slash

This is my book of the week: Marci Albogher's One Person/ Multiple Careers: A New Model for Life/ Work Success (Warner Business Books, 2007).

This book is filled with stories of different slashes, people who derive satisfaction and income from two or more careers. Examples are the rabbi/stand-up comic, the lawyer/religious minister, and the cop/ personal trainer.

As someone who seeks to balance a publishing business and a law practice, I've sometimes found it difficult to answer the question, "What do you do?" The traditional perception is that a person can have only one career at a time (or in a lifetime), whereas technology already gives us the ability to take on different jobs simultaneously and even use one as a leverage for the others. The book gives slashes affirmation and a sense of community, as well as useful tips for answering the tricky question above.

I ordered my copy of the book from Bibliarch's Waltermart Pasong Tamo branch.

Thanks to Hard Boiled Eggz for the song "Grace" in the podcast.

chick magnet

I got our first company car two weeks ago, a green Kia Picanto, and named him Nick after my best friend in kindergarten class. I first heard about this bang-for-your-buck car from Jong Navarro, who I interviewed for High Life; I figured out how to acquire one while hanging out in the Gerry Roxas Foundation office in between interviews for the same magazine.

Every morning, dozens of birds flock to Nick- from the sky, he must look like a bush or a tree. Aside from being a magnet for the excitable songsters, he's environmental too: the Picanto can run up to 24 km. per liter of gas (we use unleaded, of course).

Last Thursday night, I took Nick to Nueva Ecija for his first out-of-town business trip. On the way back to Manila, while listening to the Sacred Works of Ryan Cayabyab (track 2 of the CD is on the podcast), we got lost in Pampanga.

Driving past Mount Arayat, I saw the largest sunlight beams dancing before the entire dormant volcano like the folds of a giant golden curtain. It was as if God had parted the sky: I parked on the side of the road and took pictures of the phenomenon to the amusement of farmers who were walking home from a day of working in the rice fields.

rock 'n rule

Last year, I asked Jing- a lawyer for Saligan who plays the guitar for several bands- what his dream legal practice was. He said he wanted to give legal assistance to musicians.

When my childhood playmate from Baguio Bilzen told me that his metal rock band, Hard Boiled Eggz, needed lawyers to review some recording contracts, I found the chance to make a dream come true. I sent the Eggz an engagement letter and asked Jing to collaborate with me in negotiations.

The Eggz won the P800,000 first prize in the Red Horse Muziclaban Rock Challenge last year. Yesterday, after almost two months of painstaking negotiations that covered a gamut of intellectual property issues from copyrights to royalties, they signed a three-year exclusive recording contract with Viva Records. Representing the record company in negotiations was another former Justice Mendoza law clerk, the soprano Marivic Benedicto.

Here are three members of the Eggz with their manager Ann, who had also managed the Eraserheads. Bilzen is the guy in the green shirt, sitting beside Ann.

Thanks to The Dawn for "Bawat Bata" in the podcast.