I have a post-Christmas post ready soon, but I think more importantly, I'd want to call your attention to tomorrow, 6-9 in the morning, as I will be on air with Brian Gomez for Campus Central.

Where else, but RX 93.1, neh? :)

To all my readers: feel free to click the link below to make your presence felt. It's odd that I have had about 6,000 hits on my site already, yet less than twenty guestmap entries. Any entries from any of you would be highly appreciated. :)

.:Pulling The Plug:.

I’ve had a fun time the past few days, albeit I have yet to do a film review on “Eat, Drink, Man, Woman.” Nothing like a good Chinese film to cap off the year for Asian film class…

Nonetheless, I’ve been looking around at the blog awards, and yes, I’ve been leading in the Philippine weblog category. I really couldn’t expect anything else about the other category I’m nominated in, but winning in the former would certainly be quite a boon, although I’m happy with how I stand as is, regardless if I win or not. I’d like to think that I’m a great weblogger and all, but I don’t want to assume too much lest I overestimate my worth. Amusingly enough, my writing style is clearly not for everyone, either, as someone commented on another person’s blog (Also in contention, mind you.) that her attention span can’t keep up with my writing. I suppose that’s fine, considering how my writing grips the attention of my professors, anyway. ::chuckles:: Sorry, my grade-conscious self is popping up again.

So if any of you still do feel that my humble weblog is deserving of being voted as the best weblog in the Philippines, just click on the link at the very top of the page. Ah, well.

.:Why The Name?:.

Some people are likely to ask why my weblog is called “It’s True! It’s True!”, and I’d say this would certainly be the case if they don’t watch the WWE. “It’s True! It’s True!” is a catchphrase of one of the best WWE wrestlers right now, Kurt Angle. Kurt Angle is an Olympic gold medallist for wrestling, and as golden on the microphone as he happens to be in the ring. He’s definitely one of my favorite wrestlers, and for me to quote his catchphrase in this weblog as an homage to him is the least I can do for a man who has broken his neck at least twice to keep the fans of the WWE entertained.

So what if wrestling is fake? The injuries are real, and George Clooney was never a doctor, nor was Calista Flockhart ever a lawyer.

Okay. So the past two headings haven’t really been much in the way of content. I guess it’s because of the certain issues I’ve been contending with lately, although I’m glad they’re more or less resolved. Chalk it up to my being overreactive to a lot of things. Why don’t we talk about something else before I say something stupid? ::laughs::

.:The Competition:.

I did mention the competition two headings ago, and I sure would like to get to know some of the other people I’m up against in my category when it’s all over, so that I wouldn’t seem to be politicizing myself by finding my way into their weblogs over the course of the voting. I never liked the way GMA acted all magnanimous in an effort to woo the people to her side, so don’t expect me to follow suit. Nonetheless, I suppose I can talk a bit about the other people nominated in my category, especially those I personally know.

Firstly, the second and third (As of last count.) people in the polls are both rather interesting. Nonetheless, the second one has his account in Rice Bowl Journals (I need a black and white picture first, but I don’t have that, so I can’t get into it yet.), and I’ve been reading a bit of content, and it wasn’t so bad. However, I immensely liked the very organized layout of the guy in third, as he had his thoughts archived not only chronologically, but even by category. The day I learn to do that on Blogger is the day I become exceedingly happy.

While the weblogs of those whom I personally know aren’t too high up in the hierarchy of things, I still cannot help but love their pages, but unlike most people telling one that his or her weblog is good (And I’m sure anyone in that category with ten or more votes will get that all the time, regardless how good the competition is. It’s always a matter of proximity or perception.), I know for a fact that most of them have some very interesting insights that never cease to pique my intellect and curiosity.


Ronan writes mostly autobiographical entries, but you can easily see that he has a lot to say about such experiences, although his being a friends-only journal does hamper his exposure (Which can actually be a good thing at times.). Imo, on the other hand, is someone who really has an interesting writing style. I’d daresay that my thesis partner last semester can write as well as I can debate, arguably even better. If she should win an award, it would either be for best essayist, or more aptly, funniest blog. She can be quite funny even without trying, especially when she talks about her professors, the wacky stuff comes around since her teachers tend to be the eccentric type (Wonder how I’d do if I became her teacher…). Sacha, on the other hand, is far removed from any of the other weblogs simply because she uses it as more of an online planner than a journal. I think that’s exactly the point why she nominated herself, and it’s pretty clear that she can write in Greek and her fan club would still vote for her anyway. Thank God she doesn’t require her students to vote for her… that’d make her sweep any category she wanted to be in.

With that being said, I’m pretty happy with where I stand right now, although re-minisce easily brought me back to Earth on this when she pointed out that being popular would not make me a great weblogger. And I have to agree. I suppose I still have to work on my writing some more, since even though I may not try to cater to any of my readers, there are still times I myself feel dissatisfied with my output.

.:The Christmas Spirit:.

… has yet to hit me. I do not feel the least bit Christmassy, maybe because I’m tired of all the commercialization that has been going on for the longest time. And I don’t even find myself to be my usual generous self, considering how bad my luck has been this past year financially, and so I am relegated to having uniform (Ah! But homemade!) presents this year. In spite of that, Christmas has not been getting me down, either. Again, I recently ran into a brick wall of a situation, but I’m glad it’s cleared up. Christmas has little to do with it, unfortunately. It’s more of a “If you can forgive me for doing even worse than you did, I should be able to forgive you as well” kind of deal. I am certainly not making much sense there, am I? Never mind. Bottomline is that I really do not feel Christmas this year. There is no excitement, no anticipation of the holiday, and I see it more for its solemnity than its grandeur, really. I have no idea if that’s a good thing, though.

I didn’t even bother trying to complete Simbang Gabi (Dawn Masses.) this year. In fact, I haven’t so much as tried to do so since third year high school, I believe. Even then, I only went eight out of nine because I missed one day. The only vestige of Christmas for me may very well have been getting in touch with someone who once was my best friend and catching up. Beyond that, especially with people like Addy still apparently holding grudges against me to this day, I don’t see what’s so different about Christmas…

I recall telling Chico and Delle about this on the air last Saturday, and I echo the sentiments of a particular Christmas advertisement: I think it’s about time Santa Claus stopped being the focus of our Christmas celebrations. I believe that we have to come to terms with the fact that there is very little “Christ” left in “Christmas”, and that, to me, is very unsettling. I don’t want to have to go through “Santamas” every single year, both as a matter of pragmatics and as a matter of principle. Pragmatics, because the costly nature of gift-giving for people who seem to be caught up less with the thought of having gotten a nice present from a friend or relative than with the thought of having the most expensive present, as well as the futility of giving though-out presents to people who never seem to appreciate such gestures does get to me sometimes. Principle, because we’re losing sight of the whole point of Christmas by emphasizing Saint Nick and nearly burying Christ in the background. Imagine if Ramadan became less about Allah and more about presents. Imagine if Yom Kippur became less about Yahweh and more about… you get the point.

I’m jaded with Christmas. But then, maybe it’s better this way. At least I get to appreciate Christmas for what it truly is, but that just makes the five of us, neh? We will never learn…

.:Morning Rush Goodness:.

I’ve been having some fun with Chico and Delamar in the booth again. The jokes about Delle and Greg Turvey persist, and it is certainly getting more and more frequent. Last Monday, I was there to train, and Chico and Delle were certainly extremely funny there. I was offering Delle a caramel block, but because she was under the weather, she didn’t want to risk aggravating her bad throat. I could imagine how annoying it would get if I keep on offering her caramels UNTIL she gets well, which is the moment I promptly stop offering her. Chico was quicker to accept the caramel block, though. Only took him twice.

The more I look at Delle, the more I realize how much she looks like Maui Taylor. Of course, that’d be the day when Delle files legal action against RX for exploiting her in a pictorial, though. Nonetheless, I’m glad I’ve been given the chance to train again, and I suppose next time I do the boardwork, I wouldn’t be bungling it up the way I ended up doing the last time.

There’s a new song on the playlist, entitled “I Keed”, by Triumph The Comic Insult Dog, or some name like that. It’s one of the most amusing songs I’ve ever heard, as the singer proceeded to rip into just about every single musical artist he can take a dig at. Everyone from Eminem to Coldplay was lashed out upon by Triumph, and all I can say is that as much as I like Eminem, if he can’t take it as much as he dishes it out, then it’s time he started growing up a bit. Oh, well.

After the show on that particular day, I headed off to Shangrila after a while. Six kilograms of lamb chops for the Christmas Eve dinner may actually spike my interest in Christmas just a little bit… Grace was kind enough to help me, and I’m grateful she did.

The next day turned out to be even more interesting, as Brad Turvey was there, and Chico was pretending to be French. The accent was exceedingly funny, and I swear, Chico’s lines were classic.

Chico: Would you vote for FPJ now that his running mate is Lito Legaspi (Instead of Loren Legarda.)?

Chico: Ich bin einer schlampen (And don’t even ask what that means.)!

I managed to hand out a promo card of Stacy Keibler to Brad, as I finally have the promo cards to give out. Just in time, I must say. It’s about time I got them. I could only imagine how many people would want the Stacy Keibler promo card, as well as the card entitled “Hitting the G(rapple)- Spot”. Oh, well. Fairly interesting, all things considered. Anyone who wants to get started on RAW Deal, feel free to ask me about it, as I’m the manager of RAW Deal in the Philippines…

I always wanted to know, though: what’s the fifty-second state of the U.S.A.? I know Hawaii is number 50, and Alaska is number 51, but unless the joke about Canada becoming an American state became true, I have no foggy idea what state number 52 happens to be.

Loren ipsum majakorla scarabelli modicum poreliza plethora corrumpe. Najare por lazzicano merci nun. Ergo malisterinde oricum querpo arithmatea. La boureget wendigo aspera nondesca. Mastel piavelli chordatum herculon. Aletheia phronesis proaiea gellasenheit cogito. Nondescript ich bin ledig orion wilkommen travestie que sera sera non comprende. Polavieja restituto perpetua jermal freunde. Frolichten Weihnachten. Ascorel perdatum oblongata rigodon triomverate il gato.

Yare, yare malik paschal sarte. Machiave kierke gaardos chronus loren fer nan dopoe ro co maca pag alaroyyo. Sheree ni mau del tayloran der tierre del tierro aramaic gibsan melodique. Terrarum vorpal psiona ertai moribund polares nun? Ah, wetel poqueia retunda harre. Nande? Aslera, pitagoreal sanmig lyter.

And with that being said, enjoy your holidays, jabronis!

I guess I’d still be updating once or twice after the holidays, and I hope some people enjoyed the little test I conducted… heh. If they even noticed the little test I conducted…

And so for the benefit of one of the persons who passed through this page who just so happened to not be Filipino… :)

A not-so-literal translation of the piece I nabbed online entitled “Yehey! Wala na kami!”, which literally translates as “Yahoo! We’re no longer together/ There is no more ‘we’/ We are no more!” I rarely get emotional when I read e-mails, and writing this was nothing short of an emotional catharsis for me. I suppose it doesn’t take a breakup for someone to be touched by this…

Thank God we’re no longer together.

Thank God we’re no longer together. I don’t have to worry about anything anymore. I don’t have anything to think about…

And yet I find it difficult to sleep at night because memories of her come rushing back. I think of how she held my hand, the kind of touch that tells me she would never leave me. I think of how she hugs me, the kind of hug that tells me she’d always be there to protect me. I think of how she kisses me, the kind of kiss that tells me that she loves me so much.

Thank God we’re no longer together. I don’t have to cry anymore…

But each night I still cry myself to sleep, because I miss her. I miss her enchanting smile, her corny jokes, her sweet glances that never fail to melt my heart, her zany laugh, her quirks and all the other crazy things she does. I miss all of that…

Thank God we’re no longer together. I don’t have anyone to call anymore, I don’t have to text her, and I can finally save some money for myself.

Yet each time I hold my cell phone, I always end up looking for her name. I’m always tempted to text her, or if not, call her. My finger aches to press “Write Message”, type my message to her, scroll the button to find her number, then press “Send”. If not, I scroll through my address book to look for her name and then I press “Call”. Even if I know that I’d run out of load and I don’t have money to buy any more credits (Because I already spent the money my mom gave me.). Even if I know she wouldn’t even reply, nor would she ever call. Nor can I ever expect her presence to grace my meager existence.


Thank God we’re no longer together. I can finally have some time for myself, for my family, and for my friends.

But each time I go out of the house, whether I’m with my family or my friends, I always remember her, and I wish that I’m with her right now. Holding hands while walking, teasing, joking around, and laughing. And then, a never-ending debate whether we’d eat lunch at Jollibee, McDo, KFC, or Max’s. If we’re going to a video game arcade to play video games, or perhaps play basketball, bowling, or billiards. And then, I take her back to her home, where I steal a kiss on the way back.

Thank God we’re no longer together. I no longer have to spend sleepless night in front of the computer, staying up until the wee hours of the morning chatting with her.

Yet each time I search for something on the Internet, I open my Yahoo Messenger, MSN Messenger, ICQ, and MIRC in hopes of seeing her online. If only I could talk to her, joke around with her again, and maybe we’d start working things out and there would be a “we” again.

Thank God we’re no longer together. I no longer have a girlfriend. I can now look at other girls and court other girls.

But I told myself, I’d never love again. Because she’s the only one I love. She is the only one who can complete my day, she is my only inspiration in anything and everything. She is the only one person who can understand me when I have a problem. She is the only one who can console me whenever I break down in tears. She is my life: only her, nobody else.

Perhaps I would love again, but not now, not yet…

Arguably one of the saddest e-mails I've ever read (And you know I RARELY bother reading forwarded messages...). Again, these are not my words, just so nobody misunderstands me...

Yehey! Wala na kami.

Yehey! Wala na kami. Wala na akong aalalahanin, wala na akong iisipin...

Pero hirap akong matulog sa gabi dahil bumabalik yung mga alaala noong magkasama kami. Naiisip ko kung paano niya hawakan yung kamay ko, yung tipong nagsasabing hindi niya ako iiwanan. Kung pa’no niya ko yakapin, yung nagsasabing lagi niya akong poprotektahan. At kung pa’no niya ako halikan, yung nagsasabing mahal na mahal nya ako.

Yehey! Wala na kami. Hindi na ako iiyak pa...

Pero kapag gabi nagagawa ko pa ring umiyak, dahil nami-miss ko siya. Nami-miss ko yung mga ngiti niyang nakakaloko, mga jokes niyang corny, mga tingin niyang nakakatunaw, tawa niyang nakakabaliw, pangungulit niya sa akin at kung anu-ano pang kapraningan na ginagawa niya. Nami-miss ko yun...

Yehey! Wala na kami. Wala na akong tatawagan, hindi na ako magte-text sa kanya, at makakaipon na ako ng pera para sa sarili ko.

Pero sa tuwing hawak ko ang cell phone ko, lagi kong hinahanap ang pangalan niya. Lagi akong nate-tempt na magtext sa kanya, o di naman kaya, tumawag. Nangangati lagi ang darili ko na pindutin ang “Write Message” i-type ang message ko, i-scroll yung button para makita ko yung number niya, at tapos ipe-press ko yung “Send”. O kaya naman, i-scroll ko yung button para mahanap yung name niya tapos ipe-press ko yung “Call”. Kahit na alam ko na mauubos na ang load ko at wala na akong pambili ng credit (dahil kabibigay lang ng nanay ko). Kahit na alam kong hindi naman sya magre-reply at hinding-hindi nya ako tatawagan. At kahit kailan hindi na nya gagawin pang magparamdam.

Yehey! Wala na kami. Magkakaroon na ako ng time para sa sarili ko, sa pamilya ko at sa barkada ko.

Pero sa tuwing lalabas ako ng bahay, kasama man ang pamilya o barkada ko, siya lagi ang naaalala ko, na sana, kasama ko siya ngayon. Magkahawak kamay na namamasyal, naglolokohan, nagkukulitan, at nagtatawanan. Tapos, walang katapusang usapan kung saan kakain ng lunch, kung sa Jollibee, McDo, KFC, o sa Max’s. Kung pupunta ba sa isang game arcade para maglaro ng video games o di kaya naman, kung maglalaro ng basketball, bowling or billiards. Tapos, i-hahatid niya ako papauwi sabay nanakawan ng halik habang nasa biyahe.

Yehey! Wala na kami. Hindi na ako magpupuyat sa kakatutok sa computer, aabutin ng madaling-araw kaka-chat sa kanya.

Pero sa tuwing may ise-search ako sa Internet, bubuksan ko ang Yahoo Messenger, MSN Messenger, ICQ, at MIRC dahil baka sakaling dumating siya. Makausap ko man lang, makikipagkulitan uli at baka sakaling magkaliwanagan kami at maibalik ang dating “kami”.

Yehey! Wala na kami. Wala na akong girlfriend, pwede na akong tumingin sa iba at tumanggap ng manliligaw.

Pero sabi ko sa sarili ko, hindi na ako magmamahal pa uli. Dahil siya lang ang mahal ko. Siya lang ang nakaka-kumpleto sa araw ko, siya lang yung inspirasyon ko sa mga bagay-bagay. Siya lang yung nakakaintindi sa akin kapag may problema ako. Siya lang yung nakakapagpatahan sa akin kapag umiiyak ako. Siya lang ang buhay ko, siya lang, wala ng iba.

Magmamahal din ako, pero hindi muna ngayon, hindi muna...

Marcelle has given you his all, his whole heart, his soul. Far be it from a noble goal, but no doubt Marcelle has placed himself out on a limb for you, the way he does with any other friend. And yet, this is what happens in the end. When will this scarred soul ever mend?

How could you? Maybe you actually knew. How could you? Why did you stab him and bleed him anew? How could you?

Marcelle never hesitated to be there all the time. Is Marcelle guilty to you of a heinous crime? You buried him under all of this grime. Does he deserve it? This kind of treatment, this kind of s... ? Did you even think when you did this to Marcelle? Or did you just want to put him through a living hell? And so now you think it will be this simple? To let the pain go away in a moment like it was nothing? So now we try to rebuild from this fumble? What you did was worse than a jolt of lightning! Nobody expected for this to happen, but did you care? Oh, but how you dare!

How could you?

How could you?

How could you?

If only Marcelle knew.

.:More Shamelessness:.

I'm catching up! I'm catching up! Please continue voting for me...

.:And The Year Is Nearly Over:.

I'm finally done with this year's classes. My Theology test wasn't too hard, but I certainly am far from certain whether or not I got the question completely right a while ago. What worries me is that Mr. Dy-Liaco's long tests are pretty huge on my grades, about 35% of the total. Elbert and I were reviewing quite a deal, but that left me with little to no assurance that I'd be doing okay. Nonetheless, I hope things continue to be fine, and I really am hoping this day will work out. The question was something we would certainly expect, but no amount of reviewing will save you if you don't know how to flesh out all those ideas within a given limit. A one-page essay on it certainly felt inadequate, to say the least. Moreover, the whole lecture two meetings ago contradicted Aristotle by saying "It's better to help because of the person, than because it is the right thing to do." Therein lies the eternal struggle for dominance between Theology and Philosophy in this school...

Elbert was riding along with my jokes a while ago, as I continued to do an impression of Mr. Dy-Liaco, one that, when presented with the opportunity, I will attempt to do in class. I have his accent almost down to pat, and it's pretty interesting how that goes.Nonetheless, I still hope that I get my A with him, as with Mr. Bulaong, hwose quizzes lately proved to be mighty challenging, truth be told. In spite of my reading extensively, I seem to be having problems with his quizzes lately, so I hope I can handle things well in spite of that. Anyways, Mr. Bulaong was asking me about my plans after graduation again, and it certainly seems as though they really want me to consider teaching Philosophy.

Mr. Bulaong: Actually, one teacher was saying that you were too much like a debater.

Marcelle: I get that a lot of the time.

Mr. Bulaong: But he also said, "May kakayahan kang palalalimin ang iyong pag-iisip, at kaya mong lampasan ang debate."

Marcelle: Really?

Mr. Bulaong: Ang yabang talaga ng mga Philo, ano?

That was a really condescending note, but yeah, I guess I get the point, really. I hope that if they do invite me to teach, I have an answer ready by then... I really am pretty much still ruminating on it at this point...

.:Greg Doesn't Deliver:.

Despite saying that he will, Greg Turvey did not show up yesterday to meet up with Delamar in the station. In spite of that, there is still a high chance that he eventually will, and I'd like to see exactly how Delamar will handle a situation like that.

So with that, take care jabronis, and I'll see you all soon! Oh it's true, it's true!

And so we wind up this year's list of The Top Five People Marcelle Is Most Grateful For This Year...

1. Grace: Wasn't it fairly obvious who the top person of the list would've been? And while I have no idea what else I can say that hasn't already been said about her, at least I know for a fact that Grace is indeed the one person who has always been there for me in every single thing I've been through, the one person who believed in me this much as a person, and the one person who sees me for who has made me feel special and loved. And well, it's been that way for the past four years of my life, and I'm not complaining about it one bit. Four years would certainly be a long time by any standards, but that hasn't fazed me one bit. In fact, it's only made this whole journey more and more worth it, and this bond stronger and stronger with each passing day.

I'm at a loss for words, especially when I looked back at the last time I talked about Grace in last year's Top 5. Apparently, not much of what I said back then has changed, and so all of then is still all of now. I suppose I'm just really grateful that through this uber-grade conscious year I've had, she managed to put up with all of my idiosyncracies, considering how I was almost clawing at just about any avenue I might have to get high grades, being less and less accessible to her because I'm either studying or playing CCG's (Albeit because we have a phone in my aunt's house, we talk on the phone a lot more than when I was in a dorm.), and such. Nonetheless, with this year being fairly rough, considering all the academic hassles of graduation and such, it was a turning point for the both of us, as we had to continue and mature in the things we chose and did, especially when other people around us refused to do the same.

I cannot imagine any other person who would be capable of putting up with me the way Grace does, and I cannot imagine any other person I'd want to be with at this point in my life, regardless of the infamous list I have. Simply put, Grace has been the earthly guiding force in my life, and I wouldn't have it any other way. While indeed, I easily am left speechless because I seem to have said so much about her already, that doesn't take away her value to me, and I hope I am likewise someone who matters as much to her. With everything going for the both of us, I do believe that it wouldn't be that easy to just undermine what we have. It's something that I immensely treasure, and for the record, one statement I will never end up retracting is that at this point in my life, this is certainly one of the best things I have ever put so much of myself into. No doubt about it, jabronis.

And so as this year draws to a close, my wholehearted gratitude to all the people in my top 5 this year, more so to Grace. I'll always be around, and I love you, dear!

Here's the much-delayed review for Matrix Revolutions. As per usual, SPOILERS AHEAD!!!

The Matrix Revolutions:
The best twist is no twist.

I have to go out on a limb here and say that we’ve been had. Without a doubt, this film has been one of the most anticipated films of the year, and we’ve been had. Well, a lot of people would be disappointed with it, but that’s just one thing. I think what is more amusing is that with all the theories and conspiracies and other ideas we have had about the whole Matrix, after every single nook and cranny has been analyzed, isn’t it simply amazing that the best twist this film can have is… no twist at all?

Scrap away the “Matrix within a Matrix” theory. Scrap away the notion that Neo isn’ t human at all. All those theories about surprise endings were clearly blown away by having the Wachowski brothers point out to us the rather obvious: the Matrix was what it was presented to be from the get-go. While a lot of people were complaining that this was so route and expected, how many people were honestly expecting to not see a twist of any sort at the movie’s end? If there’s only one thing that the Wachowskis did right for certain, it’s in ensuring that the moviegoer would not be able to guess the ending that easily, since everyone and their mother was expecting the unexpected.

I don’t need to give a synopsis of the film here. I’m sure you all know that by now. Basically, this film picks up right off from Matrix Reloaded, and we are treated to a lot of scenes in the real world this time, complete with long, gratuitous fight scenes reminiscent of Battletech (I was never a big fan of Mechs…). The philosophy on this film was toned down compared to Reloaded, as we didn’t have fifteen-minute long dialogues about co-dependence or causality. In spite of that, there were still some key moments that I certainly appreciated in the film, albeit I realized it had a lot of shortcomings, nonetheless. Most noticeable from the start is there were too many scenes that felt like filler. If the greatest philosophical texts in the world can be summarized, more so can this film.

Would you believe it? My prediction about what will happen between Neo and Smith came true. In my philosophical analysis of the battle between Neo versus Smith, I hypothesized that the only way for the battle to end is for either both of them to work together as allies or for both of them to perish, in congruence with the eternal debate on Aletheia. Apparently, I got that right. It didn’t make sense for only one or the other to triumph, as they represented many different things that seemed to be locked in an eternal battle: Order and Chaos, The One and The Many, Good and Evil, and so forth. Even The Oracle and The Architect seemed to play similar roles, minus the fighting. There was even credence to the “Balancing an equation” theory in a previous essay, as it was itself mentioned in the film. As far as this sequence goes, it is my pride and joy to have predicted this scenario right off the bat, with remarkable accuracy to what actually happened.

Other fight scenes in the film, while rather impressive, felt a bit too gratuitous, especially Neo’s final confrontation of Smith, which reminded me of a Dragonball Z battle sequence. In fact, the biggest fault of this film would be gratuity, as the same glaring error was committed in their devotion of way too much time for Trinity’s death scene, as well as way too many throwbacks to the first film, especially in that scene where they had to fight guys who were walking on ceilings. Trinity did way too many of his old tricks in the first film for this scene to really be called “nice”. To be honest, the throwbacks contributed little to nothing to the whole of the film, anyway.

The whole deal with the sudden peace that happened between the humans and the machines also points to the fact that it is not a very certain thing. For all we know, it wouldn’t be long before they come down each other’s throats again, so there’s no doubt that it was an acceptable finish as far as that goes.

Overall, because this film was less loopy than Reloaded was, it’s better in terms of story, somewhat. As far as the action fix goes, however, Reloaded is leaps and bounds ahead of Revolutions. I still cannot get over the major fetish these successful moviemakers have for making innately annoying characters *cough*Jar-Jar*cough*theKid*cough*. Neither can I forgive the overtly cheesy dialogue Smith was fed with at the end of the film. “This is my world! My world!” how many times have we heard that cliché? At the same time, for a film that was supposedly hellbent on representing just about every philosophical ideas as it can in the film, the Christianity element was certainly overrepresented.

In spite of that, the film’s brilliance still shines through from time to time. I would point out that for one, Neo’s powers actually existing both in the Matrix and in the real world was a nice homage to St. Anselm’s Ontological Argument. This argument essentially says that if the greatest being conceivable TRULY IS the greatest being conceivable, and since anything that exists in reality is greater than anything that exists only in conception, then the greatest being conceivable MUST exist in reality for it to truly become the greatest being conceivable. Thus, for Neo to truly be the one, he must be the one not only in conception (The Matrix), but also in reality (The real world).

I liked this film, but believe it or not, I actually preferred Reloaded to it, if only for the action. The gaffs in the third film did not get in the way of providing me an ending that I am satisfied with because it took me by surprise after theorizing this ending once and junking it because it was “too obvious”. I am still not too hyped up about the other things about the film, such as the complete disregard for developing the Merovingian, or the clear absence of any rhyme or reason as to why it had to be Neo who will destroy Smith, when it seems the Deus Ex Machina had a hand in it, which means anyone in the Matrix could potentially have done it. And what does Temet Noste mean? Matrix Revolutions closed the chapter on a note that I was comfortable with, but getting there was the road that gave me a lot more bumps than I could’ve cared for.

I know I have far more to say about the film, but I guess I’ll just write my papers on them and let those papers say what else I would’ve wanted to add, anyway.

Marcelle’s Evaluation: B+/A-

.:Lots of Movie Reviews!!!:.

As promised, here are some of my movie reviews. This is a REALLY long entry, arguably the longest non-Philosophical entry I've ever written. I have essentially written reviews for a bunch of horror/suspense films, including the likes of Ju-On, The Phone, and arguably the most horrifying (Or is it horrible?) movie I've ever reviewed, Zhou Yu's Train.

Naturally, SPOILERS ARE AHEAD!!!

Ju-On: The Grudge
I guess you won’t be sleeping with blankets any time soon…

Ju-On is definitely one of the scariest horror movies ever made in this decade. Japanese seem to have this knack for wanting to scare moviegoers, and we never seem to tire of it. Nonetheless, in spite of the severe lack of good special effects and other technical things that could’ve enhanced the whole film, I really think The Grudge still managed to tell a horror story extremely well.

Ju-On strays from traditional linear storytelling and instead gives different accounts of a particular phenomenon from various points of view. While the names of the characters do escape me, I think that the overall feel of the film was one of mortal danger all throughout. You could feel really scared because the ghost story was not just a ghost story that tried to spook you, but there was actually a monster out there that will not rest until all those who make the fatal mistake of stumbling into its domain are eliminated, one way or another. This feeling of mortal danger was what set it far apart from “Dark Water”, which, while scary during the climax, did really nothing to make one feel an actual amount of danger.

Nonetheless, the story starts off by explaining why such a monster exists. Apparently, a man killed his wife brutally, and the wife, who was consumed by hatred upon her death, carried her hatred beyond the grave, which results in the husband dying as well, and their son to disappear. The house is eventually inhabited by a different married couple, along with the husband’s mother (Who is amusingly enough named Sachie.), who is already senile. Strange things are happening at their house, and it wasn’t long before all three of them die mysterious deaths. But we all know how they died: it was the grudge.

Different people have run into this household for different reasons. There was a policeman investigating a mysterious disappearance. There was the policeman’s daughter, who stumbled into the house with three of her classmates, who ended up being killed sooner than she did. There was this cute caretaker named Rika who realized the secret of the grudge, only to still be killed by it in the end. The whole film revolved around terrifying the audience with creepy-looking characters who, while certainly looked stupid with the very BAD attempt at covering them in blood, managed to evoke an eerie aura with their blue/gray skin. That kid in the film was simply horrifying to see, especially when he pops up on so many different occasions. His mother was no less scary, even popping under the blanket of one of the victims, which sure added blankets to elevators, mirrors, and televisions as objects of unreasonable fear.

While my review may seem a bit vague, this doesn’t mean I didn’t like the film. I kept it vague because I didn’t want to try and make a linear outline of the entire film’s flow. It was fine as it was, considering how great the scary feel of the film was. I’d even daresay it was scarier than Ringu as a whole, since you could be terrified out of your wits by Ju-On as early as ten minutes into the film, whereas Ringu banked on making people curious about the tape before scaring the bejesus out of you halfway through the film for a while, then at the end. I simply love this film, and I suppose any guy whose movie date would end up clutching him in terror would, too. But I digress.

This is a must-see. I really can’t say much else about it, because it’s simply a film that needs to be seen to be believed.

Marcelle’s Evaluation: A

Zhou Yu’s Train
There are two things you look for in a Chinese film: good story, and/or good sex. This film had NEITHER.

Zhou Yu’s Train is the tale of a young and industrious woman named (duh) Zhou Yu, who painted pottery. She ended up meeting a striving poet named Chen Ching, and the two of them hit it off quite well, since both of them are artists. Zhou Yu loved Chen Ching’s poetry, and this was what won her over. One thing leads to another, and while the two are happy together, Chen Ching wishes that Zhou Yu didn’t have to travel (By train. How else can this title be any less subtle?) so much. It came to a point that Chen Ching’s desire to be a good poet was being overwhelmed by his desire to become a more successful career person, and this led him to take a job elsewhere, leaving Zhou Yu alone.

At this point, through Zhou Yu’s frequent trips via the train, he gets to know a veterinarian named Hua Ling (I think.), and while Hua Ling has it bad for her, Zhou Yu doesn’t really reciprocate the sentiment at all, until they got to the point where Zhou Yu was all alone already. She ended up with the cliché of being torn between two lovers, and this further fanned the flames of chaos in her life. And yes, this also fanned the flames that shot this film down into a severe disappointment.

This film was being hyped as a very sensual yet deep film. After trying to justify the depth of the Matrix franchise, as well as the Spageti Song by the Sex Bomb girls, you’d think I’d be able to do such a simple task for Zhou Yu’s train. Instead, I was left scratching my head with the horrible flow of the story that did not even pretend to want to keep the viewer in the loop on what was happening. The story changed back and forth between Zhou Yu and the point of view of the new girl in Chen Ching’s life, who was trying to find out what happened to Zhou Yu. And yeah, Zhou Yu died. Big deal. We never even knew what happened to Hua Ling.

Between the idiotic transition and the confusing story, there was also the fact that none of the artists looked remotely attractive, and THIS is coming from a guy who’s infatuated with anything Chinese. Gong Li was not acting well, nor did she look attractive, to begin with, as even Heart Evangelista, whom I sorely, sorely hate, would sooner appeal to me than Gong Li or her rather limited range of emotions, or at least, her limited range in this film. Tony Leung, whom I heard girls swooning over for, seemed to have taken the ugly stick and beaten himself all over it. Same with the other leading male. In fact, Chen Ching looked nothing short of gay, and I don’t mean this in a complimentary way, like maybe he looked bishounen. I just mean that for a leading “man”, he sure looked pretty damned gay.

And as I did say, if the film had bad story, I can at least forgive it because it had great umm… money shots. That’s why though “The Fruit Is Swelling” had a horrible and cartoonish storyline, I managed to still sit through it. Too bad for me. There goes my sixty bucks and two hours of my life that I want back. Zhou Yu’s train is further derailed from this aspect. Not only do we not see anything worth seeing as far as that goes, but do we really even WANT to, considering what I just said about the looks of the cast?

Call me a superficial guy who’s after matinee idol-looking actors and actresses, but if, at the very least, they knew how to act, and knew how to deliver a good story, I would’ve let that slide. But no, we were treated to a film that Quark Henares could do while drunk and blindfolded, and even churn out a better product. The storyline was not only tired, it was trying to pretend so much it confused the Hades out of anyone watching, there was nothing worth seeing among their “bed scenes”, and worst of all, I paid good money to vituperate about this crap, when I could’ve been vituperating all I wanted about something else without shelling out a single cent.

Oh, boy. You know what a film like this, with little to no redeeming value, is going to get. I won’t give it an F because at the very least, it still tried to tell a story, and the film’s title actually made sense. Otherwise, this is the worst film I had attempted to review in my entire life so far.

Marcelle’s Evaluation: D-

The Phone
Hey! Where’s Colin Farell?

A lot of people were actually misled by the title of this film and simply thought that it was a re-release of that splendid Colin Farell film shot in only one location. In spite of that, this film had its merits, and I really think I didn’t regret watching this movie for one moment.

Let me start this review by saying that though this movie was a horror film, it entailed solving mysteries more than scaring viewers. Since I forgot the names of the lead characters, I’ll just assign some arbitrary names to them as I go along, but I’m pretty sure anyone who watched it will gladly give me the appropriate names… ah, well.

The movie starts with a girl who is alone in an elevator. For some strange reason, the elevator goes haywire, and then she receives a phone call. Her agony over the phone call becomes very visible, and in what proves to be a rather disturbing sight, she claws around the elevator with her nails breaking. We have no idea what happens to her after that.

Fast forward the story, and we have Kanako, who is doing an investigation on a syndicate for child pornography or drugs, whichever the case may be. I think she’s a journalist. Anyways, she manages to do the expose, and she receives some death threats through e-mail, and people following her every move. She then decides to change her cellular phone number when even that is beginning to be the venue for more threats. It wasn’t long before she ended up moving houses, to the house where her best friend, Miaka, as well as her husband, Takako, intended to live in with their daughter, Rei. Interestingly enough, Rei is actually Kanako’s daughter because it was HER eggs that were harvested for Miaka to be able to have a child, since she didn’t have any herself. Soon enough, strange things happen with Kanako’s phone, and at one time, Rei takes her phone, and then begins to act strangely. She seemed to have a major crush on her own father, and began to despise her mom. Call it a REALLY bad case of Elektra complex, if you will. Soon enough, Miaka realizes the truth about the whole thing.

Apparently, the number she changed to once belonged to a schoolgirl who disappeared. Question is: what does she have to do with all of this?

At this point, you begin to realize that instead of a ghost story, you are now being given a whodunit, and considering Takako’s cold reaction towards the story of the schoolgirl, you suspect that he had a hand in this. And yeah, Takako looks like Julius Babao.

Anyways, Kanako discovers that while Miaka was away, Takako had an affair with this girl, Kasumi. When Miaka returned, he wanted to break up with Kasumi, but she was already pregnant. Kasumi gave a cellular phone to Takako so they could both keep in touch. Her best friend knew about this, and as such, she realized that the phone would certainly kill a person one way or another eventually. To avoid this, she blinded herself so she wouldn’t get mesmerized by the phone any longer.

So we know that Kasumi was probably dead. Question is: who killed her? Logically, by now, we’d suspect Takako. But is he? Maybe. Maybe not. You’d find out the culprit at the end of the film, and not only does it fall into place, but Kasumi gets her retribution after all of it. Apparently, the house where Kanako was living in all this time was Kasumi’s makeshift grave, where she was plastered behind a wall, wrapped in plastic to hide her. By the end of it, she is revealed behind the wall, and for some strange reason, her hair has grown to be so long. Nonetheless, when the culprit is about to kill Kanako for knowing too much, you see the plastic covering Kasumi to have already been opened near the face. It was REALLY creepy, and no, Kasumi’s body did not decompose, but that’s just a technical gaff that I can overlook for the sheer shock value of this climax.

Overall, this film worked for me. It was scary to some extent, but I liked how it tried to make me scratch my head in puzzlement over what was going to happen next, and what was really the whole story behind it, It was simply amazing how they pulled this film off, and I was very content with it. Of course, the title left a lot to be desired, as it seems most horror films nowadays have two words for the title, with “the” being one of the two words (Though Ringu had to be adapted in the U.S. for it to become “The Ring”). I know there were some technical gaffs in the film, especially the fact that Kasumi’s hair continued to grow long after she was dead, but I can overlook that. What was more disturbing to me was the part where Rei, who was about five to seven years old, kissed her father Takako goodbye, it turned out to be a pretty bloody torrid kiss. Oh, good Lord. Shades of Ato. That was worse than the scariest scene in the film, as far as I was concerned.

Oh, and this is the one film since The Others whose twist completely took me by surprise. I was trying to solve the mystery as the film went along, only to discover that I was completely mistaken by the end of it. Best of all, I was extremely satisfied with how they played out the whole twists and turns of the film, effectively making this one of my favorite non-American horror films ever.

Marcelle’s Evaluation: A-

Identity
I never knew. I never knew.

Identity is one of those films you just have to see a second time to realize how everything falls into place. It’s a classic whodunit film that really has more twists and turns than intestines placed in a washing machine.

The film starts off with some psychiatric babble, and it seems that somebody is going to be executed for multiple murder. Then, inexplicably at first, the scene cuts to a motel, which may mean that this is a flashback to the multiple murder. Many points of view are given here, until eleven people get together in the motel, stuck under a stormy night. There’s a policeman and his ward, there’s the motel owner, there’s a call girl, a family of three, a newlywed couple, an actress, and her chauffeur.

One by one, each of them die, just about each of them with a key number by their carcass. The number starts with ten, and then it goes down and down. Apparently, there is a countdown going on until only one of them is left. Nobody knows who the culprit is, but the deaths are quite gruesome. The first death is someone who got beheaded. The second one was someone who was force-fed a baseball bat. Then the husband in the new couple was killed, though I forgot how. I think it was a stab-fest or something. Then the mother in the family of three died, presumably of bleeding to death, as she was run over at the start. Then the father in the family of three was run over. How the numbers could be placed near their bodies seemed impossible, but it’d all make sense at the end. Then, a car carrying around two people exploded. At that point, they had to realize who the killer really was.

Here is where the ingenuity of the film is further enhanced. We are then taken to a seeming connection between all the people in the motel: each had a family name with a state at the end, and each had the same birthday. BUT THEY’RE NOT REAL. They are all different personalities in the head of a man who will be executed for multiple murder the next day, UNLESS they find the killer personality, isolate it, and destroy it. All of this has been no more than a battle in the man’s head. When he realizes this, he then goes and sends himself back into his mind as the chauffeur, and then it becomes clear that the policeman was NOT a policeman, because he was also a convict, just like his ward, and this was their escape plan. A confrontation kills the chauffeur and the policeman, and the motel owner was killed prior to this because he was the one who discovered the policeman’s secret.

And then there was one: the call girl.

So they send the man to a mental institution and cancel the execution because the killer was no longer there in him.

And then at the end, he kills his psychiatrist and escapes.

WHAT?

He kills his psychiatrist in the truck carrying him to the mental hospital, as well as the other policeman, and escapes.

Apparently, everyone overlooked the fact that it wouldn’t make sense for the “policeman” to be the killer. He was trying to escape with his friend, who posed as his ward, for one. Why would he kill him?

Secondly, all bodies, before they disappeared come the first twist in the film, were accounted for, EXCEPT for the two that were in the car that exploded: the young kid who was the son in the family of three, and the wife in the newlywed couple. Apparently, the wife died. But the kid didn’t.

“Whoah. This is preposterous,” you might say. But it’s not, when you think about it. During each murder, the kid was nowhere to be found in the scene. Even more interestingly, the answer is being hinted at throughout the movie, as the man who had the multiple personalities was traumatized as a kid, and the kid’s name was written over and over in a notebook at one point in the film. Also, what seemed to be an accident, the dad getting run over, was clearly not, when you realize that he was trying to save the kid at the time. The mom also died while the kid went into her room. And yes, the sole survivor, the call girl, was killed by the kid in the end, leaving the only personality in the man to be that of the crazed killer.

Simply amazing. This film was definitely a nail-biter for me, and I couldn’t help but appreciate the sheer ingenuity of the plot, though I ended up guessing that the kid was the killer. In spite of that, it completely made sense how the kid did all of the murders, by the time you get to the end of the film. The plot was laid out well with no plot holes to speak of, and it was a thrilling movie from start to finish. Few films can elicit this kind of admiration from me for sheer ingenuity, and I do believe that Identity deserves it. Telling the story alone already speaks volumes of the intricacies they employed in telling a very suspenseful yet believable story.

This is the way killer flicks should be done. Twists in films are expected by now, but Identity still managed to pull the rug from under one’s feet by making a discarded notion suddenly become reality. This is one film that any mystery buff cannot possibly miss. And as I said, watching it from top to bottom is the only way to go, as was clearly illustrated by the fact that the killer’s identity was already being dictated to you from the start, yet you can still actually turn oblivious to it.

Marcelle’s Evaluation: A+


To recap, here are the rankings of the films:

Ju-On: A
Zhou Yu's Train: D-
The Phone: A-
Identity: A+

.:What?:.

Today was a rather interesting day, no doubt. I guess classes were pretty much okay, what with all the insight one can conceivably get from Theology and Political Science. Nonetheless, what was even more interesting was how the Morning Rush turned out today. The Hot 10 topic was about “Alternate Topics for Christmas Carols”, and the entries were exceedingly funny… and green. I suppose I can’t spare any of these lines, really. Maybe next time, but man, it had to be heard to be believed. The sheer hilarity.

What almost completely shadowed one of the most hilarious episodes of the Morning Rush, however, was what came at the end of the show. Delamar suddenly blurted out that she found Greg (Brad Turvey’s brother) to be hotter than Brad. This quickly led to Greg attempting to call the station, and I could imagine how red Delle would’ve been inside the booth, as she inevitably admitted she had a yen for Greg in some regard. What I missed because I was in class, however, was the part where Boom and Chinggay suddenly carry this on, answer Greg on the RX hotline, and get in touch with him about all these developments. Guess what? Greg will be on the show tomorrow. The plot thickens, no doubt.

.:And We Continue:.

Let’s continue with The Top Five People Marcelle Is Most Grateful For.

2. Abby, *jaded*, and Tsumenki: These are the three people I can call my best friends without blinking. While I don’t expect them to reciprocate that sentiment, I do believe that I still regard them as such, irregardless.

Abby, we all know the history here. Interestingly enough, this has been the first year since we’ve known each other wherein we haven’t run into any controversies with one another. That’s a good thing, I must say. Nonetheless, as she did point out, it doesn’t matter if we don’t see eye to eye on a lot of things. What’s important is that we still communicate well with one another, and we get our respective points across. Things have been running smoothly between me and her, and I’d like to think that we managed to be a bit more open to one another now. I couldn’t ask for anything more from her, truth be told. She’s been there for me quite a few times this year, from the Senior’s page to my Radio 1 Campus Central debut. One of these days, I hope I could return the favor somehow.

I couldn’t blame *jaded* if she doesn’t really consider me her best friend anymore, especially considering we had our share of conflicts in the middle of this year. In spite of that, I do believe I ought to practice what I preach, which essentially means that if I don’t forget the bad, I sure as Hades don’t forget the good either. *jaded* and I have a good friendship, and I don’t believe any isolated issue can undermine that. Friends like her are one in a billion, and I’d be a fool to just ignore that. Which explains why speaking ill of people who matter behind their backs is something I just can’t imagine doing, contrary to misinformed belief. But lest I go on about this, let me just state for the record that I’m glad things are beginning to work out with me and her again, and here’s to having that continue further. I’m exceedingly glad to know I can count on you, and I’m equally grateful you know you can count on me.

And of course, Tsumenki. I suppose she’s the OB member that I really cannot do without. If I had to disappear from the face of OB tomorrow, this is the person I will certainly endf up having for the greatest separation anxiety to deal with. While her sunny disposition belies a lot of depth and inner complexities in her being, it doesn’t take away from the fact that she is truly a great friend, and one that knows what it means to be a friend for you every step of the way. I know I have little to offer her as she has been there, and she has done that more times than I could hope to attempt, but I am grateful for this friendship we mutually treasure. It’s a rarity, and I know it.

And so these are three of the best friends I’ve ever had in my life. I can’t help but realize that I have a lot to be thankful for, even if only for these three alone. They’ve been around for me more times than I can count, and I’ve been able to be a better person because of them, without a shadow of a doubt. Cheers to the three of you.

Honorable Mention in this category: Absolutely none. I have only four best friends, and since I still have one person left to name, I suppose that gives you a clue as to the identity of the top person in my list.

SELF PLUG!!!

This is what I call shameless self-promotion.

For some strange reason, I find myself in the midst of this Asian weblogging competition, and while I do not claim to be the best blogger in this country (I've been a mite irresponsible and sadly autobiographical lately.), I could at least use a few votes here and there. I'm not only in that category, but I'm also in the Best Essayist category as well, which I do believe I stand very little chance of winning.

So if any of my regular readers feel that I deserve a vote of confidence in either category, or actually think I fit better in a different category, please feel free to click on the link I provided here, and one I'd try to find place for somehow in my weblog soon enough.

Ah, well.

Yesterday was an exceedingly frustrating day, but thank goodness it was capped off by some comfort... ah, well.

.:On Angst:.

And so the angst continues to pile up. Marcelle has been on the receiving end on a lot of threats in his life, whether or not they are ever really being acted upon. Nonetheless, it becomes rather sad and pathetic when one completely becomes oblivious to the woes of the entire planet and expect the world to give that one his “fair share” of fortune in life, when a quick look around would spell out to him quite clearly that he has things better than most others would.

And at this point, Marcelle has had enough of angst. Angst does nothing for Marcelle. It doesn’t make him well-liked by more, it doesn’t make him more mature. If anything, it doesn’t make Marcelle, in any conceivable way, a better person. Nor will these favors be bestowed upon anyone else who believes in such. Bottomline is quite clear, really: if your angst has consumed you so much that you believe the world owes you, then you are deluding yourself. The world doesn’t owe you anything. If anything, you owe the world. Marcelle realizes this. A priori to anything he has done in his life, Marcelle has never accomplished anything that would’ve made him worthy of living, to begin with. Keeping this in mind, and realizing that it is not within our power to make demands of beings higher than we are, whomever we believe them to be, then we realize that all this angst about how unfair life is proves to be moot.

And in the end, who’s wrong and who’s night may not seem to matter in the thick of the fight, but Marcelle recognizes that the one who holds the moral high ground is the one who has every right to be angry. Not the one who was hasty. Not the one who crucified with no prior notice. No amount of angst, no amount of bad blood can possibly erase that fact, and with that fact, Marcelle can continue to be a smug, sanctimonious son of a bastich.

.:Obla-D, Obla-Dah:.

In other news... and breaking out of character...

Grace and I tried to go and watch the Oblation Run at U.P. Diliman today, only to discover that we came around just about five minutes too late. In spite of that, some people were saying that compared to last year, the turnout for this year was rather low, with more or less only ten Oblation runners this time around. Grace was extremely exasperated over how I seemed to be more excited than she was about going there, but I digress…

Grace and I ran into Imo, which finally answered Grace’s curiosity about her. Speaking of Chinese girls, Sarah Lee, my classmate in Political Science, was ribbing me yesterday concerning someone we both know, who decided to assert for herself that I liked her. Ah, well. That’s a change of pace. They usually act all coy about it. ::chuckles::

Nonetheless, I finally heard the audio for The Happy Tree Friends, and it strongly reminded me of South Park. The music was very juvenile, and it further honed the irony of watching cute little critters that look like they were ripped from Neopets getting all gory in a matter of seconds. I must say, it was funny how those CS21B students of Sacha were acting all wary of the short films, and then still feeling compelled to watch, nonetheless. Disturbing films that they are, I suppose I can’t recommend them to everyone. In fact, I don’t really recommend it, period...

Mr. Bulaong decided to give us a free cut for Philosophy, and Mich and I realized that one of our classmates, Arthur, has an uncanny resemblance to sir, especially since there was a time that he had pretty long hair. Nonetheless, it’s pretty amusing, considering how this may be the one semester I wouldn’t have to do an impression of him if someone will do it better than I could...

.:Politics Again:.

So Saddam Hussein finally got caught. Better make sure they don’t execute him, lest they make a martyr and a hero out of the bastich. Nonetheless, finding Saddam, as far as I know, is far less important than actually finding the weapons of mass destruction Bush was using as justification for this war. If these weapons did not exist at all, while indeed, Saddam was by no means a saint, we still set quite a dangerous precedent for war to be declared on dubious grounds.

In local politics, Senator Blas Ople passed on, which makes me realize that one of my closest friends has not had a full year since second year college wherein a tragedy wouldn’t happen. While I do feel sorry for her, I guess I can give her enough credit by saying she is a strong-willed person, in spite of this.

“No” senator or not, I really don’t think any decent human being could wish someone like Senator Ople dead. I know I wouldn’t, considering I was one of the staunchest anti-Estrada people ever. In spite of the man’s faults, he was certainly doing his share in working for the betterment of this country, and if one cannot forget another’s faults, one should not forget another’s merits, either.

.:Simbang Gabi? Holidays?:.

Much as I want to complete the nine masses for once in my life, it appears that will have to wait. For those who want to make it easy on themselves, they could very well attend the evening edition of these masses, usually around 8 PM. I tried completing it dutifully once, but then I missed one day. The fourth day, I believe. In spite of that, I was still pretty happy about it back then, but I suppose that’s all right…

Moving back, I must say that the RX event last Friday, while it certainly bombed, at least yielded me a new friend in Mark Lim. I know I’ve recounted already how many CP’s I’ve seen in that day alone, but that’s all right, really. I guess I just have to be more wary about the next Lim I see, because it turned out that one of my CP’s was Mark’s cousin. If you check my archives, you’d know very well which one it is... but anyways, Chico and Delamar certainly don’t seem like the type of hosts you should put in an event like that. I even ended up skipping the Radio 1 Christmas party because I didn’t want to feel out of place again like I usually do in gatherings like that. I have to admit that I’m really the loner type, so...

It was fun, really. We were joking around while we tried to get some people to go to the concert, especially when we were asked to invite the dormers. As soon as we headed off to the girl’s dorm, which was, at the time, open house, we were joking heavily about our “room to room” invitations. Alack and alas, those invites weren’t enough to hit the five hundred people that would’ve made the event look marginally successful. A few Radio 1 people I know were around, such as Steph and Troy, and that was all pretty okay, really.

On the other hand, that family reunion I attended last Sunday was funny, if only for the overload of Sex Bomb the whole time, what with their album playing, and their attempt to recreate Laban O Bawi with only a hundred pesos for the prize. Talk about really scraping the bottom of the barrel, but anyways...

As you can tell, I haven’t even started my Christmas shopping. Other than my family and Grace, I think the only people I intend to give anything to would be Abby and... I think that’s it, unless... nah, I don’t think I can hand out TWELVE gifts like... never mind.

.:Sentimentality:.

I finally met up with Ma’am Sining yesterday, after a long while of not running into her. It was good because she seemed very much happy (Of course, she always seems very happy, but there was something about her that added to that at the moment.), what with her being engaged to someone she got to know online. So for those people who think online relationships with French boys don’t work, at least this one did, though it was with a Swiss man…

Anyways, Ma’am Sining and I had a few stories to exchange, and I still strongly suspect that she’s either a distant aunt or cousin of mine, considering her family name and province. Nonetheless, Willard may very well be stuck once again with Kris Aquino, so this news about Ma’am Sining being engaged would have little effect on him… ::smiles::

Ma’am Sining was the perfect combination of a teacher I personally AND professionally liked, teaching a subject I really loved. Had I not been in Comm Arts, I would very well have ended up in Psychology, to begin with. Now, of course, my interest is leaning towards Philosophy, but I guess I have to wait and see on that.

Here’s hoping Ma’am Sining continues to be happy.

I just realized how sentimental an archivist I tend to be, what with my desire for letters (Preferably handwritten) and pictures. I guess I’m the type who’s preparing myself for the time when I grow senile. At least, I can still view all these memories when the time has passed, and that would still make me smile. Most of the time, I tend to be close to some of my teachers, who turn out to have quite an impact on my life. God knows my high school teachers Ms. Rivero and Mrs. Ting Flores influenced me quite a great deal, as did Mrs. Doreen Fernandez (God bless her soul.), Mr. Bulaong, Dr. Barbazza, Ma’am Sining, Mr. Jimmy P, and Sev Sarmenta.

I guess this explains why I’m apprehensive about graduating from college.

.:Comedic Value And More:.

My Media Law and Ethics professor, Atty. Perez, may indeed be intimidating and may expect quite a lot from his students when it comes to work, and reputedly (Emphasis on reputedly, as we have yet to find out.) stingy with his grades, but personally, he seems to be a fun person. When he talks about law and media, he has this condescending tone about media people, as though the people in media are full of themselves and think that they are untouchable. To some extent, I do believe he is correct. No, really. It's interesting how he talks about it. It sure keeps future media people under him on their toes, lest they become one of those people he'd refer to as "you media think you are a privileged class". He also has this rather interesting accent and diction.

One of the funniest anecdotes about him, though, was when he commented on the death of “Tiffany” in Matrix Revolutions. Figure out for yourself who the Hades he was referring to.

Abby, on an unrelated note, was telling me after the class how being a film actress for Bobby was more rewarding lately than her theater. With the latter, she rehearses for twenty hours a week, only to deliver a couple of lines as a chorus girl. With the former, she shoots for twenty hours tops, and is the lead character. Yeah, I guess that explains why she’s not too keen about it lately...

Here we go again, and to finish my backlog here, let’s continue with The Top Five People Marcelle Is Most Grateful For This Year.

3. Chico, Delamar, and Brad Turvey: Ever since I worked for RX this summer, it was markedly different from the last time out because Chico and Delle were there this time around. Moreover, I was even assigned to help the two out, which was such a boon to me. I’ve been a rusher since ’96 or ’97, and I must say that I’m very happy that I’ve managed to exchange a lot of laughs and good times with the two, more now than ever. I hope I continue to be around them, especially since my stint with Radio 1 will end once I graduate... ah, well.

Brad Turvey is a person I’m grateful for, and again, I’m not going to assume that we’re close. In spite of that, I owe the man big time for that unforgettable conversation with Pia Guanio, where I ended up being a complete dummy (But a HAPPY dummy.). Brad’s a really okay person, and here’s to hoping that his career continues to move on up as it already is. He’s been working pretty hard to get to where he’s at, and I don’t see anything that can hinder him from getting to whatever his goal may be. And yeah, I’m glad he’s been nice enough to not crucify me for accidentally letting the cat out of the bag every now and then.

You might say that being around the booth on a regular basis makes me privy to a lot of interesting things, but I guess this knowledge comes with the trust that I won’t betray it...

My gratitude to these three people. They made my year a lot more colorful than it ever could’ve been.

Honorable Mention in this category: Brad’s manager, Paolo Bustamante, as well as the other people at RX such as ma’am Lea, ma’am Lally, and Carla. These are all people who colored up my life quite a bit. And yeah, RX is the best. Also, just about every single member of Otaku Boards, such as Madame Sky, Ichi, Chiyo, Shunichi, and the like.

Moving on with the list, let’s continue with The Top Five People Marcelle Is Most Grateful For This Year.

4. Elbert, Sacha, and Mich: Again, a tie among many people, but I can’t help it, really.

Elbert is one of those few people you can talk to about anything and everything and actually make some headway with. While I don’t assume that I’m close to Elbert (Considering I’m still not on his top-priority links... ::winks::), I know that notwithstanding that, this is one jabroni who will never give me a shortage of intelligent conversation.

I was intending on including Sacha in the top five, but while she may be a professor, she was not my professor. Again, I don’t assume that I’m close to Sacha, as I don’t assume I am to Elbert, but Sacha is one of those people whom you speak to for about an hour, and everything you talk about is just loaded with a lot of significance. I guess the drawback is that it severely cuts small talk, but I suppose small talk is really just that: small. It would appear that the more pertinent matters are the ones more worth discussing, especially since time is of the essence when your schedule is that filled up as hers is. Here’s hoping that next year would turn out to be her time to shine not in Computer Science, but as a chef...

Mich is still on my list simply because nothing has really changed between me and her. I do hope that I’ve been helping her out somehow as much as she’s been helping me out, but considering how rarely we talk, and yet how close we still remain, I suppose that makes her indispensable to me... it’s not like I can suddenly do without her just because something went wrong, and if anything... ah, never mind. I don’t want to get myself started on that crud again.

I’m grateful for these friends. These are people that I treasure for their intelligent conversation and for all the great memories we’ve shared. And yeah, for the occasional frank verbal beatdown I get from them that sends me back to Earth...

Honorable Mention in this category: 1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12. Figure that out. ::chuckles:: And yeah, Cami as well, whom I enjoy hearing from on LJ. She’s also pretty funny with some of the things she’s been up to lately. Neither can I forget about my wonderful thesis partner, Imo, who certainly is a great person with a lot of things to say about anything and everything.

And while I wanted to add a name or two more here, doing that might result in trouble, so I won’t. But I think the persons in question would realize why.

I know I’m cheating here by including a lot of people in one rank, but I suppose I can’t help but not ignore these people. Each and every one of these people in my top five have shaped my year to be the year that it was, and let’s just say that these people were simply indispensable in that respect.

So without further ado, just like last year, here are The Top Five People Marcelle Is Most Grateful For This Year.

5. Dr. Barbazza, Jim Paredes, Ma’am Sining, and Mr. Bulaong: All four professors had a rather significant impact on my life, truth be told.

Mr. Bulaong was the person who really opened my mind to the possibilities I might have in Philosophy. While he does have a friendliness about him, I don’t think that overrides the fact that he’s still my professor, and one of my personal favorites, for that matter.

Jim Paredes is simply the one person who managed to make me be a lot more confident about myself without being too brazen. With all the creative things we were subjected to, and though these things were about a year or so ago, they only really started to manifest in me this year. You might say that he managed to spark a bit of a paradigm shift from me, in that I was more and more surefooted with the things I did.

Ma’am Sining may have likewise been my teacher way back in second year, but I was always sure that if there was anything I wasn’t sure I was able to handle, she was someone I could turn to. Since I finished my class with her, she was, without a doubt, a very good friend, and one of the people I am so grateful for in their faith in my capabilities when I myself begin to doubt them.

Dr. Barbazza, finally, is simply an eminent figure who will always command respect. A brilliant man who forced me to handle Philosophy in the vernacular after a year of otherwise, Dr. Barbazza was certainly someone who seemed larger than life to me, in spite of his approachability and his mild-mannered demeanor. He elicits a kind of esteem that many people just wish they had but couldn’t, and it’s something I can’t help but hope to emulate.

I am exceedingly grateful to these professors I have had this year that simply played a crucial role in changing my paradigm and making me a bit better as a human being. I've a long way to go, but these people sure pushed me in the right direction.

Honorable Mention in this category: Among all my professors in college, these four were the most influential to me. While I can add a certain name to that list, particularly my Theology professor last semester, I think she couldn’t have influenced me as much without help from someone else who is also in this list. Still, ma’am Elsa Magtibay was genuinely a great person.

http://www.junior-software.com/newsimcentre/download.php?op=viewsdownload&sid=1

Chico and Delle hosted last Friday's event, and yes, I'm pretty busy, but the Top Five will be up soon enough. I have quite a quandary on who goes where right now, but I'll fix that... I guess by Wednesday, the bottom three will be in there, one after the other... :)

Don't mind the link. I just needed it to remember something.

And yeah, I suppose I was better off not going to the reunion yesterday. It kept me from finishing my homework on time... ah, well. And yeah, my quiz in Theology today also took a hit... but if I ace the long test tomorrow, that'd give me more than enough breathing room, I suppose... ah, well.

Interesting. As soon as classes were over, the whole scheme of things began to pick up. I was still a bit fixated on the whole Happy Tree Friends business, but it didn't take long before I had to accomplish more pressing things instead and attend to them first.

Anyways, last night was the RX Onstage On Campus presentation of Sugarfree and Cambio. I was there at the covered courts as early as three thirty in the afternoon, and started helping out. Not much there, really, but I did sense that the whole thing had "disaster" written all over it, if only for the fact that there was a severe dearth of plugging on the part of AJMA. Mark Lim, the project head, certainly wasn't able to inform the general public well enough about the event, so it's quite a sad thing, really. I'm sure if the event was plugged a bit better, there would've been a bit more people in the event, but I'd be the first to admit that the Ateneo is a hopeless case when it comes to getting people involved. Call it an apathetic mass, if you will, but yes, that's pretty apt.

Nonetheless, I did run into Rachel, who had a nice haircut, and whom Mark was ogling over. The man was more fixated on Rachel than I was on any other Chinese girl I ran into last night during the whole concert. And yes, there was Mark's cousin, Janelle, who's taken, and then there's a girl also named Jack. She's pretty okay, as well, and she wears glasses. Ah, well. I was really drowning all over again...

Only then did I realize that Mark was also cousins with Clarence Lim, who's in my list... ah, well.

Anyways, the turnout was pretty bad. Not too many people showed up, and in an act that I view to be pretty idiotic, Cambio was in the same place as Mongols. We know what the deal with that is, neh? Cambio was once Eraserheads, and the Mongols is fronted by ELY BUENDIA. Talk about stirring up unnecessary trouble, so thank goodness Cambio left soon after the Mongols showed up.

To make matters worse, sir Chito was already charging Mark for 20,000 bucks after the event because it flopped. Now where will the poor jabroni get that kind of money, neh? I guess he needs to negotiate about it, because that was just wrong...

So there. The concert was great, but the turnout was bad as Hades. And I was pretty happy with all the fine people there... I need pictures. Soon.

I also saw Abby's short film, entitled "Bulong Sa Kawalan". She apparently played Dave Corpin's "love" interest, though that really wasn't the case. I can see why Dave's persona elicited comparisons to mine, but I suppose that it's just not the same. I don't really buy into that kind of stuff, to begin with, and I don't think I'll be slitting anybody's throat any time soon, either. I was a bit set back by the film. Pretty grisly, if you ask me.

This is interesting...

We have a concert in Ateneo today, with Sugarfree performing. I hope a good number of people show up.

Anyways, yesterday was a rather exhausting day. Philosophy class really does make me scratch my head from time to time, and today was one of those days. I managed to sit in on Sacha's class, where Peppy proceeded to disturb me by showing me some short films about The Happy Tree Friends. I highly suggest you don't watch the short clips if you're a bit too squeamish about overtly gratuitous violence.

I'm finally done with a few film reviews, and I'll post them up next time. And just like last year, I do my top five people I'm most grateful for this year... ah, well. I guess this is all I have to update you with for now... :)

I got this from an e-mail, and since most of you know that I am particularly fond of the Sex Bomb dancers for their down-to-earth appeal and the connection that they can establish with just about any demographic, I suppose it would be nice to post this e-mail... it's funny, but at the same time, it's waxing philosophical on the most unlikely of things: The Spageti Song... sarcasm at its best, and while we can knock them off for the untalented singers (But not dancers.) that they are, but they're probably making more money right now than most of us will in the next ten years...

I can die now. My life is complete. I have heard the latest Sexbomb Girls' album in its entirety and now I have heard everything. My deepest thanks to my mom for choosing to live in a neighbourhood where the people are so 'giving' they will allow you to hear their CD collections for free, at 6 in the morning! every single day! Oh you don't understand it do you? To wake up every single day to the sound of girls who are better off cheerleading than singing; to hear songs about pasta going up and down and sideways and what the hell does it all mean?!!; To hear the words laban and bawi in varying intensities e.g. la la la la la la labaan!! ba ba ba ba ba baweeee!!! LAAAAB AAAAN! BAAAWIIII! AWWWW! AWWWWW! AWWWWW! YES! YES! AWWWWWWW! It is an experience you should not miss. It can serve both as an alarm clock and my ongoing experiment on the limits of human patience. I recommend it highly.

In the spirit of sharing, I will try-emphasis on try- to review the first single off the album. Why only the first single? Well, because I don't feel qualified to review the whole thing. That job is reserved for a music critic with a triple masters degree in philosophy, nuclear physics, and forensic psychology .The album is that, dare i say it, PROFOUND. Actually, its beyond profound, it 's....it 's.... words fail me.

Here goes nothing. The title of the single i assume is 'Spaghetti.'The title alone is pure genius. Spaghetti as we all know is a favorite among Pinoys of all ages. The message the title is trying to send out is: the Sexbomb Girls are not only for kids but for all ages. The song starts with a sound straight from a kiddie carousel or those old owner-type jeeps which plays Muzak while parking or backing up. To the uninitiated, this may mean a lack of imagination on the composer 's side but alas, the truth is, that intro is meant to appeal to our neotenic(?) urges.

In a world filled with stress and anxiety , the intro lulls us into a trance and brings us back to feelings of childhood without worries. It hypnotises us into shedding our inhibitions; to be innocent and childlike once more, subliminally preparing us for the wrath of the killer chorus.

Suddenly, a guy who suspiciously sounds like Joey de Leon starts counting from 5 to 8. Why the numbers 1 to 4 were left out is anybody's guess. It is one of the mysteries of this song that may never be unravelled, rivalling that of JFK's real killer.It could be part of the Bible code.

This is then followed by the girls themselves screaming "Makinig kayo!" Obviously a paean to that very famous Marc Antony speech that goes like; "Friends, Romans, Countrymen, lend me your ears." This is the girls' way of introducing a bit of Shakespeare to their unsuspecting public.

There is no stopping the girls now.


Apir tayo (give me five?) (let us appear?)
Sumakit ang ulo ko (my head aches)
Sumakit ang dibdib ko (my chest aches)
Sexbomb (3x)

Apir tayo
Sumakit ang bewang ko (My waist aches)
Sumakit ang tuhod ko (my knee aches)
Sexbomb (3x)

The girls are obviously suffering from an existential kind of pain. It is a pain so deep it transcends both the physical and the metaphysical worlds. To give high fives while experiencing a severe form of arthritis and ulceritis is a metaphor for the superficiality of everyday living where outward appearances are more valued; where everything is based on 'pakikisama' even if inside you feel like being eaten alive by amoeba. As long as you 're presentable and maintain a good, albeit hypocritical relationship with everybody, it's okay even if you are suffering inside. Oh the humanity!

Here goes the chorus:

Spaghetting (still in their shakespearean mode of inventing words, the girls decide to make the Italian word spaghetti a Tagalog one by adding ING.) pababa pababa ng pababa (going down going down going down)
Spaghetting pataas pataas ng pataas (going up going up going up)

This may sound like a tour guide of an elevator but it isn't. REALLY. Another metaphor for life's little vissicitudes, the girls are obviously referring to the circle of life You dense person you! Whatever goes up must come down is what they're trying to say. Life is but a cycle with high highs and low lows.The spaghetti they re talking about is US! Yes! You and me! It's about being boiled and cooked and overcooked. It's about being paired with cheese and hotdogs and other ingredients that are not supposed to be there. It's about being eaten! It's about being part of a society where everything is the same yet different. It's about being accepted even if youre too sweet or too sour or too spicy. It's about survival. It's about adapting. It's about LIFE.

Man, these girls and their songs are like the most complex things to ever come out of the Pinoy music scene. I've always thought Radiohead is the most cryptic band there is but now I know I'm wrong. I have been enlightened.

Listen and you will be, too.

Ah, indeed. Such is the intricacy of the "Spageti Song".

I’ve been way too busy with school lately, as well as handling quite a Herculean effort to take my Booker T all the way from really bad stats to becoming the cream of the crop in my game of Smackdown: Here Comes The Pain. In spite of that, I must say that I’m really trying to keep my head above the water with all the things I’m trying to accomplish…

I didn’t bother going to La Salle this week, simply because there’s no conceivable reason for me to be there, as I’m not too keen on playing SNK vs. Capcom today, what with me more into Smackdown at this point. Moreover, I don’t think I was going to run into Sam anyway, and considering how my last run-in there turned out, I really don’t need to waste my time with all this unproductivity. I’d rather not spend my energies on stressing myself over something that erupted out of nothing to begin with. I’m sick and tired of all this by now. I suppose skysenshi knew what she was talking about when she told me what I should do instead of agonizing myself and going around in circles. Ah, well. I guess it’s time to change topics, then.

Schoolwork has been taking its toll on me for a while already. Much as I’d like to think that I can actually achieve something with my goal this semester, I still have quite a few problems that I’d need to deal with, especially since I don’t feel all too confident about my chances of making it well in certain subjects, particularly that Media Law and Ethics class I have, considering how our professor is rather Draconic, and it does become a bit problematic from time to time, as far as I can see. At the rate things are going, I can’t look past a single subject on my list at this point. I’d be best served to simply not take any of my quizzes and assorted requirements for granted, which is not so easy, especially since Philosophy has not been sticking into my head lately. I have no idea what I can do to regain my fire, because right now, I’m almost running on an empty tank. This is not good. Not good at all.

I have to make my resume soon enough, for that matter. I just realized that’s another thing I have to accomplish soon…

Some good news for a change here. My aunt’s husband already left on their anniversary. The bastich is gone. Thank goodness.

And more good news… there’s this nice friend I have now. Her name’s Rach, and she’s really nice… I’ve known her through the Ateneo Debate Society, but I managed to speak to her a bit better only now. I think she recalls me more for my different sunglasses, though. Nonetheless, it’s all fine.

Had a weird dream last night, too. I was being invited to Abby’s wedding already, and I had a hard time getting there, and for some strange reason, my family was also going, without my knowledge, until I found out and went to the wedding with them. I was supposed to give Abby something, but I had no idea what it was, and to make everything even weirder, Dr. Dre was hosting the event which was less of a wedding, and more of a debut, really. What a strange, strange dream that was…

Ah, yes. Friday night was quite a night, though it came at the price of missing a GREAT episode of NWA-TNA, featuring Sting and Paul London. In spite of all that, I was pretty cool with Saturday, really, as I spent most of my time just online, and then headed off to a special class for Theology. Not much missed there, to be honest, but it's cool.

What was actually more interesting was that I spent some time just talking to Abby after the whole thing. It was pretty fine, really, as we managed to exchange quite a few ideas with one another. The talk was quite fun, as we jumped from topic to topic, and it was perfectly fine, really, as we didn't lose track of one another. I guess Abby and I are more of Chico and Delamar than anything else...

Nonetheless, Sunday proved to be rather interesting, as I wanted to watch WWE Smackdown at my aunt's house, so I went there as soon as I could. It was then that I realized how golden Mr. John Cena realls was on the stick, and I sure enjoyed his run there. I was attempting to empty my free text messages since my line will "reload" free text messages and calls today, so I decided to contact Rachel Reyes, who is actually here on LJ again, so I suppose I'll be hearing from her, as well as Ma'am Sining, who, as I suspected, is currently engaged. Her fiancee is a Swiss guy. Win-win situation, I must say.

Afterwards, I was headed to buy a memory card for the PS2, though I don't have a PS2. I needed it to actually progress in my WWE Smackdown game, and it was pretty interesting, really. It cost 1,200, so it was quite expensive.

Things were going well for me and Grace afterwards. Unfortunately, Grace cracked a rather bad joke on me that I didn't take all too well, which prompted me to go back home in quite a huff. I didn't even talk to her until the next day, which was quite a Herculean feat on my part, as it's not my nature to leave issues unaddressed.

Monday was fun. It was a holiday, so I didn't have any problems with classes. Moreover, I trained with Chico and Delamar on that day, and it was very interesting. I overheard in the office somebody's strange dream about missing his/her own dreaming by stalling all over his/her house with all sorts of things to do. That was quite strange. The dream even involved the station manager at one point, as she was offering the person in question some fruit, the specific type of which I don't recall.

I had a great time at the station, and Delle even asked me to do the AOB's during one break. Yay! I managed to say something on the air! Yay!

I then went off to play WWE Smackdown: Here Comes The Pain afterwards. That was interesting, as I spent eight hours getting my Booker T off the ground. It was pretty fine, nonetheless. I had to head off to Megamall afterwards, as it was Jericho's 8th birthday, and we had quite a sumptuous dinner at Sbarro's. When all that was done with, I just had to meet up with Grace and patch things up. She was really sorry about the whole thing, and I'm still thinking if I did the right thing by not talking or addressing her at all lest I said something I'd regret, or lest my anger turns the tables to the point that I'm already the one at fault.

With the reconcilliation and all, I must say it was a great day, overall, really... and I suppose I have a lot to look forward to when I watch Ju-On: The Grudge today.

And yes, I did manage to see Ju-On already, and for a horror film, it's highly recommended if you intend on getting the wits scared out of you. So as of now, three reviews are guaranteed: Zhou Yu's Train, Matrix Revolutions, and The Grudge. Ah, well.

Of course, since I slipped down the stairs of Grace's house this morning, all is not entirely well. Now I know how Alexander The Great felt when he had a baaad night...

Ah, yes. Friday night was quite a night, though it came at the price of missing a GREAT episode of NWA-TNA, featuring Sting and Paul London. In spite of all that, I was pretty cool with Saturday, really, as I spent most of my time just online, and then headed off to a special class for Theology. Not much missed there, to be honest, but it's cool.

What was actually more interesting was that I spent some time just talking to Abby after the whole thing. It was pretty fine, really, as we managed to exchange quite a few ideas with one another. The talk was quite fun, as we jumped from topic to topic, and it was perfectly fine, really, as we didn't lose track of one another. I guess Abby and I are more of Chico and Delamar than anything else...

Nonetheless, Sunday proved to be rather interesting, as I wanted to watch WWE Smackdown at my aunt's house, so I went there as soon as I could. It was then that I realized how golden Mr. John Cena realls was on the stick, and I sure enjoyed his run there. Afterwards, you might say I was headed to buy a memory card for the PS2, though I don't have a PS2. I needed it to actually progress in my WWE Smackdown game, and it was pretty interesting, really. It cost 1,200, so it was quite expensive.

Things were going well for me and Grace afterwards. Unfortunately, Grace cracked a rather bad joke on me that I didn't take all too well, which prompted me to go back home in quite a huff. I didn't even talk to her until the next day, which was quite a Herculean feat on my part, as it's not my nature to leave issues unaddressed.

Monday was fun. It was a holiday, so I didn't have any problems with classes. Moreover, I trained with Chico and Delamar on that day, and it was very interesting. I overheard in the office somebody's strange dream about missing his/her own dreaming by stalling all over his/her house with all sorts of things to do. That was quite strange. The dream even involved the station manager at one point, as she was offering the person in question some fruit, the specific type of which I don't recall.

I had a great time at the station, and Delle even asked me to do the AOB's during one break. Yay! I managed to say something on the air! Yay!

I then went off to play WWE Smackdown: Here Comes The Pain afterwards. That was interesting, as I spent eight hours getting my Booker T off the ground. It was pretty fine, nonetheless. I had to head off to Megamall afterwards, as it was Jericho's 8th birthday, and we had quite a sumptuous dinner at Sbarro's. When all that was done with, I just had to meet up with Grace and patch things up. It was a great day, overall, really... and I suppose I have a lot to look forward to when I watch Ju-On: The Grudge today.

Ah, yes. Friday night was quite a night, though it came at the price of missing a GREAT episode of NWA-TNA, featuring Sting and Paul London. In spite of all that, I was pretty cool with Saturday, really, as I spent most of my time just online, and then headed off to a special class for Theology. Not much missed there, to be honest, but it's cool.

What was actually more interesting was that I spent some time just talking to Abby after the whole thing. It was pretty fine, really, as we managed to exchange quite a few ideas with one another. The talk was quite fun, as we jumped from topic to topic, and it was perfectly fine, really, as we didn't lose track of one another. I guess Abby and I are more of Chico and Delamar than anything else...

Nonetheless, Sunday proved to be rather interesting, as I wanted to watch WWE Smackdown at my aunt's house, so I went there as soon as I could. It was then that I realized how golden Mr. John Cena realls was on the stick, and I sure enjoyed his run there. Afterwards, you might say I was headed to buy a memory card for the PS2, though I don't have a PS2. I needed it to actually progress in my WWE Smackdown game, and it was pretty interesting, really. It cost 1,200, so it was quite expensive.

Things were going well for me and Grace afterwards. Unfortunately, Grace cracked a rather bad joke on me that I didn't take all too well, which prompted me to go back home in quite a huff. I didn't even talk to her until the next day, which was quite a Herculean feat on my part, as it's not my nature to leave issues unaddressed.

Monday was fun. It was a holiday, so I didn't have any problems with classes. Moreover, I trained with Chico and Delamar on that day, and it was very interesting. I overheard in the office somebody's strange dream about missing his/her own dreaming by stalling all over his/her house with all sorts of things to do. That was quite strange. The dream even involved the station manager at one point, as she was offering the person in question some fruit, the specific type of which I don't recall.

I had a great time at the station, and Delle even asked me to do the AOB's during one break. Yay! I managed to say something on the air! Yay!

I then went off to play WWE Smackdown: Here Comes The Pain afterwards. That was interesting, as I spent eight hours getting my Booker T off the ground. It was pretty fine, nonetheless. I had to head off to Megamall afterwards, as it was Jericho's 8th birthday, and we had quite a sumptuous dinner at Sbarro's. When all that was done with, I just had to meet up with Grace and patch things up. It was a great day, overall, really... and I suppose I have a lot to look forward to when I watch Ju-On: The Grudge today.