...in honor of our Blessed Mother + some nostalgia.
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by PAM
My day started at 4:00 a.m. as usual today, but it wasn't an ordinary day because, today, we are celebrating the Feast of the Nativity of our Blessed Mother, the Blessed Virgin Mary, in our Roman Catholic faith. And so, my day started with a Mass, celebrating the blessed Mother's birthday. I went for the online 5:40 a.m. recitation of the Holy Rosary followed by the Mass at the Minor Basilica of Our Lady of the Rosary of Manaoag where my siblings and I (except one) were baptized.
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| HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MAMA MARY! |
Later, our visits became less frequent, especially after our grandparents passed. These days, we rarely visit but whenever we do, we'd always pass by the Minor Basilica first. So, I feel very 'at home' in hearing the Mass from the Minor Basilica... it brings back memories of our childhood with our grandparents.
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Because the Blessed Mother is our Patroness...
The annual Report usually covers all the accomplishments of the University in the previous AY, and it is submitted to Rome - to the Pope, since UST is a Pontifical University. This particular Rector's Report covers the accomplishments of the University from January 2020 to July 2021 - at the height of the pandemic. The Rector invited top administrative and academic officials to attend in-person at the Grand Ballroom of the Blessed G. Paredes, O.P. Building - home of our Office for Alumni Relations. I feel honored and very fortunate to have received an invitation to this very special event. And, it was extremely humbling to have been mentioned by the Fr. Rector in his Report.
I particularly love what he said in his 'Reflection and Conclusion' (1:21:55 mark in the video): "How did the University get through the first 18 crucial months of the pandemic? Responding... was essentially love's labor... we accompanied our students in their struggles, both in their academic and personal lives... we learned the value of meaningful connections with fellow members of the Thomasian community... in the process, we experienced what it means to be truly blessed with life, with health, with friends, with family. The pandemic taught us the value of what it means to be a Thomasian community. We are a community that looks out for the welfare of each other during a time of great uncertainty... we are a community guided by the virtues of 'Tria Haec' (these three): faith, hope and love... what reverberates are these two messages: be grateful, be open to others. Gratitude enables our spirits and allows us to see as the direness of our reality, whereas empathy opens our hands and palms to reach out to those who need our time and resources. Gratitude and empathy are the principles that allow us to redirect our focus on the things that we can change. And, also, together they inspire change from within ourselves driving us to serve with humility and sincerity; and allowing us to touch the lives of those around us in ways we never thought possible.
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| The Rector of the University of Santo Tomas, the Very Rev. Fr. Richard G. Ang, O.P., Ph.D. |
"The Lord has given me the opportunity to lead the University at a time of great uncertainty and ordeal. With His unending grace, we have seen the light of this day. We have gone past the episode of the darkest hours of this pandemic - I hope and pray... We did not experience complete campus closure during the pandemic... we were made to experience this once-in-a-generation global health crisis for a reason. We were meant to survive... there is truth to the saying, 'the enormity of the tasks that the crisis demanded from us may have been too much for each and everyone, but not enough to break our spirit as one Thomasian Community.' More than a time of hopelessness, the pandemic is a defining moment that brought out the best in us. It is a time that brought Thomasians closer to one another, and closest to God.... never have I seen this University so united, so strong in the face of adversity. May God be our beacon and strength in the coming days, all the days of our lives."
His words were, indeed, relatable. It was like hearing our own thoughts from the deepest recesses of our hearts. The whole event was indeed wonderful... but more than anything, it was GREAT to see colleagues and friends in our dear Thomasian community after a long, long time! Thanks be to God!
After the event, I was able to finally see my new (physical) office... albeit temporary. It is located in the same building... I just needed to go a few floors up. It was great! I went home today with very light spirit... very happy, and ready to start working hard once again for my beloved University and for God's greater glory!
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Photo credit: The first photo was grabbed from the online Mass at the Minor Basilica of Our Lady of the Rosary of Manaoag. Thanks, YouTube, for the video link. All other photos featured in this post belong to me. One was taken by someone else for me.
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...because it's badly needed.
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by PAM
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...'cause I'm 'drowning'.
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by PAM
I've been 'swimming' against the current in the 'turbulent waters' of work for the past three weeks or so, and I am very, very (very, very, very...) tired! As the 'water' is new, and I've never swam here before - in fact, no one has ever done it before - I am getting all whipped by the unforgiving current! Dang! All my (aging) braincells are exhausted, and they are quitting on me. I feel like my brain functions are on the brink on either 'work paralysis' or 'sit down protest'. They refuse to process anything that's work-related. And, so, I'm here... in my safe haven where I can have little respite... and nudge my imagination towards anything that's beautiful... and not work-related! But before I can do that, I need to be injected with pure energy as my tank has been completely zapped, exhausted, emptied. I 'need saving'! And who else can deliver energy by the megajoules in an instant but the phenomenal lifesavers... BTS? 💜 Ah, thank God for these wonderful souls and their music!
So, let's do it then! Let's hear the soon-to-be birthday boy, the amazing JK, pitch for the group. And the other soon-to-be-birthday-boy who is also their equally amazing leader, the fantabulous RM, follows through... and the rest of the awesome group usher us into our "Magic Shop"... and out stargazing in our fantastic BTS "Mikrokosmos". Here we go...
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Video credit: The owners of the videos featured in this post are indicated in the video themselves: BangtanTV and NPR Music - thanks for the loan of the videos. Thanks, YouTube, for the video links.
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| Admirable young men who hailed from 'my side of the planet'. |
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| JK - he, himself... the one and the only - the closest being to perfection. 💜 |
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| Back in Penn State University while waiting to travel to Las Vegas to watch "PTD on Stage - Las Vegas". |
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| Work (Penn State U) + 'ARMY duties' = joy |
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| V (Tae): the prettiest face you'd ever lay your eyes on in this generation. |
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| Transitioning from the old Office to the new (non-existent) Office (yet)... exploring some parts of the pretty UST campus, and getting into the swing of things. 'Let's go!' |
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| Temporarily working from home and running/brisk walking in between. |
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| BTS: seven purple lights that light up the skies. |
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| SUGA (Yoongi) is awesomeness+++ personified. |
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| JK - the closest being to perfection. |
...who has become a 'Vlog Monster', too.
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by PAM
By now, you must already know that I am all about 'variety', 'sari-sari' - in food, in sports, in music, in fashion, in traveling, in my approaches to teaching learning, and what have you! I am not one to stay glued in one place, patronizing the same thing over and over again. I do have 'favorites'... like a 'classic', a 'go-to' when in doubt. And, I am usually very loyal to my favorites. I also have 'something'/'someone' I 'follow' on social media... but that's only because those favorites or 'something'/'someone' keep evolving, too. They mix up a variety of things, finding the best blend... and moving forward constantly. Or, they do things with the future in mind... adopting a formula that applies to the present and to the future, which is absolutely brilliant! So, whatever they create remains good and fresh for a long time. I know that that takes a lot of work - it requires careful study, and lots of daring. That is why I have great respect for my 'favorites'... although I don't have very many.
Anyway, let me just say that I get bored so easily... when things are slow, repetitive, too parochial or too mundane. And, that's not being snotty or sassy either, far from it, actually! It's just an inclination to innovation... and FUN! Fun, most of all because innovation is fun... and change (for the better) is refreshing and fun!
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BTS is 💜
This is the reason why I like BTS very much! I listen to their music everyday for the past how many years... and I don't get tired of it. Why? It's because the quality of the songs are thickly layered and meticulously produced. Almost everyday, I discover a 'new layer'... or a new 'patch' somewhere when I thought there was a teeny-tiny 'empty space' where the notes sort of 'jiggled' a bit the previous time I listened to the song... it's fascinating! The production is so 'airtight' as I often say... and yet, they encase the songs in a multi-compartment 'music time capsule'. At any point, when a compartment is injected with a new 'component', the song would sound 'new', but the core quality remains very high because only the 'casing' can be touched, and not the 'backbone'. This is why I love the remixes of their songs, too. The 'backbone music' is intact, but the remix 'redresses' the song to fit the 'new occasion'. Just see the 'hotter remix' of "Butter" below, and you'll understand what I mean.
For starters, see RM's excited display of dancing prowess at mark 0.38-0.44 min - hilarious! The group's endearing 'craziness' is on full display at mark 1:20-1:37 min where Jin and Hobi are hysterically hilarious! SUGA let his guard down and went about being funny, especially in the end. Our three maknaes, Jimin, V, and JK are the cutest while being funny. All are incredibly good looking, of course. 💜 (Warning: addictive! 'Once you start, you can't stop!' So, be strong! Haha...)
In June 2022, BTS commenced their 10th year as a group. After debuting in June 2013, they completed their 9 years 'on air', 'on line', 'in prints'... and in the hearts of ARMY. So, in another 10 years, we shall see how well the backbones of their music would hold... given the onslaught of new things in the music industry that come and go by the second. I'll offer a not-so-wild-but-mostly-calculated guess (uhm, I'm an engineer... that's what I do, I calculate! Haha...): they will hold!
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"RM"
One of the people who are responsible for the final quality of BTS music is their leader, "Rap Monster" or "RM", whose real name is Kim Nam-joon. He is one of the perennial songwriters and producers for BTS, along with the other members, mainly SUGA (Min Yoon-gi), who is usually involved in songwriting and record producing, and J-Hope (Jung Ho-seok). Incidentally, these three make up the awesome rap line of BTS, whose 'muscular' rapping complement the beautiful singing of the vocal line... bringing the BTS music to a different level of quality that is not easy to rival these days. My view of their artistry is expressed in a previous post.
RM usually speaks on behalf of the Group in their international engagements, especially in the early stages of their career as he is most fluent in English. He speaks with tact and with diplomacy, too. He is good looking, especially when he started to mature in age and in his artistry, when he became more and more confident with himself, and BTS became more and more 'the Group to beat' worldwide. He walks tall in confident and graceful strides. He speaks with calm confidence but with courteousness, typical of his culture as a Korean. Simply put, he is a Korean Idol and a gentleman. As such, he commands respect - for himself, and for the Group that he leads.
Overall, RM is excellent in what he does as a musician and as the BTS leader... but less than excellent (uhm... far from it, actually) when dealing with practical little things such as, uhm, boiling water, peeling a little potato, or simply keeping his house slippers from losing their soles when he walks, just to name a few. Hahaha.... In their features on Bangtan TV, when something breaks, RM is usually responsible, or part of the guilty party. His intellectual capacity is in excess... but when dealing with practical everyday things... uhm, let's just say that 'his sense is not so common', far from common, actually! In fact, it is unique. Hahaha... Even he surprises himself when he breaks something... because, commonly, those are simple enough to handle without breaking them. Perhaps, his brain process has one dominant path - the complex intellectual path. And before his brain finishes processing, the moment already passed... and something slipped through his grasp already... and, yeah, break! This is why, the members call him the 'god of destruction' (god). While he usually breaks things or hurts himself, fortunately, it's never serious. Therefore, his 'not so common sense' is acceptable. Usually, it is a source of entertainment for the group, and for ARMY, too. In fact, his being "god" endears him to ARMY, regardless of their 'bias'. On VLive with Jimin, Jin sums it up in a vintage Jin way - hilarious but insightful. He said, "when I see Namjoon (being clumsy like that), I realize that, indeed, God is fair," or something to that effect. You get the picture, right? Right!
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"Namjooning" is 💜
Namjoon is a visual arts enthusiast, and an avid fan of nature. I think it is accurate to say that one of his favorite visual arts is nature itself... with some bias on crabs. Don't ask me why... it is what it is. He'll probably say the same thing if you ask him. Anyway, he goes on arts appreciation trips on a regular basis, and have been into collecting works of art in the various galleries and Art Fairs that he visits. He shares photos of his arts expeditions and his growing collection with ARMY (and non-ARMY followers) on Instagram (IG). Through example, he encourages his Followers to consider work-life balance and self-improvement though nature and arts appreciation. In his own way, he is able to support the Visual Arts industry, too, as well as the new and well-established artists alike as he has a considerable IG following. I support this as I, myself, is a huge arts fan since my teenage years. Apart from traveling and foodie-ing, reading, music and film, it is one of my favorite avenues of relaxation and a way to refresh my mind. These days, one or a combination of these activities is known as "Namjooning" (see footnote below). It gets my mind off of the 'logically chaotic' world of engineering... whenever needed.
Over time, one can see that RM's taste in Visual Arts grew in sophistication and in variety. I particularly like his preference for Claude Monet and his fascination for conceptual arts, such as the works of Roni Horn and the late Felix Gonzalez-Torres, which are currently on exhibit at the Pinault Collection in Paris, France. Earlier, some works of Horn were exhibited at the Chinati Foundation in Marfa, TX. RM visited Chinati as well.
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| 'Namjooning' at the Carnegie Museum of Art in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (Feb 2022) |
My old Office was adorned with framed mementoes from museums and art galleries that I visited over the years - mostly, the works of van Gogh, Monet and Pierre-Auguste Renoir. I have one each by Paul Cézanne and Paul Gauguin, too. A friend from Spain who introduced me to the art of Salvador Dali back in the old days gifted me with a nice mini poster of Pablo Picasso's work... which I lost. Too bad! Come to think of it, perhaps, RM's fascination for crabs has to do with Renoir's "Bathers with Crab" (ca. 1890-1899)...?
Anyway, yes, I love visiting museums and art galleries. The most memorable was my visit to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, Summer of 2007. Although I've been there a few times, that particular visit was special because it was with my late father. My younger sister who is an Art and Humanities walking encyclopedia was with us in that visit, too, and we had a blast! I don't think I could ever look at a van Gogh, a Monet or a Renoir without thinking about my father. My most recent opportunity to appreciate their work was last February this year at the Carnegie Museum of Art in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Carnegie has a laudable Impressionism Section where the works of the said masters are featured as part of their permanent collection.
Although I've never had the opportunity to see the works of Horn up close and personal, I appreciate what RM shared on his IG. I love how the illumination and glitters from lights are multiplied as they are reflected from the smooth glass surfaces in the Pinault Collection installation. The depth of the glass sculpture temper the multiplying of light without distorting the images. RM did a great job capturing the essence of the installation in which one can no longer distinguish between which part of the illumination in the room comes from the hanging lights themselves and from the reflection off the glass surface. It is impressive how Horn showed expertise in manipulating and making the most of his medium: glass.
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| My recent close encounter with glass sculpture: blown glass sculptures at the Desert Botanical Garden in Phoenix, Arizona by Dale Chihuly (March 2022). |
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| RM's recent Swiss Arts Appreciation travel, er, 'Namjooning' as chronicled in his Instagram account. |
When he joined the gathering of some of the biggest visual artists in the world at "The Art Basel" in Basel, Switzerland last July, it is obvious that he is on his way to becoming a big player in the Visual Arts industry. His attendance did not go unnoticed either. He was recently interviewed by Marc Spiegler for "Intersections: The Art Basel Podcast", Season 2, Episode 1. This was listened to by millions of RM's followers on Apple Music and Spotify. In the interview, he revealed his future plan of opening his own Gallery where he can share his collections with the public. In his recent Vlog, he shared with ARMY and to the rest of the world his visit to Switzerland, and in Paris, France.
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RM = Vlog Monster = 💜
In his "Swiss Vlog", it is evident that Namjoon was in his elements. He was funny, spontaneous, chatty... and in some key moments, quite contemplative - the artist in him kept finding its way to the surface. The camera can't lie. You can tell, he loved what he was doing. Although he kept complaining about how warm it was in Switzerland, his fascination of what he was seeing and experiencing turned his irritation as inconsequential. He uttered hilarious things like "chair party" (while some people go to 'tupperware parties', Namjoon goes to a 'chair party'), "ah, fallen ducks of Lucerne", "the famed 'Ugly Duckling'", "Makgeolli" (in various intonations), calling a hedgehog as "Ratatouille, my precious" (after alluding to the "Lord of the Rings" previously). It was not so much about what he said but about how he said them, and his timing, which was mostly unexpected! Yes, he was quite spontaneous in his vlog, and it was adorable. I think that our Rap Monster just found another thought processing path other than the intellectual pathway! Not convinced? Here, see and hear for yourself...
17:15 - 18:17 min (spiral slide at the Vitra Design Museum): "I'm scared". He*struggled* from uneven descent and from burning his bum against the surface of the slide only to find out that he missed using the protective mat. Oh, boy! He went again though (twice, actually), and enjoyed himself. Talk about not giving up... and enjoying to the fullest!
The original version of this post is four times as long as this. Haha... I went a bit crazy detailing the funny and entertaining parts as well as the interesting and introspective parts of RM's vlog. However, in the end, I thought it is better to just watch it. It's only about 35 minutes long... and it's filled with so much information, the beautiful sights and sounds of Switzerland, the humungous collection of fascinating art pieces at Art Basel, a bit of Paris, and lots and lots of wonderful 'RM moments', including foodie moments and hilarious antics (such as the fact that he kept whistling...and he wondered why? He himself didn't know why!). I am impressed at how he picked-up on the seeming 'ordinary touristic things', such as the ducks of Lucerne... and view them from funny but deeply discerning way. I appreciate how sincere he sounded in admiring Mount Rigi. I personally love how he referred to the Fjords of Norway while in Lucerne... it made me feel nostalgic, too, of that year I lived in Sweden and traveled around Scandinavia, including Norway... as a very (very, very) broke visiting scholar. Hahaha...
RM's vlog is a beautiful travelogue, indeed. There is something for everyone - whether one is an art enthusiast, a seasoned traveler who is looking for his/her next adventure, a BTS fan, an RM biased, or simply one looking to take a break from the monotony of daily grind, one will find something to be fascinated about. He did a great job chronicling his travel, and sharing them with his followers. I also loved it how he seemed to like beer... 'cause one of my research works is beer brewing - subject of another post in the future. Watch out for it! Hahaha...
So, yeah, our fantabulous Rap Monster is now a Vlog Monster, too! AWESOME! 💜
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Photo Credit: The photos of myself in this post belong to me. They were processed for the sole use of this blog, and they may not be used anywhere else. RM's photos were grabbed from his IG account - thanks for the loan of the photos, Namjoon.
Video credit: The owner of the videos featured in this post are indicated in the video themselves, BangtanTV. Thanks, YouTube, for the video links.
References: Pinault Collection website and RM's Instagram account - thank you.
Footnote: "Namjooning" - per BTS explanation, it is the "act of living as Kim Nam-Joon. This includes taking walks through parks, admiring nature, hanging out with crabs, and having fun with friends" (Reference: Click here.). Kim Nam-Joon, also known as "RM" (short for, originally, "Rap Monster"), is the leader of the South Korean group, BTS.
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