expert on human affairs nor of grand things and ideas. As far as I'm concerned, I'm not an expert on anything. I know a couple of things here and there but to claim expertise on something gives me goosebumps.

I have interests just like most of you and they lie in the sea of human interaction. That's where I'll focus my energy and muster the courage to write about them. They would include topics ranging from local economic development to complexity science, from regional integration to community development. I would look at how the interplay of these topics merge, and later on, affect how people decide. I hope you would find this interesting because the upcoming posts will be about us.

Indulge me to add a little twist. I'll try to understand and explain them from an Asian's prism.

I hope you'll join me in my journey.