Telling it like it is

Have you ever asked yourself how many decisions you make every day?

Okay, that’s a trick question. Let’s narrow it down. How many conscious decisions you make each day?

A quick search has led me to this answer: at least 35,000 for an “average adult American.” What about Filipinos? Let’s assume we make at least half of that since we have less complicated lives, haha. But kidding aside, that’s a lot of decision-making everyday.

Funny that in today’s age where information is overflowing, we make less decisions–even end up making bad decisions. This is so because we have several options. We have too many! This article states that “with too much information, people make less decisions.”

Imagine this: in a big store of too many shoe choices, you often end up buying nothing. But in a botique where there are 3 to 4 choices, you often decide quickly. Barry Schwartz on TedTalks called this the “paradox of choice.” With too much choice, we often become undecided.

Now,  how can you keep your life a little less complicated–which means you make decisions quickly since you are able to focus on what’s important.  But before I jumped into the next point, watch this first:

So if you believe Mr. Schwartz, modern Western life has made our lives more complicated. We’re surrounded with information. And we’re always under pressure to make sense of it. Now, if you’re job involves making sense of these things and deciding which ones to throw out and which ones to retain, then most likely, you often find yourself  stuck, or worse, paralyzed. Thus you are most likely unhappy, anxious and frustrated.

Last week, I bought this book called “The Decision Book,” which is an international bestseller. It features 50 known models for “strategic thinking.” 50! Wow. We need at least 50 best-known models for decision-making to make good decisions. Now, where do I start?

So there. As they say, life is about making choices (more good than bad, I suppose). To keep things very simple, you may choose between these two options whenever your stuck: will it make you happy or will it make you sad. If a certain decision does make you happy, then stay with it. If it does not, then scrap it. But, if it makes people sad, but makes you happy, then, that’s another complicated question that requires another round of decision-making.

Wait, scrap that.

Just keep it simple! And decide.

One of my friends gave me this idea. Instead of buying the usual souvenirs in places you travel to, buy a book and make a short note on the first few pages about the place, the occasion and other highlights. Thus explains these books I bought. Been seeing Peter Straub but this is the first time I’ve picked up his book. Let’s see how it goes.

I missed my flight this week. But in the process, I gained new friends.

As I was trying to figure out a way out of this mess, my boss calmly told  me  ”…not to panic. We have a plan,” quoting our bigger boss. I just smiled when I read his message. In life, we will make a lot of mistakes. We fall down. But this is an opportunity to get up, to fight back and to show what you’re made of. As Richard Pausch of “The Last Lecture” would say, brickwalls are there to force you to find ways of going over it. If you want it bad, then you will be able to break through it. It also drives other people who are not ready to go through the exercise.

I’m now starting to write “the book” that has been percolating in my brain. It has a working title. The idea just came one day after I interviewed a young lady who has been writing her own book.

I asked her, “Where do you start?” She replied, “Start with what’s been going through your mind.”

So one night, that thought started going through my grey matter. I grabbed my netbook and started typing away. I’m close to hitting 40 years now. So I decided to start writing lessons I’ve learned in life — at least what I think is important that my kids would learn from.

So I think the title of this blog entry would make it to my book (in the making).

There!

I’m still on Malcolm Gladwell’s book titled “What the Dog Saw” when I came across this chapter.

What makes Gladwell a good read is that he takes simple questions in life (things we often take for granted) and turn them into stories. So, this chapter explains the difference between choking and panic — two behaviors that are often mixed up but are distinct.

According to one informal definition, choking (as in sports lingo) means “to be unable to perform efficiently, as in a sporting event, because of tension, strong emotion.”  Every rookie has experienced choking in a game. While they’ve been trained to develop what musicians call “muscle memory,” choking (as caused by stress) renders a player helpless. Gladwell explains that athletes are trained to develop a skill (explicit learning). With more training, an athlete starts to move exactly as he or she is trained (implicit learning). When I was training for varsity volleyball, repeated training (explicit learning) had to be done to drill down a certain habit (implicit learning), such as diving for the ball.

This same training is being done to military men, and yeah, professional musicians. When I was learning classical guitar, I was taught to memorize the notes as against the position in the guitar’s frets (explicit learning). Then, as you train and practice more, I could play a classical piece with my eyes close (implicit learning). One day, I was tasked by my teacher to join a gig. As any rookie would admit, I choked. I forgot my piece due to the stress of having to impress my teacher and a crowd of professional musicians. I stumbled and I deliberately replayed every note in my head, as I nervously watched my fingers fumble. I felt like a child again, guessing what’s next. My teacher smiled back and nodded. After that harrowing experience, I sank in embarrassment. But one of the pro musicians went to me and said, “Hey, it happens.”

That’s choking.

Panic is a different planet. When people panic, the brain apparently goes on automatic mode, as instinct kicks in. Makes sense?

Gladwell’s shares this story about a woman who went diving for the first time. Underwater, she tried to switch oxygen tanks. This involved holding her breath for a few seconds, as she switched her mouthpiece (where oxygen is coming in) with another extra mouthpiece attached to a new tank. But when she tried to blow the water out from the mouthpiece, it didn’t work as expected. She panicked. She then started yanking the mouthpiece from her friend, as she gasped for air.  In short, when you panic, you stop thinking.

So before you say, “I panicked,” think about it. Perhaps, you just choked.

I recently wrote an entry on Soundtrip, aptly titled “What is Pinoy Music?”

Excerpt:

I WAS “lost” last weekend in the piles of books in a local bookstore. I was hunting for a book that was recommended to me earlier by a literary friend. But fate brought me to the “entertainment section” of this bookstore. There I found two remaining copies of “Punks, Poets, Poseurs: Reportage on Pinoy Rock & Roll” by Eric Caruncho.

I checked the price. It said, “50 pesos.” Are you kidding, I told myself. This book is a steal! So I grabbed one copy (now I’m thinking I should have also grabbed the last copy, heh), and went straight to the cashier.

This is an “old” book which I read back in 1996 when it was launched. I must admit I had little knowledge of the Pinoy rock scene in the 1970s leading to the late 1980s, which was about the same time when Baguio’s The Blank became the hottest rock band in the country.

I admire people who can write good stories. With mere words, they can take you to a made-up world. It can be full of joy, sadness, anger, rage, or fear. They can make the ordinary special. Sophia Romero’s Shiksa from Manila is an example. Blog Addicts has recently featured her blog, which contains stories. Her latest is titled, The Hypenated Life.

Excerpt:

My name is Amapola and I am the shiksa from Manila…

A hyphen is a small bar that looks like a minus sign. The dictionary further describes the hyphen as a punctuation mark used to divide or connect two words; to describe a person who performs more than one function; to describe a unit of mixed or diverse backgrounds.

To me the hyphen is all that. For something no bigger than a period, it means so much more. It describes the life I lead: a life that straddles two worlds, the tight rope that connects me to both, maintaining the delicate balancing act between the life I had before and the life I have now.

Yay! Mobile TV is almost here. Wait. What’s on? Well, that’s the biggest question that I want to ask service and network providers. Yes, mobile television is here but what content will it have. Will mobile TV services resort to shovelware, meaning pushing the same content we now see on our boob tube to the mobile handset? Or we going to see a YouTube-like model, which is user-generated? Excerpt:

PLDT President and CEO Napoleon Nazareno said the service is still undergoing technical tests but will be formally introduced on March 11.

“It would initial show the cable channels CNN BBC World, CNBC, Basketball TV, MTV, Jack TV, Fashion TV and other entertainment channels,” Nazareno said.

I remember this article I wrote last year: “Mobile TV is ‘snack TV’, say Ericsson.” It says:

People will spend less than 5 minutes watching television programs on their mobile phone, a consumer survey from telecommunications vendor Ericsson showed.

What can you watch in less than 5 minutes? Short video clips, of what? Basketball or Football highlights, MTV, YouTube, etc. That’s just a start. What else? A video clip of your home sent through your Internet-connected security web cam. Five-minute sitcoms or sketches. Music lessons, a multimedia map or tour guide. A video clip of your doctor’s or dentist’s diagnosis. A review of the latest book, movie, etc. These are just random thoughts that I’m typing now. There will be more. In short, don’t think about today’s TV when you hear mobile TV. Two words: snack TV.

I also found some useful links on mobile TV.

• Why YouTube is the future of Mobile TV.
• The future of TV will be personal.
  
• Will mobile TV make moving viewing?

(UPDATE 2) More people are blogging about it. But here’s an interesting take (and photos) from one of the book’s contributing writers, Chong Ardivilla. Chong also reveals the story behind the book’s title (No, it’s not from the Burger Machine jingle, people )

Here’s a video clip of Cambio performing live during the book launch.

(UPDATE) See, hear, and read what happened at the launch at the unofficial blog about the book.

Tikman ang Langit: An Anthology on the Eraserheads will be introduced formally (some have bought copies already) in a simple book launching ceremony at Powerbooks in Greenbelt 3 (this is the same store you find the walkway). The co-authors including yours truly will be there to sign copies. Also, Cambio, Marcus Highway, and Lei of Prettier Than Pink will do some acoustic jam.

The difference between literature and journalism is that journalism is unreadable and literature is not read.
-Oscar Wilde

In an interview with senatorial aspirant Danton Remoto (which is scheduled to come out soon on Eleksyon 2007 podcast interview on INQUIRER.net), the English professor admitted missing reading since the start of the campaign. How many candidates can really claim without hesitation that they miss reading books? (Perhaps that’s a good question to ask the other candidates, don’t you think?) Then I found this quote from Oscar Wilde. Less people, especially the younger ones, are reading. Some pin the blame on gaming. But this was said when television, movies, DVDs, cable emerged. Reading is solitary activity. It freezes time. Which means you need to set aside time to read. That’s why I carry at least two pocketbooks when I’m commuting. If I get lucky and find myself comfortably seated, I read a chapter or two. Currently, I’m reading Graham Greene’s The Quiet American and Jack Kerouac’s On the Road.

If you’re not familiar with the places visited by Kerouac, check this Google Earth placemarks. Nice!