When cars collide

I remember hearing laughter, then frantic horns blaring, screeching tires then BAM!

I check my friend, Bev, beside me if she's alright. She said she is. We get off the cab and take photos of the wreck. The photo above doesn't really give an exact image of the wreck of the cab we were riding. We walk to the nearest shed. I thank God that Bev and I are safe.

I don't remember panicking right at that moment. But when we get on an FX headed for home, that's when things dawned on me.

I could have died. Then a thousand more scenarios play through my head. I arrive home and head straight for my parents room.

I wake up and prepare for work. I ride a cab. The driver steps on the brake. I find myself slightly nervous whenever he does that.

Dear Iskolar ng Bayan,

WATCH THIS:

I am only one but I am one. I cannot do everything but I can do something. What I can do, I ought to do, and with the grace of God, I WILL DO IT. (Monsod, 2010)

Ikagugulantang Niyo!

I remember sitting in the front row of the Guerrero Theater. I remember laughing the whole night. I remember wanting to watch it again. That was in 2006. On October 2, 2010, at 3 in the afternoon, I sat on the second row waiting for the same show I watched four years ago to start.

When I learned that Dulaang UP will restage Shock Value and that my awesome Theater 12 (the one and only academic class besides PE na streetdance na naka-UNO ako yeaboi!) professor, Dexter Santos (pictured below), is part of the production, I knew that I should watch the show by hook or by crook.


Unfortunately, Sir Dex wasn't part of the show I watched. Instead, the original Ritchie that I watched four years ago played the part. Matt Deseparasidos was played by Jojit Lorenzo pictured below, instead of the Andoy Ranay who I watched before.

The show isn't for the conservative type. Beside me was a lola accompanying her apo who is a student of UP. During the infamous bed scene where Matt is caught having sex with Jason, lola exclaimed to apo, "Hija, ano ba tong pinapanood natin? Bakit kayo pinapayagan manood ng ganito?" I was laughing so hard both on the scene and lola's remarks! That day will always be marked as "The Day Shock Value shocked Lola"

Shock Value is a satire of the Philippine media and how it has exploited itself among other things. Underneath the surface, it is more than just gay sex and network wars. Amidst all the laughter is the reality that the industry is a flawed one.

I want to watch Shock Value again... and again... and again. Yes, it's THAT awesome.

Blast!

The crowds cheered. The schools grooved. And five out of 12 teams made it to the finals.

Last Sunday was UP Street's elimination leg for the Skechers Streetdance Battle. The competition, now on its 6th year, has become the biggest streetdance competition in the country since its inception in 2005 - as evidenced by its ever increasing ticket prices.

This is our team right before the compet:

Photo by: Liza Carbonel

Congratulations UP Streetdance Club for making it to the finals! Compet team - Aye, David, Toki, Renz, Jolo, Trizza, Lian, KatM, Miko, JM, Phim, Hannah, Espi, Reg, Canter and Leonard, props to you guys for represnting the org, our school and God, of course.

While we were having a blast with all the dancing, a real blast happened on the other side of town. The usually festive Salubong for barristers ended in tragedy as some got rushed to the hospital because of an explosion along the crowd-filled Taft Ave.

One of my college friends, Estella Maniquis, a current student of San Beda Law is one of the victims of the explosion.

Initial investigation points to frat wars as the cause of the explosion. At least a couple of victims had to have their legs amputated due to severe damage.

Dear culprit, I would wish that you blow up to pieces but I wouldn't. Instead I hope that you'd feel pain that the family members of the affected students are feeling.

Been reading..

a blog for more than a week now. Started reading posts from 2007, I'm now on the last month of 2008.

Funny how some of the posts just hit you on the spot.

Bye now, two more years of posts to read.

15 films

Here are 15 movies on top of my head - more like movies I would watch again and again.. and again.

MUST SEE WITHDRAWAL FILM: Trainspotting

MUST SEE ZOMBIE FILM: 28 Days Later


MUST SEE DREAM/REALITY AMBIGUITY FILM: Inception

MUST SEE KOREAN FILM: The Classic

MUST SEE NON-LINEAR FILM: Memento

MUST SEE VAMPIRE FILM: Let the Right One In

MUST SEE TEARJERKER FILM: Grace is Gone

MUST SEE MEMORY ERASURE FILM: Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind

MUST SEE DISTURBING COMMUNITY FILM: Dogville

MUST SEE SUPERHERO FILM: The Dark Knight

MUST SEE VIOLENT CHILDREN FILM: City of God

MUST SEE DYSTOPIC FUTURE FILM: Children of Men

MUST SEE STAR CROSSED LOVERS FILM: Atonement

MUST SEE POST-WW2 RACISM FILM: American History X

MUST SEE NON-LOVE STORY FILM: (500) Days of Summer

What's in your list?

Cough and Colds

Two weeks, not getting any better.

UGH.

Hunger Pains and Budget Cuts

The weekend was fun to say the least. But for the most part, I was in pain.

Friday night, due to heavy traffic towards Ortigas, nalipasan ako ng gutom. The Buffalo Wings from Charlie's at 10:30pm (a must try!) didn't help. So my stomach was hurting really bad. Then off to a party at Manor, Eastwood for Vimi's birthday. Joel's back!! Really fun night despite the badly aching stomach.


Saturday morning, woke up with bad headache. Left the house for the Skechers Kick Off Party and first round of college eliminations! Congratulations ate Mycs and LSDC Street! :) Then off to a road trip away from traffic-ridden MOA and EDSA. Roadtrip with some Club friends which took us forever. And it was traffic everywhere in the Metro na nalipasan na naman ako ng gutom. UGH. Met up with Refuge (my GCF growth group) for a birthday dinner then off to Minneli's house to visit her dad.

Sunday, church and family day. Started out okay until really late lunch came with some churchmates in MOA. We ate around 1:30pm at nalipasan na naman ako ng gutom. But the pain was extra hard to endure this time. The coffee didn't help. But sleep did! The pain subsided around11pm.

----

Short story: I NEVER liked Noy. Such a false sense of hope just cause he is the son of Ninoy of Cory.

And then this happened: A proposed budget cut of 1.39 Billion pesos. B is for BULL!


I am an Iskolar ng Bayan - MATAPANG, MATALINO, WALANG TAKOT KAHIT KANINO and I AM AGAINST Noy's 1.39 billion budget cut!

Noy can shove his yellow hope somewhere else, NOT IN MAROON LAND!

thanks to greatgatusby.tumblr.com for the awesome budget cut art.

Blogging again

It's been a looooong time. I don't even remember the last time I updated this blog. But here I go again. The need to have brain and emotional farts is just too strong for me today.

A blog that I've started reading is starting to depress me. Ewan, today's been off. Ugh gotta shake off the blues.

Hello there Mr. Weekend!

REFUGE in BOLINAO

So here's the beach that I went to during the Holy Week vacation :) and these are the people that made the trip so much fun. 'Til the next trip to the BEAAAACH! (NOTE: all photos were taken by Robin James Yu)

REFUGE.

The girls are making fun of my huuuuge tummy.

JUMP!

SAND. WATER. SUN. BEACH.

In a month's time, not only was I able to spend an awesome Holy Week vacation with really awesome people (will post photos later), I'm spending four days on an island in Palawan. Gotta love the beach. :)

*photo taken by Robin James Yu

The Employed Lad

Wow. It's been a while since I actually wrote something substantial here.

A lot of things have happened already. Quick recap:

• I got a year older.
• Bummed for two months (Dec to Jan)
• Tried the news wire life
• Road ended with the news wire life
  
• Two weeks of dancing
• SFX: Decade. Vision. Dance.

And just like that, I am shoved to a corner inside an office. And work commenced.

I easily got a job shortly after my Reuters stint. Ate Iona (a UP Street orgmate) submitted my resume to her agency. And before I knew it, I am reporting for work a week after.

A lot has happened since. Calls. Calls. Email. Event. Email. Rounds. Rounds. Rounds. Follow-ups. Calls. Rounds.
Work's something like that.

Rounds. Rounds. Rounds.

I thank God that immediately got a job. Hopefully, I'd be able to perform well. :)