FROM a Facebook note I wrote last July of this year:
Below is an excerpt from a heartwarming note I just received from Serafin Tubles, a former officemate at my former employer, the Philippine National Bank. Bambi, as he is fondly known to us and who is now based in the US, recently got his copy of our book, Tikman Ang Langit: An Anthology On The Eraserheads there, At least, my byline managed to make it to America. The names he mentioned are also former officemates at PNB. Seriously, I got misty-eyed when I read this:
"mayroon na akong kopya ng tikman ang langit, hanep ang essay mo parang CIR (joke only) , gaano katagal mo natapos iyon piece mo? (hehe) I am proud of you pre, ishare ko ito kina boss wood, danny santos at iba pang tropa dito sa US. Kaya lang bakit pati iyong profile mo sa book at diyan sa facebook pareho. Maganda iyong book na iyon gagawin kong coffee table book ko at alam ko magugustuhan ito ng mga anak ko dahil parehong kaming eheads fan. Regards again and hopefully makapagsulat ka ng sarili mong libro in the near future."
It's the only thing a writer can ever ask for. CIR, by the way, refers to the Credit Investigator's Report that we used to prepare in the Bank when we were still, well, Credit Investigators.
OKAY, let me try to finish the year in almost the same way I did in 2008. Below is a Note I wrote for my Facebook profile page last year shortly after I filed for early retirement from my day job at the Philippine National Bank where I was connected for 21 years.
My last day of work was originally the last working day of December, 2008. However, I was granted an extension of three more months so I remained at my desk until March of this year. Much of what I said below still holds true. And while there's a lot to like about doing freelance work where I pretty much control my own time and my own pace, not to mention where I can also choose the subjects worth writing about, there's something about my old office routine that I still miss.
The manangs with their dirt cheap meriendas. Lunch with officemates at the office cafeteria on weekdays and somewhere special (in our case, a nice restaurant at SM Mall Of Asia) during paydays. The two-gives, four-gives and whatever gives installment items (clothes, jewelry, health supplements and what have you) we buy from our suking vendors. The health cards and annual executive check-ups. The camaraderie, the office politics and the gossip that goes along with the whopping eight hours and sometimes more that we spent in our respective desks.
And of course, the power clothes (the nice shirts, ties, slacks and dress shoes) that pretty much belies how underpaid most office folks really are. Which is also probably why there's a part of me that wants to go back to at least some of that. Or maybe not. Or maybe..never mind.
The more things change, the more they stay the same? Just as I wrote below, I have no clear idea what's in store for me in 2010. But even with the not-so-pleasant things that took place in 2009 (i.e. Ondoy, Maguindanao), there are still plenty of things to be thankful for, many things to be hopeful for and oh, yes, a few good reasons to keep smiling about. At some point, we do all have to move on.
Here's how my year ended in 2008.
CROSSROADS
By EDWIN P. SALLAN
In a pretty good year when almost everything went my way, there were still a few things that didn't.
Call it second wind, third wind, nth wind, whatever wind, I guess you could say I got my mojo back in 2008. I re-discovered the joys of working, be it at my regular job at the bank where my 2007 promotion led to an important role in our division or at my freelance writing on the side where there was a lot of personal fulfillment with what I thought was some of my best work in recent years. The best of both worlds became truly the best of both worlds in 2008. I guess you could say I was on some kind of a roll or whatever that is.
At some point, we all have to move on.
2008 was also some kind of transition year for me. And graduation day as far as my work in the bank is concerned came at the last quarter when a recent merger that many of you may have read about resulted in an early retirement offer that was simply too good to pass up.
There's a part of me that always wanted to quit my day job so I can finally pursue what I really wanted to do, to go where my heart truly belongs. It still felt a little painful, though, when I told my bosses that I'm leaving because I intend to "follow my heart." Only this time "following my heart" takes on a slightly different meaning from what I had in mind just a couple of years ago.
Just as it felt a little painful and yes, a little emotional when I was asked to co-host our office's Christmas party, something that would turn out to be my first and last at the bank, my second home and my second family for, oh, just the last 21 years. What can I say? My bank job was a nice little gig that, at times, broke my heart, lifted my spirits, made me proud and yes, ultimately paid my bills.
Truth to tell, I'm actually a little scared about all the uncertainty that the near future brings, especially with all that crisis talk and financial doomsday scenarios people are predicting for 2009. At the same time, I'm a little sad that with all of this also came an opening, a possibility, however remote, for a much-awaited second chance that I was hoping to pursue at the right time. Unfortunately, some opportunities present themselves a little too late. Sometimes, things have a way of simply not working out.
At some point, we all have to move on.
I said goodbye to a lot of things in 2008. A long career that has by and large, been very kind to me. A comfort zone that I worked very hard to establish yet was largely criticized by some well-meaning friends. And yes, the many people that I'm used to being around me for quite some time, some possibly for good.
There's something to be said about closing doors and opening windows. I absolutely have no idea what's up for me in 2009. They say things are supposed to get worse before they get better. Well, I do hope the worst is over for me by now.
As much as everything didn't go my way in 2008, there are still plenty of things to be thankful for, many things to be hopeful for and oh, yes, a few good reasons to keep smiling about. Yes, I'm also actually excited about the options and prospects I'm looking forward to for the coming new year.
At some point, we all have to move on? As a friend would put it, to move forward is more like it. Happy new year, everybody.
THERE'S a reason why I only write about the lighter side of things and it's probably the same reason why political jokes makes me cringe more than they make me laugh. Having had my share of bad news (literally and figuratively), I've always preferred the idea of putting a smile on people's faces with something more pleasant to read, to sort of counter or balance the unpleasant headlines of the day. All this negativity is not doing anybody any good.
But there are also things that you simply cannot turn a blind eye on. The Information Technology Journalists Association of the Philippines, better known as Cyberpress and an organization where I'm a proud member, do not usually issue statements taking a stand on certain issues. After all, most, if not all of us there are headstrong individuals who do have different views on different things. And while we don't always agree with each other, we do respect each other's opinions.
But the recent Maguindanao massacre is something else and this is where we all found ourselves on the same page. Here now is the official and collective statement of Cyberpress as we hope to add our little voice to the many already outraged by this sad and horrible episode in our country's history.
The IT Journalists Association of the Philippines (Cyberpress) condemns violence against any person, especially atrocities against media people.
The IT Journalists Association of the Philippines, also known as CyberPress, is one with the civilized world in condemning the brazen killing of our colleagues in the journalism profession in Maguindanao. The Philippine government should act swiftly in putting the perpetrators of this dastardly act to justice – we expect nothing less.
FREELANCE journalists, okay, writers, especially those who specialize in feature stories like myself don't usually stumble upon stories that would be considered scoops.
But back in 2004, I was literally sitting on a gold mine of a story involving Martin Gonzalvez, whom I profiled for the Manila Times years earlier when he was a web designer during the internet's early years. If the name sounds familiar, it's because, yes, he used to be a broadcast journalist for ABS-CBN. Martin or Gonz, as he is known to close friends, is one of the pioneering figures behind what would be known as the Philippine Mac Users Group or PhilMUG, where I was also an active member.
A very passionate Mac user, Gonz and his family migrated to the US earlier this decade where he would later realize a longtime dream of working for Apple Computer as a certified technician or Mac Genius which was his official title. News of his hiring by Apple has been known to his fellow Mac users for quite sometime, about two months or so before I decided to break the story for the broadsheet Today (now known as Manila Standard Today). To be honest, I thought a Filipino being employed by what is arguably the coolest computer company in the world would be such a big deal that major media outlets would be quick to pick up on it, and there were quite a few of us media types in the Mac users group at the time.
To my surprise, no one did. So I decided to pitch the story to Vlad Bunoan, Today's then business editor who gave me the green light to write it. Next thing I knew, ABS-CBN.com, then using the name PinoyCentral posted my same story on their site. Both ABS-CBN and GMA picked up on it as well and featured Gonz on their respective morning shows, with Gonz's former media colleagues looking and sounding visibly happy for him as they reported his feat.
A colleague of mine who was with the Infotech Section for the Philippine Daily Inquirer later told me I should have mentioned the story to him. I just told him I thought he knew. A lot of people (well, mostly the local Mac users) already did before I even wrote my story. By the end of 2004, the Inquirer included Gonz's employment by Apple as one of the paper's top IT newsmakers of the year.
It was that much of a big deal. It was that much of a scoop. And yes, it was one of my proudest moments as a journalist and as a writer, part-timer and freelancer as I was and still am.
Today, Martin Gonzalvez remains a good friend and yes, he is still with Apple Computer. "In July 2008, I achieved one of my biggest dreams working for Apple by being promoted to its corporate headquarters in Cupertino, California," he told me in a recent Facebook chat session. "After four years of working as a technician in an Apple Store in upstate New York, I am now a Technician Trainer."
Way to go, Gonz. And here's that 2004 news story, which was actually quite short. Yes, that's Martin Gonzalvez and his beautiful family in the pictures.
Apple Computer hires Pinoy ‘Mac genius’ in US By EDWIN P. SALLAN Special to Today
A former broadcast journalist with an almost decade-long passion for Macintosh computers was recently hired by Apple Computer as a Mac Genius.
Martin Gonzalvez, a former television news reporter with several local stations before switching to a career in Web-authoring while working for advertising agencies, migrated with his family to the United States in 2001. Since then, he has worked as network administrator and technical manager for K-12 schools in New Jersey and New York before being hired by the very company that created Macintosh computers.
“I first used a Mac in 1995, when actor Subas Herrero, who is also my father-in-law introduced me to his Mac LCIII which he would also let me use,” Gonzalvez recalls in an exclusive online interview with Today. “It was love at first sight and every one of my jobs since then has involved the Mac in one form or another,”
Since then, Gonzalvez has also dedicated himself in serving the Philippine Mac community by providing free technical support to his fellow Mac users through the Philippine Macintosh Users Group, or PhilMUG, of which he was a former board member. More recently, he was very active in PinoyMac.org, an online community that he founded in August of last year.
“A few months before launching PinoyMac.org, I achieved a longtime personal goal when I became an Apple Certified Technical Coordinator in Mac OS X and OS X Server,” Gonzalvez reveals. “I am proud to bring my heritage of nearly ten years of service and participation in the Philippine Mac community to my work at Apple, where I am doubly proud to be one of the company’s few Pinoy Mac Geniuses.”
As a Mac Genius, Gonzalvez’ job is basically that of a technical consultant for sales and support, among other things. He will begin training for the job at Apple Computer’s headquarters in 1 Infinite Loop, Cupertino, California.
TURNS out Typhoon Ondoy or Ketsana as the rest of the world knows it was not the worst storm to hit the country and the nation’s capital this year. It was in fact the worst disaster we ever experienced in decades and arguably the most destructive in the Philippines’ history.
Around 300 dead, thousands and thousands homeless, millions worth of properties destroyed. People I personally know lost everything and are just happy to be alive. There is some measure of relief, however temporary, from goods donated by kinder souls who were either a little more fortunate or who simply happen to be at the right place at the right time. And by right place, I meant the very few areas where Ondoy’s damage was minimal to none at best.
Me and the members of my family were among those who were spared from Ondoy’s wrath. Our kitchen was briefly flooded at ankle length high but that’s about it. But as “kind” as the recent storm was to us, we weren’t always that lucky.
Back in 1992, we lost everything in a fire that gutted more than 300 houses in our area in Pasay City. The fire started four streets away and for a while, it looked like it was going to be either contained by attending firefighters or the fire will take on a horizontal direction and spare the neighboring streets. Unfortunately, the wind took the blaze to a different direction to yes, across the neighboring streets. When it was over, our apartment was one of the last houses to get caught in what was literally a crossfire or should I say, a crossing fire, to be exact.
There was not much we can save. As far as I can remember, there was the washing machine, the TV, some cassette tapes, a few photos, my then still relatively new boom box, some clothes, a few small things and our dog. Everything else, the major appliances, the furniture, most photo albums, our school yearbooks, my Jingle magazine collection, those memories, all gone.
I don’t think I was earning enough from both my work at the bank and my freelance writing jobs to easily and immediately replace what was lost. At that time, I had also just completed 28 units of the MBA course I was taking at Ateneo. Whatever little education funds that I intended for the rest of my post-graduate studies had to be rechanneled for more pressing needs. All the loan benefits available to me, I also filed. There was some help from the office and some relatives but that was all the relief we got.
See, unlike typhoon victims, fire victims usually don't have evacuation centers to go to. People, groups and especially the government (both local and national) don't often ask for donations or relief goods for us. There were also no water-damaged things to test if they would still work. Whatever insurance proceeds rented apartments like ours are entitled to usually go to the landlords, not the tenants. Yes, more often than not, fire victims are pretty much on their own, at least we were at the time.
It was tough. For months, there was a lot of belt-tightening. We had to buy only what we can afford including a second hand refrigerator that hardly made ice, ever. I remember sleeping in a folding bed, sometimes in the mat or banig, sometimes in the sofa. The apartment that we initially settled in was located in an awful street corner area where noisy vehicles including pesky tricycles pass by regularly, especially at dawn. And yes, there were many nights when I cried and wonder why something like this had to happen to us, to me.
But just like anything that breaks one’s heart, things have a way of getting better as the days go by. It didn’t happen overnight but yes, we found a way to pick up the pieces. A better place, better sleeping conditions, well, better everything at our current place in yes, Better Living. With a little luck, a little faith and yes, a fairly decent amount of hard work, everything was eventually back to normal. Well, almost everything. Not all things and memories were physically brought back or replaced and no, I never did get back to pursuing my MBA but hey, we can’t win ‘em all, can we?
Different circumstance? Pretty much the same results. For most of Ondoy’s victims, things are likely to get worse before they get better. As the relief goods stop pouring in (and they eventually will) and these victims are left to their own devices, their resolve and faith (in government, in God and in each other) will be repeatedly tested.
But this much I can say. We didn’t have a well-thought and foolproof plan to get back on track but hey, we somehow managed. The next few days and months are going to be tough for the typhoon survivors but as bad as they'll continue to get, things will eventually get better. If there’s anything good about starting over is that, well, one does begin with a clean slate. As past demons are left behind, there’s always a new day to look forward to. Each building or rebuilding block will feel like an improvement over the last one. And every upgrade, however small or seemingly insignificant, will feel like major progress.
See, the thing about hitting rock bottom is there’s really no other way to go but up.
YESTERDAY we here in Metro Manila experienced what is easily the worst typhoon to hit the country and the big city at least this year. The official report says it certainly dumped the heaviest amount of rainfall in our history.
It's no big surprise that Typhoon Ondoy (where the hell do they get these names?) and its non-stop rains for nine punishing hours pretty much submerged the nation's capital and nearby cities and provinces. Or that it left at least 51 people dead and thousands more homeless. See, killer storms do that here in the Philippines all too frequently and our government, both in the local and national level, never learn from the aftermath of these calamities.
But as tragic as it was and still is, there was at least one amazing bright spot about the whole experience. With a little luck, a little creativity and the latest advances in technology, it also helped re-ignite and even redefine the spirit of volunteerism. Taking advantage of popular social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter, Multiply and yes, even Friendster, people updated everyone in their network with all kinds of helpful information from traffic situations in their areas to friends trapped in their homes and literally on their roofs (one in my FB network actually asked for help for popular actress Cristine Reyes who was trapped on the roof of her place in flood-prone Marikina), numbers to call for help and how the generous and more fortunate souls among us can donate cash, clothes, food and anything else that would help.
Somebody eventually found a name for it: Citizen Journalism. And yes, it was quite a phenomenon that started late in the afternoon and extended all the way to the wee hours of the morning. Turned out to be quite reliable, too, as I would learn that not everything that's "officially" reported by the legitimate news networks are as accurate as the ones reported by, uh, well, the social networking reporters.
Yes, like many others in my Facebook network, I found myself reposting all these information even as the cynic in me wonders how many of the thousands stranded out there has a 3G-enabled cell phone that could access the internet and their social networking pages. But given the circumstances that there's not much else most of us can really do at home but to well, stay at home, I might as well find a way to be of little help to anyone out there who can access their FB pages and at least read my posts.
To be honest, I have no idea if any of my reposts was able to help a single soul. But yes, if there was at least two people who were able to access their Facebook accounts in their mobile phones and pass them on to as many people as possible via SMS or if there were few folks in their cars who were somehow "fortunate" enough to be stranded in a wi-fi zone or that somehow, the major news networks were able to pick up these posts and pass them on to their viewers or listeners, then those little efforts would not have been for naught.
And it's not yet over. The storm may have calmed down but the spirit of volunteerism and, okay, citizen journalism continues. Of course, some reposts are also either a little or a lot less correct than others (in local journalism parlance, we call it kuryente or being electrocuted by false information) but in times like these, I guess you really can't blame anybody for being too careful or a little too anxious to do their share to help.
But then again, these reposts are also a good reason for: one) the responsible officials to confirm or deny or immediately act on; two) for those out there in the field to further verify; and three) for those of us at home to be a little more circumspect with the information we share.
Now, if you'll excuse me, I may need to repost something that might be helpful to someone again.
How bad was Typhoon Ondoy? Watch this video taken at noontime yesterday:
Since nothing really exciting is happening in my life, I decided to reactivate this blog with a slightly different purpose. From now on, this becomea the place where I can share my views on certain things, reviews of stuff and events that I stumble along and my views on certain things and issues.
It also becomes a repository of previously and currently published and even unpublished articles that I wrote in the past. In short, halo-halo. Hopefully, this will provide friends and readers with another way of getting to know me better by understanding what I'm in or not into.
Or not. In any case, I only hope this blog is worth your surfing while. Thanks for visiting.
SHE found me at a time when I was still clinging to a fading dream, when I was still hanging on to something that I knew had already slipped my grasp for quite some time now—only there was still a part of me that wasn’t ready to totally let go.
All of that changed when she came along, starting with a friend request in a social networking site that led to two pivotal things: a schoolboy crush on her gorgeous pics on my part and a brief chat session that somehow connected on a level that both of us can’t still fully explain. Perhaps it’s the similarity of our circumstances. Perhaps it's just about being at the right place at the right time. Or perhaps it was something else. Whatever it was, the only thing she could say about it now was that I made sense.
I don’t know if I ever made sense at all in my entire life. What I do know is that the succeeding days were a much happier one for me as we continued to communicate online or otherwise. Before we knew it, we’re already having lenghtier chat sessions that led to countless SMS exchanges to even lenghtier phone conversations in our homes and offices that lasted for God knows how many minutes or hours.
We talked about everything, everything. The things we like and don’t like, the people in our lives from our friends and families and everyone and everything else in between. We even laughed and made fun of our own personal tragedies as well as come up with private jokes that are now too many to count. We pretty much knew each other (and yes, our surrounding cast of mostly wacky characters) fairly well even before we actually laid eyes on each other.
She was such a constant presence all day and all night long that she became a life-changing equation for me. What was looming to be a miserable yuletide season suddenly became a truly Merry Christmas. Not a day passed by when she wouldn’t put a smile on my face with all the things we were able to connect with, from our favorite things to our twisted sense of humor to everything else we could or could not make sense out of. In such a brief period, we established the kind of rapport that would otherwise take years for most people to achieve.
Having come from my own share of setbacks, there’s a part of me that naturally remained skeptical about all of it, though. What have I done to deserve this strange yet wonderful situation? What was really going on? Where was this going? What’s the catch? Could it all be just a dream? And will it end just as fast as it started?
Well, it has yet to end. Far from it. Turns out we are, yes, just getting started. To cut a long story short, we’re now taking our relationship to a higher level. What began as a pleasant distraction has developed into someone more special, something more meaningful. What we have right now is far from perfect and is certainly not without its own share of quirks, questions and challenges. But in learning so many things about her, I learned a few more things about myself as well.
E taught me not just to move on but to actually move forward. She taught me how to appreciate life the way she bravely faces it—with a grain of salt, with a mischievous wink and with a crackling laugh to boot. And more importantly, she taught me how to have faith again, in Him, in myself and yes, in her.
(Daisies are E's favorite flowers, hence the picture.)
I'M kicking off this blog with something I posted on my Facebook page only recently. This 25 stuff is something that a lot of members have been doing as of late and although I found it to be a bit silly, I decided to take a stab at it and actually had fun doing it.
You might as well get to know the blogger if you are to find the blogs interesting. So here goes nothing:
1. I'm a writer who actually hates writing since I find it very stressful. But it is one of the things people say I'm pretty good at so I keep doing it, anyway. 2. Paul McCartney is actually my favorite Beatle. His "Maybe I'm Amazed" is an all-time favorite. 3. Regrets, I've had a few. I still wish I could go back in time to correct every mistake I've ever made. 4. I found out I could write when I joined a UN-themed essay writing contest in high school to escape the Math period that coincided with it. To my surprise and everyone else's, I won. 5. I once auditioned as a radio discjockey in the old Rock of Manila DZRJ. I passed several stages and made it to the final panel interview before I got cut. I never tried it again. 6. My original college major was Geology. I ultimately graduated with a degree in Economics, same course as Mick Jagger and (not that it's something to be proud of nowadays), GMA. 7. I often find myself in strange, bizarre situations I can't believe I deserve. Story of my life. 8. Two years ago, I thought I'd spend the rest of my life in a foreign land. Now I really don't know. 9. I was a law student for exactly one semester because of a scholarship I needed to complete. 10. My favorite sub-genre of rock is powerpop. Yes, there is such a term. 11. I'm an Aries born on April Fools Day in the Year of the Dragon. Explosive combination, people say. 12. I can't swim. Really. 13. My life has more ups and downs than several roller coaster rides combined. 14. I have been a Mac user since 1992 and a Mac owner since 1995. 15. The first album I ever bought was a cassette copy of Get The Knack by The Knack. 16. I always like to ask little kids two questions: "Baby ka ba o bata?" and "How old are you when your mother was born?" Hehehe. 17. Of all the things I wanted to be growing up, a fireman, a lawyer, a DJ, a rock star and a music writer, only one actually came true. 18. Not too many people know I have a day job at a bank for, oh, just the last 21 years. 19. I drink coffee two to four times a day. With Coffeemate at home and with non-fat steamed milk everywhere else. 20. I'm partial to tomato-based dishes like pomodoro pastas, mechado and caldereta. 21. I take things as they come, one day at a time. I found out the hard way that nothing really ever goes as planned. 22. I used to be vocal and confrontational when I get upset. Now I just don't say anything and even often let things go. Age, I guess. 23. Not too long ago, I lost my faith in the Lord. I'm now trying get it back with the help of a few well-meaning friends. 24. I have been a Comelec Poll Clerk in just about every major election since 1986. 25. I still believe in happy endings and hope to find myself in one someday.
