Painful to be Private Preoccupations

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The author wishes first and foremost to acknowledge Bathala, if it not because of Him/Her none of this would be possible, ever, and we need no proof of that. He wishes to acknowledge the many people who have extended the meaning of the word generosity for allowing their real names and actions to be included in this work. Further, he also acknowledges the people who, even if they were not mentioned in here, contributed one way or another to the making of this memoir, such as Celest and Angelique, who again gave him the drive to abandon his stalling. The author would also like to acknowledge his penchant to exaggerate, and to fib, for better or for worse, depending on the situation. He would also like to acknowledge that yes, there are perhaps too many memoirs being written by different people so this is not something new, and that yes, writing about REAL people and REAL events as opposed to kind-of-made-up ones is shameless and wrong and vile and evil and corrupt. And maybe the idea of relating stories of stinginess for postponed dates and flirting while inside the bus and looking like a Pip-Guy teen flick is unappealing to everyone but to the author’s college classmates and a few Journalism students in Sampaloc, but there are schemes that are diabolically worse, like cheating in elections or JPEPA and we could all do worse, like, say American government or that lying bitch in Malacañang. Anyway, if you’re bothered by the fact that any of this is real, then he suggests you pretend that it’s FICTION. He also tips his hat to the kind and friendly inmates of the Medium Security Compound of Bilibid Prisons, especially the students of the Modular Class in Sociology. The author also wants to acknowledge his friends in the Thomasian Writers Guild and The Flame, for the endless booze and for giving him a degree of satisfaction for his intellectual vanity. He also wishes to acknowledge your problems with the title, he too doubts if it’s the best.

Now, he would also like to acknowledge the themes of the memoir.

A.) The Haunting Preoccupation of Being Single

More often than not, persons who would get to know the author would eventually ask him why on earth is he still single, and would be surprised—or even appalled—by a number of reasons.

B.) Social Proof as an Edge in Dating

The social value of someone is indispensable as a background to amplify his/her characteristics desirable for dating.

C.) Disclosure as a Result of The Author’s Not-So-Important View on Privacy

We all like disclosure, especially if it pertains to that person’s frustrations and weaknesses. Privacy is cheap, overrated, and many petty fights, quarrels and terrorist attacks would be averted if everyone follows this view.

Also, the following threads:

1.) The Joyce Dialectic I: She being both an inspiration and an impediment to the writing of the memoir.

2.) The Joyce Dialectic II: The Dissonance between her language and her socio-economic status.

3.) The Being Confined to Digital Communication as Being Only Feasible Medium to Keep In Touch Idea.

4.) The Attachment VS. “I’m Fine Without You” Idea.

5.) The Self-Imposed Romance Deadline Idea.

6.) The Nostalgia Disguised as Intellectual Vanity as a Reason for Writing of Memoir Idea.

The author also wishes to acknowledge that for all his ranting elsewhere, this is NOT totally a work of non-fiction. Many parts have been fictionalized, especially the dialogues that reflect the author’s limitations and his imagination’s feedings. Although in the course of the work, he is trying to channel the thoughts that he had during his last days in UST, he has taken certain liberties especially with what he was thinking on certain instances in the narrative. For example, usually, when he is thinking of something in a certain situation in the memoir, its not that he’s actually thinking of that thought that time. More often than not, those thoughts occurred to him after the situations or events happen, and he only inserts such and such for the sake of appearing and sounding articulate because frankly enough, he does not have the skill to write such a work in order for it not to be sooooo boring. The author also acknowledges—and congratulates!—you for noticing the work’s flaws and imperfections. Finally, the author would like to acknowledge the kindness and consideration for letting this work continue that was given by Joyce, and of course for obvious reasons. Here is a picture of a puto bumbong: