pasayaw-sayaw sa ilalim ng buwan

Chos. Drama lang.

Yesterday marked a whole year after I fell off this thing.

Seems like forever ago.
I celebrated with a cupcake.
^_^

Anyway today I'm supposed to be preparing for tomorrow's exam. I can't seem to get around it. All I keep thinking about is how what I'm doing now is in no way related to what I really want to do in the future.

Damn. future. I think I just grew up.

A couple of months ago no one could take my hands off my little cousin's rubik's cube. It's this puzzle toy where you have to correctly line up all sides of a cube to make up all-color blocks (as if you don't know).

Lately it seems as if I tried to simplify my life by compartmentalizing - organizing everything in little boxes, much like the little colored boxes in the puzzle. Much simpler to live that way, I thought - filing away all the people in my life into their own separate blocks. Blue friend, yellow friend, red friend. It was a virtual apartheid. Everyone was labeled according to which of my many interests we shared - school, travel, volunteer work, hobbies. Limited time and energy dictated that I should concentrate on one color at a time. None of the blocks had anything to do with one another, except for the fact that they knew me and I needed each and every one of them to make me complete.

The thing about the cube is, once I got the hang of it, it was so easy to pick a side and complete it in record time. The problem was getting all the sides to line up to make one perfect little cube. Whenever I tried to finish the other sides, I ended up messing up the first color I picked. I never got around to figuring out how to do the whole thing, and eventually, after hours of twisting and turning, the little toy broke apart, and I ended up with a bunch of little blocks all over the floor.

Believe me, I'm trying hard not to keep hitting you over the head with the metaphor, but this cannot be overstated. Sure, it makes things a whole lot easier when I simplify and keep up with diverse interests by making sure I concentrate on one group at a time. What I failed to realize, until now, was that by doing so, I was messing up in all the other areas. I haven't learned the art of negotiating that results in making all the blocks happy. What I've been successful at, however, was bargaining with all the color chips to make ME happy. Ultimately, that's what compartmentalizing is for - arranging every component of your life to make the most of it. Whether this spells doom for my social life, I have yet to find out.

(excuse my moment of geekdom):
I watched the dark knight at the exact same time I was reading up on IR theories - congratulations, teachers all over: you have a brand new teaching tool for IR theory. It even has a more exciting prisoners' dilemma.


Isn't it disturbing how the ultimate realist is a complete psychopath?
Does this mean we'd have to be mentally imbalanced to reconcile with realist theory? Or does a deep belief in realism eventually push one over the edge? dumdumdum...

thank god i'm a liberal. yay for puppies and rainbows and sharing the love....hahaha

Wanna look good, feel good, and be good all at once?
Join us at St. Peter the Apostle Parish on July 19, 2008 for the CLAY Rummage Sale!

The Computer Literacy Advocates for the Youth (CLAY, that's us) will be taking over a portion of the parish's grounds to sell you, yes you, copious amounts of new and old clothes, accessories, shoes, bags, toys, and books(!); proceeds of which will go to funding our computer literacy projects.

Here's a preview of our very seductive price list:
 New items:
 o Tops – Php 70
 o Pants (Capris) – Php 80
 o Skirts – Php 80
 o Dresses – Php 150
 o Accessories – Designer’s belt (Php 100); Earrings Php 10.0
 o Pillows and Teddy Bears – Php 100 each
 o instamatic cameras – Php 50

(yesyesyes it's time for some early holiday shopping too! hahaha) bring your friends, call your neighbors, and let's have fun and rummage together! yihee.

Sale is from 9am-5pm.
St. Peter the Apostle Parish is located at 1258 Pres. Quirino Ave. Paco, Manila.
(somewhere between Unilever and Plaza Dilaw..map to follow)

questions?ask away!
for more on CLAY, go to http://www.clayers.org

Start:	Jul 19, '08 09:00a
End:	Jul 19, '08 5:00p
Location:	St. Peter the Apostle Parish, 1258 Pres. Quirino Ave., Paco, Manila

Wanna look good, feel good, and be good all at once?
Join us at St. Peter the Apostle Parish on July 19, 2008 for the CLAY Rummage Sale!

The Computer Literacy Advocates for the Youth (CLAY, that's us) will be taking over a portion of the parish's grounds to sell you, yes you, copious amounts of new and old clothes, accessories, shoes, bags, toys, and books(!); proceeds of which will go to funding our computer literacy projects.

(yesyesyes it's time for some early holiday shopping too! hahaha) bring your friends, call your neighbors, and let's have fun and rummage together. yihee.

For a map and more details about the sale, go to my blog :)
For more info on CLAY, visit http://www.clayers.org

Ok. So on the commute home I managed to get my wallet (which contains some cash, credit card, driver's license, school id, alumni card), phone, ipod stolen. Huwhaaat. The geek in me breathed a sigh of relief when I saw that whoever took my stuff wasn't interested in my readings and left it in my bag. hay.

Please delete my old number. I'll post here din when I replace my phone, if you need to reach me..pwede here or through email.

hay. charity,..

    On the brightest side, we're luckier than the ostrich.

     This month I've been doing a lot of odd jobs that kept me from getting completely bored, but also kept me from looking for a regular job. I can't believe I'm actually about to go for a nine-to-five, but since I'm enrolling for next term, I have to find a way to pay for tuition... My class schedule seems very light, so theoretically I can still be with Lakbay for next season, but let's just see how everything goes.
   
    So what has been keeping me busy? Keeping house. I've turned into another housewife without a husband. Ah. Technically, you can call me Manang. Huwhat. How'd this happen? Well, when tax season began I was helping out on the auditing stuff as proofreader/driver/clerk. I haven't received any pay yet, but since my mom pays for my credit card (heh), it doesn't look like I'll be getting any cash. Then things started getting crazier in the office, and some stuff at home had to be taken care of, so the natural thing was for me to go home and..supervise. So I've been dealing with an influx of guests, a living room makeover, my sister's end-of-school activities, my grandma's hospital run, my youngest sister's graduation and college hunt, car accidents, and of course, doing the groceries.
    Doing the groceries has to be my favorite chore. I am particularly loyal to one store because of my resistance to change :) I like to just go through the aisles knowing where everything is and just methodically cross out my list, item after item, with no one bothering me. That's just about the most I did for my family before the tax season crunch. Now another thing that I love doing is waking up early to make coffee. Yes, home is where good coffee comes from :)
    My point is: I LOVE taking care of my family. Whodavethunk I'd slip this comfortably into domestication? (haha). A lot of people say we turn out to be our parents, and for most of my teenage years I did think I'd go the route my mom took - jumpstarting on a career and starting a family later. In college, I planned to be a young hotshot career vixen. (ayan maghilohan tayo sa salita) I was never a believer that a woman's place is (just) in the home, but now that I look at it it's really not so bad. I get to take care of the people I care most about, and that's all that counts.
    It's weird to admit now, but I never really aspired to become a housewife. I thought they were unfulfilled women who needed saving. They needed someone to save them from a backward-thinking husband's tyrannical rule. I always thought having a career was the be-all and end-all of life on earth. Now I see that taking care of family takes a lot of hard work, and is about the most fulfilling thing one could ever do. I guess all this had to do with all the past years' adventures, including feeling I would never see my family and friends ever again, but all those experiences put things in the proper perspective. Love is all that counts. ;-)

    So. Remember when I got a ticket for 'Lane Marking'? It happened on a Friday night, which meant I could only claim it at Manila City Hall the following Wednesday. Anyway, I was only able to go on Friday, due to some things I had to take care of. No biggie, though, since I wasn't suspended from driving anyway. I did go on Friday, straight through the taxpayer's lounge, and out to the OVR office where people payed the violation fines. I went to the window, asked if my license was there and ready, and the nice lady gave me the receipt. I was charged Php150.

    Php150 for a bogus ticket? No way.

    I immediately asked where I could file a complaint, and the lady looked at me and said..'Php150 lang yan a... ok kunin mo to and go to the OVR'

    Me: 'Before or after paying?'
    lady:'before.'

    So I went in the OVR office and asked where to file complaints. They pointed to another nice lady and said to go to her. She gave me the complaint sheet and told me to write the details of what the heck I was bitching about (well..not in those words). Then she looked at the ticket.

    lady: 'o 150 lang to ah.'
    Me: 'yeah'

    Then I filled out the form, had the ticket photocopied, and gave the forms back to her. She stamped my ticket with an extension for another week (since I was to use it as a temporary license) and told me to come back in a week for the hearing.

    Ok. SO it was gonna be another week before I see that little laminated rectangle of a license. Fine.

    The following Friday, I went on my merry way to MCH again, this time to the legal department, at exactly 3 pm (the nice lady told me to go before 3:30, the hearing schedule). I asked where to go for the traffic violation hearing, and the nice man told me that I was early and just wait for the assigned person to call me. So I sat and waited. Another (fatter) nice man came to chat us up.

    (f)nm: Sa traffic?
    Me: opo.
    (f)nm: Ano beating the red light?
    Me: hindi po, lane marking(?)
    (f)nm: ...iha, 150 lang yun ah.
    Me: eh ang bastus po eh.
    nm (the one behind the desk): ah pulis ba yun?
    Me: Traffic police po.
    (f)nm: naka black?
    Me: opo.
    nm: may baril?
    Me: ay. hindi ko na po napansin.
    (f)nm: sige hintay ka muna dyan mamaya darating na yung nagpapalista. Lahat kasi ng may hearing sunod-sunod tapos kakausapin lang kayo ng abogado.

    Then he excused himself and I sat back and started reading. Then I realized I didn't actually have the ticket with me.
    Me: Sir, kelangan ba dala yung original ticket?
    nm: oo, kasi kung today mo maclaim yan kelangan isoli yung ticket. Hindi mo dala?
    Me: ay. Naiwan sa bahay. Pero may photocopy naman na naka-attach sa complaint.
    nm: A kung Monday mo pa madadala, Monday mo pa makukuha yung license. Pero ok lang pwede ka parin tumuloy sa hearing.

    A little while later, we were asked to sign a form - sort of an attendance form, for everyone who was there for the traffic violation hearing.

    It was actually 4:30 when we got to be heard. I was the last one on the list. I went into the lawyer's office, and he asked me what happened. I told him I was making a right on Lacson, yadayada. He wrote something on the complaint sheet and gave it to a girl seated beside me across his desk, telling me to claim the license from her.
    Well..I didn't have the ticket. I had to come back Monday.

    Monday. I went to MCH for the third time, and headed to the OVR. I knocked on their window and said I was there to claim my license. Another employee (let's call him nice guy) saw me and recognized me from friday's hearing. They told me to wait in their lobby since the girl who was in charge of releasing my license wasn't present. Fine. I sat and started reading.　The nice guy came back with the complaint form.
   ng: Dismissed na pala to. Wala na kayong babayaran. Hinahanap lang namin yung isang form.

   30 minutes later, they still couldn't find whatever it was they were looking for. NG came back and led me to the OVR office and said he'd ask for them to release the license right then, even without the one in charge. Ok. We went into the OVR window/office and they had me sign a record book and the complaint form, and, lo and behold, that little piece of plastic was back in my hands.

    So. It took two weeks before I got my license back, which I could have avoided if I chose to pay the 150 fine early on and chose not to go through the 'hassle' of contesting it.
    However, no way was I gonna pay for that bogus ticket. The economically rational way to go about the whole thing was to just fork up the money and go. But if I was an economically rational person, I wouldn't have gotten a ticket in the first place.
   I did have fine money ready, just in case. I filed a complaint really just to get it in file. But, hey, after the whole ordeal, I didn't have to use it. So I bought some cake. And yes, I got to eat it too.

(I still don't know what OVR stands for hahaha)

This! :) Masaya dito dali.. first to find me getz a prize hwahaha

ANAK NG %#'(#%'(!!!!! @$$#0L3!!!
WTF is a 'Lane Marking' Violation?!

RANT!
I was on my way to funeraria paz last night from a pretty good day chatting it up with long-lost friends (ok, not so long, and not so lost..) at La Salle when Ru sent a message telling me they were about to go home (they being ru, etc. home from the funeraria). Since it was late I decided to skip and go directly home instead, thinking I'd have time to go to the wake on Saturday afternoon (the exact same time I am writing this, suffice to say I never made it to the wake). I've never driven on the Lacson-Dimasalang road before, so I was retracing the route I take to Nihongo Center. Anyway...so I waited on the intersection and waited for the light to change, then proceeded to take a right turn. I was in the middle of the intersection when a blue boy runs up to the car and knocks on my window.

Me (M): yes?
Blueboy(B): excuse me sir, ay, ma'am pala.
M:(....mukha akong boy. boy?! boy!!! what!!!)
B: Ma'am mali po yung ginawa niyo
M: ?! sir ano po violation
B: Bawal magrotonda.

he waves to a guy in black uniform, who was waiting on the Dimasalang center island (and who turned out to be an @$$) we shall call him A.

SO I was stopped right in the middle of the intersection, and I asked A what my violation was, and all he said was..ma'am bawal po yun.

Ok. I had noooo idea what I did, so I told them I didn't want to obstruct traffic and asked if I reaaallly had to stop right there. They told me I could move into Dimasalang and stop at the side. A is on the sidewalk and taps on my right window.

A: patingin po ng lisensya (tama ba to? ano spelling license sa tagalog? ^^;)

I hand it to him. (This, I would learn later, would be the biggest mistake I made in the entire ordeal)
A: san ang punta niyo ma'am?
M: Dito po sa Dimasalang.
A: Bibili kayo ng bulaklak?
M: Uuwi na po. Gabi na.
A: Alam niyo ba kung ano ginawa niyo?
M: Hindi po.
A: Bawal po magrotonda dun.
M: po? (EH?! ano daw?!)

Well anyway, my bag was right beside me on the pasenger seat. I took my notebook out and started writing while he was speaking. I was staring at his ID. A stepped back from the car..hmm I don't remember why, but he did. Right at this moment my phone rang - Gerardo.

G: where are you?
M: Dimasalang. Hinuhuli ako ng pulis. as in right. now.
I was explaining what was happening when A stuck his head in the window
M: Oops eto na siya. talk to you later.

A: Ma'am, sino po yun?
M: (EH?! pakialamero?) ah may tumawag pong kaibigan.
Then he just looks at me. B is now back with him on the sidewalk.
M: o sir, ano ba talaga violation ko?
B: Line marking po ma'am line marking
M: HA?!
B: Pag pedestrian lane po bawal daanan, pang pedestrian po yun, (then he makes motions with his arms attempting at a charade for a pedestrian lane..)
M: Teka anung kinalaman nun sa sinabi niyo kanina?
And then I explained how I was at the intersection, trying to find my way back and followed the stoplight arrow to the right.
B: Kasi po ang mga lane marking bawal po (chorvachorva)
M: So ano po mangyayari?
A: Iclaim niyo nalang po sa city hall
A shows a 'collection' of cards he probably confiscated that day (or not).
B: Mga one week pa po yun.
A: Bale sa thursday
B: Nako, pupunta pa ho kayo sa city hall.
M: Ahhh.. ganon ba? Baket uli?
A: Line marking.
M: Ano po yun?
While B was again talking about the pedestrian lane, I was copying his name and number on his uniform.
A: O! Baket sinusulat mo pangalan namin?!
M: baket po?
He flashes his ID for a second
A: Totoo yan no.
I was still writing B's number down.
A: A sinusulat mo talaga ha, susulatan ko na rin to.
M: (o e kala ko ba sinulatan mo na kanina? baket antagal natin dito?!) 
A goes to the hood to write on his ticket tablet
B: (to A) Babaan mo nalang yan boss
B: (to M) Gusto niyio ho babaan nalang natin?
M: Ha? pano yun?
B:.....
B: Pag sa city hall niyo pa ho pinuntahan yan sa Thursday pa.
M: Sir pano ba mangyayari sa city hall?
B: Pupunta ho kayo sa office
M: Tapos?
B: E dun na ho. Sa Thursday pa.
M: ahhh. Matagal nga noh.
B: (to A) hindi ba natin pwedeng babaan yan?
A comes back to the window.
A: Ma'am dala niyo ho ba yung OR? di ko po kasi mabasa yung license number
M: Ows? patingin nga.
I take it back, switched my cabin light on and stared at the license. In faded green numbers it read...I couldn't read it either.
M: Ay oo nga no. Di ko rin mabasa
I hand it back to him.
A: A hindi ko nalang ho ilalagay.
(WTF baket ampanget niya)
He hands me the violation tablet and asked me to sign it. I looked at the violation.
154 LANE MARKING
A: Pwede niyo ho gamitin yan temporary license for 5 days

Anak ng tokneneng na pula. He still has my license.

I've been having really bad luck with driving this week. This was just another in a series. Hay.

    Usually on Maundy Thursdays I just stay home and chill. No point in going out of town along with almost everybody else from the city, and nothing to do in the city anyway since eveverywhere is closed for the holidays. This year, though, I got a text from Nova inviting to join them on a pilgrimage to Antipolo. I'm not Catholic, so I've never been on a 'tayo naaa sa Antipolo...'- type experience, so of course I joined right in.

    Driving through EDSA to get to Robinson's Galleria was a whole lotta fun. The road was clear and I got to Ortigas in under 30 mins. Sweet. The plan was to meet at the entrance to the mall and just start walking from there all the way to Antipolo. And that's exactly what we did.

   

    From Ortigas, we started to see other people walking on the same route. Turns out this pilgrimage is something many people do every year. And the people who live on the route were all prepared for the endless stream of people pounding the streets. Since we started walking at 1800, desperately protecting ourselves from the heat of the sun was never an issue, and we were off to a great start, with manong ---------------------------------->
singing along in karaoke tunes with an electronic
keyboard. Sir Mel told me that a lot of the vendors that were lining the street were actually there anticipating the pilgrims (us). We decided then to take note of the more interesting things they were peddling.

We finally reach C9, where we agreed to rest before heading all the way down through Sumulong highway.


(Left: Nova and her 10php sack)









    Regardless of the mounting muscle pain, leg cramps, lack of sleep, and building blisters, we can still smile during break :) at around 4 am we reached station 1 on Sumulong side (we started station 1 Ortigas junction side ..then all the way up to 14 and back again from 14).
    Finally, we caught a jeep to Cubao and got off near Sta. Lucia East when we spotted our savior -  a 24-hour McDonalds. Yay, finally. Egg!

Ang bagong tirahan ng clay website. Dalawin na, now na! :D