against the flow

so i went to Brian's despedida. he's leaving for the USA on saturday. i came pretty late and only a few came. no worries, he's a good buddy and i'll do anything to see him off, even at frickin past 9pm. and as soon as i got there, it was almost time to leave. Yuna was going to cubao expo to get her bass from a friend but she doesn't know where cubao expo was. being hte night in shining armor that i am, i offered to take her there. after 2 modes of transportation, we were there. i jsut plan on finding her friends then i'll be on my way home.

upon entry, i met karl and joven, UST fine arts football people. a few steps further, i see Nessa and Cholo seated around a table. a bit further, i found Ren and Milch. Yuna then finds her friend and i come back to Cholo's table with Kyle and Aion. walked a bit with miro and found Sugar Ray talking to Ren. pleasant. we all didn't know we were all going there. Sandwich then performs an awesome set. mostly due to the absence of jumping jologs and the legion of darkness. the crowd disperses then CHolo, Kyle, and I move to the quiter side and talk about band stuff. then someone taps my shoulder. it's Julo. 5 iboys in one place and we didn't even talk about meeting up. great.

i only had one beer, but meeting 5 iboys, a mess of other friends, and listening to Sandwich made the whole night extraordinary.

cheers, cubao expo!

FRIDAY

last friday, i asked a friend to tutor me for a statistics test. take note that it was the first time i was gonna go to class. long story. but yeah. first time to attend class and there's a test... so she had a lot of teaching to do. got off at 9pm and spent the whole time studying 2 month's worth of statistics. was on my way home by 12:30 am. i was in Laon Laan and had to find my way to España or Magsaysay ave to get home. i live in Cainta, you see. as i departed from my friend's apartment, it started to rain. that was pretty much the setting until i got home. made my way to Dapitan cor. Lacson ave and tried my luck on catching a jeep to España or Quiapo. there's just no way i'm walking to España alone through Lacson. scary. 2 smokes and hundreds of taxis later (i didn't have enough money for a cab), this girl in a white uniform started walking in the same direction that i was. i started walking around 20 feet behind her until the rain became unbearable stronger. we both seek shelter in a cigarette shack's roofing. there were 2 vendors in that stall and they had a small battery powered (?) TV. i asked the girl if she was walking to España too and she reluctantly said yes and gave this suspicious look. i casually replied that i just wanted someone to walk with because i'm scared shit, which was the truth. that was around past 1am already. we waited for the rain to recede as we both didn't have umbrellas and then proceeded with our trek. we decided to pass through UST. it's much safer and well lighted. as we walked, we talked about the usual stuff people who don't know each other talk about. i found out she was a second year med student who dorms in España and live in Bulacan. upon reaching España, we parted ways without knowing each other's names. hailed a jeepney bound for Cubao. got off and walked for the "sakayan" going to Rizal areas. rode another jeep goign to Cainta and then a tricycle to my home. i got home at around 2:45am-ish.

 

SATURDAY

i told myself that i wouldn't sleep anymore since i had to leave the house at 5am if i wanted to arrive in school at around 6am-ish to have a parking slot for my car. i ended up waking up at 6:45ish coz i dozed off at around 4am. if i drove to school, it would take longer so i hauled ass commuting going to school sleep-deprived and hungry. i arrived in my 8am class 15 minutes late. not bad. they were reviewing for the test. i managed to answer the test and i think i did pretty well considering it was my first time to attend class. i had lunch after the test and slept at the tambayan until Darren's graduation recital.

as usual, Darren was amazing. he is, after all, arguably the conservatory's most famous, accomplished, and talented pianist. most notable were his theatrics, which he's known for. he makes sure that when a hand is not in use, he uses it one way or another. it's funny when you watch him, but he does deliver and you can see that he really puts his heart into his music with the help of these gestures. after the recital, there's the traditional buffet. the food selection was great. it wasn't the usual pasta, fried chicken, and barbecue menu. the menu was quite exquisite, but the taste wasn't really there. my favorite were the cream puffs. i had a plate full of them.

i headed home at around 5:30 and got home at around 8. it was so hard to get a ride from the LRT station.

upon arrival, i dried myself and went to my aunt's on an errand. i didn't go home yet after going to my aunt's.

i got home at 2am.

what's new, you ask?

well, i joined a choir. frankly, i missed it. i missed rehearsing in a group and performing as a cohesive unit, a well-oiled machine, all for one and one for all. something like that. i think i just miss performing, period. i'll be really frank and honest, i'm not the best solo performers in ANYTHING that i do. but i guess i do work well with people. bottomline is, i joined a choir. still a trainee, but with the way things are going, i think i'll be a regular member soon. scholarship!

my piano skills suck. i mean, i barely practice, that's why. i'm always overcome by laziness. as a result, i've put off yet another levelling exam. at this rate, i'll graduate on march 2011. that's just in time for my school's quadricentennial. fireworks galore. lol

the hobby is probably the most unchanging facet of my life right now. i just handed a couple of scorpions to some people who asked this afternoon. also in the past few days, a few of my tarantulas have molted. by molting, this gave me the opportunity to determine their gender. one was a girl and one was a boy.

in the university that i attend, UST, three buildings have been quarantined due to the swine flu thing namely, eng, med, and accounting buildings.

it's puzzling why the university just wouldn't cancel all classes in all levels. people that still go to class may be exposed, hence may be infected all over again. then if the infection is reported, there will be another string of cancellations. it just would be logical to quarantine the whole university until things are under control.

another point is that we all gather in the same places as the eng, med, and accountancy buildings' students and staff do. there are the various PE venues, restaurants in the Multi-Deck Parking building, main building, and the Tan Yan Kee building. having these places frequented by students of other colleges including eng, med, and accountancy students should be enough reason to have the university quarantined until further notice.

i dunno what they're thinking, but they better give a good reason why we're still attending classes in a school with three buildings closed down due to a pandemic disease.

wow. i haven't updated this blog for so long. maybe coz of the advent of plurk and facebook, there really is no reason to put the same stuff here. but i've realised that my writing ability has shrunk due to this. i like writing. and i think i should keep writing.

speaking of writing, i've gotten back to doing poetry. i've always been interested in poetry but i haven't written anything since college started so, there. that's another reason why i'm reviving this blog. it'll be another place to showcase my stuff.

my personal life has been pretty much okay. i'm not saying that it's great. it's just, you know, okay. i'm still lazy and i still sleep all day and stay up all night. now all that's left to do is look really really good and declare i'm a vampire and all the girls will want to be with me.

girls. hmm. frankly, i'm not looking for something romantic as of the moment, but i've been dating. you know, just friendly dates. and the occasional "reto." nothing serious. but you know, there's always that nagging feeling that i want this to be serious. that i want exclusivity. damn. i'm stopping here. this topic makes me emo.

last and certainly not the least (you have no idea), my pets. they now consist of 2 turltles, a flowerhorn, some koi, a parakeet, 6 smelly dogs, 20 tarantulas, and 2 scorpions (one of them gave birth again. it's partethogenic. google it.). to keep my arachnids well fed, i've also acquired a cockroach colony. they are not the common house roach variety. they are wingless and cannot climb smooth surfaces. they are the Blatta lateralis species (google it). i'm also trying to keep a bigger kind of roach, Blaptica dubia (google it). they are bigger and meatier and that's always good if you're trying to feed them to animals. they,re also harder to keep compared to Blatta lateralis so let's see where this is going.

welcome back to my life, guys!

FIRST OF ALL THIS IS A REPOST. I DON'T USUALLY DO THIS BUT DAMN, THIS JUST BRINGS MY BLOOD TO A GENTLE SIMMER. READ THIS IF YOU CARE. READ THIS IF YOU THINK POLITICIANS IN THIS COUNTRY ARE STUPID. READ THIS IF YOU WANT TO BE IN A GODDAMN BAD MOOD.

MAGNAKAW NA KAYO SA KABAN NG BAYAN, HUWAG LANG KAYO MANAKIT NG MATATANDA'T BATA!

EVERYTHING AFTER THIS LINE IS COPIED.

 

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http://vicissitude-decidido.blogspot.com/2008/12/world-is-fucked-up.html

 

So, I just had the worst day of my life.

At around 1:30 PM today, at Valley Golf and Country Club, Antipolo City, Mayor Nasser Pangandaman, Jr., Mayor of Masiu City, Lanao del Sur, his father, Secretary Nasser Pangandaman of the Department of Agrarian Reform, and company, beat my defenseless 56-year-old dad and my 14-year-old brother to a pulp because of some stupid misunderstanding on the golf course.

This is a golf course. I have been a golfer all my life, and I have never seen anything like this. NOTHING. This is hard to comprehend. And it happened to my own father and my own brother too. Right in front of my eyes.

My brother and I were playing golf at the South Course of Valley. We were on the 3rd hole, and we see two golf carts going past us, overtaking our flight, and setting up to tee off on the next hole. My dad goes up to them and asks them why they would do that, why they would overtake us without even asking for our permission. Golf etiquette 101. One of the guys says that they're with the flight in front of us. (So what? That doesn't give them the right to just pass us WITHOUT asking.) So, we go to the 5th hole. The flight behind us catches up with us, and asks us what caused the hold up. We said that this flight just slipped in front of our flight. So we complained to the marshall. We play the 5th hole and walk towards the next hole, where there is a teehouse, and both the flights in front of us were there, talking with the marshall. The mayor of Masiu City, Lanao del Sur talks with my dad. Things get heated up. Voices were raised. But never, in my wildest dreams, did I ever imagine that someone would pull out a punch. Apparently not. He attacks my father. His flightmates, maybe 2 or 3 of them, rush to his aid and beat up my father. My 56-year-old father. My younger brother and I could not just watch. We rushed to break the fight. My younger brother pleads to the mayor to please stop it. To not hurt my dad. To just stop. His words still ring through my head..."Sorry na po, sorry na po...tama na...tama na po..." With his hands in front of his chest in a praying position. PLEADING. The mayor socks him in the face. My brother defended himself. My dad is still on the ground getting clobbered. My brother is the same way. I try to stop the fight, but all I can do is stop one person. There were 4 or 5 of them attacking now.

Someone breaks up the fight. I thought it was all over. The mayor shouts to his caddy: "Hindi nila kami kilala! Sabihin mo nga sa kanila kung sino ako!" And believe me, I had no idea who this person was. But now I know. He's the person who, with 4 other men, beat up my 56-year-old father and my 14-year-old brother. He's the person who sacks a pleading 14-year-old kid in the face. He's a person who, I am sure, is gonna rot in hell.

I lash out, but my dad held me back. I was screaming my lungs out, shouting to this mayor, telling him about what he had done. I said: "Nakakahiya kayo. Singkwenta'y sais anyos ang tatay ko. And kapatid ko kakatorse anyos. Anong ilalaban nila sayo?"

The mayor looks at my brother, point to his face, and says, "Tatandaan kita!" And he tells me that my brother has a bad attitude and that I need to watch him. WHAT THE HELL?! So, my brother's bad for defending his father?!

We leave. We walk to the clubhouse to file a complaint. My brother asks for a doctor. My dad could barely walk. Their group comes to the clubhouse, sees my brother. Once again my brother pleads, says sorry, and is crying. He was CRYING, for crissakes. But no. The relentless mayor still punches him in the face, and then sees my dad and goes after my dad again. Him and his friend pull my dad to the ground, pulls at his feet, and steps on him like he's dirt. I run to him and try to hold him back, holding him back by his shirt, while this other guy and this girl tries to stop me. She tells me to just stop it. I scream in her face "they're beating my father up and you want me to stop?!" I pull at his shirt--I don't let go. All I can see was my dad being trampled on. I didn't even see my brother getting beat up.

People pull them away. I get my dad, and I saw my brother. His right ear was bleeding. I freaked out. I told the receptionists to bring my brother to the clinic. I pull my dad away. People were separating us.

My mom and my older brother come. I tell her Bino's right ear is bleeding. They both look like they could kill. My dad holds my brother off, I hold off my mom. When I finally got my mom under control, my older brother gets away and I hold him off. Two of the mayor's bodyguards pull out guns. I embraced my brother from the back, just holding him back, crying. The receptionists came to us, crying, hugging me, my dad, and my mom, whispering to us to just leave. "Maam, umalis na po kayo, may mga baril sila...Maam...umalis na po kayo please..."

I am pretty sure the Secretary of DAR did not take part in the fight, but he just watched all this happen. He watched two of his sons, as we figured out, the other guy was his son, too, beat up my father and my 14-year-old brother. He didn't do anything to stop it. And this person is what now? A cabinet member. A politician.

Sounds like something out of a movie, doesn't it? But this is what happened. TODAY. The day after Christmas. To my family. And all I ask for is JUSTICE. The people at Valley Golf did not seem to want to help us. None of the security guards even tried to stop the fight. Right in the clubhouse. I came back after the fight was over and talked to the receptionists. They say they did not see anything. The general manager of Valley Golf would not give us the names of the men who made my brother's ear bleed. It took him an hour. Maybe even more than that. He seemed to not want to help us. Because, we were against the SECRETARY OF THE DEPARTMENT OF AGRARIAN REFORM and the MAYOR OF MASIU CITY, LANAO DEL SUR. They were all scared.

The world has gone crazy. Two politicians beat up a defenseless 56-year-old father and his 14-year-old son. At a golf course. I swear to God, I thought golfers were decent people. You would think politicians were decent people. I guess not. I guess they gang up on 56-year-old men and beat up pleading 14-year-old kids.

Please pray for my dad, my brother and for my whole family. Please pray that we get JUSTICE. Oh God, please, give these people what they deserve.

quick update.

-tarantula eggs hatched about 2 weeks ago

-bought more tarantula spiderlings. 2 pcs totalling 1500 pesos.

-stressed.

 

with that being said, there's really nothing new to post.

i was walking in the campus when this little girl blocked my way and asked me to sign something. i asked what it was for and she said that it was for "JC." i read the document containing spaces for signatures and some text. i kept asking what it was for and all she said was it was for support. i didn't want to sign something i might get in trouble with so i kept asking. she finally said that it was for a monthsary present.

aaw. 

i just arrived in blueskies from the airport. i took my parents to their flight to thailand.

as i was driving for blueskies, i tuned in to my favorite radio station and got really into Good Times' topic. it was calling Ateneo with a "the." THE Ateneo. i called in defense of my alma mater and had a good chat with Grace and Mo.

towards the end, i kinda joked about the jacket give away and guess what, i'm getting the official ateneo jacket from adidas. quite cool.

potato chips + Lady's Choice Garlic Ranch Dressing = crunchy heavenly goodness.

my dad arrived from mindanao a few days ago and along with him, he brought 2 bilaos of calamansi from the orchard and boxes of suman. and i mean BOXES. this means an endless supply of calamansi juice. i mean, i drink it like water. sometimes, unsweetened. quite tasty. i've been trying drinking it warm and it's relaxing. i might have a substitute for tea! come to think of it, calamansi and tea might go well together. hmm. or maybe i can make a calamansi iced tea infusion. sorry, that's the iron chef inside of me speaking. i've been watching episodes on youtube as if i was easting tictacs.

 

dad also brought home some really old pictures from lolo's house in mindanao. the pics date back to when i was three years old. how do i know? there's a superman birthday cake on the pictures. it looks like a birthday party with cousins and uncles and some other unknown mustached men. as an added treat, i'm also dressed in a kiddie sized superman costume. the pics also show my upper lip is wounded. i kinda remember from my childhood that i got knocked down by someone on a swing and knocked out a couple of my front teeth.

 

good times.