...someone please stop me. over the past four days of my stay here in manila, i've managed to charge over hk$1,500 to my credit card. i just realized that i'm uncontrollable when it comes to shopping. i love shopping, period.
stuff that i bought - so far:
1. a pair of levi's jeans
2. three bottles of body shop "slick" hair cream
3. one bottle of body shop "define and no frizz" hair cream
4. eight music cds
5. one haircut at kerastase salon (yes, i finally located my old stylist from david's)
6. toiletries and facial wash from watson's
7. three shirts from oxygen (i only wanted to get one, but thanks to joya, i ended up with three)
...and i'm just halfway through my stay here in manila. i dread the next few days. maybe i should just stay home to prevent me from spending any further...
shopping spree
sin
cardinal sin has passed away. his death marks an end of an era in religion and politics.
while he is a noble man who championed human rights and freedom, i don't exactly have the same amount of respect for this man as i would have for pope john paul ii.
as i look at the current state of the philippines, i can't help but hold him partly responsible for all the brouhaha and chaos that are bringing the nation further down. this man is a media-savvy political animal that has turned the catholic church into a political party that seems to be hallucinating rather than thinking.
so as a result:
political controversies blown out of proportion by claims that the circumstances behind them are "against the teaching of the lord".
leaders who lack political will because going against what the catholic church wants spells doom to one's political career.
priests meddling into political controversies, imposing their personal opinion on to the people and subtly hinting some spiritual consequence if the "flock" doesn't agree with them.
selfish politicians capitalizing on controversies and gaining more political power because they have the backing of the catholic church.
i can enumerate a lot more, but the one big thing that really irks me about the church's transformation into a political party is that they meddle in legislation that would otherwise benefit the country in the long term.
two things immediately come to mind: population control and constitutional development.
anyways, before i rant any further, let me again say, cardinal sin as a man is a remarkable being. he has a good heart and good intentions. but in my opinion, his goodness and advocacy was a little bit over the top that it did more bad than good for the country.
pride
the only thing left outstanding is my boss' signature on my leave form and i'm all set. i'll be flying home on friday night for a weeklong break from the chaos that is work.
as with last year, part of my agenda is to enjoy people-watching at the pride party in malate on saturday. joya has been bugging me for the longest time to try and fly home for pride because she enjoys going there with me and our other common friend.
while my very first pride party in 2002 turned out to be a depressing experience. yes, i was so depressed na sinabayan ko pa si kris aquino sa pag-iyak nung umamin sya sa affair nila ni joey marquez (remember that sunday joya?). at ang clincher, nangyayari ang lahat ng ito't humahagulgol ako while editing the china white paper! (ang pathetic!)
my experience at pride last year was much better - although the party itself was a bore (malamang dahil sponsored ng studio 23 so dapat wholesome). got to see jaya perform - even if it's just one number. chix and delle were there to host the one-hour show. and i wasn't out "on a hunt". walang pressure so i was able to just experience pride, period.
it may seem weird, but watching hundreds of gays converge in one place mostly para maka-quota is so aliw! plus ang sarap mang-okray.
and that's my exact plan this year - to just be there to have a couple of drinks and to experience pride manila again no matter how boring or subdued again it may be.
i actually want to post some photos on my return but i seriously doubt if this'll happen since i don't own a digicam in the first place. it's so sayang!
anyways, see you guys next week!