Why don’t you take the test?
My friend suggested me to take a strengths finder test provided online after reading the book Now, Discover Your Strengths by Buckingham a few chapters. The book is written by an established organization on research and education. The organization creates a program to help us identify our talents, build them into strengths and enjoy consistent, near-perfect performance. That’s what they promised. When I write this, I haven’t done the test to find my talents among thirty-four dominant themes introduced by the organization. I believe if we figure out our combination, the book can help us to get insight of our core abilities.
I realized yesterday that I could not sit still reading for even ten minutes, let alone one hour straight, like my friend. When I read, I move every now and then. To get drink, to get cookies, to fix this ‘n that, to Google… It seems that I multitask my mind although I’m reading and able to absorb what I read. In Ubud is even worse because I could just get up and put things in the sun, or grab wipes to clean here and there like no other time. Then I blame it on the time I don’t have. Anyway, now I know better. It’s not just in my habitat I have the habit. It’s also in different habitat so it must be me.
So after moving restlessly half day, I got the idea to watch movie! Julie and Julia. I read the book after my trip to Malang a couple weeks ago so it’s good if I could see the movie while I’m in the city. It’s a 125-minute movie!! Oops, I should not have let you know. My friend knew that I’m not a moviegoer just because I could not sit still for over an hour. 125 minutes had scared me a bit. A drama movie usually lasts 90 minutes that I can handle. But yes, we went.
It was a funny and a bit exaggerated movie set in the 1940s and 2000s. It has different atmosphere but it's in the same line of story about ADHD ladies. Not that disorder, only a few symptoms I mildly suffer too. Be easily distracted and frequently switch from one activity to another; have difficulty focusing on one thing; become bored with a task after only a few minutes, unless they are doing something enjoyable. In short, it's about super active ladies!
After 125 minutes of watching two ladies busily cooking, we got the inspiration. We dashed into a bookshop to shop for… cookbooks! Jamie Oliver. The toss toss guy. It’s fun though to tap my maybe other talent. By the way, I just got the meaning of 'talents' although I know it’s an aptitude but I hadn’t quite seen ‘the connection’ actually. I thought talents are ‘just’ what we are good at. But the book explains about even if we are charming, that is a talent too. Also of what seemingly negative traits like obstinacy, but… only if it can be productively applied. Now I have something to say when people think I’m kepala batu. A good talent!
A potential supertyphoon is coming to Philippines in a couple days. People who are still overseas a bit worry about not having a chance to fly in. Typhoon in Manila means super heavy rain that may cause flood like Typhoon Ondoy that hit last month. I hope things would be fine. It must be hard for many…
A part of an installation in Yuchengco Museum, Manila, with used CD and gas lighters.