Mooncake Musings
It's 8:26pm. In EDSA we measure time in inches, in bumpers, in song cycles.
Before I begin, I would like to apologize for the long silence. Many people assumed that I fell apart when Snowy died -- guess it did, somehow, but like this extremely LSS worthy Superchick song goes, "If I get up I might fall back down again, so let's get up, come on". Should be my motto, eh?
It's been a while. I've been, well, busy. I'm currently juggling four different careers at the moment -- the first one being my day job, that of an apprentice in a design firm where I'm currently the project architect for a residential renovation and has since worked on several interesting short assignments like lighting, 3d rendering and form-finding studies. It's not easy, I know this now. Before I started working for somebody, I handled my little projects (several condos, homes with picket fences and homes with horizontal V-bars and automatic garage doors, among other things) like I'd handle my life -- just the way I want it. Here, pace, budget, and design aesthetic are completely out of my hands. Now there are real deadlines (my other projects had greater flexibility in terms of time frame), the clients are very demanding, and compared to my personal projects, I always need approval from both the principal and the client. My only relief is that our principal is kind enough to let us explore design as we would our own -- that we are given the opportunity to conceptualize, within the framework of the firm's design sensibilities of course. I've been tempted, many many many times to leave, but as of this time I feel as if I still have not learned enough, and that I have to keep pushing myself to improve in all aspects.
My secret life involves writing. It is a secret life full of new people, events, intrigues, and goody bags. As many of you know, I was born a writer first, a designer second. Writing is more than my therapy, it's what I want to do every single day of my life. With this I've become a 800 word churning machine for advertorials, catalogues, reviews, and stories that make other people happy. (I like making other people happy so I'm perfect for this job). I currently write for Manila Bulletin's About Weddings, Wedding Essentials, Sense and Style, MMPI's Girlfriend Magazine, Hair Asia Magazine, among others. Writing has not only exposed me to a lot of adventures, it also forced me to go outside my comfort zone, to interact with a great variety of people who have different ideologies than mine.
My third and fourth involves my two loves, makeup and styling. Though I only do around two shoots a week, I try to make sure that I each face I paint is etched forever in memory. I love making people beautiful. Even those who don't deserve to be (ahem). I'm totally at peace with my pace right now. Previously I would get agitated about not doing enough shoots, not enough weddings, not enough everything -- while around me everyone else is moving fast faster, I am spinning around aimlessly, flicking my brush at everyone who comes near, not painting a cohesive picture but rather a series of half done faces. I'm at peace now, no longer feeling stretched as I was before. A few weeks ago, in a fit caused by deadly deadline danger, I told LeeLee, "I used to be brilliant, now I'm just busy," promising to just stick to one thing for now because I felt so unfocused. I got over it after a few hours, and was even more determined to work harder than before.
With this, I would like to thank four people who have always believe in me -- Bianca, who pretty much jump started all of my careers (save for the architectural, but even with that helped me get my first job offer), for Rochelle who is both my publicist and dearest friend who pimped me to everyone she knew, for Marbee who believed in me when I first started, and gave me the most exciting stories to write, and finally to LeeLee, my lover and harshest critic, for keeping me on my toes while always on guard to catch me when I fall.
Have a blessed Moon festival everyone!
Before I begin, I would like to apologize for the long silence. Many people assumed that I fell apart when Snowy died -- guess it did, somehow, but like this extremely LSS worthy Superchick song goes, "If I get up I might fall back down again, so let's get up, come on". Should be my motto, eh?
It's been a while. I've been, well, busy. I'm currently juggling four different careers at the moment -- the first one being my day job, that of an apprentice in a design firm where I'm currently the project architect for a residential renovation and has since worked on several interesting short assignments like lighting, 3d rendering and form-finding studies. It's not easy, I know this now. Before I started working for somebody, I handled my little projects (several condos, homes with picket fences and homes with horizontal V-bars and automatic garage doors, among other things) like I'd handle my life -- just the way I want it. Here, pace, budget, and design aesthetic are completely out of my hands. Now there are real deadlines (my other projects had greater flexibility in terms of time frame), the clients are very demanding, and compared to my personal projects, I always need approval from both the principal and the client. My only relief is that our principal is kind enough to let us explore design as we would our own -- that we are given the opportunity to conceptualize, within the framework of the firm's design sensibilities of course. I've been tempted, many many many times to leave, but as of this time I feel as if I still have not learned enough, and that I have to keep pushing myself to improve in all aspects.
My secret life involves writing. It is a secret life full of new people, events, intrigues, and goody bags. As many of you know, I was born a writer first, a designer second. Writing is more than my therapy, it's what I want to do every single day of my life. With this I've become a 800 word churning machine for advertorials, catalogues, reviews, and stories that make other people happy. (I like making other people happy so I'm perfect for this job). I currently write for Manila Bulletin's About Weddings, Wedding Essentials, Sense and Style, MMPI's Girlfriend Magazine, Hair Asia Magazine, among others. Writing has not only exposed me to a lot of adventures, it also forced me to go outside my comfort zone, to interact with a great variety of people who have different ideologies than mine.
My third and fourth involves my two loves, makeup and styling. Though I only do around two shoots a week, I try to make sure that I each face I paint is etched forever in memory. I love making people beautiful. Even those who don't deserve to be (ahem). I'm totally at peace with my pace right now. Previously I would get agitated about not doing enough shoots, not enough weddings, not enough everything -- while around me everyone else is moving fast faster, I am spinning around aimlessly, flicking my brush at everyone who comes near, not painting a cohesive picture but rather a series of half done faces. I'm at peace now, no longer feeling stretched as I was before. A few weeks ago, in a fit caused by deadly deadline danger, I told LeeLee, "I used to be brilliant, now I'm just busy," promising to just stick to one thing for now because I felt so unfocused. I got over it after a few hours, and was even more determined to work harder than before.
With this, I would like to thank four people who have always believe in me -- Bianca, who pretty much jump started all of my careers (save for the architectural, but even with that helped me get my first job offer), for Rochelle who is both my publicist and dearest friend who pimped me to everyone she knew, for Marbee who believed in me when I first started, and gave me the most exciting stories to write, and finally to LeeLee, my lover and harshest critic, for keeping me on my toes while always on guard to catch me when I fall.
Have a blessed Moon festival everyone!