Grand Apologetic Gestures

Again, a photo of Facebook has got me thinking.

Awww, the first one is so sweet and the second one is so heartbreaking! Bless that guy for giving that girl flowers and damn that guy for ignoring her!

That's your supposed reaction. In reality, we are just outside looking in. We don't know the whole story.

For the first half of the image, the guy does a grand apologetic gesture with a sign that says "I'm Sorry" and flowers for a girl he must have hurt (Wow, he and I are so similar). However, if you think about it, did she actually forgive him? What did the guy do to have to apologize? What did it mean? Was it actually worth apologizing for? Did the girl even accept the apology? Did she say on Twitter that the guy ruined her day? We may never know but somehow, that moment is being played out as romantic and sweet without the proper context.

In the next half of the picture, a girl kneels in front of a guy and the guy doesn't accept the apology. He walks away. Outside looking in, the guy is being vilified as heartless but do we know their situation? Perhaps the girl was the one that did something unforgivable and the guy didn't forgive her yet but rather needed time to think things through. Maybe forgiveness was out of the question. Perhaps the guy didn't want their situation publicized in the middle of a parking lot. There are lots of possibilities. But really, it's not always the guy's fault but somehow, we're vilified as the ones who are always in the wrong and have to make the first move in everything, including apologies.

So what does this show? That guys have to be the ones to make the effort, regardless of what the girls did. What did the caption of that photo say? "Girls are girls and to respect them is the first thing that a guy should do." Yes, that is a good message but what if the girls are the ones in the wrong? Can't these romantic women have some sort of faults or are people so sympathetic to them that it causes double standards? If the woman didn't forgive the guy, surely, people would say "Wow, he must really be a dick! How independent of her!" Everyone should have the same ground of faults. There shouldn't be an unfair gender that gets all of the advantages.

TomasinoWeb!

A principle of an old wrestling organization named ECW comes into mind when talking about this organization – it’s best to accentuate the positives and hide the negatives. What are the positives? This organization not only has the most impressive photographers but also the most interesting writers. These photographers and writers are able to show their work on a website designed by talented web designers and amazing digital artists. All of these people – the writers, the photographers, the digital artists, and the designers – are led by dedicated staff members. So, what we have here is a young organization slowly being developed into something a little more impressive every year with members who have various talents coming together to make it all possible.

The most interesting thing about being part of this small organization is actually witnessing its progress from being a small website run by a few random people to a credible news site that was actually cited by Wikipedia and Manila Bulletin as a citation source. This makes people say “Wow, if this organization is good now, imagine what it could be in a year or two” and would make them nearly uncomfortable to miss a second of the organization’s progress as a news website. 

Ralphisms – CTHM girls

I always joke about being attracted to those girls majoring in tourism in UST. Why? Their uniforms are hot. That’s all.

…What? You thought there’d be more details to that? Oh alright.

I could remember seeing a group of those tourism girls during my first week in UST. My god, they were attractive. Again, must have been the uniform. But I could remember telling a friend of mine during first year that I would pursue one of them. Again, by the time that semester ended, I stopped caring about them aside from the occasional joking around. Okay, not really occasional but still.

The joke I do with my friends is during a conversation and they’re talking to me about some boring thing. They’re talking about something and I pretend to drift off and stare at some tourism girl passing by.

Friends: *talking about stuff*

(Tourism girl passes by)

Ralph: …I’m sorry, what?

Friends: RALPH!

The joke there is that I’m easily distracted by those girls. In reality, I’m not. I just love my friends’ reaction.

One time, for fiction class (one of my course’s major subjects), we were assigned to do a stalking exercise and write a story about it. We had to observe and write about a person we don’t know and at the same time, that said person shouldn’t know that we’re writing about them. Stalker level to the max! I remember sitting in Plaza Mayor in UST, looking at one of these girls. Of course she doesn't know me and I don't know her and I was aware of how creepy it was.


This next paragraph is actually for the finished paper that I had to do for fiction class. It was actually some of the most detailed stuff I've written so far.

“She wore a navy blue vest with yellow green lining on the borders. The green coat of arms belonging to the faculty she was from was sewn on the left side of the vest. Beneath the vest was a white short-sleeved shirt finished off with a translucent yellow green scarf tied in a loop knot. Her skirt had the same shade as the vest, making it seem like one formal dress. The black stockings on her slender legs made the blue of her clothes seem brighter than it was. She was dangling one of her black high heeled shoes on her right foot – perhaps a sign of boredom but remotely impatience. She looked at her beige watch dangling on her left wrist and looked at her surroundings once more. The various students are distant from where she sat, making it seem like there was some sort of force field around this young woman”

Hey, don’t judge me. I got a high grade for that paper. Plus, I’m a good writer. Apparently. 18/20 isn't bad.

When my friends read the whole stalking exercise, they legitimately thought that I was obsessed with those girls. I’m not! I just like exaggerating myself to that and plus, that exercise was somehow fun in a weird sort of way. Plus, there wasn’t anyone worth writing about in Plaza Mayor at the time and I was really in a rush. So, the first one I see who could easily be written about was a CTHM girl. So don’t judge me as creepy. I was cramming.

Do I think all of them are the most attractive girls in campus? Of course not. They do have a number of attractive ones there but in my opinion, Arts and Letters has a greater number of attractive girls, but hey, I’m just saying that because I’m in that building every day of the week. When I say that I’m extremely attracted to those CTHM girls and saying things like “I think I’m in love with her” or “That girl’s alone and single? CHALENGE ACCEPTED!” or “I’m gonna go to the CTHM building and get a girl’s number”, that’s the joke. It's not like I'm actually going to flirt with each and every one of them but that's the joke. I know a few of them but a lot of them know me (Valentine's Day '12 but let's not get into that again) so I joke about it. So no, I'm not really attracted to all of them. A few of them are my friends (acquaintances at least) but no, nothing more than that.

Limits to Melodrama

For you melodramatic ones. I’m gonna try to get my point across using lyrics just so some of you can understand.

Every guy has a limit. No matter what the soap operas that you see on TV say, most guys cannot be “McDreamy” or “McSteamy”. We realistic guys have flaws. The perfect guy is either in TV shows, in books, or a figment of your imagination. Basically, the perfect guy that every melodramatic girl wants is fictional. So that means you ladies either lower your standards to realistic levels or you stay single and look for that guy that will never come no matter where you search for him.

To be blunt, he can’t always be there. Some of you can’t understand that! Unlike what you “sensitive” (see: “dramatic”) ones think, every guy has a life to live for his own as well. He cannot revolve his world around you. He also has parents and a family to love among other important things in life. What do you want him to say anyway? “You're the air that I breathe. Girl, you're all that I need. And I wanna thank you, lady. You're the words that I read. You're the light that I see. And your love is all that I need”? [Boyzone, “All That I Need”]

No. Just… no. That sounds well in fiction and love songs but in reality? Naaah. That guy would be irrational then. So what if you two aren’t compatible after all? Does that mean he’ll die of suffocation and become illiterate then?

What you want him to say is “Because your kiss is on my list of the best things in life” [Hall and Oates, “Kiss on My List”]. See, you’re not THE best thing in his life but rather one of them, which is just as good, if not, even better. There are other things he has to care about such as family and friends, among other things. Now why can’t some understand that? The guy can’t have a normal life outside of you?

Next, he can’t be always be there to be your shoulder to cry on. He can’t always be there to talk to you. He can’t always be there to listen to you. He can’t always be the “smiley, happy, rainbows-and-unicorns-pooping-flowers” type. He can’t always be there to “cuddle” with you. And no, he’s not being “insensitive”.

If you need him always, and I mean always, you’re using him as an emotional crutch. You have to stand on your own two feet as well. “Oh he’s being insensitive towards my feelings all the time!” No, he does care but he can’t deal with you always. You want Prince Charming to come rescue you, not a real guy. That’s the problem.

And if that’s what you want, then the guy would most likely say “Wanna be your lover, not your fuckin’ [father]. Can't be your savior, I don't have the power. I'm not gonna stay and watch you circle the drain.” [Katy Perry, “Circle The Drain”] See, with those clingy demands about your heart and all that, you want a father, not a boyfriend. 

What some of you overly dramatic women want is for the guy to put you first and if he doesn’t, you’ll say “He’s being self-centered!” Really? REALLY? You want him to put YOU first than everything else? You want his life to revolve around you like you’re the sun? Umm, who’s being self-centered here? The guy who’s balancing his life or the girl who clings on and becomes possessive?

You want us guys to understand you yet you don’t want to understand us? That’s unfair. Now that’s insensitive. It can’t just be all about you, you, and you. Remember, the guy cannot keep on giving you love if the amount you want is beyond his limits. But for the overly dramatic ones that go around and basically demonize the guy for not giving in to your demands, keep doing that and you’re bound to be single for a long time.

I'm Ralph Corleone and that's my opinion.

What Your Tumblr Says About You

Having a Tumblr account, in the Tumblr sense, is basically having a place to express yourself and somehow show other Tumblr users that you’re unique, that you could be different from the norms of society.

And if you believe that, I have a bridge to sell you.

This thought of “uniqueness” is just a self-imposed veil of feign importance. Just because you have a blog to express yourself does not make you “unique” or “different from the mainstream”. Your Tumblr blog says a lot about you if you use it properly.

Nothing but reblogs of anything

“Look, I just reblog what I see. I’m easily amused and probably have nothing interesting to type!”

Reblogs of GIFs regarding your favorite shows

“I’m a total diehard fan and my life revolves around these scenes from my favorite show! HAHA LOL!”

Posting bad poetry

“I’m trying to be deep and using words as that tool. Watch me butcher metaphors and make these lines rhyme with little to no thought whatsoever!”

Posting good poetry

“I’m creative and I know it.”

Posting photos from your cellphone

“I’m a wannabe photographer who can’t even use a decent camera! I’m trying to be deep but I’m just misunderstood by society, or at least the society in my twisted head.”

Posting legitimately good photos

“I have a good camera and I’m actually using it correctly. I can actually take a good photo of something deep and meaningful, instead of using it to spam everyone with 200 shots of a latte from Starbucks.”

Posting meaningless whining

“I’m totally misunderstood! No one gets me! Watch as I bitch and moan about things with little to no value.”

Posting well-thought out blog posts

“I’m actually using my Tumblr blog correctly. I can post things that have annoyed me or have made me happy but regardless of that, I could still give my readers something entertaining or interesting to read.”

It’s a weird paradox. If someone posts something personal and well-thought out, people would say that the blog sucks and is boring. However, if someone has nothing but images taken from other blogs, people say that the blog is “awesome”. It doesn’t make sense. So basically, if Tumblr is for “expressing yourself” and people actually do express themselves, they’d get verbally abused (at the most) for not being funny enough.

It’s alright to reblog things but still, keep a theme. Simple theme. Like “my life”, “my interests” or “my school”. It’s doesn’t have to be specific like “The funniest things that could happen if you use quantum physics in real life”. If your theme is just “randomness”, get the fuck out of the internet because we don’t need you taking up space.