I got an urgent call at lunch time today. My teammate Eric had an emergency and had to beg off from being sent to the field till Sunday. The coordinator asked if I could cover the Agusan del Norte and Agusan del Sur stints for Eric doing what I did in North Cotabato last Monday.
Like a true soldier, I said yes. Things seemed to fall into place one after another. My boss is leaving for abroad tomorrow so that means not much work for the next few days. An officemate offered to cover for me. I'm still at work waiting for my plane ticket and my itinerary. I have a birthday party waiting for me and a bed that has missed me for sometime.
So for the next few days, I'll be around Mindanao again doing Namfrel stuff. I have a free day, I think, so I'll try to find an internet cafe and let you know the latest. I'm excited to go out for more photoshoots to fill my phlog.
Catch you all soon.
3.31.2004
3.30.2004
20 hours
I was awake for 20 straight hours yesterday starting at two in the morning. During that time, I took a cab, a plane, and a bus to get to North Cotabato over a thousand kilometers south of Manila. I met with a bishop and two priests, had lunch with a teacher, spoke before a crowd of almost 70 people most of whom are older than my parents, got interviewed on-air by a local radio station, and, to cap my day, dined with nuns. As soon I woke up at 3AM today, I had to travel two hours to get to the airport and fly back home to report for work.
That's just half of the story.
For the next 41 days leading to the elections in May, I expect to make a few more trips like that, mostly in Mindanao. That's part of my job as a Namfrel volunteer. Together with another guy in myteam, they call us regional directors for Mindanao. We get deployed all over Mindanao a few weeks before every national elections to train Namfrel volunteers in the field. We are practically on call. Namfrel secretariat would call us and advise us of preferred training dates that our provincial chapters have requested. Most of the time, we don't have a choice. We file for an emergency leave and take a one-day working vacation to far places. In cases where I need to sweep several provinces in one trip, I let the Namfrel chairman call my boss and request that I be made available for the job. I'm glad my boss has very strong sense of his social responsibility.
It's a very humbling experience to brush elbows with co-volunteers whose stories in the field since 1986 are as colorful as the lives they live. It's even more humbling to witness their passion to do selfless service for a cause, while risky and unpaid, yet provide unexplainable rewards that only them can understand.
My dealings with these volunteers have kept me grounded all the time. But largely, it makes me deeply sad at the same time. I almost never fail to wonder why ordinary people like them have the biggest hearts for something big as guarding ballots while some people allow to be preoccupied and filled up with mundane GQ and Cosmo things.
Maybe I'm just old. Or maybe I just know how to value things.
That's just half of the story.
For the next 41 days leading to the elections in May, I expect to make a few more trips like that, mostly in Mindanao. That's part of my job as a Namfrel volunteer. Together with another guy in myteam, they call us regional directors for Mindanao. We get deployed all over Mindanao a few weeks before every national elections to train Namfrel volunteers in the field. We are practically on call. Namfrel secretariat would call us and advise us of preferred training dates that our provincial chapters have requested. Most of the time, we don't have a choice. We file for an emergency leave and take a one-day working vacation to far places. In cases where I need to sweep several provinces in one trip, I let the Namfrel chairman call my boss and request that I be made available for the job. I'm glad my boss has very strong sense of his social responsibility.
It's a very humbling experience to brush elbows with co-volunteers whose stories in the field since 1986 are as colorful as the lives they live. It's even more humbling to witness their passion to do selfless service for a cause, while risky and unpaid, yet provide unexplainable rewards that only them can understand.
My dealings with these volunteers have kept me grounded all the time. But largely, it makes me deeply sad at the same time. I almost never fail to wonder why ordinary people like them have the biggest hearts for something big as guarding ballots while some people allow to be preoccupied and filled up with mundane GQ and Cosmo things.
Maybe I'm just old. Or maybe I just know how to value things.
3.25.2004
A restroom incident
It looked like she almost wanted to pounce on me. She was walking by to where I was on her way out with a friend when our eyes accidentally met. I noticed a different look, that one that you usually throw at someone who stepped on your toes or who took your cab or who got the last available seat in a restaurant.
I knew very well why she stared that way. She stood behind me in the queue to the only toilet in a Starbucks cafe near my office. I noticed her because we were both waiting forever for the door to be unlocked so we can unload our bladder. The door seemed forever closed like heaven's gate. It wouldn't make a sound, it was firmly closed, the big "occupied" word splashed on the frame. She was fidgeting while tinkering with her mobile phone, while I was looking out far on the street across and tried to notice people's faces in the noontime heat.
When finally the door opened, a lady in miniskirt donning a three-inch heel and an inch-full of make-up emerged. She walked by mindlessly, almost rushing out. I then inched my way to the door, stopped for a few seconds before finally pushing the door open. It was a mistake. A certain after-pupu smell filled the room, that one that causes you to gag and whip out crisp curses. There were water I wanted to leave right away and run after the lady, but my pee was practically begging to seep out. So I headed towards the urinal plastered on the wall and started pushing my bladder so hard it spewed out pee 60mph. I wasn't breathing the whole time.
In less than 15 seconds, I was done. I felt human again. I pulled out the door to leave and rushed out to catch a good look of the lady who came in before me. I wanted my killer look to strangle her and make her own up to the filthy crime. She was no longer there. In a rather twisted kind of way, I ended up suffering the raging look that was supposed to be for her.
If that's karma, I don't know that it hits you so quickly.
I knew very well why she stared that way. She stood behind me in the queue to the only toilet in a Starbucks cafe near my office. I noticed her because we were both waiting forever for the door to be unlocked so we can unload our bladder. The door seemed forever closed like heaven's gate. It wouldn't make a sound, it was firmly closed, the big "occupied" word splashed on the frame. She was fidgeting while tinkering with her mobile phone, while I was looking out far on the street across and tried to notice people's faces in the noontime heat.
When finally the door opened, a lady in miniskirt donning a three-inch heel and an inch-full of make-up emerged. She walked by mindlessly, almost rushing out. I then inched my way to the door, stopped for a few seconds before finally pushing the door open. It was a mistake. A certain after-pupu smell filled the room, that one that causes you to gag and whip out crisp curses. There were water I wanted to leave right away and run after the lady, but my pee was practically begging to seep out. So I headed towards the urinal plastered on the wall and started pushing my bladder so hard it spewed out pee 60mph. I wasn't breathing the whole time.
In less than 15 seconds, I was done. I felt human again. I pulled out the door to leave and rushed out to catch a good look of the lady who came in before me. I wanted my killer look to strangle her and make her own up to the filthy crime. She was no longer there. In a rather twisted kind of way, I ended up suffering the raging look that was supposed to be for her.
If that's karma, I don't know that it hits you so quickly.
3.19.2004
For a change
Tomorrow morning, I agreed to do something completely different for a change. Instead of being behind the camera, I'll be the one in front. Yes, I will be a photographer's subject.
People close to me know that there has to be one really compelling reason for me to agree to be under bright lights and become a submissive subject. I think there is. Otherwise, I wouldn't even consider waking up at 6 tomorrow morning to be ready for the shoot at 8. The reason? I just can't say it now. I mean, I'd like to surprise everybody. Nah, I wouldn't be in any of the shouting billboards along EDSA.
I'm not photogenic so I'm not sure how things will turn out. I guess the magic spell of Photoshop may be called at any time, I don't know. But I'm putting my complete trust on the professional photographer who will do the job. I'm thinking, maybe we work the same way. We both like our subjects to appear good and feel good afterwards. That's what has given me, as a budding photographer, immense joy.
So in the meantime, sit back, relax, and enjoy the weekend.
People close to me know that there has to be one really compelling reason for me to agree to be under bright lights and become a submissive subject. I think there is. Otherwise, I wouldn't even consider waking up at 6 tomorrow morning to be ready for the shoot at 8. The reason? I just can't say it now. I mean, I'd like to surprise everybody. Nah, I wouldn't be in any of the shouting billboards along EDSA.
I'm not photogenic so I'm not sure how things will turn out. I guess the magic spell of Photoshop may be called at any time, I don't know. But I'm putting my complete trust on the professional photographer who will do the job. I'm thinking, maybe we work the same way. We both like our subjects to appear good and feel good afterwards. That's what has given me, as a budding photographer, immense joy.
So in the meantime, sit back, relax, and enjoy the weekend.
3.18.2004
Finally
Oh yes, I'm back.
After exactly a month of being out of touch, I'm here again. I was not going to be away for good, that's for sure. I was just pre-occupied with other things like...
1. Phlogging. From just a few photo entries when I started, I have sort of gotten addicted to it, so much that I have leaped to be one of five people (worldwide) with the most number of photos uploaded on the site.
The pictures have a special way of connecting me with my friends and loved ones here and, most especially, those who are based abroad. I have received very encouraging emails informing me how the photos have made them miss home or how they managed to be more educated about the country. Because of my pictures, my sister, for one, has gotten to love the idea so she recently started to upload her pictures also --- straight from faraway Jakarta.
More than receiving inspiring messages, I have also learned to love phlogging since it keeps me on toes always on which unexplored places around Manila deserved world attention. This has brought me out of town on most weekends, or at least out of my house. I'm in my best element when I'm outdoors or when I'm in the countryside.
I hope you will enjoy my photos.
2. Badminton. I'm training under an Indonesian coach every Mondays and Wednesdays for the last four weeks now. I have around six or seven more weeks to go. It's not like I intend to tryout for the national team. I think I'm too old already for that. It's just that I wanted to graduate from just knowing how to smash balls (pardon, no pun intended) or clear them. I want to move around the court like any other competitive player that we watch on ESPN.
In addition to Mondays and Wednesdays, I'm also likely to be on the courts on weekends as well. That means, I'm spending around three to four days a week doing badminton. Does that make me sick?
3. And lastly, introspection. I'm spending more time now reflecting about things around me. It gives me a certain peace, one that's enough to make me smile.
After exactly a month of being out of touch, I'm here again. I was not going to be away for good, that's for sure. I was just pre-occupied with other things like...
1. Phlogging. From just a few photo entries when I started, I have sort of gotten addicted to it, so much that I have leaped to be one of five people (worldwide) with the most number of photos uploaded on the site.
The pictures have a special way of connecting me with my friends and loved ones here and, most especially, those who are based abroad. I have received very encouraging emails informing me how the photos have made them miss home or how they managed to be more educated about the country. Because of my pictures, my sister, for one, has gotten to love the idea so she recently started to upload her pictures also --- straight from faraway Jakarta.
More than receiving inspiring messages, I have also learned to love phlogging since it keeps me on toes always on which unexplored places around Manila deserved world attention. This has brought me out of town on most weekends, or at least out of my house. I'm in my best element when I'm outdoors or when I'm in the countryside.
I hope you will enjoy my photos.
2. Badminton. I'm training under an Indonesian coach every Mondays and Wednesdays for the last four weeks now. I have around six or seven more weeks to go. It's not like I intend to tryout for the national team. I think I'm too old already for that. It's just that I wanted to graduate from just knowing how to smash balls (pardon, no pun intended) or clear them. I want to move around the court like any other competitive player that we watch on ESPN.
In addition to Mondays and Wednesdays, I'm also likely to be on the courts on weekends as well. That means, I'm spending around three to four days a week doing badminton. Does that make me sick?
3. And lastly, introspection. I'm spending more time now reflecting about things around me. It gives me a certain peace, one that's enough to make me smile.
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