Seems like I gained another friend from my blog---an 18-year-old nursing student from Las Piñas. I don't know her all that well yet but we did have a fruitful first chat. Thanks.
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School's been proceeding quite smoothly. I have to say I'm learning a lot of things from my professors on this final academic term of mine.

MARKPUB professor Mr. Jaime Ong in particular is quite an interesting fellow. He used to work for San Miguel Corp.'s management and he has all of these anecdotes from the many businesses the firm is engaged in. The way he talks business sense really reminds me of my dad---with an easier sense of humor.

PHILPER's Ms. Natty Manauat is also quite an animated character. If my Tita Vik had leaned heavily towards the philosophy-heavy culture of Ateneo de Manila, I suppose Ms. Natty would be the result. The two of them look quite alike from some angles.

My BUSIPOL prof, Mr. Banjo Velasco, is someone I could probably call "very manly." He's tall, dark and has quite a booming voice---a combination that has a couple of my blockmates swooning over him. The man doesn't laugh---he guffaws. Because he's also had a lot of experiences in the US as a college student and in Indonesia at work, BUSIPOL class is also full of interesting stories.

I guess I'm taking note of these profs because they're quite unique and pleasurable to learn from, and it's going to be the last-ever term that I'll be in the relative comfort and stability of a classroom lecture.
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It's in BUSIPOL that some of my thoughts on just how flawed Filipino society is are justified.

Sir Banjo uploaded the Wallace Report on our Yahoo! group---basically a 40-page condensing of all the Philippines' problems and what Mr. Wallace desperately urges government should do to improve its situation. I agree with everything he said. Our biggest enemies to effective social change are our apathy, selfishness, lack of discipline, corruption and (controversially and rightly enough!) the Catholic Church. I won't get into the nitty-gritty of the report; I suggest you download and read it yourself.

I will say, though, that we Filipinos are a pathetic lot. It took a Philippine-loving foreigner to study our culture and our problems for 30 years to rouse Filipinos like me to awareness of our situation. Couldn't we have done this same feat ourselves? Have we become so blind and tolerant to our discordant hovel that we've simply accepted the way things are, without even trying to make a difference for the better?

I feel sorry for us. I really do.

The least I could do is to forward it via e-mail to every Pinoy I know.
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After two months of looking for it in vain, I finally found it and reserved it for my own.

I'm talking about my latest Gundam model kit obsession, the MG MSZ-006A1 Zeta Plus A1.

I had tried looking for it in America; a search for any Gundam model at all proved fruitless and frustrating, although I did find a straggler HGUC Z'gok kit in the Renton, WA Wal-Mart. I managed to find it in the last possible place I expected: Victoria, British Columbia, but there it had cost an outrageous CAN$60, plus 14% Canadian GST.

So imagine my surprise when I found it in Greenhills. I swear, that place is model kit heaven. Stores upon stores upon stores of plastic model kits, many of them the kind that I never expected to see, tucked away in a neat little alcove in Shoppesville...many of them quite cheap! Then I saw that beautiful orange and white Zeta Plus at the glass cabinet in Great Toys (couldn't find it in their Makati store) and immediately made a down payment. I'm glad to say it's my cheapest MG kit to date, at PhP1900.

I am one giddy model maker. I can't wait to pay the balance, bring it home and shut myself in my room building it.
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I've been active on Otaku Fridge lately, writing a few anime reviews on Gundam, .hack//Legend of the Twilight and other series. I was surprised that Beia decided to make a Contributor of the Month award and I was the recipient for May. I apparently won an original release of the bishoujo game Gibo: Stepmother's Sin---not unusual considering Beia runs Hentai Neko.

Thanks, Beia. I feel really honored.