If you still haven’t got it right, the last one is supposed to be a give away. Yes, everything relates to motorcycles big or small; slow or fast; flashy or funny. And today I got my own, my first one. Now I’m back to riding, or better yet, learning, on two wheels. This time it’s motorized.
Following careful and lengthy considerations and several discussions with my own self, I am finally convinced to give in to the urge of riding a motorcycle. I’m quite sure though that my dear wifey still has some reservations on my recent toy disguised in the name of beating the gas prices.
But I can’t blame her for having such thoughts. We were both together when we witnessed an accident up close. If that’s not scary enough, the news of motorcycle riders clashing with other vehicles or pedestrians are so common nowadays that anyone could get confused if the news is current or a replay of other day’s. That’s the bad side of motorcycling these days. Its notoriety comes from becoming cheaper that even those who don’t have the capacity (read: brain) to ride defensively can now buy it as long there’s cash or down payment to start with.
My ride. (Image from Hondaph.com)
But as any motorcycle advocate will tell you, accidents are bound to happen whether in a car, on a bus, on a train, on an airplane or just even while walking leisurely. It doesn’t matter what transportation if the one who’s in control doesn’t know what he is expected to do. And that’s when training and common sense–assuming it is common–come into play.
Luckily nowadays, motorcycle newbies like me have the internet to help us coach on how to go about learning how to ride. A couple of hours googling could lead one to a numerous motorcycle-related sites (e.g., MSF) and forums (e.g., MCP). It now depends on how one comprehends what he reads–individual learning curves differ.
So how am I doing so far?
After spending a couple of my time reading all about motorcycles since more than a month ago and right after I got my brand new unit this morning, I’ve given it a try only once by doing a couple of rounds inside our village. I did it noontime where sun is steaming hot but with fewer people outside. I was actually rather more embarrassed than nervous for riding it like a sissy unlike those I’ve seen that were so relaxed, confident and at some point, irritatingly showy. A few more practice and I’m sure I’ll get the hang of it. I swear I’ll stay safe by then.
August is just around the corner and I still can’t believe that I still have work to do. And of course, I’d like to keep it that way as long as possible. Contrary to what I’ve imagined how the 2nd half of this year will look like–after the gloomy, yet anticipated April 2 announcement–the environment at work still appears challenging enough, at least for me.
Although activity in my area seems to have significantly slowed down in the past few weeks, the pressure to meet commitments and deliverables remains unwavering as before. This means that feeling down and out for the count is out of the question. At some point, I may slack off a bit but I there is still the need to get back on track.
The latest stress that had me feeling a total mixture of emotions–from passing gas to almost collapsing and vice-versa–was the presentation of our 2nd quarter indicators to the next level managers and other key players. Its preparation started about a month before and the extraction and crunching of data almost took much of my time. What made it even more stressful is seeing some of the indicators in a down trend even if the reasons behind it are perfectly justifiable.
Presentation day came and I could feel that the 12-hour day is turning into a 24-hour vigil. Most of the time I get excited, jumpy and the butterflies inside my stomach kept on flapping their fragile wings. On that day, anxiety was all over the place. In fact, even those senior to me had the same uneasiness. If it is of any consolation, it appears that public speaking, regardless of the number of audience, remains to be a nightmare for most.
My turn to present came at last but despite knowing that the foils are self-supporting and show factual data, the fear of being questioned and not being able to answer was just overwhelming. If I remember it right, the last time I was into this predicament was when I asked for our wedding’s approval from my now father-in-law. I was focused yet awkward and the words were hard to come by.
Surprisingly, in the end, the horrible questions I was expecting from the start didn’t come. There were some inquiries, comments and advice that registered into my then half-conscious state but that was it. More surprising was getting a compliment from my direct manager who rarely recognizes a job well done. At least, I must have done something right. Whew!
I went home that night feeling proud and accomplished. I was even singing along with the FM songs in the car like I’ve just been accepted in a job interview. And there’s no better way to cap the day than to treat my wife and I with a couple of slices of my favorite comfort food–a Red Ribbon black forest cake.
With that event done, I now feel more ready to face another work-related stress. Whatever that is, I will surely know in the next days to come.
Yesterday I attended another Leadership Enhancement Program and the recent training we had are tailor-made for us to cope up with the soon-to-be closure of our company. Yesterday’s topic was about career opportunities and career counseling.
I actually enjoyed the whole training and find it very interactive and informative until when it came to one of the foils wherein first line reads: Career counseling is NOT giving advice.
Hmm. That isn’t right. I know that deep in my vocabulary the word counsel is for sure synonymous to advice. So I raised my hand to clarify if I’m reading it right and our trainer without batting an eyelash emphasized, “Career counseling is not giving an advice.”
The training ended by noon time and my colleagues and I went on with our kill-time activities disguised as WLE (Work Life Effectiveness) activities. Some played basketball, while we did a good badminton until past 7 PM. But those positive stress activities didn’t shake off the counseling thing. In fact, while driving my wife to work this morning, I kept on thinking about it still.
Bothered, while preparing breakfast for myself, I juggled with the plates and our trusty Merriam-Webster dictionary and there it was printed in one of the pages: to counsel is to give advice. I was so excited that I eagerly finish my bread, egg, and meat loaf . I was in front of our PC after I gobbled the last piece of the processed meat.
In order to confirm if our Merriam-Webster hardcopy isn’t obsolete yet, I browsed through www.m-w.com . The following entries appeared:
Main Entry: counsel
Function: verb
Inflected Form(s): counseled or counselled; counsel·ing or counsel·ling
\-s(
Date: 14th century
transitive verb : advise <counseled them to avoid rash actions — George Orwell> intransitive verb : consult <counseled with her husband>
Main Entry: counseling Variant(s): or counselling Function: noun
Date: 1927
: professional guidance of the individual by utilizing psychological methods especially in collecting case history data, using various techniques of the personal interview, and testing interests and aptitudes
Main Entry: ad·vise Pronunciation: \ Function: verb
Inflected Form(s): ad·vised; ad·vis·ing
transitive verb 1 a: to give advice to : counsel <advise her to try a drier climate> b: caution, warn <advise them of the consequences> c: recommend <advise prudence>2: to give information or notice to
: inform <advise them of their rights>intransitive verb 1: to give advice <advise on legal matters> 2: to take counsel : consult <advise with friends>
Counsel equals advice or to advise. Boom. With those results and the fact that this top semiconductor company have some managers whom to my shock pronounce words such as freight like fright, sub- like sob and my favorite pet peeve, z like zay, I am no longer surprised that one foil in the training material may be erroneous.
Like a fighter aiming to finish off a sprawling and bloodied adversary, I typed career counseling in the browser’s search field expecting something that will back up my vocabulary. In a matter of seconds, several results appeared and I eagerly clicked each one of it and prepared to celebrate my victory over the foil item in question.
To my dismay, not one of the sites shows a bit of “Career Counseling IS about giving advice” to support my argument. Instead it listed common words such as assessment, aptitude tests, planning, decision making, development, and research. It was almost about everything but advice. I wave the white flag.
As much as I hate defeat, I came to realize that career counseling may not be just two words that can be discussed over a one-on-one meeting which in our case would only last 15-30 minutes every three months. If one staff gets lucky (or not) enough at all he’ll be in one at least three times every quarter. Career counseling after all is indeed a task to be handled only by a professional career counselor and if you’re not one of them, most likely, you can only advise. So is that first slide correct? Be my guest.
What is fast becoming as common as road potholes, skin heads, motorcycles, street children, unemployed person, and grandstanding Philippine politicians? You guessed right, the mind boggling Rubik’s Cube. Little did I know that this 6-colored-swiveling-cube will once again haunt me at this age, and with guilt, became one of my interests while on a week-long wedding anniversary celebration. Ti abi.
I have fond memories of this toy. When we were pesky little kids, our mother used to bring me and my sis to her work as it was just a few kilometers away from where we lived. While in the office I get to bug her boss, well, just like any kid. It’s a good thing that her boss happens to be a relative and somehow bugging him isn’t much of a big deal and besides, he would love to show off how good he is with the then novel Rubik’s Cube. He can do two colors.
My mother later on gave us our own cube and I got hooked to it although I can only do one color at a time. I never got close to two unlike my uncle. I’m so proud of him that I would always brag to my grade school classmates that my tito can do two colors. Those whom I’ve seen complete all six sides were only on TV–Eat Bulaga’s segment if I’m not mistaken.
Years passed and I have fully forgotten my fascination and frustration with this puzzle until the fad returned. At first I just shrugged off the urge to buy thinking that I’m done with that stage already and have surrendered it to be solved especially by the young geeks. It seems though that my attraction to it cannot be denied. More people seem to have mastered it and every time I see one, I secretly envied them. So enough is enough.
I eventually bought myself a new cube and grabbed the opportunity to fill in the gaps during my one week vacation to learn it. I printed tips from colleagues, searched the web for more instructions and like one student trying to make up for bad grades, I spent extra time studying how it really works. Within three days, I got it at last! The next days I can do it without looking at the guide and I was timing how long it takes for me to complete the whole puzzle. I may not be in the league of the speed cubers, but who cares? A 5-minute average is good for me.
Now I’m very thankful that I did not include acquiring this skill among the 100-things-to-do-before-I-die list or I could be counting down just 99 more. Whew. I never really knew that the day will come, when I’d lift my head high and say, ”Tito Joe,who?”
Our week together turned out to be quite good despite not going farther than Festival Mall Alabang or Tagaytay. To make up with the cancelled road trip we imagined our home as a hotel out of town. We let the air-conditioning on every night, woke up late, ate without counting calories, and went out of the hotel any time we like. A little bit of crazy creativity usually works.
After that wedding day celebration with wifey’s team members, the other days of the week were spent mall hopping, window shopping, and of course, watching movies. And since it’s our ninth year, I will do a brief review of the nine movies we’ve seen recently—not necessarily within the wedding anniversary week. These movies are rated 1 (poor) to 5 (great) stars just like my wife and I do in our individual diaries (which reminds me that I haven’t updated mine for a long time).
Forbidden Kingdom (Jet Li. Jackie Chan). I’m not so sure if I enjoyed this movie or not. It may have something to do with too much exposure to MMA, especially UFC, on TV that I’m not buying the flying Kung Fu stunts anymore. What I like about it is seeing both actors back in business and together in one film. 3 Stars.
Kung Fu Panda (Jack Black. Jackie Chan. Lucy Liu. Angelina Jolie). Being a fan of cartoons, I could immerse myself into it in no time every time I see one. Frankly speaking, I find this Kung Fu movie better than Forbidden Kingdom due to the fact that I have no reason to question the characters, like the bulky panda, float in the air to do gravity defying stunts. It’s not impossible. Why? Because it’s cartoons. Duh. Po rules! 4 Stars.
Get Smart (Steve Carell. Anne Hathaway). There’s always anxiousness inside me whenever I get to watch a film that is closely similar to a previous movie. I have some reservations that this stupid-field-agent- comedy movie could be a letdown. Thankfully, it wasn’t the case. The casts, characters, and story of this film are great combination. The comic scenes are so hilarious that I was laughing and giggling from the start until the end of the film. Jim Carey, beware. 5 Stars.
Evan Almighty (Steve Carell). We caught this one on TV while lazily channel surfing one afternoon. It was just a couple of days after we watched Get Smart and my interest to see another version of the famous ark story grew with the fact that Steve Carell is portraying as Noah. I was fascinated with the idea of mixing a biblical story to a modern setting but I don’t know if my mother would have been laughing as I find some of the exchanges blasphemous. Anyway, I did have a good laugh from majority of the scenes and more importantly I think that the same moral of the story is conveyed as intended in the bible. I’m becoming a Steve Carell fan. 4 Stars.
Letters from Iwo Jima (Ken Watanabe). This one was from the DVD–another Clint Eastwood film to complement his Flags of Our Fathers movie. I always wonder if there are good people on both sides of the war and this movie helped prove that. The Iwo Jima story reminds us that most soldiers fight with what they believe is right regardless which side they’re with. In a sense, one you consider a foe is actually a hero of the other side. Comparing the two war films, Letters from Iwo Jima is better than Flags of Our Fathers. Additionally, dubbing the film in Japanese with English subtitles created a more genuine experience to it. 5 Stars.
The Happening (Mark Wahlberg). This film is like some of the dreams I had. It starts with something so interesting that no matter how frightening it was, I forced myself to stay in it in order to find out how it would end. It’s like a nightmare that you have no control over what you’d see next and every scene makes you curse and jump out of your bed and find yourself sweating from the excitement and/or fear. At the end of this movie my wife and I were staring at each other still with lots of unanswered questions but being an M. Night Shyamalan flick the end is no surprise, and I love it. 4 Stars.
Wanted (Angelina Jolie. Morgan Freeman). Have you ever had a time when you felt like they cast a well-known celebrity to compensate a movie’s poor story? In my opinion, this movie is one of those. Angelina Jolie was like an a wriggling bait so irresistible to an unsuspecting fish like me that despite having seen the trailers with bullets circling its way to find its intended target I still watched it in the end. I could have given in to the idea of the intelligent bullets but I had enough when the story came to be about killing individuals as dictated by a loom supposedly started by weavers from long time ago. To me that’s just crap (pardon the word). 4 Stars – for casting Angelina. 2 Stars for the whole story.
Incredible Hulk (Edward Norton). Other than fearing lightning, I fear that I might see another lousy Incredible Hulk movie once again. I wisely skipped the first version of this marvel comic character but unfortunately watched it either on a pirated copy of the public buses or from friends’ houses (also pirated, I suspect). But having watched almost all film being shown this week, I agreed with reservations to see the new Hulk movie with my wife. Good thing this new version erased all my doubts as the movie progresses. I was awed by the actions scenes, I find the CGIs are not exaggerated and the actors are convincingly good. Lastly, having an unexpected twist in the end makes it more interesting. See for yourself. 4 Stars.
Made of Honor (Patrick Dempsey. Michelle Monaghan). What better way to cap a week of wedding anniversary celebration, than to end it by watching what else? A wedding movie of course! The movie is about a platonic (or more aptly, hypothetical) relationship which led to a crazy love story. What sets this movie apart from other romantic movies is the idea of having one man being tagged and eventually agreeing to be the bride’s maid of honor. Although come to think of it, IF I were in the shoes of the male character, I couldn’t imagine myself to last that long as just being a friend with a lady as lovely as Hannah. 4 Stars.
Don’t get me wrong, but whether I enjoyed the movies that we’ve watched or not, it doesn’t mean that I didn’t enjoy the company of my dearest (wink!) wife. We’ve been in the movies 11 years ago (wink again) and hopefully we’d still be together to see more of it even if we’re as wrinkled as English bulldogs.
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