Graduation Rites

University graduation 2006:

1. Intense sun + no lunch + no shade + nondescript guest speaker = aggravated boredom
2. 12 summas + 100-odd magnas + 500-odd cum laudes + thousands of average graddies = long afternoon
3. Digital cameras + camera freaks + nothing else to do = photo ops before, during and after speeches
4. thirsty crowd + absence of wandering vendors within the grounds = graduates upping and leaving for cooler pastures

College Recognition Rites 2006:
1. Hot midday sun + persistent and misleading corsage vendors = enemy at the gates
2. Ill-fitting togas + safety pins = pricked fingers
3. Hardworking graddie + many awards = race to the stage
4. Graddies with kids + Dean on stage = grandfather syndrome
5. High heels + spray-wired hair = immense discomfort

Solution: one biggie Wendy's iced tea + 12 hours of sleep

I couldn't access Blogger earlier, and I wanted to say something connected to this inq7.net article that came out last night, so I made my first post in another months-old blog at Wordpress. For more, read here.

After iBlog 2

iBlog 2 was fun, but now it's over. Sadly.

I ran myself ragged running to and from the Sta. Ana room at the third floor of the UP College of Law and the penthouse of the UP Law Center, where the first bar review sessions were taking place, but it was worth it. My blockmates know how tech-oriented I am, so they were quite understanding of my disappearing act during the bar techniques lecture. Thank the heavens for friends who know when not to nag about attendance!

It was an interesting eight hours of hearing bloggers talk and take on different perspectives, and I learned a lot from the tracks that I attended. A lot of people attended, and the diversity is astonishing. I saw the old, middle-aged and the twentuy-something crowd pack the Sta. Ana room, and it was a blast to listen to one mother talk about how she got interested in the internet and in blogging because of her two kids.

Rebecca MacKinnon of Global Voices was there, and I found her keynote address a joy to listen to, sans the cat blogs remark. I first heard of her while researching on the State of Play Conferences for my paper. I shouldn't be surprised at her enthusiasm about blogs, if she can relate to the prospects of online gaming.

Dean Alfar fails to bore, and I found his enthusiasm about the writing process very infective. He was so right when he said talent can only carry one so far, but that it will eventually fail the writer. The importance of practice can never be gainsaid. I should know. As a journalism student years before, I was writing so much that I got grades ranging from 1.0s to 1.75s on pieces that were just on the first draft. Yeah, you may say it was arrogant of me, but I usually wrote at the last minute.

After four years in law school, and with my writing shelved for the most part, I now understand why writing is such a pain in the ass. It's a bit harder to rev up my creative engine nowadays, to enliven the link between the ideas in my mind and the pen that inks out the words. But it is a comfort to find out that once the fire has been well and truly lit, it's hard to stop the words from spilling.

Mike Abundo is persuasive on the "marketing your blog" angle, but then it's mostly common sense. Good tips, there, though. Psychologically sound advice. He reminds me of Josh Groban a little. Same impeccable kind of get-up, dark, wavy hair and very pale, clear skin. Skin that freckled and oily-faced femmes surely appreciate.

While Ellen Tordesillas could have been more relaxed in front of so many people, I do find the fact that she is a self-confessed un-techie who is doing her darn best to keep up with techie stuff very appealing. There was another speaker who kept on referring to persons interested in probing deeper into ICT and related stuff as nerds, or nerdy-geeky types. I can't remember the name, but that was a highly flammable subject. Filipinos must be really polite or repressed (count me in, on occasion), to let such remarks go unchallenged.

I'm just sorry I wasn't able to attend the track on blogs and the law. That was the track I most definitely wanted to attend, but it coincided with Dean Alfar's and when push came to shove, the latter was so funny I couldn't just walk out of the Sta. Ana room to go to the Binay room.

Oh, that's just the downside of iBlog2. Setting the sessions in simultaneous tracks definitely meant that I'd have to choose which ones I would prioritize. The thing is, I wanted to go to all. I guess I'll just have to wait and download the podcasts when these are finally brought online. Bummer.

"Old age, believe me, is a good and pleasant thing." (Jane Harrison) Particularly when it allows the geriatric to get away with words and deeds that he or she wouldn't have dared utter ten or fifteen years ago. Specifically, when that same geriatric was in the wrong to begin with.

Forgive my irreverence, and my apparent indifference to the customs that dictate respect for the elderly. I usually feel honored to give my seat away to lolas and lolos, and I strongly feel for the old bag ladies and sampaguita vendors who stay out in the streets to earn their daily crust. By rights, the elderly should be enjoying the fruits of their labors. Truly. I just don't believe that old age is an absolute license for someone to be an absolute and misplaced boor. Which is precisely what I nearly called that charming old lady in a bland-colored frock at the Guadalupe MRT station.

I was the first person in front of the lift at the southbound side of the MRT III in Guadalupe at around four in the afternoon yesterday. There were several moments of bliss when there was no one behind me to act as the irresistible force that moves me into the lift's tiny compartment. I stood about a foot away from its doors. Of course, those moments of solitude are as fleeting as the shadow of a swallow's wing over the lake.

The doors opened, and I moved a step back to allow the passengers of the lift to depart from its coveted interior. There is nothing as annoying as having to wrestle one's way out through a doorway. There were seven other people behind and to my side. I stepped forward to take my rightful place (don't I just sound like an arrogant so and so?) in the lift, but this old woman had the smart idea of pushing herself and her grandchild past me first. Well, she wasn't that old. Probably sixty, if a day. Because of the physics of boarding a lift, I couldn't very well curtsy and say, "Please. Go ahead' at that precise moment. Okay. I could probably have done just that - and ended up on my knees, squashed face flat against the inner wall of the lift. Apparently it does not please the overtaker to have the intended overtakee move as well. Never mind that the door can accommodate the two of us and a Dalmatian all at the same time.

I don't know if the old woman was high on the thrill of the impunity against reprisal that senior citizenship sometimes adduces, but she then had the gall to complain, "Ba't kasi nauuna ang mga bata" in that aggrieved, censuring tone. I was the only one of my age bracket there, and I've been repeatedly told I that I look much younger than I really am.

Bullocks. What was she expecting, the red carpet or something? I would have dearly loved to make a cutting retort, but that is one of the heights of rudeness, and I don't want aspersions to be cast on la mia famiglia's ability to impart the Ps and Qs. So I contented myself with donning an air of innocence and serenity, whilst I seethed inside and hoped it would rile her to be ignored.

Aargh. The things people have to bear with in the name of civility and good manners. There are times when I just want to bury Miss Manners' book six feet under.

The VLM Soup - There's more to Ragnarok than just fragging

Before Anita Blake, all Ragnarok meant to me was the online roleplaying game that became so popular during my undergraduate years. Then I stumbled upon a particularly interesting narrative of the rituals of power changes in a pack in The Killing Dance, and the words Ulfric, Fenrir and Ragnarok.

In Blake's world, lycanthropes aren't your ordinary cutthroat, solitary deranged were-thingies who always stay in the shadows. They form communities that have indicia of ordinary human and animal social groupings. In their human forms, the lycanthropes are like any other man or woman. To have money, they work. For their bodies to function, they eat. To have fun, they play. Whatever play means. Well, most of the time. But for lycanthropic communities, the dynamics of pack behavior are not to be disregarded.

Just as ordinary wolves have packs, so do the werewolves. And just as ordinary wolf packs have alpha males and females, so do the werewolves. The alpha werewolf of a pack is known as the Ulfric, while his mate is the lupa.

The Ulfric and his lupa are, like, the wolf-king and queen. They are superior in strength and intelligence to most of their brethren, and lead their pack any which way they like. But alpha does not mean forever. Not in terms of lifespan or right to rule. A king can lose to a challenger. But if the Ulfric dominates the fight, the upstart pays for his impertinence, more often than not, with his life.

Transplanted into Anita Blake's world, Ragnarok is the battle for supremacy between the Wolf King and his challenger. Think of a big clearing in the woods bathed in the full moon's borrowed light, or its equivalent. Think snapping jaws and fangs, swiping claws and the lust for blood.

It's not pretty, and it definitely is messy. But, in terms of politics, it's a cleaner way of ascending to the throne, so to speak. If the Ulfric loses, that's it for him. The lesser animals in the pack will not dispute the right of the Fenrir to become king. There's no mass uprising, though the downside of it is that the new Ulfric can lead his pack into hell with nary a whimper from his wolves. For many of the species in Kingdom Animalia, the dynamics of power are crystal clear. The strong survive, the weak perish, and if there is safety in numbers, flock together.

People follow this dictum as well. Subconsciously. But somehow, because people are capable of reason, and of other desires that have little to do with survival, there are variations on the theme. Yes, the strong survive, but who are the strong? The weak perish, or languish under the dominance of those who are stronger, but who are the weak? And speaking of safety in numbers, well, the pitfalls of overpopulation show that moderation has its attractions.

Footnote: In Norse mythology, (at least, the Sunday School version), Ragnarok is that final battle between the Gods and the Giants. After several years of uninterrupted winters, Odin will die at the hands of the monstrous wolf, fenrir, and a new order will arise.

Iblog Summit

Gosh, it’s been ages since I last wrote anything for this blog. Oh, well. Sitting for one’s super final exams and worrying one’s head off about bloody (but interesting) OLA matters really take up a lot of time. Before I write about anything else, here’s a shameless plug for one of the more interesting events of the summer that I plan to attend.

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= iBlog2: The 2nd Philippine Blogging Summit shall be on Tuesday, April 18 at the U.P. College of Law, U.P. Diliman, Quezon City from 9 am to 5 pm. Same as last year, this event is FREE!
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I missed the first one last year because of an ill-timed but nevertheless enjoyable trip to Caliraya. I heard it was a blast, and if this year’s programme is anything to go by, April 18 will not be just another day.