So yeah, it’s been a year since my last post.
I write this paragraph as I’m quarantined in my own home.
Universities have cancelled classes, companies have encouraged working from home, and medical facilities are working round the clock to purge the world of a deadly pathogen.
Uneasy times. People are anxious (and rightfully so). Despite the desire for business-as-usual, nobody really expects being productive these days.
And yet, here I am, wanting to reboot my blog. Why am I motivated all-so-suddenly? Why did I disappear? Why am I writing a personal update in the first place?
Where Was I This Past Year?
I’ve been busy with academic work for the past year. All my friends have asked, “How are you?” I’ve only had one response: “Thesis.”
Yes, I am blaming my thesis for the lack of blog updates.
Well, there’s also the lack of self-discipline. Impostor syndrome, too. But mostly because brain power is scarce.
Dong a postgraduate-level thesis is no joke. I’ve had nightmares from reading digital stacks of scientific journal articles. The highfalutin numbers and equations were scary. They were nothing compared to the authors’ fetish for run-on sentences, dangling modifiers, and overly technical jargon.
Fortunately, I’m at the tail-end of thesis-writing. Current events mean the graduate school admins are more lenient.
As soon as I defend my thesis via cyberspace, I should be ready to end this chapter of my life.
Besides thesis-writing, what have I been up to?
I had a cold. In the middle of a pandemic.
Why I’m Coming Back
Two Latin words come to mind: memento mori. Remember to die.
Catching a cold these days is one of the worst timings ever. I developed a fever with body aches while dry-coughing for two weeks. My palpitations were either from the medicine or from my paranoid ass.
Also had throbbing, head-splitting headaches for a few days, probably because of caffeine withdrawal.
I am 26 years old and haven’t made contact with anyone at risk of the virus. In fact, no one but my family. I was fine. I was probably as safe as I could have been, but my hyperactive mind did not give a damn.
Somehow it felt like my life was flashing before my eyes. Like a near-death experience. There are many things I wish I had done before I’ll kicked the bucket, I thought.
Melodramatic, admittedly.
But being (questionably) close to death made me realize what I value the most. Friends. Family. This blog.
More specifically, I had the desire to teach, to learn, and to create – things that this blog allows me to fulfill.
If I were to die suddenly, I wouldn’t want the last notable thing I’ve done to be shedding a tear over badly-written journal articles. Dammit, I prefer something more fulfilling! Like, sobbing over a blog post I’ve been writing for 6 hours straight. At least I choose that fate.
But in all seriousness, this blog means something to me. I’ll be damned if I go out without making something out of this digital space.
I’m unsure if you exist, but in case you’re one of the fabled readers of this blog, then this post is for you!
Let me get you up to speed.
New Name: Decosys
This website has gone through a major makeover. What has changed?
Most notably, the name of the blog. I am renaming my blog to Decosys.
I once christened the blog as “ESLAR”. An acronym of “Environmental Science and Landscape Architecture”. I thought I was being witty.
I don’t know about you, but “ESLAR” rolls off the tongue like sandpaper.
Also, it’s vague. So. Vague. Unless you knew it was an acronym, you would’ve thought, “What the hell is an E-S-L-A-R?”
A name change was in order.
After a bit of brainstorming, I came up with “Designing Ecosystems”. Not so catchy, but at least it wasn’t vague.
I attempted to shorten it into “Descosys”. Still doesn’t roll off the tongue well, but it was getting somewhere.
I asked a friend to help with my dilemma. Within a minute, she blurted out, “Decosys!”. She added it kinda sounded like the name of a Pokemon, and because I loved Pokemon it should fit me well.
She wasn’t wrong. Besides, Pokemon names are catchy enough to sound like legit businesses.
And that’s why the blog shall be called “Decosys”.
New Logo: Not a Vegetable
Here is the old logo of my blog. The logo was based on the winged seed of a dipterocarp, symbolizing the role of the blog to spread the “seeds of ideas”.
I was proud of myself to have designed such a brilliant meaningful logo. Didn’t bother to seek criticism. I thought it was perfection.
Then, I showed my logo to another friend to gloat about my graphic design prowess.
She said it looked like a carrot.
CANNOT UNSEE.
And now the old logo rests in the depths of my “Archives” folder.
A lesson on humility. I had to design a new logo, but this time making the effort to seek criticism.
After making the first draft, I turned to an old friend with mad design skills. Each piece of his critique was a gem. When I thought the logo was good enough, he somehow found a way to make it better.
No doubt, the logo looks fancy now, with its three “tree-houses” resting on a “ridge-to-reef” contour curve. Surely, no one will mistake it for a vegetable.
This blog post is getting longer than I expected, so I’ll save explaining the logo symbolism for another time.
New Site Design
I’d like to quickly mention that the site design now is heaps better than before. I didn’t know different WordPress.com themes came with different layouts.
Never had I been so glad to misclick a link on my dashboard.
What’s Next for Decosys?
Notice that this blog post is categorized as “Personal Update”. Yep, I’m gonna tag each blog post. So far, I’ve written mostly “Lists” and “Essays”. One post was a “Mind Map”.
I’m also planning to write “Theory Builds”, where I would develop a hypothetical landscape architectural design that applies a handful of environmental concepts.
I plan to post at least once a week. Not too frequent. Better than burning out and posting after two months of radio silence.
I’m gonna prioritize quality over quantity.
Might be a stretch, but I want each post to have its own custom graphics. Why go through the trouble?
One, graphics make blog posts more enjoyable to read, which is all I want for my readers. Two, I can’t afford those high-quality stock photos online. Three, I’d rather not rope myself into legal copyright battles.
I might also dabble with writing posts in Tagalog.
Self-confessed conyo right here. I acknowledge I’m not the best at speaking my mother tongue. Still, I think the people who could benefit more from reading my blog are of a different demographic.
Not saying they can’t understand English. I’m saying Tagalog might be an easier medium for some.
Anyway, I’ll cross the bridge when I get there.
Conclusion
I’m gonna wrap this up before I somehow rewrite the epic of Gilgamesh.
Again, thank you my fabled readers who take the time to read my blog posts. Sorry for disappearing for a year. This won’t be an annual thing, I promise!
I’d also like to thank Tish for helping me see the abomination that was the carrot logo. Thank you, Lance, for providing great advice with the new logo design. Thank you, Tami, for the awesome blog name suggestion.
And thank you, SESAM, for subjecting me to a baptism of fire. Studying environmental science makes me cry (in a good way).
Since I’m gonna blog again, I want to hear from you! Did you know you can write in the comments down below without signing in? Feel free to speak your mind.
With that, I end the post with this question:
What stuff about landscape architecture or environmental science do you want to know more?
Decosys 