Law School

After a four-year hiatus, I'm going back to school.

Yep, I'm going to law school. After trying to figure out if this is what I really want, I've finally decided to go for it.

See me after five years.

Pwede Ba?

Magbinisaya sa ko ke basi maingnan ko nga ipokrito pagkahuman nakog sulat sa post nani.

Kaganiha, naa koy naka-uban sa dyip nga duwa ka batan-on, usa ka lalake ug usa ka babaye. Sa unang tan-aw nako, mga hayskul pa ang duwa ke presko pag mga nawong.

Mahimong ordinaryo lang sana ang tanan kung wala nibagting ang akong mga dalonggan. Kay katong mupiyong na sana kog mata (kay nirayga na ang dyip), nadunggan nako sila nag-iningles.

Ug dili lang iningles ang akong nadunggan kay ang duwa kuyaw pud kaayo mu-accent! Ug kabalo pud mag-islang-islang! Murag isteyts, pre!

 Didto ko medyo nainis ug nagu-ol. Nainis ko ke medyo nahanginan ko sa gibuhat sa duwa. 'Wa ko ga-ingon nga bawal mag-iningles (English major baya pud ko intawon) pero dapat lang pud gamiton ang linggwahe sa tamang lugar. Ug dili tamang lugar ang usa ka dyip nga puno ug pasahero gikan San Pedro. 

Sa tinood lang, nahilasan jud ko sa duwa ug ang mas makalagot pa kay halata nga wala sila kabalo nga hilas ang ilahang gibuhat.

Ika-duwa, nagu-ol ko sa duwa ka batan-on. Unsa mani sila uy? Wala ba sila kabalo nga pwede sila ma-kidnap sa ilang sinultihan? Kung sa akua pa lang, naka-sinati nako nga Atenista ang duwa ug datu ke nagsige man ug iningles. Unya, kung naay dautan nga tawo didto sa among grupo, sa tan-aw ninyo dili siya mag-isip nga datu pud ang mga ginikanan sa mga batan-on nato?

Haay. Kabalo mo sa akong gibuhat sunod? Nipiyong na lang jud ko ug naminaw sa ilahang duwa nag-istorya. 

Mura jud ug korek ang duwa.

Just Amazing

Okay. I will not say anything. I'll let the video leave you speechless too.

Coronation

I've just got my front teeth crowned.

First of all, my utmost thanks to Dr. Villagomeza for bearing with me.

Second of all, what was I thinking?

The decision to crown my teeth was already made when I first got my root canals removed (that was before I entered college).

As a brief history, I was the kid in the family who had the misfortune of wearing bad teeth. When I was young, I was involved in an accident that caused my front baby teeth to fall prematurely, forcing my adult teeth to grow earlier. I was also treated with a medicine that produced stains on my teeth. Then, at around ten years of age, I had to have an incisor  removed because of a cyst, causing my three remaining front teeth to compensate by growing even larger. Along the way, I had the usual toothaches and cavities. Then finally, my front teeth hurt so much that I had to go through root canal therapy.

After that, my dentist had advised that I should get my teeth crowned because, over time, they'll grow dark (teeth with root canals removed are dead teeth and, hence, cannot retain their white color, or so he says). I ignored his advice for several years until I myself finally realized that he was correct. 

So I went with the coronation. And it was the first time in a long time that I cried. It was so painful because I was confident that I could go through the whole thing initially without anesthesia. My teeth, after the root canal, couldn't feel pain anymore but I didn't realize that, apart from shaving off a portion of my teeth, the dentist would also shave off a portion of my gums. My gums could still feel pain and I was sitting there, in the dentist's chair, mouth wide open, weeping, as the drill lacerated my gum line (Fortunately, the dentist took notice of my "discomfort" and applied anesthesia before I could cry wildly like a baby).

At the end of it all, was it worth it? Well, apart from the fact that I'll never need braces anymore (my teeth are aligned, finally), my teeth are also now uniform in color. Gone are the stains like yesterday.

I can smile more freely now:  :-D.  See?

Examen

It's a shame. I've studied in Ateneo de Davao for sixteen long years and only when I graduate do I learn how to do an examen. 

For those who are also as ignorant as I was, the examen is a prayer technique practiced by the Jesuits which involves short sessions of reflection over what has transpired during the day. Some liken it to a "pit stop" to recollect the mind, gather focus once more, before going out again to the outside world.

As mentioned, during my entire stay in Ateneo, no one ever taught us this technique. It was only when I read Heroic Leadership by Chris Lowney that I was first introduced to the examen.

Right now, I'm trying to do it every day but I'm clearly struggling with the prayer. The issue with it is discipline, or rather, the lack of it. Usually, I do it during the long commute home but I easily get distracted along the way. I also have tried doing it before I go to sleep but, most often, I'm so tired I forget. Anyway, this examen is still something I accept as a challenge and I intend to continue doing it until it becomes a habit.

For those who are interested, here's a good link to the proper way of doing the examen.

When Your Parents Are Dying

One time, I asked my father what we were supposed to do if ever he or Mama gets sick and on the verge of dying. Ever the fatalist, he nonchalantly replied that we should just let him or Mama die.

I remember that conversation because Lola Sayong, my mother's mother, had recently died then.  And every one of her children spent their financial resources just to prolong her life when she was still dying on the hospital bed.

So, Pa, my belated response is: easy for you to say.

I remember Ma'am Che's short sharing during our trip to Gumasa last 2010. Her mother had become sick and was also on the verge of dying. Reflecting on that difficult time, Ma'am Che herself had admitted that she forgot about her finances and literally threw everything, savings and all, towards her mother's hospitalization (Spoiler: the mother's alive and well). For her, money was out of the question; everything must be done to keep Mama alive.

Why this impulse? Children presumably do this out of love for their parents and presumably because, each one of us, as a child, can never learn how to let go of a parent until they are buried six feet under. Simply put, it's human nature.

The Heckler

Amazing.

Loi Reyes Landicho is the man.

Read what the Professional Heckler has to say about us.

The Other World

The theme has been explored several times.

In the movie Clash of the Titans, we are introduced to the idea of how the greek gods and goddesses derived their powers from the mortals who prayed to them and thus gave the deities their strength.

Similarly, in the movie Merlin, the villain, Queen Mab, was forced to submission and lost her magical powers when Merlin and the rest simply walked away vowing never to look back at her.

This economy of sorts is interesting because it also reflects how modern Filipino societies have downplayed the supernatural in our midst and, in return, have witnessed the silence that came along with it. One only has to look around to see that almost everyone has relegated the aswang, tiktik, and other supernatural creatures to our collective past. The mere mention of these in popular culture serve only to entertain but are no longer serious items that command our belief.