Nicottaenneaous Caffeineiac Musings 102313

• News – is when a known celebrity couple splits up and the girl deletes all photos of them, together, from their instagram account. Really interesting stuff.
• The German Embassy in Manila donates Php13.7M to the earthquake-hit Bohol and Cebu. The Philippine government agencies, however, are still arguing amongst themselves whether to let filipinos know that we have money, just not for everybody.
• Did you know there are more people who can afford DSLRs and yet shoots the same damn thing every time? And they have the gall to watermark all their photos and upload them online.
• Did you know using someone else’s photograph should be called theft, and not plagiarism? There’s a difference. Look it up. It’s the reason you have search engines.
• Do you understand that photography is a kind of theft? What else would you call a captured moment? Why do we call them “take the shot” in the first place.
• We should really start monitoring our politicians and government agencies. They seem to have flunked mathematics and we readily put them in positions that desperately needs some mathematical prowess. Case in point: Taxes, PDAF, and disaster relief funds.

Just a random image to accompany a blog post.

• Admit it. You put too much weight on people’s appearance.
• When asking for help, try to ask in a manner that would tip the favor in your side. People will do it for free, if you ask nicely.
• I’m losing my faith with news and journalism. There’s too much fluff and frills that go with the daily broadcast.
• I’m getting tired of living in the big city. My thoughts are now geared towards landing a big freelance job, or some really steady flow of  low paying but consistent jobs. I’m up to here with city life.
• Lay off of Freddie Aguilar’s love life. When you talk about his love life, you must ne talking about his sex life. And that’s none of your business. People who aren’t getting laid are the ones holding a grudge against people who are getting it.
• You might have guessed, even blogging has taken a back step when I’m illustrating and drawing.

…and I’m just killing time, letting some steam out before the weekend sets in and once again I barricade meself in me batcave and draw some more.

 

You Shall Not Pass [or something to that effect]

It was a joke, really, something I keep telling myself when I’m reminded of something that happened several weeks ago. And I laugh everytime.

The line was made famous by Tolkien, having been uttered by none other than Gandalf, that rowdy wizard, whose fondness for pipeweed and wine is as famous as his powers and cunning. But the title Wizard fits him perfectly, an honorific bestowed on individuals with the skill and knowledge, the decisive actions, and the pondering of the consequences.

Titles.

Everybody wants one.

That group of letters that you write in front, or in most cases, after your name. The words that fill one’s profile page on any social network accounts. The phrases we use to direct people to our achievements and milestones. The taglines we thought would make us look cool and worldly. Stuff that project an image of being larger than life.

Even with my own issues with authority, I do value and respect those that have earned these titles – Engineers, Doctors, Professors, Sempai – to name a few.

But there are people who flaunt their titles, even temporary ones, with too much fervor and arrogance, it feeds their ego and presumed worth to grow in preposterous proportions. Self love is one thing, but when it borders on Narcissism, it becomes a sort of masturbation,  and that all too familiar me-first mentality just makes me chuckle . One such person, after some heated exchanges, manage to squeeze in a line that I have heard several times before, in different instances –

“Hanggang d’yan ka lang.“

(That is all you will ever be.)

Should I have been offended? Absolutely not. I may have been furious before that, but when this person asked me to apologize, I nearly burst out with gratuitous gales of laughter. For it was only then that I realized I was dealing with another one of those who think themselves above everybody else, much like Saruman  forgetting that the real power lies within The Eye, and he is only in its employ. No better than the orc he kicked to get on with his assigned duties.

What’s funny is that he almost took the stance of  the a wizard stopping  me, the Balrog in this story, from taking any step further, and with his own belief that I can be no more that what I am now.

Oh, I could have said something like ” I was here before you.” but that would come off as me being arrogant.  In movies , this is the time I could have mouthed off some really heavy, press worthy stuff I have done in the past. But it’s not  me. So I let it slide. He’s still young. He will have to deal with burnout and middle age in his own time. Let him have his Gandalf moment. I would like to be the wizard, but then I’d be much happier being Balrog, or Gene Simmons‘ Demon, or Ozzy for that matter.

And I’m laughing again.

Because, when someone tells me to go no further, that’s the time I leap ahead, grasp whatever handhold there is on the other side of the cliff and pull myself up. I am more of an Arakeen than Harkonnen. If Arrakis throws me sandstorms, I curl and wait it out. Not squeamish to get wet and wade in the flood. I have sustained bruises, burns and scabs from too many failures and setbacks, I have gotten the knack of standing up.

Time to reinvent myself again.

Transplantation

This has been running in my mind for quite sometime now.

Trying to keep my feet firmly on the ground, my mind is running amok with thoughts of  keeping my current employment and passion more  competitive, living alone in the city, with occasional welcome intrusions from a brother whose pursuits has turned to networking and his  DeMolay standing, a very beautiful niece whom I fondly see a bright future despite her stopping school for the moment, and maintaining our small farm in Bicol, where my family has been living for 10 years now, give or take a few.

Thinking deep, I do not really want to end up whining about upper class problems, just living within my means is enough. Given the experiences of being up there with the in crowd, I know I will always be an outsider, Heavy Metal in a world of Pop, in a society where being IN is so much the requisite for every Social Climber bent on having his 15 minutes of  infamy, and a lot of social media overreaction.