Posts published during May, 2006
This was last Friday, May 19, 2006. A lot of people were waiting all night in front of our store since the procession would pass by the grocery. Actually, it was a frenzy. Tens of people lined up the streets. They were most eager to see Katrina Halili, whom the Sangguniang Kabataan hired to walk as Reina Elena. I don’t have any decent photo of her since it was too crowded.
That trip to Subic was part of my dad’s office’s outing. It was another moment where I reaffirmed to myself how I really dislike traveling with a big bunch of people. As in a hundred. Imagine touring Ocean Adventure with one tour guide screaming her lungs out to a hundred chattering adults and children.
Before going to Ocean Adventure, we spent time at a nearby beach resort.
Anyway, more pictures…
I went to UP this morning because Paolo, the University Student Council Chairperson, wanted to discuss how we should deal with the laboratory fee increases in Mass Comm. He was late then he had to leave early so I just talked with Jane and the Educ Representative. Melai (our Mass Comm student council chair) was also there. Melai and I explained to them that the sad and apparent mode of many students in Mass Comm right now is more pragmatic than anything, that is why it’s going to be a little difficult for us to rally them into the scrap-lab-fees cause. It appears to us that they seem to be willing to pay these lab fees because they find that the fees actually get to be used to buy new equipment (which is contestible too, since according to the balance sheet I got, the Film department still has more or less PhP 400,000 of unspent collected lab fees). I know that is problematic because it gives an excuse for the university and college administrations to just increase lab fees as long as the transactions are transparent and the fees appear to be used to benefit the students anyway–which totally dismisses the point that all these are symptoms of a government slowly and continually abandoning its duty to subsidize our education with annual budget cuts. Anyway, we will hold on to the struggle and not lose grip on the demands to scrap the fees altogether. Sumasakit na ulo ko, so I’ll end this discussion here, for now.
Anyway, I kind of take back what I said about babies being adorable even when they’re crying. Not so. I slept in the same room as Tisay last night and gee, a baby screaming and crying at the middle of the night can be the most annoying thing, especially when you’re in the middle of a good sleep with a pleasant dream, especially when the tantrums happen quite a number of times the entire night. But all’s well, the solution comes in a bottle of milk. If that doesn’t work, I leave it all to my mom.
ON DRIVING
Another petty driving accomplishment today. Drove a manual-gear car around Sta. Maria by myself. Yes, my first time to drive alone. It felt really relaxing, driving around the countryside. Which was not the case when I drove the car back to Quezon City tonight. That was actually another first–driving a manual-gear at night–and from Bulacan at that. It was stressful with traffic at EDSA and Commonwealth, having to deal with ill-disciplined drivers who cut through my lane all the time and all that. But all’s well. Got home with no scratches whatsoever.
My mom told me I could start taking the car to school starting first sem but warned me that I am not allowed to drive anywhere else. Wuh. I’d rather not bring the car if I won’t be able to use it to join my friends in after-school stuff then. Commuting and hitching has been my life the past two years anyway.
BABY TISAY
I missed this. Babysitting. Babies are adorable, even when they’re crying. They’re such a joy to play with. Spending time with babies is a stress-reliever for me. Wohoo, lots of baby-lovin’.
SOCIAL RELEVANCE
I’m missing my own socially-relevant blog entries.
Our new foster baby arrived last Monday. We call her “tisay”.
If Hailey, our first foster kid, was born from an unwed college teenager, Tisay on the other hand is the baby of a 25 year-old woman who lives in a pushcart in the streets of Manila who was apparently sexually abused by a 50 year old man. A concerned citizen who saw the condition of Tisay and his mother living in a pushcart, reported the incident to social workers who in turn asked the mother to allow her baby to be taken cared of by other people more capable of doing so. She obliged. Tisay was first taken into custody by a family in Ayala Alabang before the said family had to leave the Philippines, so she was brought to us. As of the moment, the social workers said that the mother is insisting that she see her baby and the family who’s currently taking care of her. I don’t know what to think of that. She has her right, as the baby’s mother. But I don’t know what to think about having the baby placed back in an unsafe environment. Does she genuinely want her baby back? Or do I smell something fishy?
Some petty accomplishments the past few days.
I finally got my non-professional driver’s license from the Land Transportation Office in East Avenue. It feels great to have gone through the process without the help of fixers or any of my mother’s contacts. I didn’t even ask my mom to accompany me. I went there by myself. Well, not really since I asked a friend to come along to keep me company through all the wait. It was a six and half hour wait. That wasn’t so bad. I’ve obviously set my standards low for efficiency in government transactions.
The tests were pretty easy. For the written exams, they gave us reviewers and there was a lecture. Since processing our application forms took a long time, I had plenty of time to review and whatnot. I was just a little irked with how I realized what ‘defensive driving’ means. The lecturer insisted that we should be defensive drivers, that we should give up our rights whenever you are being provoked by another driver. Arrggh. It’ll take me time to personally absorb that ‘giving up your rights’ thing.
Also, I drove all the way to Santa Maria this morning. Well, it wasn’t the first time, but this time, we passed through North Luzon Expressway (as compared to using the San Jose del Monte route the first time I drove to Santa Maria). It was my first time to drive through NLEX. Pretty cool. I feel accomplished.
Spent almost the entire day in Amadeo for the annual town fiesta. Stuffed myself up for a second day in a row. Masarap talagang kumain. Somtimes you just deliberately forget to care about gluttony or overeating. Regret it some other time.
One of my past times whenever the extended family gets together, aside from eating, is pseudo-playing with my nieces. I love kids. They’re adorable. Even if they appear annoying, they’re still cute. I hope they don’t grow up too fast.
Now that we’ve brushed up on this topic, playing with kids has also become one of my past times in Bulacan, whenever I don’t feel like manning the grocery store. I actually got a myself scarred on the knee while playing tag with them. How childlike. When was the last time I actually got scarred in the knee because of running around the street?
Tomorrow, the social worker will come by and bring us another foster baby. I’m excited to kuya another foster baby again. I missed that. It’s been almost two years since Hailey Belle was taken by her adoptive parents to Belgium.
law student, national democracy activist, film school graduate, photography hobbyist
