Thursday, April 29, 2010

Tambis

You know what a tambis is? Its a reddish fruit which is called makopa in tagalog but for us in bisaya, its simply tambis. I was reminded of this fruit when i saw a tree laden with fruits in calumpit, bulacan during today's sortie. I did a doubletake when i saw the tree coz i wanted one. The owner must have noticed because she offered it to mr. Apparently, three kids were already up in the tree and one kid handed me a bunch of tambis. Yey! It was a wonderful surprise and one which i'm truly grateful for.
Haay, the taste of tambis brought back lots of childhood memories. Those carefree days when i also used to climb trees and eat its fruits to my heart's content. All those days spent playing and laughing and frolicking.
Aahh, the simple joys in life. The tambis surprise really made my day.

Whatta loooonnnggg day!

I'm writing this entry at the back of a truck under the pouring rain and waiting for Miranda's turn to speak at a Nacionalista rally so that we can go home. This has beena very long day. I was already in the office at 5am so that we can start our postering in Bulacan and finish early. Well, we left early but it took us a long time to mount those posters at the rally site. Which means that we are already way behind our schedule. We had to alight and board the truck every kilometer so that we can put up the posters. Haaaay. Super draining. And just when we thought that its time to go home, the boss called for us to stay for the rally and wait for them so that we can load the ladder at the back of a truck. And that's how i ended up in my current situation. As much as i would like to rant and curse, i can't because i perfectly understand the situation. Everybody's under extreme pressure right now and i wouldn't want to add to that. So, all i can do now is wait for this torture to end. I know that some of my officemates have been through worse situations so i must bear this suffering with tolerance. After all, one more week to go and we'll know the verdict.

Tuesday, April 27, 2010

Pure Imagination

Last night, I watched Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium (2007). I don't know if it was the movie or my current emotional state but I was like a psychotic while watching the movie - crying and laughing at the same time. It touched my inner childhood - with all those magical toys and what-nots. I was transported back to the time when I used to believe that fairies would come out from magic roses when they bloom at midnight and that dwarves lived beneath our house. I also loved the movie lines that's why I'm posting it on this blog.

Will I watch it again? Definitely yes.

 

Mr. Edward Magorium: [to Molly, about dying] When King Lear dies in Act V, do you know what Shakespeare has written? He's written "He dies." That's all, nothing more. No fanfare, no metaphor, no brilliant final words. The culmination of the most influential work of dramatic literature is "He dies." It takes Shakespeare, a genius, to come up with "He dies." And yet every time I read those two words, I find myself overwhelmed with dysphoria. And I know it's only natural to be sad, but not because of the words "He dies." but because of the life we saw prior to the words.
[pause, walks over to Molly]
Mr. Edward Magorium: I've lived all five of my acts, Mahoney, and I am not asking you to be happy that I must go. I'm only asking that you turn the page, continue reading... and let the next story begin. And if anyone asks what became of me, you relate my life in all its wonder, and end it with a simple and modest "He died."
Molly Mahoney: [starting to sob] I love you.
Mr. Edward Magorium: I love you, too.
[picks Molly up, sighs heavily]
Mr. Edward Magorium: Your life is an occasion. Rise to it. 



Eric Applebaum, the Hat Collector: All stories, even the ones we love, must eventually come to an end and when they do, it's only an opportunity for another story to begin.

Mr. Edward Magorium: 37 seconds.
Molly Mahoney: Great. Well done. Now we wait.
Mr. Edward Magorium: No. We breathe. We pulse. We regenerate. Our hearts beat. Our minds create. Our souls ingest. 37 seconds, well used, is a lifetime. 

Eric Applebaum, the Hat Collector: [while narrating] What Mahoney needed was the opportunity to prove to herself that she was something more than she believed.

Mr. Edward Magorium: We must face tomorrow, whatever it may hold, with determination, joy and bravery 

Friday, April 23, 2010

As Einstein Saw It

I'm not an atheist and I don't think I can call myself a pantheist. We are in the position of a little child entering a huge library filled with books in many different languages. The child knows someone must have written those books. It does not know how. The child dimly suspects a mysterious order in the arrangement of the books but doesn't know what it is. That, it seems to me, is the attitude of even the most intelligent human being toward God.
                                                                                                  —Albert Einstein

I chanced upon this essay by no less than the great Albert Einstein and I was truly inspired by what he wrote that's why I'm posting it here verbatim.


"How strange is the lot of us mortals! Each of us is here for a brief sojourn; for what purpose he knows not, though he sometimes thinks he senses it. But without deeper reflection one knows from daily life that one exists for other people -- first of all for those upon whose smiles and well-being our own happiness is wholly dependent, and then for the many, unknown to us, to whose destinies we are bound by the ties of sympathy. A hundred times every day I remind myself that my inner and outer life are based on the labors of other men, living and dead, and that I must exert myself in order to give in the same measure as I have received and am still receiving...

"I have never looked upon ease and happiness as ends in themselves -- this critical basis I call the ideal of a pigsty. The ideals that have lighted my way, and time after time have given me new courage to face life cheerfully, have been Kindness, Beauty, and Truth. Without the sense of kinship with men of like mind, without the occupation with the objective world, the eternally unattainable in the field of art and scientific endeavors, life would have seemed empty to me. The trite objects of human efforts -- possessions, outward success, luxury -- have always seemed to me contemptible.
"My passionate sense of social justice and social responsibility has always contrasted oddly with my pronounced lack of need for direct contact with other human beings and human communities. I am truly a 'lone traveler' and have never belonged to my country, my home, my friends, or even my immediate family, with my whole heart; in the face of all these ties, I have never lost a sense of distance and a need for solitude..."

"My political ideal is democracy. Let every man be respected as an individual and no man idolized. It is an irony of fate that I myself have been the recipient of excessive admiration and reverence from my fellow-beings, through no fault, and no merit, of my own. The cause of this may well be the desire, unattainable for many, to understand the few ideas to which I have with my feeble powers attained through ceaseless struggle. I am quite aware that for any organization to reach its goals, one man must do the thinking and directing and generally bear the responsibility. But the led must not be coerced, they must be able to choose their leader. In my opinion, an autocratic system of coercion soon degenerates; force attracts men of low morality... The really valuable thing in the pageant of human life seems to me not the political state, but the creative, sentient individual, the personality; it alone creates the noble and the sublime, while the herd as such remains dull in thought and dull in feeling.  
"This topic brings me to that worst outcrop of herd life, the military system, which I abhor... This plague-spot of civilization ought to be abolished with all possible speed. Heroism on command, senseless violence, and all the loathsome nonsense that goes by the name of patriotism -- how passionately I hate them!

"The most beautiful experience we can have is the mysterious. It is the fundamental emotion that stands at the cradle of true art and true science. Whoever does not know it and can no longer wonder, no longer marvel, is as good as dead, and his eyes are dimmed. It was the experience of mystery -- even if mixed with fear -- that engendered religion. A knowledge of the existence of something we cannot penetrate, our perceptions of the profoundest reason and the most radiant beauty, which only in their most primitive forms are accessible to our minds: it is this knowledge and this emotion that constitute true religiosity. In this sense, and only this sense, I am a deeply religious man... I am satisfied with the mystery of life's eternity and with a knowledge, a sense, of the marvelous structure of existence -- as well as the humble attempt to understand even a tiny portion of the Reason that manifests itself in nature."

Thursday, April 22, 2010

Beds are Burning


In celebration of Earth Day, I'm listing down taften things that I am doing (which you can do too) in order to minimize my carbon footprint and help save Mother Earth.

1. Wherever I go, I always bring my water bottle with me so that I wouldn't have to buy bottled water or ask for a styro cup to drink from. Tipid na sa bulsa, environment friendly pa.
2. Aside from taking navy showers, I also use the trusty pail and dipper to ensure that the water does not flow freely. Oh, and I make sure that the faucet is completely sealed off before I step out of the bathroom.
3. Whenever I go shopping, I decline the use of plastic bags if I can shove all the things that I bought into my bag.
4. I throw my garbage in its proper place - the trash can. If no trash can is in sight, then I can just put it in my bag pocket. Now, you can just imagine how the inside of my bag looks like. ;)
5. I rarely photocopy my readings, instead I borrow the readings of my officemate who took up the class before me.Through this technique, I've been able to save thousands of pesos.
6. If I need to print something which I don't have to submit to the boss or the professor, I print it on recycled paper.
7.When I leave the office, I ensure that all the electric cords are unplugged. Iwas sunog na, tipid kuryente pa.
8. I replaced  the bulb of my desktop lamp with a CFL (compact fluorescent) bulb. It lasts longer and consumes lesser electricity.
9. Turn off the lights when its not in use.
10. Since I don't have a choice, I always use the public transport like jeepneys, tricycles, and light rail trains.

Awareness is the first step in our quest to preserve Mother Earth. We need to be conscious of what we are doing to our surroundings. We are merely stewards of this creation and we need to take good care of it so that the future generation can still enjoy it. With that, I'll be leaving you with this song performed by various artists to promote climate change awareness.

Sunday, April 18, 2010

Gradwait (*_*)

Nope, its not my graduation...yet! But these past few days, I've attended several graduation ceremonies where Miranda is the guest speaker. Its all part of the job but for me its not a chore because it has been my current source of inspiration. ;) These students are lucky because they have an eloquent and inspiring speaker. As for me, I can barely recall the speech delivered by Vice Presidential candidate Bayani Fernandoduring my own graduation.

Basically, she discusses three points in all her speeches.
1. How to prepare for the board exams
2. How to find a good spouse and build a happy marriage (paki-connect!)
3. How to live a good life

Preparing for the board exams
Here are some reminders which she always emphasize in her speeches. Some of them may sound cliche-ish but they are still very effective when applied.
1. Honesty is the best policy.
2.Cleanliness is next to godliness.
3. If at first you don't succeed, try again

"Concentration is the key to success and the key to concentration is silence."
I tried implementing this technique during my final exams. And I think that losing my cellphone helped me in attaining that level of silence which was needed to concentrate. Well, I don't know the results of my exam yet and I'm still keeping my fingers crossed. ;) I hope I'll remember this lesson when I prepare for THE BAR!

Finding a good spouse
According to Miranda, the secret to finding a good spouse is to find someone who has the same moral values as you do. Dapat pareho kayo ng pangarap sa buhay. Kumbaga, magka-wavelength kayo. ;)

Now, I wonder where I can find that elusive person. ;)

Living the good life
After buying your first house and your first car and earning your first million, it will all feel the same. These material riches won't give you genuine happiness. Miranda challenges the students to ponder on the three basic philosophical questions: Who am I? What am I doing here? Where I am going?


Well, they might be too young to be understand the full impact of these questions but I've been asking myself these questions for the past few years.Honestly, I haven't come up with a definite answer although I already have a vague conception of who I am and what I am doing here. But as to where I am going, I'm still undecided. ;) Suffice it to say that I'm still trying very hard to carve my own niche in this imperfect world.

The great adventure of life is to Learn. 
The nature of life is to Change. 
The purpose of life is to Grow. 

Tuesday, April 13, 2010

Of rallies and circuses



Last night, I attended my first ever political rally sponsored by the local officials of Valenzuela for the Nacionalista Party. The organizers estimated that they would be able to gather almost 20,000 people into that abandoned field. True enough, the whole area was filled to its full capacity proves that the event was well-organized. But the compliment ends there.

This whole political rally style of campaigning where you gather these people through incentives like cash, free meal, free entertainment and whatever else would motivate them to go - promotes a culture of mendicancy. Para silang naglilimos ng mga campaign materials - shirts, sun visors, ballpens, ballers at kung anu-ano pa. These people are willing to forgo the comforts of their homes and bring their whole family - ate, kuya and baby to the dusty field in exchange for those things.

Then they bring in the clowns/entertainers to provide these people with cheap thrills. The opening act was a mini-skit about a man and his "automated" sculpture who's willing to do anything that the host tells hims to do even if he is asked to go naked in front of all the people, old and children alike.

Those are just some observations from my experience last night. I don't want to get started on the politicians who don't even have a specific platform or even an aspiration to deliver quality public service to the people.

I wonder if this whole debacle will ever end. Its the classic chicken and egg situation. An uninformed electorate will vote for incompetent and even corrupt leaders who wants to bag a government position in order to save enough money for the next election. Maybe this is the reason why there's no effort from these politicians to inform and educate the voters about the real issues and their platforms.

We, the people, deserve the leaders that we vote for. Vote wisely!