Two Cents
Just to let you know, I’m a very opinionated person. I always have something to say, always ready with a snide remark, always sparing my two cents. I can relate with Two-Bit Mathews of
The Outsiders (S.E. Hinton): even if nobody asks me so, I always have this nagging need to express something, to agree or contradict. Sometimes I annoy a lot of people already; sometimes I can be very sarcastic and insensitive. But I’d rather speak out than keep mum and kill myself in the process.
Anyway, there are some issues in our country right now, issues that are sometimes so petty they’re already
exasperating, that I’d like to talk about. And me being me, and my blog being my little blog, let me share to you what I think about them. (I can feel somebody’s gonna hit exit now.)
The ‘Amalayer’ Issue. So a week ago, this video of a student raising her voice to a lady guard in a train station went viral and even got in the news. I haven’t the whole and true story because when I ask people about it, the information gets all distorted and I don’t know what to believe in anymore. I didn’t even watch the whole video since I’ve seen the most of it in the national news. So this student got all hot with the authority because of an “assault” done with her. She raised her voice, loud enough for the passers-by to listen in, while talking to the guard. She was notoriously called “The Amalayer Girl” since she apparently pronounced “I’m a liar?” as “Amalayer?” People got all bothered and annoyed with her for degrading the guard’s educational attainment and social status. And then she became a big topic all over the Internet like she’d bomb another tower like Bin Laden; her video went viral like it’s “Gangnam Style”.
I don’t know the whole story. I don’t know who assaulted who, who degraded who, who first raised their voice – I didn’t give a
damn. And I don’t have to know everything because I don’t care what they really did. What bothers me the most are the
insults this helpless student gets from people she doesn’t even know. It’s annoying. She gets all this bitch-please remarks, and she can’t do anything about it because it’s like facing tons of bulls in one game;
one versus
everyone is the rule.
It’s embarrassing, really. It’s embarrassing to be a human being when your fellow human beings act all superior and clean like they’re saints and heal people from their illnesses. I know what this student did was wrong – and I believe the guard also did something wrong in some ways – but who the fuck cares?
I don’t. Do you? Do you have enough time for this big life purpose of yours? Don’t you have homework to do? Don’t you have a job? She’s just a
girl, a girl who lost control of herself in the wrong place at the wrong time. And if you think about it, each one of us has – directly or indirectly – done the same thing, and, lucky us, nobody cared to take a video of our deed. Don’t judge her because 1) you don’t know her; 2) she may be having a bad day that day, 3) you’re not the most important person in the world as far as I know; and 4) you seriously
don’t fuckin’ know her. So let’s just leave her and let her resolve this mess alone. Don’t add fuel to the fire – nobody’s gonna roast marshmallows in it. And for all I know she doesn’t care what you damn say. Insulting her doesn’t make you
better than her. You’re hurting her feelings and humiliating her and maybe ruining her chance in life, and I’m sure you don’t mean to do that, but you are. Let’s get a life, shall we?
The Sotto-copy Issue. This particular issue really gets on my nerves. I’m not really a legitimate writer (yet), but I’m passionate enough about writing to have a say about this. Truth be told, I admire Senator Vicente Sotto. He’s cool and helpful and funny and his mustache is phenomenal, but what he did lately might have affected my admiration for him for a bit. As far as I know, intellectual property issues are a hell of a mess to get one’s self into. We are talking about
brains here. What Sen. Sotto did was illegal if you check the constitution. Yes, we can borrow some lines from authors or speakers or anybody from time to time, but that’s why it’s called “borrowing” and
not “taking” – we don’t have the right to own it. It’s okay to use some portions of Sen. Kennedy’s or someone’s speech or composition. Where he got it wrong was that he didn’t give
credit to the respective writers. And what’s worse is that, in some time before this issue exploded, he somewhat
denied his plagiarism. No, Sir.
No. That was just bad.
It’s disheartening when you write something you take pride in and then somebody would copy-paste it and not give you credit. It happened to me before, and it didn’t feel good on my part. I wanted to punch this person and holler to the whole stark world that
I was the one who wrote it, but I let it passed because I was young and it was pathetic anyway. So I think Sen. Sotto should’ve credited them or added footnotes or whatever to his Reproductive Health Bill speech. He should’ve said something like, “Take what Sen. Kennedy said in his speech…” or “I agree with what the blogger, (insert name), had written…” That’s not so hard, right? And please, Sir, don’t ever say something about how a blogger is just a blogger anyway again, because you may never know, the next great explorer or the first President of the Universe may be a blogger. So please don’t “just” us; there’s scary power in words. (I’m not trying to threaten you or impose something evil or anything… but really, there
is power in words. Dr. Jose Rizal said so.)
I’m aware that some of you may disagree with my opinions, and that’s okay with me. I respect you and whatever’s inside your brain – that’s you, and people like you that way, so who am I to change what you are? I hope we – and the student in the video and Sen. Sotto – can live in peace now. Let’s have butterbeer some time, okay?
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a woeful & chaotic diary since 071409
Two Cents
Just to let you know, I’m a very opinionated person. I always have something to say, always ready with a snide remark, always sparing my two cents. I can relate with Two-Bit Mathews of
The Outsiders (S.E. Hinton): even if nobody asks me so, I always have this nagging need to express something, to agree or contradict. Sometimes I annoy a lot of people already; sometimes I can be very sarcastic and insensitive. But I’d rather speak out than keep mum and kill myself in the process.
Anyway, there are some issues in our country right now, issues that are sometimes so petty they’re already
exasperating, that I’d like to talk about. And me being me, and my blog being my little blog, let me share to you what I think about them. (I can feel somebody’s gonna hit exit now.)
The ‘Amalayer’ Issue. So a week ago, this video of a student raising her voice to a lady guard in a train station went viral and even got in the news. I haven’t the whole and true story because when I ask people about it, the information gets all distorted and I don’t know what to believe in anymore. I didn’t even watch the whole video since I’ve seen the most of it in the national news. So this student got all hot with the authority because of an “assault” done with her. She raised her voice, loud enough for the passers-by to listen in, while talking to the guard. She was notoriously called “The Amalayer Girl” since she apparently pronounced “I’m a liar?” as “Amalayer?” People got all bothered and annoyed with her for degrading the guard’s educational attainment and social status. And then she became a big topic all over the Internet like she’d bomb another tower like Bin Laden; her video went viral like it’s “Gangnam Style”.
I don’t know the whole story. I don’t know who assaulted who, who degraded who, who first raised their voice – I didn’t give a
damn. And I don’t have to know everything because I don’t care what they really did. What bothers me the most are the
insults this helpless student gets from people she doesn’t even know. It’s annoying. She gets all this bitch-please remarks, and she can’t do anything about it because it’s like facing tons of bulls in one game;
one versus
everyone is the rule.
It’s embarrassing, really. It’s embarrassing to be a human being when your fellow human beings act all superior and clean like they’re saints and heal people from their illnesses. I know what this student did was wrong – and I believe the guard also did something wrong in some ways – but who the fuck cares?
I don’t. Do you? Do you have enough time for this big life purpose of yours? Don’t you have homework to do? Don’t you have a job? She’s just a
girl, a girl who lost control of herself in the wrong place at the wrong time. And if you think about it, each one of us has – directly or indirectly – done the same thing, and, lucky us, nobody cared to take a video of our deed. Don’t judge her because 1) you don’t know her; 2) she may be having a bad day that day, 3) you’re not the most important person in the world as far as I know; and 4) you seriously
don’t fuckin’ know her. So let’s just leave her and let her resolve this mess alone. Don’t add fuel to the fire – nobody’s gonna roast marshmallows in it. And for all I know she doesn’t care what you damn say. Insulting her doesn’t make you
better than her. You’re hurting her feelings and humiliating her and maybe ruining her chance in life, and I’m sure you don’t mean to do that, but you are. Let’s get a life, shall we?
The Sotto-copy Issue. This particular issue really gets on my nerves. I’m not really a legitimate writer (yet), but I’m passionate enough about writing to have a say about this. Truth be told, I admire Senator Vicente Sotto. He’s cool and helpful and funny and his mustache is phenomenal, but what he did lately might have affected my admiration for him for a bit. As far as I know, intellectual property issues are a hell of a mess to get one’s self into. We are talking about
brains here. What Sen. Sotto did was illegal if you check the constitution. Yes, we can borrow some lines from authors or speakers or anybody from time to time, but that’s why it’s called “borrowing” and
not “taking” – we don’t have the right to own it. It’s okay to use some portions of Sen. Kennedy’s or someone’s speech or composition. Where he got it wrong was that he didn’t give
credit to the respective writers. And what’s worse is that, in some time before this issue exploded, he somewhat
denied his plagiarism. No, Sir.
No. That was just bad.
It’s disheartening when you write something you take pride in and then somebody would copy-paste it and not give you credit. It happened to me before, and it didn’t feel good on my part. I wanted to punch this person and holler to the whole stark world that
I was the one who wrote it, but I let it passed because I was young and it was pathetic anyway. So I think Sen. Sotto should’ve credited them or added footnotes or whatever to his Reproductive Health Bill speech. He should’ve said something like, “Take what Sen. Kennedy said in his speech…” or “I agree with what the blogger, (insert name), had written…” That’s not so hard, right? And please, Sir, don’t ever say something about how a blogger is just a blogger anyway again, because you may never know, the next great explorer or the first President of the Universe may be a blogger. So please don’t “just” us; there’s scary power in words. (I’m not trying to threaten you or impose something evil or anything… but really, there
is power in words. Dr. Jose Rizal said so.)
I’m aware that some of you may disagree with my opinions, and that’s okay with me. I respect you and whatever’s inside your brain – that’s you, and people like you that way, so who am I to change what you are? I hope we – and the student in the video and Sen. Sotto – can live in peace now. Let’s have butterbeer some time, okay?
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a woeful & chaotic diary since 071409
Profile
Already several months had passed, and I am missing
Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry more and more each fleeting day. There are just some things in life that we can never forget – especially that something that had given us knowledge, skills, strong relationships and a second home. I am glad that everything in the magical world is now at peace, since Voldemort (yes, I can now say his name; no need to be afraid) had died. I had secretly admired Tom Marvolo Riddle (Voldemort’s birth name) though, because of his intelligence, passion and love for magic. Wasn’t he very clever to think of and conjure his seven
Horcruxes to preserve his life, or form a clan of
Death Eaters who were very loyal to him and would give up their lives just for him to succeed? Not everybody can acquire that much loyalty from people these days. I do not, however, admire him for the way he had carried out all of his plans. He had a good agenda, his means just weren’t morally right. But he still is one of the darkest wizards of all time… and let’s leave it that way.
Oh, for all those who are baffled of what I’m saying here and who the heck I am, my name is
Christine Faye Ordas, and I am an alumnus of Hogwarts. I came from the bronze-and-blue-clad house of the smart ass witch Rowena Ravenclaw and her dictum
“Wit beyond measure is a man’s greatest treasure.” And yes, I know the wonderful Luna Lovegood (she’s such a darling) and Harry Potter’s first crush Cho Chang. I had just left Hogwarts last May. Right now I am trying to pursue a career in magical researches, literature and writing. It’s my dream to inscribe intellectual books, publish and sell them in
Flourish and Blotts for the future Hogwarts students’ use. I am also planning to credibly write for the
Daily Prophet, the magical world’s primary news bulletin. And of course, I will be very much honored to contribute to Mr. Xenophilius Lovegood’s
Quibbler (hence, my interest in magical researches). I have always found the Lovegoods a fascinating family, and I bet working with and for them will be very exciting. Or maybe, in Merlin’s beard’s time, I can write legends and bedtime stories like the famous – and wickedly brilliant – Beedle the Bard.
And that’s how my life goes these days. I am utterly missing my old school, my friends, the Great Hall, the bronze eagle knocker just outside the Ravenclaw common room, Professor Flitwick (the head of our house), Hogsmeade, the Quidditch matches (although I didn’t actually play for the house), the moving portraits, the castle ghosts, the pumpkins on Halloween, the giant pine trees on Christmas, Rubeus Hagrid’s (Hogwarts’ gamekeeper) tea and treacle fudge – even the crabby Argus Filch (Hogwarts’ caretaker) I miss. Maybe I can visit the school grounds sometimes and see how the magical world’s been doing since Voldemort died (I’ve been spending my months in the muggle world, you see). I’ve heard everybody’s been moving on and starting all over again; the ministry is back on work under Kingsley Shacklebolt; and Harry Potter’s scar haven’t been disturbing him since.
All is well, indeed.
And because of that, we should celebrate and drink firewhisky! Oh, I still don’t drink firewhisky; I can take butterbeer or tea or pumpkin juice – just not firewhisky, please.
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