Just thinking about how I even managed to land my new job leaves me speechless and humbled.  I remember how each job-less day was a stressful ordeal Jayson and I had to manage in silence. We did our best to keep our composure and focus to be able to maintain peace and order in the household. What scared me the most was the thought of my credit card finance charges rising till it's impossible to catch up with the amount I'm earning. I told myself that if I was going to prevent this from happening, it has to start working towards getting out of this mess strategically and methodically.  Mind mapping my work goals To fight the rise and fall of stress in my chest, I created a mind map. It's the brainstorming method I always use . . .

The title pretty much explains it all, but I wanna explain the details behind this new direction in case you've heard of pagerie.co, have tried to visit the site, and end up seeing an error where the site doesn't exist. pagerie does exist. It's my very own space where I can talk freely, frequently or sporadically, about paper, pencils, and pens. Since launching it in January, I've written about some of my favorite brands that I've long held close to my heart: MUJI, Baron Fig, Mossery, and Philippine brands like DesignHatch.ph and Sunday Paper Co. Buying a domain and website theme however was an investment I wanted to make early on to see if there was a demand for the very items I wrote about. I also wanted to see if it was possible to . . .

I wish it was easy enough to just write about all that's happened over the last few weeks. I could only record recent events by hand on my notebook since it's within reach and didn't require me to log in, give it a title, upload a featured image, etc. But silence doesn't have to last forever, and I think today's a good time to get back up and start turning the cogs on this blog again. Let me start with this: My company was acquired and I'll be terminated in April 30th. And because a flurry of red flags went up when the new company introduced themselves, I've decided not to re-apply at the new company. This crack in my career pretty much threw me and my side-projects overboard: I stopped blogging over at pagerie.co Pagerie sales . . .

27 days ago, I thought of doing a small personal experiment to find out what it was like to emulate or mimic social media influencers. The idea was a bit fuzzy at that time, but it started when I discovered Facebook had this new feature called "sets." It's similar to Google+ or Pinterest where you'd have a dedicated timeline or newsfeed for any topic you're interested in. I created a set for books and a set for stationery on my Facebook account. https://www.instagram.com/p/BeiM3RggC5H/?taken-by=thebookboy I discovered the #bookstagram community on Instagram around the same time I tinkered with Facebook sets. Charlie Edwards-Freshwater of @bookboy is the first one I discovered, and I fell head-over-heels in love with his book collection! . . .

Yesterday, I passed the Nursery class after dropping Noah off at his classroom for the day. The kids formed two lines, with their Chinese teacher demonstrating how to, if I understood their gestures correctly, walk properly within their lines. Their hands at their hips, the taller assistant standing behind her, the Nursery teacher spoke her instructions in smooth and fluent Mandarin. I listened to the unfamiliar words, letting them take me back to an older Chinese-English elementary school where the teachers drilled the same language into the students' heads. It's a lot to ask from a seven-year-old, but I couldn't help wishing I had been more mature when I had that education served to me every afternoon. Linguistically limited I read . . .

I'm still wrestling with the idea that twelve long months have already gone by. So many things happened and changed, so many goals accomplished and failed, it's hard not to wonder what the new year could bring to the table this time. My 2017 ally is my undated Passion Planner and it enabled me to plot my year's goals and put ideas to action. One of its nifty features is the GOOD THINGS THAT HAPPENED section to the right of the weekly timeline where you'd list down the week's wins. It's a great appreciation exercise where you learn to focus on the good and appreciate what you received or worked for, motivating you to seek out that same positive magic next week. https://www.instagram.com/p/BW8IG_zhGCh/?taken-by=passionplanner I decided to . . .

I read that asking a child, or anyone for that matter, what they would like to be growing up is problematic. The question demands that you select and identify with one specific occupation. It leaves no room for changes in decision, interest, or preference. Moreover, if you come from a family that expects you to choose from any of their preferred career choices, the pressure becomes too heavy to bear. These days, I find myself thinking about the less popular variations to the question, "What do I want to be when I grow up?" I do so mainly because I realize how my personality and interests vary over the years as I introduce myself to new people, places, and cultures. As I see how the world changes and how technology transforms the way . . .

I've come to believe that important life lessons are learned through either advice or hands-on experience. The latter, more often than not, is the best and most painful teacher. It's also the teacher whose classes I keep attending with or without intention. ? This week's lesson I had to (re)learn is to read before you sign. Read what you're signing up for before putting your signature on the dotted line. Read, else you'll realize three years later that you just spent a good portion of your life savings into something you'll probably never get back. That something was my life insurance plan. P185,736.96. Imagine that big an amount going to something that I wouldn't be able to enjoy until I was dead. That could've been for my . . .

Every time I log in to Twitter (@heysstef), I get distracted by the 18.4K tweet count glaring at me from the side of my feed. I couldn't shake off the urge to bring that number down, no matter how senseless and time-consuming the task was. Did I really post that many tweets? What were those tweets about anyway? When DID I first jump on the blue bird wagon? Bored with work, I checked for possible ways to go back to the start of my timeline. Turns out you just need to go to https://twitter.com/search-advanced, type in your username and select the date range. BOOM ? instant shame and embarrassment to scroll through for the next half hour. As a regular digital consumer + content creator, mindfulness is something I've only begun to . . .

If you peruse through my 2017 planner, you'll find a section called "Good Things That Happened" where I note down my small-big wins in life and work. The past few months these Good-Things-That-Happened boxes are filled up with all kinds of achievements and events that kept me away. It's wonderful and frustrating at the same time, and I've been kicking myself to write my Friday recaps regularly. Today's sad excuse for an update will hopefully break the silence and keep on going from hereon. I'm launching my stationery blog-shop ? (100% done) https://www.instagram.com/p/Bah9DVdh3oP/?taken-by=pagerieco I call pagerie.co a "blog-shop" because I want my writing will be the expression of my passion for paper products and writing tools. For . . .