starbucks ++

(I know. Patronizing the capitalist but whatever)

Friday night. A perfect day to waste time and relax after all the exams, chasing after professors for interview and sleepless nights, despite the fact that Weng and I still have an interview at 9am tomorrow. But who cares. We both know we need all the relaxation we could get.

This isn't actually the first time we've ventured the chairs of Starbucks to free us from all our worries. In fact, Weng was able to collect enough stamps for the planner, which technically speaking is a communal property since we all gave our efforts for her to earn that.

Anyway, to properly equip you in understanding better the contents of the starbucks conversations, formula for conversation would be Philippine politics, US elections and Obama, activism, sex politics, environment, and relationships.

And for some reason, no other capitalist organization could ever provide the perfect ambiance for such topics.

I'd like to share a few quotable quotes:

(context: sometimes, it's tempting to tell someone you like him)
"It's a personal satisfaction."
"Why didn't you tell ______ you liked him?"
"I don't need personal satisfaction."

"Soul mates"

Monday. I was wearing a red shirt, brown khaki pants and blue slippers for school. I arrived a few minutes after one in the afternoon to meet with Weng to talk about our thesis. After two hours of slight planning, we stopped by the booth where the council was staying to raise funds for the outreach we were doing with the two Communication Research organizations.

Karol was alone in the booth. We were making our greetings when someone announced that the Neo-Angono Artists’ mural had arrived in the college. This mural had been tagged as subversive because of its detailed and direct criticism of the Arroyo administration.

Jam, Weng, Karol and I decided to check out this mural at the Film Lobby. As Karol stood out of the booth, Jam started to laugh. Karol was wearing a red shirt, brown khaki pants and blue slippers. Soul mates, they kept telling us.

Wednesday. Since this is also the last day of classes for the year, Karol gave out his gift to the council members, a bar of Toblerone chocolate.

Let me stress. Karol gave everyone a bar of chocolate. My friends seem to miss that part out and instead made a romantic joke out of our partnership in the council. As they say, it was a perfect love-hate, professional-turned-romantic relationship. No way.

After the lantern parade, we stayed somewhere at the Sunken Garden to eat dinner. When Masol and I decided to go home, Jam, Weng and Gladdys were imagining that we would bump into Karol on our way and he’d invite us to ride in his car given that we were using the same route going home.

As we were walking, a man greeted us from afar. It was Karol.

this should go in the family history book

I was walking up the stairs of CMC. In front of me were two orgmates. Prof. Chua and Sir Teodoro were talking as they were in the middle of the staircase. The three of us never bothered to greet the professors such that they seemed busy talking and that we were not at all that chummy as a person.

I was walking the second set of stairs when Sir's hand signaled me to a stop.

"Oh, here's my relative, Martha."

Quite surprised and needing more time to absorb the situation, I simply smiled. As they seem to move to another topic of conversation, I left.

My hands were cold. This is the first time I actually heard him refer to me as a relative. The last time we talked, he still couldn't remember who my dad was.

hehe. I still can't get over what has happened.

Bagong style?

Naglalakad ako sa may Lagoon pabalik ng CMC upang makipagkita sa isang kaibigan. May isang bata, mukhang nasa 12 hanggang 14 na taong gulang, na lumapit sa akin upang bentahan ako ng mga panali sa buhok.

"Ate, bili na po kayo."

"Hindi na. May ginagamit pa ako." Patuloy pa rin ako sa paglakad at nanatiling diretso ang aking paningin.

"Ate, pano po ba nabubuntis ang isang babae?"

"Hindi ka ba pumapasok sa school?"

"Pumapasok po."

"Sa paaralan mo na lang itanong iyan."

"Assignment po kasi namin siya."

"Hindi kasi ako science major e. Hindi ko maipapaliwanag ng maigi."

"Bakit ate, hindi mo ba alam?"

"Hindi ako science major. Sa iba ka na lang magtanong." At saka tumawid ng kalye.

Waw. Ako pa ang tinanong. Ano 'to? Bagong style ng pangbibigla para pabilihin ka? Ayokong mang-discriminate sa totoo lang. Naniniwala ako sa mga karapatan ng mga bata pero talagang hindi ko gets.

strike two. been hit. again.

For the second time. I received another personal message last week through Multiply.

It was not at all different from the one I received last October, as if it were copied and pasted. It had the same thought, only paraphrased.

It came from a not-so-easily defined person named Raven, someone from Houston, Texas.

When I thought that this scenario is over such that I have made the necessary changes when it comes to my gender preference, no more please. No more.

I've been hit. crap.

I must have fallen in love with Multiply, I almost forgot to maintain this Blogger account.

Not until yesterday.

I was updating my multiply site as usual when I received a personal message. To my shock, it was from girl named Aimee from Millington, Tennessee. She mentioned how she ventured through my multiply site and that she liked what she saw. She was hoping if I could connect with her through a certain site, like a chat i think, and she'll be waiting for a response from me. "I think we should probably be friends, cause you seem pretty cool... you know what they say.. looks captures the eyes, but personality wins over the heart."

Hold it right there! Is this girl hitting on me? In the first place, why would any girl try to hit on me??? I don't think I've ever given any clue that I'm interested in such a relationship.

Desi unintentionally hovered over my icon in Multiply and discovered that for some reason, the gender preference that was indicated there was women.

Crap. I really mean it this time, crap. No, it was not at all intentional but ok, I have to admit, I was never a genius in websites and I'm still trying to learn. How stupid could I be to actually miss that out? Crap.

Anyway, I never bothered to respond. However, I did make the necessary changes with regard to my gender preference. Discovering that two unknown ladies have been constantly checking out my site (the other calls herself Daisy and is from Riverside, California), I'm expecting to hate Multiply for quite some time.

And no, this is definitely not funny. (kaya tat, wag ka na :D paramdam ka na friend)

kailangan ko lang humirit sa huli kong post.

medyo scary pala siya. hindi dahil "i hear voices" and all that. hehe. naisip ko lang bigla ang Evan Almighty and all those other religious things, na sa oras na diretso kang nakakarinig mula sa Diyos, mas malaki hinihingi Niya sa'yo.

kamusta naman ang mga voices na naririnig ko. hindi ako natatakot sa kanila. natatakot ako sa mga susunod na mangyayari.

hehe.

kung sa bagay, sino ba naman ang engot na humingi ng close encounter kay God? Isang close encounter na hindi nalalayo tulad ng naipakita sa ending ng Evan Almighty, kung saan inanyayahan ni God si Evan na sayawin ang isang walang kwentang sayaw pero alam Niya na tunay na ikaliligaya ni Evan, ang sayaw na nagpapakita ng pagkakaroon ng parehong trip ni God at ni Evan, na ang Diyos ay hindi nalalayo sa tao. Tulad ng nasa palabas, bago ang ganito kasayang encounter, ilang araw ng pagpapahirap, pagsasakripsyo ng dangal at mga bagay na importante sa kanya.

Sino nga ba ang engot para humingi ng ganito?

hehe. ako. say hi to my religious side : )

keynote interview vs focus interview

In my thesis proposal class, we were discussing the difference between a keynote interview and a focus interview.

The difference lies in the representation. If a person interviewed happens to represent a certain group to therefore say that his points are of the group, the interview is a focus interview. If the person speaks of his personal opinion, the interview is a keynote interview.

Since the class doesn't seem to be totally convinced, Sir gave an example, the effects of the no id no entry system in CMC. Say we were to interview "him", what kind of interview would it be?

"focus interview. because he represents the students and the student council"

"keynote interview. because what he says are personal points of view."

Then, there was the debate. I couldn't help but smile.

With him, it's a whole different situation. He says he represents the students but raises his own points of view. What was even more interesting is that my classmates were quite aware of such a case.

sense of ownership

we were having our council GA. we've been laughing for quite some time becuase of "his" crazy ideas for the RIPADA and Cris Mendez campaign. the chairperson and vice-chairperson of the College of Music Student Council came and greeted him.

"Hey, this is my council."

we all looked at each other and bursted into laughter.

"Your council?"

"Since when did we become your council?"

** funny as it may sound, grabe na lang ang sense of ownership sa council. i knew it. it's all about him and not the students.

that gag show

Bubble Gang has once more proven to be a critical gag show as it attempted to criticize the Gloria Administration when it impersonated a joint session of the Congress, this time to the tune of Itaktak Mo.

According to the joke, GMA was to hear out the congressmen and department secretaries' ideas for priority subjects. Since everyone seem to want to be heard for the sake of hearing, she decided to have a game show instead, much like Eat Bulaga's Itaktak Mo, Tatakbo, to determine whose project will be given priority.

questions as well as answers are as follows:

1) Anong "G" ang namamahala sa ating bansa?
contestant's answer: graft and corruption
correct answer: Gloria

2) Anong "B" ang ginagawa ng mga congressman?
contestant's answer: basura
correct answer: bill. electric bill, water bill, etc.

3) Anong "G" ang nagbabantay ng balota pag eleksyon?
correct answer: gwardya

4) Anong ibig sabihin ng "B" sa BIR?
contestant's answer: binubulsa
correct answer: binabangko

And they say television shows reflect audience interests and sentiments.

kids in a Montessori school

Today, our class in EDSP 122, Montessori and Other Approaches to Early Childhood Education, had a field trip to Maria Montessori Foundation (MMF) in Ayala Heights, Alabang. Existing for 28 years now, MMF is considered as one of the most authentic Montessori schools in the country.

We were assigned by pairs to observe children ages 3 to 6 years old in class.

Two kids, Iris and Alfonse, caught my attention. They got animal puzzles in their hands, placed the pieces on table where I was.

Iris: Wait for me.
Alfonse: Ok. I'll go slowly.

They placed their last pieces at the same time. Afterwards, they got up, put the puzzles back in its place and took a new material, this time, picture cards of the different parts of the turtle and horse. After enumerating the parts correctly, the teacher asked them to get their writing boards t work on a sort of diagnostic test. Iris took their colored pencils while Alfonse got papers and their writing board.

As they were writing, Iris's pencil broke and so she grabbed one of Alfonse's pencils. As it seemed like, Alfonse was quite annoyed by Iris's grabbing and thus, conflict start. Still working...

Alfonse: You're always making me sad.
Iris: People always make me happy... except my mom... except you.
Alfonse: You're making me want to go. You've been my friend for many days.
Iris: You're still my friend. Only a few people are my friends.
Alfonse: I'll share you my toys.

And they're happy again. They went on to talk about Harry Potter and Transformers. Iris was able to finish her work first.

Iris: Can I wait for you?
Teacher: Iris, put away your things. You're going home soon.
Iris: I have to keep my things now. I'll b going home soon.
Alfonse: Fine. Bye. Not friend.
Iris: No. (she comes closer to Alfonse) I love you.

Teacher calls Iris. Iris hugs her teacher and says goodbye to everyone.

while passing by a cgg meeting...

(a non-activist hirit)

Tope and I were walking the steps of the CommRes lobby to the Office of External Affairs (aka Office of Research & Publications) to talk to Prof. San Pascual to check on the reservations for tomorrow morning's event. Apparently, she already left.

One of my orgs, CGG, was having an informal meeting at the ComRes lobby. As we were passing by:

"Martha!"

"Bakit?"

"We smell a new love team" (with background of "eee"s)

"he!" (turns around to leave) wag nyo 'ko simulan!" tope follows.

to tope, "pasensya na, excited ang mga taong magkaroon ako ng boyfriend." he laughs.

* now don't get started with me, please. excited lang kayo. wag naman si tope. ate na ako nyan. i'll have my time, okish?

while in j199 class...

In the midst of a discussion on development research, sir arao asked questions about our fashion for the day:

(I was wearing a black spag strap top covered by a white cotton blazer, and mind you, my nails are in raspberry red)

Sir Arao: Ms. Teodoro, why are you wearing that color? It's not as if this is the first time I've seen you in that.

"I've been very inclined to wearing red and black these past few days"

Sir: Exactly. Why?

"Something political"

Sir: See. I can understand the red but black... oh well, the black shirt day for the killing of journalists

* Actually, that's not exactly the reason. Black signifies death of democracy. Red signifies vigilance and activism.

Jam, a friend and ujp chairperson, comments, "friend, di ko na-imagine magkakaganyan ka"

sa totoo lang, "ako din"

while in line...

My friends and I were at the canteen. Ate Viring, the Communication Research Department secretary caught my attention:

Ate Vi: Iha, pumapayat ka...

"huh?"

Ate Vi: Anong ginagawa mo sa sarili mo?

"talaga? pumapayat ako?" (with matching smile)

Ate Vi: Tingnan mo 'to, natuwa pa...

* but no. Even if I wanted to lose the fats around my arms, I can no longer seem to take control of myself. Siguro nga pagod lang ako. Pero naman, hindi pa nagsisimula thesis namin ni Weng, nagkakaganito na ako. Goodluck na lang sa graduation...

while shopping...

We were in a store in Glorietta. They were selling stress balls for quite a good price.

“Feeling ko kelangan natin ng stress ball habang nagmi-meeting ang council, para pagna-adjit.”

“Kaya lang masyadong malabot e.”

“Di ba dapat lang talaga malambot, para madali syang i-press.”

“Hindi, para pag naiinis ka kay -----, pwede mo na rin ibato.”