On the Diversity of My Opinions

As said in my previous post, there was a line in the blockbuster movie Troy that very much hit me like one of Zeus's lightning bolts: Even enemies can show respect.

Now, I may be one to talk, but I do believe everyone (including myself) deserves to feel safe when having an opinion on a certain issue-- regardless of how his or her opinion was formulated. All men come from different walks of life, and I don't think he or she needs to compromise their own opinions for the sake of religion or modernization.

I was brought up in a Catholic household. I have never engaged in pre-marital sex and I rarely experience the regular #HOHOL with friends. I'm not ashamed to tell people of my almost-Hermit lifestyle, but at the same time I don't impose this lifestyle on others.

I recognize that some people enjoy sex, partying and hanging out with friends. As said in my previous post (x), I have no problem with the sex life you have. Your choices are all on you, and unless you ask my on my personal opinion on your lifestyle, I will not put my nose in your business. Likewise, I also expect that some people respect the kind of lifestyle I have. My lifestyle, which is the concoction of values instilled by my family and values that I learned on my own, is something which I feel comfortable in.

I'd also like to clarify that because I am Catholic I do not automatically abhor other idealogies which prove to be "non-Catholic".

I have friends who are Atheists and Agnostics, and I do enjoy listening to their different standpoints on serious issues in our environment. I am well aware of the different religions and cultures outside the Christian community, and I do believe that the validity of an argument is not found in its roots. In example, the current viewpoint society has on rape is, in my humble opinion, a rather prejudiced and unfair one (the clothes get you raped blah blah blah), and yet I have heard it repeated several times by Catholic leaders. The fact that the idealogy is being supported by Catholic leaders does not make it automatically right in my ears.

You'd be surprised to know that I am a passionate supporter of the RH Law, the Divorce Bill and Same Sex Marriage-- ideas which I know are contradictory to the dogma of the Church.

So, to sum it all up, simply respect what I have to say. From time to time, I will bring up several ideas instilled in me by my Catholic upbringing. However, if you expect my blog to be an advocate for everything Catholic, then I should already warn you of your inevitable disappointment.

Just as right and wrong can't be classifed into black and white, opinions and idealogies are not classifed into "Catholic and Non-Catholic"-- what a boring world it would be if they were.

Thoughts on Sex

Earlier today I came across a blog post that tested the obsolete standards created by religious leaders, purists, old-fashioned grandparents and proud feminists. It revolved around the concept of chastity or celibacy—and how, in her opinion, these concepts were over exaggerated and prehistoric. You can see many variations of this post circulate through the different social networking sites (most especially on Tumblr), and of how people are finally accepting that the certain norms of society are out-dated.

I agree with her and with all those who fight for equality in a prejudiced society. Sex should not be the basis for the amount of dignity a person receives. I don’t care of the various physical activities you and your partner attempt to do within the four walls of your bedroom. To quote the great King Priam from the movie Troy, “Even enemies can show respect.”

Probably because I was brought up in a Catholic household, I firmly believe that sex is something sacred and wholesome. I’m not the type of girl who enjoys the one night stand lifestyle. I may not consider it a turn on, and I myself will most probably not engage in sex until I’m mature enough to understand its consequences—but then again who am I to dictate your sex life? If I have every right to remain chaste, then you have every right to have sex. 

Your worth is not measured by the number of tricks, or lack thereof, you can do in bed. 

Ohana

Ohana means family. Family means nobody gets left behind, or forgotten.

The best things in life come in packages of fourteen, bundled with a "how-to-flood-a-WeChat" manual.

Inspite of the many incestuous innuendos and the constant bickering through social media, I do believe that I have found another nice group of friends to spend my recess, lunch and before-dinner-in-bed-me-time with. I may not know how I was able to give birth to four very beautiful ladies or how they managed to create nine pretty (and one handsome) kids, but I'm glad that it happened. I know I'll regret saying this when my Blackberry hangs from the innumerable number of notifications from our WeChat group haha, love you guys so much. 

I love my complicated family. I love my new Ohana.

Thoughts On Individualism

On this fine free day, I sit in the same corner of my house thinking of what else to write about. A thought passes my brain which I momentarily ignore, then surprisingly ponder on for the next few hours. This thought was created by the incessant replay of the RENT soundtrack and the tweets of a close friend of mine (whose identity will not be disclosed). From this jumbled array of ideas, I was able to extract four key concepts on the idea of individualism. Namely:

• Individualism has been the key to the success of many-- and not of one. If we were all painters, then those who cannot be at par with Michaelangelo or Botticelli would simply fade away in the background. However, since society is a mixture of painters, sculpters, writers and Mathletes, individuality has paved way for many genii. 
• Individualism, however, is also the root of uneven and unnecessary competition. 
• Not all accept the concept of individualism, which is why we have people with low self-esteem and people who fancy themselves the embodiedment of God.
• Individualism is not the opposite of unity. Rather, it is in individualism that authentic unity happens. 

Thoughts from Places (from the corner of the living room)

The worst things in life come coupled with the best. For example, in relation to what's happening to the Philippines, if the President decides to abolish the pork barrel then corruption and poverty would decrease drastically. This, of course, is to be followed by the uproar of many senators including the most wonderful, generous and altruisic Janet Napoles.

Before I delve deeper into the messy topic of Philippine politics (hopefully another blogpost), I'd like to elaborate further on the topic of "the best of times, the worst of times"-- senior year version. 

By far, this year is the one that demanded the most from me. The stress I experienced in the first quarter of the school year is far from the short bouts of stress I experienced throughout my entire third year. I have found myself swimming in an ocean of requirements mixed together with student responsibilities, student leader responsibilities and the occassional writer-for-the-Theresian-magazine responsibilities. This along with the constant pressure of the CETs has definitely driven me to the edge, making my Twitter username an almost-truth in the eyes of many. 

Despite all of this, however, I still do feel excited whenever I wake up in the morning. From the start of senior year, I was already enthusiastic about the prospect of meeting new friends and learning new lessons. STC and IV2 did not disappoint me. My grades in all the subjects albeit Economics (huhu, why?) reflect the amount of work I put into them. My love for Math and Science, once burned out by several hell subjects in my third year, has been rekindled once more by two very lovely teachers; and though I'm still struggling with the sudden shift from History to Economics, I thoroughly enjoy my teacher's insights on the Philippine Economy and Politics.

Although, all academics aside, senior year is the best year for me because of the people I spend it with. Besides the friends who have been with me since first year, I have grown attached to several of my classmates. The complicated family has never failed to make my day (and break my phone haha). Random "i love yous" from them, and the even more random conversations over WeChat definitely give me this warm, bubbly feeling inside. This fondness is bittersweet for me because in a few months we will soon be parting ways. The idea of being separated from them scares me. Nevertheless, I'll be sure to visit all my complicated family members during college. Ohana means family, and family means nobody is lefi behind or forgotten. 

And they're not the only friends I was able to reconnect with this year. With fourth year came a new Ica-- who tries to strives for excellence in the field of conversation. I'm not exactly a socialite, but I am now capable of having a decent (yet sabaw) conversation with my friends. I was able to make several friends outside of my inner circle of friends, who accept me regardless of the numerous corny jokes I give them (HAHA hi Raf). 

In conclusion, as I sit here on my favorite green swivel chair, I think that I have finally emerged from the sea of "social martyrdom". I still have a long way to go, compared to my blooming classmates, but the first few steps have been easy enough. What's a couple hundred more? 

Another One

As I'm sitting here, looking at the blinking cursor I can't help but feel guilt gnaw the inside of my stomach.

I guess what bugs me about all of this is the fact that I can't seem to make a meaningful blogpost. The ones which I'm proud of are the ones which would disinterest most of my "readers". Now, before I let the long-windedness get to me, I'd like to mention this:

I'm not shutting down tuesdayswithIca. I'm merely informing everyone that I'm going to be changing the blogging style here (again). I'm determined to make this blog work.

CSS (not Lewis)

I missed my Tuesday, but that's not new.

Anyway, my new suggestion for this week? Learn CSS. It's quite hard to maintain a blog if you don't, seeing as you'd have to tweak the codes in order to get a rather decent looking blog. It's not as easy as it looks like. There are a lot of variables that needed to be fix, and customization was really hard.

 It actually took me four hours of tweaking (accompanied by a lot of swearing and sweating), in order to get a nice layout. I decided to go for a more minimalistic look (because, let's face it, I'm still a beginner at CSS), and came up with the layout you're seeing now. I know it's boring, and I'm probably going to have to fix the background later, but it still looks better than my plain brown one. (And I got a header now. Yay!)

Semi-final layout of tuesdayswithIca

If you're a beginner like me, I suggest you try looking around for theme stores. They give out special give aways, so you may be able to score an awesome theme for free! I got mine from Pugly Pixel. If you're a wordpress blogger, however, you can try Lite Themes.

If you're looking to actually learn how to make a theme from scratch, I suggest you download CSS Dreamweaver. They help you create very simplistic themes, such as mine. I tried using it once, and was able to create a fake fan website for Jonathan Roxmouth. It turned out alright in the end, but I still have a long way to go before I finally make my own Blogger theme.

Thanks for baring with my procrastination and laziness. School starts next week so I guess I'll be turning TuesdaysWithIca into a SaturdaysWithIca thing.