The Mist

 

I just finished watching The Mist over my video Ipod and boy, what started out as a suspense-filled movie ended up as a reason for me to feel sick and in despair.    

Yes, The Mist starring Thomas Jane (who starred in The Punisher) is a movie adapted from a Stephen King novel.   IMDB’s synopsis states:   After a violent storm attacks a town in Maine, an approaching cloud of mist appears the next morning. As the mist quickly envelops the area, a group of people get trapped in a local grocery store -among them, artist David Drayton and his five-year-old son. The people soon discover that within the mist lives numerous species of horrific, unworldly creatures that entered through an inter-dimensional rift, which may or may not have been caused by a nearby military base. As the world around them manifests into a literal hell-on-earth, the horrified citizens try desperately to survive this apocalyptic disaster. …..

To be honest, I was thinking the movie will be resolved in a manner that is acceptable, as is usually the case when we watch movies.   But lo and behold, I wanted to scream in anger upon seeing the ending.    I am sure this formula had been used before but what made this movie depressing was its depiction of hope, or to be more precise, the lack of it.    Is it proper to call it despair?   Would I, in the event that such a situation will happen to me (I really hope not), do the same thing that Thomas Jane’s character did?   Would I run out of hope?   Would I be proactive enough to seek a solution to my problem or would I content myself in living in the here and now, regardless of the circumstances?    

Somehow, the movie may not get my nod in being a favorite, but it did make me think and reflect.    It made me sad and even for awhile, made me feel a tinge of despair.     If such is the true state of despair, I pray that I wouldn’t be in a situation where I would lose hope, and even if the movie depicted it somewhat negatively, I wouldn’t want to lose my faith.     

Games Motorists Play

I can still remember the time i was apprehended by a traffic enforcer along Edsa near GMA7.     I saw the yellow light so I stopped immediately since i saw that there were a lot of crocs (what we call traffic enforcers due to their penchant for bribe taking) who were waiting for violators that day (hmmm must be nearing Christmas).    When lo and behold, one of them approached me and was asking for my license.   ”What violation?”   I asked.    “Well, stepping (on the pedestrian lane) and blocking (the normal flow of traffic).” he replied.     What the hell, I just came from my PE class that day and those were some of the terms used in basketball parlance.     “What do you think of this situation?   a basketball game?” I asked.    Years passed and one day, I thought of coming up with a list of games motorists play with traffic enforcers and with fellow motorists as well.    At least I made an unfortunate incident inspire my creative juices and come up with something that has never saw the light of being written….until now!   

 1.    Cops and Robbers—well, literally, it’s when you see cops chasing robbers while in their cars and shooting at each other.    Boy, don’t ever try to get involved here or you won’t see daylight again.     Sometimes, there is no shooting involved as in the case when  a traffic violator just wants to prove that traffic enforcers are fools and can’t actually chase them.    Maybe, these drivers don’t really know how bad traffic really is  in the metro since I often see them trapped in the next traffic light and the enforcer smugly telling them to surrender their license.   

2.   Touch Taya—well, if you bump into another car, taya ka!    Just be sure that your car is insured.    At the very least, make sure you are insured especially if you keep on arguing with tricycle or jeepney drivers and are trapped in a spot where their kind far outnumber you.    There’s no doubt that whenever your car gets touched or you touch another car, taya ka!   and there’s hell to pay   

3.   Pepsi 7-up—here’s what motorists usually do when a traffic enforcer is standing a few meters after the traffic light and awaiting its next prey.    When he is looking and the light is still red, no one dares to move even an inch.    But when he’s not looking and the driver can see that there’s no way the enforcer can catch him, watch him roar!    

4.    Patintero—this usually happens on a crossroad without a traffic light.    motorists block each other’s path until no one can move already.    come to think of it, no one wins here, so why play this in the first place    

5.   Hide and Seek—I saw this once while driving along shaw blvd.    1 driver beat the red light and the traffic enforcer gave chase.    the driver had a good 10 seconds head start but traffic was already snarled ahead.    he saw the enforcer radio for help and was wise enough to enter a 2nd hand car dealer and parked inside as if his car was also on sale.    True enough, traffic enforcers in motorcycles were frantically searching for him on both sides of the street to no avail.    Honestly, i was really tempted to point them where the driver was hiding but then again, i shouldn’t mind other people’s business.     

6.   Trump Card—well, the apprehended driver can present a lot of his connections’ calling cards until the traffic enforcer gives in and lets him go without a ticket.    You just have to find the right card (a powerful one at that) and control yourself from shouting “super trump!”   

7.   Tex—well, if all else fails and you really don’t want the hassle of being given a ticket, then do what the tex players do when they lose….count the number of cards you lost, well in your case, the number of 100 peso bills you have to pay—”i-sa, da-la-wa, tat-lo….”   

You Can’t Please Everybody

I am nearing my 2nd year anniversary here at The Spa and the title above has really taught me a very valuable lesson in life.     When I first arrived here, everybody thought of me as a friend and hero, someone to save them from the dark ages.   However, as weeks (and months) passed by, I think I may have made enemies with every decision I made and I wouldn’t be surprised if my picture is labeled with the words: Public Enemy #1, and is being used as a dart board in all the employees’ quarters.    Yes, the lesson learned is this:    there are always critics who will disagree with every move I make.  

 Somehow, age has mellowed me and made me more mature in my thinking.   Instead of reacting and confronting them head on, I try to stay a step ahead whenever decision time comes.    How do I do that?    well…get to know your “enemies”—figure out how they think and react.    This way, I get to anticipate all the questions they may make regarding my decision/s.   

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was right in one of his speeches on the theme “Love Your Enemies” when he said:  “The fact is, some people will not like you, not because of something you have done to them, but they just won’t like you.   Some people aren’t going to like the way you walk….you talk….(or) because you can do your job better than they can do theirs.”   

So in short, you really can’t please everybody.    As the old adage goes: “you can please all of the people some of the time, and some of the people all the time, but you cannot please all the people all the time.”    At some point, we really have to choose whom we’re not going to please.    

Better Late Than Never

It’s really very late of me to finally try my hand at blogging, but i guess, it’s really better late than never.     I kinda felt that if i don’t start today, i’ll never get this done so here i am with my first post.   Hopefully, i will find time to keep this blog updated and of course, the hard part here is to keep my thoughts organized and my creative juices flowing to make this blog interesting.     

Anyway, I’ll be writing about anything and everything…so hope you’ll stay with me for the ride     Until then…