2009

I have been meaning to write several things in my blog but Twitter and Facebook has taken me out of my regular blogging habits. I have fewer blog posts for 2009 as compared to the preceding two years. Aside from these microblogging sites, there are also a lot of things that took my time from blogging, I still have my thesis to worry about by the way. Anyway here is a list of things that I failed to blog in 2009 and some carry-overs from 2008:

• Some good YouTube channels.
• Critics say that are country is now run like hell; If Pres. Quezon is alive today, will he regret his words? Anyway, the Philippines is probably run by the same social class as that of Quezon.
• High profile criminals get pardoned. Also, high profile suspects can use hospitals like hotels to evade arrests. So if you will do something bad, it should not be petty but grand.
  
• Disk brakes of MTBs.
• Sometimes, flunkers and goats succeed earlier since they see the road ahead clearer. Sometimes, the smart ones are too idealistic.
• UP is the microcosm of the Philippine society since all the best and worst of the Filipino can be seen in the campus.
• Life is too short to be idealistic, nationalistic etc. Improve oneself first before helping improve the system lest be consumed by the corrupt system.
• The arts is not much regarded in our country. There are no Peso bills that feature artists except the national heroes who are artists themselves. Buildings and roads are mostly named after administrators and politicians.
• Politicians here are not classified/described as right, left, center, green, etc or by party affiliation, but by only one word – trapo. They can’t even be classified by the padrinos that support them since these politicians can easily junk them as what Chiz Escudero did to Erap then and now Danding.
• Update on Turning Japanese post, some addition to the idols I follow and will follow.
• An analogy of my current situation and swordsmith.
• Whistleblowers are charged leaving the culprits scot-free. Sometimes innocent people are used as escape goats. (e.g. board exam cheating, FAD raid).
• On the US healthcare reform debate and how I find it odd that some conservatives are angry at Democrats who are just reforming a system and don’t have self-serving motives.
• On the labs that I want to work in.
• A birthday post that contains my life goals and manifesto – my plan for the next quarter, third or half of my life (i.e. next 25 years), things I want to do and learn, people I want to meet and *places I like to visit like World Heritage Sites
  
• On platforms and issues that must be addressed in 2010 like reproductive health and population growth, health care, consumer protection (specifically on warranties and returns and false advertising), availability of broadband Internet connections, the transportation system, agriculture and food security,  environment and climate change mitigation, technology and knowledge economy and education.
• A post about my experience with Ondoy detailing how I initially thought that the flood was local only in our area and that it is a part of my still ongoing series of unfortunate events, how the Ondoy flood removed my attachment on material things, how the Ondoy flood taught where is the right place to settle

Anyway I hope to write more about these things in the future.

2009 was another lean year for me. It gave me almost nothing but fortunately took not much. It passed swiftly but it had me worried for countless times nonetheless. It just gave me things, as they say,that can be charged to experience and also things that for sure I need and want to pay back immediately in the near future. It is also the year when I failed in all my major (and possibly life-altering) endeavors. 2009 made me more disillusioned.

My major realizations for the year:

• I love East Asian cultures.  Before, my dream trip was in Europe. Now it is in East Asian countries.
• There are more to life than PhD and research, since 2007 I got signs that I may not be cut out for these things
• Things in life that were not fully enjoyed and experienced should not be revisited in an attempt to relive them.
• I rediscovered the joys of reading and writing. However, I am a slow reader and a perfectionist and always-lacking-the-right-words writer
• The book, film, dorama, tv show, music lover in me was reawakened.
• I am now a proud fanboy, geek and otaku.
• UP has opened my eyes on a lot of things about this country, both good and bad
• I am a power seeker in some ways.
  

Year’s First:

• Finally got out of Luzon
• Getting to use Twitter and Facebook and follow people
• Subscribing to YouTube channels and uploading videos
• My first LCD monitor and my craving for HD videos

*(20100106  Edit)