The Game of Life

I confess. I'm addicted to Mafia Wars...

Big deal? I don't know. I just realized that I spent so much time on it and there are times that I my schedule got affected by it. Ok, i can almost hear those who thought that I must be nuts to be playing a game at my age and status. I don't think there's anything wrong, unless there's a label that says "for children between the ages 3 to 9". In my class in urban planning, even my professor asked us to play SIM CITY to get a good grasp of urban planning.

I remember when I was involved in a youth club in Manila. One time we had an excursion with grade school kids. I was seated at the back of a van with two grade 2 students and I was amused at how they spent their time while traveling. They were playing a game, but a virtual one. Each of them has a particular character and they would exchange roles or actions, depending on what the other says. One kid would say "I will attack you with this weapon! and you will be thrown away!" The other kid would respond: "I will use this gadget to hold on to something and throw myself at you with this weapon"... and so on...

Other than Nintendo's early games like Space Invaders, I don't really play much in computer. I often wonder what goes on in the minds of these kids.

There are many reasons why adults play games like this one. I think that the most important reason is that the game is an outlet for people who get frustrated over their desire to control things in their lives. In games, you have more control

Peace of the Past in Argao

There are many things that Argao is known for, among others there’s the beach, the food, and the heritage resources. Among the heritage resources, however, its cemetery is probably the least popular. It is not common for tourists to tour cemeteries of small towns, but visiting Argao’s cemetery is actually worthwhile.

Argao’s cemetery was built during the Spanish period. It was a public cemetery owned by the Catholic Church. A few mausoleums were built for prominent families but what made the cemetery interesting are the rows of concrete crosses laid in grid over the field instead of the usual stone slabs on the ground. The names of the deceased, including their dates of birth and death, are etched on the concrete crosses. The field is also surrounded by a wall of niches and some structures built during the Spanish era such as its gate and its main chapel with only the façade remaining.

The cemetery is currently being redeveloped. Using the façade of the old chapel, a new chapel had been built. The quaint mausoleum of the Kintanars had been converted into a gazebo which acts as a centerpiece to the whole development and the Spanish era gate and fence had been torn down. Despite these changes the place still transports you back in time

Another point of interest outside the Spanish cemetery is the burial ground of the Kintanar family. The place is surrounded by a moat and is sometimes referred to by locals as an island cemetery.

Heritage Hunt in Colon

Colon Street is one of the busiest streets of Cebu. It is also one of the oldest streets in the Philippines. If you walk along Colon today you will only notice how busy it is, not how old it is. Nearly all the remnants of the old Colon have disappeared. There is only a handful of buildings left, like the Vision Theater and the University of the Visayas, but people hardly notice their importance anymore.

Throughout its history, Colon had been known for many things. In the first place it is the location for the residences of prominent people like the Gaisanos and Osmenas. Colon was also known as "Calle Teatro" (Theater Street) because of a number of theaters dotting the length of the street.  Artists have also set up studios along Colon such as painting studios and dance studios. There are also quite a number of schools along Colon. Other establishments in the old Colon include a number of printing press and restaurants.

Although these establishments have long disappeared, it is still possible to know what they were exactly, where they stood, and what their history is. In the late 90's a civic group implemented  a plan to bring back the glory of Colon. Although the movement was felt only for a short term they managed to set up informative markers along the street. These markers come in the form of a plaque on posts (see pictures). The plaques state the important establishment being marked including a brief history. Unfortunately, like the surviving structures of the old Colon, these markers are now difficult to notice.

Those who are curious about the history of Colon can venture into a hunting expedition where they search for these markers and be transported in the past.

Yellow Tribute

I know that a lot of people will find this strange but this blog is a tribute to the late President Corazon Aquino. I've often wanted to write this around the time she died but I wondered whether it was appropriate. What actually made me hesitate is that I may end up revealing some things in the past that I think should be kept silent. The upcoming anniversary of the death of Ninoy Aquino, however, moved me to go ahead.

I was watching the news with my parents when Ninoy was assassinated. In fact, we were watching the live telecast of his assassination. I still remember the reaction of my parents that time. I had never seen them so suddenly anxious, as if they don't know what to do. They both gave me the impression that the country is about to collapse. There was a general feeling of hopelessness which, in my carefree youth at that time, was a totally new experience. This moved me to follow events in the news, both the television and the newspaper.

I think the Snap Election declared by then President Ferdinand Marcos was the time I first voted. The Marcos "regime" had a deep impact on me. Out of fear, people had the tendency to over react to the President's rules during the Martial Law. I remember how my mom was worried about a law restricting the number of childred to three, and I happened to be the fourth. There was talk about making my neighbors adopt me. It was totally confusing to me. Later on, I just grew familiar with the underground activities... knowing but never participating... until Cory took the lead.

I joined the rallies together with my parents. I wore the yellow shirt and flashed the "Laban" sign. I sang the nationalistic songs. My participation, however, was simply for support to the real movers. I simply helped out in the logistics. Anyway, the long and short is that Cory became president and things went normal for me. I thought it was the last that I would concern myself about the widow of Ninoy. I was in for a surprise.

Immediately after graduating in college I went to Manila. Somehow I ended up working for one of Cory's cabinet member when she was still President. They still correspond to each other so I found myself coordinating with the office of the Cojuangco's, which includes her, of course.

My encounters with the past president, however, was not confined to work. At one time, she was invited to a get-together with university students. An activity which I took part in organizing. I remember how awkward it was when people became silent during the open forum after her talk. I broke the silence by asking her how she managed being president and mother at the same time. She took that opportunity to thank her eldest daughter who helped her with this dilemma.

This is how I know this  woman in yellow: a president, an executive, a mother. If I were in Manila around the time of her death I would be found in her wake and her funeral. I know her more than most of my friends right now and I cannot help feeling disgusted whenever I hear some people criticize her, or make fun of her, when they know nothing about her. The youth nowadays would call the "Laban" sign as a "loser" sign. If only they know that flashing that sign before was an act of great courage, for it may mean your detention or your anonymous death.

In parting, I wish to give a simple request to the young people around my great circle of friends... if you have nothing good to say about the late president, say nothing. Respect her memory, even if the only thing you can do is to remain silent.

Sacred Makes a Church

My friend was telling me about his philosophy in design in architecture. Our conversation was very interesting. One topic in particular is about his definition of buildings and we concentrated on defining a church building.

After much argument we both agreed that each building type has an essence that must be present. Without this "essence" the building could very well be mistaken for a factory, a commercial building, and so on. In the case of a church building the essence is its "sacredness".

We first talked about Catholic churches. The layout of Catholic churches have changed in the course of history, from theocentric to anthropocentric. In the search for openness and "oneness" the altar had been moved from the back to the center, the sanctuary is now at the same level as the populo, the communion rails removed, and so on. Despite the changes the church retains its sacredness. But precisely what is it that is sacred in a church?

To answer this we discussed different sacred structures outside of the Catholic churches. We tackled eastern churches like Angkor Wat, or modern places of worship like the ones designed by Tadao Ando. In the end we realized that the thing which is sacred is not a physical object but something intangible, in fact, it is the idea of achieving the presence of God, or Allah, or the supreme or Holy Being.

We can use pictures to remind us of who we worship. We can use objects like crucifixes and other symbols. It could also be our interpretation of the teachings which we try to reflect in architecture. It is so varied. Each one has his own sense of what is sacred. But being a social being, this sense of what is sacred can be shared and can be common to a group of men or community, bounded by culture or other values. Thus a native tribe can create a worship space which they see as sacred but the modern man might never understand.

With this in mind it would be easy for any architect, regardless of religion, to design a worship area to anyone. There must be a research involved to determine the client's idea of what is sacred. The client here is not necessarily a single person, in fact, it should be the worshippers of a particular area. Even among Catholics the idea of what is sacred can differ.

Architecture students should be trained early on in becoming sensitive to these matters. The church is just one building type that we considered in our discussion. It would be interesting to tackle a school, a home, and other building types as well.

Contemplating Murphy at 2AM

"If anything can go wrong, they will". This is the Murphy's Law as my friends told me a long time ago.

My boss before told me and the rest of his staff about this. He wanted us to make strategies that work, but assume that everything will go wrong. So we had to be prepared for the plan Bs and Cs and all the other letters in the alphabet. Doing this was very exhausting. You have to visualize the scenarios in your mind which means you have to lock yourself in a room and remove all distractions. I guess my habit of working at 2am is a result of this. By 2am, most people are already tired and asleep.

Thank God I don't do that anymore, but other than the 2am work hours the practice also influenced my general attitude towards problems. I have developed the habit of anticipating things that can go wrong, but more importantly I have developed the ability to suppress any useless reactions when confronted with an unexpected problem.

The friend I hang around with lately, for example, easily gets disturbed when something he planned does not go as expected. As a result, he spends a lot of time analyzing who to blame, and brooding over the situation. It takes him a long time to settle down and collect his thoughts. Sometimes it takes him days. I even believe that he keeps a grudge over these petty things. My friend is a genius, but I pity him. He stresses out so easily.

The term "damage control" is not new to me. I tried to train my mind to immediately shift to this mode when something goes wrong. I guess this is why I can still manage to smile in those situations. It is something that many people misinterpret for lack of seriousness or lack of care. Anyway, these thoughts came up precisely because of the friend I mentioned. Since we're always together, I get "affected" by his reactions. The worst part of it is that things go wrong because of me.

The past two months had been like hell for me. On my own, I would have faced all my problems calmly as I try to solve them. My friend simply made it all complicated for me, just as I complicated his life. It seems like the only solution here is that I spend time alone to sort things out before I associate or mingle with other people. I could really use the silence. Lately I don't get the isolation I needed, even at 2am.

Airhead Encounters

I just finished presenting a project proposal to a client. Although everything went well, I was very tired when we ended. I had worked on the materials for the last few days and I haven't had a decent sleep. Anyway, on my way home I decided to do two things: first, follow up my Sun cellular re-connection, and second to watch Transformers 2.

My Sun was blocked several days ago because I missed out on my payments. I finally paid last Friday but my Sun still didn't work. I followed up on a Sunday and was told to wait for 24 hours for reconnection. I still couldn't text or call. So I followed up again on a Tuesday. This time I really probed to make sure I get reconnected. To my surprise, the only reason I wasn't reconnected is because my payment lacks 50 cents! wtf!

These people from Sun are stupid! The cashier who received my payment rounded off the payment to a lower figure and even gave me loose change. Why did she do that if it meant I won't get reconnected if I lack even one cent? The guy I approached last Sunday didn't advise me about the problem. Plainly he didn't now his job well. My friend keeps telling me that Sun services is the worst he encountered. I thought he was only referring to the signal, it seems like it also applies to the people working for the company.

The movie ended past 9:00pm. I was in Ayala Center Cebu and the theaters were on the fourth floor. I naturally went to the ground floor and planned to exit through the Terraces where it is nearer the jeepney stop. To my surprise the automatic doors no longer function. A note beside it says that beyond 9pm everyone should take the exit at the third floor. A family also wanted to exit there. They came from TGIF. A girl from TGIF went out to tell them that they can pass through TGIF to go to the Terraces. I decided to do the same. I was taken aback when the girl stopped me and asked me to take the longer route... simply because I was not a TGIF customer! wtf!!!

I appealed to her sense of reason. It is not a busy night. What harm can one person passing through do to them. I was tired and hungry. Passing through their store might even entice me to buy. I felt very tired thinking that I need to retrace my steps to the third floor to exit, when there's an exit just in front of me which is only a few meters away. The girl insists that it is the rule their managers made. I asked the girl if it doesn't make her feel stupid saying these things. She said no, she's only following orders. I told her that it was a stupid rule and following it makes her stupid as well.

I realized that right in front of me was a girl with a very low level of intelligence. I also realized that the manager who made the rule was at the same level as her. I have often heard of jokes about people who would eat dog shit if their managers ask them too. Well, here is someone who would do it, and also a manager who could make such rules. I know the rule was made to protect TGIF from hordes of people passing through and disturbing their clients, but it was a Monday evening - the least busiest night - and I was the only one passing through!... and I was very tired, and very hungry!

Like Sun, TGIF sucks in customer service. I wonder if they ever bother to train their staff on customer service.

Well, I wanted to rest after that presentation, instead I got more stressed out when these two establishments pissed me off.

Health and Wealth

I was supposed to write about how I celebrated my birthday. You see, I am nearing that age when life begins again. At first I wanted to make a special celebration. Later, I decided to make this birthday into a preparation for a really big celebration next year. So I ended up with a modest celebration and, with this mentality, a long term commitment.

To prepare for next year, I decided to give myself a gift. (Sounds a bit pathetic, doesn't it?) Anyway, I enrolled myself in a health center, Fitness First. In fact, I enrolled for a year. Right now I'm actually looking for ways to be able to pay for a personal trainer. Fitness First is very expensive. I wasn't really prepared for the expense. I can manage to pay for the membership but I really can't afford the trainer.

I wish I could find a way. I had an orientation with the personal trainer and I was totally sold out to the idea of getting one for myself. It makes everything worthwhile... seeing the effects of working out. I know how important my health is but I am always distracted by work that does not contribute to my well-being. In my type of work, only my brain gets a total work-out. I really need the trainer to help me achieve my goals, to keep me focused, to keep me disciplined.

While I was contemplating on this, my friend Connie from Davao visited Cebu and introduced me to a networking endeavor. She's into USANA, a company that specializes on health products like food supplements. The timing couldn't be more than perfect. I was totally sold out by the product because of how it could benefit me and my family, especially my parents. I have been taking food supplements myself but I have been doing so without any sense of a program. Now I can continue to do so with a better sense of purpose, at a cheaper price, more effective product, and to top it all I can earn dollars (literally!).

I'm not saying that I have decided to live a luxurious life from here on. I have been meeting with friends regarding work and study and I foresee a very, very hectic year. I don't want to end up sick because of work. I want to be able to enjoy myself while working. I want to maintain a balance with my work and health. I believe I am on the right track and I sincerely feel contented.... and happy. =)

UAP/DOH Hospital Design Seminar

The participants of the UAP/DOH Hospital Design Seminar

Last month I attended a week long seminar on Hospital Design organized jointly by the United Architects of the Philippines and the Department of Health. There were participants from Iloilo, Negros, and Bacolod, as well as from Cebu. There were 26 participants all in all. It was very memorable to me for many reasons: first, I met a batch mate I have not seen for a long time now; second, the things I learned were very interesting and very useful; third, the stress we had to go through to complete the course made our "graduation" very meaningfu; and so many other reasons...

Architects Luis, Samosa, and Penafiel were the main facilitators. Technical people from the Department of Health also went to share their expertise on utility systems and the legal aspects of hospital design. Architect Cristopher Espina also went on the third day to discuss some zones of the hospital. I was asked to write an article about it for the UAP Post so I will reserve the more technical write-up in that article.

There were exercises given after every major lecture. We also had a main project. At the start of the seminar, we were grouped into six with four or five members each. We were assigned a hospital that we should either design from scratch or redesign. In my group, we were assigned the hospital in Palawan. The existing facility is designed for 50 beds. We were supposed to redesign it to accommodate 200 beds. We defended our design with flying colors. We were able to capture the tricky part of the problem, the solution that the panel expected from us.

We toured the Chong Hua Hospital in the last day, just before our graduation. It was the only opportunity for me to see the restricted areas of a hospital. Unfortunately only five people were allowed inside the operating rooms. They had to dress up in srcubs. Too bad there was no operations that time.

The lucky ones who were toured in the operating rooms.

The seminar was held in Ford's Inn, Banilad. At first I thougth that the place was too small and inappropriate. It turned out to be just right. I was even more pleasantly surprised that the owner is a good friend of my mom. In fact, last Christmas I asked my mom about the whereabouts of Mrs. Ford.

We were the fourth batch to attend the seminar. I actually signed up for the first batch, which was held in my hometown in Davao. It was ideal for me since I was in Davao at that time, but I got kicked out because the seminar was reserved for Mindanao architects. No matter. I enjoyed this batch anyway.

My friend who joined the first batch called me up a week before the seminar started. She announced that some foreigners approached her for a possible hospital project. She was happy that I will finally join the seminar. I will be able to assist her when the project pushes through.

It was one of the few seminars where the certificate of completion is like a college diploma. I was asked to give the "response" in behalf of my group during the graduation. I told everyone that the seminar gave us the possibility of collaborating with other professionals on hospital design matters. For me, as an educator, what I learned in that seminar will also echo in the halls of the college, either through lectures or through the design consultations especially in the undergraduate thesis.

Hanging On

Many of my blogs are related to the undergraduate thesis program in the school where I teach. Maybe because this is the time when the students become more serious, when they show forth the result of their five years of stay in the university. Maybe because there are so many lessons to learn on how they deal with the challenge of a thesis. It seems like the best opportunity to evaluate one has learned so far in the academe and in real life. The greatest lesson to learn just recently is related to the virtue of perseverance, and has a lot to do with the virtue of humility.

The thesis coordinators set January 23 as the deadline for thesis materials. The deadline is quite early this school year because they wanted to accommodate the sheer number of students expected to defend their theses. Unfortunately, the deadline fell on the midterm exams week. This doubled the pressure on those students. The reactions were predictable. Most of them backed out.

On the day for the submission, the coordinators decided to return the drawings after checking them and assigning dates for thesis defense. Since there are fewer students defending their theses, the start of defense was moved up by two weeks. Technically this means that there are still two more weeks to continue working on the drawings! Not only that, the coordinators accepted everyone's drawings except for one. Yet, many of those accepted were actually incomplete.

I am sure that most of those who backed out regretted their decisions. It must have pained them to realize that what they feared they can not achieve is actually doable. When I learned that some of my friends were backing out I tried to reason with them. Generally I discouraged them from doing so... but no one listens.

I have learned in the past how narrow minded one can get by simply obeying laws to the letter. I believe more on obeying laws to its "spirit". Back in college, I missed out a departmental exam in Design (a simulation of the board exams for architects) simply because I forgot to bring my admissions slip. Since the rule says no exam for those without admissions slip, then I simply went home. The rest who were in similar situation, however, remained and requested for a special consideration. After all, the ruling was meant to ensure that the students have paid their tuition fees, which they did except that they left the proof at home. In the end, they were allowed to take the exam with the condition that they present the proof the following day, otherwise their exam is forfeited.

I told the students who decided to back out to simply hang on. It is true that they were told to submit the drawings and models which should be 90% complete but I also told them that those who made the rules, and are enforcing them, are human beings. There is a chance, no matter how slight, that they would reconsider. The students simply need to give that opportunity for the coordinators to reconsider. This is the perseverance part.

The humility part has to do with rejection. I told the students to work on the bare minimum requirements and submit them, and take their chance. If accepted, they should be grateful, but if rejected, then they simply accept the fact (they were backing out anyway). The reply of some students to this advice was a bit irritating. They say they can not handle rejection. They would rather back out now than feel the humiliation of getting rejected. Fine! Right now I imagine them drowning their sorrow, along with their pride, with a lot of beer.

I don't know if this is appropriate, but I learned a great lesson from my spiritual director about perseverance and humility in the interior struggle, and I found these lessons very much applicable to virtually anything we do. If we accept our limit, our weakness, and we accept the fact that we can not do everything alone, then we become powerful. This is because our friends and family will fill in our weaknesses with their strengths, and together that bond creates a strong spirit within us.

"frater qui adiuvatur a fratre quasi civitas firma..." (A brother that is helped by his brother, is like a strong city) - Proverbs 18:19