the shadow laboratory: August 2006

Lines You Do Not Cross

"Lead between the lines"

Everyday we're surrounded by deadlines - the lines you dare not cross. whatever happens, be sure to beat them - to death. lead between the lines. you read it right... lead. between those deadlines, you get lead times, the lesser lead time you have, the more pressure you get, and you need to do things faster - thus a higher possibility of stress. lead time is inversely proportional to stress.

Friends ask me the nature of my work, and my usual answer: we think, we brainstorm. bulk of the time spent in the office is brainstorming (including: individual brainstorm, group, getting inspiration from youtube, browsing ads, downloading, YM). we need to think, brainstorm, and beat the deadlines. and my friends ask, "paano kung wala kayo maisip?" i answer: hindi pwede, dapat may maganda kahit isa."

kapag wala kaming naisip, patay kami. deadline.

teka, mag-iisip pa ko, may deadline pa ko.

Philosophy in Life #8

"The more entries you send, the more chances of winning."

Lovers in Paris

Ilsa's goodbye letter to Richard:
"I cannot go with you or ever see you again.
You must not ask why. Just believe that I love you.
Go, my darling and God bless you."

I just watched Casablanca from the 1940s. A nice film regarding politics, love, memories, lies, and letting go. Sometimes, a memory is good enough... a nice memory. just think of the happy times, and then that happy moment stays forever.

Matters of Great Consequence

"In the course of this life I have had a great many encounters with a great many people who have been concerned with matters of consequence. I have lived a great deal among grown-ups. I have seen them intimately, close at hand. And that hasn't much improved my opinion of them. "*

People usually make the wrong decisions not because they choose the bad things, but because they choose the lesser things, which often turns out to be worse. We do not choose evil. We just usually set the wrong priorities. After watching the movie Click, i suddenly remembered Exupery's The Little Prince, and its topic on matters of great consequences. We often associate great consequences with matters concerning fame, power and money. I work hard, i get promoted, i get a good life. Yes, we get all these material things, and yes, they can make us happy, but nothing lasts like real people, real friends, real relationships... family. Since people dear to us are always there for us, we tend to take them for granted. And those promotions, and job offers come once in a life time, thereby giving it more value.

But the bottom line is family and friends come first, because your job, your fame, and your money can't love you back. Choose priceless.

"On matters of consequence, the little prince had ideas which were very different from those of the grown-ups."**

* Exupery's Little Prince - Chapter 1
* Exupery's Little Prince - Chapter 13