tulog na dilat

isang malakas na batok

2007-11-07T09:44:00.000+08:00

just received this in my email and since i don't really forward things in my email, posted it here instead.

~~~

Telltale Signs/ NO TEARS FOR ESTRADA
Rodel E. Rodis, September 17, 2007

On the day the Estrada verdict was announced last week, a retired man who needed my help in his claim for social security benefits in the Philippines professed sympathy for the former president, expressing his hope that he would be shown mercy because he had suffered enough.

Like most people, he had not read the 212 page decision of the Philippine Anti Graft Court (Sandigan Bayan), finding former president Joseph aka Erap Estrada Guilty of Plunder. If he had read the complete decision, he would have discovered the ironic connection between his problems with the SSS and the basis for the plunder verdict. (For the transcripts, log on to http://www.manilamail.com ).

It took six years for the Sandigan court to try the Estrada case, most of the delays caused by Estrada himself. At one point, he fired all his attorneys so that a mistrial could occur. But after the court provided him with new attorneys, which he promptly rejected, Estrada retained new counsel and proceeded with a strategy to run out the clock until his close personal friend, Fernando Poe, Jr. (FPJ), could win the presidency in the May 2004 elections and dismiss all the charges against him.

But when FPJ lost, Estrada had no choice but to finally deal with the prosecution's case by seeking to undermine the credibility of the court and by claiming that the trial is "politically motivated" to justify his removal from office. Very little was done by his lawyers to debunk the voluminous evidence presented in court.

In the course of the trial despite innumerable delays, dozens of witnesses described how Estrada collected billions of Philippine pesos in "jueteng" protection money which they regularly delivered in cash to his Polk Street mansion in San Juan in Metro Manila. It was like a mob scene from "The Sopranos". But the most damning witnesses against Estrada were those he appointed to public office.

Carlos (aka Chucky) Arellano testified that he was a childhood friend of Estrada who appointed him chairman and president of the Social Security System (SSS) in 1998. On October 6, 1999, he received a call from Pres. Estrada instructing him to buy Belle Corporation stock. He hesitated to do so, he said, because that decision belonged to the SSS investment committee which selected the stocks to invest in for the millions of Filipinos who had contributed to it. However, after further prodding from Estrada, Arellano unilaterally authorized the purchase by SSS of P900-M (pesos) ($20-M) in Belle stocks on October 21, 1999, just 15 days after he was directed to do so.

Federico Pascual testified that he was the president of the Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) in 1999, appointed by Estrada, when he was instructed to purchase Belle shares. He hesitated to do the president bidding, he said, because the Belle Corporation was involved in jai-alai and gambling and had a speculative flavor. But after receiving another call from Estrada on October 9, 1999, he went ahead and authorized the purchase by GSIS of P1.1-B (pesos) ($25-M) in Belle stock.

A close crony of Estrada, Jaime Dichaves, facilitated the transaction. Belle Corporation executives testified that they issued a cashiers check to Dichaves in the amount of P189-M($4-M) (International Exchange Bank Check No. 6000159271 dated November 5, 1999 ) as his 10% commission for securing the purchase by SSS and GSIS of close to P2-B (pesos) ($45-M) in Belle stocks.

Bank executives then testified that Dichaves deposited the 10% commission of P189-Mil. ($4-Mil) into the bank account of Jose Velarde, in Equitble Bank. Dichaves deposited an additional amount of P74-M (pesos) into the same account.

Clarissa Ocampo, an Equitable Bank manager, testified that she personally witnessed Estrada sign his name as Jose Velarde in withdrawing funds from the Equitable Bank, an allegation that was openly admitted by Estrada himself. Bank executives testified that there were Joint accounts in the bank of Jose Velarde & Loi Ejercito (Estradas legal wife).

Bank executives also testified that it was from this same Jose Velarde account that Estrada purchased the Boracay Mansion near Wack-Wack Golf Club for the use of his favored mistress, Laarni Enriquez. The man who facilitated the purchase of this mansion was Jose Luis Yulo who, because of this housing experience, was then appointed by Estrada to be his Secretary of Housing, replacing the very competent Karina Constantino-David.

The prosecution's evidence was just too over whelming, the Sandigan Bayan justices had no other choice but to find Estrada guilty of plunder, beyond a reasonable doubt. Sifting through the testimonies of eyewitnesses, one concludes that Estrada never believed that he would ever have to account for his actions so he didn't care who witnessed what he was doing. Transparency turned out not to be a virtue and stupidity not a viable defense.

But the joke was on the people. When GSIS and SSS bought Belle stocks, As instructed by then PRES. ESTRADA, in 1999, they were priced at P3.14 a share. One year later, on December 29, 2000, their value had sunk dramatically to 60 centavos a share. Two years later, Belle stock crashed to a staggering 40 centavos a share, from purchase price of P3.14 per share. Now they are virtually worthless! Two BILLION PESOS of the people's investments down the drain!

While I congratulate the Sandigan Bayan judges for finding Estrada guilty of plunder, my regret is that he was never charged for his possible role in the abduction and murders of Salvador "Bubby" Dacer, Emmanuel Corbito and Edgar Bentain.

According to members of his family, Bubby Dacer was bawled out by Estrada in Malacanang in November of 1999 shortly before he and his driver, Corbito, were abducted by members of the Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Task Force (PAOCTF) headed by Gen. Panfilo Lacson and tortured and executed. The PAOCTF soldiers who admitted killing Dacer and Corbito pointed to Col. Glenn Dumlao as their commanding officer. Before he fled to the US , Col. Dumlao pointed to Col. Cezar Mancao and Col. Michael Ray Aquino as the officers who gave him the orders. Before they could point their fingers as to who directed them, Mancao and Aquino fled to the US upon instructions of Lacson. If Lacson had been fingered by Mancao and Aquino, would he have pointed the finger to Estrada?

Edgar Bentain was a casino worker at the Casino Filipino located at the Heritage Hotel in Manila when he secretly released to the press the videotape of Estrada playing high-stakes poker with his crony, Atong Ang. The videotape was then shown on TV to the embarrassment of Estrada who ordered an investigation into who leaked the videotape. According to Ador Mawanay's sworn testimony on August 17, 2001, PAOCTF men abducted Bentain outside the casino and immersed him with cement inside a drum and dumped his corpse in Pampanga. The leader of the PAOCTF team, he said, was Col. Michael Ray Aquino. Mawanay identified Estrada's son, Jude, as the man he saw give a black bag containing money to Aquino as payment for the killing of Bentain.
==============================

Who has really suffered as a result of the above?? Estrada or the Filipino people? Share this message to all Filipinos in your address book.

~~~

most of us already know the facts stated above. but looks like we need another reminder or even isang malakas na batok para maka-alala.

and this is the reason why this is stupid.

Reason for the Rut

2007-10-25T17:18:00.000+08:00

Okay, I think I know what's wrong. A bit.

I have strayed from the master plan. All my plans, dreams back in college were nothing more than dreams, still - until now. Back then, I have this image of what I want to be at this point in my life. But sadly, I'm still nowhere near them.

I wanted to join JVP (Jesuit Volunteers Philippines) - a program which sends new graduates to far-flung areas of the country to help out in terms of education and whatnot, and maybe along with the process, learn something more about themselves. I wanted to become a teacher, or maybe even work for an NGO. I wanted to work for something which I know means something. To really make a dent in this word (yeah, I'm really idealistic). And not just work for money, nor for a job title.

Unfortunately, JVP didn't materialize because my mom would not hear of her unica hija being assigned for a year in some far-flung area of the country (obviously). And the teaching job went bust as well as soon as a few (well, maybe more than a few) discouraging remarks from some job interviews. Ie: "you don't have education units whatsoever, we can't hire you," and "you should just enroll at PNU, since we only hire from that school." Dear, I respect PNU, but you have one weird logic. I know I should have just fought and looked for another teaching job, but it gets disappointing and discouraging after a while, and it came to a point wherein my already below minimum self-esteem has had enough.

So I fell for a pit fall. So new college grads beware. Never accept a job for the sake of just getting some job experience to boost your resume in preparation for your second job. You might get typecasted. Just like yours truly. Which is perhaps the reason why I'm stuck in this job. Which is also perhaps the reason why I'm wasting away typing on my blogs, just whining and bitching about things that could've been.

Aaahh.. life.

bad luck=blog luck

2007-10-25T16:10:00.000+08:00

just my luck. a 20-something officemate who has the attitude and playfulness of a 6-year old found my blog. i'll never hear the end of this

pissed..

2007-10-25T11:07:00.000+08:00

i just saw my payslip. god. it's enough to make me not want to work.

for the glorietta blast victims

2007-10-25T09:45:00.001+08:00

taking my cue from here

virtual flowers for the Glorietta blast victims

all of us were saying that we could've been the ones who had been there during the blast as most of us consider glorietta our "third" home. but the reality is, for some reason, we weren't. and they were. it's about time we stop with the finger-pointing and conspiracy theories and just respect and offer our thoughts and sympathies to the families and loved ones of those who are affected by this tragedy. may justice be done and the victims rest in peace.

(i'm no photographer. so that explains the picture)

stuck here

2007-10-25T09:24:00.000+08:00

I feel trapped.

There’s no other way of saying it. Last night, I cried without really knowing why. I don’t even know if I have a valid reason for it, but what I do know is that somehow it felt great afterwards. My boyfriend was decent enough to let me do my own thing. Sure he asked me about it, but when I assured him it wasn’t him or anything, he let me be. Bless him for that.

I’ve been thinking about everything a lot for the past few days. It gets harder and harder to peel myself off my bed everyday. I want to do something. Hell, I want to do a lot of things. And I don’t even know what they are. Crazy huh?

Good luck to me finding myself. But for now, it looks like I’m stuck here.

scary news - especially as i'm there most of the time

2007-10-19T16:19:00.000+08:00

i just heard about this when my mom suddenly called me at the office at the middle of the day just to make sure that i wasn't at glorietta at the time. she shouldn't have bothered considering the state i'm in right now - it's my first day and the cramps make it hardly bearable to do much, let alone sit up. blame it all on the girly cramps and the laziness.

anyway, this is scary: blast hits glorietta mall
contrary to what first came to my mind, there was no foul play involved, the reason for the blast was a "ripping" lpg tank, and glorietta 1 and 2 were the ones affected. news are still patchy as of yet, but the good thing is, it looks like inquirer.net's updating the reports as facts come in, but hopefully no one's badly injured or hurt.

makes you think how vulnerable we all are.

update: (omg) now they're reporting that it's a bomb and not lpg. it's also reported that there are four fatalities and more than 40 people are injured =(

more cell phone dangers

2007-10-18T14:55:00.000+08:00

this is interesting: don't make your cell phone your confidante

but wait. what do i do with my phone(s) now..

stardust and a man lost in time*

2007-10-18T10:19:00.000+08:00

i finished reading neil gaiman's stardust last thursday night, just in time to watch the film with my friend, rm at g4 - oha, iwas spoilers =D we met up at glorietta and grabbed some lunch at chef d'angelo before proceeding to the movie. what was notable about the said lunch was:

the dessert!! i think it was german chocolate - bittersweet chocolate ala-cheesecake style, the bottom part is similar to the one you get in an oreo cheesecake, while the middle part is moist chocolate!! hwaha, we were so full after the meal but i couldn't help but make some space for this baby =D

we then watched stardust, and ang galeng galeng. i share rm's sentiments by saying that robert de niro really stole the show on this one. haha, his character was quite a surprise =D while considerable changes have been made in the movie from the novel, they still managed to retain the main plot and even delivered it quite well. the movie also packed in more action, especially at the end, which was somewhat lacking in the novel. but whatevs, i love them both.

after stardust, i move on to:

according to the back cover, henry, the guy and one half of the novel's main characters/couple, "suffers from a rare condition where his genetic clock periodically resets and he finds himself suddenly into his past or future."

intriguing huh? i thought so too when i first saw it at fully booked, and which is why i had to buy it the second time around. i'm still not halfway through, but i have to say that the situation is pretty damn hard for the girl. not to mention that it sucks! which was made quite evident in the very first page:

clare: it's hard being left behind. i wait for henry, not knowing where he is, wondering if he's okay. it's hard to be the one that stays... i wait for henry. he vanishes unwillingly, without warning. i wait for him. each moment that i wait feels like a year, an eternity. each moment is as slow and as transparent as glass. through each moment i can see infinite moments lined up, waiting. why has he gone where i cannot follow?

and here's another one, a conversation between henry and henry at 15 (i think). yep, there are sometimes 2 henrys because one is in that present, while the other time traveled forward/backward to it. so in this one, one of them is explaining to the other another older henry's explanation why they couldn't change some things in the past even if they try to:

he said that he thinks there is only one free will when you are in time, in the present. he says in the past we can only do what we did, and we can only be there if we were there.

* the time traveler's wife, audrey niffenegger, p.1, p.58

something's freaking wrong with our internet..

2007-10-17T18:39:00.000+08:00

it's freaking slow!! as in.. grr

anyway, i saw this at a friend's blog and i just want to share it here. just scroll to the bottom of the list to find out the meaning for my marks =D

Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell
Anna Karenina
Crime and Punishment
Catch 22
One Hundred Years of Solitude
Wuthering Heights
The Silmarillion
Life of Pi : a novel
The Name of the Rose
Don Quixote
Moby Dick
Ulysses
Madame Bovary
The Odyssey
Pride and Prejudice
Jane Eyre
A Tale of Two Cities
The Brothers Karamazov
Guns, Germs, and Steel: the fates of human societies
War and Peace
Vanity Fair
The Time Traveler's Wife (currently reading it)
The Iliad
Emma
The Blind Assassin
The Kite Runner
Mrs. Dalloway
Great Expectations
American Gods
A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius
Atlas Shrugged
Reading Lolita in Tehran : a Memoir in Books
Memoirs of a Geisha
Middlesex
Quicksilver
Wicked : the Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West
The Canterbury Tales
The Historian : a Novel
A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man
Love in the Time of Cholera
Brave New World
The Fountainhead
Foucault's Pendulum
Middlemarch
Frankenstein
The Count of Monte Cristo
Dracula
A Clockwork Orange
Anansi Boys
The Once and Future King
The Grapes of Wrath
The Poisonwood Bible : a Novel
1984
Angels & Demons
The Inferno
The Satanic Verses
Sense and Sensibility*
The Picture of Dorian Gray
Mansfield Park
One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest*
To the Lighthouse
Tess of the D’Urbervilles
Oliver Twist
Gulliver’s Travels
Les Misérables*
The Corrections
The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time (ei ria, it's the book you want from fully booked)
Dune
The Prince
The Sound and the Fury
Angela’s Ashes : a memoir
The God of Small Things
A People’s History of the United States : 1492 - present
Cryptonomicon
Neverwhere
A Confederacy of Dunces
A Short History of Nearly Everything
Dubliners
The Unbearable Lightness of Being
Beloved
Slaughterhouse-Five
The Scarlet Letter
Eats, Shoots & Leaves: The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation
The Mists of Avalon*
Oryx and Crake : a novel
Collapse : how societies choose to fail or succeed
Cloud Atlas
The Confusion
Lolita
Persuasion
Northanger Abbey
The Catcher in the Rye
On the Road
The Hunchback of Notre Dame
Freakonomics
Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance : an inquiry into values
The Aeneid
Watership Down
Gravity’s Rainbow
The Hobbit
In Cold Blood : a true account of a multiple murder and its consequences
White Teeth
Treasure Island
David Copperfield
The Three Musketeers

~~
i have it but haven't finished it yet
i read and finished it
i haven't read it but saw its movie counterpart (does that count?)*
i finished and loved it

quiapo and balikbayan handicrafts

2007-10-11T17:36:00.000+08:00

i just got back at the office from a trip to quiapo manila to buy camera/lens filters (whatevs) which will be used for upcoming photo shoots for the calendar. only two of the stores i went to carry the specific filters we need. by the end, i forgot which of the stores i asked and ended up asking some of them twice! and some of the salesladies were already giving me strange looks. i then gave up and went back to the two stores to buy the filters.

afterwards, the driver and i dropped by balikbayan handicrafts at pasay rd to browse for possible gifts suitable for a foreign contact who's leaving to go back to his native land. the proponent specifically asked for crystal figurines depicting different pinoy aspects encased in glass. since i don't have a proper camera, ended up taking these pictures in my camera phone to show them. most of them are actually waaay out of their budget.

the art of lechon

a really good-looking but delicate bahay-kubo

an eternally-bound couple pounding rice

the king of our roads, the jeepney; and

a coconut tree

i'm wondering if i should just give them the "machete" statue in front of the store =D

oh, and i'm meeting a couple of friends for lunch tomorrow, and then its stardust for us =D

novel-to-film

2007-10-11T10:44:00.000+08:00

i just finished reading ian mcewan's atonement a few days ago, and well, it was ok, although it was - sad. copied a few of the end's lines here

but what really happened? the answer is simple: the lovers survive and flourish. as long as there is a single copy, a solitary transcript of my final draft, then my spontaneous, fortuitous sister and her medical prince survive to love.

...

the problem these 59 years has been this: how can a novelist achieve atonement when with her absolute power of deciding outcomes, she is also god? there is no one, no entity or higher form that she can appeal to, or be reconciled with, or that can forgive her. there is nothing outside her. in her imagination she has set the limits and the terms. no atonement for god, or novelists, even if they are atheists. it was always an impossible task, and that was precisely the point. the attempt was all.

p. 371, Atonement, Ian McEwan

so thus ends atonement. i'll just have to wait until the movie comes out.

and i move on to:

unfortunately, the cover i bought is not the same as the one above, its already the film cover. ohwell. i can't wait for the movie's release this week too =D

hehe. can you just tell that i'm in a novel to film reading spree. and the fact that the new fully booked in high street is just crammed full with books imaginable does not help too. and also the part that we're there almost every end of the week just to get starbucks in the third floor does wonders to my already empty pockets. haay.. but the new smell of books and print is just too good to pass up, and going through their front doors is just like cracking open a new book =D isn't she a beaut?

photo credit: www.southbound.ph
(since i'm too lazy to bring my own camera. i'll take pictures once i have the chance)

welcome to my err.. new blog

2007-10-11T10:37:00.000+08:00

i'm changing the face of my blog.. haha

~~

this is my nth blog this year. i have decided to make yet another one because my other blogs are currently getting clogged up by friends and officemates. what's so bad about this you say? well, i find that i'm getting a bit restricted in my writing because there's that nagging thought in my mind that someone i know will eventually read it. case in point, i'm currently pissed off with an officemate who's giving me the cold-shoulder for no apparent reason, and i can't rant about it in my other blogs because of my officemates who also lurk there. so this should serve as a warning to people out there who's thinking of pissing me off - haha

but seriously, i want someplace wherein i can air my thoughts without any fear of judgement whatsoever. besides, that's easier to do if you're just an anonymous blogger among tens of thousands of bloggers.

i'll also be cross-posting some non-personal posts from my other blogs as well =D

palawan vacation!! - day 1

2007-07-10T10:31:00.000+08:00

just got back from my 4 days, 3 nights vacation in palawan! bwahaha =D had a really, really great time, and it was well worth all the planning, trouble and moolah (it better be).

we flew out to puerto princesa on the 8am flight last thursday (7.5) and just got back on the 10 am flight yesterday (7.8), we took cebu pacific both ways. we almost postponed our flight out due to a meeting, but when i was ready to ask for the meeting to be rescheduled (because duh, we planned this vacation for a really long time, and for it to be postponed even for a few hours is not something i'm willing to take just for some meeting), my officemate called me up to tell me that it was posponed to monday (today), so whee!!

so we were at the domestic terminal at around 7am, checked-in and waited for our boarding time of 7.40. for some reason, 7.40 has come and gone and we still haven't boarded our flight. flights for kalibo and caticlan scheduled later than ours even boarded first. this is my first manila departure flight with cebu pacific (we always use pal in the office, centennial terminal is way way better than the domestic terminal, but they have the same terminal fee amount of php 200 - wtf??!!) so i have no idea if late flights are normal for them. anyway, we boarded at about 8 and by 8.20 we are on our way to puerto princesa =D also just realized in that flight that cebu pac does not give out snacks anymore - is this because they have super low fares compared to pal? they offer snacks for sale though, for the prices of either php 50 or php 100. when they announced this, i thought i was a price range, but their sandwiches and chips are priced at flat php100, and their juices/drinks are priced at flat php50 i think. well if you really are hungry, you don't really have a choice do you..

the arrival terminal at puerto princesa was really really crowded, as both flights from pal and cebu pac arrived at about the same time, and pal has this really really huge plane. my foot got hit by a falling stroller and rolled on by another one while we were claiming our bags. they also have this really funny guy at their pa system, one moment he was announcing:

"mr. elipante - ang sundo mo ay nasa..." - i pity mr. elipante

and in the next he's saying:"ang mga pasahero ng pal, huwag kayo magreklamo na maraming tao, malaki kaya eroplano nyo" - o diba, malinaw na explanation (because cebu pac and pal passengers are told to check out in separate doors, so the guard can check the baggages and receipts, and pal's door is way crowded than ours).

we eventually got out in one piece and scanned the crowd for our resort pick-up - we stayed at my friend's family's resort because they have way cheaper accommodation and tour rate packages than the hotels i know there, and well because it's my friend!! whom i haven't seen since college grad! we didn't have to scan long since we saw this guy holding up a sign with my name in BIG, BOLD letters - whoa. after a short ride to the resort and checking in, we then proceeded to nccc - their mall to buy some stuff and of course, food!! we also had lunch in giacomino's - this pizza place we found in front of nccc. i remember they have branches/kiosks here in manila but i haven't seen them here for the longest time. so i had to beg boyfriend to have lunch there, for old time's sake, and promised him that we can sample palawan food after that. we got spaghettti, chicken and pasta - and it was really good.

afterwards, we went back to the resort and got ready since the travel agency we booked ourselves on for our trip will pick us up for the city tour. we then proceeded to:

the city museum

i remember seeing this banga in history books and just had to take a picture of it, unfortunately, it's only a duplicate.

the butterfly garden:

where this two are sharing an intimate moment

crocodile farm:

where there are lots and lots of crocodiles

and other animals such as this very enterprising ang talkative eagle

and this very huge whale panga

iwahig penal colony:

where i bought my dreamcatcher

mitra's ranch with this view of honda bay

baker's hill with these cute miniature cakes

and their bread was really delicious. i love their mini asado - bite sized asado balls =D

afterwards, our tour group met up again and grabbed dinner at ka lui - which has an amazing atmosphere/ambiance (complete with these incredible masks)

and of course, really really amazing food at inexpensive prices - they even have free dessert! - fresh fruits in season topped with muscovado sugar and presented in a bowl of coconut =D

we were really very very lucky with our tour group. for some reason, we really bonded and ended up sticking with each other for the duration of our respective trips. we bonded over food - and got to sample different palawan restos for dinner in the process, and a lot of other stuff. it was really funny because we all got along really well considering we were all so different, one couple was a lakwatsera couple in their mid-30s, another was a balikbayan couple currently based in california in their mid-50s and are already a lolo and lola but who always takes the time for a vacation in their home country, another is a mid-20s quite famous travel blogger who plugs his blog in sites including the ateneo multiply group, and us - a not married couple in their early 20's who's quite new with this whole travel, tour, vacation thing. hehe =D

i just realized that posting my whole trip in one post is quite long, so i'll post another one some other time =)

transformers!!

2007-07-03T15:04:00.000+08:00

i know a lot has been said about the movie, but just bear with me for another one

we braved the crowds last saturday just to catch this movie, and can i just say it was well worth it. the cartoons was almost our childhood, so seeing it in a real movie was enough to give anyone who grew up watching optimus prime and his friends a high (including me).

i loved bumblebee. and him being a camaro and then a chevrolet didn't bother me in one bit. he was more 'good-looking' compared to the original version of a volkswagen beetle - don't ask me how i can say that since he's a robot, but maporma sya in the movie, in both vehicle and robot modes, yep, even the beat-up camaro. and how cute is the 'bee-otch' bee dangling in his rear mirror - hehe =D anyway, is it true that the reason why he wasn't a beetle in the movie is because volkswagen doesn't want the beetle to be used? if it is, then the scene in the used cars parking lot became more funnier - the one wherein 'pinatamaan' ni camaro bumblebee ang katabi niyang yellow beetle, hehe

i also loved optimus prime, i mean, who doesn't? he's so gentleman-ly for a robot - hehe

anyway, that's it. i thoroughly enjoyed the movie - even with michael bay's dramatic shots and back-up music (isn't the background music a little familiar? it reminds me of his other films, i just can't remember which one). nevertheless, i wouldn't mind watching it again =D

source (pictures): http://www.transformers-movie-buzz.com/index.php

all i wanna do right now

2007-06-29T13:39:00.001+08:00

is curl up in my bed and sleep

i was terrible in getting up all mornings this week, which resulted in me being late most of the time - gah

my mom always loved sending me forwarded emails. this was included in the last one she sent:

it says (since text is small): when we wake up in the morning, we have two simple choices, go back to sleep and dreram, or wake up and chase those dreams. choice is yours.

i know i'd much rather be awake and chase my dreams, but why does sleep have to be so damn heavenly..

pinoy big brother 2

2007-06-28T13:22:00.000+08:00

i just received this as a forwarded email from my officemate.

i'm not sure if its real though. and don't really care since i don't watch the current season of pbb, just thought it would be interesting to share

~~~

I have worked for abs-cbn for almost 4 years now, since i finished my MA on mass com - broadcast communication in 2003. as part of production on news and current affairs, my work has been mostly rewarding, with good benefits despite the low base pay (i’m including this part so you would understand why i accepted the offer to be transferred to conceptualization of some reality shows particularly the current one, PBB.) because of the sensitivity of my status (i am still working there) i cannot divulge my name, gender and current position in ABS CBN. still, i would like to inform those who are interested (who, most probably, are now wondering why Wendy Valdez is still inside the house and not evicted yet, as most must have assumed.)

When i was asked if i wanted to be part of the conceptualization of the current and upcoming reality shows that ABS CBN would be showing (with higher compensation, obviously), i accepted the offer. how bad can it get, i said, since most of these shows run on public voting and my job would mostly include thinking of the “challenges” that Kuya instructs the housemates to do.

Apparently, conceptualization incorporates more than that. as i have known after the pre-screening of the auditioners, as early as the application process, we have to note who we think will “attract the public most” and who we think will “make the ratings go off the roof.” after the initial screening, we had to choose the top 100 of the batch, and even though some did not “theoretically pass” the audition (some weren’t able to complete the documents needed), since they have mass appeal, they made it to the first cut, and some were even included in the finalists that entered the BB house.
As you all know, the eviction process is supposed to be based on the votes that the “nominated housemates” - the housemate with the lowest vote will be evicted. i dont know about the previous editions of the PBB (since i only worked under this series this season), but what surprised us the most was when we were informed that the voting only affects the decision minimally - that the voting actually shows who the public wants to see again the following day - but that was it. the truth is, there are so-called “talent auditors.” these people are the ones who really put the big decision as to who will be evicted, and who will stay. of course, this never became obvious since i cannot deny the fact that we receive millions of votes during eviction night. that is, until wendy was evicted, and then later returned to join the housemates who are legitimately still in the contest. and the reason is this: the wendy-bruce loveteam is working. have you ever noticed why most of the episodes are focused on the wendy-bruce loveteam? it is because ratings are really high, meaning that people want to see how their relationship develops.

I have never received this much question about my work before. my friends want to know how someone who was already evicted be suddenly returned to the house. actually, that is one of the “twists” that are really planned to be included in the show. but there are actually 3 evicted housemates that were vying to be returned to the house, and wendy was one of them. we were asked who we think should be the one to return to the house, and zeke won. but after discussing that the wendy-bruce love team was too interesting to abruptly end, it was wendy who got the spot. aside from that, we were later informed by one of the production managers who was disappointed with the decision, wendy was “direk dyogi’s pet.”

I told this story to some of my friends, and they were surprised to know the truth, particularly because some of them were voting for their favorite contestant. i told them only one thing - that they are just wasting their money in voting. as i have personally seen, the path of the contest is already drawn, and the voting only affects the decision minimally, as i have said. this only tells us who the public wants to see again inside the house. the eviction of nel tonight is the classic example. nel got the 2nd lowest number of votes, wendy got the lowest. but the administrators think that perhaps the wendy-bruce loveteam is still up, so we had to give it one last shot. if the ratings go down, or if on tuesday (the next eviction night), wendy still gets the lowest vote, she’s out of the contest.

I did not want to reveal all of these, partly because of my loyalty to the company that has given me so much over the years, but i personally think that it is unfair to make one suffer for another’s gain. since i have done background checks on the housemates, i know for a fact that nel isn’t very well-off, and should have been given his chance fairly. i feel bad to know that i am included in a ploy to confuse and even fool people into believing that they control the outcome of the show. that is why i went ahead and did this post. i wanted people to know how PBB works.

If you really want to let the network know how disappointed you are with the outcome, make the ratings go down at least until tuesday. and do not waste your money in voting, or if you really want to and have the means to do so, vote for who you really think should be included in the big 4 - this way, hopefully, wendy will be out on tuesday for good.###

tsk tsk tsk, where is the morality in that, abscbn?”

~~~

hmm... malaki posibilidad diba.. i mean i'm sure marami na talaga may suspetsa na may something na ganitong nangyayari sa pbb or something diba. or is it just a smear campaign/anti-wendy act

bored update

2007-06-27T17:29:00.000+08:00

i'm seriously bored to death here

although i have about a number of tasks to do, i just keep on finding things to do and reasons not to do them just yet. yeah, say hello to one of the things i'm actually good at - procrastinating.

there's an appliance madness sale at glorietta right now. it's been there for the past couple of days. i've been wanting to check it out because i'm pining for a bigger memory card for my camera (bigger = more pictures, duh). i just keep on finding things that i "need." i once read somewhere about this group of people who abstained from purchasing things/shopping for a year, although hygiene products are not included (thank god!). maybe i ought to try that - yeah, good luck with that.

Zamboanga Sibugay // Cheesy post

2007-06-26T12:42:00.000+08:00

So the mere fact that I'm back means I survived our Zamboanga Sibugay trip a couple of weeks ago. Paranoid over nothing huh? Nothing's much really changed except for the fact that there are a number of military checkpoints all over the area, as compared to none when I last went there. And the checkpoints are not like the ones in Manila where they just peer at you through the windows, this time, they ask that we open the windows and all compartments so they can shine flashlights in our faces and in the compartments and even in the feet area. They even ask the men na huwag sumandal so they can check if they have guns tucked in their waistbands. All this is due mainly to the Italian priest's kidnapping a couple of days before the said trip. This would all have been good if not for that nagging feeling that government troops and 'non-friendly' troops basically look the same, down to their weapons and uniforms, so we actually don't have an inkling whether those checkpoints are good or not.

~~~

So anyway, in other news, boyfriend and I are turning 3 this July. Whee.. It's been three years (and a couple of months counting the courtship period) since he overcame his ka-torpehan - with a lot of prodding from our friends and with a bit of help from good ol' San Miguel. Somehow, I still can't believe that it's been that long. We were friends a bit back in high school but haven't seen each other during the most part of college. Actually, I last saw him during freshman year in college and then the next was that night after graduation, and then we were inseparable since.

I am a romantic schmuck and all that but I just realized that we haven't really had our own 'theme' song. Haha, how corny and cheesy am I. But what we do have are a couple of songs that have become last song syndromes for both of us through the span of time that we've been together =D

1. The first song he actually sang to me way back in high school:

Before I Let You Go
Freestyle

I could still remember yesterday
We were so in love in a special way
And knowing that you love me makes me
Feel oh so right But now I feel lost
Don't know what to do
Each and everyday I think of you
Holding back the tears
I'm trying with all my might
Because you're gonna left me standing
All alone
And I know I've got to face tomorrow on my own
But baby before I let you go I want to say I love you
I hope that you're listening coz it's true baby
You'll be forever in my heart
And I know that no one else will do yeah
So before I let you go I want to say
I love you...hmmm...
I wish that it would be just
Like before
I know I could have given you so
Much more
Even though you know I'd given you all my love
I miss your smile; I miss your kiss
Each and everyday I reminisce Coz baby it's you that I'm always
Dreaming of
Because you're gonna left me standing
All alone
And I know I've got to face tomorrow on My own
But baby before I let you go I want to sayI love you
I hope that you're listening coz it's true baby
You'll be forever in my heart
And I know that no one else will do yeah
So before I let you go, I want to say, yeah
Slaming the door is never easy
But I love you so
That's why I'll set you free, yeah
I know, someday, somehow,I'll find the way
To leave it all behind me
Guess it wasn't meant to be baby
Before I let you go, I want to say
I love you
I hope that you're listening
Coz it's true babe
You'll be forever in my heart
And I know that no one else will do, yeah
So before I let you go I want to say...
So before I let you go I want to say...

2. The first song he sang to me when we became a couple:

214
Rivermaya

Am i real?
Do the words i speak before you
Make you feel
That the love i have for you
Will see no ending?
Well, if you look into my eyes
Then you should know
That you have nothing here to doubt

Nothing to fear
And you can lay your questions down
'cause if you'll hold me
We can fade into the night
And you'll know
The world could die
And everything may lie
Still you shan't cry'cause time may pass
But longer than it'll lastI'll be by your side
Take my hand
And gently close your eyes
So you could understand
That there's no greater love tonight
Than what i've for you
Well, if you feel the same way for me
Then let go
So we can journey to a garden
No one knows
Life is short, my darling
So tell me that you love me
So we can fade into the night
And you'll know
The world could die
And everything may lie
Still you shan't cry'cause time may pass
But longer than it'll lastI'll be by your side
Forever by your sideI want you to know
The world could lie
And everything may die
Still you shan't cry'cause time may pass
And everything won't last
I'll be by your side
Forever by your side(2x)
So you won't cry

3. Just because I like the lyrics of this one:
Gemini
Sponge Cola

Come a little closer
Flicker in flight
We’ll have about an inch space
But I’m here I can breathe in
What you breathe out

Let me know if I’m doing this right
Let me know if my grip’s too tight
Let me know if I can stay all of my life
Let me know if dreams can come true
Let me know if this one’s yours too

‘Cause I see it
And I feel itRight here
And I feel you right here

The vacuous night
Steps aside to give meaning
To Gemini’s dreaming
The moon on it’s back
And the seemingly
Veiled room’s lit
By the same star

And I feel it right here
And I feel you right here

Forgive the cheesy post. Just remembered last night that we were turning three and thought of writing this down to remember them better. Hehe. Proof that I am hopeless after all

Writer's Block

2007-06-22T12:32:00.000+08:00

I’ve been away for a few days last week, sick for the next couple of days, and has had a writer’s block for as long as I can remember. It’s weird calling it writer’s block since I don’t even consider myself a writer, but I don’t know what else it is. I can’t draw for the life of me. I’m tone-deaf and can’t sing one decent tune. And I can’t even swing my hips to any music at all – that’s really eew once I think about it. Sad to say, being plain talent less is just sad, so I guess I just took to the one thing really easy to pretend that I’m good at, which is writing. Unlike drawing, singing or dancing, writing is the easiest way to go, it’s a bit relative compared to the former three. With writing, there’s no one to tell you that your drawing, your song or your dance, sucks. Well, there are some people who will tell you that, but then again, an essay or your written work is way easier to defend than again, the former three. Don’t ask me how that is, but it’s my excuse and the reason why I got to pretend to be a writer for that long. But if there is one thing that I am sure of, its how much I love the written word. I always get a high when writers – real ones at that, capture the essence of something that is otherwise ordinary. How these writers get to reel in their readers like me to hang on to their every word, feel every feeling they want to convey, and see even the most boring and mundane of things into something exciting and interesting. How they do all these and more is just beyond me.

For a while back, I’ve managed to convince myself that I am a writer. I even made it as my source of living. My works got the approval of clients, and even found its way into some publications. But I guess something happened along the way, and I kind of lost it. This is the first time I’ve admitted to this fact, it just feels time to finally come out and admit to it. I guess I’m still kind of hoping that I’ll get it back. I’m hoping that at some point in my life, I won’t be lazy enough to not write about everything that life throws at me. At this point though, I’m just tired enough having to deal with life and everything. So until then, we’ll see.

Digital Creativity Chuva

2007-06-06T09:36:00.000+08:00

The only thing worthy of an update as of late is I've just came from a 3-day training workshop on Adobe InDesign held by Phil. Center for Creative Imaging (PCCI). Yep. Three days. Meaning I lost my precious weekend. Boohoo. On the bright side though, I got a certificate saying I'm trained in InDesign and a few pesos in kickback (assuming finance allows it) in place of it. But I'm still in dire need of a long, peaceful sleep right about now. And a few hours in front of the TV won't hurt as well. I'm getting hooked a bit on this digital creative imaging chuva. But not hooked enough to cough up over 8k ++ for another training in Photoshop. I did however fork over 100 pesos for a training CD. Let's see what I can come up with.

On a side note though, PCCI holds great training seminars and workshops on digital imaging software such as Photoshop, InDesign and Illustrator, and also on photography regularly. They're also an accredited Adobe training center, which also partly explains why the prices are on the steep side. But personally, I think it's worth it since you can learn a lot and also maximize the software. And it also beats getting frustrated about not beign able to do something because you don't know how to use the how many tools these kinds of programs have.

Skins

2007-05-21T17:35:00.000+08:00

I want this:
according to the website, gelaskins are super low-profile protective skins for your Apple or PC laptop computer. Advanced 3M adhesive makes them cleanly removable when you want to switch up for another design. I'm really tempted.

source: www.gelaskins.com

~

But since Gelaskins plus shipping is way too expensive for me, I decided to search for cheaper laptop skins. And I found this: Schtickers.

They basically have the same concept as Gelaskins, only their skins are cheaper, and they even offer free international shipping if you reach a certain amount =D

So I got

and

just so I can avail of the free shipping, hehe. My total is still way cheaper than if I would've gotten them from Gelaskins.

source: www.schtickers.com

Vacation!!

2007-05-07T19:11:00.000+08:00

I'm alive! Hehe, I apologize for the drought here, but I took a 2 day vacation last week (it should've been 3, but I'll get what I can right) and it was lovely.

But the weekend before that, I went with my BF and his family to Villa Escudero, a farm/resort located somewhere in the boundary of San Pablo Laguna and Quezon (I think).

Where we

navigated a bamboo raft along a man-made lake;

swam a little ; and

said hello to various cute animals out there.

Paulo Coelho

2007-04-25T09:47:00.000+08:00

I just finished reading Veronika Decides to Die.. and I hated the ending. Don't get me wrong, I love the book until that part.

Some points I've noticed:

1. Feminine worship is a common theme in Paulo Coelho's books - By the River Piedra I Sat Down and Wept and Veronika Decides to Die

2. It can be discerned from his books that Paulo Coelho is a romantic (aaww... I'm just not sure if he's a hopeless one =D)

3. The first Paulo Coelho book I loved and hated was Eleven Minutes. I loved it except for the ending. This (Veronika Decides to Die) is the second (I just have to reiterate this, hehe)

The Face Shop vs Olay

2007-04-24T12:21:00.000+08:00

I've recently decided to switch my beauty regimen from using a hypoallergenic baby soap (yes I know, it's not my age group anymore, but it works - well, before anyway) and Mary Kay moisturizer to well some products that are more suitable for my age group (I'm not pretentious anymore), products that can easily be bought from stores (Mary Kay products can only be bought from direct sellers and costs an arm!) and are of course, more affordable.

Since I'm hearing a lot of good things from The Face Shop, the Korean beauty line who recently opened shop here in the Philippines, I decided to give it a try. For facial wash, I decided to try out their Organature line and got the one with detoxifying nuts. Tried this out for a few weeks and well, it was good/ok in the sense that I didn't break out or anything. Next, for moisturizer, I tried out their Dewy flower emulsion

(seen here in toner, can't find the emulsion one), which didn't really satisfy me. I didn't break out or anything (thank heavens!) but it doesn't seem to do much for my skin, or the little pimples I'm prone to having (unlike Mary Kay before). Also, I'm not really sure if the product has SPF protection, which is a must-have for today's season (or even any season for that matter). So I then gave this to my Mom, who seems to be quite hiyang to it and switched to

Olay Total Effects. Yey for the powers of advertising. But so far so good. It seems better than the Dewy Flower Emulsion (or is that pyschological.. hehe)

I'm still using Face Shop's Organature cleanser, Phytogenic face powder and cheek tint though.

The first post and she decides to talk about death

2007-04-24T09:47:00.000+08:00

I'm currently reading Paulo Coelho's Veronika Decides to Die. And it seems like all of us have to be a little crazy in order to really live. It makes sense in a weird way.

And wondered why the QWERTY keyboard is like that? I've always wondered why the inventor/s of the typewriter did not arrange the keys alphabetically to make typing easier. The book explains it too:

The first [typewriting] machine was invented by Christopher Sholes, in 1873, to improve on calligraphy, but there was a problem: If a person typed very fast, the keys got stuck together and stopped the machine from working. Then Sholes designed the QWERTY keyboard, a keyboard that would oblige typists to type more slowly.
Source: Veronika Decides to Die, Paulo Coelho, p. 167

And the QWERTY stuck because if they changed it now, no one would buy the product because people just got used to the QWERTY keyboard. And they can type on it fast now too.

I wonder if that's true. If it is, its kind of weird, because whenever we ask why keys on the keyboard are not arranged alphabetically, we would always just assume that it's arranged in a way that would enable persons to type faster. And not the other way around. Crazy huh

My weapon

2007-04-24T09:39:00.000+08:00

Before anything else, let me introduce you to my weapon in blogging:

lookie lookie

I know it's a sucky picture, but whatevs. I love the subject, hehe

It's my baby: HP500. Features include a 14" widescreen, wifi and scroll touchpad. It's quite obvious I'm not a techie