The Construct

Reflections

Alex — Sat, 04 Sep 2010 22:47:28 +0000

Just some reflections on stuff I’ve been busy on. Maybe it’s high time for me to put up my own management/marketing/business development blog.

On management

It’s always about people. No amount of book-reading will able to substitute for the things you can learn by actually managing people. One can read all the books on management and project management and whatnot but at the end of the day, the only way you can get the best output from people is to treat them as people.

As I mention in the English for the Professions classes I’ve taught – it’s all about context, your awareness of it, your strategies that adapt to the situation, and your execution of those strategies.

On mentoring

I’m trying to formally learn marketing these days. Figured if I’d eventually move on to business development, it’d be great to actually have some semblance of formal training about business.

The great thing about not burning bridges is that I was able to maintain a good relationship with my former bosses and they gave me yet another opportunity to hone my skills under their mentoring. It’s like taking a course with AIM only it’s free and it’s more personalized. Sitting in a “class” with just two other people, listening to experts is just such a treat.

Condamned

Alex — Sat, 28 Aug 2010 21:57:04 +0000

Irritating as it is, this whole hostage-taking situation has gone from bad to worse.

Call me crazy, but Rolando Mendoza’s story is just one of those where you can say, “I don’t say I agree with what he did, but I understand.” Getting sacked and taking the fall while many of his higher ups were undoubtedly more corrupt, come on.

Pretty much like OJ Simpson. Quoting Chris Rock, “He’s [OJ] paying $25000 a month in alimony, got a another man driving around in his car and fucking his wife in a house he’s still paying the mortgage on. Now I’m not saying he should have killed her… but I understand.”

I’ve been a fall guy before and it can really push you beyond your red zone. I’m still wishing for those who screwed me over to grow some yellow mold on their privates that would eat through their wedding vegetables. That one day, they wake up, go to the john, and watch in horror as they pull down their undies, their balls would just plunk into the bowl… and accidentally get flushed down the drain.

Mendoza’s story’s so fucked up that it’s just one of the many things that summarizes everything that’s wrong with our country. We got highly untrained policemen, journalists without ethics, and administration officials who can’t handle basic diplomatic protocol.

I find it funny that there’s an unusually high visibility of policemen patrolling the streets these days. And they still have the gall to walk with a swagger. Nagpapa-pogi? I could just wonder what they’d do to me if I poke them with a verbal stick. I dare Php 100 to anyone who could say, “Puro porma kasi!” straight to a street copper’s face.

China and HK’s really pretty pissed off that they didn’t even appreciate a level-headed and reasoned comment from Jackie Chan. But as some would joke about it. Matitiis na nila na wala tayo? If they cut ties with us, where else would they dump their lead-infused imitation goods and set up their meth labs. (Reverse racism?) Malamang yun din ‘yung shabu na (allegedly) pinakain ni Mendoza doon sa extortion victim niya. (Anyone care for some sideways racism?) Cyclic.

Change? Sure, perhaps anyone’s better than GMA. But mind you that the current administration’s still composed of poster boys and girls of what’s wrong with our political and economic systems.

If Noynoy had any sense of decency and command responsibility, he should have resigned. Along with Mayor Lim, the PNP chief, and everyone who was involved in the major fuck up. But decency? Command responsibility? In the Philippines? Forget about it.

Really bad taste

Alex — Wed, 25 Aug 2010 12:05:33 +0000

See? It wasn’t simply the incident that set people off, it’s the way we handle the situation. And yes, we’ll cry racism when we see these kinds of things on the Internet:

PS: As a casual Flash game designer, I have to say this was done in absolutely bad taste. At ibinandera mo pa talagang Pilipino ka.

Busted play

Alex — Wed, 25 Aug 2010 06:48:30 +0000

De ja vu? Yet another person held a busload of people as hostage. But unlike the last one. This one ended in a bloodbath.

Instead of focusing too much on the failures of our police, I’d rather take a look at the varied reactions to the incident and provide some comments.

I really don’t want to dwell too long lest I run out of my very limited writing thanks to a writer’s block that I’ve been having for a loooong time.

***

I won’t try and play security expert. Let this BBC analysis do just that. Though I’d have to say that any weapons and war geek, FPS aficionado or even an airsoft enthusiast knew better tactics than what was displayed by our police.

***

It’s a national day of mourning today and this I just don’t get. And as my good friend, Miguel pointed out. Where were the flags flying half-mast when 40 people died in a bus crash. Or when 9 cops were killed. And those hundreds of people who die due to hunger and poor health care.

***

The usisero phenomenon has got to be one of the worst traits that we have as a culture. We sure enjoy a good spectacle even if it endangers lives. I wonder if there’s another culture in the world who can trump us in this.

***

There are some people in the media that I admire. Many, I despise. Every major news network is all about the ratings and they will milk any mishap down to the bone. They preyed on the usisero in everyone and continued taping the whole event. Never mind if it fucked up the whole rescue operation real good.

***

Oh yes. The no-term memory complex of Filipinos. Yesterday, the hostage drama was easily trumped by the Ms. Universe pageant. And even Ms. Philippines’ 4th place finish was a tad disappointing. Those who say that Manny Pacquiao’s our only saving grace, here’s a big “Fuck you” to you.

***

I really don’t get why we’re so concerned about what the international community will say about us. Why not do a lot more introspection?

***

All of those who have the gall to make tasteless jokes about the issue or be camera whores by the scene of the incident. Get jobs. Get lives.

***

Oh well. Would I still rather live elsewhere? No chance.

Really bad taste

Camwhore

Alex — Sat, 21 Aug 2010 22:11:07 +0000

I always wanted to take on photography as a hobby. The problem is with the expense.

I bought a prosumer Canon S5IS about two years ago. I opted to get it so as to curb my inkling to go with a DSLR. I knew that the moment I get a DSLR, it would open the floodgates to expense. I’m pretty obsessive as a hobbyist and I know I’d go into a GAS (gear acquisition syndrome) rampage.

It was a decent beginner’s camera. Its zoom and macro capabilities (thanks to its 6mm to 72mm lens) were enough for me to get around unlike with a DSLR where I’d probably have needed to buy lenses to fiddle around with those kinds of shots. Took quite a lot of decent pictures with it ever since having it. Learned about the basics and observed pitfalls (my tendency to use weak composition and let the horizon line slant quite a lot of times).

However, the S5 was just that – a beginner’s camera to photography. As I got to learn more about the technical side of photography (exposure, lighting, etc…), I started to feel limited by it. The sensor was too noisy and while it offered a decent 12x zoom, its inability to manual focus meant I was pretty limited to the types of shots that I can do. It sucked at indoor shots especially since I wanted to mostly use it to shoot portraits (something you can do if the people you hang out with are camwhores).

Too bad that camera took a pretty nasty bump (fell from a tripod and landed right on the lens) and ever since that drop, the camera was never the same. It still turns itself on but it had a problem spitting the lens out, developed a nasty whirr when zooming, and now had trouble focusing.

Now that I’ve dealt with several monkeys on my back, I really wanted to get a hobby just to have something to escape into when the going gets tougher (which, these days seem unavoidable). Things still in my list – learn programming (PHP and Actionscript), learn gourmet cooking, and learn automotives.

I want to get back into photography but I’m simply turned off by the expense. Getting all the gear (a camera body, a kit lens, an entry level zoom lens, a short lens for portraiture, and an external flash) I want to start out meant a pretty hefty tab. That’s simply not something that I can afford these days.

Especially since I need all the money I can scrounge for later.

Google-fu

Alex — Wed, 18 Aug 2010 22:46:46 +0000

Google first. Ask later.

Someone else’s got the answers to your stupid questions. We can’t be bothered.

***

Yup. Maybe we should start offering this as a basic course in college. Better yet, teach Googling as early as basic education.

I remember that our teachers use to discuss the Dewey Decimal System to locate books in a library. Forget that. How about teaching effective use of keywords when using search engines.

By negation

Alex — Sat, 07 Aug 2010 22:43:56 +0000

Author’s Note: Did this quite hastily the day after the SONA. Forgot to click the Publish button.

I’ve been looking forward to Noynoy’s SONA not in a strictly political standpoint, but as a discourse analyst. Having wrestled with GMA’s nine SONAs, I’m intensely curious about the linguistic profile of Noynoy’s. Now that it has been delivered, I can give it a go.

Tagalugin mo kasi.The SONA contains 1,256 unique words with more than 60% of which are Filipino words. As such, analyzing the SONA’s text through existing semantic tagging software will be problematic since the software will fail to accurately tag 60% of the data. Interestingly, the “at” string, which can occur as both Filipino (as conjunction) and English (as preposition) only occurs as the Filipino conjunction.

This can be interpreted as a means for Noynoy to reconnect with the Filipino people. Arroyo’s previous SONAs always used English as medium, switching only to Filipino for emphasis.

Inclusive. One stark contrast that can be observed in the SONA compared to GMA’s previous SONAs. While GMA used the exclusive pronouns in the form of “I,” “ako,” “ko,” “akin,” and “my,” Noynoy’s register is marked by the use of inclusive pronouns such as “natin” (with 59 instances and the top content word in terms of frequency) and “atin” (with 30 instances). The speech only bears 3 instances of “akin,” 3 of “aking,” 3 of “ako” and 2 of “akong.” No instances of “I” occurred in the text.

Magalang. The Filipino politeness marker “pop” occurs 87 times.

By Negation. A striking feature of the SONA is the use of the Filipino negative “hindi.” The word occurred 41 times in various contexts many of which focus on the alleged ills of the Arroyo administration. While using negation is one of the exposition techniques in writing definitions, there are more powerful ways to start a definition. It would’ve been better if Noynoy started defining his administration based on what it is and what it will be rather than what it isn’t.

Blame Arroyo. There still a lot of lexical and grammatical features that can be accounted for but as discourse, the whole text needs to be taken into account. The tone of the SONA is far from hopeful. The SONA simply places the blame on the Arroyo’s administration as if the SONA can be a disclaimer to the current administration’s possible failure in addressing the ills of society.

Conclusion. I’d have to say that while the Noynoy magic has definitely influenced the reception of the SONA. Many still remain hopeful. However, in terms of content, Arroyo’s SONAs offered much more in terms of direction and plans (never mind if they’re scant as they were and full of spin). Arroyo used her SONAs to affect the lawmaking process by addressing members of the Congress something that Noynoy’s SONA failed to do. In addition, the use of the inclusive, while invoking a sense of humility and openness, bears much ambiguity. As a speech delivered in the Congress with lawmakers as primary audience, such inclusive use can be, at times, only extended to members of the audience. Still, the SONA does nothing but ride on the whole Aquino magic but as a strategic tool for influencing the Congress to support the Executive’s concrete plans of action through legislation, the SONA just made a complete holix of the opportunity.

Unrealistic mofo

Alex — Sun, 25 Jul 2010 01:09:37 +0000

[R]ight now, you’ve got ability. But painful as it may be, ability don’t last. And your days are just about over. Now that’s a hard motherfuckin’ fact of life. But it’s a fact of life your ass is gonna hafta get realistic about. See this business is filled to the brim with unrealistic motherfuckers. Motherfuckers who thought their ass would age like wine. If you mean it turns to vinegar, it does. If you mean it gets better with age, it don’t. -Marsellus Wallace in Pulp Fiction

Revisiting Grease

The fashionable World Cup

Alex — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 09:46:07 +0000

The Philippines hasn’t really been a football nation. Never mind if we used to be quite good at it and if Barcelona FC’s legend’s part Filipino. Only a few people would ever associate the town of Barotac Nuevo with football. Yet, for the past month, everyone’s into the sport thanks to the World Cup.

Who can blame people from showing interest? It’s suddenly fashionable.

And we can only expect it to be a flash in the pan in our consciousness. Much like pearl shakes, Havaianas, and badminton.

***

I wouldn’t say I hate people who suddenly found themselves interested in the game. I think it’s great that people suddenly find an interest in a team sport where our short stature are not necessarily liabilities unlike with basketball. The state of football locally is just plain dismal and a new interest in the sport might spark potential talent to explore it.

I just don’t like how some turn into soccer elitists despite being flash fans themselves. I don’t appreciate how they’d assert their new-found knowledge about the game as expert opinion and I don’t like how they berate others for not agreeing with them.

What do they really know anyway.

***

So Spain won and their run got a lot of Filipinos cheering for our former colonizers. Sense of history. Meh.

Soul searching

Alex — Sat, 10 Jul 2010 06:32:16 +0000

One of the huge reasons why I’ve become so jaded teaching in UP is the shifting demographics of the student population.

Usually, a discussion of starting salary’s one of the most interesting portions of my English 30 class. Everyone was keen on sharing their opinions on the matter.

Not these days. Today, it’s one of the shortest since the shared opinion is that “We don’t really have the pressure to earn so starting salary’s not an issue.”

***

Pressure to earn.

Back in my day, those of use (fresh graduates) who weren’t immediately pursuing graduate studies jumped into the job market ASAP. If there was any sould searching to be done, we did it while getting paychecks. Being a bum, even for a week was utterly disgraceful.

The reason mostly was because most of us come from middle class backgrounds who were, thanks to Philippine culture, obligated to help out with the family. Some of us had siblings to help put to school. Some of us had sick parents.

But not today. Many of the UP graduates seems like they can now take their sweet time before entering the job market. Take a vacation. Travel. Bum around.

I felt pretty good having recruited some of our program’s fresh graduates (former students) for writer and editor position. I asked them what are the rest of you batchmates doing, they simply told me, “Soul searching, sir.”