For a country we're supposedly at odds with, I don't understand why we're so utterly fascinated with China.
No, I'm not talking about their many traditions that we've adopted, the traditions that have definitely gone outside the bounds of Binondo and, perhaps, of the home of every Filipino family with a strong Chinese heritage. I totally understand why I had to run around Ortigas for two weeks to buy boxes of mooncakes for our clients. I totally understand why My Binondo Girl became such a big deal, although not why Xian Lim is considered a matinee idol.
I'm talking about our newscasts. From the moment I wake up, to the moment I get home, and the moment I sleep, there's always a news item about China - and it's not necessarily something about the country's issues of personal space. Our television networks' definition of "foreign news" isn't exactly that of news that can affect the way we live, unless it's a war threatening the safety of our OFWs (and the headlines still read "dalawampu't-lima, patay sa tumitinding kaguluhan sa Syria," day in, day out) or an unknown virus threatening the safety of our OFWs ("dalawampu't-lima, patay sa pagkalat ng West Nile Virus"). Otherwise, it's the very trivial stuff.
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9/30/2012
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9/28/2012
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Niko, alam kong medyo hindi tayo nagkakasundo sa mga bagay. You really annoy me at times. Pero bilib din naman ako sa'yo, super responsible mo. Uh, you should know kung kelan mo ititigil 'yung pagka-hyper mo. 'Yun lang siguro. And don't think na wala kang karamay sa buhay mo. You have 39 friends na siguradong tutulungan ka. And that's us. Kaya cheer up, okay?
-- Ale Tejada, 9 December 2005
It used to be so awkward between me and Ale.
I was going through old blog entries the past few days. Yes, I know, I do that often, but today I pretty much forced myself to go through every single one of them, so I could add those jump cuts (you know, those links that say "more" - and I know they're not exactly called "jump cuts", that being a film editing term, but you cut the blog entry and force the reader to jump, so, yeah) and do some style tweaks now that my blog can do big photos and all.
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-- Ale Tejada, 9 December 2005
It used to be so awkward between me and Ale.
I was going through old blog entries the past few days. Yes, I know, I do that often, but today I pretty much forced myself to go through every single one of them, so I could add those jump cuts (you know, those links that say "more" - and I know they're not exactly called "jump cuts", that being a film editing term, but you cut the blog entry and force the reader to jump, so, yeah) and do some style tweaks now that my blog can do big photos and all.
Read more »
9/25/2012
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Let me see how this happened again. I headed to Makati, yet again, for another one of those seminars that don't really have anything to do with met, although I totally understand why I have to be there. I knew I had time to kill - more time than I expected, since I thought the seminar would end at five when it was actually scheduled to end at four - so I tweeted around, looking for people who'd be in Makati and are probably willing to meet up. Cue Clarisse sending me a reply at around nine in the morning.
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9/23/2012
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No, I haven't.
I haven't quite yet finished the job, so I thought I'd check in with you guys.
Of course, I know it's not going to be easy. I'm a veteran at this. I've always told myself, over and over again, that these things always take a while to settle into. Sure, all those times it's not really much of a deal, all of it happening because I've had enough of feeling certain things and knowing they will never get me anywhere because I'm either too timid to speak up or too paranoid to take things slow.
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I haven't quite yet finished the job, so I thought I'd check in with you guys.
Of course, I know it's not going to be easy. I'm a veteran at this. I've always told myself, over and over again, that these things always take a while to settle into. Sure, all those times it's not really much of a deal, all of it happening because I've had enough of feeling certain things and knowing they will never get me anywhere because I'm either too timid to speak up or too paranoid to take things slow.
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9/21/2012
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"Are you asleep?"
That was Rae. Or Aurora. I don't really know what to call her now. I still call her Rae. And for some reason we decided to talk beyond blog tagboards. So while we struggled with setting up iMessage for both of us, we were looking for alternatives.
"Added you on Yahoo! Messenger."
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That was Rae. Or Aurora. I don't really know what to call her now. I still call her Rae. And for some reason we decided to talk beyond blog tagboards. So while we struggled with setting up iMessage for both of us, we were looking for alternatives.
"Added you on Yahoo! Messenger."
Read more »
9/16/2012
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I'm backing up photos off Multiply - that site's ditching its social media side and it has the only copies of virtually all of my college photos - and I'm browsing Facebook, trying (and failing) to skip all the memes and Daniel Padilla photos.
I end up with profile photos, which aren't always a good thing. I mean, they always tell you that they're happier, with their boyfriends and their pet dogs and their desaturated, high-contrast artsy shots. But I wasn't in a mood to feel mopey, I guess, because the first thing that crossed my head - the moment I saw Hazel's new profile photo - was this: I'm no good at projecting.
I still hate the way I smile. With my teeth out, it's what you'd call a sheepish grin. With my teeth in, it's a constipated face. I was going through the photos I took during the CAM get-together a few weeks back and I realized I had a bunch of photographs where, instead of smiling, I opened my mouth, pretending to look wacky, assuming I look wacky. Instead my photo with Mooie looks... weird.
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I end up with profile photos, which aren't always a good thing. I mean, they always tell you that they're happier, with their boyfriends and their pet dogs and their desaturated, high-contrast artsy shots. But I wasn't in a mood to feel mopey, I guess, because the first thing that crossed my head - the moment I saw Hazel's new profile photo - was this: I'm no good at projecting.
I still hate the way I smile. With my teeth out, it's what you'd call a sheepish grin. With my teeth in, it's a constipated face. I was going through the photos I took during the CAM get-together a few weeks back and I realized I had a bunch of photographs where, instead of smiling, I opened my mouth, pretending to look wacky, assuming I look wacky. Instead my photo with Mooie looks... weird.
Read more »
9/13/2012
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Her name... her name reminds me of someone I shouldn't be reminded of.
Let me look her up on Facebook.
Wait, I hit enter too soon. This is not the right person.
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Let me look her up on Facebook.
Wait, I hit enter too soon. This is not the right person.
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9/07/2012
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Yes. I'll be ahead of you. Yes. I'm overthinking this.
After all, it is just about that warm, fuzzy feeling - that thing you've been told to avoid relying on because it doesn't really get you anywhere. But once you stop relying on it, and things get much worse than originally planned, you end up relying on it again. Even more, perhaps.
And then that warm, fuzzy feeling gets reciprocated.
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After all, it is just about that warm, fuzzy feeling - that thing you've been told to avoid relying on because it doesn't really get you anywhere. But once you stop relying on it, and things get much worse than originally planned, you end up relying on it again. Even more, perhaps.
And then that warm, fuzzy feeling gets reciprocated.
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9/03/2012
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The unusual decision (for me, at least, for I'm just new here) was made: we'll have our monthly meeting at the Starbucks below our office.
Cue a bit of a logistical nightmare. First problem: telling everyone else that the meeting's at Starbucks, and not in our conference room. An easier task than imagined, because we caught everyone just arriving at the 19th floor, or just arriving at the elevator lobby on the ground floor.
Second problem: all the tables and chairs. It wasn't a busy day, but we're still nine people, and all the big tables - including this big one, one that looks like it was placed there for employees who decide to hold their meetings at Starbucks from out of the blue - are occupied. We managed by getting four small tables, all made for two, and ten chairs - although why we needed ten chairs, or how we got away with it, is still beyond me.
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Cue a bit of a logistical nightmare. First problem: telling everyone else that the meeting's at Starbucks, and not in our conference room. An easier task than imagined, because we caught everyone just arriving at the 19th floor, or just arriving at the elevator lobby on the ground floor.
Second problem: all the tables and chairs. It wasn't a busy day, but we're still nine people, and all the big tables - including this big one, one that looks like it was placed there for employees who decide to hold their meetings at Starbucks from out of the blue - are occupied. We managed by getting four small tables, all made for two, and ten chairs - although why we needed ten chairs, or how we got away with it, is still beyond me.
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9/01/2012
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I was thinking.
Two of the last three times I fell hard ended terribly. The first was a flimsily-made fallout; the second was much more valid. But in both instances I found myself trying to rationalize - to myself and to other people - why things happened because of their shortcomings rather than mine.
Since it's only my side of the story I'm telling, those other people tend to agree with me. Sometimes I think I might've exaggerated things. Maybe they're not as bad as I make them out to be. But then again, I'm not speaking for them. I'm speaking for myself, at how it felt so right, and how it turned out to be so wrong.
Read more »
Two of the last three times I fell hard ended terribly. The first was a flimsily-made fallout; the second was much more valid. But in both instances I found myself trying to rationalize - to myself and to other people - why things happened because of their shortcomings rather than mine.
Since it's only my side of the story I'm telling, those other people tend to agree with me. Sometimes I think I might've exaggerated things. Maybe they're not as bad as I make them out to be. But then again, I'm not speaking for them. I'm speaking for myself, at how it felt so right, and how it turned out to be so wrong.
Read more »
Niko Batallones writes The Upper Blog.
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Some photographs have been edited using post-production curves from Shalla Yu.
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