October 1, 2013
Tide seems to be turning. For a couple of months, I was on the bad side
of luck, in fact; I was downright unlucky personally and professionally. But this time around, the luck again is on my
side. Very recently, I had my brand new
motorcycle (purchased around a month ago) and today, I have a brand new laptop.
Though these material things have nothing to do with me
being (and feeling) lucky, these new acquisitions tend to signify a changing
tide and this tide is one lucky tide.
Psychological but that is just the way I see it. And in response to this new tide, I am
putting my thoughts again in writing and hopefully, I could sustain this
exercise daily.
Ayn celebrated her 23rd birthday last
September 28 and RG will be celebrating her 43rd birthday this
October 16. Yes, I am getting old but I
really feel that my life is still before me and I still have some things to
contribute to the betterment of this planet and indirectly, to the betterment
of my life.
There is just no better description for pounding a
virgin computer keyboard as well a brand new belt-driven motorcycle. Just for the record, my new mc is Yamaha Mio
while this new laptop is Lenovo Ideapad S210 Touch. The Ideapad is a new acquisition just this
day while the Yamaha is about a month old.
Now I was able to acquire a new MC because I sold my
first MC (Honda Bravo circa 2009) and the proceeds of the said sale served as
my downpayment for a MC.
Currently, I now have two MC’s. One is a Kawasaki Rouser 135cc and Yamaha Mio
115cc.
If things work out according to plan, by December of
this year, I would be purchasing my first car and things just couldn’t be
better. At the moment, I am leaning
towards a second hand Toyota Revo (Automatic Transmission) and if the funding
pushes through, this could even be a banner year financially.
If my paternal inheritance pushes through, a better 2014
could be a very tangible and a possible thing. My family might be heading for a
Cabadbaran Christmas celebration and such is just about time. The last time I was at the province was when
Tatay died and financially willing, the entire family might just visit the
grave of Tatay to pay respect and renew some old family ties.
In life, there are winners and losers. Winners are people who get what they want and
need and deserved. While losers are
those people who always get the end of the stick. Who in a competition, always loses. Now, winning is not an event, winning is a
process. You need to work at it every
day, setting the day that would one day propel you to notable achievements and
accomplishments.
In a chess game, such is called a positioning move,
setting a potential advantage versus an immediate gratification with short term
payback. I elect to be a winner and I
will work at it slowly and surely.
October 2, 2013
My first trouble with my Kawasaki Rouser happened
today. On my way to the university, I
was having difficulty accelerating with my throttle and when I went to in-house
technician from where I got my MC, it was initially diagnosed as having some
problem with its electronic condenser and I simply need to replace it.
Unfortunately, parts specific to the MC was not
available and to cut a long story short, I need to leave my MC with the shop
and I went home to get my Yamaha Mio.
Resigned to the fact that there is something
electronically wrong with the Kawasaki Rouser, I was surprised to learn when I
got a text from the shop that they discovered through serendipity that instead
of the condenser my problem was somewhat trivial. It seems that water somehow penetrated the
gasoline tank and that the entire tank was now flooded with water instead of
gasoline.
I immediately put a fresh gasoline from the tank and had
the MC up and running. The trouble I had
this day was more of frustration of having to walk a long distance from which I
am not used to. From the entrance of the
Maligaya Village up to the Maligaya Market, I individually approached all shops
asking for the abovementioned condenser only to find later that such was not
the real culprit of my MC trouble.
A third of the day was wasted attending to the water
filled gasoline tank accidentally solved by serendipity.
RG was absent today, she had a terrible headache in the
morning…
October 3, 2013
The current US President Barack Obama was scheduled to
visit the country this month, unfortunately because of an internal turmoil in
the US Federal government, Mr. Obama is now cancelling the said visit.
For the first time in 17 years, there is a federal
shutdown in the US because the US House of Representatives refuses to fund a
certain legislative agenda of the US President aptly called Obamacare. Because of this impasse, the president is
vetoing the budget hence the federal shutdown.
Watching the news, it is estimated that one billion
dollars is lost because of lack of funding and people in the US are frustrated
– politics in getting in the way of government service.
My estimation is that
sooner or later, someone will have to pay for this fiasco and either way, the
fall out will be costly for everyone concern.
Islamic Republic of Iran elected a new leader in the
person of a cleric Mr. Rouhani and comparatively speaking, it seems that he is
more moderate compared to his predecessor, Mr. Ahminedijad who projects
extremism and radicalism.
There is light at the end
of the tunnel and surprisingly, the light is emanating from Iran.
I am really disappointed with the recent breakdown of my
Kawasaki Rouser 135 MC. Yesterday the
gas tank was flooded with water and today, minimal front lights were
busted. I had to go out at 9 PM to have
it replaced and replaced it was with two LED yellow lights.
A chat with a local mechanic revealed that the quality
of the Kawasaki Rouser is not that good since such is originally branded as
Pulsar Bajaj in India. Only a marketing
tie-up with Kawasaki Philippines resulted in a re-branding of Kawasaki Rouser.
At any rate, I now doubt the quality of my Kawasaki
Rouser. I now fear that at any given
time when such great inconvenience might happen – then such would happen. A Murphy law once stated that if a thing
could go wrong, then it would go wrong (or something to that effect).
The thing is, I really like
the form that Kawasaki Rouser emanates, I just question the substance. In this equation, it is form over substance.
A colleague, Ms. Joyce Padilla recently gave birth to a
second child and unfortunately (or fortunately) I was picked as one of the many
godfathers. Now I don’t know whether I
should be flattered or scared. In four years, she should have known
better. I really think that I have
exhibited enough crumbs for my faculty to gauge my character. Personally, me picking myself as a godfather
is a bad idea.
By any catholic metrics, I found myself wanting. And they should know these already.
October 6, 2013
Psychology week was and aside from the normal and
predictable blunders, the celebration was fairly decent. It didn’t exceed expectations but a decent
handling was palpable.
For the record, my Yamaha Mio MC was acquired August 27
of this year while the Kawasaki Rouser was acquired circa August 6, 2012. My pet name for the Yamaha Mio is Black
August while for the Kawasaki Rouser is Red August. Obviously the color code refers to the actual
color of the MC while August refers to the month of their respective
acquisition.
For the past two days, I have been riding the Kawasaki
Rouser hard to test its performance and durability. Because of “water in the tank” episode, I am
assessing the reliability of the said MC.
To test whether such is worthy of my care and attention. Because if it would become a constant problem
later on, I think that I have no other recourse by to sell it and just simply
buy a more reliable MC. At the moment, I
am looking at Yamaha SZ model.
Diego and Francisco is a joy to behold. I am fortunate that I am their father. Their temperament is nowhere near mine though
Francisco is a cut from my own cloth while Diego is a gentle giant literally
and figuratively.
Argie is aging gracefully (no pun intended since her
name is Grace) and I am fortunate that I made her my wife and she accepted me
as her husband. She would be celebrating
her 43rd birthday this October 16.
I am living the life that I
want and deserve. To this end, I am
counting my blessings and extends my gratitude to God.
There is a bigger world out there. While travelling abroad for me is still out
of the question, there is no impediment for me to gallivant in local
destination.
Today, for the first time – I took Diego to Norzagaray,
Bulacan to visit Ipo Dam and Angat Dam.
While we were able to enter the compound and had our pictures taken in
Ipo Dam, we were only able to visit the long stretch of a bridge leading to
Angat Dam. We didn’t even attempt to
enter the compound that secures Angat Dam.
The upswings of this activity were the following:
1. Bonding
with Diego.
2. Expanding
the experiences of Diego and yours truly.
3. Testing
and improving my motorcycle driving skills.
4. Testing
the endurance of my Kawasaki Rouser MC.
But more than these things,
the horizon and experience of Diego was expanded and hopefully, in the long
run, these would yield priceless dividends.
One of my favorite authors, Tom Clancy died this week
and let me just say this: it was an end
of an era. My discovery with Tom Clancy
was an accident in the local bookstore in Davao and from there on, I was hooked
by his mastery of his own genre which he invented in the first place.
The death was only in the
realm of biology because in words, the man is immortal.
October 10, 2013
Semestral break is fast approaching and instead of
looking forward for a holiday, I hate the thought that I would be earning less
since there is no class and since majority of my income comes from teaching –
then it is lean months for me and lesser paycheck. The university is one cheap and shrewd
operator. We are supposed to teach for
54 hours per subject per semester but it seems that there is a conspiracy to
lessen the semestral calendar so that they get to pocket the surplus revenue
resulting from the shortage of teaching in a semester. Unofficially, the shorter the semester, the
greater the profit for the university.
Cheap bastards!!! Students as well as faculty are shortchanged.
Classes will end by the
middle of October and classes will resume by the middle of November. That is almost a month of furlough without
pay.
For the first time, an NBA game is being held/played in
the country today. The game is between
Houston Rockets and Indiana Pacers. The
historic game is played in the Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay City.
The game was a lousy one. The finesse that is usually connected with
NBA games was non-existent. It was a
defensive game and an ugly game. I pity
the poor people who trooped to the Mall of Asia Arena to watch the game costing
an arm and a leg when, as I said earlier was an ugly game.
NBA stars were holding back
their A game and the coaches were still experimenting with what works and what
is just a plain ploy to get their bench players earn their mega buck paychecks.
RG will be celebrating her 43rd birthday this
16 of October and for this week I already gave her my gift. A digital watch. For the past week, she has
been unable to go to work because of a fever and after 4 days, she managed to
infect Ugy and Francisco and even the household help Ging.
It seems that a season for
fever is upon us and we have no recourse but to let it burn itself out.
The US President was supposed to visit the country but
because of the Federal shutdown, the trip was cancelled. In lieu of the US President, the US Secretary
of State, John Kerry was supposed to visit the republic. Due to a typhoon, the scheduled visit again
was put on hold.
The Philippines is getting some unfortunate twist of
plots that doesn’t go well for the republic.
I really hope that we could get out of this cycle of bad lucks.
October 14, 2013
Classes were suspended today principally because the
Iglesia Ni Cristo (INC) is celebrating
their own version of medical and dental mission. Tomorrow will also a holiday because the
Muslims will be celebrating the start of their pilgrimage to Mecca.
Personally, these holidays
are disruptive to the academic calendar.
Classes are inevitably suspended and the delivery of instruction is
impeded by these unplanned furloughs. I
am attributing these INC moves to a simple case of “kulang sa pansin” (ksp)
since the Muslims are having religious celebration inserted to the national
calendar and by and large, the INC must also have their religious celebration
penciled in the national calendar.
Ayn came home over the weekend to have her time with the
family and it was really palpable that Francisco misses his sister. They sleep together with their hands holding
one another. When it was time for me to accompany
Ayn back to her condominium, Francisco just wouldn’t let go of his “ate”.
Ayn was able to give a
favorite game application to Francisco and Diego and RG were happy as well –
since they are also beneficiaries of the said game application.
I am having some problems with the fuel gasket for my
Kawasaki Rouser and since tomorrow is a Muslim holiday, I will have my problem
checked and hopefully, solved.
At first, I was having some regrets why I took a Yamaha
Mio instead of Suzuki Skydrive but after a thousand kilometers of travel and
gallivanting, my regrets have dissipated.
I still have a love affair with Yamaha Mio that is still burning and I
think, I need to finish such affair. A
closure is still in order. I could still
recall that almost two years ago, I had to let go of my green Yamaha Mio so
that I could finance the tiling of my house in Cypress Drive.
As I was saying, I still need to finish a love affair
with a Yamaha Mio mc…
October 16, 2013
Yesterday was declared holiday related to the beginning
of the Muslim hajj. Taking advantage of
the opportunity, together with RG, we went to Lipa City to visit the grave of
my mother-in-law via Talisay road from Tagaytay City.
While I usually take the Laguna route, this time around,
the Tagaytay route was a great discovery.
The Talisay road was a road seldom travelled and from a scenic mountain
road to the lakeside road, it was an easy ride as opposed to the road that traverses
the entire Laguna town with its accompanying horrendous traffic.
The weather was cooperating in the early hours of the
morning down to the afternoon. The
evening ride however was characterized by a heavy downpour that resulted in a
cold and an agonizing ride back to Caloocan City (North). There was even an accident where a pick-up
wittingly (or unwittingly) hit a group of MC’s under an overpass in
Sandiganbayan in Commonwealth highway, resulting in a heavy traffic under a
heavy rainfall.
RG and yours truly were drenched in rain but were
psychologically pumped up by our recent adventure. Gallivanting in the province certainly
excites us. It was a classic getaway in
the middle of the week.
We also visited our former house in Dasmarinas,
Cavite. It was such a big letdown. The street resembles a squatter colony and
our former house was obviously disrespected by our low quality neighbors. Looking back, it was a blessing to have
finally abandoned our Dasmarinas residence in lieu of city living. Besides, such dwelling was classified as a
low-cost housing and the people were also of the same quality.
Now, we are in a happier place in Bellefonte Subdivision
in Caloocan-North. Though it is costing
an arm and a leg, such is worth the hardship and difficulty of making the
monthly payment.
Unfortunately, we learned late in the evening that an
earthquake measuring around 7.2 in intensity hit central Visayas at around 9 AM. The epicenter was in Bohol where Roman
Catholic churches were heavily damaged.
After some initial assessment, it was determined that these historical
and hundred years old churches were constructed minus the technology of
withstanding 6 to 7 earthquake intensity. Hence, ruination was the usual
summation of such absence.
Some people were attributing the hands of god in the
scenario, I for one do not subscribe to such an opinion. The Philippines is in a typhoon belt and is
even unfortunate enough to be located also in “ring of fire” where almost all
of the active volcanoes are found. A
simple vector analysis will show that if such a thing is possible then such a
thing will occur regardless of prayers, beliefs and culture. The rain falls equally on the righteous and
the wicked.
For me, it is not the question of being hit by a typhoon
or by an earthquake but rather an issue of bouncing back after such an
unfortunate event.
Today is also the 43rd birthday of RG. The celebration of such a milestone will be
commemorated over the weekend. The
weather is just not cooperating and both of us are still recuperating from an
energy sapping adventure yesterday.
October 19, 2013
The whole family had a dinner out at the SM Mall and we
specifically had it at a Kangaroo Jack, we had a lovely dinner and that was
that. I just came to realize how
fortunate we are as oppose to those poor people who just had their homes
ravaged by an intensity 7 earthquake.
Studies had long ago predicted the scenario that if ever
the same intensity is visited upon Metro Manila, more people will be dead on
the account of poor quality of building construction. It is estimated that with the same intensity,
at least half a million will die and another 100,000 will also die due to fire and
other diseases brought about by diseases indirectly caused by the same
earthquake.
Easily that is over 600,000 thousand deaths. Currently, it is projected that at least 200
people have died because of the recent earthquake in Bohol. Though tragic, the figure could have been
worse if such a thing happened in a Sunday where a lot of people attend mass.
October 20, 2013
Last Friday, I was finally able to confirm from the
Professional Regulation Board (PRC) that my application for the Professional
Psychometrician was accepted and approved by the said regulating body.
The implication of this is that I am now a registered
professional psychometrician hence, I will be able to acquire a professional
license stating such.
Now this is a big deal because such is a pre-requisite
for my teaching profession. I was
excepted from the taking a board examinations where I could fail. Though there is nothing wrong with failing an
examination, the humiliation of failing a board examination is quite
embarrassing. How could one teach
student to pass the examination when you yourself failed the same examinations.
At any rate, I am spared from such a scenario since; my
credentials were accepted by the PRC. By
next year, I think that I would be applying for the board certification in being
a psychologist; hopefully, I would be able to secure some documents attesting
that I am one. If not, then I would have
to take the actual examinations.
October 28, 2013
I was unable to make some entries in this log for the
simple reason of too much work and the grading chore has begun in the
university. Fortunately, the work was
concluded swiftly, I had some leisure time over this long weekend.
Due to the barangay elections, we had a three day
weekend and last Saturday, I was able to trek to Tagaytay using my Kawasaki MC.
Prior to the gallivanting, I again had some repairs needed for the Kawasaki
Rouser and to fully test the work done by the mechanics, I had an additional
rationale to go Tagaytay.
Saturday, 4:30 AM, the Kawasaki MC refuses to start but
eventually when I was able to gas up, the Rouser run smoothly up to the cold
hills of Tagaytay. By 7:00 AM, I was
already in Tagaytay and by 9:00 AM was already cruising downhill onwards to
Manila. Unfortunately, when I passed by
Dasmarinas, the Rouser was choking and refuses to start. When I consulted with a roadside mechanic, my
suspicion was confirmed and the official diagnosis was that there was again
some water in my gasoline tank.
Long story short, I drained the water and my trek home
was again smooth but was caught up with a horrendous traffic in the Baclaran
area.
Arrived around 2:00 PM, ate my lunch and immediately
slept the whole afternoon.
In the evening, Francisco together with some of his
cousins from Batangas, joined an annual Halloween Trick or Treat parade in the
subdivision.
Yesterday, RG and I went to Muntinlupa (using the Yamaha
MC) to visit the graves of her relatives.
Surprisingly, the place was the top seeded and highly awarded
Everlasting Eternal Garden in the country and I had a wonderful time.
After the visit, we went to the Bonifacio Global City to
partake in the upper class decadence of the very rich in the country. The so-called global city was an enclave for
the very rich where poor people are simply driven away by the sheer upper class
pricing of goods and services.
Everything was priced higher and even people seems to project wealth
that is way above the middle class origin of this writer.
This morning, together with RG, we went to the Medical
City of SM Fairview to get the test and lab results of Diego and
Francisco. Initial fears were confirmed,
Diego is reported to have a Pneumonia and Primary Koch. Pending the official diagnosis from their
pediatrician, but I am skeptical that indeed Diego suffers from such a
sickness.
We would be returning this afternoon to finally confirm
with his pediatrician.
This late afternoon, it was confirmed that Diego and
Francisco do have Primary Koch and we need to medicate as soon as
possible. So as to arrest further
development that could be more serious problem in the future.
Work would be commencing tomorrow and life goes on.
November 2, 2013
After a week of writing sloth, doing nothing significant
worth mentioning in this log, the semestral break started and the usual
complaints and mistakes in grading students is on.
I have officially adopted the academic policy of helping
students pass and if possible, give them grades that would motivate them to do
better in their other academic endeavor.
So far, I think that I changed at least 3 grades just to motivate students
to do better next time. I think that it
is better to help them by positive reinforcement as opposed to a negative
reinforcement which is tantamount to a failing grade. And I estimate that I would be changing more
as the start of the second semester nears.
Philippine politicians are the new robber barons of the
contemporary times. Truth be said, there
are only three ways to acquire wealth nowadays.
One is marrying one, two is to earn one and three is to steal one. The politicians of today are greedy and just
plain stupid. They rely on their
surname, they milk it for what it’s worth, and not just steal but plunder
government coffer.
The education of the Filipino voter is improving but
sadly, we still vote according to surname recall. First, it was the father who stole from the
Filipino people and now, it is the turn of the offspring to steal some
more. If it weren’t for the Napoles
incident, the Filipinos might have tolerated the plundering but the figure is
just too large to sweep under the rug.
Pnoy is starting the fight in the Senate but I see no
possibility for him to continue the corruption fight in the House of
Representatives (where there are more violators), where the sole power to
impeach resides.
At the moment, according to the information that came
out with the Napoles incident, Senator Enrile, Estrada and Revilla are caught
with Napoles. Channeling hundreds of
millions of people’s money in bogus NGO’s.
But this is just the tip of the iceberg, there are a lot more in the
House of Representatives but so far, Pnoy cannot pursue them because he might
get and impeachment in return.
Pnoy will have to tread a careful line so as to protect
his legacy, ensure a friendly successor and if possible, avoid an impeachment
in his years of office. Hence, no member
of the House of Representative in a corruption hunt – for now. Maybe if he could jail these Senators, the
ball could start rolling.
Today, RG, Ayn, Diego and Francisco went to Lipa to
visit the grave of Lola Ine and some more relative. RG and I already went there two weeks ago to escape
the maddening crowd and that is just a fulfillment of my social obligation
related to All soul’s day and All saint’s day.
November 10, 2013
The strongest typhoon in modern history with a wind
surge of 315 kilometers per hour visited the country last Thursday, November
7. Up to this date, video footage of
what took place in affected areas are still unclear, but what is certain is the
damage that is substantial in terms of infrastructure and though, it is still
uncertain, death are projected to reach hundreds if not thousands.
The super storm is locally called “Yolanda” but the
international name is “Haiyan”. With the
damage and anguish brought about by the super storm, one is left with the
question, why the Philippines?
But why not the Philippines? Philippines is no better than any other
country in the planet. The super storm
could just as well strike another country in another part of the planet.
With the year still not over, 3 or more storms could
still visit the country and damages could still be massive.
We could still be lucky…
Tomorrow, I would be trekking back to Plenary
International Convention Center (PICC) in Roxas Boulevard to attend once more
the graduation ceremony of the university.
Twice a year, I am compelled to visit the said site to attend the
customary commencement exercise prepared by the university for its graduating
students.
If it were up to me, I wouldn’t waste a single minute
attending a ritual perpetuated by the university to further milk its graduating
students of their much needed money.
Because truth be said, the university is still making a bundle out of
this exercise and the faculty are left with the mind numbing task of making the
graduation happen. School owner are
still profiting from this exercise and even a fracture of profit do not even
feed the poor people behind the ceremony.
With so many paper works to do, I still need to attend
this exercise on top of my multiplying work outcomes.
There is no respect for our academic achievements, no
proper compensation and even more work.
As I said earlier, really a waste of time.
November 24, 2013
For this week, months of work and preparation earned the
university as well as my department an ISO accreditation. To be more specific a 9001-2007 credit. For
the uninitiated, it is a quality management system.
Today, the current Philippine pride in boxing (Manny
Pacquiao) won a match against an American, Brandon Rios. From the onset, it was a match way above the
talent of Mr. Rios, because Mr. Pacquiao was winning every round (all 12 of
them) and giving his opponent a classic boxing lesson.
The ramification of course is a national celebration for
the country. Now this is a much needed
win for Mr. Pacquiao as well as for the country. Considering the many setbacks and series of
unfortunate events, the win is a morale booster for the republic. Coming from two consecutive losses, a
lopsided victory formally announces to the world that he is back in his winning
ways and retirement is still further away in the horizon.
Sports has no way of curing illnesses and bettering the
economic life of the Filipinos, sports however can provide inspiration that
sparks change in collective lives.
March 10, 2014
Last week, I was able to confer with the elected
Representative, Earlpe John Amante. Long
story short, I applied for a consultancy work and such was granted. The pay is not that much but at least now, I
get to practice my doctorate degree in Public Administration.
The prospects are limitless and opportunities are abound
in the House of Representatives.
Fact is, I was already constructing my first bill
proposal and this one is about retirement schemes for private institutions.
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