Here lies
A middle-aged man
Whose life was defined daily
By a round metallic coffee table
With an empty chair,
A full-cup of black coffee,
A half-burned cigarette stick
And an ashtray filled with memories.
May his abandoned soul,
Soaked by droplets of rain
And coffee spill
Eternally
Rest
In
Peace
Modern Day Sisyphus
(April 12, 1976-April 11, 2012)
Tatlong Kakaibang Salita
(Three Oddest Words by Wislawa Szymborska, translated by Jocel de Guzman)
Sa tuwing bibigkasin ko ang salitang kinabukasan,
bahagi na kaagad ang mga unang kataga nito ng kahapon.
Sa tuwing bibigkasin ko ang salitang katahimikan,
pinapatay ko kaagad ang kanyang diwa.
Sa tuwing bibigkasin ko ang salitang kawalan,
nakakabuo ako ng isang kamalayan na di kayang hagkan ninuman
The Three Oddest Words
When I pronounce the word Future,
the first syllable already belongs to the past.
When I pronounce the word Silence,
I destroy it.
When I pronounce the word Nothing,
I make something no non-being can hold.
Sixty days before the biggest road bicycle race in the country, the organizer of LBC Ronda Pilipinas will conduct a family fun ride and a test race for the 16 teams entitled “LBC Ronda Pilipinas: Ronda Na!” on July 24, 2011 in Luneta, Manila.
“LBC Ronda Pilipinas: LBC Ronda Na! ” is for the benefit of the Bike Patrol Unit of the Philippine National Police-Manila Police District (PNP-MPD) Tourist Police where the organizing sponsor LBC Express, Inc. shall donate bicycles from the proceeds of the family fun ride.
The LBC Ronda Pilipinas: LBC Ronda Na! shall also feature the 13 regional teams, 2 commercial teams and the Under-23 Philippine Team competing against each other during the said test race.
The route will start and finish along Roxas Boulevard at the Kilometer Zero across the Rizal monument. It will cover a distance of 4.6 kilometers per lap from Roxas Boulevard to Burgos St. until the Quirino Avenue junction and back to Roxas Boulevard southbound for the finish. Number of Laps will vary according to different categories.
There will be four categories composed of the 1) Family Fun Ride which is opened to all ages and all types of bicycles will cover 3 Laps will start at 9:00AM, 2) Men’s Sportive Class for Non-professional ages 15 to 40 years old with Road Racer bicycle will cover 5 Laps , 3) Men’s Sportive Class for Non-professional ages 41 yrs old and up with Road Racer bicycle will also cover 5 Laps and 4) Elite/Professional Race for the 16 teams competing for LBC Ronda Pilipinas will cover 8 Laps.
Participants in the Sportive Class and Elite/Professional Competition will pay an entry Fee of P300.00 and a chance to win medals and cash prizes. While the participants in the Family Fun Ride will only pay P 100.00 and chance to win in the raffle prizes. Onsite registration will start at 7:00am Luneta Park in front of Rizal Park.
My Rule of Thumb: THUMBS UP
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So there I was, looking from left to right and vice versa as if I was doing something illegal, something criminal. When the coast was clear and found no authorities watching, I lighted a stick of Marlboro on the sidewalk of Pasong Tamo Extension in front of Starbucks Coffee which is a very busy street in Makati and considered to be a “public place”. Since July 1, 2011 smoking in public places in the Philippines has become illegal.
So yes, technically, I was indeed doing an illegal activity. I was breaking the law.
But it was not my fault. It was Starbucks’ fault.
After being a patron of Starbucks brand since the time they first opened in the 6750 Building in 1997, I was shocked and saddened to find out that all of its branches nationwide have no longer a smoking area. As in all, even the one inside Resorts World where the entire building is practically a smoking area.
Starbucks Coffee just lost one customer who consumed one to two mugs of brewed coffee a day for more than a decade. I used to hold almost all my meetings outside the office in Starbucks because of the smoking area they used to have.
How many Starbucks customers like me who are now seeking nicotine refuge while enjoying a cup of coffee in Bo’s Coffee, Coffee Bean and Tealeaf and Figaro?
Coffee is the perfect match for smoking and given the number of smokers among middle class working men and women, Starbucks is losing at least 40% of its customers in all branches nationwide. Convert that in sales value and I am telling you, they are losing income.
Smoking may be bad for my health but it is good for my soul. It keeps me sane from the madness of this world. Since time immemorial like two to ten centuries ago, man was already smoking and it is only in this time that the health issues have been raised. It’s not smoking nor second hand smoke but the pollution caused by deadlier smoke emission in vehicles and factories that contributed to the increasing number of lung failure fatalities.
Speaking on behalf of all smokers, we respect the rights of non-smokers and that is why we patronize coffee shops with smoking areas. With the new regulation of Starbucks Coffee, it only means that its management doesn’t want our business and so we will take it elsewhere.
Thus, I urge all fellow smokers to boycott Starbucks Coffee and let us bring our business in coffee shops with smoking areas.
Boycott Starbucks Coffee!
My Rule of Thumb for Starbucks No Smoking Policy: TRIPLE THUMBS DOWN!!!
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Perhaps it can be considered as the most exciting exhibition game in the history of Philippine football. The PH Azkals fell short against the United Football League (UFL) selection with a score of 3-4 last June 5 at the University of Makati. It was a see-saw battle filled with suspense as both teams tried to outwit and outplay each other with UFL All Star scoring the final goal to break the deadlock with less than a minute left in the game.
The venue was filled with an estimated 5,000 spectators and the match was televised live on Studio 23 earning a 1.9% ratings considering that it was on a UHF channel and it was not really advertised. Ofcourse, the crowd drawer was the Azkals but people were treated with fanstastic football game.
Many were expecting the Azkals to walk with an easy victory but the UFL All Star were more determined to win considering that the game was their opportunity to showcase the quality of football of their league. It was the UFL’s coming out party proving that there is an abundance of football talent in the Philippines outside the national team.
Although the UFL All Star won, the real winner of the game is Philippine football. The UFL is the only club based football league in the country started by LBC Express, Inc. long before the rise of the popularity of the Azkals. Half of the members of the Azkals are playing for a UFL team including its team capatin, Aly Borromeo who comes from the Kaya FC in the UFL.
UFL is a training ground for future Azkals and with the quality of play that was witnessed last Sunday, the future of Philippine football is very promising.
My Rule of Thumb on Azkals vs. UFL All Star: THUMBS UP.
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The birth of Filipino football consciousness began when our national football team more popularly known with the brand name, Azkals, pulled off an upset against Vietnam in the Suzuki Cup last year.
Philippine Football Icons
Suddenly, football is part of Philippine pop culture particularly the good looking Fil-European players of the Azkals who now enjoy the adoration or even obsession of many Filipinos whether a real fan of the sport or not. Right now, the state of football in the country has been focused more on the players of the Azkals. It has yet to transcend into its full potential as a sport that Filipinos can really excel internationally.
All the funding by advertisers and private sectors have been placed into the national football team or Azkals but not into the actual development of the sport at the grassroots level. The advertisers are buying in and cashing in into the brand recall of the Azkals but not to really help football.
Yet, even before the sudden surge of the popularity of Azkals, one company already put its money on Philippine football development by gathering all existing football clubs and forming a league that no one advertisers wanted to support when they were still starting. Several years ago, LBC Express, Inc. already initiated the formation of a football alliance that gave life to United Football League or UFL.
Prime mover of UFL: LBC's Santi Araneta (in red)
Unlike its basketball counterpart, the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA), only the real fans of football knew about the football league. Yet, because LBC is passionate in supporting real football development, it became the real commercial backbone of UFL for several years now.
We did not read about game results in the sports pages of the national dailies because no one in the sports media wanted to cover it. UFL had no commercial value during the first years of it birth. Yet, half of the members of the Azkals came from the UFL.
The popularity of the Azkals slightly pushed the commercial value of UFL as well to a certain degree. On June 5, 2011, the UFL and football development will say hello to the consciousness of the millions of Azkal fans. The real potential of the Azkals will be tested locally as they face the best players of UFL in what is coined as “UFL All Stars versus Azkals”.
The football game on June 5, 2011 will be televised live on Studio 23.
The development of football lies in the league such as UFL where future players of the Azkals would come from eventually. Football as a sport in the country is still in its infancy stage and a league such as the UFL which needs the support of the Filipinos will help nurture a bright future where we can have a crop of Azkals generation after generation.
My Rule of Thumb on Azkals vs. UFL All Star: THUMBS UP.
Follow me on Twitter: www.twitter.com/joceldeguzman
If you want to read my other blog entries about Philippine football click links below:
http://joceldeguzman.wordpress.com/2010/12/22/the-myth-of-phil-younghusband/
There, in a darkened little room
An old man racks an empty wooden cradle while
Humming an out of tune lullaby
To calm his crying soul
His memory is slowly fading
Like the orange sunset every afternoon
He can only remember the
Sad thoughts of an absurd existence
And the illusion of a meaningful life.
He weeps as he struggles to recollect
In his dying days
The only happy moments he once had
When he was still being comforted
By the warmth of that old cradle
- Jocel de Guzman
April 12, 2002
Follow me on Twitter: www.twitter.com/joceldeguzman
Jocel de Guzman