18 May 2021Herein lies the greatest challenge of introducing a collection of essays written over a period of six (6) long years. A duration long enough for a child to be born alive, walk unassisted, speak fluently and think intelligibly. But after six (6) years of occasional writing, it suddenly stopped. Work took the better of it as if there was nothing there to strike a chord and tell me that I used to write as spirited as before.The years between this piece and the one prior to it was devoted mainly to writing using a different language and syntax. Sentences usually start with an equal sign to prompt the application to compute or automate something. Every little thing at work involving columns, rows or cells was solved using Microsoft Excel. Thus, the literary writing hiatus must have been temporarily called off and replaced with its numeric, logical or conditional counterpart owing to the demands of work.And because of the need to collaborate a
About The AuthorThe author is a Bicolano who hails from Binanuhan, Pilar, Sorsogon. Having lived half of his lifetime in the same locality, he devoted most of his time to learning practical things through observations and several failed attempts. Because of his ardent desire and persistence to harness, develop and maximize everything that he has to its fullest potential, he was able to achieve a certain level of mastery on matters which is of prime significance. He is passionate about a lot of things. He is simultaneously a carpenter, composer, inventor, mathematician, choir and acoustic band member, frequent user of Microsoft Excel and Google Sheets to solve work – related problems and, with the impending publication of this literature, an author. His acumen for writing was greatly improved due to his exposure to the legal parlance during the stint of her elder sister as a Notary Public and Municipal Councilor. Unconsciously, it influenced his literary style that would start taking
29 September 2009“To see the world in a drop of water and experience eternity before it subsides.”Herein narrator went on to live since to recount a fairly insignificant, almost common and entirely negligible story of being swept by the current, having wept due to guilt and being upset out of complacency for the inability to do something that would risk both life and limb.My brother-in-law was confined in the hospital for days suspecting and eventually ruling out Influenza A-H1N1 as the culprit. As a result, I have to stay in their home for two (2) nights until that fateful morning. Overnight rains resulted to sudden increase in the water level of the nearby river. The typhoon is about to begin.Even before finishing corn for breakfast around nine in the morning last Saturday (26 September 2009), water was increasing in an exponential rate. And since time is of the essence, I started transferring smaller objects to the second floor of their home
01 October 2009Too often, we regret for neglecting something presumed to be useful in the future since there is no direct or immediate need for such at present. This defines how we evolved to date. How people became so dispensable and indifferent is an entirely different story.Let us take for instance the concept of parity which states that everything should be distributed fairly and evenly; giving to each what rightfully belongs to him. Justice then is a one-to-one correspondence. When one does not get his fair share, conflict arises.Life is a mathematical existence regardless of the existence, or contrariwise absence, of numbers itself. In fact, people designed clocks, watches and chronometers, both digital and analog, to tell time and later let it rule their lives. Consider ourselves as elements of this mathematical world and our lives as a subset of all the existence in this planet and from there, we will see the magnitude and expanse of the un
06 March 2010When I was a kid, people were so fascinated with the kind of memory I have. Since having tests for certain acumen or gift is a rarity in the provinces, (Binanuahan, Pilar, Sorsogon to be more specific) being considered special was already enough. I will try not to be too narrative of what I have been through for that would be totally unnecessary. What contributed much to this state is an actual rush of blood.It was one clear, Sunday morning that forever corrupted some of the files in my memory and no amount of re-formatting will ever restore everything in place. I was not fully aware of the impending danger on that fateful day otherwise I could have averted the ensuing predicament altogether. A portion of a 2” x 2” x 12” lumber is hanging near the roof of that house where a usual Sunday amazement is in town. Perhaps curiosity took it from there as I squeezed myself past the grown-ups looking intently at how an elderly man adroitly handled a cons
31 May 2010If death is likened to gravity, which we cannot absolutely defy, then living with it on a regular frequency is a state of partial weightlessness. Our daily existence is a continuing skirmish with death. For every moment that a life-form, however animate or lethargic, is sent to inhabit this earth, it is just a matter of time before finally the probability and likelihood of death becomes apparently a certainty. Chances are, nature has its distinct scheme of impermanence and turns everything in this world, regardless of significance or magnitude, into sub-atomic particles to restore equilibrium.Having lived in a nuclear family of nine (9) inclusive of parents and siblings, I have witnessed death more than twice. But since my memory seems to fail me in the retrieval of memories, I will stick to two most remembered losses. First was when my father died and once more when my maternal grandmother departed as well.The most vivid memory that I have of m
13 July 2010One of the basic realities in life tells us that no two objects, not even thought, can occupy the same space at the same time. Impenetrability applies to all forms of existence to create order, sequence or precedence. Not even our human capacity to love is spared from such a predicament. And whenever we find ourselves trapped in this labyrinth, conflicts arise.Truly, one can never be both definite and ambivalent about his feelings, at any given time and space about persons or situations. With the present, urgent and pressing circumstances, however, one is prompted to react in such a rational way, if not instinctive. And in this transitory world, decisiveness is a factor for survival.And perhaps the opposite of love is not hate but rather indifference and somewhere in between, in the spherical or planar intersection of chance, is where we find ambivalence. Ambivalence then is this betweenness that typically defines our inability to be definite. Once cau
20 July 2010As a consequence of one’s employment status, credit card offers will also increase promising a wide array of luxury and conveniences. And with the lures of the things and amenities one can avail of with this rectangular phenomenon, swiping becomes as involuntary as one’s impulses. Depending on the frequency of payment or the complete lack of it, credit card companies will try to increase the credit limit whenever there is an apparent inability, on the part of the cardholder, to settle their dues only to make them dig a much deeper grave of financial indebtedness.Credit cards work best for the banks. When they feel you are neglecting your financial obligations to them, they will start making endless calls to remind you, or harass you in disguise, until you are forced to settle your dues simply for reasons of avoiding litigation, legal suit or any further threats. Although it is not likely to make progress in court, cardholders are obliged to pay o