Scene: Inside our bathroom

I was lounging in the loo for my usual 'call of nature' thing, flipping an old magazine which I've already read ten times (there are people who smoke inside the loo while poo-ing; I read. Okay. I smoke and read.) when I suddenly noticed an ant floating in the pail filled with water.

Seemed lifeless.

(I heart ants. I thought they're the most self-sufficient, industrious, humble creation of God).

I scooped it with my finger and daintily laid its body on top of the white sink. It moved. It's alive!

Limping, the ant crawled. One foot at a time. I can't see whether it's drying itself or it's painfully twitching its body. How was I to know?

All of a sudden, I felt a surge of pity for the ant. Nowhere in our two square meter bathroom do I see any other ants. For an ant, our small bathroom could already be its whole world! Even if he makes it limping, who'd take care of him. Where's his family? And why am I suddenly calling the ant a 'he'?

For a few sec, I thought of playing God and lynch the ant to death. Euthanasia.

But I thought, maybe there's a bigger reason why I saved him. Maybe God has a reason why He made me save the ant. Maybe the ant is destined to become the leader of all ants living in the vast expanse of our bathroom.

The sad part is I will never know. Ever. Because as soon as I finished poo-ing, the ant was gone. Maybe it committed suicide and jumped from the sink to the floor.

I looked. It's not on the floor.

Maybe God gave the ant its wings and it flew while I'm hosing myself.

Maybe the ant assumed in ant's heaven.

Or maybe the ant was just my imagination.

I soaped my hands. I brushed my teeth. And before I turned off the bathroom lights, I muttered a silent prayer: God, if you're going to make me an ant in my next life, let me not be a bathroom ant.

Six years ago, President Gloria Arroyo signed into law the Overseas Absentee Voting Act (RA 9189). Sadly, it appears to be a futile exercise; a waste of money.

Why?

Because only a fraction of the 7 million Pinoy overseas worldwide actually registered in 2004 and 2007 Elections. Apathy? Walang pakialam?

The latest statistics are appaling; "less than half of 1% of the targeted one million OAVs for 2010 elections have so far been achieved" (GMA News TV, 12 May 2009).

In 2004, 64.89 percent of 359,296 registered OAVs voted in the 2004 elections. In 2007, there were 504,124 registered overseas voters, but only 16.21% cast their ballots (ABS-CBN News).

We are supposed to be heroes, but why are our voices muted?



Registration for OAV runs until August 31. Please let's enjoin our fellow OFWs to register. Come 2010, let's not have an excuse not to vote. Even if, God forbid, Erap is allowed to run.

(Acknowledgements go to FreeSFX for the music. Apologies for the size of the movie. I honestly don't know how to minimize the loading time).

Susie is an American married to a Saudi man. Her family is now residing in Saudi Arabia. Susie's Big Adventure is a blog that contains Susie's narrative of her life in and her views of and about Saudi. Recently, she won the 2009 Weblog Award for Best Asian Blog.

I admire her blog because her writing is honest, insightful and very informative.

This evening, I found that her site is blocked. If you click the screenshot below, it's supposed to take you to her site.

I hope it's just a glitch.

If you want to oogle at naked pictures of women (or men) in the internet, this is what you'll likely run into:


All internet traffic go to King Abdulaziz City for Science & Technology where it gets filtered. Reportedly, the following sites are blocked: anything pornographic or deemed "immoral" or "any sites critical of the Saudi Government" (Wikipedia) including those "related to drugs, bombs, alcohol, gambling and pages insulting the Islamic religion or the Saudi laws" (New York Times).

• Blogs critical of the Saudi Government, Saudi official or Saudi practices (unless the site becomes so famous, THEN, it gets closed).
• Free-to-air channels that show women in skimpy bikinis. A few months back, Hotbird opened their 24-hour triple-X channels and it ran for a few months! And then they limit it to wee hours in the morning. And finally it got scrambled. What a tease!
• Web chatting (although I heard that some chat rooms are inaccessible from Saudi -- particularly those sexual in orientation).
• Sites related to other religions.
• Torrent sites where you can download all the smuts you want.

For whose womb I stayed for nine full months.

For whose hands cradled me to sleep.

For whose voice lulled me sweetly when I cry.

For whose arms rocked me in my sleepless nights.

For whose lessons I kept up to this day.

For whose life I look up to.

For whose nights are filled of prayers for me.

For whose dreams are all for my well-being.

For the woman I called mama.

Thank you.

Why I'm not surprised. I told you there are better designs than yours. And you thought you did well. Well, you didn't.

But I joined only for fun.

Soothe yourself, lick your wound, smile. The point is you cannot beat them.

I said I only joined for fun.

Whatever.

Azel's design is nice. Actually they're all nice.

You could have done better.

Yes, I could have done better. But you must admit that my post in Ako Mismo is good.

Yeah. After writing such a lame pledge.

Hey, that's not lame. To promise one's self that you're going to be better is something that's not at all lame.

But you could have put something more concrete.

Like what?

Like...like...putting up a foundation for a free education. That would be nice. Ala'Ophra in Africa.

Am I Ophra?

(Chuckles). I forgot. You're poor and you're an OFW.

Just what do you mean by that?

You're poor. You don't even have a decent savings for yourself. That's because you're an OFW who thinks you can help everyone.

Sorry?

Aren't all OFWs like that? They think of helping everyone of their relatives and in the end forgetting about themselves.

Are we like that?

Yeah. And if you will not change, one of these days you'll find yourself penniless, jobless and cursing those people you've helped because they cannot help you in return.

I won't be like that.

Won't be like what? Poor? OFW? You're not going to be an OFW forever. And pleeease...don't consider yourself rich because you're not.

I'm satisfied with what I have.

(Rolls his eyes). Defeating lines of defeated people.

Hey, I'm not a defeated person.

Whatever.

I said, I'm not!

Fine! But remember what I'm going to tell you: You're not defeated YET. But if you don't change your ways, you'll BE.

What ways? What ways?!

Don't loathe. That's all.

Loathe? What loathe? Where are you?!

(And then I saw my own reflection once again).

Mismo is a reiteration of something important, sort of affirming something.

When we say 'ako mismo', it's affirming, confirming and reiterating that we will do the work, will take charge of something, be responsible for it.

Ako Mismo, the website, asks: Ano ang gagawin mo para sa kinabukasan ng bayang ito?

As of this writing, there are now 36,542 pledges from Filipinos around the world who have answered the question, who have signified their committments to helping the Philippines.



The site narrates:

"AKO mismo is about YOU…

… making a stand and taking real action for the causes you believe in. Causes that you yourself can truly pursue to make a real, positive difference to your fellow countryman, to your country."

In AKO MISMO you get to choose the cause you wish to pursue. No cause is too small as long as it is a noble one. All we ask is that you make a pledge to do it...

No matter how small, as long as you pledge that you yourself will take action, it’s sure to make a big difference.

Giving more hope for Filipinos to stop merely surviving, and start living. And it starts with you.

MISMO yan."

As an OFW, I will ensure that my work will be reflective of what Filipinos truly are: resilient, dedicated, inventive, honest.

As an OFW, I will continue to perform quality work. (After all, isn't it the prime reason why we are always the first choice of employers abroad?)

Ako mismo ang kikilos para sa bayan ko.

[Thanks to Pink Tarha from whom I saw this Ako Mismo site.]

In response to Kenjie's call for the design of PEBA 2009's badges, I (without prior knowledge in color combinations and totally inept of Photoshop) literally toiled nightly to come up with a decent design entry.

(My boss also told me I'm color blind so please pardon me for any color mismatch in these badges).

Haven't you noticed yet my endless excuses? Ehem, I'm just being dramatic. Paawa ba. Frankly, I wanted this to be better and I guess, given more time, I could come up with a better design. (And by then it's already PEBA 2011!).

Below are my produce.

Saudis read from left to write. And being in Saudi, I'd go for the best topic first.

This is the full image of the screenshot.

I don't know what the number represents. All I know is that I'm grateful to you guys and I hope you come and visit me constantly. So thank you to those Pinoy bloggers in My Top 10 Visitors This Month: The Pope, Kenjie, Sardonyx, Azel, RJ and NJ. And thank you too Google, Blogger and Expat Blog!

(And of course, those others in my analytics' list, thank you, thank you, too).