Ways of Expression on Valentine’s: The Greeting Card

You might say that a simple greeting card would not be sufficient for expressing your feelings on Valentine’s day. The thing is, most of us have become invaded by high levels of consumerism. Most of us have to follow the latest trends to catch the attention of your crush or loved one. In fact, that perception is wrong. It’s not the “catch-his/her-attention” objective but simply just say how you feel. One must not aim to immediately catch the person’s attention. However, since this is how most of us look at Love season, we ought to get the things that will make the person “happy” and “like you” for that, which if I am to be honest, kind of superficial.

 

So let’s remove all of the cheesiest ways of trying to express your feelings. Let’s go to one of the simplest ways of expression: a Greeting/Valentine’s card. Now some say this is not so-called an “effective” way to catch a person’s heart. I strongly disagree. This is one of the best methods to catch someone’s heart. But first, let me say the reasons why it isn’t an effective way.

 

In this modern world where superficiality is very obvious as well as consumerism, a greeting card is not effective simply because it is considered to be a way with not much effort put into it. In other words, when you talk about “effort”, it is closely related so how much you spend on a gift or treat. Now, I am not saying that to express love, you cannot use expensive methods. Everyone has their own style but sometimes, when others see that buying expensive stuff became effective, they think it’ll be effective to them as well. And what do they end up with is a big bill for buying an iPod and lost hopes. Anyone can trick you these days. 😀 So going back to the card, some will say it lacks effort. The perception of people when it comes to letting others express their feelings have changed throughout the years because of the modern technology. So for instance, a girl will laugh at a guy who expresses his feelings for the girl through the card because the message could be cheesy as well as the card can be cheap for the girl. Which means it also boils down to the person and how that person looks at people around her. That’s why there are a lot of unsuccessful relationships because most of us fail to looks at these things which we thought would be nice because of the trends but actually isn’t nice because everything it promotes is quite shallow.

So how did the card made it? One, if the person to receive the card is in his/her right perception, a card would be the simplest but meaningful way of expression. No materialistic attachment which means that the efforts pushed isn’t accompanied by the consumerism and in short, it isn’t shallow or superficial. In a card, you can get various artistic ways to write how you feel. It doesn’t require much money, just a small damage to your daily allowance. And as mentioned above, if the person is in his/her right mind, a card should be deeply appreciated. It is a very intimate and close way to tell that person that you like her. You cannot easily express how the person acts and looks through an expensive dinner or a laptop, phone or any gadget. If you write, that alone is a ton of effort, a ton of bravery and a ton of intimate expression. A card alone can set off a series of quality time with that person.

[You mentioned dinner..isn’t that quality time?] Well eating outside is still within the bounds of consumerism. Most of us treat our loved ones outside probably just impress them. In the cases of those who just eat outside on cheaper places, such as fastfoods, those are just fine. That’s why I mentioned “expensive” beside dinner. 😀 A small meal outside isn’t bad but if your intention is simply to impress then that isn’t quality time.

Some say that cards aren’t good because they don’t last. Some gets thrown away and color fades after being read. My defense? that’s actually the point. Cards are never meant to last. What is meant to last is the message inside. You don’t keep the card, you keep what the person said in the card. It will fade through time, the inks, writings and images but what a card wants you to know is what the other person wants you to know. For the card, it is fine if it gets forgotten as long as the message is burned into your heart. That is the aim of the card. It sort of considers itself simply as a medium. Eventually it’ll be gone but with the hopes that its aim, to deliver what the sender wants to say, is fulfilled.

 

So don’t put out your bet on simple things such as these. It does pack the punch once it is prepared with the right ingredients. 😀

 

 

Any comments? 😀 Feel free to write down. 😀

 

iPod Touch 4th Gen, Camera and Lomo

I’ve been fiddling with my iPod’s camera and to be honest, I am not that satisfied with it but at least you can still use it on immediate moments as well as capturing motion picture with its good HD vid recording. To make the stills-capturing interesting, I browsed for apps that can make the shooting really pleasing. So I got some apps that can do photo editing on the spot. I also love Lomo-cams, though I haven’t fiddled with the real one, but I saw some Lomo-shots and it looked creative. I got one that does Lomo effects:

From our excursion in Tagaytay, the image was simply taken beside Taal volcano and had the Lomo effect. It looks nice despite the blur or grainy image.

Tagaytay Excursion

It’s been a while since I’ve gone out of Manila at be at rest with the Lord, despite the hell week coming. Lauan, the university center that takes care of my spiritual formation, invited me to go with them on an excursion. At first, I though this would be a very spiritual trip, something like a retreat. However, it opened a good time for me to rest and gain energy for the coming week. And, come on, it’s Tagaytay! It was my first time to go to Tagaytay during night time wherein mists are like drizzles and my hands cannot tolerate the cold. 😀 It was a nice excursion and I hope I will still be able to come. I should save up a lot so that I don’t have to bother my mom for money. 😀

iPod touch’s retina display

I am still amazed by the iPod’s resolution. It’s so nice. 😀 Even at this screenshot, the image is very crisp.

iPod touch 4th Gen Long term test

Since I am not an iPod person, I’ll blog here my impressions on my iPod as it spends its life with me. So far, as music is concerned, it is running well and no questions about it. It’s been running fine and no errors in the OS have been spotted. Though I have one concern as it heats up at certain points. I read some questions about it on the internet and it says that the heat produced was due to the location of the processor. They say it’s the processor that’s producing the heat. Oh well, I am concerned about since there are issues regarding it’s safety involving heat and fire during it’s first release together with iPhone. 😀

The iPod touch and others

Honestly, I am not a fan of Apple products. I don’t like the iTunes munching up my computer’s resources when it’s open. I don’t like the complicated synchronization sequence of its devices to Windows PCs and I hate their pursuit to being unique. That’s why I’ve always been shouting at everyone that Apple products are basically the electronics world’s fashion item manufacturer. If there’s one thing that I like about Apple, that would be their music playing device lineup, iPod. It’s been a successful product no matter how many its requirements for non-Mac computers. I admit, I do hate the iTunes installation but I guess I can’t do anything about it.

So after decades of saving up money, I finally decided to get this iPod touch of mine. It’s currently running on the new iOS 4.2 (whatever that is), and it has a capacity of 8GB (though the firmware says 6. ) I need iTunes to put music on it and get my epic movies be played on its “retina display” which in few words, just a typical screen with doubled number of pixels. 😀 I do like the screen’s effect now as it is more crisp than the previous ones. The model I have also boasts two cameras, one at the front and one at the back, both can take pictures and record high definition videos. There are other features but those are software-wise and I did not fiddle with it much since I bought it for my music playing purposes. I was about to jailbreak this device but I guess I’ll just wait for the warranty to end so that the jailbreaking would be guilt-free.

It took a long time to buy this iPod. I decided to get one, with the help of my mom, December last year but this is the only time I got the music player. The reason was the place where to get one at a good price. Since Apple is quite an established company, all their products should, ideally, be purchased at their own stores or authorizes reseller. We do have here at school an authorized reseller and even offer discounts for the students. So I decided to see whether I can get one here, since it’s reliable. To see the extent of the advantage, a factory priced iPod touch 8GB which can be purchased in Power MAC Store, iStudio, digitalhub and so on, costs 12K++ Php (12490 Php for the one in digitalhub). Here in our school, you can get as much as 2K Php discount, which brings down the cost to 10,635 Php. 😀 Sounds nice! However, since the store here is just a reseller, the deliver of stocks takes too long. It gets worse as I am buying in the month of January, which is the month after December which is shopping day. Annoyingly, a lot of people have reserved majority of the 8GB and 32GB units that until now, they are not accepting any reservations for those models. And you end up disappointed. >:E Plan B? We went back to gadget central Greenhills and went to one one of the authorized resellers and…guess what? We got the iPod touch 8GB for 10,500 Php. 😀 A significant ~100 less than the discounted price at our store. So, not only I have an iPod now, I have the iPod from an authorized reseller and at a cheaper price that the discounted one at our school. 😀 How cool is that?:D

So far I am coping well with this “foreign” device and even if it impresses me a lot, it won’t convince me that the rest of its family will be a good match for what I need. 😀 But, this device, the iPod touch is still a great wonder. 😀 It really hit the spot.

 

Thanks to Mom, for giving financial assistance. 😀 Though it really bothers me for disturbing her for this. 😀 Oh well, I’ll just study harder. 😀

So Where Did That “Kuya Pau” Come From?

It all started when I entered Quezon City Science High School and of course, after all girls and boys asked each other of their ages. 😀 So people knew my age and that was it. If I am honest, I did not really like high school very much that’s why that term kuya really did not take its true meaning during that time. Although some really made me feel “kuya” during high school and they became the closest friends I’ve ever had. Since then, I go out with those friends, have a coffee at starbucks, watch a movie and eat dinner and sometimes going out to parties, even if I don’t want such environment. However, we are so far apart that we rarely see each other for the past 3 years. Though that meant that every meeting would be very memorable and meaningful.

So then I entered college and at first, just like in high school, the kuya effect didn’t take place. But during the last few months of first year, I became close enough to some friends that the kuya effect came again. Then as I progressed to second  year, more and more friends came in and recognized me as a real kuya, especially in the university service for registration I entered. That’s the very peak of the kuya effect. Though I don’t want to assume things but it is really them that makes me feel well despite the introvert characteristic of mine. Although sometimes, it seems that the term kuya goes in conflict with building “closer” relationships but I really don’t mind as of this moment. I think I want to focus more on my studies but of course, I am not saying that I am not open to that as of now. I want to know more friends because for me, friends teach you how to act to a certain crowd or group of people. They tell you if you are doing well or not with other peeps around. They try to correct you at times, enjoy time with you, give you advices as well even if I am considered to be the one more mature.

It’s a love-hate situation for me because I also encounter embarrassing and disappointing moments of being an older and supposedly mature person. Not all people now, since this is college, look at me the way I used to be. Some people immediately judge you. But it is part of living this life, to encouter ups and downs at the same time. Somtimes, because of too much disappointment, I do turn around and be silent the next time people see me. I sometimes tend to be not cautious of people around which makes me soooo selfish. I want to change that attitude of mine.

 

That is why I am so thankful to those who treat me as a “kuya” not only because of my age but also because they knew I can really be a kuya to them and to everybody else. That trust cannot be matched by any trust I can give to anyone as the trust that the people who call me kuya is so much more that I could think of and so big that turning back would be a very stupid decision. I thank you for the love that you guys give and I appreciate it so much. It makes me feel that my presence is not a mere ghost that cannot be seen at times.

 

Thank You

Summer Wars

It’s been a while since I’ve watched any anime so when I got to watch this film, I was so amazed by improvement of animation from Japan and also the story.

Summer wars is about a high school student, Kenji who went to a small vacation with his senior, Natsuki on her ancestral home in Ueda wherein Kenji had to pretend Natsuki’s boyfriend for a certain time. During his stay in Natsuki’s place, the social network where he is into, OZ, suddenly came into a bizarre mess due to a release of a hacking A.I., completely bringing the whole world into a big confusion and problems. With Natsuki’s family and his epic skills in Mathematics, Kenji battles on with this A.I. together with his friend to bring the world back into order and also save Natsuki’s family from deep danger.

This film brilliantly blends the futuristic era with Japanese family values. Debates are very apparent in the film on which to prioritize, saving other people’s lives due to the disorder or the family’s safety. Cooperation also plays a good part in the film with the desire to bring everything back into place after the chaos. Social networking is shown as good and bad as it can be a great way of accessing things but also deals a great blow within its connections once the links are exploited and misused for malicious intent.

The animation is brilliant and the storyline was fantastic. Everything is also accurate such as the brands present in the film. No brand was changed into a same-looking alternative. The accuracy is also present with the whole setting such as the whole ancestral home is actually existing. Although the animation drawing may not be as good as the animation of series with all 3D rendering included (Initial D, Gundam Unicorn) it is still not bad seeing the detail created with bare hands. Although there are digital parts at some points but those are just minor parts included compared to the 3D frame method of animation. The storyline includes seriousness because of world and family issues but at the same time it has humour that will change the mood of the story to avoid boredom in the story.

The animation is worth watching because of the story. The values that are present will show how important family safety but at the same time how important the lives of other people and how much should we be concerned about it. How should we help others with skills at hand, how to make decisions that will save people on the spot of seconds-away danger. This is an excellent film and should-watch one.

New Header for the New Year!

I’m starting to become a fan of simplicity for the past year and I think, this year, my header became simpler compared to the last header. No more fancy car silhouettes and other photoshop trickery. Used a portion of of an image, made it a background within my blog’s name and the same set of words in regular and bold font sections and simple plain-color changes. The reason is that I am starting to become more interested in other things, not just cars and my hobbies(which is still related to cars in a way).  So here you go, new header, new year, new life~! 😀

Relationship dilemma

I’ve read some blogs, heard some stories and it seems that most of the time, the women are the ones working hard to maintain a relationship.

I mean, how bad is this?! I hate this.

 

A friend of mine, while having a conversation about relationships, particularly me having a girlfriend, said “..kung maging kayo man, mas magtatrabaho yung girl sa pagmaintain ng relationship niyo…” and I asked how’s that possible and she said personal experience.

It is always considered that women are maturing earlier than men. But if you’re a man and will enter a relationship, it’s a #$%^&*!! decision to enter a relationship without any thinking or simply not being mature. Oh, and I am not saying this one for the sake of showing that men are/should be more responsible because they are just higher than women. That’s too sexist. What I am trying to show here is that men are becoming more incapable of handling relationships that most of the time, the women are suffering more because they are the ones working hard to maintain the relationship. Probably because of the feelings they flow in and the “caring” characteristics but isn’t it that men should reciprocate that?

I read some people’s blogs, well of course women’s blogs, and found that claim of my friend was somewhat true. Her story was also a big proof of her claim. At first I was not convinced until she said “personal experience.” and I looked back to her relationship with her boyfriend now, and told myself “Oo nga ‘no….”.

No wonder a lot of women are becoming too emotional these days and most of them are becoming more distorted because of the permanent damage that immature relationships bring to them.

I am not saying here, as well, that men are the only ones at fault. Women are sometimes to blame too but if you look at the overall casualties, it is always the women who are at disadvantage.

 

I just hate it.