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The PJF Difference

It has been a great month so far for Philippine sports with our Filipino athletes exceling in different sports in the Southeast Asian Games in Singapore. June also jumpstarts the beginning of Filipinos’ quest to gain viable spots in different international competitions including our Philippine basketball national team’s on going quest to make it to the 2020 Olympics. We celebrate the victory of all kinds of sports but in the core of every Filipino is our passion for basketball.
Our love for the game is the reason why we’re easily excited when international basketball personalities visit the country because we see our talent from a different perspective. Such talent is Paul James Fabritz (also known as PJF), an international basketball trainer to the biggest names in the NBA, WNBA, and the NCAA. Globally known as one of the top vertical jump specialists in the world, Paul was initially a D1 college player before he sustained an injury that pushed him to study the science behind performance enhancement. He was able to bounce back from his injury but decided to pursue teaching the skills needed to improve the game. What started out as teaching a couple of kids has now led to an entire team of performance specialists that bring a new perspective to the much loved sport.
Sponsored by Unlimited Sports Performance Center in Pasig, PJF Performance was brought to the country by Coach Nico D’ Haenen to give even more depth to the sport that Filipinos are extremely passionate about. Paul initially heard about how popular the sport is in the country, “I heard how popular basketball was in the Philippines and I wanted the opportunity to experience that passion and also get to work with players from the PBA (Philippine Basketball Association) and see the talent over here.”
Working with top players like Mark Barroca, PJ Simon, and Dondon Hontiveros and watching a couple of basketball games here, Paul saw first hand how talented our basketball players are. From an international perspective, Paul believes we have what it takes to compete with the best, “The guys I got to work with since I got here have been very very quick, their speed and agility is on a NBA level. I feel they can offer a lot to any international league, especially the guards because of their speed.”
He also says that Filipino basketball players have the advantage of being “teachable”, meaning that even the best of the best are still humble enough to be taught and this can be a great asset.
Paul and the rest of his team at PJF Performance value the importance of mental toughness, “I think that the biggest separator is the mentality which Filipino players have of finding their zone and finding it consistently.”
His program is unique because it also includes the importance of nutrition (something local basketball players are still learning) and what players do both on the court and off the court to keep up with the athleticism now required by leagues everywhere.
As for his advice to struggling players, “I would say, strengthen your strengths, have something that separates you. You have to be able to catch your coach’s eye by knowing that one area that separates you. A coach doesn’t want just someone pretty good at a lot of things but a specialist. Just emphasize your strengths and identify your weaknesses and improve that.”

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Genuine Connection in a Filtered World

It’s not a secret that we live in a highly filtered world. It’s not that we’re not genuine, it’s just that we have been given so many ways to present ourselves online that we can’t help but take advantage of it. There used to be a time when “catching up” meant seeing each other in real time over coffee or a good meal, but today, catching up meant chatting all night at the comforts of our homes. Technology definitely has it perks, it’s a great way to stay connected to the people who matter most to us despite our busy schedule. But despite the perks, I can’t help but miss the connection you have when you’re in the same room as the people you care about. However, days get so busy and no matter how hard you try, the grind of daily life just doesn’t make it easy to see each other in real time.
So it brought me much joy when my good friend Ace introduced me to Blumr. Distinguishing Blumr from the thousands app available today is its ability to mimic real time connections without actually being together in real time. An early innovation of proudly Filipino Let’s Blum It Corporation (another reason to love it, Filipino pride!) allows users to express authentic thoughts and genuine feelings as they happen. Blum is able to do this through its Blurt application which captures real life gestures by allowing the other party to view every character that is being typed by the person they are in touch with. While it may seem scary to think about it, it actually takes away the filters and the many technological walls we put up when conversing with someone on the other side of our gadgets. It’s pretty much like being in the same room as the person because words cannot be edited as we normally do when chatting online. 
The man behind Blumr, Paolo Mendoza is quick to explain, “Real and genuine relationships are essential in our every day lives. Real-time allows you to see, hear, and understand what people truly feel and think at an instant. Real–time means what you say, when you do, is precisely how you feel at that exact moment. Blumr’s Real Time Technology captures your true self and connects you closer to those you communicate with, as if you are just right next to each other.”
Released only last April 18, Blumr has already been making waves through its three major features: Blurt, Switch, and Trends. Blurt as we’ve mentioned allows one to speak to another as if they were in the same room and not halfway across the world. Switch which give users the chance to conveniently transition from one device to another while voice or video calls without interruption and Reality Check, a community where users are given the chance to celebrate what you enjoy while giving you the chance to understand what you don’t initially like. Blumr has the ability to connect people together in a genuine way that has been lost in the tech world where once must always be “polished” in order to be “liked”.
Aside from priding itself in bring genuine connection back online, Blumr also prides itself in being a purely Filipino company. Paolo along with his team of creative minds proves that the Filipinos are just as brilliant as the ones outside of the Philippines, “Our ability to adapt and excel in various fields makes us dynamic and one of the most interesting people in this realm. Having said that, the product and technology we have built and continue to innovate will place our country on the tech map. We also hope to inspire every Filipino in whatever capacity they are into.”
Blumr brings us back to the glory days of real connection: raw and unfiltered. It makes communicating seem more genuine and makes it more exciting because the person on the other end is finally given the chance to be as real as they wish to be.

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The Art of Calligraphy

My Instagram feed is often filled with the following photos: selfies with meaningful quotes, OOTDs, destination photos, and of late, beautiful pieces of art personally handwritten by the owner of the account. Calligraphy has always been something I have always been interested to take but never had the time to do so until recently. I’ve never been known for my excellent penmanship but an old colleague turned good friend Icka Santos inspired me by saying that, “Calligraphy and handwriting are not the same. Some of the really good calligraphy artists that I follow confess to have really bad handwriting. It’s really more of drawing and painting. You draw or paint a combination of strokes to form a letter or words.”
Icka, who is a teacher by profession, started calligraphy in the latter part of 2014 as inspired by one of her students. Long fascinated by typefaces and fonts as influenced by her parents who are both architects, which carried on to her work as a teacher, “I was always so excited to make handouts for my students and I would literally spend more time looking for the right fonts than typing out the information I wanted my students to read. Calligraphy interested me because I’m not a very artistic person but I love to write. Not write a poem or story but the actual work of writing down letters and words. It’s a good hobby because you can bring it with you everywhere.”
Icka then pursued her passion by attending workshops and surrounding herself with people as passionate about calligraphy, “We have a great calligraphy community worldwide and our local calligraphy community is equally awesome.Local calligraphy artists like Fozzy Dayrit, Alexis Ventura, Anina Rubio, Drew Europeo, Dr. Gail Madalag and Joel Fabiana are always more than willing to share their knowledge of this very intricate art form.”
For Icka, calligraphy is a stress reliever and a good way to unwind after a hectic day, especially for professionals who are so busy with their day jobs. It’s also a good way to tap into our inner child and a way to unleash our creativity. Our lives, though extremely busy, still need that boost of creativity and imagination to make it enjoyable.
Never letting go of her passion as a teacher, Icka then turned from student to teacher by running workshops of her own and the results have been so overwhelming that she is running another set of workshops, even one in Davao.
For Icka, it’s all about sharing the joy associated with it while also pursing her two new life passions: calligraphy and teaching. Icka inspires everyone to believe that it’s never too late to pick up a new hobby and share it with others.

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Transitions

Without a doubt, hearing and sharing the stories of the country’s top athletes have always been one of my favorite things to do. Through my dad’s job, my siblings and I have been fortunate enough to meet the best of the best international and local basketball players (including Kobe Bryant in his rookie year!) and hearing their stories often left me buzzing. For one thing, elite athletes are distinctively wired differently. To win at such a high level takes a lot of talent, skill, courage, discipline, and commitment and it’s always interesting to note that their stories, beliefs, and strategies often differ from each other.
I firmly believe that everyone has a story to tell and one particular one that striked me is that of a good friend’s, Shawn Weinstein. Shawn, who is currently a sports analyst for Fox Sports, used to play for the Philippine Basketball Association and while it maybe easy to dismiss it as another story of a Fil-Foreigner coming home to play for the motherland, his story is quite different.
For one thing, he entered the PBA with a mindset that is unusual for most athletes, “I set a timeline for myself because I wanted to go into business and the business side of sports early.” A natural born athlete, Shawn has years of high-level basketball experience under his belt, including a stint at the AAU National Championship, even playing alongside Trevor Ariza while also excelling in football and baseball, “I was actually better at baseball than I was at basketball and I was even recruited to play quarterback in high school but for some reason nothing could take me away from basketball.”

This coupled with his parents’ support led him to pursue his love for basketball by joining the Israeli Basketball Superleague and eventually playing in the PBA. Shawn played with the best of the best in the PBA but unlike most athletes he chose to transition out of it early because of the timeline he has previously mentioned. Despite it being an expected transition, he was quick to admit that the transition was not an easy one, “ Initially, the transition was quite difficult. You have a routine, goals you set, and a plan that prepares you to have a successful season and all of a sudden, it stops. You now have to find a way to channel the things you learned playing basketball into the next chapter of your life. And once I did that, the transition has been fantastic.”
Shawn, who graduated Magna Cum Laude from St. Edward’s University in Austin Texas then took what he learned from his first love into what he does now which includes being a TV and Events Host, a Sports Anchor for Fox Sports, and a basketball analyst. He’s also making good use of his International Business degree through the public relations firm he co-founded with celebrity publicist Lana Johnson. When asked if he misses basketball, he was quick to say, “Basketball is very integral in my life. I still play when I can and I have extreme interest in the psychological part of the game as well as body language. I find myself analyzing that aspect to a large extent.”
Shawn’s story taught me quite a few things over the period we’ve discussed the transitions in his life. For one thing, one’s story doesn’t have to go the conventional route in order for it to be considered a success and second, transitions unexpected or not, though never easy is always with a purpose.

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The Gratitude Project

“Cultivate the habit of being grateful for every good thing that comes to you, and to give thanks continuously. And because all things have contributed to your advancement you should include all things in your gratitude.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson
At the beginning of 2015, my social media feed was filled with the hopes that 2015 will be the year where our prayers get answered and our deepest wishes come true. Without even realizing it, the year just whizzed by and soon, we find ourselves right smack in the middle of it. We often get lost in the frenzy of life that we forget to simply sit back and appreciate how far we’ve come.
As human beings, we’re extremely goal oriented. We have this innate passion to win at life, however we define winning as. We want the job, we want the clothes, we want the relationship and we want things to stay this way forever. We keep striving and reaching without realizing how much we have been blessed with. As driven individuals, we have the tendency to simply go from one checklist to the next without realizing we have to appreciate the fact that we’re actually ticking things off our list. There are days when we feel discouraged by the huge gap between where we want to be and where we are that we don’t realize that even if they were baby steps, we have indeed come a long way. It’s not a crime to pat yourself on the back every once in awhile and be proud of what you’ve achieved so far.
We also have this tendency to dislike it when things end. We feel like we’ve failed in life when certain people, jobs, and what not exit our life thinking that we would have been more successful if they have stayed. But the truth is, we simply have to be thankful for the time we’ve spent in that job and with that person. We cannot control how long a season lasts in our life, but we can make use of the hurt we feel when the season ends by learning the lessons. I used to hate hearing about life from this perspective but it’s the truth. The only way we get through anything ending in our lives is by thanking God for the happy moments, discovering the gold, and moving on from it. Stop getting angry with people who left and situations that didn’t go our way, find the purpose and be grateful.
So as you start your week, simply thank God that you have jobs to go to, people you love, and food on the table. Our parents were right, when we begin thanking God for the small things, the big things happen but until then, let’s be grateful for today.

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Finding the Real Adventure in You

I belong to a generation in love with traveling and unlike generations before me, it’s not just traveling for leisure, but traveling as a way to get to know one’s self and have an adventure.
Vibrant and brimming with life, my good friend from high school, Anna Faustino has long committed herself to a life of adventure. I have always admired Anna’s bravery to drop just about anything and explore life for what it is: raw, challenging, and adventure filled. When she first told me about her desire to quit her day job to travel the world, I was scared for her, but she did it, conquered, and then some.
This is the reason why I wasn’t surprised when Anna’s blog, www.adventureinyou.com, which she started with her boyfriend, Tom Rogers, is quickly gaining traction as one of the Philippines’ most visited travel blogs. Anna is the epitome of a person who breathes travel and you can see it in the way her eyes sparkle.
And it’s also interesting to note that Anna and Tom’s love story began with a travel story. Anna recalls, “We met while we were backpacking in Vietnam. Tom was literally rolling down the sand dunes in Mui Nei when we met. I was on the tail end of my yearlong trip and Tom was 6 months into his. We ended up traveling together all over Vietnam and Thailand. I had to go back to the Philippines for work while Tom had the rest of the world to see.” But unlike other travel love stories, this wasn’t meant to be short-lived, Anna continues, “After a couple of months apart, Tom arrived in the Philippines and never left! He ended up getting a job here until we take off to travel again.”

When asked what made him risk it all to stay in unchartered territory, Tom was quick to say, “As mentioned we met when we were traveling and when I got to the Philippines; I wasn’t even half way through my planned 2 year trip to see the world. When I arrived, we spent all our time together exploring when Anna wasn’t in work and soon after that, we began dating. After traveling together through different countries, we got to know each other really well. With that being said, within the first week of being here and spending time with her, I knew I was going to be here for a long time. Being that both of us are travelers, we were both quite skeptical of love, both having been hurt before. This time though it was different, and we both knew it. I flew back to the UK as a surprise for Christmas. After almost a year of being away, I turned up on my doorstep (wearing a santa hat), knocked the door and was shockingly greeted by my mum with, “Where is Anna?” I couldn’t stop laughing. My mum was so overwhelmed and confused to see me that this is what came out first. I had been talking to her when I was away and she was keen to meet the reason why I stopped moving around. So yes, my first reason for risking everything was Anna. I was later luckily approached and asked to join a great start-up business where I currently work. I’m continuously surrounded by positive happy people and I love it! I don’t regret my decision at all.”
The love story soon led to a joint travel blog, when asked how it started, Anna explains, “ Our blog was the brainchild from one of our many conversations about traveling. Both of us are wildly addicted to traveling, in fact, we met while we were both backpacking around Vietnam. We wanted to write about our many (mis)adventures to get others inspired to travel as well.  When we travel, we like going off the beaten track. This way, we get to see what other people don’t normally get to experience. During our recent trip to Palawan, instead of hanging around Coron town like most people, we rented a motorbike and drove along the coast, stopping in small beaches, sleeping in local fishermen’s houses and living the way they do. We even tried our luck in fishing for food, except that only ended with me falling in the water and almost capsizing our tiny fishing boat.”           
Their blog aims to look at life from a different perspective, the way traveling does. It’s more than just having a vacation but truly allowing one to experience life.


Traveling, Anna says, is what truly molded the person that she is, “Traveling has changed us in ways we both cannot describe. We have become happier people who live to make the most out of each moment. I think this is one of the main reasons why we started our blog, to motivate people to inspire and unleash their inner adventurers. Best part about traveling is getting out of your comfort zone. You gain a wider perspective of how people live, which in return, makes you more grateful for what you have around you. Aside from that, traveling gives you a complete sense of freedom. Freedom to live and enjoy life the way it’s supposed to be. We were both blown away when we realized how much more there is to experience. It opens up your world to endless possibilities which gave us a clear perspective on what is really important in life.”
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Building The Nation, One RVR Award at A Time


It’s safe to say that it was a night of suits and I couldn’t help but pull out every Barney Stinson quote imaginable while being in the same room with the sharpest business minds in the country during the Junior Chamber International (JCI) Manila’s launch of the Ramon V. Del Rosario (RVR) Awards for National Building. Awards such as this one always excite me simply because it’s always inspiring to see a group of young people so vibrant about national building and actually making steps towards it. Launched in 2009, the RVR awards was inspired by the late Mr. Ramon V. Del Rosario, who was the first ever national president of JCI- Manila and the first Asian world president of JCI. He largely impacted nation building and empowered Filipinos through his numerous entrepreneurial efforts including the founding of FilOil, the first ever Filipino-owned oil company, Philippine Investment and Management Consultants (PHINMA), and the Management Association of the Philippines (MAP). His efforts are meant to inspire both men and women to follow his footsteps and build a better future for Filipinos everywhere.Previous recipients of the RVR Awards are Ambassador Jesus Tambunting and Senen Bacani, Oscal Lopez, Washington Sycip, Vicente Paterno, and last year’s awardee, Jaime Zobel de Ayala. The night, though different from the others I have previously been to reminded me that young people, just like the ones involved in this year’s award giving body are still concerned in creating a brighter future. And it’s true that the only the young ones can think of a brighter future is by following the steps of those who have gone before them in creating such endeavor. This for me is truly the essence of this award and this is why it’s important.  We must never stop hoping that good can be done and we must exhaust all options to get there. That’s the only way change occurs. **For more information, you may visit http://www.rvrnationbuilding.com/.
 www.carlabiancaravanes.com

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The first instinct is to hate you. Every single fiber part of my body wants to hate the reality of you not feeling as strongly as I do. 


I could hate you but that means I would also hate the best parts of you. And there’s a lot of them. I had to dig deep into who you are to find the best version of you because the best part of yourself is buried underneath your issues, your fears, your ego, and your insecurities. But I enjoyed unraveling them, I enjoyed the way your eyes twinkled and the way you spoke about the things that excited you. 

I enjoyed the anxiety I felt over a new beginning. I look back and find myself still smiling over long conversations that lingered between you and me. I saw snapshots of you and the person you were before you got drowned into the circus that is your life now and I feel a bit saddened over the fact that I will never see him or speak to him again. He was a delight to be around, his enthusiasm always contagious, his smile always charming. There was mystery then and i enjoyed every minute of it.

I could hate you for becoming the person everyone said you are, I could, but it was in seeing that person that I learned to love unconditionally. I saw the worst parts of who you were and chose to believe in the best anyway. I never loved like that before and yet the worst of you brought out the best in me. I could have stayed and became content with the uncertainty of what we were. I could have accepted the fact that you never felt as strongly as I did and I could have simply ridden the waves. But loving you showed me the importance of loving myself. I was slowly falling apart to keep you steady but I realized it could never work because the parts of me that were strong enough to love you is slowly being disintegrated and each day you hurt me, I lose that superhuman ability that I gained at the beginning of this dance between you and me. 

I refuse to believe that me leaving has hurt you because I know you don’t care but if I did hurt you or if I caused imbalance in your world, I’m sorry. But I have to walk away without hating you because hating you would discredit everything I learned. It would also take away the wonderful bittersweet privilege of loving someone who can’t even love himself. I could have spent an entire lifetime loving you but I’m not strong enough. My love for you was so strong, I already felt it destroying the good in me that chose to love you. 

So I’m letting you go and in doing so, I hope you finally find yourself and hopefully you find the happiness that seem to elude you. 

Thank you for showing me how strong I am, until we meet again.
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Avila

If you really took the time to think about it, you’d know it was a cliche that had no place in reality. She was the girl who ran away because she was too broken to function and instead of dealing with it head on, she escaped. She escaped through flattery, compliments, and the dream of starting over in a place where no one knew who she was. 

But escaping didn’t equate to healing. Escaping was a band aid and for her to fully move forward, she needed to take a step back and deal with the wreckage that her choices left. 

She’s well on her way, enjoying life on her own. But of course, at the end of the day, when it was just her and her thoughts,  she couldn’t help but wonder what it could have been like if her fear didn’t take over. She wondered how she could have connected with a stranger she’s never seen face-to-face. She was a rational and logical human being, she didn’t believe in anything as atrocious and yet, for once she did. She felt connected to him but knew it was probably just her. 

She sometimes wondered what it would have been like if she stayed at least one more week but the distance was the reality now. 

She would have wanted to stay in touch but she didn’t like being clingy and being out of control, so she chose to stay away. 
It was better to preserve the memory instead of ruining it with reality. 

Reality calls once again and while she fought against it, she couldn’t deny it now and so she started again. 

“Do not follow me! Let’s just be fabulously where we are and who we are. You be you and I’ll be me, today and today and today, and let’s trust the future to tommorrow. Let the stars keep track of us. Let us ride our own orbits and trust that they will meet. May our reunion be not a finding but a sweet collision of destinies!” – Love, Stargirl