Have You Ever Had A Surprise Party?

Well, I mean, did your friends ever threw you a surprise party? The kind that they made you think you're one miserable bitch because they gave you lame reasons for not seeing you on the day you're supposed to celebrate? Are you getting me on this one? They text you: Oh, sorry I missed you last night. But I am sure we'll see you before you leave. Blah, blah, blah, but all the while they have this mischevious scheme of having that--hmm, attack--on the moment that you are least aware.

Have your friends painstakingly stalled you on a night that supposed to be a simple dinner? Well, later on it turns out to be something else, but you wonder, at that moment, if she is stalling or she actually was waiting for a patient? I was completely unsuspecting, despite the million short phone calls and secret texting, it was an ordinary night for dinner for me. Well, I did ask why she has to "reserve" a dinner for me in Pavillion, and later, why it has to be "moved" in Crowne? Mil, the orchestrator of all things planned, is one great hell of an actor I must say.

Have you ever been scammed like this? But hell, it was the best scam I've ever had. Especially I did not have a miniscule inkling of what's going on even to the last millisecond I flicked the door handle open. We were supposed to pick up a friend who checked-in the room, but why didn't he keep the lights on? That's when I saw the guilty one, my bestest friends in the world, their faces illuminated by three small candles, singing the you-know-what song in a low, muted voice while I stand there flabbergasted, dumbfounded. For the first time in my life, didn't know what to say. I shook my head. For five minutes.

Have you ever had that feeling? You were extremely happy, yet you can't help to think, why didn't I suspect anything? Why did I give them the satisfaction of succeeding in their deceit? I snapped out of these questions after a few blinks and a sigh. (literally. try it.) The overwhelming feeling of elation oversteps the rest. It trumped everything. Do I deserve all these? They keep telling me so. All I can say is 'okay'. It was one of the highlights of this year. Well, THE highlight of the year. I can't freaking beleeeeeve IT! I can't friggin' believe the effort. I can't completely believe the palabok, KFC chicken, Goldilocks cake and the Disney princess banner neatly laid out on the counter in front of the bed. I was shocked to see beautiful pink balloons ('It's a girl') strewn on the floor. I grew more silent as the clam pasta, rose wine (it was a pinot), red wine and vodka, dessert cakes, rotisserie chicken, yellow cab pizza kept pouring in. I feel like singing 'My favorite things'. I shook my head. For another 5 minutes.

It was one heck of a party. Each of them was one hell of a friend.

Freakout Time

I am freaking out. There are still a bazillion things left to do and I am running out of time! This doesn't include the new project that I accepted last week. Stupid. I shouldn't have. But it seems easy, I coudn't say no despite the fact that it will leave me sleepless for a couple of days. Ugh.

And I have to get a non-prof driver's license within these two weeks. It will be my greatest project yet. I am not dreading the practical test, but I am confident that I have the teeny-weeny-albeit -ample knowledge to nail it. Teeheehee. Move the car. Check. Turn a corner. Check. Back to a parking space. Uh...check. Parallel park. Hmmm...I guess it won't be that hard. Hehe. As I've said, it will be my biggest project yet.

Why don't I have a driver's license? Why am I vehemently reluctant to drive? Well, I just think that all the friggin' jeepney and bus drivers in Commonwealth are all, well I have to say this in the vernacular, mamamatay-tao. Commonwealth is like a bump car arena. The only thing missing is the antenna and the buzzing, net-like, electrical contraption.

I really need to get this or else I'll be a flaming cripple diva for the first few months. Feather boa, wig and all. But no. I won't allow myself to be one. I can do this.

Magkano Na Ang Isang Unit Sa Peyups?

The cost of college education: Do the math; weep and wonder
Linda Bolido
Philippine Daily Inquirer

May 26, 2008

MANILA, Philippines—With an income of P148,000 a year (according to
2003 data of the National Statistics Office), an average Filipino
family will not have enough money for food and will be unable to pay
rent (if it does not own its place of residence) even if just one
child enrolls in any of the country's top three universities this
school year.

Definitely, sending a second child to the same school is out of the
question.

Enrollment in several other major institutions, though not as
expensive, will still mean drastic cutbacks on budgets for food,
shelter and other essentials.

Data gathered by Inquirer Research from school accounting, admissions
and registrars' offices, showed that average Filipino families would
have to set aside from a third to half of their annual incomes if they
want to send a child to one of Metro Manila's better known schools,
with the exception of the state-owned Polytechnic University of the
Philippines (PUP).

Freshmen entering the University of Asia and the Pacific (UA&P) will
be charged P2,400 per unit and pay a total of P124,800 for two
semesters with a full load of 26 units per term.

De la Salle University (DLSU), which has a trimester calendar, has an
average unit cost of P2,045.33. A freshman enrolled for the whole year
and taking the full 18-unit load each term will have to pay about
P110,447.82.

The Ateneo de Manila University (ADMU) has a higher per unit cost than
UA&P and DLSU at P2,517.03. But because one school year is only two
semesters and a full load is only 18 units, the annual fee for a
freshman only comes up to P90,613.

Higher UP rate

The state-funded University of the Philippines (UP) system, which
recently raised its fees to P1,000 per unit amid protests from both
students and faculty, will cost a freshman P36,000 in one two-semester
year with a full load of 18 units per term.

Though that is almost one-fourth of an average family's annual income,
the amount is only about 28 percent of the UA&P annual fee.

This means a UP student can almost pay four years' tuition in the
state university with just one year of UA&P tuition.

The DLSU one-year tuition will pay for about three years at UP while
Ateneo's fee is equivalent to about two years and a half at the state
university.

The UP is now more expensive than San Sebastian College, which charges
P786 per unit or P33,012 per two-semester year of 21 units each and
College of the Holy Spirit (Manila) at P903.91 per unit or P32,540 per
two-semester year of 18 units each.

PUP, like the UP often in the forefront of student activism, charges
an almost unbelievable P12 per unit, for a total two-semester annual
fee, at 21 units per term, of only P504. Talk of a true school for the
masa!

It was not immediately known how the school is able to keep its
student population manageable but it has probably adopted stringent
entrance requirements.

Of the 21 schools surveyed by Inquirer Research, three have per unit
costs exceeding P2,000 and eight have rates over P1,000. Annual fees,
with the exception of UA&P and DLSU, total less than P100,000 though
they range from PUP's very low P504 to ADMU's P90,613.20.

Among the schools with large populations, the University of the East,
reputedly the institution with the most number of students, charges
P1,040 per unit for a total two-semester annual fee of P47,840, at 23
units per term.

Far Eastern University charges P1,100 per unit or a total of P55,000 a
year for two semesters at 25 units per term. The University of Santo
Tomas, at P1,072.90 per unit, charges P45,061.80 for a two-semester
year at 21 units per term.

Four percent share

According to NSO data as of 1997, education accounted for a little
less than four percent of an average family's annual expenditure. This
means, if the average annual income is P148,000, it would set aside,
strictly speaking, less than P6,000 a year for education.

Needless to say, food eats up (no pun intended) half of an average
family's income although it appears some belt-tightening had also to
be effected in 1997. NSO data showed that in 1988, food accounted for
50.7 percent of household expenditures. By 1997 this was down to 44.2
percent, a drop of more than six percent.

This was probably because housing costs increased over the same
period—from 12.8 percent of a family's budget in 1988 to 15.3 percent
in 1997. What little remained went into fuel, electricity, water,
clothing, transportation, medical care and other essentials. Saving is
definitely an alien concept to a family with this kind of budget.

How the average Filipino family is able to send not just one but two
or more children to school, pay for food and shelter, is probably not
just the result of prudent budgeting but also the assistance of both
formal and informal institutions like banks, money lenders and
generous relatives. With Kate Pedroso, Inquirer Research


--SUSME, 1,000 per unit...at sa Ateneo, magkano yun, P2517 per unit. Nakakaawa naman talaga ang mga Pilipino. Mamumulubi ka kahit sa UP ka magaral. Lintek na DepEd yan, kurakot kasi. Ewan. Sana masaya kayo sa buhay nyo. Nabubuhay kayo sa kurakot na pera. Gudlak, Pilipinas.

Mom's birthday

The Internet was bogged down tonight. I guess some cell site was hit by lightning. It started to rain in the afternoon, eased out during the late afternoon, and continued to pour by early evening. I remember hearing a huge boom while in the middle of my afternoon movie, Charlie Wilson's War. It was entirely talk and the boom lifted my booty from where I was. I lifted a book from my overhead shelf, chose the one I've been trying to nail. It was a novel by Edgwick Danticat, a feminist from Haiti, with stories from her native land prior to moving to America. She related the stories from Haiti when it was ravaged by alienating forces which lead them to America. The last section of the book is about her conversion into an American citizen and how her mother keeps bringing her down to her roots. Her voice echoed the millions of Haitian women's voices, transplanted from their native land and nudging their elbows throughout their life to keep them from drowning in the quagmire of American influence.

It was a powerful book. It shines another light to the power of literature. The mighty pen, which I have always admired, proves its worth in the preservation of emotions, thought and the reverence of the living to their dead bloodkin. Powerful and moving. I laid it down to my shelf after I leafed through its final pages.

Then, I picked up the novel In The Memory of Running. Its about an overweight, drunk, middle aged guy coping with the death of his parents after a shocking accident. I only got to the part where he saw his mother lying on the hospital bed; she suffered with broken ribs and a broken hip after a fateful car crash, but alas, no head injuries. I had to put it down after an hour of reading for it forced me to think about my mom.

Her birthday is coming in two days. Mother's day, which is yesterday, was spent with my aunts from Australia. We never had a family thing, which I somehow detest. My mom is too practical for sentimental things like that. She would rather sit at home and knit, than take us out for a family activity. My dad is too passive to comment, which I also hate. The thought of me leaving in less than a month never stirred them from where they usually sit in our house.

I have the habit of using travel mementos as bookmarks. I usually pull one from a stack of old Metrocards, museum tickets, Broadway tickets and little thingamajigs from my highschool friends. For this book, I pulled out an old ticket for a oceanarium in Pattaya beach. A small piece of paper from our "family" trip to Bangkok 6 years ago. It was supposed to be a family trip but my dad, as usual, chose to stay at home. So, I was off with my brother and sister, and of course, mom. My mom will never pass on trips like that. It was a memorable trip, nevertheless; it was my first time to go out with my siblings, and the first time I realized that I can never travel with my mom.

We were too alike in ways, but on spending. She was always tight-fisted about money and we grew up knowing that we are so poor. In a way, we were and still I believe, we are; but I know there are a million kids out there sleeping with an empty belly. It is suffice to say that we live life in a pretty much basic way. We never had the luxuries in life that most of my friends have accustomed to have. My siblings and I learned when we are kids that needs will always be a priority; the wants should be set aside or never be realized at all. Somehow, during my adolescent years, I realized that the the 'wants' are sometimes needed in order for one to be happy, but to my mom, everything is just mind set. I guess that's how she wants to raise her kids.

So, we went to Bangkok and ended up fighting over how costly one dinner was. I was really infuriated on how cheap she would get. I stormed out of the restaurant and looked for a place to eat and get a drink. I was so pissed. But it was just another fight between us, the next day we were talking in a civil way that will not upset others. Anyway, it had been like that for several years. We fight, take three days off talking and finally opens up when our heads cool down. It is such a bad way to treat a mother, I know, but it happens all the time. After my experience in America, I can never throw tantrums around her anymore. I have learned a lot of values after spending several months without family in the States; realizing that life is too short for unnecessary rifts is just one of them. And besides, she never left me. She was always there as I carry out my misconstrued professional dream.

For two years, I've been forsaking her birthday, since it coincides with the Pahiyas festival in Lucban. Too lame for a reason, but the gustatory excitement in Lucban is too tempting to look the other way. My non-sentimental mom would usually have some guests in the house to celebrate her birthday with and it is another thing that I don't approve. The clash of values is too much for me. So, we've been spending her birthday apart from each other. It worked during the previous years and we both had the time of our lives during her birthday. Concentiously, I would give her presents just to rub a bit of the guilt off. But, life is more than presents, nor money, as I have learned from my own tribulations. Family matters most.

For this year, I find it hard to say no to keep her company on her birthday. It will be my last Lucban fiesta before I sail off and for that matter, her last birthday that I will be here in the country. I cannot tell if I will be here on the next. Sadly, I have to think this off after tomorrow and it is just painful as it is. She'll be turning 60 in two days and these books I have been reading started to let me rethink once again. Both books pondered on the worth of being the woman of the house, the matriarch who gave birth and a largely painful loss to one's spirit once it is gone. She is more than my mom, actually; she's my twin sister. I think we're part of a single soul: I am hers and she is mine. After writing this, I made it clear that I can clearly lose myself for a very special day. Happy birthday, mom.

POSTSCRIPT: My mom's birthday was May 15. I wrote this while thinking if I should go to Lucban. I didn't. Cheers for that. I am writing this because it's a momentuous event for me.

Contemplating Another Spanish Class

I'm still thinking if I really want to enroll in Spanish again. It's another 2,500 pesos and I don't even have 250 pesos now in my wallet, that's one. And two, I am not sure if I want to wake up at 6 am everyday again. That's the part that sucks most. Wake up at 6am to avoid traffic, but it is friggin' traffic EVERY damn day. There are endless road works along my route. The councilor/vice-mayor who implemented the digging and recementing of Belfast Ave near SM Fairview should be choking in his breakfast for the past two weeks for I have been cursing his guts every friggin' morning. A stretch of 100 meters of cemented roads was done in three weeks, although intuition would say that it can be done in 5 days. Okay, seven days...let's include 2 days of government-paid-service that doesn't actually happen. But, three friggin' weeks?? WTF. I lost 30 minutes of my life in that morning jam. By the time I get to Fairview Mall, I don't have the drive to go to class anymore.

Anyway, Level 6 Spanish was a breeze, although I have confidence issues in speaking the language. Good thing is my classmates are uber cool. We were having a good time. They had been classmates since Level 1 and definitely, they are really great to hang out with. Smokes at breaktime. Cheesecake when Kat feels like baking. Pasta when Matz (a chef) decides to whip his culinary expertise. Downloaded latin songs from Chris. And of course, my querida amigas Lourdes, Lei and Tina. Words that actually stuck to me are actually, the interesting words such as culo (for ass) and pajero isn't about a 4-wheel drive at all. It means masturbator. Too bad we can't use it during the exercises because our professors are either a former priest or a missionary in the Philippines. HAHA. Could've been fun. There you go, All I Need To Know I Learned in Level 5 Spanish.


Hmmm....should I, should I? Or will I just follow Chris who photocopied the textbook and decided to study at home. His wife is Spanish anyway. Hmmm, that's an idea....

One month to go!

Last night, A called me up from Pennsylvania to check how am I doing. He asked me if I am ready and honestly, I don't know how to answer that question. Yes, I am really grateful for this opportunity and I can say that I was made for this. It had been a tedious and long journey for me (my friends know about this) and finally, I got what I asked for. I am ready to give it my best but just like anyone else, of course I have my apprehensions on leaving. But, looking forward this is definitely, for the better. No doubt about it.

Anyway, I still have a lot of things to do. So the answer to my question, at this point, it is still a No. I have a month to get things patched up and by then, maybe I am ready to sail. What is left to do? Driving. Check. Spanish classes. Check. (But I am still contemplating of enrolling this week...cause my Espanol still needs practice. Well, the driving needs a LOT of practice as well.) More importantly, make the most of the miniscule time I have to see the rest of the Philippines. I have a couple of destinations to visit and I regret not having plans to go to Boracay. Gosh, I miss that place. Plus, I need to finish the things I have been doing. RE: work, which sucks, because it is taking me decades to get my data. Thanks to the residents who have been ignoring all my text and emails. UGH. So I have to make a move soon to expidite stuff. I need to conclude this work before I go.

Well, I don't know what to feel about leaving. One thing I'll miss will be the constant hanging out, badminton and San Mig light. American beers are a bunch of bland, worthless crap. I should cut down on my cigs, too: too expensive. A actually told me to bring my badminton racket since there is no good place to buy in the US. WTF?? Actually, I cringe on the thought of lugging my racket, for it is a little worn out. I had since I started playing 5 years ago and I never bought a new one. Too bad, I never won a tourney ever, either. So I had no chance of getting a free new racket.

Countdown starts now.