Some Funny Things

OH YEAH!

I'm typing again! Haha! It's been ages since my last post, and after a million blog-free minutes and tagboard messages, I realized that the most difficult time to blog is usually after a long hiatus. Two reasons:

1. FIRST SHOCK - Unfamiliarity seeps in your veins as you ogle at your blogpad. You suddenly wonder how on earth did something you once used as an instrument in propagating your evil thoughts became a foreign object.
2. SECOND SHOCK - You get over the first shock but then you can't seem to find the "spark". The spark ie the sudden rush of adrenaline you used to experience back in your blog-a-holic moments. The spark can be characterized as the igniting power that would then get your cerebellum working in full speed that you will be amazed, at least once, on how your fingers seem to find the perfect words you're looking for. But after a hiatus, you will feel the "withdrawal symptoms" of blogging. Which usually results to you developing a sloth-like manner of typing and thinking. Thus, your next post will be so long that it could pass as a manuscript for all the Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter books there is.

But I do wish my post won't be that long. Hehe. So to prevent such things from happening, I've set a certain topic for this post.

I've attended a wedding last March 25. A Muslim Wedding to be precise.

Uh-huh. My religion is Islam. So contrary to the popular belief that the media feeds us, we are not a bunch of folks who make a living by slaying people who don't share the same faith as us. We surf the net, we post bulletins in Friendster, we devour meals in buffet restaurants (snobbing the pork, of course), we play sudoku, we breathe the same air, walk the same land, watch the same stupid programs on TV, we go to school, we read books, we know ENGLISH, and we BLOG. Basically, we're all the same. And I find it amusing how non-Muslims would fret whenever they would know that someone is a Muslim. And then it seems as if they've contracted Alzheimer's, forgetting that they ever met the person.

But we really should not be talking about those people. If they are easily affected by things they thought should be, it only proves that they were shallow-minded, fickle, and etc. *insert all words synonymous with stupid here*

So back to the wedding.

I'm not really religious and all that. I believe in my faith. And for me that's enough. My mom and me would usually quarrel on how I tend to disregard some Islamic practices. She dislikes the idea of me playing the guitar. She claims that she heard it in an usyatan (stupid people teaching "Islamic practices" on radio) that it is nonreligious, and that God said that we should read the Qur'an instead of playing the guitar. What the!? Who made all those rules? Surely not God. Was the guitar even invented during the proclamation of Muhammad? Or did God just texted those people saying 'O ye shalt ban thy guitar as Bam fails to read the Holy book because of this instrument of evil and distraction!' Har har.

I'm not stupid. We all know RELIGION is VERY political. I'm not saying that religion is BAD. It is the PEOPLE in it that makes it so. This people, who claims that they are followers of the Supreme Being, set rules they want. Thus, manipulating the people who are gullible enough in submitting to such ridiculous practices. And what are ridiculous practices am I referring to? One word: PATRIARCHY.

Yes. This is basically what our forefathers (OMG. Forefathers? Patriarchy at work) left us. To believe that the male being is smarter, stronger, BETTER than all else. Religion and society are two very powerful institutions, and it's scary how these two are juxtaposed on some places. The Philippines can be the best example. We were and still are struggling to get away from the clasp of our traditional conservative past. A very patriarchal past wherein men are given premium over women. And this argument leads us back to my topic, the WEDDING. (See? Post-hiatus sickness)

It was my second-cousin's wedding. I don't know her. *innocent grin* HONESTLY. My grandmother just summoned me to be her proxy as she can't attend the said occasion. She's a sponsor. Aya, like me, was there in place of someone else. So we were the official SUPERPROXIES of the millennium. Our aunts tagged us as PROXIma Centauris. Very funny.

There are quite a number of funny things in that wedding.

1st funny thing: Our cousin, the bride, is actually the THIRD wife of her groom. The funny part is, the groom looks like a premature catfish. We were snickering on the thought of the wedding having an "Under the Sea" theme.
2nd funny thing: We were reading the invitations. The list of Principal Sponsors were Über-long. The list were full of old people. We were betting that the couple does not even know half of them. It was their parent's job. I solemnly swear that if I ever have my wedding, I will not allow my parents to tinker with the invitations. I'll be inviting people I KNOW. And I don't care if the elders would mock me. Hello? Do I know them? It's my wedding anyway. Not my mom's.
3rd funny thing: PATRIARCHY at work.

This is the funniest part. There is a certain segment in a wedding when a brother of the bride (usually the father when no brother is present), will talk to the groom and is supposed to give advice. So the brother of the bride went up the stage, grabbed the mic and start blabbing about something that goes like this:

"They say, that we men, should look for a woman. A good woman to be exact. And what are the requisites of a good woman? It is when she is beautiful, wealthy, and faithful. Lucky is the man who finds a beautiful wife. Blessed is the one who gets a beautiful and wealthy wife. But all grace is on the man who gets a beautiful, wealthy, and faithful wife. For even without the first two, the last can stand. Now even if your wife is all these three, it is much better to find a woman who can give you children. What good is being beautiful, wealthy, and faithful if she can't bore your kin, right? Hahahaha!"

I think he's joking. Funny thing is, I don't find it funny.

I would then love to jump up my seat, ran into the stage and smash his head into pieces, if only I'm not wearing heels. Aya sensed my feelings so she pointed to my phone and told me to pour my angst into it. And that's exactly what I did. Text Karla about my overpowering wrath.

I know Islam respects women. But what the brother said was obviously from the way societal norms are injected into his teeny-weeny brain. Objectifying women! Like duh. Women are not created for reproduction. We are not objects. We do not need to be controlled. We have minds of our own. We are FREE.

Am I just thankful the Sponsor's list does not have someone from Gabriela in it. Tsk. And I'm also thankful that the food served is delicious. The joys of free hotel food! It drove the anger away. I'm thankful that Adheng and me were in good terms again, after the knife-throwing appearance two Decembers ago.

And I'm thankful that I'm BLOGGING AGAIN! Whew! :)