Surfing The Net

Chez Mercado Ms.Cielo
COMPMED July 21 2008


Surfing the net is one of my favorite past time to somehow sidestep boredom and basically everyone else’s. We are all aware that in plainly using internet, there are open-ended and boundless things we can do and at the same time learn but the access here at school is very impulsive. Like for example on my part, I can’t open sites that are related to music considering the fact that I love listening to it. Another is friendster is banned as well when in fact most students have accounts on it, so simply, the internet here is useless and it just pisses people off because it can’t actually divert students from being bored. The only thing we can do is search for things that are academically related, what’s faulty is that we pay for the usage of internet then we get nothing positive out of it, worst is when we have something to do and there’s an ongoing class, we will be forced to go out and leave instead of doing what we have to. Sounds rude but that happens at times.

I don’t want to be bias or anything to just focusing and pointing on negative things upon the internet usage in the school but it’s really hard to relate a good part when it comes to this matter. I mean how I would write something good about it when there’s really nothing adequate regarding to it, more to say, it’s just a waste of money because we pay for something that we can’t really use. Sometimes even for academic purpose, it fail to help students as well. Like we have a subject called COMPART and we always have to find pictures and images for us to edit and somehow upgrade, but there are very limited varieties of copies because of Dansguardian. Students can’t freely browse pictures and we can hardly find perfect image to use on that subject so we end up having something na we can say “pwede na” instead of something na “pwedeng pwede” instead.

Well, maybe there’s a little bit positive about the connection. We can play games sometimes but that happens very seldom. There are sites with different games and it’s not banned like games to girls and addicting games but because I’m not the type that was so into gaming, I really didn’t find it much interesting. It’ll be more fun if they allow music sites to be viewed because what’s the point of banning those sites right? Those are just music and there’s nothing bad about it. It’s just frustrating that they have to ban sites that most students would enjoy visiting, maybe to limit students from using the net.

Another is the takes so long to load a single page. Instead of avoiding boredom, it kills us more just upon waiting and in turn we’ll find out that the page we are waiting to load was banned. Sad to say, I wasn’t able to say much positive things about the net connection because there’s really nothing good about it. Mainly, we can only use yahoo, Google, MSN and sites like that only and we pay for it but we don’t enjoy the use of it. Aside from we have limited searches to do, it’s very slow so I prefer to search somewhere else instead rather that here.

Fast Paced Communication.

Chez Mercado 07/28/2008
COMPMED Ms. Cielo

FAST PACED COMMUNICATION

The way of intercommunication keeps on changing through time. Before, we only have it orally which was a little bit hard to keep record after it is already said and heard. Since it’s more like hearsay, people tend to add information that is not factual and inaccurate. That’s why most of the times before, people get perplexed on whichever to believe in because there are different versions of news going around but only talking about the same thing. Years later, the oral culture was upgraded when written art arises. Now, news is more credible since the articles are written and people can sue the writers by saying things that are not credible and true. Columnists should also include in their article the sources from which they get the facts they have written and probably contact numbers of the people they interviewed related to the write up they are doing if there are any.

Right now, it gets better and better when broadcasting makes news come live. We watch news as it happens and where it happens as if we are exactly part of the news itself. It’s also more clarified than before since we don’t only depend on articles as proofs, there are also videos and audio to show what’s exactly is happening.

Currently, multimedia communication is what makes our life less complicated and easier. We can have a grip on the whole world by simply connecting to the internet. Using the net, we can have the easiest access to anything under the sun, meaning to say there are limitless things we can do on the net. We are able to get what’s latest, hottest and what’s new at different place no matter how far or near it is. We get different and new ideas just upon reading few articles and news written on the net, we also have the very famous online messengers which makes us easier to communicate with people from any part of the world without too much hassle. Just see how easier life was when these updates came to life, before there’s no other way of communicating with people but by speaking to them face to face. But now, communicating is just as easy as breathing.

So meaning to say, as time progress, the way of communication also heats up. From oral culture, there comes the written art until broadcasting and multimedia follows which makes all easier for us. It’s all positive because people’s way of living today is in a rush, we are all busy with several things and probably without the upgraded features of communicating, we might lose tract of the people we have to stay connected with but because of multimedia and broadcasting, no matter how busy we become, it’s not that hard to get connected with special persons in our life and to the world as well.

GETTING BETTER & SMALLER AND SMALLER CIRCLES

The rule in love is “love one another”, if it doesn’t work, just swap the last two words, “love another one!”=)

Getting better is a wake up call to those people who give their all when they are in love but receiving too little or nothing in return. This story tells that sometimes, you have to give up on things especially when it only cost you pain. Love isn’t easy, it is hard, painful and shattering at times so you have to make sure that the one you love is worth all the sacrifice or else you’re losing half of your life being with someone who doesn’t deserve your love. Put in mind that when you’re happy with the wrong one, how much more when the right one comes along. Like in the story, Karen loves Miko so much to the extent that she’s doing everything for him just to satisfy him even of it is a real torture for her. She lets him yell at her anywhere in front of her friends and she lets him boss her around as if she’s not thinking about her own good anymore, it’s always Miko, what’s best for Miko, that’s what she’s all about. Her whole world is revolving around Miko and Miko only, that’s why when she caught him cheating on her, he couldn’t help but feel so sad, she tried almost everything like being on blind dates, indulging herself to forget the pain temporarily, isolate herself from the crowd for a short while to think about things and reflect with herself and things like that and she even make out with him after knowing what he did, this one was really stupid, I mean she’s fully aware that this guy is a chicker, no good boyfriend, a cheater, guy version of a whore and all that yet she managed to still let him touch her, well, there’s plenty more fish on the sea girl, don’t let that stupid guy play with you anymore, that’s what I want to tell her.

But then later on, I realized that she was strong actually, she isn’t that stupid after all, because she managed to have a bigger catch upon dating Bert Reyno. She deserves to be happy after all what she went through while she’s with Miko, Bert Reyno seems to love her and respect her in a way that she go with her shopping at the mall (which most guys hate doing) and things like that. I like this story and I enjoyed reading it because I can somehow relate to it, I can feel how Karen feels when Miko and her broke up and when she starts dating Bert Reyno, there are also some places that I can picture with my mind so it’s as if I’m a part of the story. This story isn’t just for but, if you really analyze the points of it, you’ll get to see that the author wants us to see the real value of love, forgetting is painful, that’s for sure, but it’s sure a lot easier that holding on to something that isn’t there anymore.

The story Smaller and Smaller circles is a freaky and scary. I can feel every single pain the victims are going through. Painful, bloods dropping, little by little life was taken from innocent kids who did nothing wrong. What made this story more convincing is that there’s a rumor that a white van was roaming around different areas killing people and getting their internal organs in exchange of money and this was what the story is about.

The author based the story in real life settings so it gives me Goosebumps. This story tells about how a past incident could turn a man to do a crime to somehow regain his normal state of mind.

The story is about serial killing at Payatas area, the victims are all little boys, ranging from twelve to fifteen years old, all from poor families which made them small and skinny for their age. The two priests, who are the main characters made it possible to identify the real killer by analyzing all the clues left by the killer including the date and time of the incident, the way the victims were killed and who the victims were. According to them, the suspect was someone familiar, a common face, that’s why he isn’t noticed easily because he was usually seen around the area.

The killer was non other than the resident dentist, and he kills because he was once harassed when he was a child. There were other children who undergo the same thing when they were kids, they are all small and wasn’t able to pass P.E. so their teacher Mr. Gorospe made them do awful things and abused them in exchange for a passing grade. He killed the children because in his mind, they were those other kids who knew that he was someone special and it embarrasses him to death, so to regain his peace of mind, he killed all those children whom he though was the other kids who knew about the harassment he went through.

It’s like the past incident made him psychologically impaired and angry. What I realized was every act of killing was symbolic, he takes the genitals as a sign of sexual conflict and takes the face too so that they would not be identified. The heart was taken probably to somehow not feel the pain anymore. This story was really great; every point was important and leads to another clue. An unusual novel but worth reading.

Generations!

~ There are certain people in our lives who do nothing but lead us in pain and misery, it’s destiny that decides to put them in our lives, but making them stop or letting them continue is our choice. ~

Generations by Ninotchka Rosca is very different from other stories I’ve read. The usual stories are about close family ties, the common family that helps one another, protects each other and loves every single member like no other, but this story is different, the family seems to not go along with each other very well. They always argue which ends to physical pain. Sad to accept but the father, who should protect the family is in fact the reason for all the troubles they are going through. The mother was weak and can’t fight back to the father. The children are still young to be able to understand what’s happening around them and the only person who was able to stand strong was the daughter, a pretty girl whom they look up to because she’s pretty and probably she would be known someday and she could help them rise from the poor life they belong.

This girl was strong, she knew how to handle and take care of herself and the family when the father was not there. She always follows her mother as a sign of respect even if sometimes she thinks she’s wrong. Like when the mother gives solid food to Tata Selo, she thinks that it’s no use to give the old man equal amount of food because he won’t be able to eat those, the food would only go to waste. But because her mother believed that everyone should have equal food, she obeys her without objecting.

I knew from the very start that this girl was strong, but I never realized that she was as strong as how she really was until I read the next part of the story. One night, the father went home in rage smashing the face of his wife without giving any reason why. Then after that, he left the house, but because he was drunk, the mother demanded the children together with the girl to follow him, the girl refused at first but because her mother begged, she followed.

They followed him, they try to stop him but he insisted, he said they should go home because its late but they couldn’t go home without him, their mother would just feel bad when they do it. Then they came to a checkpoint, they saw the soldiers arrest their father. The girl told her brother to go home and tell their mother what happened, the boy doesn’t really want to leave but the girl said that she’s sure that she can get him out of jail made the boy follow.

Then the next part shows how strong the girl is, she doesn’t have money but she pain the soldiers in a different way, using her body. Even the father only cost them trouble, she still sacrificed herself knowing that the father won’t even thank her after that. While she’s paying, the father rest not knowing what’s happening to the next room were the girl was being harassed.

After that night, the soldiers released the father and then he saw the girl waiting for him outside. He asked what she’s doing then she just answered she waiting for him. The upon their way back home, she tripped and the father accidentally the stain in her shirt, obviously he was able to know what happened but he did nothing, he just smiled and whispered “yeah right, waiting.” This made me feel sad for the girl, after doing everything for his useless father, he’d only laugh at her, the later on the girl hit the father’s head hard, which caused his death. I know its rude but this is probably the only way the girl know to stop the father from causing them any trouble, and that she could take care of her family better without him, killing is bad but perhaps if she won’t kill him, he would only cause trouble.

Then later on, her brother saw the dead body of their father, I knew that he’s aware of what happened, but he pretended he din not know a thing. Then they headed back home with a new hope, that maybe this time, without their father, a better life awaits them.

Reality is far too better than fantasy =)

When I was a child, I always dreamed about being a princess. I would love to wear a crown just like those in the fairy tales. For sure I’ll enjoy living in a castle having everything I want and just like any princess on each and every story that my mom used to read, all princesses have their own prince that would do anything just to save them from some evil witch that would try everything just to unnerve them. I constantly dreamed of those sweet and romantic happy endings because I thought that in real life, happy endings do not exist. But I was wrong, really wrong. Life is worth more than any magic that Disney has to offer.

I always say that I would exchange everything just for me to be a princess in those fantasy stories every child would enjoy reading. But now, I don’t think I still want my life that way. I may not have a castle just like all those fairy tale princesses, but I have a loving family which I call my home. I may not have those glass slippers just like that of Cinderella, but I have those fancy havaianas that would not be broken into pieces. I also don’t have dwarf friends like Snow white but I have sweet, gentleman, not to mention super cute handsome guy friends that are always there for me during good and bad times. I might don’t have the wealth to buy a golden ball just like the princess at the frog prince; at least I don’t have to kiss a toad just to have my prince because I have mine already. I just realized that my own story would simply put all those fairy tales to shame and I don’t ever want to belong there, those princesses are living nothing but a boring life and I can’t stand a day being them. I mean, in every fairy tale, the princess would only get to meet one prince, only one. But in real life, there are lots of cute guys to mingle and hang out with. A life full of cute boys, what’s a girl got to lose for? So I can say that I don’t need boring fairy tales anymore, because right now, I’m living a somewhat near perfect life, the life I though would not come true in real life is actually happening to me and that I am currently enjoying this sweet carousel ride-like life of mine or to be exact, a fairy tale-like life.



I can say that everyone has the right to enjoy their lives, just put in your mind that we have the power to make every passing day better than yesterday. We are the author of our own lives and it’s up to us to give it a happy ending. Just like Cinderella, she had a great time with the prince, yet when midnight struck she chose to leave the life she dreamed of together with her one true love. Nevertheless, this unforgettable night made her so happy. What I’m trying to say is, it doesn’t take forever for us to be happy. A moment can do it if we really put our heart to it. We shouldn’t think of the future nor the past, all we have to do is enjoy the present and make the most out of it, because life is a one way street, no matter how many ways you take, none of them leads you back.

Do yourself a favor! Fall in love with the right one. =)

~ Love is the cruelest form of affection, and the sweetest form of torture. ~

Playing with love is like playing with fire. You play carefully trying not to hurt and burn yourself; you keep a distance, not too close but not that far either. You want to feel the heat but you try not to lure too much. Just like in love, we don’t let ourselves fall so hard because we don’t want to get hurt in the end. We try to build a wall and sometimes we tend to back off when we feel were almost falling. What we do is just play with love; you flirt, hook up and pretend we feel nothing towards someone, but deep inside, just a simple glance from that person makes your day. Silly isn’t it? We play with love and it’s too late for us to realize that it’s not us who really played with love, its love that played with us. Because the more you try to hide your true feelings, the more it will grow. The more you try to feed yourself it’s not love, the more you realize its love actually and the more you back of from the person you really love, the more you’re drawn to them. So if you think you’re falling, just follow your heart and don’t think about the hurt you’ll get when you let yourself fall. Take chances because it’s better to give it a try even if it hurt in the end, at least at one point you feel happy and loved than not try at all, yeah you don’t feel the pain that goes with love, but you never also feel the pleasure that only love can give.



Just like what happened in the story “Games” The girl is actually falling for the guy but she doesn’t want to show it. She was playing it cool. She made up false name like Tina, Fannie, or Malou just for fun, or maybe she wants to let everyone else think that he’s got one hot boyfriend, a chicker, mr. popular, probably a big catch that every girl would be jealous about. At first I thought she’s not serious, It’s as if she’s a real player, someone whose used to dumping guys easily and after an hour or two, she’s already got someone new. But upon reading further, I can say that she was just acting as if she’s strong, when in fact she’s got lots of insecurities, I figured it out when she was raged with fire when the guy accidentally is just few steps away from her ex-girlfriend. She was boiling with rage, she hate the fact that the guy and his ex actually talked. Right then and there, I realized that she was just showing off, she was trying to tell the whole world that she’s not in love; she’s too shy of letting her true feelings out. Yes, she’s got the nerve to tell the guy she cares, that she loves him, but not enough to show it.

In the long run, when she thought she was doing the right thing of just playing with love to get away from pain, she found out she was the one who get played. That the guy she loves was the real player. He was having an affair with his ex-girlfriend while he was hooking up with her. He’s a sweet talker, he tells her sweet things like he loves her but hell, and he doesn’t really mean it. It’s like the kind of guys that would feed you up with lies just for a girl to shut up and not talk anymore. This thing really happen, yes it’s sad but we should face the fact that love and pain go hand in hand. Maybe it’s really true that no pain means no love. So just do yourself a favor, fall in love with the right person. Everyone is going to hurt you, so the best you can do is go for the one who’s worth all the pain, worth all the tears and worth all the sacrifices. Besides, in the end, it’s not how much you suffered but its how much you loved.

The modern and old fictions don’t differ that much. I find this story a little bit similar with The Corral, it has something to do with guys that are not serious, guys that are show off. Pilar, the girl who likes Gregorio did everything just to get the guys attention, but whatever it is that she do, Gregorio never really care. He was flirting with her probably because he’s aware that Pilar like him, it’s as if he was just playing her game which is exactly what happened in the story by Noelle Q. De Jesus. They played love instead of dealing with it seriously which ended in hurting the feelings of another person. Sad but true. =(

Love isn't about dreams and fantasy. It's about truth and reality! =)

Sometimes we set requirements in love and target specific goals. We choose people whom we can show off to the whole world. The one with the looks, with money and famous and shallow things like that. What we don’t is love isn’t measured that way, we have to look with our hearts not with our eyes and we don’t force love to come our way. That’s why it’s called FALLING because you don’t intend to do so, it just happens.



The first story “Love in the Cornhusks” really inspired me. It talked about a girl who was living a simple and easy life not until she made a very wrong decision that changed the rest of her life. Tinang was not rich but she’s not that poor either. She was more like a daughter to the Señora where she was working. She was looked up by some people because she was always neat, clean and she reached sixth grade before working. She’s very proud of herself that she even laughed at Amado, a tractor driver who asked her to marry him. He was just a Bagobo while she is this semi-educated neat looking girl. But one afternoon, everything single thing changed and it happened so fast. She just woke up one day realizing that she wasn’t the young girl everyone looked up to anymore. She was now a mother and the Bagobo that she undervalued years ago was the father. She thought they left him because he’s afraid of responsibility but he did not. It’s just that his mother died, but he did promise them that one day he’ll comeback for Tinang and their child. She was very sad about what happened but she knew that there will nothing she could do but to accept the truth. The moment that she saw the green snake that was leaning forward to her baby she grabbed the baby and hugged him tight. It showed here that she learned to love the baby more, because at first it’s like she didn’t care that much to the baby, she just let him be hungry and she gets easily irritated everytime he cries maybe because she hate the father. But then, upon reading the letter it gave her hope that someday Amado will come back for them and fulfill his promise of love.

~ He doesn't even know I exist ~



The next story “The Corral” has the same concept. Pilar was just the same as Tinang, she was overconfident about herself. She’s pretty and they are somewhat known at their place that’s why she thinks that she deserve someone better than Mr. Perfecto. She was very irritated with Mr. Perfecto’s stubbornness. She was very certain when she answered she won’t marry him because he doesn’t like him but still he insist about it. He said he’s sure Pilar would change her mind and he sound so positive about it. Then there’s this guy name was Gregorio. The typical tall, dark and handsome guys that would definitely sweep girls off their feet. He was not rich but he’s one great guy in terms of physical appearance and Pilar likes him. The bad thing about Gregorio is he’s aware of His awesome self and probably he also knew that Pilar likes him so he’s sort of flirting with Pilar. He sometimes cracks lustful statements with her, shows a little bit flesh to her and things like that. She did almost everything to catch his attention but no matter how hard she tries, her effort was never paid back, not even a single glance from that guy she adores. At the end, she accepted the fact that Mr. Perfecto was the right one for him, he may not have the looks she wanted but she’s everything to him. She was loved, cherished and respected by him. Unlike Gregorio, very arrogant and he never paid attention to her. He treated her like she was just a piece of crap.

So there, the two stories are all about different faces of love. Sometimes we have to close our eyes and use our hearts to find true love. We should listen to our hearts because only the heart knows where to find true happiness.