I just wanna share something that has been happening recently in my country that just warms my heart.
So in the Philippines, the national government has been handling the pandemic horribly. Contact tracing is decentralized, implementation of travel restrictions were delayed (which could’ve helped curb the spread earlier), absurd restrictions have been imposed (which gave way for police to abuse their power against quarantine violators, who were usually out for essentials) –all the while killing activists, spreading disinformation and implementing a law that targets critics of the administration and our freedom of speech. (and also putting ₱389-million pesos worth of dolomite sand on Manila Bay in the middle of the pandemic which could’ve been used to feed millions). Oh and as of writing, we are tallying up to 9,000-10,000 cases daily.
That being said, millions of low-income households around the country are struggling to put food on the table. Government payouts per household (which goes as far as ₱1,000- 8,000 pesos/$20-160 depending on your wages) are not enough to sustain months of lockdown and no income.
Tired of witnessing inaction, a local woman named Patreng Non made a makeshift pantry right outside her community in Quezon and named it the “Maginhawa Community Pantry”. The rule was simple. It simply wrote “Magbigay ayon sa kakayahan, kumuha batay sa pangangailangan.”
(translation: “From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs”)
The pantry gained traction, and after that, donations started pouring in from local farmers, fishermen and other regular folks
First Photo: Patreng Non refilling the community pantry
Second Photo: Local fishermen about to donate 50 kilos surplus of fish
Third Photo: Cardboard saying: “Free sweet potatoes from the farmers of Paniqui, Tarlac”
Fourth Photo: Tricycle drivers helping repack donations received
Fifth Photo: Current pantry with signages designed by local students
There was no panic, no hoarding, and people only took what they needed and left. Soon enough, community pantries started to pop up in different provinces.
This pantry and the nurturing community behind it has done more for the community in a week than what the government has done for the Filipino people in months.
Patreng Non has also set up a Paypal if you want to donate to the community pantry!
I’ve been thinking about it lately because of my poor life choices of sacrificing sleep for internet surfing (if that’s still a term people use). I’m too laid back about what I should be doing in my free time. If you’ve been with me for the past year or so, you might notice I love to sleep after class, like probably 3-4PM and it’s only been possible to take a dip at that time because I live in a dorm that’s just 15 mins away.
At first I thought it was a good thing because I could take a rest before studying again in the evening. But what really happens is I wake up at around 9PM and stay up way until 4AM or so. This happened most of the time and it just WRECKED my sleeping habit. I know it’s not healthy to sleep in the day because you’re not getting enough sunlight. I could actually feel it because even though I’ve had enough sleep, my eyes get super groggy as if I just had 3 hours of sleep.
At this point, I have little doubt that my lack of schedule isn’t the reason that I’m not feeling right. So I’ve decided that I need to stop leisure browsing too much. I read somewhere that if you want to wake up at the same time every morning, you need to go to sleep at the same time every night, too. I know it sounds simple, but it’s really hard to commit to because I feel sleepy at varying times every day. I can’t remember the last time I went to sleep even though I wasn’t sleepy yet. I mean, that’s not very satisfying, right? I neeeeed to feel sleepy before going to sleep because it only takes me 5 minutes tops to lose consciousness. Nevertheless, I’m going to have to force myself I guess.
I kind of regret not listening to my parents telling me to go to sleep at 8PM every night back in elementary. I thought it was the time that was important. It’s the consistency. Then again, I’m in college. I wonder how long I can keep this up?
People seem to care less about its value if it’s not theirs. The same thing’s been happening for 20 years of my life: them borrowing stuff and then breaking it.
I really enjoyed this class. We made some very productive work that’s actually done in the field and not just pure theory in the classroom. This gives me hope of what I can do after I graduate unlike some other professors out there who’re gonna fail at teaching you properly, make exams that weren’t discussed and expect you to pass. As if our self esteem wasn’t nicked already, they’ll bring you down and talk shit about you for failing.
I don’t know what I’m exactly ranting about here. Wala silang relevance sa buhay ko kaya bahala sila lol.
Shout out to Sir GV and Sir Fabs for being great mentors who actually push me to inspire me to be someone who could pass on my knowledge someday. You guys made this sem less hard to bear with given the circumstances.
By the way, I projected the 1st image from Plate to Azimuthal Equidistant Projection and the 3rd from Hammer to AEP.
Why I made this account: Uso nung high school lol but now almost everyone left. I mainly use this account now to post stuff I don’t want many people seeing.
“My boyfriend left as soon as I got pregnant. I was terrified to tell my father, but he discovered my pregnancy test hidden in a drawer. He didn’t speak to me for a few days. We’d always been close, so I knew something was up. Finally he asked me if I wanted to tell him something. I began to cry. I thought he was going to kick me out of the house. But he just went to speak with my mom in the other room, and when he came back, he asked what I planned to do. I told him I wanted to keep the baby, and from that moment on he was very supportive. He cooked me all kinds of dishes whenever I had cravings. He gave me words of encouragement. He started saving money in case I needed a cesarean section. But during my seventh month he came down with a fever after wading through floodwater. The next week it turned into a cough. We took him to the hospital, went home to get clothes, but he died by the time we got back. It was so sudden. I had no idea what I was going to do. I got all my strength from my father. It seemed like keeping the baby had been a mistake. It’s been a tough few years. I had to drop out of school and find a job, but my son is doing well. He’s very smart. He comes home from school with stickers and stars. He’s a ‘Mama’s boy.’ It’s been hard, but I’ve proven to myself that I didn’t have to end a life just because I couldn’t face it.”
As I mentioned earlier, I had a trip to Baguio City with my friends to spend the holy week break. I’ve never been there before so this was my first time. I didn’t know how cold it would be there, but I guessed I could handle it. BOY WAS I WRONG IT WAS FUCKING 11 DEGREES AT 5AM IN THE MORNING THE AIR-CONDITIONED BUS WAS MUCH WARMER THAN OUTSIDE I COULD FUCKING SEE MY BREATH.
We got to do so many things there.
DAY 1
We spent the early morning loitering inside UPB. The office to the dorm we were gonna stay in wasn’t open yet se we had time to kill. Once again, UP never fails to make nice-looking universities. This campus is no exception. I should say, their place has a lot of stairs.
AESTHETIC>>>>>
NO TO FALSE CAUSE WHO AM I KIDDING I’M A DELAYED KID
We ate at Retro Diner for lunch, a place Mark frequented when he was still studying in UPB. The food was really good. I hate to say it but the restaurant’s theme was very similar to Bigg’s, not to mention their menu. I’d say Bigg’s is more “gourmet”, but this place. THIS PLACE. They serve this dish with unli rice + unli iced tea for just 150 PESOS. #VALUE
After that we went boating at Burnham Park. The rates were really really cheap. You could rent an 8-seat boat for PhP 150 with no time limit. #THEVALUE I rowed at the back but navigating was especially tricky because you needed to work with the person who rowed at the front. We were literally just “rowing” around in circles because of miscoordination, but at least we got to take a lot of pictures, and bumping into other boats gave us a good laugh, too.
We visited the market next to buy pasalubong. My friends bought tons of jam and peanut products. Then they turned their attention to this cereal looking snack.
I’m ashamed I haven’t tried this before. These two jars changed my life forever! I LOVE YOU, CHOCO FLAKES :(((((
I only read about this from Bob Ong. But here it is, sundot kulangot! It was a fun eating experience. It put my picking skills to the test. Fortunately, I’m an expert ohoho. I could scoop up the candy inside real clean.
We didn’t do much on the first day. We were supposed to go to the night market for a food trip + very cheap ukay-ukay, but we had no more energy for the day. We ate dinner after that and slept like a log (accidentally) in our rooms for the night.
DAY 2
This day, we agreed on making up for the time we lost sleeping in the day before.
We proceeded to Museo Kordilyera first since it’s the nearest. It’s a museum situated inside UP Baguio which is free for UP students. If you’re a UP student and you’re ever in Baguio, please visit this museum! The place showcases the culture of the indigenous people around CAR and its neighboring areas around Luzon like the Bontok, Ibaloy, and Ifugao.
They say they’re one of the best sculptors in the Philippines. You can see it in their “bul-ol” sculptures and the various tools they craft.
Despite our difficulty finding the jeep going to Asin road, we arrived to another museum 30 minutes away from the city. It’s the Bencab Museum owned by national artist Benedicto Cabrera. This place is four floors of eye candy.
Bul-ol statues. They’re said to have part of their ears cut as they’re passed down from generation to generation. Some of them don’t even have ears anymore.
This is my favorite piece in the entire museum haha it just looks so weird and beautiful
This was the only tourist destination we had to pay entrance for for the whole two-day trip. Despite that, it’s money well spent in the religion of being an aesthetic lol.
Next stop: Minesview Park! (Disclaimer: We recognize the fact that irresponsible mining has been destroying the mountains of Benguet and in no way condone these acts. We were simply here to take pictures and explore the local merchandise.)
I never got to know his name but you can clearly see this dog’s very big and a very good boy.
This is my face screaming “WHAT THE FUCK” at the house just below the cliff because they had 6 tombs in their backyard.
Baguio City is also known for their durable indoor brooms. That’s why my mom always bought some even though it's too bulky. I can’t say it doesn’t look like candy, though.
Last destination for the afternoon was Wright Park. There’s nothing really special about this place except for a sketchy looking mansion across the road with the government’s seal hmmmm
I swear this place looks like it came out of the 74th Hunger Games.
Jenny doesn’t like stairs, especially these kinds of stairs.
We won’t leave a place until we get an album cover worthy group photo haha
The night market was our last destination before going back. This is the night life of Baguio City, located along Harrison Road. They close this road every night for this scene. I kind of regret not bringing more money because their ukay-ukay is dirt cheap. Clothes for 5-20 pesos? Jackets for 30-50 pesos? SIGN ME UP. I’LL BE BACK SOMEDAY.
We just came for the street food. Just normal Filipino street food like fishballs and kikiam. The takoyaki was also good, plus there were other Korean street food that I didn’t know the name of and just ate. I didn’t care at the moment, I just craved for street food so bad lol.
I guess one of the best things in Baguio was you’d never break a sweat even in the middle of the day. I did have difficulties opening the tap water especially early in the morning. The water is just so cold it could pass off as ice water you can sell in the sari-sari store. All in all, the trip was just full of happiness, and I’m not exaggerating. Those two days were just pure bliss that I just forgot all about the stress of college life. I really needed that, and it’s nice to have vacations as fun as that one from time to time.
I think I’ve been using this account for six years already (?) and this is my first time to post a giveaway. Tbh, I don’t really know how giveaway works - rafflecopter, shipping, etc., but I want to give back so gotta learn this stuff. Also a lot of people already left Tumblr that’s why I was a bit hesitant in doing this. I’m close to 3k followers, but I feel like only 5% are active. Not sure if anyone will join, but according to my previous post the feedback was positive. 💕 Please join!!!
Posted above are just some of my art merch. My first time to join a kon as an artist/exhibitor was last 2017 and I enjoyed it so much! I feel like my art is validated hehe! I know my art is still mediocre, but I’m working on improving myself and finding my style! Joining kons/art markets give me motivation to create that’s why if I have time I participate in these events (around uplb). Btw, I hope you can support my *art* by following my other social media sites. 😊
I still haven’t printed all the prizes that’s why I didn’t use actual photos for this post, but you can check out my instagram highlights for reference. I will also post updates there. The photos above are just a sneak peek, there are a lot more!!!
Prizes:
LOTS OF STICKERS!!! ✨
Traditional/Digital Art - 4R print (7 pcs.)
Digital Art/Collage - 5x5″ print (7pcs)
Landscape Photography - 4R print (7pcs)
Concert Photography ft. Local Indie Bands (Cheats, Reese, etc.)
- 4R print (7pcs)
I get a big urge to wind back time to the days where these bonds we have weren’t this worn down to the point where our hellos turn to nods. I just want to fix this decay of our friendship, and I admit that us walking different paths made things worse despite being in the same community. I’m not sugarcoating it, but I’m also not blaming you for it, just stating facts.
I’m not asking for much. I don’t want to change the things that happened. It’s just that I’m worried that our relationship will turn into that kind where we can talk together in a group but awkward with each other by ourselves, which I honestly hate even though I’m well aware that I’m part of the problem. That’s slowly being addressed so don’t mind. I’m trying to spend less time being a secluded potato and working more to maintain my connections as I gain new ones.
Let’s catch up with each other when we can.
I’m well aware I’ve been producing entries full of regret lately. I’ll try to have more happy posts by the end of the year. That’s the end goal, anyway.
Spent my 20th with these people. Sure, some of them I don’t really talk to on a daily basis and one of them I don’t talk to anymore, but they’re the ones that stuck with me even when the deed wasn’t reciprocated. Sorry for that. And thanks for staying when it mattered. When the time comes that our hair grows white and our children go to college, I hope that we still have moments like this.
Now that I’m twenty, I’m just gonna wait for my cluster members to start showing themselves to me. I hope one of you guys is an engineer because I suck at this lol
Oh, and salted egg wings are the best don’t fight me on this.
I didn’t get a bus ticket to Gubat yesterday because all tickets were sold out until March 31. So I guess I’m stuck here for the holy week. Might as well make something out of it, right?
I do have plans on going to Baguio next week. It’ll be my first time there, and actually my first time going north of Metro Manila. I’ve been saving on it for months and I’m kinda thankful that I don’t have to leech off of my parent’s money. I easily get guilty over those things. Maybe it’s because of the way I was raised. Anyway, my friend’s actually a transferee from UP Baguio so he has contacts there regarding lodging. We don’t need no Airbnb. We can get hotel rooms for cheap thanks to connections hehe. He’s also prepared a loose itinerary so we can make the most of our time there.
We made geodetic projections using two formulas for positional computation by coding it in Python and then projecting the generated points into ArcMap. Two methods, two vastly different projections. Looks nice, right?
snowghoul
theartofmadeline
