Thursday, November 29, 2007

The Final Exam

A professor stood before his class of 20 senior organic biology students, about to hand out the final exam.

"I want to say that it's been a pleasure teaching you this semester. I know you've all worked extremely hard and many of you are off to medical school after summer. So that no one gets their GP messed up because they might have been celebrating a bit too much this week, anyone who would like to opt out of the final exam today will receive a "B" for the course."

There was much rejoicing amongst the class as students got up, passed by the professor to thank him and sign out on his offer. As the last taker left the room, the professor looked out over the handful of remaining students and asked, "Any one else? This is your last chance."

One final student rose up and took the offer. The professor closed the door and took attendance of those students remaining. "I'm glad to see you believe in yourself." he said. "You all have A's."

Sunday, November 18, 2007

A quote on selfishness.

Thursday, November 15, 2007

Everyday notes to enjoy life (8)

I love to eat. Who doesn't? But do you like to cook? I do. However I just am not that good at it without my good old recipe book or magazine for that matter. Cooking is fun just as blogging is. When I cook, sometimes I imagine myself as a scientist or chemist if you may. Concocting different ingredients, trying different formulas then experimenting the final result unto yourself, by tasting it. Now wasn't that fun?

Life is like cooking. You've got to try and experiment other recipes, methods and ingredients so as not to bore your taste buds. You may love the change or not. You may like the new recipe or not. But the sure thing is, you'll learn something new out of this experience. It may be an improvement or it may be a mistake. Either way it will add to your skill in cooking. Just like in life. No risk, no gain.

Monday, November 12, 2007

An innocent sacrifice

I heard of the sad news about a 12-year old girl named Mariannet Amper, who took her own life because of poverty. Her father went out of job several months before and her mother work part-time in a noodle factory earning a mere P50.00 ($1.00) a day. The night before she committed suicide, she asked her father P100.00 for her school project but her father coudn't give her any. The family is living in a shanty with no running water or electricity in Ma-a, Davao City. She took her life by hanging herself using a nylon cord.

Days before she died, she has plan of writing to Wish ko lang!, a local TV program that grants wishes to selected individual who would write them and relate their wishes. However, she never did finish her letter. In her letter, she wished for a new school bag, a new pair of shoes, a bicycle for her brother, and a better-paying job for her parents.

The sad plight of the little girl caught the nation in shock and disbelief that such a young age was so distraught about poverty. Many media personalities and bigwigs went to her tiny abode to condole with the family. The TV program Wish ko lang, dedicated a special segment for her and granting most of her wishes including a dozen goats for farming, and full college scholarships to her siblings. At the end of the segment the program appealed to viewers not to resort to drastic moves to get the network’s attention. I watched the program teary-eyed last Saturday afternoon.

Mariannet's family is just one of the many Filipino families living in harsh conditions due to poverty. It is very unfortunate that it will take the death of a young girl before people start moving and pointing fingers at each other. For Mariannet's family, her death didn't go in vain as several people and organizations have moved in to offer help and assistance. But to others who are also experiencing such difficulties, I hope the government would listen to a girl's plea so seriously and start doing something about the country's poverty problems. This has been one of those wake-up calls for them and I don't know when will they ever wake-up from a very very deep slumber.

Saturday, November 10, 2007

Busy! Busy! Busy!

I didn't have the luxury of time to update my blogs this past few days. Our project in the office kickstarted just recently. As a result I'm so busy beating deadlines after deadlines and new work keeps on coming. It's like a landslide of rocks that keeps on rolling unto my desk. And to make matters worst, my teammate for the project has to take a sudden paternity leave. His wife recently delivered their third angel. That's double blessing for him and a double whammy for me. The balance will surely tilt every load to my side. I just hope I'll be able to manage everything till he comes back. Well, as my blog put it, (deep sigh) life's like that! Wish me luck....

Tuesday, November 06, 2007

An anecdote for the brainies...

A wonderful anecdote for the intellectuals. Read and decipher the lesson within.

A scientific convention was held at a lakeside resort. After the first day’s proceedings, a mathematician, a physicist, an astronomer and a molecular biologist hired a boatman to row them around on the lake. As they sat in the boat, they discussed string theory, bubble universes, the Gaea Hypothesis and other abstruse topics.

The biologist noticed the boatman looking at them from the corner of his eyes. He asked him, “What do you think of these ideas?”

The boatman replied, “I didn’t understand any of it.”

The astronomer asked him how far he had studied. He told them he couldn’t even read.

“I hate to say it,” said the physicist, “but you seem to have wasted a good part of your life.”

The boatman remained silent. By now they were out in the middle of the lake, far from shore. A sudden storm whipped up. The waves started churning and heaving. All of a sudden, the boat flipped over. The boatman started swimming for shore.

The scientists cried out, “Help! We can’t swim!”

The boatman called back, “I hate to say it, but you seem to have wasted your whole lives.”