Daily commute

My day started out a little weird. I was planning on bringing my sister's car to work (she's on a vacation in Hong Kong) and I knew it was coding day for it. Unfortunately I completely forgot that coding period is from 7am to 7pm. I got out of bed around 7:20am.

So I got my gear together and prepared to commute to work. After two uneventful jeepney rides later, I was at Quezon Avenue MRT station. Luckily there was no line to get in the station and I got past the turnstiles fairly quickly. There was a growing number of people on the platform waiting for the trains, but that was ok for me.

Two trains passed and I figured I would probably be able to get in within a couple more trains. Suddenly, I heard a thump and there was a bit of commotion off to my right. Apparently someone fell of the platform.

I figured, no biggie, he's just going to hop back onto the platform feeling stupid that he fell or something. However the atmosphere was different. People started peeling back, and reactions started coming out. It felt a little more serious.... and a train was coming in as well. People started waiving for the guard, and the train to stop. Next thing I saw was a man all bloodied being helped up by the guard. A group of men pulled him up the platform and I could see a pool of blood starting to form. The guy seemed ok though, he was moving but feeling a little dazed I guess.

From what little I could see and the reaction of people near him, there didn't seem to be major visible damage. No broken bones, no major cuts (a head cut can bleed profusely without being a danger as there are simply a lot of small blood vessels there.... learned that from UFC hehehe).

I was actually contemplating on whether I should help. I figured the best way I could at that moment was to give room to those that might be able to help (I do notice some nursing students riding the train from time to time). I do not have any official medical training, but I believe I have enough common sense in some medical emergencies. So no help from me, I had to catch the train to go to work and blog about it all heheh

Pet gym peeve #1

I know I may not be the most fit person in the world and that I am by no means a fitness guru, but there are somethings that irritates me whenever I go to the gym.

One thing that really throws me off are some of the "cool" people attending the group exercise Body Combat. I have nothing against the workout routine, in fact I kind of admire it as they are trying to get some of the benefits of martial arts into a fitness routine, but how it has become commercialized.

I see people attending the class wearing hand wraps for no particular reason. I mean, yes it is a "martial arts class" and hand wraps are martial arts gear, but come on. You don't need hand wraps unless you are punching a bag or a mitt. Hand wraps are supposed to protect a fighter's hand from dislocations or fractures and to provide additional cushioning on the knuckles. It does nothing if you simply punch air for an hour and then head home feeling all "cool".

What ticks me off more is they think they get some sort of benefit from wearing them. Oh well, to each his own I guess.

language barrier

Ever since I started blogging, I have used the English language to convey my thoughts, opinions and whatnots. I do insert some Tagalog words every so often to relay the actual words used, or if I feel strongly about the use of the word.

Recently through a conversation with Ge, I realized that Tagalog language usually conveys more emotion or character to the message being conveyed. To contextualize, I was considering going to Thailand and train Muay Thai for a period of time (maybe a month). It just so happened Ge has a friend who did the exact same thing and gave some advice, one of which was to prepare my cardiovascular endurance since, his words, dudurugin ka dun.

Wow. Compare that to the English counterpart "they will crush you", the Tagalog word gives much more oomph so to speak. I apologize for the non-Filipinos who might be reading this (not sure if there are though), but I can't quite explain the difference between the two. They both mean the same, but for some reason the Tagalog version scares me more.

Kind of reminds me during my college philosophy days. Somehow I enjoyed philosophy more when it was taught in Tagalog rather than English. Perhaps because it is a lot closer to me personally, and that I can relate to the words and terminologies used. Makes me realize the romantic characteristics of my mother tongue.

So will I make the switch? Probably not... I probably could have when I was back in college (remembering my philosophy style of writing), but now I seemed to have lost that capability of writing beautifully in Tagalog. Now, it would take a bit more effort on my end to craft my sentences and choose my words that I might end up not creating blog entries at all.