At Work

Yesterday I was at a loss on what to do next at work. It was the afternoon and I was dozing off and I could not concentrate. So I started writing my journal about my recent activities. It helped me focus my mind. Afterwards, I could work and I even made a drawing about the tasks that are needed to be done by a contributor in our project. I showed the graphic to my boss who seemed to like it. It’s really true that a picture is worth a thousand words and I think I was able to capture the summary of tasks to be done. My experience and studies in visual thinking is bearing fruit.

Back in Asia, during these periods of procrastination, I could login the blog site and start blogging. But security is much tighter here than in Asia so I wrote down my blog in MS Word and sent an email to myself with the document as attachment. In the evening after dinner and bath, I was able to post it to this blog site. I then added the pictures I took in Columbia. Yesterday, I was also reading about meditation and fighting stress. So I was reminded about the benefits of blogging or journal writing. It focuses the mind to a task and relieves tension. Any form of self-expression like journal writing focuses the mind and relieve stress and, now, provides a way to control and structure thoughts.

I was not able to talk to my wife last night and we waited for them to logon. My sister in law is traveling to Singapore and she should be there this evening. I guess my wife is busy preparing the place for her visit. After work I went to Lowes to order the blinds and hope to have them installed before the weekend. I also requested that someone go to my place and measure the porch at the back yard so walls can be constructed around the porch. I think it will be much cheaper than the blinds. I also went to Best Buy and bought iRobot – it’s a robot that automates vacuum cleaning. I tired it this morning and works well. I think my wife will like it.

 

I am reading Ambeth Ocampo’s lectures on Jose Rizal and it’s beyond doubt that he is the pre-eminent scholar on Rizal. He has also effectively rebutted the work of Renato Constantino – my old professor in college. I used to be in awe of Contantino’s work and, like Ocampo, I was in awe of his essay ‘Veneration without Understanding’. It was the first critical work that opened my mind. It’s one reason I took his class. His logic was impeccable and it took many years for someone like Ocampo to rebut the essay. I guess he went on a similar journey like me and it took a lot reading, reflection and analysis to deconstruct Constantino and provide a more effective argument against his thought. I am glad I did not finish Constantino’s course as I may have ended up being a conspiracy nut case.

 

I am close to finishing his book about his Rizal lectures. He has opened a new world for me especially to read the primary sources. So last night I search the Internet and found a free version of Antonio Morga’s ‘Successos delas Islas Filipinas.’ A work that Rizal annotated and reissued. The Rizal annotation is a rare book but one can get the English translation of Morga’s book free from the Internet. I am also looking for Austin Coates biography of Jose Rizal because it offers a European perspective of his life. I have read Leon Ma. Guerero’s ‘The First Filipino’ during college aside from other books on Rizal. So a new perspective is good as inspired by Ambeth Ocampo. While searching the Internet last night, I also found some interesting books to read like a book on Ferdinand Blumentritt – Jose Rizal good friend, who wrote the introduction to Rizal’s annotation of Morga’s work.