By Wild Ice
The more I get engaged with my music, the more I let myself thwarted from keeping it in my ears in the near future. Last night, as I celebrated a surprise visit to our friend Jam's apartment with my cirque of friends, a predictable thing happened: my earphones once again were murdered by the serial killer named Fate. I was trying to look at a photo of Jam and her boyfriend as I leaned forward across the table when my earphones stuck on my collar grabbed (I swear this one is not personification) her Coca Cola glass from the table and dropped it on my lap. Nobody was hurt when the glass crashed but my earphones; It's right earphone was gaping on me.
No more listening to my music if only one side of my ears receive it. But at some point, maybe Fate is trying to save me from my future regret once the time comes I become deaf. Lately, I noticed that whenever I talk to people who are not more than two feet away, I usually fail to comprehend their spoken words. Yes, I'm partly deaf (self diagnosed). Eversince I was in high school I had a poor hearing condition and it only worsened when I bought earphones for my MP3 player.
There are two effing reasons why this occurs to me:
1. I love not just hearing the music but also FEELING it as if it were touching my whole body. I fulfill this guilty pleasure by keeping the volume up to 80% of the bars. With that way, I am able to create a force field that keeps me partially from the danger of everyday's music (which in here is translated as the terror of vehicle horns blowing, the stupid things people say that gets into your nerves, or the music that you dare not hear or else you'll die).
2. I love upbeat tracks. 90% of my music library are upbeat tracks which tend to wake up my nerves with their heavy bass, nerve-wracking synthesizers, teeth-grinding treble and danceable beats. I am not a sentimental person, I love to be kept moving so I make sure I am instructed to shake my booty most of the time.
Before, there were earphones invented with safety circuitry. This is some sort of safety measure with the ability to limit the volume by giving a warning to the listener once the volume reaches a dangerous intensity. It was phased out because people prefer to have their own choice of volume. "To hell with that! We want to grind our ears with the volume we prefer! We will nev... What?! You saying something?? What?"
Also, in 1983, there was this Safelite line produced by Koss for cassette players which had these lights that give warning once the volume level becomes dangerous. But it was not much used by the public so, whatever happened to that? Oh, and you kids might want to ask, what are cassette players? Never mind.
There are results I met in the Net about what would happen if I continue abusing my ears. One of the risks given is having a tumor in my cranial nerve if I continue such abuse for two years. I'm scared of tumors and I don't want to lose my hearing and risk my balance (a function of the cranial nerve). Another risk is high blood pressure. Well, that figures my being... me. Do I need to explain? Kiss my.....
Advice is that the volume level should not exceed from 60% of the potential volume. I've tried this a few weeks ago, but I was back with my manner after one week. Another advice is to only use your earphones along with your music for only an hour a day. I'm scared of tumors. I'm a lot scared of the second advice.
As someone who could not let a day pass without music in my ear, this morning, I rushed into the nearest store to grab another headset/earphone. It was as good as the recent earphone's quality. Now all I have to do is be disciplined; self satisfaction can be unhealthy at some point. One thing I can be sure of is that my ears are never really as maltreated as the otologists think it is because I make sure I don't listen to any Willie Revillame nor Piolo Pascual songs.
By Wild Ice
From my recent post, (No, I won't give you a brief review about it) I have begun a story about this odd student of mine whom we will call Ravie. She is this anime-freak who turns out to be always a shocker for people that humans think she's nuts (at some point, yes, at some point, we've got a point to point out). (Oh, there it is, a point. Give me a corn stew)
It was her second time to confess at school and she was eating most of the time given for the priest once more with their out-of-earshot debate.
She was advised by he priest to return to her seat first and go back to him when everyone else has received the sacrament of confession. And so, she did.
I overheard.. Okay, I eavesdropped and heard her debate with her loyal Catholic classmate. Ravie claimed that the priest told her that "Metal rock is evil".
Evil, as in something like Rita Repulsa, or if you haven't heard of her Mewtwo before he sort of "evolved" in the inside, or me, if you have heard the deepest pits of my thoughts.
I smiled and dared not to speak more for I was "chained" for a little while (which reminds us of my Angels on Strings post).
When the priest was done with everyone, he stood up. I reminded Ravie that she's supposed to run after him to remind him of their growing conversation. She ran as the priest came up the altar with his back towards her. She called upon him, but the man in white dared not look back at her (or did he not hear her?). She was raising her hand as she called him though she seemed hopeless as she stood at the altar.
Her classmates laughed at her, saying, "She's going nuts again."
I was so disappointed with the priest. How could he do such? He probably saw that it was hopeless to argue with Ravie's naivete. Yes, at some point, she's naive. But if one was to listen to her closely---with an open effing mind--- one would understand how to deal with her.
I chatted her the evening, telling her to take it easy. I did not tell her to change her religion or such, I just told her I like her defiance. With those statements, I hooked up her trust. I took her by the hand because I understand her at some point. And then, I grabbed her by the arm to tell her how she should position herself. I may not seemed to stop her from acting too much, but all I could do was to tell her about her limits. I'm not in the position to tell her what to do; I just need to let her know the consequences.
With these, she appreciated me. And we call each other weirdos and we're proud of it. But she's too young, she needs more guidance. She's pushing herself too much into something she can not handle. The question now rises as to "what does her parent do to handle such behavior?".
After our conversation, she seemed fine--actually finer than before. Maybe she's testing how far she could go but watching herself with everything she does. I am still yet to know. She's one hell of an enigma. And that's where the fun is.
Hmmm.. anyways, is Metal Rock really evil? What an odd statement. And by the word odd used in this sentence, it's not something alined to us. Get the picture?
By Wild Ice
Whatever happens, if you have faith (we're not talking about "real" faith because faith is faith as in love is love, no such thing as "true" love) then whatever adversity may come you remain unperturbed. A few days from now and the country current most popular drama series "May Bukas Pa" is about to end and I'm about to end my career once I continue typing here.
Countdown to MBP fans to shoot me starts now.
For some point, MBP has this agenda to raise the Christianity flag on every boob tube in front of mostly Filipinos. It is a way to advertise, well, God, or as a trend started by this series called Bro.(Now, He is part of our brotherhood. Hmmm.. Somehow, makes sense... He is ONE OF US).
But something seems to be awkward and somehow I feel like I'm alone. I can't shake this feeling the series is not really doing any nice job in favor of Bro. Here are some reasons:
1. People don't need to be reminded that God (Bro) exists. If one is a true christian, we don't need anything (say, a Passion movie nor a Christianity-oriented TV show) to keep us in the position of a devoted.
2. They are creating a false image of Christ (Bro.. Do I really need to keep on saying this one? F*..). Wasn't that something against the commandments? Where is Moses when he needs to throw us tablets (yes, like Biogesic, you scum!)? On the other hand, I benefited with the artistic product of Mel Gibson with his overly-dramatic flick Passion of The Christ. But no, I will not spare any of these two. Really? Images likened to 'Them' (note, capitalized)?!
3. God is manipulated. Call your mother and tell her to stop praying because besides God, scriptwriters are listening to her!!! It's really odd that they manipulate God by doing this and that. The scriptwriters, OMG, they are the new gods!! They can control Bro!!! Watch out!! they might turn all our lives into their own "reality" shows!!
I'm not really that religious. But really, do we need a Bambi-eyed lad to flush his cheeks in front of us and advertise God? If you claim you are a devoted Christian, no. And if you do claim that you are a TRUE christian (I have to really put the word 'true' this time, you know why I did that), then click off your television and wtach Will and Grace instead. Or vote for Britney Spears on countdowns. Or just pray. Pray, you...
This morning, one section had their second confession this school year and I had to guide them for one hour. This lunatic student of mine who is at times very odd and awesomely weird (which is sometimes cool sometimes not) spent another elongated time debating with the priest because she claims she "wants to be monster" and that she "loves heavy metal rock". The priest disagreed with her listening to such music because he claims "it's the work of the devil". I smiled, not allowed to make any comment.
You know how it is, my dear people. Ride with me. We'll talk more about it.
To be continued...
(If no Santino fanatic would ambush me)
By Wild Ice
Do not ever do something that gives you no clue where it is going. One of the most annoying things about the latest trend of having a computer cafe business here in the country is that they, the owners, really have no telepathic skills to communicate with computers. People will have such business without the knowledge of how to deal with the machine! It's really frustrating that when you have a problem with the computer you're using, they don't know how to fix it. Instead...
Owner: Just go to another PC.
You: *used another PC. The PC hangs on the same image and it shuts off. It restarted. It has a problem* Excuse me, my computer has a problem.
Owner: Let me see. *pretends to think of a solution by clicking on nonsense windows even though you are fully aware he is doing something that wouldn't do any solution to the problem* Just go to PC....
You: But there are no more computers.
Owner: Uh.. Wait for a user to sign out so you could use one.
You: But I need to chat with my crush or else she'll dump me!!!
Another annoying thing is when people don't know how their job works. For example, my baby went to a store for a phone load (prepaid load). The old hag who had no idea of the new promo of our network listened as we told her how to go to the page of that particular load (We don't sell phone loads but we're better than her! How nice!). The load costs only five pesos. Then, as she sent us the load, she complained: "Hey! It cuts off five peso from my original load! What do I get from this? You should pay six pesos!"
It caught my ear and my precious ire was on the roll with such a tiny issue, "What did she say? Doesn't it cost only five pesos?"
She went on with her complain only rephrasing it.
"Why, we went from Taguig, Parañaque, Makati... It costs the same!" I rebutted. "This is the only store that asks for additional one peso. If you have a complain about the price, go to the network, do not be unfair to us."
My baby and my friend took me away and said it's okay. It's not the one peso that gets me burning, SHE'S SO IGNORANT. She loads for that network without knowing that PROMO???? FFFFFFFFFF---(Don't dare me to say the 'f' word). Instead, I growled as we walked in the streets. Yes, I do that when I meet stupid people. I feel like jumping unto them and ripping their innards out of their frightened oblivious body.
What's happening to the heads of our humanity? Are we evolving into something that doesn't need any capability to think??
Excuse me for a while, I'm sharpening my claws as I try to recall where I hid my royal revolver.
By Wild Ice
A TV advertisement of Johnson's and Johnson's sits in front of many Filipinos as it claims that instead of splurging over that advertisement which could have contained models with perfectly lit skins and babies with kissable bottoms, the company decided to donate it to the Red Cross. The usual you would be moved along with an I'm-so-touched sound coming from your mouth saying, "Awwwwwwww.." The unusual me responded with a "What the....?!"
Is the big boss of Johnson's and Johnson's running for the elections? Imagine the free lotions for those people on the streets. Imagine all the free colognes for the orphanage. Imagine all the free soaps for those whose houses were burned.
But it was just a nice thing to do for an organization. Yes, I know, I'm being too negative right now. But isn't it already a little awkward to see them post their good deed on national TV for a few minutes?
You hear those songs which are stuck on your head because they keep on reverberating on every household? You see those candidates for elections on TV handing over relief goods, talking some group of employees, making a statement about "answers to your poverty"? They make no difference. We have seen the same ads over the years and they also claimed they will bring us out of our dump sites.
Did they? Whom are we to believe now? Isn't it obvious that the way they look as they help people while the camera rolls is a little FAKE?
If you were to advertise yourself, why not tell us what YOU CAN do to the country instead of making us see that YOU CAN do it in front of the camera? Why can't you lay down your plans in front of us, some outline or whatever? It will be boring for MOST OF THOSE PEOPLE who are looking for entertainment but WE NEED TO KNOW YOU CAN. Try blending over your nice campaign with your plans, it will sound like nice music for our future's ears.
And if you were to run for elections, please, STOP POSTING YOUR ARTLESS POSTERS IN EVERY PLANE YOU COULD FIND. It's worse than vandalism. If you want people to remember you, then do something nice and make sure you don't have to grab the media along because people will remember you if YOU HAVE REALLY HELPED THEM. They don't need a poster to remind them they have to vote for you. All they need is their faith in you because they know YOU CAN.
Actually, if you really think you're worth of becoming the leader of the country, you don't need to endorse yourself. Just do what WE ALL NEED to get from you. We don't need to hear your jingles, your ads showing you baring your teeth to a group of Filipinos nor your simple lines that don't really mean anything because it's already a mere cliche in the world of Philippine election campaign. What can those campaigns do to our future? WE NEED ONLY YOU.
By Wild Ice
My music is part of my escape to the real world. No, it's not that I really escape and not care about everything around me. Times are chosen whenever possible to shut the world off my ears and be at home with the music I love.
My MP3 Player is my phone. It contains the mixes which blends perfectly with my eardrums despite the air outside these holes.But one morning, as I woke up after Christmas, the other side of my earphone was not working. I would never settle for only one side of an earphone working; I NEED TO HEAR IT AROUND ME.
I rushed to the nearest haven of gadgets.
The way I choose earphones is not that easy. I was shown before a lot of original earphones and they did not work for me fine. There are those which I think are fake: The sounds are muffled, the bass sounds too low, the sound does not offer a SURROUND SOUND.
I HATE IT WHEN I KNOW that a music sometimes contain a sound coming from the left or from the right. The way a surround sound feels is like being possessed by the music---IT'S AROUND ME! It's within me!!
The music should be able to pierce my ear when it needs to. So, I want it not to sound too muffled. And the bass should rock my nerves as if the gods were pounding on my head.
Music should be clearly felt as if it were part of your anatomy. I need it (desperately) to change my mood, to make me move, to encourage me, to make me mad, to make me feel I'm... whatever hot adjective I could use..
I am very very strict when ti comes to my earphones. And I have tried so many original products but they seemed to last for only a few months. Within six months, I already had more than five earphones.
Now I settled for a high quality sounding Class A earphone. So far, it has not failed me yet. I'm just counting down its days so that maybe I could probably give up buying these phony earphones. But on the other hand, I really need to shut myself off the world for some times so, you see the reason why I keep on trying to find a nice pair of headsets.
You just have no idea yet how freaky I am in searching for high quality MP3s.
