On the play

Of all the things I've learned from playing Magic, two lessons stand out:
1. The perfect game is not made of one big perfect play. It is made up of small good plays that accumulate into one perfect game.
2. Play to get lucky. Don't dig yourself into a hole, play in such a way that if/when your winning ace comes your way, you're in a position to win. Even though you might be missing something, making bad plays and bad decisions, don't let it affect your future plays and decisions. Play through it. Things might not be going your way right now, but that's not an excuse to not do the right thing. Keep your head in the game, and you might just crawl back and win it.

On life and living

In the old days, the Greeks didn't have obituaries. When another of them passed away, they only asked one question: Did he have passion? If he had passion, then he had truly lived.

How about you? Do you have passion? Are you truly alive?

On having two left feet

People make mistakes. It's natural. We miscalculate, and some things go wrong.

When these things happen, the best thing to do is fix it. It's not the time for finger pointing - it just wastes time and doesn't help in anything. Recover, identify and fix the problem. After all's well and done, that's the only time when you analyze why the problem occurred, so that next time it (hopefully) won't happen again.

The important thing is to NEVER LOSE COMPOSURE. Or at least, don't lose it all. Panic and anxiety won't bring you closer to solving anything.

Delayed Gratification

In our Psychology of Learning class, we talked about rewards. Rewards are anything that can make a person happy, like food or money or whatever. And as you could imagine, rewards are used to encourage certain behaviors, like studying or exercise or whatever. More specifically, we talked about the difference in getting a smaller reward sooner and a larger reward later.

More often than not, the larger reward definitely is worth more than the smaller reward. Obvious, isn't it? But, more often than not, people take the smaller sooner reward over the later larger reward. Why? Because it's there. Getting something right now is easier and more certain than getting something later. This piece of candy, for example, is here right now but the 5 pieces of candy promised to you tomorrow might not be there. If you look closely, this behavior is counter-intuitive. Why would people settle for less when they can strive for more?

So the dilemma now is, do you get the smaller sooner reward or the later larger reward? Ask yourself this: Is your will strong enough? Are you in total control of your instincts? Be a real human, and overcome yourself. Think. What's worth more?

On Sickness and on Health

I know you want to push yourself, want to reachwhat you aim for, and do everything in your power to get what you want.

But.

There's a fine line between pushing yourself to the limit and crossing that limit and killing yourself.

Like Peanut Butter

There are those of us who have myriad lot of things to attend to. We try to balance our acads, org life, social life, family, friends, hobbies etc. And sometimes we tend to spread ourselves too thin, to attempt to attend to one thing while sacrificing another. That's perfectly understandable, of course - we can't be in more than one place at the same time.

Just remember, when you make your peanut butter sandwich, make sure that it's evenly spread. No lumps on one part and blanks on another. Spread it out evenly, thin as it may be. That way, more of the bread would be filled, and it'll be more satisfying.

On Dreams and Reality

A well-made plan is useless if it is not executed well, if executed at all.

On Keeping Strong Ties

This week has been a sort of connecting week for me.

Last Monday, it was back to arnis training for me. This wasn't really new, but I'm one of the laziest trainees there and I took a week off, so that was my first day back. And Because we now have Mondays off instead of Wednesdays, it's Monday training for me. After training, I got to talk with our coach, and I was reminded of... the future.

Last Wednesday, I got to drop by Ateneo. My bro needed to get some stuff from a friend of his, but he's at work so I had to do it. Since I was there, I met up with some of the Aboys as well. It's been a long time since I roamed around Ateneo during class hours, and it's been a long time since I hooked up with my boys. So there, it was a productive afternoon.

Yesterday, I went to Gab's despidida party at Shakey's. He's going to the World Youth Day (week?) next week, and he wanted to get everyone together before he left. Because it was such a momentous occasion, there were people there whom I haven't seen in a long time. Which was opportune, because I've been missing some people lately.

Today, Nikko treated me to halo-halo! He's going abroad for his junior term next week, and he wanted to go out before he went. I haven't seen him since... I don't know, last year?... and it was good to know that he still hasn't changed. Still the crazy long-haired korean lol.

And lastly, this afternoon, I went with a couple of my friends to console our favorite flirty girl. She's in a very trying time in her life for the past few days (and days to come), so we thought that it would be apt to spend a lot more time with her. That's what friends are for, right?

Try it. Connect to people, strengthen your ties. You'd be surprised at how fulfilling it is.

On awareness of self and others

Otherwise known as compassion.
To be compassionate, you have to feel strongly about something (passion), and feel it coming from another (the suffix co-). Compassion, our word of the day.

Last Saturday, I held my alcohol. Back in the day, I used to get pushed by my friends to drink. A lot. And I oblige. Peer pressure, much? It felt like I had to prove something, so I just go with the flow, to the point of... well, bad things happen. But last Saturady... well, I didn't feel the need to prove myself. Why prove myself? Just go out there and have a great time. You (or at least, I) don't need a lot of alcohol to have fun, don't you agree? (no, don't answer that)

Today, I learned a valuable lesson. It's not enough to be aware only of my own back. I should also be aware of other people's backs. They might not directly affect me (or they might), but they are people. Who affect other people. And if I don't know what's going on, how am I to act on the situation? And now that I'm older (and wiser?), I should be in the position to watch out for more backs. Because, in the end, everyone affects everyone else.

On my two loves

Yesterday, I gunslinged with the Magic boys in front of Casaa. (gunslinged/gunslinging is just a fancy term for bringing a deck and playing with random people) And my sliver deck won 3-0! Instant classic lol. I should definitely do this more often. I need to know more people, and I need to satiate my hunger for playing Magic. And hey, what kind of hobbyist am I when I don't support my own hobby.

Today, my committee rapped. Yes, for our performance (every committee had to present something), all four of us spit a few lines. It was hilarious, I swear, but it also was pretty fun. And memorable. And maybe a bit embarrassing. At least, I could proudly say that I've freestyled once in my life.

A fresh journey

Today, I start off a new thread. Being the adventurous soul that I am, it's about time I share some of my more memorable exploits. But understand: This isn't about me. This is a challenge to you, my dear readers. What have YOU done lately? And don't tell me you've been studying, I won't believe you.

Live a little. I dare you.