damaged ego

You can never be knocked off a pedestal if you don't put yourself on it. It's as simple as that.

Once you get the idea, no amount of humiliation or embarrassment can ever bring you down. We may not agree at first but it is true that one's honor and dignity is best protected with humility.

It's hard to live by this, I know. But these are the facts that we need to accept to make ourselves better.

Whenever you feel embarrased, just be humble, dust yourself up, and move on.

pure genius

I just can't get enough of Love Me Butch's Barricade.

Love Me Butch - Barricade

I still get goosebumps whenever I listen to this. One of the best songs I've heard so far.

bad decisions

We all know that we don't think clearly when we're emotional.

Earlier today, on my way to work, I saw a very unruly driver who kept swerving and cutting cars off. I noticed him because he once tried to cut me but failed. After trying it for a second time, he was able to get ahead of me. However, for some reason, he kept changing into the wrong lanes and I would go past him again as he got stuck behind a jeepney or a car making a turn. He would then speed up again, swerve, and cut cars to catch up. I know that he wasn't in any emergency because he didn't have his hazard signal on. I think he was just really impatient.

Having a defective car horn, I've trained myself to become a defensive driver. Every time I encountered him, I just let him overtake me. I just kept thinking that maybe he really needs to do a number 2.

Unfortunately for him, not all drivers think like me. So, after I let him get in front of me, he changed lanes and tried to cut off a van upfront. He was able to do so but he did it wrong and he almost hit the van. Because of this, the van screeched to a halt and we drove past it. Now this is where it got exciting. I was in between them so I saw all the action. As it turned out, the driver of the van was also hot-headed. I was watching from my rear-view mirror as the van sped up and recklessly tried to catch up with us. Of course I gave way because I wanted to see what he was up to. The van was able to catch up with the car and he was provoking the other driver by either driving too close or by trying to cut him off at high speed. He did that twice. On his third try, something went wrong. He miscalculated and actually hit the side of the car. I knew this because I almost got hit by the debris that came off of the car. At that point, they were still at it, provoking each other, and I was like cheering "Woooot!" It was like watching a car-chase scene from an action movie. I wanted to see what will happen next but unfortunately, I was already near my turn and I'm already late for work.

I don't know what happened to them but I do  hope they both learned their lessons. We are most likely to do stupid things when we are emotional.

Now, come to think of it... Based on recent surveys, we were ranked as the most emotional country. Is it also possible that because of this, we also rank high in doing really stupid sh*t? Hmmm... It would make sense though.

online people-power

In a society where anything and anyone can get sensationalized online, it would be wise to just be careful and be mindful of your actions in public.

The flavor of the month, the supposedly lying (la-ying) student who reprimanded a security guard for some unknown reason, is now so popular that she now has her own catch phrase and meme. To be honest, I didn't even view the video. I knew once it appeared on my feed that this would be another case of "cyber-bullying the real-life bully" that would eventually transition into "protecting the cyber-bullied, misunderstood bully." It's just a never-ending cycle that we're all too familiar with.

With our culture heavily influenced by telenovelas, we rally and rally against an oppressor until we overdo it. We pity the oppressor who now has become the victim. We quote human rights to protect the initial oppressor and blame society and the unrully un-named masses. We forgive the oppressor. Then, optionally, we vote for the now-popular oppressor who have decided to run for office. Then we find another bully to glorify and the cycle goes on.

Anyway, going back to the topic, people should already know by now that whatever you do offline can easily get immortalized online and that anything posted on the Internet can be scrutinized by easily-rallied, anonymous, and self-righteous masses. Even this blog post can't escape that truth.

So, again, in a society where anything and anyone can get sensationalized online, it would be wise to just be careful and be mindful of your actions in public. Unless, of course, you're really seeking the attention.

new updates available

Alright! The Blogger app for Android has been updated! At long last!

I'm trying it out right now and I'm liking the new layout. I hope I get to post more entries using this tool.

The only issue I have for now is that I haven't figured out yet how to pick from the labels I've already used.

Android Blogger App 

great pretender

A friend once told me that I was a great pretender. He didn't mean it as an insult but it wasn't a compliment either. I believe he just called me out on it to make me stop and ponder on what I'm doing.

This little incident happened back when I was still a teenager - some time after high school, I believe. Admittedly, my friend was spot-on about it.

When I was still young, acceptance from my peers, and from society in general, was very important to me. I struggled to keep myself updated with all of the things that were popular; I forced myself to like the things that I don't really show interest in; I did stuff that I don't normally do and don't even like; All for the sake of fitting-in.

I remember that day very clearly since it had become one of the most important events in my life. It was a bright, sunny afternoon. It was at the mall near our school. I was eating snacks with some friends who I was trying really hard to impress. The topic was sports. People who know me knows that I'm not athletic. On that day, however, nobody knew for sure and I wanted to make people believe that I was so that I could be "in." Surprisingly, I pulled it off. I fooled the people around me... well, except for this single friend. He saw through my ruse and he called me out on it with a smirk. That made me stop. He did it correctly though since I didn't get offended nor humiliated.

What he did struck me hard. Since then I no longer pretend to be someone I'm not just to get the approval of the people around me. I have had a few slip-ups every now and then when I'm caught off guard but I make sure that I don't follow it through. Maybe this is also the very reason why I only keep a small circle of friends. I keep only those who accepted me for who I am.

So far, I believe I have made the right choice. I haven't really thanked that friend for what he did so this is why I'm posting this. I'm just going to thank him by paying it forward.

Now, this one is for you, my other friend. I think you know who you are.

I know you are putting on a mask to get the approval of people that you think is important in your life. I suggest you stop for a while and think about what you are doing. I can see through your ruse and I'm calling you out on it.

metaphors

My insatiable hunger is currently on. This usually happens when I've got my eyes set on something I can't seem to have. Why does my desperation have to translate to food? Why can't it be success instead? Or drive? Or anything else more beneficial and productive?

I've just finished eating bacon. With rice. And Jalopenos... Yes, jalopenos... Everything tastes great with jalopenos lately. I just hope I didn't get eat too much since it's already late in the evening.

Anyway, I need to do something about this. I'm just writing it down to acknowledge that there is a problem and that I need to address it soon. My subconscious associates the things that I've been wanting so badly with bacon, pork chops, and steak. If this is a subliminal metaphor, then it looks like I may have more issues on my plate than I've originally thought of.

Oh, well.

And now, to make things worse, I've got chocolate on my mind. Toblerone to be specific. Damn it.