An excerpt from an interview with Mike Rowe, the awesomely fun (and hot) host of Dirty Jobs on the Discovery Channel:

"'Follow your passion' is the worst advice you can give someone," he says. "Exhibit A: our 200 dirty jobs—Rene the fish gutter, or the guy who makes flowerpots out of cow shit. Once they found a thing they could make a living from, they figured out how to get great at it and how to love it. If you bring your passion with you, you can apply it to anything that makes sense. If you follow it, you're going to be miserable until X, Y, Z happens, which might be never."

A better example is Rowe himself. He's gone from the guy who stayed in the opera just to get laid to the QVC host who sold lava lamps at midnight because it beat real work to discovering that he was a great TV host, and now to people calling him a hero. "Had I followed my passion, had I ever even bothered to define what that was," he says, "this never would have worked out."

Makes you think, doesn't it? Full article here.

Do I know how I feel? Do I know what I think?
Let me take ink and paper, Let me take pen and ink...
Or with my hat and gloves, as if to take the air
Walk softly down the hall, stop at the foot of the stair
Take my letters from the porter-- ask him for a drink
If I questioned him with care,
Would he tell me what I think and feel
- Or only "You are the gentleman who has lived on the second floor
For a year or more" -
Yet I dread what a flash of madness might reveal
If he said "Sir we have seen so much beauty spilled on the open street
Or wasted in stately marriages,
Or stained in railway carriages
Or left untasted in villages
Or stifled in darkened chambers
That if we are restless
On winter nights, who can blame us?"

Sino si Dream Wilwayco, at bakit siya tunay na lalaki?

(for serious, hindi ko alam kung sino to. Malamang kamag-anak ko, pero never ko pa siya nakilala in my entire life)

Wow, this March has been really, really eventful. I had a rollercoaster ride of a thesis defense, turned 20, got offered a teaching position at U.P., joined a chess tournament, ended a long-term relationship with dignity and mutual respect... and landed a really nice job.

I got a call from the French Embassy yesterday, informing me that I'd been accepted as the new Assistant to the Press Attaché. I'm really thankful that I got an awesome job so soon, especially in this economy. The only downside is I have to start training tomorrow. D: Yeah, that's right--today was my final day of classes, and tomorrow I have to start training at the embassy from 9:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. They need to start training me immediately because the outgoing assistant is leaving by Tuesday next week (March 31). I need to learn the ropes and get used to the job before then.

Yeah, I'm a bit disappointed that I won't have any vacation at all, but the fact that it's an interesting, prestigious job with good benefits more than makes up for that. Also, I only need to work 4 1/2 days a week. I only need to stay til 1pm on Fridays, so I've got plenty of time to go out on weekends. It's a pretty sweet deal, I think.

I'm happy I'm starting out my career with this job, but at the same time, I'll miss U.P. The people, the places, the food (yeah, even the unappealing canteen food) and the campus atmosphere in general. When I was a high school senior, U.P. wasn't my dream school. Ateneo was. But I've come to love that sprawling campus overrun by grand old trees and bursting with some of the most creative, most hardworking, and most unusual people around. I don't think I'd be as well-rounded if I'd gone to Ateneo.

I ran several errands at school today, including thesis binding, graduation fee paying, and last-minute cramming for a 4 p.m. exam, and at each place I visited I thought, "This is probably the last time I am going to see this place as a student." The nostalgia factor was unbelievable. I'm still going back to U.P. on Friday to submit my thesis, but that will only be for a few minutes, at most. (I was supposed to do it today, but there was something the department has to give me before I can hand it in... so not my fault.)

I also wanted to take photos of the GRAIL members, but almost no one came to the hut! My many errands took me past the tambayan several times, but I never saw more than two people there. All busy with final requirements, I guess. Bakit naging GC bigla kayong lahat?! Hahaha.

A very good friend of mine (hitaka, who you may know better as Racine) needs your help. Her dad Dennis Maniego recently underwent heart bypass surgery, and her family needs to replace the blood used by the hospital during his operation. You may know Tito Dennis as the bassist for the bands THROW (formerly Dead Ends), Betrayed and Go Signals. To those of us who know him personally, he's a wonderful father, musician and friend.

Any blood type will do. The Maniego family just needs to replace the amount of blood that was used during the operation, which means they need around 10 donors. The requirements are the same as those for all blood donations:

• must not have donated within the past 3 months
• must have normal blood pressure
• must not have consumed alcohol within the last 24 hours
• must not have had any tattoos/piercings done within the last year
• must not be sick (of course)
• must not have a period during the time of donation

If you'd like to become a donor, just text Racine at 0917-6123354. Thanks very much.

So I had my thesis defense today. I was feeling nervous, of course, but I was confident that I'd done everything humanly possible to prepare for it. I ran into a major unforseen problem, though. The laptop didn't work with the projector. Even Mang Felix, the department technician, couldn't get it to work. Yeah, that was a major oversight on my part. So... I was forced to present my powerpoint presentation on my laptop screen. Terrible, I know... I'm still kicking myself mentally for testing my laptop on the day itself, and not the day before.

Plus, the panelists asked a lot of tough questions. At one point, I actually had to admit that I didn't know the answer. That's when I started thinking, "Oh God, there goes my honor standing."

So when I was called back inside AVR to to hear my thesis defense grade, I was expecting a really low grade. Something along the lines of 2, which would ruin my chances of graduating with honors. But the panelists still gave me a 1.25! It didn't register at first. I thought I heard wrong. But it really was 1.25.

Despite the technical difficulties and groping for answers, the panelists still saw enough merit in my work to give me the second highest grade possible. And the wonderfully nice lady who acted as the college's observer to my defense told me I was confident and handled pressure well. Sadly, I wasn't able to get her name. But I'm really grateful. And happy. And surprised. And humbled. I owe a lot to the panelists, the CAL observer, and to my adviser.

That means I'll have something extra to celebrate on Friday! For my 20th birthday, I am libre-ing Watchmen! I believe Cai will be taking care of dinner. So awesome that our birthdays come right after each other. Can't wait can't wait can't wait.

Hey, LJ friends. I'm in the process of building my LinkedIn network. Add me, won't you? :)

http://mashable.com/2009/01/06/livejournal-layoffs/

I knew something was up when LJ suddenly shut down yesterday ("emergency maintenance,"  they said) but I didn't know it was this bad. 

Hurm. Maybe I should move my personal blog to WordPress. They've already got a LiveJournal import tool for LJ refugees who want to make sure their old entries don't get wiped out if/when LJ goes under.  

Or I should just buy my own domain. 

So you might have been wondering where I disappeared to. After all, I used to update this LJ almost daily. Well, I've been working on this little site called Writista with my sister. It offers both free and paid writing services for students, professionals and businesses. I'd love to know what you guys think about it. If you have any comments/questions/suggestions about it, post it na lang on Writista. Thanks a lot. :D

/shameless plugging

So what have I been up to, apart from Writista? Well, I've gone Christmas shopping, consumed considerable amounts of Chocnut and banana chips, almost finished Patapon, and begun job hunting. Oh, and me and the bunny will be celebrating our second anniversary tomorrow. The past two years have been quite the adventure. :p

That's pretty much it it for now. My life is full and busy and apart from wishing I could see friends more often and the global recession would end, I can't really ask for more. Oh, and I can't wait for the Christmas break. There. That's everything. 

I want a box of these Larabar organic snack bars for Christmas. 

Is this one of those times when not having advice is fine?