Out of my mind

Okay. This time I hope I can make it happen. As I posted in my Facebook account, my number one New Year's resolution is to resurrect this blog. So here I am again. So many things happened since the last time I posted an update in this blog. I got elected national President of PMAP, the national association of human resource managers in the country and the post was more than a full-time job particularly since we didn't have an Executive Director this year. This, on top of my full-time job in PNB which is already stressful in itself and takes up so much of my time (naturally, they pay me full time as well, grin). And yes, I still teach evenings and weekends; and I still write a column Mondays and Wednesdays at the op-ed pages of the Manila Standard Today. Sadly we had to close down the clinic and drop in center of the Remedios AIDS Foundation although the foundation is still legally existent; am not sure when we will have the resources to re-open. It's really sad beca...

We buried a favorite sister-in-law today at San Manuel, Tarlac. The loss has not really sunk in yet so I still can't write about it. Tragedy struck again yesterday. We lost Quintin "King" Doromal yesterday. King Doromal was the 82-year old pillar of the HR profession in the Philippines. He was one of those people whom we wished would live forever because he was such an inspiration to all of us at the People Management Association of the Philippines. The really sad thing was that he didn't die because of sickness (he was very healthy). He figured in a senseless traffic accident. In difficult times like these most people take comfort at the thought that our dear departed are finally "resting in peace." I wish I can do that too. But I am still trying to make sense of these twin tragedies. And so far I am not succeeding.

I've been in Davao City since Thursday for work, work, work... but there's always something about this city that soothes my tired spirit. So even if I've been coming home to the hotel beat and tired for three nights now... I'm surprisingly upbeat. I sleep well. I actually grew up here although the Davao City of my childhood was a completely different city compared to what it is today. I know. One can't expect things to be exactly the same after 30 years - but still, one wishes some things remain the same. The old haunts are now past gone and in their places are buildings, commercial establishments, more concrete. But some things have surprisingly survived. I've been warned repeatedly about the dubious quality of the food served there, but going to Luz Kinilaw has become almost like a religious tradition whenever I come to this city. So we just had to have dinner there Thursday evening. That part of the city was pitch dark - they have rotating brownouts...

I was at the PICC (again) yesterday afternoon for a graduation (yet again). Okay. Let me explain that previous sentence - as professor at DLS-CSB, I am required to attend as many graduations as possible and the school holds one every term and each one is held at the PICC. But yesterday was a bit more memorable because my son was graduating from College. Yay! The bad news is that he was part of around 1,200 new nursing graduates from just one school. I think we easily produced 100,000 new nurses this graduation season. But the prospects for nurses still look bright - daw. Besides, my son really wanted to take up nursing anyway. Am hoping he goes to Medical school but that's wishful thinking. He is typical of his generation - he wants things quick. He wants instant gratification. He has no patience for processes and for things he doesn't see practical use for. Anyway. Because I have attended so many of these graduation ceremonies in the last ten years I have become q...

In case you haven't noticed, my blog now has its own domain name although it is still on blogger platform. The change has been courtesy of a former student of mine (Allan) who has been egging me since he was in my class (three or four years ago) to harness the potentials of this blog. I never really meant this blog to be anything else other than a space for self expression so I never really give his suggestion serious thought. I must admit though that there were times when I wish I had the time in the world to make more posts, respond more to comments, make this blog more interactive. Unfortunately, there's just 24 hours in a day. But sometimes things just happen when you least expect them. Allan called me yesterday to inquire if I was still writing. We did shop talk for a while. And then he called me again after 30 minutes to tell me he was able to get bongaustero.com for me. Just like that. I was in the middle of a meeting so I never did get the chance to thank him f...

There was a part of me that suspected it was him. How many people would have the same name? But it just didn't sound like he would be involved in something senseless like that so I refused to believe it was him. I was in denial. I interacted with the guy for three years. He was my thesis advisee so I met him practically every other day for a grand total of three terms (about 14 months). Actually he and his team were supposed to work on their thesis for only two terms but, well, I felt they weren't ready so I deferred them for one term. In addition, he had the misfortune of being under me in three other courses. Because I can only accept one or at most two groups every year as advisees, I end up having this special relationship with my thesis advisees. They become like my own children and I become quite protective of them. Victor Ebarle Jr was killed Wednesday night in a road rage incident involving the stepson of an official of the Asian Development Bank. I am sure y...

I didn't realize Michael Jackson was older until today.  I always thought we were the same age because, well, we sort of grew up together (okay, for the record, I am 45).   I could actually chart my own maturity using his songs as some kind of soundtrack.  Let me see.  "Ben" was a song my playmates and I would sing with such gusto when I was in the primary grades.  "One Day In Your Life" was the sort of theme song (yeah, go ahead snicker) of my puppy love.   My friends and I discovered musical instruments in high school (I studied piano, but lugged around a guitar to school and to our tambayan) and we would sing "Rock with You" and "She's Out of My Life" over and over again. I was in College when Thriller shot to global fame.  Our class performed "Beat It" during one of those convocations.   My first official job after graduation was with the US Peace Corps as Language and Culture Resource Person.  This was the time when MTVs we...

I've been having high blood pressure since last Thursday. I had to come home early from work last Thursday because I had a splitting headache and my bp was hovering at 140/120. It eventually went down to 130/90, which in my case is still quite high since my regular bp is 100/70. I've been in bed the whole day yesterday and today - trying not to be stressed out. And yet, my bp is still at 130/100 levels. Sigh. I would have wanted to join my friends on a pilgrimage to Our Lady of Manaoag, but I was afraid the four-hour trip would aggravate my hypertension. Besides, I had a scheduled visit from a reflexologist who claimed to have healed so many with his healing touch. I figured the massage would be relaxing (yeah, I know and he knew that he had to be careful about putting pressure on the nape area). So let's talk about the reflexology experience first. What can I say, I wish I had the same level of faith as this particular reflexologist. He kept chattering on and on a...

I actually liked him both as an artist and as a person. I liked what he stood for. Kaleidoscope world is one of my favorite OPM songs. I remember being asked once who I thought are the male Filipino celebrities who haven't aged and probably won't and I remember mentioning Francis M as one of them. Why? Because we were born on the same year - 1964, but he really never looked his age. He always looked baby-faced specially in person. Good night, Francis M. (Photo taken from wikipedia)

I posted this in my Facebook account after being poked and tagged so many times to do it. Since a number of bloggers also tagged me for this meme, I decided to post it here too. 1. I can be obsessive compulsive about certain things such as finishing tasks on time, or producing outputs that are more than what is expected. Sometimes people kid me that I have the tendency to go overboard with certain things. For example, I think at least 10 people have tagged me for this 25 random things (in Facebook and in my blog) but I didn’t want to do it until I had the time to give it a real effort. Fortunately, midterms sa Benilde so I had time to do it while my students labored over their exams. Hehe. 2. I love pets and I don’t discriminate. I love dogs and cats (I have a black Labrador – Altus; and a white pusakal- Fluffy); I also have an aquarium with parrot fishes and an albino oscar fish, a pair of breeding African lovebirds (they produced a lone offspring which died of loneliness, I...

It's back to work tomorrow. I was with some colleagues in the human resource management profession for lunch today and I couldn't relate with the general drift of the conversation, which was about how the looonnngg holidays have screwed up work habits and made things difficult for certain organizations. Huh??! I could relate with the inconvenience encountered by companies with some cash flow difficulties. Holidays meant no clearing which translated into more days before check deposits could be drawn. But I couldnt relate with that bit about how vacations and holidays encourage indolence and general laziness. I belong to the faction that believes rest and recreation energizes people and makes people more productive. Okay. So Malacanan Palance went overboard with the holidays during the last holiday season. I don't think it will happen again considering that Christmas and New Year this year fall on a Friday. Anyway, I have also been advocating that we move the official o...

(This was something I started to write a few minutes after the New Year rolled in. I didn't publish it because I felt it was too personal. But I changed my mind and decided to publish anyway. So here goes...) It's 12:43 on my watch, just barely an hour into the New Year. I've decided not to linger by the dinner table because I didn't want to be tempted to partake of the bottle of red wine that's been opened. I've decided to take a little more extra care of my liver this year, and my lungs, and my... well, my health in general. Although I didn't undergo surgery this year (Thank you, dear God) the results of my annual physical and medical examinations practically screamed " BORDERLINE!!!" in many of the tests except, and this comes as a major surprise to me, cholesterol levels. My uric acid is slightly above normal, my sugar count is borderline, etc. My sgpt and sgot levels have been within tolerable levels - just slightly above high level - but ...

I got home today from the hospital after undergoing two surgical procedures immediately after the elections. I am okay and hopefully on the way to recovery. No complications so far, thank you God. I will write about the experience as a column on Monday - I have to shoot several birds with one stone - my way of updating my friends, colleagues and students; ensuring that I don't miss out on my column, and updating this blog. Will be back soon. Promise.

For quite sometime now, well-meaning friends have been egging me no end to go see a dermatologist to have the "unsightly" fat deposits on my countenance removed. I finally run out of excuses last week when a dear friend gave me a "gift certificate" and booked the appointment. Contrary to what many think, I am not a vain person. Really. If someone were to come up with words to describe me, "metrosexual" will not be one of them. But since I did not want to disappoint my friend who seemed pretty much convinced that he was doing humanity a great favor (I never realized my mug is really worth all that trouble), I relented and went off for my session with this doctor who, I realized later when it was too late to back out, must have trained at one of the Nazi camps during the Holocaust. She took one look at my mug. Took out a magnifying glass (at least that is what it looked like) and promptly began applying some ointment on the fat deposits in question. ...

My image as a geek was sealed the moment my doctors insisted that I wear eyeglasses. This was back in third year high school. Unlike others I never really wanted to wear eyeglasses, specially since my very first pair made look like a dork. Had I kept that pair, it would have been quite handy today since the design (rectangular with a thick black plastic frame) is now back in fashion. Anyway. For some strange reason, I can't wear contact lenses. I tried. I more than tried, I suffered for weeks in the vain hope that my eyes would be able to adjust to those blasted contraptions that felt like sandpaper rubbing on my eyes. For weeks, I looked like the classic illustration of someone perennially high on weeds - bloodshot eyes, unsteady walk, etc. So I went back to wearing glasses. Now that I need reading glasses as well, I have gotten used to carrying two pairs: one for reading and the other for, well, driving and walking. It's been such a hassle having to change glasses every singl...

I've never been big on making resolutions for the New Year. But my friends and I had one of those verrrry serious end-of-the-year talk over bottles of red wine recently and the conversation eventually became a sort-of inventory of the pluses and minuses in our respective lives, or to be more specific, our lifestyles. A quick survey around the table revealed just how the years are finally catching up on us. It must have been the red wine, or the fact that we were in the company of friends; but well, there we were letting it all hang loose as we talked about our fears and our concerns about our own mortality. We were all hypertensive and that was the "simpler" medical problem. I personally am still reeling from this darn pain in my right ear (am on second generation antibiotics already and the infection is still festering...darn it). It struck us that most of us were already caught up doing the dreaded numbers game ... you know, counting creatinin, cholesterol, sgpt, suga...