Arrow of time

Gare d'Orsay Station Clock (2004)

Musee d'Orsay

The coming of the New Year triggers something in every one of us; for me it is the remembrance of things past. The year 2008 has been, like most years, very fruitful and rewarding for me. It exceeded all expectations.

Time flies. The days swiftly passed by and the year quickly slipped by. This time, I know where time went. I've really enjoyed being engaged in all my projects this year. My travel plans were put aside but I don't have any regrets.

Next year there will be bigger challenges but even greater opportunities to be involved and make a difference. I look forward to that.

I have no resolutions for 2009. I'm done and over with that. As hard as I try, I can never keep such promises to myself. I'll keep the few pounds that I've gained and continue to enjoy chocolate and tubs of ice cream and maybe exercise a bit. No pressures just pleasures.

We'll be a year older and while we're at it let the arrow of time pass us by gracefully.

Hannah and Her Brother

Kai and Olivia came to visit and delivered their gift to Lola last Sunday. And of course picked up their own gifts too. Because of their Lola's (my good friend Pilar, their Grandma) last minute change in plans on Christmas day they missed our party. A long story.

Imagine if Matthew and Kai were both around that day? Between Matthew's counting out, not just audibly, but LOUD and backwards from 1,000, and Kai's running around (he doesn't know how to walk), it would have been total chaos and it would've driven me nuts.

Pilar's little kitchen elves helped her knead the dough for the empanadas. I didn't get to taste any of it but I'm sure they did a good job. And what possessed the master doughboy to have his head shaved in the middle of winter I don't know. He does look good without his hair though, doesn't he?

Olivia recently celebrated her 7th birthday with a bowling party. Imagine her in her frilly dress and cowboy boots, throwing that ball. Huh? What's wrong with bowling in jeans? Go figure.

Teacher's comment: Kai should learn how to temper his eagerness to broadcast to the class the answer to the teacher's questions. And we think Olivia should be given tests much longer than any of her peers. My guess is that little Hannah Montana here gets bored when she finishes her test ahead of the class and turns to chatting with and distracting her seatmate as a result. Sounds familar, Pilar? You did keep me awake with all your stories while we're at the dormitory.

They're both adorable but the questions they ask! Oh kids. I've lost that faculty for questioning many years ago. Thanks for the visit guys.

Test of certainty

The film Doubt brings us closer to the Roman Catholic church's most sensitive issue, that of inappropriate behavior among some of its clergies. Who could have performed any better than the high caliber actress Meryl Streep and Philip Seymour Hoffman of the famed Capote?

The reviews are mixed and often is a comparison with the play version, Doubt is a cerebral execution of another brilliant drama but with a subtle treatment of its story plot. It is a thought-provoking simple story, simply told with such powerful dialogue between the lead characters.

Let's not leave out Viola Davis (Mrs. Miller) and her few minutes on the screen pleading her son's case, making her an excellent contender for the Oscars as supporting actress. She was absolutely great. I wish they had engaged in their dialogue much longer than it was shown. I wanted to see more of Viola Davis' dramatic rendition. It was moving.

All she held on to and fought for was her faith and moral certainty, the authoritarian Sister Aloysius. Father Flynn's moralizing homilies left us weighing the balance between doubt and certainty. Philip Seymour Hoffman was perfect for the role.

I was left with a lot of questions. Doubts, maybe. I'll spare the details for a postmortem with my friends who intend to see this movie and maybe they'll have some answers.

Definitely an Oscar candidate. A must-see.

The race for the Oscars

To the faint-hearted - please don't walk out after watching the first few minutes of this movie. There are no surprises and you'll leave the theatre feeling good and proud of the boys.

Grow up! An expression we often hear adults say to each other. In every society we see little children skip their most needed playtime and jump into adulthood in order to survive. This is that kind of story.

This is the journey of life for the two brothers Jamal and Salim, a heartwarming experience in their quest for survival. It's not just a lesson on breaking the cycle of poverty and oppression, it's the story of love and hope. These boys were not born bad, they were forced to grow up before their time. It's life as seen Dickensian style (Oliver Twist).

Gather all the children of the world. You'll find a lot of good in them. The Third World society is no different from any other. If Jamal rose up against all odds so can the rest of the children.

I struck a conversation with an old lady who was in line to see another movie (The Reader) and she told me she's watched Slumdog Millionaire three times and I can see why. It is a powerful movie worthy of many Oscars; it will leave you with a warm, happy feeling. I bet you this one will score a big audience.

Dev Patel delivered the most brilliant and intense acting I've ever seen. He deserves an Oscar as well. The city of Mumbai setting and the cinematography can not be more perfect. Go see it.

The Black Swan

The day after Christmas Day used to be a big rush to the stores at the crack of dawn to get to those after holiday marked down merchandise. With me it's mostly ornaments and Christmas cards. This is a thing of the past. I have no desire to shop anymore and I haven't had for the longest time.

This year, the day after was a trip to the bookstore, one thing I always enjoy. Grabbing a chair, I'm lucky if I get one, and picking up a book to read is one of my best pastimes. Sometimes with a cup of Starbuck's frap on the side. It would be a treat if I could just take those books home and find enough time to read most of them. I hardly buy books for my collection anymore. I just borrow from the public library instead since I no longer have room in my home library.

Three boxes of Christmas cards were all I had in my basket as I roamed the aisles at Barnes and Nobles up and down. Then I spotted one book I've always wanted to read but which is still not available in the local library. The Black Swan by Nassim Nicholas Taleb. I started reading the prologue while in the bookstore and I just couldn't put it down.

I was first fascinated by the whole concept of probabilities, outliers and uncertainty when I watched the interview given by Taleb and Mandelbrot on PBS recently. Standard deviations, the Gaussian distribution, bias and precision were lessons I've learned but only meaningful to me in terms of my profession and not as they apply to real-life problems. Taleb does exactly just what some of us would like to see - the application of this science of uncertainty to our daily world situations. He disproves the premise that some of us live by, that what we do not know can not really hurt us. Imagine the unexpected. It takes only one sighting to invalidate the belief that all swans are white. One outlier can make an impact and then he takes us through all the disciplines and occurrences in daily life to prove this.

The parallels and evidences he offered are just amazing but clearly defined. From the 9/11 event, to the logic and mathematics of everything including gambling casinos, the fate of a less known opera singer Giaccomo, our choice of our profession or the meaning of scalability. He discusses the element of serendipity in inventions and discoveries.

It is a book written not just for economists or those who have a mindset the same as the author. It is thought-provoking and simply challenging. The arguments he makes are clear and makes sense to me. It's one book that I can't see reading in two, three or even ten sittings.

Taleb is a well-rounded scholar, not just an economist but a literary genius of the highest rank. I really enjoy reading this book, it's a challenge for the stagnant mind and exercise for the hungry brain. That suits me fine.

This is a gem of a book.

Christmas with Lola Inang

Here's the herd. It took years of discipline and a few minutes of practice to make the group look like they are well-behaved, respectable family members. And this isn't everybody, we're missing quite a few.

The older cousins' reverse psychology trick on Matthew didn't work - he frowned like this is a frowning marathon and of course he got his way, he won all the attention. Kaitlyn couldn't be happier with her hand-crocheted mini-doll she named Corelyn. Are you sure it's not Carolyn? And I took her big NO as "Hey Auntie, I belong to the ZZ generation and there is no such name as Carolyn in the database anymore!". Extinct?

They sure made us feel like dinosaurs with their handheld DS and PS and their talk about Wii. Five-year old Matthew can beat the heck out of anybody in the room playing these games, and the rest of us of course couldn't even deal with our arthritic hands' lack of coordination with what's left of our shrinking brains.

We managed to survive yet another fun-filled Christmas Day at Auntie's and Lola's. We were packed like sardines in the apartment, but if you're anything like us, we love closeness and coziness; as in 6 or 7 big adult kids piled up on Auntie's bed, while the rest of the family eat and talk all day thru the night non-stop, somewhere where they could find room. How do we all look? I think Lola Inang is the best looking and could you guess who did much of the cooking? She did. Auntie let her loose in kitchen. Her signature Christmas dinner soup is to die for! But she wouldn't give out the recipe, she's not ready to exit yet.

We missed the rest of the family. The phone kept Inang busy with all the calls she got from the kids overseas. We miss you guys.

Nelsie's meatloaf was as usual a hit, Tita Amor's palabok noodles was just as good, but the hungry bears were looking for her specialty pichi-pichi. Chong's salmon dish and her cheesecake a must-have with our parties. Inang's pinakbet a winner all the time. Not to mention all the baking Charmaine did. And we ate, and we talked, picked on Matthew and discussed Tito Joe's issue with his health insurance but stubborn as he is, he wouldn't believe Tito Ped who's got the expertise on the subject. Patience with Joe is a virtue, Ped.

What would be a day with the boys and girls without the usual advice session (unsolicited, of course) from Auntie. For their own good, I kind of reminded them of their responsibilities to themselves, pushing them to finish school and study some more whenever they get the opportunty, just like the way it was drilled in my head by my parents. It is all making sense now. You'll thank me for this kids. Even Rob and Michelle got lectured; poor boyfriend and girlfriend. And here's a picture of them looking all "drilled out" after Auntie was finished with them.

Too bad Marc had to fly back to Chicago at 4:00 pm to return to work today. Goodbye it is for now. Give our love to Amber, we missed her too.

As we posed for the family picture before everyone got their loot and left, Auntie announced that we all should smile, for this may be Lola's last photo shoot with us. The smart alecks in the background protested and countered that with "No, this may be your last picture with us Auntie". And we all roared in laughter. I better not get sick again. It's true Lola looks so good she might outlive me and that becomes a worry for the boys for they will be left to care for her. Payback time kiddos!

It was wonderful and we all look forward to another family gathering.
Our family stories could fill the pages of a book. That's an idea!

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas to my family and all my friends.

You are all close to our hearts.