4am and smiling

earlier today i was late for some presentation skills workshop for that hsbc competition, with my head hurting, what with all the stuff i was doing hours before--

saying no to a towel-after-a-shower request being one of them.
earlier today too was my witnessing, for the last time, of an induction ceremony for the next set of officers of the org i truly love.

sentimental, yes (heck the ride home with gabe was full of sentimental takes of my future)
but sweet and swell nonetheless.

the world is a better place
with student trainers in it.


the workshop earlier that i was late for proves that.
the ceremony we were singing for proves that.
the not-so-innocent post-ceremony drunken sharing proves that.



one of those days that
i can look back to and say:
karl can smile and he can smile well.

just in case he forgets how to. which i doubt.
smiles. woohoo

heres to hoping judges like lance gokongwei and rajo laurel
will be nice to us (full list of whoa-y hsbc contest judges here)

'the musical is back'

sure there were ASAP/SOP moments here and there
but i thought the sequence was full of energy
and worth a good number of smiles.

and fingers crossed for the musical.

'Reagan resurrected', only better

my last oral exam was given by
the Bobby Guevara
and towards the end, he asked me about how we make the oppressed, those who are suffering, have a sense of God's love. and like in the midterms, i said that any answer would just sound patronizing.

times like that i wish i had Obama's talent, which he shares once again in his first speech to congress (transcript here, comments here). dang. some parts i liked the most i copy below.


on education reform
It is our responsibility as lawmakers and educators to make this system work. But it is the responsibility of every citizen to participate in it. And so tonight, I ask every American to commit to at least one year or more of higher education or career training. This can be community college or a four-year school; vocational training or an apprenticeship. But whatever the training may be, every American will need to get more than a high school diploma. And dropping out of high school is no longer an option. It's not just quitting on yourself, it's quitting on your country - and this country needs and values the talents of every American. That is why we will provide the support necessary for you to complete college and meet a new goal: by 2020, America will once again have the highest proportion of college graduates in the world.

on torture
To overcome extremism, we must also be vigilant in upholding the values our troops defend - because there is no force in the world more powerful than the example of America. That is why I have ordered the closing of the detention center at Guantanamo Bay, and will seek swift and certain justice for captured terrorists - because living our values doesn't make us weaker, it makes us safer and it makes us stronger. And that is why I can stand here tonight and say without exception or equivocation that the United States of America does not torture.


on what inspires him
I think about Leonard Abess, the bank president from Miami who reportedly cashed out of his company, took a $60 million bonus, and gave it out to all 399 people who worked for him, plus another 72 who used to work for him. He didn't tell anyone, but when the local newspaper found out, he simply said, ''I knew some of these people since I was 7 years old. I didn't feel right getting the money myself."

I think about Greensburg, Kansas, a town that was completely destroyed by a tornado, but is being rebuilt by its residents as a global example of how clean energy can power an entire community - how it can bring jobs and businesses to a place where piles of bricks and rubble once lay. "The tragedy was terrible," said one of the men who helped them rebuild. "But the folks here know that it also provided an incredible opportunity."

And I think about Ty'Sheoma Bethea, the young girl from that school I visited in Dillon, South Carolina - a place where the ceilings leak, the paint peels off the walls, and they have to stop teaching six times a day because the train barrels by their classroom. She has been told that her school is hopeless, but the other day after class she went to the public library and typed up a letter to the people sitting in this room. She even asked her principal for the money to buy a stamp. The letter asks us for help, and says, "We are just students trying to become lawyers, doctors, congressmen like yourself and one day president, so we can make a change to not just the state of South Carolina but also the world. We are not quitters."

TED on Benjamin Button

Ed Ulbrich: How Benjamin Button got his face

like x: amazing. thanks for sharing, x.

in a haystack

was reading the jan/feb 2009 issue of the Atlantic
in the library and found a poem by Andrea Cohen

In a Haystack

A needle must feel
deeply needled, ill-
suited to its skin,
to leave its arrow-
straight ways,
to stray
into a haystack,
to mean to lose
or find itself
in that soft
tangle, to fill
its one good eye
with the gold
filament of pasture,
to imagine
itself pillow
to the weary,
supper to bell-
necklaced goats.
A needle like that?
It would be
criminal even
to report
it missing.



and don't forget YOUR final stand (link here)

finally, YOUR Final Stand

WE'LL TAKE WHATEVER YOU CAN GIVE!

But we highly suggest that you...

1. Blog and spread the word

The Internet has made entirely new forms of social interaction, activities and organizing possible because of its widespread usability and access. And according to World Internet Stats, as of June 30, 2008, 1.463 billion people use the Internet!

So link THE FINAL STAND (click me!) to your Facebook profiles and Y!M statuses, share this site on Plurk, blog about the issue and the movement on your LiveJournal--the possibilities are endless!

Become a fan! The Final Stand is on Facebook!

Other sites you can look at to educate yourselves about the issue:

http://carpernow.multiply.com

YOU CAN POST YOUR OWN THOUGHTS AND REFLECTIONS TOO!

Just send in your blog entries together with:

- your name, year&course

- your photo

- a paragraph profile about you (hobbies? philosophy in life? dream? beliefs? favorite song or food? basta short background :P)

to: thefinalstand09@yahoo.com

2. Donate cash, clothes, medicines, food, etc for the farmers.

Lahat ng volunteers sari-sariling resources ang binibigay! That’s why we need all the help we can get! We will be needing your time and effort for the success of this great cause!

For inquiries, contact:

Cheenee Otarra at cheeneex@gmail.com

Rob Roque at robroque07@yahoo.com

Kurt Cendana at kurtcendana@gmail.com

You can also forward your inquiries to thefinalstand.multiply.com :)

We need YOU! :)

3. Sign the petition for the passage of CARPER

Petition booths will be set up in Zen and Gate 2.5 on March 4-5

PASS CARPER NOW!!

4. Join the solidarity night on March 4

Strength in numbers! Our situation calls for us to be in communion where we can share all that we are and, indeed, become all that we are meant to be.  Human Solidarity is something that we labor to build by fighting injustice!

Join us and get educated on the urgency of CARPER!

Because YOU WILL get AFFECTED.

5.  Light a candle on March 4, at 6:00PM; outside Gate 2.5

If you pass by the gate everyday on the way home, or if you can’t join us on Solidarity Night, let your voices be heard by lighting a candle and offering a prayer.

Never underestimate the power of prayer! It is through prayers that we speak our hope; that we open windows for God’s transforming grace in the world!

Light a candle. Say a prayer.

6. Be one of the fasting/hunger act participants

Think you can handle 24 hours without a single meal? Join us and be a hunger-actor! KAYANG-KAYA MO YAN!

7. Run for a Cause on March 4

Can’t commit to the 24-hour hunger act? RUN for the CARPER cause instead! Get that much-needed exercise while doing it for a good cause!

Help us get the word around…LITERALLY!

* * *

No effort is too small!

It is exactly the smallness of these gestures that make them speak more powerfully.

For our farmers, theirs is the story which tells of the moment when there’s no more story to tell—when the future disappeared for them.

 

Let us remember the clash of power of brute force and the power of the weak and vulnerable—the clash of the power of Pilate and the power of Christ.  Let this FINAL STAND be an initiative of trust that, in Christ,justice and solidarity will prevail in ways we cannot guess or anticipate.

Let this movement be a sign of hope; a hope that this anguish can also be faced with clarity…that this may bear fruit.

FOR THE SENIORS:

Let this be YOUR FINAL STAND as Ateneans! Itodo mo na!

FOR THE UNDERGRADS:

Make this YOUR FINAL STAND for the school year.

FOR THE FACULTY and the ADMINISTRATION:

Let this be YOUR venue to act as true LEADERS and MENTORS to your students. A true embodiment of learning that is not just confined within lecture halls and classrooms.

FOR THE STAFF:

Let this be YOUR venue to show that SERVICE goes beyond your actual job descriptions. Make YOUR FINAL STAND through this EYE-AWAKENING SERVICE.

FOR THE ALUMNI:

Rekindle the real Atenean inside by championing not just the sport but the values of cura personalis and being persons-for-and-with-others. Make this YOUR STAND.

It's time we show our unity as ONE COMMUNITY.

Let us be men-and-women-for-others.

SIGN-UPS WILL BE HAPPENING SOON!

Watch out for it!

From The Final Stand site :-)

breakfast at two

woke up past noontime
with quite a task before me:

figuring out
what to do with the rest of my life.

you put it like that
and you're bound not to have any good answers.
so i ended up reminiscing instead.


bad move.
anyway, it seemed a good idea to end
stages of love
by doing four shows in one day. yesterday.

i didn't know i had to do it with
just an hour's worth of sleep though
and a training-lecture in between.

i must say
it was one of my most favorite lectures ever
of the many that i've done as a strainer.
but it was in marikina.

so in that small hour
between my 230pm and my 5pm show,
isa and leo had to figure out
how to bring me to marikina and back

just in time
for our final performance in school.
well worth the risk.
loved every single minute of it.

and of stages of love too.
the official run has officially ended. wow.


the task before me suddenly seems
more pressing.

academic earth

i'm a huge fan of TED.
and if you haven't yet, you should check it out.

but i was reading articles on slate when i bumped on
an article on Academic Earth.

wow.
thousands of video lectures from the world's top scholars.
and so i registered.

'cause there's a thomas friedman lecture called the world is flat 3.0
there's a guy kawasaki lecture called silicon valley 4.0
there's a barry nalebuff lecture called why not?,
based i'm assuming on his wonderful book of the same name

the videos are rather lengthy though,
they are class lectures after all.

but it sure beats staring at facebook status updates.
lifelong learning here we come!

TED on the real crisis

if you have just time for one TED talk
out of the three i recently posted,

you have to watch this! please.

Barry Schwartz: The real crisis? We stopped being wise

watching all three and more won't hurt.
watching this over and over won't hurt either.

TED on Homo evolutis

Juan Enriquez: Beyond the crisis, mindboggling science and the arrival of Homo evolutis

this is an update to his talk four years ago
after sharing as the future catches you

turns out his point years ago still holds true.

TED on Siftables the toy

this is super cool!
again, oh the possibilities.

David Merrill: Siftables, the toy blocks that think

oh the possibilities.

the mountain's other side

below is a personal reflection
of an immersion experience for liberation theology class

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

It was not difficult to turn around and, after three days in Calisitan, Nueva Ecija with the Igorots, just say goodbye. But what I find more disconcerting is the reality that life goes on for all six of my brothers and sister. I did not go and look forward to changing anyone’s life in the community but it was sad to hear Nanay Merlyn say: Wala na naman silang kalaro.

All six of my brothers and sisters would have been left with no one but themselves to play with, yet again. Their closest neighbors are an hour’s hike away. Three of them would have to walk perilously to school and back home yet again. Their school is an hour and a half’s hike away. Yes there are six of them in the family but they hardly talk, even to each other, and their parents think it is because of the seclusion and the resulting zero possibility to engage with others. Yes they go to school but because the hike home is long and dangerous, they hardly have time to mingle with their schoolmates. In short, they simply are not used to talking to anyone about anything. I wonder how these kids can tell their story, something I think they need to do.

The school tries. The only girl among the siblings shares the Christmas song she memorized in school, after thirty minutes of playful pleading. But because the school has only one teacher, the little girl shares the class with her elder brother and, in a few months, with her younger brother.

The parents work hard too. Tatay Danny proudly shares the land they own and how everyone in the family helps in the farming. Meanwhile, Nanay Merlyn shares her skills in weaving baskets and other saleable goods. But both of them have health conditions that hang on a delicate balance. Pretty soon, the episode wherein Nanay Merlyn had to be rushed to a hospital hours away in Nueva Ecija might just happen again to either one of them. They do not have enough money for the medicines that can prevent this episode from reoccurring.

It is easy to dismiss their story as something we already have heard before. But what struck me most was the attitude, the resilience that I saw in them. When contemplating about the life in the mountains as compared to life in the city, Tatay Danny had this to say: Ibang istilo lang ang pamumuhay dito. That summed it up for me.

As a story that is very similar to that of many other Filipino families I have encountered, say of a Sumilao farmer or a single parent in the Payatas dumpsite, it was easy to find the life of Tatay Danny and his family as one of misery and despair. But their attitude demands that I rethink this. Theirs is but a different style of living, one not any less than the style and convenience I am used to in the city. It is a different style with its own disadvantages as seen in the little access to basic needs. But it is a style with its own advantages too. That side of their life that is so much part of how Tatay Danny summed it up for me.

The community program ended at around midnight. I was hoping it would last until early in the morning so we would have daylight at least to help us go home. But no! With their month-old baby around Tatay Danny’s arms, Nanay Merlyn and my five little brothers and sister before me, we walked home with only the full moon and the one small flashlight of my immersion partner to light the way. It took us longer than usual, about two hours. It was a slow hike, one that allowed me to see the stars like I have never seen them before and to wonder about the immensity of nature surrounding us. Clearly an experience only this style of living could provide. This style has its own problems and so life goes on for all six of my brothers and sisters. But it is a style no less ennobling, a side of being secluded I never expected to see.

finally

we made it to the finals!

and i think all of the top 5 teams are from ateneo.

woohoo

failed to take a bath today

thanks to my oversleeping

in between finishing that lengthy theology paper

and also for staying glued to the results announcement page.

but after writing that immersion report,

i realized that aside from two more oral exams,

a handful of reflection papers

and this long overdue art installation

undergraduate life (at least for this particular degree)

would be over. hermshmermlerm

dejermlermshplerm snormiloodadoo

and then what?

smile.

good thing rogue's new issue is here.

at long last.

an entrepreneur's touch

a business of my own
was always what i had in mind ever since high school.

so it was interesting to be in a room full of like-minded individuals
earlier today for that hsbc competition.

we will find out in a few hours if we make it to the finals
and i honestly am really anxious about it.

which is okay 'cause it's helping me stay up
for this theology paper.
this song from spring awakening
is helping me stay up too.



ever since marvin shared the soundtrack the other day,
i've been awestruck with its beauty
and that my roommates find it beautiful too
is good.


Where I go, when I go there,
No more memory anymore-
Only men on distant ships,
The women with them, swimming with them, to shore...
-Touch Me

TED on decoding with genomics

Juan Enriquez: Decoding the future with genomics

his choice of slide colors can be bad
but the guy who wrote
as the future catches you,
an amazing amazing book

shares his take on the future
most compellingly.

on genomics: it's free, no one is reading.


thanks for the info, x.

love happens when you don't look for it

i know someone who stopped looking.
i'm just not so sure if he's all the better for it.

his defense went well.
he has a show in four hours,
a recollection in twenty.

he is well-loved
and i'm sure he's all the better for it.

oh shpadoinkle

we all know how crazy politics can get
but i was wondering:

maybe if we had bob cesca's attitude
(at least in this essay of his, link here)
then more of us would be more engaged.
i think.

an excerpt with more links:

the Republicans appear to be reflexively coughing up the most intellectually violent chunks of hooey on record.
They're screaming about fear-mongering, even though we had eight years of this.
They're screaming about fiscal responsibility, even though we had eight years of this.
They're screaming about free speech, even though we had eight years of this and this and this.

They're honest to God screaming about fascism, even though we had eight years of this and this and this.


and to "have so much fun to watch" all these
makes for a better disposition
than just backing off
or taking no part
or shutting up
or pure apathy.

to be totally apathetic
something so increasingly hard
yet so disturbingly easy to do.

making melodies

you know you're making progress

when the normal hi
is now a high-pitched hi.

either you made an impression
or shared a confession,

point is
you are making progress.


and just when i thought
sharing the story was such a bad idea,
the story came to life.

back to doing the show tomorrow.
can't can't wait.

makati job interview before that
and a resolution to a double-booking after

about Doubt

i was pretty sure
i won't get to drag the learning circle guys i normally watch movies with
to this one

so i watched it by myself.
i say, you better catch it onstage, as a play.
atlantis, the guys behind avenue q, did it years ago.

though you don't want to miss meryl streep, philip seymour hoffman
and that lady who played mrs miller. the way they came up with nuances
for their characters. worth the wait.

but i guess that's what dvds are for.


for some strange reason, i miss rehearsing for stages of love.
and i was pretty sentimental
giving that discernment speech to strainers who are thinking about
stepping up for the org.

ho hum.

iron fail

because yesterday
was a really really fun day

'Gates releases more bugs into the world'

excerpt below from an afp article (link here)


one more goal in life:
attend a TED conf!
fingers crossed.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Microsoft founder turned disease-battling philanthropist Bill Gates loosed mosquitoes at an elite Technology, Entertainment, Design (TED) Conference to make a point about the deadly sting of malaria.

"Malaria is spread by mosquitoes," Gates said while opening a jar onstage at a gathering known to attract technology kings, politicians, and Hollywood stars.

"I brought some. Here I'll let them roam around. There is no reason only poor people should be infected."

Gates waited a minute or so before assuring the audience the liberated insects were malaria-free.

TED curator Chris Anderson fired back at the legendary computer software maker, joking that the headline for the video of his talk to be posted online at Ted.com would be "Gates releases more bugs into the world."

stranger in the crowd

saw steve's shared post of this superbowl coke ad


smile.

stranger in the crowd.
the song's elvis presley's (full lyrics here)
but this version is cee-lo's,
according to a youtube comment


I was watching all the people
Passing by me, going places
Just the loneliest guy in the town
Looking for a friendly smile
But all that I could see were faces

And then, just like the taste of milk and honey
I found the stranger I'd been looking for
The way my cup of love was overflowing
I knew the stranger in the crowd
And I would be strangers no more

there are many stages

only had three hours of sleep today
(years ago, doing an all-nighter was too easy;
these days i just can't seem to do it anymore)
thanks to papers

and bad old procrastination.
sleeplessness could not stop
anyone from enjoying

opening night though!
woohoo


i know i won't forget
but i repeat it to myself:

this cast may have so many quirks
both cute and not so cute
but it is a bomb working with them.

good good way to end the school year.
i wonder if you're watching

wants to pee

if only the waiting part
didn't feel like
you're about to wet your pants

if only the wetting part
didn't smell like
some nasty, stinky plant

if only if only
the comfort room's
this close

then no terror
my junior
won't be as morose



anyway
you really should watch the trailers of
the next x men and transformers movies

watching my weight

literally. my belly says hello.
been called a dad for it already. twice.

and that tangigue and that czech beer last night aren't helping.
nor the blueberry pancakes the night before.

and to think there are better things
to watch out for.

like the future.



i think you should read it.
it's riddled with seemingly useless trivia
like how they hire three people for each executive post in zimbabwe because they know two of them will die with aids
or how the japanese have invented cars the size of a grain of rice that actually work for real
or how you can patent whole animals now as your own invention or whatever.

but it's all to paint the big picture that is the future and how
"genomics and other forces are changing your life, work, health and wealth"


really really cool.
other things to watch out for?


why of course.
when are you watching?