trade-offs

Alas, the traffic I have to go through everyday is taking its toll on my old car. You see, the SLEX is undergoing its second phase of the skyway and causing a huge traffic gridlock (if that's what its called) on both sides. What used to be a three-lane street has been reduced to two and to make matters worse, the same clowns running the traffic flow refuse to give up the idea of having a counterflow of northbound commuters with us, who they probably consider as southbound second-class citizen road users. In effect, southbound street has been reduced further to just a lane and is naturally causing a very slim bottle neck.

I cannot manage to suffer traffic to and from work. That would be awful. So, what I do is leave the house early, say, 5:30 am and by the time I reach the SLEX, either the counterflow has not started yet or is just about to start. Sometimes, I see the motorcop heading the vehicles running opposite my lane with siren blasting and weaving his motorcycle from left to right as if he was sweeping the floor. \

Last Tuesday, however, in spite of the thirty minute ride to school, I noticed my car was registering a high temperature. That's bad considering that I was not locked up in traffic. I brushed it off thinking maybe I just need to clean the reservoir and add more water. Fine. I did those. Come time to go home, I prayed and headed for battle. As expected, the traffic had already piled up. My car was doing okay until I reached the Sucat area. The temperature was already very high and was continuously increasing. What was I supposed to do but stop and add more water. A kind worker helped to veer away traffic from me. After that, I was on my way again.

Then lo and behold, a traffic jam again at Market Market in C5. God, I'm so close to home darn it! I stopped again to do the same ritual when someone from a tow truck who happens to be right beside me approached me and asked if the car would not start. I told him it's just overheated. You're not getting any cent from me, silly :-)

And so, that was when I decided to either take a leave of absence the following day and take the car to the radiator shop or better yet, hitch a ride with my friend Jay to and from work. I texted him and told him of my predicament. Surprised (not), he replied back with a bargain. Done! Just tell me where to pick you up in the morning and that you will have to drink with us Thursday and Friday Hmmmm, free ride and pleasure vs staying with the mechanic for half a day ... tough choices. Guess what I chose.

Last night, not even a Thursday yet for the regular Thursday club soiree, "we" decided to have a beer or two. Well, as you know how this thirst quenching brew affects the senses, two led to three and then more until it was already way past 9.

Great! I have two more nights of pleasure. However, around 10:30 pm, a family friend called me up to confirm if a text message she received about no classes due to A(H1N1) flu in our school was true. I told her that was just a rumor but I will check it with my superiors just the same. What do I know? It was true. So there, what would have been a win-win trade off with my thirsty friend has been put on a halt just like that.

BUMMER!!!!!

goodbye, bro!

Today, being father's day, we should be celebrating as we face the never ending challenges of fatherhood. As my father has brought me up in this world as a responsible being, I pass this torch to my children hoping that I shall be more successful than my dad. As they say, the offspring should be a better creature than who has sired him/her. I have a few more years before I can truly say my children are all independently on their own. When that time comes, I pray that they shall have learned to live life to its fullest, be happy with what they have but continue to dream the dream of a better tomorrow.

In the meantime, we, as a family, shall mourn the loss of a father in Bro. Ceci who passed away yesterday. We shall truly miss his anecdotes, his quotable phrases and his witty remarks. We shall miss posing for him as he snaps pictures of everyone and post it is in his multiply account. God bless you on your trip back home, Bro. Ceci.

Coming full circle

When I opened this blog in May, 2004, I was just assigned to a new position in our school - that of Level Coordinator for the lower years, much like the prefect of discipline and more. The opening of the blog was very timely as new challenges laid ahead. However, much to my disappointment, I could not blog about my work, most specially the specifics as I have started to gain readers outside of my circle of friends. Hence, I blogged about education and teaching in general, which later on evolved into a gamut of different topics, a mixture of how I view life, adventures, fatherhood, family, etc.

Two years later, the school decided to do some re-organizing and I was back in the classroom again. After all, I did sign up to be a teacher. I was enjoying myself without the hassles of administrative work only mindful of grades, lesson plans and modules, etc. However, just as I was collecting more visual materials and researching for newer projects to give, a new boss appears and yet another re-organization. He invited me to his office one day last school year telling me that he was eyeing me to be the high school prefect of discipline. I respectfully declined as I do not think I still have the stamina for the position. I am but nine years away from retirement and I told him the pressures of the job might cause me my life (in full drama, hahaha). However, as a sort of compromise, I told him that if he really wanted me to be a part of his team, I was open to the idea of heading the department again, a position I handled for about nine years until I resigned in 1997. Since there was noone applying for the job from among my co-teachers, I got it. So at this time, I am now the Art Coordinator, once again taking the helm of the department. I guess this is just right as I may be too old to be teaching and about time I learned new tricks from fresher blood who speaks the language of the young and is abreast of the new trends in teaching.

So there, this blog has come full circle and awaiting new posts as new challenges await. So help me God.

I tried to sing in Singapore for the first time but Malaysia took my heart

I'm back from a four day tour of Singapore (if that can be called one) and Malaysia. I was with my sister-in-law, her husband and the husband's sister who just flew in from Saipan for a visit. Planning was done as early as last month, looking for hotels, bus terminals and all those things. Guess what, we missed our bus going to Clark. We even saw it leave Megamall around 2:15 am. The lady I made reservations with made sure it was leaving the place at 2:39. We tried to catch it but to no avail. We landed up in another bus station going to Alaminos. We had to disembark at Dau and take a van going to Clark.


The view from our hotel window


Taken while taking a rest inside our hotel room


I can hardly say I've toured Singapore. We arrived there around 1:30 and got out of the airport maybe 30 mins. after. We went directly to Furama hotel where we were booked, went out for lunch in a mall, buy some goodies and before we knew it, it was already way past six. We went back to the hotel to take a rest. We said we only needed 5 minutes of nap time but since we hardly slept the night before, we woke at 10. We've been told that the stores by Orchard Road would have been closed and asked where we could go to shop. We ended up in what is known as Little India called Mohamed Mustafa, a retail giant in the country.



There, anything and everything that can be sold is being sold. The place is replete with stalls you can barely walk and is teeming with people at anytime. We ended up in the wee hours of the morning and yet the place was still jam packed. The following day, we woke up late and headed for the airport. The taxi driver was a jolly fellow who had a lot of entertaining stories about his country. He said that Singapore is a fine city, meaning everything you do is being fined. He had his own versions of the acronyms. Too bad, I did not write them down. Anyway, the cab drivers there speak english and are very honest. When I asked the driver if it was safe to go anywhere, he said, "Let's put it this way. Low crime does not mean no crime."

Anyway, my best impression of the country is that it is so clean and their system is very efficient. Nevertheless, there was a little snag at the airport. When I put my bag into the x-ray, the men stationed there asked me to open it. This was a surprise because I never expected that they would do that. The man by the x-ray machine told the other guy that there's another small bag which he then took out. Lo and behold, it contained a cutter. I have forgotten all about it. They confiscated it, borrowed my passport and copied the number. Hmmm, does this mean I can no longer visit Singapore?

Malaysia is 45 minutes away by plane. I have been there before and am a little familiar with the place as I and my wife had been competently and generously toured by my friend, Bayi. Arriving at the airport, we took lunch and hailed a bus for KL Sentral.


They don't look strange, do they?


My first taste of tobacco after Singapore and it tasted heavenly!


Bus ride from LCCT to KL Sentral

At KL Sentral, we took Bayi's advice to go to the taxi station where we are given a cab for Genting Highlands. It costs RM 80 to get there. Funny but our cab driver looked like Telly Savalas of the Kojak fame. Anyway, Genting Highlands is an entertainmen cum theme park/casino and a nice get away from the hustles and bustles of the city. We checked in, after several hours of queueing, at the First World Hotel, that boasts to have the most number of rooms in the world. If that doesn't impress you yet, here are some facts. We arrived there, got a number before we can even check in.


We were #1446

346 to go!

Suffice it to say that we were all ready for dinner when we got to our room. The outdoor activity area was already closed leaving us to the indoor activity to venture. We watched a show named DREAMZ, a song and dance acrobat and magic show featuring both Asians and mostly European artists. They had white lions and tigers in the show and it was indeed entertaining.

After the show, what else was there to do but shop and yes, try our chances at the casino. As to be expected, I lost about RM150. That would be about Php 2000. Not bad considering I stopped at around 3 am. I should have stopped while I was ahead!

That morning, at breakfast, I took revenge and ate to my heart's content at the buffet breakfast included in our package. I ate like there was no tomorrow! AFter that, we toured the place, took the train that goes around the place and checked out. ON our way back to KL, we opted to ride the cable car. The cable car is a 15 minute ride of about 3.4 kilometers above the canopy of Malaysian rainforest. The first salvo of the trip is a whopping hundreds of feet drop that goes all the way to about a mile. It was a harrowing experience for me considering that I have fear of heights and I was in front seat.

When we got to KL, we stayed at the Grand Season Hotel and from there was picked up by Bayi and his wife, who graciously treated us to a sumptuous dinner that is really a gastronomic's delight. He offered us a bevy of vegetables, seafood and a local crispy pata with a new twist. Instead of serving it plain and dipped with a mixture of soy sauce, vinegar and garlic, it was bathed in a sort of satay sauce. Bayi always the good entertainer, has done it again. I was so sated I can hardly breathe.

The following day, we headed for the Petronas Tower. We got tickets and as the tickets we got were for the 5:30pm viewing, we decided to take a train and head for the market in Penang Sari.


Underground bus station at KLCC

The bus station at KLCC is underground, probably so as not to ruin the view of the Petronas Tower but it goes above ground just as our LRT thereafter. The ride costs RM1. Which we think is very cheap.


This is where we got off

Again, my companions went on a shopping spree while I just window shopped, watched the artists work at the far end just like what Ermita was during the early 70's and managed to buy bracelets for my wife and kids and a set of soft charcoal pencils
for myself. What can I do, I barely carry money and having lost at the casino, I only have some left for food hahaha.

Thereafter, we took the train again and headed for the Petronas. While waiting for our scheduled tour, I happen to chance upon a gallery showcasing one of the local artists on exhibit while my companions shopped till they dropped. Too bad, I couldn't take pictures but the show was a good one.

Anyway, Malaysia is not a very different place for a Filipino. While their food
has a distinct taste, the people are just like us. What is amazing is how they managed to live together, in spite of their different religious, ethnic and cultural traditions. I have often wondered why there were too many words that sound familiar like lelaki for males, masuk for entry and this:



I'm sure the list can go on and on and then it dawned on me. We share the same heritage knowing that our ancestors are Malays coming here using boats called balangays. That is if Otley Beyer is correct.

It's not that grand but it's ours!

We've moved back to the house although there are still things to be completed like interior doors, painting jobs, etc, etc. What's more depressing are the boxes that are still cluttered in our living room. Nevermind what's stored inside the children's rooms. As it is, they cannot occupy these yet and have to sleep in the family room where the tv and this computer is. It looks like it would take another three months before everything's finally settled. Just the same, we are all glad we're back!

Unfortunately, my 85 year-old mother-in-law takes a long time to get re-acquainted with the house. She seems to be disoriented. What happened was we asked my wife's brother to take her to his house and stay there for a while as the house we were renting was too hot and very uncomfortable. The problem was she wasn't there when we moved back. Now, she keeps on saying she wants to go back home. We can't find the right words to tell her that this is the same house, only renovated. Oh well, I guess confusion is almost synonymous to old age.

Nevertheless, in a few hours from now, I shall be on my way to Clark where a plane shall take me and my in-laws to Singapore for an overnight stay. From there, we head to Genting, Malaysia for another overnight stay and travel back to Kuala Lumpur where hopefully, I get to meet an old friend of mine, Bayi, who used to go visiting Filipino blogs before making his name a familiar one in Philippine blogosphere.

Tata for now!

Almost done.

What was supposed to be a simple renovation on the house turned out to be a complete redesigning. Since the kids are already all grown up, what with the youngest being almost 6' and all, we decided to have more rooms. The perceuved two-month reno is now on its three and a half months. We are depleting, no make that "have depleted" our resources slowly, thanks to our collective inputs on what to put to make it more beautiful. Exciting but scary.

I am more hands on right now. While I let the kids to choose the color scheme for their house, the rest have been my call. We have just finished putting up the cornices and baseboards on the living room yesterday. Squaring the door frames have been very challenging from my point of view. I had to ask the carpenter to correct something several times. The octagonal centerpieces for the lights on the ceiling was also proved to be very tedious. The other carpenter had to align, saw and nail interchangeably until everything's fixed to the right place.

Hopefully, we can move back again next week. Just thinking how we are going to put back all those things in our boxes make my back ache.

Art Projects

As I have done in the past, I am posting several works of my students done during the third and final term of the schoolyear. These artworks have been done in my class by freshmen and sophomore students.

The first photo is a sample of my sophomore students. The first one being a lesson on what I call dramatic lettering where the student should create a kind of lettering that will show the meaning of the word.



The next one delves with art history. During the spanish era, a painter named Honorato Lozano who became popular for his paintings of everyday life done with the client's name. This genre was known as Letras y Figuras. I asked my students to experiment on the form and these are some of the results.





But before the Letras Y Figuras, I asked them to choose a movie or tv show and re create the lettering used in its presentation. Here is one of the more interesting ones.


For the Freshmen who takes up painting, I introduced color harmony and here are some samples:

Analogous



Complementary


And lastly, our biggest project for the year, our toast to the masters. Here, they get to reproduce a work of a master. Not only do they learn about a particular master's style, they get to learn the effects of texture as well as I asked them to substitute different found objects in lieu of paint.