Mynd

When you have to go, you really have to go.

It takes one rainy Sunday afternoon to see the depths of our mind. The water’s rhythmic cadence on the roof whispers like a good old friend that makes us feel how lucky we exist in this lifetime. And the flood it leaves after its splash reminds us of the sick cycle that after life comes death. I am assuming, of course, for normal people like me that happiness is balance and getting what you paid for. As simple as getting a tattoo, out of ink, pain and blood comes ‘skinful’ art. Or when starting to play the guitar, you can’t expect to fret out stunning riffs without callusing your fingers. You can have your cake and eat it but expect a rise in your sugar level.

Outside looking in, inside looking out.

I decided to take my neutral side, leaving my extremes behind. Hoping to see what I came to find, I slowly took a peek inside my mind.

Dear

Every time you go away, you take a piece of me with you.

Bravo!!!

I got my first motorized bike today, a pre-loved bike that I bought from my co-worker for a very reasonable price. Since I can afford one, I  was prevented from owning a motorized bike due to the high death toll of riders in my beloved country. The weather got worst as I had friends and colleagues dying by the bike.  People started seeing riding motorized bikes as a quick trip to the morgue.

 

Honda Bravo Specs:

Engine Type: 4 Stroke, OHC, air-cooled
Bore X Stroke: 50 x 49.5 (mm)
Displacement: 97.1 (cc)
Compression Ratio: 9.0:1
Max Output: 5.36 kw/8000 rpm (or 7.3 PS/8000 rpm)
Max Torque: 7.34 N-m/5500 rpm (or 0.75 kg-m/5500 rpm)
Engine Oil Capacity: 0.9 liters
Starter: Electric
Transmission: 4 speed rotary type
Dimensions: 1.908 x 6999 x 999 mm
Dry Weight: 89 (kgs)
Fuel Tank Capacity: 3.7 liters
Seat Height: 764 mm
Wheel Base: 1.234 mm
Min Ground Clearance: 127 mm
Front Suspension: Telescopic fork
Rear Suspension: Twin
Front Break System: Drum
Rear Break System: Drum

Save Me

Where have all the righteous men gone, long time no see? When the right thing happens to be the hardest, can you blame us for being wicked. On the first sight of blood, if turn around and flee? Can you blame me for being the coward, choosing self preservation? There will be another day, as certain as the games we play. The next time, I’ll wield my sword in triumphant glory.

Saving game… Please wait. Do not remove memory card.

Tapilok

I sprained my right foot muscle over a basketball game this evening. I shouldn’t have played with the construction workers. I only have one week before our company sports fest starts. Based from my previous battles with sprains, it looks like I’ll be warming the bench with my skinny ass again. Just when I secured a spot at the starting line up, the goddess Nike screws me. I have never been part of any starting line up, even on the small time barrio leagues. God, I’m hopeless.

Looking on the bright side, my injury inspired me to brew an ultra corny joke that goes like:

“Ano ang tawag sa pinakamasakit na chocolate?”

Edi…

“Tofiluk!”

Final Friday

And if there was something out of the usual to share, it would be absence of Manic Mondays for the last six months of my existence. They were replaced by Troubling Tuesdays due to our company’s adherence to MST Zone, which on my opinion is the best time zone to follow when working in our beloved country. 6PM MST is 9AM local time; do I need to say more?  So much for planning to make this an I’m-bitter-with-the-world post, I just used the word beloved. Starting this May, I am forced to bid farewell to my existing work schedule meaning goodbye Friday to Sunday day off. Hello Monday to Wednesday day off, I hope you’ll be kind to me. I have a weak heart. A heart so weak that I replaced my truck’s leaf spring bushings and front shock absorbers in honor of my final Friday day off.

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Epic Beard

People’s reaction after I grew a beard and a moustache:

“Natakot ako pag kakita ko nung pic mo!”
“Bad boy look”
“Manong Joma”
“Action star look”
“Kamuha mo si Victor Neri na may sakit”
“Bagay!”
“‘Wag kang magsasalita ng kengkoy, ha?”
“Kuya!”
“Hoy hoy hoy Mr Suave!”

Sacrifice

Remind me to thank you for being patient at times when the word patient seems to rhyme with sacrifice. We are done for today, till next time.

Nothing to Say

Today I woke up consumed by an old feeling. I felt I could lie in my bed a bit longer without a sense of urgency for the day ahead. My bed plays a silent tune lulling me back to sleep against my will. I’m 15 again and I’m back in my old room here in the province. But am I the same person that once looked outside my bedroom window thinking about sniping ice cream vendors in the mid day sun? Am I the same selfish kid who did things for the sake of me? Am I the same lazy ass that passed the ball around until work was done? Perhaps I am, and perhaps I’m not. I’d like to linger to find out if I grew wiser through all these years. I’d like to know the price for sticking for what I believe in 12 years ago. Yes, I am a fool, I’ll always be. And that is just me.

Rival Views, Both Right (reposted from The New York Times)

I’d like to share an interesting read –  Rival Views, Both Right (Reposted from The New York Times)

Is there an app for improving America’s educational system? Will watching a PowerPoint presentation about the nation’s educational challenge help to understand the opportunities and difficulties facing the country?

Two college dropouts, Steve Jobs (Reed College) and Bill Gates (Harvard University) have articulated theories about education. And their viewpoints are as different as are their companies (Apple and Microsoft, respectively), presenting a contrast in style and philosophy.

Flashback to 1983: Jobs and Gates.
Gates hopes to analyze and adjust the education system in order to produce a more efficient and effective learning environment. He advocates sophisticated metrics to measure results. What makes one teacher better at her job than another and how can best practices be shared? Technology enables analysis and is also the delivery mechanism.

Once the education community receives reliable disaggregated research, the policy makers can allocate their limited resources in a fashion that will produce a higher yield. As Gates has said, “…we need to raise performance without spending a lot more.”

Jobs is focused more on individual learning and less on systemic education. Technology is his way to get a well-integrated mind flowing in multiple directions. His learning philosophy gives each person the ability to chart his own course. It is less about the structure of the system and more about free will.

A discerning mind, one that blends science and Springsteen, is the backbone of the creative spirit: ideas fuel entrepreneurship. Gates’ recent speech to the nation’s governors stressed assessment, measuring outcomes and tracking students’ progress. Technology and benchmarking are joined at the hip. He feels it is worth charting the effectiveness of particular majors with regional job creation. (Does he favor vocational education?)

Jobs’ approach allows for individual experimentation to find a unique solution to each person’s quest. It is the symbol of intellectual multi-tasking. This is a more experimental, integrated search for a holistic view of the universe, one that has multiple access points. Each student becomes his or her own teacher.

My heart is with Jobs (full disclosure: I wrote this on a MacBook Pro). But my mind fully understands Gates’ mandate to discover ways to maximize scarce resources to best prepare the workforce. It is beyond noble; it is essential. Gates has contributed millions, perhaps even billions, for the study of education. He is looking for the vaccine to cure education’s ailing health. Jobs is tripping our mind with the jazz of life put before us to spark awareness that the more we learn the more powerful we become.

How does this relate to the curriculum of higher education? Keep poetry, architectural history and Russian literature alongside mechanical engineering and agricultural studies. A discerning mind, one that blends science and Springsteen, is the backbone of the creative spirit: ideas fuel entrepreneurship.

Gates is studying the science of education. Jobs is creating the art of learning. I’m sure there is an app for teaching arithmetic by watching the heavens and counting the stars.

WFH

Last Wednesday, I was working from home. It was a fairly quiet shift until I decided to do something I have never done before during work hours. Midway on my shift I decided to pop a cold bottle of Red Horse Beer right from the fridge.  I didn’t exactly planned to drink beer, it just happened. Suddenly I was in the zone during that moment. God knows how I hate drinking beer even in parties and special occasions. The thought of drinking during work hours is too much to resist, especially when you are tasked to monitor a network with more than a hundred sites – an outage that is left ignored could cost millions of pesos including my job. Now that is doing something different for a change, a stab on the back of daily routine.

After drinking 3/4 of the bottle’s contents, I saw the alarms turn bloody red. I scampered towards my work desk with the TV still on, totally ignoring Anne Curtis in the process. A one gig link connecting all of the 18 branches in the Philippines was down hard. In short, I am in for a long day of troubleshooting and coordination with the stupid carrier, not to mention the after actions reports which I despise more than anything, maybe next to GMA.

The lesson is to never ever even think about drinking beer during your work hours except if you are Chuck Norris, which is on a different level. It was hard on my mortal body to work properly with alcohol on my veins. I was giggling most of the time while I was talking to someone on the phone.

Deep Blue Sea

You can only take so much bad news making you wonder what the hell is happening to the world today. In the light of recent earthquakes, tsunamis, fires, wars, radiation scares and abnormal weather patterns you can’t help but ask why disasters seem to strike more often than usual. Is the end near? I certainly hope not.  Doomsayers have long predicted the end of times, and they have failed countless times. The pending apocalypse on 12-2012, I hope, is just another one of those failed predictions that would sink their trust ratings down to the bottom of the ocean floor.

Super Moon

How I crave to be brave and let everything fall to place. My feet are frozen to the ground, bounded by my fears and hesitations. I feel like I’ve traveled far and wide in search of something pure to believe in only to find myself back to the place where I started when I look at you. Oh, Super Moon!

地震

I hope that all my friends in Japan are alright.

Number 5ive

I am number five would probably be the title of the second installment of I am number four.