Lunar Punk Zappa

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?

Homecoming Saturday

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.

Shirt Happens

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

"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

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

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.

Wishlist

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.

Wishlist

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

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.

Fine, Fine Time

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.

When in Rome

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.

Higher Learning

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.

That Old Cory Magic

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.

Seven

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.

23 Years Ago

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

Any Given Sunday

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.

牛

Ox ba tayo d'yan?

Ten Years Ago

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.)

#34

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

Rock the Night Nostalgic

"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

---
* 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