El Nido

work-y weekend in El Nido!

how not to

how to not be hard on yourself. happy thursday!

lost stars

#SongftheDay

Lost Stars

Please don't see just a boy caught up in dreams and fantasies
Please see me reaching out for someone I can't see
Take my hand let's see where we wake up tomorrow
Best laid plans sometimes are just a one night stand
I'd be damned Cupid's demanding back his arrow
So let's get drunk on our tears and

God, tell us the reason youth is wasted on the young
It's hunting season and the lambs are on the run
Searching for meaning
But are we all lost stars, trying to light up the dark?

Who are we? Just a speck of dust within the galaxy?
Woe is me, if we're not careful turns into reality
Don't you dare let our best memories bring you sorrow
Yesterday I saw a lion kiss a deer
Turn the page maybe we'll find a brand new ending
Where we're dancing in our tears and

God, tell us the reason youth is wasted on the young
It's hunting season and the lambs are on the run
Searching for meaning
But are we all lost stars, trying to light up the dark?

I thought I saw you out there crying
I thought I heard you call my name
I thought I heard you out there crying
Just the same

God, give us the reason youth is wasted on the young
It's hunting season and this lamb is on the run
Searching for meaning
But are we all lost stars, trying to light up the dark?

I thought I saw you out there crying
I thought I heard you call my name
I thought I heard you out there crying

But are we all lost stars, trying to light up the dark?
But are we all lost stars, trying to light up the dark?

scarce

Bob Dylan once said, "Being noticed can be a burden." 

That is why we now have task force make yourself scarce!

collection

bahagi na nga ng halos araw-araw na talakayan sa aydisi ang LOB o line of business, ang mga indibidwal sa likod ng mga departamentong may kinalaman sa marketing, sales, finance, HR at pangkalahatang management. maaaring shadow IT na ang mga ito kung hawak nila mismo ang badyet pero kahit na wala sila nito, may malalim silang impluwensya sa paggastos ng kumpanya sa IT. siyempre dahil na rin ito sa pag-usbong ng mga teknolohiya sa 3rd platform (cloud, social, big data/analytics at mobility) at mga mash-up nito.

pero tila may mga departamento pa ring nababalot ng dilim ng nakaraan. may mga indibidwal pa ring maski sa pagpuslit ng pagbabago sa teknolohiya, naiwan pa rin sa sapot ng tradisyunal na papel ng kanilang departamento… tulad na lang ng collection department ng astoria. oo nga't ang papel nila ay mangulekta at siguruhing papasok ang pera pero dapat pa ring isaalang-alang ang tinatawag na customer service. lahat ng kliyente ay dapat latagan ng red carpet, buong galak na kausapin at pagbusuhan ng pasensya lalo na nga't di utang ang pinag-uusapan dito. ni wala pa ngang napakikinabangan sa kanila kaya naman dapat magkaroon ng tamang kaasalan lalo na nga't naturingang mataas ang posisyon.

kapag nakumpleto na ang bayarin, di ako mangingiming ipahatid ang anumang pasaring sa babaing ito.   

national museum

the last time i was in the national museum was back in my UP days. i can’t remember whether it had to do with my colonial philippines course or for a humanities class. but that visit made me even more proud of my filipino heritage. so even when we had to brave late afternoon torrential rains and crossed the bridge on top of lagusnilad to get to manila city hall, we pushed thru with our plans of visiting it and it was a great way to spend a saturday afternoon.

i must say that our national museum is far from more storied museums in other cosmopolitan cities. for one, its natural history section lacks the extra punch provided by a wide array of natural specimens as told by my sister. except for the perfectly mounted butterfly collection and some pieces of the monkey eating eagle, that one section devoted to natural history had to make use of a lot of printed visual aids in order to make the collection more interesting. some said that most sections are too dimly lit and some of my friends even said that it apart from art gallery, the other galleries felt as if one was walking to a time space warp a la shaider.

for me, it was not about the quantity of specimens or whether the sections were interesting or not. what the national museum represents is the holistic view of one country's heritage as represented in natural history, ethnography, archaeological collections and art collections. when the manunggul jar and balangay greeted me once again, i felt that sense of pride. not too many countries of today can boast that their ancestry goes a long way back. baybayin section gave me even bigger sense of pride. as mr. noel teodoro proudly exclaimed in one of my kasaysayan 2 classes under him, "any country with its native language not being spoken till today does not exist on the map". and baybayin, although not being used anymore, is a uplifting indication of my being pinoy as we still use tagalog and other languages in everyday conversations. juan luna's spoliarium would welcome anyone in the grandest sense. it will command your attention and can make you look at it for hours. not to mention the works of pinoy grandmasters of the art, ably choreographed in several galleries of fine art collections, as well as the grand retablos.

it may be because pinoys generally have a short view of the past and easily forget anything from the bygone era. some even said that why bother with museums when one should only be focusing on what's out there in the future. but i always believe that one any nation bent on moving forward in all aspects of development has to understand its heritage. and the best way is to look from within by visiting the national museum. 

my big wish is to see more pinoys going to the national museum. tourists flock there and in case you don't know, national museum is open on sundays, free admission.    

asin

Ang paghihintay sa taong 

hindi ka kayang mahalin 

ay katumbas 

ng paghihintay 

sa pagtamis ng asin. 

 

- tambalang balahura't balasubas

#StatementoftheDay #SelfLove

 

Happy Thursday!

 

 

alyssa valdez

what a season it was! ADMU lady eagles won back to back volleyball titles. alyssa valdez was the season's most valuable player (MVP) once again, jia morado was the best setter, denden lazaro is the best receiver and amy ahomiro was the finals MVP.

last season, i was just too happy to see the lady eagles take home their first ever volleyball crown. they of course defeated the DLSU lady spikers in three matches in the finals series. but i must also say that more than the crown, i got pleasure from seeing aby marano and the mighty ladies being brought back to earth. that famous victory proved that in sports and in life in general, everything is possible.

this season, each match ateneo played was a delight to watch. anchored on their heartstrong mantra, they swept the eliminations and got the thrice to beat advantage. of course, it wasn't a smooth sailing all throughout. they were pushed by my UP lady maroons on the brink of defeat but they managed to snag a hard-fought 5-set win. adamson pushed them to 5 sets once again but regained composure in the fifth set. dlsu had a good chance to beat them in their first round meeting but valdez delivered as usual and brought in one of season's finest game. in their second round meeting, the match was done in 4 sets.

they had to wait for 20 days before playing dlsu because of the stepladder format. i was concerned that they might suffer the same fate dlsu had last year and i'm pretty sure that it was dlsu's main objective last wednesday. but valdez posted 20 big points and the girls zipped the victory in 3 sets. last saturday, dlsu was out for blood. in the first and third sets, the lady spikers actually led in the early exchanges. some service and hitting errors did admu in and allowed dlsu to gain composure. but as boom gonzales and ian laurel said, lady eagles had the skills to pull away by effectively converting defense into offense in successive fashion. the sheer number of attacks from valdez, ahomiro, michelle morente, ella de jesus and even morado, limited dlsu and proved to be the winning formula. the match and the title was with admu in 3 straight sets.

many said that the match could have turned to dlsu's favour had ara galang was there. some even said that admu's victory was a fake one since galang was not able to play due to injury. galang is a great player, she won't be included in the national team for nothing. but the lady eagles was the more complete and in-sync team. their all-around game, from digging, receiving, setting and attack brought them the crown and even when galang was in the mix on the other side, admu would still win the championship. admu of course needs to work on cutting down their errors and be more effective in blocking but season 77 was theirs. and theirs alone. they swept the competition and is now at 16 straight wins.

we'd have to wait a little longer for UAAP season 78. basketball will not start in july so volleyball tournament would probably start in january 2016. anyhow, i'm so looking forward to next season. are we finally seeing UE win a game? angelica dacaymat was the revelation in season 77 and with kathleen arado adjudged as the rookie of the year, i hope that they finally win a game. i was disappointed with the second round flameout by adamson lady falcons. they started right but could not maintain their form and ended 7th in the standings. i hope that next year, mylene paat, amanda villanueva and fenela emnas bring the lady falcons back to the final four. UST will not have ojie mamon as their coach but i'd love to see cherry rondina bring in the energy once again. FEU was the welcome addition to the final four with a very young roster that include heather guinoo and toni rose basas. NU still has jaja santiago, season 77 best attacker, and the very good jorelle singh. dlsu still has their 4th year players but will heavily depend on christine soyud and mary joy baron, two of their best rookies.

i would love to see UP in the final four next season. sad that angeli araneta graduated but they still have nicole tiamzon, the recuperating kathy bersola and able players such as vina alinas and arianne ilustre. lazaro, de jesus and aerieal patnongon are all graduating but admu still has the valdez, ahomiro, morado, bea de leon and morente, together with maraguinot, gequillana and madayag.

next year ulit, uaap volleybolista!

greatest

two of the greatest of all time (GOAT), roger federer and rafael nadal! happy weekend!

imagination

saturday musings on doing nothing even when you're supposed to be working! happy saturday!

business

violet

Isobel: "How you hate to be wrong." 
Lady Violet: "I wouldn't know, I'm not familiar with the sensation."

there can never be another dowager countess! 

ubos pasensya

minsan mauubusan ka talaga ng pasensya. kahit anong haba ng pisi, darating ang puntong lulutong ito at makukunsume ka. sabihin mo pang buong tiyaga mong iniintindi pero may mga tao talagang susubok ng iyong pasensya at mauuwi ka sa pagkainis. maski na nga siguro matindi ang epekto ng medistasyon, aabot ka sa sukdulan.

malinaw naman ang mga bagay. nakasulat ang mga ito nang maayos. may eksplanasyong pagkahaba-haba at buong pagmamahal na isinulat ang kahalagahan ng mga ito upang malunok at maunawaan. nakahanay ang bawat aytem para agarang makita. anong malabo rito?

hirap ba umintindi ng ingles? mas ok kaya kung barok na ingles na lang ang gamitin? pero malawak na ang karanasan nito. batikan na sa kanilang organisasyon at pinagtitiwalaan pa ng mga nakatataas. sosyal-sosyalan pa kuno. nais kong isiping abala lang sa mga bagay-bagay kaya di niya nauunawaan ang mga bagay at hirap alalahanin ang mga nakaraan. hay naku! anuman ang kanyang dahilan, malinaw ang isang bagay… hilahil ang pagdaraanan ninumang katrabaho nito. bukod sa limitado ang bokabularyo at iilang termino lang ang kayang ikonsumo, dunung-dunungan kasi ito. mapapatawad mo pa kung sadyang tanga lang pero aminado sa kanyang kakulangan. pero ang isang ito? hindi. hangal na katalinuhan lamang ang taglay pero buong hambog itong ipinangangalandakan sa sanlibutan. pinagbigyan na nga ng napakarami, taas-ihi pa ring nagmamarunong.

dapat dito, ibalik sa basikong pagsasanay. sana'y lumawak ang kanyang bokubalaryo. at ang pinakamahalaga, sumadsad sana ang kanyang matayog na pagtingin sa kanyang limitadong sarili.

bakit nga ba kasi may mga taong mahirap makaintindi?

jolo revilla

grabe ang kadramahan ng pamilya revilla. nais kumuha ng simpatya mula sa publiko dahil sa sinapit ng bise gobernador ng cavite na si jolo revilla. oo nga't naospital siya at delikado ang kundisyon pero maliwanag pa rin itong pagbibigay ng di nararapat na pabor sa kanyang ama. kung ang ibang presong di nagkakaroon ng pagkakataong makalabas ng piitan, dapat maging ang isang senador na kasalukuyang nililitis sa kasong pandarambong ay ganoon din. 

saktong-sakto ang tinuran ng nagkomento sa gmanetwork. salamat sa iyong nakatatawa pero may bigat na mga salita. 

maria ressa

it seemed like 10 years had passed before i finally finished this book. not because it wasn't great but because i'm generally slow when it comes to books. but over this weekend, i finally finished it and immensely enjoyed the ride as the book was packed with long names, dates, real-life kidnapping crisis and detailed, almost nerdy tale of social theories.

maria ressa used the kidnapping of ces drilon and her team in 2008 to start mapping out how terrorism that was born out of afghanistan's war with the former soviet union gradually came to philippine soil. linkages between radical islamists reached southeast asia and from there, a series of terrorist activities was launched or planned in the philippines, including 9/11 in new york city and bali bombings. ressa traced key personalities, explained their connections and described in details how they are associated with each other. the roots of this social virus (jihadi virus) was carefully pinned down through ressa's study of personalities. one key learning i got from reading this book was how the good and universal teaching of jihad was twisted to fire up religion-driven emotions. jihad means "to strive or to do one's best in carrying out god's commands". according to the book, jihad comes in a lot of forms such as verbal (offer advice) or hand jihad (community service for the less fortunate). jihadi is the armed version of jihad, aimed at establishing an "all encompassing islamic state that creates a political, cultural and religious system aligned with a certain strict interpretation of koran" through violence.      

at times, it brought me back to my UP days when i had to digest communication theories and try to use or simplify these in order to create and submit a paper. commres papers had to be grounded on a communication theory, move it to conceptual level and finally tie it with an operational stage. ressa touched on social communication theories and used these to introduce and explain how the jihadi virus spread on a religion-based community.

ressa's historical account became even more interesting when she started tackling how the rise of the internet re-shaped jihadi struggle. the rise of user-driven internet (or web 2.0 in idc terms) gave the jihadi virus a new platform where it can propagate at a much faster rate, either through indoctrination, recruitment and financial backing. of course, we'd predicted web 2.0 about 8 years ago so i can very much relate to this development.

the account on drilon's kidnapping make up for a very good docu-drama script for a tv movie. it reminded me of recount by hbo and ressa's writing allowed for a reader like me to clearly imagine the 10 days the crisis team had to go through. of course, it was a firsthand account and i wonder how different it would be had ces drilon wrote it herself.

but more than that, the kidnapping of ces, jimmy and angel proved how corruption is deeply rooted in pinoy society. this, together with collusion between law enforcement agencies, local government units, rebel and terrorist groups, make for a wide ranging problem in peace and order, most especially in muslim mindanao. the recent mamasapano incident comes to mind and through this book, readers will gain very good insights on why previous attempts on peace accords do not really put an end to the problems brought on by separatist groups. certain groups actually collude with terrorists by either providing safe refuge for internationally-wanted terrorists like marwan or recruiting moderate but economically challenged muslims to become legmen or baits. in return, these international terrorists bring in much-needed infusion of money providing "jobs" for the members of the local community. this is the very reason why there are reports that government forces could not enter certain barangays since local communities "protect" their "guests". groups such as mnlf, milf, abu sayyaf and biff also have their own territories and may actually be in cahoots with each other through blood or marital linkages.

i've always maintained that peace accords in muslim mindanao would only work if the government initiates inter-group interaction for all groups (led by their elders) to be united as one. this should be done even before striking any deal with any of the groups. the problem will continue as long as there are certain sectors that would not be included and because of this, the southern philippines will continue to be a harbour for international terrorists. at the same time, education should be a first priority in order to instil self-worth to young men and women.  

i don't know whether members of the congress even considered inviting maria ressa in one of their hearings. but they would gain better understanding of the jihadi virus through her insights. after all, more than the aim of tracing the roots of terrorism, 10 days, 10 years: from bin laden to facebook was a weighty treatise on social communication and how radical social viruses spread from an individual to another.