An arctic morning in Baguio City

EARLY THAT MORNING, I remember I looked like an arsonist exuding fog-like breath from my orifice each time I exhale. The temperature was so freezing that it didn’t jibe with my synthetic-like, fitted t-shirt and black and gray vest and skinny jeans – without a jacket. I was staring at my shivering hands that I was bemused if they might wither or shrink because of the arctic climate. But still, it was just Baguio City; not the Antarctica....

I can’t believe it was more than a month ago.

November 30, 2008 was when I was about to depart from the Teacher’s Camp to traverse back to Pampanga after a four-day seminar, which I didn’t even want to attend to. I went desolately as The Pioneer’s delegate in the seminar together with the AUF-USC and all CSCs. I assumed I would feel like a tiger having a festivity with lions because I was the only member of the university publication then. However, some people made me feel befitting – the Criminology students.

Seven cogitations about “Desperadas 2”

APPARENTLY, DESPERADAS 2 IS a sequel of the first Desperadas, which was shown last year during the same season for the Manila Film Festival. Last night, I film viewed it at Jade Cinema in Jenra Mall. (Anyhow, it doesn’t matter where I viewed it; what matters is I viewed the movie.) Now, below are some of my thoughts regarding the said motion picture.

Mel & Joey and the fortune-tellers

LAST NIGHT, DURING THE show Mel & Joey, Mel Tiangco quoted, “Kapag new year, binubukasan ko lahat ng pintuan, lahat ng bintana, lahat ng drawer, cabinet. Pati lahat ng ilaw, mga radyo nakatodo lahat, nakabukas lahat. Tapos ‘pag 12 midnight na, naghahalikan kaming lahat, at nagyayakapan.”

Candidly, I don’t know if the sequence in the sentence is right. But I am definite that the essence of what she said is there.

If I would translate if to English, she said that during New Year, she unbolts all her doors, windows, and drawers and cabinets of her house. As well, she turns on all the lights and all radios are ranting. Then when 12 midnight falls, it has been a habit for her family to snuggle, nuzzle and embrace all and sundry and to kiss one another.

Condolences to our “Arijuana” (big fish)

I MUST SNIVEL ALONE. This time, not for the sufferings of the lowly, but for the death of our arijuana, our big fish….

About 10 a.m. in the time of the laptop – which is only five to ten minutes advanced from the real world -- my father was shouting from outside our house. He said, “Mete ne ing asan!” (The fish already died!)

Of course, I should have presumed that the fish that died was a fish that will serve as their menu for lunch (well, I don’t eat fish). However, there was just a certain sentiment in me that was telling something else died. So I went outside to check what my father was conversing about. And then I saw our almost three-foot long arijuana, out of the aquarium – toiling to breathe.

How to avoid disappointment upon watching “One True Love”

LAST NOVEMBER, I WATCHED “One True Love” with Anna Lou and Ela – who were both my classmates in my advanced college units before – at the cinema in SM City Clark. Now, I suppose people who haven’t watched the film will purchase a DVD or VCD of it. So, below is a list of what you should anticipate in order to avoid disappointment upon watching the movie.

From "Cool Juniper"

COSSET IN THE EXQUISITE pampering of this ravishingly aromatic gift set and leave your body unperturbed, moisturized and silken-smooth!

This might be decade-late news: I received a veil (like a body lotion) and a three-in-one body wash, bubble bath and shampoo, among others this Christmas. Kitz – the public relation officer of the University Student Council in AUF – gave them to me during our Christmas party last December 20 because she picked my name as her monito. I suppose she purchased them from Penshoppe Body Delights.
Perhaps, she thinks I am narcissistic....

Define “merry” in the “Merry Christmas-greeting”

CHRISTMAS LIGHTS OF DIVERGE hues are all aglow in the used-to-be-dark streets of our subdivision like a fire burning in an elegant chimney of a castle. The wind blows its used-to-be-arctic air around the murky atmosphere. My cell phone reverberates, signifying I have a message. The telephone rings because of a relative calling. People used to greet “Merry Christmas” and others include the “Happy new year-phrase”. Everyone seems to be glad. But, are they really glad? Are they….

One thing I simply don’t get about this Christmas is the atypical sentiment that I sense. Though people don’t converse about it, I just know that there is a predicament.

Is this an omen?

Nine more ways to transform to an “Astonishing Mutant” (A Sequel)

STILL, THE PHOTOGRAPHS YOU see above diverge in a one-year time frame – 2007 and 2008 – taken with different circumstances but with similar sentiments that the model (who is actually the same person) was trying to portray during the “posing period”. (The first one was last 2007 while the second was 2008. Please see The 13 Ways to become an "Astonishing Mutant" in here to better understand what I'm trying to converse about.)

I, being the model in the photos, just found another way to become optimistic about life since the “fates” are being benevolent to me – though I suffer some consequences, I still benefit on several aspects of life!

Now, I want to share more secrets of how to divert the stress you have in your life. Here are some more superficial ways....

The 13 ways to transform to an “Astonishing Mutant”

THE PHOTOGRAPHS YOU SEE above diverge in a one-year time frame – 2007 and 2008 – taken with different circumstances but with similar sentiments that the model (who is actually the same person) was trying to portray during the “posing period”. But candidly speaking, one of them is truthfully happy while the other one is forlorn. Which is which? Well, let me explicate….

The first photo was taken last year when I was still the Features Editor of The Pioneer. Meanwhile, the second photo was taken recently this year, wherein I’m already the Managing Editor and Administrative & Finance Officer of The Pioneer. Last year, I used to write for the publication and finish the articles that I’m assigned to write, as well as cover the events I’m supposed to write about. This year, I handle the financial matters in the publication – the budgets for printing, preparation, hotel reservation for seminars, etc. -- and I face the school admin regarding some issues of the paper. (The latter is dreadfully stressful.)

Bluntly speaking, I WAS HAPPIER THEN.

Therefore, I conclude that “happiness could make someone chubby” while “stress could improve your looks if taken optimistically and ardently.”

Just don’t forget these aide memoires that will make your stressful life astonishing:

Christmas party again? (But it’s different)

TOMORROW WILL MARK ANOTHER Christmas party that I’m putative to attend to this year. However, no matter how much I would like to attend to it, everything, as I sense it, is different just like a century-old barbell tarnished through time....

Kuya Elmer – a gym-mate who does aero and weight-lifting – told me this morning that I should bring pandesal for the party, which will eventuate after the work-out at 7-8 a.m. Then, Tita Nida, the gym proprietor, opposed and said that Charles, who is one of my gym-mate too, would be bringing pandesal from their bakery. I was conjecturing if what Gerald – another gym-mate present this morning who was working out while we were prattling – would bring; but I didn’t mind to ask.

The conclusion of our conversation has been decided and I am stinted to bring anything I want to bring as my contribution for the event to ensue.

Shopping before partying in a Department of Annoyances

IT WAS PAST 1 P.M. and I was still waiting in the raucous horde of SM City Clark, being crammed with the people who complain about that precinct -- its sales boys, sales girls and all its services -- yet fervently wait and buy their necessities for the yuletide season. Some say the goods are too pricey; yet they still align in the elongated contour of people paying through cash, or credit cards (the latter is the most disturbing because it takes times). Some say the employees at the gift-wrapping center are shabby; yet they still line up to have their gifts wrapped. Some say the goods are second-rate and are made in China; yet they still ask their husband or boyfriend (or whatever they call them) to clutch it and join the array in the cashier to save time. Some say this and that, and so and so….

Mitch and April -- my co-editors in The Pioneer -- arrived almost simultaneously (1:30 p.m. perhaps); though Mitch came few seconds earlier. Seeing Mitch first, I saw her following the party’s motif – she was wearing a green blouse topped on her blue denim. Conversely, April was in her purple top. I was in blue, tight-fitting shirt, which I was supposed to change to green by purchasing sale-items at SM Department Store with the Molecule Tag.

No-where-to-be-found pantaloons

ONE OF MY PANTALOONS is missing! I don’t know where it has been doggedly hiding. The hanging-by-thread part is that I’m supposed to wear it later for the Christmas party of the officers and Pioneer editors in AUF. I simply don’t know what agreement had been decided in the quadrant of this galaxy that we ended up being putative to wear green (or red) during the party.

Relatively, the light-blue appearance of that denim compliments my dark green polo with my plaid green and creamy-yellow vest. Well, they say dark compliments light, don’t they?

A fairy tale-like desktop appearance

PROUDLY, I HAVE REINVENTED my desktop (on laptop) appearance. I downloaded widgets and I am just oh-so blissful about it. (This is one of the very few moments in my life that I’m sanguine about.)

How to create this kind of appearance? Well, visit wincustomize.com and play with the widgets, themes, skins, and so and so... By downloading them, you’ll be able to use them without intricate, several-minute installation (that takes just the antonym of the word “several”).

Laptop coolers

CHARACTERISTICALLY, MY LAPTOP HAS an exhaust fan. However, I can no longer auscultate the thud of the fan. It may not be functioning anymore, I thought. All exhaust fans in laptops malfunction anyhow.

The good thing is I bought a laptop cooler from CD-R King. Supposedly, I should have bought a model, which is only Php180.00. However, when I first saw it, I dithered in buying it. Then when I came back, it was gone. So I bought another model worth Php280.00 instead. The model I bought is LSY-69.

LSY-69 is made of acrylic. Its material is transparent; thus it looks more expensive, as if your computer is a Macintosh. It has two brackets, which serve as bases elevating the frontal part of the laptop towards you – it promotes easy viewing so the user may prevent “stiffed neck”.

The journey of April to purchase a blusher

WE CROSSED THE BUSTLING tundra of Angeles City and arrived at the uncanny bungalow of Tollhouse after buying a couple of bibingka from the vendors in front of the wintry dessert at the Holy Rosary Church.

Two days ago, April and I decided to order the typical carte du jour we used to eat at Tollhouse – chicken BBQ for me and seafood supreme for her. That is after interviewing a high-profile official in our university who The Pioneer is supposed to feature: Atty. Joseph Angeles.

In Tollhouse, we saw an old classmate – Stephanie – who was with her sophomore friend in her new course, which is BS Management (I suppose), and new plaid uniform; which is that of the Holy Angel University. Stephanie was bored from waiting for her order so she prattled with us and inadvertently mentioned something to April that must not be said about someone (secret if who she is).

Where has my dream-catcher gone?

FORLORNLY, THE DREAM-CATCHER I bought from Baguio City last November 27-30 (I can’t remember which among those dates I exactly bought it but I am definite that I bought it during any of those days because those were the first and only, hitherto, dates I’ve been staying in Baguio) is missing. It was the apple green pendant attached with the apple green strand, which serves as its chain. In the circle pendant adjoins a pearl-like, apple green stone affixed by the web-like, apple green strings in the middle of the circle.

Perhaps, it fell from my bed and then a genus of creature took it for thinking it was a victual. I recall I was even haggling to the vendor to give it to me for only Php20/each – the vendor was a young, skinny girl in her 9th to 12th years and was originally selling her dream-catchers for Php25/each. However, I wasn’t able to persuade her despite revering her by calling her “Ate”. But at least I’ve had a 5-peso discount when I paid.

Multihued gobbledygook

I ABHOR PEOPLE WHO converse a lot about bogus dreams and promises -- They forget to wake up and materialize their “multihued gobbledygook” (these are the beautiful things that they promise and then disregard in later time, as if they are waiting for someone to accomplish them.)

Throbbing while watching TV

ECCENTRICALLY, I THROB WHEN I watch programs on the television that are “sorrowfully grotesque”. No, I’m not conversing about movies with oddly written scripts and confusing story boards or the comedy shows twisted with horror flicks. I’m pertaining to those shows that lament the death of their talents with a special number of aligned artists on the stage; some are sobbing while others are crying, all of them dirge regardless of the fact that they spent lengthy time with their make-up artists at the backstage or dressing rooms so as to look well turned-out to face the camera…. (I wonder, do the camera men also cry while shooting that “live lamentation”? Perhaps, some “realistic members” of the audience are chortling about that number.)

Only one angle to perceive

UNACCEPTABLY, I WAS EXAMINING the camcorder this morning and “concluded” that there will be only one angle to see – the view finder is not working!

The view finder of the camcorder is the part where the user may glance at his subjects whenever the LCD panel is closed or if it is in a 180-degrees turned position. Having a functioning view finder makes it expedient for the user to view his subjects whenever the LCD Panel is turned off for battery-saving purposes. In my case, having a view finder helps me see more than just one angle…

Looking at Tim through the angle of the camcorder

THIS IS SO DISAPPOINTING! Sometimes, when people borrow something from you and they return it in damaged condition, it’s more than just “simply annoying”....

A month ago, Timothy – a co-editor in The Pioneer and a classmate – borrowed my Sony camcorder because of some grounds I never thought to pose. Then, after a week, he told me that he was still using it. Two weeks had passed, he was absent in class. Three weeks has passed, he brought it with the case yet I didn’t see the camcorder then. (So I thought he lost it!)

Toxins in medicine bottles

EXASPERATINGLY, I CAN’T OPEN the bottle of the “Solmux for children” that my mother recently bought from the drugstore. I needed to use the outlandish device in our uncanny-looking scissor to open it – it looks like a pair of canine teeth that can’t meet. It was made of metal. (The user would need to clench the “canine teeth” around the cap and then twirl it.)

However, by using it, I thought I would break the bottle. I was anxious that glass-bits might form when the mouth of the bottle cracks; and then Coy-coy, my nephew currently living with us, might inadvertently ingest them with his dosage from the medicine dropper.

The earrings for April told me something

I BOUGHT EARRINGS FOR April, a co-editor in The Pioneer who I reckon as a true friend, when I came from Baguio. They have a purple pearl-shaped stone festooned upon a dangling series, affixing an amethyst-like rock in the middle.

Last night, I finally gave it to her. I don’t know if she’s pleased with them; however, her facial expression delineated that she was. But the highlight of this story was her statement. She said the pearl-shaped stones are color blue.

I was flabbergasted!

As far as I can see, they are purple.

Sour mango and sweet ice cream

WHO WILL EAT A sour mango with ice cream as dessert? Well, I won’t; but when Carylle and I meet – we definitely do so!

Carylle Juico was my best friend way back in my “nursing days” when something (or someone) just “shoved” me to try a nursing course and dream of earning oodles of dollars abroad. Perhaps, one thing that we commonly love is Taekwondo. She was a yellow belter, and I am too back then.

Bizarrely, when we were together, we used to purchase food at McDonald’s fronting AUF, which was our university (not HER school now). Afterwards, she’ll invite me to eat siopao at Chowking and then I would concur. We love food and we perceive the world as an enormous pizza with different hues.

Working-out as drugs

IT WAS 5:50 A.M. My cell phone’s alarm clock was already reverberating. I turned it off but its “snooze” was activated. Relentlessly, it was waking me up for roughly 40-45 minutes. With that time span, its “snooze” was programmed to stop. It did reach that point and I was still lounged. So, I didn’t get up at all….

This is almost my everyday routine in the morning. The only difference is that I didn’t get up. Typically, I hear concoction of sounds and voices 15 minutes after the first alarm, which meant that my parents are already up, preparing for the day ahead, and concocting food ingredients that will make up our breakfast. As my human reaction, I would get up since they are already up. But this day, they were not because they forgot to do so; I acted similarly.

The other side of sunrise

EVER THOUGHT WHAT'S on the other side of sunrise? Aside from the joy that you feel as you watch its cascading orange glow, what else can you think about? Puzzled? Well, I tell you what for me: On the other side of the world, the people who find enthusiasm in watching sunset snivel as they see it totally vanishing…

Most of the time, people find pleasure in a lot of habits that they do. Just like when they talk, laugh about others’ mistakes, judge their friends, and so forth. It seems like they can never be contended in seeing a pink parasol worn by a guy, ‘til they criticize it and shout, “baduy!” Or like when they give a friend some couple of spiders though they know that he has arachnophobia.

Threat caveat for the university and classrooms

THREAT HAS BEEN DETECTED! How bad was that? The message on my monitor concurrent with the screeching pig-like sound of my antivirus program warned me that a “threat” had been detected in my computer’s system. Abruptly, the initial screech was followed by several others. It said, “THREATS HAVE BEEN DETECTED!”

Oh Jesus, it seemed like the threat-populace in the computer system was rapidly increasing! Nevertheless, my security software can solve that. Prompting for action through a neutralize-button, the lucent red pop-up window appeared on the bottom-right side of the monitor saying, “YOU ARE ADVISED TO NEUTRALIZE THEM ALL!”

Doraemon, Junaly, and Marky Cielo…

I AM FOND OF watching Doraemon in Channel 7. He always makes things achievable. Besides, Doraemon is an adorable, robotic cat; I suppose.

I was waiting for the time to draw closer so I could turn on the TV. Abruptly, Junaly, a colleague of mine I’ve met in the seminar of The Pioneer with the student councils and a criminology student I reckon as a true friend, sent me a text message. The message read:

Mushrooms on a pizza

TOPPED WITH LONGANISA AND tocino – all over a divan of mozzarella cheese, onions, chili fingers and savory mushrooms, which are all embraced by an oven-baked rolled-edge crust, and sprinkled with flavorful garlic – a delightful pizza was served on a platter on the center table where ten people are dining. Everyone love mushrooms except you…

Now how good was that?

Deux méthode

“DEUX MÉTHODE” – THE FRENCH TRANSLATION FOR “TWO METHODS/WAYS!

If you are disquisitive why I am talking about “deux méthode”, then I say, “The reason is simple: I’ll be talking about Elaboration Likelihood Model, and it has something to do with the two ways.”

The “Elaboration Likelihood Model” (ELM) converses about the two ways people make decisions and hence get persuaded. The first is when people get motivated and able to pay attention, and they take a logical, conscious thinking to decision-making. This can lead to permanent change in their attitude as to adopting and elaborating the speaker’s arguments. The second is like this: When people do not pay attention to persuasive arguments but are swayed instead by surface characteristics. How is that?