garbage in garbage out

Drove past Mandaue City today and I was so jealous. They had these big garbage bins that were color-coded according to the biodegradable and non-biodegradable scheme (they were blue, black & yellow). I was wondering why can't Cebu City have that too? It was beautiful and clean having them lined up by the street. People will have no reason to litter with those things around. They were present by the dozens at every block.

I'm not fond of political figures but kudos to Mayor Ouano for that one - very nicely done. Makes people think their taxes are actually going somewhere when they see things like that (I know I may be making a big deal about garbage bins, but with the trash problem in our place, believe me it's a good thing).

Speaking of more garbage, I would like to think I don't care about what's going on in Manila and Fort Bonifacio with regards to the state of our dear nation, but I can't help it - I'm hooked. I was reading the updates there today and it bothers me. So here are my two cents...

• First of all, I think the government has become extremely paranoid. No matter what they do - no matter what the president does, somebody will complain (and this goes for everybody). Nobody can please everybody. This is a fact of life. You can't just shut down, handcuff, and imprison everyone who disagrees with you. They can't all be terrorists and hoodlums. They are the other side of the coin. And they will be ever present. Just like what that Newton person said, "To every action there is an equal and opposite reaction." A good leader takes it in stride. I'm not saying George Bush is a good leader but I'm pretty sure a lot of people dislike the US President, but there isn't much publicized drama about it. I don't know what they do behind closed doors, but that's the beauty of it - it's done within closed doors. To the entire world, they are business as usual (as should be).
  

• There is too much drama going on. The People Power Revolution once, was emphatic and amazing and effective. No one thought it possible. Second time around, it was like deja vu - but to some extent it worked. Right now everybody thinks it's a weapon of some sort. "Gather around everybody, let's rally and do yet another People Power Revolution to solve our problems." If we do it again and again and again, it will be like Christmas everyday. It loses it's meaning. It loses its value. This is not the solution. There has to be some other way - some other enlightened way.

A soldier would march into battle with nothing but a baton and a commander's orders. But the common man (or woman) at this day and age, cannot just pick up and leave the work place to march to an ambiguous battle, where there is neither a leader nor a strategy.

Garbage in - Garbage out. If we put garbage in power and we intend to take it out, there should be something more than garbage to take its place or we're back to where we started (or worse). There is a bigger problem at hand that cannot be solved by just a rally.

The Filipino people have repeated the People Power Revolution and history has yet to repeat itself. We are on the verge of another rerun. The first time around, it was truly the dictator's fault. The second time, the system was at fault. Whose fault will it be the third time around? I'd think twice before pointing fingers. I am not pro-government, I am just saying there has to be more to this. What we see now in my opinion is a byproduct problem of bigger issues.

Although I also admit that there is no short-term resolution, and indeed something has to be done in the interim to sustain the nation. So I say... garbage in - garbage out

state of emergency

The Philippines as of 1100 hours yesterday, February 24 (well actually that's when I found out) is in a state of emergency. I'm not one who avidly follows the political status of our country, because honestly I don't care so much. I'm too busy trying to scrape a living for myself and my daughter to pay attention to things like this (as do a majority of the Philippine population as it is).

Although I do admit that I may be wrong at not caring, because it can and will affect however quiet and oblivious to politics I would like to live my life. When I found out about it, I looked around and realized at that point that half the country's population do not know what just happened, why this just happened, and might not even give a care in the world.

Wikipedia defines State of Emergency as a government's declaration that

• may suspend certain normal functions of government
• may work to alert citizens to alter normal behaviors
• may order government agencies to implement emergency preparedness plans
• may also be used as a rationale to suspend civil liberties
  

As defined above, the country is but one step short of Martial Law (yet again).

Good luck to us.

being a child-parent

February 25,2006 -- 9:10pm

Early this week, I went home to a different room. My father obviously had some free time in his hands and decided to experiment on redecorating my room.

I apologize to all the independent and liberated women out there with whom I share the passion of independence, freedom, and liberation... but yes... I do live with my father (and my younger sister, who we jointly support).

Going back to my re-arranged room, I would have to say it did look a lot cleaner and organized but I have to admit, I was annoyed for the first few hours... and days living in it. And why?

Now I will relay the humble wisdom of a 20-something who is a child and parent at the same time and that is...

Why NOT to touch your kid's room, even if it does look like a tornado ran through it

1. Well, first of all, I can't find a single thing. I remember an age-old saying, "There is order in my chaos." I remember my first few minutes being in my re-arranged room, I couldn't even find my underwear. My room was not as organized as I wanted to be, and even further from what my father thought was organized. But most of the things in my room had their place for a reason, though ironically out-of-place they may have seemed.

2. It's an invasion of privacy. Let's admit it, there are things your kid would like to keep from you or things that you may not be ready to see. Doing this may upset both of you unnecessarily. When your kids are ready to show these things to you or when you are ready to see them, they will emerge as natural things without going through the angst and stress of disbelief. When we moved from out from my grandparents' place to our current apartment, I remember my father actually re-organizing the box where I kept all my love letters. Would you believe that? He separated the post cards from the love letters, and even noted on some of them that had wrong grammar. (He's an English professor in a local university. He couldn't help himself.)

3. Once your kid has a room, there is a sense of ownership there. Just like you wouldn't like your child messing up your room, a mutual respect and understanding should be in place. It is extremely stressful to not be able to find your own things in your own room especially in an environment where you have been inclined to think belongs to you.

Those are just my top 3. I'm sure many other kids have their opinions too. But I have a relatively high degree of patience and affection for my father to not freak out at what happened to my room. I even thanked him a few days later. I guess because I'm a parent too, I can understand where he's coming from. So here's reasoning from the parent point of view

Why NOT to get angry at your parents for cleaning up your room

1. They have your best interests at heart - in terms of hygiene anyway. A lot of creepy crawly things find their way into messy rooms, though how much we try to deny it. A certain smell comes with this too - undesirable but since we get used to it, sometimes it goes unnoticed. Believe me, your parents are doing you a favor. Imagine if you had to do it yourself? (Good discipline though, and at least you know where everything is, but the effort to be put into it may eat into the time we have set for a plethora of other things I'm sure we'd rather be doing than cleaning)

2. Sometimes there are some things we can't find in our chaos - missing earring, lost hair clip, misplaced book, magic disappearing ballpens, all these things may just be in some awkward corner in the room that we easily lose track of them, leaving them to the world of lost and (probably never to be) found.

3. They can't help it. Parents are curious creatures. Growing up kids mean a lot of catching up for parents. If we don't let them into our lives voluntarily, they will find their way ( and sometimes it may be the hard way). They give ownership, but they demand accountability. They give independence (or they will eventually) but they demand responsibility and proof of capacity to handle what they are so hesitant to give.

I think that's enough parent- child outlook for one night. My daughter's saying she's sleepy now. Good night world.

my blogging history

February 19, 2006 -- 9:16pm

I haven't been this attentive at updating this thing since I made this blog more than a year ago. I've actually had some time in my hands now that I operate the office's pay-per-click campaign on the week-end. Adwords doesn't quite take so long, but Yahoo Search Marketing can take a few years, so blogging kills the time.

I started out posting my poetry and favorite songs on my blog. Letting the angst out so to speak. It worked for awhile, I loved writing specially when I felt bad. Actually thought it helped my writing skills (not that there was much to begin with anyway).

Later on it became quite a habit - posting and reading other blogs as well. That is, until our office suddenly banned the entire site from viewing inside company premises. Not that I blogged all the time, but I've realized blogging isn't just for the angst-driven but also for the amazingly shrewd. Blogging first was just part of leisure then it became part of research, and then business, and now it has grown to become a a separate solid industry.

Now I'm back at it with more favorite blogs than I ever thought I'd have. But by nature I'm not really much of a blogger. Just like writing.

Okay... gotta go... my daughter just pooped.

belated happy birthday to me

Feb. 18, 2006 -- 11:06pm

I just turned 25 this month. I can't believe I was too busy to even write about that. Not that there is anything to write about. Let's see... I went to work, went to lunch, picked up my daughter from school, went out with her, bought dinner for the apartment, went home... Very uneventful I would say.

Had to work through Valentine's day as well. Not that there's anything to write about THAT either. Correction - worked through Valentine's day AND night. It's been mostly that really - days AND nights of work and work and more work.

Not to say that I don't like my job, I'm pretty lucky actually. I get to work with the most amazing people (or what's left of them) at the same time doing something that I like. And for this reason, I will probably continue to work my ass off here until such time I burn out or the company does (whichever comes first).

I handle online customer acquisition for a publishing services company. It just blew up though to include that clause in a contract that says "Responsibilities include functions stated below not limited to or excluding..." blah blah blah which pretty much means that above and beyond everything you were hired to do, you have to do whatever the boss says.

So right now, I'm the "AND" in the Sales and Marketing department - in the middle of marketing and sales - literally, working out marketing strategies and at the same time dabbling into sales to make sure there's enough ROI to go around and pay for marketing. See my dilemma here? However it does make sense from a business point of view.

I'm in no position to complain though, there are a lot of people who are unemployed, and others who detest what they do or the people they work with. Our office may not have decent walls or floor tiles or even ventilation... but all in all I think we're okay.

no more melodrama

I will try to stop being melodramatic with my blog entries. I've actually changed the look of the thing in hopes that it would help. Even thought about scrapping this one, and starting anew. For some reason though, I can't seem to let this go.

The change maybe for one reason I've actually numbed out, but for other reasons - I think it would be good for me to just ease off the roller coaster ride of feelings.

So there. It has been written... Here's hoping it happens...

making a point

10 people just lost their job last week. I just lost a team of researchers. It was absolutely horrible. I had to be there when they were told. I was so angry when I found out, because the reason this was happening was said to be "down-sizing." These people were about to be laid off. They have done nothing wrong, they have worked hard for the past year, they passed their evaluations, met their quotas, followed company policy, did as they were told, in short... they don't deserve what just happened to them. I was outraged.

I started working in the company by being a member of this team. With a couple of people who believed in me, some stroke of luck, and more 16-hour work days than I care to mention, I worked my way to where I am now. Not to say that I am at the pinnacle of success, coz nowhere am I near that - but I am grateful for what I have now. And just as saddened at what I have lost and seen what others have lost as well.

When I found out, it hurt. I lashed back with the general arguement that this team was a reflection of me and losing them would mean cutting off my arms and legs. If they have failed or performed below par, then this is my evaluation as well. It just hurts so much that I can do nothing because it was a "management decision." Although I do understand that the company needs to do what it has to do to keep the rest that are still employed, but it was such a joke letting go of my team when there are so many other departments that are bloated.

I thought maybe I should resign to make my point, to express my general disposition that I thought what they were doing was wrong. But then other things come to mind...

• making my point won't pay the bills
• making my point won't send my daughter to school
• making my point won't put food on the table

And so here I am, the same person walking to work - everyday though just gets harder. I feel like I have lost my sense of integrity and have succumbed to the financial need for survival.

Maybe I'm just a coward or maybe my priorities are wrong. Not to say also that I have always been upright and good. I realize many times have I lost people that are dear to me just because...

I can't seem to make my point.