On Getting Squeezed, My Present Routine, a Radio Reporter's Story, an Insight on the Ayalas, Gold, and Hunger.

I got squeezed between two chubby ladies in the fx. Not to mention the other one on the far left. It just reminded again about the joke on Bubble Gang (I think) where they said that the bigger people should be the one's to carry burden of the planned added tax.

Anway, my legs then were like those you see talk shows where the long legged lady guests' legs go like this----> \Ack. terrible futile attempt to add a visual aid!
And my rib cage was suffering too. Well not much really but to the point of discomfort. So when I can't take it any longer, I simply shifted my position, though there wasnt much change but I became more comfortable.

***

WTF, am I blabbering about.

Anyway, I was thinking about... wait... I lost it... there... um... *clock is ticking*... Oh yeah! I'm bored and tired about the routine I'm caught into. See the adverse effect it has on my brain? Mela mentioned something about the whole routine thing so we wallowed in the muck called fact-of-life-at-present. I mentioned then that routine would have been better if I have a daily routine on money-making (think of Jaime Augusto Zobel de Ayala II & Henry Sy & Lucio Tan & Oprah & Paris' Hilton's dad & the list goes on) and not just on money-spending-to-go-to-OJT everyday.

But I'm not saying that our OJT is bad. I'm just saying part of the whole picture.

***

Talk about OJT, one radio reporter whose name starts with the letter R shared his story about his most unforgetable experience when he covered the landslide catastrophy in province of Quezon. G*d... Talk about eating biscuits and drinking only water for days. No normal baths for days. Seeing people loose their mind because of the tragedy.
*WARNING: If you're eating something and gets queasy easily, better not proceed reading starting here.*

Dead bodies everywhere. As Mr. R put it, something like the scene in a movie where the setting was the Vietnam War.

*It's relatively safe to start again from here.*

I'm hungry. But I think I have more to put here.

Oh yeah... I think hunger is taking its toll now... I'm thinking about my usual thought on blogging almost everything that I can think of about almost everything.
And things like the inside story about the Ayalas and uh... dunno... I'm hungry and I have to satisfy this. Hahah! Thought you can get something from me about the "Insight on the Ayalas" eh? *Big smile here* Next time pag di na ako gutom. (take note: walang "maybe" sa simula ng sentence.)

Btw Mitch, Kitin and I are back to being friends. *I was thinking on putting a smiley here but then. Heheh. :)*

Oh yeah, I'm gonna email Ria about the ojt thing that Elizel asked me when the sun was still up.

Tsk tsk. Maybe you notice that I'm really hungry now.

Bye for now!

Bon appetite!

Ack.

Ciao pala!

Este, paalam sa ngayon!

Nga pala, medyo nanghihinayang ako kasi sa sobrang acidic ng skin ko may mumunting piraso ng ginto sa Raymond Weil ko ang natatanggal. Wah!

Oh well, this must be one of the longest posts I made so far. Naku, medyo nakakaramdam na ako ng pagkalipas ng gutom... tsk tsk tsk.

The lunar eclipse last night was excelent! :D

And it only appears once every 18 years. Well, like Kitin said, by the time Im 30ish I'll be able to see it again so not much big deal there. But then, what if I dont get to that age, or that there'll be World War III and homo sapiens sapiens get extinct, or the next lunar eclipse happens on a side of the earth where I wont be able to see it? Hum... :D Hehehehe.

So there.

I got really angry around past 1 am today that I went down in all my fury and told those bitch boarders and their bastards to tone the hell down. (!!!)

And HAH! Dad finally decided to kick them out. In a few months time... there'll be out for GOOD.

Good luck to all OJTers! :D

Btw, to all those that need the break down of fees for the coming semester, get yours at the accounting office. I paid for mine already (Php 40.00) and they told me to claim it by Wednesday afternoon. :D

Seconds of Exposure.

Quoted from a piece of paper that I wrote on.


10:35 pm, April 21, 2005
The World Tonight, ABS-CBN News Channel

OMG! I saw myself on TV!!! (Carmela and Bdet were there too!) Ahahaha!...

Ohum.

Well, they showed the line were I said, "Nagiging tampulan po ng tukso." Carmela was shown saying, "For hygenic purposes." And Bdet was quoted when she said, and this is the best part, "ma*BLEEP* raw po yun. Kasi may s*BLEEP*."
Ahahahaha!!!
Hay... Talk about 5 seconds of exposure(?). Well, atleast, on cable tv shown in other parts of the world. Ack! (OMG. Bdet. Hahahaha!!!)

Ohum.

Hay... at least even though we failed to see it on channel 2's INSIDER, by some stoke of luck I saw it on ANC. We futilely waited for it to be shown on TV Patrol that same day we were interviewed by Melo del Prado.
Sayang nga lang dahil naubos ang load ko at di ko maitext kila Mela at Bdet at iba pang piling tao.

Heheh.

(My food for thought: It pays to plan what to say, having heard what has already been said and anticipated what would probably be mentioned. Haha. :D)


That's the end of my quote. :D
Some details were ommited or substituted with another term due to its graphic nature while the bleeps were substituted by me to aid in the protection of a reputation. *winks to Bdet* Ahahahahah!

***

Hay... the perks of having the OJT in a media office. :D

***

Itinagalog ko nalang itong inilagay ko na ito para di maka-offend ng mas marami:

Nakita niyo ba si Uncle Fester sa lungsod na kung saan siya ay inihalal sa isang makapangyarihang posisyon kailan lang.

*kindat kindat*

Patawad sa komento ko. Alam kong ang binanggit ko ay masama. Sana naman ay mapatawad ako ng mga mao-offend sa ginawa ko.

:)

One Bad Day Comming Up!

There were no news at the WPD today.

Again, there were no news at the WPD today.

Yeah, it must be good because there were no stabbings, major robberies, nobody got hold-upped (I hope), no estafa filed today and all the evil things that regularly happen here in the city of Manila, particularly in Tondo.

*sigh*

So, here I am at the Bill's Gate here in Morayta waiting for a friend that I'm planning to drag me anywhere that would cure this boredom that I caught since after lunch.

Hay... still havent finished reading Uncle Tom's Cabin. Well, Kitin lent it to me when I lent her my My Sassy Girl vcd.

argh! Im hungry and Arlene just arrived.

Bye! Take Care always people!

Habemus Papam!

Thank you for everything!!!

Thank you for everything!

My 'thank you' goes to God, my family, my friends, my acquintances, and all the people who made all this possible!

Eheheheh. Sounds like a speech for the Oscars.

Thank you to Ma'am Mia, our trainor for the OJT, for bringing us with her for the birthday blow-out (/PR meeting :D ), initially mistaken for a press conference, of Manila Councilor "Trisha" yesterday at the Gery's Grill; Mr. Noel Alamar, for treating Mela, Bdet and me out once while giving us a insight into his life as a radio (DZMM) field reporter and for informing us on how people who work for ABS-CBN are very well compensated (considering the risk of job and all); kuya Keneth, working for Tanod, for sharing a gist of his 3-yr experience in the field and a behind the scene (read: intriguing) outlook on Tawi-Tawi, the military and Abu Sayaf, death threats, and on the local government of the city of Manila; and Mela and Bdet for being with me the whole time.

And of course Thank You to God and my family for innumerable and, sometimes unrecognized, reasons.

These experiences I bet I wont forget. But if, hopefully not, I will, I hope I still have this blog and people to remind me.

I watched Pinoy Abroad on GMA early morning today and I give two thumbs up!

I learned there that:

• There is a Meiji Park in Tokyo where people would go and dress up in their fave character a la cosplay in an anime convention.
• Women are not given first priority when it comes to sitting on subways, to say the least.
• Giving tips is a no-no in Japanese society.
• Just like in the US, education is free and compulsary. (The compulsary part, Im not so sure. Eheh.)
• Japinoys, aka Japanese-Filipinos, are sikat in there. There's this guy about my age who said that he used to be teased for being different, but now they are sort of an awe for among their peers since they can speak other languages aside from Nihonggo, like English and Filipino.

Hum... I know English, Filipino, Ifugao, Ilocano, an a wee bit of *ohum* Spanish. ^___^ Tsk tsk tsk. Baka sam-ba-hin na ang mga katulad ko dun. Ack! Ahahahahah! :D Uh... that is if marunong rin pala akong mag-Hapon. Eheheheh. Well, it's also my dream to understand Nihonggo. :D

The anime that helped me remember the reason why I took this course.

The anime that helped me remember the reason why I took this course.

It's Twin Spica.

The story about Asumi Kamogawa, a 14-yr-old girl that dreams of becoming a rocket pilot. She may be 14, young at age you may say but she's way matured for her age. Kinda reminds me of me.

It is shown on ANIMAX every Monday at 10 pm.

Btw, if you like Fruits Basket this might just be much appreciated by you! :D

For me, Twin Spica is one of the best animes I've seen so far. Watch it and you'll know what Im talking about.

A Wednesday evening. A Thursday early morning.

The Vision of Escaflowne on ANIMAX just gets better and better!!!

It's really one of two shows every Wednesday that I anticipate every day of the week. The other show is Midori Days.

G*d. How I wonder that if I watched Esca in the 1990s how would I have reacted to it then.

Its superb plot, special effects, characters, and background music would have been astounding to me as it is now! And to think that it was made in 1996! It's just way ahead of it's time.

I pity the people who havent had the chance to watch it.

***

Scribbles this early morning on a piece of paper:

The ff are scribbles I made this early morning while watching TV.

Q: What will one see on Arirang TV at 2 am Philippine time?

A: A documentary featuring Rowena, a Filipina who married a Korean, has 3 children, farmed with her Korean family, and who's now an English teacher for children and housewives in the community.

She is also a volunteer for the PR department of the local government there. She was shown translating the captions used in a promotional material for tourism in the community where she belongs, Mungyeong(pop. 80,000. If I heard it right!) .

"It would be nice if more foreigners like Rowena would come and help the city." said one Korean lady.

*OMG! I saw this part before! If only I watched more then, I would have noticed that a Filipina is the central character among Koreans in their community.

Now I know.*

OMG. I'm so proud of her.

She graduated at the St. Louis University in Baguio City and had her Masters. (which school I didnt see bec I was taking notes plus I'm myopic.)

To think about it, none of this would have happened if not for Rowena's love for her husband and children and in-laws who also reciprocated her love (Her dad-in-law died before the car that he bought for her as a gift arrived. :'c ) plus the community's gusto to learn English.

Tsk. So that's Win Win Human Documentary of Arirang TV.

Now where's that fried chicken skin?... Gutom ako.

***

I slept at around 3:40am. Heard the cp's alarm and woke up at 8 am but went back to bed and slept again... Then I consciously realized what I just did, I bolted up, and realized that I slept for another 30 mins.

***

2:49 pm... omg. I think I just spent more than an hour before I type this dot.

CAR story.

CAR = acronym for Cordillera Administrative Region

***

I finally made that email to Chris, a former Peace Corps volunteer sent to Mayoyao, Ifugao years ago. He once said in an e-mail that one project of his may not bne in use today and that comment was bugging me eversince. You see, I hadn't told him that he's wrong. But atleast now I cleared my conscience by telling him that the project he once had is in very good use up to now. :D

***

Speaking of my province, I just read from the paper yesterday, People's Tonight, where I'm having my OJT with my friends, that mother's kabababayan, Congressman Chungalao, was proposing to make Marijuana a legal cash crop for Benguet since the vegetable industry is not doing very well now because of the influx of imported vegetables from China. (darn. I'm no racist ok. Just maybe patriotic.)

Marijuana is acually a medicinal plant, it's just that those druggies who abuse it's use give it a bad name. I havent tried one anyway, but Im not in favor of making it a cash crop because it'll be primarily used by druggies anyway.

***

All cops in the province of Abra were relieved of their posts yesterday. I found this amusing and funny. But then, seriously, where would all those cops go? Maybe they'll become full-time conscripts for the private armies there. Humph. The private armies that they failed to neutralize and is the reason why all of them are relieved of their posts.

Oh well... welcome to the Philippines. :P

***

But then, CAR is still a great place to visit! I've been there for many times already that I lost count.

Sings: Nakapunta ka na ba sa Rice Terraces ng Ifugao?!

(Or nakashake hands ang members ng private armies sa CAR [or sa ibang parte pa ng Pilipinas]?! Ack. shouldnt have put this down lest I pull down the local tourism. :D )

Q: On what channel did I find the show that featured the Sampaguita Ice Cream of The Illustrado Restaurant here in Manila?!

A: On Arirang TV!!!

Yup! I was watching that last night, I think, and I was surprised not only because there is such an ice cream as Sampaguita Ice Cream but also because I realized that I would have to learn that from a Korean channel...

Hum... reminds me of that multi-million peso effort of the Department of Tourism to promote tourism here in the Philippines. *wink wink*

Sings: Nakapunta ka na ba sa blah blah blah blah blah blah... O nakatikim ng Sampaguita Ice Cream?!!!

***

The Shounen show btw has changed from Saturday to Sunday! I saw it last night on NHK just when it was about to end for the night. :D

***

It really amazes me everytime I watch the news on cable channels. I've seen this news on NHK about the rallyists in front of the Japanese Embassy in Beijing, China and then I saw it later in ANC.

***

Almost all here at the OJT tells us that on this job, you cant really expect much money.

Oh well... I say if you're the righteous type dont expect money and be brave because your country is the second most dangerous country for Journalists.

Hay... Life is great!!! You just need to look at it from a lot of angles if you dont see it in a good light from one angle. :D

And On The Third day, Brent...

Dunno if Im still gonna continue the previous post... *sigh* Shyet... This is such a bore...

*big loong yawn*
*looks at Bdet's NBA game...*
*looks at Mela's pc...*
*looks at my own big screen... -__- *

F*ck...

***

I'm contempleting on the idea should I put down something here on blog or not... Well, maybe not... I've put it down on paper already and it proved therapeutic, though I really didn't need the "therapy" because at that time the "prevailing" "emotion" has already subsided.

Ohh well...

Well on the lighter side *lights up and typing speed catches up* I'm sure this time that our name will be on the byline again tomorrow!!! :D Because the reporter who-doesnt-attribute-us-at-all-even-when-we-deserve-it is absent today!!! (Yipee! Ohum.) Oh poor guy...

^__^

***

Thank you very much to Kitin for everything.

Maraming salamat sa iyo, aking alter-ego.

The Pope, The Prince, The Philippines, And Me.

Lots of things have happened this week.

Me, together with Bdet and Carmela were on our way back to the WPD Headquarters after we had our lunch when we saw activists settling themselves in front of the WPD HQ.
We went straight to the Media Office and reported to our trainor, Ma'am Mia, and asked what we could do. She told us to have some quotes from the activists. We went out, listened to their grievances through their megaphone, saw Satur Ocampo 2 feet away(Wow. That was like close encounter.), recieved press releases from the activists, and wrote down what we thought would be important for the news.

The news that our trainor wrote wasnt published. Oh well.

At least we had another unique experience. We learned some inside story that the public dont see and hear from the news that they recieve from the media. Things like that happened like how the activists were dispersed. Oh yeah, that one was mentioned by one of the activist leaders in an interview with a radio reporter while we were all in one room. And there was one UST communication arts graduate who was recording a report while we were in the same room too. Yey. Talk about being among people who work for print and braodcast media and watch them do it live.

The activists btw were there to condemn the violent dispersal made by the WPD Malate Police earlier that day. The activists organized themselves in front of the Malate church to condemn the recent killing of a priest in Tarlac, plus the killing of other activists, and journalists. Remember Hacienda Luisita. Yeah, that may be the reason for the killing.

***

I watched on CNN and BCC the recorded funeral rites before The Pope was buried. Rest in Peace our dear Pope John Paul II. May the College of Cardinals choose a suitable sucessor.***

to be continued...

To all my batch mates: Let's "enjoy" our vacation while there's still less than two months left! I dont want to end up again saying that "The vacation went by too fast!" or "Whatthe! Tapos na pala ang bakasyon?!".

***

This is the third day in a row that nothing major bad happend, atleast based on the absence of Police reports or spot reports on crime around WPD's jurisdiction. This is good in a way because parts of Manila, particularly Tondo, dont have major crimes since Monday. This is "bad" in a way since we dont have anything to write about. We just went to the WPD Heardquarters to bum around, futilely look for news, sit, and think of what other OJTers are doing...

Oh bore...

At least the hours required to complete for the OJT is ever so slowly deminishing...

^__________^

"Enjoy" the Summer "vacation" guys!!! :D

Pope John Paul II died.

The Pope died 9:37 pm, Vatican time (3:37am Phil. time).

I was awake until 2am this early morning watching the updates on the Pope's condition. And when they finally did revealed it to the media they said almost the same thing as they did the previous night, that the Pope was in grave but stable condition. I was almost always watching news channels: CNN, and BBC, and other Cable channels: DW, TV Española, TV5, NHK, and Arirang, since I heard the news on the grave condition of the Pope on CNN when I woke up last Friday at 5am.

Since there was apparently not much update, I slept at 2am. Then I woke up and later decided to turn on the TV and switched to CNN. Then they said it.

The Pope John Paul II has died.

***

I was on this since Friday but then when the very vital part was about to happen, I decided to sleep.

***

Let's all pray for the soul of our beloved Pope.

***

I was quite surprised and dissapointed when the "reports from: blah, blah, and blah" wasn't included in some particular news in People's Tonight today. This is related to my post yesterday regarding the "in the field" experience we had. *sigh* Well maybe there wasn't much space to place our names. It's just that well... you get my point. But anyway, the experience is still an experience and that's what matters the most. At least, I guess, as of now.

Wow! We were "in the field" at last!

We had the chance to cover a story by ourselves kanina!

Though I think due to the nature of the incident that happened my "celebrating mood" is maybe quite unethical.

Anyway. I'm still glad that we did it the way we did. It is really during that time that we had the chance to apply what we learned in school regarding the proper decorum when obtaining information from news sources. Imagine, no other reporters were there except me, Badet, and Mela! Well, atleast during when the people involved were being interrogated on the scene of the incident and in the WPD in UN Ave. There were Journalists and Photographers in PGH ,where we first went. Another amazing thing was that had not Mela told the other reporters about the incident, we might as well be the only ones to go. But not informing them about it might be unethical.


Hay...

I know (not hope. know.) that story will be published tomorrow. And Im already glad thinking about it. :D

quoted from my comment on Elizel's latest post about their plan to go to Japan and the Pope's present condition:

How long does it take to work for a passport for Japan?... ^_____^Do they require a VISA?... Hum?... ^________^
*Images of Sakura and Japanese HS girls in minis...*
*Ack* Ohum. So uh...
Maybe if people like me die you'll mourn because I also sincerely want peace on earth. Anyway,nuf w/ that. ü Dunno if I should put this down but I will anyway... I actually shed tears last night (luckily nobody noticed) and, again, this morning. This morning I felt/thought that I wouldnt be so affected as I was last night but then I surprised myself when I felt the tears again after I saw a scene on CNN where The Pope was embracing the Dalai Lama. (sh*t. remembering it almost makes me "feel" it again.)*sigh* Oops. Long reaction. I think I'll post this on my blog verbatim. Ahaha. heh. *sigh*

The Pope and Schiavo.

I woke up at 5 this morning and decided to watch tv.

Guess what I heard and saw?

On CNN and BBC:
Terri Schiavo died March 31, 2005 (US), thirteen days after her feeding tube was removed. She was fed through the tube when she fell into the vegetative state since 1990.

On CNN, BBC, and TV Española:
Pope John Paul II is having a hight fever and now has a feeding tube connected to his nose. The fever was due to Urinary Tract Infection.
He was given the Extreme Unction, a.k.a., the last sacrament that is given to dying people.

On ABS-CBN Channel 2's Magandang Umaga Bayan:
The news about Terri Schiavo.

On ABS-CBN Studio23:
Magandang Umaga Bayan

On GMA 7:
The news about Terri Schiavo... yata.

Both top local channels failed to tell the news about the Pope. Instead, on channel 2, guess what MUB was featuring?---The Viva Hot Babes as guests.
They were too busy telling about the frivolities and bobo things that they keep on feeding the Filipino masa every single morning.

F*ck. (sh*t. Shouldnt have said that atleast on this post.)

Well, ABS-CBN somehow redeemed itself by featuring the news about the Pope in its Cable Channel, ANC.

But then, they should have told the masa of the Catholic Country in Asia that their Pope is in very critical condition at these moments. Dont mind if only a "few" will see since it's still early in the morning.

Darn local broadcast media. Ka-Pamilya at Ka-Puso umano. P*cha. Lalo ninyong ginagawang bobo ang bobo at mangmang ang mangmang. Never mind the social responsibility trash.