During the morning, there was a key speaker from Disney who was talking how Disney took full advantage of Gutenberg and creating custom blocks so that they could support many of their websites with consistent block and template designs.
It’s very interesting to see that a large corporation such as Disney is using WordPress and Gutenberg for their own use. A few years ago, many developers and designers disliked strongly Gutenberg that it received a bad reputation. However, after many years, Gutenberg seems to be stronger and better, but sadly the plugin review is not the best.. it’s actually at 2-stars! Nevertheless, I would be willing to start using Gutenberg, to which I am with this blog.
Funny story. The morning of the event, I thought that I was running late, but in reality, it was them that were late! Well, there was this older lady on my side, who I started to have a short conversation with. We discussed regarding MeetUps at our home city. After asking for her LinkedIn, I didn’t know who they were until the end of the keynote speaker. She ended up to be the manager of a large famous plugin! Well, I lost my chance to ask for any open positions.
One-Time Luck
After the opening keynote, I went to an interesting panel regarding accessibility. After the panel, I walked up to the speakers to discuss more about accessibility that can help out in the website that I am currently working for at my job. They gave me good suggestions such as the level of contrast, the font-size, the images having alt text, and more. Although it was a little awkward, I did ask if they were hiring for the company. Turns out that the speaker I was talking to was the CTO! Well, the CEO was right beside him talking to other people, but he gave me his card, and told me to email him more information about me and what projects that I have been working on. I thanked him for his time, and went running to make that email.
Afternoon Break
During the afternoon, I went to get some lunch, and sat at a table with three people sitting right beside each other. The plan of being at the conference was to connect with people, but unfortunately, I was unable to connect with them given how close they were. I just sat there and ate. I ate as fast as I could to leave, because the feeling of being excluded is the complete worse.
Right after, I was walking around the lobby looking for people to talk to. I walked. I walked. I had no luck. Everyone already had someone to talk to, and I was too afraid to walk right in. I decided to go to the quiet rooms, and work on a PHP project that I had been working on for months. I simply wanted to fix a couple of bugs. Eventually, after I cooled off a bit, I walked outside ready to talk to people. So, I did, but no luck. I eventually sat down somewhere, and met a spontaneous lady who wanted to write a blog. To her, I have began writing. We talked, and talked, and the stories that there is to share motivated me to write.
My life is not perfect, and it will never be. I struggle like many others, and have nothing to show off except the stories and experiences of growing up in this cruel world. Once in a while, it’s always nice to get that reality check after consuming all social media, movies, advertisements that are seen everywhere, and any lies. So, here we are.
Evening Dinner
There was a social gathering that I could have gone, but I started to crash out for the night. So, I went home, wrote my blog post, and went out to eat. I was planning to watch a movie for the night, so I was walking towards a convenience store to get chips and soda, but I noticed a strange, yet interesting looking burger joint.
I was lucky enough to get the last few burgers given that I came 30 minutes before they closed! It was a while that they made the burger, but it was worth it. Nothing exciting, given it tasted somewhat, but it was also really cheap. The fries made it not cheap, though.
Extra
Look! I passed by this gingerbread looking house!