leadership lethargy

(boring political content, be forewarned)

survey says...

the pulse asia survey came out with the president having a lower approval rating than before, her lowest since she took office four years ago. frankly, i'm surprised she still made the headlines.

before you think i'm a GMA-basher, i voted for her last 2004. i voted primarily because i was scared of an FPJ presidency, secondarily because i thought her economic background would help the country out. i said to myself, 2001-2004 was just her trying to put out fires from a very acrimonious transition period.

unfortunately for me and for the rest of the country, i was wrong.

she is an economist. but ever since 1986, she has occupied government positions, being a senator way back in 1992 (or was it 1995?). she had made the change from academic to politician early on and the hallmark of her administration so far is accomodation. thus we end up with a leadership that's trying to please everyone by appointing lackluster officials.

there is no compelling vision. there are no bold strategic policies. there are no audacious programs to speak of. there are only cheesy photo-ops. the administration legislative majority exists only in name.

it is now 2005, and it still seems like she's still in transition. please someone should get her act together already! the viable alternatives have vanished into the woodwork and the visible alternatives are too horrible to consider.

what a waste of one year for her term. sayang.

oh well, unless she does something drastic, it's back to plodding.

milkshake madness

an idyllic sunday at ATC...

bambi: hellow! i bought some vanilla milkshake for you!
lee: really! thanks!
bambi: here it is! (hands over milkshake cup with less than 1/3 milkshake left)
lee: ok... (sucks the milkshake with great difficulty)

after finishing the milkshake...

lee: hey, we should find a trashcan to throw this away.
bambi: e hindi pa sya ubos e! maybe you don't love me...
lee: fine... (sips some more until only subatomic particles are left) ayan, we should throw it away na.
bambi: wag muna.
lee: but it's just the cup na lang.
bambi: wash the cup muna.
lee: e baka langgamin yon afterwards.
bambi: maybe you don't love me...
lee: ...

end scene

exceptional exultation / exacting exile

i was waiting for bambi at work last night, so i passed by the friendly neighborhood pirate. since we have only recently bought our dvd player, it's only now that i'm building my dvd collection. anyway, i was observing the other dvd buyers, and i noticed that they bought dvds of The Ten Commandments and The Passion of The Christ. immediately, a couple of thoughts entered my mind:

1. why are they buying dvds that will be shown anyway during the upcoming lenten highlights?
2. considering that they're gonna watch "holy" movies, why are they resorting to pirated copies?
3. do the non-christian sellers care that they're "increasing" the christian belief system? or are they just like us, whatever sells should be sold?

==================================

i'm stocking up on dvds because tomorrow we'll be off to batangas again for the Holy Week, or as i call it, going to exile again. i hope we stay in lipa because at least there, we have cable. but if we're in tanauan, i'm pretty sure i'll go through those dvds fairly quickly. oh well, at least i can swim or make up for lost sleep! he3x! :P

terrible transgressions

scene: bambi's kitchen, retelling of the day's events.

lee: hon, may kasalanan ako sa yo...
bambi: ano yon??? (thinking he saw francine prieto again)
lee: um, kumain ako sa jollibee kanina, yung regular yum w/ mushroom & cheese...
bambi: ano??? (getting ready to punch)
lee: um, di lang yon...
bambi: ano pa???
lee: um, nag-large sprite ako... and large fries...

lights out

couple comedy

(copied from bambi's blog... he3x! :D)

On discussion on holy week:

LEE: I'm at Bats for the Holy week.
BAMBI: Aw... who's gonna pick me up from work?
LEE: Three people!
BAMBI: Wow! (Thinks Lee has a plan to escort me to the office with the aid of Military guys just like how Kris Aquino was choppered to CSA since she was late for an exam) Who?
LEE: The tricycle driver, the jeepney driver, and your legs!
BAMBI (thinking): Ba't ko ba 'to sinagot? hrmhrmhrm. Kundi ko lang binasted si Brad Pitt
LEE (thinking): Ba't ko ba ito niligawan?

manny's maneuverings

(i seem to be using a lot of "m's" in my titles. i remember the old set of world book encyclopedias where M was one of the thicker books.)

the senate approval of the budget happened a few days ago already, but i couldn't comment on it immediately due to work priorities (or maybe i just got too busy surfing again... he3x!). anyway, one of the stories came out was that sen. manny villar orchestrated the approval of the house version in toto (word for word). in essense, the senate threw out their own version which they have been working on for 2-3 months. how was villar able to make the other senators agree? he saw that most of the other senators had already booked flights for their holy week vacation. he then posited that if the senate didn't approve the house version, the house would be involved in a long, drawn out waiting game which would compromise their vacation time. thus, the bill was approved speedily.

this reminds me when he was the house speaker, he started with the opening prayer, which he knew most congressmen didn't pay attention to, then immediately proceeded with the reading of the charges of impeachment. these caught the congressmen flat-footed and the measure was transferred to the senate.

you gotta hand it to villar on how he was able to see these seemingly insignificant chinks then use it to bring unexpectedly exponential results....

sordid simpson

cleric's cue

here's another fr. nudas story:

one of us was tasked to read another article of his in front of the class regarding his preference for rizal over bonifacio.

(the prof was a known pacifist and he called bonifacio stupid for waging a losing war. several left-leaning writers wrote angry letters in response, but i digress.)

anyway, my classmate charleston went up front to get the article. he stood up in a relaxed position, with his right hand holding the article & his left hand in his left pant pocket. as he was reading the piece, fr. nudas snickered, "charleston, stop holding it!"

charleston's hand immediately shot out of his left pant pocket.... ;)

asinine akane / attentive azusa

intro: this post is for old-school anime fans who have passing knowledge of ranma 1/2 up until at least the 2nd season (or for manga readers, up until before shampoo came along). to learn more about ranma 1/2, you could check out www.furinkan.com . now back to the post.

i was thinking about this one sunday afternoon while preparing for a trip to greenhills. greenhills used to be the foremost and only good area in megamanila where one could find anime & manga artifacts.

(nowadays, with the overload of anime even in the free channels, i have inevitably reached maturity: i am tired of anime. it's like eating desserts all the time; eventually some get tired of all the sugar, and not because it's the "grown-up thing to do. again i digress.)

back to greenhills musings. i remembered all the ranma episodes i've watched (not all episodes, but a substantial amount, enough to qualify me as an anime analyst). ranma hated ryoga so much because ryoga got to be close to akane all the time as p-chan. (nevermind that p-chan is a pet piglet and that akane only hugs both ryoga & p-chan for wholesome reasons.) at any rate, part of the comedy is that akane never seems to make the connection between ryoga & p-chan; akane's inability to do so has created quite a number of gag stories from rumiko takahashi's pen. it's the secret identity syndrome: superman and clark kent are never together, they almost look alike, but lois and the rest of metropolis can't make the connection. of course, ryoga is a teenage boy while p-chan is a tiny black piglet, but both have fangs, both have that distinctive yellow-black bandanna, and both hate ranma & love akane w/ a passion. plus, all the other cast have discovered his secret, except for akane, despite several close calls.

we go now to azusa shiratori. she was this really ditzy figure skater in the start of the 2nd season who appeared dumber than akane. part of the conflict was she appropriated p-chan to be her "charlotte" (an outgrowth of her penchant for taking cute things and french-naming them). since azusa had taken akane's beloved p-chan, a duel ensues. during the course of the battle, it was mikado & azusa vs ryoga & female-ranma. at one point, azusa had ryoga to herself, then saw the little locket on ryoga that she had put on charlotte, thus she recognizes ryoga as her charlotte! of course, akane is oblivious to these events.

my point is despite azusa's ditziness, she was able to make the connection between ryoga & p-chan. then again, it's so painfully obvious that it's only akane who seems to have that deficiency of unable to make the connection.

again, my not-so-sincerest apologies to the non-anime fans out there. you really had to see it to believe :D

sunday saunterings & solomonic sage

bambi & i fought last sunday. here's how it went:

lee: ano ba naman yan??? (angry tone)
bambi: bakit??? (bewildered)
lee: bakit ka dyan nagpark ng kotse mo??? (getting pissed)
bambi: saan??? (getting irritated)
lee: ayan o! (points to a bright red volvo in the middle of cortes de las palmas @ alabang town center...)
bambi: e kasi naman, walang mapagparkingan yung driver ko! e ikaw, bakit ka nagpark doon???
lee: saan???
bambi: ayun o! (points to a mitsubishi adventure in the middle of the activity are of the same mall)
lee: e ayaw kong maarawan yung kotse e!
lee & bambi: (erupt into laughter)

end scene

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i will make a conscious effort to make the titles into alliterations. i do it as a tribute to my comm 1 prof, fr. nudas, the only jesuit teaching (as he claims) in the state university. he insisted that the titles of our compositions be in alliterative form, and i must say it is a welcome creative challenge.

i wonder whatever happened to fr. nudas. some say he died, which isn't very surprising. he was already around 70 years old when i attended his classes & that was almost a decade ago. i have always wanted to talk to him after attending that sem (i was a very impressionable frosh at the time) and he imparted knowledge without making you feel too stupid. i almost had the chance to attend his class on my junior year, but the scheduling for my major subjects couldn't allow it, so i missed a chance to learn his take on shakespeare. if he had passed on, i regret not seeing him again for one more time.

i'll post some of the nudas stories here, much to the amusement & chagrin of my blockmates. i hope they'll enjoy the memories as much as i did. here's a sample:

scenario: first day of comm 1 class
nudas: who reads the newspaper?
class mumbles affirmation
nudas: please read the Today, because it's the best newspaper around. why? because it has the best columnists. mr. castro, please come up here and read this article in front.
castro: (reads aloud) "English for Competitiveness." In the global arena....
nudas: (interrupts) no, read everything...
castro: (reads aloud) "English for Competitiveness." By Alfeo G. Nudas, SJ...
class: (laughter)

i miss those days... :P