Musings on the Train

The long commute to work leaves me with ample time to contemplate on numerous things, if I don't have a book that is. One of the first things I've noticed in the LRT and MRT is that even if the communters were already segregated into"all female" and regular cars to keep the female population safe from the wandering eyes and exploratory hands of the women-hungry male animals in the "normal" train, women still choose to ride the "normal" train. Now i began to wonder why this was and i fugured that maybe it was all due to the overcrowding of the female part of the train (as there is a male to female ratio of 1:6) but i discovered that the female train isn't even that crowed! atleast not like the sardines-like condition in our part of the train.

Then I finally figured it out! In the male part of the train, they have to rely on chivalry of the nearby males to give them seats! This is the procedure: 1) enter the train and survey the occupants of the seats. 2) ease your way into the seat area 3) look for a male that looks to be courteous and is not carrying heavy bags or such 4) stand right in-front of the male and appear to be inconvienced by the load that you are carrying 5) wait patiently as nearby males and females turn their heads towards the male who is about to lose his seat 6) thank the poor man with a smile and slowly ease into your seat 7) watch the male and thank the gods for the blessing of gentlemen silently toast to your victory.

Let me just say that I prefer to stand when in a train as it saves me the trouble of getting up and looking all-gentlemanly/wussy/defeated by society's standards. But standing up, i still find myself inadvertently giving up a nice piece of space close to the dorrs and the nadles for a woman, although make no mistake about it, I will give up my seat for a woman, espcially for the elderly/pregnant or those carrying heavy loads. But then should men really give up our seats? why can't they stay on their part of the train? Well I overheard a group of women talking while waiting for a train in the station and it went something like this:

Female 1: San ka pupunta? dito na tayo magantay! (Where are you going? lets just wait here!)

Female 2: Dun ako sa parte ng tren na puro babe. (Im going to the part of the train for women)

F1: Wag na! Di nga siksikan dun pero di ka rin naman makakaupo! Pag dun ka sumakay walang magbibigay sayo ng upuan nila. (Don't go there! It may not be crowed there but you won't be able to get a seat there either, if you ride that part of the train, no one's gonna give you their seat. )

F2: Hmm oo nga ano, dito nalang tayo cguro naman may gentleman na magpapaupo satin dito. (hmmm yes that's right, lets just stary here, im sure a gentle will give up his seat for us)

Gender equality indeed. Need I say more?

Change of Environment...

I recently transfered to a new office and I must say I'm feeling pretty comfortable here. Yes my computer cannot handle six open windows at the same time (3 MS Word documents, 2 Internet Expolorer WIndows and 1 Yahoo Messenger) and i feel sleep coming over me as i attempt to scroll down the pages of a document. I don't have a printer of my own, I don't really have a cubicle anymore, its more like a large communal space so I can't just sleep any time i want but this place has its benefits.

1) less stress
2) have yet to recieve a verbal barrage regarding my ineptness and how I need maturity
3) have yet to recieve orders that change every so often
4) If its in black and white you can't deny it
5) I get to leave the office at the time I am supposed to leave the office, like normal people

Well the renumeration is certainly less than what i was previously receiving but then there's less stress, a healthier working environment and I haven't heard a single scream related to frustration/anger/desperation so I fee safe here.

The people have been treating me very kindly, patiently showing me where the smoking areas are, where to buy cigarettes if I run out and inviting me to partake of the lunch served at various seminars and lectures being conducted for the day. Such is life.

I'm only staying till the end of year after that once again I get thrown into the great void of unemployment uncertainty, it seems every year is really a new year for me, at least careerwise. So I'm just going to try to do my best and see where the winds of change take me next year.

Ironically my first assignment upon transfer was to about the environment. Allow me to elaborate this furth: "The Role of the Business Sector in Protecting the Environment". Now I know that defense is also involved in environmental protection and disaster response as per the global trend of transforming the military from a purely gun-toting, cadence-marching, kilometer-jogging and snap-saluting institution that only servers to protect the sovereignty of state and its people to all of the above plus responding to the immediate needs in times of emergencies such as natural or man-made disasters.

Now I've done my fair share of research in the field of defense and security, I did papers on defense issues, military issues, security issues, insugrencies, military reforms any so many other topics related to defense but I have never done anything remotely related to climate change/global warming, air pollution, solid and water waste management and renewable energy. I must admit that the change of research areas left my head spinning. Climate Change?! Global Warming?! CO2 Emissions?! The Greenhouse Effect?! What the fuck?! and therefore it took me three very difficult days to complete my first reference folder on the environment...

But a change in environment is always for the better. Allow me to put it in a rather creative way. Its like coming from a planet wherein large scale conflicts are a way of life (sort of like what the Earth is but with world war three happening everyday since world war two ended)), creat armies clashing, explosions rocking the very ground you stand upon, screams of the dying mixed with the smell of blood and death and rot and filth. Where every leader is a hitler or Stalin or a Slobodan Milosevic. Just the general nightmarish scenario of an above average full-scale world war. Now what would happen if you escaped the planet and landed in another place full of peaceful, sunny, coconut-tree littered white sand beaches with friendly natives?