Of Gay-Love and the NBA

During the NBA draft (it's when NBA teams pick new players from college), the Memphis Grizzlies selected center Kevin Love from UCLA. So Memphis drafted a guy named "Love". It wasn't really a big deal until I realized that Memphis' star player was named "Rudy Gay".

I was laughing my butt off since Memphis will be fielding a team with Gay-Love. They also have a center named "Kwame Brown".

"Brown rebounds the ball and passes to Love. Love turns to Gay and takes it to the hole! Brown Gay Love does it again!"

Unfortunately, Memphis immediately traded Kevin Love to another team and got a guy named "OJ Mayo" back in return and "Gay-Mayo" is just not funny :(

Playing One on One

I was leading 23 to 18 against my brother in a half court game of basketball. I was breathing heavily and my head felt like it was made of marshmallows. I was dizzy because I was already exhausted and I couldn’t think properly to figure out how to score 7 more points to win the whole thing.

My brother and I play our backyard half court basketball one on ones seriously. We played years ago when he was a runt who couldn’t shoot a free throw and we’re still playing now though he’s playing for the college league over at La Salle. He made bigger adjustments and improvements in his game than I did. His weaknesses (height, slow lateral movement, inaccurate jumpshot) are now his strengths and his strengths (high jumper, faster, shot range) are now his specialties. Me? Well, I got fatter and slower.

So basically, he’s faster and he’s stronger.

I was dribbling the ball and I faked to my right and drove to my left switching hands in mid-air. He knew what I was doing and he slapped away the shot.

So he’s faster, stronger AND smarter. Damn, I thought I had the last one to my advantage.

I DID outsmart him in one play. I flipped the ball with my left hand and I know he was going to block it. I extended my right arm and counter-slapped him the other way. Instead of blocking my shot, his hand hit mine as if giving me a high five and the ball went in. Weird play.

So again I was dribbling the ball while leading 23 to 18. My knees hurt too much to do direction fakes and I couldn’t bend my back more so I was doing a high dribble which was extremely easy to steal. He reached in near my tummy but I bent over and he got his arm stuck in my belly gut! He couldn’t get it out! I drove to my right side and laid the ball in with his arm still stuck in my belly. It’s not a foul on me. It’s not a foul on him. He was laughing hard since I invented a new signature move: the “bilbil clamp”

I followed up this play with a line drive three pointer. Since I was two points away from winning the game, he shot a three pointer easily and uncontested.

Next play, I drove wildly to the basket, spun around and flipped a right handed hook shot. It hit the board and nothing else. He got the ball and shot another three pointer. It was clear he could score if he wanted to.

Last play, it was make or break. I drove hard to my right and went up for a shot. He was waiting for me midair so I flipped up the shot.

It missed so bad it hit the side of the board and dropped it front of me for a wide open follow up shot. Game over. I win.

I was breathing so heavily and I was walking around. My brother was shooting more jumpshots. I walked a little more until I threw up. My brother was practicing his lay up… and he was fresh as a daisy. He gave me the ball and I tried to take a jumpshot. I bent down and my knee just gave way and buckled.

I think I just reached my physical limit and I looked extremely out of shape. Good thing you don't get points for playing pretty.

The Philippine Independence (non text book version)

Happy Independence day! Oh wait, was it June 9? Wait wait, it’s still June 12? What is this I hear that July 4 is our real independence day?

Let’s see, according to text books, the Philippines declared our independence on June 12, 1898 from Spain. Later that year (December 10 to be exact), Spain surrendered the Philippines to the US which means our independence was not really recognized by other nations.

On July 4, 1946, the US finally gave the Philippines independence and exactly one month later, President Macapagal changed the date to June 12 in the name of nationalism and as advised by historians.

This year, it’s still set to June 12 but is celebrated on the 9th so we’ll have a long weekend. The president cancelled the yearly June 12 parade to cut costs. Whatever happened to nationalism? Where are the historians? How can this happen especially when our current president’s dad is the same president who changed the date to June 12?

With this, I greet you with the new standard Independence day greeting:

“Happy independence day! Kelan nga ba?”

The Mental Block

It was 10:30pm and Jaye and I just finished a grueling day at the office. We stopped by the ATM to withdraw money and we needed to take out 15 thousand bucks. I inserted my card, entered the amount but the machine gave me an error message. It says I can only withdraw 10 thousand per transaction. Oh ok, so I withdrew 10 thousand bucks then inserted the card again for a second transaction.

“Enter PIN.”

I stood there with a blank stare and my mouth open. Jaye looked at me and asked what was wrong.

I forgot my PIN.

“But you just entered it a minute ago!”

I know. But I forgot. I looked at Jaye with a “No, really…” look.

Let’s see, I was assigned onshore for almost a year and I never used my card that time. The moment I landed in Manila, I took out some money from the ATM and I remembered the PIN without trying.

How can I suddenly forget in a span of 5 minutes?

It was the same PIN I used for years and years and years and I never forgot it. Take note that I was sent onshore twice and I was able to remember the PIN when I returned twice. I tried to insert the card and maybe the number key pad can remind me.

Nothing.

We left the booth since someone else was in line. I stood up and gave it a good long thought. 2 numbers appeared in my mind. I don’t know what those are but I went back to the ATM and tried it.

"Incorrect PIN."

I tried the other number.

"Incorreect PIN."

Jaye told me that I just a long day, was just tired but I’ll surely remember it tomorrow. I tried not to think about it that night and went to sleep. The moment I woke up in the morning, I tried to think about the PIN. No dice.

Here’s the funny part: I went through my old archives and found my old journal with my PIN written somewhere in the middle. I saw the PIN. It was labeled. I looked at the PIN. I stared at the PIN.

The PIN didn’t make sense.

It was like I’ve never seen this combination before. I wrote it down and went to the mall still wondering why I wasn’t “OH THAT! YEAH! NOW I REMEMBER” and all. I ran to the ATM machine and inserted my card. I entered the PIN combination from my notes.

It worked.

And it still didn’t make sense.

Am I getting that old?

The “Guess What Happened to Arn” Contest

Remember my last post? Remember when I said I just left the office for “personal matters”? I didn’t give out details and it left my office mates awfully curious. I did mention that I had to deal with something and that it had something to do with my car, chicken and smelling like garbage.

So they held a contest.

A “Guess what happened to Arn” Contest.

If you haven’t read my last post you’ll know that there was rotting chicken fat on my windshield which I had to get cleaned ASAP since the smell somehow got into my clothes.

Pretty interesting entries… We’ll judge them using 3 criteria weighing 10 points each. Creativity, How well you know Arn and how close to what really happened.

Entry 1
“Habang nag dridrive sa C5 na naka open yun window ng car ni Arn, sa harap nya meron open elf na nagdedeliver ng live chicken. Then accidentally nag open yun door nun elf and yun mga chicken nagliparan, most of the chicken e pumasok sa car ni arn through the window.”

Creativity (8/10) – It looks like a typical Arn story.
How well… (7/10) – I don’t drive in C5 anymore ever since the construction began on that overhead U turn pass.
How close… (5/10) – Way off. Again, Garbage was outside and it was chicken meat, not an actual live chicken.

Entry 2
“Open and window ng sasakyan > May dump truck > tumapon yung garbage sa loob ng car”

Creativity (6/10) – Pretty straightforward.
How well… (6/10) – I don’t open my car windows anymore.
How close… (5/10) – Way off. The garbage was outside the car.

Entry 3
“Hmmm… me street accident involving garbage collectors… nag offer si arn na magsugod ng casualties(mga garbage collectors) sa nearest hospital… "

Creativity (8/10) – again another typical Arn story though it may be a tad dramatic.
How well… (6/10) – I’ll be honest here: I probably wouldn’t. I’ll probably cause more damage since I have close to no knowledge on medical procedures. The proper thing to do there is wait for an ambulance so they can do it right.
How close… (7/10) – It’s off but they got the fact that I smelled like garbage right.

Entry 4
“Pag dating ng stop light sa corner ng C5 and Ortigas Avenue, suddenly, isang gusgusing bata na may hawak ng sampaguita, ang nag knock sa window ng car right in front of his, na parang nagmamakawawang bumili ng sampaguita. It looks like the driver of the car in front ignored the little kid, by the senyas na di sya kukuha. Alas! ang ginawa ng little kid ay biglang sumenyas sa dalawang kalalakihan na nakatayo sa di kalayuan. Biglang kinabahan si Arn, pero naka red light pa rin at talagang super traffic nung time na yun. Pag dating nila sa tabi ng kotse in front ay sabay sabay nilang binunot yung kanilang mga kamay at saka sabay sabay silang tatlo na nangulangot! Sabay sabay din nilang pinag didikitan ng kulangot ang windshield, side mirror saka handle ng pinto ng kotse in front!

Dahil sa pagkabigla ng driver nung car in front, nangulangot din sya at dali-dali nyang dinikitan ng kulangot sa kamay ang bata, gumanti naman daw yung bata at pinunas naman ng bata ang kanyang sipon sa may bandang bibig ng driver nung car in front. Samantalang lalong nagalit daw yung dalawang kalalakihan, kayat ang ginawa nila ay palit-palitan nilang pinag duduraan yung kotse in front, may Mga halong plema daw at sipon yung nagdikitan sa kotse. Fortunately, nakita pala ng traffic police yung nangyari, kayat tinulungan ng traffic police yung driver na yun, pinagduduraan nya naman yung mga lalaking angdudura. Nakita rin ito ng ilang drayber kaya tinulungan din nila yung driver in front, nakipag duraan din sila sa mga lalaki na nandudura.

During that time may garbage truck na nasa kanan at elf na truck nanagdedeliver ng live chickens sa kaliwa ng kotse ni Arn. Nagbato yung isang palero ng bag of garbage sa mga dumudura pero ang natamaan yung hood at windshield nga auto ni Arn. May mga basura din na tumama sa elf na truck w/c actually opened the door sa elf na truck at lumipad yung mga chickens. Since open yung window ni Arn nadali siya sa basura, manok at ng sipon and plema-crossfire. Ng mag green na yung traffic light, naging green na rin daw yung kalsada dahil sa mga hilaw na plema at mga kulangot na nagkalat. On top of that may mga balahibo pa ng manok at basura. Kaya mag-ingat kayo pag dumadaan kayo sa intersection na yan…”

Creativity (10/10) – Wow! Now that’s a story!
How well… (10/10) – This guy knows me too well, it’s creepy. A bit too gross though...
How close… (8/10) – Way off but does it still matter?

It's not even close! Winner: entry 4!