Similes and Metaphors

Don't you find it exasperating that people compare Life to anything under the sun?!

"Life is like that last piece of fried chicken. No one wants to take it until it's too late."

"Life is like a colorful bento box filled with rice, veggies and meat."

"Life is like a tray of eggs. You get good ones, and you get bad ones."

"Life is like a roller coaster; it has its ups and downs."

"Life is what you call the fungus growing on my toenail."

"Life is like that oak tree on your backyard for no particular reason."

"Life is like that lamp post on the street. It lights up, flickers on, then dies."

"Life is like tapsilog. Busog ka. At pag busog ka, masaya ka. At pag masaya ka, masarap mabuhay."

"Life is like a game of soccer. You figure out why."

These Life quotes abound to the point of nausea; cliches can be mildly annoying at best, and distastefully loathsome at worst. It is beyond the edge of reason. Life can't be anything!!! Especially not piano keys, skyflakes, this stupid dial-up connection and everything else that can be labeled as 'Everything Else'.

Poo.

...

Hanakngfatatas, wala nanamang pasok! I don't know why everyone should be gleeful about it. It's a sign of the times, like all other tragedies that recently happened: Ultra laid bare the rampant poverty, the landslide warned us of the gravity of our environmental situation, and now everything that's happening now is history threatening to repeat itself.

Hanakngfatatas lang talaga.

For the first time, napakwento si Ma tungkol sa Martial Law nung dalaga pa siya. She experienced Martial Law from highschool to post-graduation. GAAAAAH! 14 years of living a nightmare!!!! Hindi ako makakatagal ng ganon!!! Imagine ko lang, highschool ako, tapos college, tapos working, pero dictatorship parin.

Gives me the shivers.

It just hit me how much I should be thankful for the freedom of expression we all have. If it were not for Edsa, and the generation before us... well I'd hate to think we'd be celebrating Marcos' dictatorship anniversary instead of Edsa's.

Edsa truly is different. You feel it in the voice of the people who speak of it, in the words of the people who write about it. It gives me reason to mourn the now-lost unity we all experienced as a nation, when for one glorious moment, everybody just stood up as one against the evil that is, and was, Marcos.

Nakakapaghabag-damdamin.

You feel the hope. You share it. You treasure it.

We can look to Edsa for inspiration. But it is only through moving ourselves to act NOW that we can stand a chance against the impeding crash.

Feb. 20

Andaming nagpagupit.

To Mia: FLIP THAT SIDE-BANG HOT EMO BOY--er, GIRL!

Her hair's a lot shorter now, with cool long bangs. Weee. Ansaya. Ang pogi na raw ng itsura niya, hahaha. Tinuturuan namin siya mag-ayos ng bangs kanina ("With the pinky Mia, with the pinky.") para hindi siya mapagkamalang tomboy. She has really nice hair, though I wonder how she'll manage soccer...

Carissa also got a haircut. She looks like Barbie Almalbis at an angle, and she tells me I'm not the first person to say that.

I nearly fell asleep in Stat. Girlyn slipped me a piece of chewing gum. Yeah, I lived on that for a while. Nabuhayan ako dahil iniingatan kong hindi ako mahuli, nasa second row pa naman ako. You know, Stat's a pretty handy thing when it comes to research papers, but I wish I can digest it at my own pace (at which rate I'll probably never get around to finishing it).


Ghe, Wissa, Pen, Shai, Mikki and I discussed the group name for the flag-making. We came up with

-Gettimiche-pewi (Inayos ko lang ung spelling para mukhang disente. Put on a French accent so you can pronounce the thing: get-ti-mi-CHE pe-WEE)

-GKA (Gandakada Adventurers)
-GK2DR (Gandakada to the rescue)

Okay, fine, so those weren't the brightest ideas. We were going to settle on the last one out of sheer desperation, kung hindi lang para sa mabagsik na tutol ni Shai. Sabi niya mas okay pa raw siya sa una. We asked Melinda what she thought of the first choice. Sabi niya "Ano yun, gamot?!"

So... wag na lang pala.

After agonizing over it for a whole day, I finally approached each of them during SSP and asked "'Chi' na lang kaya?" I was thinking of Things Fall Apart (African book), where Chi means one's personal god. And it's something about energy in Chinese. Plus it has only one syllable. Madaling sabihin. [Maganda rin sana yung "Chinualomogo" which means "My spirit come fight for me" pero ayaw ng iba. Kaya Chi na lang.]

They each agreed to it. Which is GOOD. Tapos na yung kalbaryo. Now I just have to assign parts for the English portfolio and the CLE paraliturgy.

Aaaaargh, ang hirap maging leader...

Fie! Fie!

Well this is interesting. A hacker's talking to me right now. Cool. Posing as Mica.

micax3: tina
evilmackie101: hi
evilmackie101: yes?
micax3: wer ka now?
evilmackie101: uh, at home
evilmackie101: why?
micax3: ah ok wlaa ask lang may prob kse eh:(
evilmackie101: may problem ka??
evilmackie101: are you okay?
micax3: yeah:(
micax3: sobrang laki
micax3: namatay kse auntie ko kanina eh:(
micax3: kanina pa me antay email ng tito ko kya lang wala pang reply eh:(
evilmackie101: and?
micax3: kya ayun:(
micax3: problamdo kami how namin ma tell sa iba:(
evilmackie101: by the others, you mean your relatives?
micax3: yeah:(
evilmackie101: does raf know?
micax3: yeah:(
micax3: nagpunta na sila sa batangas sinundo lola namin:(
micax3: nway tina baka ma help mo kami:(
evilmackie101: in spreading the word?
micax3: :(
micax3: baka pwede makahiram money sau bukas ko nlang pay kahit tubuan ko nlang. need kse namin makatawga sa mga reltvs at frnds ng auntie ko sa ibang bansa eh emergncy lang:(
evilmackie101: just a minute, okay? be right back
micax3: ok:(
evilmackie101: hey. my mom wants to talk to your mom. where is she?
micax3: :(
micax3: kasama ni raf punta sa batangas:( sinundo tita ko:(
evilmackie101: o?? how come you're not with them?
micax3: yung isang tita ko lang nandito:(
micax3: kya lang nasa funeral inaasikaso papers:(
evilmackie101: have you contacted your cousin arianne? she might be able to help.
micax3: yeah kya lang wala din daw sya now. papunta na sya mya mya d2
evilmackie101: so how can i help?
micax3: :(
micax3: baka pwede pabili muna kami ng card na smart para makatawag kami sa mga reltvs namin:( wala na kse kaming cash now eh:(
micax3: kung ok lang ha
micax3: kung wala k lang din sensya na sa abala
evilmackie101: ayos lang. i know you're a fake. mica doesn't have a cousin named arianne. so long sucker!

...

Sorry. I know the last part was totally uncalled for, but I couldn't resist. Yang lokong yan! Yan ang bagay sayo. Medyo kinabahan pa ko nung una, buti na lang nakaimbento pa ako ng bogus pinsan. Paawa epek ka pa diyan with the sad smilies... tsss. Parang dugo-dugo gang online. HAHA. Ansarap pag-initan ng hacker.

Damn them. They have too much time on their hands.

By God's sonties!

There are forces in this world greater than we imagine...

The matriarch reigns supreme.

Hay.

Mga kaganapa't pangyayari

Hindi ako nakapag-blog kahapon dahil nakatulog ako.

Bueno, nagpunta kami kahapon ulit sa special school for special kids na yun, yung Saint Catherine (hindi yung Assumption) para sa pinakahuling interaction naming sa Alay Kapwa. Napunta na ko sa ibang grupo, dahil yung unang group ko kainteract niya yung pre-voc level, na may kahiligan sa paghawak ng tao. Bahala na kayo mag-isip niyan. Muntik-muntikan nang i-merge yung pre-voc group na yun sa vocational group, kung saan ako nagpa-reassign. Grabe naman kung ganun. Overkill mehn. Walang takas. Buti na lang vocational group lang na-handle ko.

Kinekwento ni Ja at Zarah yung tungkol sa bata na nagtu-twinkle yung mata tuwing may sumisigaw ng "CHOCOLATE!" Ilang random moments kaya nila yun nasigaw? Hmm...

Ewan, may pagkamasaya rin siguro yung activity. Yung pilit na pagkamasaya. Pero masaya. Bahala na rin kayo sa pag-iisip nun.

Syempre, hindi maiiwasan ang traumatic incidents. Sa mga nagsasabi saking mag-aral ng SPED (gah.) para sa college, halatang hindi pa sila naka-interact sa maraming klase ng Special People. Subukan niyong masabihan ng death threat (as in serial killer mode dude) mula sa BATA. Seryosong freaky death threat with matching freaky smile. Napaiyak tuloy kaklase ko sa takot. O ano? (Sped-spedin ko ung mga iba diyan e...)

Pagkatapos ng activity, napagisip-isip ko rin… Ano dapat maramdaman? Awa? Inis? Takot? [insert philosophical drama effects here] May nakasulat dun sa dingding ng Building A "Any child, given the opportunity to grow, will in time, be able to succeed." Basta ganun. I can't remember the exact wording (actually, mas mahaba pa un e). With a sigh, I realize that "Survival of the fittest" is easier to say.

Mahirap maging martir.

...

Sher, Zarah and Pen were making acronyms during lunch.

SHER

Sexy
Hot
Enlarged
Rectum

Zarah

Zooming
Accelerating
Revolving
Anus...
Haray!

Pen

Parasitic
Enlarged
Nana

They don't make sense. I know. But all the other stuff my classmates were doing didn't either (for one thing, Ky and Justine were playing some sort of bato-bato-pick game, only they were using movies, people, colors, elements and such with matching actions.).

Woopeedoo. Just another fun day at school.

Objections

I did not go to school today.

THIS IS A ONE-MAN PROTEST AGAINST COMMERCIALISM AND ITS CORRUPTION OF VALENTINE'S DAY ESSENCE!!!

[Though I don't know what Teacher's Day (today) has anything to do with it.]

...
Went to Cherry Foodarama to buy some clay. Yep, Cherry, the hive of freaky bag-men who win first prize on my list of Disgusting People Who Like To Oggle. To all blessed females out there, let me warn you: when you go to Cherry, wear as much clothing as possible. Because the last time I went there induced firm resolve on never going there wearing a skirt. No matter how convinced you are that you're covered. They will STARE. They will. Mostly on the bottom half of you. It's advisable to scurry out of there as fast as you can when it gets unnerving. Or go around in circles, so they can break their necks trying to look. [HAH.]

Insufferable! All of them!

...

It has been exactly one year since God blessed humanity with my blog. Happy birthday to this.

And again, CHEERS.

Ooooh...

Found this thing

HERE

Click it for more. It's actually some sort of forum.



They took out all of Garfield's thought bubbles, hypothesizing that taking it out will make it into... er, Something Else (can't remember the term).

Jon looks more pathetic than before. HAHA.

Cheers!

[Disclaimer: Two words- NOT MINE. I didn't make the comic (er, duh), nor did I edit it either. As I said before, click on the link above to see the real site I got this from.]

Educational?

We watched the Merchant of Venice movie yesterday. So gay, so gay! Especially when Bassanio "thanked" Antonio with a kiss. He holds Antonio's face, slowly leans forward and kisses him on the lips!!! And he was like, smiling and all, which was creepy. On top of that, they were in the bedroom. What the--?! You don't discuss business and debt in the bedroom.

General reaction was:

*silence*
*gasp*
*GYAAAH!*
*moment's stunned pause... then "WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT?!"*

So... mentally disturbing.

I could see Ja and Melinda totally enjoying the scene, sitting three places ahead of me. Ang ingay nila haha.


"And you might say I'm pretty when I smile...
I'm told my beauties in my frown."
- Emanon

Zarah, that line is for you. (HAHA.)

It's a poem we used back then in Grade 5 for OE. Never figured out who wrote it.

...

I wasn't able to submit my notebook for AP, wherein we were supposed to read our book and answer a set of questions on Manchu China and Tokugawa Japan. I didn't take down the questions... so I didnt' write anything. But I DID read the book. And I embodied the phrase "ACTIVE participation" by being Hermione-esque. I'm not sure my other classmates read the book; they were pretty silent.

I confess, I was feeling particularly smug at those moments.

Anyway, back to the notebook. I told Ms. Molave I wasn't able to answer the questions but I read the book, so could I *pretty please* not pass it? She said it was okay. HAH! I like getting away with those things. Credibility does have its perks. *evil grin*

Interesting

They just discovered a formula for the breakage of spaghetti noodles.

Man, I want to invent my own mathematical symbol someday (something really cute and squiggly, which shall torment all generations that use it hereafter)... or even a theory (Tina's Purpose for the Squiggly Symbol You're Using: The Theory of ME). And I'm going to name it after myself!!! Haha, pero hanggang INVENT lang. Hindi DISCOVER. So you can bet it's not valid. So much for the shot at immortality. Haha. I mean, WHO has the patience to try studying the physics of spaghetti noodles?!

Di ba?

Hm... maybe I can make spaghetti noodles dance when I get a shot at it. Jumping noodle--THINGS (it's aliiiiiive!). The old art of noodle-doodles. With hairy fungus. So when you throw it at a wall, it crawls. Wooo.

Oho.

Bianca and I got into some sort of a fight the other day, over crush territory. I dunno what happened but suddenly we were both scrambling to claim the guys that we liked on TV. Haha, lalo na nung kay Christian Bautista (we happened to watch that music video of his at that moment). Naasar ata ng onti, cause I emerged victorious. Pero mas matindi yung kay Matt Czuchry, who plays Logan on Gilmore Girls. HAHAHA, got him too. But it wasn't until I yelled "ALL RIGHTS RESERVED!!!" that she really blew her top off and yelled back "ANDAYA MO!!!" Well that was that. We forgot about it later on anyway.


We're done with our defense, just got it over and done with after recess during Bio. Basta. Past is past. I won't stress nor agitate myself thinking if the presentation was good enough. (Kahit na sinabi ni Zarah na nakakabobo daw, to the point that one comes to the conclusion that smart people must've been behind the project [er...?]. I don't think that's a good thing; the presentation was meant for everybody to understand it better, not make it more esoteric. And I think the responsibility still falls on me. Hay...)

The feeling afterwards was so... GOOD. To put it metaphorically, parang constipated ka dati, at kalbaryo and dinaranas mo sa dapat ilabas (as I thought before, doing an Investigatory Paper is somewhat like painfully giving birth. The defense is constipation). At biglang... AYUN. Tapos. End. Fin. Liberation. Freedom. Democracy. Equality. Safety. Liberty. Absolution. Emancipation. Release. Vindication. Relief. Leaf. Tree. Root. Taproot. Carrot. Peanut. Potato. Tomato. Toe. Finger. Body. Bio. Algeb. Stat. CAI. THE. PE. AK. AP. (labo)


Speaking of AP (Soc sci, Asian History), I'm currently reading my book (which is in front of me). And though it IS better than most Asian History books, it's still infuriating to get your nose rubbed in the dust. A section on page 220, Chapter 11, The Spanish in the Philippines, says:

"The Philippines became the only Asian area where Christian missions had any substantial success, owing largely to the absence there of any literate or sophisticated indigenous religious tradition, unlike India, China, Korea, Japan or the rest of Southeast Asia... Spanish also became the language in which educaated Filipinos communicated with each other, since there was previously no common language and great regional linguistic variety..."

OUCH mehn. OUCH. Parang ignoramus tayong lahat nung sobrang advanced na ng China at India. We sound so... insignificant. Still, it could be worse, as I learned when I talked to Maita.

Me: You're taking up Asian History, right?
Maita: You mean Asian Shitstory-- er, History?
Me: WHAAAT?! BUT I LOVE ASIAN HISTORY!
Maita: Yeah, but our book sucks. There was even a section on why Asia was poor because it wasn't Christian.
Me: BUT-- THAT'S BIAS! PREJUDICE! BURN IT! BURN ITTTTTTT!!! *is wrathful*
Maita: I know.

It's a good thing our books are different. Thanks to Rhoads Murphy for presenting Asia's History in a better light. I just realized how much I like history.

I took a look around in the General Circulation area in the Library a while ago, and I highly regret the fact that I didn't explore other areas when I was doing research for the Paper. There was even a book there on Child Development. ACK! It could've saved me a lot more time than rummaging through the general psych books (though it was also good). Plus this one smells better (the fresh-print smell, not the musty-dusty kind).

The results of the aptitude test came out today. It's like a guide on what to choose for college. I got an A on almost all categories; "A" meaning AVERAGE. Fudge puppy. Wala man lang specialty. The upside to that, I suppose, is that I'm applicable to most courses. Parang... HANDYMAN. All-around. All-purpose (flour?).

"Take up the White Man's burden/ Send forth the best ye breed/ Go bind your sons to exile/ To serve your captives' need/ To wait in heavy harness/ On fluttered folk and wild/ Your new-caught sullen peoples/ Half devil and half child..." Rudyard Kipling

Not the most well-meaning stanza there is (heck, he should go to hell), but it is poetically beautiful.

Aaah. I love my history book. :)

kzzzrghtftttt...

So bored. So worried. Made myself a "CHILL!!!" de-stress drawing, even though Bianca's asking it from me (for her collection. Yeah, thanks Bancs...).

...

The Theory of External Duplicity counters the facts stated in Kohlberg's research, stating that the actual expansion of neutrons depends on the atom's weight and chemical composition, multiplied by the gravitational pull of the earth and squared evenly to the imaginary number of forty-two, at which point the expected outcome will be slowly taking effect as the atomic matter begins to duplicate itself rapidly in proportion to its purpose.


Naintindihan mo yun? Kung oo, MAGALING KA! Kung hinde... MAS MAGALING KA!

Cause I just made that up. I just finished reading A Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams and it's full of stuff like that there. Scientific what-not that I couldn't understand. Mostly I just skipped over that part and pretended that it didn't matter if I got it or not cause the plot wouldn't be affected (afterwhich I find that THAT assumption is indeed true, and I feel happy for not bothering to check on my Science book). I wonder if Douglas Adams knew what he was writing... Hehe, that's when I decided to try it out for myself.

So there. I basically just mixed in some terms, an important-sounding name here, some concepts and turned it into a Bloody Mess masquerading as Valid Research.

Pero... hindi ko lang alam kung totoo yung inimbento ko dyan. Malay ko ba kung meron talaga. It's just a spur of the moment thing, kaya wag niyo ko sumbong kay Einstein.

Peace.

Other thoughts

Happy Birthday to Mom~!!




That happened during the exhausting two-hour session in the Retreat (wherein we had to explain where in our lives we felt God's presence and such. Plus points for dramatic crying.)

Well there's Pen, Ja and me (note on Pen's name, in case you're wondering. Her real name's Rachel Pen. Pen became a nickname of sorts over time, even though it's really her last name). Shai and Zarah are over to the right, out of the panel. Er, on the forgiveness thing. Lagi kasi naming napagkakatuwaan yun e. A bunch of other people also came to her and hugged her, after which she broke down a bit. I dunno if it's because she felt so... purged of the weight of whatever it is, or just the realization na napagkakatuwaan din pala siya ng ibang tao. Well yun. Ja gave her a small hug. Tapos umiyak pa si Pen nang onti (well, actually, just teared up a bit). Anlabo. Ewan, siguro dahil uso ang iyakan sa Recollection.

On another note, I'm not apathetic to my fellow classmates. I DO feel sad for them if they have real problems, but most of the time, it rarely moves me to cry, except when it's a real close friend of mine.


...

In other things, we're on the Yahoo news because of the Wowowee stampede. I bet the Kapuso network is enjoying this particular moment very well. So much for ABS-CBN's glorious ratings on Pacquiao's fight. Mom's feeling rather vindictive at them, though of course, none of us could have foreseen this... She just really dislikes that TV station.

...

I was able to watch Ja's Oral Defense yesterday. And it went pretty well. Everybody loved her powerpoint presentation, with the backmasking samples and the edited videos and etc. I wanna do that too!!! Haha. The questioning afterwards was not as agonizing as I expected it to be. I got traumatized with Sir Louie last year. (We looked like convicts on Death Row, waiting for our execution. All pale and clammy. And Sir Louie was the judge.)

Ours would be on Wednesday. I'm feeling rather disheartened. Hug, anyone?

People

I want to meet:

A person with no belly-button.



And WHY?


Did you know... that the belly-button is a scar of the umbilical cord?


And when I DO meet that person, I will ask:

Do you have a mother?


That's gonna be interesting.


...

Caris and I got this crazy idea to do a play with this little piece of paper in which SOMEONE's argument (note: the non-debate, away-na-kung-away kind) was printed on.

Let me tell you, THAT is the BEST material I've seen for a script. EVER. And I could just leave it like that without editing it. Ang galing. Sarcasm, wordplay and human nature... almost everything that I'd want in a script.

Yaaaaaay!

Fine

Okay, I take back what I've written about palancas. PARTLY. (Just in case some of my classmates are reading this. Hey guys.) Pero salamat na rin sa mga nagbigay. Sorry na lang sa hindi ko nabigyan (marami naman kayong natanggap di ba? DI BA??? Doesn't make much difference, see?). Um, sa mga may effort, it's very much appreciated. Oo, Fides, alala ko pa yung kaisa-isang beses na nasigawan ko yung klase at lahat kayo natakot. Atsaka kay Shai (yun pala yung tamang spelling), Za, Pen (kahit generic one-liner yun) at Ja (kahit na wala kang paniwala sa mga palanca): THANKS GUYS. Kung sakali nagbabasa kayo. Pero sana hinde. HEHE.

My life is a LIE! *echo* LIE! LIE! LIE! (HAHAHA, hi guys.)

Zarah finally resolved to stop impersonating Jesus (*deep voice* Peter, do you love me?). Which is too bad. It was funny while it lasted. Kinonsiyensya na rin. Though Ja's still all for it. Palibhasa kasi nilihist yung babaeng yun e.

Hay. Report card day tomorrow. Woopeedoo.