it’s that time of the year again. yeah. carols, xmas lights and such, what else that go about and pepper the streets at night. definitely magic is afoot. happy holidays to everyone including mes enemies. i’ve made a lot this year. haha. i’m kidding. or am i? yes, no? maybe? who cares. this is my last entry for the year, and that’s why reading this should make your christmas and new years a little more special. mm hmm.
There were so much things I had to do the past few days, actually work load has been up to my ears lately, so to speak, that I had no time to blog about. I’m sorry to keep my fans waiting but there were other pressing concerns that needed my full attention. Not to worry. I will make up for lost time by writing in twice the usual furious anger.
Besides, I know that my blog means a lot to everyone that the increased frequency of the posting would only spoil the fun of eager anticipation. Like they say, keep the best things at a time of suspense to heighten the intrigue and interest of those who want them.
To those who have been tossing and turning at night figuring out what GW means in my last post, today’s your lucky day. My present mood is such that I am now and actually willing to reveal the secret of secrets I intend to disclose publicly next year. Yeah. It means, you guessed it right!, global warming.
Again, my sincerest thanks to those who waited.
Stay locked in. Great things are about to happen and shall be written.
Virtually anyone with a camera, a pen and a paper and access to even the smallest mechanism of publication can go right into the thick of things, risk his/her life and equipment, and swarm about the unfolding news event without heed for authorities. At the same instance that something does happen to these people who purport themselves the bastion of media and public interest, cry foul and allege multifarious human rights violation, the usual press freedom rhetoric, against the government, who after all, is just doing its job of serving and upholding the rule of law.
I find it disturbing that the so-called journalists, presumably operating at the highest standards of fair-play and objectivity, can scurry about the battlezone and for heaven’s sake, expect that the natural operations of police enforcement should fold before them in their favor. As if we were likely to believe that their stupid cameras, phones or whatever contraption of theirs given to vile abuse, grant them the special and absolute permission to do whatever they please for the sake of earning the buck for news.
I’ve been editor of our school’s newspaper for four years, and I know how it’s like to scramble for newsworthy items and the serious risks involved; concomitant to their delivery for the public to read and understand. However, indeed quite in contrast to the media we have now, those four years I’ve devoted to gathering the material and information to publish in paper were years of discovering creative and efficient ways to get the news without having to resort to ambush interviews, overstepping the legal limits and even being so desperate as to fake allegiance and support to an erring group of protesters just so the inside scoop can be had.
The real mark of a great journalist is his ability to position himself in the best vantage point, preferrably out of harm’s way, where he can snipe the important information and sift through the the useless and impertinent issues for a more substantial reportage. Where’s the panache and fluidity of style if the reporter himself, who after finding himself in the crossfire, can only tell things at close range, blinded by the smoke and gunfire and nothing more.
Take for example the recent radio coverage of November 29’s rebellion in Makati. If memory serves, here’s a snippet of the poor reporter who got himself in a mess while covering the siege:
Reporter: O nandito na ako sa harap ng hotel. May naririnig na akong putukan, ayun, pinasok na nga ang entrance ng hotel. May mga military men na naka gas-mask. May mga putukan pa, sunod-sunod. Halos twenty rounds na ang binitawan ng mga pulis. … bakit mo ako tinutulak? wag mo akong itulak nasa ere ako. Tumabi kayo dyan. Teka, may paparaan na kotse (honking of car), teka teka.
Oh come on! Since when were basketball commentators allowed to cover something as grave and serious? Why inundate the public with bullshit and nonsense, I would say! And would you please shut up.
I guess that the fly on the wall metaphor doesn’t attach well in the embarassment they call the exercise of press freedom. I am inclined to think that their propensity to sensationalize makes them nothing more than mosquitoes–carriers of disposable and pernicious diseases. I bet if they were subjected to a rigorous competence exam, most of them, if not all, would be swatted down for having IQs registering at the range below sea-level.
No classes today so that means I can relax a little. I like it when it rains on free weekdays. I can grab a book, mix a mug of hot chocolate, just slump on the lazy chair and get lost in the pages of whatever it is I am reading.
I cleared the clutter in my working table and saw the library card I’ve been looking for the entire week. In the card’s leaves there are 73 spaces to fill. Or in other words, 73 books to borrow and read before the semester ends.
The closest I’ve been to filling up my library card was ages ago, and I barely went over half the number. On particularly great books, books that I’d like to pilfer from the library, I’d sort of forget to return it when it’s due (on purpose). Even if I’d remember to return the book I’d get that tingling feeling that the 2 pesos fine a day is worth keeping the book just a little longer to keep other people from borrowing it.
Otherwise, if I’m broke or I’ve exceeded the 3 month barrier, I’d give back the book to the library. The next day, after the returned books have been shelved, I’d look for it. Either I borrow the book again or hide it behind the wrong file until I can go back to it when I feel like borrowing again.
So anyway, 73 spaces for 73 books. Amazon.com listed the top 100 books for the year 2007. I’ve read 3. The rest are too expensive for UP main library to buy and some still are not in the Philippine market. I guess I’ll have to make do with whatever I can borrow for free. That’s not so bad. After all, UP library is the biggest in the country and is of course at par with its Asian counterparts. I’m sure I can find interesting ones to borrow; starting tomorrow.
Shop online for books here: OPAC.
Hmm. How about books to read on the winter break? Besides Crim and Consti of course. Maybe a classic–Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn; contemporary–Nietzsche’s Beyond Good and Evil; modern–Rammusen’s introduction to Game Theory.
Two more weeks and I’m flying back to my place of green and comfort! Christmas is closing in on me. There are plenty of things to buy for everyone back home. I promise this year I will outdo Ate with respect to gifts! That’s a commitment really, more than a promise.
I’ve got Papa’s sweater, Ate’s yellow shirt, Mama’s plant (she’s a horticulturist) and Kuya’s book. Oh I forgot, something for my niece and Sister-in-Law too. A toy perhaps? Time to do a little shopping.
I finally got my up law hoody sweater. Thanks to nikki now I don’t have to worry about coming to my morning classes with thoughts of spending 2-hour sessions inside subzero airconditioned classroom. Maybe this time, with the sweater, I will no longer freeze stiff if ever I’m called to recite again. I’ll have confidence in warmth to amaze the professor, and show them what being educated in UP means.
Also, I have something to wear to keep myself warm during the forthcoming simbang gabi. Yahoo. Perfect day today, undoubtedly. My sincerest gratitude. I owe you one.
We are only worth the price we set for ourselves. Our ability to reach our full potential is as potent as the strength of our belief in achieving great things. Believe in failure and you just might end up as one. Believe in success, however, and you can expect miracles to happen every single day.
Miracles, in this sense, are things you never thought possible because of the countless trepidations you allow to take over your life.
Truth is, miracles are rewards waiting to happen if you only bother to understand that they do exist, and believe that you deserve them.
Life’s too short to trust it on luck and circumstances. Better seize the chance to make the most out of it by taking positive action towards the right direction. You are, like me, like all of us, the golden children of the world. And in the words of a rapper, is time to kick out the jams bitches!
I’ve been suddenly seized by a powerful urge to read and study. Considering that studying is a lot like reading, and reading is learning at leisure, to do both without pause or rest is geekiness at the height of coolness. This must be the Faust-like hunger to crave and chew down different fields of study in one go–large.
I’d riffle through the rough pages of consti, crim and cases with deliberate speed and then pick up robert greene’s 48 laws of power to take a breather. Their differences fade as the discplines of Philippine Law and the Law of Politics and Human nature gradually become seamlessly interwoven in the exercise. I’d discover social and psychological contexts to explain the sometimes tenuous arguments of our justices in their ponencia under the lens of Greene’s more substantial theories. Likewise, there are cases in our jurisprudence that provide vivid and practical illustrations to Greene’s timeless laws.
I can’t help but giggle at the thought of being able to cheat the books by maximizing their individual potential benefits in creating a fascinating synergy. It’s kind of like reading the bible together with Dawkin’s God Delusion and Selfish Gene and Darwin’s Origin of Species. Furnished with all the necessary information you need, you literally split your mind in half and force yourself to take sides. Still you end up loving the bible even more and you gain a healthier respect for science as well.
It’s the ultimate battle royale of clashing and complementing ideas. The closest analogy I can think of that befit the mind calisthenic is the 1997(?) final round of chess between Kasparov and Anand. Hours of tough play only to conclude in a fashionable draw.
That and the realization that no matter how different the opposing sides are, e.g. black and white, religion and science, school and fun (education?), somehow there is a way to reconcile them for your personal benefit of understanding things in a sharper, more profound and holistic manner. Throw in the bonus of learning while keeping yourself entertained too!
Hmm. Let’s say reading the newspapers with cross-references to Pugad Baboy. Maybe that’s why they have a comic relief sections page; the symbiosis of news and parody–insinuations, allusions and metaphor, both writ large for everyone to seriously laugh about.
That is my new number. Please update your contact info accordingly. Keep in touch. Alrighty. Thx.
