-ber Months

We three kings of Orient are
Bearing gifts we traverse afar.
Field and fountain, moor and mountain,
Following yonder star.

The -ber months have begun and already it smells like Christmas (only in the Philippines, the holiday season begins in August)! In the market places, retailers have begun selling Christmas decors and paraphernalia. Oh I can’t wait! Fast forward please!

If only that were possible, fast forwarding to the good bits of the year. I would fast forward to the day after my Midterm examinations are over. Oh don’t worry, I’ve already reviewed.

This month my Mama and Papa will be celebrating their birthdays. Ma on the 11th (we were probably celebrating when the twin towers fell) and Pa on the 19th (same as my cousin’s cousin Jemima). So don’t forget to greet them, ya hear? ^^

Baguio Day

Happy Birthday Baguio City. I’m sorry I’m not that deep in the loop to actually know how old you are already. No matter. I thought I’d appreciate how good you have been to me throughout my nineteen major major (I just had to use that punchline) years of life, because I’m certain that one day I will leave your hills and highlands and coolness for greener pastures in my professional life.

Baguio, I have so many memories engraved in your pine trees and strawberries and other whatnots that I shall keep dear and for which I shall be forever grateful. I am most grateful because you have greatly inspired my love for the pen. Baguio life has inspired many ideas stored in my brain that are yet to be flourished with a few figures of speech and classy adjectives. The wonder of living in you broke the monotony of everyday life.

I admit that there have been times that I got sick of you, and would have given anything for a bus ticket out of your streets, but overall I’m glad that I was raised here. So again, happy birthday and I hope you don’t get some phony politicians any time soon. Viva!

I Don’t Really Know What to Call This Post So…

Good morning Blogsphere! Today the sun is shining, a perfect opportunity for sunglasses. I will be having two reports today, one on the Human Sexual Response Cycle, and another on the Biography of Thomas Malory. I personally like the latter report better, because since the beginning of the semester, sex has been a constant topic in class. I’m kind of getting tired of the topic. Hanep, nakakapurga pagusapan ang sex.

Yesterday, I was in silent contemplation mode. People often say that we should not be prejudiced. We should treat people equally, whether the person is beautiful or ugly, right? Right. But then I noticed that society, we, tend to gravitate more to people we find attractive, and we have the tendency to ignore and mistreat those who are not. Not ugly per se, but people who we as individuals personally find unattractive (i.e. does not meet our standards of attractiveness). It doesn’t really pertain to physical attributes; just anything in them that draws us in. Like smarts, character, confidence, and so on and so forth. (Note: this also applies to the general, as there are people who are generally attractive e.g. celebrities, models, and the like and people who are generally unattractive. Note to self: Maintain a general attractiveness, in order to be treated better by society e.g. better service from restaurant staff, etc.).

The general attractive

VS

The general unattractive

I guess it’s obvious who society would gravitate to, based on the illustration. Anyway, I better get back to Thomas. Yes, to Thomas, mind you not the Orgasm Phase.

P.S.

I hope you enjoyed the hyperbole. Haha.

Alien Theory Revised

I am quite fond of crazy, out of this world theories and theorizing. This hobby of mine began in high school, when I noticed that Koreans have been settling in Baguio and several other parts of the R.P. There are so many of them already to date. The theory I came up with at that time was based on two basic facts:

1. All Korean men are required to serve in the military for at least two years.

2. The Philippine Army’s weaponry and facilities are prehistoric (I mean, the previous government under GMA spent millions to buy aircraft which were remnants of the US Army during the Second World War), hence quite inadequate to defend and impose itself.

The basic premise of my theory was that these Koreans (with mandatory military training) entered the Philippines under the guise of students wanting to learn English. But the fact is that they are spies/soldiers sent to the R.P. little by little, until their entire army is in the country. Of course, the women and children were sent along with them to make their disguise more believable and to make their lives easier as well. When the Korean army finally outnumbers the Filipinos, Korea would send in their arms via giant cargo planes and their fighter jets, and the Korean army planted in the Philippines would conquer our motherland. And it would happen right under our noses. When the Philippine government is overthrown and when the Filipinos have nil chance of victory, Korea would rename the Republic of the Philippines to KOREAN Republic of the Philippines. The free nation our forefathers shed blood for would be reduced to a colony bastardized by a foreign country.

Yes, I know that that theory is outrageous; fear not, I am sane. And if I have any Korean readers, please understand that I am in no way trying to bash or offend you, and to my Filipino readers, I am in no way trying to upset you. But you have to admit that our nation’s strength does not lie in its army, but in the unity of its people.

Recently, I posted a post entitled Alien Theory, which aimed to prove the existence of aliens. The premise was quite simple: the peculiar fashion of this generation’s teenagers is proof of the existence of aliens. Fashion items like shutter shades, jeans with weird and random prints, shiny fluffy jackets, and space boot shoes are actually alien fashion, sent into Earth by the Mother Ship. Those who wear them can be identified by the Mother Ship as their representatives on Earth and to Humanity. A prime representative then, I guess would be Pop artist Justin Bieber.

However, I have made some additions to the theory, that might serve as further evidence of alien existence. I’m sure most of us, if not all, are aware of the Jejemon Phenomenon. The said phenomenon is an unexplainable trend in Pinoy text messaging, in which the author of the text message uses the Jejebet as his main medium of writing, or typing so to speak. The finished message is more often than not, misunderstood by the reader, unless the reader is himself a Jejemon. In reality though, Jejenese (the colloquial term for the Jejemon language ) is a form of alien language devised by the Mother Ship, and sent to their earthly representatives. It is is a language the aliens understand. It is the main medium of communication from earthly representative to Mother Ship and vice versa. Alien communication vis a vis Jejenese. Recently, a dialect of the alien language Jejenese has been discovered: Harharnese. It is a language in which regular human words are spelled up side down, and with numerical figures if I am not mistaken.

Put together, evidence of alien existence are:

1. Mainstream teen fashion
2. Justin Bieber
3.The Jejemon Phenomenon

If this theory is not enough to convince you, I don’t know what will. There have been documentaries on UFOs and alien existence in the past, and maybe you could check them out.

On a serious (haha) note though, I don’t really believe in the Korean invasion or in aliens. But I am not discounting the possibility of both either. Like I said, I am fond of out of this world theories and theorizing. I am a writer after all.

Waking/Wangwang = Awesome

Recently, the word awesome has been a regular on my vocabulary. ‘Hey man, your shirt is awesome!’, ‘Dood that was wicked. Awesome!’, etc. Awesome is a cool word. It depicts how great a thing is in the superlative, without actually adding the superlative. Neat.

P.Noy is awesome, so far. I really dig that he would not conform and use his siren thingy or ‘wangwang’ in Pinoy street lingo. This is awesome because it communicates that despite his being the commander in chief of the country, he is still one of us; his feet are still planted firmly on the ground, right where they are supposed to be.

As we all might know, President Aquino was more than 30 minutes late for the oath taking ceremony of his cabinet members in Malacanang (how the heck do you place the enye), because he refused to use his wangwang. We also know that his solution to his recent time management challenge is as simple and effective as it gets, because we students and employees practice it almost everyday. Getting a head start by preparing earlier, starting by waking up earlier. It’s perfect. If we students can do it, so can he, supposedly. If he pulls it off, it would be an awesome example to citizens of the Philippines who don’t bother to do it, don’t you think?

“Six, or at most seven, hours’ sleep is, for a constancy, as much as you or anybody else can want; more is only laziness and dozing, and is, I am persuaded, both unwholesome and stupefying.”

4th Earl of Chesterfield, Philip Dormer Stanhope

P.S.
If you’re wondering whether or not I wake up at the break of dawn to get a head start for the day, that would be very smart of you. Fortunately for me, I am past that phase in my college career; I no longer have any 7:30 am classes. But trust me, when I did have them for four sems, I managed to wake up early (most of the time anyway). So all is good; I do know what I am talking about.

Yellow.

I just watched the President’s inauguration and speech on YouTube. For the first time, I don’t have much to say or criticize. As you might have noticed from my past posts, I’m no fan of the Philippine’s political system. I’ve always thought that the whole deal was a circus and the participating politicians were members of the freak show or one of the elephants balancing on rubber ball. I’ve always been misanthropic when it came to politics. That’s why I’m surprised at myself.

P. Noy’s speech was as squeaky clean as it could be. Yeah, he did promise to do his best to accomplish a lot of things, a lot of changes, a lot of improvements, but it didn’t seem to me impossible for him to fulfill. I’m not biased, because I never was a Noy Aquino fan. In fact, I didn’t even consider voting for the man. And at the time he won, I wasn’t enthusiastic.

His speech changed my thinking. For some reason I can’t explain. Was it his charismatic, glittering words, the visible sincerity, or was it the Filipino blood in me desperately hoping for a change and improvement in the state of things in our country? I suppose it doesn’t matter. From now on, I’m a a part of the Yellow Club.

Nonoy

Comic Relief

We all need comic relief once in awhile, don’t you think? Especially during the very stressful Philippine election period. Seriously, it’s as stressful for the voters as it’s stressful for the candidates! So friends, I hope you have as good a laugh as I did. Enjoy! Oh, and don’t get too pissed when you hear the singing.


Tinagalog Ko Para Walang Mangopya

Isang issue ngayon ang plagiarism. Sabay sa pagsibol ng Internet ang pagdownload ng videos, mp3s at kung anu anu pang media, kasama na ang contents ng mga text files. Usong uso na ang pag ‘copy – paste’ ng mga paragraphs at minsan, buong articles para gamitin sa mga required paperworks sa school, pang cool content sa blogs, at pang cool bits para sa mga speech. Nabalitaan niyo ba yung issue kay Manny Pangilinan?

Bilang isang writer [kahit hindi ako pro at marami pa akong kakaining sinaing (dahil hindi ako kumakain ng hilaw na bigas)] hands down na tutol ako sa plagiarism. Tutol ako sa pagkopya sa original na gawa ng iba, at lalong tumututol ako sa pagkopya ng iba sa mga gawa ko. Dahil nga sa freedom of speech, hindi limitado ang isang writer; sa pagsusulat, wala masyadong mga rules, puwera nalang sa grammar, semantics, pragmatics, atbp… Pero ang bawat isa sa mga writers ay aware sa isang napakabigat na batas, at dedicated ang lahat sa pagpapatupad nito: BAWAL ANG PLAGIARISM. Ang mangopya word for word ng gawa ng ibang writer ay ang mortal sin sa larangan ng pagsusulat. Ang katapat nito ay isang unspoken condemnation in the annals of writing purgatory, ika nga. Para sa mga writers, mas malala pa to sa original sin ni Adam at Eve.

plagiarism

Kapag nahuli ang isang writer na nag plagiarize ng work ng iba, natuturingan siyang outcast, di siya tinatanggap at basically, kinamumuhian siya. Parang di rin siya nag-exist. Ang harsh ano? Pero hindi niyo kami masisi. May dahilan kung bakit ayaw na ayaw namin sa plagiarism, pero magbabanggit lang ako ng konti (nagdudugo na ilong ko sa Tagalog eh).

Unang una, dahil sinisira nito ang creativity. Imbis na gumawa ng sariling works, eh kumokopya nalang sa iba. Napakacreative nga naman diba? Maliban dito, ineencourage din nito ang hindi pag isip ng tao at ang parasitism.

Pangalawa, dinidisrespect nito ang original na sumulat ng kinopya. Ang mga writers ay may mutual respect sa isat-isa. Ang gawa niya ay kanya, at ito ang produkto ng kanyang malikhaing isip. Kapag kinopya mo ito, ninakaw mo narin ang kanya. At ewan ko lang sa inyo, pero hindi ko nanakawan ang isang taong rinerespeto ko.

Pangatlo, lumalabag ito sa sinabi ni Lord. Sabi nga diba, ‘whatever your hands find to do, do it with all YOUR might…’ at ‘whatever you do, do it with all of YOUR heart…’. Hindi naman Niya sinabi na ‘do it with all THE ORIGINAL AUTHOR’S‘ okaya ‘do it with all of ANOTHER’S‘… sabi nga eh ‘YOUR’; ibig sabihin IKAW. Oo nga pala wag niyo (kung nagpleplagiarize kayo, sorry nalang) sabihin na sinusunod niyo ito dahil ang pag ‘copy – paste’ ang nahanap gawin ng mga kamay niyo at ginagawa niyo ito ‘with all YOUR heart…’ (NGAK!).

Ah basta, masama ang plagiarism. Isa pa, cheating ‘yun. Parang nangopya ka narin sa katabi nung finals. Krimen ang plagiarism. Nasabatas yan. Kaya nga may copyright laws diba. Kaya kung ginagawa niyo ito, TAMA NA! Oras na para itigil to.

Political Circus

I don’t know much about Politics per se, but I’ve read enough and seen enough to deduce that the political situation in the Philippines is a circus. It is where ministers are congressmen and presidential candidates, celebrities are law makers, where politicians jump from one party to another or start their own parties for convenience sake, where the president is a power-freak despite her size, and where the election period is like a circus freak show. Not completely hopeless, but a circus regardless. We Pinoys have gotten so used to it that all we can do is shake our heads and sigh in dismay.

rampagephilpolyjm5

The latest monkey business is that the Supreme Court allowed President Arroyo to appoint a new Chief Justice, even after the election ban was issued. Now ain’t that dandy? Why now, of all times? I mean, she’s on her way to stepping down from office, and she wants to appoint someone to be Chief Justice (who will be just that ’til he/she retires)? Why not leave that to the next president. It’s wrong every way you look at it. Did I already mention that that’s monkey business? The Liberal Party and Nacionalista party are both against it, but of course they’re still pushing each others’ buttons regarding how to deal with the issue. Aside from that, most of the current Justices were appointed by her. So what happens if she appoints the Chief Justice? Enter: Utang na Loob. Yare yare (Jap for ‘my my’).

Anyway, I’m going to put a cork in it now because like I said, I don’t know too much. I just hope that our Politics will change for the better, and fast. God willing, the next president won’t repeat the mistakes of his predecessors.

Protesting Pictures, Images and Photos

PACMAN Day

Happy Sunday! Happy Pacman Day! Today is the Pound for Pound King’s fight with challenger, Joshua Clottey. Hopefully, the Pinoy fighter will emerge victorious once again.

pacquiao vs clottey Pictures, Images and Photos

GO PACQUIAO!

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