A Sportsman's Story

No pain, no glory.

A cliché it may seem, but I bet this was one of the lines he kept on telling himself to keep up with his life back then.

Professor Norberto Madrigal has acquired over 10 injuries; among these a cracked sternum, a dislocated clavicle, a pinched nerve on the neck and finally obtained a bumpy ear, called a “cauliflower ear,” because of too much pressure from being repeatedly hit during his wrestling fights.

This was because he was (and still is) a multi-sport athlete. Carrying the student number 1983-03660, this Iskolar ng Bayan took up Physical Education. Wrestling, judo, powerlifting and archery – these were the sports he was training for and competing in during the time. Amazed as I was as to how he was able to excel in various sports, he said that it was normal for them to do so back in the day.

“Unang nagustuhan ko talaga wrestling,” he said, recounting one of his most unforgettable Olympic wrestling competitions.

He had to lose 22 lbs. of weight in two weeks to be accepted in the flyweight division. He was 136 lbs. then because he had to bulk up for a previous powerlifting competition. Aside from losing weight, he had rigorous training to improve his strength and skill for the competition because of the pressure from his team and coach to win the gold medal for that division.

Overlooking the science of it all, he lost the competition.

Because of the abrupt weight loss in his body, instead of gaining strength physically and mentally, what happened was the other way around. As he ate less food, his brain saw it as fasting, so it automatically converted everything he ate to fat, making him even weaker. Also, his reaction time suffered during this time because his hydration level went low as he lost weight. If only he knew then that reaction time is dependent on hydration level, he wouldn’t have agreed to losing weight in such a short period of time.

The incident made Madrigal learn that “Kahit anong sport may science talaga, hindi lang nila narerealize kaagad.”

Juggling all these together for five years, his innate skill and passion in extreme sports emancipated as he became the national champion in powerlifting, wrestling and archery while the collegiate champion in judo.

Glory came with pain for Madrigal, until there came a time when it was just too much. That was why he decided to stop competing and just pass on what he knows to his students to also give them a chance to experience what he had gone through.

At present, he is a professor at the Department of Sports Science of the College of Human Kinetics, teaching scuba diving, wrestling, judo, powerlifting, archery, birdwatching, team building and mixed martial arts.

KC Benta, a student of Prof. Madrigal’s in scuba diving, said that she appreciated him being patient and encouraging since she didn’t know how to swim when she took the class. Now, thanks to him, she is proud that she does not only know how to swim, she can even dive.

She also added how he loves to joke around with his students in class and at the same time act professional. She admired how he knows where to draw the line between being just a “barkada” and an instructor.

Imitating how professors are assessed through the performance evaluation test, Benta ranked Professor Madrigal to be among the best professors she has ever had.

Despite winning several competitions, being a professor students love and being a member of various sports organizations such as Wrestling Association of the Philippines, UP Mountaineers, Philippine Bird Photography Forum and Fin Swimming Federations, Madrigal saw his greatest accomplishment from something else.

For him, it’s his 12-year-old boy Burt Thomas, who seems to be following his footsteps. At a very young age, he has already competed in fin swimming and has already been training in archery and football. Also, both of them always play wrestling in their home. Madrigal said he could really see his son being an athlete, or hopefully a multi-sport athlete, just like him.

“Mas magiging magaling ‘yun sa akin,” Madrigal, a proud father, mused.

A Sportsman's Story

It’s not yet too late at 43.

Engaging in extreme sports ever since in college, UP College of Human Kinetics Professor Norberto Madrigal plans to ride a bike to pass through the whole stretch of Buswangga Island in Coron, Palawan. There were instances that sports enthusiasts travelled the island through bike only in partial, but never before was it explored in whole, non-stop. And Professor Madrigal wants to make that happen.

He took up Physical Education in college; carrying the student number 1983-03660, he was one of the few Iskolar ng Bayan. He was a multiathlete, claiming that it was normal for them back in the day to excel in various sports. Wrestling, judo, powerlifting and archery – these were the sports he was training and competing in during the time. Juggling all these altogether, his innate skill and passion in extreme sports emancipated as he became the national champion in powerlifting, wrestling and archery while the collegiate champion in judo. And all these happened in just a span of five years.

“Unang nagustuhan ko talaga wrestling (I first loved wrestling),” he said, recounting one of his most unforgettable Olympic wrestling competitions.

He had lost 22 lbs. of weight in two weeks to be accepted in the flyweight division. He was 136 lbs. then because he had to bulk up for a previous powerliftng competition. Aside from losing weight, he had rigorous training to improve his strength and skill for the competition because of the pressure from his team and coach to win the gold medal for that division.

Overlooking the science of it all, he lost the competition.

Because of the abrupt weight loss in his body, instead of gaining strength physically and mentally, what happened was the other way around. As he ate less food, his brain saw it as fasting, so it automatically converted everything he ate to fat, making him even weaker. Also, his reaction time suffered during this time because his hydration level went low as he lost weight. If only he knew then that reaction time is dependent on hydration level, he wouldn’t have agreed to losing weight in such a short period of time.

The incident made Madrigal learn that “Kahit anong sport may science talaga, hindi lang nila narerealize kaagad (There’s science in every sport, people just don’t immediately realize it).”

Acquiring over 10 injuries, among these a cracked sternum, a dislocated clavicle, a pinched nerve on the neck and finally obtaining a “cauliflower ear” from too much pressure during fights, he decided to stop competing and just pass on what he knows to his students to also give them a chance to experience what he had gone through.
Currently, he’s a professor at the Department of Sports Science of the College of Human Kinetics, teaching scuba diving, wrestling, judo, powerlifting, archery, birdwatching, team building and mixed martial arts.

Dial Benta, presently a student of Professor Madrigal in scuba diving, said that she appreciated him being patient and encouraging since she didn’t know how to swim when she took the class. Now, thanks to him, she is proud that she not only knows how to swim, she can even dive.

She also added how he loves to joke around with his students in class and at the same time act professional. She admired how he knows where to draw the line between being just a “barkada” and an instructor.

Imitating how professors are assessed through the performance evaluation test, Benta ranked Professor Madrigal to be among the best professors she has ever had.

Having already won several competitions, being a professor students love and being a member of various sports organizations such as Wrestling Association of the Philippines, UP Mountaineering, Philippine Bird Photography Forum and Fin Swimming Federations, Madrigal saw his greatest accomplishment from something else.

For him, it’s his 12-year old boy Burt Thomas who seems to be following the footsteps of his father. At a very young age, he has already competed in fin swimming and has already been training in archery and football. Also, both of them are play wrestling in their home and Madrigal could see the potential in strength of his son.

“Mas magiging magaling ‘yun sa akin (He’ll be better than me),” Madrigal, as a proud father, muses.

Tales of a Paintbrush

It started with a brush, and a story was created.

That’s all it takes for students of the College of Fine Arts (FA) to paint a picture on the infamous, much visited and truly extraordinary piece of work – the art wall.

There were images of creatures with interesting facial expressions, colorful doodles which bring life to common drawings, animals in varied colors and sizes that add a different flavor to the wall and everyday pictures with twists – all of these symbolize the diversity yet individuality of each of the students who have painted a part of themselves on the art wall.

The free-for -all painting within the college started during the Fine Arts week on Feb. 19 this year. It was called “FA Unbound” because it became a venue for the students to express themselves through what else, but art.

Andy Lopez, a 4th year visual communication student, was one of the contributors to the masterpiece. “Yung akin doodle lang ‘yun! Di ko naman pinagisipan, basta may paint lang ako, nagdrawing na ako (Mine was just doodle! I didn’t think; with paint (and brush) on hand, I just drew),” she said.

Most of the students who painted on the art wall just drew without consciously thinking of what to actually draw. Thinking is not so much the thing of students in the fine arts. It’s about letting loose, being in touch of what you feel at the moment and letting the paintbrush guide you as you make each stroke. That is the best way to make a kick-ass work of genius. An irony, isn’t it? But no matter how ironic it may seem, that’s how FA students are – creatively brilliant.

But not all them had that same story.

I caught sight of a seemingly love struck looking 2nd year visual communication student who was walking around the college, and true enough, his drawing on the wall proved that I was not wrong. Seije Blanko drew a “emo cartoon” with a small, red heart on the right side of its body which was the same image that his girlfriend drew for him. He was proud of what they have as lovers and thought that there’s nothing wrong in “putting a simple symbol of love on the art wall for everyone to see.” I, myself, agree. Indeed, he’s an epitome of an FA student deeply much inlove.

Unfortunately, not all FA students have happy love tales like Seije. “Yung first girlfriend ko nakipag-sex sa bestfriend ko (My first girlfriend had sex with my bestfriend),” Chalk Zaldivar, a good-looking lad sporting a Fedora hat, confessed.

His paintings, female faces one with curly, orange hair and the other like a character of Japanese animated film Spirited Away, represent women as being unpredictable and confusing. He said he can’t seem to fully understand women. “Akala mo sa una, okay, sa huli hindi pala (At first you thought, she was okay, the next thing you know she’s really not,” he said, referring to his past experience with his first girlfriend. Yes, even heartbreaks can be put to good use. And Chalk did exactly that.

So that you can understand a totally different story (enough about being love sick puppies) underlying Pat Garcia’s drawing, let me backtrack a bit about the art wall.

The current dean of the college, Florentina Colayco, banned political texts and images on the art wall. Some FA students said that this new regulation took away their freedom of expression. “Dati freedom wall ang tawag diyan, ngayon parang art wall nalang (That was called freedom wall before, now it’s just an art wall),” Joel Casimiro, a 4th year painting major student, said as he looked at the wall.

Hence, 4th year industrial design student Pat Garcia’s decided to draw his response to this on the wall, which in first glance may just be a simple whale, but in fact has something more to say.

A whale breathes through its blowhole above its head. And in Pat’s painting, the blowhole was covered in cork, making it unable to breathe. Freedom is like breathing for FA students. Without it, life in the college is dull and restrained. That’s how Pat felt. He felt that his college is not free, because like the cork, there’s something that prevents them from being so.

As I was gazing at the art wall for the last time, I saw a group of UP students not from FA using the wall for a photoshoot. Sure they admired the artwork, but did they understand the stories behind each face, doodle, creature, dot, line or stroke?

No matter what story the pictures on the art wall represent, it reflects the way the students of the college experience, think and feel. Now, I understand them better. And that I think, compared to the artwork itself, is the more valuable thing I took home with me.

Klepto Analysis

Now, you see it; the next thing you know it’s gone.

I was at McDonald’s in Katipunan with my friends last week. We were just chilling and eating fries when I saw a man so awkwardly sitting alone near the chair where one of my friends’s DSLR or digital single-lens reflex camera was placed. I felt that he was so out of place because for one, I was sure he was not a student just like the rest of the crowd so he didn’t quite fit in, and two, he was alone yet he was facing the chair where the camera is and not the table which he is supposed to face. Why on earth would this dark man wearing a white shirt and jeans with a black bag be seated this way?

He saw me looking at his direction. My gut told me something I didn’t understand. So, I turned away and went on talking to my friends instead.

“AAAAHHHH! Nawawala camera ko (My camera’s missing)!” Dee, my friend who owns the P40,000 worth camera, cried.

The guard confirmed through their security cameras that the man who I felt was someone suspicious stole the camera.

“That kleptomaniac! He will pay for this!” I said to myself.
Later that night I searched on the net about kleptomania and it was surprising to realize that all along my perception about it was wrong. Here’s what I have found out.

Kleptomania cases are rare. People, myself included, have a habit of calling everyone and anyone who steals a “klepto.” This is irresponsible, because kleptomaniacs are different from plain thieves. The motive of a kleptomaniac is gratification in the act of stealing, not for economic benefit.

It is also known as “compulsive theft behaviour disorder” or simply “pathological stealing.” It is a kind of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) wherein certain behaviours become uncontrollable and seem to take over one’s thoughts, feelings and even one’s life. This means that it is not a person’s fault or the result of a weak, spineless, unstable personality. It’s can be called a brain malfunction since information processing in the brain suffers as the communication between parts of the brain fails. Serotonin, a neurotransmitter that acts as chemical messenger in the brain, is insufficient in those who have OCD.

This means that calling the man a “klepto” (which I doubt that he is) will mean that it was not his fault to steal. So is he or is he not a kleptomaniac?

The bible of mental health professionals, The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 4th (DSM-IV), shows the symptoms of kleptomania.

* Recurrent failure to resist impulses to steal objects that are not needed for personal use or for their monetary value.
* Increasing sense of tension immediately before committing the theft.
* Pleasure, gratification, or relief at the time of committing the theft.
* Stealing is not committed to express anger or vengeance and is not in response to a delusion or hallucination.

For me, the one who stole the camera was NOT kleptomaniac. Okay, I admit that I was wrong. It was shown in the security camera that when the man took the camera and put it inside his bag, he quickly got up from his chair, roamed around a bit and hurriedly went out the door. Obviously, he did it for profit. It’s quite hard to prove that he’s kleptomaniac especially if he’s been caught stealing a P40,000 worth of DLSR camera. If he stole a piece of our fries, then maybe, right?

Thanks to him (I still hate him though), now I know, there’s really a BIG difference between “kleptos” and just plain thieves.

Where Did All the Money Go?

This was the question that bugged me from the first day of the year until today.

They say, 2010 is a year of change, not that having resolutions was something new during the start of the year, but 2010 is just different. I was counting the money I got from my titos and titas last Christmas on January first to know how much I'd keep for my own and how much would go to my savings account and earn interest. Five thousand, six thousand, nine thousand... And I thought, man, how I wish I am this rich everyday. That day, I felt like a queen, for I was holding currency in my piggy bank bigger than usual. That's when this money-concerning puzzle hit me.

As of October 2005, the Philippine money supply or the total amount of money in circulation in the economy (M1) totaled P569.2 billion. It's specified as M1 because there are a lot of kinds of money supply, and M1 is a very liquid measure of the money supply, as it contains cash and assets that can quickly be converted to currency or money. To put this into perspective, we divide it by 37 million (ages 16 to 65), the number of adults in the Philippines then shown in the National Statistics Office site. This calculation implies that the average adult holds about P15,284 of currency. I was greatly surprised to learn that our economy has so much currency because average Filipinos for sure carry less than this in their wallets (Remember, I already felt rich of being able to hold P9,000 worth of money), except of course Henry Sy or Lucio Tan since P15,000 may just be worth their daily expense.

So, where does the money go? Who holds all this currency? No one knows for sure, but there are two possible explanations for this.

For one, much of the currency is held abroad. In foreign countries without a stable monetary system, sometimes people prefer foreign assets as store of value, such as the Philippines', compared to domestic assets. Also, much of it is used in the import and export trade. For example, when the Philippines buys goods and services to foreigners, it is financed by the domestic currency, so our money goes abroad.

Another explanation is that much of the money is held by drug dealers, tax evaders and other criminals. In the Philippines, currency is not the wisest way to hold wealth. Not only can currency be lost or stolen, but it also does not earn interest, whereas a bank deposit does (that's why that's what I'm going to do). Thus, most people only hold small amounts of currency and the rest is put safely in banks, invested in the stock market - that way their money wouldn't be idle. By contrast, criminals may avoid putting their wealth in banks because a bank deposit provides a paper trail so that the police can trace their illegal activities. For criminals, currency may be the best store of value available.

If only I knew this then when I was counting my money, I'd smile. Pity criminals, unlike me, their money would just be plain money; as for me, my money would make more money.

Invisible Applause

Thank God for the Internet! I can’t imagine life without the World Wide Web! Hallelujah for the wonders of e-mailing! I just can’t stop Facebook-ing! If these were people, they’d be so famous; I’m sure they’d even beat Manny Pacquiao.

We’re all used to seeing these various parts of the Internet, but none of these, including the Internet itself, would be possible to hit your computer screens without this one piece of technology: the router.

I tell you, if the router was a person, it would feel so bad for not everyone knows and understands what it can do. In fact, most people have never even seen one, or did, but just didn’t mind. It’s high time to give the router the credit and attention it deserves.

As I am writing this article on my blog only to be seen by my professor (let’s say I’m shy and I don’t want my classmates to see my work), how does the article know that it should only come up on my professor’s computer, rather than on one of the zillions of other computers in the world? It’s not because of the Internet, the World Wide Web or even Blogspot for that matter; it’s because of the router. By letting messages flow between networks rather than within networks, it is able to send a message from one computer to another.

I think I should backtrack a bit so that you may be able to understand the difference between within and between networks. Back in the 1980’s, a hub was used to send messages within a network. It’s like how group messaging works in text messages. You create a network of people who are Sun subscribers just like you, and when you send a text message to them about how your day went and so, all of them would get your message. And since you can send unlimited texts for free, you keep sending messages and all who’s within the network receives them.

But what if you want to send a text message with top secret information to only one person within the network, say to Alex? That’s when another innovation came in called the switch. It was more intelligent than the hub because it can “read” the data. If the data says that it should only be sent to Alex, then it would only go to Alex. It has the ability to screen messages and send them to one person within the network if needed be. But the problem with the switch was that for example nosy Kayla, who’s also within the same network and who wanted to fish for the same information, could easily do so because the path from your computer to Alex’s could be easily traced. Of course when that happens, the source of the top secret information would then be spilled.

Because of the hub and the switch’s inefficiency and lack of security, the router was born.

It has the ability to send messages from one network to another. Going back to my blog, if I wanted to show this article only to my professor’s computer who belongs in a different network as I am, the router can serve as the gateway from the network where I belong to to the network where my professor belongs to. But one router won’t be able to do the job since many networks are intertwined and it’s not possible to only just go through one router to get from my network to my professor’s. So between the time these words left my server and the time they showed up on my professor’s monitor, they passed through several routers connecting different networks helping them along the way. It’s much like sending a postal letter from your mailbox to the mailbox of a friend, wherein mail sorters and handlers act like routers to make sure that the letter goes into the right place.

The router has proven to be efficient, but is it secure? Yes. It has the capacity of port forwarding, or automatically masking messages so it would be nearly impossible to detect where it came from. You can be rest assured that whatever hush-hush information that you have is in good hands once you send it with a router.

You might ask, how does a router actually decide on which path my blog data will take to get to my professor’s computer? The answer is that Internet data, for instance my blog, travels over a system called the packet switching network through the router. The data in my blog (message) is broken up into small packages, each with a label that includes information on the my (sender) address, my professor’s (receiver) address, the package’s place in the entire blog and how the receiving computer can be sure that the package arrived intact. In simple terms, the router is able to understand the do’s and don’ts present in the data. In this case, I do want this blog only to be read on my professor’s computer screen. I don’t want my blog to appear on other people’s computer screens.

Yes, routers are very “intelligent” and “decisive” pieces of technology as it thinks of where data will go, what different routes it could take to get there and finally decides the best route it would take to reach its destination, taking into consideration the do’s and don’ts of the data, that is, which paths that data wants and doesn’t want to take.

Routers come in different types, from small to large: Small Office or Home Office (SOHO) for personal and residence use, Enterprises such as DilNet which cover a big area like the University of the Philippines Diliman and Internet Connectivity or Major Enterprises which what Internet Service Providers use such as Globe Broadband and Smart Bro which cover cities like Quezon City.

Even so, these routers only differ in the capacity of network they can control, but their main purposes remain the same: ensuring that data goes to where it’s supposed and doesn’t go where it’s not needed or wanted. We don't get to appreciate this because we don't see this happening, flashed before our eyes unlike the Internet or the World Wide Web. But now, it may still be invisible, but it feels good to know about it, right?

The router has done its share in making our lives less stressful with just a few clicks. And thanks to you too for making your way to finishing this article till the very end. In reading a few more of these last words, you have given the router appreciation and well, an invisible round of applause this piece of device is longing to receive.

Monster

Rusty Nike rubber shoes, jeans, a shirt which showed his large belly, a red Sesame Street lanyard with his school ID and a pair of old glasses – this was what he wore on the day that he told me the story of how he became a monster.

Jan Michael Vincent Po didn’t like studying as a kid. He was just very carefree and playful about everything; playing the Playstation and chatting with his Xavier friends were just about his favorite things to do. He said he doesn’t even go to the library. Even his target grade for every subject for every quarter then was only 80. And I thought to myself, Uh oh, this dude may not really be a geek at all.

But, ever since, he has been a very curious person, asking questions from as simple as why the sky is blue to as random as what makes up glass. He constantly wants to know many things about the world around him, and he doesn’t feel contented unless so. Good, he has the signs of being a good scientist: he is curious.

When he graduated from elementary, he promised himself that he would change and that he would diligently study from then on. This was because his elder sister was accepted in a scholarship in Singapore and he, too, wants to study there.

In high school, he would go home immediately after class to study and do his assignments until it was time for him to sleep. This was the start of his transformation as a Science and Math-eating creature, and this became a habit all throughout high school. Suddenly, he lost time for his friends, and he also didn’t get to have much interaction with girls being in an all-boys school, and so he settled to fantasizing on pretty, young Science or Math teachers instead. In high school, he became officially and undeniably a geek. His grades soared from the usual average Joe’s 80’s to whopping 98’s and 99’s. “Scary, noh?” he said.

But that transformation has its own downsides. Being a big guy with a natural kind and soft heart, an intense passion for Science and Math which confused many and constant bloopers every day, he became a target of unfriendly jokes for some.

He was a CAT officer back in high school, and many of his classmates under him would laugh at him during push-ups exercises because he couldn’t carry himself. But it was fine with him, he has already accepted that he was a nerd, and being a nerd has its ups and downs. It was just unfortunate that he had to experience both in this world – you laughing with people and people laughing at you.

The third year of his high school marked the start of his love for Chemistry. For him, it was able to answer so many questions that he has about what makes up life and he was able to find those answers through this. Not only did it supply answers for his innate curiosity about things, he also realized that chemistry has many uses to make this world a better place to live in.

Sadly, he wasn’t accepted in the Singapore scholarship, but that didn’t stop him from doing his best in life.

He took up BS Chemistry and is now in his fourth year in the University of the Philippines, Diliman. Through chemistry, he was able to explain the simplest things in life that we tend to disregard. He explained that what a cell phone is made of: plastic which is made up of bonds that are strongly linked together that’s why it’s hard to break as its outer covering; copper wires, silver and lead as the metals inside and liquid crystals for the LCD.
“Chemistry is in all of things, including us,” he said.

He admitted that chemistry still hasn’t provided him with all the information he wants, but it’s enough to keep him satisfied.

He said he wants to be able to work in fuel companies when he graduates, so that he can research on renewable and alternative fuels like nuclear energy, water, or biodiesel to stop global warming.

He may be a 21-year old monster for some, his kind heart and soul makes his friends love and appreciate him for who and what he is. And that includes his loving parents Pablo and Emma Po, his sister, and well, me.