ALPSaguado.com
When you are an Organizational Communication student, chances are you are Obsessive Compulsive too. This kind of correlation might be brought about by the formalized theories about writing, organizing, managing, leading and, of course, communicating. Except for these, there are more reasons to be properly organized: Lots of homework, tons of reading assignments, several group meetings per day, numerous professional interviews and discussions per month, different org activities and overlapping appointments that could make you insane. Ergo, we need something to make us organized: Planners/Journals! I have seen a diversity of planners among my friends and I want to share it with you. This would serve like a mini-review too. :)
Design Your Life 2009
Featured owner: Ren
The Good: Only a few own one. The design is really cool (different designs per month!). You won’t get bored writing. And there are also spaces for pictures and doodles that would make it a personalized planner!
The Bad: None! I love my planner, nyaha. If there is one bad thing, I think it would be the cover: Its edges are prone to tearing.
The Lowdown: Get the planner if you like designing and all those artsy fartsy stuff and/or if you are a kid at heart. :)
Belle de Jour 2009
Featured onwer: Nancy
The Good: Discount coupons from really nice and popular fashion shops, restos and much more!
The Bad: So many sections. Information overload and begging for more!
The Lowdown: The perfect planner for the girly you!
This Journal Will Actually Change Your Life in 2009
Featured owner: Nikki
The Good: A professional yet hip journal! It does its job well.
The Bad: I think its pages are prone to tearing. Yikes!
The Lowdown: There’s virtually no boring day with this journal!
Cosmopolitan Planner 2009
Featured Owner: Jel
The Good: I haven’t seen anybody using it so that’s a major plus (unless someone sees this and goes buying one tomorrow! wuuh!). But for a planner not exceeding PhP 500 with a bunch of coupons and girly tips, cosmo’s a win!
The Bad: The space for weekend entries are just one horizontal space each! So many things happen during weekends!
The Lowdown: It reminds me of my Candy Mag Diary back in 2nd year HS (and I loved that one!)
Moleskine Journal 2009
Featured owner: Alvina
The Good: My planner is a Moleskine! And it’s Red! Fanboys claim that Moleskine is like, The Apple of the Planner/Journal World, making it very special. Frankly, I only care for its fabulously minimalist design, good paper and color. <3
The Bad: A whole week is crammed on one page! Pages on the right are left for more notes though.
The Lowdown: Really, there’s no competition. Get the Moleskine!
Tomato Planner 2009
Featured owner: Rish
The Good: The cover is nice–it’s not your typical journal cover. Plus cool discount coupons!
The Bad: The spaces each day are really limited and there are not enough spaces for extra notes.
The Lowdown: A very nice planner with a low price!
Starbucks Planner 2009
Featured Owner: Nash (and Bhea :D)
The Good: I like the quotes! And it’s quite spacious :)
The Bad: It’s not aesthetically pleasing (I didn’t receive good feedback regarding its design)
The Lowdown: It suits me because of its simplicity. I love it!
GoNuts Donuts Planner 2009
Featured owner: Alps
The Good: Really spacious space provisions for each day! A discount card from the merchant!
The Bad: Boring! The paper is like a recycled material. Haha. I think some people would like it though.
The Lowdown: With the market bombarded with girly planners, a GoNuts Planner would be nice for male students like me. :)
There you go :) It took me a while before I got a planner. The GoNuts Planner I have is actually a last-resort option. So many girly planners like girls own the world, shame. Guys have the right to be organized too. Haha. I don’t want to use a generic planner just because it’s too mature for a young boy like me. Lahlah. I should have published this earlier to guide planner-hunters out there, but I think it’s not yet late to get one! Plan to be happy in 2009! :)
Tomato Planner 2009
This Journal Will Actually Change Your Life 2009
Moleskine 2009
GoNuts Donuts Disorganizer 2009
Starbucks Planner 2009
Belle de JourPlanner 2009
Cosmopolitan Planner 2009
Design Your Life Planner 2009
The Good, The Bad, The Lowdown: A Concise First-person Review @ www.alpsaguado.com
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30 January 2009
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Original image from www.uweb.ucsb.edu
And today’s Rizal Day. I was planning to write a year-ender article but I think it’s more contextual to write an entry about Rizal–the blogosphere lacks some In-commemoration-of-Jose-Rizal entries so I am more pressured to write something about him. But of course, I won’t make this as a fanboy’s entry. I will share an expounded version of my reaction paper to Renato Constantino’s Veneration Without Understanding. At first glance or quick-read, the article might sound Anti-Rizal or Anti-Rizal-as-the-national-hero write-up but there’s even more than its face value. As I finished reading the article, there were multiple questions that entered my mind:
- Is there a presence of standards that would determine a national hero?
- Is there a presence of a certain hierarchy that states that this heroic feature is more important than another heroic feature?
- Is Rizal really over-glorified?
- How much glorification would equate to over-glorification?
- Was Rizal a wrong choice for being a National Hero?
- Who could replace him if ever there will be a revamp?
I first thought that this article was meant to overthrow Rizal as The National Hero of the Philippines. But I was wrong. The article dealt more about how wrong the Filipinos over-glorified Rizal and how the construction of Rizal as a National Hero is poorly constructed. So, the ultimate question then is this: Did Constantino shift my perspective about Rizal? I feel that the information that I got from the article are additional information about Rizal and how should we treat him. I did not feel that this is an effort to overthrow Rizal because if we think about it, Constantino saved Rizal in some parts of his article. He even gave an impression that Rizal did nothing wrong about the situation. If there is one thing or person that Constantino would blame, it wouldn’t be The National Hero himself but the social construction that we had. History is nice to write. But it is nicer to rewrite it.
For the national revolution is invariably the one period in a nation’s history when the people were most united, most involved, and most decisively active in the fight for freedom. It is not to be wondered at, therefore, that almost always the leader of that revolution becomes the principal hero of his people.
This is the primary premise of Constantino to the logic that Rizal should not be hailed as a principal hero: The primary criterion for a principal hero is his or her involvement in a significant national revolution. But I ask the question, is this really the standard? Is the involvement in a national revolution the only criterion for being a national hero? I concede to the fact that a national revolution is really a big thing or even the only way when it comes to a group of people’s fight for liberty and independence. But we must also accept the presence of the multitude of other factors that would make you, if not a national hero, a hero.
In our case, our national hero was not the leader of our Revolution. In fact, he repudiated that Revolution.
Here is another argument. Rizal was not part of the revolution. Worse, he repudiated it. Repudiating the importance of a revolution and the revolution itself is almost a double crime for a supposedly universally-valid national hero. And that made Rizal even more invalid. But I ask this question, is the national revolution so important and so vital that repudiating it would make you an invalid hero or a national hero? There are many ways of becoming a hero. I am no Rizal fan but I take logic into consideration. I can see Rizal’s perspective in this. I believe that he believes that it is indeed important that we have to consider different factors before we do something. Rizal believed that a revolution might not work and we need to go into the grassroots level first by, for example, educating our children.
Rizal and The Revolution
Because Rizal took no part in that Revolution and in fact he repudiated it, the general regard for our revolution is not as high as it otherwise would be.
I agree with Constantino on this one. I had different history subjects from my grade school and high school years up to my tertiary education years. On all of those years, the role of the revolution e.g. The Katipunan was exemplified. But if I look back on those years, I really didn’t much appreciate the bloody revolution. I felt that there was an outward emphasis on the notion of The-Pen-is-mightier-than-the-sword. True, using our writing skills could be a form of revolution. But the real, tangible revolution can be felt and even actualized in a revolution with armed revolutionists.
An American-Sponsored Hero
We have magnified Rizal’s role to such extent that we have lost our sense of proportion and relegated to a subordinate position our great mean and the historic events in which they took part.
I totally agree with Constantino. As I have mentioned, throughout my years as a student, Rizal was really the emphasized one. Well, it might be because he is the recognized national hero, but we should not forget our other heroes as well. I can clearly remember my history textbooks back in grade school wherein there are some biographies of different Filipino heroes. All are brief ones, except for one–Rizal’s. The problem is, in our early curriculum and how teachers teach history, they just bypass other heroes. The lesson becomes trivial and translates to not appreciating that specific figure. Compare it to Rizal, which even our parents idolize him and make us idolize him too. I remember my mom telling me that I should be a Rizal.
Rizal never advocated independence, nor did he advocate armed resistance to the government. He urged reform from within by publicity, by public education and appeal to public conscience. They favored a hero who would not run against the grain of American colonial policy.
I really agree with this since it is strongly grounded by some written accounts. But I want also to consider a perspective wherein the glass-is-half-full. The Americans’ motive by doing so falls into two perspectives. The first one is the negative one: They made Rizal as the national hero to make us passive revolutionists, therefore, making their stay a peaceful one. The second one is the positive one: They made Rizal as the national hero because they believe that we need to follow one of his ideals—to educate ourselves first before liberty. Now the question is this, what was the Americans’ real motive?
It must be remembered that the Filipino members of the Philippine Commission were conservative illustrados. The Americans regarded Rizal as belonging to this class. This was, therefore, one more point in his favor. Rizal belonged to the right social class—the class that they were cultivating and building up for leadership.
I believe that education is crucial for building leadership skills. So I think that I disagree a little with Constantino’s argument that leaders should or could come from the masses. Of course, there are good leaders found in the company of the masses. But Constantino mentioned it—the evolving setting due to the industrial revolution made things complicated. Meaning, leaders need to understand the ins and outs of the society before engaging into a career of leadership. But I still have this question—Is education prerequisite to good leadership?
The uncritical attitude of his cultists has been greatly responsible for transforming biographers into hagiographers. His weaknesses and errors have been subtly underplayed and his virtues grossly exaggerated.
I have read a quotation by Abraham Lincoln. It reads: If you look for the bad in people, you will surely find it. What’s the point of finding and studying Rizal’s faults? If we think about it, all of our nation’s heroes have their own faults. We study their respective legacies because we could draw inspiration from them. I also believe that a part of studying history is to find problems and investigate their causes. But for now, we should not cry over spilled milk.
The Role of Heroes
If there had been no Rizal, another type of talent who have appeared who might have given a different style to the historic struggle.
I think that this is the most illogical statement by Constantino. His logic is like this: If there were no Rizal, there would be another heroic figure that would appear. And not to mention, he might give a different style. I don’t know if this is a prophecy by Constantino but I believe that the absence of Rizal may really change the course of Philippine History. And his absence may give another possible situation but not necessarily a new, alternative Rizal.
Rizal may have given form and articulation and color to the aspiration of people. But even without him, the nationalist struggle would have ensued.
I disagree with Constantino. I believe that everything affects everything else. The absence of Rizal would change everything, any possible situation may happen. We should not discount other possibilities other than the ensuing of the struggle. The presence or absence of Rizal may or may not trigger the revolution.
Relevance or Irrelevance Today
Economic prosperity spawned discontent when the native beneficiaries saw a new world of affluence opening for themselves and their class. They attained a new consciousness and hence, a new goal – that of equality with the peninsulares – not in the abstract, but in practical economic and political terms.
I believe that a similar situation exists today. Let’s see the Modern Manila. It is every probinsiyano’s and pronbinsiyana’s dream to go the metro. Manila is portrayed as a model of economic prosperity (at least in the Philippines) where dreams and aspirations are fulfilled. The metropolitans could be the modern peninsulares. And our rural people wanted to equal them by stepping into the wild waters of the urban jungle.
A true historical review would prove that great men are those who read the time and have a deeper understanding of reality. It is their insights that make them conversant with their periods and which enable them to articulate the needs of the people. To a large extent, Rizal, the ilustrado, fulfilled this function, for in voicing the goals of his class he had to include the aspirations of the entire people.
Our politicians today (which, most of them, belong to the elite society) see to it that they need to include the voice of the masses. I don’t know if this is just a politicking tactic but I believe that since there is a class gap, the needs of the masses don’t equate with the needs of the elite. Rizal’s burden was to voice out the needs of the masses. In the status quo our leaders have the burden to see the needs of the masses and voice them out.
The Negation of Rizal
The true hero is one with the masses; he does not exist above them.
Well the concept of a true hero is really subjective in nature. But taking into consideration today’s society, I could see that our small heroes are really found within the masses. Those heroes are their leaders who speak in behalf of them and encourage them to protest, to launch a revolution. I haven’t felt any of our elite politicians launch a revolution.
The inarticulate are now making history while the articulate may be headed for historical anonymity, if not ignominy.
Well this is not true all the time. But nowadays, we could really see the inarticulate or those who have, relatively, poor education are making history. Take into consideration the case of the Sumilao Farmers who, in a sense, launched a revolution. And they made history, not to mention, they became popular.
Rizal has become part of our great history. Regardless of his being a national hero or his being not-fit-to-be-a-national-hero, Rizal gave us a good lecture of Heroism 101. An inspirational Rizal Day to everyone :).
A Scholarly Scandal by Alfred Miguel M. Aguado is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivative Works 3.0 Philippines License. Based on a work at www.alpsaguado.com.
Sample Scenario Phase 1-A: 10 New Plurk Updates, 11 New Responses. *Selects 10 Plurk Updates*
Sample Scenario Phase 1-B: I will read the updates that interest me.
Sample Scenario Phase 2-A: *Selects 19 new responses*
Sample Scenario Phase 2-B: I will read responses that interest me.
After 30 seconds or so: There would be new updates and responses as well. Repeat Sample Scenario Phases 1 and 2. After 30 seconds after the first 30 seconds that have elapsed, there would be new updates and responses as well. Repeat Sample Scenario Phases 1 and 2. And the same goes on forever. I admit, Plurk makes me crazy doing such but I think it begins to be an involuntary routine although I can still feel its toxicity creeping into my central nervous system. I will stay with Plurk because of these things:
- You could plurk your whims and rants (in or less than 140 characters) and leave it to the timeline. If the feeling goes back again, plurk it once more.
- You could see others’ whims and rants and maybe relate yourself to them. If you can’t relate yourself to them, then pretend you can (without getting caught that you are due to the absence of non-verbal cues, Haha).
- You could see what others are doing. If you realize you’re doing the same thing too, I think you just found your soul-mate.
- You could have fans. At least on Plurk’s definition.
- You could say senseless things (even incomprehensible ones) for the sake of getting good karma points and get sensible (comprehensible) reactions. Haha, I do this!
- And the most important of all, you can advertise your blog entries and other personal links as well. I have realized that most of my blog traffic (when I am still using my old blog) came from Plurk timeline clicks. :)
Visit my Plurk and be my friend (and fan)!:
http://www.plurk.com/alps
I have posted my site’s URL at my Multiply and Jo Ann had a reaction about mainstream blogging. I found her entry engaging so I posted my reaction about it and I am about to post the same reaction here:
Original image from www.innovationfactory.nl
Upon seeing a friend’s new domain (named after him, of course) for his blogs, I was left thinking (or rather, I left the site thinking..) that blogs, as in the real-deal ones (not like Multiply’s, though I am obviously fond of it), are high-maintenance.
I thought blogs are, like, for self-expression only. Not a way to earn money (ie. profit) or gain whatever it is to gain aside from, uh, let’s call it liberation. Liberation from daily or chronic worries, that is. Syempre, once you’ve blogged or shared your view, or whatever, on something it’s like something is being lifted off of you. Well, that is what I feel.
Mainstream blogging might be about earning some good bucks. But I think most dedicated bloggers treat it (the cold moolah) as a bonus for something they want to do–self-expression that is. You can express yourself and at the same time, get paid from the space you allotted for the advertisers. “Liberation” can still happen even in mainstream blogging.
The first thing that came to my mind after the initial Wow-astig-he-has-his-own-site reaction was “Hindi ba mahirap ‘to?” He has a series of series entries. All numbered. Now, he has, like, five or so series entries, and each series numbers to about five or more. Add to that, he has a separate category for, um, life, status quo, reviews to name a few.
The initial preparations for breaking into mainstream, I admit, is really hard–at least for a non-PHP-code-speaking species like me. You have to find a good (and/or cheap) host and domain provider (although they come in pairs most of the time), you have to choose a blog engine (e.g. WordPress), you have to familiarize yourself with the blogging engine you have chosen, you have to find a template that would suit your blog’s nature and your personal preference, you have to edit it using nosebleed-inducing PHP code if you are not satisfied with it, you have to import posts from your old blog (if you have an old blog and if you want them to stay in your new home), you have to manually place advertisements if you want some, you have to be a whore to increase your network and, yes, you have to be patient. But the start’s always hard, as the classic saying goes. But the maintenance, no sweat (except perhaps you want to change your template every now and then). This is where “liberation” comes in. Liberal nations and liberal beings at that were once living a hard life. I know that’s a cheesy parallelism but I think it makes sense. :)
Hayy, if I were him, I would be (more) stressed by now. As it is I have to read five or so chapters of Neuman (which I subconsciously left in Manila), the pdfs Sir Roli emailed to me for my report on Kurdistan’s statehood (which reminds me, kailangan ko nang magbasa!) and, at least, draft the report. Ay, research and read(!) more on Laos’ Hmong people for AS121.
I was stressed but I am not stressed. :D Stress would always be there, in any endeavor you take. But I think that the benefits would outweigh the stressors you have forced yourself to eat during the preliminary stage. The benefits I am talking about is not about the money you could get from the advertisers (which is, for me, a secondary benefit). The primary benefits include “liberation” (as defined by you, haha), intellectual satisfaction through online socialization, praises and compliments you could get from guests, friends and fellow bloggers and, simply, and most important of all, gaining friends who you gained because they have the same insights as you have or because they simply disagree with your stand (yeah, they could be your friends too :D).
Sige, closing paragraph na, since I have to log-out and read ;p Well, I guess, for me blogging will always remain to be a way for self-expression, (intended) vague self-expression, (delayed)communication, and information dissemination (Ha!). And many other purposes in-between. :) But not moneymaking. :)) How could I earn doing something I’m not so good at? For now, my SA-ing gig will buy me stuff I consider necessities but other think of as, luxuries(?).
Blogging has a variety of definitions and even contingent to the blogger himself/herself. The definitions you have stated could still fall under mainstream blogging even if you discount money-making :)
I admit, I’m not a good blogger (Using my own, proletarian standards). I write simple entries, even “chekabel” entries if you could call it that way. You could do something even if you are not good at it. But do something so that you can be good at it. :)
I am into punk covers lately. This era of mine started when I liked New Found Glory’s version of My Heart Will Go On (The movie Titanic’s OST). Here’s my playlist and I hope you will try to listen to some of the songs here, if not to all of them. Hehe.
- Walking on Sunshine – Ghoti Hook
- What a Wonderful World – Joey Ramone
- I want It That Way – New Found Glory
- My Heart Will Go On – New Found Glory
- That Thing You Do – New Found Glory
- I Don’t Want T to Miss a Thing – New Found Glory
- Every Breath You Take – Millencolin
- Hotel California – NOFX
- There She Goes – NOFX
- Summer of 69 – NOFX
- Turning Japanese – NOFX
- Lovesong – Jack Off Jill
- Leaving on a Jet Plane – MXPX
- Popeye The Sailor Man – MXPX
- Barbie Girl – MXPX
Barbie Girl cover is such a laughtrip! Anyway, on a side note, I am generally into covers these past few days. Aaand, I don’t know but I liked Boyce Avenue. Does that make me gay? Hehe. ∞
Alvina was bragging me her Freakonomics softbound since first year. I really did not pay any attention to it until I have read some parts of it. So kewl! I am really not a fan of novels since I have a severe short-attention-span when it comes to reading books. So, I resort to short stories. But I read lengthy books if they are really good enough and are really interesting. Anyway, when I, Leah and Noemi are bound for our respective houses, I accidentally found a hardbound version of Freakonomics worth PhP 99.00! FTW!
My Psycholinguistics professor told us something about grades:
Grades tell your performance, not your ability (Yu, 2008).
Hear, hear I say. I’m not getting gaga over grades but as much as possible..
I strive so that my ability would reflect my performance (Aguado, 2008).
But (Yeah, I’m a bench-sitter!) as much as I want to have good grades, I am not as conscious as other people. Haha. I like doing many non-academic, leisurely, unproductive and time-wasting endeavors like watching Grey’s Anatomy, playing with my Labrador for at least an hour, staring at the boob-tube, stalking her and other things that prevent me to do homeworks. I told myself once that I am a person who is so mature that I have the longest attention-span for my age. But hey, I’m freakin’ wrong. I wonder if people with short-attention span know that they have such! Since they can’t think and reflect about it since they have, err, short-attention span. Haha. Anyway, having such condition really sucks, I can’t concentrate on a single activitiy! No, I’m not multitasking, I’m simply not doing my tasks!!
Self-distraction is self-destruction (Aguado, 2008).
My block in college really loves watching movies. We have this tradition of movie-cycles wherein we pass movie DVDs or CDs to each other, movie-purchasing wherein we purchase movies from Alvina, the official pirate CD-Burning entrepreneur of the block batch and, of course, movie-conferencing wherein we informally discuss the movies that we have watched. Love of Siam was once the talk of the town, especially by Arvin. They can’t get over with it. I wondered why, until I watched it (twice) just today. So here I am, can’t get over, suffering from the feeling of separation, suffering from the Love-of-Siam-syndrome. I would be having a reflection about the movie but first, let’s have a run-down through the finest review-summary I have found in the internet.
The Love of Siam (Chukiat Sakveerakul, 2007)
Thai Title: Rak haeng Siamhttp://oggsmoggs.blogspot.com/2008/04/love-of-siam-2007.html
To label Chukiat Sakveerakul’s The Love of Siam as simply a gay teen romance is to misjudge its power and intention. Within the two and a half hour running time (the director’s cut is reportedly four hours long) of the film, Sakveerakul essays not only the two young leads’ reunion and inevitable attraction but also a family’s slow and painful road to accepting a long-delayed reality. I would like to think that The Love of Siam, above everything else, seeks to reaffirm the life-affirming values of loving and being loved without sacrificing the portrayal of the very palpable pain that usually accompanies the emotion.
The University of the Philippines Pep Squad bucked the pressure and went ethnic and more to run away with its second straight UAAP Samsung Cheer Dance Competition crown before a record crowd at the Araneta Coliseum.
The Maroons did everything, from mixing tribal songs and dances with difficult stunts and acrobatics, to having their locks cut – Mohawk and ethnic style – before capping their sterling performance with a human replica of the university’s Oblation to retain the crown they won last season.
UP won it handily with a score of 93.3 points, way ahead of the Santo Tomas Salinggawi Dance Troupe, which also finished runner-up for the second straight time with 85.3 points. Far Eastern U Cheering Squad took third place honors with 83.9 points.
About
Professional Everything who swags like a boss in his plaid boxers.
If you like an About Me like that of a matinée, go here to feel how I play with the grey.Treat me to coffee and doughnuts!
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