Year One

Unreleased 2006

I used to do a zine called "Agree to Differ". I believe I was able to release it at the turn of the millennium, though I might be wrong because: 1) I don't have a copy of it anymore and 2) I have a really messed up memory. I remember though that it was numbered 0, it had less than probably 10 pages, and that I was supposed to come up with a bigger issue next time. I remember also that I was planning to put out another zine with a different name, "Cheap Thrills" but it would be in the same vein as ATD. A lot has happened between now and then, including me getting relocated from the province and back, as well as marriage, kids and life in general.

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As I was going  through my closet the other day, I stumbled upon the master copy of what was to be "Cheap Thrills". I was filled with nostalgia going through pages of pages of cut and paste layouts. I remember when I was making the zine, I had to wait for weeks for my correspondents' replies hoping that the postal people won't be tempted by the packages that I was sending and receiving. And oo, pati mga tapes, me mga nawalan ako dati sa mail. Yes, this was the time of good old snail mail and mp3 was still something new to me. I didn't have a pc, I had a dusty typewriter as my weapon of choice, I was still a slacker student ( 8 years in college whew! ) and I was in Camarines Sur ( an 8 hour bus trip from Manila ) so you can just imagine the difficulties that I was having in making the zine. Para akong nasa gitna ng desyerto at ang realidad ay sobrang kakaiba sa nagisnan. I was hoping to stir up something there, maybe open up a few kids' minds to what was happening in the Metro, but things just fell by the wayside. Life happened, as some would say.

A lot has indeed changed from then 'til now. Mga banda dati nating sinusundan, ngayon swerte ka na kung makakita ka sa YouTube or TPB ng kanta. But these old pages remind me that yes, there are things that indeed remain. If not for anything else, it is for the need of self-expression kaya ako nandito. Yun din naman rason ko dati kaya me nagawa ako ,albeit short-lived. What do I hope to accomplish ngayon? Well, nothing much. I hope these pages would be filled with the old and the new, with music that I am into and stuff na maganda ding pagusapan. "More than music", ika nga. This is not a zine, para sa akin kasi mas ok pa din yung me printed material ka, something tangible. I'm still debating with myself kung kaya ko pa ituloy ulit ang paggawa ng zine. For now, I've taken a few pictures of "Cheap Thrills" sa susunod naman ung content. Bago man magunaw ang mundo, e malabas ko to. It's funny how this is supposed to be year one but we've all heard that talk of 2012 being the end of the times. So in parting, this is Year One, on the year of the end of our miserable lives. May it be a blast! 

From Mutilated News