Saturday, September 20, 2008

Referee's Lessons

I have found myself in the middle of a He said-She said situation the past couple of days and it fascinates me how men and women can think so differently.

It's amazing how a woman (not excluding myself) can endlessly search for meaning behind a word, a look, a touch, a moment... or even a coincidence.

It's perplexing how men are so much simpler than women give them credit for. Aside from some isolated cases perhaps, "what you see is what you get" basically applies to them.

A woman needs validation, affirmation, or at least clarification.

A man can deny an issue hoping it would go away on its own. (not entirely a male characteristic I admit hehe)

A woman needs a deeper meaning; a security of a concrete definition (well no matter how I claim that I enjoy vagueness and gray areas, I admit, I can relate)

A man can just... enjoy the moment.

Admittedly, I would like to insert a scorching comment here about how guys can be so insensitive, but I suppose us girls need to loosen up a bit, too.

Heniwey, my guidance counseling gig led me to some introspection and eventually to some liberating realizations.

There were really no unwritten words between those carefully archived lines.

This guy's sweet gesture is NOT teeming with unspoken words.

The years of history with that one doesn't have to make sense, even.

The compliment the other night does not mean he's going to cross the seven seas for me. hahaha

To hope something deeper comes out of this other thing is useless.

As a wise Canadian guy once said, it stings like hell, but accept it and move on. Some people don't see you in that light, but you'll find someone else who will. As soon as you let go.

Interesting.



Friday, September 19, 2008

NOVEMBER 5

Wahahahaha!

Tuesday, September 16, 2008

Meme: 4 things

Four things

Four jobs I’ve had
  1. Writer
  2. CSR
  3. pre-school teacher
  4. gs teacher
Four movies I can watch over and over
1. Bucket list
2. As good as it gets
3. wedding singer
4. life is beautiful
Four places I’ve lived
  1. pampanga
  2. up n up vill
  3. makati
  4. tierra pura
Four TV shows I love
1. house
2. lost
3. friends
4. grey's
Four places I’ve vacationed
  1. Sagada
  2. Ilocos
  3. Baguio
  4. puerto galera
Four of my favorite dishes
1. baby back ribs
2. crispy pata
3. sisig (yes, death wish)
4. chicken ala kiev
Four sites I visit daily
1. multiply
2. my blog
3. friendster
4. mail
Four places I would rather be right now
  1. venice
  2. marrakesh
  3. sagada
  4. france
Four bloggers I am tagging
1. Liz
2. Bubbles
3. Nica
4. Ben

Wednesday, September 10, 2008

Grabbed from Tin hehe




The value of the UP Experience

There are no children here

This week, I went to a meeting at the UP School of Economics and I came
away with renewed belief in the value of the UP experience.

If you speak to anyone from UP – student, professor, alumnus - you will get
no Latin slogans or apologies about how the school teaches values in spite
of its outward materialism. This is not a student population that thinks
about
basketball games or memorizes school songs. This is not a school that
chooses one statement to drill into the minds of its students.

This is not, of course, to say that UP does not care about values. It is
that
UP, in its own inimitable way, believes that values cannot be force-fed.
The statue of the naked man that guards the entrance to the campus in
Diliman best represents UP's approach to all education and the respect for
students that is the center of its educational philosophy. All who come to
this university, regardless of origin, bring themselves naked, carrying
nothing
but their thirst; like the proverbial empty teacup, making an offering of
self,
waiting to be filled.

Adults

For many students from private schools, the first lesson that is learned
here is that this is a school for adult education. There are no children
here,
and that is why no parents are allowed either at freshman orientation or
during enlistment.

The spirit of the oblation lies not in a mother or a father offering up his
child to the world, it is that of the newly adult, freely offering of his
self.

I remember quite vividly that moment that drove home how different the
UP education continues to be. It was my daughter's first semester in
university and she had invited a group of her high school friends to our
house. One of them asked a classmate whether she had gotten her parents
permission form approved for that weekend's outreach activity. From the
UP population around the table came the mock horrified responses of:
"Permission? " and "Outreach?"

I thought about it and realized that all of these students were, in fact,
legally adults. I thought it interesting that only the UP students appeared
to appreciate this fact.

Even more interesting was the "outreach" comment. I think back to my own
university years and the last three years that my daughter has been in UP
and am certain there is no lack of civic activity. There are medical
missions, house building projects, tree planting, community work and barrio
work and so on. I realize now that the reaction was not to the activity as
much as it was to the use of the word.

One of the most important differences of the UP campus from all the other
campuses my children considered going to is that this campus has no walls.
Many parents fear this. They are afraid their precious children will not be
protected from the ills of society in a campus that is so open to the rest
of
the world.

But UP is open to the world in more ways than just not having the physical
walls.

Community

Being in UP means much more than being a student. This campus is
enmeshed in a community. This community is made up not only of the
transient population of students who go home each night. It includes the
many,
many students who lay their heads on dorm pillows each night, enduring time
away from families in the firm belief that this campus will bring them
closer to
their dreams. This community includes the families of faculty and employees
who live on campus. It also includes the many people who work not for the
University, but nevertheless work on campus. This community includes the
lady who remembers the brand of cigarette you smoke and automatically
hands it to you in the morning. It includes the gentleman who remembers you
like pepper on your egg sandwich or the one who knows you will dip your fish
balls into two of his sauces, who patiently waits for you to eat your three
sticks before being paid. It includes the woman who saw all her children
through college by selling peanuts every day on campus.

To a UP student, the daily heartbeat of the school is never far away from
the realities of the country. The word outreach suggests that civic activity
is
something outside of the normal, something you do once in a while. It must
be
immensely difficult to think of community as a thing apart when your campus
experience brings you face to face with all of the world's realities every
day.

Character

All of this probably explains that unmistakable sense of self that you will
find from students who come from this campus.

Here is a campus where all have the same opportunities to learn. But also,
here is a campus that will give all the same opportunities to fail. There
are no
guidance counselors who will chase after you because you have been skipping
classes. The attitude this university takes is that you must take the
initiative –
for learning, for seeking help, for realizing you need help.

That is not to say that no help exists. But it is help that is not forced
upon you.

This is a university rich in both introspection and conversation. On this
campus,
the student is constantly exposed to people – faculty, administrators,
community
members, other students – who care deeply and passionately about the world.
The conversations are almost never purely cerebral. A single graph can
provoke
comments about government policy and its effects on people.

As a result, UP is home to a student population that looks at the world and
cares.
It is easy to see pictures of protesting students and dismiss it as
radicalism. But
there are few campuses in this country where students go beyond a passing
curiosity
about what is happening in the world beyond their own lives. There are even
fewer
universities where students not only care but also actually believe they
have a
responsibility to make a difference – not in some hazy future – today.

And that, I believe, is what truly forges character. Character is not molded
by
speeches or long classes in ethics or theology. Character grows from within.
It
begins by being handed the keys to your own self and being told you are in
charge;
you now have power over yourself and your own actions – and with that power,
you
take on responsibilities.

Each student in this university goes through his own unique voyage of
discovery.
On his voyage, as he decides what he cares about, what he will fight for and
what
he will sacrifice, he crafts his own personal values. That is what education
is truly about. =)


Monday, September 8, 2008

I'm Sorry

I guess explanations, apologies and goodbyes are in order. I know the decisions I've been making affects too many people more than I can ever comprehend. I have no excuse for all the pain that I am causing; the questions that are now reeling through your minds. I just have to do this now. I'm really really sorry.


Wednesday, September 3, 2008

Hit by a lightning

Could I have possibly been hit by a lightning and not notice it?

Interesting conversation with my editor:


meg : oh well. if u survive after sticking metal stuff into sockets, tell me about the experience
meg : if you saw a bright light or sumthing
Jordan : haha...I'll write a book about it
Jordan : That's kinda what I'm going for..
meg : cool. that is if ur brain aint fried by then
Jordan : True. U know, they say that if you survive being seirously electricuted that your personality totally changes..
Jordan : actually..they don't SAY, that's fact.
Jordan : So if you get struck by lightning...and survive..
Jordan : you'll be a totally different person than u r now.
meg : maybe that's what any near death experience does to people
Jordan : Nope. Just being electrocuted..
Jordan Sanders: Rearranges the neurons in your brain..
meg : so if i want a personality make over....
Jordan : Fly a kite in the thunderstorm.
Jordan : Exactly.
Jordan : Or work for MotherTongue..


Been talking to Litz about stuff I've been doing that are.. out of character. And I wondered out loud: but you know, at the end of it all, the stories you go back to are the crazy stuff you did.So what really matters?

Like Yo and I screaming from the top of our lungs over the busy traffic of EDSA at the MRT overpass in Quezon Ave.

Staying up until morning at the Sunken Garden.

Skinny dipping.

... and a lot of spur of the moments stuff.

Could this go-crazy-while-I'm-young be reeling out of control?