// Guitarchic Dot Net* My Life, One Strum at a Time

This is long overdue already but I’m blogging it anyway. The Blog-o-rama column that featured my two blogs came out last weekend, Feb 18, on the Technews of Manila Bulletin. I didn’t know when it was gona come up, hence I didn’t get myself a copy, grr. I found out about it only the day after, good thing a friend has got a daily subscription of the paper. Yay.

In the interview, I talked about my blogs and how they evolved from a personal venting channel to a tool that has helped me establish my profession. Also, I talked about how it’s like to be a struggling female SEO (I know, this is a pretty old tune already, ha!) in this IT industry that’s been mostly dominated by men. I had fun answering Miss Annalyn’s questions, I guess it pretty much showed in how I blabbered my way throughout the interview.

So yeah. Thanks (once again) to Miss Annalyn Jusay for this wonderful opportunity. :) I took snapshots of the column and uploaded them there. Also, the online version can be found here.

Remember that “Dream Job” I once blogged about? That Yahoo Philippines Online Community Manager job opening which, for a while there, I thought I’d like to consider? (No, I didn’t even dare apply, though). Well, the thing with that job is, it required a lot of online and offline socializing and traveling and talking to people — some of the things that appealed so much to me.

Fastforward to now, Day 5 of the Internet Marketing Bootcamp is happening here at our USAP office in Pasig as I type this. I just finished my talk on Search Engine Optimization, and Rico Sta. Cruz is now discussing basic design principles. And I. Am. Not. Listening. Haha. I’ve heard Rico’s talk about 5 times already anyway (hehe), and quite honestly, his has been one of my favorites – ahhh, the frustrated designer that I am. ;)

Anyway, as I browse through my feed reader while Rico talks up front, I find myself reading the recent developments in Yahoo, following the news about their laying-off of hundreds (thousands?) of employees. Apparently, Yahoo’s lay-off included a bunch of VPs, and just recently, Jessica Bowman, who was Yahoo’s SEM Manager — which really came as a shock to me and probably to the rest of the Search world too. I’ve always been an avid lurker of her blog, and she’s been one of the few female SEO gurus I’ve always admired.

So I go back to that job opening that I sooo excitedly blogged about a few months ago, and realized that whoever got that job has probably been laid-off by now too. :P

Anyway, I know I wouldn’t stand a chance then, even if I tried. What really struck me now is how much I’ve dreamed of a lot of things — of getting out of this country and finding my place in (or out of) this industry — when all the while, I’m already right where I should be. I guess it just took me a while to weigh my options, identify the pros and cons, and realize that there’s still more to this place that’s worth the squeeze.

Read More »

And I kind of like it. :) (Hey, it’s Valentines Day, I’m allowed to be keso. Heh.)

So I just finished another wedding album layout for Dave and Farrah, a couple from half-way across the world, whom I only know by name, and by the faces on their lovely wedding photos, which, for the past two weeks, have graced my laptop’s screen and Adobe Photoshop windows. It’s a lot of work, yes, but who wouldn’t enjoy doing something like this? :)

© MyPinoyWeddings.com

I’ve so far designed three albums — one for a couple named Sheila and Vince, another for a Sweet Sixteen-er named Sherrylou, and this latest album for Farrah and Dave. Now let me just say that.. one of the things I really love about this, compared to designing blog templates and websites, is that I don’t have to deal with coding and validating CSS and xhtml. I suck at those things! I really don’t have the patience to do codes and scripts the way Joni so gracefully does it. (Yeah, yeah. I’m a loser like that.)

But even more importantly, I love doing wedding album layouts because while I get to squeeze my creative juices and get paid on the side, I also get to be part of preserving these people’s most special, once-in-a-lifetime moments, albeit anonymously. I love it! :)

Apparently, aside from being surrounded by wedding photos, I’m also being surrounded by talks about marriage and wedding, and people getting married!

Read More »

There’s always something to remind me of those dreams — of flying out of this country and starting my career off from scratch in a place where I can be anyone I want to be because no one knows me.

There’s the KC Concepcion documentary about her life in Paris. Or Ala Parades‘ chronicles on their new life in the land of the Oz. Or this girl (let’s leave her anonymous hehe) whose blog I always lurk on, who went to England to take graduate studies, and eventually work. Or movies like Devil Wears Prada (okay, I just had to say that one). And the constant talk among friends about Sydney, Singapore, and New York. My heart beats doubletime every time I think of flying away, anxious because I feel like there’s something I have to do to pursue those dreams and I’m not doing anything about it because I’m too scared.

I turn 25 this year, and the constant desire for a change in environment, for an adventure, for something new, is just something I couldn’t deny even to myself. Sometimes I wonder if I just need a break, but I feel that I need more than just that. Don’t get me wrong, I love my job. I love what I do. And God knows how thankful I am to be where I am at this point in my life.

It’s just that lately, my prayers involve a lot of, “please make me desire going out of this country less if this is not Your will for me” or “please make me bloom, regardless if I stay in this country or not.” You get what I’m saying?

Oh whoosh. I’m monologuing again. :) I guess all I’m trying to say is..

Watch me fly. Soon. Literally or figuratively, we’ll see. :)

I’ve looked everywhere — Odyssey outlets, music bars, department stores, etc — for any of Kendall Payne’s albums, to my own dismay. I even got some of my friends involved in the search, but unsuccessful we all were.

So imagine my delight when a package was delivered to my apartment last week, all the way from Staten Island. Yep, all three of them. *jump, jump* (Thanks, boyfriend, you’re super!)

So yeah. Since then, my playlist includes three albums worth of Kendall Payne: Paper Skin, Grown, and Jordin’s Sister. Happiness does come in small packages, huh. :)

I didn’t know that Kendall Payne’s a Gospel singer. I first got interested when I heard her song “Scratch” from a Grey’s Anatomy episode, and “Not Afraid to be Me,” also from GA. I later learned that she’s also the voice behind Felicity and Never Been Kissed’s soundtracks. I loooove her. Although she can be very well known in the pop slash country-music arena, a few of her songs have an obvious Godward message in them. Like her song Aslan, which, I reckon, was inspired by CS Lewis’ Chronicles of Narnia, where Aslan (the lion) symbolizes the Savior and the power of good.

So anyway. Enough blabbers.

There goes one little wish granted for me. This year, a lot of dreams will come true. Let’s start with the little ones. :)