about the golden compass

I feel like an original fan. I swear, until recently when the hype for Golden Compass movie has reached the airwave, television, etc, etc, it wasn't popular at all here in the Philippines. I read the book like five or six years years ago, and I was astounded as to why oh why Harry Potter remained more talked about than Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials series, which includes The Golden Compass or Northern Lights as its first book. At school for instance, there were only 3 or 5 people who knew the series. Now, it's like everyone knows what's coming up in theaters this December seven. And people are actually reading the books! Not that it's a bad thing really, it's actually good now that I can talk to people about the books. I just feel like like all of them became fans only after New Line Cinema's successful marketing. I became a fan because I looked for the books years ago. I should be given an award or something.

Oh, and I'm a big fan of the books because they narrate this awesome story about growing up, how we approach life and how God figures in all of these. Here's an excerpt from an interview with Philip Pullman by Claudia FitzHerbert which so describes a major theme in the books:

FitzHerbert: "The Authority in 'His Dark Materials' is a force for repression throughout. What do you say to critics who ask where is the good that is done by religion?"

Pulman: "...The interesting - the curious - question is, if people can be helped by something that is palpably not true, is this better than denying the thing that is not true and not being helped? When I say palpably not true I am speaking from my perspective as an atheist. This perspective thing is important: if I compare the tiny amount of things that I know to all the things I don't know, then of course out there in the darkness there may be God. So from that perspective I'm an agnostic. But then, if we imagine being inside a camera coming closer and closer to this tiny pinprick of light - to the things that we do know - then as we come closer the pinprick gets bigger, as things do, until finally it reaches from horizon to horizon and we are standing inside the light. From this perspective - which is all the things I know - we can see quite clearly there is no God, so in that respect I'm an atheist..."

- Source: http://www.literaryreview.co.uk/pullman_08_07.html

what's a "job" on networking?

It turns out that the company I'm supposed to apply for was about "networking". I don't know the exact terminology for this one, but it's "very scam-able" in the Philippines. lol! I think it's essentially about earning by recruiting people- and you've got to pay to join. I think it's called "pyramiding" in this portion of the third world.

The hr rep was very particular that they were looking for "business partners" not employees. He said this after I mildly berated him over the phone about how he wasn't very good at explaining the kind of job people they're recruiting were suposed to fill. After learning from Ka that the company's about networking, I SMSed the hr rep about how I wasn't interested in such type of "profession" (yes we need those quotation marks). I lied saying that I would be attending another interview for a more clear-cut kind of employment (as a research assistant) later this afternoon instead.

Uck. And that intriguing Senate Inquiries in school later today was cancelled because people wouldn't be in school. Classes have been cancelled for three days already due to storms. I swear, people should stop praying for rain.

priorities

I can finally write about actual life scenarios now that my self-aggrandizing mode is over. I'll be having a job interview/seminar(?) for some fictitious company. Their hr rep called the other day telling me about how Nikolai, who was a high school batchmate, reffered me to their company. It could possibly spell cash I thought. So I entertained him. He singularly told me that they were an American company, that they distribute imports, and that an orientation would be held on friday (tomorrow). I said I would go, despite my teeming suspicions. What added to this was the nervousness of the rep. He seemed jittery with all those ass-kissing remarks for me. The company's name's something like Synergy1 International. The meeting's supposed to be on 15th floor Octagon Center, Ortigas. Just in case I die tomorrow, the above details some of their modus operandi.

I really hope I won't waste time. I'm wishing this won't be another call center company. Ugh. I dropped attending the Senate Inquiries (something about pertinent issues of the youth today) with Winnie Monsod, Sen. Estrada, Sen. Pangilinan, et al in school tomorrow. I scheduled this would-be-job-offer instead. This should be good.

metaphysical hullabaloo

Last Wednesday, after having coffee and the usual endless chit-chats with some high school buddies, I decided to write something about outgrowing your best friends. I even wrote something in my journal (the physical one, obviously). It was something like noticing their limits and that, because of these limits, they won't ever understand you. They will remain trap in their own world, defending how they understand things. But I decided otherwise. I decided not to pursue the thought.

I mean, friendship's not supposed to be about who's at your level or whether you understand things in the same way. And, at that, I'm not even questioning this ludicrous notion of how to arrange people in your own version of the world. They may never understand me the way I want them to but it doesn't mean I can't remain believing that they're probably one of the few people who can.

On a related string of thought. I read from another friend's article(?) something about finding beauty/meaning etc in the totality revealed to us. I was like " been there done that" while reading the rest of her entry. It was about her mother, which I thought was very thoughtful and nice, but I utterly disagree with this. I think it's pretense to think that you actually know how everyone fits perfectly well in this totality presented to you; and the way it was written was all semi-poetic, which adds to that drama of finding beauty. But, to be fair, she's in her junior year. I was thinking the same thing when I was her age, I think. I understood Aletheia that way too (or maybe I just didn’t understand what she really meant). But beauty is something else, I guess. It's not about notions of systems or worlds and how what you see fits in that whole. It's mere recognition that something other than yourself is right in front of you, without you trying to define it. It's something that escapes- this to me is beauty.

meanwhile, on the physical plane

Classes are suspended tomorrow. This only means one thing. It means that students shall efficiently make use of it to further their efforts procrastinating. To me, it means that I'll have more time making a career out of staging a storm-in-a-teacup coup d'etat in Perspectives in Development class 2 (?). It turns out that I'm not the only one who feels the skul-bukol syndrome every time recitation starts. We (I think 7 of us) plan on having a group study before class time and a scripted recitation during class. We can't take it anymore; anyone can just speak up mindlessly despite not having anything read for the class- and this doesn't motivate us to read. Some of us actually want to learn. But of course, we only plan on having a real good discussion during class time. We actually believe in the teacher, really. We're not planning to murder him of course. We're a Christian university after all.

In other news, it's official. My long motivated tendency to label my thesis adviser a bully has sufficiently been substantiated by the rather acerbic combination of tongue-lashing homily about punctuality and shameless cathartic display of disappointment he made hours ago during our thesis advisement session. There we were, with the three of us eyes boring the shiny surface of the conference table while he lambasted the fourth member of our group. Mr. Fourth Member, after barely recovering from the unanticipated vituperation, tried to sound enthusiastic about submitting the next installment for his thesis, but to no avail. Mr. Thesis Adviser, after dismissing excuses on meager improvements since Mr. Fourth member's last submission, asked him to "JUST LEAVE". I swear, I even saw Mr. Thesis Adviser emit a hint of black smoke through his nose. And, I half expected Mr. Fourth Member to just voluntarily keel over and decapitate himself- I mean I would if I was in his place. I was half-wishing the session to end and half-restraining myself to crack a joke to happily conclude round one. But, Mr. Fourth Member had already "walked out" and the ominous black smoke was already gone.

I'd say it was unnecessary, even bordering on the theatrical. I'd even say that it went beyond his habit of deflating students' egos. (And seriously, If you'd permit a bit of drama, I'd say he went from mere ego deflation to really breaking the poor guy's spirit.) It may also be that I'm once again not in tune with the times. Is humiliation the current trend for motivating slackers these days? I must watch more TV.