Steel

Steel

I often see myself as a tough and shining metal because when I’m faced with tough problems and decisions, I try to be as strong as steel. In Chemistry, metals are associated with positive charges, and that explains how I deal with trials. I just shine and defy all the odds while keeping my unwavering optimism alive until the end. But sometimes, I reach my melting point, just like what other metals do, and I can’t help myself but break down and cry. After that, I solidify again to a new and more polished steel, much prepared to face the world and all the challenges that it has to offer.

/07.30.09/

The History of Simbang Gabi

Simbang Gabi

We cannot deny the fact that “Simbang Gabi” (also called Misa del Gallo) has been an indispensable part of the Filipino Christmas Tradition. Starting December 16, Filipinos, usually with their families and friends, rush through the nearest church to attend the mass which starts as early as 4:00 AM. This scene would continue for a total of nine days, until December 24. It has been said that if you completed the nine consecutive masses, your Christmas wish would be granted.

The origin of Simbang Gabi can be traced back in 1660, during the early years of Christianity in the Philippines. During the season of advent, missionary friars held masses for nine consecutive days as preparation for the coming of Jesus Christ. In addtion, they decided to celebrate these masses at dawn, when the roosters (or gallo) announce the beginning of the day. Thus, the name Misa del Gallo (literally, Rooster’s Mass) was introduced.

The masses are celebrated early so that our Filipino ancestors, who are commonly farmers by occupation, can still manage to attend without abandoning their fields. It has been a routine that Filipinos would walk or ride their carretela (carabao sleds) and head to the nearest church at 4:00 AM. After the one hour mass, they would proceed to their fields and work. They follow this routine until the day before Christmas.

That is how Simbang Gabi or Misa del Gallo became a Filipino Christmas Tradition. Up to these days, it is still observed, as this tradition is passed from generation to generation. It may mean differently to different individuals but one thing remains true: Simbang Gabi is an important part of the Filipino Culture and a heart-felt devotion to God and the Blessed Virgin Mary.

Number Blunder

Numbers have a good way of manipulating and controlling my life’s direction.

I was writing an entry last week at 5:00 PM when a stark realization came into my mind: I still have something to do. I ended my keyboard monologue instantly and went to my room to meet up with my Calculus book. I was embarrassed to know that he (Calculus) missed me. To make up for the absences of each other, we talked about our own journey together. Memories of limits, differentiations, integrations, maxima and minima were automatically brought up. He even mentioned something about his twin brother, Analytical Geometry. He kept on talking and before I knew it, he had begun a long, sermon-like orientation about our newest goal together: transcendental functions. Then, my time came. It’s now my turn to answer his questions accurately. That’s my assignment, by the way. And then I closed him.

Halfway down the stairs, a sudden thought occurred to me: Analytical Chemistry. Like Calculus, she (Analytical Chemistry) is fond of seeing me. Although she‘s a new-found friend, both of us make subtle efforts to keep our tacit promise to meet regularly. Her life is dominated by numbers as well. We talked about gravimetry and precipitations. I also answered some of her problems, with the help of my calculator. In times of crises, friends must always help each other. I had managed to solve some before I quit. Not so long after, I bid good bye despite her reluctance.

I stared at the wall clock (without seeing the time), and saw something not-worth-seeing-but-worth-remembering: batteries. As far as I could remember, regular batteries carry 1.5 V. Ah…V. Wait… V! Voltage! You guessed it right. I spent another reunion. This time, my guest was Physics. It (Physics) made an abstract introduction about the electric fields of point charges. It was even grateful enough to tell me about Coulomb’s and Gauss’s Laws. With the help of my calculator, I caught a brief glimpse of what it‘s trying to say.

For the third time, I exited the confines of my room to go back to the computer and escape this incongruous, makeshift reality. But as soon as I sat, a disturbing phenomenon happened.

“Matulog ka na. May pasok ka na bukas. Kailangan mong bumangon ng alas-kwatro.” (Sleep now. You still have classes tomorrow. You need to wake up at 4:00 AM).

To cut the long story short, I didn’t finish my supposed-to-be blog entry. But I was still happy in knowing that I had, at least, survived my journey with numbers. I would not be able to see them again, at least for the night. I opened the door and was met by the voice of my brother:

“Kuya, pa’no nga ba ‘yung pagsosolve ng logarithm at natural exponent?” (How do you solve for logarithms and natural exponents?).

Ah, numbers!

P.S. Sorry, I don’t have the time to return comments nor exchange links. But keep all of those coming and I’ll try to give justice to them (return comments and links) as soon as possible. Thanks!

How Old is Old

In a typical “Who wants to be a Millionaire?” game…

Host: For $25, answer this question. Which of the following signifies old age?

• a. The white streaks of hair start to outnumber the black ones on your head.
• b. The signs of profound forgetfulness go from bad to worse, then from worse to worst.
• c. The alacrity has been already drained out in your system, and you are labeled as a curmudgeon by the “younger” generation.
• d. There’s a manifestation of learning to accept, rise and live.

Suddenly, these thoughts emerged from the mind of the contestant:

The present societal norm when it comes to being old is dictated by age. Old people are stereotyped and perceived to be as “white haired people incapable of recalling simple and complex things who are boring, most of the time”.

But for me, one thing is for sure: the term “old” refers to an adjective and is presented qualitatively therefore we cannot measure it quantitatively. We can’t go on trying to find a plausible connection between age and oldness. Probably, this is the reason why “senior citizens” are not termed as “old citizens”.

More often than not, an old person has already ticked all the check box when it comes to success. It is the state wherein we often catch ourselves nostalgically reflecting on everything that has happened in our lives and evaluating them according to our standards.

It can come anytime. It can come early, though it is most common to attain it during the latter part of our lives.

Being old doesn’t relate to physical appearance (a.), memory (b.) nor social competence (c.); being old means being “old” enough to learn how to accept mistakes, how to rise up each time we fall and how to live a life worth living (d.).

Host: I hate to interfere. In fact, you have to take your time. But time is almost up. I need your answer now.

Contestant: D. Learning how to accept, rise and live. Final Answer.

This post is dedicated to my father and Catherine who’ll be celebrating their birthdays on October. The latter is having a birthday contest. For details, click here. Now I’m tagging Mary Grace, Jonell, Ate Grace, Karen and Lei.

Untitled Part III

A Day of Love

It has not been our family’s tradition to celebrate Mother’s Day during the second sunday of May even before I came to existence. Instead, we prefer to celebrate it during a birthday. Since my mother has three sons (I, included), she celebrates her day thrice, on May 9 (Rosjon’s birthday), July 25 (my birthday) and November 21 (Ronn’s birthday). My grandmother told us that our great-great-grandparents believe that during your birthday, thanksgiving should be offered to the woman who had nearly risked her life just to put you into existence and become your “mother”. They got a point, didn’t they?

Since it’s my brother’s birthday yesterday, I’d like to give thanks to my mother by writing this post:

My childhood has been marked with I having a great hatred for my mother. It’s because of the following:

• She’s resourceful. This is the primary and most dominant trait of my mother. She can use all things at hand to do something she wants. In fact, she uses virtually anything, and all things unimaginable – hangers, belts, slippers, brooms, wood sticks – to hit us when we have done something wrong.
• She loves to have us by her side. When we heard “Anak!” coming from her, we rush up to her. She wants us near her so that we could assisst her in light and heavy household chores.
• She wants the best for us. She always explains that education is important and she and my father are working hard just to send us to a good school so we must study very hard. When she said very hard, she meant having medals and awards after the school year. She would be very disappointed if we haven’t had any of those.

But when I started to grow, and develop a sense of maturity, I started to realize that I must not hate my mother. Instead, I must love her because of the following reasons:

• She’s stupid. When I was still an infant, I won’t drink her milk no matter what. But then she insisted to, at least, give me her colostrum before I was bottle-fed. Because of her effort, I was able to receive at least some of the nutrients that breast-fed babies have.
• She wants to get anything she wants instantly. I had a fever when I was one year old. She was so nervous that she decided to bring me to a pediatrician. Night fell and my fever’s not getting any better. She decided to dial my doctor at the middle of night just for me. The doctor scolded her but then she’s happy because I was cured.
• She is over-acting. She acts as my leader, setting examples that I should follow to become independent when the future comes. She acts as my friend, comforting me when I have problems and helping me get out of them. She acts as my teacher, teaching me the theories and putting them into practice. She acts as my savior, protecting me from any harm. And most of all, she acts as my mother, loving me and helping me face no matter what the odds are.

Words are not enough to thank you for what you have done for me. But anyway, I want to tell you that you’re greater than the greatest mom on the planet. I love you.

P.S. Happy Mother’s Day to all of your moms!

Sexism in the English Language

It’s been monhs ago when we have tackled this lesson in our “English Proficiency Instruction I” class with Prof. Monje.The topic is about Sexism in the English Language which is based on the essay of Dr. Thelma Kintanar.

Why is that women are rendered invisible when we are referring to the general gender? There are several cases on which we can get simplified examples be it cliches or day-to-day conversations. For instance:

No man is an island.

The term “man” in the sentence obviously refers to both men and women. But to the miticulous eyes of English majors, this can signal inferiority to the women race. Also, the sentence gives a misleading impression whether it talks about man alone or both men and women.

In reality, women are treated unfairly not only in the field of language but also in other factors as well. Back in history, we learned that women are not given the same benefits that the state gives it male members. For example, only men can vote in the elections. Women are only treated as prorperties, which is a form of discrimination against them.

Sexism in the English language is only one of the many products brought to us by acculturation. The challenge to us, individuals, is to remedy this kind of problem in Modern English. Both genders must be given exactly the same respect. All along, we are one and the same because we are all created by God.