“when people work together, we can make miracles, we can create a better future together”.
– Hiroyuki Sanada
All posts by Jay
Thirty-nine
This is the penultimate year before I hit four decades of being on planet Earth. What a journey it has been. Times have been challenging, especially the last twelve months, but somehow I am stillg it through.
There have been no changes in the writing, podcasting, and building scale models as it’s still a few months away from the target construction date of ‘the cave’. On the other hand, I’ve been meaning to get back to reading books and listening to my podcast subscriptions by August. The time has come to cut back on two notorious time sinks YouTube and Spotify.
Offline, I’ve spent considerable time reconnecting with my high school friends since April as we gear up to get organized for when we host our high school grand alumni homecoming in 2027. Time is ticking away and we are nowhere near our fundraising target.
For the first time in thirty-nine years, I’m seriously thinking of doing a more serious exercise regimen, even doing some weight training to help address my thyroid problems. A recent trip to the hospital reminded me that this needs urgent attention. Just to be clear, I would not be bulking up nor would I start a TikTok account to post half-naked thirst traps or something ridiculous.
Once more, to all those who sent their greetings, a big thank you to each and every one of you!
Presidential insensitivity
According to the Social Weather Stations’ recent survey, the nationwide involuntary incidence stood at 14.2% for Q1 of 2024. This is higher than the previous 12.6 hunger rate seen in December 2023. That’s 3.95 million Filipino families that are “being hungry and not having anything to eat.”
True to his “Imeldific” upbringing, President Marcos, Jr’s apparent response is to release a vlog doing his own informal survey, asking whether viewers prefer adobo or sinigang?
Go figure…
Farewell Google Podcasts, it’s been fun
It feels like the time when Google Reader was discontinued in 2013. While other podcast apps may have more features, Google Podcasts had everything I needed – a clean UI, it readily shows the recent episodes from my subscriptions – which for me, is the most important one.
Come June 23, 2024, Google Podcasts will cease to function and on July 29, 2024, users would no longer be able to migrate or export their subscriptions. I have already imported my subscriptions into YouTube Music to see how it fares as a podcast app. Somehow, something feels not right or maybe it’s because I’ve never really used YouTube Music before and had been forced to, because it’s going to replace Google Podcasts.
With Google’s promise that it will ‘increase investment in the podcast experience in YouTube Music’, I’ll give it a try. Although, I’m keeping the door open for other podcast apps out there.
Norah Jones – Running
22 years ago, Norah Jones’ debut album “Come Away With Me” was released. It became number one on the Billboard charts and one of the best-selling albums of all time. Feels like 22 years have just flown by, and it’s great to see her first studio album in nine years. It’s something to brighten up 2024. Here’s the first single from “Visions,”