VIII Of Swords: And Now, A Word From Our Sponsor...

First things first. With yet another series of coup attempts behind us and thrice more ahead of us for the next two months, I can safely say that, yes, the Philippine Islands has at last finally welcomed the New Year. Let’s face it, coup attempts are the fuel that runs this god-forsaken country and it’ll always be the fuel that runs it. And, as with my last politically fueled rant, there’s really nothing that changed. They still want Little Miss Midget off of her high-chair in the Palace but have yet to mount an actual, solid attempt to throw her off and they still don’t have anyone suitable to replace her – which isn’t even a difficult task since she’s not exactly suitable for the position in the first place.

Now, the latest in an endless string of attempts still failed to garner any substantial military support. Its common sense in this hellhole we call a country that if you want to topple the existing government/idiot-job we put into power in the first place and now we are disappointed with their performance, you require military support. Sure, the military doesn’t exactly have any real firepower, no real ability to threaten anyone other than the masses of poor, unarmed, uneducated and generally slave-labor-only-worthy civilian population of the country but you really need their support. Nothing like a couple of old, WWI-era tanks to scare the shit out of the current idiot-in-power. Yessiree Bob.

It really doesn’t make any sense that they even bother trying. They won’t be able to really do anything once they’re there short of pissing the population off again and having the same endless series of protests come by their door. Why they bother is beyond me. You don’t even get that much power by becoming President. It’s more of a prestige title than anything else, sort of like the title ‘President of WCW’: it doesn’t, hasn’t and never will carry any real power behind it. Sure, the coup attempts keep the idiot-in-power on her toes but there are other ways to do that. Besides, coup attempts are a sure way to keep us in the economic deep shit that we’ve been in for longer than any of us care to remember and all sides really should stop relying on them. Oh wait, they can’t. They’re too stupid to realize that their actions are affecting the economy and thus making it worse for them, thus prompting them to take to the streets again! It’s an endless cycle that serves as solid proof that democracy is an experiment in governance gone horribly, horribly wrong.

My suggestion? We shift to an intellectual oligarchy, throw away all the weakling qualms about human rights violations and crap like that and suppress the freedom and power of the masses and force them to work. Impose an absolute meritocracy based on skills and intellectual talent, improve the fighting ability of the army, force the squatters in the cities to move out to the provinces and form a solid backbone for the agricultural industry, firebomb Mindanao and execute a scorched earth policy to rid the country of the local rebels and any potential rebel groups there. Hell, firebomb all known or suspected areas controlled by separatist/terrorist/take-over groups. Kill any and all dissenters; advocate the totalitarian rule of the few people in this country that can understand how to actually run a country instead of leaving it in the hands of the insipid masses.

Right, half of that may or may not be serious but I am dead serious about taking power away from the masses who know nothing about how to run a country, the idiots.

Now, moving on. Work’s nice. Nobody I can’t stand and they’re all people I can at least get along with. I don’t feel particularly close to any of them, save for one, but I don’t have any problems with any of them. They’re all nice, a little odd at times and I’m fairly sure very few of them would be inclined to share my personal tastes and preferences with me but I don’t mind. I enjoy working with them, hanging out with them and trying to fit in even though I can’t. A lot of really odd things have been said and done though. For example, I get the feeling that more than one of the guys around the group thinks I’ve got chemistry or something going on with Grace (Medina, not Java). For clarity’s sake, we get alone and we’re friends (an oddity that started off with us finding out we both came from the same HS but that she’s a batch ahead of me) but there’s really nothing more than that. Sure I spent a lot of time with her and I do tend to follow her around but then again, if there was anyone else I got along with so well I’d spend time hanging out with them.

Spent the better half of Saturday in a videoke bar with them. Lots of fun had by all and I managed to engage my inner shutterbug and got a couple of nice videos. I managed to make a fool of myself and force them into an exercise in masochism by singing. I believe that I delivered the worst possible renditions possible of both ‘Just Once’ by James Ingram and ‘On Bended Knee’ by Boyz II Men on that day. Of course, it’ll spread around and I’ll flatly but pointlessly deny that ‘It never happened!’ for a long, long time. Hehe.

The girl in the group that I really like is never going to see me as anything more than a friend, but then again, that’s how it works for me. I understand implicitly that I don’t have any chance with her of becoming more than that, so why bother, right? I am and always have been the observer, the outside man that doesn’t do anything but watch the lives of others and, secretly, wonder if, by some strange fluke of either Kronos and Yves (In Nomine reference) I’ll ever experience it again for myself. I’m an alienated man and frankly, I rather enjoy it. It helps me spend more time thinking about things and less about being paranoid that the people I consider friends don’t like me or are out to stab me in the back at the first opportunity. Wooh, am I paranoid. Not to mention temporarily delusional when it suits me or the assorted voices in my head.

Now, on the matter of getting back to my work. I’m trying to pry a half-decent idea out of my head but it ain’t workin’. And that irks me. Well, I’ll think of something at some point. I’m sure I will. I just need time to wrap my head around it.

And that’s it for now, kiddies.

Oh, and take a look at my work buddies: