Bisaya Bloggers

waahhh! I just finished episode 12. Okay, I think I can explain now why I like C even if she can appear to be weak and martyr-like. C's character is gentle and people-pleasing. Most of the time people take advantage of her because she chooses to just stay true to her character.

However, C is not a martyr, as evidenced by her choices to just leave J and raise her baby and to go to Shanghai. C escapes my hatred for martyr characters because lately she's been choosing to not become a doormat. Being a martyr involves an active choice of hurtful sacrificial ways. Oh, I'm all for self-sacrifice when it's in the right place. My issue is with blind acceptance. And here, I apologize to those who are literally blind, because even without vision, they can accurately perceive things through other means.

So on to Shanghai we are. I'm excited. I'm definitely looking forward to a whole lot more groveling on J's part. Bring it on.

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As I was typing the 42nd comment in a 3-way conversation in an earlier post on Fated to Love You, I realized that our FTLY conversations need to move to a new post. Ate Rai and Ate Yammy, here's to the coming Shanghai episodes!

Ang malas ko naman! I had just gotten back into the groove of snail mail again, when USPS announces price increases, effective May 12, 2008. Forever Stamps can still be used even after the price change. Five billion of them are ready to meet the increased demand before the price change.

According to the website:

First-Class Mail letter (1 oz.) $0.42 First-Class Mail letter (2 oz.) $0.59 Postcard $0.27 First-Class Mail large envelope (2 oz.) $1.00 Certified Mail $2.70 First-Class Mail International to Canada and Mexico (1 oz.) $0.72 First-Class Mail International to all other countries (1 oz.) $0.94

Argh. And I was going to resume writing to my international buddies once again. Pretty soon, each piece of mail will cost a dollar. This is why I love me the internets.

I have a friend who for many years wanted to tell me that
she wasn't into men she was scared that I was a homophobic.
We were really close and people were always asking me
if she was straight of course she was I would tell them that she was.
I remember even in college some classmates were telling me
that she wasn't straight but I defended her and last October
she came out and told me that what people were saying about
her was true all along.

I did tell her that she made me feel so stupid because
I was the last to know. I tell her almost everything and
anything about meand yet something as major as this she wouldn't
tell me because she doesn't think I would understand
She said that she always wanted to tell me.

Why didn't I learn from the past? this has happened before
to another person in my life. She was always hanging
out with this girl. The girl was always at her house and
people were asking me if they were together and
I would tell themthat it's really not nice to put malice
onthe actions of other people.

I simply refusedto believe that she wasn't straight.
I never asked her because if it were true I was
hoping that she would tell me.

Until we attended a support group meeting and that
was where she casually told the other people
there that she had a girlfriend. I almost fell out
of my chair and if i was drinking something
i almost surely spit it out.

Am I homophobic? I don't think so.I have friends and
relatives who are gay and lesbians.I accept them for who
they are but I admire them for being true to themselves.

I know i'm rambling here.. maybe next time I hear
something about a friend maybe I could just ask
them straight up if it's true or not so that
I wouldn't be the last to know

(Placeholder)

• a coyote sighting
• winding dark road
• "school bus stop ahead" repeated several times
• missing 60th Ave W
• car chase -- we almost got hit by the car being chased
• rake man
• tailgating sedan
• hidden street signs
• wooded area of
• watchful neighbor
• a useless phone call
• 
  

Will update soon. If there's anything missing, let me know.

toni buzzed our yahoogroups about this malu fernandez woman who wrote an article for people asia magazine talking about her trip to greece and being stuck in an economy seat with OFWs. while she brand-name-drops her way throughout the entire article about her cavorting in greece then to boracay, malu fernandez makes the mistake of bashing her countrymen at her self-declared private hell of the plane's economy class. it has created such a stir in the blogosphere that there are reactions from all over. they're all quite interesting reads, from what i would term as uupakan kita, jologs na may Louis Vuitton bag retorts to the poor woman who thinks her poop is gold doesn't know better entries. other entries about it here, here and here.

my reaction to toni's email was, "isasakay ko tong babaeng to sa magnolia fragrance papuntang tawi-tawi, tingnan ko lang kung di siya masuka sa louis vuitton bag niya!" (i'm gonna put this woman on magnolia fragrance to tawi-tawi and let me see if she doesn't puke in her LV bag!). and my reaction to her article, "you're mouth and mind needs some lysol itself. some of your gold are stuck up your arse, too."

she also makes a retort here. an excerpt:

As I type this, I’d like you to know that it’s not about whining, complaining and bitching but just stating the facts. Just recently, I wrote a funny article in my magazine column and my friends thought it was hilarious. It was humorous and quite tongue-in-cheek, or at least I thought so, until the magazine got a few e-mails from people who didn’t get the meaning of my acerbic wit. The bottom line was just that I had offended the reader’s socioeconomic background. If any of these people actually read anything thicker then a magazine they would find it very funny. Most people don’t get the fact that they need bitches like me to shake up their world, otherwise their lives would be boring and mediocre. I obviously write for the a certain target audience and if what I write offends you, just stop reading.

puh-leeze. some people with lower socioeconomic background are better bred than you are. even if all they get to eat are noodles and rice to get by and you get to stuff yourselves with escargot and champignon (which is just the sosyal way of saying suso at kabute, noh). we may not be your target audience, we middle class people, but we can read and we know when we are being put down.

people asia publishers, why did that article made it in your pages in the first place? i know your mag is all about the finer things in life, one that majority of us can not afford... but to actually put down hardworking people who just want to give their families the comforts that you enjoy everyday... it's inexcusable. you're like a voldemort-controlled daily prophet who just employed rita skeeter.

i did stop in my tracks about my reaction and wondered... might have i done the same? might i have put down people of different calss? i had to review my entry about that magnolia fragrance ride to be sure whether i deserved to bury my head in shame as well. for most part of the entry, i thought... damn shit, letse rin pala ako! but thankfully, i saved myself from further shame by ending it with saying that it was a lesson of humility for me. whew. however, i realized that i should really be more conscious of how i deal with those who are different from me. because i definitely do not want to be like this woman.

i used to envy these people living the good life... to just be able to get things easily without needed to scrimp too much just to get it. but then, after all this... i'd rather learn to respect people without regard to their cash or class.

The quarter where I worked the hardest in all my years at SPU, is the quarter that I got the lowest GPA. I don't know what it means. Study less? Study more? Stop caring?

What follows is a true-to-life encounter, and a true-to-life reaction of the author. If you do not agree with me, step out of my way.

When I read interviews of new "stars" in Philippine showbiz, the one thing that irritates me is this:

Interviewer:What is your favorite book?
"Star": I'm not a book-reader, sorry...

Not a book-reader? Did you not go to school? Of course you are a book-reader. Those reading primers are books. Those dictionaries are books. Oh, perhaps, you meant to say "book-lover"? That's a different thing. I understand not all people are booklovers. Most people have other passions. But to say you have not encountered a book you have liked is preposterous.

Tapos, the "star" has a matching "sorry." It carries a tone of arrogance, at which I bare my claws. While I am all for honesty, I am also for racking your puny little brain to think of a single book you have found interesting.

Perhaps you are too young to have read enough to decide on a favorite. That's alright, too. We never get to a point where we have read enough to decide on an all-time favorite. In fact, the more you read, the more the question becomes ridiculous. But I get back to the excuse of not reading books. Is that even a viable reason in this day and age, when books are so widely available that printed books are threatened by the all-encompassing world wide web?

Do your "fans" a favor and read a book? Be engrossed in it. Live through the characters. Come out changed. I challenge you.

I'm getting 3 wisdom teeth extracted as soon as I decide how to come up with the 700 bucks needed. I know I am paying less than some people I know but I am really irritated at how I need to spend that much to deal with a "problem" that has yet to materialize. Grrr. Grrr, ulit.

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A guy is writing about his love of his life, who happens to be his younger sister's bestfriend. As Ate Mona says, this has entertainment potential. Personally, I want a happy ending for this stranger. Check out his story, which you can piece together from his witty entries.