Wednesday, June 30, 2004

Sigh...

.:Evil LSS:.

Too songs are stuck to my head right now... Tuesday's "Hindi Ako Bakla (Kla Kla Kla Kla Kla)" and Ai-Ai Delas Alas' "Ang Tanging Ina". Good Gawd, Camilo really drilled the former into my head, singing it in Dr. Barbazza's class for the most part last night, and then on my way to school today, I heard the latter, and it was really funny because she sounded a lot like she was cussing on the air... heh. I know that the idea is old, but putting it into song is actually funny...

.:Telltale:.

One of my college classmates, Cecille, texted me yesterday...

Hey, Marcelle! You don't happen to be working at WAVE, do you?

I replied to her and told her that I was, but I was curious how she found out as I didn't tell her about it. She could've just heard about it through word of mouth or something... but then...

Drive and Grind? Jus a wild guess. Several accumulated hours of philosophical discussion have made me really familiar with your voice and manner of speaking. ;)

So apparently, I'm still as conspicuous as ever...

.:Delinquent:.

Well, not precisely, but still... it was funny. So I was talking to Ms. Maan, the Philo dep secretary, and she found out why I always seem to be sleepy (Due to WAVE and all.). She quipped that there's a sleeping area in the Philosophy department that I didn't know about, and I promptly took her up on that, as she led the way to the department's "special reading room", which apparently had ample slepping gear, including a pillow and some sort of sleeping bag apparatus...

I popped right in and just spent the next hour and a half getting some much needed rest, perfect for my six to nine class on Heidegger... I swear, one of those questions about Heidegger, Hegel, and Hume (Triple H! Haha haha!) was one for the books...

.:Spaghetting Pataas:.

Sure, I wouldn't mind. But are you sure you want to subject yourself to my cooking? *evil grin*

No problem. As we're both eating dinner, we share the same fate...


Ah, yes. I had class until nine last night, and in spite of the fact that I would certainly miss the last LRT ride home, I decided to stick around and go to Sacha's dorm for dinner, which she was kind enough to prepare. We ended up considering how... domesticated she has gotten in terms of cooking, and I have to say that the angel hair pasta with tomato sauce and meatballs was actually good. It was fun chatting with her, really.

Topics we had ranged from plans in the near future regarding our Ph.D's, the seven-year plan, the sketch she had in Toy Con, as well as the sleeping area in the Philosophy department, which she found particularly amusing. She was immensely amused with the stalker issue as well...

Nonetheless, it was good to just chat with her in a very relaxed environment, really. We were more or less talking about plans for Spider-Man 2 and going to Don Bosco Mandaluyong to hopefully sedu... I mean, recruit students into the CS or Philosophy or Comm (So I have designs on this now... heh.) program of the Ateneo. We'll see how that goes. And I'll be sure to drop by her for dinner again next week. The security people at her dorm are really nice... ah, well.

Maybe next time I should cook... but I'd better do that for someone special. Someone... familiar.

.:All In Good Fun:.

Do note that none of this is true. As a disclaimer, Peppy isn't gay. He's as manly as they come. I should know... ::winks::

Gressa: Are people that shallow? They just know something about you, and they'd judge you already?

Marcelle: Some people are.

Gressa: Well, I'm not.

Marcelle: I know. I mean, you didn't stop talking to Peppy just because he's gay, right?

Gressa: Like you, I don't judge.

In fairness, Gressa likewise believes Peppy isn't gay, so that should count as something to Jason... :) and Eric... ;)

.:Baptism Of Fire:.

Anne was out with a fever this morning, so George had to take over on behalf of her. While George and I didn't really have much rapport going at the start, we still managed to wing it for the most part. The show was pretty fun, actually. It was smooth-sailing except for the fact that I was fairly disoriented with George's style as she's a lot more laid back on the air than Anne. Still, we did get along, and we had a lot of fun with the songs and all, as the requests were really varied, though we did ask them to lay off all the requests for Usher and other new songs. It was Waveback Wednesday, after all.

The fun thing about the whole thing was when someone texted the show to ask me if I were Chinese, and when I answered her and told her that I wasn't, she proceeded to talk to me in Chinese. She ended up fishing out from me that I'm rather fond of Chinese girls and all. I guess my boardwork with George wasn't so bad, considering it was the first time we boarded together. I was also offering clues to "Scratch Your Head To This" throughout, which was something I wouldn't do if Anne is around.

I'm glad to have more or less pulled this show off with George quite decently. The listeners were fun (Glenn got to listen today.), and most of them still don't believe I'm only 20... heh. Even more amusing are their questions about the stuff I used to do in the Galaxy Far, Far Away...

.:Speaking Of The Galaxy...:.

After the show, as I know we end earlier than Chico and Delle do, I went straight up to see them giving their answers. Funny thing is, Chico was too occupied sticking his diving stickers on anything he owned that he could get his hands on. It was funny, really. Even more amusing was how Delle was trying to discreetly explain to Brad why Butuan has to be pronounced as But-wan and not Bu-tu-an. I'm sure the Pampanga people would know why, as would the Spanish people know about the "cabron" comment Mr. Bulaong whizzed past my head the other day...

Anyways, it was fun, and it was nice to see the dynamic duo and Brad Turvey for just a short while...

.:De Facto:.

A certain newfound friend of mine was recently at odds with her best friend. Being the kind of person that I am, I was just being nice and all to her, and I guess, by proximity, until she patches things up with her best friend, I'd have to serve as her de facto best friend... I hope I can acquit myself well enough with that duty I inadvertently imposed upon myself.

I rarely am this nice to new friends like her. I guess there's just something about her that makes me feel a bit at ease. I hope Shai will be doing fine. I know how it is to lose a best friend. In fact, it's happened a wee bit too many times to me already...

.:My Stupid Mouth...:.

... has got me in trouble. I said too much again.

So I'm never speaking up on this certain thing again.

Starting now.

Tuesday, June 29, 2004

Another Used To Be...

.:Gack!:.

Funny thing is, a chatter named Demure_Del thought that Fabs and Kel are not the same person. She even said that we sounded different. Ah, well...

But what's worse is the fact that the YM in the station seems to generate very obscene links over IM. Of course, as I have no control over that, it seems as though it happens to be I who would be sending those dastardly links. Joyce and another chatter friend of hers decided to freak me out by insinuating that I'm lewd, in spite of telling them over and over again that I wasn't the one typing the links out. The moment they revealed that they were just joking with me, I was halfway to being pissed and being relieved...

Good Gawd, I cannot let my reputation be stained (What reputation?)!

.:More Chatting:.

I had a nice chat with a couple of other people, especially Chy and Shai (They rhyme! Hi ;)!), who've been really nice for keeping me company in the morning. Here's a short transcript from Chy...

chy_cas : btw, i checked out ur stalker's profile... slightly chinita naman eh.

driveandgrind: Gyeh?
driveandgrind: Kahit na.
driveandgrind: She's 28, she's taken, and she's nothing like the three Chinitas you'd see in my blog right now.
driveandgrind: Haha.


chy_cas : wow. if only she could read that. that should sting her to the stratosphere. hahaha.
chy_cas : ur something else kel. subtlety is ur plus. hahaha.. one heck of a laugh trip.
chy_cas : what can i say... good luck?


driveandgrind: Thanx.
driveandgrind: Subtlety? I have to be subtle.
driveandgrind: I'm teaching students who look at my every move, and I cater to listeners who listen to my every word.
driveandgrind: Ergo, I must be subtle.


chy_cas : its a fan driven industry.
chy_cas : point well taken
chy_cas : moral of the story: dont be deceived by the braces-glazed smile.
chy_cas : kaw talaga


driveandgrind: Why?

chy_cas : nothing. ur funny.

driveandgrind: Thanx. Ironically, it only happens when I'm not trying to be funny.


We had a pretty interesting conversation, to think she's a whole world away... heh. She even heard about my forays in the Galaxy Far, Far Away, and she told me that my "parents" must be proud of me now, despite the situation we found ourselves in.

Shai, on the other hand, had a certain care that she was dealing with, though. Least I could do for her was listen. As usual, we all know how these problems go, and who they could very well involve, but for her sake, I won't be divulging any details about it anymore... still, it's nice to chat with her, although I'm a bit more frank with her, though I know she was just joking about the potentiality for her to... well, you know. I'll just skip the transcripts, though.

She's apparently an SSB pure Chinese, as I found out this morning. Nice combination, really. Heh. She's fun to talk to, and boy, am I glad that I'm comfortable enough to be candid with her about certain things unlike the way I was with certain people. It helped to eliminate a lot of ambiguity.

Interesting job, though... a head hunter. Wow. What kinds of heads do people like that hunt? ;)

.:Oh, The Hilarity:.

voldemort02: Have you checked out the pictures in my folders yet?

ninjapeps: not yet

voldemort02: Do me a favor, and don't. I mean, do you really want to stumble upon Eric Vidal NAKED?

ninjapeps: good Lord, no

voldemort02: So you've been warned.

That, in a nutshell, has got to be the quickest way to make a person feel nauseous, male or female... heh.

.:Paperwork Daunts Me:.

One thing I flat out hate about Philosophy: research. Especially the type that requires me to spend hours in the library, wandering around aimlessly in hopes of finding a good source of information for me to make use of in this or that paper. Well, truth be told, it doesn't matter what subject, I'm just not really fond of going to the library, period. There's just something about it that makes me rather... not too pleased...

Ah, well. This is a pretty short post, so I noticed. But it's fine...

Monday, June 28, 2004

Win Some, Lose Some

.:Rebonding:.

Had some short bonding sessions with Abby and then April (The ADS girl who looks like Peachy Reyes...). Let's take them one at a time, though...

1. Abby and I were catching up with news on one another. It seems that she's a bit busy and all with work (Busy is an understatement.), but she's doing fine, nonetheless. I was just having fun over how she was telling me that I tend to sell myself short a bit from time to time, and it was even more amusing when she found out that my new yardstick for success (As it's no longer her...) is now Sacha.

Abby: You just had to pick a yardstick that you can never surpass, didn't you?

Marcelle: Sacha and I have an understanding... err... concurrence, that we could've excelled in the other's fields had we wanted to. You could tell that was a nice affirmation, coming from her.

I guess what made things more interesting for me was that this was the person who was my yardstick for four years, and now, she's actually there, telling me that I'm doing a good job with how I stand. I'm happy with where I stand with work and all, and I know that things are only going to get better. I appreciate immensely how Abby has done more than her fair share of throwing affirmations my way, telling me that...

Abby: Just because we're not "reciprocal best friends", as you'd put it, doesn't mean that my wanting to talk to you every now and then and swap stories shouldn't count for something, you know.

True, true.

2. April and I met in school by chance, and she and the person she happens to be very... good friends with were both looking around campus for a signal for their wireless LAN to capture so they can go online. While they were doing that, we were just talking here and there about where our lives have been headed so far, more specifically our academic lives. She did tease me about not being at the ToyCon, though (More on that later.). She was laughing about the eight-year deal and all, and well, I was hitting her back jovially on her certain... relationships, including one rumor about her that she never even knew about. I am the self-proclaimed gossip king of the ADS, but don't tell them that. It's better they don't know.

In any case, what was amusing was that we never really missed a beat with one another. It was good to hear from her, and I was glad to see that she was still in her self-imposed uniform, so she didn't really change much. Like most other people I know, she's no longer interested in debating (I'm still asking myself if I'd go for it.). Still, it's all good, I guess. And it was a perfect way to start the week, as she hugged me after the whole bit. Makes the whole "keeping in touch with people who are worth it" certainly all the more "worth it", as I know that in the short time we've known each other, we've pretty much developed a good friendship...

.:The Long And Short Of It:.

Had a short date with Grace yesterday, and though we had some nasty argument (Lots of insensitivity on both our parts.), we still managed to work it out, as we usually do...

.:The Tradeoff:.

Picture courtesy of Mr. Dominique Cimafranca...


Someone tell me again... what the Hades was I doing in Kotei?!?
And oh look... Chii and Chii ver2.0 are in the same picture...


I was in the L5R Kotei yesterday, as I went with Peppy to scour for cards I'd need (Barring Kuro's Fire.) for the Phoenix deck I wanted to build. While I got a few good cards and had some interesting convos going with Arvin and a few OBers who were there (Namely Lews and Liz.), I still wish I had a deck and extra money to join, as the incentives were well worth it. I just needed to place last, and I know I'd get some prizes... a box of commons for the last place person, I believe. Anyways, it was all good, and I got a bunch of cool cards, but lots of people were looking for me over MegaMall for the Toy Con.

MarkPoa was wondering if I would be there. Sacha even called me, and was looking for me, wondering if she could go wherever Peppy and I happened to be (Wow! Isn't that flattering?). When she found out how far we were, as we were in ATC, she begged off instead.

And so I started wondering if I should go there. Seeing how little money I had on me, seeing how Sach wasn't in MegaMall by the time I was about to leave ATC already, and since Grace wanted me to go to Centerpoint to meet her instead of MegaMall, I bowed out of it, which was obviously a silly mistake for me.

Dominique promptly decided to make me drool and sent me the pictures he had taken yesterday, and among the pictures he didn't get to have was one with Jinky Coronado. YES, Jinky. Good Gawd, I'm not a huge comics fan and all, but this is Jinky Coronado we're talking about, and I passed up on the chance to see her!!! Gakk! Couple that with the girl who came as Chii and other certain sights to behold (I mean, I think now, the comics industry is on some sort of upswing all the same, so it's not all about people. And there must've been other toys that would've piqued my curiosity. Not those toys, dammit. Heh.).

Still, Dominique's text message to me, inviting me to ToyCon had to be a killer...

Hey, dude. Toy fair at SM Megamall tomorrow. Seems like your line of thing so I'm letting you know. You'll probably get to see some cute Chinitas. -- Dominique

So what is my "line of thing", Dominique? :) The former, or the latter?

And is that really all you people think I'm about? That I'm nothing but all about Chinitas? I ask you: is it? Is it? Huh?

Saturday, June 26, 2004

Recalling...

.:W-eeeeeellllllll...:.

Friday night was more or less memorable for me, considering how much fun I inadvertently had throughout the whole night. The people who contributed heavily to that would have to be Madame Jess, Jason, and Mikko...

Thing is, in spite of the serious nature of our pow-wow session last night regarding my... err... potential stalker. I was talking to Jess firstly, because the person was already asking me why I wasn't replying to her text messages, wondering if she did something wrong. Ironically, Jason was warning me about her already moments before I received the text message, so you could predict Jason would be telling me "I told you so!"

So I was planning on giving her a lengthy follow-up reply. I wanted to tell her that as a friend, I'm low-maintenance, and I expect my friends to be likewise. I was supposed to tell her that I'm really glad to be her friend. But what? I of course was setting her up for that big "but", and yet I had no idea what to say afterwards...

Marcelle: But what, Jess? But I'm taken? But I don't want to lead her on? But I'm just really snobbish from time to time? But I'm gay?

Jess started laughing after that last part. Apparently, joking about being gay is funny when you're not... I think.

Anyways, that was more or less how it worked out. We had dinner at Miggy's, and I loved the beef barbecue there. We then had coffee (Okay, they did. I rarely drink at Starbucks, and when I do, it's cream and not coffee.) at Starbucks, and the fun thing is that while we were there, some Chinese girl who looked vaguely familiar was in front of us, and she looked really pretty. I didn't want to assume it was someone I knew, so I gave her missed calls instead of approaching her. Eventually, she checked her phone, and I realized that it was my Chinese Philo classmate last summer, Rhea.

She turned around and saw me, which amused me a lot, as I promptly stood up (I think the other people like Chicco and SJ were thinking how pathetic I was for checking her out, then became a bit surprised that I actually knew her. Not impressed, just surprised.) and chatted with her for a bit. She told me how she was so bad in Filipino, considering how she came from Cebu and all (I didn't know that.), so she needed to load rev out of the Filipino Philo class she got. Still, she seemed to be okay, as she was looking really fine... and then when I left to go with the other HH people, she actually hugged me.

Mikko: Naka-iscore pa ng yakap ang p#7@...

Ah, well. No big deal, but I swear, my reputation in HH is so tarnished, as to them, "it's always what we think when it comes to Marcelle"...

Shout-outs:

Jason: Thanx a lot for the sober advice in between all the laughs we had last night. I more or less know how to handle the situation now.

Mikko: Thanx for the funny new ringtones I got. They really lightened the mood for the most part.

Madame Jess: Thanx for the ride to Shaw, and the short "bonding" session we had. It's good to be able to talk with someone who has a good head on her shoulders from time to time...

.:Academic Quandary:.

Looks like I'll be doing a lot of reading up on Heidegger, Aristotle, Luijpen, and Plato (HALP!) and try to use the Matrix Trilogy as a backdrop for their concepts on freedom and choice. It's an interesting topic, and I'm glad Dr. Barbazza allowed me to do the work, provided I focus on the Philosophical text much more than I do with the films.

I was outlining to him and the rest of the class a while ago why I chose film (My Comm background says it all.), and then told them that I could use Sartre for LOTR; Nietzche for Spider-Man 1 and 2; or Lao Tzu, Bruce Lee, and Confuicus (LBC) for Not One Less, Enter The Dragon, and Meteor Garden. Of course, the last one I mentioned was the Matrix Trilogy, and while the class liked the idea, Dr. Barbazza was far from impressed. Ever the academic heavyweight, he is more excited than the Allegory of the Cave than he would be with Neo's awakening. I could understand that, and I believe that my compromise is clear: I don't do pop culture because it's easy. I do it because it leads people who normally don't care much about Philosophy to actually start looking at where all these ideas really sprang from, and then be even more engrossed with the real text than the lead-in film.

I like the premise for this, and I've already started on it. For me to bypass the thesis, I need to write four separate papers, each of them following a theme, and for me, the theme would have to be film, as I already finished one paper on it already...

.:I'm So Flattened:.

From Chy, one of our international listeners...

The sweetest guy (by far) that graced the airwaves. I know it was a tough first week for him but looks like the dj shoes fit him perfectly. What a pro! Aside from his witty, candid remarks on air, what draws listeners to him is the
fact that this guy is no airhead. Talks with sense, writes really well. He's not smug and would often laugh at himself whenever he fumbles on air. This makes him more appealing. I could imagine him turning the bright shade of red whenever this happens. So cute. His boyish looks, charm and nice attitude will definitely propel him to greater heights. Oh and one last thing people, he makes wearing braces look soooo darn sexy!
(Gyeh? - Marcelle):) Now... they say models have the x-factor, pop icons have the 'it' factor, i dunno how they call it in the radio world... but kel definitely has the perfect mix. So if there's such a thing as a jock-in-a-box, it should say 'KEL' as its label. :) Take care! mwah!

This, by far, is one of the most heartwarming affirmations I have ever received in my life. I know I've a long way to go, I really do. Still, people like Chy make me realize that though I still have a long way to go, there're people who'd gladly walk with me towards that destination, hopefully with the knowledge that all of us would be better persons through it. I really don't know how else to reply to this, except thank you for the kind words and well wishes, hope you do well soon, and... sexy braces? Eh?!?

.:Indulge Me:.

I skip the third person for now because it's not so big a deal, really. Pretend I didn't know that you were reading this.

I sometimes feel a bit out of place whenever I have a good friend, and then he or she would introduce me to his or her barkada, who, while would all be nice people, certainly are not obliged to accept me as one of their own. Fact is, this has gone on for so long, that I have never really had any group of friends I could genuinely call my barkada. Never. And while I recognize that it's not so bad to be a loner for the most part, having good friends yet assuming that you are far from being in their "circle" (And this doesn't apply to only one set of friends I'd have. This applies to a Hades of a lot.) simply because you didn't quite grow old with them, or studied the same course as they did, or liked the same things that you did.

That explains why I wasn't close to my block. I didn't quite enjoy the things that they did. That explains why I can't consider Cyril, Ato, and the rest as my barkada all the same. I didn't quite spend years knowing them, as most of them are high school friends. That explains why I'm not... you know the rest of you.

I hope to gawd nobody so much as thinks of asking me to be part of their barkada just because they effing read this, because that defeats the ruddy point of this exercise. I'm throwing out this frustration not because I want it to be remedied. It won't be remedied if all I elicited were sympathy from people. In fact, searching for a remedy would bring me farther from finding it, so I'm just tossing out a lamentation, and I'll be done with that.

If you've read this far, thank you. I ask you to take no heed to me, but if you genuinely think I'd make it somehow in your circle of friends (There're three different circles that come into mind right now as I write this.), the least you could do is...

... to let me earn it.

Friday, June 25, 2004

Musing...

... a stalker.

Shai and Melai (Two WAVE listeners who frequently chat with me.) were ribbing me that due to the recent text messages I've been getting from my erstwhile critic, I may very well have set myself up to be stalked... oh, wow.

The latest message, one that I refuse to transcribe, involves her mentioning how much she misses me and morning kisses blown my way...

For one, I've never met this person in my life. For her to miss me while I was on the air is either silly or crazy. I want to believe it's just silly. I really do. I hope to Gawd that Shai and Melai were wrong about it and it's all just a bad set of circumstances for me. Otherwise, boy, did I set myself up for this.

Melai was asserting that she texted me that criticism just so as to bait me if I'd text her back personally. Sounds like a possible approach, assuming that it's happened to her with some other jock before (I heard Rye used to text his critics back, but not in the way I do.)...

Goes to show what a simple "thank you" can lead to...

.:More On-Air Antics:.

Anne: Did you tried the new... I mean, try...

Marcelle: Did you tried? Talk about a wrong mistake. What's up for you?

Anne and I have been running pretty smoothly on the show now, and the training can only help us along. The thing I noticed about the whole setup between me and her was that I was beginning to learn when to pick up her slack (She already knew how to pick up mine from the get-go.), so we had little dead air to speak of because of how snappy our repartee for one another happened to be.

Our topic for today was asking for the "weirdest thing you've ever done to get the attention of your dream girl/guy". Of course, I just had to tell them about the favor Mich did for me by interviewing a girl I wanted to know more about for the Guidon, as well as the Chinese New Year thing I did where I asked Rachel whether or not it's good Feng Shui to make out with someone on Chinese New Year (Of course, it was implied that I was pertaining to her. Heh.)... it's all good, really.

I love the show, really. The way things have been going, I do believe that there's nowhere to go but up for Anne and myself, as I know all too well that I'm pretty much in good hands.

.:Funny Chat Transcripts:.

prittijoyce: d2 kc un trainer namen from US
prittijoyce: bka mahuli ko


driveandgrind: I see. Trainer? What line of work is this again?

prittijoyce: call center po ako
prittijoyce: kaya online ako forever
prittijoyce: hahaha


driveandgrind: Sabi ko na nga ba one of three jobs lang ang may "trainer"...

prittijoyce: and what's the other 2?

driveandgrind: Animal Stunts, and Geisha.
driveandgrind: So malamang, call center ka talaga dun sa tatlo.


prittijoyce: sama mo
prittijoyce: ur bad!!! bad!!! bad!!! bad!!!
prittijoyce: i will spank u!!!


driveandgrind: Hehe.
driveandgrind: Whapish! Whapish!


Enjoy your weekend, jabronis, and hopefully, see most of you at Kotei. :)

Musing...

... a stalker.

Shai and Melai (Two WAVE listeners who frequently chat with me.) were ribbing me that due to the recent text messages I've been getting from my erstwhile critic, I may very well have set myself up to be stalked... oh, wow.

The latest message, one that I refuse to transcribe, involves her mentioning how much she misses me and morning kisses blown my way...

For one, I've never met this person in my life. For her to miss me while I was on the air is either silly or crazy. I want to believe it's just silly. I really do. I hope to Gawd that Shai and Melai were wrong about it and it's all just a bad set of circumstances for me. Otherwise, boy, did I set myself up for this.

Melai was asserting that she texted me that criticism just so as to bait me if I'd text her back personally. Sounds like a possible approach, assuming that it's happened to her with some other jock before (I heard Rye used to text his critics back, but not in the way I do.)...

Goes to show what a simple "thank you" can lead to...

.:More On-Air Antics:.

Anne: Did you tried the new... I mean, try...

Marcelle: Did you tried? Talk about a wrong mistake. What's up for you?

Anne and I have been running pretty smoothly on the show now, and the training can only help us along. The thing I noticed about the whole setup between me and her was that I was beginning to learn when to pick up her slack (She already knew how to pick up mine from the get-go.), so we had little dead air to speak of because of how snappy our repartee for one another happened to be.

Our topic for today was asking for the "weirdest thing you've ever done to get the attention of your dream girl/guy". Of course, I just had to tell them about the favor Mich did for me by interviewing a girl I wanted to know more about for the Guidon, as well as the Chinese New Year thing I did where I asked Rachel whether or not it's good Feng Shui to make out with someone on Chinese New Year (Of course, it was implied that I was pertaining to her. Heh.)... it's all good, really.

I love the show, really. The way things have been going, I do believe that there's nowhere to go but up for Anne and myself, as I know all too well that I'm pretty much in good hands.

.:Funny Chat Transcripts:.

prittijoyce: d2 kc un trainer namen from US
prittijoyce: bka mahuli ko


driveandgrind: I see. Trainer? What line of work is this again?

prittijoyce: call center po ako
prittijoyce: kaya online ako forever
prittijoyce: hahaha


driveandgrind: Sabi ko na nga ba one of three jobs lang ang may "trainer"...

prittijoyce: and what's the other 2?

driveandgrind: Animal Stunts, and Geisha.
driveandgrind: So malamang, call center ka talaga dun sa tatlo.


prittijoyce: sama mo
prittijoyce: ur bad!!! bad!!! bad!!! bad!!!
prittijoyce: i will spank u!!!


driveandgrind: Hehe.
driveandgrind: Whapish! Whapish!


Enjoy your weekend, jabronis, and hopefully, see most of you at Kotei. :)

All In A Day's Work

.:I Passed Up Star Cinema? Gyeh?:.

I got a call from Star Cinema a couple of days ago for a possible interview with them, and as soon as they gave me a bad schedule (1 PM next Tuesday, a half hour before my Philosophy 104 T.A. class.), I quickly told them I'm not available for the interview and already employed. I realized after the fact that I never even knew the potential nature of the work they intended to give me a shot at, making me feel a bit dismayed over my rashness. For all I know, it could've been an offer to be their next matinee idol. That'd just be so sad... or maybe a freelance writer, a job that would pay well, but I'm not so certain how good I can write on a consistent basis. Besides, I'm not too fond of ABS-CBN anyway.

Yes, I'm sourgraping. Don't mind me.

.:The Phoenix:.

I've always wanted to play Legend Of The Five Rings for years, but it was always one thing or another that kept me from doing so. Before, it was the fact that all my money went to Magic: The Gathering. Then, RAW Deal. Now, there's no reason for me to not go for it, as I could very well get a decent deck with a strategy I really enjoy utilizing, so maybe, just maybe, I'd finally get this Phoenix deck. I'm not too interested in getting any other kind of deck (Save for Lion or maybe... Dueling Crane? No Crab, Scorpion or Shadowlands for me, that's for sure.), and the price tag of 2000 sounds reasonable enough, anyway.

I'll just sit on it for now, though. I really want to get into the game on a casual level, and as Jason guessed, I won't abandon RAW Deal. I'm the only factor keeping the game alive. My giving up would bring certain death to what is now the third top-selling CCG in the world...

Which reminds me... I was teaching Flip how to play RAW Deal last night, and he was doing pretty well. He has sound strategy, even when Peppy stopped teaching him.

.:All Part Of The Job: The DJ Edition:.

I've gone through it back in RX, and I still go through it in WAVE. There have always been, and I guess there will always be weirdo listeners wherever I turn, and WAVE has quite a few lurking around in our chatroom. We have one potentially gay guy who potentially has the hots for me, given his cousin's testimonial on my Friendster account. We have someone who decided to use our chatroom as a venue to advertise his porn. And what I think is the most intriguing twist of all...

Yes, while Shai and even Margaux the other day (She was saying something about me having both “the look and the attitude” to make my listeners and my students swoon over me.) were all flirting with me (Whether or not they really like me is beside the point. I don't want to be presumptuous like that.), if you recall who's sending me this message, there would be quite a huge gap of logic here...

From Jen, my erstwhile critic:

How I wish it's morning again, para I can hear ur rili nice voice (Wasn't this the same person who told me I needed speech lessons? - Marcelle) na. I think of u lot (sic). Dunno why...

I think I know why, and I know this makes me presumptuous to say so, but yes, I do believe I happen to know why.

Aw, come on...

.:All Part Of The Job: The Teaching Assistant Edition:.

So I walk into the classroom, a bit late as I was trying to blog as fast as I could. Dr. Ibana delivers his lecture, and surprisingly avoids being boring by talking about Aristotle's habituation...

Dr. Ibana: Paano kung mahirap gumising ng umaga? Paano kung ang klase mo kada araw ay 7:30 ng umaga? Mailalagay mo ba sa iyong load revision form na ang iyong dahilan ay, “I cannot wake up that early”? At ano ang gagawin mo kung ganoon? Ibabagsak mo ang iyong klase? At paano na? Hindi ka mag-gragradweyt? Kung hindi ka makaka-gradweyt, eh di hindi ka makakapagtrabaho. Kung hindi ka makakapagtrabaho, eh di magnanakaw ka. Eh kung mahuli ka, at sa kulungan, mapaaway ka at makapatay? Isipin mo yun? Nawasak ang buhay mo dahil lang sa 7:30 class.

Camilo: Slippery slope logic.

Yep, the Department Head of Philosophy uses logical fallacies to get his point across, as Camilo pointed out (He's my co-T.A. for Dr. Ibana.) Of course, as he's everyone's boss in the Philo department, we all cannot just challenge him on anything, even his attempt at giving a roll call of his 110 or so students in class, which lops off at least fifteen minutes of the class time every time, when all he needed to do was use the seating plan... but I'm sure he earned the respect accorded to him, anyway, so never mind... I shan't challenge that.

To make things extremely embarrassing for me, Dr. Ibana then decided to point out to the class that I was a DJ (I don't tell people I don't know about it...), which got them to stare at me and whisper for the most part. It's not like his comment even had anything to do with the lecture, as he haphazardly tried to connect his comment to the lecture, with little success. I guess I have to get used to that approach. It's very people-centered, but oftentimes embarrassing...

Anyways, the class was divided into three again, and I took over the same group that I did the last time. Funny thing about that is the fat that we were supposed to switch on a regular basis. I guess he forgot...

Nonetheless, as the cat was out of the bag, I rode the wave (Heh.) and plugged myself with my group already, as I'm sure that with the way Dr. Ibana jokingly described me as a DJ for a classical station would make them assume I'm from 98.7. Ah well. We had a discussion on habituation, and I mostly used real-life examples to get my point across with them (“Oh, I know how bad the traffic in Katipunan is. I mean, until I load revved out of Fr. Ferriols' class, I had to take a taxi and hope to be fast every M-W-F after I'm done with my show on WAVE 89.1, your lifestyle, your music.”). I talked to them about how green the Ateneo culture is in terms of trees, and yet La Salle is the school that has made green their trademark color. I talked about how the fact that there is a lready a culture means that anyone just walking in and trying to change something will simply ruin the whole balance that they wish to do, and so the MMDA imposing on Katipunan to “solve” our traffic with no prior consortion with those who will be affected clearly reflects the lack of knowledge the MMDA would have in dealing with the people in Katipunan.

I told them how this simply meant that MMDA has no idea what they're doing, inasmuch as a Comm graduate trying to teach Philosophy would naturally fumble. Oh, gee. Did I just say that? Heh. Mr. Callassanz seemed to notice I was having fun with what I was doing, though. Of course I am.

I finally talked to them about the e-mail I once read about monkeys and conditioning... about how five monkeys in a cage can be taught to never approach a banana nearby by dousing everyone else in the cage with water whenever one tries to get a banana. When they're all conditioned to stop any monkey who tries to get a banana because they don't want to be doused with water, you can soon enough replace one monkey at a time until the five monkeys in the cage were never part of the first group, nor were they ever even doused with water, and yet none of them would so much as try to take the banana near the cage, as they will be held back by the other monkeys who themselves have no idea why they're doing it.

This is a very simplified form of true virtue: you do it not because you want to get something out of it, but you do it for its own sake. Simply put, you're so used to doing the right thing that you no longer need motivations to do it, nor do motivations to do otherwise actually tempt you. As such, being habituated really makes one more capable of doing true acts of virtue, and not merely random acts of kindness.

The group I had is rather perceptive. While I may seem to have said a lot to them this time, they also had valid input into the discussion, as it was their idea that the MMDA were out of line in imposing rules in places they are not the least bit familiar with when it comes to culture.


When asked “Why”, the answer is not “Why not?” The answer is simply, “Why ask why?”

Thursday, June 24, 2004

.:Misheard:.

Something must be wrong with my ears today…

Marcelle: What’s the title of the song you’re playing again?

Anne: “Shorty Doo Whop”.

Marcelle: Eh? “Shirley Doo Whop”?

Don’t be surprised if Anne starts calling me Shirley because of that…

Here’s another one…

Eric Mana was doing his usual “Morning Inspirations” schtick, and there I was, listening for the most part. And then, something he said just made my ears prick in shock…

Treat your maid like a lover. Hold her hand, be sweet to her, be playful and affectionate.

I really looked at Anne right there and asked her what’s up with this segment, as it seemed really bad, to say the least. And then Anne corrected me…

Treat your mate like a lover. Hold her hand, be sweet to her, be playful and affectionate.

That is one for the books, all right…

.:More Chatting:.

Had a nice chat with a certain Margaux who’s in Med school in Cavite. She's been giving me a lot of compliments throughout the time, which was flattening to me, as usual... Also chatted with Jonsi, who really had a fun answer. Someone on YM requested for a song then thanked me in Japanese, and then I promptly replied with the little Japanese I knew. Apparently, that led to him labeling me a “linguist”. Heh. For the most part, the show was great, although my re-training started after the show. Anne realized that my RX training made me read stuff at a far slower pace than I should, given the nature of the Drive and Grind… it’s all good, still.

The show was pretty nice. This time, Anne didn’t make that boo-boo where she forgot to turn on my microphone when I had to announce something. For Analyze This, we asked our listeners to translate: “Do not argue with idiots. They will drag you down to their level.”

The winner for today was Lee Real, one of my rusher friends who decided to do a bit of shunting between WAVE and RX… heh. It was fun, really, as I had to read her answer with feelings

Sisterette! Wag mo patulan itich! Kaw ren, bka mapagkamalan kang syonga. Chaka!!!

Ah, well. More training for me to work on my speed, I guess…

Wednesday, June 23, 2004

.:Where Are The Ducks?!?:.

I assume we all know what this little line I picked for the title of this heading happens to be about... I just thought it's a nice lead-in to how my Heidegger class went last night, as Joy Guererro asked Dr. Barbazza about what seemed to be an assertion on Heidegger's part that animals were not Da-Sein, that is, genuine "beings", as they were likewise in-der-Welt, in-the-world. Dr. Barbazza said that while Heidegger eventually relaxed on his stance on this, he still set human beings aside from animals as he believes animals to be "world poor", since they have no sense of history, ancestry, or any tangible and permanent means of exchanging ideas, and so forth (Though I believe these lines slowly blur as time progresses, and "I, Robot" ought to be an interesting angle in this...).

Still, that reminds me of the poor self-conscious dalmatian...

Why, this is not the way I, a Dalmatian, should be treated! My ancestors used to be running around free in the farm, chasing ducks. *Raises arms in the air* where are the ducks?!?

During the breaktime, Sach and I had a short conversation, and we arrived at the conclusion that either of us could excel in the other's field, but we just don't bother. (R-ight.) Still, she wants to drop by Don Bosco Mandaluyong one of these days to recruit some students to hopefully go to Ateneo for the CS program in college... hmm... I wonder if she can seduce guys in DBTC the way she does in ADMU... and yes, she already knows about the "Bragging Rights" theory, and we still have no idea about the guy who wants to "rip her blouse off" , as his opus is apparently on LJ... not easy to find...

.:Load Revved:.

So I'm now in Mr. Mariano's and Dr. Rodriguez's class now, as I had no choice but to load rev out of Fr. Ferriols' memorable class, since the time conflict was too much of an expensive hurdle for me. Still, when I went there, I immediately saw a disparity of opinion as Mr. Mariano believes in allowing other thinkers to paraphrase fellow thinkers while Fr. Ferriols wishes to stick solely to the legacy of the thinker and not what others have to say about him. Henece, Fr. Ferriols disregards the notion that Thales believes all came from water while Mr. Mariano believes that it is a logical implication from his apparent works (Of which none are physically available.)...

The clash is nice, as Fr. Ferriols spent most ouf our period last Monday lecturing us about that mistake... ah, well.

I hope I can still sit in on Fr. Ferriols from time to time, though. He's really a fun person to listen to, althoug I know I'd be called an infidel for this, but unless he teaches in a radically different manner in 101 and 102, I find him... never mind. I don't want to get into trouble.
.:Hi, Pandesal!:.

So another one of the three Cammy's (Or any spelling variant of such a name.) that I know was on the D and G YM today, and it was really funny, because...

pandesal: Hello, Kel!
driveandgrind: Good morning, Kel!
pandesal: What are you, an echo?

I was a bit distracted... hehe...

.:Isn't This Nice?:.

Yesterday, I was chatting quite a deal with Melai. Today, it happens to be Shai, who really proved to be a nice person to chat with... I'm beginning to get comfy with my job all the more, and I think the fact that the listeners have been very receptive of me, faults and all, has been an overwhelming factor to it.

Anyways, a transcript...

driveandgrind: You already heard about my little critic episode, right?
shaiers29 : yup! ur fan!
driveandgrind: Nga, e. Kung si Rye kaya yun, ano kaya ginawa niya?
shaiers29 : NR? haha!!! medyo NR lagi si rye eh.
driveandgrind: Hindi kaya? Inaaway daw niya off air.
shaiers29 : does he have a new show at wave?
driveandgrind: I think he does.
driveandgrind: I don't know the guy so unlike Anne, wala akong problema sa kanya.
driveandgrind: Kasi, any texter will have his number register in the website, so Rye can text back...
shaiers29 : hahaha!!!
shaiers29 : meaning.. dami ayaw sa kanya

driveandgrind: Ganun?
driveandgrind: Ewan.

shaiers29 : kasi before nakakainis sya marinig
driveandgrind: Heard he sounds better than me.
shaiers29 : better off si anne by herself...
shaiers29 : ...nung sila pa ni rye.

driveandgrind: Okay.
driveandgrind: Glad you added the second sentence.

shaiers29 : hahaha!!!!
shaiers29 : of course!!! ur my favorite!

driveandgrind: I'm flattened.

She's really nice, and that comment practically made my day, truth be told. And then I got one of the best testimonials ever from her moments afterwards (Boy, you can tell she's not really working while she was chatting during the show... heh.)...

...one of the first 2 voices i hear every morning. ...a guy who's sooo down to earth... haaaay! (dreamy na ko kel hehe) ...the guy i've never met but from what i know, he never forgets details! ...my morning companion here in the ofc. ...one person who always challenges (more of obliges) me to think of trivias, translations EARLY in the morning. my goodness! ...a cutie with braces. naks :) ...definitely a dj who helps me start my weekday mornings right! hope to see you soon kel! mwah!

In any case, I'm glad that I'm doing things right thus far and giving our listeners what they asked for: good music and intelligent conversation.

.:Pros And Cons:.

Through all the criticisms I got on radio, I realized that it can be summed up thus far in this list of pros and cons...

Pros:

+ I know what to say. I'm rarely at a loss for words, as I think on my feet. According to Ma'am George (One of the other WAVE jocks.), she likes how I tend to be witty during the show.
+ If the opportunity presents itself, I don't just read a message from the YM or the textline. Picking up from those who trained me before (i.e. Chico Garcia.), I read with feeling. I noticed that not too many jocks do that.
+ The king of multi-tasking. Those who know exactly what I do when I'm in the booth know what I mean.
+ The PR background helps. I know better than to cross potential loyal listeners and know how to make them feel that I give a damn about what they have to say at this time in the morning. Probably because I really do give a damn.
+ I don't take myself too seriously. I know I'm not God's gift to radio, nor do I believe anyone who'd tell me that I am. That's why the banter between Anne and I tends to be really lively, as I know how to josh around with people for the most part without ticking them off.
+ I never have those "waking up on the wrong side of the bed" days. Never. If I'm in a bad mood, something has to happen during the day first.

However, I'm not without quite a few Waterloos, mostly when it comes to my on-air stuff...

Cons:

- I sometimes tend to have problems pronouncing words, be it because of braces or whatever other reason. I noticed this particular aversion to the "th" sound, which Chico has been telling me about for the longest time.
- I cannot roll my R's. Period. Nothing sort of surgically enhancing my tongue can remedy that.
- There're times that when I'm off, I'm really off. I sound like I'm speaking in English with a Filipino diction, and you know how bad that sounds on the air.
- Speaking of being off, I tend to really keep on stacking errors when I make one on the air.
- And yeah... I read and speak a bit slowly from time to time. I was never too keen with talking at a rapid pace...

Ah, well...

I'm glad I was given that feedback from sir Eric and ma'am George, though. I at least know what I can work on, and what I can keep up...

.:Heh:.

Anne and I still haven't dropped the "Ben-Gay" deal, and any day now, Mr. Affleck would just call the station and cry foul... ::chuckles::

Anyways, just a quotable quote from today...

Marcelle: I'd just want to add this to the History book: in 1993, Lorena Bobbitt cut off her husband's... gizmo... because her husband raped her. It was surgically reattached to Mr. Bobbitt...

Anne: I wonder if that's still functional?

Marcelle: I wouldn't know. I never tried. For all I know, it could just be attached for no more than aesthetic purposes...

Anne: Okay, I think we should stop discussing this. People are having breakfast.

Marcelle: Enjoy the longganisa, people!

And yeah, it was also nice hearing from Lee, who tuned in here and there to our show all the same. I know our station's a bit far on the dial from a Galaxy Far, Far, Away, but it's all right...

Tuesday, June 22, 2004

Whoosh! Scatterbrained Entry

Today's boardwork was extremely amusing, no question about it...

.:More Shots:.

... in the arm, that is.

Aside from the disturbing news about a Japanese teacher forcing his student to write an apology letter for falling asleep in class in his own blood, today was really good to me. I understand I still don't read as fast as I should be reading my AOB's on the air, but at least, I actually sound decent nowadays. Moreover, I've been getting some genuine fan text from someone who sent in twice that I sounded great on the air and I should keep it up (I hope that's not one of my friends who just thought it's nice to pad some positive opinion about me...).

And yes, my former critic has been texting quite a bit as well...

I also enjoyed my interaction with Anne today. She was having a hard time talking, so I took it upon myself to rib her that her blood is trickling down her mouth and she looks like a vampire, though of course we know that's not true at all. Still, it's worth a laugh, and I was more or less testing the limits of the MTRCB by calling Ben Affleck "Mr. Ben Gay".

Yes, I'm whizzing through what happened in the whole boardwork. We had a nice topic, really. We were asking the listeners to translate the saying, "Ang mahirap kunin, masarap kaining" into English, and someone submitted something about being harder means being better.... really fun day, and I even managed to bond with some of the chatters in YM.

So if you guys are interested, feel free to chat... driveandgrind@yahoo.com. I'll be manning the fort every six to nine in the morning...

Lots of fun today, really. Lots of fun...

Retro

.:Me And My Partner:.


Happy people...




This is a picture of me and Anne inside the booth... :)

.:Olive Oyl?:.

Grace was recently comparing Sacha to Olive Oyl, and the more I think about it, the more... on the mark Grace's idea actually happens to be...

Ah, well.

.:Testing The Limits:.

Jason has a theory that I seem to be running aground one person in Hobby Haven a week, and he's presupposing that I'd strike up another “enemy” by next week, as was how it turned out with a couple of them there... he seems to have just a bit of a point, though, considering this...

Jess: So you were at Chico's (Garcia, the dj.) birthday last Thursday?

Marcelle: Yep. He had that amazing gift of a boxed DVD set of the entire James Bond collection...

Chicco: So how's his wife? What's her name again?

Marcelle: His wife? You mean Delamar? You can't be serious, right? I mean, I'm not inclined to confirm or deny, but there're lots of rumors that Chico's gay.

Jess: Really?

Marcelle: It makes sense, you see. For all we know, Chico's gay. Chico has that air around him that...

Chicco: Hey, stop that!

Oh, yeah. You guys have the same name...

.:This Sheer Inanity Is Beyond Me:.

For the record, I really don't hate anyone in my immediate family, step or half or otherwise. However, there're just some pet peeves that so grate at me because it appears clear to me that there's quite a huge disparity with how each of us is regarded. That's what really gets to me from time to time...

Let's look at my stepsister, Caren, for instance. Now, I've been friends with a lot of La Sallites, and I can honestly say that these people I'm friends with break any stereotypes of them being airheads or pretentious, rich, snooty individuals who all look down upon anyone outside of their little circle. Let's face it: that mode of operation is so passe. Unfortunately, good old Caren seems to be making a conscious effort to restore such a silly old stereotype to its former glory.

It's the type of person who exhibits such annoying trademarks that vexes me to no end: the one who speaks in an annoying blend of Tagalog and English when either one or the other would simply do, that unmistakable condescending twang in their voice, and that air of superiority by which that person thinks that anyone who differs in opinion is probably some lowlife who doesn't know any better. These are the Avril Lavigne and Britney Spears haters who hate these artists for the sake of being the “hip” people who hate those who seem to be having such a measure of success by selling an image. These are the people who make an image out of being iconoclastic, yet upholding perhaps the ideal of rock and roll or, in Caren's case, hip hop and R&B.

Normally, I can let those things slide. I mean, there really isn't anything so wrong about being pretentious and coming off as classy. But when I hear this...

Caren: Oh, I'm just in Educational Psych because I couldn't get into La Salle via Business Management, but I'll shift into it the moment I can.

Patty: Oh, that's so right.

Caren: I mean, ayoko naman maging teacher, right?

Patty: Oh, no. You shouldn't.

Wonderful. You sumbishes were talking beside someone who's working as a teaching assistant, among other things. Hooray for the amazing measure of sensitivity the both of you have! I am especially not pleased over your condescending tone when you said the word “teacher”, all the same. Gawd, I hope your so-called intellect is exposed in DLSU as nothing more than a sham because being around a bunch of idiots in your high school made you the smartest student there by proximity.

It sure gets exacerbated when my stepdad comes into play... what a control freak...

I could go on and vituperate some more, but I'll can it. It WAS Father's day, after all...

Book Review

.:Book Review: The Da Vinci Code:.

It took me a little over a day to complete reading Dan Brown's “The Da Vinci Code”, and I must say that I really loved this book. I can't wait to get paid so I can start buying the other books in the series already...

Anyways, as this is a book review, we all know the drill: SPOILERS AHEAD!!!

The Da Vinci Code
Hit rages, sit!

Of course, I meant to say “this is great” in my line there, but I decided to mix it up as some sort of anagram... in any case, The Da Vinci Code is one book that is rife with so many double meanings, wordplays, and mind games than one could possibly conceive. Some call it “the thinking man's Harry Potter”, and there is some legitimacy to that assertion.

In this book, Robert Langdon is a renowned Harvard symbologist who goes to France to deliver a lecture and later on meet up with the brilliant curator of the Louvre, Rene Sauniere. However, things go topsy-turvy when a mysterious person kills Sauniere, and a cryptic message seems to point to Langdon as the culprit. Sauniere's granddaughter, Sophie Neveu, a gifted cryptologist, realizes that Langdon is innocent, and helps him escape arrest, in their quest to both exonerate Langdon and bring justice to Sauniere.

Unfortunately, they have more to do than just that. Sauniere's dying message to them was not merely a link to the identity of his assailant, but more importantly, a guide that will lead them to a powerful secret that Sauniere has kept for decades: the Holy Grail. Whether it be a clue hidden in one of Leonardo Da Vinci's centuries-old paintings, or whether it be an ingenious cryptex that contains the keystone map to the Holy Grail, Sophie and Robert must now race against time and many other forces that wish to find the Holy Grail: some to harness it, others to destroy it.

Even the Vatican and the Opus Dei are deeply involved in the conflict, yet behind it all, a mysterious man known only as The Teacher seems to have everything under control. Unfortunately, he's not working on the side of Sophie or Robert.

This premise for the story is very interesting, and the way Brown has researched the pertinent information for this story is nothing short of meticulous. He tries to explain the purpose of the Priory of Sion, Sauniere's secret organization, sworn keepers of the Grail, and then posits the Holy Grail as a person, which is equally mystifying, as it seems to make so much sense, and for the weaker of faith, even challenge one's conceptions of a Christian God. It would be so easy to tell you the rest of the story and the other facts and figures that he has uncovered in a book of fiction, but I think I should concentrate more on the elements of the story.

If you're looking for page after page of suspense that doesn't drag the way Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix did, then this is the book just for you. It contains a lot of action that proves to sufficiently keep you on the edge of your seat, as there are twists and turns in the plot aplenty. Dan Brown has mastered the power of keeping people guessing until the last moment, and provides more or less satisfying answers to the questions his writing inevitably poses.

While a lot is said about the “invalidity” of Christianity and the questionable methods and practices of the Opus Dei Brown was also subtle enough to give these people some redemption, whether it be Langdon's declaration that faith goes beyond evidence, or the fact that the Opus Dei may have questionable methods and practices, but they are still clearly not evil. Perhaps there are some mistakes on their part, but Dan Brown does not condemn them, nor should he. Character development goes a mile long here, as by the end of the book, one cannot help but think that the Opus Dei can't be that bad...

The plot is deep, and the puzzles are brilliant. It's quite satisfying from time to time to actually be able to solve some of the puzzles here and there, but overall, don't beat yourself up if you couldn't figure the mystery out on your own. Part of the fun is a suspension of disbelief, which the book manages to elicit quite well enough, really. I especially liked how they managed to solve the Cryptex each time. I can't wait to see what's in store for Angels and Demons, as some people actually claim that it's better than The Da Vinci Code.

There are two possible gripes that I find about the book, though they require quite some measure of justification...

First of all, I was not a fan of how they twisted things around just so one couldn't guess the identity of the Teacher until when they reveal it. While they drop a lot of hints here and there about his identity (And really now, the more you rule people out, the less you are inclined to believe that this Teacher would be a new character. It makes more sense that you already know who the Teacher is even before, though you don't know exactly who he or she is...), but there were some moments that just the addition of a word or two would already mean that they were lying outright about the Teacher just to cover up this particular character who was already showing signs of being the Teacher...

If you haven't read the book, but was still tempted to read this review, I'm sure you'd get what I mean when you do read it. I really felt that they were lying to me, and that they deliberately misled you the way they did it. While I know that if I took them to court they could twist things around, I think that I still have a valid case to complain that they were really almost lying about the identity of the Teacher...

Secondly, though I guess I understand what this is about, I realized that the ending was quite... lacking. A better term would be bitin, in the vernacular. Why I say this is simply because I felt that by revealing where the Holy Grail was but not saying what it was, or showing Langdon or anyone attempt to find it outright, was sort of a letdown. Then again. What could Dan Brown depict the Holy Grail to be without proving to be either a close-ended letdown or an overestimation? This discretion may seem like such a foolish move, but good luck pleasing anybody with that ending, anyway.

I love this book, and I especially like how it doubles as a small challenge to one's faith The characters in the book may be fictional, but the discussions on Jesus having a wife and children may shock more close-minded Christians or Catholics. Stuff about the demonizing of the sacred feminine, goddess worship, and fertility rituals may likewise prove to be points of contention, as well as the depiction of the Opus Dei. All in all, there will be tongues wagging whenever this book is read by close-minded people, but the beauty of this book is simply that it will really keep your eyes peeled, lest you beat yourself up over missing a key observation that would help you break the Da Vinci Code yourself.

Marcelle’s Evaluation: A+

Monday, June 21, 2004

Gak! I had a long entry, including my book review of "The Da Vinci Code", but my silly diskette decided to conk out on me all of a sudden. I really can't help but agree now: diskettes are a bad way of keeping data... it just flat-out blows.

.:On Critics And Turning Things Around:.

I had quite a lot of nice comments this morning over the Yahoo Messenger while Anne and I were doing the D&G show. One of them was asking about where Rye is, then after I gave the requisite explanation, he proceeded to tell me and Anne how much better the show happens to be now, which really felt flattering, to say the least.

Joyce, Lawrence, Del (Not the one you think it is.), and a few other listeners were having a lot of fun over the chatroom, on the other hand, as they started asking me if the reason I didn't like the girl in the La Salle Scandal was because I actually liked the guy. Again, I went into a discussion of what I would like in a guy, with the requisite "Why the Hades am I talking to you guys like this?!?", which led them to have even more skewed notions about my... masculinity.

One listener voiced out his preference of Rye over me, which he retracted in IM. Lawrence said that he liked Jean a lot, and I replied that better for him to "like Jean" than for him to "like Kel", which just sounds wrong. We were all having a good time, really. For the most part, I'm a good sport when it comes to comments like that, especially since everyone in the room was joshing around, anyway. When Joyce started putting me down, I good-naturedly replied that we won't be playing her request anymore... heh. That was funny.

The standout for me this morning was this bit of "fan mail", though...

Kel, what r u doing there? Better take up some speech classes first! You are disgusting on air!

I decided to do something out of character instead, and what I did was to simply reply with this...

Thank you for your frank but useful criticism. People like you keep me on my toes and it helps. - Kel

Surprises of surprises, I actually got a reply from this mysterious critic of mine, and what I got made my day, without a doubt...

I'm sorry. I didn't mean to offend you. I think you'll be a good DJ if you improve your accent, American accent. By the way, I'm Jen. I love WAVE a lot. Mwah!

Well, whaddya know? A nice word in their direction actually changes their opinion about me quite significantly...

Of course, I was off when I was reading this AOB when she heard me, though. I don't think I was that bad, anyway for the rest of the show. It was fun, really. We had a "What's Your Say" question about which crime one would want to commit if they happened to know that they could get away with it. Answers ranged from murdering ex-boyfriends to making out with a beautiful stranger to smuggling myself to China, to stealing the sword on Saint Ignatius' statue in the Ateneo. All good fun, really. I honestly think I was more or less "on" by the time I was done with that particular AOB...

I guess not all my critics are as bad as that "Good for AM radio" sumbish before...

.:Small World:.

While chatting with one of the listeners, I came across someone named Janus_23. He was asking a bit about our "What's Your Say" topic, and then he gave me his answers. I then told him I'd be reading his answer on the air, and he told me to read it as Janus Calara.

That made me freeze. Janus Calara was one of my grade school classmates whom I never was particularly close to, although I wasn't really having any beef with him or such. We then had a good laugh over how small the world really seems to be, considering how I wouldn't have known he was my classmate if he didn't give me his full name, nor would he have known I was his classmate if I didn't tell him my full name either.

It was all good, really. He had a chuckle over realizing that not every single Bosconian was a rocker, though. Apparently, he's been listening to WAVE for a while already, and he told me that I'm at least more professional than Anne's previous partner, as according to Janus, he was usually late and sounded sleepy. For the record, I have nothing against Rye, nor do I intend to. I'm not one to judge, as we have yet to cross paths, anyway.

Anyways, it was fun chatting with Janus. I have to admit that running into him, more or less having high hopes and having a relatively successful life really made me realize that we're two of a few lucky schmucks. Some of our more intelligent batchmates aren't really up to anything right now, in spite of their having consistently better grades than I happen to have had in high school. Nonetheless, it's all great for me. I had a good time talking to him as he apparently still remembers me quite well. I'd be surprised if anyone in my batch forgets who I am, regardless if the memories are good...

That whole bit came as a surprise to me, truth be told. I never really thought that it'd be possible for me to run into a classmate just like that.

Ah, well. That chance meeting really made this morning an eventful yet enjoyable one...

.:A Mental Note:.

Para sa iyo? Para sa iyo ay magkaiba sila? Subalit kung para sa akin, pareho sila, tama pa rin ako? Paano kung para sa akin, pareho lamang ako sa unggoy?

Hindi naman po...

This exchange between Fr. Ferriols and one of his students would've been funny if it didn't come before a lengthy sermon on how his students seem to refuse to understand what is being said...

No wonder he used to be a terror teacher...

Saturday, June 19, 2004

A fairly short post (I think.), as I'm too lazy to do a book review of "The Da Vinci Code", which I finished while hanging around Hobby Haven last night...

.:The Lethal Quote:.

Paano naman ako balak patayin ni Robbie? Sa Sarap?

- Anonymous

Gee. I wonder who I always quote with blue font...

.:The Philosophy Cafe:.

Dr. Barbazza was talking about this intriguing place. I should give it a try in the near future. This just might upstage that mind-bender cafe in the Grind that Sach and I once went to. Of course, that's because of my predilection...

.:Rarely Do I Get A Chance To Be Cocky:.

Sach and I were talking about her tickets to MTV Filipinas when we suddenly ran into Neill, one of Sacha's more... enthusiastic CS students. Do note that I was not talking seriously when I was talking to Neill, lest you guys begin to think that I'm really deluding myself about my... intellectual capabilities.

Neill: I think I heard you last Wednesday. You were Kal!

Marcelle: It's Kel. But yeah... you're right.

Neill: You were doing trivia last Wednesday, right? How'd you know so much trivia?

Marcelle: Of course. I'm a genius, too, you know. I did graduate Cum Laude, right?

At this point, Sacha looks at me, and I promptly answer her silent question...

Marcelle: No, Sach. You're not the only person with the right to claim that you're a genius.

She laughed at that point... although it appears that she really couldn't listen to WAVE even on webcast because that requires WINDOWS Media Player, and of course, Ms. Little Linux refuses to sink that low...

.:A Shot In The Arm:.

From Chy:

Hiyee!!!

Im 100% SURE you dont know me but we chatted twice already over YM while your show was on air. I also requested a few songs. Anyway, im adding you to my buddy list, if that's ok with you. :) I also read some of the entries in your blog. Im into blogging myself but tough luck coz xanga's system is updating. Ever had those days that you just have to go online and put your thoughts in a website for everybody to see.. as if youre living
in a fishbowl? Well i have that right now and im about to go psycho coz i cant friggin' post in my blog!!! Pretty pathetic huh? :) But im sure you can relate.

I hope youre enjoying your stint with the show. You will have those $#!77^ days (pardon my french!) but im sure you'll do better as soon as you get your groove. I was the one who told you when we chatted, that Roy's ... oopps... hehehe... i mean RYE's shoes are quite difficult to fill but in no time at all you'll be warming up enough to go beyond what he has done. Dont be too hard on yourself. The jerkwad who was pestering you over chat should know better. Well word of advice, if you get those "annoying little
bastiches" as you call them at the other end of the feedback pane... hit Ignore and it should shut them up. Mean but hey it works! Hahaha. :)

Gosh... sorry im blabbering away. Its almost 2am and here i am giving you unsolicited advice. :) I guess its time for me to hit the sack.

Thats all for now. I hope you do accept my invite to be your friend. Dont worry im half way around the planet. :) Cant possibly terrorize you.

Take care Kel. Knock em dead!!!

Chy


Thank you for the kind words, Chy. It made my day. I know I've a long way to go, but I know I'm in good hands right now, working with Anne, aside from having learned from two of the best people outside of WAVE in the radio industry (Chico and Delamar trained me in Radio 1 in RX until before I worked for WAVE.).

I'm still adjusting and all, but I'm more or less getting the hang of the show, and I really am enjoying my job. Thank you very much for the show of good faith.

Friday, June 18, 2004

.:Two New Winners:.

We had to give out MTV Pilipinas tickets again, and this week's winners...

Peppy Salita and Sacha Chua.

And no, Jess, I don't notice any pattern going on around here... whatever are you talking about? ::whistles innocently::

.:Smoother:.

I'm really enjoying chatting with some of the more regular people I run into online, such as melai and shai, who really make my day whenever I get to hear from them and vice versa. Today's Drive and Grind show went a lot smoother than yesterday (Which was unfortunately the one that Brian Gomez and Dr. Barbazza listened to.). We had a lot of fun, and the music today was great...

Otherwise, nothing really stood out with today's show. It was smoother than usual, so I didn't have any glaring bloopers to talk about... I should take that as a good thing, though.

.:Interviewed:.

Mich interviewed me today about Friendster and stuff like that, and I must say that it was less of an interview for me but more of a refreshing opportunity to get to hear from her again. I'm glad that she seems to be doing well, really, and I am certainly convinced that she'll be doing really well in the near future, as she has a good head on her shoulders. I'm fairly pleased to hear that Don got into Ateneo Rockwell already, though...

.:Funny:.

"Ang makatang babae na ito ay mula sa isla ng Lesbos. Dahil sa mga tula niya ng pag-ibig sa kapwa babae, siya ay pinaghinalaang isang lesbiyana. Diyan galing ang salita: Lesbos. Subalit hindi ko tiyak kung ano ang katotohanan sa kanyang buhay sekswal. Wala akong pakialam sa kanyang buhay sekswal."

"Ikaw? Nakikita mo ba ang bituwing iyon? Oo, ikaw. Huwag kang lumingon-lingon. Wala na talagang pinagbago ang mga estudyante. Kapag hindi alam ang sagot, lilingun-lingon na tila hindi sila ang tinatanong..."


Ironically, that second line was said to me. I really didn't think he was addressing me, as he wasn't looking in my direction...

Fr. Ferriols... I really ought to sit in on his class all the same... even if I were to load rev out of it...

.:News Comedy:.

Aaron Carter is dating Brooke Bollea, and Brooke's father, Terry Bollea, chaperones their dates.

No idea why this is funny? Maybe you don't know Terry Bollea's more popular name: HULK HOGAN.

I wonder how Brooke looks like, though? Heard she's pretty but somewhat resembles her dad... now that's scary... she might start "Hulkin' Up" if you cross her, and imagine what her dad would do to you if you mess around with her...

Hogan was quoted as telling this to Aaron Carter:

I know this isn't your first BBQ, But you better act like you don't know how to cook, or it's going to be curtains for your skinny little @$$.
.:Messed Up:.

My day didn't start right, so I ended up entering the booth all winded and tired, with just a few minutes to spare before the TOH came along. I was almost out of breath during my piece, and the irony was accented by the fact that I was running late because I was searching for my jacket, yet I was so winded that I found the booth to be too warm even with the air conditioner at full blast. Admittedly, I had a lot of problems during my run there, and I had several mortal sins of dead air yesterday.

Anne and I greeted Chico on his birthday, though we used his real name instead. For the most part, lots of people were chatting with me, and it was fun. Ronan was there, and the day before that, Jonsi, even.

Yesterday was a bit less hectic since the listeners didn't drop into the booth and hear my walkman on full blast (Accidentally toggled the earphone to the regular speakers...), but I swear, the bad start to the day really hampered me, although our “Analyze This” was extremely fun. I continued the tradition of reading messages with a lot of feeling and all...

.:Why Am I Even Arguing With This Sumbish?:.

kevincabillio: hello there, Anne!
kevincabillio: you know what? I have a crush on you.

driveandgrind: Uh... this is Kel. Not Anne.

kevincabillio: where's Roy?
kevincabillio: I used to love it when the two of them rapped in the show all the time.
kevincabillio: please play “All Night” by Janet Jackson. Please, please, please!

Later on, we granted Ronan's request, another Janet Jackson song that featured Kanye West... for the umpteenth time, he goes on YM and...

kevincabillio: where's Roy? Is he still with WAVE? Please play “All Night” by Janet Jackson. It'd make my day. Please, please, please!

driveandgrind: We just played a Janet Jackson song!

kevincabillio: but that wasn't “All Night”.

driveandgind: We can't play two songs by the same artist in the same show.

kevincabillio: Really? So why did you play back-to-back R. Kelly songs?

At this point, I decided to ignore the annoying little bastich. As if it wasn't bad enough for him to be looking for Anne's ex-partner and bugging me about it as though I were Rye's keeper, he even had no idea about the name of the guy he was looking for, constantly asking for “Roy”. That, plus the fact that he just out and out professed how much he liked Anne without so much as a proper transition into it really creeped me out but annoyed me even more.

It's hard to please everybody, but there're some people you just want to kick in the teeth from time to time just so they'd know their place...

.:Brainwash:.

You are Ateneans of the highest order. Men and women for others. Please clean as you go from this cafeteria. Please respect the rights of others to a clean eating area. Thank you for your cooperation and your kind heart...

It's not just a campaign by the cafeteria to clean up the place through the help of the students... the first sentence is already screaming of “programming” to me. And so they attempt to brainwash people to be people of “the highest order”. Yes, that piece plays repeatedly in the Calf now, almost making me lose sight of the fact that the Celadon population in the Ateneo will inadvertently increase soon enough, as I happen to notice...

.:Fishing For Presents:.

I wanted to get either the “Da Vinci Code” or “Angels and Demons” for Chico's birthday yesterday, but I had no idea if he had either book. With that being said, I decided that the best way to find out was to bait him and ask him about his opinion regarding either books. It took me two questions to squeeze it out of him that he had neither book, nor has he read either. The card included in the book of “Angels and Demons” I gave him (DVC is out of stock.) predictably contained the following message...

Chico,

I know this isn't the most subtle way to get you a gift, but I hope you like it anyway.

Always a fan, always a friend,
Marcelle

The moment I handed the gift to him, he already knew why I was bugging him with those questions the previous day. Still, my present was tremendously upstaged by sir Raffy Reyes': he gave a complete DVD set of the twenty James Bond films prior to “Die Another Day”. That must've cost an arm and a leg, as original DVD's don't go for any less than 600 pesos if they're really classic films or highly in demand. James Bond films fit the former.

I think that Brian was so stymied by it that he proceeded to make the following blooper...

Brian: Good morning. You're listening to Brian, and my name is... huh? RX! What'm I saying?

Yes, RX. What's up with you?

Delamar was laughing her head off over Brian's boo-boo, but she unfortunately has the flu. Hope she gets well soon.

Chico heard about Anne's idea to switch boardwork with one another for April Fool's day, but I shot down the idea myself. Brian further shot it down by saying even the RT and TM switch yielded a lot of trouble, as the TM jocks really screwed around with the RT shows... how tasteless.

The guys who brought out “Itsumo” were in the booth that morning. Not much, really. The girl who sang the chorus was not the least bit Japanese. Aww, shucks...

.:More Embarrassment:.

Dr. Ibana wants to take pictures of his students so that they'd be on the workbook... wow. He even asked me to buy film for the whole deal, then asked me to take pictures of his students during the class. Bah Gawd, that ought to be quite an interesting sight...

Thankfully, I read my newly-purchased copy of “The Da Vinci Code” (Sacha: So you just dropped by the department today just so you could show off your new book to me?) to keep myself from being too... engrossed in Dr. Ibana's mad lecturing skillz... ::rolls eyes::

The description of the whole resume thing for the placement office brought memories to me... Ah, well. I never really exploited that thing...

.:Lovely Date:.

Grace treated me to Chicken Bacolod this evening, and the meal was splendid, although again, the sisig failed to compare to the all-time greats in other places. In any case, I'm glad we spent some time with one another. She sure made my day, and I'm happy that we had some quality time together. She wanted to borrow the “Da Vinci Code”, but Sach already asked to go next. Funny thing is I went there hoping to hear her comment about the book, only to find out that she has yet to read it...
Ah, well.

Had ten wins in Marvel vs. Capcom before finally losing as I was both outclassed in infinite combos, and I was too lazy to step up to the challenge, since I didn't want to start over with the boss again... I was already at his third form when I got challenged... one of the other challengers was a pretty bad sport, complaining about my style. If he doesn't like it, then he should've stopped challenging me. Heh. I was so smug about it already that I was doing the Cena “You Can't See Me” hand sign at him whenever he lost...

Also finished Super Street Fighter II Turbo already, with Guile. I used his original SFII version, as this is the 15th Anniversary Edition we're talking about...

It was a lovely day, Grace. Thank you so much for making it special. :)

Thursday, June 17, 2004

Long...

I have a few more loose ends that's good for another post... it's all good, though.

.:Embarrassing:.

When someone gushes over you in front of over a hundred people and this person is both older and of the same gender, you do tend to feel embarrassed...

Sila ay mga nagpapakadalubhasa sa Pilosopiya at hindi rin magtatagal, magiging mga guro na rin sila. Kung kaya't kahit malaki ang klaseng ito, kaya naman dahil parang tatlong guro naman ang humahawak dito...

By the time Dr. Ibana introduced Camilo and me to the students as his teaching assistants, we already felt like an applause was going to happen, and mercifully, none came. That would've been the end of us. Heh.

.:Pot, Meet Kettle:.

It just occurred to us that we are paying ridiculous amounts of money for the Comelec to do nothing!

– Senator Aquilino Pimentel, referring to the occurrence of 0 votes in the canvass of Yemen, in spite of Comelec having spent money to send people to gather votes there.

That's entertainment for you. The very same man who has tried to stall Congress into not counting the votes at all is now telling the panel that Comelec is being paid to do nothing. R-ight. And what do we call his attempt at roadblocking the will of the people?

I was watching the proceedings of the canvassing, and it was glaring how the lawyers of the respective candidates would protest whenever a particular COC was to be opened if it was to the detriment of the candidate they represented, and how these same people gushed over the authenticity of a particular COC if they knew that it would be to the favor of their client.

Wonderful.

.:Unforgettable:.

IF I were gay, I wouldn't go for Peppy in the first place. I'd go for Robbie. He has that rugged and manly look... why the Hades am I talking like this?!?

Sigh...

Bonding with Ate Jess in some limited capacity does yield a lot of memorable stuff... that was even worse than saying I need a boyfriend if in case I wanted a new car for myself...

Zig and Mikko had a bunch of funny jokes between them, though. Something about flicking a lighter ten times (Mikko had this look on his face while he was cheating it.) and some Erap joke about Maceda being gay and Erap asking him to prove otherwise... yeah, it was fun.

Gawd, I ended up drinking coffee in the morning because of it (I don't drink coffee...) just so I could stay awake (I ended up sleeping at around 11... oww. I wake up at 4:30.)...

.:Tough Boarding:.

Yesterday was a rough day, though thankfully, Yahoo is now at 100 MB of memory. That's good. Really good.

It's not that I was making lots of bloopers, but the chatroom in WAVE yesterday was filling up and fast in our first hour, which was really unusual. We had around 10 people chatting with me, and then suddenly, the Yahoo Network just seemed to grind to a halt for about an hour or so as it upgraded right before our very eyes...

Still, it was all good. Anne and I had fun plugging the parlor that worked on her hair (Part of an ex-deal...)...

Anne: Don't you see the difference with my hair?

Marcelle: Shinampoo mo lang iyan?

Anne: No. I had this done at... *mentions parlor*

Marcelle: Oh, fine. So now you're making me inggit because my hair isn't as good as yours.

Some people dropped by the booth as well, and it was a huge distraction, as one of them had the gall to ask us about our paycheck, though I still have no idea about mine, truth be told.

I had to rush to class afterwards, and once again beat the clock to make it to Fr. Ferriols' class on time...

.:An Old Sense Of Humor:.

Someone asked me what the difference is between the students then and the students now. Just one that I noticed: their handwriting keeps on getting smaller. One time I was having a checkup with my physician, and he was telling me to write on a piece of paper. I asked him why. He told me that if my writing shrinks steadily as I write from left to right, then I have Parkinson's disease. I told him that it probably means that a lot of my students have Parkinson's disease...

– Father Roque Ferriols

This man is making it difficult for me to load rev out of his class. I wanna stay!!!

.:The Bosconian At Heart:.

I spent a good deal of time (After shopping for Chico's gift...) in my high school alma mater, Don Bosco Mandaluyong, yesterday afternoon. I met up with my senior adviser, then had a nice chat with one of my favorite technical instructors, Mr. Navarro, whose fondest memory of me is when I dropped my V.O.M. to prove its durability, and then how I burned my first transformer for Shop class... still, it's nice to hear from him.

Mr. Averilla gave me a bit more pressure as well, as he kept on telling me that he doesn't think it's going to be the least bit difficult for me to attain a Doctorate because he knew from the start that I was, according to him, “brilliant”. Okay. If he says so... I told him that I hang around geniuses like Sacha Chua who remind me I'm not that brilliant, and then he goes...

Oh, sure. They know their computers like anything. But can they build a transformer? Can they even dare to challenge you in your strongest suits? Everyone has their own specialties. Hindi mo naman linya ang Computer Science, so okey lang iyan...

True, true. He's now the external relations officer of Don Bosco, though. He got promoted out of the B.E.D. already. Impressive.

And then, I had a nice, long chat with Fr. Eli Cruz, SDB, as well. We had a nice discussion on Philosophy, as being a priest, he naturally knows quite a deal about it as well. He liked my idea of talking about Philosophy through pop culture, and I allayed his fears by telling him that I won't do pop culture because I want to do away with the classical texts, rather, I want to do pop culture to lure the less inclined to Philosophy into the classical texts...

We also talked about stuff like Luis Geronimo's travel to Vietnam as a teaching volunteer, Fr. La Guardia, who is apparently a brilliant man (Methinks he's not teaching this sem, so I get his cubicle in the meantime...), and how he said that he wasn't the least bit surprised that I'm in Philosophy now, although he wasn't too surprised I'm still within the realm of communications as well. He realized how pop culture in film and the Philosophy found within it melds perfectly to bring my two disciplines together.

He even offered me to rewrite some articles for some special pamphlet they're working on. Whether or not I get paid for it, I know I'd try my hand in it. I do believe it's the least I could do.

I'm glad he's the rector now. He's one of the nicest people I've ever known, and I know that if I were a priest, I wouldn't be anything else but a Salesian.

Met up with a few other teachers as well, such as my adviser, Ma'am Ting Flores, who was gushing about the stuff I was up to... ah, well.

I also got to speak to Ms. Rivero on the phone that night. Mrs. Ramos, her close friend, gave me her landline, and she is my absolute mentor, no question about it. No matter how good my college teachers were, they didn't mold me. Ms. Edna Rivero did the hard work for them. Which explains why I have such a high measure of respect for high school and grade school teachers, although I doubt that I'm adept enough to do what they do...

I felt justified with how Mrs. Ramos put it... that I am “finally getting what I've earned after all the things I went through from high school”. I do believe I am. It's not really success, and it's definitely not failure. It's just what I deserve, and that, to me, is more than enough.

Hearing Ms. Rivero after all this time was good for my heart. I can't help but be grateful that I got to speak to her, and I'm so glad that I was in good hands throughout my high school, in spite of all the adversity. Without them, would I be the least bit receptive to my college instructors? I sincerely doubt it. For the record, my first teaching experience was for English class under... you guessed it, Ms. Rivero. It may have lied dormant and was only reawakened in my latter college years and now, but we know where that inclination to teach came from...

To all the people of my high school alma mater, I give you all my heartfelt thanks. I hope that my meager actions have somehow made you people feel that somehow, you've done a good job in making a marked difference in the life of this student of yours.

Wednesday, June 16, 2004

Just a few thoughts to keep myself organized. I'm too busy to make a full post for today, so I'll defer it to tomorrow...

- I still don't have any gift for Chico.

- I hitched a ride with Jess last night, and the whole night there was extremely funny. From Zig to birthday boy Mikko J (That's a DJ name, if I ever heard of one. I should've asked him for the rights to it: DJ Mikko J...)to the nice moment of hearing from Jess, all of these things really proved to be fairly memorable.

- The Ateneo has this new waste segregation program with some taped message being played over and over again in the Calf.

- Today's show was fun and the chatroom was loaded like Hades. Anne and I had fun plugging the parlor that did her hair...

- Some people showed up in the station, which caught me completely off guard...

Yeah, we'll work on the body of the post next time...