Unbounded

For a good few minutes, all darkness surrendered to the poignant words of Rico Abelardo. And I too, surrender myself to the preeminence of what he so effortlessly expressed.

Needless to say, this moved me almost to tears. So let me share to you tonight the following poem.


Mangyari Lamang
Rico Abelardo

Mangyari lamang ay tumayo ang mga nagmamahal
Nang makita ng lahat ang mukha ng pag-ibig
Ipamalas ang tamis ng malalim na pagkakaunawaan
Sa mga malabo ang paningin.

Mangyari lamang ay tumayo rin ang mga nagmahal at nasawi
Nang makita ng lahat ang mga sugat ng isang bayani
Ipadama ang pait ng kabiguan habang ipinagbubunyi
Ang walang katulad na kagitingan ng isang nagtaya.

Mangyari lamang ay tumayo ang mga nangangambang magmahal
Nang makita ng lahat ang kilos ng isang bata
Ipamalas ang katapatan ng damdamin
Na pilit ikukubli ng pusong lumaki sa mga engkanto at diwata.

Mangyari lamang ay tumayo ang mga nagmahal, minahal at iniwan ngunit handa pa ring magmahal Nang makita ng lahat ang yaman ng karanasan
Ipamalas ang katotohanang nasaksihan
Nang maging makahulugan ang mga paghagulgol sa dilim.

At sa mga nanatiling nakaupo,
Mangyari lamang ay dahan-dahang umalis papalabas sa nakangangang pinto
Umuwi na kayo at sumbatan ang mga magulang
Na nagpalaki ng isang halimaw!

At sa lahat ng naiwang nakatayo,
Mangyari lamang ay hagkan ang isa't isa at yakapin ang mga sugatan
Mabuhay tayong lahat na nagsisikap na makabalik sa ating pinagmulan
Manatiling masaya at higit sa lahat magpatuloy sa pagmamahal.


*****

Good evening my dirty little city, it’s nice to be back.

Tonight will be a little different – no mushy entries, just pressing issues.

From the point of view of someone who’s born a Roman Catholic, who traces his roots in Mindanao, who was schooled in an Evangelist Protestant primary and secondary institution, whose father is a practicing Buddhist, and of course, was proselytized in college, being pious means just as much as being confused. So, for the sake of this entry, I’d like to better orient myself at the moment as a non-denominational Christian.

Now, can we talk about your religious convictions?

You know, it’s been a while since my mum pulled and nagged me to accompany her to go to Quiapo, and I miss that. I miss going to the mass with her (and get dizzy while in the middle of the service since there’s poor air circulation), buy red candles and red wax figurines for my late grandparents, shop around for the cheapest vegetables, and browse around at the newest collection of pirated media. Basically, I miss being immersed in that gritty masa (common people) environment.

Commuting to Tutuban, Divisoria Mall, 168 (which I have to embarrassingly admit that I haven’t been there yet) don’t count.

I also cannot stop reminisce about this instant message conversation that I had with a particularly interesting and articulate friend (whose name I’m not mentioning) about her religious beliefs, her ambitions, as well as her frustrations, and our opinions on what’s going around with the community. She’s a very devout Christian - kind, good spirited, and very eloquent. She writes, and she’s the type of gal that’ll leave you feeling good every time you think of not only her, but also of the abstract thought of how she thinks (i.e. depth of personality). And of course, definitely one who you would be proud to be bringing to dinner with your parents.

So as not to digress, since I’m getting carried away, part of our conversation was on… yup, you’ve guessed it, That national cry for 700,000 homes in 7,000 sites in 7 years.

Don’t get me wrong. I have nothing against the organization per se. In fact, I’m all for it. It’s a very ambitious vision and it tries to reach its goal nobly - In theory.

I volunteered myself to help build a home once.

I was an eager child then, eyes gleaming with youthful vigor, ready to make a difference in the world. Armed with my semi-leftist mentality, I went into this program orientation.

Needless to say, my expectations of philosophy sharing, exchanging, and were raped when I was initially confronted with a prayer session. Worship songs, zealous members passionately exclaiming their love for the Lord, and sharing of secrets.

My turn came. Because of my background, I was not familiar with any Catholic prayers/rituals so I hesitated. I mentioned my background to them and that I’m a little reserved when it comes to this (I’m a Roman Catholic but I’m not comfortable with sharing to them then), and I’d prefer to orient myself as a non-denominational Christian at that time. This was frowned. The youth leader insinuatingly bashed the Evangelist Protestants by saying being a Roman Catholic is so much more fun.

Let’s pause for a while. Where the hell’s the orientation? I definitely did not volunteer myself for this.

Now mind you, the problem that I’m pointing out is the people that make up the organization, not the organization. This is definitely the unfortunate case for our school chapter as the organization is under care by our YFC group. Again, a victim of the situation.

I wouldn’t be surprised if there aren’t that many volunteers from the Muslim, nor from the Protestant community. I, based on my personal experience would definitely not choose to be affiliated to one organization wherein the environment would frown upon you if you were different. On the other hand, I would be pessimistically surprised if these charismatic youth leaders (with their blind, half-wit donkey followers) would attempt to approach the “marginalized” religious community and invite them to have a healthy supercommunity of people towards a common good.

I'm sorry. Is that too harsh an observation for you? Does that sound too much like the truth?

I have the utmost respect towards my fellow unrepresented for not making a fuss about it, and seeing everything from a good light. Huge respect to them.

In all honesty, Meloto’s bold vision of selfless dedication to our fellow countrymen is something we should support. In fact, I’m urging all you people with nothing better to do, or to all you people with time to spare, to give a little of your time, to give a little heart, to give a helping hand, to build. Not only of houses, but homes, communities, and most importantly, a better future.

The humble idea unfortunately is skewed and more so blurred because it’s dripped with religious bias. But understanding where he came from, that his background was religious in the first place, I guess we all have to contend with its “original sin”.

Just be smart enough to understand the core value of the community building organization and discern what activities are relevant/irrelevant.

To end, a quote from HL Mencken comes into mind: “The trouble with Communism is the Communists, just as the trouble with Christianity is the Christians”.

Bliss. It quietly, sweetly, shattered itself into a word,
Breaking down lightly, it ultimately intimidated
Thoughts of the argumentatively sublime
Slowly forming a ring of radiance
Around itself and singing
Praise and soft melodies
Of a subliminal song
It gently tormented
My old thought
Of being
Alone.

Seasons change as quickly as people do. The cycle continues, but every season is different. Some summers are hotter than the previous years, or the rain pours harder than the usual. New plants grow and develop slowly, then their blossoms wither. The plant turns from healthy green to dry, dead brown. Thus, the beautiful bush becomes a patch of unoccupied soil, like a grave meant for a human body.

Our senses are our weaknesses…

This was how he thought, of both people and plants – disposable. That is, until he noticed something different about the fence outside his window. His room looked out over the front yard, facing the street out front. He could see the fish pond, and the fence where his home ended.

Sure, I’m using my sense of sight and my sense of touch to write this. Sure, you’re reading this as well with your sense of sight. But how do you know you’re really reading this? Colors are simply what your brain interprets. For all we know, orange could be black, red could be green, and that something, anything could really even be nothing.

Sliding into a pair of sandals, he walked down towards the fence, goosebumps rising along his arms. The sun was concealed by a blanket of silvery clouds, and the wind was brisk and cold.

Blind people are a different breed. They wouldn’t know what a color is. Thus, they would be able to dream up colors that we, who can see, will never be able to think about. The blind can see; really see.

His thoughts were interrupted by a loud, “Hi!” right into his ear. She was standing beside him, her long black hair ruffled as though she hadn’t bothered to brush it, and she wore her usual cheeky smile. “I see you’ve finally found the honeysuckle.”

“..Honeysuckle?” he wondered aloud, with his brown eyes running over the plant.

She ran a finger through her hair, looking confused. “Are you saying you’ve never had honeysuckle? It’s like candy.” She said, grinning.

Eat the flower? He wondered, picking a pale yellow flower with slightly wilted petals.

“Now, just take out the white tube-y thing and…” She didn’t get to finish; he had already stuffed the flower into his mouth, chewing it before the bitter taste hit him. He gagged, spitting out its remnants.

For you see, those without senses are not limited by reality, not limited by their perceptions, by their misconceptions.

“Ack! That stuff’s nasty!” He yowled at her, glaring at her and whacking her shoulder.

We are limited by what we sense. By what we see, hear, feel, smell, and taste. By reality.

“That’s not how it’s done, silly! Here, you take out this part...” She slid the white stem from the flower’s base, slowly as she could. “Open your mouth and close your eyes.”

Instead of the gagging sensation of choking on dirt covered worn flesh, he felt a single drop of water hit his tongue. It tasted nothing like water; sweet, and unlike many of the things he had tried out during his lifetime. All natural, no preservatives, no artificial coloring. Pure sweetness.

Senses can be, and are, a weakness. For those without senses know so much more about the unknown. Yet, we try to coach them. We take them, and dump them into reality, or what is a reality to us, and not to them.

He opened his eyes, with cheeks slightly flushed. “After twenty-two years, I’ve never noticed this in my own backyard. Thanks.”

Imagination, un-inhibition are what’s important. And only those without senses can fully experience it.

“It’s a really hardy plant; I’ve even seen it growing out of sidewalk cracks. It just doesn’t die.” She grinned, and reached for another flower.

All your perceptions of reality – all the things you’ve seen; all the things you’ve heard; all the sweetness and bitterness you’ve tasted; all the warmth that you’ve felt before, are they truly bliss, or just something you hold on to, you believe in, like the feeling of comfort from hiding behind a warm safety blanket?

He then turned an even deeper red than before. Finally, he mouthed another ‘thank you’, and walked off, leaving her alone as he thought about that moment, replaying it over and over in his head.

Isn’t it time to let these go and to just close your eyes, to really see; to cover your ears, to really hear; to numb yourself, to really taste sweetness; and to hurt yourself, to really feel?

That was the day he changed his philosophy in life.

Isn’t it time to truly blossom?

I ask you, what’s it like to cup passing Air between your hands?

Well, to attempt to get hold of something free-spirited and enigmatic, of Air being a living and breathing mass of boundless cynicism, energy, and depth? We all know we can’t.

Yet, sometimes, there’s a certain softness in her, that, when Air whiffs you, it makes you smile and feel good.

I tell you, it’s all worth it.

Lift your head, baby, don't be scared
Of the things that could go wrong along the way
You'll get by with a smile
You can't win at everything but you can try.

Baby, you don't have to worry
'Coz there ain't no need to hurry
No one ever said that there's an easy way
When they're closing all their doors
And they don't want you anymore
This sounds funny but I'll say it anyway.

Girl I'll stay through the bad times
Even if I have to fetch you everyday
I'll get by if you smile
You can never be too happy in this life.

In a world where everybody
Hates a happy ending story
It's a wonder love can make the world go round
And don't let it bring you down
And turn your face into a frown
You'll get along with a little prayer and a song.

Lift your head, baby, don't be scared
Of the things that could go wrong along the way
You'll get by with a smile
Now it's time to kiss away those tears goodbye.

I. Introduction

Good afternoon, my dirty little city, it’s been a while.

If every by chance you get to pass by my workstation in the office, you might be able to notice that I fancy keeping a small collection of books by the corner. It’s a small eclectic compilation mainly by me and a number of contributions as well from my other officemates. Pocketbooks, textbooks, reference books, even recreational guides and personality books. I sometimes take one off the shelf and frill through the pages whenever I get a little free time, but you might think that keeping a mini library’s all flair and fuss. Well, I’m keeping it for a reason. For one, this is a constant reminder for me of my highschool days.

Highschool days, you ask. How so? Read on.

This particular Saturday morning is being spent by looking back into my old writings (apart from doing some photo retouching favor. Hee ;D ). I’ve found out that a number of them can be chunked into common themes. The following entries, including several one-shots thrown along the way, dabbles on our highschool shenanigans.

Basically, it’s a chronological gonzo documentation of the time when I visited my highschool after four years and saw an opportunity to give back something to my alma mater. I, along with my friends, tried to initiate this batch-wide project (now deceased due to neglect) of making a book drive, to gather books from all our batchmates and donate them to our library. It was a very heartwarming and noble undertaking that never really kicked off and met its full potential.

Mind you, they will contain numerous inside batch references, but I wrote all in such a way that a casual reader would understand and relate to.

And as a final note, they will be re-posted in all of its unedited glory. No censorship. So, to those who might be offended, because they will be mentioned, these are my thoughts, and not anybody else’s. So, do not find reason to be offended over lighthearted musings

Why all the hassle? Why reminisce a time that’s long gone?

Because it’s one of the things that will make us remember what it was like when we were young and carefree. The time when we thought we could conquer the world. The time when we thought we could do anything. The time when we thought that we were the best senior batch in our school.

Say hello again to our puppy loves, crushes, chapel presentations, intramurals, and the occasional scandals (ie. P!@#$ , anong mali sa job plan ko?!, by Wilson Tang). Good times.

Well, most of us are graduates now. And most forgot. All I’m asking is to look back and remember. Remember and make meaning out of it all.

After all, life’s all about meaning making.

Here’s to nostalgia.

II. They walked these hallowed halls

Journal Entry: Mon Jun 5, 2006, 9:46 PM

Wil and I decided to revisit Jubilee today after my unproductive morning of waiting incessantly for nothing in Fully Booked, Gateway. So much for manipulative serendipity.

As we arrived, we noticed that security got tighter. We had to have a purpose of visiting just to enter the campus, so we told the officer in charge (whatever happened to Georgette?) that we came to see Mrs. Yan. The OIC however directed us to Mrs. De Guzman. WTF.

Anyway, we took the opportunity to chat with the teachers and the staff. Some, we looked forward talking to, and some, ummm.. let’s just say that we enjoyed the company nonetheless.

Mrs. Raymundo, our grade one Filipino teacher, now holds an executive position. I reminded her of the time when she used to punish me every day at lunch by letting me squat. This wasn’t an exaggeration.

Ms. Ordinario, whom Jim, Dodong and I met again in February, is still the same. Again I teased her about wanting to teach Statistics (she taught us Geometry and Stat in our sophomore and junior year), and Wilson reminded her that “didn’t _______ used to have a massive crush on you?”. Nice retort.

I miss Mrs. Solinap. You remember her. She’s our petite and perky AP teacher who used to carry her maiden name Pajarito before she got married. I can fondly remember the time when I used an itty bitty notepad as the notebook for her subject just to spite her. I later went home that day with a sore right ear (by the way, did you know that Pajarita in Spanish means little bird?).

Heh. Moving on, we also got to chat with Mrs. Sofia Chua (Lin Lao Shi). She’s thinking about stopping teaching in two years because her daughter’s nearing highschool.

Mrs. Nancy Clemena also passed by, and we got to chat with her too.

Oh, you may think that it’s a picturesque moment, no? Yes, but not quite. When everyone in the room realized that I was a Psychology graduate, I suddenly became the darling of the discussion as they were desperately looking for a school guidance counselor pala. Damnit.

As if the moment was not awkward enough, Mrs. Sally Coyukiat (our Executive Directress, the head honcho for you non-Jubileans reading this) peeped in the office and joined the discussion. Everyone then told her that I was a Psychology major and she candidly persuaded me to apply too.

…!#$ Save me Mrs. Yan!

Mrs. De Guzman and pretty much everyone else didn’t allow us to explore the campus at first (apparently because of security issues), but have they forgotten that we were the golden batch? That we were the LAW? So when Mrs. Coyukiat came into the administrative office and personally suggested that we should take a look around the campus, I wasn’t able to hide my smirk. We then explored the campus like little boys in a toy store.

I felt like I was back in time. Back in the time where we had healthy class section rivalries, where Pollux would dominate the freshmen year, Hibiscus in the sophomore year (however they cheated to win so the prestige really belongs to Mimosa), Nickel for the junior year, and Galileo for our senior year, with Pascal trailing not far behind.

Who could forget those inspiring teachers? I’m sure everyone could still remember the science mantras that the late Mrs. Ramos taught to us.

Not a lot of people know this, but Wilson and I have a deep respect for the late Donia Gonzales. Not many of you know her. She was a secretary. We used to chat with her whenever we needed documents to Xerox, and connived with her everytime I was late to arrive in school.

Jubilee also had its share of uninspiring teachers.

Enter Mr. Ramos. Our third year math teacher who only cared about Friday madness and the first row of students.

Wil, Stip, Lea, Bev and I were seated at the very back at that time and we got so pissed by his selective attention. We then tried this one experiment where we’d raise our hands for the remainder of the class and point our bad fingers at him just to see if he would notice us. He didn’t. He was too busy letting ____ kiss his scrawny ass.

Finally, who could ever forget the puppy loves? The crushes, the heartaches, the sexual tensions in a love triangle, and your eye sparkling moments? C’mon, we all had at least one.

We then found Mrs.Yan and got to chat with her. She’s still the same Mrs. Yan that I know, still witty, still articulate, still my idol.

Wil and I also snuck around the closed chapel and its cloisters. The renovations that they made to the chapel are breathtaking.

But what got our attention was the deteriorating state of our library. The Charlie Brown kiddie encyclopedias that we used as references, circa early nineties were still there! Not to mention the complete 1992 edition of Collier’s Encyclopedia. Numerous other TEXTBOOKS were on the shelves.

We never appreciated the library because we never had good books to begin with. Wouldn't it be nice if we'd initiate a batch-wide bookdrive to address the problem?

So much has changed since we graduated highschool four years ago. Some teachers moved on, some passed on. Some structures were raised, some razed. But even after all the changes, one thing still remains and still remains true, that our roots belong to jubilee.

Always remember that every red colored grade, every SDR record, every peck on the cheek, and every moment of joy that we experienced in highschool is a mark. It will whisper and we will then hear the laughs that we had in our memories. We will remember that, at the end of our every endeavor is a celebration of our making. Our roots.

I personally consider my little visit today as a little gift for myself, to remind me of living.

xxx

III. Bookdrive

Journal Entry: Wed Jun 7, 2006, 1:40 AM

My my, this is turning out to be colorful discussion, no?

Everything started when Jim wrote this to the [Jubilee Batch 2002 graduates] groups:

“hey! what this? a non-forwarded message??? what is the world coming to???

Remember the days when posting a yahoo groups message was the norm? I might have had beeper 150 too, but I don't remember as much

Anyway anyway anyway, what brings me here is to announce our plans to have a bookdrive.

I know.
I know what you're thinking.

You're thinking "who are you?"

well, i'm jim, your high school batchmate!

Now you're thinking "what the hell do you want, mr someone who hasnt kept in touch with me"

Well, because it has been brought to my attention that jubilee's library has no books (well they have, just not enough to be actually called a library), we decided to have a bookdrive in order to raise books so that our younger brothers can have something to read aside from the old crappy encyclopedias we used to read before.

But before we suggest this fantabulous idea to the jubilee admin office, we felt that its important to get support from you guys first because we want to make it a batch thing.

That's right, we're all batchmates... ahhhh i can see you're all starting to remember now, a minute from now we'll all be singing "thank you, friend"

well, reply one and all and let me knw if this cause is important enough for you guys so i can decide if i want to go home or not (yes, im actually not in the philippines right now).

Or talk to Glenn and Wilson or go to the 13 blog, where laughter and happiness abound.

if you want to get in touch with me... my email and ym is true_love5484@yahoo.com .... say hello, flirt with me a little if you want..

anyway, thats it for me...

y'all take care... i miss you all

except for you stevenson, i dont miss you at all hee”

Chika responded positively, so did Jirbie, although we suspect that her affirmation was about the flirting thing.

Erwin then retorted with this profound statement:

“No offense to anyone... but i came to realize the evils of Jubilee...”

And posted another one which went:

“I realized that what I said a while ago is not Ok... so here is an alternate and in my point of view better and a more helpful and beneficial suggestion to your idea, Jim. .

I think that Jubilee [Jubilee Christian Academy, our highschool] has more than enough and they can support themselves IF they WANT to. I think the more worthy to give help to are the public schools. Try going to any public school, look at the poor kids. I think it would be more helpful if we help these people. They are the ones who really need our help. I'm sure they will
appreciate whatever we can give, even old text books and encyclopedia will definitely and surely help them.

What do you think? ”

Mariane also voiced her opinion:

“Hey peeps. Bigla ako napareply....

Anyways, as much as I think the earlier suggestion was really cool,
I would have to agree with Erwin that if Jubilee really wanted to upgrade
the library, it could, and that if we would really want to help,
that public schools might have a greater need. Hehehe, just a thought.
Anyways, it's a fabulous idea to do this to help other people ”

And as expected, Jim responded with:

“Oh no! my evil plan to corrupt young minds with the gift of better literature has been foiled!”

Everyone got surprised when Eug posted his sound arguments (kudos!):

“might as well reply hehe...

As much as i like erwin's alternative suggestion..i would want to stick with the
idea of further enhacing JCA's library..for the following reasons:

1.) If we are to start this bookdrive..let's not be too ambitious in trying to start it off on a school that we totally have no influence on..at least sa Jubilee..kahit konti naman cguro meron tayo d b?

2.) It's true that JCA may have the capability to support itself..but having been there we should know that they lack the initiative to do something about the problems of the library..maybe our actions would be something that would appeal to the senses of the admin to do something about its problems

3.) Lastly, a lot of us will be very busy after some time..some because of work..others because of something else..(by the way congrats to those who just graduated last march) so why don't we just spare ourselves a little less time in looking for other school's problems when we have one right in front of us.

That's all for now, take care everyone and God bless”

Now comes Necisto's reply. Classy. It went:

“better give to unfortunate people. Most of the jubilee people are well of anyways. Come to think of it, how many Jubilee students go there to do research? I'll
just support the poor kids cramping into a small classroom.”

Sab followed with an obscure reply:

“The Center for Peace Education in Miriam College just posted a message that Students from Patikur, Sulu are in need of reference materials. Well, from my view point, it would really be "better" if we could help public schools instead. I believe that raising funds for the library of Jubilee is the responsibility of the School and the JCAPA [Jubilee Christian Academy Parents’ Association].”

Sabb

From Stip:

“is stibog a member of this yahoo group? hehe di ata... baka walang
nakaalala mag invite... buti nga si jim naalala nya eh... hehehehe
naalala lang nya... pero d nya naalala iiinvite... hehe or baka
nainvite den... d ko alam.. hehehe”

Jim finally got fed up with all the irrational alternatives:

“okay, this is just silly now. If you think that public schools need books, no one's disagreeing. if you prefer giving to public schools, then thats fine too.
however y'all are missing this

we're talking about our alma mater. this isnt just a case of choosing whether to give to a middle class kid or to a really poor kid, because in that line of thought, then jubilee would never get anything.. ever. someone will always need more than jubileans will, but that doesnt mean we cant give back to our school. i hear that's what people who graduated there do.

so if you want to do something charitable, then cool, lets do that too.. but what i was saying was to do something for our school... but then again, im not even in the freakin country, so what the hell do i know”

I then started to explain our initiatives. I chose not to be too vocal about it first:

“Hello.

It’s been a while since I’ve posted something, seeing as being candidly vocal about telling the truth equates to public persecution. Nevertheless…

My friend, my friend, please explain to us the idea behind the necessity of doing this proposed bookdrive project instead for the poor, because a paragraph of word salad wouldn’t be enough of an argument to justify a batch-wide project. Be reminded that we are talking about making a batch project that will be specific, practical, and sustainable.

Providing those deprived kids the learning resources is such a novel idea, I really do think so. I really do. But it’s too broad of a project for the batch to manage. Why not address a need that we could easily reach? So I agree with Eug and Jim. We never really appreciated our library because we never had good books to begin with.

Now what about the thing on responsibility? It’s as much of a responsibility for the school and to the parents association as for concerned alumni. I’m afraid that sounds utilitarian, devoid of human empathy. I wouldn’t just leave jubilee behind after she cared for me for oh so long.

We are consulting the different sectors of the school community, like the students, the teachers, the head honchos, the parents, and of course, us.”

-Glenn

And the mother of all replies, and from a business managment savant no less:

"planning is key babe, planning is key..."

Jeco replied, in three parts, taking the matter to the preparation phase:

“kunin na muna natin yung mga required books nila, i'm sure people will back this project up if we give them something more specific i.e. quantities, and categories of books that they need. Can somebody over in Manila do this? si Ms. Singan naman madali lang kausapin e. Then we can offer this up to our batchmates and our contacts and just post the list of requirements para may pang-check tayo.

Anson Tan, the alumni association president (for the past X number of years) is here in Canada, kasama ko sa simbahan (WHAT THE FUCK???!!! SI JECO NAGSISIMBA???!!!!) anyway i'll talk to him on Sunday about this para mas legitimate and mas marami tayong maitutulong.”

-----

“The thing with jubilee now isn't indigenous to our school alone, it's the lack of money and the lack of teachers because of the low salary, they really have bad teachers ngayon hehehe. The whole CE department left including pastor Sia hehehe. Si Paul lang naiwan, that's a sign of something bad na e no? Christian Education teachers leaving a Christian school and society to look for work in Muslim country hehehehe. Religion doesn't pay unless it's coupled with violence hahahaha.

Anyway I do encourage fresh grads to try teaching there kasi kailangan nila ng decent na teachers (ang dali sabihin e no?) When i get back yun yung una kong balak gawin, although governemnt policy disallows part-time teachers, i heard na the case can be altered when it comes to jubilee with a little negotiation (godfather style sana para mas masaya).”

-----

“sorry ang daming messages na, as for helping the poor, honestly guys, those acts of benevolence might be better if we really could commit to the project, otherwise masasayang lang. If we really "REALLY" want to help then let's warm-up with something we can plan, execute, monitor, and evaluate with ease before we undertake some other altruistic act. So i think the Jubilee thing works well as a good first step. let's get the list muna ng kailangan na books then let's see how we perform, after such then tingnan natin kung kaya ba natin tong gawing sustainable.

So game? we really need somebody to go to jubilee and get an initial needs analysis muna. “

Cha followed with her affirmation:

“All of us know that the number of times we entered the Jubilee library can be counted with our fingers and for the diligent ones, their toes included... and we CANNOT deny the fact that there IS a scarcity of books in the library due to well, probably the non-need of the high school students to look into books since well, there was the internet to turn to every time we cram our research papers...

But 4 years in college has taught me (all of us, i must assume) that the need to look into books as references for papers and projects just so the professor can take it as legitimate... A book drive for jubilee could actually be beneficial as even if the new building boasts of new facilities like speech labs and science labs (that they actually use) the library oh, the educational resource center pala... remains small and bare. I agree that the people in our school don't read much but this book drive might give the students a push towards the right direction. Going to college before discovering that libraries really exist isn't something that we can be proud of.. so why don't we start helping them now? by providing the students with more books and more options for their readings, we might actually grow a number of readers...

The project within jubilee may seems small and irrelevant after all, as some may say and point out, the JCAPA has the money and the means to expand it. The problem here is that it's not their priority. And we might as well make it ours...

For the alternative suggestion that we should just do the book drive for a public school, its not a bad idea. But I agree with the people who say that this is something quite large and for the meantime unmanageable for us. Let's take a look at it this way, if we donate our books to them, we cannot even make sure if the people actually have the capacity to read and make use of the things that we are going to donate. Not to go against the public school system, but there are a lot of students there who do not know how to read even if they are in high school, the books then we are going to donate will simply go to waste...

Maybe someday, if we have more means we can create a learn-to-read program for them instead of just giving them books in the hope that they might learn to read and get a job at the nearby call center... “

-Cha-

Also Karaine:

“hey..!! nabuhay si karaine! heheeh

anywys. it has come to my senses..i have been out of our batch's circle for a million years now.. haha

nice to hear from all of you.. and replying to jim's suggestion..! its a brilliant idea! it really is.. well, i have noticed that problem when i visited jubilee for the past few years na umuuwi ako sa christmas time.. the library is just bare(haha! yes, i went into the library when i visited!).. well, it needed some books.. really.. so i think what you guys are planning is excellent.. as much as i want to help, im overseas.. but maybe i can.. and id be happy to!

kayalang, food for thought, medyo broad nga ung project na to! and i think its not so much the idea of having more books in the library..its actually getting the students used to the fact that research is needed in doing assignments and referencing and stuff.. (unlike how i did it before.. literally print stuff from online encyclopedias..!!) so we hav to not only donate books but kind of hav to work with teachers in the school.. i mean, this may also improve skills of students specially in english and all.. coz i got news.. legit source.. that jubilee had a high
percentage of first year ateneo students not passing the college english level..

thats my thought..hehe update me on whats happening.. miss you all!!! looking forward to reunion!heheh”

karaine

As of post time, the last thread ended with Wil's summary:

“Well said Charissa. When Glenn and I first thought of doing something for the library after visiting Jubilee (the Dona Hemady branch), we never saw it as a charity case. As much as I would like to help the needy, its also about time that put our acts together and do something for our school (This coming from somebody who has a massive messianic complex). Thats when we talked to the other members of the 13 about it namely Jimson, Jeco and Eugene. We saw it as an opportunity to correct a deficiency in our alma mater's system, not as something to just plainly do while bored and get as many books as we can and dump it to jubilee. Ginawa naman natin basurahan ang jubilee kapag ganon. Also, its so pathetic for us to do nothing to correct a deficiency, especially now that we have the power and resources to actually do it.

While many of you showed doubts on to why jubilee can't produce a better educational resource center (doubts aren't necessarily a bad thing though), how many of us know the real score about Jubilee's finances? Or better yet, how many of us know how much Jubilee's tuition is this coming school year without asking your shobe/shoti/mommy that are still connected to Jubilee? I'm sure Dr. Coyukiat and Ms. Singian aren't blind to the situation of the library. There must be a reason.

Now many of you also ask, why the library? As said earlier by Glenn, Jeco and Cha, its a feasible idea. Plain and simple. Better than suggestions from other people that we interact with jubilee kids. Also, as all of you may know now, learning doesn't stop in the four corners of our classroom. There's a wealth of knowledge hidden beyond classrooom discussions and textbook reading. This is what a good library can afford to its visitors. It is also our dream that this be the start of a culture of reading and critical scholarship amongst our young brothers and sisters in jubilee. Only a fool would deny children the opportunity to read a good book. We are inviting you to be part of this dream.

Isn't it also a great idea that the first thing the batch did after getting their degrees from reputable universities is to create a bookdrive? How many batches can claim they did that for their alma mater? Btw, it would make a perfect gift for Jubilee since it is her 40th birthday. Now that is a good plan, "babe" heeeeheee.”

xxx

IV. Top ten batch rivalries

Journal Entry: Fri Nov 24, 2006, 3:47 AM

[This one’s totally unrelated to the bookdrive story]

What on earth is an event when it is not celebrated, mourned, commemorated, nor remembered? The following commentary attempts to ordinate the most significant rivalries of our batch if ranked from ten to one.

Human impulsiveness will lead the common reader to immediately judge the content of the following list. Let them be, for it is only humane for one’s emotion to take hold of his reasoning. But lest they realize its folly, that the aim of this narrative is to shed a humorous but critical perspective at taboo events, the sooner will they appreciate and celebrate the existence of our batch. Read on.

10.) III Nickel vs. Aimee Grutas
(Directed Warfare)

Origin

It all began when this despot made a botched joke about a mental patient. It enraged the class to a point where every student banded together, and decided to make their classroom adviser their common enemy. Mr. Wilson Tang stepped up to be the figurehead of this said class in the later quarters, and lead the series of antagonizing events to oust their adviser.

Length

Organized resistance went on to one full schoolyear. Each student suffered going to class to be made fun of by this tyrant. They crept through each day, each week, and each quarter.

One noble student, Mr. Glenn Kho, once wittily retorted against his adviser when she was routinely exercising her evil influence to the class. This poor martyr was systematically publicly persecuted. He was, is and will be honored for his unselfish attempts to reveal the evil adviser’s folly.

Something had to be done. A new figurehead must step up to bravely face this oppressor.

Climax

In what was to be remembered as the third quarter storm, a blitz of insurgency from the class lead to the downfall of the adviser. One man rose from the ranks and raised the class consciousness, inspired by the satire of Mr. Glenn Kho.

The people’s president, Mr. Wilson Tang bravely exposed her puppet government, literally. No one ever thought that a paper receptacle and a felt tip pen were all it took to oust an autocrat.

It was the longest 50 minutes of their lives. Everyone’s eyes, ears, and hearts were on Mr. Tang. He surprised everyone, including the adviser herself by symbolically chatting with a puppet version of her.

Enraged, and very embarrassed, the adviser’s futile attempt to take control of a collectively conscious class was now inevitable.

Result

Anarchy! Freedom! Everyone rejoiced!

Yellow ribbons were tied along the bars of the classroom windows, to symbolize that 3 Nickel was now free from her vile cruelty. The class hailed Mr. Tang and remembered Mr. Kho for their passion for truth.

Impact

It was then known, not only to the other 2 classrooms, but also to the whole academe that 3 Nickel made a crimson-less revolt against their adviser (no one failed her class).

9.) Rowena Corpuz vs. Patrick Siy
(Asshole vs. Dickhole)

Number nine on the list reminds us that sometimes, we have to favor the unfavorable in a contention, albeit the lesser one. Whether you sided with the teacher or the student, one thing’s for certain, nobody really gave a sniff of fecal matter of attention for this rivalry. This one’s a novelty entry at best. Can you catch my whiff?

8.) Stephanie Dionisio vs. Jonathan Pua
(For the SC Presidency)

Ah, the holy grail for recognition in college admissions – being the student council president of your highschool. Only a handful may be able to claim that they ran for it, only a few chosen individuals may boast that they won it, and only one will be able to declare with pride that that person won the presidential vacancy with absolutely no established party system, platform, general, and specific plans of action.

The voice of the educated populace were put on the hands of these two presidentiables, where one campaigned for responsible toilet flushing through “sprinkle allergy stickers”, vis-à-vis the other, simply considered his candidacy as a fallback for his other application (and vice versa) to an immaculate, non-partisan highschool organ that heralded integrity and excellence.

That yellow sprinkle campaign was apparently effective. Despite a blatant tally fraud, the latter candidate lost by an expected landslide to a ditz. He then naturally assumed an executive editorial position.

In what can only be described as a campaign battle that went to the dogs, what was once a pure regard to that highschool organ became tainted with yellow sprinkles.

7.) Jimson Gow vs. Louis Chingcuangco
(Self-directed Warfare)

6.) Wilson Tang vs. Jefferlito Menguin
(Teacher vs. Apprentice)

Yours truly could not possibly have the heart, courage, nay, grace to post the professional sports entertainment allusions for this number six rivalry, on the account that it’s too lame and too corny to compose. Maybe Wil can elaborate on this (oh yeah, do feel free to elaborate on the other ranks since to comprehensively talk about each and everyone of them would consume too much time).

The gist of this rivalry between Wil and Menguin is that they absolutely hated each other in everything they did together, be it in pool, basketball, early morning line formations, classroom discussions, and even in the newsroom. This only gives more weight to the saying that no jerk likes to have another jerk around.

This rivalry went on for two school years and peaked when Menguin denied Wil of an executive editorial position in the school organ to a ditz and subsequently, denied him as well of a journalism merit award to that very same ditz whose name I would prefer not to mention.

Indeed, it was an epic teacher-apprentice / father-son relationship worthy of Star Wars comparison.

5.) Jericson Co vs. Glenn Kho
(For The Trophy partner)

4.) Stephanie Dionisio vs. Sheryl Uy
(Queen Bees and Wannabes)

3.) Wilson Tang vs. Sabrina Poon
(Chauvinist pig vs. Feminist bitch)

2.) Jelyne Garperio vs. Sherri Yang
(Family matters)

1.) Jokeh vs. Pikachu
(Everything that’s wrong in this world thrown into a barrel of lard and retardation.)

It would be a tremendous task, o God, for me to write this one up without malice if it is without Your watchful eye. The burden of my choice of words will be unbearable if You would not guide my pen. I ask forgiveness in advance, o God, that I may treat one of my batchmate whom we remembered with the most colorful of memories with disrespect.

Your most humble servant will remain steadfast to pray to You five times each morn, until the faithful day that he shall meet You again.

Amen.

-----

Sarcasm and satire are not enough to describe the eternal struggle between the good and the badly educated. Even Mother Nature’s evolutionary process could not rival the severe social ineptness of this fictional hamster’s combatant. Powers clash as bolts of lightning battles against his magic technicolor Gameboy, powered by his imagination.

Yet, with all our condescending perception of his apparently absurd world comes bliss. An appreciation that we could never see without an open mind.

Yes, he did not graduate along with us, but he will be remembered as our special batchmate. Let’s all hope that God or the devil has higher plans for him in this world.

…That poor soul.

xxx

V. Postscript

The book drive story ended unresolved.

This, small collection of books, in the corner of my workstation, by the window, is a constant inspiration that I’m drawing from – that collaboration is possible, that giving is selfless, that learning is boundless. I promised to myself that very day before when I, together with Wil, Jim, Eug, Jeco, and Stip that I will give something back to my alma mater.

I am keeping that promise still. This small collection that I have in the office starts.

xxx

I love the city in the rain. The last of the second half monsoon rains is here; soft, on light wind, the sort of misty breeze that ruffles your hair like a playful little sister.

…If you have a little sister.

It’s those days where you’d spend the mornings quietly, by the natural light, and put your fragments of thought into writing.

Street children on the streets stop, now, to open their mouths, drink it down, cold and clean and fresh. You see them, and for a while, you contemplate about dropping everything and to jump right in with them.

Down the street, phonebooths, sidewalk screens, and smoke belched covered sidewalks are made new again by the water.

Don’t you wish that, for just one day, you could be that naiveté little sibling? That, for just one hour, you could play with those carefree street children? That, for just one second, you could be the rain?

“So, what makes you happy?” She asked.

Sometimes, the weight of the moon just becomes a little too much to bear. So much despair, so much sorrow, so much sadness. One must not forget that these things, these burdens, are facticities. This conflict is the human condition, the emotional disposition of every human being in the known universe.

A wry smile spread over his pale face as he weakly replied “you".

We are bound by hour heart and our mind. Each and every one of us, searching, seeking, finding, fighting the never ending struggle in our hearts to discern true happiness.

“But why would such a plain answer maintain one’s happiness?"

In life, we will never be truly content with what we have. All we can r
eally do is to find someone, someone like ourselves, to grow with, to share our world with, so that through each other’s strength and weaknesses, we build a stronger bond with that someone, a stronger understanding, and ultimately, a complement. That, is bliss.

As though he were trying to illustrate his purpose without thought or emotion, he retorted “it just does”.

Where the waves touch the shore, and from the clear blue horizon, rode a lady in red; with her trusty white steed, they galloped the shoreline; red bikini and all, she captured the imaginations of men and women alike.

This was being advertised lately in the TV:

“While Roxanne Guinoo is the newest White Castle 69 model, you (the lady viewers) could be the next model, after Glydel Mercado and her! The search is on for the next White Castle 69 model!

Send in your profile photos and compete in the newest, most prestigious search to be the next cheap liquor model where you’d ride on a horse along the shoreline of a beach with nothing but your red string bikini on.

Now, isn’t that cool?

And finally, this just in:

"Six months from now, Monterey would be making their own version of that very same commercial, where they would look for the most gorgeous woman who’d be willing to wear nothing but a string bikini, ride a bull across a grassy field, and model for meat."

Good evening my dirty little city. It’s good to be writing again.

It’s time to do something more impossible than solving world hunger, than boiling the ocean. Tonight, I’ll be answering the quintessential problem that baffled even John Nash.

To solve the incredibly long service times in Mc Donald’s.

How many times have you walked into a sardine-packed Golden Arches and went through the hassle of waiting in line for more than ten minutes, only to realize that you’d have to wait five to ten more minutes to eat your Big Mac because the food that you want still has to be deep-fried (syn. cooked/prepared)?

Now, upon getting your order, paying your five hundred pesos to the cashier (who’s also the person serving you the food), and having to wait another five minutes, because the cashier is short-changed, you lift your tray and you weave through the thick lines and precariously dodge the first rows of chairs and tables, which are frustratingly placed too close to the line.

Well now, I can see that you’re nodding your heads in affirmation. Boys and girls, it’s time to apply what we’re learning in school (you have been listening after all, haven’t you?) and put the shit that’s stored in your ‘noggins into practical use.

Let’s apply Six Sigma and 5S to Mc Donald’s

Of Americans and why everything about them falls short of six

Six Sigma (6σ is a system of practices originally developed my Motorola to systematically improve processes by eliminating defects (wiki).

Defects, on the other hand, are defined as units that are not members of the intended population (wiki). This is statistically defined as having 3.4 defects per 1,000,000 transactions (in layman’s terms, not having more than 3.4 cases of deviations beyond the allowable variance per 1,000,000 products or services). To easier understand the Six Sigma philosophy, here’s a breakdown of the number of defects per million transactions, and where 6σ is placed:

[link]

For our case, we want to improve the number of customers being served satisfactorily in McDonald’s. Of course, in reality, a Six Sigma project should not have the solutions identified yet. For the sake of this post, let’s pretend that we don’t know the solution yet and we’re going through the process together.

DMAIC

One of the key methodology in Six Sigma is DMAIC, which stands for:

Define – which concerns the problem statement, the objective statement, necessary for identifying the problem.

Measure – which is about understanding the process, validating data accuracy, determining process capability, and setting baseline data.

Analyze – which is basically about forming the relationship of Y = f ( X ) + e (of causality), and screening for potential causes.

Improve – which is about determining, validating, and implementing solutions to achieve the objective statement, and

Control – which is about implementing process control methods and monitoring performance to sustain results.

Finally, to operationally define being served satisfactorily is, it is the amount of allowable idle time where a customer starts to fall in line, to transact their order, to receive a set meal (that is prepared consistently x% of the time. This should be another six sigma project), and sitting down to eat the meal. All of these should be done in about 4 minutes. Taking into consideration the maximum allowable variance of ±1 minute, the ideal time should be between 3-5 minutes (prescribed optimum are estimates, for the sake of discussion). Too early, and errors on food preparation, and money changing may arise. Too late, and customer satisfaction is diminished.

The below figure summarizes the macro process model for a Mc Donald’s cashier-cum-crew in taking orders (sorry for the grubby resolution).

[link]

The process begins with the cashier clearing the serving area of clutter from the previous transaction, prepares the tray, and takes the order from the customer.

The cashier then double-hats into a crew role and gathers the order list from the serving bay.

Three control points are first being asked in the general process: 1. does the order contain drinks? If yes, the crew proceeds in preparing the drink. 2. does the order contain sundaes? If yes, the crew proceeds in preparing the sundae, and 3. does the order contain food that needs to be cooked? If yes, the crew instructs the mess crew to prepare the orders and prepares them accordingly.

After putting everything together onto the tray, the fourth control point questions if the entire order list is accounted for.

The cashier issues the receipt, and the final control point asks if he is short changed or not. Everything easy so far?

Now, another quality improvement methodology that would come to play is 5S.

Of Japanese and why everything about them falls short of five

5S is a philosophy that originated in Japan, and is about the way of organizing and managing in the workplace. The key impacts of 5S is upon workplace morale and efficiency. By ensuring everything has a place and everything is in its place then time is not wasted looking for things and it can be immediately obvious when something is missing (wiki).

The real power of this methodology is in deciding what should be kept and where and how it should be stored.

This dialogue builds good clear understanding amongst a workforce of how work should be done and instills an ownership of the process when done efficiently. It is often, therefore, executed in partnership with standard work, which are operations for which these things are used (wiki).

The name derives from its five principal philosophies in Japanese characters, which all begins with “s”.

SSSSS

The 5S’s are:

Seiri – tidiness, organization

Seiton – orderliness

Seiso – systematized cleanliness

Seiketsu – standards

Shitsuke – sustaining discipline.

Identification and objective statement

As a company, the time duration for serving foods are not meeting the scheduling requirements. Overall, this is causing customer dissatisfaction, layout problems, and manpower deployment issues, as well as resource issues, that are costing the company as much as x in lost revenues and x for unnecessary expenditures per year.

We want to reduce the service time from an average of x to 4 minutes, with an upper limit of 5 minutes. this will meet the current maximum goal of x greater than x percent of the time. The new goal will be achieved by x month and year. it will support our serving efficiency goal (of that darn one time deal of being able to serve a customer in three minutes or less, provided that you take your order late at night and no one else is at the burger joint) and achieve an annual savings of x per month and significant implied projected earnings of x per month.

[End of part one]

Part two will talk about identifying areas of improvement. Again, these are all assumptions as there are no statistical information to establish baseline data.

Part two will also take a look at the macro process and reveal hidden processes that take up time (i.e. the rate at which fries are being deep fried are so slow that customers ordering would have to wait as new batches would have to be prepared to accommodate them).

Finally, part three will talk about applying the philosophy of 5S, in conjunction with Six Sigma. For example, the space between the first row of tables and chairs needs to be moved further from the cashier. More cashiers need to be open for service as too few ones are being used, hence the bottleneck effect, and manpower placement has to be thought of, i.e. those people who roam between lines and ask about your order, tallying them in teeny pads. Guess what, they’re not significantly improving the time of you being served. They might as well be put into better use as cashiers or crew people. The horizontal distance between cashiers should be extended as people carrying trays with their orders in it waste valuable time in dodging the lines (not to mention those pesky people who snug themselves across lines to pick up straws).

Good evening my dirty little city, it’s been a while.

I love my country. Only here would you be able to find academic marketing at the expense of other institutions.

Kudos for this particular series of billboards (well, they’re not actually billboards, but more of graffiti’s in the form of tarpaulins. Eyesore, really) going to Eastwood, courtesy of Informatics. One of them goes like this:

“Ateneo or La Salle may be your first choice. But abroad, this one counts: Informatics.”

True, very true.

I’ve never really heard of any overseas domestic helpers who heralded from ADMU or DLSU.

Make your countrymen proud, dear graduates of Informatics, we need the remittances.

[link]

-----

I’d like to leave these parting words, in reprisal (since it relates very much to why these promotions were made in the first place) courtesy of yours truly:

“What meaning is there to exist when the poor has no one to look up to and for the rich to look down to? When all dreams are real and when all efforts come in vain?

How can joy exist without sorrow? It's unrealistic and absurd to hope for a perpetually happy world for after a while, it would cease to be happy; it would be awfully boring.

Contrasts and limitations are thus necessary for anything to be considered valuable.”

“The last thing I remembered was cheap whiskey and cheaper perfume. I think her name was Vanessa. I clearly wasn’t paying any attention; I just didn’t want to drink alone.

Vanessa, Van, V. the girl who had an opinion to just about anything you could conceivably throw at her at. Opinions which, at least to her anyway, needed to be heard for her to feel, well, noticed. Vanessa. Verbose.

So there I was, idling in a dull, throbbing semi-consciousness. I knew I was in for a rude awakening. But an apocalyptic hangover wouldn’t be the worst of my problems.

For the past two days, the silent vibrations of my phone were more of a nuisance rather than an anticipation of a sweet nothing. I checked my answering machine today and got about ten messages all from the same sender:

‘[beep]

Hey. I’m calling to tell you that we were expecting you yesterday but you failed to show up. Anyway, we’ve been meaning to ask something from you regarding her case, and I suppose you know that there’s a pending case between the management against her, and we received some documents in which you’re involved. So as your former employer, we would like to protect your interest as well, so we were hoping to hear your side, if possible. So there. Give me a call or message, okay?

[beep]’

I never expected that this whole case would grow so much to become extremely overrated. I never wanted to become legally implicated in this shuffle between her and everything else, but it seemed inevitable. Looks like what she did to me sealed the deal. My deal. My fate.

I guess the price for me to do anything is as much as a shot of whiskey and a blowjob. ‘Protect your interest’, HAH! What bull. These are the things that I loose my sleep over, and I love my sleep.

Now, you can leave me alone with my thoughts and my next shot of drink.”

xxx

How every evening, he would anticipate her panes waking up, her fingers gently tapping the frame, where he would imagine where he was instead, beside her, getting a glimpse of everything from her perspective, opening her room's full bodied window.

He would opt to hide every morning in the shadows of his own room, as a result of being in waking for the whole night, until the morning chirps of the sparrows beckon him to call it a day (or night). His bed, now streaked with the morning rays coming from his grilled windows, with lights from the sky seemed hesitant, of whether to accompany him or not.

The woman through the other window, although he had the chance of knowing her name, he would not dare mention it, would move between the small square panes of her now open windows. Shadow fleeting by, it's a most peculiar feeling.

[…]

As the rain was easing to a slight drizzle that night, the man's hands were damp with cold sweat. His knees could barely hold him as he crawled from the bed to the floor and tried to stand up to take his final peek.

[…]

Between the streaks of the faint raindrops he saw the silhouette of flowers on a vase, placed quaintly, right in the middle of her window frame.

He swears they were tulips.

xxx

Good evening my dirty little city.

The thought of doing a local version of Adam Savage, Jamie Hyneman, Katie Byron, Grant Imahara, and Tory Bellici’s series came into my mind again while I was staring blankly at the huge gaping pothole left by the Metro Manila Development Authority beside the Citybank Building sidewalk on Eastwood Libis.

If you might recall, I think I did one such thing some time ago when I tried to test the myth that your streetwise barkers, those clingy raggedy peons who shout public transport destinations (see On Commuting, pt. 2), could fill a bucket with coins from their daily earnings (amounting to about Php 500.00 / day). It was statistically found (through T-test analysis), that one could indeed reach that quota, but also to effortlessly go over it.

That particular experiment could use an update because I came to the realization that a perspective check was in place (see On Commuting, pt. 1). Barkers indeed do not serve their primary purpose of helping you find the jeepneys, FX, or whatnot, because that’s simply a stupid reason. We’re not friggin’ blind.
Barkers persist to thrive in the complicated microeconomy of public transportation because it serves a useful (presumed) purpose of helping to market specific public utility vehicles for random passengers to choose them for others. Now that I’ve thought about it, barkers tend to raise the probability (again all under a presumption) of a specific jeep to be chosen and ridden by random passengers.

Using an experimental model, with the barker as the dependent variable, and during a one-shot week long data collection to get the mean daily earnings of a jeepney driver (taking into consideration the variable that a jeepney driver tips a barker of about 3-10 pesos, whenever a barker attracts a passenger, regardless of him successfully attracting one or many, the variable of mean daily fuel consumption, the variable of mean daily food consumption, and the variable of mean daily bribe money), three questions are being raised:

1. Is there a difference between the mean daily earnings of a jeepney driver when aided by a barker, and one without?
2. In the finding that there is indeed a difference, is the difference enough to say that it is significantly beneficial / significantly detrimental to the jeepney driver?
3. In the finding that there is indeed a difference, what is the difference between the probability of a random passenger choosing a public utility vehicle without the aid of a barker, and one with?

Ahh, the questions in life that could change the world.

Good afternoon my dirty little city. The following two texts are actual press releases from Team Unity’s official website ([link]). Tell me what you can make of this.

Ah, the wonders editing and ghostwriting. A snap of the fingers and a candidate from Ilocandia, who’s an admitted gambler, embezzler, & an all around no-goodnik at that, could suddenly have complete command of the English language, and would even dare to exhibit rhetoric.

Ladies and gentlemen, let me present to you, finesse and wit at its finest – mudslinging.

The overall campaign strategy that the administration is boastfully banking is playfully reminiscent of one peculiar highschool batchmate. Yes, him. Him, who could make a ginseng walk; him, who could place, yet alone purchase a nuclear reactor in his back yard; and him, who was able to construct a car with no wheels, no engine, and no fuel, but could run.

“Him”, who will be only referred to as such, was able to make an engine-less, wheel-less car, that could run solely on imagination. Beat that, Peter Pan!

There. If you could see the absurdity and delusion of this poor, poor man, the proceeding article will be a synch.

Read on.

LACKLUSTER PERFORMANCE IS REASON FOR POOR GO RATING
April 28, 2007

The growing sophistication and maturity of the voting public is the reason why Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III is doing poorly in the current campaign and not an imaginary special operation to make him loose, Team Unity senatorial candidate Luis “Chavit” Singson said yesterday.

“Noynoy Aquino should ask himself in a very candid way what he had done inhis long stay in Congress, a question he should also ask Alan Peter Cayetano and Francis Escudero,” Singson said.

Singson added that during their stay at the House of Representatives, Aquino, Escudero and Cayetano did nothing except to grandstand and gain media mileage for a Senate run.

Voters can “see through this track record of zero performance and100 per cent grandstanding “pushing them to withdraw their support for Aquino,” Singson said.

Singson was reacting to a statement made by Aquino, in which he blamed the administration for carrying out a supposed special operation against him and Cayetano.

Singson said that Team Unity is committed to a high-level campaign focused on issues and a growth agenda, “unlike Aquino’swhining and griping and concoction of non-existent plots against his candidacy.”

Singson reminded Aquino that the endorsement of an impeachment resolution “does not a lawmaker make.”

“Aquino should know by now that running for the Senate means preparing an extensive legislative agenda, a longer list of pro-people and pro- growth advocacy, a real commitment and dedication to pursuing national growth. You cannot run for the Senate based on a hate list and impeaching the president,” Singson said.

Singson said that in its fearless forecast, Aquino would even fare poorly in his home province of Tarlac “which he failed to serve with distinction in Congress.”

Earlier, Tarlac Gov. Jose Yap said during a Team Unity sortie that Aquino would not even win in their Tarlac home province.

“Aquino has no political bailiwick, no support base, no real political boost from sectors and no real political network,” Singson said.

“Aquino, if I were him, should work hard and campaign hard instead of griping and whining,” Singson said.

xxx

TEAM UNITY: LEFT-RIGHT PACT ON ‘VOTE-PROTECTION’ SUGGESTS GO’s POSSIBLE LINK TO EXTREMIST GROUPS DESTABILIZING GOV’T
April 28, 2007

A Genuine Opposition plan to forge a pact with communist-leaning partylist groups on the supposed protection of GO votes in the May 14 balloting has seemingly lent credence to earlier military intelligence reports on an “unholy alliance” among the mainstream opposition the Left and right-wing forces to topple the Arroyo government, Team Unity said over the weekend.

Team Unity senatorial candidate Luis “Chavit” Singson recalled that in February last year, the President was forced to declare a state of national emergency owing to the military’s timely discovery of the mainstream opposition’s alleged involvement in a Left-Right conspiracy to overthrow President at the height of festivities marking the anniversary of the 1986 Edsa Revolt.

“Last year’s intelligence reports on a leftist-rightist conspiracy have only been reinforced by the proposal of GO candidate Panfilo Lacson for the opposition to enter into a shadowy alliance with the Left supposedly to protect their votes in next month’s elections,” Singson said.

“Such a working arrangement, as revealed by Lacson, suggests that an unholy alliance has long been forged by the mainstream opposition, then known as the United Opposition (UNO), with ultra-rightist and left-wing groups,” Singson said.

“Even GO’s campaign mnemonic, which is PLAN CO REVOLT, sends a not-too-subliminal message to the public of the real agenda of the opposition,” Singson said.

One of the 11 candidates of GO is ex-Navy Lt./SG Antonio Trillanes, who had figured in the failed Oakwood Mutiny in 2003.
Moreover, Lacson has endorsed the candidacy of independent senatorial bet Gregorio Honasan, his Philippine Military Academy classmate or ‘mistah” who was also implicated in the Oakwood mutiny as well as in the February 2006 coup attempt and other cases of military adventurism, especially during the Aquino presidency.

Singson was reacting to reports that Lacson had proposed this Left-Right alliance to ex-President Estrada to help safeguard the votes of the opposition in the May 14 polls. Bayan Muna representative Teodoro Casino has reportedly confirmed the “vote-protection project, saying that it was one of the “common undertakings” that his group and its allies have established with GO.

This alliance being formed by GO with left- and right-wing forces in the guise of coming up with a “vote-protection” project should not be taken lightly by law-abiding and peace-loving Filipinos considering the events that unfolded in February 2006, Singson said.

Singson warned voters that a repeat of the February 2006 coup attempt could wipe out the economic gains that we have achieved so far and totally derail the “social payback” agenda of the President to deliver to the masa the tangible dividends of growth directly to the people in the form of more jobs and the better delivery of social services such as basic education, primary health care and low-cost housing.

“The Filipino masa will end up the ultimate losers if another coup attempt takes place at a time when the economy is already in full swing,” Singson said. “Ongoing government initiatives to translate the gains of economic growth into social benefits for the people would all go to waste should freedom-loving Filipinos allow this unholy alliance to prosper and succeed in carrying out its destabilization agenda.”

The landslide victory of Team Unity on May 14 would not only assure Filipinos of economic stability in the years to come, but would likewise safeguard the nation from being victims of an emerging Left-Right conspiracy to grab political power, Singson said.

xxx

A resounding affirmation is given to Olivares-Cunanan’s opinion column in PDI (dated April 28, 2007) on the call to review the party list system here in our country. There are far, far too many irrelevant partylists sprouting about, with more surfacing on each election (and mid-term election), clamoring to justify its existence – to supposedly give the much needed voice for their proportional represented constituents.

I was commuting home from work one sunny Thursday afternoon when I literally saw a carpet of promotional flyers laying about along Aurora Cubao. I wanted to reach down and grab a piece but thought twice since I was sitting on the front passenger of the jeepney, and one swoop from a neighboring vehicle could effectively decapitate me. I also thought of disembarking to pick up a piece but I feared the thought of the driver screwing me and saying that I should pay again.

Anywho, I’ve been noticing that more and more partlist organizations are having useless / irrelevant / redundant advocacies, and some are so generic, that they don’t really constitute as proportional representation of the marginalized and unrepresented.

Case in point for CIBAC (Citizen’s Battle Against Corruption), SANLAKAS, BAYAN MUNA, BANAT (Barangay Association for National Advancement and Transparency), GABRIELA, Abanse Pinay!, ANWARAY, ANAK Mindanao, and a boatload of others (most others are so obscure that you’d think they randomly choose words just to make up a mnemonic).

Party lists concerning anti political dynasties, generic partylists about nationalism, and partylists with the same advocacies, are simply, stupid. As for partylists concerning regional representation, think about it. Why else would you vote for your congressman? It’s simply redundant. Come May 14th, my vote goes to the truly marginalized and unrepresented – ANAKPAWIS, among others. (by the way, if ever you’re affiliated to one of these, or know people who do, please do not hunt me down, heheh)

There should be a party list for janitors, garbage men, and metro aides, collectively, for sanitation engineers, because they’ll need all the help after the elections, removing the countless posters and sweeping the equally countless flyers. Heheh.

Good evening my dirty little city, it’s been a while.

Tonight, my whim for Statistics, Embryology, and Psychology will lead us to talk about hormones, particularly on Progesterone. Now, listen up closely boys, this one’s important.

Background

PMS or pre-menstrual syndrome is a major problem for the modern women and one with which their ancestors never had to deal. Until recently, women tended to be pregnant most of the time, which meant that the average Filipino woman only ever had to deal with menstrual related problems 10 – 20 times in a lifetime, versus 13 times a year (we’ll get to these computations in a little while) for the modern Filipino woman.

Hmm, problem, or not? It’s not a problem per se if you know how to understand and to interpret the facts. I’m telling this now, for both ways, for both men and women to understand (and to appease the prissy women and the feminists out there).

But of course, you and I both know why I’m writing this, heh.

Statistics

The mean lifespan for Filipino women nowadays is 70 Gregorian calendar years (with men living shorter at 68 years). Divide 70 by four, you get 17.5. Then you get the sum of 17.5 x 366 (taking into account leap years), and 52.5 x 365 (3/4 of the average lifespan, by normal years), and you get ∑ = 25567.5 days.

70 / 4 = 17.5
70 = 17.5 + 52.5

(17.5 x 366) + (52.5 x 365) = 25567.5 days
(6405) x (19162.5) = 25567.5 days
∑ = 25,567.5 days

De la Cruz, et al’s research on stress and menarche of women (2005), found out that the mean age for menarche onset in Filipino women is about 13 Gregorian calendar years. Divide 13 by 4 and you get 3.25. Getting the sum of 3.25 x 366 (for leap years) and 9.75 x 365 (3/4 of 13 years), and you get ∑’ = 4748.25 days.

13 / 4 = 3.25
13 = 3.25 + 9.75

(3.25 x 366) + (9.75 x 365) = 4748.25 days
1189.5 + 3558.75 = 4748.25 days
∑’ = 4,748.25 days

Finally, the mean menopause age for women is 51 years. Divide 51 by 4 and you get 12.75. Getting the sum of 12.75 x 366 (for leap years) and 38.25 x 365 (3/4 of 51 years), and you get ∑’’ = 18627.75 days.

51 / 4 = 12.75
51 = 12.75 + 38.25

(12.75 x 366) + (38.25 x 365) = 18627.75 days
4666.5 + 13961.25 = 18627.75 days
∑’’ = 18,627.75 days

If the average Filipino woman bears the mean (how the hell can one bear a child that’s not an integer value?!) number of 2.1 children in her lifetime (see ADB 2010 data projection), this adds up to about 495.70 times a modern woman can suffer PMS symptoms, in her child bearing years between 13 – 51, and close to 550 times for a woman without children.

∑’’– ∑’ = x
18,627.75 – 4,748.25 = 13,879.5 days
13,879.5 / 28 = 495.70 times

Of course, we have to take into consideration the legal age for Filipino women to marry (otherwise, it’ll constitute as statutory), so we take into consideration 18 Gregorian calendar years.

18 / 4 = 4.5
18 = 4.5 + 13.5
(4.5 x 366) + (13.5 x 365) = 6574.5 days
1647 + 4927.5 = 6574.5 days
18 = 6,574.5 days

18,627.75 – 6,574.5 = 12053.25 days
12,053.25 / 28 = 430.47 times

Embryology

Menstrual cycles are counted from the first day of menstrual bleeding, because the onset of menstruation corresponds closely with the hormonal cycle. The menstrual cycle is generally divided into 5 phases, namely the menstrual phase, follicular phase, the ovulation period, luteal phase, and the ischemic phase.

Menstrual phase Days 1 – 4
Follicular phase Days 5 – 13
Ovulation period Day 14
Luteal Phase Days 15 – 26
Ischemic Phase Days 27 – 28

For the first 21 days of menstruation, progesterone hormones create a feeling of well-being and give generally happy feelings and a positive attitude to most pre-menopausal women. Sex drive gradually increases so that she is most capable of conceiving at a specific point, about midway through the cycle.

Psychology

Scottish scientists once studied the reactions and preferences of 104 women to digitally altered photos of men (Pease, A., & Pease, B., 2001). They found that during three weeks of the month, women preferred the smoother, more feminized, sensitive looking types, who would likely to be around over the long haul when the women were ovulating. However, they favored the manly looking men – big jaws, prominent eyebrow, and larger bodies, the stuff that screams virility. They also observed that many ovulating men wore shorter skirts in public (2001).

The scientists concluded that when it comes to settling down, women want a male who is the best parental investment (gender, brain dominance, and its effects on a separate blog entry). But when biological bells are ringing, the want Tarzan’s genes (2001).

Putting it all together

Alright, let’s put everything that we’ve learned together.

For the 25,567.5 days that an average Filipino woman will be living, where the onset of her menstruation will be at the 4,748.25th day, up to the 18,627.75th day of her life, that of menopause, there will a period of 13,879.5 days where you can compute when her progesterone levels will be at its peak and at its lowest. You can estimate when she will be at her randiest, or at her bitchiest.

Of course, an important factor must be taken into consideration. One must subtract 51 to 18, the legal age for women to marry, heh. The average Filipino woman will ovulate 495.70 times in her lifetime, and 430.47 times when she reaches 18 Gregorian calendar years old.

Progesterone levels will be at the lowest (ergo, testosterone levels at the highest) at the 1-5th day of a woman’s menstruation (midway from her ovulation, meaning her egg wasn’t fertilized). From this day to the thirteenth day, this is when she will need loving, caring, and understanding from you (most especially on days 1-4). On the fourteenth day, this is when she ovulates, and this is when her progesterone levels will grow to its peak (in the middle of her luteal phase). You know what this means.

Do the math.