Sometimes, I wonder
POSTED AT 02:08 AM

platinumangel

which of those status messages of yours were meant for me?

Put you're just a painful knot in my lifeline.

Could you possibly believe?
POSTED AT 11:23 AM

platinumangel

Hey, do you know? Do you know?

Your face is fading from my memory.

Stupid!
POSTED AT 10:08 AM

platinumangel

That's it. It's official. Being away from school has made me stupid. Very stupid.

I'm dreading going back to school, and I realize why.

The first day back, and I let He Lao Shi rope me into singing a song tomorrow in class. Just cos she wants me to.

FUCK!!!!!!!!!

This is not good. No, not good. Not good at ALL. Very bad. This is very bad. Very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very,


VERY bad.

I have not done something like this since 3rd grade. And I remember why. At least it will be mercifully short (the song I picked is not even a minute long). WHOO!!!!

But I still have to effing sing!

God.

Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid.


STUPID!!!!!!!!!!!!!





GOD, I FEEL STUPID.

And it's only my first day back.

Oh god.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
In other news, I was reminded of the joys of bothering lao shi.

As Arvin put it, we just feel so good after making her freak out. Sort of like how Lorelai (from Gilmore Girls) feels that much better after she's annoyed the heck out of whatsisname Luke.

Hahaha!

The following is a guy's joke. If you're a girl, you won't appreciate it. So don't read it and go "eeeewww" in my comments area.

Lao Shi said she washes her hair with anything. ANYTHING.

She was like, "Rejoice, Palmolive, Pantene..."

Me: PH Feminine Wash!!!!!!!!!

You can just imagine how she reacted. If looks were flaming daggers, i'd be charred shishkebab.

END OF JOKE.

Spoke with Raphie, Alphonso and Henry, and then Filbert comes along. Blather some more. Mr. Young appears out of nowhere. We gossip like hell.

I go upstairs and have the most meaningful conversations I've had with Mr. Lacon in the longest time. Thanks for that, Mr. Lacon.

I'm gonna go and memorize til I die.

Supportive
POSTED AT 09:14 AM

platinumangel

I was just doing some reflecting...

You keep saying that i was not supportive enough of you when you needed me.

E, punyeta, kailan ka ba naging supportive sa mga decision ko? Kailan? Kahit isang beses lang.

The Myth
POSTED AT 03:23 AM

platinumangel

Really Cool movie.

CANTONESE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yeah, and Mandarin, and Sanskrit and Japanese... but still... CANTONESE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I loved how the actors could jump between Mandarin and Cantonese in this movie. Like the girl: Eh, eh, eh! Ni shi gan shen me? Zhei ge jian shi wo men de!" and then jumping to Cantonese to chastise Jackie Chan. Whooo! This is the clincher: Cantonese sounds WAY better than Mandarin.

The mandarin that the power hungry guy that was the sponsor dude was horrible. I will never understand how frickin Beijing Mandarin was chosen for putonghua.

The following is a January 3, 2006 Los Angeles Times article titled “Cantonese Is Losing Its Voice”:

Speakers of the spicy tongue that can make words of love sound like a fight are having to learn its linguistic kin, the mellower Mandarin.

By David Pierson

Carson Hom's family has run a thriving fortune cookie and almond cookie company in Los Angeles County for 35 years.

And for much of that time, it was a business that required two languages: Cantonese, to communicate with employees and the Chinese restaurants that bought the cookies, and English, to deal with health inspectors, suppliers and accountants.

But when Hom, 30, decided to start his own food import company, he learned that this bilingualism wasn't enough anymore.

He checked out the competition at a recent Chinese products fair in the San Gabriel Valley and found that he couldn't get much further than "hello" in conversing with vendors.

"I can't communicate," said Hom, whose parents are from Hong Kong. "Everyone around used to speak Cantonese. Now everyone is speaking Mandarin."

Cantonese, a sharp, cackling dialect full of slang and exaggerated expressions, was never the dominant language of China. But it came to dominate the Chinatowns of North America because the first immigrants came from the Cantonese-speaking southern province of Guangdong, where China first opened its ports to foreigners centuries ago.

It is also the chief language of Hong Kong, the vital trading and financial center that became China's link to the West.

But over the last three decades, waves of Mandarin-speaking mainland Chinese and Taiwanese immigrants have diluted the influence of both the Cantonese language and the pioneering Cantonese families who ran Chinatowns for years.

The surging Chinese economy today has challenged Cantonese further. Because Mandarin is China's official language, entrepreneurs like Hom have been forced to adapt, often learning the hard way that business can't be done with Cantonese alone.

Many Cantonese speakers are racing to learn Mandarin any way they can — by watching Chinese soap operas, attending schools, paying for expensive immersion courses and even making more Mandarin-speaking friends. This is no cinch. Although Cantonese and Mandarin share the same written language, they are spoken as differently as English and French.

At the same time, few people are learning Cantonese. San Jose State University and New York University offer classes, but they are almost alone among colleges with established Cantonese communities. The language is not taught at USC, UCLA, Pasadena City College, San Francisco State or Queens College in New York, to name a few.

With the changes, some are lamenting — in ways they can do only in Cantonese — the end of an era. Mandarin is now the vernacular of choice, and they say it doesn't come close to the colorful and brash banter of Cantonese.

"You might be saying, 'I love you' to your girlfriend in Cantonese, but it will still sound like you're fighting," said Howard Lee, a talk show host on Cantonese language KMRB-AM (1430). "It's just our tone. We always sound like we're in a shouting match. Mandarin is so mellow. Cantonese is strong and edgy."

Cantonese is said to be closer than Mandarin to ancient Chinese. It is also more complicated. Mandarin has four tones, so a character can be intonated four ways with four meanings. Cantonese has nine tones.

Beginning in the 1950s, the Chinese government tried to make Mandarin the national language in an effort to bridge the myriad dialects across the country. Since then, the government has been working to simplify the language, renamed Putonghua, and give it a proletarian spin. To die-hard Cantonese, no fans of the Communist government, this is one more reason to look down on Mandarin.

Many say it is far more difficult to learn Cantonese than Mandarin because the former does not always adhere to rules and formulas. Image-rich slang litters the lexicon and can leave anyone ignorant of the vernacular out of touch.

"You have to really listen to people if you want to learn Cantonese," said Gary Tai, who teaches the language at New York University and is also a principal at a Chinese school in Staten Island. "You have to watch movies and listen to songs. You can't learn the slang from books."

Popular phrases include the slang for getting a parking ticket, which in Cantonese is "I ate beef jerky," probably because Chinese beef jerky is thin and rectangular, like a parking ticket. And teo bao (literally "too full") describes someone who is uber-trendy, so hip he or she is going to explode.

Many sayings are coined by movie stars on screen. Telling someone to chill out, comedian Stephen Chow says: "Drink a cup of tea and eat a bun."

Then there are the curse words, and what an abundance there is.

A four-syllable obscenity well known in the Cantonese community punctuates the end of many a sentence.

"I think we all agree that curse words in Cantonese just sound better," said Lee, the radio host. "It's so much more of a direct hit on the nail. In Mandarin, they sound so polite."

His colleague, news broadcaster Vivian Lee, chimed in to clarify that the curse words were not vindictive.

"It's not that Cantonese people are less educated. They're very well educated. The language is just cute and funny. It doesn't hurt anyone," said Lee, who does the news show on the station five days a week. "The Italians need body language. We don't need that at all. We have adjectives."

To stress a point or to twist a sentence into a question, Cantonese speakers need only add a dramatic ahhhhhhh or laaaaaaa at the end.

Something simple like, "Let's go" becomes "C'mon, lets get a move on!" when it's capped with laaaaa.

By comparison, with Mandarin from China, what you see is what you get. The written form has been simplified by the Chinese government so that characters require fewer strokes. It is considered calmer and more melodic.

Take the popular Cantonese expression chi-seen, which means your wires have short-circuited. It is used, often affectionately, to call someone or something crazy. The Mandarin equivalent comes off to Cantonese people sounding like "You have a brain malfunction that has rendered your behavior unusual."

The calm tones of Mandarin are heard more and more around Southern California's Chinese community.

Even quintessential Hong Kong-style restaurants, including wonton noodle shops, now have waitresses who speak Mandarin, albeit badly, so they can take orders. Elected officials in Los Angeles County, even native Cantonese, are holding news conferences in Mandarin.

Some Cantonese speakers feel besieged.

Cheryl Li, a 19-year-old Pasadena City College student whose parents are from Hong Kong, is studying to become an occupational therapist and volunteers at the Garfield Medical Center in Monterey Park, where most of the patients are Chinese.

Recently, she was asking patients, in Mandarin, what they wanted to eat. When one man thought her accent was off, he said, "Stupid second-generation Chinese American doesn't speak Mandarin."

Li responded angrily, "No! I was born here. But I understand enough."

"We're in the minority," she added, reflecting on the incident. "I'm scared Cantonese is going to be a lost language."

Still, Li is studying Mandarin.

There are places where Cantonese is protected and cherished.

At a cavernous Chinese seafood restaurant in Monterey Park, members of the Hong Kong Schools Alumni Federation gathered in a back room to munch on stir-fried scallops, pork offal soup and spare ribs.

It was a regular monthly meeting of the group and a sanctuary for Hong Kong Chinese people who take comfort eating and joking with fellow Cantonese speakers.

"I just can't express myself as freely in Mandarin," said Victor Law, an accountant who left Hong Kong to attend college in the U.S. 34 years ago. "That's why we have this association. I feel like we're the last of a dying breed."

For Law, it's not just the language but many Cantonese traditions that are on the decline. He says it's now hard to find a mah-jongg game that uses Hong Kong rules instead of Taiwanese rules, a distinction concerning how many tiles are used.

"I'm not ready to be a dinosaur," said Amy Yeung, president of the alumni group.

To the trained ear, it was instantly apparent that this was a gathering of Cantonese speakers. The room was deafeningly loud with everyone talking. Even serious discussions were punctuated with wise cracks.

When Yeung announced that members could get seats and walk the red carpet at an Asian film festival, the room erupted in unison in the most common way a Cantonese person expresses astonishment.

Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!

Near the end of the night, Yeung had important news. A mother in Hong Kong called to say she was moved to tears by a scholarship the federation had given to her daughter to attend the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

"She told me to tell you all, 'Thank you from the bottom of my heart. I didn't know there were such good people in the world,' " Yeung said.

The room fell silent for a moment. Sensing the awkwardness and, God forbid, self-congratulatory tone of the story, Law blurted, "Does she know how to cook?"

Everyone laughed and another successful meeting came to an end.

The alumni association can afford to lament. Many of them speak Mandarin already. But many Cantonese speakers are finding out now that they have to learn Mandarin or risk being left behind in business or even within their families.

To learn Mandarin, Joyce Fong sits in her favorite black leather massage chair in front of her living room TV and goes through Chinese soap operas on DVD. Some are about ancient Chinese dynasties. Others focus on the story of a single mother. And a few are South Korean programs dubbed into Mandarin.

The 67-year-old retiree says she has to pick up the language if she hopes to be able to communicate with her 9- and 5-year-old grandsons in China.

The boys had been living with their parents in the Bay Area, but the family decided to move to China a year ago so that Fong's son, Gregory, could take a job at a university and also raise his children immersed in Chinese culture.

Although the grandchildren will also speak English, they will primarily use Mandarin at school, Fong said.

"I want to encourage them. I tell them, 'Grandma is trying to learn Mandarin too,' " said Fong, who immigrated to the U.S. from Hong Kong 53 years ago and is socially involved in L.A. Chinatown through her family association.

Walnut City Councilman Joaquin Lim grew up in Hong Kong and immigrated to the U.S. in the 1960s. For decades in California, he found he could get by with English and Cantonese.

But that changed when he decided to get into politics a decade ago.

Running for the school board in his suburban community, Lim quickly realized that most of his Chinese constituents in the eastern San Gabriel Valley were newcomers who didn't speak Cantonese.

So Lim had his Mandarin friends speak to him in their mother tongue. He watched movies in Mandarin and listened to Mandarin songs. By the time he ran for City Council in 1995, he felt comfortable enough with the language to campaign door-to-door and talk to Mandarin residents.

But there's always room for improvement — as Mandarin speakers are quick to remind him when he gives speeches. A few months ago, he was speaking to the Chinese language media at a news conference announcing a task force to improve health standards in Chinese restaurants.

As he spoke in Mandarin, fellow task force member Anthony Wong interrupted him in mid-sentence to correct his grammar.

The ethnic Chinese reporters chuckled, acknowledging that his Mandarin was a work in progress.

Lim recently spoke at a graduation ceremony in Cal Poly Pomona for government officials from central China who took a four-week course in American administrative practices.

Lim thought it went well. But the leader of the Chinese delegation had a slightly more reserved review: "It's much better than most Cantonese-speaking people."
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http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-cantonese3jan03,0,1859232.story?coll=la-home-local

Renegade-ness
POSTED AT 10:27 AM

platinumangel

It's hard to concentrate on the finer aspects of life when you have piles of homework left and right and everywhere you turn.

And the one thing that I love to do when I'm feeling like this (starts with a "y") is not accessible.

If you notice, my entries usually start sane and composed, then deteriorate to mind-blather.

I have no clue why. Raphie's updated his blog. Yayity.

The massive amounts of homework I have to hurdle with are mind-numbing. I can't wait for the weekend again. I simply CANNOT deal with this.

P.E.'s back, and this new girl is there in place of Sir Hector (he whose name has been drilled and jackhammered into our heads). Can't remember her name right now. Anyway, we had a skill test the very same day on Foundation Form number 1, which i had studied back in the summer after grade 5. I surprisingly still remembered how to do it. I also remembered Foundation Form number 2, which Barney had to do because the girl was his ex-instructor in Taekwondo last summer. Haha...

And then the biggest surprise: When I was called to do the skill test, she said "Sa center ka... magaling ka e."

I'm like "WHAT????" in facial expression.

And then she says to the others: "Si Allen lang susundin niyo a."

I'm like "WHAAAT??????" and they do and i did fine.

Heheh.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH! Thank god you IM-ed me, *name of person who IM-ed me*... I was about to crack.

Ligaya
POSTED AT 02:51 AM

platinumangel

Bandilang kumikislap sa hangin. Kagat ng hangin:

Lumulutang ang kulay, ragasa ng dilaw, hinahaluan ng puti't biglang dumudugo ng pula bago mawala sa bughaw.

So long...
POSTED AT 10:21 AM

platinumangel

Just head on over to Raphie's blog for the review of Romeo and Juliet.

School has been immeasureably tiring these past few days, especially the other day (where I slept at 12:30 am), and yesterday (where I slept this morning, 1:30am) simply because of homework.

I think the teachers hate us.

I think I need to sleep.

I think that this Friday will be good for me, because i'll be okay soon.

Tomorrow is the soph night. Alexis and I haven't really been thinking about things much. It's more of like... think and be freaked out, let it slide and you'll be fine.

I like my new polo.

All the teachers will be at the soph night. All the teachers will be at the soph night. Oh no.

Kelly Chen's I Will Remember You (Cantonese) is great. I am not sure if that is the title though. It might just be some weird name. The song sounds great. I love it. I love it. Very much.

Y has been rather busy. No time to talk and stuff. O and I are okay. That's at least good.

Mita and I haven't spoken much. This is odd.

A phone conversation with Jackie is what I need right now. But I fear that all my life will be consumed by the tutor that mom got me. Every saturday morning. Annoying.

I have sworn to try to stop swearing. It kind of hurts when I swear. And although it's suddenly become very natural to me, the F word is still very painful to my ears.

Charmed spoiler updates:
Billie finds her sister. At last! Christy! And she's a super-powerful witch, too.

VICTOR WEBSTER JOINS CHARMED AS "CUPID" to guide Phoebe, and will be joining the cast starting 16th episode, Engaged and Confused. This is fantastic. Absolutely fantastic. If you don't remember Victor Webster, he played Brennan on Mutant X.

Now maybe we could get Forbes March too...

This is wonderful!

Leo, come baaaaaack!

Speaking of Come Back, I haven't CB-ed Mr. Aragon in a while... that's mostly Henry's job, and Mr. Aragon is TOTALLY ignoring Henrison now. He smiles when I wave, but when Henry yells for him to come back now, he doesn't even look at him.

And that's about as much of an update as I can give you.

I'll tell you all about tomorrow on Sunday, or something.

I love this country song. At first, I was just bleh to it. But it got SUPER addicting. Sort of like Neutral Milk Hotel.

My Friend and the Ink by Shout Out Louds

Do I believe in this,
or is this the only way to get around in my life

Do I deserve this?
No you deserve so much better in your life,
In your life

Thinking of you
Thinking of you
So what can I do when I'm thinking of you

Did you stay up all night?
Did you hide it all away to make it seem dark?
Is this what I think it is?

It's the ink on your fingers that make you sick,
What do you think?

Thinking of you
Thinking of you
So what can I do when I'm thinking of you

Is it all true
Is it all true
So what can I do when I'm thinking of you
Thinking of you

Do I believe in this?
Or is this the only way to get around in my life

Do I deserve this?
Oh, you deserve much better in your life
In your life

Thinking of you
Thinking of you
So what can I do when I'm thinking of you

Is it all true
Is it all true
So what can I do when I'm thinking of you?

The Soph Night
POSTED AT 06:09 AM

platinumangel

That title seems so perfect right now. I'll get started, eh?

After going to the Math Tutor, Emily Tan, twice in less than twelve hours (including a night of sleep), I was happy to go to the soph night. Mr. Young couldn't call like he said.

I leave to pick Alexis up at 4:40, and after a bit of a problem with the directions, I made it to her house at five. I come in, am greeted by her dad (in true date fashion, where the girl comes down after the guy arrives), and asked what time she's to come home. I reply "Eleven."

We leave, and we get to Xavier soon enough.

We first enter through the Sports Center, and see Juan/Bert/Albert/o/whatever (i never know what to call him), Mr. Young and some guy preparing the reception table. Alexis and I leave the area, and I bring her to walk around the school, showing her the monument erected for Xu Guang Qi, and we walked around some more before finally returning. Nothing's happening yet, so we register (where Mr. Young clears out that he couldn't call cos he was deserted by the students and had to take care of everything by himself) and get our pictures taken. I was supposed to be serenading her, except i sucked, and the last position on the papier mache bench was back breaking. And so we sat outside near the benches and talked. Then everyone else sits down and we wonder about that. Meeting everyone (Christian, Kenn, Katan, Jackie, Mark, Henry, etc...) was fun. Soon, we're called back to the Sports Center to begin.

We took a seat at table 14, but we were supposed to be at table 40. So we moved and sat, Mark Tan and Chiara, Gian and his date, Henry and his date, and me and Alexis, all of us listening (more like being forced to listen) to TJ and Chris (the MCs) ramble fakely about what was going on.

We started the game with an empty beer bottle with a green foil wrapped around the top, and a golden one wrapped around the grip. This was a palm tree. We were now expected to pass it around when the beat of the music was loud, and whoever held it when the music stopped would be forced to take a piece of paper from inside the bottle and answer it for the table to hear.

A good icebreaker, but still... it got a tad annoying when it kept landing on me.

Henry's date was funny: Chinese or Japanese? And simply knowing that Henry liked Japanese, she was all "Chinese!" *nudges Henry* "Chinese!!!!"

And the music would go and when it landed on me... four times... everyone started laughing. Some things are just ridiculous.

So we finished up the game, and dinner began. We lined up for the buffet, but Mark and Chiara went to get their pictures taken. During the line, I told Gian's date and Alexis the Both joke ("You have BOTH???" "Uh, yeah, doesn't everybody?" "NOOOO!!!!". Neither even laughed. Lol.

We all got our food, but Gian went to get drinks. Yun pala, the drinks were gonna be served. Gian: First mess up of the evening.

We have some sweetish (but kind of tasteless) four seasons juice that i have this sinking feeling was powdered, and begin dinner.

We eat and talk, Chiara and Mark are still not back, and we pass cellphone notes (type something up and show it to the person you intend to show it to, and when everyone began doing that too, we made comments about Trendsetting) when Stud Muffin and Sick Chased got too loud. After a while though, we notice that everyone had gone outside to the bonfire. Which we wanted to do first.

Chiara and Mark returned, so we chat a bit more. Lao Shi appears, and we all start speaking Mandarin. Or rather, just me. And when the food suddenly makes me feel sick (which I still think is the carbonara) later, and we go sit by the bonfire. Alexis and I go back and forth between that area, and the main area just to keep ourselves updated by what is going on. Sometime there, I went to the restroom, and when I come back, 20 people are doing the limbo, everyone's standing to look at them, and they're eliminated one by one. Alexis and I hang around the place first, but we leave later.

More walking.

We're all called back again later for an awarding ceremony. There were five, but I can't remember all:

Hawaiian Spirit: Butch Lorenzo, except his date just left.
Congeniality: Filbert and his date.
Photogenic: Jasper Pua and Carla Lizardo (I think)
King and Queen: Wesley Que and his date.
In Theme: Ryan Ong and his date.

(Okay, so I do remember them).

When Jasper and his date were walking up the stage, I couldn't help but notice that the date's hair was bouncing. A lot. Alexis noticed too: No one's hair can be bouncing that naturally. It has to have some chemicals in it...

Then the date turns around, and her name is called. Carla Lizardo.

Kabadminton ko in fifth grade. The biatch. YAAAAK!!!!!!!!!!!

Maybe she's changed. Who knows.

So the King and Queen are asked to lead us all in slow dancing, and people start filling in after the five awardees join the King and Queen.

We're just watching them, six of us instead of eight, because Gian and his date had to go. Too bad: she was funny, too.

So we're just staring, and then, with some unknown burst of quixotia, I pull my date up to slow dance with me. It's awkward, of course, but it got more comfortable as we kept moving, and at least she knew what she was doing. I have about five minutes training with my grandma's 80th birthday three years ago.

So she tells me that if I get "sensory overload", to just stop. I don't think I felt that, but I did get a bit overwhelmed by the thing, and we left to sit. I could suddenly remember Henry, Mark and their dates' eyes on us as I pulled her up to dance. Crazy!

So at least, we had the experience under our belts.

We went to walk around a bit more, and sat down on weird benches with large gaps between planks of wood tacked to standing blocks as make shift benches. We complained about that, and took note of how some benches' gaps were smaller than others. Also, we kept forgetting to get the questions from the bottle to throw into the fire.

Yes, Alexis really wanted to burn them. 'Specially the question that went: Chinovela, Koreanovela or Telenovela?

We went back to get the paper, and the table was cleared already. Darn. But after scavenging around a bit, I was able to scrounge up a piece of paper: Describe yourself with an adjective that rhymes with your name. I answered that earlier, and I found it folded and twisted on the table cloth. My answer was "Fallen? I dunno, swollen?"

Ew.

Okay, so we go outside, and drag our OWN chairs to the middle of a large space, no doubt with people staring at us, and talk. But Alexis is called over by Sebastian Tangcueco and a bunch of other people, and talk. We go away again, and when we're going back to our seats, we see a waiter steal her chair.

I went to get another chair, and just when we'd sat down again, we were called to go back. Crap. Maybe i'm getting the timing of all the events mixed up, but we somehow ended back there, sitting at our seats, getting more and more deaf by the minute.

We swap music, and Jackie and Mark appear, and they're totally exhausted from dancing for like an hour. Then Katan and Kenn are swaying (mostly to their own beat, and not the song). Kenn seemed a tad uncomfty, but Katan seemed like a natural.

So Alexis and I continued to talk. I'll leave the conversation we had during this time out, for the benefit of everyone. Anyway, Kenn and Katan sit for a while, then get back to dancing. Katan sees me watching them (really, for some reason, I could see them married, because they're both very fiery people, although Katan seems to be more languid). Anyway, she glances at me, and nods at me, gesturing to either join her, or start dancing with my date. She nods again.

I smile, shake my head and sort of will her to keep dancing with Kenn. I believe she tells him, and they share a smile.

Mark taps me, and Jackie goes "No, no, no..." and pulls him away. I turn to Alexis, and feel heavy arms on my shoulder again, so I turn to Mark again. Jackie suddenly pulls him away again, "No, no, no, no, no...." I'm like, "What already?"

Mark's hands fall on my arm and yank, semi-painfully, and Jackie yanks him away again, and then Mark shakes her off, and says "Jackie wants to slow-dance."

I dunno if it was because I was stupid, or the somnolence of the night was getting to me, or because I was just not picking up, but I did not get it.

"If you wanna dance, then you guys go ahead."

Mark headpalms, and Jackie goes "Never mind!" Then Mark hits me, and Jackie yanks him away, and I insist that they go.

Stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid.

I ask Alexis later if it's okay if I dance with Jackie, because she's my best friend and I owe it to her, and she says "Yeah, of course." And I really think she didn't mind.

So we go search for Jackie, and we find her and them, and Lance takes a picture of us (Walter, Alexis, Chai, Christian, Tiffany, Kenn, Katan, Jackie, Mark, Neell, and some others), and the slow dance has ended.

Insert a large F here.

Soon, it's time to go, and after bickering about lining up to get out, we finally do and we leave and get our souveniers from Lao Shi and we step out. We search around for my car, and we talk about nuns having coronaries, and we go back and see my driver, and we step in and leave.

We bring her back to her house, where her dad left her light on for her, and she steps in and I wait for her to be safely inside her gate before I say goodbye and leave.

And I get home and I'm dead tired, but I have one last thing to do: I text Jackie "I'll dance with you next year." To my pleasant surprise, she texts back: "il hold your word to that Ü" Content, I lay down in my sheets, snap the lights off and sleeeep. At long last.

Mr. Young called this morning. At least all my loose ends this week have been tied up.

And here, the most beautiful song: Ngo Wui Gua Nim Nei by Kelly Chen

行李放满身边

此刻我给你发现

人红着眼

涌出小雨点

明是昨天

苦苦训练一千遍

临别的一刻不想哭一声

无奈这晚

我哭得四方都听见

临行扑向你双肩

双手感觉你面

言词尚欠

心底的却万千

曾在雪天

一起向日出光线

承诺彼此一生相依身边

无奈这晚向天边客机讲再见

我会挂念你

当星光优美

在晚空察看

远方中的角落

诉说你乐与悲!

我会挂念你

当分开千里

就算我世界

有缤纷天与地

我眼内仍是你!

传达远方

听筒里熟识声线

期望你会好好开始一天

临睡我会以一张照片可再见!  

 
Listening to: My Friend And The Ink On His Fingers by Shout Out Louds

Updates
POSTED AT 12:49 PM

platinumangel

I cannot update very often. Too much school work, not enough remembering.

Anyway, let me try to catch you people up:

Cantonese hype, again.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Mrs. Espiritu... IS MARRIED!!!! That's why she was absent last Friday daw, but we didn't have C.L.E. last Friday, so we didn't really miss her. But she was absent, and got ready for her marriage, and she's now Mrs. Mallo. Kind of reminds me of Alexis' story on this ICA Teacher that married this Xaverian Teacher, and came back to school one day all happy.
Anyway, here's how it happened... Henry led a halting prayer in C.L.E. period last Monday, and then Mrs. Espiritu suddenly started writing on the board.

"Mrs."

then... M... A... L... L... O... Mallo!

Then it suddenly dawned on me. The whole class erupted into a full minute of applauding and cheering as Ms. Espiritu/Mrs. Mallo held up her wedding ring, and I was ever so happy for her, and we did not cease until she took 2 points from everyone because we were so noisy and the adjacent classes might complain.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tuesday equations: Yes, I used Math to explain C.L.E.

See, there were two things: The Manna that God gave the Israelites in the desert, and the Word of God (man shall not live on bread alone, but on everything that comes from the mouth of God...) and I wrote down on the board:

Israelites + Manna = alive
Israelites + Word of God = alive
Therefore, Manna = Word of God

Wala lang. I could see Mrs. Mallo (I almost typed Ms. Espiritu... it's gonna take some getting used to... the face hasn't blended with the name yet) nod her approval.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
It's Jackie's birthday tomorrow (26th). Present...

It was Kenn's birthday the other day (23rd). I didn't give him his present because i left it at home, but Gian said it was another way of saying i hadn't gotten him one. But I did! I really did! You believe me, don't you, Kenn? I gave him his present yesterday, and he tried it on and hugged me and I'm all "What???"

I was arrested for the first time by the CAT. And he pulled my bangs down and fear gripped me for a second before he let me pass. Freaks.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
All the stories I've been submitting to Lao Shi for our Chinese presentation (next week already, and I still haven't got one) have been rejected. Three, count 'em, three and i have a feeling this one's gonna get rejected too.

CRAP!!!!

I don't see why she rejected the classic though. It had SO much meaning and she was all "Tai mei yi si le!"

Whatever. As long as I believe that it has yi si.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
We watched American Idol. There were some good ones, but a lot of bad ones. And it really hurt me (somewhat) when I saw those guys who really didn't have much talent come and sing and make fools out of themselves. But the worst part was Simon's biting comments. Ouch.

I guess the Judges are getting tired of doing auditions, because i can see even Paula's patience wearing thin.

Anyway, putting this aside, Dad said "You could be more like Simon than Andrew. You have a better tongue."

Then later, he wants Andrew to stop singing, and he says "Allen, pretend to be Simon and shut this guy up." So I walk over all smugly and go, "You know, Andrew, there are already a lot of losers on TV, so we don't actually need another..."

Dad interrupts with applause, and Andrew goes "This sucks..." and mopes.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Raphael and I visited some grade school teachers a while ago. First, Ms. Impelido, who had straighter hair. We chatted, and some pleasant talk. Then we left her office at 4:07 because she too had to leave, and we went to speak to Mrs. Mutuc, and passed to the seventh grade area, and on the stairs from the Grade 6 floor to the Grade 7 floor, we met Bb. Patria Altares, and said hi. It brings back memories of people who used to refer to her as scrotum face, which I utterly detest.
Henry's right though, Filipino teachers are very saucy.

We went up to the Grade Seven floor, memories assaulting me, and we chatted for a bit with Ms. Pelias, then went back to the faculty workroom and the first person I see is fittingly... Mr. Aude. Raphie and I stare for a bit, when we turn and see... MS. DY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I MISS SPEAKING TO THAT LADY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We chatted oh-so-long, and Mr. Aude came out a tad later and we spoke a bit. We shook hands for an inordinately and inappropriately long amount of time.

I wanted to see Mr. Santos, and lamented Mr. Penas' leave. Ahahaha... Chips. I remember days when we used to joke... Henry mentioned the code, and I was all "What? Who's Chips again?" And Henry was all "I like chips because they're CRISPY!!!!" And I was all OH!!!!!!!!!

LOL NESS.

Well, if you, Mr. Penas, see this, then please drop a link (with your name and email) and say how you're doing, and what you're doing in America. Sorry I didn't take you seriously when you said you were retiring.

It's me, Allen! From 7D, year 2003-04!
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Stand by Jewel

Walk in a corner shop
See a shoplifting cop
See the old lady with a gun
See the hero try to run
Nothing's what it seems, I mean
It's not all dirty, but it's not all clean
There's children paying bills
There's monks buying thrills
There's pride for sale in magazines
There's pills for rent to make you clean
Marvin Gaye, there's no brother, brother
Woody Guthrie's land can't feed Mother

Mothers weep, children sleep
So much violence ends in silence
It's a shame there's no one to blame
For all the pain that life brings
If you will just take me, it might just complete me
And together we can make a stand (Give these to J)

A waitress brings me lunch
We meet but do not touch
On TV, D.C. is selling lies
While in the corner, King's dream dies
Go to the counter, pay for me and my friend
A homeless man pulls out a roll, says it's on him
The mayor has no cash
He said he spent it on hookers and hash

Mothers weep, children sleep
So much violence ends in silence
It's a shame there's no one to blame
For all the pain that life brings
If you will just take me, it might just complete me
And together we can make a stand

You will love me, I will love you (x4)
(Go to the counter, pull out some cash,
He says he spent it, on hookers and hash)

Mothers weep, children sleep
So much violence ends in silence
It's a shame there's no one to blame
For all the pain that life brings
If you will just take me, it might just complete me
And together we can make a stand

I have changed all the code nomenclatures, you know.

Mandarin and Evil
POSTED AT 11:26 AM

platinumangel

One of the biggest oddities of the day:

Classmate (was it Peter or Michu or who?): Pa'no yung mga priests na nagbibigay ng 2 hour homilies?

Me: That's evil.

Mrs. Mallo: *answers his question, but is interrupted by a small bout of laughing from the right side (from my P.o.V.) of the class on my comment*

As saying "that's evil" is a common comment for me, I only realized the irony of it all (you know, homilies, evil, mass? Get it? Ah, never mind. Didn't think you would.) until after the laughing had died down.

Menstrual cramps. She had menstrual cramps, and we really didn't get anywhere with the lesson, cos the other half of the period was spent talking about her life, and marriage, and things.

I think that's what's nice about her... that she conveys her lessons via her life experiences.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
A while ago, I went up to the ITC to return Infernal Affairs (i have library service now, because i returned it a day late). The Shanghainese Librarian kept pointing to my name and talking about how it's different.

This conversation occurred in Mandarin:
Me: What? What about my name?
Shanghainese Librarian: It's not the same.
Me: As?
Shanghainese Librarian: Lu.
Me: Of course it's not!
Shanghainese Librarian: Not the same as that guy.
Me: Who?
Shanghainese Librarian: *points to the inside of the Chinese section, where some guy is sitting* Father Lu.
Me: Father? As in priest?
Shanghainese Librarian: Yeah. I'll bring you to meet him.
Me: Okay...

Inside the Chinese Section... (still in Mandarin)
Father Lu: Ni hao.
Shanghainese Librarian: Hello... *blather* and this is a student. His Chinese speaking level is very good.
Father Lu: *speaks fast... with a very strange Beijingese accent*
Me: *turns to librarian* Eh?
Shanghainese Librarian: *more introductions*
Father Lu: *speaks some more about weird things, then talks to me about brothers in college, speaking in Mandarin and things...* It's very good that you're fluent in Mandarin. When you go abroad, and you speak Chinese, NOT Amoy (i hated the emphasis), but Mandarin, you will be able to communicate with all sorts of people that are... ladidadidadidadidadida....
Me: But I believe that we must retain our Fukien heritage. It's part of our personality, and if we forget that, then that's a very sad thing. We really ought not forget it.
Father: Right, right, but you should be able to speak Mandarin because not everyone can speak Fukien, but everyone can speak Mandarin.

I decided not to press the dialect topic, and decided to not mention my being Cantonese, because that might spur him to proclaim everlasting hatred and call down the Mandarin Gods to smite the "Cantonese rat devil".

Well, if he did, I could still swear at him in Cantonese, and that is my greatest advantage. HAH!

But he didn't, so neither did I.

We continued to chatter, and he said that my Chinese sounded better than most people. Then, and okay, here's the biggest insult of all, he asked me if i could WRITE CHINESE!!!!!!!!!!!!!

...

Me: DANG RAN LE!!!!!!!!!!! WO SHI ZAI ZHER SHANG XUE!!!!

Okay, uncaps that. But still, you get the indignation I felt.

So he was all "Wow, okay, if you can read and write and speak, then that's better." And continues to talk on. I ask if Mainlanders could read traditional chinese. He says they could, and I proceed to explain that a few people I knew couldn't read or write some traditional characters.

So anyway, that basically wraps up my day, aside from the evil double math, the odd Chinese period and Filipino, which sucked my brain out.

See ya next time.

Pain and Wo Nan Guo and the non-best day of my life
POSTED AT 01:28 PM

platinumangel

I simply hated today.

I hated it.

And the going-to-Meggie-to-give-her-the-Jackie-thing had nothing to do with it. Nor the Math quiz that I hope I aced. Nor the Chinese period that was wasted. Nor the Kenn-asking-about-the-hygiene-habits-thing. Nor the Bene-saving-the-Soc.-Sci.-class-from-being-minced-by-the-electric-fan-blade-by-flicking-the-locks-on-the-electric-fan-closed. It was the lousy-work-pile-up-at-the-office thing nor the almost-having-to-go-to-the-tutor thing.

I hate that about life. Work and Math tutors. I wanna go see Ryle tomorrow, so I hope my mom does not press the math.

Rich. That's the real name of the guy named utmost in Tsinoy.com. We've been emailing.

I'm just glad it's over, and I have two days to glue my pieces together before I have to face school, and other losers again. And Hector Arellano. And Bert. Ugh.

And a while ago, I taught Alex exactly why I thought people who liked Kelly Clarkson's Because of You were lame and pathetic (and I guess he was one of those people, because he vehemently rejected my stand). And I will voice it out again for you people here:

I find it shallow that people have to blame their parents for their misfortune, unhappiness, and insecurity. I find it stupid and oh-so-lame that people have to say things like "it's all your fault that I'm weak". I have had a very rocky parent-son relationship with both my parents for four years and counting, and yet I am not broken, or shattered, or down. I am secure and, my parents are not the reasons for my unhappiness. I do not need to blame someone for being sad and weak.

And I bet half the people that listen to Kelly Clarkson's Because of You don't even have anyone to blame for these insecurities. It's not their parents' fault, or their friends, or siblings. Much less a girlfriend or boyfriend. No, it's their own fault, because they find being broken and dark "cool".

THAT'S PATHETIC.

I'll show you two things (songs).

Wo Nan Guo by 5566

那一年默默无言　只能选择离开
无邪的笑容已经　不再精彩
你害怕结局所以　拼命伤害
说是我挡住你的　美好未来

你坚决　不希望我等待
我便默默的让你走开
如今你　受了伤回来
叫我如何接受这安排

我难过的是　放弃你　放弃爱
放弃的梦被打碎　忍住悲哀
我以为　是成全
你却说你更不愉快

我难过的是　忘了你　忘了爱
尽全力忘记我们　真心相爱
也忘了告诉你　失去的不能重来

Sayang Naman by Nina

Di ko malimutan
Ang mga sumpa sa akin na di iiwan
Ako ay nagtiwala at sa yo ay naniwala
Na ako lamang ang nasa buhay mo

Tandang tanda ko pa
Ng sabihin mo sa akin na ayaw mo na
Ang mundo ko ay gumuho at ang luha’y biglang tumulo
Ang mga pangarap ko’y naglaho

Ano pa ba ang aking magagawa
Siguro nga'y hindi tayo para sa isa't-isa

Sayang naman ang pag-ibig na ibinuhos ko sayo
Sayang naman ang mga panahon na ginugol ko sayo
Kung maibabalik ko lang ang ating nakaraan
Di na sana dadating sa ganitong kalagayan

Di ko matandaan
Kung ano ang huli nating pag-aalitan
Saan ba ako nagkulang, ano ba ang kasalanan?
At ikaw ay biglang lumisan

Ano pa ba ang aking magagawa
Siguro nga'y hindi tayo para sa isa't-isa

Sayang naman ang pag-ibig na ibinuhos ko sayo
Sayang naman ang mga panahon na ginugol ko sayo
Kung maibabalik ko lang ang ating nakaraan
Di na sana dadating sa ganitong kalagayan

Kung mababalik ko lang ang ating nakaraan
di na sana darating sa ganitong kalagayan...

Crazy
POSTED AT 11:27 AM

platinumangel

I've been driving Gian and Arvin crazy by singing "Ngo Wui Gua Nim Nei" every second of my waking existence.

I'll run you down quickly over the events of the past few days:

I went to see Ryle at Tytana. It was an inhumanly long distance away from Mandaluyong, and Joel and I were stranded in traffic for over half an hour.

Well, I got there, saw the 7th contestant all the way through to the 23rd, and then through the awarding, saw a bunch of loser nobodies WIN and Ryle lose. And as Lao Shi said: Wan le!

I felt like crap. But at least I got a picture.

Anyway, Tian Lao Shi, Deng Lao Shi and Ye Lao Shi were there, and a bunch of others too.

I thought it was majorly unfair that Ryle didn't win, and that they didn't even get the good elocutionists for first to fifth place. They got the nobodies. And what was up with those judges that said weird speeches in front of us? A few of the audience were laughing, but it was wholly unnecessary to waste our brain cells. Plus, the Mandarin of quite a number of the judges from here were horrible. It had that accent that both my parents have. Jeez, their Mandarin was so bad, the contestants spoke better Mandarin!

Then this guy kept speaking to Lao Shi in Fukien, and Lao Shi kept replying in Mandarin, and the guy just WOULDN'T QUIT!!!!!!!!! I had the mind to tell him "HELLO??? WHY DO YOU THINK SHE'S REPLYING IN MANDARIN? HER FUKIEN ISN'T AS GOOD AS YOURS!!! SO CODE-SWITCH, DAMMIT!!!"

But then again, his Mandarin was probably as good as mine, so they wouldn't get each other anyway.

Anyway, we had the Chinese New Year celebration today.

Nothing special happened in the morning, but we saw the preparations through from item one all the way to fixing it back to its original state two hours later.

The parents were there too, and Walter, I and Neell were supposed to grade sections A, B and C. B, in particular, was cajoling me to give them high grades.

A was actually the best, although everyone was speaking to me in lousy, incorrectly-toned Mandarin, and Filipino. They knew their verbs and nouns surprisingly well, though.

B sucked. Lousy comprehension. Work harder, you knaves!

C sucked worse. No one minded any of the graders, and everyone was just wrapped up in their own booth. Stupid.

Walter and I were walking around, wondering where Neell was, and decided to finally just start without him. Then Kurt See appears and Kurt tells us that Neell and he have traded.

I intentionally speak very fast Mandarin with the gradees so that they can't catch what I'm saying so I can give them low grades. I know, I'm evil.

Monday was tiring. If not for Club to save me, I'd be nuts right now. Club was surprisingly pleasant (as it usually isn't as pleasant as it was), and I got to speak some Mandarin with Deng Lao Shi (which I have not done in a whiiiiile). It was just me, Spencer, Dennis Chua, some guy named Dexter and Mr. Young. Mr. Lacon didn't even stay--just dropped by, then decided that he didn't have to stay because there weren't any high three people. SO NOT THE POINT!!!!!!!!!!!

Mr. Young showed us the game of being totally blindfolded and stepping through a maze, led only by a guy who can't touch you, and can only call out directions.

And then there was the "trust fall". We were to do that with Spencer, but he didn't wanna fall--just sat in our outstretched arms.

So I did it, because i was the lightest. I just fell, and I could suddenly understand why Spencer was so afraid of doing it. It was horrifying, to just fall blindly. But I was caught, and I was happy that I dared to do it.

So I left. But now my body is aching all over from P.E. yesterday, just before Club, where we practiced Foundation Form 1 and 2, and did 27 push-ups as punishment for Pohan's being a slow, lazy, presco ass, and another fifteen because a bunch of people in my group made mistakes in Foundation Form 2, and we didn't shout. Hector Arellano is very uptight sometimes. Oh well.

I do not look forward to tomorrow's Math LT.

But I think I'll do fine. In other news, I've got that Eng-Chi Chi-Eng ci dian. It's very helpful, and it got me out of a rut when I had to write the essay for Chinese.

Some idiot spilled vinegar on my area. It reeked.

I exposed everyone to my kind of Chinese music. Walter, Justine Figueroa and Gian kept wrestling with me for the songs.

Nuts, I tell you.

But the day was fine. 28/35 in Fil. LT.

Great.

Just great.

The Best Sound On Earth by Various Artists (if you can't read Chinese, then you won't know who sing in the song):

周华健：旋律文字加起的性感
　　　　悦耳铿锵美乐韵
让我真挚荡来最是动人
王 菲：如今 无尽感激知音
伴我高歌美乐韵
李克勤：令我找到共鸣处
悠然的唱 令你欢欣
郭富城：用我心 用我真
热炽细唱每首歌韵抚你心
陈慧琳：做气氛
像有知心的人慰问
张学友：廿载未变更
热炽散播最好歌韵空气里走近
彭 羚：这份诚意 延续永远
好的歌已伴送

刘德华：旋律文字加起的性感
　　　　悦耳铿锵美乐韵
让我真挚荡来最是动人
郑秀文：如今 无尽感激知音
伴我高歌美乐韵
叶倩文：令我找到共鸣处
悠然的唱 令你欢欣
许志安：用我心 用我真
热炽细唱每首歌韵抚你心
李惠敏：做气氛
像有知心的人慰问
黎 明：廿载未变更
热炽散播最好歌韵空气里走近
郑伊健：这份诚意 延续永远
好的歌已伴送

合 唱：现在众生 用最真
合作细唱这首歌韵不会分
用协心 令这缤纷歌坛震撼
用好歌 换你心
锐意献唱最好歌韵使世界兴奋
韵律和我 韵律和我
韵律和我 永在你心