Did 5 laps in the acad oval for a total of 11 K a day ago. Should run with Kitteh more. Muscle pain still there. will run another 5 rounds again later. my goal is to train 3 to 4 times a week. I have 54 days to go before marathon. Dont forget to register. All fitness first outlets. P650.00 only.

fotel rocker by peter vardai. via

Obviously still a design exercise done in 3d, it still woould be spectacular as a working prototype.

2.4 chair by omer arbel. via

Plastic fantastic. the colors are restrained but still funky. great use of acrylic. score one for the italians.

0.8 chair by omer arbel. via

The bandings give it a nice touch of color. Makes the contour really pop out.v Im not too sure about the forces though. would will never work here.

Industrial Design (Chair)

Italian chair

Mac and Steve Jobs

I recently got a chance to use my friend's newest Macintosh. My ailing PC took a sideline for me use some awesome tools. I was skeptical at first but like all clueless MS Windows users, i was surprised. It transformed my simple vector lines into something extraordinary. Ill save up for a year or two to get one of those powerful machines. I think their that good. Too bad they are prohibitively expensive. It will take a while before i become rich but its nice to dream.

My mother always said I was an idiot for choosing a career in the arts. "I don't understnd why would you want to start at that path when all you will ever be is a struggling, starving artist?! No son of mine is that stupid!" Yup, typical mother and child drama that i tried to shrug off constantly, though, it constantly stayed on my mind for years in college. The thing is, I'm getting really good in my line of work, I still love my work and I think it will all become better in the future. Anything is still possible if i work hard enough. Maybe even a new Mac

I always new Steve Jobs started his career as an aspiring artist. His hands were trained for creativity with the brush and the pen. Its clear to me now why the most basic earlier-released Macintosh had the best typeface controls. Its also clear why the Mac had an interface and control for millions of colors more than the average PC. Why go through these lengths developing a basic computer? Because he wanted one Tailor-made for creative people like him. I think it was his artistry trying to manifest itself to something he believed he deserved in life-Newer and better tools to create. He didn't care much for computer engineering like his partner, he just wanted opportunities to create cool stuff that would shake up the allied arts. (Graphic design, illustration, animation, architecture and industrial design) During the 1980's, this guy wanted to operate on a larger picture of his life; not just the past wins an failures but what is infinitely possible. People all around the world love him for that. This is what gave meaning to his life. Awesome stuff for someone who didn't finish college and just took a class in calligraphy instead.

"Operate out of your imagination, not your memory or your IQ."
The founder of Apple and Pixar talks on life experience. Steve Jobs speech at Stanford. Video link here.

I sketched a couple of designs in my ancient sketchpad. I should really carry it around everyday. Inspiration comes from many places. Because of my poor memory, I find it hard to recreate some very good ideas i had in my head in the past. That to me is a waste, considering I have been a chronic sufferer of designer's block. It will also improve my atrophying drawing skills. Ever since i built my PC workstation, everything i have done for the past year was digital 3d images. My digital mentor, Cedric Hornedo once told me never to let slip my drawing skills. If you haven't got that basic skill nailed down, then chances are, you will never last in the very competitive design field. The next thing that he told me was to make study sketches for my 3d drawings. It seemed a waste of time for me at the start but now i know it speeds up the work process, making 3d imaging easier- having laid everything down step by step on paper. Now, all i need to do is to sketch a little bit every day, and dedicate an hour after the work day to meditate. Drawing is meditation. I forgot about that years ago. Drawing constantly everyday will take me one step closer to being a zen master in design.

Won't Anybody Hire Me?

Onesimus was the company I always dreamed of working for. I wanted to apply to that company back when i was a college freshman, studying design. It sounded exotic, rich just like an italian couture brand or something to that effect. So, I had this notion that in-house designers and craftsmen where paid handsomely or something to that extent. These were the designers called for by name to outfit movie stars, politicians, captains of industry, and all those people of the so-called higher social strata.

I've been peeking inside their Makati boutiques since I was a kid. My Dad bought a suit once, i remember. He picked it out of a rack. I gues he didn't have the time or money to have one taylored for him.

No matter what, I just had to be a part of it. Landing a job designing or crafting bespoke products for men and women was Just as I had always hoped for. I promied myself that if i got it, i'd be in it for the long haul. It wasn't just the money I was looking for, I wanted to look, act, talk and dress like those well established designers.

After years, of hesitation, Even more scared than before, I finally inquired if there was an opening for design assistant. Armed with a toothless resume and some old pictures of my works, I came for the interview. Lined up with me were male models. They were tall. These people were the type who didnt need resumes to earn a paycheck. I hated them. Then there were my fellow design professionals. We talked about our recent projects and works, then when I asked about where they got their degree, one said singapore design institute and the other guy next to him said UST. I hated them the most.

We took an exam. It was under time pressure so i hunkered down and attacked each question haphazardly. Honestly, I think I made a mess of that exam.

"Screw the exam results. " I said to myself. I know im good and I feel I can do a better job than them. The interview went well, I think I passed that without any major blunder. I left the building with a heavy feeling in my heart. I kept looking at my folio, thinking to myself if I could outdo those other men.

Please Lord, let me get it. I wanted a corporate job so bad, I would do anything to get it.

I called a few weeks later, praying for a positive result. They told me the position has been filled.

Im nearing thirty. It shouln't be like this. It shouldn't.



"Design Professonal have a shelf-life."
-Parsons

Haile Gebrselassie King!

Haile Gebrselassie (Ge'ez: ኃይሌ ገብረ ሥላሴ, haylē gebre silassē; born April 18, 1973) is an Ethiopian long distance track and road running athlete. Gebrselassie has achieved major competition wins at distances between 1500 metres and the marathon, moving from outdoor, indoor and cross country running to road running in the latter part of his career. He has broken 26 world records and won numerous Olympic and World Championship titles, and is widely considered one of the greatest distance runners in history.

In September 2008, at the age of 35, he won the Berlin Marathon with a world record time of 2:03:59, breaking his own world record by 27 seconds. This is the first sub-2:04 time recorded for this event.

Gebrselassie was born as one of ten children in Asella, Arsi Province, Ethiopia. As a child growing up on a farm he used to run ten kilometres to school every morning, and the same back every evening. This led to a distinctive running posture, with his left arm crooked as if still holding his schoolbooks.[7]
Gebrselassie gained international recognition in 1992 when he won the 5,000-metre and 10,000-metre races at the 1992 Junior World Championships in Seoul,[8] and a silver medal in the junior race at the World Cross Country Championships.
The next year, in 1993, Gebrselassie won the first of what would eventually be four consecutive world championships titles in the men's 10,000 metres at the 1993, 1995, 1997, and 1999 World Championships. At the 1993 World Championships, he also ran in the 5,000-metre race to finish a close second behind Ismael Kirui of Kenya. In 1994 he won a bronze medal at the IAAF World Cross Country Championships. Later that year he set his first world record by running a 12:56.96 in the 5,000-metres, breaking Saïd Aouita's record by two seconds.
In 1995, Gebrselassie ran the 10,000-metres in 26:43.53 in Hengelo, Netherlands lowering the world record by a full nine seconds. That same summer, in Zürich, Switzerland, Gebrselassie ran the 5000 metres in 12:44.39, ripping an astonishing 10.91 seconds off the world record 12:55.30 (established by Kenya's Moses Kiptanui earlier in the year). This world record at the Weltklasse meet in Zürich was voted "Performance of the Year" for 1995 by Track & Field News magazine. At the same Weltklasse meet in Zürich in 1996, an exhausted Gebrselassie, suffering from blisters obtained on the hard track in Atlanta (where he had won the Olympic 10,000 metres gold), had no answer to the 58-second lap of Daniel Komen with five laps to go as Komen went on to win and just miss Gebrselassie's record, finishing in 12:45.09. In 1997, Gebrselassie turned the tables on Komen at the same meet. Coming off his third 10K world championship gold medal, Gebrselassie beat Komen in another Zürich classic on August 13, 1997, covering the final 200 metres in 26.8 seconds to break his 5,000 metres world record with a time of 12:41.86. Komen, in turn, took Gebrselassie's record only nine days later when Komen ran a 12:39.74 performance in Belgium.

The Track and Field Oval

This is my favorite picture of my home track oval . What a wonderful backdrop of the Ortigas skyline behind the grandstand. With the lights on, its a real visual treat.

You can feel the night breeze cooling you down quickly, making you do faster laps. I did my first race here as a kid. thats why its special.

Running here is nothing short of a zen-like experience to me.

My Firm Resolve To Run

Running as a Youth

I loved running. In gradeschool and highscool, I ran for the La Salle green archers boys track and field team. My coach put me up to be the team's middle distance runner and soonafter, assigned me as team captain. I used to run competitively when i was very young, and i loved every moment of it. In college, i applied for men's track and field varsity as mode of entry to state university. It was state U or nothing. I was rejected. My heart sank. It was a dificult pill to swollow but as soon as i gained entry through art school, I came running back to the team that rejected me, pleading that i was made of stronger stuff. In fact I was. I ran like the wind against my oponents, wearing proudly the green and violet stripes of my team. Those were the days of my eventful youth. I cannot stress how important these experiences were during my formative years.

Roots

The other day, I came back to my roots. I ran on a tartan surface again. The rubber-based red surface of an olympic track and field oval for the first time in seven years. All of a sudden, it all came rushing back to me back to me. It felt really good, doing a slow jog around four hundred meter- long lanes- the way i used to do countless times in my youth.

I remember the scent of the grass, the bright red color of the tartan and the coushioning feel it had under my feet. The shouts of people scattered around the field, the changing color of the sky, while the sun dipped down to rest late in the day, I took it all in like an over-eager kid on a new playground. My senses heightened and at the same time, my bodily systems went haywire, trying to cope on the stresses i was putting them through. Like said, i 'used' to run a lot but somehow, after more pressing activities were adding up with age, I sort of left the precious sport by the wayside.

There are some things, after taking time to develop, become engrained in you. Like riding a bike, or doing a repetitive skill. I agree with that but with running, My body and mind completely forgot. My sedentary lifestyle was regretable, inflicitng harm to my once chiseled muscles and metronome heart. Technique and mind focusing, skills once so important to me, i completely forgot.

Where I Began to Dream

I heard that in an average lifetime, one travels on foot, a distance equivalent to halfway around the world and to me this seems closer to truth than fiction. I have treaded hundreds- no thousands of miles of Manila roads in my short lifespan, and there seems no end to my travels. On any path, any direction, any surface my life leads me, ill go. running, walking or crawling.

The other day, I felt i was treading on familiar ground. This was home for me and it felt great setting foot back home after a long absence

Ortigas PSC Track Oval had become such a part of me.

I came back to the place i literally grew up in. Back to were I dreamt of winning a simple foot race against my pears. Back to were i trained day and night to succeed. And here, firmly resolve to dream more loftier dreams. This is were it will all start.