Bastos, Padre...

Retired Priest Sentenced for Bilking Two Churches

Oh, Filipino priests...
Obviously, what he did to the people of those two parishes was grimy, but a lot of people like to focus on the fact that he was married and had kids. Honestly, I've met a lot of Filipino priests with illegitimate children, or with legitimate ones. Frankly, that doesn't make them bad priests, if anything these have been some of the realest people I've ever met and they have a love of God that is hard to find in others.

My Godfather had studied in a seminary for a long time, but he met his wife shortly before he was supposed to "marry" God. He respected the laws of the church enough to drop out of the seminary but, frankly, I don't think it was necessary. He's one of the most intelligent and devout men in the world. I've been in too many masses with priests that seemed disenchanted with their profession, that preached their parts as an afterthought. My ninong lives his life for God, so he has a wife and a kid, if anything that's strengthened his faith more than anything.

Hell, my fondest memories are of 10 visiting Bicolano priests and my Ninong in the backyard singing songs and telling dirty jokes while drunk out of their minds and then celebrating a joint mass the next day. Priests are people too. I think Rome needs to take a new look at old laws.

To Magibon from GyaO 1(http://www.gyao.jp/)

So for those of you waiting for me to write something original, it'll happen when it happens. Until then, I think this is hilarious. If you don't know who Magibon/MRiaian is then check her out: http://www.youtube.com/user/MRirian

All of her vids involver her staring into the camera doing nothing. In some she talks, but it's really just staring. Some think she's a hapa Japanese girl, but there's increasing evidence pointing to her being an Asian-looking white girl that knows basic Japanese. If you listen to her talk, her accent is a little off and she speaks very slowly. Also, when she uses English words she uses little to no inflection (i.e. she has an American accent). A lot of her popularity is due to her being "kawaii!" Honestly, I wouldn't pay half as much attention to her account if I just knew the truth, damnit.

For those of you wondering what's being said in the vid, basically these people think she's cute and they want her to go to Japan and "perform" though I really don't know what it is she would do...

Who knows? Japanese people will watch anything.

Video of Silly Cambodian Kid

How cool is that? He's on Al Jazeera! You know you're interested in the right things when you find stuff before a major new network does.
Honestly, though, that's really really really cool, and his Buddhist take on things kinda makes it logical, in a way.

Joy Luck Club Review (High school essay)

So, yeah. I wrote this as my first assignment in 12th grade for AP English Literature. I usually make my first essays for writing classes as close a reflection of me as possible, and leave seriousness for later in the year. I actually don't have this essay saved anywhere, I was looking at my rarely updated MySpace page and saw this as the only entry in the blog. I read through it and was thoroughly entertained by past-me, however recent ago it may have been. I like to think I'm not nearly as bitter. Note: The weird characters are how MySpace interpreted apostrophes. I just copied and pasted this and am far too lazy to go through and fix all of those. Just use your imagination.

The Joy Luck Club is a novel that is widely praised for itâs detailed description of life in America for newcomers and their children; celebrated for delving into the relationship between mother and daughter and highly acclaimed for celebrating Americaâs diversity. Despite all of these credits, this book is ludicrously mundane as well as boring. In fact this novel is among the ranks of other powerful sleep aids such as The Scarlet Letter, To Kill a Mockingbird and elephant tranquilizers. I literally had to go to my doctor and ask for a prescription for Zoloft after completing this book, not even because it was depressing, but because the thought of people actually enjoying it lead me to lose all hope in humanity.
Being the son of immigrants, Iâm sure I was able to better understand a few of the novelâs motifs and themes such as differences in ideology between the generations, difficulties in communication and the desire for immigrant parents for their children to strive and fit in while unreasonably expecting them to become slightly Americanized versions of their parents. Granted, yes, I do understand Tanâs message, Iâve even witnessed it in my extended family and among others but I feel itâs been made overly dramatic.
While reading the novel, I often found myself sympathizing more with the parents of these rebellious, disrespectful second generation children. I know my language and I can communicate with my elders just fine. Iâve always obeyed, Iâve always capitulated and Iâve never come across complications as a result. I can honestly say that Iâve never spoken back to my parents, even once. I just donât get why these girls have such resentment for their mothers. What did their mothers ever do to wrong them? They came to America with hopes of raising children in a world where water flowed into their homes and replenished instead of killed; where they didnât have to worry about where the next meal would come from; where women were respected and judged as individuals and not just accessories to husbands. They exercised their rights as mothers to do what they thought best for their children, thatâs what they did. What did they get in return? They ended up with daughters that looked down on their parents as ignorant because they couldnât speak English. They ended up with daughters that ignored all their advice as over-used Confucian banter. They ended up as old women without respect, without prestige, whose only joy was playing mah jong on weekends and comparing the successes of their unappreciative children. What reward is there in such an end?
Another thing adding to my dislike of Tanâs supposed masterpiece is the overtly feminine nature of the novel. I guess it canât be avoided, being as she is a woman, but I really donât care why so and so cried, how bad it hurt, or how a guy gave the character multiple orgasms. Honestly, a motherâs intuition and daily gossip just donât matter.
In short, The Joy Luck Club may be the greatest novel even written, but itâs over dramatized situations and overly feminine nature make for a ridiculously bland reading experience I can truly say reflects nothing of importance in my life. In fact, I once held the book while looking in the mirror and saw myself holding a steaming pile of feces, true story.



Note: I got a B on this essay. Yeah, I'm sweet like that.