'Cause others is boring

Goodbye, Pope

From the movie 'Pay It Forward'

It is the last day of February. 

A world leader, Pope Benedict XVI, is stepping down today. 

Tomorrow is the first day of March. 

It is the month of graduation. 

How many among our future graduates, myself included, 

will actually do something to change the world? 

At least Pop Benedict XVI did. 

And we need not be a pope or a global leader to effect change.

We could be like that boy, Trevor, 

who just tried to stop a bunch of bullies at his school

from beating off his friend. 

They stabbed him, and he died. 

Trevor died to save his friend. 

Jesus Christ died to save humanity. 

Perhaps we, too, could die a little 

(literally or symbolically)

to make this world better. 

God bless the former Pope. 

These fresh and gorgeous green mangoes are ACTUALLY from our backyard at home

Reel Love

Since I am single this Valentine's Day, I most probably will spend this occasion by myself.. but I don't mind at all. Not anymore. Thanks to a crazy line up of things to do at school today which sure will keep me busy and take the pressure off my mind. And my heart, too.

Thanks again to my circumstances at school, this year's Valentine's Day will be taken lightly, if not unnoticed. Which is real nice because it will save me tears, bitter feelings, self-loathing and expenditures on alcohol and food. Also, honesty is cheap. Coming to peaceful terms with one's bitter self helps keep one's sanity on occasions like this.

One word now: indulge. This occasion only happens once a year so there's no point in sulking over ill feelings, my friend. Red roses, heart-shaped balloons, cakes, cookies and chocolates are nice. Feel joy, not kill joy. Feel love. Give love. On Valentine's Day.

So. This year, my plan is to indulge in these favorite movie/TV characters of mine and perhaps let some tears fall on my cheeks as I fall in love with their stories once more. These pairs by the way are my top favorite love birds since forever. It wasn't hard coming up with this list as these characters were so close to my heart. Oh, they make being in love look so good!

Love, love, love. 

Miguel and Mela
Dahil Mahal na Mahal Kita (1998)

Jesse and Celine

Before Sunrise (1995) 

Before Sunset (2004) 

Before Midnight (2013)

Barney and Robin
How I Met Your Mother 
(TV Series: 2005 - present)

Chandler and Monica
F.R.I.E.N.D.S. (TV series: 1994-2004)

Jack and Rose
Titanic (1997)

Basha and Popoy
One More Chance (2007)

Landon and Jamie
A Walk To Remember (2002)

Laida and Miggy
A Very Special Love (2008)
You Changed My Life (2009)

Carrie  and Brody
Homeland 
(TV series: 2011 - present)

Tom and Summer
500 Days of Summer (2009)

Indulge your heart this Valentine's Day. ♥

Lady Driver

Sometimes titles are exclusive. Whether of gender, race, or social class, there's always the issue of discrimination from the party who is at the down side. This whole matter is in fact classic; as classic as Victor Hugo's Les Miserables, Mark Twain's Uncle Tom's Cabin, Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice, and (last but not the least) Nathaniel Hawthorne's Scarlet Letter - all of which bared the issues on social injustice and inequality and the human race has been battling these issues since the time of Adam and Eve. While some won't let go of these issues, some (oh thank God) might actually have.

http://universitychic.com/
article/high-school-students
-learn-be-empowered-women

Earlier today as I rode the bus back home, I was surprised and at the same time impressed when a woman sat on the driver's seat and actually started the engine. I did not believe it at first (I seriously thought she was just kidding us) and I know I was being prejudicial. I looked at the faces of the other passengers to find for myself affirmation that it was indeed shocking that the bus we were riding was being maneuvered by a lady and I was right for their eyes too were as hard as ice on her. How does she feel driving in Manila traffic? Does she get nervous? How did she get the job? Is she given fair treatment by her boss, her colleagues at work, or her passengers? I was so curious that I really just stared at her until halfway of our trip, just right before I fell asleep on my comfortable seat. I wanted to interview her. I could have done so actually, with or without the Storyline agenda.

One of the many exclusives that men get or have in society, or at least they think they can, is the title of a driver. Of course millions of women have been enjoying their freedom to take on their own wheels to the highways but how many women do you know are pilots, ship captains, or even bus drivers? The world thinks that the big ones can only be handled by men. I say DO NOT EXCUSE THE LADIES. If you can, we most definitely can too.

Ms. Ai and her winning smile

Another love story. Another love topic. Another love post. Trust me, I'm not doing this deliberately. It must be the air (love is in the air) or something that brings in all this romantic shit and I find myself very welcoming of these ideas since yesterday. What's not to embrace anyway? Love is bittersweet, but I'm only embracing the sweet part and sparing myself from the bitter part. So here's one:

Feed your hearts by reading this article: http://opinion.inquirer.net/22123/a-winning-smile

Hey I did smile! And I bet you did too. I feel so lucky to have heard this story from Ms. Aileen Macalintal herself! She was my English 2 instructor back then, in 2009, before she quit teaching at UPLB. 

Well moving on, after I read her article, I messaged ma'am Ai on Facebook this: 

Ma'am Ai! I couldn't help myself from THIS after reading through 'Winning Smile'. It was most absolutely WONDER-FULL. Your story sure did touch many hearts again. Lagot kayo ma'am, marami kayong pinaasa this coming Valentine's, and magiging overrated na rin yung bus scene. Oh I have a confession to make by the way, whenever I ride an HM bus in Cubao, or any bus for that matter, your story would automatically pop into my head and I would HOPE that the same thing may happen to me also. But then I always say to myself that I'm sure my love story's gonna be different, but equally amazing too.  

I had a few sentences more in the ending part but they are a bit personal for me to put in here.

Ms. Ai was the one who made me embrace reading, by the way. And yes, she has a winning smile.

My Super Wish

I'm sure #mySUPERWISH has turned the Filipino Twitter community into an online parade of wishful and ambitious individuals who want the Blackberry 9900 so bad. And I am not hypocrite enough to deny that I do not want the BB phone or deny that I did tweet Ms. Bianca Gonzalez this: "#mySUPERWISH is for my papa and mama to fall in love again. The world is a much better place if we let love reign." Shame on me that I even used my parents in this activity. I thought it would catch their attention, turns out, more people have thousand better ideas than mine. Oh well, life is constantly a tough competition.

So I decided to make sense out of this new Twitter craze. I know that there is no Blackberry 9900 that awaits this post but that doesn't matter anymore.

I've come up with a list of #mySUPERWISH:

• For the Philippines, that our leaders think of themselves less and of the people more. That we may abolish corruption by first abolishing greed. That we may share equal opportunities by being more generous to others. That the state and the church and other institutions hold hands and help one another in reaching out to everyone. And that Filipinos learn to love their country as they love their iPhones and Blackberries.
• For those who are hurt, that they may heal again. 
• For those who are happy, that they may spread their joy.
• For those who are poor, that they may not lose hope in the light of things.
• For those who are rich, that they may celebrate it with generosity.
• For those who are alone, that they may see beyond darkness.
• For those who are consoled, that they may share embraces.
• For those who are doubtful, that they may find the answers.
• For those who are optimistic, that they may inspire and motivate.

And for all these wishes to come true. 

Because my sister has 4085 (and counting) 'friends' in Facebook

My sister is not a celebrity, but she has 4085 (and counting) Facebook friends.

I am not kidding you; but I do have a request, please do not bother to open her profile anymore to check it out yourself. And even more, please please please do not add her as friend if you're not really friends with her. As her sister, yes I do have a say in this. Or at least I feel responsible for her, and I highly think that having that kind of number of 'friends' in Facebook might be alarming. I admit that I am a cynical person, but to be a little cautious would not do any harm.

Facebook can do so much beyond what we human beings can fathom, unless of course you're Mark Zuckerberg. Since we are thinking individuals, it is our responsibility to assess and be conscious of the things in our environment, especially when we are directly involved. Rephrase, that almost sounded selfish. As part of humanity, we have every bit of responsibility to every other individual because each of us is a part of a bigger and greater whole. It's like the universe is a huge network wherein everything is interrelated and interconnected. When you throw butts of cigarettes on the streets, you make it more difficult for the poor street cleaners to do their job. Those cigarette butts can also clog canals or drainage systems so when a heavy rain pours in, an entire city is flooded. What I'm trying to say is, little things do matter.

Going back to the issue of my sister having 4000+ friends in Facebook, I wonder how many from those 4K+ people are really her friends. And I came through the concept of being a responsible Facebook user. Joining Facebook is like joining a community, an online community. And like in a real community, it's never safe. It's never always safe. Heard of hackers, perverts, maniacs, pedophiles, simply the bad guys in the internet? What if they post an offensive photo or status and those 4000+ friends of yours see it? What will happen to your reputation now or something? You can get kicked out of school, probably lose your friends, or get banned from Facebook. So little things do matter. Joining Facebook might be a little thing for us, but it's consequences, good and bad, may come big. There's nothing to lose if we are prepared for battle. So let's clean our battlefields so we can see clearly if there are enemies approaching, thus we can protect ourselves.

BE A RESPONSIBLE FACEBOOK USER. We'll never know what good or bad things might happen.

So dear sister, please listen to your ate this time. Delete at least half of those people. I know you are Ms. Popular but come on, later in life you'll realize that having quality friends is better than having a circus of people in your life. Trust me, been there, done that. ☺

P.S. I Love You.

Own Truths

Recently, this video has been circulating in the online social community and has indeed captured the not-so-hard-to-get public attention. Blame it to its title perhaps, "Why I Hate Religion, But Love Jesus", for it really makes an appeal and leaves the public more curious and vulnerable to clicking its link and eventually spending some 4 minutes watching this video. The first time I watched this in Youtube, I noted over some 3 million views but then after a while, when I viewed it again, the stats quickly jumped up to 6 million! A number as big as that could not just be ignored considering the content of this video. Have we thought of the possible effects or influences of this kind of video? I am not writing this to defend anything or anyone, I just wanted to make sense out of this. Sure this video does makes sense, but when you post something like this in the internet, expect to get feed backs such as this one. 

Now is the part where the virtue of respect comes in. We have different opinions and different religions, so NO ONE HOLDS THE ABSOLUTE TRUTH FOR EVERYBODY. Not any institution, not this guy, not you. (And absolutely not me.) We can only hold the absolute truth for our own selves. We can only make choices and decisions for ourselves, and let others make their own. However, we must understand that we are part of a larger group thus the need for sensitivity and responsibility.

I personally hate religion too. It is way too institutionalized. And is full of hypocrisy. In fact I can write a critique of my own religion grounded on capitalist and feminist theories. But I would rather not do it because I have huge respect for other people's beliefs. I am not exactly saying that the guy in the video was wrong, I just think that it was at some point unfair. He was only after Christianity! How about other religions? Is Buddhism not a religion? And Islam? I think he did not look at the entire picture.

We have our own truths. That's my point.

A Letter to Baby Noel*

To baby Noel*,

This is why I hate the leaders of our country. All they care about is money when they should really care for the people who have put their hopes up in the hands of supposedly generous but rather greedy politicians. They have taken, are taking, and will continue to take everything away from us. You, baby Noel, were taken away from your birth mother by mere lack of choice. She loved you to the point of giving you up so you can be in better hands. I usually hate, even curse, mothers who just leave their child in hospitals or orphanages for the reason of incapability of raising the child due to extreme poverty. I used to think that that reason is just lame. But now that I have actually been a part of your life -yes, of someone who was given up by her mom-, my heart does not feel neither hatred nor anger towards your mom. Instead I feel her pain, and the yours of course (even though you're still a baby). Whenever I hear you cry, I would think that you probably are looking for something 'genuine' in your life, that is your birth mother. No one can ever replace that, I understand. I know that from the moment your mom gave you up, things in your life will not anymore be complete. Something will always be missing. This is really breaking my heart. I decided to accept the responsibility of being involved in your life, because I know I have much love to give you. I want you to be a happy person when you grow up. So I promise to just stay here, and be there for you no matter whenever you call. I will not give you up or give up on you.

I love you everyday,

your guardian angel.

*not the baby's real name