stealthy muse

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Just one comment, which is really a continuing objection to what happened in the bar exams last year. What the hell is up with lowering the passing grade? Is that going to be the trend from here on in? Why the need to deliberate what percentage needs to pass? The rule was clear and unambiguous and wasn't susceptible to more than one interpretation: you need to get an average grade of 75, and not get a grade lower than 50 in any of the subjects. 72.5, sheesh.

Having gotten that out of the way, congratulations to those who made it! (With reservations, of course. Forgive me; I'm of the old school that you should have passed the UPCAT to be considered a genuine Iskolar ng Bayan hahaha! Snob!)

Here is the list of the new lawyers. See you in court, guys!

Wasn't Valentine's day just a few days ago? My thoughts on romance came belatedly. It was borne out watching this film I don't care much about. The female protagonist meet two supposedly good-looking men and they are both interested in her. The first looker is a rich, educated, dignified guy. He is controlled but I didn't see the filmmakers portray him as controlling. The second guy is a guitarist, someone who wears supposedly cool clothes and a hat, damn it! (I asked my sister why he always wears a hat and she, tongue in cheek, replied, "Because he's a musician, duh!") I would hazard a guess that he's the proverbial struggling artist. (He did sarcastically thank another character for making him a "cultural cliché". Your hat made you that, moron!) To tilt the scale in favor of l'artiste, he was made into a sensitive single father.

And then I told my sister, it's only in movies that assholes like this get the girl. I mean, girls would probably think twice if it were a rich, ugly, old man. But all things being equal -- hotness, IQ, personality, character, shit man, they would hang on to the dough. (They do that with ugly, old men, right?)

Of course, Blaise Pascal had to interrupt my rambling. "Le cœur a ses raisons que la raison ne connaît pas." ("The heart has its reasons, which reason knows nothing of.")

Don't I know it. Touché, Blaise.

All we need is love. And oh yeah, the female protagonist chose to be with l'artiste.

That's right; we're back after a few days of vacation in Thailand's capital city. I didn't know quite what I expected to see in Bangkok but we had a great time walking through the parks at noon and eating Thai food. The highlight of this trip is probably the dinner cruise along Chao Phraya river. We must have been out of place -- two platonic female friends -- in a sea of tourist lovers, but who cares? We looked as cool as, if not cooler than, everyone else hehehe. Except for the good-looking man dressed in a Thai costume, maybe. He or she was the best-looking one that night.

Downsides: (1) Suvarnabhumi airport (Don't pronounce it the way you think it should be pronounced) -- While you're lining up at the immigration, always look at the sign in front and make sure it still says "FOREIGN PASSPORT"; it can change to "THAI PASSPORT" in seconds without explanation. (2) Didn't find Saxophone Bar and Restaurant near the Victory Monument. (I was looking forward to a night of jazz and blues.)

My favorites: (1) Voice recording saying "Next station: Ratchathewi" and "Next station: Nana". (2) Crepes & Co's "Triple Mango" and "Strawberry" Crepes; (3) the restaurant name "Cabbages & Condoms".

I miss Bangkok.

In 1968, a white firefighter saved a black baby girl, touching the heart of a divided city. The two did not meet again. Until yesterday.

You would wonder, who is a friend?

Something silly happened to someone I know near the end of the year. Silly, because it was completely avoidable, I thought. (Sweetie, did you have to put all your eggs in one basket?) I wasn't able to render help for holiday spending reasons. Everything is allegedly fine now, followed by the usual bullshit about things going on that are unrelated. OK, I'm not one to get in the way of happiness, but when it's obvious by evasive answers that things aren't going well, I'm compelled to ask the most profound of questions, "What the fuck?"

I guess I'm being selfish feeling aggrieved when I'm not the one in trouble. But I feel silly still being friends with someone who sees the need to bullshit me. First, I'm supposedly a close friend. Second, I'm not stupid. (The second reason is probably what gets to me more.) And then, I'm so excited about a trip and she goes, "I've had enough of where you're going" after having professed to wanting to go there less than a year ago.

Does visualizing good things for yourself have to involve being hypocritical? Does feeling happy about yourself mean seeing little of other people?

Go ahead; I'm out of here.

It's weird being the teacher. Sometimes, I think the fact that I was a student for so long makes me a bad one. My delinquency gets out of hand and I make myself believe that if I get away with it come exams time (which I'm fortunate to have done all the way through until the bar, thank heavens), it will all be fine. Of course, when you're the teacher, that's not the case. So, let me take this opportunity to apologize to my students, past and present, for my shortcomings. (I'm not apologizing for doing my job, though, including, but not limited to -- there goes the verbose lawyer writing -- giving grades.)

This morning, I watched the graduating Legal Management students' oral defense of their theses. About this time, 5 years ago, I was in their shoes. I would liken doing a thesis to getting a root canal; you don't want to do it, but when you're forced by the situation to do so and you survived, suddenly, you're an authority on how to blah-blah. (Oh yeah, passing the bar, too. Many have no idea how or why they did, but would not hesitate to tell you how to answer certain questions or that you're doing it all wrong. Hello? Can you spell presumptuous?) In any case, and add to the fact that *ahem* I tied with another classmate for Best Thesis for that year, I'm suddenly an authority. (I deserve it, too, hahaha.)

I didn't see the first group, which I really regret, because their topic is interesting, but I saw the rest and everyone did a really great job. The studies are raw and could have done with tweaking but I imagine it's due to time constraint, not lack of effort or knowledge. They are all so well-dressed, too, ohmigosh, which is just too cool. Congratulations, you guys!

Next year, my current students will be the ones quivering while standing in front of the 3 very thorough panelists, so here are some of my notes for them:

1. Stand tall. Look firm. Pretend you know what you're talking about (and you do because you made the study.)

2. Making eye contact is better than looking at the floor, the ceiling or the walls. If you're uncomfortable, look at the wall directly behind the panelists. It counts for eye contact too, and they won't know the difference.

3. The presentation should not include a discussion of what a descriptive form of research is, or what random sampling means. What should be included: short backgrounder, summary of findings, summary of conclusions and recommendations. If the panelists want more info on something, you can be sure they'll ask about it later.

4. The limitation isn't meant to be a cop-out, i.e., our study is deficient because we limited it so and so. It's meant to exclude something not part of the scope of your studies. For example, if you're asked why you didn't make a sector of society as respondents, the answer isn't "Because it's a limitation of our study, sir." The answer might be, "Our objective is this, and we feel that whatever answer we get out of this sector of society will not contribute to this objective."

5. I'm not sure I understand why, but the medium of communication -- written and oral -- is English. May I attribute your all being just a basketful of nerves to the fact that you don't always communicate what you want to say? Or are you trying to be complicated in the face of this is-and-are world? Short sentences, I believe, are the key to getting what you want out. Orally, as in writing, pause.

6. Don't know the answer? Fabricate something. Make sure it relates to the question, though. Again, you know your study better than anyone. In connection with this, when you're a group, make sure every group member gets to do more than squeak a rehearsed line. In other words, speak up.

7. Smile. Even if you have to force it. In fact, start smiling all the time now. Practice makes perfect. (Don't mind Ai-Ai Delas Alas.)

These are some of what I can think of offhand. I have more comments, which I will discuss with my MethRes students in the coming days. (Check out our website, people.) Regardless of these comments, though, you should all be proud of yourselves.

Can't say I miss my thesis days, though. Or root canal.

Here I go again, the grammar teacher. No one listens, though. So I'm at it again.

1. Short sentences, folks.
2. "Thus" is a word used to introduce a logical conclusion, not a new topic.
3. What are the synonyms for "awareness"? It's a seriously overused word. ("Where ignorance is bliss, 'tis folly to be wise." - Thomas Gray)
4. Know what you want to say and then, say it - nothing more, nothing less. (I don't know if this is something I came up with or something I heard from someone.)
5. Look at all the connecting words. They usually don't have to be there.
6. The chapter "Review of Related Literature" is not "The Place Where You Can Plagiarize With Impunity". You review other people's works, not copy them, sheesh. How do I know you just copied and pasted? Puhleez. When there's hardly any grammatical error, it's a foregone conclusion. (Do you know that there's a website called "Copyscape" where someone can check if a written piece is unique and original?)

OK, that's it for the moment. Don't you like it when I'm being nice?

P.S. Well thought out topics, though, you guys. Good luck with the thesis defense next Saturday!

I'm editing my former students' thesis drafts. Cramming at it, too, because of the stuff that cropped up right after the holidays, most significantly, going to my father's hometown for almost a week to attend my uncle's funeral. (Miss them, my Tatay and Tio.)

Many of my new year's resolutions, I'm afraid, have been crying out for attention. Sure, I eat healthy (hello, steamed fish, carrots and broccoli), but avoiding sweets? Puhleez, there are lots of bowls of halo-halo with my name written all over them.

My resolve is being tested, too, by some unknown substance in my brain. I feel lethargic most of the time. Now, I'm your regular smiling girl. I'm more optimistic than pessimistic, and I generally see the beauty in things. Over the years, I have been a "new woman" more times than I care to keep track of. And then, this. My misconception is this -- I see change as the end goal rather than a process and I beat myself up over everyday "mistakes".

So, you know what this means. I'm a "new woman", yet again. Just because change is the only thing constant in this world. All the others are variables.

Ignore that; I'm learning PHP. Help!