June 14, 2021

greatness

Hey friend, how goes? Thanks for opening! This week’s letter has a bit of everything here and there: existential crisis, Pride, Mobile Legends tournaments, and of course, BTS. Hope you find something useful here. -K

What does it mean, to be great? What makes a person great? This week’s existential crisis is brought to you in part by our biggest boss stepping down from his President and CEO duties after more than two decades of leadership. (If you’re curious, here is a copy of his valedictory speech.)

Certainly, not everyone has the means to become MVP–I think a mogul like him is a product of his time. Sometimes, I honestly feel like… the generation ahead of us has been unable to sustain a world that would afford us the same quality of life that they enjoyed when they were our age. And it’s not about disparaging our parents’ efforts to give their children a great life. I think our parents did their best, raising children in the late 80s and 90s, amid the fallout of the Marcos dictatorship and the Asian financial crisis. And now, it’s our turn to do our best to shepherd our own children past a pandemic.

Welp–that sounded more defeatist than intended. Nothing like a good reality shakedown on a Monday morning indeed :D but really–wow, who else here thinks the pandemic has either pushed back or even leveled debilitating setbacks on a lot of our career-related plans? Personally, I feel like I’ve been standing still–which is not altogether a bad thing, by the way. I feel thankful that this is the version of me that’s battling the pandemic right now, and that I’m still standing. It’s just that–in the grand scheme of things, you know, where is it all headed? I mean, fourteen years ago, when I first moved into this city, did I even think I’d be anything and anywhere else, other than alone in that smoke-filled room I first rented at 23?

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From around the Internet

• Speaking of great: Have you managed to catch Trese on Netflix? We haven’t finished it just yet as we try to devour it slowly, but the ART man. We’re starting with the Tagalog dub (which is apparently encountering some criticisms–a childhood spent on years of Tagalog-dubbed Cedie, Sarah, Julio’t Julia and Dog of Flanders has prepared me for this lol) and so far so good. Can’t wait to finish the series. No spoilers yet please!

• There apparently is a Gossip Girl reboot and I am ambivalent about it haha. The charm of Gossip Girl existed in a pre-Instagram era, and I’m not sure that it will be just as charming, considering how we’ve already spent what, a decade or so saturated in influencer culture. Idk. I hope the OST’s good, because MY GOD the first one’s OST probably still occupies a significant chunk of an old 2GB MP3 player somewhere in my stuff. RIP.

• Do you have a “mind’s eye”? A couple of interesting reads about a condition named “aphantasia”:

Can’t See Pictures in Your Mind? You’re Not Alone. - The New York Times

Scientists are finding new ways to probe two not-so-rare conditions to better understand the links between vision, perception and memory.

Twitter taught me I have no visual imagination - Science

The article explained that a number of people go through life with “aphantasia,” a term coined by neurologist Adam Zeman in 2015 to describe a lack of visual imagination.

• Happy Pride! <3 Excited to see a couple of Pride campaigns in our workplace - last Friday, I attended a SOGIE 101 webinar with Sen. Risa Hontiveros, Rep. Geraldine Roman and 100+ other colleagues. It’s a good first step as any, especially for a workplace as big as ours. I felt seen and understood.

• Speaking of Pride: This note from singer and former American Idol star David Archuleta is heartwarming and brave. Indeed, I have heard so much hardship and heartbreak from fellow members of the LGBTQIA+ community that stems from religion and religious communities. I hope they finally get the understanding and support that they seek and deserve.

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Requisite Mobile Legends Break: MSC 2021

Anyway, much of this weekend has been spent watching our Philippine teams Execration and Blacklist International compete with other teams from Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Cambodia, Thailand and Vietnam at the Mobile Legends Southeast Asian Cup (MSC 2021).

Blacklist was the first team to book a slot to the Grand Finals, sweeping top teams teams from Indonesia, Cambodia and Malaysia.

On the other hand, Execration, after likewise beating top teams from Laos and Singapore in the Group Stages, lost to Evos Indonesia in the Upper Bracket Finals–once again having to do things the hard way: Beating team after team in the Lower Bracket.

In the end, after beating Evos ID a second time, Execration went on to book an All-Filipino Finals tilt with Blacklist, and thereafter won the Championship, dealing Blacklist’s only losses in the MSC, 4-1.

What a stellar performance from both PH teams! Looking forward to MPL Season 8 :)

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P.S. Some notes from Day 1 of BTS 2021 Muster

I’m new here, so it’s my first time to watch, and it was so so good! You could tell that they really miss performing for the fans. Seeing the modified arena was bittersweet–here’s hoping we could all safely gather for such mega events, in person, soon!

So many things to highlight but I think what killed me dead was that Daechwita performance!!! That segued into IDOL!!! Everyone was hot, but most especially this guy:

https://twitter.com/jjklve/status/1404035741450223619

There is so much to choose from, but let’s go with his intro in IDOL. Jeon Jungkook has no chill whatsoever. Also: New hair! It suits him.

https://twitter.com/BRILLER__613/status/1404030642090766339

I would like an explanation for this lmao.

ANYWAY. Weekend really well spent! Sorry to have gone on for so long, and thank you for making it this far! Please have my favorite meme for this week:

Have a great week ahead!

XO,

K