On My Departure From Shell
Topic: "Un-Shelled"
In the movie Eraser, Arnold Schwarzenegger “erases” a person and his past identity to protect his future. In a surreal way, I felt sort of “erased” when I got out of Shell employment. One might call it "un-Shelling.” Yes, the process protects both Shell and the retiree for a list of reasons not necessary to discuss for this terse piece.

Working for the Company for many, many years somehow generated a nice Shell patina -- underneath which, however, were certain privileges and obligations which in the end had to be resolved or dissolved, or both, to the satisfaction of everyone concerned.

As a natural and legal clearing process, I had to surrender all vestiges of my status as Shell employee, e.g., corporate credit cards, company ID, club memberships, pending legal documents and court cases, laptop, books, building security access card, GI Smartcard. I told you so. I was “erased.” Whatever, Shell did not demand for the return of my 15-year old attaché case – perhaps because it had zero book value. It is the only Shell memento left with me.

On the day of final reckoning, I had to remove the Shell Car Park stickers from my motor vehicles and return them to whoever was in charge. And, as a matter of course, my computer access to Shell got unwired.

As Shell legend goes, one quondam employee even went through the motion of going to office the morning after retirement. Me? I answered “Legal” to first phone caller at home on the first day of my life outside Shell.

The Art of (Not) Letting Go
Mood:  caffeinated
Topic: Gnawing Loneliness
Age has somehow altered my principles.

When I was younger, I was an advocate of growing children well and letting them go at a ripe time.

I molded my children around education for work abroad: Sunshine is a PT based in New York; Armando, Jr. is an IT; Jasmine Bliss is into her third year in nursing.

At my age, I feel the pangs of loneliness in the thought Juliet and I could lose Sunshine, Armando, Jr. and Jasmine Bliss to overseas employment.

I miss Sunshine so deeply. I feel a loss that rends heart and emotion. What more if Jasmine Bliss and Armando, Jr. leave us?

Sorry, Jasmine Bliss, I might ask you to take up duties at the Makati Medical Center or the San Juan de Dios Hospital -- wherever in Metro Manila. Never mind New York. I wouldn't want to spend my few remaining Christmases without all my children.

Just What is An Ambulance?
Topic: Perplexed
I don’t see one anymore Or do I just miss it lately?

I refer to the siren-wailing AUV-type funeral vehicle marked as “ambulance.” This isn’t a hearse, a vehicle used to convey the dead to the grave. It is a vehicle that transports the dead from the hospital, or any venue of death, to a funeral home or any place where the departed is placed for viewing.

Egad, have wordsmiths for memorial homes found a new term to discombobulate the living?

I had to run to Webster, which says an ambulance is “a vehicle equipped for transporting the injured or sick.” I turned to Wikipedia’s “disambiguation,” but I had no luck either.

Could anyone enlighten? Webster or Wikipedia could be outdated, for all I know.

Well, perhaps the offending memorial parlor (is it related to a beauty parlor?) has reconsidered its practice to call its special vehicle an “ambulance.” Otherwise, some people might begin, for convenience, to use a funeral “ambulance” to transport the injured or sick to the hospital.

Excuse me, please, while I prepare for a Halloween Party, a synonym for “booze” to us drinkers.

"She Loved You So Well"
Mood:  sad
Topic: On Living and Leaving
In my time as legal counsel of Pilipinas Shell Petroleum Corporation, circa 1983-2004, I met the good half of every Shell legal staff (er, consider the other half good as well), except one. He was an enigma to me. But, from the sparse words his wife had for him, I knew he was a man his wife believed in deeply. With the wife's recent retirement, it was certain that both looked forward to spending more time together and recalling stories when their love was young. You see, there comes a point in life when time gets really, really precious.

My only statement about his wife remained unspoken to him: "She loved you so well."

I only knew him as "Saning" -- Chit del Rosario's one and only. Recently, he left Chit without a word, typically the taciturn "Saning," to fulfil an appointment with his Creator. Godspeed!