where the moon shines

(image from http://apple.com)

As the world pays tribute to a visionary, and the man behind iconic products of our generation, let us reflect on some of his famous words. From Stanford University’s website, I have copied the text of Jobs’ commencement address back in 2005. It gives us a clear look into how the man viewed life and death. Highlighted are my favorite lines.

‘You’ve got to find what you love,’ Jobs says

This is a prepared text of the Commencement address delivered by Steve Jobs, CEO of Apple Computer and of Pixar Animation Studios, on June 12, 2005.

I am honored to be with you today at your commencement from one of the finest universities in the world. I never graduated from college. Truth be told, this is the closest I’ve ever gotten to a college graduation. Today I want to tell you three stories from my life. That’s it. No big deal. Just three stories.

The first story is about connecting the dots.

I dropped out of Reed College after the first 6 months, but then stayed around as a drop-in for another 18 months or so before I really quit. So why did I drop out?

It started before I was born. My biological mother was a young, unwed college graduate student, and she decided to put me up for adoption. She felt very strongly that I should be adopted by college graduates, so everything was all set for me to be adopted at birth by a lawyer and his wife. Except that when I popped out they decided at the last minute that they really wanted a girl. So my parents, who were on a waiting list, got a call in the middle of the night asking: “We have an unexpected baby boy; do you want him?” They said: “Of course.” My biological mother later found out that my mother had never graduated from college and that my father had never graduated from high school. She refused to sign the final adoption papers. She only relented a few months later when my parents promised that I would someday go to college.

And 17 years later I did go to college. But I naively chose a college that was almost as expensive as Stanford, and all of my working-class parents’ savings were being spent on my college tuition. After six months, I couldn’t see the value in it. I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life and no idea how college was going to help me figure it out. And here I was spending all of the money my parents had saved their entire life. So I decided to drop out and trust that it would all work out OK. It was pretty scary at the time, but looking back it was one of the best decisions I ever made. The minute I dropped out I could stop taking the required classes that didn’t interest me, and begin dropping in on the ones that looked interesting.

It wasn’t all romantic. I didn’t have a dorm room, so I slept on the floor in friends’ rooms, I returned coke bottles for the 5¢ deposits to buy food with, and I would walk the 7 miles across town every Sunday night to get one good meal a week at the Hare Krishna temple. I loved it. And much of what I stumbled into by following my curiosity and intuition turned out to be priceless later on. Let me give you one example:

Reed College at that time offered perhaps the best calligraphy instruction in the country. Throughout the campus every poster, every label on every drawer, was beautifully hand calligraphed. Because I had dropped out and didn’t have to take the normal classes, I decided to take a calligraphy class to learn how to do this. I learned about serif and san serif typefaces, about varying the amount of space between different letter combinations, about what makes great typography great. It was beautiful, historical, artistically subtle in a way that science can’t capture, and I found it fascinating.

None of this had even a hope of any practical application in my life. But ten years later, when we were designing the first Macintosh computer, it all came back to me. And we designed it all into the Mac. It was the first computer with beautiful typography. If I had never dropped in on that single course in college, the Mac would have never had multiple typefaces or proportionally spaced fonts. And since Windows just copied the Mac, it’s likely that no personal computer would have them. If I had never dropped out, I would have never dropped in on this calligraphy class, and personal computers might not have the wonderful typography that they do. Of course it was impossible to connect the dots looking forward when I was in college. But it was very, very clear looking backwards ten years later.

Again, you can’t connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something — your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life.

My second story is about love and loss.

I was lucky — I found what I loved to do early in life. Woz and I started Apple in my parents garage when I was 20. We worked hard, and in 10 years Apple had grown from just the two of us in a garage into a $2 billion company with over 4000 employees. We had just released our finest creation — the Macintosh — a year earlier, and I had just turned 30. And then I got fired. How can you get fired from a company you started? Well, as Apple grew we hired someone who I thought was very talented to run the company with me, and for the first year or so things went well. But then our visions of the future began to diverge and eventually we had a falling out. When we did, our Board of Directors sided with him. So at 30 I was out. And very publicly out. What had been the focus of my entire adult life was gone, and it was devastating.

I really didn’t know what to do for a few months. I felt that I had let the previous generation of entrepreneurs down – that I had dropped the baton as it was being passed to me. I met with David Packard and Bob Noyce and tried to apologize for screwing up so badly. I was a very public failure, and I even thought about running away from the valley. But something slowly began to dawn on me — I still loved what I did. The turn of events at Apple had not changed that one bit. I had been rejected, but I was still in love. And so I decided to start over.

I didn’t see it then, but it turned out that getting fired from Apple was the best thing that could have ever happened to me. The heaviness of being successful was replaced by the lightness of being a beginner again, less sure about everything. It freed me to enter one of the most creative periods of my life.

During the next five years, I started a company named NeXT, another company named Pixar, and fell in love with an amazing woman who would become my wife. Pixar went on to create the worlds first computer animated feature film, Toy Story, and is now the most successful animation studio in the world. In a remarkable turn of events, Apple bought NeXT, I returned to Apple, and the technology we developed at NeXT is at the heart of Apple’s current renaissance. And Laurene and I have a wonderful family together.

I’m pretty sure none of this would have happened if I hadn’t been fired from Apple. It was awful tasting medicine, but I guess the patient needed it. Sometimes life hits you in the head with a brick. Don’t lose faith. I’m convinced that the only thing that kept me going was that I loved what I did. You’ve got to find what you love. And that is as true for your work as it is for your lovers. Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking. Don’t settle. As with all matters of the heart, you’ll know when you find it. And, like any great relationship, it just gets better and better as the years roll on. So keep looking until you find it. Don’t settle.

My third story is about death.

When I was 17, I read a quote that went something like: “If you live each day as if it was your last, someday you’ll most certainly be right.” It made an impression on me, and since then, for the past 33 years, I have looked in the mirror every morning and asked myself: “If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?” And whenever the answer has been “No” for too many days in a row, I know I need to change something.

Remembering that I’ll be dead soon is the most important tool I’ve ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything — all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure – these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart.

About a year ago I was diagnosed with cancer. I had a scan at 7:30 in the morning, and it clearly showed a tumor on my pancreas. I didn’t even know what a pancreas was. The doctors told me this was almost certainly a type of cancer that is incurable, and that I should expect to live no longer than three to six months. My doctor advised me to go home and get my affairs in order, which is doctor’s code for prepare to die. It means to try to tell your kids everything you thought you’d have the next 10 years to tell them in just a few months. It means to make sure everything is buttoned up so that it will be as easy as possible for your family. It means to say your goodbyes.

I lived with that diagnosis all day. Later that evening I had a biopsy, where they stuck an endoscope down my throat, through my stomach and into my intestines, put a needle into my pancreas and got a few cells from the tumor. I was sedated, but my wife, who was there, told me that when they viewed the cells under a microscope the doctors started crying because it turned out to be a very rare form of pancreatic cancer that is curable with surgery. I had the surgery and I’m fine now.

This was the closest I’ve been to facing death, and I hope it’s the closest I get for a few more decades. Having lived through it, I can now say this to you with a bit more certainty than when death was a useful but purely intellectual concept:

No one wants to die. Even people who want to go to heaven don’t want to die to get there. And yet death is the destination we all share. No one has ever escaped it. And that is as it should be, because Death is very likely the single best invention of Life. It is Life’s change agent. It clears out the old to make way for the new. Right now the new is you, but someday not too long from now, you will gradually become the old and be cleared away. Sorry to be so dramatic, but it is quite true.

Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.

When I was young, there was an amazing publication called The Whole Earth Catalog, which was one of the bibles of my generation. It was created by a fellow named Stewart Brand not far from here in Menlo Park, and he brought it to life with his poetic touch. This was in the late 1960′s, before personal computers and desktop publishing, so it was all made with typewriters, scissors, and polaroid cameras. It was sort of like Google in paperback form, 35 years before Google came along: it was idealistic, and overflowing with neat tools and great notions.

Stewart and his team put out several issues of The Whole Earth Catalog, and then when it had run its course, they put out a final issue. It was the mid-1970s, and I was your age. On the back cover of their final issue was a photograph of an early morning country road, the kind you might find yourself hitchhiking on if you were so adventurous. Beneath it were the words: “Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish.” It was their farewell message as they signed off. Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish. And I have always wished that for myself. And now, as you graduate to begin anew, I wish that for you.

Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish.

Thank you all very much.

 

I am a newbie in the Steve Jobs’ world, having been an iPad owner for a year, and iPhone4 owner for much less time. I am a Windows-User, but an Apple-fan (you all know of our dearly departed dog called iPod right?). I can see more Apple products in my future. I appreciate the innovations that Jobs and his colleagues have brought us. And reading his words from this speech, hearing what so many others have to say about him, I know now that I am his fan.

Thank you Steve Jobs, your life is being celebrated all over the world. You have cheated death, because your memory lives on thru Apple. If I can accomplish just a fraction of what you have done that impacts the world, I will also die fulfilled.

Jenni Epperson also has  a nice collection of Steve Jobs’ quotes on her blog.

While watching the game tonight, Alfred up and asked if we could make it to Rio in 2014 for the World Cup. No, he wasn’t asking about the Azkals making it through. He meant us. Can we go and watch? Well why not?

We’re going to need a lot of coin banks to save up for that!

So it’s really sad that the Philippine Azkals didn’t win over Kuwait. Even that amazing goal by Stephan Shrock wasn’t enough to keep the boys going for more. They played well. We made a lot of attempts at goal but the Kuwaiti defense was tough, and so was their goalie.

Tonight’s home game was a far better game than the last one. Too bad we couldn’t pull off a miracle. We could have at least won the second leg though. Still, nothing to be ashamed of. The boys fought well. It’s that coach I’m not too sure about. Hahaha.

(Image linked to source)

There are variations to the Azkals logo, but this is closest to the one I actually like. Alfred wouldn’t let me buy an Azkals shirt though, hahaha. He’s not a fan, or maybe a closet fan. He doesn’t like it that the Azkals is dominated by Fil-Europeans. I keep telling him there will be more homegrown players because the sport is gaining ground in the Philippines. It takes time.

Anyway… The Kuwaitis must be partying now, sharing their Black and Mild cigars around. Well they deserved to win. They were pretty solid as a team and they worked hard. The Philippine National Team must have learned a lot from competing against them. For that, kudos to Kuwait.

So, will me make it to Rio in 2014? Time will tell.

These are two foreign acts coming to Manila in July. We want to see both. Since Alfred heard about Incubus’ coming here, he’s asked me to go. Since I noticed the Facebook ad for Varekai, I’ve wanted to go. It sucks that both costs a lot, and are happening in the same month.

Do you set aside a specific amount of money for entertainment each month? It’s just that we’ve been to the movies three times in three weeks, and all trips involved eating out as well. There have been dine outs in between too. It’s become really expensive.

I’m planning on a No Resto Week. I won’t eat in restaurants this week. If I have work, I’ll eat in the pantry or bring food. When we get home, it’s either home cooked or my Dad provides it. Or we’ll buy ulam from a carinderia. If my colleagues invite me to eat out (specially since it’s payday week), maybe I can convince them to pay for my meal, haha!

The money I’ll save will probably be able to pay for the cheapest ticket to Varekai for one person. I hear steiner binoculars won’t be necessary even with the lowest priced seat – the venue is intimate enough that everyone has a good view of the performers. Cool!

Alfred isn’t too sure about Incubus anymore, so that’s one expense we won’t have to shell out for.

Why do I want to see Varekai so badly? It isn’t just the hype, nor is it because all the IT crowd go to see it. I’ve always wanted to see the greatest show on earth, and Cirque du Soleil promises that. I don’t have a bucket list, but if I did, seeing them perform is definitely going to be on it. A trip to Vegas isn’t in my near future, so them coming to the Philippines is a chance I just do not want to pass up.

Back when I was a senior in high school, there were supposed to be career talks to help us decide what course to take for college. I looked forward to that, but I don’t think it happened for our batch. I sure wish it did.

Growing up I had many dreams. At some point I wanted to be an architect, then an interior designer. I remember a friend wanting to be a fashion designer. I think there is a phase in every little girl’s life when she pictures herself in medical uniform. But I don’t remember going through that phase. I grew up a stone’s throw away from St. Luke’s Medical Center and have family and neighbors who have become nurses and nursing aides, but the nurses scrub pants (no matter how colorful they’ve become in recent decades) just never appealed to me (except those worn by this male nurse I crushed on for a time).

Over the years as I became more exposed to social issues, legal thrillers, and as lawyer TV shows aired one after the other, I zoned in on the one thing I wanted to be – a lawyer.

That career choice was the reason I took up BA Psychology in UP. A few years later though, I gave up on that dream. I didn’t need to be a lawyer to “right” wrongs. I didn’t have to be a lawyer to keep on helping the kids and NGOs I worked with. And I didn’t like all the readings law students had to go through.

So I started off on my adult life as an NGO worker. Now, I’m an operations manager at a BPO. Things couldn’t have been more different than where the younger me imagined I’d be. Though I am serious at my job and current career, I still dream of someday doing something else – becoming an entrepreneur. A successful home baker or pastry chef

Or maybe becoming a teacher? Now, where did that come from?

Image lifted from this article, also about career choices.

Who hasn’t been envious of Oprah’s audience on her annual reveal of her Favorite Things? I know I’ve been jealous of the luxurious freebies since the first time I saw one such episode on TV. This year’s list is even more amazing, what with it being the last season of The Oprah Show, that’s not a big surprise. You can head on over to Oprah.Com to check out the full list, but here are the ones I’d specifically LOVE to have from there:

Hope in a Jar - Oprah.com

I’ve heard of this product before, in fact I’ve read a lot of positive reviews for Hope in a Jar by Philosophy. And I keep checking back at the Beauty Bar if they have it marked down so I can finally get me a jar. It is a little too pricey for the average person, but I heard it said that it is all worth it. Maybe I’ll have my first jar next year. I am happy with the moisturizer I currently use (Myra E), but we all deserve a little pampering every once in a while and it wouldn’t hurt that it will make us look more presentable. If I do get a jar, I probably won’t use it daily anyway.

Le Creuset - Oprah.com

Oh this would be wonderful to have! The Pioneer Woman has had several giveaways featuring this brand of cookware. Now if only I actually cooked.

Miraclebody Jeans - Oprah.Com

They say these jeans will instantly make you 10lbs lighter, I want one! I want the skinny version, specially since my one and only skinny-looking pair has given up on him. The zip’s broken and I haven’t had time to take it in for repair.

Jessica Leigh Diamond Earrings - Oprah.Com

I don’t own any diamonds and this would be a wonderful first pair, if ever I do get to own one. Very elegant, classy, and doesn’t scream – KIDNAP ME I’M WEARING DIAMONDS!

VW 2010 Beetle - Oprah.Com

We were once Beetle owners and so, this VW model will always have a soft spot in our hearts. But if the old Beetle was the people’s car, these modern ones have become too expensive for us common folks. The silhouette for the 2012 Beetle looks exciting, and looks more like the original version. The audience members are so lucky to be getting one for free!

Baker's Edge Baking Pan - Oprah.Com

No more worrying about getting the perfect edge for each individual brownie!

Netflix - Oprah.Com

How I wish this was available here. Is Apple TV available in the Philippines? If we had this, maybe it’ll keep us Pinoys off torrent sites that don’t respect Intellectual Property Rights.

Royal Carribean Allure of the Seas - Oprah.Com

I’ve never been on a cruise and would love to be on one. I wonder if the boyfriend would entertain an Asian cruise for honeymoon?

Sony Bravia 3d - Oprah.Com

As Oprah put it, it’s definitely a Wow-er.

Tory Burch Tote and Flats - Oprah.Com

Tory Burch flats, I’ve heard, are ultra comfortable. A pair of these would send me to heaven, and the tote would be a nice bonus.

It’s also wonderful that Oprah encouraged those who received her gifts this year, to also give. The DonorsChoose Gift Card from Bing.Com and the Kiva cards are precious!

DonorsChoose - Oprah.Com

Kiva Gift Card - Oprah.Com

Oh well, at least I do have two things from that list: the iPad, and the Scrabble app for iPad. Haha!

*All photos in this post are courtesy of Oprah.Com