Whoever you are :D

It was unexpected, but appreciated.
Arigatou Gozaimasu!

An Exchange Gift Guide = )

Yesterday I got the comment that I was hard to buy gifts for. I don't really know where that comment came from but since when I window shop I tend to be "needs" specific. I'm posting a list of things I intend to buy the next time I have cash which is probably after Christmas, so if my kind mommy/daddy bought this for me, rest assured I shall be using them.

A Panda Car Head Rest

Actually, I like any panda stuff. Even if its not a head rest.

I need a watch, because I left my only one at the other house I live in.

It doesn't have to be branded but you get the general style.

If you can get it in panda, that would be nice too!

Well its a charger and speaker all in one!

This one is cute and pretty handy for the mall trips. I like the grey one.

Boyfriend Appreciation Day

Today I'll try to make this a less sappy cheesy post though I have to admit I wanted to started this in old english with the line of How do I love thee let me count the ways.... I wanted to make this one since August 27 (when I saw the drafts today), and I'll finally write it as part of Nanowrimo. 

When I was randomly searching on how to deal with boyfriend arguments on the internet a few months ago I was not disappointed. When I typed "my boyfriend is" I got a list of suggestions, majority of them negative, and I found it a tad bit unfair to all the boyfriends in the world (though some may end up deserving the names they are called) to be described in such manner. Granted, I too, am guilty of writing down my thoughts when I am angry / sad but yet I never got around to sit and type about my life when I am happy, maybe because I was so into the moment of enjoying it, and I feel like its about time I actually sat down to write all the good vibes I want to send my boyfriend's way. If I can get the time to talk to him about my problems then I can also have the time to tell him when I am happy and appreciative of all the things he does. 

One of the things I liked about my boyfriend is how easy it is to get into a conversation with him. It doesn't matter what topic it is, he listens and adds his thoughts on the matter too. He makes me feel excited enough to make me want to tell him first whats the interesting thing that happened to my day, and unlike most guys he actually responds. He doesn't mind sharing what happened to his day too even the littlest details which makes me feel I was actually with him when it happened to him. 

Another thing which is probably why I love love him is how stable he is personality wise. Its like even when my own temper flares he doesn't go to immediately fight fire with fire and he doesn't mind talking all the issues out until we get to the root cause of the problem, unlike in the past where I'd get stuck in ignoring/quiet spells, cool-offs, and lets just break up over this fight thing (though I am guilty of it too). With him I can count that we are still in a relationship even if we were in a fight (and not get surprised that I'm already single because my ex told all our friends the next day at school we were already over). 

His independence and strength of character really amazes me too. To be self-supporting at such a young age, not afraid to take risks and go across countries, and to have the initiative to work to make things better considering the environment he grew up in... To me its really something. 

He makes me laugh. Damn witty this one. 

Our complimentary strengths and weak spots. 

How responsive he is. I mean he really listens to what you're saying and if there's something I am unhappy with like less time due to work, suddenly I feel like 'why is he around at this hour when he has work tomorrow?' or when conversations always get cut short, I know when he is making up for it when I get the full details the day after; and on the dangerous topic of why I hate his girl "best friend" who is a totally passive-aggressive, attention seeking, and in a need of a therapist kind of person, at the back of my head I know he has been making changes to accommodate competing interests, even if my appreciation for his efforts are lacking or sidetracked by the latest eyebrow raising thing that girl bff has done and what not.    

I have to end this short now that he is awake. Lol.

    

Staycation 101: Movie Marathon

Ted (July 2012)

Now this is one movie I wish I've seen together with my boyfriend as recompense for all the chick flicks he may have sat through in his lifetime. Maybe its the bear, or the fact that it has such a foul mouth that makes this movie totally hilarious, or the fact that one can totally relate to it as it details every single man-child manifestation there seems to exist about men. From the girlfriend vs. bestfriend wars, to not dealing with emotions, childhood fears, 'immaturity', and what not; Mark Warhlberg who I thought was too old for this in the trailers was the perfect 35 year old who needs to grow up, after all, a man with a talking bear, no matter how awesome that bear is, is still a man with a bear. I'm going to stop here lest I ruin the magic of it in my head.

The Sweetest Thing (April 2002)

This one frankly bored me last year when I first saw it starting on HBO so I promptly flipped the channel in my bout channel-hopping. However, since I inadvertently got this copy from a friend, I decided to give this movie a chance, and then I realized its not so bad.

Typical Hot Blonde. Hot. Bitch. There's a running commentary of men who hates her. She's easy to lay, but closed off in emotions. Perfect for a one night stand but totally clueless about relationships until she decides to take a chance and drive halfway across the state to chase a man she had a connection with in a club only to find that it was already his wedding day the day she arrived. What is the guy to do, cancel his wedding of course!

But all is not lost with this movie because at the day there's this marvelous ode to the male organ sang in the tune of "I'm too sexy for my shirt" and some pretty horrific scenarios I do not want to be caught in, including but not limited to, having a d*ck stuck on your throat. Pretty good laugh even if its gutter humor. 

500 Days of Summer (October 2009)

I just love, love, loveeeee this movie! If I were an English or Humanities Prof, I'd give the writer and director of this movie and A++. This movie brings that scenic quality reading novels brings while keeping the oomph factor and the drama for movies very much intact. My heart went out to this young boy the moment the movie started with the line... this is not a love story. All throughout the movie I was readying myself for a Kleenex because my dear young boy is falling in love and its not his story just yet. I wanted to poke my screen, tell him to come to his senses, and stop himself from falling until he does... But you know what I loved most about this story? That even if things don't go our way, it does not mean we have missed our happy ending.

A Lot Like Love (Aug 2005)

If you are more impressed with the photographs taken within the movie rather than the movie itself that's a pretty bad sign. 

From the moment the movie started, the my first thought was, 'who the hell is this demi moore look a like?', and looking at Ashton Kutcher, well yeah I get the way he looks cute, but he kind of didnot throw off the look of 'dumb'. Its not like he is acting at all, as if he was just doing what he does in his everyday life - talking, having fun with his friends, and getting away with it because, well he looks cute. Cute and cute and that's pretty much it. No I don't hate Ashton, in fact I kind of liked him from his eyes, but I can't help but feel disappointed with this film and him. Considering this was 2005, and the fuckbuddy concept was not over used back then, this movie is totally flat. Just like Valentines Day. Oh wait he starred in that one too. 

Quarterlife Crisis, a day chronicle.

Sad onigiri.

No one said law school was easy, but its reaching the point of me saying everyday 'kill me now' which was I ended up doing a few months before I left the working world. This isn't a whimsical, fly by the moment thing. Rather its the product of cumulative experiences from one semester to another.

I look back to one conversation I had with one of my favorite professors in law school. He described first years as the bright eyed, hopeful individuals who think that law school life is as shiny and bright as it is seen on TV. Years of Boston Legal, Estrada Impeachment Trial, and the Corona Impeachment Trial glamorized the profession to the level of Gossip Girl sensationalizing high school life. Then come their second year where they get the grades from the year before and see that life is not what it seems, become disappointed, see their numbers diminishing, and the general feeling of loss after seeing the class number literally halved. I'm on my third year now, some would say almost at the final stretch, so close, so close to reaching my goal or dooming my fate, asking myself once again do I really want to do this?

Political Science was marketed as the best undergraduate degree course back then. If you took it there's no other career track other than becoming a lawyer, otherwise you'd be stuck as a teacher, a researcher or a bank person, forever enduring the questions of why didn't you go to law school, questions which I endured when I was out there working. On one side half of the people I know in law school had PolSci degrees, but I think its more useful in practice if you had Accounting instead. At least you have the work cut out for you on subjects like Obligations and Contracts, Credit Transactions, and Corporation Law.

I am getting sidetracked.

Ah yes, the great halls of Malcolm Hall always looked pristine, imposing and tad bit intimidating before. Now sometimes I think of it as saddening. I wanted to call it home when I first entered but right now there are periods of revulsion. One professor refused to give me a grade because I cited another in our final paper and he found it insulting (due to a personal political feud). In the next year that professor made a guy kneel so that he would pass in the same subject that he refused to give me a grade in. Now he is a shoo in to be an Associate Justice in the Supreme Court. Now I wonder what it would take to win a case.

The year after that I found myself as an irregular student, going into fourth year and third classes, where the professors expect me to know the answers to subjects I have never taken before. Third year, still the odd man out especially with the re-blocking of the system. I feel like being the ultimate politician because I'm sure I've known entire batches by now. I'm happy to survive on a day to day existence.

Maybe I am suffering from the Facebook effect...
Every post on newsfeed shows all my friends getting married, spending summer in Paris, US, backpacking all over the ASEAN Countries, and here I am, here, getting by trying to keep my dignity intact against everyday onslaught of recitations, lack of sleep, and the generally different temperament of people in law school.

But at the end of the day even if Mom offered to ship me out of the country and not look back, i'm not quitting this until its finished. I don't want to wake up when I'm forty and realize how much I regret not finishing. Thanks love for reminding me that.

Going to College or Not.

For Filipinos education has always been the greatest vehicle for social and financial mobility. Without it, one is stuck with jobs paying the minimum wage (if it is a legitimate employer). A degree is so important to attain here that there are those who also sacrificed their own education in favor of their younger siblings. Like a pay it forward system, the oldest see to it that the younger ones finish first before they attend to their own needs. Then they become so proud of what their younger siblings have achieved.  While there are others who would like to say that they were successful without it, even those who had been successful without it, they themselves have essentially sent their own children to school so that they would not suffer the risk of not being successful in life.

However other countries, primarily the first world which has been beset by the financial crisis are seemingly adopting the view that education may not be that important after all, counting the fact that it does not guarantee a job nor does it guarantee financial gain. To them its a vehicle of incurring a very heavy financial burden that can span to a decade and bottom line is if they are going to earn as much as an uneducated individual they'd rather not study at all. A very different mindset from where I am living in because here, having a degree is basically the minimum requirement if you wish to get any good job outside of a minimum wage, with some self-employed individuals being the exception. There's one serious flaw in the argument of nay-sayers to education though, and that is the equating education with material gain only; it is, in simplest terms, trying to equate a part of your life to the amount of money that the market will dictate. Everyone knows how fickle the law of supply and demand is;  'need' is not the motivational factor of demand, rather it can be as stupid as 'unsubstantiated fears (speculation)' and 'popularity' (think apple fanboys) to drive demand; Ten years from now when the market has again stabilized, what will happen to all those who chose not to study but end up stuck in a world where specialization has become the norm? There is no value created in unskilled labor, something that economists like Samuelson have forgotten, one clear example is China being able to churn out so much cheap and useless products because people would supply common labor in exchange for food. Compare that to goods made in Japan, and Germany where products have been associated with quality.

While there are arguments the higher education is not for everyone, like in MBA where it is discussed that once you have reached your level of incompetence, or in plain terms this student is just plain stupid to comprehend higher concepts; I do not agree that one should cease to pursue education. Its effects cannot be quantified by mere material gain or what an individual earns. An educated society is far better than a country full of idiots or have we all forgotten why there was  a point to civilization? The benefits to the person's psyche, his intellect and his experiences, and the effect to the society he is living in cannot be quantified.  Access to information and education should be made a human right, but until then, with the prohibitive costs of whether or not to get it, I hope that people make the right choice.

Bus Ride Logic

                                                                                                                                                  People's peculiar behavior in public transportation can be a point of observation. One of which is the tendency to flock towards the entry/exit points even if they do not plan on getting off the vehicle anytime soon. 

People in the trains or the bus would rather suffer the heat, the sardine like press against each other to be able to stand by the door, even if there is standing room available at the back. However in defense of those who keep on standing in front I shall argue for them on the basis of the following:

1. Air-conditioning is better at the doors. Really, notice that they even dedicate a vent just upon the entrance to shower you with cold air? During long trips the conditioning at the back wanes or totally becomes lost when the vehicle is stuck in traffic.
2. Thieves may corner you at the back. I was the unfortunate victim of one. I used to prefer window seats at the back because I have the place to myself with a clear view. Until one day a guy sat next to me (I was in the two-seater chair) and started eating into my space. When I was about to tell him off, he asked me to read his celphone and it contained commands to give him my bag and not to make a sound. I do not know what came over me but I suddenly stood up and said "Mama! Wag ka na nga magulo bababa na ako! (Mister stop fooling around this is my stop already. Stop the bus) Para!"  I was able to get off and for the first time in my life I was actually glad to see an MMDA personnel and run towards him. 
3. Aside from thieves there are perverts rampant there. One time our group was flashed with a penis by a guy standing, another time my classmate was groped. Being in the far back conditions your mind that you are isolated and cannot yell for help or something might happen to you first before help comes. 
4. When people start crowding towards the exit point of the Jeepney - everyone is trying to avoid to be seated next to the driver (not because he might smell bad) because he/she does not want to be the one passing the fare all the way to the front throughout the ride. Though it is very annoying when you have a lot of packages with you and people just wont give way. Or when youngsters sit on the edge and expect you to sit-walk to the driver to hand it for them when they wouldn't do it themselves (chalk it up to being mataray, I give these students a stern talking to, it is just so disrespectful! )

That being said I do not think of people's behavior on public transport as conscious actions, so most of the time I try not to mind the inconvenience it brings. It just fuels my desire to buy my own car after I graduate.