The logic of the kuliglig

Ang pagmamaneho ng kuliglig ay coping mechanism ng mga maralitang taga-lungsod para mairaos ang pang-araw araw nila. Katulad din yan ng mga sidewalk vendors na kung ituring ng mga mayayaman (o feeling mayaman) ay eyesore. Palibhasa, wala namang maialok na disenteng trabahong nakakabuhay ng pamilya ang estadong ito. At hindi katulad ng mga mayayaman (o feeling mayaman) ang problema ng mga kuliglig drivers noong December 1 ay kung saang kamay ng diyos nila kukunin ang pang-kain, pambili ng gamot at pambaon sa eskwela ng mga anak nila. Kaya sa mga nagreklamong na-traffic daw sila papuntang work or school dahil sa mga naka-hambalang na kuliglig: ANG LAKI NG PROBLEMA NIYO. WOW. NAKAKAMATAY ANG PAGKA-STUCK SA TRAFFIC. GRABE. PASENSYA NA KAYO, HA?


Para naman sa gobyerno ng Maynila (at sa gobyerno in general), anong karapatan niyo para lipulin sila? Kayo na nagpapakasasa sa pera ng mamamayan. Kayo na de-aircon ang mga kwarto. Kayo na naka-SUV. Kayo na may mga master's at doctorate degree. Kayo na wala naman matinong programang pangkabuhayan, edukasyon (babawasan pa nga ang badget, e!). Kayo na sa loob ng isang daang taon ay hinayaang maging bansot at atrasado ang ekonomiya ng Pilipinas kaya pirming naka-sandig tayo sa mga imperyalista. Kayo na pumapatay at nandudukot sa mga taong kumikilos para sa tunay na pagbabagong panlipunan. Kayo na malinaw na pumapanig sa mga malalaking negosyante at panginoong maylupa. Kayo na ayaw magpamahagi ng lupa sa mga nagbubungkal nito at ayaw magtaas ng sahod ng mga manggagawa sa pabrika dahil sa takot na mababawasan ang milyon-milyong pera niyo sa bangko, o di kaya ay mabawasan ang mga SUVs sa garahe ng mansyon niyo. Kayo na mga walang ginawa kundi sumali sa tree planting at run-for-a-cause ng ABS-CBN at GMA Kapuso Foundation, magtayo ng bahay kasama ng Gawad Kalinga, mamigay ng limos sa mahihirap bilang inyong idea ng "governance" at "uplifting the poor". Mga wala kayong alam! At mga wala kayong alam dahil wala kayong pakialam sa tunay na kalagayan ng lipunang ito.


Sa pag-ban sa munting kabuhayan ng mga kuliglig drivers, para mo narin silang pinatay. Gut-level at historical ang usapin ng mga kuliglig. Bahagi ito ng isangdaang taong pakikipaglaban para sa lipunang makatarungan. Tama lamang ang ginagawang pag-aalsa ng mga kuliglig drivers. Tama lamang ang ginagawang pag-aalsa ng mga estudyante laban sa budget cut. Tama lamang ang ginagawang pag-aalsa ng mga magsasaka sa hacienda luisita at sa lahat ng hacienda sa Pilipinas. Tama lamang ang pag-aalsa ng mga manggagawa para sa dagdag sahod accross the board, nationwide.


Kahit kailan hindi naging mali ang mag-alsa para sa isang lipunang makaturangan. Kahit kailan hindi naging mali ang mag-alsa para wakasan ang daantaong pagka-api at pagka-alipin. At hanggat patuloy ang pagsasamantala, pambubusabos at pang-aapi, hindi matatapos ang pag-aalsa ng mga mamamayan. Kasaysayan na ang nagturo sa atin nito. Ang tao ang mapag-pasya. Oras na mangyari ito, magtago ka na, Mayor Lim. Ang tunog ng kuliglig ay magiging dagundong. Dagundong ng pinagsamasamang lakas ng bayan na siyang puputol sa sungay mo at ng mga kauri mo.


Dec 2 2010| 3:50 pm

The revolution is love

Para sa mga allergic sa romance at nababaduyan sa pag-ibig:

"At the risk of seeming ridiculous, let me say that the true revolutionary is guided by a great feeling of love. It is impossible to think of a genuine revolutionary lacking this quality.” - Che Guevarra

Nov 13 2010 | 12:04am

Digital post-it

I first discovered digital post-its in 2005 while I was still with Fox-GSK. I remember my desktop being covered with to-dos written in digital post-its. I have been an avid note-taker ever since. I am a calendar person. I am a to-do list person. I am a planner person. I would printout those printable calendars from the internet quarterly. (I don't print the 12 months at a time). And I would just keep it folded in half, and slid inside a notebook. I am thrilled by the folds and stray marks, and the unruly penmanship and the different pen colors. Mukhang gamit na gamit! For some weird reason, I enjoy juggling different things at the same time. Since college, I was never just a student. I was a leader of several organization. When I was working, I was not just a yuppie, I was an activist and a member of a band, and a graduate student. Sometime 2006, I quit my regular 8-5 job and worked as a college instructor, freelance researcher and a graduate student while still an activist and a band member. When I was in a very demanding corporate office, I still had a band and maintained my activist life. But since the schedule was less than flexible, which means I had to focus on just work and reduce others to mere free-time activities, I decided to quit. Right now, I am an NGO worker, a freelance researcher, an activist and a graduate student, and a musician. And I am thrilled (and stressed) at the idea of having to juggle all those.

However, recently, I tend to forget and care less compared with how much I was up on my toes a year ago and before that. Not that I have become whatever goes. I still enjoy planning and marking things on the calendar, or putting plans in writing. I just keep on forgetting things. I hope this condition is nothing medical or clinical.

Last night, I decided to download the digital post-it once again. On my tiny desktop, I divided it into three of my work spheres. First, for the NGO, 2nd for the small research agency I'm running, and 3rd for graduate school. There should be a 4th - social life. It takes my time also, and sometimes I choose it over work. Haha!

Nov 8 2010 | 12:42 p.m.

Sleep

I slept for 12 hours straight! It felt so good and liberating to just sleep on some work to do.

1. Read related literature for my thesis
2. Watch a feature on Carol Banawa on Rated K
3. Prepare a compensation package proposal for work
4. Listen to NU 107's last hour (12 midnight)
5. Hygiene stuff

The 5th made me feel icky the following morning; while the 4th made me nostalgic. I didn't care much about items 1 to 3. Hehe.

Nov 8 2010 | 12:24 p.m.

Balik UP

This is it! I finally got the seal of approval of three "appropriate bodies" who decided upon my fate as a graduate student: the department chair, the graduate school chair and the dean. This afternoon, my request for readmission and extension was granted. I have one year to finish everything. It is almost surreal to finally be able to enroll again tomorrow after more than two years.

It means I will have to endure the tireless lines again.

It means I have to start looking for a new thesis adviser.

It means I have to start working on my research.

It means that my time starts now!

Nov 3 | 1:01 a.m.

I survived!

I just survived two weeks of hell having pulled of the following:

1. Last minute reclassification of my data tables
2. 42-slide report supposedly in 1.5 weeks but done in 3 days
3. Musical scoring for the play "On Potok...ti daga...ug yuta" with 2 rehearsal dates and 2 play dates
4. Friday night out with friends
5. Office e-mail booboo
6. Processing of program extension and re-admission in UP
7. Admin work for Fox (employee evaluation, salary processing)

Now, I can seriously work on my thesis concept paper. But before that, matutulog muna ako!

Stress comes in threes

This day placed me on both sides of the pole. And somewhere in between.

The positive side came in the form of my program adviser/comm res department chair signing my request for re-admission and extension. In her recommendation notes, she said "Ms. Dela Cruz has already put in effort...I believe she can defend her thesis by May 2011." Master's thesis in one semester. Great. Time. Starts. Now. Tick tock.

Meanwhile, the negative side came in the form of my boss now fuming mad (I suppose) upon the "hate e-mail" I accidentally sent to her. I wrote her a short, firm and remorseful letter. I said:

I did not know this was sent to you! It's supposed to be for Nadj. I'm so sorry this got sent to you. I'm just venting out my frustrations to her but since here it is, maybe we can talk about it. We have been wanting to talk to you for a long time already. But really, I'm so sorry and embarrassed that you had to see this. It's supposed to be a private conversation with Nadj.

Anak ng kamote naman! Di ko kailangan ng ganitong stress ngayon.

So in between because I am rushing to finish my report for my client due tomorrow! Wala parin ang data tables ko!

STRESS IN 3 FORMS.

Missent

Que horror! I was about to send a sort-of "hate e-mail" about my boss supposedly for an officemate but the e-mail happened to find my its way to my boss' e-mail. It was SENT. Blame it my poor attention to detail. It was 4 am! I thought I was on OBE (out-of body experience) for 10 seconds while staring at my computer screen which read: Message sent. Oh dear. Oh dear.


Here goes the e-mail:

HALATANG HINDI BINASA!!! May note na nga ako na may sariling definition of terms si <insert consultant's name> dun sa section niya on digital signature so no need to repeat.

"ALL MAJOR TERMS" - Ano ito, dictionary? Syempre naman mamili lang tayo ng terms na ginagamit sa report pero hindi naman explicitly defined hindi katulad ng source code, CF card na paulit ulit na nakadefine.

"The definition of terms should include even the technical terms mentioned in the IT reports" - Ano pa nga ba??? Kaya nga may technical and non-technical terms diba???

"They usually base their definitions on IT definitions" - MALAMANG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

<Insert officemate's name/the should-be recipient>, anu ba to??? Basta may masabi at mautos lang! Kaasar!!!!!!! Eh sa totoo lang, para sa kanya lang naman yung definition of terms dahil di siya makaintindi!

Note: text in red are mine

---

Imagine this type of e-mail being sent to your boss. And for the next 30 minutes, I hoped against hope that there are softwares or other computer applications out there developed by geeks that enable these missent messages to be recalled. 

Ouch! Just when you thought the Internet has everything, if fails you.

At 6 am (or 2 hours after the "accident"), I am poised to lose my job by day-end. I thought this would be her perfect chance to get back at me for being such a bitch, for speaking my mind a little too much, for articulating our (the center's) mistakes that are rather left unsaid, for blurting out the realities and limitations of our study, for constantly ranting about her poor management skills and obvious lack of research acumen. In short, gago lang talaga ako. Haha. Ang masama nun, nahuli pa. 

This is such a horrific and blooper-ic day for me.

(But look, it's 3:15 pm and I'm still here)

Radyo Sagada

I stumbled upon Radyo Sagada through my field partner in La Union last June. She was making a documentary about it for her undergraduate thesis at UP Baguio. Still in its infancy stage, Radyo Sagada will be the first community radio in the lovely town of Sagada. They are still waiting for this final antenna to complete the technical set-up before conducting a test broadcast. And as a community radio, it is most interesting to see how the Kankana-ey culture and knowledge figure in this supposedly communal enterprise. Thus I came up with the thesis topic that talks about infusing indigenous knowledge in the production and management of Radyo Sagada.


Sagada, I think is feasible; more or less 12 hours travel by land. For one, the Cordillera has a special place in my heart. I am sure to learn and a lot - just like what I always have intended when I entered graduate school. A thesis is like a nightcap; a last hurrah; the final hurdle. Ibigay mo na lahat. In my case, this is my final chance (if the department grants me extension).


Oh, Kabunyan, let Radyo Sagada be my thesis!

Welcome, Nanangen

Nanangen is part of the Talaandig tribe’s rich oral tradition. In simple terms, it is a story or a folktale. Unlike the gugud (folk epic) or ulaging (poetry) with more serious undertones, nanangen is associated with entertainment and can be recited by anyone at anytime.

Story-telling is a basic social activity of the indigenous peoples. It is through these stories that their heritage is kept alive from one generation to another. More than that, these stories articulate their identity, dreams, aspirations, their collective spirit.

A blogger at 4am

It is official. Having subscribed to blogspot.com officially makes me a blogger. While it had always been a "plan," my concept of blogs being egocentric, out-there, and time-consuming prevented me from doing so.  I know for a fact, though, that people have actually made careers out of blogging. I suppose they are exempted from my anti-blogging sentiments. I  have irked at people who blog at their heart's content, clearly crossing the demarcation line between the public and private spheres. My introvert self is now speaking.

Nonetheless, my extrovert self welcomed the idea of opening up my own blog site for two main purposes:

1. Preservation and organization

At my current state of affairs, my sanity is begging to be preserved. Too much is going on with work, my impending return to graduate school (thesis and penalty subjects), to-do and when-to-do-list gone berserk,  and day-to-day blahs. Being able to articulate thoughts, plans, stories, etc. is the first step to organization. It must be noted though that 'organization' as mentioned here is not in any way related to some formal planner-like arrangement. This blog, I think, will help me compartmentalize thoughts in my head picking up important ones while negating the unimportant ones. I foresee some really long blogs coming and some one-liners ala twitter.

2. Documentation

This is what blogging is all about. In this regard, I also foresee posting of scanned old pictures and retelling of old stories in a process called digitization of memory. Current events as they happen shall also be posted here.

Matter of TIME

People have actually TIME on their hands more than what they believe they actually have. Otherwise, the Internet would not be what it is today, social networking sites would not be a hit and Zuckerberg would not be a billionaire. I still maintain that blogging is time-consuming. In fact, writing this very first blog took me 30 minutes already. But having established the reason for Nanangen's* existence, I suspect this is going to be fun. And private. And yes, time-consuming.

*Nanangen will be discussed in full next time (why nanagen?). It's 4:32am.