Stream of Ry

I just need it for SMS and calls. Nothing fancy.
Used or reconditioned or whatnot as long as it can do those stuff, I’m great with it.

I’ve got a budget of 800 to 1,200.
Any sellers?

Courtesy of Gerardo Roxas (gerryroxas.com)

Too bad the application period is now closed. Maybe next year. :3

I have been reading this book and I have learned a lot from it.
The book taught me lots of new things (such as the difference between an income statement and balance sheet) but more importantly, it reminded me of lessons I already knew but never took them to heart. Now, I repeat the same lessons to myself over and over again so that I will never forget.

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I’ll be updating this in a while. I just need to publish this one ASAP.

This day started out great, to be honest. Woke up okay, finished one of my projects in little over an hour and I won a Globe jacket!

But alas, trouble comes in the evening. Ironically, I was just 5 minutes away from home.

I was going up the overpass when a man tapped me, asking me if I had been in the vicinity a few hours before. I said, “No, it’s the first time I passed by here today” and he proceeded on relaying what happened allegedly a few hours before. The story goes as follows:

He is a kagawad of the nearby barangay. His god-daughter was harassed by a certain gang member while waiting for a jeepney. Her boyfriend who was with her fought back but for all he knew, they were actually a gang. So the guy got beaten up to half an inch of his life so they were taken to a nearby clinic.

Now, he said that there were descriptions of the suspects and that I fit one of the descriptions. So he was asking me to come with them (there were two of them now) to the nearby police station and well, thinking that since I’ve not done anything wrong at all, this won’t take a while, I came with them. While he was talking with me, a guy was going up and he signalled to his companion that that other guy  also fit one of the other descriptions. So both of us are now suspected and we both went with them.

The rest of the conversations on the way to the station went on in such a way that the events that happened became much more vivid to my mind. How the girl was harrased, how the guy was beaten up, what things were stolen from the couple, etc. Eventually, the guy said that we had to go to the station separately for isolated interrogation. So the two of them went ahead, leaving the other suspected person’s phone and wallet with me for “security purposes” (as apparently the last guy that was interrogated called up his fraternity and there was some trouble).

So I was left with this other guy and we were talking while waiting for the other two to come back. When it was my time to go, they asked me to do the same thing. They also asked me to leave my ATM and asked me for my PIN number too for verification purposes (and by god, am I stupid — only realized that I should not have when I just finished saying it). Then the kagawad guy said to the one I am going with that he should let me wait a few buildings before the station because their kumpadres are already drunk and they may think that the suspect already got caught and beat me up. So, he did leave me in a corner.

While waiting, I reviewed the events and after 5 minutes or so, I just said: “Oh crap.” and then I ran as fast as I can home. I checked my ATM account balance ( 3k was drawn out ) I reported the card stolen anyway. I also called Sun Cellular to temporary disable my number (since we’re on a postpaid package) and tried Globe if they have blocking services for pre-paid (they don’t have, as I thought). I also sent messages to all my clients and mailing groups of what happened. The situation is, as far as I know, contained.

There is no regret in me. The 3k in my ATM, my old phone and the newer one were just cheap anyway. They’re just things. I can earn them back in a project or two. I’m not in a state of shock either. Or perhaps, all that mental processing was my state of shock.

The funny thing is, I even gave them my calling card.

High school graduation ceremonies are virtually the same all over. These young students will take paths of their own from here on out. Paths that will assuredly diverge into different directions, separating them from their best friends and barkadas. They venture into this thing called College that is a very scary place to be alone in.

Despite being alone, these young students enjoy a level of upgrade in their so-called social status. Once regarded as young, naive and incapable, they are somehow empowered to think of themselves as near-grownups. This state of thinking may be reflected in the very common phrase “College na ako kaya dapat [insert rant/request here]” usually pulled off during an argument or asking for permission.

This is, in my opinion, a very unnatural jump. In less than half a year, an individual jumped from incapable to responsible and the culture shock they receive is very.. well.. shocking. The sudden rise in expectations surely is taxing on the still naive individual and the sudden increase of freedom is very very prone to abuse as they stretch the limits and see how far they could actually go which makes the whole affair dangerous. These kids have not had a taste of real life and real life may bite them real hard, if they stretch the limits too much.

So, what can we, the slightly more matured students acting as older brothers or sisters, do about it?

I say let them have a taste of life if they really choose to do so but remind them as often as required by your conscience. After all, you may have been in the same position as they are now.

And if life decides to bite back real hard, at least you can say “I told you so” in a manner that bumps their ego :

“Well, you’re in college now. Take responsibility.”