Thursday, November 30, 2006

Politics

“Did you ever look at a picture of yourself and see a stranger in the background?
It makes you wonder how many people have pictures of you… How many moments of other people’s lives we’ve been in.
Were we part of someone’s life when their dream came true?
Or were we there when their dreams died?
Did we keep trying to get in, as if we were somehow destined to be there?
Or did the shot take us by surprise?
Just think, you could be a big part of someone else’s life and not even know it.”
-Lucas Scott

Just this weekend, my cousins and aunt and uncle came to relish the city of Iloilo. Coincidently, my mom and dad were in Manila because my dad would leave for work overseas. He’s a seaman. That would leave my sister alone at home.


Let me fill you in: My aunt who visited the city and me isn’t married to my uncle (who visited their house in Mandurriao in Iloilo City). That made a total of two families, excluding my sister, whom I had spent the recent weekend with.


Yep. My sister came along for the family weekend trip. My uncle, together with his two daughters, Linne and Mia, and his son, Klint, drove their wrangler jeep for the trip. Oh yeah, and they also brought Klint’s nanny, Liezel. Linne is 14, Mia is 11, and Klint’s 5.


My aunt brought with her her oldest daughter Sherry and her youngest son Marc Sherwin, and Marc Sherwin’s nanny and a 3rd cousin, Marriani. We like to call Sherwin Maki because he’s a bit “mucky” for a toddler. I know toddlers are supposed to be like that but some times he gets too excited.


For the totality: my uncle’s family boasts 4 members including him and excluding my late aunt; my aunt’s family boasts 3 members including her. As you can see, I didn’t count the two nannies.


The wrangler jeep wasn’t that small but because we exceeded its load limit, we were 11 riding the damn thing, we cramped it up like a can of sardines.


We stayed in a hotel in Molo, Château-something, but we were supposed to stay at their place at Savannah at Mandurriao, Iloilo city if not for the busted lights. I had to stay with them to watch over my little sister.


Before the Saturday ended for me to meet them, I went through a grueling ROTC marching drills practice but I could say it was worth it. I made a friend, Stephen, who is taking HRM at the same university and also a next-door neighbor. Our apartments are close to each other making as next-door neighbors, as I have said before.


We, the family, met at SM City, which is a high profile mall in this part of the country. I couldn’t control myself buying such linear items: a copy of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (which I will read later), a dragonology book, a vcd of The League of Extraordinary Men starring Sean Connery, a MAD magazine issue mainly about Superman Returns, a Starlog magazine issue with articles about the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants in XMEN III, a Zoids Blox toy (Nightwise, an owl type aircraft), and two additional cards: one for a Pokemon TCG and the other for a Yugi-Oh TCG. Oh, and did I mention I wasted myself in arcade games? God, I’m such a geek.


So the trip went great. That is until my cousin, Linne, imparted to me the news about SAVE copying MY idea incorporating a forums website for the high school. I’m from the Regional Science High School for Region VI (RSHS VI) and SAVE (Students’ Active Voice in Education) is just one of the two political parties that gets each other’s panties up in a bunch.


I’m from SPEED (Students’ Party of Excellence in Education Development) and I wasn’t this dedicated to the party before. It all started during my 2nd year in RSHS. The SPEED party invited me and being the extracurricular activist that I am, I jumped right in. Little did I know, I would destroy more than my credibility in this dirty field. I lost the election, I ran as a PIO, to some guy older than me. I knew I wouldn’t win. 2 years later, I’d become a campaign manager and one of the guys behind the party. We had an outstanding line-up, if I’d say so myself. Unfortunately, we lost. Only two of our candidates made it. I promised I wouldn’t bring this up anymore but to hell with that. I’ve been a dumbass, I enjoyed that effin’ ride.


During that campaign manager year, I began just doing it for fun and to help my cousin and friends who ran in our name. Most of those in the line-up of ours were like family to me, especially my cousin Linne. Then the battle began to get dirty. Rumors of the “other” party bribing students to vote rose. I never cared about that nor do I care about it now. What ignited my fire was them blaming our President Candidate Damie for something I know she couldn’t have done. Damie has a twin sister Iah and Iah won her part. Both of them are like family to me and to see one cry sincerely made me bled like some leaky faucet. Damn them, I went nuts and proceeded to tell them off. Specifically, to a friend whom I’ll hide under “Vanesa”. Vanesa, then told Iola, another pseudonym, and it escalated further to lots of crying and apologizing and crapping my pants.


Years passed and Vanesa and I buried the hatchet. Since we became friends again, I made her some custom graphics and showed her the prototype forums website I was going to use as Linne’s presidential proposal this upcoming election. The last weekend, Linne tells me of the SAVE copycat news. Coincidence? Fuck.


Last year, when I was the campaign manager of SPEED, there were rumors that the SAVE copied our presidential proposals. Damn! I found it hard to edit our candidates’ faulty grammars and then they’d just swoop in and steal them? I let that one pass even though we had witnesses who were neutral. Then déjà vu. This is getting a bit cliché, won’t you agree?


Now, this just makes my guilt of not printing any articles of SAVE candidates who were in the school paper vanish in a puff of black smoke. Hey, we had standards and unfortunately they didn’t cut it. They sucked. The grammar and language were coarse and their poems, actually just one of them, reminded me of a grade school retard who ate paste.


“…every time you zoom, flowers would bloom?…” or something like that was in a poem of hers. God, that made my tongue bleed. I puked in disgust. She was a freaking high school student and in top five of the smartest in their class! For crying out loud, how stupid did her poem get?!


I hate politics. Abusing my power as the Editor-in-Chief was a one shot action. I’m not doing that again. Oh and by the way, it’s the tagalog version’s fault we still haven’t printed the issue. We’re all done in our version.


Actually, if they went to those lengths just to win then they could call themselves “real politicians”. Good luck with that. They actually went through hell just to beat us. I’d cut them some slack for determination but I remembered I don’t even respect them. Sheesh! I didn’t even know we’re that hard to beat to begin with. Deployment of such genuine political arsenal/strategy is, after all, only used against tough opponents. Propaganda, bribes, lies… Everything is truly legal in this kind of war.


I really hate politics.




Monday, November 20, 2006

Heart breaking

but behind those stomach-aching and bursting laffs..
der are teary
eyes..
i always forget 2 use my mind..
i always trust my heart..
but my
heart always breaks me..
im not blaming anyone..
but me who thinks
stupidly when it comes to this..
we belong in 2 different wurlds..
we
have different likes but wid d same dislikes..
we are laffing at our own
stories n jokes,
but d people around us are doubting..
we are so near, but
a world apart..
we act differently, but we felt d same way once..
and i
think it will be the last..
we are so happy together,
but i realized it's
just a dream..
so i cried, closed my eyez agen..
but he never come
back..
now i'm hir..
leaving the past behind
like nothing
happened.
i still dare to look at the wonderful side of this world,
take
time to look at the people that are passing by in my life,
and try to
appreciate the more beautiful things around me.
but im still in this restless
adventure
and hanging on the same cliff of regret
wishing someone to
catch me as i fall
on the sweet ocean of tears.
leaving everything 2
HIM..
now it's possible..
JUST FREAK OUT LET IT GO!
This is a friend's friendster profile... it made me a bit sad...

Saturday, November 18, 2006

Perceptions

Man, was I pissed off when I woke up today. Last night, I went to a friend’s apartment to hang. His name is Kristopher King and he’s one of my “BulilitBoys” barkada back in high school. I got so wasted with my sinusitis that we had to end our fun, briefly.

The night started with me getting my Smackdown vs Raw fix in Mission Road, a road near my school and my apartment. We dined, only the two of us, in Jollibee Jaro. Cyres wasn’t replying to our text invitations to hang and Euben went home to Aklan but only told us when we texted him about our plans to crash in his pad. Both my “housemates” were freaking busy: Roan, nursing her sinus at home in Aklan, and Teressa, with her guest Iveca, had their own “problems”.

Oh, and I also met Charity accidentally. I think she was off to find a decent meal. She really is cute. tee-hee.

Yesterday was a Friday, a Fundamentals in Nursing day. Fundamentals in Nursing is a subject I’m forced to take (naturally) that starts at 1 pm and ends at 6. Can you spell “Hitleresque”? There is no real word as “Hitleresque” but it was so painful for someone like me that it was worth inventing a new word.

Anyways, it actually ended up some time nearing 6. Maxinne, Lemuel, and RC Amor invited me to dine with them in Pecho Pak. Believe me, I would love to dine with Maxinne but I’ve already promised that dumb-ass, King.

Maxinne, RC, and Lemuel are high school classmates back in Antique. RC is my classmate and Lemuel and Maxinne are classmates to themselves. Maxinne is cute, and apart from that fact, she reminds me of Mutya. Mutya is a former classmate in high school. Man, I miss her…

Anyways, here’s the catch about the three: RC is Maxinne’s uncle but they are of the same age, I am not quite sure but someone told me that Maxinne and Lemuel have been having this, uhm, chemistry between them since grade school. Actually, I’m fine with that. I like Maxinne and Lemuel is a friend of mine so there’s no usurping being planned. I like to see them together because they really look cute and good together. They’re like characters from a perfect love story or something. If my memory serves me right, I think Lemuel’s mom was one of Maxinne’s dad’s ex-girlfriends. Woah, huh?

Okay, spotlight back to me, I was saying I was pissed off but I forgot to mention why. How dumb of me… For a smart-ass, I’m pretty dumb.Anyways, is it just me or am I using too many anyways in this blog? Anyways again, let’s get back to me.

So, I was with King in his apartment. That place was A-Okay to me. Unlike my apartment, the electric bills and water bills are already included to his monthly payment of 1200. Nice, huh? So he has this amazing flat-screen Windows XP laptop that I can’t help but drool over. I am a techgeek and my laptop is aged like the Cenozoic Age. I have Windows 98 for my laptop, which is pretty dull. Hey, I can’t complain that much because I also worry about bringing my new on in the city and in my apartment. The streets near my apartment are littered with all sorts of creatures, some of whom I do not readily trust.

So, King shows me some pictures and videos that guys like, if you know what I mean. Apparently, I don’t even know what I really mean. Then, like an annoying sibling, my sinusitis starts getting crazy. Damn, my sinus. King and I had no choice but to reschedule our Friday Night Plans to next week. I had to go home to my apartment with a runny nose and an aching head.

Luckily for me, the next day, which is actually this day, is an ROTC day or morning. My mom and dad were planning to go to my pad to probably get me home with them and to do my laundry. I can’t do my laundry. Yeah, that’s really funny. By the way, I’m being sarcastic with the last line.

So, I woke up a little sneezy this time around. Teressa woke up early too to fix herself going home to Aklan. She really was motivated to go, she had taken a bath and was on her way before I even took my bath and before my mom and dad arrived. As usual, my dad was bringing with himself a dose of his sarcasm. My mom brought with her her “mom” ways.

I was already late so I left them with greetings before dashing off into my ROTC first meeting. Damn, it was so freaking hot! And I mean hot like the sun burning a hole into your head.

By the way, I forgot to mention that I was pissed not only because my Friday Night was ruined by my annoying sinus but also because most of my freaking’ classmates’negligence to tell me that they’d be absent today. That and because my laundry was ferociously attacked by a swarm of ants.

After another dum-dum ROTC class, no offense to anyone, and making fun of the dum-dum class, I was off to go back to my apartment to fetch my mom and dad. I was really eager to get back home that I nagged both my parents to hurry it up.

We had lunch at Pecho Pak with my favorite Bicol Express. HmMmm… It was a quick lunch and we were ready to get a taxi cab to take us to the Bus Terminal in Tagbak, a place in Iloilo. There we saw Cyres who was carrying a bag of what-nots. We figured she’d be going home too. What was weird was the fact that she headed for my apartment before crossing the street to ride a jeepney. We never got to talk with her because she was way fast.

I was stoked going home that time passed by fast and we were already in the terminal, my porter friend, Mr. Eliezer greeted me once he saw me. I never realized I was famous to porters. tee-hee.

When I got up on the bus, it was already semi-full. Just my luck. I was starting to get pissed off when Rikka, a high school friend and schoolmate, called me to say hi. I didn’t actually see her at first because I was busy trying to eye a free seat. Man, was I very happy when I saw her beautiful face again. It’s been a long time since I last saw here this close. I admit I did have a crush on her back in high school. We were close, I think. But I never did have the guts to ask her out.

She with some guy that looked too happy to be there. Just then I found a seat down back. Because it was only for two, my mom had to seat infront of Rikka’s seat. My dad and I were seated down back with me at the center seat. Then someone hollered at me and I found Ramon one guy next to me. Then the fun began. Me, on a bus with Rikka and Ramon, a high school crush and a high school friend. This is going to be good, I thought to myself.

The bus then accepted another family, eventhough it was already full. I was too damn tired to take notice of them so I told Ramon I’d be sleeping and texted Rikka what I told Ramon. One of the new passengers, an older guy who was still in his teenage years and was sporting a nice curly hair, I was a bit envious, seated his butt on a small pedestal that made the last row rise above the other seats.

This is the start of my fun:

I dozed off in about a minute and was out for probably 20 minutes before my dad woke me up. My mom’s seatmate had jumped out of the bus and she told my dad to seat next to her. That led to me being alone and the curly haired dude, which I was so envious of before, to seat next to me.

The driver had already checked my ticket and dad had already paid for them before I dozed off.

I checked my phone beforehand and saw Rikka text me about her annoying seatmate. I laughed and the curly dude looked at me. I brushed it all off and texted Rikka that they, she and her seatmate, looked sweet and cute together. I know she’d be pissed off.

I dozed off again and it was minutes before I woke up.

Ramon Alexis is a high school friend of mine. Currently, he’s Euben’s only company in that pad of his. I’ve been in many misadventures with this guy since our high school was only small. He has been and probably still is a school cutie. Some of our schoolmates, guys, we’re indeed envious of him and kept calling him gay and such. Okay, so I admit he is pretty cute and handsome. That’s not gay. Admitting someone is cuter than you formally is straight up brave. Exclaiming someone of the same sex, specifically a guy, that he is cute in a gooey manner, now that is gay.

I have nothing against homosexuality but overdoing it grosses me out. For example, the curly haired dude right beside me, kept turning his head in my direction. He kept on looking at me with that painful expression of admiration that annoyed me so well. The same annoyance Rikka is probably feeling right now with his “feeling close” seatmate, as she texted me.

Now, I got pissed off really bad. He’s been looking at me for over 30 minutes now. And he’s been doing that for a couple of times already. I was going to kick his ass and impale his face when I noticed he wasn’t looking at me. Man, was I relieved. I then figured out that he was looking at Ramon. Hey, even his two lackeys were looking at Monmon too. Ramon’s sex appeal sure attracts undesirables. Good thing I only attract girls and the usual diarrhea.

Man, did I laugh! Every now and then I like poking fun at homosexuals. Back at high school, our barkada even had a game that went like if we saw some gay guy we should either salute or get slapped in the head. Crazy but fun..!

I got my cp and texted Ramon about what just occurred. He cursed those gay dudes like there was no tomorrow. Lol! He was wearing his cap over his face yet the gay dudes managed to see his cuteness… Man… Lol!

They were also damn relentless. I know how hard it is to cringe your neck in difficult poses just to see some cute girl’s face. They were exactly doing that! They cringed their necks just to see Ramon’s face. My crap..! I was ready to burst in laughter!

By now, Rikka had texted me how annoying her seatmate had become. That he’s been trying to like “touch” her or something. She told me he’s trying his hard to get her shoulder near his and their knees together. I almost cried laughing, it was a good thing the bus stopped at Dumarao in Capiz for a rest stop. The three dudes or dudettes or whatever went down for a toilet break. I like calling them the tres marias.

Ramon then asked me where the hell they are now and was I really telling the truth. Turns out, the gay dudes were from Manila and only stayed in Iloilo for a Civil Engineering Convention in the Iloilo Grand Hotel. I knew this because I got to talk with the gay dude momentarily. Just my freaking luck.

The gay dude asked me a lot of questions about… well… about Ramon, of course. That curly haired dude even resorted to badgering Ramon’s number from under my nose. It’s a good thing Ramon is a friend of mine. I outlasted that freak.

Rikka then texted me that her seatmate is finally off on Mambusao. I grabbed the golden opportunity to leave my burning seat and be far flung from this crazy gay dude. I texted her that once her seatmate leaves, I would teleport to his seat next to her. She agreed. I had to wait about an hour before that stupid arrogant obnoxious dude left.

I was steaming when I saw him trying to actually pervert Rikka. I mean, not only is she a friend but she’s also my crush. Besides that, when Rikka looked back to smile at Ramon and me, he also turned back to see who she was smiling at. Damn him! What a nerve! I sure like to get a piece of that guy!

Anyways, was I glad to be seated next to Rikka and away from that gay dude. Things went pretty well from that. We talked and reminisced. We also laughed about that creepy seatmate of hers.

I was having fun with Rikka that I forgot about Ramon. It was minutes before I remembered but I saw it was too late. He looked bored as hell and was trying his hardest to not look at the gay guys. I could see he was irritated at the thought of having that fan club. Being an empathy, that sucks most of the times.

Minutes passed, Rikka and I, as well as the whole bus, were tormented by a movie that kept on fast-forwarding itself and stopping every now and again. Soon enough, Ramon got extremely pissed off that he grabbed the first opportunity to stay away from the gay dudes by taking seat near us. Rikka and I both laughed.

This experience was actually refreshing. It had been some time before I experienced fun like this. I really have to thank both Rikka and Ramon for the enjoyable trip home. I never laughed that hard since high school.

Good things ended quickly and we reached the Kalibo Terminal. We said our goodbyes: Rikka was fetched by her younger sister Payen, Ramon rode a tricycle home, and I rode with my parents home. That ended so soon but I was still smiling when I got home.

Rikka was a fun travel companion and so was Ramon. How I wish I’d get the chance to ride with them again. We don’t often see each other anywhere not even in Iloilo because we go to different schools. I’m from West Visayas State University, Ramon’s from University of San Agustin, and Rikka from St. Paul’s University in Iloilo.

Eventhough that ended pretty quickly, I’m clearly being redundant since I still want to relish the moment with the two, I still and will always have the memory of that fun ride home with the beautiful siren Rikka and the matinee idol Ramon Alexis.

Oh, and the picture of Rikka, with a dedication written during the ride, which she gave to me, should help. Not to mention the tres marias. Yup. I will never forget this trip. Hallelujah!



This is Rikka..!

Beginnings


I'm the type of writer that loves making new stories up. Unfortunately, I don't end them very well, most of the times, not even at all. For one thing, ideas just appear in my head that I sometimes forget I'm still working on one of those ideas. I tend to get over excited leading to my messing up of these novel ideas.

Another thing that I am not good at in this field is beginnings. I like new beginnings but I hate ending some things. It is actually a fact that for every new beginning there is an end. But sometimes, I can't accept the idea that I have to end something to begn anew. Its a bit cliche-ic but it's also well too sad.


It's been like 8-9 months already since the last school year and I've been missing my high school class and schoolmates. Our school is a bit smaller compared to others, probably why people tend to know you. It's not like I want to brag, actually I do, but most of the students in my high school knew me. Probably because my banners were always around the school (I've been a legend of journalism in our school, as I like to think so) or probably just because my goofyness and stupidity are hard to ignore. I was a combination of being a geek and a jock.


Anyways, the graduation was the hardest part for me. It was a punblic program so I tried to hide my crying. That didn't go well when my classmate at that time, Cyres Nokomis, hugged me. You could say I burst like a water balloon.


I really miss my high school friends... The Bulilit Boys, our very own barkada or group of friends, was the most memorable part of my high school life. Why wouldn't it be? It was a perfect retreat from the social robots for me. We were all guys, had the same passions, and we knocked each others' senses most of the time. It was fun.


Then there were the hotties. Man, how I miss the hotties. Most of the hotties in high school, I could approach since our high school was small. Pretty, pretty girls. That's also one of my favorite things in our small town of Aklan. Man...


So days passed by, weeks, months... I try to adjust to my degraded life in Iloilo, a City/Province in the Philippines, but I just can't forget my previous life. I could say things were different back then because I was as frank and critical as I could be. In this reality, I'm as meek as a two-year old Eskimo baby. That sure made a whole lot of difference in my life.


I passed UP Manila's and UST's College Admission Tests. Both are top universities in the Philippines which are both found in our capital, Manila. The funny thing is I chose to stay here in the Visayas, in Iloilo to study at West Visayas State University. Don't get me wrong, I have nothing against the school since it's a remarkable school when it comes to the field of Nursing but... Me, Nursing? The first time I heard that, I burst out laughing. I hate helping strangers, I'm not a good samaritan. I don't have the patience, the guts, and the resourcefulness to nurse someone back to health yet here I am. Man, this is weird. And I only took those three College Admission Tests.


I wanted to take up Journalism or Literature in UST or UP Diliman but I made a promise to my late aunt. She wanted me to take up a Medical course and I'm living her dream. What a load of crap... No offense to my aunt but I really don't have the heart for this. Just my luck.


So for a couple of months I became insane and disturbed. I was like a gothic emo for those months, sheesh! I got into fights with my buddies and was a bit melodramatic. Was that weird...


I really have to thank Kristopher King and Immanuel Samuel and Cyres Nokomis for keeping me company during those crazy months. Damn. King and Cyres were high school buddies but I.S was a grade school friend.


Fortunately for me, I was not the only having difficulties in adjusting. Even my friends had their share of insanities.
For one, a friend of mine told me that our old classmate's dad met with his mom. The friend wasn't in the top ten ranking but our classmate was in there. He told me that the dad and his mom were reminiscing about the high school nostalgia of ours. His mom accidentally touched the topic of College Admission Tests. We all knew that this dad's son has tried for many Admission Tests but roughly flunked 5 out of 7 in ratio. I guess the dad was feeling touchy as he told my friend's mom and I quote, "Tis true that College is the test of true intelligence. My son is on the Dean's List."
Say What..? His son is on the Dean's List, I can buy that but college is the true test of intelligence..? Since when is being booksmart true intelligence..? Don't get me wrong but I believe booksmart people are more diligent and hardworking than intelligent. Heck, that's why they read books right?
For one, College is the one time where students help each other to survive and make the grade. Back in high school, competition was adamant. Ummm, Mr. whatever, I would just like to point this out to you: real intelligence is found from the birth of someone. When a person can find apply what he learns in a field or to understand something using his own perception, that is true intelligence. Right?
Man, what a ****ed up dad.