I Set No Corner

I was able to watch the movie “Sphere“, an adaptation of Michael Crichton’s science fiction novel.

A team was sent to the ocean floor of the South Pacific to investigate a half-mile spacecraft. They eventually found out that it was a US space craft from the future and that it is carrying an alien sphere.

To cut the story short, three of them were able to enter the sphere and acquired a power to materialize the things they can imagine. However, they only realized that they possess such power after their fears manifested and killed their companions.

The three of them were able to resurface and came to a conclusion that they also have the power to forget the things that happened. That they were not ready to handle such gift. One of them were hesitant at first so the following dialogue ensues:

Dr. Norman Goodman (played by Dustin Hoffman):

It’s a little hard to let go off. Something that could’ve been… this gift? The power to make our dreams come true. We’re given the greatest gift in the history of mankind. We’re given this magic ball, and it says:

Imagine what you will and you can have it.

That’s an extraordinary gift, but we’re so primitive we manifested the worst in us, because what we have inside us.. is what we have inside of us, instead of the best of us. What does that say?

Harry Adams (played by Samuel L. Jackson):

We weren’t ready Norman.

Dr. Norman Goodman:

We have what’s called an imagination. I mean, look what we’re capable of.
We can… we’re not ready.

and with that, they decided to let go of the said power.

It was an interesting concept. If you have a 24/7 power that materializes what your mind imagines, what are the things that will be manifested? I wonder.

A priest was being honored at his retirement dinner after 25 years in the parish. A leading local politician and member of the congregation was chosen to make the presentation and give a little speech at the dinner. He was delayed, so the priest decided to say his own few words while they waited.

“I got my first impression of the parish from the first confession I heard here. I thought I had been assigned to a terrible place. The very first person who entered my confessional told me he had stolen a television set; and, when questioned by the police, was able to lie his way out of it. He had stolen money from his parents, embezzled from his employer, had an affair with his boss’s wife, taken illegal drugs, and gave VD to his sister. I was appalled. But as the days went on I knew that my people were not all like that and I had, indeed, come to a fine parish full of good and loving people.”

Just as the priest finished his talk, the politician arrived full of apologies at being late. He immediately began to make the presentation and gave his talk.

“I’ll never forget the first day our parish priest arrived,” said the politician. “In fact, I had the honor of being the first one to go to him in confession.”

Moral Lesson: DON’T EVER BE LATE.

Yesterday, most Filipinos sat still as they waited for the most anticipated boxing match of the year. I am no boxing fan but I must admit that I was also nervous on the outcome of the match. Although there are some Pinoys who wished na matalo sana si Manny para daw mabawasan ang kayabangan niya at ng kanyang pamilya, yung iba naman gusto siyang matalo para daw mabawasan na ang kanyang commercials dahil kakasawa na daw mukha niya.

It was a short but exciting fight. All Filipinos should be inspired by it and learn from Manny that no sweet victory comes without hard work. So now that the fight is over, let’s start working hard and reach for our dreams.

Congratulations to team Pacquiao and the whole Filipino people.

Yes! We can!

Medyo excited na ako for Christmas. Kahit medyo kapos ako for this year, I wanted it to become not just merry but meaningful as well. Heto lang kasi ang time of the year na bumabait ang mga tao.

Noong bata pa ako, gustong gusto ko ang Pasko kasi this is the time na nagkakaroon ako ng mga toys and candies na bigay ni “Santa”. Magsasabit ako ng medyas on the eve of Christmas at hindi na ako makatulog nyan kasi excited na akong makita kung anu-anong magiging laman ng medyas ko. I can’t remember when and how I stopped believing in Santa. Hindi ko naman nahuli kung sino sya. Tapos pag gising ko magkikita kita kami ng mga playmates ko para ipagyabang ang mga nakuha naming candy. Duon ko nalaman na may favoritism si Santa. Kasi imported yung mga candy ng mga kalaro ko tapos sa akin lokal lang.

Pagkatapos magbihis pupunta na kami sa mga lola ko. Magkikita kita kaming mga magpi-pinsan at makakatanggap ako ng mga pera mula sa aking mga tiyo, tiya, ninong, at ninang. Ang sayang balikan ng mga panahon na iyon.

Aaminin ko na dumating ako sa time ng buhay ko na naramdaman kong parang pabigat na lang sa akin ang pasko. Hindi na kasi ako nakakatanggap ng mga aginaldo, ako na ang nagbibigay nito. Makakatanggap ka nga ng bonus at 13th month pay pero ipambibili mo din naman ng mga regalo para sa ibang tao. Pero ngayon I think na overcome ko na yun. Masarap din pala ang magbigay. I found joy in wrapping my Christmas gifts for my inaanak and seeing the joy in their faces upon opening their presents.

This year, I want to have a merry and meaningful Christmas. Kahit kapos, mairaraos din ito. Christmas is not about money any way.

The Professional Regulation Commission (PRC) announces that 1,631 out of 4,513 passed the Electronics and Communications Engineer Licensure Examination given by the Board of Electronics and Communications Engineering in the cities of Manila, Baguio, Cagayan De Oro, Cebu and Iloilo this November 2006.

The result of the recent ECE board examination was released last Wednesday and based from the outcome, it seems that the ECE license even became more elusive this year. The passing rate during our time was 43.52%, that’s 1,067 out of 2,452. The recently concluded exam was only at 36.14%.

Mathematically speaking, we can expect at most 1,385 persons in total shock as early as Tuesday evening, excluding family and friends. However, don’t despair non-board passers! I had my license for four years now and I haven’t really made use of it! Guess what? I just learned this Wednesday that International Exchange Bank doesn’t even honor a PRC ID as a valid one because it is prone to tampering!

Seriously, if you failed the exam, it’s not the end of the world. You will still be able to find a job. If you want it to feel a sense of fulfillment or because you plan to venture in the communications industry, you could always do a re-take. The license is something that is good to have, but not having it is not a big lost either. Life doesn’t end in failing, in fact it is just starting for you. Enjoy life. You will only experience it once.

Vincent van Gogh was a Dutch draughtsman and painter, classified as a Post-Impressionist. His paintings and drawings include some of the world’s best known, most popular and most expensive pieces. His popularity is widely due to the connotation of the lone, tortured, mad, bohemian artist—indeed, Vincent had several relationships, but did not marry and had no children. The fact that he cut off his ear is part of popular lore, as is the belief that he was driven to an early suicide by lack of recognition of his genius. Here reality and myth are intertwined, and although he certainly suffered from recurrent bouts of mental illness, his suicide was preceded by growing praise for his work from radical critics and fellow avant-garde artists—something which paradoxically caused the painter considerable anguish.

Van Gogh spent his early life as an art dealer, teacher and preacher in England, Holland and Belgium. His period as an artist began in 1880 and lasted for a decade, initially with work in sombre colours, until an encounter in Paris with Impressionism and Neo-Impressionism accelerated his artistic development. He produced all of his work, some 900 paintings and 1100 drawings, during the last ten years of his life. Most of his best-known work was produced in the final two years of his life, and in the two months before his death he painted 90 pictures. Following his death, his fame grew slowly, helped by the devoted promotion of it by his widowed sister-in-law.

Largely self-taught, his work was startlingly innovative from the very beginning. Neither his early realist work, though close to the Dutch tradition, nor his later impressionist phase met contemporary expectations. His depictions of everyday life evidenced a highly personal use of media, marked by a bold and distorted draughtsmanship, and markings of the brush sometimes dotted or dashed, paint sometimes applied in swirling or wave-like patterns, which are intensely yet subtly coloured. Since his death in 1890, van Gogh has been acknowledged as a pioneer of what came to be known as Expressionism and has had an enormous influence on 20th century art, especially on the Fauves and German Expressionists. The emotional force of his art may be seen as begetting a lineage that follows through to the Abstract Expressionism of Willem de Kooning and the British painter Francis Bacon.

The central figure in Vincent van Gogh’s life was his brother Theo, an art dealer with the firm of Goupil & Cie, who continually and selflessly provided financial support. Their lifelong friendship is documented in numerous letters they exchanged from August 1872 onwards, which were published in 1914, by Johanna van Gogh-Bonger, Theo’s widow, who generously supported most of the early Van Gogh exhibitions with loans from the artist’s estate. (Source: Wikipedia)

“Even the knowledge of my own fallibility cannot keep me from making mistakes.
Only when I fall do I get up again.” ~Vincent

There are times that it is better to leave a person suffering from a consequence of his action and not try to alleviate the pain or mend the broken pieces. For in doing the latter, you are only denying him the lesson that he needs to learn. Help him carry his burden but do not try to take that burden away from him. Some people need all the pain they can get in order for them to learn their lesson.

“By three methods we may learn wisdom: first, by reflection, which is noblest; second, by imitation, which is easiest; and third, by experience, which is the most bitter.”

Confucius