The Gaza War

Over the past two weeks, I have closely followed the developments on the Israeli-Hamas war that has sparked international condemnation of the actions of the Israeli government. With that in effect, I will be posting updates here on my blog, as well as my reaction to various news reports from Time, The Guardian, Associated Press, Yahoo News, and various other agencies.

My stance on the issue (currently) is that Israel's response to Hamas' attacks are exaggerated and uncalled for. However, from a realist's perspective, Israel is indeed doing what any nation state would do. In this century though, I would have expected a nation state as technologically, strategically, tactically, and economically more superior power to practice restrain when dealing with a threat to its sovereignty.

This is an interesting development in world events, as Israel has shown again and again its contempt to the United Nations and the International Law of Human Rights, in its reactions against the general Palestinian populace. As it stands, over a thousand Palestinians lay dead; more than half are civilians, as compared to the thirteen Israeli dead, with ten of those being soldiers.

I fear that this is a prelude to the next great world war. I will not be a doomsayer, but the Great War of the early 20th Century and the Second World War concerned mostly tangible points of contention, i.e. the sovereignty of states; territory. This war is pitting two great religions against each other, and wars of religion are probably the most vicious of them all, and in today's world, the situation in the Middle East region of Palestine dictate that the first shots have been fired. If peace is attained, I doubt it will last until either the Palestinians or the Israelis leave the area, something highly implausible in my opinion.

Expect regular updates. I will blog from University if need be.

Jay~

Memnon

Thanks to my Dark Throne friend, Stephen Homer, otherwise known in the game as Blueie, for giving me a wonderful present. :)

A historical fiction book. Specifically, a book about Memnon of Rhodes.
(You all should know about my fascination with ancient military history :P)




It arrived ahead of schedule! :)Thanks again, Blueie!

Jay~

Thank You, GMA7

GMA7, producers of the morning show Unang Hirit ("First Strike"), invited Skittlez Crew to dance at their televised show. Unfortunately, due to our academic schedules and the very early nature of the show, we had to regretfully deny their gracious request.

On behalf of Skittlez Crew, thank you GMA7 for honoring us with an invite to dance in one of your premier shows.

On a good note, Krumpinoy, Philippine's pioneer krump crew, will dance for Unang Hirit on January 14, 2009 (as far as I know). Do tune in if you have access to the channel. The shows air at 5.30am I believe. Support the dance community!

More about Unang Hirit here

UHS Dance

The video I took of Uno High School's collaborative dance, comprising of UHS Pep Squad members, and various UHS Pep Squad Alumni (of which Gayle is one of). Choreography by my friend and 'boss', Red Soriano of XFX.



Jay~

Third Term, 08/09 First Impressions

This is my last term as a sophomore, and the crunch time terms are coming up. I have had the opportunity to meet all my professors and lecturers for this term in the past two days, and boy, some are downright fearsome.

USAGOV
American Government class is looking to be tougher than American History class last term. Same professor (Bro. G.W., FSC), but our reading materials have changed. Last term, we used a small, novel-sized textbook; this term, it's a tome entitled American Government: The Essentials. You know you're in trouble when a thick, thick tome is only labeled as "the essentials". Still, I have a good feeling about this one.

USACRSS
Critical Securities Studies sound more like a Red Alert: 3 mission briefing, but I have a feeling that it's going to be challenging as hell. Professor is the stellar Ms. C.M. (going to be a PhD soon, and she IS a very intelligent lady) who gave me a challenging time last year with Foreign Relations class.

USAFORD
American Foreign Policy (Domestic) is also looking up to be challenging, with a lawyer as a professor, Mr. S.M. (also getting a PhD soon, I believe). He's a history major, and I have a feeling I might enjoy this class better than most.

INTEORG
Without Dr. Dr. R (double PhD!) teaching this class, we got a 22-year old UP-Diliman scholar who also has a degree in Defense Intelligence from the Australian Military as our professor, Mr. S.R. He will be teaching us International Organizations, and I can tell from the get-go that not only is he going to be a tough one to please, he will definitely have very high standards (not to mention book reviews, and weekly news reviews).

SPANFOR
I am at Spanish 4! Joder! LOL. We have a very cheerful professor this term, Ms. A from Vigo, Espana. Good feeling about this one.

HUMAART
Introduction to Art should be a very interesting subject this term, as it is my only non-major subject. That doesn't mean I should slack off though; I aim to target nothing less than a 3.0 for this one. Classmates are going to be fun too, as I discovered I have plenty of friends in this floating subject.

I hope I can manage all these this term. It's going to be challenging, but that just means I have to rise to it. :)

Jay~

Anniversary Lunch

It has been a wonderful year, and to celebrate our first anniversary, we went to the seaside (going to Mall of Asia) and had a huge (accidental) feast. We ordered food for "2-3 people" and the servings we received were nothing short of insane. LOL.

Bunso's Seafood Restaurant

The couple. <3





The delicious seafood. :D
Yang Chow Fried Rice

Garlic Buttered Prawns

Seafood Chop Suey

Us, with the food. :P


Sweet and Sour Lapu-Lapu

Pictures. LOL.



We had only two conclusions. First, that the food was great and the servings, huge, and second, that we will definitely eat there again. The food was almost obscenely cheap (the whole fish was only P110!), and for very fresh food (the fish was still kicking when they brought it from the seafood stalls) the serving time was surprisingly quick. Very good place to take a lot of people for a meal to, as we ended up consuming only a quarter of the food; we brought home the rest. LOL.

Happy anniversary, Gayle, and I am looking forward to yet another year with you. :)

Jay~

Wake Up

When I am down and out, and I force a smile on myself, feeling sorry for myself inside, I think of the wonderful people who surround me, and the things I have accomplished in my 20 years, and I feel better already.

But not that much better.

It's just one of those days when I question myself, what's the use of having brains? What's the use of being so talented? What's the use of being able to do literally almost everything?

I see the most undeserving people get everything they want, when they should get exactly what they need.

Bitter Mode: On?

Utopia Mode: On
Everyone in my imaginary world is rewarded based on their knowledge, skills and talents, and character. Like that would ever happen. LOL.

Yeah, I feel better already.
But not that much better.

Suck it up, I tell myself. I'm tougher than this. Wipe your face, and tell yourself how far you've come, I say to the man in the mirror. He looks defeated tonight; I laugh. Wake up.

Wake up.

Wake up. Reality. Ouch; it just hit.

Jay~

P.S. Looking forward to our one year tomorrow, babe. That should cheer me up lots.

New Year Fireworks

Some pictures and a video of New Year's Day celebration at my street. :)

Hazy skies and bright sparks.






Seeking out the best views. :) (I love these shots!)



Some of the live action. :P


Jay~

Twilight

Watched this a couple of weeks ago with Gayle. She has actually read all four books in the saga (Twilight, New Moon, Eclipse, Breaking Dawn), though personally, I hate the series. I just think that the books are not intellectually provocative enough, like a typical teen book (which it is).

Anyway, I did not like the movie.

It was very average, and plot progression was a little messy and unreal in some areas (when the girl lead saw the male lead, she looked like she was about to have an orgasm), and a lot of the acting was over the top. Ridiculous, really.

What I hated most from the movie was that the character of Bella Swan looks like she's at the point of sexual ecstasy every freaking time she thinks of Edward Cullen (or when she's with him). It's very annoying. However, if that was how she was in the book, then good acting I guess.

Bad special effects; Edward looks like Speedy Gonzalez when he does his "speed" thing. And vampires playing baseball in the rain? Seriously!

For the above reasons and many more unmentioned, this yet-another-teen-flick gets a low rating from me.

4/10

Jay~

Coffee Bean Notebook

Seeing as we've been going to CB for quite a bit during December, enjoying drinks and reads, Gayle and I finally managed to earn the limited edition Coffee Bean artwork notebook. :) As a bonus, we were allowed to choose a charity to give part of the money we spent to. We chose The Cartwheel Foundation, which sought to help unfortunate children with reading and writing materials, and also to help fund their basic education in the Philippines.






Of course, a little cam-whoring session was in order. :P



We <3 Coffee Bean. :D

Jay~

Meet the Family

Actually, just half of her family. :P It was really cool to visit Gayle's family (her mum's side, at least) and spend New Year's day eating and eating and eating. I have a feeling this is all a conspiracy to get me to lose my hard-worked mid-section! :P

Pictures taken at her maternal grandmother's home. :)





Gayle's grandma makes killer spaghetti and really wicked ube. :D


Thanks for the wonderful time, family! :)

Jay~

Hello 2009!

Hello, new year. :)

I expect you to give me so much more blessings in my academics, my relationship, my crew, my athletics, and of course, in my family.

As I will also be 21 this year, I'm really looking forward to hitting the big two-one (legal age around the world!). LOL. Nah, not really.

I also expect this blog to continue providing you, my readers, good material to relieve your boredom, inform you of the things that go bump in my life, and of course, to share my thoughts with you.

For 2009, if you can't be good, be safe. :) Cheers!

Jay~