Thursday, September 30, 2004

I rewrote the short story, "Torn". Just a few changes, and added an alternate ending. Tell me which ending you prefer. The epilogue is the alternate ending. :)

.:Happy:.

I'm rather pleased as punch over how today turned out. I realize I've been rather busy and all throughout the day, but all of that was fairly worth it simply because of what happened...

.:Boardwork:.

Nothing like doing Waveback Wednesday on my own. I love the feeling of having free rein over the songs, as it simply left me in charge of playing songs I've been dying to hear, such as “Better Days” and “In My Life”. Other stuff I played were really great for the most part, and I even managed to play out some requests...

While I was on air, Dominique and I were chatting, and at one point, he requested for “You Can't Hurry Love” by Phil Collins. While I love the song, not only was the song not on our playlist, but it didn't seem like the perfect song to segue after playing “Someone To Watch Over Me”, as that was the only time I could put out the song he wanted to hear... heh. They really don't go together as a song sweep, I guess.

Stef, an avid WAVE listener, even called me up and gave me her greetings. At the same time, she really made my day by telling me how much she loved my tandem with Robi and all. I guess I haven't been doing so bad as of late, after all. Nonetheless, it was all good.

.:More Lovely Messages:.

Yes, these are the two people I know who look alike...

I can't believe that it's possible to make friends with someone during the last weeks of school. But by some twist of fate, it happened to us. Like there was one last chance for the two of us to become a part of each other's lives, and I'm thankful you took that chance with me. Happy birthday, Marcelle!

– Rowena


Thank you very much for that wonderful thought. I myself find it a genuine surprise that we managed to be such good friends, given how little time we had left. I guess some things were just meant to be, regardless of circumstances. Thank you very much all the same for having been such a great friend, Rowena. =)

Hi, Marcelle! :)

Happy, happy birthday! :)

I am still going to send you a belated birthday card but I would also like to greet you just in time for
your birthday. Thank God for emails indeed!

Anyway, birthdays are a best time to affirm special people like you. Since you became my student, I have
always marvelled at the keen sense of insight you have on looking at life and its many challenges and
surprises. I know that you have underwent many of these in your life. Yet, you have always managed to
deal with it and move on with life. I admire your maturity and resilience. Lastly, I also appreciate how
you try to take care of your relationships. I find it touching that you would keep in touch and update me
with your life after all these years. Thank you for being you, Marcelle.

I wish you a very fun and memorable birthday.

Take care and God bless you always.

Love,
Ma’am Sining :)


Hi, Ma'am! Thank you very much for taking the time out to greet me all the way from Switzerland. I hope you're having fun there, and the married life has been good to you so far. I sincerely appreciate still being able to keep in touch with you. You've been one of the teachers I've had who really played an important part in getting me to where I am now.

This has been such a memorable time...

.:Unexpected:.

After coming from Neutral Grounds, I eventually went home and managed to talk to April for a while. What started off as an invite to my birthday celebration ended up being a time where we talked about pluralism and religion. It was a really wonderful conversation to say the least, and it gave the both of us great insights into one another's respective points of view...

.:Torn:.
A Short Story by Marcelle T. Fabie

”Martin? You there?”

I woke up in the middle of the night, only to hear an all-too-familiar voice on the end of the other line. It was Geneva. The tone in her voice sounded rather different this time, though. Something was up, and I willed myself to stop being groggy.

”Yes, Geneva. Why?”

Hesitation from her end. I can tell Geneva was choosing her words carefully. Something was definitely amiss here, and I felt more and more alarmed.

”I think it'd be best if we talked about this face to face. Swing by my house in about an hour's time...”

”At this time? At your place? You realize how hard it is to commute to your house, don't you?”

”So take a taxi. Please. I'd really appreciate this. I have some roast Peking duck in the microwave to make it worth your while.”

”Fine. You win. I'll be there.”

I quickly freshened up and got changed. I got out of my house and took a cab all the way to her house in Cavite. Good heavens. Cavite. Here I was, sleeping soundly in my house in San Juan, and I'm headed to Cavite in the middle of the ruddy night. This had better be good, considering how underslept I've been for the past couple of weeks.

Then again, Geneva is my best friend. I don't think I could stay mad at her for long even if this turned out to be another one of those trivial “emergencies” of hers.

As expected, it took me over an hour to get to her place. I paid the cabbie, then knocked at her door. She promptly opened the door and then hugged me tightly. I sensed that she was very distraught.

”There, there, Geneva,” I said, as I cautiously patted her on the head, and began to feel teardrops on my shoulder. This seemed rather serious. “What's wrong?”

”It's Paul. He... he... broke up with me.”

It took me a moment or two before the news sank in. Paul is also a close friend of mine. I never even knew they were together to begin with. However, I realized now wasn't the time to confront her about her neglecting to tell me about this, so I decided to stay silent and let her do the talking. She was still hugging me, and I was still patting her head gently. I prodded her to continue.

”I'm sorry. I know I never told you. But I just thought you might be hurt, because...”

”Say no more. I understand. Just tell me what happened.”

”I-I didn't want to migrate with him to Germany. I just didn't want to.”

Geneva was trying to regain her composure, although she was still sniffling uncontrollably. Her attempts to stifle her tears were rather futile. Nonetheless, I then held her by her shoulders and looked at her. Her pretty face, marred by swollen eyes that have been crying for hours on end. She tried to force a smile, but she could hardly muster one at this point. A curious mixture of commiseration and hope came over me. I ignored this feeling, and focused my attention on her again.

”I don't blame you, Geneva. I understand how much your career means to you.”

I've known Geneva for years. She's a devoted career woman, who refuses to let anything, and I mean anything, get in the way. I've managed to precariously be her best friend for the past couple of years simply because I understood and respected that. She knew I was the last person to push her to do otherwise. That much, we had in common. I was pretty much as headstrong as she was for the most part.

”Breakups aren't that bad, Geneva. For all we know, he'd be running back to you by tomorrow, begging to be taken back. I know Paul. He loves you so much.”

”He's gone, Martin. Paul left for Germany just this morning.”

”What?

I was stunned. There was a sense of finality to the whole thing. Paul put Geneva on the spot with this one, and I can't help but feel that both of them are going to get really hurt with this. It's not like I can just call up Paul and try to change his mind about this. He's pushed through with going to Germany already.

Geneva began to get teary-eyed again. I led her to the couch and let her sit down, as I moved beside her. I tried to calm her, but she was already inconsolable.

I can't stand to see her cry.

It just wrenched at me that I was powerless to do anything about it. She loves Paul. That much was rather clear. I realized that they were bound to be together the moment I was with them in the Chinese restaurant. The way they held hands with one another that night told me all I needed to know. I knew it was wrong for me to have felt the way I felt about it at the time, but I couldn't have helped it.

”I don't know if I should just swallow my pride and follow him there... You know I... never felt this way about anyone before...”

I looked at her, alarmed at the rash proposition. ”Are you sure?”

”Y-yes. No. I-I don't know.”

”I figured as much.”

I've never seen Geneva seem this confused. It felt as though she had no idea what to do with her emotions. After all, Paul was the first person she ever got into a relationship with. Now, it's over, and the decision she had to make to get him back was anything but simple. I know Paul. It's not that he doesn't love Geneva, either. It's simply that Germany was always a dream for him. It was clearly a clash of egos, and the way I saw it, this would be a stalemate until the moment one of them buckled.

”You want me to talk to him? I can e-mail him or something.”

”No. You don't have to.”

It's really hard being close friends with the both of them. I can't think of two other people who were more adamant about what they wanted than they were.

She looked at me as I handed her a tissue to wipe her tears away. I realized that beneath the seemingly fragile exterior, Geneva was as tough as nails. Here she was, madly in love with Paul, and yet she still refused to let go of her career for him. I wished I knew how to make her feel better at this point, but it was really up to her how she wants to go about this...

”I'm sorry to hear all this.”

”I'm just grateful you're here, Martin..”

”I just wish I could do something...”

”Your presence is all I need. Thanks, Martin. I knew I could always count on you.”

Of course you could always count on me! Of course I'll always be there for you! As if there was any need to doubt that. It's clear as day that I...

... My thoughts get interrupted as she hugs me tightly again. Taken by surprise, I got knocked down on the couch, and she ended up rather close to me. Rather dangerously close to me...

She closed her eyes and I closed mine. We were coming even closer together. I felt her warm, sweet breath as our lips came closer and closer. I've been longing for this moment for years. I felt an intoxicating rush wash over me...

I pulled away at the last moment.

”I'm sorry, Geneva. I can't do this.”

”No. I'm sorry,” she begins. She starts speaking rapidly, in an attempt to save face. ”We're not supposed to be doing this. We're just best friends, right? No more than that. I don't love you, you don't love me, and...”

”I do, Geneva. I love you. With all my heart. That's precisely why this is not right.”

”I don't understand...”

”I wish I did.”

Geneva is my best friend. Nothing more.

Epilogue:

”Don't go, Martin. You can stay. The guest room is ready.”

Was hoping Martin would stay. But it seemed he had other plans.

”I'm sorry, Geneva. I really don't think I should be staying right now.”

Noticed his furtive glances at the picture frame by the table. Seemed odd. Made me feel rather uneasy. Maybe he knew? Few people knew me better than he did, after all.

Martin then left the door without saying another word. No farewell. No goodbye hug. I guess I felt rather guilty about what happened, but I did what I had to do.

Soon enough, I heard footsteps coming down from the stairs. He was back.

”Hello there, dearie. How did it go?”

”I don't think you have to worry about Martin one bit. He really is just my best friend. You were wrong when you said he was head over heels in love with me...”

Still felt a bit guilty while Paul looked at me smilingly. Had no idea what to do next. This whole ruse is eating at me. Can't believe I'm thinking about Martin this much. Never really happened before.

”I know you feel a bit... disturbed... by all this. Despite that, I really think this was all for the best. The last thing we need is to have Martin become like just another one of those guys who likes you. I know it seems harsh of me, but Martin's still my friend. I think this proves why he's your best friend, all the same.”

I nod silently at Paul. This whole thing just felt wrong, but way he put it made me realize he really meant well. Finally managed to smile. Paul moves closer.

”Now... where was I before Martin got here? Oh, right...”

Paul moves even closer. He leans in for a kiss. Guilt evaporates in an instant.

Wednesday, September 29, 2004

.:The Plan, Man, Part II:.

Oh, look! It seems to me that we're going to have Videoke this Saturday! :D Thank you very much, Kathy!

.:Last Night:.

I hitched with my mom back home after Heidegger class, as she'd rather fetch me from school than let me sleep over at my aunt's house, considering how beeyatchy my aunt can get about stuff like that. While on our way home, she was telling me how my rapport with George has improved and how funny it was when George was complimenting my new hairstyle, and then how she pointed out that I was blushing... oh, well. Heh. Funny stuff, really.

.:I Wasn't Supposed To Be Explicit, But...:.

Some people just really made my day... I'm really happy about it...

First person to greet me, I believe, was Isis. It was late in the evening, but i got it in the morning. I was pretty appreciative of it. A few other people also greeted me, Abby for one, telling me that now, I've already debuted. There were a couple of other interesting ones, all the same. Emily, Chiyo, Andrea, April, Peppy, and Daph also greeted, and of course, my dear dear Grace greeted me with a very heartfelt message that's a bit embarrassing to divulge in public (Too many compliments for my own good.)... She also sponsored my haircut, by the way.

happy birthday JABRONI! :D
the chinese marry young,
and you are old :P
j/k bwehehehehe :)

- John


No, not John, Ching's husband. Just plain John. And no, I'm not going to take Peppy's advice and invite Ching to Saturday by asking her husband, THEN telling John he's not invited. :D

Still, I really liked this message. It was pretty funny...

But then, I'm fairly grateful for a couple of others...

Is it your bday, Kel? Hapi bday! Dat makes u a Libran. Juz lyk me. I bet u didnt knw dis... I'm actually the one who christened u as d mushroom... The here, there, and everywhere guy! I do wish you a show on your own. More power to you. You'll be the next Joe The Mango, I bet. Have a nice day!

- Gracie


Nope, not Grace, but someone named Gracie. I appreciated that one... I do remember it was her who called me "Kel the Mushroom" first, though...

Finally... as a backgrounder, here's what I sent to her...

GMail's conking out on me, but I just wanted to ask you to permit me to call you my best friend, even if just for today. Just wanted to thank you for the wonderful memories we shared, and I'm so glad that you and I have come a long way as friends.

Thank you very much for being the best friend I never had.


Her reply:

Hiya, Marcelle!

Sure. *grin* Who can deny that kind of request?

I've learned a lot from you, too, and I'm glad you practically
insisted on becoming friends.

I hope I give you more occasions to think of me as your best friend
(or pretty high up there, in any case) in the future. ;)

- Sacha


Fairly happy day, really. Was hoping for a movie date or something with Grace, or even the spinning company, but nothing worth watching (Especially since Dom won't watch Feng Shui again.) means I'll wait for the Punisher instead... :)
.:The Plan, Man:.

For those who have received invites, the meeting place will be around four thirty at Powerbooks in Megamall. Please be there on time, because contingency plans have to be made in the event that Kathy Chua won't be around to provide the fire spinning and the videoke mic...

And Jason, you can breathe easy now. JayBee won't be going, but I set up a time to just hang out with her... that ought to be interesting, to say the least... ;)

.:The Uncanniness:.

So there I was, doing my boardwork with George. She found my commentary on Britney Spear's marriage as a publicity stunt rather cynical, and then she proceeded to wonder on the air if the state of my lovelife contributed to my cynical notions about the whole thing.

My rapport with George lately has been nothing short of smooth. We manage to catch each other now, and we make our bloopers look good, like the one where I introduced her as myself, and then we go about discussing varied topics, whether politics or entertainment, and I have some zingers here and there (Kevin Costner has a lake in is property? Man, not bad for a bodyguard!)...

Anyways, one of my frequent listeners felt that my rapport with George is far better than with Robi, but I guess all it really takes to change that is time...

When I finished my boardwork and already left for class, I ran into sir Chito Barreiro and ma'am Divine, president and station manager of RX, respectively. What made this development quite amusing was the fact that moments after turning around after exchanging greetings with them, sir Joe D. Mango was on his way up to WAVE, and I ran into him, all the same. Needless to say, those consecutive run-ins felt surreal... but amusing, nonetheless.

.:Classroom Funnies:.

Camillo and I pay less and less attention to Dr. Ibana's class and pay more and more attention to talking about varied stuff. The hilarious thing is how Camillo started talking about how much he values his puri, but he'd willingly cede it to Jericho Rosales, or someone who can approximate him sufficiently, especially body-wise. The guy then proceeded to ramble on about his sad realization that he'd end up being a gay virgin, and how he feels a strong annoyance towards certain people who pretend to be bisexual when they're actually just gay, plain and simple. Talk about vicious commentary... heh.

Anyways, what turned out to be amusing after Heidegger class, though, was how Ray and I noticed the new billboard for Hang Ten still featured the same schmuck, only this time, wearing a wig. We had a fun time talking about that, as Ray and I then proceeded to tear down the reasons he could've had for doing what he did, and DeeJi, another classmate of mine, was “educated” on reflective thinking when we started meditatively picking apart the Hang Ten billboards.

Ray suggested that we don't shave in certain areas, take off our clothes, and then put up a billboard ourselves. I'll pass on that. Still, that billboard may be a bit more tolerable, but it's still an eyesore. It's like being asked whether you wanted to die by being beheaded (Hopefully with an axe, and not a kris. It's a beeyatch to have your head sawed off and not cut off...) or being stabbed to death by a freaking spoon. Imagine dying of internal bleeding due to spoon stabs... I think I'd rather have the swift beheading, which is what we all get from the new billboard...

I wonder how he sleeps at night when he drives past here and sees himself like that...

Maybe he's now a La Sallite and this is his “eff you” gift to all of us. But look at his pose. It looks religious, see? His hands are clasped together.

Yeah, but his pants are still undone.

I guess his prayers got answered?

Gawd, I wish these guys who make these billboards end up having one land on them and squash them...

I'm sorry. I know I'm being brutal with the lashing out today...

.:It Figures:.

Hey! You’re invited to k8 Mendez’ *SURPRISE* despedida party on OCTOBER 2, SATURDAY, 7 pm at her place. Hope you can make it ‘coz k8’s gonna be away 4 a VERY LONG time. Food/booze contributions are more than welcome. Txt 2 confirm and also send ur email address 4 d sketch. Cya! – SJ

Figures that the fates would conspire this way and leave me incapable of going to this celebration, as I have my own to worry about…

It figures, really. My luck has always been the case that something would ALWAYS turn up near my occasion. Never fails. Whether I make enemies with someone, or someone has a celebration I’d almost want to attend over mine, something just happens.

I’ll blog later. This threw me off the loop.

Tuesday, September 28, 2004

.:Yay:.

Managed to invite quite a few people to my celebration on Saturday lately... among them would be JayBee Jariol from DWLS (Too bad Jason can't go... I'll see about the pics, though...), and an old friend from my Dr. Barbazza Philosophy 103 class, Emily Fenix. Most of the others are usual suspects I've either invited before, or hang around enough with lately to assume I'd be inviting them. Too bad Tsumenki can't go, though... oh, well.

I figured an alternate ending for the short story I wrote yesterday (“Torn”.) would be interesting to do. I figure I can do that tomorrow, or maybe even later than that. Fact is, the ending is a make or break thing. You might hate this alternate ending or simply like it. I don't think it's meant to be anything special, though. Just a cynical and antagonistic way of looking at the story otherwise.

If you're lost in the back story I conveniently left out in “Torn”, feel free to look up the triple Flash Fiction I wrote some time ago entitled “Three's A Crowd, Two's Company, One's Misery”. Those characters in there are the same characters in “Torn”, which explains why I fully intend to make an alternate ending to this story by way of an epilogue. Should be interesting, to say the least.

.:The Reason:.

I recently discovered that the main reason I was having problems with my Magic deck was that aside from the mis-synergy of my cards (I recognized that from the moment I put the deck together.), I simply had too few lands. Apparently, 22-26 lands in the Type I environment is a must, and you ought to have at least two or three Wastelands in your deck if you want to deal with your opponents decently enough. Oh, well. I should keep that fact in mind, and start looking for a set of Wastelands...

Hopefully, I'd be able to improve the deck by the time we get down to it.

.:Boardwork:.

I've been busy with boardwork lately, and it was pretty funny how “Kel the Mushroom” really tends to get catchy nowadays. I guess it'd really work for the most part. Robi and I have been doing well as a tandem, all the same. I think we have a pretty good chemistry going.

.:Thank You!:.

In advance, I'd like to thank all the people who would actually take the time out to write me letters to recoup the memories that got ::sobs:: deleted when my cellphone got its memory corrupted and lost all my text messages. Sentimental sap that I am, these (preferably) handwritten letters would hopefully make up for all those wonderful text messages I've had for over the past year or so.

I'd also like to extend my gratitude to Abby for the interesting exchange of future plans we had last night. It's been a rarity for me to speak to you nowadays, so you just know how much I appreciate all that. My wholehearted thanks to you.

.:Plans:.

Methinks I'd need to sleep over at my aunt's house this evening. I'm exhausted as Hades, and going there instead of taking the long way home after class would surely be such a boon to me... oh, well. May as well go for it.

Lots of other things to plan for all the same. For those who don't realize it, the “Vindication” series is actually a symbolic story. Notice how Benoit is trying to hold two titles at the same time in the story (Although the stipulation clearly prevents him from doing so...), and how this whole situation would end up... I'd have to point out that I really am putting a lot of stock into the symbolic value of the story, more than anything else about it... you just have to be sharp enough to take note of it.

.:Borderline Flaming:.

Sometimes, I tend to be a wee bit too brutally candid with my statements. I guess this would be one of those times when I owe an apology, but then, you have to admit, the statement was somewhat witty on its own...

In the “What Makes You Laugh?” thread:

Nothing...

Now, a one-word post like that deserves to be reminded that it's not in compliance with the rules. My way of putting it was a wee bit too... intense, but I think the point was made painfully clear...

Nothing? Well, then stop posting here. Quit being a post whore.

TRP

I find it funny how some people tend to forget that these boards are not spamming grounds for them...


My bad. I was being rather tactless, but I couldn't resist at that point. I'll try my best to not let it happen again...

.:Will You Remember?:.

Then again, some of you probably won't. Doesn't matter. It's not like my s**** count would drop if you didn't.

Monday, September 27, 2004

.:Stuffed:.

So there I was, trying my best to accomplish a lot of my work (Sans the Heidegger report. I don't know when I can do that.), and all of a sudden, when I finished with all my stuff, I ended up watching a whole bunch of Type II games in Magic. There's this nice girl who apparently also plays Magic, though I still have no idea what her name is... heh. In any case, I ended up going to Megamall afterwards for the Sbarro's dinner.

On my way there, I ran into Natz, my Chinese Philosophy classmate last summer. The interesting thing is that she and her friend were rather uninitiated to taking the LRT and MRT, so they ended up asking me for help to get them there in one piece. I happily obliged, and our conversation along the way turned out to be rather interesting. She knows Mr. Bulaong and Sacha, for instance, and moreover, she told me that a certain Rhea Go is already taken. Heh.

It was nice running into her again, really. We had a lot of nice things to talk about, and I was immensely happy about the whole experience of taking two uninitiated commuters to Megamall via MRT and LRT all the way from Ateneo...

Afterwards, it was dinner at Sbarro's. Needless to say, that was a mouthful.

.:Saturday Mayhem:.

For the most part, Saturday was a relatively quiet day. I was just trying to get some reading out of the way, and I was simply swamped with Heidegger work. Heh. In any case, I finally managed to finish my backlog to some extent, then I headed out to Megamall to meet up with Grace, as we wanted to go and shop in Mossimo, since my gift certificates were already about to expire...

It didn't take long afterwards, and we just went searching for a good set of clothes. I was mostly amused with our picks, although we really found a good shirt there...

Afterwards, I then went to Greenhills, where we were hoping for a tournament to finally push through. Despite that, the tourney ended up getting cancelled again, so now I have to ensure that I finish a letter to Comic Images about supplying Neutral Grounds with RAW Deal soon enough. Grace and I were really just spending a quiet Saturday at that point... nothing much else was happening.

.:Vindication:.

Chris Benoit stands in the ring as the Undertaker makes his way to the arena. The live crowd is on their feet for the Dead Man. Tazz and Michael Cole sing the praces of TRL for setting up an amazing match to start off the tournament for the vacant Smackdown World Title. The bell rings after the Undertaker's entrance, and the two superstars stare each other down.

Cole: This is a promising match tonight on Smackdown! Undertaker versus Chris Benoit!

Tazz: Promising is an understatement, Cole. And we have a lockup to start the match!

Benoit and Undertaker lockup in the middle of the ring. Undertaker quickly powers out of the lockup, and Benoit springs back up for another one. The Phenom powers out again. Benoit then changes tactics, and tries to Irish Whip Undertaker, but the Dead Man reverses. Benoit bounces off the ropes, and is met with a flying clothesline. 'Taker then gets back up, and drops a leg across Benoit's throat.

Tazz: Looks like the Deadman has the advantage over the Crippler right now!

Cole: And how! Undertaker picks up Chris Benoit now, and does a sidewalk slam! 'Taker goes for the cover, one, no! Kick out at one! Not even close.

Benoit feels dazed, but he staggers to get up. Undertaker throws Benoit into the corner turnbuckle, and throws some punches.

Tazz: 'Taker's throwing some soupbones in the corner!

Cole: Look at Benoit now! He catches one of those punches, and sends the Dead Man in the corner! What a chop!

Tazz: You could hear that chop from here all the way to Omaha!

Benoit tries to swing the momentum in his favor. He chops Undertaker one more time, then whips him to the other corner and hits him with a vicious shoulder block, before chopping him again. Undertaker is beginning to reel from the hits. Benoit then kicks the Dead Man, then executes a perfect snap suplex. Benoit then goes for the cover.

Cole: Cover! One, two, no! Undertaker gets his shoulder up!

Benoit picks Undertaker up, and whips him into the ropes. Undertaker comes back and hits a running DDT. Both men are down, and the referee administer a ten-count. Soon enough, Undertaker gets up at the count of four. He motions for a chokeslam, as Chris Benoit staggers up.

Tazz: Chokeslam! Undertaker's got Benoit!

Cole: No! Benoit elbows his way out of it, and then hits a dropkick on Undertaker, knocking him off his feet! 'Taker gets up, and Benoit hits an arm drag! It looks like the Crippler is on a roll already!

Benoit feels the rush already. The Undertaker is vulnerable, and Benoit notices that the Undertaker is favoring his left arm. It's time to pick that limb apart, and set him up for the Crippler Crossface. Benoit wrenches Undertaker's arm, and then executes a hip toss. He then drops a leg across the arm, and the Undertaker writhes in agony.

Cole: Benoit smells blood! Look at him methodically pick that arm apart.

Benoit picks Undertaker up, and hits a backbreaker, then goes back to the arm, but 'Taker immediately gets to the ropes. Undertaker then tries to get up, and as Benoit runs to him, the Dead Man hits a back body drop near the ropes that sends Benoit sailing out of the ring. Benoit lands flat on his back.

Tazz: Looks like this match has taken a detour!

Undertaker catches a breather in the ring as Chris Benoit lay motionless on the outside. The referee starts counting Benoit out, and the Undertaker then rolls out of the ring to take the fight to the outside. Benoit manages to whip the Dead Man into the steps. While the Phenom was laid out by the steel steps, Benoit regains his bearings, and then rolls the Dead Man back into the ring for the cover. Undertaker kicks out at two.

Benoit picks up the Undertaker, and the Dead Man breaks the hold and hits a big boot on the Crippler. Undertaker drops an elbow on Benoit, then picks him up right again and executes a vertical suplex. Undertaker motions for another Chokeslam, and hits it this time.

Tazz: Chokeslam! Chokeslam! The cover! One! Two! Th... no! How close was that! Benoit just kicked out by instinct!

Undertaker picks Benoit up again, and attempts a Tombstone. Benoit manages to squirm out of it, and then converts it into the Crossface.

Cole: The Crippler Crossface is locked on! Undertaker is reaching for the ropes, and he makes it... but whoa! Benoit flips him out to the other side! Will the Undertaker tap out? I can't remember the last time I've seen that happen.

Tazz: That Crossface has been on for what appears to be forever. He's not going to let this guy go.

Cole: I can't believe it! 'Taker's tapping out! It's over! Benoit wins this match!

Undertaker looks at Benoit in disbelief the moment Benoit releases the hold. He can't believe he tapped out to the Crossface. Undertaker then staggers up, and offers a hand to Benoit. After a few moments of hesitation, the both of them shake hands.

Tazz: You gotta give it to the Undertaker. He's a class act.

While the match is over, it's pretty clear that the long trek to the top for Chris Benoit has just begun.

.:Torn:.
A Short Story by Marcelle T. Fabie

”Martin? You there?”

I woke up in the middle of the night, only to hear an all-too-familiar voice on the end of the other line. It was Geneva. The tone in her voice sounded rather different this time, though. Something was up, and I willed myself to stop being groggy.

”Yes, Geneva. Why?”

Hesitation from her end. I can tell Geneva was choosing her words carefully. Something was definitely amiss here, and I felt more and more alarmed.

”I think it'd be best if we talked about this face to face. Swing by my house in about an hour's time...”

”At this time? At your place? You realize how hard it is to commute to your house, don't you?”

”So take a taxi. Please. I'd really appreciate this. I have some roast Peking duck in the microwave to make it worth your while.”

”Fine. You win. I'll be there.”

I quickly freshened up and got changed. I got out of my house and took a cab all the way to her house in Cavite. Good heavens. Cavite. Here I was, sleeping soundly in my house in San Juan, and I'm headed to Cavite in the middle of the ruddy night. This had better be good, considering how underslept I've been for the past couple of weeks.

Then again, Geneva is my best friend. I don't think I could stay mad at her for long even if this turned out to be another one of those trivial “emergencies” of hers.

As expected, it took me over an hour to get to her place. I paid the cabbie, then knocked at her door. She promptly opened the door and then hugged me tightly. I sensed that she was very distraught.

”There, there, Geneva,” I said, as I cautiously patted her on the head, and began to feel teardrops on my shoulder. This seemed rather serious. “What's wrong?”

”It's Paul. He... he... broke up with me.”

It took me a moment or two before the news sank in. Paul is also a close friend of mine. I never even knew they were together to begin with. However, I realized now wasn't the time to confront her about her neglecting to tell me about this, so I decided to stay silent and let her do the talking. She was still hugging me, and I was still patting her head gently. I prodded her to continue.

”I'm sorry. I know I never told you. But I just thought you might be hurt, because...”

”Say no more. I understand. Just tell me what happened.”

”I-I didn't want to migrate with him to Germany. I just didn't want to.”

Geneva was trying to regain her composure, although she was still sniffling uncontrollably. Her attempts to stifle her tears were rather futile. Nonetheless, I then held her by her shoulders and looked at her. Her pretty face, marred by swollen eyes that have been crying for hours on end. She tried to force a smile, but she could hardly muster one at this point. A curious mixture of commiseration and hope came over me. I ignored this feeling, and focused my attention on her again.

”I don't blame you, Geneva. I understand how much your career means to you.”

I've known Geneva for years. She's a devoted career woman, who refuses to let anything, and I mean anything, get in the way. I've managed to precariously be her best friend for the past couple of years simply because I understood and respected that. She knew I was the last person to push her to do otherwise. That much, we had in common. I was pretty much as headstrong as she was for the most part.

”Breakups aren't that bad, Geneva. For all we know, he'd be running back to you by tomorrow, begging to be taken back. I know Paul. He loves you so much.”

”He's gone, Martin. Paul left for Germany just this morning.”

”What?

I was stunned. There was a sense of finality to the whole thing. Paul put Geneva on the spot with this one, and I can't help but feel that both of them are going to get really hurt with this. It's not like I can just call up Paul and try to change his mind about this. He's pushed through with going to Germany already.

Geneva began to get teary-eyed again. I led her to the couch and let her sit down, as I moved beside her. I tried to calm her, but she was already inconsolable.

I can't stand to see her cry.

It just wrenched at me that I was powerless to do anything about it. She loves Paul. That much was rather clear. I realized that they were bound to be together the moment I was with them in the Chinese restaurant. The way they held hands with one another that night told me all I needed to know. I knew it was wrong for me to have felt the way I felt about it at the time, but I couldn't have helped it.

”I don't know if I should just swallow my pride and follow him there... You know I... never felt this way about anyone before...”

I looked at her, alarmed at the rash proposition. ”Are you sure?”

”Y-yes. No. I-I don't know.”

”I figured as much.”

Geneva was confused. She had no idea what to do about her feelings. After all, Paul was the first person she ever got into a relationship with. Now, it's over, and the decision she had to make to get him back was anything but simple. I know Paul. It's not that he doesn't love Geneva, either. It's simply that Germany was always a dream for him. It was clearly a clash of egos, and this would be a stalemate until the moment one of them buckled.

”You want me to talk to him? I can e-mail him or something.”

”No. You don't have to.”

It's really hard being close friends with the both of them. I can't think of two other people who were more adamant about what they wanted than they were.

She looked at me as I handed her a tissue to wipe her tears away. I realized that beneath the seemingly fragile exterior, Geneva was as tough as nails. Here she was, madly in love with Paul, and yet she still refused to let go of her career for him. I wished I knew how to make her feel better at this point, but it was really up to her how she wants to go about this...

”I'm sorry to hear all this.”

”I'm just grateful you're here, Martin..”

”I just wish I could do something...”

”Your presence is all I need. Thanks, Martin. I knew I could always count on you.”

Of course you could always count on me! Of course I'll always be there for you! As if there was any need to doubt that. It's clear as day that I...

... My thoughts get interrupted as she hugs me tightly again. Taken by surprise, I got knocked down on the couch, and she ended up rather close to me. Rather dangerously close to me...

She closed her eyes and I closed mine. We were coming even closer together. I felt her warm, sweet breath as our lips came closer and closer. I've been longing for this moment for years. I felt an intoxicating rush wash over me...

I pulled away at the last moment.

”I'm sorry, Geneva. I can't do this.”

”No. I'm sorry,” she begins. She starts speaking rapidly, in an attempt to save face. ”We're not supposed to be doing this. We're just best friends, right? No more than that. I don't love you, you don't love me, and...”

”I do, Geneva. I love you. With all my heart. That's precisely why this is not right.”

”I don't understand...”

”I wish I did.”

Right across the couch where we were was a picture frame with a photograph of Paul and Geneva together. The fresh lip marks on the frame told me everything I needed to know, and what the deal really was.

Geneva is my best friend. Nothing more.

Friday, September 24, 2004

.:Scared?:.

Apparently, the PBA gig has been called off. We won't be spinning in the PBA opening any longer because the people in Araneta Colliseum didn't want fire spinners in the place.

Makes me feel like wondering if it ever occurred to them how much fire it'd take to burn down a place as big as that, really. I'm pretty ruddy sure that three spinners with under five liters of kerosene won't cut the mustard to achieve that.

Paranoid much?

.:Dared?:.

Sacha has taken me up on the challenge. She thinks she would've dared watch "Feng Shui" with the three of us (Dom, myself, and Grace.) last time if she were given the chance to. As such, I am getting a DVD of the film, and I will then see if she can handle the film. Heh. We'll find out soon enough.

.:Paired?:.

So Camillo and I were in class again for a boring time, as we were stuck waiting for the students to finish a long survey. In any case, Camillo was bugging me about getting Dingdong Dantes' cell number and seeing him naked, while I was trying to stave off his blackmail attempt. He even started segregating all the Chinese female students we had among the papers we were supposed to check and told me to start checking them already... heh. I managed to pwn him at one time, though...

Camillo: That girl there? She is not sexy, she's fat! I'm sexy. I have the body of Britney Spears.

Marcelle: You mean before the operation?

Camillo: I'll get you for that, you beeyatch.

.:Two Parties In A Row... Then A Third:.

Yes, I know the last heading doesn't rhyme. So sue me.

I met up with Grace yesterday because she wanted to oversee my getting a new haircut. Let's just say that the new haircut is going to be a bit disorienting to the people who've seen me for the longest time sporting only one hairstyle... I myself was taken aback.

The value-added service of the whole thing was splendid. While I was being given a hair spa (You metrosexual you!), I was being massaged by the lady putting on the hot oil. The massage was great, and Grace noticed that the lady doing the massage really put a lot of time and effort into it... a lot more than what seemed to be the norm... ;)

In any case, afterwards, I was introduced to some of Grace's med school friends (Ran into Ato all the same at St. Luke's...), all of whom were bashing the Chinese pics I had to show. We ended up going to Napoli's, an Italian restaurant, as one of their classmates was treating the class as some sort of victory party. I ended up tagging along, and despite being the obvious odd man out, they were all nice to me. Pizza was good.

I like it so much when Grace talks about "our" story. Really reminds me how arrogant I could get from time to time... heh.

I ran into Mr. Mariano that night, though. Oh, well. It was a great evening for the most part. The food was great, and so was the company. Grace really made that supposed short meeting immensely memorable with the dinner that came afterwards... heh.

Thursday, September 23, 2004

Hmmm...

.:Fun:.

I decided to skip Robi's boardwork for a second successive time yesterday, and just went to playtest my Magic deck a bunch of times. Hopefully, things would work out when I get the Force of Wills soon enough... In any case, it was a fun time for the most part. I got lazy again...

Dr. Barbazza got sick a couple of days ago, so he cancelled classes... not much else there.

.:Party:.

It was my mom's birthday last night, so she celebrated at home. Oh, well. As you can tell, my week has been so non-happening... I guess you might say that we can just wait and see what happens next... I'm so drained as of late...

Wednesday, September 22, 2004

.:Laziness:.

I fully expect to continue writing my poetry/short stories by next week, when all my other requirements are no longer breathing down my neck. For now, suffice it to say that stuff like the Undertaker vs. Chris Benoit matchup will not be happening just yet... I have more pressing things to discuss at this point...

I figure that if I can only do stuff like my flash fiction only half-heartedly, I may as well not bother. On the other hand, the rest of my blogging does not feel as pressured, so I'd continue that for the most part.

.:Gaming:.

So I'm now testing how this new Phoenix deck I purchased is actually working out. It's not so bad, given the fact that it was a readily purchased deck. In fact, it's the type that could go past the eliminations, though not necessarily win the game... oh, well.

That and Magic has been taking up my time for the most part recently... in any case, it's all good, really. I've been enjoying my time quite a deal, and it's too bad I hardly spoke to Charlene when I ran into her in the shop. I was too pleased with the free cut we got from Dr. Barbazza to strike up a decent convo that time... heh.

Tuesday, September 21, 2004

.:In The Middle Of Class:.

So there I was, after having gone on solo flight in WAVE and having had an engaging debate on the merits of Kant. I was in class, and I was listening to Dr. Ibana talk about Max Scheler's method of value ethics. Funny moments in class happened, but all throughout, Camillo was bugging me about Feng Shui and singing the trailer song to me while calling me Sorge ("Care" in German.)...

That got me to thinking... considering how stiff the German diction is, wouldn't it be hard to imagine a flamboyant gay German? Camillo was telling me how funny it is that the French language seems so custom-made for gay people, and yet the German language is so stiff that a gay German who'd start putting on blush would seem too... rough, even if he keeps on saying he's doing it for "Sorge", and to enhance his "Dasein"... Heidegger will never be the same again... heh.
Yes, here I am, boarding alone again today. I'm getting the hang of this already... :)

In any case, I finally got around to reviewing Feng Shui... here goes nothing...SPOILERS AHEAD!!!


Feng Shui
May inuwi si Nanay, kalamay, inanay...

Kris Aquino headlines this Chito Rono film, which was a validly great attempt at capturing the feel of the subtle Asian horror film that relies on leaving things to the imagination instead of inducing out and out terror from the viewers.

The film starts off with Kris (So sue me. I forgot her character’s name.) riding a bus, and then picking up a Chinese lucky charm, a bangwa, when one of the passengers disembarks and leaves it behind. Unbeknownst to her, this charm possesses great power. It will bestow great luck to the owner, at the price of the soul of anyone else who would see themselves when looking into the charm's mirror.

Soon enough, Kris is deluged with good luck, although her husband, Inton (Jay Manalo.), was beginning to see his old girlfriend again behind her back. Trouble brews, as people around Kris mysteriously die one by one. First, there was the guy who left the charm in the bus, who got run over by a Rabbit bus. Second, was the owner of the bakery she frequents, who died of leptospirosis. Third, her tricycle service driver, who got stabbed in a cockpit. As each mysterious death occurred, she realized an uncanny coincidence relating to their Chinese zodiac. The three people who died were year of the Rabbit, Rat, and Rooster, respectively.

At this point, Kris was beginning to figure out something was amiss between her good luck and the deaths of the people around her. It wasn't long before she and her friends found out about the curse of the charm, and what made things worse for them was that they had no idea how to break the curse. Breaking the charm would simply mean making her no longer immune to the curse. To compound the matter, one of her friends, played by Lotlot de Leon, already looked into the charm.

Kris approaches the wife of the man who left the charm with her, who turned out to be the previous owner (Cherry Pie Picache.). Apparently, she still wanted the charm, and was willing to give anything to have it back. She didn't care about the souls it took for her to achieve it. She just wanted it back.

By now, Kris was in a tizzy. Strange things have been happening at her house, and it was becoming clear that the souls that were taken by the charm were one by one inhabiting the house. One of the security guards caught these spectral inhabitants on film, before he was killed by a snakebite. He was year of the Snake.

In desperation, she and her friends turn to a soothsayer. This soothsayer told them about the legend of Lotus Foot, who was a young Chinese girl who was burned to death by her servants during the revolution in China. In her rage, she died holding the charm, and swore by it that whomever would see themselves in the charm's mirror would forfeit their soul to her. It took some time, but the way to break the curse became painfully clear: refuse any good luck Kris Aquino runs into, then immediately break the charm.

Unfortunately, circumstances prevented her from doing that, and even more unfortunately, the “ingenuity” of the film went downhill slightly before that point.
For instance, Lotlot de Leon, being year of the Horse in the story, died by being thrown off the second floor of her house onto a pile of Red Horse beer bottles. This was really shameless product placement, and was almost as bad as the numerous Chunkee Corned Beef placements throughout the film.

Anyways, the next good luck Kris Aquino ran into was that she luckily shared the same blood type with her son's best friend, who was dying because he got involved in an accident. This led to her wanting to warn Inton about his impending death, and Inton's fear of being confronted led him to be killed by his mistress' estranged husband, Louie. Louie sports a bulldog tattoo. Guess what year both Inton and Dina (The mistress, played by Jenny Miller.) were...

The next good luck Kris Aquino ran into was that she was luckily recognized by Louie when he was about to shoot her. Because he felt an affinity for Kris since the both of them were cheated on by their respective spouses, he instead committed suicide. Obviously, Kris couldn't turn that good luck down...

Meanwhile, Thelma, her fortune teller friend, was trying to take Kris' children somewhere safe. Thelma and Kris' son were both born in the year of the Rooster. Kris' daughter was born in the year of the Cow. Guess what was in front of their car. That's right. A truck carrying a cow and chickens. It gets lamer and lamer...

Anyways, Kris finally comes home, and is approached by the previous owner's lawyer, and he asked for the charm in exchange for five million pesos. Kris turns it down, and the lawyer doubles it. Kris adamantly refuses, then proceeds to break the charm. Right then and there, Thelma and the children arrive. Kris is overjoyed to see them, and then while Thelma and Kris were talking, her children bring out a surprise for her. It was Inton. Apparently, all of them already died, and Kris, having broken the charm after an event that was not good luck (She knew the owner wanted it back so bad.), was no longer immune to the curse. The next good luck she encountered was the “return” of her children, and this meant her soul will be the tradeoff for this.

I think that last part was a cheat, and finally, they gave up on using the Chinese Zodiac at this point, as Kris was year of the Tiger, and there were no tigers involved at this point. I just found the Bulldog and the Red Horse deaths a wee bit too much of a stretch, though Dominique pointed out that the ironing board is sometimes called a “horse” in the vernacular, though that wasn't how Lotlot died. Still, the creepy look of Lotus Foot and the part where Lotlot saw her own dead self in Lotus Foot's hands before she herself was finally killed was simply marvelous. Oh, well...

Scary film? Yes. Unfortunately, the subtlety completely disappeared towards the end of the film, with all the ghosts slowly being more blatant in presencing, which I believe ruined the film's effect, since the creepiness disappeared, and in its place stood lame attempts to blatantly scare the audience...

In spite of this shortcoming, I must say that I loved this film a lot. I think it's actually worth catching a second time, if only for the twist ending that seemed to be cheating on its own rules...

Marcelle's “Fun” Evaluation: B+
Marcelle's “Critical” Evaluation: B+


.:Kathy's Letter Attempt:.

Got a letter from April yesterday. But her letter pales in comparison to this one...

Dear Marcelle, Just Always Pray At Night. :) o Stay A Cheery, Happy Amigo. ;) I wish you all the best in the world. Great work with the fire-spinning. Super proud of what you can do now. Looking forward to seeing you become the King of Wrap. (Yo! Yo! Yo! Kel in da haaaaauuusssss!!! ) :)) Hope you appreciate this letter. Advanced happy birthday, take care. And don't play with the birthday candles.... :o) -Kathy

And yeah, my special call still stands, guys... hope you guys can grant this poor widdle jabroni's wish... :D

.:Manic Monday:.

I finally finished my paper for Methods of Research. Yay. Took me quite a lot of effort to do, but there you go. I had to skip WAVE boardwork just to make sure I finished it on time... it was eighteen or nineteen pages long, I believe. Oh, well...

In any case, it was my 59th Monthsary with Grace, and we met up in the afternoon in Galleria. I was test driving my deck again, and considering the possibility of making the base color blue instead of white... oh, well. I'll think about it some more. My matches with Yol proved interesting though, as the new deck was severely well-equipped against those creature-based decks...

Grace and I went hunting for the stuff I'd need to make a deckbox like that of the guy I was playing against in Neutral Grounds. We went to Megamall and started buying the stuff, and it was interesting how that turned out. Apparently, I needed quite a few things to do it, and it looked good, all the same. For the most part, though, we just had fun talking with one another. She was laughing over the Sunday incident, though. The age level differentials were showing...

Eventually, we just had a short dinner at Aling Banang's, and that dinner was special, considering how long it's been since we last ate there. The food is still as good as ever... heh.

Monday, September 20, 2004

.:A Special Call:.

By some freakish rash of bad luck, when Dominique borrowed my phone to load his sim card inside, something went wrong, and ALL my text messages for the past two years (I have 128 MB of memory, so yes, I can get away with it.) got deleted. As I'm such a sentimental fool, I decided to take a page from a good friend's book and ask everyone who matters to please, please write me a letter to preserve the memories of my friendship with them. This would make the perfect 21st birthday gift for me...

I know I got handed lemons at this point, but after ascertaining by virtue of a sneaky approach that my memory card prolly got corrupted (We asked to “test” a memory card reader in Galleria...), I'm going to make lemonade out of this.

I'd really appreciate these letters, preferably written by hand. Feel free to e-mail me at mistervader@gmail.com if you feel like asking me how to get the letter to me. I would sincerely, sincerely appreciate it, and treasure it...
.:Champions Of Kamigawa:.

Thing is, I didn't join the pre-release of CoK. I didn't have any money. Oh, well. In any case, it was fun, really. I just went card-hunting for the most part, and then I met up with Kathy, Dominique, and Krisette at Seattle's Best. Not much, really. We were just watching the poi videos, and we were having fun at the expense of the spinners, since they had these weird names, and I figured they made up those names since their real names prolly blew, to begin with.

Mom! Stop calling me Mortimer! I'm “D”!

Shut up and go home, Mortimer!

Oh, well. “Lost In Heaven” and “If I Sing You A Love Song” were funny songs for reference, though...

.:P.B.A. And The Unglamorous Moment:.

Apparently, we're going to be performing this coming October 3 for the Philippine Basketball Association's 30th season launch. It's amusing, really. I ended up running into Sharleen Tan during that day, as she was apparently now working for the Events group running the season opener. Thing is, Dominique ended up taking pictures of her after the whole meeting, and she never even noticed...


There’re four more of these…



The meeting was fairly rushed, and the fire spinning group was given lots of extra considerations (Obviously, we can't wear white...). Still, I had this knack of heckling a lot, and I had to keep it down for the most part... heh.

Afterwards, we then headed off to Shakey's in Rockwell, where I ran into Don Umali. So there we were, eating pizza, and then someone just cracks a funny joke over “More Than A Woman”, I believe. I was in the middle of eating a pizza slice, when all of a sudden, I ended up gobbling the whole thing reflexively instead of laughing. The uber-unglamorous moment was then intensified with me holding back the laughter, and then eating the Shrek Oreos, which must've made quite an... impression on my braces, so I ended up not opening my mouth in front of Kath and Krisette again, especially because Kathy was readying Dom's camera to take my picture...

Oh, well. It was amusing, really.

.:The Game Con:.

Dominique and I then took a cab all the way to the game con. We got lost the first time around and ended up in the wrong building, where we saw this lady who had really big hair that was flaring out backwards. We thought she was co-playing, but we apparently thought wrong.

Afterwards, we then found the right building, only to be greeted, by the wedding expo. So again, we thought, “are these brides cosplayers”? Apparently not. We finally found the U Got Game convention, and I ran into a bunch of OBers like MarkPoa, Voltee, Madame Sky, Madame Thunder, and Groundzero. In any case, we then had some pictures with some cosplayers. Let me show you the pictures so they can do the talking...


Ummm… how does THAT hold together?


You can’t see me…



Afterwards, we were treated to a Ranulf who had a haircut (!). He then made me and Dominique watch the presentations for the new video games designed by students. Someone made a Pusoy Dos game! The other games seemed fun, but the presenters didn't know how to talk about it, really. The last one, Heaven's Drive, was really good, though. And yeah, one of the UA&P students was cute... Dominique then tried to stalk her and managed to get her picture as well. Gak! He's good...


Dominique is TEH SUPA SPY!!! Kekekekekeke…



Finally, we swung by the X-Box booth, where we played DOA 3. He bullied a kid first by beating the poor kid to a pulp in one round, then when it was my turn, I proceeded to hand his behind to him with Tina... oh, well. Afterwards, it was already time to go to Galleria and hopefully catch Feng Shui, in addition to trying to get Dominique into Magic...

Had a bit of trading of insights, though. I think Dom and I were fairly clear about a lot of things, and about certain people who might have some measure of disdain for him over his status... I personally don't, as my stake at this point is purely Platonic in this respect... you know what I mean. The only disturbing thought that remains is that he was 18 when she was 4, but I digress...

.:Feng Shui:.

While Dominique and I were waiting for Grace at the foodcourt, we were mostly just conversing about varied stuff. I ended up with even more respect for the man after his self-deprecating moment of acknowledging the connotation of his nickname. In any case, Grace arrived after a while at Galleria, and then she gave us Carbonara before we went off to watch Feng Shui. I liked the movie a bit, by the way. I'll review it soon...

Grace was so scared to death after watching the movie (My stepsister, Caren, warned us how “scary” it was on her way out of the theater. We ran into her.) that she ended up asking me to go overnight at her house just so I could make sure she doesn't become so scared. I hardly slept, simply trying to keep her from being terrified and all... such a scaredy cat, and yet she dares to watch these films... heh.

.:Unexpected:.

Headed off this Sunday morning to Kathy's place due to unexpected circumstances, where I tried my hand at spinning the monkey fists and all... Peppy arrived, and when Kathy ordered for a pizza, Ching (!) arrived and told Kathy to come shopping with her, thus leaving me and Peppy behind at the Chua residence, where we ended up springing for pizza money (The price was more than the money that was left for the pizza.). It's all good, though...

Friday, September 17, 2004

.:Crushed:.

I didn't do spectacularly in my Ancient Philosophy long test, at least not with the first one. I guess I underestimated Mr. Mariano back there. I shudder to think what happened to the rest of my requirements, given these... oh, well.

Nonetheless, I've been very busy the past few days, and my being slow and all (Been hitting an energy slump lately.) has caught up with me. I've been taking taxis left and right just to beat the clock on some counts, and it's been taking its toll on my wallet. Heh. I really need to save up, or else I wouldn't be able to have some spending cash available for me at the end of the year... I guess discretion after September would do me good. Three months of very judicious spending should do me good...

I've been rather tired as of late. Things have been haywire, but I guess the mere fact that I can still do things like blog on a regular basis gives some method to the madness, as it were...

Chatted for a short while with Sacha and Dominique on separate occasions. Poor Sach is buried in homework, while Dom and I will be meeting up tomorrow for the Champions of Kamigawa pre-release and IBM PC sale in Eastwood...

Fr. David's been increasingly biting with his commentary on the government, though. I'm inclined to agree with his points for the most part, nonetheless... he tends to use cuss words lately, though, which, while is perfectly normal, still sounds odd coming from a Jesuit priest. That, and he supports the death penalty. =)

.:Lunch Meeting:.

So Camillo and I had a lunch meeting with Dr. Ibana. We were talking mostly about the funny results of the second long test on St. Thomas Aquinas. Let me show you by example precisely what was so funny about the whole thing... these comments are based on the film called "Riles", a documentary about life on the tracks.

- In a classic example of how Taglish has ruined us, someone called St. Thomas Aquinas, in the vernacular, "Santo Tomas de Aquinas".

- In an even more amusing two-hit combo, someone said that "Nagtatrabaho si Mang Eddie para makabenta ng balut." Another student even said, regarding the need for profits, that "Nagtitinda ng balut si Mang Eddie para makakita." Does that mean that selling duck eggs improves one's eyesight?

- Someone asserted that neither Mang Eddie nor Aling Pen love each other because the former was "courting" someone at a store (It was a joke that Eddie was playing up, knowing he was on camera.), and because the latter kept on lecturing to the former whenever he gets drunk (Well, duh.).

- Someone, after watching the whole film and seeing him live in person, didn't even remember Mang Eddie's name and resorted to calling him "Pogi". Tsk, tsk.

- Number of people who hated Aling Pen: zero. Number of people who hated Mang Eddie: five. Apparently, drinking is so abhorrent to these people that they fail to see the whole point of the exercise.

As you can tell, the meeting proved to be interesting for any reasons save being academic... heh.

.:Amazed:.

So as I said about being slow, I had to take a cab to Strata in my rush to do that Soupy Snax thing I had to do. What then made things rather interesting was that when I got the ride, which was stressful on its own because of the amount of time it took me to get a cab, I ended up being rather rushed, and in the end, the whole trip was rather enlightening.

The cab driver, over the course of the ride, wondered aloud if EDSA would be a better route than Temple Drive. I told him otherwise, and then he proceeded to air out his annoyance over the never-completed construction that forces everyone to take this huge detour just to get to Temple Drive. I then commented that the same thing was happening in Kalentong, and then the frustration over the traffic turned our attention to Vandolph, who crashed his car twice near the area. The cabbie then commented that it's completely absurd to think that Vandolph wasn't drunk when those incidents happened...

Basta may pera, may panapal. Pero wala namang magagawa yang perang yan sa kabilang buhay, eh. Hindi naman nila mabibili ang kaligtasan, kaya okay na yun.

Talk then turned to politics and the current fiscal crisis. Surprisingly, the both of us were non-voters who would've wanted to vote for Brother Eddie Villanueva, but his point was right: Bro. Eddie can't win. The man is clean. Jesus didn't "win" against Barrabas, did He? Apparently, I was talking to a JIL member who knew Bro. Eddie personally. We ended up meeting on common ground at this point. It was interesting that here was a man who didn't graduate from Industrial Engineering in P.U.P., yet was giving perfectly honest and sensible commentary on spirituality, philosophy, and politics alike. It wasn't a condescending know-it-all kind of insight. It was an honest opinion on what he sees to be wrong in this country.

I thoroughly appreciated that. Nothing like genuine human dialogue to get your inquisitive self kicking into high gear again...

.:Soupy Snax:.

It's out now. Try the Munchy Mushroom. It's really, really good. Heh. I'm doing prime time boarwork today, all by my lonesome. This is definitely anything but easy, heh. I'm playing back to back songs entitled "What If" right now... one by Babyface, the other by Ruben Studdard. I like this mix. I always wanted to do it. =)

In fact, I like this mix so much, here are the lyrics...


What If
by Babyface

I ran into a friend of yours the other day,
And I asked her how you've been.
She said 'My girl is fine just bought a house, got a job, real good man.'
I told her I was glad for you, thats wonderful,
But does she ever ask 'bout me?
'She says she's happy with her life right now, let her go, let her be.'
And I told myself I would but something in my heart just would not let you go.
I just wanna know...

Chorus:
What if we were wrong about each other?
What if you were really made for me?
What if we were supposed to be together?
Would that not mean anything?
What if that was supposed to be my house that you go home to everyday?
How can you be sure that things are better?
If you can't be sure your heart ain't still here with me?
Still wanting me.

Your friend asked me if there was someone special in my life that I was seein',
I told her there was no one in particular,
There's just I, myself and me.
I told her that I dream of you quite often,
She just cut her eyes at me,
She said you got a home, you're very happy,
So just stop your medling!
I told her that I wont,
I said things are cool, but I guess I was wrong.
I still can't move on.

(Chorus)

Now that could be my car,
That could be my house,
That could be my baby boy that you're nursing.
That could be the trash which I always take out,
That could be the chair I love to chill in.
That could be my food on the table at the end of the day.
Hugs and the kisses, all the love we make.
What the hell do you expect me to say?
What if it's really supposed to be this way?
What if you're really supposed to be with me?
(Ooohhh!)

(Chorus x3)



What If
by Ruben Studdard

Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm somebody bayyyy ooohohoooooo aw baby what if
What if, what if, what if
Yea yea girl
What if, what if, what if

Spend the day at the spa (anything you want)
Different day different time (anything you want)
Max out my card if you wanna,
Whatever girl it aint no problem no,
Take a trip on a yacht (anywhere you want) leave them bags we gonna shop,
(anywhere you want) girl you know i'll do whatever it takes,
You know i love you like i used to love cake,

Would you be cool if things changed,
If i didnt roll the benz and you didnt push the Range,
I know what we got its gone
Last bay dont be mad but i still gotta ask,

Chorus:
What if i was broke what if i was slim
What if couldnt sing and i didnt win
What if i had to catch the bus i'll still stay
Wit my momma so there aint no making love baby
What if i had to used the payphone jus to get my game on would you still
Wanna put it on me (what if, what if, what if)
Awww baby what if (what if, what if, what if) yeaaaaaaaa

Take the keys to my crib (anytime you want)
Jus come over take a dip (anytime you want)
How much you need girl imma front
You there aint no limit to what ill do
No imma break you off wit the ghetto love (anynight you want)
Take yo time it aint no rush (anynight you want)
I aint gone do no nuthing to mess it up if 4 i do ill spend 4 million to make it up

(Chorus)

Thursday, September 16, 2004

.:A Greeting:.

It’s Ching’s birthday! Happy birthday, Ching! =)

.:A Rarity:.

Ann knows that I’m the type who’d always want to show up on time, so I was just as surprised as she was that I got to work late today, considering it’s not after class and all. Nonetheless, it was all okay, really. The boardwork was good, though I know I could still work on my diction and so forth some more. I think I had some problems here and there with how I project my voice. I guess I really have to work on my stuff a lot more. I feel that I’m becoming way too comfortable for my own good, to the point that I tend to get lazy, which is not really the smartest way to go about work. Especially not here in WAVE, where my status is still not going to be permanent for sure until I find out the final deal come January.

In any case, we were having a lot of fun in the booth for the most part, and apparently, I’ll be on air again tomorrow with Pam for a certain promo I have to do or something to that effect. I then braved the rain and left the station early so I can meet up with Grace for just a short while before heading back to Ateneo…

.:A Meeting:.

If the rain went on too hard, I would’ve been convinced to have taken the time out to instead go and watch Feng Shui. The film sounds very promising, and Kris Aquino being scared half to death isn’t that bad, really. So Grace and I met up, and we just had a short conversation, really. Not much to say about it, but she certainly made my day. I was having a lot of stress on me lately, and her being there for me certainly helps ease the tension up for me a bit.

Yep, I said it before, and I’ll say it again: Grace gives the best hugs in the world, bar none. I’m just glad the both of us managed to find time to talk with one another before heading off to our busy days again. It was all well worth it. =)

.:Vindication, Part II:.
A Fictional Series by Marcelle T. Fabie

Author's Note: The characters depicted in this story are all copyright of the WWE. The storylines depicted are not necessarily reflective of the current storylines of the WWE.

Previously, Chris Benoit took up Tazz’ offer to go and do cross-brand work in hopes of capturing the one title that mattered yet simply eluded him throughout his tenure in the WWE: The Smackdown World Title. The title is currently vacant, and the idea is that there will be two number one contenders by the end of the month who will face one another in a match to determine the new Smackdown World Champion. Chris Benoit, being a RAW Superstar, will still perform his duties on RAW.

Smackdown is a taped show every Tuesday night, and as soon as Chris agreed to Tazz’ proposition, he went to the Smackdown taping the very next day. Benoit was surprised to discover that he was going to be on the card tonight, the moment he walked into the locker room.

Theodore R. Long, the current General Manager, was standing in the center of the ring already.

Teddy Long: Lemme holla at you, playaz. Well, you know that the World Title is currently vacant, and since I’m your Smackdown GM, you just know I have something monumental in store for you. Belie’ that. For tonight, we’re going to have a match involving someone whom none of you are expecting to be here tonight…

Chris Benoit’s entrance music blares over the P.A., and he enters the arena to a huge ovation from the audience. Benoit still has the RAW World Heavyweight Championship title slung across his shoulder. Benoit walks into the ring and faces a beaming TRL. Benoit then takes to the microphone.

Benoit: By the end of this, everyone knows that Chris Benoit is for real. This is the one title that has eluded me for so long, and I will no longer be denied.

Despite his apparent conviction, some doubts were lingering in his mind. He didn’t feel like he wanted to relinquish the RAW title just yet. He still has a lot to do… but then, what’s he got to lose, anyways? This was going to be a cinch.

Suddenly, the gong sounded. The arena went completely black. The crowd erupted, knowing what this means: Chris Benoit’s first opponent is no pushover. It’s going to be The Undertaker. TRL promptly clears the ring the moment he hears the first gong. Looks like two fan favorites will be going at it tonight…

TO BE CONTINUED
.:Ignore This:.

Purely for bookkeeping purposes...

Confucius: Confucian Analects, the Great Learning and the Doctrine of the Mean, by James Legge. Dover Publications, 1971.

.:Radio Works:.

So yesterday, I was fairly late getting to work, and then Robi promptly returned the favor to me by leaving the show early. It's all good. I had fun that time, because Waveback Wednesday means I get to play old songs... especially my personal favorite, "Fallin'". In any case, I really had a good time for the most part, notwithstanding the sudden blackout that happened. We were still on the air despite it.

Speaking of blackouts, there was an earthquake last night. Oh, well.

Heard Boom Gonzalez and Chico from RX, even, over our own station. The radio plugs we've been playing lately were fairly entertaining. Especially the part where Chico says "No, I didn't transfer stations." It's for the Radioworx coalition thing again, where 10 stations join forces to push the envelope for the radio medium. I really ought to pass by them one of these days. It's been a while since I've been to RX, but I guess I might have to wait for Delamar's birthday or something... I already have a nice present in mind for her.

.:The New Chronostax...:.

The new deck I came up with ought to look really good. Let's see how it works soon enough. Oh, well. I'm having a lot of fun with the new deck, and I hope to test it against some opponents soon enough.

Unfortunately, while I got a lot of cards from Neutral Grounds yesterday, I still didn't manage to meet up with Shiney... she was sick, apparently, so she had to go home.

.:Next Week, I Hope:.

I know my blogging hasn't been up to snuff lately. I'll prolly kick back into high gear when all my requirements are over and done with... I just have a few more things I have to do, after all... just a few more things...

Wednesday, September 15, 2004

It's been a fairly non-happening day yesterday, but I have something to look forward to for today... I'm finally meeting up with Shiney, Ms. De Facto herself. Beyond that, nothing much to report, really. Heidegger class was interesting, nonetheless.

I intend to continue the short story series on Benoit, though... maybe tomorrow.

Tuesday, September 14, 2004

.:Uneventful Monday:.

For lack of a better term, this is precisely how I found my Monday to be. It really was that uneventful, even with the boardwork and all. I think the only relief I got from the whole thing were the nice cards I got for my deck, as that Mox Diamond sure works wonders in combination with the Crucible of Worlds. I guess that means I'll be putting off my heavy blogging for today...

The only thing of note, though, is the fact that Fr. Dacanay actually knows me by name. As he was never my teacher, I really am curious how he came to know.

And yeah, I do miss our dog. Dominique was telling me he also has a dog just like Snoopy, except theirs doesn’t do any… err… dirty tricks.

.:Camillo:.

This guy is amusing as Hades. He heard about the M.O. of certain cellphone-stealing groups who slash your pants pocket to get your phone from me, and he was more worried about the damage done to his horribly expensive pants than he was about either the cellphone or his own life… it was hilarious talking to him. All that gayness overflowing from him was really funny, in class even.

Some snippets from the class today…

Marcelle: Didn’t you hear about the serial killer who killed gay people?

Camillo: That is soooo not true. I mean, that was all by chance. Unless you want to start it. You can kill me, then JC, then Dr. *****, Dr. ******, and Mr. *****, all from the Philosophy department…

Wow. Too much information.

And then this…

Marcelle: Bilang analohiya, dahil tatlo kaming nagwawasto ng mga papel, para kaming American Idol. Si Camillo si Simon, ako si Randy, at si Doc si Paula Abdul, kasi ang bait niya sa grades.

.:Vindication:.
a Fictional Series by Marcelle T. Fabie

Author's Note: The characters depicted in this story are all copyright of the WWE. The storylines depicted are not necessarily reflective of the current storylines of the WWE.

Prologue:

Chris Benoit. World Heavyweight Champion. Since that magical night at Wrestlemania, he proved to everyone that he was for real, having defeated both Triple H and Shawn Michaels in a triple threat match. For the past few months, he has successfully defended his title against numerous different challengers, but now, a new challenge has arisen...

While Chris Benoit is part of the RAW roster, word has it that due to recent uncontrollable events, the Smackdown roster has a vacant World Title. Among all the titles in the WWE, Chris Benoit has never become the Smackdown champion, especially since the General Manager at the time, Paul Heyman, refused to give Benoit a title shot despite having earned it by winning the Royal Rumble.

After the RAW program has signed off, Benoit is approached by Tazz...

Tazz: Hey, Chris.

Benoit: Why?

Tazz: You won't believe the great news.

Benoit: What's this about?

Tazz: Everyone knows you always wanted to get the Smackdown WWE Title. Now's your chance.

Benoit: What are you talking about? I'm on RAW.

Tazz: Well, because of the huge gap in the Smackdown roster right now, Vince McMahon is grasping at straws, and let all the hopefuls for the Smackdown Title come from RAW, if needed be. You can do cross-brand shows all you want. But...

Benoit: But what?

Tazz: But there's a catch. You're the RAW Champion right now. The moment you become the number one contender for the vacant Smackdown title, you have to be stripped of the RAW title.

Benoit: Wait... “number one contender”? Who do I contend with if the belt is vacant?

Tazz: The plan is to have two number one contenders, Chris. Then, they'd have a match between the two of them to determine who gets to become the champion.

Benoit: But... the RAW title.

Tazz: Make up your mind, Chris.

Benoit looks long and hard at the belt on his shoulder. This was the symbol of eighteen years of hard work for him. He knows he earned this belt. Now, he's going to put it on the line in exchange for potentially nothing. But then again, he hasn't got anything to lose. It's not like he's a sure shot to be number one contender, and the moment he changes his mind, he can just go back being RAW-exclusive and not have to drop his RAW title without defending it.

Benoit: Fine, Tazz. Count me in.

To be continued...
.:Postting Later...:.:.

I am such a pro... crastinator. But since the office comp is conking out on me again, let me just say that I'll post later. The post is in my diskette already, but MS Word is on the fritz here...

Monday, September 13, 2004

This is a relatively spoiler-free review. :)

.:Film Review: The Terminal:.


The Terminal
Sleepless in Manhattan.

Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg team up to deliver this heartwarming romantic comedy. In this film, Tom Hanks plays Viktor Navorski, a Krakozhian tourist who went into the United States of America for mysterious reasons. While in transit, his country is thrown into a military coup, thereby making him a non-citizen of the country. As such, the moment he landed in the United States, he discovers that he cannot get out of the international lounge in the airport, as his travel documents were no longer valid.

And so, he spends his time, given his limited English vocabulary, trying to keep himself busy in the Terminal. Through it all, the acting Field Commissioner of JFK airport, Dixon, is trying to push Navorski to escape from the terminal just so he can have him arrested and not have any problems with him any longer. Instead, Navorski chooses to stay on and live in Gate 67, playing matchmaker for one of his friends with the immigration officer. At the same time, he makes other friends like Gupta, the janitor, who has his own crazy antics to boot, and then Viktor runs into the beautiful Allie, played by Catherine Zeta-Jones, who becomes his romantic interest in the film.

The question, then, is why is Navorski there? Where did he come from? And what is it with his crazy antics, and for Allie's preference for older men (Nuninuninu...)? Watch the movie, as I don't feel like giving away any spoilers this time. =)

Let's put it this way: Tom Hanks was acting superbly here. He was perfectly believable as Viktor Navorski, and it was hard to not like his character. He played the character so well, and his interaction with the rest of the cast, especially the antagonistic yet misguided Dixon, was splendid. The way he endeared himself to the employees of the airport was really great to see.

Dixon himself was quite a sight, with his amusing ways of attempting to deal with Navorski, and his instinctive insights that explain why he was meant to be the Field Commissioner of JFK airport.

Catherine Zeta-Jones was quite impressive in her performance as Allie. She really managed to show the complexity of her character's personality, and yet managed to be endearing all the same.

All in all, this film was worth watching. In between all the laughs, you could just feel the heart in the film. All it takes is to look at Tom Hanks when he saw footage of the military coup of Krakozhia. That really set the tone for how lonely it can get when one lives in the airport... literally.

Marcelle's “Fun” Evaluation: A
Marcelle's “Critical” Evaluation: A

.:Snooped Out:.


What’s up, dog?



Really eventful weekend, to say the least. I'm just a bit depressed because all of a sudden, not a single pet is left in the house...

Apparently, they decided to give away our pet beagle, Snoopy, to somebody else. I don't know who the new owner is, but all I can hope is that she wouldn't be having Snoopy for dinner any time soon. Sigh... I know our hentai dog is capable only of one trick (A dirty trick, at that.), but Snoopy was a really nice dog, who, in spite of being the quiet type, could be rather... affectionate, from time to time.

It's not going to be the same here at the house now, since Snoopy won't be wandering around anymore. I'm going to really miss that dog.

.:The Gayness!:.

I spent most of Sunday simply watching the WWE tapes Peppy recorded for me. At one point, I noticed a very amusing bit of dialogue between Chris Jericho and Eugene...

Jericho: Look here, Eugene. We've got a lot in common. Not only did we win our respective matches last Sunday night at Bad Blood, but we're both sexy beasts!

Jerry Lawler: Looks like Eugene's getting embarrassed, JR!

Jericho: That's right. I know you're a sexy beast, too...

W-ell... it's 2004. We don't judge. =)

.:Two Straight Dates:.

For two straight days, Grace and I have met. What was rather great about the whole thing is that Grace and I have been running rather smoothly in anticipation of our fifth anniversary as a couple. Last Saturday night, we watched “The Terminal”, which I ought to be reviewing sometime this week. After that, last Sunday, we ate at Tokyo Tokyo, which is simply one of my favorite Japanese restaurants, if only for the fact that you'd never leave that place hungry...

Anyways, what I found to be great about the whole thing was that we just really managed to spend some quality time with one another. It's been a while since we had simple dates where we just did nothing but enjoy one another's company. I guess I was really happy there. I'd like to think I made Grace happy, all the same.

Moments like these, the ambiguity in my life simply goes away... and I'm grateful for that.

.:Progress:.

Cleared out a lot of backlog this weekend. Very productive, indeed. I'm done checking the papers in my stock for the second long test, and I'm finished with 12 of the 15 or so pages I have for my Research class. It's really good, to say the least. I'm finally getting the hang of beating procrastination. Finally, I am now going to say goodbye to this habit of not doing things when I actually have the time to do it. At long last...

Nah. I'll talk about this tomorrow. =)

.:I Am Soooo Back:.

I'm the person with the second highest post count in the Otaku Boards, and it's pretty clear to everyone why by the time the weekend rolls by. I performed a valid Darth Paul Maneuver last Saturday, where I simply filled the first page of the Social Boards with my posts. Every post, top to bottom, was mine. Then, I performed a valid Xellos Sama Maneuver last Sunday, where all the last posts in the main page are mine. I could've done a Thundersenshi Maneuver on either day by doing both Maneuvers in one go, but I felt I didn't have that much to contribute to the discussion at either time.

At the very least, I think it serves as a clear reminder to everyone why I'm the top non-admin poster in the boards... but then, I've nothing to prove at this point. Everyone by now knows I'm capable of doing a hundred posts in a day if I was so inclined to, but I choose to limit it to a tolerable level... heh. It was just fun that the legal opportunity presented itself this weekend, and I managed to capitalize on it.

Sunday, September 12, 2004

Busy weekend. They gave away our dog, I watched the Terminal, and my stepdad... let's just say this is not amusing.

Tell you about it on Monday or Tuesday. In the meantime, take care, jabronis.

Friday, September 10, 2004

So I decided to hang around Hobby Haven last night, and let's just say that I enjoyed my time there. Charlene was there, and she seemed to have a bad day, but everyone else was doing their job to pick her up. She had 9 Flat Tops that night. The sugar rush will be her undoing... heh. Just kidding.

In any case, after dinner at KFC, I was introduced to a Comm Junior, Janelle (Hope I got the name right.). It was fun talking to her, as she seemed to be in the dark about a lot of stuff that happened in my Comm batch. Moreover, when she started asking for tips on which teachers to get to manage graduating with Honors, I promptly threw around suggestions to her in Philosophy and Theology, as well as some Comm classes that should help.

After the whole thing, I became the "fall guy" for the night with Charlene, Mikko, Mog, Jason, and Jess in one car. The playlist was Boyz II Men in Spanish, along with a few other songs here and there, but every comment I made was met with good-natured ribbing (Especially the APO song I love so much... heh.), and I rode along with the whole thing.

When everyone else was gone after swinging by Hobby Haven again, Jess and I then just stayed silent for most of the way back. I owe her one yet again for that ride... But yeah, I figured that we needed the silence.

All in all, a lovely evening...

Thursday, September 09, 2004

.:Practice What You Preach:.

Pop quiz: where is the place you are least likely to keep a wallet you picked up for yourself?

Answer: In the Ethics class you happen to be teaching.

So I ended up coming across the wallet of one of my students after the class... I naturally have to give it back. Heh.

.:Back From The So-Called Dead:.

After all this time, I decided to contact one of my former best friends whom I stopped being best friends with not because of any fault whatsoever, but simply because we were forcibly wrenched out of touch. I gave Gladys a missed call, then I told her that it was Marcelle, and I wasn't sure if she remembered who I was. She then called me up all the way from Baguio, and we just talked for a few minutes and all...

I'm glad she's doing well. Gladys has been quite a wonderful friend, and it's good that we finally are in touch with one another again. Hopefully, we can swap stories with one another soon enough or something... I missed her company for the past couple of years already... sigh...

.:Please. Not This Nickname:.

Over the meeting yesterday, I was given a potential new nickname to replace "Kel the Mushroom"...

Robi wants to start calling me "Kel the Squatter".

Err... no, I don't think so! =)

.:Run-Ins:.

After work with George for G-Max in the Morning, I headed off to Megamall to meet a listener friend of mine, Chy, who was in the country for the next week or so. With all the comedy of being "distracted" over persistent organic pollutants (POP's) possibly causing ::gasps:: sterility, and talking about contact lenses when both George and I have 20/20 vision, we just ended the show on a fairly competent note.

When I got down from Strata, I ran into Jack Sing, a batchmate of mine. Glad to see she's working now. It's fun running into her... one of those really nice Chinese friends of mine... oh, well. In any case, we just talked for a while, and then I headed off to Megamall while she and her workmates headed to Galleria. It wasn't long before I got to Starbucks, and finally met Chy in person.

Chy was nice. She's a really fun person to talk to, and I was glad I took the time out to just have coffee with her for a short while. We just talked about how things have been going, the Drive and Grind, my current boardwork, friends and lovers, and then we set up another chance to meet up, this time in the company of even more friends. I'm hoping Grace can tag along with me...

Thanx for the great time, Chy!

.:Open Your Minds:.

It would appear to me that I might hit on a lot of nerves when I talk about this little nagging topic, but I don't really mind. I think it's time I got this out in the open...

Everyone and their mothers know that I'm a pluralist. I take in any point of view, see its merits, appreciate it, then take the path I wish to take, regardless. All paths, as far as I see, have their merits and faults. However, seeing all of them, I would be a fool to not take one to get where I want to go. I cannot take all, either. I can only choose from those that I see, or else, not taking a path means I am being a bigger fool than the most fanatical of fanatics.

In spite of that, I personally know that to keep the peace, there are two topics that need to be avoided in conversation: politics and religion. These two topics are so filled with divergent opinions that it's hard to not step on some toes...

So it's with a lot of disdain that I stumbled upon THIS website, where the Ang Dating Daan church, for the most part, is represented. I honestly think these people mean well and believe what they believe, but for them to lambast every other belief is just simply too much.

I am just simply not too fond of people who wish to debilitate the beliefs of other people, while remaining obstinate to the faults of their own.

Much as I wish to speak out more, I am afraid that in debunking their arguments, I end up saddling myself with them, which is hardly my intention here...

And so, I'll save this vituperation for another day.

That website is testament to what is so saddening in this world nowadays...