Justin Bieber's hair

I heard that Justine Bieber's lock of hair fetch 40, 000 US dollars. Its crazy. Why would anyone want to buy a lock of hair? For forty thousand dollars!

Maybe its the mystique. I heard that Manny Paquaio (okay, I saw it on the news) also had his hair cut. If I were the barber, I would have collected all Manny's hair and then put them in a plastic container and then had them signed and sealed by Pacquaio for posterity. Who knows maybe in the future Many's hair would cost a lot. Who knows maybe in the future when our country has aready advanced in the field of genetics and cloning, our politicians and our sports officials may want to clone Manny Pacquaio so that we could produce another world class boxer.

Why stop there? Imagine if Bata Reyes' barber also collected the billiard champion's hair. Maybe we could clone another billiard magician. How about Charice Pempengco's manicurist? Why I hope they are saving samples of her nails.

Hmmm...

Anyway, its the relic mentality. This phenomenon (not Manny Pacquiao's Bieber haircut, I mean why would he had that haircut in the first place!) is not unusual. People have bought hair, bones, straws from the manger of our Lord that according to the experts...well...would make our Lord a very hairy person or would make his mangers a very big manger. Bones of saints, blood of heroes etc. People want a piece of the people they admire.

Maybe we can trace this back to the belief that if a person ate another person's brain, he also ingests the person's power or prowess. Maye eating Justin Bieber....hehehe. Anyway, he is a phenomenon and I just hope that Bieber would grow up to be a normal person. Teen stars usually have a very unhappy life, look at Michel Jackson.

Ahhh... shocks, what am I saying :-)

Trying to get back to blogging

I missed blogging. The last time I posted here was more than year ago, a lot of things have happened since then. I am now teaching at a public elmentary school. I imagine teaching at a public elementary school as an easy job.Go to school in the morning, post a manila paper here and there, discuss a litte here and there and then sit down. But I was mistaken.

Teaching a lesson is the easy part. The most difficult part and the most exhausting part of being a public school teacher (you're teaching 50+ pupils) is the amount of energy it requires to hold back you temper and your hands. It is easy to get angry, shout and humiliate pupils. It is easier to pull a pupil's hair here and there, or pinch them here and there. To hold back and look cool, relaxed and in control requires...hmmm...great faith mixed with great amount of love.

Another thing about being a public school teacher is the amount of paper works. We have o fill up a lot of forms most of which are just known by numbers. I am not complaining I am just overwhelmed by the amount of reports that is required by the "chain of command."

Anyway, I am enjoying my job now. Once in a while in my free time, I will post something here.

A Better hero

The last time Manny Paquiao defended his title, our preacher unashamedly admitted to the pulpit that he is going to make the sermon a little shorter because of Manny’s fight. I admit I was a little shocked at the thought of Pacquiao’s fight getting precedence over the service on the Lord’s Day. But I understand, or I don’t, or maybe I can’t.

I have nothing against our boxing champion. He may beat the hell out of all the Mexican for all I care, but there’s something surrealistic about the Filipino’s obsession with Manny. Maybe it’s because I am not a boxing guy. I believe the sport is the devil’s sport. (My father was an avid boxing fan and if he were alive today, I think my father would also shorten his sermon.) Boxing is gambling, violence, sex, and hedonism all rolled into one.

I think boxing is the remnant of the Roman gladiatorial fights. You have two warriors in the ring trying to smash each hurt each other, drawing blood and getting cheers for every punch landed and blood spilled. This sport brings out the animal instinct in us, especially for the men.

But to each his own…But I believe the Filipino youth deserves a better hero.

Francisco Tarrega

Francisco Tárrega (Francisto Tarrega y Eixea) (November 21, 1852 - December 15, 1909) was a Spanish composer and guitarist. Born in Villarreal, Spain, he fell into an irrigation channel when he was young, which rendered him nearly blind. Partially due to this accident, the family moved to Castellon and enrolled him in music classes. Both his first music teachers, Eugeni Ruiz and Manuel Gonzalez, were blind.

In 1862, guitarist Julián Arcas heard the young prodigy and encouraged him to journey to Barcelona, a hub for musicians. However, Tarrega was soon brought back by his father. [1], He entered the Madrid Conservatory in 1874, under the sponsorship of a wealthy merchant named Antonio Canesa, where he studied composition under Emilio Arrieta. By the end of the 1870s, he was teaching the guitar (Emilio Pujol and Miguel Llobet were pupils of his) and giving regular concerts. A virtuoso on his instrument, he was known as the "Sarasate of the guitar". He later settled in Barcelona, and died there in 1909. As well as his original works for the guitar, which include Recuerdos de la Alhambra, Capricho Árabe and Danza Mora, he arranged pieces by others for the instrument, including works by Ludwig van Beethoven, Frédéric Chopin and Felix Mendelssohn. As with several of his Spanish contemporaries, such as his friend Isaac Albéniz, he had an interest in combining the prevailing Rom.

Francisco Tárrega's music and style of guitar playing became strongly influential in the twentieth century. He was central to reviving the guitar as a solo instrument in recital and concerts. His output was modest, having composed only 78 original scores and 120 transcriptions - mostly for his own use. Among his most popular works for the guitar are Recuerdos de la Alhambra, Capricho Árabe and Danza Mora.

He is also the composer of what has been claimed to be "probably the world's most heard tune": the Nokia ringtone, Nokia tune, or simply Nokia, also used in advertising spots, is based on Tárrega's Gran Vals. His music also inspired Mike Oldfield to arrange Tárrega's tremolo study Recuerdos de la Alhambra for the soundtrack of the film "The Killing Fields".

As with several of his Spanish contemporaries, such as his friend Isaac Albéniz, he had an interest in combining the prevailing Romantic trend in classical music with Spanish folk elements, and transcribed several of Albéniz's piano pieces. The noted contemporary guitarist and composer Angelo Gilardino has written that Tárrega's 9 Preludios are "... the deepest musical thought of Tárrega in the most concentrated form."
(Wikipedia)

Government Agencies According to my Grade 3 Pupils

We discussed government agencies responsible for providing services in health, disaster and social welfare in civic class. I gave a fill in the blanks for my recall quiz and I told the class that who ever finished their work early can take their recess early. So they tried their best to fill in the blanks as fast and as correctly as they can. Some of my pupils’ answer got me laughing so hard that I thought I was going to fart.

I am not making fun of my pupils, what I’m trying to show is their creativity in answering the quiz. I used to do this during my grade school days too; I invent.

Here are some of them:

Fill in the blanks.

DND- Department of _______________________ (Defense)

Some of the answers I got are:

Department of Decoration

Department of National Development (Hmmmmm…logical may I say.)

NDCC- National Disaster ______________ Council. (Coordinating)

National Worker Coordination (Where did that came from….)

National Development Coordinating Council (Very Good!)

National Dark Coordinating Council

National Department Coordinating Creator (Hmmmmm….)

NHA- National _________________ Authority (Housing)

National ATM Authority (Very Good!)

National Health Authority

National Housing Authornity

Pag-IBIG- Pagtutulungan sa kaunlaran, ____________, ___________,
Industriya at Gobyerno. (Ikaw, Bangko)


Pagtutulungan, Insurance, Bank, Intrinity, Government, Industriya at
Gobyerno.

Pagtutulungan sa kaunlaran Isda, Bahay, Industriya at Gobyerno

Pagtutulungan sa Kaunlaran Isda, Balbas, Industriya at Gobyerno.

HUDC- Housing and Urban ______________ Council (Development)

Housing and Urban Doctor Commission

Housing and Urban Department Coordination

RA 7610

I taught Republic Act 7610to my pupils yesterday. RA 7610 is the law protecting children against abuse and child labor. I had the pupils memorize the law.

I was just joking but I told my pupils to cite the law against their parents if their parents threaten them with spanking. The whole class were smiling. It's a gremlin like smile.

This morning I asked the class what happened when they cited the law. One pupil was smiling at me and told me that it worked. His mother did not spank him but she did hit him in the head with her palm (lovngly he told me).

Another told me that her father just smiled.

Another told me that his father threatens to spank him with a G.I. pipe if he cites another law.

And now my puipls are citing RA 7610 against us teachers.

NCD

I secured a copy of Natural Church Development from my younger sister. I showed it to our church's Sunday school head but she thinks its too technical for some of our layman pastor. She suggested that we simplify it. Anyway, I am looking for help on how to make it accessible. I am looking for websites.

Witty Geinstein

I am in the middle of a book. A philosophy book…hmmmm, or, a book about a philosopher, or…. I am reading Wittgenstein by Avrum Stroll (hhhmmmmmm…what’s in a name).

I cannot tell whether the book is a good book or a bad book because reading philosophy is something one does not do for entertainment. All I can say is that the book is confusing but it is understandable enough.


What made Wittgenstein different or unique among other modern philosophers is that he wrote just one book. A little book that is just 79 pages long. This is an extraordinary feat since most philosophical books takes about a thousand and a half page just to say “I think, therefore I am.” Wittgenstein wrote 15 more books after he died, an amazing feat.

The little book is titled’ “Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus.” Now, as a certified Harry Potter fan, this book sounds like fun, but it is not. Some say that if you are in good mood, the book can be like poetry otherwise….The book is enigmatic (one way of saying incomprehensible, unintelligible, unfathomable, impenetrable, inexplicable, inconceivable and perplexing). Here’s an interesting metaphor, “condensed cloud of philosophy in a drop of grammar. The general effect they make (the book’s contents) is that the text is a kind of cryptogram that requires deciphering.

The Tractus is written like a lesson plan…errr….I mean in short sporadic, aphorism like style. Hence the metaphor “condensed cloud of philosophy in a drop of grammar.”

Here are excerpts:

1. The world is everything that is the case.
1.1 The world is the totality of facts, not of things.
1.11 The world is determined by the facts, and these being all the facts.
2. What is the case, the fact, is the existence of atomic facts.

Now the exposition and the exegesis of these statements astound me. No wonder his philosophy of language is called logical atomism.

Wittgenstein’s life is as interesting as his philosophy.

He gave away his inheritance. This is not a joke since his family is a rich, aristocratic family in Austria. After writing Tractus, he taught in grade school. Where it is rumored he engaged in homosexual…errr….philosophizing. He had a bad temper, sensitive, dislikes people and all the trademark of a neurotic genius.

His lectures are reportedly weird because he lectured without any notes. He just talked and puffed his cigarette, paused to think and made strange facial gestures and then continued on lecturing or talking while his students sat around him like children waiting for something profound to come out of his lips.

I am about half the book. I am trying to make heads or tails but I think I’m doing ok.

Reading about a weird guy like Witt makes me think…

Sometimes I wonder, if I do something weird like stand on my head and then say weird things like….”If you take that, you took, and what is taken is what should be, and it is the token of the taking.” If I am rich, dead and had all the influence, complete with the quirks and mannerisms…I wonder how many people will try to do a hermeneutics and exegesis of what I have said.

Just wondering….delusions of grandeur.

X-Files

I just watched X-Files: I want to Believe. And here's my review of the movie:


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To those who are planning to watch this movie on DVD: My advice is don't.
Better you watch an old x-files rerun. 1960's sci-fi B movies are better than this big budgeted flop.

My Gulay...my PC's Down again!

I was playing a game in my computer when I noticed that the video was slowing down. I didn't take it seriously since the (ehemmmm hope there's no copy rights police here) OS that I am using is a pirated copy. So glitches and bugs are just normal problems that I encounter with my PC. Ussually I solve this by restarting.

As I was playing the game, I got irritated so I shot down the computer and just went to sleep. This afternoon when I came home from work, I opened my computer and I waited for the beeping sound. No sound!

All my work is in there, a draft for sunday's sermon, test items for my pupils, music for our choir, midi files, etc. My gulay.

I went to my friends computer shop and he said that he will repair it tomorrow.

It's difficult, very difficult without my computer. I was thinking of handwriting...but I got used to typing that I don't know how to write long hand anymore ...

Church Revival

First Pastor: I hear you had a revival.
Second Pastor: Yes, we did.
First Pastor: How many additions did you have?
Second Pastor: We didn't have any additions but we had some blessed subtractions.

___________

A minister was asked to inform a man with a heart condition that he had just inherited a million dollars. Everyone was afraid the shock would cause a heart attack and the man would die.

The minster went to the man's house and said, "Joe what would you if yu inherited a million dollars?"

Joe responded, "Well, Pastor, I think I would give half of it to th church."

The minister fell over dead.

(Its a good thing that my kumpare now has a computer shop that is just literally a few steps away from our home. Now, I can surf any time I like.)