.:Today's LSS:.

I love the message of this song. I guess I can just really relate to the song so much... heh.

If I Never Get To Heaven
by Javier

What does your love mean to me
it's something I can't answer easily
just like the air that I breathe
you fill me up inside, you give me all that I need
like a bird flying high on a summers day
you're the wind that carries me away
to a place where you and I will always stay forever

Chorus:
If I never get to heaven then at least I will have known
I had an angel to call my very own
and if this world should end tomorrow, this much I know is true
I have found my piece of heaven the day that I found you

Longer than poets will rhyme
my love will burn for you until the end of time
if I should die before tomorrow comes
I wont regret a single day, because I had your love
must be somethin in the way you say my name
it takes away my worries and my pain
I know we will make it through the rain together

(Chorus)

Like a river flows and a flower grows, my love for you will never fade
like the sun will rise in the morning sky you know I am here to stay forever

(Chorus)

Like a river flows and a flower grows, my love for you will never fade
like the sun will rise in the morning sky you know I am here to stay



.:Backlogged Suman:.

Last Monday, on my way home in a jeepney, I was trying to catch some shut-eye. I had a bad case of the flu, and I really needed a quick nap.

Next thing I knew, a couple in front of me had a cellphone snatched, and I wasn't able to do anything about it because I was just startled into waking up by the whole incident.

I couldn't help but blame myself for that. A part of me felt that the snatcher wouldn't even have tried stealing the phone if I were awake because not only did I have an umbrella, I was directly in front of the couple he snatched the phone from.

But my frustration over being unable to do anything about it was somewhat nullified by my annoyance over the guy up front who told the couple...

"Habulin niyo, gago!"

Oh, that's rich. That's so easy for you to say. Why don't you try to run after the bastich yourself and find out for yourself if that's the smartest thing to do? The snatcher was probably not alone, and had an icepick, according to the girl who owned the phone. Why don't you try running after him?

This whole situation threw me back to the notion of cynicism. Everyone is jaded by any effort to do something "noble", though I'd rather put it as doing something that is categorically imperative. I'm Kantian. This simply means that you don't act justly in order to achieve something else. You act justly for its own sake.

Cynicism is a bitter pill for me to swallow not because I'm an idealist, but I'm a realist. Cynics aren't necessarily realists. My whole stint as one told me that quite clearly. Truth be told, cynics can have about as skewed world-views as idealists can at times. We've heard those people already. Those who don't vote because it "won't solve anything". Considering there are thousands of people who think that way, you realize they could've "solved something" if they collectively stopped playing a game of "the sky is falling". People who say that Filipino film is so unoriginal and ghastly without even watching it. People who look at Filipino pride as nothing more than egotistic caprice.

And when someone would try to do something to prove cynics wrong, what happens? They get crucified for it. Address poverty, and you're told it's a futile effort. Address anything except poverty, and you get told to address the root problem: poverty. With what? Blog posts? That's awfully productive, you know. And like the cad in the front of that jeepney last Monday, it's easy for you to say. Why don't you do something about poverty, if you think that one's cause is so irrelevant? People have various causes to fight for. If everyone fought for the same cause, then there would be no due representation for all issues that need to be addressed. There is such a thing as Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs, and as such, various needs certainly have to be represented all the time. Otherwise, too many cooks will inevitably spoil the broth, especially when these so-called cooks don't even know what they're doing.

Let's look at things this way, dear cynic: not everyone is an economist. Not everyone is a Philanthropist. A writer is about as capable of solving the issues of poverty as Batman is capable of beating Superman without any prep time and no access to Kryptonite. It's so easy to dismiss an effort as being capricous, and it's so easy to suggest doing something more "worthwhile", but unless you yourself are doing the same thing, then there's no reason for the pot to call the kettle black. Maybe people would be more agreeable with you if you happened to be balancing the Philippine budget in your free time, but you're not. You're just there sitting in front of your computer, bashing those pathetic life forms you scoff at for being idealists. In the meantime, you, dear cynic, infinitely confident and secure about yourself, couldn't care any less about other people who actually benefit from the so-called idealists' efforts, and just continue to be a marvelous backseat driver. All in a day's work.

So where in heaven's name is Suman in all of this?

I find it ironic that cynics haven't tried bashing the Suman Sa Latik movement just yet. After all, couldn't all this creative energy of writing posts about a rice delicacy be diverted to be more productive... like... oh, I don't know... poverty?

I mean, other more "noble" causes have been dubbed whimsical and fanciful, and you can't get much more whimsical and fanciful than writing about Suman Sa Latik in prose or poetry, or making a comic strip out of it, with nothing to contribute to the betterment of the Filipino people.

I love writing for this webring, I really do. It just makes me feel amused and disappointed that while this goes on with as much frequency as Yan Ang Pinay, people are quick to dismiss something that is intended for something good as "capricious" while the Suman Sa Latik webring generates nothing but positive responses from half of the time, the very same people.

I guess cynics misplace their priorities, too.

Oh, well. ::opens another suman for a snack::

.:Gratitude:.

I guess I really have to be thankful for people in general. There's Jason, there's Mikko J, there's Clair, and there's Glenn, who have all helped me out one way or another with my new writing assignment for eyp.ph.

I also have to thank Pomelo for at least seeing my side of the story. She knows all I want to do is to make her happy...

Of course, a lot of thanks to Sacha for...

No, I'm NOT a geek!

... fixing my laptop.

I think it still has hardware issues, as it shuts off when it gets used for too long, but that's no longer something reformatting can settle. I still need Photoshop and a few other programs, but all in all, I'm good.

Last night at Sacha's place was fun, too. Clair and I finally got to bond after a while, but I think she was better off bonding with someone else at the time... nuninuninu... she already wrote about the whole thing well enough, so I can skip blogging about it.

I was a bit depressed today, but it's not too bad, really. I spent too much money on arcades again. I guess I'm just really in a funk lately with my gaming, plus I'm not too good with KOF Neowave just yet...