I've Moved To A New Platform

It's been a while since I've last posted something meaningful here (and in any of my online accounts to be honest) so now that I've got a chance to sit down and catch up on things, I guess now would be the right time for me to leave this last blogpost on this blog.

I've moved.

Not a new apartment or a new job or anything like that but I'll be moving my blogging activity over to my Wordpress account www.ashleyuy.com. I won't be deleting this account though, oh no - it's got too many memories to let go; but starting on a new chapter in my blogging habits and a possibly reinvigorated direction in my writing, moving to a new blog seems like the right decision.

I've learned a lot while exploring this experimental space and I would highly recommend starting a personal blog to someone on a road to self-discovery. Opportunities came and went for me while I had this blog and I feel blessed to have had the opportunity to write for Ashlinspiration.

This space of the internet will forever be in my heart (and hard drive) but for now, I bid you adieu as I close this chapter of a five-year blogging adventure.

Thanks from me to all 30 of you

WARNING: Profanities and unprofessional references galore in this blogpost. Read... if you dare!

Tagged by zuprome from zuprome.com as a part of Cebu Blogging Community's 30-day challenge! Tagged bloggers were asked to blog about 30 things they're grateful for; be it related to their blog niche or something different entirely.

I'm not going to go as far as to elaborate my gratitude for my family, friends, and my faith because that's a given for any human being no matter how they perceive these titles. Instead I'm going to talk about, like everything else in this blog, the people and organizations that have been monumental in building my ambition for both myself and the communities that I care deeply about.

First off, without any biases whatsoever *cough* *cough* is the Cebu Blogging Community. More specifically Ruben, Bjorn, Chanel, and some of the very first of it's members that blindly welcomed me into their fold. I saw them around in events from time to time back then and they'd always make a point to say hi to me despite being just acquaintances. I'm really happy to say that they were one of the first people from Cebu that I felt really at home with and they somehow made me feel like I belonged to their quirky family despite being 99km away most of the time. 

I was just a air-headed undergrad when they first met me through Dalareich, an inspiring young woman-entrepreneur who was a source of a lot of empowerment for me as someone who sort of thought of themselves as someone different. She is a fierce young woman who had _{(and is still)} gone through so much struggle to get to where she is today. A mentor and a wonderful friend, I owe a lot to Dal for giving this fat Asian kid a chance at working with her. Late-night coffee runs here in Cebu with her are always some unforgettable moments.

Now that we're talking about woman-entrepreneurs though, I bet you guys have heard this name all over my blog: Tina Amper. That's right, the legend herself _{(lol pls don't slap me miss)}. If I'm a Jedi youngling, she's probably the Jedi Master of all Jedi Masters. It was thanks to her that I was introduced to the Techtalks.ph family and the Startup Weekend community: the next two things on my to-thanks list. 

I've met so many inspiring _{(and not so inspiring yet still interesting to take note of)} people that have really helped shape my views on myself, the country, and what the future holds for people like us. Pip and Dulce, two wonderful people that I have also thought of as my mentors are wonderful people that I had the honor of meeting alongside everyone I'm about to mention in this list all thanks to those two core communities. You can't even believe how much a thriving community gives back to you if you just take time tor each out.

The best opportunity I probably got out of committing to these organizations is probably getting the chance to work with Dave and Albert at Symph, the company I currently work for. I learned so much even just during my internship and reuniting with friends I didn't know who also worked at Symph like Francis and Lawrence. Now that I'm working with them, I feel like there's still so much for me to prove; that it's important to set expectations, get over unnecessary hindrances, and just start doing it. I guess maturing and growing even just a little bit everyday with this awesome company and equally just as awesome people, makes my stomach flip at how lucky I am for being here.

Mentioning the CebuXD community on this one too as they were one of the groups that I met thanks to the Techtalks family. Cheers to Edzel and Dan for inviting me and bringing me along despite being a total noob and for trusting me enough to work with them in project I haven't even tried before _{(shoutout to you, Dan! Thanks! :D)} . To Chester, Cecille, and Carl who have warmly welcomed me to the CebuXD Board of Directors despite being absent on occasion during meetups _{(I'm sorry!)} and for aiming to create something better for designers and artists in the local scene.

Relationships that have been built in Bohol though are still irreplaceable to me. Being with the Bohol ICT Council with Ben, Jay, ms Lai, sir Jerome, and all it's members has had a huge impact on my opinions about my hometown. I used to hate how it lacked so much infrastructure, that it didn't have as many fancy events as Cebu or that the community there wasn't strong at all: working with them proved how wrong I was. Bohol has talent, potential, and resources; it's only a matter of harnessing it, creating the right opportunities and drawing out the right kind of people. If I have the BiCTC behind my back I truly believe we have a chance at growing the Boholanos and giving them the opportunities they deserve. It's only a matter of building the right team and resources to start it all _{(zing to Symph team speeches)}.

And of course who could forget the organization that started it all for me. The Web Developer's Guild is a small organization founded by sir Brian, my college teacher, and a few of his collegues to promote a support network of sorts for students and professionals from Bohol that wanted to grow in the tech scene. This organizations started it all for me and helped lead me to the path I'm on today and for that I'm very grateful. Vhince, Clint, and my college friends - those that have pushed me to be better than the me I was yesterday, and my AniMatiCs crew, Ralph, Steven, Jeric, Kayeshen, who helped me fight for the things worth fighting for _{(free use of the school lab for seminars, yo!)} and all the sappy cheesy lines I can add on here to make this post a little bit longer to reach the 1000 word cap, a huge-ass THANK YOU and that you people DESERVE SO MUCH MORE and I really hope that your faces are BLESSED AF because you are all beautiful people and I am so unprofessional in this paragraph but I don't care because I love you and you're awesome and I think I passed the word cap and then some so I think it's time to do the mike drop! Ashley out! Peace!

A Day with Inspiring Young Women

It all started from an invitation to watch Heneral Luna one weekend. Mona was a person I met accidentally, for the lack of a better term. It was way back when I attended the first TEDx University of San Carlos in place of my friend, Dalareich. 

We were both guests of one of the speakers, Ms. Jenny Elmaco, but we hadn't met each other at all before the event. We didn't even go in together. It just so happened that I saw her name right beside mine on the registration list and she also just happened to sit right next to me at the back of the theater.

Long story short, we got along pretty well and I very much enjoyed her company, what she is doing, and her desire to make change in the human rights front.

Now, a year later, she invited me to watch the historical epic, Heneral Luna, with her and a friend. Things didn't work out that weekend but we had a lovely conversation over lunch after catching up on things. I saw that she still had that spirit, even moreso than myself now, which led me to think "what happened?".

A part of our conversation led her to invite me to come lang with her and her school organization's clean-up drive for the Let's Do It Philippines campaign. Aside from genuinely wanting to spend time and work with these inspiring women _{(shoutout to Jan, Kim, and Mitsuko!)} I also wanted to see their energy in action, the almost blind desire to make the wold they live in a better place. And so, we made our way to Ermita; a walking distance away from the University of San Carlos main campus.

We were told that a 4-hour clean-up drive happened just the day before but the state of the Guadalupe Gulf was still devastating to me.

Whenever I come back to Cebu by boat, I always know I'm close to the port when I see waves of trash just casually floating towards the deep sea. To me, seeing that physically hurts my being. Growing up in Bohol made me appreciate it's beauty so much that if I photoshopped that amount of trash to whichever part of Bohol, my face would crumple a million times over. And to think there are people, fishermen, more specifically, relying on the waters closest to them to make a livelihood through legal fishing methods: that's sad.

I can completely understand that there's only so much they can do in an environment like this. They're close to a public market, the community not being that safe, even for those that permanently live there, and the constant presence of illegal settlers often contributing to the amount of trash disposed is a hard place to live in.

Despite their situation, sir Bernardo Tamundo, the representative we met from the Ermita Fisher Folk Assocuation (EFFA), and his band of local fishermen were determined to grit through it. He told us that a group of Japanese volunteers visited them a few months ago, aware of the trash being deposited at the end of the Gulf that's jeopardizing their source of livelihood. Other than doing a clean-up drive, they gave them an idea. With pig manure and sawdust, they could create soil To plant seeds, and to sell as a raw resource.

Since their grant took a long time to process, sir Bernardo, being the go-getter that he is, bought two pigs on a loan and tried different techniques until he finally got the mixture right. He paid back the loan and bought another pig a few weeks before our visit. 

Because of that product, sir Bernardo and EFFA managed to buy a few seeds and planted them into unused ice coolers. They now have home-grown chili, some more vegetables, and both decorative and herbal plants. They even offer traditional medical care with these herbs they they grow.

I was utterly impressed by how much they tried to make their living conditions better and that they didn't forget about the sea that they've relied on for years before pollution kicked in. They regularly sign petitions and invite groups like ours to do clean-up drives. They haven't given up.

After the events at Ermita, we made our way to the nearest mall to watch a screening of the renowned Heneral luna. A movie we've been wanting to see for weeks but just didn't have time. Read the reviews, reactions, and everything on the net. The movie was beautiful, well produced and directed, and had a wonderful cast. I highly recommend it. It's a sad movie, a tragedy almost, in hindsight. But it speaks volumes of who we, as Filipino people, are today.

To encapsulate my opinion on the movie: Heneral Luna was, unfortunately, a man that was too brilliant, too loyal, and too good, for the people of his, and our, time.

At the end of the day, I really had to thank Mona for inviting me out, and for helping me remember to always keep my spirits high. I doubt my pragmatic mindset will change any time soon, but during all that time I spent with these young ladies, the more I saw them act like the youth I envisioned most to be. I have hope. Most say "wala nay pag-asa ang Pilipinas" _{(Philippines has no hope of getting better.)}; I say nay. We do have hope. It's just sh*ts like you that need to get out and reach out. See what we have and what we've lost and do something about it.

Electro Circuit 2015: Bloggers Work and Play

I haven't partied in ages. Figures what would make me cut that streak was a geek community event in my hometown. Bohol Bloggers' Society, being as young as it is, partnered with Proudly Titans, a proudly Boholano production company,  for the Electro Circuit 2015: a EDM party held in lieu of Sandugo Fest 2015.

The young and young at heart members of the blogging community were thrilled to have the event as the organization's debut, and a major part of that was how well the organizers of the event set everything up.

We were given all-access passes to the venue; both on the field and backstage. It was secure, with various checkpoints, and a number of security personnel littered across the area. Pretty classy and well thought out. We checked the place out hours before the actual party started and we were well received by many of the organizers.

I found it really impressive that they kept everyone in check and aware of who was who and which tags mean what. The organizers did an awesome job of keeping everyone happy. Now if only it would stop raining...

As the drizzle passed, a few early birds started coming in so the bloggers and myself decided to hang around the registration booth to bug more of the organizers and took the opportunity to regroup.

They were methodical, with stations that catered to a specific event attendee and to which freebie to give. It was organized chaos when the crowd arrived later that evening and it was that atmosphere that earned a huge thumbs up to the organizers from me.

It was also cool that they prepared the different tags and bands that would tell the on-site crew which ticket you got _{(regular, VIP, organizer, guest, media, etc.)} and had more or less got everything down. Plus they gave out free glow-stick bracelets, and even some confetti poppers. Way to hype up the event!

Heyyy guyssss!! :D

After the initial hubbub of the crowd's entrance, it was all jumping, singing loudly out of tune to the songs I recognized, and running around with my camera for a good three hours before I burned myself out.

I especially liked the MC they picked for the event as he got things going and flowing and just someone to get the crowd riled up. Whenever he made announcements it was coherent and, despite him morphing his voice a bit to fit the mood, we always totally got what he said and there weren't at all any lapses or strange entrances during the entire program.

And did I forget to mention the cool confetti canon they set up at the side of the stage?! It was like a huge reverse vacuum cleaner that spit out confetti. It was awesome to see.

And of course, bloggers were in the fray.

The whole event also had free WiFi sponsored by smart. It was a good move for them as everyone wanted those selfies up on facebook fast.

It was super cool too that we got to meet one of the top DJs of the night _{(and possibly of the country)}: DJ Nina. I read about her a bit during my initial study on the event but boy was she more different that i expected. 

She was confident and charismatic, that much I guessed, but she was funny, took her time with us, genuinely got to know us, and was very involved in what she was doing. One of the highlights I remember in the conversation we had was that she had a thing for adding new beats to old songs, and that she was a drummer once which helped her perfect the skills needed in her DJing career.

Girl power, yo.

It was a wild night, from DJ after DJ, my calves were burning at the end and I think I lost some weight. Besides all that rowdiness though, the whole event was pretty under control, the people were happy and the organizers were still in one piece, which was super.

We shared a few shots of the Bacardi they gave us for free towards the end of the event, as a few videographer-bloggers turned in early since they had a wedding to shoot a few hours later at 5 am. Talk about dedication. 

There wasn't really an end to that night, with the organizers still operating and the crowd still roaring. My respect for both DJs, party-goers and production companies increased tenfold as the event unfolded and Electro Circuit 2015 was a huge success thanks to these people. Kudos to you guys and congratulations to the BBS! Woot!

Bohol Bloggers Debut at Electro Circuit 2015

The Sandugo Fest is being celebrated in Tagbilaran City, Bohol this July 21 - 26 with different attractions within the city. A Young Entrepreneur's Talk, Maker's Fair, El Gamma Penumbra Shows, and this one: the Electro Circuit.

Bohol Bloggers' Society, being as young as it is _{(along with its members)} wanted to be a part of the celebration. We started hashing ideas out through our Facebook group and one of the bloggers, Deejay, told us he had contacts of the organizers of the EDM event on the 24th.

photo © tarsiertimes

We were fortunate enough that the organizers of this event were as accommodating as they were and worked with us to tailor a good proposal for the event. I was pleasantly impressed at the amount of enthusiasm the bloggers, and the organizers, displayed considering our numbers.

Being organized by such awesome people, the Electro Circuit is excited to have the young _{(and feeling young)} of Bohol and anyone who wants to party and celebrate with them at the event on July 24 at the Crabhouse by the Bay _{(the link covers the 2014 event)}.

Tickets are 200 php with a free bacardi. Bohol Bloggers' Society will be doing the photo and video coverage of the event, plus the traditional blogposts of how everything's going to go. Everyone is welcome, from our foreign friends, to the young professionals! So come on and let it all out at the Sandugo Electro Circuit!

Click here to get a chance to PARTY FOR FREE.

#SquadGoals: Cebu Blogging Community Turns 1

I didn't know many people in the Cebu Blogging Community when I first started being an active member. I only ever stalked their group while I was finishing my education in Bohol so seeing all the bloggers I've only met online in person at a party like this was so surreal.

They treated me as if I was there with them the whole time and no amount of unfriendliness crossed my way as I awkwardly climbed the steps to F Cafe in my dress and heels _{(you read that right. heels. ugh)}.

Outside the venue was a photobooth wonderfully sponsored by Capdase which disposed a copy for every person that had their picture taken. If there were six of you in one group shot, then each of you would have one copy of your photo, and if you joined another group, you'd also get a copy of that group shot. So generous!

Not only that but there were also blogger-photographers and sponsors taking pictures of us while we walked in, us while we talked to each other, and us wearing HOOQ glasses! The night was very well documented, I gotta say.

The event floor was sheikh and minimalist which I really liked. We occupied the second and third "floor", if you'd like to call it that, of the venue and begun the program.

Our friends from Yamba, a social networking app developed in Cebu and founded in Europe, were one of the major sponsors of the event and I gotta say they are amazing people. The basic concept of the application is the elimination of noise from your newsfeed. As the internet grows both in size and density, we're often distracted, and most of the time annoyed, by the type of content thrown at us. Yamba aims to filter out that noise and only serve us relevant posts and data according to the categories we are interested in. This ranges from users to ads.

Granted, I immediately thought about Tumblr as their competitor since the site leans heavily on user-defined categories, providing a seamless flow of information according to the tags and users you frequent so I'm excited to see what new quirk Yamba can bring to this market.

HOOQ then followed with their super cool and super fun game + giveaway. It was a trivia of how well you know your TV. And I don't mean that literally. HOOQ is like a Netflix for the Philippines. And it's legal, too! Partnered with Globe, you can watch your favorite Filipino telenovela or Hollywood blockbuster through desktop or mobile for as long as you subscribe to their service. And it's so affordable, too!

Given that, the game was a trivia about movies and tv series and everyone had the chance to win freebies! Despite it supposedly being a take-your-turn kind of game, being the rowdy bunch we are, everybody flung themselves at the stage despite not being a "legit" participant.

At least I won something. haha

Winners got a free USB, HOOQ swag and a bunch of other fun stuff. After that were more contests like "first to follow the HOOQ instagram page".

Those guys won HOOQ hoodies. I couldn't win that. Wasn't able to connect to the WiFi :(

After dinner was a very sweet and tasty dessert by Yoyi's Pastries and Desserts. It was heavenly. They made us a CBC 1st anniversary cake, some choco crinkles, cassava cake, and my favorite: the scrumptious revel bar. Yeah. you could totally tell what I was there for.

The show is located somewhere here. you can also refer to the map shown above by our beautiful promo girls.

One of the most fascinating stories that I've heard that night was the old practice of Cebuanos using real turtle shells to make guitars. They'd cut the shell of a turtle open, eat the flesh and use the shell. Barbaric, I know but that was then and this is now.

The story inspired Turtulele: a company that makes the most durable and high-quality ukuleles. No turtles are harmed in the making of these instruments, mind you. Inspired by the thought of the turtle shells being as strong as they are, the company wanted to create high quality instruments that could withstand the test of time and durability. The end product being the ukuleles used above by the CBC organizers for their tear-jerking rendition of Row Row Row Your Boat. So touch. Much cry.

These ukuleles were given away as contest prizes that could make the best video telling Turtulele why they would want a Turtulele.

Capdase also had their own contest and product demo. I was really impressed on how clear the audio was from their bluetooth speaker. I was thinking of getting one for myself a few days ago. Guess my questions are answered now.

The original CBC Leads then took the stage and took us back for a while on how the community started; what is was, what it is, and what it will be. It was so great to see the original founders smiling and laughing and considering themselves as "alumni community leads" as the organization has matured so much within the year.

Without a doubt the event was a big success. Special thanks to Global Hub for sponsoring the organizers' printing needs and Khublai Khan Mongolian Restaurant for giving us gift certificates to give away during mini events.

The biggest thanks to all would of course go to the Cebu Blogging Community Leads and organizers! Who went through sleepless nights and endless arguments to not only make this event a success but to keep the community going despite hard times. Not only is the CBC my #SquadGoal but so are you, organizers. You're my #LeaderGoals. _{(lol cheesy)}

World's Largest Floating Library - The MV Logos Hope

After our Microsoft event at the University of San Carlos , the TechTalks team and I went wild at the thought of an after-event road trip, despite being as haggard as we were from the event. We talked about our options during dinner and decided on visiting the MV Logos Hope while it was docked by the pier.

The idea of a large cruise ship didn't appeal to me like most would but when the word "large library" was being passed around, they got me itching to go.

The MV Logos Hope is the fourth ship operated by the German Christian charity organization, GBA Ships. The ship itself has served under many names, being a car ferry when it was first built. Now, it serves as the world's largest floating book fair housing 400 volunteers as its crew and 5,000 different titles in its collection. The Logos Story, one of the books for sale there, talks about how the idea and service ship came to be. You should totally check it out.

The boat is designed to carry 800 visitors at a time in their large library sections, followed by multiple smaller sections that educates guests on the value of life, music, religion, diesel engines, and much more.

Books on board range from Classics to Business and Marketing, and Health to Teen Novels. Many of the books are at a discounted price, costing at about 100 to 250 pesos with 500 pesos being the largest amount I've seen. A lot of these books are rare and usually expensive when bought in regular bookstores so grab them while you can!

A large segment of the MV Logos Hope adventure will be the "Journey of Life". A visual display of a story loosely based off the Prodigal Son depicting the difficult choices in life and our desire to repent for the wrongdoings we commit. Volunteers hand out a pamphlet that immerses you into the story so I highly encourage everyone to read through it as you walk along the display instead of obnoxiously taking selfies without even understanding the display.

What's great about the MV Logos Hope is that even with the already lowered prices, they still prepare promos that make your experience even richer. I really appreciated their "Buy 5 books for only 250" section where you can just dig up whatever you can find, keeping you on the lookout for good books in the discount section.

I just wished the International Cafe had less people when we visited so I could check their menu out.

Other than being a big, floating library, the MV Logos Hope also has exhibits and interactive stations that encourage learning and life awareness to kids and adults alike. They even have programs that tap children's musical and social skills facilitated by some of the organizers on board.

Then there's this guy! I never found out what his name was but look out for him as he moves from section to section to take pictures or give a friendly wave and smile to visitors.

This last pictures sums up my takeaway from my MV Logos Hope experience pretty well so I'll end with this. If you look behind the mascot, you'll see a diesel engine cut in half and painted according to function to explain the mechanics of such a diesel engine. It used to be a part of the ship's main engine, too! And on the right is one of the volunteers and some kids they entertained on board. There were at least 6 of them that were surrounded just like this one in different parts of the vessel and that really struck me. 

What I loved about the experience was that everywhere you looked, there was something new, engaging, and generally pleasant to look at and learn from. The crew was diverse. But despite that, each and every one of them had the same outlook and interactions. They all tried to engage, make a connection, and left no one out of it. They would talk to whomever listened and listened to whomever wanted to talk. Such an open acceptance to people in general is something I looked to be something we all forget as we go along the complexity that is our life.

Overall, I highly encourage everyone who happen to have the vessel docked in their local port to check it out. It's definitely worth a look!