By the Jal-o River

       The landlord planned of leaving for a far off place. But before doing so, he saw to it that everything in his ranch are well taken cared of. For his flock, he hired a couple of shepherd. He called them by their name and entrusted to them his beloved sheep. "Please take care of my sheep until my return", he implored each one of them. Then he set forth on a journey into that far off place. On their first day alone with the flock, the elder of the two called for a meeting. He informed the other shepherd of his plan. The younger one however found the plan too conservative and presented what he thought was a better, radical and contemporary way of pasturing the flock. The discussion progressed for hours without the two reaching a consensus. A recess was agreed upon and the two shepherds have their lunch--separately, I should tell you, for even in such thing as lunch they could not agree what meals to have. After their siesta, the meeting resumed and their arguments

KANTA KU JAE-O Naga-eumpat ako sa bueogsukan kung Aeatubang Sa ilaya nga akon ginhalinan Sa kabukiran sa unhan pa it Benitinan Kun siin may maberde pang kagueangan. Iba eon ako makaron Ilig ko bukon eon it masueog Kon amat matin-aw pero eaban hay maeobog Bisan pa ako mat a ra sa gihapon. Naga-ilig ako sa dagasanan sa Kipot Sub-eangon ku rong sili pati sa kahoy rong siga ku mga aninipot Iya eon lang sanda mapabilin kumo ginahingabot Sa ilawod nga anay anda man nga palibot. Iba eon ako makaron Ilig ko bukon eon it masueog Kon amat matin-aw pero eaban hay maeobog Bisan pa ako mat a ra sa gihapon. Padayon rong haganas bisan pa sa tig-ilinit Sa kurbada sa may Takasan ni Ambit Sa balsa makaron ag ku baroto anay ni ‘lo Pantit Sa akon nga sueog naga-eupsi ro imo nga panit. Iba eon ako makaron Ilig ko bukon eon it masueog Kon amat matin-aw pero eaban hay maeobog Bisan pa ako mat a ra sa gihapon. Dag-onan ku nga ginadags

( The following post is an anecdote involving Batch '84 of then Roxas Memorial School of Arts and Trade [RMSAT], when it was being renamed into Roxas Memorial College of Arts and Trade. The incident took place sometime in December of 1983 at the "campus oval". See related story at this link . )         Responding to a cue, the adjutant snappily approached the corps commander and attentively listened to the instruction. Then, he turned around and marched into the middle of the field. Having reached his unmarked destination, he stood at attention and sounded off a command. As in a domino effect, the entire battalion set itself, from company to another, into its desired position.       Yes, all of the entire battalion were in their proper place save for one.        Prior to the dispatched, a staff sergeant of a platoon gave in to the call of nature. Since he was positioned behind the entire corps, he assumed that his act would go unnoticed. He was wrong. The ea

My 12-year old daughter raised a question while I was nursing a hangover one Saturday morning. " Tatay , what does synchronicity means?"  I stammered for words understandable enough to her curious young mind. Here is my answer: Late in 2009, I was finalizing the idea of constructing a blog to be called "By the Jal-o River'.  That title is based on a favorite psalm of mine which begins with this word, “ By the rivers of Babylon we sat down and wept. ” I prepared the design of the header in MS Publisher as I was ignorant then of Adobe Photoshop. Hereunder was that design. Last year, however, a friend based from down under sent me a copy of a book by Paulo Coelho. The title of the book was, “By the River Piedra I Sat Down and Wept.” I was amused. But what took my breath away and paused to consider this " meaningful coincidence " (Karl Jung’s) are the similarity of the characters' circumstances with my own " personal legend " (Paulo