Can I bum a smoke?

A good evening to you reader, I have taken to opening my entry (or any speech for that matter) like Charlotte Bronte. The beloved
writer of Jane Eyre. Since the sem break started, I resorted to being the bum again in our house. The useless,
lazy inhabitant who has nothing but eyes and ears for books, movies, and music. I am currently reading The Professor
by Charlotte Bronte, which I bought not too long ago in Fullybooked. It is an unusual love story and I'm liking every minute
of it. As you might have read in my previous post regarding modern romance novel, I've developed a newfound disgust
for their shallowness and repetitiveness.

This evening, my sister showed me, much to my suprise, my long-lost quest for black cigs which are becoming my thing now.
I had specifically expressed my desire to taste Djarum black, however, she turned up with a Black Bat cig--a japanese product
which further interested me.
I must inform you, reader, that I am no smoker. I do not smoke like a demon. My special regard for black cigs is mainly
rooted to its being sophisticated and beautiful in form and appearance unlike the commonplace white. If anything, I
look at young uns who smoke as uncool ones because mainly, I know, they smoke because they wanted to look cool and mature.
But they don't. As for me, I just wanted it, I want it black.
It was my fourth time (and it was like, two to three years ago) to smoke when I ventured to light one and finally taste this black beauty that has been evading me for
nearly a year. I was sharing it with my sister. As circumstance would have it I always end up sharing my cig with someone (okay, don't get disgusted, I don't just share it with someone, of course, I make it sure that I share it with someone who can be trusted to be clean). The first time I tried it, it was
the two of us who was puffing one single cig.
Actually the black bat cig tasted sweet. I joked with my sister if it was her saliva that I was tasting (much to my disgust of course,
I was trying to wipe off the filter before I put it in my mouth). But it was really sweet, unlike the menthol
cig which I prefer if someone would offer me a smoke.
So there, we smoked for a minute or two, contemplating, and looking at the night sky. My quest for the elegant
looking, my-ideal-black-cig ended, now I know where I can find one.

As she rubbed the butt of cig against the pavement, I asked my sister what makes it addictive to people
she said it relaxes them. I myself feel heady, but not addicted to it. Not yet. But if ever that time comes, rest assure
you will not find me smoking anything but a black cig.

Washed away

You think I'm going to talk about the disastrous aftermath of Milenyo? Well, yeah, just a bit.

We all know that electricity had been cut off when Milenyo visited NCR, but what I didn't expect was that along with electricity, telecommunication also went down. So in the span of one and a half day, we saw a glimpse--just a glimpse--of what life was in the earliest civilization, in the span of one and a half day, we became nearly prehistoric human beings, relying on fire (well, candles, really) and the light of the moon. At that time, I had some discoveries: One, is that if my mother were to be isolated in an island, you should give her a battery operated radio with an AM station or she'll go mad and die. And two, I'm pratically useless with only a candle, or rather, I am practically idle and immobile with only a candle at hand, I can't read clearly, I can't write clearly, I can't draw with a meager light, I can't listen to my music, I can't think straight because I was thinking intermittently, in between spaces of time, how horribly boring life was during the medieval age. But whatever.

On the dark side of this however, is the blatant fact that children were rejoicing during the storm-filled nights because classes were suspended, but we must think of the people who live in paltry houses where tin roofs are easily ripped off from their houses, walls crumble against the mighty whip of the wind, and water rising instantly to claim lives. While we rejoice at the prospect of no classes, people were already mourning and searching for their loved ones, agonizing over their lost homes, rushing over to the hospital because of their injuries, and the lost of livelihood especially in the provinces. Before you think of wishing for another signal 3 storm to come your way, think of the people who are going to suffer over it and thank God and your lucky stars how fortunate you are to be living under a sturdy roof. It really struck me as ironic.
I never thought that Milenyo could bring such destruction on the way, trees uprooted, billboards tumbling down on innocent people, and power lines jumbled; bringing inconvenience to people.

So far, people are trying to mend the mess Milenyo wreaked over.

~~~~

I am supposed to embed a video here I captured this saturday. It's a concert of the Phil. Suzuki Association. No, they are not affiliated whatsoever with motorcycles or any appliances for that matter. It would please classical music lovers like me, especially those who like Violins, that this Phil. Suzuki Association is a group of young musicians, violinists particularly.

Just passing by The Block, they instantly caught my interest, luckily, I was toting then the digi cam so I had the opportunity of filming them, however, much to my consternation, the digicam only recorded about 20 seconds of their performance. And having spent most of my day in Fullybooked, I couldn't stay long in their mini concert, much as I want to. = (

I have three videos of their performance, each only in 20 seconds (sorry). I was thinking of embedding it here, but I don't know how, or is too lazy to figure out. I thought I'll just upload it in my woomp account, however, the files are too large, 30+ MB each; my connection is dial-up so that makes everything from downloading to uploading sluggish. But I'll try to upload it tomorrow, using my cousin's broadband connection. Promise.

~~~

This is a bit embarassing to write, but, yesterday, I finally got to watch the movie The DaVinci Code. It's a shame really that I only watched it yesterday being a fan of this book (no matter what they say about plagiarism or a supposedly bullshit content). The movie turned out to be so-so: if you hadn't read the book it would appear confusing, if you had read the book, the movie is lacking. The only actor that really suited his/her character was Paul Bettany. In my own opinion, I think he portrayed Silas pretty well. When I look at Tom Hanks, I still wonder why on earth they chose him as Robert Langdon; I believe Tom Hanks is an exceptional actor, however, whenever he talks, he looks as if he doesn't mean the words he's saying, as if, he couldn't believe he is saying those lines or that his mouth suddenly had a life of its own. He appeared doubtful, vacillating on the lines he was mouthing. Audrey tatou looked like a minor character, and Jean Reno, he has scenes where he acts like he isn't truly devoted to the role he is playing.
Somehow, I have to give credit to its goosebump-inducing scenes like the last one, where Langdon kneels on the spot where Mary Magdalene truly lies. Overall, the movie wasn't that bad, but it wasn't that excellent either.

~~~~
and before I forget, I'm going to post an independent entry about the play "Alamat".
And too bad, we will never get to watch the play Don Q (Don Quixote) at PETA, I really wanted to watch that play. pfft.

wish you were here.

Sunday was supposed to be the day I'm taking a short break. A sort-of vacation after a weeklong of tedious school work. However, what could have been my vacation, turned out to be my exam day in LTS. So while my mom and my oh-so-lovely cousins enjoyed themselves in tagaytay, I was left here at home, bleeding over my english paper.

the-lost-children-of-sagada look. Look! they don't have two of their members. Me and Glen.

the kiddos thoroughly enjoyed the trip. I could almost hear them telling me "Wish you were here..."

argh... -______- ;

Probably the reason why there is misanthropy

If there is one thing that truly annoys when boarding an fx in the morning (or in the afternoon it doesn't matter anyway) is that sitting right next to a heavy-set person, particularly men, who invariably seems incontented with the space alloted him he goes on encroaching your space. Now don' get me wrong, I'm not holding any grudge against the opposite sex, it just so happens that it is men who usually spread their limbs open, occupying as much space as he can, grinding you against the door or the person beside you. I understand you have something in there that must not be squashed, but what really compounds this already annoying situation is their amazing ability to appear indifferent; what's worse, they sometimes doze off ON you, forcing you to hunch over your limited space, God knows if the person is just trying to take advantage of you.

Apparently, I had the same scenario this morning on my way to UST. Already in a slightly bad mood due to my lack of sleep and continuous worry over my cursed paper, I was already apprehensive of the "heavy-set" person who sat beside me. It would have been a nice, quiet trip while I mull over my ill fated life IF he had not slept on the trip. His weight was being transfered to me as he dozed off, pushing me against the door of the fx, his thighs wide open and his head bobbing up and down like a buoy in the sea. I was irritated of course, what did you expect? I know I'm not an OC or maybe I haven't realized it yet but having your shoulder and arm pressed hard against this man's shoulder and arm disgusts me to the grossiest level, I don't want any close contact with any stranger, much less heavy-set strangers with suspicious looking faces and a habit of sleeping inside fxes during trips.

Several minutes later, I heard him snore. He actually snored. That's how comfortable he is in his place while I'm hunching over in my small space. He ought to be ashamed of himself. Snoring inside fxes are not allowed. Have some compunction, please.

Maybe it was Norah Jones voice singing over the radio that kept me from voicing out my irritation, or maybe it was the rainy day. I don't know. But I was eagerly scrambling out of the fx before I have the temerity to flash the guy with a glare. Damn him.

Another one that truly evoked anger in me was the news of the boy who climbed up a power post and was shot dead by a "tanod".
the tanod, who was drunk, admitted that he fired at the boy, telling the media that he was extremely annoyed by the boy's stubborn attitude (of climbing power posts that is). TV patrol showed the actual video of a young boy hanging by the post, having been shot three times, before evetually falling to his death.
Even if the boy truly annoyed the people for his being a stubborn mule, it is not enough reason for a man with a gun to shoot a boy merely because he was a "pasaway", if the boy was bothering you it doesn't give you any right to shoot at the kid. Damn it, do you even realize it?
The parents, who looked negligent, explained that the boy has epilepsy (i think) and is therefore the reason why the boy is stubborn. Apparently, the family of the young boy is a poor one (the typical one, with lotsa children running around) and I was thinking that their situation may have pushed the boy to climbed up the power post, perhaps the boy loved the freedom it provided, of scaling posts and feeling exhilirated, to win attention, and to feel separated from the world of poverty by being atop something.
there is one quote that I saw in some channel I was flipping by in the cable, it said:

In this mad world, only the mad are sane.

I don't think having epilepsy qualifies someone as being mad, however, in this cruel world, if you try to be different, if you try to severe yourself from the mainstream of society, you are labeled as a mad person. If you stand up from the crowd and do things out of the standard mode of social convention, you are condemned to being a mad, stubborn, stupid person. And in that breif moment of time that you gain something akin to freedom, that you do something that people wouldn't usually do, that is, climb power posts, someone will shoot you down. As fast as you felt an unknown bliss, death came swooping by, claiming your life.

Another thing that truly angered me about this accident is that, no one had the sense to improvise something that will save the boy's life as he fell to the ground. People watched him with amused looks, and as he fell to the ground, people stood there, watching a spectacle they did not intervene with. The boy fell. They watched. The boy died. I wonder if they enlisted the help of the fire station or other rescue mission to aid them. Maybe they just stood at the feet of the post, their head tilted, and their hands outstretched, thinking for one foolish moment that they will catch the boy with those bare, idle hands.

A Triumphant night for UST

so, my first ever basketball watch is a lucky one, says K-ann, as we trudge along the front of UST library. Thomasians from every corner of the Philippines know that UST won against UE with scores of 82 and 81. A close fight that kept us on the edge, biting our nails. You can see that the both the UST and the UE basketball players were being pushed to their limit at the fourth quarter of the game, but I hope it's not the best yet of UST, the best is saved for last--Ateneo. When UST prevented what could have been the score--and victory, mind you, of UE at the last 30 seconds, everyone jumped out and triumphantly shouted and howled and shrieked. We won! The sudden barage of noise had me rendered temporarily deaf. But never mind, everybody was really rejoicing, UST will now proceed to face ATeneo (K-ann!) for the final competition. I doubt it if I would watch it because I don't think I can, I might hyperventilate or drop dead.

K-ann, thank your lucky stars. UST, praise your stamina.

Go USte! ;D