I Hate The Word BLOG

Heavy Metal Madness

I'm back in the gym...

Well I actually have been for almost two months now...  One of the drawbacks of living alone is that you get to have lots of nothing-to-do time on your hands, and I decided to use the time on a more positive channel instead.  It's no secret that I've been trying to lose some weight for almost a year now, and I've been successful somewhat, even before the gym sessions.  I'm not a weight room newbie, too, having first went to the same gym I'm going to right now (Axis) back when I was still around 14 or 15 (!).  I didn't do much lifting back then, because I was told that it could stunt your vertical growth if you lifted too much.  Ha ha.

Having gone full circle in the gym circuit, I couldn't help but ruminate on the numerous fitness centers that I've gone to in my weight training career (career daw o).  I've been to no less than five gyms all these years (I even went to that gym that

Ororama

Megacenter

used to have - the one near the

Bowling

Center

) and I haven't seen a gym with so much dedicated lifters as in Axis.  True, the equipment aren't as technologically advanced as those of, say, Clark Hatch or in Xavier Estates (used to lift there too), but I realized that all I really needed to have an effective workout are some barbells, dumbbells, benches, and other "primitive" lifting machines that I can use for only P290 a month in that sweat-stinky gym (it doesn't have airconditioning, which makes sweating a lot easier).

Speaking of dedicated lifters, I'm amazed with how many gym rats there are in that place.  I mean, there are these guys who seem to be there everytime I went there - and I mean everytime.  Like, there are times I'd go there real early (opening time is 6am) and there they'd be, lifting monstrous barbells like their lives depended on it.  I'd sometimes go during lunchtime and I'd see the same faces, attached to the same steroid - enriched bodies and pumping iron like crazy. 

There are some really interesting creatures, too.  Like, there's this short guy who's got a really big and chiseled upper body, with all the cuts and crevices, all topping a really skinny thigh and calves.  I always think of a spinning top when I see him. Hehee.  And then there's this sad-looking fellow who would take a lot of time slumped on a bench in between sets.  He'd lift a really heavy barbell maybe five times, then sit around for like five minutes or so.  And yeah, he doesn't look like someone who's into lifting.  I can't help noticing him the way you can't help looking at a car crash.  Another is this really short guy (even shorter than the first guy) who's very stocky (you might even mistake him for fat) who can dead-lift incredible weights.  They say he's a medalist in powerlifting competitions.  I say he looks like a mascot.  Heheheh.

I do get to do some lifting of my own despite my incessant sniping at others.  I don't lift too heavy, though, because I don't want to get really big muscles.  I'd rather get toned down and sculpted, which is, I begin to realize, much much difficult than just building muscles on top of muscles.  For one, you need to do a lot more reps, and that makes you hurt a lot.  Second, you got to put it more reps in a shorter period of time in between reps so you don't get to rest your body much before you pound it to another level of pain.

My mother used to have this Tagalog saying, "kung gusto mong maglandi, magtiis ka sa hapdi," which, although quite vulgar, can be roughly translated into something like, "if you really want something, sometimes you've got to suffer for it," or something like that.  I'm not really planning on doing some "landi" stuff - seriously - but the way I'm seeing the results of all the hard work I've put in so far, I'd say the suffering is kinda worth it.

Recess Yun!

I avoid, as much as possible, writing about sociopolitical issues. For one, I believe I'm not qualified to do so, with the breadth of my knowledge on those areas limited to what I see on television and newspapers such that more often than not I'd end up sounding hollow and superficial. These days, however, it seems everyone is inclined to saying something about the almost-global economic recession that I feel the need to tap into my inner Descartes and do some cogito stuff of my own. And besides, it's been a while since I've written anything that I feel like I'm going to crack if I didn't.

Ever filled your gas tank with that sweet-smelling stuff called gasoline lately? I do, every three days or so, and every time I do I'm still appalled by the prices that seem to increase on a daily basis. Last time I checked it was at 60.45 per liter, and for you keeping scores at home, that is around 50 percent higher than the price of the same stuff this time last year.

Rice, on the other hand, has risen (pun intended) to an almost-absurd price level of around 40 per kilo. Admittedly, I do not eat much of it these days (low-carb diet kuno) yet you still feel the pinch anytime Toybi orders that second cup of rice everytime we dine out. Believe it or not, a small cup of cooked rice is now being peddled for at least 10 pesos. I was even more shocked when I recently called a supplier to inquire on construction supply prices. Steel prices, for example, has gone up by more than 80 percent! A piece of deformed bar which cost 140 per piece as lately as December is now sold at 260 per piece. Talk about being stiffed by steel.

Now it would be expected that most of the other basic commodities would follow suit in the price increase orgy. Transport fares have already gone up, and other food products have been steadily rising as well (pork is now, I've heard, at around 175 per kilo, up by almost 30 percent). What does that mean for our buying power, then? Minimum wage around these parts is still pegged at around 210 or so, while in Manila it's at around 320. That means for a minimum wage-earner feeding a family of four, he can only afford to spend for these things per day: 2 kilos of rice (80), 1 kilo of fish (150) and fare to work (30). Then he has around 60 pesos in a day for all the other needs of the family, such as water, electricity, and rent.

Sounds terrible, right?

It only gets worse. Most economists believe the economic situation won't be improving until after maybe early next year. It's not just us Filipinos, too. Even the mighty Americans are suffering from a weak economy these days. Someone I know who's working with FedEx in the US said the company's planning to offer early retirement packages to its employees in efforts of lowering overhead costs. A newspaper article I read recently also cited that airlines all over the world are lowering passenger baggage weight limits, as well as using lightweight materials inflight (smaller spoons and cups - and I'm not even making this up) to be able to save on fuel costs (lighter planes mean lower fuel consumption). I'm having headaches just thinking of these things.

And what made me ticked off enough to write about this is the news that we here at good ol' XU have just been given lower increases in our salaries effective June this year; this, as compared to the seven percent increase last year (which was also insignificant considering inflation was at around ten percent). So that means that while prices are increasing by 30 or so percent, our salaries are increased by - hold your breath - FIVE percent. You don't need to be a math major to do the math on this one.

I wonder what life as a bank robber would be like.

Enveloped Ideas

I just wanna write something. Anything. ***************************************************************************** Well, the most logical (as well as the easiest) choice would be to write about basketball. I haven't been as interested in this year's NBA Playoffs, though, ever since my team, the Phoenix Suns, got bounced off in the first round. Pretty much sucked after that but I still kept track of the games and results nonetheless. That's what a boring job and an all-day Internet connection can do for you. My other bets, Dallas, New Orleans, and Orlando also got ambushed in the early rounds so you can say this year isn't exactly an exciting one for me. I would agree with most, however, that the action has been considerably better and the games were very entertaining. Which brings us to this year's NBA Finals, featuring arguably the two best-known teams in the league, the Boston Celtics and the LA Lakers. This is also a match-up considered the most celebrated rivalry in the NBA if not in the entire sporting world. I grew up rooting for the Lakers (with Magic Johnson running the show in the Showtime era) but I also admired the gritty way the Celtics fought against them (Larry Bird has got to be one of the toughest competitors ever) in their numerous battles. That's the advantage of not having a hometown team; you can get to pick any team you like regardless of the location. This year's version of the two teams are very different from the ones I saw before. Even though Boston now has a new version of the Big Three (Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce, Ray Allen) it still pales in comparison to the championship teams of the Original Three (Bird, Kevin McHale, Robert Parish). The Lakers, on the other hand, are basically a one-man team with Kobe Bryant hogging all the ball and everybody else happy going along for the ride. I hate this team. Now I'm rooting for the Celtics. ************************************************************************************* Got a surprise call this morning from my cousin Goldwin who's in Manila. I didn't know his Sun number (he got mine from my sis) so I spent the better part of a minute second-guessing who he was before I finally placed his voice from memory (he wouldn't tell me who he was so I had to guess). We haven't talked in ages, though we were kinda tight for a while even since I spent several months living at their place when I was studying in UST. Seems he's doing well these days selling stainless steel products to industrial companies. He's inviting me to come and visit him one of these days, offering to be my "driver" anywhere I'd want to go. Well, I just might take him up on it sooner than he thinks. ************************************************************************************* School starts next week, after a one-day respite on the 9th (another Gloria-adjusted "holiday") all hell breaks loose on the 10th. I'd be teaching a new course (Production/Operations Management) to a new set of students (Business Management). If I really tried hard enough I probably could study what I'm supposed to teach before classes start. I'll still be handling Engineering classes though, so it's not exactly totally new for me this schoolyear. ************************************************************************************** I was having breakfast this morning (One of the things I hate about CDO is the lack of places where you can have a decent breakfast) when I heard another "remake" song. It's All I Need by Jack Wagner, this time sung by a female singer. As expected, I hated it. I really can't understand the reason behind these so-called "remakes". Why take a really good song and ruin it with a half-assed version? Some of the most recent botches I can recall (aside from the above-mentioned) are "Upside Down", originally by Two Minds Crack, recently wrecked by 6CycleMind, and "Hands to Heaven", originally by Breathe and terribly covered by Christian Bautista. Incidentally, both are two of my most favorite songs. In fairness, there are other remakes that I consider better than the original. The Sixpence version of "Kiss Me" is a much much better than the original (I can't recall who sang it) and "How Deep is Your Love" by Boyzone is more pleasing to the ears than the screeching voices of the BeeGees. The lesson, as always: if you can't improve on something, better leave it as it is. ******************************************************************************** I'm currently hooked to reading the magazine Men's Health (the US version). Aside from the helpful dietary and fitness information, it also has a lot of useful articles on just about anything else. I wouldn't buy the new magazines (P415 at NBS), though, when I can buy back issues for only P110 at Booksale (which aren't exactly old, just a few months back). Another bonus: reading is, of course, a great antidote to boredom and brain rot. ********************************************************************************* And I really did write about something. Thank Goodness.

Fire And/Or Ice

Despite the afternoon being a highly enjoyable and memorable one, I found myself early this evening bored and without anything to do.  I remembered the wise words of the Rabbit to Alice which says any road will do if you don't know where you're going, and with those in mind, I rode my trusty steed to wherever it may take me and minutes later I was parking in a vacant slot in front of National Bookstore.  I guess I'm hoping my mind would rot less quicker if I was reading whatever I could.

Less than an hour, however, and I was out of the store and in search of other alternative brain-rot solutions.  I couldn't afford the books at NBS. 

There was one book which caught my eye, however.  It wasn't even really a book; it is best called a graphic novel (similar to my favorite Sandman series), but what called my attention was the title of the item: Manga Messiah.

Having lots of time on my hand (I did say I was bored, right?), I was able to scan the contents of the graphic novel and confirmed that it was, indeed, a comic book representation of the Gospel, presented in neatly-drawn, manga-styled graphics.  It was fun looking at comic-book versions of Bible characters and it was refreshing to see the story presented in a novel way.  The book wasn't too steep-priced too since it only costs P175 (although I was really feeling like a cheapskate earlier that's why I ended up not buying it).

I recalled a recent conversation I had with a former mentor who is now involved in an evangelical group called Alpha Course.  His group, although Catholic in nature, promotes non-sectarian evangelism through promotion of basic Christian tenets.  He has mentioned that his group is fast becoming active in the use of technology in their evangelization activities.  He also mentioned using alternative methods, such as the use of contemporary music and manga-styled animation and graphic materials, in presenting the Good News to a broader spectrum of people.  The book I read, then, was most likely part of these innovations in the way Jesus is presented to the masses.

I guess it's high time that we use advancements in our societal development as tools is spreading the Gospel to the people.  For too long, the Internet has been a conduit of earthly and debased content that contribute to the moral decay of its users.  Why not use it to increase spiritual awareness instead?  And while new technology are now rapidly converted for insidious purposes (cloning and microchip skin coding comes to mind), it can also be for Christian uses (more and more evangelists rely on digitized technology to promote their songs and messages).  It's time we fight fire with fire, and ice with ice.

I've long believed that we are now in the End Times.  The Bible's predictions of things to come slowly unravel before our very eyes, and as the Good Book says, there is nothing we can do to stop these things from coming to pass.  We, as Christians, however, still have a lot of work to do.  There are still hundreds of millions of people the world over who have yet to be touched by Christian evangelization.  Several days ago, tens of thousands of people perished in China, and I was sad to think that not even a tenth of those who died may have heard of the Gospel, let alone be saved. 

In this age of rapid communications and mind-boggling technological marvels, it is distressing to note that the Gospel is still traveling to the nations at a very slow pace.  Missionaries still find it difficult to penetrate regions where Christianity is barred.  Even resources that are badly needed for the Christian work trickle slowly. 

It's time we asked the question: we who have been given plenty, what are the things that we need to do?  Where are the places that we need to go?  It's a question that we do not need the Rabbit to get an answer.

Mothers Talk

I've learned something important this week. I've learned that "writing is a way of righting things". For someone who's done a lot of writing and yet made a lot of wrong things, I guess that's both ironic and meaningful for me. 

Writing as a way of righting things does have its merits, I think, because it is another way of expressing what we cannot say in person, or, in my case, it's a more effective way (I write better than I speak, and that's not saying much). 

For some reason, there's a topic that I have avoided writing about for almost eight years now.  It's about my mother.  Ever since she died, I've been a mute testimony to what she has been in my life.  It's still difficult now, but it kinda seems apt to write about it today, and therefore I must.

My ma has always been the strongest in the family.  She was the anchor that each of us would latch on to even as we went through the aches and pains of growing.  It's not that she was hard or anything, for I have seen her cry many times.  I remember her cry in happy times (the first time I came back from my studies in Manila, that time I won that contest) and I remember her cry in bad times (the time our business went down, the times when it got too hard for us financially).  And yet the strength and resolve that she shows in the face of adversity has shown us (especially me) how it is to be calm in the midst of chaos.

That ability to be calm enabled me to think with a clear mind that day she unexplainably collapsed on an early rainy November morning, even as my father and sibs were all in panic and practically doing nothing.  It was just sad that even with the speed with which she was brought to the hospital, she still died of brain aneurysm two days later, on my younger brother's birthday.

When she died, I lost more than a mother.  I lost my best friend, my trusted confidante, and my most loyal fan (she believed in me more than I did in myself, if that were possible).  It is no coincidence, therefore, that most of the most idiotic things that I've done in my life came after her death.  For a while, I found myself living in a daze, having nothing to motivate me to do more than what I'm expected to do.

My sisters would always maintain that I was her favorite (I'm proud of that fact), and yet she didn't treat us differently.  She took care of who needed caring, and admonished that which that needed the rod (most often my younger sister).  She cooked very well, too, something that made our household popular in our immediate vicinity and beyond (she did catering services for a while).

She was not without faults, though.  She was notorious for waking up way too late, and she didn't have a bone for exercise in her entire body.  She even developed a terrible smoking habit (as influenced by her best friend).  I think I still have a lot of secondhand smoke in my system to date.

What I remember most about her is this, though, that even as she could have pushed us to be what she wanted us to be, she didn't.  She let us become the persons that we wanted to be.  I wanted to be an architect, she found ways to send me to the best school for that.  I lost my interest and decided to be a bum, she encouraged me to think what I would really want to do with my life.  Even as I was pressuring myself to be among the board topnotchers during my board exams, she was telling me that she would be very happy if I just did my best.  Days before she died, I told her that I was going to treat her when I got my first bonus in my first job (I never got to do it), and she said that she was very happy that I turned out the way I did.

I guess writing does right things.  I think I made things right with my mother now.  I could even start liking her favorite color again.  But I still miss her terribly, after all.

This is for my best friend, and to all who still have their mother with them.

Free for All

Once again we've reached the season of "money ain't for nothing and food for free".  By that I mean the academic year-ender, which normally means a lot of celebrations, and, consequently, a lot of free food.  Filipinos being a race which "lives to eat" (as compared to the "eat to live" mantra of others), any gathering, even simple ones, would not be complete without any form of food.

One of the perks that I enjoy with my current post is the endless supply of free food that people find it necessary to slam down on my table whenever there are occasions or even simple meetings that take place.  Take this graduation practice, for example, where it is necessary to feed everyone involved since there are no other remunerations given to them.  I'm not even remotely associated with the whole affair and I still find food allocations strewn on my desk like a weird deity offering.  Not that I'm complaining, though.  Free food is free food.  And more often than not the food are actually good.  The only problem is that I'm currently in the midst of "Project Erwin 2.0" and I've actually lost some pounds and inches for a while now.  It's been okay so far, the losing part, and it's even easy 'cause I've extra motivation.  But as I said, it's a problem when there's a lot of food being shoved your way.  Another problem is that, like obsessed fanatics that offer food to pagan gods, the people here seem to take rejections of their offering quite badly, and would disapprove quite harshly if you didnt stuff the stuff down your piehole.

Where normally I only take 2 meals in a day, I actually ended today with four (!) meals, culminating with the dinner I just had featuring a very big porkchop which I guessed could have fed an entire family.  And of course it doesn't stop here.  Meetings and other "important" gatherings continue in the next few days.  Last Monday, for instance, I was invited to a Senior's tribute in Mindy's, and luckily I was able to avoid the food since I came really late.  Of course, hours prior to that I spent almost P3,000 on a piece of barbecue and a glass of iced tea, but that's another story altogether.

I just hope to survive the next few days of food fest without showing too much for it. 

Obi's Day Out

Finally, the last exams and last classes had been given.  It's not yet vacation time, though, as the aforementioned exams still have to be checked and the bloody grades submitted.  I must admit, though, that this semester has been quite a pleasant surprise as I had less students failing in my courses.  I've been heckled by my friend Joel that this may be due to the possibility that I might not be teaching the same courses next school year (more on this later), but I think it's more likely because of the lesser number of students I have (especially in Hydraulics) or because I've used recycled exams (owing to time constraints) in the finals.

For the meantime, though, I'm enjoying the lull in my schedule and trying to do things I've been meaning to do for a while now.  On top of my list is, of course, the long-delayed papers I've yet to start for my DCM requirements.  Oh, who am I kidding?  I don't actually have a list, and those papers do not stand a chance of fruition in the foreseeable future.

For instance, the day is almost about to end and I've yet to do anything remotely resembling productive work.  I've spend most of the day with Obi in tow and that usually means the day is shot work-wise.  Not that I'm complaining, though.  It's been a while since I've spent this much time with her (especially with all the things happening recently) and I've noticed she's learned a lot of new things in the interim, such as sing current songs I'm not familiar with (can anyone help me this this - it sounds like, "I hope you know, I hope you know...", you know?). 

We had breakfast at McDonald's (her pick) and I ordered a Big Breakfast (of which the only thing "big" is the name) which I planned to share with Obi.  She had such a good appetite for the omelette and sausage, though, that she ended up eating almost all of it.  I had to order another Sausage McMuffin, from which she also took several bites.  For such a small tot, I was amazed by the amount of food she ate.  Kinda reminded me of someone, too.

I took her to the office afterwards and she proceeded to mess up most of the papers I had at the table.  Earlier, I was musing about a question someone asked me on why I do not often bring Obi to my office.  I got my answer now.

At 10am, she already looked sleepy so I made her sleep in my arms, and laid her on the couch afterwards.  We were supposed to go to a child dedication service at 11am, but it seemed a shame to suppress her sleep.  Besides, I would not want a cranky 2-year old with me afterwards.

We made it to the dedication (Wilmer's 2nd kid) at about 1130am.  The service was already ongoing when we got there but I still got to do my duties as sponsor (mostly signing documents and posing for pictures, actually).  We then went to Grand Caprice for the reception.  The food was good but Obi didn't eat that much.  Guess she was still full with the breakfast.  Oh, she did let some of it out too.  So I had to change her diapers too.

We got out of the place around 2pm, but she wanted to go on some rides, so we went to Ketkai also and I got her on the token rides.  Afterwards she was feeling sleepy again so I made her sleep again on one of the benches that the mall has graciously provided for loungers.  It was around 4pm already when she woke up again.  My legs continued to sleep for several minutes more, however.

Right now we're back in the office to pick up the bike I've left here.  She's currently in the process of redecorating the office again, and she even managed to spill some milk on my shirt in the process. 

It's still been a great day for both of us, I guess.  I won't be too excited about the next time we had another "bonding" time like this, though.  Yipeee.

Death by Boredom

Yesterday must have been one of the most boring days of my life. 

President's Day at eksyu is considered a university holiday, alhtough probably less than five percent of the people here know why (most assume it's the president's birthday, which isn't the case actually).  And while only the school is closed for this particular day, it often seems like a city holiday, too, judging by the way traffic suddenly becomes nonexistent and streets surprisingly look deserted. 

Well, I had a class that morning in OC however, so fortunately I had the excuse of leaving the house.  The afternoon found me alone at home with the two kids, and while most often I would enjoy spending time with the kids, sitting home on a stifling Monday afternoon isn't exactly my idea of fun time.  I was feeling sleepy, though, so I made the kids sleep as well (although Obi didn't get to sleep until around 2:30p.m.).  I got up at around the time she went to sleep, and I was lucky enough (!) to catch the last few parts of a Willie Revillame noontime show on TV.  The last time I saw this show must have been months ago.  Yes, it's still entertaining (if you have an IQ of around 60) and yes, it still has its roster of eye candies (two of the ladies at least, Mariel and that other girl).

From then on it was pure, unadulterated boredom hell.  I watched reruns of NCAA games on Studio 23 and even a few snatches of movies from the DVD (I must've changed discs 5 or 6 times, I've seen em all before).  At that point I actually believed that you can really die of boredom. 

By 4pm the kids were up and fully charged again and things started to get interesting, but then they had to go to a neighbor's children's party at 5, and I was again left to my own devices.  It's bad enough that I had nothing to do, but that I really wanted to do something else, talk to someone badly, made my misery even worse.  I made it all the way to TV Patrol, and after that I spent my time lifting dumbbells (pumping my guns, that's what Ron Burgundy would call it) and hoping that I'd be weak enough to pass out.

Of course no amount of boredom would make me watch telenovelas, so i switched to radio instead and listened to cheesy music the rest of the night.  If I bored you to death please send me the bill.  Aaaarggh!

Healthy Garbage and the Forty-Five Percent Solution

Surprisingly, this health consciousness thing may be progressing faster than any of us may think.  The past two days, which were both "free lunch" days for me, were excellent examples of the way people's thinking have changed in recent times.  Last Thursday we were at the Steag State Power Plant in Villanueva, as part of the plant visit / inspection that the college arranged for us faculty members to see the social ramifications of having the coal-fired plant, supposedly a "dirty" technology, could mean to our locale.  The management, however, assured us that the emissions and effluents that the plant produces are way below the allowable standards, and that the plant's safeguards ensures that minimal harm is done to the environment.  Of course, they have to feed us (to ensure our cooperation?), and during the lunch, I was amused to note that the guys who were with me were quite "health conscious" to an extent: the fish and vegetable dishes were those that were attacked mercilessly, while the pork and chicken viands were sparingly targeted.  Of the lot, though, I was the only one who did not drink softdrinks.  It helped, though, that no one gave me a bottle.

The following day it was consultations with industry people on the proposed curriculum changes of the college's programs, which was held at the AVR-5 of the University.  After the discussions, which lasted past noon, everyone was invited to a lunch (free again, as I said) at the Dynasty Court.  When we got there naturally everyone was hungry, and after a really brief prayer all of us queued at the buffet line for the lunch.  Well, not all, actually, since I stayed at the table until after nearly everyone got their food.  I hate falling in line, and I wasn't that hungry yet.

When I got to the food trays, however, I found to my dismay that while there were still a lot of the beef-like substance and the fried chicken, the mixed vegetable and the sweet and sour fish fillet were almost empty.  After I got my food the "almost empty" simply became "empty".

This morning, too, I was invited to witness the XU Engineering - SM CDO partnership on the "Waste Market" program of the mall, wherein trash of any kind can be sold at the mall grounds, as a way of reducing and properly recycling waste.  I regretted going almost immediately after I got there, because someone had the brilliant idea of having me as the closing speaker.  That, with about seven and a half minutes for me to prepare something to say.  Needless to say, I was lucky I didn't make too much an ass of myself.  I hate it when people think you can just go up a stage and say anything.  The event was successful though, my speech notwithstanding, since many people actually came and brought their garbage with them.  Come to think of it, my speech probably counted as my contribution to the garbage binge.

Maybe it's the overwhelming atmosphere of being health conscious that changed everyone's perspective on how we should live our lives, and that's something that we shouldn't be complaining about.  However, there are still some minor disadvantages, or rather fallouts, that result because of this sudden conversion of everyone into pseudo health nuts.  For instance, fish, largely acknowledged as a "better" food, is now generally more expensive than pork or even beef.  A kilo of malasugi could fetch as high as 240 per kilo while pork would only go for 140 and chicken goes for only around P100.  Of course there are cheaper varieties such as tamban (which is one of my favorite types) but even the prices of these have shot up considerably.  Fruits, too, have suddenly become more expensive because of the increasing demand.  All of a sudden, it seems like everyone has simultaneously come to a startling discovery: "Wow, here's an interesting concept: eating healthy food can apparently make us healthy!"

Now, are we as a society ready to embrace this monumental change?  And, are we prepared to change our wasteful and unhealthy ways?  For our sakes, I sure hope so.

*****************************************************************************************

For the past five days or so, I was having a terrible case of oral ulcerative stomatitis (that's singaw for most of us) and it was really a bother - I couldn't eat well (which is probably good) and I couldn't speak (which is bad if you rely on speaking for a living).  Moreover, it was draining, since most of your energy is wasted on dealing with the pain.  It was doubly bad since the sores were (yeah, there were at least three) on my tongue.  I tried every conceivable solution there was (even Pyralvex was no match for it) until I got really pissed off and used the ultimate solution - gargling Tanduay.  Yeah, for some of you having the same problems, this is probably the best solution there is.  I should know - I'm probably the only guy who has singaw at least once a month.  Some say I lack vitamin C, some say I should take a bath more often (if I took more baths I'd probably wash my skin off already).  I guess I just have bad genes.

Gargling Tanduay (or any other 45% alcohol solution) hurts like hell, though, but after the alcohol burns the wounds (and around 90 percent of your mouth nerves) it's a great relief.  I'm not ashamed to say that while I was gargling the wicked potion tears were actually falling down my cheeks.  Now it still smarts a bit but it's a lot better.  I may be able to say "naturally" without trouble next week.

New Year, New Hair

As of midnight tonight, Year 2007 is officially over.  I don't know about you guys but this year wasn't exactly a fun year for me.  Here's hoping that 2008 would be a better year for all of us, global warming notwithstanding.

And with the passing of the year, I also decided to do something new with my appearance.  Nothing special, really, just a good ol' haircut which I had yesterday.  What's noteworthy about it, though was that I had my haircut at David's Salon in SM (because there's no barber shop there).  Normally I would scream at the price (P165 for a frigging haircut!!!???) but since it's my first time there, and since it's the holiday season anyway, I swallowed my tongue and was actually smiling at the thief at the counter when I paid.

Now most of you probably would be nodding your heads now when I say that my hair isn't exactly the trendiest hair in town.  Heck, on good hair days (which isn't often) it looks like a fake toupee and on a bad day it looks like somebody plopped a really big dead hairy rat on my head.  I've tried growing it long (I had a mini-ponytail back in 3rd yr college) and it really didn't go well, and I've even tried the bald look, and we all know what came out of that.  And so the David's experience was quite an upgrade from my last barber haircut, where the barber cut it such that it looked like I had a dead giant butterfly on my head.  On most days I would look like a dork with my hair, but after the David's haircut, well... I still look like a dork, but at least it was fashionably dorky.  Oh well at least that's how I felt.

Another first for me was that the people who attended to my "hair needs" were both ladies.  It was the first time that I had my hair done by a female.  I was actually apprehensive at first since I don't normally trust females holding clippers, much less razors, but I soon felt at ease since they acted like they actually knew what they were doing, right from the shampooing (twice) to the actual cutting, which was done by a Tagalog-speaking, professional-looking lady.  Now I don't even shampoo my hair (I use only soap) so the fact that I was shampooed twice in less than an hour was already a treat for my hair (but I guess it still doesn't justify the price).  I was debating on whether to give a tip to the lady who cut my hair, since I normally give a hefty tip to my suki barber in Gaisano, but given the price of the cut, I guess she must be earning even more than what I do!

Happy New Year, everyone.