From 2010 to 2017, there was a thing called #AseanCitizen that we Aseans started as a grassroots movement. We were all bloggers from across, well, #ASEAN or South-East Asia.
Some of us joined together to produce one of the best multi-authored regional blogs. We talked about our cultures, write about what makes the region awesome. As well as, try to address the oftentimes silly and sometimes heated debates.
It's all gone now. Forgotten. The blogs dead or offline. We all grew up, got busy with our personal lives, and moved on separately. And the important reason? We lost interest in it as we started to see ASEAN was, is, and will never be for the grassroots.
That was the end of what was once a vibrant grassroot ASEAN Citizens effort. We did it all voluntarily. Without a single recognition from the top-down organisation that is ASEAN.
But today? ASEAN is still a top-down organisation. They kept trying to get the grassroots involved, but they are always failing. Why? Because it is a top-down organisation, as simple as that. They will never understand until they shift their mindset and approach to bottom-up.
(P.S I want to restart this grassroots movement, but I just no longer have the spark. Give me a very good reason why I should give it another chance. Or, at least, guide the new generation.)
Here are some dating tips, nothing grand, but can be useful.
Know how to say “I love you” in the #Filipino language because we have two for romantic relationships.
“Mahal kita” = This is your “I love you” in English. It can be used romantically or for family and relatives.
mahal = ma (as in “mama”) + hal (as in ha + L) which means “love”
kita = ki (as in ‘ki’ in “kit”) + ta (as in ‘ta’ in “tank”) which means “you”
“Iniibig kita” = This can be translated into English as “I deeply love you” or “I deeply desire you” or both; and should only be used romantically. You could say it is a poetic way of saying “I love you”, however, it is more than that.
iniibig = i-ni-i-big (i = as in the sound of saying the letter “e” = iihh) which means “[deeply] love”
Understand what “mutual understanding” or “m.u.” is.
It's actually simple. “Mutual understanding” is that stage wherein two people are already comfortable with each other, but are still not officially dating. Usually, they do not know they like each other; however, there are those who choose it because they are not sure yet (especially permission from parents).
If the person you like decides to be in an M.U. relationship, don't take it negatively. It is a sign that they are considering dating you, just that, there are still things they need to settle on their end. Give them some time.
You need to clarify your relationship.
Never assume that you are dating. I've seen “couples” who never made it clear and later was shocked the other partner finally have a “boyfriend” or “girlfriend”. The surprised party felt “cheated” but in reality, no one cheated, they were never dating in the first place!
It is important to make your relationship clear.
Are you dating exclusively? “Exclusively”, meaning, there are no one else both parties are dating.
Or, are you in an “open relationship”? An “open relationship” is a relationship wherein you allow each other to have other dates.
Are you actually dating, M.U., or just friends?
Are you “officially” dating? “Officially”, meaning, both of your parents know (regardless if they agreed to it or not).
“PDA” or “Public Display of Affection”
This is publicly holding hands, hugging, kissing (cheeks, lips), being overly sweet with each other.
Filipinos are generally fine with it. If you don't like it, a Filipino date might misinterpret it as you not being proud of them. Thus, if it is not in your culture to show PDA, then make it clear with the Filipino you are dating, to avoid misunderstandings.
There are also some Filipinos who are not into PDA, so, you need to be open about it. And limits.
You are not just dating one person, you are dating the entire family.
Filipinos are family-centric. And when it comes to Filipino, be sure to treat their families well.
This is a good thing. If your partner is telling you what to do, it means they really want to date you.
That's just 5 when it comes to dating. Marriage proposal is a whole different matter. We have our own form “dowry”, although less practised today, it is still good to know, especially if the Filipino you want to marry is traditional. (They may not tell you anything because you're a foreigner, but deep inside they're expecting it.)
First time I pushed myself since I recovered from pneumonia and a water in my left lung (mid to late 2021).
I used the closed roads being used by two race events, #EarthRun and #ASICS run. 😜
I think being with fellow runners made it easier. I didn't feel any pain and I rarely had to catch my breath. Though I was still slow as compared to before I got sick, and had a lot of walks than runs, this was still far better than whenever I ran 5k solo this year.
I went to the community health center because I felt sick. You can receive medical examinations and treatments for free if you are registered with the Social Security Agency on Health; if not, medical examinations and all forms of medicine can be obtained for a single US dollar. Of course, you have to visit the hospital for more complicated illnesses.
We were in "Taman Arkeologi" (Archaeology Park) at our university, which contains replicas of archaeological sites. This is a replica of the Jawi Temple. The original temple was built in the 13th century in Pasuruan, East Java.
Now, this may be unpopular, but is it true for you that the initial excitement of being on T2 / pebble on Mastodon is wearing off? Maybe it’s time zone thing for me? I love the interactions that I have here but it does seem a little quiet in my time zone for much of the day. And the vibe has changed. Or is that just me? #t2pub@t2pub
She's a jamu seller. Jamu is a traditional Indonesian drink. It is used as a medicinal remedy to treat common ailments and boost the immune system to prevent illnesses.
(dogmatism and prejudice)
Pebble/T2 attracted people who were fed up with, or were sticking up their middle fingers at, the following words. That created an atmosphere that other social networking sites didn't have.
News
Productive
Informative
Excellent
Influencers
ADS/AI/KPI/ROI/IMO
It must have been extremely painful to have to explain the value of those places to investors.
For [mainline] #Mastodon users who want to be able to follow the “Local” and/or “Federated” timeline(s) of a different instance without creating yet another account can use the #Phanpy frontend.
More info:
There are 3 different layouts. In my screenshots, I used the multi-column layout to demonstrate how I'm seeing the different instances' “Local” and “Federated” timelines.
In addition to the above, you can also see the following features:
Auto-translate
Highlights
Threads
CW
Click to refresh (or scroll to top to refresh) -- a setting
Dark mode
Following 5 hashtags in one column (similar to Mastodon's default frontend)
Final thoughts from one of the founders of Pebble. Pebble was full of kind people. The hobbit shire of social media. And it wasn't enough. A good read.
"Being kinder and safer is not enough of a differentiator, because kindness and safety by themselves aren’t interesting enough. There was not enough interesting content on the platform for the experience to become a daily habit."
We are down to the last ~half-hour in the life of #Pebble, née t2, which I reckon to be the kindest, gentlest and smallest of the twitter alternatives — and watching it come down while logged in over there is rather poignant. Which well befits the character of the place.
Meanwhile, the chief Pebbler, @gabor has spun up an "experimental" mastodon instance, pebble.social. I do think mastodon is a better fit for that community than, say, Bluesky. Here's wishing them well!