friday the 13th

I am so pleased, yet I am also so frustrated.

I went to UP this morning to fix my summer registration. To be able to cancel just one class, I had to wake up at 5:30 AM and get to Econ by 8 AM. I got to school on time, but there was already a line outside the computer room -this was at 8:05 AM. I only got to a computer by 9 AM, which I used for about less than 6 or 7 minutes just to cancel one class. Thanks CRS! The 'new' system, which was probably supposed to 'help' us poor students, really screwed up big time. The monstrous lags yesterday were bad enough with me staring at my computer screen for two hours clicking on reload every few minutes just to access the enlistment page, but denying access to external users because of server overload? And when did this have to happen? RIGHT WHEN I WAS ABOUT TO CANCEL THE DAMN CLASS FROM HERE AT HOME. So I had to sacrifice a few hours of sleep just to beat the lines and get to a DILNET-connected computer just so I could spend five minutes to log-on and click on one little button named 'cancel'.

Yes. Five hours of preparation and waiting just so I could use a computer for five minutes.

After canceling my summer enlistment (vacation time!) I decided to get my class cards. I was in UP already so there was no sense in going back on Monday just to get class cards. I also got my TCG from SE101 so I passed my one and only application for shifting to AS101. Then it was off to PH 124 then to the Faculty Center for my class cards.

POLSC 150: 1.25
POLSC 160: 1.75
ECON 109: 1.25

LATIN 10: 2.25
CRAP.

I did not even bother to get my Persian 10 class card (supposedly [according to CRS] it's a 2); George W. Bush can nuke Iran for all I care.

I even got my papers from my pol sci subjects, which just intensified my frustration. I got a 94 (!!!) on my 12-page Polsc 150 case study and an 85 (!?) on my Polsc 160 journal article review. I was so pleased at the results, yet so intensely frustrated at the fact that my efforts could be in vain just because my cumulative GWA is now 2.05 thanks to my two language electives.

Enough ranting. I'm hungry.

great expectations

Apparently, things have a funny way of not going the way I planned. I took two language electives last semester to counterbalance my one economics and two political science courses; a little something to break the monotony of reading endless volumes and to bump up my GWA for the sem. Now, the grades are out, and guess what? I've got ones on my three major subjects and twos on my supposedly life-saving, grade-bumping language electives, turning what should have been a GWA of 1.4 to a 1.7! Granted, an average of 1.7 is a high one, and it's the highest I've ever gotten since starting out in UP, but it is just not good enough for me! (grade conscious ba?) It's a matter of pride, yes, but this latest setback has lessened my chances of getting into CSSP. I guess I now have to consider applying at NCPAG or at CAL, and face another three years of college. Hell, I want to graduate already! Haaay... But that's the way the cookie crumbles folks. I'm going to UP today to try to talk some sense into one of my professors (read: beg) and somehow salvage this debacle. It's a long shot, yes, but it just might save my skin in the long run. Yes, that's it: a desperate operation to try to change a ''2" into at least a "1.5". Hehehe... This is the new me: quibbling over a .5. What the hell. It just might work.

***
This would also be the perfect excuse to get out of the house. Though they haven't manifested themselves yet, boredom and insomnia due to idleness is a clear and present danger to my sanity. I need something to do besides staring at our antiquated CRT monitor for hours on end every single day. Of course a new computer with all the bells and whistles (read: Intel Core 2 Duo + GeForce 8800 + 4GB RAM + 250GB hard drive + Windows Vista) along with a brand new copy of Command and Conquer 3 would do much to quell all my feelings of boredom, but it sure as hell won't do much good for my insomnia I suppose. Back on topic though, the green of the Sunken Garden would do wonders for my mind, and my feet do miss walking around. Oh well, at least I would be doing something else to get my mind off the heat here at home.

***
By the way, congratulations to all those who've graduated!

all quiet on the western front

No sound at all. Not even a whisper.

Which makes it all the more ominous. And threatening.

Threats can be dealt with. Decisively.

But is there really a threat? I do not know.

So I do not move on the west. Yet the east is another story.

When six divisions attack in rapid succession there is a lot of noise.

A lot of screaming and shouting and slamming and cursing.

Diplomacy failed once again. Will I ever learn?

Was I wrong in hoping that things between us could be fixed?

I hope not. But I am ready to act. Now.

home stretch

Another sunset, and the semester is one day closer to its end.

Coffee on such a hot day may be seen as some to be a bit eccentric, but to me it is a fitting way to relax after 9 hours of work.

At the UP Main Library there is one perfect spot for me. The coffee dispenser is only a few feet away, there is a beautiful view of the sky and the trees, and the silence is just what my overheated mind needs.

Yes. Silence. Isolation. Reflection.

The end is in sight. After my final exams on the 31st I would finally be able to rest and relax once again.

For the near future, at least.

Ad astra per aspera

the force is strong with me

Your overconfidence is your weakness. -Luke Skywalker

Last night I said that I had an exam in Econ 109 today. That exam was supposed to start at 8:30 in the morning. Guess where I was at 8:20. Hehehehe... I left home at exactly 8:30, and I only got on an FX by 8:45. Needless to say I was already fuming; my temper was already rising to dangerous levels. Sure, I was late in leaving for school since I just had to open up the computer and check my mail and backup my XDA and watch some videos on YouTube, but the FX driver was also to blame for my tardiness because he was not at the terminal when I arrived! Yes. The FX driver is to blame. Not me. Certainly not my addiction to the Internet. No way.
I got to my classroom by 9:15. With only 45 minutes to spare, I immediately started on the exam. I wrote so furiously that my pen actually gave up on me halfway into the second essay question. When it was all over I had filled up one and a half sheets of yellow paper. In 45 minutes. Wow. Of course I was overconfident for a reason: it was an open-book exam. The answers were never more than 5 inches away from me. Two nights before I had already read the two assigned chapters and highlighted all the important details. I expect to see another "1" next week. How's that for confidence?

Your faith in your friends is yours. -Emperor Palpatine

My troubles, if you could call them that, did not end with my exam. There was still that one-page Latin short story to translate. The assignment was given last Tuesday. We were supposed to meet yesterday, but no one showed up at the designated place at the appointed time. History repeats itself. Guess how much my groupmates and I had done by lunch time of the deadline. Translation is not an exact science. You do not just get a dictionary and replace latin word with english word. You have to consider the context of the sentence. You have to take into account the culture of the time in which the document you're trying to translate was written. And you cannot just move on after translating a sentence, you have to polish it up so that it would have meaning in the English language. It's just like writing a paper for grammar class, or a blog, except that you have to be able to choose and use exactly the right words and you have to be extremely careful with the cases and the numbers and the persons and the moods and the genders of every single noun, adjective, verb, and adverb or else what you come up with would amount to pure gobbledygook. So we were only at the third sentence. Big deal. Our Latin class was at 2:30. In the excitement of meticulously poring over the definition and inflection of every single word in the text I sort of forgot to eat lunch. A cup of hot brewed coffee replaced rice. It had such a stimulating effect that all the way into my Political Science 150 class I was twitching and shaking. Come Latin class the fruit of our labor was finally put to the test. Our hard work was not without reward, as we garnered 8 points before the class had to be dismissed due to lack of time. And because of the lack of time everyone was given the full 10 points to be added to the second exam. Weeee!

It is pointless to resist, my son. -Darth Vader/Anakin Skywalker

To reward myself for my recent successes on the academic front and to congratulate myself for living through such a hectic and stressful day, I just had to have a plate of California Maki and Tuna Sushi at Teriyaki Boy. My lunch was at 6 in the evening. It's ironic. We're just friends now, and there we were, having dinner at a restaurant after such a long time without ever going out on a date. I had planned on watching Letters from Iwo Jima at the cinema, but unfortunately only Ayala cinemas were playing it. I had no plans of going all the way to Makati at such a late hour. Blue Wave Marikina beckoned, and there we went. When you're in a celebratory mood, stay away from any arcade; it will suck you in and bleed you dry, especially when it has Time Crisis 3 in it! 150 pesos in 30 minutes. Gone. O di immortales!

Everything that has transpired has done so according to my design. -Emperor Palpatine

*Return of the Jedi; Emperor's Throne Room, right before the Rebel Alliance launches its attack on the Second Death Star

carpe diem

I have been meaning to update this blog for quite some time now, but it was only today that I was finally in the mood to do some writing. Actually I still don't feel like writing. It's as if there's a dam in my mind keeping the ideas from flowing through my hands into the computer.

So what do you do if something is in your way?

Why, BLOW IT UP of course!

Or RUN OVER IT!

CRUSH the opposition!

SWEEP it away!

SEIZE the initiative and ANNIHILATE the enemy!

Now that's better. I actually feel warm and fuzzy inside.

So what's new? Quite a lot, actually.

My mom has been at the hospital for 5 days now, thanks to a stone (or stones, but I only saw one) in her gall bladder. Her entire gall bladder had to be removed, since the stones had already caused it to be inflamed. In less than a year we've been 'invited' back to the Cardinal Santos Memorial Hospital, and she even got my old doctor from my 'midterm vacation' last year. She'll be coming home today; thank God that she got treated in time and nothing else happened. However, this entire episode has had one good side effect: my mom has FINALLY been banned from smoking. And when she comes home I fully intend to ensure that that ban is well and truly implemented.

I actually have a good chance of getting high grades this semester. As I may have written about earlier, the results of my midterm exams were way above expectations. Besides that I've been speaking out in class more than before, which is saying quite a lot since I RARELY spoke out in class before. I don't know why, but I think I've got this 'studying' thing finally all figured out. Hehehehe... Just kidding. Maybe it's just because after FOUR YEARS I don't have a single Math subject. Not one. Not even a teeny-tiny-itsy-bitsy hint of Math. Yes. There's still a month to go before the semester ends and I still have loads of papers and reports and exams to wade through, but hey, at least I've regained the initiative. All I have to do is to sustain the momentum, and then my dream of becoming a university scholar will FINALLY become a reality.

Speaking of speaking out I think I actually spoke out TOO MUCH last Tuesday during my Latin class. It's election season once again, and candidates for the University Student Council and the various college councils have been going room to room to campaign for their respective parties. It so happened that some candidates of the STAND-UP party chose to campaign during my Latin class. After the usual introduction speech and the 'call for mobilization against the TOFI (tuition and other fee increase)' speech there was the usual question and answer portion, which I quite nervously took advantage of. I asked them what their alternatives for the tuition fee hike were, given that they were vehemently opposing said policy and I wanted to know what they wanted to do without it. I forgot exactly what they answered but it was the same old line of fighting the tuition fee increase with more demonstrations and lobbying for a larger budget for UP. And they didn't answer my question. I wanted to know what alternatives they had to solve the funding problems of the university in place of the tuition fee increase. So I asked again. I asked what they planned to do NOW to solve the funding problem. Besides waiting for a budget increase (which by the way is, while idealistic, totally impractical given the current state of affairs in our country) I wanted to know what CONCRETE plans they had for solving the problem. This is where I think I blew up. "LOOK AT THIS CHAIR! LOOK AT THIS ROOM! What do you propose to do about this NOW?" Their answer? "Solicitation." I did not push any further. After that and with some parting words they left, and that was when I noticed the funny looks my classmates were giving me. It turned out that during that short space of time I looked as if I was about to THROW MY CHAIR at the guy who answered my question. I didn't even notice it; I was so lost in the moment. What shocked me more was that my professor COMMENDED me for my (I can't remember the exact words) caring so much about the issues confronting the studentry today. Not bad for my first time ever speaking out publicly on an important issue.

Whew.

I guess I have to take a break here.

But wait, there's more!

Now that I've moved to the new Google-powered Blogger I can finally go back to updating this blog on a more regular basis. Weeeee!

new look!

I finally got the chance to refurbish this blog! Hehehehehe...

Enjoy! :D

troubleshooting convenience

My computer has been acting up as of late. Slow load times and random errors have become commonplace. The CD player is close to unusable and the speakers spout out loud static every time they are adjusted. Programs I've used with no problems in the past run sluggishly or not at all.
I would reformat it, if not for the slow Internet connection we've had since that earthquake off Taiwan. Download speeds are just a tad bit higher than in a dial-up connection, and there's a high probability of downloads just stopping way before they reach 50%. Web pages load painfully slowly or not at all. When once I had multiple tabs loading in Firefox at the same time I now find it hard to load one completely without refreshing it at least once.
A reformat now would erase over 3 years of patches and upgrades, not to mention security software, which would be nearly impossible to restore with our Internet connection problems.

It's very annoying and inconvenient to have computer problems nowadays. A computer has become a requirement for school; research, papers, homework, papers, presentations, papers, and reports (did I mention papers?) go through a computer before landing on the desk of your teacher. A printer would also be nice to have, as the lack of one would entail severe logistical problems and not a few unpassed assignments (yes, it happened to me). Communication with friends and loved ones is now done through the Internet; instant messaging, email, voice chat, webcams, threads, and forums now serve as meeting places. Some people build entire lives in the online world.

So imagine my predicament now. I admit I've become too dependent on computers, or on technology for that matter. I spend more time now in front of a screen, be it that of a computer, TV, or cellphone, than in front of a real paper book. In fact I have books -electronic books- just waiting to be loaded into my PDA.
I also find myself multi-tasking more often now; TV droning on in the background, cellphone in one hand, mouse on the other, headphones in my ear, YouTube loading in one tab while I'm typing in Multiply in another, Yahoo Messenger in another window, -and then the phone rings.

The convenience brought by technology can also be a curse. Having the world at your fingertips removes any need for you to walk. We are conditioned to demand speed at every turn, just so we could fit everything we want or need to do in the 24 hours given to us everyday, 24 hours which are squeezed and reduced more and more by more demands on our time so much so that soon nothing is ever fast enough. With various media competing for our attention and with all the things we do in our everyday lives we find that we have very little time for anything else.

And then we realize that we are inconvenienced by the very things we made and bought and used to make our lives easier. Computer problems keep us up all night in vain attempts to set right the effects of over six years of wear and tear (guess what I'm doing at 4:33 in the morning).Dependence on technology becomes a liability when the power goes out (remember Milenyo?). I won't even begin to describe the battles we've fought here over who gets to use the computer or the TV at this or that time.

I bought a book last Friday; you can now scratch off Ang Paboritong Libro ni Hudas from your Christmas gift lists. I spent the afternoon at the Sunken Garden with my new book. It was windy, cold even. I was laughing every once in a while -I think some of the people near me then thought that I was crazy. And for at least two hours I forgot about my 6-year old computer. I wasn't staring at a monitor and screaming invectives at Globe Telecom or pounding at the CD drive. No one was texting me at that time, and there were no TV sets in sight. It was just me and a good book. A cup of coffee would have been nice, but I was fine right there alone with my book and my thoughts of the day gone by.

I remember writing about how playing computer games was so relaxing for me. It seems I forgot how it felt to just sit back and relax and read and dream.

Haaay...

what the...

There is now a river outside our house; apparently an underground pipe cracked up just a few hours ago.

So now we have no water, save for what's left in our water tank. No more hot showers for a few days -actually no showers really. It's back to the tabo for us here.

Okay. So the water is out, check. The Internet connection, thanks to that huge earthquake off Taiwan last last(?) week, is crappy at best, check. Next target for elimination is the electricity- God, I hope not!

Why is everything going crazy over here?

crap

Obviously Performancing screwed up the last post. Aaargh...

all i want for christmas is...

My two front teeth.
Yes. Seriously. I've grown tired of the Harry Potter-ish lightning bolt on my front tooth. I want to go see a dentist, but I might be banned from munching on sweets like...

Chocolate.
Hi. My name is Andre, and I'm a chocoholic. The sight of Cloud 9 would get my mouth watering. The scent of Cadbury bars would drive me into a feeding frenzy. The mere thought of Swiss and German chocolates would be like heaven for me. But for now, my Mom's stash of Hershey's Kisses would serve as a worthy snack while watching...

Battlestar Galactica.
So I'm a Sci-fi geek. What would you expect from a guy who has the complete Star Wars Saga and watches it in order every few weeks? I would love to get my hands on the DVDs of seasons 1 and 2 of this series; something to tide me over until Cinemax coughs up Season 3. Yes, it's on YouTube, but why should I spend my days squinting at a little screen when I could be playing...

Medieval 2: Total War.
Ever since I started up Command and Conquer: Red Alert on my very first PC years ago I have been hooked on strategy games. Maybe it's the feeling of power as I command hundreds of troops and decide the fates of virtual nations, or maybe it's the pure sadistic joy of watching poor, hapless peasants being bombarded to death by catapults launching fire pots. Or by the 16-inch guns of an offshore battleship. Or by a squadron of B-2 Stealth Bombers. It all depends on my mood really, but there are times when I just want to sit back, relax, and wish that I could read...

Harry Potter Books 1-6.
Yes, I've read them all already thanks to the magic of the Internet, but I have dreams of having a personal library someday, and I want to expand my collection of non-electronic books. Bookworm that I am, I've also set my sights on...

Ang Paboritong Libro Ni Hudas.
I've always planned to buy this and other books by Bob Ong. My collection of books is so lacking in humor, save for my two...

Pugad Baboy Comic books.
I already have 5 and 6, and the book sale at the Faculty Center had most of the others. It took all my self-control to keep from splurging all my measly economic assets right there and then; I still need the money to buy...

Teeth of the Tiger.
My Tom Clancy collection is nearly complete. This, plus Red Rabbit, will finally round out the fictional novels. Then I can move on to the nonfiction books, like...

Into the Storm.
I have always been interested in military affairs, and this is just one in a series of books which would give me an inside look at the American armed forces. After that maybe I could move on to another author, such as Dale Brown. The first book I would get would be...

Act of War.
Obviously, I'm a war freak. Let's move on, shall we? My birthday is in 9 days. Wow. I'm getting old. But what I'm really looking forward to is...

Dinner at a restaurant of my choice.
I'm thinking of having a...

Tenderloin Steak with Mashed Potatoes at House of Minis.
Or...

Eat-all-you-can Sushi and Sashimi at Saisaki.
However I could also go for the traditional...

Roast Chicken at Kenny Roger's Roasters.
Ever since I had a taste of the scrumptious wood-fire roasted chicken and flavorful gravy and creamy mashed potatoes we had been celebrating my birthday there...

Enough! All this talk about food is making me hungry, and our dinner isn’t ready yet. I only ate a plate of baked macaroni for lunch, and I spent a whole day walking around the campus. I’m so tired and so hungry and so handsome. Come to think of it, maybe what I really want –need- for Christmas is…

A vacation.

connection reestablished

I finally got to update this blog. Hehehehe...



Wala lang... :D

pushing the envelope(again)

Climb Mount Niitaka.
A simple phrase, seemingly innocuous.

Today was supposed to be another normal day. Classes to attend, people to meet, books to read, time to kill. Yet something felt different, even when I first woke up. My first class was at 10AM, so I had to be up by 8 to get ready for school. Yes, I still take more than an hour to go through my morning routine, but a lot of things have changed. The commute to school now takes less time than before, so I could afford to spend more time checking my email in the morning. I was so confident in the efficiency of Marikina's roads and its public utility vehicles that I left home at 9:45AM. Yup, 15 full minutes before my class was supposed to start. My confidence was not misplaced, however, and I arrived at Katipunan with 7 minutes to spare.

It means nothing, really.
Until you see it for what it really is.

I however forgot about Katipunan Avenue. Sure it was smooth sailing for a while, until the jeep got to the bottleneck at UPIS. It was stop-go, stop-go for all of 15 minutes. I was already fuming by the time the jeep got to the Tumana gate, and when I saw that the traffic stretched all the way to the other end I jumped off and walked the rest of the way to the Econ building. I arrived 20 minutes late, and the doors were already locked- wait, the doors were locked? The other time this happened, on the first day of classes, Prof. Esguerra was absent. Crap.

That seemingly innocent phrase triggered a chain of events that dragged half the world into one of the most devastating periods in history.

Who in their right mind would not want a class to be cancelled? Normally I would be happy, but I was already in a very foul mood after having to walk half a kilometer because some MMDA traffic enforcer didn't know $#!+ about traffic management, and finding out that all the effort and sweat was for nothing didn't help at all! And as if to add insult to injury, the jeep I left trapped in traffic passed right in front of me as I left the Econ building. It was only 10:30AM.

Millions died because of events begun by those three words.
Innocent words transmitted by radio before one fateful December morning.

I spent the rest of the morning in the library reading newspapers. Lunch was spent at the CS Canteen, with baked macaroni again. My next class was at 2:30, so I went up to the air-conditioned confines of the Econ library to wait. I didn't really want to attend that class, but I had nothing to do for the rest of the afternoon and I was supposed to have another meeting for our BA 101 case presentation at 5:30. So with a cup of steaming hot coffee I listened to an hour-and-a-half long lecture which I could have easily read from the book. After the class it was back to the library again, to wait for 5:30.

It's simply amazing.
One innocent phrase with the power to change the world.

If you've been reading my blogs for quite some time now you probably know that I really hate waiting. I. Really. Absolutely. Definitely. Hate. Abhor. Despise. Waiting. So if you make me wait it had better be damned worth it. But history has a funny way of repeating itself, and as the clock hit 5:45, I found out that it did. Again. I arrived at the designated meeting place to find out that none of my groupmates had arrived yet. A text message clarified everything, and really made my day: "Ei di matutuloy meeting ngayon, lahat may ginagawa e. Wala bang nagsabi sayo?" My blood turned cold as I read that message. My face twisted into an evil smile, a smile I usually reserve for when I'm desperately trying to control my temper. This was the FOURTH time my dear groupmates saw fit to cancel meetings without notifying me until literally the last damned minute.

How I wish I had that kind of power.
If a group of letters could have it, why can't I?

You should be thankful I'm not some crazy, megalomaniacal dictator with access to certain 'weapons of mass destruction' because at that time I really wanted to press the proverbial button and send the world back to the Stone Age. Oh, what I would give for an MX-Peacekeeper ICBM with 10 megatons worth of pure thermonuclear goodness... Almost 2 wasted hours... I could have gone home early instead of wasting my time waiting for nothing!

Power. Unlimited power!
Power to change the world, to bend things to my will.

I was so frustrated that I just started walking around aimlessly. My normally handsome face was twisted into something- let's just say that if looks could kill a lot of people would be lining up before the Pearly Gates by now. For about 20 minutes I walked around UP, vainly trying to vent my anger yet failing miserably since 'venting' for me usually comes with 'shouting' and 'screaming', which I couldn't quite do in the civilized Diliman campus.

Yes. I'll have that power in the future.
Be afraid. Be very, very afraid.

I got home at around 7PM. Thank God for salpicado and baked potatoes and YouTube and blogging. Some ants just got a new lease on life.

extraneous thoughts

Certain things have been taking up valuable real estate in my already overcrowded mind for the past few weeks. This is a desperate attempt to purge my mind of these extraneous thoughts and at least return some semblance of order to my gray matter.

People are going to kill me after they read this post.

I don't get jaywalkers. Specifically those stupid bastards who cross the street under the damned pedestrian footbridge. Are those people blind, or are they just idiotic morons just asking, begging, to be turned into road kill? Just give me the chance and I would cheerfully and gleefully introduce them to both my car's bumper and the concrete road. Give me the power and I would declare every major road a free fire zone: jaywalkers would be considered as targets. Most targets eliminated bags a cash prize. That ought to drill some freakin' discipline into the unruly masses.

Animal rights. What the hell is up with giving rights to something that is destined to go into my stomach? Ever hear of the friggin' food chain? News flash: we're on top of it! I love pigs, especially if they're cute, pink, and chubby. But I don't care if the pig that provided the juicy tenderloin steak I'm about to eat was treated 'humanely' or like the freakin' Prince of Wales, I only want it medium well on a freakin' platter along with some gravy and mashed potatoes! Ah, but there are those who would rather have us just eat *shudder* vegetables and *shiver* imitation meat made from plants. Yeah. Just wait 'til the plant rights activists come knocking on your doors!

Havianas. Okay. Deep breath. Here we go. Explain to me the merits of buying a pair of rubber slipp-er, flip-flops, for around 600-800 pesos. Wait- never mind, opportunity knocks! I'll just buy some cheap slippers worth 30 pesos from my friendly neighborhood tiangge and pass them off as Havianas! Cha-ching! Damn! I'll make a killing! Woohoo! Money DOES grow on trees- rubber trees, that is. Yeah, that's right. I'll open up a store at the Mall of Asia right across the Flip-flop Store, or whatever the hell they call that little nook packed with people going gaga over something made in the friggin' Philippines ever since rubber replaced wood and the integumentary system as the sole [pun intended] provider of open-air protection for our smelly feet, and "liberate" Ninoy Aquino and the Banaue Rice Terraces from their wallets. Ahhh... Capitalism.

The CPP-NPA. Ah, yes. The 38 year old protector of the poor and the oppressed. Right. Let's call a spade a spade okay? Those purge-happy propaganda-loving revolutionary tax-hungry landmine-laying destabilizing morons with a cowardly leadership hiding blissfully in the Netherlands are terrorists, plain and simple. The Armed Forces can have at them all they want. I would be the happiest man alive if I were given the chance to see Jose Maria Sison or Ka Roger through the scope of a sniper rifle, or if I were in the cockpit of one of our high-tech, propeller-driven, Vietnam-veteran Bronco bombers raining napalm on one of their training camps. Ever watch Munich? I do hope the government grows some backbone and takes the terrorist leadership out of our collective misery. Yes. The only good terrorist is a dead terrorist.

Right. Animal rights activists and Havianas fans may leave their gracious comments below. Jaywalkers, wait for me at the C5 road where I'll introduce you to my little friend Optra. And to any member of the CPP-NPA, please, come back to the light. Communism is a fool's errand. Join me in my capitalist quest to liberate Manuel Roxas, Diosdado Macapagal, Ninoy Aquino, and the Banaue Rice Terraces from the millions of Haviana fans out there. Otherwise, feel free to point your AK-47's on your heads, set the switch to 'automatic', and then gently pull the trigger. Save the AFP the trouble, and by the way, free up some money for the education budget.

Cheerio!

...maybe later... hehehe...

You Are Somewhat Machiavellian

You're not going to mow over everyone to get ahead... But you're also powerful enough to make things happen for yourself. You understand how the world works, even when it's an ugly place. You just don't get ugly yourself - unless you have to!

How Machiavellian Are You?

i really should be getting ready for school...

Your Famous Last Words Will Be:

"Nice doggy."

What Will Your Famous Last Words Be?

how vain are you?

You Are 43% Vain

You're a little vain, but more than anything you have a healthy amount of confidence. Thinking the world of yourself is great. Just don't think less of those who aren't as pretty as you!

How Vain Are You?

how evil are you?

You Are 40% Evil

A bit of evil lurks in your heart, but you hide it well. In some ways, you are the most dangerous kind of evil.

How Evil Are You?

what planet should you rule?

You Should Rule Saturn

Saturn is a mysterious planet that can rarely be seen with the naked eye. You are perfect to rule Saturn because like its rings, you don't always follow the rules of nature. And like Saturn, to be really able to understand you, someone must delve beyond your appearance. You are not an easy person to befriend. However, once you enter a friendship, you'll be a friend for life. You think slowly but deeply. You only gain great understanding after a situation has passed.

What Planet Should You Rule?

perfect disaster

When the conditions are right, everything will go wrong.

August 14, 2006
My German 10 class had ended the week before, and now I had 2 hours of free time on my hands. I had already eaten lunch so I went to the SE Library to get the required readings for my Kasaysayan 112 class, Contemporary Philippine History. I remember Erika's reaction when I enlisted in that class: "'Contemporary Philippine History'? Martial law, People Power, politics, etcetera? E alam mo na lahat yan e!!!" Modesty(ahem) forbids me from commenting further on that, but I can say that I have had an active interest in history ever since I was a child. Anyway, I had two books photocopied that day, Nationalist Economics, and The Roots of People Power, the first chapter of which I had finished while waiting for the other book. Over the next few days I had finished reading the rest, in preparation for class and the first exam just a week away.

August 21, 2006
No classes today. I spent most of the long weekend in front of the computer, whiling away the hours commanding virtual soldiers on an imaginary battlefield. Of course I stopped soaking in radiation from time to time, taking glances at my Econ 106 notes or making the long trip to the refrigerator for another load of Hershey's Kisses.

August 22, 2006
I actually had time to fire up my computer in the morning. Yes, I was early for class. After checking my mail and catching up on the news I made my way to school, where my first stop was the launching of a lecture series for the Linggo ng Kasaysayan. I met my classmates in Kas 112 there and I confirmed, again, that our exam was on the 25th. Next up was Econ 131 and a problem set. Thank God for STATA. At least the days of doing regression analysis by hand are over. BA 101 had me and my groupmates deciphering codes and puzzles; our professor gave us a break after the grueling exam last week. I let loose my inner C.S.I. instincts, solving many in the first set, then cracking the second set just a few minutes after we recieved the paper. I was really feeling good about myself that day.

August 23, 2006
2:45PM
Econ 106 exam tomorrow. Cramming mode: ON. But the siren song of the computer is calling out to me...
6:05PM
Must... start... studying... linear... programming... open... book... Whew!
6:34PM
Dinner break begins.
11:15PM
Dinner break ends.
11:30PM
With a hot, steaming cup of coffee beside me and the drone of the TV set to ANC, I finally get down to studying for the exam. Matrices, determinants, caffeine, eigenvalues, demand, supply, the kitchen sink, linear programming, and differentiation enter my head in a marathon cramming session.

August 24, 2006
2:50AM
I finally decide to call it a day and fix my things for the next-- erm.. for the day. Time to sleep!
3:15AM
One little, two little, three little piglets...
3:38AM
"...and therefore, Mr. Speaker, I say yes to the commitee report... *click*"
3:59AM
"...is positive definite when the determinants of the leading principal minors..."
Approximately between 4 and 5AM
Zzzzzzzzz....
8:15AM
Rrrrrrrrrriiiiinnnng!
10:23AM
"...the employer must have an incentive to train his employees..."
2:45PM
"This is the exam?"
What I held in my hand at that time was a piece of bond paper containing the easiest math exam I had seen since I came into the University of the Philippines. Or maybe because the cramming the night and early morning before, plus during the preceeding hour, had really paid off. Either way, I was smiling at myself during the 2 hours alloted for the exam. I came out of that exam feeling refreshed. Unlike in all of my previous math exams, I had answers --and sure answers at that-- to every single question. What a happy day!
5:06PM
"...Trade Act virtually guaranteed the unrestricted entry of American goods into the country..."
7:37PM
AstroSoc emergency GA. Supposed to start at 6 they said. Right. Buzzzzzz... *pak!* Damned mosquitoes.
9:22PM
Dinner. Finally.

August 25, 2006
TODAY
12:39AM
Must sleep... soooo tired... Zzzzzzz....
5:30AM
*Rrrrrrrrring! Rrrrrrrrring!*
5:35AM
*Toot toot! Toot toot!*
5:45AM
*Buzzzzzzzzzzzzzz!*
5:50AM
*Rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrring!*
5:55AM
*Toot toot! Toot toot!*
6:00AM
*Rrrrrrrrrrrrriing!*
8:36AM
*Toot toot! Toot toot!* *EXPLETIVE* "Bakit walang gumising sa akin!"

What a cruel world. I had prepared for 2 weeks for my Kas 112 exam today, which was supposed to start at, get this, 8:30AM. There I was, hurling various invectives while scrambling to get through my morning routine and attempt to salvage the exam. The normally placid pace of my morning rituals turned into a mad flurry of activity. Coffee hour was scrapped. Shower time was cut to a mere 6 minutes. Looking at the mirror and reveling in my good looks took just a few minutes. By 9:02 I was running out the door. My Mom had called one of my Dad's friends and I got a free ride to UP. Once there I literally hit the ground running; with only 10 minutes to spare before the exam ended I was quite in a hurry to get to class.

It was a good thing that my professor gave me another chance to take the exam. I was not about to let almost two weeks of preparation to go down the drain! Instead of going to my next class I stayed in the room and penned one of the longest handwritten essays I had ever written. Luckily, not much was done during my Econ 131 class that day, and we all got a 1 on our previous problem set!

At least now all my exams are over. Tomorrow, I'll be going to Paranaque for a night out with my high school barkada(can't wait!). Time to relax once again.

bad day

Mein Gott.

Everything seemed to go wrong today. I woke up early this morning, hoping to get to school on time for a change. I was walking out the door by 9:15 AM, and I was at the terminal 10 minutes after. Two FX taxis full of people left as I arrived. The next one came after I had stood in line for another 15 minutes. I got to UP with barely seconds left before my 10 AM class started.

My classes were supposed to end at 4 PM, but no, I still had a meeting with my BA101 groupmates at 6. So I went to the library and waited until 5:30. Since I had only a Milky Way bar for lunch I bought a hotdog sandwich just to keep from keeling over. I sat at the Sunken Garden, munching away while watching people playing tag football (or whatever that was) and Frisbee. And I waited until 6 PM. I went to the Econ building, where there was some sort of party. And I waited for my groupmates. I sat at the lobby. I walked around. I read the announcements. I studied for my finals in German. And I waited, until one of my groupmates came by and told me that "we won't be meeting today, just be ready with your output tomorrow".

*EXPLETIVE* *IMPRECATION* *PROFANITY* *OBSCENITY* *@#$^#$&^$!*

2 wasted hours, plus the other 1 and a half hours I spent waiting for my dad. I could have finished the entire single player campaign of Age of Mythology instead of staring at thin air for almost 4 hours! Schade!

My entire day was not wasted however. I saw and talked to more of my friends today than in the past week. I received a high grade in my 3rd German exam, guaranteeing at least a final grade of 1.75. I'll be taking the final exam tomorrow because I want to have a higher grade. I had a fun time at the UP AstroSoc tambayan. And I got a free ride home.

And then I got home. The first thing I saw was CNN reporting on a foiled terror attack, causing airplanes to be grounded all over Europe and America. And then there were reports about bombings in Mindanao, NPA raids in
Luzon, suicide bombings in Iraq, rocket attacks in Israel, and
airstrikes in Lebanon.

Apparently I wasn't the only one having a bad day today.

proportional response

It's the rainy season once again, and mosquitoes are once again in the air. I HATE mosquitoes. I hate how they fly around, darting here and there just beyond reach. I hate it when they buzz in my ear. And I most certainly hate the itchy welts that they leave after they suck my blood! But aside from the annoyance, mosquitoes also spread disease; malaria, dengue, and encephalitis are some of the more commonly known mosquito-borne diseases.

I absolutely despise those foul creatures. I don't care if they're only doing what nature and instinct tell them to do, I want to wipe them off the face of the earth!
That is why I am always ready to kill the first mosquito I see. I don't care if my hands get red and sore from all the smacking. I don't care if they get all bloody and grimy from the crushed black carcasses of the unlucky mosquito that wasn't quite fast enough to escape my wrath.
Bottles of Raid or Baygon don't last too long in our house; I ensure that substantial amounts are dumped on known and suspected mosquito hideouts. I don't care if I get an asthma attack, I want all those mosquitoes dead!
But even with all the pesticide I've dumped, even with all the mosquitoes I've killed with my bare hands, with my slippers, with a fly swatter, with a pillow, with a book, with a water gun, with fire, even with the freakin' kitchen sink, they just keep coming and coming. Like the unstoppable tide they come year after year, until we decided to go after the root of the problem.
Mosquitoes, like all animals, don't just appear from nowhere. They first enter the world as babies, those cute little wriggly thingys that infest the pools of stagnant water that collect around our house. Adult mosquitoes may be quick and stealthy enough to evade active pursuit, but their poor little babies are sitting ducks, like fish in a barrel, trapped like rats, and whatever other cliche you can insert here. So we dumped the water in the cans, in the boots, in the flower pots. Anything that had even a drop of water was drained. Countless little mosquito babies perished in one, swift, stroke.
Over time the mosquito problem died down. The buzzing gave way to silence. The welts no longer appeared. The odd mosquito reappears from time to time, but it is quickly and efficiently dispatched. There is no longer any stagnant water in our home, no place for mosquitoes to breed.
In the all-out war I declared against the mosquito pestilence in our home, I had won.

plans

President Arroyo's State of the Nation Address today was full of her plans for the nation. It focused on the division of the country into 'super regions' so as to allow the said regions to concentrate on their competitive advantages. I was impressed by the plans for improved infrastructure, poverty alleviation and for a better economy, but I couldn't help but notice the President's silence on other issues, such as education. Nevertheless, she delivered one hell of a speech, outlining her vision for the nation, even mixing in some humor. She also gave recognition to the efforts and achievements of certain people. I do hope that she follows through on her promises. Her plans looked impressive on the Powerpoint presentation; they would most certainly be more impressive when turned into reality.
***
The opposition must be feeling really stupid right now. For the past few months all they have been doing is planning PGMA's removal from office. All this time they have been promoting divisiveness, when many have decided to take a break from politics. They had better get their act together if they plan on getting elected or reelected come 2007. The smart move would be to cast politics aside and work for the betterment of the nation. The effort and dedication they give working against the President would most probably be of better use when applied to working with the President.

ooops.

That should have been today's State of the Nation Address... I think I've got this 'Performancing' stuff figured out... Hehehe...

no classes... again...

It's been raining non-stop for the past few hours. Apparently there's another typhoon coming in. I can't wait to see the protesters at tomorrow's State of the Nation address...  Hehehehe... >:D

sleepless night

I can't sleep. It's 3 AM and I'm still staring at the ceiling, vainly trying to count the cute little piggies jumping over my head. I have too much on my mind. I keep thinking about school and my classes and exams. I haven't been to UP in over a week now, thanks to an ill-timed medical disorder. Appendicitis has cost me 6 days of school, 6 meetings of German 10, 3 meetings each of my other subjects, my first German exam, my first Econ 106 problem set, and God knows what else. The opportunity cost of the past week is just as staggering. Instead of being cooped up at home I could have learned more. I could have gotten the readings for Kas 112. I could have done lots of things, but no, I had to stay at home or risk having a relapse which would then force me to stay out of school for a much longer time. Normally I would have fireworks popping in the air at having to miss school but the prospect of a possible forced drop and the hassle of having to catch up with my classes has put storm clouds over my sky. There's the keyword right there: HASSLE. I hate having to play catch up and I hate to run around after my professors. I already have too much to do this semester and having to catch up doesn't help matters! Oh, what I would give for a good SCREAM!

Haaay... Calm down... Remember your blood pressure... Breathe... Always look on the bright side of life... Whew... Yeah, the bright side. It could have been worse; I could be dead now if something had gone wrong that fateful Monday. And costs aside, I got a two week vacation in July! That's good, look at the bright side. Hehe... The bright side... I do hope everything is bright when I FINALLY(hopefully) return on Thursday.

post-appendectomy me

Just got out of the hospital today, minus my appendix. I spent the last 3 days at the Cardinal Santos Medical Center in San Juan thanks to that useless little quirk of evolution.
I woke up with intense pain in my stomach last Monday. At first I thought it was just your 'normal' stomach pain but once I stood up I discovered that it was worse. I woke my mom and next thing you know we were speeding towards the hospital. I was supposed to take my first exam for German 10 in the afternoon so I was hoping that all I had was some sort of weird gas pain or at most something that could be cured by a magic pill so that I could go on to school.
But every doctor that examined me at the hospital said that I had acute appendicitis. I had to have an operation so that they could get it out of my body. Damn. There goes my perfect attendance. And my exam.
***
I wrote the preceding paragraph last night. I had planned on writing about everything that had happened for the past 3 days, but my computer disagreed with the 200-odd words I had already typed here. Screaming various invectives at my restart-happy power surge magnet of a computer has done nothing to restore what I had already written so I think I'll just give a brief summary of what has happened to me.
***
It turned out that my appendix had swollen to 8-9 centimeters. If I had not gotten to the hospital on time or if I had forced myself to go to school despite the pain it would have most probably burst, further complicating my condition. On Tuesday I was confined to my bed, receiving most of my food from an IV. I couldn't even sit up since the wound still hurt. It was only on Wednesday that I started to walk around my room, albeit with me using the IV stand as support. By Thursday morning the IV was gone and I could eat anything I wanted. I could also walk around my room without needing any help, although getting off and into my bed still hurt.

The normal recovery period for appendicitis is two weeks, but I'll most probably be back in school by Monday, unless something else happens. I've already missed a lot of classes, and I can't afford to fail this semester. Haaay...

easier said than done

For the past year a lot of people have been clamoring for change. Some want charter change. Others want a regime change. Many want economic change. We all want to change our current situation, yet no one wants to change themselves. Let's admit it, we all whine about our country's lack of progress. We are quick to criticize everything done by our leaders. We complain about how hard our life is with soaring oil prices and inflation. We throw everything -including the proverbial kitchen sink- at each other, destroying lives and reputations over ideological disputes. We do everything but solve our problems. We talk and talk and bicker and complain but we do nothing to lift our country from the muck of poverty and corruption and conflict. We are quick to point fingers, wasting time on investigations which lead to nowhere while people suffer and die on the streets.
How can we solve our problems? We should first change ourselves. To change a country we must first change the individuals who make up the country.
One thing we desperately need is discipline. "Sa ikauunlad ng bayan, disiplina ang kailangan"; so goes the slogan of Marcos' "Bagong Lipunan". Say what you want about the guy, but you have to admit he had some pretty good ideas. Our people today have little or no respect for the law. Simple rules such as "bawal tumawid dito" or "bawal magtapon ng basura dito" are ignored by many. If the simplest of laws are broken with impunity, what about the other laws? If the people don't follow such laws as "no loading/unloading here", what's to stop them from stealing or killing? Our people also enjoy short-circuiting the system -any system- as long as it provides greater convenience. Who hasn't tried to find a friend or relative in a government office when applying for a license? Who hasn't tried to bribe a police officer when caught violating traffic rules? Who hasn't tried to jump a line in the supermarket, or in the bank, or in the school cafeteria? Who hasn't cheated in school, or on their income tax return? Who hasn’t beaten the red light, or held back traffic because he/she wants to be the first to make the u-turn? We cry about graft and corruption, we cry about election fraud, we complain about the traffic, yet we fail to realize that we are doing the same things and everyday, albeit in our own little way. In doing so we contribute to the problems of our nation. Discipline is the answer to these problems. Start with the simple things. Follow traffic rules. Throw your waste at the proper place. Fall in line. Wait for your turn. Don't cheat. Set an example for the future leaders of our country by obeying the law. Our children must see us doing what is right instead of what is simply convenient or expedient. 

woohoo!!!

I FINALLY have DSL! No more dial-up internet cards baby! :D

To inaugurate my first post of this new age of unlimited, high speed 'Net surfing, I present one of the first streaming videos I watched with my new, super-fast DSL connection... :D

weeeeeeeeee...........

who's afraid of "the da vinci code"?

Two years ago a friend recommended to me a little book called The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown. Soon after, I got a copy from PowerBooks. It turned out to be one hell of a page-turner; I couldn't let go of the book after I had started reading it. I had my nose stuck in that book during my lunch period, in between classes, while commuting home from school, and well into the wee hours of the morning. The story was so engrossing that for a few days I touched neither the keyboard nor the remote control. I was so impressed that I sought out other books by Dan Brown. Within a few months I had finished Angels and Demons, Digital Fortress, and Deception Point.

Imagine my excitement when I found out that The Da Vinci Code was being turned into a movie.

It is only a few days before its worldwide premier, but if certain people and groups get their way, it may never be shown here in the Philippines. Various religious groups and personalities have denounced it as "blasphemy". An anti-pornography group has filed a case against the MTRCB for allowing the importation of the movie here. No less than the Executive Secretary of the President has called for the banning of the film. His words: "I think we should do everything not to allow it to be shown. I don’t see how we as a Catholic nation or as practicing Catholics would tolerate such a plot to be propagated in the name of freedom of expression."

Haaay... It's been a few years since the book came out so I assume that whoever is reading this has at least an inkling of what the book is all about. The Da Vinci Code is a work of fiction. Nothing more, nothing less. It did not happen. It is a story, a figment of the author's imagination. The idea that Jesus Christ was married and had a family with Mary Magdalene may have come from historical sources, but The Da Vinci Code only uses that idea to present an engrossing, fictional thriller.

But people say that it presents a danger to Christians, especially those who have "weak faith". According to them, the movie posits a lot of controversial ideas that would cause people to question their faith. To borrow a line from my Socio 10 professor; e ano ngayon? What's wrong with questioning something? Learning begins with questioning. Isn't this a good opportunity to let people learn more about their faith? Isn't this a good opportunity for the Church to educate those whose eyes are opened to new possibilities after watching the film?

People say that certain groups will be offended by the film. E ano ngayon? If they are offended by the film then they shouldn't watch it. Why should they drag those of us who do want to watch the film down with them? I remember an episode of South Park wherein everything about Christmas that was offensive to certain groups was banned. The town was left without a Christmas.

People say that being a Catholic nation the Philippines should not allow the showing of the film. So what about the Muslims, the Hindus, the Buddhists, and those who practice other religions? Are they not a part of this nation? Don't they have a say in this issue?

People may say whatever they want about the film. They may call it blasphemous and offensive, "an affront to the Catholic faith" or whatnot, but one thing is for sure, no one can ban it in this country.

Why?

Banning the film on religious grounds violates Article 3, Section 5 of the 1987 Constitution which states that "No law shall be made respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof. The free exercise and enjoyment of religious profession and worship, without discrimination or preference, shall forever be allowed. No religious test shall be required for the exercise of civil or political rights."

So there. I have set my heart on watching the movie ever since I heard about it last year.

I WANT to watch the movie.

I don't care if it offends anyone; it does not offend ME.

I don't care if someone thinks it is dangerous; it does not threaten ME.

The government CANNOT dictate what the people can or cannot watch.

See you on May 18.

i love the nightlife

Life as a nocturnal creature has its advantages. I've been one with the bats and the owls for days now, spending hours surfing the 'Net.

Why?

Because I have the phone and the computer all to myself. No one calls during these ungodly hours, so my Internet connection is never cut by the darned call waiting feature of our phone.

Because the temperature is more comfortable at this time of day. No need to have two electric fans AND an air conditioner turned on at maximum power just to negate the intense heat during the daytime.

Because download speeds are generally faster during this time. Yes, I'm one of those few surviving Neanderthals who still use a dial-up Internet connection, albeit one that only goes up to 24kbps thanks to an 8-year old modem.

And because I have free access to the Internet from 12 to 6AM. Yes, I'm a cheap, penny-pinching, miserly *bleep*, but times are hard and my pockets are almost empty.

Why am I writing this?

Wala lang.

Hehehehe...

back to reality

"Our arrival at Manila Domestic Airport will be delayed by a few minutes due to air traffic congestion. We apologize for the inconvenience..." Manila: even the airways have traffic jams. What better way to jolt us back to reality than by greeting us with traffic? After almost 6 days of communing with nature, rest and relaxation, peace and quiet, beaches and babes [hehehe... :)], we're back to communing with pollution, fatigue, stress, traffic, noise... But enough of dreary old Manila.

Haaay... I wish we could have stayed for another week in Palawan. It was so relaxing to be far away from city life. It was the perfect vacation, save for a few snags which I would elaborate on later. I had planned on keeping a daily journal of our trip; the following is the first entry...

Day One

After a night of sleepless anticipation, the day finally arrived. Our flight would depart Manila at 9:15AM. My dad and I went out at 6:30, hunting for a taxi on the empty roads of Marikina. We found one soon enough, and got to the airport with hours to spare. Travelling through Manila during the Holy Week is a breeze -literally. Now I'm here at the waiting area of the domestic airport, tapping away and counting the minutes until 8:55...
***
We're over Mindoro right now. A few minutes ago we passed Taal Lake, where I saw for the first time the entire island...
***
It's an exhilarating feeling when you're up in the air among the clouds, it's almost as if you could reach out and touch them...
***
There it is: Puerto Princesa. We're arriving 12 minutes ahead of schedule, or so the stewardess said. The plane would be landing in a few minutes; the buildings and the trees are getting bigger and bigger...
***
And here we are at Palawan. There was actually a guy who was waiting for us at the gate with a large sign saying "Welcome Obidos Family". Hehehe... After retrieving our luggage we were "escorted" (naks!) to a van which would take us to the boat which would then take us to the private island of our Tito Jun. We had to run some errands, however. My dad wanted to get some film for our camera and my mom wanted to buy some snacks, so we went to a grocery store. When we were finally on our way to the boat, I was already feeling a bit drowsy so I took a little nap...
***
The island at last. After an exciting boat ride through a choppy sea, we finally arrived. The house where we would be staying for the next two days was HUGE. And it's right in front of a very beautiful white sand beach. Hehehe...
***
I'm tired. Very tired. We just finished walking around the ENTIRE island. It was quite an experience. We walked on long stretches of sand, dotted here and there with crabs and starfish. We walked through a mangrove forest, where wasps buzzed us and where the tangled roots of the trees and the soft sand made our journey more difficult. We finally broke through the forest into the sand flats, a vast expanse of seabed exposed by the low tide. It was very beautiful, and quiet. While my companions busied themselves with catching hermit crabs and starfish, I was out trying to get close to the birds fishing out at the edge of the sandbank. It was the first time that I got a close look at real sea birds, even though they flew away when I got to a few feet from them.

The View From The Ground (hehehe…)
The following is my wittle sister’s account of our first day on the island…

A lot of us ran around, feeling tired and weak from walking half 'round the island we decided to sit on some part of the sandbar and decided to unwind by making castles, towns, and even holes. We agreed to have a contest on the highest castles. Unfortunately, no one won because everybody ended up destroying their own "work of art" except one, Kuya Andre', we helped him make his castle and made other ones and connected them together. Time still passed and we got bored of making things out of sand. We all got up and went back to the real seashore and started to walk home with one mistake, we took the long way home because we thought we were 3/4 of the island away from the house when we were just really only 1/4 away. We wandered through more "ghost crabs" and every one that I would see I'd start saying "CRAB!" and Kuya would think I was cursing every time we'd see one. We also got the chance to see one big crab but to our dismay it got in its hole. Still walking, we encountered tracks of an animal we decided to follow it and it traced to a kind of cave made out of plants and all of us were interested but only made us more scared when we got closer. Two of the youngest of our companions decided to run back, which left only three of us. It was fun messing around, we pretended that we were shipwrecked and we had to catch fishes and would do anything to survive. Kuya acted really stupid because he was shouting "WATER!" it was as if he was in the desert when we were on an island surrounded by water! Still walking, we finally saw a man preparing his boat and we knew that we were getting closer and we were but we had to battle through tourists fishing for starfishes on water. *moan* We even tried to catch a school of small fishes. Haaay... we finally managed to get back to the house. We were very exhausted from walking and running. Kuya went inside the house to rest while me and the others started to make mashed potatoes for dinner. The adults started the bonfire while we cooked the potatoes. We were finished with the potatoes and they were finished with the fire. We roasted marshmallows and hotdogs and everyone had fun making the fire bigger. Tito Jun called out that dinner was ready. We had a wide spread of roast pork mashed potatoes, garden salad, corn gravy, and some brownies for dessert, it felt like eating in a high-class restaurant only here we wore summer outfits. Everybody was full and went back to our own rooms where I just started texting instead of sleeping.

***

And that's about it. Hehehe... There were so many things to do, so many places to explore, that I found that I had zero time for a journal. Heck I was there to have fun, and not to confine myself in a room typing! Hehehe... So now, instead of a daily blow by blow account, I'll just talk about the places we visited, and what we did there.

Pandan Island
We spent almost 3 days on Tito Jun's private island. You got that right; private island. We had the entire place to ourselves. Pandan Island is one of the many islands on Honda Bay, just a few kilometers from Puerto Princesa. As mentioned in my lackluster attempt at a journal the island boasted white sand beaches and a mangrove forest. We stayed with Tito Jun and his family at their house just a few meters from the beach. The food was absolutely delicious, and we had a wonderful time in their company. Our 2 and a half days there were spent talking, eating, sleeping, playing Scrabble, and making our way through the mangrove forest to the sandbar. The sandbar was really the seabed exposed by the low tide in the afternoon. The sand there was very fine and soft. Strewn all around the sand were shells, starfish, and crabs. There was also the odd seabird feasting on the exposed shellfish and crabs. We left the island on the afternoon of our third day there.

Puerto Princesa
After our stay on Pandan Island we moved back to Puerto Princesa City. We stayed at the Casa Linda pension house. This was where the major snag in my vacation chose to make its appearance. After almost 3 years, I had an attack of asthma. I was coughing for the rest of our stay in Palawan. Maybe it was due to the fatigue caused by our long walk around Pandan Island. Maybe it was because of the heat. Or maybe it was because of my non-stop consumption of Cloud 9 chocolates. Whatever the cause, I was forced to take 4 different medicines every 4-6 hours. I had trouble getting around, since the slightest movement made my lungs ache. It was a good thing that my condition was stabilized by the medicines, or else I would have spent the rest of my vacation in the hospital. Asthma aside, Casa Linda offered excellent food; their beef steak was the best! I also stumbled upon a novel, Cauldron, by Larry Bond. I was so engrossed by the story that I couldn't put the book down. Basically it was about World War 3... Hehehe... I was reading that book during our entire stay at Casa Linda. There were also a lot of foreigners: Germans, Americans and Koreans. We were probably the only Filipino guests there.

The Underground River
This was the highlight of our trip. Months before we left for Palawan I was already badgering my parents to include the Underground River in our itinerary. Asthma or no asthma I was determined to go there. I finally got my wish on our fourth day in Palawan. It was a 3 hour drive from Puerto Princesa, so we left Casa Linda at about 9AM. This time we were with relatives of my dad. I slept for the first hour or so of the journey, only to be jolted awake when we left the highway. The "road" at this point was nothing but dirt, stones, and potholes. Heck, calling it a "road" would be really stretching the definition of the term. As if the "road" wasn't bad enough, the driver of the van we were in apparently had illusions of being in a NASCAR race, or maybe he was a supersonic jet fighter pilot in another life. Nonetheless, he felt the need; the need for SPEED. On the other hand, I had another need, or needs, for that matter; the need for a crash helmet, a seatbelt, a cushion, and a barf bag. It was a spine-jarring, head-crushing, stomach churning 2 hours until we finally arrived at Sabang: the gateway to the Underground River. We disembarked from the van and collected our bones--- er... our bags, and then we headed for the dock. Yes, the dock. We had to ride a boat across a bay to reach the entrance of the Underground River. Compared to the "Highway to Hell" the 20 minute boat ride with huge waves from the South China Sea threatening to smash our wittle banca on the rocks and cliffs was like a walk on the clouds. We arrived on the opposite shore at around 12 noon. It was a short walk through a jungle trail, where we saw a few monitor lizards and monkeys, to the Underground River. As luck would have it was time for lunch, and break time for the tour guides/boatmen. We had to wait about an hour before we could enter the Underground River, but when we were finally inside, we, or at least I, forgot all the aggravations of the past few hours due to the sheer beauty of the cave system. My dad and I sat at the front of the banca, so we had the best view. There were cave swallows flying all around us, snapping at insects. The first part of the Underground River was just your normal cave, with stalactites and stalagmites, and bats hanging from the roof. But after that we entered a huge space called "The Cathedral". The rock formations there were simply amazing. One looked like the Virgin Mary. Another looked like the Three Kings. Still another looked like a man being followed by a dog. At the center of that huge space was a lone, tall formation called “the melting candle”. After the Cathedral, we passed a gallery of vegetables. There were rock formations resembling carrots, cucumbers, mushrooms, and even one that looked exactly like a "puso ng saging". Throughout the tour the boatman/guide kept cracking jokes; at one point he told my dad to point the searchlight to the left and then he declared "yan naman, bankang puno ng tao", when the light revealed not a rock formation, but another, real, boat full of tourists! We were laughing throughout the entire 45 minute tour because of our guide's wisecracks and ad-libs. We only toured a fraction of the 8.2 kilometer length of the Underground River system but what we saw was more than what I expected. It was so beautiful, so awe-inspiring, that I had wanted to take another trip into the caves. It even made me forget about my asthma for the next hour or so. Afterwards, we went back to the beach where we first landed. Our boat couldn't leave yet since two of our companions were still in the caves, so my sister and I spent the time playing on the beach pretending that we could control the waves. The waves at that particular beach were huge; when we were already boarding our boat a wave struck and drenched my mom. Coco was literally swamped by another wave while she was trying to climb into the boat. We got back to Sabang without further incident, where we had our lunch by the sea. Afterwards we once again boarded our van for the 3-hour, bone-crushing ride back to Puerto Princesa.

Room 7, Casa Linda
The day after our tour of the Underground River, I decided to take a break, since I was still having an asthma attack. So while my family was out touring Puerto Princesa, I was cooped up in our room reading the last few chapters of Cauldron. I finished reading the hardbound, 500+ page book by 3 in the afternoon. In the evening we had dinner with Tito Jun at a nearby restaurant. At the same time some show from ABC5, "The Adventures of Maverick and Ariel" (or something like that) was having a shoot. They were interviewing the owner of the restaurant, a half-American, half-Russian guy who was born here in the Philippines.

Puerto Princesa Airport
April 20. Leaving seemed so hard. We really enjoyed our stay in Palawan. We were already talking about returning next year. While we waited for our flight to arrive I busied myself with taking pictures with my PalmPix camera, my dad's digicam, and I also shot some video of the airport and of a departing airplane. Our plane arrived at around 10:50AM, right on schedule. We left Palawan at about 11:30.

Marikina
And now I'm back home. Back to playing computer games. Back to watching CNN. Back to sleeping up to 12 noon. Back to reality.

bon voyage

I will be out of the loop for a while, since we'll be leaving for Palawan tomorrow morning! :D

Hehehehe... 6 days of rest and relaxation on the beaches! Aside from swimming and making sand castles we also plan on going to the Underground River, and to tour the other tourist attractions there...

Anyway, I won't be back 'til April 21... But when I get back I'll have some pictures of our trip posted on my Multiply site and probably also a report of our trip here...

Until then! Hehehe... :D

yesterday

Yesterday, all my troubles seemed so far away... hehehe...

Yesterday I went on a date with Erika. We had lunch at, where else, Jollibee! After eating our fill of spaghetti and french fries we went to the cinema to watch Ice Age 2. The movie was a total laugh trip; it was a good thing there were few people watching since my unbridled laughter would have undoubtedly elicited evil looks from people around us. After the movie we went to Timezone, where over a hundred pesos disappeared into Time Crisis 3 and Ghost Squad.

Yesterday was also Lester's birthday party at, get this, McDonald's! Belated happy 20th birthday Kuya Lester! Hehehe... “Kidding” aside, the party was a blast. The "kiddie" theme, complete with games, party hats, and an appearance by our ever lovable mascot Grimace, was a hit with everyone, kids and kids-at-heart alike. We had a lot of fun (especially with the games!) and we also had our stomachs filled with lots of food.
Moreover, the occasion allowed us to get together with old friends and classmates (yesterday was the first time in years that I saw Lucky), and gave us time to catch up with each other. It was a very refreshing experience to see and talk with people you haven't seen in a long time. Even though our barkada was not complete (Barbie had to prepare for a trip the following day, which is today by the way), we still enjoyed each other's company. It was when we were talking among ourselves when I noticed that everyone had changed a lot over the years. I had expected our conversations to be of the "how are you" type so imagine my surprise when the discussion centered on religion and philosophy! Heavy topics indeed over Chicken McCrispy. Other things talked about were work(!), on-the-job training, theses, and, on the lighter side, Lester's "I love me" pictures. Hehehe... Time flies so fast. Some of my friends would already be graduating from college next year; Paulo has to defend his thesis today (good luck!), Lucky would be graduating this December, Liza is already thinking of teaching at our old school. Albert, however, has at least 10 more years to go before "graduating" into priesthood. Hehehe... More money was burned at Timezone after the party, with Tyrone and Karen turning playing Time Crisis 3 into a science, Paulo and Lester having at various opponents at Tekken, and Albert and me duelling at air hockey. The night was capped with us having overpriced yet highly satisfying coffee at Starbucks, where conversation once again centered on serious topics, broken only by Paulo's "sigerepeat" joke. After coffee me and Diane left for the MRT and home. After finding our way through the maze that was a half-closed mall we finally got to MRT-Ayala Station. We boarded the train and experienced for ourselves the inside of a sardine can. I got off at MRT-Ortigas Station, after squeezing through a dense mass of people. I met my dad after walking the entire length of SM Megamall from the beginning of Mega A to near the end of Mega B. I do believe that I lost a few pounds in that leisurely walk.

Yesterday was a welcome respite from the monotony of a summer vacation. For two weeks now it has been wake up at 12 noon, fire up computer, lunch at 3 in the afternoon, return to pounding the Brotherhood of Nod into dust by 4, dinner at 9 in the evening, back to absorbing ambient radiation by 10, and finally sleeping at 3AM. Lather, rinse, repeat.

Yesterday was a turning point in my life. Seeing friends celebrate their 20th birthday and talk about "after graduation" made me face the fact that I'm growing old. I'm no longer the cute, plump, little toddler of 16 years ago. I'm no longer the cute, thin, little science whiz of 12 years ago. I'm no longer the cute, thin, little high school freshman of 7 years ago or the tall, handsome, somewhat confused college freshman of less than 3 years ago. I'm now a tall, handsome, somewhat delusional senior student about to cross the threshold into complete adulthood. It is only a few more months before I follow Lester into the twenties, probably only about two more years before general weighted averages and academic loads pass into history, and formerly alien concepts such as "job" and "work" become integrated into my life.

Yesterday was a time of relaxation and realization.

A new day has come to be lived and experienced.

Tomorrow is only a day away, waiting to be discovered.