a series of stupidities

[boycritter]

maybe i like my tech a little bit inconvenient

[boycritter]

maybe i like pulling out my debit card instead of using apple pay. maybe i like untangling my wired headphones. maybe i like typing something into the search bar instead of using siri or whatever. maybe i like curating my own social media feeds over an algorithm. i just don’t think everything has to be perfectly streamlined and efficient i like it when things feel tethered to the real world.

[lively-blues]

things I accidentally learned in my work (as an adult)

I never expected cybersecurity to shape the way I see life outside work. Somewhere between investigations, incident response, and asking too many questions, I realized I had started applying the same principles to my relationships, decisions, and even the way I think. These aren’t life lessons I intentionally learned, they just quietly became part of how I navigate adulthood.

1. Never assume unless stated and evidenced

if i had an overused sentence in my life it might have been this one. The easier route is to give explanation for something and just assume but that’s lazy work hahaha. My colleague said something before that stuck to me so I kept repeating it - “you know that file didn’t just accidentally spawned out of thin air, it has reason and purpose - we need to have context or else we’ll just assume forever”

And it’s simple to think, that way. You can’t assume easily when it’s not backed up with facts. Sometimes you just have to take information as is and use it as accurately as possible.

Though I am aware as well this can turn into a taxing mental cycle of searching for meaning in life (or investigation) without end lol.

2. Get context

Similar to point 1, don’t just assume that your point of view is the prime definition. A true positive event can look false positive if it’s not intended to happen. Just like a stranger in your house, what doesn’t belong in your life has to have context or else they… will look like intrusion. But if context is added maybe that stranger was actually a visitor that you need at that point in your life.

3. Think ahead but be flexible

When I started working, one of the main skill I adapted was thinking ahead - i sort of gotten used to being 10 steps ahead when a singular event has just occurred. It has obvious benefits, you prepare better. But there’s also a downside.

If you spend your entire life preventing every possible outcome, you also prevent yourself from learning why things happen in the first place.

Attack paths and scenarios are all predictions and should not be 100% reliant on, anomaly can occur therefore we must be prepared for it.

4. Validation doesn’t have to be loud

In earlier years, i used to view being meaningful at work was getting projects, accomplishing certifications, colleagues appreciating me at work but recently it doesn’t have to be that way. The more I chased validation, the more suffocating it became.

I sort of just realized that what I value most was just doing what I know, and do I well. A good day in work is actually just… peaceful lol like there’s nothing happening.

5. If you keep solving the wrong problem then it wasn't the real problem in the first place :D

Just save yourself time and put effort on where it should be placed. In organizations, sometimes managers try to solve low lying fruit thinking it would magically help the team - but not properly checking the underlying problem.

6. The absence of evidence isn’t evidence of absence

In a perfect world, we can see everything, telemtry logs are ingested - we see point A to B and it’s full picture. And sometimes just because you can’t see it, doesn’t mean it didn’t happen - you know the golden rule?

“Her love is like the wind I can feel it but I can’t see it”

- a walk to remember (hahahahhaha)

And if telemetry is missing, endpoints are offline, and it takes days for events to make sense and get to see the picture.

I realized that in life too. I used to think if someone didn’t express appreciation then they didn’t care. If someone drifted away then maybe that relationship didn’t matter. Not everything leaves visible evidence (IM LOOKING AT YOU FILELESS DETECTION)

Sometimes people love you quietly. sometimes opportunities happen in the background or it’s already in the works it’s not there yet.

Patience is also a part of investigations.

7. Correlation is not causation

Two events happening at the same time doesnt mean one caused the other. its easy to assume that some divine universe is giving signs and helping you decide and as humans it’s comforting connect dots and solve problems- give meaning for something completely unrelated.

8. Start even if it overwhelms you

In not uncommon to get so much alerts and messages at work, everything feels like P0. What helped me so much lately was trying to accomplish an easy task at the start of the week or the day. I think I just live for the small wins in life haha

In a week I get excited that by the time I end at work I get to just do something else. go to cafes, play with my cats, cook food, just sleep.

9. Retrospectives & lessons learned

In incidents response, the last part would be creating a final report which contains, a summary and timeline of events - what went wrong & recommendations on how to strengthen organization’s security infrastructure. It’s also same in life, when I encounter (or feel) that something is wrong, I stop and evaluate deeply - what is happening to me Lol (and i think that’s the reason why suddenly I get into journaling) I have to understand and dig deeper how I went from point A to B… what were the factors, objectively what made me feel this way.

unknowingly I kind of organized it into two things - tangible and intangible aspects.

Tangible might be

how I prepare my workout clothes at night (which results to less laziness to workout in mornings -> starting the day early -> sleeping deeply bec i wastired)

study my routes when going to unfamiliar places -> less anxiety navigating -> being more flexible in decision making when some factors are unavailable (no grab, less transpo avail, weather etc)

Intangible aspect might be

how I force myself to not do anything at night - no music, social media, reading so I don’t overthink and daydream which leads to me starting the next day late.

Honestly it’s not 100% perfect all the time lol I mess up and get into my head. But that’s ok, what I learned was being forgiving and setting the right expectations haha

————

[saaraofthesand]

obsessed w them

[dontmakethatface]

Koori no Jouheki - S01E01 - 12:35

[lively-blues]

Have you ever felt so left behind?

I can’t help compare people from my peer groups and their stage in their life - having families, building businesses, moving overseas, working away in ‘greener pastures’

i kind of feel it a lot lately haha that I got more to give? Haha is this really where I should be right now. Is this really what I should be doing in life D:

Huhuhu

[lively-blues]

What I learned in US

I was organizing my photos from the past year and I wanted to talk about my experience living in Texas. I’m still amazed right now that I got the opportunity to try moving to a different continent to work, it has given me so much wisdom hahaha I’m not sure if I’ve matured as a person but I would like to record it in this blog so I would remember it

1. I learned how to cook

When i started living independently I did cook meals for myself and I considered it…. edible just for survival skills. Overtime I watched a lot of cooking themed series and competitions and eventually tried to apply some of its techniques (was I able to execute it? Not perfectly HAHA but my food is edible)

So when my roommate Jonna became partners to move to Texas, I knew it in my heart and soul… I have to wear the chef’s hat because my bestie cannot cook to save her life haha. That’s when I started learning some recipes months before our flight.

I guess the biggest difference now is I learned how to cook for others, what flavors they like, how to efficiently and methodically move around the kitchen. Before I was reluctant to cook - i was scared of burning or cutting myself but then I remembered my lola before when she was teaching me - “bakit mo naman sasakin sarili mo” hahaha and that was true, what was I was afraid of anyway.

I don’t consider myself a great cook, there were times my cooking failed haha but my roommate is very forgiving she eats anything lol. But when our other workmate started eating with us I gained more confidence since he liked my cooking.

I was most proud of cooking okonomiyaki from scratch! they also liked my liempo and adobo. My sinigang fails from time to time

i also tried baking!!!

2. I learned the disparity of living in US vs. PH

this was the saddest yet most awakening fact I understood in the few months I stayed in US…

We met a lot of Filipinos who are already living in texas and they can attest how different it is (good and the bad)

But from what I can tell - less traffic haha the roads and free ways are sooooo wide and its a car centric state, you really need to know how to drive to get around. Comparing to other asian countries, I do prefer places with accessible transportation… while texas have buses and trains - it still feels limited. I kind of missed just riding a trike or minibus to get to short places like in PH haha

Another thing is you can accomplish a lot in an hour - their services work seamlessly. Processing of government documents, getting a bank account, returning a purchase - like everything can be done so much easier (it makes me cry how much effort Filipinos need to exert just to get things DONE)

Like we have so much traffic, it’s hard to wait at hospitals, the transportation hubs are not always done right… bottom line I just want PH to grow more.. in the future i hope we can finally see where our taxes go to.

Okay this is beginning to be a rant hahaha ill move on.

3. Patience & work life balance

I think I learned to regulate my mental state more. If things don’t work out in accordance to my goals what I learned was just let. it. go. Hahaha

In the first few months I was so stressed trying to get work done, I kept trying to prove to myself that I deserve that opportunity so it just made me more stressed haha then one night I just really cried so much while doing a powerpoint - i missed my cats, i missed ph food, i felt overwhelmed. So what worked for me was just stop.. doing anything

Then I thought to myself “bakit ba ko super atat to achieve more, i’m already here i just need to live” then I just prayed hard. It was the first night in US that I slept well! Yay

From there on I didn’t forced myself to work too much on weekends and after shifts haha kung ano na lang kaya ko!

4. Communicate efficiently

This was one of the important things I learned there, the culture feels different vs. ph team. Since i’m used to working with my ph team mates, sometimes we didn’t need to conduct syncups - we just need to chat and coordinate thru short calls (all in tagalog)

But in US haha I definitely learned to be more direct, I spoke slower and used less words? Haha it takes a lot of brainpower to try translating and conversing to other people.

5. Babysit

Haha there were a lot of kids that I met, mostly kids of my workmates. Every party we had to sit and play with them, and socialize - and wow that’s when i was proud of myself, maybe I’m approachable naman pala to kids lol. All this time I thought I can’t babysit children like I don’t have the patience and energy to do it. But being exposed to a lot of children of different personalities made me realize - shet ang galing ko hindi naman pala sila or ako iiyak. haha ganon pala feeling nang family bonding

It also made me sad when we’re going home soon and the families held us a farewell party :(

PS:

I also learned how to bake banana bread!!! But it was a bit too sweet lol

[titsay]

[lively-blues]

Me literally ignoring my old hobbies and trying to move on and stick to one fixation at a time so i can be a responsible adult and save money lol

That’s literally the story of my life

[lively-blues]

painting -> guitar -> film photography -> editing vlogs -> reading -> pilates -> ballet -> swimming

Can we skip to the part where i get rich

[radshiiba]

[radshiiba]

[the-brown-midnight]

The ramparts of ice is basically two overthinker overthinking every single social interaction with each other and it's so painfully relatable...

[vommyboy]

the trope subversion in ramparts of ice is INSANE to me

yota keeps catching koyun when she falls and is the one to first ‘get through’ her wall but theyre entirely platonic

the the charismatic, popular guy who helps the shy kid is not always wanted and the way he goes about it is invasive and self-serving

the bullied main character DID fight back actually and isn’t just a victim but also did some stuff she’s not proud of (which adds a great layer to why she hates to think abt junior high btw)

your longtime friend having been pining for you in silence is NOT sweet it makes you wonder if they have ulterior motives

the best friend who is trying to set up the main character isn’t obsessed with romance/boys

actually i think it’s really important and amazing tgat a romance anime that focuses on a group of friends falling for each other goes so far out of its way to say HEY! girls and guys can be friends AND it’s weird and diminishing to value platonic relationships under romantic ones

[lively-blues]

There are a lot of things you can do within 30 minutes that’s my break time for normal work hours. 

You can buy breakfast from Jollibee when you crave for pancakes.

Contemplate how much would it cost to franchise Jollibee in 10 mins of waiting time.

Walk back home and eat the food ordered.

Listen to Aespa’s new album while eating.

Remember a fun memory and check funny photos on Facebook - this really lifted my mood lol:

Keep reading

[sebfreak]

[titsay]

[aspureasamelody]

Lili is Kit's ultimate muse

[yourlocalbruja]

oh to watch this anime for the first time again