Sunday, February 26, 2006

talking about myself, about my weekend, Jack Nasty

I did some closet cleaning this weekend. This is in preparation for our big move to LGV some time mid-April. You should see my room these days. It's never been this functional and organized. A little ironic, now that I'm leaving this place in less than 2 months.

I had Saturday and Sunday sessions trying things on and marching towards the mirror on the landing to assess how wearable said garment was, and also getting a 2nd opinion from Gica about how the whole thing looks. Funny, huh. Anyway, she knows what she likes but I got to say that she has some odd notions about what is not wearable but actually is. Maybe she's just a tad spoiled that way. Maybe.

So now I've got an organized closet, and know exactly what I'm missing and what I need to get. Managed to fill in that hole with a little shopping this weekend. I actually spent money I earned myself to buy these clothes. I realize that I can get addicted to this. It's fun. I must have tried out 10 pieces in one store. I knew something was going on outside and that things were getting chaotic. I felt mildly guilty, but that disappeared soon enough. I decided to watch Memoirs of a Geisha, which I enjoyed quite a bit.

* * *

I don't speak or think too deeply. I let some of my ranting friends do that. I'd just rather watch and let things play out, especially when truth and facts are so gray now.

* * *

I was reading a few old letters this evening which is what I do when I want to revisit myself. Realized that I was kinda pikon in high school, and really something of a dweeb, esp. to people who didn't know me. I present facades for people, that's for sure. I want them to get to know a certain part of me, as a matter of survival it might have started, and maybe morphed into a matter of habit or a matter of getting what I want. Is it deception if I never pretended to be something I wasn't, but merely hi-lighted certain aspects of myself?

* * *

tang-ina bitin naman yung Oprah Prime Time tonight. Nice interviews though.

Monday, February 20, 2006

2nd Ateneo Aquathlon - 1st Leg 2006 Speedo Aquathlon Series - 5th March



Triathletes, Mountaineers, Swimmers, Runners, Weekend Warriors, Lovers, Fighters, Friends:

Am helping organize an aquathlon! It'll be a fun, sporty (& competitive if you so choose) atmosphere at Ateneo this March 5! This is brought to you by the Loyola Mountaineers and Speedo with the help of TRAP (Triathlon Association of the Philippines)

Official ITU distance of 2.5km run - 1km swim - 2.5km run

Race Fee : 400 pesos til 2nd March
(includes Speedo Swim Cap + Speedo shirt)

500 pesos for 3rd-4th March

800 pesos on Race Day

Masaya 'to! Cool day in the lovely Ateneo Campus. He he.

If you guys are interested send me an e-mail, comment, SMS and I'll send you a registration form with payment details. :)

Monday, February 13, 2006

end of an era

I didnt expect that my whole weekend (including friday night) was gonna be gobbled up by debate tryouts. Thought I'd pop in at strategic times, but I actually saw practically every debate on this one. For those of you who are interested, and I know there are at least a few, the contingent line up is as follows:

[names in ranking order]


Ateneo 1: Leloy, Sharmila, Charisse

Ateneo 2: Glenn, Mahar, Miko

Ateneo 3: DS, Kip, Allan

Ateneo 4: Czarina, Cris, Danni

Ateneo 5: Adrian, Pat H, Franz

Ateneo 6: Faith, Bev, Dan L

Ateneo 7(?): Steph Poon, X, Y


Judges: Steph Co, James


Too bad Kellda's dream to be on the other side of a snakepit didn't materialize. Closest was the final slot for Team 2.

since this contingent is for CSB IVs (aka Ombudsman debates), IIDC (Inquirer interschool) and AUDC (asian universities), this will be the last tryout for a few months, and probably the last tryout in this house (we're moving in a couple of months).

It probably will also be the last tryout that I'll be attending, or at least attending this fully. Bob sounded out a theme earlier in the weekend: What the hell am i doing here? and I had ask mysef that as well.

Tryouts has a functional role, but it's highly social as well, but of course. The pecking order is confirmed or in some cases newly changed and established. Occasionally, alumni in town will be around to gather, and it'll be time to meet up, exchange gossip, and see each other.

I found it comforting yet, also a little bizarre, that soon it might be Gica who'll be in the middle of all this, holding court with all these speakers. In her case though, the physical venue would have changed. P. Florentino, something that could be argued as a debate-houses, with 3 debaters, and countless tryouts would give way to some place else. Maybe our new house? Not unlikely if a few circumstances turn out as they are.

In our little family-view, this all began sometime mid 1995, when I figured that joining the high school debate team would be a fun thing. More than a decade later, here we are.

Monday, February 06, 2006

the devil's right hand

do you know the despair of never being able to watch a movie for the first time, again? maybe you watched brokeback mountain saturday afternoon, like i did. this plus the news friday night of my grandmother's death from a lingering battle against cancer made for a messed up weekend.

saturday afternoon and evening, spent some time with bob discussing and threshing out the more poignant parts of the movie, so i won't go at length talking about that here. what i will say is that Ang Lee has given me the kind of heartache that is reserved for adolescents in high school. odd moments during the day (And in the middle of parties), i'm thinking about the movie. . .

you can't watch a movie for the first time, more than once. so i do other things. have been listening to the score of Gustavo Santaolalla when i can, and reading more annie proulx short stories. when i told gica last xmas that her choice of giving me Bad Dirt was a jackpot choice, i didn't realize how prescient i was being at the time.

so i read wyoming stories with the Gustavo guitar score. take note of the silences between the notes . . .

also find myself groovin to country music tracks, who would have guessed. Willie Nelson in the house.

* * *

tend to avoid reviews, the making of, specials, interviews about the movie unless the primary source is involved. maybe if heath is talking to Parkinson or if Jake is in the Actor's Studio. NPR Radio has a good piece on Gustavo in its archive. Not interested in Jay Leno / Entertainment Tonight bullshit. Much less movie reviews. Why? 'coz if someone gets it wrong, some dumbass comment, i just might hurl a brick at the tv set.

lookin forward to the 5th/morning of the 6th March, Oscar Awards. best film, best director, and best original score my bets