THE POCKMARKMAN CHRONICLES

"Michael. Dear Michael..."

2008-09-03T17:24:00.000+08:00

"Of course it's you, who else could they send, who else could be trusted? I... I know it's a long way and you're ready to go to work... all I'm saying is just wait, just... just wait and please just hear me out because this is not an episode, relapse, fuck-up, it's...

I'm begging you Michael. I'm begging you.

Try to make believe this is not just madness because this is not just madness. Two weeks ago I came out of the building ok, I'm running across 6th avenue there's a car waiting, I've got exactly 38 minutes to get to the airport and I'm dictating. There's this panicked associate sprinting along beside me, scribbling in a notepad, and suddenly she starts screaming, and I realize we're standing in the middle of the street, the light's changed, there's this wall of traffic, serious traffic speeding towards us, and I...

I freeze, I can't move, and I'm suddenly consumed with the overwhelming sensation that I'm covered in some sort of film. It's in my hair, my face... it's like a glaze... a coating, and... at first I thought, oh my god, I know what this is, this is some sort of amniotic - embryonic - fluid. I'm drenched in afterbirth, I've breached the chrysalis, I've been reborn.

But then the traffic, the stampede, the cars, the trucks, the horns, the screaming and I'm thinking no-no-no, reset, this is not rebirth, this is some kind of giddy illusion of renewal that happens in the final moment before death. And then I realize no-no-no, this is completely wrong because I look back at the building and I had the most stunning moment of clarity.

I... I... I realized Michael, that I had emerged not from the doors of Kenner, Bach, and Odeen, not through the portals of our vast and powerful law firm, but from the asshole of an organism who's sole function is to excrete the... the... the poison, the ammo, the defoliant necessary for other, larger, more powerful organisms to destroy the miracle of humanity.

And that I had been coated in this patina of shit for the best part of my life. The stench of it and the sting of it would in all likelihood take the rest of my life to undue. And you know what I did? I took a deep cleansing breath and I put that notion aside. I tabled it. I said to myself as clear as this may be, as potent a feeling as this is, as true a thing as I believe I witnessed today, it must wait.

It must stand the test of time, and Michael, the time is now."

“Don’t Cover the Pre-Ass” Movement

2007-10-30T12:18:00.000+08:00

Pre-ass: The part of the body right after the back but just before the ass. Complete name is the post-back-pre-ass but for brevity’s sake, it’s called the pre-ass.

If you’re a commuter, then you know what I’m talking about. I’m sure you’ve seen it. You're just too preoccupied to give it much thought. Anyway, just humor me on this one. Imagine that you’re riding a jeepney. It stops to pick up a passenger. A woman. When she boards, the moment she steps on the platform to enter the vehicle, she immediately reaches behind her and pulls down her blouse at the back to cover herself... She’s covering her pre-ass. A common sight, right? Nothing out of the ordinary. You won’t even notice it unless you try. No big deal, really. Most women do it. Maybe even you do it yourself.

Well, if it’s really not a big deal, if there’s nothing wrong with it, then why blog about it, let alone create a movement about it?

I witnessed an incident just recently that pushed me to create the “Don’t Cover the Pre-Ass” Movement. It happened one late afternoon in Ayala. Going home, I flagged down a jeepney in front of SGV bound for Ayala MRT. Two blocks into the ride, the jeepney stopped to pick up a passenger in front of Glorietta, which is, by the way, an unloading only zone. This fact would come into play later. Anyway, a woman boarded the jeepney. And not just any woman, but a woman. On a scale of 1-10, she’d be an 8.03. A classy lady, she had saloned hair, manicured nails, a body that works out, and not just from Slimmers' but most likely from Gold's. Her shopping bags were Mango and Rustan’s. Actually, I don’t know why she was riding the jeep in the first place, maybe her Benz was in shop, I don’t know.

Upon entering the jeepney, naturally, and expectedly, she reached back. Her left hand was holding the shopping bags and the other hand was behind her, pulling down the blouse to cover her pre-ass. As she was shuffling down the aisle to her seat, something happened. The driver suddenly floored it. As in pedal to the metal.

As any Makati commuter would know, who experienced being late because he had to walk a block instead of stopping right in front of his office building, you can only ride or go down in specific, designated areas. As any Makati driver would know, who experienced getting caught by the MAPSA because of unreasonable traffic rules, these MAPSAs are sneaky bastards. They’re like yellow and green jack(-asses) in the box, just popping out without any warning.

So the driver floored it to escape the fast-approaching MAPSAs. But then he immediately braked to avoid a Toyota Altis in front of him, which apparently, he didn't see before. So if you could just imagine the brute force that we experienced inside the vehicle. Good thing we were seated and we had our hands on the handlebars.

For the woman who just boarded… I have never seen someone fly inside a jeepney before. She fell, no, she tumbled… actually she flew. She flewmbled. That’s how bad it was, I had to create a new word to describe what she did. She traveled 10 feet in a second. I still have to confirm with Guinness, but I think it was a world record.

I was embarrassed for her. It was so embarrassing that I wanted to console her. “Okay lang yan miss, at least maganda ka." It was so embarrassing, she moved two points down the ladder. She went from an 8.03 to a 6.029

The thing is, it could have been easily avoided. There’s no one else to blame but her. It’s not the driver’s fault, even if he loaded passenger in an unloading only zone. It’s not even MAPSA’s fault for being a sneaky SOB. It was her fault. Specifically, it was the fault of her pre-ass. More specifically, this happened to her because she covered her pre-ass. Thus the “Don’t Cover the Pre-Ass” Movement was born: To prevent women from hurting, or worse, embarrassing themselves.

You could say that I could be reverse-psychologizing the women so that they’ll always show the pre-ass for my pleasure, but believe when I say this, seeing a pre-ass does nothing for us.

Ladies, I’ll let you in on a secret, a simple truth would save you from the cumbersome task of covering your pre-ass: It does nothing for us men. And this is coming from a self-confessed, self-proclaimed momonyak. Trust me, you won’t get violated in any way. Looking at your pre-ass is just like looking at your forehead. Compare it with seeing a side-boob. Or cleavage. Or thigh. Now these things would get something going, if you know what I mean. But a pre-ass? It does nothing to us whatsoever. The only time you have the right to cover your pre-ass is when you have pre-ass-cne (similar to back-acne or back-ne but only on the pre-ass).

Honestly though, we can’t fantasize about a pre-ass no matter how smooth or creamy it may be. So the next time you are boarding or deboarding a jeepney, use one hand to hold the handlebars and the other to carry your stuff. Forget about covering your pre-ass.

Join the “Don’t Cover the Pre-ass” Movement.

Untitled06

2007-10-04T14:03:00.000+08:00

Nice Article on Gerry...

2007-08-18T23:48:00.000+08:00

Will Penalosa Win the Triple Crown?
By Brett Conway (Aug 15, 2007) Photo © German Villasenor

Behind on points, chasing a fighter content to keep him at bay with a jab and shoeshine combinations, Gerry Penalosa kept plugging away and didn’t waver from his plan: shots to the body will weaken and put away the already weight drained bantamweight champion.

Finally, the moment came. Jhonny Gonzalez threw a right hand and the southpaw Penalosa dodged it but came back with a left hand of his own. Gonzalez, a good boxer with good fundamentals, brought his right back and with it an elbow to guard the rib cage. It arrived a nanosecond too late. Penalosa’s punch landed just underneath it. It took a second or two before the punch to the liver communicated the pain to his body but when it did he, like Oscar De La Hoya against Bernard Hopkins or Leonard Dorin against Arturo Gatti, collapsed and gasped for breath. All the air in the room must have been sucked down by the audience that witnessed that punch, for Gonzalez hands on the ropes in a corner couldn’t find any for himself. He was counted out with less than a minute remaining in the seventh round. Penalosa became the new WBO bantamweight champion.

Gerry Penalosa, with that one shot, achieved the seemingly impossible. A 35-year old in a division where fighters are usually washed up at the age of 30, Penalosa has beaten down two fighters so far in 2007. Back in March against WBO super bantamweight champion Daniel Ponce De Leon (who defeated Rey Bautista in the first on the same card as Penalosa-Gonzalez), Penalosa withstood an early storm from the hard punching Mexican but came back with precise counters. He threw enough hard stuff at Ponce De Leon that the champion for the first time in his career decided to turn into Sugar Ray Robinson. He danced and moved and jabbed, trying to keep Penalosa away. Although most ringside press appeared to have Penalosa winning, the judges didn’t see it that way and gave the decision to the busier but less effective Ponce De Leon.

With his showings against Ponce De Leon and Jhonny Gonzalez, two fighters ranked highly in the boxing world, both punchers with Gonzalez being a good boxer as well, Penalosa has put himself into an elite position in the sport. In fact, he has shown himself so well that come the end of 2007 I think he will be a candidate for three awards from the bible of boxing, Ring magazine: comeback of the year, knockout of the year, and fight of the year.

Penalosa is probably a no-brainer for comeback of the year. Coming into his fight against Ponce De Leon, many in boxing thought Penalosa a sacrificial lamb for the younger, knockout happy Ponce De Leon. After losing his junior bantamweight title in 1998 to In Joo Cho and the rematch and then twice to Masamori Tokuyama in an attempt to regain his title, Penalosa took a couple of years off. Then, like many ex-champions before and many more to come, he made a come back. Starting in 2004, he had a couple of fights in the Philippines and then took his show to the USA, knocking out Mauricio Martinez on the card of the Ponce De Leon-Al Seeger bout in 2006. When March came and he was about to face Ponce De Leon, many boxing writers worried for his health, hoping that someone in his corner would have the guts to pull the plug if the going got too rough for him and it looked like he was taking too much damage. Instead Penalosa blocked the wild swinging Ponce De Leon’s shots and countered. It was beautiful; it was textbook; but it wasn’t enough to win over the judges who seemed believe that being busy was more important than being effective.

His showing against Ponce De Leon and his knockout of Gonzalez gives Penalosa the comeback of the year. Period.

Awarding a knockout of the year is much more subjective. Really who can choose between two knockouts? Who can decide absolutely which one was better? Even Ring has trouble with that. In 2001 and 2002, Lennox Lewis won knockout of the year honors, the first for his one-punch knockout of Hasim Rahman and the second for his brutal beat down of Mike Tyson. Who’s to say a one-punch knockout or sustained thrashing is better? But arguing the case for one or the other gives us all an excuse to stay in the bar for an extra drink or two. (Disagreement can have its perks.)

But I think southpaw Penalosa’s knockout of Gonzalez is special and should be knockout of the year for a couple of reasons: it was true to boxing fundamentals and its mechanics made it a tough punch to land.

The best knockouts and knockdowns, I think, teach lessons to fighters about boxing fundamentals. When Joe Frazier threw a left hook and knocked down Muhammad Ali, he reminded everyone that a fighter should never lead from the outside with a right uppercut. (Evander Holyfield reviewed this lesson when he knocked out Buster Douglas in 1990.) Penalosa’s shot also taught a lesson. He showed all southpaw fighters how a counter left to the body can beat a straight right hand. The shot he landed is a picture that can be put in any textbook of boxing and therefore is a much better knockout than any eight, ten, or twelve round beat down of a faded ex-champion.

The mechanics of this punch also give it the potential to be knockout of the year. A liver shot is much easier for a conventional fighter to land. His lead hand is right there ready to rip to the body. He can throw a one-two-hook to the body. Or he can counter a right hand with it. For a southpaw it is harder because the hand that throws the punch is much farther away from the target than a conventional fighter’s left. That extra distance should give the fighter receiving that punch an extra moment to block, to brace himself, or to get out of there.

But Gonzalez wasn’t able to do any of those things. Penalosa’s technique on that shot was brilliant and makes him a candidate for knockout of the year.

As for fighter of the year, well, maybe I am overstating the case a bit, but because Penalosa is 35 and we do have over four months of great fights left, I will honor him by saying as of this date, he is my fighter of the year. He is a former junior bantamweight champion and current bantamweight champion without the combination punching usually needed to succeed in either weight class. Instead, he waits for his opponent to make a mistake and makes him pay. In March, he turned Ponce De Leon’s head into a speed bag; this month, he turned Gonzalez’s body into a punching bag. A veteran fighter with smarts, good technique, and a relaxed demeanor in the ring, Penalosa is as good a fighter as someone in his division at his age can be.

There are other candidates for 2007 fighter of the year, sure. Miguel Cotto has beaten Oktay Urkal and Zab Judah. But we can’t make a decision on him until after he faces Shane Mosley. Mosley, too, is in the mix with his win over Luis Collazo but I will wait until after the Cotto bout to settle on him. Ricky Hatton has had a good year beating Juan Urango and Jose Luis Castillo. But in December comes the big test against Floyd Mayweather. Mayweather, with his show-biz victory over De La Hoya, can win it, too. How about Juan Manuel Marquez and Manny Pacquiao? Since they aren’t fighting each other, they are not in the mix. So, if the year ended today, my vote would go to Gerry Penalosa. But judging from the above, it looks like either Hatton or Mayweather will get it, depending on how good the winner of that fight looks.

But there is one way Penalosa can pull it out. If he can get a rematch with Ponce De Leon and beat this guy (again), he is the man, he is the fighter of the year. If that happens, he may become the unlikeliest fighter of the year since Glen Johnson. And all that means is it could happen.

Maybe I’m overstating Penalosa’s case in this piece, but as I pointed out back in April, when the controversy over his loss to Ponce De Leon was raging, he may not have lost a fight since he was under the age of twenty. The four losses to Cho and Tokuyama occurred in those fighters’ home countries and were really, really close – I’m talking “one round different on one card changes the result” close. His loss to Ponce De Leon was a head scratcher to many. Outside of Bernard Hopkins, I can’t think of another current fighter who could say he hasn’t been decisively beaten in over ten years.

And that’s just another reason to give him his due in 2007.

http://www.maxboxing.com/conway/conway081507.asp

The First Time in a Long Time That I...

2007-03-02T00:05:00.000+08:00

...ate dinner together with the family.
...washed dishes.
...went home the same day I went to work.
...spoke to and with someone fully awake, not half-asleep.
...experienced rush hour.
...felt the breeze of dusk going home, not the breeze of dawn.
...paid normal trike rates, instead of the special night rates.
...didn't have to wake the village security guard.
...didn't ring the doorbell to enter the house.
...was welcomed by someone at the door.

First Week SIGH!

2006-11-23T00:35:00.000+08:00

Monday: Wasted the entire morning waiting for the MC head to give his welcome speech. Left for Subic after lunch with an experienced associate, met with the client, went back home by myself. Total time on the road: 8 hours. Total time in Subic: 1 hour.

Tuesday: Left for Subic in the morning, "work" in the afternoon. Became a one-man-audit-team. Got lost while looking for the staff house.

Wednesday: Another day of "work". Again, one-man-audit-team. Went back home in the evening.

Thursday: Self-declared day-off. Much needed (and wanted) quality time with Mym in the a.m. Oath taking at PICC and testimonial dinner in the p.m.

Friday: Back to Subic, then "work". Hopefully, with an experienced associate this time.

Saturday: "Work", then go back home.

Sunday: Inventory count.

Repeat.

First Day SIGH!

2006-11-08T20:52:00.000+08:00

Haaaaay...

The "PITYPASS" Phenomenon of the PRC

2006-11-02T23:26:00.000+08:00

pit·y·pass (ptps) -n. a common yet peculiar event that takes place in licensure examinations whereby one receives the exact passing grade, not more nor less, despite a poor performance. -v. to do the act of a pitypass.

I recently got the results of the exam from PRC because it's part of the requirements for applying. And I'm man enough to admit, I was pitypassed in one subject. I'm not surprised though, I didn't exactly burn any brows or bag any eyes, as mentioned in the previous entry.

You ask, what is this "pitypass" that you speak of?

Actually, this is a frequent occurence in licensure examinations. The reason you haven't heard of this word is because it is commonly known as the "curve," an inexplicable and unimaginable force that magically increases the passing rate. Pitypassers are the beneficiaries of this so-called "curve."

Exam takers are told that there are only three outcomes of every exam, namely, passed, conditionally passed and failed so as not to stress them out from any unnecessary worry, or any meaningless facts that would occupy braincells that should be used for the exam. In reality, there are 6 levels that a board/bar taker will fall under with regard to the results:

Topnotcher - If your name is on the shorter AND on the longer list of names.
Almost Topnotcher - If you only need less than one percentage point to reach the last spot. In this recent CPA board exams, those occupying the 11th-20th spots automatically qualify since the PRC did not include them on the list.
Ordinary Passer - All grades higher than the passing grade.
Pitypasser - At least one grade exactly the same as the passing grade.
Conditional Passer
Absolute failure

Pitypassers are further grouped into two: pure and partial. At first, I didn't believe in such stratification but I know of someone, let's call her Rich Ann to protect her privacy, who saw someone with a grade of 75 in ALL subjects. Either he's one lucky bastard or he's a pure pitypasser. There are also others, like me, the partials who just pitypassed one or two subjects.

Admitting to a pitypass does not justify the mediocrity of the exam taker, nor does it devalue the title of a bona fide passer. Admitting to it is just like admitting you're gay: obvious, irrelevant, and no one really cares. The truth is, being a pitypasser has no effect but that of a useless statistic, just some random trivia, a story that will just be told over and over from one exam taker to another until fading away to obscurity in the passing of time.

Being one isn't something to be ashamed of. In fact, I'm even happy about it because there are things far worse than being pitypassed. And from experience, the level of relief experienced by a pitypasser is considerably higher than that of an ordinary passer.

My name is momonyak... and I'm a pitypasser.

C.P.A.H.U.R.R.A.Y!

2006-10-29T21:22:00.000+08:00

Una sa lahat, congrats to each and everyone of my batchmates. 100%. We left no one behind. And also to UP-Diliman in general. Obviously, 98% isn't a hundred, but we'll take it. To the topnotchers, saludo ako sa inyo. I always make it a point to tell people that the topnotchers were just an arm's length away from where I sat in the review. Hehe.

Now that the boards are finished, I wish I could say what the others are saying, that they're glad to have their lives back but I can't. In the first place, I never really had a drastic change in schedule. I never really studied seriously 5 months into the review. One week to go and I still studied 2 hours a day and slept at 11. I still surfed the net and watched TV. I still went out to see Ros. My parents gave me this advice: Put your life on hold, at least after the board exams. I'm sorry but I disobeyed them. Life's too precious to put on hold. Even if only for six months, even if it's for the boards. If it sounds a bit arrogant, it's not me talking, blame it on the euphoria of passing.

Looking back, reminiscing the exam, I realized that I was either brave or stupid or bravely stupid. This is because I took MS and P2 without knowing certain topics by heart. The night before MS, I told my self while studying, "Screw this, I'll just wing it tomorrow." Luckily, MS was relatively manageable. But I was stressed out from worrying, and I vowed to not let this happen again the following weekend. Not surpisingly, the same thing happened with P2, I took the exam without knowing how to compute for EUP, FIFO costing, spoilage, etc. I just prayed for at least 30 sure items.

"The review really doesn't help you. Your undergrad will determine the outcome of the board exam." My father gave this piece of advice before I started the review at CPAR. When I heard it, I was like, "Oh shiyet! Patay tayo dyan!" Basura undergrad ko e, so I was really banking on the powers of the (in)famous Valix and Guerrero Tag Team. You know what? He was right. Honestly speaking, only 20-40% of the review was actually used in the actual exam. To my batchmates, how much of the review helped you? I mean, really help you? And don't say 100%, you don't have to suck up and kiss Sir Valix's ass anymore since you already passed. The truth is, the benefit derived from the review is incremental to what you already know. It's either you know it or you don't. AGAIN, I would like to disclaim, if it seems arrogant, it's not me talking, it's the euphoria of passing.

For others, to become a CPA is a dream, it is an end, something to achieve, a goal that is set to be reached, the final destination, but I realized that for UP and for some students, becoming one isn't a dream, it's just a means of reaching a dream, a stepping stone, a road that would lead to something greater.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS:

To God, Jesus of Nazarene, St. Claire, St. Jude, Our Mother of Perpetual Help for the blessings.
To my family, my sister for giving me a cash incentive for passing (a lousy thousand, but hey, it's still a thousand) my mother, for excusing me from the chores (even if she said that she looked older during my review because I didn't help her), my father for helping me appreciate the real world applications of audit theory, Mako, May and Jun, for just being there and for keeping me company at the hotel.
To Ros, who believed in me even if I didn't at times. She was never stressed with the boards because she knew for a fact that I would pass. She never had the slightest doubt. I don't know if its blind faith or simply love, but thanks (I have a feeling it's love, though)
To The Contemporary Hotel in Araneta Avenue for my accommodations though I didn't have the chance to use the pool, and the sisig and the pancit canton tasted the same.
To my musical inspiration during the review, Johnny Cash. Please listen to Hurt, Help Me and When the Man Comes Around.
To Yhca, for helping me overcome my mental block a few minutes before the exam by telling me when to accrue interest when computing for loan impairment and for telling me what AD meant in the formula for EOQ.
To my batchmates, for the 100%. Kitakits na lang siguro.

Time to move on.

BATA is the World 8-Ball Champion!

2006-09-11T14:29:00.000+08:00

As the champion, he gets $500,000 or roughly P25,000,000. Wow. Though there's still minus 30% tax of Las Vegas and another 20% Philippine tax on the winnings. But still, it's a lot of money. He can retire and live the rest of his life in luxury. Of course, he won't do that. In fact, when he comes back, he'll immediately head to Japan for another tournament.

Congratulations Bata! We're proud of you!

PINOYS - 1st World Cup of Pool Champs

2006-08-29T22:11:00.000+08:00

Congrats to Bata and Django! Grabe na naman tong mga idol ko! Champion! The Philippines emerged victorious in PartyPoker.com's Inaugural World Cup of Pool. They took home the trophy and $60,000 (~P3M).

The top-seeded Pinoys defeated 3rd seed Strickland and Morris of USA, 13-5. Just imagine what the other teams felt when facing these two masters. I'm sure it's just between fear or admiration, or both. And the audience was for the Filipinos, given the fact that there are many kababayans in Wales.

Bring pool domination back to the Philippines!

OMG!

2006-08-01T22:22:00.000+08:00

Wow, grabe talaga to! Ibang klase!

Gusto mo ba malaman kung anong pinagsasasabi ko?

CLICK mo na to! DALI!

Ayoko na.

2006-07-23T18:24:00.000+08:00

I'm tired. I want to stop. I need to stop...

So stressed, so drained, so exhausted. I just want to give up. It's not fun anymore, actually it never was. I'm not happy with what I'm doing. I having nightmares every night and I wake up every morning breaking out in a cold sweat. I have trouble breathing, my chest hurts. It feels like the world is closing in on me. The pressure is too much to handle.

How can the others take this inhumanity? Am I alone? Day in, day out I am experiencing this unending wave of exhaustion and desperation. This has got to be the closest thing to purgatory on earth, neither in hell nor in heaven, waiting to be sentenced by the heartless and merciless accounting examiners.

There's only one thing that I can do. I have to take matters into my own hands. This has to end. Right here, right now. To the others, be strong...

I'm leaving this sadistic abyss of torture...

... for 30 minutes to eat. Kailangan ko lang ng merienda, kayo naman o. Ano ba akala nyo? Ang sakit na rin ng pwet ko sa kakaupo e. Anyway, sorry kung may na-offend sa pic, alam ko naman kung gano kaseryoso ang bagay na yan.

Honestly though, and surprisingly, I am enjoying the review. Masaya naman e. Nakakatamad nga lang, at nakakapagod din. Ambabastos kasi ng ibang reviewers e, tsaka daming cute sa CPAR, pero di sing-cute ng nasa 61 Almaciga (oh yeah! galing bumawi, it's an art form, FYI, address to ni Ros) Anyway, gayahin ko na lang yung iba na di muna magkukuwento ng mga pangyayari sa review. Buti pa si Jay at si Joy, may na-blog na ng konti. Balik aral na ulit, malapit na preboards. Good luck!

Actually, kasalanan ng rabbit namin e, kinalmot ako. Sa tingin ko gumaganti lang, pinagtitripan ko kasi minsan. Reciprocal cruelty to an animal.

On another note, Jack Black fan pala ako, primarily because of his music. He's the other half of Tenacious D. Kaya gusto ko panoorin yung "Nacho Libre" kahit according to Mak and Janrich, basura ang trailer. Well, I don't care. Pero nakakainis kasi di ako sinama ng kapatid ko manood. At least inuwian nya ko ng Nacho Libre mask. Okay naman daw, though medyo na-influence ko sya kay Jack Black. Yung isang kilala ko naman, sabi nya funny naman daw. Pero Jack Black fan din. So hindi rin objective.

Baka panoorin ko this Sunday, after preboards. Maghahanap muna ako ng kasama, ayaw kasi ni Ros e. Kung ako biased FOR JB, sya biased naman AGAINST JB. Naturn-off siguro sa mga "Shut up! Fuck you! You fuckin' dick!" at "And then I'll fuckin fuck you discreetly..." lyrics ng mga songs nila (na lagi ko namang pinapatugtog).

On a final note, here's a first look at my all-time favorite Marvel character. 2007 seems so far away. It feels like a year from now. Hehe. This looks like the bell tower scene where Eddie Brock first encountered the symbiote that would make them turn into Venom! Acutally, many people are complaining why Topher Grace (Eric Foreman of That 70's) is playing the role. In the comics and the animated series, Eddie Brock is huge, like a body-builder. For me, it's better because it's more realistic. Is there a journalist/reporter who looks like Arnold Swarzenegger? Anyway, the symbiote theoretically would enhance the physical characteristics of its host, so it may be possible that he'll grow some mass afterwards.

Heat Win First Title

2006-06-21T15:32:00.000+08:00

Congrats!

Please Lord, isa na lang.

2006-06-19T13:39:00.000+08:00

Okay, so the Miami Heat are up 3-2 against Dallas. They won earlier today. Buti may TV sa bus. OMG, ang saya ko. But of course, I'm in no mood of celebrating just yet. The next two games will be in Dallas and with the suspension of Stack and the questionable calls, the Mavs are all fired up.

Anyway, the Heat have the chance for a title for the first time in franchise history. Only one more win. Let's just take it one game at a time. Hopefully, they can close it out in Dallas.

What if the Heat will lose 2 straight? Pwede ba yun? Pwede di ba? E di iyak na lang.

P.S. To those who are questioning the call on the last play, here's the proof. Though it was called on Irk (or Jirk) Nowitzki, it was still a foul.

Please Lord, isa na lang.

2006-05-30T14:13:00.000+08:00

Okay, so the Miami Heat are up 3-1 against Detroit. They won earlier today. OMG, ang saya ko. But of course, I'm in no mood of celebrating just yet. This is Detroit we're talking about. The Destroyer of Dreams, the Holocaust of Hope of my teams. If you may remember, they convincingly defeated the Four Horsemen of the Lakers. They also defeated the Miami Heat last year in the conference finals.

When Shaq left the Lakers, my loyalty shifted from West to East. I became a certified Heat fan. I admit that I was a Shaq fan at first, but now, I'm all Heat. And mind you, I didn't join the Heat bandwagon. I'm not saying that it's wrong but the others only became fans when they were good, like what happened with the Clippers this season. The fanbase increased tenfold when they entered the 2nd round. However, I was a fan from the moment Shaq joined the team. Now, my fanaticism is stronger than ever.

Anyway, they have a chance to enter the Finals for the first time in franchise history. Only one more win. I'm not thinking about the Finals yet. Let's just take it one game at a time. Hopefully, they can close it out in Detroit.

What if the Heat will lose 3 straight? Pwede ba yun? Pwede di ba? E di gagawin ko na lang yung ginagawa ko everytime matalo yung kampi ko: Umiyak.

I Know What I Did This Summer

2006-05-28T13:49:00.000+08:00

It's just fitting to recap my summer on the last day of vacation, i.e. the day before the start of the CPA board review. I can classify the things I did into two categories, major and minor.

MAJOR

Moving - From Pasig to LPC. I think we've adjusted pretty well. I still can't believe that garbage collection is only once a week, as opposed to Pasig's everyday.
Puerto Galera 1 - My second time in Galera. Went with college friends. Please see the blogs of Crystle and Loraine for the details of this trip.
Puerto Galera 2 - My third time in Galera, second time this summer. Went with HS friends and Ros. Please visit Ros' blo g for more information.

MINOR
This involves the small stuff like reading Clancy's Rainbow Six and Grisham's The Testament, watching Miami defeat the Bulls and the Nets (and hopefully, Detroit and Dallas), sleeping, surfing the net, feeding the fish (too many to mention), Raymond the guinea pig (because everybody loves Raymond) and Apu the rabbit, cleaning my room, watching Taylor Hicks win AI, etcetera shmetcetera.

Good luck to the reviewees and may God bless us all.

Ma, Happy Mother's Day.

2006-05-14T20:46:00.000+08:00

For everything you've given up.

Picture courtesy of PostSecret.

Time to Move On

2006-04-26T00:01:00.000+08:00

5 years. How fast time flies.

I still remember my first experience here. Half a decade ago. Scared, uncertain, unfamiliar. And worse, the pain of leaving the place I called home was still fresh.

Through the years, like any other experience, there were ups and downs. Birthdays, victories and holidays were celebrated. There were sleepless nights, desperate moments and regrets. But I managed to handle it, thanks to a number of special people who surrounded me to whom I am eternally grateful.

Good memories, bad memories, eventually, the bad ones would fade away and all that's left for us to reminisce would be those that would make us smile.

And now I'm leaving. I'm saying good bye. I'm not complaining, though I wouldn't mind staying a bit longer. Honestly, I didn't think that this would happen so soon. But it did.

So it's time to move on. Time to close one chapter in the book of life and open another one. Time to embrace new experiences and face new challenges. Time to say good bye...

Good bye Pasig! Hello Other-Side-of-the-World!

A week from now, I'll be officially a former Pasigeño. I just started packing right after grad. See, I'm still holding the sablay. I realized something from packing and I don't know whether to laugh or cry, but I can fit my life in three small boxes. One for school, another for the clothes and a catch-all box. There's another box, the trash box which is bigger than all three combined.

I also realized another thing: I'm a good packer, in fact, I'm a great packer. I can pack all day long. Tiring, yes but the feeling after packing is great. Haha.

On another note...

To the Class of 2006... Wear sunscreen. Hehe. Joke lang. Congrats graduates!

May God have mercy on our souls.

A Las Flores De Univ Ave

2006-04-25T22:45:00.000+08:00

Grabe, nagpapacute na naman 'tong babaeng 'to sakin. Hehe. Kala mo ikaw lang? Ako rin!

untitled05: Post-123

2006-04-03T23:21:00.000+08:00

From PostSecret.

One Day in Megamall...

2006-03-08T21:59:00.000+08:00

My future ex-wives.

Scenes from the ASG '06

2006-02-21T20:41:00.000+08:00

Diesel and Flash 2

Let bygones be bygones.

I'm not a big fan but four players to the ASG? Impressive.Kobe and Jay-Z
The Answer and Nellie
I'm an inch taller than the one jumping and 3 inches taller than the one standing. Both are slam dunk champions.
PG for a night.
Shaq with his PSP.

Flash and Diesel

2006-01-07T23:55:00.000+08:00

untitled03: For '06

2005-12-27T23:17:00.000+08:00

John Milton was a failure.

In writing Paradise Lost, his aim was to "justify the ways of God to men." Inevitably, he fell short and wrote only a monumental poem. Beethoven, whose music was conceived to transcend fate, was a failure, as was Socrates, whose ambition was to make people happy by making them reasonable and just. The surest, noblest way to fail is to set one's standards titanically high.

The flip side of that proposition also seems true. The surest way to succeed is to keep one's striving low. Many people, by external standards, will be "successes." They will own homes, eat in better restaurants, dress well and, in some instances, perform socially useful work. Yet fewer people are putting themselves on the line, making as much of their minds and talents as they might.

Frequently, success is what people settle for when they can't think of something noble enough to be worth failing at.

-Laurence Shames, in the New York Times, quoted in Feb. 1990 Reader's Digest