Someone tap on my shoulder, and said… ohh you’re doing Friendster… it’s for kids ayt? I look at him so sternly with the dagger look sharp enough to pierce his skin a million times and left him bleed to death with no muscles left to be called a body, but in turn said “huh?” That’s all I can make up, surprise on his remark.
After that I began to think, (which I rarely do now) what is these out-of-the world creature talking about… and I realized he’s just being sarcastic, feeling mature enough to preach to a 26-year old guy that is always stuck on the screen for hours browsing the internet.
Hey, I’m 26. I realized should I do something mature enough to be called a productive member of the society or do some more “mature” things like drinking a beer, and talking about politics… or worse, do “mature” things and look for a wife. I’m 26 for god sake, and even though I got a girlfriend once in a blue moon… god it’s still far-fetched on my plans… it so happen that I become a journalist but still abhors this society… but that’s another topic.
I’m 26, and still doing Friendster. What’s the big deal? Not to become really defensive in defending my kind of stuff, but I began to wonder… I first got the hang-over of this Friendster mania way back in 2003. More or less 3 years ago if my memory serves me right. This is when; I am still trying to fit in as college student and being a student leader as that going with my fellow activist in shouting our lungs on the street.
And one time, just one time, I went to another province (Capiz) and I meet a friend, a hilarious girl infected with a little ounce of idiosyncrasy but no signs of emotional instability and urban arrogance compare to other pretentious Manileña.
She’s a wackier version of a natural girl with an infectious laughter that I happened to get close with. She’s easy to get along and we became text mates using the cellphone I still use now. I love this cellphone though it seems to be outdated but I bought this with my own money…
Ok back to the Friendster thing. She once in a blue moon text me… ‘You know bout friendster?” she asked one time. Trying not to feel ignorant and outdated… hmm… “Not yet” I replied though questions raced in my dumb brain what the heck is this earthling talking about???
But finally I ask people who are at the same time ignorant as I am what the heck is the Friendster, and you know I was really surprised when they replied they don’t have a littlebitty of an idea… opps, I’m sorry they are as ignorant as I am so I never really wonder.. My apologies.
Ok, back again… and then I read the national newspaper with one hand and the other still holding the outdated cellphone with the message still unerased and my big bulky eyes managed to scan the pages, and voila!
The Friendster! The online page where people who hates talks to people in person and love to meet person sometimes with s on the computer screen pretending to be somebody, using the picture of somebody and putting messages like hey.. “It’s my first time to be here in Friendster… can u add me?” the usual crap.
I asked why should I be in the Friendster… and she said it’s the latest hip invading the country… where I only noticed that time whenever I got online in order to surf por_, and steal programs, mp3s from the net trying to be a frustrated hacker/phreaker/cracker you name it and having so many email accounts that are left useless, some of the highschool kids are surfing something that has their pictures and their profiles, on which paranoid as I am believed that should not be done considering various maniacs trying to prey on cute highschool kids online.
Hmm… what the heck, I am not interested. But again I began to think (twice this time) that it is seldom to meet strangers in the like of her which I can talk to about something that has no real sense but at least we’re enjoying every moment of it. She’s a self-proclaimed tralala, but so am I.
So I began to think again (thrice) if I stopped communicating with her, I would forget her name and when I will happen to be strayed on her place, no one would ever treat me to a breakfast, lunch and dinner… haha my hungry stomach dictates that! Hmm, I really had this hard time remembering people. I can’t even remember those girls before which I felt crush with, my classmates in numerous schools I happened to study, and sometimes myself. Haha!
Ok, I conceded to her offer of trying the Friendster, so that I may remember her, for the sake of the treat. Then I add her using the email. She became my first official Friendster. And then she dared me… add more friends. And so I did.
I have many friends maybe hundreds of them already where I have the hard time remembering their first names and just call them, pardz, pre, miss… and friendster mania was still an alien to Aklan way back then, and I had the hard time looking for emails from people who are trying their best to at least type a letter in the keyboard, much more on the internet.
Ok, I was so interested to widen the numbers of my voters (I ran for election that time in supreme student council which I won), err to have more friends online. I think Bianca challenge me to have many friends as we can and if somebody has more Friendster’s compared to the other, one will treat her with I think 1 case of beer.
Ok, then I was so generous enough to teach students mostly from my course (Computer Science) and other students when teachers are just too dumb to teach them to open an email account. I became an unofficial instructor of internet literacy program, and in turn got my own plan in stealing their passwords, with the devious master plan of taking over the world.
Then afterwards I got some more Friendster’s. That time Friendster was so strict that your need to have the email of somebody in the Philippines to add them as your friend. And I got I think 200+ friends almost 90% of them strangers. But still I managed to get the emails of mostly highschool students from nearby science highschool and we became online friends.
I become addicted Friendster, that many of my online friends see me in person at the internet cafe, and say “that’s Ernan” while standing of my back trying to get my attention. I’m really not into introducing myself to them; I just coyly smiled and said nothing. God I was so stupid!
Then I tried other online friend’s site, like Myspace… Hi5 until I seldom enjoy doing the Friendster stuff because of many things to do, like finding a girlfriend on which I cursed Aklan for the rest of college life. Why? I never had a girlfriend in my home province for crying out loud.
And then, I began to think (fourth times already), what I am doin’ in my life?
Occasionally, I add some friends or them adding me. Exchanging nonsense messages and just trying to maintain the account with all the fuzz of having people on my account which I rarely check on them. I was not then into talking with somebody I have so little knowledge of their being. Are they aliens pretending to human, or human pretending to be alien?
Later I was so indulged into writing something outside the campus paper. I was feeling poetic that time, in many cases where I wrote poems because this feeling human kind of girls dump me many times!
I began to wonder, my Lola (grandma) used to say that I also looked human, but why is it that everytime I tried to court a girl, they’re not really into running away from me, but kept on saying that I like you too Ernan, but can we just friends? Oh my… I was really into thinking; could I afford to buy a blade to end my life?
Would it be too expensive to be dead with all those ceremonies of my burial and my friends would just contribute P20 for me, and then go to our house and eat there for 4-5 days and then on the eve of my burial eat again, and then be back again for the duration of the novena for my soul (which I doubt I have) be suffice for their contribution?
Hmm… I realized it was too expensive so I back-out from my suicidal tendency, and was back again courting cute little girls trying to convince them I can be a better boyfriend offering them poems written in scratch of paper, because I was so broke to even buy them a flower. But they were never convinced and I wrote poems again.
I tried to steal a rose from my neighbor one time, and I promised myself not to do it ever again for the nervous breakdown I nearly experienced when I was nearly caught in the process. Luckily, I pretend I was strolling and putting the flower inside my pants. God it hurts, something pointed pierce my butt on the process. Gee, I’m just kidding…
But because of my sheer ignorance, in one time one of my closest girl close friend, revealed to me while intoxicated that she have also a feelings for me, but she happened to a boyfriend that is also my gang.. I was shocked, but made a stand… I may have feelings for you I said, but I would never be a privy in destroying a good standing relationship. She broke up with her boyfriend after a month, and I was left with nothing. Again I wrote many poems.
Then just because of a joke, this one friend of mine one time, who also have the same experience like me when it comes to love and also happen to be the manager of Panay News, the biggest daily in the Visayas, invited me in to write in their newspaper. I was at that time, a trying hard “columnist” of the local paper “Hala Birada”. So I said, hmm… I’ll try. And then I began to write, news!!!
Honestly, news writing is not my forte. I can write straight news being for years a member of school publication but I’m influenced writing in the format of a campus newspaper mostly feature articles because students sometimes are not really into reading those. So I was so nervous, uneasy and drank liters of coffee, smokes many cigarettes on my first piece.
As I said, I’m not a good news reporter. So maybe our editor based in Iloilo city went through hard time, editing my piece of news contribution, but it was published. God I was in heaven… I have become a professional writer!
Honestly never in my mind entered that I would be working in a newspaper and be called a journalist. I was dreaming of becoming a disc jockey saying craps on radio trying to love my own voice, although people are inclined in putting their radio off whenever they hear me live on broadcast and putting it on when music starts to play. Hmm… But I never made it.
I attempted once applying in one FM station as disc jockey but I woke up so late in the morning and failed to submit my application. So my dream was not realized, and I change it in formulating my master plan of taking over the world.
Hey, where’s the Friendster thing here? Ok… we’ll get to that. I’m talking to myself.
With the joke (again), this friend of mine Edwin said that I would be transferred in Antique to be the manager of the branch there. Antique, is approximately 200 meters away from Aklan, the people if memories serves me right they’re speaking Kinaray-a (a German sounding accent). And hmm… I have a relative there and what the heck, I needed new surroundings and need to be on my own. But first, let me tell you that I have convinced a girl from Kalibo that I was worth a boyfriend but after I transferred in Antique, she proves me wrong later.
I never had the hard time speaking their dialect because way back in 1990 and 1993 I studied here. So, a month or so, I take over as the branch manager of Panay News in Antique and I started to enjoy and love the job. Salary is low, but it’s worth the fun that I have experienced.
Here I started to have Friendster but not from here but from abroad as of press time yesterday I already have an official 804 friends (March 20, 2006, 1800 hours Taipei Standard Time).
I’m 26 and still doin’ friendster. I now love meeting friends online, may it be in my own locality, in the next town, or province or from other country which I really want to communicate with to propagate my plans of taking over the world. I don’t mind doing kid stuff with clean but devious intentions. I love doin’ my stuff and I’m planning to torture the guy who mentions that Friendster is a kid stuff. Just kiddin.
PS. Violent reactions? don’t email me on my add: —erase–. Add me instead and we’ll plan to take over the world.
My blog post in my Friendster account way back in March 2006. I’m still a Friendster addict that time.