Silver Lining I: Bakit Masayahin ang Pinoy?
10 pressed play
Bakit nga ba, eh ang daming problema ng mga Pinoy? Maraming hindi nakakakuha ng magandang edukasyon, marami ang nagugutom, marami ang walang trabaho, marami ang nadadaya, marami ang naiisahan. Walang pera, makasariling gobyerno, iniinsulto ng ibang bansa. Pero, kahit ganyan, masaya pa rin ang mga Pinoy, mas masaya pa kumpara sa mga tao sa kanluran na higit naman ang pagka-unlad sa atin.
Kung ganon, bakit? Simple lang. Noypi eh.
Rasong Noypi # 1:
Kasi marunong tayong tumawa sa harap ng mga suliranin. "Suliranin" hindi bilang isang kalamidad na pinagtatawanan ng mga Pilipino kasi sa ibang tao nangyari, kundi "suliranin" bilang mga hamon at kahirapan sa buhay. May salawikain nga na ang pinakamabisang gamot ay ang pagtawa. Sigurado hindi 'yon mula sa isang Pilipino pero ang mga Pilipino naman ang kumakatawan sa kasabihang iyon. Sa sobrang hilig nga sa pagtawa kahit sarili kayang tawanan!
"Pare, nawala yung pera ko."
"May tawag dyan."
"Oo nga, tanga!"
Ha Ha Ha… Tawa nang tawa na parang wala ng bukas.
Rasong Noypi # 2:
Kasi dinidibdib ang konsepto ng pakikipagkapwa-tao. Bagong kakilala pa lang, ang turingan na magkaibigan. Kaka-kamay pa lang kung makipagtawanan akala matagal na nilang ginagawa yon. Bumati lang at nag-opo sa tindera tila suki na ang tingin sa sarili. Isang oras pa lang nagsasama parang matalik nang magkaibigan kung magpalitan ng sikreto.
"Ako si Pinay 1. Ikaw?"
"Kamusta! Ako si Pinay 2. Crush ko si Pinoy 1 pero sikreto lang ha."
"Oo ba! Ako ang crush ko si Pinoy 2. 'Wag mo sasabihin sa iba ha."
Sa susunod pati ang password sa e-mail at blog naiibahagi na din.
Rasong Noypi # 3:
Mahilig sa good time kahit walang perang pang-gastos. Kahit mangutang pa basta makasali sa kung anong trip ng barkada: Inuman, kantahan, kainanan, manood ng sine, at marami pang iba.
"Tara, videoke tayo!"
"Wala na kong pera. Utang muna!"
'Keys me, beneath the milky twilay…silvymousse is barkley…'
Rasong Noypi # 4:
Ibang klase ang banat ng mga programa at commercial sa telebisyon at radyo. Hanep ang mga linya, patunay na kaya nating maghayag ng importanteng mensahe sa nakakatawang paraan.
"Economy o Quality?"
"Pwede bot?"
- E.Q. diapers
"Mama, para! Wala akong passport!"
- Cossack Vodka
Rasong Noypi # 5:
Mahilig sa mga corny jokes at kung anu-ano pang mga kalokohan. Sabi nga ng pinsan kong kano, "Everything is funnier in Tagalog." Syempre!
"Anong sinabi ng bear sa langgam?"
"Ano?"
"Eh di 'rawr!' Alanga-namang magsalita ang bear!"
Simula sa seryosong mga rason hanggang sa mga kalokohan, lahat nagpapaliwanag kung bakit masayahin ang mga Pinoy. Third World na kung Third World, at least ang kulubot lang natin sa mukha laugh lines. Eh sila?
~
Dahil kailangan bumawi sa talumpati...shyet
Paola @ 10:17 PM
Take the Rough with the Smooth
The bad thing about life is that it has its ups and downs. The good thing about it is that it has its ups and downs. Nope, I didn't just make an extensive typo. It's exactly what I wanted to write. Of course, nobody wants troubles in their lives, everyone wants everything easy, smooth sailing all the time, but we all know we can't have that. The "grand scheme of things" doesn't have that in its outline. Bad things are kind of like a counterbalance, something that grounds us and tells us that life isn't fair. It's the one thing that makes us do a double-take and re-evaluate what we've been doing so far. It's the result of the mistakes we committed, commit, and will continue to commit. We can't have butterflies and sunshine all our lives. As they say, life's not all beer and skittles. We strive for that, yes, but it's near-impossible, so why not just make the most out of a bad situation?
"When life hands you lemons, make lemonade." It was during my fourth year in high school that I always heard this, and I guess there are a very few souls who haven't gotten a whiff of this aphorism. I don't really wonder why because it's the most--dare I say logical?--thing to do when you're in some sort of fuckity circumstance.
When your mobile phone gets confiscated (HS scenario), you frown and whine for a little while, then you shrug your worry off and tell yourself that at least you'd only be getting a verbal warning. A lemon thrown, a quarter of your glass is filled with lemonade.
When you fail an exam, learn from it and study harder. Another lemon, another quarter.
When there's a big sale and you've already maxed out your credit card, two words: window shop. More lemon, more lemonade.
There are lots of ways to cope with the crap that life keeps pitching our way. Things aren't always so bad...it's just how we look at them. We can whine all we want--I admit, it's sometimes fun to complain--we can blame others all we want, but in the end, we're still the ones who should learn how to slice the fruit and squeeze out the juice. By the time we're wise enough to realize that that might probably be what life is all about, we already have saved enough money to buy an entire country from selling all those lemonade.
There's still another thing we can do, though. As I've said before, there's the coping mechanism, the other's our inherent fighting mechanism. Instead of going with the flow and adapting to what's going on, we move against the current and do things the way we want to do them, provided that we are armed with good intentions. A professor shoots down your political argument--Fight!--you stick to your stuff and prove your idea instead of just telling yourself that the professor is right...simply because he's licensed to teach and should know the right answers. Shit, zero; you, one.
That said, I guess we can modify the earlier adage a wee bit. "When life throws you lemons, throw them back until you get the oranges you originally asked for." Either's fine, though I'd much rather prefer the second one. But that's just me.
...I guess I just like oranges more than lemons...
~
Take the rough with the smooth - good things and bad things
Edit (May 13, 2009): That reddened line is from here. Finally I found it! Although of course, what I wrote obviously missed a few words.
Paola @ 8:43 PM
Back to Basics: Beyond the Pale
It's damnably annoying to hear people complain about how rude some shop assistants are when they are rude to the clerks themselves. Really, what ever happened to common courtesy? Yes, there are times when our good manners fly out the window, but when that happens, it's so freakishly insensitive of us to demand respect from others. The adage "Customer is always right" has its limits, and it's sad to know that people have yet to grasp what those limits are.
"Where's the size I'm asking for?!" "I told you to hold the nuts, didn't I?!" "This ain't decaf! What the hell?!" "Can your service get any slower?!" Sound familiar? 'Course they do! Since time immemorial, it has been ingrained in us that we should do unto others what we want others to do unto us--Golden Rule, anyone?--and it's surprising how some people can preach it like they adhere to it even when, just a little while ago, they have shouted at a thousand shop assistants! I mean, really, is it so hard to be kind to salesclerks? I know others are rude to them because they think clerks are meant to forever kiss the floor they walk on--add to that the twisted humor they find in embarrassing the poor devils. Guess what? That's not the way things work. Hell no! Do people want others to treat them as badly as they treat those harried shop assistants? I don't think so, so why not dish out a little respect to gain a little respect for yourself?
What if the roles were reversed? Then it isn't such a funny thing anymore, is it? Now there's another something to think about. Food for thought.
~
Beyond the pale - unacceptable; outside acceptable decency standards
Paola @ 4:11 AM
The Bitch in Us
(Warning: This doesn't sound like me at all, but hell, we all have our days when we act and talk like we're another person.)
We often hear ourselves saying, "What a bitch, that girl," or something along that line (note: "Damn that wench," "What a floozy," "That tramp," "Stupid whore"...need I go on?) Sometimes, we say it so easily and quickly that it only takes us a fraction of a second to utter the word a gazillion times! Tell me I'm exaggerating, but really, how often do you hear that word in one day? I'd say more than anyone would care to count, right?
We often hear ourselves saying, "What a bitch, that girl," or something along that line (note: "Damn that wench," "What a floozy," "That tramp," "Stupid whore"...need I go on?) Sometimes, we say it so easily and quickly that it only takes us a fraction of a second to utter the word a gazillion times! Tell me I'm exaggerating, but really, how often do you hear that word in one day? I'd say more than anyone would care to count, right?
Assuming I'm right, let me tell you this: have you ever thought that calling someone a bitch makes you a bitch?
If you've thought of this, then I suppose you're acknowledging the bitch in you. Yep, you read right. We know we're being bitchy and yet we point out--with such contempt, might I add--how bitchy others are being. Hn, I guess it doesn't matter if we're flawed ourselves so long as we get to tell another soul how flawed others are, right? Yeah, and we consider doing that highly satisfying and utterly fun! Dang, what perverse universe have we crawled into? Oh, don't get me wrong, I'm not being a hypocrite. I'm not saying that you should stop this twisted habit, not when I often do it myself.
You might be asking what the bleeding purpose of this entry is, seeing as how I'm ranting about something like I'm against it when I'm really not. I have no point, at least none that I'm currently entertaining. Maybe when I read this first entry again "ages and ages hence" (allow me a moment of literary intelligence: The Road Not Taken - Robert Frost), I'd know what I really am trying to say...
...Then again, life's a bitch, so I'd probably be still thinking what the whole point of this is by the time I'm thirty!
"Life's a bitch, as is everyone living it, and I won't have it any other way!" - P. Adara (If you're reading this, luv, props to me for remembering this, all right? Wink)
And a shout-out to those other biatches reading this (you know who you are...Rawr Johnny Depp!)
Paola @ 6:52 PM