Eternal Damnation

Sitting in the middle of traffic, waiting for the stoplight to change from red to green, I veered my radio to 107.5 on a nostalgic trip to keep my sanity while recounting the days of "The station that rocks the nation"...after an Air Supply song I heard this..."107.5 win radio, kailangan bang pag-isipan yan?". W...T...F...!!! Suddenly, as fast as pulling my hand from a flame, I switched off my radio while resisting the urge to rip it out and throw it to the garbage bin fearing the devil will come out of it! After regaining my composure, I switched to listening to my iPod and vowed not to listen to that station again!

Materialism

In this day and age, enlightenment and spiritual upliftment seems to become less important than acquisition of wealth and power. Inner peace and contentment has become a novelty for these people that they fail to give any sense of importance nor priority to it.  PURSUIT OF MATERIAL WEALTH IS THEIR ONLY PRIORITY! They may acquire it through legitimate channels but some can resort to stealing, coercion, extortion, or blackmail. After acquiring it, they flaunt it to the world like a barbarian king holding the head of a defeated leader and parading it to his troops and then easily dumps it like a 2 dollar whore. It seems that it is their way of compensating for their inadequacies either in their physique or in their egos, much like a high school jock or primadonna obsessed with looks but quite empty "up there". Sadly, it is not restricted to persons fitting this profile, current society dictates that materialism is the NEW road to salvation, a way to instant happiness and gratification. You can see it in media (both TV and print), in top-rated shows wherein they associate happiness to prize money and gyrating women, in malls (specially during sale season), and even in church. Today intelligence is equated to winning game shows or dressing up to look like one. Worse, these ideas were perpetuated by elders and proclaimed as gospel truth! In fact, when you ask a person what are their criteria for marrying a person, very high on the list is wealth. At times its more important than love hence explaining the success of mail to order bride and unlikely inter-racial marriages.
Don't get me wrong, acquisition of wealth IN ITSELF is not bad if done for the sole purpose of improving quality of life or as reward to one's hardwork. It only becomes evil when pursued for the above-mentioned purpose or acquired through the above-mentioned means.

Butthole 1.3

"Hey Mario! Pick up the pace or I'll whack your head!" his Uncle Francisco shouted from across the field.
"Coming uncle!" he shouted back. "These palays are heavy, should be using a tractor to haul it rather than carrying it on my back!" he muttered while loading another bundle to his back.
It's midday in Cabanatuan at the peak of harvest season, rice paddies are thick with palay with its golden seeds crowning its tip. Months of hard work and patience about to pay off. Uncle Francisco silently thanked God for a bountiful harvest with no calamities nor pestilence (unlike the previous year, they almost lost their land because of floods).
"This is enough to put Mario back to college. The tractor can wait." He said to himself while loading bundles of palay to a waiting truck.
"Mario hurry up, the truck will leave in a few minutes!" He called out.
"Here uncle" he handed the bundle to his uncle."When will you get a tractor Uncle? It'll make your life a whole lot easier."
"I don't need it yet," his uncle replied, "it can wait for next season."
"Huh?" Mario said.
"I'm saving the money to put your ass back in college" his Uncle said with a wry smile carving his sun-battered face.
"College? I'm going back to college?" Mario replied with obvious enthusiasm in his voice.
"Yes, but if you screw this up you'll be working your butt here in the palay fields until you die!" warned his uncle. "This is your ticket out, don't waste it."
"I won't, I promise!" Mario exclaimed, his face brimming with hope and excitement.
Mario remembered that day as if it was yesterday. His life was full of promise, a deliverance to a good life that he deserved. But it was not to be...
The following day, thugs from the town's mayor abducted his uncle and forced him to rescind his land. He mounted a fervent but futile opposition but in the end losing his life. Mario saw his whole life crumble with his uncle's death. Not only did they lose their land but also his entire family was driven out of town. He vowed to return one day to avenge his uncle with the same brutality that they inflicted on him. With that resolve, he set his sights to Manila and hopes to come back equipped to fulfill his revenge.

Confusion

Why is it when you had all the time you want, suddenly you don't know which one to do first? And why is it when you DON'T have time then you conjure all of the things you want to do? Laxity, idleness, and decreased stimulation tends to dull the mind while chaos, confusion, and disorder forces the mind to focus and hence to think clear and straight. That is why we feel more dumb than relaxed a day before we return to our regular grind (work, studies, project), maybe because of anxiety or maybe because our regular grind is uninspiring and routinary. But for a creative mind craving for stimulation, a break/rest/vacation is necessary to "clear the slate" and start fresh. It allows you to think outside the box and tackle things from a fresh perspective. It is also critical that the environment (both for rest and work) is stimulatory with complimentary human interactions to sort of "fan the flames".
Therefore, we need the chaos and confusion of work/profession in order for us to enjoy the lullity and numbing effects of vacation and idleness.

NU107, The home of nu rock is now signing off...for now.

NU 107 had its final transmission midnight yesterday...
Shock, disbelief, longing, uncertainty, loss. These are the words expressed when the final announcement was made.
But no matter how tough the circumstances leading to its demise, NU 107 will rise again.
Giving faith to the words of the great Francis Brew, "NU107 will NEVER FUCKING DIE!"

Perseverance

Perseverance, in the face of insurmountable odds will bear fruit in time.

Persistence in your chosen path will lead to fulfillment.

Determination to march on will bring glory.

Courage to forge your own path will reveal your destiny.

No one can undermine my goals.

No one can stop me.

Try...If you dare...

Motorcycle 1.2

Found a Facebook site "I Hate Undisciplined Pinoy Motorcycle Drivers".  Now there's a forum to air OUR side of the story. We are the ones forced to follow road rules and regulations while the damn authority looked the other way against these fools. How many more accidents would they endure before they realize the error of their ways? Maybe when they're dead...

Coffee 1.2 (Bialetti Moka Express)

Today I used my new Bialetti Moka Express cappuccino and latte set. This is a recent addition to my collection of coffee brewers and the first one for espresso (different from the traditional espresso using high pressure). I'm not an expert with coffee so I won't pretend that I am. I'm just an average joe with a particular love, no obsession, for coffee. Ok my experience:

Bialetti Vacuum Pot / Stove-Top espresso is surely simple to use. Load the funnel filter with espresso grounds, load the bottom chamber with water, place on a stove, wait a few minutes, and you have your espresso. Simple isn't it? But the end product has several important differences from traditional espresso. One, there's no crema (although there's a Bialetti model with a cover on the spout to create crema). I'm not yet well-versed with the intricacies of espresso tasting (though I've honed my palate with press and drip brew) so I can't help you in discriminating its taste. The important plus side for me is cost, its way cheaper than buying an espresso machine. It's also easier to maintain (rinse with water after use), very portable with a go-anywhere design, and its gives you a sense of nostalgia. The accompanying milk frother is another plus for the Moka Express. Just don't make the mistake of drinking all of it in one go, remember its espresso not drip/press.

Alone

Alone, a word feared by many people because of its accompanying word, loneliness. Perhaps being alone is being lonely. But some people wanted to be alone for various reasons. Either to get away from stress, to get away from the city, to get away from a troubled home, to get away, to search for meaning, to search for purpose, to find peace, to find oneself.

Personally, I do cherish my moments alone, it allows me to think, listen, feel, and at times sort out the more important facets of my life. It regains my bearings when I've drifted off course and clears my sight to see the horizon. It's my master reset to realign myself to my objectives.

Being alone makes me long for my wife. Her constant presence and reassurance during aimless and rough times is like an anchor that steadies me in the roughest of storms, a lighthouse that shows me the way to shore, a ray of sunshine that lights the darkest moments of my life. Her love and affection brings comfort to the dreariest of places, home in a desolate place, courage in the face of defeat.

Though I cherish my moments alone, I would never give up my time with my wife for anything in the world.

Isolation

In a fast paced internet-connected world, the literal meaning of "No man is an island" is readily apparent. With a click of the mouse or a push of the button, you're instantly in touch to someone half a world away. But, are you in touch with yourself? Sure it's easy to get someone to talk to or entertain yourself with endless stream of media. But, how often do you talk to yourself? Listen to what your mind has to say? Be entertained with your minds' imagination and fantasies?...

In isolation, we're taken to places we've never been without leaving you seat. We get to talk to someone who is in-tune to what we really want to say. A best friend whom we can bare our souls without being vulnerable to criticism. It is where great ideas take shape and defining historical moments formed. Simply put, it's your paradise, your own garden of eden, freeing yourself from the constraints of a structured society.

Therefore, isolation is not entirely a bad thing.

In isolation, we find ourselves.

Desperation

Imagine...

• Pounding a coconut pulp with no milk coming out
• Squeezing calamansi until you break your fingers but no juice comes out
• Pounding rocks in the middle of a dessert in hopes of water
• Caught in an essay question with no idea what to answer
• Two minutes before deadline and you're not yet done
• Heavy traffic, cold rain, bladder about to burst

Desperation produces panic and disarray, chaos and violence, incapacitation and suffocation, ultimately demise.

Why do I feel desperation in the face of freedom?

Maybe, in the midst of chaos, when everything is said and done, when the dust settles and everything is lying motionless, in the dead of silence...

The horizon becomes clear, things fall into perspective, you regain your bearings, you see the light...

Maybe, we needed a time of chaos, confusion, desperation, before we see our purpose, direction, and destiny.