Mineistheearth's Topic of Choice

My Catch 22: I started a blog two months ago, just for the heck of it. But, what is it about? I have no idea. So, I browsed through this site again, and concluded: this is just a mumbo-jumbo combination of whatever I feel like talking about, whenever I feel like blogging.

This is not a good thing. After all, according to many blog “experts”, like Ivan Henares, for instance, blogging should have a point – that a blog has to have a specific topic to talk about, whether it be about the things that can be made of bamboo; food; travel; books; writing; religion; music; technology; movies; history; dating; parenthood; work; appliances; antique furniture; humour; family; etc.

For the past week, I’ve been racking my brain on what topic I ought to pick for mineistheearth. I’ve considered writing about my work – but I have a tendency to complain about it sometimes, which is not necessarily something I want to advertise to the whole wide world. Besides, there was this French guy whom I was faintly acquainted with before, and who had worked as an intern for his country’s embassy here in Manila. He got kicked out of work because he made the mistake of writing negatively about someone over the Net, about how he didn’t like his co-workers, and about how he hated it there. Well, it shouldn’t come to a surprise that he got shipped back to France faster than he can say, “Mer…”

What about writing and reviewing books? Nah… scrap that idea. I like reading books, not writing about them. Back in high school, I had hemmed and I had hawed when I was required to write book reviews. Particularly because the teacher would give me a low score whenever my opinion about the book wouldn’t jive with hers! Oi vey.

Then I thought what about writing about food. I eat enough of it to fill up three people’s appetites in half a day, anyway. Thus far, it was the food-related entries posted here that resulted in the most number of comments per post (Restaurant meme and Foooooooooood!). So, I’m going out on a limb and say that maybe food is my passion The posts that I’ve drafted are mostly about food; I’m eating some food (chicharon, to be more specific) as I type this right now; I’ve just laid out the ingredients for dinner tonight (spaghetti putanesca); and I know what I’m gonna eat for breakfast for tomorrow (scrambled eggs with sandwich spread on whole wheat bread – I’m taking my nutritionist’s proposed diet veeeeeeerrrrrry slowly… compensating, actually). So, perhaps I’d be writing about food here.



However, I also like travelling. A lot. Problem is – I don’t really get to do it that often, due to various reasons (i.e., primarily, Mr. Budget S.A. Constraint is the culprit). Hence, whenever I travel, similar to what happened last January and February (All Smiles :-)), Fun in the Sun! Vol. I, Series 1), I like documenting it, just in case I don’t ever get to the same place with the same people again. Blogging about it seems like a great way to keep mementos.

What to do… what to do? So many things to do in so little time. No conclusion yet to this minor dilemma, but I’ll probably get to the bottom line of what mineistheearth is all about by the time June 2009 rolls around. For now, I’m off to watch Dr. House conduct medical diagnostic wonders on my DVD player. Maybe he'll be able to give me a clue on what I'm supposed to do here.

Filipinos and Filipinas: Biscuits with Holes and Domestic Helpers?

My nimble fingers typed in the word “Filipinos” on Google’s search box one day because I was looking for great and appropriate (i.e., non-porn related) images of my countrymen for a presentation deck I was preparing for my boss. Any stupid Filipino idiot would imagine that the ideal picture would be of a caramel-coloured Malay-descended doe-eyed raven-haired person with a toothy grin and flat nose. And, for sure, there are those pictures available on the Net (albeit ugly ones), but then here’s one that almost made me laugh (or gag, I couldn’t decide). A Filipino eating a Filipino… [now, there’s a sentence I never thought I’d be writing in a non-sexual way (no matter how hard I wish I did though).] Literally, a Filipino-looking man is shown holding some sort of food branded “Filipino.” Apparently, it’s a popular snack – or more specifically, a mass-produced biscuit – made and sold in Spain and Portugal. I would suppose it’s also sold in other parts of Europe, too, but obviously it’s not very popular here in the Philippines, since I’ve just about interviewed every Filipino I know who lives here in Manila about this, and not one said they’ve actually seen or tasted “Filipino.”


Of course, I wanted to find out more about this Filipino biscuit – so, I asked the only Española I was not shy to ask stupid questions to about the snack. She laughed at first and then recounted to me that when her own friends in San Sebastian (Basque Country in Spain) found out that she
was coming over to the Philippines, they gave her package after package of Filipinos. After claiming that the biscuits were über delicious (harrumph! I would have been highly insulted if
she said that Filipinos tasted nasty!), she mentioned that the
manufacturers of Filipinos have cashed in on the little piece of dough they used to poke out of the biscuit – they’ve turned them into “Mini Filipinos.” Imagine that… Mini Filipinos – the weirdest oxymoron I’ve ever heard thus far. My follow-up question to her was if Filipinos were developed and made by Filipinos living in Spain. Funny thing is, she doesn’t know.


So, I went on to the Net and searched for the official Filipinos’ website but there was no mention of who the owners of the Filipinos brand are. Very curious (i.e., suspect) indeed. In a food blog by someone named Steve, though, it said that Filipinos are sold by a company called United Biscuits, a UK company. I checked out the company’s official website, but Filipinos is not listed as one of its brands. Curioser and curioser… Then I found this article entitled “Kraft Foods Extends Leadership in Biscuits Through United Biscuits Acquisition in Iberia; Reclaims Rights to Nabisco Trademarks in Major Markets.” Aha! So, Kraft is the ultimate cu
lprit behind this controversial biscuit. A data point that needs digesting (no pun intended) and analysis, indeed.

With the weird result I received after searching for “Filipinos,” I then googled for the definition of the word “Filipina” that same day. Why? One, because I can; and, two, because I’d heard that in some quarters of the world, “Filipina” is synonymous to “maid.” Lo and behold – there it is… in 1998, news articles about Manila being hurt by the Greeks defining the “filipina” as a “domestic helper” were being distributed in the international market. Ayayay! Another controversy on our hands.

Don’t get me wrong, though. I certainly don’t think there’s anything derogatory or wrong about a woman working as a maid (cue in an image of Jennifer Lopez in that movie with Ralph Fiennes, “Maid in Manhattan”) If one is good at being a maid, that’s definitely something to be proud of, noh! A Filipina-Italian actress, named Alessandra de Rossi, was even able to penetrate a small portion of the international film market by starring in a 2005 horror movie directed by Singaporean Kelvin Tong, entitled… uhm… “The Maid”

(insert ‘roll of eyes’ gesture here). However, there are other nations that export their human resources to work in jobs as domestic helpers and such. Indonesia, for example, is a major competitor of the Philippines in this particular area of HR export and trade.

Being a Filipina, I find myself cringing at the thought of being defined as a “domestic helper.” There are Filipina CEOs, Managers, Presidents, Housewives, Employees, Teachers, Assitants, MBA Students, Actresses, Philanthropists, IT Experts, Engineers, Architects, Designers, Athletes, Entrepreneurs, Chairmen of the Board, etc. Didn’t the Greeks know this???

I presume there are going to be endless debates about these two topics. Regarding “Filipinos,” some say, “Boycott Kraft! Boycott United Biscuits!” while others exclaim, “Filipinos taste good. What’s the problem? I’d only be insulted if they taste like shit.” Anent to “Filipinas,” some say, “I refuse to be defined as a maid!” while others go, “Well, honey, the truth does hurt.” The bottom line for me, though, is this: I haven’t eaten any Filipinos yet (literally and figuratively), and I haven’t met any Greeks either. But this fun and funny blog entry sure took a looooong time to write – something I haven’t been able to do for quite some time. Therefore, I’ll hold back judgement of the “Filipinos” and “Filipinas” controversies for another lazy day.

What do you think, though?

Maria Clara No More!

To the uninformed, Maria Clara is a character created by Philippine National Hero G. José Rizal. Once upon a time, she was the epitome of who a Filipina is: demure, beautiful, mestiza (of mixed blood – typically between Spanish and native Filipino), semi-intelligent, conservative, obedient (sunud-sunuran in Tagalog), and whose life’s mission is to be her husband’s decorative asset within the household. Now, oh god, you’d be lucky to even find someone who even remembers what Maria Clara epitomised.

Dozens, perhaps hundreds, of literature, scholarly articles, and research materials have documented the evolution of modern woman. I had watched this documentary on the National Geographic channel that featured the changes Chinese women have gone through – from their formerly highly-revered lotus feet to their power suits to their everlasting overt sexuality. La Oprah had sent people around the world to “introduce” different women of various nationalities to her American audience (*gasp* A Thai woman can go the spa everyday, with overall body massages costing only five US bucks??!! *double gasp* That’s the typical day-to-day outfit of an Kuwaiti woman? Where’s the burdah that CNN claimed all Middle Eastern women wear? Damnit, she looks better than me on any of my normal days). Official institutes of study, non-government organisations, and online groups have been formed to intricately monitor the daily/monthly/annual activities of the late 20^th and early 21^st century women. Books focusing on female romantic and sensual fantasies have been bestsellers in any important booklist in today’s public media (think of authors Nora Roberts and Christina Dodd, whose *ehem* “graphic” novels are perhaps many women’s outlet for sexual deprivation). Inhibitions have (mostly) been damned: clothes are coming off, veils are being lifted, voices are being heard, and looks are forever being changed.

At lunchtime today, I entered into an all-gloves-off conversation about men, sex, and relationships with my two best friends from work (there are only six of us in the office, myself included, so I’m quite lucky to count two of them as good friends). See, both of these ladies are married women – and they see it as their responsibility to educate single ol’ me about the opposite sex and “making love.” We talked about doing it with the lights on and off, with the eyes open or closed, with a mirror or without one, in the house, outside the house, on top of the house, in the car, hand jobs, and blow jobs. I tried not to show it, but sheesh mareesh… I am now realising how pathetic my life completely is.

Hence, I’ve decided. I shall be Maria Clara no more! If someone asks me who Mona Lisa is, I’ll say, “well, she ain’t me, that’s for darned tootin’ sure!” Look out, world – cleavages shall be shown; skirts shall be hiked up; and, nails shall be sluttily painted. I’m pretty sure none of these tactics will work though, not as long as I don’t lose the extra pounds I’ve been carrying for, oh, the last twenty-six years of my life. However, who gives a crap? It’s the twenty-first century. I’ve seen pictures of girls more voluptuous and more horizontally-challenged than me on the Net, baring skin, tits, ass, and all.

My new mantra: “Who’s Maria Clara?!”