Recalling 9/11

It was simply one of those incidents where you can clearly remember what you were doing when it happened.

It was also a Tuesday evening and I was busy working at my laptop at the small studio apartment at Prince George's Park I shared with another fellow graduate student at the National University of Singapore. I remember receiving a text message from another graduate student (who had a tv at his own flat) saying that a plane had crashed into the World Trade Center in New York. My first reaction then was that this was another hoax because some months or years before a small plane had crashed into the World Trade Center; there was a similar incident where the news turned out to be a hoax or something. So I replied saying that it might be a hoax and got back to work. Several minutes later, however, that same friend sent a text message saying that another plane had crashed into the other WTC tower. That's when I started thinking that this might be real after all and decided to check the Internet for news. But I couldn't upload any news website at all. Instead of CNN, I would get a page saying that the website was too busy. I couldn't get anything either on Yahoo! News. After that I don't remember what else I did except that I anxiously tried to get some news and was frustrated for a long time. Then I finally got the Yahoo! News website and that's when I read that one tower had already collapsed. I was stunned. I relayed the news to my roommate who was equally shocked. Then later came the news that the other tower had collapsed as well. I don't think what was happening had began to sink in even then. It was just too horrible beyond belief. Too terrible to comprehend.

Of course, my friends and I could talk of nothing else for the next few days. Even my friend all the way out in Washington state emailed a short message to assure me that he was okay but that he felt so vulnerable all of a sudden. He most probably had seen it all unfold on television. It was indeed so surreal.

Long life light bulb

A bit of trivia: where can you find a light bulb that has been burning for over 106 years?

Over at a fire station in California is a light bulb that has been working since 1901 when it was first installed. Amazing isn't it? There's even a webcam trained on that famous hand-blown bulb in case you want to see it when it finally snuffs out.

The modern incandescent light bulb here in my hallway has been there for probably a decade but I don't think it would last for a century. I suppose this is an instance where they just don't make things the way they used to. And now that there is a plan in the United States to ban incandescent bulbs in favor of the energy-saving fluorescent or else LED bulbs, this long lasting light bulb will probably be the last of its kind in use in that country. (Do you think it will be removed if and when it won't be excluded from the ban?)

Piano practice at a grand piano

The auditorium here in campus has a wonderful Yamaha grand piano which has been around for as long as I can remember. Sadly, I believe it rarely gets ever played unless there is a (classical) musical performance at the auditorium, which in itself is a rare event. I remember playing on it in my high school days and well into my college years when our high school choir (they kept me on as their accompanist for special occasions) would perform there in choral competitions.

I myself have an old upright piano here at home which still sounds good but whose keys get stuck more often than I like that I now prefer to play my Yamaha P-80, which of course sounds great. But I still sorely miss playing on a real piano, especially a grand piano. I simply love the tone (especially in the lower and upper registers) that one can't get out of an upright piano. I like the fact that when you hit the lowest A or the highest C, you can still tell it's an A or a C. Then there's the feel of the keyboard vibrating as you hit chords, something that I don't get when playing my P-80.

I had so missed playing a grand that I was ecstatic when the committee in-charge of cultural events here at the university approached me last year and asked me to practice at the grand piano to keep it in tune. Apparently they had recently forked out some funds to have all three pianos--there was also an upright and a Chickering baby grand--at the auditorium tuned and needed to keep the pianos in tip top shape as long as possible.

But as much as I looked forward to playing the grand piano there, I could barely get away from work to practice. So far I've been over to the auditorium to practice just three times these past nine months since I was first invited.

The last time though was just yesterday. As usual, I had to ask the caretaker to bring the piano bench out of storage (it's always put away for fear it would be stolen) and open the back doors to provide light and ventilation (the piano is kept backstage where it's dark and stuffy). I had to practice also despite the racket going on because there were some students hammering away on the stage trying to take apart some props from a recent theatrical performance. But I did manage to practice satisfactorily. My fingers were rather stiff though, especially those in my left hand. I got carried away practicing that I didn't notice that more than two hours had lapsed since I started. I had to cut short whatever I was playing then, close the piano and rush back to my office hoping nobody had noticed I was gone for a long time. He-he.

Paying the electricity bill

Today I had a bit of an adventure paying our electricity bill. My father had always been the one to go to the bank or else to the payment center to pay our electricity and our phone bills but since he recently had surgery and is unable to drive a car in his condition, the responsibility fell to me.

My father also used to write a cheque out to pay the bills but as I was the one paying the bill this time I only had cash. I knew had to pay the exact amount knowing that the payment center usually is unable to give back the exact change especially when the amount payable involves an odd number of centavos. So as soon as I had some time to spare at my office, I decided to prepare all the cash and coins I needed to pay the bill and place them into a small plastic bag. That way I wouldn't waste time by digging into my wallet when I arrived at the payment center.

Unfortunately, having just withdrawn some cash from my bank account and used the smaller bills to pay for my lunchtime meals, I had mostly Php500 bills in my wallet and still lacked two Php100 bills to pay the exact amount for the bill. I had no choice but to try withdrawing cash again to get more Php100 bills. (When ATM machines here give out cash, they give out cash in Php100 and Php500 bills: five Php100 bills and then the rest in Php500 bills.) So off I went to withdraw a total of Php500 (the minimum withdrawable amount) after my 10-11am class hoping I'd get five Php100 bills. To my disappointment, the ATM machine spat out a single Php500 bill. Arrgh! So much for trying to get Php100 bills.

Anyway, I just walked on to the paying center just outside campus with my Php500 bills and coins.... only to find out when I arrived there that their payment machine was offline. Okay, I had to pause and consider how to deal with this new road block. When I inquired where else nearby I could go to pay the electricity bill since it was already due today, I was instructed to go to an area near the town proper to another payment center.

So I did just that after my last class for the day. I got on a jeepney from behind our office building and got off at the area I was told about. (I had an interesting jeep ride, by the way, since the jeepney I took took a roundabout route through campus before going out towards town.) I had to ask around a bit before I finally found the payment center. After paying without any trouble at all, I considered going directly back to office. But seeing that I was near a pharmacy and shopping center with a supermarket, I thought I'd take advantage of being in the area and do a bit of shopping. I needed medicine anyway and some things from the grocery. Besides, I had not been to that area for a long long time (thanks to heavy traffic which I'd rather not wade through when driving) and needed a bit of a break. At the same time, I was hoping that nobody important I knew from work would see me there shopping during office hours. Funny thing was I actually ran into one of my officemates at the supermarket.

Needless to say, I managed to get back to work (after another roundabout jeepney ride through campus) with lots of time left in the workday to me to use for making more slide presentations for my classes.

Great expectations

At the beginning of this school term, I asked my students in a course that I was teaching for the first time to write down their expectations for the course. My intention was for them to write down something like "I hope to learn more about so-and-so" or else "I want to learn how to so-and-so so that I can so-and-so" in order for me to get an idea as to how to deliver the course. At least when I was a student, that was how we students interpreted the phrase "expectations for the course."

But I was in for an big shock: nearly all of my seventy-five students wrote down what amounted to expectations on how the course will be handled. Many wrote, "I hope our teacher will be considerate" or worse, "I expect lots of bonus quizzes." There were even some who said, "I hope to get a good grade in this course". As I read all these written on the forms I provided my students, I began to wonder if this was what students nowadays have become. If it was worth teaching this course at all to students who simply chose to take the course as an easy way to get good grades and not to learn. I would have been less surprised if this were a required course but it isn't. It is a course taken by students of various curricula as an elective. Are Filipino students so lazy nowadays that they take a course in order to get a good grade and not to learn?

I'm afraid that bad start spoiled the rest of term for me. And to make things worse, I gave them an exam last Friday and graded the exams over this three-day weekend. Majority didn't get a passing mark. To think that the exam results in my other courses (required courses, that is) have never been that bad.

I tell you I am extremely disappointed. I had so looked forward to handling this one course because I considered it a challenge to teach a course to students with diverse backgrounds. And now I getting bored teaching this course knowing that my students are not interested in learning about what the course has to offer.

A road blessing and a poster idea

That accident prone stretch of road here was blessed today by our parish priest. I passed the procession on my way home today. The procession included two carossas, one with the statue of the Blessed Mother (it's Our Mother of Perpetual Help on Wednesdays here) and one with the statue of our patron saint, St. Therese of the Child Jesus.

I suppose people think the place is cursed or haunted and I have indeed heard stories of people seeing strange things along that road. Whether those accidents are caused by ghostly sightings or not, I still think people should observe the speed limit and traffic rules. Anyway, if one suddenly sees a ghost while driving along that road during the lonely hours but is driving reasonably within the 50kph speed limit, a collision with a tree at that speed probably wouldn't be as horrific as those of the fatal accidents in the past.

By the way, the car wreck has been moved to a spot across from the police precinct here. That's always where they've kept car wrecks temporarily in the past--I suppose while investigation on the car accident is ongoing. Anyway, the accident seems much worse now that you can see the driver's side of the car. It's one horrific mangled mess of metal and glass with the roof practically smashed in on the driver's side. I now think the car rolled and hit the tree while on its side. Tsk tsk. I feel like taking a picture of the wreck before it is taken away and using the picture some kind of poster that I'll put up all over in campus: "Let this be a lesson to drivers everywhere: Don't drink and drive. Always observe the speed limit and traffic rules."

The fourth thirty-six

Okay. I've identified another thirty-six favorite photos on Flickr. Of course, the novelty has slightly worn off and I've become busy again at work as well, which is why it has taken me a little longer to accumulate this many to form another batch of favorites.Some of the photos in my own small Flickr collection have slowly made "progress" so to speak. My limeberry photo is no longer the most "interesting" according to Flickr (51 views, favorited 2 times, 2 comments). Instead it's my photo of the Cagsawa Church ruins which has gotten the most comments (23 views, favorited 2 times, 4 comments). Likewise my photo of a jellyfish at the Vancouver Aquarium has been viewed more times than the limeberry (55 views, 1 comment). Then the photo of my cuddly toy stuffed piggy wiggy is starting to catch up with the rest as well.

All this aside, I find it really interesting to see which photos appeal the most to other people and in some cases these are surprisingly not among my own favorites. Take for instance my photo of trees taken in Stanley Park in Vancouver which in my own opinion is not as interesting as my other photos of trees. And yet it is the one most viewed among my tree/forest pictures. I suppose it's because of the unusual lighting. But then again, it probably seems interesting enough if one sees only its thumbnail but not so when viewed in full. This may explain as well why it has not been favorited so far despite being viewed many times.