Second Day Of Retraining...

.:Blogging Post Will Have To Wait...:.

No picture with David Celdran = No entry! Hmph. I want that pic, and I want it nao! Hehe...

Paging Aileen, here's hoping you have the picture already... you know it practically completes my childhood. Hehe.

.:Training, Day 2:.

I'm here at Campus 99.5 again, and on my way to the station, I finally got to meet Mo Twister, whom I've never run into prior to today, because he's usually out when I swing by the Magic booth, like the other day, where Mojo greeted "Mister Vader" on the air again... heh. During the RX days, I was paranoid about having my name said on other station on the air, because I didn't want to incur sir Louie D's wrath... I guess I can just be grateful I can breathe easy nowadays when it comes to that.

In any case, the training is going to be rather intensive. While I can handle the technical side of things here in the station, it's mainly my ad libbing and my diction that needs a lot of work. Years of being accustomed to autopilot on WAVE has dulled my improv abilities, and I'm real grateful to Joe Spinner for taking me under his wing and telling me where I could improve.

Having said that, I guess it's time for me to head onto training for now. There's nothing much happening to me lately, although there's a bit of buzz going on regarding some new shows I might find myself doing over the next couple of months...

Just Got Interviewed For Inquirer.Net...

.:That Was Interesting...:.

It was a good day today, as I got a lot of headway into projects I'm gunning for in the coming months, and I was even interviewed by Alex Villafania of Inquirer.Net, as we talked about what I've been doing over the years as a blogger, from the Flying Chair Asian Blog Awards in 2003, to the current Magikel schtick, which has been garnering a lot of interest as of late.

I even introduced Alex to the jocks over here in Campus 99.5, which might yield future happenings involving both parties.

In any case, I'm expecting to see the interview up on the site sometime this week... I'm keeping my fingers crossed. =)

Posting Next Time...

.:Heads Up!:.

Just came from a couple of blogger events.

In the meantime, munch on this. Some people have way too much time on their hands. Heh. They used a hack to make a stage that has sound effects matching the in-game music! Wow!

A Grab Bag...

This is going to be quite a mishmash of posts, truth be told, as I'm going to be writing about random stuff that has happened to me over the weekend.

.:Go, Speed, Go!:.

My eyes hurt, but watching Speed Racer with Marco, Jonas, Elbert, and Mary was a really fun experience, despite the serviceable story that was obviously marketed to kids. There was just something so fascinating about being drowned in pastiche that appeals to the senses, and Speed Racer was a fun, tongue-in-cheek romp in living color. It was so hard to tell what was going on in the screen sometimes, truth be told. The action was just frenetic, and it gave very little opportunities for anyone to catch their breath before the action just picked up again shortly thereafter.

Still, I liked the movie, and it was great hanging out with these people. It's been especially good, and the last time out, while hanging around El and Mary and at the time, Arvin, I even managed to make good (Somewhat.) on my first attempt at hypnosis...

I really am not making much sense lately, sadly. I've been trying to blog cohesively, but there's just something about the stuff I've been going through lately, particularly the whole unemployment bit as well as certain matters of the heart which shall remain undisclosed as always...

.:The Bitch Enters...:.

While hanging out with El and company after watching "Speed Racer", it turns out that the evil ex-stepsister was in the same area, as she walked past with her friend, immediately avoiding my gaze when she came within my line of sight.

The funny thing is, she did it again a few minutes later.

Ahh, such guilty consciences.

.:Ummm... Whoa!:.

So I was doing mentalism for a table last Sunday, where there was this particular spectator who was incredibly... gifted. It was a party filled with Chinese people, and I was bemusing how mature the particular spectator looked, in a good way, of course.

So while performing, I found out her name was Ciara, and in the course of my patter, I asked her how old she was, to which she said she was TWELVE.

My jaw dropped.

With a figure like that, she had no business being twelve!

Comprehensives, Part II...

Well, here goes nothing. Wish me luck!

It Came From YouTube...

.:Ladies And Gentlemen, Meet Shy...:.

Do I even need to say anything else? The man is a genius!

New Post Up At Magi-Kel!

It's that time again, when I feature something from my magic blog for your perusal...

Check out the post here!

I Miss My Beloved...

.:Gahh...:.

Can you believe it? It's been nearly a month since we last went out!

Review Is Slow But Progressing...

.:Kierkegaard, Descartes, Marcel:.

For this Saturday's comprehensives, I'm reviewing one reading apiece from each of these three philosophers. You might say that for me to work through this, all I'm lacking would be a training montage video set to the tune of "Eye Of The Tiger"...

Can't wait to finish my Masters. Given my rapidly expanding distaste for being around ADMU though, I have a feeling I won't be putting it to use there, sadly.

So...

.:Random, Almost Rhetorical Question...:.

If I were to go to a cosplay convention for anime or videogames or whatever the heck, who do you think I should go as?

Just fielding some answers here with this memetic question...

Sometimes, It Just Has To Be Said...

.:After All This Time...:.

We're still not talking?

Dammit, I hate having to carry burdens to the grave. Don't you? Aren't you just as tired of this as I am?

Maybe it's time to bury the hatchet.

My door is open for that much.

Mad Scientist Instructor?

.:Sounds Like Fun:.

I'm throwing my resume in for this one. Hey, you never know, right? =p

I Was On TV Again...

.:Yes, Channel 11 Again. And I Wasn't Informed!:.

So apparently, Sapulso reformatted into "The Beat", and they opened their new show with a reworking of their best segments prior to the reformat, although the spiels were now delivered in English instead of Filipino.

Too bad I missed it, but it's nothing you haven't seen before. :)

A New Post On Magikel...

.:The New Magic-Related Posting Series...:.

I decided to make various tributes over the coming weeks or months to the people who have influenced me as a performer, and you can see it on my Magikel site. It's a very interesting read, and it should tip you off about the immediate future for me.

Check the post out here!

Preparing For The Second Half...

.:Still More (School)Work To Come...:.

Well, I'm preparing for my next comprehensive exam this coming Saturday. Lots of stuff to work on, but I'm confident I'll be able to pull through. Had a boring weekend, but at least I did well for Modern Philosophy, since the questions were about Kant and Desacartes, two thinkers I'm very familiar with.

I've got a lot on my plate when it comes to this, to be honest. I really want to make sure I finish my thesis this year, which explains why I'm not taking a full-time job at the moment, even if it might be financially risky for me to do so. Finishing my M.A. would allow me leverage to teach Philosophy, and that's something I'd certainly want to do.

.:A Prelude To My Planned Series Of Posts On Radio...:.

I've been thinking of what to write about radio for the longest time, essentially writing much the same way I wrote
about teaching.

As most of you know, I've had a love affair with radio since I was a kid. From the moment I learned how to speed-dial my way to victory in radio contests on 93.9 DWKC, radio became my best friend, over and above television. I can't tell you enough how much I've always wanted to be a DJ, and when I found my chance way back in high school to be on the air regularly, you just know I had to jump at the chance to do it.

If I didn't love this industry, I wouldn't give a damn about it at all, nor would I willingly accept my current role as a Campus Air Checker despite having been an actual jock in WAVE 89.1 for three years. But here I am, still training as an Air Checker, and doing so out of my own free will, because I believe in the station that much.

For now, that is all that remains to be said. As I go through this thesis year, I'm also taking the necessary steps to go back to radio and show just exactly how much I want to be here.

Sometimes, I Lose Faith In The Human Race...

.:Utter Balderdash:.

I've seen a lot of hideous things in my life, so watching the video itself didn't make me feel particularly bad.

What got to me though was the minute I read the comments, I was just driven nuts by the amount of ignorance spouted by some of the commenters there. Were we even watching the same bloody video?!?

If you look clearly at how the three-hour ordeal played out, the girl was clearly at least half the size of the manager's fiance. This meant that if the girl didn't do what she was being told, the guy was more than capable of beating her to a pulp, or worse. To say that the girl was a "slut" or that she "was enjoying herself" does not excuse the guy from doing what he did to her.

The girl was clearly on edge, and was afraid. She didn't know what to do, and for a moment there, I just thought that people had better sense than to take goddamned advantage of a girl who was out of her wits at the moment. I don't care if she was genuinely being "stupid", that's not an excuse to take advantage of her.

Scum like that man and his fiancee ought to be put in the slammer with the key thrown away. To have to read hundreds of comments at the end of the video pretty much blaming the girl for what happened to her is just depressing. Generally, I get annoyed at people who expose secrets in magic videos in YouTube, but I've never been this angry over a video before. The sheer bigotry and callousness of people who believed the girl deserved what she got was just crazy. You think she could just run out of that small room without the guy putting up chase and potentially killing her? You think she can just think of the best way to escape her ordeal when she's clearly scared out of a year's growth?

There's a double standard right there, and I'm sure people wouldn't be saying that if the guy were in a situation where he had to take off his clothes for a gay guy at gunpoint. Given the size differential, the other guy in the video didn't need a gun to implicitly threaten the girl with harm, and like those people who end up confessing to crimes they don't commit thanks to torture, we're looking at someone who did what she did under duress.

Even if we pretended that she wanted to do these things, why the hell did the guy do it? His fiancee was walking in and out of the room, dammit!!!

After the tragic murder of the hitchhiker for world peace, you can understand the amount of vitriol I have for the human race.

Sometimes, my faith in the human race really just falters. This is one of those moments where I don't understand how people could sleep well at night acting this way.

Teaser....

.:It's Under Wraps For Now, But You Have To Watch Out For It...:.

Sometime this year, I'll be coming up with a massive project related to magic and mentalism. It's something that I feel would really cause quite a buzz, and I'm exceedingly pleased about how the preparations are turning out well...

Stay tuned to find out what this is about.

If I Could Be Serious For A Moment...

.:Yet Another Passing...:.

Someone who has been a significant influence in my life has recently passed on. A high school teacher of mine, and to be honest, not one of my favorite people, but one I was always grateful to.

Teacher Glo was my first year Science teacher. She was also the moderator of the Don Bosco Technical College Young Broadcasters Club, which was the budding ground for high school kids who dipped their feet into radio broadcasting at a young age. The show, "Anak Gabay Mo", was a youth-oriented program in DWXI, where I had my first experience in radio. It was here where I learned how to write scripts, how to conceptualize segments, and so forth.

Teacher Glo was a controversial figure. To go through all the factors for that would be a great disservice to her, because despite all of that, she, for the most part, treated me well. Love her or hate her, she was someone who really influenced me and made me believe that my love for radio could transcend it merely being a hobby to something I could actively be a part of. If it wasn't for Teacher Glo, I cannot understate that it would be highly unlikely I'd even consider getting myself into radio.

Three days ago, due to complications with diabetes, Teacher Glo Flores passed away, and I take consolation in knowing I've thanked her for making a great impression in my life. As Ric Flair once said, it's not what the person's reputation is, but what they have done for you. Some people may actually feel happy Mrs. Flores is no longer with us, but I know that on the day she passed on, that part of me, wide-eyed and curious about all things radio, will miss her terribly.

Godspeed to you, Teacher Glo.

Half-Done!

.:Comprehensives Was Quite A Challenge...:.

... but I made good on it.

I think this calls for a celebration... of preparing for the next comprehensive exams. Heh.

I can't blog sensibly at the moment, except to point out that I'm just glad I managed to get questions I was capable of answering this time out.

I Bit The Bullet. I Want In That Much...

.:Meet Your New Campus Airchecker...:.

Eleven years after DWXI, five years after Radio 1 in RX 93.1, four years after starting off in WAVE 89.1, and a week after my quickly-aborted run as a jock in Campus FM, and I'm now back in radio as a Campus Airchecker.

Yes, put down that eyebrow. You read right: I'm a student DJ trainee all over again. It's not the ideal situation, but I'd take it over completely letting the radio ship set sail on me when I know I can still make it back on the air as part of the Campus Air Force soon enough, assuming I work hard enough to earn my spot.

It's weird, really, because the only reason I'm still eligible for Aircheck is because I'm finishing my M.A. in Ateneo. It's a tough situation to find myself in, as I would obviously not take any other job unless it's part-time or pays exceedingly well, but there you go. I need this. I really want to make good on being a jock, and Campus FM is the place I feel I could really make a lot of headway in terms of improving myself and making myself worthy of becoming a radio personality.

I'm a bit depressed about how things turned out, but what can I do? I have a long way to go, and to this moment, I can't even say "truth" without it sounding like "troof". Ugh.

So yes, I am taking this temporary setback as a challenge for me to improve myself. I can only hope that my shows and hostings and whatnot can hold out as I go through this coming thesis year without faltering as I do whatever it takes to prove myself worthy of being part of the airwaves once more.

The Triggerman has given me a challenge. Now, I must step up.