Sophia

what we lack for looks we make up for it through make-up, right? we put all the best foundations, concealers, blushers, bronzers, etc. to cover up what we are not physically endowed with. we even go drastically beyond these temporary aids to a more permanent fix, plastic surgery. but when we don't match up much intellectually we end up saying, i didn't finish this or that, study in this school or that school. some even justify it like, i just am not smart enough or i am dull or slow. isn't that the complete manifestation of succumbing to intellectual mediocrity?

i simply cringe at the idea that most people, especially the younger ones, get satisfied with learning their abc's without even lifting a finger to form a word that makes sense. what i am trying to say is, people have been content at what they know. they do not hunger for more information because of lame reasons that do not even make sense at all. yes, most of the population of our country could not afford to buy books, go to prestigious educational institutions, or to even a loaf of bread for dinner. but why stop there? do we stop being ambitious and just be complacently chewing on what is handed to us? is it a sin to want more knowledge?

i pity the youth who have been throwing away their good opportunity of learning. they have been provided with much and yet they do not use these efficiently. i see many youngsters spending much time playing graphic video games when they could have opened an encyclopedia or a shakespeare novel. little girls who love to hang out at the mall after school hours checking out cute guys, when they could have made their homework or read something helpful online. no, i don't want to be a hypocrite by admitting that yes, i did slack in school and i regret doing so. whatever i lacked, im making up for it now by constantly feeding myself with information i think would benefit me and my future.

what i am trying to emphasize is that, education and knowledge aren't confined in the four walls of a dingy classroom. you can get it from everywhere! your newspaper, your book, movies, television, radio, more powerfully so, the internet! EVERYWHERE! we should not be content of what our teachers teach us, because they have a chance of getting facts wrong. i am a teacher and i still make mistakes, often even. we have so many opportunities of learning and yet we don't pay attention AT ALL because we justify it as if there are no other ways. there are ways if you want to find ways. don't let certain "limits" stop you from soaring above what you thought you could only achieve. it's preposterous! we can aim big still even when we think we are that low and tiny.

as an end to this, i'd like to quote a book we were assigned to read in High School, "We can lift ourselves out of ignorance, we can find ourselves as creatures of excellence and intelligence and skill". this is from the book Jonathan Livingston Seagull by Richard Bach. limitations are only limitations when you let them stop you. we make excuses for ignorance because we put stops on our way. we make our socio-economic status a major stop to education and educators stop at giving the quality due to these people because of the loss of love for the service and gain of love for the money. i hope in my own little way i can help wake these people up. i hope they see that education is a two-way street, they teach you a little of what you need to know, and the rest is really up to you if you want to get deeper or be content with what you have.

the JeJeMoN

"Jejejeje", I usually mistype this when im enthusiastically chatting online that I don’t look at my keyboard anymore. Don't get me wrong, I don’t use that...EVER. I am no jejemon. This interesting topic was suggested by a cyberfriend of mine after reading my first current event blog (thanks PONG). I was like, what is a jejemon and then I was told to google it and then there it is. I was sitting there face to face with its definition; it being the people I love to hate over the internet and cellphone networks, and they have made themselves a name in the form of "jejemon".

I have nothing personal against these jologs and how they are in real life. They're just probably bored or need attention. Yes! I love to hate these people. Typing in jajaja, jejeje or .,.,.,!@HeEEiii, watzzUUUuupp… this makes my blood curl! Even my nephews use this in texting people and im like don’t do that anymore, it's gross, with matching rolling of the eye balls. And then I ask what's with all those overly spelled words? And punctuations have a purpose, it's not decoration. Ok I am guilty for putting ellipses in my messages and stuff but that's not to be overly emphasizing my words but to create a pause, like as if I were talking. But would you really laugh at your friend's joke with a jajajaja… too much effort, pal.

And I meet these people online too. Now that is really hard work putting in caps to your words like KaTe, the shift key is too far from all these letters. Talk about effort! Again I am guilty of this from my former friendster profile, and admittedly that was for emphasis and attention. But by gawd, I don’t misspell words intentionally for the sake of attention. For me that's so uncool. I tend to overrate some things but I don’t overrate my spelled words. It makes my head dull and appear less errrmmm knowledgeable.

Ok, I'll go straight to the point. The internet and the cellphone were created by super geniuses who labored hard just to give us ease in accessing information and getting in touch with each other. We're supposed to use it to ENHANCE our knowledge and SHARPEN our minds. But what has become of the world lately, all these misspelled words, misuse of punctuations and funny grammar? What has become with the intellect of the people who are supposedly the hope of the future? I feel for the dying breed of intellectually capacitated people, for we are about to be outnumbered by these nonchalant punks who think it's cute to use your exclamation point too much. If I were that punctuation mark, I'd cry of being used badly. It's not cute to be less knowledgeable of your spelling and grammar. Surprisingly, being in-the-know is super cool!

We have taken our education for granted. The Philippines may be an English speaking country but we have been too lean and have taken this skill for granted. I know not everyone can afford good education but that is no excuse for not trying hard to learn the right thing to this and that. I bet you, only a few of these people use google to check the definitions and correct spellings of words (I google words im doubtful of, thank you). And look at all these foreigners spending all that hard-earned money to learn English to communicate well, and yet we just laugh off English since first grade. My ex-student spells better than a regular Filipino considering she's Japanese. I am so sad of what has become of all this.

All in all, I think we should give jejemons lesson to go get a life and focus in school instead of hanging out at IRC preying on "game" guys and girls. Young people nowadays have their brains so full of air that it's sad that they have every access to information and they're using it poorly. They didn’t have to go to the library and research using piles of books, they just polish the keyboard, type it in and they're good to go. It's such a shame on their part but they remain unnerved with all this. What a pity it has become. I hope they get that ignorance is not cool, it never was. Being wrong is ok, having mistakes is all but human but to intentionally take these things for granted is so wrong!!! DEFINITELY WRONG. I hope we all wake up from all this and protect the future… improve thine IQ! Read, absorb and understand. I swear you will feel good knowing you know something.

that sudden urge...

i suddenly have this urge to blog after a hiatus from blogging. just these political ads are getting on my nerves lately. these campaigns have been going on since late last year and i've had enough of it. no, im not part of the voting public for i am too lazy to go and register myself. but im thinking, registered or not, im sitting out this election.

IMHO, there are no elegible candidates. REALLY. but then again you'd ask me, what do i know of politics. hmmm all i know is that we filipinos have our own version of politics. it has no longer become for public service but for self service; self-satisfaction of ego and pocket. i wonder why these so-called politicians pool out all their money election time to make themselves look good to people. geezzz save me all that dramatic TV ads and radio plugs. i hear you!! you are from this place from this family... hahaha these presidentiables could pass up as actors for all their ads. from rags to riches my a**. and some of them come from reputable families, but are they even reputable?

people love the media and these politicians try to use the media to sell themselves to people. they start counting all their projects, what they have done... but the question is, did these projects create something good for the general public? what have they done in their ways to create good for the common filipino people? it is not about the promises that they make but it is about what they have done out of sheer concern for the general public. that should be the grounds for how we choose them. i bet people like me who are socially aware of what has been happening have no trouble finding their way with a good candidate to the elections.

it's the less fortunate ones i am afraid of. they are the ones whom TV and radio ads reach. they are the ones who'd grow hopeful of every promise made by these scamming people who only want to get hold of the power and the money that came with it. they'd be the ones greatly affected by who we choose. and yet they are the ones less informed and aware of the right thing to remember. they couldnt see that these people who appear to be angelic and helpful are using them to win a fight. they are using their ignorance in order for them to win. these people have no reservations whatsoever to the strategies of these politicians. as long as they are promised much of what they want, they go for it. but it isnt as easy as that.

all that we can do is pray for the future of our country. pray for the coming elections. this cant be done single handedly anymore. we need more help. i wish all the filipinos really wake up to find the cold and hard truth, that the coming elections is not gonna be as easy as this. i hope we wake up on may 10th and choose the right man for the job. this country is in ruins as we speak and we dont want that to get worse, right?

there's a raging movement inside of me that partly wants me to burst and partly wants me to hold it inside. my ego is on an overload supressing my id but protecting it against my superego. i have come to realize that this world was supposed to be good and nice to me but there are tough challenges along the way which make it utterly difficult to move forward. but all depressions end and are replaced with another. problems get solved and come in the face of another.

no moon and stuck in a traffic jam

yesterday was both a good and a bad day for me. the good part was i spent time with a date with a nice guy. bout my age. :P let's not elaborate that though. it's mine and is exempted for this blog. :D

my bad day started when i got the news that there was a freak accident two blocks from my home, blocking the whole lane going to the city and half of the lane going to cebu north. i thought by the time id get out of the office it will be resolved. so i left the office at around 830pm and guess what? i was stuck in a 2-hour and a half traffic jam. thristy, sweaty, dirty, sleepy and bored. i totally refused to get off the jeepney. it's safer there. plus i was too lazy to walk. well i did walk a block away from my house, bought gatorade coz i was sooo thirsty. all the time i was texting and alternately trying to sleep inside the almost empty jeepney. i was texting my mom and some friends. i got home 11pm, as opposed to the 15-minute travel on a moderate traffic, tired and exhausted. turn on the shower taps and drowned myself in water oblivion. drowning drowning then got out. tried to sleep but my headache was too much so, i went and texted a friend til 1 am til i fell asleep.

the luna girl starts posting

seriously! i already swore off blogging at the end 2007 and surprisingly im once again visiting my old habit, that is, shouting my heart and mind out here online. the past year blogging has got me into trouble, recklessness. i published my blog on the wrong site and voila, if i hadnt held back the name, id be facing an oral defamation case now.

anyways, that was of the past. this is here and now. and one thing is still for sure i find sense of relief and freedom when i blog. its like all thoughts, im placing into something which i hope is worthwhile.

why luna?? luna in roman mythology was the goddess of the moon. and i being under the zodiac cancer (a watersign) is governed by the moon in her utter beauty. thus, the erratic, impulsive and unstable personality exuded by myself. just as the moon changes its phases, runs the tides, so does my mood change. one minute i can be happy and angry the next. unstable that is. very unstable.

this being unstable gave me one gift, the ability to think of many thoughts at a time. thus, the love for blogging of just about anything was born. ever since before i like writing my thoughts down, whether on paper or online. and more so i pour out my feelings on matters i render important.

so bad habits really die hard. its just like drug addiction or smoking or even sex addiction, once you pop your first dope, smoke or you makeout even once after you were clean/sober, you just cant stop doing it again. for me blogging is that way. i was clean for time, but im back and im back with a vengeance. :D