Denial 13 huwat??!

Anger 13 PAKSHET ?&@*!!?!

Bargaining 13 di ba pwede babaan yung passing??

Depression 13 waaaaah! bumagsak ako! huhuhuhuhuhuhu! *singhot*

Acceptance 13 bumagsak ako. *hinga ng malalim* bawi sa finals. lezzzzgetitowwwnnnn. 

*pasintabi kay Kubler-Ross

I'd like to replace eating food with listening to good music as my preferred mode of stress bingeing. But my playlists are getting old and I’ve overplayed them.

I've overplayed Abba (Super Trouper lights are gonna find me...), Fall Out Boy (Sugar we're going down swinging..) Garbage (Rip it up to shreds and let it go...), and Imago (Simple lang naman ang buhay kung ika'y matino...) songs.

Sooo...

Friends, sending me (csleones@yahoo.com) wma files (or even just the name of songs, artists and/or albums) of music you enjoy and music that help keep you up at night (to do work/study) or perk you up (during Bad Days) would be greatly appreciated. I'm not picky about genre. Variety is good! If you want, we can swap files! (But like I said, medyo outdated na playlists ko.)

Consider this a call for help. 

Musictherapy. Kamown.

All right. Back to work. 

I crack myself up a lot (when I’m not too busy stressing myself a lot).

I think having a sense of humor, no matter how odd, is a critical survival trait.

Lately I’ve been searching for various ways to cope with the general pressures that come with the suicidal occupation called the working-law-student life.

Last night, I found a trick that works to relieve stress through humor.

All I need to do is think about the following image:

Me

in the spotlight

wearing a shiny, neon, orange polyester flared jumpsuit,

matching platform boots,

and a curly blonde wig

singing

ABBA SONGS.

SUPER TROUPER LIGHTS ARE GONNA FIND ME SHINING LIKE THE SUN!

GIMMEGIMMEGIMME A MAN AFTER MIDNIGHT!

MONEY MONEY MONEY! ALWAYS SUNNY IN A RICH MAN’S WORLD! (yooweeyooweeyooweeeee)

DANCING QUEEN! FEEL THE BEAT OF THAT TAMBOURINE! YEAH!

TAKE A CHANCE ON ME! (takeachancetakeachancetakeachance-chance)

Yes. This really works to make me feel better.

Or maybe I’m just cracking up.

I’m definitely listening to the Mamma Mia soundtrack again while I study tomorrow night.

Takeachancetakeachance….

when the going gets tough


procrastinate.

Apology, acceptance sought from Japan

 MANILA, Philippines -- A resolution has been passed by a committee at the House of Representatives urging the Philippine government to ask Japan to formally acknowledge, “apologize and accept” its responsibility over the sexual slavery of young women, also known as “comfort women,” during World War II.

The committee on foreign affairs, chaired by Cebu Representative Antonio Cuenco, unanimously passed on Tuesday House Resolution 124 filed by Gabriela Women’s Partylist Representatives Liza Maza and Luzviminda Ilagan; Bayan Muna Representatives Satur Ocampo and Teodoro Casiño; Anakpawis Representative Crispin Beltran; and Parañaque Representative Eduardo Zialcita, an administration ally.

The approval came despite the warning issued by the Department of Foreign Affairs against the compensation provision in the measure.

Marcial Louis Alferez, acting director of DFA’s Asian and Pacific Affairs, said the specific call for compensation and claims contained in the resolution was a “reversal of the long-standing Philippine position on war claims and the prevailing understanding between the governments of the Philippines and of Japan.”

“All claims related to the war are understood to have been covered by the bilateral reparations agreement of 1996 and the San Francisco treaty of 1951. Other Asian countries have also received reparations after the war and they have made no claims afterwards,” Alferez said during the hearing.

“In all high level meetings between Japan and several other countries, no government has sought claims on behalf of comfort women,” he pointed out.

Alferez clarified that the department would not be an obstacle for claims made on individual or private capacity as well as to the chamber’s move to articulate its support for the comfort women.

“We are prepared, nonetheless, to explore ways to best assist in this endeavor of the House and of the lolas [grandmothers],” the official said.

Representatives of the Department of Justice and the Department of Social Welfare and Development also expressed support for the immediate approval of the measure.

Harry Roque, legal counsel for the group “Malaya, Lola [Free, Grandmother],” insisted, however, that the compensation call in the resolution was not a violation of the San Francisco peace pact, citing an “obligation entered into by Japan itself, which conditioned its surrender to its continuing compliance with modern human rights law.”

“Already, the resolution that weare discussing today specified at least breaches two human rights norms committed by Japan as a result of the comfort women situation and that’s a breach of an international law against trafficking of women and secondly, a breach of an obligation against slavery,” Roque explained.

Upon Maza’s motion, the committee proceeded with the approval of the resolution.

Cuenco said his committee would immediately make a report on the resolution so that the House could approve it at the plenary before Congress goes on recess on Wednesday.

http://globalnation.inquirer.net/news/breakingnews/view/20080311-124016/UPDATE-House-panel-OKs-resolution-on-comfort-women

***

Having gotten to know some of the lolas of Lila Filipina** who have passed on without their demands for justice and compensation satisfactorily addressed, makes me hope that our lawmakers would realize that time is running out for our lolas. It took years for  them to be able to deal with the trauma and bravely come out publicly about their experiences. Now, spending their last days in their campaign for justice as well as in advocacy work to end violence against women especially in areas of armed conflict, I believe its high time that our government finally give them the support they deserve.

But you have one thing that may save you, and that is your youth. This is your great strength. It is also why I hate and fear you. Hear me out. It has been said that children are our future. But does that not also mean that we are their past? You are here to replace us. I don’t understand why we’re here helping and honoring them. You do not see union workers holding benefits for robots.

But you seem nice enough, so I’ll try to give you some advice. First of all, when you go to apply for your first job, don’t wear these robes. Medieval garb does not instill confidence in future employers—unless you’re applying to be a scrivener. And if someone does offer you a job, say yes. You can always quit later. Then at least you’ll be one of the unemployed as opposed to one of the never-employed. Nothing looks worse on a resume than nothing.

 So, say “yes.” In fact, say “yes” as often as you can. When I was starting out in Chicago, doing improvisational theatre with Second City and other places, there was really only one rule I was taught about improv. That was, “yes-and.” In this case, “yes-and” is a verb. To “yes-and.” I yes-and, you yes-and, he, she or it yes-ands. And yes-anding means that when you go onstage to improvise a scene with no script, you have no idea what’s going to happen, maybe with someone you’ve never met before. To build a scene, you have to accept. To build anything onstage, you have to accept what the other improviser initiates on stage. They say you’re doctors—you’re doctors. And then, you add to that: We’re doctors and we’re trapped in an ice cave. That’s the “-and.” And then hopefully they “yes-and” you back. You have to keep your eyes open when you do this. You have to be aware of what the other performer is offering you, so that you can agree and add to it. And through these agreements, you can improvise a scene or a one-act play. And because, by following each other’s lead, neither of you are really in control. It’s more of a mutual discovery than a solo adventure. What happens in a scene is often as much a surprise to you as it is to the audience.

Well, you are about to start the greatest improvisation of all. With no script. No idea what’s going to happen, often with people and places you have never seen before. And you are not in control. So say “yes.” And if you’re lucky, you’ll find people who will say “yes” back.

Now will saying “yes” get you in trouble at times? Will saying “yes” lead you to doing some foolish things? Yes it will. But don’t be afraid to be a fool. Remember, you cannot be both young and wise. Young people who pretend to be wise to the ways of the world are mostly just cynics. Cynicism masquerades as wisdom, but it is the farthest thing from it. Because cynics don’t learn anything. Because cynicism is a self-imposed blindness, a rejection of the world because we are afraid it will hurt us or disappoint us. Cynics always say no. But saying “yes” begins things. Saying “yes” is how things grow. Saying “yes” leads to knowledge. “Yes” is for young people. So for as long as you have the strength to, say “yes.”

And that’s The Word.

-excerpt from his commencement speech for Knox College graduates last June 2006, stolen from victor's lj for my happy words collection hehe

This holiday season, instead of beating myself up over the many sinful things I will be eating and how bloated my stomach will get, I will be applying

5 main strategies to be able to indulge in guilt-free pleasure:

1. Wear garterized pants/skirts/shorts.

2. Develop (AND IMPLEMENT) an exercise regiment for the next two months and sustain it (for life). I’m not getting any younger and this is really more for general health/fitness (physical and psychological) reasons, not just for the holidays. Plus, I want to live to eat another day (tests show my cholesterol level is already sky high for my age). There’s a lot of good food out there I haven’t even tasted. I need all the time I can get to eat them before my teeth fall out or my doctor forbids me.

3. Eat everything and anything I want but not to forget to get at least a serving of fruits and vegetables. Hey, some of them taste good too. But the main thing is they’ll help me digest better which means more space to get more servings in at another celebration.

4. Look at the anorexic people in fashion magazines and eat in their honor.

5. Tell people I’m pregnant and eating for 2. Instead of curbing by appetite in the presence of abundance and feeling bad when I look at my swollen tummy, I might as well go for broke, celebrate, and utilize my own ‘abundance’ as a fast and easy way of making people who comment about how much food I have on my plate get off my case… Or I can always say (loudly) that I have worms and if other people lose their appetite, hey, more food for me.

Bring on the buffets!

For a while there I thought I was just feeling dizzy but I had my suspicions and I braced myself thinking the books in the shelf above my head might start falling on me (note: I just braced myself and didn’t actually take cover or anything hahaha).

I asked my officemates if they felt the earth move, they looked at me for a moment then continued talking. I looked at the mineral water bottle beside my computer. Not a ripple. So I forgot about what happened and went back to cramming work on my lunch break.

Then friends emailed reporting about the earthquake whose epicenter was located in Pangasinan (they had just called their families who lived near there and fortunately they were all safe).

The earthquake must not have been that strong since I remember my grade school self during the 1990 earthquake, watching the electric fan bounce on my study desk and thinking I was being haunted by poltergeists in broad daylight

The earth moves and life goes on.