You never say, "I’m gonna fight you, Steve." You just smile and act natural, and then you sucker-punch him.

Monday, September 22, 2008

I rarely get along with people I don’t like. For me, there are no in betweens: it’s either I hate you or I like you — passionately. Those people whom I nothing means I have no opinion of them to care enough to associate an emotion to them. And no, my dislike for a lot of people is not just plain I-am-better-than-everyone-else-and-their-mothers-combined snobbery. I just happen to have poor judgment when it comes to people. Take Nes, for example, whose first words were “Tangina mo, Mara! Meron din akong t-shirt na yan! (You son of a bitch, Mara. I have that exact same shirt!)” when I walked in to our Biopsych class wearing a Hogwarts crest merchandise t-shirt that she probably got from SM Department Store. She should have made it on my hit list. Initially, that was plan — quick and easy character assassination. So quiet that she’ll never know what hit her. But several occurrences of our prancing around town in our Sto. Nino costumes, and we’re almost twins who got separated at birth. We can read each other’s minds.

So what is a person with poor people-reading skills to do, seeing that she graduated with a Psychology degree, but still does not have enough “How much shall a person piss Mara” gauge? Although a little disclaimer first: Psychology does not teach its students to read people. It teaches how to predict behavior. By predicting behavior, a person’s actions can be assessed, in turn, predict personality. Well the answer is simple, I judge you by your pets.

It’s an age-long cliche that dogs hate cats and vice versa. It is also a long-running email spam that owners take pets that they look similar to. But beyond looks, beyond cliches, your pet/s is who you are.

This certain epiphany came unto me on a caffeine-induced morning of mind-numbing biochemisty journal editing. I was minding my own business, editing gene codes according to house style, contemplating why I hate so many people, and when I say people, some of them are my friends, when it hit me: I don’t get along with cat persons.

Dogs are warm and stinky animals. They are needy yet friendly. I once had a dog who wagged his tail while his executioner shot him in the head and had him for pulutan afterwards. Dogs are loyal as long as they remember that you’re the one who feeds them; it’s Pavlov’s fault (Lipayon, 2008). Dogs are a fountain of endless useless, but you have to admit, amusing, pet tricks. Cats are too proud to be trained. Dogs are boisterous loud beings; cats are stealth. It is scientifically proven that an adult dog’s mental capacity is just the same as a two-year-old human; having a dog is like having a child that doesn’t grow up. Having 5 means having quintuplets.

Cats are prisses who think they are way beyond everyone, even their masters, and have no ounce of affinity to their owners. Unlike dogs who are needy, cats utilize their owners only for food and shelter. You do not see cats bringing its owners slippers and today’s paper when they get home. You have to grovel for a cat’s attention, and when you earn a cat’s affection, only then will it let you touch them. I say they weren’t held enough by their parents when they were younger. Cats have impeccable hygiene, but we all know their poop stinks worse than dogs. Cats will not take a bullet for their owners.

But the point of it all, if you haven’t guessed it from my blatant attack of the other species, is that I am a dog person. People who likes cats rub me the way a too close for comfort officemate does. I am not saying that cat people are generally all around bad people that shouldn’t be trusted because they are uppity and think too highly of themselves. Cat persons are human, too. I may have acquainted myself with a few cat persons, and they are cool, but I woudn’t invite them to my 50th wedding anniversary.

I stick to my people, the dog people – the people who get excited about a trip and then shifts to sadness when they realize there are still 4 months to go before we leave; the people who wake up at 5-freakin’-AM to get ready for work, only to be sidetracked by puppies on their garage, making them 2 minutes late for work for the third time in a week; the people who refer to their dogs as humans and give them human names, making you believe that they have been actually talking about someone you know. These are the people I associate with, the stinky, easily distracted, and too attached to their masters people.

Cats can be nice. You can prove me wrong if you want, or you may not, seeing that you are better than us. But please be warned that I am predisposed to hate you at initial contact.

I know you wouldn’t care, but this is what I’ll watch.

Let’s teach kids to read!

Wind Turbines, FTW! Birds, FTL?

Obama vs. McCain

E medyo pangit ka pa noon, hanggang ngayon!!!!

Tuesday, September 2, 2008

I cut my overtime for this entry. To say that I am an Eraserheads fan is an understatement.

Even before all the kids born in the 90s claimed and proclaimed that they like the Eraserheads (which couldn’t possibly be because that would make them 3 years old when Ultraelectromagneticpop came out), even before all the local bands milked Eheads songs for all its worth with revival after revival, even before everyone jumped on the Eheads wagon just because there’s a freakin’ concert, I HAVE BEEN AN ERASERHEADS FAN. You can check it in my very chronicled fangirl history, if you may:

2. Eraserheads (1995-2000). For me, I FG because of two things: Talent and Looks. The Eheads fall on the first category. Because seriously, not one of these guys are that good looking. But that didn’t stop me for liking their music. Contrary to popular belief, I am not that shallow. You seriously can’t claim that you grew up in the 90s if you don’t know the Eheads. 

They are seriously my favorite band of all time. I am so glad I am part of the time where they were actively making music and not when Cueshe’s reviving Pare Ko for all its worth. I loved their music so much, I would play their tapes (oo casette pa nun!) every single day. I bought their book. I even called Ely’s house (Foshizzle! We were able to talk to his mom). I was too young and uncool to attend their concerts back then but everyone from school knew me (and 3 of my friends) as the die hard Eraserheads fangirl. People would give me clippings, taped performances and whatnots. When my grandfather told me that Marcus’ wife lived 3 blocks from our house in Ilocos, I spazzed! My cousins even brought me there to introduce me to the wife. I even cried in front my high school freshman class because they told me Rivermaya is better than Eraserheads. Crazy, I tell you.

I am a fan who bought every album (even that almost unheard of Natin99), every EP (the only EP that I don’t have was the Fruitcake EP with their live version of The Christmas Alphabet recorded at RX. Hard core, yo), and every imaginable merch. I was too young and still living on a student’s allowance back then, so as much as a fan I claim I am, the reunion concert is only my second Eheads concert.

I must admit that I did not scatter like a rat blanched with hot oil towards the nearest computer to register on The Red List when rumors spread that the Eheads are going to have a reunion concert. I thought it would be pandemonium, seeing that it will be for free, and if ever tickets are to be sold, it would be sold out faster than you can say “Ultraelectromagnetic pop.” I was hoping that a ticket or an invite would magically land on my lap because that’s what Jebus does to loyal fans.

Lo and behold, it did.

One rainy Monday (or could be Tuesday) morning, my slob of a self still in bed, Zhorai asked me if I want to go to the reunion concert; she needed my name and birthday (like she didn’t know. She even gave the organizers my middle name like it’s one of those Jenny Lyn, Cherry Pie, or Sarah Chris names that needs a second name to be pronounced. Nonsequitor).

To cut this starting-to-be-a-pain-and-slightly-awkward-entry short, I found myself at the SVIP section of the concert. Jebus is good. And so is Sony. Buy Sony products. Or find a friend from Sony.

When I told my parents that I may probably not go home that evening, even if I am with their precious car, they understood: Their daughter, whom they have known spent half of her life being an Eheads fan (a quarter being a Harry Potter fan), is going to a reunion concert of her favorite band. Anyone who can tell me how many times I’ll say reunion on this entry will get a big fat kiss from my brother.

My concert-going companion was teary-eyed when the band started playing Alapaap, being the big pansy that she is. I would have been, too, if I wasn’t suspended in a state of disbelief. I kept saying “This is so AWESOME!” in my head over and over again. I couldn’t believe I still knew the lyrics to each and everyone of their songs (quiz me. Come on! QUIZ ME!! Till Fruitcake lang ha because my hobbies are reading the radio, reading the songhits, and eating the bloody fishballs).

I can tell you what happened every minute (actually, I cannot), but what had to be the icing on the cake, even if the concert was cut short, was that they played Lightyears live. It’s one of those obscure, bittersweet, Eraserheads songs that you thought will never see the light of day because hell, it came from a Christmas album and can never be marketed as a love song no matter how hard they try, but they did it on their effin reunion concert. I can die a happy woman now (but not after I get to see OK Go, my next favorite band.)

So all in all, because I have horrible recapitulation skills, here is what my friend Zhorai, from Sony, buy stuff from Sony, said in her entry:

The bestest concert I have been to (and I’ve been to a lot ha). It was emotional, the arrangement of the songs were faithful to the original album arrangement, puno ng kanta (15 songs for one set, man!), it was well-produced (local artist pero naka OLED lights and madaming screens, great lighting and just right yung fireworks), great security, great accomodations by the ushers, free food and drinks (for us anyway - konting yabang factor lang kami sa SVIP), walang seats (like a true blue rock concert).

80,000 people for a concert that only started selling tickets 2 days prior. With matching kaguluhan pa yan if it was gonna push through or not. Kahit madaming hindi true fans sige bayaan na natin. Music is universal naman, especially for a band as great as this group. Pagbigyan na natin kahit hindi nila alam yung ibang songs at ang alam lang nilang album ay UltraElectro and Circus.

Eraserheads pa din! Hindi ko sila ipagpapalit sa kahit sinong foreign act!

And dahil madaming pasikat sa mundo, this is what supposed to happen had things didn’t turn out the way it did:

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