It’s the end.
It’s a new beginning.
Time really flies when you think that it needs to do so. After every relaxation moment, every hustle and bustle point, every chasing that important person episode and after the blissful sleep of the nights, it comes to an end.
It’s the end of summer and it’s the happiest day of my life.
Why?
Because I am back to school./KP
The best thing about this movie, is that there are few dialogues. More eye contact. Is it me, or is this the only Korean movie I had ever seen? No, I am not counting the Grudge series and other horror peek-a-boo-i-see-a-girl-in-white movies that they make.This day was one of (as far as I know) the most significant days of the publication for four years; the office was getting cleaned. Really cleaned. An overhaul, a make over (if that’s what Tyra calls it), a transformation. Well, were only starting actually, its still not complete. It will take a couple of weeks in order to get the ‘dream office’ of SILAK. At least that’s what I think that it will be.
Today we started the general ‘moving’ move. We threw and threw and sorted and sorted things that had been stuck in plastic bags, in file segregators for the five years in plastic bags. When we started it was just two garbage bags, then, it ended up in five boxes (as I could count) other big boxes, tons of projects of unknown origin, and countless of papers with no end or start.
At the end of the afternoon, about five, all five of us (Venjie went home) were bushed. Very bushed that all we could do was laugh at the porn cd we slammed on the pc. Oooh, a porn cd at a student publication office.Hey, we found it amongst the clutter of ancient 5-year old whoknowswhats. AND We always check what’s the content of a cd before chucking it in a bin. Who doesn’t? We didn’t know it was porn. Haha. Trust me folks, we skipped the nasty parts.
So after the happy slap slappy porn watching, mounds of garbage, and the exhaustion of garbage bags, we decided to stop for the day and head of to SM where we window shopped and I got a pair of loafers and tried out crepe. Mmm. Yummy crepe. My delight. Better than those dust mites and nauseating scenes of the poorly made porn movie. /KP
Picture this: An employee did not hear what his boss is clearly saying because his boss half shouted it from a distance of 300 meters. In between them are two sets of walls, one conference table and a crossway of all the employees in that floor. The boss comes in the room infuriated for the employee does not hear him. He is angry and points out that he ‘screamed to the top of his lungs’ and that anyone from the employees’ distance could be able to hear him. The employee tries to point out that his shouts are in audible and that even his fellow employee in the room could not hear it also (except the slamming of the entrance door). But the boss would not hear of it. The boss mocks the employee and says that the employee should not reason out for he, the employee, will, and always will be wrong. That it is pointless to argue because he is THE boss.
I hate the abuse of hierarchy.
Well, what gives, who wouldn’t hate it if he himself experiences it?
I am a victim of my father’s hierarchy abuse.
Our house is sandwiched by the national road, and a river, which up to now I still don’t know the name. Tatay, would usually, usually, beep the horn of his car and someone would open the gate for him and his ‘corporate-owned’ car. However, things due to other things went the other way. This afternoon, we were not able to hear the sound of the horn. It’s unusually really but I am not over-bluffing, we (our school girl and I) did not hear the sound of the horn, only the creaking of the gate and the slamming of the gate.
Tatay went inside and started yapping away. That I should be conscious of little things, that I was utterly lazy, that I was this and that, the usual dialog of discontent. When I tried to say that we are not able to hear that oh-so important honk, he would go on deaf ears and stop the conversation, saying that it is not a reason that we did not hear the honk. And that I shouldn’t argue on that fact because, as usual, I am the one wrong.
If you were me, what would you do?
I cannot defend myself for one second of his accusation; heck its one big trial room in the kitchen for one minute back there. I wasn’t raising my voice, neither flailing my arms like an uneducated person but he treats me like I am one. It’s as if I am too dumb and ignorant enough not to understand the gravity of the situation. That EVERYTHING IS JUST AN UNWANTED INCIDENT.
Okay, I didn’t hear him, we didn’t. So should we be blamed for that? Should I be blamed that there is a 300 meter gap from him and me? It’s just, like I said, an unwanted incident. I didn’t plan that to happen. I didn’t want to argue on such a low, dumb topic.
The sad thing is, I didn’t have the right to speak out. I could not defend myself. If that was in a court room I would be on my way to death row right now.
So what did I do with it?
Nothing. Silence will satisfy a yapping mouth. But folks, don’t be like me, stand up. Even though I didn’t, you should not let other people speak to you harsh words for things you did not do. But do it in a nice, non-screaming, non-violent way (I mean without fists clenched and mean eyes) so that they could not interpret its as fighting back. Why did I not do that, you may ask? Well, no matter how pleasantly I let them understand, they would look it up as speaking against them and challenging their authority.
I hate it when people think authority is everything in the world.
Change the world. As for me, I’ll just have to bear with my parents’ superior, non-removable thinking./KP
This day was the complete opposite of kitatonic.
I leisurely woke up and proceeded with my everyday student routine without ‘pizazz’. It was a dull, lethargic, and slow day for me. To think that I just pressed the f5 button continuously for five minutes because I had nothing to do. I can’t work on my article since my interviewee is still not in the campus.
So, somehow, I managed to buy time by playing a transferred addiction from GameBoy to laptop; GB Pokemon Emerald. Kudos to Nang Cleah for the free copy.
After collecting 20 pokemons and fighting Team Magma and Team Aqua, I stopped. Bored again.
Then I decided to work on the poster for next year’s screening, I want it to be simple yet striking, so I made this. Leave a comment on how to improve please.
Then again I watched another old flick I found (Thanks to Stacy for letting me rip her cd). Nell, starring Jodi Foster and others. She fashions this long haircut on the movie so don’t be shocked of not seeing her with short hair. Anyway, great movie for those who need a time out from the hip ones. No its not an ancient one. Just watch it SPEd.
Then I wrote another poem. Which thankfully doesn’t sound as boring as to what I am experiencing that moment. If you’re thinking of other things, hold that thoughts please.
Saksakan
Puno naman siya,
it gasaksak sing wala untat.
May isa sa wala, isa sa tuo,
may nag angot pa sa may likod.
Nag-gamit pa isa it adaptor, para dali ka sulod.
Waay pahuway nga sutsotanay.
Ang kuntador ga tirik
waay gid pahuway-huway.
Mintras ang charger, ang kompyuter ka gang air-con
naga-andar.
Not good enough for a Palanca, but good enough for a dull moment like this./KP
Message 1: Kit, may sked ka na para sa enrollment? (Do you have the schedule for the enrollment?)
Message 2: Pila na da simo ya class card? (How many class cards have you kept with you?)
Message 3: Simpon kuha class card simo? (Would we get our class cards all together from you?)
Message 4: Ara na ya mga class card? (Are the class cards there?)
Message 5: Ano requirements mag-transfer? (What are the requirements of transferring/)
For chrissake, tigilan ninyo ako.
I had been trained (luckily) to be self reliant, from our home, to my grade school, to my secondary years. I was trained not to rely on anyone. I was urged to use my instinct, my initiative, my own will in making my decisions, and to move by myself. Up to now, my training continues. Since I am living far from home (about 80 kilometers), I learned that reliance on people for your food, housing, assignments, projects, requirements, do not work well in my system. So I end up being relied upon to (ginasaligan in Hiligaynon). Which I totally don’t dig.
Due to the unfortunate scandal (if what others call it) involving our curriculum internal officers, there was a complete re shuffling of the first year classroom officers. And, as the tide turned, I was elected as chairperson of our section. Pak.
Well, I clearly do not want to be THE chairperson. But since, parang walang direction sa buhay ang mga tao sa section namin, I decided, what the heck, sige na lang.
Now, I feel that there is nothing that I can do for them. *Waving a white flag.
Some are just too superficial. To the point that you have really shallow arguments every single time! Ay naku, nakakasakit sa ulo.
Some, well, super negators. Mga re-incarnation ata ni Che Guevarra at Mussolini. Putok ang fuse box mo pag sila ang katapat mo.
Some are the local versions of Moymoy Palaboy. From the name itself, ‘Moymoy’, baw, daw moymoy gid man sa kilid. They don’t even know how to process their clearances for putridsake. They don’t even know how to get forms, talk to the professors, everything.
But in general, most are lacking of self-reliance. Super wala.
Maybe it was also my fault. I always say, okay, I never deny a request.
Or is it the training?
That’s why I have texted them all, group message in SMS this:
1D, good morning. Due to the messages I had received, I will give you all an advice. Self-reliance is the key to success in college. Please, do your transactions for the enrollment and get your class cards from our respective professors. Please see for yourself the enrollment schedule and flow. I do not know the schedule and what-to-do because I am not the registrar. I am not your keeper. Learn to work individually. Madamo nga salamat.
That message was sent in three parts.
I know it is my responsibility to inform them, but they don’t need to squeeze the information out of me. I have told them earlier on that I do not live in the university and that I will just inform them of the schedules and dates if I can see and IF I know the date. If they are so impatient then why don’t they see for themselves if there is a post on the bulletin board? Now that is using some brains. Instead of wasting load on texting me, ‘Te, when ang enrollment ta?’, why don’t they just go here.
They would say, ‘Magasto sa plite, kanugon lang.’ (Fare is costly, it’ll be such a waste.). Well excuse me, you are a student at a university, therefore, it is your PERSONAL obligation to transact PERSONALLY your PERSONAL needs in terms of PERSONAL matters AND this includes ENROLLMENT. Besides, I go back to school PERSONALLY to know the 5 W’s. I do not text someone na, ‘Hoy, ya class cards ta ara na?’ (Hey, are our class cards there?). I go to school. I rely on myself.
People here are just simply childish, immature, and insufficiently equipped.
Kulang sa training at kulang nang concept of self-reliance.
As the saying goes. You can never teach people to rely on themselves. They’ll just have to wake up one day and realize that.
I hope that day comes. /KP
12:49 pm
May 03, 2009
Msg 1 from Arbiz*: Daug si Pacquiao asta lang round 2 (Pacquiao won, it lasted only ‘till two rounds).
Msg 2 from Erraine*: Nanu man. Daw agi si Hatton. Eww. (What the hell, Hatton seems to be gay. Eww).
Msg 3 from Bisay*: Go Filipinos! Pinoy talo ang Britons. (Filipinos defeated the Brits).
*names of the senders are modified. Some contents are also modified since the writer erased the messages after he has received it. But it is somewhat close.
So what if Pacquiao won over Hatton?
So what if Mr. Manny won another suitcase (probably two suitcases) full of money?
So what if his mom is in the United States when he was fighting?
So what if Gloria did not watch the fight?
So what if Martin sang the National Anthem? (By the way,Mr. Nievera is a great singer.)
So what if Mayweather Sr. insulted Pacquiao?
So what if there are live telecasts everywhere in the country?
So what if Pacquiao won over Hatton?
So what?
Ladies and gentlemen we Filipinos are united this time, every time, Sir Manny is in a match. United for petty entertainment and petty gambling. For a few minutes (his match doesn’t usually exceed an hour) we stop everything, we wait, we watch what we call ‘the fight of Filipino pride’. I am not against Sir Manny, neither against the sport. I am against the die hard, dying, deceased, and almost 50-50 fans of this addicting entertainment.
It seems to fascinate me that most Filipinos agree to stop their jobs, turn off their computers, turn off their faucets, and stop watching the other television in the other room for a few minutes in order to watch him punch a foreigner. When well in fact, few did help commemorate the cause for earth Day (which for me is more important than a fight of one person).
I wonder why Manny binds the Filipino closer and more intimate. Maybe that’s why he ran for congressman last election for he thought he could unite a congressional district. He may unite the nation for a good ten minutes when he’s inside the ring but he could never unite General Santos City for four years, the people surely knew that. That’s why he did not win.
I am not blaming Mr. Pacman for being a great athlete, I am blaming the Filipinos who have been obsessed by this no-cause games. To wit, my father just forgot his work and just laid up on the couch to watch Manny. I mean, tatay usually isn’t the type of person who stops work for petty things, but this time, he did. Maybe what Manny does is not a petty thing. He stops a country’s market economy!
What’s wrong about the picture is that the Filipino people don’t clearly see ‘what to see’ and ‘what to observe’. We don’t observe earth day, Earth Week, EDSA Commemoration, the triumph of a cultural performing group abroad, the research of a UP professor, the natural habitats of rare species and the invention of a Filipino. But we observe the so-called ‘racist’ (as we culturally egotistic Filipinos tag it) scripts and lines of tv sitcoms in the US, the inhumane boxing matches, the dirty impetuous statements of politicians, the every dirty politics of our country, the superstars and their star spelunk life, and the what we call ‘trouble with the minority’.
We don’t even realize the even bigger problem that faces us. Instead we turn to petty quarrels, petty suicidal attempts of people who are clearly not in capacity to help our country and ourselves, and stupid pun jokes on shows. We lack the sense of realization. We don’t realize that the problems we see are much, much shallow compared to the world is facing (and what we should also face). Parang wala lang A H1N1 sa mundo kaninang umaga.
We are bothered about the scripts of some sitcom. Its just pun joke ladies and gentlemen. They put it there to give justice to what the character is. Then if you put some unwanted meaning to it then, people would see it on your side and there comes the endless argument of the non-existing racism.
We are packing up boxing matches and abandoning arnis de mano bouts. We are queuing for concerts of Akon, Rhianna, and Secondhand Serenade, when we forgot Joey Ayala, Pinikpikan, and other traditional artists. We seek thrills in the roller coasters; we forgot the games of our country. We ogle reading Harry Potter’s adventures and watch Lily Moscovich’s show, when we threw away the collections of poems in Karay-a, Hiligaynon, Cebuano, Iklocano, and Bikolano. We moved with hip-hop, crumping, and jazz, when we stepped over ethnic, traditional, and rural dances.
We flock to malls, instead of museums and art galleries. Very sad.
We lost ourselves to modernism.
To another culture.
You say that the problem is the government, well, think again. Look in yourself if you had done those things, and ask yourself,
Did I even bother to think before I watched?
Did I even bother to think before I reacted?
Did I even bother to think before I do some things?
Did I even bother to think before I flicked the switch from news to buzz?
Did I even bother to think before I judged my fellow Filipinos?
Did I even bother to think before I threw another stone at the government?
Did I even bother to think before?
Did I even bother to think?
Did I even bother?
Did I?
Think Filipinos think.
*and think before reacting to this post. This is just one commentary. Mostly personal, none political. Thank you.
