Friday, August 29, 2008

Saving Someone's Life

It's not like I dramatically jumped in front of someone getting shot or running across a street to save someone from getting hit by a car. I'm not sure if my story is even cool at all.

I was at a nearby mall on my way up to the 3rd floor to buy some printer ink. I took the escalator going up and 3 steps in front of me, there was a mom, her kid and a grandma. The kid was horsing around and so grandma tried to settle her down but in the process she lost her footing and fell back first where "super Arn" saved the day.

Actually I wasn't able to catch her. I wasn't able to react fast enough. She fell towards me, bounced off my tummy and landed on her feet.

Super Arn: tummy so big, it can catch falling grannies! Nah, I'm not the superhero type. I look terrible in tights anyway. It still feels good to save someone though... accident or not. =)

CIO Best Dance Crew

Sunday, August 10, 2008

Olympic Thoughts and Updates

The Summer Olympics in Beijing was underway late last week and unfortunately, it's not really having a big impact for Filipinos other than the guys watching Team USA basketball games especially since they have some good games coming up with China, Spain and Greece.

The Philippines hasn't won a medal since Onyok won the silver back in Atlanta. Hmmm, do you really "win" a silver? Doesn't "winning a silver" really mean you "lost the gold"? Think about it.

We sent 15 Filipinos to Beijing and analysts are not expecting anyone to bring anything home. Our flag bearer isn't even an olympian (it was Pacquiao). Out of the 15, there are four people who are long shots (Taekwondo, Shooting and Archery). Malay mo nga naman diba? Stranger things have happened. Maybe we can ignore the fact that we sent better prospects in Sydney (2000) and Athens (2004) but still wound up with nothing. Maybe we can build from the moral victory we had in archery back in Athens. Maybe our lone boxer will win something... anything.

By the way, the shooting (trap) event has concluded. Out of the 36 nations who qualified, the Philippines finished...

36th. :-/

(... isipin nyo na lang... may 14 pa)

Wednesday, August 06, 2008

Bye bye Long Hair

I finally said good bye to my Fabio-esque hair. I went to the salon one day and told them I want a new clean cut look. The stylist walked closer, looked at my scalp and noticed right away how dry it was. She suggested that I get treatment and since it was one of these boring Saturdays, I told them to go nuts.

They shampooed my long locks and gave it a quick towel buff. The stylist cut my hair and immediately told me “Ser! Mas bagay sa inyo!”



After cutting my hair, she told me it was time for my hair/scalp treatment. She whipped out some plastic wrap and…

What the hell is that?



Next, she took out a piece of cloth and wrapped it around my head like a bandana. I looked horrible.





Good thing she didn’t use the…


Oh no no no no


No no no no no


Noooooooooooooooo. Bye bye pogi points =(

In fairness my scalp wasn’t dry anymore… for the next 2 days.

Tuesday, August 05, 2008

The Rise and Fall of a Band Named Rakista

It started with three ladies sharing an apartment in downtown Chicago. One loved to sing. One loved to play the drums. The third one... well, she wasn’t much into rock music but she played the guitar now and then. Looking for a full time guitarist, they obtained the services of this third roomie’s love interest. The band was called Rakista and they entered the Chicago music scene playing around in certain places and earning fans here and there.

Looking to boost the band’s popularity, they added a hunky* singing phenom* to the group. He was too hunky* though that his tight fitted shirts were too distracting and so they let him play the bass in the background instead.

It was a decision that worked as the band earned more fans. More fans meant more money and so the group decided to play in New York, Boston and even Los Angeles. Fans grew from the hundreds to the thousands and everything seemed to go right.

It always does… until comes a series of unfortunate events and bad decisions.

One time, without the lead guitarist, the group tried some new and harder songs and these were met with boos from the crowd. The band also tried some new twists to their existing playlist and they struggled and lost more fans. They found it rough and the bassist started playing while lying down on the floor – bored. More and more fans left and the band was going nowhere.



The bassist, sensing that he would do better as a solo artist, left Chicago for the Philippines and started his own band with him as the front man. He bought a mirror and realized that his tummy was just too big (that’s why his shirts were tight fitted).

The lead guitarist, still frustrated with how he’s being ignored by his love interest, left Chicago as well and flew to the Philippines where paparazzi photographers caught him having dinner with another certain someone. He quit the music business.

The drummer, continued to rock on and is now reportedly “radioactive hot”. She recently arrived from her tour in Toronto.

The lead singer, continued her career but without a band, she focused on learning how to play the piano from lessons posted on youtube. She was physically with this band but her heart is in another.

A sad story for a once promising band. They released no albums and made no money yet their legacy continues:




Don’t you just love playing Rockband?

Tuesday, July 29, 2008

Of Ria, Dinners and Fun Time with Friends

Dinner with friends: One of the best stress relievers. Period.

Ria flew home from Singapore and was in Manila for a few days. We organized a quick dinner for the onshore people over at North Park along Ayala Ave and it was nice to see these people again. I think the last time we were together was either eating out at some restaurant in downtown Chicago or at some apartment. I miss the gool ol’ days.

Thanks Ria for the dinner treat! =)





You still owe me a hot choco though...

Tuesday, July 08, 2008

What's Beside the Children's Books?

I'm not an expert on arranging items on grocery aisles, but I don't think those should be there...



Tuesday, July 01, 2008

The Pacquiao – Diaz Fight Commentary... er... thoughts

Too bad this match didn’t have the same hype as the one with Marquez. This match was shown locally via delayed telecast and so I already knew that Pacquiao bludgeoned Diaz to submission even before the match started and I was already fast asleep before the 4th round.

I was waiting for the match over at RPN 9 but when I found out they were showing it instead over at GMA 7, I knew right away that I was in for a long afternoon. You see, GMA 7 is notoriously known for long commercial breaks. I actually did a stopwatch test between round 2 and 3 and the result was just under 7 minutes (6:52).

7 minutes?!? I can get abs waiting for 7 minutes right? Didn’t it take just 4 minutes for Justin and Madonna to save the world? Didn’t Michael Learns to Rock take… oh wait , let’s not go there.

True story though a few years ago: I was boiling water while watching this show at channel 7. When the commercials kicked in, I dunked in two packs of instant noodles, cooked it through, drained te pot, placed the seasonings and when the show returned, I was 2 bites away from finishing my merienda.

Anyways, I wanted to do my usual round per round commentary but the commercials were too long that I fell asleep between rounds 3 and 4, woke up in the middle of round 5, was asleep again between rounds 5 and 6 and I woke up next 4 hours later.

Drat! I wasn’t able to watch how Diaz got knocked out. I ended up downloading a grainy video of the whole match from the Internet. Wow, the match was more lopsided than I thought. By the 6th round, the commentators were talking about merciful knockouts and that Diaz should just lie down and give up. By the 7th round they were talking about the importance of living to fight another day and in the 8th they were talking about Diaz’ health. Finally he went down in the 9th. Hey with a chin THAT big, how can Manny miss?

Diaz was able to get revenge though. After the match they saw each other along the corridor and Diaz hugged Manny. Diaz continued to assault Manny with English (note that Diaz is Mexican-American and speaks good English). Poor Manny. When Diaz blurted his 4th English sentence I was begging the referee to intervene and stop the match… I mean conversation.

What does this mean to Filipinos? A happy ending to a week that started with a ferry disaster, one more day of unity and just more and more Pacquiao ads.