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Free Posts Insights Life

Goodness Gracious

I wanted to share an article I read about being a good person. The author—drawing from social media standards and contemporary novels—humorously summed it up this way:

First and foremost, a good person possesses a deep understanding of power structures and her relative place in them. She has a sense of humor that never “punches down.” She doesn’t subtweet, buy stuff on Amazon, or fly on too many planes. She has children in order to fend off narcissism—a bad quality—and develop a stake in the future of planet Earth, but she would never presume to judge another woman’s choice. And though she occasionally makes mistakes—cheats on her boyfriend, offends her friends after drinking too much, doesn’t call her mom very often—she admits them. A good person is not perfect (she has read enough not to fall for that trap), but she is self-aware.

Lauren Oyler — For Goodness’ Sake
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Calgary Free Posts

This Place Feels Just Right

Malapit na kaming mag-isang taon dito sa Calgary, at ang recurring theme pa rin ng conversations namin ni Kenneth ay: “Ang saya at thankful ko na nandito na tayo ngayon.” Hindi pa rin kami maka-move on. The locals may not fully relate, pero sobra sobra ang appreciation namin sa lugar na ‘to. Lalo na si Kenneth. Sya yung mas paulit-ulit about finally being here.

Interestingly, wala naman talaga sa wish list namin na makalipat ng Calgary. We really thought forever na kami sa Winnipeg (we lived there for 6 years). At kung sumagi man sa isip ko ang paglipat, sa Vancouver ko naiisip. Pero since hindi namin kaya ang cost of living sa BC in general, I just file that thought under my daydreams category. Until one day, bigla na lang kaming naging in-sync ni Kenneth at nagtuloy-tuloy na ang proseso ng paglipat namin dito.

Note: Eventually nakapasyal din kami sa BC, at Calgary pa rin talaga ang #1 for us. Oo maganda, pero ang mahal talaga!

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Free Posts Life

Q3 Recap + Happy Anniversary!

I didn’t even realize that my Gleniz da Menace newsletter just turned a year old! I still have my occasional once-or-twice-a-month free posts, but September last year I started making these exclusive posts to help support this ancient blog of mine.

Though I am fairly consistent with my creative output here, I am sluggish in a business sense and find discomfort in promoting this paid newsletter too much. So if you find enjoyment in what I write here, I hope you’ll consider a paid subscription. If you’re wondering if it’s worth it, here’s a note from one of the early subscribers:

I shared this with Kenneth and tried reading the message out loud to him but failed ‘cos I started crying. Thank you for your generous words 🥺

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Family Free Posts Ramblings

Maliit na Pulang Speaker

I was connecting to my Bluetooth speaker at nakita ko sa device list yung speaker ng Mommy. My heart sank. Bumalik sakin yung mga days sa ospital na tatanungin ko ang Mommy kung gusto nyang makinig ng music, tapos tatango sya. Papatugtugin ko dun sa maliit na pulang speaker yung mga paborito nyang lumang kanta, o kaya minsan mga piano music. Tatanungin ko sya ng, “Rinig mo Mommy?” kasi nakikipagsabayan sa music yung tunog ng mechanical ventilator nya. Ipi-pwesto ko yung speaker sa may ulunan nya para sure na rinig nya.

Hay sobrang miss kita Mommy 😔

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Free Posts Life

Jet Lag

It’s 3:30AM at three hours na kong hindi makatulog. Kakabalik lang namin dito sa Canada two days ago at expected ko na yung mga ganitong nights na sira ang tulog ko. Medyo sabog yung utak ko ngayon pero na-miss kong magsulat dito. And I’m typing this on my new laptop! Well, technically hindi sya bago kasi laptop ‘to ng kapatid ko. Nag-switch kami ng gadgets. Nasa kanya na yung iPad Pro ko at nasakin na ngayon yung MacBook Air nya. Sakto kasi gusto ko nang magkaron ng bagong laptop na hindi na kelangan isaksak para lang mabuhay, at si Tricia naman, gusto nya ng iPad para daw madali syang mag-take notes when talking to clients.

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Free Posts Life

Ramblings #55

I miss you.

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Free Posts Hobbies Ramblings

Ramblings #54

Show Your Work by Austin Kleon

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Art Free Posts Hobbies Wellness

The Menace Bulletin No. 1

Welcome to The Menace Bulletin! It’s where you’ll find a curated collection of little discoveries, interesting tidbits, and all sorts of odd curiosities.

First edition is on the house, but I’d probably reserve future ones for paid subscribers *finger heart*

THE GOODS

Cool people and things I stumbled upon.

Steal like an artist

Austin Kleon is one of my favourite artists and I’m happy to see that he has a new podcast guesting! He’s a treasure trove of knowledge about other artists and is just filled with creativity wisdom. I like how he can almost immediately pull up a quote relevant to the topic being discussed and cite his sources at the same time—his most popular book is Steal Like an Artist but he doesn’t neglect to credit the artists he’s “stealing” from. I appreciate that about him. Because what I can’t stand is when people bring up an insight or copy an idea but neglect or forget to mention where they got it from. It doesn’t give the opportunity for curious consumers to explore and dig deep into the source. Well, the worst thing is passing off an idea as their own and that’s just plain sleazy. Not cool.

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Free Posts Life Wellness

Mid-Year Check 2025

Bilis ng panahon. A lot of things happened. Winter turned into spring, tapos ngayon summer na. Met new people, wrote a lot, feelings were felt, tears were shed. There were joys and laughter too—which I badly badly needed. It’s hard to face the second half of the year without feeling a sense of fear. I just really hope our family can take a breather and wala munang mangyari na mabigat.

Each start of the year since 2021, I make a game plan for the upcoming year. I also set a theme. This year’s was:

Make maximum personal impact through simplified effort

This theme’s goal is to prevent myself from being overwhelmed and just gain more clarity. I just want to keep things simple as much as I can. Whether it’s my routine, my clothes, how I eat, or my hobbies. I intend to have more feelings of peace and less anxiety.

So far, the feelings of overwhelm I experienced this year is less than last year, so pakiramdam ko nagagawa ko naman unti-unti.

Now let’s revisit my 2025 goals:

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Free Posts Life

Q2 Recap

The last few months have been very difficult—it still is—and I continue to maneuver through this extremely tricky feeling called grief. I just want to say thank you to everyone who expressed their sympathies. Whether I managed to give a decent response or not, know that it made the heaviness a little bit bearable.