Of New Beginnings

My name is Andrea Xayide, and prefer to be called Xayd. I was a fan of cryptocurrency four years ago and was introduced to Steemit three years ago. I wrote almost consistently in 2017 in a vast array of topics ranging from engineering, nature and ecology, music, and most often on outdoor sports. I went into a writing hiatus in 2018 after I was promoted into an engineering supervisor because I could no longer keep up with the demand between what I needed to do and what I wanted to do.

_{Hello! My name is @xaydtrips!}

A pandemic and a quarantine period is not a good thing! But it does buy us some time to be tucked safely at home and do other things that we have been putting off due to our busy schedules. Two weeks ago, my colleague and the person who introduced me to Steemit @ybanezkim26 told me that the platform was migrating to a new one called the Hive Blog. He invited me to reintroduce myself through an introduction challenge initiated by @anomadsoul, sponsored by @blocktrades, @ocd, and @ocdb. Because there is now time in my hands, I am excited to be part of this pool of talents again, who just like me, are off for a fresh new start. So here it goes.

A Long Adventure-Filled Journey

I am a registered electronics engineer for eight years now with experience in circuit board engineering, off-grid renewable energy generation, electric car fleet management, and passive components manufacturing. My professional experience is quite vast and I could say I have been extremely versatile in any work I do. But aside from the technical skills, I am an avid fan of hobbies. And with hobbies, I mean practically anything: hiking, climbing, running, spelunking, swimming, diving, snorkeling, playing musical instruments, yoga, reading books, watching TV series, or just simply anything that keeps me active physically or mentally.

_{At Tangke Lagoon in Islas de Gigantes, Iloilo, Philippines}

I didn’t really grow up as an outdoorsy kid. I spent my days at home reading encyclopedias and writing poetry and essays. Reading a lot about science heightened my enthusiasm about animals and taxonomy and space. In my teenage years, I started reading about philosophy and the different schools of thought. I just wanted to know a little bit about everything and my love for reading gave me the power to do just that. Also in my teenage years, I learned to play the guitar and percussion. I played the bass guitar in a punk rock bank for two years and another year as drummer. The fad was that people who subscribed to punk rock were some sort of activists. That’s why in those years, I studied and wrote a lot about society and the government. A while later, I met a group of environmental activists who advocated on climate change mitigation. That’s when I decided being an advocate for the environment was something I would like to do. I started organizing mass bike rides, Earth Day events, photo exhibits along with giving talks and lectures on climate change and renewable energy.

_{On the knife-edge ridges of Mt. Mantalingahan where one could witness the many layers of mountains in this protected landscape somewhere south in Palawan, Philippines}

As I then found a new joy in nature, I started climbing mountains in 2007 and became certified in basic mountaineering course in 2010 through the Mountaineering Federation of the Philippines, Inc. I learned and was able to apply various aspects of tropical mountaineering including outdoor cooking, camp management, land navigation, rainforest ecology, and many others. This skill also allowed me to bear witness to the last few stretches of rainforests and big mountains in the Philippines. In 2014, I learned how to ride a bike and bought my first trail bicycle. I used my bike to commute around town and to do occasional long rides crossing provinces and islands for fun. I also learned how to ride off-road, on single tracks, and on mountains. This was also the time that I joined my first adventure race, a competition that involved gathering clues, navigating a topographical map, and getting from one point to another via hiking, running, cycling, or even through a zipline.

_{Sidetrip while on bike-commute to home, at Lapu-lapu Shrine, Mactan Island, Cebu, Philippines}

In 2015, I took on a project manager job in Tacloban City. If you could remember, this was the city that was badly hit by the Supertyphoon Haiyan, killing tens of thousands of people in its way, and killing many more due to sickness, hunger, and strife, even way after it has passed. I worked on sustainable transport via electric vehicles and became part of the team that prototyped the conversion of engine cars that were damaged in the storm and the innovation of a solar emergency kits to be used as power source during disasters. In the same year, I did a two-month course in rock climbing to further enhance my outdoor skills. Although I have been rock climbing since I was in university, it was the first time that I was able to train competitively and eventually won my first championship.

_{Outdoor rock climbing at the natural rockfaces of Poog Cragsite in Toledo, Cebu, Philippines}

In 2016, I joined a dragon boat team in Tacloban City. Many people were traumatized by the seas following the damage of Typhoon Haiyan. As the women’s boat captain that year, our dragon boat team was solid to its advocacy to encourage people to trust the seas again and we trained members who were survivors of the supertyphoon. Later that year, I signed up as a scholar for a British marine conservation project. I was certified as a PADI Advanced Open Water diver and licensed to conduct marine surveying through the Reef Check Indo-Pacific Eco-diver certification. During my time with the project, I studied well and worked hard on becoming a good diver. Eventually, I was hired to become part of the project staff for a few months, that is despite being an engineering-graduate and despite that they normally hired only Marine Biology masters. I was further trained into a PADI Rescue Diver and a Reef Check Indo-Pacific Eco-diver Trainer. I started teaching marine ecology and surveying classes to both Filipino and foreign students in the project site. During my time with the project, we were able to survey multiple marine protected area prospects and were able to submit reports and proposals to the local government.

_{Documenting the coral rehabilitation project of Sankalikasan in Camiguin Island, Philippines}

In late 2017, I came back to the city and as my finances were depleted, I decided to work in the corporate again as a product engineer for a passive electronic component manufacturing company. That’s when I started to do less diving, rock climbing, and mountaineering. One fateful night, some thief stole my bicycle. Because of my less active lifestyle in the corporate, my fitness level started spiraling that I went on to look for a new sport. In 2018, I was introduced to a local hiking trail. What began as a casual forest walk eventually turned into speed hiking and trail running. That year, I did my first 18K trail run placing 5th and then went on to train as hard as I could. I did quite a handful of trail races in 2019 with five ultra trail marathons (50Kms) placing first runner-up in two ultras, and as champion in two more.

_{My last ultra trail race in 2019, the MagMa Trail Run that traversed Mt. Mago and Mt. Manghilao for a total of 50KM finishing as women's first runner up}

In mid-2019, I was introduced to obstacle course racing. Because the sport was a combination of body weight routines and running, I was able to easily transition thanks to my rock climbing and trail running experience. I won championships in two local obstacle course races and found a new joy in strength training.

_{The fire jump before the finish line at The Titan Race PH, a 10KM Obstacle Course Race where I finished champion in the women's category}

This year, I was hell-bent on doing my first 100Km trail race and trying out qualifying races in obstacle sports. And then CoViD-19 happened.

Off to a Fresh Start

The World Health Organization declares the 2019 Corona Virus a worldwide pandemic and the brake is pulled on everything: work, training, economy, and the sheer luxury of going out of the house. That’s why I sit here officially on the second day of my city’s enhanced community quarantine, pretty much like a lockdown but we still get to go out one person at a time to purchase food and essentials. Well, I won’t be going out for a few weeks so I finally got time in my hands to read books, study, write, and conduct an audit of my current life. I will be hanging out with you guys for the foreseeable future and I hope to grow with the Hive community in the days to come. If you know blogs and communities that I would fit in well, feel free to tag them in the comments section. Let’s talk, engage, and educate each other here as there is no other thing I love more than continuous learning. See you around!

_{SEA YOU! *pun intended*}