Unfunny

On life and death and getting there

/ iamsupercarla / Leave a comment

This entire week, although it is barely over, has been a sombering life experience.  I say that of course with my strong penchant for drama and whatnot.

It has been a difficult work week for Dylan.  I actually panicked when he texted me the other day that his co-nurse has passed away.  A day after, he texted again, saying their former customer care officer committed suicide.  A few hours after that, they heard news that their pregnant co-staff lost her baby.

This week is just filled with bad news, and when I opened the Yahoo! homepage, this headline caught my eye:

Girl, 12, kills self after mother told her she’s ‘dumb’

I really don’t know how to react to this really.  She could easily have been my cousin Maylene, a little older than her to be specific.  And I remember how her brothers tease her.  She’s easing in to puberty and well, she’s growing things that she didn’t have to buy extra apparel for.  She’s very self-conscious and has been gaining a few pounds.  They kept calling her fat, and ugly and messy and I remembered her when this piece of news came out.

And I tried to recall if I’ve ever been more careful with kids.  If I’ve ever let slip a harsh word or two.  If I’ve been overly critical.  Or more destructive in my criticism instead of constructive.  I try to recall all the simple words I said and how it would have affected them.

There was a brief period in time that I believed that kids today are born wise.  They are born when homosexuality can be seen around the corner, debates in procreation is up in the air, and much much more.  I believe this is a testament to the fact that no mater how wise kids today are, they are still young souls that need to be honed and loved and cared for, with every thought, deed and word.

Read the entire news here.

How is the RH Bill worse than Martial Law?

/ iamsupercarla / 1 Comment

I couldn’t help but react to this piece of news I spotted when I visited Yahoo! Philippines’ homepage.  According to EX-Mayor Lito Atienza of Manila, the Reproductive Health Bill is worse than Martial Law.  From what I can derive from the newspiece, he gave this statement because the bill is “unconstitutional” and “anti-life”.  Also, it compels women to take drugs that will destroy their bodies.

Now, Congressmen who would support this measure will be given an additional P10 million their countrywide development fund or pork barrel.  Atienza was quoted quipping that it would be their “condom development fund”.

What really baffles me is how he finds this bill worse than the Martial Law.  Isn’t Martial Law the law that ignited the silence of journalists?  Suppression, lifting of habeas corpus, abductions and growth of desaparecidos, not to mention the inhumane treatment of political prisoners?  How is the RH Bill, whose main goal is to educate people of proper family planning, worse than the law that shutdown all media establishments and cost the country billions and billions in deficit?

Ang labo lang para ikumpara ang isang bagay na naglalayon iangat ang pang-unawa ng Pilipino sa isang batas na pumatay ng maraming Pilipino.

Did they not hear the news?  Even the Pope okayed the use of condoms.  The Pope himself recognized the fact that these things, however artificial, can prolong life and prevent the transfer of disease.

Besides, isn’t it also included in the RH bill that information must first be disseminated, individuals educated of how to use and when to use these contraceptives?  The RH Bill isn’t just wanting to throw pills and condoms in their faces; it aims to tell them how to use them PROPERLY so as not to destroy female bodies.  With proper guidance and monitoring, these contraceptives will not only control population growth.  This bill can actually make the Filipino smarter when it comes to proper family planning.

Minsan talaga mas mabilis ang bibig kesa sa utak.  At nakakahiya, sa totoo lang, na dokumentado ang mga minsang pagkakataon na yon.

Please be more careful with your words, Mr Atienza.  You are insulting the RH Bill supporters, who all want to guarantee a family life of more quality than the ones we have now, by inciting they are worse than the most cruel dictator this country has come to know.

Read this piece of news from Yahoo! Philippines and Philippine Star.

Landmark = worst customer service

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Before I blog about something fantastic,I almost forgot about this little thing that happened over the week.

I’ve scheduled my Plana Forma classes over the week and unfortunately, I forgot to bring clothes.  I guess that’s the pitfall of a new exercise routine; it needs breaking into.  So instead of missing the class (which will most likely form a very ugly habit), I decided to run to Landmark and grab a pair of pants and top to suffice for the day’s workout.

And the epic fail decision started there.  I know SM is no step up, but I should have just gone there.

The saleslady was so curt.  I weas asking for my size and I swear I saw her eyes roll at me.  I asked for a medium top.  Threw it in my hand.  I asked for a medium pant.  Gave it to me without even looking.  So in my head, hey, maybe she’s having a bad day.  I mean, I would too if I had to work through lunch, so I ignored it.

After fitting the items, I decided to get them.  Cheap but nice, will do for later.  Landmark’s practice is having an order slip filled out by the consignee’s saleslady.  But when I went out of the dressing room, she wasn’t there.  Waited for five minutes.  Nada.  So I went straight to the cashier, knowing that the cashier will call for her and have her fill out the order slip.

Then we waited at the cashier for FIFTEEN EFFING MINUTES.  Seryoso.  As in!  The bagger lady was calling her area, but no one was picking up.  So she sent someone to pick her up.  The wait took such a long time that the cashier started chatting me up, feeble attempts to make me comfortable.  When the bagger lady couldn’t handle the ringing, she ran to where that saleslady was.  When she ran back, she muttered, “Sus, nakikipagdaldalan lang pala.”

It.  Is.  Infuriating.  The next scene just played like this.

Me:  *not looking*
Saleslady:  Ma’am thank you for your purchase.  Cash or card po?
Me:  *still not looking, hands over card to cashier*
Saleslady:  *copies details of purchase in order slip*
Saleslady:  *hands order slip to cashier for processing*
Saleslady:  Ma’am sa susunod po, kuha tayo ng order slip para mabilis po.
Me:  In that case, *turns to her and does the Cherie Gil look (aka head to toe, brow raised)* next time din, huwag kang magtataka kung bakit dito ka nagtatrabaho at kung bakit yan lang ang responsibilidad mo dito.

BAM.  FIERCE.  The entire counter was silent for a while and I swear I saw her tear up.  In my head, it’s so simple!  You are a saleslady, so take care of every potential sale.  I’ve been to customer service and I was not ever that crappy.  Come on!

Of course I felt horrid right after I said it, but I said it already.  No need for me to play angel when I clearly meant what I said.  It’s just sad when the simplest of tasks cannot be performed. 

Wala lang.  I just now know for a fact that I can’t speed shop at Landmark. SM Makati na lang (note the specified location).  There, I just say I’m in a rush, so can you find me this this this in this size and this color.  Fifteen minutes and I was out of there.  Sa Landmark, fifteen minutes, wait period pa lang.  Anu ber.

So there.  Customer service is customer service.  If people can demand so much from their government workers and employees, then maybe these people should also demand the same from themselves.  Just saying.

The challenge of keeping the faith

/ iamsupercarla / 3 Comments

It’s all over the news now.  Another bombing has left the Filipinos in a state of disbelief.  I’m going to be honest:  when Lala Flores’ daughter Danica Magpantay won the Ford Supermodel of the Year 2011, I had hopes of the Philippines being the highlight of southeast Asia, having natural beauties and unaltered realities win competitions like this.

Then I remember the carnappings.  Then the oil price hike.  Then the fact that another journalist was slain, the 142nd media killing since 1986.  Then the littlest and biggest of issues in cyberspace, where apparently opinions are paid for.  Then the hope fizzled.

For those who follow me on Twitter, I bet you would notice that as each tragedy is reported in the news, my automatic response is that I am saddened that this is the place I have to bring my kids to.  And this is not to say that I am pregnant (because I am not) or that I am planning to be (because I am not).  I say so because it is the fact:  this is the world we are going to bring our kids to.

And it’s days like these when it’s so hard to keep the faith.  That the human being, the person, the individual will exercise his free will and choose intellect and wisdom over misdirected passions.  That the government will fund better education so this kind of thinking — blowing up buses and shit — will not be the main exhibition of dismay and disagreement. 

But sometimes, faith can just take you so far.  I am seriously afraid that my niece Chuchi will grow up at a time when buses just spontaneously explode and prices spike overnight and her necklace will be snatched as she walks to school and her favorite broadcaster will die before she ever gets to meet him/her.  I am afraid that my future child will have questions as to why people kill people, why Mindanao is the richest in natural resources and yet we can’t find peace with them, why the government is richer than the people, why she is in so much debt at the very moment she’s born.  And I won’t have the answers.

I used to find equanimity when Oscar nods are announced, thinking that the arts is something that people can still count on, that bodies like the Academy will always celebrate the good in people.  But last night was extra difficult, especially when at 2 in the morning, the bus bomb death toll rose to 5.

So you see, it’s really challenging… keeping the faith.  Right now, my only prayer would have to be for the strength to rise to it.

Kay Ganda? Maybe they meant Most Dangerous

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The killing of 57 civilians and media people last year made the Philippines “the most dangerous place in the world for journalists,” said Frank La Rue, UN special rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression.  (Source:  Philippine Daily Inquirer)

I remember a foreigner saying the Philippines has one of the freest press in the world.  I guess not anymore.

For a complete read on the article (hence, more depressing facts), click here.

Please do not forget the people who were murdered a year ago.  Do not forget them, their stories, their families.  Too many people have forgotten already.  Please do not be one of them.