Chewing the Fat. Dishing the Dirt. Shooting the Breeze.

Uh-oh. I surely miss doing this, honestly. I miss posting daily entries in this site about my personal experiences and hobbies. Good thing we do have this three-week break. I am going to get the most out of this period of time. I am not going to spend this thoughtlessly. With my laptop fully charged and very recent activities fresh in my mind, I am back to blogging again. Here I am fellas, signing in.

October 27 - Got bored of my routine, I decided to go to Koronadal City. Actually, I was asked by my father to go to the grocery store to buy stuffs for the week. I got so excited. Geez. My parents were even surprised by my reaction. They are just not used with my response because usually when they ask me to do something, I look angry or sullen and of course, wrinkle my forehead to make them notice my disapproval. But when they asked me to go to the grocery store, I said YES right away. I really took time by the foreclock. Maybe you’re wondering too what made me come up with such decision. I have to admit this because if I will accept the offer of my father, I will be able to get the moolahs and pocket the change. Aside from that, it would be another first time experience for me. Unfortunately, my father changed his mind when I told him my condition. I will be the one to do the grocery thing but not in our place. He should let me travel for 30 minutes, move to the other city and do the grocery. ‘Sobra ka naman. Para grocery lang…’ He found it not practical. I was not allowed to go to the grocery store and lost the chance for a first time experience. But you know what, I was still happy. Yeah dude, happy. They still gave me the moolahs and allowed me to go to Koronadal City. Perhaps, they saw that big thought bubble above my head saying ‘I am effing Ho-hum. BORED.’

When I got there, I first went to CAP-Koronodal to do what my mother asked me to do. I think I submitted some of my papers needed for the insurance. Sorry. I am not sure. I did not open the folder to see it. But I am sure it is not a bomb. After that, I went straight to to KCC Mall of Marbel and roam around like a gypsy roaming the woods without any destination. I was like Mister Vagabond. That’s what I’ve learned from my past life. I was living in a pirate ship which was a vagabond of the sea, you know. Haha. Suddenly, I heard the rallying cry of the thingabobs in my stomach. So I decided to have my lunch. And now that I that I have a full stomach, I moved to Book Sale to look for good books to read this break. I purchased two books, America Now and Will They Ever Trust US Again by Michael Moore. Apparently, these books talks about America. My fascination for American Politics started when I took up Political Science. It got my attention so fixated as though by a spell. Evidences are my research papers for the past 2 years. Political Impacts of Social Movements of America’s Democracy was my research topic in Communication II. Just last semester, I chose US Invasion in Afghanistan after the 9/11 attack as my topic for the problems of Globalization. I guess that would be enough to make you believe that really I am hooked by the States.

By hook or by crook, I told myself that I really have to see at least one movie per day. And so, I decided to enter the movie house and watch I love you, Beth Cooper. I chose it because I thought it was a sexy-comedy type of movie. At first, I was really hesitant to watch the film. It is not that I am afraid of the dark. It is not also because I remembered what happened in the movie ‘Serbis.’ Haha. Honestly, I haven’t watched the movie yet. I was hesitating because I do not want to watch the movie alone. I do not want to look like weirdo laughing my ass out loud inside the cinema. So, I called some of my friends from the place to go with me.Thank you very much to Renan and Kezia. Thank you for accompanying me.

After watching a movie, I entered a computer store to look for an external hard drive and canvass for the prices of laptops. Then, I felt I was starting to lose energy. So, I just went to the terminal and take a bus back to our city. But before reaching home, I passed by Jollibee first dahil dito Bida Ang Saya. Haha. I bought snacks for the family. Isn't that sweet? I do not know what happened to me. I being in an affectionate or loving manner just happen once in a blue moon. This rarely happens. It recurs in long interval. I guess the next time this would occur again will be next break. Haha. Maybe, this is what happens when you are just too far away from your family and you are dying to see them everyday without letting them know your agony. Oh Boy. I have no plans of ending this with a very emotional remark. But it’s true. I missed my family. I missed blogging. I hope you missed me too. 

To Mr. Bastard, you know who you are. But I guess you do not have a multiply or blogspot account because friendster is all you know. Yikes. Oh. I heard you also do have a Facebook Account now but I am not sure because we are not friends. Maybe you would want to add me up. (Sarcastically) So you could write on my walls more often. Anyway, I hope your friends here would tell you my special message. Oh boy. I am sorry. I almost forgot that you are a primitive mammal belonging to a stage where there are no technical developments yet. Do you have a cellular phone? Maybe yes but I guess it is an old model. Would you like me to buy you a new one? Just tell me. :) That is a mocking smile, dude.

I think you really are happy with what you have done to me. I can even see that mark in your face. I know you are glad for not only damaging the university’s property but also for affecting me on a personal level. Of course, doing your passion would make you feel pleased and proud. It has been a part of your life as a barbarian. I guess your plan is just to remain uncivilized for the rest of your life. Am I right, malefactor? Yes you really are for committing crime against property and people. I am not even surprised that you can do that because you really look like one, the typical Drug addict / Ex-convict Black Man. What you have done really reflects who you are, Bastard Faggot with a Big Asshole. Evil laugh.

But let me also thank you for what you have done. May it be good or bad, it was still a form of publicity. I was even sad when I knew that one of your graffiti on the doors was wiped off. I was not the one who did that. Maybe he is someone who cares for me like you do. Thanks for making me famous. Literally, thank you for making Justin Ryan Morilla a Big Name in the campus.

PS. I pray for your safety, my dear friend. Be heedful. Karma travels so fast, very fast.

One of the toughest decisions perhaps that you have to make in your life is choosing the moral path you have to take. For sure, every one of us has troubles in identifying what is right and what is wrong. It is good that we do have these Categorical Imperatives by Immanuel Kant which we can consider as one of his greatest contributions in the field of morality.

Because of these Categorical Imperatives, we now have a model or standard to follow if we wanted to judge something as moral or not. We ask ourselves these three questions developed by Kant before we engage in a certain action. First is that we should act according to maxim. I do agree with this because I usually do this before I carry out a particular thing. I try to think how it would also impact other individuals around me. I consider whether it would also correspond to the universal rule and not just a rule to me. For example, I ask myself if killing someone you hate would be a good thing to do. I would then begin to reflect on this. If it is normal to kill anyone you hate then probably everyone could be dead by now. If the answer to that question will be no then I can say that it cannot be deemed to be moral.

Next is that we should treat humanity not just as a mean but also as an end. Same with Kant, I am also against dealing with human beings as just as mean just like in slavery. I oppose to situations wherein an individual is being under the control of another person. Slaveholding must be put into an end.

Third and the last imperative is to Act as a Law making member of a Kingdom of Laws that would benefit all mankind. What he means by this is that we would only make laws that of course would benefit all mankind and not just yourself. These laws must be ethical laws. Who would pass laws making murder or stealing a legitimate act? Likely, no one will do that.

Immanuel Kant’s Categorical Imperative is not that complicated. You do not have to earn the highest academic degree conferred by a university to get his idea. It is because it is more derived from our intuition. You just need to have this instinctive knowing to understand his Categorical Imperatives.

During the Foundation Week of the University of the Philippines in Iloilo, I really had a very busy schedule. It is because I took part in one of the main events during that week. I would not tell in which activity I engaged myself. I would let you do the guesswork. Do you want me to provide you with a hint? It made me realize that walking in narrow pathway high in the air was really never that easy. Striking a pose for a photographer is a lot easier than assuming posture for artistic purposes in front of the whole student body. Now, you know what I mean.

The Foundation Week ended but still I was not able to do away completely with the juggling of academic works and other responsibilities. I was still crowded by very many activities such as truckloads of assignments, quizzes and brain cracking examinations. Addition to that were the numerous meetings and assemblies called by the heads of different organizations in the university.

Thus, I really had difficulties of spending pleasure time with myself. It even made me think that the things that I was experiencing during those times brought me to a condition almost beyond my ability to deal with and required me great effort for me to overcome it. I was in a state of grappling with my very hectic schedule. However, I just did my best to be optimistic in order for me to have a positive disposition of things. That is just the way cookies crumble. I aflame myself with enthusiasm because I believe this has been the driving power that made worth doing things possible.

Right after a series of activities that drained my energy and effectiveness, I think it is just right if I will spare some of my time with myself. I consider being alone and isolated from my friends once in a while as a way for me to spend time with myself. I would walk alone and during this time, I would bring back into my memory the things that happened within the day. Then, I would begin to reflect deeply whether I did things right or if I have caused troubles or pain to other individuals. I would also ponder if the things that made me happy during that day had left also a positive impact to others. This self-reflection activity that I have been doing is one thing that I have learned from Aristotle in his book, Nicomachean Ethics. I see to it whether my Happiness is self-sufficient. I check if I have turned out to be an egoist or if my happiness has also affected other people in a positive way.

Aside from this self-reflection activity, I also spend pleasure time with myself through worldly goods. These would include the scrumptious food that I eat and other commodities that I purchase which makes me glad. But nonetheless, I also meet the needs of my spiritual being. It could be through listening to Bible studies conducted in the dormitory, attending the church services and communicating with my God before I go to sleep.

Music is soothing to the soul. It frees me from fears and anxiety. I listen to my playlists before I catch some Z’s. Eventually, these pleasing and harmonious sounds like that of the wind chimes would make me fall asleep.

I do not have plans to have a dull and irksome life. I really want to get rid of deadening routine tasks. I wanted to be a part of the lively period in history and feel the whole lively world. Fortunately, our God has provided us with ways on how to spend pleasure time with ourselves despite the big number of stumbling blocks along the way. For my part, I am just using it in the right way, in the right time and in the right place. I take into account that Life is not just all about having fun. It is absolutely all right to take a break and have fun once in a while but we should never dismiss from our minds the purpose why we received this gift of life. It is really good to have enjoyment over what you do because surely, enjoyment makes the difference.

I am in a point in my existence where I have to begin making up my mind in which path to take in my life and probably, that would be the greatest decision that I would be facing. Upon reading this book by ancient Athenian Philosopher Aristotle, in some manner it has made me free from ambiguity and confusion. It has helped me find out what I wanted and how to live a good life.

An initial way for us to attain a good life is being fully aware of your functions as an individual. We must distinguish what are the ends that we could produce as an outcome of our crafts, decision, actions and investigations. This may not be that easy. For some, it may take a very long time for them to mark their purpose. What is important is that we have discerned our normal or customary activity here in this world

Right after identifying the ends that we could produce, that is the time we start to engage ourselves with these ends for us to be able to reach the supreme good which is happiness. Along the way of attaining the supreme good, of course we would be facing a number of trials and difficulties that would make us question ourselves which is the right thing to do. If we are in situations like this, our moral and intellectual virtues would serve as assistance to us. Being a virtuous person is a necessary precondition for living a good life. Every one of us is capable of having intellectual virtues through instruction and moral virtues through habit and constant practice. On the process of acquiring these virtues, there is no guarantee that we would really end up getting the positive virtues. There is also a chance that instead of having virtues, continence and superhuman virtue, we would land up gaining vices, incontinence and brutishness. However, there are ways for us to be able to get away with it. For me the process really requires great physical and mental effort for us to be able to endure. Obliterating a disposition to do vice acts is hard for a reason that it is something natural or acquired habit or characteristic tendency of a person which has developed from a very young age. I consider vices as the worst source of our wrongdoings. For incontinence, it is not a question of moral badness. It deals more with self-control which is also unmanageable because it is like an instinctive motive. Lastly, to eliminate brutishness, it is not just like taking time by the fore clock because having capacity for rational thought cannot be learned in just a click.

Intellectual and Moral virtues help us see what the world is like and it makes possible the rational contemplation. If we go through a very long and thoughtful observation being guided by intellect and reason, we would be able to know what is right and what is wrong. A person who has all the right moral virtues knows what ends to pursue.

Aristotle was also able to tackle the philosophical importance of friendship in attaining a good life. The reasons behind how a friendship is formed and the way you treat your friends also contribute to your happiness. As what has been said, a supreme good is self-sufficient. It should not be solitary. It must also involve other persons including your friends. Furthermore, friendship serves as a way for the citizens to cooperate with the community and share their lives and goals with one another instead of using coercive power. This kind of discussion is more relevant during Aristotle’s time when there is no distinction between public and private life and everyone shares the same virtues and goals compared to our present condition where we are giving more importance to individual and to the virtue of self-reliance and personal independence.

Tsinoy speaks Spanish but not very well.

When he tries to speak Spanish, you really can’t tell

What language he’s speaking or trying to speak.

The first time they heard him, they thought it was Greek.

Ooh? Sounds like nursery rhyme. Nice piece of poetry. Haha. I was just sitting at the patio, reminiscing the past all afternoon. I just remembered my first days in my Spanish class. I was asked by our professor to introduce myself to my classmates in Spanish.

Buenos Dias Damas y Caballeros y Senor Piccio.

Soy Justin Ryan Morilla y Duque.

Tengo diece ciete anos.

Soy de la provincia de Sultan Kudarat.

Soy de la ciudad de Tacurong City.

The fifth sentence was wrong. May ciudad na nga, may city pa. Haha. What a turkey doing something thoughtless. I became a figure of fun at an instant. Everyone was like saying, ‘Guys, let us all laugh. He told a very funny joke.’ Well, go on laughing foes because I actually do not care. I really love doing ludicrous things, honestly. So, do your silly giggles.

In one of our class in Spanish, I was asked by my professor to translate English sentences into Spanish sentences. One of the sentences was ‘Tengo Calor.’ I answered my professor with all my confidence, ‘I am HOT, senora.’ My voice boomed through the room. Haha. I thought I was really right in saying that. But I was wrong. The correct translation should be ‘I feel hot.’ But one mistake never brought shame to me. I never even felt that I was in a state of dishonour. I was even glad with my reply; at least it was that close to the correct answer.

Anyway, I just wanted to share these things. I just want everyone to know that I really had fun learning the Spanish Language. I did it for the fun of it. Most of all, Thank you very much to my very enduring professors. Haha.