MANILA, Philippines - “Times must be changing or are they going back to the days of filibustering?” I half said and half asked my friend F.
“What are you talking about?” F asked.
“Standing up for what we believe in — or should I say standing out?” came my quick reply.
The conversation was on the much-talked about RH bill and the manner by which Carlos Celdran stood up for what he believed in.
Yup, Celdran’s stand on the issue was indeed fodder for lots of interesting conversations. Matter of fact, it was so interesting that it made it to the front pages of most major dailies.
“Tita Kathy, I think what that Celdran guy did was okay,” said E, my opinionated nephew. “It’s only because Celdran did what he did that the Catholic Church took notice.”
“It wasn’t right that he interrupted that ecumenical meeting,” quipped my friend F. “Taking a stand is a good thing. But perhaps it must be done in a way that doesn’t send a bad message to the kids about respect for the church as a place of worship.”
I couldn’t help but be amused about the conversation because it made me realize that we are living in a time of change. And change begins with us, I might add.
Many, many moons ago, when I first started working, I was a teacher — a Christian Living (CL) teacher in an all-girls Catholic school.
I began teaching in my senior year at college and because I was young and idealistic I wanted my CL classes to make a difference in the life of my grade school students.
I believed that faith was caught and not taught. So, it had to be that I lived what I taught, which, believe me, was never ever easy.
That was in 1984, the year after Ninoy Aquino was assassinated. Yes, the kids in the school where I taught came from both sides of the political spectrum — but it was one faith that united them. At least, the idealist in me believed it was so.
Kids are kids and yes, little fights in class were not uncommon between my students who believed in the Marcos administration and then the others, kids of the Ninoy Movement parents.
At the time I remember telling my students that it is never wrong to speak out for what you believe in — for as long as you listen to what others believe in, too. And more importantly that you respect what they have to say.
“No fighting please,” was a common plea I made to the kids.
They listened and we all said prayers for each other, together as a class.
Today, there are so many other issues that our country faces, the RH bill issue being one of them. Celdran had his way of making his voice heard — and it was quite a shout-out I must say.
But for me, and for many other people I know, it is still doing what we can, where we are that will change this country for the better.
Get down to business
In all things, I mean all things there are changes for the better.
But the fastest changes happen in the field of technology — in the cellphone industry, I might add.
Just like the new Sony Ericsson Vivaz pro.
Yes, it is a veni, vidi, vici (I came, I saw, I conquered) Vivaz pro cellphone.
It is best to start with the veni and vidi.
The Sony Ericsson Vivaz pro is one hell of a looker.
It is a slide phone with a full QWERTY keypad. I like that the review cellphone I got was colored blue green. It is always a pleasure to know that the cellphone comes in funky colors — and the Vivaz pro does not disappoint.
Sony Ericsson creates a beautiful and unique piece of technology with the Vivaz pro. It’s kinda sexy because of the curvy edges, it is small and light and I like this because it fits just perfectly into my not-so-big hands. When it comes to cellphones, most of the best ones are those which can be held with one hand — just in case we need our other hand to do something else, like eat, for example.
And since the Vivaz pro is what I like to call a business phone — it does not come off as being too business-like, like many of the smartphones today are. For folks like me, that truly matters.
The slide-out QWERTY keyboard is easy to navigate through because the keys are thin and have rounded edges.
It has a 360 x 640 3.2-inch screen, which is easily visible even under really bright lights and the backlight is good so the screen is crisp and clear even under dark lights.
On the left side of the Sony Ericsson Vivaz pro is the microUSB port with a 3.5-mm audio jack up on the top of the phone.
The speaker and the mike are great when using for video recording or even voice recording.
Touch me please
So what did I vici?
I unearthed so much beauty beyond the surface of the Vivaz pro, even as I was so enamored by its looks.
First there is the cool keyboard. I couldn’t get enough of it. I used the keyboard for my usual texting which was truly enjoyable. I had fun also working on the keyboard for typing in my fave social networking sites like Twitter and Facebook.
The keyboard slid out easily and snapped back into place as soon as I was done with my business, which is really cool.
And, yes the touch-screen feature is also admirable as it quickly responds to touch.
Time to shoot
The Vivaz pro has a 5.1-megapixel camera, which is capable of shooting great HD videos. I was told that one of the best-selling points of the Vivaz pro is its having a great HD video recording option.
So, I took the Vivaz pro to our village park and I brought my loving doggie companions along for a video shoot.
It was so much fun - I did a lot of running because if you have ever tried to shoot any of your pets, running and making sure that they are in the frame is a great feat.
The Vivaz pro did not let me down. I had a blast watching the video of my super adorable little doggies — and I loved the background grunts I made, which were recorded ever so clearly on the Vivaz pro.
It was so easy for me to upload the video I shot and sent it out to my really close friends — as most of them know I am a klutz when it comes to doing video.
“That was one great video,” came the comment of my friend J on Facebook. “Cool camera you must have.”
“It’s the Sony Ericsson Vivaz pro,” I proudly replied. “And it’s a really great piece of technology — combining all the best features of a cellphone and then adding on great video capacity.”
Life is truly about being able to take a stand on issues and getting your message across. And the Sony Ericsson Vivaz pro helped me do exactly that.
I love my doggies and I love sharing my life with them with my true friends.
Excuse me while I stand up for more Vivaz pro.