Sick of it

I wonder when these reality “talent” shows will stop picking the “charity case” over the more talented ones. Its been a tradition that they make the poor candidates win. In this world, if you’re rich and ahead in life, you don’t get to win. They make the losers win. Maybe its trying to even out an odd society. Maybe its a tug at the heartstrings. Or maybe its conscience. Whatever its called, I think its sick and unfair.

I agree that there are a lot of really great performers from our not so well off friends. But the next time these shows declare a winner, we hope they really pick someone who is worthy amongst all the other participants. But I guess the ratings come first. These big networks don’t really care about their talents. They care about raking in the money, plain and simple. And why, among this shows, they almost always show clips of the participants’ sorry lives, and make the audience feel like that contestant has been deprived of everything, and that winning this contest is more than everything? They want to make us simpletons familiarize ourselves with the contestants. Its not a talent show anymore, its a popularity contest!

And can they please stop making Jovit sing the Journey songs everytime he’s on a show? Doesn’t he have any other songs in his repertoire? I would have to agree when my family declared that there were other contestants in Pinoy Got Talent who are much more deserving to win. Joining shows like that is a contest of your talent, not how broke you are, or how ugly you seem to others. You’re not to be judged on those criteria, but rather on what you can show on the talents you were bestowed with. It should be about chasing your dreams, not about the five minutes of fame and illusions of grandeur.

Too much flak on these talent shows. And don’t even get me started on the silly game shows.

Decisions Decisions

Fresh grad from college, I have absolutely NO idea what the company I applied for does. I actually thought it was a bank. Since my really good friend Dawna accompanied me in dropping off our resumes at different companies and banks, I thought that this one won’t be of any difference. After all, the concept of a callcenter was not widely grasped back then. It was June of 2003, and we just started to use cellphones for a couple of years.

Now, seven long years later, and I’m still in the same company that I applied for a long long time ago. There were a lot of other opportunities that I passed up: working for a software company with my cousin, going overseas, and a lawfirm based in Taguig. But more than the salary, the benefits, and accessibility, there was one thing that made me stay: Friends. Friends that I met though the years and who learned to accept me for all my misgivings.

In a few more years, I’ll be turning 30. That is not a pretty sight, and I cringe at the thought. Sure its an exaggeration, but I’m not sure I would like to be in the same company as I was when I graduated from college. People don’t want to leave because of the comfort zone, and some people leave because they want to spread their wings and try something new. Am I the former, or the latter?

I met a lot of really intelligent people as I moved up the ranks. I learned a lot of lessons, some of them life lessons, that I share with my team one way or the other. Now I met some people who are not afraid of taking risks, and willing to go beyond this feeling of protection that a long tenure with a company provides. Add to that the recent events that made it such a really exciting and tumultuous year for me and a lot of other people.

Am I ready to move on and go places that are new to me? Am I ready to just pack up my bags and turn my back on the one thing that kept me sane for the past seven years?

I’ll make up my mind by the end of this year. And when I do, hopefully I made the right decision.

Welcome a Newbie

I’m pretty sure I got a wordpress site before, I’m just not sure what username I used. Anyway, this will be my 3rd (or fourth) blogsite. Since I’m practically new here, I guess I won’t have any of my previous haters posting their ramblings on my page anymore. There’s a lot of features here that are somewhat new to me, so I guess it will take me a long time to come up with a decent post. I’ll be treating this more of a journal, unlikemy previous blogsites.

Anyway, so far, so good. I’m liking wordpress. I just hope the wordpress community would like me as well.

Of Presidents and Speeches

The President’s State of the Nation Address was the recent headline in almost all Philippine broadsheets and news programs. I guess we should be patriotic and nationalistic at best but clearly, I don’t buy any of it. Never did, and I guess never will. Call it being bitter since my presidential candidate lost the last one. Call it whatever you want. But I’m no believer in the promises that each and every SONA brings.

My family is a firm believer that you don’t have to be in public office to help other people. And if everyone has that kind of mindset, and just help each other out, then we should be better off without a president. Specially one who uses the previous regime’s wrongdoings to highlight his. Talk about crab mentality. If you really believe in yourself, you don’t have to bring people down. Leave GMA alone. Focus on what you can do, and not what the others before you failed to achieve. Talk about positive news, and not the negative ones. But who am I kidding. The kind of negativity they used in campaigning clearly won’t rid itself. They’re really good at mudslinging at each other.

Its funny that some of the former president’s staff, who turned their backs easily when GMA’s ratings went low, were reinstated. Is that the change we want to see? I definitely wouldn’t want to see any of Dinky’s highlights anytime of the day. And neither should you. For someone with no loyalty comes with no dignity at all. And to trust them now will lead to your downfall.

I’m not a really optimistic person, but I’m not that much of a pessimist either. I guess that instead of just listening to rambles of his so called speeches (more like Boy Abunda talking), let us just wait and see if he can deliver. By then, maybe he can earn the trust of the millions who didn’t believe him from the get go.