My Picto-blog

You might wanna visit my picto-blog. I got there lomo photos taken from my nifty iPod Touch. Here's a sampler:

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The Persuader

I took a Personality Type test from www.mypersonality.info and here's the result:


It basically says that I'm more extroverted, more sensing, a thinker than a "feeler" and more perceiving than judging. My primary function is Extraverted Sensing, which means:

Sensing people process data with their five senses, so the Extraverted Sensing function allows a person to process life through their experiences. It is the ability to be keen to what is seen, smelled, touched, heard and tasted. It is energized by experience and it is able to live "in the moment."

I fall under the Creator temperament and people like me comprise 35.5% of the whole populace (pretty common, huh). Under the Creator temperament are Persuaders, Entertainers, Craftsmen and Artists. I'm a Persuader, also known as the ESTP personality type.

Being a Persuader (I'm among of the 8% of the population with the same personality) I'm described as:

"Enthusiastic and excitable, ESTPs are "doers" who live in the world of action. Blunt, straight-forward risk-takers, they are willing to plunge right into things and get their hands dirty. They live in the here-and-now, and place little importance on introspection or theory. The look at the facts of a situation, quickly decide what should be done, execute the action, and move on to the next thing."

-The Personality Page

People with the same personality as mine are Jacob (Isaac's son), Ernest Hemingway (the American novelist), Donald Trump (The Apprentice), Bruce Willis, Michael J. Fox, Jack Nicholson, Madonna and fictional characters like Bart Simpson (I find this really funny), Sonny Corleone (a character from The Godfather; he was supposed to be the successor of Don Vito Corleone, the Godfather, the most impulsive and violent of Vito's children who was brutally killed in a toll plaza) and James Bond (I'm telling you, I can be an incognito!).

I'm not sure if this test is accurate though I agree in most of the analysis. But I guess the most interesting here is the Bart Simpson, Sonny Corleone and James Bond part. LOL!

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Mockingbird

I just finished watching To Kill A Mockingbird, the movie adaptation of Harper Lee's Pulitzer Prize Winning novel of the same title. It's my first black and white movie and I find it endearing and intelligent. The story plays around two main plots: the fascination (and terror) of the three kids to a reclusive neighbor and all the scary rumors about the man; and about a white lawyer (the father of two of the kids) who was appointed to defend a black man accused of raping a white woman. The main message of the story is aptly summarized from the line in the film: "You never really knew a man until you stood in his shoes and walk around in them."

What I liked about the movie its subtle yet brave way of confronting racism, which was a main issue in America during the time the novel was written. The element of suspense in story-telling was also seamlessly employed. And from what I have researched, this was one of the best film adaptations from a novel that was ever made, as approved by Lee herself. It was well-directed and there was a careful attention to details. I was drawn by the natural acting of the kids, especially the girl who played Scout. Most of all, though it was made on the 1960s, the movie's message is still relevant today -- that we should not judge people by their color or the way they look or what other people say about them. That we are created equal and everyone is worthy of acceptance, and we shouldn't kill a mockingbird -- we should not kill those that don't harm us.

I think I'll be digging on classic films for now. I'm done with Breakfast at Tiffany's and next on my list is Charley, another film adaptation, this time of a short story (actually there's also a novel version of it) entitled Flowers for Algernon. Click Here to Read More..

More on CDO and Bukidnon trip

Snapshots from my Cagayan de Oro and Bukidnon trip.

This is what you'll see on the other end of Makahambus Cave. White water rafters pass through this river

The historical marker at the cave's facade.

Bonding time with my high school friend, Shine who now resides in CDO. The adorable kid next to me is Louisse, Shine's son and my inaanak.

An ancestral house in Balingasag, Misamis Oriental. The local folks (two men in blue and the lady in white shirt) showed us around before we interviewed 'Solo' papaya farmers.

Notice the carved image of a men at the corner, as if carrying the second floor of the house. I saw two old houses with the same architecture. I wonder what's the story behind.

In our quest in finding 'Solo' papaya plantations, we faced rain and narrow and muddy road. But the sight of the farm and the smell of the grass felt like home.

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Down South

I had an official trip to the southern Philippines last week (Cagayan de Oro and Bukidnon) for our supply chain mapping of 'Solo' papaya. It was my second time in Cagayan de Oro City and my first time in Bukidnon. This trip has been very tiresome yet enjoyable and my most adventurous so far. I had several "first times" during the trip!

• It was my first time to go to Bukidnon. I knew from my grade-school books that pineapple was the main commodity of this province. True enough, I saw hectares and hectares of pineapple farms. Those farms were contract-grown by Del Monte Philippines. It's also called the Baguio of the south because of it's also an upland province and it's cold climate.
• While on our way to Bukidnon, there was a place where we are to go through a quarantine "pond," i don't know what it's really called (I had something like that also in one of my undergrad subjects but whatever, I forgot). All who pass through that place have to be 'quarantined.' It's the first province I went to with that quarantine thingy.
  
• First time to eat "binaki." Out of curiousity, in one of our stop overs going to Bukidnon, I bought this local delicacy sold in the sidewalk. My guess is it's made of ground corn mixed with milk, wrapped in corn husk and then steamed. I think it's similar to "suman" only that "suman" is made from ground rice.
• My first time to see a rubber plantation. I was facinated by the row of rubber trees because they look so the same (of course!) and they were of the same height. There was a little black thing attached to each tree that catches the latex.

• I've never been to a cave before until the Makahambus Cave which is just a few minute ride from the airport (we went there before going back to Manila). The cave served as a hiding place of Filipino Soldiers during the war. The end of this cave is a cliff and down you'll see the river where white water rafters pass. White water rafting is one of the main attractions in Cagayan de Oro.

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Passion 2010

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Going to Hell with Dr. Morrel

I am reading an old book lent to me by my officemate, More of Paul Harvey's The Rest of the Story by Paul Aurandt. It tells the story behind popular stories and news from the past. I'm fascinated because number one, I love stories of people. Second, it's like a backstage pass where get to know about some untold secrets of popular people and happenings.

The story I'll be sharing is one that apalled me. I kinda doubted if it's true but with the turn of events, it seemed like it was. I researched it further and history has documented the role of this doctor to a man who altered history more than I could imagine. Keep reading.

Dr. Theodore Morell. What he lacks in competence is compensated for by charisma. He is introduced to prospective patients socially, makes an impression, and the impressionable are hooked -- eventually, in every sense of the term.

A specific case for your consideration...

Dr. Morrel is invited to a private home. His host complains of intestinal trouble.

The doctor appears concerned; how long has the discomfort been going on?

Intermittently for quite some time.

Nodding pensively and without hesitation, Dr. Morrel offers his diagnosis and suggested treatment.

Later the patient remarks: "Nobody has ever before told me so clearly and precisely what is wrong with me. His method of cure is so logical and I have the greatest confidence in him. I shall follow his prescriptions to the letter."

These "logical" prescriptions include exotic bacteria and hormones and phosphorous and dextrose and beladonna... and strychnine. Not enough strychnine to kill the patient of course. The dangerous if not entirely evil Dr. Morrel requires the depandence of this patient, for money, for prestige... and for his sinister experimentation.

After a few weeks in patient notices an improvement in his condition. his own words are: "What luck that I met Morrel! He has saved my life. Wonderful, the way he has helped me!"

In time, the patient's sense of well-being will be heightened beyond his dreams. For Dr. Morrel will add to his descriptive arsenal -- amphetamines. Speed.

By Morrel's own admission his patient "was really never sick." Not before he was introduced to Dr. Morrel, anyway.

Now it's a different story.

Now the slightest complaint is answered by pills and injections, a variety of medications spanning the questionable to the occult. And the result is shuffling, stumbling, trembling, emaciated, glass-eyed, gray-complexioned shell of a man. A human wreck.

Submerged in a sea of uppers and downers, he sleeps no more than three hours a night. Uneasy sleep.

In months, he appears to age years.

And still he professes his confidence in Dr. Morrel.

Truth is he needs the speed...

In this specific case the "treatments" lasted nine years, astounding considering the quantities of atropine and strychnine and amphetamines consumed by the patient in that period of time.

Twenty-eight types of drugs in all, their direct and side effects compounded. The speed took the highest toll.

We shall never forget nor forgive Dr. Morrel's patient, the man he was in the beginning, the monster he has became. Yet the monumental irony of his association with a megalomaniac physician was that in the end, the master mesmirist was mesmirized, the predator became prey...

The name Dr. Theodor Morrel has dropped into obscurity.

Remembered instead is his patient, a speed freak who spent the kast decade of his life shattered and shaking and with his brains in a basket, the man on earth went to hell -- because of Dr. Morrel.

Hitler was "high."

And you know THE REST OF THE STORY.

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Enraged and Dumbfounded

I just watched The Boy in Striped Pajamas tonight and my heart is breaking right now and I'm full of hate. Probably the story of the two 8-year old boys, one a soldier's son and the other a Jew in a Holocaust camp, is fictional. But the concentration camp, the malnourished prisoners in "striped pajamas," the torture and the crematorium... they are all true!! History testifies!


How could a man do that?! How could Hitler's men blindly follow him with such loyalty? Crazy bunch of people! I'm just so enraged right now! I heard Schindler's List tells the same story and I don't want to watch it anymore. I can imagine how it was like. How horrid. How can the German soldiers stomach that?!

I'm full of questions right now. This racism of Hitler. Why does a man wants to be superior from his fellowmen? How could he even think that he's superior? To the extent of killing these so called inferior people? Threat to the purity of their race? What an insecure bunch of vermin! I looked up in the internet about this Auschwitz death camp, the implied setting of the movie, and I just couldn't believe what I found out. Ruthless, evil people.

Like the adults, the kids were only a mere bag of bones, without muscles or fat, and the thin skin like pergament scrubbed through and through beyond the hard bones of the skeleton and ignited itself to ulcerated wounds. Abscesses covered the underfed body from the top to the bottom and thus deprived it from the last rest of energy. The mouth was deeply gnawed by noma-abscesses, hollowed out the jaw and perforated the cheeks like cancer". Many decaying bodies were full of water because of the burning hunger, they swelled to shapeless bulks which could not move anymore. Diarrhoea, lasting for weeks, dissolved their irresistant bodies until nothing remained....

Lucie Adelsberger

I know my rantings won't undo things. But it opened my eyes about knowing the truth and loving your fellowmen, no matter what race or background or culture they may come from. I pray that this won't happend again. Never again...

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Closing Spiel

I got this from my old old blog that I have made private. I wrote it before I left my work as a technical support representative in a call center. Good times...

MY CLOSING SPIEL

To graveyard shifts...
To bottomless ice tea, juice and coffee...
To queuing season...
To daily spams...
To "petix" modes...
To critical work weeks...
To ever-changing metrics...
To kickbacks and fines...
To out-of-this-world computer issues...
To Cable Car nights...
To the Geebras...
To my new friends, and I mean friends...
To my teammates...
To my CNB ("crush ng bayan") Team Leader...
To my headset...
To Indian and Chinese callers...
To irate customers...

This has been Man, have a great day!!

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Travel again!

I'm thrilled! I'm going back to Cagayan de Oro! We are in our initial supply chain mapping of 'Solo' papaya in Southern Mindanao and there are quite a number of large plantations there. It's been almost four months since my last Mindanao trip. The last time was in Davao City for the wrapping up of our mango supply chain project. We'll be there for four days tentatively .

I'm thrilled because of two things. First, because this is a new project (well, relatively) and I'll be interviewing new sets of people. Talking to farmers and traders can be difficult at times but I wanna have a fresh attitude about it. I think I have learned a lot from our mango supply chain project and I hope I'd be savvy this time. Hehe. Second, I'll try to meet with my high school friend and my inaanak. The last time we met in Cagayan de Oro was brief because I was there for just a day. Hopefully we could spend more time together. We'll sure be talking about our plans for our high school batch's grand reunion this coming December.

It's gonna be a busy February!


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Change is ought

Tomorrow is the first day of the second month of the year. January passed like a forgotten dream of an afternoon nap. I was right when I thought that 2009 will come like a postman. Quick and brief.

Yesterday was the deadline of submission of applications for graduate school. Yesterday I decided to get an application form for my Master's Degree. The deadline was extended til next week. Things are going to my favor.

I know I have to make a big decision before January ends. I did. I have been itching for a change to happen in my so-called career and I am making a defining move. When you grow old, choices and decisions are inevitable and they don't usually come in easy.

I'll be applying for a scholarship that's offered only to full-time students. That means I'll have to resign in my current job. I'm sort of prepared with that though. My 8:00 AM-5:00 PM routine is going to change and old habits must be undone.

What I'm looking forward the most though, is what's gonna happen to me in the next four years. I have to admit that the decisions I'm making from this year on has a lot to do with building a family and part of it is to establish myself as a man with a stable career. When one grows old, he has to grow up. I'm trying now.

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Framed-up

When I'm bored with work, this is what I do. Playing around with Photoshop brushes can make your day. I assure you that. :-)


Probably by now you know that there's a narcissistic blood running through my veins. Haha! Click Here to Read More..

Terrorist

I read from the paper last Sunday that the verdict was given to the three suspects of the Rizal Day Bombing last 2000. All three were convicted guilty of multiple murder, multiple frustrated murder, and multiple attempted murder. They were sentenced with life imprisonment. That bombing killed 22 people and wounded many. It happened about 12 noon of December 30, 2000, it's also the death anniversary of our national hero, Jose Rizal. Thus, they called it Rizal Day bombing.

I have my own story about that gruesome day. I was in another city that time. I was supposed to go back to the university where I was studying after the Christmas break. My bus is scheduled to leave at 5:00 PM. I boarded 15 minutes earlier, showed my ticket, placed my big black backpack on my seat and left to buy something to eat.

When I head back to the bus, all the passengers who boarded earlier were outside and they were looking at my direction. Well, they were actually looking at me with careworn expressions in their faces. I wondered but didn't ask and just proceeded to the door and went to my seat. Then a man approached me, he was quite pissed, and told me, "You frightened the passengers. They thought you planted a bomb because you left your bag and left right away. They went out of the bus as soon as you left. Didn't you know that there was a bombing earlier in Manila?"

I felt both funny and ashamed. I have just been mistaken as a terrorist! I said sorry and I didn't look at any passenger in the eye during the whole trip.


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Ox

It's the Chinese New Year and we're eating tikoy. Tikoy, by the way, is a glutinous round rice cake traditionally served during Chinese New Year believed to bring "sticky" good luck for the whole year in this year that they call Year of the Ox. I always find it funny how they assign each year to an animal. I'm still clueless where the idea come from.

I learned today that the well known greeting "kung hei fat choy" which means "wishing you happiness and prosperity" is not a preferred greeting by older Chinese. The reason? It smacks crass materialism . The better greeting would be "kiong hi", which simply wishes happiness, pointing out that wealth doesn't always mean happiness. Agree.

As for me, I don't have to entrust my life to some cake for prosperity. I have a God who is able to make all grace abound to me, so that in all things at all times, having all that I need, I will abound in good work (2 Corinthians 9:8). It has always been a year of God's faithfulness for me, year after year after year. The blessings I have came from Him who makes everything "work together for good for those who love Him" and not to some ox or monkey.

I was supposed to greet you "kiong hi". Let me say God bless y'all, instead. :-)

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Why so serious?

I first thought that this is an official poster/teaser for the 81st Oscars. Turned out to be a support campaign made by this guy. I must say that it's very creative and cleverly made.


I think The Dark Knight was one of the best movies shown in 2008. Not only because of the casting but for the brilliant script. Here's the how-I-got-these-scars lines of the Joker:

"Wanna know how I got these scars? My father was....a drinker. And a fiend. And one night he goes off crazier than usual. Mommy gets the kitchen knife to defend herself. He doesn't like that. Not. One. Bit. So, me watching, he takes the knife to her, laughing while he does it. Turns to me and he says 'Why so serious?' Comes at me with the knife,'Why so serious?' He sticks the blade in my mouth. 'Lets put a smile on that face!' And... Why so serious?"

"You look nervous. Is it the scars? You want to know how I got them? Come here. Hey, look at me. So I had a wife, beautiful; like you. Who tells me, I worry too much. Who tells me, I ought to smile more. Who gambles, and gets in deep with sharks. One day they carve her face. We have no money for surgeries. She can’t take it! I just want to see her smile again. I just want her to know that I don’t care about the scars. So I stick a razor in my mouth and do this… to myself. And you know what? She can’t stand the sight of me! She leaves. Now I see the funny side. Now I’m always smiling!"

I pity The Joker for such a lonely childhood. Great take on the role though by Heath Ledger.

The 81st Oscars will be on February 22, 2009 and will be televised in the US in ABC. Wolverine is hosting the awards night.

My thoughts are so random today.

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Of slurps and burps

My best friend recommended me this neat and interesting dining etiquette quiz. If you love eating and traveling, this is definitely for you. This made me realize that it's really fun that each culture is different and we can always learn from each other's peculiarities.

Enjoy the quiz and tell me how well (or worse) you fared.



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Story-Telling

These pictures came in a bit late but I wrote about this wonderful experience earlier in this blog. This was the day after Christmas and my first time to do story-telling to kids. It was awesome! I'm glad I decided to spend it with them instead of going to the beach with some friends.




Story-telling time at school was my favorite when I was a kid. One of the stories I won't forget was about Daedalus and his son Icarus. They were prisoners of King Minos of Crete and Daedalus planned their escape. He made them a pair of wings out of feathers sewn together and and molded in wax. He warned Icarus to beware of rash adventures among the stars. But the kid was so enticed by his new-found freedom and flew up high to the highest heavens until the sun melted the wax off his wings and he fell. This story has been a constant reminder to me until now that freedom comes with responsibility.

Others that are included in my list of favorites are Aesop's fables and Jose Rizal's story about the monkey and the turtle.




*Thanks Ate Vida for the pictures. You can find more here.

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Aroroy, Masbate

Let me take you to the land where I grew up...

Aroroy is a coastal town. We call our port "pantalan" and this is what you'll see there on a clear day. That's the famous Mayon Volcano peeping on the horizon. It has always been the favorite subject of my drawings when I was a kid.

I took this on a late afternoon of December 2007. That's the "pantalan" under construction. I heard it's already finished. This picture sends me so much melancholia...

Agriculture is the common source of livelihood of the townsfolks. This is a common scene along provincial highways.

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My Girl Anne

Hollywood's top story is about Brangelina snubbing Ryan Seacrest during the Golden Globe Awards' red carpet. I'm not gonna talk about that. It's about a story before the awards night.

I've read that who-sits-where is such a big fuss in Golden Globe. Unlike the usual awards night where the celebrities sit like that in a theater, they have a different format. I think it's the same as when you attend a wedding reception where people are arranged per table. Then there's a place they call "the pit" where the big big names are seated. Table assignments are continually revised even up to the week of the show itself.

Organizers have to be aware about who is or who is not friendly with whom or who had broken up with whom so that these personalities will be seated far away as possible. Stars' publicists try to jockey for the best tables for their clients and negotiations usually end up in emotional exchanges.

Here's a sweet story. Anne Hathaway who is bringing her mom to the awards night wrote a letter to the organizers...

My mom will be my date... she was wondering if you could please sit us near George Clooney... seriously, you'd make her 2009. Acceptable substitutes... are Leonardo DiCaprio, Brad Pitt, Clint Eastwood and/or Steve Carell. Thank you!

I'm not a fan (though she's so darn pretty!) but I just like girls who love their moms. :-)
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Tag Bug

I have been recently tagged by a fellow blogger, Scott (my first time, actually) so I'm giving it a shot. I'm supposed to reveal six things about me and I have to tag other six fellows to do the same. I'm not really fan of chain mails but I think this one's interesting. Besides, I haven't been posting for almost a week, so now I have something to write about.


Here are six random facts about ManÜ:

1. I was born with a tooth. Yup! And I myself am amazed and amused. According to my Mom, it was lower middle tooth. How did it happen? I don't know. Can somebody give me an explanation behind this rare phenomenon?
2. I am living away from my hometown for almost a decade now. From the time I went to college, my longest stay home was about two weeks. Now that I am working, the vacation becomes shorter and lesser. My hometown by the way is Aroroy, Masbate. Probably one of the remotest places in the face of the earth. But there's a gold mine there.
   
3. My mother was supposed to name me Ceazar because I came into this world by caesarian birth. I'm the first child of three and all of us were born in that way. I'm also the third Manuel in the family. My grandfather, my father and me... That makes me Manuel III. According to my mother, I was named after my grandfather because at the time that she was about to give birth to me, my Lolo (that's how we call our grandfathers here in the Philippines) had a stroke and few weeks after that, he died. So I was kind of a replacement.
4. I love to cook! I had this thought after cooking a menu for some hundred hungry bellies, that maybe I'm born to feed people. Haha! Fortunately, most of the time, they appreciate my cooking. I'm famous for my barbecue. I have been giving out my recipe but people just can't make it taste like mine. Haha!
5. I used to work in a call center for about a year and a quarter. For two months, I spent my nights activating gift cards of people from the other side of the planet. After that, I was a technical support representative. I dealt with various computer (desktop and notebooks) issues -- from turning on a PC to formatting the hard drive. I spent two Christmases taking in calls. I enjoyed the job, though.
6. I did not take the licensure exam for the degree I finished. I'm an Agricultural Engineering graduate but I chose not to take the board exam because I couldn't see myself enjoying the profession and I couldn't see an agricultural engineer me for another 20 years, not even 10. My rationale is that, so what if I have a title attached to my name if I'm not really practicing it. There's no use. It would just be a title.
   

Now my turn to tag...

• Frosty Puppies
• Womenselfesteem
• Daily Light
• Carnation
• RandomWHAMThoughts
• Infinite Loop Republic
  

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