Starting off: Getting to know some...

Hello! My name is Bryan, a freelance photographer and a full-time dish-washer (no kidding!). My interests are very broad just like everyone else. But also just like anyone else, I have at least top three things where I am genuinely interested in: Self-development, Jazz music, and History.

I think one of the reasons why I’ve created this noob blog is because of self-development. Writing has never been one of the things where I’m good at and I’m pretty sure this blog reflects that. I do like reading though. I like reading self-help books especially from Dale Carnegie. I think people need self-development at any point in time because it serves as guidelines or as others say “the right path”.  I’m always interested in things that would make me (and people in general) a better person. Now, I’d be happy to expand this and explain my point of view but I think it’s better to put up a different blog for that. You can expect it in the next few weeks.

Jazz music has never failed to make my day. I used to jog to the music of John Coltrane and Ella Fitzgerald. It’s a perfect music to listen to on a rainy day while drinking hot black coffee. Don’t get me wrong but I’m not a hardcore jazz fan. I’m even having difficulties remembering the titles of some of Miles Davis songs because they don’t include lyrics. I’m more of a “jazz explorer” – just starting out. The reason why I’m interested in this music is it always captures my attention especially when played at weird places. We normally hear this music at a coffee shop or in a fancy restaurant - nothing unusual there. But when I start hearing it in jeepneys (the most famous public transportation vehicle in the Philippines), rock clubs, or even wet markets, it just excites me and makes me stop and listen. Also I think it’s a genre that somehow divides or distinguishes its audience. Think of it as people who know how to read paintings than those who don’t, the former people have more of an “artistic side” than the latter.

I never really liked history. When I was a boy about 14, I used to hate reading history books. I always had this argument “Why read the past when it doesn’t have an impact on your future? And why memorize the dates?” which puts my grades below the belt. However, this changed when I started reading self-help books. As we all know, the best self-help books provide stories, true stories, of lives of people and usually all of these events happened in the past – 20 years ago or more. This made me like history not only because it tells or gives us an idea of where we came from, or what we can do about ourselves but more importantly it gives us the blueprint or an explanation of our present conditions. And ever since, I started reading things like autobiographies because I want to know how people achieved what they achieved in life.

And these three things completely define my current influences and my point of views in life. These influences impact my everyday life, how I decide, how I act, and how I reach my goals. I’ll be posting more about each of these interests of mine in a few days.