Because I will die

I'm not being an asshole when I say that we will all die; death is certain after all. Thus, it is one of those topics that have to be pondered upon.

I've seen my friend's father died years ago. I've seen how that particular death sucked the life out my friend. In an instant, he became the breadwinner; his problems grew from college algebra to mortgage payment.

Everyone knows that death is inevitable, but no one bothers to talk about it. People just shrugged the thought off believing that it couldn't happen to them, at least not now, not in the next years to come. That mentality is typical; I've seen people say bad things can happen, yet act as if such bad things won't befall them. "Not to me," they thought.

I know that I will die; I just don't know how or when. But when I die, I don't want to leave my loved ones in a similar state that my friend underwent. I don't want to be like an unannounced typhoon that leaves its victims devastated and lost.

Chances are, I will not have control over how I will die, but it can only be 1 of 4: death out of terminal illness, organ failure, frailty, or sudden death.

Figure 1. Trajectories of dying. Reproduced with permission of Blackwell Publishing (Lunney JR, Lynne J, Hogan C. Profiles of older Medicare decendents. JAGS. 2002;50:1108-1112). as cited in ScienceDirect.com

Yet even with this knowledge, it is highly improbable to prepare for death, but I can try. I'm far from depressed or anything, I just had some free time to think about my life, and death is part of it. Instead of my pseudo "last will and testament", allow me to just post here my work on death, and how I want to feel about it.

Look me in the eye

EDIT (March, 2015)

I have a life insurance with Sunlife that I will hopefully not claim, but just use as savings/extra fund years from now. My financial advisor is Fely Tio, and my dependents are my parents. I already told my parents and my sister about this, but I'm writing it out here for documentation purposes.

See you around!
Arlet

How to register for the Civil Service Exam

Passing the civil service exam or career service examination is important for government employees who want to get promoted beyond salary grade 9. Well, says my mom. Having a government employee for a mother, I was greatly encouraged to take the exam. Even though my mother doesn't exactly encourage me to work for the government while I'm young. That said, I spent my whole day today completing all the necessary requirements. So here goes.

A. Requirements

1. Accomplished CS form no. 100 (Revised 2012)

-or if you are reading this after year 2012, then get the revised form for the current year. A part of the document must be filled in front of a civil service personnel, so read it carefully. Here's a link to the pdf document: http://excell.csc.gov.ph/FORMS/CSForm100rev2012.pdf.

There are 2 modes for taking CSE: (1) paper and pencil test -PPT, (2) computer assisted test -CAT. I was told that it's hard to get a slot for CAT so I opted for PPT instead.

CSE is also available in 2 levels: (1) subprofessional, (2) professional. Again, I was told that you have to pass the professional level to get promoted beyond salary grade 9 (assuming that you're a government employee).

2. Four (4) copies of ID pictures with the following specifications:

i. philippine passport size

ii. with hand written name tag in the format of: First name, Middle initial, Last name, extension name (if any)

iii. in white background

iv. visible ears, no earrings 

v. taken within the last 3 months prior to registering

3. One (1) original and photocopy of any (of your) ID from the following: Driver’s License, SSS ID, GSIS ID, Philhealth ID, current Company/Office ID, current School ID, Postal ID, BIR ID, Barangay ID, Voter’s ID, Valid Passport, or Police Clearance (name, picture, signature, birthdate, and the authority's official signature/mark should be present in the ID)

B. Process

1. Just submit the requirements to any field office of the Civil Service Commission (CSC). Here is a directory that might help you: http://excell.csc.gov.ph/cscweb/dir_fo.html#fo. I suggest you call its office first to make sure that it's open for submission. 

2. Pay 500php examination fee, get your receipt and keep it, and show up for your scheduled exam with the necessary documents and items. You'll be given the list once you've paid the exam fee. 

Note that the applicant himself/herself should be the one to answer the cs form, and also the one to submit the requirements to the CSC office. That's it! 

Keep hydrated, applicant!

Life is not meant to be crammed

I. Doing nothing is very hard to do; you don't know when you're finished.

Long before I graduated, I had already decided that I will take some time off after finishing college. Like most of the youths out there, I needed the time to find myself and recharge my soul. HAHAHA yes, it is so cliche, but that was necessary for me to keep moving forward. I have this constant need to pause (or even step back) once in a while, so I can detach myself from the issues at hand, and hopefully think clearly. I usually do this when I'm sorting out my priorities.

And now, the recharging-and-finding-myself period is over.

It turns out that I was not really lost, but I just needed a rest. I needed to goof around, to oversleep and wake up as the day ends, to watch movies, to draw what I wanted to draw, to learn something new-no matter how mundane, to have a trip with people I don't know, to attend a concert, to volunteer, to drink out of celebration, to spend time with my family, to finally meet with my old friends, to attend anime conventions, to visit museums and bazaars, to read books and articles just because I want to, to have a favorite movie, to spend time with my sister, to swim for fun, and to stop when I'm satisfied.

And those things I did, just like old times.

Perhaps I'm lucky because I can easily afford to not work right away, and I'm grateful for that. So here goes my next mission, to look for a job-starting in 3,2,..

China and the rest of the world will just have to move

Because of the recent disputes between China and Philippines over the Scarborough Shoal, the idea of patronizing Philippine-made Brands (Pmb) has intensified. However, there is hardly any concrete actions taken to support the idea. I, for one, as a consumer would like to patronize more products that are made in the Philippines. Unfortunately, I am oblivious to such brand names.

Courtesy of Colourbox.com

Thus, I have come up with a solution. Why don't we have a shelf or shelves in supermarkets, groceries, and convenience stores that is/are dedicated to Pmb, and is/are labeled as such. This way, the consumers will be aware of brands that are made in the Philippines - which can actually be profitable for the supermarkets too. In fact, a research done by Reader's digest Asia revealed that 94 percent of the Filipinos believe that supporting local brands will help the local economy to grow, and of this number, 68 percent will likely purchase a local one over its international counterpart (which is good news, right?)

So if this is implemented, each section in the supermarket which currently holds brands that are made in the Philippines will have a shelf labeled as such. For example, in the coffee section, there would be a shelf for Pmb which may be filled with Cafe Puro, San Mig coffee, or Nescafe. Likewise, the chocolate section will hold Pmb such as Goya, Choquick, Flat tops, and curly tops. Furthermore, the toothpaste section might hold Pmb such as Happee, Gumtech, Beam, Kutitap, and Unique. If a certain section in the supermarket currently has no Pmb products, then it's fine, no need to hassle the supermarkets to find themselves ones.

I am not saying that because of this, I will suddenly throw my habit of buying combos, hickory-smoked spam, and meiji's chocolates just like that, but what I'm saying is that this will somehow give the Filipino consumers a bigger chance to make an informed decision in buying their household needs. Sure, I might still choose the more affordable alternatives when it comes down to it, but at least I know my choices well.

So I guess, when it comes to product placement, products that are made in China and the rest of the world will just have to move for the Philippines. What do you think? Is it really beneficial as I think it would be? Or did I forget to think of some serious repercussions it might cause? Come on, tell me about it.

P.S.
Products with barcodes that start with 48 are Made in the Philippines.

Kalumpit: Don't pop that cherry

It's June! It's kalumpit season!

Here in Manila, few are aware of what a kalumpit is. This is why a kalumpit tree and its fruits are sometimes left to rot in the ground. Kalumpit is a cherry-like fruit that is popular in Batangas but I knew it from growing up in Nueva Ecija (there are lots of kalumpit there, particularly in Cabanatuan). My grandmother would regularly prepare sweetened kalumpit for us, so mama became fond of it.

Kalumpit (looks like duhat, right? HAHAHA)

I have actually mistaken a duhat for kalumpit because I am more familiar with kalumpit than duhat. 

Going back, mama asked me to accompany her to UP Diliman because she wants to pick some kalumpit. Not surprisingly for mama, she does not remember where the kalumpit tree is since it was long ago when she last picked some. She told me that she first started picking kalumpit in UP when she was still in college.  

The gut feel challenge

This may sound ridiculous but for 5 months now I've been playing this game. It's really simple.

The game:
You just tabulate the number of times you followed or did not follow your gut feel and write a sad face or smiling face depending on how it turned out.

Why play:
I don't know why I thought of this game but since it has given me such an interesting result I want to know if this can be replicated by others (so I will be really glad if you could share your result with me)

My result:
My result was that I followed my gut feel for 27 times and it all led to a happy face or nice result but during the start of the game I did not follow my gut feel for 8 times and it all led to a sad face or disappointing result.

Conclusion:
See? Isn't it interesting how our gut feel can always turn out to be right? I would not believe it had I not done it.

Most of the situations where I used gut feel were whenever I was stuck with two options. Sometimes the other choice being a product of my reasoning. It's really simple but the most common situation I was stuck with was "Should I wear shorts or pants?" (shorts because it looks as though it's really humid outside, pants because I feel like it's going to rain). BTW I never used gut feel alone to decide when I'm in a relatively crucial moment where a lot of things are at stake.

Side story:
I read somewhere (Social Intelligence?) that as a part of an experiment, someone with Alzheimer's was introduced to a doctor who then pricked the patient's hands. Then after some time, when the patient has already forgotten of the incident, he will again be introduced to the same doctor.

Results showed that the patient was having 2nd thoughts on whether to shake hands with the doctor or not. I forgot where the result was attributed to, but I say that it is our intuition, our instinct, our gut feel. I think somehow, gut feel has reasons, it's just that we have forgotten how to connect with ourselves and listen to our body that we put it off as something that cannot be explained and is therefore "unreasonable".

I think that if the mind can forget, the soul/the heart cannot.

Bicol express? Try Bicol impress!

Okay, that was a lame and ungrammatical joke.

Anyway, I was at CamSur Watersports Complex (CWC) last May 2-5 for the first ever TAYO summer youth camp (which was btw a real blast so I encouraged you guys to join next year)! Honestly, I didn't expect much when I decided to join the camp, especially because it was free. I thought that at best, it would be mediocre, but I was gravely mistaken. The camp was well planned, well organized, well budgeted, well implemented, and well documented! I was blown away.

HJ, Mae (photo courtesy of her too), Me

Since the camp was held at Bicol, I can't help but put a spotlight on the region, it is a fantastic place after all. That said, here are my top 5 impressive things about Bicol (and the camp).

5. Can be reached via bus (car)

Bus 1

You know I love plane rides but I like long bus rides just as much (especially if I'm with the right people, if you know what I mean, hahaha) However, I advise that you bring a really thick and large jacket because most of the buses will be really cold and you might have a hard time resting if the temperature is unbearable. The bus ride usually takes 10-12 hours, and freezing to death while in the bus is not a very good way to die, don't you think? hihi

4. Bicol Express 
or the Bicol cuisine is known for its use of chilies, coconut milk, and shrimp paste. It's usually spicy to very spicy in nature. I kind of like it since my father is a Bicolano (and he has greatly influenced what I like and dislike). My favorite would be laing (gabi/taro leaves in coconut oil and chilies) although their laing is presented differently since they have it wrapped in some kind of leaf. I actually like the unwrapped laing more because I find it juicier, therefore the spices spread more. Oh well, to each his own.

BTW they made me eat a whole chili (as a challenge that I needed to accept) and I immediately turned bulimic. I swear it is the only time when I am thankful that my stomach throws up everything that I don't like. I remembered the time when I ate a siling labuyo to sober up and I ended up puking every damn alcohol in my body. Well, if you can imagine that, then it's the same ugly sight.