subliminal messaging

I used to read this book at the Colegio San Agustin Grade School library many years ago.

I can still remember it very clearly, down to the tiniest detail of the drawings inside.

The problem? I saw it at Trinoma yesterday, and I couldn't get it.

I already had two books lined up before I saw this one, and I couldn't afford to spend another centavo.

It was really frustrating.

I wanted to buy it, yet the bean counters in my mind were already screaming. Sure, it only cost 120 pesos, but aside from the sentimental value I couldn't find any reason to justify to my rational self the release of 120 pesos for a book which did not even reach 30 pages.

I AM SO DAMN CHEAP.

Hahaha.

Maybe I should have taken up Accounting.

Hehehe.

***
I was surprised to find a Toys 'R Us store at Trinoma. (Ano 'to, tour ng Trinoma??)

For me, a trip to any mall can never be complete without a leisurely stroll inside a toy shop. Yes, even at 20 years old I still enjoy looking at toys, and wishing that they were mine.

Uh oh.

It's not that I didn't have any toys when I was a child; my parents used to bring home a new Matchbox car everyday after work, and the fact that my birthday is just a few days short of Christmas ensured double the amount of presents I received every December.

Maybe it's my childhood frustrations surfacing; the 'I want this, I want that' syndrome manifesting itself once again. I got much of what I wanted when I was a child, but quite a lot of what I wanted then slipped through my fingers.

The grass is always greener on the other side.

Hahaha.

***
Starbucks.

Enough said.

Hehehe.

***
BA Journalism is turning out to be a VERY EXPENSIVE course. In two weeks I've spent more than three-fourths of my allowance on transportation; finding people to interview for class can bring you to new and wonderful places which you never knew existed.

AND DRAIN YOUR WALLET SO FAST.

Yet it all can be very rewarding. You get to see new places, you get to meet new people (and make good contacts on the way!), and you learn things which you can never learn anywhere else.

Yes, it's tiring and it can cost a lot. It can also be VERY FRUSTRATING at times.

But in the end, IT'S ALL WORTH IT.

As a friend (who by the way would UNFORTUNATELY miss out on my yearly FREE PIZZA TREAT during our Christmas party) said:

ang punto ko, simple.at.malabo.

kung ang mata ko naligayahan sa nakita nya,
ang ilong ko eh nakaamoy ng pag-asa.

***
I found myself singing along to one of Jose Mari Chan's Christmas songs as I went through the Cubao MRT station on the way home yesterday. The Christmas spirit is really in the air.

28 (or so) days to go before Christmas! (Sorry, couldn't resist!)

I felt so happy then; I felt that things were finally falling into place. Only a few little things remain.

***
Haay... Back to work!

i live!

Wow. I survived One More Chance.

Since time immemorial I've hated -absolutely LOATHED- romantic movies. All the lovey-dovey on screen has the unfortunate effect of making my stomach spasm involuntarily, causing a substantial amount of the fluids contained therein to spew forth from my mouth.

The movie wasn't as bad as I expected though. Sure, the story was so predictable as to make me roll my eyes at every twist and turn, but certain aspects of the movie such as Maja Salvador and a few other pretty ladies more than made up for all the inhuman torment brought about by the uber-cliched romantic comedy plot.

And yes, Ching, I could also relate to the conflicts in the story.

But then again...

Why can't Filipino filmmakers create ONE DECENT WAR MOVIE?

Hahaha. PLEASE. Just one to break up (pun intended) the endless flood of same-old same-old romantic teen flicks. And yes, SO THAT I COULD DRAG ERIKA TO IT.

Revenge would be SO SWEET.

***
This is the effect of not enough caffeine in my system. I've gone for over eighteen hours now without a single sip of coffee. Amazing, given all that I was able to accomplish today:

1) One (1) NEW UP ID card. (With a stunningly handsome photo!)
2) One (1) interview with radio announcer Danilo Santos for BJ 101.
3) One (1) interview with TV reporter Alex Tinsay for BJ 101.
4) Two (2) books bought at stupidly low prices. (You can cross off Teeth of the Tiger and The Cardinal of the Kremlin from your Christmas lists)
5) Six (6) little piglets brought to the movies.

Whew. Thank God that my BC 100 class tomorrow is at 1 PM.

****
Quote of the day:

A: Bye pigs! (Supposed to be only bye pig!)

E: Anong pigs? PIG! (With conviction pa!)

Hehehehe... I love pigs.

one more chance

She finally did it. After one month of endless badgering and quite a few fights she finally 'convinced' me to go with her to Trinoma to watch One More Chance.

Somebody please shoot me.

time crisis

There, I've calmed down somewhat.

A few minutes ago I was shivering like crazy. I still can't understand why. Who knew that a spark of inspiration could lead to this?

I'm supposed to give a report on broadcasting history for class on Thursday. Yes, THURSDAY. Two days from now. I've researched the topic already, and the only thing keeping me from setting a lifetime record by FINISHING THE REPORT ONE DAY EARLY is the question of presentation.

It hit me this morning, and I've been 'overstaying' here at home to try to further develop the idea.

I stumbled upon one Internet site which had a list of historic radio broadcasts. If you click on the link, try and guess which one I listened to first.

So there I was, complete with earphones and all. The screen was blank, so I felt like I was just listening to the radio.

Why the shivering? I GOT SCARED. It all felt so real, like I WAS REALLY THERE. The illusion was so complete that for a moment I got lost in time.

Of course it could be the one cup of coffee I drank this morning, but there was something...

...else.

I'm going to eat lunch now. I've got a class at 1 PM. I'll finish the report tomorrow.

***
Words of wisdom:
"If it bleeds, it leads." - from yesterday's Journalism 101 class

week one

And I'm tired already.

Enough said.

genius

Amazing. Simply amazing.

I REALLY want to meet this person.

Suspending classes and sending people home at FOUR IN THE AFTERNOON is just pure genius!

But that's not all. This person must be a regular Albert Einstein! This person suspended classes EXACTLY WHEN THE TORRENTIAL RAINS STOPPED.

Damn! I really want to meet this guy!

AND SHOOT HIM IN THE HEAD.

seven days later

Wednesday. What was once my sacred midweek break is now just a regular school day once again.

I used this day for stress relief. If I was not sleeping until three in the afternoon I was blowing off steam in front of this computer. Very rarely did I do anything academically-related on this day, and those rare occasions usually took place near the end of the semester.

Now I have two classes on Wednesday. AND, thanks to a few 'friends', I am now COMPELLED to wake up at 5:30 AM to ensure that I would not be late for my 8:30 class.

THANKS for electing me as one of your class monitors guys. Rest assured that I will abuse the power you have entrusted to me whenever I feel like it.

BWAHAHAHAHA!

***
Of course I'm only kidding.

While I'm quite miffed at having to wake up at such an unholy hour for the next 14 or so Wednesdays, I really appreciate the opportunity to finally get rid of my old enemy: TARDINESS.

After a semester wherein I came to class either barely on time (which was rare enough) or THIRTY MINUTES after the class started (which was nearly ALL THE TIME), I want to turn over a new leaf. With professors who threaten to penalize latecomers, I HAVE TO.

Yes, I WILL NO LONGER BE LATE, and now that I've shouted it out into the world I can count on my PRIDE and yes, YOU, to force me to live up to my promise.

Next target: PROCRASTINATION.

I've kept away from my work long enough. I've still got a financial report to finalize, receipts to prepare, readings to read, and assignments to finish.

Or maybe I'll sleep first.

a shoutout to the tooth fairy

It was all I could do to keep from screaming. The pain was excruciating, but it was all over in seconds. The rest of the operation took only a few minutes more with me blissfully above the pain, yet still aware of what was going on.

I wonder what would have happened if I had not been not sedated during my previous major operations. Would I have been as talkative then as I was a few hours ago? It was a wonder that the dentist could concentrate on getting my shattered tooth out with my constant and barely understandable blabbering, numbed mouth and all.

I managed to laugh a lot of times, except at that horrific one minute interval that saw two needles being pushed into my tender gums. I didn't scream, but my sister's hands were all red and sore after. After that I felt nothing at all, and all I could do was laugh at myself and ask a lot of questions. It was my first tooth extraction after all.

***
The stupid little no-nosed troll beside me right now is still rubbing it in; apparently she had one too many tooth extractions in the past and she just couldn't pass up the chance to make me feel all her pain. Oh yeah, she also couldn't get over the fact that my tooth was larger than her poor excuse of a nose. Hehehe... Love ya sis!
***

The tooth in question was quite near the back of my mouth and the hole it left is well hidden by my front teeth, so I can still smile. The even better news is that I can return to my normal diet, sans hot liquids and seafood for at least a week.

I'll be keeping my little tooth under my pillow tonight.

news flash!

In two years, I will be a journalist.

Two more years of papers, exams, papers, reports, papers, and more papers. But hey, it's better than the alternative, right?

I'm going to be at UP tomorrow to fix things at the OUR, SE, and CMC, so this new development will cost me one day of vacation. Scratch one day of just staring at the computer monitor.

Thanks to everyone who gave their support!

...and now we wait

I just spent the better part of the day proving to my self that I was still deadly proficient at using a sniper rifle, be it a Kar95k or a Mosin-Nagant. I was a bit slow and my aim was off at times, but I was still able to mow down wave after wave of Nazi grunts with just one rifle.

Of course, it was all just a game. I haven't played Call of Duty in quite a long time, so this afternoon was a welcome break. Besides, I needed the release, and what better way to get rid of excess anxiety and stress than to pop a few virtual Nazis in the head. Okay, so I blew up a few trucks and shot down a few planes on the way, but I've got A LOT of stress to relieve.

Which, incidentally, also caused me to splurge on lunch at Kenny Rogers. Before leaving home this morning I had already resolved to eat there whatever the result of my desperate last-ditch effort at securing a future. Erika had one piece of fried chicken and spaghetti, while I had a 1/4 piece of roast chicken with mashed potatoes and rice. Yum yum, but my pockets hurt like hell.

I expected to spend less than 10 minutes in UP this morning. I go in, see that I'm not on the list, and get out. Simple, but it was not to be.

I got in late thanks to a rare traffic jam on the way out of Marikina. 30 minutes late to be exact, but there on the door was a list with my name on it. Whew. I got to take the essay exam for shifting into BA Journalism. The Glorietta incident in one page and why I want to shift to Journalism in not more than three paragraphs. Now all I have to do is to wait for the results.

Wednesday. Two days from now. 48 hours. Waiting is really the hardest part.

But at least now I've got a chance.

here we go...

Remember, remember, the 5th of November...

Well, I guess it's time to face the music. There's no point in delaying it any longer. I'll have to find out sooner or later.

Let's see... In three hours I'll find out that

a) I've become a premature graduate, or,

b) I've signed on for another two years with that damned abomination called CRS.

Just between you and me, I'm shivering like crazy.

Scared? Me? Nah...

I'm terrified.