A one-live cat’s life

according to the devil it was the witch’s fault
she was a wicked witch
the witch snucked and snooped into the devil’s privacy
The devil did not like it
He was furiuos
The devil says the witch is full of insecurity
He got tired of it
The witch is wicked
she keeps her pent up anger inside of her
The witch was tolerant
The devil thinks she was stupid
She was pushover
The witch came from the province
The devil judges her with no fashion sense
He is frustrated and thinks the witch is ugly
big nosed, wrinkled and old and nasty insults
the devil is powerful than the witch
He thinks the witch as a jealous whore
the devil is stronger
He deceived a lot of and made them his minions
The witch do not have a soul and thoughts as black as the devil
The devil thinks it was too boring
the witch bieng a witch flies often flies on her broom
The devil thought as a weakness to the relationship with the witch
The witch is female, she cries at times
the evil hates emotions
The witch hated confrontation
The devil thinks he can not speak her mind and can not defend herself
the witch asks too many questions
the devil sometimes think she is not as stupid as he thought
the witch according to the devil is a psychobitch
The devil do not want psychobitches
he thought the witch was weak, ugly, stupid and will not be a worthy minion
It was the witch’s fault why she wasnt a devil’s advocate

…he says it was all her fault
…that was the devil’s side of story
…but then again, a story do have two sides to tell
…The witch’s story might be kept and will never be revealed
…the last time i saw the witch she looked happy but she was sad deep inside it does seem she feel a lot of anger inside of her
the witch is my friend… but i am not sure if i am gonna stay with her for long …

Again, I tell you, I am not the most religiuos person in the world.  I have my own belief and I am a Catholic.  One sunday ago, I woke up and decided to go to church early this time for a change.  I told myself I am going to attend the noon mass in greenbelt chapel.

I walk going to Ayala center since i just live almost a kilometer away from that area.  Aside from saving my cab fare, the walk is benifical to my health.

From Villar to Paseo to Makati Ave, straight to greenbelt chapel that is my route.  I was in makati Avenue in front of Peninsula Manila.  There was this long haired guy shouting and trying to ask directions where the Makati Police station is.  I stopped, thinking there is no harm to just tell direction for a person lost I pointed the direction to where the station was.  She was still on the oppositte side of the road. And he was shouting he was a victim of pick-pocket and he lost his wallet.

He told me, wait I am going to cross coz i couldn’t understand what he was telling me.  So i walked toward where there are more people just in case he hurts me :p .. and he told me that he lost his wallet blah blah blah and he was suppose to go to Batangas to attend the 75th birthday of his Lola.  He is from Bulacan.  No he just have coins in his pocket not enough to go either direction.  So he humbled himself and told me he isnt a bad person (actually he is gay).  He was about to cry.  Well I told myself, If this is a way God wants me to act like a Christian on my way to church on a sunday, I told myself ok i should help this person.  I gave him money.  He said thank you he was appreciative.  After that he asked me where i was heading to.  I told him actually I am on my way to greenbelt chappel to hear the sunday Mass.

So he told me he should come with me to thank God for the help he found.  I asked him how much the fare to Batangas is, he told me from makati riding a bus and to Lipa more or less 300PHP.  I just gave him 120PHP.  I was thinking during the mass, should i give this guy more so he can go home to either Bulacan and Batangas.  Offeratory came, the oferratory boy did not pass where we were standing.  I have this thoughts playing in my mind that I just gave away my supposedly tithe to the church.  I have some 5 peso coins which i can give i told myself.  I told myself, If the offeratory boy doesn not pass here, i guess i wll just need to add the coins i have to the money i gave to this lost person.  So after the mass we we had the chance to have a small talk, he told me how he found out how he lost his wallet.  He was hungry and about to eat his lunch before proceeding to Batangas.  The time he was about to check out his wallet, it was not there anymore.  So he is very hungry when i found him.  So he asked me after the mass where i was heading.  I just planned to hang around Starbucks to Study for work, and just work on my laptop.  Something just told me to feed him.  So i asked him so i can give him additional fare coz i do not have change, I need to have my money changed.  Well I can not buy myself a drink and i leave this hungry person starving, so i told him if he wanted to something, we got sandwich and drinks.  We chatted and he finished his meal.  He gave me his mobile number because he told me he will pay me back the following day, Monday after he gets out from school.  He is doing is Public Administration in PUP. I told him no need.  There might also be a reason why i found you i told him.  he told me to promise him that i should send him an sms the day after so i could meet him.

Monday came, I sent him an SMS, but there was no reply forever until now.  Until now i am wondering, did i get the correct number? He might have swinddled me, was more or less 500 pesos. I told myself its not my loss if he did.  And i wasnt expecting the help to be returned anyway so I just brushed it off.  I realize i just gave him my week’s baon.  And then just awhile ago, I realize, having had attended again another hosted seminar for the customer at work, its understood that there will be free snacks and lunch.  Now i realized, the money i gave away was ok.  I will not starve because i will be having the free meals till Thursday.

Now how cool is that? he really works right in very mysterious ways

One of my yahoo mail groups of my high school homeroom, Oneil had to rave about his issues about Marah’s experience in Japan as an exchange student.  She told herself before, that she will never leave this country ever! 

One month ago, she was so excited she got an opportunity to be travelling and to be chosen as an exchange student to Japan.  It will be her first time to travel out of the country.  She just got home last Friday, she told me she was half happy and half sad.  Half sad because the travel had to end too soon.

Aside from bieng happy for her first time out of the country trip, her eyes were opened to reality.  The is a world outside Philippines.  Just like what other people would have seen and experience going out of the country, mostly i shall say, they saw how far Philippines is left behind among the other nation.
Technology, Political and Economic status are often our measure in comparisson.  Then we feel pity on our country.  And how we wished that our country is as nice as these countries that are already fully developed and continually sustaining their ‘wealth’.  Probably, Oneil, on my own judgement might have just misunderstood how Marah expressed her feeling of what she saw.  Oneil thinks that Marah, was bashing Philippines and hating it to death (well i hope not!) hehe
Oneil tells us that however ugly or incorrect the status our country is in right now, he tells us to love it and should be the first one to do something and correct the wrong we see.

Well now, my experience comes in…Oneil is probably right, but I am not saying that Marah is wrong.  I myself do not have a clear stand of what is what, For me It depends.  Everything has its ups and down.  Before i also told myself If i’d be able to go to America (yes still everybody thinks America is the promise land) i will never come back to the Philippines coz i think, it would be difficult to become successful here in the Philippines, cruel as it seems!
well it looks like Someone above just gave me a lesson, the time i was applying for my US visa years ago … I didnt get one.  It was frustrating for me.  I told myself, what the heck, its not just America and the Philippines in this world, I can go anywhere. 

So we went to HongKong, wow, they have nice buildings, and everybody seem to be successful wearing the gray/black business suits walking in the business district and busiest streets of Hongkong.  I learned that since Hongkong is a small country and space is very expensive, some people rent cages as their home.  Yes cages, that is where they sleep. Blessed are the squatters in the Philippines i told myself.

I do not like the shops there though.  Just because my mom and I were not wearing any jewelries to display off, they’d think that we are automatically DHs.  So when they see you in the store, they’ll tell u ‘Filipinos? no go away..’ wow that was hostile.  As if we can not afford to buy something.  Our tour guide also told us that HongKong Chinese do not like much the mainland chinese.  Well go figure.  Hongkong to me was ok, but a lil hostile and discriminating.

Thailand with my friends, we went to Coral Island.  It was better than Boracay i told myself.  At last, No lumot!  White sand, crystal clear waters.  The mountain is forested not full of golf courses.  Not until I discovered how beautiful Palawan and Bohol is.  Thailand right now is having problems with corruption on their Finance chief and their Prime Minister.  Now who taks about bad government and corruption about the Philippines.  What do the Thai’s say? ‘Same same’:p 

Oh not until you hear abuot Indonesia :).  I was held for maybe 15 minutes at the immigration office because they told me that business in the embarkation card means business visa and not just plain tourist Visa (it is a traumatic experience for me).  You have to pay the price of business visa.  Well believe it or not, they probably are one of the ASEAN nations taht requier a business Visa for just 30 days.  Unbelievable right? Singapore, malaysia, Hongkong, etc, they allow business trips with a tourist visa within 30 days.  I have a colleague who experienced the same, the Immigration officer was telling him it costs 50USD for a Business visa. Not until this smart ass colleague raised his voice that he wanted a receipt for the payment, the officer returned the money because it is obvious he was asking for bribe.  Well worse for another acquaintance same experience, now whenever he travels there he wears his Hawaiian Shirt and sandals and shorts… with his laptop :p.  Indonesia also impose very high taxes on its locals, like half to 1million rupiahs when they go out of Indonesia.  Where does the money go? At the area where i went? well I can say taht La Trinidad, Benguet was even more advanced than that area.  Oh after a lot of comlaining during my stay and my dislike about the place, i got punished agin, instead of able to come home after two weeks, i was extended for three days because i can not get a flight back :-/

And then in Singapore, I loved it … it seems like that everything is perfect.  I want to work and stay here i told myself.  Nice buildings.  Discplined locals.  Clean environment. Not until my nth visit, an ex colleague who found new work in Singapore to do a counsellig told us that alot of people go to their agency for couselling for AIDS.  He tols us you think the people you see with branded clothes, well they look ’social’ because of thir clotehs and they always carry shopping bags with them.  But most of this people go to them to seek advice because their debt in their credit cards kept going up.  You’d also notice that the busboys in the fast food and restaurants are mostly the elderly (amkle and female).  I can not stomach it, having a soft heart for the old.  One of his clients commited suicide. 13 years old, pregnant, do not know who the father of her child and she has AIDS.  The Singaporeans will not be as displined as who they are right not if they havent been in a socialist kind of government before.

Oh you thought Cellphone snatching is rampant in the Philippines? Wait till you hear me say, Bicycle stealing is the number one crime in Amsterdam.  Average of 20 bikes a day in the city get stolen everyday.  You either buy a new one and an expenise lock or buy a cheap bicycle (most likely stolen) and buy an expensive lock.  It is something that they need to deal with.
Who says there is no crime in europe?

In Finland is 99% crime free; 99.9% literacy rate; about up to 40% of the tax you are paying goes to the subsidised schooling of your child from prep to the University, including school service, about 100Euro per child allowance a month, subsidised hospital and health care and the bums get alloawnce everymonth for doing nothing.  Two separate events me and my collegue met a beggar.  Same case, they were asking for a euro! I know it is bad of me to be happy of the situation, I was happy to know that it not only in the Philippines where there is begging.  Actually i remember my hometown in Baguio and La Trinidad when I was there (because of the drunkards :p ).  The number of drunkards just sleep in the side walk or in the grass and even in front of the parliamant building when they can not take themslves home because they were too drunk.

Some prefecture in Japan have a lot of flushed aborted babies in their toilet bowls … a lot of them commit Harikiri..

In India, some people also do their peeing in the wall, oh you think its only in the Philippines thingy?

These things little by little made me realize that i should stop bashing Philippines, that Philippines is not that very bad or so worse after all.  We still have hope.

Now it made me wonder the reason why we have this foreigners getting relocated here or immigrating somewherelse in the world away from their country? Maybe same reason with most of us…they got tired of the same shit and they just think that their life will be better to live outside their country .  It really depends …

I was out for a dinner with a friend went for desert.  It was 12am of Saturday, but yet i did not feel like going home yet.  Finally I am able to find someone who I guess can accompany somewhere.  I am definitely not able to attract any guys, so what the heck, i txtd one gay friend.

Luckily not knowing, it was his Birthday.  So it was a good coincidence for me. It has been a long wait that i promised him to accompany him to a gay bar.  So i phoned him and agreed to go to the bar my friend owns.

It was a not so bad night we got there like 10 minutes to 2 am.  In fairness, there are a lot of descent girls watching the males dancing. It was the first time for my friend. It was 2nd for me.  So i do not find it shocking.

Well it was a watching whlie someone (take-note) therapeutic descent massage on our back and arms while sitting.  It wasnt bad at all.  It grew boring just watching this men.  So we decided to go to this gimik strip.  Well it was his birthday so we went to this Disco, but then i didn’t know it was a
gay discoteque! I did not know at first, i was happy to see guys! good looking guys i swear.  Normal guy clothes.  Not until he dropped the bomb.  We were in a gay bar.  ther was it in front of my eyes, this i-thought-were-straight guys were dancing with each other and well yea.. making out.

I told myself, no wonder, there are no more nice guys left anymore for single women.  Well I tell you, if you see them in the public this are the guys you think are straight.  I know my gaydar is strong, but not this guys.  they are deceiving.  Well, there it goes, I just enjoyed dancing and i had a good time anyway.
It was a different and new experience and an eye opener.

… we went home 530 am.. bieng an insomniac i wasnt able to sleep! i decided to do my jogging in the park for an hour waited till the saturday market open, ate my breakfast. twas like 9 am that i went to sleep

what’s funny? why are you looking so doubtful and about to laugh?

Oh no, I do not have a tail… What? you thought all Igorots have tail? wow … they must have been animals of some sort… cool …

But we are not.  feeding somebody’s ignorance, do you know what’s the tail being referred to? Its the G-string.  Oh yes, not just the Igorots wear the G-string.

I do not know what makes the Igorot tribe a subject of ridicule compared to other tribe in this Country.  i am sure that it is not just me who got the experience when you tried or you announced that you are an Igorot, people are very surprised and like try to find your tail and touch you as if you are not of the same human kind.

I do not know, sometimes i find it insulting and ignorance on the part of the commentator.  I do not know where some people get the notion and expect that Igorots are dark skinned, ugly and would be wearing the tribal costumes.  Well yes i am dark skinned because my dad is from the low-lands.  My mom is the Igorot but she isnt dark skinned, well judge for yourself if she is ugly, ill bet my ass on it :p

>> my family’s Supermom

So who are the Igorots?  They are the local tribes from the Cordillera region.  its not just those old women in their costume begging during Christmas time makes up the Igorot population..Well yes that part i hate to agree, i am ashamed that why this minorities have to do that!

Aside from that, they come from Benguet (where Baguio City is located … doing this for the benefit of the ignoramos … same like the question, do strawberries grow on trees? .. uuh .. duh..), Kalinga, Apayao, Abra, Ifugao, and Mt. Province.  Yes there were headhunter’s before, there are still, because of the tribal wars (so i guess those who are arrogant who make fun of the tribe beware :p), yes they are also tatooed people, but it is not just this tribe who are tatooed in the Philippines.

Maybe some would need a tour of how the Igorots look like.  they are the same local people you meet and see and deal when you visit Baguio.  Yes some of them have the light brown eyes, and yes they are fair skinned.  Yes they also have comparingly taller noses than some.  they are better in speaking English than in Filipino. 

We are just the same normal people you meet everyday.  Maybe some of us who still have a close and ignorant mind of this tribe, maybe a lot of reading will help you.

Third year college was my first time i tasted my first alcohol.  I can not remember the exact date or whichever comes first in my memories.  I guess it is just right now, its been 8 years, that i have too much alcohol in my brain.  So this is a some-kinda-drunk person talking right now.  It is just an appropriate state for such blog haha.

But what I can remember, it was Gilbey’s Gin+Strawberry Juice + Sprite. It was good.  It was addicting.  It is like a happy pill.  From class break to a friend’s house, then back to school.  yes back to school drank and finish the class.

At times it is Gilbey’s Gin  and Chocolait, just realize making it to a mix just like the mudshakers.  We drink it fast as so the librarian mom of our friend woudn’t catch us when she gets home from work and we take off before she arrives.

My glassmates consider me as the most ‘innocent’ looking in the group, as so I always do the excuse for the parents of my glassmate friends when we are caught drinking, or we are going out drinking!

we tease each other "sanger" (equivalent word for drunkard in the local dialect).  There were a lot of times that because of too much alcohol, stupid things happen.  Like ending up waking in a different house beside you is another friend.  yeah funny… and stupid.

There was also a nice drink made it was tanduay+cali shandy+and coke.  It was sweet but strong that knocked me down first, but then made me the only sober person afterward, as usual to clean and cover up the mess.

A lot of times my glassmates literally! crawl going home because of too much alcohol.  One friend cracked his teeth, fell flat face on a pavement because of alcohol.  I lost a pair of spectacles because of too drunkness.

The tequila made us dance! it was a nasty hangover the morning after.  But yet again , we still love tequila. 

Oh yes the "nagpakain ng itik" part, you guess it right, there were a lot of moments of that as well.  It is when you and the toilet bowl become friends.

another embarrassing experience related to it, i was branded of doing a "hansel-and-gretel."  you know, the leaving tracks behind from point of source of alcohol to the destination.  It is really yucky.  still i wonder why i havent learned.  i am 26 but yet still i get drunk. 

i learned the hard way.  When drinkin do not mix drinks that are not of the same opacity.  do not each too much when going to a drinking party.  Never lie down when you feel too drunk.  and so on …

maybe not that drunk to get me into some embarassing moments.  I guess ive outgrown the tolerance of almost everyday drinking in college.  Probably because i came from a cold region makes my tolerance higher.

dont get me wrong, but i do not drink too much anymore.  Its not fun if you are doing it alone, or because of a broken heart or a problem.  ill still drink from time to time with friends.  yes i still love alcohol and i need not to hide from my parents anymore.

I bet my worsts are not that worst compared to anybody’s and i wouldn’t be competing for that.

Oh, is my writing and thoughts topsy turvy? its because you are reading some drunkard’s thoughts.  Cheers!

>> The AA

My College glassmates

Have we ever asked ourselves, how much effort does it take for us to say ‘Please’, ‘I am sorry’, ‘Thank you’, ‘Excuse Me’, ‘You are welcome’? Have we ever thought how much does it cost us to say this words wherever we are?

Sometimes I think that some of us already have forgotten these words or courteousness or shall i say they do not have the class or just too arrogant that they think they do not say this words because they are the superiors?

Have you ever experienced at times a guard opens the door for you and say Good morning and you say good morning back or say thank you for opening the door for you, and you realize that your simple word of courteousness brings smile to the face of this people we do not know.  They may be of people lower than your ’social’ class but i guess treating them with respect earns you respect and aside from making their days pleasant, admit it that it gives you sense of happiness within you, unless you are uncle Scrooge or the Grinch, i will not argue with you.

If you can observe, in the Philippines at least you can hear the restaurant staff, or store shop staff say Good morning or welcome or good day whenever you enter.  This shows how friendly Filipinos are.  In a recennt news like two weeks ago, India has been judged by tourists as the least courteous country around the world.  And India would like to disprove that.  In Singapore, the government they are trying to encourage and teach the locals to be courteous to the customers.  Locals are complaining that these store owners or shop staffs try to be corteous specially with the foreigner, but when it comes to local customer they do not even smile whenever they say their greetings.

Very different here, some of us love receiving without reciprocating the act of courteousness. I just pity the people who are like this (there i go again! well i try my part…)

Talking about manners, there was one time in the plane going to Singapore.  I checked myself in earlier and chose my seat on-line.  Getting the aisle sit for convinience whenever i feel like going to the loo, plus it is easy to go out first in your row during disembarkation, and you can go later than the rest during boarding without having to worry of causing inconvoinience to your seatmates of having to pass all through them.

Anyway, I boarded later than when the other passengers were called to board during the row call, unfortunately, my seatmates were still not there, or i was happy at first to be expecting i am alone in my row.  Few minutes later, two ladies in their mid or late forties stopped in my row and she was dressed well.  Complete set of the eyelash, and the dangling and jewelry.  But yet, I did not hear her say, Exuse me. But then i took the hint that she and her companion is seated beside me. 

I just let that annoying moment pass by so i stood up and let them sit down.  After that, again I did not hear any Thank you from them.  Sure it is their sit they paid for it, but still, i say, don’t this people know what manners is? Gawd! i can not imagine i just thought to myself.  Minutes after take off, this lady beside me was trying and fidgetting her entertainment system endlessly, and can not figure how she could put on her on board entertainment system.  So i said excuse me maybe i can help you so she let me handle her remote controls in fairness.  After able to teach her how, i handed her back the remote control and again! idid not hear her say thank you!
If you tell me probably she can not speak english, well i heard her talking in Filipino, she should have just told me Salamat anyway. So i am just keeping my cool, thinking that ok they are older than me, so i should not be stooping down her level.

Then meal time arrive, i don’t know if she is mad at me or she was intentionally trying to shoo me away in my seat that she spilled OJ or can i say poured? OJ on me.  Ok so my shirt got wet and so did my skirt.  thankfully i wasnt wearing anything white during the flight so the stain didnt really show.  And yes you are correct, she did not say I am sorry about the spill, are you ok? hah! I am really pissed off.  I still did not  confront her.  She’ll just meet her match next time.

I am just so annoyed and disappointed that in reality, there are people like these, who are dressed so ‘classy’, talk so ‘classy’, but yet have attitude like dogs, sad to say.  A downside of sitting in the economy class of the plane! hehe …

Looking back in my elementary and high school days, I realize why they taught us subjects like Good Moral character or educational values.  It is because we will need them when we grow up.  I mean it is something that will keep us guided as well to be mature not just plain grown up.

For people who are not the boss of their ownselves, some of us who are already or had been working might have once in their lifetime had a difficult time with their ‘boss.’  Its just two things, we either quit because they made life difficult for us and eventually we quit or they find fault and make us quit.

Loosers! what do you think?:p  Last week i had coffee with a friend and she was venting out that what her manager seem to see is her faults or weaknesses and blowing it up to a major issue.  Confronting her in front of their Supervisor.  I find that very unprofessional and not a well-skilled leader.  I do not think this manager needs to scold one of his subordinates just to make his ass pleasant to his boss.
I wouldn’t be wasting my boss time just to make my subordinate feel so lowly.  If i was the boss, I would take it the action negative against this manager.

On the other hand, right now, I do not have any problem with my manager, but! what happens if our line manager, the boss of my Manager do not support our manager.  It might not affect us directly, but yet, she was trying for the long time not to get affected of how she is treated, i guess it is hitting her now.  She is getting de-motivated.  And i can see now that it seem she doesnt have the zest to work for the team just because of this.

Yes it is sad, because if nothing is done, eventually her subordinates will suffer as well.  Right now, i do not know what i can do to help. She hates our boss.

3 years ago, i was in a situation where we had a team leader who made ny life very difficult at work.  Even how much i tried, he gave me loads of things to do that will make my margin of error major!  Oh you do not know how much I really hate him.  Well he was successful in making me quit the job, but then i wonder, what made him quit months after they made me quit?  Did he not have enough of himself to fight for his ideals? maybe not, but then again,
I probably hate him, but he was a medium that made me find a better job than what i have under him before. I really pity that looser until now.  And I didnt know how the hell of coincidence will i be able to meet him from time to time in the elevator in the building where i work today?

There are just some managers who were placed in the position, very technically inclined or very skilled in their expertise but yet…lacks the people skills.  Something that you can not learn through the books and school.

I was in a lunch with my two other colleague and we were discussing a topic related about such, and one said, what is good is at least not destroying the raport you had, and leaving the company still with respect.  That at least leave the company in civil manner, since you might not know that you will meet this boss again in the future.  But then again, I think some bosses should also be careful and bieng nice to their subordinates, because the world is round, and we do not know when the subordinates becomes the boss :).

Its a saying that goes something like this: "be nice to people you meet going up, because they will be the people you will meet when you go down."

Have you ever had been in a situation when almost all of your friends are getting married?

Or all of your ‘bathcmates’ cousins are jumping into the bandwagon of wedding somebody.

And during family gatherings and when you are the only one in the marrying age and everybody asks you when are you getting married?
Or this friends asks you when are you getting married? Like everytime you meet them or talk to them, its 99% of the time you will have to answer that question.
It might be pressuring for some, personally I find it tiring to answer or bieng asked.  Well maybe some people haven’t find it tiring asking one person the same question everytime they meet.

I don’t ask my friends or batchmates or cousins, with or without partners when they are getting married, because I personally hate bieng asked about the question.

Some people, mostly guys will tell you that they are not the marrying type.  More or less, the female gender would think that they are also not the marrying type of person if no one had asked them for marriage.
Or because some of us set too high standards in looking a partner.  Or by the time you lower your standards, what you get are loosers or as*H*les. 

Speaking in a woman point of view, this days, it difficult to find a decent man.  It’s either they are taken (married, committed or are in a relationship), very old, or they are bastards or they are gay.  So to speak, nothing is left.
So can you blame some women bieng single?

Have you ever thought that sometimes you feel that your married friends, think that single people are enemies  Enemies that means they can steal your partner anytime, or we are the people that can not be trusted.

Or for those who do not think that you are their foe, they pity you instead.  In a point that just because you are single, they would think that there is something wrong with you, like your gay.  Some think that a single is synonymous to bieng a looser, whore, leper … that singles are outcasts.

Some may think that it is too painful for them seeing us because it reminds them of how they were desperate when they were single.  Because some when they were single feel empty and lonely. 

Maybe the truth is, our happilly and successfully married friends would like to see us happy and figured out, and getting married means growing up.  Well at least be married with some one who will really take care of you just not getting married for the sake of other reason and ending up sorry.

Friends once they heard you are not yet getting married soon, they still hope you will be getting married soon. Well that is good at least. Even if you’ve lost hope, friends still find hope for you.

I am a Filipino.  Am I really one? What makes one say you are a Filipino? Aside bieng born in the Philippines, by Filipno parents and you speak Filipino,  what else makes us different from the rest of world?

There was once an email, bashing the Filipino or Asian culture.  Telling us that there is no such word as Filipino or Asian.  He isn’t an authentic American, unless he came from those native american Indians, the aborigines of America.  Since we should know that America has been also a melting pot of different races.
So going back about our national identity as Filipinos, in this present time, is there something that we can really prove to any one in the world that we are Filipinos?

We at some point has been a melting pot for different races as well because of the years in the past that foreigners had conquered our country.  By the Japanese, the Spaniards, the Americans, the Danish, and the Chinese.  We can not hide the fact that we are results of different races.

A friend shared to me that there is no truth that the Malays and the Indones are our forefathers.  Our real aborigines are the Aetas and other tribes like the T’boli.  Sadly that they are near to extinction, I guess, the government should be taking care of these tribes.  The only reason why there were Malayans and Indonesian claim that we came from them, is because of the land bridges. But they are not originally from the Philippines. 

I myself, have world war 2 American great-grandfathers, but I still say i am an authetic Filipino.  Can someone say I do not have my own national identity?

So what makes a Filipino? A Filipino usually are brown skinned, medium to short stature built, flat-nosed, dark-black haired.  A number of people are ashamed of why the brown skinned and the flat-nosed, not that i am saying that it is bad to change one’s physical looks but we should understand the reason why we look that way.  It is because we are nearer to the equator, then so we have this nice sun-kissed color skin and the flat nose is because we are in a warm region, we need to breath faster and normally because of the heat.  Now you wonder why the caucasians have taller noses? it is because they need them.  You wouldn’t like to breath a cold, freezing air a lot don’t you?  I swear I often nose bleed whenever I go that scandinavian part of the globe specially during winter.  It is because my nose is not made for that region. So sometimes we just need to be thankful of our physical feaures, because these are made for some purpose not just a mere fashion look.

Anyway, I often get mistaken to be an Indonesian whenever I travel.  Realizing well I do look one, and the Thais will tell you ’same-same’ when they try to speak to you in Thai and realizing you are not one because we also look like them. 

Next our names, I had a classmate named Noreen Gibson, her middle name is John, could you tell that she is a Filipino with Filipino features.  I was before laughing about names like Procoppio, Cordappia, Hortencio, Prudencio, Maria, and Inday.  As i am blessed and had numerous opportunity to travel, We meet people of different races and their names tell you they are from what country.
For example Klaus’s are often from Denmark, Jukka, Jarri, Antti are from Finland, Razali, Rizal, Sarah are Malayan/Indonesian names, names ending with ‘porn’ are from Thailand, names ending with ‘esh’ ussually come from India and so on.  Some of us would name their babies with foreign sounding names, well because Philippines is a western influenced country, we can not avoid it.  But I reailized that instead of laughing at my dad’s Hortencio Prudencio name, at least i can say he is a real Filipino.  Just like the Finnish colleagues I have, their cool or you can say weird sounding last names also have a meaning like Rakkola means ‘bladder’ so you would be either Mr or Ms Bladder (how cools is that? and we laugh at our own!), and Korhonen are ‘deaf-people’.  At least i can say that my last name is a Filipino last name.  It does sound like the ‘unfaithfuls’ but the etymology of my last name comes from the word ‘axe’ so we are the ‘axe carrying people.’  Probably we need to rethink whenever we are giving names to our kids, specially if both parents are Filipino, I have nothing againts it, but doesnt it look funny to have a foreign sounding name and yet you have flat nose and brown sin? :p I pity the child!

On the other hand, some of us are embarassed to wear the G-strings, then how come the Scotch wear their plaid skirts without the need of getting embarrased?

Aside from that, the Dutch have these big-windowed houses and the shades or curtains are always open, the Eskimos have their Igloos, we have our Nipa-huts, and then sadly again, we don’t see them much.  I am happy to hear that one colleague built her big house in a pattern of a nipa hut.  Some of our kids or your kids will not be able to see an authentic nipa hut soon.

The Spanish-inspired architecture of Capiz windowed bungalows are also into extinction.  The cobble stones roads has been replaced by concrete and asphalt road if you compare it to the European architecture, you’d wish they should have not stripped the cobble stones and replaced it with the concrete ground.  The Eurpoean architecture has still been preserved, their roads and building, just by mere looking at it, you can tell you are in what country.  The malaysians and the Chinese are the same having preserved their architecture.

At least, we still have good Filipino Music and arts.  We still have the jeepneys and the balut (which from the recent Travel and Adventure channel made the Top most weirdest food on the planet topping away from the worms and maggots :p ).  We still have our ‘po’ and ‘opos’ and our ‘mano’ .  I guess aside from continuing to practice this very-Filipino kind of values, we should try to realize and ask ourselves, how we can bring back our true national Identity as Filipinos.

It is a nice feeling to know your real race rather be lost and claim and pretend your not a Filipino even how obviuos your physical looks tells the crowd you are one.

Well I am proud to be a Filipino.