Live? Love? Life?

He broke the silence with a high-pitched cry. He was the only source of sound in the gloomy room. He should’ve not been born, she thought. He shouldn’t have the right to avail the air the rest of us breathe. He is an unwanted person. He was the product of an accident. He must not live. But still, she carried the child in her arms…but she felt nothing; no connection. As if the kid was a total stranger. Maybe that was it; he was a mere nobody to the mother’s life. Then her thoughts wandered to her past.

The sky was overcast; threatening to rain. They were outside the school, waiting for a jeepney to ride them home. Then droplets started falling. Students ran to the only shed which became jam-packed immediately. She was quite unlucky. She was situated in the middle of the crowd; in the middle of a mixture of scents, some fragrant and some you wouldn’t want to smell.

Why English?

(Note: Delivered 13 June 2011, this is a talk about the importance of the English language and what makes it important. Talk presentation can be found here.)

A few weeks back, I have been replying my friends with the word “kiitos”. As expected, nobody understood it until I translated it. “Kiitos” is the Finnish word for “thank you”.

Last Friday, we were asked the question, “Why is the English language important in the business world?” Apparently, we have answered the question with the aforementioned anecdote: for us to understand. Moreover, English is important because of internationalism. Internationalism was first coined in 1995 in Time’s Cycle and Military Strategy:

“Once again the opposite poles of isolationism and Wilsonian internationalism appeared as alternatives that split the liberal and conservative camps.”

It means a political, economic, and cultural cooperation among nations. We have to take note of the word “cooperation”.

Ilocos Norte Badges

Boredom meets productivity. :)

Note: Is your note genuine?

Last Thursday, we had a nine-hour chat/gossiping at the city Dap-ayan and at McDonald's. It was around 9PM when we decided to continue our talk at a friend's house three kilometers away. Jeepney's weren't available that time so we resorted riding on a tricycle. Besides, there were a lot of them outside the fast-food chain. However, there was a slight commotion. But we never bothered until we finally rode our way to the nearby town.

"What happened, kuya?" asked a friend. The driver mumbled something we didn't quite comprehend. So we asked once more. Turns out that a guy or two boughtlechon manok in a nearby store and paid a counterfeit 1000-peso bill. Good thing somebody caught them.

I am disappointed that Filipinos, much more Ilocanos, use fake money just to gain, well, goods and real money (i.e. change). But I was still proud that some peopleknow how to detect such. Which leads to the point of this post: how do you recognize genuine Philippine notes? The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas presents 16 characteristics and features: (Note: may or may not apply to new generation bank notes)

Boredom Killer 1: Tee-pography

I always experience boredom overdose during summer. Ergo, I resorted graphic designing shirts for each of the colleges of my university.

P.S. I love minimalistic typography :D

College Pride VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

HOW TO VIEW: Click “View Slide Show”. If you don’t have Microsoft Silverlight installed, Click “View this album on Windows Live SkyDrive” (lower left).

RP and the dim road to good governance

The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) promotes democratic and good governance among its members; Philippines inclusive. The absence of corruption is the best indicator of good governance. On the contrary, despite a nation’s level of development (or underdevelopment), a nation cannot fully eradicate corruption. There is always a degree, from minimal (like those of the Scandinavian countries) to widespread (Myanmar, for example).

In the Philippines, corruption is very prevalent that it is present in local governments and even in the national scale. I have read a few public administration articles and managed to know this: that possessing government positions (executive or legislative) is a duty of the officials to make the lives of the people better and not worse. But at these times, it’s quite the reverse. The people are the ones who make the lives of the government officials better while theirs, worse. See, these officials use public offices not for public administration but rather for private gains.

Will You Marry Me?

If it so happen that I have found the girl of my life and that I have earned enough money, I’ll do this:
1. I’ll take her to Paris, France and go sightseeing, spend a night or two.

Minimalism

When I opened my MS Paint, I told myself I’ll create a logo for Philippine tourism, working out on its new (and, sadly, disappointing) tagline, “Pilipinas, Tara Na!” I want to recreate it because I find the DOT logo having too many elements (probably because I’m the minimalist type of guy). And besides, it’s like the country’s calling tourists for a libreng bakuna.

When Love Goes Blind

I am an official Tumblrista, that is, I use Tumblr whenever and wherever I could. You may call it addiction. Like any other blogging platforms (Blogspot and Wordpress), Tumblr lets you create your own web log for free. And since the blog is yours, you can post anything you want from everyday banalities to nationalistic non-pride. Is there even a word? Non-pride? Dispride? Pridelessness? Whatever. Go figure.

See, I’ve encountered on Tumblr a bunch of Filipinos that put our race to shame; like announcing to the whole virtual world, “I’M NOT PROUD TO BE A FILIPINO!!!!!” And yes, with their Caps Lock on and excessive use of exclamation marks. And in a few, these public proclamations of dishonor become the center of criticisms, spreading like wildfire nationally and even globally. Fellow Filipinos would become angry (“Then get the f*ck out of this country!”) or even murderous (“G*go ka! Mamatay ka na lang sana!”). I, on the other hand, remain silent and just proceed with the next post. Not that I feel indifferent on the issue but that I myself don’t know exactly whether to feel this so-called “love of country”.

TGIF

I was busy sipping my slushie while talking with Patricia when my sight caught the "shining, shimmering, widening forehead". He entered the 24-hour convenience store and I smiled at him. Hey, the person was no ordinary guy; Sir Herdy is one of the best bloggers in the country, a fearless journalist, a teacher and the author of one of my favorite books. Sir Herdy smiled back. Then he went with his task, buy something or two from the shelves.

Coffee commercials and careers

I was busy reviewing for a major exam the next day when this commercial was aired:

The sun rises and clouds drift in a speeded time lapse. A woman drinks her morning coffee, sets it down, holds some pieces of paper while saying, “Nasusulat na ni Junior ang kanyang pangalan. Si Caloy naman, marunong nang magbilang (Junior can now write his name while Caloy already knows how to count.).”

The scene then changes to a school setting. Children ran out from the classroom and helped the woman to her way inside. “Sila ang aking mga anak. Ang dahilan kung bakit ganado akong bumabangon araw-araw. (They are my children. They keep me motivated to wake up each morning.)”

Scene shifts to a classroom setting, the woman teaching a number of grade school pupils. “Milyun-milyon kaming bumabangon para sa kabataan. (There’s a million of us who wake up for the youth.)”

Then the scene changed for the last time, the woman drinking from her coffee mug once more. “Ikaw, para kanino ka bumabangon? (Who do you wake up for?)”

The last line stayed in my mind, an achievement for a guy who has neurotic ADHD. I asked myself the question, “Para kanino nga ba ako bumabangon?”

A Korean shook my faith

Despite the way he speaks English, one Korean missionary shook my faith and left me in doubt.