End of the Year Musing

With all the activities, and the lack of house help, trying to write has been difficult to impossible for the past few days. I would've liked to have finished my 700th post before the year ended, but I guess it'll have to kick off the new year.

For now, taking a page from my friend Tin, in list form, I'd like to take a quick look at the year that is rapidly coming to an end, and reflect on what I have and have yet to do.

Posts Left Unwritten
1. The P200,000 bonus being given to congressmen at the end of the year
2. The Jalosjos escapade - I might still write about this, having done the research.
3. The Sumilao farmers' plight - ditto for this for next year, as the saga has yet to be completed.
4. School activities - There were some interesting events, such as the Communication Arts Month and Ani Mo, Ani Ko, but these will have to wait, or remain unwritten
5. Primer on columnists - I'd been itching to do this for the longest time now, but I'm not sure what sort of reaction it would generate. Basically, it would be a commentary/critique of the columnists in the various broadsheets, a hopefully objective look at the way our spin doctors operate. We'll have to see for next year; maybe a two- or three- parter.

Saying Goodbye to
1. A number of students, one or two of whom I actually had in my class.
2. Lloyd Alexander - I'm still hoping that his Prydain Chronicles will be translated into a good series of movies.
3. Madeleine L'Engle - Her A Swiftly Tilting Planet is right up there in my all-time favorite book list.
4. Robert Jordan - I actually didn't read his Wheel of Time series, but I am sure a number of his fans are irate that he passed on before finishing it.
5. Kurt Vonnegut - I haven't read much of his work, except Harrison Bergeron, but what I have read shows a very witty and creative mind.
6. David Halberstam - His Summer of '49 is one of the best baseball books ever written.
7. Dan Fogelberg - As I'd written earlier, his Leader of the Band is one of my all-time favorites.
8. Julia Campbell - As her blog noted, there is a lot to be happy about our country.

Favorite Movies of 2007
1. 300
2. Ratatouille
3. Stardust
4. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
5. The Simpsons Movie

Interesting events of 2007
1. The Virginia Tech shooting
2. The May 2007 elections
3. Trillanes' idiotic move
4. The "Wowowee" scam
5. The Comelec - ZTE-Broadband episode

Looking Forward to 2008
1. Less riotous events (although, with the US elections coming up, that's going to be a lot to hope for)
2. Peace and quiet
3. Losing weight and getting back into shape
4. More writing opportunities
5. More time to blog

Something to Smile About

Taken from the Philippine Daily Inquirer. Enjoy.

Seriously strange: zany stories of 2007


Agence France-Presse
First Posted 02:10pm (Mla time) 12/25/2007

PARIS -- A selection of wild and wonderful news items from 2007:

• The CNN TV network had to apologize to US presidential hopeful Barack Obama after it confused his surname with the first name of the world's best-known terrorism suspect. A sequence on the whereabouts of Osama Bin Laden carried the caption "Where's Obama?"
• An Australian bank was embarrassed when it emerged that it had issued a credit card to a cat. The owner of Messiah, a ginger tom, had put in the spoof application to test the bank's security system.
• A 100-year-old woman in Germany moved out of her retirement home after six weeks saying she found the other residents not only boring but also "too old." She returned home to her cat.
• Switzerland's army inadvertently invaded the tiny neighboring state of Liechtenstein. A unit on maneuvers got lost at dead of night, officials said.
• The Norwegian government abolished a regulation that had allowed strip-clubs to claim exemption from sales tax on the grounds that their performances were an art form.
• A British man claimed the dubious distinction of making the first ever mobile phone call from the summit of Mount Everest. "It's cold" were his first words.
• Fishery officials in China restocked a river with 13 truckloads of live carp, only to realize that thousands of residents from a nearby city had immediately swarmed to the banks a short way downstream and caught most of them.
• Transport officials in Australia try to discourage men from driving too fast with a series of TV ads featuring attractive woman suggesting that speeding males were trying to compensate for inadequate virility.
• A town in South Korea which spent some $140 million to build its own airport was then forced to admit that no airlines actually wanted to fly there.
• The Chinese capital Beijing began a campaign to improve its signposting in English ahead of the 2008 Olympic Games. Among signs in need of correcting were ones for "Pubic Toilets," and "Deformed Men" -- the latter indicating facilities for the handicapped.
• A US man who ordered flowers for his mistress sued the florists after they sent a note to his home thanking him for his order -- thereby informing his wife of his infidelity.
• An African medicine man dived into a river in Tanzania after promising his fellow villagers that he would bring back revelations from ancestral spirits lurking underwater. He drowned.
• A child math prodigy who started university in Hong Kong at age nine, said he found the courses too easy, and rather boring.
• A Belgian prankster reacted to a prolonged political crisis in his native land by putting the entire country up for sale on the Internet auction site eBay. The company halted the bidding.
• Dutch anglers were up in arms against immigrant workers from Poland, who also enjoy fishing in the many local lakes. The problem being that the Poles actually eat the fish they catch, whereas the Dutch believe in simply putting them back in the water.
• A posh food store in New York was embarrassed after an employee, who was clearly not Jewish, stuck a "Delicious for Hanukkah" sign on hams. Jews, for whom Hanukkah is a religious holiday, do not eat pork.

Holiday Greetings

A most blessed merry Christmas to all.

Another Fogelberg Tribute

Another hit of the late Dan Fogelberg is "Same Old Lang Syne." Here it is below:



Same Old Lang Syne
(Dan Fogelberg)

Met my old lover in the grocery store,
The snow was falling Christmas Eve.
I stole behind her in the frozen foods,
And I touched her on the sleeve.

She didn't recognize the face at first,
But then her eyes flew open wide.
She went to hug me and she spilled her purse,
And we laughed until we cried.

We took her groceries to the checkout stand,
The food was totalled up and bagged.
We stood there lost in our embarrassment,
As the conversation dragged.

We went to have ourselves a drink or two,
But couldn't find an open bar.
We bought a six-pack at the liquor store,
And we drank it in her car.

We drank a toast to innocence,
We drank a toast to now.
And tried to reach beyond the emptiness,
But neither one knew how.

She said she'd married her an architect,
Who kept her warm and safe and dry,
She would have liked to say she loved the man,
But she didn't like to lie.

I said the years had been a friend to her,
And that her eyes were still as blue.
But in those eyes I wasn't sure if I saw,
Doubt or gratitude.

She said she saw me in the record stores,
And that I must be doing well.
I said the audience was heavenly,
But the traveling was hell.

We drank a toast to innocence,
We drank a toast to now.
And tried to reach beyond the emptiness,
But neither one knew how.
We drank a toast to innocence,
We drank a toast to time.
Reliving in our eloquence,
Another 'auld lang syne'......

The beer was empty and our tongues were tired,
And running out of things to say.
She gave a kiss to me as I got out,
And I watched her drive away.
Just for a moment I was back at school,
And felt that old familiar pain .........
And as I turned to make my way back home,
The snow turned into rain ..............

Requiem, Band Leader

One of my favorite all-time songs is "Leader of the Band" by Dan Fogelberg. For me, it's a thank-you note to my mentors, particularly my first year English teacher, Mr. Pagsanghan, and my dad.

So it was with great sadness that I learned of singer/writer Fogelberg's death from prostate cancer last Sunday.

The leader of the band has passed on, but his music will live on. Long live the leader of the band.



LEADER OF THE BAND
Dan Fogelberg

An only child alone and wild
A cab'net maker's son
His hands were meant for diff'rent work
And his heart was known to none
He left his home and went his lone and solitary way
And he gave to me a gift
I know I never can repay

A quiet man of music
Denied a simpler fate
He tried to be a soldier once
But his music wouldn't wait
He earned his love thru' discipline
A thund'ring velvet hand
His gentle means of sculpting souls
Took me years to understand

The leader of the band
Is tired and his eyes are growing old
But his blood runs thru' my instrument
And his song is in my soul
My life has been a poor attempt to imitate the man
I'm just a living legacy
To the leader of the band

My brother's lives were diff'rent
For they heard another call
One went to Chicago and the other to St. Paul
And I'm in Colorado
When I'm not in some hotel
Living out this life I've chose
And come to know so well

I thank you for the music
And your stories of the road
I thank you for the freedom
When it came my time to go
I thank you for the kindness
And the times when you got tough
And papa I don't think I said
"I love you" near enough

The leader of the band
Is tired and his eyes are growing old
But his blood runs thru' my instrument
And his song is in my soul
My life has been a poor attempt to imitate the man
I'm just a living legacy
To the leader of the band
I am the living legacy
To the leader of the band

Week Long Food Trip, Part 2

Thursday – Hazel wanted to check out the International Bazaar at the World Trade Center, so off we went. The bazaar was nothing particularly special; most of the international displays which were there in November had packed up and gone. As a result, going to the bazaar was somewhat akin to going to Greenhills or Divisoria.

We decided to have dinner at the Seaside area, where one could go to the seafood market, buy fish, or shrimp or crab or whatever took one’s fancy, and head for one of the numerous palutuan restaurants, which would take your groceries, and proceed to cook it to your liking. The charge depended on the weight of what you bought.

Hazel and I went to Sis, and found that we were too tired to do the marketing, so we took up the waitress’s offer to do the buying for us.

Dinner consisted of steamed shrimp, which we thought lacked salt, and squid with salt and pepper, breaded and fried. I liked the squid, although Hazel thought that it was too oily.

Friday – No shopping done here; Hazel and I were just too tired to cook dinner, and Hazel had already eaten. We passed by World Topps at the Royale Strip across Ever Commonwealth, and I had my usual, the beef bulgogi, a Korean-style barbeque dish. While I normally love the bulgogi, this night, the beef was a little dry, and there didn’t seem to be enough sauce. Oh well.

Saturday – The kids had their doctor’s checkup, and, afterwards, Hazel and I headed back to Trinoma to continue our quest to complete our Christmas list. Luckily, we found a parking place after a bit of a search, Trinoma being almost impossible to park in once weekend afternoon sets in.

We caught a quick lunch at Slammers Burger, a local version of White Castle Burger. If you’re not familiar with the concept, both restaurants serve small burgers, about two inches by two inches square. The minimum order is for a pair of them, and we ordered the bacon mushroom melt combo meal, which came with drinks and Belgian fries and a pair of regular burgers.

Belgian fries, from what I understand, are simply a thicker version of French fries. From the look and taste, Slammers makes them from actual potatoes, and not processed ones (I think). The fries come with one’s choice of dip, and we settled on honey mustard (okay) and hot bell pepper (warning: medium hot).

The burgers themselves are beefy enough, although they’re not anything special, much like a regular burger at either McDonald’s or Wendy’s. Still, for a quick lunch or snack, they can’t be beat.

Looking back on the week, I think this was the first time that I had eaten at so many places in the span of such a time.

Week Long Food Trip, Part 1

Originally a long post, I found it easier to break it up into two parts.

If it isn’t the hustle and bustle of school work bogging me down, it’s the interminable shopping heading into Christmas. Last week was particularly hectic, as Hazel and I doggedly went into various malls and bazaars, searching for the perfect presents. For each day of last week, we visited one area a day, and had dinner out each time.

The week that passed:

Monday – No shopping today, as Hazel and I had a belated anniversary date, and we headed for Trinoma to enjoy ourselves.

We had dinner at Five Cows resto and ice cream bar. We had eaten here with Gabby and my brother the week before and, having enjoyed the food that time, we wanted to try it again.

We ordered the four-cheese pizza, which is a staple of ours at every Italian restaurant we go to, and the pasta vongole, a personal favorite of Hazel. I liked the four cheese, which was rich in cheesy flavor with a tomato pesto base. The vongole was okay, as I’m not too partial about it.

After dinner, we caught the last full show of “The Golden Compass”, but before that, I had a craving for donuts, and picked up a plain glazed one and a cup of coffee from Krispy Kreme. I find that, while the donut goes very well with the coffee, I’d rather pay less for a donut, although the Krispy Kreme coffee brew is very good, and compares well with Mister Donut, a personal favorite of mine.

“The Golden Compass” was a letdown. As with several fantasy or sci-fi misses, there is too much emphasis given to the special effects and not enough to the story. Having read the trilogy just a few days before, the movie lacked momentum, and never really seemed to take off. There were several good scenes, but, overall, I’m hoping that the makers concentrate on making the sequel, “The Subtle Knife” a lot better.

Tuesday – Hazel and I headed for Tiendesitas to look for gifts for my parents and siblings. Tiendesitas is a good place to look for bargains, as it wasn’t very crowded, and the place is fairly extensive when it comes to merchandise.

Dinner was at Savory Chicken, which is located at the neighboring Hypermart. We ordered the fried chicken, the house specialty, chop suey, and the house fried rice. I didn’t realize that Savory serves pretty good fried chicken; ironically, it has a branch close to our house, at Ever Gotesco Commonwealth, and we’d never gone there. The gravy had a scent of anise, and the vegetables in the chop suey were fairly fresh and succulent.

As an added bonus, I ran into an old friend, whom I hadn’t seen in a long while. I managed to exchange contact numbers and promised that we’d get together some time, hopefully sooner than later.

Wednesday – I accidentally burned out the adapter of the router my sister brought home, so Hazel and I went to the Cyberzone in SM North Edsa to hunt for a replacement. We found one, along with a replacement for our DVD burner drive, which had also conked out.

We had dinner at Mong Kok, and we were both of the opinion that it compares poorly to our favorite, Luk Yuen. The food was okay, although the seaweed with the century egg was a little too salty. Also, the presentation of the food seemed a bit lacking, and did nothing to whet our appetite.

Requiem, Joey and Mike

One student graduated with honors from the High School; the other had to leave after second year. While their paths diverged so much, through a common thread, they are firmly bound together in my mind.

Both should have been batchmates. Both were killed in separate road accidents on the same day two weeks ago.

I never had the opportunity to teach Joey Carlos; being an honors class student, his path rarely, if ever converged with mine. But teachers who taught him are one in saying that he was a good boy, both in mind and spirit. In Joey, the Ateneo ideal of magis,or “the more” apparently thrived. I only wish that I had the opportunity to teach him.

Joey died in a car accident on the way home from the province.

Mike de Larrazabal was a student in one of my homeroom classes, and he was a creative, if rather unmotivated student. His lack of motivation was the main reason why he wound up leaving the Ateneo after second year, and moved to Reedley International, where, his mom told me, he bloomed.

I managed to go to Mike’s wake the day before his body was scheduled to be cremated, and I talked to his mom and dad and gave my condolences. His mom was telling me that she saw Mike’s leaving the Ateneo as a point of growth and that she didn’t see it as a negative event. His dad was gratified to see Mike’s former classmates come out in force to pay their respects, considering that he’d been out of the High School for almost three years.

It seems to me that, this year, I’ve attended one too many wakes of young people who should be enjoying the prime of their lives. It’s a patent reminder to me to live my own life to the fullest, because one never knows.

Pardon Me?

At the rate our government releases prominent prisoners such as former Representative Romeo Jalosjos, and pardons people such as former President Joseph Estrada, if Hannibal Lecter were an inmate in a Philippine prison, there’s no doubt that he, like, would have been pardoned or released early.

The rate at prominent prisoners being released before their time, or, in Estrada’s case, even before he set foot in an actual jail, is astounding. It does no good for the government to claim that it is simply following an established protocol that prisoners who reach the age of 70 are automatically pardoned, considering that the Episcopal Commission on Prison Pastoral Care (ECPPC) has noted that there are still more than 122 inmates in our prison who have yet to be pardoned, despite having reached the required minimum age. If Estrada and Martinez have been pardoned and set free, why not these people? Is it because they’re too poor to be noticed by government officials?

In Jalosjos’s case, instead of being pardoned, his sentence was commuted to 16 years, making him eligible for release in a week or two. It’s suspicious considering that: one, Jalosjos managed to deliver the vote for GMA in the 2004 presidential elections, and two, Jalosjos’s brother and sister are allies of the President in Congress. Jalosjos’s case smells very strongly of political payback, and no amount of denial from government mouthpieces can remove the stench.

While no one can deny at this point that it’s the President’s prerogative to pardon convicts or commute sentences, one can only wish that the pardons actually have a grain of mercy imbedded in them, instead of the constant paybacks to those loyal to the government. In her speech to European leaders, the President described herself as a ‘bad politicians’. On the contrary, the President is a very good politician, albeit in all the wrong ways.

Jalosjos and Estrada are depressing reminders to us that, if a convict is either rich or influential, he or she can command anything of this government, even if justice is sacrificed.

Nothing to Do

Taking a break from writing about what's going on, and having a little fun.

Here's another fun video:



Enjoy.

Net Trawl

Just a little light entry:

Trawling through the Net comes up with some interesting finds.

The video below is of the Ateneo High School dance troupe, Indak, a truly talented bunch of kids.



And here they are again, this time during the Skechers Streetdance competition, not complete though.

* * * *

This link will take you to the Neil Gaiman-assisted wedding proposal at Fully Booked Bonifacio High Street. It's touching and funny at the same time.

Catching Up

Despite the hectic schedule, or maybe because of my hectic schedule, I find that I manage to catch up on my reading, and take in a few books and comics that have escaped my notice until now; this, of course, is to keep my sanity intact as I frantically finish my grades and prepare my lesson plans. Here are a few of them.

1. The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay – This is a narrative and descriptive masterpiece that won Michael Chabon the Pulitzer Prize, and deservedly so. The story covers the careers of Joe Kavalier and Sammie Clay, two comic book creators during the build-up to World War Two. With their flagship character, the Escapist, the two bring the War in Europe home to Americans itching to join the fight. As their lives unfold, Chabon creates two believable and sympathetic characters, with unbelievable detail.
2. I Am Legend – I read this with the upcoming movie starring Will Smith in mind. Now knowing the premise, I’m not sure if I really want to watch it, considering it deals with horror. Robert is the lone survivor of a plague that has turned everybody else into vampires, and the book focuses on his attempts to make sense of this new world into which he has emerged. It’s not very detailed, but it does give some interesting insights into what causes vampirism.
3. JLA/Hitman – I didn’t realize that Tommy Monaghan, a.k.a. Hitman, had bought it at the end of his 60-issue series, and I wound up leafing through the series, following Monaghan to the very end. This recent release was apparently a look back at one of the more intriguing characters, and indisputably the best character spawned from the Bloodlines annual storyline of DC more than a decade ago; Hitman is the only Bloodlines-related title which survived longer than 20 issues, and this is thanks in part to writer Garth Ennis’s dark sense of humor, and John McCrea’s almost whimsically caricatured art.
   

Here are what I’m currently reading (I tend to rotate around several books, in case my fancy shifts):

The Golden Compass – A friend of mine lent me the entire trilogy several years ago, but I wasn’t really interested in going through them. Now, however, with the movie just a scant two days away, I find myself enthralled, and now, I eagerly follow the exploits of young Lyra Belacqua, this, despite the fact that a colleague of mine described the context in which the stories occur, with which some conservative Catholics may take issue. It doesn’t matter, as the story becomes more and more interesting, and I’ll have time to take stock and make my own judgments about the religious issue.

Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? – Yeah, I’m movie-connection driven. This classic by the late Philip K. Dick is the basis of the movie Blade Runner, starring Harrison Ford, and is about a bounty hunter who goes after rogue androids. I realize that I actually haven’t watched the movie, which is something on my ‘to do’ list now. On the aside, Dick is also responsible for “Minority Report”, which starred Tom Cruise.