Learning through writing

"Foreign exchange is easier if you have the right tools."

I said it. Flat out loud.

"Eh?"

"Foreign exchange... Forex. You were looking for an online racket right? But the software could cost around $500."

My best friend gave me a perplexed look as he continued to listen to me explain the basics of foreign exchange and the necessary softwares.

"And that's how it works." I concluded rather triumphantly, slapping my knee as I looked his way. I was met with a raised eyebrow and crossed arms.

"Okay, who are you and what did you do to my bestfriend?"

"What?"

"Seriously... You can't even stand watching Bloomberg for fifteen seconds and you're raving about the benefits of delving into foreign exchange?"

He let out a giggle of disbelief as he patted my back. "How did you become such an "expert" on foreign exchange all of the sudden?"

"I wrote an essay on it... well, ten, actually."

"10? Are you kidding me? Who'd be crazy enough to let you write 10 essays on foreign exchange?"

Blame it on essays.ph.

Some people write to earn. I, on the other hand write (in essays.ph) in order to learn.

Why not?

Salary's just besides the point. Heck, if I'd like to earn big bucks, then I would've become a call center agent by night and risk looking like a zombie by day.

No thanks. I'll pass. I have yet to sacrifice my social life, the only thing keeping me sane and human for the moment.

Okay, maybe salary was the major reason why I stumbled upon their ad in jobstreet.com. I was flat out broke when my students left for Korea after my brief tutoring stint a month ago.

My social life was at stake and I needed to look for a new part time job fast.

Desperate as I am, I decided to scour Cyberlandia for possible career opportunities, most of which turned out to be scams (Note to self, never look for jobs in Craiglist.com). Finally, after scouring the net for more than 8 hours of supposedly my sleeping time, I landed upon this curious ad by essays.ph, stating their need for 99 writers. Great. Another scam. Not falling for that again.

But rejection upon rejection by high nosed publishing companies made me decide to give essays.ph a try. Could be worth something, I thought.

Fast forward one month and two weeks later, I'm sitting in Starbucks, enjoying my Dark Mocha Frap in my Ukay ukay Bohemian frocks bought with my very first salary in essays.ph. (P710. Yeah boy!) and writing this blog.

Yeah, I know. I can get more than P710 bucks if I got my behind off my swivel chair and look for a real part time job but then, I can't complain. I've learned more about different career options in health care and foreign exchange than I would with watching Bloomberg and listening to my friends talk about life as a nurse. And meeting new friends from all over the country is an added bonus.

Dad wasn't all too happy with my part time job or my career choice. I remembered having a chat with him over pizza and garden salad one night and hearing him say most writers only get rich when they're dead. But that didn't stop Stephanie Meyer from writing those craptastic vampire love stories (no offense to Twilight fans). Nor did it stop Bob Ong from publishing his pseudo-intellectual ramblings and laughing all the way to the bank (Not that I hate Bob Ong). And it's not stopping me either. Well, I haven't earned much to prove him wrong but when you're passionate about your craft and getting more out of it, who needs to prove anything?

“THREEPENNY OPERA: OF POVERTY AND POLITICS”

“Remember, if you wish to stay alive/ For once do something bad and you’ll survive.”

- (Brecht)

Anton Juan couldn’t have been more right when he said Brecht and Weill’s masterpiece is swak na swak with our current political situation. And he couldn’t have a chosen a better time to stage this musical, what with the upcoming elections, the 1M peso dinner extravaganza, and the ongoing battle against CHACHA and corruption.

Set against the underground world dominated by gangs of thieves and murderers, prostitutes and beggars (appropriately named Tondon), the Threepenny Opera chronicles the crimes and loves (?) of the bandit and infamous womanizer Macheath or “Mack the knife”.

Originally, this was set in the bowels of London back in the 1920’s but the characters and the plot reflect very much our society now. Peachums and Co. ran by Mr. and Mrs. Peachum mirrors not only the infamous syndicates that employ street children and beggars for profit that thrive in the streets of Manila (or maybe even the whole country), but also a corruption riddled system that governs this country. Peachums and Co. lives not just in the innards of the city but also in the government (ever wonder where the bulk of our taxes go?) and the bigger banks where

“presidents hide, stash away their loot, and from where we try to get our sad pensions from – if poor ex-public servants can even find a branch near their barrio—OF IF THE MONEY ISN’T GONE ALTOGETHER AND THE POOR SENIOR CITIZEN IS SIMPLY TOLD THAT THERE IS A HALT IN HIS PENSION without prior notice or explanation.” (Juan)

It is all too familiar, from the ties between Tiger Brown and Macheath, Pirate Jenny introducing an innocent child to the world of prostitution, to Macheath’s foiled execution. Somewhere in the past (or even recent) issues of the Philippine Daily Inquirer or Manila Bulletin, the same things have been accounted for more than once.

Juan has also injected Filipino elements all throughout the play. The tiered padyak, the centerpiece of the set, is not only used to facilitate the change in the set but also “the prison of taxonomies that the powerful traps us in” (Juan). And at some point, doesn’t it remind you of the skyscraper slums prevalent in the inner regions of the city? Then there was the reference to Balut and the improvisations. Victoria rhymes with __________. I think you know what follows.

A social commentary you say? Right you are. But this is not meant to debase the Philippine society (And since when has Juan dela Cruz ever taken offense on something that’s true?). It aims to provide us an awareness of what is happening right now, as if the media hasn’t hammered this enough in our consciousness by now. But I guess this awareness is the very reason why this [Threepenny Opera] simply worked.

So what keeps a man alive, asks Brecht. Macheath answers,

“… He lives on others; He likes to taste them first, then eat them whole, if he can; forgets that they’re supposed to be his brothers, that he himself was ever called man.”

And it doesn’t take a member of the lumpen class to figure this out.

FEZBOOK

So I "accidentally" clicked the ignore button when you sent me a friend request in Facebook.

Deal with it.

Don't give me that melodramatic crap about asking me why I didn't add you. I don't know you and it hasn't exactly crossed my mind that I wanted to get to know you.

Unless you could give me one... atleast ONE valid reason why I should click the accept button, I'm sorry man...

Life's a bitch... and so am I... Live with it.

The 25 year old college kid...

Picture me...

in a pair of pinstripe shorts, flip flops and an aeropostale shirt with a bunch of books on her way to the campus. She wastes her energy in rallies fighting for student rights and what not (one or two maybe), org meetings and video games on her spare time. She comes home, does her homework, catches up on readings before tossing them on the table to catch some ZZZ's for tomorrow's exam... So what's the big deal?

I'M 25 YEARS OLD DAMMIT!! And this ain't even graduate studies....

What worries me is that when the rest of my contemporaries are out there in the rat race and milking it for all its worth, I'm here reliving my college dreams and nightmares... Nobody even believes I'm straddling between youth and quarter life.

You think I'm lucky? Think again. Coz when you're all spending your own hard earned cash, I'm partly living off on my parents salary! And I should be stressing out on tax and bills, not on reaction papers on Anglo American New Criticism... Which reminds me, why didn't they ever teach us that back in AdDU? anyway...

I'll take this as a 2nd chance to right all my wrongs back in college. I guess it's never too late... :)

When beauty becomes beast

": And lo, the beast looked upon the face of beauty. And beauty stayed his hand. And from that day on, he was as one dead."
-Carl Denham, Kingkong 2005

Boy sees girl, sees her hair shine with the light from the sun. Boy falls madly in love. And in a not-so-strange twist of fate (and a little bit of luck, I may add), a series of events in your typical mainstream coming-of-age-flick fashion leads Girl into the arms of Boy... And the rest is history.

Fast forward three months later. Her hair still shines with the light from the sun. Still the same pretty smile. But boy finds not the fair creature he once pined for but a vile, lecherous beast with a capital "B" (for major bitch of epic proportions).

So what went wrong?

Familiarity breeds contempt is just a simple way of putting it. Let me give you an insight on love at first sight: There's a reason why Friar Laurence's letter didn't make it in time for Romeo to learn the tragic news of Juliet's alleged passing through Balthasar. Had they both lived, things would'nt have been any prettier either.

So just a word of warning kiddos, the next time you find yourself beguiled by little miss Mary Sunshine's captivating smile, remember :

"Even the sweetest of candies can be as sour as hell inside."
-Detective Vera Cruz, Jawbreaker 1999