.:Today's LSS:.

A little less melodramatic today... a trigger has been hit.

Push
by Matchbox Twenty

She said I don’t know if I’ve ever been good enough
I’m a little bit rusty, and I think my head is caving in
And I don’t know if I’ve ever really been loved
By the hand that’s touched me, well I feel like something gonna give
And I’m a little bit angry, well

This ain’t over, no not here, not while I still need you
Around
You don’t owe me, we might change
Yeah we just might feel good

Chorus:
I wanna push you around, I will, I will
I wanna push you down, I will, I will
I wanna take you for granted
I wanna take you for granted
I will

She said I don’t know why you ever would lie to me
Like I’m a little untrusting when I think that the truth is
Gonna hurt ya
And I don’t why you couldn’t just stay with me
You couldn’t stand to be near me
When my face don’t seem to want to shine cuz it’s a little bit dirty well

Don’t just stand there, say nice things to me
I’ve been cheated I’ve been wronged, and you
You don’t know me, I can’t change
I won’t do anything at all
(Chorus)

Oh but don’t bowl me over
Just wait a minute well it kinda fell apart, things get so
Crazy, crazy
Don’t rush this baby(2x)
(Chorus)

.:Deja Vu:.

Now, it looks like an old occurence is going to happen all over again, with different characters, yet that all-too familiar situation...

To that, I say, eff that.

.:More Playtesting:.

I've been working on my deck quite a bit the past couple of days, and I am significantly pleased with the synergy the deck's pieces seem to flow together. Being given advice by one of the best Vintage players in the world, Smennen, is certainly a shot in the arm, short as one sentence though the advice may have been.

Nonetheless, I was really happy about how things turned out. I was doing consistently well against Oath combo ever since I decided to include a bit of permission in my deck, as it certainly kept my opponent from resolving Oath when I wasn't ready to combo out yet. The moment Oath hits, I then set up my combo for the next turn.

After coming from Sta. Lucia, I turned out to be lucky enough to find an Underground Sea for a really good price. That was really nice, to say the least.

.:Encounters:.

I decided to meet up with Elbert after doing a little bit of card-hunting yesterday, which made me discover that he's heard of Maia in the past. Even more interesting is the fact that some of Maia's bandmates are still on Elbert's stable of artists. We were just talking here and there about stuff, and how he wanted his friends to be productive members of society, which meant Charles is currently employed in something akin to multi-level marketing but not quite, and Gio has a job opportunity as a director if only he can get a couple to agree to do an on-screen kiss...

Elbert: The easy part is the guy for that. He can get you, he can get Charles, he can get any guy, and they're bound to say yes. It's the girl who's going to be hard to convince. But the guys, lalo na ikaw, kung Chinita yung girl, walang problema.

Marcelle: Excuse me? If you got me, I'd be a professional about this, okay? Hmm... time to practice my tongue.

In any case, Elbert had a very funny reaction when I asked him if he knew someone. His face just suddenly soured and all the bad memories came crashing in, as he really felt that this someone caused him a lot of professional headaches. Oh, well.

Even more hilarious, he was trying to “flirt” with me, in front of his artists who were obviously fans of the yaoi genre. Something about him being Chinito and dark and handsome already, sans tall. I told him he was just dark. We were really laughing our heads off, and he discovered the crazy things happening in my teaching stint as of late. Oh, well...

After Elbert left, I tried to play some NBA Live 2005 at TV games. Unfortunately for me, there was quite a line, so I didn't get to play for a while. Lo and behold, when I walked outside of TV games, I suddenly ran into Carl and Diane. Even more interesting, they ran into each other before I ran into them. Behind me was Erick with his girlfriend, which meant it was one huge mass of coincidences that brought us there. In any case, Carl was curious about my Magic deck, and I figure there's no better way for him to understand how the deck works than for him to see it in action. I can't just explain the combo if he hasn't seen the cards yet...

Nonetheless, it was all good. The thing is, I found it to be an interesting coincidence that I saw these guys just like that. Looks like my run-in powers are still strong.

Now, if only Club Arena were still open... I still need those transparent adhesive sleeves of theirs...

.:Conversations:.

Aside from my Heidegger paper and my writing assignment about RAW Deal, I don't have much work pending for me, to begin with. I had a nice, long conversation with Abby about her and her plans. I reminded her that even though she'd love to be in my shoes as far as I go in doing what I want (Though as I mentioned to April, for not as much as I would've wanted to. ^_^)...

As a digression, is it just me, or am I using smileys a lot more often now than when I started blogging?

Anyways, as I was saying... even though she'd love to be in my shoes, I felt pretty much the same when she became our departmental awardee. Talk about a 180-degree turn. Still, once she figures out what she really wants to do in life, I'm sure she'd end up going for it, nonetheless. It'd be way cool to be her radio partner in WAVE, though. That'd be something coming around full circle.

She was considering going on a cruise ship, but I figure she'd have to really work her way up that ladder. No amount of academic achievements will propel her into a high position in a cruise ship from the get-go, according to Grace. At the same time, she was considering an MBA, but I reminded her that if she had no idea where to put an MBA to use, that'd be a fairly expensive decoration on her name. Sure, Abigail Yao, MBA, sounds nice, but if she were just going to be in advertising again afterwards, all the good that did her, neh? I hope Bro (Her boyfriend.) does well when he gets assigned to Iran, though. Wonder how long that'd be? And he has to grow a beard. That'd be interesting...

On the other hand, I told her that it's less and less likely for me to take a PhD at the rate things are going. A part of me already wants to just finish the course work and never bother shifting out of TPH, so that I can be an M.A. with the least effort. However, I want to leave the door open for a PhD so that if I ever change my mind about taking one, I still have the option to do so.

She was laughing her head off about the faculty rumors, though...

Marcelle: ::pretending to be a female student:: Sir? Bakit ganito ang orals natin?

Amusingly enough, she never seems to associate Charlene with anything but her Muling Tumibok stint. I told her that it took me a while to regain my respect for Charlene after that film, and reminding me of that film certainly ruined my progress...

Marcelle: But you? Unang pelikula pa lang, nawala na respeto ko sayo, eh.

Funny stuff.

One would like to ask (Again, another reason why this is a locked post...), though, just on a purely hypothetical level, if there would ever be a chance for me and Abby to get together if we were both single. I really am no longer inclined to go after her, but it would be interesting to know if the changes we went through would actually change the chances we have with each other. This is purely a question out of curiosity, unlike some other questions I know of...

.:Bonding:.

April and I likewise had an interesting conversation about my current wacky status in life. In spite of that slight setback, I'm still doing fairly fine (Lo and behold, Kathy just gave me a call in the middle of my writing this. I guess I didn't have to wait for Christmas for her to stop getting ticked off at me. Even then...). I just aired out to her what I felt were “injustices” in my direction, and I figure we were having an interesting conversation, for the most part. I'm glad she seems to be doing fine, although she does seem stressed with schoolwork, even though the sem has barely begun, in truth.

We didn't really talk about much beyond how my work has been, and how difficult it is for her to invest in any business, but much to my surprise, she actually finds what I do to be impressive. For my part, I always found impressive guys like Russell who double major in Math and Computer Science, but my intermeshing of Communications and Philosophy is not something I find particularly amazing. For April to tell me otherwise was quite a shot in the arm.

.:Sigh:.

Grace and I had a short conversation last night as well. However, I feel a bit down about the conversation because it looks like she's been forced to give her dog away. Barky is a really nice dog, and that dog has been nothing but nice to me. I wish they wouldn't give him away, but I understand that Grace's sister is fairly miffed at the dog because he can sometimes wake up her baby with his barking... oh, well. That's why he was called Barky, to begin with. Not the most creative name in the world, but still...

.:Karate Kid:.

The food here is great. After having gotten rather tired of Tokyo Tokyo, this is the perfect alternative to it, truth be told. Grace and I enjoyed eating here... heh.