Na na naa marching into war…

For everybody out there, a slight critique slash article on the State of the Nation Address. 

That was probably one of the longest, if not the longest, speeches I’ve ever watched. In fact, Ted Failon pointed out that the just concluded SONA was the longest by any president yet, clocking in at almost an hour. That, thanks to President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo meticulously pointing out slated projects that are part of her “superregions” plan, which simple said, is to take advantage of what each area has to offer. As my mom put it, it’s something like a geography class.

Another thing that stood out, for me personally, was the number of names dropped - it seemed that a lot of people serving as audience at the Batasang Pambansa were ready to stand on cue (which was true in the case of the Everest mountaineers, the national team and Manny Pacquiao, among others). On one perspective it could be her sharing the credit with others, if not giving it away - she was saying “congratulations” a lot during her speech. On another perspective, anyone could go, why the many names dropped? (more…)

Explaining charter change

Mike Enriquez had to do that, of course. He was speaking, and he coughed, and as Michael V. had constantly parodied, “excuse me po!” And everybody were clapping their hands.

He, along with Atty Chito Gascon and Ms Susan Ople (of the OneVoice campaign), were the guest speakers of the somewhat hyped charter change forum just concluded at the William Shaw Little Theater. Now, if anybody had been reading (or was even aware) of the Cha-cha flyers the OPres (or the Office of the Student Council President, if you don’t know) have released weeks back, they’ve been announcing this thing at its planning stages. Just this Monday, I received a text message from Airra about this thing, and apparently it’s taken off. I attended in lieu of the FAST 2005 LA Core, along with publicity head Meh, and there we were, waiting for another fifteen-minute delay with later applause.

Atty Gascon was first there - he was talking to a few of his students (he also happens to teach in DLSU) about some sweets he gave away. “Hindi na maanghang yan,” he said, and those seated were laughing. The forum kicked off fifteen minutes late and had the two other speakers missing. Gascon then proceeded to explain the “process” behind the controversial Cha-cha, complete with a warning of his own: “it’s impossible to be objective.” (more…)

All the fuss for a head butt

The World Cup, again. This time though, it’s more of Marco Materazzi and Zinedine Zidane.

If we may recall, Zidane was given the red card during the Italy-France final (which Italy won) after giving Materazzi a head butt. If it somehow sparked controversy, it’s because of the way Zidane somehow ended his football career: if not ungracefully, he left the Olympiastadion in Berlin with a red card - not to mention Italy winning. As a BBC Sport article puts it, “it was a night when his reputation was tainted forever - when he showed he could not control his temper like he can a football.”

However, after the controversy has subsided, Zidane promised to explain why he did that action. There have been previous speculation that Materazzi was the one who provoked Zidane. Indeed, the Frenchman spoke up, saying that Materazzi hurled insults at him repeatedly during the altercation“, which led to the head butt. (more…)

Pulling out a time out

Earlier today President Arroyo declared that school would remain out for everyone in Luzon, except for Region 5. Of course, the result is happiness for all the tired, lazy, or careless students. But hours later, after a visit to the northern parts of Luzon revaged by Typhoon Florita, the declaration has been pulled out for those in Regions 3 and 4, as well as NCR.

Simply said, we’ll have classes tomorrow.

And it seems not everybody likes the idea, like what happened last Wednesday when the announcement of class suspensions came in much later. (But that wouldn’t exactly be the executive’s fault.) Jaja said she was almost to go home if not for the announcement, and even points out the weather in the Taft area. ”Mahangin parin at lakas ng ulan,” as she puts it. The others greeted it with a trace of confusion, but a welcome development for some nevertheless. (more…)

Late World Cup infection

Oh my god, World Cup fever has caught up with me too late. Thank the hype Les (almost) single-handedly brought on me. I was aware of the last World Cup held in both Korea and Japan, but then I thought football, in my young mind, was more of a European game participated in by Asian countries as well. I guess it’s only now when I’ve seen so many fans willing to stay up early in the morning to watch the Italy v rance final, which the former won on penalty kicks, 1-1 (5-3).

There was supposedly a World Cup exhibit, one that didn’t push through because of time constraints (but it was, I think, really close to pushing through). There were a lot of jerseys around, from the German one to the Brazilian one to the Italian one, seemingly worn by the same people who could afford to see one. The blogs were somehow abuzz - I was reading Icka’s blog recently and saw her write (and probably despair) over their star player Hidetoshi Nakata’s retirement at 29.

But not everybody seemed to like the game. Andre came into Religion 2 class and was complaining because the game was decided on penalties. (Should I give credit, notably, to France’s Zinedine Zidane, also retiring after the tournament, giving Italy’s Marco Materazzi a headbutt and earning a red card in return?) He somehow said watching the Wimbledon men’s final, between Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer, somehow seemed a better watch - not to mention, personally, it happening earlier. (more…)

Godfather of two: part four

Thankfully I haven’t experienced any idiosyncracy regarding church service yet. In my shift last Sunday, extended by a half-hour thanks to some discrepancy in my calculation, I was assigned again to office work - which leads to my apologies, because after a week of pondering I haven’t gained a new insight.

The only interesting thing that probably happened was me finally seeing Evita after her collection duty. She was just standing there and we were both a bit surprised upon seeing each other. It was raining that Sunday, and it’s been gloomy enough for me to be even willing to work, the drowsiness from school work and the gloominess of the skies.

They’ve been too overcast for me recently. (more…)

One color less tomorrow

The UAAP starts tomorrow, and yet I haven’t caught something relating to DLSU’s letter to the UAAP board asking for an explanation regarding their suspension. Everyone happily prounced on the news items during vacation, as Mark Benitez and Tim Gatchalian’s apparent passing of faked papers to get into the university, and thus get into the basketball team - and when everything got found out, by the university administrators at that, things went downhill - and further.

And tomorrow, the UAAP starts with one less team, one less color, one million less viewers, one million less pesos gained. Or at least, that’s what the Lasallians believe would happen. What about the other teams, you say? They’re still suspended, even our women’s football team who’s supposed to defend their championship that they’ve had for four years, if I remember correctly.

Not that we’ve got nothing to do. I think JV Casio said in Economics class (my classmate, yes) that the teams are still to participate in other tournaments, but not in the UAAP. But still, we cry virtually over the sudden lack of publicity. So what really happened? We still want to know, or else we might do terrible things to the games.

Lacking courtesy?

As I began writing this entry, the line snaking out of the library depository was getting longer and more restless. Somehow I began hearing tapping sounds from the depository, and it obviously means the people have to keep quiet. But of course, it’s the library, and there’s never been a time when they’ve encouraged you, probably, to make a lot of noise. Anyway, it took around a minute of tapping, and finally someone to almost shout - or was it drowned out because of the noise? - before the crowd went quiet.

Well, only for a few seconds or so. Before I knew it the noise was back again, and by then the staff probably had given up.

I came across this article from Reader’s Digest last Wednesday, about the magazine staffers trying to determine which cities are the most courteous. If it does matter to you, Manila ranked second in the least courteous list, only trailing Amsterdam. (At least that’s what’s in the magazine Mirielle had, for I guess the list looks different in other versions of the magazine.) (more…)

Majors release: update five

Fifteen out of the sixteen people who were in the waitlist were from LR19, that block falling victim to a run-out of English 3 slots, thanks to a loss of free cuts and an important quiz in Philosophy class. After asking their respective teachers for permission to make the very important meeting, almost everybody converged at the offices of the Department of Communication, anxious about what could possibly happen, or what would come up.

Hours ago, everyone has seen the results - a hundred names in total, eighty-four making the much-coveted accepted list. Literature 1 as a prerequisite was thrown out of the window: the sixteen on the list, me included, are currently taking English 3 class. This means Clarence can be on the list because she’s currently taking Literature 1 but has (somehow) cross-enrolled English 3 last term.

There was initial confusion upon the release - Derek, for example, was surprised to not see his name on the list, despite his claims that his CGPA is higher than 3.0. Later on the departent admitted to almost losing his file when they were collating the list: it was found later on under one of the many desks in M209.
(more…)

Malia’s little curiosity

Is Shirley Manson of Garbage related to Marilyn Manson?

No, apparently not. Now that answers Malia’s question.

Majors release: update four

Clarence is in. Ariane is in. Ian is in. Kevin is in. I haven’t seen that list very well, though - two papers’ worth of names, and another for the waitlisters.

On the waitlist: me, Kizia, Icka, Kim and Marcia, among others. We’ll have to talk to the department head as soon as possible.

Majors release: update three

“Ang [weird] naman,” Caresse said. “Eh yung last name nila both letter A. Dapat nakita rin kay Ariane,” she added.

“Wag umasa,” Clarence said. “Bahala na lang talaga.“

Majors release: update two

Clarence apparently made the list, although everyone’s unsure. Les says however that the department is much more stricter when it comes to those who haven’t taken English 3 than Literature 1 class. Also, those who cannot possibly be in the running - what this is remains unsure - will have to talk to the department chair.

Majors release: update one

Before Kevin could mention the “tension”, Ariane instills it in me. The results, according to her friend, are apparently out, and we’ll be first to the list first thing tomorrow - unless, of course, if you’ve seen it already.

Intrusive made legal?

I update my PC very often these days, until Windows had the guts to tell me my copy is counterfeit. I should do something about it. Something, or else. Or else what?

That Genuine Advantage update cannot be removed from the system (or we can, but scarily, who would?) and would keep on showing some star icon unless it is convinced, I think, that your copy of Windows XP is legitimate.

Since this was released there have been accusations that what Microsoft did was spyware - it installed without permission, it presented itself as an essential update (and personally, it bugs me a lot until I turned off notifications), and it calls back to headquarters in Redmond. Now not everybody is happy, and lawsuits after lawsuits have been filed, not to mention a class suit. Yet, I’m not enough of a geek to fiddle with my system registry…