9/25/2013 ‒
The pitfalls of being political

Here I am, again, writing a blog entry on politics, again, inspired, obviously, by the privilege speech Jinggoy Estrada is currently delivering. As promised, he's delivering a "bombshell". As expected, he's crying foul over why he, alongside fellow opposition senators Juan Ponce Enrile and Ramon Revilla, are being singled out. As expected, he's tagging known administration allies for the same things he's tagged in; he just questioned Congressman Neptali Gonzales II's PDAF use, and essentially described Commission of Audit head Grace Tan as incapable.

Here I am, not watching the speech, knowing that he'll do exactly that, and I'll just infuriate myself. Following it all on Twitter dampens the urgency of the speech; remove the visuals and the intonation and you're left with words, and you can peruse that more objectively. (Note to self: just read tweets when Noynoy Aquino delivers a speech.) You don't get to make a reaction as fast, but what you lose in speed, you get in deliberation.

That, and the fact that I'm just a bit tired of this. The problem with being political is that it's just so complicated. To be able to make things clear to yourself, more so to others, you have to have a grasp of literally everything, and that's precisely why nobody is clear about anything: holding back information is akin to twisting the knife in someone's stomach. And with so many things in play, you risk sounding both utterly biased and ill-informed the moment you open your mouth. I say this. "But you don't know this. Are you being selective?"

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9/23/2013 ‒
Slash fiction for those with awesome childhoods

"What do you mean? They're a singing group. What's to explain?"

That's Kira, person I genuinely want to meet, and fervent Directioner.

Well, by Directioner standards, she's not that fervent. And by Directioner standards, I mean the sort that get unenlightened people like me utterly annoyed. You know, the bit about you supposedly devoting your entire life to the, uhh, the worship of this boy group, brought together out of expediency on one season (err, series) of The X Factor, getting to the finale, but not winning the whole thing - Little Mix would have the honor of being the first group to win the top prize - and becoming, well, international superstars.

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9/20/2013 ‒
Niko the friendless

The antibiotics I was taking meant I cannot drink alcohol, and frankly, it isn't really much of a challenge, because I'm not the guy who drinks regularly anyway. A "social drinker", as everybody puts it. Yes, I do drink, in a class reunion, say, or during work functions, but I don't drink more than I can handle - and, since I don't know how much I can handle, I limit myself to one or, at the extreme, two bottles.

(Then again, during a business trip to Cebu, and perhaps at the goading of a former colleague, I ended up drinking seven bottles of beer. My head hurt when I stood up for the toilets, but I hereby claim that I was not drunk. Either that, or I didn't know I was drunk. But I'm sure I wasn't. I saw some ladies enter the restaurant and I did not find them any prettier.)

Just last week a colleague I see around during the events I frequent offered me a bottle. I had to say no, because really, and I said this as apologetically, if not as patronizingly, as I should, "I would, but I can't." But the music was so loud and he was not having any of it. "You do not refuse me a drink," he said, before shaking my hand.

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9/16/2013 ‒
The six years in between

Taken on 20 July 2007 at Starbucks Torre Lorenzo. Taken on 18 August 2013 at Fully Booked Alabang Town Center.

The first time Chex and I met, I was a college junior worrying about our ill-fated newscast project, and she was bent on introducing me to Klondike, among other things. I haven't had an idea what to buy at Starbucks, and she treated me to a mango frap thingie, which explains why my first (I think) Starbucks cup has the name "Cheska" written on it. Spelled right, mind.

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9/15/2013 ‒
Alone in the new pollution

So, yes, I was out of the blogging loop for two weeks. Two weeks! I had ideas but I didn't write them down, and then work overtook me and I had to focus on that.

The last work week was pretty hectic. I had an exhibit booth to oversee on Thursday and Friday, but the day before that, I had an event - an event all to myself, an event all by myself! Well, not exactly, since I did have the office to back me up, but the logistics and the loot bags, all mine.

Granted, I did have six months to prepare for it. I had six months to reserve the ballroom, choose the menu, specify the particulars, and hope that the food would fit the increasing number of attendees. We expected 150. We got 183 confirmed by Tuesday night. 126 ultimately attended on Wednesday afternoon, which meant we had ordered extra food for 50, which meant a happy office. Free lunch for them, I mean. Me, I was a bit relieved and exasperated at the same time. All the food! All the unused burned CDs! All the loot bags I brought out of the stock room!

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