Oman's Wallpaper

I enjoy working with Oman and Erick here in Solar because of all the vexing. Oman is an Atenista while Erick is La Sallite through and through. Not a day goes by without them picking on each other's school. They both get significant reinforcements since Solar is roughly made up of Atenistas and La Sallites, us included. I can only imagine the place during UAAP season.

The morning began with Erick picking on Oman's hairdo. "Tsong, hindi na bagay sa 'yo 'yan. Ang tanda mo na! Idol mo si Yeo 'no?" He was referring to Oman's French cut. The conversation eventually led to La Salle beating Ateneo in all their games in last season's UAAP.

We were watching WWE on Jack TV then when the green-clad Spirit squad came out. "Uy tsong, mga La Sallista o!"

Erick could only laugh. "Tangina, naisahan mo ako dun a. Pero ayos lang, hindi naman kayo nanalo sa UAAP."

"Ewan ko lang a. Disqualified lang kayo, kinareer nyo na yung wrestling." Everyone in the office just laughed afterwards. Erick had to call a time-out to smoke. When he returned, Oman had this wallpaper on his desktop. It's crazy funny.

My Random Number Sucked Balls

I have the worst luck. During my 1st year, my random numbers were 6 and 41. Big deal. All I had was the best choice for a P.E. class, which I wasted on Tai Chi. I finished ahead of everyone else in registration but that never made me popular. No one cares if you get a 6 or a 600 during 1st year.

The numbers mattered most in 3rd year. But for some reason, the random number gods all turned their back on me and left me with a whopping 300+ reg number. It would have been better if I got a 500. At least there's hope that a good class would reopen.

My random number has not recovered since. Being at an all-time high of 455, I'm sure to get all the best classes and schedule. I always wanted a 7am class with a 6-hour break. That should be fun.

Maybe I should've bet on the lottery.

Nothing More Terrible than a Tennis Flop. On a Sunday

We helped set up the viewing party at the Rockwell Club Tent on a Sunday. I felt robbed because the event was such a terrible flop that we could have very well held the party at Muri's place. The consolation prize was that we got free beer and Haagen Dasz. The combination sounds awful but it was better than zilch. On the plus side we were given 400 pesos for our troubles. It was far from ideal, especially on a Sunday. I especially stress Sunday because I could have been somewhere else less floppy. But work is work.

. . .

I out-drank last year's beer count in the span of one week. I feel bloated and I'm hoping that the Haagen Dasz take effect soon. Don't you get those days when you take a crap so intense that your pants fit better? I'm kind of hoping for that.

I'm A-Slain For You

I went to Chapter A's youth camp in Metrocor Village. But after two especially boisterous camps, the neighbors reported us to the barangay. As such, we only had until 10:30pm to wrap up the day's activities, and that called for an earlier than usual empowerment.

Empowerment is done by the service team every youth camp to worship God and to pray for the upcoming baptism of the participants. This was my third time this camp season so needless to say, I am more or less used to the feeling of receiving the Holy Spirit. Yet despite that, I found myself being distracted even with my eyes closed. I was there for service and worship but things kept popping out of nowhere that I struggled throughout the start of the session.

Kuya Pao's hand reached me and I moved forward to give the guy a hug. Instead, I fell to the floor. It was my first experience of being slain. I didn't know what to do next so I just lied there. I honestly felt a little silly but I was worshipping God so nothing's too embarrassing, I thought.

I stood up when the rain became too strong to bear. Everyone in the immediate vicinity gave me a pat on the back as if to say, "That's good. It's not everyday your inner demons get slain."

. . .

Slain is a technical term we use in YFC service. It happens during worship and pray overs and it means that God's spirit is so intense that it has vanquished your inner demon. It is like an exorcism, only gentler. When this happens, the person crashes to the ground. If they're lucky, someone would catch them. I was lucky, and honestly, I felt much better after that. There was this peace of mind that only comes after a good night's sleep. Now that's intense.

A Short Visit to Flash Elorde Sports Center

I didn’t see Flash Elorde because apparently, the man is no longer with us in this life. But I did get to see his trophy room at their ancestral home in Sucat, Parañaque. It had an old rich look complete with Monet renditions and antique wood trimmings. Boxing gloves hanged from the ceiling. A faux gold bust of Elorde stands in the center surrounded by a good number of awards. I saw trophies as tall as Nati. That room is cool. I want my own trophy room someday.

. . .

Liza is Flash’s daughter-in-law and our main contact in the place. She was nice and generous and her wallet seemed bottomless. In the short tenure of our stay we witnessed Liza disbursing a sum total of 10 thousand pesos to a number of house helps. Their hacienda housed a good number of people, mostly boxers. It was like boxing camp and from what we heard, even Manny-the-effing-Pacman-Pacquiao once swept their walkways. They even had a URCC champ in the house. We actually feared for our lives, knowing that we were strangers there.

We Put the "Bad" in Badminton

We went to the Bingo Bonanza Philippine Badminton Open at the Ultra. The Philippine delegates headed by the Asuncion siblings actually had some fight in them. Or it could be that the opponent just plain sucks. Either way they were winning some heated battles.

I asked Rickett if it was possible for a shuttle cock to shoot into your mouth.

He gave me a funny look.

Apparently he didn't hear "shuttle" in my sentence.

. . .

I was thinking about someone prematurely celebrating a solid smash then receiving a mouthful of feathers when his opponent returns his shot. Now that's something you won’t see everyday.

. . .

Instead of going to the office, we would visit Flash Elorde’s Gym in Sucat tomorrow to procure some footage that we could use in our upcoming boxing documentary. Flash Elorde is one of those better champions who invested wisely after his career. But despite his popularity, I can’t imagine how a famous ex-champ would look like. Maybe he’d humor us tomorrow by acting the part.

Ash's Computer Just Got Maron-ed

I greeted Mr. Mirpuri with the warmest "Kamusta na?" that I could muster. He seemed glum but hopeful about his computer. We both wished that it be fixed soon so that he could return to his work and forget about the whole LAN mishap.

He returned at 2:30 pm lugging two giant badminton bags which looked like it could fit 10 racquets. Looks like he had a smashing good time at the Philippine Badminton Open - pun intended.

He told me matter-of-factly that Nelson, the technician, couldn't do anything about the computer. His documents were fried. I thought, "Hey. This guy's good, with his serious tone and poker face." After 5 seconds of waiting for the punchline, I finally conceded. He WAS serious, and I suddenly imagined myself being sacrificed to Kali or some Indian elephant god of wrath.

. . .

I voted Sazon in his L'Oreal stint, and I now understand why he would suddenly turn pysho with his top. Dyed hair is a social shortcut for either

1. attention
2. discounts at gay bars
3. claiming that you're Badjao
4. getting your ass kicked by the entire village people, and we're not talking YMCA homos here
   

Raining Cats and Underdogs? Let's Have Some Suns

Amar'e was famous for his reverse rebound

It was almost the year of the underdogs. Both the Cavaliers and the Clippers forced a game 7 but lacked the finishing touch. Fans are not saddened though because both teams are young and would probably be back in force next season.

The Mavericks on the other hand survived a late Spurs rally to dethrone the former champs in their own game 7. Now that's good basketball.

I'm rooting for the Suns but they will probably miss Amar'e Stoudemire against Dallas. Just in case they make it, and just in case Miami upsets the Pistons, then MVP Steve Nash will finally have a crack at getting a ring for a change.

. . .

Working in Solar Sports gave me the chance to follow all the NBA playoff games LIVE. Plus I get to go to special events for free. If only the pay was more than zero.

Everything I Touch Gets Destroyed

I'm not good at taking risks. 90% of all the games I tried to install were all lemons. I'm not too crazy about the lucky 10% either. The role playing games that I really like were Neverwinter Nights and Icewind Dale II, and both came out with messages saying "Error: Cyclic redundancy check." After experiencing this for the 10th time, I decided to look it up.

WTF Windows?? Seriously WTF??

Techies call it CRCs and it has something to do with math. The important thing that I picked up from it though was that it could be caused by either

1. a loose cable in the CD drive
2. badly burnt CDs

Looking at how CD pirates are never straight shooters, I'm likely to point fingers at the latter.

The last CD I bought cost me PHP 300 and I'm not letting it off easy. I'm going to storm the store and give them a quick lesson on CRCs.

. . .

I took Ash's LAN wire in the office today like I used to. But this time something went awry. I returned the wire after lunch and as Ash retired to his seat, his PC wouldn't boot. The screen kept prompting, "Error reading disk." "Aw fuck," I thought, "There goes my OJT." I was the "last touch" and I had little going for me.

That's probably the second thing I've destroyed with my "last touch". The other thing being Non's digital camcorder. I'm keeping an eye on the office's photocopier, fax and TV just in case.

Are You A Christian? Do You Believe in Unicorns? Don't Read Da Vinci

I was fortunate enough to wake up on the way to work this morning just in time to listen to an AM radio discussion on the Code's movie status in the country. So far, the movie has been a real conversation piece between plain simple folk and the devout. The buzz on this movie was enough to pique everyone's curiosity. Although I knew the big secret well before I read the book, clue:

JESUS HAD KIDS.

I still wanted to watch for social purposes. By social, I meant getting into some artsy-fartsy girl's pants.

I know that it is fiction but with all the ruckus it has been causing, I'm beginning to have second thoughts.

People take things like this seriously, don't they? I can't blame them. I felt the same way after watching Lord of the Rings, which was another popular work of fiction. I knew it was fiction but deep down, I felt that elves and dwarves and hobbits really roamed the earth at one time. And somehow, at the turn of the century, we were all forced to forget. And also I think magic is real and unicorns exist.

So it would not surprise me how Dan Brown could shake the foundations of some people's faith with his popular work of fiction. Well, that is good. At least I know I am not alone with this feeling of doubt. The Bible may be divinely inspired but Dan Brown is such a good writer that I just have to believe. I wish I could be like him, raking in millions while the rest of the world watch and second-guess their convictions about Jesus, the Only Begotten Son of God - God among Men.

...Who actually had kids and were just covered up by some illuminati group so the world would believe in his divinity.

. . .

I agree with the R18 rating and I can understand why Henry Sy doesn't want to show it in SM Cinemas. He is after all, an Opus Dei member.

But I can't bring myself to fully agree with any one side on this debate because first of all, nothing here should be an issue. People are smart enough to see a good work of fiction and to think nothing more of it.

Wait, what? Oh shit.