OH LOH!

They said by June, we’ll be having some rain at least. And there’s a storm coming (hopefully it is not as strong as the last two that hit us). In years before this, it rained in May. First rainfall of May, remember? It’s supposed to be lucky/ therapeutic according to folk belief. Can you even remember when it last rained? I don’t. It probably rained once in May. No, it was more like a “sprinkle” of water from above. It rained very little drops for five minutes. I think that’s the only one since April.

Get ready for hotter days. They say. Ugh.

What have we done to solve this? o.O

From http://www.nancypochisbank.com/portfolio/psychology/images/image7_big.jpg

Have you ever done something that violates your own principles? Dang. I just did. And I’m so humiliated at myself even though no one knows except me and another person. No, I didn’t have pre-marital sex. Lol. But still, I did something that I pray I would never do again.

If you know me, I’m such a sticker to rules. I never cross a street when the pedestrian light is red, yes, even when there’s no friggin car crossing. I’m such a law-abiding citizen and I get frustrated when there are people who aren’t. I can’t tell you what I just did but I hated every minute of it. The thing is, I can’t do anything about it. I just tried hard not to show my face in case anybody who knew me was there. Dang, it feels so bad. Especially when there’s no deindividuation or groupthink to blame. *insert embarassed laugh here*

Conformity and obedience. >:P Tsk tsk. I’m telling you, it felt so bad so as much as you can, don’t violate your own principles.

So what did I do? 2 days ago I went to Quezon City Hall to pay for the community tax, a prerequisite for barangay clearance. The same day I went back to Project 6 Barangay Hall to get my clearance which fortunately didn’t take long. But it did take an hour to wait for the person who’s supposed to sign my clearance to come back to the hall. Talk about quality service.

NEXT. Earlier today, I went back to the city hall to get my police clearance (and hopefully if I finished early and I wasn’t too tired, my NBI clearance as well). Went to the police clearance area, got an application form and went to the Treasurer’s Office (the same place where I paid my community tax, just on a different window).

That was where I started seeing things. Visions. Ghosts. Kidding. But I did see things there that could be improved. Fortunately, the office was air conditioned because 2 years ago I had to pay for community tax and that office was a hot mess. Well it still is, technically.

What were the ghosts, I mean things that I saw:

Long queues – The community tax line was very short. You could pay for your cedula in less than ten minutes. But the lines for miscellaneous fees were crazy! I know in UP we are used to long queues, but at least the queues were logical if you know what I mean. You’ll see later.

SYSTEM: When I got there a little before 11 am, there was only one window serving. I don’t get why there should only be one when some of the staff were just sitting there, or standing, or talking on the phone. WHY? Okay, perhaps they’re underpaid and all that but, what the heck, that ain’t no excuse because it’s unfair to the people in falling in (the long) line. They probably earn more than what the Jollibee crew do but Jollibee serves fast even with heavy traffic of customers. And you wouldn’t see crew members resting and seen by the customers. ANYWAY.

So here’s what they do. The line was so long, you had to line up OUTSIDE the treasurer’s office. Thank you, no air con. They put up gazebos outside and very few (ten?) seats. The line was crazily long with only one window serving. If you could see the line top view, it would be like seeing your small intestines. That was how the line looked like. Then the security guard lets about 10 people at a time in to the big air conditioned office (why don’t they more people in? dunno.).

PROBLEM: Do you know the literacy rate of Filipinos aged 10 years older? According to the 2003 FLEMMS, it was 93%. Functional Literacy was 84.1%. So why do people enter through doors marked “EXIT”? Really, doesn’t that count in the simple literacy rate? 93% of Filipinos should understand that.

Why is that such a problem at the treasurer’s office? I talked about the system earlier right? If somebody would enter through the exit doors, that person ultimately skips lining up the long queue outside. Problem again: the security guard is at the entrance. Fact: some of the staff would call out those who entered through the exit so that they’d line up. But another fact: Not all people who enter through the exit and lines up INSIDE gets called out. When I was still outside, there were probably 5 who got in without being caught. I saw them line up but I was to far from the door to tell them. I could’ve screamed but hey, I’m not like that. Lol.

Now I understand why people would rather vote for Estrada than Gordon or Gibo. Now I understand why now, we can have Star Awards and FAMAS at the Senate or alternately at the House of Representatives. *tears*

Aside from these problems, here’s another one:

PROBLEM 2: They’ve air conditioned the office. They have Lenovo computers in all windows (there were more than 10 windows, if I’m not mistaken). BUT: Receipts were done manually. Yes, there were receipt books, and when you pay, the person at the window writes down all the info by hand.

Do you know how much budget UP gets? Back in 2oo8, we got PhP 6 Billion for the entire UP System. Hence, that was the budget for the Diliman, Manila, Baguio, Pampanga, Los Baños, Visayas, Mindanao and Open University campuses. That had to pay for teachers, staff, and facilities. UP had to spend PhP 7.2 Billion that year. (Okay, that was Wikipedia info, but usually Wiki gets these things correctly. The DilimanDiary also reports the same thing, 6 billion but for 2010.) Fine, when 2007-***** students came in there was TOFI. Still, that was probably still short for the budget. Anyway, when TOFI came, there was free internet for the TOFI batch (I was in the last batch that wasn’t affected by TOFI), somehow better facilities, and computerized Form 5. In short, there was at least some progress. Little, but it’s there. How does this figure in?

I’ve been in UP for more than half my life. I studied in UPIS. Back then, even in 2002 and way before the tuition increase, receipts in UP were already printed out. The cashier’s office isn’t fully air conditioned until now but receipts are computerized. And you can’t argue that they have some database shit. They do, but they don’t type in your name and then they automatically know what you’re paying for. You get a payment request somewhere else (say, for a True Copy of Grades), at your college, go to the cashier’s office, they type out your name and input what you paid for to a certain “fund”. Then they have a blank receipt where they print just the necessary details. AND they have 2 windows serving at Diliman for the sari-saring fees. That’s just for Diliman. Imagine 2 windows serving the needs of QUEZON CITY.

Talking about underpaid staff? UP has an underpaid staff but they serve well. And they do take lunches, but not closing their window, while there were still 10 people lined up. They’d say, “stop lining up at this window”, but they’ll finish the payments that were already lined up. That’s decent service, I’d say. See, I’ve seen a City Hall staff close a window (eventually they opened another window to let in 20 people at a time because people were starting to stir) when there were only 6 more people to serve. He had lunch. At 11:56am. I was 5th in that line. We had to transfer lines. When we transfered, I was 10th in the next line. I waited 20-30 minutes at the first line only to be told that I had to transfer lines. How about sparing 4 minutes of your time to finish 6 more receipts?

So this is what I don’t get: Like I said, there were possibly more than 10 Lenovo computers (or more, and they look new!) at the windows of the treasurer’s office. What is the point of having that many computers when there are only at most 4 windows serving at one time and all of them manually writing down the receipts? I don’t get it! Why don’t you just sell some of the computers, buy printers for the others so that they could print the receipts? After all, those 10 windows never functioned simultaneously at all. Funny that CD-R King has the same problem, a store that cheapskates like me shop in for gadgets. Product? Long frustrating queues. If QC could pay for air conditioning, why can’t it pay for printers? After all, according to http://www.quezoncity.gov.ph/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=181&Itemid=114, we’re the most competitive city in Metro Manila. Not only that, QC is 3rd most cost effective city in Asia. Oh, well, that figures.

I know, 90% of the people who started to read this post possibly stopped 10% through. But I do have solutions. Well, not solutions to the long lines, that can’t be helped. I do have suggestions that could at least alleviate the pain… or well, make the long queues at least, logical.

In UP Office of the University Registrar, especially during registration period, you could end up in queues that could take an hour or so on the busiest days. Okay, an hour is dramatically long. But why don’t UP students scream, stomp, and react like the people who line up at the City Hall treasurer’s office? Well, part of that is we are so used to long lines. BUT we are used to long logical lines. People don’t cut lines. People line up properly. And the staff serving at the windows are efficient.

People don’t cut lines in UP because they CAN’T. People are watching, not just the people in the line, but staff and the UP Police sometimes haha. In OUR, you’d see a system where you cannot give an excuse. Obviously, if there were senior citizens they’d still have an express lane like everywhere else should. I’m totally okay with that. But UP OUR doesn’t usually serve senior citizens, lol, because normally people who line up are college students. ANYWAY the system’s simple and everybody’s familiar with it. But let me remind you:

When you enter the building, there are cards of different colors with different numbers printed on them. The moment you enter, the guard asks you what your “purpose” is. Then he/she gives you a card of a certain color and a certain number. The colors tell you which window to go (depending on your purpose). The numbers tell you your position in the queue. Technically, there’s no queue because you can stay anywhere in the vicinity (and there are seats!) and just come by your window when your number is called. And you don’t have to worry if your number was 241. The possibility that 1 to 100 are done is large. Haha. Those cards were probably back at the security guard’s table. Or not. Lol.

Something like this, only, I suggest use reusable ones. ;D

You CAN’T cut lines because the people serving at the window know the number of the last card they served. If you weren’t there when your card got called, if there were only 2 of you, the staff are kind enough to serve you. But all the people who have been waiting at the vicinity would STARE at you. I know, because I GLARE. Hahaha. People do. It’s the worst feeling you could get out of “falling in line”. Just for that, people don’t normally let their turn be missed. Sometimes, if the staff at the windows are strict, they don’t serve your number if you get skipped. You have to get another number. So for those instances, people don’t take chances, they just wait patiently.

EASY to do right? Easier than the printers I suggested. But in fact, the printers are easy to get and operate for Quezon City, I swear. Like I said, sell the idle assets and use the money to buy assets you could use. Those Lenovo computers would depreciate fast, so if I were the new Vice Mayor Joy Belmonte or Mayor Herbert Bautista, I’d sell them and buy usable capital assets. And the system I was suggesting isn’t new. Banks do that. Even Sun, Globe, and Smart offices do that. They even have that LED monitor saying “Now Serving Number: ***”. It prevents people from cutting lines. If the line was long, it would enable people to not waste their time (wishing they knew how to estimate the time they could spend out of line).

IN FACT I think when that treasurer’s office got renovated, they intended to use that system. BECAUSE I saw the similar LED monitors (2 of them) inside the office. See, they know that would have been an effective system, why the heck aren’t they using it? I know, the air conditioned office was a major improvement from the former but efficiency first. Are they afraid of the bills? UP’s OUR doesn’t have those LED screens. It only has a megaphone. Haha. Sometimes, when the megaphone isn’t there, they have screaming registration assistants (love you guys! haha). In fact, I could donate the number cards if they won’t budge. Not printed and laminated like OUR’s though, I don’t have that much money. HAHA.

It CAN be done. I know it can be done. QC’s my favorite city because I’ve lived here since I was a tiny kid. I’m still tiny, but not a kid anymore. I still love QC because I see how it has progressed. Just look at this (from the Quezon City Government website):

An impressive resume for the city. Props to Hon. Sonny Belmonte, currently my favorite public official in the executive. Now he goes back to the congress, hopefully his daughter and his former vice mayor, now Mayor Herbert Bautista, will execute changes in their own backyard. As the cliché goes, they have to set an example for good public service. We’ve seen roads transform, we’ve seen communities cleaned up (well, also, thanks to former MMDA chairman Bayani Fernando). You could say this problem I’m talking about is a minute issue, something in the least of their worries. But consider this.

You know how long it takes to set up a business in Singapore? It takes 4 DAYS. That’s because they have a very efficient permits system, clearances, payments, whatnot. In the World Bank “Doing Business” rankings of the ease of doing business in a country, Singapore is number 1. Philippines is… TA-DAH! ONE HUNDRED FORTY FOUR! Out of 183. Not something to be proud of. Businesses, and other important transactions are also dependent on how efficient your government is. Citizens spend resources when they line up (more if they line up for long hours!). It’s a waste of resources. The government is also, in this case, wasting money on idle assets that just depreciate and never get utilized.

See, it all fits in! So if you think I’m such a biatch complaining about this when just a jeepney ride away, there are beggars on the street, please be my guest. Call me a biatch. But it doesn’t lessen the sense of my suggestions, and neither does it mean that I totally ignore the beggars on the streets.

I still love QC because I see potential. I pray that the officials see that too. And well, act on it.

PS. I’m gonna try to write a letter to newly elected Mayor Bautista and Vice Mayor Belmonte. Hopefully it’ll get heard.

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OTHER SOURCES not mentioned in the post:

http://www.free-press-release.com/news-singapore-tops-world-banks-ease-of-doing-business-survey-4th-year-running-1253765285.html

http://www.doingbusiness.org/economyrankings/

FOR IMAGES:

When you copy the image URL, you will see where they came from. THANKS!

Some people can’t handle a Dick, like a writer from Inquirer, but many have reacted to it already. This is one of my favorites (I wanted to repost something from Facebook, but well, it was a bit too long.) :

Why Filipinos like Patricia Evangelista cannot handle Dick

THERE IS ONLY ONE GOOD REASON why a writer for the Philippine Daily Inquirer like Patricia Evangelista would write against presidential candidate Dick Gordon a week before the election. It’s because she is writing for the Philippine Daily Inquirer. When someone takes pains to emphasize that she is not doing so just because she is working for, say, the Philippine Daily Inquirer, you have to agree, motives become quite suspect.

Obviously, Richard Gordon has impressed quite a number of people by his frankness — mainly those who are not afraid to hear the truth. Unfortunately, he has also turned off some –mainly onion-skinned people like Patricia Evangelista. Too bad for Dick Gordon, indeed, because the Philippine Daily Inquirer has a wide circulation and quite a number of loyal readers. Too bad for Dick Gordon too that a lot of Filipinos cannot handle the truth and tend to believe those who are writing for a supposedly “trustworthy” publication. Noynoy’s supporters must be jumping for joy at the moment.

In her article, Patricia Evangelista couldn’t agree more that Dick Gordon has an impressive resume. But she seems to be of the opinion that Dick Gordon is not a “humble” man. Other than that she said of Dick Gordon, “It is a waste of what would have made a good leader.” Her criteria for a president includes someone with a touch of “humility”. Well, I’ve got news for you Ms Evangelista: None of the presidential candidates are humble. The most boastful of them all is Noynoy Aquino himself. He recently made a statement saying “If the counting of the votes is accurate, we will be victorious.” In short if I lose, they cheated is Mr Aquino’s position on the matter. If you think that is a demonstration of humility, you need to go back to your Sunday School.

Patricia Evangelista must have been kidding herself when she suggested that you need to be humble to be a good president. I say and many others agree that there is very little place for humility when you are applying for the top job in the land. Nobody and I mean, nobody, downplays their ability to get the job done when they are being interviewed by a prospective employer. In fact, some people even exaggerate their resumes just to get their foot in the door. Why would a presidential candidate like Dick start being “humble” now? Evangelista needs to get real.

Patricia Evangelista is trying to shoot the messenger instead of analysing the message. Dick Gordon has every reason to complain about how the Liberal Party is abusing the survey results conducted by polling firms owned and operated by family and friends of Noynoy Aquino. The speed with which the Inquirer.net publishes the results of the polls is quite suspicious. They also do not publish polls conducted by other polling firms to give their readers the freedom to analyse the data. Instead, they give their own interpretation and bombard people with messages that are really just different versions of “Noynoy is leading the polls.”

Patricia Evangelista is trying to cut an iconic man like Dick Gordon down to size. Dick Gordon is already an institution. He has done a lot for the country and Evangelista evidently knows it. Dick Gordon has never bullshited anyone in the past and he is not about to start now just to please people like Patricia Evangelista, someone who obviously doesn’t know what real politics is all about. Yes, Patricia Evangelista obviously doesn’t know how frustrating it is to deal with a biased media and an electorate who cannot think for themselves.

Filipinos like Patricia Evangelista will never understand why there is a need for someone like Dick Gordon to be frank. We here at AntiPinoy.com encounter a lot of people like her. A lot of people say the bloggers here are “mayabang” for writing about the dysfunction of Philippine society. Like Dick Gordon, we don’t care what people think because we don’t owe anyone for their patronage. Like Dick Gordon, we don’t practice false humility because false humility gets us none other than another hundred years or more of oppression by members of the oligarchy.

Filipinos like Patricia Evangelista will never get Dick Gordon’s style because they want to live in a dreamland where the Washington Post’s description of the Philippines is not the reality at hand. She doesn’t see a need for the way Dick Gordon speaks with urgency and without much ado about pleasantries. Yes, Dick Gordon feels the need to be stressed because this is how the international community sees the situation in our country:

Politicians who win election in this former U.S. colony have one of the worst records in Southeast Asia for stiffing the poor, coddling the rich and indulging themselves, according to a mountain of data and a chorus of economists.

Bad governance has gone hand in glove with rising crime, a surge in political killing, stagnant foreign investment, and a restless search by tens of thousands of doctors, nurses and other highly skilled Filipinos for opportunity outside their homeland. About 1.7 million Filipino immigrants now live in the United States, the second-largest immigrant group, after Mexicans.

A weak central government has also provided an opening for Islamist extremists operating in the southern Philippines, where for eight years U.S. Special Forces have been training the Philippine military in guerrilla tactics.

Perhaps people like Patricia Evangelista would rather sip her latte al fresco and chatter in hushed tones about their latest purchases from the mall while the poor people of the Philippines continue to suffer from the mediocre output of their politicians and the dumbed-down products sold to them by corporations who are members of the oligarchy of which Noynoy Aquino is blissfully a part of.

My dad recently sent me list of insults made by famous people who shaped the world. I have to say, people like Patricia Evangelista should read the following to get a better appreciation of just how badly the Filipino people need someone like Dick Gordon.

___________________________________________________________________________________________________

Some people think that Dick isn’t pro-poor. Some people think that Dick is anti-Filipino. It’s time we open our eyes and look around us. If you think the other candidates are more pro-poor than Dick Gordon who has served as governor for the Philippine Red Cross since so long ago, turned down a multi-million dollar job offer to serve as president and nurse a headache for the next six years, and wants the Filipinos to be disciplined, intelligent, and grounded on reality then I think we are just kidding ourselves.

If Dick is anti-Filipino just because of his stand on VFA and a host of other allegations they say we are forgetting, I suggest you watch more of his interviews. And I suggest we be grounded on reality. Major agreements, which could have been major mistakes by the people who signed them, cannot be disregarded easily. Like a contract that you think you cannot accomplish anymore and you decided not to enforce it, you still have obligations you have to pay for. Even if it was your grandfather who signed that contract from hell. Some decisions are hard decisions and we need a president who can make those hard decisions. VFA could not have been bad per se. (Forgive me on this, but I have not followed its story because I was a kid when the agreement was signed but I did my research) Filipinos have an inferiority complex sometimes, we fail to see our benefits in the deal. Abuse could happen yes, but that’s why we have to fine-tune, not throw everything to the bin right away. If we have a president who can ASSERT Philippines’ part of the pot, VFA is not the problem.

Have you ever heard of “All air, no force” –the line they keep using to describe our airforce? The Dick’s the only one of the presidentiables who has open eyes that sees this. We obviously need help. Not that the people who see this are pro-American. They’re just realistic. Inferiority complex can be manifested by constantly denying what is wrong with you. Gordon’s not pro-American, he even wanted to detain Daniel Smith in the Philippines. Gordon’s not pro-American just because he wanted to have some bilateral agreement. Singapore is not Singapore today if not for it being welcome to foreign investments. Foreigners are not bad altogether. Look at the countries who chose to drive away all of them, now they are rogue countries. They’re not even rich like that. And yes, some foreigners may be bad, like you know, Daniel Smith. (Ang konyo hahaha!) Again, that’s why we need a president who will secure our part of the deal.

Just to add, Gordon doesn’t put America in the pedestal just like some people think. Cooperation with other countries is good, it helps. But we have to have a frontman who can clearly say that Philippines may deal with you but we take no shit from anybody. FYI, here’s Gordon’s view on “help” from the outside (From PhilStar.com):

With which other countries should RP have closer military alliances?
Favors engagement with neighbors particularly the strong ones. Should not act like a petulant child.

=======

“Ako ay Pilipino, taas noo kahit kanino.”

I’m sure you’ve heard of that song if you are Filipino. Pilipino rin ako at handa akong makipagpatayan para sa Pilipinas. Alam kong kahit ganito ang Pilipinas, magagaling ang mga Pilipino.

Pero mas masarap magtaas ng noo kung nakikita ng ibang lahi kung bakit tayo nagtataas ng noo.

Mas masarap maging Pilipino kung hindi lang si Manny Pacquiao ang maipagmamalaki natin.

Mas masarap magtaas ng noo kung walang trilyun-trilyung utang ang Pilipinas na nakapatong sa ulo nating lahat, may utang ka na kahit di ka pa naipapanganak.

Mas masarap maging Pilipino kung walang patayan sa Hacienda Luisita, o wala na ang Hacienda Luisita.

Mas masarap maging Pilipino kung hindi tayo niloloko ng presidente nating tumanggap ng pera galing jueteng para sa “Erap Muslim Youth Foundation” kasi galing parin sa jueteng yun. Mas masarap maging Pilipino kung hindi tayo nagre-recycle ng pinatalsik na nga dahil hindi man siya korap, tanga naman.

Mas masarap maging Pilipino kung hindi tayo naglolokohan.

Masaya akong Pilipino ako dahil ang Pilipino di nawawalan ng pag-asa. Sana lang inilalagay natin ang “pag-asa” natin sa mga may magagawa talaga.

The real contest si Gordon vs. Gibo. Not Noynoy vs. Villar. If you think we are choosing the lesser of all evils, fine, think that way. But by saying that, you are acknowledging that Noynoy, Villar, Erap, Jamby, Bro. Eddie, JC Delos Reyes, and Nick Perlas are all worth shit. I don’t think so. And I do believe that Bro. Eddie, JC Delos Reyes, and Nick Perlas all have honest intentions of helping the country. (By leaving out others, I imply that I have arguments against voting for the others, but that is a whole new discussion.) I just also believe Gordon is our best bet, a presidentiable who has the goods to back his supposed “arrogance” up.

I’m voting for Bayani too, by the way. We need a tag team of Transformers. Blue and Pink like a footbridge.

Gordon’s Profile: PhilStar.com

Pretty cool huh?

But then again, when I heard the Gospel this evening, I thought, was that idea of shared existence really non-existent to the more Western cultures? Didn’t Jesus Christ tell us about loving our neighbors as ourselves? If you are to ask me, even if the West doesn’t really have that one single word in English (and if I’m right, neither in French, Spanish, or Portuguese) for the idea of kapwa, at least they know Jesus Christ? I hope they do. I mean, even if you’re not Christian, the teachings of Christ promote peace and unity (for most part, if you are Christian, for all parts) plus they make a lot of sense. Now don’t bombard me with your anti-religion comments, I ain’t talking about that anymore. Well, we can talk about that some other time.

ANYWAY, come to think of it, Jesus Christ lived in Israel, and Israel is still in West Asia. Not exactly America. Still WEST though. Why the distinction? Well, the kapwa concept is very collectivist, and Asians are very collectivist people, and I think that’s why that word exists in the Philippines. I have yet to find that one-word translation in a Western country language. I’m kind of almost concluding there’s none. But anyway, my point is, it’s hard to explain to a westerner the concept of kapwa because they don’t really have it in their culture. I’ve been told vignettes, anecdotes, and stuff about how westerners could reject the idea. I can’t explain to them why I feel so affected when they talk badly about Filipinos. They’d think you’re overreacting. (One professor of mine had a taste of that in person. I’ve experienced it but only in the cyberworld.)

So maybe, just maybe, that the West are familiar with the Christian faith, it isn’t that hard to explain anymore. I guess. The only problem is, not all of them believe. It’s sad (for me), but it’s okay. If you actually think of it in a more logical way, you could just take it as an explanation, you don’t have to believe it. But I dunno. If I explain to you that kapwa is like loving your neighbor as yourself and you don’t believe it’s true (the concept of kapwa), it’s like you’re not believing in chopsticks and sushi.

Sorry, I was writing down random thoughts because I might forget them. Maybe the “love your neighbor as yourself” is not the perfect explanation in English, but it’s the nearest explanation to shared existence. YOU = YOUR NEIGHBOR. Something like that. I know, there are big-time Psychologists who have explained this very thoroughly but I was just trying to find a common element. Something like “The Self in the Other” is kind of hard to digest to someone unfamiliar to the culture, right? Maybe I’ll work out a structure, maybe there’s a better way to explain it, but I guess I’ll leave it at that. For now.

After a few seconds of thinking, I remembered. That was the guy I had a huge crush on some semesters ago! We were classmates in creative writing class, but you know, it was a long time ago. But what really surprised me was the way he talked.

“E-WUHN KOH!” he said. He didn’t know, he said. In that way, yes, it sounded like he was gay. The next day, I asked my friend who was in his college if he was gay and she said he was!

O.M.G. What happened to him? The last time we met, he had just broken up with his girlfriend, looking to court another girl. Just imagine my surprise. The guy was a heartthrob too. My heart fell to the ground. Ouch. No, I was kidding. But still, as a girl, my initial thought was sayang or “what a waste!” But of course, for other gay men, that is a good thing. Good for them.

My thoughts wandered even more. I thought, the supply curve of available and able men just shifted to the left. Sad face. In fact, if you think about it, the demand curve for these men even shifted to the right! Sadder face.

Supply and Demand of Available and Able Men/ Women

I don’t really know but I just like to think of it this way. It is quite the same thing when it comes to the market of women right? Just the other side of the story. If we factor in women who prefer women, then the demand for men decreases. The question is, how big?

I need more research on this, like, statistics on how many men and women there are in the world. I dug up some statistics from my thesis data, and the proportion was mostly near half for most province. So biologically, the numbers are equal. I wonder if someday there will be statistics for gender and not just biological sex. I also wonder if it is politically correct to do it though. But anyway, this is the story of our lives. No matter how big the shifts of the curves, what is important is that you have the assets to acquire the man or woman.

In a Psychology class we were taught about a hypothesis about attraction. It says, it is like a market, and you bring your goods to the market. You find your partner when there is, a term we often use in Economics, “the double incidence of wants”. It’s like a barter, if you think about it. A man for a woman. Or, well, a man for another man (a woman for another woman). But if we want a “medium of exchange” or something to measure price, well, that points to good characteristics. Your level of physical attractiveness, your intelligence, your talents, they are like money. Some would prefer intelligence over physical attractiveness, and they have a certain “exchange rate”. It is a little hard to standardize though, because peoples’ exchange rates for these traits are not the same.

Okay, enough of the nerd talk. The point is, your market value must become higher to secure that you get your share from the scarce resource. Oh, sorry, can’t let go of the nerd talk.

Ah, that guy I had a crush on may now be on the demand side. But as a last resort, I don’t mind considering convincing him to come back to the supply side. Fine, there’s a lot of fish in the sea they say. But more and more people are saying the good men die young. No, kidding. More and more people are saying that the good men, if they’re not taken, they’re gay. At least the people around me, they say that.

Still points to one thing. Increase your market value. It’s not asking for you to change yourself, it’s just asking you to have enough goods to get your man. Maybe highlight the goods you’ve got, more like that. You’ll never know when you’ll find your great love. It’s going to be a sad moment when it’s right there and you didn’t save enough to get it.

So what is up Cyberworld? It’s April, just a few more weeks before we vote for our next president as a Filipino people. Have you done your research? Don’t just vote what your momma tells you. LOL, do your own analysis. I won’t mention who I’m supporting (because I’m doing enough of that in Twitter and Facebook, haha). But all I’m hoping you’d do is vote for someone you truly believe, not believe blindly.

Oh well, welcome me back. I’m thinking about new stuff to do for my blog readers again. Maybe bring back Tuesday Helpings, or the 10 Things lists. I’m gonna cook something up because I am SO back.

Smell ya later peeps!

And to those who said the petition wouldn’t work, well it didn’t. But it still did. We weren’t able to bring Alex Lambert back American Idol, but Simon Fuller did hear the fans out. Thank you Jessica Bongiorno for starting all of this. So now, we have more Alex Lambert to see!

He came in the If I Can Dream house. To tell the truth, I never knew about this series until news spread about Alex coming in. Good for the show, it meant more people watching. To tell the truth, this kind of platform was what fitted the type of artist Alex is. In fact it fits people like Lily Scott and Crystal Bowersox too. But Crystal handles Idol pressure very well, and she has a good chance of winning. Not just good, actually. With what’s left in the competition, I think only she, Big Mike, and Lee have a chance of getting on top.

ANYWAY. Congratulations again Lambertinis for making the noise heard and a big CONGRATULATIONS to Alex Lambert! Be a good boy. Lol. We all love you. We want to have more eargasms while hearing your songs. HAHAHA.

Have a solemn, contemplative and blessed Holy Week! God bless you all!

Follow this link:
BRING ALEX LAMBERT BACK

HERE, I’m reposting the petition letter:

Targeting: 19 Entertainment, The Ellen Degeneres Show, Fox.com , Freemantle Media, American Idol, and Ryan Seacrest
Started by: Jessica Bongiorno
Everyone -

I was contacted by a family member of Alex’s last night who is in total support of this petition… and rightfully so. However, after pointing out the time constraints of having song choice, rehearsal, and making sure this reaches the desks of those most important with enough TIME before Tuesdays show… I will press to have this seen by tonight and Sunday morning at the LATEST. That said, I’m setting the goal down to 7,500 for the sole reason being that I want it to go off with a bang, and with enough time to make a change. The fact that 5,000 signatures came in after just 24 HOURS, the original goal to begin with… is amazing and encouraging. Let’s do this now and get out 7,500 signatures AND MAKE A CHANGE!

Websites like votefortheworst.com are encouraging voters to do just that. Vote for the ones you’d never expect to make it through based on performance. Looking at a few people in the Top 12 that got in over who went home… we can see it worked. Alex was ROBBED, and even Idol knows it.
American Idol thrives off OUR voices, its the whole premise of the show. If they want the ratings to soar, bringing back Alex Lambert will undoubtedly do it.
Just imagine how memorable that episode will be, especially after knowing this all started with a simple signature. LETS DO THIS!

I am SO beyond proud. People like to talk and throw out ideas every second of every day, but if no action is taken, nothing happens. No contestant, elimination, or performance in Idol history has ever made me run to my laptop as fast as I did last night to create this, and I am SO glad that I did. Alex Lambert is what Idol USED to be about. TALENT. Finding someone we would never otherwise even know existed… taking them from singing in front of a mirror to singing in front of the world… THAT is American Idol. Getting rid of Alex was the worst decision ever made.

We WILL see him back on that show.

I have NO doubts at all.

Continue spreading the word!

And thank you, THANK YOU for all of your help!

-Jessica

And Alex if you read this… we adore you and we are not stopping! We all know you were wrongfully eliminated, you were what we loved tuning in for! And I know we can tune in again by bringing you back. Hopefully I’ll get to tell you that myself soon.

To the attention of Fox.com, 19Entertainment, and Fremantle Media:

Avid viewers of American Idol were in complete shock to see Alex Lambert voted off tonight. His voice is most importantly, different, and his simple raw talent was something that many chosen idol contestants… lack. America ABSOLUTELY voted wrong in this, and many, many loyal viewers have no desire to continue watching American Idol without seeing how far Alex Lambert could have, and should have gone. The signatures on this petition are not expected to be taken lightly, but instead, as a serious cause of action in bringing Alex Lambert back onto American Idol before the season ends.

In less than 2 hours of creating this, there were already over 400 signatures.
Alex Lambert was a trending topic on Twitter HOURS after the show ended, and STILL IS.
It’s clearly evident that he has a special gift that people want to continue to hear.

I’ve never seen such an uproar for ANY contestant to be put back in BEFORE even making it to top 12, until Alex. Quite frankly, this season of Idol has been a massive disappointment so far, and I’m sure that comes as no surprise to everyone running Idol.

Then, the one person who people tuned in to actually see, is now gone. After seeing the complete disgust in pure talent having to leave the show, loyal fans and viewers of AI have officially decided to turn off the tv when it comes to further watching.

There were 13 finalists last year in order to keep Anoop in.

DO IT AGAIN.

Sincerely,
Jessica Bongiorno
INCLUDING the undersigned. (Guess how many signatures there are. I know it’s Sunday and the petition must have been sent already but continue adding yours so they’ll continue seeing how many people are adding in their sigs.)

=====================================================================================

For that, I know, this is a very small thing to petition for while all there are more important issues to humanity. I get that. But go petition for those things too. In fact, for those things, don’t just petition (or “become a fan” in Facebook). Do something more tangible. ;D This “Bring Back Alex Lambert” thing may be small but let me tell you why I support it.

Alex Lambert is one of the surprisingly rising number of victims of Votefortheworst.com. Or even if he wasn’t, he represents a dream so many people want. And when you see someone like him who had a shot at that dream, one that he really deserves, put down in front of an international audience then what’s there to hope for? It might not work, I read Chris Daughtry was also petitioned for. I took two minutes of my time to vote because I wanted to show support. It doesn’t even matter if it works, it would be good if it does. In fact I believe Alex Lambert doesn’t even need American Idol. Thing is, he deserved a spot somewhere on that stage.

Look. The fact that Votefortheworst.com thinks Paige Miles and Tim Urban are the worst says a lot. (Ugh, maybe that obviously they believe Paige and Tim are the worst.) Alex Lambert and Tim Urban have the same dream, and one’s dream is as valid as the other’s. The only thing that should set them apart is their talent. Everybody can dream, but some are more capable of reaching them. So why should Votefortheworst.com meddle with these things? Let the ones who can, be.

And they may say that, why didn’t the petitioners vote for Alex if they actually believed he should be there? The answer? They vote for him, but the votingfortheworst phenomenon unfairly raises the votes to beat.

Well anyway. Fine, let’s say there will be no comeback for Alex. How many people are left to watch in AI? Count ‘em. Maybe let’s speed up the process and just leave 3 right now. But Top 3 is still a long way to go. AI will be losing audience along the way if there’d be only few there worth watching. Such a turnaround is not only in favor of Alex, the drama would save AI from the steep decline too. Hello, make AI’s possibly last season in dominance be a great one. Next year, they’re in so much trouble.

COME ON! Two minutes! Just let the world know you believe that a kid who dreams and deserves that dream should get it.

I’m not discussing this week’s performances anymore, but Alex Lambert did WELL. It’s just so premature to kick him out. In fact, I was hoping he’d stay until the finals! Come on!

I can’t even give a full length reaction to this. I’m just soooo sad. T-T

I loved Alex Lambert. I swear. From all the contestants this year, it’s true that when you close your eyes and they sing, it’s Alex that you’d recognize. I am so sad. This is the saddest I’ve ever been of an American Idol booting. Damn. This is sadder than Matt G being kicked out last year. Because at least the people moving on that time were good and it was already the Top 4. Damn. Damn.

I still love you Alex. You were so robbed. It’s like I don’t even want to watch AI anymore.

I had a nice day at school today. But this Alex thing just bugs me. Especially when Tim Urban and Aaron Kelly are actually safe. Damn. I’m just sooooo sad.

I LOVE YOU ALEX LAMBERT!!! Haha. And I’m gonna kick Tim Urban and Aaron Kelly’s asses when I get the chance.