A lame attempt at being though-provoking:

What is silence?

Is it simply the absence of sound

or the pause in between?

Is it a break of utterance

or giving turn for your mind to speak?

Is silence:

emptiness,
a (0,0) on the Cartesian plane,

or overlooking the inaudible?

Is it the canvas or the paint?

Does it mean nothingness

or does it mean everything, infinity--the universe?

(If you think that I suck, express your hate by sending me ten packs of gummy worms. I assure you that my heart will be broken a million-fold)

On #SONA2013, Kate Middleton's labor and your right to complain

See what I did there? I used a hashtag on my blogtitle. Cool huh? Nope? Ok :/

PNOY delivered his fourth State of the Nation Address just a couple of hours ago and good lord was that a snoozefest. I'm not sure if it's because of the nappy time of the day (4pm) or is it because listening to some politician (whom I no longer believe in) sing-song a speech for two hours or more, got me snorring half-way through. I just remember waking up to the noise of my grandma's evening drama thinking that I probably didn't miss anything much. 

Beforehand, I was pretty sure that he wouldn't even mention things that I, along with many others, wanted to hear about. He didn't even talk about FOI, upholding the RH Law or fixing the stupid public education system in our country.  So when I checked the 'net for a gist of his SONA, I found out that I was right. Yes, he did mention about education but all he did was praise Bro. Armin Luistro for his work--which I believe is not enough (I am a Lasallian, so you can see that I'm totally disregarding my conflict of interest). He also talked briefly about having 6 out of 10 TESDA graduates get jobs right away, but to me it's 6 jobs too few. Also, are those jobs affording them comfortable lives, or are they just making do by being minimum wage contractual workers? The rest of his speech was just a long babble of things that are raging from praising his mediocre work as a president and the rest of his administration, presenting governmental projects that must've been done years back and doing lip-service for the rest of his constituents. I am not impressed.

However, let's focus now on a more important matter: KATE MIDDLETON IS IN LABOR!!!!!1!! OMG ROYAL BABYYYY!!!!! SO EXCITED *heart heart heart*

Ok, I couldn't care any less, actually. The rest of my generation are much more into it, though. You see, my dear fellow Filipino youth, there are things that are more of value than some famous person push another future famous person out of her vaginal cavity. Yes, it's very exciting to talk about it and be obsessed, but doing it at the expense of consciously being blind and deaf about local political issues is not changing our situation at all. Fine, I know that it seems hypocritical to hear it from someone who fell asleep during the President's SONA but, in my defense,  I didn't do it voluntarily.

To put it bluntly, the reason why TRAPOs and BIMPOs rule over our beloved motherland is because of people like you. Not caring gives them a free pass to do their shit behind our backs. Not voicing out your distastes in a constructive manner is doing much worse--they think that you're affirming that what they're doing is alright. But worst of all, rolling your eyes at the people who actively do so is a clear sign of you not reexamining your privileges. People organize themselves and protest at Mendiola because they want a better country not just for themselves, but also for YOU. They are rowdy because that's the only way to be heard. No wonder, the protests were only allowed 7.8 km away from Batasan so Noynoy can be drowned with the sound of 88 applauses and not by the screams of anger by the rallyists. 

UN declared that Freedom of Speech is a universal human right, and part of it is allowing you to complain and complain and complain and complain and complain--so take advantage of that. If women suffragists did not complain about not having the right to vote, then it wouldn't be handed to them. Why? Because the people in power wouldn't find out what's wrong (since, ya know they are all calloused evil beings in the first place).

And remember my pro-tip: complain wisely, always. 

Welcome back

I've been tossing the idea of starting a new blog for quite some time now, and I guess this is step one.

I rediscovered this ol' blog of mine when I was thinking of a name for it and came up dry. I wasn't supposed to remember making this since I barely used it before, but my neurons pulsated with the memory that I had this corner of cyberspace riddled with dust and cobwebs. I read and cringed at the content that I posted. I was even a bit embarrassed to show it to my boyfriend at first but after a few screenies, he managed to find it on Google. Watta detective ugh.   

It has been 5 years since.

I was fourteen then. 

I was in 2nd year high school (methinks) when this blog came along.  It was 2008 when there was news that China was exporting formula milk with, you've guessed it, melamine; hence, the name. Until now, I think that choice was clever, so now I'm sticking with it. But now I've reaffirmed the universal law of adolescence: that no matter what you do before you're 18,  you'll feel cool and brainy at the moment and realize how much of a wimp you are years later. Just like any abashed early adult, I've deleted all the icky stupid ones and kept the witty brainy ones that I think are ok to somewhat represent who I am now.

Now, I'm 19. I'm in college already and I think that I've matured quite a bit. My opinions have evolved.  My likes and dislikes somewhat differ from those that I did years back. Life had armed me with an array of experiences that separates me from being Toney-the-self-important-fourteen-year-old and Toney-the-snarky-nineteen-year-old. 

So, to everyone that had ended up here (yes, all three of you whom I sent links to), welcome back. I bet most (all?) of you didn't even know that this gunk existed in the first place and that's fine. This blog is like a second cousin you've "met" when you were just three months old and moved to Antartica and came back just a week ago telling you how much she missed you and can't wait to catch up again and you have no idea who the flipping hell she was. 

Unlike the common blog themes of people my age, this wouldn't be a fashion blog LOL. I intend this to be a documentation of my constant ramblings about the world surrounding me and the advocacies, movements and everything else in between that I'm passionate about. So inshort, I'd be offering the world my two cents. Nothing special. But I guess I'll be making sure to keep it worthwhile and fun. Even if I've grown up, I don't think that I've lost my humor yet, ya know. 

Well, we'll see...

Toney.