the one with the slumdog millionaire

Strange was what I called it when I first heard of the title.

Blank was my feeling when I knew that it won the best picture award in recently concluded Golden Globes.

Astonished was my reaction when I knew that it was given a staggering 10 nominations in the Oscar Awards.

Bloody fucking brilliant were the first words that came out of my mouth after watching the film.

the one with the racist poem

This poem was nominated by UN as the best poem of
2006, Written by an African Kid

When I born, I black
When I grow up, I
black
When I go in Sun, I black
When I scared, I black
When I sick, I
black
And when I die, I still black

And you white fellow
When you born, you pink
When you grow up, you white
When you go in sun, you red
When you cold, you blue
When you scared, you yellow
When you sick, you green
And when you die, you
gray

And you
calling me colored?

I was figuratively laughing my brains out when I got to read this. Thanks to Amir for the find.

the one with the flu

I'm down with the flu. My creative juices are all dried up. I screamed at one of my students for deliberately asking "absent, present teacher?" That's all they ever care.

And in this piece of lump that I'm in right now, I still get ot be thankful for a lot of things. The Salmon Ressoto @ Sizzler's House, Hawaii Blue Freeze and DKNY for giving me yet another impulsive buy - to hell with it.

And oh, to ass up, I mean add up another thing. Finals week is fast approaching, marking and grading is again on the prowl. The best damn thing about being a lecturer.

Halo-halo na nga ito. I'm all shaken up. All mixed up.

the one with the black house

I'm not an american. But I still get thank you's shadowing over my head. On a serious note, thanks because I'm still alive to witness this kind of historic event even if it meant I just had to watch it on televiion.

But what I'm really thankful for is that finally - movies like Deep Impact and tv series like 24 will finally have a touch of reality. For the past years, it has either been a big freaking meteor or a really corrupted federal system in order for a black president to be on board the white house.

The arrival of Barack couldn't be any more resounding. Innovation is not rejected but it must be watched. The world will be watching. I will be watching. Let's all witness the white house turn into black.

the one with sabado nights

Sabado nights is just too much for me. I probably had the biggest crush on Ina Raymundo for like ages. To me, she was that one dream. The dream that was made by San Miguel Beer.

This one is a definite classic. One for the books. This was a trend setter way back during the 90's. Clubs were outfitted to fit the Sabado Nights image. Concert scenes drastically changed. Music came as a revolver. In short, it was the renaissance.

I just had to share this find.

the one with the alarm clock

Officially, this morning was my first time to be credited late in any work outfit that I have ever worked with. The feeling - SUCKS! Bigtime!

Thoughts to ponder:

- Never underestimate the capacity of your alarm clock to fail. Alarm clocks have a mind of their own. Treat them well and they'll function well. Don't throw them away or hit them hard when they start ringing. Patience is a virtue.

- Also, never understimate the capacity of your mobile phone, which is set as an alarm, to move and go under your pillows. When this happens, you will not be able to hear 30 Seconds To Mars' Beautiful Lie. Treat them nice as well, they have a more morbid mind than the traditional alarm clock.

- Lastly, never underestimate the capacity of your television to wake you up. Even if you check the sleep and awake menu, they have a tendency to act as if no one needs them at six in the morning.

Morals:

No morals here. Just the plain and simple truth of blaming other things when one gets tremendously screwed up.

I hate you Al Marai freebie alarm clock!
I hate you Nokia N82!
I hate you TV!

the one with the sin

I've got to admit this entry has a lil' something to do with the ending of the last one. Anyway, part of our daily routines and activities is probably getting pieces of advice. We get it from our ol' men, from bosses, from feeling bosses, from friends, from officemates, and even from books. The latter is like so overrated. I'm not a fan of self help books like rearranging your lifestyle, the healthy diet and blah blah blah.

I was browsing through some websites and images tonight. Sort of my daily routine to check on my faves. I stumbled on pages talking about how life is so short. Then from pluto, I figured out to make a list on my top 10 most influencial quotes on life. Here's what I came up.

My Top 10 Most Influential Quotes On Life
by: fatboyslim

10. Life is too short. Eat dessert first.
09. Life is too short. Walk butt naked.
08. Life is too short. Drink and be merry.
07. Life is too short. Cease the day.
06. Life is too short. Be malicious.
05. Life is too short. Deal with it.
04. Life is too short. Don't settle for cheap wine.
03. Life is too short. Diss traffic.
02. Life is too short. Seduce me. Now!

And on top of the chart. Numero Uno!

01. Life is too short. Sin a little!

These are my greatest influences. This is reality.

the one with one in a billion

I had a chat with an old friend today. It was like nostalgia talking to her. Highschool days. And more of high school days. The chat lead to questions like marriage and stuff. So funny coz we were on the same boat.

The boat of keeping the faith in fate. Fathom - as the greeks would call it over a thousand years ago, commonly referred to as destiny by the human tapestry of our times, is the sole reason for our being. The reason for God. The reason for humanity. The reason for life itself.

Amidst the billions of souls, destiny believes in the connection of lives. The connection that gives us that one in a billion chance.

Though destiny seems to be complete, I believe that it is the better half of choice. After all, life is simple. We make choices. And we never look back. Not that simple though.

the one with the eraserheads reunion cd

It was approximately two years ago when I met "VALIUM" at http://www.bangag.com/. She and I made great conversations. I was so interested in her first post at bangag. It was about her favorite band and favorite song. Eraserheads is the band. Huwag Kang Matakot is the song.

Valium became a reminder to me. Her thoughts became a shadowing reminder of how I was introduced to Ely, Raymund, Marcus and Buddy - the Eraserheads.

I was a kid, barely thirteen years old, walking up to the gates of St. Paul's University in Dumaguete. My only concerns that time were playing and taking good care of my G.I. Joe collection, especially Mercer and Muskat. On one regular school day, I went home by myself on a ride in a pedicab. Arrived home, and did my homework so I could watch Alaska's Johnny A, Jolas and Bong Hawkins later that night. Mama arrived early that night at around six and traditionally, I kissed her hands.

She and Papa were talking intently at the dining area. I wondered why. Then both of them approached me and said to me, "We have a gift for you." Like Santa's favorite kid, I was really excited. I opened the package that they handed to me. It contained Ultraelectomagneticjam, Circus and Cutterpillow. At least those were the words that I read. All album titles of Eraserheads. I wasn't the very delighted kid when I found out what the gift was.

I went to my room, opened the first tape and listened...

After fourteen years and continuing, I haven't stopped listening to the Eraserheads. The band that caused the surge for me to shift from the kid I was to the man I am. Much thanks are in order to mama and papa. The coolest ones that a kid could ever have.

I once made a bold comment almost two years ago at one of Valium's post in Bangag. I reckoned, this decade will never be complete without an Eraserheads Reunion Concert. I wasn't wrong. And though I wasn't there to witness them play their hearts out live again, the thought of knowing that my bold statement came to reality was more than enough.

Thanks to Orick for bringing me the Reunion Concert CD. Priceless. Priceless. Priceless.

the one with the x'mas snapshots

The Grinch

The Grim Brothers: Paul and Andrei

Abigail's not getting what she wants for Christmas...

Kim, Dhaffu, Jayson and Kriz

the one with my cousin dheif

"Dheif, you're not going to complain. I told you to sleep in the afternoon and you didn't. Now, you're grumpy and you don't have the right to complain."

"Ahhh, mom! Stop bugging me. You...you...I---- (pauses for a while and thinks that Idiot is a prison cell for him if he says it)....You PEANUT BUTTER!"

Moral Lesson: Kids, find a cheesy word to subsitute for a real nasty one to get by being grounded.

----------

"Dheif, you gotta drink your milk. There are lots of kids out there who doesn't even have milk to drink. You should feel lucky."

"Yeah, yeah... I know mom...Kids like my cousin Keisha back home in the Philippines."

----------

Dheif went home for the first time in the Philippines. He was brought by Uncle Danny to his old Grandpa's native house. Native houses in the Philippines, especially the in the rural areas have that traditional bamboo floors and that steep staircase made of wood.

Upon entering the house, after that grueling climb on the steep wooden staircase, he exclaimed looking down at the see-through bamboo floor - "OH MY GOD DADDY! WHAT HAPPENED TO THEIR CARPET!"

----------

Two years ago, they went back home again. This time, they stayed at my place in Dumaguete. Our neighbors got the hang of him. He was like real famous around the block, a kid walking and chattering the dark "L-ed" native american tongue.

In the afternoons, Tito Cooper, who just lives next door, who also happens to have a daily dose of my favorite rhum, always asks him. "How's your day Dheif?" Dheif goes, "T'was fine." or "T'was great."

This happened almost everyday. On one of these days, he was asked again. But before Tito Cooper could finish his routined question, Dheif goes...."Yeah, yeah, I know...How was my day blah blah...T'was great! There. Happy?"

----------

There are more stories about my cousin Dheif. I'll have to recall all of them first. Hang in there. This kid's comin' back for more.

the one with the catching up

So, it has been six days that I haven't written on this blog. I'm beginning to sound and look like papers coz all I have done for the week were paperworks. I could have chosen not to be in the Benchmarking Team, but I chose to be in it. I didn't know why I did but for sure the reasons will just come flowing after I get my paycheck for this month.

Yesterday, was the regular meeting of the 4th session of the team. We met, argued, and debated on entries. But at the end, the laughs were the most memorable ones.

Arguing on a single comma, when to use and/or, and how many spaces do we need to skip if a period is committed. Sounds like real petty, but these are the things that pay the bills. And these are the things that make us smile and laugh at the end.

the one with friendship

My journey to other countries had taught me one great thing. Friendship. It's not about the color, race or culture. It may be about common grounds but there's more to it.

My first year abroad was a disaster or so I thought it was. When I was first introduced to my first foreign officemate Rudolph, a South African, I figuratively didn't know where to start and how to open conversations. Good thing he smokes though, coz on the first day at work, we shared a cup and a joint of reds. And I brought with me something new to the table, my Marlboro Reds Softpack. He said let me see that. Then he said, why not the fliptop one? I replied, I never got to like the taste of fliptops. Softpacks satisfy my craving for destroying my precious air bags. Then we laughed at it. And then everything just kept on going.

The conversation went a long way, took us even a while to notice that we have exceeded the 15 minute break limit. Music was definitely a hitter, and we hit it off from there. The following days, he brought some of his collections of mp3's as I did. We chattered about why Kurt Cobain shot his brains out. Why Anthony Keidis of the Red Hot Chilli Peppers didn't attend the funeral of his former bandmate who OD'd on heroin. And we even made a list of the must haves that we didn't have during that time. The list contained Sonic Death Monkeys, The Clash, and Sonic Youth.

Then the office and break chatters went on a level higher. Kicking it off to a roadtrip to Bahrain. How did that go: BLAST! Except for the drugs, we had girls, booze and violence rolled into one. One hell of a roadtrip. Huraah!

Shortly after that, Rudolph had to leave the company for some greener pasteurs. We exchanged mails and contacts. I wished him luck on his new journey and gave him a pair of sneakers for him to use as he ventures yet another journey. He left me a book entitled, Danny Boy by Joan Goodwin and it had a dedication on it that said:

"Marky, friendship is an involuntary reflex. Thanks for the reflexes."

I read the book later on. And I dropped my jaws. The book said a lot about us. Our escapades, though shortlived, were off the hook. To us, race didn't matter. Age didn't matter. Culture didn't matter.

the one with the getting over

This will not be about the 5 stages of grief. Trust me.

Getting over is probably the cherry on top of the other cherry on top of that really delicious mango tango ice cream at Baskin and Robbins. It's the one that you would want to save and eat later but you don't have any choice but to eat it first coz it's the one that glares at you first.

As the great Barney Stinson say, men can't truly get over a girl, not until we can no longer picture her in our heads. Our brain is a hard drive. And in a relationship, the fun filled memories stands out most of the times. Pictures of eating out with her, sleeping all day, taking a shower together, spending the day at a beach, picking her up at her place and hanging out with her cool friends. These are the picture slides that are saved on our hard drive. These are the ones which are embedded with our favorite music track, which is also her favorite track, perhaps Bleeding Love by Leona Lewis. And on top of this, her naked pictures. The ones which are so hard to delete and click ok to continue. They are called bpegs (boobpegs et.al Barney Stinson.) If these are still saved and tucked in a folder, they will forever haunt you. These bpegs will stay forever. And even if these are deleted, the recycle bin will always be there, always a click away to have a glimpse of those bpegs again.

Unless we truly get to completely delete them, the getting over part will always remain the getting over part. We have to wake up on day number 28 and smell the pancakes again.

the one with the introduction

Halo-Halo: Mixed, Mashed and Blended...Just the way you like it. I'm a big mashed potato fan. Everytime I get to eat out at my favorite resto-grill Sizzler's, I always get that extra side dish of mashed potatoes. It's a craving that I have developed since my aunt Tita introduced it to me. She was like the Elle that almost caught Sylar.

This is a collection of anecdotes. Ones that I personally have encountered. It's a mix, a mash, a blend of truth, lies, reality, and sureal day to day encounters.

Have a peak of what Halo-Halo is.