Sunday, March 27, 2011

Words that try to sum up something but fail

I've been trying to put off posting something for a while now. A lot of it is due to the fact that I wanted to stay quiet. I'm probably deluding myself into thinking that maybe that's what I'm supposed to be doing. I figured though, it would be a waste to let the moment go by without saying anything about it. Maybe I needed some form of closure to mark the end of an era. It's probably really selfish of me but I'll just go on ahead and do it.

Yesterday was my sister's high school graduation. It was a long ass ceremony with a mass and speeches. The whole shebang. That day would be also the last whole day I would be spending with my relatives from Japan. The last time they came over was two years ago. I guess that just adds to the changes. Or at least I would like to think so.

College changes people. I say I have to agree. I have changed. I myself probably don't see those changes sometimes. But they're there. Or maybe they were latent traits that remained dormant but required changes in my own environment. All in just my first year. I wonder what else will change as time goes on. It scares me.

Yeah, that's one year down. Three more to go. Time moves fast. We all know that. I think the most important lesson in all of this change and speed is that (quite obviously) we have to live make sure everyday is spent wisely and as full as you can.

I digress.

People change. Times change. We're all moving into our endpoints and there's always a chance that we might lose those we care for. We have to be careful to avoid that. I learned that the hard way.

Things to be thankful for. I'm thankful for all the people I've met. First year was varied and full of different personalities. It was fun meeting people from everywhere. You also learn more about yourself. I'm also thankful for the friendships you make. The ones that get tested. The ones that last.The ones you will never forget.

This is my last first year (unless I decide to go to med school). Beginnings are great. Endings are used for reflection. I can't even begin to really sum up the year. Just creating the clincher leaves me already extremely incoherent. All I can really say is, thank you. Thank you to the people who were there. The people who weren't there. The people I didn't like. The people I love. The people who shared parts of themselves. The people who helped me grow. The people who loved me though I deserve much less. The people who you will never find anywhere else no matter how hard you try. The people you can never make it up to.

Thank you. I can never say that enough.

Sunday, March 13, 2011

Changing my Life, Mom and Facebook, Dad and Horses, Japan and the Wrath of Phuket Thailand

I have two papers due tomorrow. A Lit poem analysis of the draft and the final version of Amaryllis by Ellen Bryant Voigt AND the draft for my reflection paper. I first imagined a reflection paper to be just a blogpost on paper. Guess I was wrong. Maybe it's the topic that makes it hard. "The moment in my life that affected me the most" or some sort of thing like that. I like to think that my life was not solely influenced by a single event. I guess I'm a work in progress. Every little thing that happens to me changes me a little. Some more than others.

 Enough of that shit.

Yeah. I'm just bumming. Finals week's coming up. Got a couple of long tests for this week too. A documentary for Fil to work on. There's also the lit play I helped write. Which I should mention is very very sweet. Not sweet awesome. Just sickeningly sweet. Damn my Eng/Lit block's love for sweet stories. We should have done something like Young Man in a Jeepney by Merlie Alunon. It's this poem about some cougar who savors the ass heat of a strapping young man who just got off the jeep. Bel was on fire during the analysis of that one.

What else... I haven't posted pics of Dark Shore yet. I feel like it's getting to be old news. And we need to perform more. Which reminds me. Recently, I've been feeling like a 90's teenage girl. Sort of like Debbie from the Wild Thornberries. My mom took to the habit of using Facebook. I have to say, back then, I thought  that those 90's teens who complained about how nosy they parents were especially when they were "keeping up with the times" were whiny bitches. Now I myself have become a whiny bitch. She's filled my computer with hundreds of copies of photos because she messed up copy-pasting them into another folder. She's tagged herself AND HER FRIEND on my super vain profile pic of me with a guitar (oh the visuality).

I do wish though, if she were to use a computer, that she learn how to use one properly. Or at least not leave so much shit lying around. Haha. I know, I'm asking for a beating. Maybe part of me is very confident that she will never see this blog (because she doesn't know how or she doesn't know what a blog is...teehee) or I'm still being a whiny teenage girl from the 90's.

In that sense, I admire my dad. So steady. So not reliant on computers. He will not appreciate anything that isn't either, delicious to eat, something related to horses, or business. For those of you who are wondering, my dad owns horses. They aren't magical. They don't eat light and shit rainbows. They don't fly. They're pretty neat like big dogs. And like dogs they bite. My dad got bit by one, right on the boob. It was purple for a while. Sounds quite funny, but it's only really a little funny.

And since everyone got in on the bandwagon and they're pretty close to getting out, I'll join in! Japan and the Earthquake.

I heard about it first from my dad who asked if my Tita living in Japan lived near Tokyo. I remember them staying somewhere else like Osaka so I thought that they would be pretty okay. The reality of the thing didn't sink in 'til much later. I saw footage of the tsunami on CNN and it looked like water sweeping up some diorama. Like if you stuck your AP (that's social studies to you) project into a canal during heavy rain. I couldn't help but think of Godzilla coming out of the water. (Yeah, I'm a terrible person) Anyways, we didn't get any word about whether they were safe or not until the wee hours in the morning when my mom managed to call them when communication was restored in Japan. (We should have used the internet instead, people managed to Tweet in spite of the shit happening around them) It turns out that they were okay. They lived about a 2 hour drive from the epicenter and only their figurines broke. My cousin and her dad got home at about 3 am already but they were safe.

With this event came a surge of posts, stats and other things in support for Japan. Of course, I doubt the authenticity of those posts. Clicking a like page isn't going to save anyone unless there's some sort of money involved and of course prayers help (I'm taking this with a MOUNTAIN of SALT) ONLY if you do something about it after. But at least the word is getting out.

Those damn cutesy Koreans...


Just last night, my grandma was getting into somewhat of a heated argument. It wasn't really an argument. She just kept talking about the nuclear power plant exploding. I found what she said hard to believe. Not because I don't believe in explosions. It's cause my grandma, bless her heart, misquotes and summarizes stories so erroneously some times. She just kept talking about how they evacuated the people 60 km and that 4 people died. So, I watched the news with her to check. As I was listening though she kept going, "YOU SEE!" when it had nothing to do with 4 people dying or something about 60 km. Oh grandma...

After which she mentioned how  people on the radio were talking about how Japan had this coming because of:

A. Some Tower of Babel analogy

~OR~

B. The atrocities committed during the Second World War

If you've read my previous post about how I'm an atheist. You might be able to imagine how I reacted to the first. I'm not gonna dwell on that. I just have to say, if you sincerely believe that. I believe you are Amish and I laugh at your fear of light bulbs.(Insensitive cartoon stereotype)

The second point also ticked me off. I'm not gonna even explain why. I mean c'mon. Who seriously believes that? It reminds me of the other Tsunami that hit Phuket, Thailand some time ago. My AP (that's still social studies to you) teacher mentioned that he didn't necessarily believe that it was the wrath of God. But it made you think...Phuket...Phuket... Puke...

Are you phuking kidding me, sir?