Philippine National Day in Toronto and My Lack of Attending Initiative

Good eye sniper. Now I’ll shoot, you run.
~Coheed and Cambria’s A Favour House in Atlantic

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Philippine National Day is celebrated here in Toronto to commemorate the Independence Day achieved by the Filipino people over a hundred years ago. It is held at Toronto’s Nathan Phillips Square, and by being there, you can actually experience a nostalgia for the old country… Well, somewhat.

Personally, it’s not really my cup of tea to attend it. Most of the guys whom I actually know, only go there to “score” on Filipino girls. I see it as a gathering for 1st-generation-Filipino-teenager-wannabe-gangsters-immigrants to flaunt their supposed “coolness” to people who don’t actually give a damn. You may perhaps be asking why I have this so much contempt on these type of people. So let me tell you the story of my experience there a week ago…

The term First generation immigrant may be used to describe either of two generation [1] classes of people:

• An immigrant to a country, possibly with the caveat that they must be naturalized to receive this title.
• The children of immigrant parents, first in a family line to be born in the new country.

  ~Wikipedia

I was with my friend, A, when I went to Nathan Phillips. She wanted to see what this PND hype is all about, so I agreed to “tour” her. I warned her though, that it is somewhat going to be an eye-bleeder but just a little milder than the Miss Manila Pageant. So we went there after work, and it was barely an hour when I saw a bunch of guys, some of which are my acquaintance, looking as if they’re indiscreetly thinking of a way to approach me. And yea, before you know it, I suddenly found myself sharing a hug with this guy whom I barely knew. In my mind, why am I hugging this guy? I chilled with this guy a couple of times in highschool but we were never that close to even share a friendly hug. He was talking to me as if we’ve known each other for ages. What is worst is that, he was talking to me in English with this exaggerated Canadian accent, when he knows perfectly well I speak Tagalog. It was basically a show for his friends watching a few feet from us and I played a part in it. What a show-off bast*rd. It was stupid. It was retarded. And I hated every second of it. I could have easily brushed him off but I don’t want to be a bitch unless I really have to. So Meh. FML.

Toronto’s Nathan Phillips Square, the building at the far end is the City Hall.

Anyway, PND isn’t really that bad. There are really some cool Filipino bands, which a few of my friends are members of, and it was great to hear Tagalog music on the stage for a change. I just hated the part when wangstur-acquaintances prey on you like hungry vultures whom hasn’t eaten for days, hence my lack of initiative to attend. (I can go for a more vulgar metaphor but I’d leave that to your imagination =]). 

But yea, here are some pics I’ve stolen from my friend when I met up with them for PND. It was fun despite the frustration. I’d probably go there again next year and just beat the living cr*p of those people who want to mess with me. (This is my glorious attempt to “wangstur”, please forgive me.)

I know this post is a week late, but better late than never, right?  =]

That is all.

Adieu.