Life Update 03.11.2020

Gothic rib-vault ceiling. Photo by Tom Kamenjack.

It's been a while! So, I had no idea that this niche of mine still exists here online. I just spent the last couple of hours reading some of my old blog posts and playing around with a new theme. Maybe I'll revive this sleeping blog. Maybe not. I don't know. It's nostalgic and at the same time like a time capsule, from another me seven years ago.

It's 2020 and a lot has since changed since my last post. I'll go over and fill you in on some of the details in the last "twenteen" decade. Let's see...

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In 2014, I enrolled myself in a 25-week Living Waters program to deal with the struggles I had regarding behavioral addiction problems and false intimacies. The latter half of this year was spent recollecting my broken self. I finished my undergraduate thesis and while waiting for my graduation day, got myself a job in a small architectural firm. I was mostly on the production of contract documents used in construction, with a bit on the schematic and design development for new projects.

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In 2015, I finally graduated from college and got my Bachelor's Degree in Architecture. I left my first design firm and switched on a non-government organization, teaching out-of-school youths marketable and specialized construction skills, while managing projects in the field of heritage conservation --- mostly centuries-old churches built during the Spanish-Colonial period. I spent the next four years here falling further deeply in love with church history, liturgy, and research. I also had a health crisis that will be changing the course of how I view and live my life.

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In 2016, I fell ill around the later half of the year and decided while recovering to spend the rest of the remaining months studying for the upcoming Licensure Examinations. I enrolled myself for review classes, had a great time burying myself for hours and hours studying, made some awesome study buddies and grew my hair to about shoulder-length <laughs>.

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In 2017, I took the Licensure Examinations for Architects (LEA), passed and had myself registered as a full-pledged licensed Architect. It was one of the most surreal time of my life. For my old-time blog visitors, I started this niche to cope with the stress I had in the university as an architecture student. Looking back, I'm not even sure if I wanted to be an architect enough to merit where I am right now. I was truly just going with the flow, to be honest, but I somehow knew it was the right track for me to traverse at the time. Later, I would continue with my job on heritage conservation and would enroll myself for graduate studies to supplement and complement what I had been learning on-field all along. I had a lot of problems with politics in my working culture and environment, but I was getting by. I also started to lose my luscious locks and embraced balding. 

I think it was also around this time where I finally had this sense that I am being called to a life other than the married vocation and the priestly vocation. I was content being single and had regularly attended a weekly group with chastity as its primary goal. The catholic group truly is a gem that had nourished me spiritually and sacramentally through thick and thin. My love for the Mother Church and her heritage --- all her Truth, Goodness, and Beauty --- only grew, as well as my confidence to use my knowledge in architecture and history only for the service of the Church.

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In 2018, while actively working for the NGO and studying for graduate school, the toxic work environment had started to take its toll on me. I reacted by looking for a place elsewhere in the academe and was considered for a part-time position as a lecturer in my old university. As much as I wanted to teach history, I was only given Building Laws and Tropical Architecture, which to my surprise, I had a great time teaching. Tensions in the faculty did not spare me, and while I was doing well and had a sense of satisfaction, juggling three concerns in my head at all times really was too much.

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In 2019, I was at my wit's end. I quit my job in the latter half of the year and stopped going to classes in my graduate school, with no further intention of ever finishing. After a couple of years, chasing one goal after another, and trying to accomplish as much as I can with as little time (I hear people with a ticking time bomb, had this tendency), my passion had grown thin and weary. I figured it was a perfect time to slow down and just enjoy living. I took classes in graphic design and 2D animation while trying to figure things out.

I never stopped loving church history, and liturgy. I never stopped sketching, and making illustrations and reading the Lives of Saints because these creative activities and hobbies have given me life. I have a growing interest in iconography and hagiography (Click here for my DeviantArt Gallery!)

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Fast forward today in 2020, I just started a new job for a small design firm specializing in liturgical and ecclesiastical architecture. For anyone who has been with a start-up company, you know how it is with the birth struggles. Health-wise, I'm doing relatively good (amidst an impending public health crisis aka plague with the COVID-19 and the Novel Corona Virus). The world truly has changed a lot in the last couple of years.

It's funny when I think of myself as a grown man when all I could do right now is crawl back here where it all began. I stopped journaling a few years ago shortly after I stopped blogging. I missed writing and putting my thoughts out here for anyone who cares to dedicate a couple minutes to stop by and read. 

It may look like that I'm holding up pretty good for an average millennial, but with our age marked by uncertainty, all I could really do is to try to live one day at a time, write a piece in the stillness and quiet of my room, and narrate this story to myself. Just to make sense out of my restlessness, even for just a bit.

ArchInspire #028: Earth Chapel

The official promotional poster after the DOT 'More fun in the Philippines" meme.

Here's an overdue post from my not-so-recent visit to Bacolod City last March. It was one of the highlights of our sojourn aside from our ocular inspection and negotiation from one of the prospective donor's one-hectare site in the municipality of Murcia. During our visit, we stayed in the convent of the Recoleto friars inside the campus of the University of Negros Occidental - Recoletos. It was within the area of Greenheart Hermitage where we saw and held Mass in the Earth Chapel - a collaborative work from three Negrense artists anchored on their common advocacy of protecting the environment. Here's my review of the structure:

The chapel is the first solar-powered religious edifice in the country where it is envisioned both to have a sound spiritual and environmental atmosphere. The main material used for its walls were mud mixed with lime and rice straws. The posts and trusses were salvaged bamboo trunks and the roofing is made up of thatched cogon grass. During the day, the green-tinted old wine bottles incorporated in the structure lets in an ambient lighting aside from serving as an aesthetic recycled stained-glass window. LED lights were used to illumine the interior at night. Discarded tiles and wood slabs are only some of its notable recycled materials. The chapel was envisioned to be the center of the community's ecological reflection, owing to the spiritual inspiration of our Creator, in the hopes of transforming individuals in the community to be men and women of faith committed to protect and preserve the earth.

The collaborative project was from the brain juice of Marisol Alquiza (visual artist), who sketched and designed the chapel; Brother Tagoy Jakosalem (a Recoleto friar and an official presenter of The Climate Reality Project), who did the interior and conceptualized the incorporation of the use renewable energy to make the structure true to form and function in its liturgical scheme; and Nunenlancio Alvarado (a leading social-realist artist in the country) who designed the centerpiece of the chapel - a mosaic crucifix for the altar that depicts Christ as a suffering sacada.

The Earth Chapel adds another spiritual and liturgical venue in the island of Negros, aside from the "Chapel of the Angry Christ" in Victorias and the "Chapel of the Cartwheels" in Manapla. The chapel is a model of how a place of worship can maximize the use of renewable energy and indigenous materials in its structure.

Below are the original images I took during our visit. We also made history by celebrating the first Holy Mass in it after its official blessing from the Bishop of Negros Occidental :)

 

Christ as a suffering sacada. (Altar centerpiece by Nunelancio Alvarado)

Highlight: Ilocos Empanada

For foodies and travelers out there, a trip to Ilocos Norte will never be complete without having one of their famous Ilocos Empanada (there is a similar variety from Vigan, Ilocos Sur but this was the kind you'll usually find in Batac or Laoag, Ilocos Norte). Above are pictures of this yummy merienda I bought along the kiosks just outside the development premise of Malacanang of the North. 

Basic ingredients: rice flour for the crust with or without achuete; filling of egg and mongo sprout or parboiled mongo or grated green papaya for ordinary orders, and additional Ilocos longanisa for special orders. This is eaten partnered with a yummy condiment:  Ilocos [black] vinegar (exhibiting a taste of wine rather than a vinegar) with out without sili.

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Those feisty photographs were taken by Yours Truly :) See more of this Ilocos Norte trip with my case studies of Plaza del Norte here and Malacanang of the North here :)

Case Study: Malacanang of the North, Ilocos Norte

This is the part 2 of my recent trip to Ilocos Norte. If you haven't read the other case study regarding Plaza del Norte Hotel, click here. 

Neighboring the hotel development that we stayed for three days was this mansion-turned-museum that cradled another strand of history serving as a reminder of the Philippines' not-so-distant past - the reign of the infamous Former President Ferdinand Marcos that wielded power during Martial Law, ending with his ouster with the EDSA People Power Revolution in 1986 - the Malacanang of the North. 

"Malacanang ti Amianan" is the other term used by Ilocanos to describe Malacañang of the North. This is the official residence of the former President Ferdinand Marcos in Ilocos Norte, built on a high point of land projecting into the sea right beyond the coastline of the legendary Paoay Lake, this enduring structure is now a museum. It was designed to resemble a 19th Century “bahay na bato” with a mixture of Spanish and Ilocano interior designs. Complete with 9 spacious rooms which was used to accommodate upper class guests during Marcos’ term, 2 living and dining areas, a spacious ballroom on the second floor, and verandas for both the ground and second floor facing the Paoay lake. They even had an olympic size swimming pool but is now left unused. 

Despite the lapse of time, there is still a lot of impressive beauty one can find in this structure worn-out throughout the years - an aesthetic that maybe not even as close resembling the beauty and purpose it served and inspired back when it was still used as originally intended. It is only with an eye for detail that one one can see through this perspective of beauty. Photos take by Yours Truly :)

 

Case Study: Plaza del Norte, Ilocos Norte

As promised in my last post, I will be uploading for the next few days pictures of my recent trip to Ilocos Norte. It was not as special as the one I had two years ago which focused on the perspective of Spanish Colonial influences in the Philippine building design and heritage; nevertheless it became almost too nostalgic for me since a lot in our itinerary for that weekend trip was a familiar destination. Too bad that I only got to visit two churches :|

Moreover, am afraid that the trip we made (which was given as a gift) was more of political (fellowship-camaraderie-blah) in nature rather than the more reflective manner which one should have to appreciate the provincial beauty of Ilocos.

Anyways, the grueling 12-hour trip to the province was wiped away once I laid my eyes on the place we are to occupy for the next two nights. The architecture student in me churned as I feasted my eyes with the beautiful natural hills surrounding the master development. The style guiding principles and elements employed in the development was typical of the character of the buildings in the region; this is to preserve the continuity in the aesthetics of the old buildings in the region while giving it a modern twist worthy of luxury :)

Plaza del Norte (former Ilocos Norte Hotel and Convention Center) brings together the Spanish-style charm and grandeur of Ilocos with the modern design of today in its world-class amenities. The hotel features a chapel for private weddings, sprawling gardens for outdoor events, a swimming pool, hotel function room and in-room massage services. The property promises to appeal to business travelers because of its extensive facilities that are ideal for such functions and meetings. 

The location of the hotel promisesn ideal getaway for the leisure tourist because of its proximity to many historical and unique attractions such as Spanish colonial buildings, Malacanang of the North, Paoay Lake, Sand Dunes, white sand beaches of Pagudpud, Marcos-era mansions and the historical Paoay Church, considered a UNESCO heritage site.

Photos taken by Yours Truly :) For more information, check out their website here. Click another of my case study regarding Malacanang of the North here.