Archive for February 16th, 2009

Kids, If You’re Gonna Drink…

Kids, If You’re Gonna Drink…

I was reading a friend’s wall post in her Facebook account about one of these “hardcore drinking parties.” I won’t go into the details because it’s absolutely inane and asinine, but then again, I smoke and I drink.  I have my vices.  I was wild back in high school.  So in the interest of “public service,” I am writing this entry.

I’m not going to get on my moral high horse, because I don’t have one.  As a smoker and as a drinker, I can’t tell kids to stop smoking and stop drinking.  Lemme put it this way: if your idea of a high school drinking experience is to drink a shot of vodka and a cold glass of beer, and you’re all gonna do is to start phreaking out, you kids don’t know a damn thing about drinking.

I don’t have a problem with parties.  I’ve been to a lot of parties.  I’ve drank my ass off more times than I can count.  Then I realized there really is no difference between drinking on your own, and drinking with a group.  Then I realized that there’s no worse feeling than a bad hangover, coupled with a bit of incontinence and diarrhea.  I won’t go into the details of that, but I’m telling you, it’s not a very pleasant experience.  It’s a good thing I can handle my alcohol very, very well; the stupidest people I’ve seen are drunkards.  Drunk kids.

Inebriated boys and girls who think they’re the coolest in the neighborhood, and spend all their money on booze.  Kids who puke their guts out at 11 PM.  Kids who, nine months later have children of their own.  A year later, that very same drunk boy from the last is the exact same kid serving me my Chicken McNuggets 15 minutes after I ordered it from the cashier at McDonald’s.

There’s an old saying that goes, “In vino, veritas;” in wine, there is truth.  If you start doing something stupid while you’re under the influence of alcohol, you’re pretty much stupid.  For all intents and purposes, you’re not insensitive.  You’re not even immoral.  You’re just plain stupid.  If you’re gonna drink, hold it in your stomach; don’t hold it in your brain.

Young minds are terrible things to waste.  And if you’re gonna puke it out, try to hold it in, experience the hangover.  Alcohol is a terrible thing to waste.

February 16, 2009 2 comments Read More
Show of Hands (A Bad Case of Ladyfingers)

Show of Hands (A Bad Case of Ladyfingers)

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In case you were wondering whose hand that is, that’s my left hand.  I can’t lay it flat on a surface or stretch my fingers; years of bad typing habits have sort of deformed both my hands into something akin to claws.  Then again, it’s almost always the case that when someone notices my hands, they think lady fingers.

February 16, 2009 0 comments Read More
Fence

Fence

(Posted as a reply to Katrina Stuart-Santiago and the anti-JJ crowd… a riposte)

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The chicken wire enclosure to your left may seem meaningless; it’s found on every open parking lot in Ortigas Center.  That itself carries with it an import; that I am not supposed to cross here, that I am not allowed here unless I have a car and am willing to pay the fee.

It may all seem trivializing, but you can derive meanings like that from things which are nothing more than simple enclosures to public space.   For something made with wire and metal tubes, a fence can evoke strong feelings.

It’s not that fences are built to be evil, but it is the purpose of a fence that carries with it some degree of meaning.  

After the Friday the 13th incident at the UP Fair, I’ve been reading up a bit on talk of “securing UP’s borders;” the gated community, fences, and so on.  The “us-against-them” mentality that seems to be present in UP right now is starting to creep up on the University grappling with the idea of “us-against-them,” of “UPians” and “outsiders.”  My stay in UP was sort of defined along those lines as well; I’ve seen some sort of violence erupt outside the fence of my own campus some years back which involved “outsiders” enjoying the Christmas concert.

The Metro Manila Development Authority (MMDA) can build fences in a matter of hours if the feel like it, y’know.  Now as far as a fence goes, building one around UP Diliman is rather easy:

  1. Evict the families, communities, the “Jumping Jologs,” and other “non-UP people,” and move them all somewhere to Katipunan or C.P. Garcia.
  2. Use UP’s funds (or alumni funds, or take up a collection among students) to build and erect chicken-wire fences on the perimeter of UP.  Better yet, make fences made from stone and iron bars.
  3. Build gates on strategic locations.  Give or take a year of construction work, you have successfully “secured UP’s borders.”  Heck, you can electrify this fence come the next UP Fair.

So much for being a fence-sitter, so to speak… here goes.

February 16, 2009 9 comments Read More