does speaking English make me less Filipino?

one doesn't become less Filipino if one speaks English and works abroad UNLESS one refuses to speak (or even learn) Filipino and decide (or even plan) to return home.

but of course, being a "real" Filipino doesn't shortly lie on those 2 elements because culture doesn't exclusively consist of language and nature of work. there are other elements that make up one person. but biological elements like color, smell, eyes, hair, height and other physical are non-negotiables. but culture is SKIN-DEEP. it lies in one's HEART.

and even biologically-born Americans can be Filipinos (let go of VISA-able citizenship). any person can be another by HEART!

if this is all about nationalism, now it is a different story. i think, nationalism is highly anchored on "LIVING FOR THE COUNTRY (could be your origin or the adopted) YOU ARE HEARTILY ATTACHED!". when one ceases to live for the country, one ceases to be nationalistic.

just look at Hitler. he was a nationalist to Germany (adopted country), but not to Austria (his original)

It's The Economy, Stupid!

"The gain of one, the loss of another. "

Hahahahaha while stocks plunge worldwide, lesser Pinoys are rating themselves to be poor (from 52% to 46%). While more exporters are earning lesser, more Pinoys are travelling off the country.

Hooray for $1=P40! (the best Asian recovery since the Asian financial crisis and is going for P38)

it wont be all bonus. of course! there too would be a boomerang effect on us, especially having a government often tagged by most of its citizens to be idle. But dah! U.S. economy managed to survive every recession since 1940 even before the government's anti-recession programs were implemented. Swear! Remember Adam Smith's the "invisible hand"? "it's the economy, stupid!", adds the comeback kid Bill Clinton.

O well, good times are always here. We just overlooked them.

Dayuhan

Must be Nine Inch Nails wanting to be a postpunk Smashing Pumpkin. More probably be sensational for digital blasters, playful synth tweaking, twitching and turning but matched unimaginably with plain guitar. B-)

Often wordless, maybe of vocal and lyrical handicap, i still love their industrial pophop. heck! they must be Justice or Daft Punk, but they are noisier yet roughly smoother to the ears.

Wondering though whose on humble guitar. it couldnt be the most playful Diego Mapa of Pedicab on stationary and un-electronic performance. indeed he was, after going home. Even then, if it wasnt him, Dayuhan still is phenomenal in the local scene with one of its synth guys drinking Pilsen!

I Am Bald and I Am not Rain

I am bald.

And i just had my head mowed 5 days ago, not because of my fancy alibi to my colleagues that the barber failed tracing Brad Pitt's hair but because i deliberately chose to. well, i am one of those rare happy ballheads in a populous men of bald-worriers. Toying with images of Bembol Roco, Mr. Clean and Will (a guilty choice in the latest PBB), i instantly found my new cut for the year of the rat :-D

Bald wasnt mere bland style, comb-free and shampoo economy though, it was (i swear) for a "good" cause-shaving my dandruff off. Dandruff shampoos just didnt solve it. My flat thought is: they are even probable fertilizers for dandruff and Rain isnt appealing enough to convince me to use Clear shampoo. Who is Rain, anyway? And who would not know he is a Korean sensation?

Hahay...Korean invasion, indeed. They stormed us with koreanovelas, chic dressing, tailored hair and a peace sign hand layered over a tilted head photo pose.

Most testified that Koreans are rude and not trustworthy. In effect, dislikeness towards them looms. Funny but we found ourselves tilting already during pictorials.

Koreans are creepingly at large but Rain cant prevent me from shaving my head.

I am (proud) bald and I am not Rain.

S.R.I., world peace and secrets

The world is becoming least safe even a cork opener is now classified SRI-security risk item. Sharp things along with shampoo, perfume and other liquid and gel solutions are kept in this red box or popularly "the box" among airline crew.

Though the airline policy on likely bomb ingredients was not a shocker, the box was equally appealing to a seat cavan or lolo's baul. It would be good for keepings of another but personal SRIs or secretly reserved items.

King Sisyphus' tooth

I dreamed the world is going to end. Everyone were on panic, except children and me. Some friends too but i think they were just uninformed or plainly blank. I walked through groups who camped by the bay like salvation armies, begging for spacecrafts rescue. While i and some blank friends visited elementary schools and jogged with exhausting carelessness like there is no tomorrow. Well, my human nature was too catatonic to panic because i know i was only dreaming and.... i have toothache.

Terribly aching, i both dreamed the end of the world and its disconfirmation- failure of world to end on schedule. The ache is Sisyphean, id choose doomsday over toothache.

choices

i am pissed off with people who chose choices and noisily rant its adverse consequences. how do we choose choices, by the way? in either way, rational or spontaneous, choices are not mere choices but responsibilities

Tax Tex Tix Tox Tux

"If the Government reduces the tax on oil/gasoline, then one alternative to generate the loss income is to put tax on SMS.......“Texting is also a source of negative reason…(and) it makes people more cynical"

- Secretary on Trade Peter Favila


then, a blogger disagreed with the idea and proposed more sin taxes and free SMS, considering text messaging now more as a need than a want. i disagreed.

i think Favila (though also have his own controversies) is right! he just delivered his message offensively.

the blogger and i fortunately agreed on three points:
1) finding an alternative source of public revenue after a proposed oil tax reduction;
2) sin products (alcohol and tobacco) as one alternative; and
3) penalties and fines as another source.

i however stressed on the sensibility of a clear proposal on SMS tax, given that there long has been sin taxes (in fact, it is one of government's urgent taxes for adjustment).

SMS tax is sensible enough because:
1. it has minimal negative effect to all, being a “suspendable or foregoable modern need”; and
2. it provides more public revenue to government, being necessarily embraced by a “taxpayer unit of texters, which are larger than the unit of drinkers and smokers.”

just like votes, tax is also a numbers game. the more, the better. and any govt would definitely tax on “more”.
eventually, SMS tax just felt bad to the blogger because texting became a “need” to him/her and to most of us. and i believe, taxing SMS is still sensible “along” with sin product taxes….because texting, almost closely similar to drinking and smoking, can be “suspended” or even “stopped/foregone” without DEPRIVING THE HUMAN NEED TO TALK/ASSOCIATE/RELATE. remember, humanity survived before the SMS technology. the real “basic” needs are food, water, sleep, shelter, clothes, not texting and drinking. you cant stay long without food, but you can without SMS.

SMS tax is crazy, indeed. for one because it is a “new” idea. and new ideas freak us most!

But think on this, …ever consider a higher (or 50% more expensive) taxi fare rate during midnight or a Ph18,000 fine for not flushing the toilet bowl in public comfort rooms? if it is crazy, please don't travel to the crime-free and lickably clean Singapore, where people are discretely discouraged to go out by midnight and disciplined for cleanliness. those are just one of those crazy policies of Singapore, but look at them!!! look at them now. we could had been like them if Marcos stayed more with his superior plans of a New Society, believed to be emulated by Singapore Prime Minister Lee Kwan Yu and believed to parallel to the concept of Socialism and Communist.

finding more alternatives aside from SMS tax is not my responsibility though. i leave it to our more intellectual leaders, whether legitimate or not. though i believe our government as a whole is really questionable by performance. please, let us leave our leaders (either good or bad) do the thinking and building for our nation. building a nation is undeniably a hard task and i believe they can do deliver such task than leaving it to less superior intellectuals. remember we voted them. meaning we entrusted nation-building to them. if you believe election was corrupted and election is unrepairable, you can leave Philippines. wicked analysis though….if election was truly corrupted, it only meant a plausible superb effort that was intellectually planned by few individuals who I think is capable of governing wisely any country.

i do believe people cannot be governors and governed at the same time. and if we indeed proved our current “intellectual” leaders do rigged the election, would you allow nation-building to the masses? if ever you know intellectuals who are not in the government, please convince him/her to be in the government. if you dont have any alternative leaders, please be contented with our existing.

im also discontented with our country (not just the leaders, but also the voting masses) but im still hopeful and not leaving the country and doing everything to, at least, change how we look at governance and nation-building. democracy has done a lot of damage. do u think, we'd still stick with it?

I am suffering multi-personality disorder

I dwell in my past with overcritical view, live my present spontaneously with complacent randomness but consistently directed by the future with careful planning.

So, if you happen not to understand me or see me inconsistent, forbid me i am disordered. Instead, consult my doctor. :-D

Marcos Still is the Best President

“The whole history of government shows that public affairs would be better administered and the welfare of the people better served in the hands of a moral and intellectual aristocracy. The people cannot be governors and governed at the same time …. On the other hand, a good and efficient government, a benevolent government, may exist and continue indefinitely to function with admirable harmony, when men of superior moral and intellectual endowments are in control of the state.”

-President Jose P. Laurel, 1943

Not For OFWs and International Travelers

when peso-dollar hits PhP41=$1, did the exchange affect your life? how?

my reply was a pushy yes-no, while my colleague has a rigid no and a conforming yes. and this warmed the gloomy day.

i honestly agreed with him during the debate, but not on how he looks through complicated things. his are just too plain, characterized by "oversimplified accounting of a multi-faceted" issue that best compounds a common knowledge. a knowledge often embraced by most because of convenience and conformity. and this irritated me

the plain analysis held though a gripping reality that automatically receives nods, when verified with others. but it misses tons of bright sides that give us happiness and hope in the (troubled, as optional) world. and this frustrated me more

It's un-Rocket Science

I am instantly engrossed to anybody who writes about "development", esp..those who offer doable solutions. I'm not a preacher nor an obvious doer, but I'm working on it...carefully.

I found the following lines profound and reflective:

1) isn't it wonderful if all kinds of people (whatever their status) have had a great time during those significant days?
2) And if only they were as lucky as we are
3) Only if the government has truly made its duty, only if we care, only if...
4)Aren't you embarrassed of making your stomach bloat while they suffer in hunger?....
5) Why on earth nobody could help these people, these children?
6) If other countries have made it, why couldn't we? Why not dear Philippines? Is it really because of apathy? or greed? or what not?

Life is fair, in its most profound definition. ever asked the "impoverished" (as society would call them) if they're happy? you'd be surprised, some of them are having a great time and living happily. ever checked one of those survey results citing "economically poor" people responding, "they are not poor"?

happiness (fairness, likewise) is just so relative. look! filipinos even ranked 2nd happiest people in the world next to Indians..despite being one of the weak Asian tigers.

but undeniably, life-is-fair concept is too bleak. but we, OURSELVES, made/allowed life to be unfair. we...or say, the poor ones...allowed themselves to be poor. they never strived (studied, saved, consumed less, planned family and anything that defines "worldly success") for better life. of course, famous blames or reasons often are directed to the GOVERNMENT, SYSTEMS etc.

o well, those all rooted down from.....GUESS WHAT??.....US! OURSELVES! TAYO! SARILI NATIN! our government would never be there without us. systems would never be there without us. etc would never be there without us. OURSELVES, being God's stewards, influence everything, even the typhoons (ask Al Gore).

we all have a stake on why an unfair life existed.

though, my heart also empathize with what the "society calls" poor, i really have a clouded understanding why human nature OFTEN FAILS TO LITERALLY LOOK INSIDE FOR EXPLANATIONS AND SOLUTIONS.

this time, ask not the people around you. whether rich or middle class, ask yourself the same relative and simple questions: why cant i buy a Jaguar? why dont i hold a CEO position? why dont i have a high-paying job? why cant i have a full regular meal a day? why cant i regularly stay in Marco Polo hotel? why cant i buy Louis Vuitton? why do i have dry skins? why do i have dirty/polluted room? why cant i live like the people i looked up?

reasons would definitely vary from no money to no work experience, no excellent academic background, no regular savings, poor hygienic practices, no self-initiatives etc. ever sense all the reasons boiled down to yourself? did government and system ever surface? hmmm...barely there.

again, i believe ourselves could best save us and make life better. if we dont strive, we dont earn a better life. there had been a lot of rug-to-riches story to affirm to what i believed in. any weak government and oppressive systems couldnt influence A LOT to our STATUS QUO. they only serve as support systems, not entirely prime success factors.

and yes! we still are luckier (if youd push me to compare with other countries). most of us just didnt see the bright realities.

ever wonder why chunks of funds from the richest philantrophists rarely reach Philippines, instead to Africa? simply because we are better-off! asked any Filipino international volunteers and youd be surprised theyd ALL say, OUR COUNTRY IS BETTER. travel and youd see, Filipinos are happier despite being coined "impoverished".

solutions are not rocket science. they all are basic and starts from each of us.

Happy 3

I love you more, Gret. HAPPY 3RD ANNIVERSARY :-*

Atonement

atone●ment \n\ 1: reparation for an offense 2: act of making amends for a wrong

Pride and Prejudice intrigued me after this movie. Not that Atonement is a sequel of the former, but how Director Joe Wright selected, adopted and translated novels into magnificent films. Pride and Prejudice could definitely possess similar magic because Wright worked with the same team in Atonement, that is wondrously cinematic, original by plot and musical thrill and immaculately faithful to the title's essence (I haven't read McEwan's novel. so, the book-film analysis is far clear in this review).

In either way, the story, artfully supplemented with form, is superbly exceptional. Its one of the rare films that carries an enigmatic spell, leaving you reflecting for days or weeks: What are my mistakes, sins, offenses? What are my acts, responses to correct, amend my mistakes, sins, offenses? What are my.....atonements?

Well, the world is full of recycled atonements and preachy resolutions, but this movie offers you a fresh and inspiring one. It is a film that literally freezes you-thanks to postcard scenes, James McAvoy and Keira Kneightly's powerful strikes of acting (notably, in the library, coffee house) and lucid situationers of war.

I never watch films twice, but this one made me. Atonement will be my spiritual chant to continually do "acts of kindness" along with my and other imperfections?



Watch it before retreats and year-ends.

Eastern Promises

Set in London, "history of violence" director David Cronenberg films about Russian mafia activities. But unlike most gangster and organized crime films, this was focused on one of its poor victims-a 14 year old girl, violently raped and died with a tragic pregnancy.

Though the girl tragedy was not visually narrated, the morbid brutality was portrayed in other mafia activities to asymmetrically show the viewers how the girl could had suffered. More gruesome than the series of headshots in The Departed and the storm of bullets slashing every soldier in the Saving Private Ryan, death became more painful with simple laceration. The killings could have been more cruel if the girl tragedy was exposed in full. Instead, plain vocal narration of the girl was intersected in diary readings and silent instances to moderate the viciousness of violence. Truly, Cronenberg knows violence, even at its mildest state.

There too was a good twist in the story but it was a regular one.

In sum, the movie was good. Though not equally blockbuster, it took off my nocturnal lethargy and plans to watch History of Violence.

Dont Hate Hate

i hate hate. hating turns you to what you hate.
hate your mother, then you become her;
hate Mondays and the day will always trail you;
hate a friend, then you start acting like him/her;
hate the world and youd live with hate;

but i wont hate hate. it is such a baggage.

BEST OF 2007

These are 2007 best - or rather the most memorable, given my early Alzheimer. A random list of events, people and things that "significantly transformed and defined" me. It's a selfish list that moved me to be more selfless, patriot, envisioning, appreciative, motivated!

1. TRAVEL to Basilan, Sulu and Tawi-tawi, Lanao and Maguindanao... enriched more of my appreciation on islamiic faith, Mindanao culture and wonders. This made me a more proud Mindanaon (and almost a muslim convert)
2. TRAVEL to Singapore and Carlos Celdran...made me a more proud Pinoy...and honestly not the other way around. 3.Mama and Achi reconciliation... truly relieved and refreshed my family life. This is the best good news and i say, always believe in prayers.
4. OUR (Greta and I) SMALL (and sometimes TEARFUL) TALKS... led us to grand discoveries about each other that made my relationship with Greta stronger (emphasis: stronger). Greta would forever compose my year-end list. She is my life, next to God. Thank God, i have her. :-D
5. ULTIMATE FRISBEE: 1) Boracay Open. Real fun! best described this beach tournament. I would never forget this "hot" getaway, though I did miss scribbling this at a first write-draft (how dare I?). Real fun, that enumerating them is a real tall order. To my teammates, I still wanted to play with you on the next Open. 2) Davao Disc Squad. Though continuosly drenched with controversial murmurs, this second local frisbee team faithfully enlarged the disc community in Davao.
6. VIRGIN PEOPLE (Mishi, Air, Fran, Bianca, Mae An and Kat). This group of happy, beautiful and never less sophisticated women brought in happier friendship. Though rarely meeting, they excessively share happiness. So, they really deserved passing the nursing exam, flying off the country, winning photo contests and having a boyfriend.
7. BJA or the Barangay Justice Advocates... inspired me more to work for peace and live for peace.
8. MOVING IN A NEW FLAT AND BUILDING MY OWN HOUSE... motivated me to risk and plan more and practically believing more on God, who has never left me for 13 adolescent independent years.
9. NEW FRIENDS from the art and music scenes - Monci, Joseph, Mark, Iggy, current ARTCO and Plastic Butter. They all kept me hooked to what i am really passionate of. Most importantly, they shun newer career and business potentials, where my current profession and passion would work in pair.
10. THE INCONVENIENT TRUTH and Al Gore...reinvented me to be an active steward of Earth and i am having fun rejecting plastics in groceries, fastfoods and stores.

Reaching the "perfect" 10 never was a conscious plan but this year-ender turned to be consistent with my enlightenment-2007 was "perfect".