in retrospect…

(a fairly similar story appeared 20060525 at the Philippine Star written by Carlene P.C. Pilar-Arceo, Ph.D., The license plate game Or something to think about while caught in traffic, but i have actually been thinking of writing this piece a long time ago, and reading this piece by Dr Pilar-Arceo gave me the strength to finally do it…)

when i was in 1st college way back when, i’d hitch a ride going to school with my uncle every morning from San Pedro, Laguna up to his workplace in Intramuros… sometimes, i’d just sleep through the worst of traffic jams, but most of the time, i’d amuse myself by looking at plate numbers of passing cars [as my uncle drives sooooooo slow at the time even turtles could've passed us!!]… out of the combination letter-letter-letter number-number-number i’d pick out the 3 letters [unlike Dr Pilar-Arceo's picking out the numbers] and try and create a word out of them… i even devised a game show out of it… but more of the game later…

so, what i’d do is get the 3 letters [say, out of PLD 864, i get PLD] and try and create words out of it… so, PLD will give me PLEAD, PLAID, DOPPLE, PADDLE, LEAPED, LAPPED, and so on… you get the idea… at the beggining, i just add vovels to the letters to make it a complete word, or i use the same letter twice or more if needed… later on, i made my personal game a little harder [or easier, your choice] by adding other letters as well aside from the vowels… and this was the game show i devised…

for each letter combination, you are given 100 points [or 1M points, again your choice], and create a 6-letter [or more] word out of that letter combination, nothing less… for every added vowel [those that are not in the original 3-letter combination], 5 points is deducted each time a vowel is used… for the word LEAPED above, original letters were PLD and added vowels were E, an A and another E… that would be less 5 points each leaving you still with a total of 85 points… of course, the less number of vowels you add, the better…

a twist of the game comes in when you create at least an 8-letter word out of the original 3 letters… if you give an 8-letter combination, you get an additional 50-points, minus 5 points for each instance of a vowel, AND, minus 15 points for each instance of a consonant [BCDFGH and the rest]…

for example, for PLD, an 8-letter word may be PLEADING… so, that’s plus 50 points which makes your point tally 150, MINUS 5 each for vowels E, A, and I for a running total of 135, minus 15 points each for N and G which makes it 105… of course, you have to reduce that further for every word that was given… to make it more interesting, minus 25 if you give 5 or less words, minus 20 for 6 to 10 words, and so on… until you get your final point tally for that round and you add that to your running total…

and you do the same thing for every 3 letter combination round…

sounds silly? maybe, maybe not… but what it taught me during that 1-year period i rode with my uncle going to school were words that i don’t normally use, words that were unknown, and of course, the spelling of these words… i became a school newspaper writer, editor, and editor-in-cheap [hehehe], and this game was the beginning of it all… ok, i am not saying that you’d have to do what i did if you want to write… of course, not! i also read books [sci-fi was a personal favorite], newspapers, listen to my other Kano uncle speak, as well as [try to] speak English myself… i am not saying that i’ve mastered the language.. far from it! but at least, i can now converse well with clients, bosses, and subordinates, without resorting to engrish-carabao, at least…

what i am saying is… well… okay, so, i am not trying to say anything… my point really is, that we don’t have to rely too much on schools and teachers to teach us everything we need to know… sometimes, what we need is already in front of us that we are just blind to it… talk about spoonfeeding…:)

Ciao, sweetie…

one of the joys of book-reading is the fact that one can cozy up, have a cup of steaming coffee right beside, possibly a pack of cigarettes, and forget all the cares in the world… for a few hours, at least…

i admit that i’ve had that pleasure many times over… one of the subjects that intrigue me are those that challenge my basic concepts, those ideas that i’ve grown with, those that my grandmother has taught me to be fact… that was why my favorite subject were fictionals, it let’s me think, let’s me analyze what i know to be true against what i just read… from all those years of fictional book reading, i’ve had the pleasure of reading Dan Brown [Digital Fortress, Deception Point, Angels and Demons, and of course, Da Vinci Code], Anne Rice of the Vampire Chronicles fame, C.S. Lewis [The Chronicles of Narnia], J.K Rowling of the Harry Potter series, Robert Jordan’s 11-book [or is it 12? plus 2 prologues and 1 epilogue?] The Wheel of Time, and, Terry Goodkind’s Sword of Truth series…

who wouldn’t be mesmerized by the beauty they illustrate, the scenes they try to paint, the plots they convey, and of course, the characters they present… when i read, i lived in my own world with no care at all to my surroundings… that’s me and i am proud of it… but after reading, i am back to the real world, knowing fully well that what i read and where i lived are two different worlds…

that was why i was floored yesterday after reading The Philippine Star’s Mr Federico D Pascual Jr’s POSTCRIPT column… in it, Mr Pascual said that he “spotted many assertions of Dan Brown in his book The Da Vinci Code that do not jibe with what [he knows] to be true”…

what Dan Brown “asserted” was the following: All descriptions of artwork, architecture, documents, and secret rituals in this novel are accurate and nothing more… he said that artworks are accurate, so are documents and architecture… he never said that events in the book which uses these artwork, documents, and architectures were true themselves… that is why it is called fiction, Mr Pascual, not non-fiction…

Mr Pascual even “lifted” 15 from Charisma Magazine’s “20 Big Lies in the DaVinci Code” article… what a laugh…

Filipinos are one of the most devout Catholics in the Asia Pacific region… no one can dispute that… all the fuss started when the movie version of the book was set to start showing here, and the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines came out with a guide for Filipinos when they start watching the movie…

majority of those who will view this film are matured Filipinos, not likely to believe whatever they see in the movies, and definitely not given to simply believing “assertions”, whatever they were… give us a break, will ya? for one, we are not stupid!! [okay, some people are... :s]… we are learned individuals, educated, and not disposed to believing everything we see or hear [case in point: promises of politicians]… got it?

anyways, this rant has gone on for far too long already… just go watch the movie, ok?

Ciao, sweetie…

what is a rule? Dictionary.com defines it as:

An authoritative, prescribed direction for conduct, especially one of the regulations governing procedure in a legislative body or a regulation observed by the players in a game, sport, or contest

essentially, they are put in place to govern a customary or generalized course of action… meaning, KAILANGAN MONG SUNDIN!!

this is specially true for our pedestrians and drivers of public utility vehicles… yes, that is you, manong drayber… you should learn to follow traffic rules [no loading and unloading signs], learn to drop passengers at the proper places and not at the middle of the street, and learn to practice hygiene, so that you not only smell good, but look good as well…

as for the pedestrians, learn to walk along proper pedestrian lanes… the whole street is not for you, you know… learn to use overpasses… they have a purpose: to keep you SAFE… and please don’t bring children along when you fancy walking at the middle of the street… you might just encounter someone who’s had it with the likes of you!!

anyway, here is one dude who doesn’t know how to follow established rules…

again, rules are established for you to follow…

Ciao, sweetie…

sometimes, there will come a time in your life when you suddenly feel the weight of your age bearing down upon you… i mean, you are just sitting there, pondering on where to bring your life, when you just suddenly realize, that because of your age, you just can’t bring it where you wanted, like you usually did… you can’t just go traipsing wherever you wanted to, like you usually did… now, you have responsibilities you have to think about…

but what is it that made you realize that you ARE old? below is an attempt at listing the 10 things that does just that:

1. you know what EDSA I means… and you actually were there…
2. you just suddenly find yourself annoyed at the music kids play today… much like your parents were annoyed at you and the kind of music you played then…
3. you know that milk commercial showing a little girl and her grandfather dancing? you ACTUALLY are dancing that way now…
4. airplane rides are now just a way to get to somewhere — riding in one doesn’t excite you anymore, unless it is your 1st time…
5. you know the songs of Michael Jackson by heart, as well as the dance steps to them
6. when before, a hundred pesos will get you somewhere (a date with your girlfriend to the local cinema, and with merienda to boot!), now you are worried that 100 bucks will not get you anywhere!
7. you own a car simply to get from one place to another… not to show off!
8. playing basketball in the street used to be the norm for you… now, you get annoyed when kids play street basketball, while you are driving down that same street…
9. you actually PAY for what you eat and drink…
10. and, you have read this until number 10 to find out if you ARE old… :$

now, if you suddenly find out you ARE old, what do you do? smile, but don’t let everyone else get away by saying so…

Ciao, sweetie…

EMULATE IT!! is what i am wont to say!!

anyway, this is a spoof of the highly popular TV show of a local channel here in the Philippines… but this time, we will be looking at all aspects of being a ‘pinoy’… but wait, what really is a ‘pinoy’?

a ‘Pinoy’ is someone from the Philippines… born here, bred here, grew up, and possibly dies, too, in the Philippines… has his own way of dealing with things, occassions, and events… and has that “can-do” attitude which most foreigners find annoying, but at the same time endearing…

what we will mainly talk about here are the quirks of Pinoys, particularly dealing with our daily lives… blunders, primarily… it will have several editions, according to the current topic… like “Drivers” edition, “Politics” in general and “Politicians” in particular, and finally, just your regular “Pinas lang” edition for those things you find “onli-in-da-Pilipins”…

so, watch our for it, ok?

Ciao, sweetie…