Ano ang Masasabi ko sa "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince?

It showed me a lot and yet it told me nothing.

battik baffled!

Paano Kung Ikaw si Pacman

Sabi nga ng ka-opisina ko sa pinost niyang picture with Manny Pacquiao sa kanyang Facebook account, "Manny makes the world go round."

Partly true nga siya kasi kung iisipin, yung entourage ni Manny ay maituturing na mini-world na especially umiikot sa kanya. Ikaw na ang maging multi-millionaire in dollar proportions! Tapos maski foreign personalities ay nagkakandarapa magpapicture with you at makipag-shake hands. Bongga ang buhay!

Naisip ko tuloy, paano kung maging kasing "laki" ako ni Manny? Mag-iispecial order din ba ako ng seedless grapes, tuna at Vit Water? O tuloy lang ako sa patae-tae lifestyle na kinagisnan ko. Iikot din ba ang mundo sa akin?

Parang ang hirap imagine-in...

There's Something About 30

The first company that hired me, spent its 30th anniversary a few months after I became part of its "family". Incidentally, the company that hired me recently is also celebrating its 30th year. I'm starting to think, there's something about thirty...and me.

I seem to enter these companies in the middle of their anniversary cacophony. But I don't mind. What better way to enter their worlds, right?

Besides, next year I'll be be thirty. Who knows what "something" awaits!

Confessions of a Financial Loser

There is nothing to confess really. Except that, I am a financial loser.

Both my siblings who are working earn extremely more than I do. All of my friends undoubtedly take home more cash than I do. And I have a feeling that all people who are my age and who have similar educational background as mine earn at least twice than I do.

As I've said I am a financial loser.

My savings is zilch. Other than a few peso bills I keep for luck (they include a lot of ten peso bills and a 500-peso bill with "flowers" beside their serial number, plus a hundred-peso bill with the UP centennial logo), I have nothing.

What I do have are debts. That thing my sister paid for me a year ago which I haven't paid back until now and that other plane ticket I am four months away from paying in full.

I do have credit cards with big credit limits. (I have a feeling these credit card companies are conspiring to get me into trouble.) I could go on an extravagant shopping spree with my plastic money! But what will be the point of a series of carefree swipes if my world crumbles at the sight of my credit card statement, right? So I refuse to indulge.

I don't know where my money goes every month. My hard-earned cash, gone without a trace. I'm quite sure it doesn't go to the so-called "social life" because as far as my schedule is concerned, I don't have the luxury of a social life. I am alarmingly behind with my "responsibilities" at home, too. I plea "guilty" to that. I should be crucified.

My brother said I should have a personal accountant who would attend to my "assets." But hiring one would most likely take away what-could-have-been-my-unaccounted-for-assets. Not good at all.

Sometimes, I think, I work for cab drivers. I rack my brain and strain my muscles (mostly my carpal muscles) for more than nine hours a day just so I would have something to pay cab drivers in exchange of the comfort of their cabs and the quick trips they provide. (I have learned to accept that in order for me to have extra time in my hands, I have to "buy" time. Sad thing is, it ain't cheap!)

I have no material investment, except for the low-class tripod I bought some years ago which I hardly use because the camera I consider mine decided to consistently malfunction. I rely on hand-me-downs, from the first cellphone I had, down to the one I am using now, they were all given to me. I could not very well afford one. What more that thing which has morphed into a need than a want for a struggling writer such as myself?

I cannot buy anything anymore. I am a financial loser. It's pathetic.

I sometimes feel that a lucky bet at the lottery is the only key to my "salvation".

Unless I win, I am a loser.

Ang Alamat ng Hot Brazilian Guy

Is he really Brazilian? I would not know for sure. I just see him, almost every morning, sporting his curly hair and the laid-back shirt and pants that drape his lean body, as if he were always on vacation in this country called the Philippines. I consider him as the closest walking person I'd ever see who'll resemble Jude Law. Thus the word "hot."

For quite a while he seems no where to be found. I assumed his visa here had expired and he decided to return to his homeland wherever that is.

But yesterday, just when I was absorbed in my everydays, in my usual trip from home to work, I saw him. The stranger I most fondly refer to as "hot Brazilian guy." I could not help but smile.

Here's the punchline though. A few minutes after checking in to fantasy land, thanks to hot Brazilian guy, reality hit me. In the head. Literally. And the bump left a hump. A tiny hump.

The titanic experience, hulog sa hagdan atbp.

Naisip ko nung isang araw na naglalakad ako sa ilalim ng maalinsangang weather (bale umaambot pero super init) na pinapatay tayo ng nalolokang panahon. Kasi di ba, ang init tapos uulan na parang delubyo level. O kaya naman umuulan pero at the same time ang init ng panahon. Ganon. Kaya yata lagi na lang akong me ubo, sipon, lagnat and what-have-you!

Tapos naalala ko bigla na tao rin ang may kasalanan kung bakit nagkakaganito ang panahon. Alam na naman natin yun. Yung mga polusyon na pinaggagagawa natin ay nagbaback fire na! So nabuo ko ito:

"We started the slaughter. Now it's nature's turn to do the killing."

Ayy! Katakot. It doesn't help that I saw the Nicolas Cage movie called "Knowing." End of the world na may alien intervention ang theme. Di ko siya type. Naweirduhan ako to tell the truth. Saka I'm not much into movies na about the end of the world. Parang mas disturbing siya sa akin than watching "Drag me To Hell" or the likes. Although wala akong balak manood ng "Drag Me to Hell."

Speaking of movies, parang may Titanic moment ako last week when, in the middle of a hot, sunny day, ay bumagyo like crazy sa office. E tamang-tama na nasa canteen kaming apat na magkaka-opisina. Ayun, maya-maya lang e gumagapang na ang baha sa canteen floor. Deadma kami at first kasi gutom kami but in a matter of minutes tumaas na ng 3-4 inches yung baha. So mega sampa kami sa mga chairs. Para kaming nasa Titanic na unti-unting lumulubog but instead na sa Atlantic Ocean, sa baha kami nagsisink! Kaloka! Kinalingan pa kaming isakay sa trolley para maitawid from the canteen to the office proper. Siyempre, adventure na naman. E nung Saturday before that I had my first motorcycle ride. Tapos nademote ako sa trolley. Hehe. Kawawang trolley!

* * *

Siyempre papatulan ko ang Michael Jackson story. Nalungkot ako nung nalaman ko na na-dead na ang King of Pop. Parang lumaki na ako sa tugtog niya. Meron pa nga kaming cassette tape ng "Thriller" noon (na napatungan ng mga boses namin ni Ate. Mahilig kasi kaming magrecord ng boses! hehe). Tapos lagi namin nirereenact yung Thriller MTV ni MJ na natatakot ako every time na napapanood ko. E bukod yata sa Beatles at The Corrs na songs, mga kanta ni Michael Jackson yung marami akong alam na titles.

So Friday ng umaga sabi ng Daddy ko, patay na raw si Michael Jackson. Binuksan ko agad yung radyo ng celphone ko. And ayun na nga confirmed na wala na siya. Mega tribute ang mga radio stations sa kanya. Tumaas yata ang sales ng songs niya. Maski sa music stores, MJ songs ang pineplay at biglang nilabas ang mga MJ albums.

Trivia pala, yung utol ko "Michael" ang pangalan dahil na nga kay Michael Jackson. And then ngayon nadiscover namin na mas magkapangalan pa sila ni MJ than we intended. Michael Joseph si MJ. Joseph Michael ang kapatid ko. Hehe. Bonus Trivia: "Joseph" ang name ng Dad ni MJ.

* * *

Napapansin ko pala na naka-clumsy na ako lately. I'm slowly turning into my Mom. Mommy ko kasi parang may quota na at least 3 times madapa/matalisod/matapilok in a day. Parang napapadalas ang mga"aksidente" ko. Latest mishap ko e last Saturday nung mahulog ako ng ilang steps sa isang hagdan sa Megamall. Mabuti na lang ibang level na ang magpapa-pahiya sa akin kaya deadma lang ako. But then again, sumakit ang kawawang tuhod ko because of my fall. Salamat na lang at nakabangon naman ako.

* * *

Going back to movies, ayun na nga, nagrevenge na ang "Fallen" sa "Transformers 2: Revenge of the Fallen." Medyo me special thing sa puso ko ang "Transformers". Naalala ko kasi 2 years ago, siguro mga around this time din nung lumabas yung "Transformers". Niyaya ko pa si Nichi manood noon kahit na weak na siya. Sabi ko, uupo lang naman siya sa sinehan. Gusto ko rin kasi na maentertain siya. Kaso siya na mismo ang umayaw which is so unlike him kaya sign talaga yon na di na siya OK. Matagal nagstay sa sinehan ang "Transformers". By the time na my brothers and I got to see it, kulang na kami. In spirit na lang namin kasama si Nichi. I guess, parang ganon noong nanood kami nung second installment last Saturday.

I was wearing my "Project: Brave Kids" dog tag. Para well-represented si Nichi. Tapos habang nakaupo ako sa isang bench sa harap ng Bench, may dumaang little boy na naka-Project Brave Kids shirt. Syempre feeling ko sign yon na andon nga si Kulas. :-)

* * *

Di ko na feel magbigay ng review sa Transformers 2. I second the motion na lang yung article na lumabas sa Inquirer last Sunday about the film. Pansin ko lang na talagang packaged as a guy film yung movie dahil sa cars/trucks, action at sa consistent use of Megan Fox as a sex object of sorts. Maganda naman na siya. She is hard to miss given that face of hers. Ewan ko ba kung bakit kelangan ang first appearnce niya sa film e shot niya from her behind. Nag-amok tuloy ang repressed feminista in me.

Hmp! Ayun na.

Mucus Troopers Beware

As I write this piece, I am sort of detained in the lobby of a big food company’s building, thanks to the “glory” that is the A(H1N1) scare. For a community and nation and planet paranoid with this mutated kind of flu, I am a threat. A walking, sneezing and coughing threat.

Thus, I have to contend with a hostile lobby and forgo the meeting which I was initially scheduled to attend. I was banished in the lobby because no brilliant drug company has come up with the magical vaccine that would obliterate the A(H1N1) flu, the same way some geniuses erased small pox and polio on the “now” pages of health journals and medical digests.

Humans are neurotic that way. They fear what they can’t control.

I would hate to admit it but for a few days now, I’ve become the mucus trooper I have grown to detest. Mucus trooper. People who, consciously or unconsciously, are carriers of viruses which they can so easily spread. People who get on with their day, sneezing and coughing, as if nothing were wrong with them.

If I had a choice, I would be at home right now, taking drugs that will eventually “heal” me. Never mind the drowsiness they may cause. I would gladly sleep and be up and well in a day or so. If I had a choice.

But my socio-economic status is, in some absurd way, denying me the right to get sick because one, I can’t afford to seek medical treatment—doctors and drugs included; and two, I can’t afford to take another of those unpaid leaves. I do have bills to pay which I could not possibly do if I don’t work.

I wish to clarify that I am not whining. There are people with far worse socio-economic drama than me. I am lucky to have my bit.

So I am a mucus trooper. But I try to rise above my kind. I cover my mouth whenever I sneeze and cough. I sanitize my hands after I blow my nose. I’m being responsible albeit repressing my body’s call for a break. Even if I have been branded as a threat.

I am a mucus trooper and I am aware of it.

I maybe sick yet I know that the people around me don’t have to be.

And that’s all I have to say about that.