about the talking fish

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Writer. Wheelman. Occasional DIY mechanic. Walking collection of hang-ups. Hopeless romantic. Old-school. Analog soul in a digital world. I am all of these things and more.

Saturday, December 31, 2005

Holding back the year

Lately the yearning in my heart has ebbed. I still want you in my life, but the desire has throttled back, the wick turned down a little.

Perhaps it is for the best. Being consumed by desire for you at this stage will just mean I’ll end up not being with you. I’ve never been a patient fellow, but it’s about time I became one.
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Received a strange text message last night. It was written in all caps telling me how the sender found my friendship comforting but I was too different from him/her and that he/she loved me.

Well, now I know what would happen if I came on too strong on my beloved. I’d be livid. That’s the end of that...
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I seem to wear out my denims and other pants in the crotch area. I guess the friction between my legs while I walk degrades the material and makes it thinner, eventually leading to holes in my pants.

I finally have denims after a few months of not having a pair to wear. Thanks Ma.
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Traffic on EDSA was atrocious last night. We got held up in semi-gridlock for a couple hours just to find out everyone was heading for Pasay; the overpass going to the SLEX had almost zero traffic. Talk about taking a damn wrong turn.
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I’m not good at evaluating entire years; there will always be disappointment or regret as well as happiness and glee in an otherwise boring chunk of existence.

Still, I’d say it was a good year overall. Met some wonderful people, finished my thesis and started a new hobby, although one that’s rather hard on the finances. I’m none the worse for wear, either, although there’s no denying I’m getting older now.

According to feng shui experts I’m supposed to have a bad year ahead. I don’t really believe in luck (unless it’s in poker or other games of chance) so it all goes over my head, frankly, and I couldn’t care less. Besides I still like to think that we make a lot of our own luck.

Happy New Year, everyone.

Wednesday, December 28, 2005

After Christmas

Today was my first rehearsal at my choirmaster Edith’s house-cum-studio-cum-preschool. From there I learned a little more about the Sun Valley Music Ministry and its members, the cheery chaps I’ll be spending my weekends with.

Turns out I’m one of the youngest on board. A number of them already have their own families, Edith included. As it also turns out there is an overwhelming majority of Lasallians, Edith also included. Upon learning that I spent all my life in Sun Valley, she told me that with my voice I could have joined the choir many, many years ago. It was almost nine years ago that Mrs. Valencia, my music teacher from seventh grade, assured me that I should join the Zobel Chorale after hearing me sing; the present parish choir started just a year earlier.

When I look back at the time I think I sort of wasted my voice. Sure, I had four years devoted to Counterpoint in high school. But because I was relatively inactive in orgs in college I should have considered joining them five years ago. I suppose I had been intimidated by how mature they seemed, how great they were, and discouraged by how late my family heard mass. Then again, if Edith says I’m one of the youngest guys I guess it hasn’t too late. All I really had to do was wait after a morning mass and gather up the guts to ask Edith if I could join.

Fortunately I seem to be picking up on the notes quickly. I want to do well on this new gig and I’ll make sure I reserve time for it, even if other demands siphon off my free time in the future.
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Yesterday I deposited the monetary gifts I received and bought a few things. I finally bought DVDs of Mobile Suit Gundam 0083: Stardust Memory and Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex 2nd GIG, dispelling an impulse to reward myself with a model kit. Browsing Powerbooks for the first time in a long time, I looked for Haruki Murakami’s books. I was aghast at how expensive it is to buy his books these days, and I ended up buying F. Sionil Jose’s Ermita. I’ll get around to buying a 56K modem to replace my 56K-but-acting-at-16.8K unit soon enough.

I watched 0083 on a marathon last night and it was great overall. It has very slick animation, amazing considering it was made in 1990. Quite refreshing to watch a Gundam series without Newtypes—just your ordinary mobile suit pilots fighting each other to the death, with none of the “super robot” influence of recent Gundam anime.

I just got confused about the final three episodes. Suddenly things got too complicated too soon. We know that the Earth Federation’s tyrannical Titans were formed in UC 0083, adopting full military power in Mobile Suit Z Gundam four years later, but exactly how they fit into the big picture of Operation Stardust and the side-switching wasn’t so clear. That ending was rather bizarre, too.
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Boredom is getting the better of me these days. I want to find work ASAP. I’ll give myself a maximum of two months jobless; I can’t stand having nothing beneficial to do. It’s dehumanizing.

Sunday, December 25, 2005

Ten things I learned this Christmas

1. Christmas will (sadly?) continue to be an overtly commercial holiday.

2. No matter what I do, I will definitely suck at playing chess, checkers or tic-tac-toe—regardless of whether it’s the pen-and-paper or the 3D variety.

3. On the Internet, nothing is sacred, secret or private. (Like this blog, for instance. Maybe I should get a LiveJournal account...)

4. No matter how sound your suggestions are, there will always be people (family members most especially) that will absolutely NOT listen.

5. I need to develop my resistance to disease.

6. I need to develop my resistance to alcohol.

7. Asking people to keep a secret for four years is asking a bit too much, in fairness.

8. Twenty-two years on, I still suck at handling money.

9. It doesn’t really matter what you give—it’s the act that counts. Although very thoughtful gifts get added points for effect.

10. Before I ever get around to confessing my feelings for my beloved, I will need to develop my spine and my self-confidence with her. More waiting, yes.

11. I still do not know how to court girls...I must learn.
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Suddenly that MG Zeta Gundam ver. 2.0 model kit I’ve been eyeing seems attainable now. I’m still not happy about that price tag, though. Friends from MechaPinoy are telling me it’ll cost PhP3,500, and despite already being out in Japan, it most likely won’t be coming in until very early next year.

Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhh.

I’m trying to distract myself from the spiffy new Zeta Gundam kit by fiddling around with my MG Zeta Plus A1 model...to little avail. As flawed as the new kit seems in some parts (I’m not a fan of the lengthened Zeta face), it’s still the prototype—the daddy of transforming mobile suits, gloriously born in 1985.
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Just as I thought I’d be able to help the parish choir with how I am as a singer now, I’ve just been proven dead wrong. There’s no way around it; I will need rehearsals and I need them badly if I am not to drag the choir down. I can only go so far with singing melody.

They’re tapping me for Tenor 2. Just as well: I am a baritone, for all intents and purposes. I’m starting rehearsals this week.
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Anyway, I just hope everyone reading this had a good Christmas. Let’s not forget that essentially, we’re celebrating someone else’s birthday; let’s not celebrate as if it’s all ours and nothing else.

Hangad Kang maging tinig ko’t hininga
Hangad kong tularan ang pagmamahal Mo
Hangad Kang makasabay sa araw-araw
Hangad ko’y hangarin kita...

— Hangad, “Hangad”

Saturday, December 24, 2005

Gone by 7:30

I don’t have much time now so I’ll make this short.

Merry Christmas everyone!

Thursday, December 22, 2005

Three days to Christmas.

Finally got my car’s aircon system repaired the other day in BF. At PhP13,800, considering the parts that had to be replaced, I believe we got the best deal we could get, short of going to Mang Mario’s fabled shop in Quezon City. Am I glad I didn’t go to Rapide or Denso for repairs. Who knows how much the bill could have been with them?

Looking back, perhaps I was negligent with maintaining my car’s A/C. The secretary of the shop was offering me advice on how to prolong the life of the A/C, such as having the evaporator cleaned and the drier replaced yearly. She also told me of warning signs that should be noted, such as a wet compressor pulley or unusual noise from the compressor. They seem to be helpful, honest guys. I’ll be going back to M.L. Calilung’s shop if I still have my car next year.

Nowadays however I usually prefer driving with the A/C off. I’ve got a nasty head cold and coughs and it’s quite cold enough these days as it is. I actually miss driving around with the windows open.
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Received my final course card and it was great news. Our efforts had paid off; we bagged a 3.5.

With that grade, I just might be eligible for honorable mention. I hope it’s enough to pull my 2.997 GPA up into the 3.0 range. I’m not a stickler for awards, but it’d be nice if I had it. Would look good on my resume, I guess.
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Speaking of resumes...I wonder what happened to my Accenture application. It’s been 4 months since I had my second interview with them. I did tell them I would be free by January 2006, but they didn’t even update me about my status. Hmmm.

Well anyway I’ll be going back to school on February because of the job expo. There’s also my application with P&G, which I haven’t heard anything about either. Mao told me they’d call, though. Hmmm. That call’s an awful long time coming.
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I saw you again. My heart couldn’t stand it. As Itsuki of Initial D said, “You’ve gotten so damn beautiful.”

Before coming over I was mulling the thought of telling you everything. That you were all I could think of lately. That lately my blog has been a testament to how I truly felt about you, if you read it.

People have been telling me, I should tell you how I feel; the initiative should come from me. I should stop being so indirect, addressing you the way I do, in the second person and in my blog, of all places. Yes I knew that, but I wanted to keep on waiting for the time when you’d be free from the burden of relationships past. I may just add to the problem.

Then again, if I kept on waiting for you, I may never be able to tell you that there’s someone who’s hopelessly smitten by you, and he’s nearer to you than you think.

Sigh.

For now, I treasure every moment that I have with you, no matter how short.

I wish I can sing you the song you wanted.

Sunday, December 18, 2005

"Good listener"

I wonder what people truly mean when they say I am a good listener.

I listen to their affairs, however mundane: what happened with their boss, who slapped who at which party, who beat who in which race event, who dissed who at which traffic jam at which streets at what time of day.

Often I am relegated to listening because I cannot get a word in. The people I meet can get so self-absorbed; I happen to be their most convenient outlet. I, the blank slate. I, the one perennially unsure of his ability to sustain the interest of others by talking. I, who am also terminally self-absorbed.

I am also relegated to listening because most of the time it is the proper thing to do, even if I honestly don’t give a shit about what some people have to tell me. Yes, let it all out. If it makes you happy, my not-listening can’t really be that bad, as long as you let it out and vent. Perhaps I should be an actor and get roles as a stoic (and be a spectacular failure in the process).

Ultimately however, I am relegated to listening because most of the time I am just too interested in the other person. Although this is beneficial it’s also a personal fault, I guess. I am a prime target for mischief-makers.

Is my being a good listener necessarily a good thing? Or is it some form of weakness? I will never know. All of you whom I will meet will never know, either.

At least I have recognized that I can write, and write well. At the very least, this humble little blog is the place where, for a change, I can get listened to.

If you understand me, that is.

I challenge you. All of you 400 or so people who visit this blog each month. I never started this blog to be popular; I never was. I started this blog so that I may speak the words I cannot speak, the words the people around me will not allow me to speak due to their self-absorption.

I challenge all of you to listen to me.

Saturday, December 17, 2005

Belief clung to

Sana ay makilala kang muli, tulad ng dati
Halika at lumapit ka muli, tulad ng dati...
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I want to believe.

I want to think that you and I can connect somehow. I want to fully appreciate you in your beauty, strangeness and peculiarity. I’ve had my fill of staring at you from afar, even though that hasn’t happened all that often. I am like you; the both of us can never be satisfied by having just a part.
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There’s a romantic concept in the early “Universal Century” Gundam anime: the concept of Newtypes.

Newtypes are human beings with their psychic abilities awakened by their residence in space. They are capable of telepathy, limited telekinesis and excellent spatial awareness. Certain Newtypes can also form a special bond with each other—a familiarity, understanding and attachment even purer than love, one that transcends even death.
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Maybe, when the stars and planets align in their celestial dance and everything else works out right, I can finally find you alone and relatively unconcerned with doomed past relationships. Perhaps at that time we can connect. As of now, all I can really do is wait, believe and be there for you.

As you told me once, I am willing to become your punching bag, your listening ear and your ultimate believer.

I just want you to give me a chance.
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If I wasn’t a vampire, what would you and I have become?
— Arcueid Brunestud, “Shingetsutan Tsukihime”

"You were always on my mind..."

Maybe I rushed into things and didn’t give enough time and consideration. Maybe I should have listened harder, been more perceptive to what was going on in your life. I know precious little about you.

Like Elvis’ song goes, you were always on my mind. I was too stupid to admit it. I was too self-absorbed. I kept missing the point.

Maybe in some other lifetime, we’d have met each other differently. Unfortunately there is only one life—one which must be kept sacred, despite the constant allure of sin and the burden of regrets.
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Why are my affections always so misguided? It pains me. This is hardly the first time I felt like I’ve been running around like some headless chicken. Some headless chicken I must be, wanting to cry tears from nonexistent eyes, wanting to bury a headless neck in the sand with all the ostriches.

Friday, December 16, 2005

The wonderful dream

I had a wonderful dream this morning. I don’t get enough of those, and strangely I got it at a time when I had difficulty sleeping.

In it, my biggest college crush was with me. We weren’t romantically involved or anything. We were just on some journey together and it ended a short way from her fictional house. We were basically as amicable as we were on that one and only time we met in an ORIENT3 class, but even so, it felt wonderful. It was great, just seeing her.

It’s funny that we were in the same college for five years yet we only got to meet, really meet, just once. It reminds me of how I met my biggest high school crush only in my final year in Zobel, and we weren’t really all that amicable.
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That was one of my few regrets in college: not getting to meet you earlier. You were a genuinely interesting person, really. It just so happened you were so damn beautiful, too, and for a while there I couldn’t look beyond physical beauty. For a while, too, I had this thing about trying to project that I didn’t find you all that cute...which was all bullshit, really.

How I wish you and I were able to talk, more often. Having you as my friend would have been perfectly fine with me.

These days as I look in my yearbook, I look at the directory and see your address and contact details. It’s a familiar enough place in Alabang; after all I used to study there. Recently I get the fanciful impulse of visiting you, but what for? I guess it’s to make up for the times I wanted you and I to talk. I can’t force that on you though; after all that’s said and done I’m still basically a stranger.

If by some twist of fate we meet again in the future, I’ll make sure I make the most of the time I have with you. Partly to demystify you, partly to get to know you better.
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Perhaps I’ve actually grown up.

Not at maximum-attack mode...

Tara invited us blockmates to dinner at the Pearl Plaza bowling lanes—apparently where the recent Southeast Asian Games’ bowling matches were held, judging from the streamers and banners still posted there. It turns out it was her birthday; it’s unfortunately a trait of mine to forget birthdays especially as I don’t get to see Tara all that often.

Over shabu-shabu and huge plates of salad, the old gang, separated by diverging degree programs, got together once again and it was an overall happy event. After so many failed plans of having a block outing, Roman was inviting us to this beach resort in San Narciso, Zambales on the first weekend of January. Now that we aren’t that busy with thesis and other shit, they were “desperate” to pull this plan off. It’ll be fun. I hope I can come along—and I’ll probably be one of those doing the driving.

Mao and Zeri finally got to defend their Comm Arts thesis film last Wednesday; judging from the comments it seems they did all right. I just wish I could have been there to watch it. Zeri’s made it into the semifinals for the Artic Vodka image model search; the finals are on tomorrow.

The gang was particularly looking forward to course card distribution—for many of us, the last ever course card we’ll be getting—on December 20. Plans were already in the air for a drinking spree right after. Hmmmm. Interesting.

It was nice seeing them all again. As I told Kwapaw on YM, generally speaking, I treasure my college blockmates more than I do my high school Honors Section friends. Despite the friends I have there, at this point in time, I’d really rather forget that clique-ridden chapter in my life existed.

My blockmates and I were already talking about the future after we graduate—planning out reunions, being bridesmaids at each others’ weddings, and godparents of each others’ kids—and one of the reasons why I’m not so keen on graduating is I’ll miss these wonderful people too much. We literally grew up with each other, even in the relatively short span of five years.

I’m going to make sure we keep constant contact with each other even after graduation. The LC24ID101 e-group I made was the first step.
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Now that I’m not so busy it’s about time I have my car’s aircon system repaired. I had estimates done today and it’s not cheap by any means. Huhuhu.

My Honda’s coming apart at the seams. Pretty soon it’ll need suspension work, not to mention the dents I’ve been carrying around for a year or two from all the fellows that wanted to swap paint with me.

Maybe I should put Gunpla on hold for now. Huhuhuhuhuhu!
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For once, I actually got tired of pushing my Honda and myself to the limits of my car-control abilities. This morning, as I was on the expressway going to Bicutan, I shackled myself to the 80 km/h “suggested speed limit”—and it felt rather odd.

It’s been a couple of years since I adopted a take-no-prisoners driving style, with throttle-blipping, occasional heel-and-toe, decisive overtaking and the most recent development, cadence braking (basically anti-lock braking done manually). As I was lumbering along at 80-85 km/h, windows down, with jazz music belting from my speakers, I suddenly felt rather peaceful.

It was a short-lived peace, but it’s nice knowing that I can throttle back on myself whenever I want to. I might as well grab all the moments I don’t have to be at 9/10ths; when I get a job I’ll probably have to be at 10/10ths all the time, the life sucked out of me by the time I get home.

Wednesday, December 14, 2005

Long live the Mazda RX-8

I was at Megamall this afternoon and I ended up playing a good many games of Initial D ver.3. Here the games are literally half the price of Glorietta 4’s machines—a pleasant surprise.

Using my RX-8 almost exclusively, I finally finished Tsuchizaka (even with mystery challengers Keisuke and Takumi) and all the courses. That Takumi actually used the “blind attack” trick on me here, on the high-speed roller-coaster section after the tunnel. Imagine my glee when he slid on the oil slick in one of the pivotal high-speed hairpins—where I ultimately passed him.

As it turns out, I had the ability to conquer Tsuchizaka all along; I was just using the wrong car. Whatever I did, my S14Q would never have enough top-gear oomph to clamber up the tunnel and give chase down the following inbound road, plain and simple.

The final “Extra” race on Akina was ridiculously tough though. It’s a face-off against Bunta in his WRX-STi Type R. It’ll take me a lot of time and practice to take him on someday.

Coming from my underpowered but giant-killing S14 Nissan Silvia Q’s, I simply love my Mazda RX-8. It may be unrealistic, but in the game, at least, it has an enormous appetite for revs and actually has a lot of shove at the engine speeds the races call for (despite having no turbo at all). It’s a tad understeery for an FR, but it rewards experienced players with phenomenal throttle response and good brakes.

Do I have to mention it's a pretty good-looking car too?


I’m going to make the Megamall arcades rather rich...and I’ll end up poor as a result. Hahaha.

Tuesday, December 13, 2005

Return of the geek?

It’s been a good while since I’ve picked up an issue of PC Magazine again. In my geekier days in high school I used to buy the US edition every chance I got because it was still relatively cheap. I used to salivate at the prospect of 200MHz Pentiums and blazing fast modems and expansion cards. Yes, I used to be a techie geek.

I’ve become pretty lax with following computer technology trends now, because of the sheer futility of doing so. In my experience with reading PC Magazine from 1995-1998, I’ve become exposed to just how ridiculously quickly technology becomes obsolete.

My computer has built-in graphics which don’t offer hardware 3D acceleration, and I was curious as to which AGP cards should I be getting. My 56K internal modem also sucks—it’s been stuck at 21.6K or lower for a couple years. Imagine my mild surprise when I asked a local computer store and found out a replacement internal modem could be mine for just PhP500, cash. I remember our old US Robotics 28.8K Sportster external modem costing PhP7,000 around ten years ago.

So out on a whim, I leafed through the magazine stand today and picked out the local edition of PC Magazine, which just so happened to feature a handful of 3D graphics cards on review.

I have my remarks. Most irritating of all is that many of the products they reviewed (yes, including the 3D graphics cards) didn’t have the price posted along with them. C’mon, that’s standard operating procedure with US PCMag.

Overall it’s pretty helpful, though a lot thinner than how its bimonthly US counterpart used to be.
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I’m glad I’m back to 95% of my usual energy. The doctor gave me a clean bill of health too. In the past two days I’ve even played a lot more Dance Maniax than I ever used to.

Now to finish my remaining hours with PETA...which aren’t all that many. Miss Queng was already telling me to forego my remaining hours as it’s pretty much the summer vacation already, but I promised to finish 200 and I intend to make good on it.

Saturday, December 10, 2005

Got the Initial D fever

Back on my blog again. Spent the last three days at home, basically wasting away in my bed watching DVDs. “The Italian Job” was really cool, and so was “Shaolin Soccer.” Zhao Wei is really, really cute.

Nowadays I’m well enough to withstand using my computer without my meninges crying “Uncle!” although I still have the unsightly swelling on my cheek and lower jaw. Needless to say this means I won’t be singing at mass this weekend. I might still be contagious.
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After waiting for so damn long, I finally got the VCDs of Initial D Fourth Stage I ordered. These had episodes 15-20—pretty amazing. Keisuke’s yellow FD Mazda RX-7 is resurrected as a much meaner machine, and we finally see Project D clean up at Saitama as they move on to Ibaraki, where the team “Purple Shadow” waits for them. Purple Shadow’s entrants are a couple of middle-aged drivers nicknamed “God Foot” (for extraordinary throttle control) and “God Hand” (for extraordinary handling), driving an R34 Nissan Skyline GT-R V-spec II Nur and an AP1 Honda S2000 respectively.

Episode 20 left me wanting. I want to see how Keisuke’s widebody FD does against the R34...in full. Of course I’d love to see Takumi’s revoholic AE86 battle against the equally revoholic S2000, too.
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Episode 15 documented how Takumi won over the Evo VI TME-driving guy in Tsuchizaka; he won it via phenomenally late cadence braking. This is the only race I haven’t won in Initial D ver.3 using my S14 Nissan Silvia Q’s, and I wonder if the same tactic will work. I always seem to lose out in power and speed after climbing the tunnel area and I’ve run out of ideas on how to beat the guy.

I even got to see Ryosuke’s car, the good old FC Mazda RX-7, once again. I might as well get that as my next card.

Wednesday, December 07, 2005

Mumps, death and bullshit.

Just when I was keen on finishing my remaining hours for PETA already, along came this strange swelling and dull pain in my left jawbone area, in front of my left ear. When I felt it on Monday morning, I thought it was stiff neck from watching DVDs while lying on my side—but when did stiff neck involve local pain in the ear area? It also felt like I had been punched in the jaw, but I certainly don’t remember getting into any fights either.

I had a suspicion it was mumps, and a doctor’s checkup confirmed it. Funny how I’m getting this now when I remember having been vaccinated against it when I was in seventh grade. Oh well. I’m living proof that no vaccine is 100% effective, and let’s just say I don’t want my pictures taken anytime soon.

Because of doctor’s orders I’m sidelined for a week. From researching online, mumps is a lot like chickenpox— once you get it, there’s not much you can do to treat it except wait for it to go away, and immunity will be permanent after one round. Unfortunately, I got chickenpox when I was in second grade, so there wasn’t much risk of complications then. Mumps in adults can metamorphose into a number of things—meningitis, encephalitis, even orchitis (that’s literally a pain in the balls for you) which may leave me infertile. These cases are rare, but there’s still a possibility I’ll get any combination of ‘em. Sigh.

While I was eating lunch—a hearty helping of chicken afritada—I felt a LOT of pain in my left jaw. My swollen left parotid salivary glands hurt each time I opened my mouth for each spoonful. Crap. Now I’m restricted to soft foods, and even my breakfast muesli is getting close to doling out pain too. I’m not too keen on eating instant noodles and pancit canton either as they foul up my stomach. I’m eating my mom’s goto as I’m typing this—quite reluctantly.

I certainly hope it’ll go away next week and leave me without any complications. I certainly hope I don’t die of mumps—read somewhere that mumps mortality cases happen past 19 years of age.

Which makes me a prime target.
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There are worse things that could happen to me, you know.

Isa’s mom had lost her long battle with breast cancer, and my thesismates and I heard the news just last Sunday. We had been planning on visiting the wake at San Antonio Church in Forbes Park South on Friday, but I can’t come lest I spread the mumps virus to unsuspecting, unvaccinated mourners.

An aunt of Geraldine’s and Denise’s is in critical condition too. It’s pretty sad how these things are happening...
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Before I went for the doctor’s checkup yesterday, I dropped by DLSU to claim my long-overdue yearbook. It certainly was heavy—it felt like I was lifting 10 or 15 lbs.—as it was a three-volume one.

I’ll be cynical here. I was perusing the yearbook and I noticed something. With all the write-ups next to each picture (including mine), the yearbook seems like a collection of carefully manipulated pieces of bullshit. I see God-knows-how-many writeups saying that the person in the picture is one in a million or unique or multi-talented. This quote came to mind: “Just remember that you are unique...just like everybody else.”

Well, I suppose it’s bullshit we’re all entitled to as college graduates, so I’m not really complaining. If it’s the only way we can leave an imprint on our alma mater, then fine. I just wonder if all the writeups we’ve carefully put into our yearbooks will still matter or be relevant given some years down the line.

Monday, December 05, 2005

Movies...finally!

It’s been ages since I’ve seen any movies, so I borrowed some of Tantan’s DVDs. So far “Shaolin Soccer” was the most enjoyable of the lot, and I’ve got two more to watch.

All these movies I borrowed were relatively old. Goodness. I feel so out-of-date, out of touch with more recent movie offerings.

Sunday, December 04, 2005

All I feel now is major relief. We have successfully defended our thesis.

Our panel seemed generally happy with what we did, especially Gay and Jette who acted as company representatives in Miss Queng's absence. We did take a hit from our statistics though. Looking back, we really should have consulted a statistician before we went into the survey proper and data analysis, but it happened at the defense anyway. I guess being LIA-COM students, our grasp of statistics for business wasn't sufficient due to the classes we took. But that's water under the bridge now.

Still, even with flawed data analysis we managed to bag an 87---good for a 2.5. Not bad at all. While I understand Doc Nards may have been a little disappointed in our failure to be nominated for best thesis, he was genuinely happy we sailed through the defense fine. All we need to do is revise our thesis using proper computation and resubmit on Friday.

Rachel, Tantan and I are finally going to graduate. Leia still has a term of 12 units left, but that shouldn't be any hardship.
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Finally mustered the guts to join our parish's youth choir. I stuck around after attending the 9:30am mass and asked. Turns out they needed more guys so they were glad to have me on board.

First "performance" is this coming Saturday at 6pm, then rehearsal after. I'm quite happy.
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MG Zeta Gundam ver.2.0 is coming after Christmas Day...and it's an estimated PhP3,300 (SRP: JPY 5,250).

I want one.
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