{waiting watching wishing}

Tuesday, May 15, 2007

{elections and bloatedness}

when i arrived for the winlaw eb planning, some of my friends commented that i had lost weight and all. i was flattered. no, beyond flattered because all i have been doing lately is eat. not the normal "i eat to sustain myself" type of eating but more of the "i am gobbling food like there's no tomorrow" sort.

yesterday, i attained the height of piggishness. all i did was eat. puede pa kung healthy, home-cooked food. but NO. talk about processed-food overload. chocolate fondue (drool), chips, chips, and yes, more chips, soda, take-out. if i had died yesterday i would have died a very happy and contented cow (or pig). moo. hahaha!

same story today. though i did cut down on the junk food-intake. not by much though because i still had yummy chocolate fondue.

on a more serious note, been monitoring the outcome of the mid-term elections. although i long ago expected that i would be disappointed, actually feeling it is, well, decidedly not a happy feeling. i felt like bawling my eyes and nose out quite a number of times though of course i had to contain myself because had i gone thru with that, it would have spelled out major embarrassment. but then, who wouldn't be disappointed? what with the rampant violence, cheating, disenfranchisement. and don't even get me started on the infallible COMELEC.

how does anyone expect our country to progress when we cannot even have the opportunity to elect qualified, competent, SINCERE public SERVANTS? i keep telling myself that there's still hope but now i'm scared that there might not be. i'm really hoping and praying that i am wrong.

oh well. at least there's food. the ever-dependable fallback. :s
(haha, like THAT's a consolation. :p)

Labels: elections, food

Posted by arianne at 11:14 PM

Friday, May 11, 2007

{why i will vote on may 14, 2007}

in my opinion, a vast majority of those who are contesting the may 2007 elections have made a sham and mockery of what i used to consider the sacred electoral process. they have taken traditional politics AKA trapoism to the next level it's not even funny.

i remember being one of those eager-beaver first time voters. the first thing on my to-do list when i turned eighteen was to become a registered voter. i turned eighteen in 2002. i registered that same year in eager (albeit somewhat misguided) anticipation of the 2004 elections. when the time to vote finally drew near, i excitedly found out all i could about the candidates and carefully reviewed the list of those whom i planned to vote. my list included my choices for president, vice-president, TWELVE (yes, twelve) senators, congresswoman, and of course, my party-list of choice AKBAYAN (the candidates of which are practically the only one in that list of mine who haven't let me down and proved to be big disappointments). three years have passed. now i find myself bordering on ambivalence. i cannot even seem to muster a list of twelve senatorial candidates. oh don't get me wrong, i still think elections are important and i cannot stress enough how important it is not to disenfranchise oneself and to exercise one's right to suffrage but i also am of the opinion that whatever the outcome of this year's elections is, i will be greatly disappointed. nothing will change. at least on the political sphere.

the philippines' political future seems bleak. or so it seems. despite my disappointment bordering on disillusionment regarding the electoral process, i will nevertheless drag myself out of bed early this coming monday and vote. why? simply because not only is it my duty as a responsible citizen to vote (though i respect the right of those who choose not to) but more importantly, i will do so in DEFIANCE of the status quo, the trapos, and all the evil they represent. i will vote because i am not resigning myself to the decline of the philippine electoral system. there are still good and admirable candidates out there (like the three Kapatiran Party candidates i will most definitely vote for and party-list organizations like my party-list of choice AKBAYAN ). admittedly, i know that my one vote won't make much of a difference especially when the numbers and possibly, no definitely, the cheating games come into play but i believe there are exists others among the DEFIANT electorate much like me who will vote because they are tired of the trapos and the decayed system they perpetuate.

a little over a year ago, i attended a forum/seminar. the topic of which now escapes me but what stuck was this statement: our dreams won't fit in your ballot boxes.
MY dreams especially won't fit in your ballot boxes.

but i will nevertheless vote in the hope of something much MUCH better. and that is why whatever the outcome of this year's elections is, i will continue doing what i can, independent of the electoral process. while this is very unfortunate, the status quo will allow for no other recourse at this point in time.

Labels: elections

Posted by arianne at 12:05 AM