The world seems to be losing its geniuses

I'm not one of those fanatic Michael Jackson fans, though I like his songs and grew up with Thriller and his other hits, and I never really gave much thought about him being a genius. But sadly it is only after death the the true depth of the man sees the light of day. Although his accomplishments are the stuff of legend that many performers still aspire to, it turns out Michael Jackson was one of the biggest donors to charity and I was touched by how much people who've met him remember a humble, down-to-earth person. Another example of how media can demonize certain people or issues and unduly influence the masses into unfairly negative thoughts or reactions.

Going back to the title of this post, I just noted that a lot of famous personalities seem to be buying the farm one after the other. There's David Carradine, Farah Fawcett and Robert McNamara who all recently joined the ranks of the dearly departed. It's not that these people died, thousands die everyday, but that they are famous personalities and they're going one after the other. Okay, so what's the relationship with being famous and being a genius? Depends on how you look at it. In my book, people who become famous (or infamous) are a genius at something, even if it is at monkey business. There's something you're good enough at doing that people take notice.

If you're into the 2012 and end times mania, it makes one wonder if this is the "rapture" that's being talked about in the Bible. But even on a more ordinary level, it's still sad to see all these people go.

"Holy Week" or "holy week!"?

Our house is located right at the border of our village. Beyond the border are squatters' homes and other low-income households. I remember when I was a kid, even 2 weeks before Holy Week we would hear the singsong sounds of the Pabasa over a couple of loudspeakers. It was sometimes irritating, because the mournful sounds would go on all through the night, but most of the time it was just a background reminder that another long weekend was coming. In the time before the Internet, it also served as a distraction from the monotony of waiting through the Holy Week.

Now, I don't hear the Pabasa at all. Instead, loud music comes from boom boxes in different households, or sometimes just the normal sounds of the metropolis. Perhaps the neighborhood has changed, or most likely the people in them have changed. It's a bit disconcerting that a predominantly Catholic country like ours would find one of its holiest days relegated to something as simple as an extended weekend.

I remember the admonitions that one shouldn't eat meat, shouldn't take a bath on Good Friday, and countless other restrictions that do not seem to be followed by the majority nowadays. Now, it's more common to head over to the beach or hang out at home than participate in religious activities.

Just this past Holy Week my wife and I went back to her hometown of Lucena and I was surprised that even in a provincial city, there were a couple of eateries and establishments that were open even on a Good Friday. There was a time that even in Manila, Holy Week would make the streets a ghost town and too bad for you if you didn't have enough groceries to last the distance.

Is this really the price for progress and modernity? Admittedly, I'm also a victim of the times and I'm certainly no devout parishoner. However, all the religious activities during Holy Week are part and parcel of our history and our identity as a people and I can't help but feel some small concern that we are losing a part of ourselves as we get more enamored of "modern" pleasures.

Perhaps it's the stress of living that we all feel for most part of the year. So that even a few days off would be golden before going back to the penitensya of ordinary life and work. I guess it really is ironic that everyday life would be considered a burden, so that the commemoration of Christ's crucifixion, death and most importantly, His resurrection becomes a footnote in our minds. But when I watched The Passion of the Christ, I could not help but wonder what is the value of our whole droll existence when compared to what Christ went through? And what would it say of us that such a sacrifice was paid back by a few days of frolicking in the beach, drinking beer and eating sisig like crazy?

I guess we would know if our transformation would be complete if Maundy Thursday and Good Friday would not be considered holidays anymore (just like in the U.S.). In any case, dark as it may seem, it's really something to think on for the rest of the year.

How I met my wife through Friendster

It's amazing what the Internet can do these days. From a simple means to exchange information, it has become almost as indispensible as the telephone. Along with Napster, Bit Torrent, Yahoo and several pioneering concepts, Friendster probably ranks among them for its impact on the Internet and people's lives.

I've already heard of people touching base via chat or via dating sites, with some people ending up on the altar because of that. But I never thought much about Friendster and why people were so crazy about it. I eventually joined because my friends were pestering me about it (and how many months of pestering that was), but I thought it was all a fad, until I actually met my wife through Friendster.

It wasn't as anonymous as it sounds. We were already introduced a couple of years ago by a common friend. My date was from the province, but was working in Manila. Normally, I'm skeptical of blind dates due to some past unfavorable experiences with the process. Thankfully, this one turned out fine but I was too busy with work and wasn't ready for a relationship yet, so nothing really happened after two dates and we lost touch.

Fast forward to the middle of 2005. I don't know for what particular reason, but I felt that I was "ready" to get into a serious commitment. At least, I felt I was as ready as anyone could be for something that could lead to the life changing status called marriage. The problem, of course, was who I was going to share my life with.

My thoughts turned back to that blind date I had a few years ago. Unfortunately, I had lost my notebook of contacts (sorry, no Palm Pilot for me) , where I had written her contact details. Even the common friend who introduced us lost her contact details. After hitting myself on the head about the seeming hopelessness of it all, I came upon a shot in the dark idea: Friendster.

I reasoned that since many people were into Friendster, chances were high that she would have a Friendster account herself. The only challenge was to find her profile. So I tried to remember every detail I could about her like where she studied, her hometown, her age, etc. Luckily, Friendster could conduct searches based on those parameters.

After 3 days of diligent cross-searching, I noticed that one profile kept coming up. At first I wasn't sure it was her because all the pictures in her profile were that of a Korean actress (a case against not posting your real picture in Friendster). But, there was nothing to lose, so I sent a private message anyway. After one day, she replied and it was indeed her! It turns out she had returned to the province, but she still goes to Manila occassionally. Soon after that first contact, we would go out during her trips to Manila and chat a lot during the times she was in the province.

Pretty soon, we officially became a couple and a little over a year later, we got happily married. I never thought I'd be part of a unique story such as this, but there it is, all because of Friendster. It really does help you to reconnect with old friends! How's that for a product that delivers?

I'm still not as hardcore into Friendster as other people are, but neither do I think that it's a pointless fad anymore. Sometimes you get something out of the most unexpected places, and my experience with Friendster proves it. Just like what Forrest Gump said, "Life is like a box of chocolates. You never know what you're going to get."

How I got into Blogging

I did it for the simplest of reasons...everyone else was doing it. Now, I know the adage about "Just because everyone else is doing it, doesn't make it a good thing" and the warnings against fads. But with thousands of blogs being created everyday, blogging has graduated into something that's a big part of our daily lives. That may sound strange coming from someone who got into blogging as "late" as I have, but you could also say that's how big the impact of blogging has become that it would convince someone like me to get into it.

Being the introvert that I am, I found it weird that people would share sometimes their innermost thoughts publicly, something like an online voyeur with the world as audience. But eventually, I saw that blogging was a healthy way for people to vent off steam or offer a venue to display their writing talents or share their interests with a much wider audience. Of course, sometimes blogging can get you into trouble (in the United States, there were several cases of employees getting fired for blogging stuff about their employers) but overall, blogging has managed to offer the everyday person a means to express oneself without needing to be a public speaker or journalist. How's that for kicking off your plans of world domination, eh?

So how did blogging emerge from nowhere to become the biggest mania since Michael Jackson? Well, it didn't exactly come from "nowhere". Just like everything about the Internet, the "blog" started out as the simple web log, a means of sharing information and links with a small community or group. Pretty handy when technicians are located thousands of miles apart yet need to work together on a project.

However, towards the late 90s, blogs slowly transformed themselves into personal means of expression. With the explosion of the Web, these online journals became more accessible. And with the creation of blog sites that allow even non-technical people to create and maintain their own blogs, the dam broke and now almost anyone has a blog.

This reminds me of the progress of the cellphone market in the Philippines. As far as the late 90s, cellphones were for the priveleged few who were assigned a unit at work or had enough money to buy their own cellphone. And then Globe introduced text messaging and from then on the cost of cellphones had steadily dropped and cheap pre-paid and post-paid plans sprung up until millions of Filipinos now own at least one cellphone. Now, one would almost feel naked without it. I shudder to think of the day when people feel withdrawal symptoms if they don't get to blog. Hmm...moderation is the key!