Miah Learns to Write

I have been asked this question far too many times than I could count. Almost as much as a woman in her 30s being asked by friends and family, "Why aren't you married yet?". Or, a newlywed couple during the first couple of years in their marriage being asked, "When are you going to have kids?", particularly by aging parents who have become impatient, and are wondering when they will get to have a few bundles of joy bouncing on their lap. To be honest, I have been trying to come up with the best way to articulate my position without causing any misunderstandings. My usual response used to be "I'm not yet ready" or "I haven't found anyone yet". But that doesn't exactly encapsulate everything that's going through my head when it comes to this matter. You see, I have thought about romance, relationships, marriage, and other related subjects for over 10 years now. And the answers to those questions are rarely straightforward. So, I

Photo by Jakob Owens on Unsplash Hi! It's been about ten months since I last posted on my personal blog, and that's simply because I haven't found the time to self-reflect. Over the past year, I've encountered crossroads and important junctures in my life where I've had to make several decisions that made a significant impact on me. To be honest, I'm just glad that I made it through 2022, alive and breathing still. Not unscathed, but hopefully, a bit wiser and more human(e). It was a tumultuous year, not just for me I bet, but for many people. But, it's the first time in which I've had to stand on my own two feet without having the assurance that, if I fell, somebody would catch me. Being away from family magnified the reality of having to take responsibility for myself, and the decisions I had to make. It really taught me to buckle up and prepare myself for a very bumpy road ahead, facing the unknown, and challenging myself to leave the confines of my

I recently finished watching the anime Ano Hi Mita Hana no Namae wo Bokutachi wa Mada Shiranai, known simply as Anohana. I had heard about this anime from friends and read people's comments about it online so for the longest time, I had been putting off watching it because I did not feel mentally or emotionally prepared to take on such a behemoth. Until I did. Warning : I will blurt out some spoilers here so if you're the type of person who doesn't want to be spoiled, stop reading from this point. I read how people who watched this anime with such high expectations due to other people's hype of it ruined the experience for them. Understandably, when you already know what you're getting into, it preempts how you should be feeling about it as you watch the story unfold and admittedly, having a set outlook on how the story should be or how you should feel about it is just not enjoyable at all. Because you're going to find yourself disappointed and frustrated if you

I just recently finished binge-watching The Walking Dead’s seasons 7 and 8 after a long time of setting it aside to watch other shows. I wasn’t disappointed with how things went but I wasn’t all that excited either. However, I was saddened at the death of one of the central characters of the story, Carl Grimes because he died after getting bitten while he was trying to help a stranger, Siddiq. I think the show has touched upon the idea of having a meaningful death and the hope of a better tomorrow, especially in season 8. Due to the war that broke out between the Saviors and the other communities, people were just dying one after the other. And I believe the viewers have also felt exhausted and frustrated with how trivial the show treats these characters’ stories, ending in haphazard deaths that don’t really make much of an impact to the overall narrative except for the shock value that they bring. Although I do think it’s staying true to its uncompromising stance when it comes to

Photo by Raj Eiamworakul on Unsplash Since I have never been in a relationship before, I don’t really know anything about breakups but based on observations and stories by others, they give me an idea that it’s usually depressing. Not all breakups are though, some people part ways on good terms. I would like to explore the idea in this article and it will be focused mainly on romantic relationships. However, I think separation in general is similar and probably only differs on the intensity of the bond between the people involved. On this note, I would also like to write an article about separation anxiety later. I am going to try to empathize with people who have been on both sides of a breakup, that is, those who initiated the breakup and those who received the breakup for lack of a better term. First, those who broke up the relationship. I understand that there are various reasons that somebody would have to break up with the person they were in a relationship. Some of them are

Photo by Nicholas Gercken on Unsplash I don’t get why people who are together would avoid putting labels on their relationship. What is so abhorrent with defining the relationship that you have with that person? I think it makes things a lot clearer for both parties to know where they are at and how they are going to move forward from that point. However, let’s take the other side for a moment. Why would I not want to be called somebody’s boyfriend or some other label that would define what kind of relationship I have with that person? Perhaps, the main reason would be the uncertainty or rather, the mindset of “I don’t really want to mess with the good thing that we have going so it would be best to stay where we are right now”. But sooner or later, it will come up while casually talking and you would be forced to face the music. Right then, both of you need to make a decision and that would set the stage for what’s going to happen next. People may see it as a big commitment and

Photo by Joshua Ness on Unsplash That is the question. From my perspective, dating is when two people go out together with the intention of getting to know each other, seeing whether they are fit for each other, and developing their feelings more by spending time with each other. Wikipedia defines it as “a stage of romantic relationships in humans whereby two people meet socially with the aim of each assessing the other's suitability as a prospective partner in an intimate relationship or marriage... [it] refers to two people exploring whether they are romantically or sexually compatible by participating in dates with the other.” As a 21-year-old single guy who has no dating experience and has never been in a romantic relationship, I am wary of dating because it’s foreign to me. It’s not that I’m scared of getting myself out there, meeting people then opening myself up to them with the possibility of getting hurt. Rather I just don’t want to jump the gun so that I can experi

Photo by Robin Higgins on Pixabay I came home anxious after my first day as a 5th grader. I was hesitant to call my mom on the phone. I didn’t know how to tell her about what happened at school so I decided to just be blunt. Practicing what I had to say in my head, my heart was thumping. I waited for my mom to answer the phone. When she finally picked up, I nervously blurted out and told her, “Ma, we need to speak in English always. I can’t speak in Filipino.” That moment was forever etched in my mind because it changed my life. But I was so scared about the implications of that turning point. I knew it was going to be awkward and I needed to adjust. It felt like I was going to become impaired because of the kind of restraint that I would be subjected to. But I thought I needed to do it. My grades were on the line. When our 5th grade English teacher told us that we had to speak English always, even at home, I thought she must be kidding. In my mind, I was looking for some s

Credits: Ramen Parados Karakai Jouzu no Takagi-san brings me back to my childhood days. In this anime, Nishikata finds himself in a losing battle against Takagi, his seatmate who likes to playfully tease him to see his funny reactions. So he tries to come up with the perfect plan to win against and get back at her. However, time and again, he finds himself being outwitted and outplayed by Takagi causing her to poke fun at him even more. He also often gets in trouble at school because of Takagi’s antics. So will he succeed in his quest? There is something refreshingly nostalgic about Karakai Jouzu no Takagi-san. It makes you want to go back to your younger days and relish the sweet moments of youth. I enjoyed watching the anime and I even decided to check out the manga just because it really piqued my interest. I am very much fascinated with how the story would go even though there is a sequel manga that shows an after-story of the original. I think with this kind of manga or

Photo by Eldon Vince Isidro on Unsplash Joseph de Maistre, a political philosopher, once wrote, “Every country gets the government it deserves,” and “In a democracy, people get the leaders they deserve.” With all that’s happening in the world today, we often turn to our leaders to establish order and guide their people. But in the same breath, we almost always put the blame on our leaders when things go wrong. I think this has been the case for liberal democracies across the board and it makes me wonder, “What is it with people? What in the world are they thinking?” I first heard the quote above from my PI 100 – Rizal professor. Now you might think, “Why were you discussing that in a Rizal class? What does that have to do with Rizal?” It’s actually a long story that involves several crash courses in sociology, political science, philosophy, and history. But to cut the story short, we discussed the revolution that Rizal wanted to launch in the Philippines and how he was going abo