Pit Boss

My Life As A Professional

The closest to perfection a person ever comes is when he or she fills out a curriculum vitae.

This I came to realize in the early 80's when in midstream, I decided to apply for a computer tech job. Computers had come to the forefront. I wanted to be there.

Anyway, back to my original thought.

Curriculum vitae.

Super fancy term, right? You might know or have heard of it if you are French, took French, visited France as an exchange student, or simply like Camembert cheese on your baguette.

The term is Latin for course of life, often shortened to CV. It is a short written summary of a person's career, qualifications, and education. 

Going over my CV when I applied for a Computer Lab position at a community college's High Tech Center made me feel fabulous.

I had world lit degrees. I was a university instructor in a prestigious state university, was field interviewer for a Chicago university research laboratory, and an administrative assistant for a Cook County Hospital physician.

I was a published writer.

Curriculum Vitae. Original document: 1977

Publications. Original CV attachment: 1977

Plus I had just completed a data processing degree with high honors, and was conversant in computer languages, among other things.

I got the job.

At first, it seemed different.

But it was basically the same as my previous ones - an environment among faculty and students and administrators but more high-tech. 

Our innovative open-entry/open-exit system whose time had come garnered several full, center-page spread coverage in the college newspaper.

And I was in the midst of it.

 

The pit boss, presiding over the building's so-called sunken pit area that was two-thirds the size of a football field. 

I innovated and programmed a computerized login in BASIC.

Alongside college professors and counselors, I was a regular presenter on career day at various Arizona high schools. 

For tours that I gave to visitors from all over the world, I used my dramatic flair and showed off my piddling knowledge of Spanish and German when called for. 

I also wrote for our online newsletter High-Tech, High-Touch and faced the almost-daily challenges of circumventing computer glitches and bugs.

For sure, there were fun moments, too.

(Below left): One of the munchkins (in striped jumper) in The Yellow Disk Road-themed display at the center on Homecoming Week

(Left): Party time with the Director-birthday celebrant 

A butterfly on Halloween waiting with a student Instructional Associate to give out sweets to the children from the college's Children's Center  

 

 

 I was awarded Employee of the Year and was a featured   employee for the college's Gaucho Gazette. 

  They were years full of promise and possibility.

  Adventures and a new beginning.

  A different perspective.

  An exciting new chapter.

(To be continued)

  

 

Editor Extraordinaire

My Life As A Professional

University teaching seemed like forever ago.

A decade after, halfway around the world, with a Master's Degree...

Master in English and Comparative Literature. Philippinensian Directory of Graduates: March 1971

Daytona Beach, Florida: 1976

... and a couple of sweethawts

... I started a new adventure - working part time as editor-in-chief of The Philippine Chronicle, a fortnightly folio in Chicago.

I knew that I was super-educated on parsing how events were built up to a climactic peak and that I could whip up learned criticisms of world literary masterpieces.

But writing original pieces... that others could critique and analyze!!? I didn't have any academic training on that, save for the adolescent pieces of writing and editing that I did in high school and church camp.

I was back to being a blank slate.

But here was the thing.

I loved journalism. I loved piecing words together to form a coherent thought. 

True, at that time, the technology was old.

(Aside: Those of you born after Publisher will have no idea what I'll be talking about, so I'll explain as I go.) 

I felt like the linotype proofs that I had to edit might have come with the Mayflower. And the Nina and the Pinta and the Santa Maria. 

Linotype is a composing machine that produced lines of words as single strips of metal. It is now rarely used.

I loved the ink smell of the old-fashioned printing press. I loved poring over galley proofs.

A galley proof is a version of a printed piece prepared for the purpose of editing and commentary.

I had to literally cut and paste columns to create page proofs that would then go to final print.

But in all this, I had a heart and a vision and a love of writing.

I loved thinking about what I was going to do for the feature article and how I was going to say it. And then I wondered if readers would actually read it and think like I did, that it was brilliant.

I wrote about my dog Nupling, Pares Puso, Halo-Halo, Christmases Past, etc. (the first two you may remember reprinted in previous blogs).

I wrote from the heart.

I simply wrote me.

(To be continued)

Rockstar Instructor

My Life As A Professional 

I think that you, my loyal readers, already know enough about me.

I’m the type of person that will burst out laughing in dead silence over something that happened the previous day.

I'm over-the-top.

I have no directional knowledge.

But way back, Second Daughter suggested that I write more about me, particularly my work. Not house work. Work work. 

What? Another opportunity to be the center of attention? 

Why not? So here's another About Me series, with special emphasis on work. 

****************************************************************

I felt like I'd just burned all my note cards on Blake for my final thesis in English 199 - the burning of notes being an end-of-the-semester ritual for all the comparative literature classes I've completed.

And now, three months later, it was June. What did it mean in the Philippines? 

Tropical wet climate, oftentimes thunderstorms and flooding. It also signified...

Back.To.School.

Yay!

You may think, Nerd, but yes, it was one of my favorite seasons of the year. As a kid, I loved the smell of paste and fresh school supplies, new outfits, and the chance to crack open a new textbook.

And now, more so.

Outfitted in a blue polka-dotted shift dress and a cream shoulder bag, I was ready.

With Shaw's Freshman English tucked in my arms, I strutted in my Mum's Camara Cuban-heeled shoes toward the Arts and Sciences building.

If you've been paying attention, you may wonder, Why a freshman text? Haven't I just mentioned final thesis at the beginning?

Well, let's take a look back before we jump forward.

Philippinensian Directory of Graduates.
University of the Philippines: March 1965 

Just turned twenty, I graduated cum laude with an English and Comparative Literature undergrad degree in March.

I thought, that (and my impressive paper on Blake) were the winning points for my being recruited by the English Department Chair to be part of the faculty even prior to graduation day.

Yes, I was going back as university instructor. Today was the first day of my life as a professional.

UP Faculty Conference.
Baguio: 1965

I had thought up titles for this post and so many came to mind. Here were my top three:

You’ve Come A Long Way

I Still Can’t Believe It

I'm Definitely Excited 

And, umm... (dramatically channeling Maria in The Sound Of Music): 

What Will This Day Be Like? 

Yep. Seriously.

I had no idea where the road ahead would take me. It was all too new, too replete with possibility.

My heart should be wildly rejoicing. Oh, what's the matter with me? 

But with each step up the fourth floor to my first class, I became more certain that everything would turn out fine. My heart began to sing.

I have confidence the world can all be mine

They'll have to agree, I have confidence in me.

That pep talk to myself paid off.

So proud to say that I was a lot like a rock star during my three years of university teaching.

Every day, I put on my cape sans rhinestones (a reference to Elvis, in case you're too young or unfamiliar) and taught from the heart, not from the book, sometimes using readings of my own choice (mimeographed pages that I sold for.. ahem... profit).

I'd always thought that when students weren't having fun or getting the experience, they were seldom learning effectively. Thus, rather than simply read the words of Ben Jonson's Drink to Me Only With Thine Eyes off a page, I brought my guitar and had the class sing it (you may know it, to the tune of To Celia).

In exploring the science fiction genre, I brought a couple of students to the movie house to see Fantastic Voyage. Back then, this film adventure was a big deal. We gasped as a surgical task force was reduced to microbe size to perform a delicate operation inside the brain of a dying scientist.

I had my students attend poetry reading sessions that were conducted by local university poets. For the unit on theater and drama, I invited a student actor who talked about sets, makeup, emoting, etc.

Every day, I told myself, You got this, Teach. 

Who's going to be awesome?

Me.

(To be continued)

Ariel

Call Of The Sea

This blog extensively uses song lyrics of Part Of Your World from The Little Mermaid movie.

Look around the wonders of her cavern. 

You may think, Isn't this collection complete? Wouldn't you think she's the girl who has everything?

After all, she's got gadgets and gizmos aplenty. 

And whooz-its and whatz-its galore. 

Plus twenty thingamabobs.

But who cares? Ariel, the mermaid princess in the 1989 cinematic classic movie, cries out,  I want more.

As we have known all along, that more is wanting to be human. 

To be where the people are. 

To see them walking around on those, Whadd'ya call 'em? Oh- feet.

So she makes a deal with an evil sea witch to get her wish, but she loses her beautiful voice in the process and must be kissed by her true love to get it back. 

Gasp...

The love story that ensues is very touching.

To relive the fantasy, watch it now. 

Watch it again.

Explore the ocean below.

Make a splash with Ariel and be part of her world.

Splash

Call Of The Sea 

Seas the day. - Unknown

You may remember The Little Mermaid, a fairy tale written by Christian Andersen in 1836.

It is about a youthful mermaid who is willing to give up her life in the ocean and her status to acquire a human heart and win the love of a human prince.

A fantasy narrative at its finest. The one that started it all. You know, all the naiad and water nymph stories.

And just when you thought all possible plot lines had been explored... 

... Hollywood comes up in 1984 with the movie Splash in a modern retelling.

Except only better.

The movie is a hoot. Rambunctious and funny. A fishy tall tale that has sex and some cursing.

Check out this early scenario. A girl shows up naked at the Statue of Liberty. 

She can, it appears, metamorphose from a mermaid into a human. She has a tail when she's wet, but it turns into legs when she's dry. 

For Allen Bauer, it is love at first sight. 

Now, everyone is chasing her, trying to prove she's a mermaid. 

The film is a perfectly light, warmly hilarious romantic comedy. I was hooked from the first laugh. Imagine Madison (that's what she says her name is), totally ignorant about all the ways of civilization and eating lobsters, shell and all.

You'd have to watch the movie for the ending (or watch it again, if you had forgotten). 

I promise, it will be an aquacade of myth and chuckles, glimmering like moonlit tide.  

Sometimes, life can be overwhale-ming.

Why not make a splash and catch the movie, perhaps at the dive-in?

Mermaid At Heart

Call Of The Sea

My nose is red, my flipflops are blue

I love the beach, how about you? - Anonymous

(Left): I Was Born, From a Personal Storyboard.

 Honolulu: 2019

(Right): Six-month Curly Head after a bath.

Photo: V.E.V. Columbus: 2012 

I just know there's something about her. 

As a toddler, she would draw a small dot on her Etch a Sketch and show me. When I asked her what it was, she said, A bug.

Growing up, she would cut up little sheets and make a book. Then painstakingly create a picture story.

In her sketch books, she had made many drawings of cuddly bears and unicorns and dolphins and whales.

When she was seven, First Granddaughter interviewed me for a class assignment. Including a photo was optional. After looking at all pics with the two of us together, she chose this picture. After Sunday Service, Central Union Church.

Last year, coming home from a week-long summer art class, she had lugged along a booklet that was entitled Isela's Sea. Both for Artist's Name and Pictures By, she had written down her name.

It was a joyous depiction by someone who loves the sea. 

Of a blue whale whom she seems to counsel, Don't listen to them. I think you're fintastic.

Of a red crab with protruding eyes whom she encourages with, You're great to have around in a pinch.

Of a green turtle who makes her giggle with his joke, What do mermaids sleep on? ... Water beds!

Altogether they celebrate a life with no troubles, a life that is the bubbles, under the sea.

And the crowning glory of it all? 

A mermaid with a green-jeweled shell flower on her hair, a starfish on her hand.

What I find the most incredible thing behind all this... 

…. is the heart of a young artist who dreams of the ocean and the wild salt air.

One who makes me feel that, yeah, some days you just wanna put on some sparkly fins, be a mermaid, and go live under the flippin' sea. 

Just look at this photo. She has always been a mermaid at heart, seemingly wondering, Have I dreamt I am a mermaid. Or am I a mermaid dreaming I am me?

Cutest Little Mermaid. First Granddaughter, four years old. Photo: V.E.V., Honolulu: December 2016

She turns ten today. My beautiful First Granddaughter.

She calls herself a fish. 

At the moment, she's probably snuggled within her underwater world, maybe playing in the waves, or simply dreaming about the treasures of the deep. 

But beware, intruders. Flounder guards the cave... er... room... where she dwells.

Come out already, dear one!

Let the sun kiss your cheeks and receive mermaid kisses and starfish wishes on your especial day. 

May the current carry you - 

Let you dance with the waves,

Move with the sea.

May the rhythm of the water set your soul free.

Dyesebel

Call Of The Sea 

Growing up is such a barbarous business, full of inconvenience… and pimples. - J.M. Barrie

I was a comic book nut.  

Friday afternoons, I would wait for the hawker's voice, plying the latest edition of Tagalog Klasiks. I loved its stories of magic and dragons.

I grew up on the hilarious antics of Kenkoy, scary bouts with the tikbalang, and adventures of super-heroines like Darna.

But my most favorite of all? Dyesebel.

She was half-maiden and half-fish, both mysterious and enchanting. Like fairies, she had magical powers. She loved music and often sang.

I was enthralled that she had the ability to breath underwater. I would imagine her many exciting exploits.

Like when she fell in love with the human Fredo.

I think she was sunning on a rock and he just happened to be passing by. 

He smiled and she smiled back at him with unguarded pleasure. No words needed to be uttered aloud. It was a companionable silence, not the silence of strangers but of lovers who knew each other intimately enough that words weren't necessary when the moment spoke for itself.

Sigh... 

Snuggled in a rattan hammock under our balkon, comic book in one hand and a pan de sal in the other, I remember how I would savor each episode, smiling coyly. I was mouthing the words without making a sound as I read on.

And how I would whisper in protest when the episode ended with, Itutuloy (To be continued).

(Spoiler alert): In the end, Dyesebel became a human permanently, and she and Fredo got married.

In my youth, I hadn't realized it, as I do now. 

Fantasy is a necessary ingredient in living.

It's a way of looking at life through the wrong end of a telescope. 

Perhaps, even through the rear end of a mermaid's tail fins.