Push on U.P.

My family was on our way to Antipolo this morning and we took C.P. Garcia Avenue going to C-5. From the University Avenue, while making a right turn to C.P. Garcia, I caught a glimpse of the banners relating to UP's Centennial celebrations, and strangely, the pep squad song we were taught on our freshman year played in my head, the lyrics distinct, correct and alive:

Push on UP and go in to win. Push on UP and fight.

Loyal and true, we're always with you.

Push on to victory with all your might.

Rise, rise UP. We;ll always stand by you

Go on, UP. We will ever cheer and sing for you to 

WIN, WIN, UP!

Our hearts will ever yearn.

For the maroon and green banner waving high up for UP.

Varsity, varsity, hit then high and low.

VArsity, varsity, go fight UP go.

UP rah, UP rah, UP rah, rah boom! Ssst!

I swear, those were the lyrics as I remember them.  As far as I remember, I attended just one UAAP basketball game, and UP did not win. The best that the UP basketball team ever fared was when it had Paolo Mendoza and his teammates who were from UPIS and whose parents were employees, hence had the loyalty not to be lured into the powerhouse, high budget UAAP teams.

I wonder if UP will host this year's UAAP, in celebration of its centennial. I also wonder whatever happened to efforts by the UP Alumni to develop its sports program and help the UP basketball team get better players and, consequently, do better in the UAAP. While UP does well in the other UAAP sports and actually places in the top 3 at the end of the UAAP season, UP in basketball has been hibernating and has not won a championship since the team of Benjie Paras, Joey Guanio, Ronnie Magsanoc, Alfie Manlulu, and company won the championship in 1986. Holy cow! Dalawang dekada na halos!

The dismal performance of UP in the UAAP basketball tournament is attributed to its lack of a sports program and lack of funds. I am not aware what is the significance of the fiscal autonomy provisions of the new UP Charter in making the basketball team more competitive. Perhaps, UP will never even consider matching the sports program of the likes of Ateneo and La Salle, arguing that it doesn't care, it is academically superior anyway.

Truth is, the exodus of professors opting to teach in La Salle or Ateneo rather than UP exemplifies the consequences of lack of funding, support and facilities in UP. Never mind if the bright students who can afford choose to go to Ateneo rather than UP. Okay lang yun, dapat lang naman siguro yun. 

Despite the lack of funds, UP has not been successfully overtaken by the other schools in terms of ranking, at least with respect to the 2007 Times Higher Education university rankings. UP is number one in the Philippines, followed by Ateneo, La Salle and then UST. It makes you think how it can be still be number one in the Philippines despite the other 3 universities being relatively better funded. Perhaps, this can be attributed to the quality of students and the dedication of its faculty who stay in UP out of loyalty and sense of the service. (I know a lot of people who would opt to teach at the UP College of Law despite the pay.) The other way of looking at this ranking is, looking beyond the other Philippine universities, how UP could fare better only if it had funding. The UP is ranked below 300 while La Salle and UST are both out of the top 500. Afterall, the National University of Singapore is at No. 33, (It seems though I have chosen well in my selection of a school where to get my LLM in Australia - the University of Sydney is third in Australia at NO. 31. The Australian National University is the top school in Australia, at No. 16.) 

I happen to had the chance to sit beside W.S., a wealthy and prominent UP alumni whose grandchildren, brilliant, intelligent and very talented, went to UP undergraduate - the other one even went on to law school. He believes that he and his family should not have been made to pay a measly sum for their granddaughter's tuition which at that time, was only around P7,000 per semester. To resolve his dissonance, he claimed he donated a large amount of money to the university. Good!

The other extreme of this situation is whether the current tuition of UP is still affordable for the brightest of the bright but poorest of the poor. I heard that you need to be Bracket 3 in STFAP so you can still pay P300 per unit. To be Bracket 3, you have to have an annual gross family income of P80,000m which means that to be able to go to UP, you have to set aside 10% of that amount to send just one of your children to school. Geesh, this is how it feels like - like sending your child to say, Poveda when your annual salary is P900,000. That is a lot!  A big share of the pie.

I wonder where and how the new UP Charter would lead UP, what will eventually happen to UP's idle lands, will the judges and justices still be from UP after 10 years (considering there are very few UP graduates who work for the DOJ or the courts. We can only hope that things will get better, and UP graduates will live up to its self-laudatory centennial motto, "UP, ang galing mo!" to which the other schools most probably modify into "UP, ang yabang mo!" Hahaha!

I remember when I was a freshman in UP, I pondered where would I be on June 18, 2008, the day UP turns 100. I was positive that I would be joining the centennial celebrations back then but I ended up staying in the office, reviewing contracts and sending emails. Anyway, I was celebrating, and contemplating with the rest of the UP community in spirit.

You can always come back to...

breathing.

My yoga practice taught me this. Indeed, when my heartbeat starts racing and I start to see black, the surrounding go out of focus, I make my breathing slower and deeper, without sound and it works! It always does. I was amused when I saw that Bruce Banner (Edward Norton) was able to contain his transformations to the green monster called The Hulk by doing breathing exercises and keeping his heartrate within normal. We were lying down in savasana when my yoga teacher pointed out that breathing was what was used to keep the transformations from coming... and she suggested that if we want, they can employ the slapping to help us learn to do proper breathing. Oops, uh uh, nope. We CAN do proper breathing, thank you very much.

praying and reflecting on The Word.

Oh dear, I always make the same mistake of getting carried away from my scheduled reading and reflections of The Word. One of my new year's resolutions was to read The Daily Bread everyday including the suggested bible passages which, if I complete, would enable me to read the entire Bible. I still stray away and get caught up with a lot of distractions when it has happened so many times that when something is bothering me, the answer is right there in the Daily Bread story or bible passage for the day. Hay naku! Anyway, I've come back to it and today, on my first day, I immediately felt the peace creeping into me. "Oh you stubborn child..." I could almost hear Him say. Reading the Bible regularly enhances discipline, my sense of commitment, and "makes the soil fertile" by seeing the Scripture come to life in my day to day experiences. How else can I see the truth in the Word if I am not learned in it?

So there, just to day, I realized that those two, are my life lines - the ones I can always come back to to make everything alright, to bring order in my life. No one can take them away from me, no matter how many times I get pierced and poked by the "triangle."

Seeing the BIG Triangle

There is very little that I remember from my dreaded Introduction to Chemistry class, but I do recall that the symbol for change is the triangle. 

I was a passive participant in a conversation this morning where my friend remarked that it is so hard to stay married because both spouses undergo a lot of change and you both have to constantly adjust to these changes. It wasn't a novel idea - hearing the "people change" cliche, but it struck me at the right time how right she was.

In a certain way, change is a dreadful scenario most especially when you don't initiate the change. I guess there is an element of uncertainty when change is introduced by factors, or persons whose thoughts and feelings are beyond the grasp of our control. A real nightmare for the control freak like me.

I'm experiencing a lot of changes these days, and I know I am in for a major, huge, big change in the coming months (but then again, I was the one who catalyzed those upcoming changes so everything else that will follow is brimming with anticipation and excitement for me - but that's another story). The thing is, when the fervent fire of something good, happy, and comforting seems to be on the verge of fizzling out cold, it is an easy excuse for a panic attack. I guess I just have to remind myself of what I used to tell myself during the heydays - all things come to an end; nothing is permanent. A sizzling love affair could abruptly end, friendship can be broken, success can get trivialized. The end could be brought about by another person's choice, or some twist of fate like separation, or even death. That is probably why people always say (or at least the cynical ones) "Enjoy it while it lasts." 

There is always a choice how to deal with the "triangle." One can be bitter or one can be gracious. I personally feel that there is no need to be bitter: yes, I tell and convince myself that there is no need to be bitter (keep that sticking in your head between the fissures of your gray matter, May!). Instead, being gracious and accepting is the way to go. Relieve the good times with the optimism that ahead are more, better times, perhaps under different circumstances, with different people and different places. And while some good times are already gone and have abruptly, unceremoniously ended, at least, at the palm of your hands, you know, and should be grateful that you had and embraced them once. 

Plantar Fasciitis

When I wake up in the morning and get up, I couldn't make a step and stand on my left foot. I have ignored the pain on my left foot for so long cause I thought it was just muscle strain but what disturbed me were these articles I read. Gosh, it's Plantar Fasciitis!

http://orthoinfo.aaos.org/topic.cfm?topic=A00149

http://www.sportsinjuryclinic.net/cybertherapist/front/foot/plantarfaciitis.htm

Anyway, I already went to a rehab Medicine doctor and I will start therapy tomorrow. Hopefully it gets better.

Prince Caspian

I saw Prince Caspian today in Greenbelt 3. I'm just too happy that the past 3 movies I've seen were so enjoyable, not a single centavo was wasted. I've now loaded my M-Pass with P620 so I can easily buy tickets online. Still have to watch Kung Fun Panda. Too bad The Dark Knights opens in theaters on July 16.

Lucy is so endearing! =)

I'm really gonna miss watching movies in Greenbelt 3...

Checklist

I was listening to 103.5 MAX this morning and the disk jocks were interviewing a woman who wanted to be on the radio, in that particular program. The woman named Sarge made a list on 35 things to do before she turns 35 (her birthday is on March) and being on radio is one of the 35 things she wants to do. She said that so far she has ticked off only a few on her list. I was amused by her and was also inspired - she said that she wanted to make a list to keep her going. I also make little lists myself though some of the major happenings in my life were not on my list; they just popped out of the blue or spurred by suggestions from influential friends. Anyway, just want to share with you a little list I thought of - things I want to happen before my Australian visa expires! (Hahaha! It expires on August 31, 2009) 1. Get a beautiful apartment which is accessible and suitable for my visitors.

2. Visit my friend in the U.S. and see New York and San Francisco, at least. Would be nice to see D.C. and Boston too. 3. Master and complete reviewing books 1 and 2 and CDs of The New Practical Chinese Reader 4. Attend the Shanghai Winter School during the break 5. Watch Cirque du Soleil and Phantom of the Opera in Sydney 6. See Melbourne 7. Swim and snorkle in the Great Barrier Reef 8. Vacation at Hunter Valley Hmn... not too hard to achieve right? =)