Exempted

I was driving in very heavy traffic along EDSA this morning on my way to work when two motorcycle cops with blaring sirens suddenly signalled me to stop. I did, and then a big black SUV with another white back-up vehicle wheezed past my car.

Only then did I see the bold stickers on the side of the SUV simply saying BAYANI (with a Philippine flag) and realized that it was my favorite MMDA Chair BF, maybe also on his way to work. These guys have the privilege to go ahead of everybody else, no matter how heavy the traffic is.

I guess these things have become quite usual in this country and if you see BF caught in traffic like everybody else, that will merit inclusion in Ripley's collection.

As I moved forward after making way for a privileged "public servant", I found myself behind a Pascual Liner bus with plate number NYB-312. The first thing I noticed was the smell, although my car's air conditioning was on. The smell of heavy smoke, or smog maybe, was noticeable inside my car, coming from thick black smoke from the bus' tailpipe.

This is probably another exemption from the Clean Air Act, courtesy of some nice guys from the DENR, from MMDA, from the PNP or from the local government units which have jurisdiction over the EDSA stretch. We do not need to "discover" or "unearth" hard evidence to conclude that a bus is belching thick black smoke. We only need to see.

Even the guys wearing pink T-shirts in the EDSA center islands do not give a hoot, in spite of the message on their shirts - BAYANI AKO NG LANSANGAN. Of course, this is another exemption from election laws flaunted by the guy who just wheezed by along with his escorts.

Indeed, this country is a country of exemptions! The rules are only for those who are not "exempted"!

Bargain?

Yesterday I got myself a new MP4 player with a 1 megapixel videocam for only P880. The unit is supposed to be made in Japan. Supposed to be, but the price is not. For its price, its features are rather superb. It can take pictures, videos, play MP3 music, MP4 videoclips, record audio materials, do slide shows and even interphase with a TV set for picture and video viewing. It has its own mini speaker on board. With its internal 1 gigabyte memory it could store some 1000 or so photos which can be downloaded to a computer or even printed in a photo studio. I even bought an extra secure digital (SD) card (2GB) to make room for large video files. The icons in its menu are even animated and it has many of the regular functions of the more expensive digital cameras or videocams. I thought the whole deal was perfect - until I got home to install the softwares on my PC. I found out that the software was rather outdated, to say it kindly. Perhaps a better or more appropriate word is Jurassic because it only works with Windows 98! The operating system (OS) on my PC is Windows Vista and I have an XP on my laptop. I remember that the last time I used 98 was some years ago. That's what I get for going for a bargain that is supposed to be "Made in Japan".

Ortographic Drawing

As I sit on my PC, I noticed a small sheet of paper with some drawings on it, particularly ortographic drawings showing three-dimensional properties. I refer to the front view, the side view and the end view.

I learned about these types of drawings when I was in first year high, many many years ago. I went to a vocational high school and we spent one hour every morning in Drawing, a subject that I enjoyed most.

At first we did freehand drawing, that is, without using rulers or any straight edge. So we did horizontal lines, vertical lines, diagonal lines, etc. From there we proceeded to ortographic drawing using our T-squares, triangles and rulers.

Learning to do this type of drawing helps one to visualize things from a three-dimensional perspective. To this day, these early-in-life lessons are still valuable. They are foundation lessons that we can utilize throughout our whole lifetime, practically.

Like reading, writing and arithmetic which are believed to be the very foundation of all learning, drawing skills are also useful for visualizing, designing, creating things that benefit people.

What other things have we learned from high school which are still useful today?

What should I write about?

The best thing to do is to write about the first thing that comes to mind or the first thing that takes my fancy.

Let me first write about rosemary, not the lady but the herb that is supposed to go well with meat dishes. I write about rosemary because it is the herb that is pictured in my coffee mug as I write.

I have used dried rosemary mixed with peppercorns on my steak and it tastes good. I intended to buy rosemary on a pot so I can have fresh supply everytime I need some. I am told that I can buy a package of rosemary seeds ready for planting, together with the pot and planting culture for a measly P100.

Maybe I should try this one. Robinson's Handyman has some of this.