Random Notes (16 May 2008)

Picture Borrowed from National Geographic

PDI, A1:

“The earthquake that struck Sichuan province on Monday has so far claimed 15,000 lives…” Most of them are children.

Yahoo! News:

“SAN FRANCISCO - California’s Supreme Court declared gay couples in the nation’s biggest state can marry — a monumental but perhaps short-lived victory for the gay rights movement Thursday that was greeted with tears, hugs, kisses and at least one instant proposal of matrimony.”

Los Angeles Times, Kenneth R. Weiss

Photo Borrowed from sxc.hu

“The [US] Interior Department on Wednesday designated the polar bear as threatened with extinction because of shrinking sea ice, making it the first creature added to the endangered species list primarily because of global warming.”

–

I’m lost of words, something’s truly near.

Self-Improvement Tip # 2: Big Dipper

When I was declared unfit to run a race and subsequently told to make a different kind of journey, I was caught unprepared. I had nothing, knew nothing – felt nothing. But I had no options, or had one — and this was it: To pick the destiny given to me, and charter the course of my own unknown voyage.

I was numb, feeling nothing when I went aboard the ship. I didn’t even know what kind of ship it was. Was it the kind that can go on war and sink all the enemies’ tankers? Were the materials used to build it strong enough to brave the winds, storms, and gigantic waves? But my mind was too clouded to seek answers for those petty questions. All I knew during that time was the wind was strong: I could hardly breathe; the waves were incessantly hitting the vessel, causing it to sway back and forth, enough to effect dizziness on me. When the ship began to sail and reached few meters away from the shore, that’s when I realized that I’ve brought nothing with me. Not even a compass to point the directions of my journey, of where I’d be going to.

I poured my heart out until it seemed to stop beating. My eyes got tired and dry, and my body paralyzed. But still, I cried silently. I was still alive and could see myself thinking, moving, speaking — just not feeling anything.

I went outside my cabin and went on the top floor, sat down on a huge round pipe, and looked at the sky. It was dark, moonless night, but the sky was clear. No clouds at all. I saw countless little tiny things, brightly sparking in heaven.

I was blankly staring at them, amazed at their wonders, when this thought came to me: that even during the darkest of the nights there are little tiny stars that could guide me to where I want to be or where I am destined to be. All I have to do is to identify them. Know them.

Since then, looking at the sky and enjoying the twinkles of its stars became my favorite habit. They serve as my reminders that during the toughest times of my life, they – numerous little stars – are my hopes, my remaining undying hopes. See how countless they are?

One day, I wanted to go see the Captain. Luckily, I met him on my way to his office. “Can I borrow a book about stars or constellations?” I asked him. He said yes without even asking who I was. “Captains could not be captains without knowing the stars,” he proudly said with unwavering conviction in his tone.

He lent me a book entitled “The Stars of The Night.” It was a very old hard bound with some coffee smudges on the edges of its pages. I can barely recognize its author’s name. I was nevertheless ecstatic when I read the first few entries of its leaves. What caught my attention first was the Great Bear – Big Dipper. Unlike what I’ve initially thought of, Big Dipper is just a ‘greatly identifiable portion of a constellation’ called asterism. It is just part of the Ursa Major, a larger group of stars.

I ran promptly on a nearby window to look at the sky, but have seen nothing. There was a great mass of dark clouds, a sign of an impending bad weather, of a storm, perhaps. I went back to my room. Gloomy. Which was even more surprising: “Could I still be gloomier than I already was?”

I remembered a bookstore named “NBS in a Boat” located on the same floor where my cabin was. I went there and looked for some star-shaped neon objects. I found two boxes of them, bought one full of 500 pieces of stars, glimmering in the absence of light. Their sizes vary from small, medium, to large. It cost me around 5oo bucks. There was one box more when I left the children’s toys section. Just in case you might want to buy, too.

Through a reusable clay paste, I began sticking the stars on my cabin’s ceiling. I started with an asterism that looks like a pot or pan with a very long handle. It is composed of 7 stars – 5 medium, 1 small, and 1 very small stars. After finishing the whole pattern, I felt an unexplainable sense of happiness. I turned off the light, and my neon stars mimicked the ones I could see in heaven. I lay flat on my bed with a smile plastered on my face. I was in that position for nearly an hour until I decided to regain my consciousness.

With my more than 400 pieces of stars left, I began building Hercules, Draco, Aquila, Perseus, and many others, until the ceiling was filled with tiny, little sparkling stars, each one pointing to a new sense of directional hope, each one essential in signifying my attempt to build my constellation of dreams.

Many of those who were visiting my room wonder how I’ve arranged them — my stars, and I would begin telling them the story.

That is Big Dipper, the warrior of the Polar Caps; that is Hercules, the constellation whose heroism was measured by the size of his heart, not of his strength. And that one, Perseus… He killed Medusa and rescued Andromeda from a sea monster…

Someday, there might be an asterism named after me. What do you think could be its story?

Earthquake in China

Philippine Daily Inquirer, Tuesday, May 13, 2008, p. A1:

“Chongqing, China – A massive earthquake struck central China on Monday, killing thousands of people in one county alone, flattening schools and homes, and trapping nearly 900 students under rubble – a powerful jolt that was felt across a swathe of Southeast Asia.”

“The epicenter of the 7.8-magnitude earthquake was in Sichuan…”

“The initial death toll in Sichuan was 7,651, including up to 5,000 in the county alone…”

–

Should we be surprised if almost everyday, unusual and unprecedented calamity, disaster, and crisis happen in different parts of the globe?

Self-Improvement Tip # 1: Magnanimous Loser

Photo Courtesy of sxc.hu

What a title… What do you think do I really know about self-improvement?

Never mind though.

Before I proceed, I want to make a disclaimer first — that when it comes to giving self-improvement advice, I’m neither a professional nor an expert. In short, follow this tip at your own risk. There is something I am certain though, that I’m a trying hard who is persistently adding usefulness to my blog entries because of their continuous sheer lack of it.

But wait! Have I not named my blog Kwaderno, the Filipino term for notebook? Well, that’s because I want to take down as much lessons and notes as I can while taking this journey I’m temporarily calling K-O TRAVEL.

So, this is more of a for-me-tip than for-you-tip.

Tip 1. Improve Your Vocabulary

Through the course of my initial voyage, I met two excellent writers. The first one was my Editor-In-Chief in a publication and the other one was a former colleague in a not so humane company. They had something in common, an attitude that I think was directly proportional to their verbal skills and rhetoric. They were calling their USP, laptop, and mugs with names — as if these were pets with birth certificates. Weird, don’t you think so? Perhaps yes, unusually bizarre. Admirable, nonetheless.

I told myself, “That is just so cool. Why should I not do the same for my things, too?”

I began with my pen. “From now on, I’m calling you magnanimous loser,” I once said while raising my new Pilot pen, recently bought from a supermarket near my boarding house.

Magnanimous was a term I encountered while reading an article. I couldn’t easily remember and use it inspite of my great efforts to repeatedly commit it to my long-term memory. Hence, to awaken my hippocampus and temporal lobes, I had attached magnanimous to my ball pen. In the absence, however, of another noun for magnanimous to correctly describe, I remained uncomfortable, if not totally incapable of, using it in my writings. I therefore added to it the word loser, the term magnanimous objectively illustrated in the same article it was written. That was how magnanimous loser pen came to existence.

I felt an overwhelming sense of happiness: little smile, forceful shout — which were already awesomely intense for a sick writer like me.

“Whoo! Whee! I could now be great, be an emperor like Julius Caesar, be a founding father like Abraham Lincoln, or be a national hero like Jose Rizal. I named a pen of my own, a weapon sharper and mightier than a double-edged sword.”

Not long after, magnanimous loser ran out of ink. That was even before I could conquer the whole of Europe, establish a super power country in the West, or receive a heroic recognition from my peers. I didn’t get so sad though, but still, I delivered a eulogy.

During the burial, I was the only one present. No one could hear my melodramatic speech, because everything was just in my head: “Ei, magnanimous, you might have lasted only for a month, but you left me important lessons in life. First, that losers can still be noble. Second, that I could be one word richer than before by attaching new vocabulary to my personal belongings. I shall never forget these values. Goodbye.”

Then, I threw it into the trash can.

The following day, I bought a pair of shoes. “Hello guys! You, left footwear, I’m calling you ‘ennui’, and you, right footwear, I’m calling you ‘boredom’. You’re twins – synonymous — always remember that. Don’t fight, be together at all times. Bring me to nice places where words are happiness and vocabularies are temporary refuge from sadness.”

Would you like to take a guess of where they’ve brought me so far?#

Events and Opinion Mapping (April)

Photo Courtesy of sxc.hu

Goodbye ZTE, hello Rice Shortage.

It was a few months ago when the circus in the Senate began. The interesting act? To directly link President GMA to the anomalous ZTE deal. Every Senator has his own portion, unique trick, and interesting questions. None, however, succeeded. The show has been proven to be short-lived, not much different from the Hello Garci Scandal, Fertilizer Scam, Jueteng Issue, Extra Judicial Killings, and tons of other accusations. All were oppositions’ hopes to bring down the GMA Administration. Too bad, political hopes are not meant to come true.

But what will happen now? After the 9-6 vote of the Supreme Court to uphold Neri’s right to invoke Executive Privilege, what will become of the ZTE Show? Senate Blue Ribbon Chair, Alan Cayetano, even has this to say while pulling the stage curtain down: There is no enough evidence to directly link President GMA to ZTE Scandal. So? What now? Aside from the waning popularity of Lozada, of course.

It’s not hard to tell. The stomach of Juan dela Cruz begins to grumble. The resources to fill it up commence a journey of scarcity towards crises, impending to reach a complete shortage.

This is like a déjà vu. GMA was previously in the hot seat for “Hello! Garci, I’d like to commit a lapse in judgment, how about if I do it to Mindanao votes.” (Sorry, what does lapse in judgment mean again?) Then, Kris Aquino began to bleed profusely; she’s breaking up with Joey Marquez. That certainly was more interesting, so the people trashed Garci and watched Krissy.

GMA survived.

When I was young and didn’t want to eat the food my mom prepared — perhaps because I was too busy playing — she would usually scare me and say in an emphatic, clear — really scary voice, “Your tummy will hurt. The large intestine will eat your small intestine until you die.” It was effective. I’d eat out of fear, not of the intestines grinding one another, but of my mom. Surely, if I wouldn’t fear her, or at least pretend to, the next scene would no longer be an appalling persuasive confrontation, but a strong-and-tough-rod-on-my-ass action.

I think all Filipino moms taught the same lesson to their children. Not the one about hitting the child if he doesn’t want to eat, but the one about the large intestine devouring the small ones in the absence of food. This is why Juans started to leave their seat before the TV screen (showing Senate inquiry) and began to fall in a long line to buy a kilo of NFA Rice.

I can see it, the Palace by the river is beginning to rejoice subconsciously: “Alas! My people, you’re hungry? Leave the Senate, here’s an 18-Peso per kilo of rice. Dig a grave deeper than six feet, bury the ZTE dead, and I’ll feed you.”

Obviously, Filipinos can live longer without knowing what would happen to the Senate investigation, which hadn’t shown a tiny shed of hope and ability that it could successfully bring down GMA from power. So, people opted to a question of far greater interest: How can Filipino families survive without rice? This shifting of issues is much more like changing the channel from Hello! Garci Show to The Kris Aquino Bares All buzz news.

Alas! GMA has survived, again — saved by the bell that clangs Rice Shortage.

The next tough question is: In these coming months, where are we going to get our staple food? Can we survive? Where’s Janina San Miguel? Can she answer this for us?

Cyclone Nargis

Photo Courtesy of Christians Concerned for Burma

“They have never seen anything like this before.”

In the absence of exact words, this was the most precise expression a witness could say to describe how shocked the Cyclone Nargis victims were.

It’s almost a week now since the extremely severe cyclonic storm Nargis hit Burma (Myanmar) on May 2, 2008, leaving an estimated “60,000 people dead or missing” and millions of settlers homeless, according to Philippine Daily Inquirer. This count is even smaller. A Wiki entry has this: “…the final total of fatalities ranging up to 100,000.”

Amidst political issues brought by the recent take over of a military junta, Burma is facing more serious problems — catastrophic effects that seem to have just started. This time, bigger and greater. Reports say decomposing dead human bodies are found everywhere, towns are submerged in deep floods, fallen trees are blocking major roads and highways, and the military government is refusing international aids. There are also millions of people with no access to clean water, not to mention the soaring prices of rice, cooking oil, medicines, and other basic necessities.

Who wouldn’t be strongly affected by this news? I was appalled but not surprised.

We need not to become environmentalists to say that this is how bad our nature can take its revenge — unforgiving, inconsiderate. But our surrounding has just no choice. And the term revenge, inappropriate. It’s us who made this happened. Perhaps, if mother earth could only talk, she’d say, “I hate this to happen, but it’s inevitable. Climate Change, heard it? It’s a common symptom I’m dying, and you, my beloved people, are causing it. My immune system is just trying to fight back what it thinks is a major disease. It’s releasing a kind of defensive cells in the form of cyclones, hurricanes, storms, and polar-caps-melting heat. It’s not too late though. If you make your small share, I could still live, or at least have a longer time to provide you with a safer shelter, free from human-induced natural disasters. Can you do your obligations to save me? Can you commit yourselves to make Environmental Awareness happen?”

Let’s be united in our answer: Yes!

Iron Man (2008)

Director: Jon Favreau

Casts: Robert Downey Jr., Terrence Howard, Gwyneth Paltrow, Jeff Bridges

Running Time: 128 minutes

Rating: 7.5/10

——–

Was it good? I think so. Perhaps better, but not great.

After several Marvel comics-turned-movies films had been shown in the theatres for the past several years, it would be hard to make a review without making a point of comparison of not only Iron Man versus Spiderman or Fantastic 4, but of Iron Man versus Transformers as well. I liked Ironman. For a highly commercialized film, its cinematography wasn’t bad after all. Its theatricality was good but the acting was lame. Well, what do I really know about how should an actor shape his face to mimic happiness or portray sadness? None. So, that portion was just an attempt to make an academically sounding review based on my basic layman’s exposure to and love of films. What do you think? Can I now pass the scholastic?

Next on the list: The value it promotes. There’s a thought I won’t forget with Spiderman. This is — and I’m paraphrasing it — “we are the ones who make our own choice. Whatever we’ll become in the future, it lies on the kind of choice we make today.” With Ironman, what I’ve learned was (drum rolls)… can I watch it again?

Okay, let’s dig a little bit deeper, beginning with irony. Funny they sound nearly the same — Iron Man, irony. It was Alfred Nobel who invented dynamite, the cause of millions of death, the beginning of destruction, the root of war. But he was also the same person who established an award giving body to recognize personalities with great contributions in promoting peace. So, that means, Nobel advanced war only to promote peace after. Again — let’s quote my favorite line — how ironic. That was Iron Man.

Stark (Downey) was a genius inventor of various intelligent missiles for the US government. Of course, as a businessman, which was a profession he inherited from his father, he created the weapons in an attempt “to be respected or to be feared or both.” Arguably noble. Soon, he realized that the very same explosives he created endangers his life, kills a lot of people, induces greed for power and wealth, and promotes destruction of the human race. Upon such awakening, he decided to shut down his missile factory and become Iron Man. Stark, thus, is pretty much the same as Nobel. He elevated war into a higher level of destruction, then raise awareness about peace by recognizing heroes. The difference however is, Nobel is a reality, Ironman is an ironic fiction. Still ironic though. And since truth is stranger than fiction, no matter how many people today may be recognized by Nobel Peace Prize as heroes of peace, the dynamite-upgraded war would remain unstoppable. Ironman, certainly, wasn’t like that. He prevailed. He forwarded peace, subdued devil, won over what was bad. And in the end, he proved that our dreams can be realized only when we’re asleep. Nice and interesting value to learn and to live with, aren’t they?

Last, but not the least, the costume. It was very very cool. Can I give a perfect ten for that? Minus the way he flies, which was a bit strange and funny. On my way out of the cinema house, a man said to his friends: “It’s an exaggeration to say that the way he [Ironman] flies was so gay.” I give no emphasis. Neither do I agree nor disagree.

A postscript: Don’t immediately go out of the theatre after the film. Read the credits. Wait for the last part, and you’ll discover something I did not clearly understand at first, but I think it sounded like Avenger.

Wait! I’ve learned another thing: If you’re a film maker and you want your credits to be read, put a 5-second teaser after the long list. That’ll make the viewers endure all the unrecognizable fonts on the screen.#

Protected: Differential Diagnosis

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When do you take lunch, supper, and dinner?

I was sitting at my workstation. Bored. Numb. And thirsty (there’s no water at the pantry). A question popped up into my mind: “What makes supper and dinner different from one another when, in fact, they are used interchangeably?” Here’s a rather interesting find.

–

“Could you explain the difference between lunch, supper and dinner?”

By

Gareth Rees

“The expressions do relate to the time of day that you eat the meal and the type of food and the size of the meal. That’s why it can get confusing.

First of all, breakfast. This is simplest; it’s the first meal of the day in the morning.

In the middle of the day, you might have lunch or dinner. Lunch sounds more informal or more typical, particularly for people who are working.

In the evening, you might have dinner or supper. I think that people who have a quick lunch in the middle of the day will say they have dinner in the evening and this dinner will be a good meal.

A supper is usually a light meal and is probably had after a larger dinner has been had in the middle of the day.

Confused? Well most people see a dinner as a more complete meal. A common lunch in England is a sandwich, but dinner might include soup, meat with vegetables, and then a dessert like apple pie and ice cream. So, dinner is really the main meal and people might have it in the middle of the day or in the evening. Lunch and supper are both light kinds of meal. Lunch is in the middle of the day, supper is in the evening.

Now I mentioned there are some other meals. We talked about breakfast. Two more words that you could add to your list are brunch and tea. Brunch is a mixture of breakfast and lunch, as you can tell by the sound of the word: ‘brunch’. And people usually have brunch as a replacement for both lunch and breakfast. Brunch is usually had at about 11 o’clock.

And the final word is tea. Now of course this is a drink, like tea and coffee, but it can also be a light evening meal. I think this word is often used in families, particularly with their children. “It’s tea time”, “It’s time for tea!” This means their small evening meal.

To finish, it is of course unusual to have breakfast, brunch, lunch, dinner, tea and supper all in one day. But let me tell you, not impossible. And from that comment you’ll understand that I have the ideal physique and dietary habits for radio and the internet and not for TV.”

Gareth Rees has been an English language teacher and teacher trainer for over 10 years. He is currently a lecturer at London Metropolitan University and is an author of different books for English Language.

–

Now, I know.

Go the Distance

Go the Distance
(Theme Song of Hercules)

I have often dreamed
Of a far-off place
Where a great, warm welcome
Will be waiting for me
Where the crowds will cheer
When they see my face
And a voice keeps saying
This is where I’m meant to be

I will find my way
I can go the distance
I’ll be there someday
If I can be strong
I know ev’ry mile
Will be worth my while
I would go most anywhere
to feel like I belong

I am on my way
I can go the distance
I don’t care how far
Somehow I’ll be strong
I know ev’ry mile
Will be worth my while
I would go most anywhere
to find where I belong

The above version was an adaptation of the original song lyrics written below – Michael Bolton’s Go the Distance.

I have often dreamed, of a far off place
Where a hero’s welcome, would be waiting for me
Where the crowds will cheer, when they see my face
And a voice keeps saying, this is where I’m meant to be
I’ll be there someday, I can go the distance
I will find my way, if I can be strong
I know ev’ry mile, will be worth my while
When I go the distance, I’ll be right where I belong

Down an unknown road, to embrace my fate
Though that road may wander, it will lead me to you
And a thousand years, would be worth the wait
It might take a lifetime, but somehow I’ll see it through
And I won’t look back, I can go the distance
And I’ll stay on track, no, I won’t accept defeat
It’s an uphill slope, but I won’t lose hope
Till I go the distance, and my journey is complete

But to look beyond the glory is the hardest part
For a hero’s strength is measured by his heart
Like a shooting star, I will go the distance
I will search the world, I will face its’ harms
I don’t care how far, I can go the distance
Till I find my hero’s welcome, waiting in your arms
I will search the world, I will face its harms
Till I find my hero’s welcome, waiting in your arms

–

Am I really still capable of dreaming?