Hits and Misses

It hsa been a long time since I really updated my blog. As you can see in my past postings, it was very much a cut and paste affair.

Work has dominated my life for the moment and the very being that I had tried to avoid in the past has catched up. *shudder* I hate to think that I am now responsible for the success of our operations here in RP and of course the well-being of my staff.

Power I hold and covet and I like it alot.

Your Career Type: Artistic

You are expressive, original, and independent. Your talents lie in your artistic abilities: creative writing, drama, crafts, music, or art. You would make an excellent: Actor - Art Teacher - Book Editor Clothes Designer - Comedian - Composer Dancer - DJ - Graphic Designer Illustrator - Musician - Sculptor The worst career options for your are conventional careers, like bank teller or secretary.

What's Your Ideal Career?

How You Life Your Life

You seem to be straight forward, but you keep a lot inside. You tend to avoid confrontation and stay away from sticky situations. You prefer a variety of friends and tend to change friends quickly. You tend to always dream of things within reach - and you usually get them.

How Do You Live Your Life?

You fit in with: Humanism Your ideals mostly resemble that of a Humanist. Although you do not have a lot of faith, you are devoted to making this world better, in the short time that you have to live. Humanists do not generally believe in an afterlife, and therefore, are committed to making the world a better place for themselves and future generations. 20% spiritual. 40% reason-oriented.

Take this quiz at QuizGalaxy.com

Missing your Passion

For the past few months, I have not gone out and covered the big rallies plaguing the city. Believe me if I say that I miss the whole frakkin' deal sooo much.

I long to be there with my fellow journalists braving the raving mob and short-fused riot cops. I long to feel the adrenaline rush of scampering and elbowing your way to a good position to take the perfect shot. I long to fear again for the safety of my equipment before caring if it is my blood that stains my shirt or that of an unlucky cop or protester.

I have missed so much since i have to take the mantle of responsibility. I have to now delegate this extremely fun endeavour to our pool and concentrate on tasking the right people for the right task.

Sigh, command responsibility . . . .

You Are Balanced - Realist - Powerful

You feel your life is controlled both externally and internally. You have a good sense of what you can control and what you should let go. Depending on the situation, you sometimes try to exert more control. Other times, you accept things for what they are and go with the flow. You are a realist when it comes to luck. You don't attribute everything to luck, but you do know some things are random. You don't beat yourself up when bad things happen to you... But you do your best to try to make your own luck. When it comes to who's in charge, it's you. Life is a kingdom, and you're the grand ruler. You don't care much about what others think. But they better care what you think!

The Three Dimension Luck and Power Test

Pinoy Big Bother

No matter how much I want to hate the latest reality show in ABS-CBN, I can't help but be drawn to this voyeuristic show. I mean this is a psycho and behavioral scientists' wet dream.

Think about it, 12 different personalities locked in a relatively small house for 100 days. No TV, radio, cell phone, in short no contact with the outside world. 100 days of seeing the same people everyday. I wouldn't be surprised if one of them ended up going postal and killing the cast and crew.

One thing that kills the concept though, is that ABS got predominantly pretty boys and girls for the show. I understand that this is to boost ratings but it does skew things up a bit in terms of a scientific viewpoint.

Niways, have been following the show religiously since the show began and even went so far as to follow the events not covered in tv in their website.

As early as now, one can "guesstimate" who would be the crowd favorite and who would survive the ordeal. Pity thought that the most mature of the group, Raquel, and in essence the one with most brains would most likely be voted off first. The pretty boys and girls would most likely last since viewers would like to ogle their skimpily clad bodies.

Still it is interesting to see how the housemates would react to each other when day 50 comes by.

Changes

Just got my office issue Ibook and am quite impressed. It weighs a whole lot less than my old laptop and extremely fast. But this may very well be in the maxing out of the specs for my photo and layout needs (1gig ram, 80gb HD).

Its kinda cute but it has a small screen, just 12" but its super bright. I just need an appletech to colorsynch it.

The first time I used it, I was looking for the right-click of the mouse but soon acclimatized myself with the one button mouse and extremely swell trackpad.

Its kinda hard though to find programs for the mac and I can't synch my PDA just yet for lack of compatible software. I can't use the bluetooth option also since I don't have a single bluetooth device. Having fun though with the built-in airport express (wifi for PC).

All the computers in the office are Imac G5's and its kinda nice looking at all that snowy white hardware specially when we configured everything to run on wifi.

BTW Edy was chosen to be our graphic/layout artist and we would be working together once again.

Yipee ginpo days are here again!!!

Your Patronus is the Badger! The badger is a symbol
of aggressiveness, passion and drive. He is
also the mascot for Hufflepuff. As your
Patronus, the Badger will bite and claw to
protect you. Congratulations!

That your Patronus is a badger says that you are
very driven in whatever you do. When you enjoy
something, you go at it with all of your heart.
Unfortunately, you also tend to be aggressive,
and this can lead to a bossy attitude. Try to
keep that aggression in check, and you'll be a
wonderful witch or wizard!


What is Your Patronus? Version 1
brought to you by Quizilla

"Frak Me"

I have the new Battlestar Galactica Season 1 DVD and believe me when I say that the series is really, really good. Much much better than SG-1 which was my oh so current fave sci-fi series.

I doubt if anyone in our group even remembers the original BSG with Lorne Greene as Adama and Dirk Benedict as Starbuck. I remember watching this when I was around 9 or 10 at channel 9 or 13 with Moonbase 2010 and Sealab.

The new series is a far better adaptation with gritty characters and antiquated futuristic look and feel.

Must watch!!

A tale of two men . . .


One was this small . . .


The other was this gee-normous . . .

"Wannabe super-model niece"


Meet my soon to be super-model 4-month old American niece, Bianca Shanelle


Wannabe

Meet my four-month old niece, Bianca Shanelle. Bya is her nick. She is the daughter of my sister and get this . . . a bonafide American Citizen.

Yup, she was born in the USA and if everything goes to plan, might be able to visit them by October or by early next year.

My sister is now living in San Francisco with my Mom and have sucessfully undergone an operation to remove her cervical cancer. However, she would have to undergo chemo and radiology treatments in the coming months to ensure that her cancer won't recur.
Sadly the procedure would also ensure that Bya would be their only child.

Truly, my niece's name fits her for she is the "Biyaya" of her mom.

I am not known to be a religious person, but I know many of you are. Hopefully you could include her in your prayers or rituals.

"Losing Focus"


Trying to be cute . . .

President Gloria-Macapagal Arroyo is facing an exceptionally complex set of scandals and accusations and, as usual in the Philippines, nothing is clear.

Mrs. Arroyo's perfect storm of crises has probably put her close to lame-duck territory one year into her six-year term, and may have paralyzed her administration for years. This can only exacerbate the profound, long-term crisis of capacity that is crippling the state.

Even before the latest Comelec scandals, Arroyo had recorded the lowest presidential approval ratings in the history of opinion polls in The Philippines. It took her three weeks to respond to the telephone call revelations, and that response only came after a dozen of her cabinet secretaries reportedly threatened to resign.

But that reality came into effect on Mrs. Arroyo’s most trying day as 8 cabinet secretaries and two senior executives led by her economic team resigned en masse and asked for her to step down as well. On that same day her staunchest allies led by Senate President Franklin Drilon and former President Corazon Aquino joined the call for her to step down.

Rally after rally followed with each side gunning for the most number of warm bodies to give credence to their case. At its prime, the opposition claimed 40,000 flocked to Ayala to call for the ouster of Mrs. Arroyo. But most probably the masses went to catch a glimpse of their favorite actors and actresses in the seemingly variety show bandwagon. The Arroyo supporters countered with a prayer rally held last Saturday at the Quirino Grandstand saying that at least 100,000 supporters called for stability and the end of the political turmoil.

In the end, these rallies do not only worsen the economic instability of the nation, they also generate divisive sentiments among the people and draw away focus from the nagging problems that need our leaders’ full attention.

In the course of the political turmoil brewing in the Philippines, many politicians and civil leaders have lost sight of the true problem hitting not only the home country but the whole International community as well.

A pending oil crisis is looming in the near future as the price of oil in the world market has breached the $70 per barrel ceiling. In addition the Philippines desperately need economic reform and to strengthen its effort in the fight against terrorism.

It seems that Mrs. Arroyo is dead set in addressing them but she is hugely damaged, and intensely vulnerable should just one more crisis break out.

But whether things would grow better or worse from here on, would all depend on what the Mrs. Arroyo would do to ease the pressure on her to vacate the presidency. For as long as she would not do anything to worsen the prevailing national condition, the easier it will be for the armed forces and the national police to remain neutral as it has been doing in the past weeks.

Which is why it is important to settle the issue through constitutional process rather than allow violence and divisiveness to continue.

It is really just a matter of letting our legal processes take their course, and for results to come out with objectivity.

"Enter the Sandman"


British author Neil Gaiman


I must say, the level of geekiness was quite high at the Music Museum where Sandman author Neil Gaiman was to hold a Q&A sponsored by the ever dapper British Council. Even before the 1:30pm call time, the theatre was already bursting with fan boys and a large contingent of fan girls. Looking back it does seem that the girls outnumber the guys in this event.

Originally, I was about to pass this assignment to our newly hired reporter, which incidentally is an active Cosplayer (think Elektra and slave girl Leia and some other anime characters which I conveniently forgot. . . ), but due to a misunderstanding had to schlep my way to Greenhills and miss a more important coverage of Cory Aquino again asking GMA to step down at DLSU, Taft.

American Gods is the only work of Gaiman that I am familiar with. Although, I do recall that in college almost every artist was a-gaga over his works especially Sandman and some other titles in the DC Vertigo line.

See, this is the limit of my comic/graphic novel knowledge. Pathetic. . .

I was prepared to be bored with the whole she-bang and just shoot and scoot but somehow I got enraptured with the witty Brit and stayed for almost an hour. Albeit I could not relate much with the comic genre, it was interesting to note that Gaiman was a journalist first before becoming a graphic novel author. That is why, according to him, his novels are more gritty and some would say a different level then the usual hero fantasy that comics are generally known for.

That got me intrigued and am looking forward to read more of his work especially the graphic novels. Wonder if they are still available, cheaply of course.

Niways, this was a good break from covering the seemingly confusing political bruhaha that is plaguing our country.

Who's next?


Now former President Cory Aquino calls for GMA to do the "supreme sacrifice" and step down for the good of the country.



Influential Makati Business Club comprising of the Philippines' business elite calls for PGMA to step down.



Civil society groups reads a statement calling for PGMA to step down.

Mackenzie Calhoun- You are the wild man of
Starfleet. You love outwitting oponents by
doing the one thing they wouldn't expect from a
Starfleet ship... fighting dirty. Of course
to get away with your craftiness, you only
exist in books. Doesn't matter, you're much
cooler than Archer. Some people say you're a
self righteous SOB. They might be right, but
you don't give a damn.


Which Star Trek Captain are you?
brought to you by Quizilla

B'Elanna Torres! Congratulations! What does this
mean? It means you have some serious issues...
At least that is what some may think. You are
very confused. You don't like who you are and
to you the grass is always greener on the other
side. You struggle with two very different
sides, each one wanting to get the better of
the other. What you must realize is that both
of these sides are what make you who you are.
Don't fight it, unite it! You'll be able to
work twice as well if you aren't constantly
fighting with...yourself...
You are very good with technical things and with
running a room full of people. You can think
off the top of your head and get things done.
You prefer to work alone for the most part as
you can't really trust anyone else to do it
right.
If you have a fault, it is anger and mistrust.
Don't lash out at people because you are angry
with yourself. Try meditating, controling your
emotions. And every here and there, give
someone the benefit of the doubt. They may
surprise you.


So Which Star Trek Voyager Character Are You?
brought to you by Quizilla

And the people has spoken . . .


Thumbs down for Mrs. Arroyo


A protester kicks a poster of Mrs.Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo showing the contempt the Filipino people has for its bogus president

Transcript of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo's statement on the issue of the tape recordings
(from www.ops.gov.ph), June 27, 2005)


Mga Minamahal kong Kababayan,

For the last several weeks, the issue of the tape recordings has spun out of control. Tonight, I want to set the record straight. You deserve an explanation; from me, because you are the people I was elected to serve.

As you recall, the election canvassing process was unnecessarily slow even after the election results were already in and the votes had been counted.

I was anxious to protect my votes and during that time had conversations with many people, including a Comelec official. My intent was not to influence the outcome of the election, and it did not. As I mentioned, the election had already been decided and the votes counted. And as you remember, the outcome had been predicted by every major public opinion poll, and adjudged free, fair and decisive by international election observers, and our own Namfrel.

That said, let me tell you how I personally feel, I recognize that making any such call was a lapse in judgment. I'm sorry. I also regret taking so long to speak before you on this matter. I take full responsibility for my actions and to you and to all those good citizens who may have had their faith shaken by these events. I want to assure you that I have redoubled my efforts to serve the nation and earn your trust.

Nagagambala ako. Maliwanag na may kakulangan sa wastong pagpapasya ang nangyaring pagtawag sa telepono.//pinagsisisihan ko ito ng lubos.// Pinana'gutan ko nang lubusan ang aking mga ginawa at humuhingi ako ng tawad sa inyo, sa lahat ng mga butihing mamamayan na nabawasan ng tiwala dahil sa mga pangyayaring ito. Ibig kong tiyakin sa inyo na lalo pa akong magsisikap upang maglingkod sa bayan at matamo ang inyong tiwala.

I took office with a mandate to carry out a plan for the nation. Since that time, I have focused on making the tough but necessary decisions to make up for years of economic neglect. We passed a comprehensive fiscally responsible national budget; raised new and necessary revenues to reinvest in the people; and implemented new anti-corruption measures that have led to the highest collection of taxes in history.

Nothing should stand in the way of this work, or the next phase of my reform agenda, which includes new investments in education and social services with our new revenues; and an expansion of our successful anti-corruption and lifestyle checks.

That is why I want to close this chapter and move on with the business of governing.

I ask each and every one of you to join hands with me in a show of unity, to help forge One Philippines, where everyone is equal under the law, and where everyone has the opportunity to use their God-given talents to make a better life.

Our nation is strong and getting stronger. The progress is steady and I ask you to walk with me on this journey to rebuild our great nation. I remain your humble servant and promise you that I will fulfill my constitutional oath of office to serve the people to the best of my ability.

God Bless the Philippines.

"Surviving GMA"

Unbelievable!!!

Looks like Madam Gloria might, MIGHT, survive the series of crisis that is hounding her administration.

The opposition and cause-oriented groups has already struck three times and she is still standing. Unfuckingbelievable!

Jueteng, came and gone, but still breathing . . .

Atty. Ong and San Carlos Seminary, a footnote to history . . .

Independence Day protests, fizzled like day old coke . . .

Last week's mega march, not Welcome in Manila . . .

Abat's planned march to Malacanang, Abat who? oh the "atras-abante" retired general . . . BADINGARZEE . . .

Sheesh, looks like the old adage stands true. "Matagal mamatay ang masamang damo"

But then again, I think it is high time to end this rigamorole and concentrate on what really is important.