Hello hello

Today marks the 5th month of my father-less life. Just saying.

Konti na lang.

My low-res countdown to freedom. Konti na lang?

Nag-iilusyon lang ako kung sasabihin ko na konti na lang. Dahil ang dami dami pa. Eh well, papel. Mukhang nasanay na nga lang ako na ang dami kong ginagawa here and there. Kaso lagi akong nakakatulog. Kakaloka.

Anyway, malapit nang magsembreak. Kahit marami pa bago magsembreak, malapit naman na talaga. More or less two more weeks of stress, two more weeks of supposedly sleepless but I know will be sleepful nights. Ewan ko ba, basta lagi akong nakakatulog.

Nakakadepress kasi pupunta dapat kami sa Baguio nina friends ngayong sembreak, kasi wala lang, bet lang namin mag-inuman one cold sembreak night. Eh nakakalungkot kasi binagyo siya What is happening to the world? Okay, rhetorical question. Time to make new plans.

Wala, gusto ko lang ulit magsulat in Tagalog.

Glee

This morning, I realized how it’s really weird that every time the term is about to end, I get preoccupied by or addicted to something irrelevant and terribly disastrous for my academic endeavors. Sometime in 2nd year I got addicted to a person, in another term another person, in another term a TV series. In my 3rd year, one of my 3 terms ended with an addiction to a book, one ended with a preoccupation to having a social life and therefore not much academic concern, and the last one ended with something really devastating to totally mess me up. And this sem, it’s yet another TV series.

I guess if you’re one of the people who like or at the very least enjoyed watching performances in any High School Musical movie, you’d like Glee. It’s so cutesy-patootsie and high school-ish and somehow cliche that you’d just feel like singing and dancing even if you don’t really know how. Haha I think my thing with Glee is that it inspires me. Haha. I don’t know, it’s just so fun and their numbers are so amazing. Glee episodes run for about an hour (40 mins without the ads) and I never really get bored. Now that I’m really more into American sitcoms and not American dramas, I’m used to watching shows that run 3o minutes per episode only so I really get impatient watching shows that run a full hour like Gossip Girl and totally wish that they would just end whenever I’m halfway. But in watching Glee I never really notice that time passes by — before I know it the episode has ended and I just want to see more. Plus all the Celine Dion songs are suddenly not so heartbreaking to listen to even if they are.

Photo from Google

Although all numbers in Glee are to die for (heck, even Finn singing Can’t Fight This Feeling Anymore in the shower was so damn good), my favorites would be Somebody To Love, and the one where the football players danced Single Ladies in the middle of their losing football game.

Preview only cause youtube is so madamot about this. But anyway, this Somebody To Love number gives me the Start of Something New feel in High School Musical 1, it’s so cheesy but not so. I’m not sure if that’s a good thing or a bad thing. Haha but you’d suddenly feel like jumping and shouting and crying at the same time. Exagge. Haha.

I just love how it’s so gay and manly at the same time! It’s so… fab! C’mon where else will you see a bunch of jocks dancing Single Ladies? I can’t even dance to the song myself! I love it it’s so gay!!!!

More of Glee please!! I’m so tempted to watch the Ep6 teaser but I’m afraid I might be teased! Hahaha! I might not be able to study at all na. Haha.

Sembreak! Wish you were here already cause there are a lot of good shows that I really wanna watch all over again and I have baduy Pinoy chick flicks to watch yet! Come on!!!

The Day After Yesterday (is Today)

September 26, 2009, Saturday. It was Che-Che’s 20th birthday, and it was Metro Manila at its worst.

My Psych 160 professor scheduled our 3rd exam 10:00 am that day. I have been staying with my Aunt in BF since Wednesday of this week because my Mom went to Bicol and I really didn’t want to stay in Bulacan. The week was one of the many hell weeks of the sem, and I didn’t want to stress myself further by dealing with the traffic at NLEX and Balintawak and EDSA and Munoz and pretty much everywhere. Plus the sem has been really very rainy, and rain equals traffic and road accidents. So I stayed in BF to decrease my stress levels and though the week in UP was really lethal, I think I came out in Friday as a well-coped girl.

Come Saturday morning, I woke up at 3 am and read a little more for my upcoming exam. It was raining very hard by then, but there were no announcements of cancellation and I thought that it would be pretty weird to suspend classes on Saturdays (since normally, there are no classes on Saturdays). I called up the department at around 9 am if the exam was going to push through, because it was raining really hard by then and I actually wished I had a little more time to review. Initially the intent was selfish, but what the hell. Long story short, the exam pushed through and by 1o am, I arrived at UP.

By then, most of the members of the first class were done taking the exam. Some of them had to take the exam along with us, the second class. Some of my classmates arrived really very wet, head to toe. Some were partly wet, and some didn’t even make it to UP because they were stuck at Katipunan or elsewhere.

The exam lasted until 12:00, and by then people were worrying as to how we could go home. My brother who was supposed to fetch me came from Bulacan. I asked him to fetch me at 12, he left the house at 10 (because he has something else to do in UP), but he never came as soon as I wanted and instead reached UP at 5 PM. Classmates who were able to ride a jeep were eventually brought by the jeep back to PHAn, apparently the jeep has no way of bringing his passengers to where they were supposed to go. Classmates who attempted to drive in the middle of the rain were back at PHAn hours later as well.

PHAn became a refugee camp. Thank God for laptops and movies inside them, the TV at PHAn 201, Madie’s AV cable, Jamie’s speakers, and the people who went to SC to buy food. We were comfortable and warm, but it wasn’t really enough to make us feel better. We all wanted to go home (we have another exam tomorrow) and staying in UP watching movies wasn’t really the thing we wanted to do first.

At around 3:30 PM, my mother called for the nth time, and told me that we could stay by her friend’s house in UP and we could spend the night there if things really get bad. I didn’t wait for the night to come, I left PHAn as Agnes did. She walked home. I am thankful that my Aunt’s driver who brought me and my younger brother to UP wasn’t able to leave UP as well, so I called him and we went to fetch my brother and went to my mom’s friend’s house. Finally there were warm clothes, and food, and TV, and news updates. We waited for Commonwealth to become passable so we could go back to BF.

Sometime after 5 PM, my brother from Bulacan finally arrived. He was dripping wet and his fat Vans shoes were icky. When he and his driver were in the QC circle area (somewhere near East Ave I think), they just parked because QC Memorial Park became QC Circle River. Actually, cars were parked just about anywhere at that time. They hadn’t had their lunch yet, and they were hungry. My brother walked in the leg-high flood looking for food, but no there wasn’t any food. Finally he saw a cashew nut vendor who sold a handful of nuts for 5o pesos. I mean, come on, in this time of calamity, aren’t food supposed to be free?!

Anyway, so we stayed there at my mom’s friend’s house and I was losing hope until my Aunt called and said that Commonwealth was passable already. We left for BF at around 9 PM and stayed in BF for the rest of the night.

Pat and AM, who were in UP yesterday as well, were about to sleep in my mom’s friend’s house too, but when I told them that Commonwealth was passable they tried. AM wasn’t able to go home to Marikina for obvious reasons, but Pat got home safe at 10. There are people in UP still, I suppose.

Some pictures I found all over Facebook:

A Corolla submerged in flood; somewhere in Araneta

Christine Reyes on her rooftop; she lives in Marikina

Katipunan Avenue

I believe Manila wasn’t ready for this kind of calamity, but I believe that it’s about time that we people finally listen to what the Earth is trying to say. The world is experiencing a crazy climate right now and though we can do  nothing to turn it the other way around, maybe there are still a few things we can do.

I want to go home. I have study and I’m gonna pack my unwanted clothes and give them as relief to the victims of Ondoy (it’s the name of the typhoon! What an ugly name). Manila needs help right now.

Rituals

And here goes the ritualistic 18th of the month blog entry.

Back in the early days of acquisition of Panicuason plus the NPA and all kinds of threats, hence armed guards.

But he kept his calm and composure

Coping has been going well lately, except of course for the intermittent breakdowns. I think we’re on the way of getting used it. I remember telling my friends during his wake that I couldn’t imagine living forever without a father. After four months, I realized that I didn’t actually need to imagine it – that it was gonna happen regardless if I can imagine it or not. That life really will go on, that the world won’t stop spinning, and every morning we will still wake up with the sun somewhere up there, although sometimes we see it, and sometimes we don’t.

I realized that in life, no matter how we dread some things from happening, they are going to happen. Perhaps we can delay it for some time, but by doing so we will only prolong the agony that we feel. There are times that we simply have to let things pass, and they when they’re done, we can get let them go and then we can breathe. Either in death or in exam taking, that statement applies.

It’s mid-September, and it’s the time of the sem again. Some things just happen that ritualistically.

TV time

I noticed that I’ve been going home pretty early lately, but I don’t why. Maybe I should get a life. And since I’ve been staying home so much, I’m having the most TV time I have ever had in my life. Surprisingly, and ironically too, I guess,  I’m doing pretty fair in my subjects this sem, so a little more TV time is fine.

But then, this afternoon, while I was having the most fun in the world watching ABS-CBN’s newest drama remake Katorse, I got into thinking, why did I never have this much TV time in ever before?

And then I cried. Because it hit me so hard.

I never had this much TV time in my life because someone else ruled over the TV back then.  I would never forget how he would talk to me and convince me that what I’m watching is crappy and ugly just so he could get to watch solo in the TV in the living room to watch Vic Vargas movies from the 70s and 80s. I’d never forget how he momentarily changes the channel to CinemaOne only to be annoyed when he sees Toni Gonzaga’s overly large jaw on-screen. I’ d never forget how he would religiously watch FPJ movies again and again and again on ABS-CBN’s FPJ Saturdays, and how he would actually rush going home when 4:00 pm is near because he wouldn’t want to miss FPJ movies that are actually on repeat. I’d never forget how he would space out at night, sitting on his armchair, while not really watching the movies on HBO that he long waited for. I’d never forget how he would tune in to ANC when he has nothing more sensible to watch but still wouldn’t want to give the remote to me.

Looking back, it’s okay that he had the TV all for himself. After all, now that I have the TV all for myself, I realize that I don’t really want my TV time, I just want my father.

Snap back to reality.

Less than 2 years ago.

Three months na kahapon.

The week that was.

All my life, I never really had a hell week that lasted a whole week. Most of the time my hell weeks are just hellish during the first part (i.e. Monday-Tuesday) or middle (i.e. Tuesday-Thursday) or the latter part (i.e. Thursday-Friday). Sometimes they’re just even days. You know, there are hellish days too… when you have an exam and a report and diarrhea all on the same day, yeah, that’s bad.

But this week, it was different. The evilness was fairly distributed to all the days of the week. I was like a robot which was designed to take exams every 24 hours. By Thursday, I didn’t have the energy anymore to study for my Friday exam. I was just drop dead. I’ve always been a coffee drinker but this time, it was different. I think by Wednesday, I reached the point when I was totally out of blood and it was coffee that circulated in my system just like oxygen. And since coffee was erased from my keep-me-awake-substances list, and energy drinks actually drained energy from me, I’m just a lazy drowsy person today who won’t go out of the house. Yeah, that’s what studying does to the youth… it drives us crazy, it changes our system, and by the end of it all, we’re just useless.

FLASHBACK. Sunday night last week, panicking at the thought of my daily dose of exams, I asked for help from the two most powerful men in the world that I admire. First, of course, would be my dad. I prayed to him, I pleaded for motivation and willpower so that I could study for the week. Of course he helped me, believe it. I was like possessed that night, I didn’t feel sleepy at all! I went to bed at 530 AM feeling pretty good about myself and hoping that the following days would be the same. No they weren’t. I guess dead people couldn’t interfere with biological processes anymore. I’m so bad at all-nighters if they involve academic reading. How I wish all-nighters are all just How I Met Your Mother marathons or chika minutes. Way fun.

The second man, who else? You know how the saying goes..

BAHALA NA SI BATMAN.

At the end of it all, no matter how I studied for my exams, and regardless if I even studied or not, what kept me sane was the thought that it was just a phase, and just like most devastating things in life, it too shall pass.

Seriously, I’ve been through things that are way worse than hell weeks.

Encounters With The Unworldly Kind

I reread Harry Potter 6 last night in preparation for watching the movie later this week. I have not watched the movie yet I don’t know why. Is it possible I have outgrown the Harry Potter fan in me?

Anyway, I woke up this morning with my older brother running wild and hyper in the room. I was feeling yet again sad because of Dumbledore’s death in HP6, and I couldn’t contain the feeling, really, so I told my brother, “Kuya patay na si Dumbledore.” My brother isn’t a fan of HP and he never read the books, but he has seen the movie already. Probably attempting to respond as if he knows what I was talking about, he said, “Oo, diba pinatay siya ni Solid Snape. Sabi niya, Aver Kadaver (insert wand gestures here)!”

HAHAHAHA =)) Solid Snape ka diyan?! Is this Metal Gear we’re talking about?? And what the hell’s Aver Kadaver??? It’s just like saying you like the songs of Snoopy Dogg! X))

Moving on…

Before going home this afternoon, I dropped by one of the two malls along North EDSA because I felt like doing so. I was walking around, and then one of those ladies sales talking about credit cards ( I wouldn’t elaborate anymore, I’m positive you have encountered one) approached me.

Credit Card Lady (CCL): Hi Maam, may credit card ka na?

Mar: Meron na, Ate.

CCL: Gumagamit ka na ba ng credit card? (This time I was walking faster than ever. But she was persistent!)

Mar: Meron na, Ate. Okay na po.

CCL: Ilang taon ka na be?

… BE KA DYAN?! HAHAHAHA X)) At this point, she was gone. I think she didn’t believe that I have a credit card that’s why she asked if I was already using a credit card, and to verify, she asked my age. But she called me Be! Or is it Be with an H as in… Beh?? Hahahaha oh these people, they really make my day.

SM North EDSA: Dining, Shopping, Entertainment (most definitely!)

For the first time ever, I went to SM North EDSA’s newest building. Yeah, the Annex one. And I must say that I hate it. I’m not sure how to say it but I think it was designed in a way that it was so not friendly especially to old people. I mean yeah what the hell I’m not even old yet but then I felt my muscles ache and then I had a chest pain upon reaching the 5th floor. Of course I didn’t know that there was a lift. Haha. But really, when that Annex was being built, I thought Henry Sy has already learned from Trinoma’s awesome lazy people-friendly escalator series system something. The Annex’s escalator system is just so bad. But then again there’s a lift. Hahaha.

I was with my mom, by the way. I was from Psych 160 lab and I went straight to SM because my mom texted me that she was there. Yeah, I’m such a dog. I was actually hoping that she’d treat me to lunch (yes, she did), and then we went off to The Annex just to buy a lame ink cartridge. (Because apparently they moved Cyberzone to the uppermost levels of that far-flung building! I just hate it so much.) Since I was already there, I remembered that there was a sudden DVDR drought here at home because of me massively backing up my files, so I went hunting for a CD-R king stall since for obvious reasons it’s the best place to buy CD’s (only because they’re cheap and can be bought in very large amounts).

And I say, and reiterate the phrase, only because, because really, it’s just it. Whoever owns CD-R King, for crying out loud, he must exponentially increase the number of his service staff. And he must invest in bigger stalls. I daresay CD-R King’s unofficial trademark is now the long queue of people standing in front of the cashier who, frankly, work very slowly. Plus the fact that all CD-R King products that are not CDs (meaning, everything else!) are easily damaged and/or destroyed.

Then again, that’s still not the point of the entry. Because this anecdote so made my day that suddenly, I just wanted to blog so madly again. So after around 30 miutes of falling in line (don’t even start asking me where I got the patience), I was finally talking to the cashier, asking for my DVD+Rs. When it was over and I was just waiting for the receipt and the change, there was a guy beside me who started talking about a memory card (and he wasn’t even the one supposedly next in line, but the lady behind was so …kind to let it pass!) for a certain cellphone unit. Then the cashier asked, “dala mo ba yung unit?”, so the guy showed her.

And then I panicked. Because this guy’s cellphone was the same as mine. And my cellphone was just in my bag. And my bag was just hanging on my side. And he was on my side. And frankly, and sorry for the terrible judgment, he didn’t look like someone who could afford that kind of phone. He actually looked something like a UP Fair Jumping Jolog without eyeliner and too much hair gel… something like that. Definitely something more decent than a typical UP Fair JJ (or any JJ for that matter), then again still not decent enough for my taste. So I checked my bag…. and my phone was still there. Whew. For that I thought… Bongga si Kuya, di lang halata.

So anyway, he brought out his phone and showed it to the cashier/saleslady (in CD-R King they’re all the same; staff shortage, I tell you) and the cashier easily found what the guy was looking for. But when the guy tested the memory card and inserted it in his phone… the phone wouldn’t recognize it. The guy said there was something wrong with the memory card, but the cashier looked at the guy and said, “Original Nokia ba yang phone mo?”

I almost burst into fits of laughter. Ladies and gentlemen, I don’t know if it exists, but that’s what I call collective judgment. And then the cashier went on saying, “Yung memory card kasi para sa mga supported device lang yan. Pacheck mo muna sa Nokia kung original ba yang phone mo.”

I love it. It’s fascinating isn’t it? At first I thought the guy snatched my phone, he did not. And then I thought he must be a nice and decent guy despite his… facade. But then apparently his phone is fake. Of course there’s no established relationship between niceness/decency and how original one’s phone is, but certainly there was at least a bit connection between his… facade and his fake phone.

For the record, I looked at the phone as well. At one glance, I knew it already. Our phones aren’t so same after all.

And now maybe you’re thinking, that’s how long it took for that cashier to produce that receipt of mine?

Yes, that’s how long it took. They work that sloooooow. It was long enough for me to witness something so entertaining that I actually came up with my concept of collective judgment. Once again, I love it.

SM North EDSA, you never fail. SM North EDSA: Home of the Jologs.