6/21/2014 ‒
The political persecution, supposedly, of Bong Revilla

A bunch of streamers have gone up on my route home in recent weeks.

"Nasaan na ang daang matuwid?" one said, accompanied by images of a black ribbon and barbed wire.

"Mahal ka namin, Sen. Bong Revilla," another said, accompanied by an image of the actor turned legislator.

Read more »

6/18/2014 ‒
The non-millennial's guide to living in the present

Acknowledge these two truths. One, there's no point to dwelling in the past. No matter how much you try, you can never go back to a time when life was simpler. Everything moves on, and so must you. Two, there's no point to worrying about the future. Why get yourself twisted up about things you aren't even certain about? Say, why worry about where the money you save will go, when you do not yet know where you will spend it? Why save in the first place? Regrets and worries hold you back. To live your life to the fullest, live in the present.

Savor this very moment you are part of. Always remember that time is fleeting, and time that passes you by is time that you can never get back. Every second that passes you by is a missed opportunity - a chance to appreciate what you have, a chance to express your love to someone, a chance to marvel at the beauty of this world, all gone. Do not focus on the negative; it makes you anxious, and prevents you from appreciating the now, from living in the present. Savor every moment - specifically, savor the positive, and only the positive, in every moment.

If you deeply believe that the moment you're in is made for you, grab it. Why let it go when it's already there? You'll never know when it will return again, or if it will return again. You don't know what you've got until it's gone. Don't think about whether you are capable of grabbing that moment. Grab it first, then think later. Once you have it in your hands, you'll know what to do. Just grab the moment. No ifs. No buts. No worries. No regrets. The power of attraction is on your side; you'll get what you really, really need.

Read more »

6/14/2014 ‒
Searching...

These unadulterated views are just fifty kilometers away from Manila.

I am, of course, not the fittest of people. My belly worries me, and my weight is, too. I try to do some exercise whenever I can, but chances are I wake up late and the sun is high and I don't see the point of sweating a bit when I'll probably faint and die of heatstroke.

Read more »

6/09/2014 ‒
Compare thyself with others

Now, the TL;DR version of pretty much everything I've written before, because one, nobody bothers reading anything long on the Internet unless it's slapped with a patronizing label like "longform reading" (and, really, who reads anything longer than 140 characters online?) and two, my blog entries (or essays, if we're to go with the patronizing label thing) are boring and wordy and meandering and unoriginal.

I am an insecure person.

Since I can't make myself write a one-sentence blog entry (it is not an essay, no matter how avant garde an explanation you make), I'll explain how I got to this point.

Read more »

6/04/2014 ‒
One Direction vs the Philippines' supreme moral authority

Once again, the Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines has taken the opportunity to portray itself as the supreme moral authority on the wider population, by telling parents to not allow their children to watch One Direction perform live in Manila in March.

"Do not lead them in the wrong direction," the organization's Fr. Conegundo Garganta said. "Be discerning on where you are leading your children."

The idea is, of course, that One Direction will lead these children astray, especially after video of two of the band's members, Louis Tomlinson and Zayn Malik, smoking what looks like a spliff or something (am I getting my terms right?) surfaced. Why, the Garganta said, would parents encourage their children to adore people who are bad role models? They can do something now, he said, by not allowing their children to be consumed by - and this is my words, not his - representatives of the devil.

Read more »

6/03/2014 ‒
Why you must never be too eager

There's a new Japanese restaurant downstairs from my office. Well, nineteen flights of stairs, actually, or one elevator trip. Also, I can't actually use the stairs even if I wanted to, or I risk making a scene when the fire alarm makes a sound. "Emergency. Nineteenth floor."

Anyway, there's a new Japanese restaurant downstairs from my office. It just opened last month, although for months it said "opens January 2014".

I wasn't particularly excited about it, but hey, at least it's an option when I find myself eating alone and I don't feel like walking a long distance. Today was one of those days - I had a late breakfast with Rainy and, therefore, ate lunch late, like in the old days, when I'd grab a bite at one in the afternoon - so I decided to give the place a try.

Read more »

6/01/2014 ‒
Betelguese

"Ano ang Betelguese?" Vic Sotto asked.

I just flicked the channel while having dinner, so I had no idea what was going on. Well, yes, I know it's Who Wants to be a Millionaire? which means my mind automatically goes back to when Christopher de Leon hosted the show, on a different channel. I then argue with myself, about who was better, but then again, I remember little about what came before, and I don't know much of what's happening now.

Well, I do remember Boyet tearing up the checks he offers the contestant as an exit point, dramatically, when the contestant opts to answer instead.

Read more »