Theology Orals

Ma'am Rosana said that Ateneans are known for their ability to make tall stories out of short ones. She said she usually lets it go on a written test, however she will tell the student outright on an orals if he or she is "making bola." That's when Muri interjected. He said he'll come to the orals wearing a ball costume. An image suddenly came to mind, and eventually, Ma'am had to call both of us for classroom disruption.

Guess What

People say Brandon Routh looks a lot like Christopher Reeves. I'm sure it would be a bigger bother if Brandon Routh looked more like Samuel L. Jackson. Why don't we have a black Superman? That way he'd be Superblackman. It's racist I'm telling you. They tried to do it with Green Lantern in the animated Justice League but the "Black Lantern" just didn't sound quite right.

I'm thinking, with all of Lex Luther's wealth, why can't he just side with Superman and hire him as his bodyguard? Sometimes you just have to question some people's mental integrity. Who in their right mind would want to rumble with a "Super" man? Lex, they don't call him "Superman" without a prior show of force. And with all that money, he should at least get a wig to keep his brain from too much wind exposure.

I'm watching anyway. I like macho men clad in skin-tight blue overalls who wear bright red underwear on the outside. Who doesn't?

Neverwinter Nights, Boy

In an attempt to escape his troubled past, our intrepid hero, a paladin by the name of Josef Darksbane answers the call of a beautiful elfmaiden, no other than Lady Aribeth de Tylmarande, paladin of Tyr and most trusted hero of Neverwinter.

In an attempt to escape his troubling present, our intrepid zero, a jester by the name of Maron Reyes downloads a game called Neverwinter Nights and starts spending 5 hours a day playing it. No doubt his vision and responsibilities suffer. Yet, here we are again.

What can I say? It's a long semester and I'm still a gamer at heart.

Call From Japan

Kuya Regin called me using Yahoo's PC-to-PC service. I didn't know how it would work at first, so I typed what I wanted to say. I didn't know my laptop had a built-in microphone. We discovered it only after laughing at something that I wrote. He said he heard me and I felt like a dumbass typing all my messages. All I had to do was talk out loud. You learn something new everyday.

Kuya Regin is in Aichi Ken, Japan working 11 hours everyday at Maruwa. He lives with his wife there and looks like he's doing pretty well. Japan is nice and cold he says. They also get a lot of baseball and football there. But thanks to The Filipino Channel, they get their daily dose of soaps.

Japan is high tech. They have TV celphones and 3G services everywhere. His only qualm is that traffic runs in the opposite way. He says that it screws up his driving skills here.

. . .

I'm definitely buying a webcam and a headset after this.

Spotlight on Sitti

When I first heard Sitti, it never crossed my mind that she might be the same girl that we used to adore back in gradeschool. I never heard her sing so I dismissed it as a coincidence of names. My sister told me otherwise and out of curiosity, I looked her up on the net. She took on a screen name changing Baiddin to Navarro. But her features were unmistakable. She had this wide face that was always radiant. Apparently, Sitti is smart too, she graduated valedictorian of her batch in Saint Francis and graduated BS Economics in UP. And now, she is a popular bossa nova singer with her own Cafe Bossa album. Although she does a lot of covers, I'm still happy knowing that she made it in the music industry. I'll be buying her CD soon.

Lessons From the NBA

Who would've thought that Miami would win over Detroit? After losing the first 2 games of the finals to Dallas, who would've thought Miami could sweep the next four games?

I can't help but be optimistic now. Being the underdog and being down does not ultimately mean losing. Being at odds with fate does not mean that you should wallow in discontent and give up altogether. I know there is a lesson here for all of us. Life is not totally random, nor does it pick on anyone. Everything will fall into place. Everyone will have their day, and in the end, things will be where they ought to be.

Except for Gary Payton. He is a sellout who shouldn't have won the finals at all.

It could be contested that bouncing back does not reside only in the faith that things will work out in the end. I would agree. It will take work, being awake for hours on end, blood, sweat and all those cliches. Faith is manifested in concrete action and the guts to face the uncertain.

Failure is always in the back of our minds. But the price for not trying is a far greater fee. We've all had days when we feel afraid and unsure. The least we could do is to try our best and pray for the rest, for what good is a faith that does not draw action?

iAC Webmaster, Boy

WHERE LEGENDS ARE BORN

I learned to use my Dreamweaver in ways that would qualify me in Crix's exclusive Geek Club. It took one whole evening but it was worth it. Publishing to the Ateneo community widens my reach. I could dessiminate BS on a major scale. This is powerful stuff. Next news: a special video about my friend, Muri.

Visit the iAC Ateneo Website and catch up on the latest in sports happenings.

I'm A Busy Boy

Class has barely started but I'm already harrassed. This sem isn't looking too hot at all. I'm the director in two orgs and the work is starting to kill me, that is if the tension doesn't get to me first.

My small business consulting class is another field-oriented class, meaning more work. I was hoping to get a little break before entering the real world but what I'm getting is a hands-on tour of what to expect. I hate this sem. No wait, I hate this year.

Just Like Axe Says

First impressions last. As far as first impressions go, I'm in for a bad semester. I think I came in late for my first class, then at Tanchoco's class, I let out a loud, "You f*cks!" That expression is going to get me in trouble sooner than I'd like to. Sir Tanchoco pretended not to hear it. I pretended I didn't say it. "What? Who said that?" I swear I heard, "You sucks!" I don't care if the grammar is wrong. I know what I heard.

The only consolation for this them is that I'm their beadle. I can feel Sir Tanchoco shake his head in disbelief. "We're screwed!"

I Expect A Lot

School starts tomorrow after a summer break that was nothing but. I'm down to my last f*cking year of college and I'm nowhere near getting honors at grad nor getting a girlfriend. This year isn't something to look forward to. The excitement tends to die down after three years. That is why I envy the freshies - all 2500 of them. They will overrun us. I could feel it.

Senior syndrome will take on a whole new meaning now that I'm a real senior. This will majorly cut my "suavivity". The biggest challenge now is not to do what everyone expects but to do what I think is right. And besides, the universe will unfold in the way that it ought to. I just have to be patient.

Baldo's Birthday

We surprised Baldo on his 21st birthday. It was a kiddie party at Don Henrico's. Baldo is the only guy I know who is game enough to have his birthdays done in kiddie paty format. Last time we did it in McDonalds. It was hardly a surprise because Baldo brought a Coleman filled with rhum to spike our cokes.

I also heard about Kekek's girlfriend that night. He met her at his OJT and from what I heard, the girl wants to make it official but "Paopao" wants to wait for a while because his parents are strict. I never heard the end of it. Jotot made sure of that. It was a big deal to them that everyone else gets the girl while I'm still alone. I beg to differ, but of course I can't. I'm not really held in high esteem in terms of dealing with women. The stigma of failing horribly is hard to wash off.

Failures aren't all that bad. The stink of failure fades. The light of new learnings prevail. So let's just say that I'm wiser. I'll talk about the implicit pressure on me some other time then.

Solar Came Through

For our send off, we had this NBA Viewing Party at Red Kimono in Fort. Miami won so the series is down to a best-of-three. Reema Chanco of Sports Desk was there but she didn't know she was supposed to host the event so Rickett had to fill in for the rest of the day.

We got to talk to her and we actually made a little small talk. She asked us if we were going to Pampanga for the NBA Madness event, and I was tempted to say, "For you baby, I will walk a thousand miles." But her boyfriend who looked like Will Sasso of MAD TV or maybe Kurt Angle was looking rather dim. All in all, I'd say the whole Solar experience was worth it.

The iAC Tour

Is it just me or is the Ateneo progressively letting in more freshmen? I'm not sure by this year's count but judging from the 50 to 60 blocks that passed through iAC's booth, we are looking forward to a crowded year. I was thinking about where to put all these people when classes start. They will probably be stuffed in the caf, which has at least improved. The library's status is questionable since I'm betting there will also be a lot of nerds coming in. Lele had to deal with one of them. He was small-talking some freshman about the iAC, when he snapped, "Pinipili mo dapat 'yung kausap mo. Hanapin mo 'yung athletic kasi wala talaga akong hilig sa sports." Talk about an attitude problem.

The new MVP Center looks promising, but I don't think I'll enjoy hanging out there. Long story. The only promising new venue will be our newly-acquired SEC B Foyer bench and the iAC's office, overlooking the pool! This I will enjoy.

Think of all the freshmen who will be in permanent limbo. I heard one notable group last year. They were blocking the catwalk and I was unfortunate enough to hear their conversation. One guy asked, "Tsong, ano kakainin mo?" Now that's a dilemma. What to eat? The whole world is in suspense, my freshman friend. When you don't know what to eat, staying in the f*cking middle of a busy walkway will help.

. . .

I still envy them. They have this whole college thing laid out before them, fresh and unspoiled. I have exhausted my stay and I sometimes catch myself thinking about starting over.

But on the bright side, someone greeted me today. She greeted me first. "Uy Maron, andito ka pala." It was music to my ears. She knew my name! I wasn't expecting that at all. Too bad, I'm not Chinese.

Love Asia

Star World is showing Mission Impossible 3's Maggie Denise Quiqley, better known as Maggie Q in a knew project dubbed, "Love Asia". I'm trying to find the low down on the show on the net but the project is stealthy. There are a few things on Maggie Q that came up, including her filmography. She was GIRL IN CAR in Rush Hour 2. That's big.

I also found that Love Asia is going to be shot in Malaysia and will feature a bevy of Asian models. Peter Yap says it best.

. . .

Celebrating Asia's Beauty
by Peter Yap
Asia's supermodels Maggie Q, Lin Chiling, Almen Wong and Jacqueline Alblas are the creme de la creme of the region's most beautiful women.

Now, for the first time, they come together with six other supermodels in a TV special, Love Asia, which celebrates the breathtaking natural beauty of tropical Asia and the evolution of modern Asian womanhood, to be shown exclusively on Star World (Astro Channel 70) at 11.30pm on Friday. (read more)

MEA Prepcourse 2006

I feel old. 4th-year hosts always get the "kuya" treatment, especially now that the sophomores are handling the prepcourse. It was like only yesterday that I handled the sophs in their own prepcourse. There were no standouts in the freshwomen batch unlike ours and the last one.

Chong managed to get me in trouble again. We were playing pranks with the megaphones. I started with, "Ano Chong? Sino uli 'yung trip mo sa mga naka-black?" One whole block was wearing black so it was harmless.

Chong got back with, "Ano Maron? Sino uli 'yung trip mo sa mga naka-brown?"

"Huh? Wala namang naka-brown a," one sophomore complained. They were apparently following the pranks closely.

"A teka, gets ko 'yun a." Some words I dreaded. I wasn't surprised though. Just so you know, only five sophomore women were wearing brown that day. Go figure.


"A mali! Sino pala sa mga naka-yellow?" was the best damage control Chong could think of. Too late, the damage is done.

. . .

I couldn't help but envy the lot of them. They were so full of potential. They have a fresh start in college.
I hope they don't spend the good part of it screwing up like Chong.

Jedi Name

I went to Muri to watch Episode 3. He kept asking me to look up, "How to be a Jedi." This was the best that I got.

Cast off your old name! Your Jedi name is REYAA DELAS of the planet Valium! Find your Jedi Name!

My Jedi name sucks.

This one's Muri's.

Cast off your old name! Your Jedi name is ROCJO BLANT of the planet Viagra! Find your Jedi Name!

Planet Viagra? Yoda is thrilled.

Flight Attendants

Do you notice how flight attendants are always so calm? They were trained for that. They have to assure the passengers that everything will be alright by way of example. They are always like, "We are experiencing a little turbulence. Please fasten your seatbelts." And not, "Strong winds are going to rock the plane for a while. Please fasten your seatbelts and pray that the wings don't shear." They are always optimistic and tough as nails.

But I was thinking along the lines of a dreadfully honest flight attendant who left his PA on. The plane's gears won't open and the tarmac is a few seconds ahead. You are running at 300mph. Then imagine hearing this on the PA, "Ah 'yung gulong! 'YUNG GULONG! Ayaw bumukas. Mamamatay na tayong lahat!" So much for keeping calm.

Goodbye Solar

The hot girl gave me some chocolates she brought home from the states. I knew it! But then again, she gave everyone chocolates.

I was sure nobody there would miss my work because I hardly do any. What they'll miss is the daily hassle they get whenever I'm in their workspace using their LAN cables. I swear I heard Ash and Oman's sigh of relief. Eric however commented on my lack of a proper send off. "Ganyan ba talaga mga Atenista? Aalis na parang ganon lang?"

I tried to make the most of my last day by getting an excuse to use the connection. I made a World Cup primer for Business Mirror. I also had the perfect excuse to get photos. Of course I had to fix my timing so that Cora would be there too. But she was camera shy and chose to turn her back on the camera.

I will miss Solar and all their little issues and gripes. The have a cool job and I wouldn't turn down any offer just as long as Cora's still there. I'd rather manage events and watch NBA at work than do boring as hell financials. So much for being an ME grad.

The Super Conference

I smell blood, so I went online early. We had set the group days before. All we had to fix was our schedule. Let me clue you in: We need to talk about this because for the next sem, 3 of our major classes - Operations Management, Operations Research and Leadership and Strategy - will have a consolidated project, dubbed the super project. Usually, if you want to do good on a super project, you need to have a good working relationship with your groupmates. With 3 subjects on the line, nobody's taking chances so everyone held a YM conference to talk things through. We are about 80 in the batch so go figure.

Jill messaged me about the schedule that we should go for. I told her not to worry. We'll get it
It took a whole lot of copying and pasting but I guess everyone got the message. It was "Maron, Nati, Jill, Cel and Mark V, 1:30 LS Class." We had to have the same LS Class to be in the same group. Everyone said, "Ang kulit mo maron." but at last, it was almost set in stone. I'm praying nobody chokes on reg day because if they do, may God have mercy on their souls. I'm not the only one going after the dumb fuck.

Disco Night

We had a successful disco night on a bare budget. My sound system setup was a little off-par. Kat had to bring her Altec Lansing. I also had iTunes installed just so I could play her iPod. Where's my iPod? My laptop could use a little company.

I played Hands Down. I think it sounded good. Practice paid off after all. I'll probably play that again for MEA sometime.

. . .

The fun thing that night was the slow dance. I didn't know there were so many pairs in the cluster. I knew Koko and Cams, Monad and Kaye but the rest were just fun to watch. Koko kept pairing people together and asking me to take pictures. I think I ended the night with 30 pairs more or less.

Darasa and Dallas

I woke up early yesterday to greet papa on his birthday. We just came from Darasa in Tanauan, Batangas last night. The pool was huge but it was crawling with bugs. They invited better guests like bats and bigger bugs. If frogs had a heaven, I bet it would look like that.

I didn't notice the bug soup at first. It was dark. I dived in headfirst and I believe I just gave out the gayest scream when I resurfaced. Everyone else was laughing their heads off. The bastards didn't even warn me.

. . .

Papa said that Miami just beat the crap out of the Pistons. My NBA finals scenario was materializing. All that's left is for Phoenix to win in 7. I turned on the TV just in time to see Phoenix leading at the half. I texted Rickett about the fate of his beloved Pistons. He didn't reply. I bet he was waiting for Dallas to come back into the game. And that they did. The Mavs took control after Diaw and Barbosa's foul troubles and never looked back since. Nash's MVP season came to an abrupt end. And sure as sunrise, Rickett had his reply. "Tsong, baka yung sinasabi mong Miami-Phoenix next season pa kasi OUT na yung suns e. Hahaha. Spoke too soon, boy." Karma runs fast on a Sunday.

The Miami Heat will go against the Dallas Mavericks starting June 8. Solar will be holding a viewing party for one of their games at the Red Kimono, the Fort near Prince of Jaipur, or Jaips as we party people like to call it. I think that will be 8am on June 16. Magic words: FREE Japanese FOOD. If you're not doing anything important, you might as well drop by for some sushi because the finals suck.

Sabado Nights on Sunday

We had a service meeting yesterday to talk about our YFC Disco Nights. We had to decide on the theme. I didn't want to sound too obvious so I just suggested a Hawaiian theme. If I had it my way, I would have a whole pool party going. Knowing that pineapples and white sand are hard to come by, David decided on a Black and White themed party. He said the white will look good once he had black lights installed in the room. Some image just came to me, and I couldn't help but jump up and suggest it.

Black lights will make white turn violet. All other colors will be unseen. So if Shaq was to walk into the party, we wouldn't be able to see him unless he smiles. My suggestion for the B&W party was that everyone bring white gloves, like Mickey Mouse. That way, we wouldn't need glow sticks.