a dependent culture, my two cents on the Willie Revillame issue

A lot of intellectuals and elite and movers said their piece of mind already about the Jan-Jan episode on Willing-Willie. Ads were being pulled off the show until finally, Willie announced that the show will be off air in the next couple of weeks. Just before going off live air, Willie Revillame lambasted as well the celebrities who have strongly voiced their opinions on Twitter. The celebrities, I believe, were moved to voice out against Willie in defense of the marginalized, in defense of the poor who for the sake of being given some money, are willing to sacrifice even their well-being, and allow Willie to even humiliate them. Willie's words about the celebrities mirrored how he is as a person. The celebs were defending the poor, while Willie attacked the personhood and individuality of the celebraties; calling out to Aiza to be a man (why should he attack Aiza's lesbianhood?), calling out to Agot that she doesn't even have a child (for a married woman who wants to have a child and then be hurled with this insult must be very hurting), calling out to Bianca "who does she think she is" (okay, Willie probably has much higher salary than Bianca since he is more popular but Willie's statement clearly reflects how HIGH he thinks of himself). Personally, I abhor the guy. But the Philippine masses loved him. Purely because he doles out a lot of money in his TV shows. Easy money. I do believe TV show organizers are intellectuals as well. And I do believe they do realize that their TV shows do breed/propagate a culture of dependence, where the poor wait that fate make them lucky enough to be chanced upon by the host and hence be doled out money or be lucky enough to be a contestant and hence have a chance for bigger bucks. Oh mind you, for one to be able to be a contestant, it entails days of queuing and applications. And one would think, instead of queuing, why not look for a decent job instead, one that would give them a stable salary. But then again, if truth be told, there really is a lack for job openings especially in Greater Manila for the masses. And probably, even if they do land a job, some would think that the money they would earn is very meager as compared to what they would earn in the TV shows if they're lucky enough. Willie Revillame lashed out in his show on April 8 that those celebrities who complained against him are not helping the poor, questioning them if they themselves gave Bantay Bata 1 Million pesos (making you surmise that he gave the charity the very amount). But I don't think he really is helping the poor. He is giving away easy money, making them even more dependent on other people for their survival. He is barely scratching the surface of what really needs to be addressed here. To change the mindset of the poor. To change them from within. To make them their own masters of their own future and not wait on lady luck to bring them good fortune. But then again, it would be good, if we can offer more jobs as well.

The Rise of Philippine EPC: WHEN??

A contact in Twitter retweeted the article below in Arabian Oil and Gas website about the rise of South Korean contractors. True, our company has actually lost a couple or two projects to South Korean contractors where one (or two) was a project owned by our company's long-time Client.

Sure, they pose a threat to other competitors, especially to our company (or at least my husband's, since I have just already recently resigned). But then foremost in my thoughts is the question: When will Philippine EPC have its own rise?

Our engineers and professionals has been highly appraised worldwide. My husband even attended a lecture recently, held by an esteemed Japanese lecturer with international credentials under his belt, where that same lecturer has talked highly of the Filipino people having a lot of potential and being very capable.

And yet, "The Rise of Philippine EPC" is near impossible at the moment. Brain drain does the job. We gather enough experience here at home and when we have enough, our wanderlust, our longing to prove our mettle in the bigger field, our wanting to have better salaries, makes us want to pack our bags and be part of the working force of other countries.

I myself am guilty of this. And if truth be told, I don't want to spend the rest of my life working here in Manila - the city stresses me out (it's not the same story with other cities though). But if each engineer or professional thinks in exactly the same way, give or take a few other reasons besides, then I do think we will not ever witness "the rise of Philippine EPC". Not in our lifetime anyway.

http://www.arabianoilandgas.com/article-8505-the-rise-of-the-south-korean-contractor/?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter

Sir Ken Robinson on Changing Education Paradigm

I found this talk immensely interesting hence I decided to post this one.
Lots of food for thought among of which: ADHD epidemic being fictitious; the ARTS suffering from anaesthesizing our kids; creativity being the process of having original ideas that have value. I disagree somewhat with kids being grouped together by age. Some schools try not to follow this. I for one graduated with kids older than me.

wedding gown designs

Finally, I had my wedding gown designs!! These are by Patricia Ortega-Torres. When I saw her creations on the internet, I fell in love with them. And when I met her, the two of us just hit it off; the two of us instantly connected and established rapport. That connection turned out to be priceless I guess; I tried to contact 2 other designers but I lost heart to them because they didn't have the professionalism, bubble and openness that Richie had with me.

Help me out on the decision-making, will you? (Click on the picture to go to Picasa and then click zoom to view gown detail)

Gown choice A (front):

Gown choice A (back):

Image of the sheer-style shoulder of Gown A:

Gown choice B (front):

Gown choice B (back):

Lovely aren't they?

TIME's Top 50 Websites for 2010

Time Magazine issued their Top 50 list of the Web's best sites for the year 2010. I wonder though why it was released in August. One would surmise lists like this are issued at the end of the year haha. In any case, to each his own and deviants are always welcome.

http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/completelist/0,29569,2012721,00.html

Among those listed above, I only regularly visit 4 haha; although at least I know the existence of Sesam Street and National Geographic albeit I just don't visit them sites.

Included in the list is TED. TIME's feature on TED highlighted a couple of its best talks, which includes Elizabeth Gilbert's (author of Eat, Pray, Love - a book which I loved!) talk on creativity. And I couldn't agree more! This talk was really good! One of my favorite among my favorites. Currenlty, Liz Gilbert's talk has already 33 laguanges available for subtitles! Filipino is not yet available though and an idea has just taken fruit - I got excited with the prospect of translating! Can't wait to get started on this project! =D

severe repercussions

I had a number of errands to attend to late this afternoon (I already have my international driving license yey!) hence it was only after talking with Cashiew that I learned about the grim news of an ex-police officer who took the passengers of a tourist bus on hostage.

I believe Mendoza has his issues and his problems. But his problems had clouded his better judgment hence he acted dumbly, clearly not thinking of the severe repercussions his action will do to the Philippines and his countrymen.

Right now, all key words relating to the incident are trending in Twitter. I have read about a lot of people from other countries blaming and damning Filipinos and our country; collectively judging us because of the dimwitted action of one man. Right now, Hongkong Security Bureau has issued an "Avoid All Travel" to Philippines because of "severe threat".
http://www.sb.gov.hk/eng/ota/index.htm

I bleed for my country. I bleed on how we are wrongly judged now. I bleed for those who died on this incident. I bleed on how this will lower down our tourism business and possible investments hence worsening our current economic plight. Yet most of all, although this may sound a bit selfish, I bleed and worry on how this incident might affect my dream wedding - a wedding where my loved ones and the family of my fiance would gather to witness the union between me and my betrothed. I fear that this may not come to pass anymore because of fears in security of our family...

driver's license

Got my Driver's license today, yey!

Had the written exam, got 37 out of 40. haha! Should have had made it perfect though. =D
Anyways, international license is on the way as well. Excited, excited.

how cruel can it be

I took the day off from work last Friday - had to undergo drug test for my driver's license and I had to go to the bank for my bank certificate. Late that afternoon, I went to the office to meet with the groupmates and together, go to Jom's place for his farewell party before he flies to Singapore next week and lead a new life.

While we were having our dinner, I casually asked Kristine on the latest news in the office, thinking she would just update me on another funny yet mundane happening. And so I totally wasn't prepared to hear the news she told me - that 4 JGC managers working for IGD Pj were killed in a road accident in Abu Dhabi. My eyes must have been as big as saucers as I exclaimed "WHAAAAT??! HOW? WHEN? WHY??!!". My heart sank as I hear more of the story and yet my mind still can't comprehend what happened and why it happened. As talk went to the subject of overspeeding in the Middle East, I thought of the possibility that my special someone would get to be assigned at site every now and then and my heart was gripped with fear. Worry now settled in as well as I thought about what he must have felt about the incident.

Of course, like a lot of people, I'm angry with the truck driver who was so reckless that he didn't check any oncoming traffic thus killing 5 people. But foremost in my thoughts was how unprepared those 5 must have been with their deaths. They were not able to say goodbye to their loved ones, were not able to say their farewells and to express their thoughts and feelings to the people who are important to them. Their dreams and aspirations just cut off, with nary a warning. It was such a tragedy.

And yes, how sad and cruel it is to die without even saying goodbye to those dearest to you...

This tragedy has a lot of effects in a lot of facets with big resulting complications. I can only hope that their deaths will bring about good changes in Abu Dhabi's traffic laws. In that way, their deaths won't be in vain.

http://www.japantoday.com/category/national/view/4-japanese-among-5-killed-in-traffic-accident-in-abu-dhabi

This reminds me yet again though, to tell your loved ones, everyday, as often as you can, how special they are to you.

driving lessons day 1

I know I'm a bit old for this. But ey, each in his own time, right?

I was late on day 1 actually. I woke up with very bad colds and I was debating whether I should go or not. But cancelling the lessons on the actual day itself is not excusable; it's already considered as rendered service by the instructor hence I had no choice but to go still despite my bad condition.

And am glad I did! Well actually, I was surprised when my instructor just pulled at the side of the road and said we exchange seats - that I take the driver seat now. And I was like, what? here? now? I thought we will have our first lessons on a big parking lot. But no, it was on METROCOR; albeit an area with very low traffic but still HAS some traffic. The moment he told me to turn on the ignition, my foot was full on the break pedal (haha!) making it sure that the car won't go any further.

I got some high later on though when I finally got the courage to put on gas. I put on gas so much so that my instructor told me to put on some brakes else we'll speed up (to heaven..haha!) It was exhilirating! Reminds me of skiing. There were tight situations though where my heart stopped - situations where there were cars both on my left and right. But other than that, it was swell.

I thought as well that parking, both on the front and on reverse, would be very difficult. But, judging from my instructor's reaction, I think I aced it. hehe!

Looking forward to the next session and mastering driving some more.

Vietnam

Vietnam, here we come!! ^_^

I hope soon I can update this blog more often and blog more about my travels. I still haven't done my reviews on the hotels we stayed at in Italy. Even the top 10 must-do in Korea. (Top 10 in Italy is veeeery hard to do. A lot of stuff can be tied on a number of positions haha).

In any case, I hope we'll come upon good food in Vietnam for more entries on my goodfoodblog.

Anyways, the place and food is secondary. Foremost is the company you're with. ^_^

photog

For a professional photographer or even an amateur at that who has had a number of accolades, this may not be something. But for me who ranks photography as probably among the lower top 6 in my hobbies/interests (and hence is not really all that skilled), to have found below site was inspiring for me.

http://fiveprime.org/hivemind/Tags/boatride,yanagawa/Interesting

These were a couple of the pictures I took when we went to Kyushu, on a boatride in Yanagawa.
~grin~ "The world's best photos of boatride and Yanagawa" it says...~grin~
and, well, it was tagged as "interesting".

I should really get a real camera (and not just phone camera) for my goodfoodblogs.

a link in the chain

One of my school projects that I am most proud of was entitled "Rebecca: A Link in the Chain".

It was for a Theology Class we had back in second year in University. We were asked to pick an Old Testament Biblical character to feature on our end-of-term paper. Problem is, we have to think of a character real fast before somebody else gets to the teacher first with the same character you have in mind which meant that you have to think of another Biblical character which by then the only choices left to you would only have to be the obscure ones.

One thing I'm proud of: I acted on a whim. I was among the first FIVE to submit (out of almost 40 I think). And yet I didn't choose the most prominent of them Biblical characters - the Patriarchs and Prophets. I chose a Matriarch - Rebecca who didn't get that much "air time" I think. And yet I don't want to feature anybody else other than her. I still have no idea in mind how to present my paper but I was set on her. Sooo set on her.

Second thing I'm proud of: coining the "link in the chain" title. Haha, silly yes, but I actually thought I was very original with it. I haven't read the phrase anywhere yet, nor heard it. I just know that you need to "connect" something together for it to become a chain. And I thought "link" is the best word. I asked two of my most brilliant classmates what do you call "that" word which "connects" things to make a chain - no answer. But I was dead set convinced on "link". It is funny and amazing how now, 12 years after, (and it is only now that ) I seem to be reading quite a lot of the very same phrase, "link in the chain". Great thing about it is that I only get to read it among my really good reads and great literature.

Oh by the way, I got a 98% for that paper and it was modeled around by my teacher for the other classes to see. ^___^

Sometimes, acting out on a whim really does me good. And oh, I pray a lot whilst being whimsical by the way. =P

music is medicine

I had goosebumps when Gupta talked about the schizophrenic musician...
Yes, music does affect us profoundly so I am really thankful for all those gifted ones who give us beautiful music.

Farewell thee, my clothes

I've been told time and again that I have quite a LOT of clothes. Even a special friend told me I shouldn't get fat since I have quite a number of clothes and all those clothes would go off-spec if I ever get fat. Well if truth be told, I am having a hard time now in organizing my clothes in my cabinet since clearly there's not enough space anymore. Although I think it's not because I really have innumerable clothes in store. I think it's more like I have difficulty in parting with my old clothes and I hesitate in giving them away. It's not out of selfishness that I don't want to share clothes which I don't use a lot anymore and that I don't give it away to those who need it much more than I would. It's just that those clothes has been part of me for a long time already, has been with me in moments in the past and are parts of my memories. They contain a part of me. And that's the difficult part. Parting with something precious to me because it's been a part of me.

But then again, since I haven't worn some of the clothes already or that some of them haven't even been aired out for some time now, some of them are already discolored. Some of them may go to waste already if not remedied asap. When I saw some discolored clothes, somewhere inside me twinged because those clothes could have been put into use, if not by me, but by someone else who needs it more. And surely you would feel bad right if "a part of you" would just rot away?

So rather than keep those little mementos of me in the cabinet where they will just rot their while away, I think it would be better to give them away and share them. At least, they'd be made more special if they can be put to use. If those "little mementos" of me can be of help to others, then it'd be better.

Kiss From A Rose (my cover)

para sa imo