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..."