In Vino Veritas

And again, I use the phrase "in Vino Veritas" as I opt to use wine as the source of my thoughts for this short entry. But how could I further my discourse, if you may call this one, if personally I dislike whatever there is in wine, or should I say whatever there is in alcoholic drinks and beverages.

I hate the feeling of being drunk and puking when the alcohol has gone way beyond my little capacity to drink. I hate how it tastes. I abhor the odor.
In any case, they say that wine tastes better with age. For what ages it may hold I still dislike it just the same.

I have aged.

I am wine.

I hate wine.

Verbal Scratchpad

Isang nakakatuwang pangyayari na ang aking bunsong kapatid ay naglathala na ng sarili niyang blog. Ito ay marahil sa matinding pagkakabagot karagdagan pa ang pangungulit na ginawa ko sa kanya na gumawa ng mas produktibong bagay habang naka-internet.

Ayon sa una niyang isinulat, nais niyang sumulat halintulad sa pagsulat ko. Subalit siya ay nangangamba na maubusan daw ng Ingles. Ganun pa man, ang una nyang panunulat ay karaniwan na sa mga nagsisimula sa ganitong adhikain. Batid ko na datapwa't tinitingala ako ng aking bunso sa lathalaing banyaga, sa sarili kong pananaw, hindi pa sapat ang aking kakayahan.
Una, nais kong sumulat na mabilis. Pangalawa, ang pagsasalin sa sulatin ng nilalaman ng aking isipan at damdamin sa isang maliwanag na pamamaraan na walang patlang o pagtigil. At higit sa lahat, maihatid sa mga tagapagbasa ang samut-saring paksa ng buong kulay, detalye at walang paligoy-ligoy.

Ang pagsusulat ay libangan ko laban sa pagkaka-inip sa tuwing may kawalan ng gawain. Pangalawa ito sa pagpapalipas ko ng oras sa harap ng telebisyon.

Ang pagsusulat ang pangalawang paraan upang mahasa ang aking isipan sumunod sa pagbabasa. Ang ikatlong pamamaraan ay ang pagiging aktibo ko sa mga pagbibigay solusyon sa mga palaisipan. Mahalaga din ang pakikipagtunggali sa iba't-ibang laro, pisikal man o mental, ito ay maituturing na ehersisyo para sa isipan. Ang pakikinig ng sermon sa misa o kaya'y sa pananalita ng ibang tao (mga reporter, TV hosts, at iba pa) at ang pagpataw ng sariling kuro-kuro hinggil sa mga kanilang sinabi ay nakakatulong din.

Sa pagtatapos, ikinagagalak ko ang sinimulan ng aking kapatid. Nais kong masanay siya sa pagsusulat ng may laman at kabuluhan, may karampatang diin at makulay na pagsasabuhay ng kanyang isipan.

Eto ako, halintulad sa pangamba ng kapatid ko. Kung ang takot niya ay hinggil sa pagiging kapos sa pananalitang Ingles, ako, eto tila yata naubusan ng salita sa sariling wika. :-(

Para sa inyong kaalaman, sa asignaturang Filipino ako bumagsak sa pagsusulit ko sa NCEE at PUPCET. Nakakahiya... :-(

50% One-Year-Old

Dearest Dedric Shawn,

I know you are incapable of reading yet. I love you so much and I am so happy having you. And I have regarded your smiles and your coos as your affirmation that you believe this fact.

You are six months now. I wish that you would remain eager to learn new things and be wary of things that could pull you down or harm you. If in doubt, ask first. Do ask for several opinions from different people you trust before you decide. From those, choose your path. As with trust, trust others sparingly. Not all who wear friendly faces are worth your trust. Trust yourself above all, next to the Supreme Being, but be wary of trusting yourself too much. You may be wrong sometimes.

And in times you get amiss and cause hurt, apologize. If your apology fall on deaf ears, rather be mute. If others wrong you, let them be but once or twice. Should a third occur, forgive. But stay out of the wrongdoer's presence thereafter if you can. Prolonging your stay with these kinds of people may cause you to inherit their worthlessness. If you can't, stay still. Snakes bite when they feel threathened.

Stay happy son. Dont let shallow half-truths and disappointments ruin your happy outlook. In sorrow, find whatever optimism there is and the weight of such sadness shall in no time become negligible.

As with dreaming, dream as much as you can. Base your dreams on feasible things first. After which, if you have mastered accomplishing feasible dreams, then you can conceive of more complex dreams.

For every success you gain, remain on the ground. Some people brag so much of their accomplishments and fill their heads with air. So much air makes them float, and yes they become more conspicuous. As such, many would dare to dislodge you of that position. For every chance that they could hole you down, they would do so gradually. And by that time, you shall fall. Falling is painful son. Float if you must, but take heed that even birds take their time to rest on trees - their ground.

I understand that if I continue, this will become a boring litany. So let me leave you a poem I have learned during grade school. I have posted this a long time ago in a different site, but nonetheless, let me repost so that you may memorize this by heart and make it your guideline as you grow up.

Like the Narra
Forgot the author. :-(

My son, behold this narra tree
Now reaching up to the sky
Three years ago it was so small
I thought that it would die.

Father, how can I grow like the narra,
Upright and very tall?
You need to play outdoors my child
And rise from every fall.

For every day you need good food
And fresh clean milk my son.
You need to laugh, and work and play
And sleep when day is done.

Refrain from drugs that dull the mind
And hate that numbs the heart
Refrain from wine and smoke my child
And health will do its part.

No angry words should pass your lips
No frown shall mark your face
Believe in truth and do no wrong
And God will bless your days.

And like the narra you shall grow
Upright and very tall
Unafraid of wind, rain or storm
A strong and gallant soul.

Your imperfect father who loves you so much,

rbolsqp

Reflections From a Coke Addict

During high school, my heart pounded like war drums whenever my eyes get to see Vangie around. She held my heart as if it were her own beating for her. Those were the times when I wrote poems and love letters in utmost care – wary of grammar and content – in attempt to please my beloved.

The young heart that was then, I got hooked to write something for her daily. Others were discarded when I found them less appealing to my standards that time. For some that were lined to my norm, I’ve kept and illustrated in a notebook dedicated for compilation. However, my courtship failed. Knowing that my compilation is nothing more than a waste, without hesitation I gave it to her upon her request of ownership.

In that compilation, I remember a poem that contained the opening line:

Once I made a practical joke

I said, I thirst for you like a bottle of coke

As time passed the joke became real

And love became a thing for me to feel.

In the entirety of the 935 keyboard strokes that served as my introduction, you may have guessed that this piece is about love and how I fell for it. Wrong! It’s about coke – the soda trademark. No joke.

Setting aside the trademark, let’s examine how coke may mean.

1. Solid residue remaining after certain types of bituminous coals are heated to a high temperature out of contact with air until substantially all of the volatile constituents have been driven off. The residue is chiefly carbon, with minor amounts of hydrogen, nitrogen, sulfur, and oxygen. Also present in coke is the mineral matter in the original coal, chemically altered and decomposed during the coking process.
2. By etymology through shortening and alteration, it may mean cocaine. And thus, coke may be a bitter crystalline alkaloid C₁₇H₂₁NO₄ obtained from coca leaves that is used medically as a topical anaesthetic and illicitly for its euphoric effects and that may result in a compulsive psychological need.
3. Getting back to the soft drink trademark – a soft drink is any of a class of non-alcoholic beverage, usually but not necessarily carbonated, normally containing a natural or artificial sweetening agent, edible acids, natural or artificial flavours, and sometimes juice.

So this ends my second introduction. Quoting the QTV’s Hapinas, a comedy morning show:

“And now, back to reality.”

Truth is, I have nothing to write about. Bye. Har har har.

========================================================

Life is indeed a spectacle of miracles. Even mishaps occur with attached miracles in it or at least makes us all miracle-workers during such occurrence. Hitherto, what miracles have I that make me say so? I am alive.

Being alive.

Exposure to routine and non-routine events moulds us into who we are today. Our decisions and speech defines what background we came from. It also details a description of the path we have treaded in the past.

Take for instance a person, making regular mention of interjections such as: “Hayop!”, “Animal!” might suggest that he was born in a zoo. Or how about those that favors mentioning “diyos ko po! (“My god!”)” may have been born from a church. OK, the previous are but senseless assertions. On a more serious note, our favorite expressions reflect what environment we came from. The miracle that we can do is to learn how to suppress our vile tongue from utterance what we deem as boorish and unbecoming of being a human.

Anger is no excuse!

What separates a man from a beast is education – should I say the application of what education has been injected into any man. Overall, any person capable of implying anger without the unnecessary mention of boorish exclamations has learned to be miraculous in one way or the other. And education is miraculous only to those who truly understand what it means. Education is different from learning as wisdom differs from intelligence.

With regards to flora, our Creator gave us dominion to rear after it. And our assessments regarding how we take care of the latter reflects what education we have. When a seed (say any fruit seed) grows out in your beautiful garden, what would you do? Will you uproot the emerging plant and leave it to die or transfer the seedling to a pot and allow it to grow? For whatever certitude you have for it, the choice were yours to take irregardless of the creator – for he has granted you authority to look after your garden. To put up another garden to accept the random seedlings in your life is a better choice otherwise, give them to seedling banks or plant it somewhere else where it will have a better chance of survival. After all, the seedling may not have been in your original garden should you have checked on it everyday.

As with mishaps, I think that no person desires for it. The important thing when we speak of such matters is our fortitude to pass along it safely. For what strengths needed to survive them, partial attributes of learning contribute to it, as such knowing survival techniques. The rest comes from our desire and hope to survive.

Getting back to coke, the choice begins from learning what possible meanings there are. Would you decide to use a residue, cocaine or a soft drink? In whatever form, each owns beneficial attributes. What makes them bad may be overuse or illicit use. In essence use them sparingly.

In my terms, I’ll take the soft drink because it is non-alcoholic. Some decisions are blurred when alcohol controls one’s spirit. So does drugs and other jagged pills.