Glorietta Bomb

Theories have been flying around about the who and the why behind the alleged bombing of Glorietta Mall last week. Although maybe I shouldn't refer to it as bombing anymore, in light of new reports saying that it there were no bomb blast materials in the scene, and no bomb crater to support the bomb theory. They also said evidences are pointing towards an accidental gas explosion.

I had quite a discussion over lunch about it, before the new information came out and everyone agreed that it was indeed, a bomb. A friend of mine wouldn't dismiss the idea that it could have been the government behind the apparent diversion, what with all the talk about ZTE and the new Impeachment case they are drafting. Also, it did happen on the same day that those 3 bishops called for the President to resign, which I found completely absurd, by the way. I mean, they wanted to remove the President, but said they were not supporting any Politicians or other groups. So, if they got their way, what then?!?! We'll have a practically headless government!(Noli who?)

But going back to my lunch discussion, my opinion is this: I do think that those darn Politicians grandstanding and blaming the government for every little thing are over the top and should just be ignored. (Trillia-what?) I honestly think GMA is smart enough to recognize that the Martial Law tactics of creating chaos to be able to wield the government's controls against it is an easily recognizable strategy, and that she knows the Filipino people will not hear of it anymore.

In any case, 11 people died in that tragedy. One of them, the wife of Carlo Cruz, who's email has been circulating in our offices.

I pray for their souls and the families they left behind.

News Bits Tidbits

One of the benefits of having Broadband at home is I get read the news before I go to bed. I'm not quite in the mood to talk about ZTE and GMA and ERAP and Clinton-Obama right now, so I'll just mention some newsbits that caught my eye in the past couple of weeks...

• I'm sure you heard about Britney Spear's tragic excuse for a performance at the recent MTV VMA's. I honestly was looking forward to it, I suppose a lot of us are really suckers for Happy Endings, but then watching here walk around the stage (almost) dancing was just blah and blah. She could have done better to say the least. Haha. But check again. Her song "Gimme More" is #3 on the Billboard Hot 100, and #1 on the Hot Digital Songs.
  




• And that Chris Crocker guy who was on YouTube crying over the whole Britney thing, and how almost every newspaper in the world featured her (horrible) comeback. I saw an article saying how amazing it was that you can have a nervous breakdown and the whole world can watch it. Haha. Seriously, I think people obsessed with celebrities are really creepy...



• And did you hear about Christian Bautista's Lupang Hinirang blooper?

"...Lupa ng araw ng luwalhati't pagsinta, ang mamatay ng dahil sa'yo!"

Dumbass. 'Nuff said. Haha!

• How about that racial slur against Philippine Medical Schools on Desperate Housewives? Where Teri Hatcher's character says "Before we go on, I think I wanna see his diplomas to check that they're not from some medical school in the Philippines!" (or something like that). I mean c'mon. That was really irresponsible of the writers. It's a reputation issue. Doctors who received their degree in a Philippine medical school is just as competent as any other doctor from any medical school in the United States. That comment was uncalled for.

IQ Tests and Such

I took a Personality Test and an IQ test. See the results below...



Kinda true. I had always thought of myself as an Idealist. I don't know about the wealth part, but it does really get to me...when people are not following rules. When I break rules, even when I know it is better to break them than not to, I always have a sinking feeling in my gut. Haha. My conscience must be in my gut then...



Now, for the IQ test thing, I got 127. According to the website, this is better then 77% of the people who took this test. Pretty good. Haha. But I do know people who scored so much higher than me in our high school IQ test. :p

11:11

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A few blogs ago, I wrote about my weird affinity to the number 11 and the fact that I always see it on clocks. At the time, I was just mildly amused by it, not thinking that it was really anything at all. But then Stippy left a comment on that blog entry:

Stip said...

according to one book i've read, people with extraordinary cognitive abilities always catch double digits on their digital clocks without meaning to do so. "extraordinary cognitive abilities" includes abstract intuition (you somehow know that doing something is the best thing, but you can't explain it), premonitions, psychic and third-eye abilities. =)

So I looked it up on the internet, and true enough, there were several websites dedicated to 11:11! Akalain mo yun... And here's what they said:

These 11:11 Wake-Up Calls on your digital clocks, mobile phones, VCR’s and microwaves are the "trademark" prompts of a group of just 1,111 fun-loving Spirit Guardians, or Angels.

Once they have your attention, they will use other digits, like 12:34, or 2:22 to remind you of their presence. Invisible to our eyes, they are very real.Our earthly 1,111 Spirit Guardians, often called "Midwayers," have been assisting folks of all walks of life for many centuries.

I saw 11:11 again tonight on my car clock, just as I got in to go home. I don't really believe it, but maybe I'll try to see how often I catch 11:11.

Some points for argument: Why are people with digital clocks so privileged to get spiritual beings and such? How about the people who don't ever see digital numbers?

Stuck

In Tabangao stuck

For the weekend. Buck

Naked, running amuck

In my bedroom. Struck

out of Tumble-bug

doesn't rhyme with: Pluck

a guitar, but, luck!

I don't play it. Luck!

I don't have one. Stuck,

Like a fly on a window. Yuck.

-reyjr

Moving On

A few days ago, a friend of mine (Ms. Q) received a message on her Multiply saying that she's ugly and it came from a guy (Mr. A) who used to be a trainee in our school organization but quit because of personal reasons (ehem..).

After much discussion on Ms. Q's site how Mr. A is a loser and hypocrite, etc., Mr. A apologized and claimed that his account was hacked into and that he wasn't the one who wrote on Ms. Q's multiply site. End of story.

The reason I'm blogging about it is this: Ms. Q sent me an SMS about the alleged message on her site and said, "To think ikaw ang nagpahirap sa kanya, at hindi ako!" In a way, that IS true...and so this got me to thinking, how many people out there would send me a hate message if they could, all those trainees who quit because of me? Off the top of my head, I know only about 4 people ("Hindi ako babalik habang andyan pa si..!!!"), but there could be others.

So, I thought, had my strict, perfectionist approach to performance arts become so overbearing that trainees crumbled and quit under my tutelage? Lalim. Haha! I knew that I was strict. But I also knew that if you wanted to attain a certain standard of excellence in performance, you have to work hard for it. I had a lot of trainees who quit during the process, but there were those who survived their traineeship and became really good performers, and really loyal members.

The thing is, the stage is a cruel place: it will not show your audience how hard you practiced for your song, or how many sleepless nights you endured to memorize your dance. When you're on the stage, all that matters is what you do there and then. No, it's not fair, but nothing ever really is...

I am not trying to justify that I had done in the past, I know I hurt a lot of egos. But I do hope that they have all learned from their experience and moved on. Hopefully I won't receive any hate messages anytime soon!

Losing Sleep

i was slowly falling into a routine,
losing sleep, i'm awake and its fourteen
minutes past 2 in the morning. Dreaming
while i'm awake, my mind keeps swirling
'round and 'round. Bean's bear on my bedside
table, i'm seeing my room from the inside.
unmade bed looks comfortable 'nough
but the aircon's noisy, that's why its tough
to get Silent Nights during Christmastime.
set my clock at 6, but wake up at 9.

xoxo

Pisay the Movie

I almost got lost on my way to watch Pisay. My friend Julz Oliveros (not related to Maximo) sent me an SMS saying the showing will be at Cinema 4 of The Block, and that The Block would be "in" SM North EDSA. I had, in my head, planned to just park in the open parking in front of SM North even though it was drizzling a bit. It was the only parking area I could remember...

When I turned right from North Ave, I was dumbfounded! There's a whole new building where the parking lot used to be! Anyhow, I drove (slowly) around the other cars who seem to be as lost as I was, and finally found the Parking Entrance to the SM Annex.

On to the movie then! Pisay is a heartwarming tale of a group of high school students, coming from different backgrounds, but all brilliant, all studying at the Philippine Science High School. What I liked most about the movie was its effective nostalgia. It may be that the movie was set in the 80's (when I was but a wee little baby), but it's theme's captured the essence of being in Pisay. But it's greatest asset may also well be it's worst flaw: It may tend to alienate non-Pisay people. I felt the audience deserved a tad bit more development of the characters. It becomes difficult to sympathize with characters you hardly know.

I loved that the kids acted very naturally, although there were some awkward moments, some dead air, it was forgivable. Dr. Casas was very effective (reminding all of us or a certain Pisay professor we will all sorely miss). The other adult actors, however, (I'm not sure if this was intentional) spoke in a "theater" voice, like a sing-song, Batibot style. I found it unnatural, even highlighted by the fact that the child actors were very natural with theirs ("Egis erp!")

The storyline was flawless. I found it strummed a different chord at every chapter. The freshman year told of a budding relationship ripped apart by a teacher, the sophomore year told of a small town boy kicked-out of Pisay for failing Geometry (and moving on to become #1 in the school he moved to!), the third year featured a girl who had move to The Netherlands because she and her parents were wanted by the government, and finally, the senior year which featured a morally ambiguous research project, a theater loving science school senior, and a terminally ill genius.

I was flooded with memories while I was watching the movie. I was especially moved by the first scene where they found out he got in Pisay. I remember we hadn't received a letter from PSHS yet so my dad decided to go visit Pisay himself to check if I had passed. When he got home, he calmly whispered to me that I had passed, and that was when I started going crazy. Haha! Good times.

Photographic Memory

07/12 - This bird won't budge. It just won't.

Then after a few minutes, it pooped then flew away. It must've been too shy to do its business while i was there. Haha!



07/21 - The UP Concert Chorus bulletin board. Haha! Memories.
I visited them last Saturday. They were rehearsing some choreography for their upcoming UPBeat Concert. I remember those times when I was the one leading choreography rehearsals, tough but fun.

I will be watching on August 11 with my gf and also former UPCC, Liz, and also with a few more UPCC Alumni.

07/25 - (One of) Bryan's send off party(-ies). This one at the Ponte Fino Hotel with the MF Finance Dept. Bryan (who is also one of my housemates and badminton buddies) is the guy I'm pointing at. He's off to the land of the merlion to earn loads of Sing dollars and maybe learn a thing or two about GSAP. See you in December Don Bryan!

o7/26 - They say there's a pot of gold at the end of a rainbow. I still have to check, but this looks promising!

:D

2 Partial Fantasy Book Reviews

I've begun reading 2 books.

One is WICKED. The story of the life of Oz' Wicked Witch of the West. The musical play was highly entertaining, that's why I bought the book. Surprisingly though, the book was of a different interest point completely. It humanized the characters of Oz, interestingly so, that you would forgive the slight inconsistencies with the original Wizard of Oz story. Elphaba, the wicked witch, was a nerdy, eccentric, sometimes bitchy, sometimes crazy protagonist. Her friendship with Glinda, and the other students, came very naturally, well, as naturally as it could have been for a green-skinned girl. The story is about politics and racism, animal rights and human rights. It was actually a very serious fantasy novel. I'm only up to around the middle of the book, and Elphaba hasn't actually displayed any super powers just yet (i'm actually beginning to think she won't be showing any), but I'm looking forward to finishing it.

Next is the new Harry Potter, Deathly Hallows. The first few chapters blew me away. Very cool. I won't give anything away, (and those of you reading this, don't tell me anything!!!) but I assure you, it's a great book, so far for me, at least. :D

On a side note: I'm on duty this weekend. x-p
Visit me in Batangas.

Grand Canyon

I have a Grand Canyon National Park mug on my desk. I got it from my UPCC Tour in 2003. We were in Arizona at the time, and our hosts took us on a road trip to see the Grand Canyon. We had a concert that finished late the night before, but we had to wake up early because the trip would take a couple of hours. I remember my roommate and I even had to sleep over another host's house. I barely slept that night with my adrenaline from the concert still going and my anticipation running high.

Our jaws dropped when we got there...The Grand Canyon.

I remember it well, the overwhemling enormity of it. Trees looked like specks of dust from where we stood at the edge of a cliff. A 2-lane road at the bottom of the canyon looked like a piece of pink string.

I remember the air was warm, but not scalding. I remember seeing whole cloud shadows on the walls of the canyon. I remember just staring, not believing my eyes.

I took a lot of photos of course. In hindsight, it was a bad idea to wear my then new orange shorts with that red long-sleeved Gap shirt. :x I looked like a Halloween pumpkin with a red stem. Haha! The photos were great but they were not able to capture the overwhelming size of the place. Pictures have borders. Damn.

Remembering the Grand Canyon. A nice getaway from the hustle ang bustle of daily life. I miss traveling.

Pisay

This year is the 8th year anniversary of my graduation from Pisay. I still remember my 5th year anniversary in 2004. I was really excited to go back and see how things have changed since I left. But not a lot of my batchmates shared this sentiment. A lot of them said they didn't want to go because they had nothing to show for the 5 years since they graduated. I was, at the time, still in school, not nearly finished with my Mechanical Engineering in UP, but I wanted to go. So I went.

I have only a few memories of Pisay, and I wanted to go back and try to see what else I could dig up from my subconscious. I suppose high school went by too fast for me...

I arrived in Pisay a small unknown kid from a small unknown private school in Pasig. The year was 1995 and I was the first and only kid from my elementary school to pass the entrance exams. High school was a challenge for me, especially the first year. I had to deal with commuting to Quezon City everyday (from just walking to school), the lessons (Algebra! waahh!) which everybody seemed to already know about except me, my not so popular status with my classmates, and of course dealing with the pressure to excel... "You're the cream of the cream of the crop!"

But it wasn't bad the whole time. I did make a lot of really good friends, some of which I have until today. And I did get to put in my resume that I graduated from Pisay. Haha!

I'm thinking of going to this year's Alumni Homecoming. I know that not a lot of my batchmates will be there, it not being our 5th or 10th year and all, but I still just want to visit anyway. What the heck.

Aureaus Solito, award winning Director of "Ang Pagdadalaga ni Maximo Oliveros" and Pisay alumnus, made a movie about Pisay during the Martial Law era. It will be part of the Cinemalaya Festival. Here's the trailer:



Am I excited to watch it? Hell yeah. Hope I can, if not in CCP, then on DVD or something. Haha. Seeing the school uniforms in the trailer was enough to convince me that I needed to see this movie. :p

Davao in Snapshots

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Reblogged from my old Xanga site

Off to Davao!

 

In November of 2005, Liz and I went to Davao for the very first time, to visit my friend Cheska and get some rest and relaxation. We spent 4 days there, did all the tourist-y stuff, went to the beach, had some Blugre Durian coffee, and went home with a sack full of suha!