Sketches, Smetches

I've always been able to make a decent sketch of something, but as all unschooled sketchers (not the shoes, mind you), my drawings have always be askew, awry and a-missing the proper perspective.

Good thing I discovered Mark Kistler's You Can Draw in 30 Days: The Fun, Easy Way to Learn to Draw in One Month or Less.

And yes, he's awesomely right when he says “drawing is a learned skill.”

There's some myth in the belief that you can't draw good if you're not born with the talent.

Of course, there are those who seem to have been born with their hand holding a pencil, able to sketch intricate, technically correct landscapes and portraits. I certainly had a classmate in grade school who seemed to have a knack of drawing faces and mixing colors attractibely. I remember he once drew a dog—which looked like how dogs looked like in real life—in kindergarten. Precocious, I tell you. Er, prodigious,  too.

Still, drawing is an acquired skill. Which is something Kistler capitalized on when he came up with his 30-day drawing tutorial.

I'm on Lesson 17 now, and I can truly say Mr. Kistler truly knows what he's doing with wannabe sketchers like me who just want to draw things that resembles something that really exists in real life, heh.

As you can see in the baseline pre-test, my sketching technique—and results—are elementary at best.

The Pre-Test. Elementary, my dear Watson. Very elementary.

How the Brain Works: The Secret to Staying on Top of Your Game [Video]

I'm a perennial student. Being gifted with a healthy dose of curiosity—especially on how things work—guarantees that I'm constantly learning new things. Lately though, I've been forgetting a lot of things, particularly specific words and phrases that describes whole concepts. So I got to thinking...

How can my mind forget something I've been doing or saying or writing or thinking for many years?

That question led me to this video on how the brain works. The target audience are students still in school, but because we're all students as long as we live, I think you'll find it helpful, too.

Video Takeaways:

How Your Brain Learns New Things

The human brain is about three pounds in weight, and can fit in the palm of your hand. Imagine that. Everything about you—in fact, a whole universe of knowledge—fits into an organ so small you can carry it in your purse. Talk about handy, unlimited hard disk drives wherever you go!

Top 9 Things You Can Do to Earn Money Online

When money is tight and the budget is short, us girls are great at finding other ways to augment our income. My mom repacked nuts and sold undies just to make ends meet when I was growing up just to feed three perpetually hungry little mouths. Others I knew took on a second job, usually after the day job was over.

Image credit stockimages/FreeDigitalPhotos.net

In the 21st century, most of us have discovered the money-making potential of the Internet. Few of us though, don't know just how to transform the web into their very own money-making machine.

I've been working online since 2009, and I've already earned thousands of dollars from the endeavor. Not enough to make me filthy rich, because I enjoy lots of time off, but a tidy sum to pay for my monthly bills, savings for a rainy day, and a lot of wants.

For those who haven't yet tried it but are hoping to get their feet wet earning money online, here are some of the ways you can do it. These are just the top 12 ones that you can explore with a minimum of investment—often with just a laptop, great Internet connection, your skills, and the gray matter between your ears.

1. Develop websites for companies, stores and bloggers

For those with the technical know-how, designing and developing websites for online shops, company sites, web magazines and the like is a shoo-in for making money online. Most of the guys I know develop blogs and websites on Joomla, Drupal, and WordPress. Others use Adobe Business Catalyst, especially those who develop online storefronts.

A Day in the Life of a Special Assistant to a Cabinet Secretary (A Short Story)

What’s a normal day like being an Executive Assistant? That’s a question I always get asked by friends who’re fascinated with my previous job, working as Special Assistant to one of the country's more celebrated (and perhaps notorious) Cabinet Secretaries.

Warning: Long(er) Story Made A Tad Shorter

Following is how a routine day unfolds. I’ll have to tell you right off the gate that it’s a longish story.

Like I said, this one’s a typical day, but usually when we're busy. As special assistant and de facto Chief of Staff to a very busy presidential adviser, there are days when I’m cruising, and there are more days when I feel like I’m on a bumpy, small plane ride.

But it’s one life I’d never trade because (1) I learned a lot of stuff I wouldn’t have normally learned (of course), (2) I gained confidence in dealing with real life--and real live Big People, (3) I realized that powerful and powerless people are the same -- they all want happiness, and a better life for their loved ones, and (4) I can do anything I set my mind to...even seemingly impossible ones, it appears.

An Executive Assistant’s Day

Image credit: Witthaya Phonsawat/FreeDigitalPhotos.net

0630H, Thursday, Home

The iPhone on my night table rings, jarring the early-morning stillness of my darkened room. My eyes shut, I grope the table top for it and the stapled sheaf of papers it rests on.

“Hold your horses, darned it,” I speak into the phone as I sit up sluggishly on my bed.

“Good morning, Liz,” the sickeningly fresh, chirpy-crisp voice of my Boss’ close-in security blares into my ear. “Anything new from his sked?”

I open bleary eyes to look at the schedule printed on the paper I’m holding, though I already know it by heart...even five days following this one. “Just the emergency meeting of the Security Cluster at the Palace at 1530H, Music Room. They confirmed it at two this morning.”

I hear G groan. Another unscheduled stop. N’s security detail will be berating heavens and the Palace again. “Will you be there?”

“I don’t know, but he’s got stuff with me he has to deal with.” I briefly scan the surprisingly slow schedule on his column, the packed one on my own. “Any surprises on your end?”

Suob, Pinoy Folk Remedy

Filipinos have a long history of folk remedies like the village albularyo (a herbalist who also dealt with the paranormal), ventusa, herbal teas, and suob. They were handed to us from old medicine men who practiced the science and art of it at a time when modern medicine hasn't reached our shores -- or barrios (rural villages) -- yet.

Suob means to burn incense in Tagalog, and it's a folk remedy that helps speed up healing from influenza (trangkaso), fever, colds, and general body malaise. Hubby and I swear by it because, as kids, our parents added this to our post-flu recuperation therapy.

Ventusa, Cupping Therapy Pinoy Style

If there's one thing that I've always loved, it's a regular full body massage and ventusa.

Ventusa is a Filipino adaptation of the Chinese's cupping therapy. It's supposed to suck out bad qi and restore balance to your body. Pinoys use ventusa to take out all the lamig (cold) from the body to restore and rejuvenate.

5 Complete - and Completely Free - Cardio Workout Videos Online

Who doesn't like free, right? We all do! Which is why YouTube is my BFF when it comes to exercise stuff, girl.

And you’re in luck because today, I’m going to lead you to my favorite free cardio workout videos online -- completely gratis and downloadable, too!

What’s best, you can do these cardio exercises indoor, right at home. You won’t need to sweat it out with those nubile young bodies at the gym. All you need is a PC, a cable to connect your PC to your TV, and you’re good to go.

Of course, it’ll be best if you can get your girlfriends to do these aerobics cardio workout with you. Studies show that losing weight with a friend is more effective in achieving weight loss goals than going solo.

A word of caution: Before starting any of the routines in these workout videos, make sure you get your doctor’s go ahead first.

Especially for women who may have heart conditions or other medical issues, it’s always wise to consult your doctor so you're sure your body can bear the stress.

1. Walk at Home for 2 Miles with Leslie Sansone

This cardio workout video from Leslie Sansone is one of the gentlest (and totally free!) cardio workout videos online that I always return to. I love it because I can do an aerobics cardio workout right at home. I use this free workout video as a two-week lead up to more energetic workouts.

What are Your Signature Top Strengths?

I'm a deeply reflective person. Although I can't say that I think long and hard about what I say or do before I open my mouth or do something, you'll always see me picking apart my words and actions afterwards to learn from them.

So most of the time I'm clear about my motivations. As a young kid who had to fight her schoolyard bullies, I learned the art of subtlety. You have to hide where you're coming from so they won't expect a strike...but you always have to know what moves you so you're always right with yourself. Kind of a scary thing for a kid to know, huh?

But I knew my strengths, and I played on them. Pretty soon, the bullies were leaving me alone. Besides, it helped that I had cousins and siblings who taught me how to give as good - or better - as I got, heh.

Sleep or Die (Infographic)

Ever since I could remember, I've had trouble sleeping. Perhaps, it had something to do with my nightly woes as a kid:

a. I had an alcoholic of an uncle growing up. Hmmm, that sounds wrong - most of my uncles on both parental divide were alcoholics. In fact, I had five uncles who died under the influence…plus a first cousin and my paternal grandfather.

But I digress… This uncle is Dad's second cousin. He was always drunk and when he's blotto, he's disturbing the peace to say it mildly. You know when he's smashed - he's daring anyone to come out of their homes and fight him. That is, him and his bolo - a large, sharply pointed, single-edged knife that was the Filipino warrior's (and revolutionary's) favorite weapon. When he's on a bender, he gets really scary.

A Filipino bolo. Image by Lorenzo Lasco

I slept with my grandparents and every single night that he's wrecked and hollering for a fight, I can remember my wee 6-year-old body quaking in extreme terror. Not the fact that we're safe home, that our bedroom door is locked and all the lights in our room - including all lamps and candles, I kid you not - are blazing, could take away the terror. It was like my mind was locked into a continued state of fright, that it was the end of the world, and I knew that if he yelled all night long I'll be dead by morning. I never felt safe…and it'd be morning by the time I could get to sleep.

I started sleeping well at night only when he died - he got run over by a bus during one of his nightly rages. (The agony I went through lasted for many years, I think.) My grandparents, I knew, sighed heaps of relief. In my kiddie mind, I can only thank God. I know, bad of me, but I was young and he was the terrorist of my life. His passing stopped the waking nightmare that I always had every day.

New Year's Resolutions, 2014

It's 2014!  Happy new year everyone!

And of course, at the start of every New Year, there's the ubiquitous New Year's Resolution. I know, I know…I'm not good at keeping them but I'm going to draw up a list nonetheless. Committing them to paper or, in this case, putting it up on the Net might serve as impetus for me to strive to keep some of them, at least.

This year though, I'm going to keep it short. Five items max then cut it up to bite size pieces. So here goes something…

1. Lose weight.

Getting to a healthy weight is the all-time favorite new year's resolution of perhaps every adult tipping the overweight scale. Sad to say, this has been on my To Do list since I turned 30. (I found out that when women gets to the Big Three Oh, our bodies are fully matured. That means the extra calories that we ignored in our 20s which fueled our growth are no longer needed…they're making a beeline for our waists, hips and thighs, ugh!)

New Year, New Blog!

It's 2014 and like everything else, it's tradition to start new stuff at about this time. Far be it for me to buck tradition. (I'm a traditional girl that way, heh.)

Which is why I've transformed the Work-at-Home Maven portfolio blog into the a new lifestyle blog. So say "Hello!" to the Woman2Woman blog.

Oh, the old content won't be removed. It'll still be there. I just broadened the scope of what I'll be writing about.

Besides the internet marketing and work-at-home tips and advice, I'll also be discussing stuff about

• Being a girl Friday, online and offline 
• Becoming a Proverbs 31 woman  
• Health news you can use 
• Wellness advice  
• My Catholic roots  
• Personal and career development 
• Other inspired and inspiring articles

Welcome to the Philippines!

If you're thinking about having fun, you might want to check out our 7,107 islands. The top 10 beaches are scattered from tip to tip:

1. Boracay - the party beach (white sand)
2. Pagudpud - the Hawaii of the North, for those who like the quiet (white sand)
3. Mactan Island - where the night life is alive and kicking
4. Panglao - great for divers
5. Camiguin - great honeymoon spot
6. Dakak - beauty, serenity, and another honeymoon destination (beach resort)
7. Honda Bay - for those who loves island hopping and diving
8. El Nido - another premier honeymoon destination, where the peace is paradise
9. Pearl Farm - secluded, quiet, panoramic (beach resort)
10. Siargao - created especially for surfers

38/365: On The Road, Legazpi City

Legazpi City, the land of the Mayon Volcano! Finally, I got to see the famous perfect cone...only, the whole time we were there the tip of the volcano was covered with clouds! Drat!

Again, we were the advance party for the boss—which was more fun, if you asked me. Though there were lots of work to do, we had more time to sight see.

Me, getting to shoot pictures and seeing places and eating my meals at leisure (not the eat-and-run affairs when you're traveling with the boss) is the only reward I want from these working trips.

37/365: On The Road, Baguio City

Baguio City is just a few hours from Nueva Vizcaya, my native province. To tell you frankly though, I didn't get to visit Baguio until I was in college...and then only briefly.

When I got to this government post, it seemed that all we did was travel to Baguio every now and then for some reason or another.

Meeting the boss at Baguio City's feeder airport

Baguio City is the country's summer capital. Filipinos always find an excuse to troop to this mountain retreat during the hottest parts of the year. It's about 1,610 meters above sea level so it's always cool year round. The highest temperature during summer hovers around 70°F. So far, the record hottest it's ever registered is 86°F back in 1988 during the El Nino drought. You can say Baguio City is the premier vacation destination in the Philippines.

These jaunts though are often for work and we rarely have time to visit...which is sad really because there are lots of fantastic destinations in Baguio. Plus, there's the ukay ukay—second hand stores where you can get an Armani trench in good condition for less than a hundred pesos (about $2.50 in today's conversion). I kid you not!

The object of this visit was to consolidate the governors of Northern Luzon and get them behind the President's whatever. The objective's obscure to me now but since our office was always troubleshooting one problem after another, I'm fairly certain this trip had that goal, heh.

36/365: On The Road with Foreign Dignitaries

What made my work tripley exciting—no, a hundred times exciting—was preparing for the official visits of foreign dignitaries. Ministers, cabinet secretaries, directors, and even on two occasions, presidents. I've even had a chance of leading the arrangements for the visit of then Defence Minister and now Malaysian Prime Minister Dato S'ri Najib Razak!

Welcome mat for a visiting dignitary.

The work's not unlike that of an orchestral conductor's. I had to be on top of several things at the same time. Of course, a team's always organized to prepare for one of these top level visits but being the boss' liaison with the rest of the team, one has to know everything that's going on if one is to keep her head attached to her body for most of the day, heh. And that meant making decisions, trouble shooting and pinch hitting.

This dignitary that's about to come down from the plane was in Manila for a hush hush visit. These days, the Arab spring has swept his country, too, and now he's in detention. But back when his father was part of Manila's peace strategy with the MILF rebels, our Christmas then was one hectic, frenetic affair.

I remember having a difficult time with the protocols for this kind of visit. Lots of meetings with the foreign affairs and armed forces team. And yeah, backdoor arrangements for a visit between him and a certain individual under house arrest, heh.

Exciting times, definitely. Exhausting work, too!

35/365: On The Road, Bacolod City

For the next few days, I'll be posting images from travels connected to my work as special assistant in a government agency beginning seven years ago. You'll see lots of roads and airports, and where I forgot to shoot, you'll see pictures of clouds, heh.

—

Serving my Cabinet Secretary, we're on the road a lot. Airports, hotels, roads, convoys, cars, buses, boats, ports...They were my weekly staple.

The first time I went to Bacolod City, I was excited. I was looking forward to eating all those yummy dishes that my Ilonggo friends always had on their tables whenever I visited their homes.

New Bacolod Silay Airport

I think we went here for a public consultation/dialogue with the city's academia. All I can remember though is that the new Silay airport had been bombed by communist guerrillas a couple of years before. This was when it was still under construction.

As always, we had a security detail composed of policemen, military personnel, and plainclothes people with us—but that didn't take away the security issues. We were, after all, from the defense and security sector even though we—my advance party—were civilians.

But this particular trip which lasted for 4 days passed uneventfully, problem-wise. And I had fun. After all, I went ahead a day early and got back a day late of my Cabinet Secretary. I had time to go visit places and shop for stuff. Something I could never do when I was traveling with the Spymeister.

34/365: Central Florida Small Town Sunset

Now, this one is a regular sight...and my favorite time of the day.

God paints with a sweeping hand and with such stunning, dramatic colors. No two sunsets are ever the same that's why I love just looking at them. My world stops for a few minutes before the sun kisses the horizon to appreciate His fleeting masterpieces. Awesome, isn't He?

33/365: Central Florida Small Town Sunrise

I'm not a morning person so sights like this are very, very rare. When I come across one, I record it for posterity's sake.

A morning commune with the birds is a wonderful experience. Unfortunately, I'm more at home with owl hoots. When I normally hear sweet tweets and chirps, I'm just going to bed not getting up from it.

32/365: Afternoon Repast

This post should be called "Li'l Prince and My Laptop"...because that's my machine he's commandeered.

He's watching his favorite Mickey Mouse Clubhouse on YouTube and well, he's having his mid-afternoon snack -- loaf bread with raisins and cinnamon. His favorite, actually. Before he started making inroads into that bag of bread, it was 3/4 full. By the time he stopped, there were only the two loaves left. For all that, he's a picky eater.

Procrastination and Productivity: The Twin Devils of the Work-at-Home Life [Video]

Working from home can get quite lonely. Yes, you can dictate your work hours and you don’t have to commute—in 2 seconds flat (for me, at least), you’re in your ‘office’ and ready to start the day. But then, there are two evils that you have to contend with when freelancing from home: procrastination and productivity.

Yep, the two Ps of work-at-home life. And if you can’t conquer one, you can’t have the other.

Here are two videos that may shed light on the science of both and how to master procrastination and improve your productivity...and of course, increase the dollars that you can rake in. :) 

The Science of Procrastination

Indeed, there’s a scientific reason why we put off things that we can do today. It has something to do with rewards and dopamines. Here’s how AsapSCIENCE, one of my favorites on YouTube, explains it:

Takeaways:

1. Temporal discounting has everything to do with our tendency to procrastinate...something about getting rewards nowe—and having that rush of the pleasure hormone dopamine—versus getting our rewards later.
2. The Pomodoro technique...which is simply breaking down your work into 20 minutes then a 5-minute break...definitely helps.
3. Acknowledge that you will procrastinate so best do something about it from the start. Create a deadline. An externally-imposed deadline is more effective.
4. Enjoying the process of doing something will prevent procrastination. Make a list of the reasons why you want to achieve a goal.
5. Work somewhere else if you can't remove the distractions. That way, the things that encourage procrastination is far from you.