my new blog and my current depression…

January 26, 2010 at 3:10 pm | In FOSS, my interests, my life... | Leave a Comment

I’ve already started with my new blog ELASWORKSPACE since the 1st week of January.  I started with GIMP (GNU Image Manipulation Program) and I have already posted some self-learned lessons.

However, my laptop has been down since last week and this is basically the reason why I was unable to post the next GIMP lesson that I was supposed to post.  SORRY GUYS!!!  :(

As of now, I am blogging from work and my pc here doesn’t have GIMP (and we are not allowed to install one), thus, I cannot continue with my self-learning session using my work pc. 

I am now confused between buying a new laptop or having my current one fixed or reformat. I do not have enough budget for a new laptop yet but if I will spend in trying to fix it, the money that will be spent for it could also be saved for purchasing a new one.  See my confusion?

I so miss playing with GIMP! :(  

My Christmas History

January 4, 2010 at 11:21 pm | In enjoying life, how i perceive things..., my family..., my life... | 1 Comment

As I grow old, Christmas celebrations have been becoming simpler every year.  My Christmas started with Santa Claus in it and then my sisters and I accidentally found out that it has been my parents all along.. BUT… the christmas socks continued … coz I still wanted the gifts!  ;-)

When I reached teenage life, the socks stopped then the Kris Kringle began.  We always had the traditional Kris Kringle every year. We even used codes before.  And on Christmas eve, we always had fun playing Bingo! haha..yes.. We used to play Bingo as we wait for the 12 midnight to strike.  That was fun and I still miss it until now.

By the time the Bingo tradition ended, the Kris Kringle ended as well. We still give gifts to each other. We still wrap our gifts secretly inside the room before christmas and place it under the christmas tree but we no longer pick names for Kris Kringle. We just exchange gifts among each other.  No more Kris Kringle babies and mommies.

The gifts exchanging continued for several years.  However, there are times wherein we don’t get what we really want or it is what we want but it is just not what it should be.  And because of this, another tradition began… the “choose the gift you want” tradition.

This is what my sister and I have been doing lately. We just bring our parents to the mall and ask them to choose what they want (with a strict budget of course! hehe..)

Indeed, growing up means maturity.  In my 25 years, I realized that gifts are not really that important. They are not what makes a Christmas complete. It’s just the simple way of spending it together. It may be with your family, your friends, or your lover.  As long as you are with your love ones, Christmas will always be complete.  Mine was… =)

Christmas Eve '09: Just the 3 of us for this year.. missing my mom and my other sibling..but still happy nevertheless =)

Christmas Day Lunch @ Chef d' Angelo

Christmas with the Chipmunks! ;-)

what’s up for 2010?

January 2, 2010 at 10:18 pm | In my life... | Leave a Comment

I really do not believe in New Year’s Resolution.  But for the year 2010, I decided to do what I like doing.

I used to make promotional materials like posters and brochures in my previous work and I actually enjoyed doing it.  But since my current work is far from it, I haven’t done any image editing or layouts for a long time.

Eversince I attended Asia Source 2, I discovered several open source softwares for image editing, video editing, 3D animation, and audio editing that I wanted to try but up until now, I’ve only tried GIMP.

I have been using GIMP for quite awhile but only the most basic functions. Thus, for this year, I intend to learn..learn..and learn.  I will start with GIMP. Every week, I will introduce new functions that I tried and will post it in a completely different blog. 1 function/task per week.

In this way, I will learn and share it with you guys at the same time.  Practice makes perfect.

Will post the new link soon.  ;-)

Happenings @ #AsiaSource3

December 3, 2009 at 4:58 pm | In FOSS, enjoying life, my interests, my life..., trainings | Leave a Comment

If you have been following my posts (which are rarely updated recently.. ;-) ) or maybe my Facebook updates, you are probably aware that I attended Asia Source II in Sukabumi, Indonesia way back in 2007.

This year, Asia Source 3 was conducted right here in the Philippines!  It took place last November 7-12 in IIRR in Silang, Cavite and about 140 participants from approximately 17 countries participated in it.

Asia Source 3 is a gathering of Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) advocates, enthusiasts, end-users, developers, and even newbies who strongly believe in building capacities and empowering humanity with the use of FOSS. 

The participants, facilitators, and organizers

It was jointly organized by UNDP-International Open Source Network (UNDP-IOSN) through its ASEAN+3 Centre of Excellence (based at the University of the Philippines Manila) and InWEnt – Capacity Building International Germany, together with the Tactical Technology Collective, Aspiration (USA) and the Centre for Internet and Society (India). Funders include the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development of Germany (BMZ), the ASEAN Foundation and the Open Society Institute.

So what makes Asia Source different from other trainings? Asia Source is not your ordinary, boring, formal seminar and workshop.  It does have the same composition: participants and facilitators, but it has a different flavor in it.

Point 1:  It is not the “classroom type” one. There are no seating arrangements or positions. You can sit anywhere you want, slouch, sit on the floor, or even stand if you like. 

one of the track sessions

closing circle

Point 2:  There is no clear line between participants and facilitators (even with the organizers). One barely feels the distinction among the three. Everybody is on the same level.  Others might know more than the others but when it comes to knowledge and skills sharing, each one has something to share.  Thus, everybody learns from each other. It’s free and open!  :)

Point 3:  The evening activities are awesome. After the serious talks and sessions during the day, everybody gets to have fun and do crazy stuffs at night. There were open mic night, games night, movie night, etc.  What I like best is the dancing part… Asia Source peeps just love to dance!

as3 peeps singing their hearts out

dancing = fun

partying the vietnamese way..

dance..dance..dance

Point 4:  Where can you find a stay-in training where you get to have a human alarm clock every morning?  Only in Asia Source!!! Gunner is the man! I know everybody misses Gunner’s wake up songs every morning.  I do! At least I still have a recorded version in my phone from Asia Source 2.  ;)

Point 5:  The learnings.  They are overwhelming. I am not a participant this time. I attended as a volunteer but from my experience in AS2, I know the participants came home with so many new learnings and softwares to explore and play with.  I, myself, was able to attend some of the afternoon sessions and they were all very interesting.

SpeedGeeking!!!

teamwork

Point 6:  Another highlight were the track report backs every morning. This is the time when the participants’ creativity comes out. Each track prepares a presentation about what transpired during their track session the previous day.  Some were serious and some were fun.

Miss Nowhere!!!

that's the human cursor there..hehe

Point 7:  It’s a fact that participants are not allowed to go out of the camp venue. BUT.. they get to have a whole day of FUN FUN FUN during the outing day. There were 3 options for the outing: The Manila Historical Trip, The Taal Trip, and The Villa Escudero Trip. I chose villa escudero and I didn’t regret it.

i love the manmade falls!

trying to be awake during the trip (thanks to our tour guide)

still smiling despite of being hungry

Point 8:  The AS2nauts Reunion! More than 20 AsiaSource 2 alumni were also present in AsiaSource 3.  It was the biggest AS2nauts reunion ever. It was great to see good old friends after almost 3 years.  It also helped that we were able to maintain our communication within those years. The camaraderie is still there and it was fun hanging out with them.

AS2nauts @ AS3

my close friends from AS2

with good old friends from Vietnam, Mongolia, Laos, and Malaysia

And that makes Asia Source Camps different… ;-)

*** Some of the pictures were grabbed from the FB photos of my friends from AS3. Thanks guys! You know who you are.  :)

Ondoy’s effect on my country…

September 30, 2009 at 6:01 pm | In my life... | 2 Comments

September 26, 2009 – I woke up hearing drops of rain but since my unit is located in the center of the building, I was not fully aware of how strong the rain was.  I was supposed to go apartment hunting with my father that day but since it was raining we decided not to.

At first, it was just like an ordinary rainy day.  I was having a rest at home browsing the internet and watching tv.  My sister went to work in the morning and we received an SMS from her that the streets outside is already flooded. She was on her way home and she did not know how she can pass through the waist-deep flood in Pasong Tamo to our building.  My dad adviced her to walk through the flood since she does not have any other choice. My dad decided to go down to meet her and it turned out that our elevator is not working for safety reasons and we are on the 12th floor.  So my dad and I decided to go down to the ground using the stairs to check on what was really happening outside.

What I saw surprised me. Our street does not usually get flooded even if it was raining hard but that day turned to be different. That day turned to be much much different for the Filipinos. That day was like the worst natural disaster I ever witnessed in my 25 years.

The flood in our street was just leg-deep and I was already astounded by it fully unaware of how badly flooded the other areas were.

taken in front of our building

taken in front of our building

 This flood, the elevator not working, and the cancelled plans for the day were so minor compared to the problems that my countrymen suffered in other areas. 

The news on tv were devastating.  People were trapped on the roof, stranded somewhere on their way home, and even died. We were just plain lucky and my heart goes to the real victims of Ondoy. =(

stranded and nowhere else to go

stranded and nowhere else to go

faces show fear but the will to survive is still there..bayanihan is still within us

faces show fear but the will to survive is still there..bayanihan is still within us

let us all help these people in our own little ways

let us all help these people in our own little ways

 Nagmistula pong WaterWorld and Metro Manila.  So many people died and so many dreams were shattered in just one day.  But at the end of it all, those who survived are just thankful that they are still alive.  I am…

Let us all help in our own little ways.  You do not have to be a millionaire or a superhero to help.  Always keep in mind the 1 cent makes up a million.  My sister and I have donated old clothes and small amount of money that we can afford.  Everytime I watch the news, I cannot afford not to do anything.  I may not be there physically as a volunteer but with a few old clothes and small amount of money, I know I did something.

For location breakdown for volunteers and donations, please visit Bianca Gonzales’ blog .

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