Today was a day of many disappointments with the country and with the human race.

Today I learned about crush videos and what some people find pleasurable. If you don’t know what crush videos are, these are videos featuring more often than not scantily-clad women in sharp high heels crushing and torturing animals to death. It wasn’t a pretty picture and I couldn’t believe that people actually did that and enjoyed it. I decided not to watch the video of a group of girls sitting on a rabbit, cutting off rabbits’ ears and stepping on rabbits with their heels. I couldn’t even look at all the thumbnails. It’s just sick.

Today I heard the boyfriend retell witnessing a guy manhandling his girlfriend at the MRT station as they were walking out. He even slapped her.

Today I experienced so many jeeps stopping at places they shouldn’t be stopping at just because they want passengers, causing traffic (and I know in some cases, accidents).

Today I remembered how taxi drivers in our country sometimes refuse to take passengers just because they feel the destination isn’t worth the money they’re going to get. In some other countries, refusing a passenger is prohibited. Is it in our country? If it is then it’s certainly not being implemented well.

Today I feel crummy and sad at the state of our nation and at the state of humankind. It’s fairly easy to be bad but it takes a lot of effort to be good and maybe that’s why some people just choose to be bad. It’s easier.

But why do we have to choose the easy route? We don’t. We have the choice to be better and to inspire others to be better. We can just as easily take pleasure in helping in whatever way we can to make the world right. And it all starts with something simple: respect. Respect for anyone, anything and everything. Even the smallest of creatures. When we remember to do right, when we choose to do right, soon enough it’ll come easier because it’ll become our natural tendency.

I could really just be typing all of this to make myself feel better and to remind myself that despite all the bad things in the world, good still remains, but I’ll take that hope and faith in good in whatever form I can any day.

(Source: lorraelena)

Yesterday, the boyfriend re-told a story that I just found ironically funny but sad at the same time.

About a year ago, he set up a DeviantART account to post chibi fanart of mostly comics characters. A few months later, a kid who was proclaiming himself an artist wanted to meet up to ask for work. He was referred by a good comics writer friend who, unfortunately did not take a look at this kid’s work.

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Let me just open this blog post with a disclaimer that I don’t think everyone is like this and that these are observations based on a few people I’ve come to know over the years.

The boyfriend and I were talking about how it’s easy to get a following these days because of online platforms such as Tumblr and Twitter. It’s also really easy to showcase your talents and skills because of the same reason and because many have achieved success early in their lives this way, some tend to relish in the comfort of their success and stay there. This is something that we’ve observed in a lot of young people today.

The relishing part isn’t a big problem because you should be proud of your successes because that means you’re able to communicate and relate to other people, that there are people (other than your mother and father) who think what you’re sharing is beautiful, but it’s the staying in that comfort zone that creates a problem.

Whether it’s because of pride and ego or fear, some people just don’t take enough risks any more. Is it because you think you’ve already developed all the skills you’ll ever need? Is it because you feel that you’re already successful anyway so it doesn’t matter whether you learn more or not? Is it because you’re scared that if you push it too hard, people won’t like your stuff anymore?

Risking doesn’t mean that you’ll have to endanger your life because it can be as simple as saying something more with your chosen medium of expression than you already are. Tell a story with pictures, be passionate with words, be open to different methods (especially the atypical ones), surprise people. Don’t be afraid to push the envelope, learn something new, think outside the box and just challenge yourself.

We can always make excuses of how hard it is to do all of these things, that these are easier said than done but why can’t we even just try to do it?

“You’re only as good as your last creation.”

I think that’s something that all artists need to think about.

I’m really excited to meet this year’s batch of InTACT freshmen. Until now, I still don’t know how to properly explain what InTACT is to non-Ateneans but I’m hoping, that this year, I find my own explanation for it.

My first batch will always be special to me because they’re always going to be my first but I didn’t really feel that I was very good at what I was doing or very good at making a connection. I’m actually worried that I won’t be able to do a good job at making a connection again this year because the courses of the blocks that I’ll be handling this year are quite badass: BS CH-MSE (Chemistry and Materials Science Engineering), BS CS (Computer Science) and BS COE (Computer Engineering). These are courses that I never even looked at when I was applying for the ACET.

But, like with every new thing that happens to me, there’s an equal amount of happy excitement mixed in with nervous butterflies in my stomach. I’m going to cling on to the excitement to help me make this fresh opportunity to make new friends. I’m also hoping that I do a good job this year, that even if I don’t make such a difference in their lives, I’d still leave a positive mark at the very least.

One more week!

(Source: lorraelena)

Maybe the reason why Tumblr decided not to place follower count and messages on the front page of the dash is so some people stop obsessing over getting their numbers up. That’s not the point of having a blog, right? Sure, we blog because we want to reach out and interact with people but it’s also to express ourselves.

It’s the same with teaching. Some teachers teach because they want to be liked and they want to form a cult of personality around them. They want followers. Some teachers teach because it’s just wonderful to share information and perpetually learn from and grow with people of different age groups. I’d go with the latter.

The boyfriend and I were talking about this yesterday and we both agree that despite the dirty politics in schools among faculty and administration and the seemingly endless campaign some teachers do to gain friendships with students, we will not feel lost or like outcasts in the system. We’re not in the educational system because we want to be liked. We’re not in the educational system to gain friends (but the accidental occurrence of such happening is always welcome). We’re not in the educational system to lose sight of our voice and of our main priority. Our voice is what we wish to share to our main priority which is the student body.

I’m glad Tumblr changed their dashboard layout. I like that it’s become more tedious to keep checking up on your numbers. I’m glad that the only time I’ll have to see messages is when someone actually sends me one.

I really like the iconic menu on top. And look at what they’ve decided to leave on the front page. It’s really all about you, the user, the blogger.

It’s the list of people you follow, it’s the posts you like and it’s the tags that lead you to posts that you might like. Sure, the tags can be much smaller in terms of font size but I think Tumblr has taken a big leap into making sure that the user experience is centered on the user and I’m glad that I’m a part of this blogging platform that thinks of the user as its main priority.

And to students, I wish that all of your teachers regard you as theirs.

Just because you don’t have the degree, that doesn’t mean you can’t be a brilliant practitioner. I believe that your work still speaks more than your grades.

For me, the main reason why it’s important to go to school and get a degree is that you are (ideally) more prepared when you get into the real world.

That’s why it occupies only a small percentage of your lifespan. It’s what you do for the rest of your life with what you learned and have that counts so make it count.

Don’t listen to people who have degrees of what they’re currently practicing when they’re telling you that you can’t just because you don’t have the background they do. Just think about it, you can be better than them even without the degree and maybe that’s why they’re trying to put you down.

It would be nice if you don’t say anything at all than offer to help and extend kindness only to never follow it up with actions.

I’ve seen this a lot in the past few months, how people excitedly talk to you when they want something and when it’s your turn to ask for a favor, they say yes but you never actually see them doing what they promised you they’d do.

Add to this the people who are suddenly so friendly when they need something but when it’s just a normal day, they don’t even say hi.

Is this insincerity or is it selfishness? What is it? I’m not sure but I feel that a lot of the people I’ve met lately are, although not quite fakes, concerned about public reputation so much that they can be nice when there are other people around but aren’t as nice when it’s just between the two of us.