THE POCKMARKMAN CHRONICLES

"Michael. Dear Michael..."

2008-09-03T17:24:00.000+08:00

"Of course it's you, who else could they send, who else could be trusted? I... I know it's a long way and you're ready to go to work... all I'm saying is just wait, just... just wait and please just hear me out because this is not an episode, relapse, fuck-up, it's...

I'm begging you Michael. I'm begging you.

Try to make believe this is not just madness because this is not just madness. Two weeks ago I came out of the building ok, I'm running across 6th avenue there's a car waiting, I've got exactly 38 minutes to get to the airport and I'm dictating. There's this panicked associate sprinting along beside me, scribbling in a notepad, and suddenly she starts screaming, and I realize we're standing in the middle of the street, the light's changed, there's this wall of traffic, serious traffic speeding towards us, and I...

I freeze, I can't move, and I'm suddenly consumed with the overwhelming sensation that I'm covered in some sort of film. It's in my hair, my face... it's like a glaze... a coating, and... at first I thought, oh my god, I know what this is, this is some sort of amniotic - embryonic - fluid. I'm drenched in afterbirth, I've breached the chrysalis, I've been reborn.

But then the traffic, the stampede, the cars, the trucks, the horns, the screaming and I'm thinking no-no-no, reset, this is not rebirth, this is some kind of giddy illusion of renewal that happens in the final moment before death. And then I realize no-no-no, this is completely wrong because I look back at the building and I had the most stunning moment of clarity.

I... I... I realized Michael, that I had emerged not from the doors of Kenner, Bach, and Odeen, not through the portals of our vast and powerful law firm, but from the asshole of an organism who's sole function is to excrete the... the... the poison, the ammo, the defoliant necessary for other, larger, more powerful organisms to destroy the miracle of humanity.

And that I had been coated in this patina of shit for the best part of my life. The stench of it and the sting of it would in all likelihood take the rest of my life to undue. And you know what I did? I took a deep cleansing breath and I put that notion aside. I tabled it. I said to myself as clear as this may be, as potent a feeling as this is, as true a thing as I believe I witnessed today, it must wait.

It must stand the test of time, and Michael, the time is now."

“Don’t Cover the Pre-Ass” Movement

2007-10-30T12:18:00.000+08:00

Pre-ass: The part of the body right after the back but just before the ass. Complete name is the post-back-pre-ass but for brevity’s sake, it’s called the pre-ass.

If you’re a commuter, then you know what I’m talking about. I’m sure you’ve seen it. You're just too preoccupied to give it much thought. Anyway, just humor me on this one. Imagine that you’re riding a jeepney. It stops to pick up a passenger. A woman. When she boards, the moment she steps on the platform to enter the vehicle, she immediately reaches behind her and pulls down her blouse at the back to cover herself... She’s covering her pre-ass. A common sight, right? Nothing out of the ordinary. You won’t even notice it unless you try. No big deal, really. Most women do it. Maybe even you do it yourself.

Well, if it’s really not a big deal, if there’s nothing wrong with it, then why blog about it, let alone create a movement about it?

I witnessed an incident just recently that pushed me to create the “Don’t Cover the Pre-Ass” Movement. It happened one late afternoon in Ayala. Going home, I flagged down a jeepney in front of SGV bound for Ayala MRT. Two blocks into the ride, the jeepney stopped to pick up a passenger in front of Glorietta, which is, by the way, an unloading only zone. This fact would come into play later. Anyway, a woman boarded the jeepney. And not just any woman, but a woman. On a scale of 1-10, she’d be an 8.03. A classy lady, she had saloned hair, manicured nails, a body that works out, and not just from Slimmers' but most likely from Gold's. Her shopping bags were Mango and Rustan’s. Actually, I don’t know why she was riding the jeep in the first place, maybe her Benz was in shop, I don’t know.

Upon entering the jeepney, naturally, and expectedly, she reached back. Her left hand was holding the shopping bags and the other hand was behind her, pulling down the blouse to cover her pre-ass. As she was shuffling down the aisle to her seat, something happened. The driver suddenly floored it. As in pedal to the metal.

As any Makati commuter would know, who experienced being late because he had to walk a block instead of stopping right in front of his office building, you can only ride or go down in specific, designated areas. As any Makati driver would know, who experienced getting caught by the MAPSA because of unreasonable traffic rules, these MAPSAs are sneaky bastards. They’re like yellow and green jack(-asses) in the box, just popping out without any warning.

So the driver floored it to escape the fast-approaching MAPSAs. But then he immediately braked to avoid a Toyota Altis in front of him, which apparently, he didn't see before. So if you could just imagine the brute force that we experienced inside the vehicle. Good thing we were seated and we had our hands on the handlebars.

For the woman who just boarded… I have never seen someone fly inside a jeepney before. She fell, no, she tumbled… actually she flew. She flewmbled. That’s how bad it was, I had to create a new word to describe what she did. She traveled 10 feet in a second. I still have to confirm with Guinness, but I think it was a world record.

I was embarrassed for her. It was so embarrassing that I wanted to console her. “Okay lang yan miss, at least maganda ka." It was so embarrassing, she moved two points down the ladder. She went from an 8.03 to a 6.029

The thing is, it could have been easily avoided. There’s no one else to blame but her. It’s not the driver’s fault, even if he loaded passenger in an unloading only zone. It’s not even MAPSA’s fault for being a sneaky SOB. It was her fault. Specifically, it was the fault of her pre-ass. More specifically, this happened to her because she covered her pre-ass. Thus the “Don’t Cover the Pre-Ass” Movement was born: To prevent women from hurting, or worse, embarrassing themselves.

You could say that I could be reverse-psychologizing the women so that they’ll always show the pre-ass for my pleasure, but believe when I say this, seeing a pre-ass does nothing for us.

Ladies, I’ll let you in on a secret, a simple truth would save you from the cumbersome task of covering your pre-ass: It does nothing for us men. And this is coming from a self-confessed, self-proclaimed momonyak. Trust me, you won’t get violated in any way. Looking at your pre-ass is just like looking at your forehead. Compare it with seeing a side-boob. Or cleavage. Or thigh. Now these things would get something going, if you know what I mean. But a pre-ass? It does nothing to us whatsoever. The only time you have the right to cover your pre-ass is when you have pre-ass-cne (similar to back-acne or back-ne but only on the pre-ass).

Honestly though, we can’t fantasize about a pre-ass no matter how smooth or creamy it may be. So the next time you are boarding or deboarding a jeepney, use one hand to hold the handlebars and the other to carry your stuff. Forget about covering your pre-ass.

Join the “Don’t Cover the Pre-ass” Movement.

Untitled06

2007-10-04T14:03:00.000+08:00

Nice Article on Gerry...

2007-08-18T23:48:00.000+08:00

Will Penalosa Win the Triple Crown?
By Brett Conway (Aug 15, 2007) Photo © German Villasenor

Behind on points, chasing a fighter content to keep him at bay with a jab and shoeshine combinations, Gerry Penalosa kept plugging away and didn’t waver from his plan: shots to the body will weaken and put away the already weight drained bantamweight champion.

Finally, the moment came. Jhonny Gonzalez threw a right hand and the southpaw Penalosa dodged it but came back with a left hand of his own. Gonzalez, a good boxer with good fundamentals, brought his right back and with it an elbow to guard the rib cage. It arrived a nanosecond too late. Penalosa’s punch landed just underneath it. It took a second or two before the punch to the liver communicated the pain to his body but when it did he, like Oscar De La Hoya against Bernard Hopkins or Leonard Dorin against Arturo Gatti, collapsed and gasped for breath. All the air in the room must have been sucked down by the audience that witnessed that punch, for Gonzalez hands on the ropes in a corner couldn’t find any for himself. He was counted out with less than a minute remaining in the seventh round. Penalosa became the new WBO bantamweight champion.

Gerry Penalosa, with that one shot, achieved the seemingly impossible. A 35-year old in a division where fighters are usually washed up at the age of 30, Penalosa has beaten down two fighters so far in 2007. Back in March against WBO super bantamweight champion Daniel Ponce De Leon (who defeated Rey Bautista in the first on the same card as Penalosa-Gonzalez), Penalosa withstood an early storm from the hard punching Mexican but came back with precise counters. He threw enough hard stuff at Ponce De Leon that the champion for the first time in his career decided to turn into Sugar Ray Robinson. He danced and moved and jabbed, trying to keep Penalosa away. Although most ringside press appeared to have Penalosa winning, the judges didn’t see it that way and gave the decision to the busier but less effective Ponce De Leon.

With his showings against Ponce De Leon and Jhonny Gonzalez, two fighters ranked highly in the boxing world, both punchers with Gonzalez being a good boxer as well, Penalosa has put himself into an elite position in the sport. In fact, he has shown himself so well that come the end of 2007 I think he will be a candidate for three awards from the bible of boxing, Ring magazine: comeback of the year, knockout of the year, and fight of the year.

Penalosa is probably a no-brainer for comeback of the year. Coming into his fight against Ponce De Leon, many in boxing thought Penalosa a sacrificial lamb for the younger, knockout happy Ponce De Leon. After losing his junior bantamweight title in 1998 to In Joo Cho and the rematch and then twice to Masamori Tokuyama in an attempt to regain his title, Penalosa took a couple of years off. Then, like many ex-champions before and many more to come, he made a come back. Starting in 2004, he had a couple of fights in the Philippines and then took his show to the USA, knocking out Mauricio Martinez on the card of the Ponce De Leon-Al Seeger bout in 2006. When March came and he was about to face Ponce De Leon, many boxing writers worried for his health, hoping that someone in his corner would have the guts to pull the plug if the going got too rough for him and it looked like he was taking too much damage. Instead Penalosa blocked the wild swinging Ponce De Leon’s shots and countered. It was beautiful; it was textbook; but it wasn’t enough to win over the judges who seemed believe that being busy was more important than being effective.

His showing against Ponce De Leon and his knockout of Gonzalez gives Penalosa the comeback of the year. Period.

Awarding a knockout of the year is much more subjective. Really who can choose between two knockouts? Who can decide absolutely which one was better? Even Ring has trouble with that. In 2001 and 2002, Lennox Lewis won knockout of the year honors, the first for his one-punch knockout of Hasim Rahman and the second for his brutal beat down of Mike Tyson. Who’s to say a one-punch knockout or sustained thrashing is better? But arguing the case for one or the other gives us all an excuse to stay in the bar for an extra drink or two. (Disagreement can have its perks.)

But I think southpaw Penalosa’s knockout of Gonzalez is special and should be knockout of the year for a couple of reasons: it was true to boxing fundamentals and its mechanics made it a tough punch to land.

The best knockouts and knockdowns, I think, teach lessons to fighters about boxing fundamentals. When Joe Frazier threw a left hook and knocked down Muhammad Ali, he reminded everyone that a fighter should never lead from the outside with a right uppercut. (Evander Holyfield reviewed this lesson when he knocked out Buster Douglas in 1990.) Penalosa’s shot also taught a lesson. He showed all southpaw fighters how a counter left to the body can beat a straight right hand. The shot he landed is a picture that can be put in any textbook of boxing and therefore is a much better knockout than any eight, ten, or twelve round beat down of a faded ex-champion.

The mechanics of this punch also give it the potential to be knockout of the year. A liver shot is much easier for a conventional fighter to land. His lead hand is right there ready to rip to the body. He can throw a one-two-hook to the body. Or he can counter a right hand with it. For a southpaw it is harder because the hand that throws the punch is much farther away from the target than a conventional fighter’s left. That extra distance should give the fighter receiving that punch an extra moment to block, to brace himself, or to get out of there.

But Gonzalez wasn’t able to do any of those things. Penalosa’s technique on that shot was brilliant and makes him a candidate for knockout of the year.

As for fighter of the year, well, maybe I am overstating the case a bit, but because Penalosa is 35 and we do have over four months of great fights left, I will honor him by saying as of this date, he is my fighter of the year. He is a former junior bantamweight champion and current bantamweight champion without the combination punching usually needed to succeed in either weight class. Instead, he waits for his opponent to make a mistake and makes him pay. In March, he turned Ponce De Leon’s head into a speed bag; this month, he turned Gonzalez’s body into a punching bag. A veteran fighter with smarts, good technique, and a relaxed demeanor in the ring, Penalosa is as good a fighter as someone in his division at his age can be.

There are other candidates for 2007 fighter of the year, sure. Miguel Cotto has beaten Oktay Urkal and Zab Judah. But we can’t make a decision on him until after he faces Shane Mosley. Mosley, too, is in the mix with his win over Luis Collazo but I will wait until after the Cotto bout to settle on him. Ricky Hatton has had a good year beating Juan Urango and Jose Luis Castillo. But in December comes the big test against Floyd Mayweather. Mayweather, with his show-biz victory over De La Hoya, can win it, too. How about Juan Manuel Marquez and Manny Pacquiao? Since they aren’t fighting each other, they are not in the mix. So, if the year ended today, my vote would go to Gerry Penalosa. But judging from the above, it looks like either Hatton or Mayweather will get it, depending on how good the winner of that fight looks.

But there is one way Penalosa can pull it out. If he can get a rematch with Ponce De Leon and beat this guy (again), he is the man, he is the fighter of the year. If that happens, he may become the unlikeliest fighter of the year since Glen Johnson. And all that means is it could happen.

Maybe I’m overstating Penalosa’s case in this piece, but as I pointed out back in April, when the controversy over his loss to Ponce De Leon was raging, he may not have lost a fight since he was under the age of twenty. The four losses to Cho and Tokuyama occurred in those fighters’ home countries and were really, really close – I’m talking “one round different on one card changes the result” close. His loss to Ponce De Leon was a head scratcher to many. Outside of Bernard Hopkins, I can’t think of another current fighter who could say he hasn’t been decisively beaten in over ten years.

And that’s just another reason to give him his due in 2007.

http://www.maxboxing.com/conway/conway081507.asp

The First Time in a Long Time That I...

2007-03-02T00:05:00.000+08:00

...ate dinner together with the family.
...washed dishes.
...went home the same day I went to work.
...spoke to and with someone fully awake, not half-asleep.
...experienced rush hour.
...felt the breeze of dusk going home, not the breeze of dawn.
...paid normal trike rates, instead of the special night rates.
...didn't have to wake the village security guard.
...didn't ring the doorbell to enter the house.
...was welcomed by someone at the door.

First Week SIGH!

2006-11-23T00:35:00.000+08:00

Monday: Wasted the entire morning waiting for the MC head to give his welcome speech. Left for Subic after lunch with an experienced associate, met with the client, went back home by myself. Total time on the road: 8 hours. Total time in Subic: 1 hour.

Tuesday: Left for Subic in the morning, "work" in the afternoon. Became a one-man-audit-team. Got lost while looking for the staff house.

Wednesday: Another day of "work". Again, one-man-audit-team. Went back home in the evening.

Thursday: Self-declared day-off. Much needed (and wanted) quality time with Mym in the a.m. Oath taking at PICC and testimonial dinner in the p.m.

Friday: Back to Subic, then "work". Hopefully, with an experienced associate this time.

Saturday: "Work", then go back home.

Sunday: Inventory count.

Repeat.

First Day SIGH!

2006-11-08T20:52:00.000+08:00

Haaaaay...

The "PITYPASS" Phenomenon of the PRC

2006-11-02T23:26:00.000+08:00

pit·y·pass (ptps) -n. a common yet peculiar event that takes place in licensure examinations whereby one receives the exact passing grade, not more nor less, despite a poor performance. -v. to do the act of a pitypass.

I recently got the results of the exam from PRC because it's part of the requirements for applying. And I'm man enough to admit, I was pitypassed in one subject. I'm not surprised though, I didn't exactly burn any brows or bag any eyes, as mentioned in the previous entry.

You ask, what is this "pitypass" that you speak of?

Actually, this is a frequent occurence in licensure examinations. The reason you haven't heard of this word is because it is commonly known as the "curve," an inexplicable and unimaginable force that magically increases the passing rate. Pitypassers are the beneficiaries of this so-called "curve."

Exam takers are told that there are only three outcomes of every exam, namely, passed, conditionally passed and failed so as not to stress them out from any unnecessary worry, or any meaningless facts that would occupy braincells that should be used for the exam. In reality, there are 6 levels that a board/bar taker will fall under with regard to the results:

Topnotcher - If your name is on the shorter AND on the longer list of names.
Almost Topnotcher - If you only need less than one percentage point to reach the last spot. In this recent CPA board exams, those occupying the 11th-20th spots automatically qualify since the PRC did not include them on the list.
Ordinary Passer - All grades higher than the passing grade.
Pitypasser - At least one grade exactly the same as the passing grade.
Conditional Passer
Absolute failure

Pitypassers are further grouped into two: pure and partial. At first, I didn't believe in such stratification but I know of someone, let's call her Rich Ann to protect her privacy, who saw someone with a grade of 75 in ALL subjects. Either he's one lucky bastard or he's a pure pitypasser. There are also others, like me, the partials who just pitypassed one or two subjects.

Admitting to a pitypass does not justify the mediocrity of the exam taker, nor does it devalue the title of a bona fide passer. Admitting to it is just like admitting you're gay: obvious, irrelevant, and no one really cares. The truth is, being a pitypasser has no effect but that of a useless statistic, just some random trivia, a story that will just be told over and over from one exam taker to another until fading away to obscurity in the passing of time.

Being one isn't something to be ashamed of. In fact, I'm even happy about it because there are things far worse than being pitypassed. And from experience, the level of relief experienced by a pitypasser is considerably higher than that of an ordinary passer.

My name is momonyak... and I'm a pitypasser.

C.P.A.H.U.R.R.A.Y!

2006-10-29T21:22:00.000+08:00

Una sa lahat, congrats to each and everyone of my batchmates. 100%. We left no one behind. And also to UP-Diliman in general. Obviously, 98% isn't a hundred, but we'll take it. To the topnotchers, saludo ako sa inyo. I always make it a point to tell people that the topnotchers were just an arm's length away from where I sat in the review. Hehe.

Now that the boards are finished, I wish I could say what the others are saying, that they're glad to have their lives back but I can't. In the first place, I never really had a drastic change in schedule. I never really studied seriously 5 months into the review. One week to go and I still studied 2 hours a day and slept at 11. I still surfed the net and watched TV. I still went out to see Ros. My parents gave me this advice: Put your life on hold, at least after the board exams. I'm sorry but I disobeyed them. Life's too precious to put on hold. Even if only for six months, even if it's for the boards. If it sounds a bit arrogant, it's not me talking, blame it on the euphoria of passing.

Looking back, reminiscing the exam, I realized that I was either brave or stupid or bravely stupid. This is because I took MS and P2 without knowing certain topics by heart. The night before MS, I told my self while studying, "Screw this, I'll just wing it tomorrow." Luckily, MS was relatively manageable. But I was stressed out from worrying, and I vowed to not let this happen again the following weekend. Not surpisingly, the same thing happened with P2, I took the exam without knowing how to compute for EUP, FIFO costing, spoilage, etc. I just prayed for at least 30 sure items.

"The review really doesn't help you. Your undergrad will determine the outcome of the board exam." My father gave this piece of advice before I started the review at CPAR. When I heard it, I was like, "Oh shiyet! Patay tayo dyan!" Basura undergrad ko e, so I was really banking on the powers of the (in)famous Valix and Guerrero Tag Team. You know what? He was right. Honestly speaking, only 20-40% of the review was actually used in the actual exam. To my batchmates, how much of the review helped you? I mean, really help you? And don't say 100%, you don't have to suck up and kiss Sir Valix's ass anymore since you already passed. The truth is, the benefit derived from the review is incremental to what you already know. It's either you know it or you don't. AGAIN, I would like to disclaim, if it seems arrogant, it's not me talking, it's the euphoria of passing.

For others, to become a CPA is a dream, it is an end, something to achieve, a goal that is set to be reached, the final destination, but I realized that for UP and for some students, becoming one isn't a dream, it's just a means of reaching a dream, a stepping stone, a road that would lead to something greater.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS:

To God, Jesus of Nazarene, St. Claire, St. Jude, Our Mother of Perpetual Help for the blessings.
To my family, my sister for giving me a cash incentive for passing (a lousy thousand, but hey, it's still a thousand) my mother, for excusing me from the chores (even if she said that she looked older during my review because I didn't help her), my father for helping me appreciate the real world applications of audit theory, Mako, May and Jun, for just being there and for keeping me company at the hotel.
To Ros, who believed in me even if I didn't at times. She was never stressed with the boards because she knew for a fact that I would pass. She never had the slightest doubt. I don't know if its blind faith or simply love, but thanks (I have a feeling it's love, though)
To The Contemporary Hotel in Araneta Avenue for my accommodations though I didn't have the chance to use the pool, and the sisig and the pancit canton tasted the same.
To my musical inspiration during the review, Johnny Cash. Please listen to Hurt, Help Me and When the Man Comes Around.
To Yhca, for helping me overcome my mental block a few minutes before the exam by telling me when to accrue interest when computing for loan impairment and for telling me what AD meant in the formula for EOQ.
To my batchmates, for the 100%. Kitakits na lang siguro.

Time to move on.

BATA is the World 8-Ball Champion!

2006-09-11T14:29:00.000+08:00

As the champion, he gets $500,000 or roughly P25,000,000. Wow. Though there's still minus 30% tax of Las Vegas and another 20% Philippine tax on the winnings. But still, it's a lot of money. He can retire and live the rest of his life in luxury. Of course, he won't do that. In fact, when he comes back, he'll immediately head to Japan for another tournament.

Congratulations Bata! We're proud of you!

PINOYS - 1st World Cup of Pool Champs

2006-08-29T22:11:00.000+08:00

Congrats to Bata and Django! Grabe na naman tong mga idol ko! Champion! The Philippines emerged victorious in PartyPoker.com's Inaugural World Cup of Pool. They took home the trophy and $60,000 (~P3M).

The top-seeded Pinoys defeated 3rd seed Strickland and Morris of USA, 13-5. Just imagine what the other teams felt when facing these two masters. I'm sure it's just between fear or admiration, or both. And the audience was for the Filipinos, given the fact that there are many kababayans in Wales.

Bring pool domination back to the Philippines!

OMG!

2006-08-01T22:22:00.000+08:00

Wow, grabe talaga to! Ibang klase!

Gusto mo ba malaman kung anong pinagsasasabi ko?

CLICK mo na to! DALI!

Ayoko na.

2006-07-23T18:24:00.000+08:00

I'm tired. I want to stop. I need to stop...

So stressed, so drained, so exhausted. I just want to give up. It's not fun anymore, actually it never was. I'm not happy with what I'm doing. I having nightmares every night and I wake up every morning breaking out in a cold sweat. I have trouble breathing, my chest hurts. It feels like the world is closing in on me. The pressure is too much to handle.

How can the others take this inhumanity? Am I alone? Day in, day out I am experiencing this unending wave of exhaustion and desperation. This has got to be the closest thing to purgatory on earth, neither in hell nor in heaven, waiting to be sentenced by the heartless and merciless accounting examiners.

There's only one thing that I can do. I have to take matters into my own hands. This has to end. Right here, right now. To the others, be strong...

I'm leaving this sadistic abyss of torture...

... for 30 minutes to eat. Kailangan ko lang ng merienda, kayo naman o. Ano ba akala nyo? Ang sakit na rin ng pwet ko sa kakaupo e. Anyway, sorry kung may na-offend sa pic, alam ko naman kung gano kaseryoso ang bagay na yan.

Honestly though, and surprisingly, I am enjoying the review. Masaya naman e. Nakakatamad nga lang, at nakakapagod din. Ambabastos kasi ng ibang reviewers e, tsaka daming cute sa CPAR, pero di sing-cute ng nasa 61 Almaciga (oh yeah! galing bumawi, it's an art form, FYI, address to ni Ros) Anyway, gayahin ko na lang yung iba na di muna magkukuwento ng mga pangyayari sa review. Buti pa si Jay at si Joy, may na-blog na ng konti. Balik aral na ulit, malapit na preboards. Good luck!

Actually, kasalanan ng rabbit namin e, kinalmot ako. Sa tingin ko gumaganti lang, pinagtitripan ko kasi minsan. Reciprocal cruelty to an animal.

On another note, Jack Black fan pala ako, primarily because of his music. He's the other half of Tenacious D. Kaya gusto ko panoorin yung "Nacho Libre" kahit according to Mak and Janrich, basura ang trailer. Well, I don't care. Pero nakakainis kasi di ako sinama ng kapatid ko manood. At least inuwian nya ko ng Nacho Libre mask. Okay naman daw, though medyo na-influence ko sya kay Jack Black. Yung isang kilala ko naman, sabi nya funny naman daw. Pero Jack Black fan din. So hindi rin objective.

Baka panoorin ko this Sunday, after preboards. Maghahanap muna ako ng kasama, ayaw kasi ni Ros e. Kung ako biased FOR JB, sya biased naman AGAINST JB. Naturn-off siguro sa mga "Shut up! Fuck you! You fuckin' dick!" at "And then I'll fuckin fuck you discreetly..." lyrics ng mga songs nila (na lagi ko namang pinapatugtog).

On a final note, here's a first look at my all-time favorite Marvel character. 2007 seems so far away. It feels like a year from now. Hehe. This looks like the bell tower scene where Eddie Brock first encountered the symbiote that would make them turn into Venom! Acutally, many people are complaining why Topher Grace (Eric Foreman of That 70's) is playing the role. In the comics and the animated series, Eddie Brock is huge, like a body-builder. For me, it's better because it's more realistic. Is there a journalist/reporter who looks like Arnold Swarzenegger? Anyway, the symbiote theoretically would enhance the physical characteristics of its host, so it may be possible that he'll grow some mass afterwards.

Heat Win First Title

2006-06-21T15:32:00.000+08:00

Congrats!

Please Lord, isa na lang.

2006-06-19T13:39:00.000+08:00

Okay, so the Miami Heat are up 3-2 against Dallas. They won earlier today. Buti may TV sa bus. OMG, ang saya ko. But of course, I'm in no mood of celebrating just yet. The next two games will be in Dallas and with the suspension of Stack and the questionable calls, the Mavs are all fired up.

Anyway, the Heat have the chance for a title for the first time in franchise history. Only one more win. Let's just take it one game at a time. Hopefully, they can close it out in Dallas.

What if the Heat will lose 2 straight? Pwede ba yun? Pwede di ba? E di iyak na lang.

P.S. To those who are questioning the call on the last play, here's the proof. Though it was called on Irk (or Jirk) Nowitzki, it was still a foul.

Please Lord, isa na lang.

2006-05-30T14:13:00.000+08:00

Okay, so the Miami Heat are up 3-1 against Detroit. They won earlier today. OMG, ang saya ko. But of course, I'm in no mood of celebrating just yet. This is Detroit we're talking about. The Destroyer of Dreams, the Holocaust of Hope of my teams. If you may remember, they convincingly defeated the Four Horsemen of the Lakers. They also defeated the Miami Heat last year in the conference finals.

When Shaq left the Lakers, my loyalty shifted from West to East. I became a certified Heat fan. I admit that I was a Shaq fan at first, but now, I'm all Heat. And mind you, I didn't join the Heat bandwagon. I'm not saying that it's wrong but the others only became fans when they were good, like what happened with the Clippers this season. The fanbase increased tenfold when they entered the 2nd round. However, I was a fan from the moment Shaq joined the team. Now, my fanaticism is stronger than ever.

Anyway, they have a chance to enter the Finals for the first time in franchise history. Only one more win. I'm not thinking about the Finals yet. Let's just take it one game at a time. Hopefully, they can close it out in Detroit.

What if the Heat will lose 3 straight? Pwede ba yun? Pwede di ba? E di gagawin ko na lang yung ginagawa ko everytime matalo yung kampi ko: Umiyak.

I Know What I Did This Summer

2006-05-28T13:49:00.000+08:00

It's just fitting to recap my summer on the last day of vacation, i.e. the day before the start of the CPA board review. I can classify the things I did into two categories, major and minor.

MAJOR

Moving - From Pasig to LPC. I think we've adjusted pretty well. I still can't believe that garbage collection is only once a week, as opposed to Pasig's everyday.
Puerto Galera 1 - My second time in Galera. Went with college friends. Please see the blogs of Crystle and Loraine for the details of this trip.
Puerto Galera 2 - My third time in Galera, second time this summer. Went with HS friends and Ros. Please visit Ros' blo g for more information.

MINOR
This involves the small stuff like reading Clancy's Rainbow Six and Grisham's The Testament, watching Miami defeat the Bulls and the Nets (and hopefully, Detroit and Dallas), sleeping, surfing the net, feeding the fish (too many to mention), Raymond the guinea pig (because everybody loves Raymond) and Apu the rabbit, cleaning my room, watching Taylor Hicks win AI, etcetera shmetcetera.

Good luck to the reviewees and may God bless us all.

Ma, Happy Mother's Day.

2006-05-14T20:46:00.000+08:00

For everything you've given up.

Picture courtesy of PostSecret.

Time to Move On

2006-04-26T00:01:00.000+08:00

5 years. How fast time flies.

I still remember my first experience here. Half a decade ago. Scared, uncertain, unfamiliar. And worse, the pain of leaving the place I called home was still fresh.

Through the years, like any other experience, there were ups and downs. Birthdays, victories and holidays were celebrated. There were sleepless nights, desperate moments and regrets. But I managed to handle it, thanks to a number of special people who surrounded me to whom I am eternally grateful.

Good memories, bad memories, eventually, the bad ones would fade away and all that's left for us to reminisce would be those that would make us smile.

And now I'm leaving. I'm saying good bye. I'm not complaining, though I wouldn't mind staying a bit longer. Honestly, I didn't think that this would happen so soon. But it did.

So it's time to move on. Time to close one chapter in the book of life and open another one. Time to embrace new experiences and face new challenges. Time to say good bye...

Good bye Pasig! Hello Other-Side-of-the-World!

A week from now, I'll be officially a former Pasigeño. I just started packing right after grad. See, I'm still holding the sablay. I realized something from packing and I don't know whether to laugh or cry, but I can fit my life in three small boxes. One for school, another for the clothes and a catch-all box. There's another box, the trash box which is bigger than all three combined.

I also realized another thing: I'm a good packer, in fact, I'm a great packer. I can pack all day long. Tiring, yes but the feeling after packing is great. Haha.

On another note...

To the Class of 2006... Wear sunscreen. Hehe. Joke lang. Congrats graduates!

May God have mercy on our souls.

A Las Flores De Univ Ave

2006-04-25T22:45:00.000+08:00

Grabe, nagpapacute na naman 'tong babaeng 'to sakin. Hehe. Kala mo ikaw lang? Ako rin!

untitled05: Post-123

2006-04-03T23:21:00.000+08:00

From PostSecret.

One Day in Megamall...

2006-03-08T21:59:00.000+08:00

My future ex-wives.

Scenes from the ASG '06

2006-02-21T20:41:00.000+08:00

Diesel and Flash 2

Let bygones be bygones.

I'm not a big fan but four players to the ASG? Impressive.Kobe and Jay-Z
The Answer and Nellie
I'm an inch taller than the one jumping and 3 inches taller than the one standing. Both are slam dunk champions.
PG for a night.
Shaq with his PSP.

Flash and Diesel

2006-01-07T23:55:00.000+08:00

untitled03: For '06

2005-12-27T23:17:00.000+08:00

John Milton was a failure.

In writing Paradise Lost, his aim was to "justify the ways of God to men." Inevitably, he fell short and wrote only a monumental poem. Beethoven, whose music was conceived to transcend fate, was a failure, as was Socrates, whose ambition was to make people happy by making them reasonable and just. The surest, noblest way to fail is to set one's standards titanically high.

The flip side of that proposition also seems true. The surest way to succeed is to keep one's striving low. Many people, by external standards, will be "successes." They will own homes, eat in better restaurants, dress well and, in some instances, perform socially useful work. Yet fewer people are putting themselves on the line, making as much of their minds and talents as they might.

Frequently, success is what people settle for when they can't think of something noble enough to be worth failing at.

-Laurence Shames, in the New York Times, quoted in Feb. 1990 Reader's Digest

I Finally Feel the Spirit of Christmas...

2005-12-11T21:38:00.000+08:00

Nanakaw wallet at cellphone ko.

When was the Last Time You Did Something the First Time the Last Time

2005-12-02T00:29:00.000+08:00

a.k.a. The Grad Pic Pics
First of all, I would like to express my concern and surprise because no one blogged about this event. I thought that this was supposed to be a big deal for graduating students. Isn't this part of the "Things to Do before Graduating" Checklist? I checked mine and found the entry "Grad Pic Day" between "Filing Application for Grad" and "Desecrating Sunken Garden." Maybe it was a big deal but not too big a deal for blogging. Consider my case, half a month has passed before I commemorated that day in this forsaken blog.

Anyway, the moment's highlight would have to be the creative shot. No other word has a gap so wide in the literal and the actual. Before anything else, I would like to apologize in advance for keser-izing this topic. Moving on, the creative shot concept may have two schools of thought. First, your creative shot should reflect who you are in life, or at the very least, who you are in college. It could also show your hobbies, your dreams, your fantasy. Of course, what better way to immortalize yourself, than the creative shot in the yearbook. For example, and mind you, these are actual examples, to show the world how proud she is of her origin, Springplum dressed up as, for lack of better term, something Chinese-y. Melodymaker, on the otherhand, had a musical motif. And the winner, the person who best describes this thought, is none other than Jan D'Man, who dressed up as a fireman (kasi mahilig siya sa bomba... sshh, secret to ha?)

The second school of thought regarding the creative shot would have to be the opposite of the first. Be someone who you're not. Be someone out of character. Be someone who would make your friends go, "Tsong, sino yun?" This is the only time you can do something stupid, something different or something new without getting jailed, frowned upon or stoned. This is what I did.

Someone asked me if I was sure with what I was doing, or maybe I'll regret it a few years from now. Well, I don't really care what people will think of that shot. For me, the journey is more important. I enjoyed that day and I exprienced things that I'll never have the chance to experience again. And it's worth it, whatever the outcome may be.

I would like to acknowledge my PA for that day. I couldn't have pulled it off without you. Thanks for being my cook, driver, propsperson, maid, make-up consultant, etc.

P.S. A new record, a whole month without an entry.

untitled02

2005-11-01T21:40:00.000+08:00

A random post, the reason still unclear. Either I have nothing else to write about or I just want to see the month of November in my archives. I apologize.

Nakita ko yung pics na to sa kakasurf sa mga message boards:

And of course, the antagonist:

Natuwa ako masyado.
Enjoy the break!

The October 28 Deadline

2005-10-27T08:04:00.000+08:00

Grabe, bukas na submission para sa yearbook, ang Guilder Annual. Pero instead na gumawa or magpagawa, dito pa rin ako tumitingin ng por... celain figurines na ipapangregalo ko sana this Christmas (whew, lusot!) haha. Anyway, kailangan magsubmit ng:

Write-up
Moniker
One-liner

May mga ideas na pero syempre wala pang definite. Ganon naman yata talaga e, unsure ka pa talaga hanggang sa last moment ng pagsend. Yung bagay na magpapaconvince sayo na okay na yun ay yung fact na na-email mo na at di mo na mababawi.

Write-up
Gusto ko sana unique. Pero di sobrang unique to the point of OA. Yung maaalala ng tao. Actually, naaalala ko pa nga yung isang write-up 2 years ago. Lyrics ng Mr. Swave yung nilagay nya. Haha. Either ang galing nya or ang tamad nya.. Unique sana ang write-up na financial statements tulad ng balance sheet or income statement, with matching disclosures pa! Pero di ko yata type nun dahil di yata kasya sa space allotted. At syempre, ang baduy e. Naisip ko rin yung one word write-up. Angas! Haha, pero naisip ko uli, either too brilliant or too stupid ang gagawa nito. Isa pang idea yung parang tombstone: "Here lies MOMON, a good son, a kind friend and a compassionate person." Shet! Pano nagkasya apat na tao sa libingan! [sarcasm]Wow.[/sarcasm] Oh well, may isang araw pa.

Buti pa nung highschool, walang ganito. By ganito, I mean, yearbook.

Kailan kaya deadliest deadline?

One Less Thorn in My Heart

2005-10-23T02:10:00.000+08:00

I woke up last Saturday knowing that there would only be two possible outcomes at the end of the day.

1-Officially, my semester is finished;
2-Officially, my life is finished.

Number 2 may seem too dramatic for a subject to nonBA students but there is really no other way to describe it. Like any other major accounting subject, BA 118 could really change the course of your life.

Kahit Tr3s Lang
When I retook the subject, I had no intention of making friends or bonding with classmates. I just wanted to get a 3 and get it over with. Being serious is a must. This is the last 118. How can I laugh when I know for a fact that failure = delay? Staying focused is key. No frills. Zero distractions. I vowed to leave this subject with a passing grade only, nothing more, nothing less.

However, I realized something during the final exam. Over the course of the semester, these people have grown on me. Now, I not only see them as friends but as family. We share the same pain, the same frustrations, the same fears, the same hopes and dreams. They were in my prayers.

I know I left BA 118 with more than a 3.

Acknowledgements

The CBA Admin, for offering the final 118 class.
Ma'am Demi, for giving us leverage and yet taking it away in the finals, thanks nevertheless.
Sir Peds, I know most only deserve a second chance. Thanks for the 3rd.
Those with words of inspiration through text, personal or tagboard, specifically or collectively, you have no idea how much it means.
Mym, thanks for the threat.
My fellow 11h8ers/kahit_tr3s_langers/tr3s_lang_ang_habol_koers, if I had the chance to choose my classmates in this class... I'd choose creamy girls. But you'll do. Thanks. Mwah!

God bless us all in our final sem.

I Never Cease to Amaze Myself...

2005-10-15T01:04:00.000+08:00

during times like these. 10 pages (double-spaced of course, I'm no Superman) in 2 hours! Never misunderestimate the power of barb-ology. I know many of you can relate. Haha. The last time I barb-alized this severe was last summer, a 10 page final paper on Philosophy of Sports.

One more exam to go then I'm free! Until the start of second sem, that is.

I know, a useless update.

LOTR Quiz

2005-10-12T13:46:00.000+08:00

Well, break muna sa 118 kaya gagawa na lang ako ng bagong entry. Na-inspire to kay Chocky na nakuha nya kay Ma'am AA.

Anyway, hindi talaga ako mahilig sa mga blogthings, yung mga quizzes, how weird are you, what animal are you, personality tests, birthday etc. Walang sense e. Nagagawan ng basis ang pagkatao mo using 4-5 questons. Sige, kung 100 questions siguro maniniwala pa ako. In other words, hindi totoo at hindi rin credible. Oo na, inaamin ko, kinekeser ko. Alam kong for the sake of fun lang naman.

So bakit ako bumigay sa LOTR Character Quiz na to? Kasi may potential e. Haha. Technically, hindi nga ako bumigay. Feeling ko kasi kulang yung mga characters sa quiz. At hindi maayos ang character descriptions. If ever itetake ko yun, eto siguro yung results ko:

Naalala ko tuloy, may inasar ako dati. Tinawag ko syang hobbit. Tapos sabi nya orc ako.

Haha, ang deep ng sa Ringwraith. Finally, eto siguro sakin:

Marketing Plan

2005-10-09T08:41:00.000+08:00

For the 1st time, I went to the market by myself. I usually go with my mother but she's somewhere in Surigao right now, on a vacation. I bought 2 kilos of liempo, a kilo of clams and some veggies.
I've always admired my mother's marketing skills. Like all mothers, she knows what's fresh just by looking at it. And smelling it. And touching it. I tried it with liempo. I wish I could say that I had a Matrix moment just like when Neo was resurrected and saw the code for the 1st time. I didn't. Every piece of meat felt the same, smelled the same and looked the same. Piece of meat... Heh.
Nung naghahanap na ko ng karne, tinawag ako ng tindera. Sabi nya, "O, suki! Bili na!" Gusto ko sana sabihin, "Hayop ka, ngayon lang ako namalengke."
To increase customer value (mine), a company (meat stall) must determine where it can gain competitive advantage in its value chain. In this case, the meat stalls have the same supplier and the same product. So...
I bought from the stall with the second-best customer service. They were very helpful, giving me tips and letting me choose the meat.
The stall with the best customer service was the one who called out to me, "POGI, bili ka!" Yun naman! Telling the customers what they want to hear... panalo! Too bad they were selling fish.

Whatchatink?

2005-10-06T13:52:00.000+08:00

Mymah!

2005-10-04T22:04:00.000+08:00

What's better than four years of love?

A lifetime.

The TRUE UAAP 2005 Cheerdance Champions

2005-09-18T09:17:00.000+08:00

I was shocked to the very marrow of my bones when they announced the winners. It was an outrage. I didn't even believe it at first. Surely there was cheating. There has to be. If none, then has the world gone mad? It was so evident, the winner was so obvious. I even thought that it was only a battle for second place since it was so clear who would emerge victorious. Maybe the judges were bribed... blackmailed even or worse, threatened for their dear lives. Or maybe they were so blinded by the 3-peat to see the true champions. There must be some logical, real-world explanation that would rationalize this injustice. The real winners were robbed and I sincerely feel the grief and the disappointment.

The true champions deserved to win because of their grace and skill. Only one group defied the norm. Only one squad was brave enough to perform FOR the audience, and not whore themselves to the judges and the sponsors. I will forever commend and stand by the only team brave enough, confident enough and courageous enough to...

...wear skirts! Woohoo! Go Ateneo Blue Babble Battalion! I think the last time I've seen this many legs as creamy as these (apparently, grammar escapes me when I get this excited) in one location was during Janrich's birthday when he served Chicken Pastel. Haha.

Oh yeah, UP, good job, well done for placing 3rd... or was it 2nd? I don't remember.

Photos courtesy of Aaron Vicencio.

I'll be back when September ends...

2005-09-16T22:23:00.000+08:00

The final stretch of the sem... two weeks na lang at matatapos na. Pero feeling ko mga 40% pa lang ang naaaccomplish ko. So may two weeks ako para i-cram ang remaining 60%: law paper, marketing plan, exams, finals, 118...

Sobrang proud ako sa sarili ko sa surprise quiz kanina sa Law. Hindi ako nagbasa e, kasi nawawala yung Nego book ko at wala akong xerox ng Trust Receipts. Pero napuno ko ang isang yellow pad. Grabe, the power of barbs. Haha, pinulot ko sa hangin yung mga sagot. As expected, wala akong tinama. Proud pa rin, nevertheless.

Once pa lang ako nakapanood ng cheering. Nung freshman. Syempre, excited e. Feel na feel pa ang pagka-isko. At yun yung last year na 1st ang UP. Kaya memorable. At yun na rin yung last ko. Anyway, good luck UP Pep!

Congrats sa UPCBA Finex Team! 1st sa Division, 3rd Overall. Good luck sa Finals sa September 27. In the words of Jan D'Man, "We support you!"

Finex Trivia: Inverse ang relationship ng Finex at UAAP basketball ng Lasalle. Pag champion sa basketball, talo sa Finex. Pag champion sa Finex, hindi sa basketball... Go Green Archers! Haha, joke lang. FEU ako. Astig ng sponsor e. Puro 2K5s at Jordan Xs.

Well, mukhang failure ang aking 1st attempt sa isang diary type entry. Naging random thoughts na lang.

Kurimao ng BA*

2005-09-14T00:26:00.000+08:00

*a.k.a Hoodlum ng Pip Yir, Jokot ng JPIA, Berdugo ng Block Y, *EDIT*-Mandurugas ng Marketing (haha!)

Hindi ko alam kung bakit ko ginawa ang entry na to. Closure siguro. Kakatapos lang kasi namin ng Marketing case kanina e. Yun na yung last report ko for the sem. May isa pa sila, BA 191. Yung pic pala nung report sa Law last month, ngayon ko lang na-post. Astig no? Kala mo gradball. Haha. Sa classroom nga lang. Kinulang kasi ng substance ang report e, kaya daanin na lang sa form. Apparently, kinulang din.

Anyway, grabe yung marketing kanina. Wala man lang karea-reaction si Lolo Domeng. Kaya minsan nakakawalang gana. Nahuli ko pa nga siyang natulog e. Kung di pa sya magising sa picture nya, ewan ko na lang.

Mukha raw kaming prof dito. Well, let's face it, pip yir na tayo. Tanders na. Pwede na maging tatay. In the words of Captain Barbossa in the movie "Pirates of the Carribean" after he was shot at the exact moment the curse was lifted: "I feel... so... old..." Ang drama.

Nakita ng ate ko yung pic. Eto comments nya:
-Pinaka-cute (daw): Jan D'Man
-Best Dressed: Jacob Da Lida and Charlie X
Haha, so much for flesh and blood.
-Mukhang Manyak: Many to mention. Haha, joke lang. Inimbento ko lang to. Baka may masaktan. Baka kasi gusto nyang solohin ang title. Disclaimer: wala akong pinapatamaan, for the sake of humor lang.

Good luck sa UPCBA Finex Team! Ana S., Mak, Jill, Jaemi, Lynne, you can do it! God bless!

1-2-3 Pinoy Punch!

2005-09-11T11:57:00.000+08:00

I couldn't have been more proud.

The Filipino boxers were a perfect 3-of-3 from the ring today at Staples Center. What a series of fortunate events! Ray "Boom Boom" Bautista was the first Filipino to fight. FYI, he got his nickname from Ray "Boom Boom" Mancini, an American boxer some decades ago. He downed his opponent in three rounds. My father was exceptionally proud because Bautista is from Cebu City and believes that the best fighters are from Cebu. Manny "PacMan" Pacquiao stopped Hector Velazquez by technical knockout in the sixth round of a scheduled 12-round super featherweight bout. It was also an exciting bout. PacMan's speed and power is unparalleled. However, his much-anticipated rematch with Morales is in question because of the latter's loss.

I would have to say that my favorite would be when Brian Viloria knocked out Eric Ortiz in the first round to win the WBC light flyweight championship. Viloria hails from Ilocos and is now based in Hawaii. It was an extraordinary victory since it was a first round knock-out in a championship match. Viloria is definitely a classy fighter. He dedicated this fight to Ruben Contreras, a boxer who had a seizure, went into a coma and had surgery after fighting him last May. I was deeply touched by the fact that Vilario acknlowdges that he is from the Philippines. He had patch of the Philippine flag on his shorts. When he won, he draped the Philippine flag over his shoulders. In his speech, in Tagalog, he first thanked the Filipinos.

This couldn't have come at a better time. This is just what we need to get past the political brouhaha plaguing the country. I already mentioned this a few articles back so I won't go over it again. All I can say is it's moments like these that make me proud to be Pinoy.

untitled01

2005-09-06T11:34:00.000+08:00

The Mystery of the Floating Glasses

2005-08-28T16:06:00.000+08:00

Nakakainis. Nahigaan ko na naman. 210 lbs of pure muscle. And by muscle, I mean fat. Ganoon naman lagi e: nahigaan, nadaganan, naupuan. At everytime na mangyari yun, pinapangako ko na hinding hindi na mauulit. Well, after four pairs and seven lenses, nothing's changed.

However, kakaibang case to. Usually kasi, yung lens nababasag. Ngayon, instead na yung lens, yung frame nagkaproblema. Na-detach completely sa glasses. Kailangan ko talaga ng assistance sa mata kasi bulag ako so may two options: suotin ang glasses with the missing part or magcontact lens. E mahapdi mata ko pag contacts so, glasses it is.

Anyway, one day, nakasakay ako sa jeep pauwi na from school. Naalala ko, Thursday yun kasi kakarelease lang ng tax exam e. Yung mama sa harap ko tingin ng tingin sa salamin ko. E naka-side view ako kasi nakatitig ako sa harap ng jeep so nakikita lang niya yung side na walang earpiece. Bewildered would be the most appropriate word. Di niya mafigure out kung bakit nakalutang lang yung salamin. Haha. Magic. Parang Morpheus-shades style prescription eyewear.

If anyone has an idea on how to connect two small pieces of metal aside from soldering or Mighty Bond, please help, else you'll be seeing more of the mystery of the floating glasses.

*****
PS
Old: adidas acquired Reebok.
New: Jollibee acquired Red Ribbon.
*****
PPS
Bakit 210? Kakaubos ko lang ng half ng 14" (so 7"?) New York's Finest.

Desensitivity Analysis

2005-08-22T19:34:00.000+08:00

The sensitivity I'm referring to isn't the opposite of what we studied in BA 182 and 117. The sensitivity I'm referring to is different. It's the ability of an organism to respond to external stimuli. Hence, desensitivity is the abscence of that ability.

I have always thought that I am nearly, fully desensitized. This is due to the fact that I was exposed to certain "stimuli" at a young age. With the power of high-speed internet (at that time, cable was high-speed) and the even more powerful curiousity of the prepubertal male, I have seen things not normally seen, from mundane throat-slashing to the surprising head-got-chopped-off-and-brain-scattered-because-of-helicopter-propeller. I even frequent this website that offered not only pictures and videos but also commentaries (not rotten.com, it's too shallow). Like a normal person, my initial reaction was that of disgust and skepticism. If it was too gross, it was photoshopped. But later on, as I saw more and more monstrocities, I began to accept the fact that a human being can do it/ it can be done to a human being.

I thought I've seen it all. I'm not usually bothered by blood, guts, decomposition, amputated appendages, etc. Whenever I see something bothersome, I just dismiss it, as if it's something I see everyday. Well, my arrogance got the best of me.

Let's just say that there are just some things that you can't prepare for. Things that when you see or remember, it would give you goosebumps and coldsweat, the exact same feeling the first time you experienced something disturbing.

Welcome to Miami, Antoine!

2005-08-19T20:34:00.000+08:00

Ang aga no? Wala pa ngang -ber months, NBA news na agad. Tagal pa ng start ng regular season. Heat kasi e, kaya dapat talaga i-keser. Sa mga non-NBA fans, next update na lang.

The NBA's deadline for teams to take advantage of the NBA's amnesty clause -- a one-time provision provided by the new Collective Bargaining Agreement allowing teams to waive a player and not have that player's contract count against the luxury tax.

Honestly, I really don't know what the preceding paragraph means. I even don't know how to classify luxury tax, or its tax base and rates since its not part of BA 128. The only thing I'm sure of is that it was a record-breaking trade for the NBA with 18 players involved. I'm also sure that a number of teams had significant changes in their rosters.

One of those is the Miami Heat.

After their Game 7 loss to Detroit in the Eastern Conference Finals, I felt confident that they could still go all the way next season if they didn't make drastic changes to their line-up. And the chances of pulling off a Minnesota are slim. So I was surprised to find out that they traded Eddie Jones for A.Walker, J.Williams and J.Posey. Was it a mistake? Or would this move finally get them the ring?

Walker could be an excellent small forward since he can handle the ball, pass, shoot threes and pull down his share of rebounds. However, he should be aware of his role beside Shaq and DWade. Williams is known for his playmaking and passing abilities but is erratic. He can help Flash in the backcourt but should know that Wade is the main man. Posey is a good addition defensively. Though he has some problems with his ankles, he can still contribute.

With all the new talent on this team, hopefully, Miami made the right decision.

Chivalry in the 21st Century

2005-08-11T20:06:00.000+08:00

Sa wakas. Tapos na. Uwian na. Medyo pangit ang araw mo. Medyo meaning sobrang sama. Na-late ka sa class. Na-braindrain sa case meeting. Na-mind block sa exam sa Marketing at natawag pa sa Law kung kailan hindi ka nagbasa. Ang saya. Eto yung isa sa mga araw na gusto mo na lang umuwi agad at humiga sa kama at matulog para makalimot. Pero syempre hindi pwede. Feasible pa lang ang teleportation sa sub-atomic level. So kailangan magcommute. Sira ang escalator sa MRT. Pinilahan ang deathtrap aka elevator ng MRT. Ang escalator pa naman hindi designed for walking (obviously) kaya pag dating sa taas, anlakas na ng tibok ng puso mo. Hinihingal. Tumutulo ang pawis. Eto pa, mahaba ang pila. Pati yung exact fare lane. At ang tagal bumunot ng pera ni lola sa harap.

Maraming tao na ang nag-aantay. Naiipon na. Sa sobrang pagod mo, pagdating ng tren, wala ka nang paki-alam. Tulakan na yan para maka-upo. "Tabi dyan, Lola!" Joke lang. Pero wag mo ideny na hindi mo ginamit ang laki at lakas mo para manulak at maka-upo. At pag-upo mo, sobrang sarap. Na-relieve agad ang pressure sa paa. Ang sarap ng feel ng pwet mo sa malamig na upuan. Syempre dun ka pumwesto sa bandang gitna. Malakas ang aircon dun e. Para matuyo agad ang pawis. After a while, puno na ang tren. Ready ka na matulog, kahit mabilis lang. Tulog pa rin yun. Ipipikit mo na sana ang mata mo pero bigla mong napansin si Lola na pumwesto sa harap mo. Matanda na siya. Malamang ginamit niya ang senior citizen's discount. Mukhang pagod din. May dalang bag na malaki. Mukhang mabigat. Ang tanong: would you give up your seat which you rightfully earned and justly deserve for this stranger?

Sa vast experience ko sa pagcommute sa punong bus at MRT, kineser ko na ang issue ng chivalry, specifically, giving up a seat. Iniisip mo siguro, ang kapal naman ng mukha ko. Sino ba ako para mag-alay ng upuan? Sasabihin mo sakin, "Di ko kailangan yan. Tatayo na lang ako." Pero para sa isang saleslady ng SM na nakatayo the whole day or sa isang secretary na may varicose veins, wala munang pride-pride. Anyway, ngayon, may criteria na akong naformulate, or segmentation, if you may.

1. Disabled/injured - Only the heartless can watch a man without a leg struggle to keep his balance when the train stops or accelerates.
2. The elderly - Kawawa naman sila, nilagay na nga ng anak sa Golden Acres, di pa makakaupo. Tsaka yung rayuma e.
3. Nuns - Respect. Di ko na sinama ang mga priests kasi di ko pa sila nakikita magcommute. Usually kasi di obvious e. Nakaslacks lang. Easily mistaken for a security guard or a salesman.
4. Pregnant - Imagine carrying another person for nine months.
5. May dalang bata/baby - Imagine carrying another person.

"Lola, upo kayo."

Happy Birthday Mym!

2005-08-01T22:04:00.000+08:00

Asahan mo, all birthdays.
I love you.

Memoirs of a "Manyak"

2005-07-28T10:34:00.000+08:00

Nung summer, may classmate ako sa GE subject na kaibigan ang isang PIAn, so common friend namin yun. Alam ni GE classmate na BA ako so tinanong niya si PIAn friend, "kilala mo ba si Momon?" Eto sinagot ni PIAn friend, "si Momon? Manyak yun!" Daayyuum! Ang severe na pala ng aking reputation, haha, meron pala ako in the first place. Anyway... Di ko kasi ka-batch si PIAn friend, di rin kami ganon ka-close. Alam ko naman na pa-joke lang yun. Pero jokes are half-meant and jokes are manifestations of certain truths (ever heard a joke about a father-in-law?) So syempre, natigilan ako. Pero for a second lang, dinaan ko na lang sa ngiti nung kinwento sakin yun. Gawin ko kaya sa kanya yun: "Uy, Momon, kilala mo ba si *****?" "Si *****, oo, sissyboy-faggot yun!" Sabay tawa kasi pa-joke nga naman. Tingnan natin kung di ba sya affected.

Pero kasalanan ko rin naman kung bakit ganito yung perception though di pa ako sure kung bakit naging ganito. Feel ko sa mga hirit. Dun lang naman ang basis e. Tsaka siguro word-of-mouth. Tapos nagsnowball effect na. Nakakatuwa lang naman kasi talaga e, lalo na pag with the boys. Ang vocal ko rin kasi. Lalo na pag girl-to-girl. Ako yung nagsasabi out loud ng mga iniisip naming mga lalaki. May mga bagay na dapat isaisip lang pero hinihirit ko. Naisip ko rin, ang email add ko ba ang dahilan ng ganitong perception? momonyak@yahoo? Di naman siguro, di naman conclusive e. Maraming cutie***@hotmail or ****ganda@gmail or ****pogi@yahoo na hindi naman totoo (no offense sa mga may ganitong email add)

May humirit pa nga dati na pag yung poste raw nilagyan ng panty, papatulan ko na. Grabe, na-hurt ako dun, sobra. Kung bra't panty sa poste, sige, payag pa ko, baka nga patulan ko pa pero pag panty lang, excuuuse me, I'd never stoop that low!

Eto pang example, pag may nakita kaming babae, may hihirit na lang or magkakatinginan na lang bigla na parang, "Uy, tingnan nyo, o!" Di naman lahat ng babae "minamanyak"/pinapansin namin. May standards din naman ako no, though kahit mababa, meron pa rin naman nonetheless.

Actually, di naman talaga ako ang pinaka-"manyak" e. Kung sa scale of 1-10, 10 yung pinaka, siguro nasa 10.7501-11.2499 ako. Pero may alam ako na 13. May 15++ pa nga e, si aptly monickered, "Ma-al na -Ari." Eto ang sabi sakin ni naka-13 na ayaw ko i-name for his privacy and protection, "Holy cow! It's public perception that matters." Well, tama nga naman siya. Kahit gaano ka kabait, pag iba tingin ng tao sayo, wala ka nang magagawa dun. It's a known fact: right or wrong depends upon the consensus of the people. Haha, joke lang. Baka may maniwala.

Kaya siguro ako hindi gaanong bothered sa ganitong perception ng mga tao sakin ay dahil may girlfriend na ko. At fortunately (or unfortunately), tanggap na nya. Pero imagine mo na lang pag may isang tao na kapareho ng situation ko pero nanliligaw pa lang. Kawawa siguro yun. Halimbawa, may gusto siya na girl, pero perception ng girl sa kanya, manyak, e turn-off agad yun. Paano pag di alam ng girl, syempre magtatanong yan sa ibang tao. Magtatanong siya, "Uy, kilala mo na si *****?" "Si *****, oo, manyak yun!" Huli ka don balbon! Patay tayo dyan... Sira ang diskarte ni pogi.

Actually, may kilala ako (tayo) e. Itago natin sa pangalang Fej, para uli ma-protect ang kanyang privacy. Pareho kaming "manyak", parehong medyo off humirit, pareho sa lahat ng aspects except ako taken. Di ko naman nilolower si Fej dahil dito, for the sake of argument and discussion lang. Anyway, takot sa kanya ang ibang (iba, meaning, karamihan. Karamihan, meaning, lahat. Joke lang!) babae. Siguro dahil mataas ang chance na totohanin niya ang kanyang mga sinasabi. Di ko rin naman sinasabi na zero chance sakin, siguro mas mababa lang. Haha, malay ba natin, takot din pala sila sakin. Oh well, ganyan talaga. Good luck na lang sa kanya.

Isipin na nila ang gusto nilang isipin. Kung may mga taong naprevent na maging kaibigan or close sakin dahil sa kanilang perception, it's both our losses. Hindi nila makikilala ang tunay na ako: isang... manyak.

BA 118 Prayer

2005-07-21T20:18:00.000+08:00

Lord in this very hour I pray

For strength to live my best today

Draw near to me that I may be

The kind of man Thou hadst me be

In loving others I may see

That I am only loving Thee

Teach me, o Lord, with Thy great plan

That I may be a better man

*****

To the tune of "O Christmas Tree"

Manalo, Natalo

2005-07-10T10:21:00.000+08:00

A Filipino dream died last night. Marlon Manalo lost to 16 year old Wuh Chia Ching from Taiwan in a quarterfinal match in the World Pool Championship in Kaoshiung, Tawian, 11-5. His loss couldn't have come at a worse time. The Filipinos need a hero right now, and that was the perfect opportunity. We need a hero to help us through these times of uncertainty and unrest. Someone to make us forget, even for just a little while, the worsening situation of our country. There's even a pattern: everytime we have a crisis, there comes a hero to uplift and inspire us. That's what Pacquiao did during the Erap ousting. Last night, I really thought it was Marlon Manalo. I'm not saying that he didn't inspire us in anyway because he did. He made it to the final four and that is an achievement that we could be proud of. I'm just thinking "what if?" situations. What if he won? Of course, the whole country would unite in celebration of a hero! And hopefully, this unity would spill over to other undesirable areas. Happiness is contagious. The rage that blinds the people from doing the right thing would be lifted. All the hatred, the pain and the anger would be set aside to do what is just and constitutional. It's not that it will never be lifted by Manalo's loss, the process would just be faster. A victory could serve as a catalyst. Well, he didn't win. I'm not discrediting him. What he accomplished is still an inspiration to all.

The World Pool Championship started last week. It ends today with the Final match. 128 players entered the tournament. The Philippine contingent was pretty large which increased the chances of an all-Filipino Finals. Everyday, half gets eliminated. 128, 64, 32, 16, 8, 4, 2 and finally a champion. Bata and Django didn't make it to the round of 64, which was really depressing since I wanted to see them play. Somewhere between 64 and 16, the Filipinos fell one by one. Gandy Valle lost because of unmistakable mistakes. Pagulayan lost to a junior champion. Lising and Kiamco were gone too. However, one Filipino was playing like a champion. Manalo swept his matches in the Round of 32 and 16, 10-0 and 11-0. The chances of a player sweeping his opponent in consecutive matches are vey small. It's very difficult to accomplish a feat like this at a high level of competition in the later rounds. Entering the final 8, Manalo was the only Filipino left. He won over Mika Immonen (another player that I like since he loves the Philippines) and made it to the final four. It was in this match where Wuh ended his miracle run. Not only was Wuh impressive, but it also seems that Lady Luck was on his side. A commentator even said that luck favors the young. The Finals will be shown later, which I won't bother to watch.

I am wishing for two things right now. First, that the country would get past the situation without resulting to unjust or violent means and secondly, the 2006 World Pool Championships would feature an all-Filipino Finals.

Famous Pockmarked Men

2005-06-30T13:04:00.000+08:00

Gregg Popovich
As of the moment, he is the most famous pockmarked man because of the recently concluded NBA Finals. He has led the Spurs to three NBA Championships in his nine seasons as the team’s head coach (1999, 2003 and 2005). He is the 5th coach in NBA history with three or more Championship rings and he is the only active coach with multiple NBA championships. He was named the 2003 NBA Coach of the Year.

Lawrence Fishburne
Before becoming the well-known, philosophical Morpheus in the Matrix Trilogy, he was one of the PT-boat crew members accompanying Martin Sheen on his odyssey in Francis Coppola's epic Vietnam saga Apocalypse Now (1979), an experience he says had a profound effect on him. He worked on numerous films over the years and got leading roles starting in the 90s. He claims that he is still mistaken for Samuel L. Jackson, even if the two of them are standing together.

Danny Trejo
You may remember him as Johnny 23 in Con Air or as the knife-wielding assassin in Desperado but this actor has appeared in many movies and shows. As a child drug addict and criminal, he spent time in jail but successfully completed rehab. He met someone at a Cocaine Anonymous meeting who made him an extra in the movie Runaway Train (1985). A prolific actor, he will appear in at least 10 films this year, usually as a villain or a criminal.

Joey de Leon
The only Filipino entry, Joey de Leon is the most famous comedian in Philippine showbiz history, next to Dolphy of course. He is one of the co-hosts of Eat Bulaga, the longest running noontime variety show. He also hosts his own TV show, Wow Mali! Once part of the 90s hit trio Tito, Vic and Joey, he is loved by many because of his quick wit, funny one-liners, and pang-masa jokes.

A Tribute to the Girlfriend

2005-06-25T22:04:00.000+08:00

Di naman sa lack of a better topic pero naisipan ko lang gawan ng entry ang isang taong tinanggap ang hamong tanggapin ako. Yes, may girlfriend ako. Totoong tao. Biologically female. Conscious. Legally sane. At inaacknowlede niya yung fact na yun without coercion. Isa ako sa mga taong nakajackpot sa girlfriend, though kawawa siya kasi consolation prize lang nakuha niya. Haha. Joke lang. Nagfifishing lang ako. Actually, pareho kaming consolation prize sa isa't isa. Haha. Joke uli yun. Sa Beerkada ko yata nakuha to. Anyway, sa impact niya sa buhay ko, dapat lang may entry siya sa blog na to. Sus, ano ba naman ang ilang paragraphs para sa taong mahalaga sa buhay mo.

For her privacy, itago natin siya sa pangalang Ros. Kakagraduate lang niya nung March. Cum laude, at okay lang sakin kasi di naman ako yung type na insecure kapag mas magaling ang partner. Nagtatrabaho na siya ngayon. Nag-iipon na para sa kasal niya, di ko sinasabing ako yun, ang minmean ko lang ay kasal in general. Dahil dito, di na kami lagi nagkikita. Medyo nahihirapan pa kami mag-adjust kasi sanay kaming laging magkasama nung nasa UP pa siya. Pero syempre kayang- kaya to, just a minor bump in the relationship road.

Ang purpose ng entry na to ay para pasalamatan siya. Marami siyang naituro at naishare sakin na hindi ko maeexperience pag wala siya. Thank you for but not limited to: palabok, red egg, parmesan chicken, home-made tacos, melons with cream, durian ice cream, cardboard porkchop, eating without any condiments whatsoever (puro pagkain, no wonder ang tataba namin, I mean, ko) OPM, APO Hiking Society, Pinoy pop culture stories like the origin of Vonel and Lucilla Lalu, driving, badminton, organization skills, etiquette, good manners, good grooming.

Mym, you know your place in my life.

Inverted "Le Bataleur"

2005-06-21T23:33:00.000+08:00

One week ago, 1 am na ko nakatulog. Nanood kasi ako ng Carnivale sa HBO. Yung mini-series na pumalit sa Six Feet Under. Replay na yun, kasi matagal na to pinalabas, nakikita ko pa yung trailer dati. Sabi ko sa sarili ko, kung gusto ko panoorin ang series na to, ngayon ang perfect moment kasi 3 episodes straight in one night. Entertaining nung first two hours pero inantok na ko nung final hour. Anyway, ang weird ng premise ng Carnivale. Supernatural nga ang theme e kasi may magic, healing powers, psychics, etc. Tsaka medyo nakakatakot, e ang duwag ko pa naman. May isang scene dun na may fetus sa loob ng isang jar tapos biglang dumilat. Actually, may 3 episodes na naman ngayong gabi pero late ako umuwi at may gagawin pa ko. Hopefully may replay uli kasi interesting e.

Ang gaganda pala ng mga mini-series ng HBO no? Pinakasikat syempre ang Sex and the City na iconic na ngayon. Yung Six Feet Under maganda rin ang story. Kahit drama yun, pinanood ko ang first two seasons. Di ko na nasundan after kasi nakakalimutan ko. Pero nanonood ako minsan, lalo na pag first scene kasi may namamatay. Parang CSI, gusto ko lang malaman kung pano namatay.

May mga mini-series din ang HBO dati na na-aprpeciate ko rin. Sorry kung nagiging HBO Mini-series appreciation post na to. Anyway, alam nyo ba yung Spawn? Tsaka yung Perversions of Science? Weekly shows din to sa HBO, mga around 1996 siguro. Every Saturday sila pinapalabas, pagkatapos ng HBO Saturday Night movie. Cartoons ang Spawn pero mature rating dahil sa blood and gore. Dun ko siya nakilala. Yung Perversions of Science naman, parang Twilight Zone pero comedy ang dating. Nakakatuwa rin yun. Parang Halloween specials ng the Simpsons. Haha, sana may nakakasunod pa.

*****

Dun sa second episode ng Carnivale, nagpahula yung bida gamit ang tarot cards. Binalasa nya yung cards tapos bumunot ng 3 cards at nilagay sa table face down. Then binuksan one by one. Di ko maalala yung first two pero upright sila nung binuksan. Mystery tsaka Death yata. Yung 3rd card yung "La Bataleur." Unlike the first two, inverted yung card. Sabi nung nagtatarot card na anak ng isang comatose ng babae na telepathic/psychic pero nakadilat, La Bataleur means talent or gift. Inverted kasi wasted na or hindi nagamit. May talent naman talaga yung bida, kaya nyang magheal ng tao, parang sa the Green Mile pero yung consequence ay dapat may kapalit na buhay. Kagaya nung 1st episode na may pinagaling yung bida na batang pilay sa isang field. After gumaling ng girl, dedo lahat ng halaman.

Anyway, in the realm of blogging, I was also dealt the inverted "La Bataleur" card. Di ko naman sinasabi na may talent or gift ako sa pagsusulat. Sabi nga ni Tabacker, trying hard daw. At least I tried di ba? Sinasabi ko lang na ang daming ko pang gusto ilagay, may mga ideas pa ako, etc. Kaso nga lang, pasukan na. 21 units pa. 7pm pa ang end ng classes everyday. Sayang lang yung mga plans ko. Wasted. Pansinin nyo, 2 out of the last 3 entries cut and paste lang. Kasi wala ng time e. Sana nga maaga na lang ako nagstart. Pero magsusulat pa din naman ako dito. Mga once a week. Siguro. Sana.

Warning: Green Joke - It Hurts...

2005-06-15T22:52:00.000+08:00

A guy goes into a sex therapist's office, lies down on the couch. The therapist says "Tell me about your problem". "Well", says the guy, "when I get up in the morning, my wife insists I have sex with her. Then when I'm ready to leave for work, she makes me do it again." "Oh", says the therapist, "I see your problem". "Oh no, that's not my problem", says the guy.

"What is your problem?", says the therapist. "When I get to work, my secretary is waiting naked for me, and obliges me to have sex with her. When I leave for lunch, she corners me and orders a quickie behind the filing cabinet". "Oh, quite a problem!", says the therapist. "Oh no, that's great!", says the guy. "Then what's your problem?!", says the psy.

"When I leave my office, I meet my mistress and she drags me into a cheap motel room and wildly begs me to have sex with her. When we're done, we order pizza and before we leave the room, it starts again, she goes completely nuts!" "Ah-ha! Now I see your problem", says the therapist'". "Oh no, it's terrific sex!", says the guy. "That's not my problem". "Then tell me about your problem!", says the therapist'.

The guy says "Well, when I get back to the office, it's just like the morning. My secretary wants sex again right away, and before I leave at five, she jumps me again, a real vixen!". "Mmmm ... quite an unusual problem", says the psy. "Oh no, she's delicious!", says the guy, "one in a million!". "GASP ... then tell me about your problem!!", says the therapist'.

"Well, when I get home from work, my wife is sex-starved and says that if I expect supper, then she expects an orgasm. At bed-time it's the same. She won't let me sleep before we have sex again." "My goodness!", says the therapist', "you have quite a problem!!". "Oh no, it's terrific!", says the guy, "my wife is a goddess! Sex with her is beyond your wildest dreams!" "THEN PLEEEEASE TELL ME WHAT YOUR PROBLEM IS !!!", says the sex therapist.

The guy answers "Well, it hurts when I masturbate..."

Fungal Gold

2005-06-11T23:48:00.000+08:00

Nagsummer ako ng 9(!) units. Para on-time pa rin. Well, the price you have to pay for mediocrity nga naman. PI100, STS at free elective na Philo of Sports. Kala ko nung umpisa mahirap kasi 11-5 yung sked ko e. Pero kayang-kaya naman pala. Nakakatawa lang kasi grabe yung effort ko sa PI tapos 1.25 lang. OMG, nila-lang ang 1.25! Well, hindi sa nagyayabang ha, kasi nga at this point in my life as a student, wala na akong paki sa grades pero yung STS at Philo kasi na konting effort lang ay na-uno pa tapos yung PI na perfect attendance, pinagpuyatan, inakyatan ng bundok, etc e 1.25 lang.

Though yun nga ang nangyari, di naman ako inis sa PI. Ang kapal naman ng mukha ko pag nainis pa ko. Masasabi ko na yung PI100 ang pinaka-enjoy na class ko ever. Kahit pa na maraming requirements, 3 exams, reporting at 2 book reviews. Kung may diskarte ka, i.e. “magpapatulong” sa paper (thanks mym!), mababawasan naman ng konti. Di nga ako sure kung bat enjoy ako dun e. Wala naman akong kilala, maraming pinapagawa at ang corny ni Sir Nilo (yes, feeling close ako, first name basis) Hmm... baka nga ito yung mga reasons.

At may Banahaw field trip! Overnight pa! Mahilig ako sa fieldtrip at mahilig ako sa overnights so pag overnight fieldtrip, ibang level of happiness na yan! 4th field trip ko to sa UP: dalawa sa Kas 1 at isa sa Anthro 112. May 7-8 yung field trip kaya long overdue na ang entry na to. Grabe, mga 4 liters yung water intake ko in a span of 7 hrs at pinawis ko lahat yun. Di ko pa rin maimagine kung pano ako naglakad ng ganoon katagal. Lupit din ng caves! Lalo na sa Husgado. Ang saya din magswim at magdive. Basta, napaka-memorable talaga ng trip na yun.

Anyway, a few weeks later, may napansin akong may weird na pinkish na mga pantal sa katawan ko, sa harap at sa likod. Di naman makati, aesthetically irritating lang, lalo na sa ibang members ng family since di ako nagsusuot ng shirt sa bahay. Nagspread e, kaya nabobother sila para sakin. Ipatingin ko na raw. So pumunta ako sa Dermclinic sa Megamall. Sabi ni doc, fungal infection daw. Noncontagious naman kaya no worry sa iba. So kinwento ko yung mga pinaggagawa ko nung summer. Aba! Di lang pala understanding sa mga Rizal worshippers at appreciation sa sacredness ng bundok ang nakuha ko sa Banahaw! Alam kong sinabi ko na sana may makuha naman ako sa P1250 na binayad ko pero hindi ito yung minimean ko.

First time ko ma-experience to at ang masasabi ko lang, ang hassle niya. For the past two weeks, twice a day na ako naliligo as opposed to every two days dati. At ang daming gamot: cream, lotion etc. Eto pa: may tablet akong iniinom for 10 days… P105 isa! Insane! Well, ang bigat na sa bulsa ng ka-hassle-an na to.

I’m happy to report na magaling na ako. Mga “scars” na lang ang naiwan. Nothing that time can’t heal. Dapat lang, P2k+ rin nagastos ko dito. ‘Kala mo ginto e.

*****
You know that blogging has reached a whole new level when people start to post their skin disorders on the ‘net. That’s just wrong.

Most Embarrassing Moment

2005-06-10T11:58:00.000+08:00

Nashare ko na to sa yahoogroups dati. Post ko lang dito. Enjoy!

*****
If I remember correctly, last year lang nangyari to. May JPIA event nun kaya late na ako naka-uwi, mga 1 am na. May lakad din ate ko kaya late din sya umuwi pero mas nauna ako sa kanya.

Pag dating ko sa bahay, nagtanggal na agad ako ng damit except underwear (pls delete mental picture)para ideretso na sa labahan yung damit tsaka tulog na mga tao so okay lang. Anyway, nagtxt ate ko na darating na sya in 5 mins. So di na ko umakyat para
kumuha ng damit kasi nakakatamad umakyat at bumaba uli para magbukas ng gate.

Sa townhouse pala kami nakatira, so maraming tenants at isa lang ang gate. Mga 6 doors from the gate kami. Nagtxt si ate na nasa gate na raw sya at buksan ko kasi wala syang susi. Sabi ko sa sarili ko, "Magtatapis na lang ako, what are the chances na may tao pa sa labas ng 1 am? Tsaka ate ko naman yun e." So naghanap ako ng towel sa baba.

Yung towel na nakita ko, sobrang liit na nung tinapis ko, di natakpan yung isang part ng pata ko. Syempre, sabi ko, okay lang, wala ng tao ng ganitong oras.

Lumabas ako at lumakad papuntang gate. Nung malapit na ko sa gate, nagtaka ako kung bakit parang may kasama yung ate ko, malabo mata ko di ba? Nung malapit na talaga ako, biglang nag-on yung ilaw sa first unit at may lumabas na nanay. Nasa gate din pala yung mga anak nya, 2 babae na naka-highscool uniform. So yun, nung nakita nila ako, di ko madescribe yung mga mukha nila. Parang gulat na takot na nagtataka. Yung ate ko tumawa na lang. Nakakahiya talaga. Inisip siguro nila, "shet, anong ginagawa ng mamang to?"

A few weeks later, lumipat sila.

Detroit Bading!

2005-06-07T11:40:00.000+08:00

I have never felt this much hatred for any team. Siguro dahil twice na tinalo ng Detroit ‘yung team na gusto ko. Ang masakit dun, consecutive years pa. Last year, yung Lakers 4-1. This year naman, yung Heat, 4-3. Kakatapos lang nung game kanina. Ang masakit pa, mas malakas yung fanaticism ko sa Heat kesa sa Lakers. Sayang talaga.

Lumipat yung allegiance ko from Lakers to Heat nung lumipat si Shaq. Di naman ako yung type na fan na gusto yung team dahil sa isang player (Jordan=Bulls) pero siguro may combination of several factors: lumipat si Shaq, nawala si Phil, rapist si Kobe at ang pagka-Jordanesque na ugali ni Wayde (plus the fact na red and black din ang team colors nya, parang kay MJ.) Naging Heat fan ako from the start dahil kay Shaq, D-Wade at Stan. Nagcelebrate ako nung naka-franchise record 14 straight home wins. Nalunkgot ako nung naka-4 straight loses sila nung matatapos na ang season kung saan naging #3 na lang sila. Sinundan ko talaga yung season nila, hindi lang nung nag-#1 sila sa East. Na-injure si Shaq, kinuha si 'Zo, etc.

Di ko naman dinidiscredit ang Detroit sa pagkanapanalo nila. Magaling talaga sila e. Lalo na nung 4thQ, lupit ng defense nila talaga. Pero hindi lang talaga maiiwasan yung hatred para sa kalaban. Actually, last year nga, natuwa pa ako for them. Proud ako na kinuha si Sheed at masaya ako para kay Larry Brown at nakuha niya ang kulang sa napakagandang coaching career. Pero ngayon, iba na ang feeling. Parang dapat iba naman, tapos na kayo, yung mga di pa nakakatikim ng championship naman.

Maybe hatred is too strong a word to describe what I feel. Loathe or despise would be more appropriate. Hehe. OA ‘no?

Naalala ko lang bigla yung tinext ng fellow Heat fan na si Janrich:

“Go Heat at Spurs! Detroit bading!”

Mak, good luck sa Detroit mo. Spurs na ko!

Miami may have lost the series, but the Heat is still ON!
MIAMI HEAT 2006!

Poor Man's Paradise: Puerto Galera

2005-05-27T21:10:00.000+08:00

Ang yabang 'no? Poor man daw. Paano naging poor man's paradise yun e ang mahal pa rin ng expenses?

If heroin is the poor man's cocaine, then Puerto Galera would definitely be poor man's Boracay. One would enjoy the beach experience without the rape prices of Bora. Mahirap na ang panahon ngayon kaya dapat madiskarte. Insanely cheaper talaga kapag sa Galera. Syempre, the reduction in price comes with a price. Yung white sand, hindi all the way. Hindi five-star accommodations. Iba ang ambience, iba ang mga tao. Hindi malinis ang mga bitches, I mean, beaches. Malinis ang tubig pero hindi yung super-blue ng Bora. Pero clear naman. Analysis namin ay dahil sa gravel at rocks yun kaya di masyadong narereflect ang blue ng sky compared sa Bora na white sand talaga kaya fully reflected ang sky. Keser.

Pumunta kami nung patapos na ang summer, kasi nagsusummer ang iba (9 units!). At advantage para samin yun kasi significant ang price difference pag off-peak, semi-peak at peak. Hundreds kapag icocompare, thousands pa nga kapag yung extremes ang pag-uusapan. Dun kami sa semi-peak. Peak kapag Holy Week at off-peak pag sembreak. For example, yung rooms doon: 800 pag off-peak, 5K pag peak. Insane!

Pero syempre, kapag deprived ka na of a beach experience, kapag years na ang nakalipas sa huling paligo mo sa dagat, wala ka ng paki! Basta ligo lang. Kahit masakit na ang likod mo kasi walang kwentang sunblock, go pa rin. Sinulit ko talaga kasi alam kong years na naman ang lilipas bago ko makita ang seashore uli. Kaya umalis kami sa dagat nung gabi na.

Nagkaroon pala ako ng chance encounter with Aimee dun. Nagkataon talaga na dun sila nagstay sa cottage na katapat namin. Mga pinsan kasama niya. Nagulat talaga ako nung may tumawag sakin kasi what are the chances na may kilala ako dun di ba?

Punta tayo sa sembreak!

NB(rand)A Finals

2005-05-24T22:43:00.000+08:00

We all have our dream match-ups for Destination Finals. Personally, I am hoping (wishing, praying) for a Heat-Spurs Finals with the former winning the title. Others would like to see the Suns and the Pistons gun for the Larry O’Brien trophy. Or a very defensive Pistons-Spurs match-up.

However, what if I were Nike or adidas, or even And1? What would my dream match-up be? These companies play a major part in the NBA. They can also jump on the Destination Finals bandwagon and take this opportunity to endorse their products. For example, Nike would sometimes introduce "playoff exclusive" colorways. adidas even introduced the TMAC5 during the first round between the Rockets and the Mavs.

Nike would be dreaming of a Detroit-Phoenix Finals. They have 3 main endorsers on each team. Rasheed with his AF1 Sheeds, Prince with his Elevates and Rip with 2K5s. For Phoenix, Amare has his Operates (1)(which needs more promo and this is the perfect opportunity for it), Steve Nash with his Zoom Drives (2) and Marion with his Bombers. If the Suns won't make it, I think Nike would also accept San Antonio because of Parker, Ginobli and Horry but they know that adidas would also benefit from it because of Duncan.

adidas would love to have Detroit and San Antonio, since they have famous endorsers on each team: Duncan with his D-Cools (3) for the Spurs and Chauncey with the GDL2s (4).

And just for the sake of mentioning, And1 is desperate for Detroit because of Big Ben (5) and Carlos Arroyo (6).

Realistically speaking, Nike would come out on top since they can capitalize on any team, even on Miami since Eddie Jones has nice PEs (7) and they have D-Wade (8) (Converse IS under Nike.)

The Origin

2005-05-20T13:04:00.000+08:00

May blog na rin ako sa wakas. Medyo late na ako sumali sa blogging-bandwagon pero sabi nga nila, better late than later. Lagi naman akong huli sa happenings e. Tulad ng friendster, cellphone, deodorant, etc. Pero okay lang. At least meron na.

Though may mga kaibigan na akong bloggers (hi! link n'yo 'ko!), ayoko pa rin dati gumawa kasi una, di ako marunong, pangalawa, wala akong panahon at lastly, baka walang bumasa. Pero na-overcome ko na ang mga ito ngayon. Madali lang pala, konting aral lang at search ng templates sa 'net. Kaya ko namang gawan ng panahon, mabilis naman ako magtype e. At may dalawang guaranteed readers na ko: ate ko at 'yung mahal ko (yihee!... eeecchh, vomit. Joke! Labo...).

Next task ang pag-iisip ng title ng blog. Ang hirap kasi e, lalo na pag di ka creative. Actually, marami akong naisip pero ayoko naman yung title na pagsisisihan ko rin sa huli. Di ko maalala kung san ko napulot ang title na 'to, or kung pano ko naisip. Ang alam ko lang, bigla na lang siyang sumulpot sa aking isipan.

First time marinig na ate ko yung title (ginagawa ko na siyang consultant kasi matagal na siyang blogger), nandiri siya. Sa lahat naman daw ng titles na pwedeng gamitin, ba't naman kasi 'yun. Para nga raw superhero e, kasi may "-man" sa dulo. Kung superhero nga, imagine mo na lang ang powers.

Nagsuggest siya na lagyan ko raw ng handsome o pogi ang title kasi medyo self-defacing (defacating?) raw. Kung para sa ibang tao self-defacing 'to, para sakin, self-acceptance.

'Yung "chronicles" naman, pampahaba lang sa already mahaba na na title. 24 letters! Imagine mo, pwede pala.

Hence, the PockMarkMan Chronicles.