HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!

LJ upgrade.

      upgrade ba na matatawag? napapansin ko kasi madami na sa ring of troika bloggers ang naka LJ na ngayon. madalang na nila iupdate ang mga blog nila (tsiong, di ako nagrereklamo). ayos nga e, parang mas personal ang dating ng mga LJ nila, parang diary talaga...pero sa bagay ako lang naman siguro ang di ginagawang parang diary ang blog ko. ako lang naman ang talagang di naguupdate.
kaya nga, bakit pa ako maglLJ? e etong blog nga di ko ginagalaw ng isang buwan.

ang LJ:
      "LiveJournal is an online journal service with features that allow interaction between users." ayon yan sa kanilang FAQ site (at lahat ng susunod dito tunkol sa LJ ay galing sa mga info page nila, kaya puntahan nyo: LJ). libre din siya, pero pwede ka magdagdag ng services na may bayad. may journal ka, susulatan, pwede lagyan ng picture, at ayusin ang itusra, at malaman kung sino sino lang ang nakakabasa. may profile ka na parang biodata mo na pwede ka rin maglagay ng kahit ano tunkol sa'yo. may picture din 'to. ang malaking kaibahan nito ay mas may interaction ang mga kasapi dito. pwede ka magcomment sa mga sinusulat ng friends mo, linked kayo. pwede gumawa ng grupo.
ayos di ba?
      ang LiveJournal ay ginawa ni Brad Fitzpatrick na isang computer science major nung March 1999. Pinagamit niya sa mga kaibigan niya ang ginagamit niyang paaraan ng pagupdate ng journal niya, at yun naging malaking website na. pinapatakbo lang siya ng maliit na staff na mga kaibigan din ng naggawa. meron na rin itong Webby Award at higit 4M na gumagamit. At ngayon, open source na siya, na kahit sino pwedeng gumamit at makatulong sa pagunlad nito.
      (ang blogger kaya, paano nagsimula?)
      (hindi ko inaadvertize ang LJ ha, kasama lang 'to sa sinusulat ko)

so, bakit ako hindi lilipat ng LJ?
      dahil masaya na ako sa blog ko.
      dito kasi sa blogger ko nagagawa ko ang mga kailangan ko gawin: gumawa ng HTML at CSS at magsulat, at libre din 'to. di naman ako mahilig magupdate kaya walang kwenta rin dahil lalo ko yun hindi mame-maintain. yun may interaction pa, e ni nga sa blog ko 'alang napunta, bale, wala ako masyadong friends na magbabasa. kung meron naman, may chatterbox - kahit nageexpire - at may haloscan din. dun, di gaanong ka-flexible ang layout, di mo malalagay kung saan saan ang sulat at konti lang ang malalagay mo na kalokohan. wala naman akong ilalagay sa bio page. wala akong magandang picture.
hindi ko sinasabon ang LJ. ayos nga siya para sa mga taong kailangan ang features niya, galing ni Brad, bilib ako sa kanya. (FC ito.)
      pero kasi, masaya na ako dito sa blog ko.
      dahil sa isang taon na online siya ay nagawa ko na siyang mahalin, palitan ng layout - ng maraming beses kasi yun talaga ang gusto ko - , sulatan, lagyan ng kung ano ano.

      HAPPY BIRTHDAY, BLOG
      sana magtagal pa tayo
      at sori ngayon lang kita nabati. (tama, binabati ang blog na parang tao, di ba ako magmumukhang sira nyan?)

christmas lights: for christmas only

christmas lights?
      yan mga kumukutikutitap jan sa christmas tree mo.
      ganda no?
      ngayong pasko ko lang naapreciate ang christmas lights. gawa ng, sa 5ft namin na christmas tree na silver ang motiff, isa lang ang kulay, may clear lang na ilaw. yung rice lights kung tinatawag. 4 yun kasi di kasya ang 2 na binili namin nung isang taon para pa dun sa 3ft namin na puno.
wala lang.
      gabi na nun, christmas day. kakakain lang namin ng dinner. kaming 4 lang. nung lunch kasi nangaling na kami sa mga tito ko. so, dun kami ni mama sa may sala, nakapatay ang mga ibang ilaw at christmas lights lang ang nakabuhay. naisip ko tuloy, minsan lang pala namin binuhay ang christms lights na 'to ngayong taon. ayun siya kumukutikutitap, ibat iba pa ng paraan: may steady-on, may mabilis, may mabagal, may steady lang, meron parang dumadaan. may chrismas songs na pinapatugtog sa mga pang-theater na speakers ni daddy. mga instrumental o mga chior, yung tipong luma na pero ayos pa rin, dinig mo yung needle na uniikot sa plaka, parang nung DEVC 30 (broadcasting). dun lang kami ni mama, pinapanood lang ang christmas lights. e di pa synchronized, di sila sabay sabay ng kutitap. kasi nga 4 un. di ko magawang ayusin, hangang sa ginulo ko na lang.
natuwa ako. yun lang. ang babaw ko talaga. pero, di nga, talaga. masarap pala manood lang ng christmas lights.
      sa susunod na taon ko na lang uli magagawa yun.
      bakit?

kasi ang christmas lights: for christmas only.
      bakit ba parang kakaiba, weird pag may nakikitang christmas lights na nakadisplay sa ibang bahagi ng taon? kasama na siguro dun ang christmas lights na nakadisplay sa labas ng isang bar sa may bar strip sa makati (di ko na matandaan kung saan ko nakita yun, kaya wag nang mapilit). tipong pinagtatawanan nyo pa kung may nakadisplay na christmas lights kung di pasko.
      pero talo ka, pag pasko na. ayan, magsawa ka sa christmas lights. punta ka ng BF, pabongahan pa sila (sa bagay, paligsahan ata yun. o tignan mo, ginagawang paligsahan pa). ang daming christams lights na nakakalat. may iba't ibang clase pa yan. may ibat ibang shape, kulay, kutitap at syempre presyo para mabili mo. pili lang. at huwag kalimutan bayaran bago lumabas ng tindahan, baka makulong ka.
      pero ingat ingat lang. marami ang nadidisgrasya jan sa christmas lights. sa totoo lang hindi po chirstmas lights ang may kasalanan, kundi kapabayaan ng mga tao dito. ang kapatid ng kalase ko nung grade school, namatay (condolences and sumalangit nawa ang kaluluwa niya). sana matuto kayo, di lang siya ang nadali nyan, marami pa. magingat din madapa.

pero kung iisipin mo, saan bang lupalop galing yang christmas lights?

      ano yun, inimbento?
      dati kasi, ang mga tao, candila ang linalagay sa christmas tree. yun lalong nakakasunog, at maykukuskusin ka pa na wax sa sahig. tulad lang nung 1917 sa New York City. nagkasunog dun. kaya daw naisip ni Albert Sadacca na gumawa ng ilaw, para sa christmas tree, na de-kuryente. e ang pamilya niya nagbebenta ng mga decor. nung unang taon daw, matumal ang benta 100 lang daw na tali ang nabenta. pero sa susunod na taon at sa sumunod pa naging multi-milyong negosyo na. yun isa lang sa mga kwento.
      ang isa ay sumusunod sa paggawa ni Thomas Edison ng light bulb. nung 1881 si Edward Jhonson, isang kasama ni Edison, ay nagpailaw ng christmas tree sa Jhonson's parlor sa New York. yun ang unang christmas tree daw na may electric lights.
      sa totoo maraming kwento nyang kasaysayan ng christmas lights.
puntahan yo 'to: (galing lang sa kanila ang mga ikwinento ko sa itaas)
http://www.ideafinder.comhistoryinventionsstory036.htm
http://www.oldchristmaslights.com/history.htm
      o ayan, alam nyo na kung saan galing ang christmas lights. ako din. so, sa susunod na taon, manood kayo ng christmas lights. malay nyo magustuhan nyo. at wag kalimutan magingat.

yan ang christmas entry ko sa taong ito.
MERRY CHRISTMAS
at
HAPPY NEW YEAR
sa inyong lahat.
syempre delayed nanaman ako.

homework, an update

its thursday and the second week of classes is almost over...
yep, its been a long time since i last updated, save for the pictures, the new layout and the article about my major.
(my hands are freezing, its soooo coooold in here) im up here at Abode, an internet cafe - is that the right term?- in the up campus, well near the gate that is.
i've only had 3 hours of sleep, i'm hungry and i have ballroom class in an hour.

the semester is just starting and i already feel as if the work is as high as my knees.
i guess its because of the subjects i'm taking this sem - well as compared to last sem, which was alot lighter in load (15 units) an whoohoo! lucky me, i computed my average to be 1.45 (those who dont understand, in UP 1 is the highest grade and 5 is the failing grade, 3 is passing) and is in the US (university scholar better known as chancellor list). but i'm not yet sure, i havent really seen my name on the list.

my subjects this sem are :
2 major subjects: DEVC 134 and 140 (ok people, remember this when you read my blog: DEVC stands for development communication, which is my course and college, ok?) 134 is about telecommuications - which i'm actually doing an assignment for while writing this- and 140 is basic photography! whoohoo! i'm really exited about this subject! i really want to learn how to take good pictures! and hopefully by the end of the sem i will post some of my exercises here if i can. the thing is DEVC 140 takes alot of time and effort (matrabaho ang subject na ito, kaya kailangan magsikap kumuha ng magandang ... photograph).
i also have 1 technical course: ZOO 1 (general zoology), and yes i'm going to disect a toad- very much different than what we had in 2nd yr HS! seems interesting enough to me as trivia on radio shows. funny thing is my professor is my uncle, but doesnt guarantee that ill pass though, have to work hard for it. memorizing animal parts is just not my forte. (ah! why did i take sci com in the first place?! because of the things in the article below, read it)
i've got a social science elective this sem , the only one out of the 3 electives us sci com majors get to choose - the other 2 were already picked for us, kailangan daw namin - and i think to myself, why in the world did i pick POSC 112?! its the Politics of Development, that's why i think i need it to become a better development communicator. but, presently, my dreams of woring for the UNDP and others like are crumbling...
first day, i wanted to smack myself for not reading up on my DEVC 10 notes, now i'm drowning in the book Development as Freedom by Amartya Sen - its our first reference , we have to read the whole book and there are 4 others next in line, Sen's thought is good though, but it is so abstract - i'm having trouble understanding his non-techniocal literature, but that's just me.
yes, the subject that kept me up, but thats mostly my fault because i didnt read the chapter i was assigned to at once - as i said, i'm having a difficult time- and i was supposed to report on it this morning, lucky me the dicussion took long. but i was ready - stayed up till 5 to take notes on it and had a lot of help from my systems analyst father -thanks dad :). the extension gives me more time to really understand what i'm going to report next tuesday.
in a class of 19, i'm the only sophomore among juniors and seniors, and foreigners - this means no offense, because its not the point- (thinks again why she took that subject in the first place) i dunno, i feel... intimidated. puts pressure on me, for example i'm the first one to report-being 1st in the class list (see why i'm so desperate to give a good report). in class, i feel... ignorant. i just listen to the intelligent discussions, agree, sometimes dont, but i cant seem to make an intelligent comment or join the discussion. though it is ok to give stupid answers or ask stupid questions, because it is all part of learning. and believe me i am interested , that is why i took the subject, i want to learn, but (i guess id rather like to listen to their view points than mess the discussion up with my comments). i guess i've dropped my oppinions for politics since...i dont remember. this is a perfect exercise for me, well thats how i should look at it.
(thinks how elaine and april are doing-both are political science majors)
ive got 2 GE (the subjects everyone takes) courses: ENG 2 (college writing) which is a paper factory -you get what i mean- so that means alot of time to thinking of first paragraphs and research, and the other is NASC5 (environmental biology) which seems alright....

its obvious that i'm rushing, i have a clas in 30 minutes- oh yes PE- and i still have to go home and change into a skirt and sandals.
so thats my rantings for today....
why cant i find anything on my assignment....?

my 15 minutes of fame?

this is the clipping of the Philippine STAR issue that published our picture when we went on uor field trip for DEVC20. just in case you didnt see it. it was in page c3 last september 18 - i seem exited, but hey you only get 15 minutes of fame, right?
Posted by Hello

muni muni sa MAJOR

so this upcomming sem magsisimula na kami mag-major. 4 ang mga majors na pwedeng makuha ng BS DevCom students: DevJorn(Development Journalism), ComBroad (Community Broadcasting), EdCom (Educational Communication) and SciCom (Science Communication).

ang major ko? SCICOM...

and here's an article i wrote about it. i wrote this for our DEVC 20 newsletter last sem :)

Department of Science Communication
      It’s the youngest among the College of Development Communication (CDC) departments, but that does not mean it’s any less competent.

History Book
      The Department of Science Communication (DSC) was made as a separate department of the CDC in academic year 1998-1999. At that time only 11 students first graduated with the degree of Bachelor of Science in Development Communication major in Science Communication (SciCom), but this was back to back with another course. Those students graduated with what can technically be called a double major. “So, noong panahon namin, noong undergraduate pa kami, you could take up SciJourn, SciEd or SciBroad,” recalls Ma’m Mia Cabral, instructor of the DSC. Eventually SciCom was separated as a major on its own.
      Before SciCom became a department, it began as one Subject. Dr. Juan Jamias proposed DEVC 263 which was offered for graduate students. In academic year 1991-1992, the first three SciCom courses were offered. These were DEVC 50 (Introduction to Science Communication), DEVC 150 (Scientific and Technical Information Processing) and DEVC 263 was offered via distance mode at the UP Open University.
      The DSC has come a long way since then. In academic year 2002-2003, in the 5th year of SciCom as a department, SciCom graduates totaled 97, which is a lot more than the 11 who graduated on SciCom’s 1st year.
Currently, 126 DevCom students are SciCom majors, the second most in number to EdCom.
      SciCom is an important field in Development Communication (DevCom). According to Ma’m Mia, “The College of Development Communication is the only academic institution formally offering SciCom as a major.” Also, she stresses that SciCom is not media based in the sense that you don’t limit yourself to one medium in particular, but the media used must depend on the audience and their need.

Lesson No. 1
      Dr. Juan Jamias is the main proponent of Science Communication. At first he called it Scienctific Communication. This is defined in DEVC 50 classes as, “Scientific Communication includes the activities in producing, disseminating and using information from the time the scientist gets the idea for his/her research until the research results become part of scientific knowledge (Garvey, 1980).” Due to controversies in the title, it evolved into Science Communication which is, “The communication of the product, content, and processes of science to the various publics with the purpose of promoting development (CDC, 2000).” But this is not the only definition of SciCom for it has many definitions. Ma’m Mia adds a few points: It’s not just about popularization, but is also communicating to various publics, not just the general public. Prof. Ongkiko and Dr. Flor cite Dr. Jamias in their book Introduction to Development Communcation, “science communication’s function is to bring about innovation.” In his book Writing for Development, Dr. Jamias says that “understanding aims to enable people to make reasoned decisions of scientific information communicated through the mass media and other channels.”

The SciCom Major
      Gone were the days where SciCom was just combined with other majors, now it is a specialization on its own. The thing that makes SciCom majors different from the other majors is that they are grounded on the basic sciences. The technical courses that aretaken up by SciCOm majors were carefully chosen by the department to give them that kind of edge.
      Ma’m Mia mentions the competencies expected of a SciCom major:
1. A Science Communication major should be able to reflect critically upon and articulate issues in science and technology.
2. He or she should be able to communicate the content and process of science to diverse audiences, meaning scientists, academicians, R and D institutions, people, extension workers and the general public.
3. A Science Communication major should also be able to use information technology as tools for communicating the processes and content of science.
4. Trainings undertaken by a Science Communication major: competencies in information management, information storage and retrieval, knowledge management.
5. Well grounded in theory and also practice of Development Communication.
      The list of Technical courses provides a section which lists the recommended course for SciCom majors. And this semester, just in time for the Plan of Study, the department came up with a longer list of courses SciCom majors can take. This is posted at the department, on the wall fronting the Infotru. SciCom majors cannot take some course which other majors can take, like economics, because the goal is for them to be grounded on science courses.
      However, the implementation of the REGP posed some problems not only for the department, but also for the whole college. “Before the REGP was implemented we were able to offer our students higher technical courses,” says Ma’m Mia. Students under the old curriculum were required to take basic courses of technical courses. “But then with the REGP…di nyo na lang kailangan siyang itake. Pero prerequisite nga siya ng hundred-level courses. Ginawa na lang namin, we elevated the basic technical courses into a technical course.” Unfortunately the SciCom majors under the new curriculum would have a less intensive training in a particular field. But what is important is that they have adequate grounding on the basic sciences. “You wont be able to go deeper into the course, but then you still have the necessary skills, the necessary technical foundations that a Science Communication or generally as a Development Communication student needs to have, so ok din lang.”
      Job opportunities are a big consideration in choosing a major. Don’t think that SciCom has a few. There are 6 areas for job opportunities for Science Communication graduates listed by the department. According to Ma’m Mia, these are:
1. Government
2. Non-Government Organizations
3. Corporate
4. Academe
5. Media
6. Business

Services
      The DSC has 3 functions as part of the university, these are Teaching – instruction, Research and Extension. The department is currently conducting research on the knowledge management practices, processes of the Los Banos science community. Extension activities would be creating modules, facilitating seminars and other extension mateials. The Infotru is a service unit where students especially SciCom majors taking SciCom subjects with laboratory can use the facilities of the Infotru for free.

The People
      Dr. Ma. Theresa Velasco is currently the department chair. Faculty include Dr. Cleofe Torres, Sr. Remi de Leon, Ms. Mia Cabral and affiliate faculty, Dr. Alexander Flor, Dr. Navarro, and Dr. Lumanta. From the Infotru there is Ms. Lagrimas Ercia, known as Tita Anning is also part of SciCom.

what you should know about instant noodles

yes after so long i post again! its been about 2 months, god, speaking of being inactive. so well its sem break so, now i have time to post and maybe get started on a new layout!

this is a feature article i made for my DEVC 20 (Development Journalism) Class - yes the class that took me to The Philippine Star last September 14 and had our picture published on its September 18 issue. *smiles* i also used this feature article for our newsletter - in the same subject - but this is a better version, its the second draft.

Beyond the Label: An Article on Instant noodles

      It is hell week as they call it, deadlines are by the hour and an exam is just around the corner. You get a 30-minute break in between an important lecture and studying for the next exam. You are hungry so you quickly grab a pack of instant noodles from your food stock, heat up some water and in five minutes you get a meal, enough to get you through the rest of the day. It is a common scenario, but before you heat up water for your next instant noodle meal, have you ever stopped to even read the label?
      Instant noodles have become a part of the diets of many college students, and the reason why is not really difficult to answer. Instant noodles are accessible and cheap. They range from about a meager P5 to less than P20 at the nearest grocery. Jessie Viloria, a Development Communication (DevCom) sophomore reasons, “Kasi minsan kapos sa budget so yung noodles na lang, t’saka madali lang kasi siya iprepare, e malalate na ako yun, instant noodles na lang.” That is another reason, instant noodles are easy to prepare in a way which is faster than cooking meals and more convenient for students on the go. It also tastes good and easily satisfies a hungry stomach. Fior Casilag, a Biology sophomore, personally terms this as “junkilicious”, “(it is) like the satisfaction you get when eating junk food. Yung madaling mabusog,” she describes. She adds Vienna sausages, hard boiled egg, cut fried potatoes and sometimes tomatoes to make them taste better.
      Dr. Lilia Collado of the Institute of Food Science and Technology explains that instant noodles are heavy on the stomach because they contain good quality starch, “starches you have in noodles are digested slowly. Glucose blood sugar is released at a modulated rate or gradually. Hindi ka nagugutom, and you’re satisfied for a long period of time.”

Shelf It!
      Instant noodles usually take up a whole shelf at groceries. They come in varying flavors, kinds of preparations, labels and packaging.
      A number of companies have found a stable profit in the “instant” industry. Monde-Nissin Corporation is responsible for the labels Lucky Me and Pista Pansit Ulam – this in collaboration with the Department of Health. Nissin-Universal Robina Corporation owns the labels Nissin’s Ramen and Yakisoba, Universal Robina has Payless while Zesto Corporation has Quickchow, and Nestlé Philippines, Inc. owns the Maggi brand.
      You can buy instant noodles to get a wet or dry kind of meal. Wet in the sense that the finished product is served with soup and the flavor is added before adding the water. Among these are mamis and ramens that come in chicken and beef flavors. The versions of Japanese or Chinese stir-fried noodles are part of the dry variety, where the hot water is drained before the flavoring is added. Students usually prefer the dry kind and mention Lucky Me Pansit Canton as their favorite. It is the more “in thing” nowadays, observes registered nutritionist-dietitian Aileen de Juras, an instructor at the Institute of Human Nutrition and Food at the University of the Philippines Los Baños (UPLB).
      Instant noodles are made instant by frying, Dr. Collado explains. Wheat, flour, water and salts are mixed and massed. Then the dough is rolled flat into sheets and cut. The noodles are steamed before they are fried at high temperatures for them to dry.
Instant noodles don’t have any special type of packaging, one thing which makes them so cheap. After processing, they are just packed and sealed, keeping the elements out. The manner of preparation is reflected in the way they are packed and are priced.
      The most common packaging is the pillow pack, which is the cheaper kind. Manufacturers use thin plastic and seal the noodles and their flavorings inside. Instant noodles in pillow packs are cooked over fire for about seven minutes or until the noodles are ready to eat.
      The more expensive package needs less time and resources to prepare. Here the noodles are packed in plastic or Styrofoam containers for convenience and sealed with aluminum lids. They are prepared by just adding hot water, and letting it set for about five minutes. Dr. Collado notes these noodles are more cooked during processing and are porous – where water, air etc. easily penetrates them.

Bad for the Health?
      You’ve heard it before: Instant noodles are bad for your health. But Ms. de Juras says eating the noodles isn’t bad, what is bad is the preservatives in them. These preservatives contain high levels of sodium, that when accumulated can be a contributing factor to the development of cancer and cardiovascular diseases (CVD). Preservatives also contain nitrates which produce nitrosamines from their combination with secondary amines. Nitrosamines are easily oxidized and can lead to cancer. In the chapter Toxicology of Preservatives in the book Developments in Food Preservation edited by RH Tilburg, TJB Gray lists the possibility of nitrates as potent carcinogens. A single molecule of carcinogen is enough to initiate the cancer process.
      However, it is wrong to say that a person will get cancer because they ate instant noodles, reminds Ms. de Juras. We cannot blame cancer solely on eating instant noodles. A person may have a genetic predisposition, or have no form of exercise, or it may be in something else they eat. As Dr. Collado advises, “Everything should be taken in moderation.”

Reading the Label
      Looking at the back of instant noodle packs, we find the ingredients. This is helpful for people who have certain diseases and must avoid certain additives in foods. Ms. de Juras observes people are not fond of reading labels, but stresses that we should. Labels contain not only the brand, manufacturer, and preparation, but also the ingredients used to make the instant noodle and its flavoring.
      The following are just a few of the ingredients listed on instant noodle packs which may strike anyone who is unfamiliar with them:
· Palm or vegetable oils are used to deep fry the noodles and dehydrate them. This contains a lot of saturated fat which can clog up in the arteries and cause CVD.
· Butylated hydroxyanisole (BHA) and butylated hydroxytoluene (BHT) are classified as antioxidants which inhibit the growth of bacteria and have anti-microbial activities in the chapter New Preservatives and Future Trends by JL Smith and Nicholas Pinatauro.
· The yellowish coloring of the noodles is brought about by food colorings. The ingredients FD&C yellow #5 and 6 are examples of these.
· Xanthan gum is just an extender says Ms. de Juras.
· Sodium Benzoate is the preservative which is the culprit of hypertension, Ms. de Juras explained, along with disodium inosinate and disodium guanylate which are both used for flavoring. The seasoning contains soy sauce which is high in sodium plus it already has monosodium glutamate (MSG) and iodized salt. This is why instant noodles have such high sodium content. High salt content can cause kidney stones, asthma and heart disease.
· The small bits of vegetables in instant noodles are dehydrated and no nutrients can be absorbed because the juices of the vegetables where the nutrients come from were taken away and only the fiber is left. This dehydration is done so that water is unavailable for the growth of microorganisms.
· Dietary fiber helps in flushing out toxins from our body. Insoluble fiber found in vegetables increases fecal weight and promotes bowel movements.
      Some brands of instant noodles are fortified with a vitamin premix which contains Vitamin A (Retinol), Vitamin B12 (Cobalamine), Vitamin E, Vitamin D3, Folic Acid, Vitamin B2 (Riboflavin), Vitamin B1 (Thiamine), Calcium and others. Ms. de Juaras explains that in fortification, vitamins and minerals are added to staple foods usually consumed by the masses.This not only masks the sodium content and preservatives but counters the bad effects it may have on health. Vitamin A, for example, is an antioxidant which can help prevent cancer. Fortification is done by the DOH and other agencies as a way of preventing diseases caused by deficiencies in vitamins and minerals. Fortification takes several processes of incorporating vitamins and minerals into food products.
      Labels also carry Nutrition Facts. Most brands in the market have them, 12 out of the 15 instant noodle varieties have the Nutrition Facts itemized on their labels. But according to Ms. de Juras, nutrition facts help only if you understand them. Instead of looking at the total fats and claiming that to be the reason of their weight gain, we should look at the calories. Calories are the energy value of food. We should also look out for high sodium content and fat. Saturated fat has been studied to cause cancer.

Better Eating Habits
      The best advice is going back to eating rice, ulam and vegetables. Rice is our staple, Ms. de Juras explains, and eating other forms of carbohydrates like pasta only makes us eat more because we feel that we are not yet full. Instead of eating just one cup of rice which contains about 200 calories, we take more than one serving of instant noodles where one serving contains about 300 calories.
      However, we can make preparing instant noodles less risky to health. Dr. Collado personally buys instant noodles with packets of flavoring rather that those premixed to control the amount of flavoring that goes into her family’s meal. Another thing that could be done to make instant noodles healthier is adding vegetables, says Ms. de Juras. You could add carrots, beans, also meats and other protein based foods. But she encourages adding vegetables because it is lacking in the student diet. Adding vegetables also means adding anti-promoters to CVD and cancer.

      Students will always have constraints in money and time, and will not give up eating instant noodles anytime soon. When asked if she would ever stop eating instant noodles, Fior gave a shrug and said, “I don’t thinks so.” Jessie is aware of the possible effects of eating too much instant noodles, though he still eats them at an average of five times a week. He adds vegetables like pechay and cabbage, and sometimes he adds an egg.
      Now that you have read the label and know a little bit more about your ready-to-eat meal, it doesn’t mean you have to stop and throw it away altogether. You won’t die of eating instant noodles, but experts warn us that we shouldn’t eat too much, too often. A good complete meal is still the best to get you going for the day.

please comment on this, i need it badly :)

unang sweldo

tama po ang nabasa nyo, natangap ko na ang ungang one-five(T) na matatawag ko na AKIN! :) ang saya ko! pero hindi ito naging madali. ito ay isang maikling salaysay ng aking karanasan sa pagsSA:

      simula ngayong sem ako ay nagpasyang magSA (student assistant) para makakuha ng experience sa trabaho, at para na rin sa kita mula dito. (maganda din yan ilagay sa resume)
nakakuha ako ng trabaho sa OVCRE (office of the vice-chancellor for research and extension). ang gagawin ko? maging alila nila...hindi noh! tutulong daw ako sa mga ipinapagawa sa boss namin na VC. at kasama daw ako sa isang program nila na gumagawa ng mga brochure etc. tunkol sa mga reserach and extension projects ng aming unibersidad.
      syempre wala akong alam sa lay outing, writing for research and extension materials etc.pero tangap pa rin ako kasi matututunan ko naman yun, maganda ang sked ko, at DevCom (Development Communication) major ako. (pero hindi ibig sabihin nun di na sila tumatangap ng ibang course, basta ba naman kaya mo ang pinapagawa nila pwede na.)
      so ayun, process ng papers etc. at nung third week ng june aba, e pumapasok na ako.
      sa totoo lang noong una, ayaw ko sa trabaho ko. hirap kasi ng pinapagawa. pagawin ba naman ako ng minutes of the meeting ng isang meeting na di ko naman pinuntahan. o e ano kung may tape...hello! isa akong bagong pasok na sophamore. tapos eto pa, di ko agad naisubmitt, kaya feeling ko, gusto na ako bugbugin ng pinagrereportan ko. hiyang hiya talaga ako nun. ayaw ko talaga pumasok, dahil feeling ko mapapgalitan ako. pero di naman. feeling ko nagexpect siya sa akin ng malaki. nalaman ko na lang lately na mga graduating na ang mga nagsSA sa office na iyon. haay!
      ako lang pati ang ngiisang SA dun. lahat sila mga matanda na, o kung di naman, matanda na dun. nakakaOP, nakakabore, wala ako kilala, 'ala akong kausap. di naman na sa hindi sila friendly- mabait nga sila, binibigyan ako ng pagkain - talagang nainsecre lang ako, di sanay, at uncomfortable. di lang malamig ang feeling ko, malamig talaga sa office, sininat nga ako nung second week ko.
sabi nga ng tatay ko, talagang ganyan, bibihira lang ang mga opisina na warm ang pagtangap sa iyo, na magiging comportable ka. tama siya!
      yung sumunod na pinagawa niya sa akin, ok lang, magclassify ng mga research projects into 3 categories. madali lang iyon na nakakalito, parang sumasagot ka ng exam: identify the following...tapos pinaencode nya sa akin using MSExcel.
      pero nung pinagawa nya ako ng article tunkol sa Trichoderma, parang nagdalawang isip na ako uli. "trichoderma? ano iyon? wala naman akong kinuhang subject na may ganyan! sir, sa next sem pa kami magmmajor at kukuha ng mga technical course!" syempre ako, windang, kaya todo research sa internet kung ano pa iyon. tapos eto pa, isusulat ko...nyek! parang ang galing ko kasi magsulat...hindi, ang hirap lalo na wala kang alam. mangiyak na ako nun, ayaw ko na magtrabaho! ayaw ko pumapasok, tapos ang dami ko pa na ginagawa sa schoolwork - na puro palpak naman. haay! ang dami kong nasayang na P25 nun.
      tapos! ang tanga ko pa! pumayag ako na isama na lang sa july ang mga trinabaho ko nung june, e one month after ka magfile ng voucher bago mo makuha ang aweldo mo. 'lam mo naman ang government! kaya nung end of july, wala pa ako makukuhang sweldo, kasi ngayong august na ako nagfile. ahh! di ko pa marereap ang benefits ng patatrabaho ko na iyon! asar na asar ako nun.
pero sabi nga ni mama, at least mas malaki ang makukuha ko ngayong end of august. oo nga, pero di na mauulit iyon...
      so ngayon, ok na ako sa office, masaya na kaysa dati, pero di maiwasan ilang pa rin. kilala ko na sila, at madalas ang merienda. natuklasan ko nga na may kamaganak ako na office mate, pinsan ng mommy ko. o di ba, nakapasok ako na walang tulong niya. (pero di ko naman kilala siya nun). di na rin masyadong mahirap ang mga sumunod na pinagawa. data entry ng mga research articles, papers at technologies, entry sa computer ng mga edit ng mga ibang article. dun, ganado ako pumsok. di na kailangan masyado magisip, di tulad nung iba. ang dami ko na iniisip tunkol sa schoolwork, tapos eto pa, haay!
      pero ngayon may pinapagawa nanaman sa akin na kailangan ng malaking space sa aking pagiisip, pati effort na matuto at gumawa. pinapalayout sa akin sa isang brochure yung ginawa ko na trichoderma article...haay! di ako marunong magAdobe, or MS Publisher, di ko pa napagaralan, kasi sira ang aming CD-ROM at wala kami ganon. di rin ako marunong maglayout, di pa namin pinagaaralan iyon, higher EdCom(Educational Communication, isang major ng DevCom) subject ata iyon. may principles kasi iyon na kailangan maiapply, dahil ang target audience ko daw ay mga farmers. aaaahhhh! paano ko ito gagwin!
      wala na ako balak magquit ngayon, aba naman, nangangalahati na ang sem, at pangit tignan iyon. masmadali naman itong bagong ipinapagawa niya, interested ako matuto pati maglayout etc. masaya ako pati kasi naramadaman ko na ang sarap magtrabaho - ang sweldo!

tama nga, isa itong magandang experience para sa akin!
pero, siguro, di ko na itutuloy ito. di ko na irerenew ang contrata ko next sem. kailangan ko muna matutunan ang marami pa na bagay para maging competent ako sa trabaho, at kailangan di maging sagabal sa pagaaral itong trabaho, dahil first of all, isa akong estudyante! kailangan din gusto ko ang ginagawa ko! kahit nanjan ang pera, walang saysay iyon kung wala naman sa loob ko. iyon ang natutunan ko, at oo nga natuto din ako rito!
wala na muna libre, ako muna a! first sweldo ko 'to, ako naman bida for once.

2005-05-30
*later on ko na lang malalaman na ang pinapagawa pala niya sa akin ay testing lang pala, at inaasahan niya akong bumalik sa trabaho sa susunod na sem. di ko pa nga tinapos iyon. di pa ako nanlibre sa opisina. bad shot talaga...wala na akong mukhang ihaharap pa doon. at least di ba, marunong na ako mag photoshop at pagemaker.

legal na!

      hpe! yan ang theme ng birthday ko this year. bakit? kasi halos lahat ng bumati sa akin, yun ang sinabi. so ayan, birthday ko ngayon! 18 na ako, legal na, sabi nga nila!
salamat sa lahat ng bumati, it really meant alot, that you remembered me for even a few seconds. thanks
so ayan 18...debut? asa! hindi no! ayaw ko mgadebut!
1. wala akong pera
2. ayaw ko ng engrandeng celebration
3. ayaw ko magsuot ng gown
4. pwedeng pwede ipagpalit ang debut sa kotse o laptop any day. (asa pa ako e!)
5. di ko na kailangan magpafeel sa ibang tao na special ako
6. ayaw ko na guluhin ang mga kaibaigan ko magsuot ng gown
7. busy month/ week ng mga tao ngayon
8. from the start, ayaw ko talaga
bakit? dahil mas gugustuhin ko na lang ang manlibre ng simpleng cendy o sulat para malaman ng mga tao na naging mahalaga sila sa buhay ko.

ang debut ko kunno
      actually di naman debut, celebration of some sort na lang ang mas tamang term. di kasi uso dito sa bundok namin ang mga debut debut.
ang ginawa ko sa birthday ko:

nagpagupit ako. babaw, pero ito ang treat ko sa sarili ko. matagal ko na sinasabi na habang ang ibang tao magpapaparty, ako magpapgupit! haba na kasi ng hair ko! di na mamannage. parang may ibig sabihin ng pagpapagupit ko: pagbabago, pagsalubong sa bagong taon ng buhay ko. sabi nga ni sir arellano, rerum novarum. (alala ko pa iyon)
nanlibre ako ng goodies. imbis na mga close friends dito ang ililibre ng lunch or dinner, cendy na lang. para marami ang malibre, matuwa at masiyahan sa araw na iyon. so, para akong santa clause sa CDC (naka red pa ako). ang sarap ng feeling ng may napapasaya ka, kahit sa simpleng cendy lang.
nagpakain ako ng KFC. sa dorm naman ito. dito kasi sa LB 'alang KFC, sa Calamba ang pinaka malapit na KFC. kaya ang layo na maaabot, paguwi na lang sa kanikanila nakakatikim ng KFC. minsan, di pa nga. so ayun, dinayo ko ang KFC sa Calamba para bumili lang ng manok. sarap e! the king of fried chicken sa buhay ko. masaya ako na nakatikim sila uli ng KFC, ako rin e. at nabusog sa ice cream at pansit na may panulak na fior-friendly drinks. busog na rin ako na nabusog ko sila!
susulatan ko ang mga ibang kaibigan ko. di pa kasi tapos, dami e. kasi nga malayo na ako, hermitanyo na ako dito sa bundok namin, di ko na sila mareach. at since narealize ko, para maabot ko sila ng tulad ng gusto ko, buti pa gawin kong personal, delivered to their dorstep. at imbis na sila ang magspeech ng magaganda tunkol sa akin, ay ako na lang ang hihirt ng THANK YOU, at naging bahagi sila ng buhay ko. sabi nga ni tom cruz, "you complete me."

      so, ayun, simple lang.
      ang mahalaga madami akong napasaya, kahit pansamanatala lang. masaya na rin ako.
     kaya nga happy birthday
      happy nga e!

happy birthday to me! happy birthday to me! happy birthday, happy birthday, happy birthday to me!
--------------------------------------------------
added 5/30/2005
in English (para dapat ito sa narrative essay ko sa ENG 2 na tinangihan ng aking instructor dahil hindi siya narrative, but what the hell, post ko na rin.)
      I didn’t want to have a debut.
      In our society it’s a big thing to be turning 18. Its legal age: You can get your driver’s license, be able to vote, watch R-18 movies in the theaters, be able to drink, sign legal documents, etc. as much as you can get into jail. It’s fun if you take a look at it, but it also comes with the responsibility of being a full-fledged adult.
      Now, for the girls, it’s an old-time tradition of rich families introducing the baby-who-is-now-a-lady to the society. But times have changed, and the debut has taken new steps to keep up. From parties with what I call the "18 tradition" (18 treasures, candles and roses) which varies per debutant or the exchange of that for a car, cellular phone, fancy laptop, or a US tour, to simply eating out with family and treating friends.
      I wanted the latter. Besides the fact I didn’t have the money to spend, August is a busy month for everybody - midterms, papers, projects and exams. This explains why most of the birthday surprises prepared for me were, well late. It was my first time to spend my birthday in Los Baños. I wanted my 18th birthday to be memorable, fun, and thankful.
As a joke I told my friends that as other debutants threw parties, on my 18th birthday the only thing I would do to celebrate was to have a hair cut. But since jokes are half meant, it wasn’t the only thing I did that day. But yes, I did have my hair cut. I guess this has a meaning in itself: new haircut, New Year, better life.
      I wanted to make a lot of people happy on my birthday, even if it was only so trivial. So instead of just treating a few friends for lunch or dinner, I decided to buy candies to fill up a paper bag and offer some to anyone I would encounter on that day. Now this was fun, I looked like Santa Clause in August; distributing candies to people I passed by. I was wearing red that day. I gave some candy to my classmates, to other people who weren’t my classmates that day, to my officemates - I was a student assistant at the OVCRE that semester, and even to people I wasn’t that close to. It was fun to get simple and random greetings: "Ba’t namimigay ka ng kendi? Ah! Birthday mo. Happy Birthday. Salamt sa kendi a."
      Among my friends in UPLB are my former dorm mates who I’m closest to. And since our all-time favorite KFC isn’t franchised in LB, I decided to give them the treat of going to Calamba to get it. A whole bucket of KFC chicken, La Ville’s pansit bihon, cookies and cream flavored Milko ice cream and juice in tetra packs was my treat to them - and to myself of course, I love KFC too. Funny thing was they were sooo thankful. "Wow! KFC! Totoo ba ‘yan?"
      Instead of asking people to make a speech about me, and hear manufactured praises of how nice I am, I wanted to be the one to say the "Thank You." Through text, email, Friendster, or the obsolete snail mail I wrote my friends in Manila and others further away a simple thank you note telling them how much they made a difference in my life, or even a small dent in it. I wanted them to feel good about themselves, as well. It was nice to receive thank yous in return.
      I had my hair cut, I gave away candies, I treated my dorm mates to KFC, and I wrote a lot of thank you notes. That was my debut. No grand celebration, no roses, candles or treasures, no car, or driver’s license, no laptop or trip to the US. But heck, I sure had a great birthday.

VISIT TO THE SHRINK part 4

the last installment of my barkada blues series of posts. but this one, i end on a lighter note:

i guess in this, i'm facing issues more with myself than with my friends. as mentioned i didnt have a good experience with departing from friends. i'm the one who expects too much, and has learned that i shouldn’t. i'm the war freak. i'm the insecure one. i'm the one who finds it difficult to renew broken relationships, but is trying to. and suffice to say, i have learned much as i have written this piece.

all i need is a budge if anyone thinks they need to say something to me. nothing usually happens when things are not said. we all live in the darkness of miss- and non- communication.

mentality is to think that my friends have all changed. but maybe, it is i who has changed. i no longer think that company is enough. that a good get-together is quality when there's more than just the old things we used to enjoy. i value stories about how things are going more than ever. i'm no longer a hard core anime person, but still enjoy anime as much as i did before. i'm a lot more organized - call me OC i wouldn’t mind. but i guess the most important part is that i know better. that these are just some juvenile disappointment that will pass - and yes laughed about while happily reminiscing in the future. (actually i had realized that most kid stuff come to that, but i didn’t think this one was a part of that). that if no action takes place, even though i have made my statement, i would understand why.

ah! those days!

last week i was fixing my stuff and putting them in the proper places in the room. i came across my letter box, a few really big cards, and envelopes. and under the pressure to finish my chore i took time to open them up and read them one by one - well almost. it was nice to recall those days in high school.

i read through the letters i had received. there were the retreat letters, which didn’t contain much more than apologies for not coming up with a better letter or not knowing me much and little on how nice i had been-or how bad: points for Santa, or tips for the retreat, or just the cool of the things at the time; but were and still valued for the thought. there were the letters i exchanged with crissy over the summer before junior year. which made me think why don’t i write anyone instead, since i am 65 kilometers away from them now. maybe in that i would be able to get the updates i'm looking for. i think...

there were the birthday cards i got. including the XXXXX large - two 1/2 illustration boards taped together- one i received in second year when my friends gave trency and i a surprise. there was that big rose, which i picked the petals out of because i could hardly read the messages properly and so i could store it better. it was nice to read again the wishes, and finding myself smiling alone.

oh! i remember the birthday bashes! we tried so hard not to let the celebrant notice, but there would always be a blooper scene. as much as possible, each bash had to have a unique theme - usually reflected in the card, or birthday wish thing either video, large rose, sunflower ...-but could never do without cake.

there were karina's letters. it was fun to read her scrambled thoughts-as-of-the-moment when she wrote them. which eventually lead me to miss our relationship in high school. (smiles) i will always have loved her dearly. confused? its difficult you know! its not that easy!

a while ago my mom told me about her classmate in high school, one of her best friends i think. she was happily reminiscing and i interestingly listened to her story-grabe ang galing ng kaibigan ni mama, all around sa banda! haay! pangarap. she hasn't heard from her friend for so long. and i suddenly thought: like it or not this is what will become of my relationship with my high school friends now. a few years time will turn to years of not seeing each other. and before i know it i would be sharing this story to my own children. but for the meantime while we still can, i'd like for troika to still keep in touch.

pangarap ko? gimmick na ito!

unlike the cliché of highschool/college barkadas shown on saturday afternoon local TV - or is it sunday?-besides being an all girl group, my friends and i don't go out much. our gimiks together are limited to watching a movie at the mall or usually at someone's place - usually charleen's para na rin tumambay -, eating out - or sitting together at a restaurant (McDo anyone?) -, and presently anyone's debut - which is rare anyway since not all of us are up for feeling very special - including budget- for a night - i personally, feel special everyday. on very rare occasions which are carefully planned, there would be a trip to tagaytay, intramuros, or manila zoo.

to add to that, we would rarely be complete, or was there a time when we were ever? mmm, during grad pic taking we lacked marianne and paula, on mara's debut we lacked bom, elaine and marianne - but i really cant blame mara for that, its just an observation. come to think of it, the only times that we were complete were at troika - ok not to get confused more, i'm using troika now to refer to the corridor fronting the debate hall of that name. on our gimmicks we would be mostly ...7, 8. this already sometimes included our extension of trency, tasja and lady. i also noticed, that i would rarely share a gimmick with mara, paula and melai. but there are reasons for this, especially now that were all separated in college.

1) our parents don’t allow us, for reasonable reasons.

2) there's no transportation available-ah! gusto ko matutuo magdrive, at sana magkakotse!(sing to the tune of the OPM song).

3) they have something else to do - with family, for school etc.

4) they are 65 kilometers away from me.

5) the group has no contact with each other, and can't set up the 5 wives and husband - when, where, why, what, who, and how.

6) just cannot decide.

7) cant fit in schedule

8) not comfortable with everyone/each other

9) out of budget/have no more money to spend for that.

10) its a school day - for other schools which don’t have class for a special occasion.

11) want to use time for more useful purposes like rest - ah sleep! - and schoolwork.

12) the event is not planned and is just spontaneous

my point? i only wish that we could all go out together, overcoming the circumstances mentioned above. i miss you guys, all of you!

VISIT TO THE SHRINK part 3

obviously, to get at what i'm saying here, read the former post, if you still haven't :)

going off to college
this means that we had to separate ways because not all of us would be going to the same college and enter in the same course. its a fact of life. even though we went to the same college, being in different courses would also have the same effect - well even denise, crissy and charleen are i think sort of experiencing this effect. we have different dreams, and college gives us the opportunity to pursue them.
it was indeed sad, but it just basically told me that more effort had to be made to keep in touch and together.

i had bad experiences with leaving friends before
when i transferred to st. scho for high school, i had left the friends i made in grade school. not that they were many and that our relationship was very close to my heart. i guess i just valued it more. (buti na lang talaga nabitbit ko hangang st. scho si ate pam) my leaving was quite hard for those people i called my friends, i still remember crying on the phone with charlie-charlotte. they said they would miss me. but i guess it never showed. it was always i who would make the effort to call them or simply greet them on their birthday every year. for a while marino would send me some animé stuff through my younger cousin. but that was that. then it became tiring. someone told me i expected too much, and i guess that was it. i shouldn't expect, so i didn’t. i finally let the memories go after three years of trying to keep in touch. i said thank you, goodbye and see you sometime in the future. and i felt better about myself.
that was not the first time i had transferred schools, i guess i was just more sentimental.
i also transferred schools when we came back to the philippines. but come to think of it the adjustment i had to go though was more drastic. from a british system of schooling, and language to that of pinoy. the people were totally different. i remember i still wasn’t used to being teased by my last name, it meant nothing in english anyway. but i'm straying too far from my point. i also left some friends behind. i guess as a kid i took it a lot lighter, but it still was sad for me. kristina and i kept writing to each other, and still do. she visited me when she came to the country when i was in third year, she even sat in my class for two days. kristina and i were the best of friends then, to some point we still are. i guess the strong relationship we had as friends made us take the extra effort.
i guess that’s why i expected too much from my troika friends, well most of them. i have always considered them close to my heart. and i thought taking the extra mile would be easy for friends like that. and no, denise. i'm NOT saying that i'm the only one who takes the extra effort, in fact i feel i don’t even make an effort to reach everybody.

and here again... i see...
i am again in a situation where i have left friends behind. its not new to me, but the feeling of departure has always made me sad - well except for instances like dismissal from a very boring class.
i got the opportunity to study at UPLB with karina - she's taking up communication arts and i'm taking up development communication. crissy, charleen and denise are block mates taking up communication arts in la salle. bom and erryl are taking up engineering both in la salle but different kinds of engineering - sino sa inyo ang chem., at electrical uli?. keithly is taking up inter-disciplinary business studies in la salle as well. marianne is taking up psychology, and tina just shifted to the same course from english this year. both are in la salle. elaine is taking up political science in UST. cristina rabe is in st. scho, i think taking up education-rabe, what are you taking up? is it really education? i'm really sorry. jackie is in the makati medical center school taking up nursing. mara is in UP manila taking up filipino-right? i dont know where paula and melay went for college, but i would sure like to know how they're doing. note: la salle is the DLSU at taft.
i haven't seen my troika friends for so long, and throughout my first year of college you can count by the fingers on one of your hands the number of times i've seen them or been with them. let me enumerate. note: there never was an instance we were complete, that usually happens for big groups. i was only able to see some of them
the first time i was able to see some of them since the start of my freshman year was on olive's birthday. that was a july. we were still fresh out of high school, so not much new was about, well except for that eerie feeling towards karn, and a few fun new stories about our new schools. but all in all it was fun putting on ladylike clothes in a race - he he, and the food was great too.
the next was three months later. it was the regular semester break, unfortunately the most people studying in la salle had tri sem on their shoulders. one wednesday, crissy called a meeting at ... what was the name of that restaurant? it was the restaurant where the Quickly stand stood in along vito cruz. Mings something? oh well. i came late-sorry, peace tayo!-because i left late and got caught up in the commuter's traffic i'm no longer used to in manila. i didn’t get to eat lunch with them, but was able to catch up till merienda time. to tell you frankly i felt out of place and left out. in tagalog: na OP ako. i felt drowned among things i knew or hardly relate to. and i felt whatever i said was a different language to them. ok exaagg pero ganon ang feeling ko. its not their fault, its mine. i think i have an attitude problem. no, people would disagree. i have an attitude problem. i'm not asking for apologies, i'm merely venting out what i felt.
i heard they did some kind of jpop MTV together and submitted it to some contest. they put a lot of effort into it, even sacrificing their academics a bit. though i can hardly relate to that, i guess i could say i'm proud of them for making a big effort. i miss making productions. i just hope they had fun doing it together.
nga pala, i paid 50 pesos for the latest – noon - troika button pin, but i never got it. ok lang. masaya naman ang nakapagmerienda sa 50 ko. buti na pakinabangan na ng iba basta ba kinaliangan nila e.
the monday after that, tasja – a member of the extended troika, sort of - asked us out to Robinson's place manila. at first i was hesitant to go, but i was advised by someone very wise to go, and see who among my friends i should keep and treasure. ang sama tuloy pakingan. so i went. i saw tasja, karina, mara-who had to leave early because she had to register for the next sem. mas maaga sila sa manila- and keithly-who came late because she had to attend a class. jacke could not come and lady backed out- i think. yes it was eerie, i don’t need to tell you why. keithly, thanks for Auntie Anne's and everything that went with it.
i would see them 5 month's later on mara's debut. thanks for inviting me mara! her debut was really nice, and semi formal. we were all almost there, except for bom, marianne and elaine. i expected - here i go again at expecting - that we would be updating each other on how we were all doing and i would hear fun stories of their college life - take note, not how difficult school was, we all knew that. i was able to to some extent only, and the rest was play, in some sense. and that eerie feeling again. not to let mara down, it was a beautiful debut, and i hope she felt really special. oh! and the wine was lovely, i think drank almost half the bottle.
the last time i saw my friends was two months ago. we were only 5: marianne, tina, olive, keithly and i. i personally had a lot of fun. Glorietta, watch movie, eat lunch, and walk around, and talk about what has been going on with our lives. simple enough but well spent. we bought a listerine pocket pack and got a free 6-months valid movie ticket. sad that i still haven’t used it, even to watch Spiderman-ah! i still haven't watched it. who wants to go watch a movie with me? its valid till novemeber. keithly? anyway, we got to watch Shrek 2 for free, just because we were all globe users. he he he. before that we were able to chit-chat at taters for a while and as we met up together. we ate lunch at Komoro Soba at G1 and had a studio pic taken at Kodak. and the rest was just walking around Ayala. thanks to keithly for contacting everyone. he he sorry i was in Paete, Laguna with my dorm mates for fior's birthday.
i read from one of their blogs, i don’t remember who's, that they went to intramuros a week before. that could have been fun. but as a very concerned friend said, maybe they just want to go out by themselves, and i have to respect that, because we have every right to do that too. i do respect it, and i'm sorry for feeling bad about it. but it would be nice for the whole troika to go out on an .outing like that
denise went to japan...oh! she's back. ok what happened? den, bakit ka punta ng japan? may scholarship ka? project? wala lang trips lang? sino kasama mo? kwento naman o. ano ginawa mo? may pasalubong?-joke! sorry
i remember watching the movie of little women, the one where wynona played jo march. claire danes played beth march - she died. but before she did she said something that struck me. i don't recall the exact words but it goes something like this: its alright that i'm left alone, but i don’t want to be left behind.

posting sa troika
ok, ang kaugatan ng galit ni den sa'kin. i may have took it wrongly and misunderstood, but it still had an effect on me. sa bagay effective naman, napagpost siya, at ang iba pa. ayos pala, kailangan mo lang talaga magpapansin para may manyari. parang ang mga ipinapatupad sa pamahalaan.
i've noticed that since college the posts at troika have lessened by a large percent. a year ago there were more posts, others usually one-liners, or stuff i could hardly relate to, or forwards. now there are hardly any. it's just normal for that to happen. even when we were all in high school loads of school work took our free time, and it still does, in a larger magnitude. i understand why people cant post. even i dont post.
1. no time
2. don’t read email
3. have no access to computer with internet
4. not able to check when using internet
5. bouncing email
my point is this. i've made it a habit to post the question about how everyone is doing. i just want updates from those that have time and resources to answer. since i've noticed i don’t really get that much detailed information when we all meet, which is quite sad. the happy thing is we are contented with enjoying each other's company.

VISIT TO THE SHRINK part 2

i have a few things to say about the people i call my friends. some issues i - as a friend recently told me, i really need - need to vent out and just some thoughts i would like to share. and yes, in reply to to the comment denise posted which basically triggered my attempt to make my thoughts known. someone once told me i'm too much of a war freak, i take on issues face to face at once. its actually true that it hurts if its faced like this, but in my experience its already been too long of a wait. ok, hinay hinay lang. reward for my head will be up soon, i only hope not.
i do agree with denise. i don’t like posting details of my personal life onto the internet. this is why my posts are about my weird thoughts and not a diary of my life. but i do appreciate those people who post about their lives, its the only way i'm updated about how they're doing. but its not only dangerous, its giving out too much. but in this case i'll loosen my rules a bit.


i still dont get that marianne issue
it would be almost abnormal for a group of friends not to have arguments and issues - believe me it comes eventually -, it would only be...better. i guess i haven’t known marianne as much as the others who have known her since grade school and the earlier years of high school. i've been told i would never understand the issue, unless i've been with her.
on the contrary, i like marianne, and i'm not afraid to be shipwrecked on a desert island with her. i enjoy listening to her talk about her life, which is much better than watching napkins being folded up into underwear. i find no boast in it, and often find myself more boastful and boring to listen to. i do find some of her mannerisms amusing, like...but as of press time rejoice has made flipping your hair its theme in advertising.we all haveour ways, ika nga. i like having her around, and with reference to the group, it would seem incomplete without her, or anyone else for that matter. people talking privately can think up of better ways to avoid a private conversation when they think someone is intruding. people don't have the world to themselves, they make it that way purposely. even i am guilty of butting in.
i have to admit i really have no say in this matter, but as a part of the group i would like to give my comments on it. let's consider the second window of johari's window, and compare it to the third. i, personally like the latter.
i don't really recall the endpoint of these issues during high school, my thinking was that it became ok in the end. i hope i'm right. then i wouldn’t have addressed this at all. but i cannot prevent it if the others still feel something bad about this, i'm no telepath, i only wish to be. but i think that’s the case. though we've all gone off to college, and we barely see each other. some, i feel, still harbor these feelings. its just sad that they seem to not have been friends, in talgalog, parang wala namn silang pinagsamahan. (yes i'm addressing something in particular)

karina and i haven’t been seeing much of each other, care to ask why?
i really didn’t expect anyone to violently react, take sides, or care to ask the horse what had been going on, what i didn’t expect was no reaction at all. though they might have did that on purpose, not to spark up anything or get involved, but it was still... as karina put it – “odd”. in high school, karina and i had been the best of friends, well in troika terms for that matter. it would have been awkward in the troika days to have noticed us not even talking together or sitting beside each other. but to headline, this is what had been happening over the last year. newsflash: something happened that terribly damaged our friendship.
it was a long period of silence.
when i posted that we wouldn't be living together in LB (los baños, laguna), it was true. and there was something more to that, but to make a long-short confusing situation understandable, we didn’t agree on the terms we would be living together by, our parents didn’t. then we didn’t talk about it, for a loooooooooong time. we didn’t see each other. we became ill at ease with each other, ok i was the one who did. and there, crumbling, and to dust.
every encounter succeeding was torture to my bitterness, reflected but yet still in silence.
but that's no longer the point. we're on better terms now.
well, since we're updating each other, karina and i are on speaking terms now. but i must admit that the friendship we had in high school has been lost to the crumbling dust and left in memory. like a phoenix born from its ashes, but unlike a phoenix, we need more time for wounds to heal.
i guess this is the point where they can all stab me for criticizing them about harboring bad feelings towards marianne. oo para kaming walang pinagsamahan, pero meron, at kailangan ko ng panahon. ang kaibahan ko lang, ako, eto broadcast.

the main troika
even though it is sad that this thought ever came to my mind, i cannot help but share it. i do not ask for sympathy, nor explanation. i only ask to be heard. i don’t like this feeling and i apologize to those i leave out because of this thought.
it would seem normal to call tntc a barkada, but i have always thought that the phrase “group of friends” was the best term for it - even with my friends before st. scho. my thinking was we are unlike other barkadas. but troika is a big group of friends and i must tell you now, not all of us were really that close. remember in the story, troika was a unison of the groups that spent their breaks at the corridor fronting troika hall. we were not one big group to begin with and i guess we never really got to be one - big close group. like a class who could really never “bond” truly - hindi a shinampoo ko lang yan! - the small groups still remain. i can't blame anyone, we stick to the people who make us feel comfortable the most.
grouping together and naming ourselves after the debate hall the corridor was fronting was not an idea we all had in mind. this really came out in our fourth year, when we were seemingly left out by the batch twice already.
what i am trying to say is that all the troika stuff- the IDs, the telenovela, the yahoo group, the button pins, the quiz for our little sisters- were thought up of by one creative group among the troika people. i call them the main troika. i'm just glad that they included the whole group in their gimmicks, that really made troika into the “congregation”. just that in some they didn’t. its weird that i turned out to be charleen in the troika quiz than myself. but i guess its not their fault that the quizmaster - am i right, is it bom?- doesn't know everyone in the group well enough to make a quiz about all of us. these people in the group have been friends since grade school and i see why they still remain good friends.
its sad that i feel that i am left out some times when i'm with the group - yung OP ba. they relate to the same things most of the time. i read in one of my researches that similarity is one of the factors in friendship.
i guess mostly animé played a big part in bringing us together as with many of my friends. i realize that not all of us are hard core anime people, and towards the end of my high school i was no longer one. i hardly knew what the latest animé on TV was all about. i guess i got tired of it, ran out of money - its expensive to be an animé person if you really like collecting -, and didn’t watch TV - uy! nagaaral? i no longer moved on to jpop, and got tired of singing songs i barely understood. though good music is one of the things i still look out for in good animé- or any broadcast piece for that matter. i guess that contributed much to my being a soundtrack person now.
but a good friend pointed out that i shouldn’t think: epal lang ako sa troika. because i leave out so many people, and good memories. i may also be leaving people out in my conversations with others, and not the only one who is left out. to some point we are all OP(out of place) and can make people feel that way. and in this i apologize for even thinking this way and for leaving anyone out. its the worst feeling you can have when you're with friends.

VISIT TO THE SHRINK

about the people I call my friends (the tapat ng troika congregation)

part 1 in the series of posts about the people i call my friends

the tapat ng troika congregation story
i'm proud to tell the story of my high school barkada. i happily smile as i tell this story to the new friends i've made in college, or anyone who wants to know. the people i call my friends have a unique story which surpasses popularity, in most ways. i am proud to have friends like them, and i remember enjoying their company.
ours was a an exclusive girls school at the heart of manila. unlike co-ed schools, girls were easier to befriend. but without the boys around, having the most popular guy as a boyfriend was no basis for popularity. i'd like to think ,unlike most people, there were no popular people, i cared less weather anyone was well known or not. mine was if she was well respected. we didn’t exactly know each other during our first year, though some had been together since grade school.
food brings people together, and i guess that’s the principle behind this story - well almost. it was an issue of eating areas. you see, our school had assigned eating areas per year level. the freshmen stayed at the second floor of the canteen. the sophomores, you can say were scattered all over the place, some at the canteen, some at the college eating area, and some at the hall fronting troika debating hall. the juniors were at the lunch counters, this was a roofed eating area lined with tables and benches, about more than 12, where a batch of a8 sections could fit. and the seniors at the prestigious stone tables, that is an eating area near the field (to give you a better perspective of the size of this field say it how chipmunks would) which included 1) about 6 square cement tables, lined of course with tiles on top, and a set of benches to come with it surrounding a large acacia tree, 2) a long row of tables and benches stretching along the walls of the grade 4 classrooms and 3) which came in when renovations were being made at the canteen, a lot of blue tables and monoblock chairs under some tents.
since in second year, the sophomores were scattered, i, the people i spent breaks with - usually some of my classmates - along with and a few others made the corridor fronting troika debate hall our domain of choice. this we carried on to our junior year: basically, when my friends and i came to the lunch counters during the beginning of third year to find the eating area we would call ours for a year, we were disappointed not to find a vacant table. and that was that, troika became our home for another year to pass. during out senior year we were determined to get a proper eating area at the stones. we were able to feel that we would during the first days of the year, but since the policy was draw lots, we were either cheated or just plain unlucky. but still, happy enough to return to our beloved troika corridor.
now since we were all basically good friends at this time, we began to sit in one big circle - instead of the 2 to 4 little circles wed been sitting in since second year. however, i have to mention that not all of those little groups came together in this one. so, this is where it began. a few of us decided to give the group a name: tapat ng troika congregation. to get facts straight, it was the debate hall which had the name troika - not the corridor -, our tambayan was the corridor fronting it/across it so, in tagalog: tapat ng. the congregation, basically was the first word that came to mind that seemed big - and no we are not a religious organization. so, there: tapat ng troika congregation.
crissy began by creating the yahoo group, which we still have today. then came the TNTC IDs by bom/elise which we earned by doing crazy and unusual things - we were ahead of reality TV. (or was it the IDs before the yahoo group? my memory fails me, and i'm sure either one of them is ready to hit me with a mallet). during our integration with our little sisters, the fresh women, we introduced them to our little group and added a little fun with a little guessing game quiz. it really didn’t matter to me if my little sister though that i, along with my group of friends were just plain weirdoes who worshiped anime, though i had a gut feeling she did think of it that way. again bom had a fascinating idea of designing a botton pin for the group which we all had made care of her KKB(kanya kanyang bayad). one of the best i'd like to recall were the birthday celebrations we prepared for those who celebrated their birthdays. another is a script for our telenovela "cooking ng ina mo". and looking to the future, our dream business venture to "conquer the world".
the whole year was fun, even though we had to eventually transfer to the third component of what composed the eating area assignment of the seniors because of the implementation of a strict eating area policy. this we did with our request of the provision of a large enough table that would fit all the seniors at troika. ours was the longest table, nearest the new building, the closest to the end of the tent, and the lowest height above sea level in the stones area. in other words, though we had the remarkably longest table among the seniors, we were frequently flooded during the rainy season. but we enjoyed being together anyway.

mga kakaibang kaisipan, o sadyang inisip lang. mga tipong one-liner na hindi.

di mapakali sa inuupuan
      di ba nung mga grade school tayo, o kahit nung high school, parating may seating arrangement na sinusunod.
      minsan alphabetical - kadalasan sa pagpasok ng school year, ang iba naman alternate boys and girls - sa mga school na co-ed, minsan naman pag maraming *ahem* literally out-standing angel-devil naman. minsan linalagay ang mga bwisit na makukulit sa harap para maconcious sa teacher - e ano ba paki ng mga yan e maingay din sila. pero kung mabait adviser mo, aba! e di pili ka na kung saan ka umupo. malamang katabi mo jan ang mga best friend mo sa clase.
      isa pa na tip sa magaling dumiskarte: tumabi sa mga national bookstore sa inyo, helpful yun kung parasite ka. (bwisit kang parasite ka!)
e di yan may seating arrangement na, uso naman sa mga estudyante ang palipat-lipat ng pwesto minsan nasa harap minsan sa likod.

      e ngayong college, di ba wala naman ganoon sa amin. malamang free ka gawin kung ano gusto mo. pero napapansin ko pag first day at nakaupo ka sa isang upuan, mahalin mo na iyon dahil doon ka uupo sa buong semester. bakit kaya?

freshie lang po ako
      bakit ang mga upperclass-people (patriarchal kasi pag sinabing upperclassmen) minsan nagpapabata? di ba't matatanda na sila sa unibersidad kaya may kapal muks na ipagyabang. pero minsan tipong ikahihiya pa nila ito. itatanong mo batch nila sasabihin nila ang batch ng mga freshies sa panahong iyon (kung AY 2003-2004 sasabihin nila batch 2003). gets ko yung mga extended, pero sa tingin ko di naman dapat ikahiya iyon, panakot nga iyon sa mga bago na di pa nararamdaman kung gaano nga ba kahirap sa UP.
nakakaasar kasi minsan.
      siguro principle yan ng kung bakit pag birthday ng mga magulang natin ay pabaliktad na ang bilang ng mga taon, feeling 19 daw!

      e ang mga freshie naman, nahihiyang matawag na freshie. though, may konting pride sabay insult naman pag napagkamalan mo silang upperclass, lalo na kung junior. ang mga freshie madali mo maispot dahil pormang porma daw ang mga ito: bago t-shirt, bago pantalon, bagong shoes. sa bagay, ang mga ibang upperclass todo porma din. di kasi uso sa amin ang patalbugan sa pormahan ng mga estudyante. pag ayaw ng freshie maispot, blend in the crowd na lang sila. pero acually ayos din maging freshie, may excuse ka for your mistakes - some of them that is. pag di mo pa alam ang main lib(ary) pag junior ka na mahiya ka naman ng konti - may ENG 1 at 2 naman di ba.
pero, anuman ang sabihin, masaya ako nung freshie ako!

princess
      isang araw habang nagaantay ng gumagawa ng electric fan sa service center, tinanong ng kapatid ko, "bakit ang mga lalaki di pwedeng magcrosslegs?" oy! di bakla utol ko a! tinanong nya kasi yun kasi upong ladylike kami ng mommy ko (ako? upong ladylike? o sige, mommy ko lang).
      di ba pansinin natin na ang upong crosslegs ng babae ay, grabe, di na cross, kundi overlap na. ang mga lalaki naman de-kwatro lang ang ginagawa.
      sabi ko sa utol ko, "cge subukan mo gayahin si mommy." di nya kinaya. naiipit ata ang mababasag, di sanay pati.
so ngayon, bilib ako sa mga bakla, talo pa nga ang mga totoong girls magpormang babae, graceful pa sila, di tulad ko.

mula kay Kyla
      pansinin mo ang mga manok pag naglalakad sumasabay ang ulo. bakit kaya? (galing 'to kay Kyla. napansin niya kasi ito nung nasa Bahay Laguna kaming mag-groupmates sa Magdalena.)

which way is that?: isang reklamo
      actually di ko na kailangan sabihin pa ito pero bwisit talaga ang mga nagdidisisyon ukol sa mga road signs. bulok talaga sistema. one day one way ang isang kalye, then the next iba nanaman. papalit palit na ng pangalan ang mga kalye ngayon, di mo tuloy alam kung ano talaga. asar! wala na talaga magawa mga tao sa congresso...

political trash
      ito delayed thought na pero sulat ko na rin.
      nung kampanya para sa election, aba, todo campaign ang mga tao. problema: nagiiwan sila ng kalat nila. nung isang beses campaign para kay FPJ*. nasa Ayala Ave. nung makaalis na sila puro kalat ang kay gandang dating runway. isip ko: kung ang mga kandidato na ito ay di man lang kayang masabihan ang mga tao nila na ayusin ang basura nila, ano pa ang magagawa nila para malinis ang pamahalaan?
*SLN

laban o bawi?
      may teacher ka, may prof, o instructor na nakakainis, nakakaasar at talagang bwisit sa buhay?
      bawiin mo sa teacher's evaluation. kaso nga lang sa akin, generally mabait ako, basta ba nagugustuhan ko ang paaran ng kanyang pagturo ay pwede na. asar nga minsan pag hawak ko na ang teachr's evaluation form nakakalimutan ko na ang icocomment ko sa kanya, swerte niya tanga ako. naiisip ko na pagkatapos, pag naisubmit ko na.

abcdefklmopqrstuvwXyz
      ano ba ang meron sa X? maraming salita ngayon na may X para magpahiwatig ng isang kakaibang kaisipan. iniisip ko na X, ibig sabihin "tapos na", like X boyfriend or girlfriend. meron din X as "crossing". may X factor as in "different". at wag natin kalimutan ang generation X. pero tanong ko: bakit X. ano ba ang meron ng titik na X at ito ang ginnagamit? bakit hindi A, o O, o di kaya M, o Z? sino ba may pakana nyan?

walang sharp shooter sa pelikula
      manood kayo ng mga action movie. ung pinoy na may warehouse shoot out scene. ang laking cliche niyan sa pinoy action films. can somebody do something else for a change? anyway. ok pansinin mo sa mga shoot out scenes na kalaban ng mga malalaking drug lord ang mga police o mga good guys kung sino man sila. walang tumatama. puro "pating" lang ng bala na tumatama sa ibang lugar at hindi dun sa gusto nilang barilin. walang talagang sharp shooter sa mga ganoong pelikula, pwera lang kung yung assasin na talagang patutumbahin ng palihim ang isang mahalagang tao.

bullshit

added 2005-06-01
plain and simple.
halata ba na badtrip?
i dont want to write about it.
writing about the problems of the world is only futile
when people are so closed to change.

bakit kool mangupal?

kupal!
      ito ang isa sa mga salitang natutunan ko sa una kong taon sa UPLB. parang walang kwenta lang kung iisipin mo, sa lahat ng matututunan ko sa UP ay ang salitang 'to pa ang naisipan ko na ipagmalaki..
ang ibig sabihin daw ng kupal ay taong makapal ang mukha - ku pal. ang mga taong ganito ay kinaiinisan, kinabwibwisitan dahil akala mo kung sino sila umasta, sa kalye, sa campus atbp.
      pero di lang ito ang natutunan ko na ibig sabihin nito. merong kupalan na nangyayari...kung saan saan.(opo sa mga org, kaya di tulad ng sa ibang skul, mahirap makapasok sa org. di mo lang basta babayaran, pagsisikapan mo talaga.) ito naman ang nangyayari pag inaapi ka ng kupal, pinapagawa ka ng kung ano ano - nauto ka naman - minumura, pinapaiyak, pinapatabi o pinapaalis, inuutusan, inaasar ng matindi, at iba pang mga bagay na nakabit sa pagsunod sa kupal.
      nanjan din ang kinukupal, siya naman ang uto-uto, ang sumusunod at nagpapaapekto. at maari din ang salitang kinukupal ay tumukoy sa pangyayaring kupalan din.
ang mga kaisipang ito ay maari tawagin sa iisang salita lang - KUPAL. ito'y naging isang expression na sa talaan ng ko ng mga salita.

pagiging kupal
      ngyon, bakit kool maging kupal? astig ka pag kupal ka, siga ka kasi. bully ka. at pwede ka mangbully. bakit? sino ba sisista? may kapangyarihan sa pagiging kupal ay kasing payak lang ng kaisipan ng kung bakit gusto maging pulitiko ang mga kumakandidato ngyon. at sa kadalasan, natutuwa ka pag may nakupal ka, parang achievement sa iyo yun, lalo na pag upperclass ka na. di naman ganon kalala ang pangungupal, pwedeng konting loko lang nakakupal ka na. maraming tao ang gustong maging kupal kung minsan (isa na ako dun, pero masyado ata ako mabait), para ... astig ika nga, siga.

kupalan
      pero bakit ba kailangan ng kupalan, ... sa org? sabi ng tatay ko - na fratman dati - para matuto ang neophyte. kinukupal sila para matuto sila ng humility, at pagsunod. isa pa ayaw kasi nila ng mga quitter, at nakikita yung mga quitter pag mahina ka sa kupal...gusto mo sumali paghirapan mo. ang pangungupal din ay nagsisilbing motivator, na kung malalampasan mo iyon e di achievement din yun, nakasali ka na sa org. isa pa daw, narinig ko sa isang dating dormate na may org, para paghirapan mo talaga at pahalagahan mo iyong pagsali sa org at ang org na rin.

may mga dahilan kung bakit may kupalan, kung bakit may kupal, at kung bakit may kinukupal.
wala akong balak sumali ng org, kaya di iyon ang dahilan kung bakit ko sinulat 'to.
minsan kasi naiisip ko na ang saya siguro maging kupal, astig maging siga. may hawak ka na kapangyarihan.

change? anyone?

this was an essay i wrote for PSY1 today:
question: if you were to change your body, what would you change and why?
answer:
      in a beauty pageant, or any other morals, personality and intelligence test for that matter, this question would merit the answer: "i would not choose to change any part of me, for i'm happy with who and what i am." which is true, i am happy with who i am, what i look like, and what i can do. but if people were that gullible, the world would be such a better place.
      in real life, people constantly want to change a part of themselves, myself included. sometimes i wish i were taller, slimmer,...and prettier. i also wish i were better at drawing, a better writer, a more confident speaker, more friendly.
      the first part deals with the physical aspects. people want to improve the way they look based on the image of beauty of their time - ours being tall, slim, flawless and pretty. and no matter how much i’d like to think i’m better off without looking like everyone else, a part of me wants to look good and feel good about myself. yes, i wish my feet weren’t so big so i don’t have a hard time finding shoes for myself. i would like to feel pretty and look good not only in the mirror after i’ve brushed my hair, but also in random photos. i wish my hair were not as untamed as it is.
      but i guess i’ve gotten used to the way i look and wouldn’t want to change much - no liposuction, plastic surgery or anything like that! sheesh! just the things i can take care of with a little change of habit. i try to make the best of what i was given, and i’m happy that way.
      the second set on my, god-hear-my-prayer wish list, has mostly to do with the skills i want, or wished i could have. they say practice makes perfect and you aren’t born with your gifts, you learn them. also, that you can’t have it all. if you’re good in one thing, others are good at another (but why are there so many multitalented people?)
      they say be careful what you wish for, i have. change is such a big thing; even of it is for your benefit.

my sassy girl

      i'm not the type who likes chinese and korean telenovelas. i find myself awkward around my friends who actually enjoy watching those kinds of movies and sing along to videos they don't understand. (but i have to admit that i do like asian movies with high-tech action scenes and espionage plots) i'm not a fan of love stories, but they are usually motivating, especially if the soundtrack is great. teen or chick flicks are enjoying at times especially if they're hilarious, its then that i go for them, but that's it.
      i just watched my sassy girl with my dormates the other night. it's a korean love story movie [so i don't have to point out that the main characters are a guy and a girl]. the story is set in present day - easily identified through the flip cellular phones and the subway. the girl is sort of a bully, she gets drunk after 3 shots, and she is so unpredictable. the guy is weird and unbelievably impossibly helpful and kind, he's a pushover and yes the girl bullies him around. they become friends and it takes long for them to admit that they like each other. i liked the movie not because it was a sweet love story and they got together in the end, in the most awkwardly predictable way. what made it really stick to me was the funny antics that happened in the movie. though very impossible, basically it was ... funny. and yes it was a nice love story, nothing too serious: it was light and comedic. it was very asian in such a way it didn't have only one rise and fall and you can't really tell when the story will end, until it does. its a love story, (it has so many clichés) and its very much impossible. its foreign, but i do recommend it. its really fun!

      and here comes the undying question: can and/or does that actually happen in real life? i don't think so.
      the girl was a bully of the worst kind. its been kind of typical in love stories that the girl is a bully and she bullies the guy around. it can happen, but its unlikely. not many girls have nothing to lose. well i don't and as much as i like to bully guys around, i'm too kind to. (i'm generally nice, but i make exemptions for the assholes)
      the guy is a "loser"! there cannot exist a guy like that in this world. he meets the girl in the subway, she's drunk and vomits all over the place and calls him honey though they've never met. so people in the subway think he's responsible and has to clean up and bring the already unconscious girl out. not only that he takes her to a motel and checks her in so she can rest. he gets in jail for it, and that doesn't happen only once. he is impossibly kind. when they're friends already, he does whatever she tells him to. well i guess you can't blame him, the girl hits him - fondly - and asks him, "do you want to die?" but still, i don’t think any real guy would be nice enough to do that. they don't like it when they're pushed around. the patriarchal society we live in tells us that men have to show the girl that they're strong men, not men who act like chickens. its actually very animé, the guy is not even handsome, he just looks stupidly cute.

unwritten love story? taking off from that, can you think of a love story that hasn't been written, made into a movie or the like? i know all love stories are unique, but of the many love stories already on the reel or on paper, are there any other ones without the already overused clichés? just a thought. think of one and type it as a comment below, or in the chatterbox.

mestizang TV

ang mestiza
      pansin ko, uso ang chinita ngayon. sa bagay, di ngayon lang, matagal na "maganda" ang chinita. kung bakit ay di ko talaga alam. siguro kasi makinis ang skin, maputi, maganda ang buhok at may lahing iba sa pinoy. pero di ako galit sa chinita a! may mga kaibigan akong ganon, at mabait sila.
      napansin ko kasi sa TV (gawa siguro ito ng F4), mga commercial puro chinita-in ang mga modelo. puro mestiza at di lang mestizang intsik ang pinaguusapan natin. ang mga taong ito na halo ang lahi ang mga mas natitipuhan ng mga agent para sa showbiz. nabasa ko sa isang article ng [p] ang isang pamimintas tunkol sa starstruck, parang display lang daw ito ng mga mestiza - lalaki man o babae. parang totoo nga. (laki talaga ng impluwensya ng F4). napanood ko kagabi, may viva hot men na pala. pansin ko lang ang hairdo nila: karamihan sa kanila ay long hair ala F4, siguro iyon ang "gwapong" style ng buhok panlalaki ngyon.
      kung iisipin natin matagal nang ito ang batayan ng kagandahan sa atin: ang maputi ang maganda, na di naman salungat pero medyo malayo sa itsurang pinoy talaga. di naman kasalanan ng tao na maputi at maganda siya dahil ako ay di maputi at di maganda, di iyon ang punto ko. di ko sinusulat 'to dahil insecure ako.
      may narinig ako dati, na yung mga lumalabas na pampaputi na sabon, lotion atbp. ay di makatarungan para sa mga di maputi. dahil maiitim sila, dinidikta sa kanila ng lipunan na kailangan na rin nila magpaputi. isa iyong malaking diskriminasyon sa aming maiitim. its unfair. at ang nagkakalat ng di makatarungang pagiisip na ito ay ang mga TV natin.

ang TV
      may malaking kapangyarihang hawak ang media sa mga nanonood sa kanila, na nakakapaghubog sa kamalayan ng tao. ngungit ang kamalayang ito ay hawak ng iilang tao na gusto lamang kumita - kaya nga soap opera, di ba.
      sa aking palagay, di ginagamit ng media ang kanilang kapangyarihan para sa ikauunlad ng tao, ngungit sa pagpapalaganap ng status quo. balikan natin ang mga telenovela na kinahihiligan ng mga pilipino. wala nang kakupaskupas ang gasgas na gasgas na formula na paulit ulit din naman: na ang kahirapan ay nandyan na at ipinanganak ka dito, at antayin mo na lang ang tunay mong inay na mayaman na makita ka sa squatters area na tinitirhan mo, saka ka makakaganti ka sa mga hinayupak na umapi sa iyo. pagdating naman sa mga commercial sa gitna ng sampal ni bida kay kontrabida, ang makikita naman ay ang mga magagandang taong hinihikayat ang karaniwang mamamayan na bumili ng kung ano ano dahil: masaya ito, mapapansin ka na, dahil puputi ka. sa primetime, walang natututunan ang tao para sa kanyang ikauunlad.
      imbis na iyon, bakit di nila ipakita sa mamamayan ang mabuting magagawa ng pagsikap sa mgagandang kinabukasan? di ito swertihan lamang. hindi po BINGO ang buhay. di ka lamang gigising one day at malalaman mo na may lahing mestiza/o ka pala.

maslow's hierarchy of needs

      this guy actually has a point in his pyramid-like model of man's needs. he says, the physiological (food, water, clothing, shelter) needs which are at the base of his model, must be satisfied first. then the security need. it is when these two are satisfied, then one can dwell on his psychological need which will eventually lead you to the top - the self-actualization need.

why he makes a point?
      basically it has truth to it. when i first learned this model of man's needs, it was just something i had to memorize for an exam to pass a particular subject. now i see it means more than that.
      to survive, people need to satisfy their basic needs - food, water, shelter, clothing - and secure these and themselves. let's take the urban poor as an example, they aim to satisfy their basic needs through the income they get from their less than minimum wage paying jobs, which we all know is not enough to reach the daliy cost of living.
      security comes form the community people live in, they make sure they and their belongings and their families are safe form being stolen or lost or burnt etc. these people are in constant threat of losing their security and basic needs because of the unsteady movement of the economy and the government, which affects all sectors.
      satisfying their psychological needs is secondary, or should come after, however the filipino culture tends to satisfy the sense of belonging and fun in between all hardships.

am i'm getting to nowhere?
      my point: only the rich think of being a better person, psychologically. those who have satisfied the physiological need and security need think they need to reflect on their lives, have a change or do something about their lives. (gets?)
      one of my friends once noticed that lots of people these days have with them a copy of "Purpose Driven Life". i've never read this book and i dont know what it is about, but my guess from the title is that it's about making a change in one's life or lifestyle (I'm not really the into-God type). the book is not my point. i've seen lots of these kinds of books in the library and in the bookstore under the classification psychology or sometimes inspirational. besides the fact that these books are costly - did i say costly? that was an understatement. i meant very pricey - they do only cater to those who have plenty of time to think about what to do with their lives.

      i'm NOT saying the urban poor can't do anything with their lives but work to satisfy the basic needs. they can, but just don't expect them to - drastically. i did mention that these people also satisfy their psychological need. they do it by celebrating, having fun, dying their hair, singing vidoke and all the fun stuff they like. they too have dreams to change their lifestyle, but not the way rich people can just get up one day and say "i want to change my life, i'm gonna be a better me!" theirs is a change of wanting their children to graduate and go abroad, their house built of cement instead of scrap wood and metal.

      what i am saying is that those who do have the time to make the world a better place have to work together, and with the people who don't always have that luxury. thinking about a better Philippines is different from listening to what will make a better Philippines from the people who need it most.