I am the master of my fate, I am the captain of my soul.

From What the eyes cannot see

There are things in life that impact us - be it lessons taught or lessons learned. But as we go about our circadian, these priceless nuggets lose its meaning and is soon forgotten. So, to honor this timeless poem that i heard while watching a movie today - I will post it in my blog:


INVICTUS
William Ernest Henley. 1849–1903

Out of the night that covers me,
Black as the Pit from pole to pole,

I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.

In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced nor cried aloud,

Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed.

Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the horror of the shade,

And yet the menace of the years
Finds, and shall find me, unafraid.

It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll,

I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul.

TIME

From What the eyes cannot see

What is it about the random but steady ripples of time?
That even the renowned Little Prince
Spoke about life through rhythm and rhyme
Which my thoughts bedazzle

Upon the heavens the stars stand as witnesses
Of the first walk from the first men in Africa
To its other quests bringing the peak of ruthlessness
And the greatest of chivalry all at once

Sublime is it to see the ticking of every clock
Rising and setting - the passing of each day
Our shadows bouncing to and fro along with our epochs
As we shun the important ones for thingamajigs

Ancient natural philosophers see the water and waves
Others conceive the eternal and immutable
Many believe in a God that saves
But did this really serve well in our daily ways?

Everyone agrees that time is linear
And yet man continues to commit looping mistakes
Do learning curves form a loop too?
Irrational thinking for a rational being

Zonked Out

My girlfriend and I went out to the Parkmall last night, it was a cold and wind-chill filled evening, and decided to check out some food shops where we can get some pica. So we then proceeded to finding a nice place and after a good tramp around area we chose to dip our taste buds with something that wasn’t familiar to us. And Since there were a few new resto’s in the vicinity, we threw the dart while blindfolded and picked one.

This restaurant has an above average façade, a huge LCD TV on the inside and had paintings all over the area and had a small terrace right on the second floor – quite a good choice if you ask me. We sat down, had a quick glance at their menu and in less than 20 seconds, we knew were in for a poignant surprise.

We thought we had the concept all figured out with the manner in which the entire store packaging was presented but apparently their dishes said otherwise. We stared, browsed, got confused, read, reread, flicked and flicked some more from one type of food to the other while trying so hard to understand – and I guess see the point, of what is being offered. They had such a myriad of food categories (pasta, appetizers, soup, desserts, beef, pork, vegetarian and etc) to choose from but only had so little options to choose from each (probably had three soup choices and four pasta choices and three desserts and etc). What’s worse is that you cannot even identify if it’s supposed to showcase American, Pinoy, Italian or whatever cuisine – and it’s not even right to tag it as Fusion simply because it just did not have any identity. It sure does make say, “What were they thinking?”

This ushers us to the simple fact that strengths should be developed further before weaknesses are to be treated. Here is a bistro that wanted so hard to impress its diners with the range of choices (or the lack thereof) that they present to them but only had very few offerings – talk about spreading yourself too thin!

Without question, it was clearly evident that this restaurant was run by an amateur. Not that I am claiming to be a restaurant guru myself, but I felt that it was not a well thought of investment especially that you would already be zonked out just to put up the business. Maybe I am spiteful to these restaurants where I can see huge and exciting opportunities for growth. But their millionaire owners just didn’t care enough or do not know enough where to strike them and instead they just pack-up and leave.

The most successful food places start with an attractive concept, this word is what encapsulates the place and in turn helps gravitate more and more customers to you. And when the business concept is poor, it will still gravitate customers but towards the opposite direction – away from you.

Oh well, I wish that store all the best, but with how it stands, I doubt if it will survive the next 6 months.

Glaring Lights

From What the eyes cannot see

by Al John Chiong

Dark gray skies that blankets all under heaven
Stings from the cold breeze that are around me
Buzzing sounds of people moving there and then
It sure seems like it’s the same bad movie

I frantically dash looking for a sanctuary
With my washed up esteem as I carry through
Thinking I could never cope with this voyage-
A trek not worth of its mission’s crew

Stifled from infinite daunting tasks
A long list of things unravel its ugly face
That even forever cannot dare to outlast
As taunts from misery continue to dance with grace

Worry ruptures immense screams out of me
While keeping serenity that emanates the outside
But craving for hours that be
Where I get to finally dictate the route of my life’s tide

Exhaustion creeps as the hour strikes twelve
I am back to reality as I pack up to leave my plight
And my spirit starts to rejuvenate
As I make my way through the glaring lights of the night

Calamity Struck – Hard!

On September 26, 2009 – the worst rain fall (a whole month’s worth of it) in decades was experienced by Metro Manila in just less than 24 hours. This led to hundreds of people dead and hundreds of millions worth of damage to real and personal property. The result was a city in chaos at its finest. Cars were tumbled over each other, strong currents pushed aside everything in its path, thick mud was everywhere, people trapped by gushing waters – stranded on the rooftops of their homes. And more importantly the biggest whiplash is the pain, the suffering, the unspeakable horror that most people in Manila had to go through.

How can such a disaster even happen to the most developed cities of the Philippines? How come the PAG-ASA was not able to foresee the amount of rain this typhoon “Ondoy” was about to bring? How come a day before this tragedy the international stage saw that there would be massive floods that will unfold, yet we did not heed?

There are so many “How” questions more than the “Why’s” to this tale. Because aside from the fact that we already know the answer to most of the “Why’s”, it just looks like no one seems to care at all. This was an obvious brew of poor city planning and lack of social/environmental awareness. People would always debate that it’s only natural that we become reactive to the things that are improbable – but wake up! Typhoons are not shrouded by uncertainty, it is not something we cannot prepare for, and lastly, this was never new to us!

The Philippines has come to a point that majority of the population just do not care anymore. We are in this false state of being infallible, sheer apathy against the country we were taught to love and swear to fight for. But where are we now? Apparently, 90% of people I know would want to work abroad in a heartbeat and close to 75% would want to migrate somewhere else with their family and relatives – isn’t this an indication enough that our country sucks big time? I even heard the daughter of the former President Cory Aquino, Kris Aquino say, “Bilib talaga ako sa mga Pilipino, kapag merong kalamidad tulad nitong si Ondoy, ay talagang nag tutulungan tayo.” But is this how we truly measure our values and strength of character now as a nation? That we have to wait for natural and man made catastrophes for us to stand up to the plate? Then when all is said and done, we go back to our lazy-ass selves?

If there is one message that all of these misfortunes would want to tell us, it is that we are not seeking for ways to improve but we just keep moving forward. Kaizen, as the Japanese would coin it, is advocating for the continuous hunger for the need of improvement. Sadly, Filipinos as we are, we dubbed this as “Kasi eh…” or “because uhmmm…” which connotes a cheap excuse and a refusal to accept responsibility. As a nation, we continue to find the easy way out and end up learning nothing because our fate as a Filipino is only as good as the efforts we put into it – which in this case, sad to say, isn’t much.

Pea Brain!

How important a role is it to represent a business entity?
Much more on the task of running it?
Have you stumbled upon dumb and dumber somewhere?

Apparently they are out there – a million and one of them just waiting to ruin someone’s happy day. These people are the ones we know that are on Santa’s naughty list year on year. They never seem to run out of ways to start or fuel a stressful situation that, if they were a tiny bit smarter, would have never occurred in the first place!

Maybe its lack of training, mentoring or performance tracking but whatever it is, if you are in your right mind – you should execute the job you’re paid for in a manner that meets the norm. Or is the new norm waaaaay below standard now?

These airheads come with different faces, names (and sizes, mind you!) – Anywhere from assholes to zipless!

But from the book I read about body language, it warns us of grumpy people that have been exuding dissatisfaction/negative energy most of their lives. This can be seen by their down-mouthed expression, an expression similar to a bulldog’s face. If you just take the time to notice, there are a couple of them especially the ones sitting all day long behind a government office counter. (The Definitive Book of Body Language by Allan and Barbara Pease: 2004)

Smarts, they say – is nurtured thru time and experience.

Intelligence on the other hand is mostly hereditary as the brain faculties play a big part in thinking and processing thought as seen by tests made by scientists thru an FMRI.

But more than any of these two, the experts conclude that the brain works just like any other muscle in your body. If you want to get the most of out if, you need to keep using it or you’ll lose it! Brain power is built through continuous firing of neurons in the cerebrum; this is its way of strengthening itself. But hey, this blog is not about “How to improve your Brain Power – for Idiots.” This blog is for all the idiots in the world to know that they are idiots (first and foremost). And they will continue to be idiots until someone, or hopefully themselves, do something rational about it.

Anyhow, unintelligible people are permanently weaved in the DNA of our society, its part of the entire system of functionality in which we revolve around day to day. I personally cannot think of a world that doesn’t have them, it would seem so odd and utopia-like.

The Heist of Life

From What the eyes cannot see

Why is it that…

When you wake up, your eyes feel a lot heavier than before you slept?
Just when we got the things we want, we still want something more?
Most people that are in a hurry are the ones getting late?
You brought home the bacon but still felt empty inside?
Some go to church and hear mass every Sunday but found no God?
We cannot tell what is too hot and too cold from a distance?

Are these the faculties of the world we gait with? Or are these merely some erratic freak of nature that is non-falsifiable? Given the social fabric of today, we are more empirically inclined to immerse ourselves in societal culture and understanding. We cannot afford to remain ignorant with the all the things that we are exposed to in our daily activities.

But have you ever felt that everything has its price? One day when you are laughing with your friends, enjoying the zest of the moment... have you felt that there might be some swing to balance that? And sooner or later you will be on you bed, alone, hurt and sobbing your heart out?

There are instances when men of history that are found to be the catalyst of change themselves.. Successful, rich, intellectual, educationally upright and highly influential.. Still have a dark side hidden beneath their story. The great Vincent Van Gogh, Constantinople, Bill Clinton and even Michael Jackson, to name a few, were really successful in art, warfare, politics and music. But there is always that unforeseen twist that covers their lives.

When you thought you are on a high, things begin to erode without warning. They collapse and hit you hard like boulder falling damn straight towards you. One question remains, are you ready for that? Some say its only incidental that, fallible that we are, to have these coasters happening. Others say it’s “Karma” of which the cycle of life and living evolves.

Whatever it is, just know that life can bring gifts of joy as easily as it shares its grief. As I have read somewhere, “it’s all in the way you see things. When perception changes, everything changes.”