Yes, sure, I've written about student politics in DLSU when I was there. Four elections, three as a student, and one as an observer - and that was over three years ago. So why am I pretending to be an expert, and why am I writing this now?
My brother has been a frosh for around a month now, and, it seems, he's joined Tapat.
No, I'm not against it. No, I'm not for Santugon. People have always said I'm for the yellows, although the fact is, I just have more friends from their side - a by-product of having active members as blockmates and coursemates. In fact, the only person I know who's probably saddened by this fact is my cousin, Gem, who's on the upper echelons of the yellow party.
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6/30/2012
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6/29/2012
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It's her birthday today, apparently, so I go on Facebook to greet her.
We're just acquaintances, really. Met her somewhere, forgot where, exchanged contact details, added each other up on Facebook, chatted occasionally, but never really touched base a lot. I mean, different circles, wildly different circles. I continued with my writing and she continued with her studies.
That's pretty much the reason why I did not think of much when I didn't hear much from her. Must be busy. People get busy at one point or another, to the point of dropping everything else they've been doing and focusing only on that one thing. I've certainly done that a few times.
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We're just acquaintances, really. Met her somewhere, forgot where, exchanged contact details, added each other up on Facebook, chatted occasionally, but never really touched base a lot. I mean, different circles, wildly different circles. I continued with my writing and she continued with her studies.
That's pretty much the reason why I did not think of much when I didn't hear much from her. Must be busy. People get busy at one point or another, to the point of dropping everything else they've been doing and focusing only on that one thing. I've certainly done that a few times.
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6/27/2012
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6/21/2012
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"Good morning, valued passengers. This is your first officer speaking. Thank you for flying Cebu Pacific flight 5J 563 bound for Mactan, Cebu. Right now we are flying at 35,000 feet, and we'll be making our final descent in a while."
I looked at my watch. It's almost a quarter to eight. I left Manila at ten past seven - just in time - and I wasn't due to arrive in Cebu until thirty minutes later. Did I miss something?
At the exact same time, the girl beside me looked at her watch. It's as if we rehearsed it or something.
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I looked at my watch. It's almost a quarter to eight. I left Manila at ten past seven - just in time - and I wasn't due to arrive in Cebu until thirty minutes later. Did I miss something?
At the exact same time, the girl beside me looked at her watch. It's as if we rehearsed it or something.
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6/20/2012
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I found myself walking behind a man and a woman. No bother. It always happens when I'm in a mall, and contrary to what my blog entries suggest, I don't get worked up easily whenever I see an obviously dating couple doing what dating couples do in a mall.
The crappy part happened ten seconds later, when the two suddenly stopped walking. I was directly behind them, yes, so I suddenly had to stop. And I had nowhere to go, because there was someone to my left sort of blocking me, and someone to my right blocking me.
It really is just an inconvenience for a fast walker like me. And it commonly happens. At least until I find out that the couple stopped so suddenly because they took a photo of themselves. I know this because I saw, in a split-second, their fancy yet ubiquitous phone with their faces on it. And possibly mine.
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The crappy part happened ten seconds later, when the two suddenly stopped walking. I was directly behind them, yes, so I suddenly had to stop. And I had nowhere to go, because there was someone to my left sort of blocking me, and someone to my right blocking me.
It really is just an inconvenience for a fast walker like me. And it commonly happens. At least until I find out that the couple stopped so suddenly because they took a photo of themselves. I know this because I saw, in a split-second, their fancy yet ubiquitous phone with their faces on it. And possibly mine.
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6/16/2012
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First, a disclaimer: I cannot claim to be knowledgeable when it comes to musicals. I've seen a few in the past - my first was an adaptation of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe when I was around eight or nine - but, like most of us, I never really spent a lot of time watching people singing out their emotions on stage. So the next few paragraphs will sound like a rant more than a well-thought piece of cultural criticism, school-style.
However, when Glee first premiered in 2009, I was one of the many who thought the show made musicals accessible to the general public. Sure, there is High School Musical, which is, in a stricter sense, much more of a musical than Glee simply because it's filled entirely with original songs. But that was seen as a niche affair, more a kid's show than anything serious. Glee, on the other hand, begged to be taken seriously, from its music choices to its storylines - and I'm just thinking of Rachel's "I want to go to New York" aspirations.
And it was fine for the first season. We all know what happened afterwards: the show became so popular, the writers lost sight of any pretense of continuity, and the whole project became an exercise in giving people publicity, coming up with the most outrageous storylines, or unleashing our inner sexual frustrations a la Fifty Shades of Grey. Three seasons later, Glee became such a chore to watch. And I'm saying this as a fan (and one-time professional gleek). It is a train wreck and you cannot look away, but it is still a train wreck, and there are dead people inside, and you just know it.
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However, when Glee first premiered in 2009, I was one of the many who thought the show made musicals accessible to the general public. Sure, there is High School Musical, which is, in a stricter sense, much more of a musical than Glee simply because it's filled entirely with original songs. But that was seen as a niche affair, more a kid's show than anything serious. Glee, on the other hand, begged to be taken seriously, from its music choices to its storylines - and I'm just thinking of Rachel's "I want to go to New York" aspirations.
And it was fine for the first season. We all know what happened afterwards: the show became so popular, the writers lost sight of any pretense of continuity, and the whole project became an exercise in giving people publicity, coming up with the most outrageous storylines, or unleashing our inner sexual frustrations a la Fifty Shades of Grey. Three seasons later, Glee became such a chore to watch. And I'm saying this as a fan (and one-time professional gleek). It is a train wreck and you cannot look away, but it is still a train wreck, and there are dead people inside, and you just know it.
Read more »
6/14/2012
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6/13/2012
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Two call center agents rush into the elevator I was in.
Actually, they were waiting for the elevator first. I saw the woman alone first, having just pressed a button. I went to the restrooms. When I got back she already had a companion, and they haven't pressed any buttons.
They were too busy chatting, so when the elevator arrived and I got in, I decided not to wait for them. I went as far as closing the doors before they realized they were going to miss another elevator.
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Actually, they were waiting for the elevator first. I saw the woman alone first, having just pressed a button. I went to the restrooms. When I got back she already had a companion, and they haven't pressed any buttons.
They were too busy chatting, so when the elevator arrived and I got in, I decided not to wait for them. I went as far as closing the doors before they realized they were going to miss another elevator.
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6/12/2012
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I realize that I'm exaggerating if I say that this is my first holiday off in a while. Sure, my last job meant that I was still doing some things on days when I'm not supposed to work - and, I must note, I worked on my own volition, because there really are days when our holidays fell on apparently big news days.
That said, this is my first holiday off in a while.
Okay, it's not my first holiday off in a while. I just remembered, I started my new job in the middle of March, and Holy Week fell on early April this year.
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That said, this is my first holiday off in a while.
Okay, it's not my first holiday off in a while. I just remembered, I started my new job in the middle of March, and Holy Week fell on early April this year.
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6/10/2012
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The two hours or so you spend waiting for your flight to arrive is a pretty awkward time. You don't have anywhere to go, and you don't have much to do.
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6/08/2012
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The first thing I did when I got wind of our planned trip to Hong Kong six years ago was to check out the inflight entertainment options within Cathay Pacific. I've always been curious, since I was a kid, about what they really were. Canned television shows, new movies and two-hour playlists on rotation, essentially. Also, I didn't have an iPod then.
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6/07/2012
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She's tall and slender.
She's got long hair, perhaps reaching down her waist.
She's wearing a fair bit of make-up. I can't tell how much powder is on her face, but I can tell her eyelashes are impeccably fixed.
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She's got long hair, perhaps reaching down her waist.
She's wearing a fair bit of make-up. I can't tell how much powder is on her face, but I can tell her eyelashes are impeccably fixed.
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6/04/2012
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I said enough is enough, and that should be it. Enough is enough.
The idea with cutting off all contact is to make, for yourself, a clean break with the past. You don't want anything to do with whatever it is you're breaking off with. It's been crap, it's gotten stale, things have run their course. You hope to go back in a year's time with a fresh perspective and a new appreciation, or you don't want to go back at all.
Me? It is a clean break, after all. Either you say "so long" or you say "good riddance".
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The idea with cutting off all contact is to make, for yourself, a clean break with the past. You don't want anything to do with whatever it is you're breaking off with. It's been crap, it's gotten stale, things have run their course. You hope to go back in a year's time with a fresh perspective and a new appreciation, or you don't want to go back at all.
Me? It is a clean break, after all. Either you say "so long" or you say "good riddance".
Read more »
Niko Batallones writes The Upper Blog.
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Some photographs have been edited using post-production curves from Shalla Yu.
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