TO EMBRACE A ROLE

November 24,2005. I attended my professor’s book launching and it is there that he first broach the idea of organizing an Alumni association for the DLSU Graduate School of Business. It is also then that he asked me if I’m interested to make it happen and to which I wholeheartedly agree. Since then, I’m engaged in recruiting, spreading the news, and trying to organize a GSBAA (Graduate School of Business Alumni Association). It was a tough task and one filled with frustrations after frustrations. Many thought the idea was great but few actually responded the call to be active in organizing such endeavor. Nevertheless, the circle grows and soon enough, I had a talking group of around 30 “willing volunteers”. Then GSB steps in and “hijacks” the process. They called a general assembly and conducted an election. Initially, I was quite reluctant to run partly because of the enormous task ahead in organizing such associations (having trying to do that for the past year or so) and partly because, things are quickly getting “political” with several people interested in the post of the President. One candidate actually called me up and proposed an alliance with him as President and me as his executive officer. He even claimed to have the Dean’s blessing. Eventually for some reasons, he backed out. At any rate, I did decide to throw my hat in the fray largely because I don’t want to see all my efforts went for naught and also, I had to admit the lure, the prestige, and the glamour of the title President did me in. Fast forward, September 23, election day. Only 40 alumni showed up for the vote. I ran for President but lost because the Corporate Secretary (the Dean’s eyes and ears) changed the rules right then and there but I did manage to get myself “elected” as a board director (It’s official, I’m a jinx in elections, having lost twice now). Then last November 9, the board and it’s officers were sworn in at the Manila Polo Club by the DLSAA (De La Salle Alumni Association, the parent organization) and DLS – GSB. The evening was pleasant though politics still figured prominently. At any rate, we ended at around 11 in the evening. The night before that, I was engaged in a text chat with an old friend of mine and when I broke the news that I’m going to be inducted the following evening, she congratulated me profusely. To be quite honest, I was rather surprised by her reaction. To her, my position as a director of a prestigious school’s alumni association and a graduate business school at that was something unbelievable and probably enviable. Frankly, I never saw that way. To me, this was nothing (and I mean it). I mean what is to brag about when you have a nascent organization, which probably have an active membership of 10 people (the board directors) whose survival beyond next year is seriously in doubt and who has no agenda as of yet, no vision, and most importantly, no funds (we have a seed money of P50,000.00 borrowed from DLSAA, even so P50,000 for a prestigious organization like ours is a pittance). It is not that I’m not proud of being a director of DLSAA – GSB rather I don’t find it “necessary” (nor am I enthusiastic) to display such title prominently. Besides, after the election, I felt that it is no longer my “overriding” concern. Somebody else is at the helm and I felt that it’s time to take it in stride. Surely, I felt bad losing the election, I mean who wouldn’t but I never did sulk (Ok, probably briefly but I was over with it by the time I traveled to the US in early October). I felt a burden was lifted from my shoulder and my role is now pretty much limited (which is why I don’t see the need to “publicize” my title). Then came my friend’s reaction and suddenly, I realized that I’m a director of the board of DLSAA – GSB chapter, Inc. I represent a prestigious academic institution of this country, one of the top two business schools in this country (better than UP which ranked 3rd and certainly way, way better than THAT SCHOOL IN LOYOLA). We maybe only 10 people in the organization as of now but I and my colleagues are the face of tens of thousands of alumni (however passive they maybe) scattered across the world from the Philippines to China to Taiwan to Indonesia to Hong Kong to Canada and to the US and best of all, we spoke for them even though they don’t realize it. I and my colleagues are the link between DLS – GSB and the world for we provided the first hand knowledge of the real world to our Alma Mater, on how to be relevant in this day and age. Besides as my friend pointed out, how many people at my age (all of my colleagues are in their 30s) get to be a director of an alumni association of a prestigious school? Only few. And this is no ordinary alumni association for this is not your typical high school alumni association. This is a business school alumni association! A graduate business school alumni association! Furthermore, of the 9 colleagues of mine in the board, 5 of them are my friends and classmates. They are the people I’d recruited to join the “talking group” and they are the people I cajoled, enticed, and for some, practically forced to join the board. These are the same people that I know who are hardworking, persistent, and willing to sacrifice their time and effort for no pay just to see this thing through (the other board directors are just as hardworking). I must have done something right to have such GREAT people on the board and I just can’t let them down by taking “this” in stride. Lastly, I did promise my professor “to make this work”. The organization maybe small and it’s future bleak but we could grow it. We may not have an agenda as of now or a vision or a direction but that is great for we are not burdened by the past. We can build our own traditions, hammer out our plans, and pave our own way and lay the foundation of a mighty organization. Between sitting in the topmost floor of a tall glass tower watching rather helplessly over an automated empire and laying the bricks down below trying to built that empire, I rather get myself dirty doing the nitty gritty stuffs and mold the face of the future. But exactly, what is the future? What is DLSAA – GSB about? I don’t know what my other colleagues think about the organization but I’ve been telling this to my friends in the board. “The alumni association on the micro scale is about old friends and old classmates getting to see each other, exchanging updates of each other’s status, telling tales of old times and their trials and tribulations. It is about people trying to connect with people who they once shared a certain part of their lives. On the intermediary scale, the alumni association is about connections for who could better understand the importance of connection other than business people? And what connects them is the fact that one point in their lives, they went to the same school, underwent the same program, and probably have the same teacher. But beyond connections, the association is about the community. It is about a specific community of people having specific needs, needs like constantly updating their knowledge of the latest management and business theories etc. On the macro level, the alumni association is about a voice. Imagine if you group business tycoons (John Gokongwei and Henry Sy, Sr are both DLS – GSB alumni) and budding entrepreneurs, from captains of the industry to top CEOs of major corporations to middle managers that execute top management’s decisions on the frontline, what would we have? Can anyone imagine the % of the Philippine economy that we contribute? Can anyone imagine how much say we have? Can anyone imagine how much we could do?” Until now, these words of mine seemed “tall” and though I believed in them, I never actually embraced it fully. Now, I discovered something thanks to a friend of mine and it is to her credit that I’m wearing my new role on my sleeves.

P.S. Thanks Jocelyn Tan for helping me “see”. Sometimes, a person inside can’t see where they are and it is the people outside that could tell that person inside where they really are.

NOTE: Calling all GSB alumni (graduates as well as people who attended GSB for 1 year) to please join and actively support the newly organized DLSAA – GSB. For foreign based alumni, please spearhead the formation of a DLSAA – GSB local chapters in your host country. I and my colleagues at the board would greatly appreciate your effort and would like to warmly welcome you into our ranks. “ )

FILM CRITIQUE: THE BANQUET: SHAKESPEAREAN KUNG FU

WARNING: This is a spoiler. If you wanted to be surprised, don’t read this!!!

I went to see the much hyped about movie, The Banquet, last Sunday (October 21). And boy! Am I in for a treat! The movie is quite spectacular and is one of the best movies I’ve seen for the year and probably one on my list of the best movie of all times.

The Historical Background
The backdrop of the story is set during the Five Dynasty and Ten Kingdom Period in China (The civil war period sandwich between the Tang dynasty and the Sung dynasty). Few actually appreciate the significance of this historical period to the overall movie theme. The Five Dynasty period is a time when anarchy prevailed as a result of warlordism and civil war. In just a span of 70 or more years, 5 dynasties rise and fall in rapid succession. In these turbulent times, the Emperors are mere hostages to their aspiring generals while generals are hostage to their greedy and unruly soldiers. As a result, Emperors rarely died peacefully. Most of them died by assassinations and in rebellions. Because of the weakened state of the central authorities, local potentates came to control local affairs and thus rampant corruption ensued. And because of the frequent changes in regime, political survival and expediency became the norm and principles became an oddity. Morality is no more than a piece of paper and degeneracy sets in all levels of society. It is in this sad state of affairs that we find our heroes.

The Storyline
The movie begins with the Empress Wan entering the funeral chamber of the recently deceased Emperor, her husband. She was surprised to discover her brother – in – law (the late emperor’s brother) dressed in the armor of the emperor. Without much saying, she realized that the brother – in – law has in fact seize the imperial throne and he offered the Empress a choice, to be his consort or die. The Empress quite naturally spurned his indecent offer in a rather angry fashion but somehow relented in the end (Or did she?). With one potential opposition (the empress) removed, the brother – in – law sent out his royal bodyguard to assassinate the true heir of the throne unknowingly that the Empress Wan has also sent out her own trusted bodyguard to protect the true heir. The Prince – heir oblivious to the events outside his own reclusive world was actually sulking and was in the midst of doing a traditional play, The Song of the Yueh Women (he was actually more an artist than a prince). The Song is about a loner’s lament of unrequited love. While he was at it, the Empress’s bodyguards came and informed him of the news. Much afterwards, the assassins came and began one of most the visually spectacular sword fighting that I’ve seen. The fight was quite bloody. Everyone in the Prince’s entourage including the Empress’ bodyguard’s died fighting including the person posing as the Prince. The Prince only manages to survive because he gave his performance mask to his protector and hide underwater in the artificial lake. After surviving the massacre, he sets out to his home, the imperial palace and only to discover that his childhood love, his one and only, his step mother, the Empress Wan was in the midst of preparing to marry his uncle, the usurper, the murderer of his father, the new Emperor. The Prince was not just simply aggrieved but also beseech with anger and harbors vengeance. He visits his step – mother in the night ostensibly to confront her but also partly due to his longing to see his beloved. There happened one of the most awkward scenes. A man kneeling before the love of his life who is 4 years his junior and calling her mother. So close to his true love yet so far away. The Empress was equally hurt in such display of traditional Confucian obedience and filial piety for she still loved the Prince but couldn’t do so because she was technically his “mother” and tradition dictates that she acts accordingly. After that rather awkward confrontation came the idle pleasant exchange on their recent lives (nothing happened since both are strictly proper). Unknown to the two, the new Emperor, the usurper was about to enter the chamber when he overheard the idle murmur of the two. At first, he was surprised that his nephew, the true heir is alive but was no sooner overcome with jealousy. Even so, he kept his silence as his jealousy raged within him. How could she (his former sister – in – law and now his consort) do this to him? He (the new Emperor) could have given her everything she wanted. She was after all the object of his love (or lust depending on one’s view). Silently, he walks away and left the two alone. Amazingly, the Emperor kept his silence about the discovery even to his love, the Empress but grew increasingly distraught that she didn’t reveal the Prince’s survival to him until finally he couldn’t take it anymore and reveal what he knows to the Empress during a polo match (polo was actually invented in China during the Tang dynasty as an aristocratic sport). The Prince on the other hand was hiding in the house of his fiancé, the lady Ching, who was the daughter of a powerful minister, Yin. Minister Yin was an old but ambitious courtier as well as an astute politician, always going the way where the wind breezes. Lady Ching’s brother was a military governor of an important strategic province bordering the Khitans. Lady Ching was very much in love with the Prince so much so that she purportedly could communicate with her beau in her dreams (a sign of mental instability I would say). She would have given him everything even though she knew that he didn’t love her. Upon the discovery, the Emperor summoned the Prince for an audience and right then and there, he commanded the Prince to perform a swordplay with his royal guards since the Prince was considered the foremost swordsman in the realm, second only after the deceased emperor. The swordplay was to be played out using wooden swords to prevent injury and accidents but in the middle of the fighting, one of the guards changed his wooden sword for real thing and began carrying out the assassination attempt right in front of the Emperor who is pretending to have fallen asleep (and thereby claim innocence and be absolved of any guilt). The plot almost succeeded had it not been intervened and saved by the Empress who herself was an excellent swordsman. The emperor awoke and dismisses both the empress and the Prince. He silently looks at the guards and without warning kills the guard responsible for the foiled assassination. After that foiled assassination, the Prince became convinced that his uncle is behind the murder of his father and he sought out revenge. He visited an alchemist for a strongest poison known to man. However, he wasn’t convinced that the poison was strong but when he pressed the alchemist for another poison. He was stunned to realize that there is nothing more poisonous than a human heart. With that realization, he gave up revenge. On the day of the coronation, the new Emperor sent out for the Prince to entertain the imperial host with swordplays with the new Emperor’s bodyguards but the Prince refuses and instead, performs a play, which he wrote. The play tells the story of two brothers, one rich and the other poor. The rich brother loved and trusted his poor and evil younger brother but the latter had the former murdered through poison. The play was an indirect reference to the usurpation and murder by the new Emperor. The Emperor though clam was shaken by the knowledge of his nephew’s discovery and he immediately sent the Prince to exile as hostage to the Khitans. En route to the Khitans, the bodyguard – escorts attempted to murder the Prince but the Prince was saved by Lady Ching’s brother. It happened that Lady Ching volunteered to accompany the Prince to his exile but this offer offended the jealous Empress Wan that she had Lady Ching arrested and tortured. Using Lady Ching as hostage, the Empress came to an understanding with Minister Yin and plotted with Yin to save the Prince (through Yin’s son or Lady Ching’s brother) and eliminate the new Emperor via assassination. No sooner that the plot was hatch, Minister Yin plotted a coup within a coup. Only this time, Minister Yin intends to remove the Empress after the assassination of the new Emperor and to usurp the throne for himself. Meanwhile, the Empress is also scouting for poison and came upon the same alchemist that the Prince sought. Like the Prince, she asked whether or not there is a much more poisonous substance than the one she is holding and to which she also received the same reply, “the human heart”. However, unlike the soft – hearted Prince, she appeared unperturbed by the revelation and “rewarded” the alchemist with poison in order to keep him silent (a vile woman indeed). There afterwards she began to orchestrates events and on the hundredth day of her marriage to her brother – in – law, she beseech the Emperor to throw a feast and the Emperor obliged and ordered a banquet to be served in her honor that night. During the banquet, the Empress quietly slipped in the poison to the Emperor’s cup and proposes a toss. The Emperor was about to drink from the poisoned cup when all the sudden a troop of actors appeared led by Lady Ching. Lady Ching offered to stage a play, The Song of the Yueh Women to entertain the Emperor. The Emperor puzzled but eventually allowed and he offered as a gesture to Lady Ching, his poisoned cup (he has no knowledge about it). The Lady Ching drank the wine to the shock of his father, Minister Yin and his brother, who both are privy to the assassination plot. There followed one of the most harrowing scene in the movie, that of a broken hearted, dying woman slowly dancing and singing a heart wrenching song till her demise in the arms of the Prince, who happens to be the masked actor behind her. In the end, the Prince professes his love for the poor Lady Ching but everything is too late. Lady Ching’s brother literally flew out of his seat and snatched his sister away from the Prince’s embrace and the Prince so enraged by the tragedies that befell him, let out his sword and aimed towards the Emperor, only to be stopped by the royal bodyguards. Whilst the battle was raging, the Emperor though calm was visibly stunned by the knowledge of the poison and the attempt to assassinate him and most importantly, by the person he most loved and that person is none other than the Empress Wan. In a twist nobody expected, he called off the guards and confronted the Prince. There he wailed against fate and most likely disillusioned by the betrayal, he took the cup of poisoned wine and drank it to the last drop and slowly, the Emperor walked up to his throne while removing his crown and collapsed and died in the bosom of his wife, the Empress. The Empress immediately proclaimed the Prince as the new Emperor but was rejected by the Prince. While the commotion is on going, an enraged Lady Ching’s brother vented his ire on the scheming Empress. He pulled out a poison dagger and aimed at the Empress’ neck but was stopped by the Prince, who was in turn fatally wounded (the Empress killed Lady Ching’s brother). The Prince died immediately in the arms of his wailing beloved………..mother………… Minister Yin for in his part of the complicity of the attempted assassination of the Empress was exiled to a distant colony. With all opposition removed, Empress Wan assumed the throne but didn’t live long to enjoy her new – found power. She was murdered in the end.
The story sounded so much like Shakespeare’s Hamlet (or was it Othello?). In fact, if Shakespeare were born a Chinese, he would have probably written something like this. This is one tragedy after a tragedy and a tragedy within a tragedy. It is a tragedy after a tragedy because one could see in the latter part how one character after another fell, burned by their own doings. It is a tragedy within a tragedy because though the characters faced their individual tragedies, the greatest tragedy is that as humans, we are mere animals of our passion and our ambition and fate came along and played our passions and our ambitions and turned us into victims of our own deeds. It makes me wonder though if we are just merely stupid or fate was being cruel.

Direction, Cinematography, and Martial Arts Play
The film is directed by Feng Xiao Kang. One thing I could say about the movie is that it is not your traditional Chinese martial arts – imperial age drama. The armors worn by the imperial guards reminded me of the Sauron’s dragon flying – minions in the Lord of the Rings movie. In fact, though the architecture is definitely Chinese, the black and white colored backdrop and the unconventional designs readily gives an impression that this is more of a Medieval European drama (and hence, the seeming reference to Shakespeare) rather than a Medieval Chinese one. The only time one would awake to the realization that this is a Chinese drama is in the grandeur and pomp of the setting (Medieval European dramas are by contrast much simpler). The obsession with the manipulation of color with an intense monochromatic (mostly red) color imposed on a black and white background provided the visual appeals and readily captures the audience attentions to what is going on rather than be distracted by the rich background. Funny, this color manipulative approach seemed to be the “rage” in Chinese films nowadays. The martial arts choreography was a breathlessly stunning visual spectacle. If you are familiar with Jacky Chan movies and his brand of raw power and bare knuckle kung fu, the swordplays here are by contrast has more grace and beauty. It looked more like a dance or more succinctly, like a ballet (especially the fight scene at the beginning) except that it’s bloody. It would be more apt to describe it as a bloody sword dance or a murderous ballet of swords. So beautiful yet so deadly. Even so, the fight scenes though bloody are in no way gory at all. The dialogue in the movie is both simple, short, and sparingly little and is spoken in Mandarin with English subtitles. Though most of the dialogues are also mere allusions and seldom straightforward, the message they convey are nevertheless concise and clear if one matches the words with the actions of the characters. Overall, credit should be given to the director Feng for he manages to keep the focus on all the protagonists (around 6 of them) without losing sight of the movie i.e., without drifting into each individual character and furthermore, he manages to maintain the focus of the movie in spite of the arduously slow tempo of the movie.

Acting
The acting quality of the individual actors is exemplar. The actors are all character actors and they dwell into the emotional state of the characters they are playing. Take Zhang Zhe Yi for instance, she played the character of the Empress Wan. One could literally see the emotion played out in her face whether she is happy, jealous, lust, malicious, scheming, drunken with power, or even mourning (aside from that she has a great petite body with a beautiful back and a nice arse). The Emperor (the brother – in – law/usurper) was by contrast steely calm, grave, and indomitable but also surprisingly fragile. The actor who portrayed the role, played it with a straight face devoid of emotion. His speech is deliberately even and slow giving us an image of calm and control, of darkness and dignity, of strength and power. He hides his jealousy, his rage, his fear, his weakness so well that his subsequent actions came as a huge surprise to the audience and baffle us about his through nature. His taking of his own life at the end of the movie even though he is in no immediate danger of death and even of losing is one such prime example. It is only there we could see his weakness, his frailty, his defect as a human being. The Prince on other hand displayed melancholy, sadness all throughout and the actor (Danny Wu?) played it so well that one could actually see sadness in his eyes and actually believed he (the actor and not the character) is a sad figure.

Theme
The theme of the movie is quite simple and that is Love and Ambition don’t mix. Both Love and Ambition are inflammatory and one would ignite and fanned the flames in the other until both are burned down in the end. This is best expressed in a Chinese phrase, “Jiang san wuo mei ren”, “the world or the maiden’s hand”. Difficult choice but I know mine.

October 6: Zero Gravity

Warning: Do not read this if you have a bad heart!!!!

I visited Anaheim Disneyland last Saturday (Sunday Manila time). We got there at around 8 in the morning and stayed till 6 in the evening. To be quite honest about it, I’m not really a fan of theme parks or it’s equivalent. I always viewed theme parks as for kids and not for old guys like me and I still hold that belief even after visiting Disneyland. Even so, I can surely say that I did enjoy my visit to Disneyland, or more accurately, I got a blast that day. so what exactly make my visit to Disneyland a blast that day? Well, let me see: First, I enjoyed the cheap thrills. Second, I happen to be “playing” with my 10 – year old cousin. Ah, kids. It takes a kid to enjoy being a kid. And Last but not the least, I do get to see a “number” of hot blondes and sexy brunettes at the park wearing shirts with plunging necklines and the skimpiest skirt or shorts one could ever find if not the most tightest shirts and pants that accentuate their figure. It was a feast to the eyes! Mine of course. Anyway, we started with the Indiana Jones ride that morning. The ride was fun although rather bumpy but not really scary at all. To be frank, my plane ride to LA was a lot scarier and bumpier. The best part of the ride I think is at the end when the giant boulder rushed towards me. It’s fun but not scary or thrilling. The same goes with the Pirates of the Caribbean ride. My plane ride was far more “adventurous” compared to it. The Haunted House gig on the other hand is scary to kids but not to an “old” guy like me. I actually felt a little sleepy if not bored with it. My first real thrill that day came when me and my sister and my cousin took the “Splash Mountain” ride. I had to confess that I’m afraid of heights and I hate sudden drops as well, which is why I generally avoided roller coaster rides. But I don’t want to be a “kill joy” to my young 10 – year old cousin, so I took my chances. And boy, it was great. The “dive” was actually short and thereby mollified the “scariness”. I was shouting “Geronimo” when the automatic camera took my picture at the top of the dive, which is why my mouth formed an “O” (I wasn’t screaming by the way, that would be too “shallow”). I did however got wet from the splash landing since I was seated in front (Yeah, incredibly genius of me to volunteer). My hair, my face, my jacket and my pants all got wet but fun is definitely written all over my face. Next stop, we went to the “Big Thunder Mountain Railroad” ride, a roller coaster theme ride. As mentioned before, I had this general “uneasiness” with roller coaster rides which is why during my youth, I would most likely closed my eyes during those dangerous “stunts”. Having considerably aged since, I decided to face “it” like a man (a favorite mantra of my cousin, he speaks mandarin by the way). Whatever that means, I did soon find out. And boy! What a ride! The 2G (2x the gravity force) experience is quite exhilarating. I felt my neck got twisted with the ride. After the ride, I thought that was the “thrill” that has eluded me for sometime now but boy I was dead wrong! For the next ride, “The Space Mountain” ride was even more thrilling!!! The speed, the numerous twist and turn, the dazzling light show all turned the thrill decibel a notch higher. Even so, just like the last ride, it didn’t make me scream! It’s child play. However, I did develop a back pain from the “Space Mountain” ride. Apparently, my body is telling me that I’m too old for this “kid stuff”. Before the “Space Mountain” ride, Eric, our tour guide took us to the Merry Go – Around. Boy, it’s been quite a long time since I took the Merry – Go – Around. When I was kid, riding the horse at the Merry – Go - Around was like looking forward to the future. I mean who didn’t dream of being a cowboy or a prince charming riding on his stead? I know I did. Now, riding the Merry – Go – Around was like going back to the past, to a time when we all dream that we could be a cowboy someday and we actually were back then. So much has changed after one merry – go – around. After the Space Mountain ride, we next went to see the 3D movie, “Honey, I Shrunk The Audience”. It was actually my first time to watch a 3D movie. It was quite “real” enough to me then that when the neon lights blew up “in front” of my face, I raised my left arm to cover my face from the “flying sharpenels”. It is then I realized that it is only an illusion and with that, came “enlightenment”. Like Neo finally seeing the Matrix as a computer code rather than “reality”, my mind likewise began to see past the “tricks”. So much so that I didn’t blink nor bat an eyelash when the lion roared in front of me or when the giant boa constrictor open it’s fanged mouth and tried to bite my head off (that happened after audience was shrank). In spite of the “clarity of vision” I had, it was nonetheless fun for I was not only treated to an optical illusion but also to sensory illusions as well. I actually felt a “herd of mice” run past my legs as well as the shake of the entire floor due to the thumping of the scientists after they “shrank” us. After the show, it was already mid – day and to everybody’s surprise, we had finished all the major rides at Disneyland. Eric suggested that we walk across to the “other side”, to the new Disneyland California Adventure theme park. The California Adventure Park is just like Disneyland, they had rides, 3D simulation shows, and cheap thrills, all of that except for the Disney toons. First stop after lunch, we went to see the “Life as a Bug” 3D show. Now, if you ask my opinion about how the show was. Well, I would say that if you have arancaphobia or for that matter a morbid fear for furry little insects. It is better not to attend even though the characters are “cartoonish”. I mean you’ll definitely scream your lungs out if not pass out if you saw a giant arankanid suspended directly above your head. Fortunately for me, I had already “transcendence”. My mind has been conditioned to treat everything I see as an illusion and so nothing “scared” me not even the finale coup de grace of the show. At the finale, they released “cockroaches” to the seat and if you happened to press your back against the seat, you would have felt the “rush” of cockroaches streaming across the seat making you jump out of your seat thus creating a “human” wave at the end of the show. Nice but again I’m immune to such illusions. It also help that Eric, tour guide gave it away when he told us to remain “glued” to the seat after the show (something that an AA IQ wouldn’t miss). After the show, we went still to another 3D show, this time, “Soaring Over California”. This is by far the most spectacular 3D show I’ve seen. You’re strapped to a seat and got suspended 3 storey high above in the air and once the screen opens, you are treated to a spectacular aerial view of California starting with “flying” through clouds and then over the top of the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco followed by the hover over the great Colorado river then over the sides of Yosemite mountain and over the Grand Canyon towards the Mojave desert (I waved my hands to a squadron of F16s flying by). Afterwards, we flew over an aircraft carrier, and followed a helicopter and then over a PGA golf course where Tiger Woods hit a golf ball towards us missing us by inches and then towards an ocean wave near the beach and finally landing safely. Wow! That was a spectacular ride! It’s not just the visual spectacle that wooed me, the sensory stimulation was quite spectacular in itself. For the seats veered left or right, up and down complete with wind blowing past your face as if you were actually flying. Wow! I wonder if that’s how Superman felt. You know, with the clouds swaying on your knees. I had to admit I was a bit apprehensive about the ride and had to tighten my grip on the handrails in spite of the seat belt once I’m on the “air”. It was only on the latter part of the show that I got “comfortable”. My sister was equally apprehensive about the “flight” but somewhere near the middle, she got over it. Once on the ground, she told she had been to a far more scarier situation, that on a para – sailing expedition at Boracay earlier in the year. At this point thus far, I’ve been thrilled somewhat, surprised probably, entertained definitely but not scared. However, none of these compare to what I did next. There is this ride that me and my cousin are contemplating to take but are quite fearful of taking, that of “The Twilight Zone, The Terror Tower” a.k.a. “The Hollywood Tower Hotel”. The concept of the ride is simple. You ride an elevator and they shot you up around 10 stories high and then opens the door to let the fresh air in and also reveal exactly how high you are vis – a – vis to the outside world where one can only see the roofs and all the sudden the elevator falls with you along in it. Scary? Nope. It is traumatic!!! My hands were getting cold and sweaty when I lined up for the “insane” stunt (I must be crazy to be actually doing this). We first went to the library where a clip told us the “legend” behind the elevator. The story goes like this. 5 people (including an actress and an actor) went up the elevator then suddenly a freak lightning struck the hotel building and destroying it. The freak lightning caused the people inside the elevator to “vanish”. These people later became the ghost that haunts the hotel elevator and “causes” the unexplained malfunction. After that short clip, we were then led into a queue and finally unto the elevator. We were first in the line and so we ended up at the back of the elevator, me and my cousin (my sister got scared of the idea and went shopping instead). The elevator door closes and we backed away from the door only to show us with the Twilight Zone trailer. Then the sign fades into darkness, we were then taken up 1 or 2 floors where the door opens to reveal a huge mirror and there we could see ourselves in the mirror. Our group picture is taken and then suddenly, our reflection vanishes from the mirror (which signifies that we’re as good as kaputs). The door closes and we were brought up another floor where the ghostly apparitions appeared. Afterwards, the door closes and we were suddenly shot up a floor or two at high speed and then it abruptly halts with a jolt and then without warning, the elevator drops a floor. We then stopped shot up again around two or three floors at high speed and stopped. The door opens to reveal the outside world and how high we are actually. We are at the third floor from the top then. Then after like a second or two after the door opened, the elevator falls two floors! Again it abruptly halts and we were shot up again this time to the second floor from the top and falls like 3 or 4 floors and then again the screeching halt and the final ascent to the top. We lingered like 5 seconds at the top before falling again 4 – 5 floors down the elevator shaft. Afterwards, it stopped and we descended one floor below before being led out. Once we started falling, my heart sank to my arse and simultaneously, the seat beneath my arse dropped leaving my arse 3 inch up in the air and suspended there by half a second. Zero gravity!!! Just then when my arse is hanging in the air during my second “fall”, my phone rang! I later found out that it was my sister who called to inquire “how was it?” Perfect! Here I’m with my arse 3 inches up in the air and she has the gall to ask me how I was?! Damn! What’s even worst was that, the phone never stopped ringing! And once it stopped, it rang again!!! Damn! And I couldn’t take the call since both of the hand is tightly gripped on the seat rails in spite of the fact that I had my seat belts on (I could imagine my hands has turned knuckle white from the grip). Although I’m loath to admit, I was pretty damned scared!!! I so scared that my legs were wobbly for the next 10 or so minutes afterwards. In spite of that, I still manage to guide my cousin out and bought the photos and walked 100 meters away from the building. Damn! I’m pretty sure that I won’t be “crazy” enough to try that kind of stunt again!!! Ever!!! Well, maybe until I got over with it! It was indeed fun! Correction, it was SUPER!!! My adrenaline was way up so much so that I can’t sleep a wink that night. Well, there is also the fact that every time I’d closed my eyes that night, I dreamt of falling elevators with me inside. My sister scolded me for being an “irresponsible” kiddult for “dragging” a 10 – year old to a traumatic zero gravity, free fall expedition (my cousin also have that falling elevator nightmare that night). Well, what can I say except to repeat the phrase “faced it like a man”, which happens to be my cousin’s favorite mantra. “ )

October 5: Good Evening LA

I landed in LA after a grueling 12 – hour flight from Manila. The flight was quite bumpy due to turbulence from the bad weather in Pacific region near Korea – Japan. Aside from the occasional jolt, the strong winds rock the plane so violently that I actually felt that I’m at sea and not in the air (even though I’ve never been to the sea before). Anyway, the ride was so shaky that I hardly slept on board the plane even though I’m tired and haven’t slept much prior to my trip due to anxiety. However, not many passengers share my trepidation. Most of them including my sister who is traveling with me, slept rather soundly despite the turbulence 37000 feet in the air! In fact, the passengers behind me and beside me in the middle row (I sat in the window aisle near the rear of the plane) snored so loudly that it disrupted any attempt I had in sleeping (this is in addition to the fact that I might also mess up my gelled hair, which I rarely do by the way). Oh! How I envy those hearty sleepers for it’s not easy for an insomniac and a light sleeper to enjoy the simple comfort of sleep. Even so, I tried my best to get some shut eyes. I could actually read the book I carried (“The World Is Flat”) instead but every light inside the plane was shut off and though I could open a reading light to read my book, I risk interrupting my sister’s beauty sleep. No choice indeed but to bear the “torture”. I left Manila on October 5 2200h and arrived in LA also on October 5, 1900h. I arrived on the same date because I passed the International Date Line. So technically, I lived an “extra” 15 hours of life without aging for a day (LA is 15 time zones away from Manila). And because of that, I got to eat 5 square meals and 2 snacks, 3 in Manila and 2 on the plane as well as 2 snacks. Talk about cheating on life. Anyway, I never did planned to visit the US anytime soon having spent my vacation already in China this past Lent. It’s just my sister got only a year’s visa and she wanted to use that before it expired in June of next year and it also happened that my aunt who is living in Taiwan has a long holiday around the 10th. Add one to the other and puff, I’m here. This is my second vacation for the year and I’m with my sister, my aunt, and of course, my cousin, Philip. I joined the Taiwan tour courtesy of my aunt and the trip took me to Disneyland Anaheim on the first followed by a visit to the Chinese Mann Theater, and then to Universal Studio then Las Vegas on the third day followed by a tour of the Grand Canyon, then to Laughlin for some shopping (Oh, I sooooooooooo hate shopping!!!!) next to Calico and Fresno, Yosemite National Park, and lastly, to San Francisco, from where I’d took a plane home on October 12 and arrived 2 days later on the 14th. Anyway, as the plane geared to a landing at Tom Bradley International Airport terminal, I was treated to a beautiful nighttime sight of LA with all the streetlights and the car headlights on. LA looked like the reflection on the ground of the heavenly stars at night. Impressive I would say with all those rectangular street layouts. The first impression I got about LA at least from the airport is that I don’t feel like I’m in the US at all. Truth to tell, I felt like I was at home or least in some Asian world city like Hong Kong or Shanghai for I noticed that there is a predominance of familiar Asian faces at the airport. Even the languages you overheard at the airport are mostly Chinese if not other Asian languages like Filipino. That is my perception until I saw a Caucasian couple, a man and probably his girlfriend locked in embrace and engage in a deep kiss lasting like 2 minutes or more. Now, definitely, I’m in the US! (Among Asians, you would rarely see a public display of affection. Usually, it’s a peck followed by a bear hug) Another thing I noticed in LA is that I saw a lot of fat locals (Caucasian, Afro – Americans, and some Asian Americans as well). They are not just simply chubby or plump or portly. They are really fat as in the size of a boulder! And surprisingly, it’s not the rich people who are fat here in LA. It’s the ordinary Americans! I supposed that McDonald’s and it’s clones are indeed very popular here in the states (or so I thought). Anyway, we were billeted at the Holiday Inn at Buena Park that night. The rooms are ok but not exactly the type that I’m accustomed to but who is complaining as long as I got a comfortable king size bed all by myself. Finally, I could get a welcomed sleep (which I did)! My cousin who is sharing the room with me with his own bed cannot sleep on the otherhand due to jet lag (he even fiddled with the lamp at 5 in the morning waking me up in the process) but not me, no jet lag got hold of me. I definitely slept like a log that night. “ )

The Perils of Being Perfect

In the book, “In Search of Excellence” written by Tom Peters, one of the “traits” of successful companies is in their passion to excel in their endeavor. It is suggested, “that outstanding performance often demands dedicated, even passionate, single – mindedness”. However, another author disagreed with the observation. Danny Miller believes that though passion can ultimately leads to success. It may also be the very reason of their failure and their ultimate demise. Danny Miller in his book, The Icarus Paradox described 4 main trajectories stemming from the passionate pursuit of excellence. They are:
· The focusing trajectory takes punctilious, quality driven Craftsmen, organizations with masterful engineers and airtight operations, and turns them into rigidly controlled, detail obsessed Tinkerers, firms whose insular, technocratic cultures alienate customers with perfect but irrelevant offerings.
· The venturing trajectory converts growth – driven, entrepreneurial Builders, companies managed by imaginative leaders and creative planning and financial staffs, into compulsive, greedy Imperialists, who severely overtax their resources by expanding helter – skelter into businesses they know nothing about.
· The inventing trajectory takes Pioneers with unexcelled R&D departments, flexible think – tank operations, and state of the art products, and transforms them into utopian Escapists, run by cults of chaos loving scientists who squander resources in the pursuit of hopelessly grandiose and futuristic inventions.
· The decoupling trajectory transforms Salesmen, organizations with unparalleled marketing skills, prominent brand names, and broad markets, into aimless, bureaucratic Drifters, whose sales fetish obscures design issues and who produces a stale and disjointed line of “me – too” offerings.
What all this trajectories have in common are that all of them tend to focus on their excellence and pursue it to perfection without considering the practicality of such mindless pursuit. They may produce the most perfect cell phone in the world but the market really doesn’t want a perfect phone with all the loaded features but just simply a phone that they could call their love ones. They could pursue an opportunity so aggressively and so mindlessly that they didn’t realize that they had overstretched their own limits and that such “conquest” is ultimately unsustainable. In the real world, many a company is guilty of one of the 4 trajectories. Companies big or small inevitably fall for the “trap”. It is not that they deliberately walk into it rather they became so obsessed that they lost touch with reality or worst, they refused to accept reality thinking it only as a temporary fad or simply a glitch. And in the end, they pay the price of their hubris. However, such passionate pursuits aren’t really mistake. For it is in their pursuit that these companies attain their success but such passion should be tempered with practicality, prudence, and pragmatism. After all, the dough still comes from the customer and as the saying goes, “The Customer is Always Right…….”

WHEN PASSION IS NOT ENOUGH

Last Saturday, my professor texted me, enjoining me to listen to the radio where he is being interviewed for his prize winning and critically acclaimed masterpiece, “Setting Frameworks: Family Business and Strategic Management”. I did turn on the radio and listen to him briefly before being interrupted with work. During that short time, I heard him saying that “Passion and dreams aren’t enough to make a business succeed (for entrepreneurs). You need good management in terms of planning and control.” I had to agree wholeheartedly with his statement for I personally experienced the truth of such words. I grew up listening to elders (not only my parents) that the secret to success lies in hardwork, determination, patience, perseverance, and most importantly, dedication. “You only reap what you sow” was the popular phrase of that ethics of hardwork. In fact, the Chinese has a word that embodies all the aforementioned noble qualities and that is, “Pha Phiyaa”, meaning to fight and struggle. They even immortalized it in the Fookien pop song, “Ai Phiyaa Jia eh Ya” (Success can only be attained through struggle). Passion is the indomitable spirit that drives people to excel, to achieve feats deemed miraculous, to sustain their effort in spite of reverses and to continue down a path that many laughed as foolish, crazy, and impossible. And for some people, passion is what they lived for. Passion and ideals are so many times that seized me when I was a lot younger but often times things don’t turn up what you hoped for. And the rewards received seemingly don’t commensurate with the amount of effort you’ve poured into. That is when I realized that there is more to success than simple passion alone. Wisdom gathered through learning and experience is equally critical to success. As my professor pointed out in his interview, 90% of start – ups eventually fail not because of the lack of passion, or the lack of hardwork and perseverance neither was capital an issue. Rather it is the lack of foresight and planning that ultimately did them in. In life as in business, passion is important but not the only ingredient to success. If we compare passion to an adventurer who took his boat to the unknown ocean in search of El Dorado, then wisdom is the sun of the day and the moon and the stars of the night that tells our journeyman the time of the day (therefore the tide), the season of the year (and correspondingly the direction of the wind blowing), and the direction we are to take. To possess only passion is like going to the sea without a map or a knowledge of the stars. Though valiant and heroic in facing the perils of the unknown, one often either ends up at the ocean floor or in a distant land far, far away from the paradise that one sought. Conversely, to wield only wisdom without passion is like a landlubber looking at the moon at night in the safety of the shore speculating what the moon looks like at it’s other side from a place beyond the horizon where the sea meets the sky. A landlubber can’t go to places even if he wishes to. Passion is not enough nor is wisdom. You need both to succeed.

WHAT CRIME DID SHE COMMIT TO DESERVE A FATE MOST FOUL?

I read this news item the other day from a local Chinese newspaper. It tells a story of a 15-year-old girl in China. She was abandoned by her birth parents in a grassy lot when she was just a newly born baby. She was later found by a villager, an old lady who in turn gave baby to her son and daughter – in – law to take care of whilst they try to find the young girl’s parents. 15 years has since passed and the baby girl is now a teenage girl. The hopeless search for her parents became a distant murmur and what was once a temporary arrangement of care by her foster family became a permanent bond of family. The foster parents treated her as if it was their own. So much so that even without a formal adoption, the young girl was given the adoptive parents’ surname. Then one day, the little girl discovered her true biological parents and began secretly meeting with them and then she ran away from her foster home and stayed at her true parents’ home. Her foster parents frantically searched for her but when they found out that she had returned to her biological parents, they gave her up and let her go albeit grudgingly. Perhaps hoping that she now finally found her peace. That is until 28 days later, the foster mother learned through a neighbor’s daughter that her “adopted” daughter looked pale and ill at school. Concerned, she went to see her “daughter” only to discover that she wasn’t really ill but was actually starving. The teenager’s biological parents never gave her enough money for sustenance during the day when she was in school. Pitying her, the foster mother took back the “daughter” and at same time, the foster parents sue the biological parents for child support claiming that they abandoned their daughter in the first place and that they didn’t really adopted the young girl but was forced to feed her. Furthermore, the foster parents claimed that the biological parents weren’t really financially incapable to feed the girl since the biological parents have an orchard and 2 fish pens to boot. The biological parents refused claiming that it was the foster parents’ “freewill” to feed their daughter and the latter are not constrained to do so especially if the foster family’s financial strait doesn’t warrant it. As the lawsuit got ever so heated, things took a nasty turn. The act of “betrayal” by the girl in leaving her foster home in favor of her biological parents has left a deep scar in her relationship with her foster family. She wasn’t “accepted” anymore like before. Things got to a head when she decided to go back again to her biological parents, which proved to be the last straw for the foster parents. As a result, the foster family formally disowns her. This time legally. The biological parents on the other hand didn’t take in the young girl either claiming that she was in cahoots with her foster parents to extort them. The biological father even used the analogy of “the dog doesn’t bite the hand that fed her but does it’s master’s bidding” to bolster his claim. And so with this, the young girl is now an orphan not because her parents are dead but because nobody wanted her at all. Poor girl. What did she do to be punished with such a terrible fate? I couldn’t help but felt incensed at it. Incensed at the injustice of it, incensed at the fact that parents could forsake a defenseless and helpless child! I felt even more outrage that a parent would compare their daughter to a dog! Is a person of one’s own flesh and blood be no better than that of a dog? How could people be some cruel to such an innocent child? How could this thing happen in the first place? As my anger simmers down and my logical self returned to the fore, I began to try to figure out how things like this come about. And my logical deduction has led me to the conclusion that they are all guilty of crimes and that they are mere victims of the system as well, all of them are. China is world’s most populous country with more than a billion people and sometime in the early part of it’s communist history, the government has tried to curb the country’s population growth rate through it’s one child policy. So drastic was it’s policies and so ruthless was it’s implementation that China has manage to successfully “tame” their population growth. The population control was not only an outgrowth of practical necessity to curb population size but also as a result of the dire economic necessity prevailing at that time and the geopolitical scenario as well (China was surrounded by the USSR and US allied states at that time and that a simple trade embargo of food supply by the two blocks would trigger widespread famine and chaos if population growth was left unchecked and eventually allowed to outstrip it’s food supply). However, to many Chinese families, having a direct male descendant is of paramount importance more important than one’s life. For without a male descendant, the family line becomes extinct and this is considered a very grave and highly unforgivable offense against the ancestors. Limiting the offspring to only one child increases the risk of extinction of the family line (should something bad happen to the male offspring) and that fate of extinction became sealed once that only child was born a girl. Abortion and infanticide particularly of baby girls became widespread as a result of this policy (in fact, China’s sex ratio is out of balance with more men than women whilst the global sex ratio is slightly in favor of women) and the young girl of this story could had become one of the statistics if not for that kind old lady who found her and gave her to her foster parents. Having said this, the “crime” of the true biological parents is that they made a choice, a terrible choice; a choice that is forced upon them both by the law and by tradition and made with no other viable alternatives. Still, the biological parents could have made amends to their daughter who was thought to be lost but was again found but they didn’t. Years of separation prevented the healthy establishment of a true parent – child bond. They could have worked for it but they chose not to and for that, they are doubly guilty. The foster parents although laudable in their acts of kindness are also guilty of crimes. They are guilty of being poor and hence, the unnecessary incident of asking for child support from the biological parents. They felt that they are being cheated and they wanted compensation for all their trouble, a trouble that they unquestionably assume 15 years ago or was it? They are also guilty of being human, easily hurt by the betrayal of someone so close and dear to them but couldn’t come to terms to forgive the ones who hurt them. To err is human, to forgive divine. They are humans, not saints. They are the young girl’s foster parents not her true parents. They could choose to feed her, shelter her, heal her but aren’t really obliged to do so. And this they lately realized rather coldly. And how about the young girl? What crime does she commits as to deserve such dastard fate? Her crime was that she was born a girl and a human being at that. If she were born a boy, nothing like this would ever have happened but as fate would have it, she was the poor baby girl. She was only human to long for the truth, to long for her true parents, to long for her true parents’ love. With that, she made the grave decision of hurting the persons who truly cared for her. I could only lament for her and at the same time felt little and helpless as well. Oh fate! How cruel is thy joke!

The Day The (Book)Worms Feast

Last Sunday was a double header, for there are 2 book fairs held simultaneously. One is the Chinese Book Fair held at the local Chinese School (Philippine Cultural High School) and the other is the Book Fair held at the World Trade Center at Pasay. For one whole week, I was looking forward for the events last Sunday but unfortunately, I missed the Chinese Book Fair. It happened that they’re open till noon that Sunday and it’s their last day as well. I only managed to get there at around 2pm. Blame that on the “catch up” sleep I usually had every Sunday morning for missing the book fair. Apparently, the old adage of “the early bird gets the worm” or more succinctly, “the early (book)worm gets the books” is never been true in this instance. Too bad, I was looking forward to buying some Chinese history books from the fair, i.e., the ones I didn’t manage to buy in China. Well, I guess I had to wait till next year. Anyway, I did manage though to visit the other fair and boy, oh boy! The place is teeming with “worms” errr bookworms to be exact. It seems to me that I’m not the only one who loved books. Well, the place to me was like a paradise. In particular, Islam’s version of paradise, a paradise where I was surrounded by a harem of 30,000 women except that instead of women I had books. Speaking of women, books are like women. You don’t judge them by it’s cover but what’s inside just like a book. However, the difference between a woman and a book is that one cannot sleep with a book (although I do sleep with my books beside my pillow). And second, books don’t talk back while women don’t stop talking. Anyway, I was so deeply mesmerized by the whole event that I got “dazed” to the extent that I almost didn’t recognize my friend and fellow blogger, Jaz Chan, who was also there to shop for some books (incidentally, Jaz kept a very interesting blog, www.jazchan.blogspot.com. I highly recommend that you visit her blog). I spent about 3½ hours browsing through every book in the shelves per publisher stalls (miraculously, my eyes nor my feet didn’t buckle under the intense punishment I put on them). In particular, I trained my eyes on history books and business books. I got a few nice picks along the way but I didn’t get to buy all of them because they are way, way, way to expensive. Most of the books I chose had a price tag of 4,000 pesos upwards! Not that I couldn’t afford the price or that I’m not willing to spend that much rather I felt that price doesn’t commensurate with “value” of the book. You see I have this intuition that I could buy a similar book for “less” or that the book doesn’t really offer anything interestingly new from what I already knew (but I still want to buy it for my collection if the price is right). As a result of this nit picking, I finally settle down and purchase 4 books that day for a total of 4,000 ++ pesos. They are:
1. “Peripheral Vision: Detecting the Weak Signals That will Make or Break Your Company” by George Day and Paul J.H. Schoemaker; Harvard Business School Press.
2. “Designed to Win: Strategies for Building a Thriving Global Business” by Hiroaki Yoshihara and Mary Pat McCarthy; McGraw Hills.
3. “Philippine Labour Migration: Critical Dimensions of Public Policy” by Joaquin L Gonzales III; De La Salle University Press, Inc.
4. “Chinese Traders in a Philippine Town: From Daily Competition to Urban Transformation” by Norbert Danhaeuser; Ateneo De Manila Press.
Another 4 more books added to my growing library; Another 4 more books added to my long list of books to read; And 4 more books added to my wealth….

POSTSCRIPT
My Professor, Elfren Cruz won the National Book Awards’ Best Book in the Business and Economics Category Prize last August 31. The award given by the Manila Critics Circle is in recognition of my professor’s seminal work, “Setting Frameworks: Family Business and Strategic Management.” Congratulations to my professor for winning such a prestigious award. As an added bonus to winning the award, he now joins his wife as a National Book Award recipient, probably the only husband and wife tandem to receive such a distinguish award. His wife, Neni Sta. Romana – Cruz is a National Book Award recipient for Children’s literature. Having said that, I can’t wait to see him come up with his second book if he ever plans on writing one. I wonder what topic will he write then but rest assure, the title will definitely have the word, “framework” (his column in BusinessWorld is titled, “Frameworks”). We had a joke in MBA, if it is about frameworks, it got to be Elfren (Cruz). “ )

And I Cried (A Teacher on Her First Term)

By Irrah Mari Nightlark

I got this email from a friend of mine and a fellow MBA. She is currently teaching at undergrad school. She didn’t write this story but this might as well reflect her experience as a first time teacher.

I preferred to be known as a terror teacher than one whom my students would love now and forget later. As a student, I've had quite a few teachers myself. Those who gave me sleepless nights and scared me out of my sweaters AND TAUGHT ME THE BEST LESSONS IN LIFE were actually the ones who inspired me to teach.

And so I dreamed... to become a teacher. Early in my adolescent stage, I vowed to take up masteral studies to make sure I'd be prepared for this thankless task. As I joined the corporate world, I had trainees under me (both students and co-employees). I was in heaven each time one would return to share the good news of getting a job, a promotion or a recognition. After a decade of corporate teaching, I knew it was time for the real thing.

I believed... I finished my masters after seven (7) itchy years. And I made it through. Now, the next hurdle was how to get into the academe. It was one elusive dream. It was like killing a chicken, only you never did it ever in the past. Was I to pluck all its feathers, throw it in a caudlron with boiling water, or was I to bang it against the wall and pray that it would land a fried chicken on my plate?

My first day was horrifying. I left my things in the classroom and went back to the faculty room to get chalk or a whiteboard marker. Upon returning to the room, I saw two students reading through my book... including insertions! It was enough to me that they opened the book to see who owned it... but to leaf through notes I inserted? It was a violation of my privacy. And I'd hate it when one didn't respect mine.

I had the most absurd experiences.

Student: Miss, do you have handouts?

Me: It depends. Why? (just to get the cat out of the bag... and jump out it did)

Student: So, Miss, if you don't have hand outs, does that mean I have to take down notes?

Me: Will I dignify your question? (was so tempted to say stupidity)

Student: (rushing in late) Miss, so where are we now?

Me: We've been in the classroom for the past thirty minutes discussing? (sarcastic)

Student: Oh sorry, Miss. I just wanted to know.

Me: Maybe if you came in thirty minutes early, you wouldn't be asking me that question?

Student: Why, Miss?

I give pop quizzes within the first fifteen minutes of my class. Since it starts art 745. The quiz would be from 745 to 800. Grace period ends at 8, was hoping this would motivate them to be punctual. Would you believe this? I would give a pop quiz at the end of my lecture (10 items usually), then I would give the same quiz as a pop quiz for the following meeting --- and my recycled quizzes would even get lower marks?
As I saw their grades declining, I made them manage the class. We made it our KRA or our deliverables. You commit to it, you give me better grades. And they vowed they would... they didn't, majority of the class had lower marks in their pre-finals than in their mid-terms.

I told them they had to submit at least one written project for their pre-finals. But those who would ask for additional work to raise their grades are encouraged to do all four projects. There were two who didn't even make one. And they were the two lowest performers of the group.

My final exam? Look at how I wanted them to pass. I made a grid on which questions during the midterms did most of them get correctly. From this, I made 20 multiple choice questions for Test 1. Then, I gave a "diagnostic exam" just before the start of the second half of the term. I took the very same exam questions for matching type and just jumbled the order. This became Test 2. I gave "three easiest questions" for essay. This became Test 3. --- only one perfected Test 2. But not one of them got to perfect the exam.

One of them, not knowing the answer to essay 2 (which was supposed to be the easiest question) wrote this answer:

"Our Father, in heaven, holy be Your name. Your kingdom come. Your Will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sinned against us. Do not lead us to the test, but deliver us from evil. Amen."

As I wrote the grades in their class cards, I wrote with teary eyes knowing 5 of twelve failed. And when I was to transfer grades into the Final Grading Sheet (FGS), I stopped to cry for the first student who got a failing grade in my alphabetical listing of students. As I continued, I took a deep breath and continued entering the grades. This, I told myself, was to make sure I would not be swept by their pleading later.

Of the five who failed, only three came to pick up their cards personally. Of course I expected that they'd contest their grades. And while I had the documents to support my action, I still dreaded having to meet their pleading eyes.

I showed one of them how I tried to pull her grades up by giving bonuses. After raising her grades by almost 11 points for pre-finals, her midterms just didn't contribute enough to give her an over all passing grade. She pleaded three or four times stating I was the only one who failed her, unknown to her that as another teacher consoled me as I was distressed over failing her, he revealed to me that the same student failed in his class too.
And our reasons and observations were the same.

The other one was in total disbelief. But he later gave up the fight.

The other one, well, he was one of those boys who browsed through my books on the first day. While he was forgiven for his action, he didn't give enough output to raise his grades. A few hours after he got his card, I received a text from him telling me he would do anything just to get a 1 (equivalent to 70). In my mind, all I could say was... I gave you four projects to do it... you only did one haphazardly.

One of those who didn't come, the one with the lowest grade sent me a message... "Miss I just want to know my standing so that I could get an adjustment form if I failed in your class." And this student of mine, never even submitted a single assignment, did not pass any of her quizzes, was always late and would leave the room at exactly 830 pm sharp (to go to the washroom, to take a call, to pay, to do an adjustment, whatever!) each and every meeting PUNCTUALLY.

I know now why some teachers are just plain aloof to the point of being crabby. I know now why... why some are "ruthless"... why some are eaten alive.

....I survived.

Next term please.

A TALE OF 2 “OLD” CUSTOMERS

Saturday’s are collection days. Until recently, I almost always am in charge of collection of the Divisoria area every Saturday but now, I do it only occasionally, my brother is the one handling the task now. Today is one of those “occasional” days wherein I do the rounds instead of my brother. Like most Saturdays, nothing much happened as the task is pretty much routine except that today, I got to meet up with 2 of my previous customers by accident, i.e., I just happened to pass by their storefronts and strike up a conversation. The first “ex – customer” used to be one of my major customer about 3 – 5 years ago. Nowadays, we don’t have any transactions or deals going on as they switch to a low – priced competitor and I retaliated by selling to their most nagging competitor, which I hitherto been refraining to sell back then. Anyway, like in all business dealings, our conversations touch on the usual sales talk and personal matters. I began the conversation by offering them my products and proposing to them the terms and conditions that I am willing to offer to them. Unfortunately, they rejected it saying it wasn’t enough. Inevitably after a series of banter, our conversation drifted into talking about “old times”, when the economy is good and the mutually beneficial and profitable cooperation we had. And along the way, it then turned to their kids, which I knew personally. I was surprised or more accurately “shocked” to learn that their youngest son is just two years away from graduating from college. Dang! When we were having dealings back then, the young boy was just finishing grade school and now, he is almost through with college? Was that a long time ago? Or was time flying past me so fast that I didn’t realize it was that long ago already? Regardless, I felt so old after hearing the news. I know that I’m not young anymore but until today, I realize that I’m old already and no longer the wonder boy that I was years ago (actually it is more like more than a decade ago). I feel so old. After the chitchat, I visited another of my “old” customer, a very “old” one indeed. This second “old” customer of mine was my father’s customer and I came to know them during my stint as a sales agent for the area during my high school years. Anyway, we don’t have any dealings for something like a decade already and I was there in response to an inquiry by the “son”. When I enter the store, I was again surprised to see the “mother” or the wife of the owner during my earlier stint. She looked pretty old from the last I remembered. She gained weight, her face has more wrinkles, a few strand of white hair are also visible, and her motion is cumbersome. Actually, I shouldn’t be surprised about what I saw, for people age and they physically grow old eventually but nonetheless, the imagery stuck with me. It is not the fact that the person I knew is older than what I had pictured in my mind but rather, it is how things has changed over the years that struck me the most. When I was young and a novice, they are in their late forties to their early fifties. They looked “big” and “formidable”. They’re also confident and in “control”. To me back then, they seemed “powerful” and I was nothing but an inexperienced fumbling young man. They possessed such “power” that they could ignore me and they did ignore me at times back then. Even so, I had no choice but to go back to them. I had to. I need to. I need to make a sale. Today however, things are totally different and the roles are reversed and her physical state said it all. I was no longer the young inexperienced novice but an imperious, confident not – so – young man and she was no longer half as threatening as she was before. The balance of power has shifted. I don’t need them anymore. I could have just walk out of the door and ignore them as I did for the last 10 years. I didn’t do just that however. Ever the gentleman, I maintained my cordiality towards her. Besides, she reminds me of my mother who is just as old. I came out of the store wondering what would I be like a few years from now. Would I be like her? Maybe a couple of years later, I would be an overweight (I’m now slightly overweight) old guy slumping on a chair behind a descript desk at the back of the office and standing in front of me would be a brash, young, arrogant bastard who think he is the king of the world and is trying to pull a fast one over me. Would I be “powerless” again? Would I become “old”? Is that going to be my fate? But I never believed in fate before, not by a long shot.

QUOTING GRANT

I’ve bought this magazine, “Great Commanders” about a month ago. The magazine talks about the exploits, the battles and it’s significance in the course of the war, the leadership, and the command philosophy of great Generals and famous Commanders. In every issue, the magazine focuses on one particular general and in this particular issue, the person in question was no other than the great civil war general, Ulysses S. Grant, who later on went to become the president of the United States. Well, being an amateur military historian, I cannot contain my enthusiasm and immediately began to earnestly “study” about the General. After reading the articles, my impression of General Grant was that of an aggressive military leader who believes in the dictum, “offense is the best defense”. His strategies are strikingly simple and rather “straight to the point” creating an impression of boldness, daring, and decisiveness on the battlefield. In short, he is willing to take risk and doesn’t dilly – dally as most generals do at that time. This is the main reason for his success. Upon further analysis, his simple, straight – forward strategic orientation are rooted in his thinking. In particular, 2 of his quotes coming from his experience in the battlefield showed this kind thinking and had struck me the most. The first one is about the encounter with an enemy who had fled upon his approach to the former’s encampment and before any armed confrontation could happen. At that time, Colonel Grant had just assumed command of a volunteer militia unit after a hiatus of several years from active service. He recall the experience on the event in his memoir, stating:
“As we approached the brow of the hill, which it was expected we could see Harris’ camp, and possibly find his men ready formed to meet us, my heart kept getting higher and higher until it felt to me as though it was in my throat. I would have given anything then to have been back in Illinois, but I had not the moral courage to halt and consider what to do; I kept on. When we reached a point from which the valley below was in full view I halted. The place where Harris had been encamped was plainly visible but the troops are gone. My heart resumed its place. It occurred to me at once that Harris had been as much afraid of me as I had been of him. This was a view of the question I had never taken before; but it was one I never forgot afterwards. From that event to the close of the war, I never experienced trepidation upon confronting the enemy, though I always felt more or less anxiety. I never forgot that he had as much reason to fear my forces as I had his.”
The second quote on the other hand was given to a brigadier after the Union army suffered reverses on the battlefield. Here, General Grant scolded the distraught brigadier with these words:
“Oh, I’m heartily tired of hearing about what Lee is going to do. Some of you always seem to think he is going to turn a double somersault and land in our rear and on both of our flanks at the same time. Go back to your command, and try to think what we are going to do ourselves, instead of what Lee is going to do.”
From these quotes, one would realize that often times we tend to “second guess” our opponent’s intentions unknowingly that our opponents are doing the same. Furthermore, in our “obsession” to “second guess” our opponent, we tend to become mere “reactors” to the situations rather than as initiator and controller of events. We tend to focus on the analysis of the situation trying to figure out a way to “mitigate” the pending yet “changeable” outcome whence in fact, the best solution to the problem was to take it by the horn. We tend to sacrifice initiative in favor of security, or more accurately, false security. However, practically speaking, it is still important that we “second guess” our opponent’s intention because if we don’t we might end up losing control of the event that we intend to gain in the first place. But this “second guessing” shouldn’t come at the price of initiative and control. By initiative, it means that we don’t let our opponent dictate what is going to happen next rather that we should be creating what will happen next. In my conclusion, there should come a point wherein we have to decide if further “accumulation” of information for analysis and evaluation is still practicable as an input in our decision making or we have to decide now even with the limited inputs so as not to give up control of event. Time is of the essence and we have to take risk. Although these quotes are made by General Grant in relation to his experience in the battlefield, it can no less be applied in situations outside the military sphere, specifically in the broader management decision making. Though the marketplace is decidedly less “bloody” than the battlefield, it however has its tense and “heart – pounding” moments. And it is here that Grant’s thoughts could be useful in gauging risk taking and bidding time. There was this term I learned from Mintzberg and that is “paralysis by analysis”, which is in essence similar to what General Grant was saying all along albeit in a more general context. Paralysis by analysis refers to the indecision of a leader in situations where the analyses are inconclusive. No conclusion, no decision, no moves, period. It can also refer to the fact that with “over” analysis, we tend to be overwhelmed by the gravity of the situation and balk at making a move. Frozen with fear leading again to no movements. What we ought to learn here is that situations may not be what we thought to be since there are a lot of constantly changing variables in play that our mind cannot conceive, which would drastically alter the outcome and one such variable is the opponent’s or competitor’s trepidations. Aside from that, indecision makes us a sitting duck to the conspiring events and to our competitor’s/opponent’s machinations thereby losing our initiatives to play the events to our advantage. However, to forgo analysis and instead purely rely on “instinct” is also unwise for according to Mintzberg, there is such a thing as “extinction by instinct”. Not everyone possesses a superior instinct and instinct is not grounded on facts but on unconscious gut – feel or for most people, emotion, which would be pretty unreliable during confusing uncertainty, i.e., one may cower when the going gets tough. The best way to make a decision is to analyze up to a certain degree, trust your instinct, take risk, siege the initiative, and improvise. That however, is easier said than done. And it is in this situation that we had to refer to Grant’s quotes.

TO BE OR NOT TO BE

Sometime last November, during my mentor’s book launching party, my mentor, Professor Elfren Cruz approach and asked me if I’m interested to help him realize the creation of the De La Salle University – Graduate School of Business – Alumni Association. Because he was my mentor and I couldn’t refuse him, I immediately said yes without thinking. Thus began my foray into this alumni “thing”. I began my foray with a December attendance to the DLSAA meeting, the umbrella alumni organization of DLSU, my alma matter and there I saw and understood what an alumni association is really about and the difficulties associated with “job”. Then followed a meeting with my mentor during a fellowship night this year where we discuss the “vision” of the proposed alumni association. Prior to that, I was tasked to assemble a group of alumni “volunteers” to get the balls rolling. Unfortunately, it was an arduous task filled with disappointment. Many like the idea of an alumni association but none are willing to work for it. It was really a dismal revelation. I figured that I had to “dig deeper” in order to get it to work. Eventually, I was able to clobber together with the help of my professor and fellow alumni, a core team of 15 – something people dedicated to the task. We held meetings every month with me presiding over. It was basically a talking group with each member eagerly contributing ideas on how to build the organization, how to attract members, and what projects to do. However, nothing really came out of it because we don’t have funds to start with. My professor was really vague about the funding source. Second, we are also caught up with the mess that is the structural change that the university is undergoing and hence, the question of “status” of this proposed organization. Specifically, I was told that we will be a chapter within DLSAA first (which is why I was made to attend the DLSAA meeting in the first place), then this was changed into a semi – independent organization under the DLSAA wing, and finally, as a totally independent organization exclusively for GSB. Anyway, the talking group kept on growing as my peers and I were calling up former classmates and friends to join the group (it now has around 30 members and growing). In fact, I went as far as digging up my class directory lists and called up my classmates and friends. Again, we encountered difficulties. It turns out that most contact info listed in the directories is related to work such as corporate emails, office numbers. A few had listed their cell phone numbers, residential numbers, and personal emails. Most of the people I’ve looked for had already transferred to a new job, which makes their corporate contact info obsolete. Others with listed personal contact info had either already changed their numbers, or are no longer using their emails, or had moved out of the country, or got married and thus changed their contact info as well. It came to pass that I only managed to get in touch with a dozen people more or less out of a list of around 200. Pretty tough. Another difficulty we’ve experienced is that of the generation gap. I mean I was able to call up alumni who have been one time or the other my classmate and that spans around a decade or so but we weren’t able to get in touch with the “older” alumni or those who graduated in the 60s – late 80s. Anyway, growing impatient with the slow progress, my professor decided to make a definitive move by calling a mini – general assembly with himself calling up his former students but which only a few arrived. At any rate, the meeting got a stormy start. One of the attendees was a former student council officer and at the onset, she is decidedly political, discrediting people and posturing herself as the “one”. Well, she manages to earn the ire of just about every participant in the room that day. One of the contentious issue back then was the election officers, which during my “talking days” were never touch because what is the point of having a “king” without a “kingdom” i.e., there wasn’t an organization in the strictest sense for there are no members yet. However, it now seems even that didn’t deter some people from “grabbing” power and credit. It came to past that I got so pique and dismayed by the political noise going on that I started to become “scarce” during meetings though I was also pre – occupied with work related problems. It was only recently, after the conclusion of my work – related problems that I began to be active again with the cause and I announced that to my peers through the email group. And to my surprise, things change dramatically during my absence. An election was scheduled this coming September with calls for recruitment of an initial 100 members. Second, the coordinator of the group, a school staff appointed by my professor the “help” out created a parallel email group without my knowledge. She didn’t even invited me to the new mailing group. I don’t know what I did to her but she was cutting me off the loop. Apparently, as one of my peers says, she seems to favor the “politician” a.k.a., the former student council officer. Thirdly, my mentor was no longer part of the loop also. He has “devolve” the task to the coordinator because he is too "busy". My mentor is staunchly against an election of officers this early but apparently he was “convinced” to agree to the idea by no less than the Dean. It happens that with the “structural realignment” of the university, the Dean became “unduly” interested with the formation of a separate alumni organization, one that he could control I guess. The group coordinator was the Dean’s PR person. So the situation is, we are going to have an election this September to elect a set of officers for a GSB backed alumni organization and all hell began to break loose. When my announcement of returning to active duty was sent, I was surprised to get calls from my peers professing their “vote” for me! The funny thing is I wasn’t even campaigning! It turns out that politics have begun to rear their ugly head and as early as now, there are 4 other “wannabes” (not including me) vying to be the first. They all kept on talking but no concrete moves or actions were made at all towards the goal of realizing the formation of an alumni association. This is the reason why some of my peers wanted me to lead because I was “seen” to be doing something about it. It is too frustrating actually to learn all of this development. I don’t really oppose an election right now but I just think it isn’t right at this time. I mean, as I said the core members are mostly my batch mates and we all belong to the same “generation” of graduates. Older graduates, many of them with high standing in business and society aren’t there in the group. It is the “old generations” that has money and influence and they should be the ones running the show while “youngsters” like me should be “making money” and earning our feathers in the cap. Youngsters like me should be helping out the established guys run the organization and not seize it for our own. By doing so, we would be alienating the “older generations” in the organization and this would be detrimental in the long run since we need their connections, standing, and money to function effectively. But hey, this is politics, nobody cares about the outcome until they are in charge. On the other hand, I also understand the wisdom of an election of officers for this would create a formal structure with an identifiable leadership and a solid backing from the university. This would provide legitimacy, credibility, and authority that would help in attracting members and hence, the formation of the organization. It wasn't an idea to be dismissed outright. Well, it is at this point that I am faced with a dilemma. On one hand, I want to run for the leadership of the organization. I would be a hypocrite not to admit that I desire the empty vanity of the post. But on the same length, I don’t want it either. For one, the post entails great responsibility and takes up too much time and effort, something that I found out during my “talking days” and which I can’t afford to provide. Second, my mentor is out of the picture and from the way things are, I was being forced out from the picture too. If I get elected, I doubted if I could get any support from the university much less cooperation. Third, the issue of funding is of paramount concern. Although the university is providing the seed capital, the organization would definitely need more and as the leader of the organization, the expectation is high that one should provide “cover” for any shortfall to make the endeavor a success. Given that, it is only logical that I shouldn’t be getting myself involve in the mess. After all, politics isn’t my forte. I would rather stay home reading a good book rather than play politics with a bunch of power – hungry, do nothing, try to look good politicians. With these “justifications”, I shouldn’t feel anything at all with the coming election, not the least bit interested. In fact, as a testament to this care – free attitude, I didn’t campaign at all neither I make any effort in recruiting. However, I had this sense of unease lately as September nears. I felt I should join in the fray not only because of my own hypocritical lust for vanity but also because of my sense of responsibility. I don’t owe my mentor anything now to see the task through as he himself is out of the scheme but I felt responsible to the my peers for I invited them to join in the group in the first place. They are there because of me. I felt that I would be abandoning them especially those peers in the talking group. We had met a couple of times. We had spent time, effort, and a few pennies in trying to draw up a coherent plan. To not be able to realize those plans would tantamount to declare that what we did for the last 6 months or so are a waste of our time. I would be the person responsible for the failure (if I didn’t run and realize them) because they look up to me to make it happen in the first place (other people may lead but they may not be adopting those plans). Furthermore, as recent activities or inactivity suggests, nothing is really moving without somebody taking the lead. Election dates and venue haven’t been set. There is no registration. No announcement in relation to that has been made. Nothing whatsoever that would make an election work. Nothing so far that I could see (or perhaps, I wasn’t able to see it because I’m out of the loop) to suggest that there will be an election at all (even though the rumor mills is going on full throttle about this). Something has to be done and all eyes are on me because I was the one who recruited most of my peers into the group and I was the one calling the meetings all the time until recently. Funny, I prided myself in being able to make decisions and stick to it. But now, I’m in a quagmire as to what to do. Should I run or not? As Shakespeare would say in one of his plays, “To be or not be, that is the question”. And yes, it is a tough one.

AND THEN THERE IS 8

Yesterday, the International Astronomical Union finally gave their verdict on the status of Pluto. They voted to downgrade Pluto from a planet into a class of heavenly bodies known as “dwarf planets” (for more info see www.astronomy2006.com) along with Xena, Charon, and Ceres. In short, we now have 8 instead of the long held 9 (regular) planets orbiting our sun. I guess its time to change our long held facts. Funny, how a small group of so – called experts could in one swoop change our long held “facts” just like that. Of the 2,500 astronomers who attended the convention, only 300 showed up to vote. 300 “experts” telling 7 billion people about what the universe should look like. Does the job title, Astronomer, really wield that much say? In ancient Greece, such act would be considered an act of tyranny. Anyway, having 8 planets instead of 9 had it’s advantages. One could say that such a move is tantamount to a cost cutting measure. For one, instead of adding 3 more pages to textbooks and encyclopedia about the other “dwarf planets” (Xena and the gang) complete with pictures and details if Pluto were retained. Publishers could now just simply ripped off the page on Pluto and still make sense and money. NASA could save billions because they don’t have to launch 3 more space probes to explore the 3 new planets if it were declared as such. Lastly, we could save money in building our model solar system now that Pluto is gone. Cost – cutting and I thought that only happens in business. Little did I realize that it could apply to science as well.

8 OR 12? WHAT MAKES A PLANET?

The International Astronomical Union has opened their annual conference in the Czech Republic’s capital, the Prague last August 16. One of the most talk about or widely followed topic during the meet is the proposed definition of a planet. You see a planet used to be simply defined as any spherical heavenly object that revolves around the sun. That definition however was put into question as technological advances allow astronomers to view the sky more accurately than before. Sometime in 2003, scientists discovered a spherical object much farther away from Pluto, the supposedly “last” planet in our solar system, revolving our sun. What complicates the matter is, the object was found to be larger than Pluto. So the question that begs to be answered was, “is it a planet?” That heavenly object was named UB313 or Xena, after the mythological Greco warrior – princess. In due time, scientists were able to discover other spherical objects revolving the sun and some of them are actually way bigger than Pluto but smaller than our moon. So again the question, are they planets as well? Two rival camps had since sprung up in relation to this question. One camp maintains that Pluto is a planet and therefore any spherical object that is larger than Pluto and revolves a star should be considered a planet. The other camp on the other hand believes that Pluto shouldn’t be a planet at all and it’s inclusion in the first place was a mistake brought about by our limited technology back then. Their premise is that Pluto is too small, smaller than our moon. It is in fact a ball of ice orbiting our Sun in outer fringes of our solar system. This therefore makes any spherical heavenly object revolving a star that is “Pluto – like” should be struck out as a planet. The former argument in favor of Pluto would result in the addition of 3 more planets in our burgeoning solar family, namely, Charon, formerely Pluto’s moon, Xena, and Ceres, which used to be an asteroid in the asteroid belt in between Jupiter and Saturn. On the opposite end, the latter argument would trim the planet list to 8 from the original 9. So what is the fuss all about? Well, it is the implication of this new planet list. On the lighter side (and somewhat comical one), if you are a believer in astrological prediction of which I am definitely not. The addition of 3 new planets should theoretically fine-tune their prediction, which therefore means that one would be able to find their soul mate at the exact time and place as written in the stars. The removal of Pluto shouldn’t be that bad, for a soothe sayer could make Pluto as a scapegoat for their earlier “mis-predictions” since Pluto shouldn’t be in the equation in the first place. Teachers, educators, and textbook publishers would have to revise what they teach to schoolchildren incorporating this latest definition of a planet starting perhaps next year. The implication of this momentous change was the creation of a generational shift much like the generational difference between Baby boomers and Gen Xers. Imagine this, schoolchildren taking up astronomy class next school year would be taught that the solar system is made up of 8 or 12 planets instead of 9 that we all used to accept. By then, we would call these kids and kids after them as Generation 8 or Gen 12 and people before them including old timer like me, Gen 9ers. Science fiction authors, movie and TV producers and even game publishers would have a hey day with remakes incorporating this newfound definition. Imagine Star Trek’s United Federation of Planets having 12 Sol system member planets instead of 9. And instead of fearing a Martian invasion, we should also worry about invasion of Amazons from the planet Xena. But kidding aside, seriously speaking, as a science enthusiast and a romanticist, I had to admit that I felt sentimental about Pluto. I don’t want it remove from my list but then also, I’m not exactly enthusiastic about welcoming Xena and the rest either. What can I say? I grew up knowing that our solar system is made up of 9 planets and it is one of the few “constants” that I hold in life (I’m a person who holds very, very few constants in life with the rest being arbitrary). Now, it looks like it is going to be change. Well, I should have known better. As science progresses, our understanding of our universe expands as well. What was once deemed true and universal may no longer be the case as we discover more of what it is out there. Keeping an open mind and keeping abreast with the unraveling truth is an imperative in our modern lives. There are times however that I wish that I could see a star at night for what it is, the star of our childhood dreams, a star that we wonder about, amaze of its beauty, wish upon during our young life and not the distant solar system light years away. That would however be naïve in my age. Guess I had to live with the fact that our solar system will have 8 or 12 planets depending on the outcome of the vote on August 24 by the IAU. But my question is, for how long would this “fact” stand?

Afterthoughts Upon Receiving An Unexpected Phone Call

Two Sundays ago, I received a very, very unexpected call. No, it’s not my ex or anybody else but from someone that one wouldn’t think of in a million years, my competitor or to be more exact, my competitor’s wife. She has an interesting proposition to make, a proposition that I wouldn’t have dreamt of at all. She is offering to sell me their business. Wow! That was a huge offer but I’m not buying because she was asking for a stiff price. Anyway, the point is that I should be feeling exceptionally good about the offer but I don’t exactly felt that way. Instead, I felt disturb for an entirely different reason. I should be happy about the way events had turned out mainly for two reasons. First, is that I got rid of myself of a pain in the neck and second, it is mark of honor and pride that your competitor finally acknowledge your “superiority” by “surrendering” their “kingdom”. As things turn out, the reason that my competitor’s wife sold the business was because she ran out of cash and the circumstances that led her bankruptcy was due to their “internal” family problems. My competitor used to be very big. In fact, they are humongous in our eyes. Well, it is because we were small if not tiny back then. They are actually a medium size firm with several subsidiaries, around 10 perhaps if I’m not mistaken. We are in the same line of business as they are and they are very, very intolerant of competition for they throw everything at us including the kitchen sink. They used every tactics, the dirtier the better; no niceties just to drive us out of business. And in those trying times, I say that they could have succeeded if we weren’t made of sterner stuff. I truly hate them for that. But times had changed, indeed! For who would expect that 20 years later, I would be getting an offer from them? Their business is actually still viable and probably profitable if not for their family woes. It happened a long time ago according to rumors. They are once a happy couple with two kids and then, they had a nasty fight and things turn sour. My competitor, the husband started to had affairs outside marriage and no sooner, he had a string of mistresses. He later went to China and started a business there with one of his trusted lieutenant by his side. In China, the husband took in a concubine and had a son with her. The wife upon learning an inkling of her husband’s indiscretion began actively scrutinizing him, investigating him, stalking him. One time, it was rumored that she learned through a private eye that she hired the whereabouts of her husband and she went there. Climbing over the walls to the backyard and sneaking into the house, she was shocked to discover that her husband was having a threesome with another woman along with his lieutenant. What happens next was anybody’s guess. At any rate, they separated (though they didn’t divorce or got an annulment) and no sooner than later, the wife began to take in lovers of her own even bearing one child after the other for every “husband” she had. Since, the husband was a foreign national and couldn’t legally own assets in the Philippines, every asset and businesses were in the name of the wife. She began to squander the fortune by showering her lovers with gifts and she opened one business after another for her lovers. The lovers only manage to take as much as they can get their hands on and as the oil well went dry, they left her. She was left with nothing except for her bruised ego and their love child. And so it began, she sold off one business after the other to finance her life or what left of it and partly, to take revenge against her true husband for forsaking her. Their children seeing that their parents are squandering their inheritance hiked off with the remaining cash in the bank accounts as well as skimming the company profits and left their mother to herself. In the end, she was left with nothing but the crown jewel that is the business and she offering it to me. For that, I could be more than overjoyed. However, the “victory” ringed somehow hollow, if not illusionary. I prefer to earn that singular distinction of putting them out of business as they tried on us but failed decades ago. I prefer seeing their face on the ground with one of my foot on top of them like a conqueror or even like a buffoon who thinks he is Napoleon but not like this. I don’t want to take the victory “prize” from a silver platter that they handed to me because of their own problems. Not this way. The husband, the last I heard fared no better and was struggling in China. His once trusted lieutenant skimmed profit from the company, took away his clients, pirated his staff and employees, and turn around and almost drive him out of business. Talk about double crossing. This may all sound like a script in one of the popular soap opera but this is no TV act. It is real life. Their story could elicit pity from anyone who hears their tale but I don’t pity them. I simply cannot…… Though I have no love lost for my competitor, I cannot help myself but felt “disturbed” by what had happened. I came to learn a few things from this “story”. First, wealth but is only fleeting. One could spend half of their lifetime amassing their fortune and squander them in half the time. If wealth is the end all be all goal then, I say one is a fool to built their house on shifting sand. Second, business fails for many a reason but ultimately from bankruptcy. However, family problems or marital problems could be just as detrimental as outdated product lines and poor investment choice. Thirdly, I cannot help but wonder about the wisdom of marriage. Is marriage practical? I mean we have two people from different families with different background, different culture, different belief coming together and expects to live happily ever after. How could that be? We are trying to “fused” in two different cultures, two different beliefs, and two different worlds each with their own idiosyncrasies into one. The resulting situation is unstable and conflicts are inevitable. Is it then any surprise that stories such as those of my competitors happen? If marriage were to work, is love enough? Is love all we need to make a marriage work? Or do we consider character of our future mate? Their personality? The chemistry or the rapport between one and his wife? Perhaps…….

And They Call It Customer Service

It's been 3 weeks since my phone line cum DSL line went down and until now, it wasn't yet fix. I've been calling the phone company's repair service since the 30th and I still get the same response, "Yes sir, I will report this to the repair service" or "Sorry sir but we are just the call center representatives but I will personally follow it up for you." Crap! 17 days! 17 days!! And my phone line is still out. I got so impatient about the inefficiency that I went to the branch 2 weeks ago to report my complaint and the explanation I got was that the lines were totally messed by the last typhoon. Ok, in that case, I thought that it is understandable for a certain bit of delay but when things didn't improve last week, I got so pissed that I decided to try an "alternative" method. I got hold of a line man's number and asked him point blank to fix my line in consideration for a "tip". The line man agreed and we had a deal but as thing turns out, he didn't show up. When confronted, the line man told me that the phone company is undergoing a restructuring with plans to totally "remove" the repair service department and outsource it to a third party. Guess what? Who is the third party? None other but the former company line men. Pretty bright idea indeed. Turning your employees into your contractual partners and consultants and in one swoop transform your fix cost into a variable cost since the contract line men get paid on a per phone line fixed basis. No overtime pay, no benefits whatsoever. Pretty bright (I would have done it the same way) except that their employees don't buy it! The result is that the line men are initiating a work slowdown to "voice" their protest over the scheme. Their work has grind to almost a halt as a consequence with only 10 lines repaired per day against 200 assigned per team. Talk about efficiency. Damn! I am sandwich in between a labor dispute and my phone line is held hostage by both the nincompoops who thought of the bright idea in the first place but didn’t provide a backup plan in case the entire scheme backfired and the overtly sensitive, egoistic, uncompromising line men! Because of this work slowdown, the phone company’s management has initiated a strict monitoring system, so much so that the line man I’d dealt with couldn’t “manage” to take a time off to fix my line. Damn!!! Talk about customer service. If this case were in the States, probably the Trade department would have already intervened to protect consumer interest but as it turns out, I’m in the Philippines and the only thing I can do is suffer, fume, curse, and write a blog about it!