Sunday, October 7, 2012

learning to love BB: a reaction to a blog post

I am supposed to be reading and writing---well, there's more than enough time for that today considering I don't plan on going out anytime unless it is to buy something or whatever---as early as now since finals week is coming in but I ended up stumbling on Bryan Boy's I Fucking Hate Filipinos and I just had to put a halt to some things and reflect (or really, not since I don't think that deep at all on some things). Now, if I weren't me, I probably would be offended having read this as it's really all about Filipinos (like myself) but I'm me (despite being a Filipina---I'm female, so go figure) so I actually find this amusing and very agreeable on about every angle, on just about every point. For once, there's someone who doesn't mind every natural thing given him---a gem of a guy **insert a ton of hearts here**. And that I have to agree on everything he's ever talked about in the post. I think it's better than being pretentious and wishing something you really can't be. I, myself, can't fathom the craze on glutathione products and every whitening method created and mass-produced/performed for the public in the local scene who wish to be white when really, brown is all there is to it for instance. I even steer clear of Cyleina's black pearl/glutathione bars given I'm addicted to organic stuff at the moment because I'm basically more into caring for myself and my skin that into trying to whiten myself up to something I'm not. Okay, now I'm yammering on about skin colors and being comfortable in your own skin. I think what it really boils down to is being comfortable with the way you are. And I like that. Oh and yes, those "can I be your friend?" messages...I recently had this experience...yesterday, actually. Some guy sends me a text asking if we could be friends. I don't even know him nor do I know whom he got my number and details from which is just...creepy. Call me a snob or whatever but those messages, that kind of question asked over and over is quite annoying. That doesn't need to be asked except perhaps in some cases, but friendship really just develops overtime. (So to anyone in real life that asks me that question on the phone or whatever, don't be offended when in the end I don't follow through.)

On a random note---and this one cropped in during the usual after-dinner conversation with dorm mates yesternight---that's related to the said guy that sent me the cliched question in a text. That he proceeded to type in Tagalog jejemon which made me mull over the thought of how he is in real life. The three of us (dormers) out to dinner at this time decided speaking jejemon and getting into that trend is pretty much pointless. I only feel mildly irritated about it but most of the time, I don't understand it nor do I get the hype around it. I do find it quite frustrating when you send people text messages in the common, everyday English and Bisaya/Cebuano dialect (or Tagalog, in some special cases such as when I text, e-mail people who are from up north and know only that and everyday English) and they send you a reply in the entirely alien short messaging (I refuse to use 'text' and every derivation of it as I see it improper to do so) language that is jejemon. Is it too much to ask to be reciprocated with a proper, straight text message and not something so alien to my neanderthalic mind? Yes, I live in a cave where that's concerned. I'm not the very trendy kind in the first place. Oh, and Special mention to the 'nym' on the text I read that was supposed to be 'name'. Talk about alien language. It's abuse of common, everyday English and I find it not insulting but rather a really good way to kill education in the English Language and structure, word usage included, ingrained by means of repetition---heaven knows I'm sick of those exercises I had back in grade school and high school in English I'm just so happy I'm over that part of my life---in the head since primary school or grade school. Simply put, it's overkill for the intellect even if intellect is diminishing with every moment spent without reading or something similar.

I giggled when reading about the point raised on the same post on Filipinos being grammar nazis. I think I can be, at some point but seeing as I'm doing literature studies as my masters/graduate studies, I don't really see the point of proper or "perfect" grammar in things like blog entries and such unless they're violations on the basic grammar rules. Now that's based on common sense, really. I might be a bit peeved by that kind of murdering of the common, everyday (I think this belongs to the 'colloquial' category) English language but I don't really go about correcting people on it. Other than that, I don't care about the violations on more complex grammar rules. I tend to commit them at some point in time. But to be honest? Even some forms of literature have had stuff in them that violated set grammar rules from time to time. In my current phase, I think the only ones who have the liberty to correct anyone on word usage, violations on grammar rules and such are those who've studied linguistics or ELS (English Language Studies) and some other forms of it, those who've studied the English language (syntax and all) as a whole. But I think they shouldn't either seeing as it's common, everyday, colloquial spoken English they're trying to correct---my way of saying, correcting everyday, spoken English is just pointless. Veering a bit from the point but still somehow staying on point, I actually tried getting into the more technical part of English like that of ELS or TOEFL at the beginning of my years as a masters in English student but that somehow left a sour taste in my mouth. I never did like nor will I ever like conforming to a set of rigid rules be it in the use of English, spoken and written, or in some other thing like personal style and basically the way I live my life. At some point, some insignificant (perhaps over-the-top, superfluous, rather absurd and non-personally-related) rule or two should be broken for the sake of creativity and self-expression.

And before I jeopardize the rest of my day I plan to spend on reading, lazing about and just writing my literary papers sans the grammar rule violations I think I will be committing in the process of doing so (I do commit a ton, recently), I'm going to end this post by nodding to this one point raised in the post I agree with to the tee: "Filipino showbiz is SOOOO fucking beneath me." I actually hate gossip stuff on tv, nor do I gossip about other people other than if they'd done something that violates the way I see things. Don't even get me started on those shows on tv and the gossipy stuff that end up destroying an individual person. Gossip is gossip. They're pointless and synonymous to rumours. To which I'd say, gossip on because I don't care and I like to live life my way. And yes, "violate" and every form of it is the word of the day.

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