racoma.com.phJ. Angelo Racoma on technology, economics, writing, problogging, and getting things done

We’ll be moving to a bigger apartment within the month, and I’m worried about connectivity. Being able to share the DSL connection via WiFi at my parents’ place here in our existing apartment (within the same compound) is sure easy. But now that my family needs a bigger–and better–living space, I’ll have to take care of these things over again. Signing up for Bayantel/Sky DSL was easy because I’d been a loyal subscriber and our line has been running for about ten years now.

One drawback of being in an occupation that one can undertake from home (such as problogging and all sorts of other e-businesses), or when you’re telecommuting or in a mobile-working arrangement is that there is a tendency for you to do just that–stay at home all day doing your work there. Yes, you may be more productive this way. Yes, you could be getting things done better than had you been working at an office setting. Yes, there are no office politicking, overbearing bosses, chatty colleagues and all that.

But you don’t get to meet any people. You don’t get to go out and see the world-at-large. And this sometimes sucks.

Being an introvert such as myself, this could be even more troublesome, as one would not get to practice interpersonal skills that are equally important in business as a great idea and good execution. Face it–we may be the best damned programmers, the best effing writers, or the coolest web designers this side of the world, but without the ability to communicate with other people effectively, then we’re just running around in circles. We need to be able to reach out to be able to get where we want to go.

The Salesman

In other words, everyone has to be a salesman–and in our case, we have to sell our ideas, our ideals, our passions, so that other people would also share in what we believe in. And hey, we also get to earn this way.

Well, given that most ideas nowadays can be communicated over textual means–over the Web, email or instant messaging–you might think that actually talking to people is passe. Not really. I’m of the opinion that there’s still no substitute for a handshake. There’s no substitute to the sensual aspects of actually meeting a person face-to-face and seeing, hearing, and feeling (sometimes, perhaps, tasting and smelling even) all aspects of communication.

After all, communication is about 80% body language, 15% execution or tone, and 5% talk. Or something to that effect (I forgot the actual proportions but it’s the same banana).

You can’t transmit body language over the ‘Net. You can try, with webcams, VoIP and all, but this wouldn’t be half as exciting as seeing someone face-to-face.

A Matter of Choice

What’s great with not having to work in a regular workplace environment is you don’t have to deal with people. It’s certainly more comfortable when the pressure to fit in is no longer there. This way, if you get to reach out to people, it’s because you want to, and that you choose to. It’s a matter of personal choice.

In a regular workplace setting, you’d have to deal with bitchy cube-mates, rumour-monger next-door neighbors (if you’re fortunate enough to get an office with actual doors, walls and windows), drive-by-management-freak bosses, airheads of all sorts, and all that. You have no choice. It’s either you live with it or be labelled the outcast.

What’s great with not being tethered to a desk or not being bound time-and-space by your job is that you won’t have to deal with Ms. Biatch, Mr. Airhead, nor the boss from hell. You can get to deal with such people, though, if you so choose. But hey, wouldn’t you rather hook up with the cute girl over at the next table at Starbucks (and more especially, her sexy black MacBook)?

Live Life

So don’t just sit there working all day with that smug grin on your face, thinking it’s great being able to avoid people all day.

My advice to you: unmount your donkey, leave your abode and have meaningful intercourse with a fellow human (translation: get off your ass, go out and talk to someone). Or at least go somewhere and get to immerse yourself in the goings-on of real people. Eat out. Take a stroll at the mall, park, or anywhere interesting. Go somewhere and watch people live their lives (Go ogle for all I care)!

This is why I go out and work at WiFi-enabled cafes (everyday while waiting for Pia’s preschool class to finish).

There comes a time in your life as a blogger when you can’t write s#!t. You want to be productive. You want to have some interesting output, whether on your personal blogs or other blogs (if you blog for network or team blogs). But you’ve squeezed out every ounce of creativity into your last masterpiece. You’ve tried and tried to outdo yourself this time, but to no avail.

Well, yes, there is always the temptation to just put up one-liners with links and blockquotes like those “hey, this is cool, check this out,” posts. Lately, though, I’ve been avoiding doing this, or else I would probably just be echoing everyone else on the blogosphere without adding value to the conversation (i.e., at least my unequivocal, principled personal opinion on something). You can do the citations from other sources, too, with some added commentary, but hey, isn’t something substantial and original better (at least in terms of the style and point of view, but maybe not always the content)? Don’t we aim to be different from the rest?

Stop and smell the flowers

In our desire to be more productive, we end up over-exerting ourselves.

This is probably the anathema of creativity. Forcing yourself to be creative would only push you to come up with crap and then you’d feel bad about it later on. Yes, pressure is good at times. But when your motivation for doing something is because you have to do it, rather than want to, it would sure be less fun. And that takes the kick out of doing anything, doesn’t it? And it’s one way to ensure that whatever you come up with would be far from the beautiful oeuvre you would’ve been able to create had you been the inspired, passionate little fellow.

You get things done, but do you get them done right?

Sometimes you have to pause awhile and experience life to recharge.

Go read a book. Go watch a movie. Go visit an art gallery. Go out and play with your kids, date your wife, walk your dog, chat with your cute next-door-neighbor, execute that excellent practical joke you’ve been dying to try on your gullible sister.

Go and do anything worthwhile. Let life happen. Live life.

This is when your next big idea will likely pop up in your mind. Don’t forget to write it down. Better yet, start conceptualizing, start working on it as soon as you can (not in the middle of that date, mind you). Life’s made up of many small interesting streams of thought, and only a few big ideas worth losing sleep on. Capitalize on that big idea. Work on that idea. Be passionate about that big idea.

The small ideas–your everyday stuff–are okay, but it’s the great, big ideas that change the world.

Hey, Archimedes was taking a bath when he had that Eureka! moment (or so legend says).

Read, read, read

Fellow blogger Clair reads and reads.

Writing for a living has trained me to write anything – no matter what. But of course. it is tougher. Writing three blog entries a day and editing other people’s entries (grammar, etc) could be quite painful too.
…
I read and talk about things that got me interested. If not about the article itself but maybe the circumstances around it, the person who wrote it, how I could relate, etc.

I try to read a lot, too, and I try my best to learn from what I read. My readings don’t necessarily have to be about the topics that I write about (mostly tech). In fact, I prefer reading literary pieces because this is where I learn about style, usage, context, and exposition. Most of the time, the way I write is influenced by what I’m currently reading at a given time.

I read juvenile books (e.g., Lois Lowry), light American classics (e.g., Mark Twain’s Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn series), heavy novels with morality issues (e.g., Alexandre Dumas’ The Count of Monte Cristo), and even Dan Brown stuff (not much for good narrative and exposition, but storylines are more or less OK). Oh yes, I’ve been fond of reading up on my newest favorite writer of late (though I’m in want of more, more, more!).

My mood and style of writing are usually influenced by what I’m into at any given time. For instance, I’m now midway into Monte Cristo, and you may be sensing dark undertones in my postings. Or perhaps it’s because I’m currently feeling low and moody, anyway. Or maybe I’m feeling low because of the book in the first place.

At any rate, reading is good. It expands your vocabulary. It takes up your horizon to new heights. It brings you closer to worlds (and words) previously-unknown. You’re likely to also get into the groove of writing, and even get that big idea you’ve been wanting to come up with to have for the longest time.

Live life. Read up.

So here’s to that Eureka! moment!

Being the nocturnal person, where I am (or at least perceive myself to be) more productive during the wee hours of midnight to early morn when everyone else is in their various stages of sleep, this is usually my message signing off when friends, colleagues or some sprit of the night say their good-byes in (sometimes productive, sometimes counter-productive, always interesting) instant messenger conversations. Last man standing, I usually consider myself.

No sleep for the weary.

I usually try to ponder the meaning and significance of this line time and again. I’ve come to realize that this line is usually preceded by “There is …” and then followed by “… until …” Ergo, this would mean my firm resolve to finish whatever it is that I am trying to finish, and not rest–even when burdened by troubles and weariness–until I have satisfied myself that I have done my best for the day, and must henceforth retire, rest, and perchance sleep, in order that I can face the next with further renewed energy and undying exuberance.

Passion, Perspiration, and a bit of Inspiration

Sometimes I succeed, and sometimes I do not. That usually depends not just on my level of energy (for energy can be misdirected and misspent), but on the passion and commitment I have put into my task. Yes, sometimes it does take a bit of inspiration to follow through with my efforts, but it mostly depends on perspiration (success after all is 99% this, with the former constituting the remaining one percent).

What inspires me to do well, then? First and foremost, there’s the feeling of accomplishment and pride with what I do. And then of course there are the financial considerations.

Sex & Cash

In the Sex & Cash theory parlance of gapingvoid,

The creative person basically has two kinds of jobs: One is the sexy, creative kind. Second is the kind that pays the bills. Sometimes the task in hand covers both bases, but not often. This tense duality will always play center stage. It will never be transcended.

My profession and current line of work involves both the sex and the cash aspect of that duality, most of the time. Knowing that I get to accomplish both needs at the same time–sex being the need for a sexy job that I can be passionate about, and cash being the job that pays the bills–I could usually retire for the day knowing I have accomplished something good.

Sometimes, though, it’s good to keep the sex and cash separate from one another, that I may pursue undertakings that are of pure passion and glory in nature. And that’s where stuff like this blog falls under, and also potentially great things, like Go-Ogle and other budding startups I’m dreaming up in my mind (and hope to turn from ether into reality soon).

How to Be Creative

For now, I leave you with this article from Hugh MacLeod’s gapingvoid, with interesting pointers on how to be creative. You’ll get bold statements such as Ignore everybody, Dying young is overrated, and Power is never given. Power is taken.

This is not exactly new, but I do hope those in need of a boost in their creativity whether in the arts, business, or in anything, would find this piece helpful–enlightening and entertaining in the same light.

Now A Word From Our (Former) Sponsors

A usual co-conspirator, fellow Man-blogger Mike Villar, asked me to help spread the word about the soft-launch of version 2 of Calliope, the engine that powers i.PH (used to be my baby back at dotPH). Lots of good stuff added. I have to admit, though, that it’s not really for me (for I love to be in full control, and I’d rather go for our free com . ph domain offering, the initial batch of which we’re actually registering today), but Calliope would appeal to you if you’re looking for an all-in-one package that’s easy to manage without necessarily having techie skills.

So adieu for now! Remember, there is no spoon!*

*Another favorite sign-off line.

So alcohol did not work in kicking up my creativity level (though I was able to conceptualize a handful of stuff–if only I already had that cool Moleskine notebook a gracious reader promised to send over, I would’ve had somewhere to write them down aside from good ol’ notepad.exe). The good stuff messes you up well, and makes you take on fresh perspectives on othetwise mundane things. From this point, it’s all about keeping the flow, and being able to put into writing all those ideas inspite of the Kaliedoscopic state of events in your head.

It’s a Friday and people are out partying and celebrating the end of the work week. Good for them. It’s great for people to get well-deserved treats or rest after slaving hours off as corporate drones for people who probably don’t give an effing damn about their welfare. Whoops, sorry for the rant. I just feel so thankful I’m no longer part of that system (the corporate world, durr!)–at least not now, while I’m in this profession called blogging (and as well a host of other online stuff I’m involved in, I’ve started or would like to start, like that isulong seoph contest I probably won’t win but have entered anyway). No parties for me, though (birthday parties are for kids).

On being part of the system, why don’t we all give our kudos to Jolo, a.k.a. Avlack, a.k.a. the person who created the bad-ass original theme for The J Spotter, our resident designer, TXP lover and advocate of strict XHTML compliance. He recently, well, xacked up with Xackup, the latest Philippine-based startup promising to put out cool software and Web apps in the near future. That kid’s living the life! It’s like the local version of Silicon Valley or something. Free foodies, free massages, free corporate housing, take-home laptop, no time-in/time-out requirements, regular drinking sessions, stock options. The works!

With Jolo on board, I have no doubt Xackup will be looking good when the time comes for it to, umm, Alpha-release its products (release early, release often as my favorite open-source adage goes). Got to work with Jolo for a while (and we’re part of some blogging projects, too), and I can say he’s one cool dude. I do hope his Valley environs don’t make his head swell too much. Heheh.

Hey, Jolo, that sure is a world of difference you’re experiencing there compared to before, eh? Same here.

So where was I? Oh yeah I wrote on the title field “Friday Blues” because I couldn’t really think of any more appropriate title to describe what this Friday is. It’s probably the birthday nearing–existential meanderings again, or because I’ve a lot of things in my mind I’d like to do or achieve sometime soon. Chris P. would probably kick me in the head for typing in my headline first, but that’s how things are (okay, I’ll try to vary my workflow sometime for a change).

If you guys plan to greet me on my birthday, think first whether you’d more or less been a good person to me the rest of the year. If so, then greetings are very much welcome. If you’d been an arse the rest of the 364 days (365 on leap years–an extra day to be an arse), well then what else can I say? Take your greetings elsewhere, you hypocrite.

This being a Friday, it’s probably good to leave you with links to other interesting stuff. I’ll still be writing over the weekend, though, mostly on my BloggyNetwork blogs and probaly here also.

* Janette has published episode 5 of her Digital Filipino Podcast.
* Taorist welcomes Robyn into the world (I can never get enough of being a dad).
* Chris P. writes on why Deal or No Deal contestants should learn math and statistics.
* Here are some Grammar lessons from ZDNet UK.
* I wrote some tips on bMonitors on how to keep sane and healthy while computing.

If this post turns out to be as serendipitous as the last “blues” roundup, then that would be awesome!

(Things do tend to turn out differently than you hope or originally intend. It’s sometimes fun, and sometimes downright annoying to watch how things go in the end–that depends on the turnout.)