Status: Triumphant!
Music: What Hurts the Most – Rascal Flatts

Have you noticed that Dawn Zulueta rapidly becomes one of the most sought-after product endorsers in the country? Waah! I’ve been seeing a lot of her lately. Pantene. PH Care. Myra 300 E. Marie France. Wow. This woman must be a lot richer now. I just can’t get enough of Dawn. She looks so amazing. The perfect face of a happy woman. She’s so refreshing in spite of her age. In fact, she’s never been this beautiful. (No, I’m not promoting her age-defying shampoo.) But really, don’t you just love her?

I saw her in an episode of Maalaala Mo Kaya with Maja Salvador. And I was as surprised to see her getting more and more effective and powerful as an actress.

And yep, for me, she’s a Certified Hottie.

*photo courtesy of newsflash.org

Status: Desperate
Music: Over It – Katharine Mcphee / Lost Without You – Robin Thicke

I’ve been trying to complete my family tree since 2003 but it seems like the third generation (upward) from me is a dead end. I just can’t find any more information regarding my great grandparents on my dad’s side more than what I already have.

I started trying to find out more about my ancestry when my Film 102 (Philippine Cinema) professor, Mrs. Len Pareja, gave me an irrelevant homework. She told me to find out how we are connected by completing my family tree because, she said, she was quite sure I would find her name there. I thought it was a very easy job considering that Dimen is a very uncommon name. But until now, I haven’t gotten past the third generation.

So let this entry serve as a call to everyone whose last name is Dimen or everyone who is somehow connected to any Dimen in any way. Please send me an e-mail: dimen@yoshke.com. This call goes out to any Dimen in the Philippines, and also England, Canada, and the United States. Most of my distant relatives are said to have migrated to the countries mentioned above. It also goes out to any Dimen in Germany, Hungary, and Romania who is aware of any of their ancestors or relatives moving to the Philippines between the 19th century and the start of the 20th. Please, send me a message.

My grandparents are Julio Dimen and Emeteria Antonio but my grandmother’s original last name was Zaragoza (Emeteria Zaragoza, Spanish). She just changed it because of some stupid family issues. But I’m more interested in tracking my Dimen roots (and not the Zaragoza).

Please help me build my family tree.

Status: Mortified
Music: Dancing Queen – Abba

Have you seen Tessie Aquino-Oreta’s latest political ad on TV? The one where she explains why she did that infamous cheerleading number after the majority in the Senate voted not to open the second envelope in former President Joseph Estrada’s impeachment trial? Gee. I’ve never seen so much hipocrisy compressed into a 30-second plug…. This one’s a really desperate move. But I must say the acting is pretty impressive. With the teary eyes, shaky voice, and all — if only FAMAS had a Best Performance in a Political Ad Award, then without any doubt, she’d be our Helen Mirren (minus the dancing part, of course).

This move by the Senate’s original dancing queen reminds me of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s first public acting stint when she apologised for the Hello Garci scandal some years ago. But GMA is a poor actress — well, at least in that I’m sorry video crap. I wonder how much politicians spend on hiring film directors or acting coaches. But whoever taught Oreta acting for this ad, GOOD JOB! Sounds like a new career for me, hahaha.

Now, can we blame our actors for continuously conquering the political scene when there’s so much drama going on in our dear nation’s political stage. Cool, huh?

*Photo courtesy of lawphil.net

Status: Wasted
Music: Wasted – Carrie Underwood

I am irritated by ABC5’s little tagline for American Idol.

Find out who will America choose next.

My goodness! They should send the poor guy who came up with this sentence back to school and learn Third Grade English. But hey, maybe they should just ignore this pathetic syntax error because there are other things that they should pay more attention to — Ethics, for example. [evil laugh]

Status: Hoppin’
Music: Don’t Let the Sun Catch You Crying – Chris Richardson

We received our third disconnection notice last week and until now, nobody (including myself) does anything to fix the problem. Hahaha. We haven’t paid for our electric bills for three consecutive months. The problem with optimism is that you tend to always look on the bright side that you don’t realise that they already cut your connection and before you know it, damn, it’s completely dark and you can’t even watch TV. Yep, we never really expected that we would be disconnected (despite the three pretty disconnection notices), at least, not this early. Oh, I’m sorry, it’s been three months.

It’s not being defensive but I really have to say this. We haven’t been paying not because we haven’t got any money. It’s just that laziness got the better of us that no one really wanted to face the hassle of commuting to the nearest Meralco branch. We just couldn’t find time.

And because the optimistic side of me told me I always gotta look on the bright side, I packed my things and went to Batangas though it was never part of my plan. I’ll just probably spend the rest of the week here, you know, enjoy the summer.

Dear Yoshke,

You’ve always been the independent and the smart one. Your parents have always been proud of you. But what if, sometimes, you don’t want them only to be proud of you. God knows what you would give just to be loved the way your not-so-independent and not-so-smart siblings are.

Sincerely,
Your evil alter-ego

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: Reminiscin’
Music: Say It Right – Nelly Furtado

I know this comes a bit late. But what the hell? I just want to say this. You know, 2006 is not that pretty a year for me, but it’s not terrible either. But surely, the past year gave me a lot of memories I can never ever let go of. Here are the top 9 highlights of the past year:

9. World Tour (?).
Have you ever gone to more than five countries in just one day? Sounds impossible, eh? Well, Maw and I have. Some time in July or August, the quest for a Film school scholarship started. Maw and I did a little world tour. And because technically, foreign embassies are foreign territories, we felt like we were having a world tour when in fact we never left Manila, entering one embassy to another, sending letters to ambassadors, and talking with some foreigners. It was fun.

8. Mugged!
Talking with Tonet while walking has to be my biggest regret last year. Just a block away from Andre’s apartment (which is now my apartment), a stranger with a knife approached me and forced me to hand him my cellphone. I did not become upset because of the cellphone. It was the idea that I was mugged. It was terribly traumatic. And for the longest time last year, I was cursing the entire urban poor population, and whenever I saw a squatters’ area, I secretly wished for a big fire. See this post for more. But after several months, I grew tired of hating them and learnt to understand them, and eventually got over it. I’m a good boy now.

7. This Kiss, This Kiss
It’s not the kiss per se that is unforgettable. It’s how the issue exploded way out of proportion in no time. Nah, I rather not discuss it.

6. North Luzon Trip
Straight from a Palawan trip, I joined Winwin, Icang, Dohna, Pam, Lei, Nep, and KZ on a three-day trip to Northern Luzon — Pangasinan, Baguio, and every place in between. A lot of things happened that I don’t know what to say. Heehee.

5. Thesis Defence
Yes, it was nerve-wracking, but after a few months, I could barely remember the entire thesis defence experience. Maybe because, there was really nothing spectacular and nothing horrible to remember. It was just, all right, we faced the faculty, defended our film, and that was it. All happy.

4. Palawan Trip
A simple trip to Palawan turned into a wake, when my grandfather died while we were having a vacation there. All my plans were cancelled and for a week, I just helped my relatives take care of the wake and ran some errands. But less than an hour after the funeral, I went island-hopping. Hahaha. And it felt fantastic. I told you, I’m the type who easily moves on.

3. World Cup — Germany
Unlike Ayn who really flew to Germany and its neighbouring countries and felt the stagerring energy the world’s favourite sport creates, I satisfied myself by just staying inside my room and having my eyes glued to my TV screen as I watched football game after game after game. And when the quarterfinals kicked off, I stayed in Manila just to see the games live in Ateneo. And yes, the lowest point of last year for me was when Germany lost to Italy in the semi-final. That was totally bad… and painful.

2. Thesis Production
The memories of the entire thesis production linger longer than the thesis defence. I learnt a lot of things and met new friends in the process. Pre-production — I got closer to Prech. Principal photography — I got closer to several people, some of which I did not even imagine I could be friends with. Editing — I got closer to Andre. And of course, from the very start up to the very last minute of production, Winwin was with me. And that was really unforgettable.

1. Graduation
Finally, after four years in a hell-like heaven, it was over. I was very proud, and indeed, it was the most unforgettable.

When the human body is broken down into its chemical components — carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen, etc. — it is only worth $23.80.
— National Geographic Channel FAQS

They say that the human soul weighs 21 grams. I wonder how much it costs. Hmmm. I guess the human soul is priceless.