crazy people everywhere

July 28, 2014

On my way home from school while riding a jeepney, this man jumps in with a glass filled with ice and water, and sits across me. As soon as he settles in, he starts shouting all these things like "Ezekiel chapter.." "In  the book of Solomon!..." "the american...BRITANNICA! ... is the bible! ..." etc. His voice was deep and frog-like. This was enough to make the people beside him scoot away from him ( he was also swaying his glass side to side violently). Unfortunately, I couldn't move coz our side was full. Also, this guy kept looking at me and kept trying to start a conversation with "dun ka nag-aaral noh? *points back to vito cruz*" which made the trip a little bit uncomfortable for me.

Most of the passengers were trying to avoid the gaze of this guy, and some were even snickering. I mean, if you had to share a jeepney with this guy, wouldn't you be scared? or wouldn't you find it comical? If there's one thing I'm sure of, it would be that everyone on the jeep thought of him as "crazy". 

"crazy" is a term we often use to describe people who defy the norms which may be comical, stupid, or scary. I used to steer clear from them out of fear, but after taking up psychology, I learned to understand these kind of people. Its sad that the government isn't doing anything about these homeless people who may or may not be suffering dementia. 

Probably the worst experience I had was when I saw a homeless woman by the sidewalk and I saw that she was wearing a ring on her ring finger. It was really shiny and it didn't look like the cheap ones you'd see anywhere, it look pretty decent and expensive. Maybe she just picked it up somewhere, or maybe she's part of a syndicate, but maybe, she was actually married. And now she's sleeping on the streets.

What if she had kids? 

what if her husband died and then she got so depressed that she ended up that way? 

What if her children abandoned her because they didn't have money to take her to a doctor? 

Of course, there is no way for me to verify these "what ifs". But the thought that maybe one of these "what ifs" may be true is just excruciating. During this experience, I thought of my lola and lola puy. What if my family didn't have the money to bring them to a doctor? would we have done the same? 

I hope not. But then again, there's no way I can verify this.

In other news:

The jeepney I took had one of those "DJ Drivers" (Drivers who love playing their music so loud that they can't hear you when you make "para"). But this one was different because he was playing songs like "safe and sound" ,"stay the night", "birthday -katy perry", unlike the others who would play OPM or mixes that are just.... really bad :( It really made the trip going home less stressful!  :D

 I really wish we had more jeepney drivers who have good taste in music. I'd pick that jeep over any other jeep any day... haha! :))

she said YES!

July 24, 2014

Today, I woke up on the wrong side of the bed. My mom made me bring my brother to BGC and my sister to school knowing the fact that our car is coding. We left the house at around 6:40am. By the time I dropped my sister off, it was already 7:10am. Luckily, there wasn't that many MMDA officers on the road.

As I arrived home and about to leave for school, My mom told me that I had to buy something for the store and that I had to bring our new helper with me (so that he'd know where to go next time my mom asks). I was annoyed because I was already running late for class. By the time I got to the store, they said that they didn't have what my mom wanted (even though my mom told me that she called them ahead of time just to make sure that they do have stock). Pissed, I called my mom and asked her about it. It took them about a good 15 mins to get my mom's order right. After teaching the guy how to go home via jeep, I then realized that I forgot to give him the package that my mom asked for (-__-) . So, I had to bring it with me to school. By that time, I knew that this day wasn't my day.

My sister told me to meet up with her at Starbucks. After 30 mins, she still hasn't arrived. I didn't want to buy coffee because I don't coffee. Coffee makes me vomit but I LOVE the aroma of coffee. But anyways, I bought a sticky bun instead. I decided to cut my class because I still had to work on a paper that still needed RRLs. My sister arrived around an hour later. She ordered this drink that tasted like scented candles (I've never tried eating scented candles but the drink's taste reminds me of it). I couldn't finish my sticky buns, so I gave them to my sister who finish it quickly because she loves cream cheese.

after class, I headed to the CLA office to get my forms for excused absence, and to the Psych department to check if miss replied to my letter regarding some subjects and thesis. I was so nervous as the secretary was looking for my letter. but...

My day got better when I saw this on my paper

She's actually a cool prof but then there are times when she's in that "don't stand in my way" kind of mood. Which is why I was so nervous coz I didn't know what to expect. 

After doing a little happy dance, I headed over to Zaide to meet up with my sister with her thesis mates. When I arrived, they (my sister and her female thesis mate) were having an argument with their male thesis mate (Which I found quite unfair coz it was 2 vs 1 but.. that's none of my business). 

"On Wednesdays, we wear pink"

I only realized that it was a Wednesday and I wore pink when I saw someone post it on facebook (I swear, it was a coincidence)

got in SDA yesterday

I blend in perfectly

Selfie with lola!

July 20, 2014

Today, I was able to convince my lola to take a selfie with me.

well, with us.

Despite her "asim" face, she was actually really happy while we were taking this pic.


This is one of the few moments wherein our lola isn't tired, or grumpy, or tired and grumpy at the same time. She was actually very talkative today, and she didn't mind that I lie down beside her (despite me being very malikot). It was almost like, she was getting better from her illness.
Maybe by next week, she'll be able to sit up and eat on her own. And then after that, she'll be able to walk around on her own (using a walker) and then maybe she'd be able to tend to her garden again. And then maybe, she'll finally go downstairs (with our help of course) and eat with us and then play the piano (and maybe listen to us play the guitar and piano too!).

But I know she's not getting any better. And maybe the sooner I accept that, the less it'll hurt when the time comes.

LASARE3 A56

July 19, 2014

I just got back from my retreat in tagaytay. We were originally designated to have our retreat at batangas, but due to the lack of electricity and water caused by the recent typhoon, we had to either reschedule our retreat or find another retreat house that will take us in.

Here's my bed

looks like a prison bed, but it was comfortable.

"Light of the world" retreat house located in tagaytay city was kind enough to accommodate us despite their lack of electricity (they ran on generators during our stay). It wasn't that big, but it was big enough for our class composed of just 26 students.

26 students.
out of that number, I only knew 2 people.
during the retreat, I made 3 more friends, 1 of which was a former football freestyler.
I was so happy and frustrated at the same time when I heard him say  that he used to freestyle because it is so rare to meet a football freestyler here in the philippines! luckily for me, we're in the same club (Futsal club) and hopefully, i'd be able to learn a few tricks from him.

anyways, back to the retreat.

Our retreat (specifically our section) was pretty chill. Our facilitator was really nice and funny, and what I like about him is that he doesn't follow the program word per word. He says things in his own words and he tries to connect his experiences with the topic that we're in so that we could get a better grasp of the idea that he's trying to convey to us. Also, I like the group that I was with. They made the retreat more fun and enjoyable. I don't know why my other friends said that it was boring. They probably said that because they didn't have a good group to be with.

In the end, the retreat was fun! I wish it was 3 days 2 nights though :(

Check out their ceiling! its made out of egg cart trays! 

Here's a closer view

Here's the promise I made to myself

And they said that they'll send us back our craft in 3-5 years just to see if we really fulfilled it (what)

At around 3am, the generators went off and then the lights outside and our fan inside our room died. 

When I opened my eyes, I saw a silhouette of a person sitting down at the end of my roommate's bed, watching me. I assumed it was her, having difficulties sleeping because of the loss of power. So, I went back to bed. 

The next day, I told her this and to our surprise, she never sat up from bed. She was too scared to even open her eyes, all the more sit up during the complete darkness. She thought that I was just scaring her again, but I'm pretty sure that it wasn't a dream. And whats more creepy is that our friend narrated a similar story during breakfast. He said that there was a girl staring at him at the corner of the room. He tried telling his roommate to wake up, but he was too scared to even lift his covers. 

View from my bed. The silhouette was sitting on the end of her bed, watching me.

the end of her bed is near the corner of the room. pretty similar to my friend's experience.

Disaster preparedness

July 15, 2014

Today was the supposed landfall of the typhoon "Glenda" which is said to be stronger than the 2006 typhoon "Milenyo". The typhoon Milenyo was really strong, it was more on wind than rain actually. I was at 5th grade and I think we got suspended for a week. There was this huge billboard (Mane n' tail shampoo, haha!) near our store and then my brother was able to catch a glimpse of it slowly falling to the ground. 

I've already charged my laptop and my cellphone in preparation of a black out. There are two things I hate about black outs; the heat, and showering in the dark. I mean, we do have candles and flashlights to illuminate the bathroom while we shower, but I don't know, it just feels different, like someone is just gonna pull the curtains and kill you (that's how I feel). 

Whenever there would be a black out, I would always imagine myself being in a zombie apocalypse. Now what would you do during a zombie apocalypse? I'd prepare my flashlight, first-aid kit, and a weapon. I have an old trusty flashlight that has a spotlight, a florescent light, and a flash(light?), a standard first aid kit, and a long (but light) piece of wood for a weapon (we own a construction supply store so, yeah). I mean you never know when it'll happen right? Not necessarily a zombie apocalypse but remember what happened in tacloban during the typhoon "Yolanda"? Looters are just like zombies. Wouldn't want to take that chance. Or maybe I'm just being paranoid.