my mind wanders... on a thought of a green sunset

Sunday, July 30, 2006

[102]Scavenger Hunt: Bleach

Three students walked around in Manila for almost 2 hours in search of bleach.

We were actually in search of bleach. Not the normal hypochlorite solutions for clothes; it’s an anime. We were looking for DVDs of the anime Bleach so that we could start our marathon. We were looking for Episodes 1 onwards. I had with me 3 DVDs of Bleach episodes 61-72. I had borrowed them from Blessie.

It started with a Thursday night. I asked Philippe and Carlos to go with me to Carriedo so that we could look for the DVDs. They agreed, since we knew that classes would be cut off early due to a seminar. That was the start of the plan that would ultimately doom our endurance.

Friday came. After the seminar, Philippe and Carlos had their sabayan practice. I called my section’s practice off, so I was waiting for them to finish. I had memorized 6 stanzas when they finished. We set off to UN station for a quick LRT ride.

We waited for some time in the station. We even had Rafael in company, Philippe’s and Carlos’ former classmate. As some small and packed cabins rushed in front of us, we waited for the long silver train. It was a bit packed as expected, but it had space for the four of us to cram in.

Then, the three adventurers said good-bye to Rafael and went down at Carriedo station. We got our cards inserted in the exits, and by almost 5 in the afternoon, the journey has begun.

~

Technically, I do not know the place. I had the guts to go there though, together with my friends. As I looked around, I really had to guess where our steps should lead to. I had to rely on intuition, a good sense of memory and a rush of luck to find what we were looking for.

~

Walking from the station, we treaded straightforward. As we covered about tenth of a kilometre, we didn’t find any DVD stalls to mention. All we saw were different products sold in bargain prices. We travelled further, going around in a ground floor mall and even walking up a small department store. Then, we saw a stash of hope.

A man was selling some discs, which could be MP3s or VCDs or most likely DVDs. We came about and took a peek on what he was vending.

And there was porn all over. We were taken aback a bit, since we just had a seminar. Oh, I forgot. The seminar was sexuality education. The speaker there left his purpose effectively. We had this mental note of what we just understood, and what we are seeing right now.

After taking a step back, we saw a long array of stalls around the corner, disappearing into the long crowded street.

Some were selling a few nice shows, some were selling music. However majority were selling porn, not just the usual man-woman stuff. There was some stuff for homosexuals to indulge in. I wouldn’t elaborate.

I had to ask a few vendors whether they have Bleach on their racks.

“Wala.”

There was a long street ahead, and lots of DVD sellers to cover.

“Meron po ba kayo nito?” I asked while I showed the DVD sample I was holding.

“Wala.”

Our disappointment continued all through the street. We had to turn right and move back to where we started, the plaza near Carriedo station.

Back to square one, Carlos already felt an urge to give up. My spirit was already falling for me too. Failure seemed around the corner. Philippe then raised his notion.

“Tuloy pa rin tayo, ‘di ba?”

We have decided. From our point of origin, we would take another path.

Our walk took a while, and we continued asking whether they have Bleach or not. My forehead was already sweating. Carlos was getting tired. We walked some distance after about twenty minutes when we reached another place. I remembered what Blessie, the one who introduced me to Bleach, said.

“Sa Carriedo, sa Recto o sa Divisoria, meron.”

Divisoria was out of the question. Our next hope was Recto. We were under an intersection of LRT1 and LRT2. We were out of Carriedo already.

Our current location at that moment was Dorotheo Jose.

That’s too far! We asked around once more, looking for a path to Recto. After being given directions that I was a bit unsure, I saw a sign.

[Recto This Way ------->]

We continued our tiring travel between busy streets. I even evaded a passing trike while crossing a street, landing in a gallop. That was a step in DDR. Philippe then thought of the advantages of being DDR player. We had to smile a little within our little crisis.

We walked under some dark alleys. We saw some isolated vendors juxtaposed in their selling. I asked the first one by showing the DVD copy I borrowed from Blessie.

“Wala e.” the vendor said. “Bold ba yan?”

Damn. I turned to the next vendor. I showed her the DVD. She examined it. After a few seconds she started browsing her racks. This is it! Our journey is nearing its end!

“Wala na, pero meron kami nito dati.”

“Ate, bakit nawala?”

“Marami kami niyan dati, kaso ni-raid ng police.”

And we walked back to Carriedo, haggard and hungry. We were desperate. We don’t want to fail this one road trip we had. After going back to square one (and seeing some sex toys being sold on our way back), we looked sideways.

We didn’t see this before. It was another long street, filled with lots of stalls. Most of them were DVDs.

We asked the first vendor. [How could we miss this! It was already there when we came down the LRT, and yet we walked all around only to return back!] After examining the DVD, one of them spoke.

“Wala. Pero lakarin n’yo lang ‘yan, derecho lang kayo. Dun sa may Hidalgo, marami dun. Sigurado akong makakahanap kayo doon.”

And we walked, with a little ray of hope shining upon us. A dash of rain fell as we were rejected one by one. No Bleach here and there. After a long unsatisfactory walk, our eyes were bound to candles, a large white towering structure and tolls of a Eucharist taking place.

We were at Quiapo church. [We walked that far!!!!] Dismayed at the mere fact we haven’t seen a hint of Bleach, we tried returning to Carriedo, trying the second side of the stalls since we covered only one side.

Nothing yet. After reaching our point of origin, we asked the vendors who told us of Hidalgo again. “Saan po bay un?”

“Derecho nga lang.”

“Sa Quiapo na nga po yun e,” we argued.

“Punta kayo dun sa underground, derecho lang. Nandun lang yun.”

We tried that. But we first had a break at KFC. We ate and rested for a while. After enjoying chicken and gravy for a quick dinner, we resumed walking towards Quiapo.

We reached the church once more. Looking around, I saw a flight of stairs leading down. This is it!

Philippe had gone down there one time. We looked around. It was filled with tiles and lighted by an eerie orange light. It was warm there. It had some shops. No vendors of DVDs though. Then we saw Hidalgo.

It was a street.

The sign was in large brass letters. We walked up and saw ourselves on the other side of Quiapo. The church was visible from there. We opened our umbrellas. We looked across the Hidalgo. It was filled with DVD shops.

We continued our search. Still, no Bleach. We asked one guy and said he didn’t have it. But he directed us to another street, right on the corner of Hidalgo.

We asked a few more. Then after reaching a stall where a mother and child were stationed, we tried once more. I showed them the DVD.

“Meron.”

At last! We then tried to find the DVD in their current set. But there was none. The kid then got the DVD from me.

“Tignan ko sa may bodega. Babalik ako, ha!”

As we stood in the rain, Philippe questioned the fact if he would return. Carlos quoted then:

“Trust in the goodness of man.”

Sure, I thought. I told them that he was with his mother. He would come back. The mother even assured us of that.

The kid in stripes, as Philippe remembered him, came with the copy I lent him and an unfamiliar man.

This is how it goes: Bleach was sold there, per set, about 8 to 9 discs. 50 pesos per disc. If we were interested, we could come to the place.

We agreed, and we walked to another street and to a shop full of DVDs and stuff. We waited for a while. Then, he came with 4 plastics. He said the sets were incomplete. He had 21-30, 31-40, 41-50, and 51-72 [composed of 2 discs in one plastic]. He tested one DVD. It was working fine. I requested if he could test 51-72, because it was composed of 2 discs. The first disc didn’t work.

I only had 170 pesos max. I could only buy 3 discs. I told the guy we were buying 21-30, 31-40, and 41-50. He then insisted on other working disc from 51-72. I declined. He kept insisting. Lugi daw siya. I refused.

I gave him 150 pesos and said good-bye. We were to return there at Monday to get 1-20.

After a long travel, we found the one place where Kurosaki Ichigo and others can be bought. We took a jeep to SM manila, had a break, and then took off.

The three of us were tired.

Sorry for the enormity of this post. But this is the actual length of what we experienced.

Ciao~

my mind fleeted at :1:39 pm ;

Wednesday, July 26, 2006

[101]Good Citizenship

[Instructions: Read. Copy. Post in your blog. Let this article spread. It's free. It's important.]

Good governance is not enough. Let us work on being good citizens. Let us translate the good citizenship values derived from the Preamble of the Constitution into concrete action in order to build our nation.

In recent history, we have engaged in two bloodless and peaceful revolutions. Yet nothing seems to have changed because we have just changed our leaders but have not changed ourselves. We keep blaming our political leaders for the mess we are in. We keep demanding good governance from them but have not demanded anything from ourselves. There seems to be a missing piece in the puzzle. If we demand good governance from those in public office, there must be a counterpart from our end and this is good citizenship. And how do we become good citizens? By living according to good citizenship values which we can derive from the preamble of the Constitution - Faith in God, Unity, Patriotism, Work, respect for Life, Respect for Law and Government, Truth, Justice, Freedom, Love, Equality, Peace, Promotion of the Common Good, Concern for the Family and Future Generations, Concern for the Environment and Order.

These are our values as a people. These are our values that will make us good citizens, if we live by them. They must be translated into concrete action in all aspects of our lives at all times. If we do this, then all our actions no matter how humble will build our nation in much the same way that the simple act of a humble mason of putting one stone on top of another builds a cathedral. And the realization that all our actions based on this values, no matter how small, are building our nation, will give us that sense of nationhood that has heretofore eluded us.

There is nothing new in these good citizenship values. We do not need to learn them. We know them. What is lacking is the will to live by them. How then shall we move from knowing them to living by them? We just have to take a look at the mess we are in and we will realize that it is the absence of this values in the way we live that has brought it about: sinfulness, discord, greed and selfishness, indolence, violence and murder, anarchy, intrigue and mudslinging, oppression, exploitation, hatred, war, broken homes, environmental degradation, violation of human rights. And then we should ask ourselves. Is this the world I want to live in,? Shall I be part of the problem or part of the solution? We just have to decide. Yes, I want to be a better country. Yes, I will live these values at all times, no matter what the cost, through thick and thin, come hell or high water. Because living these values is the only way to turn things around, to have a better world. Sometimes, it will not be easy to live these values. There will be a price to pay. But living these values will also have their own rewards as all good works will bear good fruit, maybe not in the short, but in the long term.

If we are to build a better nation, it is not enough to press for good governance, we have to demand to ourselves, each one of us, young and old, rich or poor, Muslim, Christian or Protestant, good citizenship that is values based and values-driven.

There is still hope for our country. Let us forget the politicians. We can transform this country from below. If we cannot find heroes among our leaders, let us find them among the ordinary people - those who will build our nation by the truly heroic act of being a good citizen day by day all the days of their lives.

my mind fleeted at :8:54 pm ;

Sunday, July 23, 2006

The Seminar

We had a seminar with the first baby in the world.

That’s what his grandson thinks though. Our speaker, an editor for the Philippine Daily Inquirer, was with us during the Knowledge Trip with Guyito. It was a journalism seminar sponsored by the PDI together with the awarding of our own Guyito.[ The Guyito, painted by Romeo Forbes, was a priceless art encased in fibreglass and placed in front of the building.]

Mr. Ruben (I forgot his last name) tackled effective writing to all those present. He told us that reading and writing must always go together. He also told a lot of stories on how he made his life the journalistic way.

He recalled that when he was about our age, the room we were staying was not our current Media Center, but a classroom. It was not Manila Science High School during his time. Arellano High School stood there, and he was there. He was a student, like the people present. It had a lot of memories of the place. But the key memory was the library. He described it as having a thousand books shelved around you. He was a fond reader, and he would carry some paperbacks with him and read it while in traffic.

At heart, he really enjoyed writing. He would watch boxing games in his youth, and come home excited. He would write down all the things he saw during the match using a typewriter, as if the paper was going to be published the next day. Of course, as he said it, he would keep it in his drawer. The roaches ate it afterwards.

He reminded us of what speed mean to journalism. He went on with his story about the JFK assassination. The President’s car then was followed by a press bus. As soon as the shot was fired, a journalist immediately grabbed the phone, called his office and elbowed another reporter trying to pry the phone off. As soon as he told his colleagues that the President was shot and that the wound could be possibly fatal, he ripped the cord, and threw the phone away.

That reporter was the first to announce to the world that JFK was dead by the bullet. He was awarded a Pulitzer Prize.

An account on what obligations mean to journalism is about President Bush being in an Iraqi desert. As a press bus travelled, the President rose from a bunker. A reporter, after seeing the figure rise above the sands, jumped from the running bus and ran towards the President. The reporter was the first person to interview the president that day.

Mr. Ruben then told us that the reporter was 75 years old. And she was a woman.

Fairness was also important, he said. Take all the sides’ views. News must not be one-sided. What one is telling to the world must be at all ways balanced.

Journalists avoid prolixity, he explained. One should be direct to the point. No redundancies. He wrote on our whiteboard some examples, like old adage, future plans and complete monopoly. He made a mistake and he erased it, and the ink smudged. Then someone realized that he wrote those words using an Apache pentel pen. The ink was blue, and it was permanent.

He also told us to approach this on a different way. News writing is not simple telling the 5 Ws and 1 H. He told us a story about a reporter in Sri Lanka who was writing about the tsunami. He was in a school, where there were no students. They were dead. As other journalists wrote about blah-blah-blah, this and that, this reporter wrote it this way.

NO SCHOOL BELL RANG IN THIS SCHOOL TODAY.

He really knew of how to write laterally sideways. He said, be creative. Don’t just tell what has happened. Leave an impression. Another story was about the Spanish president visiting a thrashed monument in London.

THE SPANISH PRESIDENT VISITED THE DIRTIEST MAN IN THE WORLD.

He told us about the power of words. Her daughter, during her teens, was visited by a lot of men. These men come and go. But one man always came back. She wrote Mr. Ruben a letter.

The last part went on like this:

Dad, among the kites I flew in the sky, Robert [the man who kept coming back] is the kite I want to keep on flying.

Now, Robert is Mr. Ruben’s son-in-law, and Robert’s son asked his grandfather if he was the first baby born into this world, because he was so old.

That was the talk about effective writing. Hope it does you well.

Ciao~

Btw… this is my centennial post. ^____^

my mind fleeted at :1:04 pm ;

Friday, July 14, 2006

*Asterisk Expressions*

Whoo... After a hassling *this is too much*, erm... energetic farewell party for our dear principal Mrs. Herson *why dear??? I dunno...* I got to be with Einstein again. I've acquired another adoption, courtesy of my lovable mommy Royce, with the supprot of a few Einstein people, and the unwritten agreement that I wouldn't leave my section Newton nevertheless.
---
Fun Facts: The farewell party included a few groovy dances, some speeches *with 4 amazing languages: Filipino, English, French and Nihongo*, btw, interpretative dance was included, and lots of singing *good and malevolent... ^___^*

It ended with a loud and clear "Mabuhay it's nice to see you!".

It was the good-bye.
---
Dance Maniax was still one of the great arcade games ever to be found in a mall. Even though we were playing with a very old version, I still enjoyed a lot of the usual songs (I first experienced DM with the Robinson's Machine) and I'm back to where I am started.

We played a light 15-minutes of Dota to relieve the 15 tokens we found on the DM machine.

After we returned, we found the machine bearing 17 credits.

---
Philippe, Carlos Miguel, Leslie, Bea and her sister Feliz were with me. The group was added by Abigail, Camille *happy birthday!*, Karen and Sally. The three stages were fun, trying to get our bodies to work.
---

Carlos Miguel treated us to some McFlurries *is this the plural of a McFlurry?* before we went home. I got to enjoy ice cream again. Oooh... the insulin rush...

---

Since parenthetical remarks, even though relevant, are unnecessary, I try to move away from the quote and switch to asterisks instead.

---

Ciao~

my mind fleeted at :6:06 pm ;

Wednesday, July 12, 2006

Weather Forecast and Foreshadows

Damn. Strong gales and swift rain fall upon the northern part of this country.

Classes was suspended, and will be, for the next minutes until this day becomes one yesterday and that tomorrow becomes a today.

Damn. I am sleepy already. I'm talking nonsense.

Since classes were suspended Wednesday and Thursday, we would never get hold of French for this week. Our dear principal is leaving the school premises. Friday schedule has been cut off to 12.

Welcome the fun and excitement.

*gloomy voice* Yey... *yawn*

Damn. I was pelted by the rain again. The weather was oh-so-fair when I was travelling in the bus and the jeep and the tricycle, but the moent I started walking home, water and wind were falling upon me.... and everything else was wet.

Damn.

I had no key to the house, and it was raining, and my parents wouldn't be home for the instantaneous time being. I would have to wait for a while.

I've sang in a notoriously bad note all the songs I know and I was singing "My Girl" when my parents came with the keys and some chicken and spaghetti (sounds like a party meal)...

Dinner was even more piquant than the fowl and pasta (general terms...) and the trencherman woke up in the midst of hunger for a full meal comeback.

I need the trencherman now. Carlos and I tried the 5-peso height/weight/BMI/bodyFatIndex machine in Mercury Drugstore in Faura. Carlos was normal, in most aspects. I was significantly down under his measurements, except for the height [let's just say I'm underweight; I'm 4kg lighter than CM, 7% less fat and I have a low blood pressure...]

So I wouldn't mind eating more for a while now.
---
I'm thinking of chocolate again.

Damn.

Good night.

Ciao~

my mind fleeted at :11:38 pm ;

Thursday, July 06, 2006

Simple Pleasures of Life

Since... I forgot to put a title on my last post... I've ensured that this thing that I saw at CM and Pausiu's blog is posted with a name.

Instructions:Name ten(10) of life's simple pleasures that you like the most, then pick ten(10) people to do the same. Try to be original and creative and not to use things that someone else has already used.

1) Gardens - I really like groves of trees lined with flowers all around. Seeing verdure relaxes my thoughts. I love fruit-bearing trees and herbs. I also love small trees propped with flowers. I love sitting on slabs of stones or logs while thinking.

2) Writing - This includes blogging, essays and vandalisms (I only vandal the backs of my notebooks...) I'm not a graphomainiac, mind you. I simply like taking things into words.

3) Singing - Since this is the only thing that I could deal about in music right now. Even though my voice is not oh-so-good to listen to, I still like following lyrics at their melodies.

4) Cooking - I love cooking! All the food you could make, with your own hands and full-fledged effort, with all the spices, with all the love... oh yeah... the trencherman lives on!

5) Studying Foreign Languages - Is this a simple pleasure of life???/ Well.... I really like doing this.

6) Books - These are so essential in life. Who wouldn't love them???

7) Chocolate - I'm on a sugar high! Well, choclates are best when they are really pure (I've experienced this taste with some low-sugar chocolates from France) and I love the flavor abnd aroma.

8) Being with family and friends - This is another essential in life. Treasure family and friends! They're valuable.

9) Travel - Whether it's a long journey or just a walking trip, going to places is great. Experiences are important!

10) Keeping memories - Losing them is like living the hell out of life.

---

I've thought about this while walking home (and also while I was being pelted by the rain..)

"Love is communication at its finest."

--Just a hitch.

Ciao~

10)

my mind fleeted at :8:29 pm ;

Saturday, July 01, 2006

Back to the good ol' lessons. Even though I told you I was cutting off the slack, I saved some for later. This is a bit of it. These are some mistakes translated into lessons for our benefit and to hide some of the embarassment.

Lesson 1: Never... NEVER..... drink cold water if you are going o sing, or if you have been singing for sometime. It's painful, and I did it (also... my voice is not so good...)

Lesson 2: The stage was made for people to stand up in the center. That's why the word "centerstage" elaborates this lesson. Never stand in the side of the stage if you are performing.

Lesson 3: Listen before you laugh.

Lesson 4: It is important to learn how to count the advanced chemistry way.... 3, 2, 1... 0.... nigatib 1, nigatib 2, nigatib 3.... up to the nigatib infiniti...

Lesson 5: Never listen to gossips... It uses up too much energy wondering [what surname would our teacher be because we all assumed she was going to be married!]

Lesson 6: Tell people your current localisation (place or position) when you are outdoors or in the park, mall, whatever. It reduces the "startling" effect of finding people you are with are gone.

Lesson 7: Walking while fanning outside in a windy day is outrageous, but it does help reduce pollution entering your body.

Lesson 8: Walking home is the best warm-up.

Lesson 9: If something has 498 steps... and you only know 98... move forward and learn 99.

Lesson 10: Smile always! It attracts people! ^____^

-0-o-o-

Whooo! My teeth hurt! Adjustments are really painful! Ciao~

my mind fleeted at :7:35 pm ;