something inspiring

on government service...

in this post, i'm making way for an excerpt of haydee yorac's response to ateneo de manila university during the 2004 special university convocation held last september 15, 2004.

even if i wasn't there, i feel like i was there because of this:

"Government service has been largely shunned by those who have options as to work. The pay is low, the work is heavy, government is perceived to be generally corrupt and incompetent, and there is too much interference by those who have nothing to do with the office.

But there are unseen rewards, not illegal or immoral, in government service. My work in the Commission on Elections for example, enabled me to see the distant provinces in the country and to interact with all sorts of people including the military, the warlords and the ordinary people. It was an experience more instructive than all the Political Science and Sociology courses I took in the university. It enabled me to understand why rules on elections did not seem to operate in many parts of the country; it caused me to know how to make the formal rules work. The bonus is seeing the beauty of the country such as watching the sun merge with the calm and quiet Sulu Sea during sunset.

I, therefore, encourage particularly the young people, especially those who are not burdened by family responsibility to spend three to five years in government. In this way, you do not leave the government largely in the hands of the mediocre and indifferent and the corrupt. We have no right to moralize, unless we help when given the chance.

We are living in a time of crisis.

The tendency is to be cynical or helpless. This is the beginning of despair that will surely make things worse and institutions spiral downward for the worse. It is precisely during these times that we should be determined to make things better, to dredge our reserve of strength and moral conviction to counter the down trend. It is the time to renew our faith and our hope that we can do better for our country. Not faith and hope in the abstract, but faith and hope founded on our commitment to work and do things for the better." -- Haydee B. Yorac, 2004 Ramon Magsaysay Awardee for Government Service

for those who are not quite familiar with the ramon magsaysay awards, they are a set of awards that honor the memory of the late president ramon magsaysay and are only given to "individuals and organizations in asia regardless of race, creed, sex, or nationality, who have achieved distinction in their respective fields and have helped others generously without anticipating public recognition".

i know i'm inspired when i feel better; and reading what i quoted above made me feel better. so there. i just had to share it. weeeeeeeeeee.


-¤-
what color are you?
brought to you by Quizilla


"You are the color red. You are the most controversial of all the colors. You are often easily angered, but as easily as you got excited, you come down. When angered, do you have the tendency to be malicious? Afterwards, do you end up begging for forgiveness? Maybe. But you're incredibly generous, and, odd enough, needy. You love to hate, and sometimes, you hate to love. This color describes you as generally edgy. When in a bad situation, you're pessimistic, and when you're in a good situation, you're extremely optimistic. You're painfully temperamental, and sometimes it hurts the ones you love. But with an exciting and stimulating attitude, you enjoy talking to people and being social. But aside from your bold and outgoing attitude, you're attention-needing and attention-getting. This color is associated with lust and desire -- and you are both lust and desirous. You're a protective person when it comes to the people you love. You're incredibly sharp-witted and powerful (not to mention intelligent!)."

for the record, my favorite color is yellow (lemon yellow, to be specific), and NOT red. pffft. why can't i be yellow?

when the mind goes astray...

my current to-do-list:
(in chronological order)

1. find an ugly machete
2. prowl for the relevant files
3. call in the crazy and tolerant friends
4. perform the dirty job, annihilate stalkers
5. go back to plan A

aayyyyyyy wait! what is my plan A??? any suggestions?

-¤-
a caterpillar idea

i wonder if the advertising think tanks of nike or adidas or fila ever thought of this for an ad: flash a picture of a quite pleasing-to-the-eye caterpillar, make the camera zoom-in on the caterpillar's numerous legs and voila!!!...you see different shoes that make you salivate and your eyes pop out!!! hahaha!

some updates

number 1
a.k.a. the note

when i got back to my room in front of the kitchen last night, i saw the note my roommate left for me on top of my laptop, and it said:

interesting day today:

1. I went to this place that feels like the end of the world:
- it smells like garbage + pigshit
- no water source at all

2. my P1000 girbaud bag got slashed by a bastard, in a campus jeep ha! it's a good thing my bag has a lining so he wasn't able to get my phone + wallet. I confronted him! but my favorite bag is ruined! waaa. (story on Tuesday *smiles*)

roommate is in los baños. she spends her weekends there. so, the blow by blow account of her interesting saturday would have to wait until tuesday, when she gets back. knowing her, items #1 and #2 mentioned on her note would definitely be interesting(!) to hear about. sheesh. i can't wait.

i'm wondering what place she is talking about in item #1. she's been to places like payatas as part of her previous work, but she has never said anything like that about the places she's been to. she talks about the people though. hmmmm...where could that place be this time?

item #2 is quite alarming, and i have three reasons why (aside from the fact that we're talking about her favorite bag). first, because it happened in a campus jeep! second, because my roommate couldn't afford to lose her cellular phone nor her wallet. not now. third, because it happened on a weekend. hehehe... the third has something to do with "our" twisted way of thinking about murphy's law working on "us" during weekends (so, you can just overlook that, thanks).

-¤-
number 2
a.k.a. the eyes

as planned, i went to the optical clinic yesterday to have my eyes checked. check up results say that the blurry sight of street lights and stuff last september 22 was due to a -500 vision-impaired left eye and a -275 defective right eye. hehehe, i think i'm going blind (ay! wag naman po sana! i'm just trying to appease myself the wicked way *winks*).

as usual, the doctor told me that due to the imbalance (read: the discrepancy between 500 and 275, tsk tsk), she couldn't prescribe lenses that could fully correct my vision. i would have to settle for a -350 lens on my left and a -225 lens on my right. otherwise, i would still be seeing oh so poorly: no better choice between blurred and double vision. well, it's just okay with me, i'm used to hearing such kind of stuff; it's the same thing the eye doctor in iligan told me eons ago.

-¤-
number 3
a.k.a. the plug

the 2004 search for the ten outstanding students of the philippines (TOSP) will be on october 14 to october 21.

TOSP is an annual search that is aimed at recognizing filipino students who can be held as role models for others: students who exemplify academic excellence, exemplary leadership, good moral values, and determination to serve. 30 national finalists coming from all over the country will be brought together for a formation process focused on team and community building that will harness their potential to be catalysts for action and involvement.

celebrate... affirm... inspire...
some pictures taken during the 2003 search

during a break in the formation program at balai taal, tagaytay



whose hands are being held by whom's hands?



everyone's connected, we are interconnected



last year's 30 finalists at malacañang palace

-¤-
number 4

HAPPY FIESTA CITY of ILIGAN!!!

yeah, i know, i know. it's on the 29th. gimingaw nakog tubig og lechon sa iligan! hahaha. that's all for now.

seeing through naked eyes

my life, it seems, is literally a blur. it's not just when i wake up in the mornings, or when i go to bed at night. it happens every time i go about with my eyes unaided.

like some people i know, i am nearsighted.

20-20 vision left me during the early part of my freshman year in high school. that... i was aware of. however, i was such an obstinate being (i still am, by the way): i opted to live through high school with deteriorating eyesight. it was only during my freshman year in college that i had my eyes checked by a specialist. by then, my vision was already soooooooo poor: the left eye registered a -475 while the right registered a -50. ngerkz! what an imbalance!!! after the first trip to the eye doctor, i had to wear eyeglasses and adapted to living with the hassle of always keeping them with me, or see things blurred. now, my left eye still registers a -475 and the right registers -175. i've resorted to wearing contact lenses, but i still have a trusty pair of eyeglasses for emergencies and the like. sure they make me see better, but they never allow me to see with 20-20 vision clarity...only in my nice dreams.

...and the reason for this blog?

last september 22, my roommate and i went out to eat at mcdo philcoa because i was craving for a sundae (i told you i currently have an unexplained hunger/eating streak, which will never make me fat, anyway...pfft). we were already outside the dorm when i realized that, for the first time in i-already-lost-count days, i was going out without putting my contact lenses nor my eyeglasses on. i gazed up and saw the night sky with the stars in petty blur. i looked at the nearby street lights and all of them were badly out of focus. everything at a distance seemed to be fuzzy. squinting didn't help much, so i had to rely on weng (the roommate) to hail the right jeepney that would take us to philcoa. the blurred images that night made me feel sad.

to say the least, i can't help but be sad. i realized it has really become difficult for me to see the world clearly through my naked eyes. i miss 20-20 vision. i no longer remember how it feels to see with such clarity. buti pa kayo.

p.s. (1) yesterday, my second to the last pair of contacts got torn. it puzzles me how those plastics got torn because i've been extra careful with them. but then... now, i'm down to my last pair. that means: today, i need to visit the optical clinic again. oh well. that's just okay, i need to have my eyes checked again, anyway. (2) i lost the original draft of this post after my browser reported illegal operation(ba't hindi man lang ako binigyan ng time na maka-save?). pfft. what you're reading now is just a lame attempt at recovering the lost information. (3) thank you sealdi for the macapuno balls. touched kaayo ko. (hala, lata^!). i'm already sorely tempted to take you out of the list (*winks*).

an accidental find

i was listening to a friend's radio blog when i encountered a song with lyrics impossible to ignore...

Some say love, it is a river that drowns the tender reed.
Some say love, it is a razor that leaves your soul to bleed.
Some say love, it is a hunger, an endless aching need.
I say love, it is a flower, and you its only seed.

It's the heart, afraid of breaking, that never learns to dance.
It's the dream, afraid of waking, that never takes a chance.
It's the one who won't be taken, who cannot seem to give
And the soul, afraid of dying, that never learns to live.

When the night has been too lonely, and the road has been too long,
And you think that love is only for the lucky and the strong,
Just remember in the winter, far beneath the bitter snows
Lies the seed that, with the sun's love, in the spring, becomes
the rose.
-- Bette Midler's The Rose
see what i mean?

bah! i'm really being lazy (or too busy?!). i cannot even make a post other than lyrics. hahaha! who cares? probably, only i do. pfft!

down with the syndrome

"If you wish success in life, make perseverance your bosom friend, experience your wise counselor, caution your elder brother and hope your guardian genius." --Joseph Addison

one of my fabled yoga-sleeping-positions: a closer look
i don't know what's with me lately, but i have a hunch. i've ruled out pre-menstrual syndrome, so this must be the caterpillar syndrome: i've been feeling lazy and always hungry even when i eat. i'm being deliberately baaaaaaaaaad, too. just a while ago, i picked on some people who unfortunately irked me. in fact, i was anticipating war and was even feeling enthusiastic at the mere thought of it. argh. life... i'm really cursed with a not-so-nice (read: n-a-s-t-y) temper! why am i having a hard time with it? and i thought i was succeeding at trying to grow up. tsk. cold water! cold water!

the silence is killing me. i need to be inspired so i can write and write and write.

i guess i have to go now. i must... before i wreak havoc in my own blog.

some lyrics

Slow down you crazy child
You’re so ambitious for a juvenile
But then if you’re so smart tell me why
You are still so afraid?

Where’s the fire?
What’s the hurry about?
You better cool it off before you burn it out
You got so much to do and only so many hours in a day

But you know that when the truth is told
That you can get what you want or you can just get old
You’re gonna kick off before you even get halfway through
When will you realize? Vienna waits for you.

Slow down, you’re doing fine
You can’t be everything you want to be before your time
Although it’s so romantic on the borderline tonight
Too bad that is the life you lead

You’re so ahead of yourself that you forget what you need
Though you can see when you’re wrong but you can’t always see when you’re right
You got your passion, you got your pride
But don’t you know only fools are satisfied?

Dream on but don’t imagine they’ll all come true
When will you realize? Vienna waits for you.
Slow down you crazy child
Take the phone off the hook and disappear for a while

It’s alright you can afford to lose a day or two
When will you realize? Vienna waits for you...
--Billy Joel's Vienna

i heard that song last night when i watched the movie, 13 going on 30. i thought of putting the lyrics here because... for no other reason, i just want to! for me, it is a wonderful lullaby. i just know i could tolerate hearing it one more time because it's like having an older conscience that sings, hehehe. yeah, yeah, go ahead, you can call me a hopeless case. :P

p.s. i just know, too, that part of me is really still stuck in the 80's. =D