In My Own Words - Ron Centeno

Last Sunday, the weather was damp and sent me feeling lethargic. It took me awhile to get up from bed trying to ponder what I would do next after downing a sizable cup of green tea.

At any rate, I managed to grab the L.A. Times, browsed it, and tossed it away after. But like most of the previous headlines about how bad the economy is, the news articles would only exacerbate my snoozy Sunday.

So I boiled more water for my second serving of green tea, plus, five pieces of “hopiang pandan” to counter the brazen weather. The hot tea perked me up a bit now and I needed to do something stimulating to while away my time. Throwing my fingers into the keyboard to write about anything, however, was not one of them. I just wanted to sit back and relax. I was all alone.

I had to amuse myself for whatever means possible. Hence, I dug into my DVD rack and loaded a comedy movie starring Steve Martin. After a couple of hours, I loaded another comedy film called Harold & Kumar – Escape from Guantanamo Bay, starring John Cho and Kal Penn. Two hours later, I loaded the third one, this time it’s a movie that has been sitting in the rack for years now. A movie that has earned praises from mostly girls or women in love.

For some reason, I have more funny, musical, horror, and action movies sitting in that rack, nonetheless, gave a thought on this movie described by Gene Shalit on The Today Show as, “A matchless romantic comedy.” The New York Observer calls it, “Uplifting and Delightful.” Fox TV says, “A perfect blend of comedy and romance.” The movie I’m talking about that was released in 2001 is simply called Serendipity, starring John Cusack and Kate Beckinsale. (Serendipity is the effect by which one accidentally discovers something fortunate, especially while looking for something else entirely).

“Jonathan (Cusack) and Sara (Beckinsale) meet unexpectedly…then part without expectation when she decides they must let fate determine if they are meant to be together. Years later, they are both engaged to others but cannot give up the dream that-despite time, distance and the obstacles that conspire to keep them apart-they will one day meet again!”

The movie was, indeed, funny and romantic. More importantly, however, it made me nostalgic about Manhattan. Now that I call Los Angeles my current address, having been to the exact location to most of the scenes in that movie was rather amusing to me. It was in Manhattan where Ces and I have first dated.

Thanks to Serendipity! My Sunday weekend has never been the same after watching it.

So, just when thought I could go back to reading “The Marcos Dynasty” by Sterling Seagrave, I found out that I have been tagged by my new found friend David Funk of Basic Blogonomics! I'm sorry Sterling but you have to wait. :-)

The basic premise is this – answers should all be “at the current moment.”

Let's do this. PLS. CLICK HERE TO READ MORE!

I would like to pass this tag to 5 of my favorite bloggers, namely:

1) Sherwin Calalang of "Mokong (Anu’ng Nasa Isip Ko)"

2) Gilbert of “"Gillboard"

3) Ck_leik of"Beyond Crypticness"

4) Czel of "Vanity’s Child"

5) Goddy Ramirez of"A Friend Named Goddy"

In the U.S., baseball is the country’s long-time favorite pastime that dates back in the 1860’s. In the ensuing years following The Great Depression of the 1930’s, many financially grief-stricken Americans found themselves at the ball parks to find solace in playing or watching the ball game. Since its inception, the likes of the legendary hitters such as Babe Ruth and Jackie Robinson became iconic by raising the popularity of the game. Relative to this increased popularity, game attendance followed by radio and television viewership later in years, have dramatically surged, enriching the league’s players.

In recent years, baseball’s great sluggers including Mark McGwire, Sammy Sosa, and Barry Bonds, all accused of steroid-abuse scandal of the mid-2000’s, have pushed the limit for the very fat salary offered by the team franchises. In turn, they have been put under pressure to break previous home run records and ultimately break the law in the process. Notwithstanding, baseball is America’s game, because for the most part, it is about tradition that connects the old and future generations at a time when different adversities divide them.

Elsewhere, the game of soccer is South and Central Americas’ all-time favorite. There is nothing more evident than the so-called Football War of 1969 between El Salvador and Honduras to prove such point. El Salvador is a small country with high population growth and a severely limited amount of available land. In contrast, Honduras is a larger country with a smaller population and a less-developed economy. By 1969, about 300,000 El Salvadorans had crossed over the border and squatted in the sparsely populated Honduras. The illegal incursion of the El Salvadorans had become a nationalistic sore point for Honduras.

To make up for his tarnished reputation, Honduran President Oswaldo Lopez Arellano (1963 – 71) revived a dormant agrarian reform law as a pretext to expel the El Salvadoran squatters from the country. The tale of the displaced refugees painted an ugly picture in El Salvador’s dailies and airwaves. In retaliation, when a soccer match was held in El Salvador, the Honduran team members were vilified and harassed by the Salvadoran fans. The ensuing event brought unintended or otherwise consequence called the Football War and as many as 2,000 people, mainly civilians, were killed in the action.

In the Philippines, their pastime is a uniquely different kind of game called jueteng. The game is an illegal numbers betting played by rich and poor alike. The mechanics of the game is to select a combination of two numbers between 1 and 37. Despite the high odds or 1/666 to be exact, the lucrative payout is nowhere difficult to resist which raises its mass appeal in all corners of the country. The game depends largely on the large number of wagers and there is no limit to the amount of the bets.

While the legion of wagers is bountiful, those who run the game have become extremely rich by sucking the hard-earned income from the poor. On the average, a mayor of one municipality who benefits from the game, earns a whopping P50,000 each draw. If my elementary mathematics serves me right, a mayor’s take home is about P150,000 given the three draws each day. One would wonder how much the country’s president gets a single day.

The exact amount is hard to determine. One thing is sure, however. In 2001, Erap Estrada was removed from office when Governor Chavit Singson, a known gambling lord in northern Luzon, blew his whistle and accused the former president of jueteng payoffs. Following their testimonies in the Senate, Estrada’s cobrador who turned state-witnesses, graphically described how they would unload sacks of money into Erap’s presence. In 2005,Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s relatives were likewise alleged to have received payoffs from jueteng operators.

What makes this game appealing to the very grassroots of the Philippine society?

Interestingly enough, the game of jueteng evokes the folkloric notions of good and bad luck. Wagers associate their dreams to the numbers from a combination of symbolic premonitions. For instance, if a bettor dreamed of his bald neighbor to have been shot dead with 45 caliber, and bald being represented by number 70 and 45 caliber being 45, the combination of 70 and 45 would be his notional winning numbers. The ability or inability to interpret such supernatural powers is perceived to influence forces of nature. Or so it seemed.

It is no coincidence that out of the three draws, morning, noon, and evening, the morning draw commands the most number of bets. The evening draw comes in second after the bettor took his siesta at noon.

The other reason for its apparent appeal is that the cobrador literally knocks at bettor’s door to solicit bets. This saves the bettor the time to travel to retail stores compared to say, lotto or other form of legalized gambling. A one peso bet translates into a prize-money of around four hundred to one thousand pesos. Winnings are then delivered straight to the bettor by the same cobrador.

The game’s rule of engagement evokes simplicity. Bettors do not have to sign any written contracts. The transaction between the bettor and the cobrador is done through informal negotiations. Despite the lack of any formalities, a relationship that is built on trust, provides security for the bettors.

Given the mass appeal of jueteng, it is no surprise that Filipinos from all walks of life, either tricycle drivers or parish priests, tambays or school teachers, mayors or the presidents of the country, have become part and parcel of what is now a cultural menace that would surely survive all the generations to come.

Nothing can be more of a detailed description how economic downturn in the U. S. is best exemplified by the story published on 28 February 2009 by the New York Times. The title of the article is aptly called, “After Being Laid Off, an Unexpected Career Change.”

According to the article, nine months ago, Mark Cooper lost his job as the security manager for the western United States for a Fortune 500 company that oversaw a budget of $1.2 million and earning about $70,000 a year. That was then. Now, Mr. Cooper makes $12 an hour as a janitor.

The likes of Mr. Cooper, however, is not unique. The Bureau of Labor Statistics found that “about 1.7 million people were working part-time in January because they could not find full-time work.” The article added that “architects, former sales managers and executives who have taken on lower-paying, stop-gap jobs to help make ends meet, found that they were working for places like U.P.S., a Verizon Wireless call center and a liquor store.”

The article gave more stunning accounts of laid-off executives whose once lucrative income vanished into thin air when the companies they have been working suffered economic setbacks since the onset of recession in 2007.

In the case of Mr. Cooper and his wife who own a comfortable four-bedroom home in Glendale, Arizona, the $240 a week unemployment benefit would not be enough to cover their monthly mortgage.

Left without a choice, “Mr. Cooper rises every day at 4 a.m. and, after a time of prayer, devotes two hours to his job hunt on the computer.” He makes phone contacts during breaks from his pickup truck which he calls his “office.”

Indeed, life has gone from bad to worse in most cases. As another former executive who used to earn $165,000 a year and now gets $10 - $15 an hour as a data entry mournfully admits “It has been the hardest thing in my life. It has been harder than my divorce from my husband. It has really been even worse than the death of my mother.”

I’m sure many of us are profoundly affected by the recession and hope that it would end in the soonest possible time. For all of us who may or may not share the same personal crisis as Mr. Cooper, his heartbreaking courage to “vigorously shake out a rug at a back entrance and pushing a dust mop down a long hallway” should humble us to boldly face what life there is at times like this.

May God help us all!

Albert Einstein points out that time seems so quick to pass by when things matter most and the opposite is true when things are insignificant. Einstein must be referring to his theory of relativity in relation to time and space. I do not attempt to discuss such theory here but I can’t seem to help but relate Einstein’s observation of the passing of the time to my personal experience.

On August 11, 2006, I met Ces in Queens, New York. I was alone in my apartment on a Friday night after wrapping up an assigned thesis that I needed to submit Monday morning. I was in my second semester then at the Graduate School of Business at the Universityof Maryland. Pretty boring I thought and time seemed to have gotten stuck. I needed a way out to amuse myself. I raised myself up from a chair before the computer table. Moments later, I decided to hit the door to grab a bite of kalderatang kambing along Roosevelt Avenuewhere a number of Pinoy bands perform every weekend at the Perlas ng Silangan bar and restaurant. The bar is few blocks away and I had to drag my feet to while away time. Indeed, there seemed to be nothing significant along the line.

I spoke too soon. As soon as I was ushered in, I found my eyes transfixed to a woman sitting two tables away. Immediately, my sense of time was racing like the speed of light. Four hours turned into four minutes. And after the whirling four hours, the band was managing its last song and the lights were fading in. It was time to get up and I seemed to barely notice it. For the last four hours, I had been contemplating on how to approach the lovely woman. I simply couldn’t muster enough courage. But I must have to find a way no matter what. Otherwise, time would run out.

Just right outside the door, armed with determination, I finally met Ces . We shook hands, exchanged quick pleasantries and took off to Café Lalo with the nudging from her two friends. They had some chocolate cakes and cups of coffee. I had two shots of tequila. I thought there was something to celebrate and the tequila was a quick fix for a very short time. After an hour, we had to hit the road. It was already past three in the morning.

Ces and I were sitting next to each other at the rear passenger seats. One of her friends, Rey, was behind the wheel. The other is Nilds, his wife. The streets were seemingly empty. Driving along Queens Blvdwas exceedingly easy. Traffic lights were uncooperatively green. If only I had the ability to stop the hands of time or paint those lights red. In minutes, Rey pulled the car over. I had to get off. It was then that I realized the genius of Albert Einstein.