11/25/2012 ‒
Perfume shopping

We obviously had more luck with buying nail polish.

Rainy (yes, her, again, and yes, that's her in the photo up there) said she'll bring her Ralph Lauren bag again. Instead she showed up, outside her office building on a hotter-than-usual Saturday afternoon, with a Burberry bag that matched her flashy turtleneck that, as she pointed out, does nothing of that sort because the fabric is thin.

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11/22/2012 ‒
"You find me. Bad eyesight. Ralph Lauren bag, dark clothes."

I told Rainy I had a shit camera. I meant this white film-y thing that permeates in this otherwise nice photo of French fries. Also, I know she's curve the hell out of this. And I should, too. But nah. Lazy. I have work tomorrow, too.

Fifteen minutes to seven. I was seated on a not-so-plush chair, with rows of shoes behind me, and rows of tops in hangers in front of me. There were some chandeliers above me. There were lots of posts. Or it seemed that there were lots of posts. Also, it's a Thursday, and yet there was an awfully large amount of people, possibly because it's a sale, possibly because it's almost Christmas, possibly because it's already fifteen minutes to seven and everybody's done with their work. Mostly females.

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11/15/2012 ‒
Karma

I heard a faint thud on the other end of the line.

I didn't quite know what happened. The next thing I heard was Rainy saying "friends!" although I definitely misheard her.

"You have friends there?" I said.

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11/14/2012 ‒
Empty holidays

Yesterday, the House Committee on Public Information approved a proposal to declare November 23 as "Press Freedom Day", marking the day when 58 people, 34 of them journalists, were brutally murdered in the town of Ampatuan, Maguindanao three years ago.

Many considered the crime to be a low point in the culture of impunity prevalent, most said, during the administration of Gloria Macapagal Arroyo. How could the Ampatuans, the most influential family in the impoverished Mindanao province, get away with amassing large sums of money and a huge cavalry of weapons? At first glance this question is a no-brainer. They're the Ampatuans. They have a grip on major positions of power in the province. And then the connection was made between their presence and Arroyo's success in the province during the controversial 2004 elections.

When Noynoy Aquino overwhelmingly won the presidency in 2010, he promised - like every other politician, really - that he would bring hope to the country, by finally eradicating the culture of corruption. He vowed to make governance transparent and accountable. He vowed that the Philippines' potential, squandered over decades of flaccid leadership, will finally be realized. Yes, I know his words sound lofty, loftier than humanly possible, but he is sufficiently popular among most Filipinos anyway. Two years later, most of his promises remain unrealized, and some have decried his emphasis on rhetoric rather than action, but many still hold hope that he'll follow through on his campaign promises.

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11/13/2012 ‒
The whipping boy

In our rush to vilify Tito Sotto for pretty much everything nowadays, we are forgetting that, indeed, there are a few factors going in his favor.

One, he is indeed protected by the Constitution. He gave his half-baked arguments against the reproductive health bill - and, controversially, quoted Robert Kennedy without attribution - in the auspices of the Senate, where parliamentary immunity abounds. Legislators cannot be held against what they say within the session hall, especially if it's within a privileged speech. That's pretty much why senators use this very thing to criticize their sworn enemies - Ping Lacson against Gloria Arroyo, Miriam Santiago against whichever member of the Puno family earned her ire, and as we all know, Tito Sotto against us professional manipulators.

Two, as Juan Ponce Enrile pointed out, it would be difficult to punish Sotto for his alleged plagiarism. The progress of a complaint filed to the Senate ethics committee - signed by university professors and bloggers, with the welcome support of RFK's daughter Kerry - depends on whether senators will support it. It is, like everything else, a numbers game. With elections drawing near, our elected officials are thinking of keeping their political chances alive, more than doing what we citizens think is right. And besides, if the complaint gains ground and Sotto is deemed to have done wrong, they'll only give him a slap in the wrist and move on.

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11/11/2012 ‒
What is and what should never be

Roughly five years ago I got a text message, from out of the blue, from a classmate I never really talked to a lot.

I mean, sure, I had her number; we worked together in a school project, and you know me, always asking people for their phone numbers when we end up working together in a school project. I forgot what that one was about.

I was at home, finishing up dinner, prepping for a night of homework - I don't think I've ever written that sentence in this blog, or even anywhere, ever - when I got that text message. I was, obviously, frankly, surprised.

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11/05/2012 ‒
Planner season

The two middle-aged men in front of me were taking a very long time to choose a coffee drink to order. Emphasis on "a very long time": another barista ended up taking orders for everybody else in line, much like the servers at, say, Jollibee do during the lunch rush. A bunch of order slips in one hand, ballpen in another.

"What's your order, sir?" she asked me.

Remember the cute barista I blogged about a year ago? I haven't seen her there in a while, a fact that I've lamented since. But this barista taking orders from me has pretty much taken her place. This time I remember her name: I decided to be creepy and look at her name tag, but not creepy enough to make up a fictional conversation in my head like last time.

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11/02/2012 ‒
...and I regret nothing

I've been watching Nashville for the past month now. The budding TV critic in me - I've done just that for work for three years, so do I still call myself "budding"? - is now inextricably tied up with the rest of me, so when you have a bunch of people claiming that the pilot episode of this drama revolving around, well, Nashville is the best drama pilot of the season, I will have to watch it.

So far, it's been fine. I love Connie Britton on Friday Night Lights. I like the way this show hasn't made a deal about the songs - the last thing this show needs is to be marketed as a country Glee, the same way Smash was marketed as a Broadway Glee. (I know "Broadway Glee" is a bit redundant.) I like the way this gets on the business side of the record industry, which is really the same reason why I liked Smash initially, until I had enough of the singing and I forgot to watch the next new episode one week. And no, contrary to what Immie thought, I'm not watching this for Hayden Panetierre - although I'm interested in how she portrays this weird cross between Lindsay Lohan and Taylor Swift.

But my favorite part so far has been watching this one plot point about Scarlett, a waitress who ends up becoming a songwriter after an odd twist of fate. Clare Bowen's voice is lovely. I know, that sentence should be on my other blog, but I'll say it again anyway: Clare Bowen's voice is lovely. The moment the "big song number" on the pilot episode came on, I was sold. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'll watch it again.

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