Down the Rabbit Hole

I enjoy watching this series on TV called "Suits". It follows a strong mentor-mentee relationship. Harvey Specter (played by Gabriel Macht), one of the best lawyers in the city, gives valuable lessons to his associate, Mike Ross (played by Patrick J. Adams), the lawyer without the law degree. I find myself taking notes (and tweeting them) as I watch the different episodes. While waiting for the July 1 premiere of the second season of Suits on Jack TV, I list down the top ten lessons that I gleaned from watching the first season of series. It's not surprising that many of them came from the great Harvey Specter. There are few things in there that came from Mike and Harvey's arch-nemesis, Louis Litt (played by Rick Hoffman), as well. NOTE: if these sound like a lecture, it's because these are notes I write to myself for when I need them... and to whoever is reading this list. Here we go: 1. "First impressions last. Start behind the eight ball and...

One of my first encounters with jellyfish, or sea jellies (as scientists call them now), was when I was eight years old. I, along with the siblings and some friends scooped out a jellyfish from the sea (back then, all of us didn't know the dangers of doing so) and placed it in a transparent glass powdered coffee bottle filled with water. Since the water came from the tap, we added salt into the water, iodized salt. Poor jellyfish. I've since gone to visit a few aquaria during trips overseas. So when the Manila Ocean Park opened a few years back, I wanted to go there to see how it compares to the other ones I've seen. The first chance I got to really explore the place was on June 19th, when I went with Ate Bing and Ate Mary. One of the attractions we visited was the "Jellies: Dancing Sea Fairies". It turned out to be one of my favorites. Just inside the room, we were greeted by the life cycle of a sea jelly... in glow-in-the-dark. The room was bathe...

How does one lead when he or she is not in a position of (recognized) authority? This is a question that was voiced out in one of the dinners during the GRiSP Leadership course I attended last year. And it is one challenge that we have to face after graduating from that class. While "small rocks vs big rocks" and " sharpening the saw " are some of the lowest-lying fruits from the leadership training tree, this question is one of the harder challenges from the class. If leading without the positional advantage (also known as the job description) is akin to butting one's head onto a brick wall, it certainly is one very painful experience. While I am not afraid to butt my head onto brick walls if I need to, I have to stop when I draw blood. As I see it, for people with seriously sore skulls, there are two alternative approaches: (1) Back off. Stay within the confines of one's comfort zone while consciously seeing what needs to be done and not making a c...

JP Rizal's final resting place If Jose Rizal were alive today, he would be 151 years old. On June 19th, since Ate Bing, Ate Mary, and I checked out Manila Ocean Park , we thought that it would be a good idea to visit the birthday boy where he actually is: at the Luneta . After all, we were on holiday that day because it was his birthday. This visit certainly beats a brief trip to his parents' house in Calamba (where I suspect most of the activities were held). It's been a long time since I've dropped by the Luneta without planning to. Previously, I was there because of photo-walks, field trips, or the Milo marathon. During those times, the path leading to Rizal's monument were not decked out in celebration of anything. Today, however, flags lined the area not accessible to tourists; there were flowers near his monument; and there was a lively fountain show in the background. It really looked like people were celebrating someone's birthday (at least to ...

One of the nice things of going round and round at the Manila Ocean Park is that it leaves people famished. On Jose Rizal's 151st birth anniversary (a holiday in Laguna), I went there with Ate Bing and Ate Mary . After roaming the first few attractions, we opted to take a seat at Makan Makan and eat lunch there. Makan Makan (the restaurant) was named after makan (the Malaysian verb which means "to eat"). Sounded promising. The next line of the name was a bit more intriguing. "Asian food village" denotes that food from different parts of Asia is represented there. All right, a one-stop shop for someone who wants to eat different cuisines! Makan Makan is found on the floor above the entrance to the Oceanarium. It is strategically located for hungry Ocean Park tourists like the three of us; we came across it just as we exited the Trails to Antarctica exhibit and as my stomach signaled the lunch hour. Inside the restaurant, I thought I was looki...

There's this restaurant in Calamba that I've been wanting to try out for a long time. It's called Pho Hanoi and it's located in Bucal, near the Total Gas Station. A few months after its opening, I was able to drop by for dinner and see if the pho was comparable to what I've tried out in Hanoi  and Redwood City . From outside, the restaurant looks welcoming and clean. Wooden tables are covered with red tablecloths and the lighting appeared inviting; not at all intimidating for a sole diner stopping by for a late dinner. Take note, I arrived there about 8:30 p.m., I think. It certainly helped that the waiting staff and the owners gave a very warm welcome to me as I entered the restaurant. As in the previous Vietnamese restaurants I've tried, I wanted to order pho ga . However, I was surprised that this chicken soup was not available. Instead, Pho Hanoi is offering it's signature soup,  pho Hanoi , and three other selections. Naturally, I had to try t...

While watching Snow White and the Huntsman , I can't shake off the feeling that it's a coming together of so many characters from different stories into one movie plot. It didn't help that the two leads gained icon statuses in previous movies. The story is a retelling of the children's tale about Snow White. This story, however, is definitely NOT the Disney Princess version. It's dark. It's scary. It's ending didn't have the "happily ever after" feeling Giselle had at the close -- okay, all throughout the plot -- of Enchanted. And here we go... Thor and Bella traveled through Narnia, Middle Earth , Pandora , Sherwood Forest , and Underland. Along the way, they met Legolas, Gimli and the other dwarves, Smeagol and Gollum, and Harry 's patronus. All their efforts in the beginning were done to escape Silas and the legionnaires who work for the icy villain, Evil Queen (a mash-up of Lamia, Maleficent, and Voldemort).   And just like i...

Once upon a time, I was reading a short story from a Young America Basic Reading Program book (a required reading in grade school). This story was about people traveling from Earth to somewhere in outer space, whose space ship was saved from asteroids and other floating materials by bubble gum. This story was one of the more memorable ones for me from grade school; no, it's not because of bubble gum. This story made me think about what it must be like to travel in outer space (hence the development of my recently quashed dream of becoming an astronaut ). I'll see you again. Someday. The short story, written probably in the 1970s, was talking about commercial space flights. About forty years after the Young America story has been published, it looks like commercial space flight is almost a reality. That is, after NASA mothballed the Space Shuttle program . Hope unlooked for (for me) came up when SpaceX's first attempt at unmanned space flight went smoothly two w...

Ate Mary and the waxing gibbous moon (Mind Museum, Taguig) Yeah, I'm one of those people who love watching an eclipse. The natural phenomenon, NOT the movie. I got hooked when I had the chance to see my first lunar eclipse one clear evening many years ago. The late Ernie Baron was still the weather reporter on TV Patrol at the time. After his weather report, he announced that the lunar eclipse was about to begin. My siblings, cousins, and I ran out to the street to watch the moon shrink from a yellow-orange orb into a blood red sliver before going back to normal. Naturally, when I got wind of the supermoon eclipse on June 4, I was very excited to watch it... even if it's just a partial one. I was excited because the moon's supposed to be HUGE! With a huge chunk missing! I wished then that I could have taken at least a photo; but since I couldn't, I decided to sit back, relax, and enjoy the show. And so once the sky finally darkened, I found mysel...