Thursday, May 29, 2008

Ano ba ang sukatan ng pagiging God-fearing?


It was supposed to be a less interesting afternoon yesterday. Thank heaven, a friend went online and started with the usual storytelling session. Ok na sana kaso bilang napasok yung usapan sa religion. One thing na gusto na raw sa kanyang flavor of the month boytoy ay yung pagiging God-fearing.Atenista daw kasi cya. Akala ko nagkamali lang ako ng basa pero, oo, inassociate nya ang pagiging God-fearing sa school where Mr.Flavor of the month attended.


Sabi ko sa kanya, ang babaw naman na i associate yun sa school. Kasi daw, sa Catholic schools tinuturo ang religion, may emphasis sa mga students kung baga. Parang naghahallucinate lang ako pero totoo. Sabi pa nya: lalo naman sa UP, not at all. Gusto kong isipin na nag jo joke lang cya kaso hindi. Ok sa olryt sa paliwanag.


Well, sabi ko nga sa kanya: very weak ang argument nya (aside from being baseless). Wala-walang kinalaman ang school kung saan galing ang isang tao sa pagiging God-fearing nya. Hindi porke Atenista o Lasalista ka, automatic God-fearing ka na. At lalong hindi porke taga UP ka, anti-Christ o hindi ka natatakot kay God. Anybody with atleast five brain cells would agree on me in this kahit mga taga Ateneo o La Salle would.


Being a former Lasalista myself, wala naman akong natatandaan na sinabi ng religion teacher na mas lamang kami sa ibang students na walang religion subject with respect to belief and faith in God or the fear of God. It is in self realization and analization that I found those things. La Salle never influenced my thinking as far as religion is concerned.


Ang nakakatawa pa ay yung impression nya sa mga taga UP. UP did not teach us to hate God or turn our backs on Him. May mga non believer pero hindi kailaman ako nakarinig ng pagkondena sa kung ano man ang relihiyon ng isang tao. To each his own sa UP. Marami at iba’t iba ang paniniwala pero at the end of the day nasa tao yun kung ano ang tatanggapin nya bilang paniniwala. Ang mga tao sa UP ay may kakayahang mag isip at umunawa base sa kung ano sa tingin nila ang tama o mali. Hindi na kailangan pa na impluwensiya ng ibang tao para mag desisyon sa kung ano ang dapat o hindi nila dapat nilang paniwalaan.


Natawa rin ako sa babaw nya mag-isip, which reflected with the kind of actions na ginagawa nya. Ang akala ko dahil maalam cya sa relihiyon ay malawak ang pang unawa niya sa kahulugan ng mga sinasabi nya. Hindi pala. Ang pagsisimba araw araw o minu minuto ay hindi na ngangahulugan ng pagiging relihiyoso ng isang tao. Hindi man ako nagsisimba araw-araw doesn’t mean I have lesser faith in God or I have lesser fear.


Anyway, the Lasalista lost to the UPian, as always and as expected.

Wednesday, May 28, 2008

Surviving Midlife


I guess this will be a good piece to read since most of us will be experiencing this sooner or later.

************

Surviving midlife
HUMMING IN MY UNIVERSE By Jim Paredes
Sunday, May 25, 2008
Maybe I’m a man

Maybe I’m a lonely man

Who’s in the middle of something

That he doesn’t really understand.

— Maybe I’m Amazed

by Paul McCartney

Everywhere I go, I seem to bump into people who suspect their mid-life crisis has begun, or feel they are smack in the midst of a full-blown one. Being in my mid-50s, it is not surprising that a lot of my friends are into mid-life crisis. But what surprises me is that many people I know in their late 20s or early 30s are already showing signs of its onset.

A brief search of Google says that mid-life usually begins “at age 40, give or take 20 years.” So, in effect, most adults you and I know are probably in this phase of life to varying degrees.

Carl Jung was one of the first to identify this phase and call it what it is. Regardless of whether midlife crisis is triggered by personal tragedy — like the death of someone close or some catastrophic events — Jung says that in every case, midlife occurs in five phases:

1) Accommodation, where we live life according to the expectations of others. This happens early and is the context in which mid-life sets in.

2) Separation, the phase when we wake up to find that our lives have largely been about accommodating others’ expectations, and begin the process of rejecting the “accommodated self.”

3) Liminality, a period of doubt and uncertainty where we live aimlessly, seemingly without purpose.

4) Reintegration, when we begin to deeply answer the question of who we are and become comfortable with the new identity that emerges.

Okay, this is as far as I will quote from books and stuff. From hereon, I will be talking about my own mid-lifing experience, which I still am probably going through. Here are a few things I noticed when I felt the onset of my midlife crisis some 20 years ago.

• The term “midlife crisis” is inaccurate. The turmoil and events that proceed after it begins suggest that the word “crises” is more apt because one goes through definitely not just one, but many episodes of the same themes which play out a lot. If it’s not one thing, like worrying about who I really am and my purpose in this life, it’s another, like questioning my beliefs and membership and loyalties to certain institutions. Or it may be beating myself up about my perceived lack of something to show in terms of achievement at certain points in my life, or (strangely enough) not caring one bit about it at other times.

• There is the onset of boredom which is not what we usually feel when we have nothing to do, but a deep gnawing ennui that leads not to questioning but to depression. It is puzzling when all of a sudden you find yourself outgrowing certain activities, and even certain friends. Almost overnight, you feel a change in yourself in relation to the world you operate in. Somehow, what used to satisfy no longer does. Like a teenager, you find a big part of you does not fit in.

• The screw tightens even more. I found myself questioning the very basic things I took for granted — my capabilities, tastes, opinions, vows, faith and motivations. In a profound way, I was turning my world upside down with questions to find out what was on top and what lay under it. In the process, I stumbled on some of the many masks and roles I did not know I was wearing. I continue to discover others. And as I unmasked myself, I discovered that the world was unmasked as well. There is a John Mayer song I like because it sums up a big “aha” moment I had years back:

I wanna run through the halls of my high school

I wanna scream at the top of my lungs

I just found out there’s no such thing as the real world

Just a lie you’ve got to rise above.

• There is the painful realization that most of what seemed true earlier in your life is quickly nearing its expiration date. And yet, it is so painful to part with these beliefs, even though you know you must in order to be make space for the new truths that are unraveling. Discerning what to throw away and what to keep is a daunting order and takes a lot of courage and reflection.

Imagine that your house is on fire and you have a few short moments to run in and pick up your valuable stuff. What stuff do you actually pick out? Unless you are consciously aware of what you need to do, you may unthinkingly rush in and pick up your high school Playboy magazine collection in place of a family heirloom.

• There is a flurry of activities that one engages in that seem in retrospect all about the vain attempt to hold on to the power of fading youth. My sister-in-law calls her 40-ish husband’s new BMW “the midlife crisis car”! Many men and women go through physical makeovers — the tummy tuck, lipo, implants, nose jobs, sexual enhancement drugs, etc. The few times I tried to stop dyeing my hair, I got annoyed at having to repeatedly explain why my whole head of hair was suddenly white. So I resumed the dyeing. Sometimes I stop just to defy the world. I worry less now about my receding hairline but I admit to taking Chinese herbal drugs to slow it down.

• When we let go of attitudes, beliefs and ways that don’t work, there appear newer ones that take their place. This will happen repeatedly until we find the right ones that apply to this new stage in our lives. We are like a house in renovation except that the dust has not settled and so we are not sure what we really look like inside. But be assured that there is a lot of activity happening there.

We can also compare ourselves to snakes in the sense that we must shed off old skin periodically to continue living in a supple, energetic new body. I noticed that when Sangliggonaposila, a noontime show I was involved with 10 years ago, came to an end, my life was thrown into turmoil. My usual income stream dried up big-time and I felt washed out.

But in place of the frenetic triviality I was engaged in for a living, I discovered silence, which in turn led me to more introspection and reflection. I also discovered many hidden talents and interests I did not know I had as I began to practice Zen, write books, articles, blogs, got into teaching, designing and facilitating workshops, photography, diving and taking long walks.

I felt a personal renaissance, an immense growth spurt which continues to this day. I can definitely say my life is being powered by my second wind.

• Lastly, I am more forgiving of myself now. I find myself in a better place regarding my accommodation with personal faults and weaknesses. Whereas before, I would beat myself up over perceived failures and character flaws, I am now less severe and am even accepting of my imperfections. I also notice that I have become less judgmental of other people.

Which is not to imply that I am in a blissfully peaceful place at all times. I have a long way to go before I master jumping over the wide fault lines on the terrain of midlife.

Life continues to pull the rug from under my feet in varying intensities but years of practice has helped me cope better. Sure, doubts and cynicism continue to plague me and I still play the people-pleaser role on occasion. But I am learning to say it’s okay when I am not 1at my best and express my opinions more spontaneously than merely saying what is expected of me out of political correctness.

To paraphrase Joseph Campbell, I am beginning to enjoy and appreciate the pleasure and privilege of being my true self, warts and all.

Monday, May 26, 2008

Robina Gokongwei-Pe's Speech at the UPSE Recognition Day - 2008


How I survived kidnapping from UP & six economic theories
By Robina Gokongwei-Pe UP School of Economics

Thank you very much, Prof. Dante Canlas, for your wonderful, wonderful introduction.

Dean Emmanuel de Dios — Dean de Dios was my professor of international trade way back in 1981, and it is not only because he gave me a grade of 1.5 that I agreed to be your guest speaker for today. It is hard for me to remember all my teachers in college, but Dean de Dios was someone I remembered very well, because I couldn’t imagine how one so young could be so brilliant. He was personally chosen by UP President Emerlinda Roman to be one of the speakers at the UP Centennial Lecture Series. He will speak on “Secular Morality and the University” on May 7 (plugging, plugging).

By the way, President Roman says that noted filmmaker Behn Cervantes keeps reminding everyone that it’s pronounced “centennial” with a short “e,” and not “centeeeennial.”

Former Dean Raul Fabella — it’s unfortunate that I missed Dean Fabella in college. I think he was in the US when I was a student.

College Secretary Oggie Arcenas — Di ko rin inabutan si Prof. Arcenas, but then he must’ve been still in high school when I was at UPSE. When I saw him, I came to the conclusion that UPSE college secretaries are all boyish-looking because the college secretary during my time, Prof. Cayetano Paderanga, who incidentally taught me Econ 101, had the same features. (During my time, there were two cutie pies — Professsors Vito Inoferio and Cayetano Panderanga.)

Professor Dante Canlas, who taught me Econ 181. He was the only professor man enough to give me a grade of “1” even if I didn’t take his midterm exams. I will tell you about that later.

Professor Solita Monsod — the irrepressible Winnie Monsod with her sexy legs, miniskirt, booming voice, cigarette and iced tea in tow. Prof. Monsod taught us Econ 11 and Econ 101, and she explained everything so clearly it made economics less scary than I thought it would be. One morning during a class in the auditorium, she said, “Hey, who’s been spreading the news that this glass I’m carrying every day to class contains scotch? Of course I don’t bring scotch to class. It’s iced tea!”

Professor Manny Esguerra — Sayang, di ko naging teacher si Prof. Esguerra.

Professor Benjie Sandoval of the College of Business Administration — Benjie is executive director and my barkada at the UP Centennial Commission.

Tita Eden Bautista, former administrative officer at SE 101, who gave me my honorable dismissal in 1981 when I unexpectedly left UP in my senior year. If I need someone to remember where I placed all my things, it has to be Tita Eden. In fact, she is right now holding my handbag for me.

Joaquin Teotico, president of the UPSE Alumni Association; academic personnel, administration personnel, parents and graduates: Good afternoon.

I’m very happy to be back in the university that I never graduated from but wish I had. I am simply one lucky bitch to be speaking on your recognition day. Thank you to the UPSE Student Council, led by Sarah Adan and Jances Parado, for inviting me. In their letter, Sarah and Jances asked me to share my experiences and insights into being an instrument of meaningful change in society. And if could please bring in the concept of economics as an instrument of change and progress.

I gave Dean de Dios a call and said, “Dean, it’s a wonderful topic but I don’t know what I’m supposed to say,” and he told me, “Let’s have lunch with the students and talk about it.”

And so I did, and I met Sarah, Jances, and other student reps Mario Garcia, Nica Maloles and Jelain Reyes, plus Dean Fabella, Professors Arcenas, Monsod and Jack Teotico. I asked the students what they would really, really be interested in. They asked “Can you talk about what’s in store for us after economics?” The faculty said, “How about entrepreneurship?” or “How about matching economic theories with reality?”

And so I decided to put everything together, as chop suey as it may sound. Let me start with economic theories or concepts or terminology, whatever is the right way of calling them.

The first theory is the ubiquitous law of supply and demand. The reason I failed to graduate from UP was that I was kidnapped on the way to school in September 1981, and guess what, right on the day I was supposed to take Prof. Canlas’ exams.

Contrary to the 2000 movie Ping Lacson, Supercop, I was not jogging on the grounds of UP wearing a midriff when I got kidnapped. In the first place I didn’t have the body then to wear that outfit and never will. By the way, the actress who played me in the movie was Angel Locsin, and I hope you didn’t invite me to make this speech because you thought I looked like her. (Of course, deep inside, I wish I did.)

By the way, yes, it was then Lt. Col. and now Senator Ping Lacson who rescued me after seven days in captivity. He literally kicked and broke down the door, just like you see in the movies.

At that time, 1981, the kidnappers demanded P7 million in ransom money. Nowadays, any Tom, Dick and Harry would kidnap you for as low as P300,000. And that’s the law of supply and demand. The price has gone down to P300,000 because there are so many unorganized criminal gangs who are willing to take anything, and the victims are more willing to give since it’s not worth your life trying to haggle if it’s only P300,000.

You must be wondering whether the kidnappers were caught. Which brings me to the second theory: the theory of competitive advantage.

The mastermind was the son of a judge from Cebu. The judge from the lower court found him guilty, but when the case came up to the Supreme Court, the justices acquitted him. It’s only in the Philippines where you see the mastermind of a kidnapping gang get acquitted, and I wonder whether it has to do with his being the son of another judge. That is what you call competitive advantage.

The third theory is cost-benefit analysis. In 1989, we acquired the venerable national daily Manila Times from the Roces family. Sometime in 1998, my editors, who incidentally came from UP, wrote a headline that annoyed then President Joseph Estrada.

The story was about how the government was unwittingly led to sign an anomalous contract with IMPSA, a foreign group. Take note, this was in 1998, so if you’re thinking that this is ZTE, this is not ZTE.

Anyway, I didn’t even know what the story was all about, as my policy was to leave the editors to do their job while I handled the business side. I ended up getting sued by the president of the country, and for several nights, I thought hard about the future of the paper. As an economist would say, “Do a cost-benefit analysis.” The benefit was that it was a well-respected paper with a well-respected staff. However, the cost was that I was sure to die early, thinking about getting sued day in and day out. I didn’t want the staff to deal with a boss suffering from a nervous breakdown, and I didn’t want the readers to think that we were now forced to change the newspaper’s ideals to avoid any more lawsuits, so with a heavy heart, we sold the paper.

Running a well-respected paper was part of my efforts at being an instrument of meaningful change in society. So much for the effort. I figured, hay naku, magtitindera na lang ako.

Anyway, five years after, the government ended up suing that same foreign group, IMPSA, for leading them to sign that anomalous contract. By that time, I was already leading a less-turbulent life managing our retail group, and I left my sister Lisa to continue with publishing. She was smarter than me. She put up the highly successful Summit Publishing, which includes some staples such as Cosmopolitan and FHM. This is where I can say that when it comes to sex, the demand is always greater than the supply.

The fourth concept is about monopolies and oligopolies. A UP alumnus recently branded our family as oligarchs in the airline industry. In my economics textbook, an oligopoly happens when only a few players dominate the industry and set the price of goods unreasonably high. I do not know how we can be oligarchs if we give opportunities for people to travel more often by providing one-peso fares. Setting the price of goods with one-peso fares? Maybe he wants us to lower it to 50 centavos.

Let me go on to the fifth and sixth concepts, which I believe are the most important because they have to do with what you are going to do after graduation. Specifically, what you think you can do after obtaining an economics degree. In truth, you can do anything you want.

In fact, I asked the student reps over lunch why they majored in economics, and they said it was because they had the impression that you can do anything with an economics degree, and I told them they were right.

In fact, I wonder who among you were like me and decided to major in economics because you wanted something close to business but not take up business administration, and you thought that economics and BA were almost the same. It turns out that they’re related in some ways, but in most ways they’re totally different, and it’s a good thing I didn’t major in BA: I barely passed accounting.

My dad didn’t force me to take up BA after I graduated in high school in 1978 because he said that I would learn business anyway when I entered business, so I should go learn something else. If I had the choice, I would’ve gone into anthropology or veterinary medicine, but then it was uso among the Chinoys at that time that you either majored in pre-med because you were going to be a doctor, or in business because you were going to work in a bank. It seemed that Chinoys were headed to only two professions at that time.

I was the typical Chinoy who just followed where everyone went.

Anyway, back to my fifth and sixth theories — the theory of opportunity costs and the law of diminishing marginal returns. I know that when you start looking for a job, you will do two things — you will compare what each company is offering you, and you will compare your pay with your batchmates. Taking the first job offer that comes your way implies an opportunity cost of losing the chance of making more money. You wouldn’t want to lose that opportunity to make more money, would you?

Six months into the job, either one of two things can happen, or the two may happen at the same time. Either you will be thinking about whether this is the job you really want and you will keep on meditating about it to the consternation of your boss, or another company will try to poach you by offering better pay and benefits, or both.

Now take note that you belong to Generation Y, which the latest issue of The McKinsey Quarterly describes as people “born after 1980 — whose outlook has been shaped by, among other things, the Internet, information overload, and overzealous parents. HR professionals say these workers demand more flexibility, meaningful jobs, professional freedom, higher rewards, and a better work life-life balance than older employees do.

“People in this group see their professional careers as a series of two- to three-year chapters and will readily switch jobs.”

Emphasis on “readily switch jobs.”

So on to theory No. 6, the law of diminishing marginal returns. Being a member of Gen Y, you may have the habit of moving from one job to another, always grabbing the one that will pay more. You have the right not to miss out on these opportunity costs, but take note that if, by the time you’re 30, you show this three-page résumé listing that you had 12 jobs in eight years, you can be sure that you will experience firsthand the law of diminishing marginal returns. On your 13th job interview, you will be worth what your rate was when you were 22. No employer will dare hire you, because he thinks you will just run off again after six months.

Assuming (which, by the way, is an economist’s favorite word) that you decided to become an entrepreneur instead of seeking employment, then bravo, you made the right decision.

Entrepreneurship is a topic that Dean de Dios wanted me to talk about, but I told him that I wasn’t an entrepreneur. I am only managing one of my father’s businesses and using company money, not my money. But Dean said that, in any case, he knows more people who have spent all their fathers’ wealth and run the business into the ground much faster than it took me to build my father’s business. So, thank you for your kind words, Dean.

I am not an entrepreneur — it is my dad who’s an entrepreneur — but let me say something about it. I think the reason few people go into entrepreneurship especially when they come from top-tier schools like UP is that when they want to open their own taho cart, for example, people around them would tease them and say, “Ano ka ba, galing kang UP, magtataho ka lang!”

My answer to that is “E ano?” At least you have something you can call your very own.

You are not beholden to anyone but yourself, and yet you bring joy to society because you give people a product that they like. After all, big businesses started by being small once. Big business didn’t start out big: there’s no such thing.

Let me give you, though, one tip about running a business, and one more economic theory to go with it.

It’s about the theory of market competition. There’s such a thing as fair competitors, and there’s such a thing as desperate competitors. Both are troublesome, but you know fair competition is part of free enterprise. As for desperate competitors, you worry if this country is retrograding.

You were not born yet when the story of my kakambal na ahas who was half-woman, half-snake came out when we opened our second Robinsons Department Store branch in Cebu in 1985. My kakambal was supposed to be the source of our wealth as she laid golden eggs. She was supposed to be hiding under the floor of the fitting rooms, and every time a beautiful woman would enter, the floor would open and she would land right inside the mouth of my kakambal na ahas.

I have no idea who started this incredible story, but I have to tell you that some people believed it and even started staring at my legs to see if there were any signs of snakeskin. A few people still ask me about it, and I have to tell them na naging handbag na ho sa Robinsons Department Store.

Thank goodness there was no Internet yet at that time, or you would start receiving photos of me with a snake’s body and my kakambal na snake with a woman’s legs.

How do you deal with these dirty tricks? Nothing, just keep quiet and let the story fade away. Or better still, make a joke out of it.

And that is what you are going to face on a regular basis once you step out of school.

Someone will be out to kill your product, out to get your job, out to grab your boyfriend.

And if you’re an unlucky bitch, maybe all at the same time! But in the end, you will come out a stronger person, and better still, end up with a much better boyfriend.

Thank you and congratulations!

Sunday, May 25, 2008

www.new7wonders.com


Guys, please vote for Philippines' entries to the new 7 wonders of the world. Let us help create history! Let us, for once do something good to our country. And let us bring back Philippines' glory!

Puerto Princesa Subterranean River National Park
Tubbataha Reef
Chocolate Hills
Mayon Volcano

Wednesday, May 21, 2008

Walang Kwenta pero mga Interesanteng Trivia (meron ba nun?)

Coca-Cola was originally green.

Men can read smaller print than women; women can hear better (kaya ba sila chismosa?)

The oldest known vegetable is the pea.

The dumbest domesticated animal is the turkey

Kermit the Frog is left-handed ( di nga? )

Nondairy creamer is flammable (ta try ko to.)

The citrus soda 7-UP was created in 1929; '7' was selected because the original containers were 7 ounces. 'UP' indicated the direction of the bubbles

The collecting of Beer mats is called Tegestology

If you yelled for 8 years, 7 months and 6 days you would have produced enough sound energy to heat one cup of coffee.(Hardly seems worth it.)

Banging your head against a wall uses 150 calories an hour. (Do not try this at home...... maybe at work.)

The 'You are here' arrow on a map is called the IDEO locator.

Termites eat wood twice as fast when listening to heavy metal music.

Dolphins don't automatically breath; they have to tell themselves to do it.

Phobatrivaphobia is a fear of trivia about phobias

Monday, May 19, 2008

2008 ESU International Public Speaking Champion's Speech


Fish Mucus and Foot Fungus
By Gian Karlo Dapul

When I was in 6th grade, I hated mathematics. You would have, too, if you had my teacher. He would drop huge workbooks on our tables and croak, “30 problems, 50 minutes.” A lot of these problems seemed unsolvable, so we complained: “Sir, there are no answers to these!” But then he’d reply, “To every question there is an answer, to every problem there is a solution.”
Although I’m only 16 years old and an incoming 4th year high school student, I know that my country has more problems than any mathematics book. Strangely enough, the answers to some of our problems are fish mucus and foot fungus. These seemingly improbable items are products of what we call scientific research.

Research turns our guesses into real knowledge, serving as the sifting pan of our hypotheses. It challenges what we assume, because, as they say, if you only learn from what you ASS-UME, you make an “ass” out of “u” and “me.”

In the early 1800s, someone warned that the streets of London would be filled with horse manure due to the uncontrolled use of horse-drawn carriages. Of course, that never happened. Combustion engines, products of research and invention, replaced horses, and the manure piled up in Parliament instead.

While on the subject, few people know that the most expensive coffee in the world is taken from the droppings of the Asian Palm Civet found in the Philippines and Indonesia. The small mammal excretes the coffee berries it eats, and forest trackers recycle the fruity feces to create what is known as Kopi Luwak in Indonesia or Kape Alamid in our country. Research has led to a synthetic process that simulates the droppings’ exotic flavor and quality.

So, who’s had coffee with their breakfast? Well, soon nobody will have had coffee and breakfast if the looming global food crisis worsens. Are you all feeling fine? Well, nobody might be fine for long if some new disease creeps up on us.

Health can be enhanced and life can be extended. The nudibranch, a beautiful, soft-bodied creature unfairly called a “sea slug” — a favorite among underwater photographers for its marvelous colors and shapes — has actually been used in tumor research. Samples of fish mucus have also displayed certain antibacterial properties.

And as the Home Shopping Network would say, “Wait! There’s more.”

Certain types of infectious fungi that coat some of your toes form beneficial relationships that support plant growth. The International Rice Research Institute based in the Philippines continues to develop ways to improve rice growth and help alleviate the current food crisis.
New challenges are coming, and they will always confront us. What we need is an army of scientific researchers that will help find the solutions in advance. I want to be part of that army that would cross the new frontiers first.

If only we could make science fairs and contests as popular as the thriving “Idol” franchise — although I’m not sure if Simon Cowell’s sardonic comments will sit well with my peers. But we need the same hard-hitting passion in research and invention.

To conduct research is to be innovative, avant-garde. Researchers are like artists with test tubes and lab gowns instead of paintbrushes and smocks. When I graduate from the Philippine Science High School next year, I want to begin my “masterpiece” and apply for a university degree in biochemistry.

Sometimes I am discouraged by those who say that a researcher from a Third-World nation is like a Jesuit adhering to a vow of poverty, or worse, like a Benedictine monk observing the vow of chastity. It is indeed a challenge, but it’s also another frontier to cross, for me and many young people like me.

We Filipinos are well known for our dedication to service, in foreign homes, hospitals and hotels. (In our hotel, I found three Filipinos working at the front desk.) I want to be one of the pioneers that will make the Philippines known for its excellence in scientific research, as part of the driving force that will expand our horizons towards tomorrow. And I intend to have a lot of fun while doing it.

Going back to my math teacher, I eventually realized that, well, he was right. As he said, “To every question there is an answer, to every problem there is a solution.” We just have to go looking for the right ones. Who knows? Maybe one day we’ll be answering the questions that haven’t been asked yet.

Sunday, May 18, 2008

Do you have the “Oblê Factor”?


Hey fellow UPians, its your time to shine.Hehe!

Calling all male UP students and alumni! If you think you’ve got what it takes to pose for pictures wearing only a fig leaf, then come apply for a spot in “Hail! UP Oblation!”
You could be chosen as one of the lucky 100 men from all walks of the University who will pose for a photo op on the break of dawn on June 18, replicating the figure of the Oblation monument. Professional photographers from various media organizations, both local and international, will be covering the event, and the best shots will be featured in the UP Centennial Coffee Table Book.

Don’t miss this chance to go down in UP history!

No age or height limit! You just have to have enough guts to show off those abs for all the world to see.

It’s very easy to apply. All we need is a picture of you wearing short shorts or trunks. Apply now!

For inquiries, please email r3nka@yahoo.com

Saturday, May 17, 2008

Kung bakit mas gusto kong ang tagalog movies


Bata pa lang ako mahilig na ako tagalong movies kesa sa English. Lagi nga ako mag isa nanonood ng sine kasi walang gusto sumama sakin kasi nga tagalog ( so baduy, sabi ng pinsan kong pinaglihi kay Kris Aquino). Pero ewan ko, hanggang ngayun mas na a appreciate ko ang tagalog over English movies. Bakit nga ba?

Una,kasi mas madaling intindihin, alam mo na, tagalog ang salita. Hindi na kailangan magdala ng mga dictionary pag may na encounter ka na kakaibang words. O di kaya lagyan ng caption pag nanonood sa DVD.

Pangalawa, dahil gawang pinoy, mas madaling maka relate. Pinoy ang istorya at pinoy ang setting. Baduy man pero mas naiintindihan natin dahil mas kabisado natin ang kulturang pinoy.

Pangatlo, jologs pero mas may dating ang mga linya. Mas may kurot sa puso, mas nakakaantig damdamin. May mensaheng galing sa pusong pinoy.

Pang-apat, Filipino first. Hehe.Patriotic? Oo.Unahin ang sariling atin.

Pang-lima, yung aral ng bawat kwento.Tungkol man sa pamilya, pag ibig o pagkakaibigan. Pinoy values showcased at its best and finest!

Monday, May 12, 2008

Nagtatanong lang naman


I don’t know kung ako lang ang nakakapansin nito. Maybe I am just a natural observer or maybe I am insane. I know you will settle for the latter, too.

Up to this writing, I can’t still unravel this mystery: why do most ( hey, I’m not saying all! ) girls take a very long ( and by that, I really mean long ) time in taking a bath.

Wala naman nagbabago sa kanila pag labas nila ng bathroom.Hehehe.Bad me.

Sunday, May 11, 2008

Panimula


Dahil nag request yung isang nakaka aliw na blogger (uhuyyyyyyyy), eto gumawa na naman ako ng bagong blog. Sana mabuhay to ng mahabang panahon.

I'll be posting all my classic blogs from my multiply here.

Listen well.