Bio Of A 30-Something

20 miles worth of thoughts to sort through. I couldn't ostensibly run that long without suffering from the complications of pulmonary collapse, otherwise this post will become an obituary or an epitaph to my poor grave and no one has the time to read. 3 decades++ (coz I stopped counting at 30) of self-deprecating, hostile annotations. Not sure of what I'm trying to prove, I just know that the profanity-spewing guttersnipe, optimistic despite the odds in life ME was the result of all these ironies. 

As you process the plethora of words i have summed up, I give you this video, Bittersweet Symphony by The Verve (courtesy of YouTube) to make your reading experience a little bit disparate from the usual yawn-inducing blogs. Not that I call this my life-song, that sentiment would be too mainstream. Whatever, just hit the play button & read, you silly. 

COMPREHENSION 101

That your first day at pre-school only means signing up to another 15 years or so first days of your sheer academic life, not to include summer classes or any educational course your parents will coerce you to attend. It pains me to grasp that after all the studying you have done at school, all the lessons you must learn you will experience once you step out of it. Not every strategy in life is found in textbooks. Not every important decision you will make will be taught by your teacher. 

That not taking afternoon nap even if you were being scolded by your mom will definitely be one of the biggest regrets in your life. As you grow, it will dawn you how many hours of uninterrupted sleep you have wasted, sleeping is the ultimate gratification you will ever need.

That learning your English ABC does not exempt you from learning the Mandarin Ling-Yi-Er-San because knowledge not only for a second but also a third or hell, fourth language signifies wit and being well-off. 

That even after 18,250 11:11 wishes you made starting at the tender age of 6, none of it will come true in a snap of a finger. No tooth fairy, no aging Santa Claus nor a generous fairy godmother will reward you with imperative relief to any emotional sap.

That the dream of your parents for you to become a medical doctor or a big shot lawyer does not necessarily have to be your own dream, when all that really interests you is  as simple as to satiate on a cup of coffee, read a book, your gorgeous man sitting next to you and just having some sense of peace that you do not owe anybody any thing, and because you believe that if there's any more to life than those 4 simple things, you really have to know because you're quite ambitious for it, too. 

That falling in love the first time and just being cheated on after is the least agonizing thing a normal human being could ever go through. Who would know that a juvenile heartache is the most subtle form of pain? I wouldn't have guessed that. 

That your first love is not only your first lethal dose of bitter pill but also the first among the many fucktards you will spend voluminous time with in this sea of X & Y chromosomes.  

That falling in love AGAIN after a mortifying first relationship doesn't guarantee you'll find a far better prince nor a knight in his shining armor of bullshit. 

That the supreme way to know that you have a heart is to experience poignant shredding heartaches first hand as if it's a necessity for survival. 

That you really have to use every falling star and ASK for your ONE GREAT LOVE to finally find you  & save you from being the shabby slave to love that you are. 

That even at 30-something you cannot connect the reason why you had to irrationally find the value of a god-damned X in an algebra class. With all the advancement in technology, how come these geniuses cannot establish the reality that numbers and alphabets do not go well together. I could just stifle a laugh.

That you owe your English teachers big time in Junior high for forcing into you the importance of good grammar, right punctuation and parallelism aside from the list of mass nouns that do not really need an "S" at the end just to know they are plural.  

That being a prodigy is the single most effective trait you need to make you stand out in class because having an average mind not only makes you a commoner but also a mute and invisible in the eye of everyone.

That your university  is the only ticket you need to land the most coveted job in the metropolis. The expensive the tuition fee, the better the chances of being shortlisted in a company. An advantageous but discriminatory speck of the society right in the face of the masses.

That your first job will make up the professional person that you will become, not only it will serve as your training ground, but also every thing you will need to get you ahead in the race of sky-high remuneration will truthfully be taught to you on your first work experience.

That your loyalty to your first ever paying job does not really matter. When you resign, they may appear remorseful for letting you go because you have spent almost a decade burning yourself for their business, but you are just another common employee, asset or not, that they could easily shove-off and be forgotten in just a month or shorter. No one in real life will commend you for sharing your expertise and for using up all your intelligence not unless you found a cure for Cancer or discovered a gadget that will trump the beauty of an Apple product. 

That working from 8 in the morning til 5, for 6 days a week in almost 2/3 of your life as an employee will never buy you an early retirement, unless somewhere along those 15 years you made a smart move of investing to a business that has the staying power. 

That a relative working overseas will automatically elevate the status of your family in the society from being Class C to Class B or A- because of the commiserable notion that being abroad smells of monthly dollar remittances or quarterly supply of imported stuff delivered right through your doorstep.

That racism is not a thing of the past in some parts of the world. There will always be people who will think so low of you when they do not even have a clue when you mindlessly used the word "procrastinating" or "imbecile" in one of your conversations. 

That there will always be an asshole in your workplace that is a walking whino who has nothing on his mind but to slack, ask for an increase in salary but always report to work late, as in 10 am late. Or even a know-all scoundrel who has the nerve to ask you if you know how to use a damn effing pipettor. Really, dude? That's peanut butter & jelly in my CV. 

That earning a monthly salary that is 10x over what you usually get will never ever suffice your growing need for survival because "horcruxes" were inserted in your entire biography to make things harder for you. 

That belonging to a 3rd world country deprived of all the conveniences in living is merely an advantage when you sail overseas because adjusting will never be your problem.

That having a social life means creating multiple social network accounts, updating once in a while, carefully filtering all the information you spill so as not to be hailed as a social climber nor a bandwagoner. 

That the true measure of popularity on this digital age depends on the number of followers and friends you have, even a huge portion of them you haven't even met in person or haven't really talked to during freshmen years. And when this is your social media life, you are essentially the polar opposite of popular. 

That a status update on Facebook or a 140-character tweet done by a douchebag could ruin your already obliterated day. Who would think that self-control and anger management is best honed when checking your timeline and news feed? 

That you are RUNNING SHORT of falling stars to wish on so you could DEMAND for your ONE GREAT LOVE to find you & save you from being the shabby slave, growing impatient, desperate to love that you are. 

That the height of immature teenage girlishness these days is FAME, surpassing the old cliche of happily ever after fantasy in some cocky European castle. 

That the fastest way to stardom is uploading a video on YouTube hoping one day a stroke of luck will cross your way and your clip will become viral all over the net, regardless if that 2 minute airtime is a display of your talent, random weirdness or your most hidden physical form. Sex video, as we may know became the igniting fortune to some of today's celebs like Paris Hilton and Kim Kardashian. Not that they actually both need it, their wealth itself is an easy ladder to fame.

That plastic surgery is a badge you wear on your face, an easy claim that you have hefty money in your resume. More than the expensive arm candies or wardrobes screaming of the millions you could easily ditch, looking as if you indeed found the elixir of life should rightfully land you on Forbes list.

That even you were born organized and neat-freak, there will always be massive loose ends you need to tie-up because life bitching on you is only one of the signs that you are alive and still not rotting six-feet under.

That one fateful day, you will meet that ONE GREAT LOVE. Someone you will love to hate, love to live with and love to die for. Someone you will SOON say "I do" wearing your dream wedding dress, someone worth all the pain, malevolence and deceit you've been through. Thank you babe! 

That living this LIFE doesn't have to be in proper sequence. Being an iconoclast can give more self satisfaction than sticking to the idealism of some overrated prophet. Who sets the standards anyway? I have seen so many people went through life in reverse but they remain biologically capable like any eukaryotic organism.

That even after 30 or 40 years, a lot of people still don't know what they want to be or what they want to do. Not only souls get sucked up in the LOST alleyway, living people actually are worst. 

That there are actually NO RULES or default programs on how you should handle your timed existence on earth. I believe that for as long as you respect that there's a Supreme Being much much powerful than any of us, the one controlling our lives, every goodness follows and all you need is your mind and your heart to design the rest of it.

I am feeling a tad bit defeated. Conveying how a 30-something have lived her life seems to be a little outside everyone else's sphere of comprehension. I could be flayed alive and stitched back together over and over again and still no one can fully understand how one came to perceive all of these. Be guileless, to settle my heart to the things and people that make me shine brighter: these I know for sure. 

If you are a young blood on your way making tiny steps, no annihilation intended from my end. 

Social Network Scoop

 

It is Holy Week and with it are the ultra modified ways of observance alongside the digitally enhanced society. This is when abstinence perceptibly takes off and individuals hold themselves deliberately from the hefty indulgence on earth. Last year, for exactly 40 days, I challenged myself to an absolute milktea-free system. It was painstakingly appeasing and I survived (Yes, I'm not exaggerating).

 

My gaze was yanked to this neoteric piece of  technology at my desk, a laptop. And then an idea suddenly plummeted into a free fall inside the saner side of my head, what if for at least 3 days we go entirely shunned from the cyber milky way? What if the 2.5 billion internet users and their social networking accounts go off the radar for just a while?  The oxymoron called deafening silence will conclusively be justified I assume, but there is totally no surge of motivation in my life right now for me to take up this dare, blatantly. 

 

Assuming we all participate, these are the top 4 things these SN sites will definitely miss about us & in the same way, the top 4 things we will definitely miss about them:

 

 BATTLE OF THE WALLS

 

The digital way of ruining somebody's life and divulging scandalous things by posting on the profile wall of a site user. It is a destructive way of some people who are  seeking revenge because of numerous reasons like being cheated on, being the subject of a buzzing gossip, some long forgotten debts, petty cat-fights on teens or even grave threats on scammers. Funny how in a simple two-liner statement, one could be the subject of ruthless judgements. We witness pointless word wars everyday, and you could instantly point out those who take advantage of the heat and spice up the conversation even more (sawsawero & sawsawera in Filipino).Your friend's enemy becomes yours too, and together you destroy a life in front of your foe's 1000+ friends or 300+ followers. 

 

It can also be a posted statement or a subtweet (subliminal tweet) that may not directly mention a person. Pretty safe when read by the innocent but produces the same catastrophic result for the guilty party. A piece of advice though, spell check & grammar check should be your best buds before hitting the post button or else the grammar police will forcibly pull you over just to humiliate you.

 

 

 

 

UNPAID FOOD WHORES

   

The automatically posted photos of food right before devouring them, popularly known as food pornography. Perhaps the most liked moment on any social media, this type of post is one of my favorites as well. It gives people an over-all idea on where to dine next, what to eat when you try a newly opened bistro or simply promote a new food product that you think should gain the publicity. For others this is a bit of irking, kinda like blustering a lifestyle that some might not afford. But if you think your photography skills were honed enough, I say go ahead and take that snap shot before starting to nibble on. This is an excellent marketing strategy for some business companies that we all freely & willingly do for the love of one thing that brings people closer, food.

 

 

 

 

SELFIE PHOTOS

 

A single or multiple shots of one person posted on the internet with caption or quote about beauty, love or personality. A favorite target of relentless onslaught among netizens and the topmost annoying form of vanity. For me, I find it as a powerful form of self-expression especially when done in a classy, portfolio kind of way & of course, not in a regular basis. So whether you are a peroxide beauty, a stunning brunette or even a bourgeois with overflowing confidence, over-doing it ruins the purpose. It pisses your friends especially when their timelines are flooded with your duck face or pouty, red lips. At a different perspective, this is human being as a whole. We all need some tiny bit of admiration once in a while, but you have to carefully step on it so as not to be labeled as attention seeking you know what word follows. Accept the fact you could be & would be judged even if you have edited your picture using the latest app and you have spent a large chunk of fortune on make up & wardrobe because even famous celebrities go through this kind of scrutiny.

 

SOCIAL CLIMBING SHENANIGANS

 

 

The contaminants of the high society, the ever popular, the ever wealthy, the ever gorgeous, the ever smart people who are all over the fudging place. They multiply in a throughput akin to viruses, their life is spiraling in a tailspin & remarkably unstoppable. Signs: photos of designer & high-end brand they recently purchased, check-in at 5-star places & coolest spots, hanging out with beautiful people. Aside from the most hated, i think they are also the most arbitrated amongst the social network users. One part of me says that it is natural to be proud of the things you possess, especially if all came from hard earned money while the other side questions if it is completely necessary to show off. Since freedom of expression still exists, this lies entirely on the social network user's prerogative. So what if we post fabulous things that we have? It's not like everyone has it. And on the other hand, so what if they have those 40 grand bags? It's not like they own the world. They say that everything comes with a price, and the tag of a social climber is indeed expensive.

 

 

 

 

If one day abstinence that compels people to not surf the worldwide web will become mandatory, we will all undoubtedly yearn for the circus that our social network has become. It's dirty, it's fun and most important of all, it reconnects you to people you haven't been in touch for ages. I couldn't be more relieved that we are not obliged to give it up even for a day because that would mean devastation. Social addicts, exploit the privilege in our internet lives, we may never know but in a few years, this too may become obsolete & ancient.  

 

 

 

Scoffing against Anti-Cybercrime Law

“If journalists are duty-bound to heed libel law, why not others who also exercise freedom of expression?”

-- Rep. Bernadette Herrera-Dy (Bagong Henerasyon Party-List)

Netizens from all over the Philippine cyber world have been shaken by devastating news about Republic Act (RA) 10175 or The Cybercrime Prevention Act, recently signed by President Aquino, without the general public being informed about its mere existence. We’ve seen the news, we’ve read the outraged tweets and facebook posts, and we’ve heard the uproar of various blogger and media groups as they file for a Temporary Restraining Order (TRO) on the implementation. But just how would even an innocent internet user could end up suffering from 12 years jail time by simply posting a social rant? 

Okay, so this RA aims to eradicate specifically pornography, website hacking, spamming, to even stealing somebody’s identity which have all been rampant on the internet probably dating back to the 90’s. Ideally, it presents a safer and more blissful browsing experience for Filipinos, but we all know the drill, our social lives are not becoming a fairy tale with a happy ever after ending, not even close to it. The Philippine Police and National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) have both admitted their incapacity to control such crimes from occurring, and this particular bill gives them the go to gather up data from user accounts in Facebook, Twitter, Tumbler, up to the point of eavesdropping on your Skype for them to collect video and voice calls without the compelling need of a warrant. A clear VIOLATION of PRIVACY. On the Official Gazette, I was alarmed on the gravity of punishment that this law intends to impose on all violators, and topping my list of disappointments is the vagueness of online-libel and it's unremarkable definition. Where have all the due processes, the rights to expression and equal opportunities to private communication gone? I am giving my tacit approval to the Filipino blogging community on its battle to cease this newly signed prevaricating act. 

Never have I been a victim of cyber bullying nor any crime associated with the abuse of internet so it wouldn't be fair enough to purposely start a personal rage against the government just because majority of the Filipinos do and obviously because I’m a blogger. I just refuse to be shackled by a law that prevents me from writing what I think and what I believe is RIGHT. Freedom has been a historical issue for this nation, from the ruthless hands of invaders during the world war up until the downfall of a dictatorial leader in the 80’s. Our forefathers have sacrificed an entire lifetime for us to walk the earth with a sense of liberty and independence. Never have we foreseen that as the world evolves to be technically advanced, our country will be left behind because of our lawmakers who fear of being crucified publicly once they commit something against people’s approval.

For the lawmakers to nibble on:

1. Violators : Jail Spaces – Not unless the government sets aside additional sum of budget for constructing additional prison cells, there is no way that the existing city jails could accommodate me and very likely a million more hard-headed citizens that will deliberately continue to practice what we know is a fundamental privilege to manifest our opinions.

2. Scarcity of FREEDOM – As this law is targeted on averting and limiting libelous statements and acts, it subsequently deters people from enjoying unrestricted ability to set forth their belief which is completely a contrary to the essence of DEMOCRACY.

Perhaps I could be prosecuted after posting this blog, and I could definitely be imprisoned for sharing my point of view and vehement stand against this law. But never again call it FREEDOM of EXPRESSION if the government will continue to display it’s blindness on what this unconstitutional bill represents. If the President and other respectable politicians we have elected and entrusted our nation’s fate with truly recognize the vitality of communication sector, then they should abolish this ambiguous product of their undertaking that will produce a passive population. 

As I fearlessly voice out my disapproval on Anti-Cybercrime law, I also convey my decisive condemnation on any form of cyber crime especially those that involves exploitation of children and hacking. The animosity is that these two is being separated by a line on the sand which will take a lot of effort, time and wisdom to distinctly outline.   Only a revision of the Anti-Cybercrime Law could silence the din that has eaten up the nation the past days. 




Sources:
Channel News Asia, GMA News Online, Official Gazette

Ravings about a CONSPICUOUS STALKER

Ever got inkling towards someone impertinently prying your socials, as if this scoke spends some considerate time chewing every smashed squirt of word from your blog and twitter posts? You were nonchalant for as long as you remember, and for a while it conceitedly caught you in a little bit of self indulgent realm that this someone’s probably merely admiring you. But things got out of control, the person annoyingly veered off from people’s normal path and unconsciously displayed some stalking potentials. The snooping alone tempts you to wreak havoc and what is insanely frustrating is that you still have the sulkiness to NOT even negate what’s going on.

 

It isn’t exactly what you call a triumph of human intellectuality when she started to sound unbelievably like you & suddenly became interested on the things you are passionately obsessed with while vexingly claiming how ORIGINAL she is. You grew sick of her everyday exaggerated jargon. She has gone as far as tweeting topics same as yours, using the exact words you used; posting music by an artist you have clearly claimed to be your favorite; planning activities you just did some days ago; fussing about stuff that has made you swoon hours before; liking or replying to every update in your profile; to the point of fooling her own self that she actually possesses similar gadgets you oh so love. Were these purely innocent co-incidences? Something iffy is progressively emanating from her personality and you couldn’t quite muster the details as to what type of sociopath she categorically belongs to. It sucks when you finally had the backbone to confront and express blazing fury on her doings just to steer clear from everything, for a fleeting second you had your hopes, but she remained just as invested in emulating and stalking as she ever was.

If only cyber coercion was possible, I would’ve done it, but why even swerve wildly off your upbringing for someone who isn’t worth your ticking time? She may have stormed the castle, but she won’t win the crown. The flattery she may have given from her gratuitous deeds is the least thing I would have hoped for when I signed up in all these accounts. It might be the most fiendish option to bust me out of a situation like this, but I couldn’t have been more delightful upon hitting the “block” button. The constant irritation I experience which I have endured for more than a year instantly disappeared, it was so liberating.  

 

In a world where everyone struggles to stand out among the crowd, mankind resort to doing a lot of unimaginable things to be able to survive the pressures of social media. But do we really need to be marginalized by these modern-day bullies that we tend to forget how easy it is to be who we are? 

 

 

 Stalk much, eh? LET’S PULL YOU BACK INTO RADICAL   NOWNESS. . .

 

 

If there’s a hundredth in a million possibility that you come across this epistle, 3 things of stringent necessities that you should know:

First, I always sardonically reply to your questions in your entire desperate attempt to begrudge me about your so-called grandeur slash pretentious way of life,

That your sneaking in my profile has all been accounted for and I have screenshots of your grammatically challenged timeline and social climbing stance, but most important of all. . .

Not only once but several thousands of times have I plotted a diabolical plan to make you realize that you’re one bad ass of a liar and I want you out of my mortal life for good because never in my spooky nightmare have I thought of partaking in all your charades and gibberish autobiography.

Over and out.