I’d wanted to do another movie bashing, this time on Blood Diamond… but I saw one written up by a fellow Davao blogger, and I thought, hey! this is so much more on the ball! So I’ll forego my own review and let you read this one @ Southisms.
I just adore bitchy movie reviews hehehe 
Of course you’re entitled to your own sentiments, but I heartily agree with my fellow blogger that the movie suddenly deflated somewhere where, as Kim says, the director called cut.
In the 15 years — on and off — that I’ve been studying the Japanese language, I’ve never been to Japan. I’ve gotten pretty good at it too, if I do say so myself, and I can carry a decent enough conversation with my Japanese friends. What’s more, I’m actally making money out of translating legal documents, company profiles, brochures, etc. But I’ve never been able to realize my linguistic potential. ••• Read on»
Tagged: brain drain, overseas work
Of course I knew that any comparison to LOTR would be quite unfair to any new entrant into the genre. So, I prepared not to be too judgemental towards Eragon when I set out to watch this movie. ••• Read on»
Tagged: movies
Each year for our grandmother’s birthday celebration on 19 January, the uncles and aunts always try to come up with something unique or memorable. This year, Nanay’s 84th, it was a beach overnight at a newly-opened resort on Samal Island. What made this year even more special was that many relatives living abroad or in Manila — especially my cousin Paolo, whom we hadn’t seen in years — came home to celebrate with Nanay.
Too bad, though, that my own family wasn’t in attendance. The folks went to Manila to see mom’s sister, my dearest Tita Baby, who’s been living in California for many, many years now. Jake, my younger brother, had to go on a business trip to Zamboanga. And our youngest, Julienne, has been in Quezon City with her own family since forever. It could’ve been really great if my nephews could’ve been at the beach party with our cousins’ kids…. Still, the important thing was that Nanay was happy with the turnout. ••• Read on»
Tagged: beaches, island getaway, Samal
I’d like to wish everyone the best of their dreams for 2007. May we all find true fulfilment and deep joy in ourselves and from among the people around us.
Malipayong Bag-ong Tuig kaninyong tanan!
"There is no such thing as a bad student, only a bad teacher."
This is one of the few adages that has deeply impressed me. It came back to me today after hearing of the head of a voluntary organization’s laments amid the alleged apathy of his constituents. A leader who has to complain about how his followers aren’t exactly following… this kind has no capacity to lead at all. ••• Read on»
Tagged: leadership
I spent Holy Week with a couple of friends on Siargao Island. We’d originally planned to go to Boracay some months before, but then I got caught up in my work. My sweet friends, they canceled the Boracay trip altogether because they didn’t want me to miss out on the fun. And so Alex, Bamba and I, we went on a mini-Amazing Race to one of the northernmost islands of Mindanao. (Mindanao: a land replete with diversities it’s easy to see why it’s so misunderstood.) ••• Read on»
Tagged: Siargao, surfing, Travel, vacation
With the opening of Japan’s doors to Filipino nurses, I feel torn between two lovers, so to speak. My two occupations, as it were. As the executive director of an association of IT companies in Davao, one of my lookouts is to encourage jobs creation in my city. But as a Japanese language instructor, I am (supposedly) not bound by any concerns regarding the proverbial “brain drain” that has been plaguing my country. ••• Read on»
Tagged: brain drain, outsourcing, overseas work
In my professional life, I write a lot. My column, brochure copy, reports, business letters, research papers, proposals, etc. So much so that it’s come to a point when I feel my writing style has become too… “technical” (whatever that means). I miss high school as much as anyone would, but I have an additional nostalgic longing: I wrote more from the heart back then.
All throughout high school I wrote a journal. But it was a special kind, because each entry was written like a letter, which I gave to a dear friend for her to read and keep. After graduation, she presented it to me as a gift, all bound and neatly arranged by date. She said, “This is you.” Boy, that frightened me. After overcoming the dread of self-discovery, I read and reread it the whole summer vacation. And no matter how I tried to twist the content to my own interpretation, there was no escaping that it was written by me, and written with painful honesty and passion. ••• Read on»
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