2.5 years

I’m back, old self.

A good game

What was supposed to be a friendly game of DotA turned out to be one of my most annoying experiences.

I still don’t get why some people had to brag, mouth off, or trash talk other players for spite. Maybe it makes them feel good. Yea it feels totally awzum and cool to pawn others but to yap about how good you are and calling others noobs (or ‘bobo’ read: unintelligent, stupid) is just plain annoying.

So a couple hours ago I went to the nearby computer shop to enjoy a DotA game with some of my younger brother’s barkada. I’ve always thought I had some sort of authority over these “little kids” cos well, to put it blatantly, I’M OLD (older than them, I mean hehe). It was just a LAN game and our team was 1 player short. Was playing with another guy my age so I guess it was kinda fair. But yeah the little rambos were good and pwnd our sorry asses a hell lotta times. But one thing totally ticked me off and sent me over the edge. This @$%# %$#%$ named JC was loudmouthing about how good he owned us and that he’s using what he thinks is an ‘underdog’ hero – Goblin Techies. Sure. Every friggin time he does his “Suicide” and pwns, he’s gonna jump from his seat and bellow,

“Techies na nga lang yan ah!”

So bad enough getting beat by a scrawny a-hole and still he does that act a couple more times – it certainly ticked me. So I sent a message to all the players:

“Angas ng techies ah. Kala mo kung sino. 4v3 naman.”

I appealled to the fact that we were disadvantaged and true enough, he’s not really the playmaker because the other players from his team were pretty damn good too. Then he replied with:

“1 on 1 na lang pustahan”

And almost all of my bro’s friends started to get giddy because, as I found out later, they were aching for some action out of the game. I’m not really a fighter and I rarely get myself into conflicts (I’m a peaceful dude, a gentleman, a well-bred guy). So I replied with the first thing that came into my mind:

“Sorry dude I’ve no more money to spare. I’m jobless. I’m a bum. Forgive me.”

TWO IMPORTANT LESSONS:

1) It’s not cool to lose your cool. At any instance. At any given place or time. You’re just aching for a fat lip and you’ll just feel awfully bad if you let your burning anger consume you.

2) Be a sport. Play nice. You can be the best damn player in your sport/game but believe me, people are gonna HATE you if you can’t show any sign of humility and badmouth others if they’re not as good as you.

As for that little runt, he’s gonna get his share one day and I believe the sorry dude is gonna cry for being a total loser.

On giving

I’m not exactly a good guy, but I think I have a strong sense of justice.

Anyway, this happened on my way to Manila some couple of days ago. It was morning and as usual traffic was heavy. I was looking around out of boredom when I noticed these three little kids on the jeep in front of us. They were about 4-6 years old, dressed in rags and they were sort of singing/playing – one was beating a drumlike instrument while the two sang and begged for money from the passengers. They left when they were through and I knew that ours was next. So they started playing on our jeep. One was seated at the step of the jeepney while the other two handed us envelopes. (I thought it was really rough, and I never really give money to beggars but these are just kids, and I also thought they were nice enough to use envelopes hehe). But a really grouchy woman at the end of the jeep seems to be miffed at the trio’s act. So before they could even finish asking us for spare coins she started jabbering and shouting to the kids, telling them how dirty they are and that they should stop that practice for all she cares.

“Bumaba na kayo dito! Baba! Baba!”

It was a really unpleasant sight – seeing someone lose her cool over that, and to kids. I find it quite harsh. Those were kids and they didn’t seem to have anything to eat. If she couldn’t spare them something then maybe it would’ve been best for her to quit being mean and just keep her yap shut. It didn’t end there though. That tub of lard continued to talk about the poor, the “unclean” beggars and the  downfall of our society because of these people. Man! Talk about stigmatization! Talk about insensitivity! If I’d just been a little less nicer I would’ve given her a dose of her own unkindness. Physically. Heh.

But I don’t think I’m made for that – hitting women LOL. So to divert my rage – here, I just wrote about it. We all know that the world is not fair. Life is not fair. It’s an old cliche. Some people do have plenty for themselves and some don’t have anything at all. So I guess if you’ve got that ‘something’, it’s only proper to share, right? But if you can’t share to the less fortunate, you can always give them something they would also want – kindness.

Peace!

Spence

PS Forgive the cheesiness, especially at the end. I guess there’s still a little bit of goodness left in me heheh. Amen? Amen.

PPS I guess there’s also a need to make an exception to what I just wrote, and it applies to those “inconsiderate” beggars. Hmm, I might write something about them next time. 🙂

What’s Up Today 1

All in all it’s been a fantastic couple of weeks. Yea I’ve been lazy and all but I’m putting everything in place and keeping it cool. No pressures. I’ll march to “the march” this March (cheezy) and nobody’s stopping me, hehe. I’m taking it little by little, one step at a time. I study for exams and I still cram but it’s a bit relaxing now unlike my study sessions during the past semesters. And I think I’m doing a good job so far.

So yea here’s the pretense: I’ve been busy with school stuff and more school stuff for the past days and that’s the reason why I haven’t updated. But now I’m taking a time-out.

1. PI100 is a subject about Jose Rizal and his works. ALL students are required to take this. For the most part it’s just a deja vu of our high school Filipino subjects. That’s what I first thought. But not only will this subject feed you the tale of the ill-fated life of Crisostomo Ibarra or the story behind Mi Ultimo Adios; this, I think, is Activism 101. It’s not really a bad thing. I find it fascinating how I’m being influenced with anti-government or anti-church schemes in one of my classes! That’s something you don’t experience everyday. Eye-opener: check. Nationalism: check. No exam, just reporting: check to the nth power.

2. Table Tennis = FUN. I’m serious. So there’s this skill test where we have to return the ball using backhand-forehand-forehand strokes continuously until we reach the 20th mark. (The other drill is pretty complicated and damn too hard to explain). Make a mistake and you go back to start. 5 tries. The highest score counts. And what do you know?! I perfected those drills o yeazz! That was my first, given that I’m totally clumsy when it comes to hitting balls (lol).

3. Major subject class hours = sleeping time. Y’know how it looks like when you’re so damn sleepy, you’re in a sitting position and you lose control of your neck muscles to hold your head up? Now you know what I’m talkin’ about. Nobody could judge me or blame me for being a sleepyhead. Try sitting in an air-conditioned, windowless and white room where all you can hear is your teacher’s voice and the occasional buzzing of the air-con, where all you can see is plain white boring + the bloody equations and numbers and more matrix on the white board. Try enduring 1.5 hours of it 2x a week. I tell ya it’s not easy.

4. Thesis: reserved for a more serious/nastier entry. Hehe.

So those are some of my classes this sem. Pretty boring but I can take it. I guess you can take anything if it’s gonna be your last few months in school. I still can’t believe I’m going to enter the roughest and toughest stage of everybody’s life in …<2 months! Whew~

Till next time

Spence

*art by ~timchris

The Kite Runner Movie

Just finished watchin’ the film version of The Kite Runner. Well what can I say? It’s good. I liked it. But not too much. I remember watching its trailer for the first time in Youtube and I thought, man this is going to be good!! I even felt bad that I’m goin to see the movie in my junky old laptop, downloaded from torrent and all. But all those high hopes went to the drain after seeing the whole thing.

Okay, first of all, I’m not saying it sucked. It’s actually good. But it’s missing something. And no, this isn’t because I’ve already read the kickass book! I do know that all movie adaptations miss a hell lotta details and they never tend to be faithful from their source. The movie actually did justice to the flow and plot of the original story. Add the sizzling effects and it’s really nice to watch, just the way I pictured it all in my head while reading the book, maybe even better. BUT. For me, it missed the most important element: EMOTION. It’s kinda funny how reading the book made me cry and seeing the movie almost did nothing to me. Why? Coz it’s missing the whole feel of the story. I don’t know what’s goin on with the movie characters but is frowning and gettin close to crying the best they can do? All they can muster for reliving the very very moving story of a timeless friendship? Damn was I disappointed.

Yeah, I know that relating the movie with the book is not actually a good idea. One, I may be biased because I’ve already read the story. Two, as I’ve said most details from the book shouldn’t be expected in the film (nobody could possibly create at max a 2-hour film from a 400-page novel without omitting some parts). And three, it must be pretty difficult to translate the written words about how the characters are feeling, what’s goin on in their head, etc. to acting. Might even be a next-to-impossible undertaking to capture ’em for the silver screen. Conclusions: 1) Book and movie can never be equated. Movie can’t totally capture what’s in the book, ergo, reading the book is always better 2) This movie will be seen in a different view if you haven’t read the book yet.

All in all I can tell you that it’s a good movie to watch – not that good if you already read the novel, but I strongly suggest you do first! In other words you’ll totally love it if reading the original story doesn’t cross your mind. He he.

Peace out!

-Spence

PS I hope I did a good job writing a spoiler-free review. But if you’d really like to see how some things will end up, you can watch this trailer. I don’t suggest pressin the play button though if you’re planning to spend some good time with the book in your hands.

The Kite Runner

For you, a thousand times over.

I guess this line will stay in my head for a long time, I hope forever.

Anyway, I just wrote this because I needed a fix. You know those times when you feel like you just had to do something, no thinking, no questions asked? This is one of those times for me. And that’s because I just finished Khaled Hosseini’s The Kite Runner. I don’t have anything else to say.

Hmm, maybe except for this. You’re missing something big if you don’t get to read this creation.

This is a story about war, violence, discrimination – the most cruel things you can imagine in this world. But most importantly, this is a story of friendship, trust, and redemption from the past. There is a way to be good again.

Peace.
– Spence

PS I will do my best to make a review of The Kite Runner. Or just write a lengthier post about it. It’s not your ordinary Gen-fiction. It’s something else. I’m actually off to buy my next book but I think no book could compare to the one I just read. 😦

PPS Shout-out to Christian of asteeg.net. He’s the guy who recommended this to me. Thanks, man! By the way, there’s already a motion picture for this book and it’s already on my download queue in torrent. Heh heh.

Big Time!!

How’s it goin dudez.

I’m chillin here at home on a Saturday night. Been quite busy in school for the past week so I took some time off. Day off, you may call it since I’m being a slave in the school anyway haha. So I was having a great time just slouching in the couch, watchin some sitcoms and movies on TV and I saw House. I’m not really a fan of television series but I watched one full episode. Now I can’t wait to get a copy of it on the DVD! It’s freakin hilarious and somehow serious at the same time I’m sure I’ll love it.

House: You’re pregnant. (Mentions symptoms)
Girl: You’re kidding.
House: Are you virgin?
Girl: No.
House: You’re pregnant.

Hahaha. After watching House I switched to CinemaOne. This movie I saw next was a pinoy indie film. I could tell because it doesn’t seem to be like those high-costing productions we usually see on the cinemas. And after watching it, man I suddenly became a fan of independent films! Y’know you may actually see them as small-time flicks but hey, they’re really really worthy to watch. Nothing fancy. Not much costumes or effects but the plot plus the acting are simply superb. Yeah yeah I know, those multimillion productions are cool too but hey let’s not forget where they’ll all end up – the cinematic wasteland. TV. Home Box Office. Pretty sad, isn’t it?

So the film I saw is called “Big Time” and it’s about two funny crooks who want to hit it bigtime in the criminal world. They were accompanied by a pretty chick who wants to be a famous star (and who looks like my hot singer-crush Barbie Almalbis by the way, hehe) and some f*cked-up guy who is actually the son of a local crime lord they were hitting on for some ransom money! Then things started to go crazy as they kept on changing their plans and just going nuts. All in all it’s a kickass flick with all the funny jokes and silly portrayal of the actors. It’s even satirical coz it’s trying to make fun of the local culture, showbiz, etc. In the end it was all about making decisions and holding on to your dreams. Being patient with life.

My rating: 4.5/5. Highly recommended!

PS I don’t really write reviews and I don’t wanna spoil it all for ya so if you want some nicely written summary you can just go here. Or you may want to watch this.

In this crazy world, everybody wants to go big time.

Hmm, anyway enough TV. Final Destination 3’s on now and I’m just so not in the mood to see people die in a gross and excruciating way. I’m signing off!

All the best!
– Spence

Chillin’

Hey hey. I’m kickin it up at the college library. Doin’ some major thesis work. Being a really good student. Haha. Tryn to graduate on time!

Anway, for the past 4 years I’ve spent in this building, I’m quite ashamed to say that the library was my least favorite spot. I even like hangin out with some yosi-buddies outside the college or just chillaxin anywhere in this old building. But now it feels kinda different. I’m being surrounded by books and it’s totally cool. Even magical. And nope, these are no Harry Potter or any fiction book – these are supercool techie books (looks at the nearby shelf and reads: “Kinematic Analysis and Synthesis of Mechanisms”. Totally kickass…

So now, I’m just chillin here in the libe. So much fun! I just took some time off my thesis to write crap. Now back to work.

Chill!

Spence

Lesson Learned

Hmm.. So yeah, I’m still up at this late hour and I have a smashing exam later. Cooooool. It’s deja vu all over again!

Now let me tell you what happened to my class earlier today. I am not a fan of long equationz, derivationz an’ the like so it was really boring – but I say it still depends on the teacher. And since my teacher is pretty hawt, I kept on listenin. Then suddenly she asked a question. Now here’s the thing. I’m not really a smartass but I can pretty much work out the solutions given enough time. And by golly, it was indeed given to me. NO ONE was raising his/her hand to answer the simple question! Total silence. 3..2..1.. still nothing. I wanted to raise my hand but I just gulped because damn I thought, this must be a pretty tough question and I’m just being cool with it. I never ever wanted to be mortified in front of a huge class! So my confidence turned to doubt, then to fear. The dead air was unbearable it almost felt like I was in a suspense thriller movie. Seriously!

Then miss R broke the silence with a lecture. She said it was always like that with us students. We know the answers but we don’t wanna raise our hands and speak up. And I can attest to that. Damn we guys always play dumb when it comes to recitation – always hesitating to answer because we’re all afraid to make a mistake. Always afraid to be laughed at. Then when the answer’s already given, we just say to ourselves, “Oh sh*t, I knew that all along!!” and regret the fact that we didn’t speak up and get credit for it.

I know, I know. This issue’s not really big but it just made me think. Why am I too afraid to make a mistake? Why am I too concerned about my silly reputation? It’s not like I’m gonna die if a few classmates laugh at my dumb answer. And where will I end up in the future if I continue to hide in my shell? Locked up in a tight steel room/lab solving deadly equations and figuring out the crazy solutions? Definitely not.

So I learned the important lesson at school today. Knock everyone off with the killer confidence! Bam!

Haha. I’m out. Need to do some major crammin. Wish me luck!

Peace out!

Spence

Welcome to the Future

It’s Sunday. It’s 4 in the morning. And I’m bored!

I felt like I should do something other than sleep, so I peeped into some people’s lives thru their online journals. I found some pretty interesting blogs and authors and it was really worth my time checkin their sites. And yeah I just have to say this. What is it with this time of the year and the topic ‘growing up-slash-contemplating the future’ because man, a lot of people (especially my fellow youngsters) are writing about it. I was just totally fascinated coz I’m plain anxious as they are about what the future holds and how will I ever grow up in terms of maturity.

Now let me have my own say on the scary concept called future. My usual advice: take it easy. Let the good times roll – just take one small step at a time and before you know it, you’re there. Of course it doesn’t pay much to think and contemplate at times but hey, DON’T make worrying a habit. That’s our parents’ job haha! In the mean time we just have to prepare for it by setting our goals and deciding for ourselves. (Gimme a hint if I sound like a mentor or a really experienced guy because I could be posing and I don’t even know it haha)

Moving on. So there, just build your dreams and don’t let anyone ruin it, don’t let the enemy engineer infiltrate your base or your World Tree be destroyed! Haha. Just earlier today I found someone who was tryn to kill my dream: my MOM.

Me (grinning): Ma, after I graduate I’m gonna earn bigbucks abroad, maybe in the US or CA, and I’m gonna stay there for good!

Mom: You think it’s that easy? It’s hell out there. They only have three weeks vacation etc etc etc . . . and what’s going to happen to you if you live alone? You can’t even take care of yourself. . .

So there ya have it. Anyone can ruin it for you, even the ones you love! Hahaha. I’m already on crack. I have to sleep now.

Peace!

Spence