Thoughts and Rants of a Coffee-holic

Looking back at my high school days, I remember that Student Council elections then was a mere popularity issue. If you were a member of the varsity team, the son/daughter of a PTA member or a school board member, or even if you were just damn good looking, you’re already considered as a shoo-in for the post that you’re running for. Heck, it didn’t even matter if you didn’t know what the post you’re running for is, all that matter is you woo over the votes from people who admire you.

That’s one of the reasons I didn’t vote during my freshman year in College. I was still under the impression that it was still a popularity issue, and the names SAMASA, STAND-UP and PRO-STUDENT made little sense to me, and I just admired that their leaders had enough creativity to coin up a party name. I just found out later that each group had their own ideology, and eventually I found myself block voting year after year for a particular party, because I found out that they would not only defend my rights as a student, but also link my struggle as a student to the struggle outside the university. I’m from State U by the way, so go figure.
(Read on…)

At long last. I’m wired again. Two and a half months feels like a lifetime already. Aaaahhh. Back with a vengeance.

After that eventful lunch with Toe, Verns, Sngl & Annamanila, I got the recommendation of switching over to Smartbro, so that I can finally get back to my online life (and my blog). So I happily went off to the Smart center at SM North Edsa and happily paid the subscription fee.

Things went on smoothly at the start. The linesmen went to my place over the weekend and installed everything. I was so excited that I started texting everyone left and right that I was gonna be back online soon. To my dismay, they couldn’t get my connection up. They kept on insisting that they had to automatically detect the settings of my connection protocol, when in fact that was what wasn’t working in the first place.

Grrrr… they claim that they don’t have a master list of different addresses to give me, but they have the same list to give to PLDT myDSL users! Then the guy from customer service says: “Sir, kung di po maayos, i re refund na lang po namin yung pera nyo.“Gaaagh! Why are some people just plain <insert cuss word here>?

This is torture… *sob* 

Doesn’t it just piss you off when business are more concerned about getting your money rather than helping you out?

That’s what happened about a month ago when I applied to have DSL installed at home. Globelines was advertising a bundle on TV, for only 995, so, after slaving it out with a dial up connection for how many months now, I thought that it was about time I upgraded the internet connection we had.

Off we went to SM North to apply for the line, and had our existing one disconnected so that we didn’t have to pay unneccesarily. Globelines promised us a week or two. I went home a happy camper. Or so I thought.

Ellie and I just found out last week that the connection didn’t reach until our place, and if I wanted it to go through, I would have to pay an additional 15k for the wiring extensions. Heck, sometimes I act like I’m insane, but I’m definitely not THAT insane.

In short, they just scammed us. Even if it’s only for 500 measly pesos for the deposit, the fact that I waited for that long, and I have to wait another two weeks for the refund just completely sucks. Plus, I’ve been offline for so long that I don’t even know if you guys who used to frequent my blog know if I’m still alive and kicking.

*sigh* I miss you guys, and I miss my blog. Sana di magtampo sakin ang blog ko.

It’s weird what a night of blog hopping with the radio blaring songs at 12 midnight can do to you. In a span of about 45 minutes, I heard the APL Song and Bebot by the Black Eyed Peas, and Bamboo’s revival of the Buklod classic Tatsulok. It got me writing about something I’ve been wanting to put off for about a week.

While I’ve been planning to write something about Bamboo’s revival of the song (it’s one of my favorites dating back to when I was a sophomore at UP), it never occurred to me that it would be, in more ways than one, be related to celebrated Fil-American Black Eyed Peas member Allan Pineda’s own experiences with migrating to the US to find greener pastures.

Tatsulok

To those of you who may not know the roots of this song, it was written in the 1980’s, during President Aquino’s time. It was right after the first People Power uprising, and even if Marcos was ousted in a peaceful manner, the country was still pretty much in turmoil. The countryside found the military and the anti-communist vigilante groups on one side, the New People’s Army on the other side, and the civilians in the middle. Things were really ugly, and the song inspired many an activist to fight for justice and meaningful change.
(Read on…)