Back to blogging

I’m in the middle — rather, toward the end — of a protracted sem break, and I’ve realized how I never put pen to paper anymore, or words to print. Granted, blogging is more of fingers-to-keyboard and words-to-screen, but you get the idea. So allow me to shake off some rust and write random entries about even more random topics as I savor what little time I have left of freedom.

One reason I’ve decided to go back into blogging is that a good friend of mine has made it a good source of income. I don’t feel ready to go into professional blogging yet, and I’m having second-thoughts about going into keyword-blogging, I figure it’s a much better option to just stick to this (relatively) old and ignored WordPress account. The lack of an actual readership does not bug me at all. Oh no.

Nevertheless, if there is anyone out there reading, please drop me a line and comment.

What did the monk tell the hotdog vendor?

“Make me one with everything.”

I’ve been reading Elizabeth Gilbert’s Eat, Pray, Love at the suggestion of a friend, and yesterday I watched some of the Grammy performances. With regard to the former, I found it enviable that the author got the chance to go around Italy eating great food and learn to meditate in India. I haven’t finished the last third of the book yet. As to the Grammys, I particularly enjoyed the performances of TI and Justin Timberlake, and of John Mayer, BB King, Buddy Guy and Keith Urban. I’m sure there were a lot of other amazing acts but I wasn’t able to watch the entire thing. I’ll try to see if I can catch them on youtube.

At any rate, I realized that oneness or harmony with the universe can be achieved in two very different ways: in total silence, by meditation, and through music, in Dionysian rapture and abandon. I guess this is a personal approach that varies with everyone. For instance, some find worship to be at its purest when in silent reflective thought. Others prefer joining groups and worshipping in joyous chorus. I don’t think there really is a justification to say that there is only one way to achieve either enlightenment, Divine commune or just plain peace with oneself. (That’s a calling out to organized religion right there) What is important is both the effort, intensity and effect of whatever spiritual methods are undergone.

Nevertheless, it also struck me that the line of work I’ll hopefully be engaging in is something that is quite at odds, at least on first countenance, with the entire oneness-with-the-universe thing. Law is, as applied in litigation, an adversarial pursuit. One party claims a violation of rights against another and seeks redress. Although it could be argued that the lawyer seeks to harmonize both parties so that they come to amicable terms, but at the end of the day, it’s still about one side winning and the other losing (The same argument can be raised with sports, but there exists the reality that sport is perhaps one of the few things that can be engaged in for the sake of themselves and not for any other reason). The nature of the legal profession is so open to corruption and to taking advantage of situations in a selfish way that whatever lofty ideals the law itself espouses seems to take a backseat to putting oneself forward. I guess the same can be said with any other profession, such as business or even medicine, but it just seems so much more apparent in law. There are so many ethical conundrums that beg for answers that they cannot be exhausted or sometimes even simplified.

How then can a lawyer or law student find harmony with himself and with the world around him?

That’s a question I not only intend to, but need to answer before I actually start engaging in this field of practice. I have some answers right now, but I think it is better to leave this open-endedfor the time being. That and I need to study some more for my Obligations and Contracts exam tomorow.

Charlie’s

This is Part II of two Epicurean Adventure Series. The first one is the D2012 Burger series. Perhaps inspired by How I Met Your Mother’s best burger in NY episode, perhaps we’re really just hungry all the time, but whatever the case, we’ve been scoping out places to get a good burger fix. Last week we went to Gateway to try Wendy’s Baconator, for over a thousand calories of oily goodness (fries and drink included). Next on the list, Charlie’s in East Kapitolyo Drive, Kapitolyo, Pasig.

The other series involves my own personal search for good foreign beer. As much as it may be blasphemous to forsake good ol’ San Miguel, and last year was a renaissance year for the brand, coming up with both the Premium Malt and Oktoberfest brews, I’d been really craving for some good, flavorful foreign-brewed beers. Yesterday, we went to Fat Skillet in Katipunan (incidentally the food was pretty good and the pasta was worth the price tag), and I tried Erdinger for the first time. I see it in groceries but I never really tasted it because I thought it’d probably taste the same as Oettinger, which I’ve had lots of times already but don’t like that much. Since my only basis was that they sounded the same, I was proven wrong, and I love their dark beer, perhaps a bit more than the canned Guinness Foreign Extra Stout that I love so dearly. (Extra Stout > Draught for me)

So Jena, Missy, Pau and I went all the way to Kapitolyo after Oblicon class and before Legal Theory to try out Charlie’s, and it did not disappoint.

We arrived there a little past 11 am, thanks to the horrible traffic in the Greenmeadows/Valle Verde VI area, but Charlie’s wasn’t open yet despite the advertised 11 am opening schedule. After going around the block looking for parking (Yes, parking was bleak, a major downside. If you’re going there, carpool!), the place had already opened.

I chose the Ballast Point Calico Amber Ale (P200, imported by Global Beer Exchange Ph) to push down the Black Angus Burger. The beer was okay for me. Definitely more flavorful than even anything produced locally, but slightly more bitter than what Pinoys are used to. However, even for me, who just loves bitter drinks (dark coffee and beer, anyone?) I found the balance of bitterness and sweetness a bit off. I guess I was taken aback because it didn’t seem like a heavy beer like European brews, but it felt like the taste wasn’t really coming out. Alcohol-wise, it didn’t really do much for me, unlike the Erdinger buzz that got me happy yesterday right before Legal Profession class. For some reason, the beer when poured barely had a head, which may have contributed to the lack of taste coming out. I guess I have to learn to pour properly. (For those only used to San Mig Light, the head of the beer is the fizz that goes on top when poured, and it usually adds a different dimension to the beer. It’s not all air, except when it’s SML you’re drinking and it tastes like rusty water.)

The burger was really good. I think it was a steal at P175, already with thick-cut skin-on fries. It was garnished with the works, a slice of tomato, onion, pickle and lettuce as well as the accompanying condiments. The girls didn’t like having red onions and pickles, but I love the stuff as they add a different layor of flavor to the burger. The fries were also pretty good. I think it may have been the first time I’ve been served french fries with both salt and pepper outside of the house. My brother and sister and I love our fries with both salt and pepper (they don’t eat fries with ketchup).

As for the meat itself, I’ll be honest. I’m not really a picky eater and I can’t really tell the subtle differences between this or that. I only know Good, Okay, Not Good, and Daaamn. Wendy’s Baconator fell into the Good category, but this was a “Daaamn.” It’s been said that this is the best “bang for your buck burger” in the Metro, and I definitely agree. It’s not overly greasy, the patty is nice and moist, and the taste made me want to order a second burger if not for the fact that I was already stuffed. The patty was maybe around 200 grams but was definitely filling enough. Value for money indeed. I spent more on my beer than on my burger, but taken individually, I was much more satisfied with the latter. I’m no expert on beer either, but I’m betting Charlie’s Angus Burger would taste great with a cloudy German wheat bier than an American malt.

I also got to down the rest of Jena’s Stella Artois, but I couldn’t appreciate the taste as much since my tastebuds had Calico Amber Ale all over them. But if I remember right, among the Belgian beers I’ve tasted, Stella ranks third behind Chimay and Leffe.

I’m looking forward to coming back soon and trying their other food. The Cheesesteaks seem interesting, and I’ll definitely try their Fish and Chips (with malt vinegar, like they eat them in Britain), and the Buffalo Wings. Pau loved the Chicken Burger as well, and Missy had a huge enviable milkshake. I think I’ll forego the beer and try out their milkshake next time.

Here’s to a new year, a few days late

2008 has come and gone, and several themes have made their recurrence throughout. Three days before my birthday last year, on the afternoon before I bid goodbye to my short stint as a student leader, I got my first tattoo, mainly to serve as a remembrance and a tribute to my time as a philosophy student, and to remember the most important lesson that I had learned and relearned and am still learning up to now: to know oneself. It was to serve a reminder to never lose my sense of self and wonder, especially as I was entering an entirely new world – that of law school, and in a new scholastic environment different from that which I had grown up to both love and loath for sixteen years.

By the time the fireworks started streaking through the foggy Tagaytay sky to welcome 2009, I was already well aware of what had changed in me over the past twelve months. Philosophy had taught me to become more rational, more calm and laid-back in approaching decisions and problems, but I feel that after a semester in law school, I’d lost some of that. The whole step-back mentality I had learned to take, and even the hint of Taoist influence in my personal life seemed to fade away as the year went on. Perhaps even more disappointingly, the competitiveness, the pragmatism and the materialism that I vowed to quell at all costs in law school seemed to take over more and more. Definitely, the sense of wonder had diminished, and there were times that during the week, all I looked forward to was a drunken weekend, which, although fun, had definitely been more to my detriment that to my benefit. 2008 was also a lot more emotional than 2007, at least in terms of extremes, and I guess my relatively new-found mentality was really put to the test.

In the end, I could pinpoint any number of reasons for all of these. I could blame how some people acted disappointingly, how law school puts too much pressure on its students, how it was practically impossible to cultivate a sense of wonder when all we were supposed to do was study, how it was just a period of adjustment to a new environment, the surprising number of deaths among schoolmates and friends. I could go on forever pointing fingers at the causes of my sort-of downward spiral last year, but then I’m a philosophy major, not a psychology major.

I’d rather take the blame for forgetting one of the most important lessons I learned in Epistemology: that of paying attention. Error is almost always caused by not paying something enough attention, whether in perception or action. I let too many things slip by which ended up costing me, but hopefully it is not too late to rectify the damage.

I’m thankful for a lot of things in 2008. I also think that there were also some good changes that I ought to appreciate. However, instead of enumerating everything I’m glad for, I’d rather just be vocal about two conversations I had as 2008 was in its twilight, which really helped me draw the year to a close and look forward to a good year in 2009. One was with an old friend, a class-clown, happy-go-lucky yet deeply profound type of person, over a few beers. The other was through instant messaging with one of the best persons I’d met in 2008 and one of the country’s great hopes for the future. I guess talking with both really helped shed light on how I acted and reacted in the past year and how I ought to approach 2009.

Hopefully this will be a good year. There’s is a lot I want to accomplish, and not a few loose ends that I still have to address from last year. May 2009 be a blessed year of wonder and self-discovery for everyone.

The Law School Debates III: Pseudo-Kantian Purpose

This is really just another way of saying that I’m deciding whether Law School is a means to an end or an end in itself. Of course, by its very definition, as a training ground (more of slaughterhouse, killing field, gladiator arena) for future lawyers, the very purpose of law school is to teach law and make lawyers. Of course my beloved College does not only that, but qualifies that it teaches law in the grand manner and makes great lawyers.

Fine. I want to be a lawyer then, but is it because all I really want to do in life is to see a bit of the world then lay back on a beach with good friends and family, savor good food, good alcohol and good coffee, and read, read, read. Law school then, and the legal profession will be the means for me to get to that point. But by the time I get to that point, will it be too late? Will I have totally lost my sense of wonder?

Another thing is that I can’t help but ask whether it is noble enough a purpose to go to law school just to be able to achieve my chill-out dream life. I guess on one hand, at least I’m not one of those megalomaniacal power and money-hungry lawyers-to-be. But then again, I don’t have a very altruistic purpose for doing so, and it’s biting at my Catholic-upbringing-inspired guilt.

Of course, Javy Alpasa, SJ once shared that God’s Will is the intersection of your greatest desire and the greatest need of others. So fine, if I become a lawyer, I may incidentally be helping people in need of legal advice and whatnot. But ultimately, my main purpose will be building my oceanside retirement home and library.

I look at Discovery Channel’s Boom De Ya Da (I love the world) video, and feel like such a sell-out. I look back at my philosophy classes and feel like such a sell-out. But then, I have to sell out a little in order to be sure I get the chance to do what I want, right? Because I can’t get to do what I want unless I have some amount of money.

Is there a way to just fast-forward to living my dream life? Oh well, at least I have to go through some trouble to get to it, otherwise it wouldn’t be worth it.

edit/disclaimer: I know the writing quality and depth of thought sucks. I’m sorry.