We never met in person.

Out of the blue, one day I got a friendly call from Ms. Tonette Binsol. I don’t know how she got hold of my cellphone number. But someone like her had resources, and lots of connections. People connections. So it was not really surprising. Just the same, I was flattered that she knew me at all.

The call, as it turned out, was made in order to convey her request for me to remove the link to an interview article featuring her at Philippines Today. Of course, I asked her why.

Hesitatingly, she tried to explain. I couldn’t exactly remember what the main reason was – all I could remember was that the article raised the hackles of some people, and she thought that removing the article in question was a solution.

For the life of me, I couldn’t understand what the fuss was all about. The interview was done in good faith. It only sought to reveal the person responsible for several cyber-NGO projects, to raise public awareness of the projects that she and fellow Filipinos were involved in. She was the prime mover for the Tulong Pinoy Movement, the brains behind the Iskolar Pinoy project, OFW-Shien network, migrant school for Filipinos in Japan, plus a host of other civic-oriented activities. The list seems endless. Indeed, she was the epitome of a relentless, selfless person who strived to help others in need.

She sought to be heard. She was in practically every mailing list available for Filipinos working and living in Japan.

So what was the trouble all about? Perhaps because sometimes, the greatest among us becomes the most susceptible to criticism and rejection. Sometimes the most diligent among us becomes the object of disdain and ridicule. Or simply perhaps the ones who are most willing to do the job can excel on what the rest of us can’t and won’t do. It’s easier to stand back and criticize mistakes than to do the job yourself.

She emailed incessantly. So much so that moderators of our mailing list decided to put her in our banned member’s list. For us, there was so much seemingly irrelevant information in her emails, things that did not really concerned the lives of the students and scholars in Tsukuba. And wouldn’t it always seem that way, if one did not really give a damn about the advocacies promoted by another person of a different ideology?

But no matter. She found other channels, other ways to disseminate her information and advocacy campaigns. She was…relentless.

I removed the link on the current front page of Philippines Today, but nevertheless kept the article in question in our archives. That’s the reason why it still comes up in search engines. But Tonette Binsol didn’t seem to mind anymore. I supposed that she was too busy minding her affairs and those of other people she wanted to help.

It came as a complete shock for me to hear that Tonette Binsol joined her Maker today, July 10, 2007, at 10:26 am. She succumbed to severe brain infarction brought about by aneurysm.

Why is it that the most productive among us have the shortest time on earth? Why is it that those who only wanted to live for others have their lives viciously taken away from them?

Like that link which I had removed from the front page, Tonette Binsol is gone. But her heritage, the inspiration she imparted to other people, and the testimony of her life will definitely live on. Her links, real and virtual, will remain alive.

And like that article which still remained in our archives, Tonette Binsol will live through the lives of the people she had touched.

Perhaps she didn’t always do things right, and perhaps not everyone is satisfied with what she had done. But tell me, who should be the rightful judge of that? From where I stand, she did great things that only few of us could ever hope to emulate. And for that, she is damn special.

I didn’t think that it would come this soon – but I now join the rest of the Filipinos in Japan and around the world in mourning the passing of one of the most influential Filipinos I’ve ever known. May her legacy leave on.

Goodbye, sayonara Tonette – and may you find eternal peace and rest you rightfully deserve.

When Aya turned three, I considered bringing her to the photo studio for the traditional shichi-go-san photos – a perfect opportunity to take souvenir photos of her wearing a traditional Japanese kimono. But on the day when we finally went to Studio Alice, a photo studio near our place, it was full of people and the staff were too busy entertaining their customers. We decided to just leave and come back next time.

Days and months passed by, and I completely forgot about the shichi-go-san.

Days before Aya’s 5th birthday, I realized that two years had already passed since I last thought about bringing her to the said photo studio. I didn’t want to wait like we did last time, so I called the store and made an advanced reservation. A smart decision! 🙂

Well, as you can see from the pictures above, it was a rather successful photoshoot. You may view the rest of her pictures at our Flickr album.

So what is the shichi-go-san, anyway?

According to Wikipedia:

Shichi-Go-San (???, literally “seven-five-three”) is a traditional rite of passage and festival day in Japan for three and seven year-old girls and three and five year-old boys, held annually on November 15.

Here is a more detailed description found at Kids Web Japan.

What I couldn’t figure out, though, is why this “rite of passage” does not seem to include five-year-old girls. Would anybody care to enlighten me why? However, it seems to me that the photo studios are not really that particular about a kid’s actual age. Having photos taken at a studio to mark the occasion is different from actually observing the tradition at the temple.

Well, personally I’m not so much concerned about the tradition as I am about taking home those wonderful photos to gawk over and treasure for years to come. The whole deal didn’t come cheap, but I didn’t mind at all. I’m a parent, so don’t blame me for splurging on my one and only daughter once in a while. And it’s for her birthday, after all. 🙂

Aya’s lovely photos now adorn the walls of our living room. The package includes blow-up photos of her wearing a traditional Japanese kimono (my choice, so it’s red!) and a Western-style gown (her Lola’s choice). And because we went there on her birth month, we also got a few extra goodies.

Next time I’ll write about our experience at the photo studio. The whole experience is worth a separate blog post, believe me. 🙂

I got double-tagged by TeacherJulie and Pining to blog about the songs when I was 18. Eighteen! That is so 20th century, lol. But here they are:

Baby Baby – Amy Grant

I actually have Amy Grant’s CD, Heart in Motion, which features this song. Such tender lyrics, quite fitting for a mom singing to her newborn baby – which was said to be her inspiration for writing this song:

Baby, baby
I’m taken with the notion
To love you with the sweetest of devotion.
Baby, baby
My tender love will flow from
The bluest sky to the deepest ocean.
Stop for a minute
Baby, I’m so glad youre mine, yeah
You’re mine.

However, her MTV shows her frolicking with a guy, and nothing suggests that this song was actually created with a baby in mind. Btw, where in the world is Amy Grant nowadays? Does anybody know?

More Than Words – Extreme

Saying I love you
Is not the words I want to hear from you
It’s not that I want you
Not to say, but if you only knew
How easy it would be to show me how you feel
More than words is all you have to do to make it real
Then you wouldn’t have to say that you love me
Coz I’d already know

How can I ever forget this song? It blasted from the radio of every commuter jeepney I rode back then. And if that wasn’t enough, it was played over and over in the malls and stores. Any guy with good guitar skills and a voice would sing this song, just to impress the girls. And for good reason: this is such a romantic song. Those lyrics. They just drip, they can make you woozy with emotions. The whole song simply oozes with love and romance. Everyone, take out your lighters, and watch the video here:

(Everything I Do) I Do It for You – Bryan Adams

I can’t help it – there’s nothin’ I want more
I would fight for you – I’d lie for you
Walk the wire for you – ya I’d die for you
Ya know it’s true
Everything I do – I do it for you.

Oh yeah? How about doing the laundry for me? Or cleaning the house? 😛

Seriously, this is another romantic song, and Bryan Adams’ raspy rendition makes it sound even more emotional. Like someone being tortured martyred for love.

Personally, I don’t really think this was an appropriate song for the movie Robin Hood (starring Kevin Costner, back then with more hair and less forehead). I just didn’t think that the love story angle fit into the whole prince-of-thieves concept. Oh well.

Watch the video, and see a really, really young-looking Christian Slater (also with more hair and less forehead). 🙂

When a Man Loves a Woman – Michael Bolton

Oh wow. Is this post dripping already or what? I remember watching at SM the movie of the same title, starring Andy Garcia and Meg Ryan, the queen of romantic comedies. Unfortunately, that movie only proved to be a rather poor vehicle for Little Miss Sunshine of Hollywood. I mean, come on, Meg Ryan as an alcoholic, abusive wife and mother? The storyline was terrible. Ugh.

So can you guess what year it was? 🙂

Ok, now I’m supposed to tag 5 people. So let me call on Kathy, Sheila, Wil, BW, and Zherwin.

The rules:
1. Go to www.popculturemadness.com
2. Select the year you turned 18
3. Get all nostalgic over the hit songs of the year
4. Write about it
5. Pass this tag onto 5 others

How should one measure blog growth? Yuga, one of the most famous bloggers in the Filipino blogosphere, suggests the following indicators of blog growth:

• # of subscribers
• Technorati ranking
• Alexa ranking
• Ratified.org

Sure, rankings are good. It gives you an idea of how far up or far down you are with respect to other bloggers. And if it is indeed your goal to climb to the top – whatever “top” represents – then a quarterly or biannual evaluation would be in order.

Numbers are good. In fact, I deal with numbers everyday. In my field of work, I measure certain parameters in order to determine whether I’ve succeeded or not in my goals. I get measured myself. I am evaluated in terms of output, which in concrete terms translates to the number of publications, patents, workshops, conferences attended. It is a way to determine my efficiency and range.

I’ve only one complaint about this type of evaluation. Focusing on numbers doesn’t reveal who I really am. For instance, the number of publications doesn’t really indicate if I’m a good scientist or not. It basically boils down to the question of quality over quantity. There are Nobel prize winners who produced only a couple of publications in their lifetime, and yet they changed the world. Would my patents for some gizmos be worth anything if they didn’t make our lives better?

For me, blogging is a hobby. A way to unwind. A way to express myself. Now why the hell should I deal with numbers when it comes to something I consider as a hobby? Isn’t it enough for me to deal with all those numbers at work already? I’ve long deplored the fact that cold, hard evaluation of someone’s performance is a decidedly masculine way of doing things. You don’t get evaluated as a person. Just cold, hard numbers.

If I gave you my Alexa ranking, for instance, would that really tell you how much of an impact I’ve made on your thoughts? If I gave you my Technorati ranking, would that tell you about the quality of my blog?

What I’m saying is, blog growth should be measured based on an individual’s goals. I think every blogger should first consider what goals they want to achieve with their blogs. Evaluation should then be done in consideration of those goals.

Here I am blogging early in the morning. This is a departure from my usual habit, that of blogging either right after dinner, or late at night after everyone else is asleep. Rarely do I blog in the mornings. There just isn’t enough time in the morning. Everyone is rushing off to leave the house, myself included.

Listen to this article

I realize, though, that blogging is taking too much of my time. It’s taking away time that I could just spend whiling away, relaxing after a hard day at work, or just spending some quality time with my daughter whom I don’t get to see during the daytime, or for at least 10 hours every working day. That’s what happens when I blog after dinner. And when I blog late at night…well, I usually end up spending more time than necessary, and I end up with puffy eyes the following day.

So like it or not, morning seems to be the best time. Blogging can be addictive, yes. But we should exercise some control and discipline on our habits. That is one of the reasons why I put “blogger” towards the last when I describe myself. Although it may be hard to realize for those of you out there who’ve only known me through my blog, offline I’ve a larger than life role as a wife, mother, and yes, researcher. It’s hard enough to juggle those roles. And when deadlines approach, I find myself excusing from blogging altogether.

Don’t get me wrong. I love blogging. It just takes too much time. If only there was a way to blog our thoughts without having to sit here in front of the computer. If only there was a way to bloghop without leaving the confines of my bed…or toilet. lol

So what about you? What are your blogging habits? Do you blog early in the morning or late at night? How do you determine what time is best for you?