Rain, Rain, Go Away....No, Just GO.

Make that 4 days of almost non-stop rain. The gusty winds creeped me out for fear it would take the power out...and I was right. From 1:00 to 8:45 yesterday we had no water or electricity. (In an off-topic peeve, my downloads of Six Feet Under won't play properly if I adjust the video's brightness. It only plays right if I leave the original screen setting, which in this case is Too Freaking Dark. My guess is either I'm using up too much disk space, or anything that's 300MB up won't play well.)

Fortunately the power came back before 24 was about to air. The series is gripping with suspense, probably because I let my guard down and allow myself to fully enjoy it, meaning I might freak out if a miss a single episode. I do the same with Late Night with Conan O'Brien and Who's Line is it, Anyway?: shows where I actually laugh out loud.

Unfortunately the DSL was out, but while in the midst of trying to watch the too freaking dark download of SFU on the computer I saw a tail sticking out of the crevice of the office air conditioner. Instinctively I grabbed, and it turned out to be a mouse. (Gotcha!) To keep it from biting and crawling on my hand I twirled it around like a bola until I pinned it under the office chair (the one without the wheels) and crushed its thorax like a rolling pin.

...What? They're filthy.

Rain and RAN, RAN and Rain

Large storm clouds hover over Luzon, bringing almost non-stop rain for 2 days now. Stuck at home, not that I had other plans to begin with. Wonder if the SJCS Alumni Bowling finals pushed through today.

Asian Cinema premiered last night on AXN, featuring Ran by Akira Kurosawa (Shadow of the Vampire was on the night before last, but I missed the first "screening" and just recorded the second). Compelling, if ultimately depressing, movie. Lady Kaede was one evil (or vindictive) bitch. After some research I found out that Ran was based on Shakespeare's King Lear. I thought the story felt familiar. Honestly, though, I have no right to say that since I've never read Lear. Not even the Classics Illustrated version.

Something about rainy days (or the inability to leave the house) compels my mother to start cleaning out the bodegas. As with my organizing my plastic bags and backing boards, if not done quickly I lose interest in it just as quickly and just toss everything back in. Status quo. This time we managed to label some boxes ("plumbing equipment," "porcelain decors," etc.) and shred some office documents before I started to get bored. By this time I should be working out (soreness in neck almost gone now) but the treadmill's acting up. That makes it 3 whole days of no proper exercise. I feel my gut expanding as I type. 'Course it might be the fish fillets I had for dinner.

Ze Pain, Ze Pain!!!

Woke up this morning with an excruciating crick on my neck (and a slight tingling just below my right shoulder). After dismissing the possibility of this being karma for not going to the office (telecommuted today), I tried getting up. God, did it hurt. There's never one of those neck braces you see on TV around when you need one, or the Batman mask that prevented Michael Keaton, Val Kilmer and George Clooney from moving their head. Two Salompas plasters and Tiger Balm provide little relief. I moved like a malfunctioning C3PO. Couldn't lie down without going, "Ungh."

After lunch, Pa brought me to a manghihilot (part masseuse, part physical therapist without the license) in Binondo. After slapping on the massaging oil the old man worked on my back and right arm, and his (I assume) knowledge of pressure points almost did me in. For an old guy his fingers sure moved fast, like Jacky Chan's mentor in Drunken Master. I didn't pass out from the pain, but I was ticklish on the arm and was wincing and giggling at the same time. It was like being speed-pinched by The Flash. After the session I was thinking how all that muscle kneading would've made a good torture technique.

Now I'm supposed to take some Alaxan tablets and not shower for today. Great. In pain and smelly. Worse, if I get better I won't be sure what did it: the drugs and the speed pinching.

For good news (not related to me): Russell's wife Beth gave birth to a healthy baby boy. C-section.

Bored, From Manila, It's Saturday Night!

As a mentioned before, trying to get a date was about as enjoyable as picking on an ingrown hair on your chin. Seems I used up all my good fortune after finding my driver's license and that hard-to-find issue of Top 10 #9. Everyone I asked had other plans ('cept for Caren J. Sy and Robbylyn So, who didn't reply at all). Out of a whim when my sister called the house I asked her if she wanted to watch Amelie with me. Surprisingly she said yes, but I had to drive. Fair enough. With our secretary Bebot, we picked up Sis at her place and headed for SM Manila.

The cinema was almost bare (w/c irritates me since Sis had me buy balcony tickets), but at least that meant I could put my feet up. The film was quirky but nice, though Bebot and Sis called it weird, I term I'd reserve for David Lynch's films.

Tripping Over the Steps to Dating (or Just Getting a Date)

Forget first date jitters. That's nothing compared to pre-date nervousness. Building the nerve to ask someone out is the worst, but the feeling of relief when she accepts (or humiliation when she declines) is emotionally proportional to it.

It depresses my when I think about the last time I asked someone out on a date, where the girl is not “just a friend,” and you had hopes of seeing her more on a social basis. Way too long.

Lately I've been leaning on the philosophy of "Regret is worse then embarrassment or humiliation." “Better to have tried to as ask her that not to speak at all.” Tell her about it, as Billy Joel once sang. Seize the day and talk to the girl, or you’ll end up a 26-year-old virgin with no social life whose “soulmate” is out prancing in Paris. Wanna ask her out? Then ask. Her. Out. If you’re going to dilly-dally about, don’t take too long. Just don’t not do anything, because that feeling of uncertainty and “What if” will haunt you the rest of your life. A bad memory that bugs you more than the itchiest itch, that nastiest sore, the most persistent stomach cramp.

If a girl declines my invitation for a date, that’s fine, especially if she already has other plans. Decline away. Just don’t thank me for the invitation afterwards. Personal pet peeve of mine. Wanna thank me? Then accept the invitation. It’s a date, not a diamond ring. That your can decline but thank me for, anyway.

Sometimes declining the invite (if she didn’t other plans) is sign of hesitation on her part. Another is her asking if her brother/ sister could come. (A pseudo chaperone? What is this, 1955?) Then there’s when she says she’s busy for the whole week. Personally I think that’s overkill but at least you get the message (i.e. not interested). Finally is when she doesn’t respond at all even though you know she heard the question. Not too rude, I don’t think.

Why People Don't Suck Most of the Time

A week before Father's Day Pa lost his cellphone. Seems while riding a cab home the button latch of his cellphone holder came off and it was left inside the cab, with the phone of course. I felt partly responsible because the cellphone holder was actually mine and I took his newer one with the more secure button latch. Guilt-ridden I took a chance and sent a text message to the phone (it was still ringing when I called it) saying it was considered missing/ stolen and to call my house if found and maybe inquire about a reward. Grasping at straws, I know. Or so I thought.

Come Father's Day I see Pa with a cellphone and cellphone holder. I thought Ma got him a new set as a gift (w/c she didn't charge me for). A week later I check out the phone and to my surprise it had the label stickers I made for him in case the phone got lost. It was the same phone. Turns out somebody found the phone in the cab, called the house and Aissa met the guy at his office in Makati to retrieve it. She gave him an envelope with 500 bucks in it. Seems low, which is why I'm glad I didn't mention a specific amount for the reward.

Oh, and I found my lost-for-a-week driver's license. For now, all seems well the world. : )

Win some, lose a lot.

The good news is the home PC is fixed again (not that I had any time to despair over it crashing this morning as Boit brought it with him to work and brought it back good as new). The bad news is in the process I lost my "downloads in progress" of Six Feet Under and Part 10 of The Sopranos Season 1 via IMesh. (Okay, there was Tia Bella too but I was done downloading her weeks ago.)

Of Shaolin Babies and Terrorist Attacks

This thing gets updated the day after the fact because I do this in the office (work time well spent, I know), but better than nothing.

My 1-year-old niece Jasmine got her head shaved recently (to encourage the future growth of what would hopefully be thicker, shinier hair) so now she looks like one of those little Shaolin kids statuettes that grace our stairway. And wouldn't you know it, the moment she's bald her head gets scraped after tripping, but not on the shaven area, which dimishes the level of irony somewhat. Traffic jam when you're already late. A "No Smoking" sign on your cigarette break.

Watched the HBO/CNN tribute film about the 9-11 terrorist attacks on TV. Every time the film showed footage of the planes hitting the World Trade Center (it was a good/bad time to a video camera nut) a small pang of despair hits me. Small as I lack the emotional attachment to New York City. But when they played phone messages of those calling from inside the WTC (a few from the actual floors where the plane hit) and showed close-up shots of those who lept from the building I almost wept. Almost as I am not much of a weeper. What surprised me was finding out that a third building collapsed (designated WT building # 7) and that Mayor Guilliani and his staff were nearby when the second (North) tower collapsed. It was like a scence from Dante's Peak (I regret using a bad movie reference for this) as the huge clouds of ash and smoke headed towards them, and like Lot's wife they looked back when they should have been running foward. They even showed a Filipino teenager (even if the strap of his backpack obscured it, I'm sure that was Philippines printed on his shirt) showing TV news cameras pictures of his mother the day after the towers collapsed. She worked there.

According to the film the 9-11 incident was the most documented event world of all time, which shouldn't be surprising. World War II or the JFK's assassination didn't have the benefit of satellite news, the Internet or the Handycam. Almost as if everyone was there.

The Night We First Met...Again

Last night after dinner at the Steak Factory, courtesy of 3-Ku (my 2nd time there after Boit's b-day celebration, but I again ordered the Hungry Man's Steak 'coz the only other "filling" choice of Rib-Eye was too pricey), the family took a stroll around the Podium Mall. My high school classmate Rachel wasn't at her "post" at their family's optical shop.

While looking around the second floor I caught a glimpse of a lady I knew-- by face if not by name (story of my life) -- having dinner with someone at the Banana Leaf Curry Shop. Feeling gutsy (and bored from the walking) I headed for the restaurant and took a seat next to her. Jean (on the business card she gave me) doesn't remember how we met, either, but it was okay. She introduced me to her "dinner date" Christy. A real cutie, by any standard. At that moment I really regretted not having any calling cards at hand. We chatted for a while as other familar faces cames in eat, Judy Ann Santos among them. She's a lot lighter-skinned than I thought. Several other faces I recognized from college (Annette Yap's cousin, for one) also came.

Actually Juday's just one of several celebrity sightings for me that night. Ana Roces had dinner with friends at the Steak Factory, and after my little chat with Jean and Christy I saw Former PNP Chief Director General Edgar Aglipay eating with his family at a cafe on the ground floor.

A not-so-boring night, all in all. Too bad it's ruined by the fact I had to come in the office the next morning (today) for an "ocular inspection" by the Touch Mobile people.

"Months later, he returns."

Yes, it's been a while. Wonder how long I'll last this time. Since my last entry, I:

- Stopped updating the office journal
- Saw my office workforce go down from 60-something people to 5 (Yup, no more call center. Just Touch Mobile. Only I, Joy, Lala, John and Nonoy are left).
- Attended two wedding receptions for my old high-school classmates
- Got a new backpack (zipper on the old one broke)
- Got Dad a DVD player (not with my money alone, of course)
- Celebrated my birthday with a little bowling party
- Got turned down for a date thrice.
- Found out where my ex-girlfriend is "hiding." (France)
- Became a godfather to my niece Mia.
- Watched 18 movies (5 in the theater, the rest via VHS, VCD and DVD)
- Went out on 1 real date and one group date
- Did a buch of other stuff that won't register at the moment but who cares.

Oh, yes: I've moved up to the 3rd floor bedroom with my brother while the house goes under major renovation. They got rid of the carpeting. Floor's all shiny now, but not scratch-proof, so no more footwear allowed inside.

Life's too short. Must consider dating more often. Getting rejected more often isn't considered but makes its way into the equation, anyway.