Tinkering

Last night, my friends played with buzzers with different colored lights to be used for a Quiz Bee of Klub Tala, a group of college girls teaching supplementary academics to public school children. We had a mock quiz bee for a while in the living room. Watching them tinker with those buzzers, I remembered that I used to like electronics. Connecting circuits and switches. I loved my electronics subject in high school -- yep, including the math. And I thought, wouldn't it be wonderful to have my own tool chest? Then I'll give it to Dad, so I won't be mistaken for something else.

Sponsored post.

An Economic Review

I love my Economics subject. No kidding. I love it.

But as the cliché goes, Economics doesn't love me back. In fact, it loathes me.

So okay, I don't exactly have a smooth friendship with Economics. We're casual, and it's enough we understand each other's mood swings and brain hemispheres and cognitive and intellectual abilities. Of course, Econ (the nickname) is way up there, and I'm down here. But for years I've been trying to make sense out of broadsheets' business pages, and it's only now that I partly ignore the forex rate (naks, "forex") and thank God the inflation's growing smoothly and slowly. See? I understand Econ, but why oh why do I have to take it further ...

... as in further ...

until the Finals exam!

It loathes me. Why can't it just reciprocate my love? After all, I tried convincing Mother Dear to use Ariel laundry soap as a form of affection towards my professor, host and Ariel endorser Winnie Monsod, who doesn't even know I exist.

I guess Mass Comm students more or less have the same fate. Make us write all you want, but don't let us do Economics. We can face the cameras, report, act, make documentaries, cover the biggest, most dangerous beats, skip out three days of sleep and whatever. Econ is just not our turf.

Especially me. I mean me. Really.

A really good break

... is what I need. All university students I know are working so hard these past weeks, plus me. So I've been dreaming of a good, planned, creative weekend break. Maybe I could go somewhere that could inspire me to shoot or write or think in alternatives. Maybe I'll take a trip to the Met Museum, or take photos in the city.

This site is what inspired me to plan a worthwhile break -- after all requirements of my 18-unit semester have been met, of course:

I visited one of my favorite sites, "The Daily Dose of Imagery by Sam Javanrouh. It is an awesome photoblog that features one or two photos a day. I like his architectural photography most of all and his photos of cityscapes. I bet he runs around with his camera 'cause it seems like he shoots anything interesting on the way. And he really has an eye on framing that makes even highly-depicted landmarks look new, like the Eiffel Tower in Paris (top), the CN Tower in Toronto (center) and the Pantheon in Rome (bottom). "I'm trying to avoid the usual cliche photos ... the ones that everybody has seen!" Javanrouh writes.






Speaking of weekend breaks, here is a link to DialAFlight, a UK travel company offering flights, hotels and travel ideas worldwide. One word: inspiration. Perfecto for people longing to take short breaks after or within schedule-full months, or at least city breaks to stroll and sip coffee while reading the latest edition of Time or The Economist.

Sponsored post. #

Church of the Youth

We, the young ones, often consider the Church independent of us, that we are mere members of an old religion, the Church that was and is the Christian movement. But we're more than just members, we ARE the Church. We are not distinct from it, we carry it. And it's of utmost importance that we attend to it as much as (or more than) we attend to our interests and temporal responsibilities.

Not long ago, the Holy Father Pope Benedict XIV addressed young people of the world in preparation for the World Youth Day 2008 in Sydney. He posed questions that we might find ourselves often asking:

> How can we fit into a world marked by so many grave injustices and so much suffering?
> How should we react to the selfishness and violence that sometimes seem to prevail?
> How can we give full meaning to life?

I would like to think I know my generation, and I've met enough people for me to say that the youth is just waiting for their turn to act, to take over. But they can't really wait. A good number of them contemplate on the world's problems daily and take them in, huge doses even. Of course a good number also does the opposite. I can't blame them. Besides the hormones, they are pressured too by too many forces. It's a bombardment.

I always find it wonderful and amazing (-- aren't those synonyms?) that there are too many problems in the world, but there is only one answer to them all -- God. Yeah, yeah. We've heard that before. How is it possible that a seemingly passive prayer to Him could solve global warming? Stop wars and conflicts? Eradicate poverty?
I don't think so.

But, really, why not? If He made the universe, then He could fix it. Of course we should act too, but the most effective action is one that's accompanied by prayer. Wars and conflicts? If we all unite ourselves to God's will, then all those killing one another shouldn't be happening at all. Poverty? Isn't it that prayer makes us rich? Though not with material wealth, but the most important wealth, the kind that really sustains both our bodies and souls. Love.

"My dear young friends, I want to remind you here of some key truths on which to meditate. Once again I repeat that only Christ can fulfill the most intimate aspirations in the heart of each person. Only Christ can humanize humanity and lead it to its “divinization”. Through the power of his Spirit he instills divine charity within us, and this makes us capable of loving our neighbor and ready to be of service," the Pope said, talking to all of us. You and me.

If we follow the things those whoever people on TV tell us to do, it's definitely much better to follow the wisest man on earth, right? #

Basketball Whiz Kid

Paolo Oliva, 8, is the next brain of basketball. Ask him the names of coaches of any team in the NBA, WNBA, UAAP and PBA. Ask him for the scoreboard. Ask him about the players. Ask him the game schedules. Name it, he could answer.

It's not yet official whether Paolo is a genius or not. But he was younger, he could memorize all his relatives birthdays and all the dates of important events in school. He knew the calendar. But lately he turned his attention towards professional and collegiate basketball, and man, he's deadly.

He asked his parents one day to buy him Gatorade so he could be stronger like the NBA stars. He saw a commercial, and of course he believed. Kids. When he plays basketball in their garage, he imitates the facial expressions of NBA players when they shoot, sticking his tongue sideways, or frowning with one eyebrow upwards. When the ball gets into the basket, he runs to the opposite side with his right arm raised and index finger pointed to the sky -- just like basketball players.

He watches UAAP and PBA games with his dad in Araneta Center and wherever. And he does his homeworks eagerly so he could always urge his dad to go. No wonder he knows everything about the game.

But the most wonderful thing about him, aside from his basketball genius, is that I'm his cousin. Zonk!

I miss the game so badly. I always reminisce the high school days when I played for the school. Sweet times. But I'm glad someone in my family shares this love - even more than I do.

Paolo, you're the man!