In Defense of Multiply

There have been petitions going around, calling for a Multiply boycott on the 18th of January, Friday. This is in light of Multiply's recent move to limit music-sharing among its users. One of those rants can be read here.

This blog is being written in response to Budi's message asking me what my stand is on the issue. I could not have been bothered at all simply because I did not feel the seemingly collective outrage that this move has elicited. But alas, my opinion was requested. So now let me tell you why I am not joining the boycott.

Eversince I can remember, Multiply has always had a note on its "upload music" page that goes like this, "By clicking upload, you certify that these files do not violate Multiply's Terms of Service and that you own all copyrights or have express permission from all copyright owners to upload them." Or something like that. In fact I can vaguely remember that at some point, Multiply stated a warning saying that Multiply has the right to take down music that did not pass rules on the copyright law. Or something like that. It might have been tweaked a bit over the years but we are all aware that Multiply was never lacking in informing its users that sharing copyrighted materials is bad. Therefore we are not to do it. That we have been naughty and did it anyway is not Multiply's fault. That Multiply was lax in implementing the rules had always been something we enjoyed and cheered for, and hoped would last forever.

And then Multiply is sued.

Is it now Multiply's fault that it has decided to be stricter?

"Oh, but Multiply lured us with its promise of free music! And now that they have the numbers to attract advertisers, they'll go back on their promise. We mean nothing to them!"

I'm only grateful that there was a time when we were able to access free copyrighted music when we really shouldn't. That's better than nothing, right? Besides, again, its promise of free music has always had a note attached to it that goes something like, "as long as its yours," and "as long as you have permission from the owner."

So there.

Stop whining.

For Evonne Chiu!!

If you're not Evonne, please ignore. :p

Evonne, I'm not sure how you can read this. Worst case scenario: use a magnifying glass. Hahahaha!

Birthday Blues

So today, the 8th day of the year 2008, I turn 28. Yep, that's because I was born in the year 1980. I am numerically destined to be lucky this year and I claim all the luck that the universe is willing to throw my way.

So far, the day has not started very well. I woke up with red splotches on my face, possibly a result of allergies. To what, I still have no idea. This is the second time in less than a month that this has happened. Not very amusing.

And then I got into a pseudo-fight on YM with a new friend. It was nothing serious but for some reason, possibly PMS, I felt really bad about it. Yes, bad enough to shed a few tears over it. And my face being red as it already is today makes it even more obvious that I cried.

And then came the call from Nuna telling me that my hard drive crashed. Or almost crashed. My thesis! My thesiiiiiis! Thankfully the laptop is working again and yes, they have made back up files of my thesis. Nothing can be as important as the thesis.

I'm halfway through the day. Enough time to make my birthday the lucky day that it should be. Oh, if you want to help, gifts always brighten up my day. Yeah, even when it's not my birthday. No? Ok.

Oh, I do have a birthday date to look forward to. A friend has generously volunteered to take me out to dinner and maybe coffee afterwards. We'll see how that will turn out.

Thin and Thankful

I'm back to a hundred pounds. I weighed myself this morning before going to work because I thought I was gaining weight from all the holiday festivities. In short, I felt fat. I expected to be at 110, or 105 at least but no, I was a hairline away from the 100-pound mark. So that actually makes me 99.99999 pounds.

I am admittedly underweight, not exactly by choice but I'm not complaining either. My height is somewhere between 5'3" to 5'4", depending on how straight I stand.

My weight has always been a constant source of speculation among people that I've come across with. For instance, a college classmate once asked if I was anorexic. I thought she was joking. It turned out she used to be one and I was amused to meet the first ever anorexic person in my life. You see, eating disorders were just things that I read about. I couldn't help but be amused. Acquaintances have assumed that I do vigorous workouts or that I enjoy sports at least. They ask me for tips on losing weight. They do not understand that there was never much weight to lose to begin with. Still others just stare at me, then my plate, speechless at the huge mountain of rice for my lunch.

Know that I tried gaining weight at various stages in my growing up years. I was a stick, shapelessly straight from head to toe. Okay, there was a slight bulge in the tummy area. Not a pretty sight but I've since learned to hide it but that's a different story. I wanted to be voluptuous. Curvy. Full-figured. Believe it or not, I wanted to add more meat to my thighs and arms. When I was younger, I would look at my thighs pressed to the chair that I was sitting on and think they should look like that, ideally. Years later, friends would tell me how much they envy my skinny legs and arms so I had learned to think that they were alright after all. I would get complimented on for no other reason than because I was thin.

So I guess I'm lucky. Lucky to not have to starve myself to be thin. Lucky to never have to compute how many calories a slice of chocolate cake has. Lucky to have been born in this century when thinness almost equals attractiveness or even health. Yeah, I'm lucky to be thin. Sometimes I forget.

Random Christmasy Events

December is the time for get-togethers. Here are random (stolen) pictures of various get-togethers I attended, from the dinner with officemates to dinner with High School batchmates to the dinner with we screw crazies...

Achi Janice's Wedding

So my eldest sister, aka Achi Janice, finally got married last Sunday. That was December 16, 2007. These are the unofficial pictures, taken mostly while we were preparing for the wedding. I'm not sure when the official ones are coming out.

The following pictures are taken mostly by Nuna, Iel, Bin-Bin and whoever else got hold of my camera.

D's Band

It's not a party until someone takes off his clothes.

D's Band is the winner of the Battle of the Bands in our company Christmas party. Each band performed three songs. This is their first. For bookings, tell me and I'll ask them. Hahaha! Band members: Jay Casal (lead guitar), Alben Viernes (rhythm guitar), Dong Yap (bass guitar), Eman Pallos (drums), Abdi Duwa and RC Calimlim (vocals).

Again, I stole this video so shhh...