Status: Joyful
Music: Signal Fire - Snow Patrol

I just arrived straight from Grill Queen in Teachers’ Village where I had my dinner with a really good friend Josh de Beauvoir. It was my first time to see Josh after more than seven months! The last time we met up was when we had dinner together some time in (early) November.

To be completely honest, I really missed him. Although we weren’t from the same college or department, and we were only classmates in one subject (French 10), we were very, very close. In fact, I’ve considered him as one of my most-loved university friends, to the extent that I had treated him as my little brother. He was sooo childlike and innocent (but his mindset had always been mature), then. Now, he’s grown — confident and independent. (more…)

Status: Proud Cineaste
Music: Broken Wing - Martina McBride

“Wala namang taong bobo eh. Tanga lang.”

That was one of the many quotable quotes that Kacey mumbled this evening as we gorge on some Kenny Rogers Chicken. Kacey, albeit the recent hardships in life, was still the funniest thing ever. Hehe. It was my first time to really bond with Kacey, Misha, Apol, Monique, Peter, Andre, Nestor, and Maj in months. And I was so happy, we were able to talk about the future plans and current issues of our organisation, the UP Cineastes’ Studio. And oh, our website is up! Check it out!

The organisation had just had its Applicants’ Orientation this afternoon/evening. I was very glad that there were so many aspiring members this semester. Good job, guys! I’m very, very proud of you. And to the applicants, good luck! Wag kayo mag-defer ha. Hindi kayo magsisisi. I swear.

While talking about some annoying guy (neither a member nor an applicant; something else). Hehehe.
Kacey: Sino dun? Sino dun?
Someone: Yung panget! Yung panget!
Kacey: Kumusta naman yung description na panget! Napaka-subjective.
Yoshke: Hindi a. May mga universal panget. Siya, universal panget sya.

It’s funny how I always declare my ‘detachment’ from any of my college organisations** (UP Cineastes’ Studio, UP Broadcasters’ Guild, UP Cinema) now that I’m already a graduate, when I always participate in and visit their events, and sometimes help them out with anything or offer any assistance. My orgs, like Cineastes, have a special place in my heart and I don’t think that would change. EVER.

(more…)

Status: Sober
Music: Shake it Off - Mariah Carey

MJ, Yoshke and Issa somewhere along Baywalk

I was starting to complain about my Saturdays. It slowly got boring and everything sort of became a part of a routine. Though I’m glad I was able to make new friends (Helen, Shiena, Miel, Luke) and basically we have the same interests, my Saturdays never really reached the “exciting” level. It was always “just fun,” and “ok.” Not that there’s something wrong with my new friends. I’m just not used to going to school on a Saturday, and you know, school days are routine days. Flashback to two years ago when I would always go to Tagaytay to breakaway and wind down, or just do something new or different after a week of university hell. Pfffft.

But yesterday was a different Saturday. Although I didn’t intend to, I was able to break the cycle. I woke up at 7:30 and found Helen’s SMS message telling me that she was sooo lazy she won’t be coming to class. And since sloth is really doing its best climbing up my Seven Deadly Sins Chart, I decided, “What the heck?! Helen is not coming to class, and since the topic this morning might be the most boring subject Father Time has ever seen, I might as well not show up.” And I didn’t. Hehe. I slept again, woke up at 10, stepped into cyberspace, and found that my site was down, and did a little repairing. It was my first time to snob a Foreign Service class. Ahehehe.

(more…)

Status: Dangerously Hungry
Music: Makes Me Wonder - Maroon 5

Nigel Barker visits Manila. And Ayn, Dohna, Tez, and I were there to show some hospitality and lovin’. If Nigel Barker doesn’t ring a bell, OK, let me tell you that he’s a celebrity photographer and the British bashing (and dashing) judge on America’s Next Top Model. I actually didn’t know he was here until Dohna sent me a text message forcing me to go to Greenbelt with her. And being the kaladkarin that I am, pumayag naman ako despite the rain and very humid atmosphere. While at the train station, we came across Tez who was about to go home but we managed to do a little brainwashing on her. The program was less than an hour but it was very, very substantial. Nigel made a lot of sense and imparted several useful practical tips on fashion photography. And not to mention he was cute. At least his lips were.

I’m being a glutton nowadays. I eat a lot. I usually find myself craving for something. Two days ago, I was desperately wanting sandwiches. And yesterday, while having lunch with Shiena, Luke, and Helen (my friends from Ateneo review classes), I was crazy over sausages. Yes, sausages — food. Not the other thing you have in mind. Though I wasn’t able to have sausages for lunch yesterday, I got a bunch in the evening. Yum yum. And lately, I’m always hungry.

Status: Envious
Music: Beautiful Liar - Beyonce and Shakira

This was a quote by a certain stranger, Jo, one of Kit’s friends (or relatives, whatever). Kit just mentioned this on her blog and I find it really amusing.

If a tsunami hits Puerto Galera (right now), it will wipe out 80% of the (country’s) gay population.

Oh, I prefer Palawan. Hehe.

# # #

Speaking of summer, here’s a picture from one of Dohna’s summer escapades this year. I’m getting bored here in Batangas. Apparently, most of my friends are already enjoying the season swimming and visiting one beach resort after another. The picture below (taken from Kit’s blog) shows Kit, Chi, Ian, and Dohna… er… well… surfing, which is one of the things that I really want to try.

Oh guys. I hate you.

Status: Delighted
Music: Wait for You - Elliott Yamin

I’d been waiting for April 1 since March started. I already had a text message saved on my phone waiting for April Fool’s Day. So when the day finally arrived, I excitedly sent them to some of my friends and colleagues.

I’m really sorry to all who lost their minds worrying about me — especially Misha (Jann Mikhail Lecaros) and Maw (Michelle Ann Wong) who got really angry at me for sending them that message and got them really worried.

Here’s the text message I sent them:

This is Yoshke’s brother. This morning, he passed out inside his bedroom without anybody knowing. It was too late when we found him. He passed away 6:15 am. Apparently, he had rheumatic heart disease. Please come to his wake so we could meet all his close friends. Funeral is on the 6th. Please come.

Misha even called me a bastard. Maw bombarded me with a lot of Tagalog curse words (Putang-ina mo, Yoshke, walang’ya ka). Josh (Joseph de Beauvoir) said I was a crazy ass fool. Kuya Amiel told me it was not something to joke about.

Misha said, “Where are you right now?” I asked him why. And he answered, “So I could kill you for real.”

Sorry to all who bought my little April Fool’s Day hirit. Congratulations to all who knew it was a bluff. Among them are Frandy and Kid. I was amused by Frandy’s reply: Buti nga sa kapatid mo, ang lakas kasi mag-yosi e.

Status: Delighted
Music: Always Be My Baby - Mariah Carey

Dohna, Peter, and Asta in Matabungkay, Batangas

If there were only one thing that I would never forget about the six-week English camp, that would be the friendship I had with Peter. Peter, or Lee Jeong-Hoon was the brightest kid in that camp. He was consistently the top student. And he was incredibly close to me both physically and emotionally. And right now, of all the students we had in that camp, Peter, definitely, is the one I miss the most.

So I was really delighted when I received this e-mail from him a day after they went back to Korea (this morning, actually):

Hello, Teacher. This is Peter. I’m back home. I’m very happy to meet my family again. Thank you for your kindness when I was in the Philippines. I miss you so much. I wish we will see each other again.
- Peter

I was really thrilled. I’ve had a number of Korean friends before. But Peter is different because he is a kid. I’m not really fond of children, but for some reason, I got really close to him. He is such a sweet kid that I really want to adopt him. I swear.

And it kind of made me laugh. No matter how many times Peter had told me that I was his most hated teacher, or his least favourite, not once that I believed him. I knew he was bluffing everytime. How could I buy something like that when all he was writing about for his Writing Class was me. Nyahaha. The night before they left for Seoul, he told me he would NEVER miss me and that he would NEVER want to see me again. And I told him he did not mean what he was saying because I could feel I was his favourite teacher. *evil laugh* Now, Peter, wherever you are, you’re telling me you miss me so much?! *evil laugh again*

I will soon post my Matabungkay Camp Chronicles when I’m ready to. Meanwhile, bear with me. Hehe.

Status: Half-asleep.
Music: Not Ready to Make Nice - Dixie Chicks

Taken at the UP Cinema Yule Ball 2006 held last December 16, somewhere in Mandaluyong. Of course, that pretty Chinese lady with me was my date that night, Maw. She was also my date at last year’s Christmas Ball. Click here to view our photo at the Ball one year ago.

Status: Can’t get enough of Keane!
Music: Somewhere Only We Know - Keane

My entry for today actually has nothing to do with the picture on the left. I just promised Dohna (that crazy-looking woman in the pic) that I would upload it on my blog so here goes her pic. It was taken at the Cinemanila Young Cinema whatever that was held in Glorietta some time last month. Unfortunately, Dohna and Glenn (that i-don’t-know-how-to-describe-him-properly guy in the pic) didn’t win. “One-Man Show,” their college thesis, lost to a lengthy Landbank promotional material…. Oh! That was a FILM?!? Seeeeesh, alright, they lost to a lengthy film.

Dohna is one of the closest friends I got right now. One reason is proximity. We live in the same area… well, not really, but I know you get the point. And it makes sense. I’m geographically close to her. And whenever I feel bored and have nothing to do, I would just text her to meet up with me and she would just appear from a puff of smoke. Yeah, like magic.

As a matter of fact, Dohna, Astrid and I had dinner together last night. Our topic of discussion was pretty interesting: first impressions. It all started when I admitted to Astrid that my first impression of her was not really good. It’s not good at all that I won’t even mention it here. And then we reminisced and thought of the first impressions we had of our college friends. Here are my first impressions of some of my friends:

• Pam - The first time I met her, she was wearing a batik-designed skirt and a brown top. And I think she was also wearing earrings made of wood. So I thought she was a member of UP Kontra-Gapi.
• Jerwin - err… well… gay.
• Nep - one noisy why-can’t-he-keep-his-mouth-shut guy. The day I met him (the first day of our CWTS class) he just kept on talking the whole day.
• Ayn - first day of our Film 104 (Genre) class. She was sitting beside me and Mimay. They were already friends back then and they were singing broadway songs like they were not in a classroom. It was like, “The last time I checked, I enrolled in a Film class.” Later, they decided that they would do a report on musicals.
• Icang - friendly, pretty, and lovable. Very Icang.
• Irene - female version of Nep.
• Joyce - another, and worse, female version of Nep.
• Yosha - girlfriend material.
• KZ - This was running through my head when I met her, “Yikes! I need to get out of this room fast! She’s a BIG Britney Spears fan!” — cos I was (and still am) a HUGE Christina Aguilera fan.
• Tonet - Oh.
• Leo - One funny character. Film 112 days, My seat was just opposite his, and he would do hilarious stuff like speaking in Spanish as if he really knew the language, and singing modern songs the Kundiman way.
• Andre - the quiet, timid type. Obviously, I was wrong. Absolutely wrong. I’d never been that wrong in my entire life.
• Glenn - “Uhm, kuya, doon po ang Fine Arts.”
• Bebs - “Never will he be my friend. He is soooo gay. And he is soooo intellectually and toxically loaded.” Wow, Bebs, libre mo ‘ko pag nabasa mo ‘to.
• Tez - Leo and Irene combined + ka-weirduhan.
• Deane - Ponkan na ponkan!

So there. Some of them turned out to be accurate. Some were just plain wrong. Most changed over time. But I’m sooo glad that once in my life, I met them regardless of my initial impressions of them.