Drugs are so good, they're addictive

You know how we can get the country out of the economic doldrums? Legalize marijuana.

I got this bit from Mike, a dear Kule friend. Now this isn't drunk talk; we were chatting before we started drinking hehe.

I'm not sure if he read it somewhere or if it was his idea but basically, it centers around marijuana being a cash crop. As in, if you plant it, people will buy it. So if it's legal, imagine the influx of cash.

I mean, we're already not planting rice anymore. Yes people, forget that rice central of the world shit. People from India, Thailand and Vietnam come to the IRRI here to learn about planting rice. Then they go back to their countries and we import from them. How sad.

But if we forget about all that, legalize pot, then get our farmers to plant it, people will come in droves. And I'm not just talking about Pinoys. Tourism will sky-rocket. Just look at Holland.

And the Philippines, being a hot and wet country, apparently has the perfect weather for marijuana cultivation. So it'll take a minimum of effort, 'di ba?

And considering how much of our country still relies on farming as livelihood, we'd be helping a lot of people make a living. Yes, people, the cities may have more call centers and nursing schools than you can shake a stick at, but the kanayunan still looks to the soil for sustenance. And I still think we should focus on that, instead of factories and outsourcing, if we're to prosper as a nation.

"But what about it's harmful side effects?" the moralists say, "It's a drug! Make hulos-dili!"

Well the moralists are all rich and boring. Ergo, the country's economic doldrums mean less to them than to our country's farmers. And they're too boring to try out anything like pot. Well here's a myth/fact link to allay your fears. I used it in a Myspace post a while back. See, I've been blogging about pot for a while hehe.

Marijuana isn't actually addictive. I just used that line as the title because I thought it was catchy. It's from this show I watch on channel 9, Good Girls Don't..., check it out, Tuesdays at 9. Of course, channel 9 keeps bleeping out any swearing or sex words (even the word "sex") so you have to be a little creative with your imagination if you're to get any of the fun. Why even broadcast a show like that if you're going to bleep half of it, I ask. You should see what they've done to Sex and the City... "Mangled" comes to mind. But I digress.

So see, i-legalize na. Aasenso ang bansa. If I ever run for public office, that'd make a great platform, no?

Of course, everyone reading this now thinks I use pot. And I haven't ever, really. So, dealers, and friends with dealers out there, get in touch with me. I have funds (or I will have funds). And I'm not afraid to use them. Mwahaha!

Me = Silly

So all my emoting in my previous post was for naught. The foundation I was talking about called me back for a final interview. So I guess they weren't thinking I was too hoity-toity to be a social worker.

***

Of course, now I'm beginning to wonder if I'm not doing enough to get hired. Aside from this one, there's Bantay Bata, and I know if I'm kulit enough, I'll be able to pass a resume there. Then there's an opening for a social worker at a school, and one of my classmates is actually willing to send my resume along if I get it to her. As in, I don't have to go there myself. It is, on the one hand, That Konyo School, but on the other hand, they'll probably pay well.

Then I'm being offered a job by Agency X (we shall leave it unnamed). Of course, they want to hire me, not because I'm a licensed social worker or Top 8 (though those are pluses), but because I'm familiar with them. Religiously. And it probably helps that they know my parents. And for that very reason, I can't work with them. I need to work someplace where no one knows me, so no one will cut me any slack because of who I am or who my parents are. I need to be trusted for my professional competencies, which I actually worked for, not anything else.

Then there's the Philippine office of the UNHCR. My dad is friends with the director. And again, the acquaintance is religious. And the director's number is in my address book. Ergo, he's a call away. But what am I supposed to say? Hello, I'm Mr. Panemanglor's son. Do you have any jobs?

I love my folks but I'm a very dependent person, and I've been depending on them for everything up until this point. I need to be able to start doing things by myself, for myself (such as getting work), or I might just become comfortable with them pulling strings and ringing people for me and never do anything on my own.

Then there's also a friend, my dear high school prom date (hehe), who knows someone working at another agency and might be able to get me in touch there. There's the added bonus that the work isn't parent-related. Of course, I think a church friend, who saw, and was rather shocked at an (ahem) incriminating photo of me, works there, so seeing her might be awkward.

Hay, ang trabaho woes talaga, ano? Maybe I'm just getting used to slacking off.

***

People have the most depressing blogs, ano?

I've been reading some of my "friends'" blogs on Friendster. Good God, you'd think pinagsakluban sila ng langit at lupa. And most of their problems all boil down to them being single. But their blogs are full of it, entry after entry, whining and moaning, dripping with depression and desperation. I hope you all are medicated. Clinical depression can lead to suicide. You'd think they were pushing forty and living with a bunch of cats, the prospect of dying alone looming ever larger.

Or candles. Oo nga pala, Samantha says women with candles have replaced women with cats as the new sad thing. So stop buying those stupid aromatherapy candles people. It's not cute.

Love is not something you look for, methinks. It just comes. So stop looking and have fun people! We're in our twenties. We'll have plenty of time to be depressed and morose when we turn forty. Meanwhile, we should take advantage of the fact that we aren't wrinkly or sagging yet and go out and party.

And P.S., dignidad naman. Total strangers could be reading your blog as you go on and on about how depressing your life is. It's okay if you have a few bummed-out entries, but just a few. Hold some stuff back eh? It's not even as if I actively went after their blogs. It's just that all these depressing blurbs were turning up again and again on the Blogs and Reviews section of my Friendster mainpage, so I just had to check them out.

***

And while we're on the subject of silly things people put on their Friendster pages, have you ever gone through profiles of people who look like absolute mice, or you know for a fact are absolute mice, only they're declaring, "People think I'm maangas or suplado at first, but I'm really not"? Then they go on to say things like "I don't take shit from anyone" and "If you do something bad to me, I'll call you out on it." Only you're looking at their super-meek pictures and going "Really? You will?" Because it looks more like if you give them one good, loud bark, they'll scamper off into a hole. Or burst out in loud palengkera histrionics before bursting into tears.

People, if you're shy and quiet in person, that's okay. There's absolutely nothing wrong with that. You don't have to try to appear badass on your profile. And if you really think you appear suplado and maangas, and you really don't take shit from anyone, and you're a (ahem) "fierce fighter," you better be prepared to back that up, because I will call you out on it if I ever meet you. Because, you see, people's first impression of me is that I'm suplado and maangas and bitchy specifically because I am suplado and maangas and bitchy. Hehehe.

***

If you've read this far, then you know what's been taking up a lot of my time of late: Friendster. Argh.