.:Simply The Best:.

Marcelle’s birthday celebration was a relatively quiet one. Actually, there were more guests who came along this year than there ever really were in parties that Marcelle himself planned... heh.

People who mattered were there. A few notable exceptions, such as madame Sky and ichi, Mich, Sacha, and Abby weren’t around. Kaoko and John, Vash and Tomiko, Groundzero and Lewstherin weren’t there, either. Neither Daf nor Diane were there as well. In fact, not one Chinese Prospect® was around (You can be sure most of them were invited. Heh.), but that was of little consequence to Marcelle, really. He was more overjoyed by the fact that there were around twelve people who came to celebrate his birthday with him, and these people certainly knew what to do to make Marcelle simply be happy. Also, the people who mattered who didn’t make it really had valid reasons not to be there: Madame Sky and ichi, for instance, had a wedding to attend. Abby was on a trip to Batangas with her mom. Sacha was cramming. Being a teacher and an M.A. student at the same time certainly does chew up a lot of one’s time, so it seems. Nonetheless, the mere presence of the people who did come was certainly more than enough.

For one, Shunichi was the early bird in the whole equation. He showed up there, and as a testament to his memory, he recalled an old conversation he and Marcelle had over the boards that Marcelle was a huge Santana fan, and would certainly have appreciated being able to listen to the whole of his most recent album, Shaman. In fact, Marcelle’s giving the album a spin right now. Lots of props go out to Shunichi for that. It’s been a common deal in this day and age for people to just give presents for the sake of giving presents, and while Marcelle doesn’t necessarily expect any, when he actually gets a few, all well thought-of, he can’t help but appreciate having very thoughtful friends for whom he would gladly return the favor to when the opportunity arises.

A short while after Shunichi shows up, Ato comes in with JB (The guy JB...), Cyril, Yaiba, and Carlou. Haven’t seen the latter guy in the list for ages. Nonetheless, they got down to business and demonstrated to Marcelle, by virtue of an X-Box, exactly how detailed Dead Or Alive: Extreme Volleyball Challenge can be. All that bouncing action... and the volleyball, too. They prolly all noticed the repeat of the menu from the past two years: lasagna in conjunction with the stuffed chicken. Who’s complaining, neh? They all loved it back then, they still love it to this day. Too bad Elvin wasn’t there, but that’s perfectly fine. More lasagna for Marcelle, then.

It didn’t take long before Grace finally showed up with even more OB people in tow: there was MarkPoa, Tsumenki, Charlie, and *jaded* (Now you know why Marcelle doesn’t call her JB: there’s another JB in the previous group, remember?). MarkPoa had a couple of Asimov books that suddenly got Marcelle hooked on the guy. Those mysteries are very interesting, and made him miss Encyclopedia Brown and other similar solve-it-yourself mysteries... Charles and Christelle had a deck box, which will certainly not go unused as soon as Marcelle builds his Team Angle deck. Grace then gave that Christian shirt with the words “Saved by Grace” on the front, which elicited a chuckle from his stepdad upon having it shown to him.

Funny thing is, Marcelle just came from his cousin’s birthday party. Maikee just turned one last Wednesday, so it was pretty fun to see her all happy and bubbly, which is uncharacteristic of kids her age in huge crowds such as the one that was there for the occasion in Albergus. Ah, well.

Nonetheless, the party was a success. Ato and company had to leave shortly thereafter because JB’s sister, Carina, had lupus, and they had to visit her at the hospital. The videoke then started without them, and the playlist, while limited, was certainly adequate to satiate the remaining people. Marcelle noticed how much they enjoyed singing duets, such as “Cruisin’” and “Just My Imagination”. He would’ve wanted to speak to *jaded* when only she and Grace were left at the house, but considering the fun the two were having while they were dancing, that’s not a problem, really.

So now, Marcelle’s twenty years old, but there really is no big deal here. It’s just another ordinary day for him, but he’s sure glad that he’s alive... it’s a day to be grateful for, and it’s a day to laugh in the face of adversity...

It’s true! It’s true!

.:And So It Happens:.

Came from RX today, before heading off to class. You might say I had a good time hanging around the booth a while ago, though I didn’t really go on the air or help out with the console, since Brad Turvey was on board. No problem, really. I’m more interested in listening, really.

Is it just me or did Brad’s manager stumble upon my blog and misread one of my entries? It seems to be the case, because as I check the archives, I did point out that I made the mistake of going for training on a Tuesday once, only to find out that training with three people on the air at the same time was still out of my league… heh. Nonetheless, that’s fine. In case that’s the case, it’d be easy to point this fact out to them, anyway. After Pia Guanio, you think I’d have a single derogatory thing to say about Brad? ::chuckles::

The Hot 10 topic was pretty interesting: the Hot 10 things that used to make you happy but no longer do. It was amusing, how some of the answers were, and Brad and I were laughing it up when Chico was telling him to stop spoiling to the kids that there is no Santa Claus. So fine, they can talk about scrambled and salty eggs, solo hands, and other similar risque topics, but can’t talk about Santa Claus not existing?

Paolo Bustamante, Brad’s manager, was telling me that the LS deal is not too different from RX, anyway. I still have to work my way up, and there’re even more people to contend with in LS than there are in RX. If that be the case, I’d rather do my working up the ladder in RX than in LS. That sure set things in clear perspective to me…

It was really fun, actually. Haven’t been able to go to an RX on a Tuesday in quite a while, and I ran into ma’am Lea again today… still looking as fine as ever, so to speak.

What is up with the world in general? Bah Gawd, it seems people have forgotten all about the baseless expose from Sen. Panfilo Lacson against Mike Arroyo, and turned all their attention to an overrated, overblown lover’s quarrel. On the former, I’m not saying Mike Arroyo’s clean. I’m merely saying if he wanted to rip everyone off, he wouldn’t use EXACTLY THE SAME tactics Estrada used during his tenure. That’s plain stupid. Arroyo could very well steal money through less conspicuous means, and it seems to me that Ping Lacson is using his apparent certainty as a mask to lead a good deal of people into believing that Arroyo is indeed guilty on this count.

On the latter, the Kris Aquino- Joey Marquez issue is just out of hand. I, for one, do not condone domestic violence whatsover, but it’s pretty clear that a level-headed person like Joey Marquez must’ve been severly provoked by Kris Aquino. Conventional thinking would tell me that “She asked for it”, but at the same time, that doesn’t mean the guy was innocent altogether. That’s not justification, and if this version of the account be true, he will still be accountable, regardless if it was she who provoked him. It’s the irony of feminism: equal rights, but you shouldn’t hit a girl. I’m not disagreeing, but there are two conflicting perspectives here, and you don’t have to believe me on this count. It’s just that if men and women are equal, then a man can easily hit a woman as he does a man. At the same time, women’s liberation wants to end this violence against women, because it DOES happen. Ah, well. I’m overthinking this issue. Bottomline? In the unlikely event Joey Marquez turns out to be innocent (The more he talks, the more he shows that he isn’t. He’s beginning to admit to parts of the story.), he is ruined. Completely. It doesn’t matter whether or not he’s innocent now: he has been royally pwned.

You’d be surprised, but I’m shelling out 7,000 within this week to get my new phone: a 3650. My mom’s supposed to pay the remaining balance. Nonetheless, I’m glad I’m getting a new phone, because this old one is in dire need of an overhaul. I just hope I can raise the money quickly enough. I suppose dinner with Sach tonight is off if she’s not treating (And I think it’s high time I’M doing the treating in the first place.). But at least, I finally got her a nice belated birthday present, and I’m sure she’s going to like it… regardless of the condition of the acquisition, I suppose. I want more of these… time to frequent special stores for stuff like this, as I really enjoyed it.

So what else is up with me? Well, I’m hoping to meet up with Tsumenki next Wednesday, in the event she’s free. If not, I double up on practicing for my thesis, OR I double up on finishing my film project. After that, exam week, and after exam week, I can breathe. The thesis would’ve been over and done with, hopefully with an A, desperately with a B+, I come off with a hopeful 4.0 QPI, or a 3.9 if ever, and then my Cum Laude run is almost a dead lock to come true.

By next semester, what can you expect from me? Well, for one, I suppose you can expect me to be doing my Top Fives on a weekly basis again, plus, I suppose you can likewise expect me to be starting work on my novel, or writing for the OB Model Men RPG, or writing more Matrix Essays. My next semester will see me with only 15 units, and I’m trying to make all my classes on a T-Th, or at the very least, leave my Tuesdays completely free. I don’t know. We’ll see how that pans out. I’ve been trying my hand at different writing styles I used to constantly do, such as the wrestling transcripts (I’ll refer to it as a promo or vignette from now on.), or rapping, or plain movie reviews and commentary (Reminds me… I’ve yet to review 1st Time. What’m I saying? ::laughs::). I want to do a bit more of that, and devote more time to Philosophy. A glossary of wrestling terms AND odd words I frequently use (Do “ruddy” and “cripes on Friday” ring a bell?) is also in order…

Ultimately, I write for myself. I’m not writing here for the benefit of the readers I have. That’s a nice thing, but if I have to start catering to my readers just so I’d be a hit, then forget it. I’m just glad people can actually appreciate how I write, and that’s enough for me. I don’t have to deliberately meet anyone’s expectations of how I should write, how I should think, how I should generally speak. That’s not for me. That’d never be for me, in fact. As long as I’m not stepping on any people’s toes (Unless they initiate it…), I don’t see any reason for me to change anything, really… even if it’s not worthy of being plagiarized, so I’ve noticed.

.:Political Commentary:.

Watched Batas Militar yesterday, by the way. I just ended up recalling exactly why I never really felt any amount of sympathy for the Marcoses with all the crud they’re going through right now. People have been speaking up left and right that these people had the best intentions, but it’s pretty clear that wasn’t the case. People have been saying that Martial Law was great because it made the people more disciplined, but if your concept of discipline is having people live in fear of being arrested for no tangible reason whatsoever only to be “salvaged”, then leave me out of it. I will not want to take any part in a society of twisted priorities, wherein civil liberties will be made to be superceded by discipline, more so when innocent lives suddenly become part and parcel of this vicious equation. Clearly, there is no amount of justification on the part of the Marcoses for what they have done. They have used tyrannic means to keep the people in check, and while Martial Law in itself is not intrinsically evil, the fact that it was a mere excuse to keep the Marcoses in power and enrich themselves.

Clearly, this tells us that neither the ends nor the means can justify one or the other.

So let’s turn back the clock.to the time the late Ferdinand Marcos announced Presidential Decree 1081, and what its implications were. At first, people felt secure at the prospect of their country being more disciplined and safer with Martial Law in place. On the surface, this is what seemed to be the case. At the same time, Imelda Marcos was ushering in a golden age of art and culture in the country through her lavish emphasis on infrastructures for such a purpose. The International Rice Research Institute was even in place, which further led to an economic boom for the country due to export goods. There was even a year where the country, instead of facing a deficit, actually faced a surplus. There is no question that this was a welcome surprise.

But all is not well in paradise.

Amidst all this so-called progress, it was becoming clear that Martial Law was not really in place in order to make this so-called new society a great one. It was in place in order to allow the Marcoses to maintain their iron grip on the country, and thereby, its coffers. Marcos used Martial Law as an excuse to stay in power, to arrest any person inane enough to dare to stand against him, and to ensure that the only people in power would be the people who supported Marcos. Marcos’ cronies were very well-rewarded for their loyalty to him.

It was disappointing to see how a few names we currently hear regularly nowadays were once under Marcos’ wing. More so, it’s disappointing to realize how a good deal of these people, who have certainly all but turned their backs on Marcos, are given high regard in the community at this point as though their transgressions were completely stricken from the records of history. We talk about former president Ramos, who, while indeed reformed, still has a dubious history. But Ramos is nothing more than the tip of the iceberg. We can give him the benefit of the doubt, but can we do the same for a Danding Cojuangco, for instance?

It’s pretty ironic how quickly people forget. It’s reminiscent of how Atty. Rene Saguisag seems to have forgotten what he stood for when he took to former president Estrada’s defense. It’s reminiscent of how everyone seems to forget that Kris Aquino’s lawyers, in addition to Atty. Saguisag, are the Fortun brothers themselves: the infamous perpetrators of the Delia Rahas caper, which was designed PURELY to mislead the courts with a false witness who shares her name with a real witness. It’s as though nobody studied history: it’s not like only the people who didn’t finish college are the ones who’ve forgotten the transgressions of the Marcoses and their cronies. A good deal of people actually have forgotten it.

That’s the disturbing problem. In the face of chilling and stark revelations about the way things were in Martial Law, it’s hard to imagine people being ignorant to the fact that these people are still not done ruining all of us. It’s hard to imagine someone like Imelda Marcos, completely deluding herself, genuinely believing her own account that no human rights were violated during Martial Law. The gall of this woman! Are all of us going to be just blind puppets who will turn around and ignore blatant lies? Jabronis, shame on them if they fool us once. Shame on us if they fool us twice.

Forgive? Yes. But never, ever forget.

It’s true, it’s true!