another map

A friend of mine asked me to link her hometown to Google map. She's from TIGAON it's in  Camarines Sur. I think I have never been to Tigaon before, my family lived in Camarines Sur for ten years though.

map

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Just got home from my dad's hometown, Pagbilao in Quezon Province. Doing some projects there. hehe. exciting. wohoo.

Baho

Don't you just envy people who never cower to perform infront of a crowd, no matter how big the mob is?

There were gazillion of instances that i never ever enjoyed being in front of everybody. According to my friends who were in a band ,it's the adrenaline rush that makes performing in front of a crowd so addictive. But for me it's the adrenaline rush that made me almost poop in my pants when I was in the middle of a shool performance back in highschool. Oh yeah, I do remember the song, It was 'Like a Prayer' by Madonna, haha Madonna! It was not a solo performance, It was a group performance, group performance means all students in class. I never liked the feeling. I mean who would be? Come on, my gut that time was rumbling and was about to break loose, and I was thinking very hard what did I had for breakfast? As cold beads of sweat rolls down my forehead, sweaty hands and all, I was talking to my self, cussing madonna for making that dang song's intro like a mile long, and I was about to yell "Can someone please  hit the fast forward button and make it end?!" Buset! Highschool. Worst time of my butt life. Uneasy butt multiplied by 10. Yes Martin Pelaez! The reason I was going in and out of the toilet in fourth floor was because I had tummy aches. I had something for lunch or whatever that day. Hehe, sobrang sakit ng tyan ko gusto kong itulog sa toilet. There you go, I said it. haha.

In elementary days i was in grade 2 or 3, was it? I actually stutter, I disliked being called by my teacher and recite because I stutter I am not sure if my parents were aware of  my speech defect that time. It's the nervousness that makes my butt uneasy and my tongue tied. But after awhile, (or was it a long while?) I managed to stop my stuttering, I did not know how it happened, it just stopped. Then I was immersed with strong conviction and will power that i actually believed i can sing amazingly. What the &**@##$! Just going about it at present I think it's plainly stupid! On my sixth grade, you won't believe this, I participated in 'programs' they call it, it's a class program, brewed by teachers who were not in the mood to teach, sleepy probably, or too busy computing the grades of the whole class, to keep the teacher "entertained" she let's her students sing, dance, act... eat fire, fetch the stick, roll over hehe. It's like one of those talent shows on tv only micro version. Kids my age that time were sucker for those petty entertainment, they have their favorites, and I am not one of them, you can hear their 'ohhs' and 'ahhs' as i belt those high notes. NOT! haha. I thought so too that I am capable of singing but hell no. I think I was possessed or something. There was this entity that took over my body that made me participate in those 'programs'. Unimaginable! What was i thinking? ewww! yak! haha.  For some time, I managed to take control over my butt. That is what I thought. But an uneasy butt never ceases. I must accept it.

Funny. It's the Kool-aid commercial! I don't think I mentioned this to anyone before. Back in highschool I was very, very unsure of what to take up in college, in fact even when I was taking my chosen course AB Communication Arts with specialization in Advertising, I was still unsure if I want to  pursue a career out of it.
It's the Kool-aid commercial, Stephen Garcia's dad was one of those people who made that commercial. Cool! my classmate's dad makes advertisements! I may not be working in an ad agency right now, but still I am very glad, that i made a good decision of what i took up in college. It was a good decision, yeah I was unsure, but still it was a good decision. What so good about it is that it minimized the uneasy butt of mine big time. Ikaw ba naman bombahin ng everyday report sa harap ng class, interviews here and there, oral recitations every single day at impromtu speeches. Umiikot pa rin ang tumbong ko pero never had the feeling again na I was about to poop in my pants.

Booyah! Thank you Stephen Charles Garcia's dad. If it's not because of you, I may be stinking now. Hu! Baho!

Coffee teeth

Great. Coffee stained teeth. Never thought I would have it. These past few weeks I was busy in our group thesis, I would frequent one of those coffee shops, I am not a coffee drinker but in order to boot up my sleep deprived brain, and never ever think about hitting the sack again, or at least until our group finished our thesis, what I needed were enormous pails of caffeine. Our group which was initially a four member group were down to two. Sayang those other two were very very much of help sana para mapaganda pa ang thesis namin, they both got very brilliant minds pa naman. Mga gifted parang ganun. I enrolled at  TESDA's program and took Computer Programming NCIV course for free (hehe I'm still waiting for the catch on this one, what would the government need me for? hmmm...lunok, syet!) and in order to get my certificate we need to finish our thesis. And even on a Sunday I still need to work on my thesis, my partner was not around during weekends she need to rest because she has a kid to look after and she also have a job. As for me 'Aint no rest for the wicked' sabi nga ng Cage the Elephant, haha, o ye, am I wicked or what? uhuh, starving designer I am. Few moments later a cuss slipped my mouth 'F***!ano bang sakit ng ulo itong ginawa ko sa sarili ko' hehehe. Of course dumating lang ang time na may ganung mga moment na parang maganda ang magquit. Kaso pano naman ang ipinasok kong two months mauuwi lang sa wala? hindi maaari! Hindi naman ako ganun ka okay sa programming so-so lang ako, pero ang alam ko lang gawin ay magtiyaga. I downloaded codes from the net pinag aralan kung pano ginamit ng authors then inapply namin sa system na binubuo namin. And what do you know? one day before the defense chill lang kami ng partner ko. Natapos namin on time ang programming, the documentation part was good hehe I'm the one in charge of the documentation. We were an hour early sa defense namin, na iset up namin ang presentation namin in fifteen minutes. Our system worked perfectly and we passed the defense. We nailed it. hehe. Yabang...kikofied syet!  Now i can put on my biggest grin and show my super yellow teeth to everyone. Hell ye! Woot Woot!

I named my wacom Stan

My two year old wacom graphire 4 was brutally opened by a local tv repair man, syet, napapangiwi ako nun ihinang ung ipapalit kong usb cable sa wacom ko.  Then the repair man asked me "Boss, ano tawag dito?" "ah wacom po, wacom tablet" I replied.iningatan kong huwag masira un wacom ko pero kahit anong ingat talagang hindi maiiwasan. I think phased out na ang model ko ng wacom dahil few months after I bought my wacom tablet, they released a new model called Bamboo, with free mouse and pen tips, buset, halos magkapresyo pa sila. Pero ok lang napakinabangan naman un graphire 4 ko. Hindi ko naman kailangan dalhin sa tv repair man, kaso nawala ko un warranty card at saka two years na un,  naghanap ako sa internet ng wacom service centers, kaya lang gastos pa un. Naginvestigate na lang ako kung ano problema. There was a problem pala with the usb cable, kakapulupot ng kakapulupot naputol ung wires sa loob ng cable, kaya emergency operation nangyari sa kanya. Parang Frankenstein, parang heart transplant, ibang piyesa na. hehehe. Then I decided to name my wacom, I thought how about Stan. Frankenstan. haha. Watchatink?  Ya. he's working perfectly fine, matatapos ko na gagawin ko. Teehee!

Biyahe

These past few weeks I was busy with work. It was my first time setting up something. It was a module for a well known product. The pressure was way too big for me, konting tulog, maaga ang gising at laging tutok sa ginagawa, just to think it was just a small project how much more kung it was a big project, I would definitely die of pressure. You should see me freaking out when problems arises. Umiikot ang pwet ko sa nerbyos na baka hindi kami makapag deliver on time. Buset! But that two weeks was something. It was the longest two weeks I have encountered. I was running around Las Pinas area to get the prints done. Managing people. Delivering the prefab components of the modules, and assembling it on location. We had ten modules to deliver and most of the location were very far from the south of Metro Manila where I am from. Problems with the transport was one of the biggest hurdles we had. Transportation getting busted, tires suddenly won't turn because the brakes are locked. Clutch problems. Overheating. At ang pinaka matindi, sa loob ng anim na deliveries, we had tatlong huli. Traffic enforcers who hadn't have their lunch/dinner yet were always a big surprise. Yeah sure we anticipated it na meron talagang hulihan na mangyayari pero naman ang mga kaso sobra namang babaw, kulang na lang sabihin ng mga mamang trapiko na "pengeng pang jollibee! may violation ka!" Anyhow tapos na un. Kaya lagi akong may tig iisang daan para incase sa mga ganitong pangyayari, hindi buong limang daan or one thousand ang maibigay ko. Wala nang suklian un kung sakali.

In a day we can only deliver two modules, not a good count, huh? If only the outlets of the grocery chain can process the papers in a rush, but that is not the way it happened, try waiting for 2 to 3 hours for processing the papers and getting inside those grocery outlets. It ate a hefty slice of our time. Kaya dalawa lang sa isang araw. Hindi nakakapagod ang set-up itself ang nakakapagod ay yung paghihintay at yung biyahe.

Speaking of biyahe, I'm used to traveling. Enjoy pag maraming nakikita. When I was in college I would take a bus to get to school, I have a good two hours allowance because that time sobrang traffic sa SLEX. I was always awake pag bumibyahe ako from Alabang to Lawton and vice versa konti lang ang pagkakataon na tulog ako. Mas gusto kong may nakikita ako. Hanggang makagraduate ako at magkaroon ng trabaho sa Makati, bus pa rin ang sinasakyan ko, it became my favorite transport because I generate my ideas when I am in transit. As a designer, I need to see things, even small details, it always help to squeeze some creative juices out of my brain. Later I had different jobs some were as far as Crame in Quezon City, Manila, and Mandaluyong. I wouldn't mind yung gastos ng pasahe papunta sa trabaho, kasi enjoy ako e.

May pinag ugatan ang lahat kaya enjoy ako sa pagbiyahe. Bata pa lang ako, malimit kami na bumibiyahe, when my father was assigned in Bicol for work, we had the chance to go around Bicol region, konti lang ang memories ko sa Bicol pero ang lahat na tumatak sa isipan ko ay ang pag travel. We have been to Camarines Norte, Camarines Sur, Albay, Sorsogon. Pakonti konti lagi kong naaalala ay yung mga times na bibyahe pa kami sa Legazpi to scout for best buys, toys and clothes na wala sa Naga City or Iriga City kung saan malapit ang tinitirahan namin, there were a lot of shops owned by chinese businessmen in Legazpi and most of their goods were all imported from other countries,I remembered that's where I bought my first and last Spiderman action figure. After roaming around, my family would eat in a Chinese restaurant where hamburgers and ice creams were also served. hehe. In that restaurant was also my first encounter with the shiny black gelatinous looking thing called century egg. Didn't taste it though, come on a very very old egg, older than I am? who likes to have it anyway? oh, my dad did. And for some time I believed that it was really century old egg. When it's time to go home, I would look outside the car's window and see the cloud formations, the sunset, waterspouts forming from a distance, sun rays seeping through thick cumulus clouds, the Sierra Madre, the majestic Mayon volcano waving at us as we leave Legazpi. I would keep my eye peeled for the rest of the travel, my siblings were already asleep, me, I like watching people do their things, farmers farming, kids playing along the road, I also wondered why so many Bicolanos love to sit along highway roads, literally they were sitting on either of the shoulders of highway road, it was like their hangout, while fast cars and big buses and trucks coming, they would stand up just in time as the vehicles approaches and before they get injured. Then my eyelids would get heavy I would fall asleep too, para akong pinaghehele ng banayad na ugong ng aming sasakyan, walang traffic dun, dreaming of the next toy I would buy in Legazpi, maybe next time I'll have that Macross robot, or wait probably Optimus Prime would be a good buy, I thought I drooled over it the last time. hehehe. Then my mother would wake us up when we reach home.

Then I grew up, went to school, had my work, pakonti konti sumasagi sa isip ko ang mga memories ng pagtravel, ang pagpunta sa kung saan saan, masaya ang maglakbay, it feels nice pag nakakarating ako sa ibang lugar. Kahit dito lang sa Metro Manila, sangkatutak ang matutunghayan mong eksena, bawat liko ng kalsada maraming nangyayari. Laging maaksyon, well hindi naman lagi. Kasama nga ako sa mga un. Ako un nakapangalumbaba sa loob ng sasakyan worried kung makakahabol kami sa susunod na delivery.

Oye! we delivered on time. Piece of cake! Syet! (parang ayaw ko na maulit! hehe) Kikofied ito!

nothing much to do

Play this music game and more at JamLegend

Baha experience

When Ondoy hit Manila I was busy with my 'raket', my feet were submerged under half inch water, doing layouts in InDesign. Kailangan ko tapusin lahat before Monday. I was screaming 'iangat lahat ng outlet!' hehehe. Ye pinasok ng tubig ang bahay namin, pero hindi naman grabe.Wasak na kasi bubong namin kaya expected papasok ang tubig hindi winasak ni Ondoy talaga lang wasak, na hindi lang mapaayos, iadd pa na ang lugar namin mas mababa sa kalsada kaya yung tubig na supposedly sa kalsada lang pumasok sa loob ng bahay. Pero it was the craziest. Buti na lang wala ako sa labas ng time nung time na un. Naalala ko tuloy when I was in college, sa Intramuros ako nun, pinauwi ng maaga ang mga estudyante. 5pm nakasakay ako ng bus ung ordinary lang, they still have those minibuses na bumibyahe ng Lawton to Alabang. Wala nang masakyan. Kaya nakisingit ako sa maliit na bus, nakatayo para makauwi lang. Pero pagdating sa Quirino Avenue wala nang galawan ang mga sasakyan, ang tagal, sobra. E inip na ang marami pati ako inip na rin, kahit umuulan bumaba ako kasama ng karamihan naglakad kami. hehehehe. Okay lang maglakad enjoy nga e. Ginabi ang paglalakad namin, hanggang makarating kami sa Buendia, lubog na ang part na un. Hindi na pwedeng daanan ang ilalim kaya umakyat kami sa flyover, in short nalampasan namin yung baha. Daming taong stranded. Karamihan sa mga naglalakad mga estudyante na tulad ko, kaya ok lang. Marami naman kami, hindi dyahe, hindi ako nakaramdam ng pagod siguro kasi malamig, umuulan, saka basang basa ako pati underwear ko basa. Pinipiga ko nga ung laylayan ng jacket kasi mabigat na, sinipsip ng jacket ko ung tubig ulan. hahaha. Nakarating kami sa Magallanes interchange, sa baba kami dumaan, nakarating kami sa Nichols, dun sa part na yun may experience ako na hindi ko makakalimutan na hanggang ngayon nakakapagpangiti sa akin. hehehe. Kasalukyang gnagawa ang Skyway nun time na yun. Malabo kasi mata ko, kahit umuulan suot ko ang salamin ko, sa haba ng nilakad ko, yung init ng katawan ko ang naging dahilan para mag fog ang salamin ko. Nakakilala ako ng mga kasabay kong mga estudyante kamustahan, asaran, kwentuhan nililibang na lang ang sarili para hindi gaanong nakakapagod. Medyo nahuhuli ako sa paglakad kasi inaaninag ko ung dinadaanan ko. E siguro dahil worn out na ako sobrang haba ng nilakad ko hindi ko napansin na nagsisipag iwasan un nasa harap ko sa dinadaanan nila, hindi ako nakaiwas nalaglag ako sa hukay na punong puno ng mala tsokolateng tubig, Buti na lang hindi ganun kalalim ang tubig. Meron isang estudyante sa likod ko ang tumulong na hilahin ako paakyat. Hiyang hiya ako nun. Buti isa lang nakakita sa akin, pero pag lingon ko nalimutan ko syet ang dami nga palang sasakyan sa SLEX siguro humahagalpak sa tawa yung mga nakakita sa akin. Pinagpray ko na sana lahat ng nasa sasakyan nung time na un ay tulog! Wahahahaha! Hindi rin naman ako nakita ng mga alaskador na estudyante kasi nauuna sila. Pagdating sa bandang Merville naghiwahiwalay kami nakakita ung ilan ng 711 naisipan na magstop dun pero sa tingin ko wala na silang mabibili kasi parang niransak ang lugar wala ng mga pagkain, nagpatuloy ako sa paglakad, layo ng nilakad ko nakarating ako sa Sucat, dun talagang di ko na kaya. Pumasok ako sa isang bus wala na gaanong laman, pumwesto ako dun sa pinakalikod sa mahabang upuan dun ako nakatulog sa sobrang pagod. Nagising ako umandar yung bus mga 8am na un, hehehe nakauwi ako ng bahay puro paltos ang paa. Kanya kanyang kwento. Buset! ako pinagtawanan sa pagkalaglag ko sa hukay. HAHAHAHA.

Assignment

Two weeks ago, I was on 'assignment', sort of. hehehe. My brother asked me to go to Quezon Province to take some photos of varieties of textures to be used for our project. I borrowed my sister's camera since I need high resolution images for the textures. I am not a photographer, but I like taking photos, nakakachamba ng magagandang shots, pero sa 100 shots 10 lang ang medyo ok. hehehe. So nakisabay ako sa father ko, because every weekend nauwi talaga sya to take care of some farm things. The weather was far from perfect kasi naguuulan, but still I had to go look for my subjects kasi kailangang kailangan. I headed to Lucena kaso wala sa Lucena ang hinananap ko, so I went to Tayabas to go have a look. Mas lalo yatang wala dun ung hinahanap ko. Para hindi masayang ang effort ko na pumunta sa Tayabas nagikot ako. I have never explored the place before, oo nakapunta na ako dun pero dadaan lang, bibili lang ng cassava cake, then uwi na sa Pagbilao (my father's hometown). Ayun feeling turista with a cam na nakasukbit sa leeg. Tulo ang pawis at uhog ko. Medyo na ulanan kasi ako before going to Quezon kaya sinipon ng konti. Enjoy naman ako sa pagikot ko, took shots of the side entrance of Tayabas Church, may kinakasal sa loob kaya hindi ako nagtagal dun. Dyahe.

This is the side entrance of Tayabas Church. Marami akong kinuhang shots pero ito pinili ko ipost.

Then I saw this interesting blue house. Took a number of photos of the house kaya lang pinagtitinginan ako ng mga tao, tinigil ko pagkuha. All of my shots of this house were not good ito lang ang okay.

Half day taking photos of the place nagutom ako. Nagtricyle ako papunta sa Buddy's, it started to rain. Malakas. I took some photos of the restaurant. In focus is a monay, hinati sa gitna, may pork asado filling, pinitpit and toasted. Ok ang lasa. Masarap din ung pancit palabok nila. I stayed there siguro more than an hour kasi ang tagal huminto ng ulan. I left Tayabas na walang nakitang subject.

This one is an anahaw roof, walang ceiling, hindi na ito sa Tayabas, sa bahay na namin ito.

Itong flower na ito sa bahay rin kuha ito. Puro talahib at damo ang makikita sa bahay namin. hehehe.

I decided to take a walk sa neighborhood hoping sa makakakita ako ng kailangan kong subjects, hindi nga ako nagkamali, hehehe. Pero I will not post any of the boring photos of textures I took. Pinaglaruan ko ung shutter speed ng cam ng sister ko and this one came up. Parang delubyo? Hehehe.

This is one of my favorite shots because of the white and black goats. And I have never seen this view before, I mean I did pero minus the dark clouds, it is not that interesting during a sunny day, although ok din naman, pero first time ko kasi makita na ganito un lugar right before umulan. I went home wet look. hahaha. I was clutching the bag of my sister's cam inside my shirt.

The following day ok na yun weather, mainit na pero partial cloudy skies. My dad asked me to go with him to take some photos of a beach property for sale. No we are not going to buy it but my dad's boss. His boss needs to see some photos of the property before going there himself. I posted some photos it on my facebook account.


Drying some fish under a not so sunny sky. The beach property is near a fishing village. The place is called Pulo. It's Pulo Island. Sounds repetitive huh? Pulo is connected to the main land by a some 500 meters long bridge or was it? I'm not really sure, I just assumed it.

After my three days stay in Quezon, I took 700+ shots, most of it were junk. But I accomplished what I had to do. I went back to Manila with all the needed shots of the textures, all ready for editing. Definitely kikofied!

Hey its GREEN DAY NIGHT!

Thanks to mad man, JC Pasion of Crank Music Relief and Joey Valverde of Warner Music Philippines, and the rest of the guys responsible for this event, you are making the world more 'greener'. Teehee!

Kikofied logos

Angel Perez of Glass_Onion asked me to design a logo for his new band Kilda. I also designed Glass_Onion's logo, sometime ago, the concept was Angel's but I executed it in Illustrator. It's always easier to work with clients who know what they want. The key to minimize revisions and 'boljaks' from your clients is to listen to what they want, then show them your own ideas, propose to them possible designs as alternative. Most of the time, if not, they would surely go and agree more to your alternative designs.(But in this example the clients insisted more on their idea hehehe, which is absolutely fine.)

Members of Kilda would like to have their logo in dark blue and silver. One tip I got from a colleague of mine, when designing a logo, design it one color muna, preferably black. Of course hindi ko alam yun nung una. This must be a no brainer for guys who had formal design training, since I did not have any, I just took it as a new information, hehehe, because I always design my logos meron nang kulay, because it is easier to create a logo nowadays with the help of vector softwares, one click lang you get the color you want. Pero nun malaman ko na one color muna, I changed my process in designing a logo. Bakit kailangan one color muna? Kasi once your one color logo looks nice na, you'll never go wrong with the colors what your clients wants. That's the time you can play with colors, kung saan mo ipoposition ang kulay. At most of all, lahat ng successful at mga tumatatak sa utak na logos like, nike, adidas, puma, coke, google and many more, they always look good sa one color printing. Meron kasi logos na maganda lang in full color, pero once na kinailangan na ilagay ang logo nila na required one color lang, hindi na maganda ang kinalalabasan. There are corporate logos that looked good in full color but the logo suffered in corporate giveaways, letter heads, receipts etc. because most probably the designer did not foresee the brand as one color to be used in such instances.

Ok let's go back to what Kilda wanted their logo to be like, just what I have said it was a breeze to work with these guys because they know what they wanted. So, they like it in dark blue and silver, they like to show letter k in a circle. It was a bit easy pero still mas maganda if I ask them what else they like to show in their logo and what genre do they play. In this case Kilda is alternative pop rock. Kilda came from the sentence 'Kill the Third Party', which was the original name of the band, but the name was too intense for the genre that they are into, they decided to tone it down to a more poppish feel. With that in mind, I checked some existing logos on the net that has something to do with bands, pop rock, rock, heavy metal I searched it all hehehe. In that way I won't miss interesting logos that might work for my client. There are so many of them so you need not to worry where to get references, or if still you cannot find one that will inspire you, go to Power Books, you can always browse on their design books they are very helpful (whenever I have a chance, I drop by at any branch of Power Books, Graphic Arts and Architecture is my favorite section.) Here are some images that I created for Kilda.

I sent Kilda thumbnails of the logo I designed, they are all in black. I gave them the one they wanted the letter 'k' in a circle 2 versions of it, plus I also gave a number of alternative designs for them to choose from. It seemed that they are really decided on the letter 'k' in a circle so they choosed the reversed 'k' in a round background. Since according to Angel he sort of signs his compositions for Kilda in reversed 'k'. I didn't know it, sinabi lang nya sa akin yun nung makita nya yung design. hehehe. So there you go. There was a story behind the logo pa. I informed Angel na sa one color na design, na pinadala ko sa kanila makikita nila na un effectiveness nung logo for low budget tshirt print, button pins, and stickers, which will be very good to market their band. But they wanted the logo in dark blue and silver. So I came up with two versions. Here they are.

My first version.
My second version.

Now, this one is kikofied. hehehe
please visit my site. http://www.kikomartinez.bravehost.com/

The business dimension... well sort of

Okay, I'm going to post a quote what Carlo Ople included in his presention from his talk last Friday September 11, 2009 in Seminar room, Hall 2 of SMEX Convention Center in MOA for the Gonegosyo Youth Summit. He quoted Nolan Bushnell, founder of Atari Computers, and it goes,

"The critical ingredient is getting off your butt and doing something. It's as simple as that. A lot of people have ideas, but there are few who decide to do something about them now. Not tomorrow. Not next week. But today. The true entrepreneur is a doer, not a dreamer."

(I'm sure that the quote Carlo presented in his talk is much longer than this quote that I got on the net. hmmm. or could it be the same...I think.)

That quote was pretty much inspiring for me at least. It was also a good thing that I stayed for the last talk for the said convention, ok wait, it was a good thing I attended the talks from 2.30pm onwards in the convention, I learned a lot. I heard about the Gonegosyo Youth Summit just a day before the event, I decided to go alone after class, I did not invite my friends to go with me since they have plans to go see a basketball match in Araneta. And I don't think that they would go with me anyway. So it was a solo flight.

These past few months I was looking for some business opportunities, I want to have my own business, a business with a low capital, a business that I like to do, a business that will suit my personality, a business that I have a passion doing. All these time the business that I was looking for was actually under my filthy snout! Because I am my own business. Yes, you got it baby, I am my own business. Thanks to Carlo Ople, Marketing Head for the Casual Games Division of Level Up, he also do Digital Marketing Consultancy. That Carlo guy is surely is a guru. He made me see what I was looking for. Actually I was too dumb to see it. He pointed what is under my nose. There is a future under my nose! (on the background angels singing ahhhhhh. I saw the light.)

Currently I am a jobless Graphic Designer (well not really there is this one project that I will call "my break", woot woot break! Yeba! Not going to talk about it baka maunsyami.) I'm taking up Computer Programming in one of those computer schools inside the mall. hehe. I always say that I am a struggling Graphic Designer, well because I am. I have been a designer for quite awhile now. I provided my services for some small companies, because I am a sucker for the concept where one person decides to join a group, a very small company for that matter and that person grows with the company until that company becomes multi million worth, and a happy ending for all. For once I was in for that concept you know, rags to riches thing, but in my case the person who acquired the riches are those company owners I worked for and for us designers (who were supposedly part of the dream, the company grows, so do we. Not! it's just a crap!) we can share the leftovers on the plate.

For some time now I had my own website running http://www.kikomartinez.bravehost.com/, I have friendster, facebook, deviant art accounts. I was hoping that somehow I will get projects from these accounts. But I never had. I made logos, cd covers for friends and they are for free. I am happy I am capable to help them, and because of the "papuris" that I get from them, I always feel good I did a good job. hehe. Puzzled by the situation nobody would like to get my services aside from friends, thinking I had tons of accounts and they are like everywhere so people will go look for me if I just let it chill. No! That shouldn't be the case. And that is what actually I learned from Gonegosyo covention. Dapat masigasig akong nag popromote ng website ko, ng portfolio ko. I can use both facebook and friendster accounts to get projects only if I used my lagging brain in the very first place. It was an idea that I had before to promote it via social networking sites but I did not acted on it because I am so stupid and afraid. The talk which Carlo Ople had, made a huge impact to me. Fear is the main reason I do not have projects, why I do not have clients. I fear that people will have ill comments on my works, I fear that if I post my works people will mock at them, fear that I am not good enough, because of fear whenever people would ask me what is my profession is I would say 'Graphic Designer pero average designer lang ako'. I thought building my own website is a huge step to promote myself. Pero ano ang silbi ng website ko kung hindi naman ako bilib sa sarili ko. I am thankful I have real friends who appreciate my talent kahit libre sincere naman sila sa pagpuri sa akin. hahaha. And that builds my confidence. Kung wala akong clients ok lang pansamantala my friends are my biggest clients.

Cherrios to Gonegosyo. Carlo Ople you rock!

It's time to get the ball rolling guys. You'll going to see more of things I do (lunok...syet!). Hehehe. Just wait. Dito lang yan sa blog ko. You'll get kikofied. Bwahahaha.