For my Father, the King!

I have a strange relationship with my father. For a time he was the main antagonist in my life. We were always butting heads.

I was so stubborn as a child. Sometimes I think he was too nice to me. Sure, we would fight but in the end he would always forgive me.

But he raised me well. I have nothing but respect for my father. He works so hard. At the time I couldn’t appreciate him, but now that I’m living on my own, whenever I reflect on things, I realize how much he did for me, my brothers, and my mom.

He protects us, guides us, watches our backs. No matter how stubborn and hard headed we are, he’ll always be there in the end.

He’s one of the few people that I know, at the end of the day, no matter how down I am or how bad I fucked up, he will be there for me.

Thank you, dad.

Mom,

I’m sorry for being an introvert.

I’m sorry that I hide parts of myself. 

I’m sorry that I don’t share much with you anymore. When I was little, you took care of me and gave me all that you could, in only the way that a true mother would. 

I’m sorry for my twin curse of reckless arrogance and infinite pride. I am your firstborn after all. 

In my darkest days of self doubt and fear you were there for me. 

In my proudest moments of victory and glory you were there for me. 

I can finally feel your pain. 

I think I finally understand you. 

Which is why we are farther apart than before. I don’t want you to think the world has gotten to me, but it has. No longer is it a world full of fun and infinite possibilities. 

I now see the true value of empathy, discipline, and kindness. I now realize why we must be kind to one another. Why we have to be disciplined. Why we have to overcome our own feelings and our own neediness for others. 

I know you taught me all of these values growing up but I never took them to heart, I knew them but I never felt them. 

I am going through so much and I am feeling so much. 

The child within me that you loved is fading.

I’m sorry. 

The 20something Struggle: Identity

This is it. You are in your prime. The place is here and the time is now.

You have been dreaming of being a twenty-something ever since you were a child.

Something in you just told you you were going to be awesome. The best version of you you could possibly ever hope to be. You just knew your 20s were going to be fucking mindblowing.

And then they weren’t.

And all there is, is you. You feel like you know nothing. You feel like you stagnated at age 15 and then life flashed around you in a flurry of ups and downs and suddenly time stops.

You lie there at night, unable to sleep. Wondering where it all went wrong.

What made you give up on your dreams? You were going to have the world in the palm of your hands, and all of a sudden you weren’t.

The bitter realities of life feels like a sucker punch to the gut with the damning realization that your dreams were unrealistic and futile.

But you keep trying.

You hold out for a hero. A savior. Something, someone, someplace that will give you your destiny.

That savior is you. You must rise above yourself. You must sacrifice what you are now for what you will be.

I read somewhere that your 20s were always meant to be an apprenticeship. For what, you wouldn’t know until much later.

So hang in there. Not all good things have come to pass. All is not lost.

Learn. Grow. Persist.

Keep your bleeding heart beating strong.

Fight until the bitter end. Drenched in sweat. Eyes red from the tears. Hands covered with blisters. Body marked with scars. Lungs heaving for breath.

And face with a smile.

For you are here, and the time is now,

Young Blood.

Marc :1

I guess I want to start blogging about my personal life. I’m a nursing student and I hope to continue that into studying medicine.

Yes, I know its hard being a doctor and most doctors totally regret becoming doctors, because they did it for all the wrong reasons.

I want to do it because I honestly have no idea what I would be doing other than that. My mother is a nurse, and I’m the eldest child of three, so the pressure is on me to set a good role model for my siblings. Its like I was destined to follow a career in medicine.

My favorite classes so far have been psychology, and anatomy and physiology. Although I’m not that good at anaphy, I truly do enjoy learning about the human body and the way it functions.

To be honest, the hardest part of my day is getting up from my bed. Once I manage to convince myself that, yes, I would like to participate in life today, everything flows quite smoothly.

At first college was so exciting. So many new people meet, so many organizations to join, so many things to learn about! Imagine, I would be studying material that is actually going to be relevant to my future occupation!

Well by the time semester 2 rolls around, you kind of have everything figured out. The days stumble into each other, each one similar to the last, the only sense of progress is marking the big X on my calendar before I go to bed.

But I think thats okay. Humans are just naturally adaptive. I think I’ve hit my stride. I’m not saying that school is easy, but its not as bad as I expected. I guess those AP classes in highschool really did prepare me.

The only really difficult thing is convincing yourself not to skip class, not to procrastinate, not to spend too much money, try not to stir trouble in your social circle.

I guess I’m closing on a neutral note. Nothing’s wrong. I’m quite bored but I can keep steaming ahead. I got this.

Malasimbo sold out.

So after 7107, THE big event to go to was Malasimbo in Puerto Galera, somewhere near Manila or something.

All pictures courtesy of a close friend of mine.

First of all, it’s somewhere in the jungle. The entire venue is literally a natural Greek Theater. There were foreigner chicks everywhere. Most of the crowd were EDM scenesters who were looking for a different experience. Most of the performers were reggae/soul/jazz.

 Malasimbo is the Antithesis to 7107. It’s for the cool kids.

Or at least, that’s what I thought. That’s when you look at all of the companies that sponsored the event. What the fuck? The Malasimbo spirit was supposed to be all about leaving behind all the crap at all the other concerts; the brutish asshole bouncers, the unscrupulous ticket scalpers waiting to hound you, the gaunt-faced drug dealers trying to sell you “E” (pills that are 50% hydro-chloride, 40% baking powder, 5% dirt and grime from under their fingernails, and 5% methamphetamine).

Apparently all of the above, and more was existent at the event. Local mushroom dealers trying to exploit foreigner naivety and the likes. There were shady people that followed you when you went to use the restroom.

Last year, the tickets only cost P500 per day, but this year they were hiked to a ridiculous P3600 per head for ONE NIGHT.

Philippines, please fix your culture of unethical business, or you will forever lag behind other countries. Your immoral and “let’s make a buck RIGHT NOW” style of business is stupid; it ruins your reputation and leaves customers with a bad taste in their mouth. The most important thing between customers and businessmen is trust. If I have a good experience with your business then I trust you and I will become a loyal customer that keeps coming back for more.

If you screw us over then news of your slimy behavior will inevitably spread, and the only people going to your concerts will be shallow idiots who think going will make them look cool.

Final Verdict:

• Music was passionate, original, legitimate.
• Environment/venue was THE Malasimbo Experience.
• Everything else: Epic Failure. It was an obvious cash grab from the get go, and the artists, performers, and audience all suffered because of it.

Late Culture Sucks

I’m quite aware I’ve been posting mostly negative things lately about ML. I promise I’ll make a positive post after this one. I just feel like I have to get this off my chest.

Manileros’ concept of being timely is simply nonexistent.

Everyone automatically assumes that everyone else is going to be late, so we take that into account every time we meet somewhere. I’ve never met anyone at X time and actually met with them at that time. I did at first.

Now I subtract 30 minutes to an hour to that time, depending on the situation. But it’s a mind game too. You don’t know if the other person ALSO calculates that into their time, so you end up in awkward situations where you say you’re there but you’re actually 30 minutes late.

So dumb.

Don’t be dumb.

-Marc

Culture Shock sucks

If you’ve ever moved to another country for a significant period of time, you’ll know why I’m saying this.

Nobody buys a planet ticket to another country expecting everything to be the same. In fact, everyone hopes for the complete opposite; you want to see how other people live in other parts of the world. You want to experience a different culture, to learn things about other people, to learn things about yourself, and to broaden your perspective of the world.

My flight was from Hobby, to LAX, to Narita, to Aquino airport. It was the most exhausting 18 hours of my life, but also the most exciting. I was traveling back to my roots! The country where I was born. A place where my race doesn’t factor into anything. I would be judged not by how squinty my eyes are, but based purely on my actions and demeanor.

The first few hours were exhilarating. I was of normal height! Nobody stared at me for uncomfortably long periods of time.

Before I went back, my Stateside friends all told me the same things about the PH; that it was gonna be dirty, grimy, basically every third world country stereotype.

I was expected for that. When I got here, I was prepared to deal with those things. They were pretty much non-issues.

It’s the differences that you don’t prepare for that get to you.

There was no culture “shock” for me. It hit me in the form of a persistent wearing down; like how water can break down rocks over thousands of years.

It was the little things that were getting to me.

1. I’m used to the outward kindness of everyone in the States, especially since my childhood was in a small town in Texas. Here in the big city, nobody takes the time for common courtesy that I’m used to. Conversations, transactions, exchanges all seem cold and indifferent.
2. No one holds the door open for anyone else. Lines are a joke. People bum rush into elevators before giving you a chance to get out. The waiters and waitresses don’t bother to smile and are uncomfortable with the small talk that I’m so used to.
3. Nobody has any concept of personal space whatsoever.
4. Remember when I said I wouldn’t be judged based on my race? Well now I’m judged based on my status. That can be anything from the phone you use to the clothes you wear. I’m not naive; I know this happens even in the US, but imagine that amplified by a thousand.
5. Nobody pushes their chairs in after they’re finished eating.
6. The way people drive. In a way, people here drive better than people in the US. It’s hard to explain. It’s one of those things you can’t put into words. I can’t count the number of times I should have got run over while crossing the street, but there’s almost a telepathic bond between pedestrians and drivers here which keeps things moving flawlessly. It’s an intricate dance of survival.

There’s probably many more that I’m leaving out, but those are the ones that come to mind right now. I know I just made it seem like ML is the worst place on Earth; on the contrary I’m having the time of my life. There’s soooo many great things about the PH, but that’s for another post.

Thanks for reading, take care, and appreciate life!

-Marc

Hi!

Obligatory Life Story Recap

of Marc Anthony Dandoy

• Born in the Philippines in ’94

  

  That’s me eating a bed sheet. I was not a smart baby.

• I’m the eldest most crazy out of my three brothers.

  

  Chace is the one drooling over my mom’s hand. Nathan’s rockin’ the bowl cut like a boss.

• I grew up in middle class America, in the suburbs of Houston. It’s a life that consists of overpriced clothes, always going 10mph over the speed limit, mowing the lawn, and teenagers with way too much pocket money

  

  Where I spent most of my days being cool and popular.

• My 2 best friends suck. Johnbro is the boring responsible one. I’m the one with egotistical issues. Enzo… I have no idea why we hang out with him.

  

  Why do I hang out with these people?

• The best advice I’ve received in life is “Society tells you that you need girls. Movies tell you that you need girls. Let me tell you, girls are dessert. Sure, they’re nice to have but you don’t need them.”

  

  I don’t need these idiots.

• I consider my greatest achievement in life climbing to Diamond rank 26.

  

  Nico and Richard, you guys are terrible life mentors.

• I don’t always drink, but when I do I prefer to embarrass myself and see the world as 한국드라마.

  

  That’s actually just sprite in my hand, but not even sobriety can stop the drama.

• I live life to the dullest, and fail. All I want to do is lay in bed all day watching Netflix, is that too much to ask for?

  

  One of those times I failed at a having a dull and boring life. I should be ashamed of myself.

So there you have it. The most interesting and useless things about me in a convenient, easily digestible list format. What am I going to do with the rest of my life? What does life have planned for me? I don’t know but it’s been amazing so far, and I wouldn’t trade any other life for the one I’ve lived so far. Actually I would if Mark Wahlberg or James Franco wanted to switch lives for a bit, for science.

May the crazy times last forever,

-Marc

휴휴휴