Bonjour à Tous!

Image from CBC.ca

Well hello! I hope that you have had a great past two weeks. 

Speaking of which, in case I haven’t said it yet, this site reflects purely personal views and thoughts of yours truly, and should not be attributed to any of the companies that I am or was affiliated with. This is a fully independent, non-profit site and none of these posts or the products in these posts are sponsored.

Okay that’s done! Here are my notes for the past two weeks:

(Image from Amazon.com)

1. Pronouns are important.  Late to the game but here’s why it's important to always indicate your pronouns (i.e. she/her/hers, he/him/his, they/them/their). Indicating your pronouns is a helpful way of being inclusive to trans people and the LGBTQ+ community. If everyone says what their pronouns are, trans people would have an easier time communicating theirs. Like living out your authentic self proudly — it makes it easier for everyone around you to live out theirs.

(Image from reviewed.com)

2. Filter pitchers.  I am loving my new filter pitcher. Is it just me but I only heard about them just last month and they made life so much easier. Tap water here is generally not potable and people used to have to resort to drinking water deliveries. A few years ago we discovered faucet filters so that the water coming out of your faucet would be drinking water. 

So I learned about filter pitchers, another great life hack if you don’t want to be bothered to install a faucet filter. So put tap water in filter pitchers and the pitcher will filter it into drinking water. The filter just has to be replaced every month, but still such a breeze compared to purchasing huge containers of drinking water from deliveries every so often.

(Image from Reddit)

3. Mechanical keyboard love. A mechanical keyboard is a really nice component for a WFH set-up. Learned about mechanical keyboards from my friend Charles who swears by his Model F mechanical keyboard and was telling me that mechanical keyboards deliver amazing typing experiences and are worth the investment.  We write and type heavily for a living so it does make sense to invest in a good keyboard… right?

Anyway, normal office keyboards are membrane-type keyboards, which means that all the keys have a single plastic membrane underneath them, causing them to feel gummy or soft when typed on. Mechanical keyboards, on the other hand, have individual switches for each key. There are 3 main options for switches, depending on how you want your typing experience to be. Red switch - silent and linear; blue switch - clicky and loud; brown switch - gentle and tactile. From my monthlong research (starting from zero), brown switches are best for office typing because they’re not loud and have a satisfying tactile bump whenever you hit a key.

Plus: they’re gorgeous. Keycaps are customizable. Just got my own keyboard this week (ping me if you want to know what it is) and it makes me want to type and type. There are a variety of options on the brand and look. The most popular options are those that come with RGB lighting (a.k.a. rainbow lights). At first, I couldn’t get it because they look a little tacky to me, but after a while, decided to trust the good judgment of online reviewers that it looks better in person. And it did! I normally elect no-frills, neutral-colored objects, but looking at the different light effects makes me happy, it was like Christmas lights on your every day work set-up. If you don’t feel like it that day, or need to show a professional set-up, just switch the light off or change the setting to a white backlight.

I mean, this is what RGB lighting looks from your screen:

(Image from Shutterstock)

It looks, hmm, but in person, it’s not wild (well it depends on the keyboard, I guess). My keyboard’s RGB lighting effect is just enough to make me smile at the twinkly lights, it’s not too much. Just a whimsical party mode when you feel like it.

Anyway, there are aluminum options but it’s a lot of plastic. So I recommend (a) doing your research and getting just ONE keyboard that you’ll love, (b) not get into the keycap-changing game unless you have to, and (c) if possible get one with an aluminum frame.

4.  French weekend classes as detox.  These take up an entire half-day every weekend and it starts out as a drag — but like a workout, once you’re there, it’s fun and there are no regrets afterwards. Language learning is an activity that totally engages my mind and makes it happy. It cleanses my mind from the thought baggage of the past week. Highly recommended. Alliance Francaise is having an early bird sale until October 10. #notspons

5. The “Illiberal Left” Concept. This week has been a big week for Philippine politics, with candidates filing their Certificates of Candidacy. Reading the news and my friends’ comments and posts, I’m reminded of this eye-opening article from The Economist about the illiberal left, which is a concept that well-meaning voters and campaigners should be conscious about. In my humble opinion, in order to have a truly relevant campaign and to win over undecided voters or voters from the other side of the political divide, campaigners should listen, be respectful and patient, come from a place of love, pose questions to get their point across, and above all, not fall into the cancelling trap.

In a perfect world, we would all come into this process with the goal of helping all Filipinos make truly informed votes reflecting our diverse fact-based opinions and that would be enough. But this is not a perfect world.

I am curious as to how all of this would progress in the coming months, especially when the atomic bomb of misinformation in social media has gone off. The Facebook whistleblower’s timing was on point. Interesting. Lots to say, but this not the place for it. I’ve made my views known here.

Let’s just all get out and register to vote!

I hope that you will have a happy and healthy week ahead! Sending light and positivity your way.