My coffee was already cold when my friend arrived. It’s been half an hour and I bet you her reason would be the heavy traffic.
“You’re late.”
“Why do you sound surprised? Have long have you known me?”
We were at our favourite coffee house just around our neighbourhood. After tiring days of working, going to school and the occasional skipping in exchange for more sleep, we would go down here to discuss things that does not directly concern us. But we’d do it, anyway.
When she got her usual macchiato, she took out her phone and started scrolling endlessly. Then her finger stopped.
“Have you seen this?”
I looked at her screen. It looked familiar.
“Why are they burning chairs?” she asked.
It might just be another protest, I told her.
It was a photo of a protest at my former school. They were burning chairs to what seems like another protest against a tuition hike.
“Well, they’re clearly not being heard that’s why they’re taking more serious actions.”
“This is very cool. That little bonfire seems fun to watch.” she said with a tone of amusement.
I couldn’t see anything amusing about it but I had to consider the fact that my friend isn’t used to these kinds of events. Luckily, though, she’s a more liberal-thinking engineer from De La Salle who questions the purpose of organized religion and abhors the idea of capitalism, otherwise I wouldn’t be sitting here and having this conversation at all.
“Remember last year in Montreal when students protested the tuition fee increase? I’d say that was worse. They had seriously injured students and police.”
“I think I remember that. Did they win it though?”
“Oh you bet. Quebec froze all plans for a tuition fee increase for the coming years. That’s something people should learn from back home.” I answered, “UP did a more peaceful protest back in 2006 and failed.”
“It’s frustrating how we have to resort to doing things like this just to get what we want; and that’s not even too much to ask.” said my friend.
I took a final sip of my cold coffee.
“Tell me about it. The only reason democracy thrives is because there is opposition. Without people saying “No”, without people reminding us that something is not right, then we’d be drawn into more slavery by this capitalist society.”
She went back to her phone again and started scrolling some more.
“And have you heard about that girl from UP Manila who killed herself over an unpaid tuition fee?” I asked.
“What? Why? How? Tell me about it!” she put down her phone on the table, looking very shocked.
So I looked for an article on my phone and we read it together. She took another sip of her coffee as we finished it and said,
“Seriously, this is pretty messed up. If only UP took me in, my Dad would’ve saved money and I would’ve been as proud as being a La Sallian.”
I made no comment. I would’ve been happier if UP took me in too but unlike her, my mom would’ve had a hard time saving up for tuition and who knows, I might even end up like Ms. Tejada.
“I feel bad for that girl’s family. This only means that their system isn’t working right.” My friend said,
“I’d burn a chair for her.”
This story is purely fictional. Any resemblance of the characters to my friends and the people I know is purely coincidental, well most of it.
For more info on the issue, read here:
How many cups of Starbucks do you drink everyday?
Since I started my new job I have been consuming at least 2 daily. Everytime I would arrive at the office I would always have a latte in my hand and when it gets cold, I would go down and get another one. My officemates are even worse. Some would have two cups when they arrive and drink it one after the other.
Yet I’m not here to talk about coffee addiction. Instead, I will take you to the birthplace of Starbucks, the city of Seattle.
After a very very long time, I finally had time to finish this. As you will remember, last month I opened the Paying The Kindness Forward Raffle for my blog’s 5th anniversary. Now I am very happy to announce the winners!
Without further ado, here are the 4 lucky winners of our awesome Canvas Planner Slip-on Cover!
Kuya Rod of http://redlan76.blogspot.com
Rex of http://www.tintadefilipinas.blogspot.com
Arvin of http://www.damuhan.com
Otep of http://otep.wordpress.com
The winners were chosen via the #Random App to make sure that it’s really Random. Ha-ha.
I will be emailing you in the next few days about the details.
Aside from the Planner Slip-on cover, I have also included a planner from Moleskine as per request from most of you and some surprises as well. Yay!
Thank you very much for all your support. Cheers!
By the way, follow me on Twitter: @allenwhy
Everywhere I go there will always be a trace of my country to see. When I was at Battery Park in New York, there was a black man playing the “Lupang Hinirang” on an instrument I have never seen before.. While walking along Vesey St., I saw a metal strip embedded on the sidewalk bearing the names of two Philippine Presidents marking their visit to the United States. Then there was that exhibit at the Shedd Aquarium about the Apo Village in Negros Occidental.
Now I found another one at a museum in Chicago.
Lately I’ve noticed through Facebook that most of my friends have gone into the mountain-climbing frenzy. Of course I envy them for having the luxury of climbing all the mountains they can see in the Philippines. I cannot do it here because the Rocky Mountains are just too extreme and wild. Then one night I was browsing through some photos when I realized something.
In a span of less than a year, I have climbed four of the tallest buildings in the world and have seen 18 of the 100 tallest buildings on this LIST.
So instead of getting into the frenzy, I’ll take you to my own climbing story. Though all I did was just stand inside an elevator. LOL
Before the month ends, I just want to finish posting this which is by the way, long overdue.
So this will be the last part of my trip to New York last March and I am going to talk about what I found out about the city during my short stay.
It’s been a long time since I’ve posted a short story. I’ve been wanting to write this when I saw an illustration about it on the internet and I thought it could be a very interesting subject. I know this isn’t original though, I’m pretty sure there are other stories about this but this is just my take on it and I hope you like the first part of the story.
“Alright Private Abe, this is your final test. We will not be there to help you right away so you’re on your own.”
On my 20th birthday, Ate Chyng (www.chyngreyes.com) took me to a steakhouse in Makati for lunch. Even though she came straight from an overnight shift, she took the time to celebrate my birthday with me.
She was very kind enough to pay for the food and I am very lucky. She told me that when she was still a student, she used to have older friends (which she called ‘yuppie sponsors’) who would treat her for lunch or dinner because a student will never have enough money no matter what. Ha-ha. She told me that when I get to that age, I should also do the same and pay the kindness forward.
So as a promise to Ate Chyng, I figured something out.
I was walking around the mall this afternoon after a tiring day at the office when I saw these things at the bookstore. It instantly came to me that since I’m celebrating my blog’s 5th anniversary, it could be the perfect time to fulfill that promise.
I bought four of these awesome canvas Journal slip-on covers from Indigo. I am giving these out to FOUR awesome bloggers who are interested. This is not a contest so don’t worry about the effort you have to make. This will be given out through a raffle that will be announced a few weeks from now. All you need to do is send me your Name, Email (it has to be the one you are using as I will be contacting you there) and your Blog’s link. You can email the info to me at allen666123@gmail.com OR by leaving a comment on this post OR posting a mention on my Twitter (@allenwhy) OR commenting on the post that I will put up on the U-Blog Group Page on Facebook. Be sure to include your blog’s URL because this is ONLY for bloggers anywhere in the world.
You don’t have to include a message but I will definitely appreciate that!
The prizes will be mailed directly to your mailing address as soon as we get hold of you. Thanks to Kuya Anton (www.pusangkalye.net) for helping me figure out how to ship everything.
Journals are not included because it’ll be very heavy to ship out. Sorry, bagsak ang ekonomiya. But I’m sure you’ll be able to find something to put on it. :D
I hope that you support my simple act of gratitude to the blogging community and I’ll be expecting your names, emails and links!
It also has a pocket inside for cards or pens. :)
Who would’ve thought that I’d still be blogging after five years? I thought this was just a phase; something I’d grow tired of eventually. Maybe I will in the future but for now, let me celebrate my fifth year as a blogger with you.
So what’s the story behind my blogging? Well, I will answer it through the questions that people asked me through the years.
What my blog looked like back then. Nakakahiya yug mukha ko. LOL
Every time I see pictures of the Statue of Liberty, it’s always on the same angle. Everybody’s seen that already so check out her back.
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