The New Labels (An Addendum)

Dear Paolo,

This is simply to remind you of what you've done with your new way of classifying posts. Here goes:

Trabaho ug Bokasyon (Work and Vocation) - work-related or vocation-related posts
Negosyo ug Kwarta (Business and Finance) - business ideas and money issues
Kahimsog ug Pagkaon (Health and Food) - health, beauty, and food posts
Kalingawan ug Lakaw (Leisure and Travel) - leisure activities and travel diaries
Espirituwalidad ug Relihiyon (Spirituality and Religion) - spirituality, religious beliefs and practices, and the church
Pagtuon ug Kamanggihimoon (Learning and Creativity) - learning and the arts
Relasyon (Relationships) - family, friends, acquaintances, and my relationship with myself
Kultura ug Katilingban (Culture and Society) - cultural practices and observations as well as comments on politics and government
Kinaiyahan ug Teknolohiya (Environment and Technology) - environmental concerns, scientific facts, and technological innovations

Making Sense Of All These Labels...Again

Hopefully, this is the last time I'm going to revise my labels. It's just that I'm increasingly becoming dissatisfied by my current labels. It's getting hard to categorize my posts as it is now.

So I thought about grouping posts under "life arenas". Instead of grouping them together under general concepts, I thought it would be better to assign posts to every aspect of my life:

Work and Vocation
Business and Finance
Health and Food
Leisure and Travel
Spirituality and Religion
Learning and Creativity
Relationships
Culture and Society
Environment and Technology

I hope this classification method is better than the previous. Here's to coming to grips with the new labels. Cheers.

Batman

Every guy dreams about being Batman. Some aspire to be rich like Bruce Wayne or to be a kick-ass superhero like Batman.

For me, what I admire about the comic book hero is his boundless adherence to what is good. He never uses a gun nor does he kill the bad guy. He believes in every person's capacity to change and reform, something which you might find quixotic given Gotham City's notorious set of criminals. He is incorruptible.

There's this one scene in the movie The Dark Knight which encapsulates Batman's faith in humanity:

THE JOKER Oh, you. You just couldn't let me go, could you? This is what happens when an unstoppable force meets an immovable object. You truly are incorruptible, aren't you? You won't kill me out of some misplaced sense of self-righteousness. And I won't kill you because you're just too much fun. I think you and I are destined to do this forever.

BATMAN You'll be in a padded cell forever.

THE JOKER Maybe we can share one. You know, they'll be doubling up, the rate this city's inhabitants are losing their minds.

BATMAN This city just showed you that it's full of people ready to believe in good.

 Perhaps, a bit of the Batman does reside in each of us. When we refuse to be corrupted by what the world insists is true, when we stick with our convictions rather than be swept away, when we dig down inside and say "no" to the convenient excuse,  we channel the Batman.

Let's face it, Batman can never be real. He is far too fantastic. But, ironically, he is the symbol of the everyday man, the ordinary guy who sticks a finger to conformity and refuses to play along.

I am Batman.

Dream House

I recently took a break from my job hunt to finish something: make a 3D model of my dream house. So I dusted off my skills in Sketchup and began working on the task.

The end result may be rough (I didn't delete the extra lines) but at least I now have a concrete representation of what the house is going to be (if and when I have the money to build it).

It's everything I've wanted to have in a house: spacious, solar panels, water heaters, green roofs meant to nurture various pollutant-sucking plants and shrubs, open-air ventilation, spare use of concrete, and an infinity "green" pool (although I just drew a rectangle on the ground to indicate where the pool is going to be).

Here are the snapshots:

New Look

Okay.

Here was my previous blog template before:

Now, I downloaded another one with a bit more white space and a lighter hue of blue.

I was initially thinking of customizing a completely new template. But laziness got to me and I told myself I'd be building one when I finally have my own domain name (www.paolobataller.com).

For the meantime, here's what I have. My thanks to the Good Samaritan who made this template.

Acting

If you must know, I did some acting awhile back.

My first play was when I was in Grade 3. I played the part of a leprechaun (a cute one) in the play Five Star Angel. It was really fun and, if someone were to ask me if they should join a play, I would always tell them to go for it.

I had a lot of firsts back then. It was my first time to go inside a recording studio, to wear make-up, to be on stage in front of a lot of people, to wander around the third floor of the former high school building at 8PM (to get my bag which I always leave in the classroom before I go to rehearsals. What a brave boy I was then. Just imagine wandering around the corridors in pitch darkness with no one around you and only your imagination to freak you out. That girl did look too real though...)

I did a play again when I was in Grade 6 and I was one of the lead actors. Again, I had fun but that was it.

There weren't no plays in high school (except for the classroom presentations) and I think the third time I ever got to acting again was when I was in college. By then, I totally sucked at it. The mojo was gone.

I remember playing the guy who gets lynched in one rendition of the Good Samaritan and I was trying to act sick when all I did was heave as if I was undergoing an asthma attack.

Still, it's sure nice to, you know, get back into acting even for old time's sake. But Davao City isn't that kind to adults who want to relive their childhood.

Tattoos And Piercings

I've thought about getting a tattoo. It's going to be very discreet; I'm going to place it on my upper thighs so no one would every see it except if I was totally naked.

I've also thought about getting my ears pierced.

Why? That's because I haven't tried these things yet. And I'm guessing that's also the reason why people get tattoos and/or piercings in the first place.

So what's stopping me? Well, if I get a tattoo, then I'll have to wait for a year before I could donate blood again. That's a bummer. As for the ear piercings, I don't think it's going to look corporate-ish if I were to walk around wearing a band-aid over my ear lobes.

Sometimes, practicality snuffs out our personal whims. True story.

Brofist

The brofist is an oxymoron: it's manly yet hygienic at the same time.

For those who don't know, the brofist is the fist bump. It's simply two guys placing out their respective fists and bumping each other's fist. It's a handshake minus the sweaty palms and last-minute hesitations. 

My first encounter with the gesture was when I was under Sir Bong. He would just place his fist in mid-air and wait for his guys to catch the signal. 

Then, I watched Kendrick Perkins do it on a Youtube video which featured him doing it as part of his pregame ritual. He would fist bump every guy in the announcer's table and wouldn't walk away until  everybody did.

But the brofist definitely entered my life when I met Sir Rojie. He was the brofist guy. Every day, not an encounter with him would end without a brofist. He also had a particular way of doing it also: the fist would be coming in slow motion from under his hip, as if he were about to do an uppercut. Then, at the last second, he would align it horizontally to meet the eventual fist. After which, once the deed is done, the fist uncoils to an open hand, perhaps signaling the end of discussion.

Maybe someday, the brofist is going to be part of popular culture, a testament to a machismo that is both non-sexist and wholesome. 

Who knows, right?

Cheating In Law School

Who would have thought?

Last year, I was initially surprised because our class heartthrob whispered to me something while we were taking an exam. You see, I was seated right beside the hottest girl in the room and I thought she was professing her love for me. 

Only later when I finally heard her correctly did I uncover her true intention: she was asking me for answers to the test.

I remember just clamming up right there and then, ignoring her whimpers until, eventually, she had to ask someone else at the back what the answers were.

That was my first instance of cheating in law school and, admittedly, I was surprised and then dismayed that it even existed in, again, law school.

The assistant to one of our lawyer professors also had the same observation: cheating is prevalent in law school.

She did know something because she had been proctoring exams for a long time and had seen students use their intellect to outwit the system.

Strangely though, I'm okay with the cheating. I mean, our journey does include the Bar Exam, the greatest equalizer of all time. One can cheat through law school but all those shortcuts are going to catch up with you when you take the Big Test.

The Demise Of The Art Of Driving

Papa and I had talked about driving today and what driving will be in the future.

I mentioned the advent of the electric cars and boldly proclaimed that driving as we know it today will be way simpler in the succeeding years: No more clutch and gas mixes. No more shoddy estimates about when to change gears. No more human errors. 

First, driving is going to look like what it was when I was still strolling in SM Cubao. Back then, Mama was studying in UP Diliman and, during the weekends, we would go to the mall and ride the electric cars. These were simply cushioned contraptions in wheels with an electric motor, a "go" pedal , and a kid-size steering wheel. That was my first driving lesson but it didn't look that way because I thought those carts were bumper cars and I was busy ramming against the other kids' cars.

Second, and more importantly, driving is going to be simple as sitting on your coach. That's it. Just sitting. A monitor plops out; you dictate your destination via voice command; the GPS in your car instructs it how to proceed; you sit there in the back seat pretending you are being chauffeured by a real human. 

Fun, isn't it? And, in those times, kids are going to wonder how we drove cars in the past.

Happy Mother's Day

It's Mother's Day and, across the universe, people with no sense of originality are saying their mothers are the best moms in the world.

There's nothing wrong about that sentiment though. If you're the recipient, it's really sweet but, if you look at it more closely, what's their basis of comparison for saying that you're the best mother ever in the entire world? All of us only have one biological mother and statistics tell you that any assumption based on a sample field that small has an error margin close to infinity.

If you want to say that you have the best mother in the world, don't. You're kidding yourself. You cannot possibly be a judge of things like this.

What's my suggestion then? Well, how about telling her she may not be the best mother in the world but she was and is the best mother for you. Come to think of it, in this case, you really cannot say anything definitive except that. Well, that's besides saying you love her.

But I guess people love to say the former regardless of the epistemological inadequacy. Despite being a cliche, saying that you have the best mom in the world really does tug at the heart.

Farewell Note (Part 3)

Sir Paolo,
I wish you all the blessings in life. Wishing you the happiness for the new journey that you will start. God Bless Sir Paolo!!!
- Q Galacio

Hi Paolo Bee!
So sad malagasan na sad mi ug isa ka MA.. ang pinakakusgan nga MA kay STRONG always..hehe.. Pero Paolo, we'll miss you.
Good luck to your new Journey & GOD BLESS!!
- Vine

Mr. Bataller,
The few months that we've known each other brought me to a realization that there's more to you than meets the eye; that your seemingly stubborn outer-look was just a facade.
Deep within you is a heart that holds your faith and principles firm.
You stand on what you believe is just and fair and that, I believe, is an example worthy to look up to.
In you, I have known a man full of wisdom and a man who knows how and when to use it.
For me, you are truly amongst the company's best assets; one of the few heartily dedicated efficient workers.
I have learned a lot from you not only work-related things but most of all, realities of life. For that, I will eternally be grateful.
I hope to see you someday, more successful and happy.
Wish you all the best. More power to you and may God bless you more abundantly.
Lots of care.
- Queen Anne

Hi,
Thanks for the friendship & Good luck in your new journey.
May God be with you!
- Pao S. Lim Bok

This is the last post. For the sake of posterity, I just copied everything from the letters my colleagues gave me. I may lose the letters but, at least, I posted their content to this blog before I did something as stupid as that.

Farewell Note (Part 2)

Pao,
Thank you for the almost four years you have rendered to the company.
You are still young, full of idealism and so I know you will go a long way.
I wish you all the luck and blessings to wherever your feet will lead you.
Good luck on your discernment and your future endeavors!
Shalom!
- Aye

Paolo, It's sad that after almost 5 years with the bank, you have decided to concentrate on your studies. As a colleague, I wish you would stay longer. But as a friend, I know you are choosing a path that will give you a better future.
I have told you before that I believe you will go far in life and I still believe that, especially seeing you work for almost 3 years.
Good luck on your newest adventure.
- Jo Ann

Travel And Imagination

Here's a habit which can put a smile on your face.

If you're going to a place, try imagining first on your way there what the place is supposed to look like.

Be as vivid as possible. Try to imagine every nook and cranny of that place. Commit that to memory.

Then, when you've actually arrived at your destination, compare what you see with what you've imagined.

Repeat.

Farewell Note (Part 1)

At first, when Ma'am Beth told me that you're going to be my MA (by the way, I don't see you as my MA but a colleague and friend), I pondered, will we be able to get along? Because you seem to be so "serious" and I think, I'm your complete opposite. I think my being adorable, charming, bubbly neutralized your grumpiness and being earnest (hahaha let this pass, since last na nako ni). At least now, I'm proud to say, you have loosen (sic) up a bit. Just continue doing that.

Since, this is your last day, I want to take this opportunity to thank you for making my life here, in BFB, quite easy (in terms of work haha!). More importantly, thank you for being a friend. I wish you luck on the next chapters of your life. I'm sure you will be able to meet new people and with that, I just want to remind you to be kind, nice (smile), jolly, and take it easy. I also wish that you will be able to meet the girl of your dreams. Love her like there's no tomorrow. LOL.

Anyway, I hope you'll like my gift. I don't know if it's great but let me know if you liked it.

God Bless!

- Ma'am RN

Gap Farm

It's funny how things go when there's no plan.

Last May 1, my ex-office mates and I were set on a beach escapade. Yotz, Sir Ramy, Sam, and I were headed to one of  Samal's beach resorts to celebrate a birthday.

Unfortunately, luck wasn't kind to us. Before reaching the Sasa wharf, we came across a long line of vehicles and realized this was the line to the barge, the only means of transportation for our car to and from Samal Island (I got to tell you. The city of Samal needs a bridge. But that's for another post).

Out of the blue, Sam suggested we go to Gap Farm or Forest Hill instead. Sure, it's not the beach but we could still enjoy the pool. So off we went.

In another dimension, I would have flinched at the thought of going to Gap Farm but, that time, I relished it. I don't know. Maybe that's because I hadn't visited it in a long time.

To be honest, a lot of memories were made in Gap Farm: the field trips, the family outings, and the one time in college when I visited the place to take pictures for our brochure, all the while suffering from the flu amidst the heavy downpour (Nice going, group mates).

We enjoyed the pool, had lunch, strolled around the place, and just soaked the "nature". Sir Ramy had mentioned that he actually suggested this place for our summer outing, only to have his suggestion rebuffed by those who wanted someplace classier.

Sure, Gap Farm remains to be a relic of the past and I won't bet on it regaining the popularity it enjoyed before. But, like what the songs says, "Don't it always seem to go that you don't know what you got till it's gone", I hope Gap Farm will still be here for my nieces and nephews to enjoy.

Exit Interview

The exit interview in my second company isn't really an interview. It's merely an online questionnaire aimed at providing HR with feedback on how to not screw up the next hires. 

Anyway, it's the perfect opportunity for me to explain my side of the story.

I'm pasting my answer here now because, having taken a second look at what I wrote earlier, I've considered it palatable enough to be posted. I mean, I did seem diplomatic (or restrained. Way, way too restrained) in my response to the question. In addition, I think one way of signifying closure is by putting everything out in the open (Also, Ma'am RN had pestered me then about how I answered this).

I've said to Ma'am A that after the interview, I'll shut up. I'm now reiterating that, after this post, I've deemed the matter closed. Basically, my answer is simply a rehash anyway of what I wrote earlier. Here goes:

Sent to HR last April 30, 2013:

Last March, I saw a colleague receive cash from a client and I confronted her. 

She justified this by saying that the cash gift is a token of the client's gratitude and the client insisted on giving it. She also explained that the cash is to be used to buy merienda for the department. 

 During a meeting with management, my officers told me that, despite a company policy to the contrary, it is acceptable to receive cash gifts from a client provided that it is used to benefit everyone and not just the recipient. 

In addition, according to them, instances such as these cannot be avoided and, if the client is insistent, we must accept the money to avoid offending him/her. In fact, as I would later find out, it is common practice for the department to spend cash gifts from clients on food. 

 As a resolution, the meeting ended with my officers stating what is to be done when money is received: the cash is to be coursed through management for proper disposal. 

I, however, am not convinced. My personal view is that accepting cash is never acceptable and, if received, shall be returned to the client immediately using the means available to us (ex: depositing it back to the client's account or applying the same as loan payment etc.). This should be the first option and using the money for the department's benefit isn't. 

There should be zero tolerance in matters like these. 

I am resigning because I cannot reconcile my view of the situation with that of management's opinion, knowing full well that their opinion on this situation can adversely affect the bank's image and appearance of integrity.

Despedida

So what do you feel now that you're leaving?

Relieved? Yes. I think I wore out my welcome a long time ago.
Happy? Yes. Now I don't have to think about issues and accounts etc.
Excited? Yes. I don't know what awaits me on the other side but I've been here before.
Nervous? Yes. I need to look for another job and I don't know if I'm still lucky.
Sad? Yes. I'm going to miss some people.

Life's good.

A Father's Letter To His Daughter (About Her Future Husband)

Here we go again. I guess writing open letters to your precious someones is very much in vogue. I got this from Huffington Post (again). Here's the link. I copied the letter verbatim from the site. Author's Kelly Flanagan, a clinical psychologist. By the way, it's cute.

Dear Cutie-Pie,

Recently, your mother and I were searching for an answer on Google. Halfway through entering the question, Google returned a list of the most popular searches in the world. Perched at the top of the list was "How to keep him interested."

It startled me. I scanned several of the countless articles about how to be sexy and sexual, when to bring him a beer versus a sandwich, and the ways to make him feel smart and superior.

And I got angry.

Little One, it is not, has never been, and never will be your job to "keep him interested."

Little One, your only task is to know deeply in your soul -- in that unshakeable place that isn't rattled by rejection and loss and ego -- that you are worthy of interest. (If you can remember that everyone else is worthy of interest also, the battle of your life will be mostly won. But that is a letter for another day.)

If you can trust your worth in this way, you will be attractive in the most important sense of the word: you will attract a boy who is both capable of interest and who wants to spend his one life investing all of his interest in you.

Little One, I want to tell you about the boy who doesn't need to be kept interested, because he knows you are interesting:

I don't care if he puts his elbows on the dinner table -- as long as he puts his eyes on the way your nose scrunches when you smile. And then can't stop looking.

I don't care if he can't play a bit of golf with me -- as long as he can play with the children you give him and revel in all the glorious and frustrating ways they are just like you.

I don't care if he doesn't follow his wallet -- as long as he follows his heart and it always leads him back to you.

I don't care if he is strong -- as long as he gives you the space to exercise the strength that is in your heart.

I couldn't care less how he votes -- as long as he wakes up every morning and daily elects you to a place of honor in your home and a place of reverence in his heart.

I don't care about the color of his skin -- as long as he paints the canvas of your lives with brushstrokes of patience, and sacrifice, and vulnerability, and tenderness.

I don't care if he was raised in this religion or that religion or no religion -- as long as he was raised to value the sacred and to know every moment of life, and every moment of life with you, is deeply sacred.

In the end, Little One, if you stumble across a man like that and he and I have nothing else in common, we will have the most important thing in common:

You.

Because in the end, Little One, the only thing you should have to do to "keep him interested" is to be you.

Your eternally interested guy,

Daddy