Usapang Boredom..

Dahil wala akong magawa sa buhay ko ngayong gabi (Isama na diyan ang katotohanang wala akong night-life dahil kung hindi pangit na babae ang mang-iimbita sa akin para gumimik ay mga manyakis na bakla naman. Ano na bang nangyayari sa panahon ngayon. Mga babae parang bakla, at ang ibang mga bakla naman ay saksakan ng kamanyakan).

Balik tayo sa usapan. Dahil wala akong magawa ngayon ay naisipan ko na namang mag-post ng tagalog na entry. Minsan nga ay sabi ng kabarkada kung babae, "Ryan, loud kaayo ka ug mag-tagalog tagalog ka." Ibig sabihin ay nakakasuka daw na tingnan kung ako ay magtagalog. Bakit? di ba ako mukhang Filipino? di ba ako pinanganak na purong puro na Filipino? (Di ko nalang sasabihin na may palagiang minsan na pinagkakamalan akong korean dahil sa aking kapogian at kakyutan :P ) Huwag mag-react. Blog ko to at kung gusto mong purihin ang sarili mo ay dun ka sa blog mo!

Simula kahapon ay may ginawa akong project. Ito ang Project Chix Hunting, kung saan ay binubugaw ako ng mga kaibigan kung babae sa mga kaibigan nilang babae. Medyo kailangan ko na kasi ng girlfriend. Ayaw ko na kasi ng fling-fling lang. Ayaw ko nang makipaglaro sa mga babaeng wala akong planong gawing girlfriend, dahil ganun rin naman ang mga plano nila sa akin. Katawan ko lang ang habol nila! (Huwag na kasing mag-react!)

Sampung mga Chix numbers ang nakuha ko kahapon. Ang specifications ay ito: Maganda, Matalino, Mabait, in other words "MMM". Ang iba sa kanila ay ang mismong nag-text sa akin. Wala lang. Trip ko lang. Wala naman kasi akong magawa.

Kailangan ko ng girlfriend. Bakit? Wala si mama. Walang magluluto, maglalaba, ,mag-aalaga sa akin, Walang gigising sa akin tuwing umaga. Walang taga-linis ng sahig at kwarto ko. Wala akong kasama maglakad. At higit sa lahat ay kailangan ko ng syota para makapaglaro ako ng DOTA kahit anong oras. E-tra-train ko siya para naman makapag ONE ON ONE kami parati. Minsan kasi, mahirap makahanap ng mga kalaban sa internet cafe, kaya pag nagka-syota ako. Okay lang kahit hindi five on five basta ONE ON ONE.

The Gaming Evolution

At the peak of full moon, children start to sneak out of the guards of their parents and rush to the nearest open field, street, or vacant court. They draw grids on the ground, probably divided into four or six sections using water because it evaporates slowly at night. If not, they use chalk or charcoal to draw on the cement. Once it’s done, they stand still, guard the lines of the grids and stop their opponents from passing through. 

Sounds familiar? Patintero has been a childhood game which almost all of us have experienced to play during our elementary and early high school years. It was during those days that we savored the most the art of playing our own traditional games. During our vacant times, we would usually go to the open grounds and boast our exemplary skills in many types of games that we enjoy the most. Apart from patintero, there goes bato-lata where the players hit a can with a slipper or a stone while another player guards the can. We also have chakay where the players follow a baseball game format, only that they use their foot as the bat and a slipper as the ball. Moreover, children also love to play sungka, shatong,kayokok, sudsud, and hide-and-seek or tagu-taguan. 

But those were of the primitive times. The gaming evolution has started two decades ago here in the country, and the youngsters have found another way of getting themselves involved in other forms of competitive games. Instead of the traditional Pinoy games, they have found a new and similarly enjoying way of competing against each other that does not require much effort. Kids and kids at heart are now totally hooked with role-playing (RPG) computer games, whether Local Area Networking (LAN) or online.

Based on what I have observed in eight different gaming shops here in Dumaguete, DotA All Stars or Defense of the Ancients is now the number one LAN game, followed by the latest version of Counter Strike Source and Left4Dead game category. 

On the other side of the coin, Heroes of Newearth (HON) leads the poll in online gaming, besting preceding games Special Force and Gamez Aion Online. 

For those who do not know anything about these games, DotA is a game derived from a scenario in Warcraft III, a video game played in the PC where the gamers are provided with a different real-time strategic 3D gaming experience. The objective of the game is for each team, with a maximum of five, to demolish the opponent’s ancient building units, guarded by monster-killing structures at the nine corners of the map. Human players choose powerful heroes that have unique abilities and can wield weapons in accord with their specialty, strength, agility, or intelligence. 

Counter Strike, on the other hand, is a first-person shooting game, where all you need to do is throw grenades, and gun down your opponent. This goes the same for Left4Dead, another first-person shooting game, only that you need to shoot zombies this time or be killed. 

For online games, Blizzard Entertainment has produced a game that has the same game play, items, and heroes with DotA All Stars, only that this one provides dynamic 3D experience to the gamers, which is obviously not present in DotA. Well, there’s nothing so much about Special Force. It is a first-person shooting game like Counter Strike on an online platform. Ending the list would be Gamez Aion Online, a private server of the original game Aion Online International, which gives the gamers wicked 3D gaming experience, dynamic avatar making, and a world of well-detailed graphics. There’s nothing so much like it, as of this moment.

 

Hazards of Gaming 

Looking around gaming shops at Negros Oriental State University (NORSU) during daytime, asking why these games swept the minds of pupils and students alike away from their classes and lessons, is as clear as purified water. Armageddon Gaming Station and One Byte are two of the few computer shops circling the university perimeter that topped the most number of players logging-in during school days. And this shop is where DotA All Stars is played the most by them. 

Raffy Canobas, a fourth year Bachelor of Science in Secondary Education student, is one of the many students who love to spend their vacant times either in Armageddon or in One Byte gaming stations. He confessed that he loves to play DotA because it’s really ‘cool’ when you can defeat other players. “Aside from playing, you can also interact with other people and you can gain friends in no time,” he mused. 

Canobas shared that when he was still a freshman, he became too addicted to online games that he usually skips classes already. “Before, when I started playing the game, I sometimes forget that I have classes especially when the game is progressing really well and we are advancing really fast to the opponent’s colony,” he said in the vernacular. 

Another DotA player, a third year BS Hospitality and Management student Reymart Tubog, said that there are many students who play the game because it is ‘fun and exciting’. “It is really noisy when the players are using their characters to kill one another because they are shouting and yelling. That’s what makes the game fun,” he continued. 

When asked if he skips his classes just to play computer games, Charlie Amacho said that he knows how to manage his time. “I love to play DotA, but I always make sure that I attend my classes especially that I have high cut-off grades in my major and minor subjects.” 

Though some students were able to manage their life as a student slash gamer, there are a few who lost track, and worse, has eventually stopped schooling because of computer addiction. On a one hot late afternoon last year, Johnrey, not his real name, was playing the game with utmost prowess. However, he is one of the Norsunians who became very addicted to the game. The sad part is he was not able to continue his studies last year because of one reason – he traded his studies with computer games. 

“Nakaundang ko ug skuyla kay nahagbong kos akong mga subjects pagka-first semester (second semester of last year). Sige ra man kog dula gud. Wala gani kabalo akong mga parents,” he confessed. “Pero nadugay nakong sigeg dula, na-reliaze nako nga wala man koy paingnan diay. Nagmahay ko sa akong gibuhat. Pasalamat ko nga gitagaan pa ko’g chance sa akong mga parents nga maka-eskulya ug usob.” 

In the bottom line, Johnrey advised other students not to give away their studies just for playing the game. “It’s okay to play, but play moderately, or else you’ll be like me.” As of press time, Johnrey is fixing the mess he did, and is now back on track here in the university. 

Playing computer games or getting hooked with a new breed of sports is fine. These things will help you develop more as a person and let you explore the world of technology and the things you haven’t explored yet. These are also ways of detaching yourself from the academe in the meantime because it is not every day that you are given the chance to enjoy what the new world can offer. But you should bear in mind that your primary role as a student is not to play, but to excel in academics so you can show your family those good grades they’ve been longing for. Having fun is fine but studying should be taken seriously.

A Disaster of a Teacher

Here’s a fact. A teacher here in the university is definitely not a good example of how a professional teacher should be like. Here’s the story. A young teenage student had her report finished on a very hot afternoon.

She tried her best to come up with the best presentation possible. As a matter of fact, she studied all the things she needed for her report weeks before. However, she had some parts of her report wrong, probably because she did not understand what it meant. This is normal. We students are still subject to errors and flaws. Even teachers are not perfect.

Instead of correcting the student, her teacher awarded her with an unusual kind of reward. “Gabinutol man dagway ka,” and “Di man ka kabalo uy” were the words that came out of the mouth of this supposedly “educated” woman.

It would have been a teeny bit more acceptable if her actions were unintended, or just the initial reaction from the mistake of her student but, sad to say, this has been her habit. Students can testify to that.

It’s sad to know that this teacher comes from the “College of the Educated” where positive values are primarily taught and academic principles are espoused. I suggest that this teacher should take a crash course in Values Education. Just a thought, she might have skipped this subject or she might have forgotten that bad manners should not be brought to school.

Teachers should be role models in the society. They are supposed to be the epitome of wisdom and respect. The higher their academic qualifications, the wiser they should be. But this definitely is not the case with this teacher. So, why teach anyways? There are better teachers out there who are decent, respectful, and worth the pay. Why stick with a teacher who embarrasses her students publicly?

This is not what we expect from our teachers. We expect them to be good examples. Students are here to learn. Teachers are here to teach - and part of what they teach is good manners and positive values- not only theoretically, but by example.

Waiting for you...

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For the nth time in my life,  I am being hopeless romantic again. It is not because I like someone else or inlove with someone else or anything like that. I just feel so plain and alone yet inlove.

I know it sounds really weird and this kind of talk should not be brought here in blogger.com. But since I have already posted here too many an entry about how my love life went a couple of months ago, there is no reason for me not to write about love in here anymore.

The rain is too heavy tonight. Too heavy that I can still hear the sound of a thousand droplets of water as they hit the roof. Though I am listening to soft music at mid volume, I can still hear the rain too clearly, as clear as how my heart beats for someone I don't know.

And if I would wish to go outside the office at this very moment, I would freeze not because the wind is so cold but no one is out there whom I could hug nor touch. Will there be? I don't know. Because if I will stand up and shove my chair away from the computer cubicle, and open the door to step outside, all I will see is nothing but darkness. And with darkness, I feel secured yet alone; tough yet sad.

It is at these times I come to realize that I am in need of someone who wants to share a part of her life with me, and if possible, love me in a manner that is filled with faith, passion, and of course, for a lifetime.

Forever. I never imagined that I am still that hopeless romantic puppy dog 2 years ago who believes that there is forever in love. Though a couple of my past relationships did not work out well, or did not turn into what I have been expecting them to be, I was and am always a believer of everlasting love.

Because if there is none, there is no God. God resembles true and everlasting love. And it is him that I trust with these thoughts I rarely put into words. But right now, I am slowly putting some of those thoughts into words because a part of me says that I should, and that if I won't, my life will be miserable for a couple of days because I didn't take the chance of letting these feelings turn into magical words.

It took me a couple of seconds to write this next paragraph. Perhaps, the main reason is, I just don't want anybody to read my thoughts but at the same time optimistic that writing something like this will bring magic in my life in one way or another. Just like in the movie Message in a bottle.

I am really hoping of something like that. A girl from nowhere visits my blog unintended, and found a couple of my posts interesting. Then, she will search the net about who I really am. What's my real name. My work. My age. My phone number. Then, she'll fly from Manila, Davao, USA, UK, anywhere in the globe to find me. Then she'll find me in the dock, fixing my bangka because I don't have a yacht. For Fish's sake I can't afford a yacht! Then, she'll say, "hey, I like your yacht."

Then I will smirk because I know she is just joking because it is not a yacht, and even not something that people with good eyes can be liked with. Then, we'll have a date at my bangka and I will try to maneuver the paddles with all my might because I never tried paddling ever before.

Well, at least I tried once but all I did was to paddle and paddle and the bangka did move! Yeah, right. It did move a bit, not to mention that I was creating a laughing stock in the market because All I did was to run the boat in circles, like a boat creating a whirlwind out of water so it will be called whirlwater. Great!

Also, it is at moment like this one that I like to rip off my head and throw it at the trash can because I don't know what I am talking anymore. I just feel so into love.

Why? Well, I have read Message in a Bottle last night. And I am watching Nights at Rodanthe right now.

Blame the movies! Blame the authors! Blame Nicholas Sparks!

Rizal Must Be Dissapointed

Earlier this year, I have met four friends coming from different localities here in the Province of Negros Oriental. Surprisingly, each of them is a Sangguniang Kabataan (SK) Chairman in their respective barangays. One of them even spearheads all SK Chairmen in their municipality. They are part of the group whom Dr. Jose Rizal calls the hope of our nation.

I’ve heard of how they have achieved victory. Unfortunately, they all have a common denominator. They won the elections because they purchased the votes of all their constituents. I am well aware that the country is the haven of nail-crooked politicians and that buying of votes is not new to us, but learning that even youth leaders are practicing this kind of wicked doings made me think twice.

I’ve learned that the SK gets the 10 percent of the barangay’s annual Internal Revenue Allotment (IRA). Let’s say for example, a certain barangay has an annual IRA of 20 million, 10 percent of that IRA which is 2 million goes to the SK Funds. Quite big isn’t it?

Here’s more. When a certain project is implemented, the government officials, whether the mayor, the barangay captain, or the SK chairman, and his councils receive 20 percent commission of the entire amount of the project cost; another 20 percent goes to the contractor; and another 6 percent goes to the government tax.

For example, if the project costs 5 million, 1 million goes to the barangay chairman and his councils (he needs to share his blessings to cover him up, so that he will appear “transparent”); another 1 million goes to the contractor; 5 percent goes to the VAT and 1 percent for the withholding tax. All in all, these shares would reach 2.3 million pesos, leaving only 2.7 million or a mere 50 percent of the total project cost for the project’s implementation.

That’s a lot of money. No wonder the youngsters of today are hot-contesting this side of political arena. No wonder they are investing too much money on winning because they knew that once they win, they hit jackpot.

There is something wrong with Philippine politics and that includes most of the SK officials all over the country. They are practicing the art of corruption at a very young age. During the SK elections a year ago, I was a witness to how the youth candidates spent large amounts of money for food and beverages, campaign posters, and vehicles and gasoline for their campaign. Apart from that, they also spent a large portion of their money for vote-buying that ranges from P100-1000 per voter; some candidates would even go as much as 5,000 depending on the heat of the elections.

The disease of vote-buying as well as vote-selling has definitely affected the youth. And if Dr. Jose P. Rizal is still alive today, he will surely be very disappointed to the outcome of his undying hope—“Ang kabataan ang pag-asa ng bayan.”