First day in Auckland

Okay, as of today, I'm two-thirds done with my Auckland trip. I've met a lot of new people, I've hung out with ladies that are sooo not the type I hang out with and I've met a lot of poker players and made new friends.

Anyway, my first night here was interesting in itself.

The original plan was that Devin was going to pick me up from the airport and take me to the place I'm staying at and then take me to the casino where we'd have a meal before I play. But it turned out to be far from what I'd expect thing to turn out.

When Devin picked me up, he got called to a job at a hospital so I ended up watching him work for two hours. On the way home, Devin's friend Dave drove and on the highway, he might have cut into some dude who ended up chasing us till we found a public place to stop. When we did, the guy got out and started bashing on Dave while me and Dev kept breaking it up. We ended up in a police station giving our statement for about two hours.

Finally, I made my way to the casino and won 300 bucks on my first night.

It wasnt how I envisioned my first night would go.. but it was eventful at the very least.

Bookdrive progress (06/20)

Two weeks ago, Jeco spoke with JCAAA’s head honcho about the bookdrive plans, albeit still vague. The talk went well because Jeco said to me that the alumni association will help in ANY way they can.

So, last week, Wil and I went to Jubilee’s main campus and passed a formal letter addressed to the executive directress asking for an appointment to further discuss the matter.

A secretary from the administrative office called me yesterday to follow up on the letter and asked us for a possible meeting with the executive assistant and the head librarian. Two meetings, two days, for two campuses. Talks about the aim, specifics, and other matters will be discussed.

But as of today, the meetings between the two parties are moved to sometime next week. The secretary will call us again about it.

Until then, let’s keep our hopes up.

Do post your comments and suggestions.

Dia de mierda

We all have shitty days. Michael's was yesterday.

It was a dark and stormy night when he received a message from some bloke named Malou, inviting him to take a company exam the next day. He felt suspicious but acknowledged the message nonetheless (turns out that she was an acquaintance so it's really not that bad). He slept soundly that night, not knowing that the day ahead would be a day of infamy.

-----

Michael's day can be summarized in twelve sweet little lines:

1. He left his house without his hanky on a particularly sunny day,
2. He forgot to drop the kids off the pool before leaving,
3. He nearly fainted while in the MRT,
4. He had to stay in Buendia station for a while for a breather,
5. He wasn’t able to find a loo roll,
6. He had to sacrifice his Transcript of Record envelope
7. He realized that the flush and faucet were broken
8. He left a present for the janitor
9. He finally arrived 15 minutes late
10. He was sweating profusely
11. He shook the interviewer’s hand VERY FIRMLY and then had the naughtiest grin.
12. He walked three kilometers from the establishment to Ayala station afterwards.

Savor the mental images boys and girls. I'll be waiting for your dia de mierdas. >=)

Prelude (3 of 4)

Well, bags are packed. Everything's good to go.

I just finished the last of my exams today and I'm flying out to Auckland tomorrow to see Wikus, Devin and everybody else.

Oh and there's also gonna be poker involved. heh.

Before I dive into that, let's get the coming home thing out of the way.

No, I don't think I'm coming home this June. Sorry. I don't think it's gonna happen. I would like to, but if ever, I'd be using my own money and I'm just not sure it's worth it especially cause everyone's so busy nowadays. Although I'm saying never, that is if I win extremely big in my first week of poker, then I'll take that as a sign that I can come home. Other than that, the next time is pretty much gonna be Merry Xmas.

About the bookdrive, which I hope you guys are still working on, I'm still game to help you guys with whatever you need, although it seems the help I can give from here would be pretty limited. Anyway, good luck with that.

So about this trip, I'm headed to Auckland and I've already booked a place in the city. The goal is to basically to build my bankroll. Along with my trip to Christchurch two months ago and my weekly games here in Wellington, I've built my two year going bankroll to a good amount now and if I get a good month in Auckland, I'm sure to reach my target mark. I don't want to name figures, but it's a good amount so wish me luck on that.

This trip is pretty much poker and being on my own. It's a new feeling to not organize every single minute of the trip and it's very liberating. So if this is the prelude to the next month, then all I'm saying is I am sooo ready for this.

So that's it for me. Keep the blog alive while I'm gone.

Ciao.

The People's Plumber & Socialist Men Under Red Father

Hey paisanos!

Move over GI Joe and Superfriends, your futile propaganda campaign for American nationalism is no match for the people's plumber and the socialist men under red father!

I remembered this internet meme about the mario brothers game being a communist propaganda campaign. Here's the link:
http://www.aethiamud.org/communist_mario/

I did some googling and found another one, this time on the smurfs. This one's quite a hoot lol:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smurf_Communism

The Greatest Villians Ever

Mwahahahahahhahaha!!!! (evil maniacal laughter)

A couple of days ago, I bought the newest issue of Wizard magazine (I like having something to read on the bus on the way home). Anyway, one of the features was the top 100 greatest villians of all time.

Here's the top 5

5. Zombies (dawn of the dead)
4. Dr. Doom (Marvel)
3. Palpatine (Star Wars)
2. Pazuzu (The Exorcist)
1. The Joker (Batman)

Sounds about right, I guess, depending on the person. But what I found a lot more cool were the other villians that made the list. Here were the notables.

72. Tony Montana (Scarface) - Yo need pipol like me!
68. Megatron (Transformers) - he killed Optimus Prime, 68 is an insult
61. Johnny Lawrence (Karate Kid) - Daniel Larusso's enemy in the finals where he did the cheesy crane kick
57. Principal Rooney (Ferris Bueller's day off) - hee!
53. Cobra Commander (G. I. Joe) - has anyone else noticed that no one has died on G. I. Joe?

45. Mr Burns (Simpsons) - 45 is an insult. He should be in the top ten. Excellentttt.
29. T-1000 (Terminator 2) - I remember when I was a kid, we had a driver who looked a LOT like him and I was scared of being in the car alone with him. He got fired when he flipped one of our cars upside down outside La Salle Greenhills and his gun got tossed in the street where a kid found it. Hee!

15. Pennywise (It) - If this list was a list of the things that creep me out the most as a child, the clown in "It" would be number 1. I remember when he was the sewer grate and he grabbed the poor child. Brrrrrr.

14. Freddy Kreuger - on the same creepy list, Freddy would be number 2. When I was 10, I had a dream about him chasing me around a cemetery which is incredibly creepy to think even now cause Freddy kills in dreams.


And that's that.

You haven't heard the last of me, Penelope Pitstop!!!

(that dude wasn't on the list. stupid inaccurate list.)

e-buy

For sale: Brick from Jubilee Wall.*

Have you ever thought to yourself how great it would be if one had a piece of history like let's say, a section of the Berlin Wall, or a slab from the Great Wall of China? Wouldn't that be just dandy? A perfect conversation piece, right?

But I assure you, you would not be able to get one of those even after a hundred years. Might as well wait for fifty and have your own tombstone.

Well here's the next best thing.

Presenting, an authentic red brick taken (stolen) from the facade of Jubilee Christian Academy.

Stolen months ago from the facade along 3rd street and Dona Hemady, the brick measures 6 inches(l) by 3 inches(w) by 2.5 inches(h). It weighs a couple of pounds, no more than two dead chickens. 100% oven baked to achieve the crimson hue, that red bricks are known for. Ideal for cabinet display, and equally useful as a paperweight or as a bludgeoning weapon. Comes without packaging when purchased.

Perfect gift for that die hard Jubilean or to your pesky mother-in-law.

"Yup, it's the real deal alright!" -assures Mang Tony, the magtataho who saw the pilfering.

"100% authentic!" -exclaims Mang Ramon, the fishball vendor at the other corner of the street who also saw the pilfering.

If you call now, we'll even include the authentic dirt and mold from the brick. See the dead little critters from the brick crevices!

So what are you waiting for? Treat yourself to this one of a kind treasure right now!

*Novelty product. Not really for sale.

The City

There is a kingdom whose name cannot be pronounced by our tongue.
To try and describe it would be to describe a combination of an answer to a long mathematical problem, a forgotten macedonian tradition and a momentary yet lingering look two strangers make on a train.

And in this kingdom, there lived a proud prince.
His parents have long past but he could never take his father's crown.
It didnt feel right, he thought, to be worthy of a crown at his young age.

On Mourningday, he visited the lake of hope and found it dry.
He bent over and looked for fishes but he could not find any.
The trees by the lake were purple colored and tasted like the last day of summer.
He sat by the tree and waited, in case an animal would happen by.

After hours of waiting, he grew restless and decided to move on.
He walked on a steel-coated valley that smelled of years past.
Before he or even his parents were even born, the valley was where a great city used to stand.

This magnificent city had streets paved of gold and buildings made of sheer brilliance.
It was a citadel made of generations of accomplishments passed down to create perfection.
The citizens were intelligent and peaceful, creating new ways for which their city could be better.

At the peak of their existence, a group of strangers arrived at their gates.
They were dressed in strange garments and smelled of new fragrances.
They were courteous, of course, yet there seemed to be a hint of willfullness and pride that was evident in their eyes.
The citizens have never seen such a group, but they were a hospitable society and made the strangers welcome.

A month after, there was nothing left of the magnificent city.

A few citizens, who happened to be outside the walls when it crumbled, tried to rebuild the city.
Magnificence, however, could not be duplicated.
The prince's parents found that out.

The prince makes his way back to his throne; in his empty kingdom.
He finished his tasks on Mourningday, he sits silent and content.

He sits waiting.

Bookdrive

My my, this is turning out to be quite a healthy and colorful discussion, no? This post is a compilation of all that's been happening in our yahoo groups. Everything started when Jim wrote this to the groups:

hey! what this? a non-forwarded message??? what is the world coming to???

Remember the days when posting a yahoo groups message was the norm? I might have had beeper 150 too, but I don't remember as much

Anyway anyway anyway, what brings me here is to announce our plans to have a bookdrive.

I know.
I know what you're thinking.

You're thinking "who are you?"

well, i'm jim, your high school batchmate!

Now you're thinking "what the hell do you want, mr someone who hasnt kept in touch with me"

Well, because it has been brought to my attention that jubilee's library has no books (well they have, just not enough to be actually called a library), we decided to have a bookdrive in order to raise books so that our younger brothers can have something to read aside from the old crappy encyclopedias we used to read before.

But before we suggest this fantabulous idea to the jubilee admin office, we felt that its important to get support from you guys first because we want to make it a batch thing.

That's right, we're all batchmates... ahhhh i can see you're all starting to remember now, a minute from now we'll all be singing "thank you, friend"

well, reply one and all and let me knw if this cause is important enough for you guys so i can decide if i want to go home or not (yes, im actually not in the philippines right now).

Or talk to Glenn and Wilson or go to the 13 blog, where laughter and
happiness abound.

if you want to get in touch with me... my email and ym is true_love5484@yahoo.com .... say hello, flirt with me a little if you want..

anyway, thats it for me...

y'all take care... i miss you all

except for you stevenson, i dont miss you at all hee

Chika responded positively, so did Jirbie, although we suspect that her affirmation was about the flirting thing.

Erwin then retorted with this profound statement:

No offense to anyone... but i came to realize the evils of Jubilee...

And posted another one which went:

I realized that what I said a while ago is not Ok... so here is an alternate and in my point of view better and a more helpful and beneficial suggestion to your idea, Jim. :D.

I think that Jubilee has more than enough and they can support themselves IF they WANT to. I think the more worthy to give help to are the public schools. Try going to any public school, look at the poor kids. I think it would be more helpful if we help these people. They are the ones who really need our help. I'm sure they will
appreciate whatever we can give, even old text books and encyclopedia will definitely and surely help them.

What do you think? :D

Mariane also voiced her opinion:

Hey peeps. Bigla ako napareply....

Anyways, as much as I think the earlier suggestion was really cool,
I would have to agree with Erwin that if Jubilee really wanted to upgrade
the library, it could, and that if we would really want to help,
that public schools might have a greater need. Hehehe, just a thought.
Anyways, it's a fabulous idea to do this to help other people :D

And as expected, Jim responded with:

Oh no! my evil plan to corrupt young minds with the gift of better literature has been foiled!

Everyone got surprised when Eug posted his sound arguments (kudos!):

might as well reply hehe...

As much as i like erwin's alternative suggestion..i would want to stick with the
idea of further enhacing JCA's library..for the following reasons:

1.) If we are to start this bookdrive..let's not be too ambitious in trying to start it off on a school that we totally have no influence on..at least sa Jubilee..kahit konti naman cguro meron tayo d b?

2.) It's true that JCA may have the capability to support itself..but having been there we should know that they lack the initiative to do something about the problems of the library..maybe our actions would be something that would appeal to the senses of the admin to do something about its problems

3.) Lastly, a lot of us will be very busy after some time..some because of work..others because of something else..(by the way congrats to those who just graduated last march) so why don't we just spare ourselves a little less time in looking for other school's problems when we have one right in front of us.

That's all for now, take care everyone and God bless

Now comes Necisto's reply. Classy. It went:

better give to unfortunate people. Most of the jubilee people are well of anyways. Come to think of it, how many Jubilee students go there to do research? I'll
just support the poor kids cramping into a small classroom.

Sab followed with an obscure reply:

The Center for Peace Education in Miriam College just posted a message that Students from Patikur, Sulu are in need of reference materials. Well, from my view point, it would really be "better" if we could help public schools instead.
I believe that raising funds for the library of Jubilee is the responsibility of the School and the JCAPA.

Sabb

From Stip:

is stibog a member of this yahoo group? hehe di ata... baka walang
nakaalala mag invite... buti nga si jim naalala nya eh... hehehehe
naalala lang nya... pero d nya naalala iiinvite... hehe or baka
nainvite den... d ko alam.. hehehe

Jim finally got fed up with all the irrational alternatives:

okay, this is just silly now. If you think that public schools need books, no one's disagreeing. if you prefer giving to public schools, then thats fine too.
however y'all are missing this

we're talking about our alma mater. this isnt just a case of choosing whether to give to a middle class kid or to a really poor kid, because in that line of thought, then jubilee would never get anything.. ever. someone will always need more than jubileans will, but that doesnt mean we cant give back to our school. i hear that's what people who graduated there do.

so if you want to do something charitable, then cool, lets do that too.. but what i was saying was to do something for our school... but then again, im not even in the freakin country, so what the hell do i know

I then started to explain our initiatives. I chose not to be too vocal about it first:

Hello.

It’s been a while since I’ve posted something, seeing as being candidly vocal about telling the truth equates to public persecution. Nevertheless…

My friend, my friend, please explain to us the idea behind the necessity of doing this proposed bookdrive project instead for the poor, because a paragraph of word salad wouldn’t be enough of an argument to justify a batch-wide project. Be reminded that we are talking about making a batch project that will be specific, practical, and sustainable.

Providing those deprived kids the learning resources is such a novel idea, I really do think so. I really do. But it’s too broad of a project for the batch to manage. Why not address a need that we could easily reach? So I agree with Eug and Jim. We never really appreciated our library because we never had good books to begin with.

Now what about the thing on responsibility? It’s as much of a responsibility for the school and to the parents association as for concerned alumni. I’m afraid that sounds utilitarian, devoid of human empathy. I wouldn’t just leave jubilee behind after she cared for me for oh so long.

We are consulting the different sectors of the school community, like the students, the teachers, the head honchos, the parents, and of course, us.

-Glenn

And the mother of all replies, and from a business managment savant no less:

"planning is key babe, planning is key..."

Jeco replied, in three parts, taking the matter to the preparation phase:

kunin na muna natin yung mga required books nila, i'm sure people will back this project up if we give them something more specific i.e. quantities, and categories of books that they need. Can somebody over in Manila do this? si Ms. Singan naman madali lang kausapin e. Then we can offer this up to our batchmates and our contacts and just post the list of requirements para may pang-check tayo.

Anson Tan, the alumni association president (for the past X number of years) is here in Canada, kasama ko sa simbahan (WHAT THE FUCK???!!! SI JECO NAGSISIMBA???!!!!) anyway i'll talk to him on Sunday about this para mas legitimate and mas marami tayong maitutulong.

-----

The thing with jubilee now isn't indigenous to our school alone, it's the lack of money and the lack of teachers because of the low salary, they really have bad teachers ngayon hehehe. The whole CE department left including pastor Sia hehehe. Si Paul lang naiwan, that's a sign of something bad na e no? Christian Education teachers leaving a Christian school and society to look for work in Muslim country hehehehe. Religion doesn't pay unless it's coupled with violence hahahaha.

Anyway I do encourage fresh grads to try teaching there kasi kailangan nila ng decent na teachers (ang dali sabihin e no?) When i get back yun yung una kong balak gawin, although governemnt policy disallows part-time teachers, i heard na the case can be altered when it comes to jubilee with a little negotiation (godfather style sana para mas masaya).

-----

sorry ang daming messages na, as for helping the poor, honestly guys, those acts of benevolence might be better if we really could commit to the project, otherwise masasayang lang. If we really "REALLY" want to help then let's warm-up with something we can plan, execute, monitor, and evaluate with ease before we undertake some other altruistic act. So i think the Jubilee thing works well as a good first step. let's get the list muna ng kailangan na books then let's see how we perform, after such then tingnan natin kung kaya ba natin tong gawing sustainable.

So game? we really need somebody to go to jubilee and get an initial needs analysis muna.

Cha followed with her affirmation:

All of us know that the number of times we entered the Jubilee library can be counted with our fingers and for the diligent ones, their toes included... and we CANNOT deny the fact that there IS a scarcity of books in the library due to well, probably the non-need of the high school students to look into books since well, there was the internet to turn to every time we cram our research papers...

But 4 years in college has taught me (all of us, i must assume) that the need to look into books as references for papers and projects just so the professor can take it as legitimate... A book drive for jubilee could actually be beneficial as even if the new building boasts of new facilities like speech labs and science labs (that they actually use) the library oh, the educational resource center pala... remains small and bare. I agree that the people in our school don't read much but this book drive might give the students a push towards the right direction. Going to college before discovering that libraries really exist isn't something that we can be proud of.. so why don't we start helping them now? by providing the students with more books and more options for their readings, we might actually grow a number of readers...

The project within jubilee may seems small and irrelevant after all, as some may say and point out, the JCAPA has the money and the means to expand it. The problem here is that it's not their priority. And we might as well make it ours...

For the alternative suggestion that we should just do the book drive for a public school, its not a bad idea. But I agree with the people who say that this is something quite large and for the meantime unmanageable for us. Let's take a look at it this way, if we donate our books to them, we cannot even make sure if the people actually have the capacity to read and make use of the things that we are going to donate. Not to go against the public school system, but there are a lot of students there who do not know how to read even if they are in high school, the books then we are going to donate will simply go to waste...

Maybe someday, if we have more means we can create a learn-to-read program for them instead of just giving them books in the hope that they might learn to read and get a job at the nearby call center...

-Cha-

Also Karaine:

hey..!! nabuhay si karaine! heheeh;p

anywys. it has come to my senses..i have been out of our batch's circle for a million years now.. haha;p

nice to hear from all of you.. and replying to jim's suggestion..! its a brilliant idea! it really is.. well, i have noticed that problem when i visited jubilee for the past few years na umuuwi ako sa christmas time.. the library is just bare(haha! yes, i went into the library when i visited!).. well, it needed some books.. really.. so i think what you guys are planning is excellent.. as much as i want to help, im overseas.. but maybe i can.. and id be happy to!

kayalang, food for thought, medyo broad nga ung project na to! and i think its not so much the idea of having more books in the library..its actually getting the students used to the fact that research is needed in doing assignments and referencing and stuff.. (unlike how i did it before.. literally print stuff from online encyclopedias..!!) so we hav to not only donate books but kind of hav to work with teachers in the school.. i mean, this may also improve skills of students specially in english and all.. coz i got news.. legit source.. that jubilee had a high
percentage of first year ateneo students not passing the college english level..

thats my thought..hehe;p update me on whats happening.. miss you all!!! looking forward to reunion!heheh

karaine

As of post time, the last thread ended with Wil's summary:

Well said Charissa. When Glenn and I first thought of doing something for the library after visiting Jubilee (the Dona Hemady branch), we never saw it as a charity case. As much as I would like to help the needy, its also about time that put our acts together and do something for our school (This coming from somebody who has a
massive messianic complex). Thats when we talked to the other members of the 13 about it namely Jimson, Jeco and Eugene. We saw it as an opportunity to correct a deficiency in our alma mater's system, not as something to just plainly do while bored and get as many books as we can and dump it to jubilee. Ginawa naman natin basurahan ang jubilee kapag ganon. Also, its so pathetic for us to do nothing to
correct a deficiency, especially now that we have the power and resources to actually do it.

While many of you showed doubts on to why jubilee can't produce a better educational resource center (doubts aren't necessarily a bad thing though), how many of us know the real score about Jubilee's finances? Or better yet, how many of us know how much Jubilee's tuition is this coming school year without asking your shobe/shoti/mommy that are still connected to Jubilee? I'm sure Dr. Coyukiat and Ms. Singian aren't blind to the situation of the library. There must be a reason.

Now many of you also ask, why the library? As said earlier by Glenn, Jeco and Cha, its a feasible idea. Plain and simple. Better than suggestions from other people that we interact with jubilee kids. Also, as all of you may know now, learning doesn't stop in the four corners of our classroom. There's a wealth of knowledge hidden
beyond classrooom discussions and textbook reading. This is what a good library can afford to its visitors. It is also our dream that this be the start of a culture of reading and critical scholarship amongst our young brothers and sisters in jubilee. Only a fool would deny children the opportunity to read a good book. We are inviting
you to be part of this dream.

Isn't it also a great idea that the first thing the batch did after getting their degrees from reputable universities is to create a bookdrive? How many batches can claim they did that for their alma mater? Btw, it would make a perfect gift for Jubilee since it is her 40th birthday. Now that is a good plan, "babe" heeeeheee.

They walked these hallowed halls

Wil and I decided to revisit Jubilee today after my unproductive morning of waiting incessantly for nothing in Fully Booked, Gateway. So much for manipulative serendipity. =(

As we arrived, we noticed that security got tighter. We had to have a purpose of visiting just to enter the campus, so we told the officer in charge (whatever happened to Georgette?) that we came to see Mrs. Yan. The OIC however directed us to Mrs. De Guzman. WTF.

Anyway, we took the opportunity to chat with the teachers and the staff. Some, we looked forward talking to, and some, ummm.. let’s just say that we enjoyed the company nonetheless.

Mrs. Raymundo, our grade one Filipino teacher, now holds an executive position. I reminded her of the time when she used to punish me every day at lunch by letting me squat. This wasn’t an exaggeration.

Ms. Ordinario, whom Jim, Dodong and I met again in February, is still the same. Again I teased her about wanting to teach Statistics (she taught us Geometry and Stat in our sophomore and junior year), and Wilson reminded her that “didn’t Jasper Lim used to have a massive crush on you?”. Nice retort.

I miss Mrs. Solinap. You remember her. She’s our petite and perky AP teacher who used to carry her maiden name Pajarito before she got married. I can fondly remember the time when I used an itty bitty notepad as the notebook for her subject just to spite her. I later went home that day with a sore right ear. By the way, did you know that Pajarita in Spanish means little bird?

Heh. Moving on, we also got to chat with Mrs. Sofia Chua (Lin Lao Shi). She’s thinking about stopping teaching in two years because her daughter’s nearing highschool.

Mrs. Nancy Clemena also passed by, and we got to chat with her too

Oh, you may think that it’s a picturesque moment, no? Yes, but not quite. When everyone in the room realized that I was a Psychology graduate, I suddenly became the darling of the discussion as they were desperately looking for a school guidance counselor pala. Damnit.

As if the moment was not awkward enough, Mrs. Sally Coyukiat (our Executive Directress, the head honcho for you non-Jubileans reading this) peeped in the office and joined the discussion. Everyone then told her that I was a Psychology major and she candidly persuaded me to apply too.

…!#$ Save me Mrs. Yan!

Mrs. De Guzman and pretty much everyone else didn’t allow us to explore the campus at first (apparently because of security issues), but have they forgotten that we were the golden batch? That we were the LAW? So when Mrs. Coyukiat came into the administrative office and personally suggested that we should take a look around the campus, I wasn’t able to hide my smirk. We then explored the campus like little boys in a toy store.

I felt like I was back in time. Back in the time where we had healthy class section rivalries, where Pollux would dominate the freshmen year, Hibiscus in the sophomore year (however they cheated to win so the prestige really belongs to Mimosa), Nickel for the junior year, and Galileo for our senior year, with Pascal trailing not far behind.

Who could forget those inspiring teachers? I’m sure everyone could still remember the science mantras that the late Mrs. Ramos taught to us.

Not a lot of people know this, but Wilson and I have a deep respect for the late Donia Gonzales. Not many of you know her. She was a secretary. We used to chat with her whenever we needed documents to Xerox, and connived with her everytime I was late to arrive in school.

Jubilee also had its share of uninspiring teachers.

Enter Mr. Ramos. Our third year math teacher who only cared about Friday madness and the first row of students.

Wil, Stip, Lea, Bev and I were seated at the very back at that time and we got so pissed by his selective attention. We then tried this one experiment where we’d raise our hands for the remainder of the class and point our bad fingers at him just to see if he would notice us. He didn’t. He was too busy letting Stibog kiss his scrawny ass.

Finally, who could ever forget the puppy loves? The crushes, the heartaches, the sexual tensions in a love triangle, and your eye sparkling moments? C’mon, we all had at least one.

We then found Mrs.Yan and got to chat with her. She’s still the same Mrs. Yan that I know, still witty, still articulate, still my idol. =)

Wil and I also snuck around the closed chapel and its cloisters. The renovations that they made to the chapel are breathtaking.

But what got our attention was the deteriorating state of our library. The Charlie Brown kiddie encyclopedias that we used as references, circa early nineties were still there! Not to mention the complete 1992 edition of Collier’s Encyclopedia. Numerous other TEXTBOOKS were on the shelves.

We never appreciated the library because we never had good books to begin with. Wouldn't it be nice if we'd initiate a batch-wide bookdrive to address the problem? So much for our JCA Parents Association and for our JCA Alumni Association.

So much has changed since we graduated highschool four years ago. Some teachers moved on, some passed on. Some structures were raised, some razed. But even after all the changes, one thing still remains and still remains true, that our roots belong to jubilee.

Always remember that every red colored grade, every SDR record, every peck on the cheek, and every moment of joy that we experienced in highschool is a mark. It will whisper and we will then hear the laughs that we had in our memories. We will remember that, at the end of our every endeavor is a celebration of our making. Our roots.

I personally consider my little visit today as a little gift for myself, to remind me of living.

Shakey's v-league scandal

Yesterday, Glenn and I went to watch the semifinal game of the Shakey's v-league tournament between DLSU and San Sebastian College at the Blue Eagle Gym. The game was an instant classic as the efforts of both teams brought out the best in them. `Baste won the first two sets but the proud archers wouldn't give up on their perfect season without a fight and later rallied to win three straight sets to win the game.

But between the game itself and the crowd, we observed that there's something about volleyball that keeps its crowd into coexisting. Maybe its the sportsmanship and team play being displayed by the volleybelles on the court, but seriously, when have you seen a crowd fight over a volleyball game?

Glenn and I made sure that culture would change. What fun would volleyball be without violence anyway?

With nothing good to do, we kept on cheering (yes me included) for the good ol' green and white when we chanced upon one of those die-hard gay fags (yes the annoying ones that makes my blood boil). Such boorish behavior didn't go unnoticed and between some trash-talking and middle-finger flashing between I and that fag-ass, he started to point and provoke us whenever `Baste scored a point. That fag ass also started to point and shout profanities at the DLSU volleybelles.

Glenn and I thought we were greatly outnumbered by Baste fans because of the hot air `Baste fans have been shouting. But in a moment of unity between an Atenean and hordes of LaSallian, other DLSU fans were encouraged by our trash-talking and would later make sure that fag ass would be made fun of every time DLSU scored a point. Dozens of Lasallians, including us of course, pointed their fingers at the fag-ass and screamed the worst curse words the toddlers watching along with their parents must have ever heard. Scores of children instantly losing their innocence over a senseless game. It was then at that point that a moment of epiphany struck to me. I told Glenn "Di ba turo sa atin ni Miranda bawal magturo sa tao? Kasi tatlong daliri ang tuturo pabalik sa iyo?" By the way, the one in the white t-shirt at my back is the subject of our ridicule now.

Anyway, what would turn out to be the true highlight of the game itself happened in the fourth set when a DLSU fan lost his cool and started a fight with him. Glenn managed to capture a video shot of that incident (You can download the only clip of this fight here). People later clapped, not towards the DLSU players who have by then rallied and tied the game two sets a piece, but to the guy who was able to land a straight haymaker towards the jaw of that big mouth.

Afterwards, when it was almost clear that DLSU was going to win the game, the fag ass ran for his life probably towards some godforsaken sanctuary where the likes of him are tolerated. He was never seen again in the premises of the Ateneo on that night. Glenn asked his contacts about any information leading towards the identity of that fag and here's what he found out:

1.) He's from Adamson and the only reason why he's cheering for `Baste is because DLSU beat Adamson the last time around. Heehee.

2.) He once had a fight with Kris Aquino in a PBA game while James Yap was playing.

3.) Those in Adamson are ashamed to have him as their schoolmate.

I'm looking forward to the next Adamson game and see if he's still going to be there heeeheee. Sayang mga iba di nakasama haha. Sulit ang trenta pesos sobrang nakakatuwa nangyari kapag nandoon kayo.

xxx

Since I'm writing now, might as well throw in my congratulations to Choi who has a girlfriend now. Hehehee.

la Fee Verte

My my. To think that all this time, we have been consuming our holy grail improperly. For shame, for shame.

I found a couple of articles on the net on the proper way of serving the drink ("So that's why a friend of mine was shocked when I told her that we were consuming it straight off"). Anyway, let's give the 'ol 89.9%(179.8 proof!) a touch of class and a sense of appreciation the next time we give it a go, okay?

How to Serve Absinthe (Some parts taken from absinthex.com):

There are two popular methods for serving absinthe, both require the use of an absinthe spoon (a large spoon with open slots in it, allowing liquid to pass through), ...although a large fork can work just as well.

Method One: Louching

Step 1: Pour a measure of absinthe into a tall vessel (heheh vander).
Step 2: Place a slotted absinthe spoon (or fork) over the glass and place a sugar cube on it (the lozenge-shaped French cubes work best).
Step 3: Slowly pour 4 to 5 parts of iced water over the sugar and let it drip into the glass. The absinthe will turn from emerald green to a milky white.
Step 4: Sip slowly and imagine yourself in a Belle Epoque Parisian cafe.

Method Two: Flame method

Step 1: Take a reasonably sized spoonful of sugar, or sugar cube and briefly dunk it in your glass of absinthe.
Step 2: Light absinthe laced sugar on fire and hold over glass, the burning alcohol will melt the sugar into the glass.
Step 3: When the fire gets low, stir the remaining sugar into the absinthe and drink.
Step 4: Enjoy!

Korsakoff's Syndrome and liver cirrhosis, here we come!