kamasupra

Lunar Punk Zappa

2012-01-22T13:19:00.003+08:00

Tapos, magpapa-tattoo ako
Dapat yung nakakatakot
Ah 龙 pare
Tapos, yung 龙
Nakatusok sa stick
Tapos, yung stick
Nakatusok sa ulo ni Charles Manson, Jr.
Cool yun ‘di ba?

Alternate Reality

2011-12-03T01:29:00.002+08:00

Major League Baseball destroys the clothing that was made for its runners-up. The NBA donates it to an overseas charity. The NFL sends it to a place far away.

Apparently, the UAAP sends it to Subic.

... And Justice For All

2011-11-19T02:27:00.000+08:00

Homecoming Saturday

2011-07-27T19:27:00.003+08:00

Sometimes, when we both have time, the wife and I drive to Kyusi to eat at some of the best and most famous eateries in Katipunan and Diliman. You see, these areas are not only known for the best institutions of higher learning in the country, they also have the best inihaw na liempo, pork chop, pork barbeque, tapsiliog, fishballs and squidballs anywhere. (Hey, it must be the water!)

For some time now, I was planning on bringing the wife to another one of the best eateries in Diliman. But, for one reason or another, it never pushed through. I just remembered that I wanted to bring her there, when another lawyer and I made a short stopover at Old Balara after coming from one of the many government offices in QC.

So after spending two consecutive Saturdays at work, and as a consequence, missing an Ateneo-La Salle game for the first time since 2007, Saturday can't come soon enough. Either before or after the game on Saturday, we will have Mang Jimmy's Tapa Mix and bottomless rice. Sounds like a plan.

Song of the Year

2011-04-11T11:13:00.010+08:00

Pagdating sa Naga
Dun tayo mag-beach

- Express Highway, Bloomfields

Nice song, Bloomfields.

Except, of course, for the fact that Naga is landlocked.

*facepalm*

Kagitingan

2011-04-08T21:52:00.003+08:00

"Sleep, my sons, your duty done, for freedom's light has come."

Hallelujah!

2011-03-24T17:51:00.005+08:00

"Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you."

The above passage is from the Gospel according to Matthew. It was the Gospel for 17 March 2011 ─ the same day the results of the 2010 Bar Examinations came out. I think it was at that point of the Mass when I was finally able to relax, after being a nervous wreck since the day the Supreme Court announced to the public that the results are finally coming out. The premature greetings on Facebook, while sincerely appreciated for the posters' confidence in us, certainly did nothing to help.

All the eight people from my block who took the exams last September passed. After five long years of shared pain and agony, I honestly believe that we were all rooting for each other from the time we finished law school until the day we saw our names published at the SC website. I cannot remember being with a group of people who are as genuinely happy and proud for one another as we all were that day. We share this happiness and pride with our other blockmates who will take the country's first MCQ Bar Exams this November, and who we trust will feel as delirious some time next year as we did last Thursday.

Amen.

Shirt Happens

2011-03-08T19:38:00.004+08:00

I have quite a number of Ateneo items in my closet, inspired, in no small measure, by the recent success of its men's basketball team, which I have religiously followed since 1991. (Those were the days when you can get into an Ateneo-La Salle game simply by assisting the Babble carry the drums up the bleachers. Those days are long gone.) I got the the original "Sixth Man" shirt from the Babble itself, basketball jerseys from online sellers, jackets and more shirts from adidas and Nike. The school itself has been selling all this stuff for years, but it cannot be denied that the successful partnerships it has formed, with adidas from way back in 2006 up to the present one with Nike, combined with the success of its basketball program may have boosted sales a bit. (I am just guessing here.)

But what do you do, when your basketball team has not tasted a championship in 25 years, and has not actually won a game in two seasons?

Anyway, back in September, during one of the few times in my life that I cannot associate myself with anything blue, I was planning to wear, for the last Sunday, a shirt made for the college by some enterprising folks from Diliman. Katya (one of only two people who I know still visit this site) informed me that the largest size available would not be very flattering if worn by me. They are too small, as are most shirts sold in the vicinity of UP campus, which explains why I do not have a lot of them (the fact that the Maroons have been stinking lately don't help either).

But, God bless them, the same enterprising people, for once, decided to be generous with their material, and came up with this in 3XL:

UP Fight.

Kalayaan

2011-02-25T11:50:00.002+08:00

"Labimpito ang saksak, tagos sa puso at baga, tuhog na tuhog ang laman. May marka ng itinaling alambre sa pulso niya, talop ang siko at tuhod, basag pati bayag."

Welcome to Hell

2011-02-17T09:16:00.003+08:00

When the LAE results came out last week, various public fora were once again flooded with questions about life at Malcolm Hall. For the most part, upperclassmen and alumni are more than willing to accomodate the incoming ~~victims'~~ freshmen's questions, if only to reassure them this early, that everything will be ok.

I am reposting a part of an entry in the old LSG blog from way back. From what little I remember from that first year in law school, this should more than sufficiently sum up what every freshman needs to know in order to survive his first year in UP Law.

---

Dear Scaebolah,

I’m depressed. Ever since I got into law school I rarely see my old college buddies, and my girlfriend is starting to think we’re growing apart. I think it’s because of all these readings. Please help!

Blue Frosh

Dear Blue Frosh,

Have you not read The Great Message Inscribed in Marble? You’re here to be great lawyers, not happy, well-adjusted ones. Hello!?! Expresio unius est exclusio alterius. If you wanted to stay socially functional, you should have just taken an M.A..

The law school is here to fashion you to into a minister of law, praying for litigation. But until then, as far as your professors are concerned, you are the lowest possible life form.

Take to heart the ideal that you have to strive for. The lawyer is a priest of justice (In re Thatcher, 80 Ohio St. Rep., 492, 669), bound to uphold the dignity and authority of the law. Or, in case you want to be a judge or justice someday, this is how you must be:

"A man of learning who spends tirelessly the weary hours after midnight acquainting himself with the great body of traditions and the learning of the law.

A man who bears himself in his community with friends but without familiars; almost lonely, devoting himself exclusively to the most exacting mistress that man ever had, the law as a profession in its highest reaches where he not only interprets the law but applies it, fearing neither friend nor foe, fearing only one thing in the world — that in a moment of abstraction, or due to human weakness, he may in fact commit some error and fail to do justice. That is the judge." (Newton D. Baker, Secretary of War of the United States of America during World War I, quoted in GEORGE A. MALCOLM, Legal and Judicial Ethics, 1949 ed., 200.)

What does the above text say? First, you have to be a man (sorry ladies). Second, you have to be studying late at night, not worrying about whether or not you’ll get some bumping and grinding with your girlfriend (chances are, you guys won’t last until the end of the year anyway). So deal.

My advice is to make do with your blockmates as your temporary barkada substitute. Or do what I did during my first semester: I named my stacks of readings, painted a face on each of them, and hanged out with them all sem. I had so much fun, and to this day they’re still my friends.

Yours,

Scaebolah

Dear Scaebolah,

Do my professors care about me? I mean, as a person?

Afraid

Dear Afraid,

Hahaha! What a hoot! The answer should be obvious. :P

LOL,

Scaebolah

Blah

2011-02-08T16:02:00.004+08:00

This site has been dormant lately in large part because of the sudden rise in popularity of microblogging sites, where you can rant and rave in 140 characters or less. Most of what I wanted to say made it to Facebook and I just did not have enough motivation to post longer versions of the same thing here.

Anyway, I also do not have a lot of things to rant about these days. Granted that I actually have more time in my hands right now, the absolute absence of any law school-induced stress also resulted in much less interesting things to write about. And work? Work has been relatively stress-free for me for the past few years. I think I have reached the stage where I have my job down pat.

Nevertheless, IF everything works out well, I will have a new job by April or May. I will start at an entry-level position, with significantly less pay, knowing absolutely nothing about what I am about to do. (I would like to think I know something about it, but no. Not really.) Yet somehow, I find myself excited at the proposition. The funny thing is this is not even the first time I am doing this.

But hopefully, this would be the last. I don't think I still have enough time to make another career change in the next few years.

See you in the dark side.

A New Year’s Benediction

2011-01-01T13:49:00.000+08:00

May your coming year be filled with magic and dreams and good madness. I hope you read some fine books and kiss someone who thinks you’re wonderful.

And don’t forget to make some art. Write or draw or build or sing or live as only you can. May your coming year be a wonderful thing in which you dream both dangerously and outrageously. I hope you’ll make something that didn’t exist before you made it, that you will be loved and that you will be liked, and that you all have people to love and to like in return.

And most importantly, because I think there should be more kindness and more wisdom in the world right now, I hope that you will be wise and that you will always be kind.

And I hope that somewhere in the next year that you will surprise yourself.

by Neil Gaiman

Wishlist

2010-12-20T10:14:00.006+08:00

After the disasters, natural and otherwise, that befell us in 2009, fate has been relatively good to me this year. Five days before Christmas, I find most of my latest material desires satisfied, and a few of my lifelong goals finally met.

1. A UP Diploma - Do not get me wrong. I will forever be a Blue Eagle by heart. But, being the only UPCAT passer from my high school who decided to go somewhere else for college, I must admit that there are times when I wondered what could have been. Well, there is absolutely no need to wonder now. Just for good measure, I did not take some sissy ass certificate course to satisfy my curiosity. I earned a degree from the only college in the entire university which has not produced a single SCL in its almost 100 years of existence.

1a. A law degree - 15 years after finishing college, and after taking (and passing) the LAE the first time. Better late than never.

2. A third consecutive Ateneo basketball championship - Game 1 was scheduled a day before the last Sunday of the Bar Examinations. So, I had to enjoy the Great Tamaraw Massacre from the comfort of a Century Park Hotel room (Not that it helped any with Legal Forms and Ethics the following day). This only made the release of all the angst, anger and pain accumulated over a period of five months much more sweeter the following Thursday.

2a. A picture with Bianca Gonzales - Taken at the bonfire. Now, if only one of the Eagles start dating Angel Locsin sometime next season. Uhm, Emman?

3. A nice place to stay in Metro Manila - We won't get to move in until 2012, but we finally got the ball rolling. We got some help from a couple of generous people, and I still have no idea how, in heaven's name, we will be able to reciprocate their kindness and pay them back.

4. A copy of a men's magazine with Bianca Gonzales on the cover - Do you see a pattern here? I promised myself years ago that if one day, Ms. Gonzales graces the cover of FHM, Maxim, UNO, etc., I will get a copy. So, imagine my surprise when during bar month, I realized that she had already graced the cover of UNO exactly one year before. It took a few Google searches and a couple of emails, before the publisher was finally able to send me the last two copies of the September 2009 issue.

5. Nike Air Max+ 2010 and Nike Zoom Hyperfuse - I don't really collect shoes, but I get them if they are shoes that I really must have. These are shoes that I really must have. I got both pairs in the same black/red colorway.

6. A new phone - Weng has been telling me to get a new phone for the longest time. But, the only phone out in the market then which I find worth replacing my trusty SE K620i is the BlackBerry. You have to understand that I have never paid for a unit since I went postpaid years ago. The cheapest BlackBerry unit required a plan upgrade and a cashout of Php6500. That is, until Smart decided to have a promotion for all of three days where no cashout is involved. Sign me up.

7. PlayStation3 - I do not have a PS3 console yet. So, in the meantime, I have to settle with playing NBA 2K11 and Madden NFL 11 on my rather outdated PS2. I can only take comfort in knowing that I can still get games for my PS2 at Php70 each.

---
photos courtesy of Fabilioh.com, DMCI Homes, Nikeblog and Titan22.

T.I.M.Y.A.P.

2010-12-01T19:20:00.003+08:00

Tang Inang Mukha Yan Ang Pangit.

This pathetic excuse for a human being, who actually provides the living argument why abortion should be legalized, put a previously unknown reporter's life in danger simply by being the irresponsible, insignificant moron that he is.

Napakalaki mong tanga.

Did You Know . . .

2010-11-25T17:30:00.001+08:00

. . . that there were neither pilgrims nor Native Americans in the Philippines in 1621?

Wishlist

2010-11-23T10:48:00.003+08:00

My mother-in-law is spending Thanksgiving in the good ol' US of A, and it just occured to me that I am the only one in the family who has not (yet) asked for anything for her to bring back from the land of the free and the home of the brave. I want a PS3 console, but I think that went out the window when my wife - her daughter - asked for an iPhone.

So earlier today, I came up with a list of five movies that my sister-in-law can hopefully find at Best Buy. Sometimes you get lucky and find the hardest to find films in the most unexpected of places (The Seven Samurai, Naga City) here at home, but that doesn't really happen too often.

Here is my list:

1. Animal House

One of John Belushi's best-known movies. When he was 30, this was the No. 1 movie in America. He died three years later.

2. The Paper Chase

This movie demonstrates why the man who invented the Socratic Method should be rotting in the seventh circle of hell for all eternity.

3. Dr. Strangelove

I have seen some of Kubrick's films ─ Eyes Wide Shut, Full Metal Jacket, The Shining, A Clockwork Orange ─ and this should be a good addition to the library.

4. Two of Us

This is for the Beatles fan in me. They could have screwed this story up in so many ways, but they did alright. I have seen this on VH1 a long time ago, but I wouldn't mind watching it again.

5. 61*

The original homerun race. Before ballplayers had incredibly huge heads and necks.

Tonight, Tonight

2010-11-19T17:28:00.004+08:00

For the sheer lack of anything more productive to do tonight, I think I will just load the entire Eraserheads catalog into my iPod and then play the Jordan Challenge-less NBA 2K11 on my rather outdated PS2 until my hands hurt.

I think I am finally getting the hang of this weekend thing.

Happiness

2010-11-18T20:24:00.006+08:00

Fourteen months after its publication, and two months after I discovered that this issue actually existed, it finally arrived.

Of course, not until after I tried asking Bufini and some bookstores first, looked for and found the email address of the magazine's circulation department, waited for a about a month or so for them to reply to an email, and finally, talked to a sensible guy who provided me with the manner of payment and delivery.

Never underestimate the persistence of a fanboy.

Status Report

2010-11-02T14:59:00.004+08:00

For the past three weeks since I returned to The Seagull*, I have been able to watch:

all 9 episodes of Season 2 of White Collar
all 11 episodes of Season 1 of Covert Affairs
all 12 episodes of Season 1 of Human Target
all 12 episodes of Season 4 of Burn Notice
all 7 episodes of Season 4 of Chuck
all 4 episodes of Season 6 of Bones

Not bad for three weeks.

Most of these are series which I have been able to follow at one time or another over at Solar TV (aka RPN 9). They usually aired on Saturday evenings, quite conveniently after all those lovely Saturday mornings and afternoons spent at Diliman. I am not discounting the possibility that I may have enjoyed them only because they made me forget things that happened only a few hours earlier, if only temporarily.

What is unfortunate is that, for some stupid reason or another, after a season or two, the network stops airing these series altogether and switch to new shows (Vampire Diaries, anyone?). The fact that Solar TV is the only channel on free TV which satisfies this demand, is the only thing that is stopping me from watching Willing Willie everyday. Well, that and the fact that Georgina Wilson is not co-hosting with Papi.

Covert Affairs was recommended by RQ. I find it a somewhat cheesier version of Alias. It's OK if you can stand all those flashback scenes about the lead character's (portrayed by Piper Perabo. Yes, that Piper Perabo.) "sawing pag-ibig", as RQ put it. I decided to tolerate it anyway only because Emmanuelle Vaugier is in it.

---
* Sorry, but you have to know and see my Facebook account for details on this.

Fine, Fine Time

2010-10-11T14:08:00.007+08:00

Whoever at Nike decided to print only 150 Ateneo three-peat championship shirts is an absolute idiot. Either that, or he has developed an aversion to making money. In any case, it feels good to refer to that asshole, whoever he may be, as an absolute idiot. Almost therapeutic, even.

Look. Those 150 shirts would not even be enough for all the resident-students of Eliazo Hall alone. That is how dumb that decision is. That a demand for this shirt was artificially created is obvious - there is not enough supply even for the residents of the smallest dormitory in campus. It's like providing a slice of cake to a convention of supermodels the day before the apocalypse.

* * *

Of course, by now everyone knows that the blue birds from Loyola Heights won the UAAP men's basketball championship yet again, making them champions for three years running. This year, like last year, the cows from Morayta were favored to win it all, for good reason. The cows had two players who are members of the national basketball team. They had the eventual MVP and ROY. The birds, on the other hand, lost three players to graduation. All three players ended up being picked in the PBA draft, two of whom were picked first and second overall.

After the Game 1 blowout, there were suggestions of game-fixing. So, I will take this opportunity to confess. Yes, I bribed the entire crayola squad to play like shit that day. That is the only way I can ensure a 23-point blowout. Pay off every single soul wearing a yellow and green jersey. Having only the MVP in your pocket just doesn't cut it.

This explains why I almost had no more budget for the second game. Beavis almost refused to lose the game until funds were transfered just before he took three free throws at the endgame. He missed two, setting up Buenafe's shot of a lifetime on the other end.

If you believe any of that, then you must be someone from Nike who thinks that printing only 150 shirts for the most rabid basketball fans in the country is a cool thing.

* * *

I was lucky enough to watch most of the first round games, and some of the second round games live - including both games against the pepsters. The first round game was already won, before one player decided to lose the game all by himself. The second round game was pure, unadulterated pleasure. It was a game that was over by the middle of the first quarter.

Which is very much like the first game of the finals, which I watched from the comfort of a hotel room near Taft. I am still hoping that that would be the last time I would spend a night at that hotel. I watched the second game from Upper Box A, in the same section where an elated Jumbo Escueta later climbed up to moments after the final buzzer.

* * *

Speaking of the apocalypse, another moron decided to ruin some otherwise promising lives one afternoon in Manila, by throwing a fragmentation grenade at a huge throng of people in a celebratory mood. Over 40 people were injured, including a sophomore law student who had to lose both legs because of the senseless act of an idiot who could very well be the living argument that abortion should be legalized. I will forever be in awe of the courage shown by Ms. Raissa Laurel after the incident.

GiTZ mo, n0h?

2010-04-20T17:31:00.002+08:00

The st8 shol pRoTectnDProMotE D rIGhT Of ol CITiZEnZ to qUalitY EducAtion at Ol lEVElS,ndshoL tAke appropRI8 stEPz to mke suCh educaTioN acCESSiBLe to oL P0Wh.

- CoNSt p0wh. ArT. xiv, § 1.

Sa Wakas

2010-04-13T14:53:00.005+08:00

Kay tagal ko nang naghintay at nagsunog ng kilay
Ngayon ay masasabi ko na matamis ang tagumpay

- verse written by some students, c. 1994

The grade for PIL, from the first semester, came in last. Exactly one hundred thirty three units. All accounted for. So, unless somebody over at the OCS made a really horrible mistake, I should be able to add two more nice letters to my name by the end of next week. (Those two letters should be in the right order. If you mix them up, you just end up as someone behind a turntable mixing sounds for those who are colloquially referred to as "party people".)

I went to Diliman yesterday for the first time after taking Tax finals, to fill up some forms, and to pay, for the requisite clearance and the application for copies of the TOR. It was not weird, but it was different. For instance, I went inside Room 107 to leave papers for the lucky girl who inherited my cases, and I did that without cursing under my breath or wanting to leave immediately. Those are the thoughts that ordinarily overwhelm you every time you do that. At the same time. I also had to get a visitor's pass to enter the library. I entered that place every day for five years just by making small talk with the guard. I later left the Twilight Zone and went with two blockmates to the alumni hostel to get a "loose piece of clothing that is put on the shoulder" that we are supposed to wear next week. Apparently, it should be worn over something else.

I would probably miss all the things that made my evenings quite different for the past five years. In fact, I was already staying late at work and not leaving the office at 4:00 PM as early as last October (or the end of the first semester), since I only had classes on Saturdays during the second semester. I was already spending more time online at home, and less time searching for stuff on Lawphil at [Section 17, Article III, 1987 Constitution]. Actually, I am going miss it all. Just not now. Right now, I am just grateful and delirious that I do not have to do any of that ever again.

Next.

Hope Springs Eternal, Again

2010-03-29T17:30:00.003+08:00

"I find I'm so excited, I can barely sit still or hold a thought in my head. I think it's the excitement only a free man can feel, a free man at the start of a long journey whose conclusion is uncertain. I hope I can make it across the border. I hope to see my friend and shake his hand. I hope the Pacific is as blue as it has been in my dreams. I hope."

- Red, The Shawshank Redemption

After I submitted what hopefully was the last blue book I will ever submit in my life last Saturday, I also hopefully finished Tax 2 and hopefully said goodbye to five long years of cramming for night classes after work, photocopying boxes of cases half of which I probably tried to read at least once, grasping for answers out of thin air during recits, writing down answers legibly, or at least mumbling them, for your reciting seatmate to see or hear. (Disclaimer: I actually still have to submit a portion of an arbitral award, but I just need a working computer to do that.) Five long years were spent looking for the perfect reviewer after an all-too imperfect semester, surviving final exams, waiting for grades, removing conditional failures, and bidding - yes, bidding - for subjects. We also spent some time counseling (presumably) indigent litigants, representing them before courts of (presumably) justice, and experiencing firsthand how (presumptously) a law firm should not be run.

Hopefully, they are all over, and hopefully, I will not have to do any of those things ever again.

When in Rome

2010-02-25T16:35:00.002+08:00

I was thinking, if we had "dress-up day" back then, I probably would have worn a collared shirt. Maybe long pants, too. Ok, maybe even a pair of shoes.

虎, 虎, . . .

2010-02-14T18:25:00.002+08:00

. . . burning bright

In the forests of the night,

What immortal hand or eye

Could frame thy fearful symmetry

Sinta

2010-02-11T13:15:00.003+08:00

Mayo noon ang buwan, at may Santacruzan.
Ikaw ang Elena, sa gabi'y siyang reyna.
Libo ang kandila; ngunit pagtingala -
tila ba himala - higit pa ang tala!

Ilaw rito't doon sa puso ko noon.
Ngunit ako'y lito, kaya't di natanto,
na lahat ng ilaw, na sa aki'y tanglaw,
ay ikaw. Ay ikaw. Ikaw.

Paglipas ng Mayo, pagsungaw ng Hunyo,
nang ika'y lumayo, ilaw ri'y naglaho
At mga kandila nangagsipagluksa
at sa pagtingala wala ni isang tala.

Dilim dito't doon, pumaligid noon,
kung kaya't natanto ng puso kong ito
na lahat ng ilaw na sa aki'y tanglaw,
ay ikaw. Ay ikaw! Ikaw.

Kung ikaw ay wala, wala rin ni tala.
Kung ika'y kapiling, kahit tala'y saling.
Sapagkat ang ilaw na sa aki'y tanglaw
ay ikaw! Ay ikaw! Ikaw!

---
"Ikaw," awit sa dulang "Sinta" ni Pagsi.

Push Button to Eject

2010-02-08T14:49:00.005+08:00

A little over nine months after I first entered a courtroom, to make my first appearance before a judge, in my very first case, the client calls and tells me that they received a copy of the decision ordering the adverse party to vacate the property.

Like I said elsewhere, the outcome of the case had everything to do with the contents of the killer position paper, and had absolutely nothing to do with its page formatting. Of course, it also helps if the opposing counsel does not appear to know what he is talking about in his position paper.

I won my first case. Whatever happens for the rest of my life, I can now always say that with a straight face.

Poor Eli

2010-02-04T16:08:00.002+08:00

Does anyone who watch Heroes here really think that Eli (and all of his copies) has a snowball's chance in hell of beating Peter and Sylar? I will be disappointed if that fight is not over in five seconds max.

It's a poem. By Robert Burns.

2010-01-27T14:44:00.001+08:00

"Anyway, I keep picturing all these little kids playing some game in this big field of rye and all. Thousands of little kids, and nobody's around - nobody big, I mean - except me. And I'm standing on the edge of some crazy cliff. What I have to do, I have to catch everybody if they start to go over the cliff - I mean if they're running and they don't look where they're going I have to come out from somewhere and catch them. That's all I do all day. I'd just be the catcher in the rye and all. I know it's crazy, but that's the only thing I'd really like to be."

- J.D. Salinger (1919-2010), The Catcher in the Rye

---
The Catcher in the Rye, incidentally, is the best ten peso book i ever bought from Book Sale, or anywhere else, for that matter. It was an old Bantam paperback edition with a solid maroon cover with lemon yellow type. It was borrowed and was, unfortunately, never returned.

Higher Learning

2010-01-26T13:06:00.007+08:00

At about this time of the year 19 years ago, I and six other people came to school on an ordinary day and found our names posted on one of the bulletin boards along the walk. We passed the UPCAT. The letters arrived at home a few days later.

I recalled that day because last week, my first godchild did not find her name on the list. That list, I presume, is still posted on the bulletin boards of the old "alma meyter," even though UP has already been posting the results on the Web for years now. Ramon Magsaysay HS in Cubao is still posting their list on their wall facing EDSA. That alone gives me enough reason to believe that every other high school in the country is doing the same thing.

It is a fact that it is statistically difficult to get into that list. While high school grades are considered in the selection process, having high grades does not at all guarantee admission into UP. Of the seven of us who made it, only two graduated with honors, prompting one of my classmates who did not make the list, but graduated with honors, to tell to no one in particular that day, that he should have chosen another campus. One of my friends who chose UPLB as his first choice could only snicker. He later met his wife in Elbi, and to make a long story short, they made me a godfather a few years later.

While admission into the premier state university of the country is source of pride for all of us who were lucky enough to make it, it does not mean the end of the world for the others who did not. If anything, I can guarantee that they will be less arrogant than the stereotypical UP student. I myself turned down my slot in UP 19 years ago to attend another school, and it turned out rather well for me (except for the arrogance part - that other school was apparently good at churning out arrogant dicks as well). It was so good, in fact, that 10 years after finishing college in that small liberal arts school in QC, I passed the LAE and was admitted to UP Law. I figured that that would settle, once and for all, all lingering questions in my head about what would have been if I stayed at UP, just like six of my friends. But, that's another story.

While I have no doubt in my mind that she will excel in whatever it is that she chooses to do in the next four years of her life, I want to warn her that, chances are, she will be experiencing the most wonderful moments of her life within the next four years, and she must not be carried away. She will also face her biggest problems and see the best and worst in people. During those moments, it is very likely, that she will be on her own. She must not be overwhelmed by all the new things that she would have to face and she must not lose sight of what she came there for in the first place.

It is, nevertheless, fortunate that she is attending college away from home at this time and age. Unlike her parents and I, she does not have to lug coins with her and fall in line to use the only working PLDT pay phone in the dorm (or campus) to call home. She will have the luxury of a relatively cheap Internet connection to send email and to chat. She can choose to spend her free time in any of the God-knows-how-many malls around the city. She does not have to go to SM City North EDSA every time to catch the last full show.

She will have the best years of her life. She only needs to make sure that she does not have too good a time while at it.

The Homestretch

2010-01-15T18:50:00.005+08:00

I have started to count the Fridays and Saturdays off the calendar. Hopefully, in a few more weeks, I can already see the so-called light at the end of this cursed tunnel. It is so close, you can almost taste it.

I have been away from college for more than 10 years now, and I can still recall, with fondness, my days and nights there. Right now, I think I will leave this place (Hopefully. Soon.) with no fondness, except for the remarkable people who made all those years a little bit more tolerable. Of course, things are significantly different in college, the most significant difference being in college, the only thing I had to do was to go to class and pass. That is it. Everything else took care of itself.

(One other thing, is that I don't think my professors in college really went out of their way to really inflict moral damages upon my person. But, of course, one can also argue that it is the method at work.)

Anyway, I have finally started working on the paper. Hopefully, I will be able to finish it on time. I have been religiously attending the elective subject, and so far, it looks like that's all I have to do to get out of it in one piece. The one remaining major subject was supposed to be a 3-unit subject, and it was, until the professor decided that we are not suffering enough, so we now all go to class one hour earlier. "Room 1408," of course, is still one of the seven portals to hell.

By the end of March, I would have already submitted an ejectment case for decision and obtained a final settlement of an award from the NLRC, in a case that has dragged on since my classmates were still in grade school. Hopefully, I would also be able to ask a court to reset a hearing in a case for slander. To May.

Speaking of "Room 1408," is it just me or the old hags just decided to be a wee bit more maniacal? Look, I have been working for more than 14 years and I already had four different jobs in two different countries during that span. I have never, ever, seen a working environment worse than this hellhole pretending to be an office. And that is putting it mildly.

Anyway, I hope everything goes as planned. My sanity cannot afford to stay in that place one day longer than I have to. Besides, I already paid my old college more money for a five-month course, than I ever had in all my four previous years there, combined.

And it is non-refundable.

Scum of the Earth Taxi Co.

2009-12-23T17:17:00.006+08:00

It is Christmas once again, where all through the Metro, not a cab driver could be found. Oh, yes. It is open season once again for R&E and all other enterprising Manila cab drivers who suddenly become a wee bit harder-to-get than your stereotypical dalagang Pilipina. They do not even bother to come up with excuses anymore, they just look away and step on the gas.

Which is not to say that this phenomenon is exclusive to the last quarter of the year. It is a year-long event in these parts, and the government agencies mandated to protect the riding public (yes, you DOTC, LTO and LTFRB) seems to be inutile to do anything about it. If we presume that official duty is being regularly performed, and that they are actually eagerly waiting for pissed-off people to file complaints before them, and that no one has done exactly that, it should conveniently explain the temerity of these scum to just continue going about their merry ways, shouldn't it?

But, come on. It is public freaking knowledge. You and I watch the Amazing Race, and I am willing to bet the head of a cab driver on a plate, that we have the only spot of earth in the known universe where cab drivers routinely turn down passengers. I would not even be surprised if it is on Lonely Planet.

(Here is an unsolicited suggestion to the next president: appoint Bayani as chair of the LTFRB. If he can do to these assholes what he did to street vendors, I'll vote for him for whatever position in 2013 or 2016. That's a promise.)

On a related note, I would like to commend Michael Fajatin (who might just live down his Mendiola episode) for being a Good Samaritan last Friday by asking a cab driver, in not so subtle terms, to take a pregnant woman to her destination. The woman was apparently initially refused by the scumbag because she was not going to where he was going.

Welcome to the Philippines and Merry Christmas.

Mellon Collie

2009-12-15T22:14:00.002+08:00

T'was the week before christmas
And all through the town
All the people were trippin
Then somethin came down

I never knew i had it
Day after day the dullness grew
Then one day i just felt plain lazy

- Eraserheads, Mono Virus

Vote For Me!

2009-12-04T17:46:00.003+08:00

Better yet, vote wisely.

---

Image courtesy of the Center for People Empowerment in Governance (CenPEG).

Quote of the Day

2009-12-02T17:57:00.001+08:00

"We wants it, we needs it. Must have the precious."

- Gollum Macapagal-Arroyo

Hayok

2009-12-01T11:09:00.002+08:00

Sabi pa nila ay dito mo rin matatagpuan
Ang tao na nagmamay-ari ng isang upuan
Na pag may pagkakatao'y pinag-aagawan
Kaya naman hindi niya pinakakawalan
Kung makikita ko lamang siya ay aking sisigawan

- Gloc-9, Upuan

Just in case we need somebody to blame someday, here are the towns composing the second legislative district of Pampanga: Floridablanca, Guagua, Lubao, Porac, Santa Rita, Sasmuan.

FYI.

Hindsight is 20/20

2009-11-25T15:53:00.004+08:00

MALACANANG
MANILA

EXECUTIVE ORDER No. 546

DIRECTING THE PHILIPPINE NATIONAL POLICE TO UNDERTAKE ACTIVE SUPORT TO THE ARMED FORCES OF THE PHILIPPINES IN INTERNAL SECURITY OPERATIONS FOR THE SUPPRESSION OF INSURGENCY AND OTHER SERIOUS THREATS TO NATIONAL SECURITY, AMENDING CERTAIN PROVISIONS OF EXECUTIVE ORDER NO. 110 SERIES OF 1999 AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES

WHEREAS, Section 12 of Republic Act No. 6975, as amended by Republic Act No. 8551, provides that the primary responsibility involving the suppression of insurgency and other serious threats to national security rests with the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and that the Philippine National Police (PNP) shall, through information gathering and performance of its ordinary police functions, support the AFP on matters involving the suppression of insurgency, except in cases where the President shall call on the PNP to support the AFP in combat operations;

WHEREAS, the National Democratic Front, the Communist Party of the Philippines and its military arm, the New People's Army, have been waging an armed struggle against the Government and the Filipino people for more than thirty years;

WHEREAS, the ongoing insurgency has a negative impact on the economy and resolving the insurgency will foster a climate conducive to economic growth and national development;

WHEREAS, to effectively address this threat, there is a need for a "whole of government approach" to ensure sustained, consistent, integrated and coordinated international security measures against the Communist Terrorist Movement and other organized elements/groups engaged in armed offensives against the Government;

NOW, THEREFORE, I, GLORIA MACAPAGALARROYO, President of the Republic of the Philippines, by virtue of the powers vested in me by law, do hereby order the following:

SECTION 1. The PNP shall support the AFP in combat operations involving the suppression of insurgency and other serious threats to national security.

SEC. 2. In the exercise of its responsibility, subject to the concurrence of the appropriate Local Chief Executive through the Local Peace and Order Council, the PNP is hereby authorized to deputize the barangay tanods as force multipliers in the implementation of the peace and order plan in the area.

SEC. 3. The Department of the Interior and Local Government shall exert efforts in securing and institutionalizing funding support from Local Government Units. For this purpose, governors and mayors, as deputized representatives of the National Police Commission in their respective territorial jurisdiction, and in relation to their sworn duty to implement Section 16 of the Local Government Code, shall ensure that sufficient funds shall be appropriated in their annual budget for the operational and logistical support of the concerned PNP units for the implementation of this Executive Order.

SEC. 4. The Local Chief Executives, in coordination with the Local Peace and Order Councils, shall include in the integrated area/ Community Public Safety Plan of their respective city/municipality, the priority program of action/thrust in resolving the insurgency and other serious threats to national security and ensure appropriation thereof for effective implementation of this Executive Order.

SEC. 5. All executive issuances, rules and regulations or parts thereof which are inconsistent with this Executive Order are hereby revoked, amended, or modified accordingly.

SEC. 6. This Executive Order shall take effect immediately.

DONE, in the City of Manila, this 14th of July in the year of Our Lord, Two Thousand and Six.

(Sgd.) GLORIA MACAPAGAL-ARROYO
President of the Philippines

By the President:

(Sgd.) EDUARDO R. ERMITA
Executive Secretary

Open Season

2009-11-24T14:44:00.003+08:00

Look at the shoes your filling
Look at the blood we're spilling
Look at the world we're killing
The way we've always done before
Look in the doubt we've wallowed
Look at the leaders we've followed
Look at the lies we've swallowed
And I don't want to hear no more

My hands are tied
For all I've seen has changed my mind
But still the wars go on as the years go by
With no love of God or human rights
'Cause all these dreams are swept aside
By bloody hands of the hypnotized
Who carry the cross of homicide
And history bears the scars of our civil wars

- Civil War, Guns N' Roses

Reeling and Writhing

2009-11-18T14:22:00.005+08:00

It is amusing how the "country's largest political party" with its highly-touted "machinery" could not even field a complete Senate slate of twelve. This much was admitted, barely a week after party leaders shrugged off reports of defections, and referred to those who left the party as "insignificant."

Within the past week, the "country's largest political party" selected actor and game show host Edu Manzano to be its candidate for Vice-President of the Philippines (Can you say "Game KNB?"). Former Senator Ralph Recto and his wife Batangas Governor Vilma Santos confirmed yesterday that it left the "country's largest political party" for the Liberal Party. As far as I know, they were not called "insignificant." Earlier today, Quezon City Mayor Sonny Belmonte and Vice-Mayor Herbert Bautista followed suit.

With all the airtime its party leaders are enjoying, I am at a loss as to how it cannot field a slate of twelve. Off the top of my head, I can suggest Eduardo Ermita, Prospero Nograles, Prospero Pichay, Mikey Arroyo, Romulo Neri, Raul Gonzales, Ignacio Bunye, Anthony Golez, Cerge Remonde, and my all-time favorite Lorelei Fajardo. That's ten names right there. Add that to the eight other people they are considering (which incidentally includes incumbent Senators of the Republic Ramon "Bong" Revilla, Jr. and Lito Lapid), there is no way the "country's largest political party" cannot come up with twelve names, and there is no way they could possibly lose next year's elections.

Right.

Today, ladies and gentlemen, is the first day, of the rest of its life.

* * *

May 2010 is shaping up to be a three-way horse race among alumni of three institutions of higher learning: Aquino and Roxas are from Ateneo, Villar and Legarda are from UP, Teodoro and Manzano are from DLSU. Well, you know where my loyalties lie.

Room 107

2009-11-16T15:33:00.004+08:00

It's an evil fucking room.

- Gerald Olin, 1408

There's a sofa, a writing desk, faux antique armoire, floral wallpaper. Carpet's unremarkable except for a stain beneath a thrift-store painting of a schooner lost at sea. The work is done in the predictably dull fashion of Currier and Ives. The second painting is of an old woman reading bedtime stories - a Whistler knockoff - to a group of deranged children while another Madonna and child watch from the background. It does have the vague air of menace. The third and final, painfully dull painting, the ever popular "The Hunt". Horses, hounds and constipated British lords. Some smartass spoke about the banality of evil. If that's true, then we're in the 7th circle of hell.

- Mike Enslin, 1408

You can choose to repeat this hour over and over again, or you can take advantage of our express checkout system.

- Room 1408, 1408

Enjoy your stay.

Dear Miss Manners

2009-11-04T14:40:00.009+08:00

Q: X, at the pain of sounding demanding, is this correct - i bid 225 points for friday am ola and still got thursday am!? :(

A: hi Y,Z also has a similar problem. But I think we can work it out - OLA was one of the subjects which wasn't part of the required class demand survey the ARC and STRAW released a couple of weeks back. With a class demand survey kasi, we'll be able to find out before hand how many slots we should allocate per section. For OLA, since this didn't happen, Prof. A just estimated that there'll be about 115 students taking OLA (and this 115 will be divided by the 10 teams). Pero after the run was conducted, nalaman namin na about 7 or 8 students and hindi nabigyan ng slots. This means that the admin underestimated the demand for OLA. Prof. A was ready to make arrangements for the 7 or 8 students when we realized this problem earlier tonight. But I suggest that you send him an email na rin at [email] just so he knows. But I can help talk to Prof. A about this during reg. Pakipaaalala lang sa akin.thanks,- X

But, of course, it wasn't because they underestimated the demand. It was because the program they were using had so many bugs in it, you could have asked your local pest exterminator to clean it up.

The 225 points that Y bid above turned out to be the second-highest bid for the section. Y, along with the person who bid the highest bid (at 238) were "waterfalled" to another section, while the person with the third-highest bid (201) did not get a slot at all. Meanwhile, people who bid 90 and 60 points got the slots. So, how the fuck did this happen?

Presumably, in their desire to "improve" the registration process, and perhaps the performance of the college in general, they decided to implement new rules during registration (subject, of course, to new rules which were later implemented as they went along their merry way). Some of these are: that "crossovers" between day and evening sections will no longer be allowed and, that day students have priority over evening students on day subjects and vice versa.

When every single evening student who bid for the same subject got squat regardless of the number of points bid, you don't need to look at the source code to see that the system fucked up. Electives and OLA sections were all classified as "day" subjects, in effect, putting priority on the bids of day students above those of evening students. The result, as with all programs running with bugs, is garbage.

Given the time constraints and the indefinite requirements given them, I would say that the programmers did a relatively good job. I am assuming that undergraduate students wrote the code. To properly put all this into perspective, consider that undergraduate "machine problems" are usually given one month before the deadline. The requirements should already be clear and well-defined at this time: these requirements are what the programmers will test against. Students, of course, usually start working on these only about two weeks before the deadline. In an ideal situation, the code is tested against all possible scenarios (i.e. a stress test) presented by the requirements before it goes into production. (There is a reason why computer professionals use the word "user" when they mean "idiot".) If you don't, and the program encounters a scenario that it doesn't recognize at run-time, then you are really fucked up. Remember that for software, repair costs increase if they leak downstream - they increase tenfold with each lifecycle phase.

Computer programs are predictable. They will do what you ask them to do. If you, for example, in your sheer genius, decide that a specific set of students get higher priority over another set of students on a specific set of classes, the program will do exactly that. It will not discriminate and will not make any distinction for you. For example, regardless of the fact that day and evening students alike, take OLA and elective subjects on equal footing, the program will not recognize that until you tell it to.

They should have properly tested the program before hoisting it upon an unsuspecting studentry. Next time, they should also publish the results. Meanwhile, I have to hope and pray that I don't have to go through this shit ever again.

Hope Springs Eternal *

2009-10-29T13:20:00.007+08:00

Payment Status: Paid for 1st Semester, 2009-10
Priority: Graduating for 2nd Semester, 2009-10

The past few weeks have been very hectic due, in no small part, to all the slacking I did for the past five months. From the start of June up to the end of October, in what I correctly predicted beforehand as the best semester ever, I barely stayed up late to read any thick, grossly overpriced, hardbound book on various esoteric subjects, written by very old men who are probably full of themselves, if at all.

Of course, I also had the good fortune to find an available slot for PIL under Dean P. before the semester started. Otherwise, it would have been Paracetamol Monday all over again for me. Looking back, I think I am very blessed to have been able to take that course before the college changed the enlistment rules again. Looking forward, you can bet your glutes I am thanking all the gods everywhere that I will be gone before they decide to make it more disorganized than it already is.

Next semester wouldn't be as easy though. For one, we'll be doing internship again, and this time it won't last for just over a month. Nobody I know has ever enjoyed the experience. I will try my best to get the schedule which I think will inflict the least possible amount of pain.

Then there's Tax, which I would have already finished, if last year, they gave priority to "on-curriculum" students and did not give priority to graduating students, and which I would have gotten first dibs this year, if they did not change the rules, did not give priority to "on-curriculum" students and gave priority to graduating students. Trust the best minds in the country to screw the simplest things up.

I also need one more elective, and after being able to get all the best electives offered by the college all these years, this time, I couldn't care less which three-unit elective they give me. In Red's language, I am almost done crawling to freedom through five hundred yards of shit smelling foulness you can't even imagine. I am almost rehabilitated and almost ready to rejoin society.

---
* Subtitle of Stephen King's novella Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption, originally published in Different Seasons.

Bagong Salot ng Bayan

2009-09-29T09:26:00.008+08:00

---
Galing sa TNL ang mga larawan.

Wishlist

2009-09-02T15:06:00.001+08:00

1. Noynoy Aquino and Mikey Arroyo slug it out for the presidency in 2010.

Iyon lang po, Lord.

Conspiracy Theory No. 1

2009-08-25T19:43:00.006+08:00

According to Inquirer.net, "former president Joseph Estrada said on Tuesday he was '99.9 percent' sure of running for president in the 2010 elections."

Notwithstanding the "minor" detail in Sec. 4, Art. VII of the 1987 Constitution, which says that "[t]he President shall not be eligible for any re-election," which puts into question Erap's qualification to run, and the interpretation of which will certainly be asked from the Supreme Court the moment Erap files his Certificate of Candidacy, I am more disturbed by the possibilty that these developments are actually calculated moves on the part of the Estrada family.

According to the Omnibus Election Code:

Sec. 77. Candidates in case of death, disqualification or withdrawal of another. - If after the last day for the filing of certificates of candidacy, an official candidate of a registered or accredited political party dies, withdraws or is disqualified for any cause, only a person belonging to, and certified by, the same political party may file a certificate of candidacy to replace the candidate who died, withdrew or was disqualified. The substitute candidate nominated by the political party concerned may file his certificate of candidacy for the office affected in accordance with the preceding sections not later than mid-day of the day of the election. If the death, withdrawal or disqualification should occur between the day before the election and mid-day of election day, said certificate may be filed with any board of election inspectors in the political subdivision where he is a candidate, or, in the case of candidates to be voted for by the entire electorate of the country, with the Commission. (emphases mine)

If Erap is disqualified anytime before election day, and Jinggoy Estrada files a certificate of candidacy to replace his father "not later than mid-day of the day of the election," then all "Estrada" votes will not be stray votes, but instead will be counted in favor of Jinggoy.

O ha.

Haiku

2009-08-19T16:35:00.001+08:00

Toilet Haiku #1:

Oh my toilet duck!
You color the water blue.
Add my weewee: Green.

- Gabe Mercado

My Kind of Game

2009-08-17T10:14:00.003+08:00

Kirk Long made a jumper to make it 2-0, and the rout was on.

This time, we did not need to come back from a late deficit after trailing all game long. There was absolutely no threat from a possible buzzer-beating trey (or two of them) to send the game to overtime (yesterday, they needed to sink seven treys in the last two minutes to win; of course, that is assuming that Ateneo scores nothing during that span). The thrill was practically gone after Ateneo led 8-0 and never looked back.

DLRT could come no more closer than five points after that, while Ateneo's lead ballooned to as many as 21 points. The final margin was 16 points, no thanks to two straight gimme baskets in the last minute of the game that was over not too long after tipoff.

While no criminal acts were committed by players exempt from criminal liability (see the Revised Penal Code) this time, the game was not without its interesting moments. There was Joshua Webb, who saluted the Ateneo crowd after making a layup in traffic. Of course, they were already trailing by double digits then. There was also Arvie Bringas trash-talking Rabeh Al-Hussaini, after making his first and only basket (a three-pointer) of the game. Rabeh already had 22 points at that time and his team was very comfortably ahead. So, either I am at a loss as to what these idiots could possibly yak about during a game where their collective ass was being whipped, or they are really confused about when to talk trash.

But, the best moment for me was when Ryan Buenafe was called to the bench one last time, and there he was, smiling at Joshua Webb, pointing at the scoreboard with utter glee.

2 > 0. The math is correct. The world is aright once more.

Wish Ko Lang

2009-08-13T11:03:00.004+08:00

In related news, the Papaya Indian Restaurant based in London, received an order from the Bangladeshi cricket team for a takeaway to be flown out 3,400 miles away to Dubai. The whole order, including travel, cost over £4,200 (or PhP333,400.00).

Which is still roughly US$13,077.00 (or PhP629,679.39) less than what the douchebag PGMA and her party spent on a "simple dinner" in Manhattan.

---
1 US Dollar = 48.15167 Philippine Peso
1 British Pound = 1.64856 US Dollar

Dumbass

2009-08-06T18:28:00.004+08:00

I have never been a fan of Willie Revillame, but this latest fuck up has got to take the freaking cake.

Huwag kang mag-alala Papi. Pag ikaw ang namatay, tatawa kami.

That Old Cory Magic

2009-08-03T10:40:00.008+08:00

A law professor once looked at my class and remarked, that for most of us, him retelling the story of EDSA was like his parents retelling the story of the war ("panahon ng hapon"). Most of my classmates were born post-EDSA, and they learned about what happened on those fateful February days - not to mention the events from 1983 that led to People Power - pretty much the same way how my professor (and I, for that matter) learned about the war - through textbooks.

When Cory's children announced early last year, that their mother had cancer of the colon, I told my wife that when the time comes, I will be paying my last respects to the woman who spent the best years of her life in the service of her country. Last Saturday after the game at Cubao, Weng and I passed through Ortigas Ave on the way home to Makati to survey the situation. The rain was pouring really hard, cars can be seen parking along both sides of Ortigas (I think it was the first time I saw people crossing Ortigas), and people are still coming in droves. The line stretched all the way outside the LSGH campus. Weng reminded me that a mass was being held, and that the public viewing will probably not start again until after an hour or so. We decided to go home and just come back later.

At 2 o'clock in the morning, a good number of private vehicles were still parked along both sides of Ortigas. This time, we did not bother to find out if it extended all the way to Wilson, and just asked the policeman on duty if we could park beside a vehicle which appeared to be from Channel 5. I presumed that they wouldn't be going anywhere anytime soon. I never thanked a cop so profusely in my life before that time.

We got inside the campus rather easily, and the lines started in the corridor leading to the gym. There were two lines and they were letting people in by batches. We went up a ramp and into the gym and after less than an hour since we fell in line, we saw the flag-draped casket below an image of the crucified Christ.

As the line went around the gym, you cannot help but notice the flowers around it (there was, in fact, no more space for the flowers inside the gym, that some of them were already placed at the corridor leading to the gym; some were moved to the EDSA Shrine across EDSA). Aside from the huge ones from politicians and government agencies, you cannot possibly miss one simple basket of flowers which was brought by a policeman from Parañaque. The line was moving rather quickly, probably in consideration of all the people still in line, and when we saw the remains of the former president, we could only make the sign of the cross and make a very short prayer. But, I think that it was enough.

The next day, we found out that the line already stretched all the way to EDSA and back to Ortigas. The networks were reporting that it takes around two hours to get inside the campus and another hour or so to get inside the gym. They also announced that Wednesday, the day of Cory's interment, was declared a special non-working holiday. I texted my teammates of the development, and one of them replied:

"Anong okasyon?"

---
Image courtesy of Inquirer.net.

Nirvana

2009-07-25T17:02:00.004+08:00

Only if life at Malcolm has been anything like this for the past four years and change, I wouldn't have suffered all that needless stress. I really think that for some sick reason, all these years, I have been blessed enough to get all the elective subjects I wanted to get - and I really mean all. I probably wouldn't be able to use half of it (just like Calculus), but I will always take useless and easy over useless and fucking difficult any day.

I have been reading all the PIL assignments, which are really reasonable considering what he-who-must-not-be-named assigned to us before, and that they come with specific instructions to read only the relevant parts. You can actually read them anytime before class. In fact, I have been reading them at work before going to Diliman at noon. Sometimes, I read them during Rem class, where you have a good four hours to finish the readings. So far, there has been no pressure at all, because all our magnificent classmates are always prepared to volunteer (Hooray for them!).

As for Rem, all the cases are assigned a priori. Which is exactly how the professor wants it. Since the start of classes, I have read a grand total of four - read them - four cases. Of course, this does not include all the ICJ cases that I have been reading during this period to prepare for the next day's class. Will I regret it someday? I don't know. But I promise to do things differently when we get to Crim Pro and Spec Pro. Those will be somewhat new for me. But I think I can relax again when we get to Evidence.

I also have two other electives with, by my humble standards, very good professors. I have not been called in either class yet, but I can say with a straight face that I have been able to participate in the discussions in one of them. In the other class, let us just say that there are not too many discussions there. However, I can say with reasonable certainty that I will be called to recite in that class someday, and I can intelligently guess, that I will be the 44th person to be called. Call it a hunch.

So Far, So Good

2009-06-20T14:40:00.002+08:00

Initial returns show that the chances of this semester, ending up as the best semester ever, is not unlikely.

A Few Good Men

2009-06-08T21:39:00.006+08:00

After turning over all my crappy cases to the next sorry intern last week, I only need to appear in one more preliminary conference before the MTC in Marikina this week, and summer would officially, mercifully, be done. Next week, I can go back to more mundane, and less stressful, things like cases and recits.

Admittedly, it could have been a lot worse. A blockmate was a wrong word away from being cited for contempt. Another almost became the godmother of her client's child, and almost shelled out money for the christening. The worst that happened to me was paying for a client's photocopying expenses. Everybody should be so lucky. Anyway, I am just happy that nobody got hanged because of me.

Next week, we'll be seeing our old friend PIL, and meeting new acquaintances like SLR, banking, comm'l arb and even not-so-new rem law review. We enlisted in PIL only a week or so after learning about the result of our efforts in PrIL - which would make all of us, either courageous or dumb. All these, after the college implemented a new enlistment system, in a manner that is contrary to every software engineering principle I know.

What a way to start the year. I can't wait to get this over with. Let's get it on.

A Can of Whoop Ass

2009-05-04T13:24:00.006+08:00

I thought that a football match broke out of the Pacquiao-Hatton laugher yesterday. But, only for less than two rounds. I guess they all know when to shut up.

By the way, maybe it is a good thing to send Nanay Dionesia to Vegas everytime the Pacman has a fight. I don't know, but it seems to me that she can get less airtime only if she's abroad. And even that is too much.

You know the ads got inside your head when you're still trying to shake the image of a woman fixing a leaking roof off it, a day after. Well, it's either that or Giselle Sanchez and her husband, and tongkat ali. Take your pick.
---
image courtesy of Inquirer.net.

Law of the Land

2009-04-27T14:35:00.006+08:00

"There is a country where women freely go out unescorted and, like the beautiful roses in their public gardens, they always receive the protection of all. That country is Switzerland."

- People v. Jaurigue, 76 Phil. 174

I thought I have seen it all when, in addition to Jaurigue, quoted above, the justices of our Supreme Court introduced the concepts of "bombardment of the drawbridge," "shelling of the castle of orgasmic potency," and "strafing of the citadel of passion" to our jurisprudence. Now, the Court of Appeals have enriched our laws further with its recent ruling on the Subic Rape Case. To wit:

“When a woman is drunk, she can hardly rise, much more stand up and dance, or she would just drop. This is a common experience among Filipino girls.”

I do not know the last time the good lady justices went out to have a good time, but I think it is rather safe to assume that not one of them has ever been to Embassy, or to any college party, recently, where they would have seen enough drunk women - yes, drunk Filipino girls - who can not only rise and stand up, but actually dance a lot better than when they were sober. When was the last time you ladies went out anyway? 1945?

“Resistance by words of mouth [sic] does not suffice to establish that she indeed did not give her consent to the sexual intercourse.”

I guess this means that when a woman wants to say "No," it is not enough that she screams "No, I definitely do NOT want to have sex with you!" She also has to put it in writing, or maybe she has to express it in sign language, or perhaps via Morse Code. So, what would suffice? The problem is that the decision does not say what else a woman is supposed to do in order to deny her consent to sexual intercourse. If it is to be in writing, it also does not say whether or not it has to be in a public instrument. (Hello, I am being raped, can you notarize my statement of resistance to this unlawful aggression?)

Quote of the Day

2009-04-23T12:24:00.002+08:00

"So this is what a courtroom looks like."

- Kaffee, A Few Good Men

Scarlett was Never This Hot in the 80s

2009-04-20T15:00:00.003+08:00

Yo Joe!

Seven

2009-04-16T16:00:00.005+08:00

Being the practicing Catholic that I am, I was able to make my very first visita iglesia last week. I knew you are supposed to go visit churches (you don't even have to know rudimentary Spanish to figure that out), but I wouldn't even have known its basis or history had it not been for a mini-debate at work about how many churches one is supposed to visit. Other than that, and that you are supposed to pray, I pretty much have no more idea on what else you are supposed to do.

I mapped out the churches in my head, and figured out how we can get from one point to another. Weng took care of the liturgy. I guess you can say that she is my saving grace. We were able to complete the whole thing in about two hours without leaving Makati.

We started at St. Andrew's in Bel-Air, where we usually go every Sunday, then we went to Sts. Peter and Paul along Burgos. Mass was being held by the time we got there, and the place was already packed.

From Poblacion, we went to Guadalupe. I was surprised to find that the Guadalupe Church (Nuestra Señora de Gracia Church) is so small when you're inside it. It is a beautiful church, and it still is a favorite for weddings and baptisms. Guadalupe and Sts. Peter and Paul are supposed to be two of the earliest churches established in the country. I suggest that you go there from JP Rizal, instead of from EDSA. Let's just say that you will feel safer, coming from JP Rizal.

From Guadalupe, we went to Santuario de San Antonio in Forbes Park. The driving distance between the two churches is nothing compared to the evident disparity between their respective communities and parishioners.

We then proceeded to Greenbelt, and that was the first time I ever saw Makati CBD at its most empty and boring. The only people in the area are the ones going to the church. We next went to Don Bosco, and lastly to the Shrine of the Sacred Heart in San Antonio. The short trip from Pasay Road to Dao was marked only by the heavy traffic along Kamagong. It became evident once we reached Dao that everybody was going to the same place.

I Know Evidence

2009-04-07T15:19:00.001+08:00

. . . and I am NOT taking the goddam course again!

I rock.

MJ, HOF'er

2009-04-07T13:08:00.001+08:00

---
MJ's old college team, North Carolina, won its 5th NCAA title earlier today against Magic's alma mater Michigan State.

Magic-Bird, 30 Years Later

2009-04-01T15:40:00.001+08:00

Greetings to All Alsallites!

2009-04-01T13:10:00.001+08:00

It's your day, today!

/dev/null

2009-03-31T12:37:00.003+08:00

I just realized that it is rather difficult to think of anything to write, the day after you tried, and failed, to recall and write down fifteen different conflict rules. Verbatim.

The Final Set Outtakes

2009-03-15T16:13:00.002+08:00

The last time I saw a clueless entertainer get booed off his ass was when Carlos Agassi tried to rap during halftime of an Ateneo-La Salle game. So, I was not really surprised when a good number of the over 100,000 people at the MOA concert grounds let MTV VJs have it. Moreso after Anne Curtis confessed to being excited to hear "Tindahan ni Aling Nene." WTF.

Posers come in all shapes and sizes. Tim Yap, the self-proclaimed eventologist, exposed himself as a total poser when Ely Buendia put him on the spot at the end of the show and he promptly showed everybody that he has absolutely no idea how to sing Toyang correctly.

In One Sky So High

2009-03-06T13:54:00.003+08:00

Come and take a sip from the cup as the drink makes you think
Don't blink cuz you'll be taken out by the pen and ink
Superproxy, why don't you just talk to me
My rhyme be stickin to ya head like epoxy
The Mouth'll be blabbin, never be backstabbin
Hangin w/the E-heads and I'm just plain havin
FUN, no time for gats and guns,
I use my m.i.c. like a gun I get the job done
I play video games all day
Zipadee-dooda Zipadee-day Hiphop Hooray!
Menage one, Menage Trois, Menage Three
If songs were pets then I'd have a menagerie
Chimney-chimney Humpty Dumpty
Grab on the m.i.c. start gettin funky
Funky with the flavor that you savor, imitator
I'm the flavor of the hour other MC's I devour
I'll be with Raymund, Buddy, Marcus, and Ely
I'm on their case just like Petrocelli
Ultraelectromagnetic Hiphop and ya don't
Stop and ya don't quit WORD-UP!
Lap it up like a pussy sippin on milk
Rock hard to my style that's smooth as silk
Superproxy why don't ya just talk to me....tooot...static

---
+ RIP FrancisM

Ministerial Duty

2009-03-05T15:46:00.003+08:00

“The President just exercised her authority, and for that matter, you might call it ministerial authority, to grant executive clemency. So I don’t think there’s anything else to explain.”

- legal genius Eduardo Ermita, Executive Secretary, Banana Republic

I guess this means that convicts who comply with "the criteria" can now file petitions for mandamus to compel the President to grant them executive clemency. What a nublet.

Amnesia

2009-03-05T08:49:00.004+08:00

Last night, I listened to, most probably, the most sensible statement Kris Aquino has ever made in her life. I don't really pay attention to what she is saying most of the time, but given the significance of the events that transpired yesterday, I thought the country needed to hear from Kris - the daughter - what most of us wanted to say.

"Pinatay nila si Ninoy Aquino."

Heroes Super Bowl Ad

2009-02-26T09:02:00.001+08:00

23 Years Ago

2009-02-25T09:15:00.005+08:00

Say you want a revolution
We better get on right away
Well you get on your feet
And out on the street

- John Lennon, Power to the People

Sloth

2009-02-23T15:35:00.002+08:00

But taken from me was this drowsiness
Suddenly by a people, that behind
Our backs already had come round to us.

And as, of old, Ismenus and Asopus
Beside them saw at night the rush and throng,
If but the Thebans were in need of Bacchus,

So they along that circle curve their step,
From what I saw of those approaching us,
Who by good-will and righteous love are ridden.

Full soon they were upon us, because running
Moved onward all that mighty multitude,
And two in the advance cried out, lamenting,

"Mary in haste unto the mountain ran,
And Caesar, that he might subdue Ilerda,
Thrust at Marseilles, and then ran into Spain."

- Dante, Purgatorio, Canto XVIII

Last Saturday, after the last "t" was crossed and the last "i" was dotted (oh, that is so overused), after the last presumption of good faith was written down, I submitted my blue book and immediately stopped thinking about the Rules of Court. (Can you believe it?) In my own worst-case scenario, it won't be until June when I have to reread them all over again. I went home, picked Weng up, had Korean food at Rockwell, and watched the best film that I have ever seen in years. (I suggest that you all go watch Gran Torino. Now.)

(The new blue book is very much thicker than the old one. I have no idea why they had to do that, since for four years and for more than 30 courses, my answers have managed to exceed the number of pages of the old blue book only once. ONCE. In that one time, I wrote on a grand total of two pages of the second blue book. By the way, did I mention that we only write on one side of the blue book?)

The school holiday today couldn't have been more perfectly timed. After that already very delayed exam last Saturday, I had absolutely no intention of reading anything involving a petitioner anytime soon. So, I watched the Jazz beat the Hornets yesterday morning and played Madden 09 all afternoon. Last night, I watched Warrick Brown get shot and Jack Bauer get arrested. All guilt-free. Having no more Nego for all remaining Tuesdays of the semester doesn't hurt either. Of course, I am totally sticking my head in the sand, and disregarding that big stack of paper on the floor for Wednesday and Thursday. If you're familiar with SC rates and you're good at math, that stack of paper is worth about Php300 from Blessings Copy Center. Come on, go figure.

I brought with me a couple of those cases to work today, but I have already realized that I was just kidding myself when I picked them up from the floor this morning. Maybe Juris and Prudence would have better luck tonight.

One Love

2009-02-14T11:26:00.000+08:00

Any Given Sunday

2009-02-05T13:57:00.002+08:00

When I left the land of the free and the home of the brave, I told my family and friends that I'd miss football and driving on the interstate the most. I was right on both counts. After growing up in a country where basketball is practically a religion, and after being a fan of Michael Jordan and the Bulls long before I lived anywhere near I-90, you would wonder why I ended up watching more Bears games than Bulls games live.

Of course, it was difficult (to say the least) to get Bulls tickets in 1998 - the last year of the great Bulls run, but then again, it was fairly easy to score a pair after that. While the Tim Floyd era was mostly forgettable, the Bears, during that time, didn't exactly manage to conjure Super Bowl images in your head.

I usually drove from the NW suburb where I lived to the loop and parked near the Metra station, where every game day buses are available to take people to Soldier Field. Now, watching a Bears game at Soldier Field is something that you can experience in not too many places on Earth. The NFL's regular season is played from September to December. Soldier Field is an open air stadium. Sitting on Lake Michigan. When the wind blows in from the lake, on any given December Sunday, in the Windy City, you can bet your freezing ass you will feel it.

The last time I watched the Super Bowl live (on TV, I am not that blessed) was in 2000. I was in the Twin Cities with friends from Chicago, ready to drive back home after helping one of our friends move. That night, we watched Kurt Warner lead the St. Louis Rams over the Tennessee Titans. I don't remember the score anymore, but I remember the Rams winning it after a Titan fell short of the endzone in the dying seconds of the game. Before that season, Kurt Warner, who led this season's NFC champions to the Super Bowl, played in NFL Europe, and Arena Football. Before that, he was stocking shelves at Hy-Vee.

So, last Monday, I watched the Super Bowl live on TV for the first time in 9 long years. While in the previous years, I had to be satisfied with replays on primetime, after following the game during the day on ESPN.com, I decided to take a leave from work that day and watch football instead. I figured that that would be a lot easier to do than getting a car (much less driving in anything resembling an interstate in this country). One out of two ain't that bad at all.

Fanboys

2009-01-29T16:33:00.002+08:00

牛

2009-01-26T12:43:00.002+08:00

Ox ba tayo d'yan?

From the "Things That Make You Go Hmm" Department

2009-01-23T17:54:00.001+08:00

"To those who cling to power through corruption and deceit and the silencing of dissent, know that you are on the wrong side of history."

- Barack Obama, President, United States

"First of all, our President is ahead of Obama and probably, I would think that if there's anything to be learned, it should be President Obama learning from President Arroyo."

- Eduardo Ermita, Executive Secretary, Banana Republic

Pop Machine

2009-01-22T08:44:00.001+08:00

Ten Years Ago

2009-01-14T12:56:00.007+08:00

On January 13, 1999 (CST), Michael Jordan's retirement news conference was broadcast to the world. On that day, the game's greatest player announced he was done (until 2001).

I still remember having lunch with friends, on that cold Chicago day 10 years ago, in a pub along State St. (I probably had fish and chips), and we were wondering what the man standing outside the window next to us was looking at. (We later figured out that the pub had its speakers outside on, and he was watching the press conference as well.)

It Never Ends

2009-01-10T15:54:00.003+08:00

Yes. The Reunion Concert DVD will be released soon.

Yes. There will be a "Final Set."

Ligaya.

Happy Christmas

2008-12-23T18:35:00.004+08:00

I met a man in Nigeria years ago,
an Ibo,
who said he had three hundred relatives
he knew by name.
His wife had just had a baby.
They were going to take it
on foot
to be welcomed and marveled at
by as many of those relatives
as they could find,
even though
there was a war going on.
Wouldn’t you love to have been
such a famous baby?
I wish I could wave a magic wand
this Christmas,
and give every desperately lonesome
and hungry and lost American
man, woman, or child
the love and comfort and support
of an extended family.
Just two people and a babe in the manger,
given a heartless Government,
is no survival scheme.

- Kurt Vonnegut, 2004

Customer Service

2008-12-18T14:24:00.003+08:00

Me: May reservation ba kayo?
Genius on the phone (GOTP): Papunta ho saan?
Me: Sa Olongapo.
GOTP: Wala ho.
Me: Sa Zambales?
GOTP: Wala din ho.
Me: Maski yung last trip? Yung 11 ng gabi?
GOTP: Meron po.

(Trips to Zambales, just in case you don't have a Philippine road map on hand, go through Olongapo.)

Cooling-Off

2008-12-16T18:58:00.005+08:00

I have absolutely nothing to do tonight.

Or, tomorrow night and every single night for the next two weeks, for that matter. There is absolutely nothing that I have to photocopy, highlight, read and/or, God forbid, memorize. There will be no opportunities for other people to inflict moral damages upon my person, and aside from lining up behind total morons in the ATM, there will be no opportunity for me to wish harm to befall, presumably, a fellow human being.

This is probably how drug-induced altered states of consciousness feel like. I know this will not last, but at least, I will be celebrating the holidays on a high - drug-induced or otherwise.

Rehab

2008-12-12T14:46:00.002+08:00

"There's not a day goes by I don't feel regret. Not because I'm in here, or because you think I should. I look back on the way I was then: a young, stupid kid who committed that terrible crime. I want to talk to him. I want to try and talk some sense to him, tell him the way things are. But I can't. That kid's long gone and this old man is all that's left. I got to live with that. Rehabilitated? It's just a bullshit word. So you go on and stamp your form, sonny, and stop wasting my time. Because to tell you the truth, I don't give a shit."

- Red, The Shawshank Redemption

More Deep Thoughts

2008-12-04T13:57:00.004+08:00

I finally qualified for a Nike Park VIP card. Yay.

* * *

I can't wait for my authentic Ryan Buenafe Ateneo jersey. Hopefully, I'd get my hands on it before Christmas.

* * *

Jover had me hooked on fantasy basketball. As of this writing, my team is tied for 6th in a fifteen-team league.

* * *

I took the long route home last Tuesday: I walked from the office to the train station at Ayala, took the train all the way to North Ave. (after missing 2 text messages, 3 calls and 1 crazy woman pounding the train before the train left Cubao), crossed over to the other side of the platform, took the train back to Guadalupe, and after futilely waiting for an FX ride, took a cab home.

Home, which ordinarily, is 1 jeepney and 1 tricycle ride away from the office.

* * *

For a game show host, Richard Gomez makes a very good pervert. I don't know, is it just me, or does he really just naturally appear as if he's molesting every female contestant on the show?

* * *

Speaking of TV shows, Zita was voted off the island and she's mad. Note to Zita: it's a game. Anyone can be voted off. When the Good Lord said "Blessed are the poor," He doesn't mean that the poor are entitled to win every single TV game show on the planet. But, I know you'll get over it. Hopefully, soon.

#34

2008-11-07T17:59:00.001+08:00

Dave Matthews Band plays #34, at the Hollywood Bowl, October 2, 2007.

Sour Grapes

2008-11-06T17:54:00.006+08:00

"The best-laid plans of mice and men / Go oft awry"

- Robert Burns, To A Mouse, on Turning Her Up in Her Nest, With The Plough

Apparently, the CRS is to the College of Law, as speed limits and pants are to Homer Simpson: a suggestion.

Here is what I propose: the college should just do away with the CRS and simply hand out pre-filled Form 5s to students, who can then proceed either to Palma Hall or to the OUR and pay the assessed fees immediately. It will not only save everybody the time and effort needed to craft a class schedule, pre-enlist, fill out a Form 5 which, at the end of the day, are all pointless anyway; it will also save much-needed bandwidth because people no longer need to access CRS. This would also do away with validation, checking and assessment. Imagine how easy registration would be.

They can leave the electives to the students. They just need to make sure that electives with the right number of units, which are not in conflict with any of the predetermined courses (and sections), are actually available for the student to take.

Just a thought.

Cow Dung

2008-11-05T14:59:00.002+08:00

Reliving the Moments

2008-11-03T11:36:00.010+08:00

"When the kids had killed the man I had to break up the band."

- David Bowie, Ziggy Stardust

My wishlist for my first office Kris Kringle contained a solitary item: the Eraserheads' Cutterpillow album (I think I just dated myself). I was fresh off college, it was my first job and I was so cheap (some will say that I still am) that I was willing to wait until a few weeks before Christmas before finally getting my hands on my own copy of the album. That album, incidentally, went platinum the day after they launched it at the UP Sunken Garden.

A few years and a few more albums later (including one - Natin99 - which was brought to the US by a friend when I was there, signed by the members of the band), I now get to enjoy more luxuries in life, like not waiting until Christmas to get the Heads' latest - and most probably, really, last - album. The Reunion Concert is their first live album, containing all 15 songs performed by the band last August 30, before Ely's heart went into "overdrive." The best part about the album, of course, is that I am actually in it (yes, along with 30,000 other people counting down, and chanting "group hug").

I was planning to go to Music One before going to work earlier today, but let's just say that I got lucky. The press release said that the album was going to be released on November 3 - today. That is why I was pleasantly surprised to find Odyssey selling the album as early as last Saturday. The saleslady told me, matter-of-factly, that they were releasing it early ahead of everybody else. I don't know if that's alright, but, who am I to complain? I spent the entire weekend reliving the best concert I have been to in recent years. It never gets old.

Best Movie Lines Ever

2008-10-28T13:51:00.003+08:00

Jeff Portnoy: Hey, Alpa, if you come over here and untie me, I will literally suck your dick, right now.

Alpa Chino: Man, what did I tell you? I love tha pussy!

Jeff Portnoy: I'll cradle the balls, stroke the shaft, work the pipes, and swallow the gravy.

- Tropic Thunder

Bliss

2008-10-27T13:29:00.004+08:00

"Enjoy what's left of your semestral break."

Including today, we have 11 days of reprieve before we all go back to Shawshank. I have already started reading Playing for Pizza last night - a book which I bought way back in June, in premature anticipation of this break. Later, Weng and I will try to catch Tropic Thunder at Glorietta (Power Plant and GB3 are now showing High School Musical 3 - no, I will not pay any money only to see that). It's been a quite a while since we've been inside a movie house - I think the last movie we saw was The Clone Wars.

(I also hoped to be more productive at work for the next two weeks. I think you have a pretty good idea on how that is going so far. Harhar.)

I also need to get a copy of SI's NBA Preview Issue, which should be out in Manila next week. Which means that I have to finish registration early in the morning sometime next week so that I can immediately visit the friendly neighborhood Bufini store. Speaking of registration, here's hoping that the people who actually run the college stop scrutinizing peoples' Form 5s too much, get the fuck out of the way, and just let people determine and drive their own fates. Really, I am confused as to why the fuck they even care.

Nego is coming up, and so is PrIL (which, incidentally rhymes with "kill"). We're also getting Admin and Tax 2, and if the gods smile down upon us, IPL without any conflicts in schedule, whatsoever. If things go as smoothly as we hope, there should be a better than even chance that we can watch more movies in the coming months.

Song of the Moment

2008-10-24T17:09:00.003+08:00

Hinihingal ka lang
May oras pang natitira
Kahit parang ang layo pa
Habol

Kung harangan ka man
Sumalakay man mga bantay
Lahat kami Maghihintay
Habol, habol!

Refrain:
Dehado kung dehado
Para sa'n pang mga galos mo
Kung titiklop ka lang
Titiklop ka lang
Matalo kung matalo
Huwag ka sanang magkakamaling
Sumuko na lang
Woah

Maagawan ka man
Lalung huwag kang papipiga
Kumpiyansa lang bawat bangga
Woah

Kumaripas ka na
Humanda ka na sa paglipad
Pakpak nati'y ilalantad
Woah

Repeat Refrain

Chorus:
Ang puso
Iaalay
Sa laban
Kapalit ay tagumpay

Ang puso
Iaalay
Sa laban
Kapalit ay tagumpay

Repeat Refrain

Ang puso
Ialay
Sa laban
Kapalit ay tagumpay

Chorus:
Ang puso
Iaalay
Sa laban, sa laban, sa laban, sa laban mo

Intrumental

Coda:
Ang puso
Iaalay
Sa laban
Kapalit ay tagumpay
(Repeat thrice)

- Puso, Sponge Cola

One To Go

2008-10-22T14:13:00.003+08:00

God grant me the serenity
to accept the things I cannot change;
courage to change the things I can;
and wisdom to know the difference.

-Reinhold Niebuhr

We are finally done with Medjur, Puboff, Evidence and Locgov. Of course, when I say "done," I mean we have done everything on our part that is humanly possible (including taking leaves without pay from work, for instance) if only never to see the same faces (or the same cases) ever again. (Not to mention, that we also want to get out of Shawshank on time.)

Medjur is really done - "as sure as night follows day." There is no chance in hell anyone would flunk that course. Puboff and Locgov, assuming that the final grades will be computed in the manner the professors said they would last June, should be mathematically impossible to flunk given the previous numbers. (But, of course, stranger things have happened.) That leaves Evidence, which answers to the exam questions I still could not figure out, even after the exam (which was also the case last sem with Civpro, so please God, I am not exactly praying for a miracle, I just want the same results).

And then, there's Tax. I got myself a 119-page reviewer from some law school along Mendiola which I will use in trying to prepare for it. (In comparison, their reviewer for Evidence had 57 pages, Puboff and Locgov both less than 10, and yet all these subjects are worth 3 units. Go figure.) As was the case in the six previous semesters, it is most difficult to get yourself to prepare for the last exam. At this point, people are really drooling in anticipation of the semestral break. You truly, honestly just want to get it over and done with. (Note to friends: it is a good idea to take the Civpro or Evidence finals last - you want to take the other exams with hope still in your hearts.)

Wish us luck.

So Close

2008-10-08T11:30:00.003+08:00

So, after watching My Cousin Vinny just before the Great Ateneo Bonfire, cutting LocGov and missing Toyapi's spoken word performance, staying awake through Tax, watching two of the most depressing, suicide-inducing films I have ever seen in my life - one after the other, and surviving GR in Puboff, there is but one class left, and I somehow cannot get my lazy ass to prepare for it.

How "Sweep" It Is

2008-09-30T16:50:00.006+08:00

I'm back.

The win last Thursday was the sweetest win against DLRT that I have ever seen live, and I am saying this not only because it was the first and only Ateneo championship that I have been blessed enough to see with my own eyes. That win made it a clean season sweep for the Eagles - regular season and the finals. That, boys and girls, should effectively expunge all that shit about "2>3." Not only is "4>0" better, it is also mathematically correct. Leave it to the PEPsters to screw not only everything we learned about spelling, but arithmetic, as well. That win marked the first time, either team won four times against the other. It won for the Eagles its fourth UAAP seniors basketball title, the third at the expense of - you guessed it - DLRT. When it matters? It couldn't matter more than in the UAAP finals, you dorks, where we have already beaten your sorry asses three out of four times (four out of six, if you include the NC years). Now, I can forget all the bad things that happened during the 2006 season and get rid of those Jojo Duncil nightmares for good.

The Game 2 win was made doubly sweeter by the fact that I did not have to look for a TV set to get updates on Game 3 last Sunday, which incidentally, was the day my sister finally got married. I don't think she would have forgiven me if I started cheering lustily during the offertory.

With the season over, I can now get back to less serious stuff - like Evidence and Tax. And, of course, there's work. I still have to pay the bills.

But, before all that, I have to go to the bonfire tonight.

I am Nonoy

2008-09-22T12:27:00.002+08:00

So, who's your daddy, now?

---
Photo courtesy of Aaron Vicencio.

Manna from Heaven

2008-09-19T11:54:00.000+08:00

Class

2008-09-17T09:11:00.001+08:00

Ignominy

2008-09-15T15:43:00.008+08:00

Yesterday's game is a testament to why I prefer boring blowouts over heart-stopping, gut-wrenching ordeals. They make for enjoying, relaxing afternoons with your friends. No suspense. No surprises. The better team should win, and win easy. After watching two hard-fought games against UE during the elimination rounds, with the second going into overtime, and only after Chris Tiu and Ryan Buenafe made four consecutive triples, we were expecting another close game. Afterwards, nobody was complaining that we were all wrong.

The game started shortly after DLRT won by five points against FEU. Their crowd was understandably, well, happy. They were, in fact, so happy that they started chanting "Go UE!" even before the red-clad people in the audience could find seats. Some of them, probably hoping for, if not expecting, an upset, stayed to enjoy the second game. I am not so sure if they enjoyed what they saw as much as we did.

How bad was the game for UE? At one point early in the fourth quarter, Ateneo has already scored twice as many points as UE did. They were able to whittle it down to a more "respectable" 20-point margin after the final buzzer by scoring 22 points in the garbage time that is the fourth quarter. UE team captain Marcy Arellano, playing what turned out to be his last game in the UAAP, scored a grand total of 0 points, going 0-6 from the field (including one horrible airball) and 0-2 from the line. The Ateneo crowd started celebrating as early as the third quarter, when chants of "We want La Salle!" wafted through the coliseum. After the Eagles came back from an early 11-5 hole to erect what turned out to be an insurmountable 17-11 lead at the end of the first, little did we know that the Warriors have already given us their best shot. While UE couldn't buy an easy basket from anywhere, Jai Rayes was making jumper after jumper, and Eric Salamat was making ridiculously difficult shots off the break. In the end, only a handful of UE supporters remained to sing their Alma Mater hymn with their players. One would be hard-pressed not to feel bad for the UE players, after seeing their crowd disappear long before the final buzzer, who look so alone after yet another playoff disaster.

The Eagles are in the finals for the 7th time since joining the UAAP in 1978. They have won the title three times, twice against its old, hated foe. Everything thus far has been to true to form. The two best teams during the season will face-off for the basketball title, and an entire year's worth of bragging rights. Two more games. One big fight.

Go Ateneo.

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Photo courtesy of PizzaGuy.

Blueberries and Cream

2008-09-12T17:35:00.002+08:00

"Donuts. Is there anything they can't do?"

- Homer Simpson

Yet Another "13-1" Game

2008-09-08T09:29:00.005+08:00

Only this time*, after the final buzzer, we were the ones with 13 wins.

I did not expect to be at the game last Saturday, since getting tickets proved to be much more difficult than getting a pair for the Eraserheads reunion concert. But, it pays to have friends who regularly watch all the games. I got a call three hours before the game, a few minutes before Tax class, that one Upper B ticket was available. I arrived at the venue with the Eagles leading the Pepsters 16-6. Ateneo never trailed.

Go Ateneo!

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* In 2002, DLRT had a 13-0 record going into its last elimination round game against Ateneo. Suffice it to say that there was no sweep that season.

Photo courtesy of the Ateneo Sports Shooters.

Rock the Night Nostalgic

2008-09-01T10:46:00.008+08:00

"we prepared 3 sets. the first was just a warm up. the remaining two was going to be the fun part."

- Raymund Marasigan

Through 15 songs, which every single person in the venue apparently knew by heart, Ely, Marcus, Buddy and Raymund - collectively known as the Eraserheads - drove more than 20,000 people into fits of delirious excitement and nostalgia last Saturday at the Fort in Taguig. For the first time since the greatest Filipino band ever broke up because of "height differences," amid chants of "group hug" from the all-too-happy crowd, the Eraserheads - all four of them - are back together and performing once again - even if only for one night.

The anti-climactic ending notwithstanding, I believe everybody, with cellphone or camera on hand, who sang, and danced, and swayed with almost everybody else, had the greatest time ("Alapaap" alone, as far as I'm concerned, already covered the ticket price). There were no front acts and no segues, it was one song after another, and you want to keep on asking for more. If anything, the people at the venue can now only wonder what the second set would have been like, after experiencing the first.

Or, we can all look forward to the second reunion, instead.

The set list:

I

Alapaap
Ligaya
Sembreak
Hey Jay
Harana
Fruitcake
Toyang
Kamasupra
Kailan
Huwag Kang Matakot
Kaliwete
With a Smile
Shake Yer Head
Huwag Mo Nang Itanong
Lightyears

II*

Maskara
Poorman’s Grave
Torpedo
Trip to Jerusalem
Back2me
Maselang Bahaghari
Maling Akala
Tikman
Spolarium
Magasin
Para sa Masa
Overdrive
Pare Ko
Minsan
Huling El Bimbo

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* After the word went out the Ely Buendia was okay and in stable condition after playing a whole set during the Reunion Concert last [Saturday], the three Eraserheads, musicians in the audience, and music scenesters alike converged at Saguijo in Makati for an impromptu jam containing the songs of the aborted second set. - Philmusic.com