Oh Kresmas tre, Oh Kresmas tre

I went shopping for my SP's gift today (Si Nang Belinda hehe) [ well wala man gablog c nang bel teh she won't know that she's my SP]. I already know that I am a weird gift-giver. I tend to give gifts that people won't ever use in their entire lives. I remember perfectly that along the course of the many SP-SP's that I have participated in, I have already given: 1.) a bundle of barbecue sticks 2.) a set of knives 3.)a floral apron (for a guy) 4.) a can of liver spread 5.) 2 boxes of paper clips 6.) a set of staplers (6 pieces in a set) 7.) a flowerpot and many more. Some would say they would be damn unlucky if I was the one who picked out their names, friends and former classmates alike. Unfortunately, my impulses get the hold of me. When I go shopping for gifts, I want gifts that won't be forgotten at all. Well, if you received a flowerpot for Christmas, how would you forget the feeling of disappointment and anger over that person who gave you that? BWAHAHA!
Well, today was going to be different. The minimum price of the gift was not less than 300 (down from a previous 500!). So there I went! I went gift-hunting for Nang Bel. I first went through Ace Hardware, where I first bought my new set of kitchen knives for my victim, errrr, SP. Ahem. Unfortunately(or otherwise), they aren't selling knives there anymore and I thought I don't think Nang Bel would particularly enjoy receiving them and would probably give me a hard time in the office. But, damn it, I saw the perfect gift for her there. A kitchen sink! I actually checked the price of the kitchen sink. I was heartbroken; it costs 14,000. So I dropped my kitchen sink gift and looked for something cheaper.
I went to SM Delgado looking for a nice heater that won't really cost a lot. But all they had there were expensive ones. Until I set my eyes on that beautiful electronic egg-beater. Checked the price and it costs more than a thousand. Tsk Tsk.
Finally chose to look around in Unitop for something classy that wasn't that expensive. Unitop is the place to be when you want to die of kidney failure due to melamine intoxication. It is also the place to be when you want to experience lead poisoning. It is also the place to be when you want to have your house burnt down due to defective appliances that did not undergo quality control. The place is way cheaper than most, but almost all of their products come from China, yes, that China!
I transformed into a Shrek version of Alice in Wonderland as I explored the mystery that is Unitop. And I found many interesting objects that I almost bought for Nang Bel: 1.) a lamp shade that is shaped like a pair of women's breasts, 2.) a teacup set that has a written warning screaming: I careful. Breaking glass hold. , 3.) an ironing board (imagine getting a kabayo for Xmas!), 4.) a toothpaste that could be used in treating pimples and dandruff, 5.) a griller that has no grill, 6.) a set of knives (bwahaha)
After searching for awhile, I finally chose a conventional gift for my SP and settled on a set of linen (1 bedsheet, 1 blanket, 2 pillow cases) worth 340 pesos. I also threw in 2 sets of clothespin worth 50 pesos. There, there. I may not be the best Christmas shopper in the world. But, oh look at that boy. He's finally grown up! ..... a bit at least :-)

May Morto!!!

I woke up with a slight hangover from Friday's drinking session and I rushed to school. We gathered as a college to have a Christmas party with our adopted barangay somewhere in the armpits of Oton. After a humid event that lasted for about 4 hours, we took a short trip from Oton to Shamrock beach resort where we were to spend the College of PT Xmas party. The timing of the party was totally absurd as we are having our prelims exam starting Tuesday. Many of the students therefore weren't able to stay and have fun because they still have the prelim exams at the back of their minds.
Anyway, almost everyone left after the Xmas party was over. Only a handful, including myself, stayed at the resort for an overnight retreat. After dinner, we sang a few songs at the karaoke bar and went drinking till we get wasted. We played a drinking game called Jackass and damn that game was soooo fun I never had as much fun in a drinking game as when I played the Beergame for the first time. Well anyway, let's fast forward.
It was already about 3 am when most people retired for the night. Unfortunately, I wasn't drunk yet. I was still in desperate need of booze to satisfy my cravings (Liveraide commercial playing in the background). So I managed to drag 3 students who were also left dissatisfied to go out of the resort and search for more booze. First we went in the direction going back to Oton and after walking for maybe more than 30 minutes we decided that everyone is still asleep and that we ain't gonna find any booze in that area. So we agreed to walk back to the resort. Along the way, the students and I were talking bout the "3 am mystery", with the argument that many uncanny experiences happen at this doom hour. Then out of the blue, I suggested we try to pretend we are ghosts and scare motorists. Ha-ha-ha.
There were four of us, I and another guy then 2 girls. One of the girls has a long white shawl over her shoulders. We timed our entrance. She was going to be the leader, with her shawl over her head and not on her shoulders. We are going to be a procession of ghosts with our arms forward as if we were zombies. At 3:30 in the morning, that would be a disturbing sight to motorists. Lolz.
Finally, a pair of headlights shown ahead of us and we readied ourselves. As it approached us, we moved really slowly and zombie-like util it drove past us. We thought he didn't see us. We thought we failed to scare the driver. But hey a few meters from where we were at the opposite side of the street, he slowed down until he came to a full stop. We continued walking like zombies for awhile until we heard the car move again. I assume the driver had hair rising over his nape thinking he saw something supernatural. Ha-ha-ha. He stopped the car to recheck if his eyes were deceiving him of maybe he woken up his passenger or what. I just sure we sacred the wits out of him. Ha-ha-ha. God, this must be the best prank I've pulled so far in recent years. Woot Woot!

KOOOOOREEEEAAAAANNNNOOOO!

Yesterday, I met up with former officemates from the Korean school I used to teach in (Ken's Sparta Tutorial Center that's beside Jollibee U.P.). They all looked somber and angry at the same time. They revealed to me that when they went to work that morning, that fool of a Filipino manager, NETCHER JERMIA, told them to pack up and go home. The school was officially closing due to "bankruptcy". What?! How can the largest Korean school in Iloilo just fall into bankruptcy when students continue to enrol there and they are still hiring new tutors? The Korean owner of the school with his cohorts and that included the new makapili, NETCHER JERMIA, deliberately absconded from paying the tutors their due. They announced a school holiday to give time to Ken, the koring owner, to flee back to Korea. Fortunately, the tutors were able to freeze the passport of his brother, Ian, at the Bureau of Immigration, which means he is still stuck here somewhere in the pits of the Philippines. It is going to be a cold and penniless Christmas for all of them especially the tutors whose livelihood is teaching Koreans.
Two things are certain to date: 1.) Koreans are not as rich as they like to imprint on us Filipinos and 2.) Some Filipinos are still apt on selling their own countrymen for their own personal gains. Why am I not surprised.

Maestro ka na! mabuhay!

Sigh! I'm beat. I'm soooo tired today I wish I was still the bum I used to be. Woke up with a splitting hangover, tried very hard to pull myself out of bed and into the shower. Had to rush to the office and type my prelim exams. God! and I freakin didn't know today was the deadline for that.
I always thought teaching came naturally and easily for me. Which is why it was a dream come true when I was invited to teach in behalf of Ms. Jo who was already leaving for the US 2 months ago. I didn't know yet that life as a teacher would never be a bed of roses. And even though I try so hard to always be objective by distancing myself from the drama that is college, I find myself caught up in its web and at the end of day, stressing over issues and students from whom I promised myself not to be affected by. I had to stay up late studying and preparing for the next day's class when, in fact, I never put so much effort in college. In college, my strategy was simply to stay afloat in class, not really learn about anything. Ultimately, since I figured I couldn't do it on my own, I looked for a bestfriend (Zaw, wink wink) and through our harmonious and symbiotic relationship I managed to pass and graduate.
Unfortunately, now it's all different. I am currently relearning things I should have already learnt in college. I am reding books I've never heard of before. Some things my brain automatically rejected before are starting to sink in to my conciousness and hopefully I am delivering it too to my kids, who for now I assume, are just trying to stay afloat just like me.
Zaw thought it ironic to find me studying. She told me you never studied before for your own grades and now you are studying for the grades of other people. Well said. But I have no choice. This is my dream. Albeit a shallow one, at least I'm living it. Kudos to myself. And to all those people living their own simple and shallow dreams.

Utok Kasag

One of the worst conceivable flaws in Filipino culture is our crab mentality. We can't help it. We seldom are proud of people around us who succeed. If any, we are downright jealous and bitter when someone else succeeds. And, of course, as our society dictates, we are immorally obliged to backbite, backstab, and tell stories of ill-content, contrived or not, just so to pull that person back down. Ah, the Filipino in us all! :) What's more: we tend to dwell in the past when people get ahead of us. Something like: so what if he's rich and successful now? he used to be a wallflower way back in high school. Or something like: So what if she's doing great in the U.S. now? she lost to me in that beauty pageant. It's either this is a jock's, queen bee's, or the "in-crowd"'s mentality or maybe, just maybe, we are bitter at not being considered successful in the manner that society defines.
They say that success is subjective. But for us Pinoys, that is not the case. Success, to us, equates with money, cars, and a nice big house or two. Which is why we cringe at the thought of us working as salesladies, waiters or janitors. For by doing these errrrr lowly, albeit noble jobs(errr i really had to put this in ^.^), we are afraid that we wil be branded as a failure.
Let me go back to that crab mentality thing. This is something that affects not only those who want to pull people up there back down where they think they should be. Pinoys who succeed also have their noses up to the sky. They don't even want to remember where they came from. For example, Pinoy A and Pinoy B are really good friends. Both of them grew up in the same neighborhood, eating in the same small-town restaurant and went to the same school. Pinoy A got rich and famous; Pinoy B remained a so-so factory worker. Tell me, what are the chances that Pinoy A will invite Pinoy B to eat in that same old small-town diner they used to dine in? What are the chances that Pinoy A will want to sit in their old tambayan and talk about the old days? I can't answer that for you. What I know is we have a culture deeply ingrained in each of us that probably won't be fixed in a loooong time. So allow me to rant about people I know who are now very successful: Hoy Janyn!!!!!!!!! Hoy Elna!!!!!!! Hoy Bes!!!!!! (pati wla pa na c zaw naging successful nahisa lng ko ya ke gatampisaw xa sa snow!).... :)

Lupain ng Ginto't Bulaklak

A foreigner once said: the problem with you Filipinos is that you don't love your country enough. What's in a country anyway? What's in being a Filipino? If you rave about culture, we lost our culture to the Spanish and the Americans a long time ago. We talk about our beautiful islands; and yet we leave it to be ravished by foreigners. We talk about our food and yet we can't even delineate which one is uniquely ours. To sum it all up: everything about our glorious past has faded into a distant memory that few people would relish and be proud of. We have become like has-been moviestars that are only remembered when something bad happens. The Philippines is only mentioned on TV when the topic is about volcanic eruption (Mt Pinatubo), Charisse Pempengco, and mail-to-order brides. Our women are branded as sex-kittens who are easy to get and easily lured by dollar-bearing old fat and dirty men. I don't feel sorry for them. I feel sorry for myself. For when I first read the Noli Me Tangere, I felt a sense of anger and longing for justice about incidents that happened centuries ago. When I joined the Edsa II, I felt a sense of jubilation when Erap was thrown out of the Palace. And at that time, a flicker of hope lit up in my chest: Change....

... did not come. It wasn't meant to come. It will never come. That's why I feel sorry for myself. I feel numb and apathetic when people talk about my country. As with all relationships, love is not enough. And when that statement starts to sink into those souls who actually care: "The problem with you Filipinos is that you don't love your country enough", I will tell that man to shove it up. The only problem with us Filipinos is us Filipinos. And that makes me sorry for myself. You probably should feel sorry for yourself, too.

I'm Back! Watch Out World!

Yep I'm soooooo back. After a month-long vacation in Greece and Sicily, I'm finally back. Since I'm kinda busy these days, I probably won't write a lot of long blogs from hereon. Furthermore, I still have to reach out to a lot more readers to get my spirits up. Damn, my credits cards are burning after my vacation. Good thing is that I have a wonderful tan right now and I brought a lot of memorabilia. One of these days I'd fill up these pages so please keep posted.

Lovelots,

Dyud Botod
American Idol Batch 2011