Just a few more months and it would've been a year without an update on this blog. But no. I'm not letting that happen. So I'm just going to give an update on all the sections of my life.

Travel

My favorite topic as always. I will be in Singapore with my family this November. Our first trip out of the country and the first International travel for both of my siblings. Last Peso Fair from Cebu Pacific Air, I was able to purchase a trip for me and L. However, L might not be able to join me since it's going to be a 9-day trip and it will be a day after his father's death anniversary. The ticket I purchase is one of the things I have been waiting for for years. I've talked about to a friend a few years back about the cheapest price I could get. At first, I couldn't believe it, but I am now a believer in airfare miracles! lol

I'm keeping this a secret for now since I need to get my VISA approved for this.

Work

With regards to getting my VISA approved, I need to be able to acquire all the requirements needed. The biggest challenge would be getting an ITR and reaching a certain amount for the travel budget. The latter might not be so hard since I can still save up for the trip. With the ITR, I need to either get a local full-time job that can provide one for me, or register myself as a professional employer. I don't think I'm 100% ready to get back to being employed again. I am just starting to do a couple of the things I love. Right now, this is not generating income for me, but with dedication and practice, I'm sure this will become another source of income, aside from working on projects with my clients. The only choice I have is becoming a professional employer. Which I am hoping to do this month once I gather all the requirements.

Meetups/Workshops

Thanks to constantly attending meetups for the past few years, I have met really cool people who do amazing things! It's great to see how someone evolves up close in personal compared to just stalking my online heroes. It makes me try harder to work on the things I love to do. Which is why I am starting to do right now. There aren't too many design meetups as of now. The last workshop I attended was Hero Angeles' Miniature Food Workshop last May 2018 and I haven't put what I learned to use. lol.

Mental Health

I'm serious about this. Discussion of my mental health status deserves a place. It's what makes me my best and worst at what I do. There is less mental breakdowns this year. Unlike before when I end up really down which affected my work very badly. It lasted for months. Mostly because of stress, and improper time management. Too overwhelmed with all the YES I gave to all invitations to work on projects. For this year, I have placed my profile in private and accepted less projects. Kinda like getting back to the part-time freelancer and part-time chill thing. Another thing that contributed to most of my mental health was the fact that I have not worked on the things I wanted to do creatively. Which is why I have been slowly doing it this past few month. Overall, I'm getting better at handling my outbursts.

Admitting to the wrong things we have done, accepting it, and forgiving ourselves takes a lot of practice. It does not happen overnight. With every problem you have, there are so many solutions available. Sometimes the downer whispers to our ears telling us to give up. It's useless. Allow yourself to grieve and listen to this voice. But do not make decisions just yet. The downer eventually gets tired of telling you things and will be quiet in a few hours or days. Do something that relaxes you. You will then know when's the right time to make decisions.

Unexpected events have the ability to disrupt plans. As a person with a tendency to overthink and make life complicated, plans keep me at ease. Having goals make calm me from overthinking. When something unexpected happens, plans are wrecked by my emotional instability.

What's up for this week

If I'm asked to write down all the reasons of not immediately doing all the things listed on my bucket list, it'll take you ten scroll down with your mouse to see the bottom of the page.

I'm not exaggerating or anything, but there is absolutely a lot of factors keeping me from starting my own business, taking that solo trip, cleaning my room, finding my lost Government ID, etc.

Some of the items can be rescheduled in another month. (except cleaning my room, I definitely need to do that this weekend). There are also a few items which I need to try out as a way of getting out of my comfort zone.

One of these is blogging.

Blogging is not really a mandatory in a person's life, but as I kid, I religiously kept a diary. Writing was the only way I could let go of everything I felt. As an introvert, expressing my teenage angst to other human beings was hard. When I wrote in my diary, I was able to release all the negative and positive vibes I felt during that day. Bottled up emotions damage us in ways we can't see. It was also through writing that I developed a habit of advising myself during hard times.

My list of reasons not to start a blog

As I mentioned, it's going to take a lot of space to write down the list, but to sum it up... it's all about fear. Too much fear of imperfection and making mistakes made me uneasy about starting a blog. I'm afraid of not being consistent with Scribble and Wander's branding. It paralyzes me to think about my cluttered blog years from now.

Just a week ago, I included an entry for my Weekly Calendar. On Mondays, I should write something. Anything to keep the creative juices flowing. Writing for Experience and Think takes a lot of time since I have to do research regarding a topic. Scribble and Wander is the only place where I can freely express myself. Sure, it's supposed to be a blog for travel, food, and musings, but hey! I'm starting to list one of the reasons why I shouldn't start! Enough with this, Kay!

So I decided to just do it!

Last week's review

Since my contract with a local design agency ended last August, I suddenly had tons of free time to FINALLY work on a few items on my bucket list. Managed to cross out some items last week. Not really proud of how those came out, but nonetheless just being able to cross them out felt awesome! Everything is a work in progress. I'm not going to wait for things to be perfect.

• Launched my portfolio. http://www.kristalacida.com/
• Started a new contract with a design agency
• Finished two cool eBook designs that were 30+ pages each

What's up for this week

We are going to hustle hard this week, Kay! :)

More than a year ago, I decided to try going freelance again. Yes, my 2nd attempt to live a carefree life of working whenever and wherever I want to. It's a dream for most introverts. Working at unfamiliar places provides less distraction for me since it lessens my interaction with people which improves my focus. Now before I go ahead and tell you to quit your job to give freelancing a try, I need to give you 10 tips I did and wished I did before giving up my 9-5 job last June 2016.

1. Assess your skills

Determine what the types of jobs you want to be working on. As a Web / Graphic Designer, it was easy for me to know I wanted to do the same kind of job. You should also be open to learning new skill sets. For me, I developed a love for branding and managing social media pages. If you have a passion for writing, be a Home Based content writer. If you are familiar with using Google Drive and Microsoft Office Products (Word/Excel/PowerPoint), have basic to medium English communication skill and great with emails, be a Virtual Assistant. If you have a fast typing speed, Data Encoder jobs are everywhere. There is always an online job counterpart to almost all office-based jobs. You just have to know what kind of job you want to do.

2. Set aside some money

Not all freelance adventures start out grandly. Chances are, the moment you are free from your 9-5 job, you will be tempted to spend a week or two finishing seasons 1-7 of Game of Thrones or do the 'costly' hobbies you always wanted to try. Or maybe you plan to work on personal projects you never got a chance to do because it consumed your time. There is a possibility you may be making less money than you imagined in the first few months of your freelance adventure. Saving a good amount of money that will last for 3-5 months is attainable and preferable.

3. Have a different bank account for money transfers

One of the first things I was worried about when going freelance was the payment method. How do I get paid? Thankfully, Paypal and Payoneer exist. Online workplaces like Upwork have options to transfer your money directly to local banks (BPI, BDO, Unionbank, etc). Connecting your bank account to other websites can make you feel uneasy about it. Especially if you only have one which holds all your savings. An option to counter this uneasiness is opening a different bank account intended for transferring money from online services. So far, I have used both BPI Debit and Unionbank's EON card for Paypal and Upwork.

4. Secure an online job

It may take weeks or months to find an online job that is perfect for you. Before deciding to quit your 9-5 job, try to apply for full-time or part-time jobs that look interesting. You can find these jobs anywhere! If you are confident you can manage two full-time positions (online and 9-5) at the same time, give it a go and try to decide if your online job is something you want to focus on. If too much work kills you, having an online part-time job is preferable. This makes you familiar with the skills needed to survive being a freelancer.

5. Be prepared for the worst-case scenario

As I mentioned before, you might not find an online job instantly. That very thought of not finding a job almost made me back out from my original plan so I made a deal with myself. If I don't find an online job that reaches the acceptable amount I want, I'd get back to a 9-5 job after 3 months. I wanted to try it so badly and I had to prepare myself for the emotional breakdown if what I planned out won't work out. Accepting defeat was my option. It's different for everyone. You could try odd online jobs, but be selective about it.

6. Listen to your body

The biggest challenge for me in an office-based job is my productivity. I sometimes find myself more productive in the morning than in the afternoon. Other times I am able to get more work done in the afternoon and evening. What was different about these days? I realized I become very productive in the morning when I am able to finish small tasks. The feeling of accomplishing something boosted my mood throughout the day. Afternoons sometimes make me sleepy, but I noticed I become energized when working standing up than sitting and drinking a cold beverage. That's when I realized my body prefers cold drinks or coffees. The more you get to know about your body, the more productive you are. You get to experiment with your work schedule as a freelancer, but best to get an idea of how you want to work first before doing so.

7. Secure a laptop

This will not apply to everyone. But it was something I should've done before. Working at home meant being distracted from everything that occurs at home. Not everyone at home will understand the importance of focusing while working at home. I was not able to anticipate the temperature inside my room in the afternoon. It felt like summer and it made me very sleepy. If I had secured a laptop before, I could just work in cafes or at our garden.

8. It's not a vacation

We are sometimes tempted to think of going on a vacation or spending a lot once we start the adventure. Images of other people working at the beach or while they are traveling are often times misleading. It does not always start that way. Sure, It's great for an Instagram post but bad for the wallet. Make sure you are already financially secure before going on extravagant trips and experience the advantage of being a freelancer.

9. Learn to say yes and no

You will need the courage to say yes and no every time you get a job invite. Saying yes to all jobs because you don't want to pass out on the opportunity is not always the right move. Saying yes to an odd job because you have no other options might make you feel guilty in the future. While saying no because your insecurities are acting up will also make you guilty. Saying a firm, yes and no can lead to a guilt-free future.

"I knew that if I failed I wouldn't regret that, but I knew the one thing I might regret is not trying." - Jeff Bezos, Amazon CEO

10. Just Do It

Insecurities. Fears. What ifs. Other people telling you're doing a stupid mistake. The person with the biggest impact in your decision to say no is you. Not your status as the bread winner, or anyone. Just you. Remember to set a portion of your life dedicated to yourself. You only get to live one life. If you want it so badly, just do it.


I hope you will be able to use these tips on your journey. My first attempt last 2013 didn't go well and I had to return to a 9-5 job after 3 months. My second attempt last year turned out well. I'm very happy to find a couple of long-term clients who are still part of my journey today.

Picture yourself as those people who are working at the beach, or while traveling around the world. That could still be you one day.

The title sums up this post. I'm glad to be back updating Scribble and Wander after a very long time. After June 2016, I have been preoccupied with a lot of things and decisions regarding balancing my life and work. So I will elaborate all of the reasons why I was not able (or did not feel like adding) to add a new content. This will be more of like my life update.

Confident enough to try freelancing (again)

Traffic is monstrous in Cebu, especially during the start of classes, so I decided to quit my job! I don't like mingling with the crowd every single day. It drains me! All the more when there is a crowd of people trying to get to public transportation. That's not the only reason why I quit my job. For the past few weeks, before I passed my resignation letter, I had the strong desire to try out freelancing again. 3 years ago I quit a job to work as a freelancer and get my own clients. I lacked confidence back then and it never really worked out. After almost 2 months, I went back looking for work again. This time, though, I felt like I was ready! I was more confident than I was before. I gave myself a deadline of 3 months. If I still am a wreck after 3 months, the freelance life may not be for me.

Today is November, and I'm killing it! During June and July, I depended on a friend for projects, but when August started, I decided to find clients of my own and ended up finding great people to work with.

Note to self: Do a separate post about life as a Freelancer. Or anything related about freelancing.

From a Day Person to a Night Person

I always thought I was a day person, because working during the day made me feel energetic. Now I'm at home, there are too many distractions during the day! But when everyone's asleep, I felt more productive and was finish more work. Now I sleep around 3am and my day starts around lunch time.

Direction for Scribble and Wander

Originally, I want this blog to be able my travel musings and reviews of places I have explored and food I have discovered. I even created a separate blog to add posts which are not related to food, travel or lifestyle. Breathe and Ponder would've been my blog about minimalism and psychology, but I felt like managing two different blogs is somewhat exhausting for now. Partly because I don't see myself as a "writer" or a "blogger". I'm just writing down everything I want my 50-year-old self  to remember in the future. To hell with grammar and essay construction! I'm not paid to do this. Nor do I want to get paid to do this.

My new goal for Scribble and Wander is just to post anything and everything that I want to share! Be it events I have pondered about or thoughts and notions I find perplexing. There will still be posts about my Travels and luxurious food hunts, but I have to face the reality...I can't afford those (for the mean time).

I do have something scheduled for this November, so expect some Travel post about it by December. I'm really excited to share this because it's somewhere I always wanted to go to! #TravelGoals

Note to self: Write posts about November's trip. :3


That's about it!

I've been wanting to write about the things I always have inside my bag ever since our Design team at work discussed it for our company newsletter. We haven't got much time on this due to our busy schedule with other projects, so I decided to write about here on my new blog.

Some girls have a lot more items inside their bag than what I currently have. I usually change bags depending on my outfit and where I'm going, so I keep only important stuff. Now, before going over what I have inside my bag, let me describe what type of person I am. I'm trying to be a minimalist, keeping only the important stuff and letting go of other items that clutter my life. Makeup is not really my thing. Of course, few items to make me look a bit fresh is enough. My head is always active and trying to come up with awesome ideas for whatever reason, but I have a tendency to always forget about them. I love cats. I like to draw. Cebu is very hot during summer. The sun will burn your skin.

Let's get over to the items I have then.

Gadgets

On the top left portion of the photo, I have a little black Halo pouch for my ASUS Zenfone 2. Now you may also notice I also have a Samsung Corby at the right portion of the photo. In Cebu, snatchers are rampant. It's unwise to display your phone inside a public transportation. Snatchers might be waiting by the window of the jeepney (a public transportation) you are on. Pickpockets might be sitting beside you with their ice pick or gun ready. My Samsung Corby is my main phone which I use for most of my communication. It's lovely to use for emergency cases wherein I need to communicate with someone while taking public transportation. My ASUS phone, on the other hand, was something I purchased for my work. As a UI/UX Designer, I need to experience how Android apps work in order to create better designs for apps I will be working on in the future. This also functions as my main camera. Smartphones don't really have good battery life span unlike older phones, for cases when I really need to have my phone charged, my ASUS Powerbank will always be there. To keep my phone and glasses (I wear glasses) dirt free, I keep a small green towel for wiping. I also bring with me a SanDisk OTG Dual USB Drive where I keep files I needed to transfer from my Mac and PC to my ASUS Zenfone.

Stationary

Not all women my age bring notebooks and a pen case, but for me, it's a must. My daily commute is almost 2 hours going to work. A lot of my time at public transportation is spent on thinking about random things. Sometimes a nice idea pops in my mind and I badly need to write it down lest it might be forgotten. A MUJI blank notebook is a perfect partner. My MUJI pen case holds a few writing materials. A mechanical pencil for sketches before I ink it out and an eraser. A Preppy Fountain Pen which I purchase from Scribe Writing Essentials at SM. A Dong-A Twin Permanent Marker for dark and heavy inking. A ZIG Drawing Pen for lovely lines. Just last year, I got hooked with Calligraphy and started getting back to drawing. This is also another reason why I began including a notebook and some pens on my everyday bag.

Makeup Stuff

I'm not sure if I could call these items as makeup, but they do a pretty decent job for making me look fresh whenever I need to. I guess almost all girls have these items inside their bag. First would be my Nichido Pressed Powder which feels smooth when applied. It doesn't have that powder feeling that makes you sneeze. The Nichido Black Water Proof Eyeliner is the only item I used for my eyes. A Nichido Juicy Lips Lip Stick for hiding my pale lips.  Maybe when I get more used to other makeup items, I'll add more into my everyday makeup stuff.

Miscellaneous

Every girl needs a comb, I purposely chose a colour that pops out from my black bag. If there were a glow in the dark comb, I'm going to buy one. An Alcohol to clean your hands when there is no water available. It's a must for me. An Umbrella that really blocks off the heat and makes me feel cooler during a hot day. Nice to have when it rains too. The weather is a bit unpredictable in the Philippines, might as well have an umbrella always. on the upper portion of the picture, I have my black purse which holds all my paper bills, ID, cards and receipts. I also keep a smaller purse for coins and easy access to money when stuck in a crowded area. This goes in a compartment in front of my bag where I can easily take it out without exposing my other items to sly hands from pickpockets.


There we go. All the items I always made sure are inside the bag I will be using for the day. Sometimes I bring a tissue or pieces of candy with me. Not everyday though. When I need to use a smaller bag, I drop all the stationary items, and keep a piece of paper an a pen ready instead. What do you guys have inside your bag?