Selamat Hari Merdeka!

Kepada semua kawanku di atau dari negara Malaysia, selamat Hari Merdeka! :)

Have fun eating and making merry while I'm training my butt off!

Hmmph! :P

Jay~

Motivation

The best words that I have ever heard from one of our physical therapists:

"You run five kilometers everyday, train weights for one hour, then dance and train with Animo, including conditioning, and still manage to get up in the morning with barely any pain or strains and do it all over again..

You are very well-conditioned."

Thanks. :)

Jay~

Philippines, Where Did Your Intellect Go?

At first I though it was me, but really, after more than a year in this country (Philippines, in case you didn't know), I am more than a little bit disappointed with the intellectual capabilities of the local Juan (or in American, the local John Doe). Seriously. I'm disappointed.

From simple decision-making skills, to seemingly basic choices, I wonder what is the sort of kindergarten and primary school system this country gives to its citizens. The typical neighborhood dude (in my area, for instance) simply cannot cannot make the simplest of intellectual leaps, probably because they never question anything. When I say anything, it's anything.

Case in point. I was talking to a neighborhood girl who sells me candy on most mornings. She sees me in my silly tight sleeveless training shirt, and asks where I am going. I say I'm heading to the gym. She says, "no wonder you're not that tall". Er..? I'm 20 years old, miss. I started doing weights seriously just about 2 months ago, and since when did gym = vertically challenged? Anyway, I replied that no, gym has nothing to do with height, especially at this age, and that height is basically genetics. She goes yeah, sure, up to whatever you believe. LOL. I can only shake my head.

Here's another laughable logic that I have noticed here. It is when parents or older members of a given family uses two words to explain to their children or younger ones why an action should not be done, like stealing or lying. "Masama yun." It literally means, "it's not good". Er..? Could you please try and give whoever you are trying to teach a little bit more of a logical explanation? Why can't I skip school? Masama yun. Why can't I watch this show? Masama yun. Why can't I miss church? Masama yun. Well thank you for not letting your children and others hear a bit more logic in your arguments. And as for those listening to these stupid answer, please, for the love of all that is holy, question why. No, I am not invoking civil unrest, but really, no good questions equals no good answers equals a backward and ridiculously apathetic society, which is beautiful motherland, Philippines.

Oh and another one, as this post turns into a rant thread. I just cannot understand the average Filipino's fixation on game shows. They're everywhere! I don't get it, seriously. I mean, here you are, sitting in your sparse little kitchen wondering how to get more money, and you switch on the telly and you see an average person just like you winning a few thousand pesos, and you go, oh my, how lucky they are. When you see someone win a million pesos, you go, oh my how very lucky they are! In Tagalog, of course, but you get my point. Er.. Here's the point. Watching people make money in a seemingly lucky way makes everyone who watches this religiously become poor. Why? Simple. These silly game shows breed a nation of dreamers and hopers, a society that wants nothing more than to 'strike it lucky' so 'they can spend it all in one day'. No exaggeration. Here's a REAL conversation I had with a relative.

"If you won the lottery, what would you do with all the money?"
"I would pay all my debts, and give the rest to my family members."

Sounds like a good answer? Wrong! Na-ah! First, that money you won in the scenario will go up in smoke in no time if you just used it to appease your family members. Come on Filipinos. Let's cut the crap already. Helping family who do not help themselves does no one any good. Ever. You know what helps? Using that amount as a capital for a business, or to invest it in companies that make a good deal of revenue. Heck, if I had that much, first thing I'll do is buy stocks from San Miguel. Beer never goes out of business in the Philippines. LOL. Then, passive income rolls in. I think the reason so many people here are so poor no matter how much they make (legally or illegally) is because they have this weird mindset that getting family members to waste money is productive for one's own business. *sigh* The things people do.

Watching a video in class of poor people, one thing struck me. All of these dirt-poor families have a lot of children. In fact, their common denominator seems to be poverty and a ghastly amount of children. Really strange. I would have thought that it takes the mental capacity of a dog to equate more mouths to feed equals to more money needed. Money that does not exist. In the video, a family of nine members live on 30 pesos a day. They are ridiculously malnourished. I stress on the 'ridiculous'. The 14-year old son weighs 12.3 kilograms. TWELVE. Holy crap. Out of the nine kids, 3 will definitely die in a year, and all the rest will die within three. The defense used by the idiots who justify this is that more kids mean more help for mom and pop. Er..? You stupid people. The kids are effing sick! They are literally shaking hands with the ferry-man of hell, that's how ill they are. They do nothing but moan and wiggle a bit sometimes, that's how dead they are. And when they are active, they get weak in a few minutes. What help can they give..? Come on people! A little common sense here please!

Ranting never felt so good. :)

Jay~

Pressure > Stress

Hi there readers. I've been gone a while, I know.

It's the finals week (not exactly one week, as schedules are staggered) here in De La Salle, and I've been busy trying to get much, much higher grades as compared to last term's disaster (low grades in Theology, and barely won 2.0 in English for Research). The good news is that I am exempted for Theology 2 finals (which means I probably got a 3.0; considering that my professor does not give anything more than a 3.5, that's pretty okay by my book), and a probably 4.0 for 2-3 subjects. It just sucks that I was hit by measles a couple of weeks ago, as it really robbed me of some easy points in Literature and Spanish 2. Oh well.

Gender Studies is not looking good right now. Our final paper, which has to be a minimum of 20 pages, has turned out to be a disaster. It's 10.03 am now, and the paper is due at noon. I wrote almost 10 pages of the thing, and another group member did 4 pages (but she did most of the outlines and presentation), while our last group mate cannot be contacted last night. He sent in his work earlier, and it was barely 2 pages. O.M.G. Currently repairing the damage, and I am so stressed from it I need to blog. LOL.

Aside from the academic stress, the thing that has been exhausting myself and 24 other people (excluding our poor coaches and choreographers) is the pressure to perform for the upcoming UAAP CDC. It is a big thing in La Salle now, especially with the less-than-satisfactory performance last year. Unfortunately, fatigue and mental stress is setting in. Focus is dropping, as was evident last night, when we had some unfortunate incidents. I will not elaborate any more on that, but on the bright side, the routine looks sharp and impressive. Whether we will bring home a bacon larger than 7th place remains to be seen.

In about seven hours, the head of the Office of Sports Development, Brother Bernie Oca, FSC, will watch our entire routine. God help us.

Let's go Animo.
One team, one dream.
P.1.3.

Jay~

Unschooled University AllStars

Welcome the arrival of a new dance crew.
Watch out for La Salle Dance Company - Street, Krumpinoy, and Skittlez Crew members.

:)

Great job guys.



Jay~

Gayle is 19

Happy 19th birthday to my baby girl. :)

Part 1: Starbucks
Thanks for the treat, babe.


Part 2: The Mummy 3

Watched the third in the series that we both love. :)

Part 3: Dinner at Shakey's






Again, thanks for the treat. :) You've been such an angel on your birthday. <3

Babe, thanks for being there for me even when I didn't know I needed anyone. You're awesome, and you're great. *mwah* I'm glad I'm the man you're spending your birthday with this year.

I love you babe. <3

Jay~

Biter Nation

It's definitely not me.
The majority of entertainment seen in Filipino entertainment shows consist of biters.

Stop stealing dance moves from famous groups.
If you're all not as good as JabbaWockeeZ, let the All-Stars dance.
Take an example from the 2008 World Hip Hop Champions.
Be original.

In the words of the Jabba-gods, "biterz will be eaten!"

Stop translating decent hip hip songs to Tagalog!
Tagalog is hardly a language suited for certain songs, especially those that already make little sense in English.
Flo Rida's "Low", Sean Kingston's "Beautiful Girls", Souljah Boy's "Crank That", and Chris Brown's "With You" are some of the songs that you unoriginal bastards have translated into Tagalog.

It's NOT funny.
It's NOT entertaining.
Your translated lyrics SUCK.

Stop killing hip hop music and hip hop dance.
You are all UNORIGINAL.
Biters to the max.
Learn to write your own songs, b*tches.

In the wise words of Ludacris,
"Your new name's fire, 'coz we stomp you out".

You're all going to get stomped out in your lack of originality.
The time and energy you bastards use to rip songs off, you can spend writing your own pieces.

Umayos kayo!

*BAM*

Jay is very mad.

Jay~

Measles

Like my past week couldn't get any worse.
It did.

Of all the things..
Measles.

Hope to get well by Friday.

Jay~