BAD TRIP 3: Daig DAW ng Maagap ang Masipag

Long lines stretched way back at the immigration counters in NAIA yesterday. I've just arrived from Colombo via Singapore. Flights from different parts of the world must have arrived almost at the same time. Tired and sleepy, I was in no mood to make small talk with fellow passengers. I just wanted to get out of there and be home in bed.

Just as I was nearing the immigration officer, a fifty-ish woman approached me from behind, all the way from the back of the line. “Meron bang ibang lines para sa Pinoy? Wala naman no?” she asked me with a big smile. To the others waiting in line, we must have appeared to be together. “Wala naman po”, I answered rather curtly because I already had an inkling what she was up to.

True enough, she didn’t leave my side and brazenly slipped in line, still talking to me like we were old friends. Kapal ng mukha. The foreigner behind me couldn’t do anything except frown. On the next line, three other Pinoys did the same trick, neatly overtaking foreigners who were queuing patiently.

Ha hay, bakit kaya marami sa pinoy ang hilig-hilig lumamang. Mahilig sa shortcut, sa instant. In other instances, it may be perceived as abilidad. Or even ingenuity. To me, it reeks of dishonesty. We complain about corruption and yet we do it in our own little ways.

GUILT TRIP 4: When Rules are Meant to be Broken

I don’t like boxing. I don’t like violence and suffering in general. I think it is barbaric to be entertained by watching people or animals in bloody warfare, much like the gladiators in the Colosseum. That is why I also don’t like cockfights, horsefights, or dogfights.

But yesterday was an exception. Like millions of other Filipinos, I was glued to the TV set watching Pacman demolish Velasquez. In style. In six rounds. And I was yelling like mad -- cursing Velasquez, grunting on every jab and punch, cheering the Pacman on. And when finally the referee stopped the fight on the 6th, I was hoarse from too much screaming.

I guess there will always be exceptions to the rule. My rules, anyway. I chide my friends who shoot birds for sport. I tell them they should only kill for food, not for amusement. Then I make a complete turn-around and try to kill the neighbor’s cats that make such a ruckus while screwing in the dead of night. Nothing enrages me more than a screaming cat in heat!

I curse the driver of the car that dared to cut in on us. Uneducated bastard, I yell at him silently. But when it’s our driver who did the cutting, I applaud (also silently), thanking him in my mind for gaining a car’s length while stuck in horrendous traffic.

I guess we do have the penchant to bend the rules a bit when it suits us. I always tell myself to be consistent in applying what I believe to be right. Walk the talk.

But then that is often better said than done.


MANNY "PACMAN" PACQUIAO TRIUMPHANT

ART TRIP 4: NUDE

Ask si Ghary kung meron daw ba ako nude na painting. Ito isa:

ART TRIP 3: Komiks pa rin

One of the cover illustrations I did for Fantasy Komiks back in the late 80s:

GUILT TRIP 3: NEGA

“E di yung pangit na mataba!” was my immediate answer when my wife asked me last night who should be the first to go in Pinoy Big Brother. Me and my big mouth. Napaka-pintasero ko raw, she said. Oo nga.

I guess for many of us, it is easy to find fault. I agree wholeheartedly when people say “if you have nothing good to say, keep your mouth shut” but somehow it is so difficult to do.

Last week I was at a workshop in Batangas where results of a baseline research across the country were presented. “87% of the respondents do not have savings” proclaimed one of the findings and that made us go “aaaaaargh!!!” collectively. On the surface, the statement looked innocent enough. A fair interpretation of tabulated data. Then it hit me that it focused on the weakness, rather than on strengths. Perhaps if it had been presented as “13% of the respondents have savings”, then it would have generated a better sense of something positive to build on.

For years, we have been so used to dwelling too much on the negatives. You hear mothers shouting at their kids “Ang tanga-tanga mo kasi!” until the poor kid believes he is indeed tanga. We even celebrate defeats like “The Fall of Bataan”.

It is said that the deepest principle of human nature is the craving to be appreciated. That is why I think Jessica Zafra is lying to her teeth when she proclaims “I have no desire whatsoever to be liked or admired. Try it; it’s liberating.” Yeah, right.

Say a good word to someone today.



WHO WILL BE EVICTED? Pinoy Big Brother