Haggard Blabbering of an Old Yokel

I think someone should come up with a Guiness book-type of compilation which comprehensively lists all the things that can only happen in the Philippines.

This one news item I read last weekend would be one for that book. The local official in Mindanao wants the National Government to provide livelihood assistance to kidnappers. What the heck!?!

Isn’t the job of the local government to go after criminals in its respective area of responsibility? It speaks volumes of the kind of local government officials we have.

The kidnappers are said to be members of the Abu Sayaf. But others are in the belief that the original kidnappers were actually a smaller bandit group, who simply turned over the hostages and gave credit to the Abu Sayaf, because the latter are more feared, and thus could demand a more hefty ransom, as well as get better media coverage.

There supposedly might be another angle (aside from utter stupidity) for such a remark coming from a local government official in Mindanao. They say the dynamics of politics, in that southern part of the archipelago, are different. They say the people in power there are often related to the people who are also the cause of trouble. So, for all we know, that official might be the dad or an uncle of one or two of the kidnappers. That’s why he wants a livelihood package. He’s just looking after family. It can happen only here in the Philippines.

Then there’s the news yesterday about the Abu Sayaf wanting VP Noli De Castro in the peace talks. What the F*%K!?! Peace talks are for two sides at war. The Abu Sayaf are terrorists, if not just plain bandits. Criminals are meant to be caught and made answerable for their crimes, and not invited to talk about their issues and concerns. Do you invite a murderer or bank robber to come over and sign a peace agreement? It doesn’t make any sense.

There is, however as always, another angle. Peace talks with the Abu Sayaf offer a perfect photo opportunity and media mileage for a current administration ally eyeing to run for the top post in the land come 2010. Although in the papers, it says it’s the Abu Sayaf who has requested for the VP, we should know all too well that being a group with no ideology – all it takes is a lot of money. Question is where do they get all that money?

So it all makes sense. If we can offer livelihood packages to bandits/kidnappers/terrorists, why not provide financial aid as well.

It can happen only in the Philippines.  

The other night I was watching the Leapfrog version of the “Three Little Pigs” with my boys. The boys were dancing to the songs and they were also trying their best to read along.

After watching the dvd with the boys, it suddenly hit me. “Three Little Pigs” had a deeper moral story.

The first pig built a house of straws. The second pig built a house of sticks. Both pigs prioritized having a good time more than anything else. They paid the price for their foolishness. The third pig put more effort into his house. He built it with metal and concrete. He sacrificed being able to play to put his house in order, to secure his future. He became the better pig.  

I had read the story as child countless of times - but the deeper moral of the story just dawned on me that night. I hope I will be able to impart the lesson behind such a simple story to my boys, so they can avoid the mistakes I made as a young adult.

I have been blessed with people that have made the gravity of foolishly building my house with sticks easier. I thank God for his blessings everyday.

However, one thing in my life has always been built with a good foundation and secured in the sturdiest and strongest of armor  - no amount of huffing and puffing can blow it down.

On the same day today, ten years ago, I entered into a beautiful relationship with my wife (who was then my girlfriend).  On a cold night of February, we held hands as friends but I didn’t want to let go until we were something more. I knew she was the one for me. In an instant, I knew there was something special. The realities of life and harshness of the daily grind may drown out the nostalgia, but I will always remember that night. A decade and two handsome little boys after, she’s still my best friend (and my worst enemy..hehehe), my devoted wife and the love of my life.

The relationship has been through good and hard times. But one thing remains the same - I still adore her as much (or even more) as I did ten years before. Cheesy as it may sound, I have never really cared for anyone as much as I cared for her. Even as a young adult, I never took those “three words” lightly. I was even hesistant to say it in other previous relationships. There were also former relationships, I didn’t even say it at all.  I blame it on being then a hopeless romantic. I couldn’t say it, if I didn’t feel it.

When I met Dhey…

I love you hon!

… I could say it everyday.

It’s another year once more. This is my first entry for 2009. I wish I could come up with something good to start the New Year right. I’ll try.

TABULA RASA

This year is just like that, a clean slate. I have the opportunity to start anew.

I have a new job that comes with new responsibilities. I think it’s going to be a real challenge.

I have a new outlook in life. I would like to believe I’m more selfless now. I care more for what I can give rather than what I can get.

I’d like to get healthier now. I want to go against the irony of the reality that as our minds grow stronger our bodies get weaker (older). I want to put off a year or two of the latter. I had some progress last year (before the holiday season). I want to move it up a notch this year.

I want this year to be different for me and my family. Despite all the financial uncertainty of the times, I want this year to be the start of something bigger and better.

Think positive and it will be. Yup, this year belongs to me.   

I have been playing basketball since I was a little boy. Despite being vertically-challenged, I really enjoy playing the sport. I even tell people this story of mine - that I played a little of power forward/center when I was in first year high school, but later on played small forward in second year, and then guard in my third year and then was benched on my fourth year.

For the first time, I’m on a team that’s really dominating the competition. We’ve been winning lopsided matches. We have had only one loss - and it was during our first game. Since then, it’s been a walk in the park. Now, we’re in a best-of-three championship series. We won the first one last night. We’re just one win away. If ever, it will be my first time ever to be a part of a champion basketball team.

What I like most about my current team, is how well each member has taken on their specific roles in the team. No one person scores on every given night. Even if I’ve been relegated to being a role player on the defensive end, it still feels great. Even when there are nights some of us don’t score points, it’s okay, for as long as we did our assigned roles - meaning either we effectively distributed the ball, or we hustled and rebounded for the ball or just made it difficult for the other team to score.

Basketball championship?! - it seems so trivial. It can’t really be that special, after all it’s only a village basketball league. But for someone who’s been playing since he was a kid, for someone who has played his fair share of small town basketball summer leagues and lost, it must make him feel good.

It seems trivial. But for someone who was suppose to belong to the other team but was traded away because they said he doesn’t attend team practice sessions and would be more of a liability than an asset, it must make him feel better,

It seems trivial. But for someone who has bonded well with his new teammates, got some respect for his game, got a free set of basketball uniform together with a free new pair of adidas and is now on the verge of winning the championship, it should make him feel better than better.

The “best” is still reserved for the actual championship. It’s still five days away. But he could still feel even better than that - if it becomes true - the rumors that they say - that if the team wins, free pairs of the new Lebrons will be given away.

When one always equates unhappiness with not having the things one does not have, instead of cherishing the important things one already has, one will always lead a miserable life.

Knowing I’m alive one more day, knowing I have a wife to hold, two boys to call my own, knowing I still have a dad and mom, a brother and two sisters who will always love me as their own, knowing I have kind and considerate in-laws, Knowing I have relatives who care and good friends I can trust - these are enough reasons for me to be thankful and happy.

Despite the bleak economy and the seemingly endless struggle for financial stability and security, there is no reason to be unhappy.

I work to earn money. I hope and pray for more money. It buys the things we need. It pays the bills we have. Our lifestyle is better with more of it around. However, no amount can ever be as valuable.

I wish we could have a new car for Christmas. I wish we could have a new house for the New Year. But no other wish comes first than the safety and good health of the people I love and care for the most.

I have heard the prayer a few sundays ago. However, it was a streamer at my hometown church that really bothered me. It said “No to Reproductive Health”. Something in the church hierarchy is terribly wrong.

I consider myself a devout Catholic but when something is illogical, I don’t follow blindly.

History is a really good teacher. If I remember right the church of the old ages branded as heretics those who philosophized that it was the sun at the center and that the earth was revolving around it. I also remember reading how much the church was opposed to Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution. It was only in modern times that the story of Adam and Eve was finally considered as merely symbolical.

It’s just the same.

Matters of faith and morals — I will follow. But when such matters border between religion and reality — I will think.

I’m usually in a better mood when my day job office hours are over and the weekend beckons, but today I was PISSED.

I had submitted work for approval yesterday, because I need it early on Monday. It comes back to me a few seconds before the end of the office hours with still no signature on the printing slip. When I checked for any corrections and I saw one … my mind was screaming "WTF?!?"

I was so damn pissed. There were no mistakes. I even asked the opinion of an English teacher, and he said there was nothing wrong. He wanted me to erase a preposition that was correctly in place. It was basic grammar. ("Parang linagyan lang ng mark para masabing nag-edit siya.") But I just kept my mouth shut, I’m just a few weeks away and it was a Friday, I was in no mood. However, because of that  lame minor correction (that should be called a "mis-correction) I had to go back and forth two buildings. From the faculty room, I had to have the printing slip signed at the other building, then I had to reprint back at the faculty room, and then I had to go back to the printing office. It was so unnecessary.

I used to be irritated at corrections that merely replaced words I chose with a synonyms, but this one tops that because of all the brisk walking I had to do.

Still, I have to accept it as it is. Nothing I can do about it. Well, as they say when things don’t go your way - "Shit happens."

I browsed through some of the brief profiles of the families who can afford to send their sons to one of the most expensive exclusive schools in Metro Manila, and I found something common about many of them.

Though I don’t take all the advice dished out in books and magazines hook line and sinker, it all makes sense now.

I was raised with a "Poor Dad" mentality (as defined by Robert Kiyosaki). It was just plain "get a good education" and "get a good job". Now, after being with and seeing all these people who live good and sheltered lives, who can easily afford a lifestyle that we common folks can only dream about and most importantly, who can keep their families safe and secure in the country despite all the instability, I see things differently. There are other ways and other means.

I want to be like them, though I admit it’s a bit late in the game already. Still, every new day brings a promise of a new tomorrow, of new opportunities. I can’t lose hope. I won’t lose hope. 

It was a difficult choice but it had to be made. After 30 days, I will officially join the ranks of the unemployed. Add one to the unemployed labor statistics after August 8.

I honestly liked some aspects of my employment - the camaraderie and collegiality - but the reality of it all is that management had no real ounce of employee interest and welfare in mind. They seemed to always have another agenda. It just didn’t seem worth it any more. It’s one thing to be underpaid and overworked, but when they’re making things even more difficult because of their reliance on conservative old-fashioned thinking, it’s really different. Still, I could have stayed on. It’s not always a bad day (although lately it has always been a tiring one). Had I not been shoved in the face with the usual dull employment contract, I wouldn’t have decided this early. It had to happen.

I am looking forward to other opportunities. I’m knocking on a few ones right now and hoping and praying some of them will open.

A next chapter will begin real soon.   

It’s the start of a new week in a few minutes and since I’ve had so little time to update this blog, I figured I’d jot down some of things from the previous week.

First is, of course, Hans’ first week in school. It’s a big adjustment for him to be in a totally new school, but we think he’s handling himself well. Many things are different from his previous school and some of the changes are surprising, but we hope to
adjust to all of it soon. He had a good week.

My week at work is a different story. I just don’t know. I feel unsatisfied. The little things that didn’t seem to bother me before bother me now, and the big things … I don’t want to start about that.

A good part of my week was last Friday, after the orientation in Hans’ school, I was finally able to visit the old workplace - ILS. It’s good to see the people there again. It was sad though to see that my old division is not what it used to be. I hope my good friend Kurt can still turn things around. I actually wouldn’t mind working there again. I miss the work. I miss the writing. Actually, I’m itching for the writing. After I saw this one research paper briefly cite one of the old articles I’ve written, I realized how much I loved doing what I did then. May be somethings still need some changing like it did then when I left, but I see things differently now. Sometimes if you want change, change has to start from you.

The last post prior to this one was basically about "Iron Man" the movie. Well, today Hans and I saw "The Incredible Hulk"; and just like what I said… lo and behold … before the end of the movie, Tony Stark (Robert Downey) comes out and mentions project Avenger.

The movie was great. One will forget the first "Hulk" movie even came out. The action was spectacular. The story was really good. You sense that it’s going somewhere, and it does as it culminates with Bruce having more control and then there’s the possibility of him either joining or fighting (or both) the Avengers. I can’t wait to see what happens next.

Finally, according to friendster, I’m unable to post new pictures because I’ve used the available space for this free account. Because of this, I’m re-posting this entry in my livejournal (http://yobeenoh.livejournal.com/) and I’ll be using it more for future posts.