I wish you the best of luck as you sleep for the whole month of September.
It is an undertaking so immense, not even the laziest of people could finish it and live to tell the tale. Either they have had enough after the first sixteen hours, or their body sustains unfathomable damage. I hope you understand the risks you're taking as you go to such an endeavor. I also hope you reach the results you hope to achieve in this endeavor, whatever that result may be. Really, I never understood.
That said, it is my job to tell you that, while you are asleep, there are things that you will be missing out on. While many who have undertaken this sleep say they aim to escape the troubles that surround them, it is also worth noting that you will also miss out on many good things. Now, I understand that "good" has differing definitions depending on your personality and your state of mine, but I believe we can all agree that there are things we all want to embrace with open arms. But, yes, in this case, you won't be there, at least for a month.
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8/31/2014
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8/27/2014
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The last time I was at Pico de Loro, a little over two months ago, I was with Rainy. One last day at the beach, Sunday morning, the sun being harsher than usual, that usual being very harsh to begin with. There were, inevitably, a few people on the beach. Just a couple of families, if you exclude mine.
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8/20/2014
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It does get depressing every morning, turning on the TV and seeing a reporter stationed in one of thirteen MRT stations along EDSA, saying the same thing that we've been told before: it's not yet six in the morning, and the lines are getting long.
Two hours later, I'm already settled into work - I do not have to take the MRT, mostly because it's not where I live anyway - and I see the same lines I saw earlier, only longer. And it goes on and on, for the next two hours, and even if you don't use those trains you feel a bit hopeless anyway. I don't know if it's just me and my infrastructure-centered mindset of late, though. But you do feel a bit hopeless. Are things just this screwed up here?
A few more hours later, you see reactions from exasperated commuters, partly, but mostly from advocacy groups (however you define it) calling for an immediate government response. But they all acknowledge that nothing will be solved if those in power do not experience what us mere paupers experience, so, inevitably, they call on concerned government officials to take the MRT during rush hour. In one case, I saw them call on Noynoy Aquino to take the MRT during rush hour. "Just so he knows what we feel," they argue.
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Two hours later, I'm already settled into work - I do not have to take the MRT, mostly because it's not where I live anyway - and I see the same lines I saw earlier, only longer. And it goes on and on, for the next two hours, and even if you don't use those trains you feel a bit hopeless anyway. I don't know if it's just me and my infrastructure-centered mindset of late, though. But you do feel a bit hopeless. Are things just this screwed up here?
A few more hours later, you see reactions from exasperated commuters, partly, but mostly from advocacy groups (however you define it) calling for an immediate government response. But they all acknowledge that nothing will be solved if those in power do not experience what us mere paupers experience, so, inevitably, they call on concerned government officials to take the MRT during rush hour. In one case, I saw them call on Noynoy Aquino to take the MRT during rush hour. "Just so he knows what we feel," they argue.
Read more »
8/13/2014
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Yesterday we were all speculating about Robin Williams' death, but the few things we did know - his publicist saying he battled "severe" depression, the coroners saying he died of asphyxia - pretty much turned all the assumptions to fact. Robin took his own life.
Everybody was retweeting everybody. Quotes from his films, that shot of Aladdin hugging an emancipated Genie, that Walt Whitman poem. And then there was, again, a discussion on depression, or what seemed like it. That little understood thing - I wouldn't call it illness; I wouldn't know what to call it - has reared its ugly head again, taking away a man who generations loved dearly even if all they know of him is what they see on their screens.
Is it safe to call depression "extreme sadness, verging on suicidal thoughts"? I don't think so. I've been extremely sad before. I've had suicidal thoughts before. I don't know if what I had is depression or a young person's tendency to exaggerate everything to get noticed. That also means I'd get dismissed for, well, exaggerating what I really feel. "Get over it," people would usually say. "You're being too dramatic."
Read more »
Everybody was retweeting everybody. Quotes from his films, that shot of Aladdin hugging an emancipated Genie, that Walt Whitman poem. And then there was, again, a discussion on depression, or what seemed like it. That little understood thing - I wouldn't call it illness; I wouldn't know what to call it - has reared its ugly head again, taking away a man who generations loved dearly even if all they know of him is what they see on their screens.
Is it safe to call depression "extreme sadness, verging on suicidal thoughts"? I don't think so. I've been extremely sad before. I've had suicidal thoughts before. I don't know if what I had is depression or a young person's tendency to exaggerate everything to get noticed. That also means I'd get dismissed for, well, exaggerating what I really feel. "Get over it," people would usually say. "You're being too dramatic."
Read more »
8/12/2014
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"Not again," I said as I flicked through my phone. "Not again."
I was trying to write something in my head. Instantly, I guess. First impulse. But then I remember that the last time this happened, I started with talk of slumbooks, of how you end up writing "too many to mention" when you can't decide on whose name to place in so small a space.
I was always fascinated with futuristic technology as a kid, so without any context, I loved Bicentennial Man. Apparently critics weren't in love with that film, but I was, even if I didn't understand the nuances of Andrew transitioning from robot to man. But I do remember crying. One of the few films I cried to.
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I was trying to write something in my head. Instantly, I guess. First impulse. But then I remember that the last time this happened, I started with talk of slumbooks, of how you end up writing "too many to mention" when you can't decide on whose name to place in so small a space.
I was always fascinated with futuristic technology as a kid, so without any context, I loved Bicentennial Man. Apparently critics weren't in love with that film, but I was, even if I didn't understand the nuances of Andrew transitioning from robot to man. But I do remember crying. One of the few films I cried to.
Read more »
8/11/2014
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I had my passport renewed last Friday, conveniently avoiding a fire drill - but that's not the point, for it's merely a coincidence. Anyway. Rewind. I had my passport renewed last Friday, and despite the many branches in Manila and the later appointment time, I still spent a good two hours there.
The thing is, you spend most of your time there seated. There are five rows of seats by the processing area, which is your second stop, and where you spend half of your time. (There are also five rows of seats in the encoding section.) I knew I'd have lots of time, so I brought a book - Then They Came For Me, still unopened, the book Jon Stewart is turning into a film, the reason why John Oliver is now with HBO - but I ended up not touching it at all, since really, how can you read if you have to move seats so often? You shuffle your butt across the benches, some perfectly fine, some slightly dilapidated, but enough to trigger images in your head, of you sitting down, and the bench giving way, and you getting a big gash in your leg, which will cause tetanus and lead to your death.
No, I told myself, I can't think of death today. I shouldn't think of death today.
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The thing is, you spend most of your time there seated. There are five rows of seats by the processing area, which is your second stop, and where you spend half of your time. (There are also five rows of seats in the encoding section.) I knew I'd have lots of time, so I brought a book - Then They Came For Me, still unopened, the book Jon Stewart is turning into a film, the reason why John Oliver is now with HBO - but I ended up not touching it at all, since really, how can you read if you have to move seats so often? You shuffle your butt across the benches, some perfectly fine, some slightly dilapidated, but enough to trigger images in your head, of you sitting down, and the bench giving way, and you getting a big gash in your leg, which will cause tetanus and lead to your death.
No, I told myself, I can't think of death today. I shouldn't think of death today.
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8/07/2014
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Are you guys really serious about calling for Noynoy Aquino to run for a second term as president?
And no, I'm not saying this as one of those critics of the president you so clearly want to get rid of. Yes, I don't like how he sees himself as god. Yes, I don't like how he's a hypocrite who portrays himself as above the patronage politics of this country, but plays the game very hard behind closed doors. But yes, I also acknowledge that he has done some good things for the country.
I said as much a couple of entries back, or maybe I didn't say it properly. Yes, he has done some good things for the country, but he's not the one who got the ball rolling. There have always been other people who, in their own way, have done good things for the country. If anything, Noynoy's election to the presidency in 2010 has galvanized those people, giving them confidence that what they have been doing for the longest time will be, err, maximized. (I cannot vouch for whether these people still have that confidence in 2014, however.)
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And no, I'm not saying this as one of those critics of the president you so clearly want to get rid of. Yes, I don't like how he sees himself as god. Yes, I don't like how he's a hypocrite who portrays himself as above the patronage politics of this country, but plays the game very hard behind closed doors. But yes, I also acknowledge that he has done some good things for the country.
I said as much a couple of entries back, or maybe I didn't say it properly. Yes, he has done some good things for the country, but he's not the one who got the ball rolling. There have always been other people who, in their own way, have done good things for the country. If anything, Noynoy's election to the presidency in 2010 has galvanized those people, giving them confidence that what they have been doing for the longest time will be, err, maximized. (I cannot vouch for whether these people still have that confidence in 2014, however.)
Read more »
8/06/2014
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Since my parents are out I've been driving myself to work the whole week - not that I have to, but with only me and my siblings at home, I figured I have to get home as soon as possible - not that the rains have allowed me that. Not that Monday allowed me that.
Of course, anybody who drives during rush hour knows the feeling. You don't bother mapping out your route in your head because there will be heavy traffic anywhere you go. You'll have a hard time switching lanes at Meralco; you'll have a hard time getting to the flyover along C5; you'll have to keep patient as you deal with the pointless traffic in Taguig. (Why won't everyone just keep to their lane? Why do people have to occupy the rightmost lanes just to stay straight? Does that even make sense anymore?)
But then you hit the highway and, except in those cases when traffic there is terrible too, you feel quite liberated. You're past the worst traffic. You've passed the toll gates. You've settled down in your lane, and now you're free to drive faster than 20 kilometers per hour. Not that you should drive really fast. I mean, the roads are still wet and all.
Read more »
Of course, anybody who drives during rush hour knows the feeling. You don't bother mapping out your route in your head because there will be heavy traffic anywhere you go. You'll have a hard time switching lanes at Meralco; you'll have a hard time getting to the flyover along C5; you'll have to keep patient as you deal with the pointless traffic in Taguig. (Why won't everyone just keep to their lane? Why do people have to occupy the rightmost lanes just to stay straight? Does that even make sense anymore?)
But then you hit the highway and, except in those cases when traffic there is terrible too, you feel quite liberated. You're past the worst traffic. You've passed the toll gates. You've settled down in your lane, and now you're free to drive faster than 20 kilometers per hour. Not that you should drive really fast. I mean, the roads are still wet and all.
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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