Yes, this is the part where I try to squeeze in some school pride. Hehehe.

UP Pep Squad grabs the 2008 Samsung UAAP Samsung Cheerdance Competition trophy. Happy, happy. “Matatapang… matatalino… walang takot kahit kanino…”

image courtesy of Teresa Barrozo

Status: Harried.
Music: The Game of Love | Santana feat Michelle Branch

Hahaaay. Euro 2008 Final. Germany lost to Spain 0-1.

I feel too harried and melancholic. Germany is really my favourite team. I’m in love with them as a group. And again, they came so close to grabbing that trophy but aaaargh, the Spanish team were just so damn skilled this year. For what it’s worth, they really deserve it. They played better than the Germans this tournament. They were never defeated. They definitely were the best team. (And mind you, all of them are under 30 yo.) Besides, it was just about time that Spain win something. Since I was born, I’d never seen Spain win anything. It’s been 44 years.

Maybe Ken was right. Maybe Germany just had to lose this time so they could have more drive and passion to win World Cup 2010. Maybe that’s it. (Wag nang kumontra. I’m trying to console myself here. Haha)

The truth is, I should be half-celebrating. Spain is my second fave national team after all. My top 2 teams at the final. Heck, my grandma was Spanish. What am I ranting about?

Anyway, I was browsing through BBC’s Euro 2008 photos and this picture just lightened my mood a bit.

I wonder if he got any. Tsk, tsk… Straight people! Haha.

images courtesy of bbc.co.uk and MSN Sport

…

“Ang hirap kasi sa inyong mga Amerikano, ang hilig n’yong makialam. Ang hilig n’yong makisawsaw. Sa Iraq, sa Vietnam, sa Pilipinas…. Eh kung hindi ba naman kayo pumunta dito nung Panahon ng mga Kastila, eh malamang hindi kami nadamay sa World War II.”
— Toni Gonzaga’s character, “You Are the One”

Something I did not expect from a Toni Gonzaga - Sam Milby romantic comedy. Haha. But it was the highlight of the movie for me.

Speaking of Sam Milby, I don’t usually like him. But have you seen his latest Bench Blackout billboards? The hot ones, yes?

Damn you, Sam. Damn you, really. Haha. You almost got me there. Hehe.

…

And oh, by the way, despite being very sick lately, I’m actually in a very festive mood. Germany is through to the semi-finals of Euro 2008 after beating Portugal in the quarterfinal match. Honestly, I had been expecting a Germany-Netherlands showdown in the final until the Dutch were murdered by the Russians yesterday.

Anyway, I really hope the Germans would meet the Spaniards instead of the Italians. After all, Spain is my second favourite national team. (And David Villa, my second fave player. Miroslav Klose, you know you’re my #1 guy.)

Robin, you had better prepare my P1000 because Germany is sooo gonna win this whole Euro thing. I can smell it. Thanks for betting, haha. And Jon, don’t worry, as promised, if my team wins, I’ll treat you and some of our former officemates to a little booze party. Promise.

Oh Lord, I don’t wanna cry again…. Maybe not. Hey, it’s not THE World Cup.

Weise zu gehen Deutschland!!!
image courtesy of istockphoto.com and coleenpbb of pinoyexchange.com
and thanks to babel fish haha

I promised myself that I would devote my Sunday mornings to football (soccer). Last week, my friends Jon and Aika were with me playing at the Sunken Garden in UP Diliman. It rained but we still went on. Football in the rain. Woooh. This is the life. Haha.

I am not the athletic type. Certainly not. But it doesn’t mean that I have no interest in sports. I love sports. In fact, when I was in high school, I was our school paper’s Sports Editor (and Associate Editor and Layout Artist and Photojournalist). I was also my school’s representative to sport/Physical Education quiz bees, because of which I have travelled many places. In college, I was first a Sports Science major before shifting out to Film.

Although it doesn’t really show, I am madly in love with sports — especially football, tennis and bowling. I am not great (not even good) at any of them but heck, I absolutely always have fun playing.

FOOTBALL

I don’t remember exactly when I fell in love with football. I have always hated basketball and volleyball. Maybe because when I was a kid, I couldn’t play well because of my then useless left arm. So since I couldn’t move my left arm, I started kicking basketballs around the garden. I started playing futsal in grade school but I never really became good at it. It was my biggest frustration.

Then I got addicted to watching football on TV. I instantly became a Bayern Munich and Chelsea fan. During the 2002 Japan/Korea World Cup, I began admiring Miroslav Klose, who is my ultimate idol right now.

One of my most prized possessions is my Adidas 2006 Germany World Cup ball. I don’t let anyone play with it unless I’m watching. Haha. I bought it out of utter sadness after Germany lost to Italy in the semi-final match. It was darn expensive but heck, I was lonely.

Again, I’m devoting my Sunday mornings to football. So if one Sunday morning, you see someone playing football at the Sunken Garden who looks as if he doesn’t know what he’s doing, that’s probably me. Haha.

(more…)

Status: Sinfully lazy.
Music: Hot Stuff – Craig David

An officemate accused me of loving Miroslav Klose (football/soccer player) just because of my sheer lust for him. I told him that I didn’t even find Klose sexy. He’s cute, aright? But my love for him is so beyond his physique. (But I wouldn’t mind having Klose for a night. Gawd, I’m daydreaming again.)

If there is one guy in sports that I really find incredibly hot, he’s not kicking a ball around the field. He’s smashing a ball with a racket. Another officemate asked me who it was. This was my answer:

If you don’t know him, poor you. Hehe. I would like to write something about him in my own words but it seems like sloth is getting the better of me, so I just copied this from his Wikipedia entry:

Marat Safin (born January 27, 1980) is a Russian former World No. 1 tennis player of Tatar ethnicity. Safin began his professional career in 1997 and held the No. 1 world ranking for 9 weeks in November and December of 2000. He is known for his good looks, large physical size, athleticism, controversial antics, and aggressive “power” style of play. He is fluent in Russian, English and Spanish.

Safin’s greatest accomplishments are winning the 2000 US Open (defeating Pete Sampras) and the 2005 Australian Open (defeating Lleyton Hewitt). Safin also helped lead Russia to davis Cup victories in 2002 and 2006.

So there. Hihi. You wanna see more of this tennis yumminess? Click here. (Come on, don’t be shy. I know you want to.)

(more…)

Status: In Euphoria
Music: What Goes Around – Justin Timberlake

“…What goes around, goes around, goes around
Comes all the way back around…”

I interrupt my regular blogging updates with a great, great news. The UP Pep Squad finally wins back the UAAP Samsung Cheerdance Competition championship. Just when I decided not to go to the Araneta Coliseum to see it live because not the slightest expectation that this would happen entered my mind. But come on, after an embarrassing men’s basketball record, my university turned out to be still full of surprises. So much for balance of nature. I love’t. Congratulations to the UP Pep Squad! At sa lahat ng mga iskolar ng bayan! Yebah. And for that, I shall get drunk tonight. After all, there’s a dinner party at home to celebrate the memory of my dad.

“…Matatapang, matatalino.
Walang takot, kahit kanino,
Hinding-hinde magpapahuli,
Ganyan kaming mga taga-UP!!!”
— UP Default Cheer

Yey. Finally.

pic courtesy of ubelt.com, will change it soon. hehe.

This is happiness. And this is stupid. Now, define “embarrassing.”

Oh my Alma Mater, why, oh why? But then again, ladies and gentlemen, we call this “balance of nature.” We can’t have everything, can we?

Oh of course we have everything. Like tuition fee increase and abducted student activists and frat-related violence and…

(Pucha, dinaan sa yabang ang kahihiyan. Okay lang yan Yoshke, hindi lang basketball ang meron sa UAAP.)

Status: Cutting classes
Music: Ironic - Alanis Morissette

This day may not be very extraordinary, but it is a very, very special day. Let me greet my football / soccer super idol Germany’s Miroslav Klose a HAPPY, HAPPY BIRTHDAY! He turned 29 today (June 9th). Anyway, I really, really adore Miro that I would give anything just to meet him in person. ANYTHING. I know he’s been having a little rough time with all the issues about him lately, but I know he’d get over em and get back in his excellent shape. Happy Birthday, Miro! I will support you regardless of the club you are in. (But I really wish you join Bayern Munich. Ehehehe.)
Photo courtesy of sports.msn.de

Status: Football-happy
Music: Say It Right – Nelly Furtado

If there’s one thing that I might be able to be thankful to my incredibly strange cable provider for, that would be that I am able to watch a lot of Bundesliga (German Football League) games on TV. It’s not a secret that I’m a big Miroslav Klose fan. I’ve seen many of his matches but I can’t help but be delighted every time I see him play. My extreme fanaticism and love for him started in 2002 during the Japan-Korea World Cup, and since then, I’ve been wanting to see him score or be an architect of a goal. And whenever he does, I almost always jump out of my seat. To be honest, I can’t remember if I became a fan of him first or the entire German National Team. (But I love the national team as much as I love him.)

This morning, I saw Trixie wearing a Spain National Football Team (World Cup 2006 Germany) ID lace. I asked her where she got it from and she easily told me she was selling some. The first thing I said was, “Is there a German version of that?” And fortunately, there was. And so I bought one for P350. That’s what you call impulse buying. Hehe.

Germany is my most-adored national soccer team but when it comes to Bundesliga, my favourite team is Bayern Munich. But of course, Klose will always be my favourite player, though he’s not part of that team. That’s why I’ve long wished that Bayern adopt Klose and pull him from Werder Bremen. But now that Werder Bremen is actually doing a bit better than Bayern Munich, hmmm, what can I say, I am just so damn fuckin’ happy for Klose.

Deutschland!!! *photo courtesy of fifaworldcup.yahoo.com

Status: Supposed to be working but what the hell?
Music: Dahilan – Barbie Almalbis

I finally checked out Tourism Department’s official website and all I could say was “WOW!” It is sooo nice I even forgot I was in the office “working.” And gosh, I was so overwhelmed by how much I still have to learn about the Philippines, considering that I have lived my entire life here. Looking at their trivia page, all I could utter were more wows. Here are some of the information I found that might interest you (Although most of them I’ve been pretty aware of since childhood, they are still worth posting):

• Filipino bowler Rafael “Paeng” Nepomuceno was the first bowler to be elevated to the International Bowling Hall of Fame based in St. Louis, Missouri, USA. The Philippine Congress has named him “Greatest Filipino Athlete of All Time.”

• Philippine National Hero and writer Jose Rizal could read and write at age 2. He grew up to speak more than 20 languages, including Latin, Greek, German, French, and Chinese. What were his last words? “Consummatum est!” (“It is done!”)

• The popular toy, the yoyo, was invented by 16th century hunters in the Philippines.

• The Philippines became the first Asian country to win FIVE major international beauty pageant crowns — two for Miss Universe, in 1969 and 1973, and three for Miss International, in 1965, 1970, and 1979.

• The antibiotic erythromycin — used to treat a wide variety of bacterial infections, such as respiratory tract infections, middle ear infections, and skin infections — was created by Filipino scientist Abelardo Aguilar, and has earned American drug giant Eli Lilly billions of dollars. Neither Aguilar nor the Philippine government received royalties.

• Philippines Herald war journalist Carlos P. Romulo was the first Asian to win a Pulitzer Prize in Journalism in 1942. He was also aide-de-camp to General Douglas MacArthur in World War II; Philippine resident commissioner in the U.S. Congress from 1944-46; and the first Asian to become UN President in 1949.

• On January 18, 1995, Pope John Paul II offered mass to an estimated 4 to 5 million people at Luneta Park, Manila, Philippines, making it to the Guiness Book of World Records for the Biggest Papal Crowd.

• There are 12,000 or so species of seashells in the Philippines. The Conus Gloriamaris or “Glory of the Sea” is the rarest and most expensive in the world.

• Of the 500 known coral species in the world, 488 are found in the Philippines.

• Of the eight species of marine turtles worldwide, five are reported to be found in the Philippines: the Green Turtle, Hawkbill, Leatherback, Olive Ridley, and Loggerhead.

• Of the eight known species of giant clams in the world, seven are found in the Philippines.

• The largest bell in Asia hangs at the belfry of the 221-year old Panay Church. It is 7 feet in diameter and 7 feet in height, and weighs 10.4 tons. Its tolling can be heard as far as 8 km. away. It was casted from 70 sacks of coins donated by the townspeople as a manifestation of faith and thanksgiving.

• The World Cup, which was instituted in 1965, is contested annually by the national champions of the Federation Internationale des Quilleurs (FIQ). The highest number of wins is 4, by Filipino bowler Rafael “Paeng” Nepomuceno: 1976, 1980, 1992, and 1996.

• Tagala – the Philippines first Filipino-Spanish dictionary which was printed in 1613, 25 years older than the first book printed in the United States.

• In the Philippines, Filipinos were introduced to the English language in 1762 by British invaders, not Americans. Philippines is the world’s 3rd largest English-speaking nation, next to the USA and the UK.

• The world’s largest pearl was discovered by a Filipino diver in a giant Tridacna (mollusk) under the Palawan Sea in 1934. Known as the “Pearl of Lao-Tzu,” the gem weighs 14 pounds and measures 9 1/2 inches long and 5 1/2 inches in diameter. As of May 1984, it was valued at US$42 million. It is believed to be 600 years old.

I’m leaving you with a quote from a British traveller, which I really agree to.

“Mayon is the most beautiful mountain I have ever seen, the world-renowned Fujiyama (Mt. Fuji) of Japan sinking into perfect insignificance by comparison.”
—British traveler-writer A. Henry Savage Landor

*photo courtesy of members.cox.net