The rare creature that became
known as Block D was introduced in A.Y. 2004-2005, the first batch of its kind in
60 years. (Of course there had to be a D years before so there would be a Block
E, right?).

It was organized as an experiment
by then Dean Pangalangan to address the increase of law students in the U.P. College
of Law by the innovation of non-interviewing for the Top 100 of the batch who
took the LAE on the year 2003.  

Since then, the block was trimmed
down from the original 35 to 26 by the time 2nd year came around. Although some
would grumble that Block D had no identity of its own, unlike for example A for
being the so-called smart block, B for being bibo and C for being the party block,
D emerged triumphant as being a hybrid of all these traits.

It soon became apparent that D,
led by the first D block D2008, would not be leaving the

College

of

Law

without a mark. As early as freshman year, D’s Al Siason surprised all by
winning as Ms. Freshman in the Freshman Week, thereby clinching the title for D
as Best

Freshman Block for the year 2004.
2nd year marked the start of the fight against block dissolution, with D formerly
being the default choice. Since the members of the block cared for each other
so much, they petitioned the College Secretary for the draw-lots system as a
more equitable way of determining who would be the block to be dissolved. 

The succeeding batches to follow
Block D would later do D2008 proud by consistently winning as Best Freshman Block
for Freshman Week. As of the year 2008, Block D has been the champion for four
consecutive years and Ms. Freshman for 3 of those years.

Perhaps the spirit that best
categorizes that one is from Block D is the genuine spirit of concern and
support that each and every blockmate gives to one another, be it academics,
campus politics, moot court, sports, etc. Each member of the block feels the
importance of staying together and of
lifting the other person’s spirits during the ups and downs that is
characteristic of being in the hardest and most prestigious law school in the
country.

Certainly, without the Block D
spirit most of us would not be in the positions we are in today. If we were
assigned in another block from Day One, imagine how different our lives in law
school would have been! We would not have met our 20 sisters and 3 brothers
that we feel such an emotional and intellectual connection to. We would not be
as complete and as fulfilled as we are right now. I am glad I was assigned to
this particular block. It has turned out to be the

College

of

Law

’s
greatest experiment.

ang saya! UP fair season na naman!
friends, bago grumaduate, dapat ma-experience niyong kahit once na malasing habang nakaupo sa gitna ng sunken garden… na supposedly di pwede mangyari. ehem. hehehe!

———

MONDAY - LOVERAGE 2: OUTLOUD! (Adelfe Enu Crea Sorority and Pan Xenia Fraternity)
Bamboo, Parokya ni Edgar, Kamikazee, 6Cyclemind, MYMP, UPdharmadown, Itchyworms, Kitchie Nadal, Imago
Chicosci, Stonefree, Moonstar88, Silent Sanctuary, Mayonnaise, Soapdish,
Shamrock, Gloc 9, Cookie Chua, Queso, Treadstone, Blue Ketchup, Protein Shake, Ciudad, Fuse, Paraluman, Manibela, Chubibo, Tha-R, Zelle, and many more…

TUESDAY - RAKESTRA 2008: LOST IN OBLIVION (Beta Epsilon Fraternity)
Sandwich, Urbandub w/ Manila Philharmonic Orchestra, Parokya ni Edgar, Kamikazee, 6Cycle Mind, Sugarfree, Itchyworms, Moonstar88, Chicosci, Silent Sanctuary, Callalily, Hale, Imago, Mojofly, Rocksteddy, Mayonnaise, The Dawn, Slapshock, Radioactive Sago Project, Kiko Machine, Pedicab, Hilera, Pinup Girls, Ciudad, Chilitees, Taken by Cars, Cambio, Manibela, Zelle, Boy Elroy, Oi Wag D2, Bembol Rockers, The Dorques, Angulo, Too Late The Hero, Duster, Aizo, Bagetsafonik, The Ronnies, Concrete Sam, El Mercurio, Peryodiko and many more…

WEDNESDAY - ROCK-LOVE-AN: SANDAAN: KAMI N’APO ULIT (Alpha Phi Omega Fraternity)
Sugarfree, Spongecola, Typecast, Callalily, Silent Sanctuary, Urbandub, Barbie Almalbis, Imago, 6cyclemind, Itchyworms, Hale, Greyhoundz, Proteinshake, Pedicab, Kjwan, Soapdish, Stonefree, Mayonnaise, Fuse, Mojofly, RockSteddy, ChicoSci, Check, Melanie, Hilera, VinceNoir, Paraluman, Manibela, Ciudad, Blue Ketchup, and many more…

THURSDAY - (Sigma Beta Sorority)

FRIDAY - (University Student Council) (balitaan ko na lang kayo)

SATURDAY - EUFAIRIA: 100 YEARS AT THE EDGE OF SANITY (Delta Pi Omicron Sorority)
Urbandub, The Dawn, Pupil, Slapshock, Kjwan, Queso, Greyhoundz, Chicosci, Kiko Machine, Stonefree, Acel, Sugarfree, Moonstar 88, Mojofly, Paramita, Hilera, Cambio, Chubibo, Giniling Festival, Datu’s Tribe, The Wudz, The Jerks, Radioactive Sago Project, Aizo, Cathexis, Sunflower Day Camp, Threadstone, Fuse, Ursaminor, Nickty Nasty, Kampai, and many more…

“The Concept of Law”: Comments and Criticisms

Rules and the internal aspect

According to the legal philosopher Neil MacCormick, Hart’s internal point of view contains distinguishable components ought to be distinguished, such as the “cognitively internal” point of view, from which conduct is appreciated and understood in terms of standards used by agents as guidelines: that which is sufficient for an understanding of norms and the normative. However, this outlook presupposes on the “volitionally internal” point of view: the view of the agent, who has a volitional commitment to observe a given pattern of conduct as a standard for himself and for other people or for both. Hart is criticized for not distinguishing between differences in levels of understanding and differences in degrees of commitment. MacCormick also maintains that by “feelings” Hart means emotional elements and these should not be a misrepresentation of the internal aspect. Between two types of psychological states, volitional and emotional, MacCormick allows that volitional can be treated as part of the internal aspect. Hart did not distinguish these two, consequently describing internal aspect as free from both.

Another legal theorist, Raz, discusses three fatal defects to the practice theory. On the first defect, it does not explain rules which are not practices. A rule is not a social rule unless it is practiced by a certain community, but it may still be a rule. Moral rules are perhaps the clearest example of rules which are not practiced. It is not necessary for the correctness of the belief that the rule is practiced. Also, a person may believe that a rule is valid though he does not observe it. Even if a person believes there can be a rule only if it is practiced the word “rule” does not mean “practice”, and hence the explanation of what a rule is cannot be in terms of the practice theory. The second major defect of the practice theory is its failure to distinguish between practiced rules and accepted reasons. According to the practice theory, whenever a reason is believed in, followed and acted on by the relevant person or group, then they have a rule. Raz says that we can distinguish between a rule and a reason regardless of whether they are acted on and followed in practice. We do not regard every practice of acting on a general reason as acting on a rule. The practice theory fails to draw this distinction and it thereby fails to capture the essential feature of rules. The third major defect of the practice theory is that it deprives rules of their normative character. A rule is a reason for action. The fact that rules are normally stated by using normative terms indicates that they are operative reasons. A practice as such is not necessarily a reason for action. It may be that there is a reason for all to behave as they do or if a certain person has, generally or in particular, reason to conform to the practice. But the practice theory fails to account generally for the normative character of rules.

The idea of obligation

The theorist Hoffmaster is of the opinion that Hart’s analysis of the general notion of obligation is derived from his view of moral obligation. “Moral rules impose obligations and withdraw certain areas of conduct from the free option of the individual to do as he likes.” The rule may not be a social rule because people either do not conform their behavior to the requirements of the rule or do not have the internal point of view towards the rule. Hart claims notions of duty and obligation are primarily legal notions, “both are almost always appropriate for whatever the rules of an existing legal system forbid.” On the other hand if the rule is a social rule then legal obligation is understood as a special case in obligation in general. Legal indicates the rule has a special formal status, namely legal validity, in addition to being a social rule of obligation. Hart’s view is that legal obligations are imposed upon officials by social rules, which exist by virtue of the behaviour and expectations of other officials in the system but that such social rules are not valid. Hoffmaster says that although this explains the sense in which an obligation is legal, it does not explain the obligation involved. In the case of customary rules that are made legally valid, the social rule that imposes the legal obligation exists by virtue of the behaviour and expectations of other officials in the same legal system.

Primary and secondary rules

Hart describes primary rules as ones that require human beings to do or abstain from certain actions, while secondary rules enable human beings to introduce new primary rules or eliminate or modify primary rules. Primary rules impose obligations and the more complex the society, the more the need for changing rules and establishing an authoritative way of telling whether any primary rule was broken, hence the need for secondary rules. However, Hart’s second construal of the difference between primary and secondary rules gives no account how rules that create obligations are recognized, changed or adjudicated. The distinction does not seem adequate to handle any rule that is secondary, let alone higher level rules that specify how they may be changed, modified or eliminated. The introduction of secondary rules is considered by Hart as a step from the pre-legal to the legal world.

However, this is contested by legal philosopher Michael Martin in that pre-legal systems or primitive societies have Hart’s concept of secondary rules in the form of marriage laws, which also create laws. Hart further says the crucial distinction between pre-legal and legal systems is the introduction of rules of change, adjudication and the rule of recognition. However, Hart does not cite evidence for the existence of societies that are the “nearest approximations” to societies without rules of change, adjudication and recognition. Martin also points out that it is one thing for one society to have some organ that administers or enforces the laws and another for society to have such rules that may be administered informally.

The rule of recognition

Hart says that a rule of recognition is a rule requiring officials to apply rules identified by criteria of validity included in it. It is in every legal system, is accepted and practiced by officials but need not be approved of as a morally good or justified rule. The other descriptions have already been modified or abandoned in that the unity of the system does not depend on its containing only one rule of recognition, it depends on the fact that it contains only rules which certain primary organs are bound to apply. The primary organs in following and applying the rules of recognition does not entail that they hold them to be morally jusitified. It is not only logically possible but also not uncommon for an official to follow its rules of recognition without regarding them as morally justified. The rule is only required to be held valid. Moreover, the official may follow the rule without having any beliefs why he is justified in doing so, or for prudential reasons, even for moral reasons which are based on his rejection of the system.

Legal rules and moral rules

Martin on the other hand, says that though Hart distinguishes legal and moral rules in that legal rules can be deliberately changed, whereas moral rules are not repealed and corrected, one can imagine a religious leader changing the moral rules as easily as a legislature could. Hart is misled in thinking all moral rules are like traditions. Hart also says legal rules unlike moral rules may be unimportant. An unimportant law remains law until repealed. However, a moral rule that is considered unimportant would not mean it is no longer a moral rule in this system, but rather that this rule is no longer considered important. Further, based on the rule of recognition, a rule would not be considered a legal rule of the system if it was not longer considered important. Hart also mentioned that it is always an excuse for someone breaking a moral rule that they could not keep it. But this is not the case in law, as some laws are based on strict liability and no excuse is possible. So in moral responsibility “ought” always implies “can” but in legal responsibility this does not always hold. However, if we understand legal liability as including all and only those things that the law requires the person to do or refrain from doing then “ought” does imply “can” even in strict liability.

Hart also distinguishes morals from laws in that legal pressure is characteristically exerted by fear of punishment, moral exerted by “reminder of the moral character of the action and the demand of morality.” However, one can imagine a moral system that imposes physical sanctions for breaking moral rules. Some moral systems also threaten sanctions after death, for example, in hell. Then it is also plausible to suppose that the pressure many moral systems characteristically exert is the fear of punishment. Many people in modern society follow the law as well because they believe they have the moral duty to do so, the fear of punishment does not enter into their motivation.

(So in other words: Hart, you lose. Hehe!)

Thanks to the weather, and no thanks to my apparently frail immune system, I am finally up and running with nary an absent to my good name. The past few days have taught me: 1)Go with your first instinct to skip class because you feel crappy. It may prevent a further decline into illness 2)Never take the taste of normal food for granted. *sigh* Everything tastes so bitter! Well, not so much now. Sure… 3)Never wish to get sick so you can become thin BECAUSE it is sooo not worth it. (I remember a blockmate who shall remain nameless who mentioned she wanted to get dengue to get thin. You do not want dengue, believe me! It sucks! But there’s the food poisoning route, a glass of unsafe milk could put you down for a couple of days. hehe! kidding!) But yes, in connection to #2 and to my newfound appreciation for solid food, don’t wish you were sick because you might just get it. 4) And lastly, never self-diagnose. Duh.

And thank you to everyone who ordered me to get well. Haha! I bet the food poisoning virus or whatever just got scared off!

By Skye Alexander

Many of us approach our thirtieth birthdays with anxiety, even dread. We start looking for gray hairs and paying attention to ads for wrinkle creams. We question whether we are climbing the career ladder quickly enough. We hear the biological clock ticking loudly and worry that soon we will be too old to bear children.

Astrologers call the period between ages twenty-eight and thirty "Saturn Return." That’s because it’s the first time the planet Saturn completes its cycle through your birth chart and returns to the spot it occupied when you were born. Internationally respected astrologer Rob Hand calls Saturn Return "one of the most important times in your life. . . a time of endings and new beginnings."

For most of us, ending a phase of life that is familiar and embarking on one that is new and untried is unsettling, even painful. Few people describe Saturn Return as a pleasant period. While undergoing your Saturn Return you may find yourself turning inward and reflecting on your individual destiny. You examine your true needs and desires and the role you want to play on the world’s stage. You may feel lonely and alienated from those around you, while family and friends think you are shutting them out. But this is a necessary period of consolidation, when you must retreat from the distractions of the outer world and focus on yourself at your most fundamental level. The Saturn Return is every individual’s search for the Holy Grail.

Coming of Age

The first Saturn Return marks the end of youth and the beginning of the productive adult years. It is now that you truly become an adult–not at eighteen or twenty-one. You realize your need to define yourself as an individual within society and to demonstrate what you’ve learned. Newswoman Jane Pauley described turning thirty as having grown into womanhood. German film director Werner Herzog compared this period in his life with a maiden’s loss of virginity, a line drawn across his path marking the end of his youth.

This transition into adulthood is often accompanied by a sense of urgency, a feeling that you must try to accomplish everything you’ve ever wanted or planned to do now. Goals start to come sharply into focus. If you have not settled into a definite career, or have been pursuing one that is inappropriate for you, you’ll experience a strong push to establish yourself in a more fulfilling occupation. Sometimes this means a complete change. During his first Saturn Return Vincent Van Gogh decided to be a painter rather than a minister. More frequently it means a new direction or specialization within your chosen field.

If you have been building steadily toward a goal that’s right for you, Saturn Return can be a time of achievement and rewards. Your labors bear fruit. Runner Bill Rodgers’ Saturn Return marked the first of three consecutive Boston Marathon wins. William Faulkner published his first novel at age twenty-nine.

According to California astrologer Stephen Arroyo, author of Astrology, Karma and Transformation, "The quality of the entire experience and the extent to which it is felt to be a ‘difficult’ time depends entirely on how one has lived during the previous twenty-nine years." If you have been pursuing an unsuitable vocation or merely fulfilling someone else’s expectations, Saturn can be relentless in prodding you to make adjustments.

Revising Worn Out Patterns

Saturn strips away illusions and points out limitations, allowing you to view yourself in a harsh, often unflattering light. At the same time, it endows you with prudence, practicality, and the perseverance to work hard toward achieving your purposes. Consequently, this is a good time to rearrange your career or lay the foundation for a new one.

Saturn Return almost always requires some major adjustments in lifestyle, attitudes, and relationships. Anything you have outgrown, or have tolerated but not found satisfying, must end now or be altered to meet your emerging needs. According to Hand, "Consciously or unconsciously, you are pruning your life of everything that is not relevant to what you really are as a human being."

Often interpersonal relationships are deeply affected by Saturn Return. Gail Sheehy writes in Passages: Predictable Crises in Adult Life that during this period "Almost everyone who is married will question that commitment." The U.S. Census Bureau lists the peak divorce years as ages twenty-eight to thirty. Some people experience more subtle or private adjustments in their patterns of relating, such as shifts in responsibilities. Many couples decide to become parents, not only altering their relationships but their financial obligations and perhaps their vocations as well.

If a relationship is sound, based on mutual respect, honesty, and sharing, it will probably survive the test of Saturn Return and become even stronger. But a relationship begun before the partners knew what they really wanted is likely to fall apart. Relationships that start during this period may have a "fated" or "karmic" quality about them.

When Enough is Enough

"Saturn. . . is never easy to deal with because his function is that of promoting growth," explains astrologer Liz Greene, author of Saturn: A New Look at an Old Devil, "and it is only frustration and pain which at present are sufficient goads to get a human being moving." This frustration and pain have given Saturn a bad reputation. But the planet’s often misunderstood value lies in its very ability to evoke pain. Like the pain of an illness, it warns that something is wrong. Saturn doesn’t create the problems, it merely illuminates them.

Growth is often accompanied by trepidation and turmoil. As the old self is pushed aside to make room for the new, you may feel weak and vulnerable. You want to move ahead, yet are frustrated by a fear of doing so, torn between a compelling urge to throw off everything connected with your past and an equally frantic need to cling to the familiar rather than brave the great unknown.

Even if your external world seems to be in order, your internal structure may feel as though it’s being assaulted with a battering ram. Nervous conditions, irritability, depression, insomnia, and feelings of insecurity are common. Most people go through some sort of identity crisis.

Even though your Saturn Return may be disturbing, ultimately it reveals what you truly want and sweeps away the clutter that may have been impeding your progress. Your Saturn Return is a personal spring cleaning. No matter how difficult it seems to let go of inappropriate people and things, the first Saturn Return is the time to do it. For if lessons are not learned, the problems will come knocking again during your second Saturn Return at about age fifty-eight, when you are more set in your ways. Once the conflict is confronted, the tension usually subsides. You feel stronger and more capable of moving ahead.

Saturn Return is one of the most crucial turning points you ever experience, when you assume the greatest responsibility of all: responsibility for your own life.

=======

Side note: I got this from the net. Sabi kasi sa peyups, after ng Quarter Life Crisis, Saturn Return na. Some say Saturn Return comes when you’re 27-29 so maybe I already am in Saturn Return? But most likely next year pa when I graduate and take the Bar and stuff. Hay. It’s a scary thought. I’m going to miss the daily routine of school and worrying about grades, not having to work… But as the Saturn Return profile says, it is a time of independence and being on your own. I really do need to grow up. It isn’t easy. I’ve always had my family to depend on. And U.P. and being in school. (10 years na ako dito sa university, counting the time I’ve been working and just hung out on the weekends.) I’m really going to miss all this. Ako pa naman always resistant to change, unless it’s a really good one, like my niece being born. hehe. But then, there’s no use fighting change. It’s the only constant thing in life, sabi nga ng cliche. =)

Here are some of my favorite BL moments courtesy of imdb.com:

Alan Shore: What’s your specialty?
Dr. Allen Konigsberg: Couples’ counseling. I first saw the client and his wife together. Since the divorce I’ve been working with him alone.
Alan Shore: So they came to you to improve their relationship, and now one wants to kill the other. Not your best work, was it, doctor?
++++++

Judge Harry Hingham: Alright already, I’ve heard enough. I’m going to rule on this.
Alan Shore: You can’t rule yet!
Judge Harry Hingham: Why not?
Alan Shore: I don’t know.

(If we can but say this in court!!)
+++++

Denny Crane: You’re one of those environmental lawyers?
Peter Barrett: Is there something wrong with that?
Denny Crane: They’re evildoers. Yesterday it’s a tree, today it’s a salmon, tomorrow it’s, "Let’s not dig up Alaska for oil because it’s too pretty." Let me tell you something, I came out here to enjoy nature, don’t talk to me about the environment.
Alan Shore: All reality, none of it scripted.

+++++++++

Bernard Ferrion: I never meant for it to happen.
Alan Shore: I am very disappointed. I gave you a terrific speech last week, Bernie, appealing to the kind inner you. It was wonderful - poignant, even, and how you have completely mooted it by committing murder again.
Bernard Ferrion: I never meant to kill her!
Alan Shore: Well, what? You just went over there to make an omelet and things got out of hand?
++++++++

Denny Crane: [walking through a crowd of reporters] dennycranelaw.com. Pictures, bios, hobbies. I once captained my own spaceship. Muli-talented.
+++++++++++

Alan Shore: Ah, Denny, I’ve hardly seen you this episode.
++++++

Alan Shore: (sees Denny in a flamingo costume like his) You look pretty in pink.

(hehehe! I love it! In case you didn’t know, James Spader played Andrew McCarthy’s asshole bestfriend in Pretty in Pink.  )

I just love Conan O’Brien! Here he is being his nutty, brilliant self, sharing with the most recent Harvard graduates that hey, when all else fails, its okay to be delusional! Hahaha! Thanks to Alpha for sharing this with me. Read it please and let me know what you think.

I’d like to begin by thanking the class marshals for inviting me here today. The last time I was invited to Harvard it cost me $110,000. So I was reluctant to show up. I’m going to start before I really begin by announcing my one goal this afternoon. I want to be half as funny as tomorrow’s Commencement speaker, moral philosopher and economist Amartya Sen. That’s the job. Must get more laughs than seminal wage-price theoretician. By the way, enjoy that. Bring a calculator. It’s going to be a nerd fest.

Students of the Harvard class of 2000, 15 years ago I sat where you sit now. And I thought exactly what you are now thinking. What’s going to happen to me? Will I find my place in the world? Am I really graduating a virgin? Still have 24 hours. Roommate’s mom very hot. Swear she’s checking me out. There was that Rob Lowe movie.

Being here today, on a sincere note, is very special for me. I do miss this place. I especially miss Harvard Square. Let me tell you, you don’t know this, Harvard Square is extremely unique. Nowhere else in the world will you find a man wearing a turban and a Red Sox jacket working in a lesbian bookstore. I’m just glad my dad’s working.

It’s particularly sweet for me to be here today because–this is true–when I graduated I wanted very badly to be a Class Day speaker. Unfortunately, my speech was rejected. So if you’ll indulge me I’d like to read a portion of that speech. This is the actual speech from 15 years ago. "Fellow students, as we sit here today listening to that classic A-ha tune which will definitely stand the test of time, I would like to make several predictions about what the future will hold. I believe that one day a simple governor from a small southern state will rise to the highest office in the land. He will lack political skill, but will lead on the sheer strength of his moral authority. I believe that justice will prevail and one day the Berlin Wall will crumble, uniting East and West Berlin forever under Communist rule. I believe that one day a high-speed network of interconnected computers will spring up worldwide, so enriching people that they will lose their interest in idle chitchat and pornography. And finally, I believe that one day I will have a television show on a major network seen by millions of people at night which I will use to reenact crimes and and help catch at-large criminals." Then I had a section on the death of Wall Street, but you don’t need to hear about that.

The point is that although you see me as a celebrity, a member of the cultural elite, a demigod if you will, and potential husband material, I came here in the fall of 1981 and lived at Holworthy Hall as a student much like you. I was, without exaggeration–this is true–the ugliest picture in the freshman facebook. When Harvard asked me for a picture the previous summer, I thought it was for their records, so I jogged in the August heat to a passport photo office and sat for a morgue shot. To make matters worse, when the facebook came out, they put my picture right next to Catherine Oxenberg, a stunning blonde actress who was expected to join the class of ‘85, but decided to defer admission so she could join the cast of Dynasty. Folks, my photo would have looked bad on any page, but next to Catherine Oxenberg, I looked like a mackerel that had been in a car accident.

You see, in those days, I was 6 feet 4 inches tall and I weighed 150 pounds. True. Recently, I had some structural engineers run those numbers into a computer model, and according to the computer, I collapsed in 1987, killing hundreds in Taiwan.

After freshman year, I moved to Mather House. Mather House, incidentally, was designed by the same firm that built Hitler’s bunker. In fact, if Hitler had conducted the war from Mather House, he would have shot himself a year earlier. Saved us a lot of trouble.

1985 seems like a long time ago now. When I had my Class Day, you students would have been seven years old. Seven years old! You realize what that means? Back then I could have beaten any of you in a fight. And I mean really badly. Like no contest at all. If anyone here has a time machine, seriously, I will kick your seven-year-old butt right now.

A lot has happened in 15 years though. When you think about it, we come from completely different worlds. When I graduated in 1985, we watched movies starring Tom Cruise and listened to music by Madonna. I come from a time when we huddled around the TV set and watched the Cosby Show on NBC, never imagining that there would one day be a show called Cosby on CBS. In 1985 we drove cars with driver’s-side air bags. But if you had told us that one day there would be passenger-side air bags, we’d have burned you for witchcraft.

Of course I think there is some common ground between us. I remember well the great uncertainty of this day, the anxiety. Many of you are justifiably nervous about leaving the safe, comfortable world of Harvard Yard and hurling yourself headlong into the cold, harsh world of Harvard grad school, a plum job in your father’s firm, or a year abroad with a gold Amex card and then a plum job at your father’s firm. Let me assure you that the knowledge you gained here at Harvard is a precious gift that will never leave you. Take it from me, your education is yours to keep forever. Why, many of you have read the Merchant of Florence, and that will inspire you when you travel to the island of Spain. Your knowledge of that problem they had with those people in Russia, or that guy in South America–you know, the guy–will be with you for the rest of your life.

There’s also sadness today. A feeling of loss that you’re leaving Harvard forever. Let me assure you that you never really leave Harvard. The Harvard fundraising committee will be on your ass until the day you die.

This is true. I know for a fact that right now a member of the alumni association is at the Mount Auburn Cemetery shaking down the corpse of Henry Adams. They heard he has a brass toe ring and they aim to get it. These people just raised $2.5 billion and they only got through the Bs in the alumni directory. Here’s basically how it works. Your phone rings, usually after a big meal when you’re tired and most vulnerable, and a voice asks you for money. Knowing–you’ve read in the paper–that they just raised $2.5 billion, you ask, "What do you need it for?" There is a long pause, and the voice on the other end of the line says, "We don’t need it, we just want it." (Sinister laugh).

Let me see–by your applause–Who here wrote a thesis? That’s nice. A lot of hard work went into that thesis. And no one is ever going to care. I wrote a thesis–this is true, I don’t lie–"Literary Progeria in the Works of Flannery O’Connor and William Faulkner." Let’s just say that during my discussions with Pauly Shore, it doesn’t come up much. For three years after graduation I wanted to show it to everyone, and so I kept my thesis in the glove compartment of my car, so that I could show it to a policeman in case I was pulled over.

What else can you expect in the real world? Let me tell you. As you leave these gates and re-enter society, one thing is certain. Everyone out there is going to hate you. Never tell anyone in a roadside diner that you went to Harvard. In those situations, the correct response to, "Where did you go to school?" is "School? I never had much in the way of book learnin’ and such." And then get in your BMW and get the hell out of there. Go.

You see, kids, you’re in for a lifetime of "And you went to Harvard?" Accidentally give the wrong amount of change in a transaction, and it’s "And you went to Harvard?" Ask at the hardware store how the jumper cables work, and hear "And you went to Harvard?" Forget just once that your underwear goes inside your pants, and it’s "And you went to Harvard?" Get your head stuck in your niece’s doll house ’cause you want to see what it’s like to be a giant, and it’s "Uncle Conan, you went to Harvard?"

So you really know what’s in store for you after Harvard, I have to tell you what happened to me after graduation. I’m going to tell it simply, I’m going to tell it honestly, because, first of all, I think my perspective may give many of you hope, and, secondly, it’s such a cool, amazing rush to be in front of 6,000 people and just talk about yourself. It’s just great. It’s so cool. And I can take my time.

You see, kids, after graduating in May, I moved to Los Angeles. I got a three-week contract at a small cable show. I got a $380-a-month apartment, a terrible dump, and I bought a 1977 Isuzu Opal, a car Isuzu only manufactured for a year because they found out that technically it’s not a car. Quick tip, graduates–no four-cylinder used vehicle should have a racing stripe.

So I worked on that show for about a year, feeling pretty good about myself, when one day they told me that they were letting me go. I was fired. I hadn’t saved any money. So I tried to get another job in television as best I could and couldn’t find one. So with nowhere else to turn–true story–I went to a temp agency and filled out a questionnaire. I made damn sure that they knew I had been to Harvard, that I had written this thesis, and that I expected the very best treatment. And so the next day I was sent to the Santa Monica branch of Wilson’s House of Suede and Leather.

When you have a Harvard degree, and you are working at Wilson’s House of Suede and Leather, you are haunted by the ghostly images of your classmates who chose graduate school. You see their faces everywhere–in coffee cups, in fish tanks, you think you’re going crazy, and they’re always laughing at you as you stack suede shirts no man in good conscience would ever wear.

I tried a lot of things during this period. Acting in corporate infomercials. Serving drinks in a nonequity theater. I even took a job entertaining at a seven year-old’s birthday party. In desperate need of work, I put together some sketches and scored a job at the fledgling Fox network as a writer and performer for a brainy show called the "Wilton North Report." I was finally on a network and really excited. The producer told me the show was going to revolutionize television. And, in a way it did. The show was so hated and did so badly that when four weeks later news of its cancellation was announced to the Fox affiliates, they burst into spontaneous applause.

Eventually, though, I got a big break. I had submitted along with my writing partner a batch of sketches to Saturday Night Live, and after a year and a half they read it, and they gave us a two-week tryout. The two weeks turned into two seasons, and I felt, hey, this is success, I’m successful now. Successful enough to write a TV pilot for an original sitcom. When the network decided to make it, feeling good, I left Saturday Night Live.

This TV show was going to be groundbreaking. It was going to resurrect the career of TV’s Batman, Adam West. It was going to be a comedy without a laugh track or a studio audience. It was going to change all the rules. And here’s what happened. When the pilot aired, it was the second-lowest-rated television show of all time. It is actually tied with a test pattern they show up in Nova Scotia.

So I was 28 and, once again, no job. I had good writing credits in New York, but I was filled with disappointment and I had no idea what I was going to do next. And that is when the Simpsons saved my life. I got a job there and started writing episodes about Springfield getting a monorail or Homer going to college. I was finally putting my Harvard education to good use–writing dialogue for a man who is so stupid that in one episode he forgot to make his own heart beat. Life was good.

And then an insane, inexplicable opportunity came my way, a chance to audition for host of the new "Late Night" show. I took the opportunity very seriously, but at the time–I have to be honest–I had the relaxed confidence of someone who knew he had no real shot, so I couldn’t fear losing a great job that I could never hope to have. And I think that actually that attitude made the difference.

I will never forget being in the Simpsons recording basement that morning when the phone rang. It was for me. My car was blocking a firelane. But a week later I got another call and got the job. So this, finally, was undeniably it. The truly life-altering break that I had always dreamed of. And so I went to work. I gathered all my funny friends and poured all my years of comedy experience into building the show over the summer. I gathered the talent, figured out the sensibility, found Max, found Andy, found my people. We debuted on September 13, 1993, and I was really happy, really happy, with our effort. I felt like I had seized the moment, that I had put my very best foot forward.

And this was what the most respected and widely read television critic, Tom Shales, wrote in the Washington Post. "O’Brien is a living collage of annoying nervous habits. He giggles and jiggles about and fiddles with his cuffs. He has dark, beady little eyes like a rabbit. He is one of the whitest white men ever. O’Brien is a switch on the guest who won’t leave: he’s the host who should never have come. Let the Late Show with Conan O’Brien become the late Late Show, and may the host return to whence he came." There’s more, but it gets kind of mean.

Needless to say, I took a lot of criticism, some of it deserved, some of it excessive, and, to be honest with you, it hurt like you would not believe. But I’m telling you all this for a reason. I’ve had a lot of success. I’ve had a lot of failure. I’ve looked good. I’ve looked bad. I’ve been praised. And I’ve been criticized. But my mistakes have been necessary. I’ve dwelled on my failures today because, as graduates of Harvard, your biggest liability is your need to succeed, your need to always find yourself on the sweet side of the bell curve. Success is a lot like a bright white tuxedo. You feel terrific when you get it, but then you’re desperately afraid of getting it dirty, of spoiling it.

I left the cocoon of Harvard, I left the cocoon of Saturday Night Live, I left the cocoon of the Simpsons. And each time it was bruising and tumultuous. And yet every failure was freeing, and today I’m as nostalgic for the bad as I am for the good. So that’s what I wish for all of you–the bad as well as the good. Fall down. Make a mess. Break something occasionally. Know that your mistakes are your own unique way of getting to where you need to be. And remember that the story is never over.

If you’ll indulge me for just a second, I’d like to read a little something from just this year. "Somehow, Conan O’Brien has transformed himself into the brightest star in the late-night firmament. His comedy is the gold standard, and Conan himself is not only the quickest and most inventive wit of his generation, but quite possibly the greatest host ever."

It’s my 5th OLA day tomorrow. Finally I get to blog about the blur that was last week! Friday was OLA day and I had to go home early because of family commitments in Santa Rosa, Laguna. Yeah, the rides were fun. We got home exhausted but happy and wet from numerous repeats of a ride that warned/promised me I will get soaked. No breach there.

Saturday was my cousin Jojo’s birthday and we cousins had a blast swimming and drinking cold beer under the brightness of the stars and whilst hamming it up in front of the camera… The water was nice and warm and I didn’t get out for almost 3 hours. The food was spaghetti and barbecue from the party before, slightly cold but nonetheless enthusiastically consumed by the hungry swimmers. We got home slightly before 10PM and after my bath I even got to chat with friends and prospects(?). Hehe! Don’t ask. (Also, that day I learned I was appointed as the new Winlaw 4th year batch rep! Which made me really happy and honored! I’ll do my best girls! =) ) All in all it was a day well-spent. =)

Sunday was Mother’s Day. Because of the elections I had to go early to Guadalupe for a supposedly 10 AM seminar that took up to 2PM to finish. I got home in time to eat some of the cake I chipped in for and ice cream. I also gave my mother a Mother’s Day gift bought from my way home. Hehehe! Yes, it was kikay stuff.

Monday was Election Day. I really didn’t know what to expect. I am grateful Brgy. Pinagkaisahan took care of us so that eventhough the food didn’t get there on time, we were still on the go. (I think the sandwiches we ate came from them)The kagawads were sooo nice, they even let us sit in their tent and made the work so much easier! There were some moments we were like chickens running around with heads cut off for 18 FREAKING HOURS trying to get the ERs and the protest forms all sorted out and helping out our fabulous lawyers Atty. Jenny and Atty. Jon, her hubby. In the end, it wasn’t so bad after all in retrospect. I can’t wait to finally be the one getting twice what I was getting for the day. *ahem* hehehe. One of the more bizaare things that happened was that Erwin Genuino himself called me (bec. of May), asking if we already had our McDo lunch! hehehe! Akalain mo nga naman, congressional candidate mismo? By the time it was over waaay past midnight, we headed to Guadalupe Mall to get paid, which took all of an hour. Then I took a cab with Daisy, Cha, May and Kim back to QC. My cousins picked me up at McDo Katips so I had to treat them to burgers. Yes, I really had to. Got home by 3 AM.

Three hours later, I woke up and rushed to RTC Branch 286 Pasig for my 8:30AM hearing to have my very first cross exam! =) Sayang I was so "bangag" I didn’t even get to savour it. It went well except for the part when I sort of repeated a question in an attempt to reiterate my incredulity such a mistake could happen in a legal document and the judge said it was already answered. Hihi. Fine. Afterwards it was all over and the lawyer of the accused said he will just tender a formal offer of evidence and wait for our comment. Hearing adjourned. See ya July 7! Oh wait, I won’t be in OLA by then. Yipee! Afterwards I met with Cess in Chowking Pasig and we had my current favorite, Spicy Beef Wanton noodles and halo-halo. Yummy! If you haven’t tried it yet you should! I am going through a phase where I love everything spicy and I can’t even distinguish if it’s hot already? Seriously! I think my tongue must be deadened or something.

Wednesday came and it was spent with the block meeting up Ria for her news. Hehe. Kitchen was nice. I loved the creamy, spicy seafood pasta I ate. Absolutely delicious! (Before meeting them pala Miles and I went to McDo Glorietta for milkshakes, mine was chocolate. I remember when I was really young and I used to always order milkshake and spaghetti! ) After that we went to Grilla and had a couple of beers and strawberry margaritas. I love going out with my block! We just laugh and talk nonstop! I really missed them this past summer. I wish it was school already. And that OLA was over. Hahaha! I’m kidding. Of course I love OLA! For so many reasons… not just for the clients. I’m going to miss case cons and Ate Merly, Ate Connie and Jansen. And Director Te of course! (Sorry sir, for the crappy MANIFESTATIONS! ) And our SLs. Sure, even them. Haha!   ;)

So here I went to San Mateo municipal court (which I found with much help from Catsy!!  ) and this was all to appear for the trial of my client accused of grave slander. Anyways since I can’t discuss it much let’s just say I got to OBJECT on an alleged fact that the star witness was saying she was, which the former law intern and the prosecution counsel stipulated was subject to proof during the trial. I’m quite proud of myself, despite the shaky voice, flashes of recit moments going through my head. :)  but there! i finally got to object, the heart of all litigation! next to cross pala. hahaha! well, cross ko na si Madam Witness next time, lagot siya sa katarayan ko. hehe! ay sabi pala ni Sir Te sa OLA Orientation be nice and smile… and don’t shout if you can help it. haha!

But nothing beats a first appearance, kahit less voice lang yun… meron din high kanina but it was alright lang, not euphoric or anything. =)