Achieving Happiness

Norman Bordadora of the Philippine Daily Inquirer is a friend of mine. We attended the same college and majored in the same course. We were also in the Philippine Collegian together (he was in News, and I was in Features, along with Bayan Muna’s Amerina Padilla). I know that Norman is a sweet person and he has a healthy sense humor (I’m beginning  to remember certain anecdotes involving him and an ex-girlfriend of his, but that’s  a different story), so when I read the article he wrote on the congressional neophytes and youngest members of the House of Representatives Sharrie Ann Tan, Rexlon Gatchalian and Erwin Tieng, I went "Holy crap, is it just me or is Norman just write a subtle but unmistakably mean report?!"
Is it just me, or am I right in thinking that Norman wrote an personal profile/news report that deliberately made its subjects look shallow, inane, and, well, stupid?

""Like any other young lady her age (Tan), reads fashion magazines.""
Someone please get me a barfbag. I can’t be accused of being a snob because I also read fashion magazines when I see them; but couldn’t she have at least pretended that she likes to read, oh I don’t know, The Catcher in the Rye or To Kill a Mockingbird?! Sharrie Ann Tan could have tried for wittiness and said that Elle and
Vogue carry articles on political issues of the day such as how even
the Republicans are pulling out their support for Bush’ war in Iraq,
and how feminism does not mean not wearing make-up or  looking like a
sack of potatoes. (Interruption here — while waiting at  the dentist’s office, I read an article in Candy magazine wherein a popular young adult star in her mid 20s confessed that she had heard that To Kill a Mockingbird is supposed to be a good ‘pocketbook’ and so she hopes to read it soon. Reading that I felt my broken tooth throb like hell despite the painkiller I’d taken just 10 minutes before. Anyways. No sarcasm here, pero sana nabasa na niya ngayon ang TKAM.).
So where was I before I interrupted myself? Oh yeah, the new reformers. They were talking about themselves and their legis agenda with the editorial board of the Philippine Daily Inquirer and and they said that they like to hang out and par-tay. What the hell were they thinking? They were talking to the likes of Letty Jimenez-Magsanoc and Isagani Yambot - not to Tim Yap or Tessa Prieto Valdez.
So they hang out in exclusive bars and coffeeshops?! Juice ko. During Ka Bel’s first term in office, he’d get invited to meetings in hotels, and syempre, alangan naman sumama pa ako sa loob so I would wait along with the rest of the security staff in the lobby. None of us dared to go and sit in the small cafes where a demitasse of hot chocolate cost P175!!!
Ano naman kayang klaseng legislative agenda ang maaring mabuo kung ang lugar na pinagpupulungan ay exclusive restaurants, cafes or bars? I hardly think that they would come up with measures like bringing down the costs of electricity, water rates, or  increasing allocations for public housing, health and education if they’re surrounded by so much opulence and throwing P200 per bottle of bubbly water.
And where the hell is  Martinis?! Magkano naman kaya ang beer dun?!
Mabaliw-baliw ako. Makes me feel so angry and desperate that Mong Palatino did not become congressman. He’d have been the best and the brightest young lawmaker in the 14th congress.  He’d run circles around even the older lawmakers. Instead we have the likes of Gatchalian, et al, who discuss their legislative agenda in hotels drinking and having fun ‘like other people their age, and who saw nothing wrong with the manner of how Jose de Venecia was elected Speaker.
Hindi sila ang mukha ng pulitika ng pagbabago o reporma sa konggreso, and as a youngish person myself, I am personally appalled that they will tauted as the voice of the youth in congress. How can be so cavalier as to describe where the heck they gather to ‘talk shop’ ? Okay, so they’re honest, pero nakakahiya. Hindi na nahiya kahit kaunti. Parang laro o hobby sa kanila ang pagiging kongresista. Kakairita.
—
Was burned a nice mahogany  brown last Monday during the BAYAN People’s SONA rallies. My nose is still peeling, but am grateful that at least the sunburn is even all over and I don’t look like a piebald horse.
I missed the anti-SONA protest last year because I was in Hong Kong clearing my head, so was extra-glad to have been able to attend this year’s protests. 
As always, ang galing-galing at ang ganda-ganda ng pagkakagawa ng aswang na effigy ng Ugat-Lahi. I almost cried when it was torched and Sonny Africa kept laughing at me for trying to plead for the effigy (this year a blue-green skinned GMA mananggal in a royal blue and violet satiny dress and a tiara of skulls and bones).
Talked with JL (Burgos) and again it was quite difficult to ask the usual opening question when one runs into friends — ‘Kamusta ka?"
His answer  — ‘Okay lang, walang choice e.’
Still, the waiting, the uncertainty, the barely contained desperation of it all, and the anger over the lies of the government and the Armed Forces of the Philippines.
JL said no one in the Burgos family is surprised that the AFP is coming out with new counter-arguments and passing on the blame for Jonas’ abduction to the NPA.
They’re more surprised that it’s taken the AFP so long to come with their latest lies. JL said that if it everything wasn’t so despicable and outrageous, he’d be tempted to laugh — "Kung ano-aong kabobohan na lang ang sinasabi nila!’.
But no one is laughing.
I’m relieved that JL didn’t take it amiss when I said, haltingly, that if it weren’t for his brother, hanggang ngayon walang malinaw at kilalang mukha ang mga desaparacido. After the hall, Jonas’ case is the one wherein the abductors have been clearly identified, as well as the means and methods they implemented to facilitate his aduction. The media has also been very supportive and continues to give the story the prominence it deserves.
JL  smiled and said, "Magte-tengkyu na lang tayo kay utol pag nakita na natin siya."
—

Tapos ko na ang Harry Potter 7! My sister took pity on me and gave me the moolah to buy the book. Harhar, I didn’t have to wreck my eyes reading the electronic version that Kim ripped off the internet. He accuses me of making JK Rowling rich, I said hinding-hindi na mauulit; Ipapamana pa natin ang libro sa mga anak natin…I tried to justify.
In any case, we really had no choice but to buy the hardbound edition because the paperback won’t be out for at least a year, and my mom can’t read the small text without getting a splitting headache. Isa pa, all my cousins on my mom’s side are going to borrow it so cost efficient pa rin (do I sound guilty spending P1,350 on a book? because I feel guilty. Hay).

I liked it a lot. Cried over some parts, laughed over others. Generally, it was satisfying because JK Rowling tied up the  entire story quite tightly and nicely. It’s always great to escape into a well-written novel (ayoko nang magcomplain over the OA touches na win pa rin naman).

I’d write an in-depth review kaso baka marami pa ang hindi nakakabasa so will forego that for now. I will not be a spoiler like Kim who read the electronic version and while he did kept yelling out what he had just read like what happened to Dobby, to one one of the Weasly twins, and it was all I could to stop myself from grabbing a stapler and stapling his lips shut.

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Nakaka-adik ang Heroes.

This entry was posted on Saturday, July 28th, 2007 at 10:37 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.