Thank you, Art!

Our society, especially in the development industry, often worries sustainability. To ArtCo, sustaining things is less their concern. The Ateneo Davao-based art club stood effortlessly for 10 years now without us, the pioneers, leading.

Queer but don't good leadership and management sustain things? Not always. A simple friendship and a contagious passion (on art) would do, literally, everything even without the good founding leaders and managers. Look at the 2 world's dominant religion. Islam and Christianity lived through time even without Prophet Mohammed and Jesus. Ultimate frisbee also underwent similar experience.

Sustaining, thereby, needs no good governance and corporate management.

Congratulations, ArtCo!

Jumper

Pounding my fist, i repeatedly begged to Greta, "i wanted to be a jumper! i wanted to be a jumper! i wanted to be a jumper!"

I wanted to be a jumper. This is finally what i wanted to be. Nothing else, not even Greta. I wanted to freely travel. Jumped from one place to another without jetlags and bus stops. I wanted to travel to Eastern Europe, Norway, Pacific islands, Rome and all unimaginable tos. I wanted to live beyond boundaries and see all the arts, music and beauty of the world.

I wanted to be a jumper and i really yearned it. But id still live an ordinary life. Id still work, walk and live in a small house. I wont rob. Id first find work anywhere until im flatly impoverished, then id steal. When id rob, id lavishly rob for the poor.

Id take Greta around though. Id surprise her everyday before we both report to work. Id daily collect her things from all countries. Id share, literally, all the good things that the world could offer.

Believe me, you too would incredibly ask to be a jumper when you watch this movie. You too would foolishly say, "i found my superhero and i wanted to be a jumper and not anything else."

I Dated Spice Girls on V-Day

I often have spontaneous reflections of who i am either at a start or end of the day. For 3 years, i had confusing becoming, a self who is truly not me. It was another stage of identity crisis, however, a surprisingly comfortable one.

I became sensitive (not more), less careless, constructively impatient and angry, aggressive, thrifty, more expressive and family-oriented.

It is indeed never me. It is Greta. And it is only this time I "truly" understand how love, not sex, binds 2 people together. Spice Girls' 2 Becomes 1 instantly tunes in. It is indeed mystical but you can actually understand and explain it. Love is not rocket science. It is as easy as writing our grade school friend's scrapbook :)

Love you, Grets

b-side leadership

i always believed i am a natural leader by genes and intuition. that i can lead to achieve change. that i can inspire people. i did! i created, along with friends, the first art club in Ateneo de Davao. ArtCo, in 10 years now, is my sole proof that i can lead.

between ArtCo and now, i found i am less a leader. it didn't frustrate me though. so, i strived learning leadership and re-tried leading. i failed. i realized i do not have the striking charisma, enforcive attitude, superb communication and extensive network. i only have the competency to work things, as instructed, and great new ideas that kept me dreaming of leading.

so, i stayed low. i took the role of a follower, as inspired by the divine teaching of a great leader Jesus-be a servant to lead. following is humbling and gratifying when you make someone's ideas happen. but leading still charms me, especially when you make your ideas happen.

leading is just too inspiring. i even dreamed of running Barangay Captain and managing my own development organization and business in my town. but i'm left saving my ideas and following momentarily because charisma and resources are likely hard to earn fast. stepping up when no one's leading is the most i could do. second-rate leadership doesn't push full initiatives and somehow is disheartening until reading Harvard Business' article about B-players.

i am proud again! i am now a more proud follower-a b player who is considered to be a corporate backbone. without us, ideas and initiatives just don't happen even with good leadership. being a b player is itself leadership-only but off from the limelight. Jesus now made more sense and my ideas aren't in vague dreamland after all. and soon, i will be managing my own club change.

TANGINA!It is Saturday

(TANGINA!) I really really REALLY thought today is Friday! I do! Not even a dint of notice. In fact, i am still unshaken of my time warp even at blog-time because i clearly remembered wearing 5 clothes this week. And today is my fifth.

So, i hurried to work without my office keys. Eventually, i ended up sitting in our office hallway because my officemates were not "yet" in the office. It did not worry me though until pass 9. I started rationalizing the days without checking my mobile calendar (i was repititively editing my review blog on Children of Men with my phone). After a brief reflection, i was still convinced it is Friday! But something is shaking me it is not. So, i exited my blog and checked the real date.

TANGINA! I exclaimed with great restrain of a loud disgust. It is Saturday, not Friday! All the cuss words then rushed in with anxious haste.

@*#€?>¥±×≠℉♀ㄆ

It is Saturday! Not Friday! The thought was a paranoia. I could not believe i was time-warped. Then, like any movies with twists, recollections of clues randomly flashed in to shake my hysteria. Kaya pala wala masyadong tao.kaya pala wala masyadong pasahero. Kaya pala konti lang nagtatrabaho. Kaya pala hindi pumasok si Greta. Kaya pala wala ang mga officemates k. Kaya pala!!

So, i walked out from the hallway and worked on things i scheduled for completion on Friday, which is today but in real time not today. It is Saturday, right? :-D

does speaking English make me less Filipino?

one doesn't become less Filipino if one speaks English and works abroad UNLESS one refuses to speak (or even learn) Filipino and decide (or even plan) to return home.

but of course, being a "real" Filipino doesn't shortly lie on those 2 elements because culture doesn't exclusively consist of language and nature of work. there are other elements that make up one person. but biological elements like color, smell, eyes, hair, height and other physical are non-negotiables. but culture is SKIN-DEEP. it lies in one's HEART.

and even biologically-born Americans can be Filipinos (let go of VISA-able citizenship). any person can be another by HEART!

if this is all about nationalism, now it is a different story. i think, nationalism is highly anchored on "LIVING FOR THE COUNTRY (could be your origin or the adopted) YOU ARE HEARTILY ATTACHED!". when one ceases to live for the country, one ceases to be nationalistic.

just look at Hitler. he was a nationalist to Germany (adopted country), but not to Austria (his original)

It's The Economy, Stupid!

"The gain of one, the loss of another. "

Hahahahaha while stocks plunge worldwide, lesser Pinoys are rating themselves to be poor (from 52% to 46%). While more exporters are earning lesser, more Pinoys are travelling off the country.

Hooray for $1=P40! (the best Asian recovery since the Asian financial crisis and is going for P38)

it wont be all bonus. of course! there too would be a boomerang effect on us, especially having a government often tagged by most of its citizens to be idle. But dah! U.S. economy managed to survive every recession since 1940 even before the government's anti-recession programs were implemented. Swear! Remember Adam Smith's the "invisible hand"? "it's the economy, stupid!", adds the comeback kid Bill Clinton.

O well, good times are always here. We just overlooked them.