Gone Fishing

I've never been to a  fishing trip before. I mean, going out to the waters on a motorized vehicle and spend countless hours casting and reeling under the heat of the sun. Although, I remember trying to catch tiny fish from a shallow stream near our vegetable garden before, the same stream where my older siblings used to do laundry. A slightly bent bamboo twig was used as pole; a staple wire from a box was formed into a hook, and this hook was tied to a thread which served as the line. Eureka!! a rudimentary fishing gear. For bait, a live earthworm freshly dugged up from a muddy soil was cut up into lengths that fitted the staple wire hook. That was fishing to me, for recreation , since I did not cook the poor fish I caught.

I got a few friends who just loved to go fishing. Once, I was invited to go fishing and I had to look for a lame alibi to decline the invite. For I thought, fishing is such a boring thing to do, may be next to doing nothing! And so the idea of going fishing was nowhere in my to do list. To me, the thought of waiting for the fish to pick up my bait for who-knows-how-long was like eternity, and therefore so much of a time wasted. This is in addition to the apprehensions of mosquito bites if gone fishing during dusk in the freshwater lakes around Manhattan, KS or the extreme Texas heat of the mid-day sun off the waters of the Corpus Christi Bay. Another reason that held me strongly back from going fishing, especially in sea waters, was my inability to swim.

Why did I go fishing anyway?

A geology professor (Vernon K.) whose office is next to mine in the College where I am teaching, mentioned to me that he loves to fish. He is a white septuagenarian who has retired five times already from previous jobs, He goes fishing for sport and for spending solitude. Although, he told me that once in a while, he would fillet the bigger catch. I have always been a fish eater and I indulge myself  with fish meal  from those simply cooked in vinegar ('paksiw'), fish soup ('tinola'),  fried fish and fish escabeche, to the fancy and pricey steamed or grilled fish. I knew in general that Americans love to fillet their catch and that they simply toss the fish heads and fleshy bones away for the seagulls to party on. So I told my geologist friend not to throw the fish parts next time and to save  the other species that are not subject to regulatory restrictions (number and size wise) instead of throwing them back to the water.

One summer morning back to my office, I got a voice mail from Vernon, straight from the middle of the Redfish Bay asking me if I were interested in some fish. Apparently, he was out there catching some good quality local species of fish like flounder, redfish and drum. Honestly I knew nothing about these fish but I got to know them eventually. My class for that day was to end at about ten in the evening so I did not have the time to go to his place and pick up the fish. I was thinking then I might have defaulted the offer. But this gracious 'old man' who looks and acts 'way younger' that his age saved the fish for me.

On my way to pick up the fish, I did not know what to expect. Maybe Vernon got a couple of his 'legal' catch for me. But my eyes opened so wide in amazement when I saw what he got for me. It was a 'lot'.. a big flounder, three drums, a couple of red fish, and few others I did not remember their names! And of couse, few fish heads from those he filleted. Venon's wife witnessed how astonished I was in reacting to what I saw. She told me, it was as if I got the biggest surprise of my life. And it was true! Our freezer was stuffed with fish like never before.

The following week, Vernon went fishing again, for fun. Their freezer was still overly stuffed with fillet from his previous trips, so I was the lucky recipient of his legal catch again! This time, he taught me how to clean the big fish. I got more-than two week's supply of fish. He drove me by the bay and showed where he usually got his 'loot' of fish. It turns out, he was fishing only in shallow waters. Admiring the abundance of the fish my friend caught regularly, and out of my curiosity, I told him that  I would go fishing with him one day. And so, my interest in fishing started!

Saltwater fishing license, checked! Sunblock, checked! Food and drinks, checked! With life vest on, I was seated in front of an open boat. The smell of the ocean and the morning breeze washing my face brought a good feeling! While Vernon was  behind me navigating the boat, my mind was wondering  in anticipation of new experience this day would bring. I knew there is something in store for me, including the catch. I gaped my face to the horizon before me, and to the sea grass bed  all around. I got excited with the sight of huge fish swimming in the sea grass bed and with those that keep jumping off the water. Silently, I told myself... watch out fish!

Then there was ... casting 101! Before we left  Vernon's place, he showed me a couple strokes on how to cast the line. I thought it was simple and easy. So out there in the waters, I practiced casting fishing line. It turned out casting was not easy as I earlier thought. I tried my hardest to cast but they were not good enough. At the start,Vernon was watching me every time I cast my line, if only to prevent his ear from being hooked (lol) if not to check if I was doing the right stroke. My hooks were not going that far no matter how I tried. I would release the reel either too early or too late. Not at the right timing. I was told to relax and get the feel of the timing when to release the reel. After about half an hour doing the casting, I became frustrated. I was nowhere near to be doing good in this 'seemingly' easy task!

I sat down to get some drinks. Suddenly,  I started to think about my students who were trying to learn something new for the first time in my class. Here I am, trying my best to do good but still struggling. At this very moment, I put myself to my students' shoes. I thought about the times I got upset, if not frustrated, when my students fail to completely comprehend topics which seem to be very simple and easy to me. I felt I need to show more compassion to my students if only to give justice to job I love the most - teaching! What a humbling experience, indeed!

Seven hours slipped very quickly, and all our baits were gone. We called it quits. We ended up catching drums, croakers and perches. I experienced having my hand and fingers pierced by the sharp fins of catfish and perch. Some lessons learned, including when to release the fish back to the water.  Finally, I was able to feel the right timing in releasing the reel.

Contrary to my expectation, there never was a dull moment spent while we were casting and reeling in. There was always the excitement every time I yanked  the pole to, hopefully, get a fish hooked.

After cleaning all what we caught, Vernon told me to take of all the fish home. For there's no space in the freezer to stash. That was a lot.. more than enough to feed us for a month! Sweet!













 

One Father's Reflections On Father's Day

I don't blame some people for choosing not to become fathers. I dislike people who, through their own volition, irresponsibly refuse to become fathers to the children they sired and helped brought into the world. And I admire people who desired and stood up as fathers to countless children who may, otherwise,  have lived and grown without fathers. For 'any man can be a father but it takes someone special to be a dad.'

I have two lovely grown up children now. So this makes me a father! No doubt about it.

Now, am I a dad to them? Who knows! I can only hope....

If raising kids makes one person a dad, then I should be one! For, along with my wife, I did help raising them to whoever they are today. But I don't claim any credit for 'making' them who they are and what have become of them now. For they are who they are. I may just have been a set of 'Dos and Don'ts' to them, and may be a little bit more!

Becoming a dad is a nature's gift. It comes in nicely as a package of role to portray, a game to play, a commitment to dutifully fulfill, and most of all, a life to live! The role was challenging for I definitely dont want to be their model. I have my flaws, insensitivities, temper and my fickle-mindedness. The game was seemingly difficult in the absence of established set of rules. And the playing field was so vastly immense, limited only to my imagination! The commitment was life-long, although as I see it now, it gets a little less demanding as the children get older. And the life.. am still getting there. A rollercoaster ride it has been so far...!

I could safely say I was almost always there for my children since they were born. Almost because while I was always around for our daughter since she was born,  I was in absentia, by necessity, during the first one-and-a-half years of our son. I just hope my absence did not make less of a dad. For sure, he may not know it!

Watching these once tiny kids grow was always a source of profound happiness and pride. I could relate myself to my dad who'd always see to it that he was around in any of our school programs to watch us perform a part or receive recognition. They continue to shower us with so much pride,  boosting our egos and making us even more proud with their stellar achievements, especially in school.

Now that my kids are grown ups, I feel a void building inside me. For it won't be long,  I will not be seeing them more often . I wonder if I could even hear their voices. I feel a little sad and lonely as I start to feel  losing my little girl. Soon, she will be out navigating the waters in her own life's journey!  And with my son declaring his independence!

Many times, not in the distant past  I wished my children did not get to grow to who they are now. If only we could stay together! But this selfish thinking, is not what a dad should embrace. As what my son told us, 'let the bird fly', and so fly he does to start finding out for himself what the world has to offer.

A word of advice to young dads out there... cherish every moment with your kids. For they grow so fast. Before you know it, they are kids no more! And time for them to be on their own!

Happy father's day everyone!

Bits-'n-Pieces

I've been idle and unproductive in the days past. This comes after a week of tight-knot schedules: a weekend trip for a kin's wedding in Kansas City, the final examinations for the spring semester, my daughter's college graduation.. an apartment move. As all those bustles are considered done, unpacking and putting stuff away included, I found myself glued to my laptop most of the time. I thought I deserve this break. And so I indulged myself, LOL only to myself though,  as I followed and reacted every funny joke posted in the Plaridel Group facebook page. It is fun...

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It's nice to be doing nothing... but facebook! At least momentarily as I try to enjoy and savor my solitude this first week of summer vacation. Gone are the PowerPoint lectures to skillfully master, exams to write then grade, meetings, and yes the flood of students whining, why did they get D's or C's when they thought they deserved better grades. Am so done with these... for now!

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Last night, I was up late, as usual catching up with every posting in FB as well as trying to gather information if the 'end of the world' saga has already unfolded in areas of earlier time zones. Today, May 21st,  is supposed to be the end of the world where calamities (notably, earthquakes) must have crumpled the world,  as Rapture  has the chosen few joining with their Lord while the heathens are left gnawing their teeth  under the rubble of cataclysm. And so the doomsday prediction by  the apocalyptic believers was doomed again! 

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It makes me wonder why would some so-called Christians bite the bait the doomsdaysayers are putting in. For  it is written ' no one knows exactly the second coming of the Lord '. Ironically, they don't see this coming!

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While the apocalyptic believers readied themselves for the Rapture, doing their 'lasts' with their loved ones - last dinner, last gathering, last everything...., the non-believers were out there partying, mocking the believers.
I wonder if today has become a great disappointment to the believers for the end they're looking forward to did not come! Sigh...

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I dont believe the earth will just end in a snap of a finger. Nature is bound to obey its laws. And these laws make nature run through its course. The cosmos is catastrophic. As we continue to hear earthquakes of unimaginable magnitudes, hurricanes of unmeasurable intensities, extreme weather changes, and all sorts of nature's 'signs of the time', they are not unexpected. They are part of the vicious cycle of nature's existence.

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Our existence in this planet is governed by the laws of nature. We experience all sorts of catastrophes spicing up our lives. At times, we found ourselves in the abyss of hopelessness and despair, and in some other times, we are at the summit of everything. This makes our life worth living. Our reselience in dealing with life's adversities leads us to where we are now.  We dont worry so much about the future for we know not what the future holds. But we take lessons from our past in order to make the present a little better. 

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For now,  I have to get rid myself off the guilt feelings of doing nothing but facebook... It's a treat to myself. Soon, I will start checking out the things on my to-do list, trying to accomplish one task at a time.




 

Done With Life

About a month ago, a colleague in our Department, lost his dad after battling with a debilitating disease for quite a time. From his countenance, I could sense he was harboring mixed emotions. A smile in his face, as I expressed my sympathy to him,  meant he was glad seeing his beloved father relieved of the pains and sufferings he endured through the past years. It must be very difficult for him and his family seeing a moribund loved one day after day. Then as he bit his lip, I felt the grief his heart was keeping, for the eternal loss. But he was quick to regain his composure,  deeply consoled that his dad is done with his mortal sufferings and with the thought, as his faith promises, that he is heaven-bound. A year earlier, another colleague of mine mourned for the death of his dad, three days after which his father-in-law passed away, all succumbed to infirmities which kept them bed-bound for the remaining years of their lives. And all I could gather from him was a sigh of relief, from the painful sight of seeing his dad waging a fight he could not win and for his dad as the end of his sufferings came to pass.

I was thinking about, what if I am in a situation where my life is characterized by nothing but physical pains and afflictions? That after exausting all available modern medical interventions there is, still there isn't  any relief in sight. And the intense physical suffering gets worse every day as it is augmented by the psychological pain  of self-pity generated by the bitter feeling of sheer uselessness.Where I am totally emasculated from doing things I used to, and have to rely on machines with a network of  tubes delivering air and food to, and removing wastes from my body. Then I'd say, I am done with my life. I would sign a waiver seeking a medically-assisted end of my life.

This is euthanasia, also called mercy killing! It is an act of ending a person's life who has been terminally ill by witholding extreme medical interventions. Suicide with consent! This is one of the hotly contested topics for ethical debates. To do or not to do, poses a great dilemma as it creates a divide among many health providers as well as the family members. Euthanasia has also been a subject for long debates in the halls of lawmakers arena. And it has been judiciously argued, with a lot of attention, in the halls of justice, as famously hallmarked by the case of Terri Schaivo.

I offered a course called Controversial Topics in Biology during aWinter Term, three years ago and our class tackled several issues that were, well controversial! I introduced euthanasia through a tear jerking foreign movie titled Done With Life. It's about one man on the way to the peak of his youthful life, which is peppered with feats and accomplishments unusual to any man his age. But he, unfortunately, did not get to where he quite wanted as an unusual accident cut him. He dived in a cliff and he landed at the back of his head, breaking his neck. Becoming quadriplegic was the major source of miseries in his life. After the surreal twists and turns of events in the story,  he eventually ended his life with the help of a medical doctor who prepared the 'drinks'  he had to binge on to kill himself slowly and less painfully.

My students, when asked to give their reactions, as usual were divided close to fifty-fifty. The pragmatists did not doubt taking the same route as the hero in the story. While the conservatives and probably the moralists, on the other hand, were apt to passing their strong disagreement to ending a life which they considered  sacred and given to him by their creator. This scenario reflects a microcosm of  what and how does the society deal with this issue.

Nobody has been incriminated for attempting to commit suicide. But many have been incarcerated for trying to murder a person, pre-meditated or otherwise. One can take another person's life  in the name of self-defense without going to prison. Which means, one's life is really valuable. Just like any valuables, one person's life belongs only to him. And so, I thought, a person is entitled to do anything with his life. For as long as he fully knows the consequences of his action. This is especially so if the person wishes to relieve himself from the pains and burdens he's carrying through for the rest of his life.

For A Dear Sister on Her Birthday!

Every child is a gift from heaven. This is what our parents believed. Getting married at early age, teens to be more precise,  our parents had a long way ahead of them. And so, our first sibling (a girl)  came, followed by another one, then another one… then me, the seventh child. Plus two more after me. .. We thought that was it.  Then, came our last sibling, after a hiatus.

I was about nine when we welcomed our youngest sibling, Berse (she is also fondly called Angging in our family) to this mortal world.  She was the apple of the eyes of many in the family. She was well loved, the privilege she naturally  received being the youngest. But she never grew up a spoiled brat.

In our family, the older siblings were, at times,  charged with looking after the younger ones. And I had my share of babysitting the younger sisters, especially when my older siblings were all at school. This brought me closer to my younger siblings, and Berse, being the littlest always deserved more of my attention. She told me, she could remember fondly enjoying a piggyback ride she got from me when we were heading somewhere.

One thing I could remember so well about Berse is her being an industrious person. As a young child, she would find ways to earn a little  money for herself. I thought this was a trait predicting her success in the future. 

I was off to college when Berse was starting grade school. Away from home for 8 years, the only times I could see her were during short visits  at Christmas or summer vacation. In 1985, job brought me back close to home and about that time, Berse was starting college. This was the time Berse and I were closely associated again, as she went to the school where I worked as a professor.  Through the years, I saw her transformation into a very responsible person. I even teased her as 'sipsip', showing extreme loyalty to one of her favorite college professors. We parted our ways again after her graduation from college as she started teaching in a high school somewhere.

Fast forward.... today Berse, our baby sister, turns 42 years old. And yes, she lives a simply full life. She is blessed with a nice family, intelligent kids and a very successful career. There is one thing I admired so much about her, being the caregiver to our octogenarian mother. Living alone like a single mother since husband Roger is working overseas, I thought it was difficult for Berse to lead a normal life, with our frail and ailing mother,  three  kids with two teenagers, and acting as head teacher in two elementary schools. I thought she has so much on her plate. But I have never heard her complaining. On top of that, she seems to be the go-to person when a sibling or two are in need of something, especially financial matters.

I am greatly indebted to Berse.  She has done the greatest job which nobody else in our family has ever done, caring for our dear mother. Words are not enough to express my heartfelt thanks and appreciation to our baby sister. 

Now I realized why heaven sent her, the youngest sibling in our family.  Because if she did not come, who would take care of mother? If the older siblings were to take care of the younger ones, then the youngest will take care of the old folks! LOL..

Happy birthday dear sister! We wish you with continued success in your family and in your career! I owe you something... a trip to the US with a stop over in Canada someday soon!

Human Genome Ten Years After It's Been Mapped

I voluntered to deliver a talk covering  a certain topic in Genomics in an upcoming Friday Science Seminar which is regularly sponsored by our Department of Natural Sciences. We have a Spring Break this week and I was supposed to be relieved from the usual school tasks. But I was glued most of the time to my laptop gathering materials for my talk. The good thing is that, unlike during my student days when I had to dig up the card catalogs in the library and spend countless hours leafing through the pages of journals,  I just have to type the topic and let the search engine do the searching!

Turns out, this year marks the 10th year after the draft of the human genome was reported. Two drafts actually, one done by the government-sponsored International Human Genome Sequencing Consortium, the other one by a Biotech Company, Celera Genomics. Each used different mapping strategy and both came up with comparable results.

Mapping the human genome was an ambitious project conceived in the 1980s under the Clinton Administration. It officially took off as a 15 year- and 50- million dollar project in 1988, as a collaborative undertaking by participating laboratories in the US, UK, Japan, Italy, China and somewhere else. This project had an initial rough sailing while presented to the  government for funding. Fears were mounting that most of the research budget would be siphoned to this audicious project.  Tauted as a big science, many scientists were abhorred of the idea at the get go. Being a non-hypothesis research was also a major issue.

Anyway, in the month of February 2001, two leading highly authoritative scientific journals, Science and Nature, trumpeted to the whole world the first drafts of the human genome project. The project was completed two years ahead of schedule and at $3 billion bill.  Among the salient findings:  (1) about three billion  bases (A,T,G,C combined) or 3.2 Gigabases  was estimated to compose the human genome; (2) only 1.1 to 1.4% of the sequence actually encodes for proteins; (3) over half of the total DNA consists of repeated sequences; (4) about 1.42.million single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNP) were unearthed to be distrbuted throughout the human genome. Simple translation - there are fewer genes annotated than what most scientists were expecting! For it was believed with the complexity of human beings and being on top of the evolutionary ladder, at this time, humans must have accumulated a comparably higher number of genes. The question that crops up with this finding is: what is most of the DNA (the non-genes)  in the genome doing?


Hope springs eternal. With the human genome sequenced, it was hoped that information about every base in the human DNA could provide benchmark to the development of personalized treatment of certain disease/s tailored to every individual's genetic profile. The genetic clues could be mined from the individual's SNPs pattern. In the same manner, preventive treatments could be given to individuals whose SNPs patterns reveal predictable late onset gene-based diseases.

But medicine is  not quite there yet! Ten years after, the beginning has just started. The art or science of medicine has yet to take off incorporating genomic information to the treatment regimen. In response,  a few topnotch medical universities in the US are beginning to re-write their curriculum considering the direction of personalized treatment of human diseases. While humans are genetically distinct from our close furry relatives, every individual has a distinct set of SNPs. This unique genetic identity explains why different individuals having similar symptoms and nature of disease would respond differently to the same treatment. And this is when personalized treatment becomes an invaluable tool.

Personalized medicine brings forth to life pharmacogenomics! That is - developing certain drugs or treatment plans based on the patient's  DNA sequence. Which means, a patient should have his entire DNA sequenced.

Sequencing the human genome for the first time was very costly, took a long period of time (13 years), and quite labor intensive with  hundreds of DNA nerds spending countless hours in the laboratory , in over 20 laboratories worldwilde! But through their journey, technologies evolved. Automated DNA sequencers were developed, and the processing capability of computers has been improved beyond one's imagination! We learned that some who's who in the human genome project ,and rumors have it that few celebrities, have their own genomes sequenced, to a tune of a million dollars a piece.

But mortals like me and everybody else, may not lose hope. With technological advancement occurring in quantum leaps,  genome scientists sing in unison that soon sequencing one's genome could be inexpensive, and therefore, become affordable to many! Save a thousand dollars and drop your mouth swabs in the mail. In one week,  receive your DNA sequence!  This will then mark the era of the start of personalized medicine... when a patient's genomic sequence has become a part of his medical records!

The Day The Earth Moves

I was watching the raw video footages posted on the internet taken while the 8.9 magnitude earthquake  was in progress in the Sendai Prefecture in Japan. I could not believe what I saw!! It was terrifying. Inside the grocery, workers were uselessly trying to keep the tall aisles still to prevent the displayed items- wines, canned good, boxes and what-have you, from falling. Inside an office, computers, monitors, wall decors, even desks were falling. There was a footage in a  lobby which reminded me of my first trip to Manila, decades ago, on board the M/V Dona Marilyn (before it sunk) while navigating through the unusually rough waters off  Romblon island, where bottles rolled from side to side of the huge ship. In that footage, I thought the tall building must be swaying!!! Indeed, it was swaying!

What was even more gut wrenching was the aftemath of the strong earthquake, the tsunami which flowed in multi-story high waves of rushing waters raging the coastal areas up to 3 kilometers to the mainland. I watched the dark mound of water picking up yachts and small boats from the shoreline and cars and trucks parked in the streets bringing them  to who-knows-where, knocking down weaker structures (homes and bridges) along the way The eerie sight sent a chill to my spine! In the airport, I saw few airplanes swarmed around by drifted cars and trucks.

I thought I was watching the thriller of the futuristic movie, The Day After Tomorrow. Some scenes were so surreal that most people think would happen only in the silver screen. It did happen for real, caught  in people's not the director's camera! The magnitude of the damage seems incomprehensible, as thousands of lives are lost or missing, massive infrastructures damaged including the nuclear power plant facilities and power is out for who-knows how long!

This powerful earthquake occurred in Japan earlier today while rescue and recovery operations are still underway in the rubbles of Christchurch, New Zealand after it was rocked by 6.3 magnitude quake less than a month ago. Elsewhere, tremors shook and caused significant damage to buildings and loss of lives and limbs in Southwest China, and was felt in Bali, Indonesia. Unfortunately, the tremor which shook Japan was estimated to be 800 times more powerful (and hence more destructive) than the one which shook New Zealand.

With this string of calamitous events, the self-proclaimed soothsawyers out there are apt to quickly remind the people the end of time is near. That humans have caused so much displeasure to god. And that god is punishing the earth!

Truth to  reckon is that the earth has been a harsh environment to live in. This planet was born out of unimaginable disaster if we try to contend with the Big Bang Theory. After it's formation, the earth's environment has been so hostile, even before the first life was formed.  Volcanic eruptions, powerful earthquakes, meteorites invasion and some other forces described the cataclysmic nature of the earth. Ironically, it is believed that through the energy generated from these activities, chemical reactions occurred which in the course of time, the first life was formed.

Life in this planet just come and go. According to scientific estimates, more and more living forms were present in the past (and are now archived in the layers of rocks in the earth) than those that live at the present. This is just how things go. We heard about fish kills, bird drops, and massive loss of lives. These are tell-tale signs of  natural selection. It's part of the dynamics of the Gaia, the earth being likened to an organism. Where there are continuous interactions between the various components of the earth's ecosystem (the atmosphere, the oceans, the land and the bedrock beneath)  in order to keep the earth healthy.

And so catastrophes are part of our existence. Sometimes we are lucky.. others are not!