Saturday, September 29, 2007

Crazy Over Cubing

This is definitely number one on my Christmas wish list. My addiction to the Rubik's Cube has definitely soared to greater heights during these past few days. It must be because of the stress of impending deadlines and reports. Solving the Rubik's Cube has been my consistent stress-reliever and pressure outlet that has kept me sane for quite some time.

I heard that the watch costs around PhP2,600. The price is what I expected since, after all, it is a swatch. Though this is not really a Rubik's Cube watch, it definitely captures it. I'd pick this one over the Lego watch that I salivated at a few months ago when I saw it in the wrists of some people that I know.





On October 7, 2007 I will be joining my first speedcubing competition. It will be held in the Toys 'R Us Robinsons Galleria Branch in the afternoon (2:30 PM). I don't expect to win in the competition. I just want to have a sense at how good/fast I already am. But I am hoping that I can qualify to the top 10.


Wednesday, September 19, 2007

I Have a Dream

It's to solve a great puzzle in record time.


Mouth-watering brain-bending finger-flexing galore!



Calling all single, young, male, Catholic professionals, and graduate students - consider the Jesuits.

Thursday, September 13, 2007

Haunted by a Ghost of the Past

It's difficult to live with a dark past. It always catches up on me when I least expect it. It's harder when your failure is on black and white.


Goodbye Singapore.

Wednesday, September 12, 2007

I have Vertigo

It's Benign Positional Vertigo, and I hate it.



Is the Erap conviction that big a deal? If Gloria won't get jailed in at most 5 years, then it doesn't matter at all.

Friday, September 07, 2007

It's Hard Being Left All Alone

...especially when you come face to face with your greatest fear















- Flying Ipis

Saturday, September 01, 2007

Gender Issues and Gift Giving
Gift Giving Issue

Today is the birthday of my brother. As my parents would always do, they brought us to a restaurant. That was their gift to my brother. It was a restaurant in The Fort, I forgot the name. It was our first time to eat there and by the looks of the place (and the menu), it was an expensive place to eat in. My parents thought it was a nice idea to dine there since we were supposed to be celebrating a special occassion. But while we were on the way there until we were already eating, my brother kept on saying that we should just have gone to a cheaper place near our house since both have almost the same menus.

When my brother went to the comfort room, I confronted my parents. I asked them whether they will be giving my brother a gift or not. They said they weren't. Then, a thought struck me. Maybe that was the reason why my brother kept talking about dining in a cheaper place. Maybe, in his mind, he would prefer celebrating at a lower cost as long as he can get a gift. My parents mindset was that given a low budget, they'd rather spend it on expensive food rather than on giving my brother a gift.

For a few seconds, I gathered my thoughts. People usually think that spending time with your loved ones is enough of a gift for anyone during special occassions. But I am wondering why this is not the case for my brother and also for me. Dinner-bonding time with the family has always been the birthday gift that we received for the longest time. No gifts. No money. Nothing. For the longest time, I thought I was the only one who resent this. But now I realize that my brother is also experiencing it. Thus, it lead me to a generalization that maybe this "spending time with your loved ones is gift enough" is a female concept. I know a lot of female friends of mine who is much more satisfied with these bonding times than receiveing actual gifts. Sure, some men enjoy drinking sprees with 'Da Boys but that is incomparable to the sparkle in his eyes when he receives something from anyone.

This generalization, as of now, is a bit crude. Maybe there are other contributing factors for mine and my brother's common experince. Maybe it's our financial status. Maybe it's the fact that we, the children, do not talk with our parents during meals (except to complain about the food). But I am not fully discarding my gender theory.



Gender Issue

This morning we discussed about social exclusion brought about by gender stereotypes. During the course of the discussion, I was wondering, is there really equality between men and women? We do understand that there are clear, glaring physiological differences between men and women. I am not making any value judgement on which is better than the other. But we must take into consideration that theses physical differences - testosteron vs. estrogen - do translate in differences in traits and characteristics. These basic physical differences may account for the different roles that each gender play. What if nature really dictates the roles of men and women? If we do accept this, what is the value of this movements for empowerment and gender liberation? Feminists and the likes claim that society exerts pressure on gender groups due to the stereotypes imposed upon them. But if nature has a specific program for us, wouldn't these movements only result to more strain and tension? What if men are really from Mars and women are really from Venus?

If we accept these deterministic assumptions, what is the room for maneuver? Female empowerment has always been framed in relation to male roles and qualities. Why? Because male qualities are always attributed to positive outcomes (success, achievements, asenso). But if we live in a world where aggressiveness and machismo are subordinate values to affection and emotions, then the ideal measure would be that of the female-kind. Thus the space for maneuver is not the concept of gender stereotypes but on society's concept of the ideal. According to my experience, gender stereotypes are very true. I do not know if it's just a self-fulfilling prophecy or not. Those who claim that they do not fall under these stereotypes are often more of exceptions than a rule. Thus, there maybe some merit to these stereotypes.



Conclusion

Given my empirical experience with gift-giving and gender issues, there may be some validity to my idea on the importance of giving actual gifts to men. But this is a very rough and crude formulation of mine.

Just a disclaimer - these are just theoretical musings of mine. Personally, I do not subscribe to this view. I do believe in gender empowerment. What I'm trying to do here is more of trying to make sense of things on my own.