10-10-10

Ngayon ay ikasampung araw ng ikasampung buwan ng dalawang libo't sampu sa panahon ng ating Panginoon. Perpekto daw ang araw na ito. Iyan ay kung naniniwala ka sa numerology. 

Bagamat hindi naman naniniwala, mabuti nang maging positibo at wala namang mawawala. At dahil mahilig ako sa kasaysayan, ayaw kong masayang ang araw ng wala akong ginagawang blog ukol dito. Ginaya ko na lang si David Letterman, una dahil hindi ko mapiga ang "creative juices" ko at ang pinakaimportanteng dahilan: oras ng trabaho. Halina't basahin ang sampung nakakaaliw na bagay at pangyayari na may kinalaman sa bilang na sampu: 

10. Ang bilang ng titik na ginamit sa paboritong Snellen Chart. 

9. Counting numbers. Sampu din ang daliri natin sa kamay at paa (puedeng kumanta kung di ka sigurado). Ang binary system na gumagamit ng 1 at 0. Para sa kaalaman ng lahat ang 101010 ay katumbas ng 42 sa sistemang Hindu-Arabic. 

8. Kapag swabe ang dakdak sa basketball, itataas ito ng hurado ang plaka na may logo ng Sprite. Iyan din ang sukat ng busluan at ang bilang ng manlalaro sa loob ng court. 

7. Sa Miss Unibers, alam mo na ang resulta kapag binigyan si Miss ng ganitong iskor. At sa kalye, ito ang kartada ng pinakamagandang tsik na dumadaan.

6. Sa IT naman, dito nagsisimula ang private IP addresses. Ito yung pinapalitan mo kapag nais mong ma-browse ang mga blocked sites.   

5. Bilang ng code sa radyo. 10.4 ang kalimitang narinig nung hostage taking sa Quirino Grandstand. (puede ding 10.1 o 10.10)

4. Ang pamagat ng unang studio album ng bandang Pearl Jam. Hinango ito sa manlalaro ng Atlanta Hawks na si Mookie Blaylock. Hanggang ngayon ay pinakamatagumpay na album nila ito. 

3. Bilang ng halimaw na lumalabas sa Omnitrix ni Ben10

2. Sa larong blackjack, lahat ng tao (J,Q,K) ay katumbas nito. 

1. Ang binigay na utos ng Panginoon kay Pareng Moses (di na nga masunod, tapos ang dami pang ginagawang batas ng mga pesteng pulitiko)

Bilang pangwakas, isang siglo pa uli bago maulit ang 10-10-10. Lusaw na ang planetang Earth at malamang-lamang hindi na blog ang uso nun. Kung may daragdag ka pa, huwag na lang. Mas mainam pa na magsuot ka na lang ng pula o magpaturo ka muna magbilang kay Count von Count. 

P.S. Isinulat habang nakikinig ng kantang Perpekto mula sa Flipino album ni Dong Abay.  

the story of a happy tow truck

towed. toad. toed.

satiated

2 october 2010

"self-imposed suspension due to satiation. follow me on twitter: kikoskitchen; for donations and whatnot's send pm at my yahoo account."

That was my last status in facebook. For whatever reason, I felt that I had enough of that social network. In the last couple of months I was unsecure, insecure, moronic, ashamed and all the negative feelings associated with online socializing.

Imagine the time I spent last year. If I am not mistaken, almost 50% of my time was spent there. Chatting, wall post, videos, farmville and barnbuddy. Call it technostress, baby.

But that was the past. I'm now ready to move on. Though I am not about to turn back on anyone that is why I activated my twitter. It's a form of therapy for me so as not to miss my old vice. I must admit that leaving facebook is a bit hard, but the benefits are multifold.

So help me God.

of Ondoys and men

Main Entry: ty·phoon

Pronunciation: \tī-ˈfün\

Function: noun

Etymology: alteration (influenced by Chinese — Guangdong — daaih-fùng, from daaih big + fùng wind) of earlier touffon, from Arabic ṭūfān hurricane, from Greek typhōn violent storm

Date: 1771

1 : a hurricane occurring especially in the region of the Philippines or the China sea

On an average, eighteen to twenty-plus typhoons hit the Philippines every year. And yesterday, the worst just hit Metro Manila--Ondoy.

These typhoons would not spare us every year. But it seems that all of us never learn from these experiences and end up repeating the agonies, leaving us empty.

As of this moment, I am sure that many of our kababayans are still stranded on the road, offices or schools. Some are spending their night on evacuation centers and with much pity, on their roofs.

Again it leaves us pondering; Why is this, why is that. Because of this, because of that.

I remember in my NatSci class, our professor told us in his class that Manila will never be spared by floods because during the Spanish times, majority of the city was water. Even history would give us idea how Manila looked like by searching its etymology--a flower blossoming on the water (nila is a flowering mangrove plant; may nilad = there is nila). Our professor added that the roads then were built by means of pouring boulders of rock and sand. Kinda similar to what Marcos did in CCP. So practically, Manila is water underneath. But will that be an excuse why there is flooding? No.

As far as I can remember, National Geographic featured one country in Europe (maybe Netherlands), where scientists make research on possible calamities that may hit their country working hand in hand with their government to avert, or at least lessen the catastrophe. Common sense directs them that when these events happen, nobody else but them will get the beating. Did they make an excuse? No.

Even in Japan, they make buildings that are quake-prone. Whether it is feasible or not, certainly they relied on research to come up with these ideas. Did they make any excuse? No.

It is always part of the Pinoy culture to turn to God when calamities happen. Surely, God will always listen to prayers. But He will listen more if someone does the research.

On the brighter side of things, when calamities occur, the bayanihan culture of Filipinos suddenly springs out of nowhere. How and why us Filipinos would suddenly seem to care to each other is unexplainable. But how we get back to our selfish selves when the calamity is over is unthinkable.

Keeping aside the usual bayanihan, Filipinos also made visible its being tech-savvy. We utilized Twitter, Plurk, live streaming news and Facebook. I am thousand miles away from home and I have seen how knee-deep flood penetrated my favorite Tropical Hut branch in Riverbanks, my son's favorite carabao replicas diminished by the river, and the once-peaceful and shallow Marikina river went mad. Status messages on where to ask help, missing and dead people, donations and other updates on the typhoon just keep on coming every second. Now transistor radios are really obsolete.

Ondoy has skinned our government's poor response to calamities. Surely our rescue workers have the heart, skills and guts but they just don't have the equipment. Even in one of the interviews on TV, I found out that the spotlight used to transport the evacuees was coming from the camera of a popular network station. How can the rescue team rely on that?

The weather bureau has been the talk of the town for so many years due to its ineffective weather predictions. Good thing that Ondoy happened on a Saturday. I can't really imagine the scenario if it happened during the weekday. Spare the kids please. Our government must have lost common sense by denying the modernization of PAGASA. It been overdue. There's no doubt that our scientists are good, but they just can't predict accurately using decade-old barometers.

After all of what happened yesterday, is it the time to empower local government units? Is it the time to modernize weather bureau by our own pockets? Educate everyone on calamities?

Before you stalk, post comments or make a fan page of your favorite presidential bet, think twice about this. Make a decision and shout it on your wall post.

holy days

Today is the 7th day of our nine-day holiday to celebrate the end of Ramadan. I've never felt so relaxed after cataloging almost 12,000 volumes of books as a requirement for AACSB. This has been the most exhausting project I've ever done as a librarian. Sure the Ralph Gehring Library has 90,000 volumes but its working conditions are far more better there than here. Even at the project's penultimate day, an allergy caught me and kept me sniffing, shedding tears for two days.

My family originally planned to visit Manila this September but due to the stupid, ass-licking bureaucracy in dealing with special requests, I abandoned the idea of going to Manila and decided to stay here. I guess it was really the company's polite version of saying thanks after doing a big favor for them. Either way, I'm still thankful that they bring out my creativity and find ways to divert my frustrations.

On this vacation, I had the luxury of spending more time with my family. We stayed up late, even until 3:30 in the morning. Movie nights, eat outs, PSP, board games, Facebook, Internet and just too many culprits. The most productive stint was the flat maintenance and kitchen experiments. I never knew that tofu with butter is a hit! Last on our list is bringing out our winter clothes in preparation for the sandstorms and cold season.

I may have missed my short courses @ MFI and Alliance Francaise, shots of beer and videoke, jamming sessions with my old combo, meeting old friends, watching movies, mall hopping, liempo, and bargain-hunting but who cares? I know there are better things ahead this December, arguably the happiest month of the year. It's just a matter of diversion, as Legolas says.

68 days. And the countdown begins.