i figure if you put together something like the Onion in Manila people will take the news literally -- not necessarily because people don't understand satire. It's because some parts of life (political) are so bizarre that absurd writing and sentiment can pass for conventional journalism

I spent the morning cramming as usual my take home final exam for the history of economic thought. I ended up writing quite a bit about Marx -- I finally understand why the labour theory of value was so important in his thesis of labour exploitation. The other questions I answered were about Marshall, JM Keynes. They weren't as interesting, but they were very answerable.

The afternoon, I tried, gave up, and tried again to read my book, The Order of Things: The Archaeology of Knowledge by Michel Foucault. I have to write a paper on this, and it's turning out to be quite a difficult read. It's hard enough to slog through economics and dealing with economists, and their terms. Now I have to deal with the writings and language of this French philosopher. It's a generalization, but French philosopher tend to ramble and ramble before getting the point. One needs a little patience and fortitude to continue reading.

In the evening, I watched Angels in America the miniseries on DVD. I didn't know what to make of it (and still dont know), but I enjoyed it anyway. It's a good series, so far.

boracay

this is just a list of things i did and observations in Bora. so far so good, and if you don't want to get envious, maybe you shouldn't read on. ;) i apologize right now though for the lack of coherence and style. just want to get some things down while the feeling is fresh.

this place can't be beat for atmosphere sometimes. reggae mix of je ne t'aime plus playing outside the cafe.

as by boracay holy week tradition i've run into people, and did a little small talk: when did you arrive, where are you staying, when are you leaving, what are you gonna do later?

vacation began a little off, the thursday parties' only saving grace was alcohol. too many bitches with attitude at hey jude and summer place. sought fun elsewhere.

Friday, much better. The Indian dinner we had at True Food was quite good, if the service a little poor. the evening chill-out event (c2) at club paraw was ok, and thanks to Bianca, we got a pretty nice cabana. earlier in the afternoon simple joys: tossing a frisbee with Nicole and Edsel at the wide beach fronting cocamangas. the morning had a yoga session at Mandala spa.

This morning had a huge breakfast and a great massage, and finally(!) went for a long swim and got a lot of sun. enjoyed my Paul Theroux book on the beach. might go for a little cruise later or rent a bike, we'll see what i feel like doing. maybe a little shopping?

some of the locals here really are nice. none of that fake service smile BS. makes me want to stay here longer, among other things.

the end

i'll be in boracay the next few days, so i'll probably have at least one story to write next week, when i get back. i dont know what to expect except for the crowds and the parties. i guess i'll have a good time. ;) why spend all this money otherwise.


'went to Tita Narda's wake tonight, and I bumped into Juliet and Baby again, really remnants from my childhood. What threw me back though was seeing Mang Tony again! I haven't seen him in ages. He used to drive me to school as a grade-schooler. He can hardly hear now, and he can't believe that I know how to drive a car now.

I read a few old e-mails (over the past 3-5 years) College years and early post-college. Things seem so different.

Recently, Jojo L has been calling it a quarter-life crisis. I find the label stupid -- only coz what happens to other people, isn't supposed to happen to me (?), in a way. Anyway, I'll go distract myself for a while now. Time to pack.

genteel day

had only 2.5 hrs of sleep owing to a early morning arrival from Edsel's party. visited William's farm, first time, today along with the other ADS crew. met at starbucks 830 am. Road trip! Camille, Dione, Jess and Petite were fun car mates on the way to San Fernando. Goodness the tolls on the Northern Luzon expressway are a bundle. 300 pesos towards and back.

William's little 'farm' was pretty cool. A pool, lanai and structures worthy of a interior design magazine, and a tasty spread for lunch (esp. enjoyed the Buro --> fermented fish something). We had Proseco and peach liquer by the pool. lovely

Leloy's driving was great to make fun of, as usual.






* switching gears *

Talo si Pacquiao! fuck

quite a few people link to this blog now. Didn't realize that Jess and Camille link up here as well. Great work Jess, passing the LAE of UP Law.

I'm almost done with school. I have two papers to write. I'll probably get it all done in April. Holy week is at our doorstep and I'm not in the mood to work. I'm all done with my Ateneo teaching load. All this work is from the UP School of Econ. . .

I had a great afternoon tonight. Ran with Maita, Larry and Miguel around Ateneo before having a nice meal in Tribu (Xavierville). Mahar says he's eaten here before. I never knew of the place, and they serve cheap ass food. Maits and I had 1 beef kebab, 1 stick of pork barbecue, 2 sticks of chicken liver, grilled vegetables (onions, tomatos, and okra), extra grilled onion and tomato, a bit of pita bread, and three rum cokes. this cost a grand total of 260 pesos. Cheap rum coke ha ha ha ha. So of course people got all tipsy.

Mahar flies to Bangkok tomorow. Bye Mahar.
Ms. Hawaiian Tropic is showing on TV. Hmm.

I bought a swimming book today! :)

It's Edsel Tupaz's bday celebration tomorrow, I've been going to this party for past 5 years. It's nice to have traditions like that.

Sorry for the entry today, all matter of fact and dull. This was my writing style in one of my earlier blogs. But life has been very interesting lately though.

You Are Bold And Brave

But daring? Not usually? You tend to like to make calculated risks. So while you may not be base jumping any time soon... You are up for whatever's new and (a little) exciting!

How Daring Are You?

alright. im bold and brave.


these memes (?) look a lot cooler in blogspot eh

lots of chewy bits

from the recently finished joint Econ/Business/IT conference of the UP School of Econ, and Alfred Uni College of Bussiness.

I particularly enjoyed the presentations that dealt with measuring financial volatility, price assymetry in the gasoline market, rural poverty, the 1986 & 1997 Tax Reforms in the Philippines, Guanxi & competition policy, and the effect of migration on income inequality.

I found dull the presentations on the FATF (Financial Action Task Force), the effect of university research on industrial innovation, and Enterprise resource planning.

I.E. the econ stuff was pretty good, the business stuff was boring. What was pretty impressive though was that some of the stuff that was quite substantial was the work of undergrad students (gasoline market, migration topics).

Insight: there are no big debates in econ conferences, for the most part. People listen politely, bring up a few methodological questions, question a few premises, and then proceed to some tasty lunch (today was scrumptious. AGAIN). Though I guess the non-debate element shouldn't be too surprising because this conference was more a friendly gathering beyond anything, and the focus of a lot of these papers was explanatory rather than policy prescription.

The only debate-y topic if ever would have been Dr. Diokno's talk on tax reform, but as of late, that's been so debated on and in the media, that people probably are fatigued to argue the same things again (That + the minimal presence of red elements in the audience). He was preaching to the choir, anyway. It was a UP School of Econ/ Alfred University / Ateneo Uni / National Economic Development Authority (NEDA) crowd.

I love the way he doesn't mince words (yet remains civil) on his PPT presentation of some of the proposals that have come about in the fiscal debate. E.g. something along the lines of, 'fortunately, such a proposal was never implemented because it was stupid and useless."

Now as pinoy hosts were supposed to take out a few of these american college students / kids / mba students tomorrow. I'm not directly in charge of this, but some friends have asked for some help. I think one should just dump them in the middle of Megamall and have them fend for themselves and enjoy.

conference today

spent most of the morning and early afternoon at the New World Renaissance for an international conference on Business, Economics and IT. It was international in the sense that we had some professors and grad/undergrad students from Alfred University (NY, USA). At some points I felt that the students were asking questions during the open forum segment to get recitation credit from their professor. Alfred U, as co-organizers of this conference, so I hear, financed a lot of this conference. UP School of Econ, the other co-organizer, provided the intellectual capital.

As with a lot of conferences, this meant subsidized food. So I ate up the Tiramisu, salmon and egg sandwiches during breaks. Stir-fried oyster chicken and nut pies during lunch. Everyone enjoyed themselves.

I'll next write a few bits on what papers were discussed, and the ideas that were thrown around. Some were pretty hilarious -- in both the funny and absurd senses of the word.

Ning's Party

i woke up this morning, after 2 1/2 hours sleep, to a splitting headache. it felt like a migraine, and due to the fact that i had never felt a headache like that before under similar circumstances (that of having drunk a lot of alcohol the night before), i began imagining that it wasn't alcohol-induced, but rather a result of a brain tumor finally asserting itself into my consciousness.

i managed to cure it by eating a banana, taking paracetamol and taking a hot shower. the pill did the trick.

last night was Ning's birthday party at La Vista, and that turned out pretty well. the food was good (esp. those sirlion steaks, mmm). 'began the night with a bottle of smirnoff mule, followed by 4 glasses of red wine, a mixed-vodka drink, scotch on the rocks, and finally courtesy of the master mixing powers of Migs and Cholo, a creamy concoction of something, and some variation of Sangria. The drive home i was pretty sober, and had downed about 4 glasses of water to rehydrate. So the headache that was beyond just a hangover was a total surprise. my body doesn't act this way (but then again, I don't normally drink those many kinds of alcoholic drinks in one night).

Anina was in good spirits and happy. Maita was fun. Trinka and I had good talks. Minelle was soo wasted (ha ha ha).