CONTENTS:
- Quick About Me
- Long About Me
- My Lifemap
- A Statement of Good Life | Manifesto
- The Optimist's Creed by Christian D. Larson
- Contact Me (under construction)
Quick About Me
I was born and raised in the Philippines. Presently, I’m a migrant worker in Singapore. I like ideas and people who talk about their ideas. I care about arts, letters, knowledge, society, bettering myself, and improving the world a bit.
I'm a 40 plus year old gay man. This blog is a way to organize the lives I live inside my head. It means this is the Virgo Ascendant in me seeking order on behalf of the Gemini Sun. Lol.
What a journey this life is! Dependent, entirely, on things unseen. — James Baldwin
Long About Me
Hello there! If you're still here, thank you.
Curioustart is like many online journals before, it’s a diary of sorts rising from the wake of ancient chaos!
Curioustart is a collection of my musings and ramblets (think of it as baby ramblings). It chronicles the random creative projects I embark on and that includes procrastination. It’s also my playground for ideas that fascinate or bother me. I want this blog to help me think well and write well. It’s my hope to write as honestly as possible—protected from my own narcissism and saved from my own insecurities.
I grew up in Bulacan, a province north of the capital Manila. It was a time when rice paddies were still abundant in our town. Back then, the word 'dengue' had not yet reached the street vernacular. Neighbors used to borrow one another's dining table when there was a wedding to celebrate. I remember too that if a dog bit you, chances were, adults would bring you to albularyo to help treat the bite wound with a small black stone. If the stone sticks like a fridge magnet, it means the dog is asong ulol. But there is no need to fret because its power will absorb the rabies! It was also the time when the only type of gay people "accepted" in the Philippines were the ones working in beauty salons. I remember watching the first Jurassic Park on Betamax together with the neighbors. Fun times.
A lot has changed. Concrete houses replaced the rice fields. People already know the danger of dengue and rabies. Thank God. Now, imagine me for many years quietly waiting for the hydrophobia to appear while growing up.
Poverty, being gay, and my own ignorance shaped a lot of my worldview and how I present myself. But ignorance is the most interesting. Unpacking ignorance will be one of the constant themes of this blog.
I like to say I had a fun childhood. I played a lot under the sun and under the rain too. I had plenty of playmates.
Hmmmm I think writing a Long About Me is a huge trap. Lol. I realized I have so many things to untangle. My apologies for the abrupt stop. I swear I really tried.
My Lifemap
I've been writing my goals since I was early twenty-something. In the beginning I've learned to make short term, medium term, and long term goals. Since then I've discovered many ways to create goals. Then I stopped making monolithic goals altogether after realizing its absurdity in the grand scheme of things. But it morphed into this abstract thing I called Lifemap. It's like my poor attempt to have first principles to guide my life. This is how I define a good life.
As shown in the pictures below, I've two versions of my Lifemap: the wordy and the simple. The simple ones are words (only) to help me quickly think about my day. That is, if I live it according to the good life I've always envisioned. If I did satisfy only one of them, then it's a day that mattered. The second photo is a corollary to Lifemap 5 & 8.
A Statement of Good Life | Manifesto
[Created 2023. Inspired by Holstee Manifesto. I know it's a redundancy considering I already have a Lifemap.]
"Treat yourself the way you will treat someone you are in love with. Live intentionally, yet be open and receptive. Enjoy the new & changing. Life flows. Flow. Be flexible and adapt. Share your time, energy, & dreams wholeheartedly to the love of your life. Love with intention of making him happy and nurturing that happiness. Prioritize too your relationships with friends and family. Live passionately. Embody your ideals and desires in the Now, and never in some future time. Live as if it is your first day and last day on Earth. Live as if it is your second chance with life. Everything is provided. Just ask. Relax. Enjoy. Share. Keep the faith. Follow your heart's dreams. Feeling is the secret. Have fun with your dreams. Make your optimism come true and aim for a kinder, better world. Do your art. Smile a lot. Let the body be always in motion. Nourish your soul. Stay curious."
The Optimist's Creed by Christian D. Larson
[When I was in high school I've encountered for the first time the last paragraph of this poem (as a quote) and I've forgotten about it. It was only during the Covid pandemic I remembered the quote out of the blue, and like an itch that need to be scratched, I followed my impulse and Google-d what the exact quote again. It was a great revelation to see it was part of a poem! I always read this because Maria Popova (author of The Marginalian) said that cynicism is a lazy response to life. This poem is antidote to cynicism.]
Promise Yourself
To be so strong that nothing can disturb your peace of mind. To talk health, happiness, and prosperity to every person you meet.
To make all your friends feel that there is something in them To look at the sunny side of everything and make your optimism come true.
To think only the best, to work only for the best, and to expect only the best. To be just as enthusiastic about the success of others as you are about your own.
To forget the mistakes of the past and press on to the greater achievements of the future. To wear a cheerful countenance at all times and give every living creature you meet a smile.
To give so much time to the improvement of yourself that you have no time to criticize others. To be too large for worry, too noble for anger, too strong for fear, and too happy to permit the presence of trouble.
To think well of yourself and to proclaim this fact to the world, not in loud words but great deeds. To live in faith that the whole world is on your side so long as you are true to the best that is in you.
Contact Me:
under construction
Notes & References:
- The simplified version of my lifemap is inspired by Matthew Hussey's personal take on how he tried to live a happy life. Here's his interview by Steve Bartlett on The Diary of CEO podcast.
EDITS:
First Posting on 23-07-2024 First Edit on 11-08-2024