Cartoons on a rainy Saturday

Its been raining the whole day. Actually, from the time my sister and I step out of the Five Star bus around 4 ‘oclock in the morning up to this writing, the heaven has not stop blessing the earth with waters. Well, at least on this part of the world.

Its a rainy Saturday. An ideal time for a tasty Champorado and Tuyo. Except that we don’t have the combination available at home. Hahaha… so much for wishful thinking. Next time, I will remind myself to grab a ready-made Champorado on the grocery counter and bring it to the province. Mind you, there really is something like that nowadays; ready to eat after pre-heating. I have tasted one already and its comparable to a home-cooked one. Actually, I still have one in the fridge back in our apartment; ready when I arrived from work and nothing cooked to stuff a hungry stomach. I should have brought if I knew beforehand the weather’s gonna be like this, hahaha.

Since we can’t do our usual Saturday activities, what is better than watching Cartoons with restless kids. I brought with me the Book Two DVD copy of the cartoon series, Avatar: The Last Air Bender. Shhhhh… you know, the stuff sold in the likes of St. Francis and Greenhills. I first saw a glimpse of the series in Nickolodeon. At first, I just surfed for it in the Net and then downloaded the two books (all of the 40 chapters patiently copied and pasted so I can have the whole book). I read the copy intermittently until I thought of asking our office’s friendly enterprising Maranao neighbors at St. Francis Square. Alas, surprisingly or not surprisingly, they have a copy! From South Sea Pearls, bling-blings, shoes, clothings, to VCD/DVD. Yep, yep… anything under the sun seems to be there.

Anyway, the children liked Aang (the Avatar), Kitara, Sokka and the flying bison, Appa. So far so good honeybee! At first we’re all silently watching and snuggled together until the questions started arriving. Whew! I thought I could get out showing them the series starting from Book Two because I am done with Book One. How wrong I was. In the end, I can’t concentrate with the story because I kept explaining things. Nice practice on patience, I tell you. )

The kids are sleeping now. Actually, the whole house is already asleep except me. The neighbors have hours ago rested also. I believe, in our neighborhood, our house is always the last one to switch-off the lights. My eyes are so used to the urban clock so I retire even later.

Its nice writing at home in the province. Its more serene. The place also feels ‘warmer’and friendlier; more comforting. Nice feeling being with the people that you love and matters most.

tsk, tsk, tsk… another bout

The amount of money you earned is inversely proportional to the time of rest you have. The relationship of these two factors is generally negative. Well, at least for the type of work I am doing. If you have a passive income though, that’s a totally different story. You can have all the rest you want to the point of boredom and yet still have stash of money somewhere waiting to be spent. Some are just born fortunate. For me, I am lucky I have a work I like and an employer that needs the services I can render.  

Of course, when you reach the point when you begin to think thoughts like that then it may mean you are overworked, tired or stressed. You become philosophical until you become passive about things.

What do we need to live anyway? The most basic; food, clothing and shelter. A simple, uncomplicated and routinary 8 to 5 work would provide you with that. You can have time to smell the flowers and watch the sun set like they always tell us in those classic forwarded emails. Question is, would I like a simple, routinary and a work lacking in challenge? That wouldn’t test passion, right? )

So what ’s my issue here? I am not tired or overworked or stressed. I am happy with the way things are. It’s just that sometimes when I miss home, I have bouts like these.

Isn’t it great its Friday tomorrow? I can smell home. Yahoo! Indeed, there is no place like home. And home is in the province. Hmmmmmmmmmm… fresh air!

Awe

Lives are oftentimes transformed in periods of silence, moments of letting, listening in awe and reverence to the universe.

My religion is formed because of this silent awe and contemplation. Solemn, so  personal and can’t be communicated. There is that grace that fills you and is enough. Only a kindred soul can fathom in equal silence. No words, no nothing.

 

In the beginning there was silence…

… but that was before we discover the use of our tongues. We learn to speak and then we get accustomed to so much sounds and noises.

Now, when deep and palpable silence comes, we are lost. I think that this should be an opportunity for us to learn to communicate telepathically. For silence should silence us to silence, right? I believe we shouldn’t disturb silence. Let silence and time settle things.

But what if you are communicating and what you get is pure and unadulterated silence? Then I guess, we should seek Susan Dunn for she has a mouthful to say about silence in communication! In fact, she has listed the following:

10 Things to Know About Silence in Communication

One of the most important parts of any conversation is the silence. Silence can serve many functions in a conversation and how you manage it determines your level of sophistication. Here are some points to keep in mind about silence in communication.

1. Silence can indicate respect.

In some cultures more than others, silence indicates respect. A young person may be expected to approach an older person or a person in authority and remain silent until recognized, acknowledged and spoken to.

2. Silence can indicate contemplation.

The more introverted your communication partner, the more likely they will think before they speak. Extroverts discover what they’re thinking and how they feel by talking. Introverts figure it all out inside their own head and heart before giving voice to it.

3. Silence can be intentional rudeness.

Because of the nature of normal conversation, allowing an extended silence can be perceived as rudeness. It can also be meant that way. Refusing to reply to the other person is a way of ignoring them.

4. Silence can be the creation of a listening space. When you are profoundly listening to someone, you create an open space for them to talk into that’s almost palpable. Good listeners know how to do this, and it can be learned. It’s an openness that you transmit through nonverbal means.

5. Silence can be an indication of empathy. When we’re really tuning in to how the other person feels, we’re listening more to the tone of their voice, cadence and speed rather than the actual words, so reply with words may not be the most appropriate response.

6. Allowing silence in a conversation puts pressure on the other person.

It’s conventional not to allow any sort of extended silence in a conversation. Therefore, to allow one puts pressure on the other person to “fill air time”. Some interviewers, for instance, use this technique to see what will happen. Often the person will “spill” – saying exactly the thing they didn’t want to say.

7. Silence can indicate hostility.

Withdrawing, “stonewalling,” and pouting in silence are ways some people handle anger. Such a silence can be pulsating with bad feelings and elicit anger on the part of the other person.

8. Silence can indicate disagreement.

While it’s almost never an indication of indifference, silence can indicate that the other person is having negative emotions. When we experience anger, fear, or embarrassment, our thinking brain shuts down. We sit there fuming, unable to speak; enraged and unable to find words; afraid and scared speechless. Some people are “flooded” with these emotions, and unable to respond.

9. Silence can indicate profoundness, such as awe or horror.

Sometimes when we’re listening to someone else, we hear something that leaves us speechless because it really goes beyond words. Listening to someone talk about a dreadful trauma they’ve endured, or a beautiful, almost-sacred interaction with another human being, or a description of an awesome natural event such as a sunset or a volcano eruption are examples. Somehow when we listen to such things, the ordinary “Oh” and “Wow” and “That’s awesome” don’t seem enough, and so we fall silent.

10. How you manage silence in conversation is an important part of emotional intelligence.

Excellent communicators can allow silence when it’s effective or called for; can avoid being pressured into “spilling” when silence is used manipulatively; offer silence as a gift or sign of respect; interpret the silence of others appropriately; understand how other cultures use silence; mindfully regulate the use of silence; and are comfortable with silence and understand its many uses.

So much from Susan! I will just heed another. I will just be  prepared because as Vittorio Alfieri said,

“Deep vengeance is the daughter of deep silence.”

Unkowingly, I may be a waiting victim of a silent water running deep. )

 Yep, this just another random view. And to make it more effective, I will just keep my silence, too.

In the Circle again?!

“Of what shall a man be proud, if he is not proud of his friends?” Robert Louis Stevenson

I got an email from a friend last Thursday (09/20/2007). That email was sent to one of my email accounts that I don’t get to open these days. Anyway, yesterday (09/23/2007) for some reasons I was compelled to check that account via GPRS.  

This was what I got. The forwarded email contains the words of John Hall of Oracle announcing the recipient of the 1st Quarter Oracle University Leadership Circle:  

“These individuals are truly the “best of the best” of our instructors, delivery managers and GES consultants worldwide. Their quality and utilization scores, feedback from students, and dedication to customer satisfaction have earned them a place in the Oracle University Leadership Circle.

The Oracle University Leadership Circle Recipients for Q1 FY’08 are:

Leadership Circle Instructor Recipients  

Naoko Susuki – Tokyo, Japan
Akiko Fujibe – Tokyo, Japan
Rui Rodrigues – Porto Slavo, Portugal
Andre Joseph – Midrand, South Africa
Dennis Theofilopoulos – Athens, Greece
Chao Li – Beijing, China
Jully Manuel – Manila, Philippines
Gary Lemmons – Miami, Florida, United States
Ivy Farren – Atlanta, Georgia, United States
Eric Siglin – Orlando, Florida, United States
Richard Yau – San Francisco, California, United States

Leadership Circle Delivery Manager Recipients, Sue Jang – New York, New York, United States  

GES Recipient, Dirk Evers – Munich, Germany

I am from the Philippines and you now know who I am very proud of. And if that is not enough, I have to say, he was in the Circle way back Q4 FY’06. Isn’t that so much to be proud of?

Friday and not going home?

Yahoo, its Friday! Yep, Friday, hahaha!!! As usual my colleagues expected from me some happy announcement that tomorrow’s gonna give us all a longer time in bed or an announcement that I am going home to my hometown.

Tsk, tsk, tsk…I miss the rural scene but I am not going home this time. I’ll just look at this picture I got from some kids enjoying a dip in a creek and I am contented. Nothing beats seeing simple happiness and contentment in the eyes of children.

SEE! Rural images such as this sometimes suffices for me. That the glitters of city life I can not trade to the simple joys of the basic and free things in life. There are still a lot of things money cannot buy. And those things are most abundant in the countryside.

I took the picture above two weeks ago in a creek situated near the farm lands of Sitio Tambugan in Aguilar. Just as I related several blogs away, its a place I visit as mush as possible whenever I go home to the province. So much of the place is still untouched. Time is slow unlike the rapid pace I daily experience working in the city.

Visiting the place time and again somehow reminds me to slow down. To take a breath, to calm my senses, to recharge and to be thankful of every blessings I have for myself and for my family.

 Whew! Isn’t life great especially if you feel that Friday mood? Yep, yep!

Overhaul

I would like to overhaul this blog. I think it is cluttered like my mind is right now.  I think there is no direction and just like one of my categories, this blog is just “This and that”.

I think i need some planning to make it more organized or better yet make a new blog where entries can be more organized. I think i really need to buy and read that CSS book I saw at PowerBooks. I have painstakingly copied and pasted the CSS tutorial in in this site but I guess I am still the traditional paper reader. Grrrrr.. i need to train myself reading onscreen for me to help save trees and also to make my pocket a little bit heavier.

I have a pingpong session tonight. I am happy my sparring partner, Charie, is available. She needs to play more than I do, i think. She needs something to hit due to her very stressful and voluminous works. I am glad she has an outlet, otherwise ,I don’t know what will happen to people she meets with sometimes, harharhar.

Whew Neruda!

I have one Neruda book; a collection of some of his poems. Those who know me would be surprised to discover I have another side.  Another peep to a solitary soul. Oh yeah, read this and feel and imagine hearing the words. Please don’t think. ü

I Do Not Love You Except Because I Love You 

I do not love you except because I love you;
I go from loving to not loving you,
From waiting to not waiting for you
My heart moves from cold to fire. I love you only because it’s you the one I love;
I hate you deeply, and hating you
Bend to you, and the measure of my changing love for you
Is that I do not see you but love you blindly. Maybe January light will consume
My heart with its cruel
Ray, stealing my key to true calm. In this part of the story I am the one who
Dies, the only one, and I will die of love because I love you,
Because I love you, Love, in fire and blood.

Just beautifuuuuul! I wish I could express as well. For more of his work, visit this site.  

 

Pangasinan for Starters – 1

I checked my blog stats the past few days and noticed some surfers interested in learning the Pangasinan (aka Panggalatok) dialect. Here are a few collections of common words and phrases that I think would help starters.   

First column is in English, followed by its Pangasinan and Filipino translations. As far as I know these are the nearest equivalents. 

English	Pangasinan	Filipino/Tagalog
I am Jose.	Siak si Jose.	Ako si Jose.
Good morning!	Maabig ya kaboasan!	Magandang umaga!
Good afternoon!	Maabig ya ngarem!	Magandang hapon!
Good evening!	Maabig ya labi!	Magandang gabi!

                                     

Thank you!	Salamat!	Salamat!
I love you.	Inaro ta ka.	Mahal kita or Iniibig kita.
I like you.	Gabay ta ka	Gusto kita
Help me!	Tulungan yo ak!	Tulungan niyo ako!
YES	On	Opo or Oo
NO	Andi	Hindi
None	Anggapo	Wala
Maybe	Siguro	Siguro

What is that?	Anto man?	Ano ‘yon?
What is this?	Anto ya?	Ano ito?
What is your name?	Antoy ngaran mo?	Anong pangalan mo?
Where do you stay?	Iner so panaayaman mo?	Saan ka nakatira?
Where is the market place?	Iner so tindaan?	Saan ang palengke?
Who is with you?	Siopa tay kaibam? or Siopay kaibam?	Sinong kasama mo?
Can I ask a question?	Sarag toy mantepet?	Pwedeng magtanong?

                                                        

Big	Baleg	Malaki
Small	Melag	Maliit
Far	Arawi	Malayo
Near	Asingger	Malapit
High	Atagey	Mataas
Low	Abeba	Mababa
Here	Dya	Dito
There	Diman	Doon
Left/Right	Kawigi/Kawanan	Kaliwa/Kanan
Right/Wrong	Duga/Aliwa	Tama/Mali

English	Pangasinan		Filipino/Tagalog
	Use in Counting	Use to answer how many or when asked “Pigara?”
One	Isa	Sakey	Isa
Two	Dwa	Duwara	Dalawa
Three	Talo	Talora	Tatlo
Four	Apat	Apatera	Apat
Five	Lima	Limara	Lima
Six	Anem	Anemera	Anim
Seven	Pito	Pitura	Pito
Eight	Walo	Walora	Walo
Nine	Siyam	Siyamera	Siyam
Ten	Samplo	Samplora	Sampo

You can also try visiting the following links for more comprehensive resources:

1. PangTALK

2. Pangasinan poetry, essays, journal & other literary works 

Data, data, data and boring data

For three straight days I have been converting numerous data extracts (mind you, in text form and without field names). This activity is part of the job of any data analyst/statistician who is not usually given direct access to data base systems. This could have been easily handled had there been an online connectivity between a data analysis/mining software and the data base system.

Whew! I am already heady and famished. Good thing, I am done. I can start data quality checks tomorrow.  Hopefully, I don’t discover a lot of errors and missing observations. Otherwise, I need to communicate again with the IT guys. Which reminds me, I still need to communicate with them anyway because I need some description and definitions of some field attributes. After that, I would create information maps and other stuff one wouldn’t care knowing.

And by the way, there is no table tennis this week. And so to occupy myself when I go home, I will continue my interrupted reading of my latest book acquisition. Mind you, the title is “The Language of God” by Francis Collins. Me? Yeah, its me reading that.  Got it on sale at Bibliarch in Waltermart, Makati. I was holding another title but when I was about to pay, this book  caught my sight and it got paid instead. Would you call that impulse? |)