The Consolation of Aging

September 13 is only the legitimate day when my ego can indulge in overflowing compliments, best wishes, and greetings of all sorts. "Why were you even born?", asked one of my friends. I do thank him; at least that could be a bitter melon in today's sweet salad.

Yeah, today's my birthday. And I was expecting someone to greet me warmly today.
That person didn't.
Honestly, I felt that by birthday won't be that complete without that person's greeting.

But I couldn't care less now.

After my best friend from overseas dropped me a line, when my lawyer-to-be friend went out of her way to greet me, when all my relatives remembered...That person shrank to insignificance that I was able to tell myself:

"You're not a someone to begin with. No, you're not."

These people are the reason why I should be happy today:

Thank you everyone for making my birthday kimchi-esque.

ASEAN in Galilee Street

Volunteerism is the epitome of unselfishness. We gave our time that we could never get back to these kids in Galilee Church. The day was April 21, 2007 when I and my friends participated in a volunteer work in a foreign country. The feeling was awesome.
Digression: And the last line welcomes the philosophical argument that volunteerism and self-sacrifice are essentially acts of selfishness. Whoever agrees shall be silenced with brutal philosophical castigation. We taught them English through picture stories, visual poems, songs, rhymes, dances, and theatrical gestures.


Most of these kids are children of single-parent families and seeing the smiles on these innocent faces were truly priceless.

You're Invited!

Dear all,

Greetings from UPLB!

In the midst of today's issues, the youth seek for solutions and
answers. On September 11, 2008, the UPLB Sociology Society, UPLB
Development Communicators Society and the Theta Epsilon Sorority will
hold a symposium entitled the "DIWA: Alamin, Unawain, Pagtibayin – A symposium on the issues confronting the youth today", from 1:00PM to
4:00PM at the SEARCA Auditorium. The speakers will comprise of
young leaders from various groups and political parties, who aim to
have a conversation with the young people to clarify issues, provide
substance, and arm them with objectivity and hope, instead of apathy
and hopelessness. The speakers are:

Atty. Adel Tamano, President of Pamanatasan ng Lungsod ng Maynila
(PLM), United Opposition Spokesperson and UP alumnus
Mr. Gilbert Remulla, former congressman, broadcaster and television
personality; spokesperson of the Nacionalista Party and UP alumnus
Prof. Danton Remoto, Chairman of Ang Ladlad Party List and English
professor at the Ateneo de Manila University


We are really hoping that you can join us in this important
occasion. The University of the Philippines - Los Banos community would like to see and hear from you.
To confirm, please email at this address ekdd14@yahoo. com.

Thank you very much.

Best regards,

(Signed)
Ella Kristina D. Coronel
Organizer
(Socio Soc Tribo 95)


for:

Vincent Baracao
President, UPLB Sociology Society 08-09
(Batch Band 06)

A Single's Hallucination?

Last night I dreamt someone sending me a YM ID called "shin-shi-ne-gin; 신시내긴". I know that I like that person in my dream but I wasn't too certain who that person was...everything was blurred except for this one word...A string of Korean words that I haven't heard before, but have dreamt about. I had to struggle to keep this vocabulary from slipping off my memory until I wake up and search it in my dictionary.

Surprisingly...

Those Korean words mean "my faith, fidelity, a modern poem, lifelong"...
I wish I would dream again and find out who gave me that YM ID. Who knows, that might even exist in reality!

Death Defying Existence

I took this picture in Korea National Museum. Walking along its corridor lined with flower wreaths for a thousand faceless names, my spirit saluted these Filipino heroes who fought for a land that's not theirs. I could never have risked my life this way...

The Eventful 4

Contrary to what Koreans and Chinese believe, for me, the number 4 is a vivacious number. It's not anywhere near death and despair. Whenever the calendar hits a date with a 4 in it, I remember these four things:

September 4, 2007

The Start of Our New Semester! Receiving of monthly stipend! Yon yon eh!
Professor Jeon's inauguration as the Head of DJU's International Office.

And last but not the least, Eunjin nuna and Jinhyeung hyeong's birthday!
생일 축하합니다 이은진 누나, 김진형이형

A Prayer for Population

The natural means have no side effect other than pregnancy.

The Catholic Church is on the move for the nth time to block the law on contraception and sterilization. The Philippines, having a population of 90,000,000, is in dire need of population control. This figure could easily reach 125,000,000 in the next 5 years if the State remains to be soft towards the holiness plead of the Church.

I don't want to sound heretic but I am appalled at the Church's stand on population control. Priests should not intervene with demographic discourse. And it should leave the Philippine state alone.