Friday, March 31, 2006

April Fool's Day

"Please pray for the soul of Wilson Tang. He got hit by a bus on the way to school today. Necrological services will be held at the Arlington funeral homes. Be there"

These were the exact words that I texted to friends, both close and not so close, exactly ten minutes before April 1.

I screwed it up. I'm such a sorry loser right now.

I texted a friend that had her bestfriend die the same way.

Of course, she wasn't amused.

Of course, I know she's quite angry at me now.

I just can't do anything right, both morally and immorally.

Check this out

Here's a really cool poker hand I played recently, I'm a little proud of how I played this hand so here it is:

$1-$2 7 handed no limit game. I started the hand with $220 and the other guy had $100 or so.

Preflop: The guy raised to $10 in middle position and I called on the button with 5s 5d. There is now $23 in the pot ($3 because of the folded blinds).

Flop: 7d, 7h, 4d. Guy bets $20. I hesitate and then call. There is now $63 in the pot.

Turn: Th. The board is now 7d, 7h, 4d, Th (two flush draws). Guy checks. I check behind him. There is still $63 in the pot.

River: 2c. The board is now 7d, 7h, 4d, Th, 2c. Guy pushes all-in with his last $70. I beat to him to the pot and I call with only 55. He shows Ac Kc. I take down a $203 pot ($103 profit) as my two pair sevens and fives (7d, 7h, 5s, 5d, Th) beats his pair of sevens with an ace kicker (7d, 7h, Ac, Kc, Th).

Analysis: Historically, the guy doesn't raise in middle position with nothing so it had to be a pocket pair or AK, AQ or at least AJ. When he overbet the flop (betting $20 to a $23 pot), he revealed that he didn't have a pocket pair, making it obvious he had a big ace. At the turn, he checked. I could have bet here but I decided to check because I wanted him to think I was chasing a flush and I wanted to get paid off at the river. When the 2 of clubs came on the river, there was no possible flush. He overbet the river to scare me away, but by then, I knew he had nothing and I called without hesitation.

Why was I so sure it was a bluff? Like I pointed out earlier, after playing with him before, I noticed that he doesnt raise in middle position with nothing. So with the board of 7 7 4 T 2, the only hand that he could have had to catch a monster with was TT for a full house. He wouldnt have raised with 44, 22, AT, A7 on middle position. And because of the overbet, I knew he didn't have a pocket pair (usually players with pocket pairs bet to chase away chasers but they dont want to overbet in case I had the 7 for trips). The reason I checked the turn is to tell him I don't have the 7 and that I had a flush draw so that he'd bet the river. I got lucky and the river was a meaningless black 2 and I got him to overbet again with an all-in.

The best thing about how I played this hand is that there is no other way I could have played it (i.e. raising on the flop or betting on the turn after it was checked to me) that could have made him bet his entire stack on a situation where I absolutely know he was bluffing. If I raised the flop after he bet the pot on the flop, he would have most probably folded earning me only $23 instead of his whole stack, or he could have re-raised me all-in, which would have made me fold fearing he has an overpair. If I bet the turn after he checked it to me, he would have most likely folded as well, he wouldn't have raised me on the turn with just ace high and no draw. The reason he pushed all-in with his last $70 overbetting to a $63 pot was because he put me on a busted flush draw and he overbet so that in case I had a small pair to the board like Ah 4h to give me a pair of fours and a flush draw on the turn, it would have been hard for me to call.

The biggest mistake he made in the hand was overbetting the flop. The gutsiest play I made was calling the huge bet on the flop with nothing but 55. But the best play hands down was the check on the turn misleading him on what my hand was. That set him up for an all-in move on the river which I anticipated.

Did you guys get the whole hand and analysis?

Thursday, March 30, 2006

doing better

I've been meaning to write to our blog since it started but it's been consistently delayed and moved later due to circumstances. and now i find myself writing my first official blog entry while in my office where i'm supposedly being paid to be productive hehehe.

yes i am in the office, our internet connection at home was removed because we were supposed to downgrade the connection but my mother who is either brilliantly scheming or incredibly ignorant, just opted to not apply anymore until i get back in m%#$%@#!%$ december! para daw pumasok ako sa office.

anyay hindi tungkol dun yung entry na ito.

I am one of the seven students who graduated from AdMU Economics-Honors 2006. something to be happy about, true, but looking back at my whole college life especailly when compared to my other blockmates it consistently nags me... I could have done better.

It was only when we were lined up in graduation practice that the dreaded feeling came upon me. To see five out of the seven EcoH graduates march up while being announced: Suma Cum Laude, Magna Cum Laude, Cum laude and two honorable mentions. while I just get my name and a rolled up a4. It kicks in, the dreadfulness of being directly compared to other individuals who have outperformed me. I am the other statistic, the mediocre EcoH. It's not so much as not getting a medal as it was not achieving what is expeted of me. It honestly sucks.

What embitters me is the fact that I only needed .06 to finish with honorable mention. if i needed a whole 2.5 then screw it id be glad i even passed! but .06, it meant that if the c+ in theo was a b+; or the c in matrix calculations was a b; or if I had more time to study; if i had less responsibilities; if i wasn't out that much; if I weren't the Glee Club president; if i wasn't as active and a micromanaging fanatic as glee club president; if i spent more time studying and not going out, or playing ps2 or rehearsing or playing poker . too many ifs to consider.

yeah too many ifs to consider when i shouldn't be considering them at all. it would've been far easier to blame the Glee Club or jim (hahaha joke lang) but it would have been wrong. It was my fault and i knew where i made the wrong choices. The grown up thing to do is to learn from the whole thing and move on. but it just doesn't go away. Regret. Regret sucks.

I'm not blaming anybody except myself for my leaving school without better grades. I just had to relese the regret portion out. I could have done better i admit it. Maybe i just needed to say that.

Sunday, March 26, 2006

Circa 2002.

[Ack. Pardon the sentence construction. Sleep deprivation. This one's a reprise on the one about "the best is yet to come", and on jim's countless inspirational posts. and to the person who said that we're all fucking retarded. Well sometimes we're not. But most of the time, we are. lol.]

I was reading Wil's resume last night when I saw that he mentioned about that cyberfair thingy again. Again I wondered: "hey, whatever happened to it nga ba?"...

You see, the server stopped hosting the files. And we thought that it was gone forever.

Not.

AGAIN, with nothing else better to do, I remembered that I had once sent a copy to a friend of mine. So I decided to rummage my old edsamail files.

Yes edsamail. the false promise that everything was supposed to be free. The free (well it was free then) email account that we oh so abused with forwarded messages. I always thought that saving the dump *.mbx files would be of use in the future (yes I know, what a dork).

After installing edsamail 1.3 and overwriting the mbx files, lo and behold - nostalgia minefield! All my fourth year highschool email messages still intact! From emails from Ms. Balubar and Mr. Magalit, to Pierre's email attachments on the air hockey and pool game that we used to play in the computer room when Ms. Balubar wasn't looking, to my personal email exchanges with some of my close friends, the same friend whom I've sent the files to. Who? Let's just say I found my old macaroon recepie while browsing my sent messages. lol.

Grabe. 2002. Can't help but smile and remember. lol. Ang totoy at nene pa. heheheh.

The site now has a new home: http://www.geocities.com/lykwyss/edsa/index.htm (Pierre declined to host it because he felt too lazy to upload the files).

-----

But why all the hassle? Why reminisce a time that's long gone?

Because it's one of the things that will make us remember what it was like when we were in third and fourth year high. The time when we thought that we could conquer the world. The time when we thought that we could do anything. The time when we thought that we were the best senior batch in our school.

Puppy loves, crushes, chapel presentations, intramurals, and the occasional scandals. (" P*#$&!%@ ANONG MALI SA JOB PLAN KO???!!") Good times. =)

Well most of us are graduates now. And most forgot. All I'm asking is to look back and remember. Remember and make meaning out of it all.

After all, life's all about meaning making.

Here's to nostalgia. =)

Saturday, March 25, 2006

One of my literary idols.

I was one of the luckier students in college to have Dr. Isagani R. Cruz as my professor in my Filipino literature class. It was an amazing three months. I consider him as one of my literary idols.

Why am I saying all of these to you guys? Well, because out of the blue, I tried googling his name and I found his blog. Yes, his blog. lol (I was actually trying to look up Isagani "A". Cruz, not "R". The journalist. But I stumbled upon this jewel in the internet sea instead).

Another sleepless night spent in reading but well worth it.

http://criticplaywright.blogspot.com/ enjoy. =)

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Now if I could only find Marjorie Evasco's, and Bienvenido Lumbera's blog if they have one of those. heheh.

Friday, March 24, 2006

EUGENE - The perfect face

It's almost impossible to surpass a Wilson post (and as what he said to me, that we souldn't really see this as a competion lol. I agree). Consider this instead as a humble homage filler post to elevate the "Robin Hood of pr0n" to a higher pedestal.

-----

I've seen this once on the Discovery channel and wondered how I could get one of those face templates.

Anyway, one scientist once tried to calculate the perfect angles in the human face using the golden ratio of the Fibonacci number, that's 1.618 - the approximate proportion of shapes that provides its aesthetic appeal.

Shells, leaves, flowers are some of the things found in nature that exhibit this proportion (I couldn't find pictures to show to you guys. Sorry). So Dr. Marquardt (I'm logically guessing he's the dude behind it) made a wireframe face template of the "perfect face" based from his comparison computation of endless faces.

What you do is that you place this template over a mugshot portrait, and the closer the face resembles the template, the more attractive you are. More "perfect" if you will. From the same episode that I watched, Tom Cruise and umm, whats her name?... Cindy Crawford, both of them almost fit the template. Lol.

This golden ratio has also been a subject of pop controversy, most notably in the recent Dan Brown novel craze. The story goes that since 1.618, the fundamental ratio was the perfect ratio, well why not try it on Jesus?

So hey, here's a picture of the face mask that I've found at highfiber.org. Have fun.



-----

With nothing else better to do tonight, I decided that once and for all, I should take on the heaviest of burdens - to prove or disprove the fundamental universal theory - that EUGENE is the most perfect man alive in the world today. And now ladies and gentlemen, BEHOLD!:



EUGENE - THE PERFECT FACE.



Notice the reaction of the masterpiece upon knowlege of his now legendary status.

God's boundless grace has once again blessed us. This time, with the gift of Eugene. The dream of all the women and the envy of all the men. The perfect face.

We are not worthy.

Graduation

I posted this in my blog today and I guess I'm doing the same here

------------------------------------------

Ateneans are graduating this weekend.

Wow, I can't believe time passed this fast.

I remember the Orsem and how everyone was excited to be an Atenean.
I remember the long-ass lines just to enrol.
I remember the food.
I remember the morning classes and the only way to stay awake was either a plastic cup of hot milo or waiting for the hot chick who wears slutty outfits to walk past.
I remember the orgs.
I remember the late nights rehearsing for Tanghalang Ateneo.
I remember teaching underpriviledged high schoolers and Alternative classes.
I remember the inspiring teachers.
I remember the breaks where everyone caught up with each other and in my case, got drunk before the next class.
I remember being excited about the possibility of a free cut.
I remember the people.

Yes, I admit. A huge part of me wishes that I could be there marching with my blockmates, my high school batchmates, my org mates and everyone else. I remember the first day in Ateneo and I really thought that I'd be there for the full ride. I guess the traveller in me just couldn't be held down. I guess I needed to be more free. And now, I don't think I'm more free than before. But it was something that I needed to do, and I did it. At the very least, I got to experience what it was like to be an Atenean before I had to travel to the corners of the world.

It's a good thing that I'm doing good here otherwise I'd be incredibly sad and homesick. It took a year to get me settled in Wellington but I think I am finally. I have a good roommate, I'm incredibly enjoying my studies this semester and also, it's good to have a pseudo-kind of-potential but already there-dont have a description yet- girl. I've said it already before, but it's so good to finally move on and even better to have no drama whatsoever.

Anyway, congratulations Ateneans. I'm so proud of you guys. If I could walk down with you, I would. But I guess phonecalls and loving words are all I can offer right now. I'm glad I've been part of your ride and that you all were part of my shorter ride. I wish you guys nothing but the best for the future and what it beckons.

To shobs, tahnee, cathy, eug, wil, jeco, choi, nikki, cha, cheska, raerae, lingling, garrido, paul, jp, owen, bianca, kris, camille, marge, vonn, mardel, isabel, patty, lyra, kl, sasa, vanny, eli, johann, brian and everyone else I unintentionally missed... God speed and God bless.

Thursday, March 23, 2006

Even God enjoys a good laugh

There were 3 good arguments that Jesus was Black:
1. He called everyone "brother".
2. He liked Gospel.
3. He couldn't get a fair trial.

But then there were 3 equally good arguments that Jesus was Jewish:
1. He went into His Father’s business.
2. He lived at home until he was 33.
3. He was sure his Mother was a virgin and his mother was sure he was God.

But then there were 3 equally good arguments that Jesus was Italian:
1. He talked with his hands.
2. He had wine with every meal.
3. He used olive oil.

But then there were 3 equally good arguments that Jesus was a Californian:
1. He never cut his hair.
2. He walked around barefoot all the time.
3. He started a new religion.

But then there were 3 equally good arguments that Jesus was Irish:
1. He never got married.
2. He was always telling stories.
3. He loved green pastures.

But the most compelling evidence of all – 3 proofs that Jesus was a woman:

1. He fed a crowd at a moment's notice when there was no food.
2. He kept trying to get a message across to a bunch of men who just didn't get it.
3. And even when he was dead, He had to get up because there was more work to do.Amen!!!

Wednesday, March 22, 2006

k
Gullibility Actuated by Erectile Stimulus

(Author's note: I originally intended to write this in the American Psychological Association format using good English, but laziness got in the way)

With nothing productive to do on a warm, sunny day, I decided to become entrepreneurial to benefit on the free time at hand. However,a general lack of capital and bankable business ideas have left me no choice but to live on my wits and wits alone. Thus was borne the idea to swindle people out of their hard-earned cellphone load credits.

The idea really was simple. All I have to do was imitate show-for-load babes on the internet through select channels on mirc. Finding a suitable channel was easy with the use of the find channel command. I was able to find the right channels which included among others #malibog, #kantutan and #seb. Then, I advertised myself on these channels as a horny 23 female living in ortigas alone and playing with two glow-in-the-dark dildos. Immediately scores of chatters messaged me privately. The number was so great that I had to close almost half of them since my Pentium 2 PC with 256 mb memory was slowing down (Its that many). I had to settle it by closing the windows of more than half of these horny sons of bitches. To cut the story short, I was able to swindle P350 cellphone load.

Funny how easy it is to cash in on the gullibility and horniness of Filipinos.

Some of the highlights included having someone named Sevilla send me P50 load and another one who has been fooled four times previously before passed me P100 load.

A short transcript of the sample chat is as follows, with me being xxxx:

21:56] waputero: hello [21:56] waputero: Buzz!! [21:56] waputero: U2 here [21:58] waputero: Buzz!! [21:58] waputero: di naman ako pansin [21:58] waputero: ( [21:58] XXXX: hi [21:58] xxxx: 50 pesos show for load until midnight [21:58] waputero: ayun.........nag reply din [21:58] waputero: ngek [21:58] waputero: [21:59] waputero: la man lang preview? [22:03] waputero: Buzz!! [22:03] xxxx: no preview, unfair to paying clients [22:04] waputero: kahit 30 secs lang [22:04] waputero: or 15 [22:05] xxxx: 25 pesos [22:05] xxxx: for that amount of itme [22:05] waputero: eh di fifty na lang....until midnight pa [22:05] waputero: globe ka? [22:06] xxxx: oo [22:06] xxxx: 0915(my no.) [22:06] xxxx: se 22:06] xxxx: send na [22:06] waputero: nde ka ba manloloko? [22:07] xxxx: trust me [22:07] xxxx: in my line of work, its bad to fool people [22:07] xxxx: i need trust to have people frequently watch me [22:08] waputero: all the way ba? nasend na waputero: naloko ata ako [22:17] waputero: ano na po? [22:17] waputero: Buzz

I calculated that if I earn P150 from swindling these horny assholes each day for a month, i'd get P4,500 load. That's as good as having a subscription.

That's it, and I apologize for the messy, incoherent thoughts.

Where your taxes go

My apologies to the people whose relatives work in the Philippine National Police.

I am convinced that our most recent batch of the natiional police force are umm.. shall we say "palpakin" (blunderers). Let me enumerate three incidents that happened in the last 3 months or so:

1. The Ortigas cover-up incident.
Just last year, a carnapping scare took the Ortigas and Pasig area and scared the piss out of everyone, including myself. To prove that the PNP are not an impotent force, it allegedly staged a cover-up wherein they caught and shot the carnappers along Ortigas avenue.

News reports revealed disputing evidences (now I'm not stressing them as proofs, only as direct evidences) over the incident. First, that the alleged carnappers were hostile, armed, and retaliated but there were no exit holes from the carjacker's vehicle. Second, that a certain police officer was allegedly hit by a bullet fired from the carjacker's weapons but later evidence showed that that certain officer actually shot himself from his own ricochet bullet (more on this later). Third, that the carjackers were armed, but forensic evidences showed that A.) the back passenger was actually ducking from the car and trying to escape suggesting he was unarmed and that the weapon was planted, and B.) the side passenger fired and dropped his pistol from his right hand. Family testimonials refuted this proof by revealing that the alleged carnapper was acually left-handed and at that time, his right arm had a fracture and could not possibly use the pistol (later confirmed by the forensic autopsy).

Finally, and possibly the stupidest thing that the law enforcement force could have done was to do the cover-up in front of a TV station. of course, it would be inevitable that the station would cover the incident. analysis of its video revealed that the alleged carjackers were not hostile, did not retaliate at all and the police made sure they were dead when the first fired at them (one police officer did not hesitate to check the scene and immediately popped a few bullets to the half-dead driver after the initial ceasefire. the video also confirmed that the police officer that was mentioned a while ago did indeed shot himself from his own ricochet bullet).

2. Pasig Meth Den Demolition
Second case in point. with no further elaboration, an identified meth den in Pasig was immediately demolished by the police with the mayor's supervision even without court order. The mayor did not give any justification of his orders (he only said that we need to destroy these kinds of places immediately so the pushers won't come back or something in that nature. very logical for a place that's quarantined and guarded). later news revealed that some drug transactions were allegedly connected to the people in city hall.

3. Dinky Soliman Capture
And now, the Coup de gras. Just last week, the former secretary of social welfare and development (while making their usual friday night rounds around the city, walking around wearing black shirts that says "oust Gloria" or something with that nature) was arrested and detained by the police because they allegedly broke the presidential decree on staging unauthorized rallies. The police later changed their charge saying that it's because the former secretary was wearing a black shirt, and with messages that could insight into sedition. this reason was changed yet again to what is now reported just today in inq7.net:

"THE POLICE are now revising their charge against former secretary of social welfare Dinky Soliman to that of buying and falsely advertising a "DKNY" imitation shirt, which she acquired for P10 from 168 Mall.

As it turns out, the real DKNY does not come in extra-short, extra-wide sizes."

...I rest my case.

Tuesday, March 21, 2006

This one's for Mary

Back in my sophomore college year, I once had a basic computer literacy subject. Yup, it's same as the ones in highschool where they teach you how to use the mouse, how to click the start button, find microsoft Word and launch the program. I know what you're thinking and yes, its an easy 4.0 (that's an "A" in blue and white standards).

Three months of breeze this subject was, and getting a 4.0 was an effort that was as easy as waking up in the middle of the night just to take a piss. But no, this is GLENN that we're talking about. Glen-the anti-authority; Glen- the non-conformist; Glen- the jackass.

The very same Glen who made a freshman highschool transfer student's life a living hell by pretending to be attracted to her and made pranks by sending anonymous roses implying that it was from some hunky classmate nicknamed "tuxedo mask" (yes Eug, IT WAS ME!! Hahaha! And I'm sorry for it heheh). The very same Glen who in the same year, stopped a fieldtrip bus just to buy smutty tabloids on the street corner (I would like to stress out that this was out of a wager and not my personal preference) just to piss our class adviser off. The very same Glen who (much to the content and enjoyment of his colleagues) made an ass of of their junior highschool class adviser (but it kinda backfired lol.)

The list goes on. heh. But oi, i'm really good guy at heart (this is for the people who'd prejudge me) I just can't help the mischievous tendencies. But I've changed my ways heh.

Anyway, In one crucial project, my professor, who's a behavioral science department professor and a die-hard green and white alumnus (isn't it weird that a computer professor would come from the behavioral science department?) tasked us to make a songsheet of whatever song we would like to choose, as an exercise of microsoft word typing and layouting proficiency. This was the type of die hard alumni peeps that would give you grade incentives if you watched your school team playing the rival school team.

To make the story short, here's what i passed:



The schmuck failed me on this project and I ended up missing my 4.0 final grade.

Monday, March 20, 2006

The best is yet to come

Imagine 1986. Imagine that you're part of the thousands of people that congregated to form the EDSA revolution.

Imagine youself joining hands with the other people. Imagine yourself being one with the crowd, with one sentiment and with one Hope.

Now imagine these lines going through your head:

Tell me
I'm not alone
Tell me
We are not alone in this world
Fighting against the wind

Do you remember the time
When simple things made you happy?

Do you remember the time
When little things made you laugh?

You know
Life can be simple

You know
Life is simple

Because
The best thing in life is yet to come
Because....
The best is yet to come.

Is it just me
Or is it just us
Feeling lost in this world?
Why do we have to hurt each other?
Why do we have to shed tears?

Life can be beautiful if you try;
Life can be joyful if we try.

-----

EDSA. One nation, one voice.

-----

Back in 2002, eight JCA seniors joined an international website competition. The eight won gold in both the Philippine and in the international divisions (which technically meant that two merit awards are to be given to each of the seniors).

What many do not know (and fewer would care) about was that a particular Gaelic song was used to set the atmosphere of the said entry. It was chosen not because of its solemn tune but really because of its lyrics. Yup, its the one entitled "The Best is Yet to Come". A fitting title, no?

Read the lyrics. Find the song. Check out the site (if its still online). I hope this one would inspire individuals to rise above the adversities of life, to achieve beyond everyone else's expectations, and to actualize your potentials. Because hey, after all, the best is yet to come.

Here's to nostalgia, baby.

-----

An cuimhin leat an grá
Crá croí an ghrá
Níl anois ach ceol na h-oíche
Táim sioraí i ngrá
Leannáin le smál
Leannáin le smál
Lig leis agus beidh leat
Lig leis agus beidh grá

Cuimhne leat an t-am
Nuair a bhí tú sásta
An cuimhne leat an t-am
Nuair a bhí tú ag gáire

Tá an saol iontach
Má chreideann tú ann
Tug aghaidi ar an saol is sonas sioraí inár measc

Céard a tharla do na laethanta sin
Céard a tharla do na h-oícheanta sin
An cuimhin leat an t-am
Nuair a bhí tú faol bhrón

An cuimhin leat an t-am
Go sioraí sileadh na ndeor an ormsa nó orainne a bhí an locht

Ag mothú caiite s'ar fán
Cén fáth an t-achrann is sileadh na ndeor
Tá áilleacht sa saol
Má chuardaíonn tú e
Tá gliondar sa saol
Cuardaimís e

-----

[The Best is Yet to Come. Written and produced by Rika Muranaka. Sung by Aoife Ni Fhearraigh. MGS OST. English translation and Gaelic lyrics, respectively.]

Maskuman

Just to lighten things up a bit, here's a little something that Filipino children of the 80's would remember and appreciate.

Here's to nostalgia, baby.

-----

Hikari Sentai MaskMan (The Tagalog version. heh.)

Humanda na kayo
Kampon ng kadiliman
Oras na ng pagtutuos
Kasamaan nyo dapat matapos
Narito na sila
Bayaning tagapagtanggol
Sama sama'y lilipol
Maskuman kayo lang ang pag-asa
Iligtas kami sa marahas n kadiliman
Kami'y inyong ipaglaban

Sige sige laban Maskuman
Ipagtanggol ang kapayapaan
Sugod sugod laban Maskuman
pagsanggalan ninyo ang katarungan
Buong mundo'y magpupuri
pagpupugay mabuhay

Laser Squadron... Mas...ku...man!

Sunday, March 19, 2006

Sidewalk

This was given to my class by my professor. He's basically a very animated and very inspirational teacher who also looks like Sean Connery. Some of my classmates say John Malkovich. But I still say he's 007, especially when he's glaring at me which causes me to almost wet myself.

Anyway, enjoy because I really enjoyed reading this piece of inspirational literature.

----------------------------------------------

Autobiography in Five Short Chapters
by Portia Nelson


Chapter One

I walk down the street.
There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.
I fall in.
I am lost ... I am helpless.
It isn't my fault.
It takes forever to get out.

Chapter Two

I walk down the same street.
There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.
I pretend I don't see it.
I fall in again.
I can't believe I'm in the same place.
But it isn't my fault.
It still takes a long time to get out.

Chapter Three

I walk down the same street.
There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.
I see it is still there.
I still fall in ... it's a habit.
My eyes are open.
I know where I am.
It is my fault.
I get out immediately.

Chapter Four

I walk down the same street.
There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.
I walk around it.

Chapter Five

I walk down another street.

Saturday, March 18, 2006

Phil's Animal Types

Taken from Play Poker like the Pros written by Nine time WSOP champion Phil Hellmuth

"There are five animal types: the mouse, lion, jackal, elephant and eagle. I have created these animals because they seem to be the most common types out there right now."

"The mouse is like your old aunt Edna, a conservative type who probably wouldn't even approve of your reading this book. The mouse - like you - plays only the top ten hands but hates to invest any money with a hand as weak as 7-7 or 8-8. The mouse hardly ever raises someone else's bet; but when he does raise, look out, because he has the goods!"

"The lion is a tough competitor who plays fairly tight poker but doesn't limit himself to the top ten hands. He bluffs with excellent timing and seems to know when the other players are trying to bluff him. Though he plays pretty tight, he's occasionally out on a limb with a bluff or a semibluff. You could do worse than play like the lion."

"The jackal is loose and wild, and some days it seems as though he's just giving his money away. Because he's involved in so many pots and raises so often, his play can take some pretty big swings. The jackal's logic seems at odds with the logic of all the other players. He just seems crazy! The jackal can hurt you and himself too with his crazy play, because he puts in so many bets."

"The elephant is fairly loose... He's what we refer to in poker as a "calling station": he never folds when he is supposed to fold, because he doesn't ever believe that you have the goods. Because he's impossible to bluff, no one with much experience ever tries to bluff him."

"Finally, we have the eagle. The eagle is a rare bird, and you might not ever play with him, because he's one of the top poker players in the world."

Friday, March 17, 2006

Eighteen Rues

I have seen the day
that generosity was misunderstood;
that selflessness was romanticized.
I did.

I have also seen the day
when creation became destruction;
when purity became tainted;
when power became impotent;
when piety became incest;
when liberty became bigotry;
when selflessness became selfishness;
when desire became detest;
when bliss became brawling.
you did.

I have finally seen the day
that symbols were obvious-
that opposites attract.
we did.


-------


[[I actually don't know whether this one is nonsensical or just crappy. i think its both.

this one's supposed to be about irony. It's actually from a personal experience of mine.

eighteen rues. eighteen rules. eighteen lines.
eight teen rues. eight symbolic gifts to eight of my friends on my eighteenth birthday.
eight gifts that were misunderstood.
eight gifts that meant to resonate. to resonate each of the good qualities that i've seen in these eight friends.
eight qualities that ive also grown when i became friends with them.

yet it turned out that the eight good qualities that i saw in them became the same opposite qualities that they returned to me that finally lead to our own separate ways.

we then realized for ourselves that myself and them were polar opposites. yet we coexisted.

a sad story for a friendship that never really was.]]

Thursday, March 16, 2006

Heart of Worship

Sometimes, we need to remember so we can never forget.

--------------------------------------

When the music fades
all is stripped away
and i simply come
longing just to bring
something that's of worth
that will bless your heart

i bring you more than a song
for a song in itself
is not what you have required
you search much deeper within
through the way things appear
you're looking into my heart

chorus
I'm coming back to the heart of worship
and it's all about you
It's all about you, Jesus
I'm sorry Lord for the thing i've made it
when it's all about you
it's all about you, Jesus

King of endless worth
no one could express
how much you deserve
though i'm weak and poor
all i have is yours
every single breath

chorus

Monday, March 13, 2006

Untitled

You think you have an interesting life. And for the most part, you do. You wake up, you go to your job, you go out in the weekends. You do everything you're supposed to do the way it's supposed to be done. But once in a while, there's a chance to do more, and you take it.

I read. I write. I create. I chat. I think. But most of all, I appreciate. Yes, they all matter to me because i make meaningful experiences out of them. Yet these are the small things in life that many neglect.

Giving up the whole afternoon just to read a Buru Quartet; sharing your personal thoughts and opinions to someone you hardly know; baking macaroons as an expression of gratitude; helping someone to design a guidebook cover and not ask for anything in return just because you are passionate about it.

In this material world that we are living, there are far more things in life that money can't buy. People should start appreciating these small things and make meaning out of it.

My life can't just be interesting, it has to be meaningful.

Thursday, March 09, 2006

Step up

Everywhere I look, I am reminded
Forced to drop illusions and face reality
Responsibilities and obligations
Welcome to the real world

Apparently, we're no longer young
That we can no longer depend on anyone
That we must look upon ourselves
to survive; to do what we must

I wish I knew what the plan was
To be able to live and survive
But its time we step up
step up and make our mark

I hope Im not alone
I hope you're all with me
to take on the horizon
and live like men would live

Wednesday, March 08, 2006

blue and yellow, orange and black, green and white.

March 08, 2006 saw itself as the day where the blue and yellows clashed with the orange and blacks. it was the green and white's student council miting de avance.

As a move by the minority party (the ones in the blue and yellow) to attack and devalue the character of the opposing orange and black presidential candidate (from the majority party), a line of homosexuals affiliated to the blue and yellows stood beside the audience as presidentiable was making his platform speech. One of them even did a floor gymnast routine after the speech was done.

This blogger leaves it to you to discern whether this action was a witty attempt or a futile one to discredit the inevitable victory of their oppenents. For years, the blue and yellows has failed to gain the majority candidacy on the general elections because of their weak specific plans of action, and their primary stigma of being an insubstantial rightist party who focuses more on activities and social events rather than than building itself as a responsible, credible political party that the orange county exudes.

Interestingly, their existence is an anti-thesis of each other, as both of them complementarily represent the university student psyche. The first half is perceived as the free-spirited lasallian, while the latter, is the serious-minded one. However, when it comes to social responsibility/irresponsibility, class consciousness/unconsciousness and sympathy/apathy, lets just say that both of them have their own shares.

Azure/Or, Gules/Sable, however you would like to proudly banner your heraldry, you're all still Argent and Vert. The point isn't really about who's who and who does what, it's about exercising mutual respect. Be as it may that these exhibitions are an indication of a healty and colorul political existence, but there are also plain lines that one simply do not cross, and personal character is the first among these lines. It's a blatant fallacy and you know it. The noble virtue of mutual respect is exercised the whole year round, and not only on public situations.

This blogger assures you that a gesture done on a particular magnitude of an event is possitively correlated to the magnitude of its repercussions as the scandalous nature of this blogger knows better. lol.

Finally, to the remaining green and white students here in this group blog (or whoever else that would be vaguely interested in wasting their time reading this), this blogger strongly urges you to exercise your right to vote and more importantly, to vote wisely.

Hate messages against this blogger's stand are welcomed. But before you do, think of the reason why team B consistenly sweeps the freshmen elections while team A consistently sweeps the general elections. This blogger rests his case.

Wednesday, March 01, 2006

it's just wrong

i think i can make this gig a regular thing lol.

i was checking my mail the other day when i saw this online ad from englicom, the filipino-chinese organization in de la salle (like celadon in admu. its president stresses that its more proper to describe it as the filipino AND chinese organization and i say its adding crap icing to the dung cake). check it out:



its a photo contest project of the said org. ive been scrutinizing the branding, nature of activities, of this particular organization because even though im not a member (i dont want to join), i feel that i (actually we) are all part of it in the sense that we represent the filipino chinese community. lets take a minute of your time to digest this particular project of theirs.

its actually a project that aims to raise social awareness through a photography contest. well the idea sounded good but the way that they packaged it is simply just wrong.

peppering the advertisement with emotively charged words to describe a marginalized social sector is simply inappropriate, if not arrogant. take a particular look at the second sentence. apalling isnt it? whats even worse (or funnier) is that the mechanics of the contest are actually leading. heheh.

now, wouldnt it be nicer and would make more sense if they instead just made a sustainable long-term socio-civic activity than make this one? a quick fix for social responsibility of the filipino chinese community?

tsk tsk. it's just wrong.