Thursday, January 24, 2008 12:43 PM.

Someone from the my former university's yahoogroup forwarded to the loop a message that contained the supposed pork and perks of our dear, dear congressmen. The message apparently was reeking in disgust as the sender put before the message the note: Yikes!

The following was the exchanges I had with two other members of the group. Mr. Cirunay, I believe is based in the US. Mr. Jabonero worked as an IT head of a fastfood chain and, from what I have gathered, has just recently moved to Manila to work for a bank.

This can really be long
---

Sent: January 25, 2008 1:05 AM

Re: The perks of being a congressman- yikes!

Telling us about it is one thing. Asking the public officials to stop or minimize it, especially the subject congressman, is another thing - must be the thing.

Why don't your write your congressmen or ask your friends to have an email blast requesting your congressmen to have a reasonable expenditures in their tour of congressional duties if there's any?

It is sad to know about their expensive habits and (maybe unnecessary) functions when their constituents could not even afford to buy one Calamansi to dilute their bagoong.

Let them know that these are not acceptable.

C. N. Cirunay


--

Sent: Friday, January 25, 2008 10:00 AM

that was a good take mr. cirunay, really. good to hear that someone here takes the time to, well, suggest something over something so serious, and gross, as this.

but you know, stories such as corruption and stuff, appear too mundane already that not even the distinguished members of this loop--you know, those that are comfortably up there--would not care to notice anymore.

or are we too lazy to care anymore?
too dense?
too jaded?
too comfortable?
or too afraid?

maybe the last one?
or all of the above, im scared.


---thinking aloud here.


jeff

--

Sent: Monday, January 28, 2008 10:56 PM

Perhaps Mr. Tupas, some of us, are feeling tired but not lazy to care anymore about the topic.

The email that was sent over the group is pretty obvious that there's a lot of "MEAT" in that congress of slaugther. Pork Barrel is the second thing next to
power, why that position is really "HOT".

So, some of us won't take a damn suggestion because this is Philippine Political System. You can't change it, unless you take one seat and make Adobo(Filipino Style) out from that "MEAT" and you share it to every Filipinos... and serve while it's "HOT".

(Unsigned but this came from Mr. Jabonero)

--

Sent: Monday, January 28, 2008 2:00:11 PM

That the political system of this country can only be changed by those who were put into office--thanks to the infamous phones calls and the overflowing money during elections--- sounds as hopeless as witnessing a catatonic ex-punk feast over leftovers straight from the garbage bin of some fastfood chain.

What i am saying, and i guess you would graciously concede to it, Mr. Jabonero, is that something has to be done and this was perfectly articulated by Mr. Cirunay. While there are more other better things to do other than what Mr. Cirunay suggested, for me it was one of the best things to do now. A lot better, in fact, than succumbing to silence and, as you've said, laziness.

One more thing--I think something went amiss with the first sentence of your last paragraph because there's a huge, huge difference between making suggestions and taking some.

Jeff


And oh--PS.
The last time I checked, Adobo is indigenously Pinoy, a reason why one movie had to be really definite about the dishe's foreign variation. Remember American Adobo?


Peace (with justice).

--

Sent: Tuesday, January 29, 2008 1:00:56 PM

I am still surprised that despite the education we posses , majority believes that only the congressmen or the officials of the government can make the change we like.

Did we forget that Philippines is still a democratic country and that its government is still for the people and by the people? We are the government. About the problem we have, I do not blame anybody, but we the people, who elected these crooks and put them in that position. We are a part of the problem. If we hate these people, we are just shooting ourselves.

If we talk about these so-called "problems", we will never solve them because it is not really a problem. It is just a symptom of the real problem. The real problem is us. So, the solution will come form us if we take the responsibility of the situation we created. Think about it.

C N. Cirunay

--

Sent: Tuesday, January 29, 2008 3:16:33 PM

Amen to this sir.

Maybe too much airconditioning paralyzes one. Or worse, sends a person into a state of coma. Well, what could be worst than that? Becoming oblivious of the basics is unspeakably unspeakable. I blame this to the hoax "coolness" caused by the airconditioning system of our offices. It closes the pores of the skin and shuts down the other senses, rendering one feeless.

Mr. Cirunay, sir, education is not a guarantee, and will never will, that we become better persons or more. One can even sell his values and his dignity as a person even one is the head of the state. I know you know this so well that, I know, too, you were just faking it when you said that you were surprised about the ignorance of some on the basics of democracy. As I have said, education can never be a good barometer.

That's all for now. Thanks.

Now, back to my steamy-as-a- sauna work station.

Jeff

There appears to be an intense techwar, particularly in telecommunications, in the UK today that might interest the monarchy or the hotties called William and Harry and their not-so-hottie girls. Sorry, I’m bitter. The clash has now, as expected, been brought to the battlefield of no-monthly fees, cheap tariff and charges, dependable line quality, and attractive line of services.

Leading the fight now is TalkTalk that offers free broadband and free calls to local, national and international landline phones. Had this been offered many years ago, I surely would have enjoyed much more the long talks I had with my ex who based in London. She would have certainly saved her pounds had she availed of this. Hahaha…

Another London-based TalkTalk user friend, in a chat, told me that the best advantage of the service is on the cheaper-and-better-than-BT department. This I will still have to find out, though. And will only find out if she starts calling my landline through TalkTalk.

I always bump around Tiara, the editor-in-chief of University of the Philippines-Mindanao's Himati, everytime I visit Coffee Spot, the sanest place along the constantly-frenzied-mode Claveria St. of Davao.

The frequent encounter with her at Coffee Spot makes me think--ok, the girl is part of the whole package. Like, she's no different from the cakes and the pastries inside the brightly-lit showcase. It's like she's owned the place and it owned her already. One day, I was tempted to ask her--"are you a stockholder?"

But like me, the girl only wants to enjoy the offerings of Coffee Spot: free, as in generously overflowing, internet connection that hits the very-good-to-excellent mark, a smokers' den that is still reached by the piped-in music, and the, err....ok coffee.

It's always writing and journalism that unites the two of us. As a mainstream practicing journalist, I have had the chance to share with her and her group some inputs about, err...journalism (what else?). I usually do the talking during these sessions, no matter how I encourage a very animated exchanges.

Recently, though, things took another shape between us as I found her lecturing on me a matter that sounded sooooo mathematics to me--blogvertise.

Listening to talk about figures gave me the chill. I felt like I'm once again standing small, face to face, with my highschool algebra teacher. She's the charming the version, though.

"It's easy."

"Yeah, right."

"Really. Believe me...imagine me and my brother are into it."

"Uhhha?"

"I'm earning at least 300 dollars a month...Pearl is earning more that than. And my brother is earning as much as I earn too. And Pearl's sister earns this much, too...and Pearl is planning to quitting this job to concentrate on this..."

"Really?"

"Look, one day I went to the mall with my brother and we splurged. You know, we can now afford to splurge---together!"

"What's it called again?"

"Blogvertise."

So I found myself turning on my lappy, wrote blogvertise and punched the enter key.

heath ledger


goodbye my lover
but thank you, anyway
for allowing us to witness you;
touch your naked life
as you touched ours...
and as you smile,
and raise a thumb
a disgruntled soul
smiles back
and raises a thumb, too...

that you will be ok there
is spoken by that smile,
much more spoken by that raised thumb
clearly
than a shattered picture
that hanged on your wall
the one that constantly reminded a disgruntled soul
that it's ok
no matter what...
and how...

but the pills said it's today
only today...

My take on gay relationship (and my lack of it):


2 rolls of toilet paper
1 bottle of Clear shampoo
1 box of Oreo
1 pack of cotton buds
1 box of medium-sized toothpaste
1 ream of Marlboro, red
1 note that says: dahil malaki ang galit natin sa ating mga baga (because we so hate our lungs).


These and my belief that love is a verb.
But succumbing to the inability to muster something that probably would have given justice to that verb--because, in fact, there is more to it than just being an action word.
And learning to love Vanessa Carlton's A Thousand Miles...
And drowning in his memory as Vanessa Carlton did
And feeling very, very important after that short exchange of messages.
Then submitting to cerebrality that dictated: Delete The Number Now!
And deciding to love him silently...
But looking forward for summer,
And waiting for (another) Christmas.

...all these as you imagine him telling you: "you're just mystified..."

Kalai was telling me about how he felt sluggish the past few days. He told me about this as he pathetically tried to widen his drooping eyes, as if to convince me to drop my preoccupation over something other than his story. The only thing that kept him busy the past days, he said, was sleep. Sure he was lying. He has been reading books--lots of it. And movies, too.

Last night, few minutes before he told me he's going to sleep early again, he had a conversation with Bridget Jones. And he recounted this conversation to me--how Bridget thinks about things almost exactly how one does in his lonesome, for instance, while walking--while we were walking.

What he really wanted to tell me, I know, was that he was Bridget Jones. And that I was trudging that desolate road with Bridget Jones. That he was not a slug despite feeling sluggish afterall.

I gave that to him, though. Got no problem with that. He's a friend, you know.

This Kalai is leaving few days from now. He's taking a break and I hope he makes it really big time there. I owe a lot of things to this Kalai--really lots of it.


This one here Kalai introduced to me. Thanks for making me fall for Ste. Hope you meet my Ste there. Warm regards...

Why I failed to attend and, yeah, host the yearly party of journalists covering the military and police beats end of December last year was because I was sent out somewhere to cover another Party.

Now this one explains the absence. Click here to find out.

Warning: Raw...raw...raw...in a hurry to meet a friend for coffee and chismis. This may appear like a spew of bitter diresion from me but as Nelson told me: "Who the hell cares if you are bitter!"




A couple of times last week, I experienced the unimaginable.

First, it made me realize that Davao, the largest city in terms of land area in the whole world (next to Puerto Princesa), can actually reduce itself into something like the size of a can. You know that small thing where they force-in five to six pieces of poorly tomato-sauced juvenile fish? That's it. A tin can.

Second...there's no "second" actually.

What I am trying to say is nothing because what I realized and experienced twice last week were almost tantamount to nothing. It was just Athan. You remember him?

I mean, a month after he left me in the middle of a dead busy highway, why the hell would he choose to eat in the same Tapsilog Center where I was eating. Hello! I arrived there first. I ordered food first and that does not mean that I must leave the place first?

That he showed up there was perfectly nothing, right? As nothing as seeing him eat with in the same Tapsilog Center with someone whom you, from the start, suspected as his new beau. Right, it's perfectly nothing with the thought of his supposed reason why he went corpse-cold over your almost two-year relationship always made you feel like a destraction--totally--to his bright, bright future.

There was, of course, nothing wrong with that, except that you, as you consistelty stood by your atheism as a personal-political statement, wrote essays--his project in theology--about how you adored the thought of lying next to god and all the angels and saints afterdeath--and you learn later that the essay earned him a 98 percent rating, something that you did not, no matter you tried, get when you were taking theology classes back in college.

Sure, there was nothing wrong with him seeing with someone. What was wrong, you would stress, is that they do not, in any inch, look good together. Not that you and him looked good together when you were still together but, hey, they looked like---unimaginable.

But of course, you are not easily pressured by anything that are not pleasing to the eyes and to the feeling. You would claim you had a blast after taking a break and finding out that you are crazy over some crazy guys you barely know the real name. But what's unpleasant to the eyes would either push you to break out into laughter or in panic and dread.

And unimaginably, you did both while you were frantically sending our text messages to your friends about the horrible sight that just unfolded before you.

But because your new year was great, despite how simple it was spent (thanks to that can of corned beef and Julian...hahaha...), you go meet your friends and tell them what you just saw and they end up laughing with you as you tell them how you bubblily greeted he-who-left-you "haaaaaaayyyyyy...how are you?" and how you only got that usual demeanor you have always convinced him to dropping because it always made him look like stupid.

And then you, next few days while you are onboard a taxi, see them again in this small cafe by the road. And then, you inspect the self and feel the self and you find the self laughing so hard that it scares the driver so much for him to ask: "Naunsa ka dong?"