Of velociraptors and tyrannosaurs

It's not something to be proud of. Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton and its sequel, The Lost World has been there for decades and I've only read them recently. However, it did not diminish my amazement. It's like being a child again. Eras ago, when I was still a child (probably even before these dinosaurs), I would often wonder about these strange creatures. Phenotypically, we might be relatives. That was probably why.

The writing wasn't phenomenal but for Crichton's creation, Ian Malcolm. The assertive mathematician who specializes in chaos and complexity theory became endeared. He is, to quote, "a gadfly who stings the plot to life," providing the passages I love to quote. It was only Malcolm who appeared in both novels. (Dodgson of course, but for purposes of bias I dare not include him.) Of course Sarah Harding is incredible (JZ would be fascinated with this superwoman) and the kids, what can I say, they are always part of the marketing ploy.

My favorite aspect of the book is how it provides deep insights about history, culture, and life in the context of extinction and survival. In this way, the book touches upon the enigma that is human existence and its cessation. Coupled with disgusting and tales of gore (evisceration is ubiquitous), the books are indeed riveting. At least for me, I can completely relate to the Gaussian distributions, computer interfaces and so on. For others, it may well be regarded as another one of the avenues for learning.

Yes, you're right. I am. So?

Romans, countrymen, friends and lovers. I do realize that the consequences of my actions lately include resisting an intense desire to cover my face upon entering the engineering building and being the object of revulsion of certain individuals. I am prepared in anyway, if my simple admiration would lead to cataclysmic outcomes. But even so, I do believe, and so does any sensible individual, that I do nothing wrong in the context of placing the object of my admiration to ignominy or public consternation. He remains, with or without my existence, an individual of indubitable integrity and honor. I take solace in the fact that we, from the moment I saw him until I accidentally managed to have my picture taken with him, are strangers and will remain strangers as far as the cosmos is concerned. If by any chance a hint or even a shadow of an acquaintanceship looms, I will welcome it without feeling anything like what a hiker feels after surmounting a major hurdle on his treacherous trek towards a picturesque mountain.

If for my welfare my friends will advise me to cease such publicity knowing that I can never compromise my own valuable integrity which I have built and strengthened since time immemorial,  I can only thank them. But forgive my vanity. This wouldn't last for long. Follies are a luxury for me, sometimes.

And to you, lucky individual, whom the universe showered favor by allowing me to have such eyes for you, I only ask that you wouldn't mind. And I mean it literally.

I am overreacting, of course. Duh. It's just a crush. It just goes to show that I'm normal.

Abnormally normal. Ayeee...

(Because of the hype on plagiarism, the first sentence is inspired by the speech of Marcus Brutus in the play Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare. Just in case. )

Killed by a book

This will be your fate when you nicely  try to take a peek  into my room, comment about how nice my reading backlog looks from afar, asking me to hand you over one of the books, borrow it, and after ten seconds return it with an expression of disgust on your face. And as if you're not yet done with your self-expression, you say you don't want it because they're boring. The hardbounds, with all its volumes, will definitely flung themselves at you screaming to take away your life by endless papercuts and bludgeons.

If only you could exert extra effort to just keep it to yourself, you will not suffer the above mentioned.

So that you readers can have a blight insight into this predicament, allow me to list the books in my reading backlog:

• Weekend Wodehouse by P.G. Wodehouse
• Saturday by Ian McEwan
• The Journey Inwards (I forgot the author)
• a book about the Korean war (I have not touched it, yet)
• 3 issues of the theosophical digest
• Youngblood 2.0

I apologize to you if the only definition of an interesting reading material you know is one regarding aliens, science fiction and puhlease, vampires. I find them enjoyable to read, too. Honestly. But, por pabor, the last thing that you should ask me, His kingdom come, is whether I instead have a copy of the Twilight book after handing you the collated works of young essayists in Youngblood. The next thing you know,you'll be running for your life.

I understand that these kinds of books/reading materials require a higher level of appreciation. That's probably why you showed apparent disgust when I said I prefer books studded with words that enrich my vocabulary, without minding the hassle of opening a dictionary everytime I encounter one. My fault, probably, is not telling you beforehand that if ever you want books with simple language and straightforward symbolisms if ever there are, you cannot get that from me. Don't get me wrong. I read a lot of popular books, but I don't OWN them.

I'm glad my copy of The Prophet was lost.  If it ever reached your hands and in your audacity, vilified  it beyond consideration, labeled it boring and inscrutable, then it's your problem that you look like a man yet you're as intelligent as a trilobite.

You can insult my face and my social status, but I have low tolerance for people who insult my English, my music preferences and the books I read.

Don't get killed by a book. You know you don't want to.

You know who she is? She's Iphreeta, the demon goddess. And she's ready to unleash her wrath on you unworthy mortals.

Running the Nestle MILE: Meeting Amazing People

First is the title. Then there's Jiggy Aquino-Cruz. He was the first MILE Committee member who caught my attention. Not because he's chubby and cute and all, but because I watch Y-Speak and I'm an avid fan of the Aquinos. ( Admiration that is deeply rooted on the eloquence of Ninoy and the compassion of Cory and of course, the contrast to the Marcoses.) I'm like "Omigad, Jiggy Aquino-Cruz (yes, complete) works with Nestle!" But more than that, he was assigned to look after my group and he, together with the rest of our mentors literally were with us even in the wee hours when we painstakingly finish our business cases.

Of course who could forget the Ate ng Bayan. The one who I first knew via airwaves. The ever "maasikasong" Leslie Kate Tseng. Technically, she's not an Ate. I think were from the same batch. However, she was always there for us to the point of having to sleep uncomfortably just to accompany eight distressed MILEES working hard to finish their business case. That in itself is so "family." And by the way, the headphone she lent me was great. I felt like drowning in the music of the iPod shuffle. I mortified myself because I entertained thoughts of not returning it. That's how "quality" it was.

Fellow MILEES Ian Obach Palermo and Giovie Boschi with Ms. Leslie Kate in the center.

Speaking of family, there's Ms. Steph and of course Madderrr Judy. The two of them were technically the mentors. They set aside their high ranks to mingle with newbies like us. They gave up comfy nights to guide neophytes in the career world to develop themselves. They were so game and eager I never thought they held top positions, considering the existing stereotypes.  Ms. Steph is the  brand manager of MILO (who is supposed to bring Chris Tiu along the basketball training, but damn, stars have unforeseeable schedules) and Ms. Judy is the head of Nestle's packaging. When I first saw her, I felt an instant connection. Something feels familiar. Then she started talking about terephthalates reacting with ethylene glycol to produce polyethylene. I asked her, "What was your college course, Madderr??" She replied, sharply, "Chemical Engineering." That explains the connection, and I thought, I'm really bound to be successful.

Team Lucky. Front row from left: Abel Reyes, Camille Dominique Tacastacas, Lea Karmina del Mundo, Ms. Judy. Back row from left: Carla Sia, Ms. Steph, Crystal Balili and Adrian Manlapig.

Ms. Steph and I.

Then there's the Bisaya group. First is Ms. Jasmin Estacio, who hails from Cagayan de Oro, Bear Brand's brand manager who was supposed to tag me along to Regine's shooting of her newest Bear Brand commercial. Unfortunately, my return flight was scheduled in conflict. (To my utter disappointment). So she just asked me to send something for Regine to sign her autograph on. Apparently, a piece of paper. The next thing I knew, Regine asked if I could instead have a signed copy of her newest album out sometime this November. I almost fainted. and I'm not exaggerating. Composing the Bisaya group are Ms. Rhea, the one from Iligan City who purposely went to Mandarin Oriental to visit the 4 Iliganons who made it to the top 48. That's just thoughtful. Also, Ms. Anna Lee, Maddeerrr, who is single by the way. She's from Dumaguete and the group just loves her. No fuss and palavers. I have to include here Sir Andrew from Cagayan de Oro, whom I have mistaken for a basketball star and her wife 3na and of course, Ms. Maila who's not really a Bisaya but took the time to introduce us to the Bisaya people.

Jesther Ian (MILEE), Ms. Anna Lee, Ms.3na, Ms. Jaz, and JanMell.

 There are still a lot I haven't mentioned but are equally amazing. There's Ms. Grace De Castro, the head of recruitment, the MILE 2010 Course Director, or fondly, MAMA G. That hypocorism defines her role and the amount of compassion she has.

Mama G and child.

These are the kind of people in Nestle. Everyone I met in MILE is amazing. They were not apprehensive of showing that even if they work hard in the number one food and beverage company in the world, they still have the funny and playful side. They were not mindful of the top positions they hold and mingled with students who still have a lot to prove. They had patience for hungry minds who asks questions every now and then and the compassion to help us out of tangled circumstances, often involving themselves in the process that you never thought would come from a person you barely know. 

When I first saw the poster for Nestle MILE, the tag line at the bottom reads: See the Nestle difference. I think it should have been, Experience the Nestle difference. The kind of people in the company-- this, for me, is the Nestle difference.

Running the Nestle MILE: The Not so Usual Way to Spend Your Sembreak

Prefatory Note: Ahemm.. I would like to apologize to my,ugh, blog followers who constantly visit my site (so?) and after refreshing the page for a jillion times, found that there were no new posts. If ever there exist such followers, the reason, my friends, for this deplorable blogging deficiency is because I was off to run for the MILE. 

I shall now entertain questions.

Follower no. 1: You ran a mile? You did not update your blog for a week because you ran a mile?? What are you, a turtle?

JanMell: There, there.Relax.I know that you miss me that bad. I did not say I ran a mile. I said I ran the MILE. It's different. MILE means Management Immersion for Leadership Excellence organized by the number 1 food and beverage company in the world, number 1 health, nutrition and wellness company in the world-- Nestle. You better watch this.

 

Follower #2:  Did you do those things in the video??

JanMell: Not only those, but a whole lot more. Sorry I can't spill the beans and tell you the activities.. I am bound by a commitment to make future MILEES roll in excitement and anticipation of the activities in MILE. (Especially that, ugh,  many followers of my blog qualify for MILE next year.) But the whole thing was such a BLAST! There's this thing we call experience but it's different when it's unforgettable. The MILE experience was not something that can easily drift into the subconscious. If ever it does, it's the easiest to recall. 

Follower #3: Can you describe your MILE journey?

JanMell: Of course. But that's another blog post. Although there's free wifi in the hotel, blogging is virtually impossible to insert into jam packed schedules so I decided to post everything memorable after the four days of the not-your-usual-sembreak.

I never thought this is challenging.

If there's one statement that haunts me in the instructions given by Nestle in preparation for the Management Immersion for Leadership Excellence (MILE) of which I'm lucky enough to be one of the 48 students in the Philippines who were chosen, it would be:

Exercise good judgment in dressing up as you will be meeting up top executives of the company.

Since I am not well off, my clothes literally fall under the category "yagit." Which in English translates to "horrendous". Kidding. What I mean is, untidy-- the common stereotype for engineering students, reaching as far as claiming that we, inhabitants of the engineering building, never wash our jeans for a month. But that's a BIG myth. We do wash our jeans after 29 days of everyday use. 

This could only mean one thing-- use every ounce of resourcefulness to obtain the "good judgment in dressing up." For four days I need 4 casual attires, a strictly formal one and 2 sets of workout apparel. (Never mind the clothing for sleep time. I remember Marilyn Monroe, when asked what she wore in bed, she replied: "Perfume.") That's when I remembered my friends.(Ha ha, play That's what friends are for here) True enough, I was able to confirm that a friend in need is a friend indeed. One casual attire, check. Formal attire, check. (Although I borrowed it to broaden options.) The rest now depends on my uncle's "baul" and my limited funds. My already vanishing bills brought me to the department store, where I spent a jillion years trudging to and fro a fitting room. I just can't find good clothes to fit my build. I'm very skinny (I think I have a reason to be with the No.1 Health and Nutrition Company in the World) and formal clothes are literally too big (and too expensive) for me. After suffering from instantaneous alopecia from scratching my head in indecisiveness, I finally settled for 2 polo shirts, a really big (my aunt says it's psychological) long sleeve, 2 slacks and a tie. (Of all of the items, I was most amused with the tie. It just fits. Ugh!)

 I'm literally excited. I'm like a young sailor about to make his maiden voyage in a large ship in search for a rare, valuable sea creature that will bring him laurels if captured.

And thus with my wardrobe, top execs, prepare to meet me.

Kinatoks: What people do when they just don't understand

Once upon a time in a Kinetics class, when information seems too much and differential equations lull you to an uneasy sleep (knowing that you still have to deal with it when you wake up), when students look at each other in unanimous realization that the ability to understand has left them just when they need it most,

they do one of these things:

Sheila: (Excited and sincere) Karl, can you give me some candy?

(My classmate Karlisle (pronounced Karlayl) is known for hording candies in his pocket. Probably because he's afraid there might be an impending candy shortage. This time, he just ran out of it. So, brilliant as he is, he thought of a solution. Bravo,bravo!)

The topmost scribble is not intellectual doodle. In integral calculus it's called change of variables, to make the expression "easier" (and by easier I don't necessarily mean easy) to integrate. We do a lot of that in Kinatay Kinetics. 

P.S. Note that the word Ondoy doesn't mean that the candy tastes like a supertyphoon.  Believe me, it's just his surname.

Look what Kinetics does to them.