Hooray For Today!

I was already wide awake. But I couldn’t go back to sleep anymore. It was 2:00am of January 20^th. My interview was to be at 6:30am. I took a long shower and ironed my clothes thoroughly until they were flat and stiff as a plyboard, you can’t see a crease anywhere. I wasn’t being fastidious, just had too much time to prepare. Then I went to a 24/7 Mac Donald’s for an early breakfast. It was uncharacteristically un-frenzied and un-peopled. I opened the door and heard it for the first time - the new Mac Donald’s jingle Hooray For Today, and it kind of set the mood for the whole day! It played over and over in my mind until I came face to face with the consul. “So why do you want to go to the U.S.A.? I heard him say. I guess I looked funny with the song in my head. I can tell by the way he looked at me when he fired those curt, short questions. My equally short, quick replies seemed to be punctuated by Hooray for today. Hooray for today! “Your visa is approved. Just wait for the courier to hand over to you your passport, ok?, the consul said. “Oh ok.” I blurted out.

I was humming as I walked down the aisle. I felt very light. Then I went straight to the first Mac Donald’s I can find. A pretty usherette greeted me by the door. “Good morning sir.” she said with a smile. “Good morning indeed!” I said. This time the queues were long and the patrons were animated. And the song – it’s still playing. Full lyrics is below:

“Hooray for Mornings

And things that make them good

Hooray for beaming smiles that make my day

Hooray for stops and gos

Hooray for colors and quick hellos

Hooray for surprises that walk my way

Hooray for friends I’ll make

Oh hey…hey!

Hooray for treats that make me smile

Like magic stripes that fill the sky

Hooray for days that make me say

Oh, HOORAY FOR TODAY!”

Hooray for that day indeed! And what a fitting song for such a triumphant day….

Times Like These

Somebody prayed 800 kilometers away but it woke me up at exactly 3am. To some people 3 o’clock is a holy hour whether in the afternoon or early dawn. I called up mom at around 7am. “What did you do at 3am today?” I asked. She said, “I was praying for you my son.” After lunch i watched TV and somebody sang Spandau Ballet’s “True”. When he came to singing the line “…..toe to toe” I looked at my watch; It reads: 2:22. Now this is definitely coincidental, nothing serious about it; but the first one? Just divine…. I’ll get that visa on the 20th January.  

Yuletide

Yuletide is the season of giving and it’s best time to observe the Golden Rule: Do to others what you want others do to you? But if you give gifts this Christmas and don’t get any, just think of the other rule: When you give, don’t expect anything in return!

Being Kind

The queues were long and most of us patiently waited in line, but the others will barge in for sure when the train comes. Two old people came in position by the door. They looked anxious amidst the mob in the morning rush for work. I reckon there is no way they can wrestle their way in without physical harm, so the instant the door opened, I kind of boxed-out, held my position, and let them through first. The flow of people pushing their way in swept us all inside. The doors closed; the train moved; and we grabbed the silver handlebars while turning away from one another. Nearing the next stop, somebody tapped me on the shoulder. “Good job”, he said before getting off at the next station…. I felt warm. And for a while I thought I was a good person.

ICC

Senator Mirriam Defensor Santiago just became a judge of the ICC (the International Criminal Court). It’s a new court apart from United Nation’s ICJ (the International Court of Justice). While ICJ hears cases against countries, ICC tries individuals for crimes against humanity, genocide and war crimes. The Philippine Senate on 23 August 2011 ratified the Rome Statute creating the ICC making the Philippines the 117^th states party to the ICC. I happened to be in the presence of legal luminaries dissecting the ICC charter in a roundtable discussion at the Oakwood Hotel in Makati long before Resolution 546 was passed in the Philippine Senate. Among the discussants were Ambassador Raul Goco, UP Law Professor Harry Roque, and representatives of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). This happened a few months before the munity led by then Lt. Col. Antonio Trillanes IV. It always gives me a warm feeling thinking I took a small part in that discussion that eventually lead to the ratification of the Rome Statute. Now a fellow Filipino will soon take a big part in breathing life to the ICC! Filipinos be proud and congratulations to ICC Judge Mirriam Defensor Santiago!

The Race

It’s party time! Drinks are flowing and everybody’s in a festive mood. With beer in hand, you thought the food is great as you munch on a sashimi after wolfing down a whole chunk of grilled pork chop, one side of a steamed grouper, two fried chicken legs, a plate of fruit salad and three strawberry shortcakes. Everything is A-ok until you felt something you can’t deny which rules over everything else and no amount of procrastination can hold it down. You want to run but can’t; you are cemented on where you stood. And run where? It’s called by many names, absolutely nowhere else compares to it, nothing can offer such comfort. No. Nothing. Especially when a race is about to begin. And try as you might, you can’t control it. It has it’s own starting gun. You know what it is. They say it’s the ultimate race – “A race out of your butt where everyone wins!”

American Muslims

I watched Anderson. The topic was about Muslims in America, in the aftermath of 911. Are they evil people? And is there a conspiracy to impose their (Shari’a) laws on the rest of country, and the world? These are the silent undertones, unspoken, but felt.

I think it’s a sham, a black propaganda meant to discredit the entire Muslim nation akin to The Protocols of the Elders of Zion intent on annihilating the Jews. These are sinister plots that only fuel the rage of fundamentalist groups. And it must be stopped!

911 was living terror perpetrated by Muslim fundamentalists - who don’t represent the Muslims, as a people and as a religion; in the same manner that Nazis behind the Holocaust, were not representative of the entire German population.

I am not a Muslim, but I live in a town with a small Muslim community in it. They are good people. We have good relations with them, and a lot of them are trading partners of local businessmen. They have work. They have money. They are different sure: because they practice a different religion, they have a different food preference, and they don’t drink anything with alcohol in it. But just like the rest of us, they sweat when they run, they eat when hungry, and laugh at something funny.

We cannot generalize people. It’s just not right. Because regardless of creed and religion, there will always be good and bad amongst us. In given situations, even good people do bad things, and the bad, do good deeds. Sometimes we are quick to judge and condemn resulting in shattered lives and innocent deaths. Stop the hate. Hate, like fear, are attributes of the uninformed.

Know the Muslims more. Walk in their shoes. Try to understand their way of life. And you will soon realize, that the differences you see are only skin deep. What you don’t see are the things that matter such as shared morality and values. Shed your biases. Open up. And learn more from that which you know little about. And hopefully, post 911 fears will slowly go away. Peace brothers!

Debt Crisis

European countries using the Euro  

Rogier complained about the European Union’s effect on the Netherlands. He said their earnings and benefits are slashed by subsidizing poorer member countries such as Spain, and for what? Daniel who’s Spanish was extremely agitated by the comment but just laughed about the “whining Dutch”. The English played coy about it, having chosen to keep the English Pound, they are not directly affected by EU’s woes. I listened in fascination while preparing my gear for our reef check in Moalboal, a town south of Cebu City. It was 2007. But Rogier’s point is made relevant with what’s happening in Europe today, particularly the Euro and the future of the European Union itself.

Italy and GREECE, cradles of European culture now fuels a financial downward spin that can send the European Union to oblivion. While Greece’s fiscal woes were worrying, Italy’s are monumental, threatening to take down stock markets around the world. Italy is eighth-largest economy in the world, fourth largest in Europe. Its GDP was €1.97 trillion in 2010 (Greece has it at €305 billion). Italy’s debts now tops €2 trillion, or 120 percent of its GDP.

In December 2009, Papandreou announced that the size of Greece’s deficit has ballooned so huge he called his country’s economy “a sinking ship.’’ Investors were stunned. In early 2010, fears over a potential default grew into a full-fledged financial panic. In May 2010, Greece received a bailout package of €110 billion from the International Monetary Fund (IMF). The price was a series of austerity measures meant to cut its bloated deficit and restore investor confidence. These austerity measures, which include freezing public-sector salaries, raising taxes and slashing pensions angered the Greeks who came spilling out on the streets in mass protests.

The roots of the crisis go back to the strong Euro and rock-bottom interest rates that prevailed for much of the past decade. Greece took advantage of this easy money to drive up borrowing by the country’s consumers and its government. Public spending soared and public sector wages practically doubled. However, while money has flowed out of the government’s coffers, its income has been hit by widespread tax evasion. When the global financial downturn hit, Greece was ill-prepared to cope.

Since the crisis began, €60 billion in deposits have been withdrawn from Greek banks, which is about a quarter of the country’s output. On Oct. 20, Parliament approved a new raft of austerity measures, including additional wage and pension cuts, public sector layoffs and changes to collective bargaining rules, as violent demonstrations raged outside. Meanwhile, the Greek economy continued to fall deeper into recession.

The aim of the original Greece bailout was to contain the crisis. It did not happen because although Greece’s troubles are the most extreme, they highlight problems in the Eurozone that also apply to other economies. Now the bust has come, it is very hard for them to repay the debts. And the high wage levels leave their economies uncompetitive. Because they are inside the Eurozone, these governments cannot rely on their central bank to lend them the money, nor can they devalue their currencies to regain a competitive edge. Meanwhile they are having to push through very painful spending cuts and tax rises to get their borrowing under control. But this is just pushing their economies into recession, which leads to higher unemployment, and therefore less income tax revenue, compounding their financial problems. Now the crisis has spread to Italy, whose economy is 6x bigger than Greece. It owes its creditors more than Greece, Ireland, Portugal, and Spain combined owe. It would take nearly 1 Trillion Euros to rescue Italy, but the European Financial Stability Facility — the EU’s bailout fund — has as little as €300 billion left in it. A bailout for italy seems mission impossible.

Italy is one of the world’s largest markets for government bonds. Fears that Italy cannot pay what it owes on government debt have driven rates on Italian bonds to over 7 percent, the tipping point at which economists say a country’s debt becomes unsustainable. Higher bond rates should, in theory, make Italy more attractive to investors. But what it really indicates is that the country has lost the faith of the markets. And Italy is just too big to bail out. It’s basically “Greece on steroids.”

Berlusconi’s final act was to put together an austerity plan that would slash the country’s budget deficit. But Italy has let its total debt grow so large that it will have to borrow “a massive 20 percent of GDP” — in private capital markets just to pay off bonds that mature in 2012. No one wants to lend to a country when that country would use the loan to pay the interest on previous loans. Italy’s collapse could send borrowing costs spiraling higher across Europe, spreading the crisis to other big economies, such as France. To pay off its debts, Italy might even abandon the euro and pay its creditors with a new domestic currency, at a one-to-one exchange. The currency would then ‘float’ (i.e., sink), and the magnitude of its drop in value would determine how much Italy’s default would cost the banks and other investors that lent it Euros. The losses could cripple Europe’s financial system and spark runs on banks in Italy, then in other debt-burdened countries.

Default: A default occurs when a borrower misses a payment or it can no longer repay its debts in full, such as bankruptcy or a debt restructuring. It has a number of implications: If a borrower defaults, all lenders may demand immediate repayment in full, or they may opt to write off losses. On a larger scale such as in a government’s financial obligations, a default begets loss of confidence, in its banks, and in the market at large. This leads to economic slowdown and if the downturn is not reversed, economic activity stops - No more production of goods and services. People can’t buy anything. Their stomachs are empty. And when you’re hungry, you don’t care for law anymore, so there will be anarchy, then chaos – lootings, robbery, murder….

Greece and Italy as well as the 15 other other countries in the Eurozone use only one currency - the Euro. If either member defaults, the resulting panic can spread to all member states. And since we live in a global economy, a financial turmoil in an area as big as Europe can cause panic to spread far and wide, fast, beyond Eurozone’s borders….

Darth Vader Cloud

The community showed little surprise when we came, but they were welcoming just the same. In a low voice (as if someone was eavesdropping) they said something to us, which sounded more like a plea than a suggestion: To not be noisy up the crater….

It was a clear day and despite the pleasantly cool wind, the sun warmed our skins. As we approached the ridge (actually the crater ring), I broke a sweat. A narrow path snaked down the lake below surrounded by age-old trees. The lake looked like a mirror reflecting the white clouds. We came to a clearing by the edge of the lake to where a fallen branch was half submerged in the water, the rest of it was covered in moss. We found our individual rocks and sat. It was comforting. We started talking and the talking turned to laughing, and the laughing turned to laughing really loud until….the sun disappeared.

We looked up. A sliver of dark cloud clawed its way down towards the forest canopy just above the crater. We became quiet. For a while it hovered as if waiting to strike. Silence descended upon us. We were still. Unmoving like the rocks we sat on. We only stirred when the menacing dark cloud slowly dissipated in thin air. Then we gathered our things and left, gently, with only our eyes talking. It seemed that if we tripped on the tree roots and stumble, the lake will open up and swallow us alive.

We talked about this over and over back at base camp. At night under a starlit sky in the midst of the jungle, we gathered around a bonfire with some local people for a conversation so creepy it was difficult for us to crawl back inside our tents: “There are certain people. We don’t see them but we hear them. Talking, laughing, swimming in the crater-lake. Sometimes in the middle of the night we hear cars and trucks go up the crater. Engines scream as if stuck in mud. They pass by our houses. We hear their feet shuffle. They are there. In the direction of where the dogs look, and howl….”

Rick Perry and Brain Freeze?

“And the third one is um, umm, I forgot. Ops!” Was it publicity? Was it strategy? Whatever it was, the way Perry handle the fumble will favor his candidacy if he can pull off it real quick. He had a modest approval rating before the debate and he needs to add up percentage points to be considered a serious contender in the race. Was it deliberate to draw attention on himself? Because, he just did! His rating dipped steeply, yes, but he’s all over the news now. And good or bad, it’s big time publicity, the kind politicians covet to be in the consciousness of the electorate. The charts can be reversed as dramatically if he concentrates on proving he’s the real deal.

Perry should learn from Pare, former Philippine President Joseph Estrada (known as Erap, Pare in reverse). During one of those debates, the first question was asked, and each candidate was given three minutes to respond. All (but one) fired their witty responses right away as soon as the clock started ticking. Not Pare. He spent two minutes greeting everybody in attendance and waited for the moderator to remind him he had just a minute to finish his remark. As if on cue, the moderator did just that, and Pare pretended to be embarrassed by it as the crowd roared in laughter, then Pare proceeded with his meaty last minute answer. He played the idiot and won the crowd!

Pare courts such moments to his full advantage. In a sea of candidates with impeccable academic credentials, he stood out as the college drop-out, who can’t talk straight English, who womanizes, who drinks, who sired many children. He’s just human and being true to himself, people say. Pare has street smarts and charisma and he played with what he’s good at – acting! After all, Pare was a professional actor. Unbelievable as it was, that’s how he won the presidency. Ok, Perry give Pare a call….

Tremendous!

This is it! The last installment of the storied encounters between Manny Pacquiao and Juan Manuel Marquez. Or is it? Right before the main event, a tribute was made for Joe Frazier who recently passed away. To boxing fans all over the world, he didn’t die, he’s been made immortal a long time ago with Muhammad Ali in their celebrated trilogy that climaxed in the monumental Thrilla in Manila. Ali then unabashedly claimed his triumph over Smokin Joe. He has beaten the monkey twice, he said years after the epic fight. When Joe was asked what’s his reaction to this monkey taunt, Joe said, Yes he won but I did this to him? (mimicking Ali’s involuntary Parkinson’s body shakes). The Pacquiao-Marquez trilogy brought us to the same venue for a dose of our own Thrilla in Manila on Saturday (Sunday morning in the Philippines). But as exciting as the fight was, is the tremendous amount of public opinion in its aftermath.

Favoritism won over actual scores; Pacman’s win was more doubtful than the last. This is a sampling of widespread sentiments now flooding the internet. Boxingtoday.com gave the headline “Marquez Robbed of Win Against Pacquiao,” It quoted Freddie Roach as saying “We’re losing!” after the 7^th round.

The closest anyone has come to beating Pacquiao since the Morales loss was Marquez himself. Their first fight on May 8, 2004 at the MGM Grand, ended in a draw; but Pacquiao was believed to have won that match. Their second meeting on March 15, 2008 at the Mandalay Bay, Pacquiao won via split decision; and it was believed that Marquez won the fight. And how close were the scores? Quinito Henson has this to say: “If you add up the nine judges’ scorecards in the three fights, the sum will show the Filipino ring icon with a slight seven-point advantage. But before the third bout, the total scores of the six judges is 679-678. Manny had only a one-point edge over Marquez!” And take a look at the almost identical professional record just before their third encounter:

53 Wins, 3 Losses, 2 Draws, 38 Knockouts Pacquiao

53 Wins, 6 Losses, 1 Draw, 39 Knockouts Marquez

Marquez, now 38, has posted a 5-1 record since losing to Pacquiao (32). The only stain was his loss to Mayweather. Pacquiao on the other hand, has gone 7-0. The consensus is if there’s a fighter out there with even a ghost of a chance to beat Pacquiao, it has to be Marquez. Marquez was a worthy opponent. While the others bowed out kissing the canvas or otherwise went home with bloodshot eyes, broken nose, split lips, Marquez not only finished the 12 rounds, many of us even thought he won the fight! Or did he? In the eyes of a mere fan and spectator, I couldn’t tell for sure. And if it was Marquez, I would have left it at that because I think only the technical guys and those who view the fight in slow motion can tell with certainty what the real scores are. I reckon there were solid punches Marquez threw that could have knocked Pacquiao down. But Pacquiao didn’t. And I thought what a lucky son-of-b****! (Pardon the pun). One judge scored it even at 114. The Los Angeles Times scored the fight, 115-113, for Marquez. The Associated Press had it 114-114. And FOX Sports had it 118-110 for Marquez. It’s a very tough call. And did Marquez landed a solid punch and one judge blinked and missed it? And did another sneezed and closed his eyes when it happened? These fleeting moments could radically change the scores.

Pacquiao hasn’t lost in his last 14 fights and it feels like a lifetime ago when he was beaten by Erik Morales in 2005. The win streak includes eight knockouts and with this narrow win, Pacquiao took it to 15! Was there really favoritism? Let’s start with this: None of the nine judges who scored in the three bouts had a repeat performance. And as a matter of practice, judges give the benefit of the doubt to the aggressor in a close round. In this third bout Pacquiao was the clear aggressor all the way to 12 rounds. But it is difficult for many to accept Manny won the bout and Mexican fans threatened a riot as they shouted “Pac-man Pac-you” inside the MGM Grand. They booed the decision and threw drink bottles at ringside to show their anger. A lot of them felt Marquez won the fight, and Marquez is one of them. “It is a robbery and of the two robberies I have had against him, this one is the more terrible,” Marquez said, in his locker room.

“Pacquiao may go down in history as one of the following: the greatest southpaw of all time, the greatest Filipino fighter of all time or the most important fighter since the Muhammad Ali era,” wrote Don Stradley in The Ring Magazine (October 2010). In his book “An Unforgiving Sport,” writer Thomas Hauser said, “Pacquiao’s not unbeatable. He and Marquez were separated by only one point after 24 rounds. But Manny has become a complete fighter. His victory over (Oscar) de la Hoya (in 2008) was the sort of performance that one puts in a time capsule to define a fighter.” 

Champ in 8 divisions. Pacquiao went up and down the ladder looking for the worthy opponent. He couldn’t find one. He seems unstoppable. Nobody can beat him. He is somewhere up there in the clouds. But this fight definitely pulled Pacman down back to earth. Marquez is the one worthy opponent he was looking for. But I don’t think there’s going to be a fourth fight. So let’s move on, who’s next?

Camouflaged

We were building a few gas stations in an island and I have to check all of them every so often. The island is so rural it felt like stepping into the past. And it’s small enough to be circled in just three hours by motorcycle through a seaside highway. Though not so many, it has a steadily rising population. There are lesser people in the south part, and a long stretch of beach is un-peopled for most of the day. I usually stop by a bluff overlooking the sea, which has a view of other southern islands. The last time I passed by the area, there were 4 boys on the beach with nets, homemade spears and goggles to catch aquarium fish. Except that, it’s all empty space and blue skies. This has become my favorite spot to rest, and also to skin dive.

There is really nothing special in these waters, except for one type of fish I haven’t seen before. It’s a medium sized, regularly shaped fish, with a noticeably black square on yellow spot, a pink dorsal and anal fins, and a silvery body. I turned around to face it squarely. It became still, then turned dark bands amidst sea grass. I moved closer; it moved away towards sandy bottom before turning very light while the bands disappeared. I watched it for 5 minutes before I saw the others as I drifted with the underwater current.

Like human beings, fish also have different temperaments though too subtle to notice. However this one stood out. While the others prefer to just move away or hide underneath rocks, it moved around in a wide circle. It was extremely agitated by my presence that sudden movements turned it on like a switch. As I mimicked a chase, it turned dark bands as often as a blinking traffic light. It’s like an ill patient on the verge of a nervous breakdown. Sensing this, I swam away to ease the tension the fish must have felt. Then I let myself drift further towards shore. It was time to go….

Riptide

Riptide (actually rip current) is a strong channel of water flowing seaward from near the shore created by the right combination of wind direction and wave action when the water that is pushed onshore is forced sideways by oncoming waves. This water streams along the shoreline until it finds an exit back to sea. The resulting rip current is usually narrow and located in a trench between sandbars, under piers or along jetties. It is strongest at the surface. This strong surface flow tends to dampen incoming waves, leading to the illusion of a particularly calm part of the sea, which lures some swimmers into the area. Rip currents are stronger when the surf is rough and during a low tide. Drownings are often caused by exhaustion and panic fighting it, but not because the rip pulls them under.

A swimmer caught in a rip should not attempt to swim directly against it. As in a treadmill, you need to step off it by swimming parallel to shore. Locations to aim for are places where waves are breaking because in these areas, floating objects are generally transported onshore. However if you are unable to swim away, just relax and calmly float or tread water to conserve energy. Eventually the rip will lose strength and you can swim away easily.

I surfed the whole morning and I was starving, so I came back to have lunch. As I was walking by the beach I heard a woman cry for help. We scrambled towards a small head bobbing about and gasping for breath. He was the woman’s little boy and we rescued him. A while back, she left him by the shore picking up stones and shells, while she tend for their lunch. But the boy caught the rip, which carried him to deep waters. This riptide is notorious in Urbiztondo Beach in San Juan, La Union. It’s just in front of a big tree several meters from the shoreline. Stand on the spot and you will feel the loosening sand as surf laps at your feet, and you will lose your balance as your weight push you down in the quicksand, then the tide comes back and picks you up offshore fast! Beach goers caught unaware are drowned this way. It has claimed lives already.

Typhoon

I was awakened by a bombardment of Lanzones-sized Gemelina seeds dropping on the GI roof as gusting winds brought by typhoon Juaning shook the trees. The mountain in the foreground pulsed as whole trees swayed by the sheer force of gale-force wind roaring down the valley. Whipped by the wind, bamboos around the creek thrashed about spewing rainwater like puffs of smoke. Leaves swirled around and flew, then fell like snow as a barn swallow flipped low then went up steeply to spiral in the sky. It gleefully succumbed to the whim of abundant wind.

At first I thought fog descended on the valley, but the haze was rain, a drifting curtain of wind-blown rain! Strong winds blew ripples appearing as white patches running across water-logged rice paddies. It knocked down everything in its path without mercy. It was already midmorning but westerly gusts continued to blow full throttle as it passed thru trees before reaching the bunk house. It shuddered. Decaying thorny vines on the branches were now heaped on the ground with a scattering of leaves, branches and whole trees. Then a thud. The house shook. There was a loud crack. Another tree fell - on the roof!

Amidst this nature’s fury is a water buffalo grazing silently on a grassy knoll. It was oblivious to all the destruction around, as it continued to chew on grass, and perhaps twigs and maybe some fallen tree barks.

SEA Games

I was watching football in the Southeast Asian Games in Indonesia. It didn’t escape me that the medium-built Asian squads are coached by towering Europeans. Small wonder since big-time football leagues started in Europe, the one continent that dominates the World Cup until Argentina and Brazil (and the entire South America) came along. It’s been made the more exciting when powerful teams sprang up from Africa. Superstars like Samuel Eto’o of Cameroon and Didier Drogba of Ivory Coast compete in fame with England’s David Beckham and Argentina’s Lionel Messi.

If you go to Korea and visit the Seoul World Cup stadium used in the 2002 World Cup hosted jointly by Japan and Korea, wide screen footages are played when Korea entered the semis. It was the first time for an Asian team in World Cup history to do it, and Guus Hiddink, its Dutch coach, became a local hero. Koreans still cry and jubilate watching those wining moments of the Korean side. But except for that single tournament, no football star from the team is heard of again. Will a football superstar emerge from Asia? And will one come from the Philippines? Why not! Now that we’re more regularly seen in international sports events, and winning too, we have proven time and again that we are at par with the rest of the world, and a football superstar is not far from reality.

A year ago, the Philippine Azkals team entered the semis of AFF (Asian Football Federation). That’s unprecedented and the whole country joined in the excitement. Two games will be played; one in Indonesia (the opposing team’s turf) and one on our soil. Admittedly until that time, football is small time, if not a totally a dead sport in the country. And when tournament officials came, no stadium passed international standards to play football! Such a shame! The two games ended up being played in Indonesia, and the home crowd hoisted the Indonesian team a slot in the finals. Anyway, Malaysia eventually won the trophy. But the good thing about the fiasco is that the Philippine Senate called for an inquiry into the state of football in the country. Yes the Philippine Senate! Right now there are local football tournaments emerging, and collegiate football is big in universities, and the Azkals attained cult like status! They got the popularity of movie stars, basketball players and politicians combined!

Caitlin Koch

The one that got away.

Marlboro Man

President Obama is smoke free. Fit for duty at the age of 50. It’s big time news for the most powerful man in the world. Good for him! I just hope the Philippine President will do the same. I was a smoker myself but I quit in 2003. And from that time onward there was no turning back. I started gym workout, became active in sports and got my strength and stamina back. Now I wake up without the nasty morning cough and back to living a healthy lifestyle for 8 years straight! I am in tiptop shape and I remember brandishing a shirt that got me the stares and proud smiles, it has a phrase printed up front in bold letters SMOKE FREE BODY.

Those who don’t and never did, can’t really comprehend the difficulty of quitting. And save your breath because whatever you say and show, and whoever you are don’t really matter because the one and only person who can stop it is the smoker himself. But why smoke in the first place? As in everything it all starts as a curiosity. Then with others smoking around you, you feel a sense of belongingness and social acceptance. Then it becomes a lifestyle. Then a habit, which is the addiction people find hard to stop.

And why can’t you stop? Because you don’t want to stop. And when you seriously do, for the first time you become aware how hooked you have become. When you’re hooked, smoking becomes more than just an addiction, it becomes a habit you can’t shake. Unlike excessive indulgences with prohibited drugs, smoking is guilt-free, done openly, it’s socially acceptable and not prohibited at all, which makes it harder abandon. It has become a part of you. It comforts you. When you reach out for it, it’s there, in your pocket. And if you don’t have any, it’s easy to get. It’s convenient. It doesn’t judge you, instead most people judge against it, and you want to protect it against judgmental non-smokers, and you want to change people’s mind about it…. because it’s your friend!

The benefits of quitting is undeniable. So keep motivating loved ones to stop. And when it’s time to quit they’ll just do…. just like me and Obama….:)))))

Kiddush Hashem

Kiddush Hashem translated from Hebrew means the sanctification of God’s name through your actions. It’s a weighty compliment not to be taken lightly says Senator Joe Lieberman, an Orthodox Jew in his book An Amazing Adventure.

I was chatting with Kostas last night via Facebook. He is Greek and worked in an office in Paris where we met a few years ago. We share the same sense of humor and often exchange tall stories that always end up in a laughing frenzy that make our jaws ache. He is now in Darfur in South Sudan volunteering with Doctors Without Borders.

Darfur is a western region in Sudan that has gone through a bloody civil war since 2003. The war was waged by the Sudanese government in an attempt to wipe out entire non-Arab indigenous populations. The international community particularly the United Nations stepped in to quell the mass murder. This culminated in the secession of South Sudan, which became an independent state on 9 July 2011, and a member of the United Nations (five) 5 days hence. At the moment, the relative peace is so fragile that another civil war could break out anytime. The hungry population is fed and nursed by the continuous outpouring of humanitarian aid. This is where Kostas came in the picture. The ever restless and adventure seeker, I thought he was now on the Trans-Siberian trail. In his Parisian office near Gare de l’Est he had the plan laid out. Now it’s put on hold. He said, “I have seen so much strife and hunger here. I would be too callused and selfish to go now.”

“Such a big heart”, I told him. “What you’re doing is a Kiddush Hashem!” He said, “Kid what? Stop fooling around naughty Filipino!” I typed “LOL!” and said, “I’m just proud of you man. I’m proud of you….”

Shark Attack!

Sharks have ultra sensitive noses to locate prey. Their favorite smell being – blood!

Recently, sharks hug the headlines due to attack on a diver in Australia and a surfer in California. Because of these reports, they are brandished once again as blood thirsty human eaters. But are they really? The answer is no.

In California and Australia where the attacks occurred, a shark’s diet normally consists of seals and walruses. If you’re at the bottom looking up, surfers sitting on boards look just like that – seals! This explains why not a single surfer is attacked in our waters (in the Philippines) simply because our sharks have a different diet. They are big Tuna eaters and other smaller fish. Reported attacks were limited to spear fishermen for the obvious reason that – they were surrounded by fish kill’s blood, which is the one thing most irresistible to sharks. The Australia incident involved a diver, and though it wasn’t clear in the reports, I bet he had been spear fishing too….

So, do these reports prevent people from going to the beach and enjoy the ocean? Are surfers daunted to paddle out in search of that perfect wave? Definitely not! It’s just like asking why climb the Himalayas? Why bungee? Why skydive? It’s the adrenaline rush and the smell of adventure that keep us going back to the ocean even if it means risking a bite or two and being mistaken for a seal by a SHARK….

Chaos & Coffee

Vietnam is the second largest coffee producer in the world and it has a unique way of serving coffee: In a personalized coffee maker, condensed milk is placed at the bottom of the cup to which brewed coffee slowly drips. When the cup is full, stir, then drink. It’s Vietnamese coffee, a taste like no other. And there is no better way to taste it than at the downtown market. But to get there, we had to pass through traffic…. of the Vietnamese kind. Take a look.