Cheap Jeep

Meet the Jeepney.

Is this really the symbol of Filipinos? are we just really surplus parts of a once classic essential with a pun of a name?

After WWII, surplus parts of GI Jeeps we converted into reverse Jitneys. Where Jitneys have seats facing outwards for easier harvest gathering, the Jeepney has inward facing seets, to accomodate simple modifications to the back of a regular Jeep.

But these "icons" have had little to no evolution since their creation. Apart from the change in colors, designs and borloloys, They've appeared resistant to change. If anything, the culture that most of their drivers have has led to a deterioration in its image. Their countless numbers have clogged up the streets, not to mention their lack of conditioning and maintenance have polluted the air around the Metro and then some. Their drivers spit (but then again a lot of private owners do too), and they swerve in and out of lanes like they own the place.

The worst part is that they just stop anywhere and pick up passengers. Actually this is done by all our Public Utility Vehicles (except the trains, of course, as they are bound to the tracks and stop at designated stations).

So should we really be proud of the jeepney? Proud that at anytime, they cause a standstill in the Metro because we don't give them what they demand? Are we really resistant to change?

Think about it.

Another First

There's a song by Semisonic called "Closing Time" that goes:
Every new beginning comes from some other beginning's end.

yeah.

This blog of mine has retained its url, but I decided to start anew with it. I don't really know why. Maybe:

1. I'm just currently bored on a rainy friday night


2. I was inspired by all this talk of digital marketing during the recent IMMAP conference at SMX


3. I just really like the silent screams of writing, whether in pen or keyboard


4. I'm secretly sharpening my so-called skills to be able to write for print again even if just to get published once in a while for a little bit of moolah


5. The old blog just needed a makeover

Whatever the reason, this is what I have to work with now. My little piece of the infinitely vast realm of cyberspace. I guess non-Social Network Site (SNS) blogs add a touch of mystery to online activity. I mean, when you blog in Friendster or Facebook, your profile and pictures and whathaveyous take attention away (though probably not all) from the content and spread it thinly among the other components. With blogging on a regular blogsite, the literature speaks for itself. You may choose to add photos or music or whatnot, but in the end, one can still do without them. (Imagine a Friendster of Facebook page without all the bits of Info and Photos).

Well. whatever the actual reason, I know this new beginning learned lessons from the previous beginning's end. CHANGE IS INEVITABLE.