Archive for the ‘Social Concerns’ Category

As of late, I have been undergoing through thorough training along with the rest of our department regarding the very popular and important concept of environmental sustainability. First module from last week we learned about the world as of today, its conditions, and all the problems that caused all the pollution and the signs that the earth would be dying out of its resources. For next week we’ll be covering industrial ecology and biomimicry.

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• Current Location: Work (Levi Strauss & Co.)
• Currently Eating: Sobe Lifewater Cherimoya (Atis) Punch
• Currently Listening: Pandora Radio Doo-Wop Channel
• Mood: Sleepy

I don’t normally talk about the events happening in the Philippines simply because I’m not very up to date with the latest current events over there unlike my dad (who is still an avid loyal Filipino who still continues to keep in touch with the politics and the social problems going on over there until today). I’m not saying that I’m not proud or don’t want to be aware of the country where I was born and lived my childhood at, but most of the news I’ve read and watched coming from the Philippines were pretty much as similar as the ones I read and watched when I was still living there.

As you know, there was a massacre that occured in Mindanao, the southern island region of the Philippines. For those who are familiar with the country itself, Mindanao is predominantly Muslim, and there had been several decades that the Moros (the more appropriate/correct term for the Filipino Muslims?) were in a civil war with the Philippine government (and for those who know, the Philippines is predominantly Christian, to be more specific Roman Catholic) in order to gain independence as its own nation.

So, I stopped by CNN website to read some news and learned about a massacre that occured in Mindanao (Maguindanao province, to be more specific). From my understanding, this is primarily a political issue between two well-known Moro clans in Maguindanao running for the next governor of the province, the Ampatuans and the Mangudadatus, so technically, this isn’t even exactly a religious war.

Here’s another thing I learned about the Philippines whenever a major political election is about to come. Violent massacres, assassinations, and all other types of deadly brutal crimes occur at that particular time period. All the corruption and the backstabbing and then blaming outside parties for all these unforgivable events, blackmailing, etc. etc. And then after elections, there’s going to be protests, more violence, corruption, and the usual accusations from the opposing party (this and that candidate must have rigged the elections, we request a recount!!)

One way or the other, elections period in the Philippines was hardly a positive one. It’s like nothing good comes out of these elections, then again, hardly anything good comes out from Philippine politics in general.

When I read the article on CNN.com, I just laughed at majority of the comments left by users regarding the situation. Most of them are spewing hatred and prejudice against the Muslims and the Islamic religion, comparing them to the likes of al Qaeda and such when obviously most of them have been one or the other of the following:

• Never been to the Philippines or read/researched Philippine history in general. (Get over it, people! The Moros and the Christians in the Philippines have been in decades of civil war way before 9/11, so stop making assumptions, seriously…)
• Radical non-Islamic religious people who think that Christianity is the best religion around ever (though I’m Roman Catholic myself, Christianity doesn’t exactly have a “perfectly clean” history either. What the heck is the IRS then? Or maybe those fanatical wackos from the Westboro Baptist Church (though non-violent, they do incite a lot of discrimination, most notably towards the LBGT community).
• Radical atheists who, despite their non-beliefs to a supreme being, also believe that religions in general are the most evil thing in the world.
• Racists. Period.

Well, you get the picture. I will admit that I felt offended by the comments these ignorant users have been posting on. It’s like here in the U.S. where several skeptics are accusing the new president of being a Muslim (just because his (late) father was a Muslim?) or that his birth certificate is fake and that he was actually born outside the U.S. Get a grip, people, you’re all inciting hate regardless of how much you say that you are not racist. You weren’t like that when all the past presidents (which were all Caucasian) were overseeing our country, even when Dubya was in office, so please stop denying yourselves because you know it’s true.

I don’t know what on earth is wrong with the world today. It’s like we’re heading back to ancient history again with the ancient ways of thinking and philosophy.

• Current Location: Home
• Mood: Contemplative
• Currently Drinking: Green Tea Latte

No, this isn’t about ARASHI or the fangirling trends. We’re talking about the evil version of a storm here.

CNN.com News Article

Growing up in the Philippines, starting from June until around this month (maybe longer), it’s always typhoon season. And when there’s typhoon season, there’s always floods. I thought I’ve seen the worst when I was little— until today. I know it’s late receiving news here on this side of the world but my entire family and myself are very worried right now. Phone calls are no good because there’s no electricity over there, so we tried emails and text messages. So far, no answers.

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• Mood: VERY worried... T__T
• Currently Watching: Various YouTube clips about the typhoon...

Translation: There’s Police Underneath the…

For some particular reason, that “traditional” Filipino folk song appeared in my mind right as I’m preparing to write about what I am about to write. And if you’re wondering, yes, it does involve the police. This particular incident also isn’t a laughing matter either because it’s one of those situations where someone you are familiar with (not necessarily close with) would ever get in to such a troubling situation such as this.

Last night (since it’s almost 3 am here) we had a dinner party to celebrate my mother’s birthday, even if it already took place on 9/16th. Usual people, family friends, relatives, friends with their significant others, little kids here and there, just a typical, simple, run-of-the-mill Filipino/Asian gathering. Plenty of good food, good drinks, good movies, good games, and good talks regarding what’s going on in life. When time came, the guests headed back home with the exception of one uncle and aunt, who decided to stay a bit longer for more talks (they live in the same town, so it’s not a problem for them to go home late).

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• Current Location: Home
• Currently Drinking: Ito En Iced Jasmine Green Tea (totally refreshing!)
• Currently Eating: "Pinoy" Donuts (they're just donuts to me O_o;)
• Currently Listening: Various NJS (New Jack Swing) style Hip-Hop Playlist
• Currently Reading: Uncle Tom's Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe
• Currently Watching: about to watch S4 of ABDC... I don't know anymore...
• Mood: Sweltering HOT. Damn this HEAT WAVE.

Yeah, yeah. Another long-ass “novel-length” entry. Go figure.

But man, I seriously gotta love new fan girls— especially the ones who are seriously biased about their favorite group that they don’t even bother doing some research or ask around fellow JE (yes, I said JE, not just Arashi) fans about the history of their favorite group with the inspiring every-summer event known as the 24-Hour TV.

Now, before some of you start getting oversensitive and gang up on me for “acting oh-so-high and mighty” and picking on the newer fans again, I’ll repeat again like the last time. This has nothing to do with you, but if you keep on believing that I’m targeting you specifically no matter how many times must I re-explain and repeat myself over and over again about my intentions on my writings, then man, you must be very self-absorbed to even think of that, wouldn’t you say? But I do encourage you to read on because I think all fans should also be aware of this, not just Arashi, but all JE fans.

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• Current Location: Home
• Currently Drinking: Ito En Iced Jasmine Green Tea
• Currently Eating: Potato Leek Soup
• Currently Watching: Jeopardy!
• Mood: Exhausted

I got news for you— I’m still unemployed.

On the other hand I have been going through job search everyday from all types of job sites (which includes our very own craigslist, by the way), applying for both digital designing or an admin/clerical job (since designing has been hard to come by nowadays) left and right (and still have no response from job recruiters at all), and sometimes I even get emails from job recruiters offering me job openings which I have no interest of (mainly sales and financial advising).

So, I got today’s job openings from CareerBuilder and I saw an opening for— movie extras! It’s weird because I had the site set up to send me openings for digital designing and then I get this particular opening. I’m not going to mention which talent agency posted that particular opening on job sites because that would be just advertising, however, thanks to my common sense I decided to do research on this particular talent agent to see if they were a legitimate agency. Turns out that they’re one of those talent agency scams where they require their candidates to pay a particular fee in advance in order for them to provide the services you need to get your foot in the entertainment industry.

Basically this should be all common sense if you think about it. If you see something that’s just simply too good to be true, best you do thorough background research first to be sure that these offers are authorized or not. You’d be surprised that many of these talent agencies that offer these types of sweet deals with no experience required are scams. They remind me of those work at home offers that you see everywhere. I think these types of too suspicious job offers should be banned from official job posts such as CareerBuilder or else the job post sites would end up being “scammy” too.

Best thing to do is to check out the BBB site to check out its reports and its legitimacy. They give you thorough reports about each company so it should give you a boost of help if you are skeptical at a particular business that offers things that’s just too good to be true. In addition, keep in mind that in our reality, nothing is for free. You have to do something in exchange for obtaining that free offer.

• Current Location: Home
• Currently Listening: Hurting Inside by DC-5
• Currently Reading: Bird by Bird by Anne Lamont
• Mood: Exhausted