When you got old, when you got poor. When you got sick, when you got hungry. When you got lost, when you got heartbroken. These are the low moments in our lives when we would know the true people who cares for us.
Like what Warren Buffet said, “It is only when the tide goes out that you discover who’s been swimming naked”
Lumangoy ng naka-bomba!
In light of the National Day of Protest in my country, the beautiful Philippines! Let me post a photo which would represent my protest contribution. This photo is not mine and neither have I sought authorization from the owner. I just hope that the owner (musicorspaceshuttle.com) would be generous and kind to permit me in using this photo.
imagine them lifeless 😦
Look at the photo and imagine them lifeless. This is iWire Center in Moline Illinois in its full capacity at 9,200 people during a Pearl Jam rock concert in 2014.
The full capacity of iWire Center is actually even lesser by a couple of thousands as compared to the number of extra-judicial killings and summary executions that has occurred since the day President Duterte has run and governed my country. At present, human rights groups’ count stands at 13,000 casualties.
No to Extra-Judicial Killings. And i pray that it ends soon.
Patay tayo sa mga Dutertards nyan!
Strange yet true, the Filipino language is one of the unique languages on the planet that duplicates the same syllables so as to produce a word or a name. I am so used to knowing a person with the following appelations: Cheche, Ging Ging, Gly Gly, Ton Ton, Lotlot and Jon Jon. And I am not a bit surprise to hear and use these Filipino words: hakahaka (speculation), singsing (ring), guniguni (hallucinations), gabigabi (nightly) bubukaka (will spread the legs widely) or lokoloko (loony).
this post is like this, baliwbaliwan at ang saya-saya!
Other Filipino duplicated-syllable words that I don’t intend to translate are pekpek, titi, kiki and bulbul! For those people who don’t speak the Filipino language you would just have to google the translation. While for the Filipinos, I’m pretty sure they are now laughing out loud while reading this.
From my readings, one reason why my Filipino language is so used to duplicating syllables to create a meaningful word is because Filipino language as a whole seem to be composed of only simple and uncomplicated phonologies. Also, my Filipino language lacks the composition of 3-lettered consonant clusters (like using str or psy in the beginning of a word and the use of gth or rch to end a word) to make it somewhat complicated. Because of these limitations and to compensate so as to broaden the language, Filipinos unconsciously decided to duplicate simple utter-able syllables so as to create different words and meanings.
Filipinos are so accustomed to duplicating syllables as words it unconsciously spills out from our train of thought when we even speak the English language. Remember Ms. Philippines (Venus Raj) during the final Q&A round of the Ms. Universe pageant who replied that she never had any “major major” problem that she has done in her life during the 21 years of her existence. This was a top trending topic then in the twitter world during that time.
I myself would sometime unintentionally utter doubled/repeated English words as if I am suffering from palilalia especially when I am so so very very happy!
smiling though i am so na-wiwi-wiwi-na!
But what is even more strange is that Filipino language does not only duplicate syllables, it even triplicates it so as to even relay a different meaning for such usage of syllables. Filipino words with triplicated syllables are actually words in future tense form. Take these as examples:
I was about to type hahaha which means laughing out loud! Hahaha!
Kakaloka!
The Pride Month is over yet rainbow flags will never be folded and kept inside treasure trunks of the LGBT community. The waving of these colorful flags will continue to signify the unremitting fight for rights and equality.
This is of course except for the Chechen Republic which is the worst place to live for the members of the LGBT community. In that part of the globe, rainbow flags are kept in the innermost trunks and queer thoughts will forever be suppressed in the deepest annals of their soul.
mr. razman kadyrov
Last weekend, I happen to bumped into an old YouTube video. After watching this fun and funny video, I wonder what the leader of Chechen Republic would feel after viewing it. Will he be beaming with smile and even laugh while watching such an innocent and harmless kids who happen to be gay? Or will he get so furious he will order his military troupes to fly nuclear missiles to the Philippines so as to eradicate these naïve and blameless kiddos? And if these kids were living in Chechnya, would he order that these happy minors be abducted and held captive in a gay concentration camps?
Aside from wondering what the Chechen Republic leader would feel, I am curious how the “free” kids of Chechnya enjoy being kids. Are they as unregimented and as diverse like the kids here in my country? Are they able to strut spontaneous moves the way kids here strut their stuff?
With all these incomprehensible questions, all I could think of is being glad that these kids are happy living in a free country like the Philippines! These cute kids may not be rich and powerful but they sashay away with happiness…
Ang kwela! San ka pa?!
One of my monster pamangkins (nephew) recently shared this in his Facebook page…
It may have some good points but I’m sorry because I find this video-message seem to border on egotism, arrogance and conceit. This is my personal stand on this clip after me and Nengkoy had difficulty looking for a greeting card. Hahaha! I felt sadness while inside the National Bookstore (the leading books, stationaries and greeting card store in the country). It is because the availability of greeting cards have dwindled in the stores where it is usually available.
Nengkoy wanted to send a Thank You card to one of her best friends who is based in the United States because this sweet longtime friend sent her a package of American-made presents. Unfortunately, National Bookstore no longer seem to sell Thank You greeting cards and what is so evident is that greeting cards are now positioned at one lonely corner of the store with very limited themes and varieties to choose from. Gone are the days when almost half of National Bookstore is filled with various types of colorful greeting cards.
nengkoy searching for a thank you greeting card
And I am blaming the millenials for this turn of events. It is because the generation today no longer send greeting cards via post or snail mail. Millenials may love to travel and go on an adventure but gone also are the days when travelers around the planet would get a postcard from a local store of their destination and send it home via postal.
Today’s generation can easily send a recycled, reused and secondhand digital greeting to a friend’s or relative’s social media account, which for me is a little cold, stony and unfeeling. It is unlike receiving a greeting card which is more warm, tender and congenial because you know that it took quite an effort on sending such a tangible greeting.
Yeah millenials are fast, smart and proficient but I just hope that classy and classic Greeting Cards remains available for the likes of Nengkoy and those who were born before this seem-to-be-conceited generation. I hope today’s fast paced generation would acknowledge that the likes of Nengoy and the older folks are the precursors to the development of delightful living for today’s young population to enjoy.
Kalungkot lang…
What’s the worst and stupidest thing a first time tourist in San Francisco USA would do? That would be… not seeing the Golden Gate Bridge and shoot photos of it. I apparently is not that person. I saw, I touched, I smelled (and even tasted it) and had uncountable selfies!
daytime
yey!
kamangha!
view from the top
one lucky dude
I actually went and see the Golden Gate Bridge twice. One during a sunny afternoon and second was at an early evening when the sun is about to set. I went twice just to confirm and re-assure myself that the first red orange bridge I saw was indeed the freaking Golden Gate Bridge! Hahaha!
I love the bridge. It’s elegant and mild from afar but absolutely robust and mighty when you got to step on it. And as I was walking along the sidewalk, I kept on pinching myself to validate that I am not dreaming and that I really am stepping on one of the Wonders of Modern World.
nightime
happy!
And when I reached the mid-part of the bridge, I tried looking down at the frigid water of the San Francisco Bay. All I can utter was, “This freakin’ b!@#ch is high!” After seeing the bridge twice and marvel at the beauty and strength it possesses, I smiled and proudly told myself that I indeed is one lucky dude!
Ang taas ng pota!
How many times do a person need to play a sport before he or she considers that game as his/he sport? Does it have to be a daily playing of the sport? Once a week? Once a month? Do a player needs to receive a prize or a medal for winning the game before he or she considers that sport his/her sport? Or do you have to enlist yourself to legit and recognized sport organization so that you can call that sport your sport?
Or do you simply need to know the mechanics of the sport, be a knowledgeable on who are the legends and superstars of that sport and you just have to simply have to be an avid fan of such a sport before you can consider that sport your sport?
If the basis for having a sport is the last question, without any shoes or any gear, then my sport would be tennis. But for other basis or criteria of having a sport, then I can easily say that I don’t have one.
Maybe playing a sport is not in my genes and bloodstream. In the past, every time a soul would ask me what’s my sport, without butting an eyelash and feeling sedimentary, I would simply say “none” then start justifying that sports are only for people who needs to exhibit hatred, vent out ones boastfulness and dispense their sadistic pleasures.
But this is until recently when for the third consecutive year of visiting the bucolic municipality of Baler, I guess I can consider myself of finally having a sport. That would be SURFING! No not windsurfing or kite surfing or internet surfing. Its beach surfing! Yeah! This is my third time on three consecutive years to surf the soft-sanded Sabang Beach of Baler. Would this count?
a short re-briefing…
as usual someone needs to carry my surf board for me. hahaha!
i heart baler
surf is up! hahaha!
I have yet to know technical terms of the sport like tubing, windswell, crumbly and pearling, but I’m definitely stoked every time I got to surf. It may only be my third time but I already feel like I’m a Kahuna! Kahuna by the way according to surfers are the wizards and magicians of surfing! Hahaha!
Now ask me. What’s my sport?
You, what’s your sport?
‘Yun nga lang… nakaka-hingal!
Kiss January goodbye and welcome to the dreadful Valentines month of February. It is so awful the level of ghastliness (especially the 14th day) can be compared to Black Saturday when Jesus is dead, the Halloween, the Day of the Dead, the Bombing of Pearl Harbor and the day the Jews were burned to death by the Nazis rolled into one.
I may feel vileness in the air this time of the year but the whole world loves February. It is the month the world’s population observes the ultimate celebration of love towards someone they adore. But for me, I find February to be something gruesome. It is because it is the month when I am kept reminded of my heart’s, seem to be perpetual, default setting: solo, alone, by myself, solitary, unaccompanied, SINGLE.
solo
Though I don’t like February, I would still like to believe that Love at any day or time of the year and no matter what its form is an antidote to all the bad stuff that life throws at us. Perpetual singlehood may be harder and my default setting for quite a considerable time already, believe me, I still consider Love as a great source of happiness, comfort and safety. It eliminates fear. Everything else fails in comparison to love.
Sige na! Kayo na ang maganda! Kayo na ang maligaya!
Grand Slam tennis tournaments (may it be the Wimbeldonn, the US Open, Roland Garros, or the Aussie Open) are full and bombarded with statistics. Their organizers along with various sports networks and correspondents makes the sport more interesting through the usage of various statistical analyses and historical data about the game.
With the recent fantastic win of my most favorite tennis player in history during the 2017 Australian Open edition, let me feature my own stats concerning Roger Federer and the recently concluded championship match.
Zero. Zero is the number of times I watched tennis grand slam match last year. I seem to have lost interest about the game when Roger Federer started losing in a string of tennis matches and Rafael Nadal seem to have hidden from the limelight due to injury. Without this two, tennis for me – until just recently – seem to already become an uninteresting kind of sport to watch.
Nil. That is the volume of my expectation that I would get to actually see Roger Federer again in a Majors championship. Nil, null or nothing was also my level of expectancy that Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal would battle it out in the finals of a Grand Slam title. But stars seemed to have realigned and let these two legends reach the finals of the 2017 Australian Open.
Countless. While watching the championship game, I lost count on the number of times I shrieked, shouted and cheered every time Roger Federer wins a point against Rafa Nadal. I also lost count on how many times I gasp for air every time Rafa would fix his shorts or pick his wedgie before every serve.
legends of modern tennis
Thirty Five and Ten. As if defying physical drawbacks like skin sagging, joint pains, poor eyesight and reduction in motor agility that comes along with old age, 35 is the age of Roger Federer when he won last Sunday’s tennis championship. While 10 (from the range of 0 being the lowest and 10 being the highest) shall remain my rating in terms of the hotness of Rafael Nadal.
Five. This is the number of times I fervently prayed to the heavens during the recent Aussie Open Federer vs Nadal championship match. Since it took Federer 5 sets to win, every freakin’ set, I prayed “God! Please let Roger win!”
Eighteen. After winning the Australian Open 2017sweet eighteen is the huge and unbelievable number of times that my idol Roger Federer won the Grand Slam tournaments. And what is so sweet about this 18th Majors title is that he won it over a match with Rafa whom I suppose he considers his greatest nemesis in the game of tennis. Nadal I believe is the legendary tennis player who actually prevented Federer from winning more grand slam championships!
One Hundred. I’m not a Swiss, I have never been to Switzerland and I don’t play tennis. But a solid 100% shall I remain to being a huge fan of Roger Federer!
18th
Kongrats Manong Rodger! Mabuhay ka!
Like the rest of the Filipinos, I’m excited and anxious towards the result of the annual Miss Universe pageant. There must really be something in the waters of the Philippines that makes almost all of the Filipinos become so eccentric and loony about this pageant.
And what is so weird is that we only get so thrilled and so tempestuous only for the Miss Universe title. We are not as crazy and as zany towards the results of other international beauty pageants like Miss World, Miss International, Miss Supranational and other out-of-this-world beauty titles. For us Filipinos, Miss Universe is the ultimate beauty contest. Miss Universe for the Philippines is like the SuperBowl of USA, the FIFA World Cup of Latin Americas or the Eurovision Song Contest of Europe.
But unlike the previous years, my being anxious, excited and prayerful that Miss Philippines makes it to the top 3 spots this year is a little bland, vapid and nondescript. It is because this year’s pageant was held here in the Philippines.
miss universe (from france)
I agree with the opinion of the very opinionated Gloria Diaz, the 1969 Miss Universe. She believes that except for USA (who owns the Miss Universe franchise and where the pageant is usually held), no host country should win the title. I am actually a little glad this year that Miss Philippines just landed in the top 6. At least no nation who joined this year’s contest would accuse the Philippines for holding a rigged pageant.
Filipinos I believe has the same sentiment as that of Ms. Diaz but with the exemption of course for the Philippines as the venue. Since Miss Universe is the most prestigious title that any Filipina would want to have, we Filipinos would want our girl to win the title may it be held in the Philippines or not. But if the candidate of a different host country where the pageant is held wins, then we Filipinos would construe that the pageant was doctored.
Can you just imagine a Miss Universe pageant held in Beijing and the crowned winner is Miss China or Miss Colombia winning the title when the pageant is held in Bogota? Except for the Philippines as the venue, we Filipinos would most probably dub that year’s pageant as the best “cooking” show in the universe “with 3 Michelin stars”!
And because I agree with the opinion of Ms. Diaz. I just hope that this is the last time Philippines hosts the pageant. I am saying this because I want our candidate to win fair and square. We know that it is more pleasing, magnificent and majestic if Filipino brings home an accolade that was gained and bestowed from different country.
miss philippines maxine medina
And because we are known to be the craziest fanatics of this pageant and we can seriously mock a country for being fraud, cheats and deceitful, no country then would dare host it and have their candidate win. And since all participating countries wants to win, no country then would want to host it. This results to a predicament of the Miss Universe Organization on where to hold the next pageant.
My suggestion? Try holding the contest in a neutral country. A nation that does not participate in the pageant for reasons their country would only know. Countries like Syria, Yemen or Iran could have been great neutral places but due to some folks with their radical Muslim beliefs, holding the pageant in these countries may be life threatening for the ladies and the organizers.
I guess the best venue for Miss Universe then would be the Vatican City. A city state that has diplomatic relations with almost every country in the world, a country that does not have a prison system, and a tiny government run and enriched by some of the most religious people in the universe, Vatican City would be the most neutral, most friendly and most appropriate venue for the next Miss Universe pageant. I would like to believe that a lot of people including Gloria Diaz would agree with me on this.
Kongrats sa nanalo…
Nengkoy 