Subsidies Anyone

Note: Subsidies are forms of assistance and/or incentives that decrease cost for consumers.

You might me be thinking, what the hell is interesting about subsidies that warrant attention.
It is pretty interesting if you are the recipient of subsidies.


I was able to reach my lowest possible electricity consumption of 50 KWH by plugging only my computer, television, and fan for a month. This translated into 205.65 pesos as the payable amount. I was shocked because I expected double the amount. The 50 percent discount was due to subsidies amounting to 189. 75 pesos. This means that without subsidies I would have paid 395.90 pesos or more with price adjustments.

Subsidies or lifeline rates are incentives given to people with minimal electricity consumption in a month. I got my reward! It was timely because of rising prices and decreased income augmentation opportunities.

It may be hard to maintain this level of consumption but I would surely try to gain subsidies. December is fast approaching and it would be grand to have extra money to spend.

Child Psychology

Note: This is a sequel to the puncher story.


There are characteristics unique to children.
It's something that most of us have outgrown (or not).
But it's also something that we recognize.

The two younger siblings of the "puncher girl" hanged out at my pad.
This time, their computer broke down and the older sibling needed to do an assignment.
Later the younger sibling joined us.

Curiosity is one typical characteristic of children.
They can ask you a ton of questions that could last you a lifetime answering.
In a span of a few hours they knew more information about me and my life than anybody else.
The information I had to spill ranged from where I went to school, to the contents of my fridge and the scent I use in my bathroom, to why I live by myself.
Children make persistent investigators and they can get away with it because, hey!, they are kids.

We had chips and soda as snack, which they heartily enjoyed.
It was apparent they rarely eat junk food (Oops!).
Thanks to me, they now include junk food in their diet.
After finishing up, the younger sibling sitting on the sofa engaged me in conversation.
While she was excitedly telling a story, I observed that she was patting my cloth sofa cover with her hands.
After satisfying herself, she stood up and started walking around.
I realized her hands were clean after transferring all the cheese residue in her hands to my sofa cover.
Luckily it was not moist and it came off easily.
At least it was cheese and not anything gross.
I should teach her skills in wiping her hands in sofa covers or curtains stealthily, to avoid detection by adults, which I mastered as a child.

Well children are children.

Dry Spell

Temperatures continue to rise due to global warming.

Global warming is a phenomenon with the rapid accumulation of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere trapping the sun’s heat, making temperatures warmer.

Ice caps in the north and south poles melt, flooding low-lying areas.

Other regions experience heat waves.

The heat also extremely changes weather patterns resulting to excessive rainfall in some regions and severe dry weather in other regions.

Living in the Pacific meant dealing with intense heat.

The warm air makes it difficult to breath.

Heat waves appear in the horizon.

Cracked earth makes life impossible to bud.

Soil becomes dust.

Parched earth desperately awaits the rain.

Baring Myself---%--@

Looking back, I had a good sense of what I want and did not want.
I don't know how I came to know, I just knew.

When I was eight, I had a very good idea of what I wanted to do.
I wanted to die.
I just wanted to die.
Those were the years of discontent and frustration.
I realized then that my father left us for good.
Life was f------ hard.
I used to sit on a wooden bench outside the house at sundown wishing for the cold wind to just freeze me to death and make a beautiful monument of me.
I was determined to die in December when the temperature drops down to 7 degrees.
I would sit there for hours until I realized the weather was not cold enough to do this.

When I was ten, I also had a clear idea of what I did not want (or who I did not want).
There was this persistent boy.
He would follow my friends and me during recess to wherever we set off to.
He was there during lunchtime.
He was there when we play after classes.
He was there when I walk home.
He was just there all the time.
He was quiet and kind.
I never felt threatened being near him.
My disposition was to ignore him. I guess I knew I did not like him not for any other reason other than he's not my type.
Maybe I should have given him an award for persistence though.

When I was twelve, I also knew what I wanted (or who I wanted).
I met my first crush in church.
I was about to graduate from elementary and he was in college.
His charming smile made me look forward to Sundays.
It was a bad reason to want to go to church but I did pray and listened to the sermon.
I really liked him since I listened repeatedly to my favorite love song until I got the entire lyrics on paper.
I folded it (Origami style) and gave it to him in person (wow! was I creatively bold!).
But, It was not time to pursue this path so I busied myself with school.

What is the point of knowing what you want and do not want?
It’s discovering and building who you are as a person so you can bare yourself to the world without qualm.

Puncher!

It's 2:30 in the afternoon and I'm busy trying to find a good show on television from four channels .
I had my cable connection cut since the cost is a rip-off considering that the reception is not clear from excessive main line tapping .
I was interrupted by a knock and then another seemingly urgent knock.
It's troublesome (borrowing from Shikamaru's line) standing up since I'm on a bum mode.
I thought maybe its the guy delivering the water bill.
I opened the door and peering at me was my neighbor's daughter.
I smiled and said hello!
She looked at me with hopeful eyes and said "ate... mmm...pwede po pahiram ng puncher?"
I racked my brain to picture a Puncher...Puncher?...Puncher!
Aaah! It's that thing used to make two holes on paper so a bunch of papers can be held by a fastener.
I looked into my box of school supplies to find five staplers big and small, a glue gun, loads of scotch tape, and a ruler.
So I said I'm sorry I don't have any puncher.
She said with a disappointed tone "aah cge po"!
I sensed a feeling of confusion on her part about why I don't have a puncher.

This got me thinking.
Was my neighbor's daughter just exploring the possibility that maybe I have a puncher.
Does she see me as a person with a puncher.
Do I look like a person with a puncher?
I never considered myself or expressed myself as a person with a puncher.
I never even thought of a puncher since eight years ago.

I thought I was exerting too much effort thinking about it and went back to my four channels. Some things can just get you thinking hard!

Sweet Release

No matter how hard we try to avoid it, crap happens.
Things happen that we do not expect or intend.
These make us feel bad, sad, disappointed or frustrated.
But the thing is, these things eventually end.
We can digest the experience and flush out unnecessary baggage.

Shit happens when we take in too much or none at all.
We get constipation for taking more than we can manage.
Our digestive system could crash giving us that cramped feeling.
We could also get LBM by not taking anything at all or mixing conflicting food elements.
Digestive juices end up making a runny muck that we bring out with pain, discomfort and a big mess.

The thing is, we learn from the process.
Eventually we get the balance of the right amount of food and food elements.
We create that soft but firm shit that we can sweetly release while humming our favorite tune.
We can wipe out our asses, stand up, and enjoy that light feeling after release.
Then we can have a fresh start.

Mr. Shade

I walk two blocks to where I could get a ride to work.

In the second block, I glimpsed this tall guy from a distance.

There’s just something about tall guys that get to me.

I could tell he had a good physique.

He was walking tall and straight.

A smile forms in my face as I see the distance between us closing.

Beads of sweat started to stream down the side of my face and the back of my neck.

I drew a deep breath in anticipation of being near him.

As he passed by, he blocked the sun from my face.

I was in his shadow for a moment.

It was just sheer pleasure being in the shade for even just three seconds.

I forgot to bring my umbrella.

Even after living in Manila for seven years, I just can’t take the heat.

Postscript: He was fair. He had kind eyes. He smelled nice.