.:Sometimes...:.
Sometimes, a thoughtless word can mean the end of a phase
Sometimes, a simple "sorry" can make a world of difference
Sometimes, it instead merely hastens the fall from grace
Sometimes, life just really don't make one lick of sense
Sometimes, one must learn to read another's mind
Sometimes, one has no choice but to leave memories behind
Sometimes, the facts are clear for everoyne but you to see
Sometimes, it kills me how you can take it all so casually
Sometimes, it is about friends, at times, about lovers
Sometimes, you attempt to hit two birds with one stone
Sometimes, you feel unique, just like all the others
Sometimes, it is better off to just leave well enough alone
Sometimes, I wish you would know better for your own boon
Sometimes, I wish all of this weren't gone too soon
Sometimes, I wonder if you see the grief you put me through
Sometimes, I wonder if I even meant a damned thing to you
Sometimes, a little empathy goes a long, long way
Sometimes, a bit of sincerity can cause a sea of change
Sometimes, a simple smile can brighten up my day
Sometimes, loneliness and sorrow no longer seem so strange
Sometimes, I patiently wait for you to come around
Sometimes, it is I who must reach out and cover ground
Sometimes, it is all a matter of knowing where you stand
Sometimes, it is all a matter of not overplaying your hand
Sometimes is but of mere moments, but what moments they are!
Sometimes can tear a friendship or rend a heart asunder
Sometimes, wounds may heal, but leave a wretched scar
Sometimes, sometimes can unfortunately last forever
Wednesday, September 27, 2006
Tuesday, September 26, 2006
Read My Mind...
.:Quote For The Day:.
Someone had this to say about Charles:
He's really interesting when he's not creeping me out...
Quoted for truthery.
.:Ish Her Birthday:.
My mom celebrated her birthday yesterday, and I have to say that she certainly doesn't look a day over thirty.
The other day, I kinda gaffed when I accidentally informed my uncle about this party. I kinda forgot that my mom tends to not invite her siblings to her parties, and that resulted in me being told to shut my trap next time. No worries, though, as it all smoothed itself over in the end.
It was a pretty cool party, really. So-called acoustic nights, and we had people singing songs all the way from The Beatles to Hoobastank, and I didn't sing along with them until near the end of the party when Dondon started playing Eraserheads. I never realized that I am now capable of hitting the high notes of E-Heads songs. I was always under the impression that it just wouldn't work out too well for me... heh.
While there was a lot of cause for celebration, my mom was also miffed over how Ice Cravings turned out. The business has to close down mainly because her partner has been cheating her out of profits and the claim is that IC is now losing money. Well, so much for that friendship. I know 2 Million is a lot of money, but I still don't think it's worth losing a friendship over, quite frankly.
In any case, enough of that. Initially, I was supposed to go there with two other friends, as the three of us were supposed to perform Billy Joel's “For The Longest Time”. Out of the three of us, I was going to be the bass.
Then, one of them backed out. That left me as the rhythm, one other as the vocals.
Then, due to an incredible amount of work (If I could draw, I'd have helped him out myself... sigh.), he backed out, too.
That left the one guy who doesn't know the lyrics at all to man the fort, which was why I went there without expecting to sing at all.
Interesting tidbit: one of the guests was Fanny Serrano. That was cool.
.:Speaking Of Birthdays...:.
Let’s play mind-reader. I’m sure all people I’m trying to reach out to are going to be reading this.
So, read my mind…
It would be a great show of delicadeza if certain people I initially invited but don't have the heart to uninvite would have the decency not to bother showing up. It's already been a bad year thus far, do I even have to be under duress to be “happy” on my so-called celebration?
If you, for one moment, feel I’m hinting that I’d rather not see you on that day, then have enough delicadeza to step off. Batu-bato sa langit, ang tamaan, dapat lang.
Conversely, even if I never had the chance to invite certain people, you are more than welcome to gatecrash and show up on that day, simply because if circumstances were different, I’d personally ask you because I do want to see you there.
Alternatively, given all the grief, I'm beginning to consider just canceling the whole thing altogether, since I really just don't feel like there's anything to celebrate about. Had I known things would turn out this way, I should've quit while I was ahead the moment I hit 22.
This year has been a year of heartaches, betrayal, and disappointments, and obviously, it being September has done nothing to change that.
I would just implore anyone who at one point or another cared enough in my life and happens to be reading this to just give in to my simple annual request. I wish for a handwritten letter. Something I could treasure and keep, no matter what happens from this point on. This year has been a miserable year, and it would be my only source of consolation...
If you ever gave a damn about me at all, and if there is that small place in your heart for me that still cares, even just by one iota, I would genuinely treasure a letter from you.
If you think for one moment I'm talking about you, then I am talking about you.
Please. More than ever, I most certainly need this.
Let’s play mind-reader. Where do you fit in this picture I just painted?
Someone had this to say about Charles:
He's really interesting when he's not creeping me out...
Quoted for truthery.
.:Ish Her Birthday:.
My mom celebrated her birthday yesterday, and I have to say that she certainly doesn't look a day over thirty.
The other day, I kinda gaffed when I accidentally informed my uncle about this party. I kinda forgot that my mom tends to not invite her siblings to her parties, and that resulted in me being told to shut my trap next time. No worries, though, as it all smoothed itself over in the end.
It was a pretty cool party, really. So-called acoustic nights, and we had people singing songs all the way from The Beatles to Hoobastank, and I didn't sing along with them until near the end of the party when Dondon started playing Eraserheads. I never realized that I am now capable of hitting the high notes of E-Heads songs. I was always under the impression that it just wouldn't work out too well for me... heh.
While there was a lot of cause for celebration, my mom was also miffed over how Ice Cravings turned out. The business has to close down mainly because her partner has been cheating her out of profits and the claim is that IC is now losing money. Well, so much for that friendship. I know 2 Million is a lot of money, but I still don't think it's worth losing a friendship over, quite frankly.
In any case, enough of that. Initially, I was supposed to go there with two other friends, as the three of us were supposed to perform Billy Joel's “For The Longest Time”. Out of the three of us, I was going to be the bass.
Then, one of them backed out. That left me as the rhythm, one other as the vocals.
Then, due to an incredible amount of work (If I could draw, I'd have helped him out myself... sigh.), he backed out, too.
That left the one guy who doesn't know the lyrics at all to man the fort, which was why I went there without expecting to sing at all.
Interesting tidbit: one of the guests was Fanny Serrano. That was cool.
.:Speaking Of Birthdays...:.
Let’s play mind-reader. I’m sure all people I’m trying to reach out to are going to be reading this.
So, read my mind…
It would be a great show of delicadeza if certain people I initially invited but don't have the heart to uninvite would have the decency not to bother showing up. It's already been a bad year thus far, do I even have to be under duress to be “happy” on my so-called celebration?
If you, for one moment, feel I’m hinting that I’d rather not see you on that day, then have enough delicadeza to step off. Batu-bato sa langit, ang tamaan, dapat lang.
Conversely, even if I never had the chance to invite certain people, you are more than welcome to gatecrash and show up on that day, simply because if circumstances were different, I’d personally ask you because I do want to see you there.
Alternatively, given all the grief, I'm beginning to consider just canceling the whole thing altogether, since I really just don't feel like there's anything to celebrate about. Had I known things would turn out this way, I should've quit while I was ahead the moment I hit 22.
This year has been a year of heartaches, betrayal, and disappointments, and obviously, it being September has done nothing to change that.
I would just implore anyone who at one point or another cared enough in my life and happens to be reading this to just give in to my simple annual request. I wish for a handwritten letter. Something I could treasure and keep, no matter what happens from this point on. This year has been a miserable year, and it would be my only source of consolation...
If you ever gave a damn about me at all, and if there is that small place in your heart for me that still cares, even just by one iota, I would genuinely treasure a letter from you.
If you think for one moment I'm talking about you, then I am talking about you.
Please. More than ever, I most certainly need this.
Let’s play mind-reader. Where do you fit in this picture I just painted?
Over The Weekend...
.:Movies, Movies, Movies.:.
I saw “Art Museum By The Zoo”, which was definitely one of the most well-written Korean films I've ever seen. I just am sadly not in the mood to write reviews at this point. Nonetheless, I loved it, and it was an especially awesomely romantic Korean film.
In contrast, “Dead Or Alive” was just bad. Really bad. It's not worth watching, because there are better sources for eye candy, to begin with, and this movie is just so bad but not so bad it's good.
Kevin “Diesel” Nash was in the movie as Bass. Collin Chou stars as Hayate, and he looks nothing like a Japanese guy when you see him the second time. By the way, Collin Chou was Jet Li’s dad in “Fearless”.
There were logical gaffes that were just soooo annoying, chief amongst them the fact that the head of surveillance, Weatherby, reveals his boss’ plans to Helena.
The catch? They get caught by the surveillance cameras. For a computer “genius” and a surveillance “expert”, that was nothing short of stupid. Why not write it down? Why not whisper it?
And oh, yeah. The evil overlord’s plan was to gain the fighting styles of the best fighters in the DOA tournament, and use them to sell to other people all over the world in the form of sunglasses that give you an amazing tactical advantage over anyone who isn’t, oh, I dunno… using a gun? Seriously. Is being a martial arts expert going to be better than just purchasing a nuke for you to become an overlord?
And predictably, at one point, his sunglasses get knocked off, which makes him a sitting duck for the DOA fighters. Talk about predictable as Hades.
Don't even bother with this film. It’s two hours of your life you’d be wishing back. If you want a “bad” movie that’s actually fun, try “Crank” or “Snakes On A Plane”. Bad movies are at least supposed to be fun, and this film is just so terribly mediocre, it can’t deliver even on the “fun”.
That’s kinda sad, considering how it’s supposed to be a chop-socky action film, and yet, even the action is just so… mediocre.
.:Vocal Challenges:.
So it was a relatively big group that got together last Saturday night for videoke. There were nine of us in total: ND, El, 'Elle, Johan, Myca, Moon, April, Debs, and yours truly. It was a pretty fun night at Music 21, although it was preceded by dinner at Mang Jimmy's. On the way to Music 21, they were asking who was riding with whom, and of course, Estelle volunteered to ride with Johan and Myca.
Myca: Wow, thanks! So, you'll be riding in front, then?
Estelle: Oh, $%*&...
Looks like there wasn't much faith in Myca's driving skills.
So after some time, I ended up riding with Johan and Myca, and we were talking about how creative the people of Gigolo's are at making their theme nights.
They had two amazing zingers: “The Devil Wears Nada”, and “The Pirates Of Carribugan”. I don't know about you, but that is one heck of a creative team right there...
But I digress, really. We got there, and while waiting for a room, first blood was “You And I Both”, then we had “The Longest Time”, and after a while, I had my solo run at “Natutulog Ba Ang Diyos”, which really put my vocal skills to the test. I think I acquitted myself on that count fairly well enough...
There were a lot of amusing bits here and there, especially since as a rule, only new songs were going to get sung. The killer though was that I really gave Stevie Wonder a shot, and I went ahead and attempted to sing “Lately”. Needless to say, it wasn't easy, but except for the highest of highest notes, I think I hit it. Oh, well.
There isn't really much to say about these videoke sessions to be honest. It's been great, and I suppose while things could use a bit of changing up in the future, videoke sessions rock.
.:Double Exposure:.
Apparently, I was mentioned in passing in Panorama this past Sunday by Tita Toots. That, combined with my TV appearance on Rated Oh last Sunday, resulted in a double-exposure. I can’t believe how bad I sounded on TV, though. I guess hearing my rendition of “All By Myself”, as well as hearing my speaking voice on TV when I don’t modulate the way I do on radio.
It was awfully nice of Estelle to let me drop by her place to watch TV and see the episode last Sunday night. It was way cool seeing myself on TV, even if I wasn’t particularly glamorous that day… heh.
I also have to extend my thanks to April for letting me hitch with her to Estelle’s place. It was a rough day.
I saw “Art Museum By The Zoo”, which was definitely one of the most well-written Korean films I've ever seen. I just am sadly not in the mood to write reviews at this point. Nonetheless, I loved it, and it was an especially awesomely romantic Korean film.
In contrast, “Dead Or Alive” was just bad. Really bad. It's not worth watching, because there are better sources for eye candy, to begin with, and this movie is just so bad but not so bad it's good.
Kevin “Diesel” Nash was in the movie as Bass. Collin Chou stars as Hayate, and he looks nothing like a Japanese guy when you see him the second time. By the way, Collin Chou was Jet Li’s dad in “Fearless”.
There were logical gaffes that were just soooo annoying, chief amongst them the fact that the head of surveillance, Weatherby, reveals his boss’ plans to Helena.
The catch? They get caught by the surveillance cameras. For a computer “genius” and a surveillance “expert”, that was nothing short of stupid. Why not write it down? Why not whisper it?
And oh, yeah. The evil overlord’s plan was to gain the fighting styles of the best fighters in the DOA tournament, and use them to sell to other people all over the world in the form of sunglasses that give you an amazing tactical advantage over anyone who isn’t, oh, I dunno… using a gun? Seriously. Is being a martial arts expert going to be better than just purchasing a nuke for you to become an overlord?
And predictably, at one point, his sunglasses get knocked off, which makes him a sitting duck for the DOA fighters. Talk about predictable as Hades.
Don't even bother with this film. It’s two hours of your life you’d be wishing back. If you want a “bad” movie that’s actually fun, try “Crank” or “Snakes On A Plane”. Bad movies are at least supposed to be fun, and this film is just so terribly mediocre, it can’t deliver even on the “fun”.
That’s kinda sad, considering how it’s supposed to be a chop-socky action film, and yet, even the action is just so… mediocre.
.:Vocal Challenges:.
So it was a relatively big group that got together last Saturday night for videoke. There were nine of us in total: ND, El, 'Elle, Johan, Myca, Moon, April, Debs, and yours truly. It was a pretty fun night at Music 21, although it was preceded by dinner at Mang Jimmy's. On the way to Music 21, they were asking who was riding with whom, and of course, Estelle volunteered to ride with Johan and Myca.
Myca: Wow, thanks! So, you'll be riding in front, then?
Estelle: Oh, $%*&...
Looks like there wasn't much faith in Myca's driving skills.
So after some time, I ended up riding with Johan and Myca, and we were talking about how creative the people of Gigolo's are at making their theme nights.
They had two amazing zingers: “The Devil Wears Nada”, and “The Pirates Of Carribugan”. I don't know about you, but that is one heck of a creative team right there...
But I digress, really. We got there, and while waiting for a room, first blood was “You And I Both”, then we had “The Longest Time”, and after a while, I had my solo run at “Natutulog Ba Ang Diyos”, which really put my vocal skills to the test. I think I acquitted myself on that count fairly well enough...
There were a lot of amusing bits here and there, especially since as a rule, only new songs were going to get sung. The killer though was that I really gave Stevie Wonder a shot, and I went ahead and attempted to sing “Lately”. Needless to say, it wasn't easy, but except for the highest of highest notes, I think I hit it. Oh, well.
There isn't really much to say about these videoke sessions to be honest. It's been great, and I suppose while things could use a bit of changing up in the future, videoke sessions rock.
.:Double Exposure:.
Apparently, I was mentioned in passing in Panorama this past Sunday by Tita Toots. That, combined with my TV appearance on Rated Oh last Sunday, resulted in a double-exposure. I can’t believe how bad I sounded on TV, though. I guess hearing my rendition of “All By Myself”, as well as hearing my speaking voice on TV when I don’t modulate the way I do on radio.
It was awfully nice of Estelle to let me drop by her place to watch TV and see the episode last Sunday night. It was way cool seeing myself on TV, even if I wasn’t particularly glamorous that day… heh.
I also have to extend my thanks to April for letting me hitch with her to Estelle’s place. It was a rough day.
Rated Oh Replays...
For those who missed my appearance on TV last night, well, you can check out the replay of the episode on the following days:
Tuesday - 2PM
Wednesday - 8AM
Saturday - 8:30AM
Sunday - 4:30PM
See? No more excuses to miss it... haha.
Tuesday - 2PM
Wednesday - 8AM
Saturday - 8:30AM
Sunday - 4:30PM
See? No more excuses to miss it... haha.
Saturday, September 23, 2006
Pictures Galore!
.:Pictures Tell The Story:.
As I promised, a picture-heavy post...
As I promised, a picture-heavy post...
This should be my next avatar...
Live show in the middle of Glorietta!
A decent-looking shot of Sam Oh with the searchees. April has a picture of Sam at the party, though. She hasn't given me a copy yet...
My bessie, Estelle; her bessie, Cams; and me.
Parang mga nagkukutuhan.
My friends are hot.
Mahangin ba sa labas?
Backblogging, Completed...
.:Backblogging: Sunday, 17 September, 2006:.
It was a quadruple party at Dampa for all the September celebrants. The fun part was that when I got there with Elbert.
You see, my uncle likes to joke that Elbert is gay. He was telling me that El is probably gay because of this and that. In his defense, I told my uncle that he had five boyfr... errr... girlfriends. Unfortunately for me, that gaff cemented my uncle's smugness that Elbert was indeed gay. Whoops!
That being said, I introduced El to everyone in the area, and it was particularly amusing because when I got to introduce him to my grandmother, she knowingly nods, and says, “Ahh. Edward.”
Never fails to amuse me... heh.
So while I was plugging my TV appearance on Sunday, the killer was the fact that when they found out it was at 11 PM, my mom promptly told everyone to instead watch her TV appearance on Channel 2. Talk about competition. Ha.
After the party, we just went back and had haircuts, although I had a hot oil treatment on top of my haircut. All in all, a fairly quiet, non-happening, but still amusing day.
.:Backblogging: Monday, 18 September, 2006:.
I was supposed to be taking the day off, but instead, I went ahead and observed the new jock, Mickie, as she had to do her boardwork alone since George was absent. It went pretty well, to be honest. Robi was even there, which made the whole thing all the better. Robi hasn't been around for two months or so already, so it was definitely a good thing to have him back in the station. He looked happy to be back, too.
I then got my hands on Def Jam for the PSP when I dropped by Megamall. That was a relief to me, at least. It made my life easier, for one.
Afterwards, I completely blanked on what I was up to. To be honest, I don't know if I just spent most of the day at the condo or I just took a nap, then. I took an emergency leave just so I could use up my leaves from work before the year ended...
.:Backblogging: Tuesday, 19 September, 2006:.
It was the season-ender party for Rated Oh's television show, and I was invited. I went there along with April, Estelle, Dominique, and his sister, Debbie. It was loads of fun, although David kinda stood up Sam despite having won the date.
Well, Sam didn't seem to care. While the gathering was small (To the point where she ended up introducing all the guests to each other.), it was still fun. There was a band, and there was a group of magicians who just floored everyone in attendance. Hades, I still have the card that I signed and the magician spat out while he was “searching” for my card in the deck. It was amazing, and I just know I can pull something like it off... heh.
There were a lot of other tricks there, but I guess you just had to be there to see it. It was just a bit unfortunate that I discovered something over the course of the party that really took the wind out of my sails, and I ended up having to drown my sorrows in front of a gigantic sundae at Iceberg's... sigh.
I'll let the pictures tell the story, I guess. It was really fun to have met Dom after all this time, as well as having met his sister for the first time. Turns out she's a movie writer. Way cool.
It was a quadruple party at Dampa for all the September celebrants. The fun part was that when I got there with Elbert.
You see, my uncle likes to joke that Elbert is gay. He was telling me that El is probably gay because of this and that. In his defense, I told my uncle that he had five boyfr... errr... girlfriends. Unfortunately for me, that gaff cemented my uncle's smugness that Elbert was indeed gay. Whoops!
That being said, I introduced El to everyone in the area, and it was particularly amusing because when I got to introduce him to my grandmother, she knowingly nods, and says, “Ahh. Edward.”
Never fails to amuse me... heh.
So while I was plugging my TV appearance on Sunday, the killer was the fact that when they found out it was at 11 PM, my mom promptly told everyone to instead watch her TV appearance on Channel 2. Talk about competition. Ha.
After the party, we just went back and had haircuts, although I had a hot oil treatment on top of my haircut. All in all, a fairly quiet, non-happening, but still amusing day.
.:Backblogging: Monday, 18 September, 2006:.
I was supposed to be taking the day off, but instead, I went ahead and observed the new jock, Mickie, as she had to do her boardwork alone since George was absent. It went pretty well, to be honest. Robi was even there, which made the whole thing all the better. Robi hasn't been around for two months or so already, so it was definitely a good thing to have him back in the station. He looked happy to be back, too.
I then got my hands on Def Jam for the PSP when I dropped by Megamall. That was a relief to me, at least. It made my life easier, for one.
Afterwards, I completely blanked on what I was up to. To be honest, I don't know if I just spent most of the day at the condo or I just took a nap, then. I took an emergency leave just so I could use up my leaves from work before the year ended...
.:Backblogging: Tuesday, 19 September, 2006:.
It was the season-ender party for Rated Oh's television show, and I was invited. I went there along with April, Estelle, Dominique, and his sister, Debbie. It was loads of fun, although David kinda stood up Sam despite having won the date.
Well, Sam didn't seem to care. While the gathering was small (To the point where she ended up introducing all the guests to each other.), it was still fun. There was a band, and there was a group of magicians who just floored everyone in attendance. Hades, I still have the card that I signed and the magician spat out while he was “searching” for my card in the deck. It was amazing, and I just know I can pull something like it off... heh.
There were a lot of other tricks there, but I guess you just had to be there to see it. It was just a bit unfortunate that I discovered something over the course of the party that really took the wind out of my sails, and I ended up having to drown my sorrows in front of a gigantic sundae at Iceberg's... sigh.
I'll let the pictures tell the story, I guess. It was really fun to have met Dom after all this time, as well as having met his sister for the first time. Turns out she's a movie writer. Way cool.
Friday, September 22, 2006
Rated Oh...
.:Backblogging: Rated Vid-Oh-Ke!:.
It was Saturday..
I woke up and got ready to go to the taping, as we were supposed to meet at Greenbelt, and I was particularly clueless what to expect. I was a bit confident about my odds of winning the date, but with these things, you can never be too sure, especially since challenges and stuff don’t matter, and all that’d really matter is who Sam would pick.
In essence, I was going up against two guys… (Refer to my earlier pictures for reference.) Lance, and the so-called “Scam Milby”, David. We were given archetypes, and I was “boy next door”, David was “bad boy”, and Lance was “serious”. We had to hole up at Red Box Karaoke, where we simply just sat around and got ourselves acquainted with each other by singing our lungs out with whatever song we felt like singing at the moment. I had my creative piece ready for Ms. Oh, and I was pretty sure it was going to floor her, no matter what.
Anyways, Lance is the brother of Lally’s boyfriend, while David was one of those models from Cosmo magazine, and is a talent for ABS-CBN. He really looks like Sam Milby, and I’ll explain a bit later how that panned out for us.
Anyways, after a bit, we finally got the show on the road, and I was the first guy they got to show up in front of Sam. It opened with the requisite kiss on the cheek, and then after some banter, we had to do a second take since she forgot about the creative work.
So I showed her. It was a sketch of her in anime style, and I really tried my best to get it right. But in the middle of two sketches, I had a poem written down, and she asked me to read the poem to her. So I did.
Two lines into the poem, I started folding up the paper and handing it to her while I continued reciting the rest of the poem from memory. She was floored, and I knew I achieved what I wanted to achieve from the start: I made an impact from the first impression.
I then left and holed back up in our videoke room as the other two guys had their turn. We were then called to come together on-cam for the first time for the first challenge: the videoke challenge. To make things difficult, they picked the song for us.
I got “All By Myself”, and I hit the song effortlessly. I knew the lyrics, and I even knew how to add Sam Oh’s name somewhere in the lyrics just to drive home the point that I really knew what I was doing. Ha. It was funny though that when they asked me if I knew how to sing, I said “no, not at all,” which made for a good ploy to shock them when they found out I actually could. It was definitely a good run and I pulled out the stops. Unlike the other two guys, I was playing to win the date.
David got a couple of songs he had no idea how to sing at all. One has to be completely shocked over the fact that he did not know what “Bed Of Roses” was, or who Bon Jovi is!!! That being said, he finally got to sing “I Want It That Way”, but despite being a singer for ABS, he flubbed because he was sick. Lance just managed with his song, 98 Degrees’ “Because Of You”. If they gave out scores, I’d have to say I won that one handily.
After that point, we then had interviews where we talked smack about the other contestants, since in Elimidate, you can’t be friends with your competition. You have to see it to believe it. I was really talking some smack, and it ended with:
First knight, also gonna be the last knight
You guys aren’t gonna be treading so light
I’m gonna fight for Ms. Oh with all my might
Yo guys, ::waves hand in front of face:: you can’t see me, aight?
The cameraman joked at me and said, “Thank you, Mr. Cena”.
.:Backblogging: Rated Oh No!:.
After the first challenge, we all rode with Lance to get to the next challenge venue, Westin Philippine Plaza.
David and I turned out to be movie nuts, and he even did me one better by saying his favorite quote from every movie we brought up to talk about. If he knew the film, he had a quote. It was cool, and despite the supposed on-cam hostilities, all three searchees were getting along marvelously, and Sam was even with us in the car, so we really got to bond and talk about stuff like what Sam used to do before becoming a TV host (She was a corporate interpreter.), or how many times David gets mistaken for Sam Milby (All the time.). Hades, even the owner of Red Box was fooled.
Now, along the way, Lance got caught by cops for beating a red light, and subsequently, reckless driving. He was being charged 2000 pesos plus his license, and he was trying to beg it off, and what was awesome about it was that Lance had this brilliant idea of saying “Sam Milby” was in the car with us, and he had an interview with Sam Oh (At the front seat.), and we were in a hurry to get to the studio for the taping.
The cops bought it hook, line, and sinker. For crying out loud, when the first cop got wind of this, he called his other colleagues one at a time as if they had to talk shop, but really now, it was all a ploy to ogle a celebrity. Meanwhile, “Scam/Sham Milby” was smiling and apologizing that his driver was in a rush, and pleaded for leniency.
We got off with a 450-peso fine, but Lance’s license stayed with him.
.:Backblogging: Rated Sh-Oh-Biz!:.
While we were waiting for the next challenge to get set up, all four of us, Sam, David, Lance, and myself, were talking about showbiz. David had a mouthful to say, as he practically confirmed who was with whom, who was gay, who was dating whom, and so forth, and the fact that well, he was dating a Viva Hot Babe. My favorite surviving member, in fact, and that he was rumored with four other girls all at the same time, which was why he was due for an interview on The Buzz on Sunday.
It was madcap, and it deserves a very locked post in the near future, as I practically had a lot of good showbiz informations that you prolly won’t be hearing from The Buzz anytime soon…
.:Backblogging: Rated Oh-Kray!:.
The second and last challenge proved to be a killer: tinkling. Let’s just say that ironically, the Amboy, David, did best in this round, and my Dance Dance Revo skillz were no much to the constantly increasing speed at which I had to keep up with the bamboo sticks.
Afterwards, we finally had dinner, and the dinner was definitely awesome, to say the least. It was a grill buffet, where after having starved ourselves prior to dinner by talking about our favorite kinds of food, we then looked at mounds of succulent meat and seafood that they would promptly grill for us when we ask for it, and we’d get back the finished product in all its glory. Lamb, beef, pork, chicken, lobster, mussels, shrimp, salmon, all of that was fair game… mmm.
.:Backblogging: Rated Decish-Oh-N!:.
And of course, after dinner, Sam finally made up her mind whom she would date from the three of us…
And of course, she picked…
Well, tune in on Sunday, 11 PM, ETC, to find out.
Didn’t think I’d give away the ending just like that, did you? ;)
It was Saturday..
I woke up and got ready to go to the taping, as we were supposed to meet at Greenbelt, and I was particularly clueless what to expect. I was a bit confident about my odds of winning the date, but with these things, you can never be too sure, especially since challenges and stuff don’t matter, and all that’d really matter is who Sam would pick.
In essence, I was going up against two guys… (Refer to my earlier pictures for reference.) Lance, and the so-called “Scam Milby”, David. We were given archetypes, and I was “boy next door”, David was “bad boy”, and Lance was “serious”. We had to hole up at Red Box Karaoke, where we simply just sat around and got ourselves acquainted with each other by singing our lungs out with whatever song we felt like singing at the moment. I had my creative piece ready for Ms. Oh, and I was pretty sure it was going to floor her, no matter what.
Anyways, Lance is the brother of Lally’s boyfriend, while David was one of those models from Cosmo magazine, and is a talent for ABS-CBN. He really looks like Sam Milby, and I’ll explain a bit later how that panned out for us.
Anyways, after a bit, we finally got the show on the road, and I was the first guy they got to show up in front of Sam. It opened with the requisite kiss on the cheek, and then after some banter, we had to do a second take since she forgot about the creative work.
So I showed her. It was a sketch of her in anime style, and I really tried my best to get it right. But in the middle of two sketches, I had a poem written down, and she asked me to read the poem to her. So I did.
Two lines into the poem, I started folding up the paper and handing it to her while I continued reciting the rest of the poem from memory. She was floored, and I knew I achieved what I wanted to achieve from the start: I made an impact from the first impression.
I then left and holed back up in our videoke room as the other two guys had their turn. We were then called to come together on-cam for the first time for the first challenge: the videoke challenge. To make things difficult, they picked the song for us.
I got “All By Myself”, and I hit the song effortlessly. I knew the lyrics, and I even knew how to add Sam Oh’s name somewhere in the lyrics just to drive home the point that I really knew what I was doing. Ha. It was funny though that when they asked me if I knew how to sing, I said “no, not at all,” which made for a good ploy to shock them when they found out I actually could. It was definitely a good run and I pulled out the stops. Unlike the other two guys, I was playing to win the date.
David got a couple of songs he had no idea how to sing at all. One has to be completely shocked over the fact that he did not know what “Bed Of Roses” was, or who Bon Jovi is!!! That being said, he finally got to sing “I Want It That Way”, but despite being a singer for ABS, he flubbed because he was sick. Lance just managed with his song, 98 Degrees’ “Because Of You”. If they gave out scores, I’d have to say I won that one handily.
After that point, we then had interviews where we talked smack about the other contestants, since in Elimidate, you can’t be friends with your competition. You have to see it to believe it. I was really talking some smack, and it ended with:
First knight, also gonna be the last knight
You guys aren’t gonna be treading so light
I’m gonna fight for Ms. Oh with all my might
Yo guys, ::waves hand in front of face:: you can’t see me, aight?
The cameraman joked at me and said, “Thank you, Mr. Cena”.
.:Backblogging: Rated Oh No!:.
After the first challenge, we all rode with Lance to get to the next challenge venue, Westin Philippine Plaza.
David and I turned out to be movie nuts, and he even did me one better by saying his favorite quote from every movie we brought up to talk about. If he knew the film, he had a quote. It was cool, and despite the supposed on-cam hostilities, all three searchees were getting along marvelously, and Sam was even with us in the car, so we really got to bond and talk about stuff like what Sam used to do before becoming a TV host (She was a corporate interpreter.), or how many times David gets mistaken for Sam Milby (All the time.). Hades, even the owner of Red Box was fooled.
Now, along the way, Lance got caught by cops for beating a red light, and subsequently, reckless driving. He was being charged 2000 pesos plus his license, and he was trying to beg it off, and what was awesome about it was that Lance had this brilliant idea of saying “Sam Milby” was in the car with us, and he had an interview with Sam Oh (At the front seat.), and we were in a hurry to get to the studio for the taping.
The cops bought it hook, line, and sinker. For crying out loud, when the first cop got wind of this, he called his other colleagues one at a time as if they had to talk shop, but really now, it was all a ploy to ogle a celebrity. Meanwhile, “Scam/Sham Milby” was smiling and apologizing that his driver was in a rush, and pleaded for leniency.
We got off with a 450-peso fine, but Lance’s license stayed with him.
.:Backblogging: Rated Sh-Oh-Biz!:.
While we were waiting for the next challenge to get set up, all four of us, Sam, David, Lance, and myself, were talking about showbiz. David had a mouthful to say, as he practically confirmed who was with whom, who was gay, who was dating whom, and so forth, and the fact that well, he was dating a Viva Hot Babe. My favorite surviving member, in fact, and that he was rumored with four other girls all at the same time, which was why he was due for an interview on The Buzz on Sunday.
It was madcap, and it deserves a very locked post in the near future, as I practically had a lot of good showbiz informations that you prolly won’t be hearing from The Buzz anytime soon…
.:Backblogging: Rated Oh-Kray!:.
The second and last challenge proved to be a killer: tinkling. Let’s just say that ironically, the Amboy, David, did best in this round, and my Dance Dance Revo skillz were no much to the constantly increasing speed at which I had to keep up with the bamboo sticks.
Afterwards, we finally had dinner, and the dinner was definitely awesome, to say the least. It was a grill buffet, where after having starved ourselves prior to dinner by talking about our favorite kinds of food, we then looked at mounds of succulent meat and seafood that they would promptly grill for us when we ask for it, and we’d get back the finished product in all its glory. Lamb, beef, pork, chicken, lobster, mussels, shrimp, salmon, all of that was fair game… mmm.
.:Backblogging: Rated Decish-Oh-N!:.
And of course, after dinner, Sam finally made up her mind whom she would date from the three of us…
And of course, she picked…
Well, tune in on Sunday, 11 PM, ETC, to find out.
Didn’t think I’d give away the ending just like that, did you? ;)
Backblogging Part I...
.:Backblogging: Thursday, 14 September, 2006:.
Wednesday was relatively non-happening because I was mostly just doing my playlists, so the bulk of the eventful stuff happened today, when I decided to have Elbert come over to work and spirit me away as we had our “meeting”. Truth be told, that was mainly an excuse for me to get away from the office as soon as possible. I was feeling dumber and dumber by the minute, but there was a mild cause of excitement for me on that day.
I received a text message from a friend working at ETC, Lally. She asked me if I wanted to have a date with Sam Oh, and I naturally agreed. That being said, I was telling Elbert about it, as we headed to the press so that he could meet Jamie and go to Xavier for a small art workshop. They lectured grade 4-6 students, and I found it pretty amusing that they were paying more attention to my PSP than anything else. That being said, the cool part of all this was that it was possible that this could lead up to an art workshop for ICA, and I told El that I couldn’t miss *that* for the world. Nonethelesss, we went on, and by the time Elbert was done with his part of the workshop, he gave a bit of a personal lesson to one kid who was eager to learn at the back, and the other kids promptly stopped listening to Jamie’s lecture at front and flocked around El.
Apparently, this was “revenge” of sorts for the fact that Elbert hasn’t been receiving a cent for his contributions to Nautilus since he resigned, and this was the running joke for the day. Anytime something goes wrong it’s because “Hindi pinapaswelduhan ni Jamie si Elbert”.
At one point, JP of Hero Channel, the ones who organized this whole workshop, wanted to make ex-deals with me since I do precisely that for WAVE. When I mentioned ICA, he promptly and jokingly offered me an ex-deal of students, which had me grinning from ear to ear.
So anyways, Estelle then met us at Megamall after the whole thing, and we hung out a while although since school began, I’m glad that ‘Elle’s been making the effort to go home earlier and all that. Shortly after, my uncle fetched me, then took me to Hot Rocks for dinner and I had two milkshakes there. Steak was awesome… hehe.
.:Backblogging Corollary: My Flashdisk:.
I apparently lost my flashdisk when it dropped out or something while I was having dinner with my uncle that night. It was a bit frustrating because some of my key unpublished blog entries, namely on Scientology and I believe the Gospel of Judas, were there and I wasn’t through edting them just yet.
In there were some pictures all the same, although I prolly had backups of those pictures.
But it’s not that. What I really felt bad about losing were the chat transcripts.
You see, I’m the kind of person who would do something like that. I’d really have transcripts and keep every conversation I’ve had with significant people. At this point of my life, few people are more significant, and a good chunk of those transcripts, well... fill in the blanks.
I’m an emotional packrat, and more than anything else, I really feel bad about losing memories that I kept for so long. I can’t believe I was too stupid to not back those files up…. Sigh.
.:Backblogging: Friday, 15 September, 2006:.
I finally got a 4GB Memory Stick for my PSP. Shortly afterwards, I was receiving confirmation from Lally that yes, I was going to be part of Elimidate on Saturday for Sam Oh’s show. You can tell I was beside myself with glee, and when I was asked to prepare something creative, I knew what I had to do.
Too bad El refused to draw. :P
Anyways, April and Estelle soon showed up at G2, and along with them was Alex and JP, which led to some v-ery interesting pictures, to say the least. I’ll show all the pictures in a separate post… heh. It’s a bit difficult to put all of that in this uber-long backblog.
After a bit of conversation that included rating girls from 1 to 10 as they passed by the foodcourt, we then went off to Icebound, which was difficult, since we had no idea whatsoever where it was. Other than the fact that there were lots and lots of hot girls there in the party, it really did me no favors, especially since looking at Chinese hot girls with long hair tend to remind me of people I’d rather not be reminded of while in the middle of a party.
I especially didn’t find the whole setup amusing mainly because other than the fact that it was cold there (No duh. It’s Icebound, after all.), the party was really meh. And this is coming from a guy who isn’t even a party animal, to begin with.
So after a few minutes, we just headed out to Seattle’s Best, and I led Elbert there, which of course wasn’t the smartest thing to do when you realize El’s mood as of late, over a lot of things. Still, it was all good… we even had fun singing along as this Law Student was playing his guitar near us… heh.
I got home pretty late after I hitched with April, but it’s no big deal, I guess. It was d-day. Sam Oh was beckoning me.
Wednesday was relatively non-happening because I was mostly just doing my playlists, so the bulk of the eventful stuff happened today, when I decided to have Elbert come over to work and spirit me away as we had our “meeting”. Truth be told, that was mainly an excuse for me to get away from the office as soon as possible. I was feeling dumber and dumber by the minute, but there was a mild cause of excitement for me on that day.
I received a text message from a friend working at ETC, Lally. She asked me if I wanted to have a date with Sam Oh, and I naturally agreed. That being said, I was telling Elbert about it, as we headed to the press so that he could meet Jamie and go to Xavier for a small art workshop. They lectured grade 4-6 students, and I found it pretty amusing that they were paying more attention to my PSP than anything else. That being said, the cool part of all this was that it was possible that this could lead up to an art workshop for ICA, and I told El that I couldn’t miss *that* for the world. Nonethelesss, we went on, and by the time Elbert was done with his part of the workshop, he gave a bit of a personal lesson to one kid who was eager to learn at the back, and the other kids promptly stopped listening to Jamie’s lecture at front and flocked around El.
Apparently, this was “revenge” of sorts for the fact that Elbert hasn’t been receiving a cent for his contributions to Nautilus since he resigned, and this was the running joke for the day. Anytime something goes wrong it’s because “Hindi pinapaswelduhan ni Jamie si Elbert”.
At one point, JP of Hero Channel, the ones who organized this whole workshop, wanted to make ex-deals with me since I do precisely that for WAVE. When I mentioned ICA, he promptly and jokingly offered me an ex-deal of students, which had me grinning from ear to ear.
So anyways, Estelle then met us at Megamall after the whole thing, and we hung out a while although since school began, I’m glad that ‘Elle’s been making the effort to go home earlier and all that. Shortly after, my uncle fetched me, then took me to Hot Rocks for dinner and I had two milkshakes there. Steak was awesome… hehe.
.:Backblogging Corollary: My Flashdisk:.
I apparently lost my flashdisk when it dropped out or something while I was having dinner with my uncle that night. It was a bit frustrating because some of my key unpublished blog entries, namely on Scientology and I believe the Gospel of Judas, were there and I wasn’t through edting them just yet.
In there were some pictures all the same, although I prolly had backups of those pictures.
But it’s not that. What I really felt bad about losing were the chat transcripts.
You see, I’m the kind of person who would do something like that. I’d really have transcripts and keep every conversation I’ve had with significant people. At this point of my life, few people are more significant, and a good chunk of those transcripts, well... fill in the blanks.
I’m an emotional packrat, and more than anything else, I really feel bad about losing memories that I kept for so long. I can’t believe I was too stupid to not back those files up…. Sigh.
.:Backblogging: Friday, 15 September, 2006:.
I finally got a 4GB Memory Stick for my PSP. Shortly afterwards, I was receiving confirmation from Lally that yes, I was going to be part of Elimidate on Saturday for Sam Oh’s show. You can tell I was beside myself with glee, and when I was asked to prepare something creative, I knew what I had to do.
Too bad El refused to draw. :P
Anyways, April and Estelle soon showed up at G2, and along with them was Alex and JP, which led to some v-ery interesting pictures, to say the least. I’ll show all the pictures in a separate post… heh. It’s a bit difficult to put all of that in this uber-long backblog.
After a bit of conversation that included rating girls from 1 to 10 as they passed by the foodcourt, we then went off to Icebound, which was difficult, since we had no idea whatsoever where it was. Other than the fact that there were lots and lots of hot girls there in the party, it really did me no favors, especially since looking at Chinese hot girls with long hair tend to remind me of people I’d rather not be reminded of while in the middle of a party.
I especially didn’t find the whole setup amusing mainly because other than the fact that it was cold there (No duh. It’s Icebound, after all.), the party was really meh. And this is coming from a guy who isn’t even a party animal, to begin with.
So after a few minutes, we just headed out to Seattle’s Best, and I led Elbert there, which of course wasn’t the smartest thing to do when you realize El’s mood as of late, over a lot of things. Still, it was all good… we even had fun singing along as this Law Student was playing his guitar near us… heh.
I got home pretty late after I hitched with April, but it’s no big deal, I guess. It was d-day. Sam Oh was beckoning me.
Wednesday, September 20, 2006
Sigh...
.:Chismax:.
I thought it might be good for you guys to know that I have amazing confirmation of a certain celebrity couple. One you might not expect.
Probably because even if they went out in the open about their relationship, they won't be paired up in movies anytime soon.
I'll give you a hint... A dreamboy closeup.
.:It Never Ends...:.
... and while I know that I shouldn't even acknowledge *she* still exists...
I just want her to know I feel bad for her.
And *she* deserves better than to let herself get walked over by that prick in *her* office.
I still love *her*.
I just wish *she* knew that.
I also wish *she* knows I'm still waiting for *her*.
I thought it might be good for you guys to know that I have amazing confirmation of a certain celebrity couple. One you might not expect.
Probably because even if they went out in the open about their relationship, they won't be paired up in movies anytime soon.
I'll give you a hint... A dreamboy closeup.
.:It Never Ends...:.
... and while I know that I shouldn't even acknowledge *she* still exists...
I just want her to know I feel bad for her.
And *she* deserves better than to let herself get walked over by that prick in *her* office.
I still love *her*.
I just wish *she* knew that.
I also wish *she* knows I'm still waiting for *her*.
Monday, September 18, 2006
Pluggage
Detailed recap posting next time. For now, let the pictures tell the story...
.:Major Pluggage:.
On Sunday night, September 24, I'll be one of the searchees hoping to win a date with the gorgeous Ms. Sam Oh herself on ETC, 11:00 PM. Prepare to see me pull out all the stops as I hope to woo Ms. Oh while competing against two other guys who are just as determined as I am.
Again, it's September 24, 2006, 11 PM, at ETC (Entertainment Channel). The show is "Rated Oh", starring of course, Ms. Sam Oh.
In the meantime, pictures of that momentous event in my life...
.:Major Pluggage:.
On Sunday night, September 24, I'll be one of the searchees hoping to win a date with the gorgeous Ms. Sam Oh herself on ETC, 11:00 PM. Prepare to see me pull out all the stops as I hope to woo Ms. Oh while competing against two other guys who are just as determined as I am.
Again, it's September 24, 2006, 11 PM, at ETC (Entertainment Channel). The show is "Rated Oh", starring of course, Ms. Sam Oh.
In the meantime, pictures of that momentous event in my life...
Sam Oh and I...
The competitors in the vicinity...
.:One Batista Pic For Now...:.
Until I find a better one, here goes...
The Beast is unleashed!
Thursday, September 14, 2006
Yikee!!!
.:A Meme:.
I got this from everyone. Just fill it up, and then, well, you can coerce me to fill up yours if I haven't yet. :P
1. Your Full Name:
2. Age:
3. Single or Taken:
4. Favorite Movie:
5. Favorite Song:
6. Favorite Band/Rapper/Artist:
7. Dirty or Clean:
8. Tattoos and/or Piercings:
HERE COMES THE FUN ... ... ...
1. Do we know each other outside of LiveJournal?
2. What's your philosophy on life?
3. Would you have my back in a fight?
4. Would you keep a secret from me if you thought it was in my best interest?
5. What is your favorite memory of us?
6. Would you give me a kidney?
7. Tell me one odd/interesting fact about you:
8. Would you take care of me if I were sick?
9. Can we get together and make a cake?
10. Have you heard any rumors of me lately?
11. Do you/have you talk(ed) crap about me?
12. Do you think I'm a good person?
13. Would you drive across country with me?
14. Do you think I'm attractive?
15. If you could change anything about me, what would you change?
16. What do you wear to sleep?
17. Would you come over for no reason just to hang out?
18. Would you go on a date with me if I asked you?
19. If I only had one day to live, what would we do together?
20. Will you post this so I can fill it out for you? Come on!
I got this from everyone. Just fill it up, and then, well, you can coerce me to fill up yours if I haven't yet. :P
1. Your Full Name:
2. Age:
3. Single or Taken:
4. Favorite Movie:
5. Favorite Song:
6. Favorite Band/Rapper/Artist:
7. Dirty or Clean:
8. Tattoos and/or Piercings:
HERE COMES THE FUN ... ... ...
1. Do we know each other outside of LiveJournal?
2. What's your philosophy on life?
3. Would you have my back in a fight?
4. Would you keep a secret from me if you thought it was in my best interest?
5. What is your favorite memory of us?
6. Would you give me a kidney?
7. Tell me one odd/interesting fact about you:
8. Would you take care of me if I were sick?
9. Can we get together and make a cake?
10. Have you heard any rumors of me lately?
11. Do you/have you talk(ed) crap about me?
12. Do you think I'm a good person?
13. Would you drive across country with me?
14. Do you think I'm attractive?
15. If you could change anything about me, what would you change?
16. What do you wear to sleep?
17. Would you come over for no reason just to hang out?
18. Would you go on a date with me if I asked you?
19. If I only had one day to live, what would we do together?
20. Will you post this so I can fill it out for you? Come on!
Tuesday, September 12, 2006
Whooooo!!!
.:Aufwiedersehen:.
One of my longest-standing best friends, Abby, is going to Denmark tonight for her Masters.
I'm very proud of you, Abby, and I'll see you soon. Blaze a trail only you can ever possibly blaze. Take care, and know that I'll always be there for you.
Always. =)
.:Before Cranking It Up:.
I watched this movie premiere with El, 'Elle, and Moon. It was definitely awesome, to say the least, and as usual, Elbert played his 20 questions game to get to know Moon and her friend better while we were waiting for Estelle, who was late as usual...
Elbert and I were dared to make out, but we told Moon and her friend to do it first, then we would. They balked, so we didn't find the need to prove our masculinity by making out in a manly, non-homoerotic manner. We're secure about our masculinity that way. Making out with another guy? Ha! It doesn't faze us.
.:Film Review: Crank:.
One of my longest-standing best friends, Abby, is going to Denmark tonight for her Masters.
I'm very proud of you, Abby, and I'll see you soon. Blaze a trail only you can ever possibly blaze. Take care, and know that I'll always be there for you.
Always. =)
.:Before Cranking It Up:.
I watched this movie premiere with El, 'Elle, and Moon. It was definitely awesome, to say the least, and as usual, Elbert played his 20 questions game to get to know Moon and her friend better while we were waiting for Estelle, who was late as usual...
Elbert and I were dared to make out, but we told Moon and her friend to do it first, then we would. They balked, so we didn't find the need to prove our masculinity by making out in a manly, non-homoerotic manner. We're secure about our masculinity that way. Making out with another guy? Ha! It doesn't faze us.
.:Film Review: Crank:.
With a preview of another film right beside me!
This movie's romp into film noir-ish pastiche started from the opening graphic of the movie, and even kicked in when they established the point of the story by the first scene, as Chev was on all fours in his living room, watching a video that informed him he was poisoned. Vowing revenge on the people who did this to him, he slowly discovers that in order for him to stay alive, he has to keep on doing things that would give him an adrenaline rush.
And do things, he does! He runs the gamut of doing it in the middle of Chinatown with his girlfriend, getting into a fight for the sake of getting into a fight, snorting coke, taking nasal sprays with ephenedrine (artifical adrenaline), being shocked by a fibrillator (Spelling?), and other such activities. Anytime there's a lull in the movie, the poison starts kicking in, so he has to make things happen, and when things happen, instead of being action-packed, you end up laughing your head off at the sheer inanity of what's been going on.
Some would argue that this movie, in its usage of film-noir techniques for comedic effect instead of artistic innovation, is even funnier than Snakes On A Plane, and I'm hard-pressed to disagree with that notion.
Favorite line in the movie (Chev's Doctor): If you stop, you die!!!
Second favorite line in the movie (Chev): (To people, after knocking the taxi driver who didn't want to let him in the cab.) Al Qaeda!!!
Jason Statham's acting was impeccable. He was deadpan as a killer-for-hire who was running around causing havoc all over town, and the movie was so downright campy, especially with the CGI shots of his heart that you can't help but laugh out loud because Chev doesn't seem to even find the humor in anything he's been doing, while it's there for everyone to see. The entire cast knew how to ham it up to a fault, but also knew better than to let the hamming get in the way of the very amusing flow of the movie: climax, lull, climax, lull, climax, lull, climax, essentially simulating the adrenaline glands of Chev in the movie.
With an inane plot, campy dialogue, lopsided motivations, static characters, stereotypes, racism, drug use and references, crass toilet humor, and overall bad special effects, you are treated to a deceptively awesome movie, to say the least. Worth a watch for anyone who's willing to leave his brain at the door.
Critical Evaluation: F
Fun Evaluation: A+++
.:I Met Batista. Gasp:.
So I met up with Estelle and her best friend, Cams, around the Shangrila area. Thing is, Estelle wasn't really a wrestling fan, but because she knows I'm a huge huge fan of all things wrestling, she went ahead and invited me to meet Batista.
From Shangrila, we headed to Gateway, where I had fond and bitter memories of days past, and since I recently finished quite a load of work for my uncle Raymund for the whole playlists thing, I pigged out on Taco Bell and Dairy Queen. Wasn't so bad, if it weren’t for the fact that almost the same things were being served at the Roxas residence where Batista was going to make an appearance.
I was a bit worried about not having a camera, but luckily, a photographer friend of Tita Toots' showed up and volunteered to take pictures. I had the WWE Title Belt on me, and I had Batista sign the title, although he never particularly held that belt anyways. I really wish I had the WCW Title, though. That one was awesome.
I was tongue-tied while I was trying to talk to him. I was hoping to ask for a picture where he was going to smack me with a belt, but it didn't pan out well since he was sitting and I was nervous. Heh. I don't get starstruck except around pro wrestlers, apparently.
Thanks, Bessy! I really, really loved the chance to meet Batista in person...
.:The Sweetest Thing:.
When it comes to non-romantic gestures, this tops the list for sweet gestures, to say the least.
I'm sure by now that all my friends know that during my birthday, the first thing I would always ask for are handwritten letters (Hint, hint.). That being said, Estelle did one better than that.
In fact, she did twenty-two better than that.
For twenty-three days until my birthday, she has been giving me one letter a day. To represent the twenty-three years we haven't known each other, and twenty-three letters loaded with insight on how wonderful a person Bessy really is.
What else can I say? I'd be hard-pressed to come up with anything remotely as brilliant as that, though some ideas come to mind, as early as now...
.:Rush Rush:.
I made a boo-boo with the playlists I was doing a while back, and had to redo all of them. My uncle even ended up having to meet me at my office while I worked on the whole thing, but it wasn't so bad, really.
Afterwards, I finished the work, and then of course, the Batista episode happened. From there, I found myself not sleepy yet and ended up going with Moon and her friends to Videoke in Marikina. As usual, I went for my staples: Gary V, Ogie Alcasid, Lionel Richie and Diana Ross, and Salbakuta. From there, I slept over at Elbert's, only to find out the following day that a huge gaff occurred with the playlists for Gaisano, and it wasn't our fault, but we had to redo playlists anyways.
So again, I met up with my uncle, and we fixed some stuff up, and resolved that we'd also work out a schedule for me to learn a bit of sound engineering in the near future as well. It was a pretty good time, and my cousin, Maikee, was awfully sweet that day, and was amused at my PSP, to say the least.
After finishing the work, he dropped me off at Elbert's place, and it ended up being a gathering of me, El, 'Elle, Johan, and ND. Moon dropped by after a while, and late as she was, it was still good to see how well she hit it off with my friends.
.:Food Trip:.
Come Sunday, El and I waited for April, as I wanted her to get to know Elbert and Estelle, since I was hoping she'd have some new friends she could talk to and all that. I was very glad because El and 'Elle really really like her, and of course, eating at Wai Ying along with ND made things even cooler.
I pigged out, to be sure. I had two servings of duck rice, and dumplings galore. Awesome food, to say the least.
In any case, El instigated the ice breaker by asking the ghost of past, present, and future question. Answers were very interesting and insightful, and what stood out was how Estelle and April really seemed to find a lot of common ground with each other. They got along a lot, and despite having met all of 'em for the first time, April was comfortable enough to be on hugging basis with all of them already, even Elbert (!).
Nonetheless, from there, we headed out to Greenhills to just hang out some more, and since it was just me and April while El, 'Elle, and ND were in the other vehicle, April and I took the time out to bond some more, and share a quiet but meaningful moment. It's hard to find such simple moments nowadays, to be honest. With everything so hurly-burly, it's a lot easier to just be all sound and fury and stuff. Instead, here we were, having a tender moment, further reminding me how lucky I am to have friends like April.
While the whole deal in Greenhills was fairly non-happening, the trip home was fairly eventful, nonetheless. Elbert and April continued talking some more, and it turned out that a certain Annoying Ditzy Idiot got her comeuppance courtesy of April. Ha! Wonderful!
.:Mondaze:.
I can't believe it's been six months since I last ate at Manang's. It's been very odd and all, but I guess the killer thing that has happened was that my trip to the Philosophy Department proved most enlightening. They were asking me to eat with them if I so wanted, but I declined. What was really interesting was that after all has been said and done, I still have a soft spot in my heart for Philosophy, going as far as to ask Mr. Calasanz for a reading list for me to go over while I'm not yet with the department, and him asking me if I was happy.
I told him that if I were in the academe again, I knew I would. I believe that, quite honestly.
Afterwards, I just really hung around, bonded a bit with Estelle over the phone and told her how things have been going lately, and how despite the downs here and there, for the most part, I'm on the up and up and I'm very happy with my friends. Maybe I'll never love someone again the way I still love *her*, but I know that I can share my affection for my friends, nonetheless. Hades, I even hugged Elbert. Ahahahaha.
Surprisingly, April dropped in on us, and we had really funny conversations in Seattle's Best, mainly with us doing voices and lamenting the death of Ernie due to HIV, and all that stuff. Still, April has been very much happy lately, which was a far cry from how she used to be for the previous times I've been meeting her. I'm glad that it's that way, because I know that her finding her smile once again is nothing but good news, to say the least...
That being said, when we got back to El's place, I freaked April out by pretending to be in the throes of passsion as Elbert was trying to maintain some semblance of decorum while talking to Estelle over the phone. Elsie, Elbert's sister, was snickering all the way, and it was definitely amusing how Elsie and Elbert act around each other... hehe.
Friday, September 08, 2006
BATISTA!!!
Yes. You read it right.
Thanks to my bessy, Estelle, I am meeting Batista later tonight.
I think nothing more needs to be said beyond that.=P
Thanks to my bessy, Estelle, I am meeting Batista later tonight.
I think nothing more needs to be said beyond that.=P
Tuesday, September 05, 2006
Battle Royale Fanfic!
Tell me what you think! I've been fine-tuning it a bit for public consumption, clearing out grammatical errors, and making the speech feel more natural. Hope you like what I have so far. Thanks to my beta readers, Markpoa and Elbert. :)
.:Battle Royale: The Prologue:.
In May 2004, the Philippines elected FPJ as president of the Philippines. Due to his noble but unfeasible wealth redistribution program, the more affluent Filipinos migrated in anticipation of his party's railroading of the program in congress, which resulted in a severe economic recession. The country was in severe unrest due to Fernando Poe Jr's aimless administration. This unfortunate turn of events was exacerbated by his untimely death in December 2004, leaving the country with no choice but to place the presidency in the hands of his vice president, Noli De Castro.
De Castro was not only inept at handling economic affairs, but was even more incompetent with diplomatic affairs, as he relied mainly on the Catholic church and the moralist sector of society. His over-conservative agenda led to a rift between the Philippines and its most powerful ally: the United States.
De Castro's flimsy concept of "economic recovery" mainly hinged on adopting a hardline stance over the disputed Spratly islands, which over time provoked a series of blitzkrieg strikes on key areas in the Philippines by China. The Chinese were met with little resistance, as not only did the De Castro administration heavily cut back the budget allocation for the military, but De Castro's advisers foolishly recommended a non-aggressive position against China.
Due to the lack of U.S. aid and due to the Catholic influence that prevented any chance of employing adequate force against China, the Philippines surrendered in an embarrassing one-sided rout to China within a mere two months, narrowly avoiding complete colonization at the cost of dropping any claims to the Spratlys and cessation of oil-rich Palawan as a Chinese colony for the next fifty years.
The resulting chaos after these significant blunders by the De Castro administration resulted in the military staging a successful coup against the government, and subsequently, the establishment of a military junta.
Because the new leadership places the blame for the Philippines' current economic and diplomatic woes squarely on the Catholic church and the moralist sector of the country, its first point of action was mainly geared towards undoing the religious and moralist influence in the country through any means possible, with little to no regard of any moral implications.
In a complete 180-degree turn, morality and religion was spurned in favor of total compliance with the military chain of command, and duty was given the forefront emphasis as the sole basis of peace and order in the country, rather than moral norms and religious sensibilities.
In accordance with this objective, the new leadership has enacted the Philippine Military Administrative Act 1021, or the Battle Royale Act. This act seeked to expose the Catholic church and the moralist sector of the country as a hypocritical facade that was now irrelevant to the progressing times.
.:Battle Royale: Chapter I- The Gathering:.
Battle Royale, Chapter 2- Orientation:
Unlike his classmates, Matthew De Castro (IV AB LIT) was not the least bit aghast over Supreme Commander Lacson's presence. Visibly annoyed at Lacson, Matt stood up brazenly. "Who the hell do you think you are, kidnapping us and bringing us to this place? We demand an explanation!" As he continued to stand in defiance, some of his classmates whispered to him to calm him down. Lacson was surrounded by fifteen armed men. Matt De Castro was obviously in no position to make demands.
Lacson chuckled lightly and immediately recognized Matt. "Who the hell do I think I am, Mr. De Castro? Why, I just so happen to be the one calling the shots in this country now in place of that ridiculous, incompetent excuse for a president you call 'uncle'." Lacson spoke with a venomous tinge in his voice as he relished each insult he hurled at the former president. "If I were you, I'd sit down, shut up, and listen."
Supreme Commander Lacson paused for a few more moments as some of Matt's classmates finally convinced him to sit down.
Lacson then addressed the class. "This class has been randomly selected to take part in the first ever Philippine Battle Royale, as provided for under Military Administrative Act 1021."
Lacson was met with blank stares.
He cleared his throat and continued. "Noli De Castro was a fool who believed that the Catholic church and the moralist sector would be capable of saving this country from the brink of collapse. He neglected the military, and focused on charitable work when he should have given his attention to defending the country from within and without. Clearly, that was his undoing."
Matt refused to believe his ears. He indignantly rose from his seat again. "You're wrong, Lacson! Dead wrong! My uncle had the best of intentions for this country!"
"Am I? Did he? The road to Hell is paved with good intentions. Look where all that religion and morality got this country. If I want to rectify what your uncle has screwed up, I have to prove how irrelevant religion and morality are when facing dire situations."
Vivian Lim (IV AB IS), one of Matt's closer friends in the class, whispered to him. "Get a hold of yourself, Matt!"
Matt remained silent for a moment and took his seat again. Lacson then made his point painfully clear. "Clearly, you're wondering what this has to do with all of you. Consider yourself guinea pigs for my experiment. The main rule of the Battle Royale is simple: kill or be killed."
A petite girl, Katherine Florencio (IV- AB PSY), raised her hand with trepidation.
"Yes?" Lacson asked.
"S-sir," she stammered. "You can't expect to just sanction murder! We're all friends! We won't..."
Lacson cut her off. "I did say, 'kill or be killed'. It's quite simple. You are all in this Battle Royale, whether you like it or not. You have three days to survive in this campus, until only one of you is left. If there is no sole survivor by the end of seventy-two hours, all of you will die."
The class looked on in disbelief at what Supreme Commander Lacson has said so far. Frantic whispers were passed back and forth between the classmates, while Lacson stared Matt down unblinkingly
"Mr. De Castro, my reasons, as should be obvious to you by now, run far deeper than a mere vendetta against you or your worthless family. Your death is just as inconsequential to me as the death of every single classmate of yours, so don't think you're so special, Mr. De Castro."
Matthew rolled his eyes. "Hooray for equality."
Supreme Commander Lacson ignored Matt's droll sarcasm and motioned towards the LCD screen on the wall, where a video began to play. Onscreen, a group of girls were dancing in military uniforms while singing giddily and carrying rifles. The girl in the middle smiled and stood still for a moment while the rest danced on. "Hi! My name is Rochelle, and I'm here to explain to you how you're going to go about the Battle Royale!"
The other girls chanted in unison. "Get, get, aww!"
A buzz within the class began. For a fleeting moment, curiosity replaced fear, and they glued themselves to the screen.
Rochelle then did a cartwheel before speaking up again. "Each of you will be given a bag with rations good for the next three days, and a random weapon. Your weapon can be anything from a gun to a handkerchief!"
The other girls waved their hands with gusto. "Exciting!"
Rochelle then started doing some complicated dance steps involving her rifle, but before the video could play any further, a voice boomed from the back of the room.
"STOP THIS MADNESS!!!"
Lacson was startled for a moment and saw a heavy-set man who certainly didn't look like a student. It was Chicco, and while the students restrained him, Lacson's men aimed their guns at him.
Lacson paused the video and motioned for his men to bring Chicco in front of him. Lacson eyed him warily. "What's wrong? You're scared of a little game?"
Chicco replied, "I'm not a student of this class. I shouldn't be here."
"Oh, is that so?"
"My name is Chicco Sugay. Here's my identification. I'm not part of this class!"
While Matthew felt betrayed over Chicco's attempt to weasel out of the situation, he figured that it was SJ who told him that he should try to reason with Lacson. Desperate times call for desperate measures, as the saying goes.
"What a wuss," whispered Neil Rosario (IV BS MATH), to Jason Salita. Jason shook his head, then whispered back. "Can you blame the guy? Would you want to stay here if you were in his place?"
Matt then observed SJ more closely. She seemed very calm and collected despite the situation. Despite that, Matthew sensed a silent desperation in her eyes as she quickly looked away.
Lacson whispered to one of his men, and they handed him a list. He glanced at the list before putting a hand on Chicco's shoulder. "Well, I guess you're right. You're not part of this class. What do you want us to do about it?"
Chicco practically begged on his knees. "I don't want to be part of this madness. Please."
"How pathetic can you get?" Supreme Commander Lacson sneered. "You shout and make demands like some self-important bigshot one moment, and now, you beg like a pitiful little insect the next? Well, don't worry. You won't be a part of this Battle Royale."
"Really?"
"Of course. You have my word."
With that, Lacson whipped out a remote control, and aimed it at Chicco's collar. The center of the collar glowed a bright red.
"Wha- what's this?" Chicco grasped at his collar, in panic.
Beep.
Lacson smiled at him. "Why, you didn't want to be a part of this Battle Royale, right? Well, this pretty much serves the purpose of demonstrating to this class exactly what happens if in three days, nobody wins."
Beep.
Chicco turned deathly pale and crawled on his knees to Lacson. "No. Please! Make it stop!"
Beep.
"So, class," Lacson said, as he mocked the way a teacher addressed his students. "See those things on your necks? They are collar bombs. They are waterproof and shockproof. Once activated, such as you see right now, you have a minute before it detonates."
Chicco didn't look like he believed Lacson at first. Then he realized that Lacson was not known for his sense of humor. At all.
Beep. Beep.
"Every six hours, I will make a report of who died, and how that person died. If I feel like it, I'd even clue you in who killed who. Along with each report, I will give a list of danger zones that change on an hourly basis. If you are in a particular building that is marked as a danger zone, the collar will activate and will detonate unless you get out of there within a minute. If you somehow get out of campus grounds, you likewise have a minute to get back."
Chicco was grasping at his collar, and fell to his knees. His eyes frantically searched the room for someone, anyone, who'd try to help him. All he saw was a sea of horrified faces.
Beep. Beep.
"The whole campus is monitored by closed circuit cameras. Don't even try to touch any of those cameras, or I will promptly activate the collar of anyone who does."
Chicco was in panic, but the entire class was even more tense. As he looked around the room again, he noticed Dr. David seated in the corner. The usually outspoken and opinionated head of the Philosophy department was oddly quiet and keeping to himself at this point.
Beep. Beep. Beep.
"If you attempt to remove the collar by force, you won't have a minute. It will explode instantly. Make sure that you are aware of this."
Chicco started crawling around the Communication Department's living room frantically, but the students he approached were in a panic and pushed him away the moment he approached any of them. Lacson's men likewise pushed him away when he tried to come close to Lacson again.
Beep. Beep. Beep.
The collar's beeping sound drove Chicco insane. Matt's anger was momentarily replaced by concern. He felt pity for Chicco, but had no idea how to help him. He looked on silently as Chicco finally turned to SJ, who hugged him tightly.
Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep.
SJ looked into Chicco's eyes. "Stay here. If you will die, then we will die together."
"No! I can't let you do that!"
Chicco realized what SJ was trying to do and pushed her away.
<>Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beeeeeeeepppppp.
SJ staggered to the floor as Chicco's collar detonated and ripped the front part of his throat out, killing him instantly, and sending blood spurting across the room.
SJ collapsed on all fours in shock, a few feet away from him.
The class erupted in total panic as SJ turned deathly pale while she went closer to Chico's corpse. Some of the students started screaming. Some of them tried to run for the door. Others huddled together.
Lacson's men held them back and fired some warning shots into the air.
Chicco's blood flowed down one of Sarah Jane Quema's cheeks. She was staring catatonically at Chicco's corpse and didn't say a word.
Matthew gritted his teeth at Lacson's heartless demonstration. The soldiers ruthlessly hit any student who tried to run or fight back after they fired the warning shots. Lacson stood behind his soldiers. Some of the students were crying in shock. Others slowly approached those who were huddled together. It took a while, but the soldiers eventually restored order in the room. Matt silently cursed Lacson as the Supreme Commander observed his helpless classmates with a sadistic glint in his eyes.
Day 0, 2335 hours. Chicco Sugay (BS CS '04) was killed by his collar bomb. 31 to go.
In May 2004, the Philippines elected FPJ as president of the Philippines. Due to his noble but unfeasible wealth redistribution program, the more affluent Filipinos migrated in anticipation of his party's railroading of the program in congress, which resulted in a severe economic recession. The country was in severe unrest due to Fernando Poe Jr's aimless administration. This unfortunate turn of events was exacerbated by his untimely death in December 2004, leaving the country with no choice but to place the presidency in the hands of his vice president, Noli De Castro.
De Castro was not only inept at handling economic affairs, but was even more incompetent with diplomatic affairs, as he relied mainly on the Catholic church and the moralist sector of society. His over-conservative agenda led to a rift between the Philippines and its most powerful ally: the United States.
De Castro's flimsy concept of "economic recovery" mainly hinged on adopting a hardline stance over the disputed Spratly islands, which over time provoked a series of blitzkrieg strikes on key areas in the Philippines by China. The Chinese were met with little resistance, as not only did the De Castro administration heavily cut back the budget allocation for the military, but De Castro's advisers foolishly recommended a non-aggressive position against China.
Due to the lack of U.S. aid and due to the Catholic influence that prevented any chance of employing adequate force against China, the Philippines surrendered in an embarrassing one-sided rout to China within a mere two months, narrowly avoiding complete colonization at the cost of dropping any claims to the Spratlys and cessation of oil-rich Palawan as a Chinese colony for the next fifty years.
The resulting chaos after these significant blunders by the De Castro administration resulted in the military staging a successful coup against the government, and subsequently, the establishment of a military junta.
Because the new leadership places the blame for the Philippines' current economic and diplomatic woes squarely on the Catholic church and the moralist sector of the country, its first point of action was mainly geared towards undoing the religious and moralist influence in the country through any means possible, with little to no regard of any moral implications.
In a complete 180-degree turn, morality and religion was spurned in favor of total compliance with the military chain of command, and duty was given the forefront emphasis as the sole basis of peace and order in the country, rather than moral norms and religious sensibilities.
In accordance with this objective, the new leadership has enacted the Philippine Military Administrative Act 1021, or the Battle Royale Act. This act seeked to expose the Catholic church and the moralist sector of the country as a hypocritical facade that was now irrelevant to the progressing times.
You are invited to the Ph104-H Block Christmas party, to be held at 7:30 in the evening this 20 th of December, 2006, in the multi-purpose hall of the Holiday Inn, Robinson's Galleria Branch. See you there!
************************************************
From Michael Pablo's (IV AB PH) journal account:
I'm glad that this Christmas party is pushing through. Given how ambitious this celebration was, it was a wonder they actually found someone to sponsor this party. Of course, I'm sure everyone else would've been just as happy if the Christmas party happened in our classroom or something, but it seems everyone wanted to make what could very well be their last Christmas party as Ateneans as memorable as can be.
My girlfriend, Aletheia Ferriols (IV BS BIO), is waiting for me in the car right now. We're running a bit late, but I'm counting on little traffic along the way.
Theia really is the smartest girl in our batch. Not only does she have an unprecedented 3.98 QPI, but she even picked me as her boyfriend... lol.
I guess I have to log off now...
End of excerpt.
************************************************
"Where's Theia?"
Hannah Chia (IV BS ME) scanned the room for Theia, who was nowhere to be found in the gathering. Theia was the type who was always on time, so this was a surprise to her.
"Don't think about it too much, Hannah. She's going to the party with Michael, remember?" Nick Hernandez (V BS COE) said. Lea nodded in comprehension. Michael was notorious for being late almost all the time. Nick lightly held Hannah's hand as they walked around the room to greet a few other people, who were mildly surprised that they ended up being together just a week ago.
Hannah and Nick weren't really an odd couple, to say the least. They were an intellectual match, and their personalities complemented each other quite well. Hannah was a well-traveled girl whose thirst for knowledge knew no bounds. Nick hardly even needs to take the board exams to prove anything, given how excellent a student he was. He was arguably the only person in the room with more accolades to his name than Hannah. It was only a matter of time before they fell for each other.
"You're an item now?" asked Sharleen Santos (IV AB EURO), as the new couple hobnobbed with their classmates. "I mean, I know a lot of guys are a sucker for a genius like you, but boy, you're no keeper." She then rolled her eyes and walked off with her boyfriend, Jeffrey De Guzman (IV AB ECO). Hannah stopped Nick from starting a scene, as Dr. Rainier David (PHD Philosophy '90) walked up to the stage and took the microphone.
"Good evening, everyone. I'm glad all of you made it here tonight. I'd like to recognize the presence of our sponsor for tonight, Chicco of Hobby Haven," said Dr. David. Everyone applauded appreciatively.
"We'll just wait for any more latecomers, and we'll start the program in about five minutes," Dr. David continued. He smiled and waved to the people, and then stepped offstage to mingle with his students.
Most of the people were in a festive mood. Amid all the conversations going on, a lonesome figure was seated in a corner, and approached by a familiar face.
"Hello, Adrienne," said Cedric Gabriel (IV AB COM), who gamely smiled at her. "What's with the long face?"
Adrienne Yeo (IV AB COM) looked up and smiled at Cedric. Finally, someone she knew she can talk to. "You know what's been going on with me lately, right? I mean, you're the only one I talked to about it..."
"There, there, Addy. No need to go all melodramatic on me, now. Forget about him for a moment and enjoy yourself, okay?"
Cedric and Addy knew each other since high school, and were best of friends for a long time. Despite the fact that they've been blockmates in college, the two of them cannot be any more different from one another. Addy is into theater and advertising, while Cedric is interested in taking up Computer Science for graduate studies, while working part-time as a disc jockey in a radio station.
A few moments later, Cedric and Addy ran into Hannah and Nick. They smiled at each other. Save for the still-absent Michael and Theia, the so-called "Cerebral Six" are in attendance.
Nick offered his hand to Cedric, and says, "Cedric, I've heard you on radio a lot recently. You're doing well, aren't you?"
Cedric shook Nick's hand, then turned to Hannah, who kissed him on the cheek. "I'm doing fine, Nick. You're just doing better."
Hannah smiled at him. "Heard anything from Theia and Michael? They're a bit late."
Cedric looked at Addy and replied. "Well, nothing, really. Michael should've texted me by now if he was running late. Then again, isn't Michael the perennially late one in the group?"
Nick eyed the two slyly. "The two of you have been awfully together so often lately. Ooh... are you going to tell us something we should know?" Nick grinned mischievously and asked Addy, who was not amused by the insinuation.
Addy good-naturedly ignored Nick's comment. "You know, I long for the next time we could have a party at your house, Hannah. Your lab, Lucas, is just such a joy to have around, and your sister is awfully nice. It's just that your dad is really crazy, but he's cool."
Hannah's eyes practically disappeared as she smiled at Addy's comments. The six of them really got along with one another for the most part, as they've been a small group of friends that got together since second year college. Each one of them filled some nearly cliché archetypes.
Hannah was the uber-intelligent one who didn't care about grades; Addy was the born actress who was luckless in love; Nick was the strong, silent gifted child; Michael was the over-achieving writer; Theia was the medicine woman who wanted to save the world one patient at a time; Cedric was the loner type. Their little clique was known as the "Cerebral Six"because all six of them were regarded as among the most brilliant people of their batch.
In another part of the room, Felipe Dayrit (IV BS PSY), Sarah Jane Quema (IV AB IS), Chicco Sugay (BS CS, '02), and Jason Salita (IV AB IS) were exchanging jokes. Chicco has been very close to Dr. David during his stay in Ateneo. It also helped that his girlfriend, SJ Quema, twisted his arm quite a bit to help out and make the night extra special.
"Have you seen Dennis yet?" began SJ. "I had a huge crush on that hawt teaching assistant... before I got to know Chicco, of course." Chicco looked at SJ in feigned annoyance but smiled at the reassurance.
"So did Peppy," piped in Jason, as the four of them chuckled heartily over the comment. "Seriously, though, I am so glad that Eunice is wearing a miniskirt again today. She is such a sight for sore eyes."
"You sleazebag! Don't let me see you in the shop tomorrow!" Joked Chicco, as Fr David approached the microphone again, this time flanked by his teaching assistants, Dennis Cotoco (MA TPH) and Jacqueline Guererro (MA PH) .
"All right," said Dr. David, while holding his cellular phone in one hand. "I'm not sure how many of us aren't here yet, but the mastermind for tonight's Christmas party, Robbie, isn't here."
Robbie Benedicto (IV AB DS), the unofficial class clown, may not be the brightest student in class, but he certainly knew how to liven up the room. It was through his fanatical drive that made the Christmas party possible. He was one of the most popular students in class, if only for having kept the class from falling asleep during the times Dr. David was exceptionally boring, which was every other class.
Dr. David put his cellular phone back in his pocket, then continued. "However, he texted me to tell you that we can go ahead with the program already, as he's on his way. By the way... who closed those doors? We have to leave the doors open so that we can let in the latecomers. I'll take roll call in a while."
The whole gathering laughed. Dr. David was notorious for taking a long time just checking attendance because he always called the roll then called out all the students who weren't there the first time he called the roll. A few of the people moved towards the doors to open them, but realized to their surprise that they can't.
"Doc, it won't budge!"
"Wait, what's that?"
"G-gas! What the...?!?"
Slowly the entire room was filled with sleeping gas, and everyone in the room was knocked out in a matter of a minute. Completely trapped inside the function hall, only the heavy oak doors bore witness to this unexpected turn of events.
************************************************
The moment the war broke out earlier this year, Ateneo De Manila University in Katipunan was one of the first places that found itself right in the middle of the line of fire. Due to the dangerous circumstances, ADMU promptly relocated itself in Taft Avenue, practically in front of a certain other school it had a rich history with. Meanwhile, the previous campus on Katipunan became deserted. Batch '07 will be the first batch to graduate from Ateneo in the Taft campus.
As the country has only begun its rebuilding process a little over a month ago, the Katipunan area was still a minefield. The Chinese used Katipunan as a base of operations for the Quezon City segment of their assault the moment they secured it.
The dazed students were now inside the former ADMU campus in Katipunan. Perplexed and confused, they all woke up with odd-looking necklaces attached to each of them, and realized that they were locked inside what used to be the Communications Department. The class was still puzzled over this turn of events when the front door opened and in came a notoriously familiar face.
Senator Panfilo Lacson, now the Supreme Commander of the military junta.
Unlike his classmates, Matthew De Castro (IV AB LIT) was not the least bit aghast over Supreme Commander Lacson's presence. Visibly annoyed at Lacson, Matt stood up brazenly. "Who the hell do you think you are, kidnapping us and bringing us to this place? We demand an explanation!" As he continued to stand in defiance, some of his classmates whispered to him to calm him down. Lacson was surrounded by fifteen armed men. Matt De Castro was obviously in no position to make demands.
Lacson chuckled lightly and immediately recognized Matt. "Who the hell do I think I am, Mr. De Castro? Why, I just so happen to be the one calling the shots in this country now in place of that ridiculous, incompetent excuse for a president you call 'uncle'." Lacson spoke with a venomous tinge in his voice as he relished each insult he hurled at the former president. "If I were you, I'd sit down, shut up, and listen."
Supreme Commander Lacson paused for a few more moments as some of Matt's classmates finally convinced him to sit down.
Lacson then addressed the class. "This class has been randomly selected to take part in the first ever Philippine Battle Royale, as provided for under Military Administrative Act 1021."
Lacson was met with blank stares.
He cleared his throat and continued. "Noli De Castro was a fool who believed that the Catholic church and the moralist sector would be capable of saving this country from the brink of collapse. He neglected the military, and focused on charitable work when he should have given his attention to defending the country from within and without. Clearly, that was his undoing."
Matt refused to believe his ears. He indignantly rose from his seat again. "You're wrong, Lacson! Dead wrong! My uncle had the best of intentions for this country!"
"Am I? Did he? The road to Hell is paved with good intentions. Look where all that religion and morality got this country. If I want to rectify what your uncle has screwed up, I have to prove how irrelevant religion and morality are when facing dire situations."
Vivian Lim (IV AB IS), one of Matt's closer friends in the class, whispered to him. "Get a hold of yourself, Matt!"
Matt remained silent for a moment and took his seat again. Lacson then made his point painfully clear. "Clearly, you're wondering what this has to do with all of you. Consider yourself guinea pigs for my experiment. The main rule of the Battle Royale is simple: kill or be killed."
A petite girl, Katherine Florencio (IV- AB PSY), raised her hand with trepidation.
"Yes?" Lacson asked.
"S-sir," she stammered. "You can't expect to just sanction murder! We're all friends! We won't..."
Lacson cut her off. "I did say, 'kill or be killed'. It's quite simple. You are all in this Battle Royale, whether you like it or not. You have three days to survive in this campus, until only one of you is left. If there is no sole survivor by the end of seventy-two hours, all of you will die."
The class looked on in disbelief at what Supreme Commander Lacson has said so far. Frantic whispers were passed back and forth between the classmates, while Lacson stared Matt down unblinkingly
"Mr. De Castro, my reasons, as should be obvious to you by now, run far deeper than a mere vendetta against you or your worthless family. Your death is just as inconsequential to me as the death of every single classmate of yours, so don't think you're so special, Mr. De Castro."
Matthew rolled his eyes. "Hooray for equality."
Supreme Commander Lacson ignored Matt's droll sarcasm and motioned towards the LCD screen on the wall, where a video began to play. Onscreen, a group of girls were dancing in military uniforms while singing giddily and carrying rifles. The girl in the middle smiled and stood still for a moment while the rest danced on. "Hi! My name is Rochelle, and I'm here to explain to you how you're going to go about the Battle Royale!"
The other girls chanted in unison. "Get, get, aww!"
A buzz within the class began. For a fleeting moment, curiosity replaced fear, and they glued themselves to the screen.
Rochelle then did a cartwheel before speaking up again. "Each of you will be given a bag with rations good for the next three days, and a random weapon. Your weapon can be anything from a gun to a handkerchief!"
The other girls waved their hands with gusto. "Exciting!"
Rochelle then started doing some complicated dance steps involving her rifle, but before the video could play any further, a voice boomed from the back of the room.
"STOP THIS MADNESS!!!"
Lacson was startled for a moment and saw a heavy-set man who certainly didn't look like a student. It was Chicco, and while the students restrained him, Lacson's men aimed their guns at him.
Lacson paused the video and motioned for his men to bring Chicco in front of him. Lacson eyed him warily. "What's wrong? You're scared of a little game?"
Chicco replied, "I'm not a student of this class. I shouldn't be here."
"Oh, is that so?"
"My name is Chicco Sugay. Here's my identification. I'm not part of this class!"
While Matthew felt betrayed over Chicco's attempt to weasel out of the situation, he figured that it was SJ who told him that he should try to reason with Lacson. Desperate times call for desperate measures, as the saying goes.
"What a wuss," whispered Neil Rosario (IV BS MATH), to Jason Salita. Jason shook his head, then whispered back. "Can you blame the guy? Would you want to stay here if you were in his place?"
Matt then observed SJ more closely. She seemed very calm and collected despite the situation. Despite that, Matthew sensed a silent desperation in her eyes as she quickly looked away.
Lacson whispered to one of his men, and they handed him a list. He glanced at the list before putting a hand on Chicco's shoulder. "Well, I guess you're right. You're not part of this class. What do you want us to do about it?"
Chicco practically begged on his knees. "I don't want to be part of this madness. Please."
"How pathetic can you get?" Supreme Commander Lacson sneered. "You shout and make demands like some self-important bigshot one moment, and now, you beg like a pitiful little insect the next? Well, don't worry. You won't be a part of this Battle Royale."
"Really?"
"Of course. You have my word."
With that, Lacson whipped out a remote control, and aimed it at Chicco's collar. The center of the collar glowed a bright red.
"Wha- what's this?" Chicco grasped at his collar, in panic.
Beep.
Lacson smiled at him. "Why, you didn't want to be a part of this Battle Royale, right? Well, this pretty much serves the purpose of demonstrating to this class exactly what happens if in three days, nobody wins."
Beep.
Chicco turned deathly pale and crawled on his knees to Lacson. "No. Please! Make it stop!"
Beep.
"So, class," Lacson said, as he mocked the way a teacher addressed his students. "See those things on your necks? They are collar bombs. They are waterproof and shockproof. Once activated, such as you see right now, you have a minute before it detonates."
Chicco didn't look like he believed Lacson at first. Then he realized that Lacson was not known for his sense of humor. At all.
Beep. Beep.
"Every six hours, I will make a report of who died, and how that person died. If I feel like it, I'd even clue you in who killed who. Along with each report, I will give a list of danger zones that change on an hourly basis. If you are in a particular building that is marked as a danger zone, the collar will activate and will detonate unless you get out of there within a minute. If you somehow get out of campus grounds, you likewise have a minute to get back."
Chicco was grasping at his collar, and fell to his knees. His eyes frantically searched the room for someone, anyone, who'd try to help him. All he saw was a sea of horrified faces.
Beep. Beep.
"The whole campus is monitored by closed circuit cameras. Don't even try to touch any of those cameras, or I will promptly activate the collar of anyone who does."
Chicco was in panic, but the entire class was even more tense. As he looked around the room again, he noticed Dr. David seated in the corner. The usually outspoken and opinionated head of the Philosophy department was oddly quiet and keeping to himself at this point.
Beep. Beep. Beep.
"If you attempt to remove the collar by force, you won't have a minute. It will explode instantly. Make sure that you are aware of this."
Chicco started crawling around the Communication Department's living room frantically, but the students he approached were in a panic and pushed him away the moment he approached any of them. Lacson's men likewise pushed him away when he tried to come close to Lacson again.
Beep. Beep. Beep.
The collar's beeping sound drove Chicco insane. Matt's anger was momentarily replaced by concern. He felt pity for Chicco, but had no idea how to help him. He looked on silently as Chicco finally turned to SJ, who hugged him tightly.
Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep.
SJ looked into Chicco's eyes. "Stay here. If you will die, then we will die together."
"No! I can't let you do that!"
Chicco realized what SJ was trying to do and pushed her away.
<>Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beeeeeeeepppppp.
SJ staggered to the floor as Chicco's collar detonated and ripped the front part of his throat out, killing him instantly, and sending blood spurting across the room.
SJ collapsed on all fours in shock, a few feet away from him.
The class erupted in total panic as SJ turned deathly pale while she went closer to Chico's corpse. Some of the students started screaming. Some of them tried to run for the door. Others huddled together.
Lacson's men held them back and fired some warning shots into the air.
Chicco's blood flowed down one of Sarah Jane Quema's cheeks. She was staring catatonically at Chicco's corpse and didn't say a word.
Matthew gritted his teeth at Lacson's heartless demonstration. The soldiers ruthlessly hit any student who tried to run or fight back after they fired the warning shots. Lacson stood behind his soldiers. Some of the students were crying in shock. Others slowly approached those who were huddled together. It took a while, but the soldiers eventually restored order in the room. Matt silently cursed Lacson as the Supreme Commander observed his helpless classmates with a sadistic glint in his eyes.
Day 0, 2335 hours. Chicco Sugay (BS CS '04) was killed by his collar bomb. 31 to go.
Here We Go...
Wow. Eight or so pages of single-spaced MS-Word goodness. I cleared out a lot of backblogging, for sure...
.:Today's LSS:.
This is going to be a Lyrically Speaking Scribble soon. I just know it. Given how horrendous this month has been to me so far, and given how it's likely that this will be my worst birthday ever, I guess it's safe to say...
Wake Me Up When September Ends
by Green Day
Summer has come and passed
The innocent can never last
Wake me up when september ends
Like my fathers come to pass
Seven years has gone so fast
Wake me up when september ends
Here comes the rain again
Falling from the stars
Drenched in my pain again
Becoming who we are
As my memory rests
But never forgets what I lost
Wake me up when september ends
Summer has come and passed
The innocent can never last
Wake me up when september ends
Ring out the bells again
Like we did when spring began
Wake me up when september ends
Here comes the rain again
Falling from the stars
Drenched in my pain again
Becoming who we are
As my memory rests
But never forgets what I lost
Wake me up when september ends
Summer has come and passed
The innocent can never last
Wake me up when september ends
like my father's come to pass
Twenty years has gone so fast
Wake me up when september ends
Wake me up when september ends
Wake me up when september ends
.:Crikey! He's Gone!:.
Looks like the Crocodile Hunter passed away in a freak accident. Love him or hate him, the man was a colorful character who got people talking. I will personally miss him.
.:Two Years Hence, And I'm Still Involved In Debate...:.
I haven't been into debating ever since I graduated, but thanks to Estelle, I revisited my fondness for it, as I was an adjudicator for the NASH debate championships in one round. It was definitely awesome to run into guys like Kip and Glenn and even a cute Korean debater who, amusingly enough, whimpered when she didn't get to give her point of information.
In any case, while I did feel quite rusty during that round as I actually gave the decision to the wrong side, I still enjoyed the debate for the most part. I guess, after all has been said and done, debating is still part and parcel of my life.
I realize that in Philosophy I have found a means of transcending debate, and yet there is no way for me to ignore the foundations that have been laid out for me by the latter. Oh, well. Maybe in the future, I can find that seven-minute rush come all over me again, that rush that I haven't felt in the last two years.
Well, it was an interesting motion, mainly as it was about the nursing students and whether or not they should retake the board exam. I'd love to be able to adjudicate in debates in the future, although there's still nothing like being the king of the pop culture and pro wrestling references...
After the debate, we had dinner at Yellow Cab, and it was really funny how Glenn completely turned anti-social and just went ahead and borrowed my PSP once I changed the game to NBA Live 06. There were a lot of amusing stories about Mahar and then some, so I couldn't just really eat and run. I left after a while, though, since I had a prior commitment I had to go to.
.:Surprise!:
Before I went to the Magic tournament, I went to my place with Elbert so I could get dressed and go with him to St. Scholastica to surprise Estelle (Thereby returning the favor to 'Elle for her surprise visit to El the previous night.). He bonded quite well with Gabby, the four-year old daughter of the landlord at my place, who was playing with him. Elbert seems to be well-loved by kids, arguably because of how he looks like Chicken Little.
Anyways, we then took a cab to get to St. Scho, and then Robin, one of 'Elle's friends, walked up to me to borrow my PSP when we found where the NASH headquarters were. ND met up with me and El, and then we conspired to surprise Estelle by having me intercept her and talk to her while Elbert then promptly surprises her... it worked out really well, to say the least.
Sometime later, Elbert ended up singing for NASH. I have no idea why, but I heard he did... heh.
.:The Tournament...:.
It was worth a first round loss due to lateness to see how happy Estelle was to have seen Elbert and myself drop in unexpectedly.
I didn't top eight in the tournament, but I still did pretty well with Doomsday despite not having my head on straight since I was so underslept. Lauren was the only one I informed of the reason why, and next thing I knew, everyone was asking me about it, and when I said it was just all talk, I was greeted by a chorus of “bullshit!”
Oh, well. It was still enjoyable, nonetheless.
Next thing I knew though, I received a call from April. I haven't really talked to her since two days before I made my public apology, so it was definitely a surprise to me...
.:Food Trip:.
After talking and exchanging stories for a bit, April looked at me and said with a twinkle in her eyes…
“Are you hungry?”
Well, what did you expect her to say? It was in the evening, and neither of us had dinner.
She then asked if I liked Chinese, and then I realized she meant food. Either way, I’d have said “yes”. Heh. In any case, we ended up going to Luk Yuen.
So I ordered Beef Wanton soup, and she had dimsum. We then shared some shrimp dumplings, and I think she discovered for herself just how awesome Luk Yuen’s green mango shake was. It was, by my estimate, the highlight menu item of the night.
What I found particularly freaky was that April and I had extremely similar tastes in food. We went 5-for-5 on Italian food, Chinese food, not liking Dinuguan, not liking Bittermelon on its own, and sweets.
This moment of hanging out with April has proven to be a revelation for me. I guess I’ve been getting to know her in a way neither of us thought possible, and it’s all for the better.
I look forward to more food trips with her, maybe even to Wai Ying in the future… Chinese food is such a bittersweet treat…
.:Rainy Days And Mondays:.
I mostly spent my day (Which started at noon, since I woke up by then.) crafting this blog entry and a lot of other backblogging entries, as well as refining the first couple chapters of my Battle Royale fanfic, which I am finally releasing for friends-only consumption for the first time since I started on it. I still have yet to complete Elbert’s writing mission for me, but I will start it on a regular basis by next week, I guess. My bad. There’s just been so many things going on in the past few days…
I was supposed to go to my uncle’s office in Eastwood around six, but the rain was so hard that I had no choice but to back out. In the meantime, Estelle and I agreed to meet up, and she had herself dropped off at Cityland, and we headed off for dinner at Wham in Shang, where I gorged on a double Whammy with cheese, blue cheese, and mushroom gravy. There, I shared to her what went on last Sunday, how I somehow wish I just stuck around at NASH instead of joined the Magic tourney, and my thoughts about where I am going so far.
I was telling her how mean I felt I was, and how I seem to have hit an all-time low, but we dropped that tangent a bit when I showed her the Triumph video at the Michael Jackson trial.
Anways, later on, I told Estelle that what got to me about *her* (Obviously not referring to ‘Elle here…) was how *she* would willingly let life pass *her* by and just follow whatever *her* parents said. I told Estelle that if *she* ever ended up fighting for someone, even if it weren’t me, I’d feel hurt, but in the end, I’d be happy for *her*, because she’d finally discover what true love precisely entails. Then, ‘Elle promptly asked me a question that set me off…
Estelle: But do you really mean that? If *she* let’s say, dated someone Filipino and fought for him, how would you feel?
She was hesitant to ask this question, but I prodded her to finish what she started. I replied…
Marcelle: I would be hurt, in the short term. But in the long term, I’d be happy for *her*. When you love someone, you look out for their happiness first, not your own.
Estelle: I know you said you were really mean and all that, Marcelle, but with what you just said, I don't think that's true at all.
At that point, the pain just rushed in. So much for getting *her* out of my system. I guess that’s going to take much more time than I thought, and what gets to me is that it’s nowhere near the same for *her*. By now, I’m sure I’m the least of *her* worries, much less someone who’d ever dominate *her* thoughts. I don’t think I ever really did, either.
Well, phooey to all that. If there’s one thing all this taught me, it’s that I have the most wonderful friends I can ever ask for. I don’t see myself as having radically changed, or having allowed all these post break-up reactions get the best of me. Instead, here I am, still for the most part, being the same old styling, profiling, wheeling, dealing, kiss-stealing son of a gun that I always have been. Whooooo!
That being said, thanks for the company again, Estelle! Can’t believe we’d have known each other only for a mere 28 days come Saturday. It’s like we’ve known each other for years already, to be honest, and that’s a great thing. =)
Take care, Bessy!
.:Today's LSS:.
This is going to be a Lyrically Speaking Scribble soon. I just know it. Given how horrendous this month has been to me so far, and given how it's likely that this will be my worst birthday ever, I guess it's safe to say...
by Green Day
Summer has come and passed
The innocent can never last
Wake me up when september ends
Like my fathers come to pass
Seven years has gone so fast
Wake me up when september ends
Here comes the rain again
Falling from the stars
Drenched in my pain again
Becoming who we are
As my memory rests
But never forgets what I lost
Wake me up when september ends
Summer has come and passed
The innocent can never last
Wake me up when september ends
Ring out the bells again
Like we did when spring began
Wake me up when september ends
Here comes the rain again
Falling from the stars
Drenched in my pain again
Becoming who we are
As my memory rests
But never forgets what I lost
Wake me up when september ends
Summer has come and passed
The innocent can never last
Wake me up when september ends
like my father's come to pass
Twenty years has gone so fast
Wake me up when september ends
Wake me up when september ends
Wake me up when september ends
.:Crikey! He's Gone!:.
Looks like the Crocodile Hunter passed away in a freak accident. Love him or hate him, the man was a colorful character who got people talking. I will personally miss him.
.:Two Years Hence, And I'm Still Involved In Debate...:.
I haven't been into debating ever since I graduated, but thanks to Estelle, I revisited my fondness for it, as I was an adjudicator for the NASH debate championships in one round. It was definitely awesome to run into guys like Kip and Glenn and even a cute Korean debater who, amusingly enough, whimpered when she didn't get to give her point of information.
In any case, while I did feel quite rusty during that round as I actually gave the decision to the wrong side, I still enjoyed the debate for the most part. I guess, after all has been said and done, debating is still part and parcel of my life.
I realize that in Philosophy I have found a means of transcending debate, and yet there is no way for me to ignore the foundations that have been laid out for me by the latter. Oh, well. Maybe in the future, I can find that seven-minute rush come all over me again, that rush that I haven't felt in the last two years.
Well, it was an interesting motion, mainly as it was about the nursing students and whether or not they should retake the board exam. I'd love to be able to adjudicate in debates in the future, although there's still nothing like being the king of the pop culture and pro wrestling references...
After the debate, we had dinner at Yellow Cab, and it was really funny how Glenn completely turned anti-social and just went ahead and borrowed my PSP once I changed the game to NBA Live 06. There were a lot of amusing stories about Mahar and then some, so I couldn't just really eat and run. I left after a while, though, since I had a prior commitment I had to go to.
.:Surprise!:
Before I went to the Magic tournament, I went to my place with Elbert so I could get dressed and go with him to St. Scholastica to surprise Estelle (Thereby returning the favor to 'Elle for her surprise visit to El the previous night.). He bonded quite well with Gabby, the four-year old daughter of the landlord at my place, who was playing with him. Elbert seems to be well-loved by kids, arguably because of how he looks like Chicken Little.
Anyways, we then took a cab to get to St. Scho, and then Robin, one of 'Elle's friends, walked up to me to borrow my PSP when we found where the NASH headquarters were. ND met up with me and El, and then we conspired to surprise Estelle by having me intercept her and talk to her while Elbert then promptly surprises her... it worked out really well, to say the least.
Sometime later, Elbert ended up singing for NASH. I have no idea why, but I heard he did... heh.
.:The Tournament...:.
It was worth a first round loss due to lateness to see how happy Estelle was to have seen Elbert and myself drop in unexpectedly.
I didn't top eight in the tournament, but I still did pretty well with Doomsday despite not having my head on straight since I was so underslept. Lauren was the only one I informed of the reason why, and next thing I knew, everyone was asking me about it, and when I said it was just all talk, I was greeted by a chorus of “bullshit!”
Oh, well. It was still enjoyable, nonetheless.
Next thing I knew though, I received a call from April. I haven't really talked to her since two days before I made my public apology, so it was definitely a surprise to me...
.:Food Trip:.
After talking and exchanging stories for a bit, April looked at me and said with a twinkle in her eyes…
“Are you hungry?”
Well, what did you expect her to say? It was in the evening, and neither of us had dinner.
She then asked if I liked Chinese, and then I realized she meant food. Either way, I’d have said “yes”. Heh. In any case, we ended up going to Luk Yuen.
So I ordered Beef Wanton soup, and she had dimsum. We then shared some shrimp dumplings, and I think she discovered for herself just how awesome Luk Yuen’s green mango shake was. It was, by my estimate, the highlight menu item of the night.
What I found particularly freaky was that April and I had extremely similar tastes in food. We went 5-for-5 on Italian food, Chinese food, not liking Dinuguan, not liking Bittermelon on its own, and sweets.
This moment of hanging out with April has proven to be a revelation for me. I guess I’ve been getting to know her in a way neither of us thought possible, and it’s all for the better.
I look forward to more food trips with her, maybe even to Wai Ying in the future… Chinese food is such a bittersweet treat…
.:Rainy Days And Mondays:.
I mostly spent my day (Which started at noon, since I woke up by then.) crafting this blog entry and a lot of other backblogging entries, as well as refining the first couple chapters of my Battle Royale fanfic, which I am finally releasing for friends-only consumption for the first time since I started on it. I still have yet to complete Elbert’s writing mission for me, but I will start it on a regular basis by next week, I guess. My bad. There’s just been so many things going on in the past few days…
I was supposed to go to my uncle’s office in Eastwood around six, but the rain was so hard that I had no choice but to back out. In the meantime, Estelle and I agreed to meet up, and she had herself dropped off at Cityland, and we headed off for dinner at Wham in Shang, where I gorged on a double Whammy with cheese, blue cheese, and mushroom gravy. There, I shared to her what went on last Sunday, how I somehow wish I just stuck around at NASH instead of joined the Magic tourney, and my thoughts about where I am going so far.
I was telling her how mean I felt I was, and how I seem to have hit an all-time low, but we dropped that tangent a bit when I showed her the Triumph video at the Michael Jackson trial.
Anways, later on, I told Estelle that what got to me about *her* (Obviously not referring to ‘Elle here…) was how *she* would willingly let life pass *her* by and just follow whatever *her* parents said. I told Estelle that if *she* ever ended up fighting for someone, even if it weren’t me, I’d feel hurt, but in the end, I’d be happy for *her*, because she’d finally discover what true love precisely entails. Then, ‘Elle promptly asked me a question that set me off…
Estelle: But do you really mean that? If *she* let’s say, dated someone Filipino and fought for him, how would you feel?
She was hesitant to ask this question, but I prodded her to finish what she started. I replied…
Marcelle: I would be hurt, in the short term. But in the long term, I’d be happy for *her*. When you love someone, you look out for their happiness first, not your own.
Estelle: I know you said you were really mean and all that, Marcelle, but with what you just said, I don't think that's true at all.
At that point, the pain just rushed in. So much for getting *her* out of my system. I guess that’s going to take much more time than I thought, and what gets to me is that it’s nowhere near the same for *her*. By now, I’m sure I’m the least of *her* worries, much less someone who’d ever dominate *her* thoughts. I don’t think I ever really did, either.
Well, phooey to all that. If there’s one thing all this taught me, it’s that I have the most wonderful friends I can ever ask for. I don’t see myself as having radically changed, or having allowed all these post break-up reactions get the best of me. Instead, here I am, still for the most part, being the same old styling, profiling, wheeling, dealing, kiss-stealing son of a gun that I always have been. Whooooo!
That being said, thanks for the company again, Estelle! Can’t believe we’d have known each other only for a mere 28 days come Saturday. It’s like we’ve known each other for years already, to be honest, and that’s a great thing. =)
Take care, Bessy!
Backblogging Again: The Book Fair
.:The Book Fair, The First Day:.
Well, Tuesday was a bit of non-happening since I mostly spent it sleeping and so forth. However, the Book Fair was definitely something else. Although I was a bit shocked to find out about David Pomeranz being a Scientologist, it was still cool...
Well, Tuesday was a bit of non-happening since I mostly spent it sleeping and so forth. However, the Book Fair was definitely something else. Although I was a bit shocked to find out about David Pomeranz being a Scientologist, it was still cool...
David Pomeranz onstage, followed by my reaction after he hinted what song he was gonna sing…
Elbert and I tried to guess what song he'd sing for the opening and the closing numbers, and Elbert got the opening number right. He guessed “Got To Believe In Magic”, and the moment Mr. Pomeranz said something about believing in the magic of books, you just knew he was going to go for that one.
Afterwards, Elbert didn't want to put up with all the long-winded speeches and whatnot, so he just goes ahead inside the fair, and I had to endure those speeches for a while until I confirmed that his song was going to be “Born For You”, and not “King And Queen Of Hearts”. Beyond that, he also gave an acapella rendition of “I Can See Clearly Now The Rain Is Gone”, and aside from that, he even snuck in hokey lines of “opening a book” and “flipping through the pages” in the middle of the actual lyrics.
Afterwards, we went to Central Comics Headquarters, where I found a haven for manga priced at a mere 100 pesos per volume. I was under the impression that there were only 9 volumes of Battle Royale, so I went for five of them over a span of two days, as Johan, who tagged along with Maika during the first day, sprung for issue 3. Of course, the problem was that Battle Royale isn't just 9 volumes... it's 15. Nonetheless, I've certainly rediscovered my love for all things Battle Royale. It's definitely awesome, to say the least, and I'm pretty sure I'll manage to cough up chapter 3 before this month ends... heh.
Along the way, I've ended up running into a few old friends like Willard, who, amusingly enough, hasn't changed one a bit. Of course, the funny thing is that, although he's working in the same channel as Kris Aquino now, he kinda gave up on her now... awwww...
Also ran into Luis Geronimo, who's now assistant manager for a bank, which seems miles away from what he graduated for (Political Science.)... heh.
Along the way, I had a few pictures taken to exchange MMS pictures with a new friend... have a looksee at the pics Elbert took of me... lol.
It’s me, pimping out the Disney Princesses! Yeah!
In any case, hanging out at the CCHQ was really cool, mainly because it ended up being an opportunity for me to revisit some age-old Disney classics, due to the Disney Booth right beside us. It was just too bad I didn't find any copies of Encyclopedia Brown at all for myself, as it was out of stock. No worries, though...
When it was time to leave the book fair, we went with Johan, as we headed to Elbert's condo to talk about stuff. It was real nice, to say the least, and I especially found it good for Johan and Maika that it seemed they were doing fairly well, to say the least. I was trying to get some sleep, and though I had a bit of a nap, I was still underslept, and when I woke up, I heard a familiar voice. Turned out to be Estelle's, and she had to ask Elbert to charge her phone for a bit. Seeing Bessy for the day was definitely cool, and she met up with a friend at Bubble Gang Toppings after the fact, so I managed to try their bagnet, which was pretty good, although I'm sure the Vigan variety is the best, though. In any case, I noticed how affectionate towards her friends 'Elle really was, and it made more and more sense why I gravitated towards her from the word “go”.
Afterwards and as usual, we bonded a bit more when I hitched a ride to WAVE with her. Truth be told, we've been talking about debating quite a bit lately, since I've been very enticed to go and adjudicate for the NASHDC in La Salle on Saturday...
It's amazing, really. A friend I've known for a mere three weeks or so, and already, we've had a genuinely wonderful connection. Friends like these are one in a zillion, so is it any wonder how floored I am to have guys like El, 'Elle, Sach, Clair, Abby, and so forth?
.:The Book Fair, The Second Day:.
I left work early again for the book fair, but this time, it was less about getting to the fair early than it was about getting to have some sleep since I was so underslept for the most part.
I met up with El and 'Elle in Shangrila, and then we headed off to the book fair, although we passed by ND first to give her stuff to her, but it turned out that our peer pressure-fu was strong. ND ended up going with us to the book fair, and it was just awesome.
For the most part, we were just going around the shops El and I went by yesterday, but the Disney booths where we wanted to get some Mickey ears and a Chicken Little book was the main highlight... heh. Nonetheless, I've been turning into quite a camwhore lately, what with the pictures where I was being a pimp in the company of some Disney princesses... hah.
After a while, we went to the National Book Awards, and lo and behold, Siglo: Passion won. I'm glad that the guys who made all that possible felt validated after all the blood, sweat, and tears that they had to go through just to get to that moment right there. In the middle of things, Estelle managed to surprise and touch me when she picked up the first volume of Chobits for me... I, being a huge fan of Chobits, positively melted on the spot.
After the book awards, we went to the piano and played a few tunes here and there, while mainly El and 'Elle talked while ND and I focused on the piano. I'm very happy that Elbert and Estelle have been getting along better and better on practically a daily basis, which to me, is a good sign, but I digress... hehe.
Nonetheless, I was very grateful for the gesture from 'Elle. Chobits is one of my favorite anime of all time.
Friday, September 01, 2006
Backblogging...
.:Today's LSS:.
Wella, if you're reading this, I'll greet you tomorrow when I go on air. Hehehe.
Snakes On A Plane ( Bring It )
by Cobra Starship
Samuel L. Jackson:
"That's it!
I've had it with these motherfucking snakes
on this motherfucking plane!"
Times are strange
We got a free upgrade for
snakes on a plane.
Fuck em, I don't care.
Bought the cheap champagne,
we're going down in flames, hey.
CHORUS:
Oh, I'm ready for it
Come on, bring it.
Oh, I'm ready for it
Come on, bring it.
Oh, I'm ready for it
Come on, bring it.
Oh, I'm ready for it
Come on, bring it.
REFRAIN:
So kiss me goodbye.
Honey, I'm gonna make it out alive.
So kiss me goodbye.
I can see the venom in their eyes.
Goodbye.
It's time to fly,
to make the stars align
with the serpentine
lounging in their suits and ties.
Watch the whore's parade
for the price you paid, hey.
Repeat CHORUS, then REFRAIN x2.
Ladies and gentlemen
These snakes are slitherin'
with dollar signs in they eyes
with tongues so reptilian
This industry's venemous
with cold-blooded sentiment
No need for nervousness
It's just a little turbulence.
Repeat REFRAIN x2, then CHORUS
We seem to be losing altitude
at an alarming pace
Midtown downtown
Snakes on a blog
I suggest you grab your ankles
and kiss your ass goodbye.
.:Ever Since I Started Believing That N.U. Exists...:.
Well, I've been a bit busy, but I've been talking with a unicorn, the Tooth Fairy, and Santa Claus a lot lately, too.
I keed, I keed!
Nonetheless, the infamous N.U. bus that everyone else other than me saw the first time!
Wella, if you're reading this, I'll greet you tomorrow when I go on air. Hehehe.
by Cobra Starship
Samuel L. Jackson:
"That's it!
I've had it with these motherfucking snakes
on this motherfucking plane!"
Times are strange
We got a free upgrade for
snakes on a plane.
Fuck em, I don't care.
Bought the cheap champagne,
we're going down in flames, hey.
CHORUS:
Oh, I'm ready for it
Come on, bring it.
Oh, I'm ready for it
Come on, bring it.
Oh, I'm ready for it
Come on, bring it.
Oh, I'm ready for it
Come on, bring it.
REFRAIN:
So kiss me goodbye.
Honey, I'm gonna make it out alive.
So kiss me goodbye.
I can see the venom in their eyes.
Goodbye.
It's time to fly,
to make the stars align
with the serpentine
lounging in their suits and ties.
Watch the whore's parade
for the price you paid, hey.
Repeat CHORUS, then REFRAIN x2.
Ladies and gentlemen
These snakes are slitherin'
with dollar signs in they eyes
with tongues so reptilian
This industry's venemous
with cold-blooded sentiment
No need for nervousness
It's just a little turbulence.
Repeat REFRAIN x2, then CHORUS
We seem to be losing altitude
at an alarming pace
Midtown downtown
Snakes on a blog
I suggest you grab your ankles
and kiss your ass goodbye.
.:Ever Since I Started Believing That N.U. Exists...:.
Well, I've been a bit busy, but I've been talking with a unicorn, the Tooth Fairy, and Santa Claus a lot lately, too.
I keed, I keed!
Nonetheless, the infamous N.U. bus that everyone else other than me saw the first time!
.:A Trip To Las Pinas City Jail:.
It was, to say the least, an unexpected “adventure” of sorts. For some odd reason, I seem to be the welcome recipient of a lot of these adventures with my close friends, which I definitely wouldn't be complaining about one bit...
Anyways, it was a Monday, and I didn't have anything in particular lined up, so I went with Estelle all the way to Las Pinas, so she can visit some of the prisoners she went into some sort of immersion with some time ago. I got to meet three of the prisoners, Bong, Talent, and Cooky, and of course, the police chief in the precinct, and it was a really nice experience, to say the least.
It's easy to paint prison cells as a place where people just get around and do nothing but cause trouble, being the rejects of society that they supposedly are, but when you get to the real thing, you begin to realize that if it's not a maximum security prison, you probably will get a far more endearing picture.
I remember something Ric Flair said in his biography that really stuck to me that can sum it up ever so nicely... if I hear nothing but bad things about someone yet that person is an A+ human being in dealing with me, that's not my problem. I'd rather evaluate someone on how they are to me than how they are to most everyone else.
That being said, these guys were nothing but nice to Estelle and by extension, to me. It was pretty interesting hearing them tell their stories, and listening to them talk about everything from the DVD's they enjoyed watching to how Cooky ended up in jail in the first place. All in all, it was a very fruitful visit, and I have this compunction to drag Elbert back to the Buklod center in Olongapo to make good on our keeping in touch with the people we had an immersion with way back in senior college...
In any case, afterwards, 'Elle and Kel headed off to her other best friend's house, ND. That one is an equally interesting story, to say the least.
.:Any Friend Of Yours Is A Friend Of Mine:.
ND and I hit it off very well from the start, and it turned out she was even a listener to my show! Anyways, since I'm assuming certain details are still not spillable in public, I guess the most I could say is that ND's been dealing with a bit of stuff lately, and I suppose it's just a good thing to be in the company of friends, particularly those who appreciate her marvelous culinary skills. She can cook a mean chicken mechado...
Afterwards, we just hung around her subdivision, as we walked a bit to and fro, and shared stories that, for the most part, gave me a good idea of how Estelle tends to just spontaneously gel with the friends she has. It was definitely cool, and it took a bit of prodding, but ND finally agreed to sleep over at Estelle's, and I told them I would gladly greet them and then some on my show for Tuesday...
Conversations about GJ were actually pretty amusing, and though Elbert was nowhere to be found, the topic about him was broached quite often, as there was a lot to say about him while he wasn't around... hahaha... I'll leave it to his overactive imagination to figure out what I meant by that... bwahahahahaha...
.:Insomaniacs, Tuesday Edition:.
Bonding with Estele and ND that Monday night carried me over into my Tuesday show with a lot of life, so I actually put callers on air, which led me to getting to know this caller who goes by the name “Moon”. I won't say what her full name is since it's a bit embarrassing for her sake, but she was a very nice person to talk to, and we had a fairly engaging conversation about random topics left and right. By the end of the whole conversation, she ended up asking my phone number from me, which I gave because I genuinely appreciated how she kept me company for about a half hour or so on the phone, and she instantly set up a meeting with me...
She's been awfully nice lately, even offering to sing me a lullaby and so forth. Ah, well. Ish all good, I suppose.
After I ended my conversation with her, Estelle called, and she couldn't even make a solid attempt to fool me into thinking she was a different person... heh. However, when she went on air, she introduced herself as Elbert, and then greeted Estelle, Marcelle, and ND. =P Sheer hilarity. After a long conversation where we just really talked about mainly debating, and then by extension, how I've been coping lately, and even a bit of sing-along when I played “Gaya Ng Dati”, ND then took over so she can go on air as well.
The kicker about this was that at this point, 'Elle fell asleep, which allowed me and ND to swap stories about 'Elle and El. Take it for what you want it to mean, but well, I would like to believe it was a good exchange that has done wonders about how ND views Elbert and how I view Estelle, which has already been good, to begin with.
Ah, basta. It was awesome company, and as I told Estelle, any friend of hers, is a friend of mine. Yes. Even GJ. Jus' kidding. =P
.:Finally...:.
Well, supposedly, after a peace offering of a discount “Eager Reader” card, I think me and the roommate I've been having problems with lately buried the hatchet already and called it quits.
Of course, this wasn't the guy who's been stealing my money, so that's a different story altogether... heh.
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