Ayala Triangle Park lights

I heard that today is the grand opening of the refurbished Ayala Triangle Park. The other night, I, together with the 6:30pm wave of professionals rushing home from work, emerged from the underpass linking both sides of Paseo de Roxas, to a spectacular sight. The wallboards surrounding the Ayala Triangle Park in recent weeks have been removed, bringing to view hundreds of firelights dangling on trees in a beautifully landscaped garden.

The yellow cordon was still in place, preventing people from entering the park, and last-minute arrangements were being done. But I'm sure it's going to be a lovely place once opened. It already took my breath away. Funny, I was behind this guy with long hair, eyeglasses, blazer, and carrying a backpack and laptop bag and was obviously in a hurry. Going where, I don't know, but he was in a real hurry, he almost bumped into the three men in front of him upon stepping on the escalator.

Guess what, when he surfaced into the dreamy garden, all thoughts of speed and destination vanished. He slackened his pace -- I almost collided into him this time -- and stopped completely, gazing at the lights in awe. While I continued to walk slowly, still admiring the view, he had dropped out of the rushing wave. Last I saw him, he was standing there beside the cordon line, staring. And I never saw him walk past me after that. 


This garden has that kind of effect. I wonder how it would have felt lying down in the middle of that park last night, counting the meteor shower.... Wow!


I wonder what's in store for the grand opening? I sure would like to see. I'll be passing that way again tonight -- as I do every single night. Join me. =)


http://lifestyle.inquirer.net/sundaylifestyle/sundaylifestyle/view/20091115-236280/Light-and-sound--art-production-heralds-Ayala-Triangle-Gardens 

http://lifestyle.inquirer.net/sundaylifestyle/sundaylifestyle/view/20091108-234938/Ayala_Triangle_Gardens__to_be_unveiled  

090909

Today is said to be an unusual day. It is the 9th day of the 9th month of the year 2009, a.k.a ’09. It is also the 252nd day of the year, and if you sum up these three numbers, what do you get? Isn’t it creepy?

Nope, it just happens to be a once-in-a-lifetime kind of day that will never come again in your lifetime (kaya nga once-in-a-lifetime eh, ang kulit, May). It’s an excuse to do something radical, something stupid, something weird, something wicked, something rare [yeah, like writing this blog. I haven’t updated my blog for quite a while and I’m doing it now. That’s rare.]

Reminds me of that scene in How To Make An American Quilt, one of my favorite movies.

FINN (pointing at the moon): Oh God, look at that!
ANNA: I never liked full moons. They give people an excuse to do foolish things.
FINN (played by Winona Ryder): I'm young, I'm supposed to do foolish things.
ANNA: And spend the rest of your life paying for them.
FINN: Well, it's better than spending the rest of my life wondering what I missed.
ANNA: I'd rather wonder than kick myself.
FINN: Well, I'd rather kick myself.
ANNA: Fine. You will end up with a deeply sore backside.

Talking about rare and different, this day brings back memories of things I’ve done, that I think many other people I know have not done in their lifetime (there I go again).

1. Lie down in the middle of the University Avenue at midnight in UP Diliman
2. Sleep in street clothes and a backpack during the 1989 coup attempt against President Cory Aquino
3. Play the role of Angel of Death (or should I say dance) in my group’s own play adaptation of the animated film Prince of Egypt
4. Drive around Manila and along Manila Bay at dawn, trying to watch the early boats, right after my college graduation
5. Live for a week aboard the Superferry during the Leyte Gulf Landing Anniversary
6. Watch the dividing night and day from a roofless clubhouse as the sun begins to rise over Mount Makiling
7. Swim alongside fishes (while feeding them with bread) in El Nido, Palawan
8. Ride a helicopter with British, Filipino and other foreign engineers to the construction site of the pipes that will be laid underwater for the Malampaya Gas-to-Power project
9. Arrive in Matinloc Island, El Nido at exactly midnight aboard a yacht
10. See miles and miles of desert from a plane, and miles and miles of snow after it
11. Visit Fatima, Portugal and enter the homes of the three visionaries of the Virgin Mary
12. Co-pilot an ultralight plane over the lahar-ridden plains of Pampanga, with one of the two people who first drove a home-made plane cross-country from Jolo to Cagayan
13. Making a five-day trip with no accommodation reservations from Manila to Baguio, Benguet, Sagada, Bontoc, Banaue and back to Baguio, and living each day on the kindness of friends and acquaintances

There are many more exciting things in my memory. I just have to add them to this list one by one. But for now, this is my rare act: to have this blog uploaded and stamped an 090909 date mark.

Because tomorrow is another day.

Kim-Cory parallelism

Since am just sneaking an opportunity to blog in the office, I'm sharing this nice article sent by a colleague. After all, it's been a while since I've updated PPlan. Might as well post something essential.

Kim Dae-jung & The Aquinos
http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/nation/2009/08/116_50571.html

By Joel David

After the suicide of former Korean President Roh Moo-hyun, the news of the death of Kim Dae-jung would confirm, in the minds of democratically minded observers, the passing of an era. Those with a pan-Asian sensibility would find further confirmation of that remark in the overseas death of still another symbol of another anti-dictatorship struggle, that of Corazon "Cory" Aquino in the Philippines.

Two prominent names in the parallel historical experience of the two countries, linked by the involvement of the U.S. as each country's wartime liberator - the Philippines from Japan (Korea's colonizer) and Korea from the Communists in the North and from China.

Indeed, an enterprising film epic might well show the paths of Kim and Aquino's husband, Benigno "Ninoy" Jr., virtually crossing each other during the Korean War, which the then-teenage Aquino covered as a newspaper correspondent.

Ninoy Aquino subsequently parlayed his reportage into a script, eventually turned into a much-celebrated but now-lost film titled Korea, directed in 1952 by Filipino National Artist Lamberto V. Avellana.

Further cinematic license, though a likelier occurrence, would depict the Aquinos and the Catholicized Kims socializing during their exile in Boston, perhaps during a spiritually uplifting celebration of Sunday Mass.

As survivors of their respective countries' triumphant pro-democracy movements, Kim and Corazon Aquino were each seen, by commentators looking at both national experiences, as the other country's version of herself or himself: Kim as the Aquino of Korea, Aquino as the Kim of the Philippines and each the Nelson Mandela of Asia.

The comparison may be inaccurate in several crucial areas - for one thing, it was Ninoy, not Cory, who returned from exile just as Kim did, but Kim was not assassinated upon arrival as Ninoy Aquino was - but there was widespread global acclaim that sealed the similarities between the two former presidents: Cory Aquino's "Woman of the Year" distinction in Time magazine (an honor for which Imelda Marcos would surely have gladly walked barefoot), and Kim's Nobel Peace Prize.

The outpouring of grief that attended each leader's recent demise threatened to shape up as the latest challenge against each one's respective current President Lee Myung-bak and Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.

At some point in the late ex-presidents' last few months, in fact, each one expressed oppositional dissatisfaction with her or his present-day successor, with Aquino even suggesting she could resume her presidential functions if ever the need for a replacement came up.

Yet amid the waves of nostalgia washing over the mostly middle-aged middle classes of Filipinos and Koreans, one would hear insistent rumblings of dissent, and not always from supporters of the incumbent leaders either.

Kim, the allegations go, handled the aftermath of the IMF crisis in a manner that made Korea more vulnerable to foreign intervention, and pursued his Nobel to the extent of pandering (possibly including a cash-for-summit arrangement) to a regime that has proved weirdly incapable of reciprocating properly. But Kim's Korea was Shangri-La in contrast to Aquino's Philippines. She resisted the long- (and still-) overdue exigency of land reform in order to retain the family hacienda, agreed to repay an entire clutch of corruption-ridden foreign loans (including the ultimate white elephant, a nuclear plant constructed near earthquake fault lines and a now-active volcano), and otherwise responded to a string of horrendous political, economic, and natural disasters ― including increasingly violent coup attempts, multiple and extensive daily brownouts, and the worst volcanic eruption of the last century ― by hurrying to prayer, a manner admirable for a mother, or mother superior, but not a serious President, even in the Third World.

In the end it all comes down to the reality that resilient people will devise ways of coping, and good democracies enable (pardon the appropriation) people power by allowing the population to change ― or retain ― its elected leaders every so often.

If Filipinos were too aghast, then, that Ferdinand Marcos's arrogant, sexist, and self-serving prophecy ― that Aquino would prove an even worse Chief Executive than he ― had somehow come true, by 2009 they could take heart that Roh Moo-hyun's supporters still remembered, during his funeral, to use the color yellow that Aquino, following her late husband's prescription, had adopted for her admittedly righteous and courageous anti-dictatorship campaign.

We see this principle played out ― down to the level of schools and families, and way across the Pacific during George "Dubya" Bush's presidential term ― in which those who best embody certain cherished causes do not necessarily have equally sterling management skills.

But if people continue to select charismatic candidates who turn out to be utter duds (Filipino Exhibit A: Joseph Estrada), it could only mean either that they refuse to learn their lesson, or that they still believe in miracles.

Just to ensure that the former scenario never fully plays out its tragic outcome, we ought then to constantly remind ourselves of our heroes' failures, alongside their finest achievements. Such an option might keep us awake longer, but it would help future generations abide the past more securely.

The author is an associate professor for cultural studies at Inha University in Incheon.

Marthe's First Book

One of the goals I wrote in my lifeplan last year during a leadership training in the office is to publish my own book by the time I reach 40. That's two years to go.

My daughter, Marthe, however, beat me to it. She participated in a bookmaking workshop with Adarna House and Filipinas Heritage Library this summer and has come up with her very first book, created and illustrated by her. The front and back covers were printed by Adarna, and the inside pages were actual illustrations and text written on bookpaper. It was cool stuff for a 6-year-old kid.

Close to 20 kids participated in the workshop, ranging from 6 to 11 yrs old. Marthe was one of the two youngest participants. Yesterday was the last session and graduation of the group.

Marthe was very happy to hold her finished book. She was the first one called to read her story aloud to the class. For the first time, my daughter didn't look at me before standing and didn't wait for prodding. She proudly took her book and went in front. For a few seconds, I was hopeful that she has finally shed off her shyness.

But then she opened the book in front of her and we couldn't see her face anymore. It was almost one minute before I realized that she was already reading the story that only she and the teacher can hear. Some of her classmates looked at me. I told her across the room, "Louder, baby. We can't hear!" But she kept on reading, oblivious to anything else. Halfway through, her voice became a little louder but we could still only hear snippets.

Finally, the story ended and nobody knew what it was all about -- except for me, who helped her color some of the drawings at home. The class didn't care. They just clapped. Several other kids were called to read their stories and about 4 of them were just like Marthe. They had soft voices only they could hear.

But everyone was happy to see his/her 'publication'. They were talented children; their stories were incredible and very creative. I looked around the room and observed each child. I thought, "Today I'm looking at the writers, illustrators, publishers and graphic artists of the future."

It reminded me of my own goal at 40. I'm way behind. :)

Personal Action Plan

My friend Jason has been scolding me these past days for not updating my blog. I'm guilty! Been busy, been lazy. Hehe. For his sake, I'm gonna spend time in the computer today, writing something he can read. (Are you happy now, Jase?) ;-)

Before the end of this week, I need to come up with a Personal Action Plan. It's my fourth and last assignment in this short course I took in UPOU called Personal Entrepreneurial Development. We spent the last three parts of the course studying about personal entrepreneurial competencies, characteristics of a person that makes them a good entrepreneur. Now that we're done, our assignment is to come up with a short-term and long-term plan for our life and long- and short-term goals for each role we have. We need to give it a lot of thought before we can make the plan, our professor said.

Since I've undergone a modified version of this exercise during a leadership training in my office last year, I can just rehash what I've written in the vision-mission part of it and add the details of my plans. Should be easier to do, I hope. Deadline for the assignment is saturday next week.

I'm still considering if I should go to the UPOU campus on saturday for the last face-to-face session. I don't know if there's anyone else I can go with among my classmates. We'll see. Meanwhile, my personal action plan is to finish my plan and start it rolling.

First Class

It’s been more than a month since I last posted and much has happened. I finally got into Personal Entrepreneurial Development at the start of February. It’s a non-formal, distance learning course, in the UP Open University. It will run until June. It’s been occupying my weekend afternoons and some of my workday nights, when I’m not busy with Marthe, but it’s providing the adrenalin rush I’ve been missing in my current job. I used to have it everyday as a reporter covering the travel & tourism, lifestyle and IT beats.

The course included four face-to-face sessions each month from February to May. I met my classmates for the first time on Feb 28 at the UPOU Learning Center in Diliman. As usual, I arrived last, after going through MRT and waiting for like 30 minutes in the UP Campus jeep queue in Quezon Avenue (which I later abandoned and rode a Fairview-bound jeep instead, which will take me to Philcoa), and getting lost. The cab driver and I missed the National Computer Center, as the building name was behind an overgrown bush. The learning center was inside NCC.

I actually didn’t know what to expect of the session, but it turned out to be a consulting period. The teacher, Angela Cielo, summarized what we’ve read in our thick study material and emphasized the importance of each module. Then she opened the floor (or should I say the table, as we were just 10 seated around a long table) to questions that may or may not be related to the modules we’ve just discussed.

When the questions were answered, she proceeded to ask each of us to talk a little about what businesses we’ve involved ourselves in so far or what our entrepreneurial plans are. It was humbling to know that some of my classmates are already managing businesses – either family-owned or of their own ventures. There were very good ideas that came up.

I intend to use this class as a venue to explore possibilities and to learn from my colleagues, although I have my own plans too and they are under way. Next meeting will be in the learning center in Los Baños. I initially didn’t plan to attend but this is getting interesting. I might.

Pantry Signs

When we all came back to work on the 5th of January, the first thing I noticed was the pantry. The tables had been rearranged and set against the wall, allowing only one side to be used. The "interior design" struck me as senseless and thoughtless at that time. But I didn't know what was coming end of that week.

By Friday morning of the first week of January, something was clearly going to happen. The bosses were unusually visible throughout the floor, flowing in and out of each other's offices. Majeed, our former editor-in-chief, was having more closed door phone calls and meetings than he could handle. And a colleague saw the head of the HR department come out of the General Manager's office!

Tip No. 1: If you see the head of HR getting involved in anything you can't put your finger into, you better dilate your eyes and expand your ears because it's definitely more than your usual guidance counsellor let's-have-a-chat stuff. When the HR is involved, it's about employees.

At 3pm of January 9, 11 officemates faced the "firing" squad. Brutally retrenched. The retrenchment did not come to me as a surprise as much as the number of people laid off did. I know that much bigger trimming off happened in the past but I wasn't there to witness it. This was the biggest I've seen so far in this company, and it involved some people who have been there for a long time.

Majeed had resigned in November. He had known about the merging of departments and the downgrading of our editorial department into a service unit, no longer a business unit. He had tried to get around the mergers, to find ways to work within the new setup. But we heard him say to a superior manager, who apparently had no idea he was leaving, that things didn't work out so he opted to resign.

The pantry knew. What struck me many days later was that most of them who were laid off in our department ate breakfast and lunch in the pantry everyday. It's like the whole lot of their lunch group were sacked. I should have seen the signs in the pantry. Tables facing the wall, not allowing the other side to be used? It meant there would soon be less people using the pantry -- at least until this coming Friday, January 30.

Our two editorial departments that had been merged will be placed in one floor -- our floor in the 14th. The editors in the 15F will join us. We'll be one big family, not sure if happy though. This Friday, the movement will happen.

I noticed the other day that the pantry tables were back in their original position. Anticipating more diners huh? By next week, it will be full again. Tip No. 2: If you're not sure but have that squishy feeling in the pit of your stomach that something's brewing in your workplace, check out the pantry. Maybe it knows.

12 Days of Christmas: Day 4 - Christmas Day

For the second year now, my father's brother and his wife, Tito Nonoy and Tita Liz, decided to come over for Christmas lunch. Last year, they attended mass in St. Andrew and spent the entire afternoon with us, watching The Exorcism of Emily Rose (They probably enjoyed that, and came back for more). This year, they decided to hear mass in Makati again.

So, despite a late and busy Christmas eve night -- last-minute grocery shopping in Shopwise, mass in St. Andrew at 8pm, Christmas dinner and noche buena and gift opening -- I had to wake up at 10 to prepare my pasta. Again, in keeping with the trend of the season (thriftiness), the pasta was nothing fancy. Just good ol' Italian sauce and corned beef hash sauteed in olive oil, plus Tita Yorn's leftover olives, capers and cream, which we had to get because they will be away from the condo until Jan. 19.

Mama prepared shredded carrots, apples and orange pulp for salad.

We also had fried chicken....


...the usual Christmas ham...

...and pork adobo brought by Tita Liz.


We had ice cream and Becky's Kitchen walnut brownies for dessert. And finally, the wines were out. This year, my relatives decided to tackle a different kind of horror -- that of getting drunk. Although Tito Nonoy is a very responsible driver and never gets more than his adequate fill of alcoholic drinks before a trip, Tita Liz, we found out, is wont to fall for seemingly innocent drinking sprees.

While sipping on Carlo Rossi, Tito Nonoy related how he had to fetch Tita one time from a neighbor's house when she couldn't come home on her own. She was invited by female friends to have dinner and some drinks. She accepted the invitation, not knowing that two among the group are expert drinkers who were planning on a different game that night. All the dinner guests were women. They locked themselves in and began a "tagay" that lasted until midnight. Husbands, boyfriends and other male family members were not allowed to join, to ensure that the ladies would go bottoms-up on their drinks without help from the males.

Tito said he practically half-dragged, half-carried my tita home. And when they arrived, Tita Liz cried non-stop -- whether out of drunkennes or out of frustration that she didn't see through their scheme. She was quite inexperienced in this as she rarely drinks, and that served as a lesson. Until now.

She told my brother: "Natatakpan mo yata ang electric fan. Urong ka kaunti." We noticed that Tita was perspiring. A few minutes later, she said, "Parang ang init yata ngayon." She was still perspiring; the fan was directly in front of her. Then, we noticed that Mama was also perspiring and kept wiping her neck. "Oo nga, parang ang init," Mama said.

"Hindi kaya yung iniinom niyo?" asked Papa.
"Bakit, ano ba iniinom niyo?" Tita Liz asked.
"Ito!" pointing at the Carlo Rossi red wine. "Ano ba kasi yang iniinom niyo!"
She stared at the bottle in front of her. It was not the Carlo Rossi. It was a white colored wine whose name I didn't catch, but after careful scrutiny, it had 17.5% alcohol, higher than the red wine we were drinking. And only she and Mama consumed the whole bottle! Later, they had one fan each blowing in their wet red faces.

This year's surprise was Justine, my cousin Joel's 14-year-old daughter, whom I have not seen in years. The last time I remember seeing her was when Marthe was still of crib age and Justine was looking over the crib to play with Marthe. That was most certainly a long, long time ago. So I was really taken aback when a tall, quite fashionable young lady walked in. She's now taller than me, of course (everyone seems to be!) She seldom joins her lolo and lola at Christmas as she stays with her other grandparents most of the time, but this year, she was able to come. How time flies!

Soon, Tito Nonoy, Tita Liz and Justine said goodbye. Gifts were exchanged, and another Christmas day has gone by.

12 Days of Christmas: Day 3 - Christmas Eve

Let me start by saying that this is the only year in my Global Sources professional history that I went to work on Christmas Eve. Not that I really did work! I barely had time to squeeze in thoughts of work, with all the Christmas Eve preparations running through my mind 1,000 kilobytes per second.

Tuesday night, after dinner, I finally finished decorating the Belen (Nativity Scene) in our garage. This year, there was no fancy stuff bought from the bookstore. I digged into an old box and saw the plastic leaves and stems of our old Christmas tree and voila! I had something to start with. I also saw a bag of discarded icycles and two large pieces of plastic flowers that had been pulled out from some previous Christmas decor. There were old Christmas lights in the box, too, but I didn't have time to test them so for this year, they're relegated to the box, unused. We'll probably throw them anytime anyway. No lights for the Belen this year; tipid muna. Within minutes, I had assembled the 12-piece Belen, plus all its "associate" members -- ceramic angels that were given by I-can't-recall-now-who. Some even had little tags indicating the name, date and place of the event. They were giveaways in weddings, christenings, debuts, what-have-yous. That's okay, they're great in the Belen this year, acting as cutee sentinels. (By the way, disregard the date stamp in the photo. Don't know what happened to the camera's settings.)



We do have other sentinels though. Pooh, in girlie santa costume from my opening presentation last year, and Hetty and Jollibee in party hats.


After missing shopping for stuff to put in the Santa stockings on Tuesday night (because of the Elf Convention coffee sharing), Rech and I agreed we'd hie off to Glorietta at 11am for a rush lunch break-cum-zip shopping. Rech asked Len's permission and Len agreed. The team met earlier to finally establish that we couldn't finish our deadlines for today so we're bringing home work over the holidays (waahhhh!!!). No use pretending to work.

At about 11:15, Rech and I left the office. Just as we were boarding a taxi, the last few words of the broadcaster on the taxi's radio floated into my ears: "Ayan, mga kaibigan, inuulit ko po. Ang Jan. 2 ay isang non-working holiday..." All of a sudden, Rech's voice became miles away and the radio program sounded to me like it was coming from a 5.1-channel home theater system.

I grabbed Rech's arm, "ano yun, wala tayong pasok sa Jan 2?!" Rech apparently heard it too but was as confused. I sent a text to Cecile and Len, my boss, to check the news sites for official announcement. None yet, they said. I was probably just excited about shopping, or anxious I won't be able to finish on time, they said.

Rech and I had a quick lunch in Food Choices, and I ran off to National Bookstore and she to Toy Kingdom after. On our way back to Glorietta, we noticed that many people are now flowing into the mall, driven in by the rain. Cabs were nil. We decided to walk back to Landmark or Greenbelt for a cab. While we were walking, Len called and asked if we could get some wrapping paper for her. We found a cab in GB5 after walking around for some time. We got back to the office around 2pm. Only one hour more and we can leave for vacation.

By that time, the HR office has already released an announcement about Jan 2 being a non-working holiday, after President GMA formally announced it that morning. Trust GMA to make late, impulsive declarations! So in character! Maybe she feared that her enemies would assember in her absence to counter her pro-charter change plans.

Anyway, Madam Gloria, thanks for a working Christmas Eve!