Monday, July 19, 2010

...for geog1

*for geog1 :)
As I was reading this essay for my English 1 class, I was very much reminded of Geog. There are just so many concepts of places in this article, and I think it is good read. It’s pretty short as well. So I took the liberty to type the essay and post it here. :D
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A Street Observation
by Clinton Palanca
from The Likhaan Anthology of Philippine Literature in English
There are some people who say that, in order to understand a country, one should not rush about visiting endless museums and monuments, but simply sit quietly with a drink and allow the country to come to you. I think this is a good idea, but only for a certain type of country. I would agree that the essence of Paris is to be found sitting on a terrace with a cup of coffee. But what about Manila? Where would you sit quietly with a drink? For that matter, is there anywhere that’s quiet in Manila?
I think that if you are a foreigner and wish to understand the soul of the city, you should hire a car and drive around for a while. This is, after all, how most Manilans spend much of their lives: those you aren’t examining the blank faces of the row of passengers seated opposite them in the jeepney are most likely to be found staring at the backside of another vehicle. The first lesson to be learned if one plans to stay in Manila for some time is how to do various things while inching your way through traffic: reading the newspaper, clipping your nails, transcribing Beowulf.
There is so much we take for granted about our roads that causes foreigners to balk up when they first arrive. I had a highly entertaining discussion on the subject a few days ago with U, who is among other things, a foreign semiotician relentless in his attempt to interpret Philippine culture. One of the many things that frazzled him when he first tried driving in Manila was the apparent superfluity of the white stripes on the road. In Italy, he reported, vehicles actually attempted to stay between the white stripes. We all expressed polite surprise and told him the truth: in Manila, the stripes are there to help you drift across the road more effectively, allowing you to gauge the distance between the zero back-log paraphernalia on one side, the bus picking up passengers on the other, and the spare tire sitting complacently in the middle of the road directly in front of you.
One of his rueful frustrations struck me as particularly interesting. In London, people might give the address “18 Sidney Road, Highgate, London” and expect callers to find it. No one here in his right mind would give an address like “32 Basilio Street, Quezon City, Metro Manila” and expect someone to find it. Filipino directions go something like this: “Go straight along New York until the second Petron, then turn right, When you see the big intersection, just go straight but be careful of the policeman who are waiting to catch you. Then you’ll get to a junction with a construction on one side and a Dunkin Donuts on the other side. Turn left and go straightuntil you see Andok’s lechon manok. Stop and get me one if you have time. Turn left again until you see a large, beautiful white house with Corinthian pillars and a black iron gate on the left. That isn’t mine. Count seven houses down; it’s a green gate.”
Those are the only sort of directions that I understand, and which drives foreigners like Ubaldo mad. “It’s so linear! If I miss one of these landmarks, I’m lost. Besides, how many Andok’s are there in the city?” We challenge him to come up with a more effective way of giving directions in a city that largely does not have street signs. And even when the street signs are there, they often don’t correspond to the name of the street, thus addresses are often misleading. A friend and I were trying to figure out where a certain Arnaiz Street, where Powerbooks was going to open, could possibly be. “I always thought that Powerbooks was going to be on Pasay Road,” she said. I shrugged. “So did I. Well, let’s try to find the street.” We asked around. No one in Makati knew where Arnaiz Street was. We eventually found Powerbooks by accident;; and it was, as I believed, on Pasay Road. To this day, I still haven’t managed to find this mysterious Arnaiz Street.
Another interesting exercise in frustration is actually trying to use a map in Manila. While in other cities, the roads are relatively obedient, and conform to what is expected of them on the map, here you will find that they are under water, have suddenly been replaced by a basketball court, or have disappeared altogether. It’s a variation on the Borges tale: except that in this case, the cartographer goes off and draws another city altogether, tangentially related in a vague manner to Manila. It’s also a wonderful metaphor for how our city works: rarely have I seen theoria and praxis so widely divergent: lived reality and described reality are miles apart. To continue the subject of driving: Does anyone really take the road test before getting one’s license? Is the fast lane really faster? One can expand this endlessly. How true is it that the Philippines is the third largest English-speaking country in the world? That our populace is one of the most educated in the world? That we are repressed Catholics?
I don’t think this means that the Filipinos are schizophrenic, or liars, or have a hard time living up to their own picture of themselves. But they do tend to set up a dichotomy between the lived world and the world of the text, which tends to be seen as “other”. Parenthetically, it is interesting to note that for many Filipinos, the lived world exists in Tagalog, and the textual, official world exists in English. This official world does not, however, exist as some sort of Platonic realm; it often serves a purpose in the lived world: it is appropriated into it, as for example, the policeman who uses the official rules to extort a bribe from you. The relation between the two is not so much a correspondence, the way it would be in Europe or the States as a dialectic nor do Filipinos seem in any way put out by this discrepancy, perhaps because they have never believed in a singular reality anyway.
The lessons that the streets can teach foreigners about Filipinos and us about ourselves are numberless: one can work out an entire epistemology and metaphysics, even an ontology, just from the way we get from one point to another. In is it to be found the microcosm of our existence, the understanding of the very nature of our relationship with reality. Then again, maybe I’ve just spent far too much time in traffic for my own good.

Wednesday, March 3, 2010

...so close

~_~_~
i'd be forever reminded of the last play in pisay i was in, and probably the last in my whole life. i'm going to miss having plays. and i'd be reminded even more with the song so close.

this play has brought so many unexpected things to us. and despite the difficulties we had, we actually pulled it off well. though honestly, it wasn't the best play, i'm still proud to be part of it.

whenever i think about it, ending this high school life always makes me cry. i can't hold back the tears.
~_~_~

a few days left before graduation.

forthe past few days, i've been thinking of how my life has changed. yes, i'm being sentimental once again. but i just can't help it. every single day passing is like melting a portion of the candle that was keeping my high school life alive. how i wish i knew how to make these candles and more wax to prevent it from melting all away.

i'm definitely going to miss this school rthat gave me a lot of good and bad memories alike thoughout the four years. come to thnk of it, i've gained a variety of what high school really is - some wisdom in an overload of knowledge, strength in a pail of tears, happiness in screams of laughter, and friends in a crowd of strangers.

i wanted to cry, but i realized tears won't keep the days longer.

what i thought was the worst decision of my life four years ago turns out to be the best i ever made. choosing to enter pisay made me realize several things which i might have never thought about before.

but life intertwined with fate seems to be so complicated. it fails you one time, and then helps you at another. this failure made me see the other side of things. i've come to understand that there's so much more to life than getting A's and 1.00's in the card. i've learned to appreciate how very little success can cause so much happiness. i''ve come to know of the fun side of life, sharing them with friends, snd laughing until you start chasing your breath. i have discovered that life couldn't be as bad as i once thought it was - that life is full of othre great things than being the top of the class. i've learned to balance it all: studies and play, seriousness and fun. and as i realize all these things, i started being myself again, confident that i can face any trial that would come to me. life is hard. but life is good.

some people think of me as strong. what they don't know is that what makes me cry the most is the thought that i'll someday have to be away from the people i love. but being away doesn't mean you care about them any less. sometimes, it even makes you care about them even more.
pisay has been the scariest, most wonderful experience i ever had. if i could only defy the laws of physics and can go back in time, i wouldn't think twice to go back to high school. it's been a great four years. and it's definitely worth living.

Tuesday, March 2, 2010

...can't sleep

I've been wide-awake for half an hour now and I still can't go back to sleep.

Ang astig ng Detective Conan. I've watched movies 1-7 last Sunday. Wooh, movie marathon. The best ung third movie for me.

Play na mamaya, Romeo and Juliet. Baka last play ever in my life na rin ito.

Why does everything have to be the last this time?

Naisip ko lang. Bakit ganito ang buhay? Do we really have to grow up and grow past all the things that we've been used to? Mystery pa rin sa akin kung bakit kailangan mangyari lahat ito. Why is it na kung kelan at-home na ako sa isang bagay, bigla na lang kailanan mag-end un.

Okay, ang emo na naman. Being alone would really make you think of such things.

I had a lot of realizations going on in my head. Ung iba obvious, ung iba hindi ko pa rin gets hanggang ngayon. Pero that's life, you can't have everything you want, and you can't have it all at once. Siguro un din ung reason why we have to grow up. Kung titigil na lang tayo, then all our questions won't be answered. Sinagot ko rin sarili kong question.

But then, why does everything have to be the last this time nga? Well, baka naman hindi kailangan maging last ang lahat. Hindi maiiwasan ung mga last plays, last periodic exams, last class, last quiz. Pero pwede pa naman magkaroon ng iba pang meeting, outing, party, pagkikita, pag-uusap, bonding, whatevers. Maybe hindi na nga sa Pisay, pero what matters is ung people involved right? Hindi kailangan maging huli ang lahat. Siguro yan na rin ung isang reason why we have to grow past the things we have now and move on to the next level.

Everything happens for a reason. There is no coincidental meeting, and may dahilan kung bakit ikaw at sila ang mga nakilala ko.

This too shall pass. It's just a matter of time kung kailan matatapos ang mga bagay-bagay. Whether it's a happy moment or a sad one, it will all end. That is how life goes.

Saturday, February 27, 2010

...live your life

Just finished painting. Ung hands ko, marami pa rin paint marks. Ung jeans ko rin. Howell. Masaya naman. May legacy na ako sa Pisay. Hahah. Wooh, viscom. Kahit demanding ung requirements, I had fun naman. Ito pala ung sinasabi nila na kahit gaano kahirap, kung gusto mo naman, masaya pa rin. Totoo pala un. Hahah.

Well, kahit hindi maganda ung work ko, proud pa rin ako. Na-realize ko rin pala na beauty is really in the eye of the beholder. Sino pa ba mag-aapreciate ng work mo kung hindi ikaw rin, right.

So ayun. And kaya 'live your life' ung message ko sa mga next batches na dadaan sa Pisay, kasi life is just one short adventure, kaya kailangan na i-enjoy. Carpe diem! Sabi nga sa Detective Conan episode 556, ...if you let  stressful things consume you, 'you'll find yourself unable to behold the beautiful sights right before your eyes'. Ayun, na-inspire ako. So, 'live your life' na naging message ko sa lower batches.

Hayy. Ayun. I need to wash na kasi and dusty at colorful ko talaga. Hahah.

Friday, February 26, 2010

...a final note from Serway


Yes. Serway. As in author ng Physics book natin. But before that, i want to recall the things that happened to me this day.

Last day of perio today. Woot. Happiness.

Picture taking din with Sir Duli and Mam Chups. Woot. Charm love. Hahah.

CAT creative marching. Funny, super.

STRessed even after exams. The reason is pretty obvious.

Viscom tomorrow.

Few days remaining. So little time, so many things left to do.

A very random post.

Anyways. Who would have thought na may lessons in life din pala ang Physics sa atin. If you are one of those na laging nagbabasa ng Physics nina Serway at Beichner, then you might have come across this already. Pero for some who don't, here it is.


~~~
The Meaning of Success


To earn the respect of intelligent people and to win the affection of children;
To appreciate the beauty of nature and all that surrounds us;
To seek out and nurture the best in others;
To give the gift of yourself to others without the slightest thought of return, for it is in giving that we receive;
To have accomplished a task, whether it be saving a lost soul, healing a sick child, writing a book, or risking your life for a friend;
To have celebrated and laughed with great joy and enthusiasm and sung with exultation;
To have hope even in times of despair, for as long as you have hope, you have life;
To love and be loved;
To be understood and understand;
To know that even one life has breathed easier because you have lived;
This is the meaning of success.


Ralph Waldo Emerson
Modified by Serway, December 1989
~~~


Amazing. And yes, galing 'yan sa Physics book.

Thursday, February 25, 2010

...a not-so-emo post

"...So I sing this song to all my age. For these are the questions we've got to face. For in this cycle that we call life, we are the ones who are next in line.."

This song meant nothing to me until that last Econ class, when Sir Vlad made me realize that we really are next in line. The future is slowly putting the responsibility to us, and there are still a lot more challenges waiting. I still can't conceive that in a few days, I would be walking out of the gates of Pisay, and that my official days here will soon be over.

Who would have thought that I'd actually say I will miss Pisay. Who would have thought that I'd come to love this school that gave me so much worries.

I can't believe all this will be over in a few days.

Sunday, January 24, 2010

...emo?

Well, I have this feeling na wala na nagbabasa ng blog ko, so yhey! If ever na may mapadaan dito, I suggest you go on with your lives and not bother reading the rest of my blog, since I doubt na may mapapala kayo from here.
Anyways, I’m so bored. I’m alone in my room, and as usual, kapag mag-isa ako, may malaking tendency na magpaka-emo ako. So yeah. I randomly made a ‘poem’ out of nowhere. So here it goes...

_____
sitting alone in a bench
i got myself thinking
why this world's so crazy
how life makes me dizzy
and figured out the reason pretty late

it's more than just an ordinary thursday
when i was still having fun that morning
i entered the room, i saw you smiling
i smiled back only to take it back so soon
realizing that it wasn't really meant for me

afternoon came, you were telling stories
you said that you were happy
'coz you finally found the girl of your dreams
you said you know you love her
and it broke my heart to know it wasn't me

what else in the world can i do
when the only thing left for me
is accept the truth, the hard cold fact
that the only way to see you smile again
is to see you both laughing together
_____

Okay. Ang emo niya. The truth is, hindi ko alam kung saan galing yan. Hindi naman ‘yan out of personal experience. Magaling lang siguro ako mag-imagine ng random scenes, plus with the help of Taylor Swift (hahah, Invisible). Pero yuck, hindi ako emo, as in no way.

Na-realize ko lang. Ang bobo ng poem. After re-reading it, hindi ko na gets. Pero, howell. Hahah. :))

Friday, January 22, 2010

...randomly posted post

wala lang.

nabasa ko blog ni hanna, so naalala ko blog ko. it's been about six months since my last post.

in less than three months, we'll be graduating. although excited na ako na makaalis sa pisay (wooh, wala na str!), i'm definitely sure na mami-miss ko pisay. promise.

anyways. ymsat na next week. so kelangan pumasok tomorrow para sa set-up and stuff. hayy, wala na naman akong saturday rest day. pero ayos na rin. more bonding time naman with friends.

speaking of bonding time, hindi na ako masyadong nasa-sad ngayon sa thought na magkakahiwalay na kami sa college. kasi meant to be talaga kami nina lc at hanna. chem eng sa diliman kaming tatlo. thank you sa draw lots. tapos, mukha namang wala talagang iwanan kami-kaming magkakaibigan. so yhey! syempre, thank you din kay Lord. so yeah, happiness.

hayy. kelangan pa gumawa ng str poster. asar, kakabago namin ng project just this monday, so super cramming kami sa paghabol ng papers and stuff. STRessful talaga. tapos for this week, laging masama pakiramdam ko. yesterday nga, nakatulog na ako sa comsci tapos paggising ko, ang sakit talaga ng ulo ko, and feeling ko magf-faint na ako noon. buti na lang may mabuting taong naglibre sa akin ng cup noodles sa caf. pero after english, sumakit na naman ulo ko. pero hindi rin ako nakapag-rest kasi kelangan mag-aral for chem long test at math long test na nangyari ngayon. plus, ung str stuff para sa poster, ginawa ko rin. so hardcore headache ako kaninang umaga. feeling ko, hindi maganda performance ko sa mga tests todays. hayy.

wah, card day na bukas. although hindi na ako kinakabahan or what kasi i saw my grades na nung wednesday. thank God dahil wala akong fail grade. tumaas naman relatively gwa ko, pero mababa pa rin, as in mababa talaga.

howell. wow, napahaba yata entry ko. nakaka-miss din pala na mag-type out ng rants and stuff. pero kelangan ko pa tapusin str poster contents namin. so, bye bye na ulit for now.