Another Year..another Entry

Time flies when your having fun as they say. But time flies the fastest when you're not lookin, I'd add in. The year just seem to have whizzed past me when everything was still new; from warming up to a new job from the previous year ahead, keeping up with correspondence with friends that where found and discovered previously, which of course means keeping my own multiply site up to date as others put more info in theirs and at the same time expanding one's ever growing network of friends and acquaintances.

But for what its worth 2006 has not also been short of its challenges and instances that would require more than just maintenance work. Friends rallied up behind me and gave me more than just moral support when I needed it the most and that for me would be the capping glory of 2006; that the good one does all throughout is manifested by the presence and equally helpful acts of friends and contacts nurtured through the years. I shall forever be grateful for them.

So in the eve of 2007, I hold my head up high, proudly and happily knowing that whatever Blessings I have had in 2006 will be carried over to 2007 for opportunities to share and bestow equally good deeds and good words will come to me in the coming year and in the process account for good karma and more abundance that our generous Universe is more than willing to give.

Happy New Year everyone!!! Let's celebrate 2007 with a bang, with open arms and an open heart.

VALIAH ENTERETH!

Love,

CAZ!

 

 

Professional or UN....Part 2

Now remember about my previous rant about being unprofessional? Well, here’s the next part. It’s the official “sequel” to that rant as the day of the event came I was totally unprepared for people trying to pull their own weight having had the previous and past successful experiences of doing that.

 

Anyway, I got to the event at the appointed time of 630pm having been told that it will start early. Then again, we’re here in the Philippines so I should know better than to expect any form of American value for punctuality to be incorporated into the system. Having worked with American bosses was a blast and forced me to be mindful of these habits that we as a people have allowed to creep into the Filipino psyche.

 

The minute I stepped into the venue I was looking for contact person that contracted me for the event and lo and behold came face to face with my co-host; an attorney at that. Perhaps I would account either for her age or for her usual way of barking at people considering her degree and all. She starts pulling me aside and talks about the program and details of a segment that was recently added into the program, in which I was to sing a Christmas song. I told her I knew of that but because of time constraints and was in contact with the coordinator, the band said they couldn’t perform it but I could sing it acapella.

 

Almost immediately she fumed and accosted me for not being able to “require” the band to learn the song when in fact it should have been the coordinators job to do that and not mine. She said that having been informed about it there was ample time. The mere fact that the band guy took a day and a half to respond back accounted for the time lost not to mention the late notification of this segments inclusion. And here I am taking the heat for their ineptitude.

 

Being the outsider I was recovering in shock and felt my narration of the circumstances as my defense was brought in weakly to stand in as evidence. With my facial expression, I let her know that I was peeved at her attitude and relented to be mature about the whole thing as regard it as her frayed nerves at having seeing no one yet at the event and milling about different parts of the floor and equally barking at people who seem to be in her own eyes, incapable and unprofessional. When in fact, it was her who was pegging herself to that classification. Before the event started I avoided her like the plague. And by the end of the event, she tried to warm up to me by saying she enjoyed my singing and that I should pursue a career in theatre.

 

Thank you but no thanks if that was her way in wanting to nullify the effect that she has caused.  Perhaps she knew that she was out of line when she blamed me for whatever imperfections the program had and realized that no program really runs smoothly and as perfectly executed on paper. When asked to relax & smile, she even declared loudly that she couldn’t and there was no time for it.

 

When you think about it, the conditions in our life that gives us lack of sleep, tension, anxiety, are brought about by how we view them and react towards them accordingly. It’s our choice. She chose not to relax and enjoy the evening and considered to be bothered by the whole event. I chose to keep my cool. Rant about it in this blog and release it to the Universe. I’ve said my peace and ready to move along….

 

Although it would be nice to see her trip along the mall carrying her Christmas goodies…heheheh.

Professional or UN.....

Earlier today my friend and fellow artist in rant, told me of her personal experience with working with people who are totally unprofessional or to put it more politically correct, have a different sense of professionalism and work ethic.

 

I feel for her situation and wonder if I were in her place, being at the forefront of a situation almost akin to harassment and insubordination at the same time, could I have still held my cool, albeit my tongue.

 

One thing I would be ranting here is my own experience at how some people can keep you waiting and standing on ceremony. You see, I’m to host a corporate event over the weekend with some tweaks in the program added at the last minute. Unfortunately, the segment required me to sing a holiday ditty whose musical instrumentation, or minus-one in the vernacular, proved to be elusive and likewise unavailable. I was tasked then of having to talk to the band guy to find out if they can accompany me during the number. Halfway through, I thought shouldn’t that be the job of the coordinator and not mine? But then again, that’s a different rant, so I shall not digress and stick to the issue at hand.

 

In the interest of wanting to have a smooth presentation, I took the task and began to contact the band guy. It took him a night before responding and it was only after I called him up following three of my texts did he respond. And said that it was on short notice and that they could not accommodate my request. And lo and behold, it became my request and not of the company who contracted me in the first place. What gall! And during the conversation he even wanted me to text him the details and not speak of it over the phone in order to be comprehended.

 

I didn’t want to pull whatever clout I thought I had but I figured after introducing myself over the phone and finally on the last and fourth repeated text by adding the name of the radio station that I’m affiliated with as credentials did he respond.

 

So now, if I were merely an “ordinary” host he would’ve just continually ignored my texts and only after attaching my name and thereby revealing my status or if not lineage was he shaken to the rafters and was prompted to respond?

 

Why should people not have the decency or sense of urgency even to respond accordingly and not have to make others wait in the service of their own folly? It is foolish and darn unprofessional. And to think that he and I can be touted as brothers in the business, and still carry on the way that he did? Well, if I had a brother like that, I’d take the nearest baseball bat and whack some sense into him. Or be the nasty kid brother and be the proverbial tattletale and rant on the parent of a company and let them handle him on their terms…

 

Which seems to be not a bad idea when you think about it.

 

…Note to self…rant to parents…hmmmm.

 

 

Which XMEN are You?

You Are Storm

http://images.blogthings.com/whichofthexmenareyouquiz/storm.jpg" height="100" width="100"> Exotic and powerful, Storm descended from a line of African priestesses. Emotions can effect your powers, but you are generally serene. Powers: controlling weather, creating winds that lift you into flight, generating lightning

Which'>http://www.blogthings.com/whichofthexmenareyouquiz/">Which of the X-Men Are You?

Love Starbucks? So, which Frappuccino are you?- Try this test

Caramel Frappuccino

http://images.blogthings.com/whatflavorfrappuccinoareyouquiz/caramel.jpg" height="100" width="100"> Creative and expressive, you tend to match your Frappuccino flavor to your mood. And a flavored syrup is always a must!

What'>What>http://www.blogthings.com/whatflavorfrappuccinoareyouquiz/">What Flavor Frappuccino Are You?

Rest Room OC

How many times have we gone to public restrooms and found it reeking with the pungent smell of urine accumulating in the bowls and just left there to be added on by the next user who is equally delinquent if not indifferent about what they see?

Well, public or not. This is a bad habit that we as Filipinos, should start cultivating. It's 8am in the office and coming out of the restroom, i found that the maintenance people have not done their early morning sweep.

And then people started going in the rest room and on top of that a meeting is to start soon and some ex-pats just went in and did their bit.

I can only cringe at the thought of what went on in their minds as they were using the lavatories with its smelly and wet floors.

We who work in private companies certainly can do better than some who use the public restrooms wantonly and indifferently.

Let's try and do our little bit to make the environment clean and presentable at the very least for ourselves and for others.

Oh, and did I tell you that every single time I go into the restroom and see that the urinals are not flushed, I go out of my way to flush each and every single one....

MAURICE

Rating:	★★★★★
Category:	Movies
Genre:	Drama

Watched MAURICE again. Quite the pleasant watch. And a most eye-opening experience at that after seeing it again after all these years. Based on the book by EM Forster and posthumously released, Maurice’s story is that of a young man who comes into grace and his subsequent downfall.

By grace I mean of his adolescent years and the decision he makes as he partakes of society and of its trappings of position and power and by fall, by way of losing his innocence that marked his journey at the beginning and his sense of naivete in the world, knowing that people operate differently. And amidst that, having to deal with the longing in his heart; that is to spend his life with someone he loves, someone who can love him back; in short, another man.

Set in the early 1900’s a little over after the turn of the century in England, it was a most critical and crucial time to state and to person much less to even be aware of one’s nature and to give in to it, knowing that the end result would be shame and ruin. One would have to go out on a limb for it, similar to what Maurice did.

Now, did it pay off? I guess you would have to read the book or watch the film and similarly pray that local bookshops would begin to carry this elusive piece of work. But I won’t spoil the fun and go on to tell you that watching it the second time around and having grown older since the last to appreciate the act and nuance of words and spoken lines, the whole experience was like watching the film for the very first time. Gone were the days when the characters of Maurice, Clive, Ann, and Scudder were merely names to remember and contend with, but rather they represent different archetypes and levels of society and awareness in that given time. They were either people in the middle of society’s changes; from both ushering it into the new world to merely settling for the effects as it trickles and dawns into their lives. Or to those who merely sit by the sidelines and let the glorious sands of life just merely pass them by without knowing any better.

And yet men not to mention women only could aspire to know as much during 1910, homosexuality was even frowned upon at that time and even if Oscar Wilde was gaining popularity and notoriety as a playwright, Forster’s book was not even released only until after his death. Today things have taken a turn for the progressive as England has been one of the first nations to embrace the union of gay marriages, having Elton John and George Michael among the celebrities to openly endorse the government move by having themselves registered as same-sex lifetime partners.

Such turn of events was only aspired to and dreamt of in Maurice’s time as he had to wrestle that utopian society in his mind when Clive, played by Hugh Grant came to profess his love for him. Having spent so much time together being students at Cambridge, it was but a natural act for Clive to do; to outpour his feelings to this man whom he spent so much time with. But Maurice being the archetype of a closeted gay man rebuked him. And when only when he had time to ruminate and finally coming to his senses soon found himself transformed and succumbed to his feelings and allowed Clive into his heart; so much so that he let him in too deep that when the world came between them he almost could not bear it.

At this point in the viewing, the precarious relationship of both Clive and Maurice can be flayed on like meat to be scrutinized to no end as to who manipulated whom and who got the bad end of the deal. But it all boils down to passivity and having the “balls” to go after what one truly wants and desires, a quality of which Hugh Grant was able to convey in the film as he shrank bank into his own “closeted” world, broke off with Maurice and re-emerged into society as a straight and married man.

How many of us would have the stamina and drive to pursue what we want,let alone brave a lone trek to reach our goals and dreams to find out that it meant sacrificing a better part of ourselves? How many men in this modern day and age have both gone thru what Clive did and dared to both dream of that life; a life of having a loving man in their lives and a woman alongside him with their children in tow. Either that or throw one’s passivity out the window and brave what most gay men who are sure of themselves the road less traveled only time it rewarding and life affirming in the end. And only upon reaching the end would one consider that particular road fully traversed and consider a journey taken.

Clive and Maurice both took that road and ended up two different people at the end of the journey so much so that their roles were reversed. Clive becomes the repressed and closeted gay man refusing to look into the past and yet never forgetting while Maurice amidst initial resistance and condemnation chooses to embrace his nature fully. A reversal of fortune or merely a realization of a journey?

Either of the two would suffice but it would both demand results; results from a path taken and ventured so that the order of the Universe is tested and tempered and we like the characters in this brilliantly adapted film are left to ponder upon about the choices we make and if we were ever needed to make those choices.

Perhaps most people wouldn’t understand the burden of making choices along these matters for gay men have it differently; from having no specific role models to choose and emulate from while growing up and at the same time being dictated by society on how and what to do. And if ever a role model was ever found, they themselves are bound by the very cords that binds gay men who would want nothing more than to be free to express themselves in the most natural way ever. And in doing so, attune to the yearnings of the heart; that somewhere out there, there is indeed another man who can heed one’s call, who matches up to the standards or levels of preference that one prescribes and equally accepting of one’s flaws and limitations.

Such a tall task to ask? Perhaps not. But gay man or not, that is equally the goal that every human being aspires to in relationship. Perfectly free of whatever trappings of inconsistency and incongruence to point that both parties are able to open their heart, mind and soul to their partner with no fear of recoil or revulsion.

As the saying goes, make your bed and lie on it. In this case, Maurice has come to realize that in making your own bed, you get to choose who gets to lie on it with you and in effect come out the victor and not the victim.