Introspection

Some Things Don’t Change

It’s 8:21 AM. I’m sitting in front of my old desktop with a cripplingly slow internet connection while munching on some cooked Spam. I guess it’s laundry time so I just asked my maid to get my clothes from my old friend’s personal assistant’s house in the next street—I mean, I wouldn’t dare go out in that nasty humid heat.

I arrived in the Philippines two days ago and since that day, I haven’t had much time to myself. I got home, opened the luggage I didn’t bother unpacking, and immediately started going around. I felt like a mini-ghetto celebrity. My friend even acts as my personal assistant juggling around all my appointments. Life’s good.

But let me tell you about my first day. It wasn’t as pleasant as I thought it would be. Granted, I’m not used to the Philippines’ weather anymore. Anyway, my personal assistant decided to take me to the area where they usually hang out nowadays. It’s this place called Taft—it’s where they go to college. If I stayed in the Philippines, this is one of my choices of universities to go to. Let me run you through it:

Firstly, the car was “coding,” which is a system where if you have a certain license plate, you can’t go driving. That meant we had to use public transportation. They took me to the bus which is kind of like the commute I travel when I go to LMC from my humble Antioch home; however, think of a more crowded bus with occasional ghetto street vendors coming in and out hoping to sell you his merch. Gross. The interior was dirty and apparently, I lucked out this time because the other buses had dead roaches. [Thanks, God.]

Secondly, I lived in a quaint subdivision here in the Philippines. It’s not as dirty as the other places; I was definitely sheltered. In Taft, you see people of all shapes, sizes, and smells. If you could see smells, I promise I saw quite ugly colors. One thing you need to know about the Philippines is that it’s a small country. Another thing you need to know is that its size doesn’t stop the people from procreating again and again…and again. I firmly believe that the Metro Manila, which is the area where I stay, is one of the most populated places relative to land size in the world. Meanwhile, these small roads are jam-packed with various public vehicles. I was afraid of getting run over. Oh, did I forget to mention the complete lack of crosswalks? I’m pretty sure they exist but boy, they are quite elusive and neglected. The norm is jaywalking and I had to get used to it.

Sometimes I force myself to look at the silver lining of my murky gray pollution cloud: “Hey, at least you don’t live in a rural province where there’s no internet connection!” I actually live in the area where the capital is located. This is definitely the definition of urban city-living. Everywhere you look, there are stores, cafes, and so much more. I love that. Reprieve comes from the Starbucks that appears in every other street corner. I’m not even lying.

So let me recap: small streets, loads of people, assorted stench, Starbucks, bus vendors, pollution, humid heat. This is the way the Filipinos live. I used to live here. Honestly, it’s hard coming back when you’ve tasted and lived in the U.S. for some time. It’s hard comparing because the Philippines loses. When people ask me what I miss about the Philippines, I always reply with “the people.” I love the people here. If you give me the U.S. environment [climate] and the Filipino people, I think I’d be set.

Let me tell you something: I might be complaining my ass off every other minute but I’m enjoying my time over here. This blog is not even close to chronicling my stay but I guess this would have to do. More to come. Wish I had pictures. I’ll remember next time. Oh, personal assistant…

Bleaching Saga

Oh Mr. Tumblr, I’ve had the most interesting experience. See, I’ve always wanted to dye my hair white. Yeah, I’m serious. Like an old man white. I don’t know why. Maybe I’ve been playing too many fantasy games and watching too much anime. Maybe I just want to be an old man. Hm.

Anyway, the first time I’ve dyed my hair, I chose to get peekaboos on my bangs. Supposedly, they could be hidden if I wanted them. That was the perfect deal for a first time thing. I had cool bangs. I dyed them a different color every two weeks. Partly because I get tired of the color easy but mostly because I don’t have the patience to maintain the color. It fades really easily.

Finally, on one crazy day, my boyfriend and I decided to go to a nearby Hot Topic and finally get a bleaching kit that came packaged with white toner. I guess that he got tired of me always saying stuff about me wanting white hair. He really wasn’t into the whole idea but he wanted me to get what I wanted. *sigh* [insert really cheesy text here]

I think it took three weeks before I touched the bleaching kit. We kept putting it off saying that I’ll only bleach my head if he was there with me. I’m too scared to do it by myself! On one fortunate day, we managed to snag a ride from a good friend of mine, Lyz, who always gives me rides, back to my house. Needless to say, I was stoked.

The bleaching process was interesting. It burned my scalp but I wanted it to continue. I didn’t care. However, we didn’t have proper heating equipment so we had to settle with my blow-dryer. It didn’t turn out platinum blond. My hair turned some shade that those red-heads have but I had platinum blond bangs because of the previous bleaching my bangs underwent for the peekaboos.

[This is a really gay pic.]

I ran out of bleach. That meant I had to go to school the next day with that hair color. Diego and Elizabeth insisted that it looked pretty cool. Diego even said that the shade effect that “he created” was amazing. It was blond in front, reddish brown on top, and dark brown in the back. That was no creation. That was an accident—a mere coincidence. Take it, Diego.

I got a lot of stares in school. Even my teachers called me out on my hair. It was a pretty interesting shade. Plus, coupled with my hairstyle, I looked like I was wearing a wig. [Note to self: get a haircut.] I even had a moment with one girl who was in the same class as me but we never interacted. She looked like Leona Lewis. She just saw me and instantly said with a gaping mouth reaction, “No way. WHY?!”

I knew that I had to bleach it further before I start toning it white. I bought two more bleaching kits and I started burning myself with them when I got home. I didn’t care that I was doing it alone. I knew I had to do something.

Long story short, I ended up bleaching my hair for a total of 5 hours. And you know what, with my inexperience and inadequate equipment, of course, I still didn’t end up a platinum blond.

The above photo looks like I styled it to look like some cool hairstyle straight out of a TV show. No, my hair’s just fried and dead that it stays up like that. My scalps burning, my forehead is sore—everything just went downhill from there. My advice to my future self? Don’t bleach at home.

Dear Mr. Tumblr

I think I’m going to make you my new blog. My old one is… well, old. I haven’t posted anything in that thing in almost two years, I think. What worries me is that my mother would eventually find out about this little ol’ Tumblr of mine. She finds out everything anyway. She has skills. I wish I was kidding. Oh well. I’ll try not to mind as much.

It’s funny, Mr. Tumblr. Today is Mother’s Day. I think I was contemplating on intentionally not getting my mother anything just to spite her. Why? Well, she was being really harsh on me but then I realized that I shouldn’t be a little bitch about it. So I got her some chocolates and a card. Should I write another tear-jerking letter? I wonder.

formspring.me

Go ahead, relieve me of my boredom and ask me anything. x3 http://formspring.me/wayne097

Formspring

I just realized that I could sync my Formspring account to Tumblr instead. 8D Okay, this works.

Tumblraaaaaawrrrr

Hm. So I finally made a Tumblr after much convincing from friends. I guess this could possibly benefit me in the future when in the future, I decide to look back on the stupid shiz I concoct in the past. Now… to find people to follow ‘round here. :o