Strawberries fill my dreams

I am the kind of person that has lavish, adventurous and engaging dreams. I am also the kind of person who wakes up recalling most of every detail. I also dream in colour.

There is however, one dream that I cannot seem to wake up from. I am also hoping that it IS a dream and all *this* is just really, really a daymare.

Daymares. Like Nightmares only they occur in the daytime. Then I am thinking that I should really explain it better. I am actually having daymares in the middle of this dream that I hope to wake from.

How do I know that what I speak of IS a dream? Simple. In THIS dream I do not have a car. In this dream I do not earn money. In this dream I do not have a place with white couches, a glass coffee table, a white rug and my benjamina ficas. In this dream, I do not have a closet and most of all, in this dream, I am not me.

The person who I am in this dream is always tired. She looks 15 years older, and her skin is sallow. Her pee really smells and is a horrid shade of yellow. She does not drink my usual 1200 – 1500 L of Fiji water everday and in this dream, the person is far from being vegetarian. She also is not very sexy. In fact, the man she is with in this dream is not attracted to her. And although they have been living together for over 2 years, they have never passionately kissed or made passionate love. Definitely a dream.

Also, there is always strawberry cake or some kind in this dream. Nobody can be THAT lucky to alwaysbe eating strawberry cake.

I know this is a dream. I am just waiting to wake up from it. Hurry up morning.

Stefan Marquard at the HP Event in Frankfurt.

Edelman Munich put on a great event for HP Europe (Germany) at the Genuss Akademie, here in Frankfurt.

Martina Pennekamp, Tanja Schürmann and the team at Edelman really did a great job with the venue, the logistics and in getting Stefan Marquard as the host Chef for the evening.

The entire event was done very professionally and the attention to detail was excellent. Each guest had their photos taken before transitioning from the main reception area into the kitchen stage. The photos were part of a surprise gift to those who took the time to attend the HP Event. Everyone received a momento of the evening with Stefan Marquard’s photo, their photo and Stefan’s signature with a write up of the occassion.

I think what impressed me most was the phone call from one of the team members of Edelman, in Munich. She had phoned 10 minutes prior to the start of the event to make sure we were okay and had the directions right. Indeed. We were just meters away from the door to the Genuss Akademie! The directions that were given in the email were exact. No one had any problem finding the tiny entrance that lead to the 2nd floor Kitchen stage.

What was also remarkable was how Stefan really knew HP’s printer products. Actually, he owned two HP printers and this gave such a personal touch with the way he talked about the HP printer features and its value. He had notes with him but did not even use them.

The food was of course – a gastronomical feast. I managed to take some photos of the delectable dishes in macro, and they still make my mouth water every time I see them.

Stefan and the Jolly Roger Cooking Gang did a superb job with plating and presentation. Thanks to the host kitchen crew of the Genuss Akademie for, what I thought was the challenging part – making a multi-course meal for over 50 guests with each portion being perfect.

Kudo’s goes to the Edelman Munich team for holding such a successful event.

It’s engagements like this, where the company directly interacts with people that makes a brand go a long way. No matter how you look at it, the memory of that event will always have a positive emotion associated to HP! Oh, and a nice memory in one’s tummy!

The Event on Flickr.

HP Event on qik:  one two three.

Thank you Michael Jackson.

Watching Michael Jackson’s Memorial at the Staples Center in California. I wish I had a television but thank goodness for livestreaming onto the internet.

I was amazed at how the entire memorial event was conducted in a very orderly, serene and respectful way. The fans were really well behaved. I was afraid people would rush at the coffin, make snide remarks or even keep yelling, but there was none of that. Only a few fans from the thousands of seats shouted out their “I love you’s”, which were welcomed but everything else went perfectly.

I twittered some of the going’s on of the Memorial and I appreciate the fact that none of my followers openly tweeted to my face to stop. I COULD get quite annoying with tweeting. I am just glad those that engaged with me, were all positive and those that would rather not engage – did not.

Here are my thoughts on the day I found out he had passed away.

Today’s Memorial marks the finite and definite fact that Michael Jackson is no longer with us, physically. His spirit, however, will always be there.

After leaving the nursing profession in 2007, in what may seem like an impulsive act to many (little did they know that I had been waiting for the opportunity to spread my wings), the reality of “free” is not what I had envisioned.

Being “free” is a very powerful state of being that requires a certain kind of inner strength that you either have or you better quickly develop.

Luckily for me, I have inner strength. What I was NOT prepared to experience was the amount of inner strength needed to venture out into the unknown and re-create a life, from pseudo scratch.

(Well, it hasn’t been the first time I did this but at this age … hmmmm).

Naturally, following my normal mode of operation, of course I had to up the antee on the challenge. I not only left a comfort zone that paid quite comfortably, but I decided to pan out the post-nursing adventure in a country who’s language and culture are quite foreign to me. Nevermind the fact that I cannot get my Odwalla and other essential foods that I’ve been use to eating all my life, but I also cannot find the brand names for household essentials that I’ve learned to trust. Oh, and the Neutrogena Sesame Oil is no where to be found .

I know I’m wallowing again. There’s been a lot of that lately and sometimes I just cannot help myself. Wallowing just seems right at certain times.

Well, I titled this post “The strong and free” with respect to the Canada … ‘ the true north strong and free’. It was going to be a post about Canada of sorts but since I’m in this wallowing mood, here you go.

Happy Birthday Canada! I never thought I’d ever live outside your boundaries and now I can’t even imagine ever going back.

Constant Transition

…. that’s how I feel ..  or have been feeling since I left Toronto in ‘96.

I’d like to think that my leaving beloved Toronto was simply a call of destiny and that the 11 years spent in Texas was of course, part of the entire spiritual process. Indeed, the 11 years of nursing had a definite impact on my humanity and how I view the world, people, life.

I am still interested to know how my decision to move to Germany will pan out – is still panning out.

Sometimes I feel as if I am moving backward instead of forwards. However, if life is a circle, then moving backward or forward is really all irrelevant.

I am getting a tad dizzy though I would like very much to stop this merry-go-round.

Rest In Peace Michael Jackson

Today is unlike any other day the world can ever imagine. What make’s one person’s life that much more important only after he dies – I will never know.

What I do know is how he lived. The joy, the creativity, the love, the humanity and the giving that came from one individual who had been mocked, ridiculed and lambasted in the media and in countless other sources – all that has come to a close.

The only thing that stands out in my mind is how this one man, Michael Jackson, has been a part of my life for a long as I can remember.

They first time I ever knew of his existence was from seeing a large door-sized poster of Michael Jackson, hanging behind one of my friend’s, sister’s friend’s door. We were in Stacey’s room in one of the apartment buildings in St. Jame’s Town.  A neighbourhood in Toronto, Canada that is bordered by Sherbourne St., Bleeker St. Wellesley Ave. and some other street whose name escapes me.

We were all in the room and the three teen-aged girls were oohing and ahhing at the poster of Michael Jackson while his 45’s were playing. It was strange for me at that age of being 6 years old, to witness the behavior of teen-age girls. I remember when Stacey ran up to the poster on the door and started kissing it! I thought, “How bizarre!”

That was my first introduction to who Michael Jackson was and later, his songs would soon become important themes in my growing up years.

We lost a legend today. And the world will never be the same. The media has lost a vital focus for their garbage tabloid mentions. People have lost yet another person they could ridicule and judge, instead of looking towards their own deficiencies. Fans have lost a very much loved entertainer. He was a genius. The world lost one of the greatest humanitarians. Most of all, his family lost a son, a brother and a father.

People who never understood him, and only saw him as a bizarre individual, making opinions on everything negative that was thrown at by the media are those that do not understand the Power of Love and its many faces.

Rest  In Peace Michael  Jackson. I will miss you dearly. Thank you for trying to make the world a better place. Thank you for sharing your creativity and your beautiful songs with all of us. You will always be in our hearts, and in our lives.

GamePlaces 2009

I can’t believe I’m attending the GamePlaces conferences for a second year in a row. It seems as if I’ve been calculating my time spent living in Frankfurt with annual events that I’ve been attending.

This year, I stayed from beginning to end and met a lot of great people.

Thanks to my t-mobile web n’ walk stick, I was able to access the internet and most of all tweet (as in “Twitter“) at the same time.

The ultimate in networking is when you look up the names of the speakers in real time, find them on various social networking sites and request to be added to their list of contacts. I did that and before the day ended, I was approached by several of the speakers (already knowing who I am since my profile photo pretty much matches what I look like   ,  that and I was the only Asian looking female in the crowd ), greeting me and telling me that they added me to their profile. In fact, Jason Della Rocca of Perimeter Partners came up to me saying my name! He told me I was quite efficient. I thought so too.

I was the only one that was tweeting the event. I used the hashtag (#) #gameplaces. It was odd that I was the only one tweeting the event too. I guess gamers aren’t into social media networking as much.

If you want to view my twitter stream specifically for the GamePlaces event, you can click here.

A chance to Exist ...

I honestly can’t believe January came and went. An unbelievable amount of things happened both personal and career wise and if I weren’t the great multi-tasker that I am, I wouldn’t know how my brain could’ve possibly processed all that happened last month.

I finally e-signed the Exist Global contract just last week Wednesday. I was getting worried after not having heard from Winston in over a week. One never knows how things are these days. Change takes place in a matter of a thought in the decision making process and I hoped with all my heart that Winston didn’t change his mind. He didn’t.

Willex also made it through the week in Rotterdam for the cbi.eu training. I think that most challenging thing Willex had to go through during that week was the *cold weather*. He’s safely back in Manila and it was really good to be able to talk to him while he was there. I wasn’t sure if I helped much with their export marketing plan but nonetheless, the draft was presented at Rotterdam and now Corporate will have to look over it carefully as they, we, all help to complete the last year of this 4 year process. (I wasn’t part of the first 3 years but am happy to have joined on board just recently.

So far, I’ve met two amazing people. Magi and Adam. I’ve worked with Magi for the last 3 weeks as she was there to answer any questions I had regarding Exist, Morph and anything else under the sun. She has also been a source of support and encouragement for me as I waited out the days for my contract to push through. Winston really picked the right person to buddy with.

Adam is amazing. I am so lucky to be part of this European team. His past and recent experiences in the tech industry has much to be praised. I was worried that Adam, being a CEO and having so much experience with negotiations etc, would actually come off as a really demanding *power* type person. But he is so laid back and such a good listener. He provides great constructive feedback and really knows how to communicate his thoughts. I am honored and I feel blessed that I get to have Adam as a mentor. To be able to learn from this man and to be able to pick his brains, any time I want – wow.

I still have to touch base with the other two – Carlos in L.A. and Mark in Manila. All in good time.

Personal life is much improving. M and I are constantly learning how the other works, things, behaves and what we react to – good and bad. Despite our beginnings, we’re doing pretty well for a team that has barely enough to eat or enough (my standards) to live with. I am hoping that will all change just as soon as I start getting prospects – leading to clients.

1. What startups are out there?

2. What types of platforms are Germans developing their startups on?

3. How are they integrating Web 2.0 and Social Media

4. How many and what type of Open Source projects are currently going on in Germany?

There are many other questions I have in mind and I’ll list them when I publish the German Startup review online.

I’m also going to create a database of VC’s and German startups and follow their progress.

I am sure the information gathered will prove to be an invaluable resource for many. I’ll also need to think how I can monetize the site where all this info will be kept.

Founding and hosting the 1st Frankfurt Girl Geek Dinner was a challenge I wanted to take and succeed in – publicly. This was important to me. This was imo