in retrospect…

40 years ago, today, a baby boy was born to parents Nena and Larry, their first, and soon after, a host of other babies followed… and that was the end of the story of their firstborn…

his life was never outstanding… growing up, he never topped his classes, never got his favorite toy, never did what other children of his age did at the time… and this was because his family was poor… at the age of 9 years old, he became the man of the family when his father died due to mysterious circumstances… at the tender age of 12, he was already working fulltime as a tennis ballboy over at a popular rich kid hangout in Makati… at 15, he learned how to do a peon’s job, a baker’s apprentice, delivery boy, and some other small-time jobs just to have a few pesos at the end of the day in his pockets… when he entered college at age 19, it was on his own… he got a scholarship from a government agency, worked in at least 2 jobs at the same time, and later on, also became the editor-in-chief of his school paper which earned him a second scholarship from his school…

during the years that followed, he worked in dead-end jobs… he became an encoder for a foreign company working in Pampanga, a salesman-cum-delivery man of caskets, a computer technician for a short while, and later on, went on to becoming what will be his lifelong passion, teaching…

he first taught computers in small time schools somewhere in the north, then later came back to Manila to teach in high-end institutions, the latest of which was in a prestigious school in Magallanes, Makati… went to HongKong for a short while, but decided to come back because he missed Manila so much… and now, he is an IT manager in one of the international schools based in Taguig…

all very normal, all very common, never distinguished or prominent, never outstanding…

although i don’t drink [much], i would like to make a toast to the first 40 years of my life, and here’s hoping for the 2nd 40… life begins at 40? well, i have arrived to find out… do i hate my life? no… but, do i love it? let me live my 2nd life, then i’ll tell you about it…

happy birthday to me… *hic*

Ciao, sweetie… *hic*

protecting and sustaining the environment is not a job just for one person or government… this is a big job for all of us living in this one earth… i called up Magic 89.9 earlier today and talked about this with the hosts of the show, Mo and Grace, and Mo brought up one important question: how can a poor person even think of preserving the environment if he has nothing to eat?

again, we do not HAVE to go out there and preach about preserving it full time… there are so many little things we can do, that when you add them up, will have a great impact on the environment… here are a few:

…and a host of other things one can do to help preserve the environment… again, if we do our own little part, that will add up to a great deal…

Ciao, sweetie…

Tags: [ environment | preservation | An Inconvenient Truth ]

An Inconvenient Truth: A Global Warning

yes, this is the most terrifying film i have ever seen to date, and i have seen almost all of them… i am terrified for my son, for my son’s sons and daughters, and for all future generations that will come after me…

this film, featuring Al Gore, former vice-president under the infamous Bill Clinton, talks about the climate changes that is happening all over the world… changes that happen due to our misuse of the environment and everything that it gives us… and these changes bring us problems, not good tidings…

Hurricane Katrina, Typhoon Frank, Cyclone Nargis, and a host of other natural disasters are happening year after year, and the earth is crying out for help… a little melodramatic, i know, but that is the only description i can find as far as the global disasters happening all over are concerned…

and all of these are happening because of all our technological advances… global warming is due to the presence of 4 greenhouse gasses, namely carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, and chloroflourcarbons… all of which are man-made… CO2 is brought about by the burning of fossil fuels… car emissions, coal burning, and forest fires instantly come to mind… methane comes primarily from garbage dumps [remember Smokey Mountain?]… nitrous oxide arose from our use of nitrogen-based fertilizers, and finally, chloroflourcarbons or CFCs come from using airconditioners and other refrigerants too much…

question now is: must we leave all technological advances we have made in the past 3 decades or so just to save the one earth we live in?? simply to preserve the future of our future? my answer to that is no, we should not… but we must also learn sustainable development and teach what we learned to everyone concerned… and by everyone concerned, i meant, every man, woman, and child that you come in contact with in your every waking hour… of everyday, for the rest of your life…

i am not saying that you stop driving a car… stop driving those gas-guzzling-big-American-made cars, and go for the environment friendly ones… or better yet, ride in mass transports and save up on gas… decrease your use of electricity and go back to the basics… and many others each one of us can do to help save the environment…

yes, there will be major changes to our way of life, i agree, but if we want to continue living in this one earth of ours, i suggest we do just that… and immediately… nature will NEVER wait for us to wake up and finally do what must be done… it will go its natural way, whether there is a person in its path [and more often that not, there are people in its path] or not… our storms will continue to rise in intensity, our summer heats will continue to rise no matter what, and our hurricanes will get stronger and stronger if we just sit on our fat asses and do nothing… the time to go forward and let your voice be heard is now… blog about it… talk about it amongst your friends… teach about it to your students… spare an hour a day explaining about it to your employees… but whatever you do, DO IT NOW!! before your way of life comes to an abrupt end…

Tags: [ environment | global changes | disasters | An Inconvenient Truth | Al Gore ]

now, what is wrong with this picture?

i was driving along Market Market when i saw this poster along a wall of a construction site… i have been seeing this for the past couple of weeks or so, but it was only today that i stopped in front of it…

there is a new building behind a student wearing a hard hat, and there is BSCoE [Bachelor of Science in Computer Engineering] in big bold white letters, and… wait… what?? a student [or graduate of CoE] wearing a hard hat?? ow, c’mon… really??

for one, CoE graduates don’t really need to go in a construction site, ergo, no need to wear a hard hat… second, CoE in a hard hat??

c’mon, guys… fire your marketing people and get a better advert next time… tsk tsk…

Ciao, sweetie…

I have always sported a full head of hair, and am very proud of it… at least most of the time… it was all black, really wavy when it gets to a certain length, and really something to be proud of…

but yesterday, as i was combing my hair getting ready for work, i noticed [finally] not that it is already long and needing a haircut… not the gray hairs making themselves a home of my head [slowly edging out all the blacks], and not the dry skin peeling off whenever i scratch my head [no, dear, it is not dandruff]… okay, maybe i noticed all of the above, but what got me more was the fact that i hated that hair…

and so, today, i finally did the unbelievable…