Since Typhoon Yolanda (international codename: Haiyan) hit the Philippines a few weeks ago, I've been holding back tears whenever people ask how are my relatives at home. I reply, "My family is safe and blessed, but there are so many other people that died." Thousands dead and millions more affected, losing friends and family, livelihood, and property. How are you even going to rebuild when all of humanity around you has been wiped out? Here in San Diego, we don't even see much of the typhoon news in mainstream media. So all the more I appreciate the concern -- my neighbor Dianne came over, my supervisor Adam asked, even my docent tour guide inquired. As soon as I sat down to edit today, Worldbeat Center's Makeda cornered me. She said, "Crystal, I'm doing two benefits for the typhoon relief.I was inspired by you, and I know that you'd be happy that we're doing something for your country." I stopped for a moment, trying to soak in the magnitude of what she said. For me? I've only known Worldbeat for two months, coming in a few hours a week to produce their show. But they've included me in meditation, schedules, activities and prayers. With tears and thanks, I am at awe for the concern my workplace has shown me. Perhaps it's about appreciating the work I do for them. Even bigger -- they are proving to me that genuinely good people all around us every day. Please keep sending help and prayer to the Philippines. This is the organization that Worldbeat trusts.
If you're in San Diego, please attend our benefit on Friday, November 29th.
I found it odd that no local has mentioned it or brought me there. Yet, all of the guide books recommend going. If you check Yelp, it even has stellar reviews. How come the Torrey Pines State Reserve isn't so popular? When I drove there this morning, I witnessed one of the most picturesque scenes in front of my eyes.
Torrey Pines State Reserve - Beach Trail
My goal today is to take the free docent nature walk. They have it every weekend and holiday at 10AM and 2PM. From my experience in traveling, I learned that it's best to hear from locals to guide and walk with you. It's just better to have a background about a place to fully grasp what you're looking at. Here is our guide, Christine, and the rest of the group.
State Park docent, Christine. The three girls of the group are doing a high school assignment.
Facts from Christine: 1. The San Diego County is the "birdiest" county in all of U.S. It's a migration path between Mexico and Alaska. Same with whales that travel from Baja, Mexico to Alaska, where they birth and breed. 2. Torrey Pines only grow naturally in two places: here, and off the Santa Rosa Coast. You'll be able to identify a Torrey Pine by counting five sprouts. (P.S. I also learned to approximate the age of a tree by looking at its horizontal branches). 3. We thank Ellen Browning Scripps and Guy Fleming for the Torrey Pines State Reserve we have today. The lady bought some of the land, and donated it to the city to be "cared for it perpetuity"; the gentleman created trails, built the Lodge, and spent his life looking after the land. In the 1920's the city of San Diego raised $900,000 to prevent it from becoming another commercial property. There's an honor book at the Lodge that lists all those that contributed, even just for a dollar. After the tour that took over an hour, I headed on my own to the Beach Trail. Here are some of the views I found on the way:
Linda Vista (Pretty View) Sandstone Formation
Torrey Pines State Beach. That's the Pacific Ocean on the left.
Beach Trail - 1/2 mile walk with a 300-feet elevation
Stairs up to Broken Hill trail - a plan I aborted because I'm too sore from Bikram Yoga
A path to nearby Black Beach -- a famous nude beach in San Diego
My first thought after seeing this was just how blessed America is in natural landscapes. Second thought: I want to bring my family here with me next time. The trails are so clear and easy. The views, spectacular. Plus, the beach is just so near, we could spend all day here. No where else will I find Torrey Pines growing alongside prickly pear cacti, with sandstone formations and the Pacific ocean in the back drop. Now, the Torrey Pines State Reserve is officially my favorite place in San Diego. What's your favorite spot in your own town?
If you're job hunting, how are your accounts helping your future employer find you? If you're an organization, how are you reaching your audience? If you're a brand, how are you communicating to your market?
I'm currently reading a book by David Meerman Scott, a marketer/strategist and best-selling author. I find marketing and PR quite fascinating, because that's how people and organizations present themselves to the world. For example, people like Oprah or Anderson Cooper will never be unemployed just because of their strong personal brand. It's how you make money, meet people, sell ideas. And the fact that branding is extremely relevant today, either for business or personal reasons.
This question above is opens the the first chapter of the book.
It made me think how I -- a media producer looking for a job -- can help my employers find me. Is my LinkedIn up-to-date? How are they going to know about my experience in production? Or that I'm a successful student-athlete with awards to my name? And this just isn't personal, this question applies to your organization/business/blog/agency too. Just think about it.
"How are existing advertising and media relations programs working?
In 2009, Academy of Art University in San Francisco offered me a golf scholarship. From a meager 18-year old Filipina girl, to now a well-equipped, working woman, I was transformed by learning about production, culture, art education and survival skills. In four years I spent there, I’ve been awarded three All-American honors for my golf performance and high grades.
Life as a student-athlete in art school: 5AM workouts, three-hour long classes, 18 holes in the afternoon, art projects at night. All in one day.
As a way to reciprocate all the blessings in my time there, I'm sharing tips on the many important points I've learned. Those generic, “How to Survive College” or “Guide to Freshman Year” teaches you nothing else beside keep your head down and study. I, on the other hand, crafted this survival guide on how to flourish in college / live in the city of San Francisco / study art.
1. Explore the City I only got out to explore the city during sophomore year. I should have started earlier, because there’s so much to see! Even though going out usually means spending money, it doesn’t have to be. San Francisco Walking Tours is an organization by volunteers, who are assigned to each neighborhood and will expertly walk you through it. I went a little crazy and have done about fifteen of them... but hey. (insert img-2. Caption: Shameless photo collage of all my SF Walking Tour adventures.) My favorite is Linda’s tour called, “Taste and Tales of North Beach.” Every Wednesday, she will come out and meet you with a bag of food: dark chocolate, Bruschetta bread, salami, etc. These are all samples from the several food, coffee, library, and secret spots you’ll discover on her tour. I love her so much that once, I had to ask my teacher if I could leave class early and go to her tour instead. Another site I always check is Fun Cheap SF. It is always constantly updated and genuinely fun to peruse. Once, I watched Shakespeare’s “Othello” play for free. They post so many parties... Anyway, it’s like the sophisticated Craigslists version of every event happening in the city. Click away! 2. Apartment MUST-haves: a. Rice Cooker - saved me $$$ from eating out and/or getting fat. I bought brown rice by the kilos, and ate everything with rice. Eggs, ham, Filipino dishes, dim sum, chicken strips. I use my own small rice cooker everyday, and it’s one of the best investments in the four years I’ve lived here. b. Airtight Containers - Think of cheeses: delicious, useful. Then think of them rottingin a few days because, First: you cannot finish the whole chunk. Second, you simply forget about them. Here enters the air tight containers. Coming in different sizes, this is one of the few things that assured me I’ll be fed. During my nine-hour class days, I have several of them filled to the brim with beef steak and rice, buttered potatoes or pasta. Bonus: You will save Earth from wasteful food-throwing. c. Baking Soda - The ultimate everything-er. From whitening teeth, to cleaning out burned microwaves, baking soda is the most powerful weapon for your naturalist/cheap/noob-expert needs. Yesterday, I cleaned out tea stains from my porcelain cups. In a minute, it’s whiter than new. I also add baking soda to my laundry, making my bleached socks even whiter when it dries. For cleaning floors, you’ll notice clarity most industrial cleaning solutions can’t even try. Baking soda is a MUST in your kitchen. 3. Call 311 I’m an international student from the Philippines, so I needed time to adhere to US road maps. That, and I’m also always getting lost. Calling 311 from your phone is the direct line to the MUNI bus lines. Advance tip: After dialing 311, type in 112 on your phone and it will take you to a real person. He will answer questions on how to get a destination or bus stop or nearest everything that will take you back to humanity. The 311 line has saved me from paying for expensive cab rides, and it’s an assurance that wherever you are in SF, there’s a helping hand (voice). 4. Kinda Avoid the Tenderloin Before I even came to the city, a sophomore volleyball girl toured me around. In a sudden serious tone, she said: “I walk to the buildings even past midnight, it’s safe here. But there are areas you need to avoid, like O’Farell. Never walk there at night.” It’s an advice I took by heart, and I believe served me well all these years. In San Francisco, there’s an area called the ‘Tenderloin’, which unfortunately covers a big part of downtown. Virtual Tourist highlights those areas for you. (Disclaimer: Like all else, the Tenderloin can be okay -- especially housing there is cheap -- but caution is always needed.)
I avoided the streets inside the red marks, also known by locals as "the Tenderloin."
5. Watch This Video About Productivity My friends, art school is boot camp. Every class syllabus states that we are to spend ten hours for each homework every week. If you have the typical four classes, multiply that by four and you have an average of 40 hours per week of assignments. How do you balance school, social life, and a fulfilling experience altogether? What have always served me well are productivity techniques. 99u is an excellent site with so much to share. From them, I found this comprehensive and concise explanation about how to manage time better. Bet you that will help. The Science Of Productivity -http://www.youtube.com/watch?list=UUC552Sd-3nyi_tk2BudLUzA&v=lHfjvYzr-3g&feature=player_embedded 6. Learn About What Our School Is Offering One faculty member once revealed to me that we have the most extensive system for help in and outside of classes. We have ARC tutoring, the ESL Department, Career Services, etc. If you’ll ever need someone to look over your paper, send them 500 words and they’ll correct it for you. Even one-on-one tutoring on any type of subject or software is available. Academy of Art is extremely generous in providing us whatever we need. Recently, that is the free CS6 Adobe Master Suite Collection. Go to the Industrial Design lab and you’ll have dozens of Cintiqs. The MPT department has a RED camera and the Fashion department free subscription to top magazines. Did you know that you can borrow free DVDs from our library? I just rented Black Swan and Dark Knight. If you’re looking for a book that’s not catalogued, they’ll order one for you. Find out what your department -- what our school -- is giving away for free. That is a lot to be said for those who continue to be ignorant and miss out. Advance Tip: AAU students get discounts all over the city! Ask first before you purchase. Examples are every art and supply store, most restaurants and eating establishments, even movies. Check out this list to find out more. 7. And Moreover Piggy-backing on the fact that our school goes out and beyond to support us, these are top two of my favorite departments: 1. Campus Life - They organize out-of-town trips, such as this upcoming Yosemite one. For $100, you’ll get three days and two nights stay at a cabin and get free food, transportation and park tickets. I’ve gone twice, and met enduring friendships along the way. The other past trips included Las Vegas, Monterey Bay, Tahoe and Disneyland.
2. Recreation - is this website! I take advantage of them the most, because I think it’s important for a term called, “Productive Pause.” I go to Leila Swenson’s yoga classes at least once a week. I’m somewhere here in this picture.
AAU Recreation classes have Aikido, Hip hop, Belly Dancing, Swimming, Rock Climbing, etc. They even have midterms and finals massages and expert online chats about wellness, all either very cheap or free. Just check their facebook page for the different class schedules. It all boils down to my self-promise of work + life balance. It should be great that you’re in an art school, or living in one of the most geographically beautiful cities in the world, and at the same time, come home knowing proper work is done. These are nuggets of wisdom and hope the list guides you as it did mine.
Genuine happiness is knowing how good things are.” - Marianne Williamson
"All human beings agree that there are three necessities to survive: Food, Clothing, Shelter. And in that order. Food first." -Dr. Aris Latham
Food is a debatable topic because it's highly subjective and personal. I recently started cooking, and have been slowly learning about smell, flavors, and textures. A problem came up one day while I was baking. The cook book said: "Add three cups of vegetable oil." Threecups? I certainly won't sit down and eat that in one gulp. How is it possible to have so much sugar and oil in what we eat?
I began my research and experimented in the kitchen for hundreds of hours. My goal was to search for a practical diet that will solve my need in losing body fat percentage. I've always wondered how I couldn't rid of adipose fat in spite of hardcore gym training. I discovered the best, most logical approach to my own need: The Paleo Diet mimics what our Paleolithic ancestors ate -- mainly meat, plants, nuts and seeds. In other words, it's a grain-free, gluten-free, dairy-free. I was one of those who raised my eyebrow when a friend said, "I don't eat bread." How could you, when people from Third World countries don't even have food at all? I'm Filipino, born and raised in the culture of white rice, oil frying and social functions where people eat way more than they should.
Let me tell you that I was one of those that questioned everything this diet was all about, only to be turned in a short period of time (although I still enjoy occasional non-paleo treats.)
Here are my top 5 reasons for loving Paleo: 5. More energy, Less hunger
Being a competitive golfer all my life, I'd eat two cups of white rice with meat right after the round. I know that pure salad cannot satisfy me after five hours of walking under the sun. That's obvious, and the main reason why I would never be vegetarian. It just would never fill me up. But Paleo taught me to replace all the grains I was eating with vegetables, making them the main staples of my diet.
The biggest lesson in avoiding grains -- even whole-grains -- is that they contain anti-nutrients called, "phytate" or "phytic acids." Dr. Cordain, one of the founders of the Paleo diet, warns about anti-nutrients binding calcium, zinc and magnesium, making them harder for our digestive tract to absorb. The more grains you consume, the more deficient you are in these valuable nutrients.
A friend of mine, Q, loves beans. One time he cooked massive amounts and he consumed them day and night for weeks. After a while, his achilles tendon started swelling. He couldn't walk for days. I suspect the pinto beans caused it, because they contain lectins which leak out of the gut and get into the blood system. Most of it affects the tendons. As soon as I warned Q about the beans and he stopped eating them, his swelling stopped.
Like beans, rice and bread are grains, which means they quickly transform from fructose (table sugar) to sucrose (sugar inside the body). When we digest sucrose, half of it goes to our intestines, and stays there. If you have stubborn belly fat, that's from all the sugar you consume. Sugar is a silent, modern-day killing machine, aging you, making you fat and sluggish. Nobody wants that, yet people are malinformed.
Back to the salad. I learned that I only needed to get some chicken or steak in there, and that would probably sustain me for longer hours without rising my glucose levels. Fat is what satiates hunger. The diet craze of the 90's told us fat is bad -- but it's only common sense that saturated fat from pizza and cheese are very different from fat obtained from avocado and butter. Paleo is a diet that encourages lean meats, chicken and seafood. Yes, why not?
4. Perfect mix of carbs, proteins, fats, vitamins and minerals on a plate
The more colorful the plate, the more pleasing it is to the eye. All good cooks know that. The book, "What color is your smoothie?" talks extensively on how the various colors of fruits and vegetables have corresponding vitamins and minerals. But if you eat a lot of grains like rice, bread and pasta, your plate would look like this.
Pesto Pasta
Compared to this:
Kale salad with steak, Banana-Pecan Pancakes, Homemade Ice Cream, Strawberry Blueberry Jam
What do you think tastes better?
Paleo is automatic food fancy. I've recently discovered kale, a leafy vegetable that has more calcium than milk and more zinc than beef liver (superfood!) Tomatoes are bright red and juicy, and if you add pesto sauce in there, your mouth would literally fizzle. Butternut squash is delicious when roasted, but also versatile as a soup dish. Just in that menu, you have the color green, red and yellow. All representing calcium, zinc, iron; vitamin A and C; magnesium and manganese, respectively. Now you ask: Is there a need for multivitamin supplements if we eat this whole? 3. Food is Cure For Disease
I had a rude awakening about this fact. Dr. Cordain in her book "Paleo Answer" has a chapter on her book about Paleo curing auto-immune diseases. She has good reasons, but first, one must always reflect on how any data is applicable to oneself -- to how that information is related to your own personal convictions, experiences and practical day-to-day living. At least that we can all agree on.
I have hyperhidrosis, a sweating condition that started as a teenager. I've lived with it most of my life, to the point of getting anxious in holding a microphone, to bringing extra clothes during interviews and shoots. In the two months of eating real, fresh foods cooked from scratch -- I stopped sweating. This is the first time in eight years that I can wear a solid-colored cotton shirt without any problem. My hands stopped sweating, so are the symptoms of shakiness and cold feet. Apparently, humans sweat to release toxins. I was simply sweating out all the bad food I was eating. So when I started eating healthy, naturally, I my sweating ceased.
If me, a relatively healthy 22-year old woman can be cured my Paleo, what more about sick and overweight people? Again in her book, Dr. Cordain explains in detail why Paleo is a no dairy (milk, cheese) and no grain (bread, pasta, rice) diet. First, let's examine dairy. She said milk is filtered cow's blood. It's linked to anemia, heart attacks, cramps, diarrhea, acne, etc. The same hormones we thought could make child grow taller, are also hormones that encourage cancer cells to grow. Plus, any dairy product has too much saturated fat for the poor nutrient ratio they contain.
Take her example: If you wanted 2,000 IU levels, as recommended by the world's Vitamin D experts, you'd have to drink twenty glasses of milk a day. That's 5,600 calories.
Crazy, when you simply could have gone out for some sunshine. The sun is the best source of Vitamin D!
Moreover, dairy causes calcium-magnesium imbalance. Magnesium is generally protective against heart disease. There's a story about the Sippy Diet, for which ulcer patients were prescribed to drink milk and dairy constantly, everyday, as a cure. Well, have of those ulcer patients in the study died of heart attacks.
I'm lactose-intolerant anyway, so I never consumed whole milk. I did like powdered milk, but after reading this, I'm saying good bye.
2. Paleo teaches you to value fresh vegetables and fruit, and to honor slow-cooking Slow Cooking
Barefoot Contessa's Ina Garten isn't Paleo. If you read her recipes you'd see an average cooking time of 30-minutes to sometimes even 18-hours. In a logical mind, why would anyone do that when you can simply buy a $4 McBurger or a $9 Chipotle meal? It's faster and cheaper, isn't it?
