uhog. for want of a better term.

i literally have a runny nose. even my eyes are watery over this stupid mucus-like thingy. it's just that it's more watery like than mucus-thick like.

ah yessss.. usapang sipon. BRING IT ON!

after googling 'sipon', a wikifilipino entry was my first hit. didnt really know why i did it. i just did. i already know that this sipon thing of mine is just part of my yearly cycle. rarely do i have a month's time pass by without me blowing my nose through rolls off tissue paper. the longest i stayed sick is 3 weeks - and i didnt do anything wrong!

ok that was a lie, but can you blame me for having a teeny bit of chocolate or egg once in a while? when i say teeny bit, i mean half a chocolate bar or one egg a month. you see, im allergic to these things. so around 3 days after i 'eat' these forbidden food, i start sneezing all around.

.....but enough of sipon talk. :p

i have now the new album of nine inch nails. for free.
downloaded it through http://theslip.nin.com/
browse also through http://www.nin.com/ if you dont know the band.
....

med skul will start on the 16th. i didnt get the 100% scholarship i was praying for. anyway, i'll get it next sem. grade point rally!
....

my new apartment is a bachelorette type room with a cr. the thing is, i cant believe those people im (well, actually my mother) going to pay rent to do not accept checks because they dont have a bank account. seriously, you have a business like that and you dont accept checks?
...

ooo.. and i forgot to post: im pregnant! yey med skul!

i didnt really know my lolo, dad of my dad.

he died when i was just 2 years old.

today is his birthday.

lolo ben, happy bday wherever you are

hmmm..

is it normal to move the independence day celebration?

o/

long live the philippines.
well, is it even possible for the Philippines to die?

Pilipinas kong mahal: my expensive Philippines.
why do we always double meaning words like these?

happy independence day Pilipinas!
maligayang araw ng kalayaan!

rakenrol. \m/

the juday meralco commercial.

i will try to explain the kuryente isyu.
magbasa para maliwanagan.

So may meralco commercial si Juday. kaya daw mataas ang singil sa kuryente ay dahil sa "systems loss" na china-charge sa mga konsumers.

ano ba pinagsasabi nya?
systems loss a.k.a. 'nawalang kuryente' are charged to paying consumers.

point: meralco is in legal grounds when they said that law allows them to charge 'systems loss' to our bills.

ganito yun:
para dumating yung kuryente sa bahay mo, syempre dadaan sa kable. kaso sa mga kable papunta sa bahay mo, may mga kuryenteng nawawala sa haba ng kable (physics - electricity). pwera pa dito, may mga nagkakabit ng 'jumpers' sa mga kable. (jumper? mejo parang ngteteleport kasi yung mga kuryente) jumpers yung tawag sa mga kinakabit para magnakaw ng kuryente papunta sa illegal settlers o yung mga walang metrong bahay. pwede rin tawaging nakaw na kuryente. lahat ng mga 'nawalang' kuryenteng ito ay sinisingil sa mga consumers na may metro ng elektrisidad. ito na yung "systems loss" na paulit-ulit sinasabi.

ito na yung 'yelo' na natunaw thingy. you buy 100pesos worth, pero you actually receive only half of it. still, you pay 100 pesos worth.

kaya pinapayagan ng gobyerno ang pagbabayad nito, ay para hindi malugi ang meralco at magpatuloy itong magsupply ng kuryente sa mga tao.

...
please continue reading to get the whole picture.
...

ano namang kinalaman ng GSIS?

ang GSIS (Government Service Insurance System) ay isang government managed institution. major stock holder ang GSIS sa meralco. dahil may stocks ang GSIS, maaari nitong tignan ang mga books ng meralco tungkol sa mga expenses nila sa kumpanya. syempre itemized yun: sweldo ng mga trabahador, water bills etc.

kaya gusto malaman ng GSIS yun, kasi hindi transparent ang meralco sa mga expenditures nila, na dapat talaga ay alam ng mga stockholders (paulit-ulit ka na po). basta ganun. naintindihan naman diba?

GSIS found out that meralco does not pay for their electric bills. all the electricity meralco uses to make their machines work are CHARGED TO THE CONSUMERS. they claim that the electricity consumed within meralco is part of the 'systems loss' thing. ito na yung isyu.

teknikaly, hindi yun systems loss kasi alam natin na meralco mismo yung ngconsume ng electricity na iyon. therefore: kahit wala silang jumper, nagnanakaw din ng kuryente yung meralco.
...

meralco wanted the 'masa' to understand the situation without wanting to mention about what the GSIS found out.

i think that the commercial intended to convey the notion that: meralco is charging within the bounds of the law and is therefore doing things legal.

however, what the people see now is that: by charging the people on these systems loss, meralco is not morally right.

...
meralco (and the lopezes?) are going down.

note:
meralco is owned by the Lopez-es.
Juday was the one on the commercial because ABS-CBN is also Lopez-owned.

Because med school reading seem to confuse me more and more, I decided to watch an early morning show: probably to have an excuse of not yet facing the biochem book.

Sometimes I hate Philippine news commentaries. Kasi in this program, they have this portion where they discuss law. Today they've decided to discuss the legality of all these subsidized food: (rice, mantika, etc.). Here, there was a lawyer who said something like: mahirap kasi i-explain yan, medyo malabo rin kasi yung mga statements na nilalabas ng malacanang tungkol jan. pero sa tingin ko, at marami namang taong naniniwala sa ganitong opinyon...

Ate, if you don’t know what you're talking about then stop. Who are these maraming tao who share your opinion? Two? Three? Seriously. The media is a very dangerous tool.

So s/he say that nobody knows exactly where the money comes from for the subsidized food budget. The president say's its from VAT, but the lawyer talking on TV doesn’t believe her. The lawyer continues on saying that every so often, the government releases different statements from where the budget comes from, and that the budget secretary says that the president has the right to use funds for whatever reason she deems necessary.

Please continue reading to understand why I think this 'view' is incomplete and therefore: stupid.

The tv lawyer now 'interacts' with the host. Kelangan daw ng hiwalay na pondo yung subsidized the mga pagkain kasi daw ang lahat ng pondo ay mino-monitor .

TV lawyer: Hindi dapat basta-basta na lamang payagan ang presidente na gamitin ang pera ng bayan.

Tapos na-realize ata nya na may pagka-tanga yung sinabi nya kaya dinagdagan nya: pero hindi naman ibig sabihin nito ay hindi dapat makakuha ang mga mahihirap ng mga subsidy sa pagkain, pero yun nga, dapat may kaukulang budget para dito ang gobyerno.

Syempre nakataas na ang kilay ko dito.

Enter kunwaring magaling na host: kasi nga naman, tayo pala ang nagbabayad ng mga subsidy na yan, kasi nga VAT di ba? (with facial expression na inis).

Nagsimula nang umusok ang ilong ko.

Dagdag ng host: pwede ba itong maging grounds for impeachment?
TV lawyer: kung titignan ito sa side na kung saan-saan kasi kinukuha yung pondo at sa mga ibang bagay ito ginagamit. Last week lang ang statement na nirelease ay galing daw yung pera (pambili nung subsidized food) sa mga unalloted infrastructure funds. Di ba pang building yun?
Host: oo nga. Dapat talaga ay hindi basta basta gamitin ang mga ganyang pondo

Aysyet. Mapapamura ka nalang.….

Nakakabobo yung usapan nila. Pati ba naman subsidized food ( yung mga NFA rice, NFA coconut oil) na galing mismo sa gobyerno, ilegal?

Naisip ko lang, illegal ba talaga yun kung alam mo naman kung saan ginamit? So yung pera pampagawa ng building ay ginamit pambili ng pagkain. Bawal pala yun? Hindi kasi ako lawyer so hindi ko rin alam.

Siguro kung nawala yung pera magagalit pa ako. Kunwari, kelangan ng building, may budget para sa building, walang ibang pinaggamitan pero kulang yung pondo. Nawala na yun kasi kung sino lang yung bumulsa. Yun yung dapat sunugin ng buhay.

Mula sa kwento ng nanay ko:

Para kasing bahay yan. Kunwari Binigyan ka ng 100thousand pesos pambili ng gatas for 5months. Pero hindi ka naman bibigyan ng pambayad ng ilaw, tubig, ibang pagkain… kung matino ka, ibubudget mo yung pera mo para makapagbayad ka ng rent ng bahay, ng pamalengke mo, etc.

Para nga lang tanga yung iba kasi mamaya may darating para magreklamo kasi hindi naman mukhang 100thousand worth of gatas yung binili mo. Tapos kung ie-expplain mo na pinambili mo ng ulam, pinambayad mo ng kuryente yung ibang pera, magagalit at sasabihing, hindi! Dapat pinambili mo lang yun ng gatas.

Nakakainis.

Ginawa pang isyu ng impeachment yung subsidized food. Ambobo.

Early this morning I saw the new meralco commercial. I believe they've realized how stupid their move was on the supposedly systems loss explanation thingy. Thing is, who the hell still uses a yellow bulb anyway? I mean I believe everyone knows already that the compact-white-bulb is actually cheaper or around the same price as the poor-yellow-light bulb. May liwanag ang buhay my ass.

Have you heard the latest news? GSIS is now claiming that they found out that these excess payments of the people are actually added to the pensions of the meralco people. I don’t really know what that means - if it's legal or what, but does that mean we actually pay MORE than what we are required to pay? The internet is useless on these kinds of issues.

If we're paying for ONLY meralco people, then I guess im a bit ok with that. What I'm scared of is if we're paying other Lopez companies which are also stock holders of meralco. It's a blessing GSIS is even a stockholder there. Ahhhh. I cant wait for the electricity bills to go down.

…
A week ago, an editorial on a national newspaper mentioned that someone from the congress (or was it the senate?) wanted Juday to appear and explain the systems loss commercial. Kasi daw may legal law sa advertising that an endorser should only endorse things which are true (and with proof of evidence). So kelangang alam na alam ni Juday ang product na ine-endorse nya (in this case, meralco).

Haha!

Can you believe how mediocre our government can be at times? I must give that writer a gift or something for making me laugh from my belly. Kasi s/he mentioned na if that is the case, Sen.Legarda should also appear in court to explain the benefits of whatever she is endorsing (facial ba yun o gamot pampaganda? Kasi mukha lang naman nya nakikita ko sa billboards) and that Sen. Lacson should come up and explain the correlation of wine and the skin product he endorsed.

Hmmm.. And where is our beloved loud-mouth-feeling(lang)intelligent-talking Sen. Madrigal? Is she out there lamenting the lost 'mana' she didn’t receive from her now dead aunt? Or is she scared that if she surface, everyone will remember that she only won a seat in the senate because Juday's face was beside her on posters and were sporting the same hairdo then? Ah! the horrors of the memory!
…

Its fun to make fun of things.. Especially when I'm uber confused with medical school stuff.

Yesterday was our first day at the Our lady of Fatima University (OLFU). We had our 'freshman orientation' program at the hospital AVR. Enrolled this year is around 130 medical students divided into sections A and B. The orientation program was really inspiring for me. I heard our dean tell us that Fatima has produced 7 board top notchers in 5 years.

I let out a soft chuckle when I heard him add that we are: mandated to top and dominate the medical board exam. … Today i...

Found new friends: joseph, lau

Saw an old friend and classmate: wel

Met new acquaintances: monica, amani, cindy …

It's a bit unnerving to find other UP Diliman students in Fatima.

This means I need to be extra-nerdy to excel. Plus, our batch has the board 2nd placer of the recent MedTech Board exam. Oh well. Medical school will pass by easily! (I pray)UP Fight! … Physio required us to buy a manual for the class.

Hai. Mama will give me 1000Php soon.