How 69 Brought Bad Luck

It was not so long a time since Dumaguete/Negros Oriental made it to global news. Now another set of write-ups were published involving such a humble city and province. Unfortunately though, it was not something majority would have wanted to hear of.

February 6 - A magnitude 6.9 earthquake brought about panic and mass destruction to the laid-back province of Negros Oriental. Though not as severe as that of Japan's 8.9 magnitude earthquake, numerous people in the northern part of the province were left homeless, hungry, miserable and worst of all, broken. Over a hundred are believed dead as earth abruptly ate people unable to escape such ill fate. For a number of survivors, a dark tomorrow became crystal clear. Having lost every single thing and person valued most marked a not so fresh start and since majority of the affected are financially incapable, moving on was never an easy way out of their fall. Despite such sad reality, the northern municipalities weren't the only places affected.


Dumaguete, reported to have felt the devastating intensity 7 shake, had its own story as well. Hundreds fled to higher lands upon knowing that a tsunami level 2 alert was issued by Philvolcs. People near seashores were reported to have left their households with the fear of getting an experience of Japan's fate. But that move was far from necessary.

Precaution was the main implication that the government agency wanted to get across. Needless to say, such alert was way too misunderstood. Dissecting at the triggering factors of the people's hysterical moves led to spotting the gap at which information dissemination was transmitted between the agency, media and the people. With the media having the most weight in the process, failure to clearly emphasize what the alert level accurately meant was evident. That automatically became a theory right after seeing how people reacted to the situation. It is undeniable how people feed information from media especially in cases as such. However, it is likewise high likely that people may have been informed well but have over-reacted to what has been communicated.

Taking a look at both sides of the coin brings to conclusions that people's knowledge of procedures pertaining to natural calamities are arguably poor and that media fell short at going the extra mile in letting everyone, affected or not, know how to get by situations where mother nature takes credit.

One Big Turn© has several basic tips to help everyone save their asses in case of an earthquake:
1. Stay calm despite how exactly opposite your environment is. Your mind thinks better when you are calm than in panic.
2. Look for a heavy piece of furniture (table etc.) that can protect you from falling objects/debris in the entire duration of the quake.
3. Stay inside a building especially if the exit is quite far from your location. However, if you are lucky enough to be near a building's main exit, do go out and look for an open area where nothing can fall on you.
4. Never take the elevators when getting out of a building; even minutes after the earthquake.
5. Expect aftershocks to happen and when they do, refer back to the previous instructions.
6. Be informed. Get the latest information from a trusted media institution for instructions and updates.

Note: To those who expected this write-up to be about something else, sorry to have you disappointed.

The Chosen One

It's plain and simple. Many are called but only a few are chosen. In this case a question can easily arise asking if the "chosen" ones are fit for the pedestal or not. What makes a good leader and how do you become one?

You'll never be a good leader unless you’ve had one before. It's a matter of influence most of the time. That person becomes the teacher and you get to learn so much. Comparable to the reality of an eagle’s story, Leadership 101 is actually a push of potential more than a theoretical study. That being said, it follows that the manner on how eagles push their offspring toward the edge is the learning that counts in the process.

Most of the time leadership entails risks. If you keep on hiding on the safe spot then you’re not a leader but a mere follower; a puppy with no teeth for that matter. Leading is never a stable task; it never was intended to be. Once you become a leader, something will stir your mind up every once in a while and that is something beyond your control. When that time comes, the real leader thinks out of the box, gets a solution and puts the theory to action. If the action doesn’t work, it’s time to revisit the problem and do a re-work. Who said theories in Mathematics work only for figures? This is the exact time to apply trial and error; a key factor in the success of problem-solving in real life.

Sad to say, some “leaders” tend/opt to be followers in reality. Having the mentality that they’re up there make them afraid of getting kicked in the ass and fired up. It’s a safe move – of a follower, not a leader. If placed into context, it would be safe to say that many are guilty or simply playing blind. Another sick situation is when leaders become too complacent of their capabilities that they slowly become gods of their own kind – and want to be treated as such too. Power-tripping, as many would call it, is a very fatal problem that is swarming most of the so-called “leaders.” It’s an infection with no tested immunity and one that would most likely take millions of years to find a physical cure. In this case, dissatisfaction among the employees is just an inch away. What’s next is something that nobody would want to be in – quitting.

Acquiring the skills and values of a real leader is not as easy as how it is presented to be. Becoming a leader by position doesn’t make one earn respect in a snap of a finger. There’s so much more to learn other than those published in books or manuals. As usual, growing opportunities career-wise pop-up unexpectedly like one would wait for corn to pop when cooked. Perhaps one parameter of efficiency as a leader is the quality of a finished product, something that you can be so proud about and be able to say “this is my ROI (Return on Investment).”Another is when a leader is able to clone himself, ready to move up the ladder and hand the responsibilities to a successor. Nothing beats the feeling of being looked up to, being an inspiration and being appreciated for the kind of leadership rendered.

Leadership is a passion, not a position. And most importantly, it’s a role, not a name. Such role needs a very high dose of maturity to be able to face any obstacle that may come out of the blue. There is never a perfect leader as compared to what majority demand to have; an ideal leader, maybe. It’s known to everyone that even the most powerful person/entity in this universe do not get everyone’s faith and respect. How worse can it get for real leaders?

Who said that being a leader is easy? There is truth in saying that indeed many are called but a few are chosen.

Random Thoughts

Would you rather be the strongest among the weak or the weakest among the strong?

Everything Crappy is Under the SUN

Customer service - I guess it all starts with that and ends with that as well. With SUN's tempting deals, one would want to switch to this seemingly "stable and organized" network. However, what majority probably don't know is that SUN Cellular has the crappiest customer service among all the providers in the country.

It was on a Monday when I have completed and forwarded all the requirements they were asking from me. All went fine and I left the shop with a smile upon knowing that the turn-around-time would be 2-3 days for the processing alone. I was fine with that, though the same process I underwent with Smart two years ago didn't take as long. On Wednesday, I asked for an update regarding the application; lo and behold, nothing!!! Three days after, they called up, asking for "clearer" payslips. I presented to visit their site and take the initiative to have them secure a screenshot of my payslips (since they are online-based) but they just told me that they would be calling back. An hour passed but no call from them came in. I was upset and decided to head to the shop and check, only to know that they had a workaround for me not to secure a "clearer" copy of my payslips. Then I was told that the last thing they needed was the "approval" from the head office. That day was supposedly my last day of waiting like they have promised but they were definitely LYING. I thought the cliché that says "promises are said to be broken" never existed in the corporate world; the sad reality proved me wrong. Saturday came and I was really optimistic that everything was ironed out. I was ready to disregard the inconvenience I have encountered from them the past days but then again, I was wrong. The status was yet unknown/uncertain/nowhere to be seen or heard. My total pay wasn't sufficient, they said. Then I started to question why it "wasn't sufficient" when in fact it even exceeded their cut-off for the plan I was applying for. The representative was explaining something that I didn't understand but I refused to argue. I just left a message that if things won't get any better on Tuesday (the following week), they should consider my application cancelled. The irony is I didn't have any trouble, at all, the time I applied for my current plan with Smart. Considering the plan I have now is PhP 1200/month, why would I have too much trouble with a plan that's PhP 201/month cheaper?

This is my second attempt at re-considering Sun as a primary line since I was a very frustrated customer 4 long years ago. I wanted to give them a chance and see how much they've improved, if ever they did. But sadly, their tainted reputation just got worse, for me at least. I wouldn't recommend Sun postpaid, prepaid or any of their products especially when you're eyeing for a higher allocation/value. Also, expect that their "Network Busy" problem is still existent especially during peak hours.

By now you should be able to get my verdict on Sun Cellular's services. But just in case you want to make sure that you're thinking what I'm thinking, do refer to what you can see below.

Random Thoughts

Know that people looking down on you isn't such a bad thing after all. No matter how they let you feel as small as dust, always remember how you can get into their eyes easily.

A Painfully Funny Experience

May 11, 2011 was the date I had my tonsils out. Believe me, you wouldn't want to have your tonsils out too. The days that followed seemed like a very slow-paced chapter of pain. Seconds seemed like minutes, minutes like hours and hours like days. I never expected the pain to be that much though it was relatively obvious what I was getting myself into.

Days before the "big day," I placed myself into preparation of what I was headed to. A bit of research, viewing of actual surgery via YouTube and even heading to forums to see how people who have submitted themselves for "holy" tonsillectomy had to say were few things that kept me busy. The funny thing was me getting more frustrated and terrified to undergo the said operation right after seeing how tonsillectomy is actually done. Repeatedly convincing myself that tonsillectomy was something common and "minor" was apparently of no aid as well. I knew it was a bad move for my paranoia but eventually I realized that those acts were very helpful and worth-it.

It was late last year when my doctors strongly advised me to have my tonsils removed yet surprisingly, it took me a quarter to convince myself that it was for my own good. One can't blame me for being such a scaredy-cat; my dad was afraid of needles too! By this time, assuming that I've inherited some sort of phobia of needles, getting hospitalized and the like is very safe. Over that long span of time, internal debates have been going on though I knew beforehand what the bottom-line would be. And at long last, I have finally decided to leave my fears away and go for the win-win situation.
When the day finally came, I was trying to suppress my fear amid the light atmosphere in Chong Hua Hospital's operating room. Everyone seemed happy for a reason I never knew. Thoughts were swallowing my consciousness that time and the feeling of getting executed dawned on me big time. Around 9:00 in the morning, they brought me to operating room 4 (if I'm not mistaken). Yes, I would have to admit that it was my first time to see the inside of an operating room; pretty impressive and very similar to those that you see in the movies. However, I had a heterogeneous mix of feelings that made me so uneasy inside. My blood pressure sky-rocketed and I was staring at that monitoring device the same way one would watch the movie Titanic. Looking back at myself make me laugh at times. I felt like someone whose hat was that of a dunce's. All of a sudden, something was injected through the IV and the person who did it smiled and said, "this is for you to relax." The first dose seemed to have escaped my system as my stats were not giving them the results they have expected. So they had to give me another shot and *poof* I couldn't remember anything that happened next. The following scenes would be subject for censorship, trust me.

I woke up in the recovery room, painless but felt weird. An hour passed and I was sent to my own room ton "enjoy" my stay there. It turned out that the real recovery room was my own room.

Post-operation day one was not that bad. In fact, I wasn't in as much pain as I was in the successive days. I was getting more pain as days passed by. It reached the point when I wanted to give up but knew that there wasn't really such option since my tonsils already departed my body. Tears were the best comfort I got. Even my all-time favorite, Ice cream, didn't help me from being in a "not-so-happy-camper" mood. Pain was getting on my nerves too much that even my pain relievers were the inflicter of pain through my veins. It even came to a point where swallowing my own saliva was the least thing I would have wanted to do.

Days 3-7 were the most painful days during post-operation period. I am on my 10th day as of writing and pain has significantly faded though I still experience periods of sudden pain that would make me want to stay in bed and play dead.

Tonsillectomy was never a delight at all but it was the best option for me never to experience tonsillitis again. After all that I've been through, I could say I have won over my fears.

At this point, I place all modesty aside in saying I am tonsil-free and I made it!

Of Life, Lush and Love

Oftentimes people stop, think and eventually ask themselves where they are headed to. Ironically, I wasn't part of that comprehensive list. At some point I told myself, "am I really going somewhere?" It was the most mature question I have asked myself by far. 22 years and running and yet I don't see a clear path as to what I really want to be and where I want to be. My brother told me it's fine, he went through the same dilemma before. But he didn't stop there. Then I realized that I had to pick myself up from the desert-setting and put myself to a road eventually leading somewhere. Good point! The difficult question was "how?" Do I really have a plan for myself or do I rely on what may come my way? To tell you honestly I do not hold the answer to that question yet but I know I have to have a say and a firm decision.

Looking at my past tells me that I have been gearing toward the brighter side of life. But does it really have to stop there? What if I have reached that point where people would see the big difference in me, would I then be free to say I've won my race? At work, where I feel under-appreciated, I continue to do what I know is right despite the fact that nobody acknowledges or even sees it. It becomes a question on whether I work to please them or myself. With the way it goes, I could say that I would eventually end up pleasing myself for the untainted leadership that I have contained in me since day one. My only consolation is the thought that I know I'm way better than them and my résumé could spare me from the explanations that you might demand from me. Apart from that, I tell myself that I wouldn't be able to bring their "acknowledgements" with me in the event that I decide for a change in career path. But despite those said, I'm still grateful for all the learning I had and I can't deny the fact that I'm enjoying my job as of yet.

Work is a mixed bag for me. Sadly, the same is true with the way my hypothalamus is going. Emotions wasted, tears shed and efforts all vanished - that was what I thought love would be. I was wrong. While they may be apparently true, I knew they were only a part of the entire learning process and not necessarily the real gist of love itself. Life is a risk; so is love. Every move you make could be your last. Sometimes no matter how you give it your best, if you're not bound to last you perhaps never will. Moreover, it's our choices that count the most. Staying away from potential trouble is the safest at that. Like any situation, it's best to see the pros and cons of any action before it gets executed. It is not always, though, that we are given the luxury of time to think before we act. In such, it becomes a toss between what your mind and your heart deems right. All these thoughts are learning from the past that I found to be very vital in any kind of relationship. At this point of constant learning, I try to look back and see what went wrong and how I could possibly do away with them at present. Like what they say, it's better safe than sorry.

It's tough to give yourself a direction when you don't even know where to start finding yourself. It's just like striving to reach a goal without knowing what that goal exactly is. Sadly, I was pertaining to myself. I'm lost right now; not even a GPS device can find me. All I know is I don't have all the time to stay stagnant and wait for the thermal wind to come before I decide to do something.

I am not getting any younger and I know I have to make a move. Starting may be a big challenge but never impossible.