crying

it's exactly 3:13 Monday morning, Manila time. but no, i am not crying as the title suggests. just writing. i'm trying to sleep but i guess the sugar boost from that Red Ribbon cake forbids me to. anyway..

i heard speeches and read articles in the past pointing out that Filipinos are characteristically emotional. more profoundly, that is, mababaw daw ang kaligayahan natin at sa kabilang banda mababaw din ang luha. and this i believed. for the former i admit i am included in its statistics. i delight in very simple things. i find joy in elementary matters. i exhibit childlike credulity even. but i'd like to tackle on about the latter. crying.

about 12 hours ago was the tip-off for the deciding game between the country's college hoops bitter rivals Ateneo and La Salle to decide which team moves to the finals of the 70th UAAP basketball tournament. if this were a boxing match, it will be the 12th and final round (siyempre wala naman kasing overtime sa boksing eh) that is why i wasn't surprised that a sellout crown of over 23,000 flocked the Araneta Coliseum (that is a gate-attendance record i believe). and as expected it was a slugfest from the opening buzzer until the final minutes. La Salle lead most of the way, thanks to their ever reliable guards JV Casio, TY Tang and Cholo Villanueva plus forward Rico Maierhofer. Ateneo on the other hand launched rallies in between behind their big men Nonoy Baclao and Ford Arao, and shooting guard Chris Tiu. the Taft-based Archers detonated timely bombs and doused cold water on their rivals everytime the Katipunan-based Eagles are on fire rallying for a comeback. after the war smoke settled in, the last men standing were those with green banners which drew cheers, standing ovation and applause from those in the arena. the Green Archers are pronounced victors and is advancing to the Finals this coming week against University of the East Warriors. they deserved it. congratulations!

but i'm not to talk more of that game. it hurts, besides the fact that it meant P200-less from my wallet hehe.

right after every game of this relevance i have always observed how these teams absorb the aftermath. on one side you see the jubilation and cheers amongst the victors. the high and low "5s", the "triumphant hugs" (there is another type. later..), the jubilant screams, the "no. 1" or "V" (for victory) hand signals, and the pride that overwhelms them while singing their alma mater's anthem. on the other hand is a scene of how an unsuccessful squad absorbs the loss. long faces, despair, disappointment for a failed attempt, the "comforting hugs" from fellow 'losers' (no pun intended), and crying. a lot of crying. and i'm referring to the men who are known to be physical juggernauts on court. yes, they do cry. we do cry.

while the cameras were there to catch these players' (and yes again, they're men) break down, i was sent into flashbacks via my own episodes of this process of crying, which according to WordWeb is (noun, 1. the process of shedding tears usually accompanied by sobs or other inarticulate sounds). not that there are too many of them in my life. i can only recall a few excluding those inflicted by pain like pinalo ka ng sinturon ng tatay mo hanggang sa mahati ang sinturon sa tatlo OR hinataw ka ng kaserola sa ulo ng nanay mo OR nahiwa ang kamay mo ng kutsilyo dahil na rin sa katangahan mo OR dahil sa black eye mo dahil nag away kayo ng kuya mo at nasapak ka niya OR nabangga ka ng motorsiklo dahil ulit sa katangahan. well i would be surprised if you tell me na hindi ka umiyak nung bata ka sa ganyang mga kadahilanan. and those i mentioned are personal experiences mind you. if you're reading my previous entries you'd argue, "eh 3 posts earlier lang sabi mo umiyak ka." i object your argument. that is just shedding two or three tears, and was not accompanied by inarticulate sounds hehe. so it's not counted :P

my most memorable emotional breakdown (besides nung tinuli ako) was when i was told that i won't graduate of high school because together with my mga napakabait na mga barkada had one of our senior teachers break down into crying herself. i don't recall exactly what we did but as badly behaved juveniles it was, i would bet, something of great magnitude hehe. and its effect on me was also of that nature. it meant being booted out of the scholarship program i'm in, being a laughingstock at school, revelation to my parents of who i really am (how bad i had become) at school, and palo na naman sa magulang. isang sinturon na naman ang mahahati sa tatlo :) it was as if my heart immediately dropped into my colon. i spent almost half an hour in a bathroom stall to regroup and pull myself together. frankly, i had grown accustomed to working hard and achieving what i want so failing like this, compounded by the cheapness of how it came about, is plainly unacceptable. crushing albeit stupid to put it bluntly. and so i cried.. and there are other similar few (emphasis: few) crying experiences i ought to not reveal.

i need not be part of a school's basketball team that competed in UAAP (except inter-college department) to understand these bawls. i had my share. it is human nature so i am not ashamed. and witnessing earlier the Ateneo Blue Eagles' inability to control their inner infant, i wasn't ashamed for them. i wasn't ashamed because the big men cried like a sixth-grade girl who's been told that she will have to wait another year to get her ears pierced. in fact, i am proud of them crying. because it showed that they cared enough to cry.

that exemplifies the school spirit. which i suppose is why people, like me, like college basketball. they are focused only on one thing. they only cared about winning that game. even those who have already graduated twenty, thirty or even fifty plus years ago from their respective schools still exude that spirit. every season. on and on until one team is left. a winner. a conqueror.

ONE BIG FIGHT!

o pa'no, UE versus La Salle sa finals. UE ako, P200 ulit ;P anyone?

mayabang ako

ipagyayabang ko na ako ay Pilipino. kahit kailan. kahit saan..



i got one finally. woven by a kid from Aplaya. product number: 11852

card reads:

Ang abaka ay isa sa pinaka-matibay na katutubong hibla. Ang munting abaka ay isa sa pangunahing industriya ng Pilipinas kasama ng asukal at tabako. Tulad ng katangian ng abaka, ang Pilipino ay malakas at matatag.

Sa paggamit ng abakang ito, tayo ay nagkakaisa sa pagpapahiwatig na tayo ay Pilipino. Tulungan po natin ang ating bayan sa pamamagitan ng pagtangkilik ng mga sariling atin. Sino pa ang tutulong sa Pilipino kung hindi Pilipino rin!

just got home. tired. got a glimpse of Wowowee and i must say, Valerie Concepcion is one hot lady *wink* :D

ok, gotta sleep now..

nothing much to do today so i'm editing some portions of my blog. added some then took some.. i'd still stick with black, which exemplifies my personality. mysterious (unpredictable maybe?). deep. simple. silent. classic.. i plan to add more pictures, esp when i run out of words, and edit the sidebars from time to time..

so please feel free to read and see through me. violent reactions are welcome.

random thoughts

- 97 days na lang pala before Christmas. are you feeling it already? so far i don't. hot weather, toxicity from work, lack of sleep,

- now, time for some kindergarten song. children, altogether now..

"A-B-ZTE-FG..." don't worry i'm not suffering from Alzheimer's disease or memory loss. it's actually the title of Senator Ping Lacson's article in this morning's paper which i found interesting. he talked about Joey DeVencia testimony at the blue ribbon committee hearing yesterday. names have been dropped. meetings have been revealed. special menu for the day: First Gentleman Mike Arroyo being that "mystery man" who threatened Joey to back off from the ZTE national broadband deal. haha sabit na naman si mang Mike! :D ayun at sumibat papuntang Europe nung Tuesday.. tsk tsk i wonder who's next..

"... now-i-know-my-Z-T-E. this-will-bring-down-G-M-A!"

- sports: San Beda Red Lions won NCAA's Finals game 1 against San Juan de Letran Knights. bawi na lang Arriba sa susunod na game :)

sa UAAP, well Ateneo has to beat UST on Sunday then beat LaSalle twice to meet up with UE at the Finals. daunting task ahead huh? ganon eh. nagpatalo kasi ng 1 point arrgggh!

Russia humiliated powerhouse Spain by 1 point at the Euro basketball finals. ayus! Jon Robert Holden, that American guy playing for Russia's national team, stripped Pau Gasol of the ball and buried a jumpshot at the other end of the court. Gasol's attempt with 2 seconds left rimmed off. so ayun. talo ang Spain sa harap ng mga kababayan nila.. Holden versus Jason Kidd sa 2008 Olympics? pwede! :)

- etceteras: Ara Mina will sing our national anthem at Pacquiao's fight against Barrera?? whaatt?!? are you guys kidding me?! round girl pwede pa siguro but to sing, duh? come on let's be honest here. sige na nga may album ka but i don't think that qualifies you to perform at such stage. kung ako sayo, ako na mismo ang mahihiya at mag back out.. hell, who chose you in the first place btw?

okay, back to work..

si shaider, fuuma le-ar, ang time space warp, vavilos at ang panty ni annie

i'm bored so pardon this non-sense article (or is it?) pati na rin yung title. no gimmick on saturday night so i decided to go home and just watch TV or one from my archived downloaded movies. while chunking on some Yellow Cab pizza, i turned on the boob tube to browse local channels when i chanced upon channel 7's trailer for their newly-created (but adapted) series entitled "Zaido Pulis Pangkalawakan" featuring Dennis Trillo and two other guys. it's the modernized adaptation of my once favorite Shaider series by Japanese Toei productions. i fondly remember as a kid that whatever i was doing it suddenly comes to a stop pag oras na ng palabas. channel 2 pa ata nun kung di ako nagkakamali. kumbaga, Shaider muna then everything else comes after. naalala ko may TV set na kami nun bili ng ate ko sa Quiapo hehe, black and white with that matching transparent "blue screen" na pantakip sa TV screen, pangharang daw ng radiation.

hindi maipagkakaila na karamihan ng mga kabataang tulad ko na namulat sa panahon ng 80's ay minsang na-adik sa palabas na ito. kung babae ka, malamang crush mo si Alexis (ang bidang lalaki) na isang archaeologist na naging pulis pangkalawakan. kung lalaki ka naman, aba eh ano pa nga bang inaabangan mo kundi ang pagtalon ni Annie para masilayan mo yung panty niya hahaha :D talagang tutok sa TV eh tsk tsk hehe..

(photo grabbed from Wikipedia)

buti na lang may youtube. eto i-click mo at balikan ang nakaraan... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8LSq15lACVs

siyempre may iba pa namang mga karakter na nagpakulay sa pakikipaglaban ng ating mga bida. sa kabilang banda sinong makakalimot kay Fuuma Le-ar, yung panginoon ng mga kalaban. siya yung malaking ulo sa pader na may parang pula sa noo (ewan ko kung third eye niya yun o bukol lang). si Babaylan Ida, naalala niyo? siya yung babaeng nakaputi na may linyang, "Time Space Warp... ngayon din!" yan na marahil ang pinakasikat na linya sa buong serye na hanggang nayon eh alam na alam mo kung paano eksaktong sabihin :) eh si Drigo? yung lalaking kalaban na nakaitim at may itim din na lipstick hehe. kumbaga, field operative siya ni Fuuma.. yung mga gamit nila sa pakikipaglaban. ang Vavilos na robot ni Shaider. BlueHawk, yung kanyang motorsiklo.

then it came to me, where are they now? not the characters they're portraying but the real people themselves. much to my surprise are these appalling facts i discovered with mr. google's assistance..

Hiroshi Tsuburaya (Alexis) died of liver cancer at the age of 40 on July 24, 2004. how an abrupt sad ending.. Naomi Morinaga (Annie) became a J-porn actress. now she's showing more than her underwear tsk tsk.. did you know that Babaylan Ida in real life is a real transvestite? putik, kaya pala ang lalim ng boses niya pag sinasabi niya yung "Time Space Warp.. ngayon din!" akala ko babaeng malalim lang ang boses haha. at tama ba ang narinig kong si Paolo Ballesteros daw ang gaganap ng papel niya sa bagong series? hehe parang sakto ah ;P
their portrayal somehow convinced me as a kid that they're almost supernatural beings. only to be brought back to reality that they indeed are humans after all. aren't we all? oh well..

ang hindi ko maalala, nagkatuluyan nga ba sina Alexis at Annie? kayo, natatandaan niyo pa ba?

para sa mga inglesero, o eto i-click niyo... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uchuu_Keiji_Shaider

all together now.. UM-ZHIGI-ZHIGI-WAKA-ZHIGI-UUUWAA! :D

guilty

and so the verdict was handed down. i was expecting no less than a guilty charge for both of Erap's cases. well, with some sort of tweak by the hand of fill-in-the-blank (nature/someone/some groups/something(?)), Erap was found guilty only in relation with his plunder case but is not guilty on that other case of perjury. unfortunately Jinggoy and that other guy, Serapio, were acquitted. politically motivated or not the verdict is, "what you reap is what you sow" ika nga.

good thing his supporters did not cause harm today, and i hope they stop from now on. it doesn't do us any good, much less to our economy. okay, sa imahe na rin nating mga pinoy. it's a normal thing to upstage your ideas and thoughts but it's different when you cause harm and chaos in the process of insisting to convey those ideas. tsaka tama na naman, pagod na rin ang taumbayan. didn't you notice most people just went on with their normal daily routines. i'm sure most of us were glued in to our boob tubes to witness the promulgation but after that, tuloy ulit ang buhay. ganon lang naman. you win some then you lose some..

personally, i think the government should give our former president the pardon. come on, he's over 70 years old. let him enjoy his remaining years. BUT, but with the condition that he returns to the government what he allegedly, or now guiltily, took from it during his term. the money he got with the use of his power and authority. i'm pertaining to that commission from Bell Corp, jueteng payola, among others. and then let's all live peacefully. as one nation..

oopps but before that fantasy, sana ma-convict din ang mga Marcoses, si FVR, the Arroyo's, pati si Chavit Singson, Jocjoc Bolante, isama na natin si Abalos, lahat ng mga tax evaders, at lahat ng mga politikong dumambong at patuloy na nandarambong sa kaban ng bayan. usigin sana kayo ng mga kunsensya niyo! yun eh kung may natitira pa..

and to all of Erap's friends (esp those movie personalities na napanood ko sa balita kagabi) please naman. don't rant on TV that your friend is innocent. he was given a trial, everything went thru the due process of the law, the defense' side was heard and so is the prosecution's, which lead to this verdict (which btw i really hope is based on the merits presented by each side). so at the end of the day and you find your friend on the wrong end of the deal, don't try to vindicate him by insisting your views on national telecast which are merely based on your personal knowledge of the accused if not, just friendship. be mature guys! respect the law. in any case, a motion for reconsideration is still to be filed within 15 days. if at all rejected then an appeal would still be filed to the Supreme Court.. the most sensible and mature comment i heard was that of Boots Anson Roa, on which she said that, "that's the law. we have to respect it. but on the level of my family's relationship with the Estradas, nothing has changed.." not her exact words but something to that context. o di ba, mas fair?

a deposed president sentenced to reclusion perpetua due to our politics' cancer: corruption.. now that's a good one. i hope many more will be tried and convicted. abangan ang mga susunod na kabanata..

great escape

[update]
- i'll try to upload other pics later. time for some sleep

[updates]
- uploaded the "behind the scenes". still working on the others.
- panalo Ateneo ng 2 points! wuhoo ;P one big fight!

[updates]
- uploaded the bohol pics
- my skin (shoulder and back) are peeling off from the sunburn ;P

[final update]
done!

it's 3 in the morning. reminds me of Matchbox 20's song..

the past few weeks offered more than a few topics to blog about. sa showbiz pa lang madami na: the alleged Wowowie scandal which resulted to a (yet again) Joey De Leon vs. Willie Revillame word war. sorry Willie but i'm so PRO-Vic-and-Joey eh :D hindi naman dahil sa mas malinis si Joey sayo Willie but he's at least wiser. who's apologizing now? man don't let yourself look good by making other people look bad.. si Camille Prats daw dyontis?! well at least according to a Chikka Minute report.. si Pokwang napagkamalang si Lucy Liu daw nung nasa Hong Kong. huuwaaatt?? in fairness medyo hawig huh haha.. sa ibang paksa, who'd forget about Malu Fernandez' insensitive article in a magazine which fueled so much hatred amongst our OFW kababayans. di na ko mag-comment. she doesn't deserve to have a space here in my blog anyway.. Cris Mendez, that graduating UP student who allegedly died of hazing rites.. hmm ano pa ba? in sports. Team USA's championship. KB24 coming to Manila. 2nd round matchup of Ateneo and LaSalle tomorrow este mamaya na pala hehe.. actually i don't have to look farther to have something to blog about. i can just tinker with my heart and write about so much stuff. but i'd like to pass on to that. to have an escape from the norm is better. something that is great in essence. thus the title.

for like many people, i live in a mass of humanity in a city. that corresponds to higher paying jobs (compared to rural areas of course), more opportunities, bigger and better movie theaters, faster internet connection, 24-hour shops/food stalls, closer to being so-and-so "hi-tech", among others. but city-living somehow requires you to trade off other essential things: better and longer sleep, more quality time with loved ones, quiet living, affinity with mother nature (ahh fresh air!), and allow me to mention, peace of mind. so to escape, i seek the opposite: a place where there are only few people and away from the stressful city life.

last weekend i found myself, together with some folks from work, just in the right place (Bantayan island in Cebu) at the right time (low season). except for a minor freak accident on the road, i guess the back-breaking almost four-hour bus ride from Mandaue city to Hagnaya port and an hour ferry ride to the island just added more crave to our already excited selves. whoever said that Bantayan island is "Boracay 20 years ago" is indeed a keen observer. pristine white sand, clear waters, clean and green, less commercialized, ahh the preserved tranquility. with just the right amount of sunlight and lots of time on our hands we let our sun-starved bodies enjoy every moment. the downside of working on graveyard shift? you're deprived of the sun! :) except for a handful of foreign and local tourists (my count stopped at 11) the beach was all ours, and that's the best part of it! eating was a slow affair, in an empty restaurant overlooking the beach. saan ka pa? it rained during our breakfast but that's fine. it is during this rainy season that locals hunker indoors and foreigners stay away making it ideal for an escape. we could laugh and talk freely while marveling nature's beauty or even stay up late worrying about nothing. or maybe how to get tanned evenly. that previous statement was merely intended for the girls i'd suppose, right boys? yeah right!! :P

and so there was i. been a while that i had this time to just relax and free my mind of so much thinking. i was engrossed in the moods of the sea and the sky i just sat in the terrace of our beach front room, sometimes standing by the shoreline with bare feet in the sand staring aimlessly on the horizon. ahh, de-stressing. and unknowingly someone took my picture during the bliss (see below pic).

vacations like these rouse the amateur photographer kuno in me but since i stupidly did not prepare my camera gears i was left with no other choice but to not bring Iya along. how can it function without batteries? stupid esse!? so i gladly volunteered to be the group's photographer at most times. that explains why there's not much with me on it. mind you, to 'gladly' volunteer is fundamentally difficult since i'm a Canon user and i had to use Nikon digital SLRs. don't get me wrong guys, those gadgets are a beauty but tsk tsk those complicated menus and controls, whew! haha :P *showing the peace sign* but i hate to admit, that experience left me now with just one barrier to finally buy one from the dark side hehe. you guessed it right, moola :D i am now a believer. but that's another blog story..

i'm out for words, i'll just let the pictures speak for themselves. besides choosing a few from a quite a number and creating a mosaic takes much time and an hour has passed since my first sentence..


L-R, by columns (credits go to Sherwin, Manny, Kakai, AJ and temyong for the pics):
1. the group, hereon refered to as "THEM"; 2. @ Mactan airport; 3. ferry to Bantayan; 4. breakfast
5. breakfast @ Tiffany's?; 6. sand writing by Kakai; 7. flags; 8. the girls
9. THEM @ Bantayan ; 10. breakfast table; 11. shoreline; 12. cottage
13. beach walk 14. girls, sandbar (background); 15. the girls again; 16. who else?

on our 3rd day we banked on a side trip to Bohol. again i volunteered to be the group's photographer, tour guide (my 4th time in this wonderful place) and spur. pictures will show you the group had a great time..

L-R, by columns (credits go to Sherwin, Manny, and temyong for the pics):
1. THEM, off to Bohol; 2. THEM @ Tagbilaran port; 3. THEM @ the blood compact site; 4. "itaas mo!"
5. "greenhills"; 6. THEM @ chocolate hills; 7. the girls; 8. setup shot
9. higante sa burol; 10. for the sake of a good photograph :) 11. jump shot; 12. AJ
13. come fly with me; 14. double float; 15. landing; 16. THEM @ the hanging bridge
17. hands off; 18. buffet @ Loboc river cruise; 19. Loboc river; 20. THEM during the cruise
21. tarsiers; 22. Manny with Prony the python; 23. eagle (sayang hindi blue hehe); 24. Panglao island

some behind the scenes and legit stolen shots..

L-R, by columns (credits go to Sherwin, Manny, AJ and temyong for the pics):
1. @ Bantayan; 2. the Spaniards trying out Greenwich's Tropicool; 3. @ Bohol; 4. setup shot; 5. @ Bantayan
6. mini pictorial; 7. jump shot; 8. stolen; 9. @ Loboc river; 10. akala ko lang naman. cge na mali na ko :P

three reasons why i do things like these: one, my stress level has reached its peak; two, just to satisfy that need to get away; OR i am terribly sad. i guess a little of everything had its share as to why i escaped..

at the end of our four-day vacation i think everybody enjoyed and really had a great time. planning this trip months back with goals of us being and doing things together beyond our toxic working schedule and of course to bond with each other. i personally felt those goals were met. it's a great feeling to be a part of other people's joy, di ba? once you see them happy it uplifts your spirit..

as for me, still blue..