faith, trust and confidence

after a very busy day, i decided to relax for a while before heading home yesterday afternoon. by relax i mean taking my time in going home (i'm walking anyway). i passed by a group of buddies reminiscing good old memories during martial law.

stopped for while to listen to such golden memories when the one talking suddenly said,
"you're a writer, right?"
"i do love to write but not good enough to be called one. . ."
"no. you do! you used to be in the college paper." (one of his children is a good friend of mine)
"if you insist. its an honor to be called one. but no finger inch compared to your son."
"nah, you're a good one. i know. care to write my biography?"

i was caught off guard. he was actually offering me to write a book about him. in front of five other people i know. said he'd take care of having it published. thought he was kidding. he's not. told me about a few conditions. . . but that's not the point. whether i accepted it or not is out of the question too. few people would know when they read this.

i'd never know why me but his son is far better than me. i mean, i write. . . yes i do but not to the level of what he had in mind. i've read some of his son's unpublished stories and articles. fit for the weekend issue of commercial papers.

the point here is the trust of that man in me. his confidence in me is far bigger than the confidence i have for myself. if only we have the same trust to our leaders. . . yet again, do you think they deserve such trust?

(DISCLAIMER: the picture posted has nothing to do with the article. it only represents the label. thank you!)

of coup and scandals (as posted on my friendster blog dated February 1st, 2008 )

apologies for unupdated blogs.

don’t have much time for this since i don’t own a pc.

anyways, present situations stresses me more than my work. primetime news and late night documentaries would lose viewers soon. a disturbing 80% of it is now focusing on the never ending battle for political positions. not that i don’t want to know about it but talking about the same situation without progress is a waste of air time. talk about early publicity for the upcoming 2010 elections. why not let them work their present job and let it be the evaluation for their free publicity on the news.

kudos to the move of the solons against the witnesses’ behavior. arrest warrants would surely open their mouths thus making them deserving for the ‘witness’ title.

coup attempts? its possible but i hope it would not hamper the admin’s responsibility. afterall, palace security should be tight with or without the rumored attempts.

bottom line. stop all the fuzz about the issues. solve it.

holy cow (as posted on my friendster blog dated November 13th, 2007 )

i was bumming around last sunday with uncomfortable fever & flu, feeling bored without any interesting book or mag around. tv’s busted and was recovering at the not-so-reliable technician’s operating room for a few days now(no news of its operation yet). so the last option would be the trusty old audio box. i was turning its dial for no particular station when i came up with this program airing religious debates(oh God, it’s not set on FM mode as i thought it was).

as usual, they are debating about who among them is with the good sheperd and about the TRUTH. bless them all. wish they would talk about the FALSE or the CONSEQUENCE for a change. for a while they chanted up bible verses where the rest of the religion representatives would give their rebuttal to every speaker who explains its meaning, thus, giving out the REAL MEANING of the verse. after a minute or so, mud throwing takes place. debate became too personal. one orders the other to shut up coz his mouth stinks. another one accuses the other of being a liar since birth. someone shouted that the other is just asking money from his followers. then voices of people speaking at the same time. til the moderator managed to speak among the chaos explaining that the program will be right back after a short commercial break. funny as hell indeed.

now, before anything else, let me emphasize that i am religious on my own right and i’m proud of my faith. but i don’t and will never agree with religious debates. sure we need to share the good news to our friends or to the newly found acquaintances but do we need to reiterate it? stand if you must but never insist. why not respect the other’s belief? gone are the days when people were killed for their religion. let’s keep it at that. let’s respect the people for their chosen religion because that is what they believe in. same belief that you have. how would you feel if the person would repeat over and over again that your religion is not the right one and you will suffer in hell forever? peace can be attained if we have the will for it. life is short so let us all agree to disagree. live life the way you want it without forcing other people to follow your way.

Blog debut (as posted on my friendster blog dated November 12th, 2007 )

i am a frustrated writer. by frustrated i mean someone who has the desire or impulse to write on something for prose, poetry, commentary or plain vandalism but end up with trash. had this inclination since my freshman years in high school. sure i had my fair share of poems, short stories (most were left unfinished though), and submissions for school newsletters but that’s it. end of story. goodbye.

had a few of my friends read some of my pieces and surprisingly received positive remarks. well, friends indeed. good ego boosters as always.

never planned to mark my words here til my friend johnny(johndon by birth and nirvana on friendster blogs. . . yes, the guy in green) told me about the blogging world on friendster and encouraged me to post my nonsense for posterity. read a few posts myself and found out that many wannabes and frustrated writers were here to put all the voices in their heads to print.

i am a pen with no good ink. but heck, i want to write. if i had the patience to send sms blogs to 60 recipients equivalent to eight-mobile-message per text blog to each recipient, then maybe i can spare a few minutes for posting my nonsense here.

never mind the name(suplado). it was baptized by peers during the wild days and it will stay to remind me of the i-don’t-give-a-damn days. the name stays but those days will remain as memories. . .

know me more by my blogs. as for now, how about a welcome hug?

The FHM verdict

november2008 - my letter and pic was featured on the men's mag FHM. i was instant celebrity. i found out that the people around me are also FHM fans (i had a few calls informing me about the featured letter. . .they had their copies before i had mine). more than the happiness of being featured, i was ecstatic to hear positive remarks from friends approving the idea of surprising a very special girl. they also love the letter's content (atleast that's what they said).

anyway, this is not about the content. nor the lady's reaction on the surprise. and no, definitely not about my friends' comments.

this is about the title that the FHM staff so generously branded on my letter. yes, that red words seen at the uppermost left part of the pic. HE STAYED LOYAL! simply put, i am loyal.

not that i'm complaining but i don't think i deserve such honor.

1. i am an Eric Ramos fan, the former ed chief who started FHM Philippines. stopped buying the mag when he resigned and followed his next projects (sorry about this, mr madrilejos. but you rock. yes, you do and you maintained the mag on top. i was just stupid, that's all). yes, i did came back to fhm after looking for other mags. sorry FHM, i'm not that loyal to you (feel free to kick my b*tt).

2. (erased as requested by people close to me citing unfair publicity to possible persons who might get offended on the sentences posted here earlier. my apologies)

i have failed and disappointed people. a lot of people as a matter of fact. i destroyed trust.

i feel sorry for the people who in one way or another got affected by what happened in number 2. i would like to stress, however, that i do feel sorry for everyone but regret is out of the question.

i believe that everything happened for a reason and that darn reason would help me become a better man who will stand by himself. . . eventually. i wish it would.

i am now on my own. alone. life sucks big time. thank you very much.

i stayed loyal. FHM told me so. take it or leave it.

Three is a crowd

taken at the city's People's Park, a former dumpsite that was turned into one of the city's best places for picnics.

with the author are lovers Arvin and Maresse.

the picture clearly shows a very strong friendship. . . until you flip it over, that is.



lovers with a friend. . .
















. . .not!

Filipino. . .

it always sucks to hear stupid foreigners belittling the Philippines and its people while they are here enjoying the relaxing view of our country.

but there's nothing worst than having one of your fellowmen happily throwing mud on your face. somehow, happy seems to be an understatement.

sne time, i was traveling aboard a ferry and sat beside two other passengers who seem to be lone travelers also. one moment we're silent and the next instance saw us talking to each other like good old friends.

things where going smoothly until one of the guys mentioned about the success of a Filipino abroad. the other guy agreed saying that the said Filipino succeed because he was abroad where the opportunity is far better than the Philippines.

nothing's wrong with that but the guy suddenly speaks about the worst things in the country as if everything is a curse. me and the guy who spoke about the successful Filipino slowed him down reminding him about the best words attached to the word Filipino.

you could never guess what happened next. the friendly conversation almost became a heated argument. the guy keeps on saying that the Philippines is nothing but a pathetic place dependent on America with ignorant fools as citizens. he recalled incidents that proves how stupid Filipinos really are, pointing that locally-made products couldn't even compete with imported products.

i stood up to get myself a cup of coffee with no intention of going back to that seat until the end of the journey. that smart guy had forgotten about two things:
1. we have been celebrating something every 12th day of June
and 2. we had the same color of skin

i will always be a Filipino and support the Philippines, i thought. i was lazily sipping my coffee when i remembered something. . . i left the P5,000 U.S.-made trekking backpack i borrowed from my balikbayan cousin unattended. And i hope that nothing happened to the imported chocolates and body cologne inside the bag.

Dateline: City Hall

(click here for the video)

San Carlos City, Negros Occidental has its own local TV news program, Dateline: City Hall aired on the city's local cable every Saturday at 7pm. it is also shown at the city's public plaza on the same day and time via wide screen projector. citizens who were not able to see the week's news could always go to the lobby of gaisano san carlos where it is played for the rest of the week.

sancarloseños outside the city is never left behind as Dateline: City Hall is also posted in the net through the city's official website, www.sancarloscity.gov.ph.

the video shown above is a tribute to the present and former staff of the tv program.

Newbie

i am a greenhorn in the blogging community. don't know what to do. don't know where to start. remembering my first day in high school, the first thing to talk about is one's self. now goes another problem. . . i don't know how to introduce myself (at least not in the cyberworld).

anyway, back in college i was called SUPLADO behind my back. it means snob. don't know why but i keep on hearing the word and it always turn my face red. . . with anger that is. well, i thought, if i couldn't make them stop, why not help them out. hence my name. . . Suplado™. (wonder why they'd stop calling me by that name now. . . must have come up with a new one.)