On the prowl

Last night as I walk from the office to Crossing along Shaw Boulevard, I was invited to a "business seminar" in a tall building (DispoPhil building?) across Astoria Plaza in J. Escriva Drive.

As I walked past Red Ribbon in the corner of J. Escriva and Shaw, I was greeted by an Asian woman claiming that she is a Chinese individual and is not really good in speaking English. She asked me if I wanted to make some money and learn business. I politely told her that I am earning enough and am not in any urgent need for money (fingers crossed). She asked me if I can accompany her to a meeting in the above-mentioned building since she is not well versed in English. I told her I had to meet someone and that I am running late (for the benefit of my wife, I was not meeting anyone).

We parted ways and I was off to Crossing.

Along the way, I spotted similar-looking individuals in their 40s talking to random individuals or writing down something on pieces of paper (maybe a phone number or a way to explain things). I saw some go with the Oriental-looking individuals to the direction where the building is located.

I saw some more inside Shangri-La Mall and on the other side of Shaw Boulevard around Central Mall.

What could they be up to? Will those who were enticed to join find a better way to earn a living or will they fall victim to something bad? I guess I will never know. :(

Final Destination

Are movies representative of the society it portrays? Does tell us the strengths and weaknesses of a people? If it does, then we have a lot to learn about safety when we watch the latest "Final Destination" film.

In the movie, there were various scenes that exhibit carelessness that could have been avoided. The spectacles with magnifying lens that lit the saw dust in the movie theatre is one. The rocks that were rolled on by the lawn mower is another. Then there is the spitting can that shorted a motor at a garage. And finally the unbalanced scaffold that brought the ending to a bone-crunching close.

Is it their destiny to have died that way? Or could it have been prevented if only safety precautions were put in place?

I cannot remember the scenes in the previous movies but were those carelessness placed in the script to make the dying happen? Or was it placed there to say "you people are careless. Watch what happens if you are not careful."

Who knows?

Voter registration

Voter registration finally closed last night at midnight. Many missed the deadline and are once more deprived of their right to choose the country's next leaders.

This past week, I heard calls from citizens to extend voter registration. There were also complaints about a lack of system in the registration process and the time it takes for each voter to be registered.

Voter registration began in December 2008 and is set to end last 31 October 2009. In the week of October 26-31, old and new voters rushed to registration centers put up by the Commission on Elections (COMELEC). Long lines formed and impatience heightened.

This was not the case when I went to register sometime in September, during a holiday weekday. When me and my son (both first time voters) got to the registration center at the Pateros Municipal Hall, we are the only clients they have. We filled up forms, presented our IDs, had our photo, finger print, and signatures recorded, and received our claiming stub for our voter's ID. It took us almost 30 minutes and a leisurely pace at that.

As we are about to leave, another father and son tandem came in. It was a slow day. And I believe the days were even slower before that.

Television channels were peppered with advertisements from COMELEC urging everyone to register and yet we took our time and many of us waited for the last minute.

I heard one first time voter said: "this is disappointing. how can I be registered if the process is slow and that they do not have a proper system implemented?"

To be fair, she may have just turned of legal age on the week of the deadline. But if she was of legal age way before that, it is indeed disappointing. Disappointing that she took too long to decide when to register.

Another person in the line was asked why he only went to register now, he replied: "I had work to do." Is there no work to do on the day he decided to fall in line to register?

We Filipinos generally wait until the last minute before we act and just blame someone else for our failures. When will we ever learn that the "last minute" is always crowded?

We all know that 5:00pm is the start of the rush hours and that the streets and public transports are crowded so we either leave earlier or later. We wait in the office to allow the volume to lighten or go out somewhere to while away the time.

Why can't we apply that to other activities like registering to vote? Why can't we go to register earlier? COMELEC centers are open on Saturdays and Holidays. Is it because we have picnics planned during those times? Or is it because we do not value our right to vote?

It is easier to blame somebody else than to remind ourselves what we should do.

One's self is always our toughest opponent.

I used to say that the reason why I did not register to vote is so that I will not be part of the blame for voting someone into position.

Now my reason for registering is that my vote may be a "swing vote" that will have my candidate elected.

Since my candidate decided not to run anymore, what is left for me is to exercise my obligation to cast my choice for our next leaders.

Door-to-door delivery

Some young guys in our area got the idea of using a banca to transport residents and guests in our flooded subdivision.



The heavy rains brought by typhoon Ondoy over the weekend inundated Metro Manila including are floodable residence in Pateros.



Some friends of my son got the idea of ferrying people from the "banks" near the highway to their residences. This included guests to came to visit their friends and relatives not knowing the place is flooded.





I'll bet FedEx and LBC can't beat that!

Pinoy against the foreigners

Filipinos and Americans (or maybe Europeans) have greatly differ in their observance of traffic signs.

Crossing the road on my way home, I usually use the pedestrian lanes because it is for pedestrians. In there, a person should feel safe from speed maniacs. Drivers are expected to give way to pedestrians (within a reasonable time) when they cross the street using the pedestrian crossing. And one Caucasian driving a silver Toyota observed this. He stopped, waited for us to cross before proceeding. If it were a fellow Pinoy (most but not all), you, the pedestrian, would have waited for him, the driver of an expensive car, to pass before crossing.

For educated drivers who practice what they have learned, a pedestrian crossing tells him/her to give people ample time to cross the street before proceeding. For some educated drivers who forget their lessons after they get their licenses and most self-educated driver, a pedestrian lane represents an obstacle where you need to align your wheels between the white lines and cross it without letting your tires touch the paint.

This event reminds me of a joke about how Filipinos and foreign tourists view the traffic light.

For foreigners, green means go, yellow means slow down, and red means stop.

For Pinoys, green means go, yellow means go faster, and red means go for it!

My green eyed wife

I met her about less than seven years ago. What caught my attention is her smile and simple tastes. She has a jolly predisposition and there is an aura of childishness in her. That's why she never looks her age.

As soft-spoken and as simple as she is, she carries within herself a jealous bull. Even more fierce than the Incredible Hulk!

Maybe it's our age gap? Or probably my ethnicity -- Ilonggos are inherently sweet, loving, and caring. Or is it my presumed "good looks" that makes her think that I am a lady's man? Or maybe my way with girls (huh!? do I even have one?).

One time I had my hair cut too close we refer to it as semi-kalbo (semi bald). I told her that that cut seem to attract attention from girls. I said that they either think I look good or I look hideous. Our son told us that the almost-bald-cut releases my animalistic side that girls seem to like. He added a roar with matching clawing gesture. I never got to have that haircut again.

She get's conscious when I receive messages from female friends or co-workers late in the evening. She even reprimands by usual sweet "hellow" when I pick up the phone. She didn't even like my "halu."

Once she told me that if she can have me miniaturized, she'll keep me in her pocket. I felt like living in a traditional society where men, instead of women, are hidden from the public once they are attached! Now I know how it is like for the women in that kind society. I have nothing against it, of course (the traditions, I mean). Here is a photo shoot we had showing just that!



We discuss these issues and have settled some concerns. There may be more. Some even got out of hand. And I do not want a repeat of any of those.

The Crow

Early Tuesday morning at the Baguio Teachers' Camp while doing some "breathing exercises" in the balcony of the cottage we are using, I heard bird noises. The bird noises did not bother me at all.

After a while, I came to realize that the bird noises sounded familiar. As familiar as the common bird sounds in my favorite animes: Naruto Shippuuden and Bleach. The sound of crows.

I found the crows in some trees on the slope below the balcony. There were about seven of them.

When I was about to get a picture of the crows perched on the trees, they seem to have sensed my phone camera that they all flew away.



The next thought that came to mind is the movie "The Crow" where presence of crows signal a nearing death. The movie suggests that crows come to accompany souls to their destinations.

Could it be a bad omen? Hmmm... I just don't know.