busy signaL

he's a fruitcake

2008-01-07T12:34:00.000+08:00

by now even his supporters are well-aware that peter molyneux is stark raving mad. but nevertheless, he does hit upon a [dare i say it?] brilliant notion every once in a while.

what exactly fable 2 is remains to bee seen, as mr. molyneux seems determined to avoid house-calls from the ghosts of fable past, but a hint at a time [such as after the 15-mark on the above video], he's showing us why we can hate him all we want, but we will play his games.

there's a perceptible distinction between dramatic games and emotional games, and i agree that it is the lovable characters, not the sensational, that win out in the end.

and, let's face it, when it comes to universal appeal, human characters don't even come close.

sige ingat.ü

when it rains, it pours

2007-12-28T09:52:00.000+08:00

ross: pero dapat may chicks
tatang: noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo...

chudor: ohh misa campo
chudor: she's hot
Yahoo! Messenger: chudor has left the conference.

sige ingat.ü

the beholder's eye

2007-09-17T11:27:00.001+08:00

She was beautiful like the flowers consumed by fire, her love was sweet that made me suffer from diabetes, she was warm I almost felt the heat of her caress now. Her lips were smooth and her tongue was very luscious like the meat of a beef.

- Arnel Salgado, The Fireless Inferno

evidently, some people have very different opinions on how romance is best expressed.

sige ingat.ü

dangers. context. you know the rest

2007-08-24T11:54:00.001+08:00

karl: bading naman ako ah

sige ingat.ü

oh my

2007-08-24T01:51:00.000+08:00

sige ingat.ü

the absolute power

2007-08-17T03:54:00.000+08:00

it took a year, a job, two application sheets, and 30 follow-up calls, but you know what?

it's all worth it.

sige ingat.ü

the dangers of taking even more things out of context

2007-05-18T13:09:00.000+08:00

jendee: wala ata akong dodo

sige ingat.ü

三人成虎

2007-05-17T23:07:00.000+08:00

a friend of mine [let's call him 'jan'] called me up the other day with a rather difficult problem - he was suddenly in need of 40 thousand pesos. as i had just cleaned out my bank account the other week to assist in my family's expenses, i had a little less than a third of that amount to spare, not to mention that, it being well after 6pm, any form of internal fund transfer would only take effect the following day [withdrawal has a ceiling of 10 thousand, and would require me to secure my own means of transportation to the fort bonifacio area]. luckily, jan was able to raise the money through his friends in the immediate vicinity, but was strangely reluctant to discuss the reason behind his debit.

it wasn't until the next day that he was able to fully detail what had happened: he had fallen asleep in the car with his [iligal] girlfriend, and had been awakened by a pair of potbellied officers rapping on his window. they had supposedly "seen" certain events transpiring and were going to file charges of statutory rape against him. certainly a laughable charge, but when firearms start leaving their holsters, the situation takes a turn for the uncertain. as it turned out, those policemen had no intention to write citations or conduct arrests; rather, they were zealous advocates of the barter system [meaning of course that they had succeeded in accomplishing the heretofore impossible task of affixing a precise monetary value to human life]. given that there is less risk in bargaining with evil men than with wild alligators, jan had no choice but to finance beer and pulutan for 200 people.

in layman's terms, the situation was simply a hold-up at gunpoint [government-issued guns, no less!], by the very people we are taught to rely on for protection from crime. what faith and cooperation is to be expected from the citizens when injustice is a way of life? what trust is left to give that hasn't already been eroded away? it's frankly an embarrassment that minors are being targeted for these abuses simply because they are ill-prepared to resist. the boldness with which these badged thieves operate is very telling of how hopelessly irreparable our political situation has become.

i later asked jan what he would do now that the excitement was over. he gave me an answer along the lines of finding a part-time job to pay off his debts. he considered pressing charges or even raising awareness to be an unnecessary risk, fearing retribution if he did. recovering the money is of course a lost cause, but i can't help but muse that this particular case may yet have its day in court. if a sympathetic ear is to be found, i am confident that some amount of justice can be served. after all, he has three witnesses, total innocence, and a lack of motive on his side.

now if there was only some way to trace exactly which feckless insults to civilized society were issued a squad car with the license plate number shb 671.

---

note: the title of this post is a chéngyǔ, or four-character proverb, meaning "three men make a tiger". traditionally, this is interpreted as an argumentum ad populum, but in a broader sense, it implies that people working together have the power to change reality. or put another way, a certain amount of public interest will eventually necessitate action.

the best fallacy

2007-05-15T18:44:00.000+08:00

until 1664, 500 million believed that the world is flat. 25 million seems like a rather negligible percentage, in comparison.

"they cannot be wrong", was it?

sige ingat.ü

this is why i love classic computer games

2007-05-11T21:59:00.000+08:00

sige ingat.ü

saging lang ang may remix

2007-05-01T21:29:00.000+08:00

enjoy.

sige ingat.ü

long story short

2007-04-26T18:20:00.000+08:00

for the sake of brevity, let me just redirect you to this site. all you need to know is that a certain todd goldman is making money off of the collective intellectual perspiration of other online artists. in my opinion, quoting picasso only works if you're gloating, not making excuses.

sige ingat.ü

visual dna

2007-04-24T14:46:00.000+08:00

Read my VisualDNA™ Get your own VisualDNA™

sige ingat.ü

the dangers of taking other things out of context

2007-04-20T09:34:00.000+08:00

jp: sigesige.. pero request.. sex tayo.. hehe

sige ingat.ü

keep it simple, stupid

2007-04-19T23:07:00.000+08:00

VT killer's hammer pose resembles movie

NEW YORK - One of the photographs in the Virginia Tech killer's "multimedia manifesto" may have been inspired by a bloody South Korean movie.

"Oldboy," from the respected director Chan-woo Park, is about a man unjustly imprisoned for 15 years. After escaping, he goes on a rampage against his captor. In one scene, he dispatches more than a dozen henchmen with the aid of a hammer.

In the package of materials that Cho Seung-Hui sent to NBC News, one photo shows the killer brandishing a hammer in a pose similar to one from the film.

"Oldboy," the second film in Park's "Vengeance Trilogy," won the Gran Prix prize at the 2004
Cannes Film Festival.

The connection was spotted by Professor Paul Harris of Virginia Tech, who alerted authorities, according to London's Evening Standard. The similarities have prompted speculation, especially in online forums, that Cho's entire massacre may have been inspired by "Oldboy."

yet another example of supposedly senseless violence misattributed to the arts. it boggles the mind how on one hand, it is a fact that hobbies such as watching movies, listening to music, and playing video games relieve undue stress caused by routinary and distasteful tasks, but on the other, they somehow make high school students run amok.

here's an idea: maybe the rampage was "inspired" by his perception of how his peers were treating him? you know, just like every other school shooting?

just a thought.

sige ingat.ü

astral projections

2007-04-18T22:06:00.000+08:00

i'm not really a fan of astrology. i'm the type of guy who reads my horoscope at the end of the day, to see what i've 'missed'. more often than not, i find the results either way off or simply too generic to be considered a hit of any sort.

a good example of the latter is the set of horoscopes for yesterday, which seemed to have been taken straight out of a self-help book. now, i do enjoy introspection every now and then, but i wonder if perhaps the use of this particular channel may be more thought-provoking than the actual content.

sige ingat.ü

the dangers of taking things out of context

2007-04-10T16:02:00.000+08:00

josh_hp: parang imputent na ako

sige ingat.ü

c/o jonat

2007-04-03T20:44:00.000+08:00

my new favorite alanis morissette song.

sige ingat.ü

man woo jul

2007-04-01T08:11:00.000+08:00

i've found it suddenly necessary to take a hiatus from the monotony of tropical life and take leave for more temperate pastures. accordingly, i may have neither the time nor the diligence to fully flesh out my misadventures on this blog. my photoblog, though, may not be quite as empty.

good luck to the both of us, then.

anyong.ü

the twilight phone

2007-03-29T09:28:00.000+08:00

i was out with jonat last night to watch tmnt when he received a text message from an unknown number, informing him that banco de oro had called, and he needed to call them back. jonat doesn't have an account at banco de oro, so we were rather skeptical about the veracity of the call-back number, also given that the message had not come from anyone residing at either his home or his condo. dismissing it as coincidence, it wasn't until i got home that a more sinister angle was revealed:

hp had applied for the installation of a second landline at our residence, to which the company standard dsl package would be connected [for convenience's sake, the line should be in my name]. the unit was installed just last week, and needless to say i had not given out its number, since the older line works fine and the newer one should be work-only.

imagine, then, my sister's surprise when said newer phone started ringing, with banco de oro on the other line, looking for jonat.

sige ingat.ü

protection from what, exactly?

2007-03-28T10:29:00.001+08:00

it just occurred to me today [yes, more than a month later] that chavit singson is running for senator of our great country. i don't know which is more appalling, the fact that he had the gall to campaign, or the fact that he still made the list of the top 25 senatoriables.

in case you've forgotten, chavit was the jueteng-gate whistleblower who landed ex-president estrada in jail. although the pages of history will probably whitewash his actual role in the scandal, what he did cannot under any circumstances be called heroic; considering that he was in cahoots with estrada the whole time and his confession was purely out of spite, it is more a testament to the inability of villains to cooperate.

normally, suspects who turn stool pigeon do so in exchange for a lighter sentence, not a full pardon. you know, considering they're still guilty of the crime and all. most probably estrada detractors wanted to give chavit an offer he couldn't refuse. and now, not contenting himself with the pleasures of the unshackled life, chavit thinks that the public is forgiving enough to assist him in the theft of even more tax money. yet given the sensitivity of the local political scene, he just may be right.

don't read this post as a defense for estrada, or a petition for his release; i'm as happy with his absence from malacañang as the next eletist. i merely think that it is rather unfair that all the other jackasses he called friends are still running around. neither someone who trades wealth for the freedom of another, nor a group that dismisses the relevance of potentially incriminating bank returns in a corruption trial should even be considered eligible to put on the robes of a public offical.

the funny thing is, they never even took them off.

sige ingat.ü

presenting

2007-03-25T22:05:00.000+08:00

the second coming of farrokh bulsara.

sige ingat.ü

the great oz has spoken

2007-03-24T01:08:00.000+08:00

jendee: ask a question my song will answer!

self: magkakaroon ba ako ng raise this year?

jendee: I will follow you into the dark - death cab for cutie
jendee: hindi siguro
jendee: ako, tanong ko, Will Rustan's hire me?

self: toploader - dancing in the moonlight
self: magiging dama de noche ka sorry
self: kakailanganin mong maging jendee by day, jendaya by night

jendee: HAHAHAHAHAHA
jendee: Ikaw mag tanong ka
jendee: Sanjayarun

self: will sanjaya win american idol?

jendee: Lazy Eye - Fall As Well
jendee: hahahahaha
jendee: hindi daw
jendee: Matutuloy kaya ako bukas?

self: nobuo uematsu - battle theme
self: hahaha

jendee: ANO YAN
jendee: HAHAHAHAHAHA

self: awayin mo si dadders

jendee: Dadders is so gay
jendee: hahahaha

self: si fafie
self: okrayin mo

jendee: tumatawa nanaman ako mag isa

self: warlah nah toh!
self: confirm natin, magkikita ba tayo sa party bukas?

jendee: War On Sound - Moon Babies
jendee: hahaha
jendee: ano yaaaaaaan

self: O_o
self: magaling itong system mo

jendee: hahaha
jendee: diba?!

no doubt about it.

sige ingat.ü

and so it begins

2007-03-16T00:26:00.000+08:00

sige ingat.ü

absolutely smashing

2007-03-13T23:21:00.000+08:00

i've taken up weekly rounds of badminton with my teammates as part of a fitness regimen to stave off the effects of desk work, business trips, and free coffee. after our third session, i've come to the realization that although the sport itself is enjoyable and [happily] physically challenging, the rules governing the game appear to have been penned by idle and possibly intoxicated wig-wearing aristocrats. once again, the introduction of specifics has succeeded in reducing an otherwise spirited display of athleticism to a rather trite foul-hunt.

frankly, it strikes me as counter-functional that there is only one accepted method of initially projecting the shuttlecock over the net, or that a miss on the opponents' part only guarantees a point if it's your service [which can make for a suddenly titanic difference in points]. i say if the birdie hits the floor, you deserve tangible kudos; people who think otherwise may need to update their definitions of the words "hobby" and "exercise", or else admit that in a mismatched game, the idea of the underdog even gaining service is a frustratingly unsporting joke.

sige ingat.ü

ο δεύτερος καλύτερος ταινία ότι έχω δει φέτος

2007-03-08T09:38:00.000+08:00

sige ingat.ü

in the grand tradition, a filler

2007-03-05T19:27:00.000+08:00


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still working on backlogged entries; rss is your best bet.

sige ingat.ü

dumb and dumber

2007-03-01T21:10:00.000+08:00

i. seeing red

i usually enjoy the occasional trip across the city in one of our fine second-hand buses, especially if said bus is in possession of at least one working air conditioner. a rather annoying exception to this would be if i find that the bus i am occupying has as another passenger an unfortunate victim of religion, who has convinced himself or herself that the the map to heaven is paved with loose change pried from the pockets of unwilling commuters. sometimes i manage to shrug off my irritation [hell, sometimes i even pad their envelopes], but i draw the line when these ministers decide to shake people awake, to charge them for the gift of salvation.

let me put it bluntly - people who sleep on buses are either a) so sleepy that they're actually wishing for heavier traffic, so they can nap longer; or b) saving their fellow passenger the shame of receiving an empty envelope. in either case, it is not a particularly good idea to 'accidentally' kick them in the shins, unless you happens to be opus dei. now this one old lady, whose acquaintance i had the misfortune of making just today, not only broke the aforementioned rule of public transportation etiquette, but also gave an award-winning monologue, the likes of which had, until now, only been witnessed online:

she started with the usual opening prayer, then moved onto preaching about maintaining virtue through these "end times". she was unusually well-researched [if we are to believe the veracity of the verses she quoted], and i was even considering to give her whatever change would return to me from the twenty peso bill i would be using to pay the fare. until, of course, she casually informed us that those who did not donate to her church mysteriously ran into a streak of bad luck. gruesome bad luck, with fatal consequences, according to her further narrations. you know, the type you find in your spam mail folder.

well that certainly did it for me, and for a lot of others, i'd wager, since there was a sudden shuffling of papers, and a waver crept into that lady's voice. note that this whole time, my head was down, eyes shut, and my arms crossed over my chest, in perfect imitation of sleep. nevertheless, i had to break character for a second by smiling, upon hearing the next words out of her mouth: a desperate appeal to help her feed her family, since she had vowed to "serve the lord" full-time and thus was without any income to speak of. well, don't that beat all. as a debater, i knew better than to fall for that old trick, and as an irate individual, i just wasn't in the mood, so i quickly resumed my act. i must have been either very good or very bad at it, then, considering that the evangelist at this point attempted to rouse me by literally sitting in my lap, under the pretext of losing her balance when the bus crawled to a stop.

by then, i had half a mind to undo my ponytail, levitate, and say "you have displeased me, my child" in a booming yet calm and melodic voice. she should thank her lucky stars i didn't strike her down with bread and fish.

ii. is the new black

benj: 10 pesos says this will be on the news in a week's time

self: i know it will

benj: he's the new chuck norris!

self: tangina ang laughtrip nung juggernaut bitch spoof ad sa escuderofacts hahaha

benj: chiz wanted bamboo to be on his ad
benj: di pumayag si bamboo

self: aww

benj: sya pa naman ang magsusulong ng Emokrasya

self: what comment did you leave

benj: something real corny like
benj: Chiz and BigBrother are one and the same - for all countries.

self: what would i put i wonder
self: i like the ones where he does impossible things

benj: dont do so well, you might become a primary suspect. haha

self: ah i thought of one
self: "si tulfo nagsusumbong kay chiz"
self: ilagay mo hehe

benj: done

ah yes, the proverbial 15.

sige ingat.ü

"para sa nawalang kabataan"

2007-02-26T10:53:00.000+08:00

ah 21, that glorious age, that hour of beginnings - now arrives that time when one can confidently announce one's intent to indulge in all manners of vice; when sex now carries the added excitement of statutory rape; when one finally, finally begins to resemble that horror hidden away in one's driver's license!

it is therefore not illogical, and certainly not uncommon, for men of a certain social standing to celebrate this milestone with as much fanfare as the body can withstand, often enjoining the company of a large group of similarly-decadent individuals to assist in the consumption of purchased commodities. thus it was that last friday evening found me necessitated to play the roles of colleague, chaperone, and co-conspirator, an adventure that began at the very doors of that fortress of drunken revelry: embassy.

i met jonat a good two hours before opening time, as he had asked me to assist him in the finalization of logistics: as usual, he had invited the entire ateneo student body, 90% of which had eventually begged off. after four years of the same scenario, you'd think that he'd change tactics just a bit. once all financial matters were settled, i had dinner with him and his family at the embassy caféteria [this is really how it is spelled; it appears to be a shong version of the heavy metal umlaut], which would have been good, if only it weren't friday*.

guests started arriving at around 1030, by which time jonat and i were halfway through our second round of mojitos and "pork kebab with egg tofu" [read: tokwa't baboy]. i was happy to discover that he had invited a few high school classmates as well, and they had thankfully decided to follow through. we spent the next couple of hours or so catching up on things, before jonat declared that the hour of our doom had arrived.

for the record, i am not what you may call a "party person" [the word "nightlife" sends my thoughts more in the direction of omnivorous flying rodents than abuses to my optic and auditory centers]. predictable, then, that i should delay our attendance by encouraging debate on why an establishment erected for entertainment purposes should be named after another, undoubtedly more sinister, construct.

it was only after mustering courage enough to enter that the mystery resolved itself: apparantly essential to both locations are queues so lengthy that only the first 20 people are fully aware of where they are headed; a sudden, palpable decrease in personal wealth; and a heat that soon contributes to an emergency-room-worthy migraine. in theory, one difference would have been the dance floor, but this i consider to be a moot point, as any dance floor containing a number of people so great as to inhibit any form of motion beyond the vertical has no business being called such.

in fact, the majority of us guests instead found ourselves playing parlor games such as "find the jonat" [with the thick smoke proving to be an effective enough blindfold], and "who can travel furthest without debilitating injury". at this point in time, it should be quite evident that i have no great love for deafeningly repetitive basslines and synthesizers when accompanied by blindingly repetitive strobe and laser lighting.

and yet despite this, i managed to have a sane enough time due to those four words which now sit atop this entry. para sa nawalang kabataan: a toast to the immaturity of yesteryear, by people who'd one by one lost it at some point between then and now. it's a slightly dampening feeling [even more so than that caused by the alcohol], reconnecting with women who've gradually traded their braces for breasts, or men who now consider it more manly not to shave.

one would do well to realize that although eventually losing all things is inevitable, eventually forgetting is not. and that it is, in fact, worth a few hours of tinnitus and afterimages, spilt drinks and embarrassing exclamations, to retain some well enough to keep for years after they've been misplaced.

happy birthday.

sige ingat.ü

---

friday: on fridays, my teammates at work insist on lunch out, since we are free to wear more socially-acceptable attire, and are therefore more willing to be seen in socially-acceptable locations [or as they say, "kain tayo sa mahal"]. on top of that, this particular friday was our imported trainor's last day, so that warranted an additional team dinner. and on top of that, it was also the date of the company quarterly coffeetalk, which translates to food and beverages for 1000 people. needless to say, i was stuffed.

la mejor película que he visto esto año

2007-02-13T00:08:00.000+08:00

sige ingat.ü

happy new year

2007-02-11T00:17:00.001+08:00

The Roman god Janus was always portrayed as having two faces — one looking toward the future, and the other looking toward the past. Small wonder that the first month was designated as his. We become a bit two-faced during January ourselves. We celebrate the media noche as a time of anticipation, as well as of reflection, before ringing in the New Year in a blaze of fireworks and polka dots. I figure that this our graduation is a similar borderline, but this time like that split-second between a dream and reality. We are about to wake up to the real world, so to speak, and cast all thoughts of our dream-world out of our minds. We smile and lie to ourselves, saying that if we never saw Zobel and our teachers again it would be too soon; or that we will have forgotten the tune of the Alma Mater the moment we step off-campus. Fat chance of that happening. This school, whether we admit it or not, has wormed its way into our cores. After all, the Ateneans may be blue-blooded, but we LaSallians will always be green-minded. It is a fact that Man finds security in routine — the same people; the same places; the same subjects, if you will. But all of that changes now. Now, we are about to take our last steps as high-schoolers and our first as collegians. This means that while some of us will continue our LaSallian education, others will opt to go abroad or shaft and join the opposition. You know what I mean. In any case, my point is that nothing lasts forever, least of all youth and circumstance.

Most of us have let the years speed by then regret their passing. Even now, it seems surreal that we have reached an end after so long. We may even find ourselves wishing that we could have had one more year. No wait, maybe just one more day. Much better. Too much of anything is a bad thing, wouldn’t you agree? Going back, it is like our time-honored tradition of doing everything at the last minute holds true to our very consciousness as well. Suddenly here we are, and no word rings truer than bangag to describe our states of awareness. The consolation is that we are all bangag together. We are individuals, yet also elements in a set. Each of us is unique and has added that particular flavor to our cream of senior soup. Put simply, this batch would not be what it is if we were not who we are. I believe that a school is less of an academic environment and more of a social experience. In this, at least, our sleeping and getting up at unearthly hours day after day ad infinitum have been worth it — we leave with the acquaintance of three hundred odd people and the deepest, darkest secrets of maybe fifty more. The experiences that we have shared will never quite leave us alone. We will miss that buddy with whom we had peak communication, whenever collegiate mortal sins are committed. We will grumble about having to attend class reunions but will do so anyway, secretly eager for the latest chichi. We will even one day start cranking out when I was young epics, much to the disgust of any and all listeners.

Having said this, in the tradition of the Sunscreen Song, I share with you the following as my College Resolutions: I will treasure the time I have left, instead of griping about how certain classes take forever to finish. I will love Mondays because they mean that I have a school to go to and friends that I have not seen for the weekend. I will not fall asleep in class if I am seated up front. I will respect my professors’ efforts, even if I really could teach their subjects better. For that matter, I will not laugh openly when a professor stumbles over a word; I will merely bend down and pretend to tie my shoelace. I will not let anything ruin more than ten minutes of my day. I will appreciate the mini-miracles that God throws my way, like when a test is cancelled or when I hear my favorite song. I will not take a rain check on an invitation to go out if I can afford it, nor pass up free food when it is offered. I will remember that it takes forty-seven muscles to frown, seventeen to smile, and just four to get your point across. I will remember that life is a journey, not a destination, and that even if you are on the right track, you will still be run over if you just sit there. And I will remember that the meaning of life is not in paragraph form, but is seen or heard or felt, depending on who you are and how you got it. To misquote a song, life may be unpredictable, but that is what makes it worth living. Vaya con Dios, graduates. Enjoy this summer — it will probably be our last. Good afternoon, good riddance, and Happy New Year.

---

note: i wrote this piece more than four years ago, as a requirement for my high school graduation. it was never used officially, but i've heard rumors that it is still being touted by zobel's english department as an example of excellent essay writing. for myself, i make no claims beyond that once upon a time, i thought it was pretty damn good.

i belatedly dedicate it to the people of catch 2t7 and the malate cute staff. do not go gentle.

sige ingat.ü

suspension of disbelief

2007-02-09T19:48:00.000+08:00

it usually takes a feat of great athletic ability to successfully find a seat on an ayala-bound bus from bicutan during the morning rush hour. i myself have to risk life and limb in this manner at least once every week, when our family vehicle is prohibited from city roads due to coding rotation. often, i just start for work an hour or two later than i should, citing traffic, and arrive late, as is expected, but mercifully whole. yet even with that precaution, i only succeed in limiting the number of my opponents to a manageable level, not eliminating them altogether.

thus it was a rather unexpected occurrence this morning that a bus rolled up to the loading zone with a banner on it proclaiming a free ride, sponsored by the "freedom from debt coalition". both the driver and conductor were inviting passengers to hop on, claiming that there were no strings attached; it was a testament to the jadedness of the filipino people that out of the 50-odd people sweating in the hot bicutan sun, only ten of us had the courage to take their word for it.

i was rather suspicious that the bus was in a good physical state, with quality air-conditioning, considering that we were neither given a lecture nor asked to sign any petitions. a few passengers even attempted to pay the conductor, who was giving out tickets [perhaps for logistics' sake], but he refused good-naturedly. this, according to him, was the aforementioned organization's way of commemorating the people power revolution of '86.

it honestly felt good to have a tangible return in the name of celebration, as opposed to the usual method, which involves certain people who had nothing to do with the revolution collectively stuffing their snouts full of lechon and cake [alright, i was a bit young to have known the meaning behind the march, but i was there, i can assure you]. given this, i ended up feeling more than a bit sorry for those who hadn't budged from the bus stop, still standing in the stifling heat because they simply couldn't believe that such a thing was even possible anymore.

i'll spare you the details at this point; just read between the lines.

sige ingat.ü

paglingon sa pinanggalingan

2007-02-07T14:40:00.000+08:00

unbeknownst to those of you, if any, who still visit my dusty corner of the internet, i have, in fact, been very prolific the past week in updating [yes, you read correctly] this blog. excluding this entry, a full 118 others have been added to the roster. but where, you might ask, are these phantomic articles to be found, since there appear to be no other new entries aside from this one?

the answer to that lies, as most things, in the past. a few months ago, i had the misfortune to be locked out of my fileserver, which was kind enough to freeze my account without so much as a warning email, thereby severing me from the written accounts of the first year of my college life.

fast-forward to last week, where by sheer chance i stumbled upon the internet wayback machine. imagine my surprise at the discovery that the official archives for the entire world wide web had deigned my little ol' blog significant enough to be backed up. 168 hours and a number of aesthetic corrections later, i am semi-proud to present the half-witted rambings of my four-years-younger self, as found in the archive links yonder to the right.

note that the words presented therein are often embarrassingly juvenile, even by my standards, which is to say that they reflect a period in my life which found me careless, carefree, and thinking myself impervious to change. needless to say, most of the opinions [and even facts!] noted in those pages are now foreign to my field of magnitudes.

if you still insist on venturing through, please do remember that there are reasons why the human brain is equipped with the capacity to invent, to rose-tint, and to forget.

sige ingat.ü

wow, mali!

2007-02-03T14:17:00.004+08:00

a certain friend of mine [let's call him 'jerry'] asked me yesterday to accompany him to glorietta, where he would be purchasing a few articles of clothing before a weekend in corregidor and a business trip to singapore right after. having nothing much to do that particular night before my parents would pick me up from work, i replied affirmatively, although i usually find shopping a chore. i figured that although i would rather do a large number of things instead, updating this blog was not one of them. alas, hindsight, where were you in my hour of need?

anyway, we went to the landmark, where he proceeded to direct me towards the men's underfashion department. now there's a showstopper if there ever was one. here i was thinking he was after jackets, a couple of ties, hell, maybe even a pair of shoes. instead, i found myself knee-deep in elastic, white-cotton shit. at that point in time, i thought it best to confirm my rising suspicions.

upon asking what our business in that particular section of the department store was, and receiving the answer that we were, in fact, questing for undergarments, i began to find some way of extricating myself from said situation. first off, i stated, i was by defintion a somebody else, and as such was not an ideal companion for such a purchase, since they are usually done sans others; and secondly, i had for the past few years been wearing boxers, even [especially] at home, and therefore had limited knowledge of the why's and wherefore's of close-fitting underpants. in conclusion, i had neither reason nor willingness to be there and as such i would be going now see you tomorrow ok bye.

well, apparantly poor jerry had no prior experience in shopping of any sort [thus, leaving him to his own wits would be tantamount to homicide by neglect] so i finally gave in to being on standby while he attempted to pick out briefs in his size. at one point i discovered that he had been "trying out" the ones he had favored by stretching them over his groin, much to the dismay of passers-by. i quietly pointed out that such methods are often frowned upon in public, prompting him to inquire about the methods that aren't. i replied "tantsahin mo na lang", which in the vernacular corresponds to "just estimate it".

unfortunately, that phrase has an additional, lesser-known meaning, somewhat akin to "just measure it out", which was, equally unfortunately, the definition jerry thought to adopt, which he carried out by wrapping the articles of clothing around his neck, in much the same method as that by which pants are "fitted". by this time, whatever thin layer of dignity i had managed to hold onto upon entering that cursed ground now lay irrepairably torn amid the gartery, cottony trapezoids that littered the varnished wooden floor. the saleslady had been regarding us with some amusement for the past ten minutes, and was now looking at me as if this travesty was somehow my fault; i somehow found the strength to quip "boyfriend ko. foreigner."

what else was i supposed to do?

by the time we were through with the underfashion excursion, i was thoroughly ready to part ways with dear jerry. but i still had a good hour to kill, and jerry promised that he was done with unmentionables, so i saw no harm in walking him through a few polo shirts. hey, i thought, what more could happen?

let us step back for a second and examine that statement. by taking a page from the great philosophers of yore, one could surmise that so long as all the atoms in the universe do not simultaneously freeze, anything can happen. and this anything is not guaranteed to be a good anything. in fact, due to the predispositions towards increased entropy, this anything is more likely to be a bad anything. and in my case, this bad anything turned out to be jerry recognizing the words "dressing room" without recognizing the words "door", "shut", and "lock". end result: for the second time in the last 30 minutes, the late-night shoppers at the landmark were treated to a rather extraordinary occurrence.

and as also for the second time in the last 30 minutes, i was bent over, hunting for my ego among the ruins of past fabrics, the saleslady [a different one this time] was looking at me for answers. i ventured to ask how often this type of scenario manifested itself, and she responded "'pag foreigner lang".

well, you know what i said next.

sige ingat.ü

antichrist superstar

2006-12-30T13:53:00.000+08:00

michel de nostredame predicted the rise of three antichrists before the end times, who would reshape the world of their time, albeit in a rather negative sense. of these three, scholars have considered "pau nay loron" and "hister" to have been decidedly identified, yet the third, referred to as "mabus" remains anonymous to this day.

nostradamus was rather fond of wordplay, and his cryptonyms often incorporate several levels of meanings [take for example, the second antichrist, which is both a rhyme and the greek word for the river danube, along whose banks a certain führer grew up]. one therefore has to wonder it is merely an exercise in overanalysis to realize that "mabus" spells out "subam" when reversed, and "ma-bus" when syllabicated, revealing the two central players in the recent international free-for-all.

if we are to run with this hypothesis, the question then must be answered - which of the two should we guard against? well, given the events of this morning, there should be little doubt remaining on the matter. i need not elaborate on the resumé of an megalomanic; after fahrenheit 9/11, it's more or less a given. put simply, evil knows not how to share power.

sige ingat.ü

ladies and gentlemen, the batista bill

2006-12-10T15:11:00.000+08:00

sige ingat.ü

the simplest things

2006-11-23T22:59:00.000+08:00

sige ingat.ü

the simpler things

2006-11-22T23:34:00.000+08:00

sige ingat.ü

the simple things

2006-11-16T20:39:00.000+08:00

sige ingat.ü

the moment of truth

2006-11-16T12:10:00.000+08:00

self: ay btw napublish ulit ako sa malaet

well whaddayaknow... it still made sense.

sige ingat.ü

sins and tragedies

2006-11-08T09:19:00.000+08:00

i don't particularly consider myself a staunch defender of the faith, but i have recently found something unsettling in the logic through which radio censorship operates. take for example that 'song' by that 'band' panic! at the disco, whose lyrics run: haven't you people ever heard of / closing the god-damn door?

yes, the song is rather prevalent on the airwaves; yes, i find the melody and the lyricism equally irritating; and yes, the version above is, verbatim, what you will actually hear upon tuning in.

my dislike for this particuler genre of music must therefore take a back seat, in the face of the tetragrammaton's sudden demotion to a position equivalent to that of profanity. worse, actually, considering that 'damn' is evidently now viewed as less vulgar. the message this sends out to the general populace is that swearing is socially acceptable and religion is not, simply because religion limits you to one and only one "bad word".

political correctness was instituted in order to minimize offensive terminology and practices, not to limit the extent of our individuality. words should then, by definition, be eschewed only when they are created by one group to allow exclusion of another. although religious views do satify the second condition, words used to refer to the divine are more or less universal in nature, and at the very least are not slurs.

why censor, then? simply because belief is a facet of life not embraced by the totality of the human race? if so, then radio stations should shut down completely - after all, there are enough deaf people in the world to warrant it. the bottom line is that the world we are leaving our children is one which values avenues of similarity over those of difference, even at the cost of the ability to recognize when deviation is essential for survival.

as for myself, i stopped listening to the radio a long time ago. between the news, the propaganda, and the bad music, my mp3s provide a much better alternative. i'm listening to one right now, in fact. teenage dirtbag, by wheatus. you might be familiar with it - it's the song that goes: her boyfriend's a dick / he brings a gun to school

sige ingat.ü

all in the family

2006-10-05T11:34:00.000+08:00

A high school student accused of poisoning his classmate at the Philippine Science High School pleaded not guilty Monday to frustrated homicide charges filed before a Quezon City court.

"Joseph" (not his real name) was with his lawyer when he was arraigned before Judge Lourdes Geron. The frustrated murder charge against Joseph and his friend "Mario" stemmed from last year's alleged poisoning of their classmate, Marie Angelynne Fabro. Joseph and Mario were accused of lacing a water jug with the chemical mercury nitrate, from which Fabro drank. The girl nearly died after ingesting the chemical.

Joseph's mother, meanwhile, said her son is a victim of bad publicity. She said that the case should not have been publicized in the first place. She added that her son is a victim too. Fabro, however, said she is grateful that the wheels of justice are finally turning. "At least we can now look forward to the trial."

The trial is set to begin next month.

once again, it would seem that a proud alumnus of our illustrious high school has brought honor to the alma mater, by way of deeds heroic enough to warrant headlines across the country. but wait! before we carelessly delegate roles in black and white, should we stop to consider whether, in fact, we've casted the characters correctly? is it feasible that this series of events is some laughable accident, and our friend "joseph" is, as his mother claims, as much a victim as the girl who underwent a hundred thousand pesos' worth of medical treatment?

i'll spell it out for you: i don't think so.

unlike the majority of filipinos concerning themselves with this bit of news, i know the perpetrator as more than an alias or even a full name. he is the unfortunate brother of an equally 'brilliant' grade school classmate notorious for various unsolved mysteries, mostly along the lines of disappearing electronics, traces of certain bodily fluids, and blank answer sheets returning with large a's stamped on them [this last ability earned him the moniker of "doctor m—"]. last i heard, this classmate is now a bisexual senior at mit. yes, the mit.

so if we are to believe what the evidence dictates then, yes, i am inclined to believe that this "joseph" would consider more than the usual options when guarding his interests; yes, it is possible that whatever influences molded the elder sibling got to him as well; and yes, he had good reason to think he could get away with it.

personality is formed over years of observation, and even the most sudden of changes aren't. if the boy who drowns cats isn't corrected, then we have no right to be surprised when he discovers that women struggle in much the same way.

sige ingat.ü

starstruck

2006-09-30T22:26:00.000+08:00

FOR RELEASE: SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 30, 2006

GEMINI (May 21-June 21). Is love a type of addiction? If it's not, then why do you have withdrawal symptoms when you're away from your dear one for too long? Tonight brings the remedy.

genesis 1:3.

sige ingat.ü

geologic

2006-09-28T00:26:00.000+08:00

x: how nir is sm north sa inyo?

jp: 10 minutes walk lang

x: by car?

jp: walk nga eh
jp: duh

sige ingat.ü

zarbon fruit interior

2006-09-24T13:37:00.000+08:00

a matter of survey - click on this link and leave a comment detailing your first thoughts on the matter.

good luck.

sige ingat.ü

turrah, mate

2006-09-04T16:35:00.000+08:00

ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, children of all ages, it is with a heavy heart that i report the tragic and untimely demise of steve irwin, crocodile hunter. although not entirely unforseen, it is nevertheless an unexpected loss, as one does expect heroes to be of a stuff stronger than mortal flesh.

i remember the countless hours i spent mesmerized by irwin's one ring circus, amazed at the antics of this man [though the term hardly does him justice], who was at once clown, lion tamer, magician, and ringmaster. my mother refused to watch, on account of an imagined heart condition, all the while prophesying that every show would be his last. it is a testament to his great tenacity, then, that she was the most surprised among us when her prediction came true.

one does not become a hero through spoon-feeding, and it is this rough-and-ready outback attitude that we've come to love about dear steve, ever unafraid to risk life and limb [and baby!] in his mission to communicate the wonder, indeed the danger, of the natural world. his familar catchphrase of "gorgeous!", used to describe everything from a raging komodo dragon, to a knot of mating snakes, to a lizard whose teeth were tearing through the arteries of his right arm, awoke in us a grudging admiration for the wild that had for him become second-nature.

it is no exaggeration that we now find ourselves without a friend, example, teacher, and champion. the manner of his death only serves to underscore the values he lived by - that all forms of life have their own majesty, and deserve their own share of respect and celebration. they say that heart has stopped; i say as long as there are those who have seen an animal streak across the landscape and know that there is no greater definition of freedom, he is with us yet.

bon voyage, crocodile hunter. you shall be missed.

sige ingat.ü

dire warnings

2006-08-31T08:11:00.000+08:00

chudor: anyways anong oras ka aalis ng bahay?

self: alis ako 830, as i said last night
self: nagiinit ako ng tubig as we speak

chudor: ahh okies

self: ikaw ba

chudor: kain ako
chudor: tapos ligo na ako
chudor: mga 8:15 siguro ako aalis or something

self: hmm
self: pano ka kakain at maliligo in 5 mins?

chudor: 8:00 pa lang

self: o?
self: mag 815 na sakin

chudor: yup
chudor: kaka 8 pa lang

self: omg
self: that means... i'm from the future!
self: i'm from 15 minutes in the future

chudor: ok...

self: behold my awesome time travelling powers!
self: i will give you a narration of how things are 15 minutes in the future...
self: it's a dark and gloomy world
self: everybody is tired
self: people would rather sleep in this age

chudor: ok...

self: nothing much has changed technology-wise
self: pero may 6.36c na. ginawang passive ang epicenter

chudor: i should ask about me in the future
chudor: kung sino magiging gf ko
chudor: hehe

self: hmm
self: in this time you still have no gf sorry
self: it may be a little too soon

chudor: yare yare

gwapooo

2006-08-21T02:05:00.000+08:00

sige ingat.ü

that which we call a rose

2006-08-16T07:55:00.000+08:00

evidently, it also works the other way around.

sige ingat.ü

TolJa i'd do it

2006-08-07T22:45:00.000+08:00

self: bakit may dala kang swiss army knife?
x: magsasalsal ako.
self: ah ok... teka ano!?
x: ay mali!

"laslas" perhaps?

sige ingat.ü

living up to one's name

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

ILOILO Representative Rolex Suplico yesterday said he was planning to sue the Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corp. after a store in Tokyo, Japan, refused to honor his HSBC credit card as he tried to buy two Rolex watches.

Suplico said he was “publicly humiliated” when a store clerk practically told him the HSBC credit card he handed over was stolen.

He said he was “extremely embarrassed” because there were many people in the store, including two other Filipino congressmen -- Pangasinan Rep. Amado Espino and Iloilo Rep. Ferjenel Biron who were also buying Rolex watches which were on sale.

well now, don't that beat all.

heaven forbid that a man as important as representative suplico be subjected to the utter humiliation and mental anguish of being called, of all things, a thief! what injustice is this that he be asked to verify his identity, as if through some inconceivability, they did not know who he was? and what's more, they dare respond with apologies instead of monetary compensation!?

it simply begs the question - what is this world coming to?

sige ingat.ü

epiphanies

2006-07-28T23:56:00.000+08:00

self: after pirates, what big events happened?

renz: huh?

self: anong mga nangyari pangkatapos ng pirates 2 na malaki ang impact sa buhay natin bilang mga estudyante?

renz: di ko pa napapanood pirates of the caribbean yung bago

self: tears

renz: bakit?

self: tingin ko may nalimutan akong idagdag sa 'to update' list para sa blog ko

renz: may update ka?

self: wala
self: inuupdate ko lang yung 'to update' list ko
self: wait
self: i just realized how incredibly stupid that is

sige ingat.ü

the washing of the feet

2006-06-29T00:09:00.000+08:00

katrina tuvera quimbo, our instory professor, had invited paolo manalo, of malate writers' workshop and jolography fame to speak to the class regarding his personal take on the craft.

the result of the talk was something akin to the proverbial tossing of pearls before swine [not to be mistaken for a charge of amentia; merely one of disinterest], a rather painful exercise in attempting to instruct students in a matter which will never concern them. in my opinion, it takes a sizable amount of nerve to public discuss concepts which you know are fundamentally pointless for the target audience.

after class, i approached him in order to relate that the story i had presented during the workshop had succeeded in seeing publication. but before i could get a word in edgewise, he turned to me with an accusatory air, and asked "why aren't you updating your blog?"

i, sir, am not worthy!

sige ingat.ü

pananaos-puso

2006-06-18T22:45:00.000+08:00

maraming salamat sa mga bumatí, at nang dahil sa inyo ay lubusang humaba ang aking birdie. sa mga nakakakilala talaga sa akin, alam n'yong madalang dumaan ang aking kaarawan na mas binabahiran ng saya kaysa sa hinayang. kahit na hindi ko din naiwasang makatikim ng kung anong kamalasan noong pasimula, hindi rin ako nagbibiro sa pagbanggit na ito na marahil ang pinakamatino kong naranasang pagdiriwang sa nakaraang walong taon.

salamat muli, kaibigan.

hexakosioihexekontahexaphobia

2006-06-06T18:06:00.000+08:00

my friends today were divided into two categories - those who were experiencing an uncanny streak of good luck, and those whose fortunes were accordingly inauspicious. although i usually believe that fate is something that is made rather than accepted, i do put equal stock in etymology, and the way i see it, the concept of luck is too universal to be ignored.

we may have our different portents - fours and thirteens, black cats and ladders - but the concept of objects, times, and environments affecting the outcome of events isn't limited to any one place or time. if that idea was powerful enough to have equal representation in all cultures throughout history, then perhaps there is some grain of truth in it. after all, even the most stalwart amongst us probably see no evil in reading through a horoscope or biorhythm chart [i prefer mine at day's end], just in case.

a rather interesting aspect of this is what i refer to here as "metaluck", defined as the confidence or fear generated by the foreknowledge of one's supposed luckiness. this adds a new dimension to predicting how things play out, both as a direct effect on nervousness levels, and in the way we categorize situations as products of fortune or misfortune.

a number of people i consider as "good" or "nice" report that today did not sit well with them; on the other hand, those i sometimes think of as "the progeny of beelzebub himself" seem to count the last 24 hours as unusually providential. while i suppose that these observations are in part due to the awareness that this particular date holds some negative significance in certain religious circles, some part of me is still open to the idea that the accuser may have, in fact, had some hand in the recent turn of events.

after all, i too had my share of good omens.

sige ingat.ü

amplification

2006-06-03T07:46:00.000+08:00

i'm not usually one to plug anything for myself, but it so happened that all of my band's original songs are doing well in their respective soundclick genre charts. now, i don't particularly have faith in the auditory judgements of the site's visitors, but i do know an omen when i see one. thus, i rather embarassedly put out this link, for experiment's sake. you'll have to create an account though; sorry about that.

meanwhile, the few of you who are aware of my other blog's existence may have noticed the visual hit counter on it. that counter actually counts clicks to this blog, which only means that i haven't given up on it yet. i won't promise anything tangible this time - the schoolyear has started, and, being a senior, anything can, and usually does, happen, at the expense of my free time.

chudor was kind enough to remark rather pointedly that some people, unlikely as it may seem, are actually waiting for entries. indeed, to some, my blog may have reached webcomic status. regardless of the laughability of this hypothesis, i feel that his nagging warrants a response somewhat akin to "yes, mother". but be warned - as with most over-the-counter products, it may take a week for results to increase to a clearly visible level, and, take note, they too may vary.

sige ingat.ü

gender issues

2006-06-02T21:07:00.000+08:00

our relsfor [religion four] class deals with social theology, and thus discussions regularly revolve around society's role in causing or alleviating culturally chronic dehumanization. today's had something to do with our [the philippines'] excessively dependent relationship with big brother america. certain trade policies, according to our professor, were being accepted even with the knowledge that they thinly veil certain long-term disadvantages. to illustrate how all-too-willingly our political predecessors shrugged off these [supposedly] obvious drawbacks, our professor commented on how they were being "welcomed with open legs".

now there's a thought.

it hardly falls to coincidence that we have a motherland, the inang bayan, while america has a fatherland, uncle sam. both avatars represent the agression level inherent to their peoples' culture, which is probably why americans refuse to compromise, and why filipinos think nothing of it.

as for the whoring out of our land and resources, let's just say that while i believe in the overall equality of man's stupidity, evil is nevertheless the bastard child of a sudden and unusual intelligence.

sige ingat.ü

the following things piss me off

2006-05-20T23:39:00.000+08:00

bow.

sige ingat.ü

yeah right

2006-04-30T19:01:00.000+08:00

vince forwarded me a text message today, concerning the apparent birthday of john baptist de la salle. i was being entreated to view the joyous commemoration as a reminder to "live out the spirit of saint la salle as demonstrated by the tenets of lasallian education". inspiring words, if only the aforementioned school system were still interested in what its founder believed in.

the institute of the brothers of the christian schools, according to my lasallian high school education, was set up in order to give financially-challenged youngsters a quality of education equal to that found in expensive private schools. an admirable mission-vision for its time; today, however, there are a number of things amiss when considering its applicability:

first, financially-challenged youngsters are not to be found in a lasallian school. second, quality education does not exist anywhere in the philippines. and third, the only reason why lasallian education can compete with private schools is because it has become one as well.

calling attention to the lifestyle supposedly advocated by lasallian brothers only exacerbates the irony, since example is a far more convincing teacher than rote. if there are any alumni out there who still believe that they owe their success to their college education, it is only due to one of two things - accurate working knowledge of what not to do, or a network of contacts spanning half the globe.

i suppose, then, that i too should be thanking my teachers. without their expert guidance, i would have had neither the cynicism nor the acerbity to flesh out this entry.

sige ingat.ü

level up!

2006-04-29T10:28:00.000+08:00

i was idly flipping through channels late last night when i caught urbandub's myx live performace [thanks to vince for the heads up]. i truly believe that that band has the potential to put the philippines on the music map, like what the eraserheads might have, if not for the fact that most of their best work was in the vernacular.

but this post is not about that.

rather, after a half-hour of good music, urbandub made their exit and what next band should grace my screen but the ever-popular cueshe. now don't get me wrong - it's always tough being a noob, and as a musician i know that sometimes the temptation to 'borrow' material is strong, sometimes overwhelming. and, yes, sometimes one composes melodies which subconsciously [i refuse to say "accidentally"] resemble others.

but this post is not about that either.

what this post is about is the fact that while some people will remain oblivious to the fact that simple plan, silverchair, the itchyworms, or orange range are just paperwork away from throwing a court case at you, it is inherently more difficult to get away with the complete duplication of an entire music video, especially if the song accompanying it is basically the same thing as the original's. case in point - 24 hours. that whole staring at pictures and holding your head in your heads while your house burns down is so... i don't know... it's been awhile maybe?

It's been a while
Since I could hold my head up high
And it's been a while
Since i said i'm sorry

sige ingat.ü

other lifetimes

2006-04-22T12:21:00.000+08:00

i am well aware of the fact that i have stopped regularly updating this blog. no, this does not mean that i have started favoring my [o mah gawd] livejournal account; i'm merely suffering from a bout of acedia, following the lunacy that was last term's final spasms, and most probably one that will digress into an acute case of senioritis. the 11 items [excluding this one] on the "to blog" sticky note on my desktop attest to my battle with procrastination. well actually, all of my sticky notes do - one simply wouldn't need them otherwise.

but, cutting to the chase, i am posting this to remind myself of my duty to my readers [if any]. i will hopefully be using the next few days to one by one flesh out the adventures i have subjected myself to over the past three months. if you truly have nothing better to do, it may interest you to know that i will be post-dating these entries, for chronology's sake. it would seem that i have not yet given up on my evil plan to compile certain blog entries into a book, despite the existence of this unfortunate "lost year" i find myself in the middle of.

wish me luck, then.

sige ingat.ü

no entiendo nada

2006-04-22T09:26:00.000+08:00

the great marshall valencia always maintained that the mentally challenged would one day rule the world. not as far-fetched a prophesy as it seems, actually.

webster defines insanity as: "a : a deranged state of the mind usually occurring as a specific disorder (as schizophrenia) and usually excluding such states as mental retardation, psychoneurosis, and various character disorders b : a mental disorder". simply put, according to this definition, any thought, word, or deed that is counter-intuitive, unintelligible, or threatening to a man of average intelligence is a form of lunacy.

case in point, the following conversation i overheard on a bus from ayala to bicutan, which i recreate here to the best of my spelling ability:

"pare, reyon leyon neyon?"
"reyon leyon neyon? sigurado ka?"
"oo. herb."
"herb?"
"herb."
"sige. yellow submarine."
"ok. yellow submarine."

and there i was, thinking what the fuck. but i suppose it's a fair trade, considering that not many people would understand a conversation between specialists, be they mathematicians, beauticians, or indeed dota players. it's a strange security as well, knowing that one can discuss sensitive information in public without giving anything away to those not concerned.

this is what our mental health system lacks - the patients in our institutes are merely people who are without their other half. they've lost something alright, but they're looking for understanding, and a diagnosis isn't going to bring them any closer to finding it. the last thing anybody wants to hear is that what he's saying is bullshit, anyway.

sige ingat.ü

'yun lang!

2006-03-29T00:03:00.000+08:00

rigel: sira comp ko, nakikigamit lang ako kaasar
rigel: sira mainboard ko

self: bakit naman?

rigel: hard dick ko nakakabit

self: huli ka balbon

sige ingat.ü

i'm it

2006-03-28T13:14:00.000+08:00

this is one of those "write one statement for each of 10 livejournal friends blah blah" things. obviously, i'm not using livejournal, but i do feel obliged to go through with it since i was one of five people tagged for the job. just to be contrary, i'll also be referring to people who don't have blogs. so there.

1. mas maayos ka nung wala ka pang boyfriend.

2. i miss how we used to be so close.

3. hindi ka nakakatawa. sa totoo lang, dati ka pang hindi nakakatawa.

4. none of us think you're a loser even if your grades suck ass.

5. nakakalungkot isipin kung gaano kalaki ang ibinaba ng tingin ko sa 'yo mula first term.

6. to be honest, my interests have shifted. if it weren't for the company, i would've quit long ago.

7. tara, bumalik na lang tayong high school. nabobobo lang ako dito.

8. brokeback mountain aside, i feel that i have a genuine connection with you.

9. sorry kung nabastos ka sa ginawa ko. iba lang talaga tayo ng gustong ipahiwatig.

10. i wish i could be more than just your friend.

sige ingat.ü

pushing the envelope

2006-03-21T13:14:00.000+08:00

what is the last straw?

a few days ago, i was at tapa king, waiting for friend x, with whom i was hitching a ride home. friend y, who was also supposed to ride with us, hadn't yet arrived when x pulled up. when x inquired about the whereabouts of y, i was suddenly seized with a mad desire to tell x that y had changed his plans and wouldn't be joining us.

i don't know why that rogue thought crossed my mind. i had nothing to gain from this stunt; indeed, i wouldn't even be there to witness y's reaction to our sudden disappearance. my callousness may even have resulted in the irrepairable severing of ties between y and myself, a strategic liability, to say the least.

on that note, what constitutes the degree of forgivability of an action? how does one know when one has crossed the proverbial line? in my experience, forgiving is different from forgetting, and only few are capable of applying both to injury on a regular basis.

forgiveness defines how one is to relate with the offender in future encounters - does one retain the same degree of familiarity, or even a degree of civility? does his|her speech and manner now warrant deeper reading? this is an inherent incapability of the masculine, evident in the clichéd stiffness with which old rivals greet each other.

forgetness [if such a word exists], on the other hand, rules over how much one regrets the current state of things - whether one loses sleep over it, or instead dreams about some alternate timeline where one's friends remained so. this is more of a problem for those with a greater degree of femininity, as it less associated with the superego than the id.

it is in how much hubris and ennui an other charges within the self that decides when the last straw has been broken. this, i feel, is by definition a relative matter, as the same scenario may evoke a different mix of emotions depending on when, where, why, and with whom it occurred.

sige ingat.ü

portents

2006-03-16T15:24:00.000+08:00

having little to do this morning in the lull before enrollment, i suddenly recalled that i had uploaded a couple of new pics to my friendster account, to which i hadn't affixed captions yet. upon seeing my home page, i noticed that someone had bothered to write me a new testimonial. this information surprised me, frankly, since i have been of the opinion that friendster had already run its course.

out of curiosity, after accepting said testimonial, i decided to read through all of my old ones. it was an odd sadness realizing how much i'd changed since creating my profile. so many then-touching affirmations from people that i rarely get to see anymore, if at all. between friendships left to fade away, increasingly tasking responsibilities, and the inevitable nonchalance that has settled upon all of us, i can count on my digits how many people have remained friendly, how many memories still make me smile, or even how many words of praise are still applicable.

it's a disturbing thought, how we've all grown apart over the years. independence, laziness, distrust, re-evaluation, we all have our poison. it's both impractical and emotionally taxing to backtrack instead of burning bridges, so very few of us actually succeed in repairing broken relationships. most of us would rather make new friends than reunite with old ones. the same goes for old habits, hobbies, personality traits - given the new environment we've explored over the past two years, we've all contracted some form of shell shock.

see, even the genuine [i think] regret i feel for some of my own transgressions aren't enough to convince me to do anything about them. this entry i envisioned as some sort of warning but even as i type it, i see the overflowing drama. it's just too easy to let go of ideas that just aren't useful anymore, if you catch my drift.

last week, for instance, my drinking buddies and i agreed upon a get-together after ten years. i honestly wonder if i'll remember to go. now, it seems unthinkable that i'd not see them for more than a day or two, or chat them up if we run into each other online, but after graduation, who knows? a curt "uy" or a buzz left unanswered might be that last attempt at communication before an awkward reunion at somebody's funeral.

absence makes the heart go wander. until recently, i found this pun terribly witty. now that i care less for wit, it's simply terrible.

so before i forget, and in case our paths don't cross again -

sige ingat.ü

an ace i can keep

2006-03-14T09:55:00.000+08:00

sige ingat.ü

change, or the lack thereof

2006-03-12T20:40:00.000+08:00

most of you will have by now come across this email.

pretty impressive, actually, and rightly so. personally, though, perhaps i would've been a tad more affected if i hadn't already touched on the same topic one year ago.

pope was right - people never learn.

sige ingat.ü

baywalk 0311

2006-03-11T22:27:00.000+08:00

i care little for the sea.

i dislike her lonely endlessness, that brutal honesty with which she shakes her head, refusing to do us favors.

i have no great love for the salt that weights the air around her with a sudden hunger, or how she leaves facts out to dry on rocky shores, keeping instead her icy opinions locked away, unfathomable.

i envy how effortlessly she remains deep, constant, in that grey knowledge that immortality is a fearsome thing, in that patience with which she teaches fish to fly.

the sea is as true to her nature as i am capricious, and this tame acceptance is why we can never be friends.

perhaps it is fate that i should have nothing to do with the sea. mine is, after all, a month of storms, when people would rather not think of water. my sign is air and hers is neither the same as mine, nor is it earth or fire. thus, we have nothing to say to each other, not even to argue about.

this does not bother me; it is not man's place to hold the sea as an equal. our ships are as empty a lordship as any other crown. it simply does not do to attempt conversation with a thing older than creation, silent as a passing star.

see, then, how i give the sea grudging respect. though i would sooner drown than have lunch with her and discuss the weather, i cannot speak ill of her, for she has mastered that art which i, by definition, cannot practice:

tolerance.

first of summer

2006-03-10T23:31:00.000+08:00

everyone is drinking tonight. for once, everyone has a good reason to. for past loves and future prospects, for birthdays, for theses and midterm exams, for electoral seats, for teachers and best friends, the clink of glass resounds from every table, whether accompanied by random bursts of laughter or the contagious melancholy of solitary drinkers.

summer, it would seem, has come for us.

already evident in our test scores is a hostile takeover of our thoughts, with most of us already done planning our respective out-of-town forays. after near-bombings, landslides, and a few days of "sorta kinda" martial law, nothing can rattle us. we've finally graduated from the cautious superstitions of the new year's earlier months, and can't wait to show it.

fate seems to agree, giving us ample opportunity to squander our bravado on a string of firsts. what better time for new beginnings, than a rapidly approaching ending [for some of us, anyway] to our student roles. having already gone through most liquors, some occult college practices, and a couple of organic unmentionables, not much is left for me to explore. well, not much that i'm looking forward to, at any rate.

in that light, i suppose passing our thesis defense counts for something. l'chaim.

sige ingat.ü

the proverbial corner

2006-03-10T00:34:00.000+08:00

sige ingat.ü

it's over

2006-03-04T20:55:00.000+08:00

arun --

[adjective]:

Sexually stunning

'How will you be defined in the dictionary?' at QuizGalaxy.com

too bad it's random.

sige ingat.ü

digital darwin

2006-03-03T18:25:00.000+08:00

for those of you with broadband internet or six free hours, this preview for spore is a must-see. oh, and don't bother to "manually download" the video - you'll be streaming it anyway. learned that the hard way.

sige ingat.ü

carlos ray norris junior

2006-02-26T02:18:00.000+08:00

What was going through the minds of all his victims before they died? His shoe.

There are no races, only countries of people he's beaten to different shades of black and blue.

He doesn't stub his toes; he accidentally destroys chairs, bedframes, and sidewalks.

He can slam a revolving door.

When he does division, there are no remainders.

He was once on Jeopardy. This show is notable in that it was the first occasion in Jeopardy history that Alex Trebek had appeared without a mustache. And a head.

He never goes to the dentist because his teeth are unbreakable. His enemies never go to the dentist because they have no teeth.

If he wants your opinion, he'll beat it into you.

His dick is so big, it has its own dick, and that dick is still bigger than yours.

Count from one to ten. That's how long it would take him to kill you. Forty-seven times.

all hail!

sige ingat.ü

insult to injury

2006-02-24T14:57:00.000+08:00

people never learn, do they? for the first time in weeks, the peso has risen to a little over 51 to the dollar, and not five hours later, the government manages to [in president arroyo's words] shoot itself in the foot.

grow up, already. arroyo may not be an absolute good, but she's the best we got. don't tell me you'd rather have noli as president, for principle's sake; if there's one thing this world teaches us, it's that principles are a liability.

funny how everyone knows that arroyo's a necessary evil, but we prefer to argue about how evil she is rather than accept how necessary she is. now if our politicians would put their money into something even a quark more productive than black propaganda and endless court cases, we might actually comprehend this.

but no, trust the masses to take the beauty of people power and turn it into an overplayed proof of our collective inability to stand by our choices and accept their repercussions. regardless of your efforts, dear brothers and sisters in bad governance, there is no such thing as a take two.

it figures, actually - the less you know, the more you think you know.

jeez.

revelations

2006-02-15T10:16:00.000+08:00

i haven't gotten around to publishing myself online these days [although i have two or three entry drafts in the works] since my schedule's a bit tight. in the meantime, you can contribute to my johari and|or nohari windows if you feel up to it. no worries, i'll understand if you're busy as well.

sige ingat.ü

rated g

2006-02-12T00:01:00.000+08:00

"nagagandahan ako kay stiffler's mom."
"wtf. kung si stacey's mom, baka maintindihan ko pa."
"ah oo. that's what i meant."

"uy, girl to girl! anong movie 'yan?"
"troy..."

"tignan mo - kung maghalikan sila, 'di mo malaman kung sino ang lalaki at sino ang babae."
"marami akong alam na ganyang movie."

"hoy, pwet ko 'yan! d'yan n'yo ilagay thesis n'yo!"

"sige, inom lang kayo. tapos mamaya, iro-rohypnol ko kayong lahat."

sige ingat.ü

nananawagan po

2006-02-02T23:15:00.000+08:00

inspired by the recent success of my foray into post-paid internet, i am contemplating applying for a cellular phone line, since i spend roughly 500 pesos per month on text credits anyway.

one of the perks of applying for a plan is the option to receive either a free or discounted cellphone as part of the package. this is where you, dear reader, come in: i am interested in availing of a 6610i with my post-paid account. unfortunately, that model is only given completely free-of-charge if my account is an extension of a two-year-or-older globe account.

therefore, i am appealing to anyone with loyalty to globe who may be willing to donate your extension slot to me. if you're feeling particularly generous, feel free to leave a comment. i assure you, the gesture will be well-appreciated.

sige ingat.ü

in character

2006-01-31T19:20:00.000+08:00

self: ano 'yan? hot lesbian porn na naman?

x: chong, it's art. it's an art film. parang frida lang 'yan.

self: o? wala akong kilalang tao na pinagjakolan ang frida.

x: dude, i don't consider it as porn. it's art nga.

self: art man s'ya sa simula, oras na naghubad ka ng pantalon, hindi na s'ya art. at saka ang frida, may kwento; 'yan wala.

x: indie film kasi s'ya, kaya hindi obvious ang kwento. parang tayo, indie band. we should appreciate the underground art scene. it's an indie lesbian film.

self: wtf. so ang sinasabi mo, 'pag lumabas na bading si jp, e di indie gay band na tayo?

x: no, no. hindi naman sa ganun... basta matagal ko na rin kasi gustong gumawa ng sarili kong art film, kaya naghahanap ako ng inspiration.

self: let me guess - gagawa ka din ng indie lesbian art film?

x: malay natin?

guess who.

sige ingat.ü

phenomenal cosmic powers

2006-01-29T18:50:00.000+08:00

after two trips to pldt's bicutan branch, two overseas calls, a forged letter of consent, a month and a half of patience, and 350 pesos' worth of steel piping, we finally have dsl.

although i do appreciate that i am receiving the full 384 kbps bandwidth [compared to the 256 kbps* that regular pldt mydsl provides], i am still apprehensive about the fact that my account is now being handled by smart wifi. evidently, the local 'port' [whatever that is] is currently full and instead of building a new one, they just tranferred the pending applications to their wireless department.

the signal's strong so far, but still a bit shaky. dsl veterans assure me that it'll clear up within the next few days, though. the irony is that although i'll be spending more time online, i'll actually be less visible.

oh, i'll still be around; it's just that you might need a different sort of buzz.

sige ingat.ü

---

256 kbps: pldt's 999 package ceiling is in fact 33% lower than they advertised - you only get the full bandwidth if you live in an area with heavy competition from globelines. caveat emptor.

bandemonium

2006-01-27T22:02:00.000+08:00

jonat invited me to this year's cersa variety show at the ateneo. don't ask me what cersa is, or why they put on a show - i haven't faintest idea. most probably it's an org in need of funding, but i was in it for the music and company i hadn't shared in a long time. beyond that, they could've been a black market human organ cartel in need of harvest, so long as the chloroform kicked in after urbandub played.

although an veritable cornucopia of acts graced the stage as the night wore on, i cannot promise to account for all of them in this entry, as some of them were at the very least, unremarkable, and also due to a rather unusual turn of events that occured in the wee hours of the morning. i can promise, though, to do my best for those i can remember:

i. rivermaya

i found it disappointing for a band of a supposed international caliber to take more time in setting up than in the actual song output. i'd assumed that the use of roadies [a thing which i myself will be reluctant to turn to] meant to streamline the tuning process, not lengthen it. one wonders why endless arpeggios need to be played to ascertain perfect pitch when one run of the blue danube's opening lines is just as effective. or perhaps it was an elaborate stall to cover for rico blanco, who was, as expected, quite fashionable, if you catch my drift. disappointing yes, but not at all unexpected.

ii. cambio

i was rather excited about finally seeing my bass god buddy zabala up close and personal, but as i was watching from the second floor, i wasn't able to see much of anything after all. neither close nor personal, sadly.

iii. the brownbeat all-stars

although this band has certainly garnered quite a following for themselves [if lampungan is to be taken any measure of their musical capabilities, and i'm sure that it is], i hardly expected them to have among their ranks a left-handed bass prodigy who plays a right-handed instrument. upside-down. in a completely-buttoned up long-sleeved sweatshirt. with eyes closed.

yowza!

iv. the ambassadors

there is certainly something to be said for a band that has the audacity to introduce itself with "maayong gabi sa inyong atanan, kami po ang cuéshe." i still don't know what that something is, but i like it.

v. pupil

just as raimund has hurled himself into the jungles of electronica, ely buendia has also embarked on a safari of his own, in an opposite, yet similarly hazardous, direction. this new genre he is undertaking [briefly seen in such 'hits' as wanted bedspacer] is doing wonders for his career, similar to the manner by which child molestation restored michael jackson to the level of fame his alleged vitiligo brought him.

vi. urbandub

edit: more than a year later, i still cannot find the words to describe their set. not surprisingly, it has been paralleled only once.

vii. protein shake

i had never expected to see this band again, but it would seem that their bassist's charisma was enough to give their career a rather significant boost. and yet unfortunately for them, a slight lapse in judgment served to mar their performance quite noticeably - when one agrees to perform onstage, one must always, always remember never to go on after the main act. thus, an audience of over 500 people quickly dwindled to three girlfriends even before their first chord was struck. that, my friends, is a level of musical hell only cueshé deserves.

by the time we made it back to the dorm, it was past one. jonat insisted that before i even considered sleep, i should participate in one of his acquired college rituals, since my visit was a rare occasion. i will spare you the details of how one prepares for moments of artificial enlightenment, instead skipping ahead to that period where jonat began to consider himself physically able to turn cartwheels across the room.

by that time, i had began to think of the substance as highly overrated, considering that the totality of my "otherworldly" experience was an intense desire to sleep, which you can surmise had nothing to do with anything i had ingested. i figured that it would have been rude [or perhaps negligent] to just turn in, considering that jonat was still running around, so i decided to watch some tv to wait his trip out. as luck would have it, animal planet was showing a special on the painted dogs of africa.

"painted dogs are no stranger to the unforgiving desert, and the runt of the litter will almost certainly live no longer than a few days," the narrator explained, while an hours-old pup limped across the screen. the animal's situation was evidently compounded by the fact that it had to compete with its more robust siblings for milk, and soon its movements were limited to a ragged gasp once every few seconds. "in its final moments, the cub is surrounded by others in the litter, who will witness death for the first, but definitely not the last, time."

how cute, i thought, as the other cubs started to nose and lick their dying brother. i was thinking of it as possible evidence for filial loyalty in the animal kingdom, when the narrator interrupted my thoughts with a curt "it is not uncommon for cannibalism to occur among newborn painted dogs". i had only a few seconds to process this new information before a rather familiar scene played out on-screen.

needless to say, the sight of internal organs being ripped out and thoroughly chewed was somewhat upsetting, so much so, in fact, that whatever qualms i had about turning in had started to seem argumentatively weak. my next coherent thought was understandably only a few hours ago: belatedly telling jonat that he had missed a turn driving me home. we ended up on a rather short side road with a prominent and lopsided speed bump, which jonat insisted on traversing multiple times [afterwards christened my humps]. that was unfortunately the peak of our collective coherence; as with all humps, things dropped off soon after.

sige ingat.ü

dice with the universe

2006-01-26T15:21:00.000+08:00

chaos theory, anyone?

sige ingat.ü

bad publicity

2006-01-25T23:14:00.000+08:00

as i was enjoying a plate of possibly the best sisig this side of taft avenue*, i caught wind that ramon tulfo, of isumbong mo kay tulfo infamy, was 'negotiating' a supposed feud between speedbyte's and microsmith, egi's two largest internet café chains. nothing came of it, of course, seeing as tulfo's show rarely arrives at any sort of resolution beyond presenting both sides of the argument.

the dispute was reportedly over a puddle of water that had leaked out from the second microsmith branch, and which, due to gravity, had parked itself in front of the next-door speedbyte's hq. naturally, people who had fallen victim to the water made their sentiments known to the speedbyte's staff, which prompted the owner [henceforth referred to as "kalbo"] to pay microsmith a visit. according to my source, the employee he talked to seemed none too interested in taking responsibility for the problem.

furthermore, the microsmith representative, assuming that kalbo, being a foreigner, was unfamiliar with a certain three words in the vernacular basically told him to fuck off, and promptly got smacked upside the head for it. long story short, the sissy dragged tulfo into the situation.

now, i must admit to being a tad biased towards speedbyte's - first off, they were in the business first, and second, they give better service in terms of hardware, price, and customer treatment. discounts are frequent as well, especially if the staffers know you by name. i perfectly well can't call for a microsmith boycott [lord knows i get dragged through their doors at least once a week], but this post does give me an opportunity to recommend one shop over the other.

see you at speedbyte's, then.

sige ingat.ü

---

the best sisig, et. al.: i actually don't know the name of the eatery, since it has no visible signboards. it's at the upper-left-hand corner of the building sinister to gokongwei, facing taft avenue. leave a message if you feel like discussing what sets it apart. over sisig, of course.

lord, why can't i win?

2006-01-24T20:20:00.000+08:00

joey: cowboys... making hot gay action since 1923.

self: wtf

joey: brokeback mountain hahaha

self: i know
self: why is it that the past two days, i can't open the tv, check my mail, browse wikipedia, or chat on ym without being bombarded with references to that movie -_-;

joey: this is a funny reference
joey: hahaha

self: i noticed
self: so how've you been

joey: im getting better

self: that's good to hear

joey: getting back on the horse
joey: (another cowboy ref)
joey: hahahaha

self: dang
self: that one almost got past me
self: except you had to explain it
self: alright, how about this one:

joey: dear godddd

self: heath ledger and jake gyllenhaal having hot sweaty butt sex
self: then they come together
self: right now
self: over me
self: [that makes it a threesome]

joey: i love that song

self: me too!
self: wait

don't get it? that's ok, bush doesn't either.

sige ingat.ü

pananacquiao

2006-01-22T09:54:00.000+08:00

i truly cannot understand why there has to be so much fanfare about his win over the clearly-underprepared morales. even his so-called unification of the filipino people is a joke. wrestlers don't win best comedy or drama performance oscars, so why is it exactly that manny pacquiao has an apparantly-popular music cd [note the dignity with which he poses for the album cover]?

it only serves to prove the desperation with which we are searching for some symbol of hope, even elevating an athlete to the status of a national hero [different from how one would honor a national treasure, which morales was for his native mexico]. at this point, the only appreciation i have for pacquiao [he has money; he doesn't need our fervent veneration] is the fact that certain politicians are lobbying to declare friday a non-working holiday, which will mean postponed quizzes in network and jprizal.

don't even ask me if a movie is in the works - you know it is.

sige ingat.ü

name-dropping

2006-01-20T21:34:00.000+08:00

during a chikaminute with one of my friends [i forget who - nowadays, rumor transcends gender], he|she mentioned the death of a certain 'escudero', who was apparantly a friend of a friend|flatmate|cousin|driver|cat|one of those. i thought nothing of it, since a) people die all the time, and b) as of last year, students die all the time.

a few hours later, chudor and i were taking our customary jeepney home, while across us, two gentlemen|ladies|officers of the federation were carrying on an animated conversation. i had been instructed by soyster to transcribe an overheard conversation, and i figured that that would more likely be it. long story short, they were discussing the controversial death of their friend 'marlon', who was, as usual, a good kid in bad company. i thought nothing of this either since a) as of last year, students die all the time, and b) students kill other students all the time.

to say the least, it was a bit unnerving to possess more than an spectator's point of view when both stories came out on the news within minutes of each other. not exactly your warm and tingly sensation.

sige ingat.ü

the awardsmaster's anagrams challenges = great smasher when gamer scans all data

2006-01-13T00:13:00.000+08:00

i was supposed to post this a good eight hours ago, but it took me that long to come up with the title. looks like i'm not going to be inducted into the hall of fame anytime soon.

check out the september 2005 winner; i enjoyed that most particularly.

sige ingat.ü

open source

2006-01-12T07:28:00.000+08:00

Paget's disease of the penis
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

I know nothing about this Paget's disease of the penis. however I would like to point out certain things. My name IS James Paget IV, and I am a sixth year pupil at a high school in Scotland. I would just like to point out the silliness of my ancestor naming this rather embarassing illness after himself. Fair enough for the Paget's Disease of the Nipple (how many female James' are there going to be, eh?) but to name an affliction of a rather sensetive part of the male body after yourself, well that's just stupid! Thank you very much great great great grandfather.

it's one thing to be a complete neanderthal, and another to broadcast it to the rest of the world. james paget the first must be turning over in his grave.

sige ingat.ü

rex is a girl

2006-01-10T14:46:00.000+08:00

this is red monika, from joe madureira's battle chasers. chudor likes her.

just so you know, she's got bigger balls than either of us.

sige ingat.ü

let me guess

2006-01-07T00:39:00.000+08:00

pb: LSS: Tumatakbo - Mojofly

self: ang lungkot ng kantang yan

pb: yeah...
pb: thats why i love it

self: ganda pa ng video
self: parang yung kid-friendly version ng hunchback of notre dame

pb: the video is quite sad...

self: that's why you love it?

pb: yes... because it's sad

self: ok, this conversation is retarded

sige ingat.ü

impressionism

2006-01-06T22:47:00.000+08:00

i. network

ii. jprizal

badilles is funny enough. as kaine put it, "para akong nasa beauty parlor."

iii. mobicom

*insert witty statement concerning buttocks*

iv. graphix

v. stthes1

*insert alternate witty statement concerning buttocks*

sige ingat.ü

in a first world country

2006-01-05T23:22:00.000+08:00

beggars can afford to take holidays.

sige ingat.ü

resolutions (asa)

2006-01-01T23:20:00.000+08:00

self: isipan mo ko ng new year's resolution

jonat: sex
jonat: hahaha
jonat: basta shet kung maging bading ka swear uupakan kita

kat: mag ka gelpren ka na
kat: para hindi puro comsci ang career mo

how about no. try these instead:

1. i will give up drinking vodka. it gives me a hangover.

2a. i will keep my dota playing to a minimum while at school. we're going to get dsl anyway.

2b. i will not steal kills from my teammates, except if that teammate is pogz.

3. i will take my subjects seriously and actually study, once i've failed a couple of tests.

4. i will avoid going to bed in the wee hours, by not sleeping at all.

5. i will cut my hair before the end of the year.

you can't please all the people all the time. yourself is a different matter, though.

sige ingat.ü

out of sight, out of mind

2005-12-31T15:48:00.000+08:00

i. foresight

my father has this habit of bundling up the family and taking us all the way to fairview every once in a while to have lunch and|or dinner with his co-workers at radio veritas asia, where he does charity newscasting once a week. since veritas is a catholic radio station, the aforementioned colleagues consist of foreign priests and missionaries from the south asian region.

this year, we went the week after christmas in order to have new year's lunch with them. my father noticed a large mound of gifts gathering dust in a far corner and asked what that was about, probably thinking they were being reserved for charity. father john, who served as the hindi news team leader, quietly told us that they were gifts from the team to 'friends' of the radio station, who had promised to visit them before the year ended.

where does one go from there?

ii. shortsight

i needed to go to the hp service center in makati to find a replacement adaptor for our printer. having passed by the shop only once before, the only clue i had to its exact whereabouts was that it was located somewhere in the vicinity of the insular life building on ayala avenue. i therefore took a washington jeep along ayala, keeping an eye out for some sign of the insular life building, but decided to bail out at a starbucks on the street across from the stock exchange, in case i'd gone too far.

while about to enter the underpass that would enable me to retrace my route, i noticed a sign that denoted the locations of two delifrance outlets, one of which was in the "insular building, 1 min away". so the insular building was a minute away. not too far, except that the accompanying arrow was pointing left, and the underpass had no tunnel in that direction.

that meant that the insular building was either a) on the corner street from where i was, or b) on the corner street from where i was, but on the opposite side. since the sign was located within the underpass, i assumed that option b was correct, and walked in that direction, until i caught sight of the mandarin hotel and knew that something was amiss. i then crossed paseo de roxas at the makati avenue intersection and walked back to the starbucks, this time on the opposite side of the road. in another five minutes i was back at the starbucks, with neither insular life building nor delifrance successfully located.

i decided to walk along ayala avenue towards edsa, thinking that perhaps the signs were misprinted. i gave up and turned back at the manila penn - i didn't recall that the hp center was that close to greenbelt. casting my eyes to heaven, i began to question what manner of supernatural trickery could exist in modern-day makati, when lo and behold! i saw the letters "lar life" on the side of a familiar-looking granite building. i ran back, in the direction of the letters, until the roof of the underpass cut them off. upon exiting said underpass, i found myself back at starbucks.

what the fuck.

turns out, the letters were on the second or third floor of the building, impossible to sight from street-level unless you look straight up. the delifrance was one minute's walk into the building, not from the corner. oh, and the hp center was closed for the holidays.

iii. hindsight

my father works for the kkc group of companies, which is a conglomeration of different businesses. this means that he occasionally has lunch with executives from one of the other kkc branches. yesterday, he had lunch with someone from the industrial-strength vacuum cleaner department, who was entertaining one of their best salesmen from the states: a certan ramon, who claims to be formerly of the disco music group hagibis.

to prove his authenticity, he regaled the dining customers with a one-man rendition of katawan, the impeccability of which my father could not verify, aside from his being unusually spirited. as for myself, i can find no listing of hagibis members online, as all links redirect me to pages concerning the typhoons of 2003.

but then again, what is there to gain for a vacuum cleaner salesman to gain by falsely claiming such? past or present, his job still sucks.

sige ingat.ü

err thanks

2005-12-31T09:26:00.000+08:00

the quality of food is, in fact, measured through quantity; i.e.: the better a certain dish tastes, the more of it will be gone by the end of the meal. a truly great chef will even sway the minds of those who insist that they've already eaten, or are on a diet. therefore, the supreme complement to such a cook would be the sight of guests full to the point of bursting, teetering on their chairs like volatile sacks of wet cement, unable to move.

so why isn't "nakakasuka po ang pagkain n'yo" a compliment?

sige ingat.ü

always look on the bright side of life

2005-12-26T00:22:00.000+08:00

i didn't think it was possible, but ninang remy outdid herself this year: she gave my sister a girbaud wallet with a thousand bucks inside, and me absolutely nothing.

nil, null, nix, nada, zero, zip, zilch.

the challenge here is to think of a supposed bright side that i can draw out for dramatic irony. let's see... how about "at least i didn't have to wait until we left to find out what crap-ass gift i got this year"?

yeah, that'll do.

sige ingat.ü

tradition?

2005-12-25T09:42:00.000+08:00

while snooping through jen's blog, i came across her discusson of the christmas song "i saw mommy kissing santa claus". if it displeases you to read my interpretation of the poetic situation [it's written in the vernacular*], i will reiterate the facts:

1. the child, not knowing the marital repercussions of his mother kissing another man, will assume that his father will also find the situation funny.

2. santa claus, in his field of magnitudes, is not a threat to his parents' relationship, any more than the easter bunny, or his own grandfather, is.

3. the second verse, involving the unseemly ticking between mommy and santa claus, implies that things aren't what they seem; it reveals [or, it should reveal] that the mother is sharing a private chuckle with the father, who is in disguise.

4. therefore, the situation is actually of the child wishing for the father to share in the discovery, not realizing that the father *is* the discovery.

5. then of course the parents will more likely have kinky christmas sex, and the kid will more likely develop christmas trauma.

sige ingat.ü

---

vernacular: sad as it is to admit it, taglish has replaced filipino as the lingua franca. it pains me each time i say something in filipino, rephrase it in english, and still have it misconstrued. hay naku, so tanga.

with a vengeance

2005-12-22T09:55:00.000+08:00

like pare, i found his blog na ulit!

sige ingat.ü

curse cards

2005-12-21T12:35:00.000+08:00

i. advanse: 1.0

strange grade, this one. my pre-final grade was [reportedly] a 1.5, and as far as i know, that can only get higher, not lower. but when the actual cards were given out, the other non-leaders in the tsm group all got 2.0s and i got this.

methinks he was just waiting to get back at me for the time he caught me solving the inquirer crossword in his class. owel.

ii. anmath2: 1.5

actually i was off to a good start, considering that this is my second take. my first three quiz scores were a 70, a 79, and a 78. then of course i got a 42 in the fourth quiz, and well...

i suppose that passing in itself is already more than enough, since the final exam was harder than i had expected [and had prepared for].

iii. filipi2: 4.0

actually, my pre-final grade already guaranteed me this score, on the condition that i participate in a public speaking competition along with two of my classmates. out of nine participants, we scored first, second, and fourth overall.

for some reason, i was chosen as best speaker [read: "most efficient at wasting time via convincing yet circuitous bullshit"]. the sole judge commentary on my grading sheet was "maayos".

'sus, nag-comment ka pa.

iv. intrnlp: 2.5

three impromptu presentations and an mp completely sourced from the internet - i had it coming.

v. lasaret: p

was a complete waste of time though.

vi. stthes1: 0.0

ah, the coup de grace. the full story is that my thesis group had prepared the documents for second defense thinking that the deadline was two days later than it actually was; the bottom line is that we failed.

the night we found out that we had missed the deadline, i accidentally left my wallet in the taxi on the way to work. i had already turned the corner by the time i realized that it wasn't in my right-hand pocket. sprinting back, i watched the taxi speed away, and all but gave my wallet up for lost. then i saw the taxi rolling to a stop at the next intersection, waiting for the lights to turn.

needless to say, i recovered my wallet - some opportunities are given, others you have to take.

bearing this in mind, and since i had my scholarship to consider, jin his student visa, and kaine his latin honors, we wrote letters to the thesis coordinator asking for reconsideration, but the outcome was unfortunately unchanged.

so what now?

well, i have to stay one extra term in gox. one more term with my friends; one more term of dota, videoke, and malate. it means that i can play in next year's pasicatchan, and gives me three more months to think about what i really want to do in life.

the downside? hmm... that's a tough one.

sige ingat.ü

the origin of species

2005-12-21T02:17:00.000+08:00

pahamak is usually translated as 'troublemaker' so it's easy to assume that hamak denotes a form of risk or danger. actually, the direct translation of hamak is closer to 'poor'. this came to my attention upon reading one of the placards with short rhymes present in jeeps, usually hanging somewhere behind the driver's seat:

hamak man akong driver
ang paninilbihan
ay gawaing marangal

or something to that effect. anyway, the point is that pahamak literally means a person or situation that leads to difficult times, while 'di hamak is a piece of information sure not to.

another puzzler before i end: the phrase 'malay ko' is a shortened form of the question 'ano'ng malay ko?'; does this imply that that the phrase 'ewan ko' evolved similarly? and if not, what exactly is an 'ewan' and how does one come to possess it?

sige ingat.ü