Author Archives: Arbet Bernardo

7
Jun

Memories of things past – the teaching days

Posted by | Categories Journal | Tagged ,

Once in my life, I was a teacher. It was not an easy job. Sure, it had its highs and lows, but it could be boring at certain points. Teaching’s a serious business, I tell you.

How so? For several hours, you stand in front, yakking and yakking till your throat hurts. It could be frustrating, especially when you kept on yakking and yakking only to see your students either sleeping or not listening. The first class in the morning was the worst time. Everyone was sleepy – including the teacher. So I always tried to crack jokes to somehow lighten up the mood. But my sense of humor was next to zero; I collected jokes and read them at class. I still have a folder at my file server containing the jokes collected through my teaching years. My joking was a hit-or-miss affair, most of the time misses, since for most of the students the jokes I shared were rather stale.

Then there were gaps in the schedule wherein I had no classes. There were times where the gap stretched into hours. So I did what a decent teacher would do: read books.

Ok, but at least I was reading. Right? Right.

Still, it was boring. What was that cliche about boredom leading a man to do stupid things? Well, I was not exempt.

Back then, when you have a Nokia 7650, you were ahead of the technological curve (actually it meant you had money). It was the first phone to have a camera. A VGA camera was high-tech. It also made people camwhores. Like me.

There are more pictures, but that image is enough torture, no?

But the novelty of camwhoring faded in, what, months. Boredom can lead to delusion.

Yes, even students got bored. And delusional.

Anyway, it could only get worse.

Long-haired, barong-clad, what could be worse than that image?

—-

Lest anyone gets the idea that teaching is boring, it is not entirely boring. It can only get boring when you have so many free time in between classes. And first subjects. Most of time it can be fun. And interesting. Interesting for you get to meet all types of people.

And depending on what kind of teacher are you, you can have an adoring set of fans, este, students pala. I’ve had my share.

Those number of fans could only mean I was a good teacher, no? No? K.

Anyway, I remain friends with some of my students after they graduated and/or after I left teaching. I saw some of them fall in love; I saw some of them fall out of love; saw some of them got married, have kids, and separate later on. I saw some of them succeed and revel in their victories; I saw some of them fail and commiserate in their sorrows. I remember basketball games after school; of hotdogs-and-ice cream get-togethers; of trips to beach resorts and far-off places.

Yes, it’s a mixed bag. But I miss all of it still.

Will I go back to teaching? I don’t know. I had written about it before; back then, I said that in the end it could be a lonely job. You see new students come in, and you see them leave. Repeat every year. That’s my reason why I remain out of the academe.

4
Jun

No to ConAss!

Posted by | Categories Pixel | Tagged


NO TO CONASS!

3
Jun

A monarchy for this country

Posted by | Categories Ink | Tagged

So, last night the honorable members of the House of Representatives have honorably adopted House Resolution 1109. (Read the resolution here). The last paragraph of the resolution says:

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, THAT THE MEMBERS OF CONGRESS BE CONVENED FOR THE PURPOSE OF PROPOSING AMENDMENTS TO, OR REVISION OF THE CONSTITUTION UPON A VOTE OF THREE-FOURTHS OF ALL ITS MEMBERS AND THAT UPON BEING CONVENED SHALL ADOPT ITS RULES OF PROCEDURES THAT SHALL GOVERN ITS PROCEEDINGS.

I commend the honorable members of the honorable House of Representatives for having the honor of doing the honorable thing, for having the honorable political will to do what is honorable, even if the majority (who are obviously dishonorable) thinks Charter change is dishonorable. Now that the honorable members have chosen to do the honorable thing, may I suggest the following changes be made to our Constitution:

1. Adopt monarchy as our form of government. Recent years have shown that this country needs an honorable leader, an honorable leader that everyone adores, honors, kowtows to, and respects. An honorable leader that knows what needs to be done is what this country needs.

The honorable leader must be a monarch. Our people will only respect a leader who is honored by the heavens with power and glory. A monarch who has the Mandate of Heaven can never go wrong, and will always do the right thing. A monarch will have the political will to do what is necessary, even if it unpopular. No one will dare question a monarch, which will bring much needed stability this country.

2. We should have a unicameral parliament to assist the monarch in governing our country. A unicameral parliament, composed of honorable lawmakers, will draft laws according to the monarch’s wishes. For isn’t the monarch the fount of honor? And honorable lawmakers do honor the fount of honor? Honorable lawmakers know that the monarch, being the fount of honor, is honorable enough to have the welfare of the people in mind; as such, they are honorable enough to abide by the monarch’s honorable instructions.

We need a unicameral parliament. A bicameral one assumes there is a higher House. This is dishonorable and an affront to equality. Honor dictates that no one is greater than the other (except the monarch), and a higher House bestows higher honors on its members. This inequality is dishonorable and foments unnecessary bickering. With honor, check and balance is no longer needed.

3. Retain the right of free speech. We must let the people express what they like, may it be blog posts or letters to newspapers or photos or videos or status messages. The people looks to the monarch as the fount of honor; as such, the people are honorable enough to express their thoughts honorably. With people that values honor, limits to free speech are unnecessary.

I have one particular amendment to suggest. When we adopt monarchy as our form of government, may I suggest that this one be made the Throne where the monarch sits? Thank you.

30
May

Corruption and death

Posted by | Categories Ink | Tagged , ,

As of this moment some things and details are still unclear to me. But what I do know is that in death, as in life, you cannot escape corruption.

They rushed my aunt to a local, government-operated hospital on Monday. The doctors inserted a respirator tube, and asked her sister to buy medicines at the hospital pharmacy. When she got back, my aunt’s gone. She tried returning the medicines, but the pharmacy refused. She had the receipt signed by the attending physician just to prove that the medicines were unused and useless.

Then the troubles began. Both her sister and my father have memorial plans from a reputable insurance company; the deceased did not. The service provider “accredited” by the hospital approached my relatives, offering their services. Her siblings refused. So they had the remains taken by the service provider of their choice. My aunt and my father planned to assign their memorial plans to the deceased to cover for the expenses.

The service provider refused. First, they have their own memorial plans, and they only accept clients who bought their plans. Second, they don’t accept clients that hold plans from other providers. I don’t know what happened, but the relatives got a plan from someone. This plan was issued by the service provider. All’s well that ends well?

It’s the death certificate this time. We coursed the request for a death certificate through the service provider, but the hospital refused to deal with the service provider, since the provider is “not accredited.” So the relatives tried to secure the document themselves. The hospital still refused, since my aunt was “not admitted.” Later, the hospital revised its party line; this time, it claimed that my aunt was not confined for at least 24 hours.

This issue bothered us for several days; we couldn’t schedule the cremation if there’s no death certificate. I don’t know what happened, but a death certificate was issued on Wednesday. Due to this delay, the cremation was scheduled on Saturday (which is today).

We chose to have the cremation done somewhere else; the plan does not cover cremation, and this service at the service provider is expensive. We found a cheaper alternative. However, you have to get the urn from the cremation service provider. It was still cheaper; the urns being offered by the memorial service provider are way to expensive, almost equivalent to the cremation itself.

And there’s the issue of the coffin. Because the coffin’s obviously empty after a cremation, so what is to be done with it? The service provider said they would “donate” it to indigents. What if we want to donate it ourself, my relatives asked. I never got their answer, but the discussion with my relatives was so heated, I decided there and then to abstain from participation in the decision making. Basically, the family wanted to desist from further discussion and let go of the issue. But an aunt from another side, charitable as she is, volunteered the coffin to a barangay in one of the big cities in Metro Manila. So it was another round of discussion (and I happily inhibited myself); in the end, after being bothered by everyone, the coffin was released to the barangay.

That is not the end of it. The cremation service provider wanted to have dibs with the coffin. But they were reasonable, and let go of the coffin as well.

Death is not unlike life. It is a business, a lucrative one. And a lucrative business means cutthroat competition. Also, some businesses take advantage of the vulnerability of the deceased’s love ones, offering overpriced services. The worst thing of all is the legalized corruption, which I won’t expound on, since it is inefficient to restate the obvious.

25
May

On death, 2

Posted by | Categories Journal | Tagged ,

(Note: No wonder the day started badly. First, there was a notable lack of buses plying EDSA. Second, the line at the Ayala jeepney terminal was horrendous. Third, Ayala Avenue from Makati Avenue to Paseo de Roxas was closed to traffic the entire working day. Fourth, got a not-so-cheery email from client. Fifth, because of the heat, I sweated profusely, and I smelled. These were portent of the news that greeted me on my way home.)

The last time I saw my aunt was during my cousin’s wedding a month ago. I was the backup photographer, and she was one of the principal sponsors. She was added to the entourage at the insistence of her sister (my cousin’s mother), since she had never been a ninang at a wedding. Back then, we already knew her life in this world was near its end. The picture is at my hard drive; I am not sure if the family will use it as a blown up image for the wake, or use the official one, taken at the same wedding. I am looking at it now. She was gaunt and thin, the dress she was wearing was twice her size. She could not eat that much, and she slept less.

—

I was busy attending to some things during WordCamp 2008 when I got a text message from a cousin, a message that was devastating and at the same time uncalled for. I was so incensed by the message I called up my mother, first to relay the news, then to rant against my cousin’s tasteless remark. After the call, it was almost lunch, so I went to the designated lunch distribution area and helped out in giving out lunch. I had decided to skip the afterparty; afterall, it was a long and tiring day.

My aunt was diagnosed with stage 5 renal failure. Dialysis was required, and kidney transplant was recommended. She chose not to undergo any. She resisted the news of impending death; she said she wanted to underdo dialysis. The cost and the procedure itself made her change her mind. Right now, I am wondering if our family made the right decision; we could have overruled her and have her undergo dialysis. But it would be a stress in everyone’s finances, and we had to respect her decision. I still wonder; it is too late.

Maybe we should have paid heed to the signs. Before WordCamp, her weight loss was alarming, which she attributed to poor appetite. We should have made her undergo a checkup. As we had no idea of the signs, we just attributed it to poor appetite; she wasn’t really a big eater, preferring to help in the kitchen instead of enjoying the food.

When she was diagnosed, it was already too late. She was given six months to live. She lasted nine months.

—

In our family, we have our share of old bachelors and old maids. On my mother’s side, I have an old bachelor uncle and an old maid aunt. On my father’s side, I had an old maid aunt. I used to wonder how they live their life. It must be lonely, I thought. I still think it is.

My aunt was always there during time of need. When someone was confined at the hospital, she would always be one of those who’d stay for the night. When someone needed to see a doctor, she would be the one to accompany that person. She took care of her nephews and nieces when their parents were away or busy.

She had no permanent home; for most of her life, she lived with her mother. When my grandmother was alive, she was the one who took care of her (before my grandmother was confined to the hospital). When her mother passed away, she lived the life of a transient. For several months, she stayed at a relative’s house. She graced our home for several weeks. She took care of her brother’s son, she took care of her niece’s sons (her grandsons).

Right now, I feel so ungrateful. Here was a woman who devoted her life to help her relatives (including me), but what did we do? I still wonder; but it is too late.

—

As I left after my cousin’s wedding, I had no idea it would be the last time I’d see her alive. If I knew, I would have hugged her. If I knew, I would have talked to her more. If I knew, I would have at least made her smile. But it is too late.

—

Sometimes, a lingering illness can be therapeutic. The grieving was so long, it was no longer painful when the inevitable end comes. Still, you cannot help but grieve, not only about the loss, but what could have been. If there is one lesson I should have learned from my grandmother’s death (who also suffered from a lingering illness), it is to treasure every minute you have. For when a loved one passes away, you can never turn back time. You can remember, but memories bring sadness aside from happiness.

I guess I should remember that lesson.

—

Basilisa Salvador Bernardo
January 9, 1959- May 25, 2009
In memoriam

24
May

Victim of modernity

Posted by | Categories Life | Tagged

(Yes, lens flare. Thanks, JJ Abrams.)

For the last two weeks, two Santacruzans passed by our place (one per week). Both of them were sad images of the current times.

I used to remember Santacruzans of old. Growing up in the metropolis, these events were refreshing, a gust of fresh air to clear the stale atmosphere left by modernity and a hectic lifestyle. Every weekend of May, we looked forward to Saturday nights. They used to be grandiose spectacles – bright, cheery, and smoky. Yes, smoky, as they use firecrackers in these parades (I dunno what were kwitis for, but lusis I could understand). There were karosas with generator sets after them, exuding light in the dim road. There were young men in barong, dashing but most of the time a bit awkward or shy (or both). There were young women in white gowns, their smiles as bright as the sparklers, waving their hands as if competing in a beauty pageant. There were the busy moms, attending to their sons and daughters, like stage moms do.

After the parade, the busy road became dark and dreary, the way it was ever since. It remains dark and dreary during nights.

After twenty years or so, we moved to a different city. The atmosphere is different. There is no busy road, but it can be dark and dreary from time to time. Time rolls so slowly yet it passes quickly you’d not notice it. Poverty is more pronounced, more obvious. The improving economy always has its victims, and I wonder if this place is one of them.

Last week, when I heard that there would be a Santacruzan (and a niece would be part of it), I took my camera and prepared for a night shoot. I am not fond of using the flash, but I thought the lighting would help. I was wrong. A cousin borrowing a rechargeable flashlight was a sign.

It was a sad spectacle. No more fancy karosas with gensets. No more torches. Heck, no candles. Some relied on streetlights (and you know how reliable these are). Some managed to scrounge up rechargeable lamps and flashlights. There were occasional kwitis, which had no purpose but to announce the incoming pageantry of patheticness.

What were worse were the participants. They looked apathetic, bored, obviously forced by their moms to wear these uncomfortable clothes. Heck, a man was texting while walking, clad in a barong, unmindful of the woman whose left hand was in the man’s right arm. The girls were not smiling. It was pathetic.

Yesterday was another Santacruzan. This time it was late afternoon, so I had the benefit of fading daylight. But it was no different. It was a repeat of last week, only with daylight. The daylight did nothing to lighten up the mood. The walking young men and women were still wearing frowns, while the stage moms were laughing like crazy in a barangay van.

What a change twenty years have done.

24
May

BookBigayan 2009

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From Gang Badoy of Rock Ed:

We’re giving them away for free!

Rock Ed invites you to bring used/old books to give away. We will invite people to just come and browse through our donated books and they are free to take books, maximum of 5 per person. But give anyway! Books left behind will be added to our public school book donation delivery before the school year starts.

Rock Ed Philippines is not happy about the taxes imposed on books. If you feel the same way, please join us.

23
May

Sandbox what?

Posted by | Categories Byte | Tagged , ,

The Web 2.0 sphere is very competitive, and it is hard to introduce a product that will shine among the sea of thousands of startups. If you cannot introduce a service that is different from the others, success will be hard to achieve.

Sandbox is a social network site from Smart. At first glance, it can be unclear what Smart wants to accomplish with this endevour. Why build another social network?

Basing on the home page of Sandbox, the aspects of the social network part of the site are found as one button in the main menu bar at the top (My Group), a login form at the right (though it serves a purpose aside from the social network aspect of the site, more on this later), and a View your friends link at the right if you are logged on. Below that link, there are boxes for My friends (which shows what your friends have been doing), Photo uploads, and Video uploads. That’s, what, 2% of the entire home page. The rest: 2% coming soon, 96% on downloadable content.

See where this line of thinking is going?

Anyway, clicking on My Groups will bring you to the social network aspect of Sandbox. It is just a white-labeled implementation of mobile social network platform provided by Mostyle. BTW, you can’t access the mobile Sandbox version (m.mysandbox.com) at the moment, so as a workaround (if you don’t like to load the main Sandbox page), log on at mostyle.mobi. Everything’s Web based (mobile Web-based), so adding content to your Sandbox means firing up your mobile browser, logging on, and uploading content. That’s well and fine if you can use WiFi. Tough luck if (1) there is no WiFi coverage or (2) your phone is not WiFi capable. See where this is going?

They have implemented another way of sending content, and that is via email through MMS. You can also send content using ordinary email. You cannot blog via SMS or email, though. I think this is the better way to implement content uploads – simpler, efficient, and requires no additional tool (since everything you’ll need is on the phone already). This is what Smart should have done.

I think the proper framework for a good social mobile network (or the content aspect of a social network) was best spelled out by Edwin Soriano during his talk at iBlog5. Basically, his framework is similar to what Tumblr does (though Tumblr’s post pictures via MMS email did not work for me). I am surprised till now that Smart has not done this, to think that Ka Edong works for Smart. They have the infrastructure to implement that framework, and they could have improved on the Tumblr system.

There was one sentence that I had said before, during a meeting. I said that Sandbox looks like a Frankenstein’s monster, with several components mashed together to make a social network site. I am glad to report that it is no longer so. Some components are still there, but it’s not no longer a monster. I am witholding the kudos since some components are still coming soon. I still don’t believe that white labeling will work. If Smart wants to make this Sandbox work, it should invest more than it has done. They have a content delivery system done in-house (unless I am mistaken), why can’t they do it for the social network side of the site? Afterall, if the goal is to drive content consumption, make the social network experience work well for potential content consumer. If the experience doesn’t go well, consumer will just go elsewhere.

It is imperative for Smart to present a social network that is different from the existing ones. Otherwise, people will say Sandbox is just another social network site. Some ascerbic people would add the phrase “that failed.”

Give Sandbox a try, and tell me your experience.

19
May

Angels and Demons

Posted by | Categories Life | Tagged ,

Producers of Amazing Race should watch Angels and Demons and take notes.

Forget the factual errors. People, this is a work of fiction, despite the author’s claims of facts. Ignore that claim, so that at least you could enjoy this movie. See, strip yourself of these assumptions, and the movie’s kinda entertaining. Besides, most of the people who had read the book claimed that the movie is better.

The basics: Harvard professor Robert Langdon was summoned to the Vatican to solve a mystery. The Illuminati sows terror on the Vatican by kidnapping 4 cardinals and planting a bomb that could decimate the entire city of Rome. Then an Amazing Race of sorts revealed that the enemy is within.

The first hour or so was rather tedious and tiring, and the Amazing Race section was a bit fun to watch (because they were always too late). The movie will keep you guessing who the antagonist is – unless you have read the book, that is. But if you had read the book, there were changes made that will surprise you.

The scenes were marvelous though most of them were shot on soundstages, but they were almost real! It was as if you were down in the grottos when they opened the tomb of the deceased Pope. I had seen pictures of this section of the Vatican, and the scene looked as if they were indeed below St. Peter’s Basilica.

The music was rather flat, a surprisingly flaccid output from Hans Zimmer. I was expecting more choral works, bordering on the sacred. It is understandable that this is a suspense movie, but still…

Overall, this is a good movie to see, as it is entertaining enough. Just sit back and enjoy, stop “intellectualizing” while watching the movie. Looking for errors would only spoil the fun.

Speaking of errors, there are loads of pages on the internet regarding errors of this movie/novel. I’d like to point out two issues. The first one was the appointment of a mere priest as the camerlengo. This position has always been assigned to a cardinal, true. But a Pope can always change this, as much as Gregory VII dissolved the office of Archdeacon (predecessor to the current office of the camerlengo).

Next, which was not pointed out yet (as of this writing, or maybe I haven’t scrounged them all): the scene where they opened the deceased Pope’s tomb. In the current practice, the body is encased in three coffins. The first is made of cypress, the second, of lead, and the third coffin, made of elm. In the movie, it was obvious that only one coffin was used. (As a note, the disfigured face shown was similar to what had happened to Pius XII).

16
May

Krispy Kreme, then and now

Posted by | Categories Life | Tagged ,

Previously, I wrote about my first Krispy Kreme experience. That was almost a year ago, and for the past few weeks I had been in the same store, eating donuts and drinking root beer, while swapping stories with an officemate.

I thought that what I was eating mirrored that of life in general, and particularly life in the workplace and the economy.

Last year, I bought a Hershey’s Cookies and Cream donut:

A few days ago, I bought that particular donut:

Spot the difference. And yes, that’s how life has been since last year.