• I grew up in a household that loves playing games. Board games, video games, computer games. Anything that has great objectives or a good storyline. As a child, I would watch my parents battle it out on our now-ancient Playstation 1. They loved Space Invaders in particular. My dad, however, enjoys other games such as Oddworld: Abe’s Odyssey,…

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  • Back when I needed some sense of organization to my phone, I used to have a folder for apps that I like using to pass the time—”Time Suckers,” for a lack of a better name for it. In it are my favorite social media apps + this one gem that makes idle time both fun and meaningful:…

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  • I discovered a couple of noteworthy brands last year, one of which is DesignHatch. It’s a homegrown brand of desktop essentials, such as A5 and A6 notebooks, planners, desk pads, and to-do list pads. I got to sit down with DesignHatch founder Aislinn Kee where she shared her story and how DesignHatch was born. However,…

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  • As soon as morning rose to January 1st, the first thing I did was to create a roadmap for goals I wanted to achieve in the next 3 month. One of these goals is to leave my current job. I was tired of the salary cut, the lack of benefits, being ignored and stuck in…

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  • This is Diwa Daily, the second and last blog I’ll ever make in my lifetime. This is a soundboard for everything and anything to do with my passions and personal stories: games, stationery, being a shitty parent but still trying to get good at it, failure, literature, and more. It’s a comeback of what blogging was…

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  • This year, I made a personal commitment to devote 2017 to learning and practicing a new skill. This sprouted from a long-term frustration with my inability to make things. I can’t paint, cook, bake build, repair, or craft. I feel useless whenever there’s something broken in the house or if we need to nail a picture…

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  • Determined to start the year right, I got myself a new planner to organize everything—my daily to-do’s, appointments, activities, and projects. I loved the feeling of checking things off the list. It’s my kind of endorphin that motivates me to keep on finishing. I wanted to take things further than the checkmark though; something visually appealing…

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  • I bought my first domain—stefgonzaga.com—back in 2010. It looks clean and profesh now, but it went through so many identities and changes before this look. From freelancer website to personal blog to creative writing journal, you just couldn’t tell what it’s meant to be anymore. Getting this domain was a HUGE thing for me though…

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  • 1 Loss. When all that’s left are the fleeting memories of tall cups of coffee and literary exchanges, an intertwining of passion and hunger for experience. That thin recalling of how your eyes glistened with pride as you displayed your autographed copy of James Tate’s poetry collection, how you managed to earn an afternoon with…

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  • I unearthed a letter from Stephanie of 2009. Written in blue paper and tucked among the letters I kept over the years, she asked the following questions: Did you still look back and wish that things would be different? How is life for you now? Were you able to do what you wanted to do…

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