Thoughts That Have Been Bothering Me

I. Planning Ahead II. What Now? III. Sorry, I wasn't listening IV. Getting on the eBay Wave V. Minor Changes I. Planning Ahead Dad asked me yesterday if I wanted to Hong Kong this year. My sisters are going to Thailand and my guess is mom's going to China with dad if not with my sisters. My brother will probably tag along with one of them. Or everyone else might go to Thailand. I told my dad I'm still thinking about it. Here's what's confusing me:

• Why I should go...
  1. gadget and tech toy shopping
  2. time for myself to unwind
  3. lots of time for reading and HK television
  4. shop for hard-to-find jazz CDs
  5. visit Tito Ben
  6. dinner with my uncle's friends
  7. HK Disneyland
• Why I shouldn't go...
  1. I'd probably go by myself which would make it really suck
  2. I might go to Malaysia before that anyway
  3. I think Chris already left for UK
  4. I could be working

So I already mentioned to him that I'm planning on going to Boracay or somewhere just within the country. Dad said it's better to go there than HK because I haven't been there. I'm now assuming he's paying for my ticket plus an allowance. He also mentioned USD100 packages to HK but the problem is that some, if not all, of my friends that I want to bring along don't have passports. I'm thinking of going to both places but I'd probably run out of money and take a lot of time. But the thing is, in HK, I get new ideas and probably do some business-related stuff for the projects I'm involved in. Boracay, on the other hand, gives me time with my friends and get together. It's really been awhile since we all hung out. Everyone's so busy. I should end it here for now. There are kids in the rest of the world that are starving, time to save the world before somebody complains. II. What now? Dad and I went to Manila yesterday. The city didn't change much (changed a little). Not cleaner but looked neater. Islands on the road are now repainted. Posts are now painted with horizontal stripes of black and white. Manila could be progressing but the sad thing is, the shantis and residents are still there. When I said, "still there", I meant really there. Right at the same spot for the past ten years or so (as far as memory serves). Something has got to be done. Seriously. III. Sorry, I wasn't listening I have ADD, Attention Deficit Disorder. I used to think I just have a very short attention span, now this really adds to it. I found this out from Lockergnome, to which I subscribe to. Explains the hundreds of unfinished projects and short bursts for the desire to finish something. Top 10 ADD Advantages in a High Tech Career.

1. The Ability to Hyperfocus. Hours of full engagement and concentration in a task, if you find it interesting. You can get into the zone and be totally immersed in what you're doing while the outside world disappears. When I went on the Net for the first time in 1993 at an Internet cafe I got on the machine at 8 pm and around 4 am decided it was time to go home.
2. Rapid Fire Mind. Your brain processes information at hyperspeed. You can do things in 30 minutes on a computer that might take other people hours. Downside: If you're stuck with an old machine and not enough RAM, you'll be frustrated 'cause it can't keep up with the speed of your brain.
3. Multitasking at Will. Able to run 14 apps at a time and effortlessly switch between each without breaking a sweat. Able to do several projects at a time with ease.
4. High Energy Level. You're able to keep going on a project (if it's interesting; ADDers are more into creative and entrepreneurial activities than clerical and repetitive ones). 14-hour days? No problem. Adrenaline is my fuel source:)
5. Highly Creative. Able to think beyond the idea of a box. This comes naturally for ADDers, while others pay thousands of dollars to try and learn this. Since you take in more information than the average person, and you're easily distractible, you're more likely to view a problem from many different angles than vanilla people (non ADDers), and therefore come up with more possible solutions to a problem. Need an idea generator? Find an ADDer.
6. Quick Learner. If it's something you're interested in. ADD is mainly a condition of boredom; you have no trouble paying attention to something if it's interesting. Most people find it difficult to do boring or repetitive things but these can often totally shut an ADDer down. Your rapid fire brain + highly creative mind + the ability to hyperfocus equals fast absorption of new information quickly. Dr. Ed Hallowell, who has ADD and has written extensively on the subject (Delivered from Distraction : Getting the Most out of Life with Attention Deficit Disorder), said he stopped teaching Psychiatry at Harvard University because the non-ADDers' brains were just too slow and they took so long to get it. He got tired of being continually frustrated waiting for them to catch up to the ADD students.
7. Stimulus Seeking Brain. A perfect match for the wired world, an under-stimulated brain and an over-stimulated virtual environment. Being an info junkie can be a good thing. Well, not always!
8. Constantly Scanning your Environment. Allows you to notice more and find information and resources that others miss. Also allows you to see possible problems before they arise, and opportunities that others may not see because they have tunnel vision vs. multiplex vision. An ADDer invented the electronic ticket.
9. Great in a Crisis. High energy, intense situation? Lots of chaos and change? Sign me up; I thrive on stimulation, change, and chaos. We can create order from chaos effortlessly. We can also create such an environment if needed.
10. Risk Taker. Impulsivity means you're more willing to take risks and have a bias for action; act now while the opportunity is hot instead of getting into analysis paralysis. Many entrepreneurs have ADD (i.e. Paul Orfalea, who founded Kinko's, and JetBlue Founder and CEO David Neeleman, who attributes his creativity to ADD. Both are billionaires). Imagine how successful a high tech CEO would be if they didn't take many risks.

Quoted from Chris Pirillo, who quoted Pete Quily. IV. Getting on the eBay Wave I never thought I could sell succesfully online. But I guess I could ...somehow. I tried [re]selling 10 pieces of DSL filters from Singapore, which aren't really sold anywhere locally (from what I know). I sold them at PhP200, just a little above the original price (~SgD5) because I thought it was cheaper. I posted at TipidPC, PinoyPC and eBay Philippines. Majority of the filters (seven pieces) were sold through TipidPC, I've been a member there for a couple of years and tried some selling but didn't end up with deals, membership is free by the way. eBay's great except that they need more exposure. I got one order (two pieces) from there where the buyer is just my neighbor. Apparently, no one made bids to the "auction" but made "questions to the seller". eBay sent me a couple of messages that my auction wasn't succesful with accompanied tips on selling/auctioning. PinoyPC was my last priority, since it was actually a community/board on Tech and PCs but a Black Market section was added a few years back. The last order (two pieces) came from there. I was planning on using the extra filter here at home but turned out I didn't need it so I sold it. I guess the local online black market isn't that bad. Except that sometimes I fear that the one I'm dealing with might cheat on me or mug me, specially on personal deliveries/meets/pickups. There are two orders though were I shipped the filters through FedEx. I didn't know that it was that cheap. It was more convenient, faster and cheaper than going to places near the office/home to deliver the merchandise. Payment was made through a bank deposit, cool. Here's another thing, they have this rating system at eBay and TipidPC which could help you decide if you should have a deal with a member. I even bought/ordered a KVM switch but the thing is defective and it's pretty hard to get it replaced. Bad deal I guess, I hope I could get my money back instead. There were cooler offers before but I closed the deal too early thinking nobody would make an offer. Nothing more but adventures. I'm thinking of selling more filters if I do go to Malaysia this summer. In case you're wondering, TipidPC was already up way before eBay became popular. V. Minor Changes Changed my blog's URL and made a blank one with the old url to redirect to the new one. Just in case you linked to one of my posts, linked to my blog or bookmarked it (fat chance), it's changed to jploh.blogspot.com. Now it's not so hard to memorize or type, right?

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