push from the peak of pride

i never thought the peak of everest could only contain a person.
the coveted spot of the “firsts” in everest lately created seismic waves of controversies that could further result in an avalanche of pride, prestige and fame.

indeed it was pride and self-fulfillment that pushed the filipino trekkers up to the pinnacle of everest, but it also appears as if pride will be a force to push them down.

first was garduce, then the other day oracion was first. then you saw huge network sponsors (abscbn2 and gma7) both claiming that their bet officially made it first on top of the mountain.
all camps claimed they have all the necessary documents and proof for authentication that this and that person was the first filipino to set foot on everest’s peak.

honestly, i got confused about the fuss and got myself contented with the thought that at least filipinos have another achievement to be proud of.
but my sudden peace of thought was stolen by the disturbing voices of myke enriquez, karen davila and mel tiangco, doing commentaries as to whoever was leading the trek.

the media hype made matters even worse and confusing.

on the past days, authorities have already announced the official “first” filipino with a philippine flag who have reached the peak of everest as mr garduce.

yesterday, the team of leo oracion and erwin “pastor” emata arrived in manila where they were both given hero’s recognition. also, on that day, the cheers and congratulations were silenced for a while by the press release of another filipino who claimed that he first conquered everest before the others.

the other guy was dale abenojar, who claimed he climbed 8,844.43 metro or 29,7000 feet last may 15, 2 days before oracion of the 1st philippine mt. everest expedition (fpmee) team reached the summit last may 17.

of course,heads were turned and eyebrows were raised of those who thought the claim for fame was finally over.

after the nearly ignited dispute over the hikers’ camps, here comes another person who clamored for recognition, making things more confusing-again.

and i thought, why do these people make things complicated for them (and for me) ?
if we were to look at the situation closely, the main objective of the climb was for the philippines to prove something for the world. delving deeper on the microcosmic level, we can say that one of the primary objectives of the climb was to have a sense of shared nationalistic pride; but the seemingly selfish thought of the pride of being the “first” overpowered this shared idea of nationalistic pride.

i bet the mountain peak was not at all that narrow for only one person.
why not celebrate the achievement as a whole and not create noises and issues as to who was the official “first”?

i wonder if the mist at the top of everest has a cloudy effect on the ego of those reached it.

it appears as if instead of pushing each other up, we are pushing each other down for a certain spot in the world.

later, if we were to continue with this, we might end up buried under the avalanche of our pride.

****
for more information about mr abenojar, just click on the link below:
philippine star article
****
photo courtesy of philippinestar.com
****
digress:
playing prince and escort for the fourth time can be really tiring.
the catholic church must do something to make the
annual santacruzan less tiring and more interesting.
****

aso't barbell

una sa lahat, condolence sa namatay na aso ni alvin.

kanina, unang beses ko'ng magbyahe para lang sa mga aso.
nag round trip ako kanina, manila-nueva ecija-manila para mag-deliver ng mga tuta.
di ko talaga nagustuhan ang ideyang ito ng tatay ko pero wala naman akong nagawa.
kailangan daw may magdala ngmga uta sqa probinsya para maalagaan.
hindi kasi pwedeng mag-alaga ng mga aso sa loob ng kampo ng mga militar.
sa isip-isip ko, kung bakit ba naman kasi lahat ng ibinibigay sa kanya kailangang tanggapin niya.
ayun, at nag-byahe nga akong bitbit ang dalawang tuta sa karton ng mansanas (yung parang mga karton sa divisoria). sa una ok lang kasi tahimik ang mga tuta, pero nang magsimula nang maging matagtag ang bus, nagpumiglas na ang mga tuta sa kahon at pilit inilalabas ang mga ulo nila sa butas.
buti na lang may baon akong papel at tinakpan ko nga ang butas.
sa awa ng diyos, di ko naman sila naihagis sa bintana at naihatid ko sila ng matiwasay.
kanina ko lang na-isip na cute nga naman talaga ang mga tuta. mukhang harmless pa khit sa katotohanan ay puno na ng rabies.
hinimas-himas ko yungmga tuta at sa unang pagkakataon, gumaan ang loob ko sa mga aso. (o tuta)
likas kasi akong may takot sa aso.
ewan.
pusa ata ako dati kaya lagi na lang akong pinagdidiskitahan ng mga aso.
palagi akong tinatahulan at hinahabol na para bang lagi akong kakagatin.
pero salamat sa byahe ko kanina at medyo nagbago ng kaunti ang pananaw ko ukol sa mga aso.
***************

sabi ko nga di ako mag e-expect sa pilot episode ng captain barbell.
pero matigas ang ulo ko.
nakakadis-appoint yung script nung episode.
ewan. nahilo ako sa setting. parang star wars na hindi.
ayun! parang batang x yung setting.
nang makita ko nga si captain b at si mrs b(mga magulang ni capt barbell)
akala ko adult x na ang pinapanod ko(ahem. adult version ng batang x; tumanda na kasi sila)pero di pala. yun na pala yung captain barbell.
hay. tv nga naman oh.
at kumusta yung mercedes nilang flying car. haha. sanan napanood iyo rin.
anyways, sana nga maging maganda yung palabas kahit papaano.

papa don't preach

he bang- opened the door as if it would shatter into pieces. the pouring of rain outside was fierce as it tried to rip our roof off. it’s as if the world has been literally turned upside down. rain poured as if it was the sea pouring down.
after about three hurls of thunder coupled with blinding flashes of lightning, a pulpit suddenly appeared on the spot from where he stood. the pulpit grew tall as his eyes blaze fixed focus on us.
he roared in symphony with the thunder and lightning telling me to shut down the pc.
he slammed the door hard making the finale of his orchestra of rage.

i did not pay much attention to him as much as i had no reaction over the weather concert. he was just being superstitious and cautious. ok, i do got the cautious part, but the exaggerated thought of lightning, which seems miles away, striking the pc is just farfetched.

he was like that over the past few days; overly inconsistent like the weather.
after the near-death accident he experienced last year, i expected him to be more considerate and sensitive, but the accident seemed to brew vague emotional turbulence inside him.

he’s literally a man of words. his smooth talks helped him get his way, gain friends, survive life. actually, i first learned from him the pleasure of talking as a form of socialization. but ironically though, i can’t effectively use my speaking skills with him.
he’s not an all out dictator, but he always impose his patriarchal power whenever possible. it was as if military training made him deaf to other’s reasons, to the point of accepting no valid reason at all.

since i was a child, he always told me to respect the food served. respect for food entails immediately attending the dining table whenever food is served and not wasting a bit of it. of course, you should remain in your seat at the dining table unless you are done eating.

for almost a week, he has engaged himself in a hunger strike. he’s not eating any dish prepared by my mother. well, i know for sure that he can’t repress the crave of his apetite, so i’m not surprised whenever i caught him sneaking food if we’re not around. earlier, he got himself a small bowl where he placed his food. he ate his food at the living room, as contrast to his imposed dining etiquettes.

over the years, he has developed his disciplinary schemes such as being considerate to the neighbor by not banging doors and not shouting inside the house, understanding your fellow housemate’s needs, being broad-minded, and a whole lot more. it’s as if he’s doing a collection of his how to act accordingly inside the house book. he preach a lot, but most of the time, he is doing things against his preachings.

as the sound of thunder deadens, his pulpit retreated back to the abyss of his ego.
it appeared as if he enjoyed listening to nature’s wrath orchestra that he finally got himself to sleep at the living room.

the people should not be afraid of their government; the government should be afraid of their people

fear leads to anger
anger leads to hate
hate leads to suffering
suffering leads to destruction

-yoda, star wars

*****
na-implement na pala sa UP Manila at sa UP pampanga ang tuition fee increase.
yung porposed 1000Pho/unit ang mariing dapat bantayan.
malamang ay ma-implement daw ito sabi ng mga kinauukulan.
sabi pa nga ni UP President Roman, "dapat mag-burden sahring tayo!"
kumusta naman yun?

sa kabilang banda,
matagumpay namang naigiit ng mga estudyante na tanggalin ang late registration fee sa lahat ng UP units.
wala nang sisingilin pang late reg fee at maging ang pagtaas na lib fee ay magkakaroon na ng moratorium.

isa lamang itong patunay na kapag patuloy tayong nanindigan sa ating karapatan sa edukasyon ay may patutunguhan tayo.

ipagpatuloy ang pagiging mapagmatyag.
*****

panawagan sa pakikisama

panawagan sa pakikisama


para sa mga kapwa iskolar ng bayan at sa mga taong may malasakit sa edukasyon.

mamaya ay pagdedesisyunan na ng BOR (Board of Regents ng UP) ang proposed
tuition fee increase na 300-1000Php per unit.

kumusta naman ang biglang pagtaas ng tution mula 5000Php/18 units pataas ng 18,000Php/18 units?

dagdag mo pa ang na-aprubahan na library fee (sa elbi na yata ito) na 400-800Php, at mga proposed energy feees (425Php), at internet fee.

kahit pilit nang pinagpapahinga ng pagod ang aking katawan mula sa maghapong trabaho,
di ko maiwasang hindi magulat sa mabilisang mga pangyayari sa lipunang ginagalawan ko.

ang hirap isipin kung paano na naman igagapang ng mga magulang ko ang pang-tuition ko sa susunod na semestre.

sa 5 libong tuition ko nga, hirap na sila, paano pa ang 18 libo?

argh.
akala ko ba ang edukasyon ang isa sa mga prayoridad ng pamahalaan sa bansa?
bakit tila nagiging represibonito sa pamamagitan ng pagtaas sa presyo nito; na dapat sana nga kung posible ay libre at para sa lahat.

sa mga kapwa iskolar ng bayan, kung walang gagawin mamaya pumunta po tayo sa
BOR Assembly, 7:30 am, Quezon Hall, UPD
Senate Budget Hearing, 2:30 pm
at sa Student Leaders dialogue with senator Drilon and Pangilinan.

mga kapwa iskolar ng bayan, makiisa po tayo sa lan\ban na ito tungo sa edukasyon.
mga kapwa bloggers at mga mambabasa, kahit saang paaralan man kayo nag-aaral o nag-aral, isulong natin ang malayang karapatan natin sa edukasyon.

maraming salamat.

final mark of the x

just arrived from the advance screening of x men:the final stand.

i have grown pessimistic after the first two installations of the movie,
but the final one exceeded my expectations.

drama and action go well in equal proportion.
the plot was more logicaly constructed



as contrast to the uncanny x men series way back in the 90's
wherein the binary opposition between x-xavier's team and magneto's team was strongly presented,

the movie showed the possibility of unity among mutants of various ideologies.

it presented philosophical concepts of choice, friendship,love and sacrifice.

i love how the movie delved deeper inside each main character's persona.
logan and jean's characters, for instance, made some scenes dramatic.

exposition was well pasted. it has a clever storyline to conclude the long marvel comic saga.
(unlike the abrupt endings of mulawin the movie and exodus. pardon the comparison guys. can;t think of any bad movie ending this time)

it's one of those movie installations that can stand alone by itself.
you can actually understand the plot without the requirement of watching the previous movies.

it's a great ending for the whole movie series.

i'd recommend this movie for all of you who got disappointed with the da vinci code.
anyways, i think it's rated pg-13, so any of you planning to take a break from the davincicode fuss, you might want to check this great movie.

*******
the recent hold-up incident has increased the flow paranoia in my veins.
seriously, it made me feel as if one of death's hands is always laid on one of my shoulders.
argh. the creeps.
i wish i had wolverine's adamantine bones so that i could easily slash the throat of every hold-upper i happen to see in the metro.
*******
and oh, i forgot, rebecca romijn (mistique) was hot!
wait and see her turn from the sexy mistique into a hot human.

carrying marks of x

ex/x:

with this meaning is a modifier (word that limits, qualifies or describes another word).

out, out of, away, upward, from, totally, without), spoken by ancient people in central Italy around 700 B.C.

a prefix added to the start of a word. indicates that "former" modifies the word. created to expand meanings. can be used with many words to form new words.

i.e. ex-mayor, ex-girlfriend, ex-politician, etc.

finally, i was through with them.
the feeling was both liberating and fulfilling.
last wednesday, as i was about to step out of the room, i was suddenly torn between staying and moving on.

i have to move on because of prior commitments.
i wanted to stay because of the experiences.

letting go was never a problem on my part.
but i have to admit, there are certain moments when i find it hard to let go especially when attachment took place.

x10 events inc and xpress media philippines provided me and my groupmates (jave and kla and jema) opportunities and experiences beyond our expectations. marketing prospect companies, dealing with clients, closing deals, organizing events, meeting various people, beating hourly deadlines, creating copies and headlines, and endless brainstorming became part of our everyday tasks as practicumers.
i never expected xpressmedia would get us as their freelance writers which was more than privilege on our part.

working with those x made my summer worthwhile and fulfilling.

i will miss these people:





****
technically, my required hours for practicum was completed but i am still vying for reuters.
****
i do miss my cam.
****
anyone who sells memory eraser?

argh. gusto ko nang malimutan yung hold up incident!
nakakainis ang pagbabagabag sa’kin ng memorya ko.
ano kaya kung nalaban ako?
ano kaya kung natakot sila sa’kin?
ano kaya kung natuluyan ako nung gabing yun?
ano kaya kung may powers ako?
wah!
amf! langyang holdapers yan!

pointless premonition and the price of escaping the closing of a casket

it was a sudden bleak moment. all the lights around us slowly flickered dim and the rusty jeep that was cradling us at that very moment suddenly became a mattress of death.

i’ve seen this before. de ja vu?
no. i’ve seen it just minutes ago while i was trying to steal a shallow slumber.
i kept on ignoring the vision, trying to let it fly with the gush of the wind caused by the fast acceleration of the jeepney.

itigil mo dito! ngayon na! akin’na celphones niyo. ikaw, akin na ang bag mo! bilis!

my already retreating senses were instantly awakened as my focus was turned on the 12- inch icepick pointed on my chest.

akin na ang bag mo!

i even had the guts to rummage thoughts of resistance. i thought i could play hero on that moment, that i could send the two burglars down their knees with just one blow but i was alerted back to reality when a gun was pointed at my lower body.

i was about to bargain a deal with them. i planned to surrender my money and my phone in exchange of my bag but the gun’s mouth silenced mine.

i was left powerless. the other 4 ladies with me were all stunned as they watched their phones drown beneath the soot-filled pockets of the robbers.

my knees started to tremble as things slowly gain a slight flashes of light from the rapid vehicles passing by. the jeepney driver who was calm during the whole scenario sped the vehicle fast.

as i tried to catch my breath from the rapid fire of heart beats, manong driver kept on mumbling that there was a police station nearby. he dropped us off on the corner of don antonio in commonwealth and pointed us downstreet where he said a police station was located, but everything were just bluff.

with senses blinded by the incident, we took chances of actually looking for a credible police station but there was none.

all i could muse was that my bag was gone.
stupid burglars! the only thing they can sell there was my digital camera; the rest, papers, clothes were all that was valuable for me.
imagine, they’ve spared my phone and my money but not my bag!

i’ve lost the newly printed, rare 8x12 sized family picture, kodak cx7300, the first camera I bought from my savings, my 1700+ grade eyeglasses, my blue monkey shirt, and my valuable file case, containing all my essential documents.

now, the vision grows clearer as i typed further. i don’t wish to suspend the heightened tensions but my fingers were still shaky typing this.
*******
for now i want to hear yoda tell me:

hrrrm. Train yourself to let go off all the things you fear to lose

*******
for now, capturing snapshots of life will be on hiatus.

kumusta ang puso mo?

"oo inaamin ko sila ay mga yakal,
lawaan, apitong at narra,
at kami ay saging lang.
pero maghanap kayo ng puno saging
sa buong pilipinas,
saging lang ang may puso!"

-mark lapid
apoy sa dibdib ng samar

*********
sa panahong ito,
kailangan natin ng puso.

purging the sides of the circle

and for a certain fleeting moment he found himself all showered with an idea of a story.

one story he thought that could make him rich and famous.

the shower’s lukewarm water could have been a factor for the evaporation of the few drops of creative juices from his mind.

he knew he should be responsible of the untimely exit of this creative thought.

he was careless to have not noticed the thought’s exit from his discombobulated mind.

he allowed himself to be easily drowned by the pleasures of the sporadic visits of the muses of creativity.

realizing the escape of a precious moment that seldom happens, he gaped for air to calm the rapid beats of his heart beat.

he opened the window, scanning the perimeter of the garden in search of the professional thief.

he thought of the thief as somewhat like a succubus, or perhaps a doppleganger disguised as one of the muses.

the dry grass of the garden was instantly showered by the drips of water from his naked body.

the lonesome mud caught his hasty foot as they ran in random directions around the garden.

he never stopped running on all directions until he was tripped by an old acacia root.

he fell on all fours, head first, on the already muddy grass.

maya birds from the tree got tired of gazing at his fall so they flew away in random order leaving him drenched in the mud-coated grasses with a few dead worms under.

he first opened his eyes, staring blank at the already dead grasses.

thinking that he might caught the thief by playing dead, he remained in that position until the sun was positioned near the west horizon.

when all the dried mud on his body cracked like the dry soil during el niño, he rose up and went again to shower.

he turned the dial clockwise as usual and he drowned himself with the steam and hot water.

as he saw the washed out mud from his body, another story came into his mind.

ikaw? ano apelyido mo?

kahit gaano pa makakapagod ang maghapon mo sa opisina, kahit gaano pa nakakahilo ang init ng panahon, kahit gaano pa nakakabingi ang mga nag-uumpugang mga boses sa pader ng bahay niyo, ayus lang basta makabasa ka ng mga nakakalokong texts na tulad nito:

ano'ng apelyido ni sisa?


sige. isip.
isip.



sirit?


e' di miztrit!

sisa miztrit!
hahaha!

*******

ano'ng apelyido ni curly?


e di gaspi!


curly gaspi!

*******

ano'ng apelyido ni cedi?



eh di player!


cedi player!

*******

ano'ng apelyido ni beast?


edi kwit!

beast kwit!

******

ano'ng apelyido ni denzel?





e di

weta!


denzel weta!

******

ano pangalan ni nemo?






e di sarah gero!



sarah gero nemo!

*******

ano apelyido ni joseph?




eh di protgam!


joseph protgam!


=)


*******

oo, medyo luma na yung ilan, at mapapa-MAIS ka sa ka-cornihan,
pero aminin niyo, nakakatawa pa rin naman di ba?

kaysa naman makatanggap ka ng ganitong mensahe pagkagising mo sa umaga:


the phil. charity institue of the phil. congratulates you for winning 3rd pize at the _____ awards.(nalimutan ko na yung contest) you have won 350,000. This is Rhea________(nalimutan ko apelyido niya)Please call me now.

wah! nakakaloko!
kumusta naman ang redundant na phil blah blah of the phil.?
haha. at bakit ako pa ang tatawag?

natulad ako kay ken
o baka naman si ken lang talaga nagkakalat ng kalolokohang ito?

wah.

nakakaloko ang mga bagay-bagay.
nakakalula
ang mga gusali ng ortigas
wala na 'tong pinatutunguhan
pasensiya na

*******
sa dilim, walang malayo o malapit.
kaya maglakad sa madidilim na lugar ng kalye.
*******

ayon sa balita kanina, ang paggamit ng cds (o cd player?), gel, perfumes, nakakabaog daw para sa mga kalalakihan?
kumusta naman yun?
mabilang nga ang mga sperms ko. hmm.

f**k you!

the school is one of those social institutions that is supposed to educate, train, nurture, and understand its constituents. in doing so, schools must never be repressive in any form, as it should be open to the diverse orientation of its constituents.

education involves not only book learning but also practical learning.
training then is tantamount to constant practice of abilities, skills and crafts. nurturing and understanding the students must go hand in hand.
nurture ensures that the students enjoy the privileges of education.
nurture means providing the students with enough facilities and technology to enhance learning.
nurture also entails understanding the social, psycho-physiological and cultural background of the students.

in the philippines, although schools tend to be repressive at certain points (i.e. freedom of speech, freedom of beliefs, repressive policies, etc.), i can proudly say that we fulfill all other requirements of the school being a social institution except one, and that is nurture.

lack of nurture in our schools is forgivable though. the government’s lack of budget allocation for education, which further leads us to lack of technology, contributes much to the scarce nurture in our schools.

but despite the lack of support from the government, schools in the country managed to ensure quality education and training. our schools have produced thousands of quality graduates in various fields of expertise.
*******************

it was disappointing how the staff of a canadian school discriminated a filipino child because of eating with a spoon and fork.

imagine ostracizing a child for not conforming with the fork-only-eating habit of most canadian students. how narrow-minded can that social institution be? that Ccanadian school may be miles ahead of us in terms of technology and facilities, but they lack the most essential feature that a school should have, and that is understanding.

the child was reported to have experienced trauma due to exclusion from the school. to make the scenario worse, the child was even considered uncivilized by the staff and officials of that particular canadian school.

here’s the catch, despite the lack of nurture, philippine schools never discriminate students that way, especially foreign students.
just consider philippine schools’ treatment with foreign students. foreign students are given equal opportunities with other local students, simply because they are all students.

i am proud that we value r-e-s-p-e-c-t in our schools.

shame on that canadian school.

eat all your forks!

fork you!


****************
thanks to momel for the link to the article.

silent! shrill! shh!

as politicians, celebrities, and pseudo celebrities exchanged nags, screams and hurled curses at each other on almost all media forms, my senses begged me to seek solace in silence.

being already intoxicated with the usual day to day noise of nagging, rants, raves, and rage(?), i've decided to give myself a break after work.

i asked my friends to see with me a movie. i believed then that the movie house can at least provide us a different kind of silence that my senses were craving for.

so we went to gateway having this belief that having a break form the whole day's stress can be achieved by watching a nice, feel-good, new movie.
at first, i insisted watching MI3, but since the queue was uber long and that the excitement and the amusement of the crowd could steal from us the silence that we were craving, we've ended up entering the gates of silent hill.

yes, it was unusual to seek solace within a movie house where the show was suspense/thriller/horror; but during that moment, we all wanted to experience the solace of innocent fear. the inner silence you experience whenever you share the same fear with other audiences because of the film.

and so the movie rolled in.
the eerie silence of the movie house slowly crept inside our bones.
silence.

at first, we all sensed that we were having the solace we were after
when a sudden scream broke the darkness embracing us.

the scream, which was actualy more of a shriek, slowly gathered giggles, then laughs from all sides of the movie house.

the scream came from a group of overreacting adolescent girls seated almost in front of the screen.

screaming on a horror flick is normal; given that you scream on considerably and generally scary parts of the film.

but screaming(shrieking) whenever the character opened the door of her car
and when the character was taking a stroll, was out of the ordinary.

imagine how they ruined the entire atmosphere of fear by dropping bombs of faux-shrieks that elicited laughter.

at first, me and my friends thought that we could tolerate it by focusing more on the film, but hell! the shriek was way powerful than the supposed to be blanket of fear in front of us.


the supposed to be horror flick turned comedy for most of the audience.

we were all laughing at the girl(s) untimely shrieks.
she was pathetic.
we were all pathetic.
the silence was all gone.
the idea of having a solitary moment with your inner fears was lost because of careless, untimely shrieks that maybe caused by too much adolescent hormonal imbalance.



anyways, playing deaf after all the annoying, untimely screams and laughter, the movie plot was considerably ok.

fair but not that substantial enough to follow up the raised issues of discrimination, false beliefes, fanaticism,love and faith.

i love the idea of portraying the devil as a fair creature with a considerable heart, doing only his/her task.

clickmeplease

i am not supposed to blog on this one if not because of tara.

i need your rapid mouse-clicking abiities here my friends.
help me win an ipod mini.

you can also try it by clicking on the image below.




*******

summoning luck! woohoo!

************
digress as usual

early this afternoon, i saw say alonzo at the abs compound.
haha. she's inches smaller than me.
(ok, enough about the height issues)
well, nothing special about it.
i actually had second thoughts if the girl behind me was actually her.
she was quite appealing in the flesh.
it was way different than her distorted face and contorted lips on tv.
***********************
whew! thank god i've finished my script on time last sunday!
*****************************
to all my blogger friends who keep on clicking my link on their shoutboxes, comment boxes, and link-lists, thank you very much.
reaching a counter stst of 12,000++ visits since around september last year means a lot.
thanks to all the readers.
thanks to all the silent readers, if there are such.
you have all inspired me to keep on blogging for fun.
thank you for reading my rants, raves, and simple life stories and opinions.
thanks.