My Own Little Man-Diary

Monday, February 13

Di Ingon 'Nato - Synopsis and Review

*SPOILER ALERT*
Di Ingon 'Nato movie poster
The movie starts off showing Dario (Franco Reyes). He is seen walking with a lamp in his hand, on his way to his house. He gets inside a room, and puts down the lamp. We see a person writhing, and bound. Dario nears the bed and unsheathes his machete, and forcefully hacks at the person. 

Scene cut to: Dario waking up from a bad dream.

It then shows various aspects of how Dario, a farmer, goes about his life, having meals with his family(wife and child), going about his work, and at night, having a drink with his friend. The next day, the wife, Yenna (Mercedes Cabral) is on her way to a trip to do some laundry, and Dario going to the friend's house to look for him. The film shows the wife's process of washing clothes, and as she places the clothes on shrubs and bushes to dry, she sees the friend of Dario's approaching her. She makes a comment, but the friend doesn't answer. She screams, and Dario not being far off, runs towards the noise. As Dario sees his friend trying to bite his wife's leg, he takes his machete out and kills him. 

Other characters are then introduced, like Lauro (Rez Cortez), the police captain there in the area, having dinner with his family, a daughter-turned doctor, Maribel (Donna Gimeno), who came to help at the local clinic, and her priest uncle. 

The next morning, Lauro is called out to a crime scene, a local had just killed a girl unknown to most people in the area. The suspect says that girl was demonized and once he killed her, the evil spirit went inside him. The local authorities brought both victim and suspect to the police station, the killer's wife included. 

Maribel just arrived home from being called to a local's house to help a family's daughter, looking depressed. When her mother asks her about it, she tells her that she couldn't save the girl. After spending a little time at home, she goes back to the clinic in what seems to be a rabies outburst, people getting bitten and dying.

The wound on Yenna's leg is getting infected, and Dario promises her that he will bring her to the local clinic, but she tells him not to because Dario might get convicted of killing someone. As the wound worsens and Yenna's condition gets worse, Dario asks his son to call the faith healer, Nong Pinong (Greg Tecson), to help with his wife.

As the son walks away Nong Pinong's empty house, he encounters people bloodied and walking towards him, passing him by as he hides from them. 

Nong Pinong was called out by the family of the dead local girl to help. He performs a ritual on her, and to his and everyone else's surprise, the girl wakes up and grunting. He tells the family that he saved the body, but not the soul, and with the empty body, a spirit had gone inside to inhabit. The family takes the girl to the local clinic.

Lauro and the others are at the police station deciding to do with the girl that was just murdered. He ultimately decides to have her taken to the city police station, but he tells his companion to bring the body discreetly. Inside the station, the wife of the murderer is mourning the death of her husband who had died from his wounds, telling him not to leave her. And he wakes up and kills her, and wreaks havoc in the police station. The people managed to get him locked inside the station.

The movie then cuts to the scene that was shown at the start, it is revealed that the writhing person on the bed was Dario's wife. The next morning, he takes his son with him to go to the police station where Lauro is, knowing that the police captain has a car, hoping they might convince him to take them out of the area. 

At the clinic, people had started to die from their wounds and Maribel, feeling helpless, gets depressed. She sees the local family bringing their daughter up to the clinic and is horrified, knowing full well that the girl had died when she tried to help her last night. 

Nong Pinong tells the family that only the priest can help with their daughter, and they ask the priest to help. She is brought to the local chapel, and the priest performs an exorcism on the girl, hoping to drag the spirit out. The priest had been bitten, but was still able help, albeit unsuccessfully. 

Maribel explains to her father about the dead girl, and they, together with one of her father's men, Istoy, and Nong Pinong go back to their house to find her mother. When they arrive at their house, they do not find Chit, Lauro's wife and Maribel's mother. And Lauro tells them that he will not leave without her. Lauro tells them to stay inside the house, and to tend to Istoy who had been bitten.

Dario and Nat-Nat were travelling on foot, and Dario explains to his son that there are monsters lurking, the "Di Ingon 'Nato" (Not Like Us), telling him that they are just like us, but really unlike us. On their way, they come across a woman in a nearby river and Dario warns her that the area is unsafe, but the woman is already turned. Nat-Nat was being attacked, and Lauro who was looking for his wife, kills the attacker and saves Nat-Nat. They all go back to the house to find refuge. 

Lauro, Dario and his son arrived back at the house. Lauro and the entire group take his old truck and drive off, but the vehicle stops short. And they see that a group of the creatures going towards them. Maribel and Nat-Nat are told to run back to the house, bar the doors and stay there, while the others fend off the group of attackers.

It is shown that the group is outnumbered and they all die, one after another: Istoy who was too weak to stand and fend for himself, Lauro who had run out of bullets, and Dario and Nong Pinong too outnumbered to attack with their knives.

Back at the house, Maribel and Nat-Nat are stranded in a corner. Maribel and Nat-Nat, the only people left, crying, see the creatures trying to get inside, destroying the doors. The movie ends with Maribel holding Nat-Nat close and covering his eyes.

Fade to black. Title. Credits.

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Poster featuring the movies at the Cinema One Film Festival

From the very start of the movie, the problem I had was the lighting. The film relied too heavily on available light. And when a scene was filmed at night. The only light that was available was the lamp which was being carried by one of the characters.

The entire environment of the film was beautiful, showing off the local forest and the creatures that inhabit it (not the zombies.) But it seemed like that after every scene cut, they always cut to ants crawling on a rock, clouds turning from day to night. This was a very good idea, at the beginning of the film. When they cut to these kinds of little scenes nearing the end, it makes it very anti-climactic, and it made the film's pace slower than it already was.

The film also suffers from weak dialogues. The characters' back-and-forth seemed so empty. The recorded voices were also at sometimes too low which made the conversations inaudible. One particular scene was when Yenna was talking to Dario's friend. So, it was a good thing that there were subtitles, but the English subtitles suffered from weak translation. I could not blame the translator because some words in the Cebuano dialect can be very hard to translate. 

The lack of a score in some introductory scenes gave the film a sense of eeriness; if it was done to give it that, then well done. But I feel a little more than the environmental sounds could have given it a little more. 

I praise the costume design, the zombies and the people they feasted on seemed very real, reminiscent of the "walkers" of The Walking Dead. The only downside to the gore was the killing of the zombies which looked like cheap splatter done in post-production. 

The parts of Lauro and Dario were very well acted. Props to Mr. Rez Cortez and Mr. Franco Reyes. Donna Gimeno really carried out scenes where she cried, and to the child actor playing Nat-Nat who carried out his innocence well.

Another thing that I liked about this film was its ending. It did not live up to the expectations in my head that it would end in a sappy "happily-ever-after" kind of way, but nearing the end I had gotten a pretty good idea that this was the ending they were going with. 

I think that non-Cebuano viewers would have a hard time relating to the characters. The audience members, comprised of mostly Cebuanos understand the language enough to have a good time, and laugh at some of the weak English translations and some tight close-up scenes of Mr. Rez Cortez cursing.

All-in-all, the movie was okay, not as bad as I thought it would be. But this is considering the fact that I was with friends at the time of viewing. If you would watch this alone, this movie would get too boring, and you would just have the urge to skip ahead. 

The movie gave me a sense that Cebuano films are still well under their way, and maybe other young and aspiring filmmakers could one day take up the responsibility and make a name in the Filipino film industry.

Watch if you will, the Cinema One Film Festival is only available for show at SM on Cinema 3 for only 100 pesos. Here's the schedule below. Watch now, support Cebuano indie films!










Monday, February 6

Shaken and Stirred

2012 is starting to show its true colors. With a grand show on January celebrating two new years, it certainly made an impact on the Filipino people on February; 6.9 (on the Richter scale) impact to be exact.

Earthquakes are somewhat a rarity in Cebu City, or so minuscule so hardly felt it. Or really, none at all. Every time a person asks, "Did you feel that?" An automatic response would be, if you did, "Hell yes." If not, "Earthquake?"

Assumptions on these kinds of things are all you could really do, especially if you haven't felt one (an earthquake) yourself. Like myself, I had not experience feeling an earthquake. People would just start running, and or just do nothing and ask that question: "Did you feel that?"

I had one such experience. Two family members and I were out watching a movie. I was very young at the time, and I had forgotten what movie it was. The only thing I do remember is there being an earthquake there. And the people inside the theater had to evacuate. Some people just left themselves without being told, but some people didn't even flinch. One of those people: me.

Earlier this morning while walking up to the corner, I saw this homeless guy looking through some trash. In his hand was a revolver, it was probably a pellet gun, considering he was a hobo, and who the fuck would leave a revolver in the trash? Just a Monday morning through my perspective which is totally real by the way.

At school, the old facilities were getting an upgrade. This was going on for a few weeks now, or months rather, I don't really know. If you're a Velezian student, and you had to use the PTOT classrooms, then you would be sure to relate, the noise during those drilling, sawing, hammering can drive any studious person on edge. If you're just there, physically present, then you'd just think those things are noisy, interrupting your conversations with your seatmate.

Being a Velezian student, you don't really hope to there when an earthquake hits, knowing all the shit that's happening in your environment. If the ground so much as shakes, you get out of there. No questions asked, if that was just some large person jumping, then say you had to go to the restroom, or say nothing at all.

On my way outside the school premises, the continuous clatter of a bell could be heard, and people had started making their way outside as well. My friends and I were unaware of the situation and just found the noise annoying. When we got nearer outside, the noise grew louder. We found out that the guard had been hitting the bell. We approached him and asked what was happening, people still going outside, running now. He informed us of the current situation and stopped ringing the bell altogether.

The college entrance was filled with people. A similar feeling of Sinulog, but not quite. People were too dressed in white, if it were Sinulog, white would've been overpowered with paint. The crowd was not panicking, some still didn't know why they were being evacuated. Unlike most of them, we had gone outside on our own.
Here are people panicking. (No, not really)


I had gone to my mother's office. Her office was in a building at the third floor. When I got there, she asked me if I felt it, and I answered that I hadn't. We got into talking, about my brother who was at his school. Then it hit. The first aftershock I've ever felt in my life. It made me dizzy, as well as the other ones.

When I got to the gym which took a long time, people were still talking about it. I had heard somebody said that a motorcyclist drove along Colon St.(one of the busiest streets in Cebu) and exclaimed there was a tsunami.  The people panicked and rushed to the inner city, away from any near shores. Chaos ensued, cars were left, showers undone. Of course, I just heard these stories, but they're well enough to be true. I heard even traffic enforcers and police officers ran.

Not all the stories I've heard are chaotic though, a friend of mine told me she just kept all her things while her other friends had started to cry or just felt panicky. Hey, you gotta at least have your things when you get swallowed by a wave, right?  I mean, how would they identify your body? Just kidding.

Hours after the earthquake, aftershocks are still coming in. And from what I've heard it'll last a couple of days, or weeks since it happened on a "new fault line" or whatever that is.

Whenever a natural disaster happens, it's not always okay, but if funnier stuff happened then at least you have something to share. Unless, of course, if you're dead.

I'm gonna have to suffer some nausea. Damn, quake.

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Sorry for the bad post guys. This is what happens if I force things.

And BTW, kudos to the dick who freaked people out for nothing.

If you're feeling a little Jurassic Park-y, try putting a plastic cup or glass of water near you, and when an aftershock happens, see what happens.




Thursday, January 26

All That Remains

A friend told me of his plan of getting bald. He encouraged me to join him in his endeavor. When I asked why he was doing it, he told me because he wanted to be bald during his internship. Well, that was the gist of it.

The guy had never been bald, which is a lie of course. We all come out of the womb with little or no hair, and even then when you were inside growing you were bound to start from being hairless. I had been bald once only since my childhood. Why I did it, I don't know really.

The one thing I remember from that experience is the reaction of my mother. From getting my haircut, I went straight home and do the things that I do, which is first and foremost, turning on the computer. I idly sat down and left my door ajar. When my mother passed by my bedroom door to get to hers, she noticed that my head had been shaved. That moment was priceless.

Not all good memories emerge from hairless heads. Well, not then. A day in the city that never sleeps and my sister and I decide to go out and have a haircut. My sister had her minds set on having a mohawk. On the other hand, I wanted to have hair that swept my face. It was on the verge of my FOB(fall out boy) days, and the hairstyle was popular then.

We went to a barbershop that was up in Queens, far away from where we lived, but my sister said this was where she usually has her hair cut(or just in the area, I'm not quite sure anymore), so we went. It was like a Chinatown in Queens, the stores were mostly labeled in Chinese, and so were the people. Maybe it was Chinatown Queens. The barbershop, not surprising, was employed with Chinese people. The woman who cut our hair was not really good at speaking English, or when she did speak it was with her very heavy Chinese accent.

The poor woman could not grasp my sister's directions clearly, and the work she did on my sister's hair was nothing close to a mohawk. If only she could press Undo like in photoshop. So with the unsatisfactory hair my sister had, she told the woman to just shave it all off. The Chinese woman was shocked because, well, she must have thought she did a pretty good job, might as well have given herself a pat on the back. My sister didn't mind, this was option #2.

When we got home, we were waiting for our dad to arrive. He always arrived near dinner time. Our dad was carrying a bunch of papers for I don't know what (je ne sais quoi). When he opened the door, he glanced at me then to my sister then threw the papers at my direction and, in a fit of rage, walked out the door. Well, that turned out nicely.

Years have passed and my hair had evolved into different hairstyles. This was, in turn, thanks to hair wax. I could mold my hair any way I would liked. And this continued on until earlier this morning, when I took up my friend's offer, months before he did the same.

Why I did it? No reason, nothing but to try it again. It seems that there must be some reason to cut hair, especially if you wanted it bald. This is popularized by mainstream TV shows that sometimes show when a character is going through something. Sometimes, it is true though, all the more for cancer patients. When it comes to the that, going bald is more like a symbolic gesture of control.

This is the process of how it went down.

Before, During, After (or near)
The one thing I was really looking forward to was my friends' reactions. When I told them of my plans the day prior(or at some point before that), they were really against the whole idea, saying that I wouldn't look good bald-headed. I agreed with them. I often classify my hair as an asset, like my glasses. When they saw me, they were shocked, but were retracting their statements, some preferred my old hair.

I kind of miss my hair already. And I keep telling myself, it'll grow back. And it will.

I just wish some of it grew on my face.

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What was done cannot be undone, but what once was can be rebuilt from the ashes.



Wednesday, January 18

Dark Days of the Internet

It has begun.

The blackout has started, with the most popular site being Wikipedia. Other sites have also done the same, blocking/lessening any user interaction for the most of January 18, 2012.  Notable sites participating in the blackout: Google, Wordpress, Reddit, Mozilla, and many more. For a more detailed list: check here.

The strike is to fight against two bills proposed by US legislators: the SOPA (Stop Online Piracy Act) and PIPA (Protect IP Act). When the SOPA was first introduced, it was met with very negative reactions, mainly from the web community.

SOPA, as it name entails, aims to stop online piracy but many believe that this is not actually going to do that. As I'm not really good at reading laws, or just lazy to do it. I'm gonna redirect you to http://blog.reddit.com/, which is part of the strike. The homepage shows an article on what they believe about the effects of passing SOPA and PIPA

Most people are unaware of the fact that SOPA can be damaging to the global community that is the internet. Casual users that go online for social media sites like facebook and twitter might not have the luxury on doing so. SOPA, as I've read, violates the First Amendment which prohibits  the making of any law respecting an establishment of religion, impeding the free exercise of religion, abridging the freedom of speech, infringing on the freedom of the press, interfering with the right to peaceably assemble or prohibiting the petitioning for a governmental redress of grievances. With freedom of speech most affected.


If passed, search engines might have to censor links to other websites. Some websites might not be available to go to. And any site with at least a page of "infringement" could be gone for good. Well, until they make another one. Streaming media can also be considered a crime, this is a very big deal to frequent YouTube goers.




This mostly affects the United States. But with the US considered to be a leader in the world, other countries are bound to follow suit, enacting similar laws. To have a clearer image of what this will be like, this will be like living in China, a communist country. 


I, personally, am having trouble in writing this post. Not having the backing of my usual knowledge-to-go site, Wikipedia, I've come to realize at how much I've relied on the site. But that's what it's for, it's for the community. Jimmy Wales, co-founder of Wikipedia, was in a good place starting this website. And I fear if SOPA is made law, internet websites won't have the luxury of booming like others did. 


Wikipedia on Jan 18, 2012, 24 hours of darkness


Casual users may not appreciate acting against this right now, but if and when social media starts getting censored, they'll have a more active role. By then, it would be a little too late. So, start fighting against SOPA and PIPA now. 


Censorship is a  ████ .


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LOL, I get how stop SOPA sounds stupid. (Stop, stop..) 


Do your part now!


Links to oppose SOPA:  (most of the petitions are for US residents only, but you can still help)
http://americancensorship.org/modal/state-dept-petition/index.html
https://www.google.com/landing/takeaction/
http://stopcensorship.org/
If you have a facebook, twitter account or on any other social media account, say something about SOPA, raise awareness.

Click here to change your profile picture to show your for stopping SOPA.http://blackoutsopa.org/goddre

#sopastrike #stopsopa


Further reading:
http://blog.reddit.com/
http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.uscongress/legislation.112hr3261
http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.uscongress/legislation.112s968 

BTW, it's possible to circumvent the Wikipedia blackout, https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/English_Wikipedia_SOPA_blackout/Technical_FAQ%20






Monday, January 9

Zero 2 Twenty

Since the ringing of the New Year, I have been counting down the days 'til my birthday. And that day is now upon us. But few people knew that already. FEW. Many people didn't know, or didn't realize.

I had thought about doing an experiment whether people actually remembered my birthday. Nowadays, people have a habit of relying on facebook to tell them that it is, in fact, someone's birthday. Well, I'm not exactly one to talk. In times, I do check facebook for whoever is celebrating his/her birthdays, but most of the time really, I don't. I have my phone's calendar for that.

I really had a mind of going on about removing my birthday from my profile, so people won't actually see it. They just had to know it was that day, my nameday! But I thought about how people might really not remember, and don't really greet at all and how it might get me down.

Not telling people was not going well when I was having a celebration a few days my actual birthday. Saturday evening, I had my party and invited a few of my friends over. They would ask what occasion there was, I would respond that there just was. Some people got the hint that it was me celebrating my birthday. Sadly, knowing I don't dole out invitations to eat somewhere on a daily basis, some people didn't get it.

My mother and I had posted some pictures of the event, and some people who saw it actually thought that my birthday was on that day. So, some people posted on my timeline (for ancient users, "wall") on facebook and mentioned me on twitter, and I replied that it wasn't yet. It was just the party that was advanced, family members didn't greet me on that day which was right. Well, one did start greeting me on the sixth. And again on the seventh.

The time had come! January 9th had come! My 20th nameday! On the strike of midnight, I tweeted, "0 to 20." This meant the end of my countdown, which to some became pretty obvious what I was counting down to. Two friends greeted since the ninth started, and I haven't even slept yet. On facebook, two again posted on my timeline, one my dad and the other, the same person who texted me, he greeted again on twitter. Then I slept, but it took awhile before I got to it.

The morning of the ninth, I wasn't expecting much. Living in the day and age of technology, memory could easily be erased from storage, or in the case of the brain, hidden under many layers of other memories. Family greetings are almost always the first to come, they should know when you were born. It's like a requirement for their living, and the same responsibility is bestowed upon you.

When I had gotten to school, the same people who went to my party were the first to greet me. And this was in front of the class, so naturally, classmates started greeting. And non-classmates chimed in as well, when mutual friends told one another. Such is the word of mouth, a very powerful tool indeed.

People have a way of thinking that something is missing, or ought to be happening, that "oh yeah" moment when you realize that you know what it really is. When older friends got to that moment, they texted me. Text messages varied on the time of day. Some greeted in the morning and in the evening, but most really were in the afternoon. I was glad to know my high school friends remembered even without the notification on facebook.

Nothing noteworthy really happened on my birthday, but it's nice to get recognition for being born; even if it's social media that makes it happen. When I got home a number of people had posted on my timeline, I could literally count how many.

It's kind of sad how I want people to greet me on facebook for my birthday, but truthfully it's a nice feeling when they do, even if they barely know you. Or if you've since grown apart by time or location.

To all my friends who greeted me, in person or in any social media site I'm on, thank you. Really. To those who just forgot, were busy, or had something else on their mind, I hope you see I had my notification on again. Greet me nao! ;)

Now, I'm just giving out thank yous like a whore.

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Highlights of my day today:

  • Went back to the gym
  • Controversial test got null and void. #dueprocess
  • Bought myself a new pair of shoes (for the gym)



Saturday, December 31

End of the Year Thoughts

You know, 365 days could really just happen in a snap. It doesn't really. It take three hundred and sixty-five days. So, it must take a while. While you're in it, days just seem to stretch out. But when it's the last day of the year, it doesn't feel that way.

Of course, that's just me.

As I'm typing this down, people are starting to go nuts with fireworks. People are just too excited, or just have too many of it in stock. Either way, using the more expensive kinds this early could really be a sign of your wealth, or your impatience which says a lot about you. Dicks. Or Bitches. Take your pick.

To say "nothing much" has happened this year would be lying. From my own experience alone, I can say that a lot of things have happened. School-wise, I failed three subjects; and other things. Life events? I spent a month at New York and I lost a noticeable amount of weight which, I imagine, is a good thing.

I think most years just play out as they would. You spend most of the year at school or at work, sometimes even both. You celebrate your birthday. You celebrate other people's birthdays. You observe holidays. Most things in the year are routine.

The birthdays are always things you want to look forward to. If you're like me, you expect the gifts that are coming your way. If you're really like me, you expect the cash in-flow to be really be good at the time of the year. Holidays are just those days you don't really do much of anything. There are those select holidays when you have to do something, like All Souls' day.

People really look forward to the end of the year, and the start of the next one. But just as the new year starts, there's a feeling that you want it to end already. There are just a lot of perks at the end of the year, that's why. For young people, there's the Christmas break/gift. For the working class, there's the 13th month pay. And for the sentimental, time with the family.

Why wouldn't people want the year to end already?

Anyway, I don't have much to say really. Sorry for the tacky post. It's one way to end the year. Maybe I could write a better one tomorrow, when it's 2012.

Happy New Year, guys.

BTW, it's been a year tomorrow since I started blogging. Cheers to that.

Accomplishment. Bitch.

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My YIR (year-in-review)

  • I turned 19.
  • Failed 1 class.
  • Went to NY.
  • Lost some weight.
  • Failed another 2 classes.
Failing seems to be the theme for my YIR.


Monday, December 12

The Five Stages of Bloodletting

Today is a very special Monday for me! It's the 3rd month since I donated blood, and I woke up feeling the glee of being 450ml lighter and being able to help someone in need of it, in that order. No, really.

So anyway, I got up like I always do, at 5 AM feeling sleep deprived and aching to go back to bed. And my morning routine followed soon after. It's a good day when you know you're about to help people, and be lighter. 

Red Cross is not part of the route when I take the jeepney to go to school. So, I had to go another way to save money and time. And so I got there, ready to go through all the natural processes of bloodletting: answer a quick interview form, hate the lancet prick, go through a quick physical exam, and be on my way to the bus where they would bleed me.

The interview form had all the natural things. It stated to check on the things that are applicable to you, at the present time. First question was if I was feeling okay today. I felt very dandy today, I would have placed if that had a special tick for that. And the rest was history. I got to the last check box stating that I believe that my blood is safe for transfusion. And I went ahead and checked that too.
Just dandy.

A red cross employee came by and asked if we could just run through my answers and verify everything. I obliged.

RCE: Feeling well today? -- Yep!
RCE: Taken alcohol within the last 12 hours? -- Nope!
RCE: Will operate heavy machinery after donation? -- Don't count on it, Missy!
RCE: Have had a tooth extraction? -- Yep, about a month ago!

I'm sorry, sir. I'm afraid you're unable to donate. 

My heart sank. "Why?" I asked.

RCE: We have a new policy stating that if you've had a tooth extraction then you are unqualified to donate blood for at least a year after extraction.

But it says tooth extraction 72 hours before! 

RCE: I'm really sorry, sir. 

I was really hoping she was just kidding. I thought that this couldn't be possibly happening to me. If I hadn't gotten that tooth out, it would have been hell for me. I couldn't even go to sleep the night before I had the thing removed. 

A fury lit up inside me. I was, at this point, very angry. I was cursing, low enough to not cause a scene, but enough for her to hear me. This was the only thing I could do. It was a for a good cause, surely this person could not deny me this!

So, I bargained. I asked her if they could make an exception. I told her that it said in the form only 72 hours before. I had answered truthfully. I'm supposed to give blood today, I was supposed to be a galloner! Just sitting right across me, she asked a colleague. And the other employee bluntly said, "No. One year."

I was crushed. And I walked out of there pretty upset, still cursing. Instead of going to school feeling good about myself, I ended up being pissed. And we still had a test to take, and I had yet to study. I had half a mind to tell one of my friends about what happened to me today, but not really tell them myself. Instead opting for them to ask due to my moody demeanor. Petty, I know.

The test went by, and a friend of mine was busy doing something. I approximated myself near her, and sighed. And being a good friend, she asked what was wrong. Without thinking, I said I was okay. A stupid thing to say when you want to talk to someone about something. She didn't ask again, but I told her anyway.

And after all the denial and the anger passed, I came to accept that maybe it was for the better. I was still pretty bummed about the whole ordeal, but in time I realized that maybe certain precautions had to be taken before just taking anyone's blood. 

Through the whole thing, the Red Cross employee was very nice. She tried very hard not to upset me more. She really tried to convince me to come back in one year, making it seem like it isn't too long. And well, maybe it isn't.

Although my little thing at being altruistic didn't happen today, it could happen some other day, a year from now. It'll be the last good thing I would do, depending we survive December 21, 2012.

Hey, the New Year is less than three weeks away. And in case, I don't write about anything again for this month, advance Merry Christmas to you guys. It's good to know someone is reading. (Even if you aren't really.)

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But seriously though, Red Cross, change your damn forms.