Thoughtful Blogger Award

Isn't it ironic that officials of the DepEd just don't seem to learn their lesson from past mistakes. Yes, the government agency who takes care of everything that pertains to education, ergo, learning! Just exactly a week ago, I was ranting about the DepEd's late decision to call-off classes because they keep on relying on our weather bureau's forecast about typhoons. Well, they're at it again. This time even worse as the suspension came at around 9:30 when all the students have already started classes. Naturally, the sudden suspension wreaked havoc as everybody dashed home only to be met by flooded streets in Manila and Makati. As a result, a huge traffic jam ensued which extended from Alabang all the way to Zobel-Roxas. That is my only reference for that is the route I take. Listening to the radio, I learned that this is so in other areas, too. Needless to say that I was a victim myself.

But I shall not rant any further. A blogger, whose ideas and opinions I have learned to respect, has awarded me this:



You may be wondering what this is about. Well, it is given to:

For those who answer blog comments, emails, and make their visitors feel at home on their blogs. For the people who take others feelings into consideration before speaking out and who are kind and courteous. Also for all of those bloggers who spend so much of their time helping others bloggers design, improve, and fix their sites. This award is for those generous bloggers who think of others.

Well, I don't believe I had been much help with other blogger's design as I am not that equipped when it comes to computers but I do try to answer every comment that comes my way. And yes, I do try to make my visitors feel at home and consider how the commenter would feel before I post a response. Not for anything else but that is probably due to my Filipino nature. I consider my blog as my home in cyberspace and so I treat my commenters as guests in my real world. So far, except for one or two really nasty comments I received that prompted me to activate the "comment moderation", I have been getting really friendly people in my blog. Thanks to them, a good discussion sometimes follow which enriches my knowledge of the world and reality in general.

I think I am obliged to pass the award on. The problem is I don't bloghop as much as I used to. At any rate, there are bloggers who do respond to their commenters. These are:

Ipanema not because I am just reciprocating for having given passing me the award but because she truly deserves it.
bugsy
Batjay
The Ca T
Amateur Misanthrope
CBS
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What it was like to be 18!

I have been tagged again this time by no less than Ipanema a blogger, whom I got to know thru Doc Emer. This tag is another one of those music thingies going around blogs. I am supposed to remember the songs when I was 18 years old and turn nostalgic over them. The rules can be seen here. I am a bit hesitant doing this tag at first as the young people reading this blog may not be able to relate. But then, I do have readers who may be able to and even kind of reminisce after seeing the songs that I included here. So, what the heck? Here goes.

I have grown to a family of music lovers. I have been exposed to different types of music early in my life that the music library in my head spans several generations. Should I say circa 1920's to the present. From my father, I learned to listen to classical music, be fascinated with the guitar as an instrument; from my mother, I inherited my love for the kundiman which she sang in radio programs with her sister when they were younger; my brothers and sisters who influenced me to listen to rock and roll; and now, my children who keeps me abreast with the latest tunes.

But of course, the most memorable music for me would be the music of my teens, the 70's. As I read the rules in Ipanema's blog, I got confused what songs were the hits during that time when I turned 18. I googled it and some of the songs that I remember that made it to the charts were the following as listed here

That's the Way of the World

Shining Star - Earth, Wind and Fire

The Way We Were/Try to Remember - Gladys Knight and the Pips

Black Water - Doobie Brothers

They Just Can't Stop It (Games People Play) - The Spinners

Some Kind of Wonderful - Grandfunk Railroad

At Seventeen - Janis Ian

Lonely People - America

Poetry Man - Phoebe Snow

You are so Beautiful - Joe Cocker

Laughter in the Rain - Neil Sedaka

ONe of these Nights - The Eagles

Lady Marmalade - Labelle

How Sweet It Is - James Taylor

Midnight Blue - Melissa Manchester

Love will Keep Us Together - Captain and Tennille

Okay, I admit, these are not the songs that I want to talk about, though. The songs I'd rather talk about are the ones that inspired me the most. The problem is that I am not sure if they aired when I turned 18. The sure thing about it is that they were heard in the airwaves during the 70's. Anyway, first off in the list is Les Crane's rendition of Max Ehrmann's "The Desiderata". Just the first note of the lady singer singing gives me goosebumps. I think the fact that it has been rumored that authorship of this poem was unknown and that it was just found in St. Paul's Cathedral made it very popular. I have been so moved by the poem that I would make a
translation of it when I began blogging which my friend Batjay did a voice over and another friend, award winning blogger toni featured anew.

Next ones are kind of oxymorons,if there is such a thing, in music.

The first is Tom Clay's - "What the World Needs Now & Abraham, Martin and John". No, this is not really a song but a montage of songs and news items. It starts with Tom Clay asking his daughter about hatred, bigotry, prejudice, which the child, innocent as she is, answers "I do not know..." Then enters Burt Bacharach's "What the World Needs Now" amid sounds of soldiers preparing for Vietnam, a coverage of the assassinations of John F. Kennedy and his brother Bobby, MArtin Luther King and another Kennedy , tearfully giving a eulogy for his brother. The montage ends from where it started. HOw I wish I can share with you the MP3 my new found online friend Gilbert sent me.

The next one is Simon and Garfunke's "Silent NIght/7:00 o'clock new". This song starts softly with Silent NIght with an overdub of the 7:00 o'clock news. As the song gets louder, the news gets even louder and it suddenly hits the listener that the news. You can guess what the news is about.

The last one is not from the 70's. It came out during the Woodstock era so that would be about 1969. However, I first heard it during the 70's ergo, I'm including it to the list. I'm talking about Country Joe and the Fish's I-feel-like-I'm-fixin'-To-Die". This is a protest song, as was the whole rap Woodstock is all about, about the US sending its young men to Vietnam. In this song I saw how to make a protest without the flair of a hothead but as pompous just the same.

So, there. Hope these songs brought back memories to you, too.

These are long overdue!

My Malaysian friend, who happens to be my very first online friend, Chet, tagged me to write 6 things I find weird about myself. There is a slight problem here on my end. I suspect I have more than 10 but I have grown accustomed to them, I might not recognize them as weird. Anyway, I think I can come up with six. So, Chet, here they are:

6 odd things about me:

1. I like to cook but of all cooks, I am one that eats my cooking a lot! Many people find it weird that I can get to eat big portions of my own cooking. Most of them would say they grow tired after having tasted their own meals while cooking. Well, I don't know with them but the reason for cooking is so that I can eat. Ergo...

Another thing friends find weird with me is that I eat noodles with rice! They would always sound surprised and exclaim, "What is that? Carbo on carbo!" And we have been told to limit our carbo intake. Not good!

2. I am interested in anything and everything. The problem is that once I get to know the rudiments, I lose interest. While the interest is still there, I seldom advance. Take the guitar, for example. Once I learned how to read notes, I rarely practice reading them anymore. This is the reason why I cannot sight read. I have to memorize each bar. Also, I never learned how to use the time signature causing my playing dependent on hearing the piece before I get to play it correctly. That is the reason why I can play a tune correctly only if I have heard it before. Otherwise, my son MIckey will have to patiently correct my tempo. What can I do? I have learned playing the instrument "oido" first! You should see how many long playing albums and cassette tapes I have broken during my heyday.

3. I have attention deficit disorder - I think! Why do I say that? Well, I start reading a book and after a few pages, either grow tired or fall asleep. The same thing with movies at HBO or any channels that feature movies. Oftentimes, there would be a movie I want to watch and while waiting for its airtime, I would patiently watch the program before it. I fall asleep and guess what. By the time I wake up, I will be staring at the credits of the show I wanted to watch. I even miss the sign that says, "The End." Darn!!!! This is the reason why I like sitcoms the best - and cooking shows. They only go for thirty minutes, tops.

4. I paint naked. Well, naked as in from the waist up. I'm not that sleazy, you know. I have grown accustomed to painting amid the summer heat when I have plenty of time on my hands. And boy is it hot! And I use only three brushes at the most. Sometimes only one for one whole painting.

5. I have finished all the requirements for at least two masteral programs but did not get to take the comprehensive exams, much more the thesis writing that go with them. This is the reason why you don't get to see any letters after my name. Maybe that is related to number two. What do I know, eh?

6. I like to flirt with women but would be the first to chicken out if I sense the woman was beginning to like it and start to come on to me. I love my wife and my kids a lot. That is read, "fear" my wife a lot! Now, who said I am henpecked? Well, not that that happened before. Women falling for me, that is. I guess I don't have the x factor women are looking for LOL!!!!

Now, the fun part. I have to tag 6 other people. Hence, I am tagging my good friends Batjay, Bugsy,Ipanema, Doc Emer, Gilbert and The C at. Their responses should be very interesting.

_____________________________

When I got back from Thailand, I got a message from Diogenes that my good friend, Philippine Blogs Awards winner Toni referred me to him. He requested me to answer a few questions. He has a project called The Fine Art of Blogging and is soliciting from bloggers around the world (I presume) what they think a blog is, its importance, why do they blog and several other things. Seeing that it is a worthwhile project, I succumbed and sent him my reply. You can find my response here

Anybody who's interested can email me and I will gladly give him the message.

Blogs!

When I started blogging, I had only one thing in my mind. It was going to be a personal journal that contained my thoughts on any topic and a repository of my so called poems. Hence, my first blog.came out to be some sort of an odd mixture of diary, poetry and rants. I thought the blog lacked focus. The blog might have been personal but the learner in me got more inquisitive, aspiring to do much better. It was at this time that I learned to look at other blogs, notably, Batjay's and Sassy's blogs. And as my side panel says, it was Batjay who urged me to create a teaching blog.

My only purpose for blogging is to keep something of me for safekeeping until such time as my children and/or their children (and so forth), would get to know who I am, what I live for, how I live and how I react to certain situations. I think this is better than making long sermons that would enter the right ear and come out at the left. Teen-agers! We all went through this stage, did we not? In the process, I share my thoughts to the net hoping I can inspire and be of help to anybody out there to whom my words speak.

Three years have passed and this blog has gone a long way. It has been featured as blog of the week in Pinoyblog.com and the Manila Bulletin together with Marisol Angala, another teacher, based in Washington. Yesterday, I received a note from Ipanema that the blog is a nominee in this year's Philippine Blog Awards. I did not know this so I immediately checked Technorati -- and there it was! The blog is a nominee for Best Socio-Political blog. Hmm, not bad! I do not expect to win for there are many blogs out there more worthy but to whoever nominated this blog, my sincere gratitude. God Bless you.

I've been tagged!

This is long overdue.
Bugsy tagged me to name 7 songs I am into right now. Well, they're not all songs. Some of them are more appropriately referred to as tunes. I am fond of the guitar and so it's just natural that I would be listening to guitar works by who I consider to be masters of the instrument. I have too many favorite songs/tunes that it's so hard to compress them to just seven. So, instead, I am giving the albums where some of them are found. As I told Bugsy, I don't think the young ones might not know these artists as most of them had been popular during my teen aged years. Anyway, here's my list:

1. Stevie Wonder's "Songs in the Key of Life" especially "Knocks me off my feet"
2. Eric Johnson's "Cliffs of Dover"
3. Jimi Hendrix's "Red House" from the G3 Live album" - Joe Satriani, Steve Vai and Eric Johnson
4. Jimi Hendrix's "Little Wing and Castle's in the Sand" by Tuck Andres
5. Chicago's "Question 67-68"
6. Al di Meola, John Mclaughlin and Paco di Lucia in concert -
7. Tower of Power's "Sparkling in the Sand" and "Don't Change Horses"

I think it's customary to keep this tag going so I think I'd like to look at the lists of my friends; author and former dj Batjay, rocker and lead guitarist Kat, and pansitan's madame Ate Siena

It is now a book!

Book cover 


My favorite blog, Kwentong Tambay, is now in solid form. Yes, it is now a book! Its owner, or should I say, its author, ( a guy known to the blogosphere as Batjay) is a good friend of mine who is actually behind the creation of this blog. He was the one who told me to create a blog about teaching (although this one metamorphosed into something else, I think). Just goes to show that this guy's full of ideas. He also helped me find my way through bloglandia as I was always lost. He patiently answered my queries about codes and everything until I could be left on my own.

The book has an introduction by no less than bigtime writers like MLQIII and Sassy Lawyer. I assure you that this will be a very pleasurable read as the man is wit, humor, and passion combined. Filipinos can easily identify themselves with the experiences found in the book. After all, Kwentong Tambay as a blog would not have been one of the best blogs there is for nothing.

Sorry I couldn't write about it earlier as my friend is making the book a surprise to his lovely wife Jet with this. Hopefully the book will be on sale at the local bookstores soon. When that happens, go get your copies immediately!

I've been tagged!

This is my first to do this. I have been tagged before but for one reason or another couldn't oblige. Sorry guys.

Anyway, I've been tagged by Eruannie a co-member of pinoy teachers network. She's a teacher, storyteller, writer who works as a librarian in one of the best schools in Manila. So, what do you think is the meme about? Books, what else!

So, I'm supposed to enumerate 5 books that I love and own. Hmmm... That should be easy as I stopped buying books when prices skyrocketed. I get my reading materials from the school library and borrow from friends. Anyway, the books that I love and actually have are:

1. The Little Prince by Antoine de St. Exupery - So simple and unassuming and yet very powerful.

2. Jonathan Livingston Seagull by Richard Bach - gave me the idea that nothing is impossible.

3. The Covenant by James Michener (I can't find this one anymore as the others, like Hawaii) - tells about the history of South Africa in novel form. I've read Chesapeake, too, but I just borrowed it from the library.

4. Shogun by James Clavell - Bought this from a dollar store in Steveston. I've always been fascinated by Japan and the Japanese culture. Incidentally, I've also read King Rat, Tai Pan and Noble House.

5. Dude, where's my country by Michael Moore - this one's a present from my niece who came for a visit from the States. She also brought me Ron Suskinds's The Price of Loyalty. Interesting how Michael Moore put the pieces together.

Additional:

6. Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand - this one I have to keep in balance as I might turn out to be greedy. Also had The Virtue of Selfishness and even wrote about it here

So there, that wasn't really hard. Anyway, I am beginning to like Neil Gaiman. i've heard so much about him from bloggers especially from friends in blogkadahan who are big Gaiman fans like Batjay, Doc Emer and Joffin. With people of this caliber saying something, one better listens, right? And they're so right! Neil Gaiman is one hell of a writer. Finished reading Coraline and reading American Gods and loving it.

-------------------------

Btw, can someone explain to me what happened to my site meter? It had 38000 before until I realize I've lost it. The next time I saw it appear, it was back to two hundred and counting again? Weird. Has this happened to anyone yet?

Our house, is a very very fine house!

I was invited by Teacher Sol to join and be a core member in a recently formed group of teachers who will write, discuss, share with one another, tales and tips about education and teaching per se. How can one deny such a request?

As you may well know by now, I am a Fine Arts graduate and had no teaching experience when I first began teaching. Needless to say that I had to learn things the hard way. I would hear buzzwords in education which sounded Greek to me and although it was really humiliating, I had to ask around for meanings. Ex. I didn't even know what a syllabus looked like. Hence, when I was asked to design my syllabus, I had to ask for a copy of the old one so that I can see what were supposed to be written there and use it as a template.

Now that there is this group of pinoy teachers, hopefully, we would be able to reach out and answer some questions other teachers have, affirm decisions, and correct what's wrong with the loose ends in teaching through a lengthy discussion.

Officially launched last Tuesday, July 12, the pinoy teachers blog has been in cyberspace since July 8 to advertise the group. I had posted my first entry How can a teacher be a happy camper which tackles the duties and responsibilities of teachers and their consequent legal liabilities towards their wards. This is an old post of mine here but I thought many would benefit from it, hence, the reason for its reposting in another venue.


So, if you are a teacher reading this entry, why don't you try and see for yourself what is in store for you. Joining is easy! Just click the button below:



alt="Click here to join pinoyteachersnetwork">
Click to join pinoyteachersnetwork

benefits of blogging

I have blogged about this before but I would like to blog it again. I am glad I have discovered blogging for I am continuously benefitting from it. I am not a real writer and I have never written as thoroughly as I am doing after I discovered blogging. The only written document I've done before are letters to parents of my students, to superiors and occasionally to some friends. Oh yes, I have done some research papers but not the full-blodded academician that i should be, I only produced boring, up to par term papers. Had I started blogging then, I know I would have come up with something more decent.

But that's not all! Much to my surprise, I have befriended wonderful people for only a short span of blogging. Before I go deeper, I'd like to reiterate that my purpose in blogging was two-fold. First, to have an online journal, hence, it can be said that I am doing this for self-gratification only, and later on, to leave something behind for my children and theirs, so that they would know what I thought of, how I reacted in different situations and why my decisions at certain issues had been. Gaining friends was a wonderful fringe benefit, so to speak. I started out with my Soft Grumbles which was really a trial blog where I intended to put yet another of my experiments which was writing poetry. Not computer savvy as the average blogger, I had to find my way like a blind man using his stick to feel his way. Slowly reading the instructions at blogger, I learned, albeit with a lot of heartaches, how to add links inside and outside the text. I learned how to manipulate my template, and most of all, bloghop.

It was through bloghopping that I realized how inferior my writing was. I envied blog titles which were really catchy and captured the essence of their contents. I was voyeur of some sort as i read and read different blogs trying to find a pattern. And then I chanced upon Batjay's kwentong-tambay. I was so impressed at its uninhibited content, honest and down-to-earth that I literally checked out all the entries in its archives. After some time, feeling that the owner of the site was approachable, I dared myself to put a comment. And lo and behold, he responded! That emboldened me to put more comments on every entry until we were exchanging emails. AFter some time, he encouraged me to put up a teaching blog and Mga turo ni tito was born. He is the loving husband of the sweet Jet whose writing style is flawless. BTW, the two just celebrated their 14th year anniversary as a couple.

Next was the Sassy's house on a hill. Now, this was my model of what straight writing was all about. Just like what I did with Batjay's blog, I kept coming back to look for patterns on how to compose my thoughts into a cohesive, understandable text. Amd as before, I started out as a lurker, trying to get a feel of what the owner would be like. If you take a look at the archives in this blog, you will discover that I was not putting a link in my blog yet during the first few attempts that i tried commenting. I feared that Sassy might go to my site and realize how poorly written the contents in my site were.

Slowly, I learned how to kick my blog a notch higher and people started coming and leaving comments. I then discovered the sites of The Ca t and Doc Emer respectively. These two sites provided me with more models of writing. The Ca t was writing like Batjay's but in a different style of her own while Doc Emer was like Sassy's albeit this time, it was about medicine and health. By this time, I had already grown confident both in writing entries and commenting in other people's blogs.

From thereon, I have been continuously in touch with these guys. Not only were We putting comments on each other's site but we constantly exchanged emails that gave Doc Emer the idea of forming our own google group called the bloggingberks. This group finally decided it was time to put up a blog of our own and blogkada was born. From the original seven, we grew to a whopping thirty three that we decided to stop at that number or we would be having a hard time maintaining it. I have never seen a group that clicked that well. Members include food connoisseurs Ting and fellow rocker Zennor. There's the analytical Jardine Davies who could tackle any issue just like Sassy, who got me involved with pinoy poets, the blogkadahan twin towers and super models Mari and Ajay who did a very good review of my blog in manila Bulletin, voluptuous Mec who's about to tie the knot with a former student of mine, the beautiful TinTin from Fort Worth Texas, Durga from New Jersey, Cerridwen who lives in California, proud mother JMom also residing in the States, strong-willed Svelte Rouge, academicians Ruth, co-teacher Joyce, the cute Ate Sienna owner of Pansitan and designer of my template, beautiful MrsPi, petite tanya, irresistably beautiful and kind Toni, proud mother Sachiko who lives in Japan, sweet Kiwi Pinay from where else but New Zealand? and the youngest of them all, bunsoy Karla.

Not to be outdone are master story-teller Bong K, master computer manipulator, Polo, kind-hearted Watson, student activist Apol, and inspiringly handsome Tatang Rome.

bloggers beware!

I received a message from my friend Batjay about a newstory of a Singapore student who may be facing legal consequences over a public blog containing
defamatory statements. This made the student, who is currently completing his Masters' degree in the United States to close his blog after he was threatened with legal action by A*Star (Agency for Science, Technology and Research) who stated that while it is for "diversity of views" still found the contents of the blog beyond what was acceptable. Read the story here

I am not aware if we have anything in the court dockets that concerns articles in blogs to this nature or something else. That would be along the turf of the Sassy Lawyer and La Vida Lawyer, Marvin Aceron. Assuming that there are no cases yet filed, I guess, the legalities concerning blogs are still unfamiliar territory to Philippine courts. Hence, Filipino blogging is still very much fair game.

As I have said in my interview with Ajay in that article she did featuring my blog, I do not believe in censorship as it is counter-productive and stifles the creativity of an
individual. However, I also leave it to the good judgment of the writer, yes, even of a blog, to know what to write and what not to. To paraphrase
Dean Alfar in his eloquent speech last Saturday at the iBlog summit held in UP, that once one puts up a blog, one owes it to his/her readers to come up with intelligent content in one's writing. Let's face it, a blog is part of a public domain and hence, we shall be accountable to what we say in our blogs.

I am a supporter of free speech but only when the writer/speaker focuses on ideas. To me, resorting to name calling and character bashing is a cheap shot and has no place in an intelligent discourse. I guess, the rule of thumb is, stick to the issue! Leave the name calling to people who are short sighted and have nothing to hold on to with their arguments. Arguing with them is an exercise in futility. It would be a lot better to pick up your guitar and sing rather than engage them to a lengthy, circular and useless debate.

first there were seven...

The latest addition in cyberlandia is a blog written by a zany group of Filipino bloggers from around the world. Having started out from the exchange of funny emails between Doc Emer, Sassy, Batjay,The Cat, Jet, me and the witty computer manipulations of computer wizard, Polo, Doc Emer got the idea of forming an email group called Bloggingberks on December 7, 2004.

From the initial seven members, the berks grew to its present number of thirty three who constantly exchange notes on various topics under the sun. As to be expected, what would come out from a group of bloggers but a concerted effort to create another blog that would showcase each and everyone's prowess at the written word. The fact that the members of the group are as diverse as anything that is from east to west and everything in between in terms of interests, the blog called blogkadahan: Rebels without because, is written by Filipinos of different ages(hence the diversity in time references), places (with members coming from Manila, US, Singapore, Belgium, Germany, England, New Zealand and Japan) and professions (a lawyer, engineer, housewife, teacher, etc...) making the blog interesting to all sex, age, shape and color.

Come and visit us by clicking the button below.

Netiquette on blogging

Since the advent of the computer, communication between individuals has been raised to a much higher degree. If we are to believe guru Alvin Toffler we are now in another age known as the age of information.

Finally, the age of information! Don't you find it interesting that in the course of our history as a human race, the age of information should only surface at this day and age? I feel we are a bit late as wars could have stopped had we mastered the art of proper communications early on. But as it is, we were more pre-occupied with war (stone and metal ages), making things a lot easier for us (wheel and the industrial revolution) and soaring to new heights (space age) that we forgot the most basic tool given us by the Great Provider which is the ability to communicate.

Late or not, communicating with one another is a lot faster today where interaction between two or more parties is more instantaneous. As a consequence of the computer revolution, the world becomes smaller as people all over the globe can interact with one another at a much faster rate. Other than the email, one of the offshoots of the internet is blogging. Blogging started out as a personal diary where one records daily events online which later on developed into personal commentaries on current events, personal notes on issues, etc. As Andrew Sullivan puts it, "But there are also news blogs and commentary blogs, sites packed with links and quips and ideas and arguments that only months ago were the near-monopoly of established news outlets. Poised between media, blogs can be as nuanced and well-sourced as traditional journalism, but they have the immediacy of talk radio." Blogging has been so popular it has been dubbed as person of the year in 2004.

Just like any other undertaking man indulges in, there is certain code of ethics that we should follow if we want to join the bandwagon of bloggers who interact with one another. Arlene Rinaldi writes about "The Core Rules of Netiquette" and these can be found here.

I am a relatively new blogger having started in January of 2004. And in the course of my blogging, I have befriended a lot of intelligent, talented and warm people I would not have known had I not started with this endeavor. I have also learned a lot of lessons along the way and as the teacher that I am, I would like to share them with you so that you can enjoy the benefits I have reaped, in the course of what I would say, my writing career. :-)

1. People will eventually read what you write. When I started blogging, I never thought I would be read by other people. I was thinking that the blogs I read which have comment boxes actually had comments from readers because they are established writers and have been blogging for a long time. I was insecured and paranoid that what i have written was pure garbage and that I was late in joining the ride. As anybody who writes, I needed affirmation, a pat on the back that what I have written is not for naught. But how? It took me sometime to figure out that in order for me to be known in blogosphere, I would have to go out and invest time. And that i did. I commented on blogs and eventually, they, too came for a visit and stayed. Now, I still visit new sites as it is through this means that I discover wonderful people and excellent writers, thinkers and opinion makers. I comment on them and yes, they come to me, too. This world is full of wonderful people.

2. Be origina! Remember these lines? "Listen to others, even the dull and the ignorant, they, too have their story." Why blog if you haven't a thing to say yet? It is a mortal sin to plagiarize. Copying another's work and passing it as your own is a big no-no! You are not only dishonest to other people, you are being dishonest to yourself Remember, we ahve different outlooks in life, different experiences, different backgrounds. Write about them, somewhere out there, there will be someone who will be interested. I think I have covered this extensively here

3. Be nice! This is the crux of the entire post. I have had occasion to ahve read nasty comments from readers in other blogs which were really way below the belt. For whatever reason, there are readers out there who find it fun to irritate a blog owner by putting nasty comments. If you get your rocks off by doing that, you are one perverted, pathetic soul. Example, "implying that going abroad is a sure way of a husband and wife eventually separating" is nasty. You are not helping the couple ease their pain but only aggravate the loneliness they feel for the absence of one another. I shall give that commenter the benefit of the doubt. Maybe he was just trying to be funny as the blog owner in particular is popular for his funny antics and writings. That's fine. Maybe you are trying to out do the blogowner or just plainly wanted to share the fun. But we must remember that we all have varying degrees of humor sense. It could be possible that we don't have it at all. So, my suggestion is to read and re-read your comments before hitting that "post" button. I know I may have posted something that was inappropriate one time or another but it was either unintentional or that I dind't know any better. Believe me I couldn't sleep when it dawned on me that i've hurt someone. But at least, I identified myself. The offended party can always get back to me and if the complaint has merit, I can and will apologize. That's the main problem with these nasty commenters. They hide under an alias and post anonymously. That's very cowardly.

I am still lucky I haven't gotten a nasty comment yet. But who knows? My blog had been threatened before. During the height of the Patricia Evangelista controversy, my good friend the Cat was ganged up in a forum where they threatened that I and other good friends Batjay and Sassy shall be next. Should that happen, i know what i am going to do. I am not going to argue and give you the fun that you long for. I have my picture and my children's pictues in this blog which make me very vulnerable. I wouldn't erase your post as i want people to know how rude you are but i won't dignify your nasty comment with a reply. If you are picking up a fight, go someplace else as you're not getting any from me.

3.

Giving credit where credit is due!

AS you know, I have been an Art teacher for the past twenty years. As an Art teacher, allow me to share some misconceptions about my profession. First, while it would seem that I am teaching my students to draw or paint, that is really not the main focus of my lessons. I believe it is unfair for a student to receive a failing mark simply because he/she does not have the talent for drawing. Any student of mine would tell you that I am not very stingy with grades. As a matter of fact, during a reunion party, several alumni who said hello intimated that my subject was their ticket to make their average higher.

There are several ways where one can receive a very good grade from me. When I say high, I really mean high. Grades ranging from 92 - 100. Yes, I even give a grade of 100. There are only two criteria for a student to get within this range. First, that the work is truly outstanding or, a relatively mediocre work but which I know was done diligently and with a lot of effort by a student to meet the requirements of the project. At the other end of the scale, a student can also fail in my class. This may be seldom but a student will if: 1) he/she failed to submit the project and no attempt has been done to make up for it, or 2) he/she submitted something which is not his/hers.

I had been telling my students that I would prefer for them to hand in the ugliest (if there is such a thing) piece of art work as long as they made it for they would still pass, even get a good grade for it rather than submit an excellent project but was made by somebody else. More than anything, I have to teach them the value of hard work and gaining confidence and self-respect and pride over their capabilities.

Claiming somebody else's project as yours is wrong. That is intellectual dishonesty or to be blunt about it, thievery. And it has a name. It's called plagiarism. The reason I'm writing this is because it seems that there are people who think they can do away with murder and go unnoticed in the internet. I'm talking about Sassy's food blog being stolen and passed off as somebody else's. You can read the article here Sure, it's as easy as copying and pasting a work to another window but is the facility by which it can be done a license to plagiarize? Surely not! How hard is it to acknowledge the real owner of the piece? And that is all that is required;. That we give credit to where credit is due! As a result of this phenomenon in pinoy blogging, a fellow blogger condemns the practice lest other unscrupulous people would have any idea of doing the same. You can read the Cat's take on the subject here.

It really amazes me how someone can steal another's work and put the same on his website. Where's the dignity in that? Does one feel pride in the accolades of people who do not know that what they aer applauding for was stolen? How would a plagiarist feel if suddenly he/she is found out? As far as I'm concerned, there are two people who can answer these questions now. And you know who you are! Shame on you. Had you been my students, you would have gotten a zero in my class...Blogging Ethics 101!

Huling Hirit

My good friend Batjay and his adorable wife, Jet are headed to go home to Singapore tomorrow, January 5. Somehow, I am saddened that they have to leave the country for as always, I equate their presence with lots and lots of fun! But as it is, everybody will have to earn a living and their source of income is in Singapore.

Anyway, we had another chance to meet last night and again, with several bloggers whom I've befriended since I've started blogging.

First to arrive (ayan doc ha) was the good doctor Doc Emer and his animated and lovely soulmate Jane who we have been urging to start her own blog, Soon after, we were joined in by master storyteller Bong K and Giordano model look alike Mari.

Also in attendance were new friends, the captivatingly beautiful Toni and her hubby, the bubbly and artsy Tanya and the very endearing
Din

Unfortunately, supermom and pinay expat emag owner Melissa was a no show. Must've been stranded with the celebs she was interviewing.

Anyway, as always, we had lots and lots of fun and parted ways at around 1 am.
See you again soon guys. And to my dear friends, Batjay and Jet, bon voyage tomorrow. Can't wait till you get back again.

Several nights after Christmas

What I like about Christmas is that it seems to be unending. This is especially true in the Philippines where the Yuletide season starts as soon as the "ber" months arrive and ends on January 6 to celebrate the visit of the Three Magis. Now that is one long season, isn't it?

This Christmas season is very memorable for me as a blogger because it was at this same month when I first opened my first blog Soft Grumbles. So, in a way, I am celebrating my first anniversary in this line of interest. One year of blogging and I am now friends with some of the most prolific writers in blogosphere, owners of the most sought after blogs in the county today. Who wouldn't know about the sites of The Sassy Lawyer or the famous medical journal of Doc Emer and of course, the very scientific explanations of Batjay on what would seem to be the most mundane of things to mortals like us?

But what really makes this Christmas season a very important one is that I got to meet with some of the bloggers in person! It started out at Batjay's house on the 22nd of this month where I first met with Belle and Sassy and got to experience Jet's fantastic tiramisu, pancit bihon and her mom's awesome "lengua" on white sauce.

And then it happened!

Last night, the party of all parties, the bloggers' Christmas party where each one of us finally became flesh and bones rather than mere obscure individuals on the internet came to fruition. Hosted by pinoyblog.com, the party was spearheaded by the animated plughost owner Yuga and Sassy who was joined by her hubby and children, at the Cabalen restaurant at Mega mall. It was a get together of some twentyish very interesting people, who are the who's who in blogdom. I first met up with master storyteller Bong K who graciously picked me up from the house. At Mega mall, we joined forces with Batjay and Jet at Tia Maria. We proceeded to Cabalen at exactly 7:00 pm. The bloggers arrived one at a time after that. Last to arrive was the good doctor and his special soulmate who seemed to be updated with everyone's blogs as she can relate to any topic that only the bloggers would have known. Obviously, she's been reading our blogs.

Although the food was not that spectacular, the company was. Since Toni who was supposed to provide the name tags for the event cancelled at the last moment, we were left to our own ingenuity by first using table napkins which later on developed to post-it stickers for name tags. Need I mention we looked pathetic which made me think the owners of Cabalen must be wondering if we had the ability to pay for dinner. Dinner was had with hearty laughter recalling who said what in his/her own blog and the like. Soon after, we exchanged gifts and thought that the night was still young at ten and decided to proceed to Starbucks at the Podium. There, we agreed to come up with several gimmicks for pinoyblog like giving awards for the best something. Unfortunately, as the cliche goes, good things also have to last. We called it quits at 1:00 am. It was truly a night to remember.

Let me see if I can stretch my failing recall and mention each one of the attendees. I'm leaving the posting of pictures with the others. I'm sure Batjay will have one.

There's that dashing lawyer, Marvin Aceron, the tall and as good looking as Giordano models Mari and Ajay, proud father Apol the great, Edu Manzano look alike, Watson, owner of pinayexpat,amiable AnP who just flew in from Germany with hubby and yes, her son, regular commenter Enya, sexy Mec who came in with a former student of mine (i started teaching very very young you see), the always elegant Joyce Jimenez, fresh graduate from La Salle, rocker Karla, soft spoken doctor and well-mannered Julsitos, enticing conversationalist Lorna Dahl and the mysterious Vixen lady.

So there, I hope I have remembered everyone. If I have missed out on anybody, please holler. Matanda na po ako e.

Kudos Doc Emer

Our friendly doctor, Doc Emer is hosting the 12th edition of medical Grand Rounds, a weekly compendium of the choicest medical posts from the whole world. It gets posted Tuesday of every week at exactly 7am EST. That would be tonight for us pinoys.

Considering that the last 11 weeks were all hosted by American doctors from East to the West coast, Doc Emer has reason to be proud for he is its first ever international host.

You can view it here Visit it and read. The information you get is assuredly good for your health.

Congratulations in advance, Doc.

Calling something a rose, does not a rose make

A rose by any other name would smell as sweet So true. But what happens if we alter some of the key points in that Shakespeare statement? If we call a sampaguita a rose, does it become a rose or will it smell as sweet as a rose? Definitely not, right? It will have its own character. This is what's happening to the latest addition in the Inquirer.

The bloggers community is one in saying that the Inquirer's Talking Points, a spin-off of Sassy's and
Yuga's interview for pinoyblogs, is not actually what a blog is. In fairness, Inquirer did say it is "like" a blog. Well, to me, that meant, it operates like a blog. But does it?

What the Inquirer does have is far from being what they say it is. At best, it is no different from their letters to the editor. The only difference is that here, they give a specific topic which the readers can comment on. Well, they had been commenting before, right?

A blog is a no holds barred, personal journal of an individual which he/she may open to the blogging community for comments. As this is the case, any issue is fair game and leaves to the commenters whether they agree with the opinions of the blogger or not. Nevertheless, the original opinion is the blogger's own. Besides, corollary to blogging is the learning of computer jargon and programming like html's, linking up, etc.

At any rate, if we are to believe Andrew Sullivan when he said that blogging is a "collective mind and a corrective one" it is so because of the openness of the medium in terms of self-expression. Something not found in the Inquirer's plan. If for only that, I would say they're wrong in assuming they're creating a blog. And 'tis true,oh, so true!"

Look Ma, I'm a new me!

At last, I have a new template! Beautiful, isn't it? Well, credit is not mine, though. It should go to two people: The ever reliable Batjay who, in spite of his hectic schedule, manage to squeeze this into his work load, and Ate Sienna, owner of Manileña dot com and the spirit behind the pansitan blogging community. While I have continuously sought Batjay's expertise in computers, something I have not been blessed with, Ate Sienna's creations are a wonder, even to a supposedly graphic artist graduate like me. What a combination, eh? Thanks guys!

The Caped crusader to the rescue

Maybe some of you don’t know that I am maintaining two blogs. This one where I talk about education, my life as a teacher, the other, my first blog which I call soft grumbles where I put my attempts at poetry and other things.

I blog for several reasons. One is to keep abreast with the times. I am not a young man and lest I become obsolete, a dreadful state for a teacher like me, I try to learn the rudiments of technology. I try to learn as I watch in awe my 15 year old son, Mickey create works of art using the Adobe or make musical notations on a program called Finale, both features he downloaded on our computer.

I blog because I derive pleasure in making articles, something I didn't know I was capable of, in the hope that it would help me increase my vocabulary and probably be a better poet. Furthermore, I get a kick reading comments coming from readers, especially when they happen to share my views and appreciate it when they correct a wrong perception I would have.

Lastly, and most importantly, I blog because I want to leave something to my children even when I am long gone. You see, when you are a father who is not well-off and certainly won’t be able to leave material things for your children to inherit, the next best thing is to leave a legacy behind. My first idea was to publish a book, but the cost of printing a single piece is too expensive. Knowing that I am not a respected writer, publishing a hundred is out of the question. Hence, I thought of ways I can fulfill this dream of leaving a legacy behind.

The internet provided me with the right venue. First, I joined a group of writers in a virtual university called writersvillage where I was accepted to be a student of poetry.

Then blogging came along. And as they say, "the rest is history."

Yesterday, I got the shock of my life when I tried to open this site. For no apparent reason known to me, nothing appeared! Not a single entry was here, the site meter gone, and only a portion of my links was present. I panicked. It seemed like a work of a lifetime was washed away. I felt weak in the knees, perspiration dribbling from my forehead.

I went to another computer and tried opening it hoping that it was just my office computer that broke. Nada! I went to my account and discovered that something wrong happened to my template. It did not seem right. The links I made - gone. I wrote blogger support but I know it would take sometime before I can get an answer.

In cases like this, who do you call? Nobody else but the caped crusader,
Batjay! He simply told me to republish because it seems that my template was corrupted. Even offered to send him my username and password so that he could take a look. (Well, the idea did cross my mind but that would be imposing too much) I followed his suggestion to republish. First I clicked on edit so that I can get to the "republish" button and voila, they appeared. Although the links were no longer there, at least, the entries and comments remained in tact. What a relief! So, bloggers out there, I hope nothing of this sort ever happens to you. But anyway, if it does, don’t despair. There are a lot of good Samaritans out there ready to help. After all, we are just one big community.

PS.

If I have forgotten to include you in my links, don’t hesitate to call my attention. I would appreciate it very much. Thank you.

Look at me!

taken a zillion years ago 

I managed to put the picture where I want to put it. And now, this! Hah! Now, I know I didn't finish college for nothing. I can follow directions. Yippee.

Maybe you're asking why a normal person in his right mind would want to post a picture like this. Well, who said I'm normal? :=) If at all, this picture proves how different I am now. I am no longer that irresponsible "istambay" who had nothing better to do but pluck his guitar, chase after girls and pester them, drink till I drop, try everything new. I am now a father of four and a husband to a cute wife with a fresh smile every morning, art teacher, striving artist who hasn't painted in years, debate coach, and lately, a student of poetry.

Still nothing to do today. Just reading blogs and tinkering with the computer. I can't move my things yet as the one I'm replacing still has his things scattered on the table. Besides, I haven't gotten my appointment paper yet so although I've already attended meetings, I don't think I'd consider it official until I received something.