Have you ever experienced driving in the early hours and seeing the day literally start?
I remember when we went to Baguio last month. We left at four in the morning. Pitch dark outside, obviously. I was the one seated on the passenger seat, the guy assigned to see if there are incoming vehicles in alien roads, the guy with the sense of direction, even if I'm not entirely familiar with the roads leading to our destination.
We were on the NLEX at five in the morning. Still pitch dark outside, except for the lights along the straight highway. But slowly the sky turned to dark blue. Lighter and lighter shades of blue, soon enough, and then the stars give way to the clouds, and the next thing you know, it's daytime. The sun isn't that high yet, but the skies already tell you to wake up. Or, in our case, that it's time for breakfast. A stopover beckoned.
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11/30/2011
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11/27/2011
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I remember this distinctly. It was around ten, maybe nine years ago. I was in my parents' bedroom. I curled up to my dad and asked him to buy me a laptop.
I remember this distinctly because of the way he rebuffed me. "Laugh-top, gusto mo?" he quipped.
Obviously he's joking, but you know that when he jokes like that, he's definitely saying no. And for good reason: I didn't really have anything to do with a laptop yet. Not as a 12-year-old self-described computer geek - that's questionable now, in light of recent events - who only wants a laptop so he'd look cool.
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I remember this distinctly because of the way he rebuffed me. "Laugh-top, gusto mo?" he quipped.
Obviously he's joking, but you know that when he jokes like that, he's definitely saying no. And for good reason: I didn't really have anything to do with a laptop yet. Not as a 12-year-old self-described computer geek - that's questionable now, in light of recent events - who only wants a laptop so he'd look cool.
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11/24/2011
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Here's the thing.
All I want is to relate to you.
All I want is to be part of the gang. Isn't it too much to ask?
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All I want is to relate to you.
All I want is to be part of the gang. Isn't it too much to ask?
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11/21/2011
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Three reasons why I decided to watch ABS-CBN's 100 Days to Heaven.
One, the main premise caught my attention, unusually for a local drama. By now you know the drill: a successful yet ruthless businesswoman is killed in a bomb explosion, and because of her many sins she is sent to hell. She begs for one more chance, and she is brought back to earth as a child. It's not an original concept, but it's not one that's done a lot on local television, like I'd know, because I don't watch a lot of local television.
Two, Coney Reyes plays that ruthless businesswoman. I wasn't really a big fan of hers - I remember Coney Reyes on Camera on Saturday afternoons, but only as a cue that Eat... Bulaga! is over. (Also, this opening sequence.) I thought I'd watch her act this time.
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One, the main premise caught my attention, unusually for a local drama. By now you know the drill: a successful yet ruthless businesswoman is killed in a bomb explosion, and because of her many sins she is sent to hell. She begs for one more chance, and she is brought back to earth as a child. It's not an original concept, but it's not one that's done a lot on local television, like I'd know, because I don't watch a lot of local television.
Two, Coney Reyes plays that ruthless businesswoman. I wasn't really a big fan of hers - I remember Coney Reyes on Camera on Saturday afternoons, but only as a cue that Eat... Bulaga! is over. (Also, this opening sequence.) I thought I'd watch her act this time.
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11/15/2011
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As I write this, former president Gloria Arroyo is at the departure area at the NAIA, not allowed to board her flight to Singapore.
Justice secretary Leila de Lima has said that she will, pretty much, not implement the Supreme Court's temporary restraining order issued against a travel ban she has issued against Arroyo and her husband. They haven't received a copy of the TRO, she says, so she has no choice but to keep the ban.
Arroyo's lawyers have continually insisted that they're not just fighting for the Arroyos' right to move freely, but for every Filipino's right to move freely. And besides, they say, PGMA needs urgent medical attention. Her neck is getting worse. She needs to see specialists in Singapore. The best medical attention she can get, Mike Arroyo said.
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Justice secretary Leila de Lima has said that she will, pretty much, not implement the Supreme Court's temporary restraining order issued against a travel ban she has issued against Arroyo and her husband. They haven't received a copy of the TRO, she says, so she has no choice but to keep the ban.
Arroyo's lawyers have continually insisted that they're not just fighting for the Arroyos' right to move freely, but for every Filipino's right to move freely. And besides, they say, PGMA needs urgent medical attention. Her neck is getting worse. She needs to see specialists in Singapore. The best medical attention she can get, Mike Arroyo said.
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11/11/2011
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Today is supposedly a special day.
11/11/11, if you'd allow me to break format. Three elevens in a row looks interesting in a calendar. Also, I think, it's supposedly a lucky thing, although both scientists and numerologists say there's nothing really special with today. So, perhaps, the thought that today is a conspicuous date to launch new products or get married or just wish for something good to happen is a human thing. Six ones. One, meaning the best. And to those who were suckered into buying The Secret, or at least subscribe to the law of attraction, thinking of positive things will lead to positive things. More so today, because there are six ones.
Me? I've never been the most optimistic being (and I probably never will) but, at the start of the year, I took note of the fact that this date will come. People did make a big deal out of 11 January because there are five ones. 1/11/11, if you'd allow me to break format again. I thought, there's a better date to get crazy about wishing. That was me being a smartass. The day arrived and everybody is going, "make a wish!" and I can't be bothered.
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11/11/11, if you'd allow me to break format. Three elevens in a row looks interesting in a calendar. Also, I think, it's supposedly a lucky thing, although both scientists and numerologists say there's nothing really special with today. So, perhaps, the thought that today is a conspicuous date to launch new products or get married or just wish for something good to happen is a human thing. Six ones. One, meaning the best. And to those who were suckered into buying The Secret, or at least subscribe to the law of attraction, thinking of positive things will lead to positive things. More so today, because there are six ones.
Me? I've never been the most optimistic being (and I probably never will) but, at the start of the year, I took note of the fact that this date will come. People did make a big deal out of 11 January because there are five ones. 1/11/11, if you'd allow me to break format again. I thought, there's a better date to get crazy about wishing. That was me being a smartass. The day arrived and everybody is going, "make a wish!" and I can't be bothered.
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11/07/2011
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Because we no longer see each other eye to eye. We used to like the same things, but somehow, we drifted apart. You started liking one thing and I started liking another. And somehow, we just ceased relating to each other, or something like it.
Because I have new friends now. Better friends. Friends who'll take me for who I am.
Because you hurt me. You did something really bad. You know what I mean. You smiled at me when I asked you whether you went for this or that, and then you took a dagger and stabbed me in the back. And then you smiled at me again, like nothing happened.
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Because I have new friends now. Better friends. Friends who'll take me for who I am.
Because you hurt me. You did something really bad. You know what I mean. You smiled at me when I asked you whether you went for this or that, and then you took a dagger and stabbed me in the back. And then you smiled at me again, like nothing happened.
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11/02/2011
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"Gay?"
"I don't know. I've been calling everything gay nowadays. But yay for your fluffy crush!"
"That was the past, Icka. She's a different case, as you said."
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"I don't know. I've been calling everything gay nowadays. But yay for your fluffy crush!"
"That was the past, Icka. She's a different case, as you said."
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Niko Batallones writes The Upper Blog.
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