Thesis it, pansit.

Research is the birth of information. By research, this is a bloody and detailed work of extracting facts with literatures and scientific inquiry and not entirely dependent on google. Whenever I hear 'research' from the mouths of many, "Mag-research ka kasi." it felt so heavy that I have the urge to tell them it's not an easy task. But off course, we are in a different context. Now that the pregnancy length of our research has ended, I want to share to you some tips and things I learned while doing our research and or thesis.

1. Trust anyone if you are about to save and print your document but your spell-checker.
Spell-checker do corrects your spellings but sometimes it mess up your grammar. Sure, it corrects your grammar,too, but more often than not it corrects the words that doesn't sound right or it is not what it means. Don't waste your years of English classes only to rely your grammar on a spell-checker, check them yourselves.

2. Choose a round-up collection of respondents.
It is very easy to choose a title for your study but when it comes to your populations, it becomes a blur. I think it would be easy if your population or respondents are easy to find in one distribution instead of clashing headache and social anxiety identifying your respondents to fit to your population's profile. Population can be students at your university, students of a certain course, respondents who have their own organizations like LGBT support organizations or senior citizens organization, Choose a population in where you could just hand your questionnaire to the person in charge and he'll distribute it. This way it would save you time in distributing questionnaires.

3.Never EVER print your paper 10 minutes before submission. These bastards can smell fear.
It's fine to be a little bit superstitious. It helps actually especially if the printers screws up or slows down when you are rushing to turn in your paper.

4. When starting your drafts, it's okay to type words that are just fillers or unnecessary.
Like what Ernest Hemingway said, "The first draft is a shit." Your thesis adviser will laugh on it, sure, but your paragraphs will improve on the process because you will have more sources to make an input. My favorite part while doing our thesis was starting with a paper with red ink all over and gradually decreasing to a pure black and white paper.

5. Dive to your resources and expand to it.
If you want to have a convincing and strong content, dive to other medium of resources. Aside from your school library and the internet as the traditional way of extracting sources, you can try other alternatives. Go to your city library or you can pay a cheap amount to other schools to make an access to their libraries. Use google books,too, aside from PDF's and some of them are free or some of them offers only limited content in which it matches the interest of your search. TV radio or podcasts discussions can also be a reference.

6.Be very careful when citing references.
How to cite references are dynamic over the years. It is confusing but you also have to stick to what your adviser tells you. While we were doing research we were always and annoyingly reminded about our references because plagiarism is off course unethical. Also, there is also a confusion about having secondary sources especially if you are deriving it from another study or from a text book. It is confusing who should you cite, the author of the book or the source of the author? Cite them both to clearly give the panel and the readers that you had a secondary source. Just a tip of the adviceberg; Whenever you have a new source cite your reference immediately before they get lost from your memory.

7. Theories should strongly coincide with your questionnaires
If you have weak theories or conceptual framework, making your questionnaires will be a pain in the butt. Questionnaires strongly lies on theories and the responses should reflect your framework. During our first defense, we were almost grilled as they asked our questions items obe by one if they,at all, falls to any of our theories. It was difficult for us to construct questionnaires, we were vigilant even because we have no theories but only concepts we made up..er, conceptualized.

8. Send your finished drafts online.
If the people you most trust stabs your back, so can your computer. The internet is probably the safest storage for your files except for your shameless private Facebook posts. Technology can turn against you so better have a back up to safe keep your files.

9. Interpretation and analysis will bleed your brain. Let it.
One of the bloodiest chapter for thesis is interpretation and analysis. This chapter has to come out directly dug out from your own brain. It's your own words. Sometimes you just have to give it time to internalize your interpretations basing from your chapter 1.

  
10. Never be afraid to harass your adviser with help and questions

They might hate you and be sick of your repetitive mistakes, but they are welcoming and willing to pull an all-nighter to read your content. Ditch your inhibitions and ask away from suggestions or to agree on some point to improve your study. Don't hesitate to come to their desks or wait for them after their class. Your adviser is your fairy godmother. In our case, our fairy-godfather. Do it appropriately

Pre-defense anxiety

Filipino politics is a circus indeed

'May mas matindi pa tayong kalaban higit sa mga amerikano, kundi ang ating sarili.'

-Heneral Antonio Luna, Heneral Luna (2015) dir. Jerrold Tarog

When we saw the movie Heneral Luna, my friend and I discussed it to how it was a microcosm to today's socio-political arrangements and behavior. One, is having an indecisive president and two is lacking a single chain of command because of 'kanya-kanya' mentality. The Philippine elections was exciting but turned to an irritating circumstances because of that 'Crime-stat-fake-Wharton-degree-hit-me-I'll-slap-you-back-lets-hit-each-other' battle. Are there anything else they want to fight over with? It felt like we are being play-timed by two grown, educated and respected men who are currently behaving like two teenage f**k boys. In other words, ginagangster lang nila tayo.

Digging up fossilized poo buried in a cat-hole and slinging to your enemies reflects the kind of leader you are. Also, don't give a crap by saying 'The public needs to know' crap. If you want to mudsling your enemy,maybe do it conspicuously so it won't hit back on you. It would seem that you are desperate to step on a man's head so they will look lesser than you already are.

Filipinos deserve more than your puny and pointless regression. 

Ano ka ba? Babae 'yan!

Yesterday, I caught my nephew crying. I demanded to him to tell me what happened but he shunned me and cried while curled up on the couch. An hour later, he finally spoke out why. A classmate whipped him with a badminton racket. Her female classmate whipped him with a bad into racket. I told him that he should have told the teacher so the girl with be reprimanded but he replied with, "Susuntukin ko sana, eh." I instinctively said ,"No!" The next words why should he not caught me thinking,"Because that's a girl and you should not hurt a girl because it's like hurting your mother, grandma and aunt?". I just told him that if the teacher is not around, yell at her or him that he shouldn't let anyone bully him...even if it's a girl.I think that in this generation, we are already done with empowering women to be in equal right and position alongside with men. This is the price of equality. Women were already permitted suffrage; women participated in Science; There are women who were part of classical Art, classical Literature and History. Women took part in politics. Women are also taught about Violence Against them, their rights as mother's and wives. The girl power that I need to be loud is the fighting Domestic Violence, Human Trafficking, Child Marriage and being subject to criticism if you are still single. Boys at home have a list instructions how to treat women. Though sometimes, the respect and love are taken to the wrong light. I see people gushing over girls who were rained with gifts and a big diamond and people think that it is the sign of love to a woman. Most adults explain to the boys to look at women as their mothers, sisters or family members and should not be hurt. I say  respect women because they are human,too. Feminism?Women Empowerment? What are they really? Traditional folks thinks that these are power pills for women to be snobbish on men. Feminism doesn't only zero in to why there is a career-woman but no career-man. 

You know what, I'm pretty confused to what these 21st century terms. People will point their fingers on me calling me a misogynist, a lesbian or hypocrite, but equality doesn't mean a fair share of everything. Men are men and women are women, biologically. Us women can't blame the genetic and mental make-up of a man so does men can't blame us for our own make-up biologically. I've heard countless of news and stories about battered wife with audiences roaring in rage but compared to men who are also domestically abused receives a zilch reaction to comparison. Gender Equality, though plausible, is inundated with rules the a lot of intellectuals argues to be biased in favor to women. Yeah, and violence is a part of it, but since when did violence became acceptable?
 Karen Davila explained on an Esquire June 2015 issue interview that women in a men's world especially on global issues such as politics or economics that women are quite conscious to dress in a way that their feminine side ooze through because they may get not be taken seriously. We can apply this, though on a different context, to abused men in which they may feel emasculated if they admit it. As women who have experienced being lambasted, abused and shamed should convince them that there is nothing to be embarrassed about. 
 As Steven Patrick Morrissey would put it,"I'm not a homosexual, bisexual or heterosexual but humasexual." the concern for people should not be regarded according to their sex, genders or even their gender roles but rather because they are people and deserve the same respect as they would give you. What I need is the same chance to prove myself and the same struggles that I need in the process. It is unfair to be a woman,yes. Men will go springing from one woman's bed to another but will still marry a virgin. You've been told about how should a lady behave to be respectable. To be respectable, you have to cover yourself in lenghty garments and don't speak very loud. Don't walk at night because you are a vulnerable victim (Lahat na lang bawal!). As for men, they were told that they date women they could bring home to their mothers, as if the mothers will marry the women! They were told not to hit a lady because have to imagine what if she is your mother, grandmother or daughter? They were told to be a gentleman to ladies but it would be gayish to be the same to the men and even to gay men.There are perks and perils to whatever gender you are born or committed with. I hope, when we all have our children, the concern for people is not only centered on a gender but on being a human as well.